Dobbs and Weiss to Carry SWP Fight for Socialism and Peace to America

Dobbs and Weiss to Carry SWP Fight For Socialism and Peace to America For Vice-President New York Party Party Convention Votes For President Finishes Drive to Anti-Capitalist Platform By George Lavan Get Slate on Ballot NEW YORK, Aug. 20 — The presidential slate of the Socialist Workers Party By A rt Sharon was formally nominated last night at a convention in this city. Chosen by acclama­ National Campaign Manager tion as the SWP banner bearers in the 1956 elections were Farrell Dobbs for Presi­ Socialist Workers Party can­ dent and Myra Tanner Weiss y didates fo r the U.S. Senate and for Vice-President. They had j mitted to Stevenson. But just and towns of the U.S. speaking House of Representatives have been recommended as candidates consider AFL-CIO President for the SWP. There is a real joy swung into their campaign activ­ by the SWP National Committee George Meany’s jingoistic speech in meeting the political spokes­ ities and in some cases are bat­ last fall. to the platform committee. And men of the two boss parties in tling for their right to appear on The SWP ticket was chosen at look at the blustering foreign forums and counterposing to state ballots. the party’s Third National No­ policy plank that was adopted. It their bankrupt programs the SWP candidates for the U.S. minating Convention which met even attacks Eisenhower for be­ message of socialism.” Senate are Joycq Cowley in New at Adalphi H all in this city. Dele­ ing ‘soft’ towards the USSR.” EXPECTS GOOD RESPONSE York and Herbert Lewin in Penn­ gations representing twelve In placing the names of Dobbs sylvania. Running fo r Congress slates participated in the pro­ and Weiss in nomination, Tom “ I know from past experience, are Daniel Roberts in the 12th ceedings of the convention. A fter Kerry ridiculed the hoopla of as well as from my recent speak­ Congressional D istrict of New the voting and the acceptance nominating speeches at the capi­ ing tour, that when we appear Jersey and Howard May hew in speeches of the candidates, Joyce talist party conventions and the before unions, Negro organiza­ the 2nd Congressional D istrict in Cowley of New York spoke. She fetish of describing the candi­ tions or student clubs we always Illinois. In Michigan Rita Shaw had been chosen at a separate date’s alleged virtues without get a warm response from the is the SWP candidate fo r Gover­ meeting as the New York SWP naming him or her till the clos­ audience. These people no longer nor. candidate fo r U.S. Senator. ing words of the closing sentence. have any real faith or belief in the capitalist parties.” PETITIONING FINISHED In addition to the nominations, Instead, he briefly cited the long the convention adopted the anti­ records of Dobbs and Weiss in the Mrs. Weiss emphasized the op­ The principal development in portunities the campaign would the SWP’s anti-war, anti-capi­ war, anti-capitalist platform sub­ service of the working people — mitted to it by the platform com­ Dobbs in the union movement of afford fo r putting the SWP pro­ talist election campaign during gram before militants and class­ the past week was the New York mittee. Reporting on the draft the mid-west and as a leader of the SWP and Mrs. Weiss in the conscious workers who hitherto branches’ completion of the ar­ platform was Farrell Dobbs, SWP organizing drives of the agricul­ had been hard to approach. She duous petition campaign required national Secretary. tural unions of the West Coast cited the ferment going on in the to qualify for the ballot. ATTACKS COALITION and as a veteran socialist cam­ ranks of the Communist Party New York law's require the ob­ He contrasted this platform’s paigner. He concluded that their where the long decades of Stalin­ taining of 12,000 signatures of forthright, unequivocal planks records and abilities made them ist thought-control have been residents in 62 counties. The New fo r labor, civil rights and peace the best possible candidates fo r ended by the partial revelations York SWP branches overfulfilled with the evasive and reactionary She coming elections. about the true nature of the this formidable task in record platform of the recently held The delegates agreed fo r they Stalin regime in the USSR. I time. More than 15,000'signatures Democratic convention. He ex­ unanimously voted their nomina­ “ Large numbers of these rank- were obtained. Teams of .petition coriated labor bureaucrats, social- tions. and-file CPers are now beginning gatherers from New York City democrats and Stalinists who are In her acceptance speech the to think and to ask questions. and environs and from Buffalo Many are already dissatisfied MYRA TANNER WEISS traveled throughout the state trying to dupe the working class Vice-Presidential ca ndidate into voting for Stevenson-Kefau- with the CP program. Many can’t canvassing all the counties. thanked the convention fo r the ver and the Democratic platform. “ assignment” to represent the swallow Eastland and the pro- Dixiecrat civil rights plank along ALL PITCH IN Citing their attempts to palm SWP in the campaign which she with Stevenson and Kefauver. In addition to the grueling leg- o ff the Democratic Party as a said, was an honor and a privi­ \ We w ill he able to have fru itfu l work, an enormous amount of party of labor, Dobbs said; “ For lege. “ I must confess that I find discussions with many of them paperwork must also be done. example, look at the main head­ particular pleasure in the ‘as­ in the coming campaign.” FARRELL DOBBS Each signer must be a registered line of today’s (Aug. 19) Daily signment’ of visiting the cities voter and next to his name must Worker. A t the top of page one appear the election district in is the headline: ‘Labor and Demo­ which he resides. Since practical­ cratic Convention.’ They mean ly no one knows the number of by that the coalition of Reuther his election district, and since and Eastland, of the unions and SWP 1956 Platform Stresses the election districts are so ger­ the White Citizens Councils. This rymandered by the capitalist outright betrayal they are trying politicians that people living next to pass o ff as some sort of labor to each other may be in different party. It won’t wash. The work- Independent Labor Political Action districts, registration lists and ingolass, the Negro people and maps must be consulted fo r each the small farmers of this country Mankind stands at the threshold of an era in which fusion with the working class struggle against capitalism. signature. need their own party — inde­ human culture can rise to unprecedented heights. Giant It must gravitate toward the socialist forms of national­ A ll the petition gathering and pendent of Big Business, the leaps in technology, ranging from the mechanization of ized property and planned economy which open the way the painstaking paper work has Dixiecrats and the corrupt ward­ been done by members of the heeling machines. That wrill be a agriculture to the control of atomic energy, have today to rapid development of the productive forces. This ten­ SWP, sympathizers and friends. real labor party and that is one made it possible to produce enough to meet all the needs dency o f the colonial revolution to become transformed In many cases people devoted of the things we are working o f a ll the people. Now w ith in reach are the means to elim­ into a socialist revolution has reached its highest mani­ their whole vacations, and some for.” inate human want in food, housing, health care, to satisfy festation in the case of China. Starting as an independence even quit their jobs, to help in The SWP presidential candi­ all the necessities o f life. struggle against imperialism, the third Chinese revolution the important work of putting date also exposed the Daily Farrell Dobbs, Myra Tanner Across this brilliant prospect lies the dark shadow of has transformed the country into an anti-capitalist world Worker’s attempt to paint up the power and its rise, together with the extension of Soviet Weiss and Joyce Cowley on the Democratic Party as a vehicle a parallel leap in militarism. Nearly one-quarter of the New York ballot. for peace. “ The Worker line is national income is taken in taxes, mainly to create a vast property forms to Eastern Europe, has already abolished Upper New York State is main­ to pretend that the labor-liberal war machine. Natural resources and manpower are divert­ capitalism on one-third of the globe. ly rural and as Republican as Negro groups at the convention ed from useful production and wasted on instruments A t the same tim e the Soviet Union has rapidly risen Vermont. In some counties the are the power in the Democratic to the status of a great industrial power, second only to few admitted Democrats are com- of destruction. Living standards and democratic rights Party and that through them the United States. W ithin it exists a working class almost I (Continued on page 4) pressure fo r peace can be trans stand in peril before the despotism of war. And in every mind lurks a terrible fear of the death-dealing horrors 50 million strong, a mighty force now gaining in self- of the hydrogen bomb. confidence and asserting its own rights against the usurp­ The role of militarism as the fundamental feature ing bureaucracy. The repudiation o f the (hated dictator Class Struggle Fighters of American foreign policy is determined by the. world Stalin and the crisis now shaking the world Stalinist Farrell Dobbs Myra Tanner Weiss conflict of riv a l social systems. The capitalist class wants movement mark the beginning of a political revolution to establish workers democracy in the Soviet sphere. With In sharp contrast to the count- | In 1941 Dobbs left a well-paid tMyra Tanner Weiss became a to use America’s power to prevesnt the b irth of a world helped organize Southern Cali­ that political transform ation the way w ill be opened fo r less union officials who aban­ post w ith the Teamster’s union revolutionary socialist, jn 1935 at fornia farm workers, and was socialist order. The issue is posed: Shall capitalist ex­ doned ¡early socialist beliefs for to become National Labor Secre­ the age iof 18, in Salt Lake City, made honorary member of the ploitation of natural resources and productive labor re­ a new upsurge in the world socialist revolution. power and privilege, Farrell tary of the SWP. He has since Utah, (where she was born. The Mexican Agricultural Workers main dominant? Or shall mankind throw off the fetters Dobbs stands as a working class been editor of the M ilitant and victory of German fascism, the Union for her courageous de­ of outlived capitalism and advance to a system of planned leader who refused to' lend his is now the SWP’s National Sec­ depression, and the iBpproach of fense of the Mexican migratory U.S, Policy Leads to War talents and energies to any other retary. DObbs and 17 other lead­ World War II on the one hand; workers. economy capable of eliminating human want? ers of the SWP and Minneapolis cause tbut the emancipation of the economic achievements of the In 1941, she spoke out in her A universal demand for industrialization has arisen The anti-capitalist struggles, stemming from a fun­ drivers union in 1941 were the the working class. Soviet Union ¡and th,e first great union against persecution of throughout the world. People everywhere seek the benefit damental drive for ever-higher living standards, for free­ first to be convicted under the Born in Queens City, Mo., in strike battles of the American Japanese-American workers. She of technological progress to improve their living stan­ dom and national independence, are the targets against 1907 and a resident from child­ Smith “ Gag” Act, for their so­ working class leading to the dards and raise their cultural level. Thè main obstacle which American foreign policy is aimed. The imperialists hood of Minneapolis, Dobbs had cialist opposition to World War building o f the ¡CIO on the other again defended the rights of studied to be a planning engineer. II. — a ll these events won her to the this minority in the course of to progress in the underdeveloped countries has been the are arming to turn back the revolutionary tide and re­ But in 1933 the depression com­ When the 11 top Communist socialist movement. her campaign for Mayor of Los direct or indirect domination of foreign capitalist powers. conquer the world for capitalist exploitation. The bi­ pelled him to take a job as a coal Party leaders were tried under She dropped her studies in Angeles in 1945. Revolutionary struggles for independence, stemming from partisan gang of Republicans and Democrats are forming yard worker to support his fam­ the Smith Act in the 1949 Foley chemistry in which she had been In 1946, outraged by the burn­ this imperialist domination, have erupted in country after m ilita ry pacts w ith hated dictators and colonial despots. ily. Square trial, Dobbs covered the passionately interested for an country. They are forging a chain of American military bases In 1934 the great truckdrivers’ trial daily for the Militant, and equally serious study of Marxism. ing to death of a Negro fam ily strike made Minneapolis a union campaigned fo r labor defense of This study led her to the convic­ in Fontana, Calif., by white su­ throughout the world. Never before has there been such town and served as one of the the Smith Act victims. tion that the Trotskyist program premacists, she launched a West They Fight for Progress a vast peacetime m ilitary expansion. main levers for the great upsurge Last Spring he reported the was correct. Coast-wide protest action and ¡Every alliance formed by the American capitalist of industrial unionism that es­ tria l of the .leaders of 'the Mont­ Through subsequent years of wrote a pamphlet, “Vigilante The indomitable determination of the colonial and government is aimed directly at the revolutionary masses tablished the OlO. During that gomery, Ala. bus-protest move­ organizing work, Mrs. Weiss con­ abroad. In Iran the government backed by the people was strike Dobbs emerged from the tinued hejr (Marxist, studies, spe­ Terror in Fontana.” At the time semi-colonial peoples to win their independence is today ment, and while ¡there utilized forcefully overthrown with imperial|ist aid in order to ranks to become one of the prin­ local press and radio interviews cializing in economics. This spring she was Los Angeles organizer typified by the heroic struggles of the people of Cyprus cipal union leaders. In 1988 be to support the fight against Jim at a forum at Harvard Univer­ of the SWP. and Algeria. Egypt’s fight for the right to nationalize block nationalization of the oil reserves and perpetuate led the drive that organized a Crow. He then toured key ¡north­ sity she lectured in defense of In 1952, as ¡SWP Vice-Presi­ the Suez Canal and to build the Aswan dam symbolizes exploitation of these natural resources by the capitalist quarter of a million over-the- dialectical materialism, the logic ern cities to rally labor support dential candidate Mrs. Weiss the aspirations of the underdeveloped countries to lay oil cartel. The dictatorial Armas regime in Guatemala re­ road drivers in the Northwest of Marxism. ceived thinly-veiled American support to overthrow the under a uniform 12-state agree­ for the embattled civil rights In the late 1930’s, Mrs. Weiss campaigned with Farrell Dobbs new foundations for economic and social progress. ment. movement. worked as a migratory worker, against the Korean War. The colonial revolution can be successful only through (Continued on page 2) Paire 2 The Militant Monday, August 27, 1956 ... Socialist Workers Party 1956 Platform (Continued from page 1) constitutional government by force when mass pressures began to threaten the superprofits of the United. Fruit Company, an American corporation. Message to CP Members In country after country similarly discredited gov­ An Editorial ernments are imposed on the people and propped up as This is a special message to members and The SWP will expose without the slightest direct or indirect agencies of American imperialism. In sympathizers of the Communist Party of the ambiguity the rotten treachery of the liberals return they are expected to guarantee special privileges U. S. in the Democratic party who preach civil rights In this issue of the M ilitant you w ill find and then, in action, unite with the Southern for United States capital investments in these lands in the platform of the Socialist Workers Party racists. violation of the interests of the masses. As a result the for the 1956 elections. Farrell Dobbs, SWP Presi­ The SWP w ill show how both capitalist par­ same old colonialism against which the peoples are in dential candidate and Myra Tanner Weiss, the ties favor unloading all the suffering for capital­ revolt is continued ii\ open or concealed form. Where Vice-Presidential candidate, are in the field ist decay onto the workers. The plague of un­ camouflaged forms of imperialist domination fail, resort speaking for this platform to hundreds of thou­ employment, the high cost of living, the colossal sands of American workers on TV, radio, at burden of taxation, the scourge of speed-up, the must be had to naked force. A current example is the union meetings, before the organizations of the witch hunt and the prospect of H-bomb war —■ threat to overturn nationalization of the Suez Canal Negro people, to student groups and at SWP this is what capitalism and its two parties have through armed intervention. rallies. to offer to the American people. Truman’s use of the United Nations as a cover in the Thus the SWP, and the SW\P alone, has rais­ Which party will you, the rank and file mili­ ed the banner of revolutionary socialist oppo­ tants of the Communist Party, support in the Korean invasion revealed its true role as a front organi­ sition to the ’billionaire ruling class of the elections ? The CP convention in September is zation for imperialism and exploded the myth that the United States in the 1956 elections. The SWP supposed to make the decision. However, it is UN can serve as an instrum ent fo r peace. No less illusory candidates alone, of all the candidates in this quite, clear that the party leaders have already is the hope that the hydrogen bomb by its very destruct­ election, w ill speak unequivocally of the socialist come out for the support of the Democratic class struggle against capitalist war plans. The Party. W ill you — can you — go along with iveness w ill outlaw war. SWP w ill show that these plans are not aban­ The war drive has been slowed down p rim a rily by the this policy? doned by Wall Street when it cover® itself with We call upon you to support our anti-capitalist revolutionary gains abroad. World' capitalism has been the Geneva “ sp irit” but rather held in abeyance struggle in this election. We urge you to speak dealt a series of setbacks and defeats weakening its power until unfavorable world relation of forces can up in your party and fig h t fo r a principled class- in relation to the anti-capitalist forces. Revolutionary be overcome by them and permit the reopening struggle program in the 1956 elections. That China has emerged as a factor of great weight in world of the war drive. can only mean, under these conditions, to come politics. These reverses have compelled the imperialists to The SWP will, conduct an implacable, struggle out fo r the support of Dobbs and Weiss. in this campaign against the anti-labor witch The choice in the elections is a class choice. mask their war aims through hypocritical peace maneuv­ hunt, fo r the eomiplete freedom of all victims Fight for an independent working class political ers but militarism remains the ultimate instrument of of the Smith Act and other thought-control laws break with capitalism! Support the SWP elec­ capitalist rule. In the attempt to achieve world domination and procedures. tion campaign! American imperialism won’t hesitate to risk atomic war at whatever cost to humanity. cy is shown, especially among younger workers, Negroes $1,000 a year. Yet they are generally denied the benefits the need fo r them to use th