August 24, 1998
“Fidel, Fidel!” roared an enthusiastic crowd when Cuban president Fidel Castro arrived in Grenada Aug. 2 on the last stop of a week-long tour through the English-speaking Caribbean. Just 15 years ago, U.S. forces invaded Grenada, occupied the island for 18 months, and installed a government subservient to Washington.
Hundreds of people came out to welcome the Cuban president, and show solidarity and appreciation for Cuba’s role in helping to develop and defend that island. Castro was present for the unveiling of a plaque to honor the Cuban internationalist construction workers killed in the 1983 U.S. invasion. They had been in Grenada building a new airport and defended themselves when attacked by the invading forces.
More than 5,000 Grenadians out of a population of 97,000 turned out to send off the Cuban leader at the end of his visit.
August 31, 1973
DELANO, Calif. — Thousands of farm workers marched in the funeral procession here for a striking member of the United Farm Workers Union who died at the hands of a deputy sheriff Aug. 15. Because of the union-busting activity of local authorities, the UFW has demanded federal intervention. Vineyard owners, foremen, and scabs have been carrying guns and have used them on several occasions.
Meanwhile, in Fresno County, strikers defied an injunction limiting the size of picket lines and the use of bullhorns to appeal to non-strikers. In Tulare County, officials dropped criminal charges against 249 pickets arrested for defying injunctions.
These victories were the fruits of the courage and tenacity of the strikers, who continue their fight in the face of violence and victimization by the race-baiting, union-busting forces arrayed against them.
August 30, 1948
An enraged public opinion is gathering in support of James Kutcher, legless Newark veteran threatened with dismissal from his position with the Veteran’s Administration because of membership in the Socialist Workers Party.
The pending dismissal is based on President Truman’s Executive Order which denies federal employment to those who belong to organizations listed as “subversive.” Kutcher boldly and “proudly affirms membership in the SWP.” Kutcher declared, “I do not advocate force and violence to achieve socialism; the only time I ever practiced force and violence was under orders given me in the Army by the U.S. Government.”
Kutcher brands the entire procedure involved in these hearings as “illegal and unconstitutional.” He insists they be open to the press and the public as the issues “concern the American people as a whole.”