------• AUSTRALIA$2.50 • BELGIUM BF60 • CANADA$2.50 • FRANCE FF10 • ICELAND Kr200 • NEW ZEALAND $2.50 • SWEDEN Kr12 • UK £1.00 • U.S. $1.50 INSIDE Interview with leader of·Cuban Association of· Combatants TH£ -PAGES A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 62;N0. 45 DECEMBER 14, 1998 Quebec vote spotlights Striking coal miners desire for expand picket lines sovereignty UMWA members defy Freeman's ultimatum BY MICHEL DUGRE MONTREAL- The November 30 pro­ BY BETSEY STONE ers responded with cheers and vincial election brought very little change AND CAPPY KIDD thumbs up. At the morning picket, in the Quebec National Assembly, to the FARMERSVILLE, Illinois - One hun­ union songs were played over a dismay of Canada's rulers. They had waged dred seventy striking miners turned out for boom box. a major campaign to defeat the government expanded picket lines at midnight and in the Pickets jeered as a few trucks of of the Parti Quebecois (PQ), a bourgeois early morning of November 30 in front of coal emerged from the mine en­ party that favors sovereignty for Quebec. two mines owned by Freeman United Coal trance. Miners explained that some Prime Minister Lucien Bouchard's Parti Company in central Illinois. company bosses, as well as contrac­ Quebecois won 75 seats, two fewer than in They were responding to a personalized tors, are working in the mine. The 1994, while the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) letter sent to every miner by company presi­ other two mines are not operating. of Jean Charest got 48, an increase of one. dent Walter Gregory ordering them back to Steve Norman, a miner for 22 The Action Democratique du Quebec work on their regularly scheduled shifts on Continued on Page 12 (ADQ) of Mario Dumont won one seat. November 30 at 12:01 a.m. and 6:00a.m. In the actual number of ballots cast, the or face replacement. Liberals got a thin majority of 44 percent of Members of the United Mine Workers of the vote against 43 percent for the PQ. The America (UMWA) Locals 1969, 12, and difference in the number of seats stems from 2488 struck Freeman's three mines Septem­ the highly concentrated votes for the Liber­ ber 11 after the company refused to continue als in non-francophone areas. French speak­ health benefits for retirees. Freeman is a ers are spread throughout the electoral dis~ subsidiary of General Dynamics Corp. tricts of the province, while non- The night of the expanded pickets, min­ Continued on Page 3 ers and members of the women's auxiliary, most of them dressed in camouflage, gath­ ered at strike headquarters where they were London, Paris organized into vans by Locall969 president Greg Mahan. At the Crown 3 mine, pickets gathered deal threatens on both sides of the road. On one side was the picket shack. On the other, an intense spotlight atop a 30~foot tower illuminated U.S. hegemony the mine roadway entrance. Agents from Vance, the notorious strike-breaking agency providing "security" thugs to employers in­ in Europe volved in disputes with their workforce, BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS photographed and videotaped the strikers. Militant photos by Betsey Stone Almost every car and truck that passed Miners outside picket shack at Crown no. 3 mine during picketing November 30. A new deal on military policy between on the main road honked in solidarity. Min- Above, a truck with scab coal mined by the bosses leaving Crown no. 3. the British and French governments, and growing strains within the reactionary NATO alliance stemming from intensified interimperialist competition and shifting alignments between these capitalist powers, Black farmers debate gov't attempt to threaten Washington's hegemony as the number one economic and military power in Europe. London and Paris have agreed on a joint settle discrimination suit out of court initiative that would give the European Union (EU) a role in military affairs on the 'Offer is not morally just,' says farm leader Gary Grant continent and beyond for the first time, of­ ficials from .both governments announced BY KEN MORGAN action.suit against the U.S. Department of be required to provide relatively little docu­ December 1. The accord involves dissolv­ AND STU SINGER Agriculture (USDA). mentation to prove discrimination. They ing the Western European Union (WEU)­ DURHAM, North Carolina- Hundreds The proposal from lawyers for the farm­ would receive cash payments of $50,000 pushed earlier by Paris and Bonn as the of Black farmers, their families, and former ers is being discussed with the U.S. Justice each, and their loan debts to the government emerging military arm of capitalist powers farmers attended meetings November 18- Department, Which represents the USDA in would be written off. The government would Continued on Page 3 20 in Selma, Alabama; Pine Bluff, Arkan­ the federal court suit. It would divide farm­ also credit them with partial payment of sas; and Durham, North Carolina, to hear ers into two classes, A and B. Class A, which taxes on both the $50,000 and the loan pay­ about a proposed settlement of their class would include 2,000 to 4,000 farmers, would ments. Some farmers, the lawyers estimated less than 100, would be in class B. If they have much more extensive documentation, they could go to binding arbitration where they could get a bigger settlement or no settle­ ment at all. A person would be appointed by the fed­ eral judge hearing the case to monitor con­ tinuing discrimination against Black farm­ ers for a period of several years. In North Carolina, the Black farmer who initiated the case, Tim Pigford, and presi­ dent of the Black Farmers and Agricultur­ alists Association Gary Grant, as well as other leaders of this fight decided not to at­ tend the November 20 meeting in Durham. Grant commented later, "They have put an offer on the table, but there are many questions. For one thing, it is not morally just. How do you compensate someone for Militant/Mike Italie the loss of their health, the loss of a family, October 13 rally outside U.S. Court House in Washington, D.C., demands justice in the loss of an ability to make a living? There Black farmers' lawsuit against government discrimination. Continued on Page 14 Rightism, Bonapartism, and election of Ventura - page 5 •

'Flu' grips Asian economies ronym of the Free Papua Countries throughout southeast Asia movement. face recession conditions: a sharp down­ Indonesian troops turn in economic growth this year and stormed the activities. The "gloomy" prospects for 1999, according to crowd resisted attempts to a report from the Asian Development Bank "give guidance and direc­ (ADB). The report stated Indonesia is bar­ tion" to the demonstrators, ing the brunt of the crisis. "Civil unrest and as a local military com­ mander put it. At 5:30a.m. Plill..ff>PINES an unexpected change of government in In­ 199$; -1.6% donesia heightened the sense of instabil­ the next morning, as 200 19'00: ..0.3%) ity" there, it stated. The Gross Domestic participants slept at the tall :::~? Product (GDP) of that country is expected tower the flag was hang­ to contract 16 percent this year, as opposed ing from, soldiers opened fire. According to reports MAI..A YSIA , Bruno,!/'''<. to the 3 percent projected earlier. Nearly 50 199$. ·6.0% ~.~""'<' ~···!.? 0 IN R£C£SSJON percent of Indonesia's 200 million-plus from Biak survivors, many people were brutally tor­ 100$: ·1!.7~/·j \ !GOP%~} people are living below the official poverty • ':,,_., .. -. __ / • '-..,,N' tured, raped, and killed. line - four times the number in 1996. \ ... This year Thailand's GDP will shrink 7 Dozens of people were percent, Malaysia's 6 percent, and the Phil­ bound and thrown into the ippines' nearly 2 percent. Most of these sea. Government officials countries are expected to stay in recession claim only one or two next year. people were killed that Many banks in these countries are near­ morning. But as weeks ing collapse. In Indonesia bad loans could passed following the at­ tack, bodies began wash­ rise 35 percent by year's end. Thailand can Map of nations in southeast Asia that are in recession. Figures taken from Investors Business Daily. expect a 30 percent rise, Malaysia 25 per­ ing ashore in the area. cent, and at least 10 percent for the Philip­ November 23, giving the government one UN cops will remain in Haiti pines. Official unemployment rates have Indonesia: protests persist week to respond to expanded demands. risen 13 percent in the Philippines, 9 percent November 26 marked yet another of the The United Nations Security Council de­ Unionists demand that President Robert in Indonesia, 7 percent in Malaysia, and 8 near-daily protests occurring across Indo­ cided to keep UN police in Haiti for another Mugabe reduce his ministerial staff from 55 percent in Thailand. "Over 30 billion dollars nesia in response to the deepening economic year, after the original1997 resolution stated crisis there. More than 1,000 students march­ to 15, the government reschedule debt re­ they were to leave at the end of this year. fled Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the payments, an audit of government spend­ Philippines in 1997 and 1998 (as a result of ing toward the house of former Indonesian Moscow and Beijing reportedly abstained president Suharto in the capital city of ing, all funds stolen through corruption be from the vote. The cops replaced the 1,300- the crisis which has been pounding the re­ recovered, the media be freed from govern­ gion since July 1997)," the ADB reported. Jakarta, were blocked by government troops. member UN "peacekeeping" team sent in Two-hundred more protesters attempted a ment control, and that a new constitution be 1995. While Haitian president Rene Preval Indonesian troops massacred sit-in at the attorney general's office. Doz­ prepared by 1999. These proposals are in requested the extension, many members of W. Papua independence fighters ens more held an action outside Television addition to demanding subsidized fuel prices, Haiti's parliament have openly opposed it. which shot up 67 percent October 31. The facts about a government-organized Republik Indonesia against the network's The UN police are supposedly there to train The first two nationwide strikes brought massacre of scores of West Papuan inde­ coverage of the protests. In Pinrang, located Haitian cops. Meanwhile, Haitian police were the country to a virtual standstill. The ZCTU pendence fighters were recently pieced to­ on Sulawesi island 850 miles northeast of confronted by angry protests November 7, vowed to continue the walkouts if their de­ gether based on accounts of the Biak people. Jakarta, residents hit the streets en masse after unjustly arresting a bus driver in Saint­ mands are not met. "Everywhere in Zimba­ The island is just off the New Guinea coast. protesting the inability of banks to handle Michel-Gonaives. Demonstrators marched bwe people are frustrated both by their ris­ In the first days of July, Biak residents held customer withdrawals. A day earlier in to the local headquarters of the Haitian Na­ ing poverty and lack of any serious steps to a festival commemorating the July 1, 1961, Semarang, students held protests against tional Police, demanding Michel Gaspard's address it," said ZCTU general secretary proclamation of West Papuan independence government corruption. Cops attacked the release. When the cops refused, residents Morgan Tsvangirai. from New Guinea. Part of the ceremonies in­ demonstrators, injuring at least 54. Some 31 chased them into hiding, burned up the po­ lice station and one cop car. Protesters chided a four-day raising of the West Papuan people have been killed in demonstrations Le Pen banned from office independence movement flag. The Indone­ in Jakarta in the past two wetks alone. blocked roads, causing public transporta­ sian government caught word of the flag Ultrarightist Jean-Marie Le Pen, a central tion to be suspended. The so-called Inter­ raising and sent a memo to surrounding po­ Zimbabwe unions add demands leader of the National Front in France, was vention and Maintenance of Order Company lice stations warning of a "rash of OPM-led The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions banned from holding government office for attacked residents, arresting 13 people and pro-independence actions." OPM is the ac- (ZCTU) suspended its third one-day strike a year for physically assaulting Socialist wounding four. Party candidate Annette Peulvast-Bergeal in 1997. According to an article in the Fi­ Florida: antichoice law struck nancial Times, this was the first such ban A Florida law banning late-term abortions was made by the courts. Le Pen, who is no­ in the state, passed in June but suspended torious for his openly racist and other reac­ by a temporary restraining order, was ruled tionary positions, blasted the government's unconstitutional November 24 by U.S. Dis­ as an attempt to "shove aside Jean-Marie trict Judge Donald Graham. Doctors at the Le Pen, who enjoys the confidence of mil­ two-day hearing, which took place in Au­ lions of voters." gust, testified that the law, though suppos­ The National Front has won 15 percent of edly aimed at ending a particular type of abor­ the vote in the previous legislative and presi­ tion, woUld make nearly all abortions illegal. dential elections. If Le Pen does not appeal About 80,000 abortions are performed an­ this decision to a higher court, he will have nually in Florida, all but a tiny fraction in the to resign from his seat as a member of the first two trimesters. Similar laws have also European parliament and will have to relin­ been found unconstitutional in Alaska, Ari­ quish his position as councilor on the zona, Arkansas, Illinois, Michigan, and Provence-Alpes-Cote d' Azul regional ad­ Montana. ministration. -BRIAN TAYLOR

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2 The Militant December 14, 1998 Quebec elections Canada: McDonald's workers fight for contract Continued from front page 80 percent of the province's population. At francophones are concentrated in a rela­ the same time, the PQ did not win by a wide tively small number of districts. margin as many bourgeois opinion polls had The election results mark the failure of a predicted the last week before the vote. campaign launched by Ottawa early in 1998 The day after the election, Bouchard an­ to build what they thought would be a win­ nounced that his government would not or­ ning combination to defeat the PQ and pre­ ganize a new referendum for the time being, vent another referendum on Quebec's fu­ as the result of the vote indicates it would ture. In 1995, a referendum on Quebec sov­ not be a winning one at the moment. ereignty initiated by the PQ almost won, The gains made by the ADQ, which al­ striking a political blow to Canada's ruling most doubled its share of the vote, getting rich. As part of his campaign, Bouchard had nearly 12 percent, is the most significant promised to organize another such referen­ change since the 1994 elections. The ADQ dum in the future. was established in the early 1990s from a The elections showed that the fight for split in the PLQ. It campaigned on a program Quebec independence is far from being to the right of those of the other parties, squashed. It remains an unsettled question centered on tax reductions and cuts in so­ that bothers the bourgeoisie across Canada. cial services. "I'll try to work with Bouchard," said Cana­ The ADQ presented itself as the alterna­ dian premiere Jean Chretien, hours after the tive to the two other parties, as offering at PQ's victory was announced. "But when least a different style from the established they talk about another... referendum on politicians, standing above their old con­ separation, then they should know that we flicts that it described as responsible for mis­ shall defend and protect our country... with managing the economy and public budget. Militant/Monica Jones A November 28 rally supporting McDonald's workers who are fighting to negotiate the last of our energy." Its campaign remained in the framework of their first contract in Squamish, British Columbia, near Vancouver. Above, two The rulers' campaign to defeat the Parti mainstream bourgeois politics. McDonald's workers (far left) and their supporters. Rally participants included mem­ Quebecois was centered around Charest, The ADQ's success is rooted in the dis­ bers of the Canadian Auto Workers, among others. who resigned as head of the Conservative satisfaction among a significant layer of Party in Ottawa to become the leader of the Quebecois, including many workers, with the PLQ last spring. Charest pledged not to hold PQ's massive cuts in social services and the a new referendum, claiming that this would PLQ open support for the federalist status spite threats of fines and imprisonment by workers began a strike against Olymel-Fla­ bring political and economic instability. quo. the Quebec government and the opposition mingo near Montreal. But the Liberals did not succeed in break­ The election campaign was marked by a of the PQ and the Liberals. Paperworkers in ing the majority support for the PQ among series of labor actions against belt-tighten­ Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland won a Michel Dugre is a member of UNITE and Quebecois, the French-speaking oppressed ing demands by the employers. Some 80,000 victory against Abitibi-Consolidated (see was a candidate of the Communist League nationality in Quebec who make up about teachers organized a one-day job action de- article on page 10). And some 500 poultry in these elections. Strikes, marches for immigrant rights spread in France BYRAFIKBENALI strike since November 27. It is the second railroads. The job actions came after hun­ thousands of workers and their supporters AND NAT LONDON time in a week that workers have tied up the dreds of rail workers in Marseilles took part have been demonstrating against the an­ PARIS -Thousands of workers entire French railway network. Only one third in a 12-day strike to demand that 30 workers nounced closure of the shipyards. Hundreds throughout the country have organized of the trains in France were able to move. be hired at their station. On November 23 of workers at two SEITA cigar and cigarette strikes and demonstrations against layoffs Rail workers are demanding that SNCF, the they won a promise of 20 workers to be hired factories have been protesting the planned and to demand the bosses hire more work­ state-run railway, hire 6,000 more workers. in 1999 and 20 more to be given job training closure of the plants. Unionists have also ers. At the same time thousands of undocu­ Rail workers participated in European­ the following year. That same day jobless protested the closure of four Levi's plants mented workers and others have held spir­ wide rail actions November 23, striking in six workers, some of whom closed job offices in France and Belgium, which will put 1,400 ited demonstrations demanding "papers for countries -Belgian, France, Greece, Lux­ last December demanding higher benefits, workers on the streets. everyone." embourg, Portugal, and Spain. Workers are occupied a Marseilles unemployment office. Demonstrations were held throughout About 11,000 rail workers have been on protesting an EU plan Jo sell off state-owned Meanwhile, at Le Havre naval shipyards France November 21 for 60,000 midocti~ mented imnrigrantswho were refused papers an are now threatened with deportation. The government has granted papers to 80,000 of Growing strains within NATO, EU the sans papiers, but rejected 60,000 others because they "didn't meet the require­ Continued from front page risked blurring command authority in the al­ Just recently, Washington threatened to ments." Most protesters opposed the in western Europe - and transferring its liance," that is, NATO. "In particular, some raise import taxes to 100 percent on a range government's method of reviewing each rudimentary military assets to the EU directly. U.S. officials fear that an independent Euro­ of products from EU countries if the Euro­ immigrant's dossier individually. "We don't "The objective is to launch a defense pean military capability could lead to para­ pean Union fails to change its current poli­ want the case by case, we want papers for policy that would strengthen Europe's im­ lyzing quarrels in the alliance's councils and cies on the banana trade. all immigrants," chanted demonstrators. age and ability to act in regional crises or to political rivalry that could undermine The December 3 New York Times and "Everyone should have the right to ask other missions," said a front-page article in America's role in Europe's military security." other major big-business dailies reported on for papers to live in France, because it is not the December 2 International Herald Tri­ In a related development, Washington Boeing's announcement that it would layoff a poor country," said J anneke Van den Berg, bune. "For both countries, an official said in rejected about a week earlier a proposal by another 20,000 employees over the next two a student from the Netherlands working in London, the bottom line is that 'individu­ the new Social Democratic/Greens coalition years, on top of cutting 28,000 jobs the com­ France as an au pair. "We need more demon­ ally, our countries can only field marginal government of Germany that NATO pledge pany had previously announced. The Times strations like this." forces alone or with the Americans, but to­ never to be the first to use nuclear weapons. pointed to lower than expected profit rates Behind the protest actions and recent gether we could put 30,000 men on the line "It is an integral part of our strategic con­ for the aerospace giant and increased com­ strikes lies a persistent level of high jobless­ and make ourselves noticed by anyone.' " cept and we think it should remain exactly petition from rivals in Europe, particularly ness and an explosion in the number of tem­ London and Paris are the main imperialist as it is," U.S. defense secretary William Co­ the French Airbus. porary jobs. Unemployment is currently 11.6 powers in Europe that can quickly deploy hen responded November 23, referring to Paris and Bonn have pushed the estab­ percent with almost 3 million people unem­ combat forces abroad. For London, the deal Washington's insistence on maintaining a lishment of an EU common currency, the ployed in France. Temporary jobs have in­ may signify a weakening of its long-term nuclear first-strike threat. "euro," as a way to undercut Washington's creased by 51 percent in the last two years "special relationship" with Washington. For The November 28 New York Times pub­ economic superiority. While these efforts and have quadrupled in the last 15 years. decades, this "relationship" has been the lished a front-page article that indicated fur­ may be bearing some fruit vis-a-vis Wash­ Today, nearly one worker in 10 is on a tem­ cornerstone of an imperialist military alliance ther strains within NATO. It was titled, "A ington, the much touted prospect of a porary contract. in Europe that aims to overturn the workers policy struggle within NATO: U.S. plan for "united Europe" remains a myth. Under the pressure of stepped-up work­ states in Eastern Europe and counter widening scope raises opposition of allies." "Storm cloud over the EU," was the lead ing-class resistance, the Socialist Party-led struggles of workers and farmers in other Washington is seeking to broaden headline of the December 2 International coalition government of Lionel Jospin has parts of the world. Not too long ago, British NATO's mandate to give the imperialist alli­ Herald Tribune. "A deepening policy rift proposed a measure to increase the bonus government officials were assailing attempts ance a freer hand in intervening beyond between France and Germany is threatening paid to temporary workers at the end of their to boost the role of the WEU for interven­ Europe's borders to where the U.S. rulers, to paralyze efforts to reform the 15-nation contracts. They claim this would increase tions abroad, and were singing praise to who call the shots in NATO, deem the European Union," the paper said in a front­ the pressure on bosses to give permanent NATO. "I don't see any serious possibility alliance's "interests" are threatened. The U.S. page article. "The divisions between Paris contracts to 1.7 million temporary workers. that the WEU could be suitable to carry out government is also seeking to include a and Bonn ... were laid bare Tuesday [De­ This proposal has also been made to tax com­ a serious combat-related task," said Malcolm stipulation in a new NATO "vision" state­ cember 1] on a wide range of issues follow­ panies that nave more than 10 or 15 percent Rifkind two years ago. Rifkind was the Brit­ ment that military action by NATO does not ing a two-day summit meeting that illustrated temporaries on their payrolls. ish foreign secretary of the Conservative require authorization from the United Na­ how competing national interests are push­ The government has announced that be­ government that ruled prior to the victory of tions Security Council. ing the two allies apart." ginning January 1 companies that lay off Anthony Blair's Labour Party. 