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Vol. 73/No. 12      March 30, 2009

 
25, 50 and 75 years ago
 
March 30, 1984
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, England—For coal miners Britain is in a state of martial law. More than 20,000 police—the largest number since the 1926 general strike—have been mobilized to break the strike called by the National Union of Mineworkers. Organized by Scotland Yard under the code name "Operation Robin Hood," this police operation is designed to maintain a system that steals from the poor and gives to the rich.

More than 100,000 of the 183,000 miners are on strike, and pickets are persuading others to stop work. The miners are protesting government plans to close many mines, or "pits" as they are called here.

The battle British coal miners are waging for jobs and defense of their union is one we in the United Mine Workers of America are quite familiar with. The motto, "an injury to one is an injury to all," has no national boundaries.  
 
March 30, 1959
The relationship between art and politics has long been debated in the radical movement. To gain full validity, must a novel or a play with a social theme articulate a "message?" If you are still undecided on that question and are anywhere within traveling distance of the New York theater district then make doubly sure to see Lorraine Hansberry's play, "Raisin in the Sun."

It’s the story of a Negro family in Chicago's black ghetto. There aren't any speeches in it about the sources of Jim Crow and nobody outlines a political program. The author, director, and cast combine their substantial talents to offer an evening of splendid entertainment. But in presenting an artistic truth they deliver as powerful a condemnation of racism and as eloquent a plea for human brotherhood as any orator ever made.  
 
March 31, 1934
It is quite clear that the American people, to use that term, that is, the exploited and exploiters alike in their overwhelming majority, supported the New Deal program. But as it swings into operation on a large scale, the attitudes toward it begin to divide on class lines. Issues of labor unions versus company unions arise. It increases the money available—for those who own the means of production—by forcing the rate of exploitation of the workers upward due to the lowering of their real wages. The workers come face to face with the realities of a stronger monopoly capitalism functioning under governmental regulation and support.

Preparations for further imperialist expansion as a means of issuing out of the crisis lead directly on the path of war. That, we can rest assured, is taken fully into account in the New Deal program.  
 
 
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