Can the Party

EDITED BY MICHAEL HARRINGTON Fight Reagan? By Michael Harrington Jan.-Feb. 1982 Vol. X, No. 1-2 $1 HE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION has failed utterly and cruelly to meet the worst economic ( REAGAN ON CRIME: •J INSIDE and social crisis in half a cen­ tury. Unemployment soars; the RETRl8UTIOtlSHOllU> BE 1 government makes the rich SWIFT ANDSCltE FOR Dl~llf)CllA'l I(~ richer and the poor poorer ; the THOSE WHO PREY UPON THE gains of minorities and women INNOCE~ TllW>EiL'tAND AGENl)A are subverted. All the while ntEWEAr.!! Wall Street awaits the return of a double SPECIAL digit inflation, only temporarily mod­ erated by a vicious attack upon the living ISSUE standards of working and middle-class people, as well as upon those at the bot­ Taking a Stand, p. S tom of society. What does DEMOCRATIC AGENDA propose Reagan is failing ; Reagan will fail. to turn this country around ? But his failure does not automatically guarantee victory for the trade unionists, Local Organizing, p. 7 minorities, women, and social activists Reagan isn't the only one concerned with the who oppose him. Those constituencies grassroots. Progressives are gearing up at the that make up the democratic left have ( REAQMON THE BUDGET: state level to send a message to Washington. to produce Jheir alternative to the insanity J of Reaganomics. If they do not, Reagan's ... ADDITIONAL CUTS WILL . ~pecial Report: Credit, p. 8 catastrophe will defeat the left as well as the right. BE MADE IN THE ~nng~g interest rates down will be a key Since 1975, DEMOCRATIC AGENDA LEGAL AJD,MEDICAll. ts~e m 1982. Brian Turner offers a plan of AND SCHOOL·LUNCH action. of which DSOC is a major part, has tried to unite that democratic left behind a PROGRAMS!! program responsive to the current crisis Why Run With Democrats?, p. 12 of the American system. We have see~ If the Democrats are in such bad shape why 1 that the old liberalism, a significant, if should we stick with them? Ruth Jordan Jooks limited, achievement that was as far left at where they're going and how we'll show as American politics ever went, no longer them another route. ~esponds to structural problems rooted m the economy, dominated by a corporate On the Left, p. 14 power aided and abetted by the govern­ ment. So we have taken the battle for a DSOC/ NAM UNIJY CONVENTION real "New Beginning" into the Demo- DETROIT, MARCH 19-21 cratic party, that contradictory coalition of some of the worst and most of the term convention in 1978 we organized programs that are cruc:W. noc just for best people in the land, which is, for an impressive floor fight against Carter's minorities and women, but for most of better or worse, where the progressive policies, and we were an important part the rest of the American people as well. constituencies are and, therefore, where of the progressive coalition at the 1980 And technocrats such as the DNC chair we are. convention. Charles Manatt pretend that the GOP DEMOCRATIC AGENDA anticipated Carter was defeated, and some of merely outorganized the Democrats in the current intolerable situation. In 1976 the best people in Congress went down 1980, that the party's problems can be we struggled at the convention to make with him. But the response of the Demo­ solved by better computers and mailing the Democratic party conscious that the cratic party to this fiasco has been woe­ lists. old remedies were no longer workable. fully inadequate. At times in 1980, Con­ At the 1979 DEMOCRATIC AGENDA In 1977 we marched to the Democratic gressional Democrats proposed give­ conference in Washington, D.C. we said National Committee (DNC) headquar­ aways to the corporate rich that were to that America would either go as far be­ ters in Washington, D.C. to proclaim the right of the Reaganites. The "neo­ yond Franklin Roosevelt as Roosevelt that if Carter kept on with his inept ver­ liberals" may reaffirm their support for went beyond Hoover or else we would sion of an obsolete politics he would be minorities and women, but they then call be dragged back to Hoover. Well, here defeated in 1980. At the Memphis mid- for a retreat from economic and social we are now halfway back to Hoover and Reagan is draggin~ hard. Where is the democratic left alternative ? This issue of DEMOCRATIC LEFT is organized around an answer to that ques­ I JITTERS tion. It focuses on a series of immediate To the Editor: decision to place intermediate-range nu­ demands for full employment with price One has to be a very careful reader clear missiles in Europe. The Italian and stability, progressively financed and de­ of Patrick Lacefield's cover article (No­ Spanish Communist parties refused to signed to overcome racial and sexual dis­ vember 1981) to find even a hint of the participate. They knew it could take less crimination. These demands, listed on difference between the NATO decision than 15 minutes for the Soviet missiles pages 5-6, are dear and straightforward. of 1979 to deploy intermediate-range to hit all the major cities of Europe. They But they rest upon a complex analysis nuclear missiles in Europe and the de­ proposed instead that the Soviets should of the current crisis. This article is an ployment of SS-20s, the Soviet equiva­ remove their missiles and the Americans attempt to give a brief overview of that lent missiles, in Europe. Aside from the should not emplace theirs. analysis. fact that the Soviet missiles seem almost The demand for unilateral disarma­ First we must answer the question: benign in Lacefield's exposition, intended ment is as great an obstacle to peace in Why has the traditional liberalism failed? only to modernize their we~pons and to the nuclear age as the effort to depict the Not for the reasons that Reagan and the achieve parity with the U.S., there is just use of "tactical" nuclear missiles as a conservatives give. They say that big­ a coy allusion to the big difference: the feasible strategy. The Italian and Spanish spending liberals forced prices up and Soviets have been emplacing their mis­ Communists were on target in this matter crowded out private investors who are siles, targeted on Paris, London, Rome, -get rid of nuclear weapons East and the main source of jobs, thus causing Brussels, Amsterdam and Bonn, for the West. Perhaps if Lacefield had been in both inflation and unemployment. But past three years at the rate of about five Sweden when the Soviet nuclear armed the embarrassing fact is that the Amer­ to ten a month, while not a single one submarine made its tortuous way through ican welfare state spends /eu than any of the American missiles is in place. the fjords to the shore, he might have other advanced Western society. It takes Indeed, the first ones are scheduled for glimpsed the real menace in Europe. leu of a percentage of its Gross National emplacement in 1983 ! One can hardly Joseph Clark Product (GNP) for social programs, and glean that fact from Lacefield's happy New York, N.Y. yet those countries that spend more have description of Belgium's postpone!Dent lower inflation and unemployment. More of "the stationing date from next year's Ed. Note: We have received many to the point, the Reaganites have been scheduled start." letters about the forum on abortion forced to learn a lesson DEMOC.IV\TIC More than two years ago the Soviet politics that appeared in November. AGENDA has been teaching for years: and French Communist parties convened We will not be able to print all of federal budget deficits arc not the cause a conference of European Communist them, but we will devote substantial but the comeq11enu of the crisis. Layoffs parties in Paris to protest the NATO space to them in an upcoming issue. are extremely expensive-jobless work-

Michael Harrington DEMOCllATIC LEFT is published ten times a year Editor (monthly aa:p< Jnly and August) by the Dem­ Maxine Phillips ocratic Socialist Organizing Committee, 853 Managing Editor Broadway, Suite 801, New York, N.Y. 10003. Telephone: (212) 260-3270. Subscriptions: $15 Selma Lenihan sustaining md institutional; $8 regular. Signed Organizational Director arttdes express the opinions of the authors. Ben Tafoya ISS-11\l 0164-320-. Political Director Second Class Permit Paid at New York. N.Y.