'The proposals are running into European One of the main disputes is the demand workers over 50 will be fined between two For Paris, the deal indicates a smoothing opposition that threatens to undermine a by the German government to cut signifi­ months and one year's salary, depending over of its often adversarial relationship with 50th-anniversary NATO summit meeting in cantly Bonn's payments of $12 billion per on the age ofthe worker being fired. At the its British rivals, in order advance its open Washington in April," the Times article said. year, the largest contribution to the EU bud­ same time, J ospin has cut in half the govern­ challenge to U.S. military dominance in Eu­ "France, always concerned with what it get, and curtailing the program of farm sub­ ment fmancing of early retirement programs rope through NATO. The French rulers have sometimes calls American hegemony and sidies that amounts to some 70 percent of for companies with economic difficulties. refused to rejoin NATO's military wing, af­ keen to develop Europe's own military abili­ the EU budget. Paris, which receives a heftier In recent years, hundreds of thousands ter Washington bluntly turned down French ties, and Germany ... are among those wary share of the farm subsidies than any other of workers have been able to retire at age 56 demands that NATO's southern command of giving NATO too sweeping a mission. member, is vehemently opposed to such or 57 or even as early as 53 in some cases, be controlled by military officers from one Russia is also deeply concerned." cuts. France remains the number-two ex­ instead of being fired. This allowed many of the EU countries. Underneath these strains on the military porter of farm products in the world, follow­ capitalists to "downsize" their factories while While Washington is officially not op­ front is fiercer economic competition among ing the United States. Paris - a major avoiding the need to fire large numbers of posed to the European Union taking on mili­ the main imperialist powers on the two sides nuclear power, unlike Bonn - is also op­ workers outright. Unions have demanded tary powers, the Tribune said, "many of the Atlantic, amidst a world deflationary posed to the German proposal of renounc­ that the unemployed be hired to replace each policymakers have feared that the change crisis that's worsening. ing first-use of nuclear weapons. worker on early retirement. December 14, 1998 The Militant 3 New platesetter will reduce labor, facilitate political timeliness in Pathfmder printshop BY STEVE CLARK $135,000 more is needed between now and "Let the imperialists do what they will! the turn of the year to complete the payment. They will never force Cuba to surrender and Overall, the fund is seeking to raise they cannot keep Latin America in submis­ $550,000 - not only to finance the sion indefinitely," said Cuban president Fi­ platesetter, but also to pay off $200,000 in del Castro in a Dec. 21, 1989, speech, the outstanding loans on the printshop's web day after the bloody U.S. government inva­ press and two sheetfed presses. That will sion of Panama. free the shop once and for all of the bank­ Castro's speech is included in the pam­ ers' lien on equipment essential to the pro­ phlet, Panama: The Truth about the U.S. duction of the Militant, the Spanish-lan­ Invasion, scheduled to be the first title re­ guage monthly Perspectiva Mundial, and printed using the Pathfmder printshop' s new Pathfinder books and pamphlets. Agfa Galileo platesetter, which was deliv­ Since the report in last week's Militant, ered November 21. The pamphlet was origi­ contributors have swelled the fund by nally edited and printed in just a few days $13,000. Of that total, $2,800 was raised at a over the New Year's weekend in 1990, as November 29 meeting in Detroit to honor part of an emergency campaign by socialist the life and political contributions of Helene workers and youth demanding "U.S. Hands Millington, a member of the Socialist Work­ Off Panama!" ers Party for more than two decades who Pathfinder's new state-of-the art equip­ died in October at age 86. Other donations ment will n~w make it possible for the came from supporters in Canada, New printshop to produce revolutionary pam­ Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the phlets and books with an even more rapid United States. turnaround - and with higher quality, less Altogether, $100,000 of the total raised so labor, and lower costs. Producing new Path­ far has come from three individuals, with the finder titles and keeping in print its 350 ex­ remainder from some seventy contributions Militant/Hilda Cuzco ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. Veterans of isting publications necessitates a smaller New computer-to-plate machine will make it possible for the printshop to produce revolu­ printshop, one the communist movement is the communist movement for many years tionary pamphlets and books faster, with higher quality, less labor, and lower costs. financially capable of sustaining. are joining with younger members and sup­ "More than in hackneyed phrases of in­ a few months ago on camera work and strip­ Apogee - that substantially reduces the skill porters in making this effort a success. Many ternationallaw, more than in discredited in­ ping up large flats by hand to make plates. level of going from computer to plate. Then have turned over employer bonuses in full ternational institutions, we believe in the "But with the Galileo, we will eliminate illm the three of us will begin training others who to the capital fund. Other contributors have peoples and in their courage," said Castro altogether, at another big savings in labor," work on the presses or in the bindery. come into substantial amounts of capital as in the 1989 talk. "We believe in the ability of he said. "We will go directly from the com­ "Over the past two weeks," he added, a result of bequests, accident settlements, man to continue marching on the path of puter disk the volunteers send in to the print­ "we've also decided on the proofing equip­ or other windfalls. progress, on the path of independence, on ing plate we put on the presses." ment we need so that Pathfinder and the Meetings are being organized in many the path of genuine freedom and dignity!" Members and supporters of the commu­ shop's other customers can confidently re­ cities to discuss how supporters of the So­ Those same attitudes of proletarian con­ nist movement from across the United States view and sign off on the accuracy and qual­ cialist Workers Party and Young Socialists sciousness and discipline are at the heart of and Canada mobilized at the Pathfinder ity of our work - before we make the can help these organizations respond most the revolutionary transformation of produc­ Building in New York City over the Novem­ plates." Among other reasons proofing is effectively to the political openings before ing Pathfinder books and pamphlets. Since ber 20-22 weekend, when the platesetter so important, he explained, is that produc­ them as a result of an upturn in defensive the beginning of this year, some 140 volun­ was delivered, to help build the environmen­ tion costs rapidly become unsustainable in struggles by workers and farmers in the teers in cities across North America and tally controlled room where it is currently the shop unless workers there can hold the United States and other imperialist countries. around the world have taken on the task of being installed. They also did renovation remake of faulty plates to below 5 percent of These events, and other aspects of the fund, preparing Pathfinder's entire political arse­ work and painting in the second-floor sales all those produced. are being organized by a committee of Nan nal of revolutionary books and pamphlets office and production areas of the shop. "We're still quite a ways from reaching Bailey (Seattle), Sam Manuel (Washington, fgr, -~~P1:i~: .;rE~Y ru:e .. ~pa!lfiing~ p~oofn~ad­ Since then, volunteers from Cleveland, New­ that necessary level right now," Rosenfeld D.C.), Dave Prince (New York), Norton i?g, lll},d f9rmattfn,g,the text of each of these. ark, New York, Syracuse, Toronto, Wash­ said. "But doing so raP,idly is a precondition Sandler (San Francisco), Maggie Trowe (Des titles; ahd· ieatfyirl.g the'cdvers and'gh\phics ington, D.C, and elsewhere have helped for the survival of the printshop. Just like Moines), and Jack Willey (Chicago). This for the presses as well. complete some of the unfinished tasks. the effort we are now in the middle of, to week, Frank Forrestal (Pittsburgh) also The Panama pamphlet is one of the vol­ "During the Thanksgiving week and the reverse several months of a steep decline in joined the committee. unteers' most recent jobs. Over the past week afterwards," Rosenfeld said, "techni­ sales of commercial printing we need to keep All of them will be in Los Angeles over week, they also completed The Changing cians employed by Agfa, the manufacturer the shop a financially viable operation." the December 4-6 weekend for the socialist Face of U.S. Politics: Working-Class Poli­ of the Galileo, have been working with us to conference being held in conjunction with tics and the .Trade Unions by Socialist Work­ get the platesetter up and running. Capital Fund the third national Young Socialists conven­ ers Party national secretary Jack Barnes and "From December 2 through December 4, The Galileo platesetter is a $350,000 piece tion there. This will be the next big opportu­ Che Guevara et Ia lutte pour le socialisme we'llhave a trainer inhere for three solid days of equipment. Since early October, support­ nity to increase contributions to the fund. aitjourd'hui (Che Guevara and the fight for showing several of us not only how to oper­ ers of the communist movement have con­ To find out how you can make a contn"bu­ socialism today), a French-language pam­ ate the platesetting equipment itself, but also tributed $215,000 to a capital fund to make tion, write: Capital Fund Committee, 410 phlet by Mary-Alice Waters, editor of New how to use the software package -called possible the purchase of this machinery; West Street, New York, NY 10014. International. From computer to plate "What the volunteers send to us in the Connecticut, Florida protests press for printshop is a CD-ROM with the entire book in electronic form, ready to go into produc­ tion," explained David Rosenfeld, a press release ofPuerto Rican political prisoners operator responsible for organizing to bring the new computer-to-plate equipment on line BY OLGA RODRIGUEZ the National Committee were joined in the was heartened by what he sees as increased in December. DANBURY, Connecticut- "Tear down action by members of the Boston American interest and growing support over the last "Right now, we take that disk and go di­ the prison walls! Free the Puerto Rican Pris­ Friends Service Committee's Support Group couple of years for the international cam­ rectly to film," he said. "That alone lets us oners of War!" "Freedom! Freedom! for for Families of Prisoners, the New York and paign to win unconditional release of the bypass hours of work we used to spend just Alejandrina and the rest," and "Long Live Boston branches of the Socialist Workers jailed Puerto Rican patriots. Free Puerto Rico; Yankees out of the Carib­ Party, the Young Socialists chapters in these Alejandrina Torres was one of 16 pro-in­ •••••From Pathfinder bean!" cities, and supporters of Sylvia Baraldini, an dependence fighters arrested and accused So chanted 30 activists from Boston, New Italian national doing time at the Danbury of being members of the Armed Forces of Puerto Rico: York City, and Hartford and Southington, prison for her alleged help in aiding in the National Liberation (FALN), an alleged group INDEPENDENCE IS A Connecticut, as they marched down Main escape of Joanne Chesimar, also known as Washington claimed carried out a series of Street in this small town where the Federal Assata Shakur, a fighter for Black rights who bombings of government, business and mili­ NECESSITY Corrections Institute for women is located. currently lives in Cuba. tary sites between 1980 and 1983. Rafael Cancel Protesters were here to press the case for Manuel Gonzalez, a worker from Torres was brutalized by guards at Miranda the unconditional release of Alejandrina Southington, Connecticut, who had been Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Cen­ on the fight Torres, who is jailed at the Danbury federal involved in the defense of the Hartford 15 at ter while awaiting trial and being held in ad­ against U.S. prison, and the 15 other Puerto Rican politi­ the time of their trial, stated: "I'm here to ministrative detention. After a visit from her colonial rule cal prisoners. The spirited march was one of support the political prisoners, and to con­ daughter, a male guard threw her to the floor, In two interviews, a several organized by the National Committee demn the hypocrisy of the U.S. government broke her collarbone, and participated in a leader of Puerto Rico's to Free the Puerto Rican Prisoners of War that marches around the world preaching body cavity search with four women guards. independence struggle and Political Prisoners. Demonstrators car­ freedom of expression while denying Puerto After the search, the warden put Torres in speaks on the brutal ried a massive Puerto Rican flag, banners de­ Ricans those rights for 100 years." solitary confinement for being "insolent." reality of U.S. colonial domination, the manding independence for Puerto Rico and Christopher Torres, a 22-year old former Torres and 13 others were convicted of resurgence of the independence movement, the freedom for the Puerto Rican patriots held in student at Lehman College, and activist in seditious conspiracy against the U.S. gov­ campaign to free 16 Puerto Rican Political U.S. jails, and carrying large photos of each the New York chapter of the National Com­ ernment and given sentences ranging from prisoners, and the example of Cuba's socialist of the Puerto Rican political prisoners. mittee, said, "I became curious about who 35 to 105 years in prison. revolution for all those fighting for freedom. The actions at each of the federal prisons these prisoners were when I stopped by a Following an ecumenical service and brief Rafael Cancel Miranda addresses, above, all, the where 16 independentistas are serving jail table that the National Committee to Free rally, the protesters got in cars and vans and new generation joining this struggle. Available sentences of 15 to 105 years were organized the Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and Po­ made the two-mile trip to the Danbury prison, in English and Spanish. Booklet $3.00 to publicize the cases of the prisoners and litical Prisoners at the Puerto Rican Festival with horns blaring. The caravan participants to help build toward a vigil at the United when I was 17. I later joined the study group drove by the prison and then returned to Available from bookstores, including those listed on Nations on December 10. The UN rally will they were organizing on Puerto Rican his­ town, as there is no place for cars to park or page 12 or write Pathfinder, 41 0 West St., New demand that the world body pressure Wash­ tory. I learned a lot about what my people protesters to stand. Federal cops, who were York, NY 10014. Tel: (2121741-0690. ington to free the prisoners. have gone through, and our true history. waiting with cameras and video recorders at The Boston and New York chapters of Stuff they never teach us in schools." He Continued on Page 5 4 The Militant December 14, 1998 Oregon disclosure ruling saps free speech BY DENNIS RICHTER show. This was seen by many as an act of SEATILE, Washington- The Oregon intimidation. The Boeing Company also main­ Elections Division has denied a request for tains an anti-communist "rule" against en­ an exemption from disclosing the names of gaging in "on-American activities." contributors to, and vendors of, the elec­ The SEEC also attempted to influence the tion campaign of Adrienne Weller, the can­ Washington State Public Disclosure Com­ didate of the Freedom Socialist Party for mission (PDC) in 1997, faxing a copy of their Oregon state representative in the 18th Dis­ decision to the commission right before a trict. hearing of that body on the Socialist Work­ In an Oct. 23, 1998, letter, Fred R. Neal, ers Campaign's request for an exemption. Campaign Finance Manager of the Oregon The PDC granted an exemption at that time. Elections Division, wrote: ''There is insuffi­ cient evidence to show that there is a rea­ Fight to overturn new PQC provision sonable probability that the required disclo­ In 1998, the Washington state PDC again sures will subject those identified in the re­ granted a formal disclosure exemption to ports to threats, harassment, or reprisals." both the Socialist Workers 1998 State Cam­ The letter formally denied Weller's request. paign and to the Freedom Socialist Party In closing, the letter justified the candidate for state representative in the 37th Division's rejection of an exemption by stat­ District. It inserted, however, a new provi­ ing: "A similar exemption was requested sion that allows for "an independent third before the city of Seattle Ethics and Elec­ party" audit of their campaign's books. tions Commission (SEEC) in 1997 and was Militant/Carmen Maymi Breen, speaking before the PDC hearing denied." Socialist Workers candidate Scott Breen, center, campaigning in the streets of Seattle. in August that made this decision, explained Neal is referring to the SEEC decision to why the Socialist Workers Campaign op­ provide ready-made "enemies lists" and sub­ ing evidence of continuing harassment, in­ posed this new provision. ''This new provi­ deny the Socialist Workers 1997 Campaign ject individuals to harassment and reprisal. cluding from government agencies like the an exemption from publicly disclosing the sion runs contrary to the PDC's own find­ In addition, such laws give the government police, the FEC granted the SWP an exemp­ ings that we are subject to government and names of its contributors and vendors last more tools to intervene into workers organi­ tion from public disclosure until2002. year. The Socialist Workers Party ran Scott private harassment for our political views. It zations like the Socialist Workers Party and The SEEC's decision in 1997 was the most opens a crack in the protection of privacy Breen for mayor and Roberta Scherr for city the unions. serious recent probe by ruling-class forces council in Seattle in 1997. and voluntary association we have won over After nearly a decade-long battle, these against this provision. They denied that the last 25 years. If allowed to stand, it can ''The Oregon decision represents a wid­ exemptions were won, backed up by Supreme there was a reasonable probability of ha­ ening attack on the right to privacy, free be used to subject our contributors and ven­ Court decisions like Buckley v. Valeo and rassment against the Socialist Workers Cam­ dors to public scrutiny now and be widened speech, and voluntary association, which Brown v. Socialist Workers 1974 Campaign paign, despite evidence provided to the con­ began with the -city of Seattle during my in the future." Committee. trary. This included the fact that Breen's The Socialist Workers Campaign has for­ campaign," Breen said in an interview. ''This Since the 1980s, the Federal Elections employer, the Boeing Company, carried out proves what we said at that time: the SEEC mally appealed this provision of the August Commission has granted such exemptions an investigation of him after being inter­ ruling and the PDC has agreed to reconsider decision would not be limited to Seattle, nor to SWP campaign committees. In 1996, cit- viewed as a candidate on a popular radio just to the Socialist Workers Party. All fight­ it at their Jan. 26, 1999, hearing. ers for social justice, especially trade union­ ists who face increasing intervention by government into our unions, should protest the Oregon decision and demand it be re­ versed." Rightism, Bonapartism, and The SEEC decision prompted a public campaign organized by the Seattle Commit­ tee to Defend Free Speech, demanding the SEEC reverse its initial decision, drop its pro­ the election of Jesse Ventura posal to fine the Socialist Workers Campaign $6,000 and grant an exemption. It spanned BY DOUG JENNESS ers states, "Ventura: a Bonapartist, not a Those who talk about a third party ab­ three public hearings and generated public ST. PAUL, Minnesota- Last week's rightist." Underneath, the first sentence stracted from any class perspective inevita­ debate in the major newspapers. The Com­ Militant described Jesse Ventura, the newly reads: "It's not accurate to label Ventura as bly end up being sucked into bac~g some mittee to Defend Free Speech organized pro­ elected governor qf Minnesota, as a a rightist. ..." form of capitalist politics. This has been the test meetings and its fight received active Bonapartist. That's "the best description of The truth is that while Ventura's dema­ historical experience with ."populist" -scyl~ legal support from the American Civil Liber­ this breed of radical demagogue," I stated in gogy is designed to draw support from a third parties. ties Union (ACLU) of Washington. an "As I see it" column. In the article, "Elec­ wide range of voters with contradictory po­ As workers and farmers, however, are Dozens of individuals, including Secre­ tion ofBonapartist figure Ventura in Minne­ litical views and conflicting class interests, drawn deeper and deeper into struggle to tary-Treasurer of the King County Labor sota is danger to working people," I explained the thrust of his victory and his administra­ defend ourselves against the worsening Council Ron Judd, sent letters of protest to that the governor-elect presents himself as tion will aid the employers' offensive against consequences of the capitalist economic and the city of Seattle and supported the de­ a champion of "the people" who stands working people and give a boost to rightist social crisis, we more sharply confront the mands of the Seattle Committee to Defend above partisan politics and classes. forces. political parties and policies of the employe Free Speech. We should anticipate more assaults on ing class .. After this six-month public protest, the social benefits that working people have The need is posed of breaking, not only City of Seattle and the Socialist Workers wrested in struggle from the boss class - with the Democratic and Republican parties, Campaign agreed to a settlement. The city AS I SEE IT from education to workers' compensation but with all forms of bourgeois politics, no authorities, while refusing to grant an ex­ and from child care to public relief for work­ matter ifthere are three, four, or five capital­ emption, agreed not to demand the names ers that can't get unemployment or medical ist parties. As our struggles become sharper of the contributors and vendors, thus pre­ Describing Ventura as a Bonapartist is insurance. And this will all be justified as and more massive, the political confronta­ serving the privacy rights of those individu­ more accurate than simply referring to him being in the interests of the people of Min­ tion will lead us to establish our own politi­ als. The socialist campaign agreed not to as another "ultrarightist." He isn't a rightist nesota. cal course and policies independent of the file a lawsuit and pay a significantly reduced in the same manner as politicians like former capitalist rulers. It will pose sharply the need fineof$330. U.S. president Ronald Reagan or ultraright­ What's wrong with 'third partyism' to form a political party of working people, ists like Patrick Buchanan. Unlike politicians As I pointed out in last week's column, based on the mass organizations of working Long history of struggle of this sort who espouse a broad range of many middle-class radicals have hailed people, including trade unions that become In the wake of the enactment of "public rightist positions, Ventura takes diverse Ventura's victory as a breakthrough for detachments of struggle. disclosure laws" and government bodies to stands -from supporting a woman's right building a "third party." enforce them in