And still the struggle goes on

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Antonina (Toni) Porter died Aug. 27 after suffering from cancer for several years. She was 47 years old, the mother of three children, Jeffrey, 25; Benji, 21; and Kate, 18. Toni died in Portland, Ore., where she had been a school teacher.

Toni was the daughter of Larry and Gusti Trainor, revolutionary leaders of the Trotskyist movement in Boston. Toni and my two daughters were just a couple of years apart, and they became friends when both families attended Mountain Spring Camp, a wonderful place for socialists to come with their families and relax.

At the camp, all of the children By could avoid the endless political activism of their parents. While the adults enjoyed socialist lectures and discussions, the kids would wander around together, swimming and just plain loafing.

In the Trainor home It was not easy being the child of well-known socialists during the 1940s and early '50s. The capitalist witch hunt was in full swing, and little children at school, reflecting this hysteria, made it felt on kids like Toni. Meanwhile, Larry was witch-hunted out of his job. Gusti became the support of the family.

And what a family it was! Their house was always open to anyone who wanted to learn the real history of the working class and of workers all over the world—their victories as well as their defeats. Larry was a great teacher.

So in the Trainor home, there was always good conversation, debate-and especially good food. Toni became accustomed to this. She was raised on revolution and excellent Italian food.

Civil rights struggle

Then thousands of young people were moved into activity by the heroic struggle of African Americans in the South. Toni was no exception. The truth of oppression and exploitation that she had learned from her parents became real on the streets of the towns of the South.

There young Black children were laying their lives on the line for their human rights and dignity, while students on college campuses across the country were fighting for social justice as well as their own free-speech rights.

Toni and my own daughters also began to march and demonstrate for Black civil rights. They joined the socialist movement and contributed their idealism and dedication.

Today, other young women are beginning to fight against the injustice of this economic system. They are marching for "choice" against another witch hunt by the "moral" anti-choice mobs inspired and encouraged by the U.S. govemment.

Young people are also getting involved against the imperialist attack on Iraq and the possibility of another Vietnam, which could kill tens of thousands of people, both Iraqi and American, just to keep oil money flowing into the pockets of the rich.

Although Toni left the movement and moved to Oregon, where she lived with two of her children, she had made an indelible contribution to the betterment of human society. She gave a good part of her life to make a better world, for which we are all grateful. She will be missed by all who knew her and by her three children, Jeffrey, Benji and Kate.

But the struggle goes on.

The Canadian government has sent troops to Saudi Arabia to fight for "self-determination" for His Highness, Kuwaiti Emir, Sheik Jaber as-Ahmed al Sabah. At the a valiant struggle of its own citizens, the Mohawk Indians, who were trying to defend their own, very real, right to self-determination.

For 78 days the Mohawks-men, women, and children-were fighting to keep their land from real estate interests who wanted to build an exclusive golf course there.

Canadian troops blockaded Native Americans at home-just as they help their imperialist henchmen to starve innocent Iragis into submission in the Middle East. And in Canada, as in the Middle East, imperialism is ready to spill the blood of innocents if starvation doesn't bring these oppressed nations to heel.

What hypocrisy! World imperialism fights for "self-determination" for its Sheik and Emir stooges over there, while they crush a fight for genuine self-determination by Native Americans here.

This is a lesson for all to learn. The rich of the world, wherever they are, consider that all the world's resources are theirs, and in their rapacious greed, they stop at nothing.

Indeed, the struggle goes on.

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