‘We demand: End US colonial rule over people of Puerto Rico’

Vol. 83/No. 24 - July 8, 2019
May 1 union protest in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Front placard says, “No more Promesa” — the U.S.-imposed law demanding Puerto Rico pay its foreign debt — and “No more lies.”

The following is the statement by Seth Galinsky given for the Socialist Workers Party to the U.N. Special Committee on Decolonization at its June 24 hearing on the colonial status of Puerto Rico. Distinguished Madam Chairperson and committee members: My…



Former ‘wives,’ children of IS fighters held in Mideast camps

Vol. 83/No. 24 - July 8, 2019
Thousands of women formerly “married” to Islamic State fighters and their children are being held in appalling conditions in al-Hol, above, and other detention camps in Syria and Iraq.

Thousands of displaced former “wives” of Islamic State fighters, together with tens of thousands of children, many of them orphans, are being held in squalid, disease-infested camps in Iraq and Syria. Their reintegration into society is an important challenge in…


Workers at Gate Gourmet, Sky Chefs fight for contract

Vol. 83/No. 24 - July 8, 2019
Airline catering workers at LSG Sky Chefs and Gate Gourmet mount informational picket demanding wage increase, better health coverage at San Francisco International Airport June 21.

SAN FRANCISCO — Scores of airline catering workers employed by LSG Sky Chefs and Gate Gourmet joined in a noisy and spirited informational picket line outside the airport’s international terminal here June 21. “United Airlines get up to snuff! One…


Undocumented workers in NY win right to driver’s licenses

Vol. 83/No. 24 - July 8, 2019

NEW YORK — After a long fight by supporters of the rights of immigrant workers, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law June 17 that will allow over three-quarters of a million undocumented workers to apply for driver’s licenses here. It…


Sudan military attacks protests demanding civilian government

Vol. 83/No. 24 - July 8, 2019

Military forces and paramilitary thugs assaulted an encampment of thousands of protesters outside army headquarters in Sudan’s capital Khartoum in early June, killing over 120 people, wounding hundreds more and brutally dispersing the rest. The attack comes in response to…


Celebrating 100 years ‘on right side of history’

Vol. 83/No. 24 - July 8, 2019

OBERLIN, Ohio — More than 300 workers and young people from the U.S. and around the world attended the 2019 International Active Workers Conference sponsored by the Socialist Workers Party June 13-15 here. A large banner above the stage at…


Building a party capable of leading workers to power

Vol. 83/No. 24 - July 8, 2019

This excerpt is from The Struggle for a Proletarian Party by James P. Cannon. It is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for July. It records the struggle to build a party, proletarian in program and composition, that can…


Joyce Meissenheimer: Communist fighter

Vol. 83/No. 24 - July 8, 2019
Joyce Meissenheimer in Toronto in December 2007.

MONTREAL — Joyce Meissenheimer, 96, a member and cadre of the Communist League in Canada for almost 50 years, died in Calgary June 7 of heart failure. Before coming to Canada, Meissenheimer was a fighter against the apartheid regime in…


25, 50 and 75 Years Ago

Vol. 83/No. 24 - July 8, 2019

July 11, 1994 EAST PEORIA, Illinois — Members of the United Auto workers effectively shut down operations at Caterpillar Inc.’s plants in three states when they walked off the job June 20-21. The strike involves some 14,000 workers. The outcome…