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    Vol.63/No.5           February 8, 1999 
 
 
25 And 50 Years Ago  

February 8, 1974
SAN FRANCISCO - Defense attorney Howard Moore spoke to the Militant forum here Jan. 25 about the latest developments in the case of the San Quentin Six.

Moore represents Fleeta Drumgo, one of the six Black and Latino defendants who were charged with murder and conspiracy in the alleged prison escape attempt in which George Jackson was killed Aug. 21, 1971. Moore formerly served as co-counsel to Angela Davis.

Moore's appearance at the forum came one week after the indictments against the six were thrown out of court on grounds that the grand jury that handed down the indictments had been chosen from a pool that had excluded Blacks, Latinos, Chicanos, blue-collar workers, and youth.

Moore expressed the possibility that the dismissal of the indictments by acting Judge Vernon Stoll Jan. 18 could result in a statute that would prohibit the exclusion from the grand jury of Blacks, Chicanos, youth, and blue-collar workers.

But unless there's a mass movement, Moore continued, the precedent set by Judge Stoll's decision could be ignored by the courts. It's conceivable, however, that any person tried in Marin County who was indicted in 1971 or 1972 could have their conviction overturned he said.

February 7, 1949
The Militant has often pointed out how periods of peace are growing shorter and shorter as capitalism declines. Up until the turn of the century, wars between the imperialist powers ended in relatively stable periods of peace. Today the periods of peace resemble those lulls in war when the opposing sides hold their positions waiting for fresh supplies to mount a new offensive.

Thus the period of "peace" we are now enjoying is no more than a short breather so far as the ruling capitalist class is concerned. With the Marshall Plan they are patching up the worst ruins left by World War II and reviving the battered capitalist economies of Europe.

The North Atlantic Pact picks up where the Marshall Plan leaves off. Its aim is construction of a vast ring of military bases around the Soviet Union rearmament of the Western Powers and mobilization of new armies from the thinned ranks of Europe's youth. The North Atlantic Pact is even designed to bypass the old legal hurdle that America cannot be committed to war without Congressional approval. It is an open secret that the Wall Street rulers have already made a deal with the other imperialist powers to plunge America into atomic war when the hour strikes.

 
 
 
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