e ir power to secure govern­ and other minorities and women workers who are in the of existing social legislation. ment action. For Basic Change in the U.S. least secure position, who generally have the most grievan­ These m igratory workers badly need the help o f or­ As against the workers need's and aspirations, the vces. Some of the most determined struggles have been ganized labor to build the unions they have started in an Democratic Party serves the basic interests of the capital­ The Kremlin bureaucrats, although forced to repudiate! waged by the Southern workers who want to win union effort to improve their lot. Especially they need the ist class. Its New Deal reputation was forced upon it Stalin, nevertheless continue his basic policy. They ad­■ protection and end the wage differential. Industrialization benefit of a labor party to compel government action for in the first place out of necessity to ward off the mass vocate “peaceful coexistence” as the answer to war. Their' of the South! is having a strong economic and political im- correction of the social wrongs they now suffer. radicalization following the 1929 market crash. Since the aim is to preserve the status quo. But the status quo is1 pact on white and Negro workers alike. Their common The capitalist politicians are fully aware that the New Deal became transformed into a W ar Deal during the what the masses the world over are rebelling against,■ class interests, sharply revealed in struggle against the industrial w orking class, the strongest social force in the latter part of the Thirties not one major social reform they are in revolt against capitalist exploitation and op­■ corporations, w ill tend to cut across color lines as happened nation, would be unbeatable in a political alliance with has been introduced. The Democrats have broken th e ir pression, as well as against the authoritarian bureaucracy’ in the rise of the CIO. Foreshadowed in this process is the Negro people, agricultural labor and small fanners. repeated promises to repeal the Taft-Hartley Act and pass in the Soviet orbit. The struggle for socialism is a con­■ the stormy rise of unionism below the Mason-Dixie line, They also know that for labor to break with capitalist civil rights legislation. The 1956 Democratic convention tinuous, uninterrupted struggle against the status quo.• Also from the South has come a sharp leap in the politics would mean the doom of capitalism. To ward off voted down a proposed pledge to enforce the Supreme In the hope of making a diplomatic deal with im ­■ Negro struggle for equality. The Montgomery bus boycott tins danger and maintain the capitalist monopoly in Court decision against segregation. In fact the Democrats perialism the Soviet rulers undertake to derail revolutions3 has produced a powerful new weapon for mass action by politics and in government, they have launched a witch have shown real action only in their efforts to out-bid in the capitalist sphere, substituting capitalist reform1 the Negro people in support of their democratic demands hunt against radicalism. A political blacklist of “subver­ the Republicans on military appropriations for the bi­ policies for revolutionary socialism. Stalin’s heirs seek co­- The Montgomery freedom fighters have shown unbreak' sives’’ has been maintained to weed out anti-capitalist ten­ partisan war program and in their support of the bi-par­ existence with imperialism in order to retain their bureau­- able solidarity, a grim fighting mood and tremendous dencies in the mass movement. “Loyalty” purges have tisan witch hunt. cratic privileges and the power to repress the struggle5 staying power. Their long battle has inspired the Negrc been conducted as a terror device to compel mass conform­ for workers democracy in the Soviet sphere. Using thei masses nationally and is producing a more m ilitant type ol ity with capitalist policies. Starting against federal em­ Labor Must Build Own Party Communist Parties to disarm the masses p o litica lly in thez leadership. Inspired by the independence struggles of th< ployees, the attack has spread to all spheres of national life. struggle against capitalism, they undermine the revolu­- colored peoples in the colonial countries, the Negro peopk Already implicit in the Democratic Party policy are tio n ary process which stands as the only effective obstacles of America are now fighting with determination to wir Mounting public opposition to the witch hunt and the conditions leading to a union break with capitalist to ¡imperialist war. economic, political and social equality. several limited legal victories against it have slowed down politics. The assault on labor has been deepening ever The Socialist Workers Party opposes the war programi the attack to a certain degree. But the laws and executive since the beginning of the cold war. The workers’ deter­ of American imperialism. It combats the Stalinist policy\ Labor-Negro Alliance orders on which the assault is based remain in effect. mination to defend their living standards was dramatical­ of curbing the anti-capitalist struggle in an effort to Persecution of organizations and individuals continues. ly revealed by the strike actions during the Korean war, appease imperialism. The foreign policy of the SWP aims3 The White Citizens Councils organized to combat th( A new law has been enacted to undermine the F ifth conducted in defiance of the Truman administration. The to align the United States with the world social trans­ Negro movement are actually the tool of the bankers Amendment. Penalties under the thought-control Smith conflict between capital and labor has become more and formations now in process, mobilizing our country’s full^ industrialists and big planters. Their white supremacisl A ct have been stiffened. Passage in 1954 of the Humphrey- more political in character. In every showdown both the power in support of the advance to a world system of^ program involves more than the anti-democratic denia Butler law was intended to do more than outlaw the Democrats and Republicans have stood on the side of planned economy. of Negro equality. The WCC is deliberately intensifying Communist Party. This wholly anti-democratic law, pro­ capital, their policies differing only in degree, not in Such a foreign policy requires in the first instance' racial antagonisms in order to split the white and Negrc scribing a political party for the first time in American basic content. Under these conditions a class struggle a basic change in the United States itself. Class-collabora­ workers to block unionization of the South. Taking ad- history, also set the stage for attacks on the unions program backed up by militant leadership could soon tion with the capitalist parties must give way to indepen­‘ vantage of the AFL-CIO failure to get a union drive going themselves as “ subversive.” Such strikebreaking, union- prepare the way for an advance to independent labor dent working class political action through labor’s own1 the WCC uses all forms of pressure to recruit white work- busting smears have already been hurled a t two unions, political action. party. The capitalist government must be replaced by a1 ers in the open shop plants and indoctrinate them againsl the United Electrical Workers and the Mine, Mill and The Communist Party policy of playing Democratic workers and farmers government. To serve these needs5 giving Negroes union rights. Where unions now exist the Smelter Workers. Party politics cuts squarely across th is objective process. the vanguard of the working class must advance a prin­' WCC campaigns for a separate all-white Southern Federa- It helps tie the workers politically to the class enemy and cipled socialist program flowing from the economic and* tion. Unions Face New Attacks serves to hold the iNegro people in a coalition with the political realities on the world arena and within this5 The white workers of the nation therefore have a white supremacists. Mass demands remain limited to a country. direct stake in the fight of the Negro people to win theii Basic to the war program are ultimate cuts in real capitalist reform program and the monopoly capitalists rights, ju s t as the Negroes need labor’s aid to achieve wages and reductions in social benefits which are bound are permitted to retain unchallenged control of the gov­ Prosperity-Depression Cycle their aims. Unionization of the South, an open-shop haver to provoke mass resistance. The capitalists are therefore ernment. This policy has nothing whatever in common for runaway plants, is vital to labor nationally but if moving in stages to weaken the unions through govern­ with Leninist principles of class struggle. It violates The American economy is based primarily on arms! cannot be accomplished without the support of the Negrc mental attacks and direct corporation assaults. The Taft- the basic interest of the workers, Negro people and expenditures. Boom conditions have prevailed consistently" workers who justly demand full equality. A need there- Hartley Act restricts the economic power of the unions. small farmers in a transparent effort to serve the Krem­ in industries central to war production but mere prepara­■ fore arises to smash the Southern political system of white Enactment of “Right to Work” laws in the states inten­ lin’s foreign policy of “ co-existence.” tions for war have not been enough to sustain capitalist; supremacy and the open shop not only to w in Negro sifies the government pressures against labor. Corpora­ To enter Democratic Party politics on the pretext of production as a whole. Despite the m ilitary budld-up ini equality but also for the workers to advance economically tion-provoked strikes in industry, often lockouts in affect, helping to organize a labor faction in a capitalist party the cold war a serious economic decline began in 1949. and politically. This need leads directly toward a political result from rejection of moderate union demands and only feeds mass illusions that capitalism can be reformed Overcome temporarily by American entry into the Korean alliance