September 23, 1996
Picket lines, demonstrations and educational meetings are needed now to protest the Clinton administration’s escalating war moves against Iraq. The rulers of the United States — loyally represented by the Democratic White House and the Republican-led Congress — are bombing Iraq not to defend Kurds or the Iraqi people but to protect their own profits and imperial power in the region.
Iraq is a sovereign country. It belongs to the Iraqi people, not to Washington, London or Paris, whose warplanes are acting as military enforcers over almost half of Iraq’s territory.
Clinton has been a consistent war president, from the bombing of Iraq in January 1993 to recent threats against Cuba, Iran and Libya.
Washington should get all its troops, warplanes and warships out of the Mideast and lift the economic sanctions against Iraq, Iran and Libya.
September 24, 1971
“We are men. We are not beasts, and we do not intend to be beaten or driven as such” — from the Sept. 9 statement of the Attica rebels.
From Attica, New York, last week the rebellion shook this country to its very marrow. Within hours after the brutal slaughter of dozens of helpless victims of ruling-class “justice” in America, the selfsame rulers were exposed. The hostages had all been killed by bullets fired by troopers attempting to retake the prison with naked force.
Responsibility for the unspeakable atrocity of the Attica prison massacre lies squarely on the shoulders of the highest government officials, from Gov. Nelson Rockefeller on up to President Richard Nixon himself.
Despite the gruesome price the brothers of Attica paid in standing up for their own identity as human beings, they struck a blow for all of humanity.
September 21, 1946
Maritime labor’s militancy and solidarity tied up every port in the United States so completely that the AFL seamen have won a smashing victory against the government. Within eight days the Truman Administration was forced to capitulate.
But the seamen face a great danger. After every upsurge of the seamen, the capitalist government has opened up a counter-offensive. Wall Street’s politicians will redouble their efforts to whittle away maritime labor’s latest gains.
Wall Street monopolizes the political field. Labor has no effective independent political weapon — no party that is really its own.
Organization on the political field, free of all capitalist ties, is the only effective means of combating the government’s anti-labor moves. The need to organize an independent Labor Party is the main lesson to be drawn from the strike.