The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.60/No.39           November 4, 1996 
 
 
25 & 50 Years Ago  
November 5, 1971
SAN FRANCISCO - A new wave of antiwar opposition is sweeping the armed forces today, manifesting itself in action more often than in the past. One example of this new burst of antiwar activity is the petition signed by more than 1,000 crew members of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Coral Sea, asking Congress the halt the ship's scheduled return to Vietnam Nov. 12.

Seaman Larry Harris, a former Coral Sea crew member now stationed at the Treasure Island Navy base here, told the Militant how he and others began circulating the petition after hearing about the drive in San Diego by members of the crew of the U.S.S. Constellation and the San Diego antiwar movement to keep that aircraft carrier from sailing to Vietnam.

Harris and several others typed up a petition and circulated it shortly before the Coral Sea docked at the Naval Air Station at Alameda, Calif., in September. They gathered more than 300 signatures in a few days. They expected to get many more signatures from the 4,500-man crew, but the executive officer and two chief petty officers seized the petition. November 2, 1946
Headed by the organized labor movement, the masses in the American-controlled section of Korea are fighting back with powerful demonstrations against the oppressive rule of the American Military Government.

News of successive waves of revolt by striking workers in the American zone of Korea broke through the iron curtain of censorship last week. The Koreans demand the independence they were promised at Cairo by Roosevelt in 1944, as well as freedom of trade union activity and an end to the terror regime, which is depriving them of elementary democratic rights.

The demand of the Koreans for greater distribution of food to the starving masses was answered by the calling out of troops of the Sixth Infantry Division, after AMG authorities appealed for assistance at several points in the Division area. Bloody struggles followed in many centers.

At Taegu, police casualties included 50 killed and 30 seriously injured. At Kongehen, some 10,000 Koreans disarmed and kidnapped the local police, burning down the post-office and police stations.

According to an Oct. 21 AP dispatch from Seoul, the capital, Koreans attacked a police station a few yards south of the border of Russian-occupied North Korea.  
 
 
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