FElRUARY 8, 1974 25CENTS VOLUME 38/NUMBER 5

A. SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY/PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE

.A SOCIALIST ANSWER TO THE DEMOCRATS & REPUBLICANS

Nixon's empty promises in his State of the Union message won't solve the problems facing the American people. For the Socialist Workers Party response to Nixon's speech see page 3. In Brief

EMERGENCY APPEAL TO SAVE IRANIAN POLITI­ WOMEN DEFEND ABORTION RIGHTS (1): On Jan. CAL PRISONERS: The Committee for Artistic and Intel­ 22, exactly one year after the U.S. Supreme Court deci­ lectual Freedom in Iran has issued an urgent appeal for sion upholding a woman's right to abortion, demonstra­ support to seven political prisoners sentenced to death by tions were called to defend that right against recent chal­ a military tribunal in Tehran. The seven belong to a lenges. group of 12 writers, filmmakers and journalists arrested In collusion with the Catholic Church hierarchy, New THIS more than a year ago by the shah's secret police, SAVAK. York's Conservative-Republican Senator James Buckley The 12 were charged with plotting to assassinate the has proposed a constitutional amendment to overturn WEEK'S shah and kidnap three members of the royal family. the decision. "Undoubtedly," the committee appeal says, "during the The amendment would in essence deny the use of Medi­ MILITANT long months of captivity, the twelve were pressured by caid in obtaining legal abortions. 6 Socialist view of oil in­ SAVAK's methods of torture to obtain the necessary 'con­ The National Organization for Women (NOW) spon­ dustry superprofits fessions."' sored a picket in front of Buckley's New York office to The committee urges that "a very broad defense effort 7 Ohio truckers spearhead defend women's right to abortion and protest the pro­ must be mounted. Letters, telegrams and delegations pro­ posed amendment. national protest testing the injustice of the sentences must be directed to Women from nearby midtown offices joined the march 8 The left and the Vietnam the Iranian government and its representatives abroad. and headed for St. Patrick's Cathedral. There the marchers accords: a balance sheet Past experience shows that the Iranian regime will not joined another pro-abortion demonstration, sponsored by 9 Black parley rejects remain indifferent to world public opinion." Catholics for a Free Choice. The Committee for Artistic and Intellectual Freedom in Newark mayor's bid The proposed amendment would especially affect Black Iran has offices at 309A Low Library, Columbia Uni­ and Puerto Rican women, who, because of Medicaid, have 13 How S. F. labor can win versity, New York, N.Y. 10027. victory in Sears strike been able to obtain safe and legal abortions. 14 Painters union activist BLOODY SUNDAY COMMEMORATED: Two hundred ABORTION RIGHTS (II): In Seattle both pro- and anti­ people demonstrated in New York Jan. 26 in commemora­ proposes program for abortion rights forces showed that the issue of a woman's tion of the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry, Northern building trades right to control her own body and reproductive future Ireland, two years ago. The protesters demanded that 16 S. F. forum hears San British troops be withdrawn from Northern Ireland, an is far from being settled, despite the Supreme Court deci­ Quentin 6 attorney end to internment, and an end to the repressive legisla­ sion. 17 Wounded Knee defense tion in both the north and south of 'Ireland. The well organized and fmanced opposition, including boosted by tribal election The march through midtown Manhattan ended at the the National Right to Life organization, Seattle Human Life, and Archbishop Thomas Connolly marked the an­ victory offices of the New York Times. There a delegation from the demonstration spoke to Leonard Silk of the Times niversary of the Supreme Court decision at a dinner meet­ 18 Why defense of dissidents demanding that supporters of Irish self-determination be ing by announcing plans for a national campaign in is not 'anti-Soviet' given space in the Times to express their views. 1974 for a constitutional amendment prohibiting abor­ 19 NLRB condemns Farah's Another demonstration, sponsored by the Irish Freedom tions. antiunion drive Committee, is planned for Feb. 2. It will protest the brutal A letter issued by Archbishop Connolly was read in all 21 N.Y.'s Dist. 1 mobilizes treatment of the Price sisters (see World Outlook section). Western Washington Catholic Churches warning "any Catholic doctor, woman or man who successfully and to stop budget cuts The demonstration will be at the BOAC offices in Man­ hattan. willfully effects and procures an abortion is by that fact excommunicated from the Church," and charging that 2 In Brief CAMPUS MEETING HEARS JENNESS: Linda Jenness, women who choose abortion are "engaging in senseless 10 In Our Opinion Socialist Workers Party 1972 presidential candidate, spoke slaughter." Letters Jan. 24 at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., In spite of this scare campaign, only 75 to 100 people 11 By Any Means Necessary at the invitation of the Student Speaker's Bureau. Speaking showed up for the dinner. Pro-abortion rights advocates on "Feminism and Socialism," Jenness discussed recent National Picket Line picketed outside the hotel where the dinner was taking developments in the women's movement, especially Black place. 12 The Great Society women's liberation and the organization of trade-union Women in Revolt women. She concluded with an explanation of the need CLEVELAND TRADE-UNION WOMEN TO MEET: A La Raza en Accion for a socialist revolution to do away with the system statewide conference of Ohio women will be held in Cleve­ 20 In Review that is the basis of women's oppression. land on Feb. 24, sponsored by the Cleveland Council The audience of 60 people responded enthusiastically of Union Women. to Jenness's speech, and afterward several expressed inter­ WORLD OUTLOOK Focusing on the theme "Union Women Organize for est in the YSA and one person decided to join. The 1 Heath pushes confronta­ Action," the conference will discuss, in general meetings Women's Free Express, a Nashville women's newspaper, and workshops, the problems of women workers and what tion with British workers interviewed Jenness and hosted a reception for her at they are doing and can do about them through their 4 Bombay general strike the Nashville Women's Center. labor organizations. demands price cuts The next day a conference on "Women and the Law" The conference will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. at Cleve­ opened at Vanderbilt. Jenness was judged "too contro­ land State University. Reservations may be sent to: Eileen versial" to take part in the conference, but conference Berlow, Cleveland Council of Union Women, Suite 606, participants indicated interest in the socialist analysis of 2108 Payne Ave., Cleveland, Ohio 44114. the women's movement by buying $30 worth of literature The conference is open to all women union members, from a table set up by the Young Socialist Alliance. retired union members, and those who are involved in current union organizing drives. -NORMAN OLIVER BROOKSIDE MINERS WIN VICTORY IN COURT: An appeals court has overturned the injunction that limited the number of pickets at the Eastover Mining Company in Brookside, Ky. The miners at Eastover have been on strike since August, fighting for recognition of the YOUR FIRST THE MILITANT _United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) contract. "It's a big morale booster for the people here," Dan VOLUME 38/NUMBER 5 ISSUE? McAlarnis, UMWA organizer, said of the court ruling. FEBRUARY 8, 1974 CLOSING NEWS DATE-Jan. 31, 1974 Eastover, a subsidiary of the giant Duke Power conglom­ SUBSCRIBE Editor: MARY-ALICE WATERS erate, had tried to use the antipicketing injunction to break Business Manager: SHARON CABANISS the strike. But despite the limit of three pickets at each Southwest Bureau: HARRY RING entrance to the mine, not a single scab had been able to TO THE report for work since October because of the mobiliza­ Published weekly by The Militant Publishing Ass'n., tion of women and other supporters of the strike. 14 Charles lane, New York, N.Y. 10014. Telephone: MILITAIIT Editorial Office (212) 243-6392; Business Office (212) The court ruled that there can be an unrestricted number 929-3486. Southwest Bureau: 710 S. Westlake Ave., of pickets outside the mine. ENERGY CRISIS: What's behind the gas shortage? The las Angeles, Calif. 90057. Telephone: (213) 483-0357. Militant tells the truth about the energy crisis and offers Correspondence concerning subscriptions or changes a program far working people to fight back. For weekly, COMPANY OFFICIALS CONVICTED OF BUGGING of address should be addressed to The Militant Business in-depth coverage, subscribe now. Office, 14Charleslane, New York, N.Y. 10014. UNION ORGANIZER'S PHONE: Two officials of the Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y. Sub­ J.P. Stevens Company were recently found guilty of bug­ scriptions: Domestic: $5 a year; foreign, S8. By first­ Introductory oller-S1/3months class mail: domestic and Canada, S25; all other coun­ ging the conversations of union organizers. ( ) $] for three months of The Militant. tries, S41. Air printed matter: domestic and Canada, Larry Burroughs and Harold Guerry were found guilty $32; Mexico and the Caribbean, S30; latin America of bugging the telephone of Al Motley, an organizer for ( ) $2 for three months of The Militant and three months and Europe, S40; Africa, Australia, and Asia (including the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Department (IUD), while of the International Socialist Review. USSR), S50. Write for sealed air postage roles. ( ) $5 for one year of The Militant he was staying at the Wallace Motel in Wallace, S.C. For subscriptions airmailed from New York and then ( ) New ( ) Renewal posted from london directly: Britain and Ireland, l1.20 The IUD and the Textile Workers Union of America are for 10 issues, l4.50 for one year; Continental Europe, carrying out a joint drive to organize Stevens workers. NAME------t1.50 for 10 issues, L5.50 for one year. Send banker's The company officials have appealed their conviction. ADDRESS ______draft directly to Pathfinder Press, 47 The Cut, London, SE1 8LL, England. Inquire for air rates from london at The TWUA and the IUD plan to continue their cam­ CITY------STATE------, ZIP------the same address. paign against this W atergating with a $64-million damage 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. I 0014. Signed qrticles by contributors do not necessarily suit they have filed based on the same charges. represent The Militant's views. These are expressed in editorials.

2 A socialist answer 'The real state of the union' The following statement was issued Instead we will face new crises, with at a Jan. 31 news conference by Maceo the danger of a world recession and Dixon, cochairman of the Socialist more inflation looming in 197 4. Workers Party 1974 National Cam­ The giants of industry, we discover, paign Committee. are accountable to no one but them­ selves. They lock away as "business secrets" the facts and figures on Nixon's State of the Union message whether these "shortages" are real, how was an insult to the working people they came about, and how many mil­ of this country. While we face a daily lions in hidden profits the corpora­ crisis of shortages, rising prices, un­ tions are raking in. employment, and deterioration of the To each "shortage" the government f'J.uality of life, all Nixon had to offer offers the same solution: bolster profits was a rehash of the same worthless through higher prices and more sub­ promises and lies he has made for sidies and tax breaks, because, after the last five years. all, the corporations will only produce The mass murderer of Vietnamese for a profit. Human needs do not proclaimed, "America is the greatest enter into their calculations. force for peace in the world." But the world knows that U.S. imperialism Profit boom is the greatest prop for bloody dicta­ While the corporations enjoy a torships from South Vietnam to Chile record-breaking profit boom, working to Greece to South Africa. The U.S. people are confronted with economic U.S. aircraft carrier heads for Mideast during October war. Threat of nuclear war is the greatest danger to peace, as crisis every time we go to the super­ will continue until capitalism is abolished. Nixon's nuclear sabre-rattling during market, or try to pay the rent and the Mideast war demonstrated. utility bills. The real state of the union was high­ Hardest hit are Blacks, Chicanos, lighted in two recent news items. Last a straight face, just at the moment It seems that every day we are hit and Puerto Ricans, women workers, week Exxon revealed that its admitted when the oil barons, under cover of with more breakdowns- in power, and young workers-the lowest paid, profits for 1973 totaled $2.44-billion the energy crisis, are rolling back the transportation, supplies of food and last hired, and first fired. For the un­ -the highest profits ever amassed by inadequate antipollution measures other necessities. With the complicity organized workers, for people on wel­ any corporation in history. that exist. of the Democratic and Republican fare, for the poor and unemployed, A few days earlier, the Bureau of Millions of people are beginning to politicians, the monopolies deliber­ for old people on pensions, the situa­ Labor Statistics announced that real sense that the present system is in­ ately restrict production and create tion verges on disaster. wages -that is, the purchasing power capable of meeting their basic every­ artificial scarcity, leading to price ex­ Nixon's "equality of sacrifice" of workers after taxes and the effects day needs, much less improving their plosions. Last spring it was meat; rhetoric is a fraud. The burden of each of inflation are deducted- declined by standard of living. now it's oil; and we are told that succeeding crisis is unloaded on those 3.3 percent last year, contrary to The federal government demands shortages of metals, fertilizers, and least able to bear it. And then the Nixon's lying assertion that our real that wage increases be limited to 5. 5 grain are on the way. profiteers have the gall to blame the income has increased. percent a year. But prices rose that Nixon asked Congress to back him situation on working people! They This stark contrast, this latest con­ much just in the last six months! Last in a tougher negotiating stance with claim the root of the problem is that firmation of the ever-widening gap be­ year food prices went up 20 percent, the other capitalist powers of Europe we've been living too luxuriously, eat­ tween rich and poor, belies all Nixon's and fuel oil and coal prices jumped and Japan. This reflects the growing ing too much, using too much energy. glib assurances that American capital­ 45 percent. international 1:apitalist competition What a bitter commentary on the ism will provide prosperity and the The official figure for unemployment that is at the bottom of crises like the irrationality of this outmoded capital­ .good life for everyone. is nearly 5 percent, and rising fast energy "shortage." ist system! At a time when advances "Our air is becoming cleaner and as tens of thousands of workers are We are not going to have the "peace in technology and the productivity of our water purer," Nixon declared with laid off. and prosperity" promised by Nixon. Continued on following page Socialist Workers Party announces 1974 National Campaign Committee WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 31-At news conference yesterday. At the head a news conference here today answer­ of their ticket are Derrick Morrison, ing Nixon's State of the Union mes­ running for governor, and Becky sage, the Socialist Workers Party 197 4 Finch, running for U.S. Senate. National Campaign Committee an­ The main speaker at the news con­ nounced plans to wage a vigorous ference launching the SWP 197 4 N a­ campaign against the two capitalist tional Campaign Committee was parties in this year's elections. Maceo Dixon, committee cochairman. The committee will be backing more He contrasted "the real state of the than 100 socialist candidates in 15 union" to the situation portrayed in states and the District of Columbia, Nixon's speech and presented the campaign director Frank Boehm told SWP's program to meet the problems reporters. of the energy crisis, inflation, unem­ "This committee will spearhead the ployment, war, and racism. SWP' s fight to halt theW atergate-style Cochairing the campaign committee crimes against us and others fight­ with Dixon is Debby Bustin. She and ing for social change," he explained. Dixon will begin touring the country "We will be conducth1g national tours soon to speak on the socialist alter­ by leaders of the SWP in support of native to Watergate. the many candidates we will be run­ Militant/Brian Shannon Both Dixon, 24, and Bustin, 26, ning, publishing national campaign Chairing SWP campaign committee are Maceo Dixon, a leader of Detroit fight against have been personally victimized by literature, and mobilizing support for police brutality, and Debby Bustin, who was included on Nixon's 'enemies list' be­ Watergate-style tactics. Bustin was the lawsuit filed by the SWP andY oung cause of her antiwar activities. placed on the White House "enemies Socialist Alliance to end government list" when she was national coordina­ harassment of socialists and other op­ tor of the Student Mobilization Com­ ponents of Nixon's policies." most importantly, the revelation of the licans-both of whom share respon­ mittee to End the War. Dixon was In 1972, the SWP ran a highly suc­ police-state methods utilized against sibility for the problems facing work­ recently convicted on a frame-up cessful presidential campaign, winning opponents of the Nixon administra­ ing people today." charge of "deviating from a parade nearly 100,000 votes, the largest to­ tion and earlier administrations, and SWP candidates have already an­ route" for his role in leading a De­ tal of any radical party. the energy crisis. nounced their campaigns in lllinois, troit demonstration against police bru­ "Since the 197 2 elections," Boehm "Today there are many more people Oregon, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New tality (see page 24). said, "events have dramatically al­ who are seeking alternatives to the York. The socialist candidates in New In 1973, Dixon ran as SWP can­ tered the American political scene- policies of the Democrats and Repub- York launched their campaign at a Continued on following page

THE MILITANT/ FEBRUARY 8, 1974 3 ... Socialist alternative to Democrats Continued from preceding page So, too, is discrimination against reminder that so long as U. S. im­ labor mean that a world of plenty women necessary for the capitalists, perialism exists it stands prepared to is a realizable goal, the avowed pro­ because it is profitable to pay women plunge the world into a nuclear holo­ gram of big business for the workers workers less and force women to serve caust to maintain its system of inter­ is the cynical appeal to tighten our as unpaid housekeepers and raisers national exploitation. belts, sacrifice, to "freeze with honor"! of children. This is what lies behind At a time when medical research the stubborn refusal to grant equal Watergate could put the eradication of disease pay, equal job opportunities, child­ Nixon-who did not hesitate to bug within humanity's grasp, we can't get care facilities, and other demands of his own brother-had the effrontery to decent low-cost health care-because women. piously proclaim his commitment to it's not profitable. Once again, Nixon civil liberties, and his anxiousness to rejected any socialized health-care $1 00-billion for war limit such things as electronic surveil­ system that would put the health of While Nixon proclaims the need to lance! But the ugly reality of the capi­ American people before private profit. slash spending on social services, in talist government's trampling on civil At a time when jobs are needed by the name of "fighting inflation," he is liberties has become clearer to many millions of workers, low-cost housing, preparing to demand $100-billion for people; efficient mass transportation, schools, the war machine next year. This is From the burglary of the Democrat­ libraries, and hospitals are not built­ what the hoax of "peace" and "detente" ic Party's headquarters, the chain of because they're not profitable. comes down to: a 15 percent hike in Watergate revelations has led to the What future can capitalism offer to the war budget, development of even exposure of a cesspool of corruption Blacks or other racially oppressed more destructive weapons, and a "new" and criminality extending far beyond peoples? In his entire address, Nixon nuclear strategy that proclaims U. S. the Nixon coterie. failed to utter so much as one word preparedness to launch an attack The real victims of Watergate crimes about racial equality, or put forward against Soviet missile sites. are to be found in the labor move­ one single promise of progress for The carnage in Vietnam stands as ment, in the Black community, among Black people. Instead he tossed in a a warning: the blood-soaked profiteers the student activists, and the socialists. few of his racist code words, such as don't stop to count the dead when We have been the targets of illegal spy­ attacking poor people on welfare as their rule is challenged. ing, bugging, break-ins, provocation, Attica, 1971. Prisons are filled with the "unwilling to work." The U.S. military alert during the and frame-ups, from Democratic and wrong people. Twenty years after the Supreme October Mideast war was a chilling Republican administrations alike, all Court supposedly outlawed segregated in the name of "national security." The mask of American "democracy" schools, racist discrimination in educa­ Under capitalist "justice" the big-time has been ripped away to reveal the true tion- as well as in housing, employ­ crooks and mass murderers like Ag­ face of capitalist rule: rule by violence ment, and every other aspect of life­ new and Nixon walk around free, and deception; rule of, by, and for the is still the reality. The situation is no while the government plots vindictive rich. better and often worse for Chicanos, prosecutions against those who dare Puerto Ricans, and Native Americans. to struggle for a decent life. Right 'Agnew treatment' There has been no narrowing of the now dozens of Native American ac­ The impact of these revelations has wage gap between Black and white tivists from the Wounded Knee pro­ been so great that the ruling class is workers. Black unemployment re­ test, and Black and Puerto Rican pris­ now debating whether it m:ay be in mains twice that of whites. oners from Attica, face long years in their best interests to- force Nixon out jail in vicious frame-up trials. of office, in the hope of restoring con­ 'Crime capital' Among the most insidious attacks fidence in the government as a whole. Nixon's only answer is to pump on democratic rights are the restric­ All the Democratic and Republican millions of dollars into armaments for tions being clamped on the trade politicians would }ike to put Watergate police to terrorize the Black commu­ unions through the wage controls, behind us, as Nixon demands, but nities, and to try to whip up racist antiunion legislation, and strikebreak­ some think the only way this can be sentiments with demagogy against ing court orders. done is by giving Tricky Dick the "crime in the streets." Five years ago, "Agnew treatment." he boasted, Washington, D. C., was on Secrecy Masses of people agree that Nixon the verge of becoming the crime capi­ Concealment of their real aims and should be in the jailhouse rather than tal of the country, but now the crime methods is the norm for the rulers of the White House. But his removal rate is supposedly lower. this country. They carried out secret alone- to be replaced by a Ford, a What unconscious irony! Today bombing of Cambodia and Laos; they Rockefeller, a Jackson, a Kennedy, or Washington is recognized as the un­ had secret Pentagon papers, secret di­ any other capitalist politician-would disputed crime capital of the entire plomacy, and secret spy plans against not put an end to W atergating, infla­ world-not in· the streets, but in the dissenters. tion, racism, the energy crisis, or any White House! When we put Watergate alongside the other fundamental problems. Racism, it is clear, is a fundamental war in Vietnam, the wage controls, These problems were not caused by feature of capitalism. Wall Street reaps and the energy crisis, the conclusion one evil individual, one rotten ad­ billions in extra profits from racism, is inescapable. This government, far ministration, or one bad party. They both because of the lower wages paid from being an impartial guardian of are products of a society divided into to minority workers, and because rac­ the "public" interest, is in factthe execu­ classes, where the exploiting minority ism keeps white workers from realiz­ tive committee of the capitalist class, rules over the vast toiling majority. ing that their interests lie with the last fall New York hospital workers struck tied to the bosses with a thousand Millions of working people are Black, Chicano, and Puerto Rican against Nixon's wage controls, which keep threads of campaign contributions, angrily wondering what has brought masses. wage increases far below inflation. payoffs, and secret deals. the country to this impasse and are

r ...SWP '74 national campaign offensive Continued from preceding page ordinator of the Georgia Women's an "enemy of the constitutional rights Alliance, along with the specific rea­ didate for mayor of Detroit against Abortion Coalition. of all of us, as he has proved in ac­ sons for their implementation. Coleman Young. A longtime activist In addition to lending support to tion. His words about privacy are pure "It is my opinion," he said, "that in the Black liberation movement, local SWP candidates while on tour, lies. we will uncover a massive program Dixon helped form the Black Mora­ Bustin and Dixon will be urging sup­ "We already have sworn admissions of political discrimination and disrup­ torium Committee Against the War port for the SWP and YSA suit. from federal officials that the govern­ tion based on nothing more than the in 1971, and in 1973 was a leader At the news conference today, Syd ment monitored the mail of the SWP. government's fear of and hostility to of the Coalition to Abolish STRESS. Stapleton, national secretary of the Po­ . .. The FBI further admitted that it the ideas of the Socialist Workers This coalition mobilized the Black litical Rights Defense Fund (PRDF), operated a 'Socialist Workers Party Party, Young Socialist Alliance, and community to demand the disband­ reported on the recent government dis­ Disruption Program' from 1961 to others." ing of STRESS, a racist undercover closures forced into the open by this 1969. It has also admitted wiretaps Delpfine Welch, national organiza­ police unit that was terrorizing De­ suit. The PRDF is publicizing and on the Socialist Workers Party from tion secretary of the YSA, spoke at troit Blacks. raising funds for the SWP and YSA at least 1945 to 1963," Stapleton said. the news conference on the Y SA's plans As SWP mayoral candidate in At­ case. "In the last few days," he continued, to win support among young people lanta in 1973, Debby Bustin became Stapleton blasted Nixon's hypocriti­ "our attorneys have demanded all doc­ for the 197 4 socialist campaign effort. a well-known figure on the picket lines cal statement about the "right of pri­ uments and relevant information re­ She announced that 14 Young Social­ in support of a series of strikes by vacy" of the American people in the lating to the wiretapping, disruption ist teams will tour college and high Black workers. She also helped or­ State of the Union speech. Stapleton programs, mail covers, and harassing school campuses across the country ganize the demonstrations in Geor­ said that new facts uncovered through activities directed against the Socialist this spring to campaign for the SWP gia for the right to abortion, as co- the socialist suit show Nixon to be Workers Party and the Young Socialist candidates.

