Vol. 81/No. 19      May 15, 2017

 

25, 50 and 75 Years Ago

 

May 15, 1992

The acquittal of the cops who beat Rodney King caused outrage across the United States and around the world. High school students walked out of classes in protest, university students organized demonstrations, and working people and youth discussed what can be done to fight police violence.

Opposing the acquittal is “not a Black thing or a white thing, but the right thing,” stated a high school student to applause at a May 1 rally in Durham, North Carolina. She was one of dozens of students from the School of Science and Math who spoke at an event attended by 250.

A leaflet was distributed explaining the aims of the organizers: “To declare that justice was not served”; “that such abominations could happen to anyone in this country regardless of race or the region” they live in; and to hold a non-violent, open, and orderly discussion.

May 15, 1967

NEW YORK — A new attack on the ballot rights of minority political parties was signed into law on April 22 by Governor [Nelson] Rockefeller. Aimed explicitly at the Socialist Workers Party, the law was described by the New York Times as the “anti-Judy White bill.” Specifically the law bars an “ineligible” person from being nominated for public office, or appearing on the ballot.

The SWP is especially singled out for its uncompromising fight against the war in Vietnam, which its candidates have carried to the people of this state. Judy White was the only candidate for governor who called for the immediate withdrawal of American troops.

As a conscious protest against the brutal aggression the U.S. government is committing in Vietnam, the 12,000 New Yorkers who voted for Judy White were making the most effective use of their votes.

May 16, 1942

“In the next twelve to fifteen months we will get a civilian standard of living equivalent to 1932, which was the lowest of all lows during the depression.”

That is the immediate future for the masses of American people, as forecast on May 7 by Leon Henderson, Price Administrator.

In other words, the administration’s program for financing the war is to pay for it out of the living standards of the workers and low income earners.

The masses are to get a drastic reduction in the necessities of life, food, clothing, etc. In the literal sense, their flesh and blood is to pay the war bill. And this is happening at the very time when the financiers and industrialists are making profits.

The workers must demand a rising scale of wages to meet price rises, as the only means of protecting themselves from capitalist inflation.  
 
 
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