A Man for all Socialists Michael Harrington on Man \ Santa Cruz Socialism- 4 Report from Nicaragua- s ~- ' this or that teaching of the church, but rather deal with your outright rejection. I suspect LETTERS not many members of DSA would make such a rejection in such explicit terms, but I also suspect that a more diluted and hidden state­ Mixed Review "God," "Spirit," and other superstitions con­ tnent would be fairly common. It has often nected with religion. To tM Ediw: been remarked that anti-Catholicism is the The materialism/idealism question The enclosed $8 is for renewal. Harry anti-Semitism of the intelligentsia. aside, do we really want to support an organi­ Boyte's article Oanuary) did what none of Catholicism has many, many problems, zation which excludes women from its lead­ your other articles have done for me: given about which I could probably write much ership, prevents members from having abor­ me a "feel" for socialist philosophy. Harry longer and more eloquently than you. But it tions, and perhaps worst of all, forbids the Fleischman's dig at In TMse Times for their has also carried a genius for understanding practice of birth control, thus causing untold broad coverage of Citizen Party races is-­ popular culture, which unfortunately the Left suffering in large families in poor third world flat out-stupid. It's akin to one union criti­ often does not. Something very new and countries like those Mr. Holland writes cizing another for getting a good contract. powerful is happening among the poorer na­ about? I don't think so, and I hope I do not Richard Virdone tions where the Catholic Church is strong. read another article in DEMOCRATIC LEFT Littlehm, N.H. This Catholic awakening in the Third World portraying the Roman Catholic Church in will have a powerful influence on the next such a favorable light. A Plague·on Papistry? stage of civilization. By the end of this cen­ Jeffrey Hawk tury, approximately 80 percent of the To tM Edi/or: Mercervilk, NJ. world's Catholics will live in Asia, Africa, and I would like you to know how disturbed I Latin America. The church they create will was by Joe Holland's article in the Novem­ Joe Holland replies: Materialism versus ide­ be very different indeed. ber-December issue. alism is a polarization which is misguided at Catholicism was around for a long time I recognize that DSA is a "multi-tenden­ both extremes. An idealism or spirituality before socialism, and I suspect it will be cy" organization, and given the current state which is uprooted from this world is danger­ around for a long time after socialism. But in of the American Left this is no doubt desir­ ous indeed. But so too is a materialism which the interim. there could be some fruitful in­ able. However, we must stand for some­ has lost the spiritual energy which lives in teraction, if both sides are not too dogmatic. thing, and I did not appreciate reading a pae­ and through matter. It was classical Greek God bless you, Mr. Hawk! an to the Roman Catholic Church in our offi­ philosophers who separated the two and put cial organ. them into opposition. It was the pre-modem New Yor k Conscience For me, philosophical materialism is an tragedy of Western Cluistianity that it built To the Ediw: absolutely essential ingredient of socialist its whole religious thrust on this false dichot­ Thanks for your coverage of our March theory, and it should inform socialist practice omy and created an uprooted spirituality. 25 supper honoring New York City Council­ as well. It is materialism, relying upon empir­ But it was the modem tragedy of the socialist member Ruth Messinger (On the Left, Feb­ ical evidence to establish its goals and meth­ tradition not to return to the pre-socratic ruary 1983). She has indeed been the tireless ods, which distinguishes scientific socialism sense of holism, but rather simply to shift Conscience of New York. from pie in the sky utopian socialism based sides.. .. I'd like to correct one inadvertent im­ upon unprovable assumptions concerning I don't want to enter into a quarrel over pression that the item gave. New York City DSA publishes the New York Dmwcratic So­ EDITORIAL BoARD cialist. It is of course our comrades to the Leo Casey Gordon Haskell north, the Westchester County DSA, who Field Dirrctor Political Dinctor publish the Westchester Socialist. Maxine Phillips Gretchen Donart Orgmrizational Dirrctor Ediw, NY Dmwcratic Socialist Formerly NtlllSktln' of IM DmiomJtic Left and MooitrgOn. P.S. We still have tickets available to the ADVISORY BoARD supper. Mike Harrington and Representa­ Joanne Barkan David Bensman tive Major Owens are among the speakers, M ICHAEL HARRINGTON Jim Chapin Jack Clark with entertainment by Holly Near and Danny Edi/or Gretchen Donart Kate Ellis Kalb. Readers can call us at (212) 260-3270 Patrick Lacefield Ricardo Otheguy for tickets and info. MAxlNE PHILLIPS Jan Rosenberg Bernard Stephens Mtl1flllfoigEdilur Peter Steinfels Thomas Centennial

DEMOCRATIC LEFT is published nine times a year (monthly except July, August and October) by To IM E diw: Democratic Socialists of America. formerly DSOC/NAM. The editorial office is located at 853 For a documentary film about Norman Broadway, Suite 801, New York, N. Y. 10003, Telephone (212) 260-3270. Other national offices are Thomas. to be produced for the centennial of located at 1300 West Behnont Ave., Chicago, IL 60657, (312) 871-7700 and at 29 29th Street, San his birth. ~ovember 20, 1984, I would ap­ Francisco, CA 94110, (415) 550-1849. Subscriptions: $15 sustaining and institutional; $8 regular. preciate films, videotapes, recordings, pho­ Signed articles express the opinions of the authors and not of the organization. ISSN 0164-3207. Microfihn, Wisconsin State Historical Society, 816 State St.. Madison, WI 53703. Indexed in the tos. illustrations and reminiscences. Alternative Press Index, P. 0. Box 7229, Baltimore, MD 21218. Second Class Permit paid at New Harry Fkisdmran York, N.Y. 11 Wedgewood Lane ,Wantagh, NY 11'193

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 2 MARCH 1983 \

CENTENNIAL YEAR STANDING UP FOR MARX by Michael Harrington

n March 13, 1883, Karl Marx emancipation of the working class is the task died in his sleep after a long, KARLMARX of the workers alone." On one of the handful lingering illness. So one hun­ b.Trier,1818 of occasions that he used the miserable dred years later, why not let d. London, 1883 phrase, "dictatorship of the proletariat," he him remain dead and buried? made it clear that he was not using it in our After0 all, he has been more abused by his sense of the word. Under the dictatorship of proclaimed disciples than by his open ene­ • the proletariat, he wrote in his analysis of the mies, to the point that the former sometimes When asked iif I'm a marxist Paris Commune, all officials would be paid agree with the latter that he was indeed a the same wage as workers and would be simple-minded detenninist and a principled permanently subject to recall by the consti­ totalitarian. If Joseph Stalin and J. Edgar tuenoes that placed them in office. Hoover could cooperate so effectively in dis­ Sometimes, of course, he was purely honoring his memory, why bother with him and simply wrong. In 1848, he mistook the on this centenary of his death? Microbiolo­ rise of capitalism for its collapse. He never gists do not go around calling themselves understood the power of nationalism. With "Darwinists"; why should a democratic so­ the exception of his writings on Ireland, his cialist take up the burden of misunderstand­ concept of imperialism (and for seventy ing, of calumny and contempt, that goes with years that of every Marxist after him, includ­ the term, "Marxist"? ing Lenin) was soft on capitalism, thinking Because Marx remains a Himalaya of that it would actually develop the Titird the human spirit, a fallible man who made World. some astounding mistakes, a towering man who still teaches, not truths chiseled in mar­ Rich Legacy ble, but a way of thinking that allows lesser What, then were his accomplishments? folk to stand on his shoulders and see farther Simply to have rigorously thought through than he did. Because the analysis of society is the economic, social, and political precondi­ inextricably bound up with values in a way tions of human emancipation and thereby to that the natural sciences (which are far from have made of socialism not a dream but a being "value-free'') are not. Because if Marx possibility linked to the class struggle. He was not the discoverer of the socialist truth, if developed a self-critical method that allows Marxism is but one of the ways to come to the Marxist, as Lukacs once said, to disa­ socialism, every socialist movement must Karel Kosik, the Czech Marxist, has gree with any, or every, specific judgment of learn from Marx and Marxism because Marx put it well. For Marx, a medieval cathedral Karl Marx and to remain a Marxist. He in­ identified socialism with the actual workers does not merely "express" feudalism; it cre­ sisted, from the time he first became a Marx­ movement, warts and all. ates feudalism as well. The economic, Kosik ist in 1844-5 to his death in 1883, that social­ First, though, a few words about some wrote, functions in Marxism like the God of ism would be the self-creation of the masses. of the most commonplace lies told of this Deist philosophy: as an indispensable first But in a brief article one can only hint at man. cause which therefore remains implicated in the profound complexity of his thought. Per­ all that comes after. It sets in motion secon­ haps a few examples, surprising to some, Myths and Mistakes dary causes that have their own effect, may at least evoke that quality. Marx did not for a moment hold that the sometimes upon the first cause. Or, as An­ The young Marx learned hts feminism economic, and particularly, the technologi­ tonio Gramsci put it, the meaning of social from Fourier (who probably coined the term cal, "detennine" politics and culture. Indeed, class is different in every country because itself). The relation of man to woman, Marx Das Kapital, his masterpiece, is a four vol­ every country has a different political and wrote in the Economic-Philosophic Manu­ ume polemic against the notion that capital is social history that shapes its class relations in scripts of 1844, allows one "to judge the a thing, be it money, a factory or whatever. It a distinct way. entire cultural development of humanity." It is a sustained and profound analysis that capi­ And secondly, Marx was not a totalita­ is the most revealing relationship. It can pre­ tal is a relationship, the way in which money rian but an impassioned advocate of freedom. sent the spectacle of "infinite degradation" or factories are used. He despised the notion From the youthful Theses on Ludwig Feuer-· when woman is the prey of lust, but sexual that the artistic "superstructure" is reducible bach, where he scornfully rejected all top­ and romantic love also presents the image of to the material "base." In fact, his favorite down schemes to tutor the people in proper socialism itself "in so far as the needs of novelist, Balzac, was a reactionary, feudalist socialist values-who, he asked, will edu­ humans become human needs, and an other royalist who, Marx thought, understood cate the educator?-to his inaugural address human as a human is a need, in so far as we, more about the historic rise of capitalism to the International Workingmen's Associa­ in our most individual being, are at the same than almost any socialist. tion in 1864, he insisted that the "task of the time communitarian beings." The older