4 Documents on spy plan and Republicans sought in socialist suit looking for a way forward. They are caused by the energy crisis and By SANDRA MAXFIELD not willing to sacrifice their rights or provide jobs for all, the work­ Although some of the documents on living standards on the altars of "na­ week should be shortened with no cut Nixon's 1970 secret spy plan have tional interest," wars against people in pay, to spread the available work been "leaked" to the press, much of around the world struggling for na­ to all who need jobs. the plan remains hidden from the pub­ tional liberation, or a contrived e In addition, the government lic, kept under lock and key. Now energy crisis. should finance a massive program of attorneys for the Socialist Workers Today thousands of truckers are public works to build desperately Party and Young Socialist Alliance striking to protest the lowered speed needed housing, schools, hospitals, are demanding these documents, as limits and higher fuel prices. Recently mass transportation, and child-care well as White House tapes, as part auto workers in New Jersey demon­ centers. This would provide thousands of a suit against Watergate-style ha­ strated against Exxon, demanding of jobs at full union wages. rassment. "Stop the layoffs!" and "Stop t:q.e phony e The military budget should be This suit, filed on behalf of the SWP fuel shortages!" eliminated, immediately releasing and YSA by constitutional attorney Other workers have gone on strike $100-billion for social needs. All U.S. Leonard Boudin, charges the federal in defiance of the government wage military bases and fleets around the government with carrying out a sys­ world should be dismantled, and aid controls. Last spring women or­ tematic campaign of surveillance and ganized nationwide protests against to dictatorships like the Saigon regime ERVIN: Socialists are demanding docu­ intimidation against the socialists. As soaring meat prices. The farm work­ ended. ments he wants kept secret. part of their evidence, the suit cites ers have organized strikes and boy­ e For an end to unfair taxation, the 1970 spy plan, which was drawn cotts to win the right to their own abolish all taxes on incomes less than outlines the methods used to keep the union and to end slave labor in the $15,000 a year; 100 percent tax on up by Tom Charles Huston and ap­ mail cover a secret. This is a mem­ fields. all income more than $30,000. proved by Nixon. The suit charges orandum from the chief postal inspec­ The Socialist Workers Party believes e Eliminate the gap between white that: it is this sort of independent action and nonwhite workers, and male and "Prior to and during the months of tor, William Cotter, who ordered a by workers that we must organize female workers, demanding equal pay July through November, 1970, defen­ security check on all employees as­ and re~y on, and not the promises and preferential hiring for Black, Chi­ dants Nixon, Ehrlichman, Haldeman, sig:ned to monitor the SWP's mail. of capitalist politicians. The Demo­ cano, Puerto Rican, and women Mitchell, Dean, Huston, and Mardian, Instead of filling out the official forms crats tell us to elect them instead of workers. together with others presently un­ used for mail covers, Cotter specified the Republicans. Liberals tell us to e For independence of the trade known, agreed to ... cause govern­ that all information gleaned from ex­ put our faith in Congress to moderate unions. Opposition to any form ment agents to intensify their inter­ amination of the SWP's mail should the pillaging by the monopolies. of wage controls. Repeal Taft-Hartley rogation and harassment of SWP, its be recorded "on plain bond paper" and all antilabor legislation. No re­ candidates, members and supporters and sent to the local FBI. At the end Windbags and phonies strictions on the right to strike. . . . and to intensify the use of war­ of the communication, Cotter wrote: But what is the record of Congress? A labor party could rally the work­ rantless electronic surveillance, unau­ "NO COPY OR OTHER RECORD For years that collection of windbags ers and their allies to throw out not thorized opening and monitoring of OF THIS MEMORANDUM SHALL and phonies tried to pass themselves just Nixon but the entire corrupt gov­ mail, burglaries, and other illegal tac- BE MADE EXCEPT AS OUTLINED off as "doves" while they voted to ernment of the rich, and replace it with tics ...." ABOVE. IT MUST BE RETAINED approve every penny Johnson and a workers government. Such a gov­ As part of "pretrial discovery," the IN THE PERSONAL CUSTODY OF Nixon needed for war. Now Congress ernment would aim to take the attorneys for the SWP and YSA have THE ADDRESSEE UNDER AP­ is fumbling around and stalling on monopolies out of the hands of requested that the government produce PROPRIATE SECURITY UNTIL impeachment, despite the vast senti­ private owners and begin planned all the documents related to this plan, RETURNED BY REGISTERED ment for kicking Nixon out. economic development based on including a report described in another MAIL TO HEADQUARTERS UPON The Democratic Party "friends of la­ human need. document as an "assessment of the EXPIRATION OF THE REQUEST." bor" in Congress passed the wage­ existing security threat, our current It was as a result of this mail cover control legislation and failed to over­ Labor misleaders intelligence coverage of this threat, and that FBI agents in New Jersey ride Nixon's veto of the minimum­ Such a fighting perspective is com­ areas where our coverage is ina -:!e­ launched an investigation of Lori wage bill. They share full responsi­ pletely alien to the present misleaders quate." Paton, a 16-year-old high school stu­ bility for the oil depletion allowance of the trade unions-the Meanys, This report is one of the documents dent who wrote to the SWP for a school Woodcocks, and Fitzsimmonses. They and other multimillion dollar tax loop­ turned over to the Senate Watergate project. Paton's case is attracting wide have made well-paid careers out of holes. This is not only an admini­ committee by John Dean. Senator Sam attention, and was featured on the collaborating with the employers and stration of the rich, it is a Congress Ervin (D-N. C.), head ofthecommittee, front page of the Jan. 28 New York stifling workers' struggles. By sitting of the rich. has refused to make the report public Times. She is suing the FBI for vio­ on government wage-control boards What a disgusting spectacle it was on the grounds that it would endanger lating her rights and the rights of all and providing cover for Nixon's to see this gang of sycophants giving "national secuz:ity." persons who wish to correspond with antilabor policies, they bear a heavy Nixon a standing ovation, groveling The SWP and YSA are also groups like the SWP. responsibility for the decline in wages in front of his lies and phrasemonger­ demanding that Nixon turn over White The SWP and YSA suit continues and working conditions. ing! House tapes of meetings held. to dis­ to gain new endorsements. Lou Antal, In keeping with their role as agents cuss the plan. The tapes requested president of District 5 of the United Labor party of the boss class inside the workers include those made at the meeting at Mine Workers, and Congressman movement, the union bureaucrats are Workers need to organize our own which Nixon, J. Edgar Hoover, and Charles Rangel (D-N. Y.) have both party, a labor party, based on the often as corrupt as the capitalist others discussed how to step up re­ added their names to a fund appeal politicians and run their fiefdoms with unions, to deal with the present emer­ pressive measures to stem the radi­ for the suit, sent out by the Political the same dictatorial methods Nixon gency situation, and to begin to Rights Defense Fund. tries to rule the country with. They calization, and the meeting at which mobilize the political power of work­ Nixon approved Huston's recom­ ing people against the attacks by the will have to be swept aside and a new mendations for illegal intelligence boss class and their political agents. leadership constructed if the unions gathering. Such a new party could win support are to be transformed into organs of These tapes and documents, the at­ from Black and Chicano communities, revolutionary struggle, instead of re­ torneys contend, will help establish from the students, and women. It maining a tail on the Democratic Party Nixon's direct involvement in the con­ could fight for the interests of the in­ kite. spiracy to violate the rights of the dependent truckers, small-gas-station This road of uncompromising strug­ SWP and YSA. This is important, since owners, small farmers, and all others gle of the workers for their own in­ the government is now seeking to have who are suffering from the policies of terests is the alternative the Socialist the charges against Nixon dismissed the capitalist rulers. Workers Party proclaims as the only on grounds of"presidential immunity." Here are some of the other key pro­ answer in 1974 to the perpetual wars posals the Socialist Workers Party and crises of capitalism. Arguments on the motion to remove puts forward and fights for: The anarchy of production for Nixon as a defendant will be heard e To discover the truth about the private profit has become the greatest in federal court in New York City energy crisis and other shortages, obstacle to human progress. All the soon. workers need to open the books and schemes offered by Nixon, the Demo­ In the meantime, there is fresh proof records of the oil trusts and other crats, and their echo, the labor fakers, that the methods outlined in the se­ ------Clip and mail to: Political Rights De­ monopolies. The secret deals and simply amount to tinkering with the cret spy plan were used against the fense Fund, Box 649 Cooper Station, manipulations of these corporations capitalist system, slapping a band-aid SWP and YSA. As a result of the New York, N.Y. 10003. Telephone: should be exposed to full public on the decaying corpse and propping suit, the government has turned over (212) 691-3270. scrutiny. The energy industry should it up until the next crisis hits. documents relating to a mail cover ( ) Please send me more information be nationalized and run under The time for tinkering and patch­ on the SWP's national headquarters. on this suit. workers control in the interests of the work repairs is past. A great awaken­ The material includes a letter written ( ) Enclosed is $ __for __Feiffer majority. ing is on the agenda, the class-con­ in January 1973 by L. Patrick Gray, buttons. ($1 each or 30 cents each on e To protect working people from scious awakening of the American who was then acting director of the orders of 10 or more.) the ravages of inflation, all wages and workers. When the workers take their FBI. On the basis of the SWP's pres­ ( ) Enclosed is $ __to help cover social benefits, such as welfare and destiny into their own hands, the con­ ence on the attorney general's list, expenses. pensions, should have cost-of-living struction of a truly democratic and Gray ordered a secret inspection of Name------­ escalator clauses so they rise auto­ humane society will begin. This is the all first-class mail going to the so­ Address------matically with each price rise. perspective of the Socialist Workers cialists. city------e To counter the massive layoffs Party. This is what we are fighting for. Another document recently released State ______Zip ______

THE MILITANT/FEBRUARY 8, 1974 5 Socialist view of oil industry superprofits By DICK ROBERTS poor nations would ultimately be in that year, an increase of more than The oil companies make it sound like closed. Long-term rational planning 11 percent. It paid dividends of $243,- 1973 is the first year they ever made would alleviate the damage to the en­ 090,000. That is more than the gross any money, and besides, what's wrong vironment and give a new impulse national product of many of the with making a little money? That's to technological progress. Economic smaller underdeveloped nations in the capitalist system. decisions of vital import to people Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The answer is, plenty. The profit would be publicly discussed and dem­ In 1970 the average yearly wage drive of capitalist corporations is ocratically determined. of production workers in Americ"an where the trouble begins. Industry is The secrecy of capitalist operations oil refineries was $9,600. That is more not run for the benefit of society but is just the opposite of this. Published than most workers make because the • to increase the profits of the owners. profit figures are notoriously unreli­ oil workers are unionized, but it is The energy crisis is one of the most able. They deliberately obscure the far from being well off. glaring examples in history of what income to the owners of the corpora­ In 1970, according to Mobil's proxy happens when industries are run "to tions. The huge salaries of the bosses statement, its president, William Ta­ make money" instead· of to meet the are included under "wages" instead of voulareas, had a "direct remuneration" needs of working people. profits. All kinds of bookkeeping de­ of $17 4,167 and "awards"- probably Socialists oppose capitalist corpora­ vices, from tax write-offs to stock op­ from stock options - of $120,000. tions making any profits. This does tions for executives, are used to hide That comes to $294,167 in one year. not mean that in a socialist society the truth about corporate finance, It would take an oil production work­ · industries would no longer make a which is known only to the very top er 30 years to earn it. surplus income over expense. management and the board of direc­ Even more well-rewarded for his-ser­ Such a surplus is necessary to reno­ tors. vice to capitalism was Mobil's chair­ vate plant and equipment, to develop However, corporations do publish man of the board, Rawleigh Warner new technology, and to expand pro­ some statistics, and we can find out Jr. Between Warner's salary and stock •tt•s ]DB' Wunuerlul, Mr. President, th' Way You're duction. But under socialism, the uses more than they seem to think. Let's options he pulled in $389,167 in 1970. Gettiu' Folks t' Tighleu Their Belts!' of this surplus would be decided by take a single example, that of Mobil That's more than 40 years worth of a workers government, rather than Oil Corporation, the second largest an oil workers' wage. than the annual wage of 27,000 re­ by private owners. The surplus would oil company in the country and sev­ On top of this, Tavoulareas held finery workers. And it is just one of be invested where society needed it­ enth largest U.S. industrial corpora­ 20,654 shares of Mobil and Warner the comparably large holdings of the perhaps not even in the same industry, tion, in terms of assets. Let's also 25,450 shares. The latter stock hold­ Rockefeller family in U.S. corpora­ and in a world socialist society, may­ go back a few years to 1970 in that ing would have traded for about tions. be not even in the same country. dim, dark period when things were $1,272,500 on Monday, Jan. 28, The Senate study also showed that Surpluses of industries in more tech­ supposed to be so rough for the oil 1974. trust funds in the Morgan Guaranty nologically advanced countries would trusts. But even these fantastic salaries and bank held 2,954,564 Mobil shares, be used to develop the industry of According to its Annual Report for stock holdings are not where the "real another gigantic bloc. This is the pow­ more economically backward coun­ 1970, Mobil increased its earnings per money" is. Neither Tavoulareas nor er center of the Morgan banking part­ tries, and the gap between rich and share of stock from $4.28 to $4.77 Warner are members of the mighty ners. ruling class families who have the It is in such immensely wealthy biggest holdings in Mobil and who trusts that the profits gouged from really call the shots. the labor of workers accumulate over A recent Senate study shows the the decades. They are owned by a largest stockholders of Mobil ("Disclo­ tiny handful of families- the capitalist sure of Corporate Ownership," pub­ ruling class. And it is solely for the lished by the Committee of Govern­ benefit of these families that giant mon­ ment Operations). Two of them are opolies like Mobil are run. Kane & Company and Cudd & Com­ Doesn't the energy crisis really pany, obscure names for two of the prove just the opposite of what the trusts funds of the Rockefeller family oil companies are saying? The cor­ held in the Chase Manhattan Bank. porations should be taken out of the The two trust funds own 5. 2 percent hands of the wealthy! --:t'hey should of Mobil shares, 5, 268,491 shares. be nationalized under workers control! That would have traded for roughly These are central demands in the fight In their huge operations, oil monopolies have many ways to hide profits $263-million on Jan. 28! It is more for socialism.

Oil 'profits tax' schemes won't tax a cent By CAROLINE LUND "Capitol Hill insiders predict the [oil] Percy-who, with their eyes on the is basically exploitation." Congress is putting on a big show industry could even emerge with a presidency, now make a show of lead­ More and more working people are with its hearings on the energy crisis. few favors" from Congress and the ing the charge against the oil com­ beginning to believe that this is pre­ But the only "solutions" being pro­ Nixon administration. panies- have known all along about cisely the truth. The monopolies are posed- the various schemes for an The Journal quotes Charles Walker, the secret operations, tax breaks, and growing rich off the sweat and hard­ "excess profits" tax- are complete whom they describe as "the top Wash­ other government concessions that ships of the majority, who work for a frauds. ington business lobbyist," as saying, have enabled the oil companies to living. Even the capitalist-controlled news­ ''When it all shakes out, I think we'll create the current crisis. To be able to fight for solutions to papers like the New York Times have see a lot of rhetoric and some action The Democrats and Republicans in the energy crisis, working people have to admit this. After consulting "gov­ but not that much in terms of radical Congress are devoted to the capitalist to break from the capitalist-controlled ernment experts on the taxation of the change affecting the industry." system, which is based on the drive Democratic and Republican parties oil industry," Times writer Eileen It stands to reason. After all, the for profits. These capitalist politicians and build a labor party, based on Shanahan concludes: Democrats and Republicans in Con­ will never treat the oil executives as the trade unions, that is devoted to the "Some of the most popular pro­ gress and the White House run the the criminals they are. interests of the majority rather than posals for changing the way the tax government, and their policies have Time magazine last week quoted a the profit system. laws apply to the oil industry would put the oil monopolies in the position White House economic adviser who A labor representative in Congress not cost most oil companies a single they are in today. "contends that people who favor the would cut through the sham proposals penny in additional Federal income Politicians like Democrat Henry tax [on oil profits] are unconsciously of the Democrats and Republicans by taxes. This is true of at least two Jackson and Republican Charles adopting a Marxist view that profit proposing the type of legislation that ideas put forth by the Nixon adminis­ could get to the bottom of the energy tration, and is also true of other ideas crisis. For example, a bill authorizing being supported by such liberal (and employees of each oil monopoly to presumably anti-oil company) poli­ elect a delegation to inspect all the ticians as Senator George McGovern records in the executives' offices, with of South Dakota." criminal penalties for any company The Jan. 27 Washington Post points official caught hiding information. out, for example, that the oil com­ panies can use their foreign shipping A workers' representative would cut subsidiary companies for getting through all the talk of phony "excess around taxes. "For the parent profits taxes" by pointing out that the companies, it is no trick at all to oil monopolies have proved they have funnel profits in and out of the sub­ no right to any profits whatever and sidiaries so as to manipulate the proposing nationalization of the amounts of taxes owed in the United energy industry under workers con­ States," it explains. trol. That is the only way to get the The Wall Street Journal, house full facts on oil production and begin organ for the big capitalists, totally Top oil executives swear 'to tell the truth' at Senate hearings. Only way to get truth running the industry for the welfare agrees. In fact, it says Jan. 25, is to open their books to public. of the majority.

