Unions call general strike against coup in Myanmar

‘We will never be slaves to a military junta’
Vol. 85/No. 11 - March 22, 2021
March 10 protest in Katha, farm town of 27,000 on border of Kachin and Shan ethnic regions, part of Myanmar-wide strikes and protests demanding end to military junta’s seizure of power.

Working people in Myanmar began a general strike across the country March 8, seeking to topple the military junta that seized power Feb. 1. The strike comes alongside massive protests, in spite of more deadly repression by the regime. “We…


Help SWP get on NJ ballot: ‘Give workers their own voice’

Vol. 85/No. 11 - March 22, 2021
Joanne Kuniansky, above, Socialist Workers Party candidate for New Jersey governor, and running mate Candace Wagner, inset, address March 6 campaign rally in Union City.

UNION CITY, N.J. — Over two dozen supporters of the Socialist Workers Party campaigns of Joanne Kuniansky and Candace Wagner, for New Jersey governor and lieutenant governor, began a spirited six-week effort March 6 to place the party’s ticket on…



One year since pandemic began, millions of workers need jobs, unions

Vol. 85/No. 11 - March 22, 2021
Volunteers give groceries to jobless workers at food bank in Lindenwold, New Jersey. In 15 states last year the percentage of working-age people with jobs fell to the lowest levels ever.

Millions of workers remain out of work a year after government-ordered pandemic shutdowns slashed jobs in factories, restaurants, hotels, retail, schools and much more. Huge numbers found themselves driven out of the working class and isolated in their homes. The…


‘The fashion world became a capitalist gold mine’

Vol. 85/No. 10 - March 15, 2021
Above, portrait of high society bourgeois soiree. Inset, members of United Steelworkers of America Local 8888 picket in February 1979 in successful battle for union recognition against Newport News, Virginia, shipyard bosses. “The woman question cannot be divorced from the class question,” Evelyn Reed writes in Cosmetics, Fashions, and the Exploitation of Women.

  Cosmetics, Fashions, and the Exploitation of Women by Joseph Hansen, Evelyn Reed and Mary-Alice Waters is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for March. This Marxist classic on women’s emancipation began as a 1954 debate in the Militant…


Democrats push attacks on free speech, rights workers need

Vol. 85/No. 10 - March 15, 2021
Covers of Militant from Aug. 2, 1941, above, as well as of Minneapolis Star Journal, above left, and Minneapolis Morning Tribune, left, both from June 28, 1941. U.S. rulers use FBI, their political police, to target and try to frame up vanguard workers. Special targets were leaders of Socialist Workers Party, Minneapolis Teamsters union leading labor opposition to Washington’s entry into second imperialist war.

Democrats are pressing forward with new attacks on free speech and rights working people need. Their bludgeon is an all-points campaign claiming the Jan. 6 disruption of Congress was nothing less than an “insurrection,” carried out by some right-wing militia…


25, 50 and 75 Years Ago

Vol. 85/No. 10 - March 15, 2021

March 18, 1996 Marching in picket lines, holding press conferences, appearing on radio and TV shows in dozens of cities throughout the United States and in other countries — opponents of U.S. government attacks on Cuba made their voices heard…


Books by revolutionary leaders sell well at Tehran fair

Vol. 85/No. 10 - March 15, 2021

TEHRAN, Iran — More than a million books were sold by mail order during the Tehran International Book Fair, held online Jan. 20-29. The Iran Book News Agency reported that 1,732 Iranian publishers took part. Some 180 foreign publishers also…


Correction

Vol. 85/No. 10 - March 15, 2021

The article “Volunteers Expand Pathfinder Bookstore Placements” in issue no. 9 incorrectly said that during the fall sales efforts volunteers won the most bookstore and library orders ever. It was the most bookstore orders ever.


Support union battles at Marathon, Amazon!

Marathon workers battle largest US refinery owner
Vol. 85/No. 10 - March 15, 2021
Feb. 4 rally in support of Teamster union members locked out for over six weeks by Marathon Petroleum bosses in St. Paul Park, Minnesota. Fight is over safety and union protections.

ST. PAUL PARK, Minn. — Two hundred oil refinery workers have been locked in battle here since Jan. 21 against Marathon Petroleum, the largest oil refining company in the country. They deserve and need solidarity from working people. At issue…