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 3 MARCH 1983 Marx may not have spoken this way, but he nor Max Planck. The notion of a Marxist the greatest socialist thinker who ever lived, still thought this way. party that takes official positions on meta­ a man deeply committed to freedom, the Secondly, as Jean-Yves- Calvez, one of physical and religious questions-indeed, author and practitioner of a profound and the first of the recent Christian interpreters which presents itself as a counterreligion­ self-critical method. I defend him, I honor of Marx understood, Marx was not an athe­ appears scientifically designed to drive mass­ and identify with him. His way of looking at ist. Insofar as atheism continued to exist, he es of people away from the movement. reality is not perfection, but it is the best we thought, there would be class society. But These "Marxisms" are dangerous rubbish have, the best we are likely ever to have. On when human life and fate were no longer and should be denounced as such. the second centenary of his death, may arti­ detennined by social class, when people died But when all this is said, Karl Marx is cles like this be utterly unnecessary. • from natural causes, not from starvation or inadequate medical care, then the religious question would disappear. There would be neither God nor No God. Therefore, as the Protestant theologian, Helmut Gollwitzer, Reflections of a has written, Marx (and Engels) had con­ tempt for those village atheists who attacked religion. They defended the rights of Catho­ Socialist Mayor lics against Bismarck's repression. I-and other, much more profound Marxists like by Mike Rotkin Labriola and Ernst Bloch-think Marx was utterly wrong in his expectation. In the good he socialist left in the United ior nutrition, neighborhood and women's society, where women and men die not be­ States has very little experi­ health care, housing rehabilitation, legal aid, cause of injustice, but because of the inher­ ence in actually exercising po­ recreation, and the arts. We also funded a ent mortality of the human condition, religion litical power. The few social­ new commission to develop programs for the might not simply survive, it could even flour­ ists who have won elected of- prevention of violence against women. ish. ficeT usually are part of the opposition in gov­ We did this not by raising taxes (an There is another critical point. Marx did ernments dominated by hostile majorities. impossibility under Proposition 13), but by a not believe that the ideal socialist society The city of Santa Cruz, California, with its combination of reducing unnecessary capital (which he called "communism," a vision un­ second DSA mayor, Bruce Van Allen, is an outlays (office supplies, etc.), cutting a num­ related to what the world today calls Com­ interesting exception. Because both Bruce ber of vacant management positions (espe­ munism) would treat everyone in the same and I have served as mayors on a city council cially desk jockeys in the police department), way. Individuals, he said, are physically and with a progressive majority, we have had the and increasing city revenues. This latter ar­ spiritually not equal. To treat them as if they rare opportunity to confront some questions ea, which will become increasingly important were is to reduce them to some simple mea­ about socialists in power. in the future, requires the city government sure which denies their human complexity. As many socialist parties in Europe to break out of its traditional primary role as a So, he wrote, in the communist future, soci­ have discovered, it is often easier to oppose servant of business. Our city is now develop­ ety will inscribe upon its banner "From each existing conditions than be responsible for ing new programs to rent beach equipment, according to their capacities, to each accord­ changing them. Santa Cruz still exists within expand the municipal wharf, develop low-in­ ing to their needs!" the capitalist world and most of our important come housing, sell home insurance, share in Marx, then, is more complex, more rich resources and institutions continue to be the profits of cable television and lease city than is normally imagined. Still, why bother? controlled by private individuals or corpora­ land to business. By competing with the pri­ To call oneself a Marxist in this country is to tions and not the community as a whole. As a vate sector in areas where the city can pro­ invite trouble. Why do it? result, many of the crises we face-housing vide better and/or less expensive services, After all, that old Second International­ shortages and rising rents, unemployment, the city can serve citizens directly while ist-Leninist conception of Marxism as an in­ runaway growth and traffic, crime, inade­ making money to subsidize other city opera­ tegral and total whole is obsolete and reac­ quate health care, limited social services and tions. In a number of areas we shifted the tionary. Engel's view of natural science, for the like-cannot be "solved" by even the cost of operations previously paid for by all instance, is a last gasp of a nineteenth cen­ best of city councils. On the other hand, if all taxpayers to business assessment districts. tury scientism that survived neither Einstein we offer our citizens is an analysis of the way Why should our citizens pay taxes to clean up ~~ in which the broader capitalist system cre­ all of the problems in society while the pri­ ates their problems, they will justifiably won­ vate sector makes all of the profits? '~\ der why we ran for office in the first place. At the same time, we avoided rhetorical ~ · ~ ~- ~~~ or abstract hostility to local business. Al­ Bucking the Tide though we are unlikely to win general sup­ We are still relatively new to the proc­ port from the local Chamber of Commerce, ess, but we can at least share some of what we have worked closely with the Convention our experience of being "in power" has and Visitors Bureau to increase tourism and taught us. First, it is possible to fund needed in many ways to improve the business cli­ social programs by changing priorities at city mate of our downtown mall. hall. Santa Cruz was one of the very few Despite our success at funding new so­ cities in California to increase social service cial programs in a time of decreasing tax The Marxist Tradition spending last year. In fact, we doubled our revenues, we continue to face severe prob­ Whafsuft? expenditures in this area when we funded lems in many areas and we have used the Seep. 11 programs for child care, youth services, sen- council as a forum for indicting the Reagan

