"Rioting and violence on colleges campuses," he claimed, "reached a new peak after the Cambodian operation and the tragedies at Kent State and Jackson state.... Some of the disruptive activities were receiving foreign support." This description is full of Nixon's self-serving falsifications. The demonstrations that swept the country were overwhelmingly peaceful. The demonstrations were not instigated by "foreign support" but grew out of opposition to the government's policies among millions of Americans. But the May 1970 upsurge did have a major impact on this country, and it did present Nixon with a political problem "of critical proportions." May 1970 saw the biggest student strike in the history of the world. The capitalist rulers of this country were shaken by the events and were publicly divided over what policy to follow. And, for the first time, important sections of the AFL-CIO unions and unions officials publicly repudiated the prowar line of AFL-CIO President George Meany.
June 7, 1948
Railroad workers have been especially hard hit by the
recent inflation. Over the past 12 years, they dropped from
third place to 23rd place on the list of wage rates paid to
skilled and semiskilled workers. At the same time, they are
handling over 55 percent more in revenue traffic than eight
years ago.
But the rail owners have been making hay. Their profits rose last year, after interest and all charges, to 480,000,000 dollars, or 64 percent above 1946. This year their net profit is therefore expected to go up another 50 percent. But this remains the private business of the newly appointed colonels who, in or out of uniform, act on the premise that the workers and public be dammed.
If the demand for the rail union leaders for nationalization of the railroads is to be more than a token gesture, it must be implemented with a concrete program of action. The rail unions must take the lead in insisting that the government confiscate the roads without compensation to the bondholders and stockholders who have already been compensated many times over for their original investment, not to mention the land and right-of-way they received gratis from an obliging capitalist-dominated government.