6 Ohio truckers spearhead national protest By JIM SARSGARD cents," she said. "It started 14 months and HERMAN KIRSCH ago as a loose organization of truck­ ON ROUTE 224, Ohio-A highly or­ ers who drive in every state in the ganized protest has almost emptied country. the highways and turnpikes of trucks "Membership is a verbal agreement. in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Vir­ The first vote we took was in a meet­ ginia. The protest is being conducted ing last Dec. 17, and the vote was by the Independent Council of Truck­ 75 to 60 to stop driving. We then gave ers (ICT). the federal government and the state ICT grew out of the December 1973 30 days to do something for us." highway tie-up that was so effective Another trucker broke in to add, in this three-state area. The current "It [the blockade on the Ohio and protest, which began after a "coffee­ Pennsylvania turnpikes last December] break" vote on Jan. 24, has been ha­ was an explosion on the turnpike. rassed by the Highway Patrol, which Nobody planned it" the truckers here now call the "Ohio ICT, which claims a membership Gestapo." of 22,000, has sent delegations of hun­ The Ohio courts have issued an in­ dreds to meet with Ohio Governor junction barring the use of citizen John Gilligan and Washington bureau­ band radios that are used by the crats, but to no avail. "If anything, truckers for communication. An in­ the harassment of highway patrols, junction has also been issued against especially here in Ohio, has increased," the protest itself. said one driver in the room. "We can't The Ohio headquarters of the ICT make a living driving 50 miles an is in a small trailer behind Joe's Truck hour." Stop, on Route 224 between Akron Loaded trucks burn a gallon of gas and Youngstown. Muddy tracks in­ every five to six miles. The drivers side the trailer are evidence of the spend most of their time on the road, trying to prevent truckers' use of citizen band radios to hundreds of truckers who have working 10 to 12 hours a day. stopped here for information or to At a news conference after signing give support Teamster contracts in 1973, Frank page. The trucks are escorted to sta­ has set a strike target date of Jan. 31. While officers 'of the Owners and Fitzsimmons, Teamsters president, tions where, over a cup of coffee, new While we were leaving, one driver Drivers Club of Ohio, a division of estimated the income of independent members are recruited to the cause. invited us to "see some action at the ICT, were out meeting drivers in other truckers at $25,000 a year. The esti­ ICT also includes company truck Roadway Express in Akron" the fol­ cities, two strike supporters, Stan and mate is misleading since the sum quot­ drivers who don't own their own rigs. lowing day. "We don't promise, but Blondie, told The Militant that the ed is gross earnings. Independent Many of the independents are also chances are you'd get some good pic­ present situation was intolerable for truckers have to spend much of that members of the Teamsters union. tures," he said. truckers. The protest was needed be­ income on their rigs, which cost $25,- The demands of the ICT are: l) cause of the cost of fuel, foodstuffs, 000 to $35,000, and on maintenance. an immediate audit of the oil com­ Truckers in New Jersey have also repairs, and the many taxes truckers The drivers must also pay for license panies' reserves and their refinery launched their strike ahead of the na­ have to pay. "It boils down to sur­ plates in more than one state, fuel capacities in this country and abroad; tional strike date of Jan. 31. The As­ vival," said Stan. "We can't afford taxes, state axle-use taxes, and federal 2) an immediate ceiling on all prices sociated Press reported Jan. 28 that to drive anymore." highway-use taxes, as well as turnpike of petroleum products, including diesel truckers had thrown up picket lines Goldie, the wife of a trucker, has fees. fuel, gasoline, and lubricants; 3) a around at least four trucking com­ been without sleep for three days. Teams of protesters are presently rollback of oil prices to the level of panies in the vicinity of Rahway. One Goldie related the history of ICT. stationed on many busy highway in­ May 1973. company representative admitted that "It didn't start with the increase of tersections waving down trucks to per­ The Ohio division of ICT began its half the independents at his concern fuel prices, up from 26.9 cents to 54 suade their drivers to join the stop- protest Jan. 17. Nationally the ICT had joined the strike.

Small oil dealers: ~End the price squeeze' By JOHN RATLIFF reaucracy. Most of the independent "They're charging us up to 17 cents rack and was charged the old price. NEW YORK- On Jan. 24 more than owners assembled in front of the build­ more a gallon than they charge their "When I asked what the hell was 200 oil trucks from New York City ing and continued to talk to the news subsidiaries, when they will sell to us going on, they laughed and told me and Long Island converged to pa­ media and passers-by in Foley Square. at all. I· couldn't get any oil at all that they sold their people domestic rade through Manhattan and assemble In an interview with The Militant for January from any of the majors. oil. It comes from the same tank but at the federal building in Foley Square. Santos DiMartino, the owner of one I took them the paper I got from the when it goes into my truck H's Arab The trucks, belonging to independent oil truck from Deer Park, Long Is­ federal government which was sup­ oil and when it goes to theirs it's ·dealers, paraded down Second Avenue land, gave more details on the ma­ posed to guarantee me an allocation American. But, they've got all the oil in single fJle decked with signs reading jor companies' squeeze play: for the month. When I showed it to and can buy the government so what "Independent Fuel Oil Dealers Associa­ them and demanded fuel, they just can we do. That's why we came here tion- Help Us Lower Your Fuel laughed at me and told me I was to let the people know what's going Prices." way down the list. on." The independents were protesting the "I finally had to ask another inde­ Watts was sure the "oil crisis" was effort by the oil trusts to drive them pendent who had been able to get some nothing but a trick to increase the ma­ from the distribution end of the busi­ from his supplier to loan me enough jor companies' profits and force the ness. Spokesmen for the association to meet the bare minimum of my cus­ small supplier out of business. "There's announced at a news conference on tomers' needs. I've lost several cus­ as much fuel oil at the depot as ever the steps of the federal building that tomers already. When I ask them before," he said. "The majors have they are being driven to the brink where they are taking their accounts, more than enough whenever they need of bankruptcy by the pricing policy they are taking them to the same peo­ it themselves. They have enough to of the major oil companies in concert ple who told me they didn't have supply all our customers at prices with the g-gvernment enough to give me my allocation. I lower than what they charge us and According to the "two-tier" pricing won't make it through another month still have enough to supply all the system, domestic oil prices are sup­ like this." new skyscrapers that are going up. posedly federally controlled, while im­ DiMartino pointed to the record prof­ "But when we ask, there's no oil, ported oil is uncontrolled. The inde­ its of the majors: "It's criminal and or a new high price so that we can't pendents always find themselves the government's working with them. compete with them, and they smile having to pay the uncontrolled prices. They're working to ruin the small and tell us it's the energy crisis." As the independent dealers see it, dealers now, but it's the consumer When asked if he also felt the federal the government is on the side of the who pays for it in the end." government was on the side of the major oil companies. "When [Energy Danny Watts, another one-truck big oil trusts he replied, "Not on their Administration head] Simon goes to dealer, had been able to get oil in side, it's more like the federal gov­ draw up regulations, he just meets January but had to pay premium ernment is part of the majors, like it with two or three representatives of prices for it "They tell us they're belongs to them." the majors and gives them what they selling the independents foreign oil and Both DiMartino and Watts expected ask for," said one of the association's the price is high because of the Arabs. the oil companies to continue ruthless­ representatives. One day at my supplier, right after ly forcing them out of business until He then led a delegation into the I fueled up and paid 17 cents more a almost all the independents were fin­ federal building to confront New Independent fuel dealers parade through gallon than last month, one of their ished. "Then they will charge what­ York's branch of the federal oil bu- Manhattan to federal building. trucks pulled up to the same goddamn ever they want," said Watts.

THE MILITANT/ FEBRUARY 8, 1974 7 One year after the ·~eace· The left and the Vietnam accords: By DAVE FRANKEL agreement, is furnishing the money sured their followers that peace would But the bureaucrats in Moscow and "The cease-fire accords announced Jan. and war materials to the Nguyen Van be guaranteed by Nixon's presence Peking had made their deals with 24 will not bring peace to Indochina. Thieu regime enabling it to maintain in Moscow, not by the actions of the Nixon, and they ·kept the bargain. They signal a new stage of the civil the military conflict." masses. Left without effective military and dip­ war, and of Washington's inter­ In other words, everything would The Kremlin's help in defusing the lomatic support, the Vietnamese were vention." have worked, if only the imperialists atmosphere of crisis and urgency was forced to bend to Nixon's terms. That was the assessment of The had kept their word! But, as The Mili­ instrumental in preventing a mass ex­ Militant one year ago, when the Paris tant pointed out a year ago, the flow­ plosion of antiwar sentimentthatmight 'Peace is at hand' accords on Vietnam were signed. ery phrases in the treaty about "peace" have well exceeded the response to the On Nov. 1, 1972, Socialist Work­ Others thought differently. The Jan. and "democratic rights" were meaning­ invasion of Cambodia and the mur­ ers Party presidential candidate Linda 25, 1973, issue of the pro-Moscow less so long as the imperialist-backed ders at Kent and Jackson State in Jenness replied to the announcement U.S. Communist Party's newspaper, Thieu dictatorship remained in power. 1970. As for Peking, it continued with that "peace is at hand," saying: the Daily World, ran a front-page edi­ The Daily World preferred to ignore its sectarian refusal to call for a united "Nixon's top aide Henry Kissinger torial declaring: "The signing of the the anniversary of the great "victory" front for the defense of the Vietnamese says that 'peace is at hand' in Viet­ Vietnam peace agreement in Paris on in Vietnam altogether. It limited it­ revolution. nam. This is a lie. self to a few sentences in passing in Saturday will mark an historic vic­ Militarily, the response of the bu­ "The nine-point 'settlement' that has its Jan. 18 editorial, saying, "On the tory for the people in Vietnam and for reaucrats was no better. Peking's mili­ reportedly been agreed to was wrung eve of the first anniversary of the Paris the world anti-imperialist struggle." tary assistance to the Vietnamese fell from the Vietnamese through the most The pro-Peking Guardian was no peace agreement on Vietnam, the "from $145 million in 1967 to $75 extensive bombing campaign in his­ Nixon Administration is still violating more restrained. "CEASE-FIRE A million last year," according to C. L. tory and through the threat of years GREAT VICTORY FOR VIETNAM," the agreement and threatening to more of the same terrible destruction. launch new aggression." "Already the U.S. is rushing military equipment to the Thieu government, and Thieu is preparing to carry out Detente in action a bloodbath of repression against'sus­ The fact is that the Stalinists cannot pected communists' in Saigon-con­ admit the real nature of the accords trolled areas of South Vietnam. Under because they took political responsi­ the proposed agreement, U.S. troops bility for them from the beginning, are to remain indefinitely in Thailand proclaiming them as a victory for the and in the seas off Vietnam, ready to Vietnamese revolution, and subordi­ intervene again if the U.S. warmakers nating the interests of the Vietnamese think it necessary. This is no peace! revolution to their policy of "peaceful "The nine points represent a formula coexistence" with imperialism. The Viet­ for maintaining the capitalist system nam agreement was the first example and a foothold for U.S. imperialism of Nixon's detente with Moscow and in Vietnam .... Peking in action. "The Vietnamese are rebelling It is worth recalling the political con­ against a system that allows a few text in which the Paris treaty was ar­ landlords and capitalists to own most ranged. of the land and wealth. The masses \:f:,, ce Bloy t(h ill{! Toward the end of 1971 Nixon in­ of peasants must hand over a large .• but others in the antiwar movement, fNI,_ creased the bombing of Vietnam to part of their crops to the landlords including The Militant, continued to de­ make up for the withdrawal of U.S. simply to be able to farm the land. mand total end to U.S. intervention. ii;~!~H troops under his "Vietnamization" pro­ Workers are paid miserably low Pro-Moscow Daily World and Pro-Peking gram. His trip to Peking in February wages, taxed heavily, and denied basic 1972 coincided with a new peak in democratic rights. The hated Saigon Guardian hailed 'peace' treaty as a vic­ Sulzberger in the l'v1ay 24, 1972, New tory for Vietnamese and organized cam­ the bombing of North Vietnam. York Times. In contrast, on June 2, regime represents the landowners, the paign for its adoption . . . Then, on March 23, the U.S. with­ 1972, the first installment of $300- capitalists, and the imperialist powers drew from the Paris peace talks, charg­ million worth of military and economic they depend on to protect them from ing the North Vietnamese with "bully­ air was delivered by Peking to the their own people. ing the United States." One week later said its top front-page headline military dictatorship in Pakistan. The "The proposed nine-point agreement the Vietnamese launched their spring Jan. 31, 1973. equipment included 60 MIG-19 jet does not resolve any of these funda­ offensive.- The following week Guardian cor­ fighters, at a time when the Vietnamese mental problems in line with the needs respondent Wilfred Burchett predicted As the Saigon forces reeled back in didn't have enough planes to challenge and aspirations of the Vietnamese that the "unorganized, unpopular and confusion and disorder, Nixon ordered the daily bombardment of their coasts people." corrupt Thieu administration cannot the use of giant B-52 bombers against and cities. In contrast to this assessment, the be expected to long survive on its the cities of North Vietnam. Hanoi Guardian and the Daily World hailed own." and Haiphong were devastated, and Had they wanted to, the Kremlin the agreement as a victory. After all, Unfortunately, as was repeatedly repeated strikes were also made bureaucrats could have done for the if the accords represented a victory, pointed out in The Militant, there was against the system of dikes and canals Vietnamese what they did for the then their mentors in Peking and no reason to believe that the Thieu in the North. Egyptian and Syrian armies in the Oc­ Moscow respectively could hardly be regime would be left "on its own." With All this failed to stop the offensive tober 1973 Mideast war. They could accused of selling out the struggle. 60,000 dead in the 12 months since in the south, and on May 8 Nixon have armed them with the most ad­ The editorial in the Nov. 29, 1972, the signing of the "peace" treaty, and announced he was blockading the vanced missiles and aircraft. They Guardian insisted that "the Vietnamese with the Thieu regime still going coast of North Vietnam and mining could have given them hundreds of people are now preparing to complete strong, the Stalinists of both varieties its ports. Moscow and Peking did additional tanks and planes. And they the total expulsion of U.S. military have had to resort to some fancy foot­ nothing. They didn't even announce could have mounted a massive sup­ forces from their soil," and both the work to reconcile their gushing praise an increase in material aid for the ply airlift to bolster the Vietnamese Guardian and Daily World joined to­ for the Paris accords with the actual Vietnamese. defenses. gether in a "sign the treaty" campaign. course of events in Vietnam in the last And, to top it all off, two weeks Coupled with the resistance of the Even after the savage Christmas year. later, Nixon was received in the Krem­ Vietnamese and the tremendous sup­ bombing on Hanoi and Haiphong, Thus, the Guardian's Richard Ward, lin with open arms. port for their struggle within the U.S., which was used to wring further con­ writing in a Jan. 30, 1974, article this would have effectively tied Nixon~s cessions from the Vietnamese, the titled "Vietnam peace not yet real," The great betrayal hands and forced him to back down. Stalinists still hailed the treaty as a feels it necessary to assure his readers The entire world had watched that "needless to say, the Paris agree­ Nixon's moves in Vietnam with hor­ ment was not a blueprint for prolonged ror. The antiwar movement rushed war. To the contrary, in elaborate preparations for a nationwide demon­ and precise detail, its articles and as­ stration in Washington planned for sociated protocols, provided a planfor May 21. Dissent in the armed forces The Meaning of the peace.... " even reached into the ranks of B-52 Ward takes note of the critics. "There pilots. And underlying the revulsion were those observers in the West who at the attempt to bomb and starve Vietnam Accords said that it would never work, the the Vietnamese into submission was NIXON'S WORLD STRATEGY peace agreement was naive.... " the fear of a confrontation with the "The war continues to be sure," Ward Soviet Union. THE ROLE OF MOSCOW AND PEKING admits, "but who is naive? More to Instead of encouraging the unions PROSPECTS FOR THE VIETNAMESE REVOLUTION the point, why does the war continue?" under their leadership to organize pro­ by Barry Sheppard and Dick Roberts. 25 cents. Now comes Ward's clincher: "The test strikes, instead of helping to build war continues in South Vietnam for united mass demonstrations through­ Order from: PATHFINDER PRESS, 410 West Street, New York, only one reason: because the U.S., out the world, the pro-Moscow Com­ N.Y. 10014 Tel. (212) 741-0690 in complete violation of the Paris munist parties around the world as-

8 ' ' Black parley rejects Newark mayor !Is bid a balance sheet By ROBE WRIGHT at Gibson's and other Black poli­ and DERRICK MORRISON ticians' "unaccountability" to the com­ NEWARK, N.J.-Amidst cries of munity. As one man at this year's "This convention isn't going to en­ convention put it, "It is sad what our dorse anyone who won't appear local elected officials have done before the people who elected him to to us." office," the City Wide Political Con­ The response of CFUN and the con­ vention here voted Jan. 20 not to vention organizers. to this situation endorse Mayor Kenneth Gibson's bid was not to boldly chart a campaign for a second term. to build an independent Black party.~ Dissatisfaction with the mayor was Such a campaign could educate the so great that Gibson's personal repre­ masses of Black people that the source sentative to the convention, Bernie of their powerlessness lies with the Moore, was booed off the stage on the racist, capitalist Democratic and Re­ last day of the three-day gathering. publican parties. However, despite this display of Instead, the organizers attributed anger, the delegates, who voted 69 Gibson's shortcomings to the major­ to 29 against endorsement of Gibson, ity-white city council and to the "bad" did not put up an alternative candi­ advisers surrounding the mayor. date for mayor. Elections for mayor Moreover, they stated that one can and city council will be held in May. support the concept of a Black party The delegates did back five Black and remain in the Democ~atic Party, candidates for city council· who at­ too. All the convention delegates were U.S. bombing forced Vietnamese to make major concessions in Paris negotiations tended the convention and agreed to working on some level in the Demo­ run on the convention's platform. One cratic Party. Even the most vocal op­ of the candidates is incumbent Central ponents of Gibson, such as leaders ·of shipped an additional 500 aircraft to victory. Ward Councilman Dennis Westbrooks. the Newark Federation of Students, a the Saigon forces, as well as 600 The Daily World, in its Jan. 6, 1973, Another candidate is a policeman. high school organization, stood for issue, even went to the point of label­ tanks, 200 naval vessels, 600 artil­ Organizers stressed that the meeting working in the Democratic Party. ing those who opposed the betrayal lery pieces, and 500,000 tons of ord­ was the direct descendant of the 1969 carried out by the Soviet bureaucrats nance. Moreover, U.S. officials are Black and Puerto Rican Convention, As a result of Baraka's and as carriers of "Trotskyite Nixonism." currently discussing further military which nominated Gibson for mayor, CFUN's entanglement in the Demo­ They defined this as "a kind of chem­ aid to Thieu to the tune of $400-mil­ along with six Blacks and one Puerto cratic Party, they are being forced to ical-bacteriological warfare to corrupt lion to $1-billion. Rican for the city council in the 1970 water down their nationalist rhetoric. the minds of peace-loving people"! Approximately three-quarters of the election. Gibson and three Black city For example, this year's convention In an article in the Daily World population ()f Souih Vietnam remains council candidates were elected. literature said, "in an effort to remove distributed at the Jan. 20, 1973, anti­ under the rule of the Saigon regime. However, with the exception of West­ any problems some candidates might According to. the U.S. Senate subcom­ war demonstration in Washington, brooks, none of these officials showed have with the designation Black and D.C., attended by 100,000 people, CP mittee on refugees, there were eight up this year. In fact, according to the Puerto Rican Convention, we · are leader Mike Zagarell called for read- million refugees created by U.S. bomb­ comments of some participants, many using the name and the approach, of ing in Vietnam from 1965 until mid- Black Democratic politicians and com­ being the City Wide Political Conven­ 1972. The vast majority of these went munity leaders had declared the con­ tion." to the towns held by the Saigon regime vention off limits. Even the designations "Black" and to avoid the bombing. These people But this condemnation of the con­ "Puerto Rican" become an obstacle to have still not been allowed to return vention by the Black Democrats only wheeling and dealing inside the Demo­ to their homes, and the bombing­ partially explains why it attracted cratic Party, and are the:r;efore shunted now carried out by aircraft turned fewer than 300, while the 1969 meet­ to the side in favor of abstractions over to Thieu- goes on. ing drew 3,000. The fault for this lay about "all of the people." More than 200,000 political prison­ ers remain in Thieu's dungeons, and roundups of "suspected Communist sympathizers" continue unabated. The U.S. Seventh Fleet remains poised in the waters off Vietnam, while U.S. B-52s remain in position in Thailand, Guam, and the Philippines. "Hanoi must still take into account the military forces of the United States in the event of an all-out attack," warned Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger Dec. 15. U.S. tanks, rushed to Thieu to prepare for 'peace,' line Saigon docks in November Two appraisals 1972. Writing in the Nov. 8, 1972, Guard­ ian, Richard Ward claimed: "Having ing the SWP out of the antiwar move­ failed to implant a successful puppet Mayor Kenneth Gibson's term in office has done nothing to relieve conditions of Blacks ment because it opposed the "sign the regime in South Vietnam, the U.S. is in Newark. treaty" slogan. compelled in the agreement to officially Zagarell wrote: "the Trotskyites have recognize for the first time the Pro­ been declared renegades throughout visional Revolutionary Government. primarily with the organizers, chief Gibson's major opponent in the race the world peace movement. The agreement equally provides for among them, the Committee For a for mayor is the white racist State "Of all the nations in the capitalist the establishment of a new govern­ world, our peace movement in the Unified Newark (CFUN), headed by Senator Anthony Imperiale. Imperiale ment by democratic means and the Imamu Amiri Baraka. is so reactionary that even the Re­ U.S. has the greatest responsibility. release of the countle·ss thousands of It is time that we begin to examine Baraka and CFUN played the cen­ publicans rejected him as a candidate, political prisoners in South Vietnam, tral role in organizing the 1969 con­ but he ran for state senator as an in­ new and higher standards in the peace thereby opening the way for final movement." vention. That convention was seen by dependent and won. victory over the reactionary puppet many as a vehicle for organizing a Gibson and Imperiale will be viewed Despite such vicious slanders, a year elements." of experience in Vietnam has shown struggle for Black and Puerto Rican as "fierce" opponents. Because the The Daily World ran a similar state­ control of Newark, a city more than conclusively that the SWP and YSA forces at the City Wide Political Con­ ment by Leonid Brezhnev in its Feb. 70 percent ,Black and Puerto Rican. were right about the character of the vention have not broken out of the 1, 1973, issue, assuring the world Baraka and CFUN claimed that the so-called peace treaty negotiated in two-party trap, they will eventually that "a road for peaceful democratic convention would make the politicians Paris. Those who hailed the treaty come down on the side of Gibson, development, for upholding true in­ "accountable" to the community and as a step toward peace and justice notwithstanding their vote of nonen­ dependence and for conducting the that real change would come after an for the Vietnamese have been proved dorsement. policy of national concord and unifi­ election victory. But in the last four totally wrong. But the interests of Blacks and cation opens before South Vietnam" years, neither expectation has been other working people lie outside the as a result of the accords. fulfilled. two-party shell game. A Black Demo­ The situation today A more realistic appraisal was made Some of the very activists who had crat is no alternative to a white racist Before the cease-fire went into effect, by the Trotskyist movement. The Dec. worked and sweated for a Gibson vic­ Republican. Whichever one wins, the U.S. had already created the third 22, 1972, Militant reported on the tory four years ago are now disgusted Black and other working people lose. largest air force in the world in South international report made by Geoff Vietnam. Since that time, it has Continued on page 22

