An account of Titan rally

Hotheads, thugs, and outside instigators. That's what the participants in the one-year anniversary rally for the striking Titan Tire workers were called by Titan CEO Maurice Taylor and the bourgeois press.

Upon invitation from USWA [United Steelworkers of America] Local 303L member Willie Evans, I drove to Natchez, Mississippi, with some members of other union locals to participate in the September 11 rally. The next morning, splashed across the front page of the Natchez Democrat was the headline, "Union Charges Plant." It opened by saying, "What started as a simple union rally quickly became an ugly Saturday afternoon."

It did start as a simple union rally. (Except there was about 350 in attendance, including workers from Uruguay.) After the rally speeches, the strikers led a march down to the plant gates. Then things got exciting; inspiring. While everyone was chanting union chants, some of the strikers decided to take a tour of their plant to see if Taylor and the scabs were taking care of it. Others joined them. (The gate was unlocked.)

The paper described the day as "ugly." (What they really mean is scary.) What I say was a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Full of worker solidarity. I guess I viewed the events from a different vantage point than Titan CEO Taylor and the bourgeois press. (Apparently the view from behind a mahogany desk is quite different.)

In an editorial, the paper called it a "mob scene" and said, "...we fear that many of the instigators at Saturday's fiasco weren't even locals." (What they really fear is worker solidarity, and that workers were testing their strength.) The paper went on to say, "We can only hope that the culprits...are brought to justice and that our...community won't have to endure such a flagrant display of disrespect again." (I couldn't agree more. Put Taylor in jail.) Taylor and local city officials claim the unionists broke the law. In the eyes of the capitalists, maybe, but that's not the way many workers see it.

And what do city officials think of workers? Last word is that 15 have been charged with trespassing.

Just like Crown Petroleum bosses don't understand why workers and farmers travel hundreds of miles to Texas to join locked-out workers on the picket line, Titan Tire boss Taylor thinks everyone who showed up at the rally that day were thugs, there for the sole purpose of making trouble. It's beyond his comprehension that the working class can join together in struggle despite their efforts to divide us.

These capitalist bosses are like sharks. Loners, swimming the ocean looking for their next meal. (My apologies to the shark.) They have no concept of human solidarity.

Workers will continue their struggle for a just society. Events like this will become more common again. (Unions were built around sit-down strikes.) The rallies will get larger. The divisions put in place by the capitalists will continue to break down. Solidarity will build. Hope to see you there.

Dean Cook 
Deer Park, Texas 
 

Chinese revolution

What a good opportunity to set the record straight on what the revolution was all about as opposed to what we read in the big-business media! In addition, it would be educational to explain Maoism to Militant readers and how (and if) it differs from Stalinism. What gains remain for the workers and peasants of China today despite Mao and his successors? And Taiwan? Hong Kong?

Please, it's not too late…

Barbara Greenway 
Frederick, Maryland 

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of general interest to our readers. Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.  
 
 
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