· AUSTRALIA $3.00 · CANADA $2.50 · FRANCE 2.00 EUROS · ICELAND KR200 · NEW ZEALAND $3.00 · SWEDEN KR15 · UK £1.00 · U.S. $1.50 INSIDE Special Forces commander named U.S. army chief of staff — PAGE 3

A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 67/NO. 23 JULY 7, 2003

Calero begins Racist cop brutality sparks international outrage in Michigan town speaking tour Benton Harbor residents condemn police for death of Black motorist in Houston BY TONY DUTROW BY ILONA GERSH HOUSTON—Supporters of the six- BENTON HARBOR, Michigan—In month campaign to stop the deportation mid-June this town in southwestern of Róger Calero gathered at the Resurrec- Michigan was the scene of angry protests tion Church in Houston’s Denver Harbor, against racist police policies that resulted in one of this city’s historic barrios, to the death of 28-year-old Terrance “T-shirt” welcome Calero back to Houston and to Shurn. The young African-American man show that the lessons of his fi ght to end the died around 2:00 a.m. on June 16 when his motorcycle crashed into an abandoned house after city cops pursued him at more than 100 miles an hour. Fight like Calero, Benton Harbor, with 11,000 residents, fi ght to win! has wide streets full of potholes. Boarded- up stores and closed businesses line Main —See editorial, page 10 Street. Everywhere there are vacant lots and abandoned houses. Ninety-two percent of government’s campaign to deport him can the residents are Black. The offi cial unem- be applied in other similar cases. ployment rate is nearly 10 percent, but Black Calero, an editor of Perspectiva Mun- ministers state the true fi gure is higher. Some dial, a Spanish-language socialist monthly 40 percent live below the offi cial poverty magazine published in New York, and a level, and the median annual family income Militant staff writer, was seized by immi- is $17,471. Only 60 percent of adults have Above, sheriff’s deputies stand with armored gration agents at the Houston Interconti- graduated from high school. vehicle in Benton Harbor, Michigan, June nental Airport Dec. 3, 2002. He was freed Just across St. Joseph’s River from Ben- 18. Death of Terrance Shurn in high-speed from immigration jail 11 days later after ton Harbor is the town of St. Joseph. The police chase sparked widespread outrage hundreds of messages of protest poured two are dubbed the “Twin Cities,” yet there and antiracist protests. The local cops were Continued on Page 3 is not much resemblance between them. reinforced by Michigan state police and The neighboring town has clean streets National Guard. Right, resident at June edged with well-kept lawns and fl owers. 20 meeting in Benton Harbor community The population there is 90 percent white. center at which Democratic Party politician 350 turn out for Unemployment stands at 2 percent. The Jesse Jackson spoke. In addition to Shurn, median family income is $38,000, with sign lists Arthur Partee, who died in April at only 4 percent below the poverty level. the hands of cops, and Trenton Patterson, 11, strike solidarity Ninety percent have graduated from high a bystander who was killed during cop chase Continued on Page 4 in September 2000. plant-gate rally at Tyson Foods U.S. gov’t tightens noose around Iran, BY MAURICE WILSON JEFFERSON, Wisconsin—“This is our strike, too,” was a sentiment echoed using report of UN nuclear agency by many unionists who rallied here in support of meat packers on strike against Tyson Foods. Some 350 people partici- Student protests in Iran push for democratic freedoms pated in the June 22 solidarity action at the plant gate called by United Food and BY MA’MUD SHIRVANI Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 538, AND ARGIRIS MALAPANIS whose members walked off the job four Under heavy pounding from Washing- months ago. ton, and with increasing pressure from all The labor event was joined by members the other imperialist powers, the Inter- of the International Association of Machin- national Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ists, United Auto Workers, International issued a sharp declaration accusing Iran Brotherhood of Teamsters, Service Em- of going around provisions of the nuclear ployees International Union, International Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). After Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and three days of deliberations at its Vienna other UFCW locals. A contingent of about board of governors meeting, which con- 25 members of Local 60 of the American Continued on Page 4 Protests for basic rights undercut imperialism’s designs on Iran Also Inside: —See editorial, page 10 Canadian cops frame Sikhs for Air India crash 2 cluded June 19, the United Nations agency also demanded that Iran “promptly and un- Appeals court backs conditionally” sign an additional protocol AP/Wide World Photos U.S. gov’t secret detentions 3 permitting UN “inspectors” to carry out Iranian students protesting arrests of organizers of demonstrations for democratic stricter surveillance of its nuclear facilities, rights sit in parliament hall in Tehran June 22. Placards read, “We want freedom for including surprise visits. those arrested,” naming each of the students jailed by the police. Western miners oppose gov’t The IAEA decision was issued a day rules raising coal dust levels 5 after U.S. president George Bush said that many in the bourgeois media described as Immediately after the meeting, the Washington would “not tolerate” an Iranian Delaware unionists unattainable, Washington laid the trap U.S. ambassador to the IAEA, Kenneth nuclear weapons program. Leading up to of making it seem that the IAEA rebuke Brill, stated, “I am very satisfied with rally to organize Perdue 5 the Vienna meeting, the U.S. government was rather mild. But in fact Washington the outcome today. We have an important had announced its goal of the IAEA declar- succeeded in tightening the noose further message from the board that supports the Socialist workers in unions ing Iran in breach of the NPT, which Tehran around Iran. The IAEA said Iran failed U.S. position and concern about the Iranian meet, recount experiences has signed. Such a step would mean the more than once to report facilities and ac- program.” Brill added that his government as part of stepped-up labor issue would automatically be placed on the tivities related to its nuclear program, and looks forward to the IAEA’s next report resistance coast to coast UN Security Council agenda for consider- 6 demanded wider latitude in access to Iran's on the issue, scheduled to be released in ation of sanctions. Having pushed for what nuclear plants and related installations. Continued on Page 7 Canadian police Workers in Germany protest benefi t cuts Workers protest plans by the German government to cut social benefi ts. Chan- cellor Gerhard Schröder, who heads a frame up Sikhs Social Democratic Party (SPD)-Green Party coalition government, is pushing ahead with plans to cut pensions, slash the maximum period during which laid- for Air India crash off workers can receive unemployment benefi ts, and make it easier for bosses BY JOE YATES sentenced to fi ve years in jail. The state- to fi re workers. He gained 90 percent VA NCOUVER, British Columbia—The ment of fact in his conviction reads, “Reyat support for the proposals from a special opening here April 28 of the trial of two acquired various materials for the purpose SPD conference in Berlin. Meanwhile, men accused of responsibility in an Air of aiding others in the making of explosive metal and auto workers continue their India crash in 1985 marked a new stage devices.... he did not arm an explosive de- fi ght to extend the 35-hour working week, in the police campaign of harassment of vice, nor did he place an explosive device offi cially in place in western Germany, to people of the Sikh religion or Punjabi origin on an airplane, nor does he know who did workers in the east. Some 11,000 members in Canada. The two accused, Ajaib Singh or did not do so.” of the IG Metall union have joined rolling Bagri, a woodworker from Kamloops, Reyat had previously been sentenced strike actions in Berlin, Brandenburg, British Columbia, and Ripudamin Singh to 10 years in prison for manslaughter in and Saxony since the fi rst week of June. Malik, a businessman in Vancouver, are the death of the two airport workers at the Bosses’ representatives have whined that Sikh religious leaders. Narita airport. His conviction was based on they will not be able to meet the demand Bagri is also a leader of Babbar Khalsa, a circumstantial evidence. Just prior to his until productivity levels are equalized group that advocates independence for the mandatory release for those charges, he was across the country. Punjab, a state in northwest India. On June charged in the Air India case. 18, the Canadian government banned Bab- The Air India investigation was launched bar Khalsa and the International Sikh World by Ottawa in the context of a big campaign Federation as “terrorist” organizations. by the Indian government against forces ad- Surrey, near Vancouver, was beaten to death made by the Canadian Security Intelligence On June 23, 1985, an Air India fl ight vocating independence for Punjab. by a group of racist skinheads. In response, Service (CSIS) prior to the plane crash had exploded near Ireland killing 329 people, On June 5, 1984, there was an assault 1,000 people rallied to protest this anti-im- been erased. mainly of Indian origin. The media widely by the Indian army on the Golden Temple migrant attack. The last few weeks accusations have proclaimed that a bomb explosion brought in Amritsar, the most important Sikh holy In June 2002 Ian Bruce Josephson, a been swirling in the media that CSIS had down the plane. But this assertion has never site. Many hundreds of people died in the British Columbia Supreme Court judge, advance information about the bomb- been proven. aftermath of the assault. As part of the reac- ruled that the rights of Bagri had been ing through an informer. In documents In a report for Lloyds of London dated tion to this assault, India’s prime minister at violated. The judge said the reason was released by the court, RCMP offi cers are March 21, 1988, Eustace Roskill wrote, the time, Indira Ghandi, was assassinated that 70 percent of the tape recordings of quoted as saying this is why CSIS erased “None of the recovered parts of the aircraft Oct. 30, 1984, by her Sikh bodyguards. phone calls by Talwinder Singh Parmars many tapes. showed any sign whatsoever of damage Following the killing, the Congress Party, from explosives. None of the 131 bodies... which Ghandi led, organized the slaughter showed any sign of death having been caused of thousands of Sikhs. by explosive injuries or by shrapnel.” One example of police harassment was Welsh auto parts workers stand fi rm Bagri and Malik are also accused of re- the treatment of Kulwarn Singh Parmar sponsibility in the death of two airport at- whose brother, Talwinder Singh Parmar, BY ROSE KNIGHT and it’s pittance pay.” tendants who died when a bomb exploded was a police suspect in the Air India crash. AND PAUL DAVIES Union branches from around the country at Tokyo’s Narita airport on the same day as In 1992 Indian police killed Talwinder CAERNARFON, Wales—“We’ve been and internationally have given money and the Air India crash. They were originally ar- Singh Parmar after torturing him. In Sep- on the picket line for two years now, so what’s support. “Many of the original 86 have had rested on Oct. 27, 2000, and have been held tember 2002 Royal Canadian Mounted another fi ve months,” said Merion Hughes. to fi nd other jobs since the lockout began,” without bail ever since. It has taken two and Police (RCMP) offi cers visited Kulwarn He was speaking in response to an announce- Hughes said. “Some are in their second or a half years for the case to come to trial. Singh Parmar at his workplace in Burnaby, ment by the industrial tribunal that it would third job. This just shows the importance The charges against the defendants are a suburb of Vancouver, and offered him $1 wait until November to hear an appeal by of our fi ght for union jobs—this is a small based on hearsay evidence. The main wit- million to testify in the Air India trial. Craig Smith, the owner of Friction Dynam- corner of north Wales with few well-paying ness against Malik is a woman who said that There have been many incendiary ics. Smith has challenged a tribunal decision jobs. There are 34 of us still picketing.” he confessed his involvement in the crash to headlines in the newspapers about the Air that he unfairly dismissed 86 workers in the Pat Jones, a worker with 33 years’ experi- her on more than one occasion. A witness India case. When Reyat was convicted the plant after they organized a strike to protest ence in the plant, said that local people had who claims he heard Bagri also confess to headline in the Vancouver Sun read “Killer cuts in pay and working conditions. brought food parcels. “The local supermar- the crime has been paid $300,000 to testify of 329 makes deal.” Smith locked out the workers, who are ket has a ‘buy one, get one free’ deal,” she since he lives in the United States. The anti-Sikh campaign waged by the members of the Transport and General said. “For many local people it’s become a Another person accused in the Air India government has whipped up racist at- Workers Union, after their walkout in April ‘buy one and give one to a striker’ deal.” crash, Inderjit Singh Reyat, pleaded guilty titudes toward Punjabis. In 1998, Nirmal 2001. They have picketed the plant, which The workers plan to promote their to manslaughter on February 10 and was Singh Gill, a caretaker at a Sikh temple in makes brakes and clutches for cars, since struggle at a concert at Bethesda over the that time. weekend of June 20–22. The concert, which “He hasn’t won anything, he’s failed to is expected to draw thousands of young break our spirit, and we have lasted far people, will commemorate the hundredth longer than he could have imagined,” said anniversary of the Penrhyn slate quarry Hughes, who worked at the plant for 38 workers strike. It will feature top Welsh years until he was locked out. band Super Furry Animals. The plant is located just outside of Caer- The quarry workers’ strike was the lon- narfon in north Wales. It is operating in part gest running union battle of its time. It was with scab labor from the nearby towns of provoked by the slate quarry bosses’s refusal Bangor and Bethesda. Hughes said that the to let union representatives collect union Fight police brutality! scabs had spoken on Welsh Radio recently, dues from their members at the quarries. claiming that they had taken the jobs in order Representatives of the locked-out work- Protests have been organized in a to keep work in Caernarfon and bemoaning ers at Friction Dynamics hope to address number of U.S. cities against kill- the fact that the locked-out workers had won the audience at the concert. “We are fi ght- ings by cops. As capitalism sinks widespread local support, including from ing to defend our union, it’s the same thing deeper into depression, the rulers members of Parliament. There are constant that quarry workers fought for one hundred rumors about the plant being closed, added years ago, against a boss who wants to keep intensify their assaults beyond the Hughes. “No one wants the place to close,” us in 19th-century mill conditions,” said economic front. Police brutality is he said. “There isn’t much work round here Hughes. on the rise, and so is resistance to it. The ‘Militant’ brings you front- line coverage of such events. Don’t Asia: Send $80 drawn on a U.S. bank to above address. miss a single issue! The Militant Canada: Send Canadian $75 for one-year Vol. 67/No. 23 sub scrip tion to Militant, 1237 Jean-Talon est, Closing news date: June 24, 2003 Montréal, QC. Postal Code: H2R 1W1. 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2 The Militant July 7, 2003 U.S. gov’t molds ‘mobile, agile’ military Appointment of army chief promotes role of Special Operations forces BY PATRICK O’NEILL armed and would get bogged down. U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld Franks, who headed the U.S. Central has announced that a former head of Spe- Command recently and is retiring this cial Operations forces will serve as the new summer, is being replaced by Lt. Gen. chief of the U.S. army. The appointment of John Abizaid—dubbed the “Mad Arab” retired Gen. Peter Shoomaker follows the by his fellows in the military brass—who promotion of the special forces to a key role also played a major role in Washington’s in the military conquests of Afghanistan conquest of Iraq. and Iraq. Following the war, U.S. president George Rumsfeld has been among the most out- Bush singled out the Special Operations spoken champions of the enhanced role of Command for particular praise. Shoomaker the Green Berets, Delta Force, and Navy headed the command for three years from Seals in the U.S. military. 1997. He was stationed in Korea in the These moves are further signs that a mid-1970s. revolution is under way in the organization of the U.S. military. They refl ect the U.S. U.S. forces are redeployed rulers’ push for more mobile, less ponder- In keeping with the ongoing remolding of ous armed forces ready to move rapidly to the armed forces for more frequent and far- areas of battle as U.S. imperialism needs. fl ung aggression, U.S. offi cers have begun The invasion of Iraq was a victory for a signifi cant redeployment of their troops the approach of the defense secretary and in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the his supporters over their critics in the gov- Americas on the pretext of “fi ghting terror- ernment and military brass. In that assault, ism.” The number of U.S. soldiers stationed U.S. Gen. Thomas Franks, the commander in Germany will fall from almost 70,000 Navy Seals in operation in Panama, 1994. Special Forces play key role in a military of the operation and another Rumsfeld ally, to as few as 15,000. Most will head east to confi gured for frequent deployment in defense of U.S. imperialism’s interests. relied heavily on air power, laser- and satel- Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Rumania. lite-guided bombs, and a ground army that That will bring them closer to likely The total U.S. forces in Europe were Korean artillery in case of a military con- was numerically small in comparison with theaters of imperialist intervention in the reduced from 300,000 to around 100,000 fl ict with Pyongyang. The Pentagon is also the U.S.