25, 50 and 75 Years Ago

Vol. 84/No. 33 - August 24, 2020

August 28, 1995 HAVANA, Cuba — “Capitalism and social development have been, are, and will be eternally irreconcilable,” said Cuban president Fidel Castro here August 6 at the closing session of the “Cuba Lives” International Youth Festival. The capitalist world…


Fight for workers control of production and safety

Vol. 84/No. 33 - August 24, 2020

Alyson Kennedy, the Socialist Workers Party candidate for president, issued the following statement, Aug. 12. The Socialist Workers Party 2020 campaign — Alyson Kennedy for president and Malcolm Jarrett for vice president — is the only campaign that joins and…


Bath shipyard strikers discuss tentative deal, strike still on

Vol. 84/No. 33 - August 24, 2020

After seven weeks of a bitter strike against demands by Bath Iron Works bosses for concessions that would weaken their union, International Association of Machinists Local S6 negotiating committee and the company reached a tentative agreement. Voting is set for…


Nebraska meatpackers, union speak out in battle for job safety

Vol. 84/No. 33 - August 24, 2020
Steps by bosses at Smithfield, above, may “make companies look good,” but don’t protect workers, meatpacker Geraldine Waller, inset, told July 28 protest in Lincoln, Nebraska.

LINCOLN, Neb. — In the face of a widespread outbreak of COVID-19 in meatpacking plants in Nebraska, workers are speaking out, demanding that bosses slow down the line speed, increase the distance between work stations and improve ventilation, to protect…



Protests boost interest in books on working-class politics, history

Vol. 84/No. 33 - August 24, 2020
Eso Won Books co-owner James Fugate talks with customers in Los Angeles. Protests against cop killing of George Floyd led to jump in sales of political books. Supporters of Pathfinder Press are campaigning to increase distribution of books by SWP leaders, other revolutionaries.

“When social protests pick up, people start to read more about working-class struggles,” Jim Kendrick, from Kansas City, Missouri, told the Militant. Kendrick is one of dozens of volunteers across North America working to get Pathfinder books into bookstores and…


Port explosion fuels protests against gov’t in Lebanon

Vol. 84/No. 33 - August 24, 2020

Long-standing outrage among working people over a deepening economic and political crisis in Lebanon boiled over following a massive explosion Aug. 4 on the docks in Beirut. It killed at least 158 people and wounded over 6,000. For days after…


SWP ‘stimulus’ appeal at $143,600, more to come

Vol. 84/No. 33 - August 24, 2020

As late and delayed “stimulus” payments continue to be sent out by the government, the Socialist Workers Party’s special appeal increases. In the last two weeks $5,000 came from six people, bringing the total to $143,600 from 131 contributors! Laura…


Protesters: Prosecute cops who killed Breonna Taylor!

Vol. 84/No. 33 - August 24, 2020
Twenty-six billboards in Louisville from Oprah Magazine demand charge cops who killed Breonna Taylor.

Growing refusal among working people to accept police brutality is propelling support for the arrest and prosecution of the Louisville, Kentucky, cops who killed Breonna Taylor. But five months after the emergency-room technician was gunned down in a “no-knock” break-in…


Protests in Russia Far East rock Putin government

Vol. 84/No. 32 - August 17, 2020

Tens of thousands of working people in Khabarovsk, a city of 600,000 in Russia’s Far East, demonstrated Aug. 1, above, over the Kremlin’s July 9 arrest of elected Provincial Gov. Sergei Furgal. The protests have continued for weeks, initially calling…