Mighty rise of unions in 1930s posed need for a labor party

Vol. 85/No. 23 - June 14, 2021
Sit-down strike by autoworkers in 1937 at General Motors in Flint, Michigan, was part of strike wave during 1930s Depression that built Congress of Industrial Organizations and posed need, and potential, for a party of labor to advance the class struggle onto the political plane.

One of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for June is Teamster Politics by Farrell Dobbs. It tells how Teamsters Local 574 members in Minneapolis in 1934 during the Great Depression learned to wield their union power to win strikes. With…


Belarus dictator forces plane down, seizes protester

Vol. 85/No. 23 - June 14, 2021

In a brazen state skyjacking of a Ryanair passenger plane May 23, Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for 27 years, seized dissident journalist Raman Protasevich and his companion, Russian student Sofia Sapega. A MiG-29 fighter…


News update: Victory won in overturning Indiana prison ban

Vol. 85/No. 23 - June 14, 2021

Shortly after going to press June 9, the Militant was informed by Indiana prison authorities that the ban on issues of the paper withheld from subscriber Kevin “Rashid” Johnson had been overturned. “I agree with you that censoring’ images of…


Workers need our own party, a labor party

Vol. 85/No. 23 - June 14, 2021

Statement by Osborne Hart, Socialist Workers Party candidate for Philadelphia district attorney, June 1.  As millions remain jobless today, driven out of the workforce by government-ordered coronavirus shut downs and the sharp contraction in capitalist production and trade, workers and…


Back iron ore workers strike in north Quebec

Vol. 85/No. 23 - June 14, 2021

MONTREAL — More than 2,500 iron ore miners and processing, rail and office workers in Port-Cartier and Fermont, Quebec, members of the United Steelworkers union, have been on strike against ArcelorMittal since May 10. The strike has important implications for…



Correction

Vol. 85/No. 23 - June 14, 2021

The article “Working People Face Fight for Jobs, Steepest Price Hikes in Many Years” in issue no. 22 incorrectly said Whole Foods’ “365” brand was introduced two years ago. It has had a version of this brand available for many…


Refinery workers fight ExxonMobil lockout

Back union fight for safety, job security, seniority!
Vol. 85/No. 23 - June 14, 2021
Steelworkers locked out by ExxonMobil protest outside corporate headquarters in Irving, Texas, May 26. “The company is trying to bust the union,” Local President Darrell Kyle said.

BEAUMONT, Texas — Over 650 members of United Steelworkers Local 13-243 are picketing 24/7 at the ExxonMobil Refinery and Lubricant Blending and Packaging plant here since they were locked out by the bosses May 1. They’re standing up to the…


Iranian rulers seek to tighten grip, advance Mideast clout

Vol. 85/No. 23 - June 14, 2021
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, in car, surrounded by protesting coal miners in Azadshahr, Iran, May 2017. His reformist forces have been barred from running in June 18 presidential election. For years workers have fought to end rulers’ wars abroad, economic crisis at home.

Volatile conflicts within Iran’s cleric-led capitalist regime flared up this month after the Guardian Council barred candidates from President Hassan Rouhani’s reformist forces from running in the June 18 presidential elections. Since the last election in 2017,  authorities have faced…


SWP: ‘Workers need a fighting class-struggle road forward’

Vol. 85/No. 23 - June 14, 2021
Joel Britton, left, Socialist Workers Party candidate for California State Assembly District 18, talks with Quenton Hilton, a mechanic, in Fresno May 29. “Only on the job can workers fight together for higher wages, safer working conditions,” Britton said. “Yes!” Hilton agreed.

Socialist Workers Party candidates and campaigners are finding growing receptivity to their perspective for a class-struggle road forward against the attacks of the bosses and their government, and for workers to form their own party, a labor party. This is…