25, 50 and 75 Years Ago

October 28, 2024

November 1, 1999

WASHINGTON, D.C. — “No deportations”; “Amnesty now”; “No more arrests on the job.” These were among the most common signs as 5,000 people marched through the capital to demand full rights for undocumented workers and to oppose raids by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The Clinton administration has led the bipartisan drive to limit the rights of residents born outside the U.S., beefing up the immigration cops and giving them greater powers to deport immigrants. Factory raids have become increasingly common.

The action was called as a “March for Dignity and Amnesty.” Many of the speakers promoted lobbying Congress for a “general amnesty” law under which undocumented workers who are currently in the United States could apply for legal status. This action had a much larger trade union presence than a similar protest in 1996.

November 1, 1974

The issues in the Nov. 5 elections are of burning urgency: runaway inflation, growing unemployment, the danger of a world depression, shortages, hunger, rotten schools, the threat of nuclear war, and racist mobs on the offensive in Boston.

Millions recognize that the Democratic and Republican politicians offer no solutions to our problems. Only the candidates of the Socialist Workers Party are telling the truth about the crisis facing working people, and pointing a way forward.

The candidates explain that the stepped-up attacks are not the fault of just one administration or one party, but of a system — the capitalist system, which puts the profits of a tiny, rich minority above the human needs of the vast majority. A vote for the SWP is the only way to cast a clear vote in support of independent political struggle by working people.

October 31, 1949

The exact manner in which Stalin will attempt to forcibly overthrow the Yugoslav regime cannot be foretold by anyone. But this is Stalin’s aim. Tito and his colleagues have little doubts on this score as their entire recent course in the diplomatic arena, especially in the UN, clearly shows.

No Marxist would deny the Yugoslavs the right to maneuver between the imperialists, on the one side, and the Kremlin, on the other. But no maneuvers can save Yugoslavia. Her fate will be ultimately settled on the field of the international class struggle.

It is dangerous to paint up the UN as “an indispensable instrument for peace and international collaboration.” The imperialists would not hesitate for a moment to leave Yugoslavia at the mercy of Stalin, provided he met their price. They await only a favorable opportunity to rape Yugoslavia themselves.