Hastening the

EDTTED BY MICHAEL HARRINGTON GOP "Dunkirk" By Michael Harrington INSIDE NTER THE REAGAN ADMINIS· Feb. 1981 Vol. IX No. 2 $1 tration. In response to this event, the democratic left must Road to Solidarity, p. 4 follow a double strategy: to or­ ganize immediately to defend The Socialist International has been through the gains of the past against some rough times. But in the last few years it the most reactionary onslaught has taken directions that have brought it new in a generation ; and to develop life. Jack Oark talks with SI General Secre­ some basic concepts of the future that tary Bernt Carlsson about its revival. will serve as the demands of an offensive Anticorporate Unity, p. 6 which must come, sooner or later, the sooner the better. Will the citizens' movement coalesce around I have explored some of these ideas anticorporate activities? George Wood de­ here before, but there is much to be scribes an Illinois group that has begun the added, not the least because some of process. Reagan's most powerful advisers have Special Report: now conceded a good part of the argu­ Tax Free Zones, p. 8 ment made regularly in these pages. If we set up "little Hong Kongs" in our inner When conservative thinkers borrow cities, will we see economic growth? Or, as from, or at least agree with, democratic Richard Mounts suggests, does this latest pro­ leftists, that is worthy of note. This Economists posal from the "supply siders" spell more strange phenomenon occurs with regard profits for real estate interests ? to those basic concepts about the future and that is where I will begin this double­ Winter Youth Conference, p. 12 pronged discussion of immediate tactics It's becoming a tradition, and this year's win­ and middle-range strategy. ter youth conference lived up to expectations. There was a Burry of activity in De­ ''Traditional fiscal and Patrick Lacefield reports. cember among the right-wing populists (but not limited to them) in the Reagan monetary manipulation What's Left to Read, p. 13 camp. David Stockman, scheduled to be no longer suffice! . ..,, New Leftist Tom Hayden has written a good director of the Office of Management and book, says Ron Radosh, but marred it by an Budget (OMB) under Reagan, and Rep­ attack on socialism. resentative Jack Kemp, co-author and principal advocate of the Kemp-Roth bill, On the Left, p. 14 released their famous paper, ".Avoiding New chapters, lots of rallies, campaigns, ac­ a GOP Economic Dunkirk." The press tivities. Harry Fleischman surveys DSOC and focused upon the Stockman-Kemp call other left events. for a declaration of a national economic emergency, but some material in their an­ Stockman-Kemp said. Precisely. The rea­ New York Times: "$c\-ec:y-OT'e percmt alysis was, and is, extraordinarily radical. son is that the costs of joblessness and of the explosion of goyemmcnt spending, Our economic crisis, they said, in a num­ economic failure are so extraordinarily government debt, goyemmcnt credit pro­ ber of ways, is not caused by government high. "The federal budget has now be­ grams, growing pension bills, is not the spending; rather, the deficits are caused come an automatic 'coast to coast soup fault of 'big spenders,' as most Republi­ by the crisis. Here, readers of DEMO· line' that dispenses remedial aid with al­ cans like to charge. Rather, climbing CRATIC LEFT will recognize one of the most reckless abandon, converting the spending results from the v.·eakoess and central themes of this 'publication, and of traditional notion of automatic stabil­ volatility of the economy. It is the result the democratic socialist movement. izers into multitudinous outlay spasms of the misery index." Between June and throughout the budget." November of 1980, Kemp said, the fed. Right Issue, Wrong Analysis In a press conference called to an­ eral deficit exceeded projections by $36 "Weak real Gross National Product nounce the "Economic Dunkirk" docu­ billion. Of that sum, $5.9 billion was due and employment growth" are the issue, ment, Kemp told Leonard Silk of the to inflation (the cost of indexed beneJits

To the Editor: United States to follow. It succeeds in of its earlier "guest workers," whose un­ A story has found its way into some doing this only because fundamental fea­ employment now shows up in the statis­ newspapers that the Pope has let it be tures are omitted from the European tics of their native countries (which lack known to Moscow that if Soviet troops model. the blessings of Eurosocialism) . The dis­ were to invade Poland, he would imme­ One would not know, reading Ms. tribution of income in the major West diately By to Warsaw and, in a gesture of Lieber's report, that Stalinism and fas­ European countries is no much less in­ protest, be there to receive them. The cism inflicted defeats of historic dimen­ equitable than in the United States, ac­ story also has it that this is one of the sions upon European social democracy in cording to a recent report by the Euro­ factors which has led Brezhnev and other the twenties and thirties. Of World War pean Trade Union Institute (ETIJI) in Communist rulers in Moscow to decide II, which spelled vast suffering and fur­ Brussels, Keynes, Plus a Participatory that, at least for now, they would not in­ ther defeats for European workers and Economy (p. 60). True, in countries like vade. their leadership, Ms. Lieber makes no The Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway, We have of course no way of know­ mention. True, the foundations of the it is significantly less inequitable than ing whether the story is true. But it is welfare state were laid in the twenties here. But these are small countries, with wonderful, nonetheless, and it may serve and thirties-and expanded by the Nazis homogeneous populations totaling about a useful purpose even if not true. for reasons of their own, after the de­ one tenth of the United States' in num­ It would be at least as wonderful if struction of German social democracy. ber, and with small economies. Willy Brandt, the head of the Socialist The restoration of a bourgeois capitalist The ETUI report is much more real­ International, were to make, either pub­ system in Western Europe after the war istic in appraising the situation of Euro­ licly or privately, a similar statement of featured the continued expansion of the pean workers than Ms. Lieber, albeit less intent. The head of Catholicism and the welfare state, largely in response to the far-ranging. "Except in some small north spokesman for socialism standing side by pressure of Stalinist Russia-another de­ European countries," writes ETIJI, "the side (or at a reasonable distance) in pro­ velopment Ms. Lieber does not mention. ideology of the entrepreneurial class still test against a totalitarian invading force­ No one would learn from Ms. Lie­ largely dominates society, both economic­ that is something to conjure with! ber that unemployment rates reached ally and politically" (p. 44). The goal Irving Howe post-depression heights in Western Euro­ of full employment that dominated the New York, N.Y. pean countries-in Great Brita.in, they policy of European governments since the • • • stood at 6 percent earlier in 1980, al­ war has been abandoned" (p. 21). The To the Editor: though 47 percent of the Bricish labor report conveys a sense of European trade Nancy Lieber's special report on force is organized; in Germany (5 per­ unions, of European social democracy and Eurosocialism (December 1980) seeks to cent), with 42 percent organized, it was of the working class at large, being in- outline a welfare-state paradigm for the lower only because of the exit of many Continued on page 7

Michael Harrington DEMOCRATIC LEFT is published ten times a year EdiJM (monthly except July and August) by the Dem­ ocratic Socialist Organizing Committee, 853 Formerly the Maxine Phillips Broadway, Suite 801, New York, N.Y. 10003. Newsletter of the Managing &iitor Telephone: (212) 260-3270. Subscriptions: $15 Democratic Left sustaining and institutional; $8 regular. Signed Jam Chapin articles express the opinions of the authors. ,\'a/1n11:1/ Dirtctor ISSN 0164-3207. Second Class Permit Paid at New York, N.Y.

