May 20—Dockworkers in the port of Livorno (Italy) refused to load weapons on a cargo ship after discovering that they were headed for Israel. One said, “We have no intention to facilitate the transportation of weapons and explosives that will be used to kill the Palestinian people, who are suffering so much.”
An independent trade union representing the workers, the Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), organized the action. “Whenever we know about loading, unloading or passage of armaments in our port, we’ll intervene,” said the USB coordinator. He promised they would declare a strike if necessary “so that no weapons in transit in the port of Livorno will be used to kill civilians, wherever this happens.”
This Livorno dockworkers’ political strike shows the power of international working-class solidarity. But let’s not pull any punches. Only worldwide communist revolution can end imperialism’s murder of civilians as well as their working-class family members in uniform. What will happen when organized workers start seizing those weapons and using them to build a communist Red Army? What can we do now to bring that day closer?
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