Vol.59/No.18           May 8, 1995 
 
 
25 And 50 Years Ago  

May 8, 1970
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, April 29 - The brutal repression of the mass movement in Trinidad and Tobago by the Eric Williams government was reinforced today by the adoption of a sweeping new emergency law empowering the government to suspend indefinitely all the personal and political freedoms laid down by the Trinidadian constitution.

The law was adopted in the grip of a state of emergency and curfew declared by the government April 21 as a desperate response to two months of massive antigovernment and anti- imperialist demonstrations.

The mass demonstrations of the past two months represent the high point of the Trinidadian Black power movement which has been given impetus by the deterioration of the economy as well as by the rise of Black nationalism in the United States. The National Joint Action Committee (NJAC), a united front of several Black power organizations and trade unions, developed out of this movement and by the beginning of 1970, Black power actions under its leadership had become a regular occurrence.

When the government instituted the "emergency" on April 21, it faced a further challenge - a mutiny of sections of the Trinidad Army based at Teteron Bay. At this point, Prime Minister Eric Williams asked for arms and ammunition from the United States, while U.S. and British warships arrived off the coast of the island. President Nixon ordered a fleet of ships carrying 2,000 battle-ready Marines into the area.  
 
May 5, 1945
In a mighty demonstration of power the masses of northern Italy last week rose in insurrection and wiped out the remnants of the Fascist regime in its last stronghold. With Partisan fighters as the shock troops, the workers seized control of the great industrial cities in the Lombardy plain. Mussolini and his Fascist aides met the end deserved by all hated tyrants. After a summary trial they were put to death by a firing squad.

From here on events followed a familiar pattern. The Committee of National Liberation, consisting of Stalinists, "Socialists" and Liberals, received the power which the insurgent masses had wrenched from the hands of the Fascists and Nazis - and promptly handed it over to the bankrupt Bonomi government which rules in Rome by the grace of Allied bayonets. Allied troops immediately rushed in to "restore order" in the liberated cities.

Milan - "Red Milan" - center of the great revolutionary working-class actions which preceded Mussolini's rise to power - was the white-hot focus of last week's stirring mass uprising. The transport workers gave the signal by going on strike. A general strike of all workers in Milan was then set for May 1, the traditional socialist holiday of the international working class. Observing the precarious conditions of the German military establishment and the fear and confusion which had seized their fascist enemies, the Milan workers advanced the date of the general strike to April 25.

With transportation and industry paralyzed, the workers moved into action. Enemy barracks were stormed, strategic buildings and public places occupied by the armed people. Everywhere the Fascist scum were routed.  
 
 
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