Vol. 80/No. 44      November 21, 2016

 

25, 50, and 75 Years Ago

 

November 22, 1991

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — “Beyond our expectations.” That’s how Ahmed Kathrada, who directs the public relations department for the African National Congress (ANC), described the first day of the two-day nationwide general strike here.

More than 3.5 million workers participated in the stay-away that was called in opposition to the government’s recently enacted value-added tax system. The strike was called by the trade union ally of the ANC, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, along with another trade union federation, the National Council of Trade Unions. A joint press statement at the end of the first day said it was “the largest ever mass general strike in the history of our country.”

In the days leading up to the strike, the big business media went on a campaign to violence-bait the protest.

November 21, 1966

LOWNDES COUNTY, Ala. — On Nov. 8, the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO) became a recognized political party by polling 41 percent of the vote for county offices. LCFO is widely known as the Black Panther Party because of its symbol.

Over 1,600 Negro voters cast their ballots for the Black Panther. This compares with the 900 who attended a mass meeting in May to nominate the new independent Black party.

Although about 500 Negroes failed to vote as a result of intimidation and fear of economic reprisals, at least 80 percent of Negroes who did vote pulled the lever for the Black Panther in spite of the fact that many of them were being watched by white plantation owners.

Because so few Negroes in Lowndes have cars, a mass transportation network was organized to bring Negroes to the polls.

November 22, 1941

The Roosevelt administration faces its gravest domestic political crisis as the 53,000 workers of the steel corporations’ “captive” coal mines hold their picket lines fast in an overwhelming response to the strike call issued by the United Mine Workers, CIO.

Roosevelt has run into a solid wall of united CIO resistance in his attempt to use the “captive” mine controversy as a wedge for the open shop throughout all industry and to enforce his “no-strike” policy. The CIO national convention, representing 5,000,000 organized workers entrenched in the basic industries, has voted unanimous support for the striking miners.

Roosevelt threatened that he would use armed force and anti-strike legislation to smash the “captive” mine strike. But these threats failed to intimidate the CIO into deserting the miners.  
 
 
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