CORRECTIONS Gremlins were hard at work in our last issue. 1be last sentence on page 3 should have read Mtmdale's acuptalta speedt (ad to a lesser degru, CU1mW's lteynot.t) um a masterpieu ofconaaJed sdtizofJltmUa, Ott tJr.e one hand S bKsiness taus tJtat weaken ""'«anomy, H said M tmdaJe oftJte platform, """ lau""1y lists tJtat nzid our TrtOSW'Y. '')Mondok ducJud ntlirtly tlt.t questjqn of wlral mmtnn" of supply-silk For Your Socialist Bookshelf «OM'Mics lie would ust to~ tJr.e «Ofl Otlf'j; tJtat tUball. was nkgated to Harl (wlto ABOUTDSA ~ /wilX1le sector~) ad WE'RE SOClALISTS AND WE'RE DEMOCRATS. FOR f odtstm (rclw ~ tJte public sector). THE SAME REASONS (one free with SASE) .02 On page 4. the sentence starting 13 WE ARE THE NEW SOCIALISTS (one free with SASE) .02 tines u:p from the bottom of the last paragraph WHERE WE STAND: A Position Statement of the Democratic Socia!ists ot ,.\meria should re2d TM ca:ucus mlbsiasticaJJy (one free with SASE) .02 passed a nsolution ofSllfllXJrl fur tJte M ondak LABOR IS A POWER IN THE LAND (Labor Conmssion brodaire. DO bulk cisaluc1) .05 FOR A MORE LIV ABLE WQRLD (Re5gion anc!Socialism brochire, DO bllJk disoount) .05 F m'm"O tickd. EqwzJJ, mlbsiasticaJJy, iJ al WHICH WAY AMERICk Plllitical Perspective of the DSA Youth Sectioo> .50 so passed a rr:solutimt frrmc M assodtusetts YOtml SECTION ORGANIZING MANUAL 2.00 StaU Legislakw' T°"' GaJla/Jlter ad uamded CENTRAL AMERICA ORGANIZING MANUAL 3. 00 by N~ Haven Cily C~ Marli1s PERSPECTIVES ON GAY AND LESBIAN LIBERATION A.'"m SOCIALISM 2.00 SOClALIST FORUM (DSA discussion bulletin. subscnpoon: 31$10) 10.00 Dunleavy calling on DSA to eo11vene a «111/er Back issues $3. 50 each 3. 50 ena of socialist ekcfld ojficiaJs frrmc annmd THIRD WORLD SOClALISTS (Subsaiption 2/$6) 6. oo tlu country in 1985. Back issues, Nos. 1 & 2, S3 each* 3. 00 We apologize to Fred Siegel for leaving Back issues of DEMOCRATIC LEFT .10 TOTAL out the identifying information in his column on Th£ Forty-Year War. Siegel is the author Sale Items of Troubkd Journey: From Pearl HarlJur to Ronald Reagan (Hill and Wang, 1984) from WOMEN OF COLOR* ,,,-:25'.J.<5() ·---· TOTAL which the colwnn was adapted. Unmask is 2327 Webster St, FROM THE INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM Berkeley, CA 94705. We gave the wrong~. ALTERNATIVES: Proposals for America from the Democrabc Left. edited by Irving Howe. Essays by Irving Howe. Robert Lekachman. Michael Harrington. Frances Fox Piven, Barbara Ehrenreich, Gordon Adams, Df~RATICF"""""1 Nnnll#Jw of dte Bob Kuttner. 6.95 ~Ult alld Moe- POVERTY IN THE AMERICAN DREAM, by Barbara Ehrenreich and Holly Sklar 3. 75 E T THE TRANSITION FROM CAPITALISM TO SOClALISM. ilv°"- by John Stephens. Published at $12. 50 soft.cover. 6. 50 BAH.ARA EHRENUICH WOMEN IN THE GLOBAL FACTORY, by Annette Fuentes & Barbara Ehrenreich 4.00 MICHAEL HARRINGTON TOTAL Editors Sale Items MAxlNE PHIUIPS M"""lilvEditor EUROSOClALISM AND AMERICA*, edited by Nancy Lieber, with articles by Harrington, Palme, Brandt, Mitterrand. Pubhshed at $17. 95 S 3.~ DEMOCRATIC LEIT (ISSN 0164--3207) is publish THE BLACK CHURCH AND MARXISM, by James Cone .7.f'Jtll!J ed six times a year at 853 Broadway, Suite 801. PLANT CLOSINGS BULLETIN ,~ New York, N.Y. 10003. Second Class postage THE VAST MAJORITY: AJoumey to the World's Poor, paid at New York. N. Y. Sub!lctiption S8 regubr; by Michael Harrington. Published at $10. 95 s15 institutional TAX POLICY AND THE ECONOMY* (a debate between POSTMASTER: Send address changes to DEM· Michael Harrington and Jack Kemp) <>CRATIC LEFT, 853 Broadway, New York. N. Y. IMAGES OF LABOR (attractive softcover art book, published at $16.95) APARTHEID AND THE WORLD ECONOMIC ORDER, by M. Manley 10003. . DEMOCRATIC LEFT is published by the Demo cratic Socialists of America at the above address. *Bulle orders: 10% off on 5-9 copies; 20% off on 10-14; 30% off on 15 or more copies. Make checks phone (212) 26().3270. Other offices: 1300 West payable to: DEMOCRATIC SOClALISTS OF AMERICA. Suite 801, 853 Broadway, New York. Belmont Ave.. ChicagoIL60657, (312)871-7700; N. Y. 10003. Add 10% for post.age and handling. 3202 Adeline, Berkeley CA 94703, (415) 423- 1354. Microti1m. Wisconsin State Historical Soci ety, 816 State St., Madison WI 53703. Indexed in YOUR NAME ------ the Alternative Press Index, P.O. Box 7229, B» ADDRESS. __ ------timore MD 21218. S;p.d arlicla atwas fill.,,_ CITY STATE ZIP ioru of tM aMllwn atul ""'of,.,.... $ DEMOCRATIC LEFT 2 SEPT.-Ocr. 1984 Elections Give Unions Chance to Rebuild Base by Harold Meyerson f it was accomplishing nothing else, by mid-September the Mondale cam paign was answering a question that PRESIDENT REAbAN'S in a better world would go unasked: IURINGAID how much do you have when you haveI the institutional support of every pro gressive constituency in the United States at a time when everything else is going against you? For, the one positive aspect of the Mon dale campaign two weeks after Labor Day is that the national movements on which the Democratic party has come increasingly to rely are attempting to do more for the Demo cratic nominee than they have ever done (in the case of the newer movements) or than they have done in decades (in the case of labor). For the Sierra Club and the National I K'fl Women's Political Caucus, this means a first time endorsement. For labor, this means the most extensive effort since the 1940s. With a few weeks to go before the close of voter registration, it is too early to assess 1980 Eurosocialism and America confer with members. Nor is there any guarantee labor's efforts, and too early to know wheth ence that directly inspired the Machinists' that a vibrant steward system will ensure a er Mondale can close the gap to the point On-The-Job-Canvass, in which stewards politicized steward system. Endorsement where labor's efforts make a difference. The conducted worksite surveys of their co and donation powers throughout labor belong numbers are fragmentary and inconclusive. workers on a range of issues. It wasn't the to unions' state and national bodies; at best, Though the Food and Commercial Workers Machinists, though, but the Communica locals execute but don't decide. [UFCW] can cite 60,000 new registrations tions Workers and the American Federation The decline of politics at the base, then, among their members, most internationals of State, County and Municipal Workers is hardly susceptible to reversal by executive cannot yet quote any figures at all. If a union [AFSCME] that first used the program to fiat, nor did anyone expect that would be the led registration effort in New York City has stump for Fritz Mondale last winter. By case. Indeed, it is no surprise that the two signed up 110,000 new Democrats, another April, the AFL-CIO was convinced that the internationals credited with doing the most in Los Angeles has pulled in only 10, 000. one-on-one program, as it had come to be to date on this fall's campaign are AFSCME But what distinguishes labor's presiden called, was a demonstrable success in a sea and the Machinists (IAM I. It is not only that tial campaign this fall is not the numbers son not otherwise noted for Mondale or labor these are two of the most politicized interna not yet, one hopes-but two qualitative de triumphs. Late this summer, the AFL-CIO tionals in the AFL-CIO, but also the two with partures. The first is an unprecedented de sent One-on-One kits to all internationals and the greatest expenence at bringing political gree of cooperation among the various through them to the locals. The intent was to action (AFSCME) and membership canvass movements along the campaign trail. Insofar put stewards to work, first registering un ing (the IAM) down to the stewards. as Fritz Mondale has a field campaign at this registered members at the worksite, then Indeed, the fall campaign is a tougher late moment, it consists largely of the "party interviewing workers and identifying them test of the steward system than anyone en within the party"-labor, feminists, minori by candidate preference. then doing a work visioned. for no one anticipated such wide ties, peace activists, environmentalists, fre site Get-Out-the-Vote drive on election day. spread antipathy to Mondale when the pro quently working together. The second de It has not been an easy program to imple gram was put in place this summer. In the parture is the recognition on the part of virtu ment. The AFL-CIO'S list of registered un National Education Association-an excep ally the entire labor movement of the need ionists is notoriously dated and fragmentary. tion among unions in that membership is uni for a bottom-up campaign that employs local More seriously, however, the steward sys formly voluntary-the first-time appearance stewards to carry the message to the mem tem has atrophied throughout the move of stewards talking politics has led to some bers. "We're finally catching up," says one ment. Ironically, the establishment of the Republican resignations. Even in the JAM internabonal's Western states political direc union shop, which relieved stewards of the and AFSCME. stewards encounter consid tor, "with the Canadian Labor Congress." duty of coUecting dues from members every erable resistance. "In some of our small town Indeed, it was a presentation by CLC couple of weeks, has lessened the contact locals," says AFSCME's New York Legisla leaders to their American counterparts at the and, frequently, the credibility of stewards tive Director Ed Draves, "our members have D EMOCRATIC LEFT 3 SEPT.-Ocr. 1984 been conditioned to think it's un-American to AFSCME and other unions have put togeth and spirit can only do so much. Consider, for support Mondale." "A lot of our guys don't er a broad coalition of pro-Mondale forces. instance, theexampleofUAWLocal645, the want to vote for Reagan, " says JAM Political "In many places, the party is reluctant to last remaining auto local in California and one Director Bill Holayter, "but they can't see organize cause groups," says one union polit of the 14 that the international sent out Mondale as a credible alternative." Despite ical director, "because they fear we could against General Motors during contract ne these problems, most unions report more challenge them down the line. So labor is gotiations this fall When the 1ocaJ differences volunteers turning out than in the primaries going out and doing it; we have to do it. were ironed out, the members still refused or in 1980. We've got to assemble a third force. These to go back to work, despite a rather loud are the core anti-Reagan groups." request from Solidarity House: they had There remains no consensus among un gone out and would stay out till all their The decline of politics at the ions on the degree of emphasis their material brothers and sisters had a good contract. But should have on broad social issues as against when Local 645's political director tried to some ::.trikers for Mondale work, he base, then, is hardly suscep issues peculiar to labor or their 0\\11 industry. recruit tible to reversal by executive In general, unions that a!'sume a low le\·el of came up empty: the strikers ranged from political consciousness tend to stress indus unenthused-for-Mondale to zealots for Rea fiat.,, try issues: such is the pitch. for mstanoe. of gan. In such a climate. the 1984 election the Seafarers. Florida AFL-CIO bead Doc cannot tCi}' be said to be a test of labor's Resha doubts that stressing either t:IOOo or ~"th. Indeed. labor stands to emerge from the l elections-regardless of the Rebuilding the Base industry issues has much efiecL "'\\e ta!il: to For some internationals, the campaign our members about what ReafZ3ll•- dooe to outcmne-\\itlt its 1r.temal structure and in potitica1 ues This affords an opportunity to rebuild both their the NLRB," he says. '"but most people down tra:party Strengthened. is steward and political structures. The Service here. including a lot of union members. don't mall consoJauon shouJd Reagan win the Employees International Union [SEIU] has kno\\' what the NLRB is. We have to go to chance to bust wiions for four more years. committed to test out a system of pi>litical our folks just like ~.-e would to the general Between now and N~ember, their work out them stewards, paralleling the steward system al public. You address conununity needs as a and Mondale's-is cut for So is ready In place. The American Federation of whole." ours. • Government Employees [AFGE], which As long as Reagan's lead remains so Harold Meyerson is a Califomia-based politi represents federal workers, is combining in wide, however, union message, structure, cal consu/Janl and wriln'. depth steward training with political action training. 'The only way we can rebuild the union," says Political Field Director Gene Vanderport, "is to do both." Whether Mondale can close the gap Dem Ticket Priority enough for one-on-one to have a significant effect on the '84 election, then. it unques tionably has had a salutary effect on labor. Its For Leftists This Fall implementation by the AFL-CIO signals a with racist South Africa to the reckless accel realization at the very heart of the labor by Timothy Sears eration of the arms race, his foreign policy movement that all is not well. "We reach so has been characterized by an insensitivity to few people except during contract time," he 1984 presidential cam human rights, an utter disregard for the right says one AFL-CIO leader who is close to paign presents unique oppor of self-detennination, and muscle-flexing Lane Kirkland. "And we're not doing much tunities for democratic social displays of military might over the slower and on contracts now either. No one talks to our ists. A Democratic victory is more difficult process of negotiations. people. To come around and talk to them: possible only if mass constitu- Most ominously, Reagan's rightwing that's something. That's different" Indeed, enciesT of workers, women, blacks, Hispan apparatchiks have subverted the purposes of the irony here is that having immersed them ics, the elderly, and the poor are mobilized in one federal agency after another-packing selves in the 1984 elections because politics a dynamic movement, transforming the elec the Civil Rights Commission with opponents seemed the only avenue open to reverse a tion from an ordinary campaign into a bold of affirmative action, the Environmental Pro precipitous decline, unions have found that progressive crusade. In this context, DSA tection Agency with defenders of corporate politics demanded of them the kind of bot has a particularly important role to play 01 polluters, and the National Labor Relations tom-up work that may help them prevail in winning the highest priority of the democrat Board [NLRB] with union-busting manage other arenas. ic left: the election of Walter Mondale and ment lawyers. At the same time, he has The '84 campaign has also helped build Geraldine Ferraro. placed scores of young rightwing activists in the "party within the party"-a working co The alternative of four more years of lifetime federal court appointments, such as alition of labor, feminist, and othel:: activists Reaganism is unacceptable. In his first term, Sandra Day O'Connor, the most reactionary who have taken to the field either to supple Ronald Reagan has inflicted intolerable suf member of the Supreme Court. With four or ment the Mondale campaign or simply to fering on the most defenseless members of five high court justices likely to be chosen in become it in those areas where the campaign our society, while his tax cuts have raised the the next four years, a Reagan second term is still nonexistent. In the Midwest, AFGE taxes of ordinary working families and de would set progressive legal reforms back for stewards, many of them until recently Re livered billions of dollars to corporate coffers generations. publicans, are working with Citizen Action; and the coupon-clipping rich. One debberate goal of these policies has in California, the UFCW phone banks are run From the clumsy and tragic intervention been to weaken those groups that oppose in conjunction with those of the National Or in Lebanon to the criminal covert war against the Reagan program. Thus, the labor move ganization for Women [NOW]; in New York, the Sandinistas, from the rapprochement ment-the largest organized constituency of DEMOCRATIC LEFT 4 SEPT.