2 DEMOCRATIC LEFT }ANUARY-FEBllUAEY i 9S2 regions for growth and favored access 3. Making the Federal Reserve inflation policy that aims directly at the to capital to meet fairly dear economic Board representative of the various sec­ causes of inflation rather than at weaken­ development goals: job creation, produc­ tors of the economy, instead of having ing labor and smaller business through tivity and real income growth, a strong Board members be exclusively bankers layoffs, bankruptcies, and absorption into industrial base. Ronald Reagan and the and academics. Members from labor, ever larger corporate giants. A serious supply-side mythology, it can be simply manufacturing industries, construction, anti-inflation policy is necessary to over­ noted, are moving this country away from local government, as well as farmers and come the simple-minded belief, on Wall the economic models that work in other consumers would give the Fed a perspec­ Street and elsewhere (ample contrary industrial economies. Simplistic aggre­ tive on the full impact of interest rates experience abroad notwithstanding) , that gate monetary policy-like the absence of and credit policies. recessionary budget deficits directly lead industrial policy, regional policy, and Extending the Credit Control Act to higher inflation and therefore justify labor market policy-is just one example of 1969 before it expires in June 1982 high interest rates. of America's increasingly aberrant devo­ will be necessary to assure that the gov­ Serious, targeted anti-inflation poli­ tion to long obsolete, exclusively market­ ernment has authority for targeting credit cies provide a path for returning to eco­ based solutions. and keeping interest rates down for pro­ nomic growth and job creation while ductive activities. Extending and, if pos­ making progress against inflation. Lower Prospects for 1982 sible, improving the now open-ended interest rates and targeted credit policy This will be a hot year for interest credit control provisions of the Act will should be part of that effort. • rates and, therefore, for the politics of require a substantial political fight. rates and, therepore, for the politics of But the fight for targeted credit Brian Turner is dirutor of lexislaJion ord interest rates in 1981 brought us the policies is just part of the battle. Ulti­ and economic policy of the ..A.FL-CIO second recession in two years-the first mately, targeting society's scarce resources Industrial Union Department. The views time in a century we have had back-to­ to meet our economic needs will have expreued here are his and should not back recessions. Although rates are lower to take us beyond credit policy: to indus­ neceuarily be taken to represent those of now, by all indications and most fore­ trial policy for rebuilding our industrial the AFL-CIO or the Industrial Union casts, the first signs of recovery from thU base; to regional and urban policies to Department recession will trigger a swift return to prevent an unjust and inefficient aban­ record short-term and long-term interest doning of major parts of the country; For more information about the rates. There is every likelihood of another to active employment and training poli­ National Council for Low Interest interest rate recession in 1982-the third cies to develop the skills and employment Rates, write to the Council at 1125 recession in as many years. With the in­ potential of all those who seek work. Seventeenth St., N.W., Washington, ternational transmission of high interest We urgently need an effective anti- D.C. 20036. rates and their depressing consequences on jobs and investments to the rest of the world, the prospects of protracted How Changing Economic Conditions global stagnation are very serious. Can Affect the Budget Deficit The National Council for I.ow In­ terest Rates, a recently formed coalition, O.ta In billion• of dolltn; mlnua lltn• Indicate tM deficit will be 1_,..., will push hard to cut off the needless plu. "'"' that the deficit will be 91Mller spiral of rising interest rates threatening ·n •93 'M ... 'M for mid-1982. It calls for three basic Effect on deficit if real steps that can be taken fairly quickly to GNP.growth decreases 1 -sa -$11 -*33 -w -see bring down interest rates in nonrecession­ percentage point ary times and to prevent a destructive each year credit crunch that would cut off produc­ ive investment and force us back into recession. Effect on deficit if inflation Increases 1 +S4 +111 +$19 +$33 +$48 1. Holding interest rates overall percentage point down to affordable levels through careful each year use of the technical tools available to the Federal Reserve Board. Effect on deficit if the unemployment rate 2. Targeting available credit toward increases by I productive uses (housing, new plants and percentage point each year equipment, autos and trucks, family farm­ ing, state and local government, public Effect on deficit if utility investments) . Making credit less interest rates cuily available for nonproductive uses Increase 1 percentage point (~ity speculation, corporate take- each year 0\""C::S, coodominium conversions) would di:.."Ccly o.se up the availability of credit for p:oducti~ uses. Tllo"'"' vonin ...1 ,..._a. im pSUA!.Y·fEH.U.UY 1982 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 11 Dems Still on the Agenda? By Ruth Jordan DEMOCRATIC AGENDA coalition was formed in 1975, it came ~ogether in a period of ;ome hope. Active prod­ ding by liberal and left forces had made the Dem­ ocratic party one of the most open organizations in the history of American political parties. Reform coali­ tions like the Democratic Conference had ..,.. won grudging acceptance among party ..c ll regulars. Reforms had broadened the pos­ c sibilities of participation by poor people, ·r_ .,, ·- .." community activists, rank-and-file trade • ~

unionists, minorities, women and grass­ ec" roots Democrats. The promise of their ;>...... participation was more progressive poli­ ROTHCO ·e ~--s-- tics. Affirmative action encouraged state .,,...... ~.... z committees, convention delegations, and " ... Try not to dwell on the winners' always mistaking your vote as a vote national party committees to abide by the of confidence." 50-50 rule guaranteeing equal represen­ tation for women. Minority and youth Policy criticism of Carter came from all about-namely, running and winning representation was required on all dele­ the right and the left of the party, but elections and raising funds for that pur­ gations and most committees. The party one area in which both united in their pose. These leaders failed to understand seemed to be endlessly exploring internal criticism concerned his total disregard for that the essential victory of the party re­ structures and alternative patterns of po­ party building. The only time a politial forms was to put power into the hands litical selection with an emphasis on en­ party is likely to build a war chest for of people at the local level. It didn't couraging wide democratic participation future campaigns is when it is in power. necessarily take it out of the hands of among registered Democratic voters. Carter was not a Democratic party loyal­ organized labor, for example. Unions The liberal-left coalition was feeling ist. He saw himself as one who ran with highly organized grassroots organi­ its oats. In 1976 the Democratic party against the regulars and, therefore, never zations managed consistently to elect passed one of its most progressive plat­ appreciated the value of a strong national large numbers of delegates to national forms, a platform committed to full em­ party. As a result, the Democratic party conventions. ployment, national health care, and so­ suffered a triple defeat in November But these leaders, including very cial justice. And although the convention 1980: it lost the presidency; it lost the liberal labor leaders who espoused nominated conservative Jimmy Carter, a Senate; and itwent$5 million in the hole. this position, were supposed to be the small town businessman turned politi­ It's not too surprising that when people "who knew what a political party cian, the mood of the convention was Democratic party leaders at the national was all about." They shared something feisty and progressive. Candidate Carter level were looking for a scapegoat they else-their age. Their politics, viewpoints, ran at odds with his platform, lacing his began to finger the "activists." Linking and best ideas had been formed in the campaign with large doses of anti-Wash­ together the internal party turmoil of forties and fifties; for some, in the ington rhetoric. But he also talked about the sixties and seventies, the Nocon de­ thirties. Their analysis of America and, full employment, better medical care for feats, affirmative action and rules and therefore, the solutions they proposed, the poor, and peace in the world. Once reform commissions, they coined the term were tilted back to an age that no longer elected, his appointments of blacks and "McGovernite." existed. They were addressing popula­ women to significant positions, his poli­ This catchall characterization sym­ tions who remembered the Depression, cies for peace in the Middle East, his bolized the causes of the party's sad state FDR and the New Deal, not young commitment to scrutinizing the defense of affairs from the standpoint of the na­ voters whose political symbol of the budget for high cost and ineffective tional leaders. It came to mean someone Democratic party was the Vietnam war. weapons systems such as the B-1 bomber, overly concerned with rules, quotas, and The cities whose machines had main­ made his a comparatively liberal presi­ debates. These were counterposed to peo­ tained Democratic party voters and filled dency. ple who knew what a political party was party coffers were no longer viable. They