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 4 MARCH 1983 administration for misspending our national wealth on military boondoggles like the MX missile sysem and adventures in Central America. For example, we let senior groups know why their funding was less than re­ quested and urged their involvement in groups attacking current national priorities. As democratic socialists, we have felt a real responsibility to open local government to greater citizen participation. Changes like increased public hearings, open office hours, responding to all calls and letters, scheduling particular agenda items at the convenience of grassroots groups, and not postponing deci­ sions, but making them in front of the con­ cerned public have helped show Santa Cruz residents that they control the city council and not the reverse. Because our long-range goal is an active citizenry willing to and cap­ Mike Rotkin, L, congratulates Bruce Van Allen as the reins of city govern­ able of controlling their own society, we ment change hands. make every effort to accommodate citizen groups seeking council support on a wide hood groups, seniors, tenants, minorities, that some day all of the members of a left variety of issues. labor, environmentalists, feminists, stu­ coalition will "see the light" and our organiza­ dents, gays and lesbians, peace activists, tion will rise to preeminence in the coalition. Extending Democracy and progressives in general (not necessarily This view, whether expressed openly by so­ Simultaneously, city staff have begun to in that order!). cialists or just manifest in our often arrogant develop new working relationships with citi­ Although the left in the United States behavior toward grassroots organizers, zen groups. Rather than simply imposing generally accepts the need to build electoral workers or others who "have not yet risen to new programs or developments on resi­ coalitions, I don't believe that we have gen­ our level of sophistication," often leads our dents, the City Planning and Public Works erally understood either the nature of suc­ partners in coalition to wonder, ''What will Departments work directly with grassroots cessful coalitions or their implications for our these socialists do if they really get power?" neighborhood groups throughout all stages of vision of a democratic socialist society. 1lle We must understand that our goal is not each project. In one successful case, for ex­ coalition we have built in Santa Cruz sinks the taking of power by a single monolithic ample, an environmental group helped the deep roots into the population of our city. party- no matter how democratic- but the city staff in the Parks and Recreation Depart­ Unlike most coalitions, which are formed devolution of power to a wide variety of in­ ment develop an integrated pest manage­ from the top down, our work in Santa Cruz, stitutions and organizations. The coalitions ment system to reduce the city's use of toxic whether with the neighborhood movement, within which we participate are not merely a pesticides and herbicides. In the past such a tenant organizing, or feminist issues, began means to socialist electoral power. The em­ group might never have gotten beyond pro­ with patient longterm grassroots organizing. powerment of such a coalition as an ongoing testing city policies. By working directly with Most people in the U.S. have very little proposition is in fact the content of the social­ citizen groups, city staff learn that they are experience with democratic organizations ist vision itself. serving the public, and the public begins to Whether we are talking about political par­ For instance, a socialist society will still believe that government is not an alien force ties, unions, church groups or civic organiza­ need trade unions and environmental but an instrument of their own social power. tions, we can see a general trend away from groups, to name only a couple. The partial Once in office, though, we did face the direct participation in face-to-face relation­ but real conflicts of such groups within our strain of isolation from our constituents. Our ships. We believe that our coalition has won coalitions today will be lessened but will not continuing contact with the DSA local and political power because it does in fact (and disappear simply because resources and in­ with Westside Neighbors, one of the com­ not just in intention) represent a broad cross stitutions have become socialized and are muruty groups in our coalition, was extreme­ section of the people in our community. Jt is more democratically controlled. ly important in countering that isolation. Be­ simply not enough for socialists to help pull As a socialist mayor I found that the full cause DSA members were involved in so together coalitions; we have a critical role to and open expression of this democratic and many areas we could keep in touch with what play in helping build the active membership of participatory vision of socialism created few was going on in a variety of constituencies. the groups that constitute the coalition at the conflicts between me and the vast majority of electoral level. All of the progressive and nonsocialists in the coalition that elected me Process and Goals socialist councilmembers in Santa Cruz have to political office. It is a vision that goes back Perhaps our most significant learning had roots in this kind of grassroots organiz­ at least to the Paris Commune of 1871. Most experiences have come through the develop­ ing. There is simply no substitute for iL significantly, it is a vision that suggests our ment of coalition politics. Bruce and I were My experience in working with our coa­ ends and means are consistent and that the not elected to office because we are social­ lition in Santa Cruz has mtluenced my con­ movement we build today will not become ists. We have been consistently open about ception of socialism as a goal. Democratic the totalitarian nightmare of the future. • our commitment to socialism and feminism, leftists certainly reject the Stalinist concep­ but most people voted for us because of our tion of coalitions as mere "fronts" to be ma­ Mike Rotkin served as mayor of Santa Cruz commitment to programs meeting the needs nipulated by the vanguard party with the from 1981-82. He is currently on thecilycoun­ of a broad coalition composed of neighbor- "correct line." But most of us still imagine ciJ.

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 5 MARCH 1983 MIDDLE EAST Lonely Battle for Peace by f o-Ann Mort JM: What did the demonstration last fall of400, 000 peapk protesting in Tel Aviv repre­ lazer Granot, born in Jerusa­ sent? lem in 1927, is a fourth-gener­ EG: First of all, 400,000 Israelis equals ation Israeli. A poet and politi­ 25 million in this country. Ask yourself, what cian, he was a commander in could 25 million in America accomplish? This battles in Jerusalem and the is a tremendous force. This was the first time NegevE during Israel's War of Independence. since the establishment of Israel that the His first wife was murdered in 1955 by infil­ Labor party joined a political demonstration. trators in the Kibbutz Sasa where they lived. It was a special issue, of course, establishing He now lives in Kibbutz Shuval. He has been the Commission of Inquiry. No doubt this active in the small socialist party Mapam, government really didn't want the inquiry, serving most recently as its political secre­ but agreed because of the demonstration. tary in 1980-81. In 1981 he was elected to JM: YOU have presenw:l your ()Wn jJeaa the Israeli Knesset (parliament) from Ma­ plan, which Mapam has adoptui. pam. During his recent visit to the U.S., EG: Peace plans are for bargaining. We Jo-Ann Mort, chair of the New York City must concentrate on bringing the parties into DSA,, talked with him about Mapam, the negotiation. So we must ask ourselves, what peace movement in Israel, and U.S. policies are the obstacles that hinder the way toward toward Israel. Tus conversation took place negotiations? I see eight such problems. (1) before the resignation of Defense Minister There is not equality between the parties. Ariel Sharon. We have a state and the Palestinians do not. JM: Could you bmfly explain the histqry Elazer Granot So, we must say that the Palestinians are ofMapam? equal to us. (2) Parties cannot negotiate if EG: Mapam, or the United Workers' they don't recognize each other. Therefore, party, was established in 1948. The Kibbutz hers take part in the demonstrations and these negotiations must take place on the Artzi, the Hashomer Hatzair labbutz federa­ many are in the leadership. The founders of basis of mutual recognition. (3) All parties tion, was founded in 1927. In 1946, Hashom­ Peace Now were army officers who decided should recognize the sovereignty of all er Hatzair formed the Hashomer Hatzair par­ that they wanted to organize against certain states. (4) There should be no agreed-upon. ty along with the Socialist League, a group of policies of the lsraeli government, which, by goal of these negotiations. (5) During negoti­ socialists from the cities. In 1948, this group the way, wasn't the Likud government, but ations, no hostilities should occur. (6) During joined with Achdut Avoda, which split from the Labor Alignment government. Although negotiations, no new settlements should be what was then the Labor party, to form Ma­ we were in the government, we were with built on the West Bank. (7) The Israeli gov­ pam. Mapam split in 1954 over party rela­ the peace movement. That shows you Ma­ ernment says we are not going to discuss a tions with the Soviet Union and the debate pam's dilemma. Palestinian state. The Palestinians say we over whether or not Arabs should be full JM: Om ofthe differences between Peace are going to discuss nothing but a Palestinian members of the party and Achdut Avoda N()W and the U.S. antiwar movement is that state. So, let's say that each party has the returned to Labor. Today, Mapam consists Israeli soldiers doo't rejuu ro fight, for the right to come to the negotiations with their of three parts: 81 kibbutzim with 22,000 most part. own peace plan. (8) Begin says he won't members, about the same number in the EG: Yes, because Israel has got real speak with Arafat and Hussein says he won't cities, and about 10, 000 Arabs, who are full security problems. As long as the Arabs speak with Begin. We say, anybody who members. Since 1968 we have been in an don't recognize our existence and as long as accepts the above seven points is a legiti­ alignment with the Labor party, though there the Palestinian Covenant calls for the des­ mate representative of his party. If Arafat is always a call from all sides for splitting the truction of Israel, we must be part of every accepts them, then he is legitimate because Alignment because we differ on many vital war. then it is obvious that the PLO is no longer issues. For example, Mapam voted in the JM: That means that the soldiers fought the PLO. Knesset against annexation of the Golan in Lebanon and then return$d ro protest? JM: What would be the response in Israel Heights. We also voted against the original EG: This time, we protested before ifthis proposal were presented in a poll? 25-mile invasion of Lebanon. Mapam is a they came back. Our sons went to war and EG: Twenty percent immediately consultative member of the Socialist Interna­ phoned home and said to their parents, "We would accept it. tional, not a full member, because Labor have to fight, but you have to protest." We JM: If Arafat acceptui the proposal, won't agree to it on the left can't give the reactionary forces in would that make a difference? JM: Could you talk about the Peace N()W Israel any claim to the responsibility of secur­ EG: Absolutely. If there's no response movement, which sfatUd about the time of ity. In fact, we feel ourselves responsible. on the Palestinian side to these suggestions, Anwar Sadafs visit to]erusalem? No matter what, we must go if there is a war, then we are in a spot, then we lose. EG: Mapam has been part of the peace but at the same time we must try to change JM: To return to the problem of the West movement from the beginning. Our mem- the government. Bank, what are the implicatWns ofthe recent