-Ocr. 1984 the democratic left-has been a special tar get of the administration's offensive, begin ning with the brutal suppression of the PAT CO strike. Since unions must utilize NRLB procedures in organizing workers, the Rea gan appointments to the Labor Board have been particularly devastating, bringing or ganizing efforts to a standstill in many areas. This, combined with the "de-fund the left" strategy of cutting off funds for tenant groups, women's centers and other commu nity organizing efforts, has allowed Reag'cln to destabilize his organized opposition. By working to elect the Democratic ticket, we would not only help to put an end to this reactionary regime, but also lay the groundwork for progressive new departures in American politics. It is unlikely that a Mon dale administration would, on its own, carry out the kind of structural economic reforms that are now essential, but it would be far raised the ideological ante, opening the cam more active politically this year_ more responsive to pressures from the dem paign with the bizarre accusation that the A particularly exciting development this ocratic left than any recent president has Democrats have "moved so far left, they've year has been the growing political role of the been. Indeed, the candidates nominated by left America" The Democrats' response thus labor movement, which has decisively bro the San Francisco convention come with ex far has been encouraging, with Mondale ken with the nonpartisan policies of the ceptional left-liberal credentials. forthrightly calling for increased taxes on Meany era. Beginning with the Solidarity Presidential challenger Walter Mondale corporations and the wealthy, and promising Day rally in 1981, the AFL-CIO has moved is a product of the nation's most liberal state that he will be a "people's president." towards greater political leadership. Con party, the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party Other encouraging signs can be seen in demning Reagan's regime of "government of Minnesota, that unique merger of Depres major Senate races around the country, by and for a narrow class, driven by an appe sion-era radicals and mainstream Democrats. where proven progressives like Tom Harkin tite for privilege and tax avoidance," Kirk For twelve years, Mondale was one of the in Iowa, Lloyd Doggett in Texas, and Joan land has sought allies among "others whose U.S. Senate's foremost liberals, leading the Growe in Minnesota have realistic chances of just claims have been dismissed as special fights for Medicare, the Fair Housing Act, replacing conservative Republicans. If the interests: with minorities in search of oppor extension of the Voting Rights Act, the Sup-I tunity and dignity, with women, with the plemental Security Income program. child Democrats can carry enough of these con tests to regain control of the Senate-so elderly and with striving youth." The labor care legislation, tax reform, and anns con that, for instance, Edward Kennedy would movement's early endorsement of Mondale trol. His consistent liberal voting record replace Orrin Hatch as Chair of the Labor and sought to strengthen that alliance, even as earned him a 92 percent rating from the Human Resources Committee-the Con Mondale made clear his differences from the Americans for Democratic Action, 93 per AFL-CIO leadership on such issues as the cent from the AFL-CIO, and 100 percent gress could potentially become an arena for social advances, rattier than the desperate nuclear freeze, the MX missile, and the war from the Leadership Conference on Civil in Central America. After the New Hamp Rights. Similarly, Representative Geraldine rearguard actions we've seen in the last few years. A Democratic Senate would allow shire debacle, when Mondale's campaign Ferraro earned a 79 percent ADA rating and Congress to debate comparable worth legis seemed fated to go the way of Ed Muskie's in a 93 percent AFL-CIO rating. lation, rather than Food Stamp cuts, com 1972, the labor movement was forced to To date the Democrats have not proud prehensive labor law reform. rather than mobilize the rank and file as never before, ly proclaimed tl1eir progressivism. In part new weapons systems, full employment pro hammering away at critical worker issues. In this reflects the inadequacy of Keynesian lib grams, rather than prayer in schools. the process, a more activist, more issue eralism in the current circumstances. When conscious, more politically sophisticated la Reaganomics reduces unemployment by forc These progressive issues will not be bor movement emerged. ing jobless steel and auto workers to take placed on the national agenda unless there is Monda.le's coalition must be expanded minimum wage jobs at McDonalds while steel an active, united coalition of constituencies from the base that supported him in the pri and auto companies invest their profits in sharing a material self-interest in jobs and maries, pulling in not just trade unionists and speculative merger deals, the old liberal social justice. This coalition is already begin feminists, but also welfare mothers and Yup Democratic approach of simply boosting ag ning to take shape. The mobilization of the pies, peace activists and unemployed black gregate demand without disturbing the black community, helped enormously by the teenagers. As democratic socialists, we structures of corporate power is clearly ob Jesse Jackson campaign in the primaries, has must work not only to mobilize that broad solete. Mondale has at times tried to dis added enormously to the potential political alliance for the fall election, but to build the tance himself from his own progressive past, power of the prgressive coalition. The politi unity, the sense of shared purpose, the sol to project a moderate centrism characterized cization of the labor movement has brought idarity that will keep the coalition together by a supposed "new realism." But this move thousands of organized workers into the po after November. A Democratic victory this towards the center will not win the Demo litical arena for the first time. The women's fall does not ensure full employment, peace, crats any political advantage; certainly the movement and the senior citizens organiza decency at home or justice for the Third Republicans are not fooled. They promptly tions and the Hispanic groups have been far World- itonly opens up these possibilities. DEMOCRATIC LEFT 5 SEPT.-OCT.1984 DSA's involvement in this campaign will DSAi Michigan wishes to announce that the following enable us to build working relation:;hips with items of literature remain in stock: those at every level in the peace movement, LEFT WITH THE DEMOCRATS7 the feminist movement, the labor move WHAT SOCIALISM IS NOT ment, the black movement, who will carry on WHAT IS DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM7 the struggle after the election. Our ideas and ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY our program will be relevant to that coalition only to the extent that we will have proved TOWARD A COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH ourselves to be loyal, active participants. A price list or inspection copies may be obtained by In the May-June issue of DEMOCRATIC writing DSA/Michigan, P.O. Box 7211, Ann Arbor, MI LEFT, Michael Harrington compared the 48107. Volume discounts are available. cominl'? campaign to Harry Truman's "give ' em-hell" campaign in 1948. Clearly, that is the sort of bold, aggressive strategy that the PLEDGES Democrats must adopt this year if they are to LETTERS win. In this context, it is useful to remember Socialists like to plan and it makes it Truman's own post-mortem on that cam easier for us to plan if we know how much paign: "I never gave them hell. I just told the Off the Mark money we'll have each month. You can help us by making a monthly pledge. Your truth, and the Republicans thought it was To the Editor: hell." If we are bold enough to tell the truth pledge of $5, $10, $25 or $50 a month At our last membership meeting the provides a steady source of income that about the Republicans this year-about the local discussed at length the DSA-NPAC phony "recovery" with its staggering inter helps keep us out of the cash flow crunch. statement on the presidential campaign that est rates and declining standards of living, appeared in the July-August DEMOCRATIC about the insane arms race, about the brutal LEFT. The O'{erwhelming sentiment of the budget cuts and the dirty little war in Central people at the meeting was that the statement __Yes, I want to help DSA plan. I will America-then we can begin to build the does not represent an accurate reflection of pledge per month. (We'll foundations for a better world. • the average member's feelings on the sub send reminders.) Timothy Sears is on the staff of the Interna ject, and as one member put it, "it was too tional Union of Bricklayers & AllU>d Crafts, much puff and not enough substance." NAME.~~~~~~~~~ co-chair ofthe Houston local, and a vice-chair While we do not disagree with the clear ADDRESS_~~~- ofthe DSA Labor Commission. need to support Mondale-Ferraro in this _____ZIP---- most crucial of elections, for all the reasons Mail to: DSA, Swte 801, 853 Broadway, alluded to in the DSA-NPAC position. we NYC 10003. think any DSA statement on the election should also contain the foUowing points: 1) An explicit acknowledgment of the Thanks, Ed tremendous contribution made by Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition in articu Every year at this time we publish a lating a left program and mobilizing a large special Labor Day issue in which our constituency behind that program during the friends and supporters take greetings to primanes and at the convention. help sustain DEMOCRATIC LEFT. 'This 2) Specific ways in which the platfonn of year, our Labor Day-Election issue is the D. P. and the campaign statements of the geared to the Second Labor Day of the candidates do not address in adequate ways year-November 6. The coordinator for WORKING CLASS HERO issues we in DSA have strong sentiments the greetings in this issue was our sum A New Strategy for Labor about and/or different positions on. These mer intern Ed Colon, whose work was by Stanley Aronowitz would include but are not limited to the fol invaluable in making this an issue with the lowing: no call for an absolute decrease in the broadest range of greetings we have had book ... "... an important, fascinating combines absurd levels of military spending, no "no in years. We want to thank him publicly scholarly DEMOCRATIC LEFT 6 SEPT.-Ocr~ 1984 "Recovery" Masks Flaws Unemployment over three decades The Reagan years 3% 1969 R&eovery: 1955 3 . 4~ ~ 4% 1979 1984 ·( ~ 1955 1960 1965 1975 ~ ------~ 1 certainly play a major role in the genesis and news with rapturous enthusiasm. by Michael Harrington evolution of that crisis and to do so with an But here, too, there is a specific Rea eye to what can be done in defense of work ganesque element. The president, we all am going to engage in the murkiest ing people. know, totally failed to start a supply-side, and. most dangerous of exercises in investment-led boom; he was the beneficiary this Labor Day issue. I am going to Classic Cycles of a perverse, militaristic Keynesian de· talk about how the future may affect First, there will be a crisis because the mand-side upturn, the kind that he had de· the American unions. American economic system, for all of the nounced. But it is impossible to engage in the I I do not do so out of any desire to play· changes that have been made in it, is still kind of irresponsible stimulus that Reagan with a crystal ball. We have already pointed subject to classic capitalist business cycles. has initiated without eventually paying a out in DEMOCRATIC LEIT that' the Reagan A recession, we must remember, is not sim price, particularly when the ultra-Keynesian recovery is, in considerable measure, both ply a problem for our society; it is also a policy is accompanied by a genuine conserva real and made out of sand. And that is, of reactionary cure. And that truism never held tive refusal to control prices. course, a central point in the most crucial so surely as it has in recent years. Second, and all of these factors relate to effort of this period: fighting to elect Mondale Reagan's monetarism did fight inflation. one another and will reinforce one another and Ferraro and to defeat Reagan-Bush. The savage attack on unions was part of that when the crisis comes, a conservative argu It is also crucial to the future of unions, process, a way of holding down the human ment is finally coming true under conditions for it is impossible to engage in effective cost of the production system. The firing of that should be disastrous for conservatives. collective bargaining unless they have some the PATCO controllers, the vicious assault In the seventies, it was rightwing gospel sense of what the future holds. And that is on wages, the firings and plant shutdowns and eventually the Carter administration it why I want to write about the coming crisis of all made sense from a corporate viewpoint. self took up the theme- that too much public the American economy. Or rather, that is To be sure, they depressed profits and even and private spending on consumption was why I want to be more precise about how -drove some_ of the marginal- and not so "crowding out" investment in new plants. that crisis might well come about. Under marginal-enterprises out of business in That was a fantasy. But it could become a standing why it is going to happen has a lot to 1982 and early 1983. But they also prepared reality in the next period as the United States do with realizing what programs might be the way for a recovery in which both inflation government tries to finance the stratospher pushed to counter it. We are not talking here and wages would be low, which would permit ic deficits that Ronald Reagan created when about a coming storm or a hurricane that is an profits to be higher than ever before. he reduced the tax base of the federal gov act of nature; we are confronting a future that But if the downturn prepares the way ernment, primarily by giving money away to can-and must-be changed. for a recovery in the business cycle, the the rich. ~ I do not pretend to be able to predict recovery is the prelude to a downturn. As That same phenomenon also puts the when the crisis will come or what precise set more workers return to the job, as plant United States at the mercy of foreigners to a of Clrcumstances will trigger it. For almost a capacity is utilized, as new investment pro degree never true in the past. One of the decade now. almost every such forecast has ceeds, costs increase and bottlenecks ap reasons why there has not already been a been a failure- even though the corporate pear. That is why Wall Street. already puz· "crowding out" effect is that so much of the analysts charge a high price for their bad zled by the persistence of incredibly high real money that has financed Reagan's profligacy guesses. What I want to do is to describe interest rates, is terrified of success and has come from abroad. Not so incidentally, some of the economic factors that will most greets every announcement of bad economic that has created enormous problems for left DEMOCRATIC LEFT 7 SEPT.