A BIG thanks to Cailean Gallagher for her article on Joe Hill (A man sacred and secular, canonical and communist, May 7). Joe Hill was of course executed by the state for the trumped-up charge of murder but in fact he was shot for being a socialist or indeed communist. How good to see the words in print in our newspaper.
Socialists and communists have had many martyrs in the fight against poverty and hunger which capitalism inflicts on the majority of the workers all over the world, but countries never build memorials to them as they do for generals in battles which use workers as expendable fodder. I hope young people are learning the history of socialism and can see the injustice perpetrated by the capitalist class against ordinary workers and therefore carry on the fight for a more equal society.
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To paraphrase Germaine Greer from BBC Question Time some years ago: “The reason that politicians get away with so much is because of the demise of the Communist Party, who kept an eye on them”. At a time when we are losing the right to demonstrate, we need the youth to step up to the plate and fight for our rights.
Rosemary Smith
East Kilbride
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