The Militant - March 30, 2015 -- ‘Militant’ backs the union, tells the truth about workers’ battles

Vol. 79/No. 11 March 30, 2015

(front page)
‘Militant’ backs the union, tells
the truth about workers’ battles

BY MAGGIE TROWE
“Thank you for supporting the union and keeping the truth about the union in the news,” said Caleb Rabalais, a pipefitter at Shell in Texas City, Texas, as he purchased a copy of the Militant March 12, as a tentative agreement on a national contract between Shell and the United Steelworkers was announced.

The strike, which began Feb. 1, continues, as Steelworkers negotiate local contracts from Anacortes, Washington, to Catlettsburg, Kentucky.

A growing number of oil workers across the country look to the Militant not only for accurate reporting on the stakes of the strike and solidarity with their battle to defend safety on the job, stronger regulation of work hours and union representation for maintenance workers in the refineries, but for a working-class perspective on other questions — from the importance of the fight against Jew-hatred to the example of the Cuban Revolution.

In Martinez, California, where the Steelworkers are on strike against Tesoro, 11 oil workers have subscribed to the Militant, 60 have bought single copies and two bought books — Absolved by Solidarity, featuring paintings and commentary by Antonio Guerrero, one of the Cuban Five; and Socialism on Trial by James P. Cannon. The latter title outlines the revolutionary program of the working class, as presented on the witness stand by Cannon, then national secretary of the Socialist Workers Party, during the 1941 frame-up trial of leaders of the Minneapolis labor movement and the SWP for “seditious conspiracy.”

During a visit to New York of a leadership delegation of the Federation of Cuban Women to speak at the United Nations and at a number of community events, several subscriptions to the Militant were sold, as well as 20 copies of Women in Cuba: The Making of a Revolution Within the Revolution, five copies of Women and Revolution and a range of other Pathfinder titles.

Militant distributors around the world are stepping up efforts to sell subscriptions to workers and farmers involved in labor and social struggles, and are organizing teams to knock on doors in working-class neighborhoods in cities and small towns, in preparation for a spring drive to boost circulation.

Join us in getting the Militant around. Contact one of the distributors listed on page 8.

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