Vol. 80/No. 23 June 13, 2016
Letters
Free Oscar López
I have been transferred to a new prison and would like to start getting the Militant again. Keep up with your excellent work. Hopefully Mr. Oscar López will be free this year.
A prisoner
Indiantown, Florida
Easter Uprising
April 24 of this year was the 100th anniversary of the launching of the Easter Uprising in Ireland against British rule. It was launched in the middle of World War I and crushed only after five days of fighting.
In New International No. 1, available on the Militant website, in an article by Lenin titled The Irish Rebellion of 1916, he writes, “It is the misfortune of the Irish that they rose prematurely, before the European revolt of the proletariat had had time to mature. Capitalism is not so harmoniously built that the various sources of rebellion can immediately merge of their own accord, without reverse and defeats. On the other hand, the very fact that revolts do break out at different times, in different places, and are of different kinds, guarantees wide scope and depth to the general movement; but it is only in premature, individual, sporadic and therefore unsuccessful, revolutionary movements that the masses gain experience, acquire knowledge, gather strength, and get to know their leaders.”
I recommend this article and the counterposed article by Trotsky in the same issue of the magazine.
Candace Wagner
New York City
Nuclear disarmament
Thank you for saying that the USA should unilaterally disarm its nuclear weapons. I have been in agreement with that idea for a while. ICBMs and SSBNs do not keep our country safe, and the USA is not at war with Russia. The idea that the Russians are harboring some kind of unfulfilled desire to incinerate the USA is just silly. The Russians are just as afraid of the USA as we are of them, and a nuclear war will start out of fear and not out of a latent desire to kill.
Could you please emphasize Unilateral Nuclear Disarmament?
Jeffrey Erwin
Pewaukee, Wisconsin
Books for prisoners
I was informed by a fellow prisoner that you distribute communist literature. I would be interested in any reading material you could provide me. I do not have a copy of the Communist Manifesto or Capital, two books basic to any communist’s library.
A prisoner
Monroe, Washington
Editor’s note: Pathfinder Press offers books and pamphlets to prisoners at a 50 percent discount. For information, visit www.pathfinderpress.com or write Pathfinder Press, P.O. Box 162767, Atlanta, GA 30321-2767.