2 DEMOCRATIC LEFT Feb. 1981 under Social Security; the increase in Heller debunked some of the current ogy to the successful Kennedy-Johnson federal fuel bills) ; interest charges cliches (the federal government is get­ tax cut simply ignores that the underlying (which provide the rich with handsome ting bigger; Washington's debt is rising rate of inflation now is about five times rewards for shooting fish in barrels) faster than any other form of debt; what it was then and that the cut pro­ added an extra $2.8 billion ; unemploy· America spends more of a percentage of posed in 1980 is almost twice as much, ment maintenance (includmg new eJi. GNP than any other advanced industrial in percentage terms, as the one enacted gibility for food stamps and Medicaid) society; and a series of other idiocies that in the sixties. Stockman and Kemp also came to an adqitional $9 .15 billion; and make totally unproved assumptions about so on. the increased productivity and investment Kemp's basic point is on target: that will result from their proposal, for­ government spending is the consequence, getting that most workers in this society not the awse of stagflation. Unfortun. do not determine their own pace and ately, this critically important fact is not that most rich people are interested in recognized throughout the Reagan ad· profits and inflation hedges. They become ministration. In the hearings on the con· concerned with real investment when, lirmation of Donald Regan as secretary and only when, it serves those basic ends. of the treasury, Regan reiterated his new Why, then, praise Stockman and boss's campaign charge that "the chief Kemp for their realistic analysis when engine of inflation is federal spending their conclusions are so foolish? Because and federal deficits." One hopes that the the democratic left should put itself for­ director of OMB can enlighten the sec­ ward as the serious, progressive "supply retary of the treasury on this count. Kemp siders," seizing the opportunity offered to and Stockman are not, however, alone. it by its opponents to take their issue Jn December they received backing from away from them. Stockman and Kemp a most surprising source: Irving Kristo!, are for fanciful schemes to pay the rich widely touted as the guru of contempor· tens of billions to take care of the "sup· ary conservatism, a man with a reputa· ply side"; the democratic left must urge, tion for new and original thinking ac­ Holland lnndon Sunday Tclcgriph as one of its most basic concepts, planned quired from repeating two·century-old Financial Supermarket social investments to p11t people to work ideas. On this occasion, Kristo! actually eliminating the str11ct11ral sources of in­ talked about the present. are almost perfect inversions of the flation, a policy which will also have a Recession, Kristo) argued, is not a truth) . But he then went on in a mood maximum impact upon the racism, sex­ tool to be used against inflation, since it of qualified optimism. The reason? Dem· ism, and poverty that remain-the spur· triggers all of those automatic expendi­ ographics. There will be relatively fewer ious statistics of Reagan's domestic coun· tures. He concluded . "So 1t is altogether "inexperienced teenagers and women" selor, Martin Anderson, to the contrary possible-and Mrs. Thatcher's experience in the economy in the eighties compared -structured into the economy and the in Britain emphasizes this possibility­ to the seventies; there will be more society. that today you simply cannot swap a re­ "prime age" workers between 25 and 44 All well and good. One day when cession for a balanced budget" Would years old. we have regrouped and clarified our pro­ that Jimmy Carter would have listened to Leave aside the probability that Hell­ gram and built our political bases we can this eminence griu of the right, at least er's basic assumptions are wrong (it is go forward to such a strategy. But what when he was in a neopopulist mood. not the "inexperience" of teen agers about right now? More broadly, the "supply siders" are and women that causes their low "prod· Jn a January column, Leonard Silk right on a basic issue. When J debated uctivity," but the inferior jobs they get). reported the areas in which Stockman­ Jack Kemp in 1979, I told him publicly His error is more serious than that. He who as head of OMB is going to be a that we were shoulder to shoulder on assumes that a population trend, a biolog­ chief budget cutter-is will be looking for this point· that traditional fiscal and ical-social fact, is going to solve an reductions. They include monetary manipulation no longer suffices economic-political problem. In the sixties, "capping" the indexing of Social Secur­ to create full employment with stable automatic growth was supposed to deal ity, i.e. legislatin~ a reduction in the liv­ prices; that government policies must with poverty, racism, and sexism, and ing standard of the aging; putting a now focus on investment and production. policymakers would not have to tinker "ceiling" on the federal contribution to Here again, DEMOCRATIC LEFT and with institutions. In the eighties-and we Medicaid, i.e. reducing the health of the DEMOCRATIC AGENDA have been arguing will be hearing much more of this as the poor; cutting the extra 13 weeks of un­ for about five years that our key task is decade proceeds-demographics are the employment benefits, major portions of the democratization of investment. The new de11s ex machina. But Heller gives trade adjustment benefits, public jobs, convergence continues. away his own game. The eighties will, in and food stamps. These examples suffice Sadly, one of the best representatives contrast to the seventies, substitute capi­ to make clear the disastrous possibilities of the traditional liberal wisdom, Walter tal for labor and do so in some measure of the short-run. And after all of those Heller, is much more cautious than the because of government policy. senatorial and congressional losses of No­ Reaganite supply siders. Wnting in the Stockman-Kemp policies will not vember, what can we do? Wall Street Journal on New Year's Eve, avert an "economic Dunkirk." The anal- Continued on p.'ge 15

Feb. 1981 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 3 Socialist Internationalism

By Jack Clark URELY AN EYEBROW OR TWO different situation. In a Jess developed was raised in the staid British society, with much less of a democratic civil service bureaucracy re­ tradition, the collapse of the old order cently when one of the stand­ came suddenly. The Socialist Party, estab­ ard questionnaires came back lished in exile in 1973, found itself in from 88a St. John's Wood power as an alternative to the Stalinist High Street in Northwest Portuguese C.Ommunist Party. Aid from London. In the space for a other European parties helped get the description of business was written the Portuguese Socialists to power, but they reply, "political association founded by could not maintain their hold. Still, Carls­ Karl Marx in 1864." son points out, it is remarkable how That association is, of course, the strong the Socialist Party is, given its Socialist International (SI), and it is run history; and its accomplishments in com­ on a day-to-day basis by Bernt Carlsson, pleting the dismantling of Portugal's em­ ia general secretary and author of the pire, wtihout major disruption at home, description cited above. At the recent Eu­ cannot be discounted lightly. rosocialism conference Carlsson agreed Of course, the problems faced by the to be interviewed about the past, present, Portuguese Socialists are compounded for and future of the 116-year-old group. socialists in the Third World. Beginning When asked about the revival of the Bernt Carlsson in 1976, the International has been pay­ International as a force in both Euro­ ing more attention to the Third World, pean and world politics, Carlsson quickly and some of its critics contend that cen­ pointed to the need for the revival. "The After decades of fascist dictatorship, tral principles of democratic socialism collapse of 1914 represented a physical both Spain and Portugal moved toward have been abandoned in an effort to build collapse, of course. Even more important, democracy in the early 1970s. In both relationships with Third World forces. it represented a moral collapse. The fact countries, the major democratic socialist Among the criticisms are that the SI has that the united workers' movement could parties received organizational and po­ left behind its comniitmcnts to pluralism, not stop an all-European war was taken litical support from the SI itself and from to reformism, and to combating C.Ommu­ to refute the International's claims (of member parties. In Spain, the PSOE (So­ nism. international solidarity). For decades cialist Workers Party of Spain) , the sec­ The always diplomatic Carlsson re­ after the collapse of 1913, the Interna­ ond oldest member party of the Interna­ acts sharply to such criticisms. "It follows tional continued to exist, but its role was tional, emerged slowly from its under­ from the decision to break out of the largely ceremonial. Of course, its meet­ ground status in the twilight of the European ghetto that we can't follow ings afforded party leaders a chance for Franco and post-Franco dictatorship. Un­ classic European models of what social­ informal discussions, but it had no in­ der semi-legal status, the PSOE, led by ism is, what a labor party is. We must fluence on the actual course of interna­ Felipe Gonzalez, faced confusion and dis­ broaden our understandings. tional events." orientation as fellow Spaniards were con­ "We stand for pluralism-free elec­ In 1976, that situation changed as fronted by 60 left wing parties, including tions, more than one party. We arc also Willy Brandt lent his considerable pres­ one run by the Ministry of the Interior. aware that our interpretation of what tige to the International by becoming At all its meetings, the SI stressed its sup­ pluralism is, particularly in developing president and all the major parties of the port for the PSOE under Gonzalez's lead­ countries, needs examining. For example, International made a major commitment ership as the historic party of Spanish in Tanzania there is only one party, but to taking its work more seriously. Reach­ socialism. That support, and the kind of free elections arc conducted with two can­ ing out beyond the "European ghetto" of organizational support provided by t&c didates from that party running against traditional socialist politics was a major Belgian socialists who printed the PSOE's each other. All of this will be taken up priority for the SI, but its newfound magazine and smuggled it into Spain, in the new declaration of principles the strength and solidarity had a good work­ helped sort out the confusion and solidify International is working on to replace the out in Europe itself in the years imme­ the legitimacy of the PSOE. Frankfurt Declaration. We should also diately preceding the November 1976 Portuguese Socialists, under the lead­ remember that these new phenomena Congress that elected Brandt. ership of Mario Soares, faced an entirely create ideological problems, not just for