-led forces in the 1991 Gulf War. Middle East, Africa, and Russia. “Why do in the decade following the end of the probing to establish new bases in Australia, The U.S. and British units’ rapid advance we need a joint force to be in Germany, Cold War. Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam, in from Kuwait to northern Iraq in the face where there’s nothing happening?” a senior In addition, Washington is moving addition to Japan and south Korea, where of a badly led and demoralized Iraqi army military offi cial told the Los Angeles Times. troops south from the so-called demilita- it has tens of thousands of troops. silenced those in Washington who said that “You have to have troops close to ports and rized zone dividing the Korean peninsula, Up until recently, some 80 percent of the invading force was too small and lightly airfi elds that are closer to the action.” which takes them out of range of north the 1.4 million U.S. troops were stationed in the United States, south Korea, and Germany. In the Middle East, the U.S. military is Court backs secret detentions by U.S. gov’t pulling most of its 5,000-strong force out of Saudi Arabia, while reinforcing its pres- BY MICHAEL ITALIE The only Democratic Party–appointed ments. He stated that a blanket acceptance of ence in Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and now A federal court ruled June 17 that judge on the appeals court, David Tatel, the government’s position “eviscerates” the Iraq. Further east, thousands of troops are Washington may continue to withhold all agreed with the court majority view Freedom of Information Act under which in Afghanistan and some 1,500 have been information from the public about hun- that Washington was acting properly by the case had been brought. He favored the stationed in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet dreds of immigrants picked up for alleged “withholding some of the information” withholding of the names and places of ar- republic. violations of U.S. immigration laws in the about those who had been jailed. “No rest of “some” of the detainees. Meanwhile, under Washington’s Plan government’s wave of post-9/11 arrests. In one can doubt that uniquely compelling The appeals court decision follows a U.S. Colombia, U.S. forces have been deployed a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for governmental interests are at stake” in its government announcement in early June in a number of Andean countries in Latin the District of Columbia reversed the August “anti-terrorism” roundups, he wrote in his that it plans to deport more than 13,000 America under the guise of combating the 2002 decision of a lower court, which had “dissenting” opinion. men, mostly Arab and Muslim, who had drug trade and terrorism. It’s an area of ordered the government to release the names Tatel opposed the Republican judges’ complied with a federal order to submit to the world where the volcano of the class of the 762 detainees, as well as the names “uncritical deference” to government argu- “special registration” proceedings. struggle is smoldering. of their lawyers. The appeals court made the decision in Center for National Secu- rity Studies vs. U.S. Department of Justice, concluding that “national security” interests Calero starts international tour in Houston took precedence. coast caravan September 20–October 4. Judge David Sentelle wrote in the major- Continued from front page against Mr. Ferry involves ‘overstaying his into the Houston INS offi ces. Until May One immigrant worker who brought his ity opinion that “the need for deference” to visa’ although at the time of his interview, 22, he faced an exclusion order against family to the meeting after seeing the TV Washington’s “anti-terrorism” campaign he was granted work authorization and him based on a 1988 plea-bargain marijuana coverage, commented in the discussion pe- outweighs the dangers of the secret arrest permitted to stay in this country.” conviction, in spite of the fact that he has riod, “We are proud of these victories—but and jailing of hundreds of individuals. “It is She explained that Ferry was formerly a been a permanent resident for 13 years. they are not just victories for one group of abundantly clear that the government’s top political prisoner, imprisoned by the British Speaking in Spanish and English, meet- immigrants but everyone.” counterterrorism offi cials are well suited to authorities in the H-blocks of Long Kesh, ing co-chair Henry Cooper, host of a local Display tables at the meeting hall in- make this predictive judgment,” he stated, Northern Ireland. “We are asking that he be Spanish-language radio program and a cluded ones from the Texas Green Party, because “America faces an enemy just as released immediately so he may be with his state board member of the Green Party, Cuba-U.S. Youth Exchange, La Resistencia, real as its former cold war foes.” family while he waits for an asylum hearing opened the event, which was attended by Irish Northern Aid, Socialist Workers Party, Most of those detained were charged, in August,” said Collins to the applause of about 35 people. “We are here in celebra- Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, the fi ght after their arrest, with minor immigration the audience. tion of two victories: the May 22 decision for justice for Serafín Olvera, and the Calero infractions, such as remaining in the country Calero urged those present to support the that Calero is ‘not deportable’ and the June defense committee. The meeting raised over with an expired visa. campaign to release Ferry and announced 9 conviction of three immigration cops in $500 towards tour expenses and to begin a The government argued that release of that his international tour will include the murder of Serafín Olvera. war chest for the Political Rights Defense any information about those detained or Canada, where Algerian immigrants are “These are victories for all immigrants Fund to come to the aid of others. their lawyers would hamper their “ongoing fi ghting deportation. and all working people,” Cooper declared As soon as his plane landed Calero went investigations” and “endanger the public Houston City Councilwoman Ada to loud applause. to a live radio interview. The day before the safety” by allegedly increasing the chances Edwards, a committee endorser, sent a Calero shared the platform with Martha meeting he participated in a press confer- of attacks on those detained. Feigning con- message to the meeting saying, “Con- Olvera who led a two year campaign to ence with the support of several immigrant cern for the rights of those jailed secretly by gratulations on your recent victory! It is a convict the immigration cops that killed rights activists. Two Spanish-language TV the government, Justice Department lawyers testament to what organized people can do her brother-in-law Serafín Olvera. Olvera, stations, Univisión and Telemundo, covered also argued that by keeping secret the names when we are willing to work hard to make a national board member of the Calero the visit, and the Spanish language daily El and whereabouts of the prisoners they were sure justice is done. I want to thank Róger defense committee, said, “We faced over- Día announced the event. protecting their “privacy.” Calero for standing up for the rights of whelming odds in both of these cases. But people who otherwise would not be heard Calero was invited to a meeting at the our fi ght won out.” as loudly through his work at Perspectiva Mexican Consulate with representatives of Calero thanked the participants for their Mundial and the Militant. From the striking Houston community organizations where part in the broad campaign of support packinghouse workers in Wisconsin to the his remarks summarizing his fi ght received From Pathfi nder around the country, particularly among case of Serafín Olvera, his work has truly enthusiastic applause. working people who see their rights under made a difference. I am gladdened by the “I saw the report on your case on the Capitalism’s World Disorder attack. He described the strike by work- news of the termination of his deportation Telemundo news broadcast last night,” said Working Class ers in Jefferson, Wisconsin, against Tyson order. I hope that at least in a small way my a sewing machine operator greeting Calero Foods. “The meat packers there who are offi ce was able to assist in these efforts.” as he met workers at the gate to a Houston Politics at the majority native-born workers identifi ed In reading the message, Jacquie Hender- garment factory early in the morning June Millenium with this fi ght and saw it as part of their son, a garment worker and organizer of the 19. “Congratulations! I will try to make it battle against the giant meat packing com- Houston Socialist Workers Party who also to the meeting tonight.” by Jack Barnes pany,” he explained. chaired the meeting, commented that, “It Most workers stopped to take a fl yer for In English, French, “I’m here today with information about is fi tting that Calero began his tour today the evening meeting and to talk with Calero and Spanish Ciarán Ferry, being held without bond in on ‘Juneteenth,’ this day we celebrate when as he was introduced by one of their cowork- $23.95 the Denver County Jail,” explained Re- Union soldiers arrived in Texas June 19, ers. A few came back to the gate after park- bekah Collins, as Calero, standing at her 1865, to enforce the abolition of slavery.” ing their cars to continue the discussions and side, translated her message into Spanish. Amelia Perez, who helped organize the shake Calero’s hand in support. “Ciarán was detained by INS agents on Calero tour, announced “An Immigrant “I have been following the campaign in Order from January 30 of this year when he attended a Workers Freedom Ride from Houston to your magazine,” said another sewer driving www.pathfi nderpress.com scheduled ‘green card’ interview in Colo- Washington, D.C., and New York.” She into work. “It’s good for all of us that you rado,” she continued. “The offi cial charge urged everyone help build the coast-to- have won.” The Militant July 7, 2003 3 Tyson strike rally Continued from front page tor Russell Feingold and other Democratic Federation of State, County and Municipal Party politicians, and a representative of the Employees from Madison, Wisconsin, came Green Party. to support the strikers. “We are with you today in your strike,” Despite the blazing hot sun the crowd said José González, a member of UFCW was spirited. Twice vehicles carrying scabs Local 271 who works on the kill fl oor at approached the edge of the crowd, drawing the Swift plant in Omaha, Nebraska, where pickets’ attention. The fi rst vehicle went workers won their fi rst contract eight months through into the plant, while the second ago. He spoke in Spanish, and his remarks vehicle was turned back as strikers chanted were translated into English by another “Scab! Scab!” and then “Union! Union!” member of his local. The crowd gave him a “We were here when you walked out and big round of applause after he spoke about will be here when you walk back in. This a strike in his native Colombia, where struggle is for every worker in the United telecommunications workers stayed out States,” said Jim Cavanaugh, president of for fi ve months before winning their fi ght. the South Central Federation of Labor. He mentioned that for its next union meet- “Your fi ght is our fi ght,” Randy Belliel, ing his local had “invited Róger Calero to Militant/Jacob Perasso of the UFCW Northern Joint Council in speak about the victory in his fi ght against Some 350 people joined June 22 union rally. “This is our strike, too,” many said. Canada, said from the speakers platform. the repression of all immigrants in the “What happens here happens everywhere.” United States.” Calero, associate editor of ers, Mike French, spoke about discussions “This visit is very important,” he added, He noted that a UFCW truck started in the Spanish-language magazine Perspectiva with members of UFCW Local 271 in “to show them support as a newly formed Canada, picked up products from upstate Mundial and staff writer for the Militant, Omaha that led to Local 538’s Truth Squad union. They showed us support and we’re New York and eventually brought in 13 tons was successful in stopping an effort by the planning a trip to Nebraska. “This is the fi rst going there to thank them.” of food for the strikers’ families. U.S. immigration police to deport him. He Truth Squad trip in a while,” said French. The Truth Squads that were organized The rally was chaired by Mike Rice, told the rally, “My victory came as a result “There will be just one visit in Omaha be- last March and April collected thousands president of UFCW Local 538. Other of reaching out to fi ghters like you.” cause we’ve been cutting back” on Truth of dollars in donations to help sustain the speakers included union offi cials, U.S. sena- After the demonstration one of the strik- Squad road trips. strikers. The local has also set up a Hardship Committee that assists workers with their mortgages, rent, and medical bills. Kurt Kernan, a member of the committee, noted that more strikers are asking for assistance Cop brutality sparks outrage in Michigan as they enter their fourth month on the picket Continued from front page according to the June 17 Herald Palladium. stopped and one kept going after him. The line against the world’s largest processor and school or college. Much of the land sur- “He don’t know nothin’.” “We don’t need cop car hit the motorcycle wheel, and he marketer of chicken, beef, and pork. rounding the Twin Cities is unincorporated no chief,” another said, “we can chief our- crashed. They took his body out and laid Last year the meat giant reported a gross Benton Township, with a mostly white selves.” Harris and Benton Harbor mayor it on the street. There was blood all over income of $23 billion. The corporation has population. Charles Yarbrough passed responsibility for the cop.” While State police said they about 120,000 employees in 300 facilities In 1971, U.S. District Court judge Doug- the death onto Benton Township police. didn’t know why Shurn had fl ed the police located in 29 states and 22 countries. Work- las Hilman ruled in favor of a NAACP-initi- Benton Harbor has seen racist killings cruisers, they claim that his driver’s license ers at the Jefferson processing plant produce ated lawsuit against the segregated public before. Just three years ago, an 11-year-old had been suspended and that they found a pepperoni, ham, and salami. On February school system in Benton Harbor, and 10 boy was struck on the sidewalk and killed small amount of marijuana on him. “Some 28, for the fi rst time in the plant’s history, years later ordered the city to begin a vol- during another high-speed police chase. In people say Terrance wouldn’t stop because they went on strike, rejecting the company’s untary school busing plan. He released the 1991, a 16-year-old was found dead in the he feared for his life,” said Nanette Partee, contract offer. The company is demanding city from court supervision in 2002, and the river with rope marks on his neck. Both who explained that many are fed up with a two-tier wage scale that slashes hourly busing program was shut down. youths were Black. the Benton Township cops. pay for new hires to $9.00 an hour from “They call this the Twin Cities,” Willie Massive rebellions rocked this town in $11.09, and that freezes pay for others over Yo ung told the Detroit News in an interview 1966, when Benton Harbor cops made rac- Governor declares state of emergency four years. The company is also demanding published June 22. He gestured toward a ist slurs while breaking up a group of Black As protests continued on June 17, Benton the elimination of pensions for new hires street corner fi lled with rubble and the emp- youth gathered at a roller-skating rink. Harbor and Berrien County authorities de- and of health-care supplements for retirees, ty foundations of two abandoned houses Jesse Brown, who works as a powder clared a state of emergency for the area, with among other concessions burned the previous week. “If I had a twin technician in an auto shop, told these Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm sign- Several strikers described how the com- that looked like this, I don’t want it.” reporters, “We don’t have any places to ing off the declaration later that day. Hun- pany sought to foster divisions among them go, to do, so in the summertime the youth dreds of cops were rushed to the scene from leading up to the walkout. One crew leader, How police provoked trouble get on their motorcycles. The cops harass cities and towns across southwest Michigan. a Mexican worker, became a supervisor two On the morning of June 16, friends and young people because they’re riding down The Berrien County Sheriff Department or- weeks before the strike. “She started telling neighbors gathered at the site of Shurn’s the street, or standing around. If they have a dered its “Peacekeeper,” an armored vehicle, us that if there is a strike we would have to death with candles to create a memorial. beer in their hand, they must be a ‘trouble- into the neighborhood that night. cross the picket line,” said Cervando Jimé- Evette Taylor, who lives nearby, said she maker.’ Eighty percent of this town has been The local police department reinforce- nez, also from Mexico, who has worked in and other people had been putting fl owers arrested for something. That makes it hard ments were accompanied June 18 by about the plant for nearly three years. “We told her and other items at the motorcycle crash for them to get a job.” Anthony Harvell, 200 Michigan State Police, outfi tted in riot ‘no,’ that we can’t cross a picket line. After site and trying to grieve Shurn’s death 25, who grew up in Benton Harbor, stated, gear, gas masks and helmets. The Michigan the strike began she even started calling when police told them to move. “He was a “We’re fed up with the police. They’re all Army National Guard sent in three guards- people at their homes.” sweet person, and he didn’t deserve to die crooked. They bully us. They think they can men with an armored personnel carrier that Mexican-born workers, who make up 10 this way,” she said. run this town.” can hold up to 10 people. percent of the plant’s workforce of 477, have Residents angered by police abuse and On the evening after Shurn’s killing, hun- More than 300 cops from Benton Harbor, not crossed the picket line. So far only three racism crowded into the regularly scheduled dreds of protesters gathered at the site of neighboring communities, and the Michi- people who worked in the plant prior to the City Commission meeting that evening. the killing, residents said, and tried to burn gan State Police fi lled the streets late June strike have reportedly gone back to work. They condemned the police practice of con- down the unoccupied crash site after the 18 near the site of the earlier rebellions. ducting high-speed chases within residen- police told them they had to leave the me- They patrolled in caravans of 20 vehicles, tial neighborhoods. At one point, the crowd morial they had built. When cops stopped three cops per vehicle, going through city shouted down Police Chief Samuel Harris. them, they turned to a vacant residence streets, block by block, looking for youth MILITANT “The chief ain’t from here,” one man yelled, across the street, which neighbors called breaking the 10:00 p.m. curfew for those a former drug house. No ar- under 17 years old. Overhead, a police LABOR rests were made, according to helicopter lit up the streets. various news reports, because Governor Granholm said she didn’t FORUMS APPEAL TO MILITANT and the cops “were outnumbered.” “want to overreact and cause an unintended PERSPECTIVA MUNDIAL READERS Police cars were pelted with consequence, which is community backlash CALIFORNIA Bound volumes of reference material bricks and bottles. even greater than the one we’ve seen.” Los Angeles needed for editorial work The day after the deadly The armed occupation of the town contin- Róger Calero Wins Deportation Fight: a high-speed chase, 70 people ued through the time this article was written Victory for All Working People. Speaker: In response to our appeal for bound volumes of the packed into a meeting of June 23. The state police helicopter contin- Róger Calero, Militant staff writer and associ- publications below, partisans of the paper have fi lled many Benton Township offi cials to ues to circle the area at night. Every two ate editor of Perspectiva Mundial, who recently of the gaps in our archives. We still need: question them about the death hours or so the state police on the ground won six-month fi ght against the government’s of Terrance Shurn. City of- pile into patrol cars, three per vehicle, and effort to deport him. Sat., June 28. Dinner 6:00 MILITANT bound volumes p.m., program 7:00 p.m. Pathfi nder Bookstore, fi cials cut off discussion after switch locations with other troopers. They 4229 S. Central Ave. Dinner $5, Program $5. 25 minutes under the pretext of drive in single fi le, with the fl ashers lit. (323)-233-9372. November 1928 – December 1934 a speaker using profanity when Protests have also continued. On June 19, Dec. 1934 – Nov. 1936 (New Militant) arguing that Benton Township a group of 100 people gathered at the Bobo Jan. 1933 – Dec. 1934 (Labor Action) cop Wesley Koza, who had Brazil Community Center to protest seg- PENNSYLVANIA Aug. 1937 – Jan. 1941 (Socialist Appeal) pursued Shurn, should be sus- regation, police brutality, conditions at the Philadelphia Militant volumes 1941 – 1962, 1964, July – Dec. 1982 pended. He was put on paid sick schools, and lack of summer activities for The Struggle of Working Farmers Today. Fri. leave instead. Township police youth. Jesse Jackson of Operation PUSH June 27, Pathfi nder Bookstore, 5237 N. 5th St. INTERCONTINENTAL PRESS and WORLD chief James Coburn said that led a march June 19 down the street where (North of Roosevelt Blvd. Between Duncannon and Fisher) $5 Program, (215) 324-7020. OUTLOOK they would re-evaluate their the killing took place. policy on high-speed chases. Shurn’s funeral took place June 23 at the All bound volumes from 1963 to 1968, plus 1977 “Two years ago a boy was Greater Faith Apostolic Church in Benton killed by a cop in a chase,” a Harbor. At least 700 people attended, with CALENDAR PERSPECTIVA MUNDIAL bound volumes Benton Harbor woman told standing room only. A large number of the Militant, asking that her youth participated, many wearing T-shirts NEW YORK 1992, 1994, 1995 name not be used. “They made silk-screened with a photograph of Ter- Manhattan a statement that it wouldn’t rance Shurn. Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the At- Please send all bound volumes to the Militant at 152 happen again. And here it’s tack on the Moncada Barracks. An Evening th in Solidarity with Cuba. Saturday, July 26, 6 W. 36 St., #401, New York, NY 10018. You can con- happened again. My house is Osborne Hart, a meat packer in Detroit, p.m Martin Luther King Labor Center, 1199 tact us at (212) 594-1014, or [email protected] right here and I saw the whole and Chessie Molano, a garment worker in Health and Hospital Workers Union, 43rd Street thing,” she said. “Most cops Chicago, contributed to this article. between 8th and 9th Ave. 4 The Militant July 7, 2003 Miners oppose gov’t moves to raise levels of coal dust in mines

BY JASON ALESSIO until “credibility” is established, MSHA GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado—On should have complete control over dust sam- May 22, miners and others met here pling, rejecting the proposal for operators to to protest the Mine Safety and Health take any responsibility for dust sampling or Administration’s (MSHA) new proposal the dust levels in their mines. that would allow mine bosses to operate This is in the context of an increase in mines with a higher level of coal dust in mine fi res and explosions around the coun- the air. The hearing lasted eight hours with try directly related to methane gas and high 20 people testifying against the new govern- dust levels. Consol Energy has already had ment proposal. three fi res this year in Pennsylvania, West Members of the United Mine Workers Virginia, and Virginia. Also, in September of America (UMWA) came from all across 2001, a methane explosion and fi re at Jim Militant/Tony Lane the West to attend. Present were UMWA Walters No. 5 mine killed 13 miners. Following the Jim Walters No. 5 disaster, Nearly 1,000 miners and supporters rally May 8 at Charleston, West Virginia, capitol miners from Kemmerer, Wyoming; Price, building to protest government move to weaken limits on coal dust levels in mines. Utah; Rangely, Colorado; and Window MSHA investigators found that nearly all Rock, Arizona; and Farmington and Black coal dust accumulation samples in the area Mesa, New Mexico. Also attending were a failed. Currently there are a number of miners will be forced to work in unhealthy miners who wear PDMs in and out of high number of representatives of the coal com- lawsuits against Jim Walters fi led by min- conditions. At the same time MSHA will dust level areas, not fi xing the problem but panies in the area. ers and their families. The National Mining not be able to regulate the mines with less spreading exposure to a higher number of The same day, in Birmingham, Alabama, Association is pressing to shift the liability funding and less inspectors.” miners. Another scenario discussed between over 80 miners gathered to protest the new of mine disasters and black lung compensa- Oliver was referring to the Bush admin- a few miners was that workers who confront MSHA proposal. At midday around 70 peo- tion related to dust levels from the operator istration proposal for a $7 million cut in their boss about unacceptable dust levels ple went across the street to the United Auto to the government. safety enforcement in the mines and the would be told to wear air fl ow helmets. Workers headquarters to rally against it. Joe Main, UMWA international health elimination of 65 MSHA inspectors late The only rational solution to safeguard and safety administrator, stated in a letter to last year. the workers’ wellbeing is increasing air Chipping away at 1969 Mine Act MSHA, “Instead of increasing the number At the hearing, one of the main things ventilation and improving water sprays and Mine operators are required to mine coal of shifts in which compliance sampling will the NMA campaigned around was that new other engineering controls to keep condi- with no more than 2 milligrams (mg) of coal take place, the new proposal substantially Personal Dust Monitors (PDMs) will trans- tions in the mines below the maximum dust per cubic meter of air. This is the stan- reduces compliance sampling by as much form dust sampling forever, ending fraud acceptable dust levels. dard that was fought for and won through as 90 percent at some mines.” Currently and giving accurate dust level readings. This The government “is enforcing no smok- the wave of strikes and social struggles in the around 34 shifts a year are sampled for new technology would be part of the miners’ ing in restaurants, bars, and everywhere, but coal fi elds following the 1968 Farmington, dust levels, which would drop to as low as caplight and battery and would provide con- look what they allow these coal companies West Virginia, mine disaster. Out of these 3 shifts a year. tinuous dust level readings for the individual to get away with,” said Oliver. “It’s crazy. struggles, Congress was forced to enact Oliver said that the new proposal leaves miner. Supporters of this say it would be an It is like they have forgotten that they are the 1969 Mine Act. For the fi rst time the a lot of room for interpretation, which will advance, getting more accurate readings of responsible for the thousands of miners that government and mine operators were forced cause continuous disputes between MSHA dust levels than the current method of taking have died of black lung. So is MSHA saying to recognize black lung as a job-related dis- and employers over each mine’s Verifi ed shift samples bimonthly. that this is OK?” ease, enact laws to control dust levels, and Ventilation Plan and whether or not the The current rules and the new MSHA establish black lung benefi ts. operators had “exhaust[ed] engineering proposal, however, do not empower min- Jason Alessio is a member of UMWA Local Fine coal dust mixed with quartz, when controls” to reduce dust levels. ers to halt production when dust levels 1984. Clay Dennison, a member of UMWA breathed in over a period of time causes “It will take a long time for MSHA to get exceed dangerous levels. A likely scenario Local 2133 in Birmingham, Alabama, con- pneumoconiosis, or black lung. About 1,500 any results,” he said, “and, in the meantime, discussed at the hearing would be rotating tributed to this article. miners die each year from black lung, which can be limited by reducing dust levels in the mines with better air ventilation, use of water sprays, and scrubbers. Unionists rally to organize Perdue The 2003 MSHA proposal would in- crease the maximum dust level mandated BY SAM MANUEL gun when management and plant security lot that the action had nothing to do with by the 1969 Mine Act by four times, from GEORGETOWN, Delaware—Some 75 came out and told the union supporters they them and they should go in to work. The 2 to 8 mg of coal dust per cubic meter of supporters of workers who are fi ghting to could not rally on the sidewalk adjacent to rally ended before the shift change after air. This would allow the mine operators to organize a union at the Perdue poultry the plant but would have to gather in the management agreed to accept a letter de- speed up their production rate at the expense processing plant rallied here outside the street. The organizers of the event complied manding a response from the company to of the miners’ health. factory June 16. Nearly a dozen workers after the police were called in to enforce the workers’ complaints. Another part of the proposal will allow from the plant joined them. the company demand. In May 2002 the workers in the plant companies that are not in compliance with The action was the latest step in these The rally was scheduled to take place won an important legal victory requiring legal dust levels to continue to mine coal workers’ effort to win representation by between the morning and afternoon shifts the company to pay some $10 million in while they submit and resubmit ventilation the United Food and Commercial Work- in order to reach the largest number of additional wages retroactively for the time plans to MSHA. Meanwhile, MSHA says ers Union (UFCW). According to offi cials, workers. As the shift change drew closer it takes to put on and remove work clothing miners can wear respirators or “air fl ow” 400 of the 1,000 workers in the plant have management representatives demanded to and protective gear each day. The settle- helmets in mines where the bosses refuse signed union cards. Most workers are im- know how long it would last. Plant security ment was divided among 25,000 former to maintain acceptable air quality. This is a migrants from Guatemala, elsewhere in guards told several workers in the parking and current Perdue workers. further assault on the gains of the 1969 Mine Central America, and Mexico. Act, which states, “use of respirators shall The “Rally for Respect,” at which several not be substituted for environmental control local ministers spoke, was preceded by a measures in the active workings.” march from the Grace United Methodist Strike at Midwest dairy A number of miners at the hearing had Church. “This company has grown from the opinion that “air fl ow” helmets are not the labor of the workers,” said Father Gu- safe to wear in a production setting. Many mercindo Lopez, who once worked in the defends union power said that they are noisy, limit your vision, plant. and get dirty or fog up. Cathy Mason chaired the rally on behalf BY JACOB PERASSO all four plants in Omaha, Nebraska; Des Lawrence Oliver, UMWA Local 1332 of the UFCW. Workers had fi led complaints OMAHA, Nebraska—“Our brothers and Moines and Iowa City, Iowa; and Kansas president, said in an interview with the with the union on a number of issues, she sisters at Local 41 in Kansas City, Mis- City, Missouri. Militant, “Right now, with dust levels at said. Many dealt with the continued in- souri; Local 238 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; The tentative agreement also protects 2 mg per cubic meter of air, thousands of crease in line speed, which has resulted in and Local 387 in Des Moines, Iowa, stood workers who had recently been hired and miners are dying of black lung every year. many repetitive motion injuries. “Workers with us to help us win,” said Kim Quick, were not yet members of the union at the Who is going to be held responsible when have been subjected to verbal abuse and Teamsters Local 554 president. “Local 41 time of the strike from being punished for a thousand more will die with four times as sexual harassment,” she said. They have began a solidarity strike after picket lines participating in the walkout. much dust?” also complained about the bosses’ refusal were extended to the Kansas City plant. The company said the union asked for to organize replacements for those who Local 238 in Iowa City put the dairy there a four-year contract and Roberts offered a Who will be held responsible? need to go to the restroom. on 24-hour notice that they would join the six-year contract. “A four-year agreement Representatives of the National Mining “The company keeps us divided,” said strike.” would result in a common expiration date Association (NMA), an organization of the Leon Edwards, a Black worker who loads Two hundred workers, organized by of the contracts at all Roberts Dairy loca- coal bosses, gave a 45-minute statement at trucks. “The Spanish people work hard. Teamsters Local 554, struck Roberts Dairy tions, and leave the company vulnerable to the hearing, addressing a number of things They see this as their chance. But they here June 5. Pickets then spread to Roberts a company-wide disruption of business in the bosses oppose in the new proposal. are learning how this company treats facilities in Lincoln, West Point, Grand Is- the future,” read a company statement. Currently operators are required to submit people.” land and Norfolk, Nebraska; Salina, Kan- Union officials said the company to MSHA bimonthly compliance dust sam- Celia Gomez, who has worked in the sas; and Kansas City, Missouri. The dairy started negotiating directly with individ- ples. Citations are issued for not submitting plant for a year, arrived for work as the workers’ contract expired February 14, and ual workers, threatened and intimidated samples or for samples that exceed accept- rally was ending and learned about the an extension expired June 2. employees, and immediately hired scabs able dust levels. The new proposal would organizing drive. “The union is needed,” After two days, a tentative agreement and had them ride along with Teamsters require operators to collect Plan Verifi cation she said. “You don’t have any rights in this was reached that will boost wages, pen- members. samples for approval, which means opera- place. When you come to work, you don’t sions, and establish common contract In one case, a Local 554 steward re- tors would be responsible for verifying that know when you will get off or what job expiration dates at all Roberts Dairy ceived a three-day suspension before the their air ventilation plan meets all standards, you will do.” plants. The agreement will last four strike began for leaving a scab behind. “Our and then MSHA would be responsible for From start to fi nish, the timing and lo- and a half years, putting the Teamsters members rallied behind the steward, Kenny compliance sampling. cation of the event were a tug-of-war with Dairy Division in a position to negoti- Busse, after the company issued him the The spokesman for the NMA said that the plant bosses. The rally had barely be- ate a master contract in 2007, covering suspension,” Quick said. The Militant July 7, 2003 5 Socialists part of increased labor resistance Socialist workers in U.S. industrial unions meet, assess work in unfolding class struggle

