Vol. 78/No. 23 June 16, 2014
June 16, 1989
The slaughter by government troops of many hundreds of students and other people in Beijing has aroused the justified outrage of working people all over the world. This mass execution for the crime of demanding elementary democratic rights was a blow to the struggles of working people everywhere.The government of Deng Xiaoping and Premier Li Peng has attempted to pass off the peaceful protest in Tiananmen Square as a “counterrevolutionary rebellion” by “thugs” and “dregs of society.”
There was no counterrevolutionary uprising. The students had gathered in the square to assert their rights as citizens to assemble and petition the government for the redress of their grievances. At the top of their list of demands was freedom of the press, the right to assemble, and other elementary democratic rights.
June 15, 1964
For many years pacifists pointed to the struggle in South Africa as a proof of the validity of their theories. Gandhi had first advocated passive resistance in South Africa. The African National Congress organized its struggle against apartheid in accordance with the philosophy of non-violence.But the racists running the government were not defeated or converted by the philosophy and practice of non-violence. They beat and shot unarmed demonstrators, arrested and tortured leaders, passed severe and inhuman laws against the black population, and outlawed the African National Congress.
These facts expose the bankruptcy of pacifism as a method of struggle against oppression. As Nelson Mandela’s courtroom statements dramatically show, these facts have also convinced the leaders of the liberation movement to abandon pacifism and initiate armed struggle against the racist regime.
June 16, 1939
The great victory won by Briggs Local 212 of the United Automobile Workers, reported in detail in the last issue of the Socialist Appeal, may very well prove to be a turning point in the fortunes, not only of the automobile workers, but of the labor movement in general.In auto, it is an advance which puts the entire international union in a position to go over to an offensive fight against the auto barons all along the line.
In the general labor movement, it signifies — following on the heels of the victory of the United Mine Workers — a healthy contrast to the critical situation in which the C.I.O. found itself a few months ago. The two victories together mean that the C.I.O. has again gained the upper hand in the labor movement, and since the C.I.O. unquestionably represents the most progressive movement, that is all to the good.
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