4 DEMOCRATIC LEFT Feb. 1981 socialists, but for liberals, conservatives One might argue that all of this outreach in Eurocentric terms-countries and Communists as ·t11.-cll. We are required sounds tine for the mass socialist parties like Japan, Canada and the United States. to take the questions seriously. of Europe and the liberation movements The parties struggling in these socic;ties "As for the tactical question, demo­ of the Third World, but that the per­ arc engaged in very important work and cratic socialists arc always, let me repeat spective of the Socialist International is deserve the full support of the Interna­ I that, always for a reformist approach irrelevant here. Carlsson disagrees strong­ tional. We had a meeting of the Socialist where this is possible. Jn times and places, ly. Citing the crucial role the U.S. plays International party leaders in Japan, in it is not possible, and socialists have acted in the world, the SI general secretary 1976-the .first major International meet· accordingly. for example in Germany in noted the "tremendous opportunity and ing in Japan, or in all of Asia, in the Jn. the 1920s, the SPD organized the Iron tremendous responsibility" American so­ ternational's history. We had the .first d Banner, paramilitary units to fight the cialists face in bringing the issues of the Congress of the Socialist International ttic Nu.is' SA guards. In Austria in the 1930s, Third World to public attention. Among on the North American continent in Van­ ~er the Socialists fought a civil war against the urgent campaigns being conducted by couver in 1978. ab- the right with terrible bloodshed. In the the International, Carlsson mentioned the "Another iUustration of the com­ 1D 1940s, socialists participated in under· campaign of solidarity on behalf of the mitment felt by many member parties is list ground struggles against the Nazi occu­ people of El Salvador and Guatemala as the number of party leaders attending this om pying powers in several countries and all well as the continuing and high priority conference sponsored by the Institute for the social democrats supported the United campaigns to establish majority rule in Democratic Socialism.'' 'ley Nations war effort against the Axis South Africa and to return Chile to de­ The interview over, Carlsson's words ds­ powers. mocracy. sink in. Of course, one understands the ow "The situation in Latin America need for caution in discussing the appeal its today resembles that of Europe in the of "socialist internationalism." From the m­ 1920s, '30s and '40s. In Guatemala, a collapse of 1914 to the Brezhnev Doc· m­ person who tries reformist methods will trine, that idea has been betrayed and nc, die a speedy death under most unpleasant ''The U.S. movement is not abused. And here, in the U.S., connec­ circumstances. That fate might spread to weak. Something with great tion with the world's "'progressive forc­ the other members of his family, including es" has justified all manner of crimes and for children. In this situation, to argue for a potential cannot be characterized stupidities for leftwing movements large ing reformist approach is not only impracti­ and small. ay· cal, it is illogical, irresponsible and to­ ttS weak.,, dearly, Carlsson and other leaders ·Id, tally unjustified.'' of the Socialist International understand en­ Confronting the accusation, heard those problems. No one is offering the SI sm often among conservative and neocon­ as an all-purpose formula to solve every iild servative Americans concerned with for­ problem. Brandt, Carlsson, all the lead­ :es. eign policy, that social democrats have Asked what a weak movement in the ers of the SI are too acutely aware of the has somehow grown "soft on Communism," United States could do, Carlsson took illusions that lead up to the debacle of iDl, Carlsson counters with some ironic ex­ exception. "The U.S. movement is not 1914 to rekindle them. Unlike the Third riu- amples. " I can recall the Eisenhower ad­ weak. Something with great potential or various versions of the Fourth Inter­ ministration in this country training com­ cannot be characterized as weak. Some­ national, the SI is democratic, dccentral· re- bat pilots for the government of Marxist­ thing which is young and dynamic can­ izcd, and consists of autonomous mass 1ws Leninist Communist Yugoslavia. No one not be called weak even if it is small cur­ parties. For the first time in more than the presumed that the Republican govern­ rently. You are only in the beginning of sixty years, that loose, democratic and OW ment of the United States had gone soft your expansion. socialist federation is playing a role in tile lal­ on Communism. No country ruled by "In the past, the left has seen the politics of the world. ust social democrats is providing software U.S. as a citadel of capitalism, a fortress Olof Palme, former prime minister and equipment to Marxist-Leninist Com­ of imperialism. Now the member parties of Sweden, said at the conference that so· ec­ munist China on the scale the United of the Socialist International see things cialism "is above all a freedom movement lso States 1s. differently. Many want to explore this representing a century-long struggle for hat "\Vie are very clear that Marxist­ fortress, and if we can't conquer this for­ democracy and social justice." The Intcr­ ing Leninist Communist parties are our adver­ tress of capitalism, then at least we can national"s work gives relevance to lhat >le, saries. But our main task in life is not to get up on the walls and see what the struggle, to a struggle to create an alter­ 'ut be anti-Communist. Our task is to pro­ inhabitants of the citadel are doing inside. native to the systems and to the domina­ ln· mote democratic socialism as an alterna­ We can't judge the character of the so­ tion of the two superpowers. That strug· nst tive to both Communism and capitalism. ciety by the captains of the citadel alone. gle has relevance in a revived Europe, in up The capacity of the Socialist International "In reaching out beyond Europe, the Middle East, in Japan, in the Third the to e:otablish this "third force" in the the move to pay greater attention to the World, and even here in the "citadel." • the world grows day by day. To the degree Third World is crucially important, but lso that we are successful in our objective, it is also important that we pay attention Jack Clark is chair of the N.Y. DSOC !Ila Communism will not be perceived as an to the industrialized societies on the other Local and was formerly national secre­ for altcrnadve." side of the oceans-if we're phrasing this tary of DSOC.

Feb. 1981 D EMOCRATIC LEFT 5 in 1979 the coalition made its first ven­ ture into the electoral arena. Targeting four st.tte house races, IPAC was crucial m electing or re-electing three progres­ Citizens' Groups in sive legislators amidst a statewide swing to the right The voter education pro­ gram was so successful, says IPAC execu· tive director Bob Creamer, that it will be e'·panded in coming elections. Anticorporate Mood IPAC has shifted from the usual re­ form targets of citizen groups (shutoffs, street lights, metro fares) to naming, and By George Wood questioning, the basic economic structure of the society. The convention began with INT.ER IN ILLINOIS IS US· Groups found that direct action tac­ ually a dismal experience tics worked only on a limited number a slide show which identified "the power for senior citi.?ens on fixed of receptive legislators. Lack of members of the large corporations to control our future" as the key problem faced by the incomes and for the poor. hampered fundraising and impact. .And The chill of the winter the limited reforms they won, while im­ coalition. This anticorporate theme ap­ wind is intensified by the portant, extinguished brush fires on the peared over and over again in sessions howl of utility company edge of a holocaust. Yet the experience on energy, housing, and job loss. The wolves prowling outside they gained has led to dramatic changes entire second day of the convention was the door waiting for a missed payment­ in coalition makeup, tactics, and issues. devoted to runaway shops and organiz­ premise, formerly, for depriving a house­ IPA.C's 197:5 founding convention ing to prevent such m6vement. Members told of light and heat during the season was made up for the most part of individ­ passed resolutions calling for the public of often sub-zero temperatures. uals representing neighborhood groups control of investment to curtail such This winter it has been different. in Chicago. This year's convention, held movement. Thanks to a four-year struggle by an in Kankakee, had delegates from 110 af­ During the session on energy and Illinois citizen coalition, the Illinois filiates in every area of the state. But, utilities a resolution was passed calling Commerce Commission severely curtailed more importantly, the delegates them­ for investiRation into the public owner­ Illinois utilities' power to terminate serv­ selves had changed. Unions, faced with ship of all utilities. Lou Petterchak, the ice. Now, if the temperature drops below a more hostile state and national picture, Champaign-Urbana DSOC activist who 32°F, utilities cannot be shut off for non­ put forth the resolution was surprised at payment. Companies must work out de­ the ease with which it passed. "No one ferred payment plans with customers, or there voiced any opposition to the reso­ put them in touch with agencies that can ''Part of the attractiveness lution. I think it is clear that a lot of the help them pay their bills. emphasis here has gone from reform fo of democratic socialism to this restructuring." This victory for the Illinois Public Action Council (IPAC) demonstrates movement is its ability to BuildinA Links the growth and effectiveness of it and These emer,1?ing tendencies in IPAC, other similar citizen action coalitions brtild bridges between alt these and in other similar citizens' movements, throughout the country. Often overlook­ have forced democratic socialists to take a ed by the democratic left, these groups issues.,, closer look at their relations to the grow· are of particular interest because of their ing citizens' movement. In fact, recently growing anticorporate sentiment. IPAC's two members of DSOC and one joint statewide convention in November re­ have been attracted to IPACs opposition memher of NAM and DSOC were elect­ reflected this mood and may have been a to plant closures in the state. Jackets ed to the IPAC statewide board. harbinger of the approach that citizen sporting emblems of the Machin ists, According to newly elected board groups will take in the eighties. UAW, Steelworkers, Miners, ACIWU member Gene Vanderport (NAM and Most of the statewide citizens' coal­ (Amalgamated Clothing and Textile DSOC) , IPAC broadens the perspective itions have grown up in the Midwest and Workers Union), Communication Work­ of many socialists. "Traditionally we East. They were founded on the premise ers, and Service Employees were in abun­ have looked to build links with unions, of direct community group intervention dance at the convention. Minority organ­ single issue groups, or the Democratic into neighborhood problems. Although izations, traditionally suspicious of large part}·· In an organization like JPAC we many organizers had a larger perspective, coalitions not specifically organized on have all three areas united." neither individual nor organizational issues of equal rights, also provided a Vanderport pointed to several areas members shared it. significant Hispanic and black presence. in which democratic socialist activists Successful though they have been, Much convention discussion focused should pay closer attention to the citizens' campaigns such as the one around winter on a new tactical direction for IPAC movement. In the electoral arena, such utility shutoffs have highlighted the lim­ Whereas it had once confined itself to groups often form a more lasting, stable, itations of this strategy. the legislative process and ICC hearings, and active presence than the Democratic