OEMOCRATIC LEFT 6 MARCH 1983 vof2 by the H istadrut (Israel's labor federation) to emplay WMkers on the West Bank? EG: Mapam voted against this decision. But, when the government is putting all the Change the USA resources into the territories, there is a problem. When a young couple wants an apartment, they can live in the territories for one-third of what they have to pay inside Join the DSA lsrael. So, they go there and the building Members of the Democratic Socialists of America, formerly goes on there. lf B,egin continues in office for DSOC/NAM, work in every day-to-day struggle for social justice. two and a half more years, there will be We bring a strategy for building alliances among all the move- 100,000 Jews in the territories. The Hista­ l drut is in a dilemma, because if they don't ments for social change. And we bring a vision of a society that can · take the work, someone else will. satisfy the demands for dignity and justice-a socialist society. JM: Israel is often criticized by third Join the people working to bring together all the movements world countries and peopk on the kft for sell­ for social change ... and to bring together day-to-day battles and ing arms to repressive regimes. Ami Sharon long-term strategies and visions. Join DSA. [then Defense Minisf2r] and Itzak Shamir 0 Send me more information about democratic socialism. [Foreign Minisf2r] recently travekd to South 0 I'd like to join DSA. Enclosed find my dues (O $50 sustaining; 0 $30 America and Africa to negotiat2 arms deals. regular; 0 $15 limited income. _Dues include $8 for DEMOCRATIC LEFT.) What is the response inside Israel to this? 0 I would like to subscribe to DEMOCRATIC LEFT: 0 $15 sustaining; 0 $8 EG: I was the only member of parlia­ regular. ment to ask for Sharon's resignation when he O I would like to subscribe to the discussion bulletin, Socialist Forum, $10. went to Honduras. There is opposition to Send to: Democratic Socialists of America, 853 Broadway, Suite 801, New these policies in Israel. Some people say, York, N.Y. 10003. Tel.: (212) 260-3270. "Show me democratic countries which will Narne______~~-~--~~----~-~--- buy our goods. lf we can't sell to the good, we will sell to the bad. It's a matter of survi­ Addres..____ "--~~~------~ val. All countries produce arms and sell to City/Stat..._~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.&. the worst, including the Soviet Union, so Phon...______Union, School, Other Affiliatio •.______why only Israel?" But, we have a problem. We have put lsrael as the shining light to the were a policy, which is sheer nonsense. He U.S. government wouldn't give us one penny nations. We Israelis have claimed that we are has maneuvered the anger and humiliation of unless it were in the interest of the U.S. The more moral. Our main competition in South the Sephardim against the labor movement. fact that the Begin government uses the Africa, by the way, is Mitterrand's govern­ We've got problems, you see, fighting a money the way that it does doesn't mean that ment. While I know that others are hypo­ demagogue like Begin, in a situation where we don't need the money. We still have ob­ crites, attacking us ~hen they do the same people were humiliated. The labor move­ jective problems of existence. Mapam will thing, I still cannot condone it. I think that ment deserted the streets, factories, and fight the Begin government on almost every­ Israel does have other things to export. I'm settlements, and left them to Begin. We, the thing, but we can't say that Israel doesn't very proud of Israel, you must understand, labor movement, are to blame for Begin. need aid. If the U.S. cuts off aid, Begin will be because even though we make mistakes, I Never before has there been such a simple made stronger. He is the kind of leader who think that Israel is a miracle. But arming transition from socialism to capitalism! Israel will go to the masses and say, "See, they fascist and racist regimes is bad when the was not a socialist country, but there were want to make us hungry so that we will do French, Russians, and Americans do it. So, important socialist elements in the country things which are bad for Israel." He will unite it can't be good when the Israelis do it. and there still are. So, we must educate. For the people behind him. By the way, as social­ JM: Recently, there has been much talk instance, our youth movement, Hashomer ists, you must say, what should we demand about the f2nsian in Israel between the Ash­ Hatzair, concentrates on building new from the Palestinians? We have an Israeli kenazim [Jews of Eastern European origin] branches in the Sephardic community. Since peace movement. Since 1927, Mapam has and the Sephardim [] ews from the African and 1975, we have been accepting youth from said that Palestine on both sides of the Jordan Arabcountries]. Wouldyoucommmtonthis? these branches into our lobbutzim. River is the common homeland of the Jews EG: When the Sephardim came to Is­ JM: Jn the U.S. there has been increasing and the Palestinians. For 56 years, we have rael in the early 1950s, after the horrible talk of cutting off military aid f,o Israel in said this, we have fought for this, and paid destruction of the war, we, who were only response to the invasion ofLebanon. What is heavily for it. Where among the Arabs do you 600, 000 in Israel, had to absorb hundreds of Maj>am's position on this question? find one small group which is willing to take thousands of)ews. There were no bad inten­ EG: Mapam is against any economic on this kind of fight? Don't you think that at tions, but we didn't know what to do, so pressure being placed on the government of least some of the problems we have in the these people were kept in camps. We had no Israel from outside. You see, this time the Middle East is because so little is demanded housing for them. They brought their cul­ U.S. could force Israel to withdraw from of the Arabs by the socialist or progressive ture, but they didn't bring western technol­ Lebanon, but next time, the U.S. could force forces? During these long years, when there ogy. We made the mistake of identifying cul­ Israel to begin a war. I hope you understand was no response from the so-called socialist ture with technology. They felt themselves what I'm saying. I hope that no one thinks r Arab leaders, we lost ground in Israel. Help patronized by us. The children of those who am for the Begin government, but it is still a and demand of the Arabs the same thing you were patronized bear this feeling of insult. democratically elected government. It is for ask of us. Begin is trying to say that these mistakes the Israeli people to decide their future. The •

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 7 MARCH 1983 A SPECIAL REPORT NICARAGUA Astonishing Changes n January of this year 22 DSA mem­ visit and talk with. Approximately 90 percent bers visiJed Nicaragua at the invita­ of the time Raul was able to arrange the visits tWn of the Sandinista government. we asked for. The government did not shunt Group 1Mmbm came from various us away from the opposition groups, nor did I parts ofthe U.S., ranged in age from it place amongst us someone who would de­ mid-twenties to mid-fijtUs, represmted differ­ fend the government position when we were ing polilical points of view, and had experi­ with the opposition groups. We visited op­ ences ~ S<>Ulh and Central America rang­ position labor unions and opposition business ing from having hem bom there to never hav­ associations. This contrasted sharply with ing visited. Their reactions to whaJ they saw my previous visits, where I was always may have varied, but all were appalkd by the aware that opposition groups were not tol­ effects of U.S. policy on Nicaragua. The ac­ erated and either had to be underground or c<>mJ>

