Vol. 81/No. 8      February 27, 2017

 

25, 50, and 75 Years Ago

February 28, 1992

Washington continues to forcibly repatriate thousands of Haitians despite new revelations of the persecution these refugees face upon their return.

On February 11, the U.S. Supreme Court once again refused to block the forced return of the refugees. The high court January 31 lifted a lower court injunction that barred their repatriation after the Bush administration filed an emergency appeal claiming that an additional 20,000 Haitians were about to flee by boat to the United States. This assertion was contradicted by social service groups, diplomats, and even the top U.S. Coast Guard official in Haiti.

In its argument before the Supreme Court, the Bush administration claimed that legal challenges to the forced return of Haitians amounts to an “unprecedented assault” on the prerogatives of the executive branch of government to conduct foreign policy.

February 27, 1967

Union members have little reason to take comfort from George Meany’s denial that the AFL-CIO has taken money from the CIA. Nor is there any reason to give credibility to his assertion that he disapproves of unions taking such money from the cloak-and-dagger outfit. Meany’s statement can best be described in CIA jargon — a cover story.

It has been a matter of scandal for 15 years that Meany’s foreign policy adviser, Jay Lovestone, has collaborated with the CIA in its policy of subverting so-called communist-led unions abroad.

In the days when union leaders saw their role as fighting to improve the lot of the workers they represented, they also regarded international activity as that of aiding workers in other lands in their struggles against employers and governments that acted on behalf of the employers. The CIA-directed activity has been the very opposite.

February 28, 1942

The British ruling class is now powerless to stem by force the surging tide of Indian emancipation. Freedom for India lies within the grasp of the 400 million people of that oppressed country.

But what it can no longer successfully retain by force, the British ruling class now hopes to hold by cunning, by bargaining and by promise.

Feelers are being put forth designed to determine how little the British ruling class will have to pay for India’s support of the war. Downing Street is tendering offers of a “great political voice” for the people of India, “dominion status” — in short, anything but the removal of the British yoke from India.

The struggle for the national independence of India is not the battle of the Indian masses alone. It is as much the struggle of the workers everywhere, and of the British workers in particular.  
 
 
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