Two, the headline could be misconstrued to mean all people that subscribe to the ‘neocon’ conspiracy, including leftists and liberals, are falling into some kind of Jew-hatred, which is not at all the message in the article. A simple fix to such a headline could be “Jew-hatred, red-baiting: heart of right-wing claims of ‘neocon’ conspiracy.”

For me, this modified headline changes none of the content of the article, and correctly criticizes liberals and leftists that buy into the neo-con conspiracy theory for the real mistake they are making—not being “Jew-haters,” which the great majority certainly are not, but for buying into a right-wing conspiracy theory in the first place. Just a thought.

Steve Gabosch
by e-mail
 
 
Mikey Powell case
Thank you for featuring Mikey’s case on your website. (See “Protesters in England demand prosecution of killer cops” in Dec. 8, 2003 issue.)

Please note that our temporary website address is http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/mikeypowell_friends

Over the next few months our permanent website address will be changing to www.mikeypowell-campaign.org

We will keep you informed of changes as they arise. Many thanks for your support on behalf of the Powell Family

For more information contact: Friends Of Mikey Powell Campaign for Justice, P.O. Box 11721, Botany Walk, Ladywood, Birmingham, UK B16 8ZQ.

Tippa Naphtali
Birmingham, England
 
 
Keep it real
It warms my heart to see your latest headline story is about a union fight and not the latest tit for tat between the two boss parties, to use a phrase of yours I like. I have always been so impressed with your resolve to keep it real. Thanks for not pandering to the liberal claptrap and doing your best to prepare those of us who pay attention for the bigger fights to come.

Edward Owens
Davis, California
 
 
Ludlow massacre
The Militant’s excellent article on the Utah coal strike in the June 28 issue deserves an historical footnote on the Ludlow Massacre, mentioned at the end of the article. The Militant uses 20 as the number of miners and their family members killed by the Colorado National Guard on April 20, 1914. This is the figure used by several authorities, including the United Mineworkers website. But others put the number higher. For example, Philip Foner states that 32 were killed that day. It may not be clear how many were killed but the brutality was clear.

Eleven children and two women were burned to death in the miners’ tent colony when guardsmen intentionally set fire to their tent.

Strike organizer Louis Tikas was murdered in cold blood by guardsmen as he attempted to negotiate a truce.

During the course of the strike 66 miners and their supporters were killed by the Guard, which operated as a death squad for the Rockefeller mines in the area. (This number would have been higher had not the miners made some use of union defense guards to push back the uniformed killers.)

The timing of the massacre is also of note. On April 21, 1914, one day after Rockefeller’s murderous assault, Democratic president Woodrow Wilson ordered the U.S. Marine invasion of the Mexican port of Veracruz. At least 300 Mexicans were killed by this intervention, which occurred during a high point in the Mexican Revolution.

Within months, the Democrat Wilson had also intervened in Colorado, making sure that the Rockefeller mines stayed nonunion. But the fighting example of the Ludlow miners and their supporters has inspired many successful UMWA struggles, including to this day!

For many generations, the Militant has been a part of the fight to get out the truth on the miners’ struggles. Keep up your great work!

David Salner
Frederick, Maryland

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of interest to working people.

Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.  
 
 
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