OEMOCRATIC l.fFT 8 MARCH 1983 out into parts of the campo that have never off. Gas is rationed; toiletry articles are in came to me from members of the Sandinista seen health workers before. The shift from very short supply. Paper and pencils are hard government. Is this information reliable? To agriculture-for-export to a detennined effort to find and the university system urgently cross-check on statements made by govern­ to produce in the country most of the foods needs textbooks and reference works. Often ment officials. I re~larly sought out people necessary to feed the Nicaraguan people has a professor in an engineering course must who were workingfu Nicaragua, but who had also had a visible effect on health. Few of the take the English copy of his textbook and no direct stake in the revolution. Many were children that I saw suffered from the bloat allow students to handwrite a chapter at a not socialists, but had been in Nicaragua long and other signs of malnutrition that I often time. enough to form a valid impression. These saw in my days as a CARE administrator in The rapid build-up of the Nicaraguan included nuns, priests, and staff workers for Central America. armed forces is another sign of U.S. pres­ volunteer organizations. Invariably they sup­ The educational system too has seen sure on the country. The army now numbers ported the revolution and could offer inde­ some major changes. The Somozas were 30, 000 soldiers, more than three times the pendent corroboration of the facts I have very wary of promoting education, fearing size of Somoza's army. This military build-up here summarized. • Marxists in all the departments. But the San­ diverts scarce resources from the public sec­ dinistas encourage education, with the result tor, resources needed to build roads, ports, that the University has swollen from approxi­ hospitals, opera houses, and factories. Ths Russ Christensen is a lawyer and DSA mem­ mately 10,000 students to over 24,000 stu­ diversion of resources will continue until ber in Bangor, Maine. He W()Uld like to thank dents, and the Catholic University has jump­ American destabilization efforts end. Burt Hatkn and Virginia Slei.nhofffor help in ed from 3, 000 students to 4, 500 students. Much of the information in this report preparing this article. The literacy campaign has also been a resounding success. A North American now living in Nicaragua told me many stories of 14- and 15-year-olds, members of the educa­ ted middle class from the cities, who had Nagging Questions gone out into the camfxJ to educate the cam­ jJesiMs. When their mothers and fathers vis­ by Deborah Meier ited on weekends, they became caught up in this project as they saw their children fight­ ing to change the patterns of poverty typical he achievements of the Nica­ of the countryside. One member of our group raguan revolution would be told of seeing a vendor sitting at her stall in hard to assess on even a much the village marketplace, reading poetry, longer visit. Never having while her baby slept nearby. been there before, and having Perhaps the complex transition from T &.e opportunity to speak with only a rela­ the old Nicaragua to the new can best be tively small number of people, I could not typified by the transportation system. Under honestly wax enthusiastic or pessimistic the Somozas almost all the buses came from about what is actually being accomplished, the U.S. The cut-off of U.S. aid has meant much less what the future looks like. But I that large segmenhi of this Heet are now in can record some impressions. garages being cannibalized for parts. While Clearly the oft-referred to Great Liter­ we were in Managua the government was acy Campaign was a major achievement. Ba­ expecting a delivery of 100 Bulgarian buses, sic reforms in year-round schooling take far seems that a genuine effort has been made to sign of a change in the patterns of supply that more time, but a crash program of adult skew limited resources toward the needs of previously left Nicaragua heavily dependent literacy is a legitimate priority, even though the bottom half. on the U.S. economic system. In the mean­ its aims were as much to spread propaganda Opposition leaders with whom we met time, the transportation system limps along as to bring literacy to the people. Both goals did not contest these achievements, but ar­ -less reliable than under the Somozas, but are understandable. My assessment, based gued that the cost of the Sandinista bureauc­ also more democratic. In past trips I enjoyed on looking at the final exam of the program, racy and the large· military establishment the luxury of a cab all to myself. Now the cabs suggests that the literacy attained was at a were excessive. They believed that FSLN stop for everyone who flags them do}'lll, until second-grade reading level. Much of the ma­ policies have alienated needed specialists un­ they are filled up. terial was crude political indoctrination, but necessarily. They do not. however, dismiss Here, as elsewhere, the will of the San­ the program brought people together and the threat of foreign aggression, the need for dinistas to build a new society repeatedly made teachers and students familiar with programs that require an expanded bureauc­ comes up against the effects of U.S. econom­ Sandinista goals. Similarly, although no mira­ racy, nor the possibility that any major social ic pressure. Everywhere we could see the cle could be expected in health in a few short and economic reform would have caused a evidence of the deep penetration of the years, the Sandinistas have achieved some money and brain-drain. Genuine achieve­ American economic system into Nicaragua: breakthroughs, apparently by focusing on ments in both economic and social policy Texaco (which has a compound resembling such basic and inexpensive reforms as vacci­ seem clear plusses for the FSLN (Sandinista that of the U.S. Embassy) signs, IBM ma­ nations, sanitation measures. information National Liberation Front), which inherited a chines, Coca Cola bottles, McDonald's about birth and infant care, and training of decimated economy and1huge foreign debts wrappers. With this corporate permeation paraprofessionals. created by Somoza. came various forms of American aid. Under On the economic front, claims regarding On the issue of human and democratic Somoza, the U.S. government proffered redistribution of wealth and provision of basic rights, the picture is darker. In reports gen­ food aid. These foods have now been shut necessities may be exaggerated, but it erally favorable to the FSLN, especially in

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 9 MARCH 1983 comparison to past Somoza practices and rights had once been better. During just the those of many other Central American last few months of Somoza's rule, at least states, the Socialist International, Amnesty 40, 000 out of a population of Jess than three International, and Americas Watch have million had been murdered. This background raised serious questions. As socialists we of terror suggests with what relief most citi­ were concerned about these issues as we zens look upon the FSLN's mild authoritari­ spoke to leaders who claimed to be trying to anism. build a socialist model. It seemed incontest­ The situation on the Atlantic coast for able to me that the principles of a free press the indigenous Meskito population was on are not observed. Two of the three news­ our agenda when we met with the director of papers permitted are 100 percent pro-San­ a resettlement camp. He acknowledged dinista. The one opposition paper, La Pren­ many mistakes, but his lack of concern for sa, can publish deviant views, but the pre­ investigating alleged atrocities committed by censorship is both arbitrary and extreme. the Army against Meskitos-"ln war there The television stations are all controlled by are always unfortunate incidents"-

DEMOCRATIC LIFT 10 MARCH 1983 through their fingers. The third powerful feeling I had, however, was sympathy and DSA RESOLUTION ON NICARAGUA AND U.S. INTERVENTION• compassion for that other set of political peo­ Whereas: ple who thought they had triumphed in the the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua represents for all Latin America a vital example of revolution of 1979 but who now find them­ victory over imperialism and dictatorship; selves outside the process. They had a dif­ the struggle of the Nicaraguans to seek their own sovereign road to peace, democracy, ferent vision of what the Revolution would justice, and social transformation is crucial as an example to liberation movements every­ create. of what the right path would be to where; rebuild their country. After participating so the U.S. government has continued to support the successors to the dictator Anastasio gloriously in the overthrow of Somoza, they Somoza by providing large amounts of covert aid to ex-Somoza and anti-Sandinista forces now find themselves once again the under­ with the expressed aim of destabilizing the Nicaraguan government; dogs, outside the process of building their despite the severity of the destabilization efforts, the Nicaraguan government has instituted country's future. They do not possess the laudable reforms in agriculture, health, literacy, housing, promotion of popular culture, and glamor of the winners (except perhaps for has sustained its commitment to freedom of religion; Violeta Chamorro, widow of the martyred support for the Nicaraguan revolution does not lessen or weaken our support for political editor of la Prensa). They remind us of what pluralism, freedom of the press, and self-determination of minority peoples; we don't want to hear. Throughout our stay I our ability to maintain a productive dialogue with fellow socialists in Nicaragua on issues of felt discomfitted by my willingness to dis­ democracy, human rights, feminism, lesbian and gay rights, non-aligrunent, and democratic socialism will be strengthened by an explicit extension of solidarity to Nicaragua; tance myself from them and their problems, to dine with the glamorous, while they DSA therefore embraces a position of strong support for the Nicaraguan revolution and for the struggles of the Nicaraguan people against the counter-revolutionary forces aided by the U.S. stayed in their dingy offices with their missed government, inside and outside Nicaragua. opportunities. Power is attractive, and it was DSA resolves to join the Campaign for Peace with Justice in Central America and urges all DSA locals fun to meet with famous and romantic win­ to Join the local affiliates of the Campaigo. ners, to be treated as though we were im­ DSA resolves to establish a sub-committee on Central American Solidarity under the auspices of the portant emissaries with a role to play in the DSA International Affairs Committee and urges DSA locals to select a local member as a contact triumph of the Revolution. person for this new sub-committee. My rage over U.S. policy was confir­ DSA resolves to work during the coming year on three specific solidarity efforts for Nicaragua: med and prodded by witnessing first hand 1. to urge all locals to participate in a coordinated coUection drive for basic necessities to be what our policies have helped produce. The identified by the Nicaraguan government and shipped to Nicaragua through CARE; U.S. government provides wholehearted support to far more repressive and undemo­ 2. to sponsor a Nicaraguan cultural tour to as many DSA locals as wish to participate; cratic regimes than the Sandinistas, even if 3. to support the Dellums bill in the U.S. Congress cutting off all funds for intervention every criticism we heard were multiplied against Nicaragua. tenfold. But, my socialist sympathies remain • Ad()/>!ld by the DSA National Board February 20, 1983. tom and divided-not divided between U.S. policies and the Nicaraguan revolution, but between the different forces that participa­ ted in the Nicaraguan revolution who are now in opposing camps. As an American socialist CLASSlflED I am lucky not to have to decide what I would Read SOCIALIST STANDARD. Our goal: a dem­ do were I a Nicaraguan. There are no doubt ocratic socialist movement with a clear program, RELIGIOUS SOCIALIST WEEKEND many strategies-even for those who view based within the Democratic Party and labor April 15-17, 1983, Warwick, N.Y. democracy as the heart and gut concern of movement. Articles by Frank Wallick, Ruth Jor­ "Making Connections" socialists. It's tough enough to decide what I dan, reports on local organizing. $5 per year, Box Cost: $60, includes two nights lodging, meals, and think is appropriate strategy for socialists 9872, Dept. A, Chevy Chase, MD 20815. registration. Send $25 deposit to Institute for trying to create change in the United States. Democratic Socialism, Room 801, 853 Broadway, K uSasa is an independent journal of political analy­ New York, N. Y. 10003. Or send self-addressed, The most useful thing we can do to help sis and discussion on South Africa by South Afri­ stamped envelope for more infonnation. Nicaragua is not to take on the burden of cans. Board of Advisors includes Bishop Desmond Tutu and Dr. Manning Marable. A DSA member is trying to make Sandinista ideology or the MIDWEST/INDUSTRIAL HEARTLAND Editor and founder. Costs $4.00 a copy. Write: LABOR COMMISSION CONFERENCE FSLN the new Messiahs of the socialist fu­ Corbin Seavers c/o KuSasa, Boone Square Apart­ DSA labor activists are invited to a conference ture, or the models for third world hopes. ment!', #8. Berea, KY 40403. April 16-17 in Cleveland, Ohio. For more informa­ Instead we can concentrate on convincing our tion, contact the DSA Labor Commission, 1300 MAGAZINE SAMPLES W. Belmont, Chicago, IL60657, 312-871-7700. fellow North Americans that current U.S. Free listing of over 150 magazines policies are neither effective ways to help offering a sample copy - $. 50 a sample spread democracy, nor necessary for hemi­ Send stamped self-addressed # 10 envelope to: ALTERNATIVE JOB & INTERNSHIP OPPOR­ spheric security. Neither the arguments of PUBLISHERS EXCHANGE TUNITIES! The environment, foreign affairs, P. 0. Box 220, Dept. 261 women's rights, media, health/education, com­ the FSL~ opposition, nor the ideology of the Dunellen, NJ 08812 munity organizing, and more. Send $3.00 for lat­ Sandinistas provide us with any reason to est nationwide listing. COMMUNITY JOBS, Box doubt the criminal effects of current U.S. A lOOth Year Memorial for Karl Marx 607, 1520 16th St., NW, Washington, DC 20036. policies with respect to Central America. • April 1-2, 1983 Sponsored by the CUNY Faculty DSA Club, IDS, PROGRESSIVE PERIODICALS DIRECTO­ and Cooper Union Forum. For information, write RIES just published! Good for publicity, network­ NEC member Deborah Meier is direcw of an to Bogdan Denitch, DSA Club, Rm. 901, CUNY, ing, details on 500 periodicals on labor, peace, alternative public school in East Harlem in 33 W. 42nd St., N. Y., N. Y. 10036. Phone: 212- international, culture, politics, etc. $5 from Box New Yorll City. 790-4320, 212-260-3270. L-120 574, Nashville, TN 37212.