of labor and the Negro people. from corporation counter-demands intended to impair and retards the break with capitalist politics. The result­ war, the slump reappeared in 1953-54 a fte r the fig h tin g Yet another labor ally is appearing on the land. Mech­ wages and conditions, weaken union job control and sharp­ ing miseducation delays the fusion of the socialist program in Korea, ended. anization of agriculture is putting a squeeze on the small en the speedup. with the mass power of organized labor in an independent The country has for the time being been pulled out farmers. They are caught between a rise dn capital in­ When this combined assault by the corporations and political party fighting for socialism. of the slump by creating record consumer debts through vestment for mechanization and a decline in farm com­ the capitalist government is intensified labor will no installment and mortgage buying. So great is the expan­ modity prices due to the capitalist crisis of overproduc­ longer be able to defend itself through union action alone. A Class-Struggle Program sion that the overall consumer debt has climbed above tion. The small farmer is gradually going under, farm Realizing they w ill have to fight on the political field, total personal savings and the rate of continued increase units are getting bigger and fewer, the monopolists are the union officials engineered the AFL-CIO merger It is the duty of socialists to tell the class truth. The is outstripping the rise in personal income. As the work­ expanding their holdings. primarily to strengthen labor politically. Then they show­ workers can defend their interests only outside the frame­ ers thus go deeper into debt, the monopoly corporations ed th e ir fa ta l weakness as w orking class leaders by keep­ work of the capitalist political parties and in class struggle are coming record profits in what for them is genuine Small Farmers Hard Hit ing the union power tied to the Democratic Party, hoping against them. The toilers of America have nothing in prosperity. thereby to secure a return' to the New Deal days. (Continued on page 3) War spending and credit expansion tend to increase In trying to survive mechanization the small farmers The union officials base their expectations on the inflationary pressures. The consumers price index stands feel themselves much in the same position as the in­ prospects of a permanent war economy. They count on at the highest level on record and shows every sign of a dustrial workers trying to hold their jobs in the face of war production to prevent a deep unemployment crisis. continued climb. A t the same tim e a chronic decline has automation. To protect themselves they seek government In return for their support of the war program they h it industries like coal, textiles and shipbuilding. Periodic assistance to assure the cost of production! plus a fa ir rate expect capitalist concessions to appease the union mem­ slumps impair employment in such industries as auto. A of annual income. The government has offered little more bership. W ith this outlook, stemming from their social sag in the farm equipment field reflects the fundamental than token aid to the small farmer, solving few of his position as a privileged bureaucracy, the union officials decline in agriculture. Inflationary pressures and the problems. For the big capitalist farmer, however, the spread capitalist ideology in labor’s ranks. They retard threat of unemployment thus appear side by side, spelling same program provides a neat p ro fit since his u n it costs the development of class consciousness among the workers out the danger of economic crisis as the alternative to war are lower because he operates on a larger scale. Govern­ and oppose class struggle policies in the unions. under capitalism. ment policy has veered more and more in the direction of Although most workers instinctively distrust the Re­ the big operator’s needs with less and less regard for publicans as the party of Big Business, general illusions The Battle for Civil Rights the plight of the little man. remain that they can solve their problems through the As a result the small farmers are beginning to modify Democratic Party. Alongside these illusions, doubts about For the present, boom conditions still predominate. their political outlook. They are breaking with the old- the Democratic Party are appearing as shown by a trend A high level of employment exists despite the serious time farm organizations dominated by the big operators toward class polarization in political action. trouble spots. Most workers accept capitalism and con­ and forming new setups designed to press for a govern­ tinue to rely on the capitalist politicians in government ment policy meeting th e ir own needs. They are also Workers Vote as Class but with anxieties as to the future. The workers fear war, moving toward collaboration with organized labor and yet they also fear unemployment and feel the need of war would constitute potential allies of an independent labor A growing tendency has arisen among the workers production to assure them jobs. They see their economic party. to choose between the capitalist politicians as a class and security being destroyed by automation, decentralization The growth of monopoly on the land has uprooted to intervene in capitalist politics as a labor faction. This of industries, corporation mergers, runaway plants and large numbers o f people who have become m igratory trend reflects an awakening political consciousness o f the the periodic production slumps. On the job anger is gen­ farm workers. They travel from area to area working as greatest significance. The workers realize their economic erated by the speedup. seasonal help on the corporation farm s. Paid only a starva­ security can be guaranteed and their social welfare ad­ The subcurrents of discontent witihin the prevailing tion wage, whole families are compelled to labor in the vanced mainly by action at the government level. They conservative mood come to the fore when the workers fields, mother and children alongside the father. Seasonal are also coming to understand their own social power if are forced on strike by the corporations. Unusual militan­ gaps in employment reduce their average earnings below they act together politically as a class and to understand The Militan! Page 3 The CP Election Policy What’s Good for the South . . As It Looks in Action By Murry Weiss tory,” the editorial asserted. And pick out two phrases from his ac Members of (he Communist it added, that this proves “ once ceptance speech to buttress this Party are now getting a concrete again the axiom that the Demo­ assumption. Stevenson said he is for “a New America where pov­ lesson in precisely what the char­ cratic party performs best when Which Party Fights for Socialism? erty is abolished. . . where free­ acter of their party’s policy is in it listens to its labor and liberal wing.” dom is made real for all with­ Radical workers who want to vote so­ refusal to support the unions is reac­ the 1956 elections. In the discus­ out -regard to race or belief.” cialist in this election have an apparent tionary withdrawal from the living class sions that took place during the How, may we ask, does this Hip, Hip, Hooray! fo r the Steven And the DW editors also find choice of three different tickets — the struggle. past year, this policy was pre­ sented by party leaders in its “ so­ son ticket help the workers over­ that Stevenson said that he is for "a New America (which) Socialist Workers Party, the Socialist The program of the Socialist Party is phisticated” form, buried in a lot come their illusions about the everlastingly attacks the ancient Party and the Socialist Labor Party. How best described as “ State Department so­ of radical phraseology with a class interests served by the idea that men can solve their d if­ should they decide which of the three to cialism.” The SP lines up for “democracy” sprinkling of quotations from Democratic party? And how does ferences by killing each other.” support ? against “totalitarian Communism,” thus Lenin on the evils of left sec­ it help the workers grasp the tarianism. special role of the labor bureau By • tacking . on to these two American capitalism is today the center adopting the State Department’s dema­ phrases Stevenson’s statement, In these early explanations the craDaily Worker extends the hope Soviet Union, East Europe and China for action.” ) who were still in the grip of illu­ talism and systematically serves that Stevenson is really going to sions about the Democratic party. the interests of capitalism? imperialist exploitation. It is willing to W ithin th a t fram ework, the SP pleads follow a different program than The real character of the Demo­ use atomic war to realize this counter­ for an end to imperialism. The sincerity EVEN LIBERALS ASHAMED the real program of the Demo­ cratic party, as a second party of even that plea may 'be judged by a cratic party. revolutionary goal. The acid test for any of Big Business, was not denied. What is astonishing and re' volting to every class conscious party calling itself socialist is: Where does statement in the 1956 SP platform which Yes. I t is a party of Big Business. NO WAY TO FIGHT it line up in the unfolding struggle? says, “ American 'Socialists fin d th e ir But, the explanation went, we worker, is this unabashed cheer­ ing for Stevenson and the “ lib­ That’s a ll. they, needed. A The 'stand of the SWP is to be found allies. . . in the Socialist International.” must help the workers learn this meaningless phrase about “ w ith­ through their own experience. eral victory” when even the lib­ clearly stated in its election platform, One o f these allies is the French SP, whose erals themselves were burying out regard to race” and a pious printed in this issue, as well as in its leader. Premier Mollet, is waging war to THE REAL POLICY their heads in shame at the cyni­ admonition against ‘‘killing each entire record. The SWP is for the colonial crush the Algerian struggle for national Leaving