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Introduction
In the Spirit of Stonewall is a compilation of articles commemorating the struggle of lesbians and gay men since the Stonewall Rebellion in New York City in 1969, when a "routine" police raid of a gay bar sparked three nights of heroic street fighting in protest of harassment and oppression. Since the articles in this pamphlet are reprinted from Workers World newspaper, a word is in order about the two organizations, Workers World Party and Youth Against War & Fascism, whose political viewpoint is expressed here. The Gay Caucus of Youth Against War & Fascism (YAWF), formed in 1971, has actively participated in the many struggles of the lesbian and gay movement. Even before the formation of the Gay Caucus, YAWF defended lesbians and gays from attack and welcomed lesbian and gay members into the organization. An example of support was YAWF's participation in a 1970 demonstration at the Tombs, a prison in New York City, in support of Richard Harris, a gay member of the Inmates Liberation Front of the Young Lords Party. In the ensuing years Workers World Party and YAWF have affirmed their support of the struggle of lesbians and gay people at countless demonstrations. Since 1972, YAWF has had a large and militant contingent on Gay Pride marches both in New York City and other cities. Members of Workers World Party, both gay and straight, have played leading roles in fighting back against the oppression of lesbian and gay workers on the job, and in introducing clauses in union contracts forbidding discrimination on the basis of sexual preference. In the radical movement, it has been Workers World Party, often alone, which has challenged other parties and tendencies to support the lesbian and gay struggle. Workers World newspaper has devoted extensive space to coverage and analysis of the lesbian and gay movement. This pamphlet represents a fraction of these articles, a representative sampling of the many articles which have appeared in Workers World. A further explanation of Workers World Party's position on lesbian and gay liberation is The Gay Question: A Marxist Appraisal, a pamphlet published in 1976. This pioneering work traces the history of lesbian and gay oppression and how it originated with the rise of private property, and describes and analyzes this oppression as it evolved through successive forms of class society.