New indictment of Trump is frontal attack on free speech

Defend constitutional rights! Drop the charges
Vol. 87/No. 33 - September 4, 2023
Image of Donald Trump fills screen at June 16, 2022, hearing in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, riot at Capitol. Democrats’ witch hunt against former president aims to stop him running today.

On Aug. 14, Fani Willis, the Democratic district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, announced the indictment of former President Donald Trump and a number of his political supporters under the notorious anti-union RICO law. A grand jury she has been…


‘New York Times’ opens new witch hunt on political rights

Vol. 87/No. 32 - August 28, 2023
New York Times attacks free speech, spurs call for ‘foreign agent registration’ prosecutions.

NEW YORK — With language virtually inviting government prosecutions and other punitive action, the New York Times published a front-page article Aug. 5 claiming that several organizations and individuals in the United States are part of “a financial network that…


SWP: Defend free speech, political rights!

Vol. 87/No. 32 - August 28, 2023

Below is a statement issued Aug. 15 by Róger Calero, Socialist Workers Party candidate for New York City Council District 48. Working people and all defenders of constitutional protections of free speech and assembly should oppose the campaign by the…



Defend free speech for all! Drop charges against Trump

Vol. 87/No. 31 - August 21, 2023
Left, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs law expanding FBI powers in 1934, opening door for agency to become U.S. rulers’ political police. Above, July 19, 1941, Militant reports government’s indictment of Socialist Workers Party, Teamster leaders, under thought-control Smith Act, dealing serious blow to constitutional protection of free speech.

  Defending constitutionally protected free speech is at the heart of fighting the latest assault on political rights by President Joseph Biden’s Justice Department. Special counsel Jack Smith’s second indictment of former President Donald Trump would gut the First Amendment…


Imprisoned for opposing US war drive, Debs ran for president

Vol. 87/No. 31 - August 21, 2023
At rally in Canton, Ohio, June 16, 1918, Eugene V. Debs speaks against first imperialist war and in support of Russian Revolution. U.S. rulers tossed aside Constitution’s protection of free speech for him and others, put him in prison. Debs was leader of rail workers, Socialist Party.

The selection below is from Eugene V. Debs Speaks, one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for August. Debs, a railroad union fighter and pioneer socialist agitator, supported the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. The excerpt is from his speech to…


New conspiracy charges against Trump deepen attack on rights

Vol. 87/No. 30 - August 14, 2023

Assaults on constitutional freedoms, led overwhelmingly by Democrats, dominate the 2024 presidential election campaign. President Joseph Biden’s Justice Department is piling up charges against former President Donald Trump, trying to turn political differences into “crimes” and trying to put him…


Discussions on unions, politics mark librarians’ conference

Vol. 87/No. 30 - August 14, 2023
Discussions of defense of constitutional freedoms, “woke” book bans, need for unions today, politics led to high sales of Pathfinder books at American Library Association conference.

CHICAGO — Nearly 16,000 librarians from public, school, prison and military-base libraries, along with publishers, authors and vendors, gathered here at the McCormick Place June 22-27 for the American Library Association conference. The gathering took place amid increased attacks on…


Democrats’ push to refurbish FBI part of attack on political rights

Vol. 87/No. 29 - August 7, 2023

For over seven years, beginning during the 2016 elections, the Democrats have attempted to use the FBI as a key weapon in their ongoing assault against Republican political opponent Donald Trump. In doing so, they’ve targeted the working people attracted…


Supreme Court ruling for web designer is win for free speech

Vol. 87/No. 28 - July 31, 2023
Colorado web designer Lorie Smith won her Supreme Court case June 30 on her right, under First Amendment protections of free speech from government interference, not to endorse messages she disagrees with. This victory defends constitutional liberties for working people.

The U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 vote June 30 ruled that a Colorado commercial website designer has the right under the First Amendment — which protects free speech from government interference — to refuse to endorse messages she disagrees…