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Vol. 77/No. 22      June 10, 2013

 
25, 50, and 75 Years Ago

June 10, 1988

A national rally in support of striking paperworkers has been set for Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, on June 18. United Paperworkers International Union Local 1787 has been on strike against International Paper Co. for a year. UPIU members in Jay, Maine; Mobile, Alabama; and De Pere, Wisconsin, are also fighting the paper company’s attempts to squeeze more productivity out of workers.

Only a small percentage of the union members have crossed the picket lines since the strike began. About 450 scabs are working in the plant.

The last company offer, which was defeated by a resounding majority of the workers, provided jobs for only 20 of the workers who stayed out on strike.

In recent months striking paperworkers from Lock Haven and Jay have been traveling around the country telling their story and winning support.

June 10, 1963

A law aimed at screening mail Americans get from abroad has been challenged as unconstitutional in a suit brought before a federal district court in Los Angeles.

The law requires recipients of “Communist propaganda” to apply to the post office in writing before such mail, addressed to them, will be delivered. Otherwise the mail is destroyed. The thought-control measure was recently passed by Congress.

The suit was filed by Charles Amlin, a 65-year-old truckdriver, with the support of the American Civil Liberties Union. Amlin said in the complaint that he was anti-Communist but liked to get his mail without interference.

The suit says the law violates the First Amendment, which guarantees free speech and press, and the Fifth Amendment.

June 11, 1938

The somber plight of the unemployed is again headline news. Chicago, second largest city in the country, has closed its relief bureaus. Drives against the workers’ living standards and very lives are being conducted all over the country.

Capitalism is in a new period, the period of its dotage, of its decline, of its bankruptcy. It cannot profitably give more wages and a better life. The unemployed need help now. We must demand of the government: Jobs at trade union wages — or relief — for all the unemployed.

The unemployed can never get relief by keeping quiet. Militant action — nationwide sit-ins, mass picket lines, and vast marches on the center of government — is needed. Actions such as these will show the bosses and their government that the unemployed victims of their system mean business.  
 
 
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