12 DEMOCRATIC LEFT JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1982 had become increasingly impoverished and $10 contributions from large num­ anism for members of the coalition to shells overloaded with nonvoters and bers of disconnected and malcontented speak, articulate policy, and participate ringed by increasingly stronger suburban citizens. The Democratic party has not as a defined group within the Democratic communities filled with voters motivated yet concentrated on building a similar party. Beginning with the local and state by strong self-interest and decreasing group among community activists, mi­ level party organizations, DEMOCRATIC compassion for the poor, racial minori­ norities, and feminists, despite the fact AGENDA activists must concentrate on ties, and the elderly. that they are likely supporters of the organizing forums for local leaders to Democratic party's essentially liberal po­ dramatize the essential defects of Reagan· Trying to Rebuild litical philosophy. omics. Under DEMOCRATIC AGENDA's After the 1980 debacle, the party The Democratic party mid-term con­ banner and in state Democratic party or­ leaders elected to rebuild the structure ference scheduled for June 1982 was ganizations, farmers can talk about fore­ and effectiveness of their organization scaled down to avoid engaging the party closure, unemployed workers can tell were greatly relieved when the AFL-CIO "activists" in debates over policy and what it's like to lose uncmployemcnt and other unions joined the battle. Un­ program. A somewhat cumbersome sys­ benefits and be forced on welfare. W o­ fortunately, the labor representatives for tem was instituted to bring issues before must talk about job discrimination. the most part shared the viewpoint of the mid-term workshops. It sends policy Young college graduates must talk about the national Democratic leadership-that resolutions through several layers of party how their skills have been devalued and the fight had to be centered on fundrais­ staff before they reach the delegates. The their opportunities lost. Poor and minor­ ing at the national level and building delegations themselves are reduced in ity youth must tell about the agony and candidate competency at the local level. number and overwhelmingly made up of frustration of searching for jobs with no Little time was spent on redefining the party officials. (who, of course, know other help but the "want ads." population that made up the grassroots what a political party is really for.) The poor must be given a forum base of the party beyond saying that the where they can talk about what it's like party would reconstruct its liberal-labor- Still on Our AAenda? to stand in a line for surplus cheese. civil right coalition. · If this picture of the Democratic Teachers with ten years seniority must The party's need to rebuild the struc­ party is correct--somewhat mechanistic, tell the community what has been lost ture and expert knowledge of the local dominated !by leaders with less respect when they are laid off. We must show organizations is very real. The party must for the grassroots than for political pro­ that the years spent in training profes­ cancel out its huge debt-a fundraising fessionals and technicians, why in the sionals to serve in hospitals, libraries, task it is accomplishing slowly but surely. world should democratic socialists, un­ nursing homes, social work agencies, If it cannot develop a campaign war employed workers, minorities, feminists, roads and highways arc a public invest­ chest, it cannot mount an effective oppo­ and liberal academics still be involved in ment, publicly financed. The loss of these sition to Reaganomics; it cannot seek and party work? individuals represents a social loss. Cuts develop candidates to carry its banner. For one thing, U.S. politics hasn't in public services undermine our "com­ For that reason, the party hierarchy changed much since 1976. There still is monwealth." concentrated on activities that could be no other political organization in the Then we must learn from these ex­ tightly controlled by the Democratic Na­ United States that has politicians in office, periences and put forth a program that tional Committee (DNC) with a mini­ political machinery, and a semblance of builds on the traditional values of the mum of backtalk from local dissenters. or~anization that can oppose the Repub­ Democratic party-still the party of the Candidate training and identification licans and the right wing. New Deal and the War on Poverty. It were to be carried on through DNC re­ Members of the DEMOCRATIC must offer a program to restore the value gional conferences where consultants AGENDA coalition, the organizations, of our "commonwealth," explain how would provide instruction and training unions, and individuals, who demand the big a part of the American way of life on direct mail and the latest polling tech­ fullest level of participation for Demo­ it represents and why Reagan and his niques. cratic voters and the most progressive administration are a threat to that way Fundraising campaigns were to be politics, are still in the Democratic party of life. The only place we have to argue essentially direct mail operations with a and are likely to be the best source of that position and to define our policies minimum of emphasis on political pro­ new leadership. in a way that has some chance of being gram and a maximum emphasis on scary The Republican party is another rea­ turned into program is through the Dem­ scenarios that conjured up rightwing son to be there. It may be the Republican ocratic party. takeovers and the loss of civil rights and party's historic role to sound the death For those on the left, DEMOCRATIC social programs under Reagan and his knell for conservative theory every fifty .AGENDA remains an outstanding project fundamentalist supporters. years or so. If that's the case, political for work in the Democratic party, Looking at the big contributions liberals, socialists, and progressives need and our best challenge to those who Republicans received from the corporate the Democratic party because they need would say that party politics belongs to P ACs and enormously wealthy people, a specifically political vehicle to articu­ the "regulars." • they were encouraged to put their second late an alternative. fundraising emphasis on big ticket din­ What political role can we play if Ruth f ordan has been a DEMOCRATIC ners and events. What they failed to we cannot be effective at the national AGENDA organizer. She is a member of a.ckno"'·ledge is that the eight wing had level of party politics ? DEMOCRATIC the National Executi11e Committee of buil: another financial base rooted in $5 AGENDA can provide a voice and a mech- DSOC. j ... NU.AJ!.Y·fEBJtUAllY 1982 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 13 ONIBELEFf there is a soul in prison, I can imagine that I am free," he By Harry Fleischman urged Americans to realize that, unlike a novel, in life and F YOU CAN'T LICK 'EM, JOIN 'EM." That old in war there are no minor characters, and that "stars" like political proverb has not usually been a Soviet Hitler and Caligula are bad news .... The Iowa City, Iowa favorite, but it seems to be the USSR's reac­ Citizens/ Labor Energy Coalition held a forum on energy pol­ tion to the Finnish presidential election. When icies last month. Sponsors included the Iowa City Federation 81-year-old President Urho Kekkonen was of Labor, Iowa Planners Network, Johnson County DSOC, ' ' forced to resign because of illness, the So­ Iowa Mobilization for Survival, Socialist and Citizens parties. viet Union made it clear that it favored the • • • agrarian Center Party leader Ahti Karjalainen The Harvard Crimson reports that over 400 attended the to take his place. But now that Finnish voters overwhelmingly DSOC rally in support of Polish Solidarity. The rally was voted for Social Democrat Mauno Koivisto for President, a endorsed by both the Democratic Oub and the Harvard/ Soviet broadcast described the election as a setback for "capi­ Radcliffe Peace Alliance. . . . A teach-in on Reaganomics, talist parties." With the country sharing a 788-mile border sponsored by the magazine Working Papers and Harvard­ with the Soviet Union, Finland is expected to continue its Radcliffe DSOC, filled the Kennedy School Forum with a official foreign policy-neutrality and friendship with all na­ capacity crowd of more than 600. It featured a debate be­ tions, particularly the USSR. tween Representative Barney Frank and William A. Niskanen • • • of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. POTLUCK WITH PENNY WAS THE WAY THE SACRAMENTO • • • THE ST. Louis Mo. LABOR CouNOL, with the help of DSOC, Valley DSOC in Davis, Calif., described its dinner meeting held A Night of Bread and Roses benefit January 16 for the with Penny Schantz, DSOC national youth and field organiz­ PATCO Family Assistance Program. DSOC member James er. She also spoke to the University of California at Davis. Peyton Hopkins has just issued an album, "They've Moved During her four-week Western trip, she held successful meet­ My Job to Georgia-Or Was It Tennessee?" Proceeds from ings in Seattle and Olympia, Washin,gton; Portland, Corvallis sale of the album go to the PATCO Family Assistance Pro­ and Eugene, Oregon ; and San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa gram. Available from Labor's Call, 4161 Oeveland, St. Louis, Barbara, Sacramento, and Santa Cruz, California.... Northern Mo. 63110 for $7.75 . ... Harvard County, Md. DSOC has California DSOC members participated in a mass march Jan­ grown since its chartering last May from 15 to 32 membe.rs. uary 23 in San Francisco to protest American involvement A Solidarity Day task force it created sent seven bus loads against the people of El Salvador.... Stanley Sheinbaum, a to Washington.. .. Detroit DSOC's Debs-Thomas dinner close friend of Greek Socialist President Andreas Papandreau, will honor Ray Majerus, secretary-treasurer of the United spoke to the Los Angeles DSOC local on what the Greek Auto Workers, on March 19 at the West Side UAW Local Socialist victory means for that nation .... Yale/New Haven 174 Hall. Victor Reuther will be a featured speaker. DSOC members have been picketing in support of the Ma­ • • • chinists' strike against the Newcon Wire Company .. .. They DESPITE 32-BELOW ZERO WEATHER JN Minneapolis-St. Paul, co-sponsored a "Speakout Forum" on the Polish crisis with some 1,000 delegates attended a conference on " Democracy Yale sociologist Jan Gross and labor historian Jeremy Beecher in America" last month. The conference was sponsored by as speakers. the Citizen Heritage Center, whose director is Harry Boyte, • • • a DSOC national board member. The purpose of the con­ THE DC/MARYLAND LOCAL HOUSING COMMITTEE CHAIR ference was to explore and reconnect with radical democratic Rick Rybeck is on the interim committee to form a citywide traditions in America such as community activism and labor tenants organization approved by a meeting of 300 tenants. organizing. The group will be called the D.C. Tenants Solidarity Union. One conference highlight was a rousing .five-hour concert . .. Victor Reuther predicted a revival of the labor movement with 1,200 in attendance. Organized by singer-activist Peter in the 1980s at an overflow meeting of the DSOC labor com­ Yarrow, performers included Odetta, Bernice Reagan, Sy mittee last month. In an expression of solidarity, the meeting Kahn, Guy Cara.wan, Claudia Schmidt and Larry Long. contributed over $100 in strike relief for local PATCO fam­ The conference featured a number of DSOC speakers ilies... . In Chicago, the DSOC 1982 Thomas-Debs including Ruth Jordan, Debbie Meier, Penny Schantz, Joe award will be presented to UAW international representative Holland, and Frank Reissman. Conference director Jim Carl Shier. Honorary co-chair~ for the dinner include UAW Scheibe! is now running for city council in St. Paul, endorsed president Douglas Fraser; DSOC chair Mike Harrington; by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and the AFL-CIO. Joyce Miller, president of the Coalition of Labor Union Wo­ • men; William Winpisinger, Machinists president ; and James A MARCH .AND RALLY was• held• last month in Amsterdam, Wright, director Region IV, UAW.. .. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., N.Y. by the Capital District LaborfReligion Coalition to pro­ author of Jailbird, received the 1981 Debs Award of the Debs test the planned Spring dosing of the Mohasco carpet mill. Foundation in Terre Haute, Indiana. Warning that the "star Partly owned by Gulf & Western, it still earns pro.fits at its system" in America made people parody the words of Eugene Amsterdam mill, but the .firm decided that pro.fits would be V. Debs to say : "While there is a lower class, I can scorn it; greater in the low wage, nonunion South. DSOCer Larry while there is a criminal element, I can make war on it; while Wittner led the rally in union songs. TV and radio exposure