the 1970s, the SWP and to choose abortion and legalization of pros­ Marvin Davidov, a prominent pacifist in ACLU fought to have minor political parties titution and drugs- traditionally not posi­ the Twin Cities, wrote to the St. Paul Pio­ who have been targets of government ha­ tions of the political right - to cutting state­ neer Press on November 14: "The governor rassment - like the Socialist Workers subsidized day care and replacing income [Ventura] has opened up space for all alter­ Fascism: Party- exempted from reporting the names, tax with a national sales tax. native political parties. Sen. Wellstone addresses, and employers of contributors However, the article mistakenly creates should analyze carefully Jesse Ventura's vic­ What It Is and vendors of their election campaigns. the impression that Ventura's victory isn't a tory. Paul, move to the left in your presiden­ and Hovv Such lists, if publicly disclosed, could victory for the right wing. One of the break- tial run and help build the Third Party." to Fight It Davidov is referring here to liberal Demo­ LEON TROSTKY cratic senator Paul Wellstone, who is cur­ Why fascism was able Release Puerto Rican political prisoners rently probing a run for the Democratic Party to conquer only in nomination for president in the elections two those countries where years from now. Continued from Page 4 social democratic or In a similar vein Greg Gibbs of the Twin the entrance to the facility, failed to intimi­ BY ERNIE MAILHOT Stalinist parties date the protesters. The National Commit­ Cities Labor Party, in a letter posted on the MIAMI - Twenty-four people rallied at Internet, stated, ''The dead horse of 'respon­ blocked the workers tee and others are building a December 10 and their allies from rally at the United Nations, which will take the Federal Courthouse in Orlando, Florida, sible' Minnesota politics has been turned November 21, demanding freedom for Juan upside down. This can only be food for the utilizing a revolutionary situation to remove the place on the 50th anniversary of the UN's capitalists from power. Booklet $3.00 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Segarra Palmer and the other Puerto Rican third party movement. Ventura's victory is political prisoners held in U.S. jails. Segarra the lOOth anniversary of the Treaty of Paris, the best thing that could have happened as was convicted as one of the ''Hartford 15" it opens the door for us." What Is American Fascism? through which Spain illegally ceded colo­ JAMES P. CANNON AND JOSEPH HANSEN nial domination of Puerto Rico, Cuba, and who were accused of conspiracy in the al­ The underlying assumption here is that the Philippines to the United 'States. Other leged robbery of a Wells Fargo depot in there is something inherently progressive Analyzing examples earlier in the 20th century Hartford, Connecticut in 1983. He's detained events include longtime independentista about a third party. But that's not true. All -Father Charles Coughlin, Jersey City mayor at a penitentiary in Coleman, Florida, serv­ and former Puerto Rican political prisoner parties and politics have a class basis - Frank Hague, and Sen. Joseph McCarthy­ ing 65 years. The Orlando chapter of the Rafael Cancel Miranda speaking at Baruch even Ventura who claims to represent busi­ this collection looks at the features distinguish­ National Committee to Free the Puerto Rican College. For further information on the De­ nessmen, farmers, and workers alike. The ing fascist movements and demagogues in the cember 10rallycall(212)387-1694. Prisoners of War and Political Prisoners or­ Reform Party, for which Ventura was the stan­ ganized the protest. Participants came from dard-bearer, is a capitalist party. Its positions United States from the 1930s to today. $8.00 Olga Rodriguez is a member ofthe Interna­ Miami, St. Petersburg, and Tampa. The event are based on upholding and perpetuating Available at bookstores, including those listed on page 12. tional Association of Machinists. was aired on a local cable TV station. the capitalist system of exploitation. .. December 14, 1998 The Militant 5 Skychef strikers in London stand firm BY CAROLINE BELLAMY ters offering reinstatement. What we want LONDON-At a mass meeting on No­ is a union-negotiated settlement. We should vember 21, 400 workers employed by LSG all stay out until we're all taken back on Lufthansa Skychefs voted unanimously to agreed tertns." reject company conditions for their reem­ There were cheers when the vote was ployment, effectively deciding on all-out taken. Many of the workers are Asian. The strike action. The day before, the company mass meeting was conducted in English and issued dismissal letters, firing members of Punjabi. the Transport and General Workers Union The strikers then turned to organizing the at the plant who had taken part in a 24-hour walkout. They're picketing around the clock stoppage. and are establishing a strike headquarters. Brian Powell, a worker in the Wash Up Union officials pledged to contact trade area who moved the resolution that was unions at other airports and in other coun­ adopted, said to enthusiastic applause: "No tries for support, and to raise the strike with individual should sign any management let- Members of Parliament. Militant/Caroline Bellamy One of the pickets, Javid Upaday, said that Strikers at LSG Lufthansa Skychefs, members of Transport and General Workers the workers were prepared for a long battle. Union (TGWU), picket across from the plant November 21 in London. "No doubt we'll be preparing turkeys for a FROM PATHFINDER Christmas picket," he stated. Even on the fered £0.40 per hour instead. But, in fact, for November 20. When they went out on first day of action, the workers had organized following the introduction of new rosters, strike, workers were sacked for breach of two braziers to keep them warm and to use the Transport Team received a wage cut by contract. The company representatives as cooking facilities. As cars passed by the as much as £70 or £100 per week. called workers who were sick at home to 50 or so pickets, many hooted their horns in The union also demanded a raise for other ask if they would have walked out had they support. The president of the local Sikh workers, rejecting what everyone perceived not been ill. Those who answered ''yes" were temple came to the line to offer support. as a divide-and-rule policy of the company told that they were fired too. There was a marked cop presence at the that was seeking a special deal with the driv­ The company offered as a condition of picket. The police insisted the strikers stick ers. The company responded by offering all reemployment that each worker sign a let­ In this book, two to the legal limit of six pickets at the gate workers, including the drivers, a £0.12 per ter agreeing to the £0.12 per hour raise and central leaders and erected crowd-control barriers to hem hour rise. · that they would not press any other issues of the modern in the unionists. Many had to stand across An initial move to strike action had been in dispute. Most workers were offered an communist the road from the factory. Pickets also re­ aborted when the company alleged that the immediate return to work if they signed. A workers move­ ported that special security patrols with Ger­ procedures adopted were outside of the le­ minority, including a number of union stew­ ment outline the man shepherd dogs had been organized. gal framework established by the former ards and workers identified as more mili­ fight for this The issues behind the strike concern new Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. This in­ tant, were informed that they would not be revolutionary work practices, "single operated catering," cludes apostal ballot sent to all workers to reemployed until February 1999. perspective. introduced by the company for those on the be involved in a strike and the provision of ''This is clearly an attempt to break our $14.95 transport team who take the prepared food seven days notice of action. union," Upaday said. "It's no longer an is­ and drink from the factory to the airport, and When the union made a second attempt sue of money. We're out for respect, dig­ Available at load it onto the planes. The union responded to organize strike action, the workers re­ nity, and union rights." bookstores listed with a demand for £1.50 per hour raise and corded a vote of more than 70 percent in on page 12. that there should be no compulsory redun­ favor of a walkout. The necessary notice was Caroline Bellamy is a member ofthe Trans­ dancies (£1 = US$1.65). The company of- given and the day of strike action was set port and General Workers Union in London. UK farmers face 'worst crisis since 1930s' ·As farffiers ·protest for living income, many embrace protectionist demands BY ALAN HARRIS Hardest hit are family farmers, with farm ing farmer of hill livestock from Exmoor in to reactionary, protectionist explanations as AND PETER ROSNER closures escalating daily. the west of England. He was speaking to to reasons of the recent devastating condi­ LONDON- ''The worst crisis in agri­ In response to this crisis, UK agriculture Militant reporters November 18 outside the tions they face. At the same time many of culture since the 1930s." That's how the minister Nicholas Brown announced No­ Houses of Parliament where about 150 small them focus their demands on getting a liv­ November 12 Times of London and other vember 16 a meager "emergency aid pack­ farmers, mainly from the southwest of En­ ing income. dailies here described the devastation faced age" of £120 million to farmers. National gland and Wales, held a public meeting and Villacote's view was that "the strong by fariners in the United Kingdom Farmers Union leader Ben Gill described the organized to lobby Members of Parliament pound and cheap imports" were the deci­ A report by accountants Deloitte and package as "a short term safety net for some (MP). The event was called by Farmers in sive reasons for the crisis faced by farmers Touche in October estimated a drop of 66 farmers teetering on the brink of financial Crisis, an organization of small farmers. like himself. percent in farm profits over two years and collapse." The union is a conservative asso­ ''Today we sell a lamb for £28 and the The predominant theme at the meeting that a quarter of farms are now running at a ciation whose membership ranges from the supermarkets charge £119," Villacote said. inside Parliament between the farmers and loss. According to the Times, figures to be largest capitalist farmers to small family He pointed out that the middlemen - abat­ MPs was that the supermarkets pay farmers released later in November are expected to farmers. toirs, distribution networks, and supermar­ a pittance for their produce and livestock, show that total farm income has dropped to ''We are grateful for the package but we kets - get the difference between these two compared to the prices of food on the su­ £700 million this year (£1 = $1.65), com­ would like to see long-term solutions to our prices. Last year the price farmers received permarket shelves. However, when Liberal pared to about £4 billion two years ago. problems," said Maurice Vellacott, a work- was £48 per lamb. Democrat member of parliament Paul Tyler VJ.llacote has run a deficit this year of claimed that "cut-price substandard imports" £24,000. His costs include £10,000 per year were the biggest problem, he received a fa­ in interest on his mortgage. He will receive vorable reception from the audience. £7000 from the government aid package, Rightist forces are also appealing to the which means he will still finish the year in farmers attempting to channel discontent in the red to the tune of £17,000. a nationalist direction. The UK Indepen­ Villacote's wife and son used to work with dence Party issued a leaflet outside the lobby him on the farm, but since they've hit hard blaming the European Union and farmers times they both have taken other jobs. "Now from other countries for the crisis. "British it's just me and the dog," he stated. These farmers are being ruined by events that have figures give a glimpse to the kind of aid the nothing to do with British Agriculture: our government package amounts to. It also cov­ obligations under EMU - even though we ers only some farmers. may never join - mean high interest rates Villacote said that other farmers are even and an artificially strong pound. Our worse off than himself. Graham McCloud economy is being dragged down in order to from North Devon, another farmer in the make it converge with those of our EU 'part­ group Militant reporters interviewed, will ners,"' the flyer said. "You can't even sell get nothing from the package because his your produce at home because our 'partners' farm is in the lowlands. And pig farmers, dump their surpluses on us- and they will one of the hardest-hit groups, will also re­ stop at nothing to squeeze us out of third • no.4 ceive nothing. markets." The Fight for a Workers The package's main recipients will be hill The rightist Countryside Alliance, an or­ and Farmers Government farmers and those in the beef industry hit ganization that beats the drum for the "Brit­ in the-United States by by fluctuations in national currencies - ish way of life" in the countryside, attempt­ Jack Barnes •:• The Crisis such as suckler cow producers. A third ele­ ing to draw small farmers behind big agro­ FacingWorking Farmers ment of the package is extending special pay­ business and large landowner interests, also by Doug Jenness •:• Land ments to farmers to slaughter and destroy backed the lobby of Parliament. Reform and Farm Coop­ within three weeks of birth male calves that The National Farmers Union refused to eratives in Cuba, two have no markets due to the ban on exports throw its weight behind the lobby. "I think speeches by Fidel Castro following the outbreak of the BSE, or "mad the union is a bit scared of us and what we $9.00 cow," disease. This scheme, due to expire are trying to do," a spokesman for Farmers November 30, has been extended to April. in Crisis said in a statement. "We were asked But payments to farmers will now only be not to upset talks with the government and 70 percent of the previous rate. the supermarkets, but we told the two senior Many of the farmers who participated in members ofNFU staff we met that grassroots the November 18 protest were susceptible farmers felt talks were going nowhere." 6 The Militant December 14, 1998 Cuban youth leaders tour Vancouver... BY PAUL KOURI a volunteer soldier was one of the most im­ VANCOUVER, British Columbia- "I portant experiences in his life and key to liked what he said that Cuba shows there is his political development. 'another way, that capitalism isn't the only Another lAM member present at the ex­ way," commented Sarah Petrescu after hear­ change, Marco Herrarte, is involved in the ing two Cuban youth leaders address a pub­ campaign to raise humanitarian aid for the lic meeting of 140 at the Roundhouse Com­ victims of Hurricane Mitch in Central munity Center here November 20. Like America. He attended the public meeting many of the 400 people - in their majority and appealed there for more long-term aid. young - people who came to heat the Cu­ He pointed out that "the Cubans have sent bans throughout the five days they spent in doctors and nurses- they don't hesitate to Vancouver, Petrescu is repelled by the pov­ help people." · erty, wars, and other social evils fostered by In his opening remarks to the main pub­ capitalism. lic meeting, Fr6meta pointed to difficulties Juan Carlos Fr6meta de la Rosa is the Cubans have faced since 1990 when favor­ coordinator of the Americas section of the able terms of trade with the Soviet union international relations department of the and Eastern Europe were abruptly ended and Union of Young Communists (UJC). Raiza Cuba became more vulnerable to the gyra­ Rodriguez Gonzalez is a member of the tions of the capitalist market. "Inspite of our National Secretariat of the Federation of difficulties we continue to provide solidar­ ity as we are presently doing in Central University Students (FEU) and a masters Militant/Monica Jones America and the Caribbean where Cuban student in sociology at the University of A November 17 meeting at Langara Community College in Vancouver with members Havana. They spoke to hundreds of youth of Union of Young Communists in Cuba. From left: chairperson Paul Zollman, Juan medical brigades are helping treat victims of two hurricanes: Georges and Mitch. We during their three-week tour in Canada that Carlos Fr6meta de Ia Rosa, translator Francisco Trujillo, Rafza Rodriguez Gonzalez. began in Montreal November 1. follow Jose Marti -leader of Cuba's war Sponsors of the Vancouver leg of the visit of the International Association of Machin­ said during the exchange between the Cu­ of independence against Spain - who said included the student unions from Langara ists, who work at Avcorp, an aerospace plant. ban youth and the lAM members. More than our 'nation is humanity.' " College, University of British Columbia Boe Ducayen, 21, commented after the ex­ 300,000 Cubans volunteered in Angola be­ One questioner at UBC asked about free- . (UBC), and Simon Fraser University (SFU). change: "It was great meeting the Cubans. tween 1975 and 1990 to help the people dom of religion in Cuba. "Many religions The three campus meetings drew more than They should go to high schools. When I was there defend their hard-won independence exist in Cuba, including the Catholic church, 200 students. Other youth/student groups going to high school in Alberta they brain­ from Portugal and push back repeated inva­ but they are totally separate from the state," such as Colour Connected, Third World washed us with videos portraying Cuban sions by the South African army. The de­ Rodriguez replied. "Everyone is free to Alliance, Global Development, Latin nuclear missiles pointed at the United States. feat of Pretoria's forces at the closing of the worship as they please. But the schools and American Students Union at SFU, and But it's the other way around. They [Wash­ 1980s played a key role in winning the in­ all state institutions are secular. No religions Young Socialists helped organize campus ington] spend billions to send troops to Iraq dependence of neighboring Namibia and in are taught in the schools." meetings. The Cubans spoke to 40 delegates when they should be helping countries in . boosting the struggle to bring down South In answer to a question on the situation at the regular monthly meeting of the Van­ need like Nicaragua." Africa's apartheid regime itself. facing university students in Cuba, couver and District Labour Council. "Cuba has contributed a lot to Africa," Speaking to students at Langara, Fr6meta Rodriguez explained how universities, and They also met with 13 workers, members Albert Tjitunga, who was born in Namibia, described how his two years in Ethiopia as the Federation of University Students (FEU) in particular, have been centers of debate for finding solutions to the difficulties facing Cuban society, and youth in particular. In Cuba education is free and students had re­ ... speak with Steelworkers in Toronto ... ceived a living allowance from the govern­ ment to pay their living expenses. Courses BY KATY LEROUGETEL me back, I'll be tortured.' You don't see Cuba is fertile. We have to buy food from are opened up to students in line with the TORONTO - "There are four children Dominicans saying that," Fusione objected. elsewhere. People have to wait for the rice needs of the economy and society as a in my family and we're all at a university. "Cubans are the only people offered citi­ because we can't get it from the United whole. "When the crisis hit, we agreed that Only my father's paycheck comes in every zenship and a job when they arrive in the States. So the boat from China is delayed the government should no longer pay us a month -198 pesos. But we're fme. I may U.S.," Fr6meta said. "It's easier to get that sometimes. But they do get their full ration stipend," Rodriguez said. "A system ofloans not have the latest fashionable clothes, but I if you denounce the Cuban government. eventually." was arranged instead. However,FEU is pres­ eat, take the bus to school every day, and go That's not offered to Dominicans or Mexi­ Three workers dropped into the discus­ ently discussing a proposal to ask the gov­ out with my friends," said RaizaRodriguez cans." sion after attending a meeting else~here in ernment to re~stal:>lis11 the)iying allowanet(." Gonzalez, 22, a representative of the Fed­ Edgar Mendez had recently spent a week the hotel to ratify a new contract with their In discussing the biggest challenge fac­ eration of University Students in Cuba. She in Cuba volunteering on construction of a employer. USWA 5338 is an amalgamated ing the UJC and FEU, Rodriguez and was talking with a dozen members of the church. He asked, ''The monthly ration of local where members work for many differ­ Fr6meta discussed the need to effectively United Steelworkers of America (USWA) rice per person [at subsidized low prices] is ent companies. Rodolfo Molina spoke for counter the effects of capitalist "consumer­ November 12. 6lbs. But often people don't get it all at once. them, "We had to accept yearly raises of 30 ism and individualism that exist everywhere Together with Juan Carlos Fr6meta de la They get 3 lbs and have to wait several or 35 cents in a three-year contract because and which discourage solidarity. We have Rosa, representative of the Union of Young weeks for the rest. With 75 percent of agri­ the government in this province has made a to show youth how to be more human, more Communists, she toured Canada in Novem­ cultural production taken up by sugar cane law that prevents us from shutting down the spiritual, to prepare youth ideologically to ber speaking with students and unionists. cultivation, which is state controlled and factory if we go on strike. Other people can be rounded revolutionaries, to forge youth They were in Toronto for five days. takes lots of machinery, don't Cubans re­ come in and take our jobs. We have to fight who will know how to build socialism." This discussion over coffee and donuts ally need more help growing food to eat?" hard here. We wanted to come to salute your in a hotel meeting room near the workplace "I'm from the countryside, I'll answer fight for dignity in Cuba." Paul Kouri is a member ofthe United Steel­ that," said Rodriguez. "Sugar production had been set up by1 USWA Local5338 and workers ofAmerica Local2952. Aiden Ball announced with leaflets posted on union doesn't take up 75 percent of agriculture­ Katy LeRougetel is a member of USWA Lo­ and Hamish McDonald, members of the bulletin boards in English, Spanish, Punjabi, we grow coffee, cocoa, rice ... but not all of cal5338. Young Socialists, contributed to this article. and Vietnamese. · "But what's the point in having a free education, if you can't get a well-payingjob afterwards?" said steelworker Dwight ..