0EMOCRATIC LEFT 11 MARCH 1983 Massachusetts Rlwde Island Fifty people turned out in Amherst DSA vice-chair Barbara Ehrenreich last month to discuss "Labor in the Pioneer spoke in February at the University of Valley" at the first open forum sponsored Rhode Island, Brown University, and to by the new DSA Pioneer Valley local A Greater Providence DSA on "Women in a DSA labor task force is being planned. Changing Capitalist Economy"... Youth or­ by HARRY FLEISCHMAN ganizer Penny Schantz also spoke at both Missouri universities last month. . . TM Gnat Robert Picard of the Columbia local Swmnp Gaulle, an alternative paper at the presented a paper on democratic socialism University of Rhode Island, highlighted NATIONAL ROUNDUP and the press at the national convention of DSA's winter youth conference. the Association for Education in Journal­ Alabama ism Texas DSAer Ken Bundnun of Jacksonville "Crime: A Social Disease" was the State University ran unsuccessfully for the New York topic of Houston DSA's February meeting. Democratic nomination for state legisla­ In a special guide to colleges in the The panelists included DSAer Ben Levy, ture. metropolitan area, the Village Voice singled Associate Justice, First Court of Appeals; out DSAer Hugh Cleland, a history profes­ Peter Riga, Law Professor at South Texas California sor at Stony Brook who is active in the College and Law, and Bob Weiss, Profes­ Many DSAers participated in the Oak­ nuclear disannament movement, as "out­ sor of Criminology at the University of land Martin Luther King, Jr. march on Jan· standing" in the opinion of students. Cle­ Houston. .. Non-commercial radio station uary 15. The well-integrated crowd, esti­ land has just been appointed chair of the KPFT (90.1 FM) carries a Democratic So­ mated at 10,000, heard DSA members Suffolk Democratic party education and cialist program twice a month on Thursday Representative Ron Dellums and Berkeley training committee by the COWJty chair­ evenings, 6:30 to 7 PM. Mayor Gus Newport stress the need to man. Dominic Baranello. . . Suffolk DSA is "make the connection" between Depres­ working with students, faculty and public Vennont sion level unemployment and bloated mili­ employee unions to resist layoffs of state A new DSA Youth Section chapter tary spending. Other speakers included workers and increases in tuition and dormi­ was organized at Castleton State College, Alameda County Central Labor Council tory fees on State University of New York following a talk by Penny Schantz. . . The Secretary-Treasurer Dick Groux and As· campuses ... Deborah Mullaney of West­ Vermont Labor History Society, chaired by semblyman Elihu Harris. . . 1be East Bay chester DSA, who participated in the DSA DSAer Bill Kemsley, heard Dr. Philip Ma­ DSA celebrated Susan B. Anthony's Birth­ fact-finding mission to Nicaragua, spoke on son speak at an ethnic dirmer in Barre. The day at a Women's Party. it at the home of the Shatzkins in Croton­ dinner, honoring those who settled and on-Hudson February 6 and was scheduled worked in Vermont from England, Italy, Illinois to speak at the Fellowship of Reconciliation Spain, Switzerland, Scotland and other Eu­ Champaign-Urbana DSA members in Chappaqua March 13. ropean lands, featured minestrone, tortil­ Susan McGrath and Jenny Putnam were las, golumbki, tourtieres, pickled beets, reelected to the Champaign County Board Ohio soda bread, flan and shortbread. and supporters Amy Kurrunerow, Shirley The third "Guns or Butter" Confer­ Stillinger and Marge Winkelhake made it a ence will be held on March 24, 25 and 26 Washington clean sweep for the Democratic party in with some 4, 000 expected to attend in In Seattle, DSA members Mike Kas­ District 9 ... DownstaUufteditor Lou Pet­ Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown. 1be przak and Michael Brunson initiated an ad terchak has left for the Peace Corps in conference is sponsored by many civic, la­ hoc committee to protest the anniversary Paraguay... As we go to press, news bor, religious, education and peace groups of martial law in Poland. One of the de­ comes of Representative Harold Washing­ from northeastern Ohio ... An earlier Ohio mands was "Stop Union-Busting, East and ton's upset victory over Mayor Jane Byrne Labor Conference on "Jobs Not Bombs" West!" in the Democratic primary. Scores ofDSA­ brought together nearly 250 trade union­ ers rang doorbells and pounded the pave- ists from 50 Ohio communities. ' ment for Washington, who will be Chica­ go's first black mayor. A major factor in Pennsylvania NEW LOCALS Washington's decision to seek the job was Philadelphia DSA is producing a dem· an increase in black voters caused by voter ocratic socialist platform for Philadelphia ... DSA continues its rapid growth. At its registration drives. 1be number of regis­ It is cooperating with "Jobs With Peace February meeting, the National Board tered black voters went up by 100,000 to Week," planned for April... Pittsburgh chartered new locals in Palo Alto, Marin 650, 000 in the last year. Washington pulled DSA now publishes theAlkghmySocialist, County, Orange County (Irvine), and Davis close to 80 percent of the black vote. an attractive 10-page paper. DSA member in California; Cincinnati, Ohio; Richmond, Jon Robison is running for City Council in Va.; and New Brunswick, N.). It also char­ Maryland the May primary... Radical comic and DSA tered a Southern Illinois Tri-County Organ­ Baltimore DSAers are active in a member Robin Tyler will be back in Pitts­ izing Committee and another in Mahoning neighborhood level project to combat vio­ burgh April 29 with another helping of her Valley, 0. More than 2,500 new members lence. unique social and political commentary. joined in 1982.

