Vol. 75/No. 35      October 3, 2011

The state of Georgia’s monstrous and unconscionable execution of Troy Davis sends a message to working people. Whatever tactical differences exist among the U.S. capitalist rulers over this legal lynching, or even in some cases over the death penalty itself, they keep on using this weapon of terror against workers and farmers.

Capital punishment remains in force by the federal government, U.S. armed forces, and 34 states, with some 700 executions since 2000 alone.

This systematic, anti-working-class carnage won’t be ended by the “reason,” “justice,” or “good will” of the courts or Democratic and Republican party politicians who serve the class interests of the propertied ruling families. That can only be won as a by-product of powerful, millions-strong struggles by the working class and oppressed, along the road to the revolutionary conquest of workers power.

Like the vast majority on death row, Troy Davis was from the working class and, like more than a third of those executed since 1976, he was Black. After arresting Davis for the killing of a policeman in 1989, cops and prosecutors locked in the frame-up by pressuring “witnesses” to finger him.

Davis maintained his innocence right up to his final words on the lethal-injection gurney in the death chamber. Despite post-trial evidence raising much more than “a reasonable doubt” about his conviction, neither the state parole board nor the Georgia or U.S. Supreme Courts gave Davis a new trial or commuted the sentence.

We salute those around the world who raised their voices and went into the streets—during the final days, and for many years before—to demand: “Stop the execution of Troy Davis!” We will join together to fight for other Troy Davises to come.

The Militant urges workers, farmers, and young people engaged in labor battles and social protests of all kinds to join in building a mass working-class socialist movement in the United States and the world over that can wage a revolutionary battle to wrest state power from the capitalist exploiters, war makers, and executioners.
 
 
Related articles:
Ga. rulers kill Troy Davis despite protests, evidence  
 
 
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