October 23, 2000
A general political strike and revolt toppled the regime of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic Oct. 5. Factory workers, farmers, and other working people were at the center of the revolt.
During the previous 10 days, militant strikes by coal miners and other working people had made the country ungovernable after the Milosevic regime refused to recognize outright victory for the opposition candidate in the Sept. 24 presidential elections.
“The coal miners strike was the hot spot that received international attention,” said Martina Vukasovic, a mathematics student at the University of Belgrade. “But it was just the tip of the iceberg. Workers and farmers were at the center of the rebellion. Before it was mainly students, professors and middle-class people at the protests. Without the workers we wouldn’t have overthrown the parasitic regime.”
October 24, 1975
DELANO, Calif. — Overcoming seemingly impossible odds, the United Farm Workers emerged the victor in union representation elections here.
The Delano victory has special significance because of the particular historical role of the area. It was in the Delano vineyards in 1965 that the first major strikes were conducted that established the UFW as a force in agriculture. And it was in Delano in 1973 that thousands of strikers were jailed, hundreds were savagely beaten by deputies, and two were killed.
The balloting was accompanied by grower violence, widespread illegal arrests, firings of pro-UFW workers, payroll padding on the eve of the elections, flouting of the election procedures, and a lot more. The UFW climaxed its election drive with impressive showings at two big ranches that were the scene of the most extreme grower illegality.
October 23, 1950
After four years of war in Indo-China, the French colonialists have been unable to reconquer the greater part of that land, although fully half of the existing French army has been engaged in fighting the partisan forces of the Republic of Vietnam.
The puppet government of former emperor Bao Dai rests on French bayonets. Without American aid the French military machine in Indo-China might easily crumble. Washington has just announced that the French will be granted up to $2.4 billion for rearmament and “military operations in Indo-China.”
The people of Vietnam have the same right to be independent as the American people had in their fight against British colonialism in the 18th Century. American workers should protest against the “dirty war” which French capitalism aided by Washington is waging against freedom-loving people.