Ruling fortifies immigrant rights 3 TH£ New Soviet economic measures . . . 5 Puerto Rican prisoners interviewed . . . 7

A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 51/NO. 35 SEPTEMBER 25, 1987 $1.00 Nicaragua grants pardons, Kanaks boycott begins dialogue to end war French-run BY HARVEY McARTHUR MANAGUA, Nicaragua - President Daniel Ortega announced here September referendum 13 that Nicaragua is taking further steps to BY GEORGE FYSON "fight for peace" and implement the agree­ NOUMEA, New Caledonia - "The ment signed by five Central American problem in New Caledonia has not changed presidents August 7 in Guatemala. The ac­ by one inch. It remains today just as the cords were signed by the heads of state of day before," commented Jean-Marie Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Hon­ duras, and Nicaragua. Tjibaou, president of the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), fol­ Nicaragua will begin a "national dialogue," Ortega said, inviting all politi­ lowing the September 13 referendum here on self-determination organized by the cal parties and groups, including amnestied French government. contras, to send representatives to an Oc­ An estimated 98.3 percent of those who tober 5 meeting. voted expressed themselves in favor of Nicaragua will pardon and release all 16 New Caledonia remaining a part of France. citizens of other Central American coun- But, Tjibaou said, some 83 percent of the eligible Kanak population abstained from voting in response to the FLNKS' s call to Editorial on Reagan's effort boycott the referendum. to prop up contras, page 14. The South Pacific island country of New Caledonia became a French colony in 1853. The indigenous Kanak people were tries who have been imprisoned for activ­ stripped of their tribal lands, and tens of ities with the contra mercenaries. thousands died of disease or in massacres Nicaragua is also repealing Decree 760, perpetrated by the occupiers. "Appropriation by the State of Abandoned Militant/Harvey McArthur Former contras who responded to amnesty otTer. With signing of peace accords, Nic­ Today the Kanak population is about Goods," which authorized the government 60,000; European settlers number more to confiscate the properties of Nicaraguans araguan government has increased efforts to get contra troops to lay down their arms. than 50,000. And there are some 30,000 who left the country for six months or immigrants from other parts of the South more. Ortega said this step is aimed at en­ Pacific, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere. couraging those who left to return. bers include local priests and pastors, Red mercenary groups, urging them to give up The French government staged the Sep­ Ortega stressed that with the repeal of Cross officials, peasant leaders, busi­ their arms and receive amnesty. Under the tember ll balloting in order to legitimize this law, land given to peasants and hous­ nessmen, landlords, and opposition party country's amnesty law, surrendering con­ continued colonial rule in the face of the in­ ing lots given to urban workers would not leaders. Many are not supporters of the tras can freely return to their homes with­ tensifying demand among the Kanaks for be returned to landlords, and the properties Sandinista National Liberation Front, and out facing prison. independence for New Caledonia. confiscated from the dictator Anastasio some are known contra collaborators. "Later on, the commissions would have "The_referendum," said Tjibaou, "sim­ Somoza and his close supporters would re­ Carrion explained that these commis­ another role, in the event of a cease-fire," ply allowed the non-Kanak living on the main nationalized. sions will speak with families of contra Carrion added. "The peace commissions territory to say whether 'yes or no,' ifthey The new measures are part of the intense members and make direct contact with Continued on Page 8 Continued on Page 13 campaign being waged here to take advan­ tage of the Guatemala accords to press for an end to the U.S.-organized contra war. "We think there are good opportunities Mass strike, coup attentpt rock Philippines to deal a decisive political defeat to the U.S. war policy," Vice-minister of the In­ terior Luis Carrion said in an interview in BY RUSSELL JOHNSON stepping up the war in the countryside main low." In a last-minute bid to break the momen­ the September 8 Sandinista daily Bar­ MANILA, Philippines - A national against the peasant-based New People's tum of popular support for the protest, ricada. "Reagan finds himself with a more protest strike on August 26 involving 4 Army, and smashing the mass worker and Aquino appeared on television the evening unfavorable correlation of forces, and million working people and a subsequent peasant organizations that have gained of August 25 to announce a partial rollback [U.S.] public opinion is being mobilized uprising by army officers against the gov­ strength in the Philippines. ernment of President Corazon Aquino As many as 4 million working people are of the price increase. This proved to be too [against the war] . " little, too late. Nearly 100 local peace commissions highlighted the deepening political crisis in reported to have participated in the August Union leaders reiterated their call for a have been organized in the north and cen­ the Philippines. 26 "people's strike" against the 20 percent national strike to demand the total rescind­ tral regions of the country, the areas most The aims of the military plotters in­ oil price increase decreed by the Aquino ing of the price increases. Even the TUCP affected by the war. The commission mem- cluded removing the Aquino government, government August 15 . This made the day of strikes, human bar­ leadership refused to withdraw support de­ ricades, and demonstrations the largest spite urging from the union's former secre­ labor mobilization in recent years. It was tary general and now pro-Aquino senator, Big meetings aid Maine paper strike the first massive protest against govern­ Ernesto Herrera. ment policy since the February, 1986 The result was, in the words ofthe right­ BY SUSAN LaMONT trailers kept on company property to house popular uprising that overthrew U.S.­ wing Philippines Daily Inquirer, "a stun­ JAY, Maine-Spirits were high as 1,200 scabs. One Local 14 member described the backed dictator Ferdinand Marcos and ning success." Manila was brought almost paperworkers, family members, friends, trailers as "a P.O.W. camp." swept Aquino into office. to a standstill by the transport strike. Most and community supporters jammed into the The judge, however, denied the com­ The people's strike was spearheaded by of the city's office and shopworkers, as Jay municipal building gymnasium Sep­ pany's request to bar enforcement of a sec­ a nationwide work stoppage by the more well as students, stayed home despite the tember 17 for their weekly mass meeting. ond ordinance requiring it to follow en­ than 400,000 jeepney (minibus) drivers government's mobilization of 19,000 sol­ It was three months to the day since vironmental regulations in operating the which paralyzed public transport in Ma­ diers and the city's garbage trucks to pro­ United Paperworkers International Union mill. He declined to act on the third ordi­ nila, Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, and other vide transport to try to break the strike. (UPIU) Local 14 and Firemen and Oilers nance which, would ban the use of strike­ major cities, and across many provinces as The situation in Manila was repeated in Local 246 went on strike at International breakers in Jay. This was aimed at Interna­ well. key cities and towns throughout the Philip­ Paper's mill here. tional Paper's use of B.E. & K. Construc­ The strike was initiated by a coalition of pines. For instance, Mindanao KMU Local 14 Executive Vice-president Felix tion, a professional strikebreaking outfit. drivers' unions, including affiliates of both leader Nonoy Librado reported from Union President Bill Meserve called the ~acques and other speakers from the Paper­ the militant May l Movement (KMU) Davao that public transport was paralyzed workers International and the state AFL­ court's ruling a victory for the local. union federation and the progovernment in the key Mindanao cities of Davao, Illi­ CIO reported on the most recent develop­ The meeting rose to its feet and cheered Trade Union Congress of the Philippines gan, General Simtos, and Cagayan de Oro. ments in the strike, including that negotia­ when McTeague reported that contempt ci­ (TUCP). He added that the majority of banks and tions are now set to resume on September tations are being served against 35 scabs Both the KMU and the TUCP federa­ shops in Davao were shut that day and that 29. These will be the first negotiations in who have violated a court injunction tions backed the August 26 strike. Joining school classes had to be suspended. six weeks. against carrying weapons. in support were peasant, student, and other Factory workers joined the strike in sub­ Union attorney Patrick McTeague re­ Strike supporters were especially popular organizations, forming the Coali­ stantial numbers, especially in the most ported on a September 15 federal court rul­ steamed over a four-page letter Interna­ tion Against Oil Price Increases. heavily industrialized areas in Metro Man­ ing on the company's challenge to three or­ tional Paper had sent out a few days earlier Announcing their intention to partici­ ila and surrounding provinces in Central dinances that had been passed at an August to thousands of residents in the Jay area pate, the Peasant Movement of the Philip­ and Southern Luzon. II Jay town meeting. and to towns the scabs come from. The let­ pines (KMP) explained, "Farmers, who According to the KMU, more than 300 The judge barred enforcement of the or­ ter signed by mill manager Newland compose the majority of consumers, will factories were affected by strike action in dinance regulating temporary housing. Lesko, attempted to portray the union as suffer the most from increased production Metro Manila alone. The Bataan Export This decree was aimed at preventing Inter­ unreasonable and greedy in the face of the costs, such as higher fertilizer prices and ir­ Processing Zone was paralyzed as were national Paper from using more than 50 Coatilwed OD Page 13 rigation prices. Prices for their produce re- Continued on Page 13 Protesters to Congress: End aid to contras!

BY FRED FELDMAN from the coalition went to the office of September 15 was "Register Your Op­ Sen. Alfonse D' Amato to protest his record position Day," a day of activities in cities of supporting the contra war. across the country aimed at demanding that The next major events on the Days of Congress vote down funding for the contra Decision calendar are rallies and other pro­ terrorists who are attacking Nicaragua. The tests on or about September 29. actions were part of the nationally coordi­ In Philadelphia an interfaith service and nated "Days of Decision." candlelight procession was held September In Washington, D.C., more than 200 13 in honor of Benjamin Linder, the U.S. people attended a rally and news confer­ volunteer worker who was murdered by the ence on the steps of the Capitol, where contras in Nicaragua, and the two Nicara­ Congress holds its sessions. Scores of indi­ guans murdered with him. Some 300 viduals lined up at the offices of Senators people participated. William Cohen, Nancy Kassebaum, and The memorial to Linder was part of a Alan Dixon to voice their opposition to week of activities leading up to September contra funding. 17 - Constitution Day - when President In Boston, the bells of 55 churches tolled Reagan and other dignitaries were in the to protest U.S. funding of the terrorists. city to celebrate the 200th anniversary of More than 200 people held a vigil at the the signing of the U.S. Constitution at the federal building. Constitutional Convention of 1787. In July, the Pledge of Resistance won a Militant/:Ste·ven Fuchs New Yorkers Against U.S. Intervention court injunction barring city officials from Some 7,000 protested attack on antiwar Vietnam vet Brian Willson in Concord, in Central America, a coalition, organized interfering with antiwar protesters' partici­ California, on September 5. canvassers at 140 sites across the city Sep­ pation in the bicentennial events. tember 12. They collected more than "No contra aid" and "No U.S. interven­ 25,000 names on postcards opposing aid to tion in Central America" will be the de­ cial Workers union and Amalgamated tor of Ohio Council 8 of the American Fed­ the contras. On September 15, a delegation mands of a march and rally in San Jose, Transit Union, and a range of community eration of State, County and Municipal California, September 26. Backers of the and campus organizations. Employees, was speaking for the October march, organized as part of the Days of At a September 4 news conference on . 10 Mobilization Committee. Decision, include the Central Labor Coun­ the steps of Cleveland's City Hall, Patricia In Charleston, West Virginia, activists Support the Fall cil of Santa Clara County, Service Employ­ Moss announced plans for an October 10 are building a September 26 march and ees International Union locals 535 and 715, march and rally against U.S. intervention rally. A march and rally will also be held in Socialist leaders of the United Food and Cammer- in Central America. Moss, regional direc- Boston September 27. Publications Fund ~~ N.J. teachers strike for wage hike At a rally August 14 we announced the BY MINDY BRUDNO Newark Star Ledger reported that the board the union for refusing to instruct its mem­ launching of this ELIZABETH, N.J. - Two thousand of education had gone to court to seek stiff bers to return to work, and a doubling of fund, which has a striking teachers and other school employ­ fines against the union. The previous the fine for each day the strike continues. goal of ratsmg ees and their supporters held a spirited rally week, the court had issued a temporary re­ At the same time, the administration is $150,000 by Nov. 24. here on the morning of September 15. The straining order against the continuation of attempting to pretend that education is con­ the strike until a hearing could be held. The tinuing without the strikers. Scab substi­ Its purpose is to fi­ rally was held to demonstrate the determi­ nation of the strikers to hang tough in the strikers refused to buckle to this undemo­ tutes are being paid $140 a day to show car­ nance publication of face of mounting obstacles to their fight for cratic interference by the courts anLatin America: for one-year subscription send $30, drawn on a U.S. bank, to above address. By fitst-class (airmail), Name (cover price $6.50). It is a send $65. Britain, Ireland, Continental Europe, Mrica: Address--·------·-·-·- ·------magazine of Marxist poli­ send £25-check or international money order made out to City State _ _ __ Zip ___ tics and theory. This issue Pathfinder Press and send to Pathfinder, 47 The Cut, London I features the article, "The SE1 8LL, England. Australia, Asia, Pacific: send Austra­ Telephone - - - ·--- Union/School/Organization-·-·--- - - Second Assassination of lian $60 to Pathfinder Press, P.O. Box 37, Leichhardt, Syd­ ney, NSW 2040, Australia. Send to THE MILITANT, 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014 Maurice Bishop," by Steve Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily represent I Clark. the Militant's views. These are expressed in editorials.

2 The Militant September 25, 1987 Court ruling on .:FBlspy files strengthens immigrants' rights ·

BY FRED FELDMAN nell claimed, "could impact on our ability ial would be tainted with illegality because Undocumented workers and other non­ to properly determine an individual's prop­ the information is not lawfully in the hands citizens were among those who chalked up er immigration status." of the Government. The Government can an important gain for their . democratic hardly deny the possibility of usage when it rights when Judge Thomas Griesa handed INS demand rejected has presented affidavits of seven federal down an injunction August 17. The ruling Griesa ruled, however, that the injunc­ agencies . . . urging that they need to have barred the government from using some 10 tion barring use of the files would apply to access to the information in these docu­ million pages of files on the Socialist all membership lists and names of indi­ ments for various purposes." Workers Party and Young Socialist Al­ vidual SWP members in the possession of In other words, the government's own liance that had been illegally gathered by the government- aside from the names of arguments for why it must have access to the FBI. those national figures whose affiliation has this material - which was gathered In preventing the government from been made public knowledge by the party through criminal acts - makes the need using the documents, Griesa made no ex­ itself. for an injunction to prevent them from ception for those dealing with noncitizens Militant/Harry Ring In doing this, the court rejected the INS using it all the more pressing. Hector Marroquin, immigrant worker alleged to be members or supporters of the demand for the right to spy data on names SWP or YSA. The injunction makes no No escape clause whom government tried to deport for his and other information about SWP members views. distinction between citizens and nonciti­ who do not have citizenship papers. The injunction also rejected the govern­ zens when it comes to the right to privacy The refusal to grant the government a ment's demand for permission to use the regarding their political affiliations. special license to violate the rights of non­ documents at will if it considers an "The court does not contemplate that The injunction reinforced Griesa's Au­ citizens was one of several gains codified "emergency" to exist. there will be any need for numerous or fre­ gust 1986 ruling in the suit brought by the in the August 17 injunction. "No reason has been shown," Griesa quent applications by defendants," he two organizations against the attorney gen­ The ruling also cut through the govern­ wrote, "for allowing the Government to explained. "As far as the evidence now eral, FBI, and other police agencies. At ment's claim that, as Griesa put it in his make an 'emergency' departure from the shows, the materials involved contain little that time, he declared that the FBI's spying ruling, "There should be no injunctive re­ injunction at its own discretion." or no information bearing on national secu­ and disruption operations against the two lief because there is no threat of future un­ He concluded that applications by the rity, and no information about actual or organizations had been illegal. That deci­ constitutional use of the illegally obtained government to utilize the illegally obtained planned violence against public officials, sion also covered operations targeting non­ information." materials could be granted only by "an but rather a mass of information about citizens. "This ignores," he explained, "the fact order issued by this court, applied for on peaceful political activities and the private The battle waged by the YSA and SWP, that any use or dissemination of this mater- notice." lives of individuals." and thousands of others who have support­ ed their suit against the government, thus strengthened the struggle for the constitu­ tionally guaranteed freedoms of speech, assembly, and association by millions of Sobell hails 'outstanding .victory' undocumented workers and others who don't have citizenship papers. BY HARRY RING make Judge Griesa's decision and injunc­ spying ... by government agencies." The ruling and the subsequent injunction NEW YORK - The Political Rights tion available in German. From Raleigh, North Carolina, came a touch on issues raised, for example, in the Defense Fund is continuing to receive mes­ message of solidarity from a veteran civil case of eight supporters of Palestinian sages of solidarity in response to the re­ 'SWP beats FBI' rights fighter, Rev. W. W. Finlator. He is a rights in Los Angeles whom the govern­ cently won injunction barring the govern­ In this country, the injunction was wel­ member of the national advisory commit­ ment has been seeking to deport. ment from using illegally obtained files comed by the weekly paper the Guardian. tee of the American Civil Liberties Union They are accused of membership in the against the Socialist Workers Party and A September 9 article by John Trinkl was and former chair of the North Carolina ad­ Popular Front for the Liberation of Pales­ Young Socialist Alliance. headlined, "Socialist Workers Beat FBI­ visory committee to the U.S. Commission tine - although the government has pro­ One message came from Morton Sobell, Again." on Civil Rights. vided no proof of this "crime." Instead, it an early victim of the McCarthyite witch­ The article summarized the key points in Finlator declared the injunction a "vic­ has accused the eight of having pro-Pales­ hunt era. Sobell was convicted as co-con­ the injunction and provided an overview of tinian newspapers in their possession. tory with far-reaching effects throughout spirator in the frame-up trial of Julius and the history of the case. It cited the response the land." The issue of the rights of noncitizens Ethel Rosenberg on fake charges of making to the injunction of SWP attorney Leonard was posed both in the 1981 trial of the SWP the "secret" of the atomic bomb available Boudin and party National Secretary Jack "Let's hope," he said, "our guilty gov­ and YSA lawsuit and in the fight over the to the Soviet Union. The Rosenbergs were Barnes. ernment will not appeal the decision, but injunction. executed, and Sobell served 18 lf2 years of a Trink! writes, "Score it Socialist Work­ let's be prepared to defend this cause to the Glenn Bertness, an official of the Immi­ 30-year prison term. ers Party 2, FBI 0." end!" gration and Naturalization Service, tes­ In a letter to the Political Rights Defense In Seattle, the executive board of Local Broad understanding of the significance tified for the government in the 1981 trial. Fund, Sobell said: 6 of the Service Employees International of the socialist suit and the victories it has He said in court on April 24, that the INS "The injunctive relief Judge Griesa Union voted a $25 contribution to the work achieved was reflected in an editorial in the was preparing to proclaim the Socialist granted the SWP, forbidding the govern­ of the PROF, declaring: "Local 6 supports Des Moines Register, which we reproduce Workers Party a "proscribed" organization ment from using any of its illegally ob­ the defense against illegal intrusions and below. - one whose noncitizen members or sup­ tained materials, represents a particularly porters are subject to deportation. outstanding victory for the SWP and all Bertness said that the INS had given up progressive organizations; particularly at on previous efforts to characterize the SWP this crucial juncture in history, when all of as advocating the violent overthrow of the the federal courts are bowing to Reagan's U.S. government. Instead, he said, the ultra-right-wing politics. proposed proscription was to be based on "Three cheers for the SWP, for its tenac­ the charge that the SWP advocates the ity in carrying on this legal struggle for "doctrines of world communism." over a decade, in the face of all the obsta­ lt!nil.~!.~~-- -·--~···· Role of immigration cops cles erected by the government." Judge Griesa's injunction was also wel­ No benefits from spying On May 27, 1981, Hector Marroquin, a comed by David J. Garrow, author of the Mexican worker who came to this country book, The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr. One of the most important of do with the reams of documents without documents in 1976, testified for A political science professor at the City recent civil-liberties court victories the government had amassed from the plaintiffs. He described the govern­ College of the City University of New came last year when U.S. District its illegal activities. A year after his ment's efforts to deport him because of his York, Garrow said that the injunction, like Judge Thomas P. Griesa awarded first ruling, Griesa has issued an­ Marxist views and membership in the the original ruling it stemmed from, offers members of the Socialist Worker other, severely restricting the gov­ Socialist Workers Party. "a very sensible and thorough analysis of Party $264,000 in damages for ernment's access to and use of the Even after the August 1986 ruling de­ what transpired and what ought to be done nea1ly 20 years of spying, harass­ information it had gathered. clared the government's spying operation to rectify and recompense it." illegal, the INS again demanded the right ment, burglaries and other illegal Griesa concluded logirally that to target noncitizen members or supporters Garrow added that the judge's decision actions by Federal Bureau of In· since the FBI had no right to en­ of the SWP. At issue was the scope of an and injunction were of such legal sub­ vesti gat ion agents and informants. gage in the surveillance against the injunction the judge had said he would im­ stance, "it's hard to imagine any appellate The award was nominal; the sig­ party, "it obviously had no right to pose on the use of the illegally obtained panel overturning any of his decisions in nificance of the ruling was Griesa's obtain the information and docu­ FBI files . this action, or modifying in any meaningful finding that the government had ments procured"' through wire­ The INS was one of the federal police ways the terms of his recent injunction." no legal grounds to conduct such tapping, spying and infiltration. agencies that submitted affidavits asking In a number of other countries, labor and espionage against "entirely lawful Rather than order the docu­ that an injunction not be issued or that it in­ political activists are gaining a new recog­ and peaceful political acthities." nition of the relevance for them of this fight ments destroyed, the judge ruled clude a clause giving the government a free against the illegal activity of the FBI and The Socialist Workers Party es­ that the governmem could have ac­ hand to use the documents in an other U.S. agencies. One recent new voice poused the ideals of communism's cess to them only by court order "emergency." of support was the United Socialist Party of evangelist Leon Trotsky, yet the upon the showing of a clear and le­ The INS affidavit stated that access to West Germany. small group posed no threat to the gitimate need. The documents such spy files was vital for the agency "to republic. It was the FBI's tactics would also be accessible to schol­ make informed decisions about an indi­ A resolution adopted by the party's cen­ that posed the threat The govem­ ars, histonans and others. vidual's political views." tral committee declared the organization ment of a democracy must not em­ "Although membership in the Socialist would become a supporter of the Political There may well be a case for pre­ Workers Party would not alone result in Rights Defense Fund and called on "all ploy a national police force to spy serving the records for historical any change to one's immigration status," forces in the democratic and workers' on law-ahiding political groups. purposes and future legal actions. stated Acting Assistant Commissioner movement" of West Germany to support Griesa made it clear that such spy­ But the government should never Edwin Dornell, "it is certainly a factor that the PROF with endorsements and financial ing is unconstitutional. be allowed to benefit from the would need to be examined in accordance contributions. The next question was what to fruits of its illegal labors. with our statutory mandate. To help achieve this, the socialist or­ "Failure to have this information," Dor- ganization agreed to support efforts to Editorial in Des Moines, Iowa, daily supports court injunction.