• meet garment workers in Montreal Duncan. "We might have to look for a job for one or two years here, but then you could BY MICHEL DUGRE cooperatives and legalizing self-employ­ 85 percent of which was with the Soviet walk into IBM at $95,000 a year." Rodriguez MONTREAL- Eight members of the ment in dozens of occupations. Union and Eastern Europe - and the stated that all education was provided free Union ofNeedletrades, Industrial and Tex­ "These measures were necessary to de­ strengthening of Washington's blockade," of charge to every Cuban and those gradu­ tile Employees (UNITE) working at the fend working people," concluded Fr6meta. he added. ating are guaranteed a job after their stud­ Merit plant here met after work with two ''They have nothing to do with neo-liberal­ ''Workers in Cuba, as well as students, are ies. young Cubans touring Quebec in early No­ ism. No schools, no hospitals were closed. the main defenders of the revolution, be­ ''Well, we have different starting points," vember. One worker had also brought il Nobody was left without social protection." cause they are also its main beneficiaries. Fr6meta replied. "In Cuba, we don't have friend. The whole meeting was translated One participant opened his remarks by Workers are currently at the center of a mas­ shacks where children infected with para­ in Arabic, English, French, and Spanish. pointing to the Soviet Union where, he said, sive effort to increase economic productiv­ sites live -like you saw during the storm Juan Carlos Fr6meta and Raiza Rodriguez comn1unists gave up their soul in exchange ity. Nothing can be done to overcome eco­ in Central America - while at the same Gonzalez opened the discussion with brief for bread, but in the end found themselves nomic deficiencies without workers partici­ time some earn $95,000 a year. We want to remarks on the current situation in Cuba. with no bread, no freedom, or even a coun­ pation. Workers are discussing how to or- · create a collective approach, to raise every­ The first questions were on the economic try. This unionist said that the solutions ganize production, to take maximum advan­ one up. We share what little we have crisis in Cuba and the measures taken by implemented by the Cuban government will tage of each day of work, how to produce equally." the government to confront it. The Cuban not work if there is no democracy. "If work­ missing parts, etc. Without these efforts by "So what would you change in your coun­ government had to retreat from previous ers in Cuba are not free, they will not be workers it would have been impossible for try?" asked Joe Fusione. policies of the revolution and take steps such inspired to work," he said. "It is not enough the revolution to survive in the last eight ''The U.S. blockade," Fr6meta said, de­ as reorganizing the country's trade within to talk of economic problems. You also have years." scribing Washington's economic war on the world capitalist market to increase im­ to discuss human beings.'' Fr6meta pointed to the tens of thousands Cuba. "I don't want a government like you ports of oil and other indispensable com­ In response to this and similar questions, of workers assemblies that took place have here, or in the U.S. or in any one of modities, which used to be imported almost Fr6meta and Rodriguez said that the reason throughout the island in 1994 and 1995 to your countries," added Rodriguez. Workers in their entirety from the Soviet bloc coun­ why the Soviet Union collapsed is that er­ discuss the measures the National Assem­ sitting around the table were born in the Do­ tries, and fmd buyers for its exports. It has rors were made that led to the destruction bly had discussed to confront the economic minican Republic, Jamaica, Guatemala, had to grant concessions large enough to of socialism. The most serious were poli­ crisis. More than three million workers in a Canada, and El Salvador. attract foreign capitalists as partners in joint cies alienating working people from gov­ population of 10 million debated these mea­ ''Why do thousands come out of Cuba on ventures to acquire technology, tap mineral ernment, from running the country. Sl.lfes before they were adopted by the gov­ rafts, then?" asked Fusione. resources, develop markets, and bring in "In Cuba we have our own conception of ernment. The opinions of workers were "Immigration is a very politicized ques­ capital for economic development. And it democracy," said Fr6meta. "Democracy is taken into account in making final decisions. tion," Fr6meta said. "It's normal that people decriminalized the use of foreign currency power by the people." A large majority, for example, supported a from underdeveloped countries want to as part of combating speculation and the "It is by basing itself on the mobilization heavily progressive tax on those with large come here, you're examples of this. How black market. of the people that the revolution survived incomes but opposed taxing wages. As a many Mexicans, Dominicans immigrate?" · Other measures have included reorganiz­ despite the collapse of the USSR, the end­ result, provisions of the tax law to tax wages "Yes, but Cubans say on Tv, 'Don't send ing many of the country's state farms into ing of Cuba's foreign trade on fair terms- have never been implemented. December 14, 1998 The Militant 7 'We're not veterans, we're still fighting' Newspaper interviews leader of Cuban association of revolutionary combatants

On December 5, the first na­ tional congress of the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revo­ Above: Militant/Martin Koppel lution will take place in Havana. Left: Granma The association, whose president Above, Brig. Gen. Gustavo Chui Beltran, is Commander of the Revolution vice president of the Association of Com­ Juan Almeida, was founded in 1993. batants of the Cuban Revolution. Mem­ The following interview with Brig. bers of the association, founded five years Gen. Gustavo Chui Beltran, vice ago, play a daily role on a neighborhood president and executive secretary level throughout Cuba. Members help in ofthe organization, appeared in the training and in mobilizations of the popu­ November 8 Juventud Rebelde lation for the country's defense as well as (Rebel Youth), the weekly newspa­ educating youth about the lessons of per of the Union of Young Commu­ Cuba's revolutionary history, drawing nists of Cuba. A coming issue of from their own experiences. Left, Cuban the Militant will feature a more ex­ working people practice drills during Day tensive interview with Gen. Chui of Defense in December 1985 for defense Beltran and Brig. Gen. Sergio of their revolution from U.S. attack. Perez Lezcano, deputy executive secretary of the association. community. Above all, the organization Translation and footnotes are by has consolidated its role in strengthen­ the Militant. ing the political and ideological work in the neighborhoods, especially through BYLUIS~SGONzALEz patriotic events and commemorations Despite its youth, the organiza­ of historical dates. It also carries out tion has become a big part of the support work in different areas of the daily life of the neighborhoods, car­ economy. But its basic role has been its rying out the principal mission of fighting spirit, the spreading of its ex­ defense as much as the work of keeping his­ ACRC differ from them? the children of combatants - the continua­ ample. tory alive for the new generations. On the A. We don't have any veterans here, be­ tors - as well as the rest of the family and We are involved in the effort both to re­ eve of its first national conference, sched­ cause veterans are those who fought in the community. cover the country's history as well as pro­ uled for December 5, the Association of Com­ past and later devoted themselves to culti­ tect our values. All the schools are linked to batants of the Cuban Revolution [ACRC] is vate past glories. The ACRC includes three Q. It seems a paradox that an organiza­ the ACRC. We go there to relate our experi­ reviewing its work over five years of exist­ generations of Cubans wbo are still fight­ tion of 300,000 people, from such a broad ences in combat. The great events and most ence. ing. Our history is still being written. 2 social spectrum, has such a recent life. Do outstanding figures are often publicized, but Brig. Gen. Gustavo Chui Beltran, vice This is not an organization of old people. you think the ACRC had a belated birth? there are actions and martyrs on the local president and executive secretary of the na­ The majority of our members are 27-50 years A. Many people thought it should have level that are virtually unknown. We have tional leadership of the ACRC, spoke with old. A minority of them are a little older. Al­ been founded earlier, but it arose at a deci­ carried out a wide range of work along these ]ijventud Rebelde. most 60 percent of them are international­ sive moment in our history, when some ' lines, although that doesn't mean we've ac­ • ~' ' ,": I ! '.I ' ' ~ ,. ,_ ' . ' .: ~' . people in· other countries were abandoning Question. Despite being the newest so­ ists, because 10 years ago there were· still complished everything. many youth working in Angola and Ethio­ socialism and U.S. imperialism was intensi­ We still have a lot to do, but no one can cial organization in Cuba, its activities have fying its unceasing aggression against the allowed it to gain a foothold in the commu­ pia.3 They play an important role, and we deny we've made progress. You hear com­ have done some intelligent work in this re­ Cuban revolution. The birth of our organi­ batants speak in the community, and the nity. Will the ACRC replace the role his­ zation helped fill a need and organize into a torically fulfilled by other organizations? gard, which I wouldn't say has fully materi­ schools request our participation, to the alized but which has advanced. It's true, single force all Cubans who have been in­ point where the ministry of education asks Answer. The Association doesn't substi­ volved in revolutionary struggles - from tute for the tasks of any mass organization. though, there are still some compaiieros, for our support, whether for mass target prac­ especially those who give more weight to the Spanish Civil War to actions of solidar­ tice by students or to stimulate their con­ We follow a concrete course of action, and ity with other peoples of the world. our work on the local level is one of sup­ one phase of the struggle than to others, nection with history - from elementary porting the other organizations, and this is who reject the young members. Q. The presence of active-duty generals school to the universities. true for all the existing structures. Our pur­ In any case, the youth have asserted and officers within a social organization It has been much harder in the universi­ pose is the unconditional defense of the themselves in their own right, and we al­ gives the Association a special character. ties, of course. Many of our compafieros are revolution, the bringing together of all com­ ready see them heading up the Association Does the ACRC have a chain of command somewhat afraid because of the level of batants into a single unit, and involving all in many municipalities. We remain young as in any military structure? knowledge among the university students. of them into preparations for the War of the because young members of the FAR [Revo­ A. No, we're not a military organization. But we're gradually becoming involved in Entire People.1 lutionary Armed Forces] and the Interior The Association would seem incomplete if that area. Ministry forces, after 15 years of service, it didn't include combatants who remain on Q. Similar organizations around the keep joining us every year. We are currently active duty in the FAR and interior ministry, world are made up offormer combatants, studying the idea of reducing the period of but the bulk of the 300,000 members are not · 1 War of the Entire People is the strategy who live more on their past glories than on service required to join. In addition, we are on active military duty. We are legally a non­ adopted by the Cuba's revolutionary leadership their current work. In what way does the adding to our political and ideological work governmental organization and our leader- to mobilize virtually the entire population in face ship structures are similar to of threats of imperialist military attack. other social organizations. For further reading from Pathfinder As a matter of fact, we have 2 In an accompanying note, Juventud Rebelde broad participation by women explains that the association includes revolution­ ary combatants who fought in the Rebel Army in all categories, the highest or the urban underground movement during the Cuba's Internationalist Foreign Policy, 197S-80 numbers of which are among revolutionary struggle that overthrew the Batista FIDEL CASTRO the internationalists. Many dictatorship in 1959, in the defeat of the U.S.­ women already shoulder lead­ orchestrated mercenary invasion at the Bay of Castro discusses the historic importance of the anticapitalist revolutions in ership responsibilities at the Pigs in 1961, and in the struggle against armed 1979 in Grenada and Nicaragua; Cuba's internationalist missions inAngola and head of provincial and munici­ counterrevolutionary bands that operated in the Ethiopia; relations with the U.S. government and with Cubans living in the pal executive bodies. Escambray mountains in the early 1960s. It also includes active-duty or retired members of the United States; the fight within the Nonaligned Movement to forge a front of Q. Five years since its Revolutionary Armed Forces or the interior min­ struggle against imperialist exploitation; and the proletarian internationalism founding, what do you con­ istry forces with 15 or more years of service; that has guided the foreign policy of the Cuban government since the 1959 sider the most important suc­ parents of those who died defending the revolu­ tion; those receiving medals for courage and revolution. $20.95 cesses of the ACRC? A. Over the course of these heroism from the Council of State; members of five years, the Association has the Border Battalion; and others designated by How Far We Slaves Have Comet the national ACRC leadership. South Africa ancl Cuba inTod.ay'sWorld been able to establish a real space within Cuban society 3 About 300,000 Cuban volunteer combat­ NELSON MANDELA,FIDEL CASTRO and become part of the social ants served in Angola between 1975 and 1991, Speaking together in Cuba in 1991, Mandela and Castro discuss the unique and political life of the nation. responding to the request of the Angolan govern­ relationship and example of the· struggles of the South African and Cuban We carry out an important se­ ment to help it repel invading South African apart­ ries of patriotic tasks under the heid troops and attacks by imperialist-backed peoples.Aiso available in Spanish. $8.95 guidance of the [Cuban Com­ UNITA forces. In 1977, Cuba sent thousands of volunteer troops to Ethiopia in response to an The Second ·oeclaration of Havana munist] Party; with the help of the government and the po­ appeal by the Ethiopian government for aid in defeating a U.S.-backed invasion by the regime in In 1962,as the example of Cuba's socialist revolution spread throughout theAmericas, the work­ litical and mass organizations. ers and farmers of Cuba issued their uncompromising call for a continent-wide revolutionary struggle. neighboring Somalia. Washington planned to use Since its founding, the a Somalian victory as a springboard to help turn Also available in Spanish, French, and Greek. $4.50 ACRC has linked together back land restribution and other measures taken combatants from all categories, in Ethiopia following the overthrow of landlord­ Available from bookstores, including those listed on page 12 or write Pathfinder; 41 OWest St., New York, NY I00 14. Tel:(212) organizing itself within the based monarchy of Haile Selassie in 1974. 741-0690. Fax:(212) 727-0ISO.When ordering by mail, please include $3 to cover shipping and handling.

8 The Militant December 14, 1998 Cuba launches int'l solidarity campaign Revolutionary gov't proposes 2,000 doctors for Central America, thousands volunteer

BY MARTIN KOPPEL caused by a water-borne parasite. Thousands of Cubans have volun­ teered to serve as· doctors and health­ Castro outlines int'l campaign care workers in hurricane-ravaged Cen­ In his November 21 speech to a con­ tral America and Haiti in response to a ference of the National Forum on Sci­ call for international solidarity by the ence and Technology in Havana, Cas­ Cuban government. tro outlined a series of proposals and In a November 21 speech, Cuban initiatives that are part of Cuba's inter­ president Fidel Castro announced the national solidarity campaign: revolutionary government is offering to Cuba will provide at least 2,000 doc­ send 2,000 doctors to Central America tors for Central America, plus 200 for to help establish an "integral health pro­ Haiti, as part of long-term integral pub­ gram" that can save many more lives lic health plans for the two regions. The than the estimated 30,000 that were lost goal is to reduce infant mortality in Haiti as a result of Hurricane Mitch, which from 135 to 35 deaths per 1,000 live wreaked destruction throughout the births, and in Central An!erica- where region in October and early November. it ranges between 47 and 63 - down to Castro called on the wealthier gov­ 20 deaths per 1,000 live births. Castro ernments of the world to finance this estimated that this effort could save the health plan and appealed for volunteers lives every year of more than 20,000 chil­ from other Latin American nations and dren in Haiti and 25,000 children in Cen­ elsewhere to join the Cuban doctors. He tral America. also reported that Cuba is offering thou­ Cuba is appealing to Latin American, sands of medical scholarships for stu- European, and other governments to . dents from Central America and Haiti. send volunteer doctors as well. After Hurricane Georges devastated This health plan would cost $200 mil­ the Caribbean, Cuba sent a 13-member Bridget Elton lion in medicines and supplies, which medical volunteer brigade to the Do­ Cuba's mobilization ofvolunteer medical brigades to Central America is part of an 'honorable tradi­ Cuba proposed be financed by minican Republic that treated thou­ tion' of the Cuban revolution, said President Fidel Castro. Above, members ofJose Marti Contingent of wealthier countries in the world. This sands of patients in some of the worst­ Cuban construction workers in Bluefields, on Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast, March 1989. amount could easily be funded out of hit areas. A contingent of about 200 the U.S. military budget of $260 billion, Cuban doctors is being readied for Haiti be­ portunity our generation has dreamed about, Meanwhile, the National Union of Health­ Castro pointed out. Cuba has already do­ fore the end of the year. Following Hurri­ one that will leave an indelible mark on our Care Workers (SNTS) of Cuba is holding lo­ nated vaccines and several tons of a rat poi­ cane Mitch, Cuban volunteer brigades went experiences." cal union meetings in hospitals and clinics son, Biorrat, created in Cuban laboratories. to Guatemala and Honduras. Some 200 Cu­ Three days later, tens of thousands of throughout the island to determine how Rats are a major carrier of disease in the flood­ ban doctors are working in Honduras today. students marched through the streets of many of its members are willing to join the ravaged areas. In a joint statement published in the Cu­ Havana and other cities around the island Central American brigades. Union leaders Madrid has been the ftrst to respond fa­ ban daily GranmaNovember 24, the Union for the annual celebration honoring a group noted that some 25,000 Cuban health-care vorably to the Cuban proposal, offering $31 of Young Communists (UJC) and Federation of eight Cuban medical students who were workers and professionals have carried out million in interest-free loans payable within of University Students (FEU) of Cuba is­ executed in Havana in 1871 by Spanish co­ internationalist missions around the world 30 years, Granma reported. sued a call for ''young health-care workers lonial authorities for fighting for Cuba's in­ over the years. The medical volunteers who Havana, which canceled Nicaragua's $50 and students to join the medical brigades" dependence. cesar Hernandez GonzaJ.ez, FEU recently returned from the Dominican Re­ million debt to Cuba, has called on the in Central America. The youth organizations president at the Havana School of Medi­ public were given special awards by the other governments to cancel Central added, "Our universities are also ready to cine, read a letter at the site of the rally in Central Organization of Cuban Workers America's debt to them. Honduras, whose welcome youth from those countries to study Havana on behalf of medical students to (CTC), the trade union federation. banana cropped was wiped out, has suffered in our classrooms, including a significant Cuban president Castro expressing their will­ more than $3 billion in losses and Nicaragua number from indigenous communities." ingness to volunteer in Central America. The Cuban volunteers arrive in Nicaragua $1.6 billion. The two countries are burdened Cuban press-announced that-14,800 Cuban· ,~Afewdays earli~ the government of Nica­ with foreign debts of $4.3 billion and $6.5 Cuban youth: 'this is our opportunity' medical students, out of a total of 21,000, ragua reversed its previous refusal to ac­ billion, respectively. The UJC and FEU declared, ''This is our have already volunteered to go to Central cept Cuba's offer of volunteer doctors, a Cuba is supporting the request by the opportunity to be internationalists, an op- America or Haiti if called. stance that had sparked widespread outrage governments in the region that Washington , among Nicaraguans. Within two days, a suspend deportations of undocumented group of Cuban volunteers arrived in Nica­ immigrants to Central America. ragua, headed by Deputy Health Minister Cuba is offering medical scholarships to Abelardo Ramirez. The next day, six three­ medical students from Central America for :::.:., ., ·:··:·:.:))T ·::.:::.: .. ~ .,.· the next 10 years: 1,000 next year and 500 ...... person medical brigades were busy at work o CIJZCO • itlt&erejmha: in some of the remotest areas of Nicaragua. each subsequent year. On a suggestion by • ·· .· ·. D~~ite.the ~p~®edented economic Cuba. wbich cari<;eled In the November 26 Granrna, reporter the Guatemalan foreign minister, Castro said, 50 percent of the scholarships will be re­ ·• and, Social dislocation in Central America milliondebt. Parisanda ·.•.... ·· ... itnperi~ Orlando Oramas Leon gives a vivid account in the wake of Hurricane Mitch, theU;S. alist governm.ents have redUCed <;tt ¢an~ of one day in the work of a Cuban team in served for students from Indian communi­ gove~t~as done littletorespond to celed CeJlttal America'sdebt~ the cattle-raising community of La Curva, ties. The medical students will be trained the urgell.t need$ of millions of people While Ctil>a •~uts sent v9hmteer. doc- in Nicaragua's western province of with an eye to "serving the most isolated, there; Washington's reaction stands in tors to Central AJrieriCS., WashingtOn is Chinandega. Family doctor Rodolfo Alvarez the most difficult areas," Castro said. contrast Cuba'sgenerous alld deploying its s . . provide "aid." . shtlrp with to gets up at dawn to milk the cows together 'People of United States must know' selfless solidarity (see above article). The initial U.S. ·. ··. · .· oft 500 with other villagers and takes part in other Honduras and Nicaragua. already is expected to grow to .· ~- Thi; in~ agricultural chores. He travels around the This international solidarity campaign, among the most exploited nations in Latin elUdes· the 500 U.S;. army and air force area on horseback to see his patients. By Castro noted, has been largely blacked out America, have been the hardest hit, with troops peniiatlently stationed at the Ron- dusk, Dr. Rafael Garcia, the epidemiologist, in the U.S. media. "It must be made known estimated losses of almost. $5 billion- duranair base ofSoto Cano, whose offi~ is still not back from a trip he began early to the people of the United States. It's im­ nearly half their gtoss national product. cial role is ..counter-narcotics missions" that morning through the area, where at least portant," he emphasized. Cuba, he said, is In Honduras 90percent ofballana pro- and removing the deadly mines that U;S. one person has already died of leptospiro­ campaigning not only through words but duction- the main export crop- was military forces planted along the Hondo- sis since the hurricane. through deeds, internationalist actions that wiped out, and it will take years to re- ran-Nicaraguan border in the J980s. In the ftrst two days the brigadistas have are not new but "an honorable tradition" of covet Dole and Chiquita. the U.S,-based At that time Washington trained, treated 300 patients. ''The word is getting the revolution. agricultural giants, have suspended their aimed,. and directed a mercenary army out that we're here and patients come from Washington "isn't sending doctors, it's operations in Honduras~ laying off 17,000 against the workers and farmers govem7 far away who want to be treated by us," sending soldiers" to Central America, mainly farm workers~ Hundreds of thousands of ment thathad taken power in Nicaragua. says nurse Miriam Estefano. Marfa del to rebuild some roads and bridges, the Cu­ small fanners have had their livelihoods It turned Honduras into a massive tnili~ Carmen Romero walked more than four miles ban leader said. "It would be good for the washed away. At the same time, the Cen~ tarY baseforU;S. forces, pouring billions to get treatment for her daughter, who has a people of the United States to know how tral American nations remain crushed by of dollars into the contra wat. ·• · high fever. Romero knows the Cubans well. much can be done with few resources, in foreign debt Honduras has a debt of $4.1 So far, the U.S. military has delivered It was Cuban volunteer teachers who taught other fields that are essential for the well­ billion and Nicaragua $6.2 bilJion; about 1,250 tons of supplies itt Hondu- . her to read and write a decade ago. being of the people of Central America."

