Organizing the South remains a key challenge before labor

Vol. 84/No. 43 - November 2, 2020
Steelworkers Local 8888 victory demonstration at Newport News, Virginia, shipyard in 1979. Drive led by Black workers to organize 18,000 there showed possibilities for organizing South.

One of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for October is Labor’s Giant Step — The First Twenty Years of the CIO: 1936-55 by Art Preis. Preis, a participant in labor battles in the 1930s, became a staff writer for the…


Canadian Dominion grocery workers strike wins solidarity

Vol. 84/No. 42 - October 26, 2020
Rally at nonunion No Frills supermarket, Paradise, Newfoundland, Oct. 8. Some 1,400 Unifor Local 597 members have been on strike against Dominion grocery store bosses since Aug. 22.

After more than six weeks on strike at Dominion stores in Newfoundland, Canada, more than 100 pickets from Unifor Local 597 and their supporters rallied in the rain Oct. 8 in the parking lot at a nonunion No Frills supermarket…


‘Imperialism is an arsonist setting fire to our forests’

Vol. 84/No. 40 - October 12, 2020
Burkinabe women building terrace to prevent spread of the desert, 1986. Revolution led by Thomas Sankara mobilized peasants, workers, women to take control of their lives, country.

Thomas Sankara Speaks is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for October. Sankara was the exemplary leader of a revolution in Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in Africa, from 1983 to 1987. His speeches explain how the…


Workers and oppressed peoples worldwide unite!

Vol. 84/No. 39 - October 5, 2020
V.I. Lenin, center, Bolshevik leader of Russian Revolution, addresses Second Congress of Communist International in St. Petersburg, 1920. First four Comintern congresses left a legacy of revolutionary working-class program and strategy still crucial for workers today.

One of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for September is The Socialist Workers Party in World War II by James P. Cannon. Cannon was a founding leader of the American Communist Party in 1919 and served on the executive committee…


Che: ‘Youth must be the motor force of our revolution’

Vol. 84/No. 38 - September 28, 2020
Che Guevara, center, took lead in initiating voluntary labor in early days after Cuba’s 1959 revolution. In future socialist society, he wrote, work will be transformed, turned into production for society without compulsion to force workers to sell their labor power as a commodity.

The Spanish edition of Che Guevara Talks to Young People is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for September. After joining Fidel Castro’s July 26 Movement, Ernesto Che Guevara, the heroic Argentinian-born revolutionary, helped to lead the first socialist…


1877 strike foretold growth of ‘serious workers party’ in US

Vol. 84/No. 37 - September 21, 2020
Troops attack strikers in Baltimore in 1877 general strike. Karl Marx called it “the first uprising against the oligarchy of capital since the Civil War.” From here, he pointed to the forces of the American socialist revolution — free labor, free farmers exploited by capital and freed slaves.

One of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for September is The Great Labor Uprising of 1877 by Philip S. Foner. After four years of economic depression, a walkout by West Virginia railroad workers developed into a nationwide strike involving 100,000…


Gov’t execution rejects Navajo Nation protest

Vol. 84/No. 36 - September 14, 2020

Federal authorities Aug. 26 executed Lezmond Mitchell, a 38-year-old Navajo, despite strong objections by the leaders of the Navajo Nation. This is the only time U.S. authorities have executed a Native American for a crime committed on a Native American…


Was ‘Militant’ wrong on Israel-UAE pact?

Vol. 84/No. 36 - September 14, 2020

Does the recent pact signed by the governments of Israel and the United Arab Emirates make it more likely that other Arab governments in the region will do the same? Does this increase prospects for talks by Arab governments, Israel…


How Cuban Revolution beat the ‘fifth column’ in Escambray

Vol. 84/No. 35 - September 7, 2020
Militia members in the Escambray learning to read and write in 1961. Land reform and literacy campaign benefited peasants, helping the volunteer fighters defeat counterrevolutionary bandits, and deepened support to Cuba’s socialist revolution and its leaders.

From the Escambray to the Congo: In the Whirlwind of the Cuban Revolution by Víctor Dreke is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for September. Dreke joined Cuba’s revolutionary movement as a high school student and became a Rebel…


Russian Revolution proved workers can take power

Vol. 84/No. 34 - August 31, 2020
Workers’ Red Guard patrols south of Moscow during October 1917 Russian Revolution. U.S. communist leader James P. Cannon said workers from U.S., Europe and their “colonial slaves” were lifted up by victory of Bolsheviks after “depression and despair” of imperialist world war.

Speeches for Socialism by James P. Cannon is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for August. A young working-class fighter inspired by the 1917 October Revolution led by the Bolsheviks, he was a founding leader of the U.S. Communist…