September 25, 1987 The Militant 3 Support for paperworkers' struggle grows Ala. rally backs Strikers lead locked-out Maine Labor unionists Day event BY STEPHEN BLOODWORTH AND CHERI TREMBLE BY JON HILLSON MOBILE, Ala. - On Labor Day, the WATERVILLE, Maine - This state's downtown streets of this port city · were traditional Labor Day parade, sponsored covered by a sea of men, women, and chil­ by the Maine AFL-CIO, was turned into a dren wearing "IP: Just say no" buttons. chanting, spirited demonstration of solidar­ They were also wearing "Proud to be ity with striking workers at International union" hats and "Locked-out fever" T­ Paper Co.'s Androscoggin River plant in Jay, Maine .. More than 5,000 union men shirts. More than 500 paper millworkers from arid women took to the streets here Sep­ the International Paper.. (IP) mill here, tember 7. along with family, friends, and supporters, They came from every comer of the marched and lined the streets for an "old state: paperworkers from northern Maine, fashioned" parade and rally September 7. garment workers from Waterville, and The featured speaker was Wayne Glenn, shipbuilders from Bath, A small group of president of the United Paperworkers Inter­ unionists from New Brunswick and Que­ national Union (UPIU). bec in Canada attended. There were IP is the largest U.S. paper company. In Teamsters, teachers, building-trades work­ negotiations at the Mobile plant early this ers, and rail workers. Among them were Part of crowd at September 7 rally in Mobile, Alabama. International Paper locked veterans of several bitter strikes in the last year, the company adopted a "take it or out workers there in March after they rejected takeback contract. leave it" attitude. couple of years. Although the workers had voted down The parade turnout showed the support IP's concessionary contract, the I ,250 also established a food pantry. Many other stand by and do nothing. We've learned to generated by the I ,200 paperworkers, who unionists organized in four UPIU locals locals are also giving the locked-out work­ pull together as a union," said Candy An­ rejected IP's demands for givebacks June and one International Brotherhood of Elec­ ers assistance. derson, a leader of the group. 16 and have been on the picket lines ever trical Workers local had not decided to A common concern expressed by work­ since. strike. But IP locked them out on March Ladies Auxiliary ers at the Labor Day action was the weak­ Maine unionists have donated $150,000 21. Perhaps the most noticeable group of ness of unions in the South. One fighter put to the Jay workers' strike fund in the past While the negotiations were still under­ strike supporters was from the Ladies Aux­ it this way: "We need to wake people up all three months. way, the company brought video equip­ iliary. It has been meeting once a week to over the South and across the nation as to The march was led by a contingent of ment and Pinkerton cops into the plant to organize financial support and solidarity what is going on. The only real power more than I ,000 members of Local 14 of intimidate the workers. One woman said for the paperworkers. working people have is through their the United Paperworkers International that during the last week of work, she "felt "We've let the company know we won't union." Union and Local 246 of the Firemen and like a criminal, like I was in prison." Oilers - the Jay strikers - and their IP has hired B.E. & K. Construction, a spouses. Most of them were clad in blue union-busting firm from Birmingham, to strike T-shirts that have become their bat­ keep the plant running. They are being as­ Scab assaults paper striker tle's marching color. sisted by supervisors and "temporary" A busload of IP strikers from Lock workers. Haven, where Local 1787 of the UPIU is In 1980 the UPIU made substantial con­ WATERVILLE, Maine- As the scab The superscab became enraged at being battling IP's concession drive in that small cessions to IP as the company initiated a re­ swung his baseball bat, Chuck Fullerton called what he'd become when he crossed Pennsylvania town, arrived the night be­ structuring of its mills. Some plants began dodged, but not fast enough. Now there's a picket lines. "Then, they started swing­ fore to march on Labor Day . to be modernized at the same time the com­ bright red gash where the weapon met the ing," Fullerton said. The march took up the Jay chant of pany tried to cut back the work force. bridge of his nose. Several workers wrestled the son to the "Scabs out, union in!" as it wound through The union was forced to make economic "I was lucky," Fullerton, a veteran of 22 ground, but before the bat-wielding strike­ Waterville, a city of 20,000. At the center concessions, and IP succeeded in getting years in International Paper's Androscog­ breaker could be brought down, he nailed of the downtown area, a cheering crowd rid of companywide bargaining. gin River mill in Jay, Maine, said in an in­ Fullerton, while another union member clustered at the main intersections to salute terview here on Labor Day. suffered a leg gash. The Local 246 mem­ the Jay strikers. Several jobs in the mill were eliminated, Fullerton is recording secretary of Local bers then tossed the bats away, and the two As the march went back to the staging and a "crew concept" was instituted. Under 246 of the Firemen and Oilers union. It is assailants left. area for a rally, picnic, and music, Local this system, workers were forced to per­ the sister local of United Paperworkers In­ 14 members took another tum through Fullerton went to the local Livermore form a number of different jobs. Their ternational Union Local 14 at IP and is out town, leading thousands behind them. police, trying to press charges. They told wages, however, were based on the lower on strike with the paperworkers. The attack him to go to the state police, which he did, The Jay strike "has lit a fire under us in paying jobs, resulting in large pay cuts. occurred at an outing at Bretton's Pond and made his complaint. Maine," state AFL-CIO President Charles IP wants to continue along the same with striking coworkers from his depart­ The thug is "a sort of hero to the scabs," O'Leary told the crowd. Maine labor, he ment at the mill. path. They demanded new work rule "flex­ Fullerton said. "They give him a motor­ said, "must continue to show the solidarity About 26 union members and spouses, ibility" in the contract rejected in March. cade escort home every day." that's started there." he said, were on hand for the annual event The company also wants to subcontract out The goon hasn't been arrested, though a Called to the stage from the crowd, on August 30, held at a local member's work that has been traditionally done by warrant has been out for a week. Local 14 President Bill Meserve first sa­ union members. property. As the picnic wound down and The police, it appears, Fullerton said, luted the Lock Haven strikers, to an ova­ the several people left began to clean up, a The paperworkers explain that the mill is "are taking sides." tion. "hot, nasty, and smelly." Workers are fre­ well-known "superscab" - Jay strike ter­ Fullerton said he went to the county dis­ He gave a brief summary of the state of quently injured. It is not uncommon for the minology for the handful of disloyal union trict attorney who told him, "This sort of the national fight against IP's concessions company to discipline, harass, and suspend members who've crossed the picket lines with other scabs- approached the group. thing takes time." offensive in De Pere, Wisconsin; Mobile, workers hurt on the job~ One veteran said Alabama; Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Gardner, conditions are the worst they've been since The superscab and his son both had The Jay strikers are angry about the at­ Oregon; and Corinth, New York, where a he started working at IP 30 years ago. baseball bats. The Local 246 members tack, police inaction, and IP's refusal to tried to talk them out of violence and told condemn the behavior of its "employees." UPIU contract expires September 30. Sunday work them to leave the property. But it was Only four of Local 246's 103 members The Jay strike, Meserve said, was not simply a fight against concessions, but ex­ A sign carried in the Labor Day action clear, Fullerton said, "They wanted to clear have broken ranks and scabbed, none in the - us out." last 10 weeks. - J.H. pressed "dedication to a cause." read, "Sunday isn't just another day." "We are hanging in there," he said. Union members are forced to work rotating "With your help, we are going to make shifts - from days, to afternoons, to mid­ these people [IP] come to their knees for a nights, all in the same week. Their days off N.Y. unionists prepare for fight change, and we're going to stop crawling change as well. Now IP wants the workers and begging to them." to give up Sunday and holiday overtime pay. This is a sore point, since many work­ at International Paper mill Several Democratic Party officeholders ers only get six Sundays off a year. spoke, including Maine's Democratic sen­ BY NANCY ROSS the workers who strike will not be Frank Bragg, president of the largest ator, George Mitchell. reinstated." John Hanson, director of the University UPIU local at the Mobile plant, com­ AND JAMES WINFIELD At a shift change we asked the workers of Maine Bureau of Labor Statistics, who mented, "We don't want to work Sundays CORINTH, N.Y. -The 500 workers at about the possibility of a strike, and what at all, but for sure not without overtime International Paper's mill here are discuss­ headed the organizing committee for the pay." . . ing ways to defend themselves and their solidarity had been extended to paperwork­ event, urged workers to sign petitions ers in Jay. against U. S. funding of the Nicaraguan Bragg also said that at first he didn't ex­ union when their contract expires Sep­ tember 30. pect much assistance from workers "up One man said the Jay paperworkers had contras. Several local activists opposed to At the Corinth plant, which is 40 miles U.S. intervention in Central America par­ North." But, he said, paperworkers on been asking for help from Corinth workers. north of Albany, unionists have been keep­ ticipated in the rally and circulated peti­ strike in Jay, Maine, were a great help and Some Corinth workers also have relatives ing an eye on the strike by paperworkers at tions while a local rock band played an­ inspiration. UPIU locals not affected by the or friends in the Jay plant. strike or lockout have recently agreed to IP's plant in Jay, Maine. Based on what IP tiwar songs. has been demanding of paperworkers Hundreds of union members signed the contribute $10 a month per member to the A worker with 22 years in at the plant there, the Corinth workers believe the com­ petitions, made donations, and bought union's strike fund. said, "What the company wants from the "International Paper has brought the pany will try to force them to accept a Jay workers, they have already taken from bumper stickers and buttons. takeback agreement. "It's really something," said a young an­ unions together, showed us what we have us over the years. So it's not wages they The three different locals inside the want but our rights, seniority, and holi­ tiwar fighter from Portland who'd picked to do," one worker explained. Corinth plant bargain separately. days." coffee in Nicaragua with U.S. volunteers. The unions have set up a "job bank" to A young worker explained the bosses are The paperworkers bought 29 copies of "It's always the working people and poor help the workers find other jobs. They've saying, "If a strike vote is successful, then the Militant during the shift change. who give the most."