14 DEMOCRATIC LEFT JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1982 wu cxccllcnt. ... Seymour Posner, former cJWr of the New which could purchase power from the Public Power Authority York Staie Assembly Labor Committee, and currently Com­ of the State of New York. A referendum to accomplish this missioner of the NYS Wocken' Compen.sUioo Board, spoke will be on the ballot March 30, 1982. . .. to an cnthwiastic audience oo bow sociilim an affect the THE OREGON AFL-00• SET • UP •A PROGRAM for coalition New York State legislative process at a January meeting of work to push for full employment in Oregon, socially re­ Albany DSOC, which has grown from 5 to 81 members in one sponsible investment and balanced growth. NAM activist year.... 'The Assaults oo Women" was the subject of Bar­ Bob Baugh was elected state secretary-treasurer.... Several Ehrcnrcich's talk at Local Nassau in January. The local bara DSOC members arc serving as organizcrcs in the AFL-CIO will host a series on the historv, problems and experiences Organizing Taskforcc in Houston, the largest effort of its of Eurosocialism dunng four Sundays in March. Katherine kind since the thirties. Smith, the oldest DSOC member on Long Island, will be given the local's first Debs- Thomas award on April 3, her MORE THAN TWO DOZEN• DSOC• MEMBERS• in Tennessee arc 90th birthday, when Peaccsmith House will hold a dinner in forming a state local, with Nashville and Memphis branches. her honor to be addressed by James Farmer, the founder of Debbie Meier spoke at a Nashville Pot Luck on January 23. the Congress of Racial Equality.... The Graduate School of . . . A special meeting to mark the 48th anivcrsary of the CUNY will host a Symposi11m on Radical P'rspectives on the founding of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union will be held wcdccnd of March 26-27, sponsored by the Political Science April 16-17 in the Baptist Church on Beale Street, Memphis. Department at Hunter and the Ph.D. programs in sociology ... A new issue of Behind the Cotton Curtain, newsletter of and political science. . . . Ithaca DSOC helped elect two pro­ Southern Democratic Socialists, has just come out. For a sam­ gressive members to the city council. . . . A weekend retreat ple copy, write to Cotton Curtain, P.O. Box 5479-Kreolc, attended by 25 crystallized a plan for work and education Moss Point, Miss. 39563 .... Northern Virginia DSOC priorities. . . . The Long Island Progressive Coalition, in co­ plans to work to unseat the two Republican incumbent Con­ operation with unions, minority, citizens and fcmini't groups, gressmen from Northern Virginia.... The annual spaghetti will hold an all-day conference on "Long Islanders in Soli­ dinner this year will be addressed by Machinists' president darity: Survival in the 80's" on May 8 .. .. Westchester DSOC William Winpisinger... SeiitJ/e, Washington DSOC/NAM is involved in POWER (People Outraged With Energy members sponsored a visit by San Francisco Supervisor and Rates), which aims to create a county public power authority DSOC vice-chair Harry Britt which drew over 200 people. • American Socialists. We're Making TRAVEL AND STUDY in Oiina for 7 weeb, Summer '82. Only 3~ visas are available, so AName for Ourselves: please act promptly. For complete info, call Dr. Belaief (212) MO ~0886 . DSOC SOCIALIST & FEMINlST Boob in Philadel­ phia. Well-Red Bookroom, 3920 Spruce St., Members of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee Tues.-Sat., Noon-6 p.m. ( 222-963 7). 2nd Br. (DSOC) work in every day-to-day struggle for social justice. We REGIONAL COORDINATOR I ADMINIS­ bring a strategy for building alliances among all the movements TRATOR/ ORGANIZER for Oii-:ago DSGET ACTION CAMPAIGN, Join DSOC. caa::;:ioscd ol OTtt ~o national organizations, bu iun puhlishrd an orpnir.er's manual with D rd like to join DSOC. Enclosed find my dues. (0 $50 sustaining; D $25 icfonmtion m the Reairan 1983 budget cuts re1Ular; 0$10 limited income. Dues include $8 for DEMOCRATIC LEFT.) a.ad -r&TS to oran.itt u:ainst them. Copies are DI would like to sublcribe to DEMOCRATIC LEFT: 0$15 sustaining, D $8 $~ each from FBAC. P.O . Box 2735, Washing­ recuJar. cna D.C. 20013. Send to: Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, 853 Broadway, Suite 801, New York, N.Y. 10003. Tel.: (212) 260-3270. -niE BLACK CHURQI AND MARXISM' Nam..______FUi Do They H11 ve lo 511 "1 U

jA..'r-U.'JlY·FEBRUARY 1982 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 15 HIGGINS WHAT SHAPE FOR A FIRING SQUAD? protecting social security-Manatt in his letter linked a ... In a little noticed action in January, the solution to the problem to beating back Republican Democratic National Committee's Executive challenges to Democratic candidates. Maybe . . . but Committee set rules for issue discussion at this only if the party and those candidates opened them· year's Midterm Convention that continue the selves to a real discussion of social security and other restrictions on grassroots participation. Back in issues. June the DNC voted to scale down the Midterm ,,,._~~~ by eliminating aJJ locally elected delegates. This HERE'S AN OLD-FASHIONED ISSUE ... . In a television 11"7.llmS. left a Midterm that will be made up of the pitch for the Wall Street firm of Smith Barney, actor-producer members of the DNC and members of the state John Houseman intones in his patrician best: "At Smith Bar­ committees. The most recent DNC action constructed an ney we earn money the old-fashioned way ...." Well, they "issues discussion" procedure that will not involve any voting. certainly do. Right now the lucrative firm is proposing a reno­ This peculiar mechanism will allow the members of issue vation on Manhattan's West 34th St. that will cost $2~ mil· workshop committees to put on the Boor a majority report lion. It only wants a $2 million tax abatement. True to its and up to two minority reports, all of which will be included promises, the firm researched one of the best methods around in the official proceedings of the weekend. Notice that there for padding profits-state and local tax abatements. In New wilJ be no official position on issues. One DNC leader told York City and state, the bill for abatements runs into the The New York Times that it was true this procedure would hundreds of millions, almost exclusively for large landlords reduce conflict on issues, but " ... it was time that Democrats and corporations who couldn't need them less. Perhaps Charles realized that the proper shape of a firing squad is a straight Manatt could come to New York and join with those progres­ line, not a circle." The assumption is that we all agree Reagan sive legislators and Democrats such as City Council member is bad. Issues, therefore, only mask our real political purpose Ruth Messinger and State Senator Franz Leichter who are for the year-defeating Republicans. Humbug. By avoiding bringing this issue to light. The 34th St. warehouse isn't even hard discussions of issues, once again the Democratic party too far from the train station. is just aiming to shoot itself in the foot. THE PARTY HAS AN IMPORTANT OPPORTU­ MAYBE IF THEY DISCUSSED ISSUES, THEY NITY.... The DNC has recently announced the forma­ wouldn't have this problem. . . . DNC Chair Charles tion of its Commission on Party Accountability, which Manatt promised us that the Democratic party's direct has in its charge the discussion of how we can make mail would be directed not just toward raising money, issue discussions more relevant to the life of the party. but would also raise issues. He got himself in some hot This could be a way for the party to start to take on a water, however, when people received envelopes marked collective identity. Under the leadership of thoughtful "Important Social Security Notice Enclosed." It turned progressives such as ex-Representative Yvonne Burke out to be a fundraising mailing for the DNC's campaign and National Education Association Director Terry committee, and Republicans, independents, and others Herndon, the party has a good chance, but only if we, charged the Democrats with false advertising. Ironic­ its progressive wing, come together under umbrellas like ally, neither party has come up with great ideas about DEMOCRATIC AGENDA.

