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Vol. 73/No. 39      October 12, 2009

 
25, 50 and 75 years ago
 
October 12, 1984
MADRID, Iowa—Last year was bad. But for many farmers, 1984 is worse. More farmers are being forced off the land because they can’t make the payments on their debt.

This was the common theme in all the area reports given at the September 1-2 Grassroots Campaign to Save Our Farms and Communities meeting called by the North American Farm Alliance (NAFA). The meeting here was attended by more than 75 farmers and supporters. They came from 14 states and Canada.

It was reported that a survey of farmers in Wisconsin found that 36 percent felt they would be forced off their farms in five years, and 11 percent said this was their last year.

The Iowa Farm Unity Coalition held a statewide congress that decided to continue direct protest action to preserve farms and to participate in electoral action.  
 
October 12, 1959
That this year’s school openings were marked by relatively little anti-integration violence is regarded by many Northern newspapers as a sign of progress. Such, however, is not the case.

Aside from the ineffectual and quickly dispersed demonstration by some 200 Little Rock white supremacists and the arrest of dynamiters in August, it is true that the beginning of the school year was relatively calm. But the reason is that hardly any new desegregation took place.

This year marked the lowest point for school desegregation since the Supreme Court decision of May 1954. The drastic decline in the number of districts undertaking school desegregation can be seen in the figures for the six years since the Supreme Court’s decision: the first two years, 450; third year, 270; fourth year 60; fifth year, 20; this year, 15.  
 
October 13, 1934
In spite of very serious setbacks to the insurrectionary movement in Spain, the miners of Asturias are still putting up a valiant defense against all the armed forces of the semi-Fascist regime, dominated by Lerroux and Gil Robles.

As warships shell coast towns in the workers’ hands, the embattled miners are barricading themselves in mountain strongholds, where they are besieged by the combined land and air forces of the government in Madrid and many other cities. Throughout the country, street fighting still continues, but all indications now are that the premature, improperly prepared uprising has but small hope of success.

The very fact that the workers have fought so valiantly, in spite of the confusion caused by the lack of a truly united leadership, undoubtedly indicates that Robles will still have much to contend with before he can consolidate a dictatorship.  
 
 
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