-OCT.1984 governments in Europe trying to push in vestment-that is. jobs-in their own soci eties. But it is also a clear and present danger to the United States. As Robert Heilbroner pointed out in a recent issue of The New Yorker, when a government's creditors are under its own taxing powers- when it owes money to its own citizens and has the power to take mon ey from them as well as to pay it lo them-it 'Wall Street is terrified of success and greets every an nouncement of bad economic news with enthusiasm. " has, to put it mildly, a great deal of leverage. But when. as is now the case, the nation's creditors are foreign nationals, there is a completely new situation. H they decide that they no longer have confidence in the United States, for whatever reason, they can take their money and go home with impunity. This point might seem preposterous right now when America's high interest rates make it the darling of the international rich. But what would happen if the business cycle reasserted itself? At that point, people out side the United States would have the ability to make a recession much worse than it would "naturally" be. And even now one of the reasons why we "enjoy" the confidence At the same time, as we have pointed try is now joined-in the midst of "prosperi of those foreigners is that the dollar is over out before in DL, those low wages, which ty"-by our declining machine tool industry. valued in such a way as to take jobs away have saved on costs and made such a con That is one of the reasons why about 40 from workers in this country. Our present tribution to the recovery, also represent a percent of the new machine tools being ac advantage, then, is being "funded" by unem shrinking market for the products of that quired by American business during this ployed, or underemployed, American work recovery. In the first phase, the reorganiza boom are being imported from Japan, West ers, and it puts us in structual danger when tion of the American occupational structure Germany and South Korea. in the short and the next crisis comes. Heads the bosses win, is a big plus for cost-conscious private pro middle runs, labor obviously has to insist that tails the workers lose. ducers; in the next phase it could be a disas "free trade"-a doctrine honored in the A similar point can be made about the ter for sales-conscious private distributors. breach in this country-not be used to justify international debt crisis. The business press The above holds for the continuing tech destroying the living standards of auto and in recent weeks has been supremely confi nological revolution. We know from the Gen steel and machine tool workers. but in the dent that the danger of an international finan eral Motors document that the UAW pub middle and long runs, and particularly in view cial 'Collapse has passed. The only cloud on lished that the company is planning a drastic of the commitment to justice in the Third the horizon, it is said. is Argentina, since reduction of its workforce, not simply through World, the only· solution is to create a pro Mexico and Brazil, the two other super outsourcing, but through automation and ro ductive, full employment America. debtors, have already been socially mean bots. That limits markets, too. And, al the How do these speculations on the future enough to satisfy the bankers. But what if, same time, an American capitalism \\.ith its relate to the labor movement in the fall of as a consequence of the business cycle of tendencies toward "paper entrepreneur 1984? There is one critical conclusion I would "crowding out," the interest rates resume ship"-speculative investmenl<; in takeovers draw. Any attempt of the unions to build little their upward march? Could that lead to more and mergers, the corporate binge of short Shangri Las of well-paid workers. isolated breakdowns and shamefaced nationalizations, term credit, the games played by the huge from these major trends, is going to fail like that of Continental in Chicago? I think so. institutional investors in financial markets Either labor will come up with structural con But how many bankruptcies can conserva has kept money from going into truly produc clus1ons to a structural crisis, or we will all tives nationalize? There are limits. tive investments. Our declining steel indus- lose. • DEMOCRATIC LEFT 8 SEPT.-OCT. 1984 SOLIDARITY ·MORE THAN WORDS by Jack Clark hree years ago, the Profes sional Air Traffic ControUers Organization (PATCO) was still picketing at airports, try illR to force the government toT pay attention to the grievances of its mem- bers. Like the postal workers strike of the early 1970s. this walkout by federal em ployees was illegal. Like striking workers in most situations, the air traffic controUers had resorted to a work stoppage because every other means of airiilg their grievances and finding relief had failed. Of course, PATCO ran up agaiilst a president determined to re sist unions. Th~ air traffic controllers were fired, the union decertified, PATCO mem bers barred from federal employment With the breaking of the air traffic con trollers' union, Ronald Reagan began a new era in labor-management relations. Since the fall of 1981, employers have had open season on unions. CoUective bargaining has shifted dramatically from disputes over wages and hours and conditions to battles over whether or not unions can survive. Not too long ago, workers would win some wage breakthrough or new benefit in one industry or sector, and unions would begin rajsing demands in other industries or sectors for that same victory. In the 1980s, any takeback that management wins in steel or auto or any other sector quickly becomes a universal management condition for coUective bargaiiling. The origi nal basis for conceding some amount of mon ey or a portion of a benefit was that the employer faced difficult, even ruinous finan cial conditions. The basis for universalizing the takebacks has been sheer employer pow er, backed up ill Washington and abetted by a climate of public opinion hostile to unions. On November 6 DSA members, wotk ing with unionists, black, Latino and other minority activists, feminists and people con cerned with the survival of the planet hope to union membership in the 1920s. and others associated with the effort were do something about the anti-labor atmosphere The American Solidarity Movement was blunt. If an ad was all that we could do, that in Washington. Even if we succeed in elect formed earlier this year by DSA Co-Chair effort would be weU spent. Any visible sup illg Mondale and Ferraro, though, the broad Michael Harrington in conjunction with sev port for the beleaguered labor movement is public antipathy to labor's goals will stand in eral other DSA leaders and public figures necessary and welcome. But the discussion the way of union gains at the bargaining table, outside our organization's ranks who share began almost immediately: what can we do in organizing campaigns, and in advancing the this concern about the future of the labor to make American Solidarity more than a welfare state. If Ronald Reagan wins re-elec movement. More than 150 prominent people Times ad? tion, the offensive against unions will con signed a solidarity ad that appeared in the One answer was and is that DSAers, tinue with a ferocity unknown since the March 18 New Yorll T~; none were staff working with other prolabor activists, can Chamber of Commerce conducted its largely or elected officials of unions. provide help to unions in immediate battles successful "American Plan" to drive down At the time the ad appeared, Harrington which often threaten the very existence of DEMOCRATIC LEFT 9 SEPT.-OCT. 1984 that educational work with the original ad (which has since appeared in more than half a dozen publications, including Tire New Re public and Commonweal), with a special printing of the Solidarity brochure, complete with the ad, a list of signers and a brief article by Mike Harrington on corrunon myths about the labor movement, which was distributed widely at the Democratic Convention and is available for local distnbution. More American Solidarity activity is be ing planned. At least one major union has expressed interest in working with ASM on a project to address the consistent antilabor bias in the press. A series of conferences or HOW YOU CAN HELP teach-ins is possible. More literature will certainly be produced. As the ad continues to The American Solidarity Movement ginning. Also ask members or friends ac nm in publications, a mailing list of support needs to be built at the local level if it is to tive in the local union movement to help succeed. Ties between unionists and pro prepare the discussion. If there are local ers grows. and they are regularly called upon gressive activists were oqce nattiral and strikes underway, bring up the possibility to lend support to specific labor struggles. automatic, but for a variety of reasons, of the local's doing some kind of support Whether or not the American Solidarity that natural coalition has broken down. work. Movement becomes a significant force in Rebuilding the community-labor alliances 3. Introduce the American Solidar creating a prolabor current in American poli will be crucial to the success of any of the ity pledge as a resolution at political clubs tics will really depend on the response in projects of constituencies on the left. The and other associations you belong to. Use dozens of comrmmities across the country. early civil rights movement of the late the Solidarity brochure to help focus dis Through something like a local American Sol 1950s benefitted from the experience of a cussion about support for unions. idarity committee, DSA members and their corps of unionists; earlier, ·the break 4. Form a local committee for Amer allies could begin to plan specific labor sup throughs in organizing mass industries in ican Solidarity. If people in your area port actions, conduct public educational ac the late 1930s depended on labor having signed the ad, contact them about helping wide support in the community. How can to get a group going locally. Otherwise, tivities, build up ties to the local unions and you help to organize the American Sol approach people in your area who are begin to put together the sort of labor-com idarity Movement and begin rebuilding equivalent to the national signers (e.g., muruty alliances that could make this a very those ties? the local leaders of NOW, prominent ac different nation in the 1990s. 1. Order a bundle of the new Ameri tivists, religious leaders) about forming a Or the project could end with a few ads can Solidarity brochure. We're offering it local American Solidarity Committee. and some worthy labor defense efforts. If at a rate of $20 for a bundle of 100. The Talcing an ad in your local newspaper is that's the case. the American Solidarity attractive presentation of the statement, probably too expensive, but a press re Movement has been worth the effort but is ad, list of signers and article by Mike lease about the formation of the group less than it can be. • Harrington on myths about the labor might attract some attention. Also, the movement makes it an excellent educa local committee could issue a statement Clarlt is a New York writer wlw has been tional piece. or leaflet in conjunction with support for a Jack 2. Schedule a discussion in your DSA local or national labor struggle. Once actit..re in ASM. local about the labor movement and how formed, the committee could address it DSA and other activists relate to it. You self to educational work around unions or can use the Solidarity pamphlet as a be- to building practical support or both. the union. Standing on the picket lines, get CO, supporters can rally the unionists them ''/'d rather ting publicity and public sympathy for strik selves and serve notice to employers Uiat ers, raising money for strike funds, organiz there are costs to unionbusting. In addition, ing protests that focus on the corporations labor support work provides a great training trying to break unions all matter greatly. On ground for left activists to learn more about be in a modest scale, the American ~lidarity the labor movement and about organizing Movement has provided that kind of support generally; ask any veteran of the United -to Teamsters striking against the tele Farm Worker boycotts. ' Philadelphia communications giant, MCI, to the largely Of course, one of the sharpest limits female bargaining unit organized by District imposed on labor defense work is that in the 65 of the UAW at Harper & Row, to Steel 1980s there are relatively few people who after Workers in Cicero, Illinois fighting against a understand why they should be on the picket brutal campaign of unionbusting by Danly line with strikers. The larger mission of the Tools, to Salvadoran refugees trying to or-· American Solidarity Movement must center ganize a sweatshop on Long Island. There is on education on the role of unions and why the election." an urgent need to broaden and deepen labor the public, particularly the broad progressive support work of that kind. As more unions community, should support labor. The come up against the prospects faced by PAT- American Solidarity Movement has begun (See page 37.) DEMOCRATIC LEFT 10 SEPT.