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853 Broadway, Suite 801 ~412 New York, N.Y. 10003 ers don't pay income or Social Security so much to cause the crisis. We are-told brought the welfare state-both full em­ taxes but, even in these mean-spirited to trust in big auto and big steel after ployment policies and social programs times, they do get some unemployment they have deindustrialized a good part for those not in the labor force-about benefits; they are forced onto welfare of America! We must not only trust a third of a century after it had been and food stamps. That is why the con­ them, but give them tens of billions of introduced in Europe. It took the eco­ servative Reagan is about to preside over dollars in tax subsidies. The effective tax nomic cataclysm of the Great Depression the biggest deficit in American history. on corporations, the conservative London as well as determined, and sometimes That is why we demand the imme­ Economist reports, is being cut from a bloody, struggles on the part of the diate restoration of all social budget 40 percent to a 1 7 percent rate! Corpora­ American workers to achieve this mini­ cuts. Reagan has been cutting off healthy tions are now allowed to "sell" tax bene­ mum of social decency. But precisely organs and ignoring the disease. fits they can't use to other corporations. because the New Deal encountered such But what is the disease ? And why This one tax gimmick may, The New Re­ fierce corporate resistance, it seemed at can't the old liberalism cure it? From public tells us, cost the federal treasury times to be more radical than it was. The Roosevelt to Carter, that liberalism as­ $60 billion over live years, i.e., a sum that miUionaires thought Roosevelt was a sumed that unemployment and inflation would reduce the projected 1982 deficit Communist-when instead he was saving could be "traded off" against one an­ by more than half! capitalism. other. You could light a recession with The New Deal assumed that the a little spending and inflation with a little basic corporate infrastructure of the econ­ unemployment. It never worked that well omy was sound and that the best deci­ -but it worked. Now, however, corpo­ sions about investment, technology, price, rate power has become so concentrated and the like were therefore made in the that, whenever possible, giant companies boardroom. Government was to manipu­ raise prices when the market contracts late the fiscal (budget deficits and sur­ in order to maintain profits at a lower plus) and monetary (control of the volume rather than, as that liberal theory money supply) levers so as to help the assumed, lowering prices to increase vol­ corporations to do their work. It was a ume in the face of declining demand. combination of John Maynard Keynes Secondly, the investment policies of those and Adam Smith. That assumption is same corporations helped to destroy the now in shambles. If one engages in Rea­ industrial base of the Northeast and ganite "Keynesianism," showering bil­ Midwest. Penn Central did much to lions upon the corporations and the rich destroy the railroads; the Big Three in on the assumption that they will invest auto refused the United Auto Workers' rwdsu recora it wisely, full employment and price sta­ advice to build a small, efficient car, pre­ "Then. Robbing Reagan Hood bility will never be achieved. The rich ferring to make bigger profits on gas snatched the bag of pennies from the will use that money to take care of them­ guzzlers and thereby surrendering 25 per­ evil woodcutter and his family, selves, not the economy. cent of the U.S. market to foreign cars; mounted his great white charger Therefore-and this is the crux of and rode away to give this money and big steel put its money first into to the struggling money lenders and the democratic left program- there must chemicals and, now, oil, rather than in arrowmakers, so they could hire be democratic inputs and controls over modernizing obsolete plants. more workers.... " the critical invesment decisions that will Corporate pricing and investment make, or break, an anti-inflationary full policies are major causes of our present Will those billions be invested in employment economy. In the UAW's plight. So are the structural peculiarities jobs and productivity? The Economist is bitter and difficult negotiations with Gen­ of American society analyzed in Brian "dubious"; so is Busineu Week, another eral Motors over "givebacks," the union Turner's article on page 8: an expensive procorporate publication. They will use has set forth a new principle: the work­ and unjust health system; a housing it as the rich used their money in the ers' rights to see the corporate books and industry that is used constantly as a seventies-in inflation "hedges" such as to help determine pricing policy (speci­ scapegoat by the Federal Reserve ; agri­ playing the money market, buying rare fically, to ensure that union concessions cultural policies that subsidize corpora­ wines and violins, building Las Vegas wiU be passed on to consumers in lower tions and higher prices in the supermar­ casinos, and the like. prices) . That collective bargaining strat­ ket; and energy priorities that have in­ Our critique of an exhausted, but egy has to be made political and national. cluded the destruction of mass transit. once progressive, old liberalism and a Such decsions are too important to be This analysis points to the answer reactionary, totally unworkable, conserva­ left to corporate profit maximizers who of the second question : Why is Reagan tism points to the necessity for basic new have done so much to wreck the Ameri­ failing? The Reagan strategy cuts pro­ departures. What kind? What is the can economy. grams for the poor, minorities, and wo­ democratic left alternative ? men, who are not the cause of the crisis. One way to define the basic con­ Full Employment Through a reactionary tax program that cept of that alternative is to contrast it Our full employment program has redistributes money from working and to an underlying assumption of the New two separate, but related, thrusts. First, middle-class people to the rich, it pro­ Deal. The New Deal was the most effec­ where the private sector has already de­ vides billions to the corporations that did tive left mass movement of its time. It clared bankruptcy, or refuses to invest,

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1982 DEMOCRAnc LEFT 3 the government sector has to be enlarged at the same time? The Congressional worth-as well as a defense of the rights to help create new industries and new Black Caucus gave an excellent answer women and minorities have achieved jobs. For example, late last year the Joint in 1981 with its "Constructive Alter­ during the past two decades. Economic Committee identified twenty native Budget." The Black Caucus pro­ Let us be frank. DEMOCRA11C regions in the U.S. that could apply the posal came in with a deficit $1.8 billion AGENDA seeks to unite varied groups high speed train technology that has l\l· less than the one projected by Reagan­ that do not always agree and are even ready been introduced successfully into and about half that actually created. It sometimes diverted from the basic battle Britain, Japan, and France. That hard· did so by taking the rich off welfare­ against corporate domination of the SO· ware must be made by a new American canceling the $2.9 billion in oil deple­ ciety into fighting with one another. It industry with plants located in areas of tion allowances and the $1.1 billion that has always looked for that common de­ high joblessness. the capital gains treatment of ordinary nominator of economic interest that The second element in the full em· income entails; it restored the social cuts brings us together: without full em­ polyment program involves mobilizing made by Reagan (Medicaid, student ployment, there will be no gains for the corporations within our (democrat· loans) ; and it made modest cuts in na- unions, for minorities, women, environ­ ically determined) plan rather than, as mentalists, people concerned with the with Reagan, putting the U.S. govern· ''If the Democratic party third world, disarmament ,and so on. If ment to work within their corporate plan thinks it can return in 1984 to we fight one another we will all lose. (or non plan as is more often the case) . As democratic socialists we also believe Not one cent of subsidy should go to a a liberalism that did not that social issues are not merely social; corporation that leaves an area of eco· work in 1976-1980, ii will that they are deeply implicated in basic nomic and social needs-no depreciation be rejected. tt economic questions. That is obviously deal, investment tax credits, or even cor­ the case with regard to issues of minority porate tax deductions for the cost of tional defense spending while Reagan and women's rights. moving. Significant subsidy should go to was proposing to fulfill every fantasy So we want to push to expand the corporations that create useful jobs in the Pentagon had ever entertained. consensus, the common denominator, on areas of need. We assume, then, a mixed as many social questions as possible. Our economy solution, a much more radical, Links to Social Issues program, in short, aims at providing an investment-oriented liberalism. It is still Finally, these economic measures alternative for the society, not just for the liberalism, not socialism (even though are clearly related to social issues, above economy. democratic socialists are an important all to the inferior position of women As I noted earlier, at the 1979 group in DEMOCRATIC AGENDA). This and minorities in the society. Blacks and DEMOCRATIC AGENDA that brought is, we think, the left wing of the possible women suffer the most from unemploy­ 2,500 activists to Washington, we said in the America of the eighties. ment and social program cuts; they would that if the democratic left didn't help benefit the most from the programs out· the country go as far beyond Roosevelt Need for Controls lined here. But beyond that, this program as Roosevelt went beyond Hoover, then Many investments-such as those in presents an alternative to the social mean­ America would be dragged back toward cheap, renewable energy and in mass ness of Jesse Helms and the "Moral Hoover. We wish we had been wrong. transportation-would strike at the sourc­ Majority," who are closet racists and But we were completely right. The Dem­ es of inflation. Moreover, a full employ· open foes of equal rights for women. ocratic party rejected our alternative in ment economy would actually reduce They talk about the Family Protection 1979 and 1980, with the results we see the federal deficit and provide more Act, a reactionary proposal that would now. In the 1980 election, Ronald Rea· funds for social programs and/ or tax not only bring government into the bed· gan presented himseU as the man of cuts! But specific anti-inflation measures room- and even dictate uses of the bodies new ideas, the man who recognized the are also required. Oearly, controls are of American women-but would also crisis and was prepared to take chances part of the answer-not any controls, legally establish one narrow view of doing something about it. And President but our controls. We favor price, execu· sexual morality, effectively making illegal Reagan has hewed to his reactionary, un­ tive compensation, interest, rent, and the intimate personal decisions of gay workable program more than any other wage controls, when and where necessary, people and others declared to be beyond Chief Executive in recent memory. legislated in the form of standby powers the pale. This act protects the preroga· If the Democratic party thinks it and providing for democratic administra· tives of well-off white males who do not can return in 1984 to a liberalism that tion of the system (with labor and con· want to deal with a workforce outraged did not work in 1976·1980, it will be sumer participation). We don't want at the disparity in male and female in· rejected. If it becomes-the party of mod­ Nixon's corporate-oriented controls. We come, or with concepts that challenge erate Reaganism, it will be rejected. If need controls that, at a minimum, exact their sexual dominance. it obtains the best computer printouts a sacrifice from groups in proportion to It is not enough, however, to simply possible and uses them to develop a their wealth and income and work to wait for the workings of a full employ­ mindless politics, it will be rejected. But increase the money for those at the bot· ment economy to help minorities and if the Democratic party takes up the pro­ tom while holding _down the fortunes women and to dispel the atmosphere of gram outlined here, it will not simply be of those at the top. 5?°al meanness. There have to be posi­ faithful to its best heritage of social But how could we fight inflation tive programs-affirmative action and idealism. It will win and it will begin and finance a full employment program comparable pay for jobs of comparable to turn the country around. •