4 The Militant September 25, 1987 .• , . ' . ~ _I • i . . How the new Soviet economic• measures affect working people

BY FRED FELDMAN military or other institutions of the central When Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen as government will be met increasingly general secretary of the Communist Party through contracts with individual enter­ of the Soviet Union in March 1985, he sig­ prises or groups. Some of these contracts naled that major changes in government are to be awarded through competitive bid­ policy were in the offing. ding. Two years later, in June 1987, the plenum of the Central Committee of the Bigger role for market Farmers' market in Moscow. Expansion of small-scale private trade is aspect of ''re­ Soviet Communist Party endorsed a report Enterprises that persistently fail to show structuring" of Soviet economy. "Restructuring," which encourages trade and com­ by Gorbachev. and resolutions ordering a a "profit" may be forced into bankruptcy, petition among state-owned factories, will spur growth of middlemen. "restructuring" of the Soviet economy. compelling them to reorganize or even shut These proposals have received a lot. of down. The second major shift embodied in the should "show concern" for finding jobs for play in the U.S. media. And a number of Direct trade among the enterprises, in­ restructuring proposals was the creation of displaced workers. Republican and Democratic politicians, as cluding in machinery and productive a "powerful system" of economic "motives well as editorials in major newspapers, goods, is to be greatly expanded. and stimuli" aimed especially at industrial have given them high marks. "The principal lever to be applied to en­ workers. Subsidies, jobs threatened Almost all of this commentary specu­ terprises," he explained, "will be economic The aim is to press workers to work But some of the supporters of Gor­ lates on what these changes will mean for norms and incentives. They should make it harder by offering the carrot of material in­ bachev's reforms are more blunt. Their the Soviet Union. But the fact is that the profitable for enterprises, guided by target centives and bonuses. The bureaucratic view is that if workers fear unemployment, Soviet Union is divided into different so­ figures, to look for ways of meeting social administrators, who don't see working they can be pressured to produce more, as cial strata with very different and opposing needs most effectively." people as subjects determining their own is necessarily the case in capitalist coun­ interests. There is the privileged bureau­ A key "social need" stressed by Gor­ future but as the objects of government pol­ tries. cratic caste, which dominates the country's bachev was meeting "the demand of the icy, hope these measures will help over­ "We need to realize that there is such a political, economic, and social policies, on population, able to pay," for more and bet­ come the decline in labor productivity. thing as natural unemployment," declared the one hand, and the workers and farmers, ter-quality consumer goods. "Some minis­ They attribute this decline in large part to author Nikolay Shmelyov in an article in who make up the big majority of the popu­ tries treat the manufacture of consumer low morale, slow pace of work, absen­ the June 1987 issue of the Soviet journal lation, on the other. What the effect will goods as a secondary matter," he com­ teeism, and wasteful use of equipment and Novy mir. "The real possibility of losing likely be on Soviet working people is the plained. "In some places it is viewed only raw materials. one's job, of being shifted to a temporary subject of this article. as a burden." In the past, Gorbachev claimed, wages unemployment subsidy, or being forced to In his report to the meeting, Gorbachev The new setup, he predicted, would were often based on "a simplified concept move to a new place of employment is not declared that "mounting contradictions in "prompt economic competition" among of equality." at all bad medicine to cure sloth and the development of society . . . gradually enterprises "to meet consumer demand." Excessive egalitarianism is now to be drunkenness." accumulating and not being solved in time" The shift toward greater reliance on the countered, Gorbachev said, by strictly The standard of living of many Soviet were actually acquiring pre-crisis forms." market is also reflected in agriculture. The tying wages to individual productivity and workers is to be lowered in another way, By the mid-1980s "the rate of economic amount of their produce that state and col­ the profitability of the enterprise. too . .,In the Soviet Union, food, housing, growth had dropped to a level which virtu­ lective farms are permitted to sell at un­ "The law on enterprise guarantees enter­ and other basic necessities have been sub­ ally signified the onset of economic stagna­ regulated prices on city markets or in prises the right to raise wage rates and stantially subsidized by the state for dec­ tion," he said. During the 1960s and 1970s cooperative stores has been increased to 30 wages, and to establish extra payments." ades - keeping their prices cheap enough the Soviet economy grew at an average rate percent. There will be no upper limit to wages. to be within reach of almost all working of more than 4 percent a year. But in the A proposed law will legalize the forma­ Gorbachev argued that "the growth of people. 1980s this had dropped to 2 or 3 percent ­ tion of small-scale trading and service en­ production can be ensured on the basis of Bread prices, for instance, run less than the lowest growth rates since the end of terprises by individuals and cooperatives. personal interest, material incentives and I 0 cents a loaf and have not risen since World War II. Gorbachev noted that even though many with the help of enthusiasm." 1955. According to the general secretary, "We such activities have been illegal, Soviet The new setup will mean increased in­ According to an interview in the July 4 began obviously to concede one position citizens pay 1.5 billion rubles annually to equalities in the wages and standard of liv­ New York Times with Soviet economist after another, and the gap in raising the ef­ such enterprises. ing among workers. It will mean higher Leonid Abalkin, who helped draft the re­ ficiency of production . .. and technologi­ The effect of all these measures will be wages for some workers, but will bring a forms, these social benefits are scheduled cal development as compared with the to allow the laws of the market, rather than relative drop for many others. Those to soon be on the chopping block. most developed countries began to widen the current economic planning apparatus, judged less productive, or those who work According to the Times, "Starting about not in our favor . . . ." to play an increasing role in determining for enterprises that operate at little or no 1990, he predicted, . . . the government He also pointed to a "lag in scientific­ what is produced and how much, as well as "profit," may have their wages cut. will deregulate most retail prices, bringing technical development." prices. And still other workers will face the in­ sharp increases for meat, dairy products, These conditions, he admitted, were "In accordance with the scientifically creased possibility of dismissals, layoffs, and other foodstuffs .... having "an extremely negative effect on the substantiated understanding of socialism," and plant shutdowns. Gorbachev said that "Housing, which is now very cheap, living standard of the population." claimed Gorbachev, "its economic system the "scope on which the excessive work without regard to quality, will also change organically includes commodity-money re­ force will be trimmed will increase consid­ dramatically. Each family will be entitled New mechanism lations." erably in conditions of the speeding up of to a minimal apartment at subsidized rents, Gorbachev proposed to deal with these The expansion of private trade will spur scientific and technological progress." but rents will soar for extra space and problems by replacing the old planning the development of a broader layer of prof­ Past economic practices have kept un­ amenities." mechanism the government has been it-seeking, parasitic middlemen and, on the employment levels very low. Gorbachev' s A forthcoming article will take up some using, which he said was based on "rigid fringes of the economy, the hiring and ex­ speech took note of the provision in the . of the underlying reasons for the policy centralism" and "administrative pressure" ploitation of workers by individual entre­ Soviet constitution that recognizes the right shifts announced at the Soviet Communist on managers and producers, with a new preneurs. of every worker to a job. He said the state Party plenum. mechanism. "The new economic mecha­ nism," he promised, "should put every­ thing in place." This "radical reform of economic man­ agement" aims to establish economic inde­ Harvey O'Connor: historian, fighter pendence based on "full-scale profit and loss accounting and self-financing" for an BY FRED FELDMAN Washington, after the lynchings there ofa fore Sen. Joseph McCarthy's inquisition, estimated 48,000 Soviet state-owned fac­ Harvey O'Connor- a veteran unionist, union organizer by vigilantes, the roundup he refused to answer questions on the tories, farms, and other enterprises. radical, fighter for civil liberties, and histo­ of more than 1 ,000 suspected IWW mem­ grounds that the interrogation violated his The term "profit" does not generally rian - died August 28 at the age of 90. bers, and the frame-up conviction of seven First Amendment rights of free speech and mean the same thing as in the Soviet Union O'Connor was best known as a histo­ unionists on murder charges. association. In 1954 a Detroit judge sen­ - where the capitalist class was expro­ He then became a staff member of the tenced O'Connor to a suspended sentence priated by the workers and peasants follow­ rian. His writings include Revolution in Seattle, a personal recollection of the labor Seattle Union Record, the first daily union of one year for this defiance. ing the October 1917 revolution - as it newspaper in the United States. In 1958 he was cited for contempt for re­ does in capitalist countries. movement in the Pacific Northwest before, during, and after World War I, including fusing to cooperate with the House Un­ In the context of a planned economy O'Connor later helped edit the Locomo­ American Activities Committee. This based on state ownership of the factories, his activity in the Seattle general strike of tive Engineers Journal, headed the New 1919; Steel - Dictator; The Guggenheims; charge was dismissed. mills, and mines, and a state monopoly of York bureau of the prolabor Federated O'Connor chaired the ECLC from 1955 foreign trade, profit refers to the surplus of The Astors; The Empire of Oil; World Press in 1927- 30, and edited the Interna­ Crisis in Oil; Mellon's Millions; and His­ to 1963. He also chaired the National Com­ income above expenditures for a given en­ tional Oil Worker from 1945- 48. mittee to Abolish the House Un-American terprise. It does not signify, as in capitalist tory of the Oil Workers International O'Connor was in the forefront of resis­ Union. Activities Committee. countries such as the United States, capital tance to the savage anticommunist witch­ ''I'm sure," O'Connor once said, "that I accumulated by private owners of the His writings were rooted in years of ex­ hunt that opened soon after the end of learned more from the members of the World War II. means of production through exploiting perience in the labor movement, beginning IWW and the Socialist Party than I ever wage labor. when he went to work in the logging camps When the American Civil Liberties would have in college - the hard cold Instead of the central planning authority of the Northwest and joined the lumber Union caved in to the witch-hunt by refus­ facts of life unvarnished by the sophistries setting mandatory quotas for each enter­ workers' affiliate of the Industrial Workers ing to defend members of the Communist of the 'hire learning' ... . prise, as had been the case, more general of the World (IWW). Party or those accused of being members, "The experience J ~ained in the logging and optional target figures, goals, and In the wake of the Seattle general strike, O'Connor, Corliss Lamont, Leonard camps and on the st

September 25, 1987 The Militant 5 'Militant' welcomed in West Virginia coal-mining towns

BY MALIK MIAH of New International. (See scoreboard MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The below for current results.) population of this small town doubles every fall when 18,000 college students Door-to-door sales take up residence for the school year. I was Each Saturday morning supporters of the told the place is transformed. Militant here gather at the local Pathfinder In fact, I did notice that the September Bookstore to plan out sales for that day. 13 issue of the big-business daily ran a ban­ Valerie Johnson, a member of the sales or­ ner front-page headline on West Virginia ganizing committee, went over the con­ University's football team's defeat by Ohio tents of the newest issue of the Militant and State University. The Persian Gulf, South assigned areas for the sales teams. Because Africa, and Central America were hard to of the small size of the nearby towns, all find. Not to mention other problems and teams go door-to-door in working-class struggles of working people. communities. Literature tables are set up But WSU football is only part of Mor­ on campus during the week. gantown's story. Morgantown is the center My four-person team went to Fairmont, of a mining region where thousands of coal a community of about 25 ,000 people a few Militant supporters sell socialist literature in West Virginia miners and their families live. The towns in miles south of here. Besides myself, the these rolling hills are also filled with work­ team included a unionized garment work­ ers employed by chemical, steel, and other er, a non-union chemical worker, and a above minimum wage. the team sold all their Militants. industrial companies. member of the Young Socialist Alliance on A Black retiree bought the subscription. Bruce Kimball, a garment worker and an Over the September 12-14 weekend I the WSU campus. He told me about the plight of Blacks in the organizer of the sales drive, told me later came here to participate in the sales efforts We went to an integrated area of the city and the lack of job opportunities. the goal is to get out two-day regional of 18 Militant supporters in the area. Mor­ town and sold 1 Militant subscription and After these sales our team joined the teams every week. He said a team was gantown supporters have taken a goal of several Militant singles. What was most picket line of striking nurses in front of going up to Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, the selling 130 Militant subscriptions and 5 to striking about the area -- besides the hills Fairmont General Hospital. The nurses next weekend to sell to striking paperwork­ Perspectiva Mundial, a Spanish-language -- was the average age of community resi­ walked out at the end of August after the ers. As was the case with the Island Creek monthly, as well as 25 copies of the Marx­ dents. Almost everyone we talked to was a board of directors demanded major wage sales team he said, some supporters will ist magazine New International over the retiree. There were a few young people. and benefit concessions. take a day off from work to do the sale. Janice Wilmoth, a registered nurse hired course of the fall. West Virginia continues to have one of A strong point of the sales effort here is in 1974, told me that the hospital was out to Nationally, distributors of these three the highest rates of unemployment in the the integration of renewal callbacks to cur­ bust the union. "Before we went out on socialist publications aim to sell 6,000 Mil­ country. There are thousands of miners on rent subscribers. Each sales team had strike they tried to terminate people for itantsubcriptions, and 2,000 single copies layoff and most other jobs pay only slightly names of subscribers in their areas to call. wearing union buttons," she said. The hos­ Other teams visited subscribers. pital has brought in some scabs, she added, A weakness in the sales drive, which but only a few of the nurses have crossed supporters are beginning to discuss, is dis­ the picket line. tribution of New International. Each sales Fall Sales Scoreboard Another picket told us that Fairmont is a team only had one copy of the magazine. union town, and workers in the area have None were sold. The biggest problem, one New Perspectiva shown solid support for their fight. This seller told me, was failing to show the was evident in the almost constant honking magazine to people who had Militant sub­ Militant International Mundial of car horns as we talked. !OngJe roples scriptions or who bought single copies of the paper. % % % Regional team Area Goal Sold Sold Goal Sold Sold Goal Sold Sold However, supporters here are confident A highlight of the weekend sales effort of making their goals and finding new Houston 160 50 31 50 0 0 40 I 3 was a successful trip by a three-person re­ ways to expand the circulation of the revo­ Greensboro 115 32 28 20 0 0 10 0 0 gional sales team. The team went to the lutionary press in the region. Bayard, West Virginia, area to sell to min­ Milwaukee 115 29 25 35 0 0 15 0 0 ers employed by Island Creek mine com­ If you would like to take a goal in the fall Oeve1and 105 26 25 20 0 0 15 0 0 pany. They sold seven Militant subscrip­ sales drive, clip and mail the coupon Odldand 150 37 25 100 0 0 50 6 12 tions, including a six-month renewal. Five below. Kansas City I05 22 21 25 0 0 20 3 15 subscriptions were bought by members of the United Mine Workers of America­ Binningham 150 29 19 20 0 * 5 three at mine portals. D Send me a bundle of __ Militants Seattle 300 56 19 50 5 10 50 11 22 "It was a tremendous experience,'' re­ per issue. Morgantown, w.v. 130 24 18 25 0 0 5 0 0 ported Sara Lohman, a member of the D Send me a bundle of __ Perspec­ )):s Moines 110 :w 18 35 0 0 15 0 0 team. "The highlight was a several-hour tiva Mundials per issue. discussion with a miner and his wife (a D Send me a bundle of __ New In- SanJ!lie 75 13 17 0 * 50 2 4 member of the Hospital and Health Care ternationals. Bostoo 200 33 17 50 0 0 100 I 1 Employees District 1199 union.) They Name ------Dettoit 200 32 16 35 0 0 25 0 0 want us to help organize a slideshow on Address ------Austin,MN 85 13 15 10 0 0 15 0 0 Nicaragua in their area." City _____ State ______In addition to the seven subscriptions, SanDiego 85 12 14 25 9 36 40 2 5 Zip Phone ------POOiand 80 11 14 40 0 0 30 I 3 NewYOO< 600 79 13 350 I43 41 150 38 25 New.uk 350 45 13 75 0 0 125 9 7 N.Y. cops beat Korean youth Sah Lake City 150 l9 13 25 0 0 25 3 12 Atlaria 120 I5 13 35 0 0 20 3 15 BY SANDRA LEE were shocked at the aggressiveness of the NEW YORK-- Cops here attacked and Gops. They began protesting and noted the Miami 120 14 12 40 0 0 40 0 0 brutally beat a 20-year-old Korean man cops' badge numbers. W~ , D.C. 130 15 12 60 0 0 30 . 0 0 who was riding his bicycle in Manhattan on "One cop looked like he was trying to Baltinm: 140 16 11 40 0 0 10 0 0 September 4. break his arm, and the other was almost on San Frarri;ro 180 19 11 50 0 0 70 3 4 Ou Young, a U.S. resident for three top of him," said Sharon Holmquist. She years, was pulled off his bike by Third 200 21 11 50 0 0 50 2 4 said that as Young screamed for help, he ~~IDa Highway Precinct cops, who forced him to Chicago 225 21 9 0 75 I 1 was "being crunched up on the street while * the pavement and beat him. they banged his head on the ground." wAngeles 300 26 9 100 0 0 175 IO 6 According to police sources, · when Omaha 70 6 9 20 0 0 10 1 10 Young was stopped, "he couldn't produce Another eyewitness, Ellen Texeira, said any J.D. and became loud and vicious." that when several people shouted "Stop it! Twin Qties, M N. 180 13 7 100 0 0 20 0 0 Witnesses contradicted this version. Stop it!" to the cops, they stopped hitting St. Louis 175 11 6 50 0 0 10 10 Young told reporters that while it was him and handcuffed him. She said that Price, lJoh 48 3 6 10 0 0 2 0 0 true he didn't have any identification with Young was bruised on the neck and bleed­ Olarlestlxl, w.v 125 7 6 20 0 0 him, he was surprised when one of the ing from the right arm when he got up. policemen "gave me a push off the bike." When she told Young to try to calm down, AnnaOOaJe, NY. 20 0 0 0 0 * * The cop called him "scum" and said, "If she was warned by one of the cops, "If you f1n:nix * 11 * * 0 * 1 you don't cooperate, you're going to jail." open your mouth once more, I'm going to PittsOOrgh * 13 * 0 0 When Young replied, "Let's go there, I put you with him." CanOOa 11 2 know my rights," the cop pushed him to Several of the people who witnessed the, the ground and began to hit him. scene followed the police to the station PtmoRioo 7 Debra Miles, a witness to the attack, re­ house. There they were told that they could ()her!Jin'l 2 ported, "I was coming down Lexington register complaints against the arresting of­ TOO!Is 5,298 13% 1,545 157 8% 1,297 111 7% A venue and was amazed to see a police of­ ficers, Anthony Venturella and John Gig­ ficer just reach out and snatch somebody lia, by appearing in court with Young on Drive Cools 6,000 2,000 1,500 off his bike." September 20. Young is charged with rid­ ing a bicycle against traffic and with disor­ SIWdBe I,566 26% 522 26% 392 26% A crowd of 60 people watched the rush­ 'Gool n