THE MILITANT/FEBRUARY 8, 1974 In Our Opinion Let ten

God not a cop backer We were cheated by the Demo­ Trade-union women A rally to build support for the ccratic Party in 1972, as much as A new ferment is rising in the trade-union movement: wom­ Los Angeles police department or more than in 1968. Where is our failed to bring out Black Angelenos en unionists are beginning to organize to fight for equal rights "lord and savior" McGovern now? this week. Does "the man of the people," with on the job and in their unions. This development is of great The event was organized by Rev­ all of his grassroots bullshit, speak importance to the entire labor movement. It has special im­ erend Claude Evans of the Garden of up now against the Watergate con­ portance as an example for other superexploited sections Gethsemane Baptist Church and was spiracy? What words does he say of the working class-Blacks, Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, and supported by a coalition of cops about the so-called fuel shortage? ~the unorganized. and city and county officials. They What does the Prince of Peace say The potential significance of this beginning of organization hoped that 25,000 to 50,000 people about the "peace with honor" in of working women is suggested by the success of the numer­ would show up from the Black Indochina, which has cost 55,000 ous trade-union women's conferences held over the past year. community. human beings their lives this year? Last May 300 women attended the first women's conference The 92,000-seat Los Angeles M.M. of the California State Federation of Labor. In June, more Coliseum was chosen as the site of Dallas, Texas the event. But only 350 people than 200 participated in a Midwest planning meeting of the showed up. Coalition of Labor Union Women (CL UW) held in Chicago. According to Reverend Evans, Last November, 400 came to a women's conference organized "Whatever number we had today Arab women by the Teamsters union in St. Louis. In December, an East was because God wanted it. We will Linda Jenness's article on women Coast planning meeting of CL UW attracted 300. And just take it and work with it." in the Arab world [Militant, Jan. 11] last month, 650 women unionists turned out for a New York Walter Lippmann was timely and to the point. I am conference of trade-union women. Los Angeles, Calif. sure it will be tucked away in the Participants in these meetings have included women union fold of many Arab women's dresses officials, rank and filers, and a significant number of Black to be passed on. To have lived women. among them for a little while, one soon learns to realize how hard they These conferences have discussed many of the problems Arab Liberation Front Since The Militant is an outstanding struggle trying to improve their lot. facing working women: equal pay and job opportunities, While traveling in Syria and Lebanon passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, maternity bene­ paper and reflects the ideology and the sound position of the YSA, I in 1968, my wife and I saw many fits, child-care facilities, organizing unorganized women work­ feel compelled to write to you to manifestations of the abuses suf- ers, unemployment, and layoffs due to the current energy correct a mistake that appeared in fered by women that Jenness enumer­ crisis. the introduction to a statement by ated. I could not help but compare The new activity by trade-union women reflects the grow­ Matzpen and the Lebanese Revolu­ the Arab women's dress requirements ing impact of women's liberation ideas on U.S. society and tionary Communist Group published to those inhuman ones still prac- on broad layers of working-class women, not only trade on Jan. 25. ticed by many nuns. unionists. This is reflected in the role of women in the United The Arab Liberation Front has no John Enestvedt Farm Workers struggle, in the Farah pants strike, in sup­ groups in support of any settlement Sacred Heart, Minn. porting the United Mine Workers' strike in Kentucky, and in or in support of a Palestinian state organizing activities by unorganized university employees, in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. The front reflects the ideology office workers, domestic workers, and stewardesses. of the Arab Baath Socialist Party, 'Prisoner's Free Press' The Coalition of Labor Union Women has called a na­ which believes in the full liberation tional conference for March 23-24 in Chicago, open to all I am writing in behalf of the of Palestine and creating the Demo­ Prisoner's Free Press Collective to union women. This conference should be publicized and built cratic Community in Palestine and let you and your readers know of in a campaign spirit by all unionists- male and female. It in the unification of the Liberated our paper, the Prisoner's Free . can be of historic importance in launching a sustained strug­ Palestine with the rest of the Arab Press. gle for the rights of women on the job, in the unions, and World in a United Socialist Arab In it you will read the true story in society as a whole. State, from the Atlantic Ocean to about the bloody jungle that exists The struggle of trade-union women will be part of the fight the Arab Gulf. in the prisons. You will be amazed to transform the unions into organizations that will take the Yours in struggle. when you read the news that is lead in the fight for social justice and the rights of the most Ibrahim Ebeid suppressed and covered up by the Palestine Liberation Organization oppressed. establishment news media. New York, N. Y. Find out why crime pays, who it pays, and why the bureaucrats want and need crime and prisoners. Learn why prisons are a big busi­ More Indian coverage ness. Read about the guards and It has been quite disheartening to prison officials who are smuggling Two W'gate suits see The Militant's coverage of the narcotics into the prisons. Read all struggle of Native Americans in this and more in the Prisoner's Two parallel suits ·against illegal government spying are their land. The tail-ending of this Free Press, P. 0. Box 4731, making an unprecedented challenge to the powers of the FBI. struggle has had lip service paid Philadelphia, Pa. 19134. Be sure Lori Paton, a New Jersey high school student, is suing to it before by other "radical" news­ to enclose $3.95 to cover one the FBI because its agents investigated her for the "crime" papers and magazines but has never year's subscription. of sending a letter to the Socialist Workers Party as part achieved the consistent coverage you A prisoner of a school project. have given to the Black and Chi­ Pennsylvania The SWP and the Young Socialist Alliance have filed their cano struggles. If you really wish to present yourself as a defender of own suit to halt such mail interception and all other forms human and civil rights for oppressed of government surveillance and harassment against their mem­ nationalities in the world please pay bers and supporters. more attention to this particular Militant tells the truth Both these legal challenges have struck a chord of wide­ struggle than the New York Times I am a Black Brother doing 40 spread opposition to secret-police practices. Sympathy for already does. long years in prison. I have anyone fighting against these tactics is so great that even R. V. been reading your paper here. I like capitalist newspapers are lending their support to such suits. South Charleston, W. Va. it, it keeps me up on what is really going on in the free world- the Both the New York Post and Chicago Sun-Times, for exam­ truth- not like the other papers in ple, hailed the Paton suit in editorials Jan. 2 9. "The action ·the U.S. that tell lies. would invite special public interest at any time," the Post A prisoner editors wrote, "but particularly now." 'Where is McGovern? ' Kansas The Sun-Times editorial noted that Paton's suit "questions I am writing this in reply to D. J.' s the power of the FBI to interfere with political inquiries or letter in the Jan. 18 Militant. I, too, associations that would seem to be guaranteed by the First compromised my principles and Amendment to the Constitution." worked for the McGovern election in Big fools? It is precisely this power-which the FBI arrogantly claims 1972. Looking back, I now see how If your misinformedness was not so as part of its crusade against "subversives"-that is the focus futile it was to try to bring human annoying, it would be humorous. of the challenge made by the two suits. decency into the American political You've really got your gall accusing mainstream by supporting a can­ The Sun-Times editors also expressed their hope that "the Israel of starting the wars and of didate of a "major" party. The dif­ being expansion-minded. You know Paton suit can get at the last vestige" of McCarthyite gover:-.:­ ference between George McGovern damn well that the Arabs have, in ment practices, including use of the attorney general's list. and Richard Nixon is slim. What all cases, attacked Israel and due to The growing support for these suits raises the possibility McGovern told youth and radicals their comical ineptness, have lost the that they can lead to court decisions knocking down some one day, he would reverse the next lands in question. of the secret-police practices the government defends as ''legal." when speaking to the "bosses." If you all were not a bunch of

10 By Any Means Necessary Baxter Smith

anti-Semites, you would realize that Issues facing the Black press (II) I am right. Also, it is most interesting that every time there is an article I recently spoke with a number of editors and other "I think there are a substantial number of Black about some minority person facing people knowledgeable in the production of Black people who are indeed serious about liberation. But charges, you say they are frame-up newspapers about the problems affecting the publi­ I do not think that the bulk of the Black press is charges. cation of the Black press. advocating a position that will eventually lead to I guess I am to assume that all Chief among these problems is that of obtaining complete liberation." minority persons can do no wrong sufficient advertising to finance publication. "You Some establishment papers, though, have done com­ and that it is the racist decadent have to have advertising," said Pamela Haynes, city mendable reporting on certain issues. Although ir­ government preying on them. You're editor of the Philadelphia Tribune. "But the major regular in frequency, this news is due .chiefly to alert really bigger fools than I thought downtown department stores here in Philadelphia reporters. if you believe that. won't advertise in the Black papers. And they can The Philadelphia Tribune is running an excellent If you've got the courage, please come up with all kinds of excuses, though they are series on the energy crisis, correctly illustrating the print this letter. making money hand over fist from Black people." criminal role of the oil trusts. That paper has also A reader According to Francis Ward, a Black reporter with carried courageous reporting on cop brutalicy in Duluth, Minn. the Chicago bureau of the Los Angeles Times, white. the city. advertisers feel it is not worth advertising in the The Afro-American newspapers and Carolina Times Black press. Blacks read and are more influenced often carry news of the southern Black student move­ by the white dailies, he explained. ment. In addition, the Afro-American (national edi­ Workers democracy Another problem Black newspapers must cope with, tion) has noticeably increased its coverage of develop­ in addition to that of the rising costs of printing ments in southern Africa. The article in the World Outlook and news-gathering, is holding skilled news reporters. The San Francisco Sun Reporter often carries news section titled "The struggle for workers "After a couple of years they're going to get all sorts of the prisoner movement in California and has democracy in the USSR" by Candida of offers from the [white] dailies," said Haynes. run interviews with well-known Black prisoners. Barberena (The Militant, Jan. 11) was But by far the most crippling problem facing Black The Miami Times has championed the cause of muy excelentel newspapers is their conservative editorial policy. the Haitian refugees in the south Florida area, and Developments show that the prole­ The Chicago Black X-Press, edited by Lu Palmer, focused attention on the conditions faced by Florida tarian class (as opposed to the bureau­ and founded May 19, 1973, (Malcolm X's birthday), farm workers, many of whom are Black. cratic regime) will in the long run reflects a militant nationalist viewpoint and has grap­ Though welcome, the quantity of this reporting put a stop to this social injustice. pled with the real problems faced by Blacks. is not sufficient. The Russian people will demand their In an interview Palmer stated: "In general the Black The Black press today does not meet the need democratic rights. press has become kind of an establishment press. of the Black community for a truthful source of The revolution does not cease by And as a result of this has lost a lot of its circula­ information not found in the white dailies. Such a the mere artificial fact that the dic­ tion. It's also lost a good deal of the confidence source should contain information on all aspects tatorship of the proletariat takes that Black people have in the Black press. of racist oppression, and offer solutions to fight it. power. Solidification of the proletar­ ian rule (or people's rule, i.e., demo­ cracy) must be made explicitly clear. The Russian people threw off their former slave masters and they will do so again. The permanent revo­ lution is a clear thesis that today National Picket Line we can observe in the developments and the emergence of the New Left Frank Lovell iit Opposition in the Soviet Union. SA I am on the side of freedom of speech for the Russian people. Speak out, Russia! A prisoner The next secretary of labor? New York Many union officials have the mistaken notion that crat whose political opinions recommended him to friendly politicians and "good guys" in the right gov­ Nixon. ernment agencies are more helpful in negotiating His age was also thought by some to be in his better contracts than angry workers who want to favor. At 49, Usery is a generation younger than For Coleman Young close factories and tie up transportation. most AFL-CIO executive council members. His George Meany and his cronies on the AFL-CIO chances of soon becoming the next president of the Your newspaper, although being OK executive council recently got the bright idea to hire federation looked good. It is a job that pays more on some issues (Watergate) is very a clever government functionary to work for the than even an official Nixon adviser gets. Meany warped on others. The main article unions, thinking this would solve some of their present now pulls down $74,776 a year, and the price of that upset me was the one on Coleman problems. bureaucrats is rising faster than wages. Young, the new mayor of Detroit. The man they wanted was W.J. Usery Jr., head In addition, the president of the AFL-CIO seems to I was flabbergasted. of the Federal Mediation and Concilation Service, have real authority. Basically you didn't dig Coleman and a special assistant to Nixon. But, for some reason Usery decided to stay on because he ran as a Democrat and not Last October, Meany asked Usery to organize and with Nixon. Even if he was promised he would soon SWP. I got news for you. There are coordinate AFL-CIO political education and com­ replace Labor Secretary Brennan, there doesn't seem some good politicians who aren't munity activities through a new system of regional to be much future in this choice. He must know there socialists. If Coleman had run as a offices in conjunction with state and local labor coun­ is also likely to be a shake-up in the bureaucratic socialist he would never have won. cils. The general idea was to mobilize union ranks crust of the union movement. He took the safer road. He's always run in the Democratic behind "friendly" politicians and curry favor in gov­ Usery is not one to close off any options. While Party. His politics are very leftist ernment circles by preventing strikes. This would announcing his change of mind about the AFL-CIO in nature. He's been a fighter since require a new department in the already top-heavy job, he did so with great praise for George Meany. his early days organizing unions AFL-CIO structure. Usery was to be in charge of it. He had been ·"honored" he said. However, "events and the CIO. He's always been for He was to be Number 3 man in the union hier­ that have occurred since the exeeutive council's ac­ the people. archy -"the third constitutional officer of the federa­ tion last October have caused me to believe that I My girlfriend and her father worked tion," in line to become AFL-CIO president after might better be able to contribute to labor, to for Coleman all summer and they are Meany. management and to our nation by accepting Pres­ as much for socialism (and commun­ It is even more unusual for a government bureau­ ident Nixon's request that I remain with the govern­ ism) as you are but they knew Cole­ crat to be transformed into a union bureaucrat than ment." man's stand on issues. I worked for the other way around. But strange things happen What Usery does "with the governmenf' is not dif­ him a little also and consider that in these circles. ferent from what Meany and associates expected of Detroit has the best mayor in the Top union officials are in daily consultation with him as an AFL-CIO leader. It was reported Jan. 21 country. Keep an eye on him. May­ heads of government agencies. They work hard to­ that he had "settled" the 188~day strike of Meat Cut­ be you'll learn something. gether at fixing.pay scales and settling strikes. They ters against Iowa Beef Processors. Usery and John G.W. get carried away sometimes and begin to think they Dunlop, director of Nixon's Cost of Living Council, East Lansing, Mich. are serving "the public interest." They imagine them­ will appoint an "impartial" arbitrator to decide within selves to be above the struggles of workers and em­ 60 days on wages, a cost-of-living clause, and the ployers. Mutual admiration develops among these length of a new contract. Iowa Beef pays about $1 an hour less than other The letters column is an open forum sage associates. How could it be otherwise? for all viewpoints on subjects of gen­ George Meany must surely have thought he had processing companies and is bent on breaking the eral interest to our readers. Please discovered an able assistant and worthy successor. strike and operating nonunion plants. The union keep your letters brief. Where neces­ Usery agreed. He promised to give up his govern­ officials in this instance pin their hopes on the "good sary they will be abridged. Please in­ ment job and go to work at AFL-CIO headquarters offices" of erstwhile friend Usery instead of mobilizing dicate if your name may be used or no later than February this year. the ranks of the union movement to ward off the if you prefer that your initials be used Usery's qualifications for his new job were his ex­ open-shop attack. instead. perience as a labor mediator for the government; a Usery is the man who knows best how to cover onetime Grand Lodge representative of the Interna­ up for the union-busting bosses. That is why his tional Association of Machinists; a registered Demo- star is rising in the government bureaucracy.

THE MILITANT/FEBRUARY 8, 1974 11 The Great Society Harry Ring

Harry Ring is currently in New Zea­ Sydney participants got caught in a was a great demand for glass bottles land at the invitation of the Socialist traffic jam. And copies of the new but opined that the complaints by Action League, the Trotskyist organi­ edition were not on hand because the druggists were "just a storm in a dis­ zation in New Zealand. plane bringing them from the U. S. pensing bottle." was out of fuel. Sick snappers- Fifteen tons of snap­ The march of civilization- Despite the per caught near a New Zealand oil Report from N. Z. labor front- The stiff competition from synthetics, a re­ refinery appeared to have been con­ following item is reprinted in its en­ searcher for the wool industry said taminated by eating shellfish affected tirety from the Auckland Star: the future of the product was "very by some pollutant in the water. Au­ "Drivers and freezers hands at the rosy indeed." He assured, "We can thorities said it was either a Christmas Papatoetoe plant of Birds Eye Foods match synthetics in every way." eve oil spill or detergents that Ltd. returned to work yesterday. The had been used to clean it up. Star yesterday incorrectly reported that the mel) were from General Foods The bright side-" Recent reports from Space-age message- To introduce plant. The dispute, which started on North America of an upsurge in de­ Australians and New Zealanders to Friday, was about lack of amenities." mand for wooly long-johns may be its revolutionary new encyclopedia, taken as an augury that the wool in­ the Britannica Company called dustry, more than any other, is likely the world's first international news Take a tranquilizer- New Zealand to benefit from the oil shortage. . . . conference, with satellites tying in druggists said they faced a critical Unless enough oil is forthcoming simultaneous meetings in Auckland, shortage of glass bottles for dispen­ soon, Eu~ope, North America and Sydney, Adelaide, and Melbourne. sing prescription medicines. A spokes­ Japan are in for a bitter winter."­ The briefing was delayed when the man for the industry conceded there The Christchurch, N. Z., Press. 'I got a D in spying'

Women In Revolt Last hired and first fired Linda "Unemployment is rising.... Nobody doubts that laid off, two flight attendants were also furloughed. in female unemployment. While the adult male it will continue to go up. The only question now The increase in unemployment, predicted by some unemployment rate rose 0.2 percent, the increase is how high it will rise," writes the Jan. 19 Business labor officials to go as high as 10 or 11 percent, for women workers was 0. 7 percent. Week. will greatly exacerbate an already unequal situa­ The energy crisis has already resulted in heavy tion.. Even though the gap between male and female layoffs. Sixty thousand auto workers have been In 1972, for instance, official unemployment fig­ wages has not narrowed in the last few years, indefinitely laid off by the auto makers. There have ures looked like this: white adult males (3.6 per­ women have made some gains in terms of em­ been 17,000 furloughs by airlines, with more ex­ cent); white adult women (4.9 percent); what the ployment. More women have entered the work pected. The U.S. Labor Department estimates that U.S. Labor Department calls "minority" adult men force than ever before, and some job categories 100,000 people have lost their jobs in the last (6.8 percent); "minority" adult women (8.8 per­ have opened up that have been traditionally closed month. cent); white teen-age men and women ( 14.2 per­ to women. These gains are now being seriously The first victims are women and Blacks. "Under cent); "minority" teen-age men (29.8 percent); "mi­ threatened by the energy crisis layoffs. union contracts," continues Business Week, "the last nority" teen-age women (.38.6 percent). hired were the first furloughed. In the auto industry, A close look at these unemployment rates is very Layoffs and unemployment will be serious agen­ for instance, many of the low-seniority workers revealing. IIi 1972, the unemployment rate· began da points at the meetings of trade-union women given indefinite layoffs were from minorities that to go down after the 1970-71 recession-but only taking place around the country. fought for and won jobs in the years since the late for men. The figures for women stayed the same. To meet the economic crisis confronting millions 1960s. At a General Motors plant in Linden, N.J., Not until the end of 1972 and thefirst part of 1973 of working women and men, the labor movement everyone hired after Feb. 28, 1968, was affected. In did the female unemployment rate begin to drop. should demand a shorter workweek with no re­ addition to black men, about 350 women em­ Women were rehired, in other words, a full year duction in pay to share the work more equitably; ployed in assembly line jobs since August, 1970, later than men after the 1970-71 recession. preferential hiring for women and oppressed na­ lost their jobs." Business Week neglected to ex­ After being the last hired, now they are the first tionalities to correct the gross inequities in jobs; plain that the 350 women fired were all the women fired. The increase in unemployment from the Oc­ cost-of-living escalator clauses in all contracts to on the assembly line. tober 1973 rate of 4.5 percent to the December offset inflation; and unemployment benefits at union In the airline industry, for every pilot who was one of 4.9 percent was due mostly to an increase wage levels for all those out of work. i La Raza en AcciOn! Miguel Pendas Mercedes's finest get going Students at Colegio Jacinto Trevino do not think grand jury pursued the matter further and came exactly hold the rapt attention of the audience­ of their school as an ivory tower. At this Chicano across a motorist who had had the ill fortune the Jan. 9 Valley Morning Star reports that some school in the small Texas town of Mercedes in to run a stop sign in Park's town. He was fined of his remarks were drowned out by coughing. the Rio Grande Valley, movement activity is con­ $27.50 for running the sign, $36 for a parking In an effort to shed some light on the whole sidered important. violation, $48 for failing to appear in court, and matter, the Valley Morning Star sought the advice Recently, Jacinto Trevino students have been $70 for no apparent reason. of the Reverend Oliver Sumerlin. The first deep leading an effort by Chicanos to curb the racist When it was further discovered that the motorist thought the Baptist minister had to offer was that brutality of the Mercedes police. This has brought had paid the fines directly to Park and had never Jacinto Trevino's involvement in the struggle "is them into a head-on collision with local gringo seen a judge or the inside of a courtroom, eye­ as ridiculous as a prostitute teaching the beauty bigots and their flunkies. brows were raised. A special Texas Senate com­ of virtue to a Sunday school class of teenage Activists have been circulating a petition demand­ mittee decided to step in and investigate the matter girls." ing the ouster of police chief Lester Robert Park and called on Park to explain himself. A philosopher as well as a theologian, Sumerlin and three of his cronies. Park brought two of But the chief decided to tough it out. He claimed said he was "against all brutality, and this in­ them along from Elmendorf, a nearby small town, "executive privilege" and refused to testify. cludes the brutality of lying." where he was police chief prior to taking over Added to the numerous grievances Chicano resi­ Allowing his wit and wisdom to be expressed the reins at Mercedes. dents of Mercedes have against Park and his quick­ on the political plane, the good reverend went on Why did the chief move from Elmendorf to Mer­ on-the-draw crew, these revelations made the Ja­ to explain that such charges of police brutality cedes? Jacinto Trevino students have been publi­ cinto Trevino petition very popular. The activists should come before the "proper" bodies, not before cizing some facts that may provide the answer organized a community meeting Jan. 8, which "some political mass gathering or so-called 'peo­ to that question. was attended by well over 100 people. ple's court' as in Communist China." It seems that one of Chief Park's cops Chicanos got up and voiced their complaints Making a social-psychological observation I am was charged with pulling a gun on a service sta­ against the police to loud cheering and applause. sure will give us all some food for thought, the tion attendant who wouldn't sell him more than Sensing that something was happening, Mayor prominent spiritual leader concluded, "I would like 10 gallons of gas. On the same day the chief Laborio Hinojosa decided to make an appearance to think that I have more intelligence than a false himself was charged with deserting his child in to put in his two cents worth. 'machismo.' After all, if a fellow's brain is smaller Houston and is now free on bail. Hinojosa declared that he had usually found than his glands, he will constantly be in trouble." Concerned by these goings-on, an Elmendorf complaints like this to be unfounded. He did not Amen.