Initially;U.S.otfi~alsannoun~apal- ras__ •_._me_·_lu_ din_ · gil_ •·· · · m_ed_· .. ·.•.· i_calsu_ p~·······••· Some medical students from Managua, Castro stated, "We cannot conceive of try $3.5 million in asSistance; Later Wash~ plies, and clothes, 'tary helicop- Nicaragua's capital, have joined with the the notion that, in face of tragedies such as ingtonraiSedits pledge for Honduras and tel'S to transport provisions and person'- Cuban volunteers. The Nicaraguan students these, we would limit ourselves to some ftrst }!!licaragua to $290 rnillion in emergency ...... nel. The U.S; Sotitheni~which expressed delight at Cuba's offer of scholar­ aid, to a little bit of reconstruction aid and . relief and fOOd supplies; . . .is overseeing the ''aid~· effort:, iS: staffing ships to train Central American doctors. nothing else, simply to tum the page and On a recent swing through the region, a second military task force near the in~ The National Union of Farmers and move on." A farther-reaching approach is White House. representative Hillary tel'Jlatlonal airportinSan Salvador to or~ Ranchers (UNAG) of Nicaragua has de­ needed to address the social problems faced ··• J{odham Clinton announced a tw0wyear gartize reliefoperations in Nit;:atagua, El manded that the Nicaraguan government by millions in the region. n1oratotium on-US;· debt repayments, SalvadorandGuatema1a. request a second Cuban medical contingent Cuba's call for international solidarity, he postpOning 54 million the two coimtries U.S. Manne Corps and other military for an isolated rural area near the Honduran said, is "important not only for Central were supposed to pay by the year 2000. engineers are bUilding bridges; clearing border that remains particularly devastated. America but for the rest of the world. This is Honduras has a debt of$282 million and roads, andprovidinglimitedmedicalcare Mitch left a toll of more than 10,000 dead, what must be raised around the world, in Nicaragua $85 million to U.S. institutions. in the region. The Wa8hington Post re'- ·· 20,000 missing, and millions without a home this globalized world, which has so much lntemational Monetary Fund chief ports: that the recent u~s. war moves or livelihood. Outbreaks of epidemics have technology, so much waste, so much in­ Michel Camdessus, on a mid·November against Iraq; ''which required the deploy- already been reported throughout Central equality in the distribution of wealth." visit to the area, called for issuing new ment of thousands of troops andtons of America, including several hundred cases In face of capitalism's globalization, Cas­ 30...year loans with 0.5 percent interest. equipment to the Persian Gulf, slowed the of cholera, dengue, malaria, acute respira­ tro concluded, "What we must create is hu­ Even some big-business newspapers flow of supplies.into Honduras." tory diseases, diarrhea, and leptospirosis, man globalization."

December 14, 1998 The Militant 9 Steelworkers' walkout solid at Continental General Tire Co. BY DAN FEIN couldn't answer her. Then I took her to the AND FLOYD FOWLER union hall and they were able to. That was CHARLOTIE, North Carolina- Mem­ the deciding factor for her to join in and give bers of United Steelworkers of America Lo­ me all of her support." cal850 entered the third month of their strike Between 500 and 600 strikers had a video against Continental General Tire Co. "More tape smashing party on the street in front of united than ever," was how Jimmy Carpen­ the plant November 14. "She got to smash ter, one of the pickets on duty November 20, one too," Bryant said, referring to his wife, put it in an interview with Militant reporters, "to show how she felt about the company." describing the morale of the strikers. The company then publicly announced Pickets and union officials all said only that the last day any striker could return to Militant/Dan Fein six or seven strikers have crossed the line work was November 17, after which they Striking members of USWA local850 at picket line against General Tire in Charlotte, and returned to work, none of them union would be permanently replaced. The· North Carolina. Left to right, standing, are Willie Gray, John Froneberger, H.O. Burns. members. Despite a state "right-to-work" evening of that day, as the last minutes of law, all but a handful of the 1,450 workers the company offer ticked away, several hun­ "They've got management and office strike at Pirelli-Arrnstrong in Nashville, Ten­ belong to the union. These laws prevent a dred strikers who had gathered at the plant people doing production," said Bums, who nessee. When the plant closed in Novem­ "closed shop," allowing the bosses to pres­ gate staged a mock "return to work" action. has 17 years in the plant. "And a number of ber '96 he moved to Charlotte to work at sure workers into not joining the union in a But they stopped with much fanfare at the them have quit." While Militant reporters Continental General. "The company ex­ workplace that's organized. General Tire property line. "It was like a New were here, a maintenance foreman some of pected from 250 to 500 strikers to cross last In the wake of a well-attended solidarity Year's eve countdown," said H.O. Burns with the workers knew stopped at the picket line Tuesday, but were disappointed," Massey rally November 5, the company sent out a smile. "It was our way of rejecting that to say he had quit over unsafe working con­ said. "For the first time in weeks the com­ video cassettes and letters to strikers homes company letter. It'll be a cold day in hell be­ ditions and to wish them well. pany didn't run ads for scabs in last in an unsuccessful attempt to generate pres­ fore they break this strike." Among the main issues in the strike is a Sunday's paper. We've turned around po­ sure to return to work. Continental General claims to be produc­ decent pension at retirement. Many work­ tential scabs here at the picket line." He fig­ "After we got the letter my wife Lisa ing 10,000 tires a day. The company has hired ers have more than 15 years in the plant. ures the company is losing $1 million a day. called the plant and spoke to the man they 250 scabs and says they will hire another 85 The union is fighting for $41 a month per Another worker passed around an Inter­ said for us to call, asking all kinds of ques­ each week. Before the strike the plant pro­ year of service for retirees. net news story about Continental AG, par­ tions," said Ralph Bryant. "Of course he duced 33,000 tires a day. John Massey is a veteran of the 1994--95 ent company of Continental General Tire, purchasing a tire plant in South Africa just the past week. ''We're definitely more unified now," said Canada: Paperworkers win 5-month strike USWA Local850 executive board member Willy Gray. "We gave concessions in '95 BYJOEYOUNG CEP member Rejean Chevalier, who works at Asked about the length of the contract, and after the settlement this new corporate GRAND-MERE, Quebec- After five the Beaupre mill near Quebec City. Alain Boucher, a production worker with 10 office building went up. They have money months on the picket lines against Abitibi­ At the ratification meeting at Grand-Mere, years seniority at the Grand-Mere mill, com­ to buy other companies, and they want us Consolidated, 4,500 paperworkers, mem­ this reporter asked Pierre Buist who works mented: "It doesn't really bother me. I to accept lower wages." bers of the Communications, Energy and in the heating plant and has 20 years with haven't always earned this wage. I was a By the 4:00p.m. shift change, more strikers Paperworkers (CEP), voted nearly 74 per­ the company, what had been won with the landscaper at $8 an hour." The starting wage were gathered at the gate, using a bullhorn to cent in favor of a new contract that regis­ strike. "We succeeded in negotiating to­ is nearly $20 an hour. make clear to the scabs entering and leaving tered gains for the union. The results were gether," he answered. "At a certain point, According to Bertrand, the company was the plant what they thought of them. announced November 19. you have to fight. We rejected by 97 per­ aiming for 365-day-a-year operation. How­ At the union hall, about 60 workers were Abitibi-Consolidated is the world's larg­ cent. There was nothing on the table." In ever, working Christmas, New Year's Day, picking up strike pay, reading the latest union est newsprint producer and its biggest pa­ the last week of October, union members re­ and Labor Day remains voluntary. newsletter, and discussing the strike. The per exporter. The strike affected about half jected a company offer by 97.4 percent. The gains of the strike are significant company had agreed to meet with union rep­ of its ·production involving ·1 0 mills in On­ At Shawinigan, Denis Turgeon, a mem--' when compared to the outcome of two other resentatives and the federal mediator the next tario, Quebec, and Newfoundland. The con­ ber of the strike committee with 25 years long strikes that took place in Canada over day. No one we talked to expected much to tract establishes a pattern for 25,000 CEP service, expressed the same opinion. "The the last year ending in defeats for working come of that meeting. members in eastern Canada. first objective has been achieved," he said. people. The first was the nine-month strike Several unionists said that workers fight­ Workers walked off the job June 15 when "We are recognized as a group." He ex­ by paperworkers in British Columbia in ing to bring in the union at Continental the company refused to negotiate with all plained how the union ran the picket lines: which workers were forced to concede to General's nonunion plant in Mt. Vernon, illi­ the union locals together as had been the case ''We planned to mix up the different groups job "flexibility" aimed at eliminating jobs. nois, collected $2,125 and brought it to the in the past. Finally, at the beginning of Oc­ of workers, the mechanics, the office work­ The other was the four-month strike by union in Charlotte to show their support.' tober, the owners backed down and accepted ers, the production workers, in order to unite members of the United Food and Commer­ At the union hall Militant reporters met negotiating major issues such as wages, pen­ people." cial Workers in Alberta and Ontario against William, one of the many new hires on pro­ sions, and holidays in one contract. Gerald Forget, who works at the mill in Maple Leaf Foods, in which workers took bation who walked out along with the rest The company tried to weaken the strike Iroquois Falls in northern Ontario, said in wage cuts up to 40 percent in return for one­ of the workers September 17. He asked to be by threatening to close two mills ifthe work­ an interview, "We were going for signing as time lump sum payments. identified only with his first name. "I can't ers didn't go back to work. While workers a group. They really tried to break us up and Some workers like Gilles, who was at the go along with more concessions," he said. at the Wayagamack mill in Trois Rivieres it didn't work. The Quebec mills really meeting at Grand-Mere and didn't given his "I was born union. My father was a miner in did return July 27, unionists at the Chandler backed us up. I was afraid they'd walk out last name, thought that the other CEP mem­ United Mine Workers of America Local513 mill in Quebec's Gaspe peninsula refused to on us, but we really stuck together." bers who had contributed to their strike in West VIrginia. When I took this job the give in to the bosses' threats. "It was impor­ Many paperworkers who were not on should be asked their opinion on the con­ company mail told us there might be a strike. tant that Chandler stood fast. If they'd given strike contributed to the strike fund in an tract because it established the pattern for I told him then that I was pro-union. I won't up, everyone would have given up," said important act of solidarity. "We were fight­ other CEP paperworkers in eastern Canada. cross anyone's picket line, least of all my ing for everyone," Buist said. "We were re­ own." ceiving CAN$189 (CAN$1 =US $.65) from Joe Young is a member of the United Steel­ FROM PATHFINDER all those locals." In addition to the basic workers of America. Katy LeRougetel in Dan Fein is a member of United Food and strike pay of $200 a week, the strikers re­ Toronto contributed to this article. Commercial Workers Locall996 in Atlanta. ceived an additional $189 a week from soli­ The Changing Face darity contributions, bringing their weekly of U.S. Politics strike pay to $389. Dennis Bertrand, president of CEP Local Hundreds gather to oppose Working-Class Politics and the 109 in Iroquois Falls, said, "People were Trade Unions very very pleased because we did get very JACK BARNES good support. From the CEP lots of unions death penalty in Chicago sent in monetary support. We're still recei v­ A handbook for ing support coming in from other unions. BY JOHN STUDER was convicted in 1976 by the state of Florida • " c • • " • " • • workers coming The community here backed us 100 per­ CHICAGO- "My name is Randall Dale and won release in 1992 after her support­ ~~~ into the factories, cent." Adams. The state of Texas tried to kill me ers discovered evidence that she was not mines, and mills, The six-year contract includes a lump sum for a murder I did not commit," Adams told guilty. However, after Jacobs finished her as they react to payment of $2,750 followed by two annual a crowd of hundreds of opponents of the story, she did not sit down. the uncertain increases of 50 cents an hour and then three death penalty at Northwestern University "Unfortunately," she added, "the proof life, ceaseless annual increases of 2 percent a year. Accord­ Law School November 14. Hundreds more that I and my companion, Jesse Tafero, were turmoil, and ing to the chief union negotiator, Elmo watched on closed circuit television in other innocent came forward too late for him. The brutality of Whittom, the average pension of a worker rooms at the school. state of Florida executed him in 1990." should increase by $5,000 a year. Accord­ capitalism in the "I was sentenced to death in 1977 and The National Conference on Wrongful ing to Forget, this will give retirees 72 per­ released in 1989," Adams continued. "If the Conviction and the Death Penalty lasted closing years of cent of their wages when all the provisions state had gotten its way, I would be dead three days and gathered hundreds of law­ the twentieth kick in four years from now. Strikers were today." Adams then went to a table across yers, law students, activists against the death century. It shows how millions of not able to win their priority contract de­ the stage, put a flower in a large vase, and penalty, members oflocal defense commit­ workers, as political resistance grows, mand for retirement at 55. The retirement age signed his name on a statement opposing the tees fighting for justice for those behind bars will revolutionize themselves, their remains unchanged at 58. death penalty. on false charges, and many news reporters. unions, and all of society. $19.95 This led Denis Turgeon to say, "The Twenty-seven others, all of whom won The conference came on the heels of the Available at bookstores listed on page 12, or young people don't stay here, there is no their freedom after serving time on death recent decision by the Pennsylvania Su­ from Pathfinder, 410 West St., New York, NY work here. This contract will not create jobs. row, joined Adams in reciting the facts about preme Court to let the death sentence against 10014. Fax: (212) 727-0150. Please include That is my great disappointment." Accord­ their situation. Mumia Abu-Jamal stand, and a few days $3 to cover shipping and handling. ing to him, the contract was rejected in a The last was Sonia Jacobs, one of two before the scheduled execution of Willie very close vote in Shawinigan. women who spoke. She explained how she Continued on Page 11 10 The Militant December 14, 1998 Alaska, Northwest Jersey City teachers make workers in Seattle gains through strike demand contract BY AUTUMN KNOWLTON who have walked out against Kaiser Alumi­ SEATTLE- On November 25 workers num. He spoke during the rally to offer soli­ from Northwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines darity and explain the issues of the USWA gathered in front of the SeaTac airport here strike, which include pushing back the to demand fair contracts. For the maximum company's demands to eliminate seniority, participation by workers, there were two ral­ subcontract work to nonunion companies, lies, one for those on swing shift and an­ and give a meager wage increase that doesn't other for workers on day shift. About 65 even keep up with inflation. unionists gathered for the noontime rally, The rallies came after a series of demon­ and about 30 for the one in the afternoon. strations around the country earlier in the The union members and others gathered year organized by Northwest flight atten­ at the main entrance to the airport on the dants to demand a fair contract. Most of the one of the busiest travel days of the year to major work groups at Northwest- flight draw attention to the workers' situation at attendants, ticket agents, customer service the two airlines. Participants carried picket agents, cleaners, stores workers, mechan­ signs with slogans such as "Alaska profits, ics, and baggage handlers - have been employees lose," and "We gave then, you working under the terms of the expired con­ give now." The rally was organized by the tract for 25 months. The pilots are the excep­ International Association of Machinists tion to this, winning a favorable contract (lAM) locals 1040 and 2202. Also participat­ through a brief strike in September. ing were members of Teamsters Local2000, Workers at Alaska Airlines have been Militant/Jose Aravena which represents flight attendants at North­ working under an expired contract for 15 After a week on strike, some 3,500 teachers in Jersey City, New Jersey, members of west. months. These include mechanics, cleaners, the Jersey City Education Association, won a contract that included a 12.3 percent Workers picketed at the busy comer and stores workers, warehouse workers, bag­ wage increase. The workers forced the state education board to back off on many chanted "What do we want? Contract! gage handlers, and customer service agents. other concessions, particularly the "surprise" evaluations. The strikers defied a When do we want it? Now!" and "2-4-6-8, court order to return to work November 20, the day after walking out. Thachers won come on Northwest, it's getting late!" Autumn Knowlton is a member ofthe Young widespread support for their fight. Above, one of many students who supported the Among the participants in the afternoon Socialists and of the International Asso­ strike at a solidarity rally November 24. About 2,000 students in West New York, rally was a striker from the United Steelwork­ ciation ofMachinists Local 2202 at Alaska New Jersey, walked out November 20 to support their teachers' fight for a contract. ers of America local of about 300 members Airlines. Electricians in London win strike over safety

BYCELIAPUGH lowed the transfer of 12 workers to another tum all12 electricians to London Bridge. Two visited the picket lines in solidarity. Brett LONDON, England- More than 500 site on the 10-mile construction project after days earlier Drake and Scull project man­ Sparkes was one of 11 rail workers employed electricians employed by Drake and Scull they demanded company action on safety ager Chris Raven told the London Evening by South West Trains who came to the picket on the London Underground Jubilee line ex­ at London Bridge station. Sixty workers were Standard that such a step "clearly is not at Waterloo station. They are members of tension (JLE) won their strike November 25 left underground during a fire evacuation acceptable to us." At the November 27 meet­ the Rail Maritime and Transport union after 10 days of picketing. The action fol- because of inaudible fire alarms. The Amal­ ing, unionists agreed with a 12-point settle­ (RMT). Sparkes told the Militant: "If they gamated Engineering ment plan negotiated between national [electricians] win, it will show there's no and Electrical Union AEEU officials and the company. The going back. These aren't a load of hotheads. (AEEU) members saw Evening Standarf.l reported, "Although Their fight is about safety and union rights." this as victimization today's agreement made clear that neither by their employer side would claim a victory in the dispute, it Celia Pugh is a member of the AEEU at who refused to re­ meant a dramatic climb down for JLE's prin­ Prestolite in London, England. Pamela verse the transfer. ciple contractors Drake and Scull." Holmes, also a member of the AEEU, con­ At a mass meeting Union pickets were in a confident mood. tributed to this article. November 27, AEEU Striker Glen Fletcher told the Militant, members of the union ''We've got what we wanted. We're not go­ shop voted to go ing to be pushed around." Commenting on San Diego back to work. They the return to work Fletcher said "There will cheered the company be more problems until they learn that." Militant/Pete Clifford agreement to reverse Trade unionists from other workplaces students protest Striking electricians on Jubilee Line, during walkout for safety. the transfer and re- and industries followed the strike and some racist beating of Black Marine Chicago conference opposes death penalty BYSYLVIAHANSEN SAN DIEGO- More than 400 students Continued from page 10 lie pressure. The conference concluded with the es­ from the predominantly white West Hills High Enoch in Illinois. Other opponents of the death penalty tablishment of a national Innocence Net­ School in Santee, California, marched from Lawrence Marshall, a law professor at used the conference to strengthen their pro­ work, composed of law schools around the the school grounds to a nearby park No­ Northwestern, and.others decided to orga­ test efforts. country who pledge to assign at least one vember 5 to protest the racist beating .of nize the conference more than a year ago "The death penalty has been abolished professor to work on attempting to overturn Lance Cpl. Carlos Colbert. The spirited stu­ after a number of victories that forced the once before in this country," said Robert death penalty cases and to institute classes dents carried sings reading "End racism" and release of falsely convicted prisoners on Il­ Meeropol, son of Ethel and Julius on police and prosecution frame-ups. "Stop the hate" and chanted, "Hey, hey, ho, linois' death row. Rosenberg, who were executed during the One theme at the conference was the need ho, racism's got to go!" Nine people sentenced to death in Illinois 1950s anti-communist witch-hunt. ''The next to fight to overturn the execution of Willie Colbert, a marine who is Black and is sta­ since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the time, we have to make sure that it stays abol­ Enoch in Illinois, scheduled for November 18. tioned at Camp Pendleton here, was attend­ use of the death penalty in 1976 have later ished for good." ''We will succeed in getting this execu­ ing a party May 30, when he was beaten