Americas

Demonstrations and marches have been taking across the USA, but it wasn't until Chicago's 500,000 and Los Angeles' 1,000,000-plus marches that the mood really took off. Taking their inspiration from these historic and unexpected turnouts, millions of undocumented workers and their supporters turned out in droves for another wave of mobilizations on April 9th and 10th.

Although small compared to some of the other big rallies held around the United States, the rally in Providence, RI in defence of immigrant rights was significant because it was larger than the average rally in the city, and because it shows how deep the opposition to the US government goes.

On April 4, workers from occupied factories and factories under cogestión (workers' control) marched in Caracas from the National Assembly to the Miraflores presidential palace. The march had been organised by the recently created Revolutionary Front of Workers of Factories Occupied and under Workers' Control and included delegations from several occupied factories.

The move to the left that we workers are experiencing will be sooner or later reflected in the United States. The revolutions and insurrections we are seeing in Latin America, particularly in Venezuela and Bolivia, not only inspired the movements we are seeing at the moment in Los Angeles, they also mark a new period in the class struggle.

The magnificent revolutionary movement in Ecuador has risen once again forcing the government to declare a state of emergency in four main provinces. What we are witnessing is the early beginnings of a movement that could develop towards a new insurrection.

On the 30th anniversary of the military coup in Argentina, we remind you of Ted Grant's article on the Argentine Revolution first published in July 1973. As he predicted back then, “The capitalists having clutched the straw of Peronism, will turn to the stick of the generals once again.” This unfortunately is what happened a few years later with another military coup. Today’s activists must study the mistakes of the movement in the past in order not to repeat them today.

Following on the successful anti-war demonstration, Portland's labor and Latin America solidarity activists gathered at Carpenters Local 247 to hear Luis Primo speak on the Venezuelan National Union of Workers (UNT), trade union democracy, and the need to build a trade union movement integrated tightly with the community and society as a whole.

The proposed new anti-immigration law HR4437 in the USA – "The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act"   is a continuation of a vicious cycle of lies and misery. It is a reactionary battery of additions and amendments to existing immigration legislation which effectively declares open war on undocumented workers.

A new flyer from the WIL. Print these out and spread the word about the SoS' campaign of genuine class-wide solidarity against the attacks faced by us all.

"The Iraq War disaster, in which thousands upon housands of Iraqis and Americans have been killed, wounded, tortured, and maimed will continue without end until we, the American working class stop it. After all, foreign policy is the continuation of domestic policy: the “War on Terror” is nothing but a war on workers and the poor at home and abroad. We are the only force on the planet that can end this madness once and for all." A Workers' International League pamphlet.

As the auto workers' struggle with the Big Three U.S. auto makers continues, the business pages of the nation's newspapers have been hit with troubling news about the state of the world's largest auto manufacturer, General Motors. While GM's parts subsidiary, Delphi has filed for bankruptcy, GM itself has seen a huge loss in profitability, sales and its stock tumble to the floor.

The Campbell government is planning a major offensive on the rights of working people. Over the past five years, each attack of the government has been met with stiff resistance. Each battle has taken on an increasingly militant character. With most public sector contracts ending this month, the stage is set for a decisive battle.

The stakes are higher than ever. It's becoming increasingly clear to millions of workers that even in the "best of times", capitalism simply doesn't work anymore. The corruption, greed, and mismanagement of the system has reached unheard of proportions.

Almost one year has passed since Lucio Gutierrez was ousted from power, overthrown by the rising of big sectors of the Ecuadorian population. His replacement, the former vice-president Alfredo Palacio, has not managed to solve any of the fundamental problems that led to the April 2005 rising. Great contradictions are accumulating and will sooner or later explode in new revolutionary events.

The heroic mobilisation of the petrol workers of Las Heras (Argentina) lasted for two weeks and has unleashed the fury of the ruling class and its agents in the government, the judiciary, the media and the police. Here we launch a petition for the support committee of these workers in order to collect signatures and solidarity messages in support of their demands. We have also issued a financial appeal for the workers’ strike fund, to help them in their struggle.

Now that the Havana Book Fair is over we can give a general overview of the event. Over half a million people attended, and for the second year running we, the Spanish Frederick Engels Foundation, were there with our publications. Again there was keen interest in Trotsky’s works. The Cuban edition of Reason in Revolt is selling very well, and there are plans for a Cuban edition of Alan Woods’ book on Venezuela.

The last leg of Alan Woods’ speaking tour of Cuba was in Santiago de Cuba. He spoke at two meetings at the Universidad de Oriente. There was keen interest and people noted the difference between genuine Marxism and the stale old Soviet manuals. A large part of the discussion was dedicated to the situation in Venezuela. Alan insisted that the revolution in Venezuela “will not be completed until a radical expropriation of the capitalist class takes place”.