BY LISA ROTTACH is receiving for its coal. The mine still AND TOM FISKE contains substantial reserves. NEW YORK—“We function as com- Unemployment rates in many coal- munist workers in our unions today as fi eld areas range from 7 percent in Em- they are, as they’re becoming, and with ery County, Utah, to almost 11 percent an eye toward the future transformation in Mingo County, West Virgina, where of them into revolutionary instruments Marrowbone, a union mine, recently of the class struggle,” said Joel Britton halted production. at a meeting at Hunter College here June At the same time other mines are hir- 8. He was giving his opening political ing. Operators use the fact that there are report to a national meeting of members surplus miners to intensify labor, drive of the Socialist Workers Party and Young down wages, and cut corners on safety. Socialists who work in red meat slaughter The socialists also discussed the prob- and processing plants across the United lems faced in mining communities as a States. Participants in the gathering work result of the bosses’ disregard for the en- in plants organized by the United Food vironmental impact of their operations. and Commercial Workers (UFCW) or In Pennsylvania alone there are 1,700 in nonunion factories. Britton organizes abandoned mines and 45 uncontrolled the national steering committee of this in- mine fi res, said Kincaid. Some dustrial union fraction of the communist have been burning for decades. movement in the United States. Militant/Eric Simpson (right) Abandoned coal mines are the Britton discussed the ways workers Above, Smithfi eld’s meatpacking plant leading source of water pollu- seek to collectively confront the com- in Tar Heel, North Carolina, is one of tion in Pennsylvania. Kincaid petition imposed upon them by the “one the largest hog processing plants in the reported growing opposition against all” divisions that are the bed- world. The UFCW is conducting a na- to plans to restart uranium rock of capitalism. “Communist workers tionwide campaign to win backing for mining on the Navajo Nation continually look for ways to tap into the the drive to unionize the plant. Right, in Arizona, using a method of fi ghting sentiment of our co-workers,” workers at Point Blank Body Armor mining that would deplete the stated Britton. “We function together near Miami demonstrate outside the fragile aquifers in that arid with other vanguard fi ghters, and help to factory in the summer of 2002, at the be- region and pollute runoff with lead workers getting together to discuss ginning of the UNITE organizing drive. radioactive materials. out what can be done and participate with Socialist workers are increasingly inte- “The people most affected by workers in fi ghting together.” grated in such battles, where employer these problems are the miners A packinghouse worker from Los attacks are most fi erce and the resulting themselves,” said Betsy Farley, Angeles described the increased line labor resistance is strong. an anthracite miner in North- speeds, bathroom break restrictions, and eastern Pennsylvania. Farley pointed to the wide resistance to indiscriminate fi rings that are fueling the “In these struggles, socialists also seek underground miner in Utah, in her opening the dumping of fl y ash, the mineral and clay sentiment of workers to organize themselves to bring forward the entire union—work- report at the national meeting of socialist byproduct of burning coal in power plants. to revive the union at the Farmer John plant ers and offi cials. Some offi cials will be coal miners in New York on June 7–8. The socialists discussed the importance where she works. “When a longtime worker attracted to the resistance of the workers The meeting included socialists working of taking advantage of increasing opportu- was fi red, hundreds of workers gathered in and will make important contributions to in mines organized by the United Mine- nities to do work in defense of the Cuban the parking lot to demand his reinstatement,” the struggle.” workers of America (UMWA) and some Revolution among miners—especially on she said. “Later, a union meeting drew 300 Britton pointed to the example of the role working in nonunion mines. the Navajo Nation. They discussed plans who were looking for ways to rebuild the played by offi cials of UFCW Local 789 in The SWP and Young Socialist members for organizing a public meeting for Cuban union, which had been severely weakened South St. Paul, Minnesota, in the union explained that the war drive abroad is an ex- students in Window Rock, Arizona. over the years. A significant number of organizing drive at Dakota Premium Foods tension of employers’ assaults on miners and workers now have joined the union.” and in the fi ght to stop the deportation of other working people in the United States, ❖ Janice Lynn, a meat packer at the Smith- Róger Calero. Bill Pearson, the now-retired said Kincaid. As they stepped up this social- fi eld plant in the Washington, D.C., area, president of the local, serves as a national ist propaganda work, they also joined with BY CINDY JAQUITH reported, “We were able to be part of dis- co-chair of the Calero defense committee. In their co-workers and fellow union fi ghters in NEW YORK—Resistance to employer cussions around the need to fi ght together, addition to hosting a January fund-raiser at discussions and actions to defend the union attacks is growing among garment and to not fall prey to the tactics the company the Local 789 union hall, he spoke at events and fi ght for safety on the job. textile workers and increasingly fi nding uses to pit U.S.-born workers against im- in Omaha and Des Moines in March, help- The coal miners had attended hearings expression through the Union of Need- migrants.” Workers in this packinghouse ing to win new supporters to the case. He and protest demonstrations around the letrades, Industrial and Textile Employees recently petitioned their union offi cials for and other offi cers of the local helped to country to oppose government efforts to (UNITE). This means greater opportunities a meeting prior to their contract vote. “Right raise thousands of dollars in support of the relax coal mine dust regulations and to to participate in the resistance to the em- away we sought to become part of this effort Calero fi ght from unions in the Minnesota further erode health and safety protections ployers’ offensive today, part of preparing with other workers. A meeting took place labor movement. (see also page 5). now for the bigger battles coming which and workers initially rejected the contract “Sales of the Militant, Perspectiva Mun- Socialist miners’ victory in the inter- will advance the revolutionary transforma- offer. This caught the bosses by surprise. dial, and Pathfi nder books to co-workers is a national subscription drive, in which 17 tion of the unions and create openings for But workers were divided on whether to crucial part of the perspective of the revolu- miners bought subscriptions to the Militant recruitment to the communist movement. strike.” The socialists in the plant joined in tionary transformation of the unions,” stated and nine to Perspectiva Mundial, ranked as These were conclusions drawn by com- the sometimes heated discussions about how Britton. The stepped-up resistance pointed one of their main accomplishments since munists working in the industry at a June to advance unity in the workforce in order to to during the meeting was refl ected in the their last meeting in March, Kincaid said. 8 meeting that included UNITE members better resist the company in the weeks lead- successful completion of the spring sales Co-workers on the job bought the bulk of from the SWP and Young Socialists. ing up to the second contract vote. Several drive. Fraction members surpassed both these subscriptions. Lisa Potash, the organizer of the steering vanguard workers who went through this their Militant and Perspectiva Mundial Sales of the Spanish-language monthly committee of the SWP’s national UNITE fight were among those most interested goals, selling a total of 146 subscriptions registered the growing number of immi- union fraction and a sewing machine opera- in reading and buying subscriptions to the to meat packers. grants from Latin America working in the tor in Chicago, kicked off the discussion. Militant and Perspectiva Mundial. Participants discussed ways to further mines, said Jason Alessio from Colorado. Potash opened her remarks by pointing to “As resistance among workers begins to solidarity with the Tyson strikers, includ- In the previous drive, he said, the socialist the progress socialist garment and textile advance, a broad vanguard of workers be- ing continuing to work through their union miners had not even taken a Perspectiva workers had registered in making their gins to appear,” stated Britton in his report. structures to build support for the June 22 Mundial goal. circulation drive goals for the Militant and “Socialists function as part of the broader solidarity rally in Jefferson, Wisconsin. (see Many subscriptions were sold by teams Perspectiva Mundial—a result of attention vanguard, which continually forms and re- front page article) that visited the coalfi elds in Arizona and to political work with co-workers and fellow forms. It plays an indispensable role in the The recent victory in the Calero anti- New Mexico. Jason Alessio and Francisco UNITE members. It built on the advances fi ght, in helping to mobilize the maximum deportation fi ght opens up opportunities Picado, who work at the UMWA-organized by socialist workers in conquering sewing number of workers, the maximum strength to deepen participation in the fi ght for im- Deserado mine in Rangely, Colorado, joined skills necessary to situate themselves on the of the union, against the company. migrant rights. In the past six months, thou- one team. They met with two subscribers job to confi dently engage in politics with sands, including many meat packers, actively from the McKinley mine in New Mexico, co-workers in the garment industry. embraced this struggle as their own. Róger near Window Rock, Arizona, who both re- She pointed to ferment among garment Calero, who attended the meeting, said, “We newed their subscriptions. One showed the and textile workers in places like Chicago, From Pathfi nder will take the response of our co-workers, ‘We socialists a scrapbook he had assembled on south Florida, and North Carolina. This re- Changing Face won!,’ and place this victory in the hands of the strikes and struggles of the UMWA lo- fl ects a widespread desire on the part of all who are looking to fi ght back.” of U.S. Politics: cal, including copies of Militant articles on workers in these industries to reach out for these fi ghts. Working-Class political answers to the capitalist crisis and Lisa Rottach is a meat packer and member One of the reasons to go on such trips, to resist attacks by the employers through Politics and the of UFCW Local 271 in Omaha, Nebraska; said Paul Mailhot, was to get the stories of the organized labor movement. Trade Unions Tom Fiske is a meat packer in St. Paul, different developments and struggles into One example is the ongoing struggle at by Jack Barnes Minnesota. the pages of the Militant. The paper needs Point Blank Body Armor in Oakland Park, more contributions by worker-correspon- Florida. The company manufactures bullet- Building the kind of O dents in the industrial unions, he said. proof vests. It was the scene of a six-month party the working The miners discussed the impact on strike that ended in victory in February when class needs to pre- BY JAY RELLER workers and their communities of increased a judge ordered the company to rehire 175 pare for coming class battles. $23.00. NEW YORK—“We found a lot of open- competition among the capitalist mine fi red union supporters. Strike leaders were Also available in Spanish, French, and owners. Some large mining operations are Greek. ness, even where there is not agreement, to both Haitian and Latino, including some what we have to say about the war. We have closing with devastating consequences. In young Cubans who recently left Cuba. Point Order online from: found a lot of questioning among miners Utah, Skyline, a company owned by Arch, Blank opened a second plant in Deerfi eld www.pathfi nderpress.com. the number two coal producer in the United Beach, Florida, where it transferred the about the course of the U.S. government at Also available from bookstores, home and abroad,” said Alice Kincaid, an States, is closing, citing the low prices it Continued on Page 7 including those listed on page 8

6 The Militant July 7, 2003 Iranian students protest

Continued from front page Washington is now calling on the IAEA in the June 21 Financial September. This position was echoed by to speed up its snooping and present new Times of London said. the editors of the New York Times, Finan- findings within three months. The U.S. A draft statement that cial Times, and much of the big-business rulers are also pressing Tehran to make was to be issued on the media. concessions, through economic sanctions second day of this EU Meanwhile, nearly two weeks after they and under the threat that U.S.-defi ned “con- summit demanded that began, student protests demanding demo- traband cargo” on Iranian ships or planes north Korea “visibly, cratic freedoms spread to at least seven may be intercepted by the armed forces of verifi ably and irrevers- other cities beyond Tehran, even though the imperialist powers. John Bolton, U.S. ibly dismantle its nucle- they have subsided to a degree, faced with undersecretary of state for arms control and ar programs and return repression by the government. Demonstra- international security, told BBC radio June to full compliance with tions took place in Tabriz, Zanjan, Shiraz, 20, “The president has repeatedly said that international non-pro- Ya zd, Sabzehvar, Kermanshah, and Isfahan all options are on the table, but (military liferation obligations.” June 20, according to the Iranian Students action) is not only not our preference, it is It also called on Iran to ISNA News Agency (ISNA) and other press re- far, far from our minds.” When questioned accept no-notice checks Iranian students protest outside Tehran University mosque ports. The protests, which began June 10 at further on whether Washington still left open of its nuclear facilities. June 22, demanding release of students arrested at previous Tehran University against proposals by gov- the possibility of military action, he said, “It According to Reuters, demonstrations. Sign in front says, “Khatami: do something, ernment offi cials to privatize schools, were has to be an option.” the document also stat- support the students,” referring to Iran’s president. Action initially met by attacks from progovernment The IAEA demand for more intrusive ed that Tehran’s “future was organized by the Islamic Student Association. goons. Failing to squash them through the inspections has also been backed up by trade ties with the EU use of these thugs, Tehran backed down a the “Group of 8,” the European Union would depend on prog- bit, arresting some of the vigilantes. and the governments of Russia, Canada, ress in that area, human rights and coopera- the fi rst week and began to spread to other At the same time, the Iranian authorities and Australia. At the same time, Russian tion in Middle East peace efforts.” cities. As goon attacks on the demonstrators stepped up arrests of students. In a letter to president Vladimir Putin warned against In that capacity as “deputy sheriff ” to failed to stop the student actions, the govern- Mahmoud Shahroudi, head of Iran’s judi- pressuring Moscow to abandon the $800 Washington, Paris ordered 1,300 French ment came under increasing criticism and ciary, member of the Majles (parliament) million contract it has with Tehran to build police to raid 40 houses north of the capital had to backtrack from earlier open support Ahmad Shirzad protested the arrest of one a nuclear power plant in the coastal Iranian June 17 and arrest 150 members of the Mu- for such practices. of his children in the crackdown, ISNA re- city of Bushire. Moscow opposes “using the jahedeen Khalq of Iran (MEK), or People’s At the same time, Tehran stepped up ported. He stated that the arrests were be- nuclear card in unfair competition on the Mujahedeen. This is an armed group that the arrests of students, reportedly taking ing made on an illegal court order allowing Iranian market,” he said. originated as an anti-shah guerrilla orga- in as many as 135 in Tabriz, 50 in Yazd, the police to apprehend anyone they found Under this pressure, Tehran indicated nization in the 1960s, turned against the and 105 in Sabzehvar. Muhammad Yazdi, suspicious. quickly after the Vienna meeting that it is Iranian regime after the 1979 revolution, former head of the country’s judiciary, said But the students continue to press for prepared to concede. “We will defi nitely and carried out assassinations and sabo- at Friday prayers June 20 that the protesters democratic freedoms, including the release try to cooperate more than before with the tage during the Iran-Iraq war. Former U.S. should be punished. “I asked the head of of those arrested. Their persistence deepened IAEA and give them the necessary assur- president William Clinton classifi ed the the judiciary and public prosecutors across fi ssures within the Iranian ruling class. ances about Iran’s activities,” the head of group as “terrorist” in 1997. The