4 DEMOCRATIC LEFT JANUARY·FEBRUARY 1982 Democratic Agenda Program

Program Statement Excerpts December 1981

This is the time of the takeaway. felt most directly by the Democrats' own constituencies. The program of the Reagan administration strikes In the stagflation seventies, the real income of working at some of the most fundamental guarantees upon which people fell. The wages of women and blacks and His­ the American people have come to count. The right to panics and the young fell as a percentage of the white a secure retirement, to loans for college, to the vote in male wage. Persistent unemployment has undermined the South, to a job in the North- these and other rights that the American people won ten and twenty and fifty years ago are threatened by the current administration. '' The Democratic Agenda believes that Nor is this all. For the takeaways of Reaganomics the American economy can work again, also deepen a number of longstanding problems. Money is taken from school districts that are already firing that the needs of the American people can be met, teachers and charging children for summer school. Funds their hopes fulfilled-but only when they win are taken from transit districts that are doubling and redoubling their fares so that trains can continue to mbstantial control over the major economic lurch precipitously down vintage 1918 track. Interest rates are hiked and employment lowered even as veteran institutions of this nation.'' auto workers face their third year without work, even as families in record numbers are unable to meet their social security, undercut the efforts of the disabled to mortgage payments and default on their homes. The achieve self-sufficiency. Conversion to a peace economy American standard of living, long the envy of the world, has been made more difficult without the assurance of continues its decade-long slide beneath that of Japan employment; conversion to a cleaner environment made and much of Western Europe. more difficult by the counterposing of land and air and Not just the entitlements of the New Deal, but some water to jobs. The hungry of the third world have suf­ of the most basic elements of the American dream­ fered penury from an American people themselves fac­ home, education, opportunity-lie bewilderingly out "f ing needed joblessness. reach. The DEMOCRATIC AGENDA believes that the Ameri­ The administration's response to America's troubles can economy can work again, that the needs of the Amer­ is not merely to take from the many. It is also-indeed, ican people can be met, their hopes fulfilled- but only this is the justification for the takeway-to give to the when they win substantial control over the major eco­ few, in the fanciful hope that this will revive the Ameri­ nomic institutions of this nation. can economy. That is the thrust of the Reagan tax policy. Within this perspective, the DEMOCRATIC AGENDA It accounts for the administration's sympathetic re­ offers the following program for achieving full employ· sponse to the spectacle of giant corporations spending ment with price stability by means of more social jus­ billions of dollars not on new production but on swallow­ tice, not less. ing each other up. In the world of Reaganomics, wealth can do no wrong. Full employment is the key. We propose to achieve it in the radically new-stagflation-environment of the Neither can the Pentagon, at which the administra­ eighties by going beyond the traditional liberal wisdom tion is determined to throw a trillion dollars over the and next half decade.... But where in all this are the Democrats? Some, to • democratically planning new industries - the be sure, have gone over entirely to Reagan. A like nurn· high speed train system recently urged by the Joint Eco­ ber, among them the Congressional Black Caucus, have nomic Committee, which could operate in twenty differ­ distinguished themselves by energetic and thoughtful ent regions of the country; a renewable source energy opposition to the Reagan agenda. In the center of the industry with a technology on a human scale which can party, though, there is confusion, silence. Most Congres­ be used by neighborhoods here and in the third world­ sional Democrats quarrel more with the fine print than in order to create jobs in the United States. . . . with the broad outlines of the Reagan budget. ... • enrolling private corporations in the democratic The problem is, most Democrats no longer know plan by making all tax deductions for them and their what to believe. In particular, they are not yet ready to owners conditional upon investments which actually attack the corporate sources of stagflation, the strangle­ create jobs in areas and industrial sectors which pro­ hold wedlock of inflation and unemployment that has• mote full employment and price stability; dogged the American economy over the past ten years. • establishing union and worker participation in For the consequences of the Democrats' inability the control of pension funds which are now invested by to grapple with the corporate sources of stagflation are corporations in their name, sometimes abroad, some-

}ANUARY· fEBRUARY 1982 DEMOCRATIC LBFT 5 times in anti-union companies, sometimes to "hedge" • by using the system of credit allocation to aid inflation rather than to fight it; and putting pension funds small business and family farmers rather than multi­ to work putting Americans to work; nationals and agribusiness. • requiring up to two years advance notice of all Finally, these measures will allow us to increase the major corporate plant closings, with companies required fairness of American society as part of our economic to pay for the social costs of their move and deprived program rather than taking away the modest gains that of all tax deductions for a closing found to injure the have already been made. Specifically: community. • affirmative action and full, equal rights for But with such an ambitious full employment pro­ women, for minorities and for youth will open up new gram, how to fight inflation? In addition to putting peo­ sources of productivity in the future as in the past; we ple to work fighting the sources of high prices, like ex­ call for immediate ratification of the Equal Rights pensive transportation, we also propose: Amendment. We support efforts to insure equality of • standby price, executive compensation, unearned income for women and minorities. income, rent and wage controls to be triggered by speci­ • a commitment to quality public education-and fied economic conditions and administered with demo­ a rejection of tax credits to the most comfortable Amer­ cratic inputs from every sector of the society; icans to subsidize de facto segregated private schools­ • a national health program with cost controls and will, in addition to its intrinsic value, also promote pro­ other policies monitored by community representatives ductivity. which will "cap" runaway prices by improving the qual­ e guaranteeing every aging American retirement ity and democratic character of health care; benefits, paid for by a full employment surplus and • affordable food. Rather than supporting farm keeping pace with any cost increasings, will also moti­ prices, a policy which means greater subsidies for the vate workers still looking forward to retirement. largest farmers, the government should develop an agri­ • strengthening protection of our environment, cultural program designed to support family farm in­ both at home and at work, by maintaining and expand­ come and to stabilize prices at a level that encourages ing important legislation such as the Clean Air and abundant production. Water Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act. e cutting the federal deficit by full employment • insuring safety and stability for the community policies which will reduce the intolerable costs of job­ and the individual by involving our neighborhoods and lessness, costs which, in a matter of months, shattered all communities in .?fforts to promote personal safety. We of the Reagan budget projections; reaffirm our strong commitment to handgun control. •.• • pursuing a lean, responsible defense policy which • We propose, in short, the basic idea which Mar­ rejects destabilizing and/ or excessively sophisticated tin Luther King, Jr. championed at the time of his death: weapons systems and cuts $50 billion from the Pentagon not only civil rights but an economic and social bill of while increasing our national security. rights for every American of every race, creed, sex or age. How to finance these projects without setting off We favor this program for two main reasons. another round of inflation? First, as Democrats, we believe that only a program which responds to the most serious economic and social • by cutting the almost $1.8 trillion in tax deduc­ crisis in half a century will transform and revitalize our tions projected between 1982 and 1986, and in particu­ party and make it, once again, the progressive force in lar all those deductions to corporations and the rich this country. We reject the passive notion that all Demo­ which do not generate jobs; crats have to do is wait for Reagan to fail. When he does • democratizing the control of the Federal Re­ fail-and that day is inevitable-Americans who can re­ serve, a critically important public economic institution member our failures during the Carter administration now completely controlled by bankers, and providing are going to ask: What do we have to propose that is credit for consumer needs whose satisfaction would put better than both that Carter administration and the dis­ Americans back to work-houses and cars for people of astrous Reagan administration? If we have an answer, low and moderate incomes-while pricing speculative we will win and deserve to win; if we do not, no party credit for corporate take-overs and "investments" in rare will really win and this entire magnificent country will violins prohibitively high; be the loser.

PUT DEMOCRATIC AGENDA ON YOUR AGENDA D Enclosed is $1. Send me a copy of the full Democratic Agenda statement. • D Please send me more information about the: __ West Coast Conference (Los Angeles, April 16-18); -East Coast Conference (Newark, N.J., May 1).