by been proven not guilty. They were the vic­ Conference organizers identified 75 tion stopped," Jed Stone, Enoch's attorney, white supremacists yelling, "Get that nigger!" tims of police and prosecutors' frame-ups, people around the country who had won told the Militant. "Willie was convicted in and "White power." Several other marines, confessions beaten out of prisoners, testi­ freedom from death row after being framed 1983. Last year we won a fight to allow DNA some of whom came under attack themselves, mony from jail-house snitches, and other up. The 29 attending the conference included testing of evidence used to convict him. But were able to remove Colbert from the scene miscarriages of justice. Rolando Cruz, who, along with Alejandro we have been denied the right to see the and take him to Camp Pendleton for medical Leaflets documenting the cases of doz­ Hernandez, was framed up in Naperville, Illi­ evidence, denied the right to see the test treatment. Doctors there determined that his ens of inmates on death row fighting to over­ nois; two of the "Ford Heights Four," named results, and denied the right to have it tested neck had been broken. Colbert has remained turn their convictions and win their freedom after the Chicago suburb where they lived; ourselves. paralyzed from the neck down since then. were available in the literature room. Among and Clarence Brandley from Texas. "The guy who tested it for the court, Wil­ The November 5 march culminated in a the list were Aaron Patterson in Illinois, Brandley was one of five high school jani­ liam Frank, has been proven to have falsi­ rally during which several students read let­ William Mayo in Ohio, and Erskine Johnson tors at a school where a 16-year-old was fled DNA testing results before," Stone said. ters to Colbert denouncing the attack on him. in Tennessee. raped and murdered. Brandley was the only On November 16 Stone presented a let­ Jonathan Kakacek, a West Hills student, Prominent opponents of the death pen­ Black. "We need someone for this," the cop ter to Gov. James Edgar from two of the ju­ quoted from Nelson Mandela's 1994 inau­ alty from around the world attended. Rubin who arrested Brandley told him. "Since rors in Enoch's trial urging that fair DNA gural address to stress to those present that "Hurricane" Carter, former middleweight you're the nigger, you're elected." tests be allowed. He also presented a letter their actions can make a difference. A total boxing champion, who was sentenced to . Jay Smith, a Pennsylvania high school from 16 scientists, including four Nobel lau­ of2,000 solidarity letters written by students death in New Jersey and now lives in principal framed for the murder, told the reates, urging the DNA tests be turned over were presented to Colbert's unit. Canada, as well as Serio D'Elia of Hands conference that his case was ironic because . for review. A demonstration on behalf of The rally coincided with a court hearing Off Cain in Italy. when he was young he had demonstrated Enoch was held in Chicago that afternoon. to decide whether the five men arrested for Many of the panels at the conference were against the execution of the Rosenbergs. The next day, the Illinois Supreme Court the assault will be tried. Following the hear­ oriented to lawyers and law students, focus­ According to material from the NAACP granted Enoch a three-month stay and or­ ing three of the five were charged with con­ ing on topics such as how to use DNA evi­ Legal and Educational Defense Fund dis­ dered that the DNA evidence be released. spiracy, assault resulting in great bodily in­ dence to overturn convictions, how to de­ tributed at the conference, there are currently jury, and commission of a racist crime. Two fend the mentally ill or seriously retarded, 3,517 people on death row in the United John Studer is a member of United Steel­ were indicted on lesser charges. All five have and how best to use the media to apply pub- States. workers ofAmerica Local lOll. been ordered to stand trial. December 14, 1998 The Militant 11 Freeman coal miners expand picket lines Continued from front page cal obstruction of union brothers closer together. We meet years at the Crown 2 mine, commented on public and private each other on these picket lines and learn why the show of force was called at pre­ roads." the truth about the rumors we heard cisely the time they were ordered back to The company about each other." work: "We're saying, here we are. We want and police agencies Solidarity and donations to the strike a contract. And until we get one, we're stay­ have continued to continue to come in from union locals ing outside." harass and try to in­ around the country. More is needed. The In recent weeks the company has esca­ timidate miners and striking UMWA locals are organizing a lated attacks on the union. Company nego­ their families. On the Christmas dance on December 12 for strik­ tiators are pressing the UMWA to give up night of the ex­ ers and supporters and a December 20 seniority rights in job bidding and for recall­ panded pickets, a Christmas party for the children of strik­ ing miners from layoff. helicopter passed ingminers. On November 17 the company ftled a mil­ over the home of For information about the strike, tore­ lion-dollar lawsuit against the UMWA In­ striking miner David quest a speaker from the striking miners, ternational and the three striking locals. Free­ Yard five times. It or to make a contribution to the food pan­ man challenged the union's basic right to hovered so close as try or Miners' Relief Fund, contact the strike and charged the strikers with violent to rattle windows. UMWA Strike Headquarters, P.O. Box 107,. acts, including "assaulting persons," "dam­ Yard is a member of Farmersville, Illinois, 62533 or call (217) aging the property of Freeman," and "physi- Local 1969 and a Militant/Betsey Stone 227-3233. trustee on the Sign in Farmersville, Dlinois, outside UMWA headquarters. UMWA's Miner's Cappy Kidd is a member of United Auto Relief Fund. shed over this." Workers. Betsey Stone is a member of the Affirmative FBI agents had showed up at the home of He and others explained that if you don't International Association of Machinists. Georgia Yard, David's grandmother, Novem­ have a system of job bidding action is under ber 6, demanding to search a tool shed on by seniority, union fighters and her property. When she demanded to see outspoken workers will be vic­ their search warrant, the federal agents left timized in hiring, layoffs, and assault in the only to return three days later with the war­ job assignments. rant. They found nothing and were told to The seniority system also United States leave. helps prevent the company The miners publicly opposed this attack from dividing workers by play­ BY MAURICE WILLIAMS on the strike and one of their members, pass­ ing favorites. "Freeman has always played Affirmative action and school desegre­ ing out leaflets describing the FBI harass­ the divide and conquer game, gation programs across the United States ment and sending letters to the editors of pitting the three locals against have received several blows recently. These newspapers in the area. The local press has each other," Hobson said. include a federal court ruling in Boston and given prominent coverage to the FBI visit. "This strike has brought all the a reactionary ballot measure that passed in "The company is definitely upping the Washington State last month. ante," Steve Norman explained. "As we On November 19, the First U.S. Circuit started zeroing in on the health-care issue Court of Appeals ruled that the affirmative and it looked liked we were approaching an -MILITANT LABOR FORUMS- action admissions policy at Boston Latin, agreement, then they came in with the at­ and others. Fri., Dec. 11, 7:30p.m. 780 Tremont the nation's first public school, "risks set­ tack on seniority." CALIFORNIA St. Donation: $4. Tel: (617) 247-6772. ting a precedent that is both dangerous to David Yard commented, "By raising se­ Los Angeles niority they show they have no intention of our democratic ideals and almost always Puerto Rico: The Struggle for Independence MINNESOTA constitutionally forbidden." Circuit Court resolving things. They know we can never and the Campaign to Free the Puerto Rican Judge Bruce Selya charged that Boston accept th~ attack on seniority." Political Prisoners. Speakers: Olga Rossie, St. Paul Latin's admissions policy "offends the The UMWA International is preparing to Young Socialists, Puerto Rican Alliance; Eli Green, What Ventura's Election Means for Work­ Socialist Workers Party, member Oil, Chemical ers. Speaker: Tom Fiske, Socialist Workers can­ Constitution's guarantee of equal protec­ ftle an unfair labor practice charge against Freeman United claiming the company is and Atomic Workers. Sat., Dec. 12, 7:30p.m. didate for governor in Minnesota in 1998. Fri., tion." The ruling is binding on the Massa­ Dinner 6 p.m. 2546 W. Pico Blvd. Donation: Pro­ Dec. 11, 7:30p.m. chusetts school system and other school bypassing the union and unlawfully deal­ ing directly with the striking employees. gram $5; Dinner $4. Tel: (213) 380-9460. Free the Puerto Rican Political Prisoners! districts in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Fri., Dec. 18, 7:30p.m. In a November 24 union press release Island, and Puerto Rico. IOWA Both events to be held at 2490 University Ave. W. ,. 'The 6ohrt' decisio'naddressed a lawsuit UMWA international president Cecil Rob­ Donation: $4. Tel: (651) 644-6325 ftled by the father of a student who is white erts reiterated the goal of reaching an agree­ Des Moines who claimed his daughter was "denied ad­ ment that "continues to guarantee each and Report Back from the Young Socialists Con­ vention. Fri., Dec. 11, 7:30 p.m. Dinner 6:30 NEW YORK mission in favor of less-qualified minority every worker and retiree health-care cover­ age for life - and a promise that their se­ p.m.2724 Douglas Ave. Donation: Program $4; Brooklyn students." According to school statistics, Dinner $4. Tel: (515) 277-4600. What's at Stake in Coal Miners Strike Boston Latin has a student body that is 51 niority rights will remain intact." George Hobson, a member of the union against Freeman? Speaker: Cecelia Moriarity, percent white, 21 percent Asian, 19 percent member United Steel Workers of America in Pitts­ Black, and 9 percent Latino. safety committee who has worked for 21 MASSACHUSETTS burgh, and of Socialist Workers Party Trade The Boston court decision followed simi­ years at Crown 2, was one of many who ex­ Boston Union Committee. Sat., Dec. 12, 7:30p.m. Din­ lar judicial action in Arlington, Virginia, plained why the miners will not back down. Building a Working-Class Youth Organiza­ ner 6:30p.m. 59 4th Avenue (comer ofBergen). where a federal court barred affirmative ac­ "Seniority is something that we've fought tion: Report from Young Socialist Conven­ Donation: $10, dinner and program. Program tion admissions policy at two public schools for over the years. It's basic. Blood has been tion. Speakers: Members of the Young Socialists $5. Tel: (718) 399-7257. last summer. 1\vo years ago the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals eliminated affirma­ tive action in the admissions policy of the -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP--- University of Texas law school. Affirmative action has also been barred from admissions Where to find Pathfinder books and dis­ Mailing address: Riverfront Plaza, P.O. Box Manchester: Unit 4, 60 Shudehill. Postal to universities in Louisiana, California, and tributors of the Militant, Perspectiva Mun­ 200117. Zip: 07102-0302. Tel: (973) 643-3341. code: M4 4AA. Tel: 0161-839-1766. Mississippi. dial, New International, Nouvelle Compuserve: 104216,2703 Compuserve: 106462,327 At the November 3 elections, a ballot Internationale, Nueva Internacional and NEW YORK: New York City: 59 4th Av­ Ny International. CANADA measure passed that banned state-spon­ enue (corner of Bergen) Brooklyn, NY Zip: Montreal: 4581 Saint-Denis. Postal code: sored affmnative action programs in Wash­ 11217. Tel: (718) 399-7257. Compuserve: H2J 2IA. Tel: (514) 284-7369. Compuserve: ington State. This legislation will have a big UNITED STATES 102064,2642 ; 167 Charles St., Manhattan, 104614,2606 impact on higher education for students from ALABAMA: Birmingham: 111 21st St. NY. Zip: 10014. Tel: (212)366-1973. South Zip 35233. Tel: (205) 323-3079. Toronto: 851 Bloor St. West. Postal code: oppressed nationalities. Blacks account for OIDO: Cincinnati: P.O. Box 19300. Zip: Compuserve: 73712,3561 M6G 1M3. Tel: (416) 533-4324. Compuserve: 2.8 percent of the undergraduates at the 45219. Tel: (513) 662-193l.Cieveland: 1832 103474,13 University of Washington, the state's only CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 2546 W. Euclid. Zip: 44115. Tel: (216) 861-6150. public university. With a yearly enrollment Pico Blvd. Zip: 90006. Tel: (213) 380-9460. Compuserve: 103253,1111 Vancouver: 3967 Main St. Postal code: V5V of 37,500 students, the university has gradu­ Compuserve: 74642,326SanFrancisco: 3284 3P3. Tel: (604) 872-8343. Compuserve: PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 1906 ated in three decades just over 5,000 stu­ 23rd St. Zip: 94110. Tel: (415) 282-6255,285- 103430,1552 South St. Zip: 19146. Tel: (215) 546-8218. dents who were admitted through its affir­ 5323. Compuserve: 75604,556 Compuserve: 104502, 17 57 Pittsburgh: 1103 FRANCE mative action program-just under 170 per FLORIDA: Miami: 137 N.E. 54th St. Zip: E. Carson St. Zip 15203. Tel: (412) 381-9785. Paris: Centre MBE 175, 23 rue Lecourbe. year on average. 33137. Tel: (305) 756-1020. Compuserve: Compuserve: 103122,720 Postal code: 75015. Tel: (01) 47-26-58-21. Ward Connerly, chairperson of the so­ 103171,1674 Compuserve: 73504,442 called American Civil Rights Institute, led the GEORGIA: Atlanta: 230 Auburn Ave. N.E. TEXAS: Houston: 6969 Gulf Freeway, campaign for the ballot initiative to eliminate Zip: 30303. Tel: (404) 577-7976. Compuserve: Suite 380. Zip: 77087. Tel: (713) 847-0704. ICELAND Compuserve: 102527,2271 affmnative action programs in Washington, 104226,1245 Reykjavik: Klapparstfg 26. Mailing ad­ which would be officially known as the Wash­ ILLINOIS: Chicago: 1223 N. Milwaukee WASHINGTON, D.C.: 1930 18thSt.N.W. dress: P. Box 0233, IS 121 Reykjavik. Tel: 552 ington State Civil Rights Act. Connerly, who Ave. Zip: 60622. Tel: (773) 342-1780. Suite #3 (Entrance on Florida Ave.) Zip: 5502. INTERNET:milpth @mmedia.is is Black, was also the front man for a similar Compuserve: 104077,511 20009. Tel: (202) 387-2185. Compuserve: effort in California and is looking to campaign NEW ZEALAND IOWA: Des Moines: 2724 Douglas Ave. 75407,3345. Auckland: La Gonda Arcade, 203 against affirmative action programs in Florida, Zip: 50310. Tel: (515) 277-4600. Compuserve: Nebraska, and Michigan. WASHINGTON: Seattle: 1405 E. Madi­ Karangahape Road. Postal address: P.O. Box 104107,1412 son. Zip: 98122. Tel: (206) 323-1755. Meanwhile, as the assault on affirmative 3025. Tel: (9) 379-3075. Compuserve: Compuserve: 74461,2544. action broadens, the ruling class is chipping MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 780 Tre­ 100035,3205 mont St. Zip: 02118. Tel: (617) 247-6772. away at desegregation. Two lawsuits aimed Christchurch: 199 High St. Postal ad­ Compuserve: 103426,3430 at dismantling school desegregation poli­ AUSTRALIA dress: P.O. Box 22-530. Tel: (3) 365-6055. cies in Montgomery County, Maryland; and MICHIGAN: Detroit: 7414 Woodward Sydney: 1st Flr, 176 Redfern St., Redfern Compuserve: 100250,1511 Charlotte, North Carolina are pending. In Ave. Zip: 48202. Compuserve: 104127,3505 NSW 2016. Mailing address: P.O. Box K879, Haymarket Post Office, NSW 1240. Tel: 02- recent years court decisions have ended de­ Tel: (313) 875-0100. SWEDEN 9690-1533. Compuserve: 106450,2216 segregation programs in Nashville, Tennes­ MINNESOTA: St. Paul: 2490 University Stockholm: Vikingagatan 10 (T-hana St see; Wilmington, Delaware; Denver, Colo­ Ave. W., St. Paul. Zip: 55114. Tel: (651) 644- BRITAIN Eriksplan). Postal code: S-113 42. Tel: (08) 31 rado; Cleveland, Ohio; and Oklahoma City, 6325. Compuserve: 103014,3261 London: 4 7 The Cut. Postal code: SE 1 8LL. 69 33. Compuserve: 100416,2362 Oklahoma. NEW JERSEY: Newark: 87 A Halsey. Tel: 0171-928-7993. Compuserve: 101515,2702 12 The Militant December 14, 1998 -GR~TSOOflY------Malcontents - "On the day af­ investment bank Merrill Lynch en­ Thugs Inc.- Pinkerton's, as­ The spirit lives - The British ange vests [worn by road construc­ ter soldiers killed at least eight dem­ sured that there would be no un­ sertedly the world's biggest private House of Lords voted that the Lord tion workers] were hideous." onstrators and wounded more than pleasant sights when the Queen of police agency, notorious for its Chancellor, who presides over the If they were people?- "A po­ 100 others, tens of thousands of stu­ England visited their huge trading union-busting record, signed an Chamber, is no longer required to lice force disgraced by the convic­ dents and poor people filled a high- floor at the City, London's Wall eight-year, $1.1 billion contract with wear ceremonial garb, including tion of three officers for cruelty to Street, when it instructed other de­ General Motors. Which somehow britches, tights, and buckled shoes. dogs has suspended another for al­ partments to fill the 400 empty reminds us that back in our neigh­ Lord Irvine, the Labour Lord Chan­ leged brutality to horses. Essex Po­ desks of recently fired employees borhood when someone said to be cellor, will not, however, preside in lice is investigating an officer follow­ and "look busy." very well financially, the saying blue jeans. He's ordered trousers at Harry ing allegations that he deliberately was, "He's making money like a £300 ($500) a pair. (He's the chap cop." who made news with the bill he sub­ hurt a horse he was riding while on Ring Now ifit were bombs to Iraq­ mitted for decorating his new Lon­ duty."-Daily News, London. In Los Angeles, with its large Cen­ don flat, including £650,000 for Not garden variety capitalist tral American community, relief for wallpaper. Of bulls and bears- Page 1 of Hurricane Mitch victims piled up politics?- ThetopmaninJapan's a recent business section of the L.A. way [November 14] in front of the quickly. In fact, some 300 tons of defense agency quit and an investi­ It must have been dreadful - Times pointed to the Dow Jones in­ [Indonesian] parliament building in food, clothing, and medicine is still gation is under way of charges that Beverly Center, a pricey Beverly dustrial average "rocketing to a new what seemed an unfocused and un­ piled up. The organizers of the col­ the country's giant electronics com­ Hills shopping center, has been run­ high." Meanwhile, a note at the bot­ guided outpouring of discon­ lection don't have the bundle of pany was permitted to inflate de­ ning full-page ads declaring "Con­ tom of page 4, same issue, reported: tent."- New York Times cash required to ship it and the gov­ fense contract costs in exchange for struction near Beverly Center is "Dow Jones Inc. said it will cut Potemkin City- Giant U.S. ernment, apparently, is too busy. cushy jobs for retiring bureaucrats. complete. Good thing. Those or- costs by firing 118 employees .... " Birth of the communist movement in the U.S. This year marks the 80th anniversary cialists to organize the Communist Party. of the birth of the communist movement Even if it is maintained that some of these in the United States, the 70th anniversary leaders were careerists - a contention their of the founding of the Militant and Path­ later evolution tends to support - it still re­ finder Press, and the 60th anniversary of mains to be explained why they sought ca­ the founding of the Socialist Workers reers in the communist movement and not in Party. For the next several weeks, this col­ the business or professional worlds, or in umn will be devoted to publishing materi­ bourgeois politics, or in the trade-union offi­ als related to these important hallmarks cialdom. Opportunities in these fields were in the history of the workers movement in open to at least some of them, and were de­ this country. As the frrst installment, we liberately cast aside at the time. reprint below excerpts from The First Ten In my opinion, the course of the leaders of Years ofAmerican Communism: Report of American communism in its pioneer days, a a Participant by James P. Cannon. course which entailed deprivations, hazards A traveling organizer for the Industrial and penalties, can be explained only by the Workers of the World before and during assumption that they were revolutionists to begin with; and that even the careerists among them believed in the future of the workers' revolution in America and wished to ally BOOK OF themselves with this future. First convention of Communist Party of the United States, Chicago, Sept.1-7, 1919. It is needless to add that the rank and file my thesis: The degeneration of the Commu­ thizer of revolutions in other countries. THE WEEK of the party, who had no personal interests to nist Party is not to be explained by the sum­ I frnnly believe that American revolution­ serve, were animated by revolutionary con­ mary conclusion that the leaders were a pack ists should indeed sympathize with revolu­ victions. By that I mean, they were believers of scoundrels to begin with; although a con­ tions in other lands, and try to help them in World War I and a leader of the working­ in the perspective of revolution in this coun­ siderable percentage of them- those who every way they can. But the best way to do class left wing of the Socialist Party, Can­ try, for I do not know any other kind of revo­ became Stalinists as well as those who be­ that is to build a party with a confident per­ non became a leader of the Communist lutionists. came renegades - turned out eventually to spective of a revolution in .fu.:is !;q~!ltry. < 1 . < Party of the United States following the The American Communist Party, did. not be scoundrels of championship caliber; but Without that per:opective,'atchiiliim:il'#'ot October 1917 Bolshevik revolution in Rus­ begin with Stalinism. The Stalinization of the by the circumstance that they fell victim to Socialist party belies its name. It ceases to sia. He was expelled from the CP in 1928. party was rather the end result of a process of a false theory and a false perspective. be a help and becomes a hindrance to the A founding leader of the Socialist Work­ degeneration which began during the long What happened to the Communist Party revolutionary workers' cause in its own ers Party, Cannon served as SWP national boom of the 1\venties. The protracted pros­ would happen without fail to any other party, country. And its sympathy for other revolu- secretary until 1953 and was national perity of that period, which came to be taken including our own, if it should abandon its < tions isn't worth much either. chairman emeritus at his death in 1974. for permanence by the great mass of Ameri­ struggle for a social revolution in this coun­ That, in my opinion, is the true and cor­ The excerpt is taken from Part I of the can people of all