current Iran not to treat these people with com- Iran’s atomic energy program, Gholamreza White House has stuck by the designation. passion as they endangered the country’s Debate on the nuclear issue Aghazadeh, told a news conference in Teh- Last year, the EU placed the MEK on its security,” he said. “Iran has failed to meet its obligations un- ran June 21. “We have never said we don’t own list of “terrorist” groups. The MEK’s At Tehran University students have orga- der its Safeguards Agreement with respect want to sign the additional protocol…. Our center of operations was in Iraq until U.S. nized a public committee in defense of those to the reporting of nuclear material, the view about the protocol is positive.” Earlier forces captured its bases this spring. Paris arrested during the recent demonstrations, subsequent processing and use of that ma- Tehran’s position had been that it would sign had allowed the group free reign for almost reported the Iranian Students News Agency. terial and the declaration of facilities where the additional protocol under the condition a quarter century. But not any more. According to ISNA, the committee has three the material was stored and processed,” the that Washington dropped its economic sanc- goals: to follow up and identify students who IAEA report said. “Although the quantities tions against Iran and did not hinder other Student protests persist are arrested; to meet with families of those of nuclear material involved have not been countries from transferring nuclear technol- Meanwhile, protests by students and oth- students and attend to their needs; and to large, and the material would need further ogy to the country for energy purposes, as ers have continued in Tehran and other cit- meet and consult with Majles deputies and processing before being suitable for use as stipulated by the NPT. ies. Days after the demonstrations broke out, security offi cials to help gain their release. the fi ssile material component of a nuclear U.S. president Bush and other government Students and families of arrested students explosive device, the number of failures by Washington’s ‘deputy sheriff’ offi cials voiced support for the protesters. have been conducting silent pickets, some- Iran to report the material, facilities and In addition to pressing its campaign Most reports in the big-business press, times with signs, in front of the Majles and activities in question in a timely manner as against Iran on the nuclear issue, Washing- however, have not been able to paint the un- some universities. After the meetings they it is obliged to do…is a matter of concern. ton is pursuing charges that Tehran is “sup- folding protests as pro-imperialist. “This is a held with parliamentary deputies, including While these failures are in the process of be- porting terrorism.” The U.S. rulers are get- student movement, not an American move- the speaker of the house, the identities of ing rectifi ed by Iran, the process of verifying ting backing on this front in their campaign ment,” chanted some 500 students outside more students arrested were made public the correctness of the Iranian declarations by all the other imperialist powers. their dormitories in Tehran in answer to and reported in the press. is still ongoing.” During a European Union summit at the charges that they were tools of Washing- Iranian papers also reported that Saeed As Washington has kept up this kind of northern resort of Porto Carras in Greece, ton, according to the Iranian Student News Asgar, one of the ringleaders of extrale- pressure on Tehran, the Iranian government the EU heads of state approved a statement Agency. A number of reporters also noted gal goons, is still under arrest. After the has maintained that its atomic program is June 20 backing Washington’s “war on ter- that most of the protesting students were landslide victory of President Mohammed designed to help supply the country’s elec- rorism” around the world, including support angered by Bush’s meddling, and that only Khatami in 1997, Asgar made an unsuc- tricity needs, stating it has no intention of for the U.S. government’s use of the “non- a small minority expressed support for U.S. cessful assassination attempt against one developing nuclear weapons. proliferation” club against Iran and North intervention. “We want no shah, we want no of the president’s advisors. He was found Iran’s representative at the IAEA, Ali Korea. “Clearly, EU leaders are doing their supreme leader,” was a popular chant. organizing attacks against students in recent Al Salehi, rejected the call for wider UN rhetorical best to convince Washington they In spite of the government’s offi cial dis- demonstrations and was arrested. inspections, saying, “We have disassociated could play deputy to its role of sheriff in avowal of the proposal to privatize universi- Nearly 170 members of the Majles issued ourselves from this part of the statement.” maintaining global security,” an editorial ties, the protests picked up momentum after a statement June 22 in relation to the stu- dent protests. “Because there has not been enough attention to the just demands of the people, and because there is no suitable Socialist industrial workers meet vehicle to criticize the regime in an orderly Continued from Page 6 are discussing what to do in face of the working people. At the same time, they point fashion, any small social and economic pro- workers it hired to try to break the strike. company’s announcement that it is going to to the next steps in this country and around test tends to lead into crisis and disturbance,” Although the bosses intend to keep the sell its mills or “restructure,” a code word the world to fi ght the system of imperialist the statement said. “At times this whets the union out, some workers in the new plant for layoffs, speed-up, and wage cuts. Af- domination. Fatland reported on the impact foreign powers’ appetite to intervene in the are already signing UNITE cards. Partici- ter a 25-year fi ght, Pillowtex workers won of these discussions on the job. country’s internal affairs.” pants in the meeting described how Point UNITE union representation just four Lea Sherman, a garment worker from The statement continued: “Despite the Blank workers have been introduced to the years ago, an important victory for textile Washington, D.C., said that there were harsh treatment of students…they proved Pathfi nder Bookstore in Miami and to the workers and for all working people in the quite a few T-shirts with American fl ags quite capable of differentiating between con- Militant and Perspectiva Mundial. They are southeast United States. Socialists in the and yellow ribbons in her plant. She went duct that is thought out and responsible, and fi nding these to be valuable tools as they mill have participated in the discussion, on to describe a UNITE organizing drive at adventurism.” At the end of the statement, discuss questions of union strategy, the fi ght explaining that what workers face is the the Linens of the Week industrial laundry, the Majles deputies declared their solidarity for Haitian rights, the Cuban Revolution, worldwide capitalist crisis. “There is no taking place only a few blocks from the with all legal student activities and called and other political questions. ‘Pillowtex solution,’ no ‘American solu- Pathfi nder Bookstore in that city. UNITE for prosecution of all the so-called “forces Meanwhile, another fight is brewing tion,’” said Seth Galinsky, who works at the has also launched a nationwide organizing in civilian clothes” who have victimized the at Hollander Home Fashions in Chicago, mill. The fi ght for a sliding scale of wages drive at CINTAS, the largest industrial laun- students—a euphemism for the progovern- where the UNITE contract is due to expire and hours, to raise the minimum wage, and dry company in North America. ment thugs. June 30. The very low pay for many and back affi rmative action are key ideas so- Willie Cotton noted the impact of plant- ISNA reported that some student or- the fact that the company doesn’t provide cialists put forward, along with defending gate sales of the socialist press at Pillowtex. ganizations have applied for a permit to family health insurance are key issues. concrete gains won by the union.” “Consistency is very important,” he said. demonstrate on July 9, the anniversary of Workers are trying to fi gure out how to use Barry Fatland, a sewing machine operator Because the socialists have sold regularly massive student protests in 1999. At that the union to win a better contract. Chessie from the Twin Cities and former Socialist outside the plant, “sales increased when time student demonstrations were met Molano, a sewing machine operator at the Workers candidate for U.S. Senate, described the crisis arose,” said Cotton. In just one with brutal force by extralegal vigilantes plant, said, “Workers feel we are the union.” the impact of the imperialist war against Iraq day, socialists sold 14 copies of the June and police. Pro-regime goons broke into Some have asked her to bring in copies of on his co-workers, some of whom are from 2 Militant with an article on the planned student dormitories in Tehran, beating Militant articles on the 2001 strike at Hol- the Mideast. He said there were no yellow sale of the mills and a related editorial at students indiscriminately and setting their lander in California. The victory of Róger ribbons or fl ags in his plant in support of the plant gate. rooms on fi re. Each year since then, students Calero against deportation proceedings has the war but some of his co-workers were de- Cotton also noted that visits with lit- have honored the memory of Ezzat Ibrahim- also been closely watched. “I want to know moralized by Washington’s quick takeover erature to co-workers’ homes have been Nejat, a conscript soldier and protester who how he did it,” a co-worker told Molano. of Iraq. In this situation, socialist workers an effective way to continue discussion. was murdered while visiting a friend at his In Kannapolis, North Carolina, thou- respond by agreeing with fellow workers Workers from several other parts of the dormitory, and have continued to demand sands of UNITE members at Pillowtex that the U.S. military victory was a blow to country reported similar experiences. that his killers be brought to justice.

The Militant July 7, 2003 7 Defending Marxism, its dialectic method The following are excerpts from the ar- BY LEON TROTSKY ticle “A petty-bourgeois opposition in the It is necessary to call things by their right Socialist Workers Party” by Leon Trotsky. names. Now that the positions of both fac- The entire article, dated Dec. 15, 1939, can tions in the struggle have become determined be found in the book In Defense of Marx- with complete clearness, it must be said that ism by the same author, one of Pathfi nder’s the minority of the National Committee is Books of the Month in June. Trotsky was a leading a typical petty-bourgeois tendency. leader of the October 1917 Russian Revo- Like any petty-bourgeois group inside the lution and of the Bolshevik party. Follow- socialist movement, the present opposition ing the death of V.I. Lenin—the central is characterized by the following features: leader of the Bolsheviks and of the October a disdainful attitude toward theory and an revolution—Trotsky led the international inclination toward eclecticism; disrespect fi ght for the program for world revolution for the tradition of their own organization; developed by the Communist International anxiety for personal “independence” at the under Lenin’s guidance, against the coun- expense of anxiety for objective truth; ner- terrevolution by a bureaucratic caste whose vousness instead of consistency; readiness chief representative became Joseph Stalin. to jump from one position to another; lack of He was expelled from the Soviet Commu- understanding of revolutionary centralism nist Party in the late 1920s and forced into and hostility toward it; and fi nally, inclina- Workers defend factory from invading German troops in Stalingrad, Russia, 1942. exile by Stalin’s regime. tion to substitute clique ties and personal Hitler’s armies were defeated in effort to overturn Soviet workers state. Proletarian relationships for party discipline. Not all the majority in SWP defended Soviet Union against imperialist assault. Petty-bourgeois members of the opposition of course mani- opposition carried out opposite course, arguing Russia was no longer a workers state. fest these features with identical strength. Nevertheless, as always in a variegated bloc BOOKS OF the tinge is given by those who are most dis- of clever syllogisms and society could be not infrequently reach incorrect conclusions, tant from Marxism and proletarian policy. A reconstructed through “rational” measures, therefore...the method is not of great im- prolonged and serious struggle is obviously so in the sphere of theory it was accepted portance. We shall meditate upon methods THE MONTH before us. I make no attempt to exhaust the as proved that Aristotelian logic, lowered to sometime when we have more leisure, but problem in this article, but I will endeavor the level of “common sense,” was suffi cient now we have other things to do. Imagine In this article, Trotsky defends the ma- to outline its general features. for the solution of all questions. how a worker would react upon complaining terialist foundations of scientifi c social- In the January 1939 issue of the New Pragmatism, a mixture of rationalism to his foreman that his tools were bad and ism, responding to those in the workers International a long article was published and empiricism, became the national phi- receiving the reply: With bad tools it is pos- movement in the late 1930s who bent to by Comrades [James] Burnham and [Max] losophy of the United States.... But times sible to turn out a good job, and with good the pressure of bourgeois public opinion Shachtman*, “Intellectuals in Retreat.” The have changed and the philosophy of prag- tools many people only waste material. I am during Washington’s buildup towards article, while containing many correct matism has entered a period of bankruptcy afraid that such a worker, particularly if he entering the spreading imperialist war in ideas and apt political characterizations, just as has American capitalism. is on piecework, would respond to the fore- Europe. He explains why working people was marred by a fundamental defect if not The authors of the article did not show, man with an unacademic phrase. A worker must oppose assaults by the capitalist pow- fl aw. While polemicising against opponents could not and did not care to show, this is faced with refractory materials which ers on the degenerated Soviet workers state, who consider themselves—without suffi - internal connection between philosophy show resistance and which because of that and why only a party that fi ghts to bring cient reason—above all as proponents of and the material development of society, compel him to appreciate fi ne tools, whereas growing numbers of workers into its ranks “theory,” the article deliberately did not el- and they frankly explained why. a petty-bourgeois intellectual—alas!—uti- and leadership can chart a revolutionary evate the problem to a theoretical height. “The two authors of the present article,” lizes as his “tools” fugitive observations and course. Copyright © 1995 by Pathfi nder It was absolutely necessary to explain why they wrote of themselves, “differ thor- superficial generalizations—until major Press, reprinted here by permission. the American “radical” intellectuals accept oughly on their estimate of the general events club him on the head. Marxism without the dialectic (a clock theory of dialectical materialism, one of without a spring). The secret is simple. them accepting it and the other rejecting In no other country has there been such it.... There is nothing anomalous in such *James Burnham and Max Shachtman were June BOOKS rejection of the class struggle as in the land a situation. Though theory is doubtless leaders of a petty-bourgeois opposition in the of “unlimited opportunity.” The denial of always in one way or another related to SWP. Burnham was a philosophy professor at social contradictions as the moving force practice, the relation is not invariably direct New York University. After his split with the OF THE MONTH SWP in 1940, he became openly anticommunist, of development led to the denial of the or immediate....” worked for the CIA, and later served as editor of PATHFINDER dialectic as the logic of contradictions in What is the meaning of this thoroughly National Review. Shachtman, a founding leader READ ERS CLUB 25% the domain of theoretical thought. Just as astonishing reasoning? Inasmuch as some of the Communist League, a predecessor of the DISCOUNT in the sphere of politics it was thought pos- people through a bad method sometimes SWP, led a minority faction in the 1940 split SPE CIALS sible everybody could be convinced of the reach correct conclusions, and inasmuch and subsequently became a right-wing social correctness of a “just” program by means as some people through a correct method democrat. Black Music, White Business IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP Illuminating the Where to fi nd Pathfi nder books and History and MINNESOTA: St. Paul: 113 Bernard St., 9698. E-mail: [email protected] dis trib u tors of the Militant, Perspectiva Political Economy West St. Paul. Zip: 55118. Tel: (651) 644- Mundial, New International, Nouvelle In- 6325. E-mail: [email protected] BRITAIN of Jazz ternationale, Nueva Internacional and Ny London: 47 The Cut. Postal code: Frank Kofsky International. NEBRASKA: Omaha: P. O. Box 7005. Zip: SE1 8LF. Tel: 020-7928-7993. E-mail: 68107. E-mail: [email protected] Probes the economic UNITED STATES [email protected] and social confl ict between the artistry of NEW JERSEY: Newark: 168 Bloomfi eld CANADA Black musicians and the control by largely ALABAMA: Birmingham: 3029A Avenue, 2nd Floor. Zip: 07104. Tel: (973) Montreal: 1237 Jean Talon E. Montréal, white-owned businesses of jazz distribu- Bessemer Road. Zip: 35208. Tel: (205) 780- 481-0077. 