At a time when the capitalist media and politicians subject us to their seasonal “compassion” to cover up for the brutality they inflict on working people 365 days a year, it’s important to remember that record numbers of workers and farmers are behind bars today. Seven million people in the United States—the world’s number one prison house—are jailed, on probation, or on parole, including 2.2 million in prison. Much of this is a result of the attacks on immigrant workers and draconian drug laws that disproportionately target oppressed nationalities.

On December 12 federal immigration cops raided six Swift plants and rounded up nearly 1,300 foreign-born meat packers. Some have been deported. Hundreds remain locked up at undisclosed locations. We join with those demanding their immediate release.

Continuing a long labor tradition, the Militant sends a special salute to class-struggle prisoners everywhere.

Among those at the top of the honor roll are René González, Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernández, and Ramón Labañino, Cuban revolutionaries serving long federal prison sentences on espionage and other frame-up charges. Their real “crime” was defending Cuba by reporting on ultrarightist groups that have carried out violent attacks against that nation from U.S. territory with Washington’s complicity. The Cuban Five, as they are known, are carrying out political work among fellow inmates and beyond the prison walls.

Shoulder to shoulder with them are Haydeé Beltrán, Oscar López, and Carlos Alberto Torres, locked up for more than 25 years because of their involvement in the struggle for Puerto Rico’s independence from U.S. colonial rule, and José Pérez González, serving a five-year sentence for taking part in civil disobedience protests against the U.S. Navy occupation of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. We can celebrate the fact that in September independentista leader Antonio Camacho was released after spending a total of 15 years in U.S. prisons.

We also extend a hand of solidarity to others subjected to the U.S. “justice” system. These include Leonard Peltier, a leader of the American Indian Movement jailed for 30 years on frame-up charges of killing two FBI agents; Mumia Abu-Jamal, framed 25 years ago on charges of killing a Philadelphia cop; and Sami Al-Arian, a Tampa, Florida, supporter of the Palestinian national liberation struggle, arrested in 2003 and jailed on false “terrorism” charges.

Our Prisoner Fund makes it possible for militants behind bars to get the socialist paper at reduced rates: a six-month subscription for $6 and a one-year-sub for $12. You can help. Please write your check or money order to the Militant, earmarked “Prisoner Fund,” and send it to the paper at 306 W. 37th Street, New York, NY 10018.  
 
 
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