Fla. rail worker fights firing after speaking out on safety

Vol. 82/No. 2 - January 15, 2018

Louis Billingsley, a freight rail conductor with 12 years experience, is fighting his firing after speaking out against unsafe practices and conditions at the CSX railroad in a televised interview on CBS Action News Jax in Jacksonville, Florida. Jacksonville is…


Communist League in UK to go ‘deeper into  working class’

Vol. 82/No. 2 - January 15, 2018

MANCHESTER, England — “Workers’ anger has intensified since the 2007-2008 crash, with declining real wages, growing job insecurity and uncertainty of what the future holds in today’s world of crisis, conflict and wars,” said Jonathan Silberman, a leader of the…


The capitalist rulers face a deepening political crisis

Vol. 82/No. 2 - January 15, 2018

Below is an excerpt from the political resolution adopted at the Dec. 16-17 Communist League congress. It is from the section titled, “The rulers’ deepening political crisis.” The post-World War II imperialist relations and structures are becoming unstable and undependable;…


‘Unions are important not just for pay, but for safety’

Vol. 82/No. 2 - January 15, 2018

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. — In the early morning hours of Dec. 11, 2017, Alfred Cadena, a 61-year-old operator on the Continuous Annealing Line, was killed on the job at the ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor mill here. He had 41 years’ experience…


Truckers on strike across Russia face gov’t attacks

Vol. 82/No. 2 - January 15, 2018

Long-haul truckers in Russia conducted their third countrywide work stoppage during the holiday season Dec. 15-25. Since November 2015 they have fought the government over the Platon tax system, a per-ton toll imposed on owners of trucks weighing over 12…


Auckland art auction extends solidarity to Cuba

Vol. 82/No. 2 - January 15, 2018
Auckland art auction extends solidarity to Cuba

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — “Hurricane Irma devastated hundreds of families in Cuba,” Mario Alzugarary, above right, Cuba’s ambassador to New Zealand, told those attending the opening of a three-day art exhibit and auction at the George Fraser Gallery, Dec. 14.…


‘In Cuba there is no discrimination against Chinese’

Vol. 82/No. 2 - January 15, 2018

NAGASAKI, Japan — The differing class origins and perspectives of the millions of people who made up the Chinese “diaspora” over the last 200 years, and how these differences affected their struggles against discrimination, were discussed and debated at an…


Nagasaki: A fitting setting for meeting on overseas Chinese

Vol. 82/No. 2 - January 15, 2018

With a long history of Chinese settlement and trade, Nagasaki provided a fitting setting for this year’s ISSCO conference. The port city of Nagasaki was established on the northwest coast of Kyushu Island in 1571 for trade with Portugal and…


No worker has to die!

Vol. 82/No. 2 - January 15, 2018

“The unions are important not just for pay but for safety,” Pete Batteast told a memorial meeting in honor of his father, a steelworker who was killed on the job in March. The number of workers killed or injured on…


25, 50 and 75 Years Ago

Vol. 82/No. 2 - January 15, 2018

January 15, 1993 NORTH BATTLEFORD, Saskatchewan — Some 3,000 farmers braved bitter cold to fill a hockey arena in this rural Canadian city December 17 in a rally to demand government action on the farm income crisis. The action followed…