classes, did not fail to affect try, as the realistic perspective of our ep­ rect explanation of the Rise and Fall of the book, "Letters to a Historian," and it is the Communist Party itself. It softened up the och, and degrade itself to the role of sympa- American Communist Party. · · titled ''My thesis." It was written on March leading cadres of that party, and undermined 2, 1954. It is copyright© 1962 by James P. their original confidence in the perspectives Cannon. Reprinted with permission. of a revolution in this country. This prepared them, eventually, for an easy acceptance of the -25 AND 50 YEARS AGO--- BY JAMES P. CANNON Stalinist theory of "socialism in one country." from the child welfare department had the My writings on the early history of Ameri­ For those who accepted this theory, Rus­ nerve to try to take away the children be­ can communism are mainly designed to illus­ sia, as the "one country" of the victorious THE MILITANT cause a jail was not a "fit" place for them to trate my basic thesis, which as far as I know, revolution, became a substitute for the Ameri­ live! "We run him out of the jail," she added. has not been expounded by anyone else. This can revolution. Thereafter, the Communist thesis can be briefly stated as follows: Party in this country adopted as its primary December 14, 1973 The Communist Party originally was a task the "defense of the Soviet Union" by BROOKSIDE, Ky. - "They ain't go­ revolutionary organization. All the original pressure methods of one kind or another on ing to scab this mine. They can close it TH£ MILITANT leaders of the early Communist Party, who American foreign policy, without any per­ down, but they ain't going to scab it." It is PUILISHID IN THIINTIIISTS Of THii WOIKING.PiiOPLi later split into three permanent factions spective of a revolution of their own. All the in this spirit that members of the Brookside NEW YORK, N.Y. FIVE (5) CENTS within the party, began as American revolu­ subsequent twists and turns of Communist Women's Club gather every morning on the December 13, 1948 tionists with a perspective of revolution in policy in the United States, which appears so picket line outside the Eastover Mining this country. Otherwise, they wouldn't have irrational to others, had this central motiva­ Company here. Costa Rica having signed the Treaty of been in the movement in the first place and tion - the subordination of the struggle for The club is a determined group of wives, Rio de Janeiro, this military pact drawn up wouldn't have split with the reformist so- a revolution in the United States to the "de­ daughters, aunts, and friends of miners who 15 months ago at the Brazil Conference un­ fense" of a revolution in another country. are in their fourth month of a strike against der General Marshall's guidance became That explains the frenzied radicalism of the Eastover. binding upon all Latin America and the FROM PATHFINDER party in the first years of the economic crisis Last summer, the men voted by more United States Dec. 3. of the Thirties, when American foreign policy than 2 to 1 to be represented by the United If the United States now engages in war The First Ten Years was hostile to the Soviet diplomacy; the rec­ Mine Workers of America (UMWA), re­ against the Soviet Union, or any other coun­ of American Communism onciliation with Roosevelt after he recognized jecting the Southern Labor Union, a com­ try ... every Latin American country is obli­ Report of a Participant the Soviet Union and oriented toward a dip­ pany union that had been installed by the gated to take the following measures out­ lomatic rapprochement with the Kremlin; the coal operators. The vote was 113 to 55. lined in the Chapultepec Act. "Recall of James P. split with Roosevelt during the Stalin-Hitler But Eastover-which is owned by Duke chiefs of diplomatic missions; breaking of Cannon pact; and the later fervent reconciliation and Power Company - has refused to accept diplomatic relations; breaking of consular An account of the unrestrained jingoism of the American the UMWA contract terms. These include relations; breaking of postal, telegraphic, the early years Stalinists when Washington allied itself with a tripling of payments for miners' health telephonic, radio-telephonic relations; inter­ of the U.S. the Kremlin in the war. and retirement funds, improved safety, and ruption of economic, commercial and finan­ Communist The present policy of the Communist Party, the right to strike. cial relations." movement, by its subordination of the class struggle to a As a result ofthe women's activities sev­ Ratification of the pact thus places the a founding pacifistic "peace" campaign, and its decision eral have been arrested for so-called viola­ official stamp upon Washington's effort to leader. to ally itself at all costs with the Democratic tions of the court order limiting picketing. commit all Latin America in advance to give $19.95 Party, has the same consistent motivation as The judge fined the women $500 each and up neutrality in the projected World War III. all the previous turns of policy. then sent them to jail because they couldn't In addition to armed attack, the pact be­ The degeneration of the Communist Party afford to pay this exorbitant sum. comes operative if "any American state began when it abandoned the perspective of A few of the women, whose husbands should be affected by an aggression which Available from bookstores including revolution in this country, and converted itself were also arrested, had to bring their chil­ is not an armed attack or by an intra-conti­ those listed on page 1 2, or write Path­ into a pressure group and cheering squad for dren to jail too, since there was no other nental or extra-continental conflict, or by any finder, 410 West St., New York. 10014. the Stalinist bureaucracy in Russia - which way to care for them. Dorothy Johnson, for other fact or situation that might endanger Fax (212) 727-0150. Please include $3 it mistakenly took to be the custodian of a revo­ example, brought her three daughters, age the peace of America." Any squabble any­ to cover shipping and handling. lution "in another country." seven, six, and two, into the cell with her. where in the world could be interpreted as I shouldn't neglect to add the final point of Johnson told The Militant that a man "aggression" under this sweeping clause. December 14, 1998 The Militant 13 -EDITORIALS------.Black farmers fight Continued from front page is no compensation for the communities devastated by the large numbers of Defend affirmative action! Black farmers who were driven off the land. There are no options: take it or All working people should join in fighting to than half of those imprisoned since 1980 and they get nothing. defend affirmative action, and denounce the reac­ comprise more than 50 percent of inmates who "And they have not removed any perpetrators from office. How do you tionary chatter about "low test scores" of "minor­ have been executed, although Blacks make up less say these people did it, discriminated against Black farmers, and these people . ity students," lawsuits against admitting "less quali­ than 12 percent of the U.S. population. are still there? What are the assurances we have that this will be imple­ fied" students, and claims that affirmative action Working-class fighters and defenders of demo­ men!ed. After the Secretary of Agri~ulture announced a moratorium on farm is "reverse discrimination." cratic rights must champion affmnative action in foreclosures for Black farmers claiming discrimination, some foreclosures Racial and national discrimination is institution­ admissions at every level of education. The argu­ continued." alized in capitalist society. The very way that capi­ ment that students of oppressed nationalities are Georgia farmer Eddie Slaughter, vice president of the Black Farmers and talism operates day in and day out constantly re­ "less qualified" at the high school and university Agriculturalists Association who attended the Selma meeting, remarked, produces and reinforces inequalities, to the ben­ level is a reactionary justification for perpetuat­ "Over 50 percent of Black farmers are facing foreclosures. They need a efit of the wealthy class that runs this cutthroat ing the discrimination and inequality youth who settlement as soon as possible. The proposal is inadequate. It does not re­ system. Left to their own devices, the capitalists are Black face from the primary level on. dress past grievances and will allow future discrimination. Black farmers will never enforce measures to ensure equality in Affirmative action is also needed to combat wid­ have to come together. And we need to make the whole working class more hiring, promotions, education, and housing. The ening wage inequality, where a disproportionate aware of this." bosses use these divisions to weaken workers' number of those working minimum wage jobs are Black farmers are losing 9,000 acres ofland per week. Between 1920 and ability to fight for jobs, better wages, working con­ young, Black, Latino, or female. That's why the 1992, the number of farms owned by Blacks decreased from 925,000 to ditions, and other social entitlements for everyone. fight for affmnative action in hiring and promo­ 18,616- a 98 percent drop. The increasing devastation of working-class tion - with quotas - is essential for building communities that are Black over the last two de­ working-class unity. Spirited discussions at meetings cades is the product of the workfugs of capitalism. More demonstrations are needed like the thou­ During the meetings, the settlement proposal sparked spirited discussions. Broad layers of workers and farmers who are Black sands of students in California, Texas, Washing­ "Is this the best offer you could get for us?" James Stephenson, a farmer have been driven into poverty and into social con­ ton State, and elsewhere, who have taken to the from Dermott, Arkansas, asked the lawyers at the Pine Bluff meeting. ditions that are even more segregated- by race streets to defend affirmative action. Working people Gwendolyn Stephenson, who is married to James, added, "Why can't they and by class - than the late 1960s or early 1970s. must throw their weight behind this fight to counter get rid of those people who discriminated against us? Those of us continu­ U .S.government figures for 1995 report that 41 per­ the broadening assault on this social gain, won ing to farm will still have to deal with them." cent of Black children lived below poverty level through the massive struggle of the civil rights David Howard, a farmer from Tchula, Mississippi, who attended the Selma compared to 15 percent of white children. In July movement in the 1950s and '60s. meeting, said, "Fifty thousand dollars is not a lot, not even for one crop 1998 the unemployment figure for Blacks was 10.4 The victory over Jim Crow segregation was a season. The government is guilty of the charges we have made against them. percent, more than two and a half times the overall historic conquest that strengthened the working All his life, my father didn't get one loan on time. In all of Holmes County rate. The median family income of African-Ameri­ class politically. It is only along this road that a [Mississippi], not one Black farmer got disaster relief in the drought of 1993 cans is less than 60 percent that of whites and the social movement can be built that will ultimately that destroyed the cotton." gap was substantially wider in 1996 than in 1967. sweep away the discrimination and racist cancer A number of farmers at the meetings support the proposed settlement Meanwhile, African-Americans make up more that are a cornerstone of capitalist society. terms. But virtually every farmer pointed to the failure to address the root cause of the problem, racist discrimination that has always been part of the exploitation of working farmers in the United States through the rents and mortgages system. John Bonner, a·farmer from Dinwiddie, Virginia, at the Durham meeting, Free Pu~rto Rican ·patriots said, ''The offer is pretty fair. I'd like to get rid of the government debt and I don't have a lot of other debt. And I don't want to wait years to try to get a Working-class fighters and other supporters of miners in Illinois today, who are facing FBI probes better settlement. But there is nothing in there to change anything about democratic rights should participate in and build aimed at choking their battle to maintain their how the system works." The Bonner family joined the fight against the the upcoming December 10 rally at the United union. The bosses and their media try to slander Agriculture Department when they tried to purchase a farm in 1983. "We Nations to demand the U.S. government free Puerto independence fighters as terrorists, just like they tended the farm for a white fellow for 21 years, Bonner explained. "When Rican patriots held in U.S prisons. attempt to smear the miners and other striking he died his grandchildren wanted to sell it to us. We applied to USDA for a For workers in the United States, fighting to end workers with accusations of violence. loan. First they said they lost the application. Then they said we didn't have Washington's colonial domination of that Carib­ "U.S. imperialism controls our country socially, enough cash flow." bean island is not only just; it is a necessity. The politically, and economically," said Puerto Rican Announcement of the settlement proposal was preceded by an op-ed piece imperial subjugation of the Puerto Rican nation independentista Rafael Cancel Miranda in the by U.S. secretary of agriculture Daniel Glickman in the November 13 Wash­ reinforces racism, national chauvinism, anti-immi­ Pathfinder pamphlet Puerto Rico: Independence ington Post titled "Fairness for Black Farmers." Glickman referred to dis­ grliritprejtidice,' and other: divisions that weaken Is a Necessity. ''We are a militarily occupied coun­ crimination by the USDA as an event of the past, "an Agriculture Depart­ the labor movement. It stifles the political con­ try- we're saturated by U.S. military bases." ment that reflected our nation's misgivings on race." He claimed discrimi­ sciousness, human solidarity, and fighting capac­ An advance in the struggle for Puerto Rican nation by the USDA started to change "when I began unearthing these old ity of workers in struggle. independence is in the interests of all working complaints as part of my own civil rights initiative." The U.S. rulers use their iron-fisted rule over people, especially those in the United States, much Puerto Rico to rationalize the erosion of democratic like the battle to defeat Jim Crow racist segrega­ USDA: 'The last plantation' rights of working people in the United States. FBI tion imposed on Blacks in the South. Building the But civil rights at the USDA only became an issue after Black farmers spying and harassment of Puerto Rican indepen­ December 10 rally and getting Cancel Miranda's started demonstrating in Washington in December 1996 and newspaper sto­ dence fighters, unionists, and other supporters of pamphlet in the hands of working people are im­ ries reported the blatant discrimination by the department known to many Puerto Rican self-determination is well docu­ portant ways to boost the struggle for Puerto Rican farmers as ''the last plantation." One farmer after another at the November mented. This is a familiar scenario to striking coal self-determination. meetings reported on continuing ·discrimination. Sandy McKinnon from Rowland, North Carolina, showed a "Dear Debtor'' letter he just received from the USDA demanding repayment within one month of loans he got in 1984. The USDA reminds him that "additional interest is accruing daily." 'British justice no justice!' And they warn, if he doesn't pay up or prove he filed for bankruptcy, "the United States Department of the Treasury will be notified to collect the de­ A blow was struck against justice November with impunity -harassing and killing Blacks and linquent amount ... from ... certain Federal benefit payments, such as Social 25, when the highest court of the British imperial­ enabling the racist gang who murdered Stephen Security, Railroad Retirement and Black Lung benefits." ist state decided that Augusto Pinochet, the former Lawrence to escape justice. Lester Bonner, from Dinwiddie County, Virginia, said he will file a dis­ military ruler of Chile, could face extradition to Whatever the exact outcome of this affair, after crimination complaint with the USDA. "This year they denied me a disaster Spain. This further assault on the sovereignty of the months of legal wrangling and the tactical de­ loan for losses resulting from drought while white farmers in the county got an oppressed nation, which began with Pinochet's bates in ruling circles, this so-called "landmark" the loans." arrest in London, has been celebrated by liberals ruling opens the road to greater interference in the The News-Observer, the daily newspaper in the Raleigh area, which is not and social democrats. But it should be condemned affairs of oppressed nations. Already Laurent known for its support to the rights of Black farmers, criticized the proposed by class-conscious workers and all anti-imperial­ Kabila, the current president of the Democratic settlement in a November 25 editorial titled, ''This land is their land." A seg­ ist fighters. Republic of the Congo, has been targeted for pros­ ment on the CBS television news program "60 Minutes" on November 29 Britain's ruling rich, their Spanish counterparts, ecution by "human rights" groups in France in the gave a glimpse to a national audience for the situation faced by some of the and the U.S. rulers who supported Pinochet's re­ wake of the Pinochet arrest. Black farmers involved in this fight. gime are the greatest violators of human rights in The liberal forces pushing the prosecution of Most farmers who owe money to the USDA also have debts to local the world. They have no moral right to sit in judg­ Pinochet explain that the November 25 ruling banks, chemical and seed companies, tractor dealers, and others. ''Those ment, let alone try and punish Pinochet for his builds on the "principles" established by the creditors would be on the $50,000 like flies on sugar," North Carolina farmer crimes; that task belongs solely to the working Nuremberg trials of the defeated Nazi German David Strickland said at the Durham meeting. "We'd never see a penny of people of Chile. The decision puts London and leaders at the end of the Second World War. But that money." Washington, disguised as champions of human as the Militant explained in October 1942, under Attorney Stephon Bowens of the Land Loss Prevention Project in Durham rights, in a better position to win acceptance for the headline "Yes, Punish the War Criminals" the pointed out that as soon as the debt to the USDA is written off and those the slaughter of thousands of workers and farmers British imperialists fought the war not to destroy liens removed from farmers' land, other creditors would aggressively go in Iraq and advance their military aim of overturn­ fascism but "to preserve their empire." The U.S. after the same land. Black farmers land has been partly protected in the last ing the worker's state of Thgoslavia and reimpos­ rulers fought it to extend theirs. The 1946 two years by the USDA foreclosure moratorium. ing capitalist rule there. Nuremberg Trials were a fake. The victorious war Although the reporters on "60 Minutes" said that a settlement of the case Trade unionists will note that one of the liberal criminals put the defeated war criminals in the could be announced in a week, the attorneys report they are still involved in judges who voted for this decision is the same Lord dock so that the "democratic" imperialists could negotiations with the government over terms for a general settlement and Nicholls who participated in the legal assault on cover up their crimes, their responsibility for the are continuing to negotiate individual settlements for the lead plaintiffs. Feb­ the National Union of Miners during the 1984-85 slaughter. ruary 1, 1999, is still scheduled for the beginning of the trial if no settlement miners strike. Once a loyal servant of the "Godfathers" in has been reached. Irish freedom fighters, among whom the slogan Washington and their British allies, as Cuban revo­ Stu Singer is a member of the United Transportation Union in Washington, "British justice- no justice!" is rightly popular, lutionary leader Fidel Castro put it, Pinochet can D. C. Arlene Rubinstein from Atlanta and Pat Leamon from Raleigh contrib­ will recognize the hypocrisy of London's efforts now be thrown on the scrap heap to help the im­ uted to this article. to pose as the defender of the families of thou­ perialists advance their war aims. sands "disappeared" under Pinochet. They know But it is ~he imperialist "Godfathers" who the brutality meted out by the British state against should go on trial. The growing struggles of work­ the Irish, including frame-ups, torture, and cold­ ing people today - such as the victorious electri­ blooded murder. cians and striking catering workers in London and Fighters for Black rights will see the duplicity the striking miners in lllinois - will bring that of a judicial system which allows racist cops to act prospect closer. 14 The Militant December 14, 1998 Crown workers in Alabama get support in their fight for a contract This column is devoted to re­ longest of the six strikes in 25 years pensions of porting the resistance by work­ by workers at the Peterbilt assem­ some workers. ing people to the employers' as­ bly plant outside Nashville. Only 15 But all of the sault on their living standards, of the 1,200 striking UAW members strikers fired by working conditions, and unions. crossed the picket line. Peterbilt is the company for We invite you to contribute owned by PACCAR, Inc., the sec- alleged "miscon­ duct" will return to work. Outside their ON THE PICKET LINE contract meeting the UAW mem­ bers' opinions short items to this column as a ond largest manufacturer of heavy reflected the Militant/Susan LaMont way for other fighting workers trucks in the world. PACCAR also widespread view A picket line/news conference in front of Crown gas station in Fairfield, Alabama, Novem­ around the world to read about owns Kenworth Trucks. that the workers ber 12, to support the locked-out Crown refinery workers' fight in Houston, Texas. Crown and learn from these important As the first weeks of the strike had stood up to worker Danny Duncan is in front on right. struggles. Jot down a few lines turned into months, the strike the company's about what is happening in your changed from a seemingly ordinary assault on their union, at your workplace, or fight for a new contract into a battle union. The spirit of the strikers was dropped, and nobody reprimanded The Marriott- which opened in other workplaces in your area, by the workers against a head-on expressed well by June Stalter. "I for conduct on the picket line." 1989-refuses to accept a contract including interesting political dis­ company assault on the union. got married the day before we went Hunter added, "I think we got all for more than 1,000 janitors, house­ cussions. Four months into the strike the on strike. I had to put off my honey­ we're gonna get, but this will leave keepers, and maintenance workers; UAW offered to return to work moon to walk the picket line," she a bitter taste in people's mouths." a largely immigrant, multi-national, Bm.MINGHAM, Alabama- A without a contract and continue ne­ said. ''Tomorrow is the scabs' last The truck workers fight got sup­ multi-lingual workforce. Workers successful picket line/news confer­ gotiations. The company refused the day and we'll be there to watch port from other unions. UAW Local won union representation in 1996. ence was held in front of a Crown union's offer. Instead, the company them leave." 