July 1, 1996
FT. MADISON, Iowa — After seven and a half years in prison, Socialist Workers Party member Mark Curtis left the Iowa State Penitentiary here on June 18. Imprisoned since 1988 on frame-up charges of attempted rape and burglary, Curtis recently won parole to Chicago.
Trade unionists, political activists, family and other supporters traveled from eight states to welcome Curtis, celebrate this victory, and recommit themselves to his continued defense, as Curtis faces new challenges on parole.
Within 72 hours after his release Curtis has to report to his parole officer, to the Chicago police department to register as a sex offender, and to the Iowa state police to give a blood sample for DNA fingerprinting.
Supporters in the Chicago area have reaffirmed their commitment to stand ready to defend him from whatever new violations of his rights may occur.
July 2, 1971
The majority of Americans have believed for some time that they were not getting the full truth about Vietnam. Now the Pentagon papers confirm what many suspected or feared was true, but didn’t want to believe. As the full extent of the government’s deception sinks in, there will be a significant deepening of antiwar sentiment and a broadening of the antiwar movement to new layers of the population as a result.
The fact that the thieves who misrule this country have fallen out and let slip part of the truth is a result of not relying on them but only on the independent power of the mass mobilization of antiwar sentiment in the streets.
The slogan for immediate withdrawal of all troops from Vietnam is once again confirmed by these events. The job now facing the antiwar movement is to seize the new opportunities these events present.
June 29, 1946
All competent observers are agreed that the American people after July 1 face price rises of as much as 50 percent in the next six to eight months. What gives some pause to the inflationary drive of the Big Business government is the fear of another strike wave for more wages to meet the soaring cost of living.
To prevent big strikes, administration officials are projecting the idea of exacting a new “no-strike” pledge from the union leaders. How the promise of “price control” worked out during the war is well known. Cost-of-living rose more than 50 percent; wages were frozen.
Workers must launch an all-out fighting struggle to keep wages abreast with price rises. A sliding scale of wages, under a fixed minimum, which is automatically raised to meet every increase in the cost of living should be included in all union contracts.