-OCT. 1984 id a DANLY WORKERS TAKE FIGHT NATIONWIDE il 0 by Miriam ]Jensman lowed to forgo the extra money and take a little walk, get a cup of coffee, or ask a friend teelworker Joe Romano admits about his fishing trip when they got ahead of thal it may be difficult for peo thetr target, Romano recalls. "People who ple outside the planl to under could do an hour-and-a-halfs work in one stand some of the big issues in hour were expected to do so every hour. his union local's strike at the People were getting warnings for standing S with their hands on their hips for two min· Danly Machine Tool Plant in Cicero, Illinois, wlndl has dragged on since May 1. utes. Management timed their trips to the Take job combinations, for instance, a washroom." management proposal that has emerged in Management also cracked down on dozens of bitter labor conflicts in the last few workers who didn't meet their production years. Management wanls to train people to targets, even when it was just by a hair. do both mechanical and electrical work. In "One fella, Ozzie, retired two days before itself, that's I)Ol bad, but Romano, who is the strike after working the plant for 30 president of Steelworkers local 15271, says years," Romano says. "A top machinist and that the effect will be to make work unendur an exceUent worker," Ozzie had never had a ably hard. problem, wasn't vocal, wasn't a t'.mion activ Asked to explain work in the plant to ist. One week, Ozzie received a warning for somffine who works in an office and takes being only 98 percent efficient, and decided little freedoms for granted, Romano reflects, to call it quits. The old management seldom ''When you're working on a machine, you're warned anyone who was at least 80 percent • working like a mule. But when you finally get efficient, Romano says. it running, there's a minute or two you can Romano adds that there were more relax, maybe have a cigarette. H you're run gnevances pending arbitration in the last ning two or three machines, you never have year before the strike than in the previous 20 that minute. You become part of the ma years combined. Most were over efficiency. chine. It's the same ifyou combine two jobs." Like Ozzie, 36 other people, fed up with the In a plant with a cqnstant area of produc treatment, decided to retire in the last month tion, he adds, there are no long periods with before the strike. There are usually only four out work. The plant is not like a construction retirements a year. site, where a plumber sits for one or two The one thousand workers who remain· hours while the cement is being poured. ed voted 617 to 19 to reject management's Most of the jobs in the Danly Cicero offer, out of a possible 1000 votes. plant are highly skilled. The company pro duces custom- DEMOCRATIC LEFT 11 SEPT.-OCT. 1984 . Members would lose to inflation dwing the the strike, management also informed the two-tier wage structures in basic industry, proposed three-year wage and pension members of their legal right to quit the union private hospital and the U.S. Postal Service freeze. Cutbacks in the benefit plan, particu- and return to work. About 40 did so in the negotiations. Businesses are acutely con larly the proposal to make workers pay for first two months. After management began scious of the trend: Ogden mentioned it spe increases in their health insurance premi- hiring replacement workers who, it threat- cifically in its annual corporate report this ums, could cost workers an average of $40 a ened, would take union members' jobs per- year. week over three years, the union estimates. manently, more members went back to The concession bargaining that started The loss of paid lunch time and two holidays work, for a total of about 150. The company in basic industries hurt by the recession and will also make the members work more for is now asking that the workers crossing the increased international competition, and in the same pay. picket lines be guaranteed jobs when the those hurt by deregulation, has spread to The company is also trying to reduce strike ends. many parts of the economy. Small compan wages for new hires, with a two-tier wage The strike has been long and ugly. Ne- ies, like Danly, that are acqwred by large structure that would eventually lower the gotiations stall for weeks at a time. Each side conglomerates, often are most willing to take average wages in its work force. After all the accuses the other of failing to negotiate and a long strike. laid-off workers are recalled, new employees of risking the loss of the huge contracts that At Danly, workers are still walking the would start at approximately $5 less per hour could put the ailing company back on its feet, picket lines, with no end in sight. • and later go up to about $3 less. That will guaranteeing everyone's job. create nightmares in future negotiations, Mass picketing in the first few weeks Miriam Bensman is a New Yo1* based writer when old and new members make competing ended in violence. Management charges the and a longtime DSA Youth Section activist. demands, Romano says. It may eventually workers with assault. Many of them were hurt present members, he adds, if the new arrested. The union replies that the tussles members insist that more of the money avail- were started by the Chicago policemen able in the next contract go to them to close moonlighting as security guards, some of the gap. . whom provoked workers with racial slurs. A CLASSlflED Romano also argues that many of man- court injunction put an end to the large dem- agement's noneconomic demands are items onstrations. Since then, the union has picket- Read DSA ~OR, MEMO that the union "paid for" m previous negotia- ed in small groups at the plant gates, in shop- Publication for DSA acllvists tions. Seniority is a case in point. "In good ping centers, at the homes of scabs and at Published bi-monthly years, when bargaining aggressively, the un- Chicago's City Hall, to protest Mayor Wash- Send SlO to DSA Labor Mmw ion often gave up on money to win stronger ington's failure to control the off-duty police DC • taryland DSA seniority provisions," he says, adding that as he promised to do. In August Washington 1346 CoMeCUCUt Avenue almost nothing could be more important. did ban off-duty Chicago police officers from Room810A In the current negotiations, manage- working as security gnards in strike situa- ment has asked to ignore seniority when tions. Workers have been arrested for lea6et- OLDEST SOCIALIST PUBLISHING HOUSE in deciding which of several workers should be ing, bringing the total number arrested to 20. the USA (est 1886 & still going strong)! SASE for transferred or laid-off temporarily, for in- In late July, thugs attacked Romano in new catalog. Charles H. Kerr, 1740 West Green· stance when a machine breaks down, or his car. He fought them off, but shortly after leaf, Clucago rL 60626. which should be promoted temporarily wf!en they attacked the empty vehicle with a Gennan Green Party Programmes $3.50 postpaid someone is out sick. The union could live sledge hammer. Red Flag Lapel Pins $1; "Defeat Sexism." "Fight with that, Ed Sadlowski, sub-regional direc- In an effort to increase pressure on the Raosm." '"Stop the War Machine" buttons 70¢ tor in Chicago said, if there were a limit of company, the union hired Kamber Associ- each. Free catalog. SOCIALIST PARTY FA only one two-week temporary change in ates, a Washington-based consulting firm, in VORS, Box 8211-D, Des Momes, IA 50306. each job every three months. Management mid-July, to mount a corporate campaign. SOCIAL CHANGE JOB & INTERNSmP OPPOR refuses to accept that limit. • The campaign will focus on Ogden's Corpo- TUNlTIES~ 1be environment, foreign affairs, "They call it temporary, but it can last ration's board of directors and on financial women's rights, disannament, media, health, ed forever," Sadlowski says scornfully. He is institutions that provide capital and own ucation. community orgaruzing, and more. Cur helping the local with the strike and negotia- stock. It will also look at the finances of rent nationwide listings-$3. COMMUNITY JOBS, Box 707, 1520 16th St., NW, Washington, DC tions. "I've seen this in other plants. They Ogden subsidiaries, which range from marine 20036. put someone on temporarily for two weeks, companies to food processors. Strikers are send him back to the other job for two days, leafleting at Ogden subsidiaries:'°N. Y. DSA DSA FIST-AND-ROSE BUTTONS. Single but put him in again for two weeks. It's really members picketted corporate headquarters ton 50¢ postpaid. Bulk orders for DSA Locals: 25' permanent and it means no seniority." this summer. apiece. Send to DSA, 1300 W. Belmont Ave. , Chicago, IL, 60657. The result, he says, would be a return In many ways, Romano says, the strike to the nepotism and corruption that was ram: is "going great." Participation in meetings PROGRESSfVE PERIODrCALS DIRECTORY pant in the days before seniority was estab- and pickets is high and the increased publicity now available! Good for publicly, networking, lished. Romano adds that it could mean that and new tactics are helping to keep up mo- subscription details on 400 periodicals on labor, older workers as they became less efficient, rale. The "scabs" are what "really hurts," he peace, international, culture~pohtics , etc. $4 from Box L-120574, Nashville 37212. would be pushed out. adds wearily. Some of the people who voted Sadlowski charges that the company is for the strike are going back into the plant. CONSIDER A BEQUEST TO DSA when you trying to bust the union, and forced them out Other members feel betrayed. make out your will. For more tnfonnabon. write to on strike with demands it knew the union The Danly strike is hardly unique. Simi DSA. Suite 801, 853 Broadway. NYC 10003. would never accept. Some of the demands lar demands have been made by both private attack the union directly, including an open and public employers over the last few years. C lassijiul advtrlis1ng rates art $2 f>tr line, $50 f>tr column inch. Paymmt in advance. Twenty percent shop and elimination of full-time pay for the Job combinations have figured prominently in discount if ad runs two or mo'1! hmes. Wt reserw union president and chief steward. During Steelworkers and Machinists negotiations; the right to reject ads. DEMOCRATIC LEFT 12 SEPT.-Ocr.1984 A SPECIAL REPORT EQUAL PAY BATTLES by ]an RosBnberg nee upon a time in the mid- movement. Although many aw-eed that the gap between men's and women's wages? 1960s many right-thinking more prosaic economic and legal problems And what should be done about it? Sex role people felt that women's existed, there was a shared expectation that socialization, a family-wage ideology that equality demanded two basic they could be elirmnated rather quickly and says men should be paid more to support changes. First, women had to painlessly. Women. after all, were moving their families, and knitting these together, move0 en masse into the labor force. breaking into the labor force m record numbers. Title the continuation of a sex-segregated occupa down the public/private distinctions in which VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act had barmed tional structure, account for the wage gap, it male and female roles were embedded, and discrimination in employment based on sex is argued. The remedy urged by mcreasingly second (the corollary), worpen must receive and, it was assumed, was the beginning of frustrated trade unionists and feminists is equal pay for equal work. No sooner did the the end of gender-based inequality in the comparable worth, a reform wluch takes into "equal pay for equal work" demand become workplace. account the deep structures of gender in· law and gain wide (though not unanimous) Now it is 1984, and we find that we face equality. Proponents of comparable worth, acceptance than new, less tangible goals basic economic issues and problems more or pay equity, as it is also called, argue that came to the fore. To younger feminists (at daunting than we first imagined. More and those jobs held primarily by women (more first) the personal issues concerning idt>nti· more women have moved into the work than 70 percent), such as librarian, nurse, ty, socialization. sexuality, female friend force, but the wage gap beN.·een female and stenographer, appear, from an "objective" 'hip, mother-daughter relationships and so male employees remains the same as it was evaluation of their content, to be paid at forth supplanted the relatively straightfor in 1939! In 1984, as in 1939, women earn wages less than their skill and credentials ward, public economic and legal concerns about 59~ for every dollar that men earn. would demand if they were held by white of the older, women's rights branch of the What are the reasons for the persistent men. Until now, they contend, this has been DEMOCRATIC LEFT 13 SEPT.-OCT. 1984 a self-fulfilling prophecy: most women are trinsic job content: knowledge and skills, Several congressional committees and the concentrated in jobs which have been tradi mental demands, accountability, and work U.S. Civil Rights Commission all held hear tionally underpaid and undervalued because ing conditions. Each factor is then broken ings on the issue last June. Politicians, keenly they are filled by women. In spite of the down into two or three more to allow for aware of the widely publicized "gender gap" visions held out by feminists in the sixties and more precise measurement. "Knowledge have jumped on the comparable worth band seventies, the great majority of women con and skills," for example, embodies both "job wagon. tinue to move into "women's work." Thus knowledge" and "interpersonal skills." Some Comparable worth offers predominant the only way to narrow the wage gap is to skeptics and outright critics have argue DEMOCRATIC LEFT 14 SEPT.-OCT. 1984 and analyst argues that sex equity efforts claimed, on the basis of the intrinsic worth of makes claims about the maral·- bases of eco- must be camouflaged and sold to members their work to the society; rather. they strug nomic and hence social inequality. Compar on other bases! gled with other groups to claim all they could able worth seeks to eliminate gender as a In trying to raise the economic and oc and pass it on to their children (though cliffer continuing basis of occupational differentia cupational position of women qua women, ently to their sons and daughters) and if suc tion and inequality. Its democratic promise, comparable worth challenges some of our cessful could even persuade others (and some fear, is undercut by the prospect of a basic assumptions about the structure of in themselves) that they deserved to have all bureaucratically-imposed meritocracy-a equality. Social science graduate students they had The rhetoric of comparable worth world in which formal credentials become the since the sixties cut their teeth on the func turns this logic on its head. sole. es!'ential key to success. • tionalist vs. conflict debates about the mean "Comparable worth" has indeed become ing of social stratification. Most of us, espe "the women's issue of the eighties," as Elea cially those on the left, were persuaded that nor Holmes Norton, then head of the Equal Jan Rosenbet-g is a sociologist leaching at Long when all was said and done the conflict posi Employment Opportunity Commission, pre Island University in Brooklyn. She is the au tion explained much more than its rival. Peo dicted back in 1978. In going beyond "equal thor of Women's Reflections: The Feminist ple were not rewarded, as the functionalists pay for equal work" it raises questions and Film Movement (UM! Research Press). REAL, FALSE DILEMMAS by Jo Freeman omparable worth is one of those complex political issues that, unscrutinized, offers something to everyone. Pro ponents see in it everything fromC a mundane application of Title VII by unions who are looking to the courts to give them wage increases they cannot get at the bargaining table to the answer tothe gender wage gap. Opponen,ts in tum characterize it as everything from a reactionary measure that will co-opt the push by women into tracli tionally male jobs by paying them to stay in their place, to an attempt to raclically restruc ture the economy and abolish the free market Politicians are especially fond of compar able worth. Supporters, such as Representa tives Pat Schroeder, Mary Rose Oakar, Dan Evans, Olympia Snowe and others have found it an excellent issue around which to hold highly publicized hearings. Opponents, particularly Phyllis Schlafly, see it as the next feminist monster against which to mobilize their troops. The Democratic and Republi can parties have taken diametrically opposed positions on comparable worth virtually with out debate, let alone a definition of the term. Unions, by and large, support comparable worth, though only a couple have given much more than lip service to it. AFL-CIO unions have unanimously refused to fall for the "di vide and conquer" strategy of the Reagan I admirustration, which has sought to pit white- and blue-collar workers against each other. Employers in the private sector have also taken a unanimous position. They are quite frightened of it, because even with the most mundane interpretation it threatens to undermine traclitional pay practices built upon a history of paying women less. The 'D EMOCRATIC LEFT 15 SEPT.