NA ••• ~.__~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~­

ADDRESS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~--~~~~~~~~~

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6 DEMOCllATIC I.EFT JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1982 Sending a Message

By Ben Tafoya N OREGON IT'S THE PROGRESSIVE Senate in New Jersey and the gover­ a series of conferences to explore alter­ Agenda, in Connecticut the legis­ norship in New York. The AGENDA native policies on the state level. OPA lative Electoral Action Program, conference will attempt to bring togeth­ has just started Oregon PRO-PAC to in New Jersey the Public Interest er labor-left-liberal-feminist Democratic help support progressive candidates in Political Action Campaign, in party activists, and other progressives to this year's elections. Supporters of PRO­ Rhode Island the Citizen/labor show solidarity on issues, if not on all P.AC include leaders of the state AFL­ Organizing Committee. A new candidates. This DA effort will involve the CIO, members of the state legislature breed of state level political coa- existing statewide groups in the region. and senate as well as individual unions litions, these are efforts to bridge the In the December issue of DEMO­ and political groups. PRO-PAC has sent gap between national and local political CRATIC LEFT WC examined the success out 20,000 pieces of direct mail to begin issues. For years DEMOCRATIC AGENDA of one such coalition, the New Jersey major fundraising. (DA) has preached a politics of coalition. Public Interest Political Action Cam­ We have an opportunity to make Stretching back since its founding in paign. Other efforts of this type include 1982 an important year for the demo­ 1975, DA has led efforts to bring together the Oregon Progressive Agenda, the cratic left in the Democratic party. We the diverse elements of the democratic Long Island Progressive Coalition and must show that our constituencies and left. Today it is focusing on helping the Rhode Island Citizen/Labor Organ- our program cannot be taken for granted groups bring that politics of coalition to as the party campaigns against Reagan. the states. ''We must show that our We can do this by supporting the con­ To do this DEMOCRATIC AGENDA ferences this year, and by supporting is breaking out of its traditional mold. constituencies and our program those organizations that will be developed In the past it has sponsored national con­ to carry on this work from day-to-day in ferences in Washington ; this year it cannot be taken for granted.'' the states and localities. We should not plans to reach a broad array of commu­ let them take our party away. • nities through regional conferences that izing Committee (CLOC). Each effort can help bring the DEMOCRATIC AGENDA has common goals and tactics, though program to activists interested in state, some of the activities and the origins of local, and national politics. West Coast the efforts are different. JOIN WITH THE DA Coordinator Harold Meyerson reports In Rhode Island the CLOC started DEMOCRATIC AGENDA that "DEMOCRATIC AGENDA will be as an outgrowth of organizing against brought to life in Los Angeles on April a legislative attack on unemployment AND LEADERS LIKE ... 16 through 18, with the support of our compensation benefits for strikers. Sub­ Mike Harrington state Machinists, Teachers and Service sequently it coordinated Rhode Island Gloria Steinem Employees affiliates. And we will also efforts on energy and utility issues Joyce Miller be endorsed by the Greater LA Labor/ sparked by the national Citizen/labor Ed Asner Community coalition, the group that put Energy Coalition. It became dear that a William Winpisinger on our own local Solidarity Day." DA permanent coalition of labor, commu· RonDellums organizing in California is directed to­ nity, and political groups was necessary Robert Lekachman ward developing a diverse group of po­ to carry on this and other work. Current­ and others litical activists. Appropriately enough, ly, CLOC is involved in state legislative the effort carries the name the California races-running three challengers against at two conferences to discuss: Democratic Agenda. incumbents in the September primary. It A Democratic Agenda for the On the East Coast, DA will sponsor is aided in this effort by the recent de­ Age of Reagan an all-day conference on Saturday, May velopment of a political action commit­ 1 to sound the call for "Building a Dem­ tee, the Progressive Rhode Island Politi­ WEST COAST: APRIL 16-18, 1982 ocratic Agenda in the Age of Reagan." cal Action Committee. Los Angeles, California The Newark, N.J. conference will con­ Oregon's Progressive Agenda grew Downtown Hilton centrate on the efforts of progressive ac­ out of an effort by local leaders of the tivisa in the upcoming 1982 elections. Democratic Socialist Organizing Com­ EAST COAST: MAY 1, 1982 Mast of the states in the region have mittee and other progressive activists to Newark, New Jersey one or more contested races for Demo­ bring together an ongoing coalition in Robert Treat Hotel cratic nominations, including for the U.S. the state. Recently, OPA has sponsored

JANUAllY-FBBRUAllY 1982 DEMOCRATIC LBFT 7 ASP REPORT Target Credit; Cut Rates By Brian Turner RINGING DOWN HIGH INTER· floor, we are told, then the monetary est rates to strengthen the brakes must be applied to keep us at a economy and reduce inflation safe, anti-inflationary economic speed. will be one of the most im­ Only recently has the press reported portant tasks facing us in the fact that our present fiscal posture was 1982. Monetary policy is far actually restrictive through 1981. This too important to be left to becomes apparent when we recognize that the experts, who have gotten the current large federal budget deficit us into the present mess without benefit is not a true reflection of whether our of adequate public involvement. Nine­ fiscal policy is stimulative or restrictive. teen eighty-one produced record real in­ It actually results from the very deep terest rates (the average prime rate minus recession, rather than from any expan­ the average Consumer Price Index) . .As sionary fiscal policy . .As unemployment the inflation rate fell to 6.9 percent in rises, the deficit inevitably grows as tax mid-1981, the prime interest rate (the revenues fall, and government spending minimum rate for most-favored corpo­ (for unemployment compensation, wel­ rate borrowers) rose above 18 percent, fare, food stamps, etc.) increases. .Ac­ peaking at 21.5.* This produced interest cording to the Joint Economic Commit­ rates of 11 percent and more, which far tee, each percentage point of unemploy­ exceeded the "normal" 3 percent pre­ ment drains the federal budget of about mium over inflation (See Table 1). They twenty-seven and a half billion dollars. are the product of the drastic tight money If our 9 percent unemployment rate were policies of the Federal Reserve Board, reduced, say, to 5 percent, the budget whose seven members are all bankers and would not be $ 100 billion in dencit, but academic economists. '' Nineteen eighty-one pro­ about $10 billion in surplus. duced record real interest rates. Thus, at 4 percent unemployment, Interest R ate Recessions .. . As high interest rates are the present federal budget - mandated For a time many thought that high passed through in higher program expenditures minus taxes - interest rates would not cause a recession would be running a $37.5 billion surplus. since they would squeeze only the housing prices for all goods and This means that that fiscal policy right and auto industries directly. These ob­ services, sales and employ­ now is actually slowing the economy servers forgot that the myriad of indus­ ment fall throughout the down from its full employment poten­ tries tied to auto and construction- from tial. In other words, factoring the reces­ timber, steel, and heavy equipment to economy.'' sionary impact out of the budget, and carpets, appliances, and auto parts and measuring the deficit against what is auto dealers- constitute nearly the bulk the N ew Y ork Times economic writers called the " full employment" budget, re­ of our domestic economy and are dis­ have called "an interest rate recession." veals a restrictive, absolutely noninflation­ proportionately damaged by tight credit. With nearly 10 million unemployed ary fiscal policy. Fiscal policy will prob­ .As high interest rates are passed through in this "interest rate recession," we must ably remain restrictive until July of this in higher prices for all goods and serv­ ask: Why have such high interest rates year (especially if budgets are cut more ices, sales and employment fall through­ been necessary ? Or, more to the point: deeply or new taxes l!!vied) , when the out the economy. When small businesses Why did so many policy makers consider second installment of the Kemp-Roth­ of all kinds are forced into bankruptcies, them necessary? Reagan tax cuts come due. and family farmers driven to the edge by Even today politicians of various debt service costs, we inevitably face what stripes argue that a restrictive monetary Fallout from the Fed 'policy is necessary to offset what they per­ .As with most things economic, the ceive to be a wildly, irresponsibly expan­ consequences of the tight-money school •The 6.9 percent rate was the March-June CPI average. The prime interest rate is a sionary fiscal policy-one that may bring of fighting inflation impose different short-term floating rate with no element of us a $100 billion federal deficit in 1982. burdens, or benefits, on different classes future inflation built in. If the fiscal gas pedal is pushed to the of people. The devastated condition of

