Defend Workers World Party Against Robber Baron Lawsuit!

In an attack on free speech rights and the left, the Renco Group, owned by billionaire industrialist Ira Rennert, has filed a “defamation” lawsuit in New York Supreme Court against Workers World newspaper. The Renco Group is a union-busting outfit with holdings in real estate, mining and metal industries, and it is a significant contractor to the U.S. military. Rennert, whose mansion in the Hamptons is one of the largest homes in the U.S., also helps finance the right-wing Likud party in Israel and hobnobs with its leaders.

Renco alleges that it was defamed by a 23 February article in Workers World titled “WCI Steel Bankruptcy Robs Workers’ Pensions,” which reported on how WCI Steel and its parent company, Renco, were attempting to use bankruptcy courts to terminate the workers’ pension plan. The Workers World article noted: “This is an episode in a bigger story about the widespread campaign of corporations like United Air Lines, Delphi Automotive Systems and Bethlehem Steel to use bankruptcy to steal workers pensions.”

According to Workers World (25 May), Renco and Rennert are absurdly “basing their argument on a very narrow definition of the article’s use of the word ‘rob.’ They define robbery as ‘forcible stealing’ accompanied by the use or imminent threat of physical force.” In 2004, a union-busting mining company sued the Socialist Workers Party’s Militant newspaper for “defamation” for reporting the miners’ side in a battle for unionization of the Co-Op mine in Utah (see “Defend Utah Miners! Victory to the UMWA!” WV No. 840, 21 January 2005). That lawsuit was recently dropped.

Behind these lawsuits, which may seem frivolous, is a truly sinister purpose: to intimidate and silence pro-working-class forces and to overwhelm leftist groups, financially and otherwise, that have limited resources with the task of mounting a legal defense campaign. We have our differences with Workers World Party. Nonetheless, it is vital that the workers movement defend Workers World against Renco’s lawsuit. The Partisan Defense Committee, a legal and social defense organization associated with the Spartacist League, has made a contribution to Workers World’s legal defense. We urge others to do the same. Send checks to “Workers World/Pension Defense Project” c/o Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., 5th fl., New York, NY 10011.