March 13, 2000
HAVANA — The following appeared in the Cuban newspaper Granma Internacional. It reports on a press conference by six farmers from the U.S. who conducted a fact-finding trip to Cuba.
“I have discovered a big difference between the way small farmers are treated here and in the U.S. Here they received the title to the land, and there they took it away from me because I am black,” remarked Georgia farmer Lee Dobbins.
Small-scale farming in the U.S survives through high-interest loans obtained on the financial markets to enable us to buy what we need, explained Willie Head. Production costs increase every year, he added. “Here in Cuba farmers not only receive low-interest financial assistance, but are guaranteed the sale of their crops before they plant, and they are protected by bank insurance against natural disasters.”
March 14, 1975
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 5 — Terrorists exploded a lethal pipe bomb at the Central-East Los Angeles headquarters of the SWP and the Young Socialist Alliance last night. The intent of the attack, carried out with a high-explosive bomb at a time when the building was filled with people, was obviously to kill. [A Nazi group, the National Socialist Liberation Front, took credit for the bombing.]
Damage was extensive, but by a fortunate circumstance there were no injuries or deaths.
The SWP was the victim of six bombing and shooting attacks in a two-year period from 1968 to 1970. During the same period the Haymarket was burned to the ground. A similar arson attack was made on the Ash Grove. The Long March was bombed several times. The Los Angeles Free Press has also been the target of several bomb attacks.
March 13, 1950
A trip to West Virginia, seat of some of the most militant mass picketing of the just concluded mine strike, reveals that the miners’ wives played an important role. Here are but a few incidents.
The union had permitted pumpers and a few other maintenance men to work for the Pursglove Coal Co. during the strike. The women took a different attitude. They threw up two picket lines, one blocking the road and the other the bridge to the tipple. This action quickly led the company to “reconsider.”
The women took an active role on miners’ relief. The wives went door to door in their own and surrounding communities and aided in the distribution of food to the most needy families. In Beckley, the women decided to back up the fight by organizing a Women’s Auxiliary.
These actions will be sure to leave their mark on the community as a whole.