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Written by Shane Jones
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Tuesday, 02 June 2009 |
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 In December, Obama presented a handful of measures he planned to carry out once in office. Among these was the expansion of the AmeriCorps program. In April, the $5.7 billion expansion was approved. Over the next eight years, the AmeriCorps program will grow to include 225,000 participants annually, up from the current average of 75,000.
Volunteers in the program work in teams assigned to various projects focused on the environment, education, public safety, “unmet needs,” disaster relief, etc. This is all well and good, but the program is nowhere near being a true “mass program of public works,” nor is it a grass roots movement of any kind. |
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Written by Thomas Anderson
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Thursday, 28 May 2009 |
 April 15th was “Taxed Enough Already” Day for thousands of right-wingers, ultra-rightwingers, and assorted confused radicals across the United States. Images of Ayn Rand book covers on poster boards and people dressed up like the “founding fathers” flooded the media, particularly outlets such the Fox News Network. |
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Written by the St. Louis Branch of the WIL
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Monday, 18 May 2009 |
 After a six month city election struggle, the campaign to elect independent labor candidate Elston McCowan as Mayor of St. Louis, MO has ended. Francis Slay, the Democratic incumbent, won re-election on April 7th, with just 17 percent of registered voters participating in the election. A member and officer of SEIU local 2000, running on the Green Party ticket, McCowan received just 3.2 percent of the vote. Nonetheless, his campaign was a step forward and a sign of things to come as the economic crisis exposes the Democrats’ inability to offer any fundamental alternative to unemployment, cuts in public services and education. |
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Written by Socialist Appeal
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Wednesday, 13 May 2009 |
.jpg) The Workers International League is pleased to announce our first National School, to be held June 13th and 14th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We invite those interested in learning more about the WIL and our 2009 National School to contact
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for more information on registration (required), attendance fees, accommodation, possible partial scholarships, etc. Donations to help us prepare this school in order to educate a new generation of revolutionary Marxists are needed and appreciated. |
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Written by Paul Poposky
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Thursday, 30 April 2009 |
 In an uncharacteristic break from the focus on “Obamamania,” the mainstream media recently cast a cautious spotlight on the plight of America's “newly homeless” and a phenomenon that should send a chill through anyone even remotely familiar with the history of the Great Depression: the return of the shanty town. |
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Written by Shane Jones
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Tuesday, 07 April 2009 |
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 U.S. workers are well aware of the crisis of for-profit health care. The richest nation is home to an estimated 47 million people without health care coverage. Nearly nine million of these are children, and a similarly sized group are those of between 18 and 24 years old...
...Health care reform became a major factor during the presidential elections. President Obama, who promised “reform,” held a forum on the issue at the White House on March 5th. However, rather than invite those who seek real change, the meeting was packed full of those with a direct interest in maintaining the current for-profit, insurance-based health system. |
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Written by Paul J. Poposky
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Tuesday, 03 March 2009 |
 On January 10th and 11th, over 150 union leaders and representatives from 31 states met in St. Louis, Missouri to discuss and share strategies at the Labor Campaign for Single-Payer Healthcare conference. The WIL fights for a socialist health care system, in which all people are covered for free at the point of service. This means the hospitals, clinics, HMOs, medical machine industry, medical schools, drug companies and the insurance companies would be nationalized under democratic workers’ control. |
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Written by Socialist Appeal
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Thursday, 19 February 2009 |
 Late on Thursday, February 19, we received this report on the NYU occupation from Tom Trottier, a WIL member and trade union member in New York City. |
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Written by John Peterson
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Friday, 23 January 2009 |
 American workers are faced with an economic and social crisis on a scale not seen in decades. One after another, the pillars of American capitalism are crumbling around them: all the major banks and financial services companies; all the major auto makers; the dream of home ownership and a secure retirement; the aura of invincibility of U.S. military might; the promise of a tomorrow better than today. In short, the bedrock upon which U.S. capitalism has justified its continued exploitative existence has turned to quicksand. This is the backdrop for Obama's inaugural speech. |
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Written by Socialist Appeal
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Thursday, 22 January 2009 |
 With both the Democrats and the Republicans being unable to solve problems workers face due to their organic connections with the interests of big corporations, the state of the economy is causing millions of people for an alternative to the status quo. In the city of St. Louis, Elston K. McCowan, a long time union organizer and SEIU member, is running for mayor and offers an alternative at the polls. |
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National 
The Workers' International League held its first National Marxist School over the weekend of June 13th and 14th. As part of the School, a public event was organized jointly with Hands Off Venezuela, to discuss the 50th Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution and the lessons for Latin America. Over 60 people attended the event, which was held at the United Labor Centre in Minneapolis, and nearly $100 in donations were raised to help develop the Hands Off Venezuela campaign. The event featured two main speakers, Jorge Martín, International Secretary of the Hands Off Venezuela Campaign and regular presenter at the Havana Book Fair in Cuba, and August Nimtz, a professor at the University of Minnesota and member of the Minnesota Cuba Committee. The discussion was facilitated by Sonia Arevalo of the MN FMLN rank and file committee "Combatiente Anonimo."