25, 50 and 75 Years Ago

Vol. 88/No. 4 - January 29, 2024

February 1, 1999 President William Clinton repeated in his State of the Union address a favorite theme of bourgeois politicians: that Social Security may be bankrupt within a few decades because a bigger section of the population is living longer…


Teamsters ‘extended picket line’ backs striking US Foods drivers

Vol. 88/No. 4 - January 29, 2024

BENSENVILLE, Ill. — More than 130 striking drivers at the US Foods distribution center here are getting support from fellow Teamsters around the country. Teamsters Local 705 is sending striking workers to other US Foods warehouses around the country in…


Big jump in ‘Militant’ readership behind bars

Vol. 88/No. 4 - January 29, 2024

The number of workers behind bars who subscribe to the Militant grew from 191 in March 2023 to more than 260 today — a 36% increase in less than a year! And there’s no sign the increase is slowing down.…


Defend Israel’s right to exist! Fight against Jew-hatred is union issue

Call for Israel ‘cease-fire’ gives support to Hamas
Vol. 88/No. 3 - January 22, 2024
Hundreds protested in St. Louis Dec. 10 in defense of Israel as refuge for Jews, against antisemitism. Reactionary support for Hamas massacre of Jews has spurred counterprotests.

U.S. officials say they’re focused on preventing a widening of the war between Israel and the Tehran-organized “axis of resistance,” which includes Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Tehran-backed militias in Syria and Iraq, and Houthi-based Islamists in Yemen. “I have been…


Reactionary gov’t in Iran key to Mideast conflict

Vol. 88/No. 3 - January 22, 2024
Tehran, March 8, 1979: 100,000 women, men protest attempt to impose compulsory head covering on women after overturn of U.S.-backed shah. Regime wasn’t able to impose hijab until 1983, as bourgeois clerical counterrevolution consolidated. Regime is trying to extend its reactionary influence across the region.

The reactionary bourgeois clerical regime in Tehran is driven to increase its regional power and influence by force of arms. Its leaders strive to extend beyond Iran’s borders the four-decade-long political counterrevolution that pushed back the workers, farmers, women and…


SWP campaign in Oakland joins protests against attacks on Israel

Vol. 88/No. 3 - January 22, 2024
Margaret Trowe, SWP candidate for U.S. Congress in California’s District 12, speaks against San Leandro City Council motion for an Israeli cease-fire, which would only strengthen Hamas.

SAN LEANDRO, Calif. — The Socialist Workers Party campaign joined other supporters of Israel’s right to exist as a refuge for Jews to speak out against Jew-hatred at City Council debates here and in Alameda Jan. 2. This author is…


Flight attendant unions unite in call for pickets on February 13

Vol. 88/No. 3 - January 22, 2024
American Airlines flight attendants rally at Dallas-Fort Worth airport Sept. 5. More than 75,000 workers on four airlines are fighting for higher pay for all hours they work, livable schedules.

“Join us on Tuesday, February 13, for picketing at over 30 airports worldwide,” says the call posted online Jan. 3 by three unions representing nearly 100,000 flight attendants. “Stand in solidarity with us to demand that airline management stop the…



Defense, extension of political rights key for the class struggle

Vol. 88/No. 3 - January 22, 2024

President Joseph Biden implausibly likened himself to George Washington Jan. 5, at the same time he pressed further attacks on constitutional freedoms won during the Revolutionary War and the class battles that followed it. Biden and his Democratic Party have…


Soldiers’ relatives protest Putin’s war on Ukraine

Vol. 88/No. 3 - January 22, 2024
Wife of Russian soldier fighting in Ukraine protests outside government offices in Moscow Jan. 6. Her sign says, “Get the mobilized soldiers home! Down with conscription slavery!”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war to conquer Ukraine and its people has failed to dent the determination of working people there to defend the country’s sovereignty. Resistance to the war and its consequences continues to rise inside Russia. Despite this,…