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Tel: (08) 31 69 33.E-mail: E-mail: [email protected] Box 164, Campsie, NSW 2194. Tel: (02) 9718 [email protected] 8 The Militant July 7 , 2003 GREAT SOCIETY Capitalist education, ‘Labour’ UK-based Accident Group, solitary confi nement died from to live and has pleaded with the drop in the bucket,” the Los An- gov’t—As offi cials assert a cash specializing in injury insurance, fl esh-eating bacteria. James Car- court that he needs $223,000 a geles Times headlined it as a “foot crisis, 3,000 teachers in England created turmoil when it dis- penter died in July 2000 [!] after month living expenses. The fam- in the door.” are suddenly being fired. One patched e-mail and written let- spending most of 15 days naked ily grocery bill alone is $2,000. ters informing 2,500 employees and hand-cuffed. He was arrested Another foot in the door—In they were fi red. They also offered on misdemeanor charges.”—USA 101, picking right swivel chair the Palm Springs area, not too far an administration phone number. Today. —“Orange County’s [California] from Oxnard, a fully furnished Callers got a voicemail message human resources department spent “Palace of Dreams” is up for Harry telling them that their month’s Due process—ICN Pharmaceu- $3.2 million in unemployment in- sale. The estate includes awe- salary would not be paid. The ticals is suing its former top dog surance funds to pay for unrelated some amenities—Three king-size Ring Times of London reported that to get back the $38 million bonus expenses like ‘enlightened leader- plasma TVs, computer controlled some enraged workers walked it handed him last year. Why? Be- ship’ management training.”—Or- rooms, etc. Asking price: $13.9 off with some offi ce equipment cause shareholders are suing to get ange County Register. million. in small compensation for the the money back. headmaster responded by sending wages stolen. The paper smeared From piddles grow puddles— Everything’s up to date in the pupils home after lunch. At them as “looters.” Hand-to-mouth—Richard A housing development for farm L.A.—The folks in City Hall are another school it was announced Scrushy, recent top dog at Health- workers, the fi rst in a decade, is bickering over whether or not the that beginning in September, a Read it and rebel—“MO- south, is “worth” a reported $175 under way in Oxnard, north of most recent guesstimate of the half-day session will be knocked BILE, Alabama—Federal au- million. But the bread has been Los Angeles County. The $5.9 number of homeless people is off each week. thorities continued their inves- impounded, apparently while it’s million project will offer 24 units infl ated. The counters concluded tigation of the Mobile County determined who stole what from to farm workers in desperate need there were 84,000 homeless. That ‘Looting’ the looters—The Metro jail where an inmate in whom. Meanwhile, Scrushy has of housing. Conceding it as “a was a decade ago. Pathfi nder supporters surpass catalog campaign goal

BY BRIAN WILLIAMS New International no. 11, with the fea- wrote team members Maria Plessa and circulation newspaper Eleftheroltypia, ran Pathfinder supporters went over the ture article “U.S. Imperialism Has Lost Natasha Terlexis, the buyer said, “these a review of the book along with a photo top in a successful six-week catalog the Cold War”; The Communist Manifesto are very salable, all of these will sell. I’ll of its cover. “In her articles Evelyn Reed promotional campaign that ended June by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels; and take them all.” The titles she purchased in- analyzes the economic and social roots of 1, getting the 2003 Pathfi nder catalog Cosmetics, Fashions and the Exploitation cluded Malcolm X Talks to Young People, the oppression of women over the ages. into the hands of 272 bookstore buyers of Women by Joseph Hansen, Evelyn Reed, Capitalism’s World Disorder by Barnes, She explains why the oppression of women or managers in the United States, Canada, and Mary-Alice Waters. New International no. 7, To See the Dawn: is the result of property relations (and not and New Zealand. The drive exceeded the These fl yers were used by Pathfi nder Baku, 1920—First Congress of the Peoples gender relations) and presents a clear per- sales representatives at the BookExpo of the East, and Art and Revolution by Leon spective for women’s emancipation,” the re- America convention held in Los Ange- Trotsky. view stated. After the article appeared two les in May, and will be distributed at the * bookstores that had not previously placed American Library Association conference Meanwhile, in Athens, Greece, a sales orders requested copies of the book. Sup- PATHFINDER taking place June 21–24 in Toronto. promotion campaign for the recently porters in Greece are also planning to staff * published Greek edition of Problems of a booth at the three-day annual Anti-Racist In the beginning of June, Pathfinder Women’s Liberation has netted sales of 45 festival July 4–6, which attracts thousands AROUND supporters in Greece, taking advantage copies of the book at 10 bookstores that of youth and immigrants every year. of new opportunities to travel through supporters recently visited. In response to THE WORLD both the Greek and Turkish sectors of the a press release sent out by Diethnes Vima Georges Mehrabian, Natasha Terlexis, island nation of Cyprus, organized a one- about the book, the May 9 issue of Biblio- and Maria Plessa from Athens, Greece, week visit to bookstores in that country thiki, the literary supplement of the largest contributed to this column. overall goal of 250 adopted by local areas to take orders for Pathfinder titles and participating in this effort. Through this the nine Pathfi nder books and pamphlets work many new contacts with book buy- translated into Greek and published by Di- ers were made that will be invaluable for ethnes Vima. A total of 33 Diethnes Vima 25 AND 50 YEARS AGO ongoing sales work. books were sold to fi ve shops, with orders Building on the success of this cam- for 16 more from two other bookstores. In paign, supporters have launched a one- addition, 11 Pathfi nder books were sold month follow-up effort to revisit some of to one English-language bookshop in the the bookstores and libraries where they Turkish-speaking north of the island. Over received the best response to encourage the course of the week, supporters visited buyers to place their online order for Path- 15 bookshops in four cities in Cyprus. June 29, 1953 fi nder books. This campaign runs until Among the Diethnes Vima titles placed June 30, 1978 July 10. The 60-page catalogue provides in these stores were: Problems of Women’s NEW YORK—When the thousands of A smell of the auto-da-fé—the burning brief summaries and cover reproductions Liberation by Evelyn Reed, U.S. Imperi- people gathered on June 19, 1953, for a of heretics—hangs over the land. With the of the hundreds of titles published and dis- alism Has Lost the Cold War, The Second fi nal vigil for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, legal murder on June 19 of Ethel and Julius tributed by Pathfi nder in English, Spanish, Declaration of Havana, Yugoslavia: the the police crowded them into a sidestreet Rosenberg, the modern Inquisition has sent French, as well as Swedish, Farsi, Greek, Roots of the Confl ict, and Imperialism’s off Union Square. its fi rst two victims to the stake. and Russian. It’s available to be purchased March toward Fascism and War. But on June 19, 1978, when 3,000 or Their inquisitors kept the Rosenbergs on for $1.00 at www.pathfi nderpress.com. “As soon as we brought our stock of 11 more came to mark the twenty-fi fth an- the wrack for weeks and months, offering * books and placed them on the desk” at one niversary of the Rosenberg execution, they the condemned couple their lives in return Several new attractive fl yers highlighting shop that stocked English-language titles, had union Square. In fact, the police blocked for “recantations” and “confessions.” The some of Pathfi nder’s re- off an extra lane of traffi c Rosenbergs declared their innocence to the cently released and most to make room when the end. They refused to “abjure” themselves popular titles are now crowd swelled. and spurned the role of stoolpigeons and available to be down- Catarino Garza, who perjurers as demanded by the Eisenhower loaded from the “News was at the 1953 vigil, told administration, with its Department of from Pathfi nder” section me, “It was a sad and grim Justice and FBI. of pathfi nderpress.com. crowd then; there wasn’t Enraged that their odious compact was One of the leaflets, much talking.” refused, the witch hunters in obscene haste entitled “The Cuban By contrast, the 1978 shoved aside a last-minute stay of execution Revolution in world tribute was full of people granted by Justice Douglas and claimed politics,” features four talking, getting petitions their blood victims. of Pathfi nder’s recently signed, leafl eting, selling The Eisenhower administration feared published titles on newspapers and pam- to wait any longer the test of public Cuba: October 1962: phlets and buttons. opinion. It feared that each day would The “Missile” Crisis As Michael Meero- see the protest and indignation grow, not As Seen from Cuba; pol, one of the Rosen- only abroad but at home. The juridical Marianas in Combat: bergs’ sons, said, “Our case against the Rosenbergs was coming Teté Puebla and the presence here says loud apart at the seams. It was becoming known Mariana Grajales and clear: they may that the Rosenbergs were actually charged Women’s Platoon in have killed two people not with committing espionage but with Cuba’s Revolutionary twenty-five years ago, mere “conspiracy”—agreement to com- War, 1956–58; From the but they didn’t crush the mit—such acts. No tangible evidence was Escambray to the Con- movement.” He chaired put forward even for this nebulous charge go: In the Whirlwind of the rally along with his except the claims of a single informer who the Cuban Revolution; brother, Robert Meero- feared his own neck was at stake if he did and Playa Girón/Bay pol; Morton Sobell, a not testify as demanded by the FBI. They of Pigs: Washington’s codefendant with the rushed to kill the Rosenbergs precisely First Military Defeat in Rosenbergs who spent because the case could not stand up under the Americas. nineteen years in prison; further close public examination. Another fl yer, titled and Helen Sobell. This was a deed of class hate and class “Favorites from Path- Just as it was getting vengeance. The brutal American capitalist fi nder,” features Capi- dark the crowd observed class has sadistically vented on the helpless talism’s World Disorder a period of silence to re- bodies of the Rosenbergs its rage and frus- by Jack Barnes; Mal- member the Rosenbergs, tration at the setbacks it has received abroad colm X Talks to Young who had been killed in from the forces of the colonial and socialist People; Cuba and the Militant/Laura Gray Sing Sing just before revolutions and for the impediments raised Coming American Cartoon published in the Militant dated June 29, 1953, ten days after the ex- sunset twenty-fi ve years by the revolutionary masses on all the conti- Revolution by Barnes; ecution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (see column at right). ago. nents to its schemes of world conquest. The Militant July 7, 2003 9 EDITORIALS Getting the Support student protests in Iran facts right Washington has tightened the noose around Tehran by using the doesn’t weaken sovereignty but gives space to the toilers are posi- report by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The agency re- tive, progressive, and should be backed—when they are inside Iran. As an aid to our worker-correspon- buked Iran for some violations of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty Demonstrations organized in the United States or other imperialist dents, the Militant is publishing below and demanded more intrusive inspections of its nuclear facilities. countries to support the student protests in Iran will tend to have its guidelines for providing source It set another meeting in September to assess whether the Iranian a pro-imperialist character, unless they are clearly aimed at the material for articles sent to the paper. government met these requirements. The U.S. rulers, now with fi rmer imperialists and their main thrust is “Hands off Iran!” These were fi rst published in 1996. support from their imperialist allies, thus took another step along There is no threat of the reinstitution of shah’s Peacock Throne. The masthead of the Militant reads, their course toward toppling the regime in Iran—their goal since There is no imminent invasion or bombing of Iran being prepared “A socialist newsweekly published in the the 1979 revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed shah, one of the by Washington either. If there was a military attack on the hori- interests of working people.” The Militant main pillars of imperialist domination in the region. zon, class-conscious workers everywhere would act accordingly, makes a promise to working people—we Working people around the world should denounce these steps by placing as number one task defense of the Iran’s sovereignty. U.S. tell the truth. We stand behind what we the U.S. and other imperialist powers and demand “Hands off Iran!” imperialism is pursuing its campaign against Iran through economic write and have the facts to prove it. This At the same time, the student protests in Tehran and other Iranian sanctions, by pushing on the nuclear issue, raising the specter of is the paper’s political responsibility. We cities that began in early June deserve wholehearted support. These interdicting ships and planes that they say carry “contraband encourage readers to send the Militant actions are pushing toward greater democratic freedoms. They can cargo”—and surely they are also carrying out CIA actions. The articles about political developments and result in greater space for political expression and organization of Militant has and will continue to write about all these measures struggles by working people and the op- working people in Iran. While there is no indication that this demo- every week. It will continue to call on working people in all the pressed all over the world. The Militant cratic movement is going or will go in a proletarian direction—that imperialist countries to demand “Hands off Iran!” including hands couldn’t exist without its worker-corre- is, toward the working class and its allies and a class-conscious off the Iranian regime. Anything the imperialists are doing to pro- spondents. To help make sure these arti- vanguard assuming the leadership—it is progressive. The regime in mote toppling the Iranian government must be opposed. But that’s cles meet our high standards of accuracy, Tehran has had a hard time clamping down on the protests through not what’s happening at the moment. we are taking this opportunity to reaffi rm the use of goons; for that to happen, they would need a quick victory Some of the Militant’s past coverage may have also conveyed and publish our sourcing policy. in putting down the demonstrations. But that’s not what transpired. the impression that the current Iranian regime, in a warped form, The Militant editorial staff needs to The government had to come out denouncing, to a degree, the goon is a defender of the remaining gains of the revolution. But that’s verify every single fact in each article attacks and even arrest some of the ringleaders, but couldn’t quickly not true. The reality is that there remains little momentum from the that appears in the paper. Sourcing starts fi nd an adequate substitute. It remains stuck with them. 1979 revolution today. It’s been more than 20 years since the early with interviews, as well as facts from other This position is a correction of the line presented in last week’s 1980s when the Iranian toilers poured to the battlefront to defend newspapers, magazines, television, radio, Militant. The subhead of the lead article in the last issue said, “Wash- their country from the U.S.