1877 strike foretold growth of ‘serious workers party’ in US

Vol. 84/No. 37 - September 21, 2020
Troops attack strikers in Baltimore in 1877 general strike. Karl Marx called it “the first uprising against the oligarchy of capital since the Civil War.” From here, he pointed to the forces of the American socialist revolution — free labor, free farmers exploited by capital and freed slaves.

One of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for September is The Great Labor Uprising of 1877 by Philip S. Foner. After four years of economic depression, a walkout by West Virginia railroad workers developed into a nationwide strike involving 100,000…


Build a union movement in all plants, workplaces!

Fight for gov’t-funded public works program to create jobs
Vol. 84/No. 37 - September 21, 2020
New York City unions Sept. 3 protest mayor’s threat to lay off thousands of city workers.

Sept. 9 statement by Alyson Kennedy, SWP candidate for president. A fight by working people is needed to build a union movement in every workplace and to win immediate protection from the widespread unemployment and rising prices we face. Proposals…


Violent course of antifa, Black Lives Matter threat to working class

Vol. 84/No. 37 - September 21, 2020
Lauren Victor threatened at Washington, D.C., restaurant Aug. 24. Actions seeking to silence, “shame” and intimidate people are on a political course toward anti-working-class thuggery.

In recent weeks there has been an escalation in deadly street violence  led by antifa and leaders of Black Lives Matter, as well as by some rightist vigilantes – from Portland, Oregon, to Kenosha, Wisconsin. The looting, intimidation, arson, street…


Train deaths in Scotland show boss scorn for safety

Vol. 84/No. 37 - September 21, 2020

STONEHAVEN, Scotland — “No one should lose their life at work,” Stonehaven resident Jim Cattanach told the Militant, after two rail workers and a passenger were killed when a train derailed here south of Aberdeen Aug. 12. A government cover-up…


Debate over road forward to win justice for Breonna Taylor

Vol. 84/No. 37 - September 21, 2020
Several hundred people march in Louisville, Kentucky, Aug. 25, calling for prosecution of cops who killed Breonna Taylor March 13. Actions like these point to need for disciplined mass protests as only way to draw in broad social forces needed to put cops on trial for brutality.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Determined to press authorities to stop stalling and prosecute the cops who killed Breonna Taylor, hundreds demonstrated outside the 146th Kentucky Derby Sept. 5. Taylor, an emergency room technician, died at the hands of the city cops…


SWP campaigns to build workers’ fight for jobs, control over job safety

Vol. 84/No. 37 - September 21, 2020
Omar García told SWP presidential candidate Alyson Kennedy, left, “I support unions.” We need unions in every workplace, Kennedy said, to fight for our jobs, wages and conditions.

LIVINGSTON, Calif. — Socialist Workers Party presidential and vice presidential candidates, Alyson Kennedy and Malcolm Jarrett, joined SWP Senate candidate Joel Britton and other campaigners here to speak with working people Sept. 6. Livingston is a town of 13,000 and…


Join ‘Militant’ fight to overturn ban by Florida prison officials

Vol. 84/No. 37 - September 21, 2020
Rally in Florida in October 2018 backing Amendment 4 to restore voting rights to over 1 million former prisoners. It passed by 64%. Militant covers these struggles for prisoners’ rights.

Florida prison authorities continue to ban issue after issue of the Militant, most recently for articles that report on these impoundments and the efforts of supporters of political rights to get them to reverse this. They banned four of the…


Solidarity with Dominion grocery strike in Canada!

Vol. 84/No. 37 - September 21, 2020

OTTAWA, Ontario — As they enter their third week on strike, 1,400 Dominion grocery store workers in Newfoundland received solidarity on Labor Day from fellow Unifor union members and other supporters of their fight for full-time jobs and higher wages.…


Mine workers in Belarus say, Join protests against gov’t

Vol. 84/No. 37 - September 21, 2020

Popular mobilizations across Belarus demanding the resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko have defied his regime’s police threats against workers and protesters for the past month. Despite a heavy security presence, over 100,000 people rallied in Minsk, the capital, Sept. 6,…


What is the political road forward for workers in 2020

Vol. 84/No. 37 - September 21, 2020

As the Democratic and Republican conventions began, most pundits thought that Joe Biden was a shoo-in for president. They pointed to the widespread layoffs, nationwide protests against police brutality and ongoing coronavirus pandemic under President Donald Trump’s watch. But Trump…