aside the thoroughly cal deal on the civil rights plank other” and the DW editors flop independence. Indeed, the American SP unprincipled and opportunist made at the Democratic Conven­ down on all fours and start bray­ revolution, for the defense of the Soviet ing for Stevenson. Have we ever nationalized economy born of the October in the August Socialist Call reprints with­ character of the above “ explana­ tion. The liberal New York Post, tions,” we have only to look at for example, editorially referred seen a more digusting political 1917 Revolution, and for the extension out comment a resolution of its “Social­ the manner in which the Daily to the night when the civil rights spectacle ? of that revolution throughout the rest of ist” ally defending the bloody Algerian Worker is reporting and editor­ debate took place as “ a night There are many members of the world. The SWP’s struggle against the war. ializing on the recent Democratic that decent Democrats w ill want the Communist Party who are reactionary Soviet bureaucracy is waged A corollary of Wall Street’s war drive Party convention to see the real to forget.” As for Stevenson’s extremely uneasy about the elec­ within that context. is the witch hunt at home. The SP backs policy stripped of its verbiage role in the malodorous a ffa ir the tion policy, of the party tops. Post was forced to say: “ Neither The SLP declares itself against both a crucial part of the police-state program, and radical rationalizations. CP After all, workers who join the members who take the trouble to Stevenson nor Averell Harriman CP do so because they are op­ the Soviet Union and U.S. imperialism. It declaring in its platform: “Where employ­ compare yesterday’s explanations nor others whose words might posed to capitalism and are look­ is against the Soviet Union for the same ment o f persons m igh t endanger the with the policy in action will get have mattered spoke out in the ing for a way to fight the capi­ reason th a t i t opposes the union move­ security of the nation, screening is a a rich lesson in the logic of poli­ decisive hour.” (Stevenson was talist system politically. This ment in this country. In neither case can natural part of .the qualifications for the tics that is based on class colla­ asleep in his hotel room at the 1956 experience is bound to bring “ decisive hour.” ) the SILP distinguish between a reac­ position. . .” boration instead of class struggle. about some new thinking in the The nomination of Stevenson But the Daily Worker editors party rank and file, particularly tionary formation temporarily in control The SWP is against imperialism and and Kefauver by the Democratic can explain all that. It seems that at a time when all questions have of a labor organization and the organiza­ for the world socialist revolution. The SLP convention was greeted by a Alan Max and John Gates have come up for review and discus­ tio n ’s viable base. is “neutral.” The SP is on the side of Daily Worker editorial Aug. 20 a pipe-line to Stevenson’s inner­ sion. For our part we welcome Refusal to support the nationalized imperialism. It is on this basis that so­ with the claim that this was a most consciousness and consci­ such new thinking and promise economy against imperialism is objective cialist-minded workers should choose great victory for the labor move­ ence. Stevenson, we learn from to do our very best to help it among them on Nov. 6. ment. “ It was the Michigan labor them, probably does not agree along and find common terms for This ad from a Jacksonville, /Fla., paper '.was firs t reprint­ betrayal of socialist principle, just as delegation which gave the strate­ with the convention platform on discussion with those comrades gic push that became the flood either the civil rights plank or who are seeking a way out of ed by the ILos ;Angeles (Tribune, a Negro newspaper in Los Witch Hunt in West Germany tide carrying Stevenson to vic- the foreign policy plank. They the opportunist swamp. Angeles, (during the Democratic primaries last June. In an action influenced by the witch be conquered by means o f bayonets or hunt in the U.S., the government of police truncheons. You are under illusions British and Arabian Labor Konrad Adenauer, of the West German if you believe that blast furnacemen or W hy I Support Dobbs Republic, has prevailed on the Federal miners who daily face death below ground Constitutional Court at Karlsruhe to ban will hand over one of their comrades to Block Imperialist Suez Plan ------By Clifford T. McAvoy ------the police for expressing Communist [We reprint herewith a letter of those who constitute the bulk tunity this year to play the most the West German Communist P arty and By William Bundy all so-called front organizations and to views.” from Clifford T. McAvoy, former of the liberal coalition. valuable role of its eight years The governments of the United States, Britain and American Labor Party candidate Today’s situation is made to of existence. The Guardian’s inde­ order the seizure of its assets. The Adenauer measure is designed as a France have been forced to retreat on their course of for Mayor of New York City, as order for an independent Third pendent status makes it possible On August 17, immediately after the stumbling block in the path of German it appeared in the Aug. 6 issue Party with a program of peace, for it to organize public forums •launching a Korean-type police-action against Egypt to re­ court ruled, police detachments swooped reunification. The U.S. m ilitary planners of the National Guardian.—Ed.] civil rights and civil liberties. I on the issues of the ’56 elections down on local headquarters of the CPG, establish direct imperialist ------The Senate Armed Services shall continue to fight to build in which all political points of in the Pentagon have assigned to West trel over the Suez canal. threats against Egypt until a closed party newspapers and confiscated subcommittee hearings on the A ir such a party. We can thank the view could be debated. Such de­ Germay the role of proving ground for Originally a formula for such week before this statement. It is Force threw a glaring light on policy of “coalition” for the fact bates could clarify the issues and tons o f literature. That same day fo rty the planned atomic saturation war against control was to have been worked clear that they were forced to perhaps the most vital issue that we have no such party in lead to a regroupment of the party functionaries in all parts of the the Soviet Union. In addition the Adenauer out at the 22-natlon conference bach down from their support of which will come before the Amer­ the elections of 1956, but there is American L e ft after the elections. country were arrested, hundreds of homes regime wants to whip up hysteria in order held in London beginning August imperialist war policy by mass ican people in the 'November elec­ still an alternative. Will the Guardian meet this chal­ were searched, and bank accounts of the 16. Egypt was to have been con­ opposition in the ranks of the tions: war or peace. I t is con­ There are three socialist can­ lenge and become the 1956 ver­ to break down the growing opposition fronted with the alternative of party were seized. Labor party. tended by many, including the didates for President, at least one sion of Gene Debs’ Appeal to of West German youth to his conscription agreeing to the proposals of the The serious preparations and Communist Party and many trade of whom w ill be on the ballot in Reason, which was read by near­ Independent West German newspapers laws. conference or facing m ilitary in­ mobilization of the Arab masses unions, that the “ Cadillac Cabi­ New York and several other ly a million readers? received the Adenauer action with gen­ Historical experience shows that Ade­ vasion by the imperialist powers. have made it crystal clear that net” must be defeated. This nega­ states in November. It is time eral criticism. The regime responded by nauer Is aiming at bigger game when he Instead of an ultimatum, the con­ Egypt’s act of defiance of im­ tive slogan is intended to rally fo r those who profess devotion widening the raids and arresting some ference resulted in a proposal perialism enjoys overwhelming all radicals, progressives, union to socialism to vote fo r a social­ bans the CP a t this tim e. He aims a t the for negotiations with Egypt. 120 members of the CPG in Hamburg popular support throughout the members, the Negro people and ist. None of the three is perfect. entire German union movement which in “What settled the matter,” Middle East. So fa r general other elements of the “ peoples’ However, all oppose war, favor where the party has over 3,000 members. the last two years has displayed great says the August 19 New York strikes and demonstrations have coalition” behind the Democratic labor, civil rights and civil lib­ The largest political party in West Ger­ militancy in the ranks. The Adenauer Times, “ was British public opin­ occurred in the Arab capitals of candidates fo r Congress, whoever erties. many that stands in opposition to the regime rests on the support of industrial­ ion.” Above all, this means Brit­ Beirut, Casablanca, Amman, Tu­ they may be. Because he and his party de­ Adenauer Government is the Social Demo­ ish working class opinion. The nis, Karachi, Tripoli, and Bagh­ Regardless of the lack of m erit fend the achievements of the So­ ists and the Catholic clergy. Once before turning point in the imperialist cratic Party. dad; also in Jakarta (Indonesia), of the Cadillac Cabinet, this poli­ viet Union (although criticizing in 1933 a Big Business drive to smash the war plans was the demand of the throughout Syria and Egypt and cy constitutes a blank check fo r the brutalities of the Stalinist The Social Democrats are hostile to the labor movement was started with the British Labor party for Govern­ in oil installations in Saudi Ara­ the most m ilitaristic and war­ bureaucracy), and because he has Communist Party but are opposed to the banning of the Communist Party. ment assurances that the exten­ bia and Iraq. Throughout the rest mongering of tha two,parties. fought valiantly for civil liber­ sive troopi movements to the Mid­ banning of the CP. Its spokesman in the H itle r came to power on a wave o f anti­ of Asia there is also mass back­ It is abundantly clear that the ties fo r all, including the Com­ Federal parliament, Dr. Walter Menzel, a dle East were “ purely precau­ ing for Egypt’s fight. Democratic Party’s foreign poli­ munists, fo r civil rights and fo r communist hysteria whipped1 up by the deputy from the Ruhr region, declared: tionary. . . not preparations for It is these mass actions that cy plank w ill support Congress labor’s rights, I shall vote for regime of von Papen who represented the armed intervention.” have aroused the British workers’ in giving a reluctant Eisenhower Farrell Dobbs, Candidiate of the “Anyone whose political work is in the The right-wing Labor Party same circles as are now served by Konrad sentiment of international soli­ Administration $900 million more Socialist Workers Party, in No­ Ruhr region knows well enough that a leaders were loudly cheering darity and inspired them to ac­ fo r indreasing the A ir Force. vember. party like the Communist Party can never Adenauer. Prime Minister Eden’s violent tive opposition. This w ill come out of the pockets The Guardian has the oppor­