-inspired invasion by Baghdad aimed books, websites, or Internet publications. ington tries to use student protests in drive to oust regime.” It gave at destroying the gains of the anti-shah revolt. No article will be considered for publi- the wrong impression the Militant somehow backed the arguments The great revolution against the monarchy did strengthen the Ira- cation without source materials arriving of the regime in Tehran that the protests are “objectively” counter- nian nation vis-à-vis imperialism. It was truly one of the magnifi cent along with the story. revolutionary, largely instigated by the CIA. popular revolutions of the last quarter of the 20th century. But after 24 It’s important to get the names of those It’s true the U.S. government is trying to take advantage of these years the gains in the relationship of forces have been eroded. quoted in the Militant. This paper’s policy protests to pursue its goals in the region. That’s to be expected from Last week’s Militant also gave the impression that the arrests in is not to use anonymous quotes, or just in- any imperialist power trying to subvert a semicolonial regime that’s Paris by the French police of members of the People’s Mujahedeen dividuals’ fi rst names. The only exception a thorn in its side and faces internal unrest. But there is no need to contradicted U.S. interests. The opposite is the case. Washington to this rule can be when it’s clearly stated put a negative everywhere the imperialists put a positive sign. is leading an international coalition of imperialist powers and their that the person interviewed requested that Any progress toward opening more political space in Iran will allies under the banner of “smashing terrorism” to defend the impe- their name not be used, or that a pseud- undercut the hand of imperialism in its designs to attack the country. rialist system and extend its domination. They are doing it by con- onym be used, for fear of persecution by an That’s the Militant’s central and always its fi rst point. The three main centrating on their most vulnerable foes—armed opposition groups employer or a state repressive institution. arguments Washington has used in its campaign pushing for “regime able to maintain themselves as an alternative because of the declining When a correspondent asks, “May I quote change” in Iran have been: 1) nuclear weapons development, 2) sup- political prospects of the national bourgeoisies in the semicolonial you for an article in the Militant?” They port for “terrorist” groups, and 3) denial of basic human freedoms. world. The U.S. and other imperialist powers have wide support for should ask for the full name. It’s often use- On the nuclear issue, Washington is making steady progress. But going after all these groups that often carry out suicide bombing ful to fi nd out the person’s union affi liation there are indications that Tehran may back down and make more attacks and other similar such actions. There are no disagreements and age as well. Verify that you’ve written concessions on its sovereignty and even its right to systematically among the imperialist powers, or within bourgeois public opinion, down the correct spelling of the person’s develop nuclear power. On the “aiding terrorism” charges, Tehran on the policy of targeting “terrorists.” Washington has kicked its name while you’re at it. Many people like has been showing a degree of collaboration with Washington, but French competitors around enough with the war on Iraq and is suc- to see their name in the paper, but only if only enough to whet the appetite of U.S. imperialism and make the cessfully pushing Paris to get back in line as a deputy sheriff helping it’s accurately spelled and identifi ed. situation worse for Iran. One of the imperialists’ stronger cards is to maintain the world imperialist order. This is what the arrests of the When the source is an interview it the denial of basic democratic rights in Iran. So a movement that Mujahedeen by the French police are all about. They have a little, should be noted in the article submitted. can push back existing restrictions on basic rights and push for more but not much, to do with Paris trying to appease Tehran. Be prepared to fax or e-mail your notes space undercuts the hand of U.S. imperialism and its allies. The U.S. In 1999, following student demonstrations at the time at Tehran to the Militant if there’s any question that rulers can’t use the same arguments against Tehran they used against University, working people came out in solidarity, and then workers needs to be verifi ed. Leafl ets for the spell- Baghdad, that the hated Baathist regime killed thousands of its own raised demands to have unions and legalize strikes. Of course, the ing of names and clippings from news- people now uncovered in mass graves. But Washington does use Iranian bourgeois politicians remember what workers were able papers for quotations are other examples the fact that there are many restrictions on freedom of expression, to do from mid-1978 through 1979, when the toilers were in the of source materials. If you use portions freedom to meet and organize, and it especially takes advantage of frontline trenches of the anti-shah rebellion. of an article previously published in the the prejudicial treatment of women in Iran. The working class so far has not come out visibly to back the Militant, be sure to cite that as a source, Most reports in the bourgeois press, however, have not been able current student actions. But these demonstrations and their demo- and include the clipping, even if it’s avail- to paint these demonstrations as pro-imperialist. Very few people are cratic demands are important to hold and expand the political space able on the Mlitant’s website. quoted by the media saying “We want the Americans to come here to working people, women, and oppressed nationalities have been able One common mistake is the misspelling free us like they did in Iraq.” Other chants like “We want neither shah to maintain. This creates the best conditions to keep the imperialists of names and places. Be sure to double- nor supreme leader” seem to be more prominent. out. The autocratic clampdown on toilers that the regime has been check with the person or check a map For some time the biggest danger to the remaining gains and pursuing—based on the authority of scriptures—is reactionary and or dictionary. Other common mistakes dynamics of the anti-shah revolution has been the regime in Iran. tends to immobilize the masses against any imperialist offensive. are numbers, dates, accents on names, Class-conscious workers are for the Iranian toilers and their allies For this reason also the Militant is clearly on the side of the students and the exact names of political parties, changing that regime. So any protests like those by the students that and explains the signifi cance of their actions for Iran’s toilers and unions, and other organizations. A source tend to further weaken the regime and its restrictions in a way that in the fi ght against imperialism. is needed for all of the above mentioned; it’s easy to misremember such details. Judge the sources you are using from a political standpoint. Not every “fact” Fight like Calero, fight to win! that appears in a bourgeois newspaper is Róger Calero, who beat back Washington’s effort to deport him, thousands of other immigrant workers are subjected to. And they true. Working-class correspondents need has launched a speaking tour to turn his victory into a springboard presented this as an attack not just on him but on all immigrants, to judge: Who is saying this, why do they for other struggles for justice. Across the country and internationally, on the rights of journalists, on the rights of all working people. say it, and is this accurate? Supposedly he is going back to those who supported his defense campaign and The campaign tapped into the ongoing labor resistance. United neutral descriptions, terms, or wording to seek out other fellow working-class fi ghters. His defenders are Food and Commercial Workers Local 789, of which Calero was used by the capitalist press often slip in organizing a “Fight Like Calero—Fight to Win” tour to explain the a member when he lived in Minnesota, adopted the antideporta- their own class bias. It’s better to report it lessons of how the campaign was won and to join with others stand- tion effort as its own and helped raise substantial funds for the in your own words. ing up to attacks by the bosses, the cops, and the government. campaign in the broader labor movement. Other unions and many Each source submitted with an article to Calero’s tour is about linking up with other immigrant workers immigrant rights organizations pitched in as well. the Militant should be labeled with letters, resisting similar deportation threats, spreading the lessons of his There were no guarantees that Calero’s fi ght would succeed, or from A to Z. Use numbers to indicate the fi ght and its trajectory in continuity with other defense efforts how long it would last, but the odds were maximized by this stance. source in each particular lettered source. waged by the vanguard of the working-class movement over de- As the protest messages poured into the immigration offi ces and For example, verify a fact (1) from an ar- cades, and, in doing so, maximizing the chance that the percentage the case received media coverage, it became a hot potato for the ticle in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (letter of fi ghts against Washington that end in similar victories is raised. government—it was the wrong fi ght at the wrong time for them. A). The source for that fact would be A1. The stakes are signifi cant, since the assault by the employers and Defenders of Calero are now using the outcome of this fi ght as a In a bracket next to the sentence where that their government against immigrant workers is at the spearpoint tool for other defense efforts. Some, like Omar Arango in Newark, fact appears type , and so on, until of the antilabor offensive by the ruling class. New Jersey, have drawn on the approach taken by Calero’s defense you’ve indicated sources for every fact. If Calero and his defenders didn’t simply put up a fi ght. They campaign and won a victory of their own against the immigra- the source is an interview you conducted fought to win. They knew the U.S. legal arena, especially the immi- tion cops. Another fi ght that has been intertwined with Calero’s mark the section with . gration system, is rigged against working people. So they launched is the campaign for justice for Serafín Olvera, which recently Marking these source references for each a campaign that was public, vocal, broad, and nonpartisan, drawing won the conviction of three cops involved in the brutalization paragraph of your article will make it on the best traditions of the working-class movement. that resulted in his death. Over the past few months, wherever he possible for the Militant editors and copy Defenders of Calero, a Militant staff writer and an editor of the traveled, speaking about his case, Calero pledged to spread the editors to do an accurate job in preparing Spanish-language socialist magazine Perspectiva Mundial, told the word about other struggles for justice. These include the campaign the article for publication. facts of the case, raised funds for legal and publicity expenses, and against the frame-up of Farouk Abdel-Muhti, the effort to free the Working people want to be armed with put pressure on the government to drop the case. They told how he Puerto Rican political prisoners, the fi ght by garment workers at the facts. By sticking to these guidelines, was arrested by immigration cops on his way back from reporting Point Blank in Miami to win recognition of their union, and the all Militant correspondents can help make assignments in Cuba and Mexico, and how U.S. authorities were struggle to free the Cuban Five. their paper an effective, powerful weapon trying to deport him based on a minor offense on his record that the Meeting those commitments, Calero and his defenders are join- in discussing world politics and acting in immigration agency itself had waived a decade ago when it issued ing with other militant workers to spread the message about their the struggles of the international working him a green card. They pointed out that Calero faced what tens of common struggles and saying: “Let’s fi ght together to win!” class. 10 The Militant July 7, 2003 Three years of communist work in Carolinas BY SETH GALINSKY repeat subscribers to the Militant and 250 KANNAPOLIS, North Carolina—A to Perspectiva Mundial, said Michael El- meeting held here June 14 celebrated the lis. Campaigners had set up regular tables work accomplished in the last three years on campuses, and had sold door-to-door in by socialist workers and young socialists working-class areas and at factory gates. in the Kannapolis area. The event offi cially The result was a successful conclusion to closed the Pathfi nder Bookstore and offi ces the local drive as well as the international of the Socialist Workers Party, and sent effort, he said. off SWP and Young Socialists members to Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, and ‘See ourselves as part of the world’ Seattle, where they will continue the work To carry out communist politics in the of building the communist movement. Carolinas, as anywhere, said Richter, “you The SWP decided to establish the have to start with the world political situa- organizing committee here in 2000. The tion. Working people have to see ourselves move came a few months after the work- as part of the world, and part of a global ers at the giant Fieldcrest Cannon textile fi ght against the conditions that the natural mill brought their fi ght to unionize the workings of imperialism impose on us.” plant—fi rst launched 25 years earlier—to This international approach, which has a victorious conclusion. The successful been blood-and-bone of the commu- organizing drive in the anti-union “right- nist movement since its foundation, to-work” state helped to throw a spotlight has been made a little more natural by on the character of the area as an industrial the increasingly multinational charac- center, and the potential weight in politics ter of the working-class in the region, Militant/Connie Allen of its working class. he said—in part because of the impact Above: members of Union of Needletrades, In the wake of a deepening crisis, the of immigration. Like Allen, Richter Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) mill’s current owner, Pillowtex, is now has been working at Pillowtex. “Our from locals in North Carolina and Los pushing workers to sign on to a new round co-workers there are Black, white, Angeles picket alongside workers at of takebacks and simultaneously threaten- Latino, Bosnian, Laotian, Hmong, Hollander Home Fashions plant in Tignall, ing to sell the plant or enter bankruptcy African, and more,” he said. Georgia, April 20, 2001. Left: march in protection. Richter pointed to a display show- Columbia, South Carolina, Jan. 21, 2002, In the past three years organizing com- ing some of the struggles that commu- to demand the removal of the Confederate mittee members have been part of a number nists had joined over the last several battle fl ag from state grounds. of social protests and have built solidarity years from their base in the workers with some important union struggles. These district in Kannapolis and as UNITE experiences were a key theme of the event. members. included the campaign launched by the During the discussion, a worker from a Participants included members and support- Members of Local 1501 at Pillowtex’s South Carolina NAACP against the fl ying nearby auto parts plant asked “what is the ers of the communist movement from At- Plant 1 built solidarity with their fellow of the Confederate battle fl ag on the grounds difference between socialism and com- lanta; Birmingham, Alabama; Greensboro, union members at Hollander Home Fash- of the South Carolina state house, to the munism. I’ve always heard negative things North Carolina; and Washington, D.C., ions in Los Angeles during a strike in 2001, 5,000-strong demonstration in Greenville, about communism.” She had read in the along with workers from the Pillowtex he said. They had joined a squad of the South Carolina, in May of this year to de- Salisbury Post about Connie Allen’s write- plant and a local auto parts factory. workers from California in a picket line mand that Greenville County make Martin in campaign for U.S. Senate. She came by They were welcomed by Connie Allen, outside the company’ s factory in Tignall, Luther King’s Birthday a paid holiday. the bookstore a couple of months ago and who chaired the meeting. Allen was the Georgia. The workers at the Georgia plant The economic depression, which is picked up a copy of New International no. Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. refused to cross the line. affecting working people in the United 7, with the feature article, “The Opening Senate in North Carolina in 2002 and has UNITE members and other workers also States and around the world, has had a big Guns of World War III.” been an active member of the Union of joined solidarity actions with the Charleston impact in the Carolinas. Tens of thousands This time, she took full advantage of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Em- Five. They were members of the Internation- of workers have lost their jobs as more than the bookstore’s closing sale. All stock was ployees (UNITE) at Pillowtex for several al Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), who 100 textile plants in North Carolina and marked down by 50 percent. She bought years. were framed up after police attacked a picket almost 60 in South Carolina have closed Teamster Power and Teamster Politics by The speakers panel included Dennis line in Charleston in January 2000 that was since 1997. This is the context of Pillow- Farrell Dobbs, Cosmetics, Fashion, and the Richter, a member of the organizing organized to protest the use of non-union tex’s threats of closure. Exploitation of Women by Evelyn Reed, committee and of the SWP’s National labor at the dock. The ILA defense effort Socialist workers were part of the discus- Joseph Hansen, and Mary-Alice Waters, Committee; Sam Manuel, the Militant’s drew wide support, including from outside sion among unionists and other workers at Socialism on Trial by James P. Cannon, Washington bureau chief; and Michael the United States, and ended in victory when the giant plant. “We put forward the need and New International no. 10. Ellis of the Young Socialists. the state dropped its frame-up efforts. None to fi ght for a shorter work week with no cut A Pillowtex worker decided on the Manuel spoke on key trends in the class of the fi ve served jail time. in pay to spread around the available work Spanish-language edition of Capitalism’s struggle, including the increasing impact In October 2001, said Richter, paper- and for a massive public workers program” World Disorder: Working-class Politics at of the economic depression, the intensi- workers in Brevard County, North Caro- to fi ght unemployment, Richter said. the Millennium by Jack Barnes and Nueva fying conflicts among Washington and lina, went on strike “in the face of company In the midst of the economic crisis and Internacional no. 5, with the article “U.S. other imperialist powers, the accelerated threats to close the plant unless the work- rising unemployment, workers continue to Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War” by campaign by liberal and left forces to win ers agreed to concessions that would have fi nd their way to the unions, Richter noted. the same author. working people to “lesser evil” solutions in gutted the union contract. They stood their In Tar Heel, North Carolina, a 10-year fi ght SWP branches in Atlanta and Washing- preparation for the 2004 elections, and the ground to the end even though the owner for recognition of the United Food and ton, D.C., will continue