6 0.EMOCRATIC LEFT Feb. 1981 ven­ party, especially between elections. This :cting would indicate the possibility of building rucial altenutive electoral bases and move­ 1gres­ ments. IPAC "represents the linking up wing of unions, our natural base, with the sup· pro­ pon we need in the neighborhoods, the x:ecu­ churches, and among minority groups," ill be Va.ndcrport, the president of an .Ameri­ can Federation of Government Employ­ ll re­ ees local, pointed out. totfs, IPAC and similar groups are, in a ,and sense, the embodiment of the DEMO· cture CRATIC AGENDA coalition. It is made up :with of exactly the groups DSOC worked to ower unite in DEMOCRATIC AGENDA, and is our working to bring about the DEMOCRATIC r the AGE!l.'DA demands through a legislative ap­ and electoral strategy. nons Democratic socialists have been ac­ The cepted as vital parts of these coalitions. was Nationally, at the founding convention lniz­ for Citizen Action, the national umbrella bers Lenora Davis for citizens' coalitions, DSOC Chair Mi­ Stop Big Oil Rally organized by IPAC in Chicago. lblic chael Harrington delivered an explicitly ruch socialist address that received enthusiastic acceptance.• these conflicts will increase. Coalition· LETTERS, from page 2 and At that same Cleveland, Ohio confer­ backed candidates will have to take stands ling creasingly on the defensive as regards em­ ence, Heather Booth, a leader in the citi­ on such divisive issues as abortion and ner­ ployment, job security, social benefits, zens' movement and director of the Mid­ gun control, for example, which may the living standards, and the power of trans­ west Academy, noted the weakness of weaken coalition cohesiveness. iv ho national corporations. citizens' coalitions. There is, she contend­ d at True, American workers and social­ ed, a basic tendency in these coalitions to one Solidifying Coalitions ists have a lot to learn from the experi­ eso­ ignore social issues. Issues of race, wom­ leadership, staff, and activists in the ence of European social democracy-but en's rights, and the like often go unad­ the citizens' movement hope that continued it is fallacious to imply, as Ms. Lieber dressed. I fo work together and a uniting program does, that the lessons are all positive. Indeed, some of these tensions have primarily focused on energy and job loss H. Brand begun to emerge inside IPAC. Two will so cement the citizens' coalitions Bethesda, Md. neighborhood groups in Chicago, one that these issues will not split them. Part Nancy Lieber replies: \C, white, the other black, have disagreed of the attractiveness of democratic so­ My background article on Euro­ 11ts, over policies that would limit or elimin­ cialism to this movement is its ability to socialism-and the Eurosocialism confer­ :ea ate low income housing. build bridges between all these issues, re- ence held in Washington in early Decem­ )W· Another conflict arose over the issue 1ieving some of these pressures on the ber 1980-did not seek to impose a flaw· 1tly of how to keep the organization represen­ organizations. less "welfare-state paradigm" on the U.S. 1int tative without having unions with large But these potential conflicts seemed The aim of the article was to acknowl­ :ct- memberships be overrepresented on de­ far removed from the minds of partici­ edge the very real successes of the Euro­ cision making bodies. Although this issue pants at the IPAC convention. Rudy pean social democrats, but also to convey ltd was handled fairly easily, as a result of Gonzales, a UAW member from Deca­ their sense that worldwide economic de­ illd the unions' desire to cooperate rather than tur, put it this way: "You know, it is velopments in t he 1970s and '80s have ive capture, the first remains unresolved. these people here that are going to change made movement (ideas/ action) beyond we These fundamental conflict of interest is­ America. Together we can take back the "humanized capitalism" all the more ne­ ns, sues will most likely not just vanish on power to control our own lives." Heady cessary. The point of the conference was tic their own. words coming on the heels of Ronald precisely to allow Americans to hear of we In fact, Booth stressed, as citizen Reagan's election. He echoed the senti­ those new ideas and practical experiences groups move into the electoral arena, ment of virtually everyone in attendance from the Eurosocialists themselves.

~ and voiced in the convention theme- sts •Mcmbcn of G uzen Action include Coonecti· "It's up to us." • CORRECTION ias' cut Gruen Act' n Group, IPAC, Citizen Ac· The December issue mistakenly identi­ ch lion Coalition • ·i Indiana. Massachusetts Fair George lf7ood is active in Champaign· fied the organizers of the U AW's effort Share, Kev.· Hampshire People's Alliance, to organize campus clerical employees at le, Ohio Public Interest Campaign, and Oregon Urbana DSOC and serves on the national tic Fair Share. board. Yale University. It is Region 9·A.

Feb. 1981 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 7 REPORT 'Urban Enterprise' Hustle

By Richard Mounts VER THE PAST 30 YEAllS BlL· lions of federal dollars have gone into ctforts to improve economic conditions in dtics, with minimal success. Last summer, the New Yo,.k Times reported the results of a study by Richard Nathan and James Fossett that found that cities considered "distressed" in 1960 were in the same or worse condition in 1978, and that much­ touted cases of urban revitalization were limited to small sections of cities and should not be taken to indicate more general improvement. We rarely think to look to the Re­ publicans for fresh ideas on urban policy, but here is the Reagan administration coming into office with what many con­ sider one of the most interesting new ideas in some time. Reagan proposes to crcatae "urban enterprise zones" wnich, he says, should create large numbers of new jobs and produce dramatic improve­ ments in the most distressed parts of the cities. Reagan credits Buffalo, (N.Y.) Republican Congressmcmber Jade Kemp with the original idea, which is the heart of the legislation he has cosponsored with Democrat Robert Garcia of the Bronx. The "Urban Jobs and Enterprise Zone Act," as the bill is known, proposes de­ lineating zones in urban neighborhoods like the South Bronx- part of Represen­ tative Garcia's district-and offering sub­ stantial tax incentives to private businesses that locate there. Surprisingly, the idea is being looked at seriously and with some degree of support by individuals and groups on both the right and the left. Black columnists Carl Rowen and Wil­ liam Raspberry have both commented favorably on the bill. At the end of No­ vember mayors and city councilmembers from around the country, meeting in Atlanta at the National League of Cities annual convention, spent considerable time examining the bill, and by and large

