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   Vol.66/No.48           December 23, 2002  
 
 
25 and 50 years ago
 
December 23, 1977
ATLANTA--By noon 8,000 to 10,000 tractors driven by Georgia farmers had jammed the state capital. The Atlanta stadium parking lot was full, and the tractors were backed up, five abreast, for miles.

The farmers’ protest was typical of the many demonstrations organized by the American Agricultural Movement in scores of cities across the country during the week.

At the rally on the Georgia capitol steps 3,000 farmers and their families huddled in the twenty-two degree weather. They wore blue and red caps carrying the slogan "We support agriculture strike." They cheered speakers demanding the U.S. Department of Agriculture set 100 percent parity for farm prices.

Signs mounted on the tractors reflected the farmers’ sentiments: "To hell with the Farm Bureau"; "100 percent parity or farmers must strike"; "If elections were held today would Jimmy win? Hell no!" A sign on another tractor read, "The banks own them, we drive them."

One rally speaker said he was sorry farmers had to resort to public protests. "But we have to," he added. "I’ve sat back and watched the giant corporations push the independent farmer back. They are taking over the land. Consumers haven’t begun to see what high prices are, if this continues."

"All we are doing is expressing our opinion," said another farmer, Lindsey Thomas. "In the past decade we’ve seen all kinds of groups stand up and demand their rights; it’s time the farmer did, too. Our little 4 percent [of the population] can bring the big agriculture business to a halt."

Placards announced support from Teamsters Local 528 whose members transport farm produce.  
 
December 22, 1952
In the most powerful blow for civil liberties struck for a long time in America, a committee of more than 190 prominent labor, civic, educational, and religious leaders in Michigan today issued a scathing denunciation of the Trucks "Police-State" Law as "one of the most undemocratic legislative acts in the history of our state."

The eight temporary officers who head the newly-formed Committee are the Rev. I. Paul Taylor, St. Matthews Methodist Church, chairman; Kenneth E. Boulding, Professor of Economics, University of Michigan; Charles E. Lockwood, attorney for the Consumers Union; and Rev. Robert Bradby, Greater King Solomon Baptist Church, all vice-chairmen; Ernest Mazey, Executive Board Member, Briggs Local 212 of the United Auto Workers, secretary-treasurer; and Al Barbour, Secretary-Treasurer, Wayne County (Detroit) CIO Council; Edgar Currie, Michigan legislator; and Helen Moore Polaner, vice-president of the Michigan State Federation of Labor, all trustees.

In their statement, the spokesmen for the Committee explained that the Trucks Act sets up a vague definition of a "communist front organization" and requires members of organizations so designated by the state attorney general to register with the state police and be fingerprinted, subject to harsh prison sentences for violations. Certain sections of the law are aimed especially at union labor. "The first organization against which the Trucks Acts has been applied is the Socialist Workers Party," states the committee. "Without any kind of hearing, the attorney general arbitrarily declared the Socialist Workers Party ‘subversive under the meaning of the Act’ and removed it from the Michigan ballot."  
 
 
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