to pay close atten- current uptick in labor resistance around eventually closed the plant in 2002.” Commercial Workers Union continues at tion to political and union developments in the country. Socialist workers also participated Smithfi eld. The plant is the largest pork- the Carolinas as they did from 1997 to 2000. The socialists had just participated in the in battles for Black rights, which play a processing facility in the world, with 6,000 Prior to that the party had offi ces in Raleigh international drive to win 1,000 new and weighty role in the area, said Richter. They workers. and then Greensboro for some 20 years. LETTERS No Israeli concessions imperialist occupation of Iraq about to put aside their struggle. towards Iran. Hezbollah has not claimed there was archaeological It is my opinion that the article will so demoralize the Palestinian The fact is that the concessions claimed to have carried out actions evidence in Neanderthal burial in the June 16 issue entitled “Tel people that Washington’s unsavory are by a Palestinian Authority de- inside Israel or outside of Lebanon. sites that males were buried up- Aviv makes concessions to Pales- proposals will be swallowed and an moralized by Washington’s victory They have also not targeted Israeli right with pottery, food, and other tinians to bloc with Washington in obstacle to imperialism’s domina- in Iraq and hoping that by placing civilians for suicide bombings. artifacts for the afterlife, but that targeting Iran,” should have more tion will be removed. Abu Mazen as prime minister, a Of course, a victory by Wash- females were not buried this way. correctly been titled “Tel Aviv and In addition, Sharon, as Malapa- man Washington was favorable to, ington against the Iranian people The conclusion was that, contrary Washington seek to pacify the Pal- nis points out, rejects any negotia- a bone would be thrown to the Pal- would also be a terrible blow to modern-day assertions that estinian people’s struggle in order tions on the fate of the 4 million estinians. It is another step in the against the Palestinians. The article Neanderthal women were treated to target Iran.” As is, the article refugees and has placed numerous disorientation of the bourgeoisifi ed by Malapanis states that conces- equally, such was not the case leaves you with an impression other objections. PLO leadership. sions were given to the Palestinians and they were treated poorly, that is not borne out by the facts The fact of the matter is that A point on the Lebanese or- in order to be able to target Iran. on account of the fact that one or even by the content. the closures, i.e. the siege, of ganization Hezbollah: This is an We must make sure that we do could conclude that how a society Comrade Malapanis makes the Palestinian population centers organization that was part of a not leave the impression that the buries its members also directly point that the “peace” plan calls continue. The settlement activi- decades-long popular resistance Palestinians may somehow gain represents how that same society for the formation of a Palestinian ties continue unabated, the only to Israeli occupation in southern something out of Washington’s treats its living. state on the condition that the Pal- settlements targeted by Sharon so Lebanon and also resistance to at- hostility to the Iranian people. So, who is right? Lewis Morgan estinian Authority cracks down on far are a few empty trailers that tempts by Washington and Tel Aviv Georges Mehrabian or the History Channel? Also, in the groups Washington considers even his government considers as to foist a brazenly pro-imperialist Athens, Greece the age of barbarism, Egyptian as “terrorists.” Nothing new here! illegal. The moves against the latter regime in Beirut. They were part society was male-dominated, be- Where is the concession here? were more for international public of a victory by the Arab masses cause the Pharaohs were all men. This does not even go as far as consumption and have no effect on against the Israeli occupation of Morgan or History Channel? Tom Lobello previous agreements and discus- the ground. southern Lebanon and also against I read the article in the June 16, Minneapolis, Minnesota sions that Washington was a part Had Tel Aviv lifted the siege, had a U.S. military expeditionary force 2003 issue about Engels’s Origin of, such as Oslo or Camp David II. Tel Aviv agreed to dismantle real in 1982–83 that had been sent to of the Family, Private Property, A Palestinian state where? Some- settlements, had Tel Aviv agreed to shore up the Phalangist govern- and the State. In Lewis Morgan’s The letters column is an open where in the territories occupied in the establishment of an independent ment in Beirut. They thus stand Ancient Society there are mentioned forum for all viewpoints on 1967, the borders will be fi gured Palestinian state without ifs, ands, as a bad example that must be the three ages of humankind: sav- sub jects of interest to working out later. The real content of the or buts, then we could have talked removed. Their close relations to agery, barbarism, and civilization, peo ple. Road Map is part 2 which is the de- of concessions. Indications are the Tehran regime continues to be and how women were treated equal- Please keep your letters brief. mand on the Palestinian Authority that the Palestinian masses have a source of much consternation in ly on account of the fact that there Where necessary they will be to crack down on the resistance to not seen anything positive in the imperialist circles. For that reason was no dominant patriarchy. abridged. Please indicate if you the Israeli occupation. Washington so-called concessions provided by too they must be eliminated as But I was watching a documen- pre fer that your initials be used and Tel Aviv believe that the U.S. Sharon’s government and are not Washington escalates its hostility tary on the History Channel which rath er than your full name.

The Militant July 7, 2003 11 Ontario strikers resist pension cuts

BY ELVIDIO MEJIA cials announced that they would not be able AND PATRICIA O’BEIRNE to meet some contracts for nickel, copper, SUDBURY, Ontario—Some 3,500 work- and cobalt. ers walked off the job and set up picket lines On June 17 a court injunction went into at midnight May 31 outside Inco’s nickel effect forcing the union to allow the bosses mine in Sudbury and at its refi nery in Port to bring in 1,100 non-union workers. Colbourne, east of Toronto. The strike, by The union is demanding that Inco drop the United Steelworkers (USWA) Local demands for concessions in health-care ben- 6500, has shut down the largest nickel-min- efi ts and increase the lifetime pension for ing operation of the Canadian mining giant. workers over age 65 by 10 percent. Under It affects about one-third of the company’s this proposal, employees with more than 30 workforce and half its nickel capacity. years of experience would see their monthly Inco mines, mills, and refi nes about 9 check raised from $3,000 to $3,300. percent of the world’s nickel, a base metal Wayne Fraser, director of USWA district used especially in the production of stain- 6, said May 29 that the company has refused less steel. The operation in Sudbury, a city to confi rm that it will withdraw “conces- four hours north of Toronto, produced 226 sions affecting current and future retirees million pounds of nickel and 230 million and …will not reduce health-care benefi ts. pounds of copper in 2002. Inco is still holding on to concessions af- On the day before the strike the workers fecting seniority and is refusing to address voted to reject the company’s contract offer increases in the minimum pension.” by almost 95 percent. Nine out of 10 union The health-care takebacks include halv- members cast a vote. ing the entitlement for dental visits from Militant/Elvidio Mejia Contract talks had begun on April 7. A twice to once a year. The Inco bosses also Steelworkers, on strike since May 31, picket Inco nickel mine in Sudbury, Ontario. range of issues were in dispute, including want to force all active and retired workers pensions and vacation time and pay. Nego- to go to the same company-approved phar- Speaking to Militant reporters during a previous workers fought for. A lot of the tiations broke down after the bosses insisted macist and optometrist. picket-line visit, workers fi rmly rejected young guys are out here fi ghting because on measures attacking health-care benefi ts any notion that they should be made to our forefathers fought for the benefi ts we for current employees, retirees, and survi- Pensions a key issue in the strike pay for the pension shortfall. “We say, have,” said Keith Bona, 30, who has worked vors—family members who are entitled to Pensions are a key issue for the workers, it’s not our fault, it’s your fault what hap- at Inco’s Copper Cliff south mine for two receive benefi ts after a worker dies. 45 percent of whom are eligible to retire pened to the pension fund—the company and a half years. The strike halted production at Sudbury, within three years. The company has plead- has to bail itself out,” said Shane Cusack, “If they want us back, they’re going although the bosses used helicopters to ferry ed poverty in the face of the union demands, a union steward who has worked at Inco to have to share the wealth,” said striker nonunion staff across the picket line to carry claiming a shortfall in its pension funds of for two years. Shirley Brown, a worker with 29 years out maintenance. On June 3 company offi - US$802 million (US$1 = Can$1.36). “They’re trying to take away benefi ts that experience. The production and maintenance workers in Sudbury are being joined on the picket line by some of Inco’s 10,000 retirees. Scotland ban on pro-Irish marches defeated Wayne Stonehouse, 57, said that Inco awak- ened “a sleeping giant” when it attempted BY CAROLINE BELLAMY from ‘both sides.’ I told them we have the 30 loyalists (those “loyal” to the “union” to slash health-care benefi ts. WISHAW, Scotland—More than 300 right to march the same as anyone else, and of Britain with Northern Ireland) waving The company withdrew its proposed supporters of the fi ght for a united Ireland that we could guarantee there would be no Union Jack fl ags with pictures of British health-care management program the day marched through this Lanarkshire town trouble from the band. After an hour and monarch Elizabeth Windsor and shouting workers voted to reject the company’s offer, June 14, pushing back a nine-month effort a half, councillors took a closed vote and anti-Irish abuse. There were also a couple but Stonehouse said he doesn’t believe it’s by cops, rightists, and the local government gave the go-ahead. I think it was because of small groups shouting and giving fascist “off the table” for good. to stop their action. In January a similar we told them that if they banned this march salutes outside loyalist pubs. Stonehouse said he’s had to access the parade was banned by the local council we would just apply again.” “The loyalists swore an oath that we’d health benefi ts a lot after being “all screwed only hours before it was due to start. Cops were out in force on the day of the never walk down Main Street,” said Padraig up from working in the mines.” He had two Surrounded by stewards and then by po- event, deploying seven divisions partly in O’Caisdie, a joiner who has a long asso- heart attacks on the job and suffers from em- lice, the Crossmaglen Patriots Republican riot gear, two vans of dogs, 10 police on ciation with Republican bands in Wishaw. physema, even though he doesn’t smoke. Flute Band from Wishaw played for almost horses, and two ambulances. “They’re trying “This march today means everything to two hours as they marched. “Today has been to make us look like we’re something dan- me.” Elvidio Mejia is a member of the United absolutely fantastic,” said David Weir, a cen- gerous,” one demonstrator commented. “We haven’t won yet, though,” said Food and Commercial Workers union at tral leader of the band at a celebratory social The declining strength of Unionism in Weir. “We still want a parade with all Maple Leaf Foods in Burlington, Ontario. that evening. “Nobody can turn round now Ireland, and consequently Scotland, was seven bands going through Wishaw, and Patricia O’Beirne is a member of the Union and say we can’t march on our streets! I’m refl ected in the organized opposition to we won’t be happy until we get that. And of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Em- so proud of every one of you—let’s leave the march. There was one protest of about we will get it.” ployees in Toronto. with our heads held high.” “We’re entitled to march the same as them,” said Lorna Slavin, a hospital cleaner who was taking part in her fi rst UN plan delays vote on W. Sahara sovereignty march. “Them” referred to the pro-Brit- ish, anti-Catholic Orange Order and asso- BY ANNALUCIA VERMUNT of Annan’s moves in February last year The new “peace plan” proposes a period ciated bands who frequently hold marches CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand—On to force a “take-it-or-leave-it” resolu- of four years of autonomy under Moroccan in Wishaw, including in Craigneuk, a pre- May 23 United Nations Secretary General tion to the confl ict. Baker prepared the sovereignty followed by a referendum that dominantly Catholic area. Kofi Annan presented a report to the UN “framework agreement” in 2001 offering would include those resident in Western Sa- The successful parade scored a victory Security Council on the decolonization of “autonomy” to Western Sahara while hara since 1999. In response to the Baker in the fi ght by those of Irish origin in Scot- Western Sahara. The council has extended allowing the Moroccan government to plan, Polisario outlined the many perils for land for full equality and the right to pub- the mandate of the United Nations Mis- continue its occupation, basically scut- the Sahrawi people during the autonomy licly assert their political identifi cation with sion for the Referendum (MINURSO) in tling the settlement plan. Washington period, as it is proposed, and the problem the struggle for a united Ireland. Following Western Sahara to July, while the council and Paris hope that giving a new face of the new criteria for eligibility to vote mass migration to Scotland’s central belt considers this report. to the Moroccan occupation will defuse in a referendum. The Moroccan occupiers in the wake of the great Irish famine of Annan’s report recommends the imple- the Sahrawi liberation struggle and allow moved 170,000 Moroccans into Western Sa- the 1840s, bosses were able to institute a mentation of a “peace plan” drafted by his them to maintain imperialist control over hara in September 1991 and another 50,000 caste-like system of job discrimination. envoy, James Baker, former U.S. secretary the phosphate-rich area. in January 1998, and they now want to give More highly skilled, better paid jobs were of state. Annan claims the proposal is a Morocco is due to sign a free-trade the right to vote to many of these settlers. reserved for Protestant workers. compromise between an earlier frame- agreement with Washington by the end of Mohamed Abdelaziz, president of “We originally applied to march, with work agreement, which would have placed the year. the Sahrawi Republic, told the Polisario all the seven bands in the West of Scotland Western Sahara as an autonomous region The Sahrawi people have a decades- Front’s 30th anniversary celebrations in Republican Bands Alliance, last Septem- under the control of Morocco, and the 1989 long record of fi ghting against imperialist the refugee camps in Algeria, “After 30 ber,” said Weir, a roofer. “We didn’t expect settlement plan, which included a referen- domination and championing the position years of struggle, fi ghting, and sacrifi ces, any problems—the other Republican bands dum where the Sahrawi people would vote that the natural resources of the country are and 12 years of the UN Settlement Plan, hold local parades. But the council raised on their status, backed by Polisario. the patrimony of the Sahrawis, which the the Polisario Front, which abhors terror- nine objections to the route. The Polisario Front, founded in 1973, has imperialist powers view as a threat to their ism and intimidation, will remain strongly The January march—called to com- led the fi ght for the national liberation of interests in the region. behind its lofty objectives and principles, memorate the 31st anniversary of Bloody Western Sahara fi rst against Spanish rule, The earlier settlement plan had been including to enable the people of Western Sunday, the day on which the British Army and then against the Moroccan and Maurita- agreed to by both Morocco and the Polisario Sahara alone to exercise freely their right to shot and killed 14 unarmed civil rights dem- nian invasion of their land after Spain’s with- Front. The plan provided for a referendum vote for freedom, self-determination, and onstrators in Derry, Ireland—was banned at drawal in 1975. Polisario’s forces defeated on colonialism or independence for West- independence.” the last minute after police claimed they had Mauritania’s troops in 1979 and forced ern Sahara. Morocco consistently blocked According to a Sahara Press Service received a “threat of signifi cant disorder.” their departure. The war against Moroccan implementation of this plan, with U.S. back- report, Abdelaziz emphasized that the goal “This time we were called to a meeting occupation continued until a UN-brokered ing. In December 1999 the United Nations of the ceasefi re was to hold a referendum at 6:00 p.m. on Friday night,” continued ceasefi re was signed in 1989, which pro- published a list of 86,425 identifi ed voters. on self-determination. “The Sahrawis can Weir. “The police said again that they had duced the settlement plan. Morocco has since fi led 131,000 appeals, go back to arms if such goal is not realized,” information that big trouble was planned The latest report comes in the wake delaying the referendum for years. he pointed out.

12 The Militant July 7, 2003