November 22, 1999
For the eighth consecutive year the United Nations General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution condemning the U.S. government’s nearly 40-year-old embargo against Cuba. The tally of the vote: 155 governments in favor, 2 opposed (Washington and Tel Aviv), and 8 abstaining.
U.S. representative Peter Burleigh stated that the sanctions were intended to pressure Havana to respect “human rights” and implement “democracy.”
Ricardo Alarcón, president of Cuba’s National Assembly, responded by pointing out that Washington “backed to the very end” the repressive dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. “Cubans have had to suffer, survive, and develop in absolutely unjust and unjustifiable conditions imposed in a cold, calculated way” at the hands of the U.S. rulers and their embargo since the 1959 revolution brought a government of workers and farmers to power.
November 22, 1974
The United Mine Workers of America announced Nov. 11 that a nationwide strike would begin at midnight. The outcome of the UMWA’s fight for higher wages, for a cost-of-living clause, and for union control of safety could have far-reaching effects on workers in other unions.
The rulers hope to use their attacks on the miners to justify a stepped-up assault on the living standards of all U.S. workers. While the coal companies’ earnings reached astronomical levels last year, miners’ real wages went down by 4 percent. Tragedies, such as the 132 miners who died in 1973, are of little concern to the capitalist government.
Pry open the books of the coal companies and their parent oil trusts for public inspection. Let the miners examine the books of these profiteers to see whether they really are “too poor” to pay decent wages and run safe mines.
November 21, 1949
American workers have now behind them a rich experience of four postwar years marked by numerous important struggles, including the recent steel strike.
The steel workers, like the majority of the labor movement, have emerged victorious in maintaining their union in the face of repeated attacks by the billionaire corporations. But in other respects — living standards, working conditions, job security, etc. — some sections have just barely held their own, while others have actually suffered setbacks.
Yet the workers have fought and fought well. What then accounts for this glaring paradox? The last four years should teach the workers that “pure and simple” trade unionism is much too narrow a field for the solution of their problems. The way out for labor lies in the political field under its own banner, with its own party and program, its own candidates.