BY SELVA NEBBIA about Puerto Rico's colonial status, instead AND RICK HIGGINS of being able to present the issue as a sim­ HARTFORD, Conn.- We approached ple case of robbery. the back door of a desolate building on Au­ "Shortly after our arrest, Nuevo Diario, gust 17 - a very hot day. A sign indicated one of the Puerto Rican dailies with the it was a federal prison. A guard in boots, largest circulation, conducted a poll in pants, shirt, and cap that were all black, Puerto Rico organized by the Yankelovich with a black gun, too, let us into the court­ company - well-known pollsters. The yard after checking our press cards. poll asked what people thought of the Another guard, dressed the same, escorted Macheteros. And 44 percent said they con­ us to the door and inside the building. sidered the Macheteros to be patriots," We had come to interview Filiberto Segarra Palmer said. Ojeda Rfos and Juan Segarra Palmer, both "The Iran-contra case reflects the im­ imprisoned there. morality, demagogy, impudence, and Ojeda Rfos was arrested in Puerto Rico hypocrisy of the U.S. government and of on Aug. 30, 1985, along with 10 other sup­ President Reagan," Ojeda Rios stated. "On porters of Puerto Rican independence, one hand, they try to convince the world of when 200 FBI agents carried out a massive their antiterrorist line," he noted, "and on raid on the island. Segarra Palmer was ar­ the other they secretly negotiate with rested the same day in Texas. One more people they label the worst 'terrorists' in person was arrested in Mexico, bringing the world: the Iranians. This just goes to the total arrested in the sweep to 13. Three prove, once more, that they use the word more, including a U.S. lawyer, were ar­ 'terrorism' to justify their policies and their rested later. belligerence against the peoples of the The prisoners arrested in Puerto Rico world," he said. and Mexico were transferred to the United States. Seven were imprisoned in U.S. jails Illegally obtained evidence for more than a year before being freed on Segarra Palmer explained that in pre­ bail. trial hearings currently taking place in Hartford, the defense lawyers are trying to Denied right to bail Militant/Selva Nebbia get the court to exclude evidence illegally Four of the Hartford 16 defendents. Left to right: Juan Segarra Palmer, Lucy Ber­ Ojeda Rios and Segarra Palmer were de­ obtained by U.S. government agents. The rios, Luis Colon Osorio, and Filiberto Ojeda Rfos. Segarra Palmer and Ojeda Rios nied their right to bail. Two years after so-called evidence compiled by the FBI in­ are beginning an unprecedented third year of "preventive detention." their arrest, they remain in jail without hav­ cludes 1, 100 hours of tape recordings and ing been brought to trial or found guilty of more than 600 hours of video recordings. country have no respect for human dignity On August 30 demonstrations were held to a single crime. "In these hearings, we are going to prove and no interest in rehabilitating people who demand justice for the Puerto Rican politi­ The U.S. government accuses these sup­ beyond any doubt that these tapes have porters of Puerto Rican independence, have committed crimes." cal prisoners in San Juan, Puerto Rico; been edited and tampered with," Segarra Hartford; and San Francisco. known as the Hartford 16, of being "ter­ Palmer noted. The Hartford defendants represent a rorists," claiming they conspired to rob a Smiling, he added, "It's very ironic that broad range of the independence move­ The Hartford case has received signifi­ Wells Fargo depot here in 1983 and that the Puerto Rican constitution strictly pro­ ment. Included are lawyers, an automobile cant international support as well. A few they are members of a proindependence or­ hibits electronic surveillance, and then mechanic, an occupational therapist, a months ago, the ministerial conference of ganization, the Macheteros. they bring us here to Connecticut - which farmer, the president of a PTA, and a the Movement of Nonaligned Countries The U.S. government is denying is known as the 'Constitution State' -to former musician. held in Guyana declared its "concern about Segarra Palmer and Ojeda Rfos their right try us on the basis of evidence obtained in What is the U.S. government trying to the imprisonment of Puerto Rican patriots to bail on the basis of the 1984 Bail Reform violation of our constitution." accomplish by persecuting these activists, in the United States." Act. This law allows the government to Another aspect of U.S. government pol­ we asked. In August many supporters testified at deny bail under so-called preventive deten­ icy that carne to light in the Iran-contra "The assault on the Wells Fargo depot is the UN Committee on Decolonization tion in cases where there is an alleged "risk hearings, he stressed, is, "a government a pretext the U.S. government is using to hearings. The final resolution of the com­ of flight" or the prisoner is "dangerous." that has no respect for international rights repress the Puerto Rican independence mittee "reaffirmed the inalienable right of At the beginning of this year, the Second or the human rights of others, doesn't re­ movement," Ojeda Rios said. the Puerto Rican people to self-determina­ Circuit Court of Appeals declared the Bail spect its own laws either, or the civil rights "Our case fits in with the U.S. govern­ tion and independence." ment's need to strike a hard blow against Reform Act unconstitutional. However, on of its own citizens. In our case, the viola­ Talking to people of United States :Way 26 the Supreme Court ruled against tion of the law is crude and obvious - the independence movement and to intimi­ this decision and declared the law constitu­ eventually it will be directed against all date not only the movement, but the people Ojeda Rios and Segarra Palmer tional. citizens." as a whole." explained the importance of reaching out to "We are not the only ones who have lost "This is why the arrests and raids were the U.S. public and winning them to their the right to bail -all U.S. citizens have Life in jail carried out in such an abusive way - to fight. lost this," Segarra Palmer told us. We asked the two prisoners what living frighten people," Segarra Palmer said. "We think it's important for U.S. citi­ "What this means is that the presumption conditions were like during their two years He continued, "We can't view Puerto zens to realize their real enemies are not of innocence, the idea that every citizen is in jail. Rico in isolation from what the United these Puerto Ricans who are accused of presumed innocent until proven guilty in a Indicating his surroundings with a States does in the rest of the world: the in­ robbing Wells Fargo. The real danger they court of law, has been eradicated. Now it's sweeping gesture, Ojeda Rios said, "This vasion of Grenada, the financing of its face is a government that is more and more the reverse - a person is presumed guilty prison section was created exclusively for dirty war against Nicaragua, the support to antidemocratic and repressive," Segarra until he's proven innocent," he added. us - it didn't exist before. It's a federal Napoleon Duarte's regime in El Salvador. Palmer pointed out. "Our battle against this law," Segarra section of a state prison. The area was And we see its warlike policies in other "It's important for them to know that co­ Palmer noted, "is really a fight to defend opened January 6 when we were trans­ hemispheres, too. For the United States, lonialism, like apartheid, is condemned as everyone's democratic rights." What has ferred here. The entire staff, the whole from a military point of view, Puerto Rico a crime against humanity. The struggle happened in the case of the Hartford 16 has mobilization was carried out strictly to is a key enclave in the Central American against colonialism is in the interests of the meant a loss of civil rights for people in the bring us here. and Caribbean zone. people of the United States. It's not in their United States, he said. "They dealt very harshly with us from "When the U.S. invaded Grenada, the interest to maintain Puerto Rico as a mili­ the beginning," Ojeda Rfos added. "Our entire Puerto Rican independence move­ tary enclave. Their real interest lies in a Fight to be tried in Puerto Rico world consisted of a 30-foot-long corridor ment, including the Macheteros, opposed free, non-nuclear, neutral, and democratic The two prisoners explained another one with cells on both sides, and nothing more. the U.S. government. In Puerto Rico there Puerto Rico," he added. of the battles in the case: We didn't even have recreation rights." has been support for Nicaragua beginning Segarra Palmer continued, "We think "We submitted a request to have the trial However, little by little, more prisoners with the fight to overthrow Somoza, as the people of the United States will under­ moved to Puerto Rico," Segarra Palmer were brought in, the two activists told us. well as support for the struggle in El Sal­ stand this. We can send them this message: pointed out. "It was turned down because Ojeda Rios and Segarra Palmer were kept vador. So the U.S. government needs to try We are fighting for the same things the the U.S. government knows that a trial in in isolation from the new prisoners for six to dismantle or at least intimidate the inde­ Founding Fathers fought for. We can hon­ Puerto Rico, even in a U.S. federal court, months. pendence movement to facilitate its war­ estly say we're fighting for the same things would guarantee our being found inno­ But "about two months ago, they were like plans in the rest of the region." John Adams and Patrick Henry fought for. cent." forced to change their policy because the Segarra Palmer added, "The indepen­ Truthfully, not cynically - the way "We never should have been transferred jail began to be used for prisoners from dence movement is in the vanguard of the Reagan presents the contras." here," Ojeda Rios added. "There can't pos­ Rhode Island, too. More people arrived, feminist movement in Puerto Rico and in "What really excites me," Ojeda Rfos sibly be a jury capable of understanding and they had to put them next to us," Ojeda the vanguard of the antimilitarist move­ commented, "what really fills me with op­ this case better than a Puerto Rican jury. Rfos said. ment, not only on the question of opposi­ timism is the popular support for our case. "From a legal point of view, it's an in­ Before being transferred to Hartford, the tion to U.S. bases in Puerto Rico, but also And if anything is able to force a victory in justice for the trial to take place here. From activists were imprisoned in the Metropoli­ in opposition to nuclear arms. The inde­ our case, it will be strictly as a result of ex­ a human point of view, it's horrible - it's tan Correctional Center in New York City. pendence movement is also a vanguard in­ pressions of this kind of popular support. an outrage, an abuse. They've forced us to "We were always denied access to the side the trade union and student move­ My hope lies in this and nothing more. leave Puerto Rico, which is where our law library. At the Metropolitan Correc­ ments." "Support has been growing massively," popular support is," Ojeda Rios em­ tional Center we were denied access be­ he added, "because many people under­ phasized. cause we were a 'high escape risk.' Here, Persecution backfired stand that this case is extremely important "They've forced us to come to a country it's because there's no library," he added. But, Segarra Palmer said, "The U.S. for the people of the United States, for the where the language isn't ours, and where Pointing to a small adjoining room with government's plans backfired." Instead of defense of their civil rights. The most im­ the social conditions aren't ours. It's an in­ glass walls where four prisoners sat doing isolating the independence movement, the portant point is the just nature of our strug­ human imposition. that's completely un­ nothing, Segarra Palmer explained, "Look government's persecution of the Hartford gle - the right of the Puerto Rican people reasonable," he added. -this is the recreation area for 14 people: 16 has united many Puerto Rkans in de­ to be free and their right to fight." The two prisoners pointed out that the a 14 by 16 foot room, with a small tele­ fense of the activists' democratic rights, he To lend support to the defense of the U.S. government knows this is a political vision set and nothing else. The prisoners explained. Hartford 16 write to the Puerto Rican Com­ case. They noted that if the trial were to are deprived of any type of physical activ­ In the United States, support for their mittee Against Repression, 577 Columbus take place in Puerto Rico, the U.S. govern­ ity or program that might give them rights has continued to increase. Today Ave. New York, N.Y. 10024, or call (212) ment knows it would face a discussion strength. The penal institutions in this there are defense committees in 15 cities. 927-9065. Ortega addresses concerns on.peace accords Discusses what lifting restrictions on counterrevolutionaries will mean

The following are brief excerpts from everything that was done by other revolu­ just because political pluralism didn't a speech Nicaraguan President Daniel tions in other parts of the world in other cir­ exist. And those who have not mastered Ortega gave to the congress of the Na­ cumstances. It is constantly shown that revolutionary thought, who do not under­ tional Union of Nicaraguan Students revolutionary processes must respond to stand the revolutionary process, because of Augqst 29. their own conditions, to their own realities. ignorance and backwardness, would be The speech dealt in large part with This does not negate the authenticity of a here in a sea of doubts and worries. how Nicaragua will comply with the revolutionary process. The fact that here Thus, nothing could be better than Guatemala accords, which mandate an we defend a revolutionary project with a openly confronting those who try to con­ end to military conflicts in Central mixed economy and political pluralism fuse and disorient the people. Give them America and include a commitment on does not negate the merit and strength of the opportunity to speak in order to have the part of each government to restore our revolution. the possibility of waging this political­ all suspended civil liberties. You have to look at where Nicaragua is ideological struggle. In his remarks, Ortega takes up con­ located: in the center of America where Obviously, all revolutionary processes cerns raised by revolutionary Nicara­ there is a permanent flux of men who think guans about lifting restrictions on the have contradictory aspects. But within in a thousand ways. We cannot now re­ these contradictions the forces of the revo­ ability of counterrevolutionaries inside move Nicaragua, isolate her from this real­ lution prevail over the forces of the coun­ the country to express their views. ity, and say: let's do what seems the The transcription and translation are terrevolution. Revolutionary thought and easiest, let's eliminate political pluralism ideology prevails over counterrevolution­ by the Militant. and the mixed economy. ary thought and ideology. On the contrary, independent of our This revolution poses the necessity of wishes, independent of the will of those That is the challenge. That is the strug­ creatively applying a revolutionary process who are identified with the Sandinista gle. To carry out the fight in the arena based on political pluralism, a mixed econ­ People's Revolution, there are other seg­ where the different political and ideologi­ omy, and nonalignment. And when we talk cal forces, including our enemies, are pres­ of political pluralism, mixed economy, and ments of the population here who are not leaving, and who have a different manner ent. And to win the battle and defeat the nonalignment, we are serious. of thinking and seeing reality. enemy in that arena. But we are speaking of political We believe that it is better that they have pluralism and mixed economy in a social We would not be solving the problem by the possibility of expressing themselves imprisoning all those who [oppose the rev­ order where the workers and peasants are openly, because it sets the stage for waging the fundamental forces . And where the olution]. This would appear to be a com­ a political-ideological battle openly and di­ fortable and easy road to follow , but on the large private sector has a role insofar as it rectly against that line of thought. [Their helps strengthen those fundamental forces . contrary, we would be doing ourselves views] would be here in any case, indepen­ harm. We would be harming the revolu­ Militant/Bill Gretter It might appear that there is a contradic­ dent of our will. They wouldn't disappear tion. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega tory element here, one difficult to apply. The large private sector that has remained in our country after Somoza [was over­ thrown] has its own interests. It has its own Nicaragua begins pardons, dialogue possibilities to reproduce itself, and clashes objectively with the interests of the revolution. Continued from front page Emilio Lopez, a worker with 30 years in amnesty," but said that the government had the plant, said that "those who were tricked However, the revolution has ways to could communicate with leaders of contra not y€t decided if it would broaden the am­ into joining the contras should get am­ control that sector and redistribute its groups, not to negotiate politically, but to nesty provisions. facilitate the process of their taking am­ nesty. The leaders are war criminals and wealth to benefit the fundamental forces The government would act "with and interests of the revolution. nesty." should be imprisoned to pay for their generosity and a spirit of justice, not out of Minister of Defense Humberto Ortega crimes." vengeance," he said, and would consider The private sector can take different po­ told Barricada that the Sandinista army has Maria Eugenia Luna, a cafeteria worker the opinions of the mothers of contra vic­ sitions on political questions. However, on contact with some groups of contras "that whose father was murdered by a Somozaist tims as well as Obando's demands. What­ economic questions, they can accept the do not recognize the [contra] leaders who landlord said, "We can't let those who ever the decision, the government's aim norms, laws, and regulations imposed by meet with Reagan. It is possible that some murdered people out of prison. If I saw the was "to enable us to achieve peace, so that the revolutionary process because there is of these groupings would take the step of ones that killed my father, I would get a Nicaraguan mothers will not continue to no other road open to them. changing their attitude and reintegrating gun and shoot them." suffer." But the private sector has political space, themselves into the life of the country .. . . At a face-the-people meeting with Meanwhile, on September 12 Bismark a political opening that ultimately becomes Some have already shown signs of interest neighborhood activists in Leon September Carballo and Benito Pitito returned to Nic­ a challenge for really strengthening our in this process, especially after the forma­ 5, Amelia Cisne told President Ortega that aragua. These two Catholic priests and revolutionary process. [The challenge is] tion of the National Reconciliation Com­ she was opposed to a general amnesty and Bishop Pablo Antonio Vega were expelled to wage a political-ideological battle under mission." pardon. "We don't want to see the murder­ from Nicaragua for their open support for conditions where those forces have the pos­ The Commission was appointed by the ers who killed our children walking freely the contras. All three were authorized tore­ sibility to express themselves, to demon­ Nicaraguan government September 1, as in the streets. This would be an insult to turn by the Nicaraguan government, as part strate . . . and to try to win the population part of implementing the Guatemala ac­ us." of implementing the Guatemala agree­ with their ideas. These are the conditions in cords. Its purpose is to verify Nicaragua's Ortega replied that the Guatemala agree­ ment. Vega, however, has said that he does· which the revolution fights to strengthen its compliance with the accords and respect ment "does not require us to give a general not plan to do so at this time. influence among the fundamental forces, for human and democratic rights here. the forces of the people. Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, who has openly supported the contras, was We cannot fall into dogmatisms. We unanimously chosen by the commission cannot think that because we made a revo­ members to serve as its president. The lution in Nicaragua, we are obligated to do other members are Sergio Ramirez, Nica­ ragua's vice-president;· Mauricio Diaz, leader of the opposition People's Social New International USSR, Peru send Christian Party; and Gustavo Parajon Dominguez, president of the Evangelical oil to Nicaragua Committee in Support of Development. ''Revolution After the Commission's first meeting September 8, Obando reported that it had MANAGUA, Nicaragua - On Sep­ agreed to make decisions by consensus and is the Birth tember 7, the Nicaraguan government an­ had adopted a regular meeting schedule. nounced that it will receive 100,000 more He said it had received a request from the tons of petroleum from the Soviet Union right-wing daily La Prensa asking to be al­ bel' of Light'' this year. Three days later, the Sandinista lowed to publish again and that the com­ cu . \C. daily Barricada reported that Peru had mission would refer the request to the gov­ \.