victims of this thought-control law. Abolish the “loyalty” 6. Housing and Public Works oaths and “loyalty” purges. Repeal the law abridging the Declare a national housing emergency and initiate Fifth Amendment. Abolish the House un-American Com­ a program to erect 20 million low^rent housing units. ...S W P 1956 Election Platform mittee and the Senate Internal Security Committee. Rigid rent controls under the supervision of tenants (Continued from page 2) their own choice, including the right to abolish capitalism Halt all political prosecutions for contempt ond perjury committees. Build schools, hospitals and other public needs based on the testimony of stoolpigeons. No political tamp­ common with the capitalist class but they have every­ and replace it with a system of planned economy. in adequate supply. Finance all public works from funds Solidarity with all colonial and socialist revolutions ering with pensions or other social 'benefits. now allocated for arms expenditures. th in g in common w ith the revolutionary masses o f the Liberalize the election laws. world against whom capitalism is preparing a war of against imperialism and with the struggles of the workers 7. Taxation conquest. in the Soviet sphere for the establishment of workers 4. Rights of Minorities democracy. Tax the rich, not the poor. Repeal all payroll and To be combatted are the union bureaucracy, the con­ Full economic, political and social equality to the sales taxes. Abolish all forms of hidden taxes. No tax on servative Negro leaders and all other elements within 2. Economic Security and Social Welfare Negro people and to all other minority peoples. Solidar­ incomes under $7,500 a year. A 100% ta x on all incomes the mass movement who support the foreign policy of For the 30 hour week. Reduce the hours of work with ity with all mass actions of the embattled Negro freedom over $25,000 a year. A 100% tax on all profits on war the capitalist government. To be combatted are the poli­ no reduction in take-home pay. Jobless benefits at fu ll fighters. For the immediate enforcement and implemen­ goods. cies of the Communist Party seeking to preserve the union rates for the entire period of unemployment. Gov­ tation of the Supreme Court decision against segregation. status quo, thus giving outlived capitalism a new lease ernment operation under workers control of all production Enact and enforce legislation to abolish lynching, the 8. Military Policy on life. Only those political tendencies aligning them­ facilities made idle by mergers, decentralization, run­ poll tax and all forms of segregation. Create an FEPC Stop the draft. Abolish the officers caste. Full demo­ selves against capitalism through a policy of independent aways anettproduction cutbacks. Abolish the speedup with full powers of enforcement. Put a stop to police cratic rights to the ranks, including, election of their own working class political action are progressive and de­ through JSton control of production speeds by majority b ru ta lity. officers and collective bargaining in defense of their in­ serving of support. vote of the workers involved. Combat all forms of anti-Semitism. terests. Union wages fo r all servicemen. In the 1956 elections only the Socialist Workers Party Guarantee women workers equal pay for equal work; 9. Government Ownership of Industry presents a principled, realistic vehicle for anti-capitalist 5. Farm Policy the right to a job and full seniority rights in upgrading; Nationalize the banks, basic industries, food trusts political action through support of its national ticket — maternity care and federally-financed day nurseries and [Establish a federal farm program to guarantee the cost of production on all farm commodities to working and all natural resources, including nuclear power. Opei’- Farrell Dobbs for president and Myra Tanner Weiss for summer camps for children. farmers to be operated under the control of their own ate all these facilities in the interests of the producers vice-president — and through support of its local can­ Adequate old-age pensions. Free medical care and representatives. Lim it government price supports to small and consumers through democratically-elected committees didates. In line with the fundamental objectives toward hospitalization. Full disability benefits. A government- farmers only. Set up a federal all-risk crop insurance of workers and technicians. Institute a system of planned which the labor and socialist movement must strive the guaranteed college education for all youth. program with the premiums to be figured in the cost- economy. SWP candidates are running on this platform: An escalator clause on all wages, unemployment com­ of-produetion program. No limitation on crops so long as pensation, pensions and other benefits, with taxes to be 10. Independent Political Action 1. Foreign Policy a single person remains hungry. Government food sub­ included in computing living costs. Break all ties with capitalist politics. Form an in­ Take the war-making powers out of the hands of sidies for families living on sub-standard diets. dependent labor party based on the unions and embracing Congress and the President. Let the people vote through 3. Democratic Rights Low cost, long term government credits to small the Negro people and working farmers. Create a Work­ a nation-wide referendum on the question of war or peace. Repeal the Taft-Hartley and Humphrey-Butler Acts, farmers for modernization of production facilities. A mor­ ers and Farmers government to reorganize America on a Withdraw all troops from foreign soil. Halt all nuclear the “ Right to Work” laws and all other federal, state and atorium on repayment of distress loans until the farm socialist basis. weapons tests. city anti-labor laws. No restrictions on the right to organ­ problem is solved. Expand rural electrification. A federal No secret diplomacy. Abolish all m ilitary alliances. ize, strike and picket. No government interference in the program for soil conservation and flood control. No taxes Recognize the government of revolutionary China. End unions. on savings of cooperatives. A federal ban on all specula­ all trade restrictions against anti-imperialist countries. Abolish the “subversive” list. Repeal the McCarran tion in farm commodities. Hands off Egypt. Internal Security and Immigration laws. Halt all deporta­ Abolish sharecropping and landlordism; the land to Support the rig h t o f all peoples to a government o f tions. Repeal the Smith Act and grant amnesty to all those who work it. The Negro Struggle By Jean Blake ------The Democrats’ Civil Rights Plank VOLUME XX MONDAY, AUGUST 27, 1956 NUMBER 35 Civil rights in general and segregation clear — not only by what was omitted, in particular proved to be the most con­ but by what was specifically rejected: a troversial issue at the Democratic Party pledge to uphold the ruling in favor of convention last week, as everyone knew public school integration, and a statement ...N .Y . andOther State Campaigns of SWP it would be. And again the fu tility of try­ favoring federal civil rights legislation. ing to use a capitalist party as the political It is understandable that naive people (Continued from page 1) | licans.” Throughout the state in­ the state authorities to grant him against whom Mayhew is run­ court challenge of Gov. William’s vehicle for the fight against Jim Crow might have expected something different monly considered "subversives.” dividual workers were met who his rightful place on the ballot. ning. O’Hara is a liberal Demo­ unscrupulous maneuver, which was demonstrated. from the Democratic convention. But by Despite, this, the SWP petition remembered the SWP from pre­ The case is being handled by the crat, who pretends to be fo r civil appears dictated by fear of a close election, the SWP has de­ The tail of the Democratic Party — the now it should be clear that the “com­ gatherers got well over 100 sig­ vious petition campaigns and American Civil Liberties Union. liberties when speaking to labor natures in every single county. elections. In such cases no per­ In two previous elections SWP and Negro organizations. clared that in any event it will liberals, the Americans for Democratic promise civil rights plank acceptable to Moreover, the petition teams suasion was needed to get their candidates complied with the I lli­ conduct a vigorous write-in cam­ FREE SPEECH VIOLATED Action, the Reutherites, the Communist both North and South” is acceptable only encountered no antagonism — signatures. nois ballot laws, collecting the paign in Michigan for Farrell Party, the ex-socialists of various denomi­ to white supremacists of both North and even from those refusing to sign. required signatures, etc., but still In the