'12 ers demanded that these politicians meet the following conditions to par­ ning the Sears strike. We will take up end their silence and take a stand on ticipate in the commission pool: 1) ideological differences or differences the strike. As a result, three members be among the top five Northern Cali­ on other social problems calmly By DERREL MYERS of the California state assembly and fornia stores in sales; 2) move up one around the fireplace." SAN FRANCISCO- In the midst of five members of the San Francisco notch each month among the top five; a government-business offensive to board of supervisors were scheduled 3) increase sales each year by 20 At first glance, the odds in this strike· drive down the living standards of to speak at a Jan. 29 news conference percent; and 4) sell warranty agree­ appear in favor of Sears, the fourth American workers, an important in support of the strike. They also ments with 70 percent of all sales. largest corporation in the U. S., struggle is taking place in San Fran­ were to announce proposed legislation The effect of the proposal would backed by a government bent on cisco. The outcome of this battle be­ that the state of California boycott be to weaken Local 1100 in the ap­ union-busting and depressing the liv­ tween 300 strikers and the giant Sears Sears. pliance and furniture departments, ing standard of working people. The Roebuck Company will have signifi­ Sears workers here walked out last where it is strongest. One striker strikers also face a divided labor cance for all working people here. August over the failure of the com­ summed it up: "We simply can't go movement that has not yet brought To build for a Feb. 3 rally here pany to meet demands for health ben­ back under these conditions. This pro­ its power into action. in support of the Sears strikers, there efits, commission rates, and other is­ posal makes it crystal clear without a But before you lay your money have been demonstrations, news con­ sues. doubt that Sears is out to bust our down, it's worth taking a look at the ferences, and leafleting, all publiciz­ Originally, there were seven unions union." cards held by the strikers, Local 1100, ing the issues in the 24-week-old strike. on strike. They formed the Ad Hoc Since Local 1100 by itself could not and the San Francisco labor move­ ment as a whole. They are winning cards, if played right and in time.

The Bay Area labor movement is a powerful giant. The problem is th,at the unions are punching with five dis­ How S.E labor can unite to united fingers instead of a closed fist. For example, it is estimated that business at the Geary Street and Mis­ sion Street Sears outlets, which are reg­ win victory in Sears strike ularly picketed, is down to about 25 percent of its usual volume. If pickets were stationed each day at the 13 other Bay Area Sears stores, real economic pressure could be exerted. With 500,000 union members in the Bay Area, the labor movement could easily provide such pickets. Another problem is public education, beginning with union members. Thou­ sands of workers shop at Sears every day because they simply don't know that the strike is still on and that the state AFL-CIO has called for a boy­ cott of Sears. Ads in the mass media and more information in the labor press would help solve this problem. This task of education should be shared by the entire labor movement. The 300 strikers' families have been existing on strike benefits of $25 a week, food stamps, and in some cases welfare. The strike has already cost them $720,000 in lost wages and it will cost Local 1100 more than $300- 000. Although there have been some generous contributions from other unions, it has not been enough. The economic burden of this strike and others should be carried by the en­ "--"u ..... - ... Petrick tire San Francisco labor movement These pickets at Sears' Geary Street store have reduced sales 75 percent. By throwing its weight behind the strike, San Francis- if victory is to be assured. co labor movement could multiply these gains all over Bay Area. The experience· of the Sears strikers is that working people sympathizewith their demands. But if they don't active­ ly support the strike, it is because they Five demonstrations have taken Labor Support Committee, which, in bring Sears to terms, it was clear that do not yet see others in large numbers place at Sears outlets, including one the· midst of the Sears battle, also lent every effort had to be made to mo­ doing so. by strikers' families that received cov­ support to striking beer drivers and bilize the San Francisco· labor move­ But as more and more people under­ erage on three TV stations. hospital workers. ment behind the strike. stand the issues in this strike, and see Tens of thousands of leaflets have But while the speeches of many of United labor meetings were held out the militant example set by the strikers, been distributed, and strike support­ the union officials at committee meet­ of which came the call for the Feb. they will be willing to join in this bat­ ers have been speaking to an average ings .were militant, their actions were 3 rally as part of a broad campaign tle. of three union meetings a day, urging not. Sears successfully pitted some of to bring the power of the entire labor In the words of Bill Aldridge, a solidarity with the strike. the unions against one another and movement behind the Sears strikers. member of the union's negotiating Local 1100 of the Department Store broke the unity of the seven locals. committee: "We're just average people Employees Union, the main union on Four smaller Teamster and elec­ Among the unions working with Lo­ who've been pushed against the wall strike, is mobilizing its entire member­ tricians locals settled separately. cal 1100 in this effort are Painters and are fighting back with the only ship for the Feb. 3 rally. Scheduled As a result of these settlements and Local 4, ILWU Local 34, Service Em­ weapons we know, ourselves. If we're speakers at the rally include ·sears pressure from the San Francisco Cen­ ployees International Union, Rubber different from other union people it's strikers; Walter Johnson, secretary­ tral Labor Council, which saw the Workers, several American Federation because we're learning sooner how to treasurer of Local1100; Jack Henning united labor formation as a threat, of Teachers locals, Carpenters, and defend ourselves, how to stick together of the California AFL-CIO; Harry the Ad Hoc Labor Support Commit­ Machinists. fer our rights." Bridges, president of the International tee died an inglorious death. A number of these unions helped Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Word was spread throughout the initiate last spring's United Labor Ac­ Union (ILWU); Cesar Chavez, presi­ labor movement that the Sears strike tion Coalition rally here against high dent of the United Farm Workers; was a lost cause and would end soon. prices, and were active before that in and John Crowley, secretary-treasurer Officials such as Einar Mohn, of the the antiwar movement. of the San Francisco Central Labor California Council of Teamsters, told Local 1100 itself was in the fore­ Council. the press in early January that the front of the fight against the Vietnam Sears strike, by taking on a national war, and has supported the farm Union support corporation on a local level, was a workers' struggle, the Teamster beer The purpose of the Feb. 3 rally is mistake. drivers' strike, and defense of the De­ to mobilize the united power of the Aware of this lack of solidarity on lancy Street Foundation, a halfway San Francisco labor movement behind the part of such union leaders as house for ex-prisoners. the strike. Mohn, Sears planned what it thought Walter Johnson summed up his Dozens of local unions have passed would be the coup de grace. union's nonsectarian approach to statements backing the workers out In early January, after 19 weeks these struggles at a recent Militant La­ on strike. Painters Local 4 has called of silence on the strikers' demands, the bor Forum here: a special membership meeting to vote company came forward with a pro­ "We have been warned against work­ on a proposed $1-per-month per capi­ posal. The offer was worse than the ing with some people and being asso­ ta assessment to aid the strike. conditions Sears workers have now. ciated with unpopular causes. Our an­ On Jan. 25 the San Francisco Cen­ Part of the proposed "settlement" was swer was and always will be that we local 11OO's tradition of union solidarity tral Labor Council held a meeting a new sales commission arrangement, work with anyone on the basis of sets example for entire San Francisco with public officials in which the strik- whereby a department would have to agreement on specific issues like win- labor movement.

THE MILITANT/ FEBRUARY 8, 1974 13 Painters union activist propos• By NAT WEINSTEIN In this regard, the key question in the minds Around the time of World War II and the Korean SAN FRANCISCO-Building-trades workers are of building-trades workers is whether a strike can war there were instances when the top union of-· beginning to realize that they are in for some be won "against the government." The answer to ficials refused to serve on similar tripartite wage rough times. Big changes have been taking place these questions becomes apparent when we look boards. These antilabor agencies consequently be­ in the industry. New construction techniques have into the background of the government action. came "inoperative" without labor window dressing. been steadily eliminating jobs. New buildings The CISC is a tripartite government agency This problem of government intervention-from going up require less labor to build and less to set up ostensibly to control wages and prices in federal wage freezes and antilabor legislation down maintain than the older buildings they replace. construction. It includes equal representation from to injunctions by local courts-will continue to At the same time, antiunion forces have been employers, unions, and "neutral" government ap­ plague labor and, in fact, will grew as the em­ chipping away at union positions in public and pointees. The "public" and employer representatives ployers' need to maintain profit rates at the ex­ . semipublic institutions like city housing and the can be counted upon to stand together on all pense of wage standards grows. University of California Medical Center here in major .questions, so the board is stacked against San Francisco. the unions right from the start. Why Meany collaborates Nationally, big construction outfits have started Why go through this "tripartite" charade? an open shop drive that has reached crisis pro­ The tripartite form is employed precisely because Why do AFL-CIO President George· Meany, portions in some traditionally union towns like the government does not have the power to order Teamsters President Frank Fitzsimmons, Steel­ Philadelphia. workers President I. W. Abel, and the like ignore Last year the Construction Industry Stabiliza­ the ominous lessons of recent events- not to men­ tion Committee (CISC), the government body set tion the disastrous historical experience of labor up to control wages in the construction industry, collaboration with the government? told the Northern California building trades to They hope that by demonstrating their patrio­ renegotiate their contracts around "suggested" wage tism and their indispensability to the government levels considerably lower than their contracts called they can win Congress and various government for. Only the carpenters made any effort to actively agencies over to labor's side-away from the big resist this unprecedented tearing up of legal con­ corporations and banks. This delusion that the tracts. state power, whether headed by Republicans or Democrats, can be won over to the support of Carpenters' strike the workers is a trap that has led and will con­ A committee of rank-and-file carpenters orga­ tinue to lead to one disaster after another. nized a vigorous and militant· strike effort that The function of government "anti-inflation" mea­ won significant support from building-trades work­ sures is to serve as the camouflage for state in­ ers, even though the strike was "unofficial." tervention on the side of the bosses in their drive But the carpenters by themselves, without the for higher profits. Without this, the Northern Cal­ resources of their union behind them and without ifornia contractors, for example, would have been strike sanction from the building-trades councils, in no position to force a renegotiation of wages. were unable to counter the government action. Militant/Howard Petrick The fact that the CISC didn't lift a finger to By the time the carpenters took action last No­ Nat Weinstein is an active member of Painters Union cut contractors' prices points up the "anti-infla­ vember, a widespread conclusion heard on the Local4 in San Francisco. He is a leader of the Socialist tion" fraud. Since scheduled wage increases had jobs was that all trades should have made a stand Workers Party and was its candidate for mayor of already been incorporated in contractors' prices, together back in the summer when most already­ San Francisco in 1971. the government intervention simply diverted wages agreed-upon wage increases were due and when out of workers' paychecks into the bank accounts job action would have been most effective. of the bosses. The whole experience points up the serious prob­ wage cuts at its whim. It requires the cloak of Ironically, before August 1971 Meany and Co. lems these unions face. If the pattern is repeated impartiality to present its antilabor decisions as had been clamoring for Nixon to implement "wage in this year's uvcoming contract negotiations­ being "in the interest of the nation as a whole." and price" controls-the Democratic-controlled each union standing on its own without real co­ Second, the government needs to rope into this Congress's "anti-inflation" measure. This was ordination and mutual aid support-it is certain shell game the top officials of the workers' or­ meant to be a superclever tactic to embarrass to bring another setback. ganizations. By sitting on these stacked commit­ Nixon, in pursuit of the pro-Democratic Party What would have happened if there had been tees, the union officials put their authority behind policy of the labor bureaucrats. real unity last year and most if not all of these the decisions, even if they vote against some of Gullibly taking Tricky Dick's word that he was unions had announced as one, "No contract, no them. They undercut rank-and-file resistance and opposed to controls, Meany virtuously demanded work!"? ride herd on recalcitrant locals. that Nixon grasp the alleged anti-inflation weapon.

Construction unions face open-shop drive In recent years the building-trades unions have work, which makes up 30 to 40 percent of aU assorted scabs, pistol-packing foremen, Pinker­ come under a double-barreled attack: First, gov­ construction. ton guards, and state police. Many unionists ernment wage controls have been used to e Just a month later, in March 1971, federal were arrested. systematically drive down the wage gains of wage controls were clamped on the industry, Despite the militancy of the building-trades construction workers. Second, major construc­ in a move that tested the ground for Nixon's unionists, the final settlement in Kalkaska left tion companies have launched an open-shop general wage freeze edict of August 1971. Shell free to build the plant with nonunion labor, drive on a scale not seen in this country for By the end of 1971, the head of the Con­ e In what amounts to a rerun of the Kalkaska decades. struction Industry Stabilization Committee defeat, Dow Chemical has succeeded in using a Here are some highlights: boasted of cutting average wage increases from nonunion contractor to begin a $26-million e On Feb. 23, 1971, Nixon announced sus­ 15-16 percent down to 11 percent. By 1972 per­ project in Midland, Mich. pension of the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act, which had, cent. By 1972 the average raise was down to e As these examples point up, some of the in effect, required contractors to pay union-scale 6 percent; by 1973, to only 5.4 percent. biggest U.S. corporations are backing the open­ wages on all federally funded construction jobs. • The open-shop drive is spearheaded by the shop drive. Last fall the director of construction The avowed intention was to encourage Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), an for the giant E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Com­ low-wage, nonunion contractors to bid on this association of nonunion employers whose mem­ pany went before a convention of the ABC. bership has more than doubled in the last four He reported that after 25 years of dealing only years, to 5, 500 contractors. In addition, the with unionized contractors, du Pont recently 90.~ PAY GAINS OF Associated General Contractors, with 9, 500 began using nonunion labor, and now half of CONSTRUCTION members, estimates that one-third of its members its construction is being done by open-shop are now open shop. firms. WORKERS: • In 1972, International Telephone and Tele­ How have the leaders of the building-trades DOWN graph began building a new $10-million Shera­ unions responded to this growing threat? They ···SHARPLY ton hotel near Philadelphia, using Altemose Con­ have rushed to eliminate work rules, chided ttruction Company, an open-shop ABC outfit. their members for not "doing a fair day's work FROM After a local judge banned picketing within a for a fair day's pay," and helped keep wages THE PEAK mile of the site, Philadelphia construction unions down- all in the name of helping union con­ organized a 24-hour work stoppage and a march tractors stay competitive with the open-shoppers. of well over 35,000 workers in protest. Cannibal unionism is on the rise, as well, as Despite this promising beginning the cam­ local officials scramble to try to hold onto. paign fizzled out, and Altemose is still going enough jobs for their member~. strong. With their backward-looking approach based e Last summer Shell Oil Company brought on racism and collaboration with the bosses, Note: Increases are median-ball the contracts above the figure, half below. an ABC contractor in to build a $20-million these bureaucrats are proving totally incapable gas processing plant near Kalkaska, Mich. of defending their members against the wage­ Chart from U.S. News & World Report shows decline Union construction workers from throughout cutting and open-shop offensive. This is why the in construction workers' wage gains, while inflation is Michigan protested vigorously, and violent proposals .outlined by Nat Weinstein are crucial higher than ever. clashes erupted between the union pickets and to the survival of the building-trades unions.

14 !S program for building trades along with a broad social program for massive government-subsidized public housing, hospitals, schools, and child-care centers, would lay the foun­ dation for rallying to the union banner not only nonunion workers but all who suffer from this irrational and antisocial system.

United labor action What holds for the building trades applies in principle to the entire labor movement. Efforts to promote the active collaboration of all unions have already had a modest start here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Last April 28, the first recent attempt was made to unite all Bay Area unions around a general protest demonstra­ tion against the effects of wage controls and in­ flation on working people. Another recent step has been the campaign to build united labor support for the striking Sears workers. Such steps must be carried further, to active support by all labor behind every embattled sec­ tion ofworkers. The times are right to apply the principle of labor unity in the political arena. The profound disenchantment of working people with Watergate­ tarred capitalist politicians favors the launching San Francisco carpenters and supporters picket courthouse last fall after their strike was declared 'illegal.' Antiunion of a labor party. offensive includes intervention by capita}ist government to aid construction industry basses. A step toward such a goal would be for unions locally to organize congresses to take up the above-mentioned general needs of labor. A When Nixon did so, Meany couldn't even cry pegging wages to the nsmg cost of living. This prime consideration would be the nomination of "betrayal" as he did when double-crossed by the would free the union to demand real improve­ independent labor candidates in local elections in Democrats. Nixon impaled him on hisownspear. ments in wages justified by the ever-increasing opposition to capitalist politicians of both par- It would be ironic justice were it not for the ·productivity of the workers' labor. ties. · fact that union members instead of Meany were The escalator clause has the further advantage the victims of Meany's "cleverness." Those who over past practice of stripping the employers of There are no limits to what can be accomplished have been hardest hit, of course, are the low-paid, any semblance of a case that wage increases cause with such an approach. The door would be opened unorganized workers. price rises. The onus for inflation would be borne for the labor movement to recapture the leading The problem goes deeper than the political exclusively by the boss class, who so rightfully role it played in the great social struggles of the bankruptcy of the union heads. Misguided faith deserve it. past. The workers would again become the cham­ in capitalist party politicians reaches down the pions of every oppressed and exploited layer of line into the ranks of the unions. Their confidence Preferential minority hiring the population. Blacks, Chicanos, and women in the independent power of the organized workers The barriers erected to reserve dwindling jobs would see in a mass workers' political movement has been undermined. for a privileged white minority- those in the. their powerful and dependable ally. How can buildipg-trades unionists begin to turn union already and those who have an inside track Such a wide-ranging social program could build things around and seize the initiative from the to get in when somebody retires'.:_ are suicidal a movement under the leadership of the organized bosses and their agents in the government and and must be demolished. This racist method must workers that could surmount any obstacle-rac­ capitalist parties? I would offer the following sug­ be rejected for what it is: an antiunion, antiworker ism, sexism, war, inflation, unemployment, pov­ gestions to begin discussion on a program for diversion introduced into the working class by erty, or pollution. the building-trades unions. the employers and their agents. Such a movement could encompass tens of mil­ Prejudice based on race or sex or national origin lions. It would by no means limit its political Unite the building trades leads only to disunity among workers and lower action to elections. Political influence could be ex­ The archaic craft structure has to be replaced wages for both the superexploited prime victims erted through mass protests, strikes, and demon­ with one that really unifies building-trades work­ and the "privileged" group. Only the boss profits strations. ers. If it is unrealistic to expect that we can get from the cheaper labor that results and from the Such an outlook and orientation would speed to one big union in one jump, it is certainly real­ reduced fighting ability of a working class wracked up the realization among workers and their allies istic to begin a process of genuine collaboration by infighting. that they are the nation; they have the power. in every phase of our relations with our common The building-trades unions must earn the respect And when that realization dawns, the time when enemy, the boss class. and confidence of the Black, Chicano, and Puerto the country will be wrenched from the hands of United action, running the gamut from coopera­ Rican workers they have let down. Without the the parasitic capitalists and run for the worl~ing tive enforcement of job conditions to joint contract support of these millions, any fight to defend living people will not be far off. negotiations, is imperative; above all, joint strike standards can't be won. action when that becomes necessary. A good place To compensate for past crimes of exclusion of to begin is in negotiations coming up this spring. minority workers, a program of preferential hiring Here's another starting point: In every city, each is urgently required. union local has one or more business agents whose• In the face of the employers' open-shop drive, main function is to oversee enforcement of wages, routine organizing by the separate crafts is com­ hours, and working conditions on hundreds and pletely inadequate. Nor can the unions be defended, thousands of separate job sites-but only in their much less strengthened, .by the now-common prac­ own narrow jurisdictions. How much more effec­ tice of organizing bosses instead of workers­ tive this policing could be if each union represen­ "organizing" that aims only at pressuring employ­ tative functioned as part of a team representing ers to hire union labor, not at enrolling all con­ the needs of all construction workers. struction workers in the unions. In today's scramble for ever fewer jobs, juris­ A campaign to organize the unorganized could dictional fights disrupt and poison ·relations be­ be effective only through an inspiring united ef­ tween trades, while solving absolutely nothing. fort based on a forward-looking program like A unified building-trades union could take the that sketched above. road of fighting for a shorter workweek with no Many nonunion building-trades workers have reduction in pay, pointing the way to a real solu­ been in and out of unions. They leave for a num­ tion to that problem. ber of reasons, least of which is antiunion con­ New labor-saving techniques should be a bless­ viction. They witness a narrow setup where only ing to workers. Instead, only the bosses benefit those exceptionally skilled or close to the boss through lower production costs. What should be or the union officials work enough weeks a year a boon to workers becomes the curse of unem­ to get by. And even those men, when they get a ployment. little older and start to slow down, or when they What could be more reasonable than demanding lose favor with the high and mighty, lose more the right of workers to benefit from increased labor and more time. productivity? If less labor time is required to pro­ The hiring halls are often a joke, and union duce the things society needs, the rational and working conditions in all too many cases are just consequence should be shorter hours and no better and sometimes even worse than non­ lower prices. union. The main disenchantment with the union, how­ Escalator clause ever, is the absence of program and action point­ Philadelphia construction workers demonstrate against Instead of a periodic battle for wage increases ing toward change for the better. open-shop contractor and antipicketing injunctiorl in that always lag behind inflation, a united con­ A campaign to unify the building-trades unions 1972. Open-shop outfits are aggressively moving into struction union could win an escalator clause and fight for a sliding scale of wages and hours, former union strongholds.

