The following eyewitness account was given to me by Gary Davis, a student at UNM

"This morning a few students began passing the word that an antiwar rally would be held on the university mall. It was a spontaneous action, but about 400 to 500 people showed up.

"Discussion on possible antiwar action lasted for nearly an hour, finally ending with the consensus opinion that students should continue their protest along Central Avenue. Many felt that the antiwar movement could gain public attention by stopping traffic on the main thoroughfare that runs alongside the campus."

May 17, 1947
The Spanish workers have dealt a stiff blow to Franco's fascist regime. As reported in last week's Militant, work stoppages occurred throughout Spain on May Day. The Franco regime singled out the Basque workers of Bilbao for reprisals.

The May Day strike had been especially impressive in Bilbao, second industrial center of Spain. For two days the workers had shut down tight the great steel mills, mines and shipyards, including the Babcock and Wilcox machine shops.

Provincial governor Riesta ordered mass arrests, but the strike remained solid. Then he decreed that all workers who had participated in the anti-Franco demonstration were to lose all seniority rights, suffer pay cuts and lose pension rights.

The strike spread to other Basque cities Gunpuzcoa province was the scene of sympathy strikes which closed munition, sewing machine, and bicycle plants. The Franco regime has been badly shaken.

The New York Times reports that "Whatever penalties individuals may suffer, the workers in general have scored in a way that observers would not have believed possible in defiance of the iron-fisted Franco police system."  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home