September 10, 2001
The following message by Puerto Rican independence fighter Rafael Cancel Miranda was sent to the participants in the World Festival of Youth and Students held in Algeria. Cancel Miranda spent over a quarter-century in U.S. prisons.
Since July 25, 1898, we have been a militarily occupied country, a colony of the U.S. They use our youth as cannon fodder for their imperialist wars. They wanted to use me against the Korean people. I refused to go, so they sent me to jail. In recent days, the people of Vieques voted overwhelmingly to stop the bombing of Vieques and to get the Yankee Navy out now.
I ask you to extend your solidarity with the struggle in Vieques — which is the struggle of all — in whatever form you think necessary. Vieques is where they train the criminal forces that could attack any of your countries at any moment.
September 10, 1976
Johannesburg, the main industrial center of South Africa, was shaken by a general strike of tens of thousands of Black workers August 23-25. In the weeks before, more than 170 Black activists were detained without charges. The government also sent large numbers of police and troops into Black areas.
The apartheid regime tried to break the strike by using violent vigilante gangs of Black strikebreakers. The rulers also tried to portray Black workers as having been “intimidated” into striking by radical youths. The apartheid regime has tried to separate different African nationalities from each other so as to increase “tribal” frictions.
The strike was a major step forward for the oppressed Black majority in South Africa. The power of the Black proletariat shown on a South Africa-wide level can be used to overthrow the whole system of apartheid.
September 10, 1951
The Socialist Workers Party will place a presidential ticket in the field in 1952. The National Committee unanimously recommended Farrell Dobbs as the candidate for President, and Grace Carlson for Vice President. The first step will be the organization of energetic petition campaigns to place the party on the ballot in every possible state.
In a discussion of developments since the outbreak of the Korean war, the National Committee observed the rapidly developing signs of social crisis in this country. The divisions within the ruling class; the uncontrolled inflation; taxes on low incomes and the drive toward an all-out war economy tend to sharpen the class struggle and are producing a growing dissatisfaction and restiveness among the workers.
The SWP stands as the sole spokesmen in this country for true revolutionary socialism.