Sankara: ‘The foreign debt is unjust, should not be repaid’

Vol. 82/No. 11 - March 19, 2018

Below is an excerpt from Thomas Sankara Speaks, one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for March. Sankara led the revolution in Burkina Faso from 1983 until his assassination in 1987. Workers and peasants in this West African country established a…


W.Va. telecom workers strike Frontier to defend jobs

Vol. 82/No. 11 - March 19, 2018

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Some 1,400 members of the Communications Workers of America went on strike across West Virginia and in Ashburn, Virginia, March 4, when 10 months of negotiations for a new contract between the union and Frontier Communications broke…


W.Va. teachers: ‘We’re fighting for all workers’

School workers’ struggle wins broad support in W. Virginia
Vol. 82/No. 10 - March 12, 2018
West Virginia teachers, school workers, miners and other supporters at Feb. 26 strike rally in Charleston. Fight won widespread solidarity, taking on aspects of broader social movement.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Chanting “We are united!” and singing “We’re not going to take it any more!” thousands of teachers, school workers and their supporters locked hands above their heads on the steps of the state Capitol here Feb. 26.…


Syrian rulers escalate war against toilers in E. Ghouta

Vol. 82/No. 10 - March 12, 2018

The Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, backed by Moscow and Tehran, has intensified its murderous assault on the 400,000 people in the besieged Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta. Mass mobilizations against Assad’s dictatorship shook Syria in 2011. The regime struck…


Bosses attacks unravel miners gains against black lung

Vol. 82/No. 10 - March 12, 2018

“Black Lung Disease Comes Storming Back in Coal Country” read the headline in the Feb. 22 New York Times. They’re talking about a debilitating and deadly disease that had been pushed way back by a powerful battle waged by miners,…


Cuba’s literacy drive ‘changed society, made us revolutionaries’

Vol. 82/No. 10 - March 12, 2018
Griselda Aguilera, a volunteer in Cuba’s literacy campaign in 1961, tells workers learning construction skills at Casa de Maryland in Hyattsville how the revolution eliminated illiteracy.

WASHINGTON — “We made the revolution and began to change society. As we changed society, we changed — we became revolutionaries,” said Griselda Aguilera Cabrera, describing her and her generation’s experience as participants in revolutionary Cuba’s literacy drive in 1961…


Walmart winning ‘retail wars,’ putting squeeze on its workers

Vol. 82/No. 10 - March 12, 2018

Walmart and Amazon bosses have been battling for domination in market share and profits. The Walton family owners of Walmart have been winning, as Amazon has proven unable to launch any serious challenge to their utter domination of the brick-and-mortar…


Organize the unorganized! Build fighting unions!

Vol. 82/No. 10 - March 12, 2018

“Look at the nonunion workers at Walmart,” Scott Whitt, a school bus driver on strike alongside teachers and other school workers in West Virginia, told the Militant. “They have no leg to stand on.” It’s not only Walmart where bosses…


‘We can build unions that inspire workers to fight’

Vol. 82/No. 10 - March 12, 2018

NEW YORK — Some 4,000 union members rallied here Feb. 24 — and many more in actions in 27 other cities — two days before a U.S. Supreme Court hearing on whether government workers can opt out of paying union…


René González’s diary of Cuban 5 trial presented in Havana

Book shows face of US capitalist ‘justice’ system, caliber of Cuban revolutionaries
Vol. 82/No. 10 - March 12, 2018

HAVANA — One of the events that drew the most interest at this year’s Havana International Book Fair was the presentation of a book by René González, one of the five Cuban revolutionaries who spent up to 16 years in…