-Ocr.1984 Business Roundtable paid some prominent employers are much more susceptible to this academics as much as $5, 000 each to write strategy for raising wages than private em articles for a book on its invalidity as basis for ployers. Most of AFSCME's members are establishing pay rates. women. Many are in jurisdictions which limit Vittorio Vidoli What is this strange creature that evokes the freedom of their union to bargain over Diary such passionate responses and so little un wages or to strike. Data can be obtained " . Twentieth derstanding? To explore this question it is through freedom of mformation requests Congress necessary to ask it on two separate planes which is not available from private employ -· which have virtually nothing to do with each ers. Political pressure can be used. Public other: the practical and the theoretical. employers, through their taxing power, have much greater ability to raise money if or The Real Controversy dered to do so by a court than private em On a practical level "it is really nothing ployers who might go bankrupt. DAY more than plain old garden variety, job-rate In 1981 AFSCME's Washington State BY inequity with which the labor movement has affiliate sued the state for failing to imple DAY historically wrestled. Unions have regularly ment several studies commissioned as early grieved and arbitrated the proper rate for the as 1974 which showed that there was a 32 RECORD job and arbitrators have regularly been called percent disparity between the average upon to resolve disputes over these rates wages of traditionally male and female job DIARY OF THE TWENTIETH CON and to establish rates that employers must classifications. In 1983 federal District Judge GRESS OF THE COMMUNIST pay," according to WUlJl Newman, the at Jack E. Tanner found that the state had PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION torney who has argued most of the key cases. knowingly and deliberately discriminated by Vit/.orW Vidali "The most striking aspect of this candid, readable and effectively translated account of the Communist Party's 20th Congress, held ''Employers are often more concerned with maintaining his in Moscow in February 1956, is its sincere ... humanism. . . . To Vittorio Vidali, a dele toric 'internal alignments' than with following the market. " gate from Trieste and a former leader of the Spanish Communists' anti-Franco brigades in Spain, Khrushchev's gesture was a be trayal that shattered his and other European Newman declines to use the tenns under Jerry Wurl, who saw in comparable Communists' trust in Soviet leadership." "comparable worth" or "pay equity" on the worth a means of increasing women's wages -TM New York Ti~ Book Reviw grounds that they are not legal tenns and without pushing them into men's jobs. Public $8.95 Paper that they obscure what is at stake. He has against women by underpaying those jobs spent more than 15 years litigating cases that were at least 70 percent female and SOUTH AFRICA AT WAR White charging employers with "sex-based wage ordered that back pay be computed from Power and the Crisis in South Africa discrimination," which is prohibited by Title September 1979 (the maximum possible un by Richard .Uonard VII. The initial cases were filed on behalf of der Title VU). How much this comes to is "The excellent overview of contemporary the International Union of Electrical, Radio still being disputed, but is expected to be South Africa should be most useful for stu and Machine Workers (IUE), of which he approximately a half billion dollars. dents and the general reader looking for a was general counsel These cases sought to The decision in this case and the size of lucid swnmary of facts and issues." rectify long existing wage inequities that had the award brought the issue of comparable - foreign Affairs been identified as early as World War II. worth to national attention. Those alarmed $12.50 Paper $19.95 Cloth Under pressure from the War Labor by the size of the award overlook the fact that Board to stabilize wages and avoid strikes, it is mostly for back pay; if the results of the THE EUROPEAN CHALLENGE employers such as General Electric and studies had been implemented in timely fash From Atlantic Alliance to Pan-Eu Westinghouse hired consultants to evaluate ion the effect on the state's budget would ropean Entente for Peace and Jobs their jobs and assign them points based on have been minimal. This 1s the approach be by Andre Gunder Frank and introduction by the skill, effort, responsibility and working ing taken by Minnesota, which found that it Richard]. Barnet conditions involved. Relative wages were could achieve pay equity ID its civil service by Highly praised by the European peace move determined by each job's relative point val spending only four percent of the state's an ment, this timely essay by one of Europe's ues, except that those jobs in which women nual payroll or point three percent (.3) of the leading economists is now published in the predominated had their rates lowered by total biannual budget. It has appropriated $22 United States with a new preface and intro one-third so that the highest paid "women's million for initial pay equity adjustments and duction written especially for this edition. It jobs" paid less than the lowest paid "men's expects to continue doing so until all pay examines two of the central issues of our jobs." Newman and IUE achieved some ma rates are "comparable." time: the growing eco{lOmic rivalry between jor wage gains for women workers in the Tanner's decision has been appealed to the major Western powers and the need to electrical industry through settlements sim the Ninth Circuit and will be heard sometime avoid nuclear war. $6. 95 Paper ply because the historical devaluation of wo next year. The Reagan administration is still men's wages solely due to their sex was so debating whether to file an amicus brief for Atyour local bookstore or direct from: blatant. the state, but has decided to do nothing until LAWRENCEHILL&COMPANY Public sector employers became prime after the election. In the meantime several 520 Riverside A venue targets for these Title VII suits when New other suits have been filed by organizations Westport, CT 06880 man became general counsel of AFSCME representmg occupations primarily filled by (203) 226-9392 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 16 SEPT.-OCT.1984 ployee organizations whose members are sus is crucial and achievable only within a Fantasy Controversy mostly women. of feminists seeking to in firm, no proponent has ever suggested that crease women's economic resources, and of an outside agency decide what jobs are worth At multiple hearings before Congress poliucians ~king their support. and impose an "independent" evaluation on and other bodies last year, opponents of 1be two major criticisms of comparabw any firm, let alone all firms. comparable worth descnbed their worse v.-orth on the pracrical level are that it is Employers are particularly fond of say paranoid fantasies about what comparable impossible to do "objective" evaluations and ing that they pay whatever the "free market" North means as though the consequences that the tree market is and should be tile requires and thus are not responsible for the were inevitable should the simplest study be primary determinant of wages. No one con fact that women have traditionally been will done. They claimed that adoption of compar tends that Job evaluations are purely "objec ing to work for less. Yet testimony U;i the able worth policies will be the "entering tive.." 'fbe current systems, which have Washington State and other cases clearly wage" to "social engineering" by a federal been refined and developed over a period of shows that employers are often more con 1gency that will eventually determine every f rt~ ye.ar-s. ha\·e never even controlled for cerned with maintaining historic "internal one's wages and make American industry perceptual bias due to the sex of the primary alignments" than with following the market uncompetitive with the rest of the world. Job bolder- However, all try to evaluate the The reason for Uus is not just that they want Phyllis S.:hlafty, in her Report of]anuary Job and not the worker in it. Thus the creden to pay as little as possible, but because ex 1984, wrote that "The Comparable Worth tta!s of tndi\-iduals holding jobs should be ir perience has taught them that employees advocates want to establish a new wage rele'4ml to what that job is "worth" to an resent radical changes in what they are used structure in which those who have paper f e~ er. An employer may agree to pay an to getting relative to their co-workers. Thus credentials (certificates and diplomas) are T em;itoyee more than what the job is worth to admit that women's jobs have been under paid more than those whose jobs require because of credentials, seniority, individual paid relative to men's affects morale as well strenuous and risky work, unpleasant work prod!lctivity or any other legal reason (i.e. as the bottom line. ing_ conditions, and uncertain tenure. Com J. not sex or race). All job evaluations do is The reality is that most large employers parable Worth advocates want to bring about f quantify what a job is worth to an employer have done job evaluations at one time or a redistnbution of wages through bureaucra compared to other jobs according to criteria other to determine wage rates. No employer tic power and judicial activism.... Compar that have been agreed upon as important to relies solely on the "free market" to deter able Worth is another gimmick to get the •- that employer. mine wages. Relative pay rates are often American people to accept more and more e Nor does anyone contend that one sys negotiated with union representatives and Federal control of our economy." s I_ tem exists which will work for all employers. the violation of agreed upon standards often SchJatly has done an excellent job of Professional evaluators use different sys results in wage rate grievances. The only making comparable worth the latest target in tems and stress that none can be arbitarily new idea urged by comparable worth advo her war against women's liberation by using u applied by an outside expert. To work, it is cates is the use of these traditional tools to . women (librarians and nurses), and dozens of necessary that representatives of each rel reeval!Jate the results of traditional wage states and municipalities are doing studies to e\C!J'lt unit of management and labor reach a setting to show that jobs predominantly QC ascertain if they are underpaying some of consensus on the factors that are important cupied by women are illegally underpaid their workers. The assertion that women are in each job to a particular employer and what compared to those predominantly occupied illegally underpaid relative to men has be their relative value is. Because this consen- by men. come the latest tool in the arsenal of em- D EMOCRATIC LEFT 17 SEPT.-Ocr. 1984 the same techniques she used against the abstract, provided that we don't confuse it within firms, to jobs not individuals, and at ERA: create horrible fantasies about its con with what's currently going on. It is worth tempt to measure only what that job contri sequences and savagely attack the fantasies. while because one criticism made by oppo butes to that employer. If these limited sys Even conservative Representative Jack nents is accurate. In the abstract, (and only tems are inherently fraught with as many Kemp (R-NY) was roundly critized at Jerry in the abstract), comparable worth is, as problems as critics suggest such that they Falwell's Family Forum ill in Dallas last Au delegate Peggy Miller of West VITginia told cannot even adequately perform the limited gust for voting for the Oakar bill to commis the Platform Committee at the Republican role of assessing sex bias in wages within a sion a study of wage-based sex discrimina National Convention last August, "a socialist firm, how do we expect a socialist society to tion in the federal government. "We don't idea." devise means to fairly judge one's contribu want to bring in the ERA through the back While there is little consensus on what a tion to society as a whole? door" he was told by a woman wearing an truly socialist society would be like, one area H the problem is that these systems are Eagle Forurn sticker. of agreement is that wages-or more speci technically poor, in that they rely on the This "domino theory" of social change is fically one's material income-would not be wrong factors or the wrong relative weights, not rare. Many white Southerners honestly set by the free market Income would be then it is incumbent on socialists to devise thought that the tiruest bit of integration determined by some combination of need and fairer systems. But if they are inherently would lead to compulsory miscegenation. contnbution, though exactly what combina unfair, or their goal of comparing the unequal Many women believe Phyllis Schlafly's claim tion (and whether or not need should be the is unachievable, what then do socialists pro that feminists want government mandated sole determinant) is open to question. Since pose as the means of assessing contribution role reversals and the ERA would require such a socialist society is not looming on the so wages can be fairly set in a socialist unisex toilets. Many Americans really be horizon, how to determine one's needs or society? lieve that socialism is when the Russians one's contributions has not been the subject The current controversy over compar take over the government. Thus we should of intensive analysis. Perhaps the compar able worth presents socialists with a rare not be surprised that some people actually able worth debate has signaled that this is the opportunity: that of devising a practical believe that comparable worth creates the time to begin. If wages were really set by ' system to apply a socialist idea to a current "prospect of a bureaucratically-imposed some government authority, how would it be problem. Can we meet that challenge? • meritocracy-a world in which fonnal cre accomplished? If not, then who would de dentials become the sole, essential key to termine wages? Jo Freeman is a Washington-based political success." The job evaluation systems used to de scienlist and lawyer. Parts of this arlick are These fantasies aside it is nonetheless termine the comparable value of unequal jobs adapt£d from a sems that apfJeand in In worthwhile for socialists to speculate on are one way of measuring contribution. They These Times. IC\ Copyright 1984, Jo Freeman what comparable worth would mean in the are limited systems in that they apply only Earl Dotter/American Labor Education Center You've already worked with us. Now join us! It '011\1 · tought tlw Rt-.1).!anomK.., cuts: 1hou \·t' st rn~lcd for work1•r.., rights: 1f vou ·Vt' worked to kt't.'P t ht• l ' S. out of Central ..