A campaign meeting here July 14 drew nearly 20 supporters, including three students from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. One of the students, Young Socialists member Justin Hovey, joined Trowe on the platform and talked about the fight in Kokomo, Mississippi, to find and prosecute those responsible for the murder of 17-year-old Black youth Raynard Johnson, who was found hanging from a tree outside his home in Kokomo in mid-June.

Hundreds of people protested the police cover-up of his death at two marches in Mississippi the previous weekend. Hovey and other campaign supporters had participated in the marches, including gathering signatures to get the socialist presidential ticket on the ballot in Mississippi. "You could see at this march that the fight for justice for Raynard Johnson is a class question," Hovey said. "It's not just a matter between Blacks and whites. It's a question for all working people."

"The resistance of workers and farmers is growing," Trowe said. "Immigrant workers are playing an important role in this fightback. There are more working people standing up and saying 'No!' to the bosses and government and police attacks. That doesn't mean there are always victories right now," Trowe said. "But workers are going through important experiences and more fighters are finding each other and reinforcing their struggles. They're showing what can be done if you stand up and fight." More than $500 in campaign contributions and pledges was raised at the meeting.

That morning Trowe and several supporters had campaigned at a mine portal outside Birmingham where socialists often sell the Militant newspaper. Several miners took campaign brochures and one bought a Militant.

Trowe and four supporters visited striking members of the United Steelworkers of America Local 303L at the Titan Tire plant in Natchez, Mississippi. Several hundred workers have been on strike there since September 1998, fighting to defend their union and win a decent contract.

Strike activists Willie Evans and James White welcomed the visitors to the picket line. Evans introduced the socialist campaigners to other pickets, who signed petitions to put Trowe and Socialist Workers presidential candidate James Harris on the ballot in Mississippi. Evans explained how much support the Titan strikers have received from Socialist Workers activists over the course of the strike on the picket line, at rallies, and on bus rides to support the Titan workers on strike in Des Moines, Iowa, and elsewhere.

Strikers gave an especially warm welcome to two campaign supporters who are students at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. One of them, YS member Justin Hovey, told the unionists that he will try to organize a meeting for the strikers on campus in the fall.

The following day Trowe and several supporters drove up to the Delta for a meeting at the Mileston Coop in Tchula. They were welcomed by David Howard, president of the coop and an activist in the Black farmers' fight against the discriminatory practices of the United States Department of Agriculture.

Also at the meeting were several workers fired by the nearby Freshwater Farms catfish processing company in November 1998 for protesting conditions in the plant. A few days before the meeting with Trowe, the catfish workers involved in the protest had receive notice--after more than a year and a half--that the arbitrator that heard their grievance had upheld their firings. The plant is organized by the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Joann Hogan, a leader of the catfish workers, reported on the arbitrator's decision in their case.

After Trowe spoke, David Howard gave a brief update on the farmers' fight and announced plans for another demonstration at the USDA in Washington, D.C., July 31.

The workers and farmers present at the meeting were also interested in learning more about the meat packers' fight for a union in St. Paul.

The conditions facing farmers and meatpacking workers in Minnesota is similar to what farmers and catfish workers in Mississippi confront, Trowe explained. "The big packing companies are having a devastating impact on both workers and farmers," she said. "These corporations are driving down the price of small hogs and squeezing more out of workers on the line."

"The small farmers are being forced out," said Roy Brown, a farmer who also works full-time on the railroad. He explained that right now prices for cotton and soybeans are so low that "there's no way to make our costs."

Trowe spoke briefly about her trip to Cuba this spring as part of a delegation of U.S. farmers invited by the National Association of Small Farmers of Cuba. "If people knew what happened in Cuba, how Castro took the land and gave it to the people, they might get the idea that should happen here," Howard said. "That's why the government doesn't want people to travel to Cuba."

The July 13–16 tour helped build momentum in the petitioning drive to get Trowe and Harris on the ballot in Mississippi. By the end of the weekend, more than 500 signatures had been gathered, out of a goal of 2,000.

Susan LaMont is the Socialist Workers candidate for Congress from the 7th C.D. in Alabama and a member of the United Steelworkers of America. Ardella Blandford, a member of the United Auto Workers, contributed to this article.