Thomas “Blood” McCreary is a veteran of the Black liberation movement of the 1960s and 70s, having been a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), then the Black Panther Party (BPP), and then the Black Liberation Army. Today he continues to press for release of the former Panthers who are still in prison, many for 45 years. He also advocates for the dropping of the cases against the Panthers abroad, including Assata Shakur.

Chicago, IL – Rank-and-file Teamster militants attended the 43rd annual Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) convention in Chicago November 2 through 4. TDU is a reform movement founded in 1980 with the goal of improving the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and making it a union that fights for the members.

Chicago, IL – Black Community leader Frank Chapman condemned the November 12 killing of an African American security guard, Jemel Roberson, by a white police officer from the Midlothian Police Department in the Chicago suburb of Robbins.

Minneapolis MN – More than 50 people packed Mayday book store, Nov. 11, for an event hosted by Freedom Road Socialist Organization on the outcome of the midterm elections. Speakers at the event included leaders of the movements for immigrant rights, labor, and against police terror.

_Local 705 Freight drivers vote down proposed contract _

Chicago, IL – Negotiations are set to resume Monday, November 12, between Teamsters Local 705 and UPS over a tentative five-year contract for over 10,000 UPS workers in the Chicago area.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, Fight Back! is reprinting some excerpts from the outstanding Russian revolutionary V.I. Lenin on the class nature of the war and what socialists should do about it. When the war broke out in 1914, the leadership of most socialist parties at the time often supported their ‘own’ governments. Lenin and other revolutionaries put forward the correct proposition that the war was a battle between imperialist powers, in which working-class movement should work for the defeat of their ‘own’ rulers, and, where possible, take advantage of those defeats, turn the imperialist war in to a civil war, and make use of every opportunity to seize political power and replace capitalism with socialism. The excerpts are taken from Lenin’s 1915 pamphlet “Socialism and War.”

Washington, DC – UPS Freight employees are voting on a Last, Best, and Final offer from UPS on November 9, 10 and 11. This will be the second round of voting in contract negotiations between UPS Freight and the Teamsters. If the contract is voted down a second time, over 12,000 Teamsters could be on strike as early as Monday, November 12.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Fidel Agcaoilli, Chairperson, Negotiating Panel, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

New York, NY – Widespread panic erupted last month as more than a dozen package bombs were sent to public figures critical of the Trump administration. These package bombs contained identical one by six-inch pieces of PVC pipe packed with shrapnel, pyrotechnic powder, a timer and a detonator. Thankfully, none of these packages exploded before being intercepted.

¡Lucha y Resiste! entrevistó a Amanda Martínez, una Sandinista leal y patriótica. Su nombre verdadero ha sido omitido porque ella ha recibido amenazas violentas contra sí misma y su familia. Ella viene de la ciudad La Concepción, que está al sur de Managua y al oeste de Masaya. La Concepción tiene alrededor de 30,000 personas y es un área agrícola. ¡Lucha y Resiste!: Como sucedió El Golpe Suave en el pueblo de La Concepción? ¿Había tranques? ¿Secuestraron a gente? ¿Como trataron a la gente Sandinista? ¿Que hizo la Policía Nacional?

Fight Back! interviewed Amanda Martinez, a patriotic Sandinista. Her name has been changed to a pseudonym, as counter-revolutionaries have made violent threats against her and her family. She lives in the small city of La Concepcion that is south of Managua and west of Masaya. La Concepcion has a population of around 30,000 people and is mostly an agricultural area. Fight Back!: How did the soft coup against President Ortega play out in the town of La Concepcion? Were there roadblocks? Did they sequester people? How did they treat Sandinista members? What did the National Police do?

Minneapolis, MN – Over 5000 people from all across Minnesota lined Lake Street, from South Minneapolis to Saint Paul, October 28, to show solidarity with transgender, gender nonconforming and intersex people under attack by the Trump administration.

_ “Defending Palestinian struggle and the right to resist occupation by any means necessary must, by necessity, also prioritize the struggle to free all political prisoners.”_

Fight Back! interviewed Charlotte Kates, International Coordinator of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, on the fight to free Palestinian political prisoners. We encourage all of our readers to support this effort.

Chicago, IL – The Teamsters Local 705 negotiating committee informed UPS, October 31, that the contract extension covering over 10,000 UPS workers will be over in 30 days. Both sides will likely continue to meet before that date.

San Jose, CA – “Coast to coast – the Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns President Trump’s plan to issue an executive order against birthright citizenship,” said Masao Suzuki, chair of the FRSO Joint Nationalities Commission. Suzuki said that proposed executive order would be the most infamous presidential order since President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which led to the incarceration of over 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent in concentrations camps during World War II.

Salt Lake City, UT – Student activists from as far as Massachusetts, Florida, Texas and Minnesota gathered in Salt Lake City for the 13th annual Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) national convention over the weekend of October 20.

New York, NY – Over 150 people gathered at the Holyrood Church in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City on October 27 for the International Peoples Tribunal on U.S. Colonial Crimes in Puerto Rico.

Northampton, MA – Western Massachusetts Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a rally and speak out for transgender rights, October 26, in downtown Northampton’s Pulaski Park. Pulaski Park is a block from Smith College, and a short trip from Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Amherst College, and UMass Amherst.

Minneapolis, MN – More than 60 people packed a hall, October 27, to view the film Fidel: The Untold Story, and to learn about the tremendous advances made in socialist Cuba. The event was organized by Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).

Chicago, IL – Negotiations continued between Teamsters Local 705 and UPS, October 25 and 26, on a collective bargaining agreement covering nearly 10,000 Chicago-area workers and one of the last two to settle with UPS around the country.