Texans celebrate May Day
AUSTIN, Texas — Workers, students and their families assembled on May 1 here to celebrate working-class solidarity and rejuvenate themselves for the ongoing struggle for social justice. The event was sponsored by the Industrial Workers of the World and the Monkeywrench Books collective, and featured talks on the history of May Day, songs, children and workers’ theater.
Connecticut readers honor newsmakers
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — “The people can win” was the theme of this year’s May Day celebration here, held a week early on April 24 to allow for the participation of New Haven activists in the huge May 1 march in New York City against nuclear weapons and the war in Iraq.
Unity is heart and soul of labor power
Not since the dismal Cold War days of the 1950s has labor been under such attack from capital in our country. Capitalist globalization is pressing hard on labor from all sides. The far right, with control of both the Congress and the White House, sees its best opportunity in decades to greatly weaken labor. The Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board have been turned into total tools of big business, abandoning even the appearance of neutrality and impartiality. click here for Spanish text
Pensions hijacked: Bankruptcy scam rips off 119,000 United workers
CHICAGO — “You might see me coming down the aisle 20 years from now with my walker,” said flight attendant Melissa Madden. Faced with the slashing of their pensions to the tune of $6.6 billion, she and other United Airlines flight attendants here warn that if United gets away with using bankruptcy to dump its pension obligations, the nation’s entire defined-benefit pension system — and the futures of the 44 million workers it covers — could come tumbling down. Retirement for American workers could become a thing of the past. click here for related story
Shes The Mother
Movie review She’s ‘The Mother’ May, the mother in the movie of the same name, is actually an ordinary grandmother from the suburbs. When her husband dies on a family visit to London, she loses her place in her adult children’s busy city lives.
The Jungle, uncut, spotlights class oppression
Book Review The Jungle: The Uncensored Original Edition By Upton Sinclair Sharp Press, 2003 Softcover, 352 pp., $12
Mr. Bush, youd have liked my brother
My brother, Sherwood Baker, died in Iraq last week. I tried to call you and I tried to write to you, but you never responded.
What it means to be a Communist
A Tribute “A communist is a person who believes the woes we are experiencing today are not owing to the faults of individuals but to the economic system of capitalism under which we live.
The unfinished business of Brown v. Board
Opinion As the 50th anniversary of Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, is commemorated, many recognize the progress, retreat and failure of the desegregation of U.S. public schools.
Using facts to fight health disparities
The struggle against racism in the U.S. health system continues even in these terrible times of the Bush administration and the right-wing controlled Congress.