brief filed by the ACLU, Dobbs and Myra Tanner Weiss CP’ERS SIGN nations—the tail tried to wag the donkey, South. , Many people signing declared were denied a place on the bal­ Attorney Gilbert declared that that to have free elections the Canvassing was done on street lot. the section of the law used and failed. How could it be otherwise? The Ne­ against the SWP violates the 1st SWP and m inority parties should corners, at factory gates, and In 1954 Mayhew brought suit The northern liberals, with the aid of and 14th Amendments to the U.S. groes of the South, who want their full be on the ballot. Some expressed door-to-door. In one housing pro­ but the court refused to act on Constitution as well as Article II TV and radio, put on a big show for the rights as American citizens, were not their sympathy fo r socialism. ject in a northern county about the grounds that the ballots were of the Illinois Constitution. Gil­ benefit of the folks back home. Real represented lat the Democratic conven­ Many declared their disgust with 90% of the residents signed. In already printed. This year no bert states: “ This provision can “ the politicians,” adding “ I am an upstate sawmill over half of such grounds can be used. militant-like, they “carried -the fight to tion. And the workers of the North, colored the workers signed. About one- not fo r the Democrats or Repub­ ACLU Attorney Howard N. be used by election officials to the floor.” and white, who want an end to segrega­ arbitrarily deny to any group a third, or 5,000 signatures, were Gilbert has asked the Illinois Cir­ place on the ballot, if the o ffi­ The fight for what? Fori two little tion, have no say dn determining the collected upstate; the remaining cuit Court to declare unconstitu­ cials feel it falls under the very amendments to the civil rights plank of policies of the party; they can only vote 10,000 in New York City. Here tional that section of the election vague standards. No recourse is the Democratic National Committee: (1) “yes” or “no” to the very limited choice the conscious sympathy fo r so­ law used to disqualify SWP can­ cialism among the Negro and provided a group if such a de­ didates. The section involved is to pledge to carry out the Supreme Court placed before them by the capitalist Puerto Rican workers was parti­ termination is made.” decision in relation to segregation in public politicians. a s w eeping, vaguely-worded, cularly noticeable. witch-hunting paragraph. “ Not only is this contrary to schools, and (2) to simply state th a t they the due process guarantees of As one of the Democratic delegation An interesting sidelight in the Significantly enough the pre­ favor federal civil rights legislation. our Constitutions, but the sec­ leaders frankly admitted in a TV inter­ campaign revealed that a num­ vious disqualification of May- tion broadly violates the rights In the interest of “party unity,” the view last week, “The election platform is ber of people in or around the hew’s candidacy was brought of free speech and assembly. The “king-makers” let the liberals stage their Communist Party apparently dis­ about by the machine of Con- not something we stand on; it’s something right to dissent has always beenj show, but let the Southern lawyers dictate agree with the official line of gressntan Barratt O’Hara, we run on.” supporting the Democratic Party. an important part of American the platform plank. They knew that the It’s time the Negro masses and their A SWP petition-gatherer station­ political life and this rig h t must gutless Northern liberals — with their real friends made the cynical capitalist po­ ed outside the Jefferson school be maintained for a healthy retinue of labor fakers and Uncle Toms —■ for a brief period one night got democracy.” liticians walk th e ir c iv il rights -plank by the signatures of 18 out of 100 would sacrifice principle rather than walk forsaking the Democrats and the Repub­ In Michigan the SWP is bat­ out. people attending a lecture there. tling a similar attempt by the JOYCE COWLEY, SWP can­ In Chicago, Howard Mayhew, didate for U.S. Senate, N.Y. The actual language of the plank that lican twins and voting for the party of liberal Democrats to keep it off radical change: the Socialist Workers SWP candidate fo r Congress from the ballot. There the administra­ was adopted is meaningless. But the posi­ RITA SHAW, SWP candidate the 2nd Congressional District, tion of Gov. Mennen Williams has fo r President and Vice-President tion of the Democratic Party was made Party. for Governor of Mich. has opened a Court battle to force ruled both the SWP and the So­ and Rita Shaw fo r Governor.- cialist Labor Party off the bal­ Mrs. Shaw has already begun lot. This was accomplished by a campaigning. On Aug. 12 she ad­ slick changing of the petition­ dressed the General Council of processing rules by W illiam ’s Ford Local 600. Ten thousand Story of the 299-Day Strike at Lester Secretary of State. The SWP folders containing the text of and SLP, which had collected well the speech (which was also p rint­ PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 15 — of militants, dragging them out port of all labor in the Delaware had to force the State to grant wave of union solidarity that over the required number of sig­ ed in last week’s Militant) will The longest major strike in the in the middle of the night. It Valley — AFL, CIO and inde­ the workers their rights every supported “ 107” — in every way natures in the manner always ac­ be given out during the cam­ history of the Delaware Valley succeeded in getting 26 union pendent — despite the local’s step of the way. And it is doubt­ it needed it. cepted in previous elections, were Wben the American workers paign. ended Aug. 7. For 299 days the leaders jailed. Heavy details of UE affiliation; because the de­ ful whether it would have suc­ not informed of the change until come to understand the .need to In New York Joyce Cowley, 6,900 members of Local 107-UE police were mobilized at the fensive objectives were accom­ ceeded i f this was not an election it was too late to comply with abandon company-union politics SWP candidate fo r U.S. Senator, (Independent) fought a .lock-out, gates. Cameras were kept train­ plished and past gains preserved year. Collecting checks still looks the new procedures. The SWF and unite in a Labor fa tty , then made the opening speech of her imposed by the Wall Street-con­ ed on all the pickets. Special — for these reasons the settle­ a long way off. has been on the Michigan ballot trolled Westinghouse Electric ment, although a compromise, a corporation like Westinghouse campaign at the party’s Third mail campaigns were pushed h it­ The union again learned the in every election since 1948. The ting at the morale of strikers’ can be considered a victory for w ill hesitate ¡a hundred times be­ National Nominating Convention. Corporation, at its huge Lester, old principle of the labor move­ SLP has been on the Michigan Pa., turbine plant on the out­ families. “ 107.” ment that “labor’s friend is labor fore it will tackle labor to try HOW ARID MAYHEW, SWP (For story on campaign of Her* ballot since 1902. bert Lewin in Pennsylvania see skirts of Philadelphia. With the To cap it all, a new high in Yet the ratification meeting itself.” This was proven during to cut its conditions and steal its candidate Second Congressional While endeavoring to get a article elsewhere on this page.) national IU E and U E settle­ bribery was attempted. Trying ended with the militants in roar­ the ten-month ordeal by the great gains. District, 111. ments in March, they g|rimly to split the strikers, the company ing opposition, voting 539 against continued the battle alone for rigged a new wage offer aimed acceptance to 2,167 for. Voting another four months. at the incentive workers, who to continue the strike after ten -Local 107 was singled out by compose half the working force. months! I t is also known in la­ Pennsylvania Unionist Westinghouse for a crippling at­ It dangled lump sum payments bor circles that Local li07’s Ex­ Republicans Retain Nixon; tack because i't had won through ranging from $400 to $650 be­ ecutive Board split, with nine its militancy the highest level of fore their eyes, to be paid 30 against 14 for acceptance. Why? SWP Choice for Senate days after a settlement, plus an wages and conditions in the The Socialist- Workers Party candidate for U.S. chain. I t was the only location equal sum in December — if VIEWS OF MILITANTS Rights Plank Offers Little where the company revoked the they would go fo r the whole The hard core of picket-line Senator in Pennsylvania is Herbert Lewin, a well-known local supplement (in which wages, plan. An analysis disclosed that fighters felt that this first at­ union figure. Lewin is a member of the United Electrical By John Thayer hours, and conditions are spell­ even with those payments a 25- tempt by the company to nego­ Workers Local 107, in Lester, Pa.,® mitments by the wily Vice-Presi­ ed out). The company demanded cents per hour cut would result tiate seriously meant that they which has just returned to work A cut - and - dried Republican Party Convention dent to the right wing. Stassen’s such drastic changes that ac­ for all. The offer was rejected were cracking under the need after 299 days on the picket line. unanimously renominated President Eisenhower and then ill-fated attempt to re-open the ceptance of them would have — in the eighth month of the to reopen the plant. Therefore, Herb Lewin played an active role steamrollered through the renomination of Vice-President question of Nixon just prior to meant the wrecking of the strike! it was felt, continuance of a firm in the long, bitter battle. Nixon. What little popular in- the convention shows that dis­ achievements of 20 years of un With the workers holding firm stand would force Westinghouse Lewin was formerly a member terest there was in the proceed­ has his roots and origins in the quiet reigns in some of the ion struggles. In the last weeks under all these pressures and to completely clear the 14 