THE MILITANT/ FEBRUARY 8, 1974 15 S.F. forum hears San Quentin 6 attorney By MICHAEL SCHREIBER has not been heard from since Aug. SAN FRANCISCO-Defense attorney 21." Howard Moore spoke to the Militant A gag order was issued on the case. Forum here Jan. 25 about the latest "So, I have a very difficult time telling developments in the case of the San you about this case primarily because Quentin Six. I am afraid about what I can say," Moore represents Fleeta Drumgo, Moore explained. one of the six Black and Latino de­ Moore already has been cited for fendants who were charged with mur­ contempt by presiding Judge Henry der and conspiracy in the alleged pris­ Broderick. "This is an example of the on escape attempt in which George way the trial is being run," he related. Jackson was killed Aug. 21, 1971. "It was my first day in court; I sim­ Moore formerly served as co-counsel ply got up and asked for permission to Angela Davis. to talk [to argue the motion to re­ Moore's appearance at the forum place Judge Broderick]. The judge told came one week after the indictments me to sit down, and I asked for further against the six were thrown out of permission to address the court. He court on grounds that the grand jury again told me to sit down. I didn't sit down fast enough and he found me in contempt of court and sentenced me to five days in jail and $500 in fines. I got more time than Agnew." Moore expressed the possibility that the dismissal of the indictments by act­ ing Judge Vernon Stoll Jan. 18 could result in a statute that would prohibit the exclusion from the grand jury of Blacks, Chicanos, youth, and blue­ collar workers. San Quentin Six can be freed through kind of mass pressure +hat won case of Angela But unless there's a mass movement, Davis. Moore continued, the precedent set by Judge Stoll's decision. could be ignored by the courts. It's conceivable, how­ than a grand jury meeting behind "The most difficult case is that of ever, that any person t,ried in Marin closed doors. The only thing that sepa­ Hugo Pinell, for he is in for, among County who was indicted in 1971 or rates the two is the discretion of the other things, a 'Section 4500' assault 1972 could have their conviction over­ district attorney. If he feels his case and manslaughter of a prison guard, turned, he said. is weak, he'll go before a grand jury," which gives a life sentence without HOWARD MOORE: 'The hope lies not in "There may be some other conse­ Moore explained. possibility of parole. It will take a rad­ the courts but in the power of the mass quences that you may not see so readi­ It is not certain whether the state ical reform of penology to release him. movement.' ly," Moore continued. "The movement will file for a retrial. If there is no re­ "Here you have six of the men most away from using the grand jury at trial Willie Tate, Fleeta Drumgo, and hated by the California prison system that handed down the indictments had all may be accelerated- by prosecu­ David Johnson should be granted pa­ at the mercy of the Adult Authority. been chosen from a pool that had tors who don't want to see their cases role dates by the California Adult Au­ But there's hope for everyone. The excluded Blacks, Latinos, Chicanos, thrown in the wastepaper basket. thority since they have relatively little hope lies not in the courts but in the blue-collar workers, and youth. "The whole grand jury proceeding time remaining in their sentences. power of the mass movement." "The grand jury was assembled over is a very unfair one. The accused can­ "Luis Talamantez should also get a On Feb. 21 at 10 a.m. in federal in Marin County," Moore said. "On the not go before a grand jury. He has date," Moore said. "He's in jail for rob­ court in San Francisco, defense at­ first of October it returned an indict­ no right to a representative, to cross­ bery for less than a hundred dollars. torneys will press for a hearing to re­ ment against the brothers [Fleeta examine witnesses, or to put in evi­ And I think they can be forced to lease the San Quentin Six from the Drumgo, David Johnson, Johnny Lar­ dence favorable to his innocence," he give him a date. Larry is in prison maximum security adjustment center, ry Spain, Hugo Pinell, Willie Tate, said. on a life sentence for first-degree mur­ to remove the gag rule, to obtain and Luis Talamantez] and Stephen A municipal court is different, he der, but there is even a parole custom thorough medical examinations for the Bingham, the young attorney who was said. "There you have a judge who for first-degree murder in about 12 six, and to end the chaining and working in the prison movement who makes a decision in open court rather years. shackling of the six in the court room. Phila. racists oppose school for Blacks By DUNCAN WILLIAMS site, which, he claims, would "ruin Black political figures, including Black and school board will do remains PHILADELPHIA-Parents and stu­ the stability of the neighborhood." The Democratic Congressman Robert Nix. to be seen. An important factor will dents from Edison High School pre­ neighborhood of the proposed site is Edgar Campbell a Black member be the future activities of the Edison sented their case for a new school to predominantly white. of the education committee of the city students and parents themselves. the Philadelphia board of education The real issue is the right of Edison council, promised an "all-out figh f' to A common sentiment was expressed Jan. 28. students to a new school and decent get the proposed land for the school. by Edison student Phillip Hernandez, The situation at Edison High School education. This is pointed out by the The Philadelphia Federation of Teach­ who told The Militant: "The parents is becoming a major issue in local students and parents from Edison ers is on record in support of the new and students will have to force the and state politics. The school is lo­ themselves, who are represented by school, although the Edison chapter board to build the new school." cated in the heart of North Philadel­ such organizations as the Fifth District is opposed to the proposed site. In addition the activists have run phia, one of the oldest Black ghettos Community Coalition. At the school How much more foot dragging and up against opposition from the city in the country, and the student body board meeting they effectively argued shuffling the city and state politicians government and police force. Since is almost 100 percent Black and against the racist arguments of op­ a student walkout Jan. 21, the school Puerto Rican. ponents of the new school. has been under surveillance by plain­ The school board voted to build Aaron Brown, student body vice­ clothes and uniformed cops, and a new school in 1969. Since that time, president at Edison, said the real mounted police. they have attempted to get state land threat is not gangs (as whites claim) Tony Austin, Socialist Workers for the school. Now, more than four but the dilapidated physical conditions Party candidate for Congress in the years later, there is still no new school of the school itself. Other students 2nd C.D., attended the meeting and or any land to build it on. pointed out that the school isn't "fit distributed a statement that read in In a letter to the school board that for dogs." At ~dison, students are part: "Here is a struggle for better was read to the Jan. 28 meeting, Dem­ struggling for the tools to "fight on schools and quality education which ocratic Governor Milton Shapp cited our own behalf," according to Brown. should be supported by all parents "legal problems" as an obstacle to any Another student, Ronald Lewis, and students sincerely interested in "simple solution" in transferring the pointed out that there were no gang- quality education." land. In essence, Shapp told the board . related incidents at the school. He com­ A new Edison High and other and the Edison parents and students pared the situation to the teachers' schools could be built, he pointed out, that the state would give the land strike last winter, saying, "That was with money collected by taxing the to the city government, which could a walkout for money, this is a strug­ profits of large corporations like Sun then lease it to the school board. gle for lives." Oil Company. Sun made more than This maneuver is an attempt to let The prospects for victory for the $150-million in profits in 1972. Shapp and the school board off the Edison High activists are good. The Austin closed his statement by not­ hook and place the decision in the school board is on record in support Militant/ Mark SatinoH ing, "Only the continued struggle of hands of the city government. Mayor of the new school. At the Jan. 28 TONY AUSTIN: SWP candidate calls for the parents and students against these Frank Rizzo is a leading opponent meeting a statement of support was getting money for new school by taxing politicians and their backers will win of the new school at the proposed made in the name of .18 prominent corporations. new schools and decent education."

16 Wounded Knee defense boosted by tribal election victory; new legal moves initiated By GREG CORNELL candidates have been asked by Nichol if they ST. PAUL, Minn. -According to the U.S. govern­ think the defendants are legally justified in com­ ment, the Indian leaders on trial here were un­ mitting criminal acts, even if the purpose is to wanted interlopers when they moved in last year "right past wrongs." to occupy Wounded Knee, S.D., for 71 days. Most jurors are puzzled by the question. So Last week, however, the government had to swal­ Nichol then asks each juror if they agree that low hard as Russell Means, one of the defendants, "good motive alone" is not sufficient to find a won a vote of confidence from Indians on the Pine person innocent of a crime, except where learning Ridge Reservation. Means outpolled 11 other can­ the motive may aid in determining "intent" to com­ didates in a primary for tribal president. mit the crime. The jury candidates think and in­ Unofficial results gave Means 667 votes in the variably stammer, ~'Yes." Jan. 22 primary, with Richard Wilson, the current president, second with 511 votes. The judge's questions are fancy legal wrapping Wilson and Means will meet in a Feb. 7 runoff. for the prosecution's contention that the occupation Wilson, who operates a goon squad on the reser­ was illegal and that the centuries of persecution vation, has been accused by Means and the Amer­ of the Indians are irrelevant. ican Indian Movement (AIM) of widespread cor­ Meanwhile, lawyers for the defendants have gone William Kunstler LNS ruption. on the offensive, announcing a suit against Presi­ Wilson's one-man rule was one of the reasons dent Nixon, Attorney General William Saxbe, Gov­ for the Wounded Knee protest last year. Wilson ernor Richard Kneip of South Dakota, Richard opposed the occupation, threatening to run the Wilson, and others. Pine Ridge Reservation, alludes to the prejudicial Wounded Knee protesters off the Pine Ridge Reser­ William Kunstler, defense attorney, told The Mili­ security procedures at the trial, and asks for $25,- 000 damages for each of the 129 plaintiffs. Anoth­ vation. tant that the suit maintains that the defendants er motion filed by the defense, asking that the Means and Dennis Banks are .pn trial in St. have been deprived of their· civil rights and lib­ Paul facing a slew of frame-up charges stemming erties by the very way in which the Wounded trials of more than 100 Wounded Knee defendants from the occupation. The defense has put forth Knee trials are being conducted. be moved from South Dakota, was rejected Jan. 28 by Federal D~strict Judge Andrew Bogue. several motions that the charges be dropped. Kunstler said the suit argues that Means and In an interview with The Militant, Means termed Banks were chosen to be tried first, while most The defense says the anti-Indian atmosphere runs the primary election vote "a rejection of Dicky of the others are being tried in Sioux Falls, S.D., high in rural South Dakota, making it difficult Wilson's fascist philosophy." He said the vote hundreds of miles away, to tie up the defense to impanel unbiased jurors and making a fair proves the Wilson regime does not speak for the · and exhaust its financial resources. trial impossible. reservation's Indians. The need for two defense committee headquarters Kunstler said the defense has also asked that Means stated that the vote was proof that the -one in Sioux Falls and one in St. Paul-has Judge Bogue disqualify himself from ruling on participants in last year's Wounded Knee action "stretched our resources badly," Kunstler said. had the support of Indians there. The suit also cites the reign of terror on the pretrial motions because he owns land in the Black Means said his campaign program includes the Hills. In prior trials, Kunstler explained, Bogue has issue of treaty rights- returning the land to Indian withdrawn from cases in which Indian treaty rights people; reform of the tribal government; return have been involved since many Indians say that to "traditional ways"; a "reinstitution of traditional based on an 1868 treaty the Black Hills belong religion"; and an end to corruption in tribal gov­ to the Sioux. ernmental affairs. Harassment of all kinds continues against the Meanwhile, jury selection appeared to be nearing Wou-nded Knee defendants. completion with 38 jury candidates selected and Ted Means, Russell Means's brother and cam­ the defense and prosecution preparing to make paign manager in the tribal election, was arrested their preemptory challenges that will reduce the Jan. 28 as he entered a Rapid City, S.D., court­ panel to 12. room. Judge Fred Nichol said he expects trial testimony In arresting Ted Means the government con­ to begin Feb. 11. tended that he had failed to show up for a hearing. Nichol is a sophisticated operator with a warm He said he had never received a notice of the and friendly demeanor, unlike the crude and harsh hearing. manner of Judge Julius Hoffman, who presided All bondsmen in South Dakota refused to post over the Chicago Eight "conspiracy" trial in bond for Ted Means, and the Wounded Knee De­ Chicago, which this reporter attended four years fense/Offense Committee was forced to raise money ago. for the bail itself. Nevertheless Nichol's questioning of jury can­ Militant/Greg Cornell Russell Means charged that the arrest was anoth­ didates here in St. Paul indicates his unswerving Dennis Banks (left) Russell Means, and defense attorney er effort to influence both the tribal election and predisposition to the government's side. All jury Mark lane (right). the outcome of the trial in St. Paul.

Militant sales camQaign Local areas experiment as drive begins By SHARON CABANISS will be trying out new ideas for sales and reestab­ Supporters and readers are encouraged to help Sales of the Feb. 1 issue of The Militant ("Unions lishing old ones. Supporters in the Lower East in the sales campaign by taking a weekly bundle· say: 'Stop phony shortages!'") began our cam­ Side of New York have found an appreciative re­ of The Militant to sell. Last week orders for new paign to sell 10,000 papers a week by the end of sponse to The Militant's coverage of the District bundles were received from El Paso, Texas; Mun­ May. This organized campaign will be in addi­ 1 struggle for Black, Puerto Rican, and Chinese cie, Ind.; Santa Cruz, Calif.; and Vermillion, S.D. tion to sales by individual supporters throughout control of their schools. A special leaflet reprint­ If you can help, just fill in the coupon below and the country, on newsstands, and the special efforts ing a recent Militant article on that struggle aided send it into The Militant business office. of the 14 Young Socialist teams to sell 1,000 Mili­ supporters in selling 21 subscriptions in just 10 tants each week beginning in March. days. Although we do not have reports yet on the first For those interested in selling The Militant but week of the sales campaign, sales of January issues unable to participate in organized team sales, Sell The Militant for many areas indicate we're off to a good start. Martha Harris from the Brooklyn SWP offers some Join The Militant's spring sales campaign by taking Minneapolis supporters in the Socialist Workers useful tips. Harris, who always carries a bag of a regular weekly bundle to sell on your campus, Party and Young Socialist Alliance topped their Militants "just as I do my keys," sells about 15 at your job, or near where you live. The cost sales goal of 350 the week before the sales cam­ papers every week. A typical day includes selling is 17 cents per copy, and we will bill you at the paign began. Since they must contend with zero at the day-care center where she leaves her child end of each month. degree weather, almost all of their sales have been in the morning, at the store where she buys the I want to take a sales quota of indoors. These include sales at the University of morning paper, at the food store where she shops, Send me a weekly bundle of------Minnesota, a food stamp office, unemployment and then on her job at Pratt Institute. During her lines, skyways, bus and train depots, the airport, lunch break, she often sells at the school cafeteria Name ______libraries, laundromats, and entranceways to de­ and in the lounges. partment stores. Another suggestion came from the West Side Address. ______Many locals of the Y SA also made their weekly SWP in Los Angeles. Sales director Steve Schmuger goals in January. These include Indianapolis sell­ reports reliable sales at lines waiting to see popu­ CitY------ing their goal of 50; Logan, 20; and Madison, 35. lar current films. The composition of these crowds Individual supporters in Glendale, Calif., and is often youthful, many of them high school stu­ State ______Zip------Street, Md., also report reaching their sales goals dents. "It's not just that they're bored," reports early. Schmuger, "they are genuinely interested in The 14 Charles lane, New York, N.Y. 10014 As the sales campaign gets under way, areas Militant."

THE MILITANT/ FEBRUARY 8, 1974 17 Answer to the 'DallY. world' Why defense of dissidents is not anti-Soviet By CAROLINE LUND corruption that exist in some unions. The huge propaganda barrage being Does this mean that union militants conducted by the Kremlin against should try to deny that corruption Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn actually testi­ and lack of democracy exist? Obvious­ fies to the fundamental weakness of ly not. Union militants must fight for Brezhnev and his gang ofbureaucrats, democracy, against the bureaucrats despite their gigantic apparatus of re­ that sit on top of the unions. Such pression. a fight is not antiunion. It is the only The scope of the anti-Solzhenitsyn way to strengthen the union move­ campaign shows the Kremlin bureau­ ment for its fight againstthecapitalists. cracy feels threatened by any person or small groups of people who dare Similarly, the fight for workers de­ to stand up and fight for democratic mocracy inside the Soviet Union and rights and against the police-state re­ other workers states is not "anti-Soviet" gime in the Soviet Union. Their fear as the Daily World charges, but the is that such acts of courage and de­ way to strengthen the world struggle termination by individuals will serve for socialism against the slanders and as examples to the masses of Soviet attacks of the imperialists. citizens. In fact, the methods of argument The ability of the small group of in Erik Bert's diatribe might ring a Soviet dissidents to throw the Kremlin bell with trade unionists who have into major propaganda gyrations Solzhenitsyn and family. Kremlin fears his example of defiance. come under fire from union bureau­ stems from the fact that the truth is on crats for demanding more democracy. the side of the dissidents. Such militants are usually labeled "dis­ The power of the dissidents' move­ ented samizdat [suppressed writings Soviet Union or for the rights of op­ rupters" just as Bert labels the sami­ ment extends beyond the Soviet border, by dissidents, reproduced and cir­ pressed nations does not mean that zdat publications "disruption-oriented." and reaches into the ranks of Com­ culated underground) publications. these demands are reactionary. It is not "disruption" of the workers munist parties around the world, in­ The imperialist rulers point to the movement to tell the truth. Rather, it cluding the CPUSA. As part of its Another amalgam cited is that both . repression and lack of democracy in is those who try to. hide the truth effort to innoculate their supporters The Militant and the right-wing Uk­ the Soviet Union to try to prejudice from the masses who serve reaction. against the dissidents, the CP felt the ramtan Congress Committee of workers throughout thecapitalistcoun­ Bert ends by saying that The Mili­ need to run two articles in their news­ America condemn Russification- that tries against socialism. tants call for a political revolution paper, the Daily World, Jan. 23 and is, the various forms of chauvinist In a similar way, the capitalists at­ in the Soviet Union is a call for "anti­ 24. They are directed at the article domination by the Great Russian na­ tempt to turn working people against socialist counterrevolution." on Solzhenitsyn' s new book, Gulag tionality over other Soviet nation­ trade unions by pointing to the lack This is a slander. By "political revo­ Archipelago, 1918-1956, by David alities. of democracy, gangster methods, and lution" the Trotskyist movement means Frankel in the Jan. 18 issue of The Or again, "The Trotskyites speak a revolution that would throw out Militant. up for the 'Crimean Tatars.' the ruling clique only-as opposed In the course of the two good-sized "The Central Intelligence Agency to the social revolution necessary in articles, CP writer Erik Bert musters also champions the Tatars." capitalist countries to change the sys­ only one basic argument, a faulty (The Crimean Tatars are a nation­ tem of property relations, not only the one, which he repeats again and again. ality that originally lived in their own government. In the Soviet Union, the It goes like this: The Militant cham­ Autonomous Soviet Republic created socialization of property relations was pions the Soviet dissidents; the New by a decree of Lenin's in 1921. In accomplished by the revolution in York Times, CIA, and Radio Liberty 1944, Stalin· accused the entire nation 1917 and must be .preserved. champion the Soviet dissidents; there­ -which was occupied during the war The real counterrevolutionaries are fore The Militant is furthering the -of being Nazi collaborators and or- the Kremlin bureaucrats, who could goals of the CIA and counterrevolu­ dered this people of close to a million dine and toast with Nixon at the 1972 tion. deported to Siberia. Only in 1967 did Moscow summit while the Vietnamese For example, Bert says, "The Times, the Supreme Soviet declare this nation were being subjected to murderous as­ an astute voice of U. S. imperialism, "not guilty" of treason, but the Crimean saults. speaks of 'freedom,' 'democracy,' and Tatars are still forbidden to return to The real counterrevolutionaries are such like. The Trotskyites package their homeland by Stalin's heirs.) the parasites in the Kremlin, respon­ the same imperialist anti-Soviet cam­ Bert's argument- a favorite of the Pyotr Grigorenko, a communist and de­ sible for leading the working class to paign in 'revolutionary' terms." Stalinists- is ridiculous. Just because fender of the rights of Crimean Tatars, defeats throughout the world-from Or, later: "The CIA and the Trotsky­ the imperialist rulers claim to be for is being held in Soviet mental hospital Germany and Spain in the 1930s, to ites both champion the disruption-ori- "freedom and democracy" inside the because of his views. the most recent betrayal in Chile. Black activist faces frame-up in San Francisco By ROGER RUDENSTEIN But the real reason Golden is being achieve equal educational oppor­ Blacks into unemployment and low­ SAN FRANCISCO- City officials here prosecuted is quite different. It is be­ tunities for Black people in San Fran­ paying jobs, a slowdown in hiring are trying to railroad to jail Yvonne cause she has been an outspoken op­ cisco. of Black teachers, and a plan by the Golden, a teacher at Opportunity High ponent of the racist policies of the Golden's fight against racism goes board to put cops in the classrooms. School and a well-known Black activ­ board and a leader in the fight to back a long time. She was the orga­ This plan was revealed severalmonths ist. nizer of the first Malcolm X Day in ago but was temporarily withdrawn The charges against Golden stem San Francisco in 1968, and she orga­ because of , protests from the Black from a Jan. 8 board of education nized San Fr~ncisco's first Black Stu­ and Chicano communities. meeting called to discuss desegregation dent Union. The rally, called on only a few days of the schools. A group of uniformed In 1969 an attempt was made to notice, was heavily attended by Blacks members of the National Socialist transfer her from Abraham Lincoln and had a militant tone. Supporters White People's Party attended the meet­ High School, where she was then teach­ of Golden ranged from the Black ing. Participants were shocked and ing. Vigorous protests from the Black Teachers Caucus to the Baptist Minis­ outraged both at the Nazi uniforms community prevented the punitive ters Union. A representative of the and at the leaflets theNazisdistributed, transfer, marking the first time such a Black Caucus of the American Federa­ calling for "killing" Blacks and re­ victory was won in this city. In 1971, tion of Teachers and Local 771 ferring to Black people as "jibbering another attempt was made to transfer pledged support and urged others to he-niggers" and "moronic jungle bun­ her from Lincoln High School. go to their unions to get them behind nies." According to Dr. Thomas Shaheen, the defense effort. When a fight broke out between some former head of the board of educa­ The principal of Opportunity High spectators and the Nazis, the police tion and a defender of Golden, there School and a representative of the Tactical Squad rushed in and arrested has been "back-room" talk by board schools' students reported thatstUdents the spectators. members for some time about the need and faculty are 100 percent behind Several days later, Golden was ar­ to "rid the school system" of Golden. Golden. rested in her office at Opportunity High At a rally of 500 people to defend , The day following the rally, 150 School, right in front of astonished Golden held Jan. 20 at Glide Church, people met to form a committee to pupils. Police claim Golden had "in­ Yvonne Golden is charged with 'inciting representatives of Black organiza­ defend Golden against the frame-up cited to riot" when she put forward to riot' for demanding that Nazis like tions spoke of the problems faced by and to petition for recall of Eugene a motion at the meeting to exclude these be excluded from school board Black people in the schools. Among Hopp, the racist president'of the board the Nazis from the hall. meeting. these are a tracking system that forces of education.

