‘Working class needs to build a labor party’

Vol. 82/No. 38 - October 15, 2018

“Socialist Workers Party? Now that’s something. I’ve voted Democrat for years but now I’m not so sure about any of them,” retired chemical worker Bill Banks told SWP member Jacquie Henderson and supporter Jim Horn when they knocked on his…



Help fight Florida prison officials’ ongoing censorship of ‘Militant’

Vol. 82/No. 38 - October 15, 2018

By continuously impounding issues of the socialist newsweekly the Militant, Florida Department of Corrections officials are routinely violating their own guidelines, and the protections of the Bill of Rights for prisoners to read books and periodicals. The most recent impoundment was…


Trump pushes US rulers’ interests vs. rivals at UN General Assembly

Vol. 82/No. 38 - October 15, 2018

President Donald Trump laid out his administration’s plans to defend the interests worldwide of the U.S. ruling families in his Sept. 25 address to the United Nations. He presented Washington’s efforts to push back the Iranian rulers’ political and military…


Presumption of innocence is crucial right for working class

Vol. 82/No. 38 - October 15, 2018

Democrats continue to lead a furious attack on key political and constitutional rights after Christine Blasey Ford presented her unproven and uncorroborated allegation of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh at Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Sept. 27. During…


Puerto Rico: One year after Hurricane Maria

Social disaster is result of capitalism, colonial rule
Vol. 82/No. 37 - October 8, 2018
Lucila Cabrera, 86, sits on porch of her house near Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, still covered with plastic tarp. One year after Hurricane Maria, tens of thousands of homes still have not gotten funds or help to build a new roof. FEMA has denied one third of requests for aid.

One year after Hurricane Maria made landfall in the U.S. colony of Puerto Rico last Sept. 20, the U.S. and local governments continue to display their class disregard for the lives of working people there. Most, but still not all,…


Washington, Pyongyang press talks on nuclear arms

Vol. 82/No. 37 - October 8, 2018

Efforts by the rulers in Washington and leaders in North Korea to reach an agreement on “denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula moved forward during a three-day summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un…


‘Working people need to build our own political party’

Vol. 82/No. 37 - October 8, 2018
Communist League member Catharina Tirsén, right, speaks with Vanessa Goral on her doorstep in Newbury Park in east London Sept. 22. In discussing fight against Jew-hatred, Goral said, “I come from a Polish Roma family. Scapegoating of Roma people can be very strong.”

“The working class in this country should have more of a say. We do need a voice,” Marion Franklin, a medical personal care assistant, told Helen Meyers, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate, when she knocked on his door…


Typhoon hits Philippines, adds to social crisis facing workers

Vol. 82/No. 37 - October 8, 2018
Miners join rescue workers to dig out victims buried in mudslide in Itogon, Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines — Typhoon Mangkhut, named Ompong here, slammed into northern Luzon, the largest island in the north of the archipelago, Sept. 15. With torrential rains and sustained winds of 105 mph gusting up to 160 mph, the Category 5…


Bosses refuse help from locked-out unionists in Mass. gas explosions

Vol. 82/No. 37 - October 8, 2018
Unionists locked out by National Grid power company at Aug. 29 protest, above, offered to help after explosions at homes served by nonunion Columbia Gas. They were turned down.

BOSTON — Gas explosions rocked houses in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, three towns along the Merrimack River near Boston Sept. 13, killing one person and injuring dozens. Seventy homes exploded or caught fire from leaks caused by overpressurized gas…