May 8, 1970
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, April 29 - The brutal repression
of the mass movement in Trinidad and Tobago by the Eric
Williams government was reinforced today by the adoption of a
sweeping new emergency law empowering the government to
suspend indefinitely all the personal and political freedoms
laid down by the Trinidadian constitution.
The law was adopted in the grip of a state of emergency and curfew declared by the government April 21 as a desperate response to two months of massive antigovernment and anti- imperialist demonstrations.
The mass demonstrations of the past two months represent the high point of the Trinidadian Black power movement which has been given impetus by the deterioration of the economy as well as by the rise of Black nationalism in the United States. The National Joint Action Committee (NJAC), a united front of several Black power organizations and trade unions, developed out of this movement and by the beginning of 1970, Black power actions under its leadership had become a regular occurrence.
When the government instituted the "emergency" on April 21,
it faced a further challenge - a mutiny of sections of the
Trinidad Army based at Teteron Bay. At this point, Prime
Minister Eric Williams asked for arms and ammunition from the
United States, while U.S. and British warships arrived off
the coast of the island. President Nixon ordered a fleet of
ships carrying 2,000 battle-ready Marines into the area.
May 5, 1945
In a mighty demonstration of power the masses of northern
Italy last week rose in insurrection and wiped out the
remnants of the Fascist regime in its last stronghold. With
Partisan fighters as the shock troops, the workers seized
control of the great industrial cities in the Lombardy plain.
Mussolini and his Fascist aides met the end deserved by all
hated tyrants. After a summary trial they were put to death
by a firing squad.
From here on events followed a familiar pattern. The Committee of National Liberation, consisting of Stalinists, "Socialists" and Liberals, received the power which the insurgent masses had wrenched from the hands of the Fascists and Nazis - and promptly handed it over to the bankrupt Bonomi government which rules in Rome by the grace of Allied bayonets. Allied troops immediately rushed in to "restore order" in the liberated cities.
Milan - "Red Milan" - center of the great revolutionary working-class actions which preceded Mussolini's rise to power - was the white-hot focus of last week's stirring mass uprising. The transport workers gave the signal by going on strike. A general strike of all workers in Milan was then set for May 1, the traditional socialist holiday of the international working class. Observing the precarious conditions of the German military establishment and the fear and confusion which had seized their fascist enemies, the Milan workers advanced the date of the general strike to April 25.
With transportation and industry paralyzed, the workers
moved into action. Enemy barracks were stormed, strategic
buildings and public places occupied by the armed people.
Everywhere the Fascist scum were routed.
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