2023 brought a growing wave of workplace strikes, anti-war mobilizations, protests of killer cops and other struggles throughout this country. As a bilingual political voice for the League of Revolutionaries for a New America, Rally!/¡Agrupémonos! took steps to help the League unite the revolutionaries in these struggles around the demands of the working class and a vision of a future free of a ruling class.
We have a new bilingual website, allowing us to publish articles every month as we prepare the bimonthly print version. There are also more articles published for the Spanish-language version ¡Agrupémonos!, to enhance communication and analysis between revolutionaries. And the publication has become more integrated into the work of League committees among revolutionaries active in diverse struggles of the working class, especially the class of displaced workers.
Each of these steps relied on the contributions of League members who wrote for the publication and helped distribute its message to the fighters. In that spirit, we take a moment to honor five valiant, selfless comrades who fell in late 2023:
– Ed Castro, Jr. was drafted into the unjust war this government waged against the Vietnamese people, and later helped unmask the government’s false claims that it would care for people who serve in the military. For example, he stood by immigrant veterans who were deported when convicted of crimes, as if they hadn’t earned a place in America through their military sacrifices. Ed also got involved in the California struggles of migrant field workers for economic survival and protection from attacks by agro-capitalists and immigration authorities. [YouTube link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-F5ljyMDFE Two Veterans From The War Talk About Why They Are Supporting Rev Pinkney – YouTube]
– Richard Fahoome participated in many struggles by Michigan’s industrial workers, as well as their transition from union-based struggle towards becoming part of the struggles of the poor and homeless.
– Jitu Sadiki played an historic role in the struggle of prison inmates and the formerly incarcerated to defend themselves from brutality and the loss of rights. This developed into a movement to dismantle the prison industrial complex. He played an active role in the 1992 Unification truce between members of the Crips and Bloods gangs just before 1992 Rebellion in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Jitu was also a leader of the National Urban Peace and Justice Summit held in Kansas City in 1998.
[YouTube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cucsc988E-o
Conversations on Race and Policing (22, Prisons, Police, and ICE), CSUSB Panel Presentation – YouTube
– Gloria Slaughter stood in the front line of the struggle to defend public education, named “Teacher of the Year” for Dekalb County, and honored by Dekalb’s NAACP and Georgia’s PTA while holding leadership positions in the Georgia Association of Education and National Education Association. She co-authored the pamphlet “Murder of the Minds: The Attack on Our Public Schools,” a document clearly ahead of its time.
Gloria served on the Board of the WRFG (Radio Free Georgia) and on the Board of the Georgia Citizens’ Coalition on Hunger. She was also active with the Poor People’s Campaign.
– Jim Fite worked driving truck and in shipyards and auto factories, where he was exposed to dangerous materials, primarily asbestos. From Michigan to California and places in between, he fought the corporations and government officials to remove it safely from schools, office buildings, and other public places. He organized, wrote, demonstrated, and testified. And he always refused the money and positions that were offered to him to get him to change his dedication to science, truth, and the working-class movement. His activities were always centered on agitating against corporate crimes and capitalism. Occupational lung disease starved Jim’s body for decades and cut his life short at 78. His intellectual contribution and moral courage will be missed. Here’s a short video about his experiences (tinyurl.com/JimFiteInterview )
These champions of the working class helped prepare revolutionary fighters for the coming struggles, by which the fate of society will be determined.
Published on January 22, 2024
This article originated in Rally!
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