8 DEMOCRATIC I.EFT Feb. 19.81 liked wlu.t they 53W. Even Representative zone status on areas of roughly one square 2. an unemployment rate at three Augt:stns Hawkins has called it a "bold, mile in seven cities, and offered tax ad­ times the national average for the pre­ innontive approach." .All this prompted vantages and freedom from many land ceding two years; John Hebers, in an article in the New use planning requirements to businesses 3. more than 50 percent of the fam­ Yori Tir:a, to sense a "tenuous consen­ that locate in the areas. Sir Geoffrey ilies below the poverty line. sus·· emerging in support of the proposal, Howe, Thatcher's Chancellor of the Ex­ .As part of the application, the local gov­ and a :sttong likelihood that some version chequer, championed the idea in the cab­ ernment would have to demonstrate its cf the bill ~II emerge from the 97th inet, but, interestingly, drew valuable own commitment to lifting the weight of Congress. (Not everyone joins in the con­ support from Peter Hall, a professor of taxation by agreeing to a permanent re­ sensus. Ex-ACTION head Sam Brown urban studies at Reading University, and duction in property taxes in the zone by alls it .. colonialism brought home.") a socialist, who first proposed the zones at least 20 percent. as an experiment in "non planning" in The bill then lays out five different Scran~ Allies an article published in 1969. tax benefits for businesses, employees, and What sort of proposal is it that Critical of the maze-like planning property owners: joins the leader of "populist" supply­ requirements that he felt had grown up 1. a reduction in Social Security ilde Republicans with a Democratic rep­ around local development, and impressed payroll taxes for employees and employ­ resentative of one of the most depressed by the freedom of action enjoyed by both ers by 90 percent for workers under 21, urban areas of the country, and then nineteenth century capitalists and Con­ and by 50 percent for workers 21 and draws support from both a leader of the temporary Hong Kong entrepreneurs, older. General revenues would be used full employment movement and the man Hall proposed a partial recreation of to make up what was lost to the Social who promises to use his position at OMB those conditions in the most decayed sec­ Security fund ; to lead an all-out attack on social spend­ tions of British cities. Freed of regula- 2. for non-corporate property, a fif- ing? What is going on ? Kemp's explanation would be that the idea of enterprise zones is neither ''This, in yet another guise, is the conservative method of trickling liberal nor conservative, but simply prag­ matic, and thus can be supported by any­ aid to poor people through businesses. It has not worked one interested in helping the cities. But in the past, and there is little reason to expect it will this time. '' a careful look at the bill and some guesses zhout how its various components may work raises some questions. The bill is tions, and spurred by tax incentives, many ty percent reduction in the capital gains like!}· to bring new economic activity into of the new science and technology-based tax rate by increasing the allowable ·de­ the zones, but it is not clear whether this firms would move into the zones. Hall duction from 60 to 80 percent on the sale will be a net addition to the total econ­ further anticipated that, while these firms of personal property in the zone; omy, or simply a shift away from some would employ mostly highly-skilled work­ 3. for corporations, a reduction in other part of the city or country. It is also ers from outside the zone, the presence the capital gains tax rate to 15 percent on not clear that the bill will do much for of new firms in the zones would gener­ property in the zone; any of the interests it claims to serve-city ate service businesses that would employ 4. a reduction in corporate income governments, neighborhods, small busi­ semi-skilled and unskilled residents. tax rates by 15 percent; nesses, or the unemployed. The proposal In this country, Hall's ideas have fit 5. permission to depreciate the first may be hard to classify in Washingtonian in well with Kemp's and other supply­ $500,000 worth of property purchased "liberal" and "conservative" categories, siders' views that government taxation each year over a three-year period. but that may say more abm:it the quality and regulation are most responsible for The Heritage Foundation, which has of political analysis in the city than it does our low rate of growth. provided a good deal of the backup anal­ about the bill. Despite the novelty of the ysis for the bill, urged that regulatory .. zone concept, the bill draws on a familiar Features of the Bill relief, such as a lower minimum wase approach : it provides direct benefits to The bill outlines the requirements and freedom from local zoning rules, business, and then hopes this will help for zone designation and stipulates the accompany tax relief inside the zone. cities, neighborhoods, and poor people. incentives to businesses in the zones. Kemp, however, has not included deregu­ This. in yet another guise, is the pro­ Local governments would apply to the lation measures in the bill, arguing that foundly sracus quo-orienred and conserv­ secretary of commerce for designation. A they would stand in the way of getting arive merhod of rrickling aid to poor potential zone would have to include at labor and local government support. people and communiries through busi­ least 4,000 people, a substantial number The cost of the bill, Kemp says, ~ . le has nor worked in rhe past, and of whom are poor. Poverty could be de­ should be minimal . .At worst, he calcu­ cbere is lirrle reason ro expect ir will chis fined by one of three different measures: lates, if no new business was stimulated umc. 1. an unemployment rate at least by the act, the tax breaks would only cost The basic idea for the bill has been twice the national average for the pre­ the Treasury from $1 to $1.4 billion a imported from Great Britain. There, last ceding two years, and a rate of at least 30 year. The zone criteria are supposed to summer, the Thatcher goverment initi­ percent of the families below the official have been defined in such a way as to ared an experimental program conferring poverty level ; apply to areas including only about five

Feb. 1981 OBMOCltATIC Ll!PT 9 percent of the population. Jn fact, he from applying, since several state govern­ areas, much as office tenants have tended does not expect the government to lose ments prohibit localities from assessing to move out of older buildings into the anything. He expects the bill to increase property at less than full value, or apply­ new, more attractive, glass towers in cities tax revenues as land that is being kept, ing different rates in different parts of the like Atlanta and Detroit. Why, one could so to speak, fallow, is cleared and put into city. Jn other instances the city, unable to ask, should a business stay and pay normal productive use. sacrifice any revenues or to afford devel­ taxes in a neighborhood with 10 percent Kemp and Garcia have begun a na­ opment mosts, may be too poor to apply. unemployment when it could pay much tional speaking tour touting the bill as a Neighborhoods. Perhaps too im­ less by moving a few blocks to one with way to improve the fiscal health of badly pressed with the devastation of the South 14 percent unemployment. At the same distressed cities, revitalize neighborhoods, Bronx, supporters of the bill seem to pre­ time, nearby businesses that cannot move promote small business startups, and em­ sume that all depressed neighborhoods into it may end up being unaercut by ploy the jobless. Jn fact, in its present consist of acres of rubble, deserted build­ competitors able to operate in the zone form the act is likely to be of little imme­ ings, and a few trapped residents who with significantly lower costs. diate benefit to any of these groups, and would abandon the area in a minute if Small b11sines16s. Kemp has put par­ could, in some instances, tum out to do they only bad a way out. To the contrary, ticular emphasis on what the bill could do more good than harm. many areas likely to be eligible for zone to aid small business startups. But most Local got1ernmen11. For local gov­ designation will be more like Poletown in new businesses go for several years before ernments any potential benefits of receiv­ they have much tax liability. A decision ing zone designation for parts of the city to launch a new business depends more must be balanced against two immediate ''Enterprise zones, if they work on one's ability to find financing than on costs. expectations of post-tax profits. The tax The first involves certification of the at all, could inflict large-scale benefits in the bill all work to reduce a unemployment and poverty conditions in physical disruption on a neigh­ business's operating costs after it is under­ a zone application. The basic problem is way, not to help it get started. Jn some that good, reliable numbers for these con­ borhood . .." instances property tax relief could be ditions do not exist for such small units. helpful, but many, if not most, small busi­ Despite several years of effort, unemploy­ nesses rent the facilities they occupy, and ment figures arc neither reliable nor valid Detroit, a neighborhood that includes the landlord may or may not choose to below the Standard Metropolitan Statis­ land the city wants to clear and lease to pass on the property tax savings. tical Area level. Kemp has responded that General Motors for a new Cadillac plant. The 1memploy6d. Here the trid