18 rl utlook A WEEKLY INTERNATIONAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE MILITANT BASED ON SELECTIONS FROM INTERCONTINENTAL PRESS A NEWSMAGAZINE REFLECTING THE VIEWPOINT OF REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM. ,

FEBRUARY 8, 1974

Miners reied 'energY. crisis' blackmail Heath pushes confrontation with British workers [Since the following article was weekdays, thus reducing normal coal­ written, the leadership of the British cutting time. Output has fallen by 30 National Union of Mineworkers has to 40 percent. ordered a vote by the miners on an In early December 29,000 train all-out strike. drivers joined battle against Phase III. [The Heath government, confronted Their demand for a £40 weekly wage by widespread support for the miners, was also refused by the government, has engaged in desperate attempts to which ruled that a weekly wage of extricate itself from the situation of £33.00 to £36.95 was the maximum growing economic and political con­ possible under Phase III. The train frontation. drivers refused to work on Sundays [On January 17-only three days and, during the rest of the week, after claiming the energy situation was launched a work-to-rule action that worse than ever in Britain- the Heath decimated train services. government totally reversed itself and promised to move from a three-day The Tory Offensive to a four-day workweek. Its statement followed several exposes on TV and The Tories' reply to the challenges in the press showing that the govern­ of the miners and train drivers was ment had been lying all along about swift and massive. On December 13 A miner told British paper: 'Mr. Heath talks about the three-day week going on to the miners supposedly causing a se­ Heath announced the three-day work­ the spring .... But whatever his limit the miners will outlast it.' vere energy shortage. week, a national lockout of millions [Then on January 25, the day after of workers forced onto part-time work. the mine union leaders called for a On December 17 the government un­ or three weeks' notice, so the number failing, particularly because of the stop strike vote, the government reversed veiled a budget that slashes social of workers registering for unemploy­ in overtime payments, on which many ment benefits in the coming weeks will workers have relied to protect their itself again, vowing that the three-day services. soar. standard of living against the ravages week would continue indefinitely be­ Sixteen million workers are now on of inflation. cause of the threat of the miners a three-day week. About , 2 million The Confederation of British Indus­ While workers' wages are plum­ strike. are registered as temporarily unem­ try (CBI) has considered proposing meting, there are no signs of any [If the miners vote to strike, the ployed during part of the week in to the government that guaranteed­ letup in inflation. In fact, with output strike could begin February 10. Two order to claim unemployment benefits. pay deals be statutorily suspended, Many have not yet registered during freeing employers from their contracts already down by 17 percent, em­ years ago they struck for seven weeks. ployers will try to raise prices_..,., no That was the first miners strike since their non-working days, because (so and from having to pay workers for far) they are covered by 40-hour a 40-hour week while three-day work doubt with the approval of the Pr4:e the famous walkout in 1926 that pre­ Commission- to safeguard their prof­ cipitated a general strike.] guaranteed week agreements in con­ lasts, a provocative action that the tracts and are ineligible for unem­ ruling class has not yet felt strong its and offset the effects of rising unit ployment benefits. In many industries enough to take. But even where work­ costs of production. This will be in By Tony Hodges employers can and will suspend the ers are protected by a 40-hour guar­ addition to further big increases in the London 40-hour guaranteed week after two anteed week, their take-home pay is prices of many basic commodities, The measures announced by Edward such as food, as a result of Britain's Heath's Tory government December entry into the Common Market. 13 are the most sweeping anti-working­ On December 17 the Tories made class moves seen in a major capitalist further attacks on workers' interests country for more than thirty years. in an emergency budget that took £1,- Heath ordered two-thirds of British Solidarity from U.S. miners 200 million off public expenditure. The industry onto a three-day workweek, On January 21 the United Mine Heath; we have our Nixon. Both government reduced by £69 million forcing wage cuts and part-time em­ Workers of America sent a contri­ dance to the tune of big busi­ the expenditure on health, and it sus­ ployment on 16 million workers. bution of $5,000 to the British Na­ ness .... pended its hospital construction pro­ This massive onslaught on work­ tional Union of Mineworkers in "United Mine Workers are begin­ gramme. Some £200 million was ers' living standards followed the gov­ solidarity with their current strug­ ning to experience the same kind slashed from education spending, in­ ernment's failure to convince 270,000 gle. of propaganda attacks as British cluding a £70 million cut in building miners to end a ban on overtime work programmes affecting 110 universities Along with the check, UMW Pres­ coal miners as we move toward launched November 12 to back up ident Arnold Miller sent a letter that contract negotiations. The big oil and colleges and a £95 million cut wage demands outlawed under the in the buildings-replacement pro­ read, in part: companies, which also control the Tories' Phase III wage controls. gramme for primary and secondary "I am writing to offer the support coal industry, are trying to use the The miners have been demanding schools. of 205,000 United Mine Workers energy crisis as a club to beat down increases ranging from £8.21 to The Tories justified their unprece­ for the efforts of our brothers in coal miners at contract time. In­ £12.71 in their basic rates, having dented action of putting millions of the National Union of Mineworkers dustry officials hope to manipulate suffered badly from inflation since their workers on a three-day week by claim­ to win a living wage and such basic public fears about fuel shortages victory in the 1972 national miners' rights as portal-to-portal pay.... ing that it was made necessary by strike. to shift the blame for a nationwide the miners' overtime ban. According "It is clear that the Heath govern­ coal strike, if one occurs, onto the The government and the National to Heath, the overtime ban was rapidly ment hopes to use the present crisis coal miners. Coal Board have refused to concede to break the strength of the labor depleting coal stocks and threatening the miners' demands, saying that an movement in Britain. The vicious "I do not think that the American the country with power shortages and increase of £2.30 to £2.57 is the maxi­ propaganda barrage leveled against public is going to be fooled by blackouts if emergency measures were mum allowable under Phase III, which British miners in recent weeks has such efforts any more than the Brit­ not taken. outlaws wage increases above 7 per­ one aim only: to make your union ish public. The energy crisis is the Heath hoped that the suffering cent a year even though prices are the sacrificial lamb for the Heath creation of the oil industry. Coal caused by the three-day week, com­ rising far faster. government's failings .... miners, like the rest of the public, bined with a big propaganda cam­ The effect of the overtime ban has "In many ways coal miners in have only been its victims. . . . " paign to rally the nation, would slow­ been to force maintenance and safety Britain and the United States face The letter ends, "Please do not ly isolate and demoralise the miners, work, normally carried out during similar challenges. You have your hesitate to call upon us for help." forcing them to settle within Phase III. weekends, to be performed during Continued on following page World Outlook W0/2

... 'this is a struggle for a decent standard of living for Continued from preceding page underlined by continually worsening The Tories were prepared to take monthly balance-of-trade deficits. these drastic steps out of ·fear that These now point to an annual deficit the miners might drive gaping holes on the order of £2,500 million. in the wage-control programme. They This was the context in which the knew that if the miners won their de­ miners struggle began and that forced mands, other groups of workers would the Tories to take their unparalleled follow the miners' lead and defy Phase action to defend Phase III. The Tories III. The Tories acted to defend their are prepared to stomach even severe whole wage-control policy from pos­ cuts in profits, output, and exports sible collapse. In doing so, they acted in the short run in order to stand by on behalf of the entire British ruling their long-term strategic commitment class, for whom the maintenance of to compulsory wage restrictions. As wage controls is an urgent necessity. an industrialist quoted in the J anu­ British industry, plagued by a long­ ary 13 London Sunday Times put term decline in profitability, outmoded it: "I would prefer total chaos in the and backward, and unable to compete short term to the chaos if the govern­ effectively with its imperialist rivals, ment gives in." can solve its problems only by re­ storing its profits at the expense of Miners Remain Determined the workers, particularly by lowering real wages. But the Tories have so far failed That was the Tories' objective from to intimidate the miners. To the con­ the moment they formed their present trary, the provocative actions of the Militant miners proposed a special conference of British trade unions to coordinate government in 1970. At first they government have intensified their de­ united response to government antilabor policies, but union tops squelched idea to hoped that they could keep wages termination and militancy. On J anu­ keep all decisions in their own little club. down "voluntarily" by relying on the ary 2, tens of thousands of miners, cooperation of the trade-union bureau­ unimpressed by Heath's patriotic ap­ get tired just watching us dig coal ordered Smith to retract his statement, crats. But these misleaders could not peals, stayed away from work, for seven hours in all that din and and on January 12 he was hauled sell voluntary incomes restraint to their forcing a quarter of the country's pits muck." before a mass meeting of 700 miners rank and file. The victorious miners' to close. · Fishlock quoted another miner as to explain his actions. The meeting, strike in January and February 1972 Ronald Faux, visiting the Seafield saying: "Mr Heath talks about the in the most "moderate" coalfield in left the policy in ruins, forcing the colliery in Scotland, wrote in the Sun­ three-day week going on to the spring. the country, where only 37 percent Tories to rethink their strategy and day Times that he "met no one who He is digging in. But whatever his voted for the 197 2 strike, voted unan­ introduce a statutory incomes policy believed the miners should call off limit the miners will outlast it. This imously to continue the overtime ban. in late 1972, starting with a complete their overtime ban, or that the ban is a struggle to get a decent standard Heath likewise failed to intimidate freeze of wages under Phase I. was responsible for the power shor­ of living for working people. We want the train drivers. Militancy reached tages." Phase II, which allowed minimal nothing less than we have asked for, boiling point on the railways January wages rises of £1 plus 4 percent (in­ Faux gave a picture of the appall­ and it is no good offering us riches 10, when thousands of train drivers creases that could not possibly keep ing work conditions that are firing the in the distant future on condition that staged a wildcat walkout after British pace with price increases), followed militancy of the miners. "'The faces we knuckle under now. We want the Rail, under the orders of its chairman, in early 1973, and then, in the first here are so steep that if anything bird in the hand." Richard Marsh, started sending home breaks off or falls, it can maim a week of November, came Phase III. A most striking confirmation of the drivers without pay when they refused Phase III outlawed wage rises man. Coal coming down a conveyor militant mood of the miners was the to stop working to rule. can suddenly avalanche. The injuries above 7 percent a year at a time "woolyback" revolt in the Leicester­ Philip Ginger, the train drivers' can be terrible. Five men were killed when prices, as recorded by the Re· shire collieries. Called "woolybacks" branch secretary at London's Water­ at Seafield last year in one accident,' tail Price Index in October, were ris­ by the rest of the country's miners loo Station, said that his branch Mr Willie Clark, a power loader said. ing at an annual rate of 10.5 percent. for their sheeplike complacency in members were "fed up with pussyfoot­ Food prices were shooting up· even To the injured could be added the past struggles, the Leicestershire min­ ing around. We've had great difficulty . 600 miners a year who die less spec­ faster- in October at an annual rate ers threw off their old reputation in at branch meetings keeping the men tacularly from pneumoconiosis." of 40 percent! a dramatic rank-and-file revolt from voting for an all-out stoppage." Legal controls on wages were only Trevor Fishlock, also writing in the against their long-established right­ He added: "It has only been through a part of the Tories' offensive against Sunday Times, quoted a Welsh miner: wing leader, Leicestershire NUM sec­ the leadership of our general secre­ the working class. In 1972 the Indus­ "If Ted Heath would come to our retary and national executive member tary, Mr Buckton, that the public have rial Relations Act became law, plac­ colliery, I would take him by the arm Frank Smith. had any trains at all." But the anger ing legal constraints on the unions' and show [how] we work. We would Smith had publicly advocated an of the drivers forced their union lead­ right to strike. This law set up go down the pit and walk two miles end to the overtime ban and accused ers to call an official one-day strike a National Industrial Relations Court to the coalface, crouching because of communists of fomenting industrial on January 15. (NIRC) with the power to fine or the low roof. His eyes would sting conflict. Immediately, 450 men stopped imprison trade unionists who refused with the dust and he would think his work at two pits, Ellistown and Dangers to Heath's Policy to comply with its orders, a power brain was coming loose with the South Leicester. No-confidence resolu­ shown only too well last October 22 noise of the drills. He would see us tions were passed by the miners The Tories are also threatened by when the NIRC fined the Amalga­ eat sandwiches with filthy hands and lodges. The Area Council, which con­ the likelihood of growing resentment mated Union of EngineeringWorkers hear about roof falls and he would sists of delegates from each pit, as the three-day week begins to bite (AUEW) £75,000 for refusing to end deep into workers' incomes. a strike at the Con-Mech engineering On December 21, a mass meeting factory. of shop stew·ards in the engineering In a similar vein, the Tories res­ industry in Liverpool suggested urrected the 187 5 Conspiracy and "strikes in reverse' if employers tried Protection of Property Act to prevent to suspend guaranteed pay deals, unionists from effective picketing, and turning up to work on no-work days in February 1973 used this act to and striking on their allocated three arrest twenty-four building workers­ working days. So far employers in the Shrewsbury 24-for illegal pick­ the big engineering factories have not eting during the 1972 national build­ dared to suspend guaranteed 40-hour­ ing workers strike. Five days after week agreements. the announcement of the three-day On December 23, representatives of week, three of the Shrewsbury 24 were 100,000 engineering and car workers gaoled, after receiving prison sen­ voted to stage sit-ins in factories if tences of three years, two years, and employers tried to cut wages. On nine months. January 12 workers walked out of Despite all these blows against the several Lancashire textile mills after rights and living standards of the employers had refused to pay premi­ workers, the British ruling class has um rates for Saturday work to work­ made little headway in ending its eco­ ers forced onto a Thursday-through­ nomic difficulties. By the end of 1973 Saturday workweek. the Tories' profit-boosting measures Heath's credibility could also . take had so far failed to spur investment a knocking as the truth about coal and the modernisation of British in­ stocks and the energy situation be­ dustry, and British capitalists were gins to spread, exposing the lies meeting still rougher competition on British unemployment office. Sixteen million workers face wage cuts and part-time peddled to justify his emergency mea­ the world market, a fact dramatically employment. sures. W0/3 World news notes working people' On December 29, the London Times movement should be mobilising its Force-feeding of IRA prisoners wrote that "it is almost certain that huge potential strength against the In Ireland and England, angry protest is mounting against the stocks are about the same as at this government. But the established of­ force-feeding of four supporters of the Provisional Irish republican time a year ago, and slightly better ficialdom of the labour movement have movement being held in English prisons. The four are among eight than before the national coal strike done absolutely nothing. At frrst, La­ who were sentenced to life imprisonment November 15 for setting of January-February 1972." Accord­ bour party leader Harold Wilson off car bombs last March in downtown London. ing to the Times, coal stocks had actually accepted the need for thethree­ The explosions were allegedly intended to protest the British gov­ been built up to unusually high levels day week; he criticised only its inequi­ ernment's referendum on the status of Ulster, which was boycotted in the months preceding the overtime table application! by an overwhelming majority of the Catholic, nationalist popula­ ban, so that in October total coal The 'l.'UC General Council turned tion. The four are on a hunger strike demanding that they be trans­ stocks stood at over 35 million tons down demands that a special congress ferred to Northern Ireland to be able to serve their life sentences against less than 29 million in Octo­ of the TUC be summoned immediately close to their families. They are Marion Price, 19, Dolours Price, ber 1972! The three-day week could to coordinate a united response from 23, Gerald Kelly, 19, and Hugh Feeney, 21. boomerang against the government the labour movement to the Tories' The Irish Republican Information Service reports that "the volume as workers see their standard of liv­ attacks, instead contenting itself with of protest against their treatment is rising to a crescendo." Appeals ing slashed to solve an energy crisis a special meeting of union presidents for an end to the force-feeding (a process akin to torture) and the based on myth and fabrication. and general secretaries on January granting of their demand have been adopted by the Association In addition to these problems, the 16. for Human Rights in Northern Ireland and the Irish National three-day week will itself become an The crisis has sent so-called left­ economic headache for the gov­ Civil Liberties League. winger Hugh Scanlon, president of On January 13 more than 400 people demonstrated in behalf ernment if it continues much longer. the AUEW, running for cover. Speak­ The January 13 Observer, reporting of the four outside the home of the British ambassador in the Dublin ing on London Weekend Television a major survey of 120 manufacturing Mountains. Thousands have signed petitions supporting their de­ January 13, he defied his union con­ firms conducted by Business. Decisions mands. ference's opposition to wage controls Ltd., revealed that "for most firms, by calling on workers to settle pay February looks like being a critical disputes within Phase III. "Our prob­ month for a conjunction of difficul­ lem," he stressed, "is to get an offer ties: raw material supplies, cash-flow to the limit of Stage 3, not to break. and profitability, and possibly labour it. l am saying that categorically." relations (as companies gradually Scanlon was echoing TUC sugges­ end guaranteed-week agreements)." tions to the government that it treat Firms will have to continue to pay the miners as a "special case," granting vast overheads and fixed costs while them big wage increases in return for output, alread"y down 11 percent, con­ a TUC commitment to accept Phase tinues to fall, confronting firms with III in other industries. big jumps in their unit production costs Jack Jones, general secretary of the and a drop in profits in many cases Transport and General Workers to zero. Union, another "leftist," explained it this way: "We say: Look, settle the A General Election? miners' case as an exception. The leg­ islation permits this, incidentally. We "The survey," the Observer continued, are not saying to the government: "raises the question of whether full­ Drop all your legislation." Demonstration in England in behalf of IRA prisoners. time unemployment and bankruptcies Both Jones and Scanlon are strongly will have reached such serious propor­ supported by the Communist party tions by the middle of February that in the trade-union movement. Indeed, the Government will be forced either New strikes in South Africa Scanlon, along with Labour party Na­ to settle with the miners or go to the A new upsurge of Black workers has hit Durban, South Africa. tional Executive Committee member country [hold a general election]." Some 10,000 went out on strike at ten textile mills in January. Judith Hart and CP General Secretary If he is unable to make the miners Police arrested 250 in a violent attack on the workers as they at­ John Gollan, will be the star speaker or train drivers knuckle under, tempted to conduct a march through the city streets. at a major CP rally. Heath may soon be forced to turn to Just a year ago Natal province, in which Durban is located, Harold Wilson has been obsessed either of two alternatives: calling a was the scene of strikes by 50,000 Black workers, including brick­ with the fear that Heath's confronta­ general election on the gamble that he layers, textile workers, municipal workers, and laborers in several tionist attacks on the working class will win increased authority for con­ other indu;;tries. might strengthen militants in the tinued confrontation with the miners; This year, as last year, the central demand is higher wages. The unions and expose the bureaucracy or giving in to the miners' demands average white worker in South Africa earns $475 a month, while to attacks from the left. and risking the future of the entire the average Black worker receives only about $30. In a January 4 speech, Wilson ac­ wage-control programme. cused the Tory government of being The Guardian, in a January 7 edi­ "God's gift to militants and trouble­ General strike in Grenada makers." He continued: "Every act of torial entitled "Reconciliation, not class The government of Grenada, a British government creates new militancy, PUERTO conflict or party war," stressed the colony in the Caribbean, has been CliltRICO when what the country needs is lead­ dangers facing the ruling class in an shaken for more than three months by ership -leadership and conciliation." election at this time. A Conservative mass demonstrations and strikes victory would "leave the Government The Labour leaders' capitulation be­ against widespread government repres­ confronting bitter and hostile trade fore the Tories was confirmed on Jan­ sion and police brutality. Workers unions" and might dangerously po­ uary 12, when the Labour party Na­ struck in various industries through­ larise the country without offering any tional Executive Committee and the out December, after government secret guarantee that the miners would be parliamentary committee of the parlia­ police beat up members of the opposi­ more willing to settle their dispute mentary Labour party jointly ap­ tion New Jewel Movement with trun­ within Phase III. proved the text of the party's 1974 cheons and axe handles. In line with their record of bold campaign programme. This document The protests grew until a general confrontation with the unions,. the openly committed the Labour party strike was called beginning January 1. Demonstrations have been Tories may well decide that their only to maintaining wage controls, criti­ organized daily in the capital city of St. George's. The general way of standing firm on Phase III cising the Tories merely for their re­ will be to attempt to rally popular fusal to work out a pact with the trade­ strike was continuing as of January 23, according to a UPI dis­ support against the unions in a vi­ union leaders to apply a "voluntary" patch. On January 21 a relative of the main leader of the New cious, mud-slinging, antilabour elec­ incomes policy with union backing. Jewel Movement was shot to death by police firing on demonstra­ tion campaign, gamble on winning, While the Labour party leadership tors. and then with renewed authority fight has clung throughout this crisis to The New Jewel Movement is described by New York Times writer it out with the miners. its traditional class-conciliationist, David Binder as made up of "young black radical socialists." It right-wing policies, Wilson has dis­ has spearheaded the opposition to the regime of millionaire Prime Role of Labour 'Leaders' patched his shadow minister of trade Minister Eric Gairy. Gairy is especially hated for his private armed and industry, Tony Benn, to giveradi­ guard of thugs, called the mongoose gang. The demonstrations None have proved more spineless cal-sounding speeches to party and have called for his resignation. The protests have been supported in this crisis than the bureaucratic union meetings to placate criticism not only by the trade unions, but by businessmen, professional misleaders of the Labour party and from the left. people, and the country's religious leaders. the Trades Union Congress (TUC). Benn began to vocalise the grow­ Oil workers and dockers in nearby Trinidad have shown their At a time when the Tories have ing public resentment of Heath's at­ solidarity with the struggle in Grenada by cutting off fuel shipments brought about a total shambles, with tacks on the miners and the three­ and other cargo ships bound for Grenada. Grenada, an island runaway inflation, part-timework, and day week. He blamed the Tories for with a population of 110,000, is to receive independence from Brit­ massive wage cuts, the working-class Continued. on following page ain February 7. World Outlook W0/4

