25, 50 and 75 Years Ago

Vol. 83/No. 25 - July 15, 2019

July 11, 1994 BROOKLYN, New York — After less than two days on strike, 2,341 conductors, car repair workers, and track workers scored a victory in their contract fight with the Long Island Rail Road. The four striking locals of…


Railroad workers need to fight for workers control over trains, safety

Vol. 83/No. 25 - July 15, 2019
Coal train near Powder River Basin area of northeast Wyoming. BNSF bosses recently began running dangerously extra-long coal trains from Wyoming mines to Wisconsin. SWP program calls for trains with no more than 50 cars and crew of four, two on each end of the train.

LINCOLN, Neb. — A Union Pacific freight train containing cars carrying military munitions, including hand grenades, bombs and highly volatile ammonium nitrate, commonly used in explosives, from Nebraska to the U.S. Army Depot in Nevada, derailed June 19 as it…


G-20 summit reveals ‘liberal world order’ is coming apart

Vol. 83/No. 25 - July 15, 2019

The Group of 20 annual summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28-29 drew government leaders from the U.S., Germany, Japan, China, Russia, all the main imperialist and other large capitalist countries. It reflected the deep competition over trade between them, despite…


Conference celebrates 100 years ‘on the right side of history’

Socialist Workers Party campaigns for independent working-class political action
Vol. 83/No. 25 - July 15, 2019
From left, John Studer, Dave Prince, Holly Harkness, Steve Clark, Jack Barnes (speaking), Mary-Alice Waters, Norton Sandler, at closing session of SWP conference June 15. Banners summarized continuity of Socialist Workers Party since 1919 founding of first communist party in U.S. and other Active Workers Conference themes.

“We’ll come out of this conference campaigning all across the country,” Jack Barnes, Socialist Workers Party National Secretary, said at the close of the party-sponsored International Active Workers Conference held in Oberlin, Ohio, June 13-15. He pointed to opportunities today…


‘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…