Defend Ukraine independence! Back fight to defeat Putin’s war

Protests against Moscow’s invasion continue in Russia
Vol. 87/No. 12 - March 27, 2023
These Russian soldiers are among many in Moscow’s invasion force in Ukraine who are complaining that “command doesn’t care about us.” Tens of thousands of Russian workers and farmers in uniform are cannon fodder as Putin’s war of conquest in Ukraine continues.

As Moscow attempts to crush the Ukrainian people, sending wave after wave of Russian conscripts to their deaths in the assault on the city of Bakhmut, the Vladimir Putin regime has launched its biggest air strikes in several weeks on…


Women wanted to help, to be part of Cuba’s socialist revolution

Vol. 87/No. 12 - March 27, 2023
Graduation of 8,000 “Anitas,” December 1961 in Havana. Young peasant women each received a sewing machine, pledging to teach 10 others how to sew, and to spread the revolution.

To mark International Women’s Day, one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for March is Women in Cuba: The Making of a Revolution Within the Revolution. It is by three leaders of the Federation of Cuban Women, Vilma Espín, Asela…


US bank failures reflect capitalist crisis as rulers debate budget

Vol. 87/No. 12 - March 27, 2023
After March 10 collapse of Silicon Valley and Signature banks, major U.S. regional bank stocks plunged, with First Republic Bank closing down over 60% on March 13. Despite capitalists’ claims of "big stock rally" March 14, shares of First Republic remained down.

Democrats and Republicans are tied up in partisan squabbling over President Joseph Biden’s $6.8 trillion budget plan. While they disagree on Biden’s proposed social expenditures and new taxes to fund them, both parties agree on the need to allocate billions…


Bank failures reflect crisis of capitalism

Vol. 87/No. 12 - March 27, 2023

The collapse of three regional banks and the underlying fall in the value of U.S. government bonds caused by rising interest rates is a symptom of the ongoing crisis of capitalist production and trade, and a harbinger of further crises…


NJ sanitation workers discuss strike over wages, boss attacks

Vol. 87/No. 12 - March 27, 2023
Joanne Kuniansky, SWP candidate for New Jersey state Senate, talks with striking Camden, New Jersey, sanitation workers, from left, Bill Atkinson, Rhashik Mathes, and Moe, on Teamsters Local 115 picket line March 4. “We need workers control over our jobs,” said Kuniansky.

CAMDEN, N.J. — Joanne Kuniansky, Socialist Workers Party candidate for New Jersey state Senate, along with Chris Hoeppner, SWP candidate for mayor of Philadelphia, and this Militant  reporter, visited the sanitation workers picket line here in solidarity March 4. The…


25, 50, and 75 Years Ago

Vol. 87/No. 12 - March 27, 2023

March 30, 1998 DES MOINES, Iowa — Members of the United Steelworkers of America rallied in downtown Des Moines March 6 to support members of the United Auto Workers now in contract talks with Case Corp. The protest aimed its…


Working people in East Palestine fight for control over area cleanup

Vol. 87/No. 12 - March 27, 2023
Cleanup crew places booms across stream in East Palestine to try to stem spread of harmful chemicals after Feb. 3 derailment. Norfolk Southern rail bosses, backed by government, ignored impact on residents, setting fire to five cars of vinyl chloride, worsening toxic disaster.

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Socialist Workers Party members visited with workers and farmers here March 13-14, discussing how rail workers and other union members, farmers, small proprietors and youth in the area can come together to force Norfolk Southern rail…


Cuban rail workers defend safety, gains of socialist revolution

Vol. 87/No. 12 - March 27, 2023
Cuba’s first new rail link in two decades was opened between Havana and port of Mariel in 2014. Cuban trains have five-person crews. For 16-hour Havana-Santiago run across the island, two crews work eight-hour shifts each, with sleeping car for those off-duty.

HAVANA — While in Cuba for the Havana International Book Fair in February, several volunteers at the Pathfinder Press stand who are rail workers were able to exchange experiences with leaders of Cuba’s National Union of Transportation and Port Workers…


Communist League: Repeal laws against non-French speakers, immigrant workers

Vol. 87/No. 12 - March 27, 2023

MONTREAL — “Working people and our unions should oppose Premier Francois Legault’s anti-working-class campaign against immigrants. This is now centered on demanding that Ottawa shut down the unofficial Roxham Road crossing between Canada and the U.S. used by thousands of…


Vt. dairy farmer: ‘Workers and farmers need each other’

Vol. 87/No. 12 - March 27, 2023
Vermont dairy farmer Paul Plouffe pointed to challenges small farmers face in meeting costs of production for the milk they produce, with more dairy farmers being forced off the land.

BRIDPORT, Vt. — “There were 42 dairy farms in this area in the 1980s,” 11th-generation dairy farmer Paul Plouffe told these two Militant  worker-correspondents when we visited his farm here Feb. 5. “Now there are just eight left, after a…