whom of the United Auto Workers in ings in San Francisco centered party’s rig ht wing. He rose to Eastern counting houses. Signi­ of negotiations before the strike, not lone Scab recruited in ten the m ilitants wanted to see back Syracuse, N. Y. He was the firs t on the possibility of a fight to the Vice-Presidency solely on the ficantly, that sober watchdog of the company made a take-it or months, the company finally had in the plant with them. Such a to join the union in the General “dump” Nixon. This interest in Alger Hiss case — in other Wall Street’s interests, the New leave-it demand fo r a wage-cut, to yield. firm stand after ten months, the Motors plant where he was work­ the hitherto unimportant office words, in the style of McCarthy. York Times, has been carrying averaging 50 cents per hour! The local won a return to m ilitants felt, would make it ing and still cherishes his UAW of Vice-President is due to Eisen­ Should he succeed Eisenhower, editorials which indicate doubt about supporting the Eisen- work without any wage cuts and crystal clear to the company card No. 1. hower’s age and health. Not only could he be trusted or would the COMPANY STRATEGY also won the annual increases that it had better drop all plans He distinguished himself in the public, but the two major narrow, inflexible right wing of hower-Nixon ticket. Were there The wage-cutting ultimatum and fringe improvements gain­ aimed at cutting the contract or Local 107 in the 1946 strike. An factions in this Big Business the party control him? no danger of Nixon becoming united the workers, forcing them ed nationally. It had fought off victimizing anyone. Past experi­ able and courageous picket, he Party are keenly aware that, if On the other hand, the Demo­ President in the next four years, to walk out. This, evidently, was measured day work. An escala­ ence and information indicated was a celebrated victim of police re-elected, Eisenhower may well crats’ sole campaign issue is there would not be a moment’s the immediate goal of company tor clause boosts rates 1 cent that Westinghouse had such brutality. A news picture printed not live out his term. Eisenhower’s health. To “dump” hesitation. strategy, with a long-range aim per hour for every half-point ideas in mind. Nixon would not only embitter throughout, the world, showed a The faction formerly led by CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE of starving the strikers into sub­ rise in the Labor Department Further, a few strikers who Westinghouse picket on the Sen. Taft is known for its “ isola­ the situation inside the Repub­ Predictions that the Repub­ mission. In addition, the com­ cost-of-living index. had seen the contract were warn­ ground with five or more club­ tionist” foreign policy and un­ lican Party but would play licans would make a strong bid pany resorted to court injunctions ing of dangerous provisions in it swinging cops working him over. concealed hostility to labor and directly into the Democrats’ cam­ COMPROMISE for the Negro vote with a civil and firin g of union leaders. It and resented the rush to put it The embattled picket of the social legislation. Strong through­ paign strategy. The union forced the liftin g rights plank much stronger than had the cops invade the homes over w ithout the membership photo is, as all the Lester strik­ out the party, its chief support The “liberal internationalist” of the discharges of 14 leaders, that, with which the Democrats having had the chance to study ers knew. Herb Lewin. (The is among Midwest industrialists, wing of the Republican Party has compromising on a suspension fo r appeased the Dixiecrats, did not it. (“107” contitution calls for photo won a prize for the now reinforced by Texas oil m il­ decided to take a gamble and to 75 days. While this compromise come true. While the Republican the contract to be given to the cameraman and is still reprinted lionaires. roused great opposition among keep Nixon. Arguments fo r this resolution goes beyond the membership 48 hours before a in the labor press from time to HERBERT LEWIN the workers, these terms are calculated risk were that Nixon Democratic in that it “ accepts” ratification meeting.) Most of time.) WALL STREET FACTION better than those settled for by had broken his ties w ith the the strikers received the con­ original bent was towards science The “liberal, internationalist” the Supreme Court’s school the IUE where arbitration re­ right wing. Hadn’t he done every­ tract as they entered the meet­ WINS WITCH HUNT CASE and the great outdoors. He wing is dominated by Eastern desegregation decision, it “ ac­ sulted in discharges and long thing the President had ordered cepts” it without enthusiasm or ing. In 1948 Westinghouse posted a studied forestry at the New York capitalists, who are more so­ term suspensions. him to ? Hadn’t he double crossed notice that Herb Lewin and an­ State Forestry College, of Syra­ phisticated politically and socially. plans for implementing it. “ 107” was stuck with a five- The militants were particu­ McCarthy in the censure fight? other worker were fired as “poor cuse University. As an extra­ Their foreign investments and This shows, hungry as the year agreement. But that had larly angry with UE Organiza­ Hadn’t he gone along with the security risks.” The excuse in curricular activity he studied so­ connections make them “ inter­ Republicans are for votes, they been predetermined, firs t by tion Director Matles, whom they “ internationalists” the “Geneva Lewin’s case was his well-known cialism. While his forestry learn­ nationalist” in the imperialist are not w illing even to promise IUE President Carey’s establish­ credited with the idea of com­ sp irit” designed to cool o ff the socialist beliefs. Immediately a ing comes in handy on vacations sense of the word. In domestic enforcement of school desegrega­ ment of the precedent in the promising the issue of the 14 cold war, thus defying Know- storm of protest broke out in and teaching his young son about policy they are no w hit less anti­ tion. Like labor, the Negro peo­ General Electric contract, then suspended strike leaders. They land ? the plant and a mass meeting nature, his socialist understand­ labor than the “right-wingers,” ple cannot utilize either the Dem­ with the IUIE and UE settle­ had understood the Local’s stand Still, some elements of Eastern ocratic or Republican Party to was called. The 4,500 assembled ing has, along with his personal' but they realize an all-out assault ments with Westinghouse. How­ to be complete exoneration and capital consider Nixon too great workers voted to strike im ­ qualities, made him the outstand­ on unions and existing social make gains. Together they could ever, local re-opening clauses on that is what they wanted. a gamble. The rallying of all the mediately. Next morning the ing union builder his fellow legislation might well bring about build a labor party and march wages, with the right to strike rig h t wing around his candidacy BATTLE AHEAD plant was shut tight. This m ili­ workers know him to be. an awakening of the labor move­ and on non-economic matters, Facing the Local in December tant response of the local to the In 1950 Lewin was the Penn­ ment and a counter-attack rathei without the rig ht to strike, dim­ ¡•s the rewriting of all job de­ witch-hunters resulted in the sylvania SWP's candidate for than the desired smashing. This inish the freezing effect of the scriptions and the establishment reinstatement of the two. governor. This November work­ wing of the Republican Party five-year provision, somewhat. of new classifications and rates. Born in Rockaway, N. Y., bears resemblance to Big Busi­ Because of the strike’s length ers in Pennsylvania can vote for This could be an opening fo r the Lewin apparently never visualiz­ him for Senator on the ticket of ness’ alternate party, the Demo­ and character jas |a lone battle company unless the membership ed a life in a factory, piling up the Militant Workers Party crats. for four 'months after the rest is on its toes and ready to re­ profits for a corporation. His (SWP ballot designation in Pa.) It is this Wall Street led sec­ of Westinghouse settled; because sist any hostile moves. The com­ tion of the party which is of its ability to rally the sup­ pany may be counting on the dominant. I t groomed and ther long strike to have sapped the put over Eisenhower in the 1952 morale of the workers. convention in the bitter battle with Sen. Taft. When it had The .next few months may well used McCarthy to the extent indicate what the company has desired and saw that his fascist in mind. With the 14 leaders out­ ambitions were not compatible side the plant during this period, some of whom are chief stewards with the methods o f rule i1 favors at this time, the Wall of important sections, the com­ pany may attempt to attack the Street led faction cut him dowr to size. When it realized the un­ weaker elements and depart­ favorable military and political ments. iThat might be one rea­ son why the company insisted stalemate U.S. imperialism hac on keeping the 14 outside, at reached in the cold war, it decided least during this period. — despite the raging of Sen Knowland (R-Cal.) — to post­ In the field of politics, the pone its global war plans and tc strike taught “107” quite a bit play the diplomatic game againsi about lalbor’s "friends,” especial­ the Soviet Union and the colonial ly regarding the administration revolution. of Pennsylvania’s Gov. George For Wall Street, Eisenhower Fund Nears 100 Pet. — Deadline Is Close M. Leader. “ 107” was clearly was the ideal instrument of rule. the victim of a lockout. Its mem The only cloud on the horizon At this writing, ten days before the extended deadline of bers were unquestionably entitled was his failing health. This put Sept. 1, the 'Publications Fund is 93% completed, and there is to unemployment compensation the financiers on the horns of a general confidence that the fund w ill be completed in fu ll bjr under state laws. Yet the local dilemma. Vice * President Nixon the deadline.