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 12 MARCH 1983 PEACE TOUR '83 IN MEMORIAM Leaders in the European and Ameri­ Olive Golden, life-long socialist and can peace movements will speak on cam­ charter member of College Teachers puses in March and April as part of a na­ Local 1600, AFT, feminist and anti-war tional peace tour sponsored by the DSA activist and Chicago DSA member, died Youth Section in cooperation with National recently. SANE and the Coalition for a New Foreign FareweU to Mary Farquharson of and Military Policy. Among the speakers Seattle, long-time peace activist and are: Joan Ruddock, National Chairperson, Socialist Party member. She was the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; Dan first woman to serve in the Washington Smith, co-editor with E.P. Thompson of State Senate, fought against forced re­ Protest and Survive; Michael Harrington; location ofJapanese Americans in World author and linguist Noam Chomsky; poet War 11, helped found the first Planned and theologian Dorothee SoeUe; author and Parenthood clinic in Seattle, and led an sociologist Bogdan Denitch; and Manning initiative to abolish capital punishment Marable, director of race relations, Fisk in the state of Washington. University. For a tour schedule, write to Richard Parrish of New Jersey, a the DSA New York office. leader in the Negro American Labor Council and former assistant treasurer in the United Federation of Teachers, RESOURCES died last month after a long illness. Par­ rish ran for several offices on the Social­ ist Party ticket. Labor Commission places democratically. l'or details write to A new outreach brochure. "Labor Is a Steve Dawson. ICA. 249 Elm Street, Som­ Power in the Land," has been published by erville, MA 02144. HUMAN EvENTS 'EXPOSE' the DSA Labor Commission. This attrac­ tive brochure, for use with labor activists, Sta/.e Agendas is available in bulk from the Chicago DSA Ways & Means, which reports on in­ The right-wing Republican Washing­ office, 1300 W. Belmont Avenue, Chicago, novative approaches to state and local gov­ ton news sheet, Human Events, has found IL60657. ernment, presents an agenda for states and a new cause for alarm. "Two Republicans The DSA Labor Memo reports that a cities on small business, plus ways enter­ who should know better," it thunders, Midwest/Industrial Heartland regional prise development creates jobs. For de­ "have gotten themselves mixed up with a meeting for labor activists is scheduled for tails, write Conference on Alternative radical group promoting Socialist-oriented April 15-17 in Cleveland. .. A DSA Labor State & Local Policies, 2000 Florida Av­ solutions to the problem of world hunger. Directory is planned to encourage commu­ enue, NW, Washington, DC 20009. Sen. Robert Dole (R. Kan.), who was once nication within DSA. If you want to be in­ regarded as a hard-line conservative, and cluded, send a note including address, Socialist History Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R. NY), a moder­ phone, union and a brief statement about A Center for Socialist History has ate, have teamed up with two liberal Dem­ your work to the Chicago DSA office. been established as a non-profit, tax-ex­ ocrats-Sen. Patrick Leahy (Vt.) and Rep. empt group to promote research and publi­ Thomas Downey (NY)-to sponsor and Italian Vaews cation in the history of socialism. It pub­ work with congressional "feUows who will Politica internazitmak is the English lishes the CSH Interbulktin which covers focus on issues relevant to eliminating edition of the bulletin of the Italian Institute activity in the field of socialist history both world hunger. " The group in question is for Relations with Africa, Latin America in the U.S. and abroad. Subscriptions are World Hunger Year (Wlh'). and the Middle East (IPALMO). It contains $10 for four issues. For details, write Rich­ Human Events "reveals" that WJJY's selections from IPALMO's monthly Italian ard Broadhead, Executive Director, Cen­ magazine, Food Monitor, is edited by Jack edition and appears twice a year. English ter for Socialist History, 2633 Etna, Berke­ Clark, former co-editor of "the openly So­ edition editor Herbert Festoff was a found­ ley, CA 94704. cialist journal, Democratic Left' and that ing member of Berkeley NAM. He writes "World Hunger Year was founded in 1975 that subsoiptions are available at $7 per FDR and tlieNewDeal by Harry Chapin, the later singer/song wri­ year from IPALMO. Via de! Tritone 62/B, The Illinois Labor History Society, ter.. .. Whether Rep. Gilman and Sen. Dole 00187 Rome, Italy. Box 914, Chicago, IL 60690, has produced disassociate themselves from the group," a slide/cassette package surveying New warns Human Events, "will determine if Worlier Co-ops Deal responses to the social and economic they have the ability to recognize and cor­ The Industrial Cooperative Associa­ crisis of the Great Depression. Packaged in rect their mistakes. For Sen. Dole, an as­ tion works to help preserve jobs through carousel form, with 131 images plus audio pirant for the presidency, the decision creating worker-owned enterprises. It has cassette, it runs 22 minutes. Cost - $100. could be a crucial one." established a million-dollar loan fund for Rental $20 per showing, plus $2 postage. Reports have it that Dole's and Gil· low-income worker coops and supports the Useful for organizers in community situa­ man's staff people were laughing about the rights of workers to control their work- tions. piece the day after it came out.

OEMOCRA TIC LEFT 13 MARCH 1983 COMMISSIONS DSA Begins Minority Work by john Spearman

merican Socialism and Mi­ nority Movements-Un­ easy Alliance," was the title of the recent West Coast minorities conference (see box),A but it also serves to descnbe the state of affairs as DSA begins to focus on expand­ ing beyond its white, middle-class base into minority communities. After much preparatory work, the first step was taken on October 2 in New Yqrk City when about 30 black, Latino, and Asian­ American DSA members and friends met to discuss what DSA must do if it is to build deep ties with the various minority move­ ments. Initiated by National Board member Lillie McLaughlin, DSA Vice Chair Manning j Marable, and Hispanic Commission Co­ Chair Rafael Piroman, the meeting ended j with a call for the fonnation of an Afro-Amer­ Manning Marable and Lydia Tom at National Commission Meeting. ican Commission, an Asian-American Organ­ sciousness of the importance of the various Hispanic Commission, though positive ef­ izing Caucus, and a National and Racial Mi­ movements of the oppressed in the fight for forts, were inadequate. 1be new commit­ norities Coordinating Committee. The His­ socialism. Given DSA's historical and politi­ tees will develop programs of action and re­ panic Conunission was already in place, and cal roots and social composition. this is not cruitment as well as political positions on a since October a Native American member surprising. Both predecessor organizations wide variety of issues. In addition, they will has begun working with the Coordinating recognized the problem and need, but work within DSA to strengthen understand­ Committee to establish a native American NAM's anti-racist commission and DSOC's ing of minority movements. Commission. Another conference is being planned for June 5 in Nashville, Tennessee, immediately after a conference on "The Arms Race vs. West Coast Conference Human Needs-Dialogue on Jobs, Peace and Justice." by Manning Marable Even though DSA is overwhehningly white, it has a number of minority members n January 29-30, about Coast meeting went to Hispanic and Af­ in influential and highly visible positions in 150 Latinos, Asian­ ro-American Commission members be­ many important areas. Members such as Americans, Afro-Amer­ fore last month's board meeting in New Representative Ron Dellums, New York icans, and Native Ameri­ York City. At that meeting, most of the State Labor Commissioner Lillian Roberts, cans attended a DSA- West Coast agenda items were adopted District of Columbia City Council member sponsoredI conference in San Francisco, by the board. These included a commit­ Hilda Mason, and Berkeley mayor Gus New­ "American Socialism and Minority ment by DSA to hire by 1984 a national port are well known in the political arena. Movements-Uneasy Alliance." staff person who would be primarily re­ Members such as Ed Vargas, president of At the opening plenary Latina ac­ sponsible for minority organizing; an al­ the Hartford, Conn. Central Labor Council, tivist Delores Delgado-Campbell; His­ lotment of $3, 000 to the commissions Jose LaLuz, organizer for the Connecticut panic Commission member Delfino Var­ for use in developing a journal for minor­ AFT, William Lucy, secretary-treasurer of ela; Angie Fa, a Youth Section activist; ities that would be edited by members AFSCME, Manning Marable, director of Native American historian Jack Forbes; of the coordinating committee; appoint­ race relations at Fisk University and a syndi­ DSA chair Michael Harrington; and this ment of six people of color to serve as cated columnist, DSA Vtce Chair Michael writer challenged DSA and the atten­ nonvoting members of the NEC be­ Rivas, theologians Come! West and James dees to make the alliance real. Lively tween March and October of 1983. Mi­ Washington and others in unions, religious, discussions in afternoon workshops norities also intend to urge the national and academic settings give us a tremendous were followed the next day by an inter­ convention in October to adopt a spe­ potential for organizing. Up to now, that po­ nal discussion that focused on efforts to cific quota for nonwhites in the NEC. e tential has not been tapped develop more constructive DSA pro­ The most important reason for DSA's grams for reaching minority communi­ Manning Marable is a vice-chair of failure in this area has been its lack of con- ties. Recommendations from the West DSA.

