‘Militant’ wins overturn of Florida prison ban — again

Vol. 82/No. 4 - January 29, 2018

The Florida prison system’s Literature Review Committee says that the impoundment of the Dec. 18 issue of the Militant was a “mistake” and has been reversed. Officials at the Florida State Prison in Raiford banned the issue because of the…


San Juan paper under fire for promoting anti-Semitic article

Vol. 82/No. 4 - January 29, 2018

The owners and editors of El Nuevo Día — the largest circulation daily in Puerto Rico — came under fire for printing an anti-Semitic article by columnist Wilda Rodríguez Jan. 8 titled, “What Does the ‘Jew’ Want with the Colony?”…


Social disaster in mudslide is result of capitalist rule

Catastrophe in California product of profit system
Vol. 82/No. 4 - January 29, 2018
Above, Sept. 2016, revolutionary government mobilized workers in Yaguajay, Cuba, to prepare for Hurricane Irma. Inset, Skylar Fahlman tries to protect her home by herself in Ventura, Calif., surrounded by Thomas Fire. In revolutionary Cuba, watchword was “no one is left alone.” Under capitalism, it’s everyone for themself.

  Like other government officials and the big-business news media, Rob Lewin, head of the Santa Barbara County’s Office of Emergency Management, blamed residents of Montecito, California, themselves for the deaths and disaster visited on the town by widespread mudslides…


How Russian communists led 1950s strikes in Stalin’s camps

Vol. 82/No. 4 - January 29, 2018

Below is an excerpt from “Vorkuta (1950-53): Oppositional currents and the mine strikes” from Samizdat: Voices of the Soviet Opposition, one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for January. The author, Brigitte Gerland, an East German communist, spent some eight…


Pro-independence parties win Catalonia election

Vol. 82/No. 4 - January 29, 2018

When Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who ousted the pro-independence parliament and seized control of the government of Catalonia last fall, called snap elections there for Dec. 21, he hoped a slate of candidates pledged to unity with Madrid would…


Workers donate ‘blood money’ bonuses to help build the SWP

Vol. 82/No. 4 - January 29, 2018

Twenty-three members and supporters of the Socialist Workers Party have contributed a total of $4,648.11 to the party from bosses’ “blood money” bribes in December and January so far. Many workers get “bonuses” doled out at the end of the…


Iran: Workers discontent is driven by war, economic crisis

Vol. 82/No. 4 - January 29, 2018

The working-class discontent fueling protests that swept Iran beginning Dec. 28 was driven by workers’ response to growing economic hardship, continuing restrictions on political rights, widening class divisions and the toll on working people of Tehran’s wars across the region.…


US rulers give high marks to Trump administration policies

Vol. 82/No. 4 - January 29, 2018

The economic uptick in the U.S. and Washington’s moves to defend U.S. imperialist interests around the world are consolidating support among the propertied rulers for the course of the Donald Trump White House. This has not stopped liberals and others…


Cuban Revolution: Example for working people in U.S.

Vol. 82/No. 4 - January 29, 2018

Hurricanes, mudslides, wildfires, earthquakes, floods. Under capitalism all natural disasters turn into social catastrophes for working people. Buildings can be constructed to better withstand hurricanes and earthquakes. Working-class housing can be built on higher land, out of the reach of…