8 The Militant September 25, 1987 Nicaraguan peasants in isolated region: 'We want peace'

BY ROBERTO KOPEC cases peasants were inducted into forced NUEVA GUINEA, Nicaragua- In the labor. The contras provided nothing in ex­ midst of growing hopes for an end to the change. U.S.-sponsored contra war against Nicara­ gua, several thousand people gathered here April evacuation September 3 to celebrate National Peasant In the last two years, the Sandinistas Day. "We want peace," was the message have gone on a military and political offen­ displayed on many of their homemade sive to drive out the contras and bring the signs. social benefits of the revolution to this re­ The rally had been organized by the pro­ gion. Sandinista National Union of Farmers and As a step in this process, early last April Ranchers (UNAG). Many who turned out Nicaraguan government troops evacuated were peasants recently evacuated from 4,000 peasants from the south Nueva war-tom areas deep in the hills south of Guinea hills to settlements closer to the re­ here and placed in settlements. gion's towns and roads. Some families had A group of women and children from already taken this step on their own, aban­ one of the settlements carried a sign that doning their plots and moving to a safer read, "The evacuees want peace and not and better life in the new settlements. war. We don't want any more bloodshed in Medical examinations at the time of the our country." Another sign read "We ac­ mass evacuation revealed appalling health Mil cept amnesty." conditions among the peasants, many of Displaced peasant family in Nicaragua's south-central Region V. "The peasants have Various signs reflected grievances some whom were seeing a doctor for the first been the main victims of the war," says Agustin Lara, Sandinista regional coordi­ people here feel they have against the San­ time in their lives. Virtually all of them nator. dinista government. One peasant carried a suffered from parasites, diarrhea, and mal­ placard asking for the release of a member nutrition. Mountain leprosy was also prev­ law. "What are we going to do with the that Garcia and so many other displaced of his community who has been in jail for alent. I saw several children with the dis­ Somozaist guards that ruined our people, peasants showed up at the rally demon­ five months. It ended with the slogan, "We colored skin spots characteristic of the ini­ and have assassinated peasant brothers?" strates a sincere yearning for peace, and a fight for peace in order to produce more," tial stages of this disease. Nuiiez asked. "If these men repent, the willingness to hear what the Sandinistas which was the rally's main theme. Although they are now enjoying health people will tell them: 'We forgive you, but have to say. care, better living conditions, and freedom only if you come to work, and not to de­ For people like Garcia, the right to re­ A region of displaced peasants from contra domination, some of the stroy or to kill.' We must be ready to for­ turn to their old farms is the most important Nueva Guinea is located in Nicaragua's evacuated peasants still have mixed ·feel­ give, but we're not going to lower our thing they hope the end of the war will Region V, some 180 miles southeast of ings about the revolutionary government. guard or slacken in our work." bring. "We want peace," Garcia told me, Managua by road. It is marked by both The rally here was aimed at answering their "but they should return us to the same place Some peasants working in cooperatives huge landed properties - mostly cattle­ doubts and deepening their participation in where we came from, that's what we are concerned that with amnesty they'll grazing land - and by the tiny plots of the fight for peace. want." poor peasants barely surviving as share­ have to return the land given them by the Reactions to the Nicaraguan govern­ revolutionary government back to the croppers, tenant farmers, or subsistence Peasants, main victims of the war ment's peace efforts were varied but gener­ former Somozaist officials. Nuiiez assured farmers. Agustin Lara, Sandinista National Lib­ ally positive. Garcia thought both the San- .the crowd that "those cooperative lands be­ This sparsely populated region is iso­ eration Front (FSLN) coordinator for the . dinistas and the contras should lay down long to you, your children, your grandchil­ lated from the rest of the country by a lack their weapons. "If one [side] throws them region, was one of the main speakers at the dren, and your great-grandchildren." of sufficient roads. Horses provide the rally. His speech dealt with the steps taken down, and the other doesn't, well that main means of transportation here, espe­ in the region to implement the Guatemala To the peasants who had to abandon doesn't do any good. What we want is for cially as you get deeper into the region. But accords signed by the presidents of five their lands because of the war, Nuiiez said both to do it, to have peace so we can for the thousands of poor peasants scattered Central American countries on August 7. that with the coming of peace, "those who work. That's what we poor folks want, to about the area who cannot even afford a The price paid by Region V in the war want to, will be able to return to their plots, be left alone working, because we know horse, travel on foot is the only way to get has been high, Lara explained. More than to their small farms . The small and that production comes from us, that we around. 5,000 Nicaraguans from the region, in­ medium farmers of this region should have work so that the people of the town, of the Many of the peasants were compelled to cluding contras, have been killed. One­ no fear of losing their properties, because cities may eat," she said. migrate here from western Nicaragua with­ sixth of the land in the region is not being they've earned their lands with the sweat of Jose Mercedes Polanco, a landless peas­ in the last 20- 30 years. During the U.S.­ cultivated because of the war. their hands and the heat of their work." ant now doing odd jobs in Nueva Guinea, backed dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza, Tell this to the peasants up in the hills of told me, "What we peasants want is the they were displaced by rich cotton growers "The peasants have been the main vic­ tims of the war," he said, including those Nueva Guinea, Nuiiez urged the crowd. freedom to work the land. In these past to make way for plantations at the height of times we were oppressed. You couldn't go Nicaragua's cotton boom. After settling in "who've been cajoled, kidnapped, or The promise that they can return to their forced to collaborate or participate in this out because the compafleros would nab new land, some again lost it to big land­ old farms if the war ends was important to you. But now that this peace is coming we lords who forced them to move on, eventu­ U.S.-provoked war." many peasants here who remain uncom­ Following the Guatemala accords, a feel happy, because peace will give us free­ ally winding up in the hills south of Nueva fortable about being evacuated. Despite the dom." Guinea, where they cleared the wilderness local peace commission was set up in misery in which they lived, these displaced Nueva Guinea. The commission includes a I asked him which compaiieros would to carve out a living. peasants feel the poor land they squeezed actually nab him, and he answered hesi­ The overthrow of Somoza's landlord­ Catholic priest and a Protestant minister; some subsistence from was nevertheless the local director of the Red Cross; a repre­ tantly, "Well, you know, those from here capitalist regime in 1979 opened the door something they could call their own. and those from over there." to a better future for these peasants - the sentative of Nueva Guinea's farmers; and Now they are being organized into the coordinator of the local community Sebastian Miranda Dfaz lives not far chance to work decent land, send their chil­ cooperatives in the resettled areas, some on from the town ofNueva Guinea. For him, council. the large estates expropriated from the very dren to school, receive medical care, and what's important is to "let there be peace, participate in politics. But Washington's Among the commission's tasks, said same Somozaist landlords who once forced let this war end." Peace will be achieved, contra war intervened to block fulfillment Lara, is to insure that any contra wishing to these peasants off their land. According to he thinks, "by reaching an agreement be­ of the revolutionary government's pro­ lay down their weapons may do so without Lucas Castro of UNAG's regional office tween all the governments, and also be­ grams in Region V. The scarce government fear of reprisals, "no matter what he may 90 miles away in Juigalpa, they still don't tween the government of the United States resources that did exist were initially ear­ have done." An amnestied contra may "re­ have a legal title to their new land. and the government of Nicaragua, because Some of the better-off evacuees, those marked for northern Nicaragua, where the turn to his family and community, to live in it's the United States that is sustaining the war was most intense. peace and help us reach peace," he added. owning 30 head of cattle or more, do not contras." That left little to build clinics, schools, Lara stressed that while the U.S. govern­ necessarily want to join a cooperative, but Another peasant I spoke with thought the and other services in the isolated hills of ment is directly responsible for the contra would rather have their own plot of land. important thing now is to convince the con­ This, Castro said, is still to be arranged. Nueva Guinea. war, "there are people within the United tras to accept the amnesty program. A Land reform also went very slowly here States who, like Brian Willson, want The settlements housing the evacuated peasant woman said that now "there will peasants are composed of neat rows .of in Region V. In general, the area's peas­ peace." Willson is the Vietnam veteran have to be some work done with the people ants did not receive the political attention who lost both his legs when hit by a U.S. wooden frames topped by a zinc roof and from the hills, to let them know about this plastic sheeting for walls. the Sandinistas were paying to rural areas military train in California while protesting amnesty, and convince them." in the north. the sending of weapons to the contras. Not everyone is satisfied with their new The contras took advantage of the rela­ Lara announced the donation of a field life. Even the size of the beans that the Nic­ tive lack of Sandinista presence here, and hospital for Nueva Guinea by a U.S. sol­ araguan government is giving free to the Speech by Nicaraguan in 1983 began moving troops into this area. idarity group called Operation California, evacuees - until they can grow their own Commander Playing on illiteracy, anti-Communist one of whose members spoke to the rally. crops- can be a source of friction. prejudices, and religious beliefs of poor Narcisa Garcia, a displaced peasant Tomas Borge peasants in Nueva Guinea- claiming that Contras urged to lay down arms woman, complained that the beans they re­ the Sandinistas were out to abolish reli­ UNAG President Daniel Nuiiez also ceived were too big in size. "We didn't and the gion, take away their children, and deprive spoke at the rally. He called on "the con­ even know how to eat them," she said. Wonten them of their hard-won land- the contras fused peasants" who have joined the con­ "It's no good for the stomach to eat them." succeeded in winning some to their ranks tras to return and lay down their weapons. The government also provides other Nicaraguan and confusing others about the Sandinista Nicaragua will receive these peasants with food and some clothing, but "not much," revolution. open arms, he said, "because we know that Garcia said. She believes that "there's a lot The contras imposed a tyranny over the rather than being criminals, they were of aid being sent, but only a little bit gets to Revolution peasants in the isolated hills south of here, cajoled by those who often took advantage us." This is a common accusation heard 30 pp. , $.75. to the point of forbidding commerce with of their ignorance." over the contra's Radio Liberaci6n, which Order from Pathfinder Press, 410 neighboring counties. Peasants were Many Nicaraguans are worried about comes in loud and clear here, and obvi­ West St., N.Y., N.Y. 10014. Please ously influences some peasants. forced to give the mercenaries the lion's members of Somoza's National Guard re­ include $. 75 postage. share of their meager production. In some turning to the country under the amnesty Still, despite their suspicions, the fact

September 25, 1987 The Militant 9 Rights foe to represent U.S. on UN human rights commission

BY HARRY RING it was charged, he was so badly brutalized Africa and Chile, Washington continues its President Reagan has appointed Ar­ that he became paralyzed. campaign to discredit Cuba on the issue. In mando Valladares as the U.S. representa­ Needless to say, in this campaign neither doing so, it has to ignore the fact that with tive to the UN Commission on Human his role under Batista nor his participation their revolution the Cuban people have Rights in Geneva. A counterrevolutionary in the terrorist conspiracy were mentioned. won more human rights than they ever Cuban exile who had been jailed in Cuba And, on his release, it created some sur­ knew in all the years of Spanish and then for his role in a terrorist bomb plot, Valla­ prise when he came off the plane not in a U.S. imperialist domination of their coun­ dares fraudulently claims he was impris­ wheelchair but on his own two feet. try. oned for expressing dissident political In prison, Valladares had gone on some That revolution will soon mark its 30th views. 14 hunger strikes, losing the use of his legs anniversary. In those three decades , Wash­ His appointment to the UN body is one from the resulting malnutrition. But, sev­ ington has never retreated an inch on its de­ more move in Washington's international eral years before his release, medical care termination to isolate, weaken, and ulti­ drive to discredit and isolate Cuba. and special diet restored the use of his legs. mately roll back that revolution and its his­ The Reagan nomination was assailed at Since his release, he has been used by toric social achievements. The appoint­ the United Nations on August 12 by Oscar enemies of the Cuban revolution interna­ ment of Valladares is but one more move in Oramas Oliva, Cuba's ambassador to that tionally. that direction. body. Oramas declared the appointment His prison memoir, Against All Hope­ "As a reward for many years of service," was evidence of "the 'respect' of the a preposterous tale of alleged unending, said Cuban Ambassador Oramas, "the ter­ Reagan administration for human rights." gory torture - has been translated into rorist is appointed to the Commission on Oramas' charge is born out by the facts. more than a dozen languages. He turns out Human Rights, where he will undoubtedly The build-up of Valladares as a symbol of a syndicated column for 25 papers in Latin follow his infamous path." the fight for human rights is as fraudulent America, and enjoys considerable U.S. Oramas concluded, "We believe honest as Reagan's professed concern for such and West European media coverage. Americans will surely repudiate this incon­ Armando V IIIIa dares during his days as rights. The Reagan administration has made ceivable appointment of the Reagan ad­ employee of dictator Batista's cops in A fanatical right-winger, Valladares was special use of Valladares from the outset. ministration." late 1950s. an employee of the Cuban police during the Although currently a resident of Spain, dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, which he was sworn in as a U.S. citizen last was ended by the 1959 revolution. March so that he could head a special U.S. Valladares and 16 other suspects were delegation to a Geneva meeting of the Saudi massacre of Iranians arrested on Dec. 27, 1960 for placing UN Commission on Human Rights. The bombs in public sites, explained the Cuban commission was considering a Washing­ ambassador. ton-sponsored resolution to condemn Cuba confirmed by new evidence "The police found a whole deposit of for alleged violations of human rights. arms and explosives in the house of one of Without a shred of substantiating evidence, BY FRED FELDMAN W akel said that Saudi forces then the suspects," Oramas said. Quoting a the resolution charged there are more than When more than 400 people were mas­ opened fire with tear gas and automatic Cuban newspaper account at the time, the 15,000 political prisoners on the island. sacred in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, during the weapons. ambassador reported that Valladares, "Fol­ annual hajj or pilgrimage of Muslims to "Although I myself did not actually see lowing orders from the Yankee embassy in Setback for U.S. gov't that city, the major U.S. media readily Saudi police firing on the Iranians," wrote Havana, had been bombing - criminally When the vote came on the resolution it bought the official Saudi version, which Hussain, "gunshots could be heard loud and indiscriminately - shopping centers proved a surprising political setback for blamed the Iranian government. and clear. People were being carried away frequented mostly by women and children. Washington. Its smear-Cuba resolution As the participants in the pilgrimage re­ with bullet wounds in the chest, arms, and The documents, war materiel, weapons, was tabled. turned home, however, the truth seeped thighs ," and dynamite containers found in the sus­ The vote to table was 19-18, with six out. pects' possession attestto their relationship abstentions. This in the face of a blatant Officials of the Saudi monarchy said that with Yankee imperialism from whose campaign of international arm-twisting by the July 31 death toll resulted from a stam­ Salvador solidarity agents they receive direct aid for their ter­ U.S. emissaries. Some delegates to the pede set off by violent demonstrations of rorist acts - an unspeakable aggression commission complained that their coun­ Iranian fanatics. Saudi forces, royal offi­ activists meet against the people." tries had been threatened with a loss of cials insisted- and the big-business media Sentenced to 25 years, Valladares was U.S. food aid if they failed to support the echoed - had not fired a single shot. BYIKENAHEM released in 1982 in response to an interna­ resolution. The U.S. State Department declared that WASHINGTON, D.C. - Some 250 tional campaign on his behalf. Among those who stood up to the U.S . the Saudi regime had "acted responsibly." people from across the United States came pressure in the voting were delegates from Weeks later, however, after milking the to Georgetown University here September 'Wheelchair poet' Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, and Saudi version for all the anti-Iranian prop­ 5-7 to attend the second national conven­ During that campaign, a portrait of Val­ Venezuela. aganda it was worth, the New York Times tion of the Committee in Solidarity with the ladares was concocted, depicting him as But despite that setback, Washington re­ conceded the Saudi story was false. People of El Salvador (CISPES). The con­ the "wheelchair poet." He was described as mains determined to press its anti-Cuba ef­ "Mounting evidence suggests that a spe­ vention was dedicated to Brian Willson, a a young Catholic poet who had been jailed fort. cially trained group of Saudi national U.S. veteran maimed in a recent antiwar by the Castro regime for no other offense While doing nothing about the violations guardsmen opened fire with pistols and au­ action, and to Jose Vladimir Centano, a than criticizing the government. In prison, of human rights in such countries as South tomatic rifles," the September 6 issue ad­ Salvadoran medical student and political mitted. prisoner who was wounded when the army What really happened was described by attacked the prison he is held in. Subscribe to 'Perspectiva Mundial' Mushahid Hussain, a Pakistani editor; and Founded in 1980 by U.S. supporters of Mohammed Ali Wakel, an Iraqi-born phy­ the liberation struggle in El Salvador, Peace accords: blow to U.S. war sician. Both participated in the pilgrimage. CISPES has played an important part in Hussain's eyewitness report appeared in many national and local protests against As a reader of the Militant you the September 2 issue of New York News­ U.S. intervention in Central America .. are familiar with our weekly PersPiCJiva day, while parts of Wakel's account were Recent revelations have shown that coverage of the struggles of . quoted in the September 6 Times. CISPES has been a target of illegal FBI working people around the .Mundial Their descriptions support Iranian disruption, including the use of informer­ charges that the slaughter was prepared and provocateurs. world. Nicaragua ofrece paz, perpetrated by Saudi authorities. If you can read or are studying Discussions at the workshops and ple­ EU hace Ia guerra Hussain pointed out - and the New nary sessions centered on the significance Spanish, there is a complemen­ York Times confirmed -that Saudi offi­ of the recently signed Guatemala peace ac­ tary monthly magazine for you: cials had given "general consent" to adem­ cords, developments in the struggle in El Perspectiva Mundial. PM is a • onstration by the Iranians and their sup­ Salvador, and the activities and orientation Spanish-language socialist mag­ porters. Such demonstrations had been tak­ of CISPES in the coming period. azine that carries many of the • ing place during the hajj each year since The remarks of Ramon Cardona, repre­ ..o ·-.cy-•o• 1983. same articles you read in the • senting the Farabundo Martf National Lib­ eration Front-Revolutionary Democratic Militant. EU However, according to Hussain, when Front (FMLN-FDR) of El Salvador were a The September issue features Habla lider the front of the demonstration reached a de sindic:ato point about 500 yards from where the two highlight of the convention. a news analysis of the Central ampesinoen Juez prohibe al Cardona noted the resurgence of strikes America peace accords recently el estado de sides had agreed it would end, Saudi police Washington FBI usar archivos blocked its passage. Suddenly, stones and and mass protests in the capital city of San signed by Nicaragua and four sobre socialistas bricks began to rain on the demonstrators Salvador. These have demanded the gov­ other governments in the area. from the upper stories of a building along ernment negotiate with the revolutionary This agreement is Nicaragua's the march route. forces and bring peace, as well as raising biggest diplomatic victory in Subscriptions: $9 for one year; "The stones just kept on coming," economic demands. "The facts show that it years against Washington's con­ $5 for six months; Introductory Wakel told the Times. "So many people is [Salvadoran President Jose Napoleon] tra war. It stipulates that by offer, $3.00 for five months. were wounded or killed. The exits were Duarte who is cornered. He is reduced to November 7, afl aid to "irregu­ blocked, and the crowd tried to push trying to manipulate the Guatemala ac­ lar" military forces in Central D Begin my sub with current cords to his favor," said Cardona. issue. through the police. America is to end. "The police used electrical batons that He quoted recent reports in major U.S . This means Washington Name ______made people fall over. Once they fell, they newspapers that conceded the strength, would have to end its lifeline to Address ______were crushed because of the human wave. popular support, and fighting capacity of the contras. The agreement, Many people tried to beat the police des­ the FMLN-FDR. which Nicaragua has begun to City/State/Zip ______perately with their fists or with sticks just In her opening remarks, CISPES Na­ to get away." tional Coordinator Angela Sanbrano said implement, has sharpened the Clip and mail to PM, 410 West debate in U.S. ruling circles over The Saudi monarchy later used film the Guatemala accords were a "victory for the contra war. St., New York, NY 10014. footage showing demonstrators striking at the revolutionary government of Nicara­ police to bolster their claim that Iranians gua. We are seeing the unfolding defeat of had attacked without provocation . U.S. policy in Central America."

. .. 10 ;.; Tke.Mililant ·.~: September 2$,_1987 Hospital workers' strike in El Salvador defies cop violence

