August 14, 2000
SOUTH ST. PAUL, Minn. — “Sí se puede! 112 to 71! We won!”
The meat packers at Dakota Premium Foods here had consolidated the gains of their previous struggles by voting for the union. The July 21 vote was the culmination of a seven-week organizing campaign in this plant. Workers initiated the union drive after carrying out a seven-hour sit-down strike June 1.
The strike and launching of the union drive were the meat packers’ response to deep attacks by the company. Many workers say the speed of production doubled over the previous six months.
The high point of the rally was when the cut workers took the stage at the union hall for a group photo. Dozens had put on black T-shirts that had printed in red letters across the chest, “Union yes — Sí se puede!” The mood was festive and confident. Workers gave themselves a big ovation.
August 15, 1975
Indira Gandhi’s coup ended bourgeois democracy in India for the foreseeable future. Of course, democracy under Gandhi existed mainly for the rich. Nonetheless, it offered certain safeguards and it was possible to offer accurate information in the press and to voice political opposition.
The fate of democracy in India offers evidence of a general phenomenon — capitalism in its death agony has become antithetical to democracy. This has led to suicidal political positions. Some militants have not hesitated to lead in demanding restrictions on democratic rights, that it is correct to demand that a bourgeois government curtail the democratic rights of reactionary currents.
From this error, these militants derive the conclusion that the proletarian revolution can be advanced by shattering democracy while the capitalist state remains intact.
August 14, 1950
Climaxing the 15-year campaign by the government and shipowners to “get” Harry Bridges, Federal Judge George B. Harris on Aug. 5 ordered the president of the CIO Longshoremen to be jailed pending outcome of his appeal against a frame-up conviction for perjury. The denial of bail is virtually unprecedented.
The pretext for the ruling was the claim that Bridges’ activities since his conviction constituted a “danger to internal security.” This “danger,” it was brought out in the hearing, was based on Bridges’ opposition to a union resolution calling for unconditional support of Truman’s undeclared war in Korea and to the government’s move to “screen” maritime workers and remove so-called “subversives” from their jobs.
Since 1939, higher judicial authorities have three times reversed deportation orders against the Australian-born Bridges.