Great 1877 Strike showed class-struggle road for US workers

Vol. 82/No. 28 - July 30, 2018
Blockade of engines at Martinsburg, West Virginia, during 1877 rail strike. "The first eruption against the oligarchy of capital which had developed since the Civil War," wrote Karl Marx, showed one key component of the class forces - the working class, oppressed toilers who are Black and exploited farmers - that would come together to lead the revolution in the U.S.

The “Great Strike” of 1877 started among rail workers and then drew in more than half a million overall. Karl Marx wrote that the strike “could very well be the point of origin for the creation of a serious workers’…


1,000s of workers protest for gov’t-funded pensions

‘Our lives are worth more than a pound of coal’
Vol. 82/No. 28 - July 30, 2018
Miners, Teamsters, bakery workers, others protest pension cuts July 12 at Ohio Statehouse.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Thousands of union members — coal miners, Teamsters, bakery workers and more — and their supporters rallied at the state Capitol here July 12 against any cuts in their pensions. Members of the United Mine Workers, a…


Build fighting unions! Pensions for all!

Vol. 82/No. 28 - July 30, 2018

With 1.3 million workers holding pension plans that are heading toward insolvency and millions more dependent on Social Security payments you can’t live on, there is a pressing need for labor to lead a fight for government-guaranteed pensions at union…


Liberals’ furor against Trump fuels voice of the ‘war party’

Vol. 82/No. 28 - July 30, 2018

President Donald Trump’s efforts to advance the U.S. capitalist rulers’ interests in relation to their competitors — in Asia, Europe and the Middle East — have drawn a hysterical furor from the liberal media bosses, Democrats, some Republicans and the…


25, 50 and 75 Years Ago

Vol. 82/No. 28 - July 30, 2018

August 9, 1993 PINCKNEYVILLE, Illinois — As the strike battle between the United Mine Workers and Bituminous Coal Operators Association expands, the miners are reaching out to win new support across the country. There are now 16,000 miners striking in…


‘Militant’ beats back prison censorship in Florida – again

Vol. 82/No. 28 - July 30, 2018

The Militant has won another round against the seemingly unrelenting efforts of Florida prison officials to censor the paper and prevent it from reaching workers behind bars there. After the Militant appealed, the statewide Literature Review Committee of the Department of Corrections…


Ontario salt miners push back boss attacks in 12-week strike

Vol. 82/No. 28 - July 30, 2018
Striking salt miners discuss progress in negotiations on picket line in front of Compass Minerals salt mine in Goderich, Ontario, July 13, before new contract was won in militant strike.

GODERICH, Ontario — Striking salt miners returned to work here July 18 following their approval of a new contract two days earlier. Compass Minerals’ bosses were forced to the bargaining table following determined mass actions by the strikers with the…


Books by SWP leaders perk interest at librarians’ meet

Vol. 82/No. 28 - July 30, 2018
Books by SWP leaders perk interest at librarians’ meet

NEW ORLEANS — An attractive Pathfinder Books booth was a center for political discussion at the American Library Association conference here June 21-26. Sales were brisk on books by leaders of the Socialist Workers Party and other leaders of revolutionary…


Death toll rises as Nicaraguan gov’t continues attacks on protesters

Vol. 82/No. 28 - July 30, 2018
Movement of Mothers of April lead march on Mother’s Day, May 30, in Managua, Nicaragua, honoring those killed and wounded by government thugs during April demonstration. Banner reads “No more assassinations! No more massacres!” Nearly 300 people have been killed.

The largely working-class and student protests that exploded against the government of President Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua in April continue nearly three months later with no sign of abating. Ortega has escalated deadly raids targeting opposition strongholds. Demonstrations against Ortega…


Ukraine miners’ strikes, protests win back wages

Vol. 82/No. 28 - July 30, 2018

For the past year and a half miners in Ukraine’s state-owned coal industry have carried out strikes with round-the-clock picketing, and blocking entrances to mine bosses’ offices and roads leading toward the mines. They have rallied outside parliament and the…