BY DON GUREWITZ in the main hospital in San Salvador, we SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador had the demands of the strike explained to "jViva Ia solidaridad internacional! jViva us: Ia mujer combativa!" (Long live interna­ • A $30 a month wage increase. This is tional solidarity! Long live fighting especially important in face of a 50 percent women!) . annual inflation rate. Those were among the chants that e Rebuilding and repair of the hospitals greeted us as we entered the Social Secu­ and medical facilities damaged in the Oc­ rity hospital in San Miguel, in the eastern tober 1986 earthquake. part of this country. Seventy-five workers • Restoration of three month's free who had struck and occupied the hospital medical care for unemployed workers. had gathered to explain their struggle to us. This is a critical demand in the face of a wave of plant closings, layoffs, and mass The workers, predominantly women, firings. are all members of STISSS, the union that • A basic "basket" of food and clothes Gurewitz represents some 4,800 nurses, technicians, for new mothers after delivery. Union contingent at San Salvador march in late July. Banner reads: "We workers are professionals, orderlies, and administrative fighting the hunger and misery imposed by Duarte." staff at 36 Social Security hospitals and of­ After trying unsuccessfully to negotiate fices throughout the country. these demands with an intransigent admin­ STISSS went out on strike nationally istration, the workers decided to strike. rally at the hospital in San Miguel, and at a National Liberation Front. "That's why June 1 over a number of issues including They occupied their hospitals and offices, similar one in the hospital in the western they fired on us. But we are not guerrillas. the Social Security Administration's fail­ continuing emergency and other critical town of Santa Ana, we saw the spirit of a Our only weapons are our hands and our ure to implement an agreement that settled medical services. They launched a cam­ mobilized and militant membership that re­ voices." a nine-day strike last year. Representing paign of marches and rallies designed to fuses to be broken. about 76 percent of the Social Security per­ bring their case before the Salvadoran Nurses at the San Miguel hospital Don Gurewitz is a member ofInternational sonnel, they have effectively shut down people. explained that three of them had been Union of Electronic Workers Local 201. He visited El Salvador on two previous oc­ this important government institution. The government of Jose Napoleon wounded in the police attack in San Sal­ casions as part of U.S. trade union delega­ Duarte answered the STISSS workers with vador July 8. "The government accused us Government attempts to bust strike tions. His recent visit was as part of a repression. The strike was declared illegal. of being the shock troops of the FMLN," labor-student delegation from Boston. The government has tried to intimidate One thousand workers were fired. The mil­ one said, referring to the Farabundo Marti the strikers into going back to work using itary occupied the Social Security Admin­ threats, legal repression, and violence. In istration building in San Salvador and, response, virtually the entire Salvadoran later, medical facilities in Sonsonate, labor movement has adopted the STISSS Usulutan, Zacamil, and Santa Ana. struggle as their own. It has become the -WORI.D NEWS BRIEFS-- focus and rallying point of the wave of Cops attack rally Anti-apartheid groups prove of. In place of the current resolu­ labor struggles sweeping El Salvador On July 8 some 200 national·police at­ tion of disciplinary cases by independent today. tacked a STISSS rally in San Salvador with scoreS. Africa panel "pit umpires," a process that usually STISSS is a member of the Committee clubs and guns, beating and wounding 65 takes several weeks, the board's new of Workers in Conflict, a coalition of people. One week later, police again The African National Congress code insists that miners' grievances be unions currently on strike, including some opened fire on a STISSS support rally in (ANC), United Democratic Front, and decided by government industrial tribu­ formally associated with the ruling Chris­ downtown San Salvador, wounding three. other groups fighting for an end to apart­ nals, which could take a year or more. tian Democratic Party. But the STISSS workers have only be­ heid in South Africa have rejected the By a 77 percent majority, the NUM's At a meeting with the union leadership come more determined. In an impromptu government's latest move to alter its membership voted in late August to au­ methods of rule. · thorize their leadership to take job action On September 11 the apartheid re­ against the code. gime submitted a bill to the whites-only The board then proposed some minor Latin American parties hit chamber of Parliament to establish a alterations, but NUM General Secretary panel, headed by President Pieter Botha, Peter Heathfield noted that these fell far that would advise on the drawing up of a short of the changes the union sought. U.S. campaign against Panama new constitution. The NUM leadership gave the coal The panel, called the National Coun­ board two more weeks to make satisfac­ A broad grouping of Latin American and store the Canal Zone to Panamanian cil, is to include African figures, some tory changes before the union would call Caribbean political parties has expressed sovereignty at the end of 1999. Some U.S. appointed by Botha, some chosen by the a national ban on overtime work. solidarity with Panama, in that country's officials have raised the possibility of find­ administrations in the 10 rural African struggle against a U.S. destabilization ing a way to renege on the treaties or keep­ reserves known as Bantustans, and some Indigenous peoples campaign designed to bring down the ing U.S. military forces in Panama after supposedly elected by Africans living Panamanian government. that date. outside the Bantustans. The council will of Caribbean meet have no executive or legislative powers. The COPPPAL, which comprises 34 po­ Issuing a statement on behalf of the Per­ The government has presented this Representatives of indigenous com­ litical parties from 20 countries, includes manent Conference of Latin American Po­ proposal as evidence of its claimed com­ munities in four Caribbean countries and Panama's governing Revolutionary Demo­ litical Parties (COPPPAL), 11 members of mitment to moving away from apartheid Canada met August 13-17 for the First cratic Party as well as many parties in the its coordinating committee declared that and providing Blacks with some politi­ Conference oflndigenous Peoples of the region that are affiliated to the Socialist In­ "we condemn and reject the imperialist and cal voice. Caribbean. Held in St. Vincent and the ternational. Among the signers of the interventionist activities against Panama, Anti-apartheid activists, on the other Grenadines, in the Eastern Caribbean, COPPPAL statement were Tomas Borge of and we call on all the peoples and parties of hand, quickly pointed out that the the conference featured discussions of Nicaragua's Sandinista National Liberation the continent to support this sister country, method of selecting African participa­ the common problems facing indigenous Front, Michael Manley of the People's Na­ for in its battle it is also struggling for the tion is designed to reinforce the regime's peoples. tional Party of Jamaica, and Guillermo independence and sovereignty of all the divide-and-rule policies toward Blacks Besides representatives from St. Vin­ Ungo of the National Revolutionary Move­ peoples of Latin America and the Carib­ and that the council itself would be little cent itself, participants came from ment of El Salvador. bean." more than a platform for those Blacks Dominica, Belize, Guyana, and Sas­ With open U.S. encouragement, rightist "Persistently and for months," the state­ who collaborate with the apartheid au­ katchewan, Canada. A representative forces in Panama laui_lched a campaign of ment said, "top U.S. government officials thorities. from Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast was in­ demonstrations, strikes, and civil disobedi­ have been promoting a campaign against "It's a nonstarter in that it seeks to vited and got as far as neighboring Bar­ ence in early June. One of this campaign's Panama to force it to resign from the Con­ sidestep the universal demand for major­ bados, but was blocked from boarding a central demands has been for the resigna­ tadora Group, stop its support of proposals ity rule based on one person, one vote," plane to St. Vincent. tion of Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, leading to a peaceful and self-determined declared Mfanafuthi Makatini, a leader The participants from Dominica de­ Panama's de facto head of state. resolution of the Central American crisis, of the ANC. scribed how the 3,700 acres of land re­ oblige it to collaborate with projects pro­ In fact, opposition to the council has served for them in 1901 is being en­ U.S. hostility toward Noriega ste.ms moting military intervention in Central been so widespread among Blacks that croached upon and how they have still from his government's declared aim of America, and impose an extension of the few of Pretoria's closest Black col­ not gotten title to it. Amerindian partici­ abiding by the 1977 Panama Canal treaties, presence of the U.S. military bases on its laborators have thus far been willing to pants from Guyana told a similar story, which stipulate that Washington will re- territory." endorse it. as settlers from Guyana's coastal region The statement blasted the efforts of the have moved further into the interior in U.S. ambassador to Panama to "openly British miners reject search of gold. promote the plot of Panamanian oligarchi­ Delegates from the Garifuna commu­ cal and reactionary groups," Washington's coal board's new code nity in Belize, located in Central Amer­ "repeated misinformation and lies to the ica, noted that in corning to St. Vincent press" about Noriega and the Panamanian Leaders of the National Union of they had returned "home," almost 200 government, and its "arrogant statements Mineworkers (NUM) on September 6 years after the colonial authorities ex­ that openly ignore the sovereignty and self­ rejected changes proposed by British pelled the Black Caribs of that island and determination of Panama." Coal in its new miners disciplinary code. dispersed them in what is now Belize, "All these activities," the COPPPAL British Coal runs the country's Guatemala, and Honduras. By the conference's close, the partici­ statement charged, "are serious and unac­ nationalized coal industry. ceptable intervention in the affairs of one Under the code, miners can be fired pants agreed to work toward uniting the of the countries of our America, as well as for participating in various forms of indigenous communities of the region to a threat to the dignity and collective inter­ union activity that the board does not ap- further their common struggles. Central America and Panama ests of all our countries."

September 25, 1987 , .The Militant 11 -THE GREAT SOCIETY------.,------Tough situation - EJltre­ elevator for court appearances, that Peter Hurkos, a psychic, is belongs to humanity." Albert List, month spousal support from ac­ preneur John Hudson expected a selected the jail he would go to, doing nicely as a script consultant recently departed· industrialist and tress Joan Collins, who's divorc­ $1.75-million take on a Barbie­ and, after six days, was granted an to some of Hollywood's top stars widely touted philanthropist. ing him. type Oliver North doll. Now he "intermission" to work on a film in and producers. He passes his hand Germany. Responding to critics, over scripts and reports the vibes Fashion tips - Gucci 's New Writes a neat check - Exclu­ his lawyer explained, "That's the he's getting. York shop is featuring a black sive from Cartier's, the Pasha pen way it's done every day for people leather dress, including a leather - 40 coats of lacquer, each pen iil the business world." Ciao - Members of New belt, plus distinctive Gucci but­ individually numbered. Ball York's posh Century Club voted tons. $1,795. And, if you think point, $600. Fountain pen, $675. But not to hurry-Pointing to to admit female members - if that's pricey, check out Yves Saint Harry the dangerously high levels of raw they can't escape it. Sighed one Laurent's ostrich-feather bolero The imagemakers - "It's the Ring sewage in coastal waters, includ­ old-timer: "It would mean a com­ jacket. $6,550. competitive demand to look ing organic chemicals, metals, and plete change. If the change comes youthful," explains one doctor disease-bearing bacteria, marine and it turns out to be something I Think you got expenses? - "I about the growing demand for cos­ expects to lose $20,000. "I guess scientist Donald Squires said, don't enjoy, I'll probably just fade spent approximately $20,000 a metic surgery among Yuppies in we sort of miscalculated the "We're going to have to stop pro­ away." month on clothing and acces­ their 40s. Particularly popular is a people's support for Ollie," he ducing some of these noxious sub­ sories. . . . For instance, I wear machine that sucks out fat and mused. stances." Don't waste the leftovers - $2,000 leatner jackets, $400 another that pumps it back in else­ "What are you put on this earth for crocodile shoes, and tens of where. A beleagured mid-ladder You better believe it - Actor Probably as good a way as any anyway? To be productive - for thousands of dollars worth of exec can have that extra chin re­ Sean Penn, who drew 60 days for - In case you wonder about the yourself until you've got every­ jewelry." - from Peter Holm's moved and used to strengthen his slugging an extra, used the judge's quality of film fare, it's reported thing money can buy. After that, it court petition seeking $80,000 a jawline.

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Tel: (215) 225-0213. Pittsburgh: SWP, Stony Island. Zip: 60649. Tel: (312) 363-7322. NEBRASKA: Omaha: SWP, YSA, 140 S. YSA, 402 N. Highland Ave. Zip: 15206. Tel: ALABAMA: Birmingham: SWP, YSA, INDIANA: Muncie: YSA, c/o Scott Shaf­ 40th St. Zip: 68131. Tel: (402) 553-0245. (412) 362-6767. 1306 1st Ave. N. Zip: 35203. Tel: (205) 323- froth, 1125 W. Marsh St. Zip: 47303. Tel: (317) NEW JERSEY: Newark: SWP, YSA, 141 TEXAS: Austin: YSA, c/o Mike Rose, 7409 3079. 282-2996. Halsey. Zip: 07102. Tel: (201) 643-3341. Berkman Dr. Zip: 78752. Tel. (512) 452-3923. ARIZONA: Phoenix: SWP, YSA, 1809 IOWA: Des Moines: SWP, YSA, 2105 For­ NEW YORK: Albany: YSA c/o Lisa Sand­ Houston: SWP, YSA, 4806 Almeda. Zip: 77004. W. Indian School Rd. Zip: 85015. Tel: (602) est Ave. Zip: 50311. Tel: (515) 246-1695. berg, 120 Lark St. Zip: 12210. Tel: (518) Tel: (713) 522-8054. Lubbock: YSA, c/o Amy 279-5850. LOUISIANA: Baton Rouge: YSA, 4264 463-8001. Mid-Hudson: YSA, Box 650, Waugh, 2202 22nd St., Apt. B. Zip: 79411 . CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: SWP, YSA, Oxford Ave. #4,Zip: 70808. Tel: (504)766-0510. Annandale. Zip: 12504. Tel: (914) 758-0408. UTAH: Price: SWP, YSA, 23S.CarlxmAve., 2546 W. Pico Blvd. Zip: 90006. Tel: (213) 380- New Orleans: YSA, c/o Ray Medina, 730 Penis­ New York: SWP, YSA, 79 Leonard St. Zip: Suite 19, P.O. Box 758. Zip: 84501. Tel: (801) 9460. Oakland: SWP, YSA, 3808 E. 14th St. ton St. Zip: 70115. Tel: (504) 899-5094. 10013. Tel: (212) 219-3679 or 925-1668. Path­ 637-6294. Salt Lake City: SWP, YSA, 147 E. Zip: 94601. Tel: (415) 261 -3014. San Diego: MARYLAND: Baltimore: SWP, YSA, 2913 finder Books, 226-8445 . Rome: YSA, c/o Cos­ 900 South. Zip: 84111. Tel: (801) 355-1124. SWP, YSA, 2803 B St. Zip: 92102. Tel: (619) Greenmount Ave. Zip: 21218. Tel: (301) 235- mos Andoloro, 7172 RickmeyerRd. Zip: 13440. VIRGINIA: Portsmouth: YSA, P.O. Box 234-4630. San Francisco: SWP, YSA, 3284 0013. Stony Brook: YSA, P.O. Box 1384, Patchogue, 6538, Churchland Station. Zip: 23707. 23rd St. Zip: 94110. Tel: (415) 282-6255. San MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: SWP, YSA, N.Y. Zip: 11772. WASHINGTON, D.C.: SWP, YSA, Jose: SWP, YSA, 46lfz Race St. Zip: 95126. 605 Massachusetts Ave. Zip: 02118. Tel: (617) NORTH CAROLINA: Greensboro: SWP, 3165 Mt. Pleasant St. NW. Zip: 20010. Tel: Tel: (408) 998-4007. Seaside: YSA, P.O. Box 247.6772. YSA, 2219 E Market. Zip: 27401. Tel: (919) (202) 797-7699, 797-7021. 1645. Zip: 93955. Tel: ( 408) 394-1855. MICillGAN: Detroit: SWP., YSA, 2135 272-5996. . WASHINGTON: Seattle: SWP, YSA, Stockton: YSA, c/o Ted Barratt and Gustavo Woodward Ave. Zip:48201. Tel: (313)961-0395. OHIO: Cincinnati: SWP, YSA, 4945 Pad­ 5517 Rainier Ave. South. Zip: 98118. Tel: Mendoza, 825 N. San Jose St. Zip: 95203. Tel:. MINNESOTA: Austin: SWP, YSA, 4071fz N. dock Rd. Zip: 45237. Tel: (513) 242-7161. (206) 723-5330. (209) 941 -8544. Main. Zip: 55912. Tel: (507) 433-3461. North­ Cleveland: SWP, YSA, 2521 Market Ave. Zip: WEST VIRGINIA: Charleston: SWP, FLORIDA: Miami: SWP, YSA, 137 NE field: YSA, c/o Heiko Koester and PatRombero, 44113. Tel: (216) 861-6150. Columbus: YSA, YSA, 116 McFarland St. Zip: 25301 . Tel: (304) 54th St. Mailing address: P.O. Box 370486. Zip: Carlton College. Zip: 55057. Tel: (507) 663- P.O. Box 02097 . Zip: 43202. 345-3040. Morgantown: SWP, YSA, 221 33137. Tel: (305) 756-1020. Tallahassee: YSA, 4000, ext. 4570 or 4563. Twin Cities: SWP, OREGON: Portland: SWP, YSA, 2732 NE Pleasant St. Zip: 26505. Tel: (304) 296-0055. P.O. Box 20715. Zip: 32316. Tel: (904) 222- YSA, 508 N. Snelling Ave. , St. Paul. Zip: Union. Zip: 97212. Tel: (503) 287-7416. WISCONSIN: Milwaukee: SWP, YSA, 4434. 55104. Tel: (612) 644-6325. PENNSYLVANIA: Edinboro: YSA, c/o 4707 W. Lisbon Ave. Zip: 53208. Tel: (414) GEORGIA: Atlanta: SWP, YSA, 132 Cone MISSOURI: Kansas City: SWP, YSA, Mark Mateja, Edinboro University of Pa. Zip: 445-2076.

