Puerto Rico: One year after Hurricane Maria

Social disaster is result of capitalism, colonial rule
Vol. 82/No. 37 - October 8, 2018
Lucila Cabrera, 86, sits on porch of her house near Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, still covered with plastic tarp. One year after Hurricane Maria, tens of thousands of homes still have not gotten funds or help to build a new roof. FEMA has denied one third of requests for aid.

One year after Hurricane Maria made landfall in the U.S. colony of Puerto Rico last Sept. 20, the U.S. and local governments continue to display their class disregard for the lives of working people there. Most, but still not all,…


Liberals assault rights workers need over Supreme Court pick

Vol. 82/No. 37 - October 8, 2018

On Sept. 27 the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold an unusual second hearing on President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. He has been loudly accused of sexual abuse in two instances — neither…



Bosses refuse help from locked-out unionists in Mass. gas explosions

Vol. 82/No. 37 - October 8, 2018
Unionists locked out by National Grid power company at Aug. 29 protest, above, offered to help after explosions at homes served by nonunion Columbia Gas. They were turned down.

BOSTON — Gas explosions rocked houses in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, three towns along the Merrimack River near Boston Sept. 13, killing one person and injuring dozens. Seventy homes exploded or caught fire from leaks caused by overpressurized gas…


‘Working people need to build our own political party’

Vol. 82/No. 37 - October 8, 2018
Communist League member Catharina Tirsén, right, speaks with Vanessa Goral on her doorstep in Newbury Park in east London Sept. 22. In discussing fight against Jew-hatred, Goral said, “I come from a Polish Roma family. Scapegoating of Roma people can be very strong.”

“The working class in this country should have more of a say. We do need a voice,” Marion Franklin, a medical personal care assistant, told Helen Meyers, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate, when she knocked on his door…


Washington, Pyongyang press talks on nuclear arms

Vol. 82/No. 37 - October 8, 2018

Efforts by the rulers in Washington and leaders in North Korea to reach an agreement on “denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula moved forward during a three-day summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un…


‘We need to get a union into the place where I work’

Vol. 82/No. 36 - October 1, 2018

“We need a union where I work,” Stephanie Revill, 42, who has worked at National Beef for 11 years, told Rachele Fruit, Socialist Workers Party candidate for Georgia governor. “We work in the cold and never know when we’ll get…


Protests in Dallas demand cop who killed Botham Jean be fired

Vol. 82/No. 36 - October 1, 2018
Protesters attend Dallas City Council hearing Sept. 12, demanding Dallas cop Amber Guyger be fired, jailed for shooting and killing of Botham Jean, 26, in his own apartment.

RICHARDSON, Texas — “The sound of the gunshots did not have the resonance to be heard on our small island, but its impact was of nuclear proportions,” Ignatius Jean told the more than 1,500 people who filled the Greenville Church…


Are frenzied liberals afflicted with ‘Trump derangement syndrome’?

Vol. 82/No. 36 - October 1, 2018

As the November midterm elections loom, liberals in the Democratic Party and media, and the middle-class left, are grabbing anything to try and advance their frenetic “resistance” against the Donald Trump presidency. They are driven by fear of the workers…


Iraq protests shake up moves to form new gov’t

Rulers in US, Moscow, Tehran vie to protect interests
Vol. 82/No. 36 - October 1, 2018
Demonstrators Sept. 12 in Basra hold Iraqi flags and images of protesters killed at previous actions demanding water, electricity, jobs and an end to Iranian interference in the country.

Following widespread protests by working people and others against the Iraqi government’s failure to supply basic necessities and the impact of the Iranian rulers’ military intervention and assaults on Iraqi sovereignty, talks to establish a coalition government between U.S.-backed Prime…