\mt ·nra .1:111 tr• d1 .. 1·..,ra latt· th1· am1.., rarl': 1f mu'w workt•d for l.'quaht~ h•r all. tf rnu'\'t' i:an1patj.!11l'd for all the pro~t'..,stvt' Dt•mocrnts who ... 1and f \h• .1n• ..,onah..,ts lwcau..,1· we want to extend democ:racy from pollllcal to economic lift'. We art:' socialists because we cannot wlerate a so1wt\ -.1111 pla1.,1lll'd b,· dist.·nmmat1on bast'd on ran'. 1o:ender. or class. We are .socialists because we chensh tht• v1s10n of a peacl'ful. 'h·m< >t rat 11 world. Hut our ..,01:1ahsm 1s nol a matter of abstract pnnr1ple. We are involved tn the dav-to-dav stru~les for 'iocial and ernnornK" 111... 11n· th '1·s. I want to Join r>emtK.'r.iur Sc1t·1alists of America. llert' is mv dues rheck for $SO (sustainin,gl _ ___ S:~ll lrt',l.,'lJlarl $IS !low mrnml·) l>ut's mducle subsrnptKm to the bimonthly DEMOCRATIC LEFT. I lt·n· 1s mv t'xtra l'ontribut1on of$ I \\!sh to subsrnbt.• to DE!\>10CRATIC LEFT· ___ $8 regular ___ $1:i in ... titutiorutl St•nd nll' mon· information about DSA and dcmorral!l" ..,orialism. ~\~IE ------.\llllRES,"..______------ZlP -----PHONE ______ DEMOCRATIC LEFT 18 SEl'T.-Ocr. 1984 t- Democratic Socialism is the path Greetings and Solidarity to a new tomorrow ALBANYDSA Local 840, IBT re LOCAL169AMALGAMATED CLOTHING & TEXTILE William 0. Robinson WORKERS UNION President William Nuchow Stcretary/Treasurer A.F.L.-C .I. 0. NABET LOCAL 15 Salutes Democratic Left nt • KILMER CABAN MEMBERS VICE PRESIDENT ACTWU AND Film and Video Tape Technicians MANAGER LOCAL 169 OFFICERS NtW Yin* e Washington e Atlanta e Mian11 e Sall Francisco 1776 Broadway, New York, N. Y. 10019 In these dlff'ICUlt days of 'The union ... adversity, theSteelworl "The Steelworkers umon taught me very early how grand the many can be when they are together, and Mr. Murray taught me, too, how noble the few can be when they keep the1rselves intact for a time when they are needed to stand alone for the many. The umon is not for yourself but for your children. It does not anse to avenge the past but to claim the future It 1s not iust an economic weapon; 1t is a spiritual ins1rument. It Is an expression not of the dignity of its leaders but of the dignity of alt It was not catted Into being to celebrate the power and maiesty of one man, and it does not live to serve the self-indulgence of another. It is not property but mission. Every decent moment 1n the history of a union 1s the assertion of an affronted conscience. "Anyone can belong to a umon, but a umon belongs to no one and least of all to anyone who is ashamed of where he came from and indifferent to those he left behind. The union leader is not the owner of an institution; he is the caretaker of a tradition. He does not rise above ordinary men; he rises with them." In 1984, There Are 2 Labor Days. The Kamber Group Is proud to represent so many members o! the UNITED STEELWORKERS Amencxm Sollclanty movement In their ettorts to achieve the goals of I A or both Labor Day and Election Day. t984 THE KAMBER GROUP LLOYD McBRIDE 1899 L Slreet NW.. Washington. DC. 20036 President 202-223-8700 LYNN WIWAllS FRANK McKEE A full-service communications rum representinQ' the lnlerests cl labor Secretary Treasurer and pubUc Interest groups, (A Newspaper Guild Shop) JOSEPH ODOllCICH LEON LYNCH Vice Pr.. ldent (Admlnlstrallon) Vice President (Human AHalra) DEMOCRATIC lEn 19 SEPT.-OCT. 1984 ' This Labor Day our goal is clear: a new President in the White House. The challenge is as great as the need. District Council 37 · AFSCME, AFL-CIO Frank Morelli Victor Gotbaum President Executive Director Arthur Tibaldi Stanley Hill Treasurer Associate Director Elaine Espeut AlBilik Secretary Deputy to Executive Director lllLTI CARI FOB ILL The National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees re mains committed as ever to building a caring and compassion ate America in which the basic right of health care is guaran teed to all. The Reagan Administration's destructive legacy must be replaced by policies that uphold equal rights for women and minorities, reverse the dangerous military build-up, end the nuclear arms race, strengthen our human services and increase citizens' access to vital human services. National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, AFL-CIO Henry Nicholas, President Paid tor by the National Union of Hospital and Health Care E m ployees Political Ac tion Fund. DEMOCRATIC LEFT 20 SEPT.-Ocr. 1984 To the Continuation of DSA.'s Efforts GREETINGS for Workers' Dignity Albany New Democratic Coalition Saul & Jennie Mendelson Robert & Josephine Pasclullo Charfas Barnes Bruce Miroff One struggle, many fronts. ency Secker Jo.Ann Mort Optimism of the will She Q Berger Fred Newdom from Mozambique home to Los Angeles Linda Nicholson M:ria:!l Serlcowitz Kathie Sheldon, Steve Tarzynski, lerlcshire Forum Esther Nighbert Mercie "< Brand Alice Ostrow I_ ·Chet Brandt Jim Paprocki ~ DEMOCRACY AND SOCIALISM Ashley Brock Anthony G. Payne IN OUR LIFETIME S.~rt H. Sutten Princeton Local DSA Jan Breidenbach Dan Stormer Bob Cleveland Steve Redler Jesse Stormer Breidenbach Corvallis DSA Ted Riese Henry J, Dillon Michael Germinal Rivas Bonnie Lambert, Marshall Mayer, El•ine Dr•per Stanley Rosen Gregg Jeffrey Lambert Ed Draves Herman & Mildred Rosenstein IN SOLIDARITY WITH Edith Eisenberg Ed Rothstein THE AMERICAN LABOR MOVEMENT George Frangos Robert S. S.rHon Lottie & Joe Friedman Herbert L. Solomon At the End of the Rainbow Susan J. Henley Ruth Spitz Democracy and Socialism In Our Time l iam, Judy, Derek Johnson R•oul Teilhet Seymour Kahan Be•trice & S•muel Tolm.ch Marin Local-DSA lester R. Keck Edwin Vargas David Kusnet Or. Willard Warren Build DSA's Anti-Racism Commission Joel Kupferman Milton E. Weinstein Subscribe to Our Struggle P•trick Lacefield Saul Wellman PO Box 16239-4, Sacramento, CA 95816 Peter Lavigne Marianna Wells Adolph Lusthaus Donna Wilkinson BUILDING TO CARRY ON Pat Malone Mel & Marje Willbach THE FARMER LABOR TRADITION! Bob Marshall Peg A. Wilson & Bob Andrews IN SOLIDARITY Deborah Meier Roger S. Wilson Minneapolis I St. Paul DSA (612) 722--4162----- Labor Day greetings from Lekh•nd Books •nd Records GREETINGS Howard County's DSA in Maryland 1200 Pearl Street, Lower Level Vote with a vengeance in November Boulder, Colorado PHILIP H. VAN GELDER Feminist, socialist, peace, ecology boolcs We can bring to birth a new world SONIA FINDLAY M•rilyn M. Einhorn from the ashes of the old ... GALVESTON, TEXAS PAUL & YVONNE BAICICH L•wrence R. Maxwell GREETINGS TO OUR SOCIALIST Democracy = Socialism Next to socialism, the best thing BROTHERS ANO SISTERS FROM THE Socialism = Democracy is working for it. Sam & Ruth Class BLACK SWAMP LOCAL DSA '- Nat•lie & Harry Fleischman Dan & Sara Schelly RETIRE RONALD REAGAN Sisters, Brothers & Comrades: WALTER & THAYER OUR SOLIDARITY FOREVER Make your contribution Mary Jo Long, of Counsel to peace, full employment Marjorie Phyfe, Penny Schantz One Columbia Place Co·Choirs, DSA Labor Commission Albany, New York 12207 Ann & Bill Kemsley Sr. I ioin with you in the struggle Moy I se.e the day GREETINGS for peace end economic ;ustice.. when we hove a labor party. FROM PORT CHARLOTIE, FLORIDA RON DELLUMS M(lrtin Greenberg, Retired UAW Rep. Ida & Abe Kaufman FOR VICTORY IN NOVEMBER Labor Doy Greetings Lawrence, Kansas DSA suppports A STEP TOWARD A SOCIETY Democratic Left and a socialist OF PEACE, JOBS AND FREEDOM. Ronnie Steinberg & Michael Ames alternative for the United States C•rl & Marion Shier An injury to one is an injury to all. Solidarity I Best wishes, DSA. Mark Peterson, Executive Director fly Bennett and Rowland Watts Dorothy Tristman & Larry Wittner Penna. Alliance for Jobs and Energy DONALD R. ANDERSON FOR MORE AND BEITER JOHN R. JOHNSON ~ DSA LOCALS! INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA N•ncy Kleniewski DEMOCRATIC LEFT 21 SEPT.-OCT. 1984 City University Branch, 1984-85-The year for filling in the hole in NewYorkDSA the donut (or the bagel, on the East Coast) Bogdan Denitch, Chair Lynn Chancer, Organizer (If this means nothing to you, get more active!) Announces the Third Annual SOLIDARITY Socialist Scholars Conference April 4-6, 1985 Joseph M. Schwartz DSA National Eucutive Commitf£e R.L. Norman & John Keefe, Organizers Write to the Conference at 33 W. 42nd St., NYC 10036 for more information. Phone: 212-790-4320 ·yhe Coalition fora New Foreign and' Military Policy is working to turn America's priorities around. We organize and lobby against the arms race and bloated military budget; for human rights and peaceful solutions at home and abroad. COALITION For a New Foreign and Mllltoly Polley Plea 712 G 91Met, S.E.. Wmhlngtoc), D.C. 20003 Join Us. m.. me how 1CGr1 get lrwiollted. ....,_., ~ '°'my 1nbmallon pocllllt. DEMOCRATIC LEFT 22 SEl'T.-OCT.1914 : . Kentucky Vice President, Supreme Court of Nicara Central Kentucky DSA sponsored a gua, spoke in September on "The Nicara ~ Seeing Red premier September 22 in the guan Election: Democracy in a New Soci I ) old U.K. Student Center Theater... DSA ety" at Columbia Law School, sponsored joined NOW in co-sponsoring a film show by DSA, Barnard Women's Center and oth ing of "Women's Voices: The Gender Gap er groups... New York DSA will present its by HARRY FLEISCHMAN Movie" Sept. 11. .. A Kentucky Tax Policy Debs-Thomas Award to Cleveland Robin Conference involving several DSAers son on November 16 at the John Jay Col brouiht together 60 participants in August lege. Toastmaster will be Bill Lucy, secre from a dozen cities and led to a drive for a tary-treasurer of AFSCME. The locaJ's NATIONAL ROUNDUP "Progressive Tax Agenda" for the state. Conscience of New York Award will be There was excellent coverage in the Louis presented to Human Serve. For ticket info Calijcmia ville C<>Urier-fournal... DSA West Coast call the local at 260-3270. The Local con Los Angeles DSA is concentrating its organizer Jim Shoch met with Lexington vention will be held on Sunday, November elec-..ora! efforts oo Jobs With Peace, No on DSAers after the Democratic convention. 18... "Balloons at Noon" was the way Radio Proposition 41-an anti-welfare initiative, Station WMCA heralded its September 7 zld Millions More October 4-National Michigan interview with Workers Defense League Voter Registration Day... The Jobs With Ann Arbor DSA voted to focus on vot chair Harry Fleischman. The WDL, Full Peace Initiative has registered over 18, 000 er registration and labor support over the Employment Action Council, NOW, ACT new voters... A new LA DSA branch is next year, and will run an education pro WU, ILGWU, and other union and civil forming in Echo Lake/Silverlake... The gram on the basics of socialism... The local rights groups demonstrated with balloons Youth/Student DSA is organizing voter newsletter had an article on Sweden's saying "Jobs-Not Hot Air" before the Bu registration on several LA campuses ... Bay Meidner Plan and a listing of the candidates reau of Labor Statistics in New York ... Area DSA held a Campaign '84 Mobilization endorsed by SOCPAC. At a Bastille Day New York DSA supported congressional Brunch in Oakland. .. Many Berkeley mem barbecue with Zolton Ferency as guest of candidates Major Owens and Betty Lall in bers are working in DSA member Nancy honor, they endorsed Perry Bullard for re the primaries. Owens won. Local organizer Skinner's campaign for city council and l!lection to the Michigan House; George John Keefe took a leave of absence to run Representative Ron Dellums' re-election Wahr Sallade for Washtenaw County Pros the state assembly campaign ofDSA mem drive... The Harvey Milk Lesbian and Gay ecuting Attorney; James Murray for Pro ber Jim Brennan. In a stunning upset, Democratic Club and DSA hosted a fund bate Judge; John R. Minock for Juvenile Brennan was ahead by 4 votes at day's raiser Sept. 21 for Supervisor Harry Britt Court Judge and Donald Grimes for U.S. end, and won a special election later. and College Board member Tim Wolfred ... Congress. Also Susan J. Greenberg for Oregon Washtenaw County Clerk and Kenneth J. Corvallis DSA held a Town Hall Meet Connecticut Latta for County Treasurer. ing on "Feminist Visions" that attracted DSA member Vern Rossman sends us 120 people from the progressive and femi a change of address now that he has been New York nist communities ... The local has been ac sentenced to three years in the Federal Albany DSA helped elect two Dem tive in work on Central America and voter Prison Camp at Danbury for taking part in a ocratic Committee members from its own registration and has held many educational "swords into plowshares" raid on the B-52 ranks and played a significant role in the meetings. cruise missile system at Griffiss Air Force election of other local refonners... On Sat Pennsylvania Base near Syracuse, NY, last Thanksgiv urday, November 10, John Funicello of AF ing. The Griffiss Plowshares group was A national DSA conference on new SCME will recieve Albany DSA'a Eugene political directions for socialists is planned acquitted of sabotage but convicted of the V. Debs Award at its annual dinner. Funi felony of destruction of government prop for Philadelphia the first weekend in De (ello is founder of the Solidarity Committee cember. It will be built around the DSA erty and conspiracy to do the same. The of the Capital District. judge commented that he doubted whether National Board meeting. For details, write Capital District. .. Nassau DSA beard Jun Laf they could be rehabilitated. Vern reports to the National Office... Hulbert James, ferty of Emergency National Conference that other incorrigibles at the camp include national director of Human Serve, spoke on Rev. Moon, who sets tables in the morn Agamst U.S. Military Intervention in Central "Voter Mobilization to Defeat Reaganism" ing, and ex-Representative John Murphy America at its last meeting. The local is at a workshop of Philadelphia DSA Septem (convicted in the Abscam scandal), the working with the Long Island Progressive ber 8... Other speakers included Dennis camp clerk. Letters or cards may be sent to Coalition and the L. l. Network for Peace Brunn, Jeremy Karpatkin, Babette Jo Vern Rossman #:01266-052, Federal Pri and Justice on registration and voter educa-. sephs, Ralph Acosta and Gail Radford ... son Camp, Danbury, CT 06810. ti.on drives... LIPC is pushing for a Suffolk The last issue of Dmwcratic Left reported County public power takeover of the Long that Pittsburgh DSAer Stu Cohen had pre Island Lighting Co., without the Shoreham sonally registered 4,000 new voters. As of District ofColumbia nuclear power plant. Thousands of petitions early September Cohen's count is now Washington Socialist has a new fonnat. were presented to Governor Cuomo ... over 5,000. What this nation needs is a It features an interview with Dorothy Heal New York DSA's School has launched its thousand Stuart Cohens! The Alleglimy ey and information about the Seeing Red fall schedule. For details phone John Keefe, Socialist is urging all its members to try to benefit September 24. local organizer, at 260-3270 ... Vtlma Nunez, emulate Cohen. • DEMOCRATIC LEFT 23 SEPT.