12 The Militant September 25, 1987 Mass strike,·rightist bid rock·Philippines

Continued from front page major provincial and city highways in an went into hiding. 28. Even after the military finally ordered Processing Zone was paralyzed as were effort to bring economic life to a standstill. The scope of public outrage over the oil his arrest September 13, Honasan and his dozens of factories in the provinces of These barricades became the focal point price increases took the government by sur­ chief co-conspirators remain at large and Laguna, Cavite, Pampanga, and Bulacan. for a military crackdown. ordered by the prise and deepened the political crisis in the talk freely to the media here. Aquino government. At least one worker landed and capitalist oligarchy, which has In conversations, leaders of the KMU Communications were disrupted when was shot dead and 100 were injured as been unable to stabilize a government ca­ and KMP stressed that they see Honasan' s the 10,000 employees of the Philippines police sought to disperse the barricaders. pable of decisively rolling back demands group as having largely succeeded in forc­ Long Distance Telephone Co. stayed This was the first time that Aquino had or­ for land and labor rights. ing the regime to move to the right, purge home, as did many at Manila International dered such an attack on labor actions. It was in this context that Col. Gregorio itself of remaining liberal figures, and Airport. Joker Arroyo, Aquino's executive secre­ Honasan and other rightist military officers adopt a mailed-fist policy toward worker In an interview with the Militant, KMU tary, endorsed the assault as "regular police closely associated with former minister of and peasant struggles. They point to the Secretary General Bob Ortaliz said that or­ functions." Some of the most vicious re­ defense and current Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile government's priority on giving a 60 per­ ganization of the people's strike was facil­ pression took place in Cebu, where union launched a bloody attack on the Aquino cent pay increase to military personnel and itated by. the breadth of opposition to the leader Propongo was among those arrested government August 28. to the resignations tendered by the entire price rise granted the international oil car­ for unlawful assembly. cabinet and General Ramos to allow re­ tel. The opposition, he said, included many The military commanders in Cebu, the vamping of the government. businessmen, some of whom permitted Union under attack Philippines' second-largest city, joined the bid to overthrow the government. In the employees to participate in the strike with­ The KMU called for the strike to con­ No mobilization against coup out losing pay. course of the coup attempt, military forces tinue past August 26 until the price in­ in Cebu looted and smashed up three KMU In contrast to the millions who joined the There was significant peasant support crease was repealed. But on the evening of offices. August 26 strike, there was no popular out­ for the action in many parts of the coun­ August 26 the TUCP leadership pulled out pouring to defend the Aquino government tryside, chairman of the KMP in the of any further industrial action. This pro­ While forces loyal to armed forces chief against the ultrarightist mutiny. Bisayas islands, Bobby Propongo, told the vided an opening for the government to of staff Gen. Fidel Ramos eventually de­ Militant. Villagers formed themselves into crack down further. feated the attempt, widespread sympathy The Catholic bishops, who played a key human barricades across the roads into the On August 27 the strikers were dispersed with the coup bid was revealed within the role in the "people power" mobilizations barrios, he said, to block merchants and by the military, and the KMU national armed forces. against Marcos, made no appeal to defend others coming in to do business. headquarters was raided. The federation's Honasan was allowed to escape after Aquino against the right, nor did any of the The KMP also joined with the KMU in jeepney drivers' union President Medardo being trapped with his troops at the Camp organizations that led the people's strike. organizing such human barricades across Roda was arrested. Other KMU leaders Aguinaldo military headquarters August In the immediate wake of the coup at­ tempt, the KMU called a temporary moratorium on further strike actions to avoid being linked to ultrarightist attempts Kanaks boycott vote rigged by France to destabilize the Aquino government. However, KMU Secretary General Or­ taliz said the workers' right to strike would Continued from front page to organize in favor of independence. area of Noumea occupied one of the main not be compromised and the KMU would The FLNKS's "peaceful march for inde­ tourist beaches for a day. wanted to give up their French national­ intensify its national campaign for a 10 Arriving early in the morning, they pic­ ity." pendence," which was scheduled to pro­ pesos per day across-the-board increase in nicked, played games, and relaxed. A The FLNKS has said that only those ceed from one end of the territory to the the minimum wage to counter the inflation other from August 23 to September 3, was number of white beachgoers hurriedly left, with at least one parent born in the territory brought about by the oil price increases. should have the right to vote on the coun­ banned. while some stayed behind and mingled try's future. This would eliminate the huge The Kanak liberation front called for with the Kanaks. The scene was com­ At the same time, Ortaliz explained, the bulk of recent arrivals. Many of them were "two weeks of mobilization for Kanaky" pletely peaceful. Within minutes, how­ KMU was seeking to launch a broader brought to New Caledonia as part of the - local actions in place of the banned na­ ever, the police and security forces had campaign in defense of trade union rights French govenment's stated policy in 1972 tional march. Hundreds gathered in many cordoned off the entire beach, forbidding in anticipation of a renewed crackdown by of "whitening" New Caledonia to counter communities but were often prevented further access by anyone. the police and the military against labor or­ from moving a single yard. ganizations. the growing demand among the indigenous FLNKS supporters ended the action at 3 Authorities seized a boat from Belet Is­ Kanak people for independence. p.m. and returned to Pierre Lenguete. But There is widespread feeling here in the land (north of the main island) that was to The government and local right-wing the next day, the police and military sealed wake of the August 28 events that there be used by protesters. And the airline that groups made much of the fact that 59 per­ off the ghetto. They allowed only those will be either a sharp shift to the right on normally transports people from Loalty Is­ cent of those registered to vote did so, in with work cards to leave. The cop blockade the part of Aquino's cabinet or a new and land to the mainland announced its planes comparison with 49 percent in the 1984 ter­ of Pierre Lenguete lasted until September more determined coup attempt from within were out of service, ritorial elections. 11. the military. But the number of Kanaks registered to Bwenando commented, "By order of vote has plummeted. The September 11 Bernard Pons (French minister for overseas Bwenando, newspaper of the FLNKS, re­ territories), it is thus forbidden for the ported that as many as 2..t000 liberation Kanaks to go on foot, to move by plane, by -10 AND 25 YEARS AGO--- front supporters have been denied civil van, or by car, unless with a permit to rights - including the right to vote-after tionary Cuban groups in the United States move, as in the finest hours of South Af­ and Puerto Rico to increase their hit-and­ being convicted by the colonial courts for rica's apartheid. THE MILITANT their role in protests against French rule. A .ac::w.BT NEWIWUXLV...... ,.. lte tnBIESTSOifll« wt'INmiO NOfU .. run raids. Some 2,000 other Kanaks were stricken "For Pons, the place of the Kanaks is in Sept. 23, 1977 The governments of Britain, West Ger­ from the voters' list because they had not the Bantustans (reserves and ghettos), in­ many, and Norway are now under dip­ voted in previous elections and failed to vaded and patrolled by the colonial army' Steven Biko, prominent leader of South lomatic pressure from the United States to come forward now to provide proof that which can then provoke and baton, shel­ Africa's Black Consciousness movement, prevent ships registered in their countries they had lived in New Caledonia for three tered from journalists' cameras." died September 12 while being held pris­ from being used in commerce between years. And many more simply never regis­ The racist atmosphere surrounding the oner by the apartheid regime. Biko had Soviet-bloc nations and Cuba. In addition, tered. referendum was further underlined by the been arrested August 18 for suspicion of British tankers on long-term charter to the Tjibaou announced that the FLNKS brutal cop attack on a sit-down protest held promoting unrest under a law that makes Soviet Union, carrying crude oil from plans legal steps to have the validity of the by the FLNKS in central Noumea on Au­ indefinite imprisonments without trial Black Sea ports to Cuba, have had to return referendum annulled. gust 22. legal. across the Atlantic empty because they are As the referendum neared, there were On August 29 some 400 FLNKS sup­ Biko's family and other Black spokes­ refused cargoes in U.S. ports. stepped-up attacks on the right of Kanaks porters from the Pierre Lenguete ghetto people expressed disbelief at the official Only three years ago, 80 percent of explanation of the death. The government Cuba's trade was with the United States. claims that Biko, 30 years old, suddenly Since the U.S. embargo, Cuba has been died after a one-week hunger strike. He forced to shift all that trade to the Soviet Big meetings aid Maine paper strike died only 24 hours after being moved from bloc, and obtaining shipping for that trade a prison hospital in Port Elizabeth to a hos- is an acute problem. U.S. harassment of Continued from front page International Brotherhood of Electrical . pita] in Pretoria. shipping to Cuba has the effect of making it company's generosity and good sense. Workers locals were inspired by the meet­ even more expensive and increases the Speakers at the meeting picked the letter ing and promised to bring more members Leaders in areas such as Soweto have hardships of the Cuban people. apart point by point. in the future . Several students and faculty been warning that any government provo­ Cuban counterrevolutionary groups in Following the speeches, Local 14 Vice­ from the University of Maine were also cation could spark a rebellion. In recent Miami and Puerto Rico have received a president Jacques read a three-page list of there. weeks the government has closed down all shot in the arm from the recent hysteria individuals, unions, and shops- from the An indication of the Jay strikers' desire high schools and fired on Blacks demon­ against Cuba and openly declare that their beauty parlor to the video store - that to continue broadening support for their strating in support of a student boycott of purpose in conducting the raids they have made a donation to the local that week. struggle was the cheers and applause that the apartheid school system. been making against Cuban ships and har­ The high point every week comes when greeted several unionists from the Boston bors is to provoke war between the United visitors, many of whom bring donations, area who attended the meeting and pledged THE States and Cuba. Some exiles are even are asked to come to the front of the meet­ to help get the word out. hopeful that such an action as sinking a ing to introduce themselves and present The meeting ended with Jacques reading Soviet ship could embroil the United States their contributions. the text of a petition demanding a court­ MILITANT in a war with Russia, reports the Wall martial for those responsible for the Publi•hed in the lntere•h of the Wor~in9 People Street Journal. The crowd gave a thunderous ovation as attempted murder and maiming of Brian Sept. 24, 1962 Price !Oc Cuban counterrevolutionaries are now several hundred people filed to the front of Willson. Willson is an antiwar veteran being allowed to join the U.S. army di­ the gym. They introduced themselves one whose legs were severed when he was run President John Kennedy is planning new rectly for training together in special units. by one. Some were there for the first time; over by a train during an antiwar protest at blows against the Cuban people while de­ Kennedy's request for stand-by author­ others were regulars, such as the represen­ a naval weapons station in California at the ferring outright U.S. military intervention ity to call up 150,000 reserves passed the tatives of UPIU Local 900 from the nearby beginning of the month. Jacques said the . in Cuba until he thinks he can get away Senate unanimously and was later ap­ Boise Cascade paper mill in Rumford. petition would be at the union hall and · with it. proved by a House committee without dis­ Local 900 is giving the Jay strikers urged those present to fill it with names. The new anti-Cuba moves include in­ sent. There is not a single voice of fairness $11,000 per month. . The meeting concluded as it began, with creased pressure on Latin American gov­ or reason, opposed to the preparation for This week, an entire bus of unionists rousing union songs. After it broke up, a ernments to develop some form of dip­ crushing the Cuban revolution, heard in the came down from the Scott Paper mill in car caravan drove around the mill. (See lomatic cover for U.S. intervention; pres­ entire Congress. There is only disagree­ Winslow, Maine. Members of UPIU, In­ page 4 for additional coverage of the paper­ sure on Western nations to boycott Cuba; ment over when and how it should be ternational Association of Machinists, and workers' struggle.) and giving the green light to counterrevolu- crushed.

September lS., 1987 The Militant 13 ...... ' .. ·' ~ ,...... , . .. ~ .. -EDITORIAL-S~.;.._,...... -.....,....-----'-~-'--___,...._..,..__,__,....,.. :i'' • . ·· .• ""~ ,Why work~rs _". will Reagan tries to shore up contras be interested .in

When the Reagan administration called on Congress to American governments- so long beholden to Washing­ 'Matewan' appropriate another $270 million for the contras, the ton - have dared to act independently on this critical BY DOUG JENNESS message was clear. The White House is determined to issue. A new movie recently opened in New York that I urge torpedo the recently signed Central American peace ac­ Meanwhile, as if to underline that he, too, remains Militant readers to see. Most movies don't merit recom­ cords and to continue the dirty war against Nicaragua. committed to opposition to the Sandinista government, mendation, but Matewan, which will soon appear in The administration recognizes that if the peace agree­ Wright has made an initial deal with House Republicans other cities, is different. ment signed in Guatemala by the governments of five for additional so-called "nonmilitary" aid for the contras. I'm not going to pretend to write a review- which the Central American countries is implemented, the contra If the deal is consummated, the House will vote between film deserves - but take up a couple of points of special forces are finished. $2.5 million to $4 million in aid for a 40-day period. interest to working people today that struck me . • In sharp contrast to Washington, Managua responded Many viewers and commentators say that Matewan is The proposal for the $270-million arms appropriation with concrete steps to implement the accords, not with an interesting and well-done presentation of a chapter was made to Congress September 10 by Secretary of cynical declarations and maneuvers. from U.S. labor history. And it is that. But I think when State George Shultz. In testimony designed to blackjack Alone among the signers of the Guatemala pact, the coal miners, farm workers, striking paperworkers and the legislators, Shultz threatened that cutting off the con­ Nicaraguan government has created a national reconcili­ tras would "guarantee a communist victory" and that re­ ation commission. To head that commission, the San­ sponsibility for this would be laid at their doorstep. dinista government appointed Cardinal Miguel Obando y This was followed by Reagan's frontal assault on the Bravo, the central spokesperson inside the country for the LEARNING ABOUT Guatemala plan. In his weekly radio talk September 12, counterrevolution. the president argued that the plan failed to safeguard "de­ The government has also committed itself to lifting the SOCIALISM mocracy" and U.S. "national security." war-dictated state of emergency, ensuring freedom of The pact was signed August 7 by the presidents of press and political activity to foes of the revolution as meat-packers, and others fighting today to defend them­ Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nic­ well as friends. selves against the employers see the film, they will find aragua. It calls for an end to armed conflict in the region Members of the contra forces are being offered a some points in common with their own experiences. and for measures to assure democratic rights in each of generous amnesty if they lay down their arms. Matewan is based on the 1920 fight of coal miners in the countries. In a further peace .move, on September 13, President southern West Virginia to become unionized. The miners With his attack on the plan, Reagan is cracking the Daniel Ortega announced revocation of a statute permit­ in the region suffered low wages, long hours, and abom­ whip against the governments of Costa Rica, El Sal­ ting confiscation of the property of Nicaraguans who left inable working conditions. They were completely at the vador, Guatemala, and Honduras. the country. mercy of the coal operators, who owned company stores Reagan is also trying to find ways to shore up the sag­ Ortega also announced the pardon of 16 citizens of and much of the workers' housing. ging morale of the contras. The demand for Congress to When the United Mine Workers of America (UMW A) other Central American countries j(liled for involvement come up with $270 million in arms money - an 80 per­ sent organizers into the area in May 1920 to help the in counterrevolutionary activities. cent jump over the allotment voted last year - is in­ workers' effort to establish a union, the operators fired tended to assure the contras and their U.S. backers that Such moves are "going to initiate a new situation" in Nicaragua, Sandinista leader Bayardo Arce told univer­ miners suspected of union sympathies and evicted them support will continue. from company-owned houses. Thousands of miners and sity student leaders. "The entire Sandinista Front and all Reagan has good reason for concern. The Sandinistas their families were homeless, and the UMWA provided the revolutionary forces will have to prepare themselves have severely set back the contras. This was clearly tents to shelter them and organized donations of food. for the political-ideological struggle that is going to open shown in a September 7 New York Times interview with The struggle throughout the area led to a shooting war Col. Enrique Bermudez, the ex-Somozaist officer who is up." Such a profound political debate will shape the future between the miners and the operators' hired strikebreak­ the contras' military chieftain. ers. It reached a climax in August when a "citizens' Reporting from Honduras, Times correspondent James development of the revolution and will have reverbera­ tions beyond Nicaragua's borders. army" of 6,000 armed miners fought a battle with 2,000 LeMoyne wrote: detectives and imported thugs in Madison, West' Vir­ "The chief military commander of the Nicaraguan But the Sandinista National Liberation Front is pre­ ginia. The miners were defeated when federal troops guerrillas sat in the debris of the former main rebel border pared to face this challenge. It is confident that its revo­ were sent in. Hopes for the union in that region were base Friday and acknowledged that he and his men now lutionary ideas will prevail and that it will add to the dashed until the labor upsurge of the 1930s. face the prospect that their long war could be over." majority support it already enjoys among the Nicaraguan The movie doesn't attempt to deal with the whole his­ But while the contras have suffered devastating blows, people. And the Sandinistas will surely affect political tory and scope of this coalfield war. Rather, it centers on they still have access to U.S. weapons and continue to in­ thinking throughout the Americas, and internationally as the struggle in Matewan, a small town near the Kentucky flict a bloody toll on Nicaraguans. well. border in the center of the battlefield and the headquarters The contras have not been able to hold a piece of terri­ In the midst of waging this peace offensive, Nicaragua of the Stone Mountain Coal Co. tory in Nicaragua. But small bands of well-armed killers has also won a victory over the U.S. economic blockade. Faced with a critical oil shortage, it has now succeeded in The film shows one thing very clearly -the miners can launch deadly attacks on peasant communities and knew who their enemy was. They had a deep hatred of cooperatives in isolated regions. And costly acts of arson obtaining almost all ofits current needs. From Cuba came a commitment for an added 40,000 their employer and its hired agents and a determination to and other sabotage can be committed by individuals or fight them to improve their lives. tons of oil. Then it was announced in Managua that an small groups. There was a naked confrontation between the workers additional100,000 tons will be received from the USSR. But if the Guatemala accords are implemented and the and the company that was not buffered by a business­ U.S. Congress is compelled to deny funding to the union officialdom seeking to strike a deal in the "mutual" Like theSandinistas, the •antiwar forces in this country mercenary bands, then their days are numbered. interests of both sides. now face a substantial challenge-to escalate theirwork What the workers had to work through, however - in order to ensure that Washington does not succeed in re­ Washington now faces an• excruciating dilemma, and which is one of the themes of the film - is determining versing the drive toward peace. differences are deepening in ruling-class circles in this who their friends were. When Shultz made his pitch to Congress for more con­ country on what course to follow. To try to break the miners' strike, the company brings This is evidenced in the public exchange between the tra dollars, legislators who are critical of the administra­ tion's bull-ahead course responded that Reagan should in Black workers and Italian immigrants to work the administration and House Speaker James Wright (D.­ mines. The initial response of the strikers is to get into Tex.). wait to request renewed funding at least until after November 7, the date set in the Guatemala agreement for violent clashes with the workers the company has On August 5 Wright and Reagan announced a joint pro­ brought in to replace them. But in the course of the fight a regional cease-fire. posal on Central America. Two days later it was supersed­ against the coal operator, the Black and Italian workers ed by the Guatemala pact, which went substantially Such a leave-the-door-open response is unacceptable. are .won to the struggle and refuse to work, too. A tenu­ beyond it. Wright responded positively to the Guatemala Opponents of the war must bring massive pressure to · ous, but effective, alliance is established as the strikers plan while the Reagan forces very quickly bad-mouthed it. bear on lawmakers to compel them to take a decisive grudgingly accept the new workers. Wright attacked the administration for its "active op­ stand. Aid to the contras must come to an end now. One of the most dramatic scenes of the film is a confron­ position to the negotiations in the region" and let it be Antiwar protests are planned in various cities (see re­ tation between the Black and Italian workers, who are be­ known that he had joined with Reagan in the initial pro­ port, page 2.) Everyone should plunge in to help ensure ing herded into a mine by heavily armed company guards posal only after White House advisers convinced him it the success of these important demonstrations. for a sudden late-night shift, and the striking miners. was a genuine move toward negotiations. Another immediate focus should be to swell the ranks A violent clash would have been a deadly blow to the Now the split between Wright and the administration of the brigades that will be going to Nicaragua to help organizing drive and a victory to the company. (An agent has deepened with his invitation to Costa Rican President bring in the vitally important fall harvests. provocateur planted by the company in the miners' ranks Oscar Arias to Washington for a meeting with members There is also a need to expand the many ongoing work is attempting to promote hostility between the Black and of Congress. The White House leaned on Wright to can­ brigades, a growing number of them established in tribute white miners.) cel the invitation to Arias, but he refused. to Benjamin Linder, the young U.S. engineer who, like When the Black and Italian miners put down their The Guatemala agreement points up another difficulty thousands of Nicaraguans, was murdered by the contras tools, demonstratively take up positions alongside the for the U.S. government. This is the fact that the Central for working to build the new society. strikers, and announce that not one piece of coal will be mined unless it is union coal, the employer suffers a big blow and the stakes in the struggle escalate. . The UMWA organizer, who had been sent in to help the miners at their request, says, "Now we have a union." State Dept. vs. free speech These workers had no staff, office, officials, or dues checkoff- that is, .the sort of things most people would The September 15 order by the U.S. State Department The State Department gave as its reason for closing the associate with unions today. closing the Palestine Information Office in Washington, Washington office "terrorism committed and supported They started with only themselves and their solidarity, D.C., is yet another attack on the right of working people by organizations and indi victuals affiliated with the PLO." which was a commitment to defend each other and to in this country to know the true objectives and conse­ Not a shred of proof for this charge was offered. unite in struggle against the Stone Mountain Coal com­ quences of U.S. government foreign policies. This is a continuation of the U.S. rulers' attempts to pany. But that is the heart of what a union is or at least This latest restriction of the free flow of ideas comes in criminalize, in the eyes of the U.S. people, the struggle should be. the wake of proposals in Congress to restrict the move­ of the Palestinians against 40 years of brutal occupation This simple truth is often hard to see today, because . ments of representatives of the Palestine Liberation Or­ of their homeland by Israel. It is cut from the same cloth unions are so often identified with their organizational ganization (PLO), African National Congress (ANC) of that condemns the ANC and SW APO as "terrorist" for forms, their institutions, staffs, and so on-and with the Sopth Africa, and the South West Africa People's Or­ daring to fight the hated South African apartheid regime policies of a layer of officials who have interests alien to ganisation (SW APO) of Namibia to the confines of those by any means necessary. those of the workers. cities where the organizations have their missions. But as workers increasingly are forced to take action to Pro-Israel groups and congressional backers of the Working people have the right to hear the truth about defend themselves against the indignities and abuse State Department's action have announced plans to also the struggle of the Palestinian people for their rights. All heaped on them by the employers, they learn that it's press for shutting down the PLO Observer Mission to the supporters of free speech should protest the closing of the themselves - the members - that must take the union United Nations. Palestine Information Office. and make it theirs.