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 14 MARCH 1983 One of the most striking facts about minority movements, irrespective of their political leanings. is that as a whole they are more conce ntrated on the left than the gen­ eral American political spectrum. For exam­ ple, the Black Congressional Caucus and A Path

even the NAACP. which are center forces in JI'... .. ,.,..." ...... pl .....- for ----·~~~~ r• rllJ-..>· a:M.-.0'.I the context of the black liberation move­ --AAlnf.wtflft C'*n""...... Clter...ih .. ltr.--. ment, have to be considered more to the left America Prop<>5als lrom $ $ $ within the cont~ of overall American poli­ the Democratic Leh tics. This was true of the civil rights and $ *s * $ EUROSOCIALISM AND AMERICA black liberation movements of the recent Michael Harrington $ *$ * $ PolJtlcal ECOHO#IJ' f or the 1980s past. and of the later Puerto Rican, Chicano, $ * * • and Native American movements. Unlike the situation in American politics For Your Bookshelf in which DSA operates, the Mright'' wings v.'ithin these movements are weak, and, in FROM THE INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM ~ome cases. nonexistent. Among Afro­ A Movement Strategy to Transform the Democratic Party, Quantity Total Americans, the Thomas Sowells and Carl by Richard A. Cloward and Frances Fox Piven $ .25 Rowans carry little real influence. On the Apartheid & the World Economic Order, by Michael Manley $ .25 A Path for America: Proposals from the Democratic Left other the left forces within these hand. (Dissent Pamphlets 4), by Michael Harrington $ 1.25 moYements exert, to varying degrees, ideo­ The Black Church & Marxism: What Do They Have To Say logical, political, and practical influence on To Each Other? by James Cone $ 1.50 the center forces. As we continue in a period Democracy and Dictatorship in Latin America, Voices and of economic crisis, stepped up government opinions of writers from Latin America $ 5.00 Eurosocialism and America: Political Economy for the repres:rion and racially motivated violence, 1980s, edited by Nancy Lieber, with articles by Willy we can expect to see again the rise of left Brandt, Michael Harrington, Francois Mitterrand, Joop influence in these movements. DSA cannot den Uyl, Olof Palme $10.00 afford to write off or attempt to .,.,;sh them Images of labor, with introduction by Irving Howe $10.00 Reaganomics: Rhetoric vs. Reality, Frank Ackerman away. by $ 7.50 Socialist Review, No. 61 (Special Issue: Do We Need a Alienation from the present political and Defense Policy?) $ 2.00 economic system is growing among people of Tax Policy & the Economy, a debate between Michael color. We can make alliances v.ith these Harrington & Jack Kemp $ 1.00 communities. Given the histories, leadership The Vast Majority: A Journey to the World's Poor, by Mi­ chael Harrington $ 3.00 and characters of the socialist and minority What Reagan Is Doing To Us, Gartner, Greer, and Riess­ movements, this will not be a painless proc­ man, eels. $ 3.50 ess, but it can be a constructive one. • Make checks payable to IDS. TOTAL john Spearman is a unicn organizer andDSA member who is active in the black community FROM DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA in Brooklyn, N .]. DSA Constitution & By-laws, and DSOCINAM Merger Agreement $ 1.00 FOR MORE INFORMATION Gay and Lesbian Uberation and Socialism $ 2.00 Health Activists Digest Nursing issue for yearly sub­ Contacts for the com.missions and com­ ($10 scription) mittees are: $ 2.50 Socialist Forum # 1: Electoral Politics and DSA $ 1.00 Afro-American: Cornel West, Union #2: Peace, Electoral Politics $ 2.00 Seminary, 3041 Broadway, NYC Which Way America? The Political Perspective of the DSA 10027 Youth Section $ .30 Hispanic: Jose LaLuz, 205 Westerly Women Organizing: Feminist Perspectives on the Family $ 1.50 Terr., E. Hartford, Conn. 06118 or Ra­ Why We Are Socialists (The points of political unity between fael PiRoman, 17 E. 7th St., 4B, NYC the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee and 10003 the New American Movement) $ .25 National&: Racial Minorities Coordinat­ Youth Section Organizjng Manual $ 2.00 ing Committee: Manning Marable, Race Relations Institute, Fisk Univer­ Make checks payable to DSA. All prices include postage. TOTAL sity, Nashville, Tenn. 37203 Discounts: 5-9 copies of one title, 20%; 10 or more of one For a copy of the founding stateipents of title, 30%. Send bulk orders to: DSA, 1300 W. Belmont these groups, send a stamped, self-ad­ Ave., Chicago, IL 60657. dressed envelope to the New York office of DSA, 853 Broadway, Suite 801, NYC 10003. NAME ______

BUY DL IN BULK! ADDRESS Ha:; your local ordered hwldles of DEMOCRATIC LEFT to distnbute at meetings? For l~ a copy you can advertise DSA and its work. Minimwn Amount: IDS _ _DSA Total, _____ o:der 25 copies. DSA locals only. Send order to Mail to Suite 801 , 853 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10003 DL. • 53 Broadway, New York. NY 10003.

OEMOCRA TIC LEFT 15 MARCH 1983 JIMMY HIGGINS REPO.RTS

The '60 Minutes' show on the National Council Spendthrifts? Our esteemed Secretary of State of Churches and World Council of Churches tried to give the impres­ tnfonned us on February 24 that, per capita, Americans spend sion that some good moderates with the Institute on Religion and $43.91 per year on security and economic assistance programs in Democracy (IRO) were battling extreme left-win.Q'. views within the the developing world, $104 for radios and televisions, $35 for bar­ churches. Trouble is, according to some excellent research by bershop and beauty parlor visits. Secretary Schultz stressed that he Steve Askin of The NatUmal Catholic Reporter, the IRD moderates was not belittling our buying habits. But he failed to point out that our got their funding from some very immoderate places. Six founda­ television and radio purchases don't kill Salvadoran peasants. When tions (Sara Scaife, Smith Richardson, Earheart, John M. Olin, Ing­ he can say the same about how he's spending our tax money in aid, ersoll, and Shelby CuUom Davis) have put up $479,500 of the then let him lecture us on the U.S. moral obligatio!\S to the poor of $533,002 the IRD has spent since its founding in 1980. That's 89 the world. percent of its total budget, and those six foundations read like a Who's Who of the New Right and far nght funding sources. The Speaking of El Salvador, the Adminis- Heritage Foundation (set up by the Coors family fortune) has been tration's all-out push for massive new support to the far-right gov­ amply endowed by two of these same funds: the tax-exempt ann of ernment there will not receive support from the U.S. labor move­ the National Right-to-Work Committee receives some of its strong­ ment. Often an ally of the hardliners on foreign policy, the AFL-CIO est support from among these foundabons. IRD talks about being has come out clearly for a cut-off in all military aid to the Salvadoran the moderate force, against right and left extremes, against the government In an early February press conference at AFL-CIO political use of religion. But its angles are far from pure. For another headquarters, Salvadoran unionists joined William C. Doherty, Jr., angle, see the March21 issue of Christianity and Crisis, which goes the executive director of the American Institute for Free Labor into detail about these latest machinations of the IRD, as well as the Development (AIFLD), as he called for the aid cut-off. "There is no real ways the NCC could be changed. conscionable way we could see money provided by workers and taxpayers of this country going to the army of El Funding aside, rao is pushing some question­ Salvador when it refuses to prosecute its own per­ able ideas. Central to the project of these so-called religious mod­ sonnel for the killing of our citizens," Doherty said. erates is the exposition and defense of a theory of democratic He was referring to the murder of AJFLD represen­ capitalism. A perceptive and eminently fair examination of that tatives Michael Hammer and Mark Pearhnan and theory from a democratic socialist perspective is provided by Peter Salvadoran peasant leader Rudolfo Viera in January Steinfels in Commonweal Ganuary 14 and February 11). Steinfels 1981. Two anny corporals who carried out the mur­ examines the writings of Michael Novak and Robert Benne on der may be tried, but the influential lieutenant, cap­ democratic capitalism and covers the arguments of relevance to all of tain and businessman who allegedly gave the order us, religious or not. will not face charges.

SECOND CLASS POSTAGE PAIDAT D.EM.OCRATIC NEW YORK, LEtT · NEW YORK 853 BROADWAY, SUITE 801 NEW YORK, N.Y. 10003 ~4 12