-OCT. 1984 IN MEMORIAM FEMINIST CONFERENCE from the Institute for Democratic Social ism, 853Broadway, NewYork, NY10003. Huglt W. Chaffin, an 84-year-old A national conference on socialist fem Ithaca DSA member, was found mur inism has been scheduled for August 2-4, NUESTRA LUCHA dered in his home in Freeville August - 1985 in Chicago. DSA locals across the lst. The murderer has not yet been country are planning educational and fund The latest issue of Nuestra Lucho, found. Hugh, a life-long active socialist, raising events geared to the conference, newsletter of the Anti-Racism Commission was an organic fanner who sold, and which will be the first such national gather and the Latino Commission of DSA, dis often gave away, his vegetables and ing in ten years. cusses questions of building a stronger Third flowers at the local farmers' market World presence in DSA and commitment to Ithaca DSA has established a Hugh OSA LABOR MEMO pluralism. Membership in the Commission Chaffin Memorial Fund. Contributions is $6 per year and includes a subscription to The August DSA Mmw fea may be sent to Ithaca DSA, 206 Eddy Labor the newsletter. Write to 2827 Catania Way, tures articles by Jack Clark on the Ameri Street, Ithaca, NY 14850. Sacramento, Calif. 95826. DSA member and longtime social can Solidarity Movement, by Tony Howe ist]err, Vooriiis died at the age of83 ina on the Austin Central Labor CoWlcil, the retirement home in Claremont, Califor Detroit DSA's Labor Commission state RESOURCES nia. Voorhis served five tenns in Con ment, "No Is Not A Program," Gene Car The Washington Office on Africa now roll on "Economic Conversion," and a re gress from 1936 to 1946, compiling one has an Anti-Apartlind Action Hotline that port on the Labor Notes conference ... of the most liberal voting records in the gives a 3-minute taped message on up-to Copies available from Rm 810-A, 1346 House. Before running as a New Dealer date legislative information and action sug he had been a registered Socialist. His Connecticut Ave., Washingtoo, D.C. 20036. gestions regarding congressional, national 1946 defeat went down in history for and local anti-apartheid actions. can it at launching the political career of young RELIGIOUS S MIDWEST ORGANIZER NORMAN THOMAS CENTENNIAL and biographer of Thomas who was also na Adina Kelman has been hired as the The Centennial of the birth of Nonnan tional secretary of the American Socialist Par Midwest organizer, replacing Holly Graff, Thomas, "America's conscience," will be ty. will be moderator for the symnposium. who resigned this past spring. A recent marked by conferences and forums in the east Fleisclunan will be honored at the event for his graduate of Oberlin College, Adina was ac and midwest A symposiwn at Norman Thom half-century of activism and dedication to the tive in Obt:rlin DSA and was elected to the as High School on November 17 will focus on ideals of socialism in the spirit of Nonnan National Youth Section Executive Commit "The Continuing Inftuence of Nonnan Thom Thomas. tee. At Oberlin she was chair of the Femi as" and will feature as speakers three leaders Earlier in the month Tiiomas will be re nist Committee. She was a draft counselor of organizations with roots ui the Socialist par membered at a conference on "Socialism in for Oberlin Against the Draft, and served ty that Thomas led for many years. They are America" to be held at Princeton November Michael Harrington, co-chair of DSA, Bayard as a canvasser for the Ohio Public Interest 9. 10. Rustin, chair of Social Democrats-U.S.A. and On October 31 the life and influence of Campaign in Cleveland. She was a Free Frank Zeidler. cbaJ.r of the Socialist Party Thomas will be assessed at a symposium at dom Summer coordinator for voter regis U. S.A.10ther speakers include James Farm Roosevelt University in Chicago. Speakers tration activities in Cleveland this swruner. er, H.L. Mitchell, Fay Bennett, Gus Tyler, will look at Thomas's religion, lib pacifism, his We welcome Adine to the staff and look Aaron Levenstein and Millie Jeffrey. Harry labor policy, his humanism. and end by asking, forward to working with her. Fleischman, a close friend, campaign manager "What's Left of Thomas' Agenda?" DEMOCRATIC LEFT 24 SEPT.-OCT. 1984 by Maurice Isserman animated the Lynn Knights of Labor is the widespread and vague dream of becoming one's own boss, by acquiring a small business, or WORKERS• SELF-MANAGEMENT IN THE farm, or perhaps managing a few rental units. UNITED STA TES. by Christopher Eaton Gunn. Christopher Gunn, an economist at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, argues in Worlms' &1/-M~ in tM Uniled Stat.s Cornell Unh e.rsity Press, 1984. $25 hardcover. that practical cooperative alternatives to the wage system already ben Terence Powderly, Grand Master Work do exist, and-while they are not without problems-deserve to be man of the Knights of Labor, appeared before studied and emulated. Gunn's book is built arOWld a series of case the Knights' General Assembly in 1880 he con studies of cooperatively owned and managed businesses in the trasted the "wage system" with the "cooperative United States: forest workers' cooperatives in the Northwest (who system" of production. The former, he declared reseed logged-over areas for the U.S. Forest Service and private W• m-ery railroad superintendent, every factory lumber companies); plywood manufacturing cooperatives in the or mme superintendent, an autocrat at wh0&e nod or Northwest; the Rath Packing Company in Waterloo, Iowa; and the bec:'k the poor unrequited slave who labors must bow Denver Yellow Cab Cooperative Association. the bead and bend the knee in humble suppliance. The forest workers' cooperatives seem closest to Gwm's own - ~ the cooperative system ideal model of how a cooperative should function: they are collec will eventually make every man his own master-ev tively owned and democratically run, and have a sense of their own ff)" man his own employer; a system which will give mission in creating a restructured society. In addition to providing the la borer a fair proportion of the products of his their several hundred members with satisfying if not particuJarly toil. well·paid jobs, the forest workers' co-ops "help support, directly or The Knights were the leading labor organization of the 1880s, indirectly, other alternate organizations, including health clinics, and under Powderly's leadership regarded the fostering of worker food distribution warehouses and co-ops, a community credit union, o'Wlled and controlled t'nterprises as their primary mission, treating and an environmental research group." The problem is that they are \\-hat we have come to regard as unionism's primary function of the most marginal of the groups which Gwm has studied: they are in representing workers in collective bargaining with employers as a an industry that has minimal capital requirements, and one that matter of only secondary concern. The Knights established a fund to makes unusual demands upon its workers (requiring them to live in aid cooperative efforts, and launched an extensive educational effort primitive camps in the woods for weeks on end). on the principles of cooperative enterprise. By 1887 the Knights The Oregon and Washington plywood cooperatives are far ponsored some 135 cooperative foundries and shoe and clothing closer to the mainstream. These are heavily capitalized factories factones. A sympathetic observer wrote of the Lynn [Massachusetts J providing secure year-round employment and a good income to their Knights of Labor Cooperative Boot and Shoe Company in 1888: members. The co-ops are democratically controlled by their mem bers, and have demonstrated higher labor productivity with less The (workers I claimed that besides their share in the profits they receive the highest scale of wages in supervision than comparable privately-owned mills. They are practi Lynn. ' cal, working examples of what socialists have always maintained: that bosses are superfluous if not downright harmful to the collective But a dark cloud loomed over the Lynn experiment and similar wellbeing of working people. The problem is that most plywood effons around the country. Again, according to the 1888 report: co-op members would reject out of hand the notion that what they Some, it is to be hoped not many, of the other shoe are doing has anything to do with creating an alternative to capital manufacturers in Lynn are said to be bitterly op ism. They have invested their own money (membership in a ply posed to this factory, since their employees, seeing wood cooperative can cost as much as $100,000) in creating secure the brilliant success of the cooperative company and employment for themselves, and that is all they have done. The learning the exact profit made on every shoe, de- mand for themselves a greater share of the product. co-ops avoid publicity as much as possible (fearing unfavorable IRS attention), have done little or nothing to change the hierarchical and The Lynn factory, and the other Knights' cooperative experi sometimes dangerous nature of the work process, and hire up to half ments, did not survive. In a hostile political and economic environ their workforce on a seasonal basis. Non-members are paid less, ment sources of credit and raw materials could be easily choked off: have no say in management decisions, and are subject to layoff in the Populists would later learn the samE; lesson when their market slack times: ing and consumer cooperatives were destroyed in the 1890s. In Balancing the strengths and weaknesses of each of his case time. union and radical leaders came to regard cooperative experi studies, Gunn does not pretend that he has seen the future and it ments as a snare and delusion: it made more sense to concentrate on works. He does believe that cooperative experiments can inspire '.I.inning as much as could be won within the framework of the and supplement other struggles to democratize the workplace: existing wage system. "Bringing together a revitalized labor movement, autonomous rank This was a practical decision, and probably a necessary one, but and-file initiatives, and legitimate efforts toward workers' control something was lost when it was made. By the early twentieth and self-management wherever they occur in the economy lies at century the wage system no longer seemed to American workers the heart of workplace programs for any progressive politics in this the strange and undesirable innovation that it had through most of country." Terence Powderly's way of putting things was a little the nineteenth century. Workers lost the capacity to imagine any more vivid, but Gunn's book should be read by anyone interested in other way of structurinlo( the workplace. Today, the logic of capitalist the debate over workplace democratization. • production is "common sense" and all that remains of the spirit which Maurice Isserman teacM!i Amml:an History at Smillt Colkgt. DEMOCRATIC LEFT 25 SEPT.-OCT. 1984 Congratulations to the ... Democratic Socialists of America Best Wishes for Continued Growth ESE TIMES 1300 W. Behnont Ave. Chicago, IL 60657 To Subscribe Call Toll-Free 800-247-2160 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 26 SEPT.-Ocr. 1984 urs work together for a world in which nobody nttds to go hungry or lwrMkss, where then is worll for all, a1ld wltert allpeople an tnaWJ equal. Best wishes to DSA. CENTRAL KENTUCKY D s A Ber~ Boas and Isaacson, Attorneys painting the Bluegrass RED...... 19th floor, Law & Finance Building &GREEN. Pittsburgh, Pa. 15219 PETER BENNER, Attorney at Law Labor Day Greetings to DSA , Labor Law, Environmental Law, From Members of Social Advocacy, General United University Professions Practice (518) 436-4891 Local 2190, AFr 92 Chestnut Street, Albany, NY 12210 In Memory ofBarbara Nestor, Toward Denwcracy andSocialism Who Always Kept the Red Flag Flying InOurTime Dorothy Healey, Richard Healey, Debbie G<>ldman, LOS ANGELES DSA Benjamin and Joshua Healey Best Wishes from JAMES E. CORWIN, M.D. CHATHAM FAMILY PRACTICE ASSOCIATES San Diego DSA 396 MAIN STREET (201) 635-2432 CHATHAM, N.J 07928 SUMMIT 0FF1CE 273-4700 Greetings to all our comrades who stand fast: natural ·foods & produce For peace, for equality, for ;ustice, for freedom THE HASKELL$ albany 462-1020 Gordon, Liz, Olly,, Rachel The struggk ofthe j>eopk against power is the struggle ofthe Labor Day Greetings memory against fargetting. From Members of the (with apologies to Milan Kundera) UAW RESEARCH DEPARTMENT Bill Blum, Gina Lobaco & Max Blum Detroit, Michigan Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti socialists salut£ IN SOLIDARITY DEMOCRATIC LEFT HARTFORD DSA LOCAL Ann Arbor DSA, PO Box 7211, PO BOX 14364 Ann Arbor, MI 48107. Hartford, CT 06114 In Memory SOCIAL SERVICES UNION of AMERICAN FEDERATION OF NURSES Selma Lenihan LOCM S3S $erv1Ce Em,:Moy•es lnte,n.lltOnM Umon A Fl ·CIO 5•9 S 5'><1ng6tteel IOthFl00t,Su1le 1017. loaAnQeles.CAg()()t3 Whose Enthusiasm for Life Was an Inspiration to Us All Phil Ansell Jan Breidenbach Jerry Fillingim David Aroner Tod Cochran Jon Lepie Staff and Members ofDSA Lydia Baca Mona d'Astarte DEMOCRATIC LEFT 27 SEPT.-OCT.1984 John J. Sweeney Richard W. Cordtz lnttrt1ationo/ Prtsidtnt lnttntational Serrttary-Trras11rn- SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION AFL-CIO. CLC The past four years have taught us what we already knew: Solidarity is the key to economic justice and equal opportunity for American working men and women. I Industrial Union Department (AFL-CIO) · Howard D. Samuel Elmer Chatak President Secretary-Treasurer DEMOCRATIC LEFT 28 SEPT.-OCT.1984 ""firganized labor's task in the 1 ~ ~ ~ last 15 years of the 20th century is to· restate the role of workers in our civilization. This must be done in a way that reflects the determination of workers to do more than survive, to be more than producers. We must make it clear that workers will participate in the shaping of their economic environment, and will be recognized for their contributions. This is no more than human beings are entitled to. But it is also no less. International Union of Bricklayers &.Allied Craftsmen John J.