1832 president Richard Burnett said Since then, they have been fighting gas station in Fairfield, Alabama, hired some 700 strikebreakers and Jay Hunter is one of the workers that union members and others for a contract on a par with the city­ November 12, to support the cranked production up to 36 trucks suspended for 30 days. He started reached out to truck drivers at truck wide agreement at the other union locked-out Crown refinery workers' a day, compared to 54 before the at the truck plant in 1969 when the stops and truck shows to inform hotels. HERE's demands include fight. The event was covered by strike. plant opened. According to Hunter, potential Peterbilt customers that seniority rights, overtime pay, and three TV stations and drew enthu­ The union declared the strike a he cussed out a scab in a restaurant the plant was on strike and the a pension plan. siastic support from passers-by at lockout and filed unfair labor prac­ parking lot three miles from the trucks were being built by scabs. During this two-year struggle, the very busy shopping area. tice charges against Peterbilt with plant. Strom Engineering, the pri­ After the contract ratification workers have organized regular pick­ Members of the United Steel­ the National Labor Relations Board vate scab-herding outfit hired by vote, striker B. G. Bowling said, ''The ets in front of the hotel and periodi­ workers of America (USWA); (NLRB). The NLRB found the Peterbilt during the strike, happened biggest victory was the solidarity cally called larger mobilizations United Food and Commercial Work­ company guilty and scheduled a to be on the scene and got the con­ that came out of the strike. They drawing workers from. unions ers and the Retail, Wholesale and hearing for January 1999 where the frontation on film. didn't bust our union and they asked throughout the Bay Area. Distributive Workers; the Molders company could have been held li­ "It was a set up deal," said us to come back!" Transit workers, Machinists, union; the Coalition of Black Trade able for back pay to the strikers Hunter, adding: "A 30-day suspen­ Betty Bates expressed the view Steelworkers, flight attendants, farm Unionists; and other activists sup­ since the beginning of the lockout sion is nothing compared to seven of many. "We fought for a lot of workers, Teamsters, nurses, long­ porting the fight of the locked-out in September. months. I would've bet my home good reasons. We might not have shoremen, and members of many workers at Crown Petroleum's Hous­ As the strikers held their ground, that we wouldn't have been out this gotten everything we asked for, but other unions took part in the action. ton refmery participated. Peterbilt was losing millions of dol­ long. I'm proud of the young people we're going back together and we NABET-CWA Local 51 Workers The action came after a month of lars in unfilled truck orders. The in this strike. We're about as strong still have our union. And we're go­ from KGO-TV Channel 7 joined in work in Alabama by Danny company had record profits in 1997 a 1,200 people as you could find." ing back a stronger union." with picket signs fi:om their after" Duncan, a representative of Oil, and the truck market has been One of the younger workers is noon rally. National Association of Chemical and Atomic Workers Lo­ booming this year. By November, Bounphet Phet, one of ten workers Hotel workers march Broadcast Employees & Techni­ cal 4-227. He has been speaking Peterbilt was forced to negotiate a from Laos who has worked in the cians union has been locked out of about their two-and-a-half-year new contract with the workers. plant for less than five years. "The in San Francisco the ABC-owned stations since No­ fight to win a contract and get their During the strike, increased pen­ strike was tough on us," said Phet. SAN FRANCISCO- In the larg­ vember3. jobs back at Crown, as well as the sions and retirement benefits 'We didn't expect to be out for so est demonstration to date, hotel HERE members garnered support union's antidiscrimination suit emerged as the key contract issues. long. But we have to stick with the workers and their supporters rallied through speaking and distributing against the company. Duncan has The new 44-month contract in­ union." Peterbilt is Phet's frrst union in front of the downtown Marriott multilingual - Chinese, Spanish, been welcomed at union meetings cludes increased pension payments job and he was proud of the fact Hotel November 17, demanding a and English -leaflets at union and political events in Birmingham, and substantial cuts in health insur­ that no Laotian worker crossed the contract at one of seven nonunion meetings and other gatherings. Tuscaloosa, and Gadsden. ance costs for retired workers. For picket line. hotels here. example, health insurance costs for Some strikers felt the company During the evening rush hour, Susan LaMont; Rich Stuart, mem­ Peterbilt workers hold off a retiree and spouse will go from was being let off the hook. more than 800 chanted, "Contract ber ofthe USWA; and Ronald Mar­ company assault $519permonthto$140. The agree­ "I feel like we could've done a now!" "We got the power, union tin, member ofInternational Broth­ NASHVILLE, Tennessee - ment also makes it easier to retire at little bit better on certain issues," power!" as passing city bus drivers erhood ofBoilermakers Local] 08, Workers at Peterbilt Motors' truck age 62 without significant pension said Tony Sanders. "We did damn honked their approval. The event all in Birmingham, Alabama; factory, members of United Auto reduction. The contract also in­ good as far as retirement and insur­ drew workers from many Bay Area Osborne Hart, member of United Workers (UAW) Local 1832 ap­ cludes a 12.5 percent pay raise over ance benefits. But I feel like we're unions who demonstrated their soli­ Transportation Union Local 239, proved a new contract November the life of the contract. owed back pay since the lockout darity with members of Hotel and and Larry Lane, member of Inter­ 24 by a voteof740to 187. Along with the contract gains, September 10. I feel like all the Restaurant Employees Local 2 national Association of Machinist The truck workers struck May 3, the workers took some casualties in brother and sisterhood should've (HERE) in their two-year battle with Locall781, in San Francisco con­ making the seven-month strike the the form of30-day to six-month sus- been returned to work, the charges one of the largest U.S. hotel chains. tributed to this column. -LETTERS------Paul Montauk Texas in 1856, but some of his com­ portant for working-class fighters It will not benefit real Affirmative declaration of time-tested principles. I enjoyed your recent articles on rades remained. In 1863-in war­ to explain. However, the Militant Action demands if Democratic party It is an affirmation of the fact that the life of Paul Montauk, and I re­ time, under Confederate rule-they has carried only the occasional candidate Grey Davis is the gover­ the capitalists and their parties have called a letter from him in the early participated in street protests mention of liberalism. In fact, an nor of California instead of Repub­ interests that are completely 1980s that illustrated his ongoing against slavery. internet search through the Mili­ lican Dan Lungren. They both have counterposed to those of workers, attention to education. So we learned from Paul that our tant reveals that the word "liberal­ goals of stabilizing the current sys­ farmers and young people seeking The San Antonio branch of the political work in San Antonio had a ism" has appeared only once dur­ tem for further exploitation. They a humane and just future. SWP received a message from Paul, long precedent. His initiative, you ing 1998. disagree on strategy. They disagree The Young Socialists has been in which he alerted us to an impor­ might say, introduced us to some As an activist, I fmd myself look­ on how much to pretend to have and will continue to be committed tant chapter in the city's history. cofighters in our own city. ing to use the Militant in order to the same interests as us. to fighting with any organization or This was out of the blue -he had Steve Marshall explain the road forward for work­ We should learn from the elec­ tendency that is interested in ad­ no way of knowing that we had dis­ Detroit ers and youth fighting for a just and tion after election betrayal by the vancing the struggle of oppressed cussed orgaitizing classes to edu­ humane future. As a member of the Democratic Party during the Viet­ against oppressor. cate ourselves on the development Young Socialists, and someone nam War, and more recently, the bi­ Jacob Perasso of the class struggle in our area. More on 'liberalism' who uses the Militant extensively, partisan welfare slashing. Santa Cruz, California We followed Paul's lead, and The most recent years and I think that now would be an op­ From the perspective of the capi­ learned about a group of revolution­ months have seen a powerful rise portune time to explain the term. talists, the two-party system is an aries- many of them German im­ in the resistance of workers, farm­ Liberalism is an adaptation to real effective means of sapping the migrant "forty-eighters" - who ers and young people. From the UPS movements and is not in itself a strength out of movements from functioned in San Antonio in the strike to the General Motors work movement. It is designed to suck Black liberation to Chicano libera­ The letters column is an open 1850s. Led by a Marxist named stoppage to the fight of workers and the life out of any movement of any tion to Immigrant Rights to all work- forum for all viewpoints on sub­ AdolfDouai, they published a news­ young people of Indonesia, we can real consequence by announcing ers' rights. · jects of general interest to our paper, held public meetings, and see the resurgence. itself as the leader of what might The Young Socialists will never readers. joined in the deepening struggle What has also followed is an ad­ otherwise be true, powerful and just commit itself to liberalism. Liberal­ Please keep your letters brief. over slavery. aptation by bourgeois politics demands. In this manner the bour­ ism will ultimately expose itself as Where necessary they will be Proslavery intimidation and vio­ known as liberalism. This phenom­ geoisie can adapt to political move­ the cancerous force that it is. abridged. Please indicate if you lence closed the San Antonio ena that is a component of bour­ ments and drive them into the Furthermore, it is not sectarian to prefer that your initials be used Zeitung and drove Douai out of geois politics is one of the most im- ground. denounce liberalism, but rather a rather than your full name. December 14, 1998 The Militant 15 THE MILITANT Australia: Aborigines win land rights BY LINDA HARRIS covered by Lee's ruling. This would trigger SYDNEY, Australia- OnNovember24 the a compensation claim that Richard Bartlett, Miriuwung and Gajerrong peoples won a vic­ who represented the Miriuwung and tory for Aboriginal land rights in the Federal Gajerrong peoples, said could be worth mas­ Court here. Justice Malcolm Lee upheld their sive amounts of money. claim to a 7,653-square-kilometer tract of The Federal Court judgement undermines Kimberley land in the far north of Western the Howard government's legislation that Australia and the Northern Territory. amended the Native Title Act in July, restrict­ The Miriuwung-Gajerrong claim was ing the rights of Aborigines to negotiate over lodged more than four years ago by Ben land title. The bill, narrowly passed in the Ward on behalf of 100 traditional owners. Senate, was in response to a right:'ist cam­ They have been fighting for the past 30 paign to nullify the Wik ruling spearheaded years to have their rights over the land rec­ by wealthy pastoralists and Pauline ognized. Hanson's ultrarightist One Nation Party. The decision extended native title rights Aboriginal leaders have hailed the ruling further than the 1996 High Court ruling in as the most significant since the High the Wik case, which legitimized native title Court's Mabo ruling of 1992, which recog­ on a case-by-case basis on pastoral leases. nized the native title rights of the Mer people Lee ruled that pastoral leases may regulate in the Torres Strait. An editorial in the No­ or suspend native title but not extinguish it vember 26 The West Australian called it "a under any circumstances. He said that Ab­ significant landmark in the evolution of law origines had occupied the land for at least on Aboriginal land claims." 40,000 years and had traditions and customs The message from the judgement, which that connected them to the land. reaches beyond the borders of the This case is being welcomed as the first Miriuwung-Gajerrong claim, said Aboriginal successful native title claim on the mainland. leader Pat Dodson, is regardless of how pro­ "This is the most significant decision of all Native claimant Ben Ward, left, with his father, Jeff Chunama, celebrate Miriuwung and tracted, bitter, or expensive the process, Ab­ because it takes into consideration areas of Gajerrong peoples' victory for Aboriginal land rights in Australian Federal Court. origines will continue to pursue their rights freehold, lease land, pastoral land, water­ to native title. "We have got to accept that ways, the whole lot," said Dennis Eggington, Australian government appealed unsuccess­ Court against the final ruling. Court has also native title is here. Indigenous people are the Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive. fully to the full bench and then to the High signaled his intention to push ahead with going to exercise their rights to protect it." The claim included large areas of re­ Court against this ruling. his government's native title legislation, source-rich land. The judgement awarded Now West Australian premier Richard which would extinguish Aboriginal land Linda Harris is a member of the Australian the claimants the right to decide how the Court indicated he would appeal to the High rights on large tracts of land including those Manufacturing Workers' Union land should be used and to receive a share of any resources taken by others. Assistant director of the Association of Mining and Energy Exploration Companies Tamara British court sets imperial precedent by Stevens said that mining companies were alarmed and confused. "This judgement is too ... open ended," she stated, and "it ruling Pinochet can be extradited to Spain doesn't bode well for [the mining industry's] development." future BYTONYHUNT falsely painted the British rulers as defend­ ter. But the London Times stated bluntly in Reflecting the polarization on the ques­ ers of human rights and "justice." The Chil­ an editorial, "The Pinochet case has had a tion of Aboriginal land rights, Greg Smith, a LONDON- Britain's highest court, the ean/British Ad Hoc Committee for Justice political dimension ever since the ftrst arrest Liberal member of the West Australian state judiciary committee of the House of Lords, said "Britain has acquired enormous and in­ warrant was issued." The Times editors, re­ Parliament, claimed that the judgement meant decided November 25 that former Chilean calculable prestige by arresting Pinochet ... " flecting the debate in ruling circles, ex­ Aboriginal groups could put a toll gate at dictator Augusto Pinochet could face extra­ Welcoming the House of Lords decision, pressed concern that the House of Lords the entry to the Kimberley region. Robert dition to Spain on charges of torture, geno­ Sheila Cassidy, who was tortured in Chile ruling left "the government of virtually any Hannan, the spokesperson for the cide, and kidnapping. during the dictatorship, said, "It's a great country exposed to internal terrorism vul­ Miriuwung and Gajerrong families said that The 3-2 judgment overturned an earlier moment for England and for Chile. I feel nerable to prosecution." it was never their intention to block devel­ ruling of a lower court that Pinochet was proud to be English." Clary Torres, a Chil­ The Economist dismissed these concerns opment or stop people corning into the area. entitled to "sovereign immunity" as a former ean exile in Britain, told the Daily Telegraph, and favorably reported the support given "Our intention is to protect and preserve head of state. Whether or not Pinochet is "Our faith in British justice has been re­ by the Labour government to a proposal to our cultural heritage and sacred areas, and actually extradited is now in the hands of stored." Another exile living in Spain said, establish a tribunal to try Iraqi president any negotiations on development or any­ Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw and "Thank God for British justice." Saddam Hussein. thing else would be done in that context." could be the subject of weeks of further le­ Leaders of the Socialist Party (SP) and During a November 29 visit to Britain, However, the Federal Court ruled that gal proceedings. Communist Party (CP) in Chile joined cel­ Chilean foreign minister Jose Insulza, a mem­ native title had been extinguished over some Whatever the outcome, the decision ef­ ebrations of the verdict in Santiago at the ber of Chile's Socialist Party, floated the idea parts fectively establishes the right of the British of the claimed land, including roads, headquarters of the Association of the Rela­ of Pinochet being sent back to Chile to face public reserves, some land surrounding the imperialists- who are guilty of brutal vio­ tives of the Disappeared. Thousands of trade charges there. This proposal was con­ town of Kununurra, and the Ord River dam lations of human rights in Ireland and around union fighters and others were executed, demned by left-wing Labour Member of Par­ and power station. the world - to interfere in the affairs of op­ tortured, or exiled during the dictatorship. liament Jeremy Corbyn. From the time the claim was lodged, the pressed countries like Chile. The ex-dicta­ The SP and CP were members of the coali­ The stance by social democratic, centrist, governments of the Northern Territory and tor, who came to power in a bloody, U.S.­ tion government of SP leader Salvador and other forces of the bourgeois left has Western Australia opposed it, spending mil­ supported military coup in 1973, was ar­ Allende overturned in the 1973 coup, which given an opening to the right wing to pose lions to fight the case. rested October 16 in London by British po­ was aimed at crushing growing struggles as defenders of national sovereignty. In April1997, the Federal Court ruled that lice acting on a Spanish warrant. by workers and peasants. Both parties re­ Former Conservative prime minister Mar­ only people of the same gender are permit­ Liberal and social democratic forces, cel­ fused to arm workers and peasants to de­ garet Thatcher and current Conservative ted to hear evidence about Aboriginal "se­ ebrated the decision. The director of Am­ fend themselves as it became clear that the leader William Hague called on Straw to use cret men's and women's business." The West nesty International in Chile said the deci­ sion "created a universal precedent military was preparing a coup. his executive powers and release Pinochet. that crimes against humanity must An article in the November 26Daily Tele­ Thatcher said "the national interests of both be brought to justice." The New graph entitled, "Which leader will be next?" Chile and Britain" were being damaged by from Pathfinder York-based Human Rights Watch said that other capitalist governments in his detention. Hague condemned Labour's and the International Commission of Europe were moving to assume powers to handling of the affair. Chile is "a long -stand­ Fidel Castro on Chile Jurists in Geneva, Switzerland, also intervene in the affairs of oppressed coun­ ing ally of our country," he said. praised the ruling. Spain's Socialist tries under the guise of defending human Teresa Gorman, another Conservative, Speeches and in­ Party leader Jose Borrell welcomed rights. "Within the next few months, most of told Straw not to "kow-tow to his left-wing­ terviews from Fi.,. the decision and criticized the right­ Europe could have asserted the right to try ers. Pinochet should be allowed to go back del Castro's 25- wing Spanish government for efforts torturers and the architects of genocide, to Chile." wherever those crimes occur." In Chile, rightist supporters of the ex -dic­ day visit to Chile to halt the work of judge Baltasar Garzon, who issued the arrest war­ During the French-African summit in Paris tator, who have posed as the defenders of in 197l.Castro on November 28, two French human rights Chilean national sovereignty, demonstrated warns of im­ rant. Two of the three judges who groups tried unsuccessfully to launch crimi­ in the capital Santiago on hearing the House pelldingC()unter• voted for the judgment were re­ nal proceedings against Laurent Kabila, of Lords' decision. British and Spanish flags revolution and ported to hold liberal views. One of president of the Democratic Republic of the were burned, the British embassy was pelted stresses the ex­ them handled "contempt of court" Congo, on alleged torture charges. Pressed with eggs and tomatoes, and a BBC televi­ ample of Cuba, proceedings against the National on the matter by reporters who cited the ar­ sion news crew was violently attacked. Some where workers Union of Miners during the 1984- rest of Pinochet in Britain as a precedent, Pinochet supporters called for another mili­ and farmers mo­ 85 miners' strike. The two judges Charles Josselin, the French minister respon­ tary coup. Several rightists were arrested. bilized to defeat who voted against the ruling are re­ sible for relations with African countries, Students and other opponents of imperialist intervention. $12.00 portedly conservatives. said the only difference was Pinochet was Pinochet who also took to the streets in Chile Some rail workers watching TV no longer in power. were violently attacked by cops and ar­ coverage at the Waterloo station in The British Labour government mean­ rested. Some of those who cheered the Brit­ Available from bookstores, induding those listed on while has stuck to its line that the Pinochet ish court ruling and joined the anti-Pinochet page 12, orwriteThthfindet;410West St., NY; NY10014. London applauded the court ruling. Backers ofPinochet's arrest have affair is a "judicial" and not a political mat- protests in Chile marched with British flags.

16 The Militant December 14, 1998