10 DEMOCRATIC LEFT Feb. 1981 still-vital neigh!>orhoods with both physi­ portance of government planning and and receiving more than a billion dollars cal and social disruptions, offers the investment and prefers to work through a year in aid from the U.S. It was a case, wrong kind of 2id to new small busi­ large corporations. Enlightened trickle as Sidney Lens neatly summarized it, of nesses, and offers minimal promise of down is still trickle down. "growth without development." Firms employment for people in the zones who had located on the ish.nd, and some peo­ need it the most. Puerto Rican Example ple had found jobs, but Puerto Rico, after Who would benefit from the bill? Perhaps the best evidence of this, three decades of trickle down develop­ Two groups appear to have the best and of the ultimate failure of the ap­ ment, was further than ever from a stable, chance of improving themselves under proach as a basis for development pol­ self-sustaining economy. the bill One is those who own potentially icy, comes from a brief review of Op­ Kemp has said that the key to solv­ developable sites in a zone. As soon as the eration Bootstrap, the economic develop­ ing the urban crisis is finding out what "green line," as Kemp refers to it, is ment policy that guided Puerto Rican leads to economic growth in cities. His drawn around an area, land values should development programs for over 30 years. solution has been to wed the simple increase. (There is some likelihood that Under legislation signed by Presi­ truths of Adam Smith to the taxing pow­ the increase could end up offsetting the dent Truman in 1950, the island gained ers of the modem state. But as the case of benefits of lower property taxes.) Realiz­ status as a commonwealth and at the same Puerto Rico makes clear, economic growth ing this, real estate interests, always a time became a very attractive location for is only part of the task. The solution to powerful group in local politics, should businesses. The legislation freed U.S. cor­ the urban crisis is probably a much more take a strong interest in the process of porations on the island of U.S. taxes, and complex and longer-term process Utan zone delineation. This, and the discretion at the same time permitted them to im­ anything Kemp appears to have in mind. allowed local governments, should create port finished goods to the mainland freed In many ways the model of Third World some marvelously gerrymandered zones of import duties. On top of this, busi­ economic development suggested by the in attempts to include politically import­ nesses were exempted from most local Puerto Rican example may be more ant parcels of land. taxes. appropriate. Development includes eco­ A second group of beneficiaries By one set of measures Operation nomic growth, but it also includes build­ should be larger, established businesses. Bootstrap was a remarkable success. In ing up the capacity of local institutions, Tax benefits are attractive only when a 1957, 500 American plants were employ­ both economic and political; drawing on firm earns enough to face a significant tax ing 40,000 workers, and by 1977 the unique local resources, both natural and liability. Most new firms struggle through numbers had risen to 2000 plants and human ; and meeting the most pressing several years before they reach that posi­ 140,000 workers. Corporations had in­ local needs. In sum, it means greater tion. Therefore, the zones shoulJ look vested more than .S 14 billion in the is­ equality in a more autonomous and self­ most attractive to executives of large, land. Puerto Rico's gross national prod­ reliant local economy. That will have to multi-branch firms thinking about open­ uct nearly quadrupled between 1950 be worked out in a combination of fed­ ing another branch. They might be par­ and 1976; illiteracy disappeared; health eral, state, and local legislation that looks ticularly inviting to a firm, inspired by standards improved ; and car ownership very different from the Kemp-Garcia pro­ the example of multinational corpora­ came close to overwhelming the island's posal. • tions, looking for tax havens to shelter roads. profits But another set of figures, as well as Richard Mo11nts is a policy analyst at the Kemp and Garcia have responded to evidence from everyday life, tell a differ­ Center for Renewable Reso11rcn, Wa.rh­ criticisms by Sa}"ing that the bill is only ent story. In 1977, the official unemploy­ ington, D.C. a first draft, and that they are open to sug­ ment rate was 20 percent (compared to gestions for improvements. In that spirit, 13 percent in 1960), but the governor's REFERENCES representatives of a number of groups in office estimated that it was probably closer James Anderson, "Back to the Nineteenth Washington have been meeting with staff to 30. It would have been worse but for Century," Netu Statesman, July 4, from Kemp's and Garcia's offices to work the migration of about three-quarters of a 1980 out amendments. Discussions so far have million people to the mainland. In that Stuart M. Butler, "For 'Enterprise tended to focus on ways to loosen the same year, 70 percent of the people were Zones,'" New York Times, June 13, requirements for property tax reductions, eligible for food stamps, and 60 percent 1980 to simplify the data requirements for were receiving them. Many of the com­ Jack Kemp, "A Strategy for Jobs in the poverty and unemployment, to avoid the panies that had first been attracted by low Inner City," no date massive political problems connected with wages and low taxes were now leaving, Sidney Lens, "Puerto Rico : Trouble in the Social Security tax reduction, and to looking for the same advantages in the the 'Showcase,' " The Progressi11e, tighten the employment requirements. Philippines. Taiwan. and South Korea. August 1977 But can the bill really be made A poor but diversified and self­ Georg!! Sternlieb, "Kemp-Garcia Act: to work for those who need the help sufficient agricultural society at the turn An Initial Evaluation," Report pre­ the most? Could well-considered amend­ of the century had become by the late pared for the Office of the Assistant ments lead it in the right direction? The 1970s a poor and dependent industrial­ Secretary for Community Planning answer is "probably not," at least not as ized society, importing S800 million a and Development, Department of long as its sponsors remain committed to year in foodstuffs (while three-fifths of Housing and Urban Development, an approach that denies the central im- the arable land was out of cultivation), July 1980

Feb. 1981 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 11 and his Moral Majority eyeing New Jer­ sey as a testing ground, and other Ieft­ libera1 forces in disarray, the tenants' movement is preparing to do battle with Youth Gathering the minions of the New Right. Building coalitions-between youth and progressive forces, especially laBor­ was also a constant theme. Successful DSOC Youth Section examples over the past year have included work with the Citizen/ Labor Energy Coalition on "Big Builds Strength Oil Day" and on "Big Business Day" ac­ tivities as weU as trade union support for By Patrick Lacefield last March's 35,000-person rally against HE END OF THE YEAR IS TRADl­ gued, "so it is with the directions that the draft in Washington. tionally a time for resolutions have traditionally shaped Republican and "We in DSOC can be proud that we for the New Year, wassailing, conservative Democratic administrations. pioneered many of the coalition efforts and a full measure of good It is important to .recognize," said Har­ between labor and youth and others," said cheer. The last tl}ree years have rington, "that corporations run this so­ Marjorie Phyfe of the Machinists Unio·n also seen the emergence of an­ ciety-fundamentally-because they hold and former coordinator of DSOC's DEM­ other yea.r-end staple-DSOC's untrammelled economic power and know OCRATIC AGENDA project. She spoke of Winter Youth Conference. This how to use it, not because liberals and the crisis in the labor movement as stem­ year mo.re than 180 high school, college, socialists sell out the powers that be. ming from the broader crisis in the Dem­ and non-college youth from dozens of There is no way out without democratic ocratic party. "What we are seeing is the campuses gathered on December 27-28 control over the investment process." limits of procedural reform-openness in New Yo.rk under the theme "Demo­ In workshops and plenaries ranging without accountability," she maintained, cratic Socialist Strategy Under Reagan." from housing and urban affairs to women arguing that the party was losing its And-far from the depressing fare one and work and Third World solidarity, working-class base through its "P.T. Bar­ might expect to encounter under such a from militarism and the draft to Marxism num" method of trying to pull everyone topic-the tone and mode were forwa.rd­ and political culture, the theme resound­ looking. "I believe we have real opportu­ ed-Where a.re we now? What have we nities in the 1980s, explained University of Missouri student activist Joel Bleiiuss, "to point to the failures in past liberal as­ swnptions and build a left ready to pre­ sent substantial alternatives to Reagan and the right when they falter-as they surely will." DSOC National Chair Mike Har­ rington set the tone for the conference by mapping out the parameters of the crisis -political, economic and ideological-be­ fore the democratic left. He pointed par­ ticularly to the battle between the .radical under its broad tent. "Candidates define "supply side.rs" and traditional conserva­ to look forward to under Reagan? What the issues, then blackmail us into sup­ tives within the Reagan camp over which are our intermediate and long-term goals? porting them. We have to begin to define would control the P.resident-elect's mind John Adas, an editor of the national ten­ the issues both inside and outside the on economic policy. Just as liberal ants' paper She/terforce and a leader in party." Keyncsianism is coming under fire for New Jersey tenant politics, pointed to In a plenary on political culture, 'being out of tune with the times, he ar- successes the Jersey movement has had black activist Manning Marable presented that will help in the coming period. "We the problem somewhat differently. "The violated two longstanding heresies of the 1960s signalled a cultural revolution of left," he explained to the housing work­ enormous significance from Betty Frie­ shop. "We made unscrupulous use of the dan's 'problem that had no name' to the media and embroiled ourselves in elector­ rise of radical black culture," he said. al politics. As a result, we a.re now pre­ "Just when we were on the verge of sumed to speak for New Jersey's 500,000 some victory, we are being swept back by renters and elected ourselves a pro-tenant a 'back to basics' move toward religious governor and county executive and in­ fundamentalism and a simplistic patriot- creased our .resource base for tenant or­ ism." ganizing." With the Rev. Jerry Falwell Continued on page 15

