The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.25           June 29, 1998 
 
 
25 And 50 Years Ago  
ATLANTA, June 14 - Anger over police shootings that have left five Blacks dead and three other wounded in the past four months has become the key issue in the 1973 municipal elections here.

This afternoon dozens of angry Blacks stormed out of a Fulton County courtroom as the judge announced his refusal to indict a white cop who shot and critically wounded a 14- year-old Black woman June 4. As the hearing on the indictment of [officer J.D.] Roberts began yesterday, 200 demonstrators converged on the Fulton County court house after marching from Capitol Homes. They carried signs reading "Justice for Pamela Dixison," "End Police Terror," "Black Control of the Police," and "Fire Chief Inman."

Black Democratic Vice-Mayor Maynard Jackson is considered the leading candidate for mayor. Three months ago he was calling for the firing of Inman, but he has since retreated. Jackson now saws, "I'll dismiss him if I find he can't do his job after I take office."

The "law and order" statements of these Democratic candidates were echoed today by Judge Kermit Bradford in his refusal to indict Roberts in the shooting of Pamela Dixison.

"It seems," Judge Bradford said, "that respect for law enforcement has reached a new low in Atlanta, Ga. Justice will not be served by anarchy and street justice.... The only hope of a society gone mad is Christian sanity."

June 28, 1948
The Chinese labor movement was silent for about 20 years after Chiang Kai-shek took power in 1927. The movement rose strongly again after V-J Day.

During the Japanese occupation, half of China and the eastern sea coast was under Japanese military control. At this time it was almost impossible for the workers to fight, although their living standards rapidly went from bad to worse.

With the defeat of the Japanese imperialists, a political vacuum existed for a while. The labor movement, which was already fermenting during the Japanese occupation, grasped the opportunity, and emerged into the open.

After the Kuomintang took over the power from the Japanese, they were forced to concede to the workers the right to strike and to organize into trade unions.

The workers' victory pushed the movement to a higher level. Strikes soon spread to every industrial city, centering especially in Shanghai.

According to statistics of the Social Affairs Bureau of the Shanghai municipal government, there were more than 2,000 strikes from September, 1945 to April 1946, involving FOUR MILLION WORKERS. These are the official figures. The actual numbers were far higher. The sliding wage scale was won the first time by the Chinese workers in the course of this gigantic strike wave.  
 
 
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