8 DEMOCRATIC LBFT JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1982 the housing industry (and would-be Interest Rates and Inflation toral causes of our inflation, or will suc­ homeowners), the auto industry, public The reflexive conservative prescrip· ceed only by accident and at great and utilities, family farmers, and the other tion of resorting to recession-it can only unnecessary cost to the economy and the credit-using, interest-rate sensitive sectors be good for you if it hurts-ignores the people. For this kind of inflation, reces­ of our economy contrasts sharply with nature of America's inflation and the sec­ sion is not the solution. Indeed, recession tbe relative health of such industries as toral impact of the squeeze of high in­ only exacerbates the problem. oil and gas, microelectronics, chemicals, terest rates. Applying the monetary and An appropriate anti-inflationary pol­ and others in a strong cash flow position. fiscal bralces to halt inflation might malce icy for a primarily sectoral inflation They can lend capital rather than borrow sense in an overheated economy, where should address causes of inflation in the it. Record real rates of interest look quite many product and labor markets were four sectors that have accounted for well a bit greener on the other side of the pushing up against their capacity limits over half of U.S. inflation since 1974: credit window. and prices were therefore being bid up· e Energy: encouraging energy conser- With strong cash flow and healthy wards. But we have not had anything vation of all kinds, residential, indus­ cash reserves, the larger firms in the sec­ like an O\'erheated economy since 1969. trial, commercial, transportation, etc., tors favored by the Fed's monotonic Our inflation is heavily concentrated and the need to promote the develop- credit policies are in the fabled catbird's seat. Corporate concentration accelerates as weakened firms fall by tbe wayside, "Real" Interest Rates September 1980-December 1981 leaving their products, technology, and customers for the talcing. More mod­ "R.eal"• erately damaged companies become vul­ Month CPI Average short-term (annual rates) Average CPI Prime R.ate interest rates nerable to the sweep of corporate talce· overs, typically and paradoxically .financed Sept. 1980 14.4 by multibillion dollar prime rate loans_ Oct. 13.1 14.0 14.0 0.0 The corporate victims of high interest Nov. 14.6 Dec. 1980 12.8 rates thus become fuel to fire even higher Jan. 1981 9.6 11.3 20.0 8.7 interest rates as the Mobils, DuPonts, and Feb. 11.6 U.S. Steels bid against one anotber for March 7.0 nonproductive uses of scarce loan capital. April 4.6 6.9 18.7 11.8 The continuing shift of corporate May 7.9 power toward the largest companies is June 8.4 matched by a shift in tbe balance of July 15.7 power between management and labor. August 9.6 13.2 20.4 6.9 in such highly organized are::; as the Sept. 14.4 automobile and related industries: auto Oct. 5.3 Nov. assembly, auto parts, rubber tires. Pres· 6.2 17.0 11.6 Dec. 4.8 sured by high interest rates, and now •Average prime rate minus average Consumer Price Index (CPI) dragged further down by the second interest-rate recession in two years, these Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics/ Federal Reserve Board unions and their workers are engaged in a grim battle for survival. The precarious in sectors of the economy that will not ment of new domestic supplies, par­ condition of their industries has pressed respond-or will respond perversely-to ticularly those of a renewable nature; the United Auto Workers, Electrical monetary brakes. Neither OPEC, nor Housing: Actively expanding-not re­ international grain markets, nor badly e Workers (IUE), United Rubber Work· stricting-new supply and developing organized health care systems will mod­ ers, the Allied Industrial Workers, and technologies for reducing costs in the erate their price escalation because of many others against the wall. construction of new housing; Relentless company demands for unemployment in the United States. And wage concessions and contract talceaways housing markets in the long run are only e Food: Using periods of high produc­ already characterize negotiations for these tightened further as new supply is cut tion and low price to build grain workers. And the situation is scarcely to Depression levels while new house­ reserves domestically and internation­ different for construction workers like­ hold formation continues to accelerate ally, and developing a grain export wise decimated by high interest' rates at record levels; the need is not to cut board, as used in the other two lead­ and housing starts at their lowest levels housing supply, but rather to expand ing grain exporting countries, Canada since the 1950s. There is a method in this housing supply and cut housing costs. and Australia, to manage export sales madness of cutting inflation by cutting Targeted anti-inflation policy. Infla­ to large foreign buyers; jobs, then wages. It is the laissez-faire tion is a priority problem in our economy e Health Care : Encouraging further ..method" of nineteenth-century capital­ that must be addressed by a comprehen­ preventive health care through health ism. applied with the up-to-the-minute sive, coherent anti-inflation policy. The maintenance organizations (HMOs) z.eJ.l of Ronald Reagan's supply siders traditional conservative anti-inflation pol· and moving toward a system of na­ and monetarists_ But, to paraphrase Mark icies of excessive monetary and fiscal tional health insurance that will re­ Grem, " LJ:isuz ain't necessarily fair." restraint cannot succeed against the sec- duce rates of illness and disease and

JANt:MY·fEBRUARY 1982 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 9 contain the costs of treating them. lar" means a weak Deutsche mark, franc, Market Metaphysics An anti-inflationary monetary pol­ schilling, pound, or kroner, which stim· The pervasive fallacy of Ronald ky. The first and most important step is ulates these countries' exports to the U.S. Reagan's monetary policy-and indeed to avoid inducing recessions, which are and other dollar-based areas of the world. his economic policy-is his single-minded the most important factor in eroding pro­ Unfortunately it also means, percent for devotion to (what we might call) "mar­ ductivity and raising production costs. percent, an increase in the prices these ket metaphysics." Recession undermines the economy's po· countries have to pay for oil and other This market "flletaphysic holds that tential for inflation-free growth of real dollar-denominated commodities, includ­ only the "free" operation of presumed incomes in the long term, and in the ing many developing country products. "markets" can produce "optimal" or short run fuels inflation by reducing This "imported inflation" is the first even satisfactory results for our economy. capacity utilization and increasing unit round effect experienced by our indus­ The competitive environment underlying costs of production. Furthermore, mone­ trial trading partners. these arcane beliefs was already begin­ tary policy should specifically avoid high, In the second round, other indus­ ning to disappear in Britain when .Adam inflationary interest rates that discourage trial countries raise their interest rates Smith published Th' Wealth of Nations investment in new plant and equipment. to "protect" the exchange-rate value of in 1776. Ronald Reagan and Paul Volcker, In periods of high inflation, mone· their currencies and to stem the tide of to name just two, seem to believe similar tary policy can be pressed into action as imported inflation. Soon all the major conditions exist today. an anti-inflationary weapon, but only if countries have high interest rates, and .All their slogans boil down to tire­ it is targeted to avoid a credit squeeze the shifting of exchange rates slackens. some gruel: Get government off our for productive investment (e.g., new With high interest rates, the econo- backs ! Cut taxes ! Eliminate "burden- capital equipment or construction of new housing or plants) and to avoid strang­ ling credit sensitive economic sectors that ''Not one of the advanced industriaJ countries with a more are not inflationary (e.g., automobiles) . successful economic track record uses policies that even vaguely It should aim to restrain such nonproduc­ tive and inflationary uses of credit as resemble this archaic devotion to market solutions.'' corporate takeovers, commodity (or real estate or "collectibles") speculation, and mies of the othe~ industrial countries some" (for whom?) government rcgula· condominium conversions. These credit begin to descend their own path toward tion ! Cut government programs! Why? uses do not add one whit to the pro­ recession and stagnation. Unemployment To let the "market" determine the "op­ ductive capacity of the country, but do in Europe is at its highest level since timal" allocation of resources . to com­ drain many billions of dollars of capital the Great Depression, as it is in this coun· peting demands. Or, in the recent un­ away from productive activities. Such a try. It is indeed sobering to contemplate guarded words of a preeminent corpo· targeted monetary policy would est~lish even a possibility of the 1980s bringing rate leader, to "unshackle capitalism" a framework within which the market us a grim repeat performance of the The rest of the industrial world could operate efficiently in achieving pri· global stagnation of the 19305, but with (with the notable exception of Margaret ority national goals. OPEC and monetarism we might just Thatcher's Britain) displays a singular see it. Historians may look on this period lack of enthusiasm for Capitalism Un· International Repercussions as the beginning of the "Interest Rate chained. For good reason. .After all, In the interdependent economy the Depression." much of our history since the Great De­ consequences of meat-axe monetary pol· Developing countries-like the poor, pression has been aimed toward guiding icies do not remain within our own minorities, and women here in the United the often unruly energies of a profit. borders. In an era of (supposedly) float· States-are the nearly invisible, scarcely based economy into socially useful chan­ ing exchange rates patched together with noticed victims of high interest rates. nels and away from the destructive orgies the collapse of the Bretton Woods .fixed. The ocean of hundreds of billions of of recession and depression that reached rate system in 1971, high U.S. interest dollars in debt owed by third world what we had hoped was their not so rates stimulate banks and international countries swells precipitously as the U.S. grand finale in the 1930s. companies to shift their liquid funds into -and then world-interest rates ratchet Markets can accomplish many things dollar accounts to take advantage of their upward. Each one percent in our interest efficiently, but there is much they cannot higher earnings. The fairly immediate rate means another two billion dollan do. Operating alone, they cannot prevent result is what we call a "strong dollar," in interest payments from Jamaica, Bra­ recessions, layoffs, and the weakening of which means (to us) that imports are zil, Zaire, India, Turkey, Peru and the our industrial base. Without regulation cheaper (since foreign currencies are other debtor less developed countries. they cannot produce clean air, safe water, cheaper) and our exports are more ex­ .And the social consequences for these or healthy work places, nor can they end pensive to their prospective buyers. It developing countries is little different in poverty or the results of centuries of dis­ takes no international economic genius kind from what the advanced countries crimination and oppression. to realize that more imports and fewer are going through, with the added ele­ Not one of the advanced industrial exports translate into more recession. ment of massive pre-existing unemploy· countries with a more successful economic That's the "first round" effect experi­ ment and the external coercion of the track record uses policies that even vague­ enced here. International Monetary Fund in enforc­ ly resemble this archaic devotion to mar­ In other countries, this "strong dol- ing regressive social policies. ket solutions. They target industries and

10 DEMOCRATIC LBFJ' JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1982