A SINGLE union local in California allowed its hall to be used for a public meeting where US policy toward Cuba was discussed this past spring. That shouldn’t have been a big deal, but in the eyes of Senate Republicans, it’s enough to merit a congressional investigation.

The chairman of the senate health, education, labour and pensions (Help) committee, Republican Bill Cassidy, has launched a formal inquiry into the activities of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), one of the country’s largest industrial unions, over its members’ participation in a solidarity event with Cuba, according to Fox News.

Cassidy reportedly sent a letter to IAM president Brian Bryant demanding the union give up extensive records about the union’s apparent “links to the Cuban government.” The Senate probe is the latest attack in a widening offensive against labour and progressive organisations being carried out under the guise of combatting a supposed “communist threat” to the US.

This time, the ongoing Republican-backed witch-hunt targets a May 9 meeting at a Machinists union hall in Wilmington, California, organised by the LA Hands Off Cuba Committee, which saw trade unionists and peace activists come together to discuss US foreign policy towards Cuba.

The event drew roughly 40 in-person attendees, with some on Zoom. The main topic of discussion was the US embargo and trade restrictions on Cuba — a policy that has inflicted more than six decades of suffering on the Cuban people through an unjust economic blockade that the United Nations continues to condemn year after year.

Speakers included participants who had just returned from a solidarity trip to Cuba organised by youth and other trade unionists to meet with Cuban workers directly and exchange perspectives. A Cuban embassy staffer, David Ramirez Alvarez, participated in the event by video conference, drawing ire from Cassidy and the neo-McCarthyites in Congress.

IAM’s alleged “crime” — allowing a union hall to be used for a public meeting — is political activity protected by the first amendment to the US constitution, but Cassidy accused the union of “colluding with the murderous Cuban regime.”

He charged IAM with forcing its members to fund “anti-American propaganda” with their dues money, a dubious claim that is not backed up by any evidence but only by incendiary anti-communist rhetoric.

A bigger witch-hunt

The IAM investigation is part of a co-ordinated assault against not only Cuba and its national sovereignty but also against the left, trade unions, and peace activists across the US.

The Justice Department and the Treasury are also reportedly investigating 145 “pro-Cuba organisations” for Cuba solidarity activism, and the house ways and means committee also issued subpoenas to progressive organisations, including The People’s Forum, in a move that has been condemned as a modern-day McCarthyite witch-hunt.

Anti-communism has long been deployed by the capitalist class to divide workers, discredit labor solidarity and trade unionism, and crush democratic dissent. The parallels between today’s Maga attacks and the McCarthy era of the 1950s are unmistakable. Then as now, the target is anyone who dares to question US foreign policy, advocates for peace, or organises for workers’ and democratic rights.

Cassidy’s 18-question letter sent to the IAM demands the union disclose everything from average annual dues to whether any IAM official has “co-ordinated with Cuban organisations.” As if it matters to his “case,” he asks whether event organisers paid “fair market value” for use of Machinists Hall and whether any IAM member has met with federal officials to advocate for changing Cuba policy — again, protected first amendment activity.

The right-wing senator also demanded that IAM explain how it reconciles its mission of fighting for workers’ rights with its members’ “advocacy for Cuba.” Yet, that question conveniently ignores that solidarity with oppressed peoples has always been part of the labour movement’s finest traditions since its inception.

At the end of the day, the IAM investigation is not about “foreign influence.” It is about intimidation and sending a message to every union and organisation that challenges US foreign policy. It is about drumming up false hysteria about the “communist threat” as poll numbers continually show Maga is set to suffer defeats in the November midterm elections.

Standing in solidarity with the people of Cuba, or any other country, is not a crime. Conducting legal political activity to oppose the blockade on Cuba, which has caused untold suffering, is not “collaboration with a hostile power.” Cuba poses no threat to the US, or any other country for that matter. At its core, what is being attacked is basic human decency and international solidarity that is, in the final instance, protected by the US constitution.

This article is republished from peoplesworld.org.