July 28, 1998
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Chants of “Huelga! Huelga!” (Strike! Strike!) thundered at dawn as close to 1,000 unionists blocked the highway entrance to the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport here July 7. It was the first day of a 48-hour general strike in this Caribbean nation and U.S. colony.
A coalition of about 50 trade unions organized the island-wide strike, involving hundreds of thousands of workers, to support striking telephone workers in their fight to oppose the sale of the state-owned Puerto Rico Telephone Co. to a private consortium led by U.S. telecommunications giant GTE.
It was the first strike of this magnitude since the 1930s. Besides affecting air traffic at the airports in this city, unionists paralyzed the docks, city buses, a few factories, banks, major shopping centers, university campuses, and government offices.
July 27, 1973
NEW YORK, JULY 18 — The Socialist Workers Party and the Young Socialist Alliance filed suit here today in federal district court against Richard Nixon and other officials and former officials of the U. S. government.
The suit asks for a court injunction to halt all government harassment, intimidation, and illegal spying on the SWP and YSA. It also seeks to have the attorney general’s list of “subversive” organizations ruled unconstitutional. The SWP was placed on this list in 1948. In addition, the plaintiffs are asking for damages totaling more than $27 million.
The suit documents wiretapping, tampering with mail, job discrimination, and harassment by government agencies, including the FBI. It also cites incidents of SWP headquarters being firebombed. The actions violate the first, fourth and fifth amendments to the U.S. constitution.
July 26, 1948
The following is [excerpted from] the address of Farrell Dobbs, SWP presidential candidate, broadcast over the CBS network on July 6th.
Working people of America!
Never were conditions more favorable for the launching of a national Labor Party. This party would command immediate response from 15 million unionists and their families who represent the mightiest organized force in this country.
An independent party launched by the unions will become the foremost party in the land. The Socialist Workers Party would support such a party. We would advocate that our program be made the program of the Labor Party.
Working men and women! Take the road of independent political action to establish a Workers and Farmers Government. You can set out on that road in the 1948 elections by casting your vote for the candidates of the Socialist Workers Party.