- Joyce, President Edward M. Bellucci, Secretary-Treasurer L. Gerald Carlisle, Executive Vice President James F. Richardson, Executive Vice President - DEMOCRATIC LEFT 29 SEPT.-OCT. 1984 "there iJI no progress without struggle" FREDERICK DOUGLASS SOCIALISM-HUMANITY'S DONALD SHAFFER ASSOCIATES, INC. BEST HOPE! INSURANCE & FlNANClAL PLANNING PENSIONS. EMPLOYEE BENEFITS. NASSAU LOCAL (LI) DSA PROPERTY & CASUALTY 11 Grace Avenue Great Neck, N. Y. 11021 Charles Russell Lottie Friedman 212-895-7005 Treasurer 516-466-4642 Local Chair San Jose City College WOI STUDIES 1111111808 THE LAW OFFICE OF Jim Pott•rton Program Dlr•ctor LITT & STORMER LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA LEARNING, LABOR & SOCIALISM Greetings from the Oberlin Mafia (Oberlin DSA Alumni) Amy Bachrach, Marc Baldwin, Jesse Cochin, Carisa Cunningham, Mark Davidson, Vania Del Borgo, Jeff Goldwasser, David Haben streit, Jeremy Karpatkin, Adina Kelman, Val Marcus, Peter Mill er. Careen Shannon. Joseph Slater. Sara Stoutland, Dan Taylor. Janet Wilder 521 Fifth Avenue New York, N.Y. 10017 ELECTION DAY 1984 There's nothing more important for workers than defeating Labor Day Greetings from the Home ofthe Revolution ''THAT MAN IN THE WIDTE HOUSE'' BostonDSA We can dQ it if we registn-and vote. 145 Tremont Street Murray H. Finley Jack Sheinkman Boston, MA 02111 President Secretary-Tnasurtr 617-426-9026 AMALGAMATED CLOTHING AND TEXTILE WORKERS UNION, AFL-CIO, CLC DEMOCRATIC LEFT 30 SEPT.-OCT.1984 WHO RULES BOSTON? Who Rules Boston? is the first comprehensive study of this Greetings from power structure. A well-illustrated, easy-to-read book, WM Ruks Boston? includes the names and connections of Bos ton's most powerful individuals and institutions. You can send this order form to: DSA, 145 Tremont, 6th floor, Boston. MA O'.llll. (Phone 617-426-9026) $10.95 (Prices are postpaid. Ask about bulk order discounts.) District 1199 Name _ _ _ Street ___ ------Union of Hospital City ______-- State____ Zip ______~------"'- and Health Care Employees RWDSU/AFL-CIO Tom Hayden and the Campaign for Economic Democracy join with all progressives to beat Reagan Doris Turner, President in 1984! SOUTH END PRESS publishes Frank Ackerman, HAZARDOUS books by Manning Marable, FROM THE TO OUR WEALTH (1984). $8.00 GRASSROOTS (1981). $5.50 Noam Chomsky and Ed Herman, DSA David Plotke and Carl Boggs, s. AFTER THE CATACLYSM (1979) THE POLITICS OF EUROCOM $7.50 members MUNISM (1980). $6.50 Noam Chomsky and Ed Herman, Holly Sklar, REAGAN, THE WASHINGTON TR/LA TERALISM, AND THE CONNECTION AND THIRD Paul Joseph and Simon Rosenblum, NEOLIBERALS $4.75 WORLD FASCISM, $10.00 SEARCH FOR SANITY (1984). Holly Sklar, TR/LA TERALISM: Noam Chomsky, THE FATEFUL $12.50 The Trilateral Commission a1Ul Elite TRIANGLE: US, Israel, and the Paul Joseph, CRACKS IN THE Planning for World Management Palestinians, (1984). $10.00 EMPIRE (1981). $7.00 (1980). $9.00 Robin Hahnel and Michael Albert, Bertram Gross, FRIENDLY Alan Wolfe, THE RISE AND FALL MARXISM AND SOCIALIST FASCISM (1981). $9.00 OF THE SOVIET THREAT (1984). THEORY(1981). $7.00 Manning Marable, HOW $7.00 Robin Hahnel and Michael Albert, CAPITALISM UNDER Alan Wolfe, AMERICA'S SOCIALISM TODAYAND DEVELOPED BLACK AMERICA IMPASSE: The Rise and Fall of the TOMORROW(l981). $9.50 (1983). $7.50 Politics of Growth, (1981).$8.00 To order your books, se,.,i $.I.SO postage and llandMng for first book, 25C for each additional, to: south end press, 302 columbus ave., boston, ma 02.1.16 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 31 SEPT.-OCT.1984 For a Democratic Left slant on the Jewish question, Jewish Greetings from affairs, Jewish life, Jewish culture and Israel, subscribe to JEWISH CURRENTS PORTLAND DSA PO Box 40, Portland, Oregon 97207 (Morris U. Schappes, editor) 22 E. 17th St., Suite 601, New York, N. Y. 10003 (212) 924-57 40 Monthly, $12 per year in USA For sample copy, send 50¢ to cover postage. Today the workers have more to lose LET'S GET OUT THE VOTE! than their chains; but they still have a world to win. Sandy Chelnov AlanSnitow -Timothy Sears In Solidarity, to defeat Reagan-Bush and eleet Mondale-Ferraro, for Peace ITHACADSA and Social Justice. SALUTES THE VILLAGE INDEPENDENT TOMKINS-CORTLAND LABOR COALITION DEMOCRATS ITHACA IS MOVING! 224 West 4th Street New Yor~ N.Y. 10014 Greetings to DEMOCRATIC LEFT From THE Wc;>RKMEN'S CIRCLE 45 East 33rd Street Philadelphia DSA New York, N.Y. 10016 Greene & Westview, 3rd Floor Philadelphia 19119 (215) 843-2313 What reviewers are saying about it. ''Thoughtful and eloquent," "a warthy se quel," to The Other America "Unfortu nately, it is safe to predict that [it] will not be read by the incumbent President. .. More's the pity." Mitchell Sviridoff The New Yo1* Times Book Review "offers ... vivid portraits of poor people, and some ofthese, at least, will discourage hard hearted conservative readers from thinking that the poor have it coming to them." Daniel Seligman Fortune "confronts issues that have been plaguing both the ideological right and left." Thomas B. Edsall rrmgton The Washington Post NaJional Weekly Edition THE OTHER.AMERICA Holt, Rinehart, Winston $17.95 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 32 SEPT.-Ocr. 1984 COMMUNICATIONS TRADE DMSION' ISRAEL HORIZONS American Communications Association Socialist-Zionist Bimonthly A periodic examination of the Jewish people, the Jewish State, and world affairs, from a So cialist-Zionist perspective. Now in our 32ndyear . Annual Subsqjptions: $10 U.S. Sample Copies Available upon Request ISRAEL HORIZONS 150 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10011 The National• Officers oftlu! International Brotherhood of Teamsters COALITION OF LABOR UNION WOMEN lll Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10006 • 267-1374 congratulate DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA DANIEL]. KANE MATT AYON Joyce D. Miller President Secretary-Treasurer National President INUNION THERE IS STRENGTH- In Solidarity California Federation o/Teachers, AFT, AFL-CIO Raoul Teilhet, President LOCAL259 U.A.W. DAVID l. ROTH LAW OfflCB Of ltOTH•ISHIOA Sam Meyers, President 1"41 llOADWAY, SUl1l IOO OAKLAND, CAllfOINIA 9'61f TfL (415} W..111 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 33 SEPT.-Ocr. 1984 • • i' I ' '" ' 'I ,• (; .. ·· ~ · ! I ., t ~ ' :: ; r<.A ' I ~ ' .;, .J ...but it is for John Kenneth Galbraith • Kurt Vonnegut • Mary McGrory • Steve Allen • l.F. Stone• Henry Steele Com mager Theda Skocpol • Benjamin Hooks• The John Birch Society • 9 to 5. National Association of Working Women AT&T • ACLU • Jules Feiffer • Herblock • Noam Chomsky • Murray Kempton • Tom Hayden • Joan Oaybrook• Dow Chemical Co. • Ralph Nader• 8111 Moyers• ABC •CBS • N BC' • Tass News AgenC} • Edison Electric Institute • Sam Lovejoy• George McGovern • Georgie Anne Geyer• Embassy of Japan • United <\uto Workers • The Pentagon • Phill ip Berrigan • Studs Terkel • Ron Dellums • and 11 might be for you. r------FREE ______, YES, THE PROORESSIVE might be for me-Send me my FREE issue and reserve a full year subscription for only $1 5 for an additional 11 issues. NAME ~DDRESS CITY STATE ZIP G UARANTEE: ff The Progressive isn't for you, return the subscription bill marked "cancel" w11 h1n two weeks and that's that. You've spent nothing. You owe nothing. And the sample issue is yours to keep. THE PROGRESSIVE 409 EAST MAIN STREET. MADISON. WISCONSIN 53703 04-Qal DEMOCRATIC LEFT 34 SEPT.-OCT. 1984 IN MEMORY GREETINGS HUGH W. CHAFFIN From the Workers and Peasants 1900-1984 of Wealthy Westchester ITHACADSA WESTCHESTER DSA . Box 323, Harrison, N. Y. 10528 ...... IBMLS CHAS BAKER, GRI Grutings from MONTSHIRE PROPERTIES 15 T•H Av.., Box 218 THE WASHINGTON TEACHERS' UNION White River JcL, VT 05001 William H. Simons, President Bus 802 295-7597 Home 802 649-1 219 Greetings Only through working mm and women can From the Land of the New Appeal ro Reason Jw,ace, justice and equality pmxziJ in IJris country. La/Jot- 1"USt once again assunu its KANSAS CITY DSA role of sodal conscience and. wiJJs all its might, reverse ~ injustices and transgres May the Spirit of Debs Live Forever! sU>ns of~ last four years. Greetings ro Democratic Left WISCONSIN STATE From Utah, Homeo/BigBillHaywood. EMPLOYEES UNION AFSCME COUNCIL 24 UTAH LOCAL DSA AFL-CIO POBOX395, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84110-0395 Register and Organize Defeat Reagan in '84 Strap/Jan THE GAME OF THE NEW YORK NEWYORKDSA SUBWAY SYSTEM FOR 2-6 PLAYERS AGE 12-ADULT Here's your chance to get the hilarious new satirical game about the trials and tribulations of the New York subway system. Attempt to get Executive Committee one of 6colorful subway characters from home to work and back again Stanley Aronowitz, Chair without delays and dilemmas-and before the price of a token goes Jo-Ann Mort, Vice Chair up again. A GREAT PARTY GAME * A UNIQUE GIFT IDEA Steve Oliver, Treasurer 0 Yesl Please rush (notvia/hesubway)_cop1esof STRAPHAHGER (a $15.95 Brian D'Agostino, Organizational Secretary each plus tax. Price includes shipping. Total enclosed ____ Allison Lee, Corresponding Secretary Lisa Briskman, Membership Secretary Name ______Deborah Schultz, Education Secretary Address ______Jo-Ann Mort & Rick Schrader, City·State'Zip ______Political Action Co-Chairs O Please send the detailed brochure. Gretchen Donart, Publications Di.rector Make check payable to: STERLING PLACE GAMES Frank Llewellyn, Development C<>uncil 151 Sterling Place, Brooldyn, New York 11217. *Company coos/111 llltf/'f/Y ol live OSA membtrs. ~If soclaHJt 1t11etprl#. * DEMOCRATIC LEFT 35 SEPT.-Ocr. 1984 Labor Day THE SOCIALIST Greetings COMMUNITY SCHOOL U11ited Stru;;·;;Ie 2936 W. 8th Street 'Viii Defeat Rea;;·a11is111 Los Angeles, CA 90005 The Socialist Community School was created in order to bring a variety of alternative per spectives before the greater Los Angeles com munity. The School offers forums, classes and cultural events. For further information please call (213) 385-0650. AFSCME Greetings from ILLINOIS DISTRICT65 THE UNION FOR United Automobile Workers PUBLIC AFL/CIO EMPLOYEES . David Livingston, President AFSCME ILLINOIS OFFICES: Frank Brown, Organization Director Cleveland Robinson, Secretary-Treasurer 534 S. 2nd 201 N. Wells Springfield, IL 62706 Chicago, IL 60606 217-788-2800 312-845-3020 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 36 SEPT.-OCT. 1984 Best wiahee to our friends in DSA Lansing Labor News SOCIALISM Joe Fmkbeiner, Ediltw IN AMERICA A Conference to Mark the Centenary of Solidarity · Norman Thomas November 8-10, 1984 at Princeton University Chicago A historical conference on the contribution of democratic socialism to the American political mainstream; partici DSA pants include Michael Harrington, Nicholas Salvatore, Frances Fox Piven, Maurice lsserman, Mari-Jo Buhle, David Montgomery. 1300 W. Belmont Ave. For more information, write: "Socialism in America," Dept. Chicago, IL 60657 of History, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 085440. 312-871-7700 ACTIVISTS CmERENCE After the Elections: What Next for the Left? ? ? ? With: Ron Dellums* • • • Barbara Ehrenreich Michael Harrington Frances Fox Piven and many others *Invited. ? ? ? • • • November 30-December 2, 1984 Philadelphia, Pa. Write to Institute for Democratic Socialism Suite801, 853 Broadway, New York, N.Y.10003 for information. DEMOCRATIC LEFT 37 SEPT.-OCT. 1984 General Vice Presidents Isn't it time to give back America Tom Duey to those who built it? Chicago, IL Roe Spencer It is appropriate that September 3 is set aside to honor the men and Dallas, TX women who built America with their brains, their skills and their muscles. John Peterpaul Yet this Labor Day the nation's workforce is under attack. Union busters Washington, DC have been put on pedestals. The American wage standard is being blamed for everything from inflation to the increasing number living in poverty. Our nation's leaders urge us to exchange our standards with those who toil Stanley Jensen In Taiwanese sweat shops. The International Association of Machinists and Portland, OR Aerospace Workers believes we can rebuild America along the lines en visioned by our founders. We, who have manned our national arsenals in Justin Ostro times of crises can do the job again. Long Beach, CA By staying together, American working men and women can again rescue George Poulin our country in this perilous hour. Washington, DC INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS Merle E. Pryor, Jr. Cleveland, OH AND AEROSPACE WORKERS George Kourpias William W. Winpisinger Eugene D. Glover Washington, DC International President General Secretary-Treasurer Val Bourgeois Ottawa, Ont. DEMOCRATIC LEFT 38 SEPT.-Ocr. 1984 GREETINGS FROM DSA PITTSBURGH COMPLIMENTS OF OU'l'F'fl*I'ING YOU WITH THE OFFICIAL "OLYMPIC BOYCOTr V0LLEYBALL T-SIDRT LOCAL 1097 Design in black and red, on silver-grey, l~ cot ton, U.S.-made shirt. Only $8, postage paid. Serving Workers at Adult sizes: S.M.L.XL. Send check or M. 0. to: DSA Pittsburgh Rochester Products Dept. DL P.O. Box 5122 Pittsburgh, PA 15206 VDLLEYBALLERS Allow 4-6 weeks delivery. OF Local 1097 U.A.W. AMERICA 221 DEWEY A VENUE ROCHESTER, N.Y. 14608 TIUS AD OFFIClALLY SPONSORED BY: Fran Bertormchi, Stu Cohen, Cindy Deitch, Kathy FelTlll"O, John Haer, Tom Hoffman. Tom and Jean Kerr, Marc Knezevich, Anne Kumer, Max Kurner, Fred Lmx:aster, Lisa Luxemburg, Tun McKeown. Ed Meek, Joni RON BAUG, Pnsidenl JERRY COVll.LE, Shop Chairman Rabinowiu, Rob Shepherd. Jerry and Judy Starr. Bill Weksehnan WE STAND TOGETHER WITH THE DSA SOLIDARITY FOR PEACE, FREEDOM AND SOCIAL JUSTICE FOREVER! THE NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL JOINT BOARD OF THE AMALGAMATED CLOTHING,AND TEXTILE WORKERS UNION, AFL-CIO-CLC SEID Local 585 237 Sixth Avenue ED CLARK, MANAGER Pittsburg~ PA 15238 (412) 828-5100 · .. Rosemary Trump ... President DEMOCRATIC LEFT 39 SEPT.-Ocr.1984 The UAW salutes Our friends in the Democratic Left. t a time when the labor move and our vision of the world; to guar ment is under assault from the rantee every citizen the opportunity most anti-labor administra to earn a decent living and to retire tion in half a century, the UAW with security; to make our environ deeply appreciates your support for ment and workplaces safe and labor justice. healthy; and to make equal oppor And we will continue to work tunity for minorities and women a together on the many other goals we reality, not just a slogan. hold in common: to elect a fair government that is committed to jus ver the years, we've made progress tice for all citizens; to become a toward these goals. But today, nation that plans rationally for the the progress we've struggled to future; to halt the insane arms race win is being undermined. We distorting both the nation's economy warmly welcome your support for American labor again this labor day and look forward to working with the Democratic Left on Solidarity Day IV, election day this November. Together we will get out a vote and win a mandate that can steer government back onto a just course.
Socialism Brochire, DO Blljk Disoount) .05 F M'm"O Tickd
