Vol. 80/No. 6      February 15, 2016

 

25, 50, and 75 Years Ago

 

February 15, 1991

The recent announcement by New York’s Daily News that it could close down by March 20, poses a challenge to the labor movement and all working people to step up solidarity with members of the nine unions locked out by the newspaper some three months ago.

The decision by the Daily News to send out official notification to its workforce is the latest indication that efforts by the Chicago-based Tribune Company to defeat the union by running the newspaper with scabs is failing. Support continues for the 2,300 unionists’ battle to resist the bosses’ demands for concessions. Working people in massive numbers throughout the New York area still refuse to buy the daily.

Despite efforts by the bosses to violence-bait the strike and terrorize strikers with gun thugs, the Daily News has been unable to shake the solid support the unionists have gained.

February 14, 1966

BERKELEY, Calif., Feb. 9 — Between four and five thousand students at the University of California here walked out of classes this afternoon to attend a rally against the [Vietnam] war.

The walk-out climaxed three days of intensive antiwar activity at the Berkeley campus. On Monday and Tuesday, students attempted to turn their classrooms into discussions on the war. Four hundred teaching assistants voted to endorse this plan for classroom discussions, and they were held in over one-third of the classes.

The Vietnam Day Committee, which organized all of the activities, prepared a packet of literature on the war, which was passed out to the students.

The VDC has held rallies almost every day for the past week, of 500 to 1,000 students. The administration claims this is a violation of the rules about speakers.

February 15, 1941

HAVANA, Cuba — In a sweeping decree promulgated on January 30, the “democratic” government of Col. Fulgencio Batista illegalized all international organizations and annulled the democratic liberties guaranteed by the constitution. Severe penalties are provided for those carrying on revolutionary propaganda and agitation.

Ostensibly aimed at “organizations, centers and individuals who endeavor in their activities to propagate totalitarian political ideals,” the decree in reality is directed against the political and trade union organizations of the working class, especially those of a revolutionary character. Even the Communist Party, which has been a loyal lackey of Batista, and still vociferously supports the government, is confronted with a none too bright future.  
 
 
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