Workers rally against lockout at Quebec aluminum smelter

Vol. 82/No. 6 - February 12, 2018
Unionists at ABI smelter in Bécancour, Quebec, hold mass picket Jan. 12, day after ABI locked out 1,000 workers. Bosses were turned back after half an hour trying to get into plant.

BÉCANCOUR, Quebec — In a move that surprised both workers and United Steelworkers Local 9700 union officials, ABI aluminum smelter bosses here locked out over 1,000 workers at 3 a.m. Jan. 11. The workers had overwhelmingly voted down the bosses’…


Havana events celebrate Martí, decades of revolution

Vol. 82/No. 6 - February 12, 2018

HAVANA — Carrying what looked like a river of torches, thousands of youth, overwhelmingly college and high school students, marched from the steps of the University of Havana through the city’s streets on the night of Jan. 27. The annual…


What’s behind working-class uprising, discontent in Iran

Vol. 82/No. 6 - February 12, 2018
Two weeks of working-class protests began in Mashhad, Iran, above, and spread to 90 other cities and towns, ignited by opposition to cleric-led regime’s reactionary wars abroad.

The mounting toll on working people from the wars being waged throughout the Middle East by Iran’s capitalist class was the catalyst for the working-class uprising that swept 90 cities and towns across the country starting Dec. 28 for a…


Protests worldwide say: ‘Hands off Kurds in Afrin!’

Vol. 82/No. 6 - February 12, 2018

“The Communist League demands Turkish hands off Afrin! We start from the common class interests and solidarity of workers and farmers across the Middle East, and the rest of the world,” said Catharina Tirsén, (with microphone), a member of the…


Fla. paper reports ‘Militant’ victory on prison censorship

Vol. 82/No. 6 - February 12, 2018

“Newspaper Wins Censorship Battle with Florida Prisons,” headlined a Jan. 24 article by Anne Easker in the Charlotte Sun. Charlotte is south of Tampa Bay, not far from where subscribers to the Militant are incarcerated, and where they helped fight successfully against moves…


Pickets in Canada target Tim Hortons coffee chain takebacks

Vol. 82/No. 6 - February 12, 2018

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — At dozens of locations across Canada unionists and other workers picketed outlets of the Tim Hortons coffee chain Jan. 19. They were protesting the decision by some franchise owners to take back health benefits and paid…


Canada: Diab wins freedom, challenges extradition laws

Vol. 82/No. 6 - February 12, 2018

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — After spending three years and two months in a French prison without being convicted of any crime, Hassan Diab, 64, a university professor from Ottawa, was released Jan. 12 and returned to Canada. No charges had…


Sankara: Goal of revolution is transfer of power to the toilers

Vol. 82/No. 6 - February 12, 2018

Below is an excerpt from We Are Heirs of the World’s Revolutions by Thomas Sankara, one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for February. Sankara led the revolution in Burkina Faso (called Upper Volta until 1984) from 1983 until his assassination in…


Joint Olympics team is an advance for Korean people

Socialist Workers Party says ‘Korea is one!’
Vol. 82/No. 6 - February 12, 2018
South Korean hockey players give bouquets to North Korean players Jan. 25 at Jincheon, South Korea, sports complex. This is first joint team between North and South Korea since 1991.

For the first time in 27 years, North and South Korea are fielding a joint team at an international sports event. Athletes from the two Koreas will also march together under a “unification flag” at the Feb. 9 opening ceremony…


Workers give ‘blood money’ from bosses to build SWP

Vol. 82/No. 6 - February 12, 2018

“I received a $25 gift card for the holidays from the food service company where I work,” wrote Cicely James from Miami. “This outfit offers a lot of small perks in exchange for workers accepting no benefits, low wages and…