12 DEMOCRATIC LEFT Feb. 1981 'S LEFf 10 RFAD Tom Hayden. The American Future: New Visions Be­ with implementation of proposals put forth by Douglas Fraser yond Old Frontiers (Boston, Mass. South End Press, and the UAW. These are all transitional programs that social­ 1980); S6.00 ists can and should readily support and organize around­ demands relevant to what a future America can become. By Ronald Radosh It is strange and disheartening, therefore, to find that URJNG THE 1960s, AS MICHAEL P. LERNER PUT IT, Hayden not only uses the term "economic demoncracy" as a Tom Hayden used his power and prestige in the somewhat tame substitute for socialism-others have argued New Left "to advance a weird combination of lib­ that such a tactic is necessary in our politically backward so­ eral ideas and superrevolutionary tactics." His then ciety-but that he feels compelled to launch an ideological strident rhetoric - uncritical endorsement of the attack on socialism, one that weakens the force of his own Black Panthers, advocacy of nihilistic action, talk argument. Hayden begins by admitting that "an America which of liberated zones - had the effect of turning off freezes the socialist tradition out of hearing is heading toward many Americans drawn to serious left alternatives. narrow minded isolation in the world," and then proceeds It is dear from his new and important book that Hayden to add to that very freezing out of the socialist critique. He has not only matured in years, but has thought long and hard does this by taking a series of cheap shots at straw figures, about our country's future, and now seeks to help build a move­ as he proclaims that socialism was a meaningful ideology for ment that will create a system based on "democratic and par­ a past era, but "not for the age we are gradually entering." ticipatory economy planning, with direction and ideas flowing Hayden tries to prove this by engaging in the kind of from the workplace and community upwards instead of down." crude antisocialist myths that one hears from uneducated critics Hayden, thus, has joined the consensus uniting the demo­ of Marxism. He dredges up the old canard that Marxists "make cratic left-the movement to challenge corporate power. He the realm of economics a more fundamental focus of thought argues that the collapse of both the old New Deal coalition than politics," which along with factors other than class (race, and the 1950s Cold War consensus necessitates movement in sex, religion, etc.) they dismiss as "merely superstructure." new directions. Either we now face the authoritarianism of the Hayden argues that in reality, the "superstructure itself, rather right, Hayden posits, or we build a new "progressive popu­ than the base, often seems to be the determining or at least lism" that will unite workers, women, and minorities in a operative force in change." movement for "economic democracy and political decentrali­ zation." Hayden understands that sophisticated corporate lib­ Hayden should know becter rhan co use chis argumenc. erals want to prop up the old order with top down planning, Marxiscs from Michael Harrington to Eugene Genovese co and he strongly rejects rhe "reindustrialization" schemes of­ Raymond Williams argue precisely that same point, in a far more fered by corporate and go,·ernment bureaucratis. complex fashion rhan does Hayden. Secondly, Hayden argues Jn its place he .suggests "a reformist, mainstream coalition, falsely char all socialises favor nationalization-which he argues is the most far reachin£ of its kind since the New Deal." As it is an "unattractive alternative to corporate power," ignoring that being created, he notes, it will have to be pushed to its left by the main body of European socialists agree . Third, he argues chat even newer and more radical movements that exist alongside class analysis means chat the individual is reduced to a class it. These movements he suggests 'Q,;11 be modem counterparts desciny, and chac socialises believe "char social change should of the 1930s' C.1.0.; and will stress more fundamental goals come abouc in the United Scares ac che expense of individual such as "redistribution of power." Those ad\'ocating these freedom." goals will have to engage in extra-parliamentary action as well Certainly Hayden knows that democratic socialists see the as electoral campaigns. Hayden's hope, perhaps somewhat uto­ "indiYidual's self-actualization" as the central purpose of life pian, is that the 1990s will see the coming to national power (as Marx himself postulated). To claim that this is not under­ of those he dubs "economic Democrats." stood by socialists, and that the socialist errors he catalogues Hayden, like his colleagues Martin Carnoy and Derek "affiict the programs of almost all socialist groups" is absurd. Shearer (DL, October 1980) , offers readers a primer on the Of course, he is correct to assert that "the Soviet model is the goals and ends of economic democracy. He treats the corporate opposite of what we are seeking," but who among us endorses causes of inflation, transition to a solar economy, examines the that model ? Accepting the myth that Soviet society equals tie-in between the health establishment and the large corpora­ socialism is heartening to both Stal~nists and corporate enemies tions, and warns that unless they are curbed, the large cor­ of social change. Hayden should help to knock it down rather porations might "tend to absorb and become the state," finally than use it for his own purposes. attaining a long sought goal of a formal corporate state. He Hayden concludes by calling for building a movement for treats the unravelling of New Deal economics with much so­ change whose members hold to a "common vision." Yet, his phistication, and writes that "the tacit harmony underlying main failing is that aside from an ambiguous anticorporate corporate liberalism was becoming a simmering conflict." populism, he fails to come up with such a vision himself. Hayden has written a powerful manifesto for economic Rather, he denigrates in a sectarian manner those of us who do democracy. He offers specific proposals-a public voice in in­ hold to a vision of a more humane and democratic socialism, vestment decisiorunaking; laws creating democratization of even though we gladly join with him in organizing for the corporate board rooms, steps towards workers' control-starting transitional program he so carefully develops. •

Feb. 1981 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 13 ONIBELEYf By Harry Fleischman IGHT NEW DSOC LOCALS AND AN ORGANIZING COM· gates were noted by the Detroit News, which quoted former mittee were chartered at the January National Board VA W Vice President Irving Bluestone as suggesting a bumper meeting. Locals in this largest bloc chartered at a sticker, 'Big Business Ain't So Smart After All." Blasting big time are in Rochester, Westchester Co. and Albany business for a lack of corporate foresight and long-range plan­ in New York; Johnstown-Indiana, Pa.; Cleveland­ ning, Bluestone advocated involving workers in decision mak­ Akron, Ohio; Bloomington, Ind.; Columbia, Mo.; ing in their workplaces. Several participants, discussing relig­ and Santa Cruz, Calif. The organizing committee is ion and socialism, griped that the so-called "Moral Majority" in Grand Rapids, Mich .... OvER 800 HEARD MIKE had "stolen" religion as a rallying point. Ed Egnatios, a HARRINGTON speak in Rhode Island on his recent visit. He Detroit community organizer, proposed starting a "Decent talked to 300 at Brown University on "Blacks, Latinos and the Majority" movement, utilizing direct mailings and other or­ Democratic Left" and then over 500 heard his evening talk at ganizing techniques successfully used by the New Right. the University of Rhode Island on "How to Survive the Next Four Years." ... TH E BAY AREA DSOC LOCAL grew to 220 • • • A NAM-DSOC SoUTHERN WORKSHOP IS BEING PLANNED members by the end of '80, and set up branches in San Fran­ at Highlander Center in Tennessee for the weekend of April cisco, East Bay, UC-Berkeley, Marin County, San Jose and 3-5. Among the subjects will be future work of both groups, Stanford. The local worked on the successful campaigns for the New Right and the revival of racism, electoral politics and Ron Dellums's reelection to Congress and Harry Britt's cam­ building unions. Among the speakers will be H. L. Mitchell, paign for S.F. Supervisor ; walked picket lines in the hotel founder of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union in the '30s. workers' strike; organized against the Ku Klux Klan and ha­ ... A WARD BY WARD EFFORT is under way to elect DSOC rassment of black families in Contra Costa County; is working members as delegates to the Democratic State Convention in with the New American Movement (NAM) on a coalition to Massachusetts in April. Boston's Debs-Thomas Award dinner "municipalize" the gas and electric company in Marin County ; this year will honor Father Mortimer Gavin, head of the Arch­ and plans a joint DSOC-NAM urban school soon. diocesan Labor Guild. DSOCer Jim Fraser is running for the • • • Boston School Committee. DSOC is also backing an initiative MICHIGAN'S RED SQUAD, after illegally spying on citizens for to change the Boston City Council and School Committee from decades, has been ordered to find 38,000 individuals and 400 at-large to a district representation system. The New England organizations and give them free copies of their "subversive" Region is planning a regional speaking tour for H . L Mitchell. files. Among those listed in the secret files are Zoltan Ferenczy, ... LONG Isu.ND's PROGRESSIVE COALITION is backing efforts DSOC member just elected Ingham County Commissioner, to "municipalize" the Long Island Lighting Co. and to have and Bob Repas, socialist labor education professor at Michigan consumer-labor candidates appointed to the statewide Public State University ... FULL-PAGE ARTICLES REPORTING ON AND Service Commission . . . . NEW YORK"s ScHOOL FOR DEMO­ HAILING the success of the Eurosocialism conference in Wash­ CRATIC SoaALISM started its second year with courses by Her­ ington appeared in issues of the UAW's monthly Solidarity bert Gutman, Mike Harrington, Jim Chapin, Jack Clark, and and the IAM's The Machinist .. .. AN OVERFLOW MEETING IN David Bensman. The New York City Religion and Socialism GREAT NECK HEARD MAJ BRITT THEORIN , Swedish member Committee is holding a conference on Sunday, February 8, of Parliament, tell Long Island DSOCers and friends about with Arthur Waskow, author of God Wrestling as opening life in Sweden today. On March 1 Lois Ullman, president of speaker. The New York Local has chartered branches in Brook­ Nassau County NOW, will speak on "Whither W omen in the lyn, Manhattan-West Side, Upper Manhattan-Bronx and 80s?" C.W. Post's Democratic Socialist Organization is start- Queens. The Local is holding a series of Feminist Forums. Thl: first heard economist Ruth Spitz speak on The 59¢ Question, the ratio of women's wages to that of men .... GREEN MOUN· C.ONVENTION EXHIBIT. SEVERAL .MEMBERS HAVE AL­ TAIN DSOC in Vermont is planning a late February confer­ ready sent posters, pbot<:>s, pins; busts, medallions and ence on a socio-economic program to place before the state letters 0£ Gene Oebs. Norman Thomas and other Social­ legislature, based on the platform of Rural America. At its ist, union and civil rights leaders for the pictorial display January meeting, the local heard David Deen, chairman of the of the political history and traditions of DSOC for: our Vermont Community Action Program Directots' Assn. on An Meanorjal Day weekend 1981 DSOC national conven· Economic Bill of Rights for Vermont. tion in Philadelphia. ~ Jlill need j'o11rs. Send them on • • • loan to Hatry Fl~an , DSOC, 8'3 Broadway, New WANT FILMS to enliven your meetings? A new 190 page York. N.Y. 10003. We will insure the exhibit. "War Peace Film Guide" ($5) has just been published by the World Without War Council, 67 East Madison Street, Chi­ cago, Ill. 60603. • ing a film series in Feb .... DoN'T MOURN-ORGANIZE was the theme of the 200 delegates to the Michigan DSOC confer­ Items for this co/11mn sho11/d be sent to Harry Fleischman at ence mentioned here last month. The high spirits of the dele- 853 Broaduiay, S11ite 801, New York, N.Y. 10003.