14 The Militant September 25, 1987 Ga. auto workers discuss GM's 'quality' campaign

BY MACEO DIXON speed, hire more workers, and demand fewer operations national contracts with GM, Ford, and Chrysler, which ATLANTA -The mood is shifting among auto work~ from each worker. this is the exact opposite of what GM set basic wage rates, benefits, etc. and local contracts, ers here at General Motors' Lakewood assembly plant, is doing. which cover work rules, overtime, and other matters spe­ where 3,000 of us build several models of GM sedans In August Patrick Ryan, the plant manager, spoke to cific to that plant.) The company said we would have to and station wagons. There's a lot of rethinking going on an assembly of night-shift workers to try to get GM's give deep concessions if we wanted to insure that the new under the impact of GM's stepped-up drive to force us to point across again. "A fair day's work for a fair day's car modei would be built here. produce more, work faster, and accept larger work loads. wage is all we're asking for," he said. Although the new local contract has not yet been voted As at Ford and Chrysler, GM's attacks are being car­ He told us that the quality of cars made at Lakewood is on by. the membership, the company has simply beguri ried out under the banner of a campaign to "improve so low that five auto dealers had returned them. They' re implementing the changes it wants to make. Work as­ so poorly constructed, he went on, that he wouldn't even signments are being reorganized. Assembly workers are buy one! When asked by a worker, "If the cars are of forced to do more and more repair work, inspection, and such poor quality, why were they shipped to the deal­ an ever-increasing number of operations per car. Injured UNION TALK ers?" Ryan had no answer. workers are being compelled to work. The officials of our union, Local34 of the United Auto Workers who have been at Lakewood a while are talk­ quality." The truth is that GM wants only to boost its sag­ Workers, echoed the company's line. Shop committee ing about these problems with the hundreds who transfer­ ging profits. Chairman Jimmy Hardy addressed the August assembly red here recently from the Doraville plant across town, To underscore how serious they are about squeezing us along with plant manager Ryan. Hardy said, "If we do which is now shut for model change. harder, GM's owners are threatening to close this plant not build a car the dealer will accept, we don't need to More than 50 of those transferred were not given jobs unless we toe the line- the same threat they're making worry about a local agreement. This is a different ball because Lakewood refused to recognize medical restric­ all over the country. game. We are doing things that we've never had to do be­ tions from Doraville. Lakewood's new position is that GM's decision earlier this year to close 11 plants and fore ... . Changes need to take place out on the floor. .. . there are no longer any light-duty jobs. Other transferred lay off some 30,000 workers makes the blackmail more The foremen need the authority to run their own jobs." workers were fired for alcohol abuse, despite GM's effective. More workers, though, are less inclined to simply ac­ stated position that workers with this problem should be In July management stopped the assembly line from cept the notion that we have to give up everything in the treated, notpunished. rolling for a day and a half. We had to stay on the line, name of "quality." Most of the workers who transferred here from though, so that they could talk to all of us about our jobs One worker's response was typical of the mood of the Doraville want to go back - they think the conditions at and how we could make better quality cars. assembly. "No use asking us for more. Most of us are Lakewood are unreal. But this won't be a solution either. working harder than we ever have," he said. Company officials at that plant have now announced that There was no agreement among workers on the "qual­ Another indication that some workers are beginning to they want to reorganize that plant along the lines of the ity" question. Some workers blamed the problem on see through GM's scam is that several of them have quit NUMMI plant in California, which has been used as a workers' poor attendance and lack of interest. being "group leaders" for the voluntary "problem solv­ model for worsening working conditions and reducing Others said that as long as GM pushes us to do more ing" groups GM has instituted. union rights in other U.S. auto plants. work on each car in the same amount of time ("work This latest push on "quality" follows last spring's de­ overloads"), quality will naturally go down. If GM sim­ mand by GM to reopen the local contract, which our local Maceo Dixon is a member of VA W Local 34 at the ply wanted better quality cars, they could slow the line officials agreed to. (UAW members are covered by both Lakewood plant. -LETTERS----- GM When in Nicaragua, Willson Nick Bozich, manager of Gen­ was asked about the motivation eral Motors' Wentzville assembly behind the veterans' antiwar activ­ plant near St. Louis, recently told ities by reporters for Barricada ln­ the second shift that as of October ternacional. "Why are the veterans doing all 19 our shift - 2, 700 jobs - would be eliminated. this? Willson says, 'I risked my In the windshield area, workers life for war. Now we risk them for took tags normally used to label peace.' He says he did not speak parts no longer in use and put them about his Vietnam experience for on themselves. The tags were 11 years. He was busy putting to­ changed to read, "I'm going obso­ gether a law career, dealing with lete." car and mortgage payments, and Trying to make sense out of 'keeping it all contained.' He said GM's shutting down half of the he did not meet with other vet­ erans; they did not want to be re­ production at a six-year-old, heav~ ily automated, $500 million plant, minded. workers have had thousands of " 'And then it started all over discussions: how we will cope as again, like the rerun of a horrible film. This time it would happen in individuals, discussions on the contract and whether this is Nicaragua. ' Willson and others "legal," market analyses of auto like him could not sit through that sales, and sometimes a gimmick film again.' " or two the union could use to stop Janet Post the layoff. . Portland, Oregon Even workers with nearly 20 years of seniority are in danger of Wealth of facts losing their jobs. I must thank you for a superb Bozich then urged us to keep paper. I find the reporting to give Granma/Nuez quality high if we wanted an early me a wealth of facts that I would call-back and a sign was put up in be unable to obtain from the major rebellious elements." The National Committee However, it is sad that recently front of the plant proclaiming, capitalist papers. Since Attorney General Meese Against Registration and the Draft you have reduced news of the Kur­ "Our future is quality." Stan Kasun has indicated that those prisoners (CARD) is launching a campaign dish revolution, which is a truly Those of us with short futures at St . .Paul, Minnesota who show up positive for AIDS to free Gillam Kerley. We see his progressive and democratic move­ GM saw a bitter irony in this sign. might be denied parole release (the release - or the shortening of this ment dedicated to national libera­ One worker put a sign on one of Some truth view that their infection could be a term - as key in stopping the easy tion of the Kurdish nation and to the cars on the assembly line that I subscribed to your newspaper community threat), I think the list stroll toward a draft, before it be­ deep social changes in favor of the read, "Does this mean that GM to find out some truth in this chao­ would have more consequence as comes a stampede. Time is short toiling classes of Kurdistan. doesn't Jove us anymore?" tic country and small world of a parole factor than as a weapon to in meeting this goal, since the The Kurdish people are facing This was in reference to man­ ours. be used against radical factions in judge must make a decision soon. oppression, racism, and criminal agement's "Wentzville philoso­ prisons. I like your news. I only hope To make this campaign a suc­ wars by the occupiers of Kurdis­ phy," which claims to value and that the American press will open I have made copies of the article tan. Particularly tragic is the situa­ respect the workers and our contri­ and posted them on our NAACP cess, CARD needs your help. If space to articles in the paper. you are interested in more infor­ tion of the part of Kurdistan oc­ bution to production. Many work­ Write something good about the bulletin board. cupied by Iraq, where the regime ers are now learning that GM's A prisoner mation about registration, com­ Constitution. It's a 200-year baby pulsory national service, and the of Baghdad has resorted to chemi­ claim to view us as "assets" ex­ that can still work for the people! Wallkill, New York cal weapons and poisonous gas in tends no further than our ability to poverty draft, contact P.O. Box Jay Alexander 6583, T Street Station, Washing­ its campaign of genocide against 5 make profits for them. Alameda, California Antidraft million Kurds. Ted Kayser ton, D.C. 20009. Recently, our executive director Kim Kleinman Zoltan Grossman The Kurdish people need the . AIDS was imprisoned for refusing to St. Louis, Missouri CARD acting executive director support and solidarity of all pro­ Just a short Jetter to commend register for .the draft. In giving Madison, Wisconsin gressive forces in the world in its you on your finely written article Gillam Kerley a three-year term liberation war. Because the Kurds' Willson "Why government treats AIDS - the harshest ever under current Kurdistan right to self-determination is in­ On April 23 the Sandinista like a crime" [July 10 Militant]. Jaws - the judge explicitly gave .contestable, it includes the right to weekly Barricada lnternacional To me; it is the most com­ the defendant's political work as a As a reader of the Militant for set up an independent Kurdistan. ran an article covering the solidar­ prehensive political piece on rationale. the past seven year!i, I have come Har Bizi Yakyeti to respect and admire it as a revo­ ity work begin carried out in Nica­ AIDS that I have read in awhile. We feel this case fits into a ragua by members of the Veterans Although I agree with your lutionary publication dedicated to The letters column is an open larger context in the United States the cause of socialist revolution Peace Action Teams. view that mandatory testing of forum for all viewpoints on sub­ today. It further erodes the First and national liberation movements One of the members inter­ prisoners (along with gay men, jects of general interest to our Amendment rights of antidraft or­ around the world. viewed was Brian Willson. Will­ immigrants, and Third World ganizers and all political-social ac­ readers. Please keep your letters son is the Vietnam veteran who peoples) will fan divisions among tivists exercising free speech. The Socialist Workers Party has brief. Where necessary they will was run down by a munitions train these three groups, I do not agree been the only progressive U.S. be abridged. Please indicate if on September 1 at the U.S. Naval - as in the case of prisoners - It also comes at a time when dis­ party that has unconditionally sup­ you prefer that your initials Weapons Station in Concord, that it would be effective in setting cussion of reinstating the draft has ported the Kurdish people's right be used rather than your fuU California. up lists that "can be used against grown louder than ever. to self-determination. name.

September 25, 1987 The Militant 15 THE MILITANT Cops assault Ohio labor rally Raid offices of union on strike at Stone Container Co. BY NED MEASEL really a forfeiture bonus," a striker COSHOCTON, Ohio - Eighty-five explained. "If you forfeit your rights, sheriff's deputies from Coshocton and sur­ they'll pay you $4,000. But we're not for rounding counties attacked a Labor Day sale." rally of I ,500 here September 7 with clubs, The strikers have received strong back­ tear gas, and rubber bullets. Five people ing from other unions and the community. were injured. Several unions, including the Mine Work­ A little later, the police raided the head­ ers and Steelworkers, were represented in quarters of International Union of Operat­ the Labor Day crowd that was attacked by ing Engineers Local 544 and forced those the cops. inside to run a gauntlet to get out. Some Early on in the Labor Day events, it was were singled out for arrest. Others were obvious the cops were itching for a con­ forced to leave the neighborhood one by frontation. one. A total of 12 were arrested. Police helicopters flew overhead and Some 180 members of Local 544 have Stone Container security guards observed been on strike against Stone Container the crowd from the rooftops of the com­ Corp. since August 17. pany's buildings. Harold Maple, Local 544 president, told Company demands more concessions the crowd that the cops had "been walking In 1984 the local was forced to accept around in there since four o'clock with M­ concessions at the end of a 28-day strike. I4s and M-16s with the clips in. Looks to The unionists had to give up three paid me like they want to start a riot." holidays, and their health insurance plan On Labor Day, Coshocton's mayor im­ was weakened. Based on that experience, posed an 8:30p.m. curfew for the neigh­ Youth overcome by tear gas following attack on September 7 rally. Area unionists or­ the workers vowed not to accept another borhood around the plant, where the ganized another rally at Stone plant two days later. round of takebacks. union's headquarters is also located. The But this time Stone Container demanded curfew is still in effect. more concessions, including an end to pre­ The Coshocton County Trades and is staffed by strikers, their families, and been handed over. mium pay for Saturday and Sunday work. Labor Council responded to the cop attack supporters. Local 544 and United Paperworker In­ The company also wanted the workers to by holding another rally two days later, on Stone Container Corp., which produces ternational Union locals at Stone Container give up their Christmas eve and Christmas September 9. More than 600 unionists and corrugated paper, has been advertising for plants in Missoula, Montana, and Ontona­ day holidays. supporters attended. replacement workers. Production is being gon, Michigan, had agreed to strike to­ Stone Container tried to entice support Local 544 is projecting weekly union maintained by management personnel and gether on August I 7. However, the other for this proposal by offering most of the meetings followed by Sunday afternoon 45 scabs. No Local 544 members have two plants are still working under the old workers a $4,000 "signing bonus." rallies. The local is headquartered in a crossed the picket line. Teamster truck contract, except that the company is refus­ "They call it a signing bonus, but it's house it rents just a block from the plant. It drivers are refusing to enter the plant, and ing to check off union dues and to arbitrate trains are being driven in and out by rail­ disputes. road management. Frequent ambulance visits are an indica­ Local 544 members are determined to tion that the injury rate inside the plant is get a decent contract and to keep their dig­ Canadian auto workers high. nity. A member of the safety committee The company has a large contingent of who has been fired by the company and ar­ uniformed guards on duty at all times and rested for union activity explained to sup­ conducts constant camera and videotape porters, "We can't give up what workers strike Chrysler plant before us fought for, maybe went to prison surveillance of the picket lines. Strikers' families have been followed and harassed. for. And we have to think of our children BY ROBERT SIMMS The strike shut down four Chrysler and their future, too." TORONTO, Canada- Ten thousand plants in Canada- two assembly plants in Injunction limiting picketing "We're here to stay whether they [Stone] auto workers walked off the job at Chrysler Windsor near Detroit, and a trim plant and A restraining order limits pickets to two are or not," said another striker. "If they Canada at midnight September I5 to fight a castings plant in the Toronto area. Sev­ per gate. That order also requires the union can't give a decent contract, they might as for their contract demands on the picket eral U.S . Chrysler plants are expected to be to give the sheriff the names of pickets 24 well bring in bulldozers, knock it down, lines. affected by the strike. The company has al­ hours in advance. So far, no names have and pave it over. We don't want it then." A central issue in the strike is the union's ready been forced to close its Belvidere, Il­ insistence that pensions be protected from linois, plant because of a parts shortage. inflation. The Canadian Auto Workers The picket captain at the Etobicoke Cast­ (CAW) want pension benefits indexed so ings plant in suburban Toronto told me that U.S. auto talks go past deadline that they rise when the cost of living goes the main issue is pension indexation. up. The CAW leadership has argued that BY NORTON SANDLER were laid off for several years before being In negotiations with General Motors in making it easier to retire with a secure in­ As the current contract was about to ex­ recalled to the St. Paul plant. pire on September 14, United Auto Work­ Patterson said it's common for these 1984 and with Chrysler in 1985, Canadian come will help many younger workers hold onto their jobs in the next recession. How­ ers President Owen Bieber announced that unionists to say, "We haven't got any job auto workers rejected some of the conces­ auto workers at Ford Motor Co. would re­ sions the auto companies were able to im­ ever, the picket captain said that what is security now, and we aren't going to get pose on United Auto Workers (UA W) uniting older and younger workers is sim­ main on the job on a day-to-day basis. .any." members in the United States. This in­ ply justice for pensioners. Bieber claimed "substantial progress" had Some workers are relieved that there was no strike. Others, Henry said, "are very cluded winning increases in the hourly pay "You can get $1,100 or $1,200 a month been made in winning "job security" for now if you retire, and maybe the union can disenchanted. Their attitude is we should rate instead of accepting lump-sum pay­ the I04,000 workers at Ford. get it up to $I ,300 in future contracts. But Ford Vice-president Peter Pestillo hailed have walked." ments. 10 years from now you'll need to get the action. "It's important to note the cour­ There is also disgruntlement about how The Canadian auto workers split from $1,700 to keep up with inflation. That's age it takes for a trade unionist to extend an the negotiations are being carried out. the UA W and established the CAW in why we need indexation," he said. agreement when the typical behavior is one "I have neverseen it this quiet," an older 1986. He also explained that previous conces­ of 'no contract, no work,' " Pestillo said. worker told Patterson. Chrysler Canada, which reported profits sions had led to a reduction of job classifi­ In telephone interviews, Bill Henry and One auto worker told Henry that when of $I 93 million last year, on top of half a cations and a deterioration in working con­ Joe Patterson were asked about shop floor he goes home at night, his wife tells him decade of banner profits, has put forward a ditions at the Etobicoke plant. reactions to the current negotiations. Henry what was reported on the news about the series of concession demands. They in­ "If we have to give more on these to get works at the Ford plant in Hazelwood, negotiations. "This is the only time she's clude changes in work rules, job classifica­ some indexation, it could be real scary," he Missouri, near St. Louis; Patterson at the known more about what's going on than I tions, and seniority rights, as well as cuts added. company's St. Paul, Minnesota, plant. have," he commented. in medical and dental benefits. A young worker on the picket line said Both report that the job security provi­ Henry reports there is also little informa­ Company negotiator William Fisher said he expected a fight against the company's sions of the contract under discussion are tion available on negotiations over local is­ that refusing to grant automatic pension in­ takeback demands. being greeted with skepticism by some sues at the Hazelwood plant. dexing is a matter of principle with Most workers are prepared for the strike auto workers. Henry said, "workers there want a $1- Chrysler. to last several weeks. Chrysler Canada Henry said many of his coworkers an-hour raise for each year of the con­ Canadian Auto Workers President Bob workers struck for five weeks in 1982. And "don't believe the thing about job security. tract. They want to see more money put into White termed Chrysler's final offer "an in­ they struck for several days in I 985, win­ When the cars aren't selling, they aren't the retirement fund. And they want to see sult from a corporation that has made enor­ ning parity with workers at Ford and Gen­ going to keep you there," he said. "The overtime stopped." mous profits and paid its executives enor­ eral Motors following the deep concessions contract may provide laid-off workers sup­ mous bonuses." of the early 1980s. They also won a com­ plemental income, but that's only for At Hazelwood, workers are currently The current wage of an auto assembler in mon expiration date for contracts with GM awhile." being forced to put in five 10-hour days. Canada, including cost-of-living pay­ and Ford and now hope the Chrysler con­ A substantial number of Patterson's co­ Maintenance workers are being forced to ments, is $15.24 per hour ($I 1.43 an hour tract will set a pattern for the pending workers previously worked in auto plants work six 8-hour days, plus at least one in U.S. dollars). negotiations with the other two companies. in Michigan and in other states. And many Sunday a month.

16 The Militant September 25, 1987