14 DEMOCRATIC LEFT Feb. 1981 D • OORK, fram page 3 e a.:i :figh! a.nd I think v;e can Remembering Dorothy Day D£Moa:.a.nc LEFT bas been fcr some ~ now that the Dorothy Day, who died in D ecember, was a socialist feminist as a young country is ~ moTIDg to the right, but girl. T hen, in what must have been one of the most remarkable transitions to the ief· ng :and center. The polls, we of the age, she simultaneously became an orthodox Catholic, an anarcho­ luve stressed. show people becoming pacifist, and the founder of the Catholic Worker movement, the most signi­ more phtlo.soplucally conservative (which ficant expression of Catholic radicalism in this country in this century. I helped Reapn become president) but re­ lived at the Worker for two years, fighting side by side with Dorothy in many rruining operitionally liberal in their at­ struggles and debating my socialism and her anarchism over coffee in the titudes toward specific policies. The most communal dining room. H er anarchism was based on a catholic-Franciscan, endangered of the programs on the hit Sermon on the Mount, Gandhian, Tolstoyan-sense of the primordial value list are those spediically designed for the of solidarity and compassion in t he building of any just society. It gave her poor (like Medicaid). That means that a rare and haunting courage; it made her one of the most beautiful human we have to fight all the harder in those beings I have ever known. May this unrepentant socialist salute the memory areas. But if we assemble a coalition em­ of this magnificent anarchist, this woman who found in orthodox Catholicism the source of passionate and effective radicalism? bracing the potential majority that has a MH stake in seeing to it that the aging are not scapegoated, that the best anti-hunger effort ever undertaken is defended. that the working people of this country-the victims, not the authors of our crisis­ You've already worked with us. are not pushed back down into an in­ security and poverty which for many is only a generation away (and which, for Now, join us. some, never ended) , perhaps victories can help us defend even the weakest The corporations and the Far R ight have a plan for a harsher, hungrier, and more militarized America. For progressives to fight back, we need to build among us. our own coalition and own program for an alternative future for America. This short-run battle is far from The Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee works to unite low and lost; and we of the democratic left are middle income Americans behind a program of full employment, tax justice far from clear on our long-range strat­ and wealth redistribution, safe and affordable energy, improved public serv­ egy; but there is hope even in this year ices, sexual and racial equality, and democratically planned investments in zero of Ronald Reagan. • developing new energy sources, rebuilding the cities, and reviving our industries. • • • If you plan to work with us, join us. YOUTH, from page 12 0 I'd like to join DSOC. Enclosed find my dues. (0 $50 sustaining; 0 $25 Y oath conferences are, of course, regular; 0$10 limited income. Dues include $8 for DEMOCRATIC LEFT.) much more than plenaries or workshops, 0 I would like to subscribe to DEMOCRATIC LEFT: 0$15 sustaining, 0 $8 resolutions or position papers (though regular. the Youth Section did adopt a political Send to: Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, 853 Broadway, Suite sWcment, avajlable through the National 801, New York, N.Y. 10003. Tel.: (212) 260-3270. Office) Having helped organize the past Narne.~------~------fou: summer and winter youth confer­ Addres..______ences during his two-year term as Na­ tional Youth Organizer, Joseph Schwartz City/ Stat...______~iP'------commented at the end that "this confer­ ence ,e£ected the political development Phon,,______Union, School, Other Affiliatio.. .______of an aaivist core in the Youth Section. Attenduicc v.-as high even though we had brought hundreds of young people to the Eur· soci:alism conference three weeks be­ for And the quality of the non-members m artencu:1ce-m.wy of whom will soon JOIN THE DSOC HEALTH CARE TASK EUROSOCIALISM POSTERS: Commemora­ FORCE' Send $S/ycar ( 4 issues) for the Task tive posters of historic "'EurosociaJism and be ~-indicates that the Youth America .. conference. Only $S plus $1 postage. Section nov.· pbys a central role in pro­ Force newsletter. Articles on national health DC-Md. DSOC, 1346 Connecticut Ave., N.W., gressh·e youth politics across the country." Set\ ice, hospital cost control, defense of public # 713, Washington, D .C. 20036. hospitals, occupational health, more. Health • ClaJS1fied rates are 12 per line, IJO per column PaJrirl! lAu~ld iI executive secretary of care bibliography also available for SO cents. i11ch (display). Payment in ad11ance, 20 percent the :-.·eu• Yor.i Local of DSOC. Matl to DSOC, 8B Uroadway, Suite 801, diJC01111t if the ad r11111 tu•o or more times. We N.Y., N.Y. 10003. reserve the right to reiect ads. Photos by Gretchen Donart

Feb. 1981 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 15 HIGGINS REPORIS

TRANSITION FOLLIES-Remember the can­ who oppose tuition tax credits. Coming from a man who owes didate and the "out" party who were going to his election to Albert Shanker and the New York State United shake up official Washington and leave bureau­ Teachers, that certainly rated as ingratitude. But what was the crats shaking in their boots ? Well, the Reagan senator getting at? Let's hazard a guess. Go back to last spring team and functioning Republican/conservative when the New York state delegation voted to fill a slot on the congressional majority have not had time to national Democratic Convention platform committee. Moyni­ function, but they've already made a farce of han, who remained neutral in the presidential contest, was put their program. After putting together the big­ forward as a candidate; so was Mike Harrington, who backed gest transition team ever (which did as little Kennedy. Moynihan won, but a substantial number of Ken­ as any transition team in memory), the Reagan nedy supporters voted for Harrington. Between that vote and forces ran into, yes, a cost overrun. Conservatives used to have the election in November, Moynihan's staff canvassed the dele­ lots of fun ridiculin~ the Marxist notion that after the socialist gates and alternates by phone to find out why they had opposed seizure of power and consolidation of rule, a witherin~ away the senator. Staffers asked which presidential candidate the of the state would follow. Our laissez-faire foes have some Moynihan opponent had supported (a list was published by problems of their own in that department. That transition will the state committee). One alternate, asked why he supported t:ikc an awfully long time. Harrington over Moynihan, explained that he knew Harring­ ton, and besides, the senator was a bit conservative for his CENTRAL AMERICA is already providing the first tastes. "Ah," replied the weary staffer, "we've been getting test of Reagan's hard-line foreign policy. After all, in that response-that Senator Moynihan is too conservative-a El Salvador, the administration will have the perfect lot." Mystery solved. Speaking of the leftwing cadres in the npportunity to prove how many lives it's willing to lose. Democratic party, Senator Moynihan had some specific people If he moves in with the a~gressive support for rightist in mind: the 44 New York delegates who voted against him. terror which we (and the Salvadorean right) can expect from his pronouncements, the U.S. government will find BUSTING THE UNION-BUSTERS - Management itself even more isolated internationally than it was dur­ ccnsultants who specialize in keeping unions out or ing the shameful Vietnam years. And at home, the oppo­ breaking unions where they exist have been doing a sition will be broad and determined (there's already a booming business. These union-busting consultants con­ labor committee for free unicns in El Salvador and stitute a $500 million industry; and as a recent report, Latin America). written by Jules Bernstein for the Center to Protect Workers' Rights, points out, the industry of management PAT MOYNIHAN'S OUTBURST immediately after the ccnsulting on labor relations specializes in "hidden per­ November election seemed inexplicable. Here was an intell1- suasi :in, deceit and outriP-ht violations of the law." Yet gent politician lashing out at unnamed leftwing cadre in the the chief remedies would move through the tortuous Democratic party who had to be fought. Who were they? path'> d the National Lab::ir Relations Board. As the Kennedy supporters. Not all Kennedy supporters, mind you, study concludes, "the response b L'nion-busting de­ mands creativity en many fronts." (Available for $4.95 and certainly not the senator himself. Not fine people like frcm the Center to Protect Workers' Rights, 1899 L Elizabeth Holtzman, either. But certainly the kind of people Street N.W., Washington, D .C. 20036.)

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