Indira Gandhi met with hail of shoes Bombay general strike demands price cuts, rations

By Kailas Chandra unemployment relief, and adequate ber 18 with the support of the Con­ Bombay food grain rations. gress party, ostensibly to focus JANUARY 10- The "Maharashtra The bandh began at midnight Jan­ attention on the "border dispute" be­ bandh," a statewide general strike uary 1, with the night-shift workers tween Maharashtra and the neigh­ called by leftist unions for January 2, downing their tools and the road bouring state of Karnataka. On was a complete and unprecedented transport workers withdrawing their December 18 supporters of the Shiv success. Even Mahar ash tra Minister vehicles. By daybreak all industrial Sena organised systematic attacks on of State for Home Affairs Sharad and business activities had come to non-Marathi-speaking linguistic mi­ Pawar had to admit grudgingly that a standstill in Bombay and in all the norities in the city. The police did the bandh had been total. Of the important cities in the state. not intervene at all. 2,000 factories in Bombay, only In Bombay over 1 million indus­ For several days prior to the Jan­ about fifteen remained in operation, trial workers and more than 100,000 uary 2 general strike, the Congress and those with depleted staffs. The workers of the port, dock, municipal­ party, ruling both in Marathi-speak­ impact of the bandh was felt even ity, bank, and insurance offices ing Maharashtra and Kannada­ in small towns and rural areas. More stopped work. Government offices, speaking Karnataka, organised lin­ than 3 million workers all over the commercial houses, shops, markets, guistic riots in the border towns of state responded to the strike call, cinemas, hotels, schools, and colleges the two states to disrupt the working­ heralding an era of bigger struggles were all closed. The newspaper em­ class movement. The "Maharashtra ployees, including journalists, also bandh" was a fitting reply to the ma­ joined the strike, and as a result there noeuvres of the ruling class, coming were no evening newspapers on Jan­ as it did in the wake of the isolated uary 2 and none at all on Jan­ struggles of workers, white-collar em­ uary 3. ployees, and rural poor protesting On the docks, loading and un­ against the antipeople policies of the loading operations stopped com­ government in almost all the states. pletely. Public transport came to a In Bombay nearly 200,000 cotton standstill. Several thousand workers teXtile workers have been on strike of the two railway systems operating since December 30 demanding a 25 from Bombay (Central and Western) percent increase in wages. The strike, also joined the strike, their first strike led by three leftist unions (led sepa­ action since 1948. All through-trains rately by the CPI, the CPM, and the leaving the city were canceled and Lal Nishan party), is in defiance of the local rail services were also sus­ a wage pact reached by the mill pended for the day. owners and the Congress-led Rashtri­ Th·e government came down with ya Mill Mazdoor Union conceding a a heavy hand to break the bandh. nominal wage increase of Rs 25 According to a government statement, Slums next to skyscrapers in Bombay. (US$3 ) a month. about 1,500 people were arrested in Meanwhile an important election connection with the bandh, but the campaign was being fought from actual number was much higher. On ister had to end her speech abruptly Bombay city for the Lok Sabha and leave under heavy police escort. the same day, the police opened fire (lower house of parliament). The The audience hurled several thousand at Wani, near Yeotmal district, on a Congress party candidate was chal­ crowd that was protesting the arrest shoes and chappals at the dais from lenged by the CPI, Jan Sangh, and of several leaders, including an elected which she spoke. the Hindu Mahasabha in a four-cor­ legislator. Six persons were killed and The grand response and the mighty nered contest. The Bombay Pradesh many injured. The police also opened solidarity of all sections of the work­ Congress Committee, led by Rajni fire in Bombay, but there were no ing class and the toiling masses in Patel, a former CPI man, made an Unemployed lines in India. Demand of casualties. They used tear gas in Maharashtra in observing the bandh alliance with the Shiv Sena to fight strike was unemployment relief. many places and resorted to brutal was unheard-of in the history of the the election. The CPI candidate was baton charges in several urban cen­ working class in the state. The state­ Roza Deshpande, daughter of the ters. wide general strike proved a success party's chairman S. A. Dange. Polling in the new year. The temper of the people was il­ far beyond the expectations of the was scheduled for January 3. The bandh was called by the lustrated at a public meeting in Nag­ sponsors belonging to the traditional AITUC (dominated by the Commu­ pur, the second capital of Maharash­ left parties. nist party of India), CITU (Commu­ tra, where the audience refused to The ruling Congress party sought nist party, Marxist), HMP (Socialist listen to a speech by Prime Minister an alliance with a semifascist orga­ party), HMS, Sarva Shramik Sangh Indira Gandhi. As soon as she re­ nisation, the Shiv Sena, in Bombay, / (Lal Nishan party), and a section ferred to the food problem as to break the resolve of the working SUBSCRIBE TO of the INTUC (Congress party) and an all-India phenomenon caused by class to resort to common action the BMS (Jan Sangh party). The de­ factors beyond the government's con­ against the Congress government. mands of the action included the trol, the entire crowd started shouting: Deliberately with a view to frustrat­ Intercontinental slashing of prices of essential com­ "No bhashan (speeches), we want ing the January 2 bandh of the modities by at least 25 percent, re­ rations!" The protest was so loud that working class, the Shiv Sena orga­ Press vision of the cost of living index, after seventeen minutes the prime min- nised a "Bombay bandh" on Decem- World Outlook can publish only a small portion of the international news and Marxist analysis contained each week in the newsmagazine Intercontinental Press. To be thoroughly informed of international revolutionary develop­ Benn and Wilson reflect in their train drivers; automaticwageincreases ments, subscribe to Intercontinental speeches the contradictory pressures to offset inflation; price committees of Press. they face during this crisis. As leaders unionists, pensioners, women, stu­ of a party based on and created dents, and tenants to determine the ) Enclosed is $7.50 for six months. ... Britain by the unions as a class alternative real rate of inflation; and the repeal ) Enclosed is 50 cents for a single Continued from preceding page to the capitalist parties, they are forced of legislation restricting the right to copy of the latest issue. strike and to picket. creating a phony crisis by fabricating to adopt radical rhetoric to appear Name ______claims that the country was on the attuned to the concerns and interests edge of a serious energy crisis. of workers in struggle. However, as In support of such a programme, Address ______Benn was careful, however, not to privileged bureaucrats totally com­ the Labour party and trade unions propose any way forward for the mitted to the status quo, they pursue should organise rallies and demon­ working class other than to suggest right-wing policies and aspire to gov­ strations up and down the country City ------,------establishing an enquiry by the La­ ern a capitalist society themselves. to mobilise opposition to the Tories' State ______bour party into the country's real sup­ The Labour party and the TUC attacks. But it is their fear of mobi­ plies of energy and the effects of the should adopt a fighting programme lising the working class in struggle three-day week. As a top leader of the demanding a full week's work or full to defend its rights and standard of Send to: Intercontinental Press, Box 116 Labour party, Benn of course en­ pay; the spreading of available work living that has paralysed the estab­ Village Station, New York, N.Y., 10014. dorsed the party's commitment to an by reducing work hours with no cut lished leaders of the labour movement ' ~ incomes policy. in pay; full support to the miners and before the Tory offensive. NLRB judge condemns Strikers at U. of Pitt. Farah's antiunion drive demand decent wages Farah Manufacturing Company ''has Some 3,000 workers are now on By FRED STANTON would be passed on to students in engaged in a broad-gauged antiunion strike. PITTSBURGH, Jan. 25 -Three hun- the form of higher fees. But Pitt has campaign consisting of glaring and In his decision, Judge Maloney cited dred and sixty custodial workers of raised fees continually while freezing repeated violations," a National Labor the long list of antilabor practices Service Employees International wages and laying off 43 janitors. The Relations Board (NLRB) judge de­ Farah is guilty of, including coercion Union Local 29 have been on strike housing director has admitted a new clared Jan. 28. The judge, Walter of employees, firing union militants, at the University of Pittsburgh since rent increase was in the works before Maloney, ordered Farah to reinstate and forcing workers to wear antiunion Jan. 15. The strike was provoked by thestrike began. workers fired for union activities and buttons. the administration's withdrawal of its Students and faculty have organized to allow union organizing on the Judge Maloney ruled that Farah initial offer before the union could support for the strikers through a job. must rehire six workers fired for union bargain or vote on it. strike support committee. A petition The ruling is an important boost organizing and give them back pay, The majority of the cleaning women, blaming the administration for not to the Farah workers in Texas, who and reinstate all the other strikers at janitors, and grounds keepers of Local settling the strike and condemning its have been on strike for the last 20 least on the old level of seniority. 29 are Black and women workers. union-busting policies got 1,800 sig- months. Most of them are Chicanas. In addition, he ordered Farah to Their incomes are below the poverty natures in less than two days. A Jan. Their strike has centered on ending allow the Amalgamated Clothing level, and their pensions average $25 24 rally of 100 heard speeches from the sweatshop conditions at Farah, Workers access to company facilities a month after 25 years of service. representatives of the Farm Workers, one of the largest producers of men's for their organizing drive. Pitt has refused to grant union de- Steelworkers, Miners, and Teachers mands· for decent wages, a cost-of- unions. slacks. Union officials called the ruling "a living escalator clause, equal pay for ------monumental defense of the basic rights equal work, and a group pension "JAN. 27- At its union meeting The average take-home pay for of working people." paying $125 a month. today Local 29 voted 240 to 39 to these women is $69 a week. The Farah will undoubtedly appeal The university seeks a contract that accept a settlement that includes $125 strikers are fighting for a living wage, Maloney's decision to the full NLRB. would mean lower real wages and pro- per month pension and a 70 cent per an end to speedup, and for job se­ If the company loses before the full vide for layoffs if an "energy crisis" hour wage package over the next three curity. board, it can still take the case to hits the campus. Claiming insufficient years. These concessions were made They began organizing in 1969. In federal court. funds to provide a decent living for by the administration yesterday. 1970, when the Amalgamated Cloth­ The Farah strike has won broad those who keep the university clean, While conceding better wages and ing Workers union sought collective support from students, Chicano or­ Pitt has nevertheless managed to find pensions, the administration refused to bargaining rights, Farah responded ganizations, women's groups, and resources to build elaborate research grant the union's demand for equal by firing union activists. The vicious other unions. The nationwide boycott facilities for business and the military. pay for women. A 30 cent per hour antiunion campaign continued, and of Farah slacks has forced the com­ Pitt has resorted to injunctions, raise for the first year of the new con- in May 1972, the workers walked out. pany to close four of its plants. scabs, threats, and lies to try to break tract covers only the higher-paid job the strike. Ari injunction limiting the classifications. The lowest-paid work- union to two pickets per entrance has ers, mainly women, will get only 27 not been effective, since campus police cents per hour more the first year. have supported the strike. Pitt's offer This widens the wage differential be- of $2 an hour for student scabs has tween men and women workers. found few takers. The workers and their leaders cred- An attempt by Pitt to trick the stu­ ited Pitt student support for forcing dents into opposing the strike has also the administration to bargain, and failed. Officials told dormitory resi­ invited members of the strike support dents that a raise for the workers committee to the union meeting. Auto pacts outdated as layoffs hit workers By JOHN W. ANDERSON management for the last 25 years, are DEARBORN, Mich.- Before the ink at a loss to know what to do. These was dry on the 1973 Big Three auto flunkies of the international union will Drug and Hospital Union members in New York picket store selling Farah pants. Boy­ contracts with the United Auto Work­ avoid a struggle with the company as cott has forced Farah to close four plants. ers these contracts were outdated. The long as possible. Many of the workers who have re­ tired from Fleetwood during recent John W. Anderson is a UAW years speak of conditions in the plant retiree and former president of as if it were a forced labor camp. Local 15. They say the UAW no longer func­ Dist. 65 workers go tions in the interest of its membership. issue of compulsory overtime was for­ Of the 99 workers who retired from gotten with the layoff of tens of thou­ Fleetwood last year, 41 of these were on strike at Barnard sands of workers. A 37 percent reduc­ retired on total disability. Under pres­ By RUTHANN MILLER and pension plans, and child-care fa­ tion in the sales of big cars has re­ ent conditions in the Fleetwood plant, NEW YORK- The Barnard College cilities supported by the college. sulted in the second shift being laid 40 percent of the workers are phys­ local of District 65, Distributive Work­ Barnard College, while a separate off in some plants. ically unable to complete the 30 years ers of America, went out on strike women's college, has close ties with Hardest hit of the Big Three is Gen­ of service required to get maximum Jan. 28. The union, which won a Columbia University. Columbia em­ eral Motors, with Cadillac sales down pensions. National Labor Relations Board ploys 2,000 clerical workers, who are more than 50 percent during the first In speaking to a meeting of a hun­ (NLRB) election several months ago, involved in a union drive of their own 20 days in 197 4. At the Fleetwood dred retirees Jan. 22, I suggested na­ is composed mostly of women cleri­ to form a Columbia local of Dis­ Fisher Body plant, where workers had tionalization of the oil industry and cal workers. trict 65. been working 53 hours a week in the formation of a labor party. The Efforts to bring the Columbia em­ recent years, they are now down to applause I received indicated broad While the college was forced to ne­ ployees into active support of the Bar­ an uncertain workweek of 20 to 28 support for these ideas. gotiate with the union because of the nard strike have been started by the hours depending on the department. support shown by the NLRB election, Ad Hoc Committee for Organizing The workers get 80 percent of their it has steadfastly refused even the most (District 65 ), the organization of wages for the time not worked short minimal salary increases- offering a Columbia clerical workers directing of 40 hours, but this still leaves the 0.5 percent increase at the last nego­ the drive at Columbia. The Columbia worker with little more than 35 hours tiating session. The union is asking employees look forward to an NLRB pay a week. Many workers have suf­ for a minimum starting salary of election in March and union recogni­ fered a cut of almost 50 percent in $130. The current lowest hiring rate tion, which will help bring the united take-home pay. is $110. power of the Barnard and Columbia While the speed of the lines has been The salary increases asked for by workers to bear on the administrations reduced 10 percent, it is reported that the women range from approximately of both these schools. manpower is being reduced 20 percent 17 percent in the lower grades to 7 Many students have also become on some operations. Speedup is the percent in the higher grades. These involved in the strike support effort. order of the day. At Fleetwood, as increases would barely bring their A meeting of about 100 students, two at some 70 other GM plants, local take-home pay above poverty level days before the strike, agreed to mobi­ managements have refused to nego­ for people with families in New York lize support for the picket line and to tiate local agreements. Arrogant man­ City. explain the issues of the strike to Bar­ agements defy the union and seem pre­ Other demands of the strike include nard and Columbia students. On the pared to provoke strikes in order to a job classification system that would first day of the strike large banners place the blame for the unemployment guarantee uniform treatment of all em­ were hung out of dormitory windows on the UAW. ployees, cost-of-living increases to keep saying, "Students support the District The officers of Local 15, Fleetwood, Many auto workers are getting 50 per­ pace with inflation, adequate medical 65 strike." who have been collaborating with cent less take-home pay.

THE MILITANT/FEBRUARY 8, 1974 19 In Review HOW THEY'RE KILLING THE OCEANS Must the Seas Die? by Colin Moorcroft. Gambit. Boston, 1973. 194 pp. Cloth $6.95.

How do you kill an ocean? With garbage. With oil. With industrial wastes. With DDT and its products. With radioactive wastes. British journalist Colin Moorcraft presents a frightening preautopsy on the oceans of the world with details of the destructive activities by industries and govern­ ments. Sewage dumped into the oceans causes loss of oxygen, death of plant and fish life, concentration of poisons in seafoods eaten by humans, and the growth of dangerous microorganisms. Two million metric tons of oil enter the world's oceans every year, about 10 percent from acci­ dents (like the recent collision between a U.S. Navy ship and a private vessel). But 90 percent comes from day-to-day operations of tankers and ships, refineries and petrochemical plants, offshore oil wells, and the disposal of industrial oils. Reports showed that in 1968 the U.S. deposited 48 million tons of industrial waste into the oceans along its shores. The European North Sea is being killed by tons of sulfuric acid, sulfur dioxide, and

Young people trying to rescue birds after disastrous oil spill in San Francisco Bay in 1971. Ninety percent of oil in Books oceans comes not from accidents such as this but from day-to-day operations of oil industry. gypsum from Dutch and German industry. those on the moon. regulate that industry, "is very much a case of the It is estimated that 25 percent of the annual Human nutrition depends on the seas. Half of poachers turning into game keepers." production of DDT compounds ends up in the the world's population gets 50 percent of its pro­ Although the U.S. government spends thousands oceans, where they are absorbed by marine or­ tein from fish. The poultry industries of the U.S. of millions of dollars on oceanographic research, ganisms, leading to adverse developments in and Europe depend on fishmeal for feed. Thesecriti­ almost all of those funds are used for military growth, reproduction, and mortality. The residues cal food supplies are threatened by the steady de­ purposes; only a fraction is allocated to study­ from nuclear blasts, wastes from nuclear power cline of marine plants (plankton), which play an ing the decline of marine ecosystems and its causes. plants and ships, the disposal of highly radio­ indispensable part in the life cycle of fish. The current dumping of environmental regulations active solid wastes- all are raising levels of radio­ Can the seas be saved? Moorcraft proposes as in the U.S. in response to the "energy crisis" black­ activity found in oysters, fish, ducks, birds, and immediate measures research to better understand mail by the oil companies shows how fast the poli­ marine plants. marine ecosystems, a worldwide monitoring pro­ ticians respond when profits are concerned, com­ Moorcraft, who writes for the London Financial gram to determine dangers to marine life, and pared with their pace in passing pollution-control Times, explains that what affects one sea, or the international regulations to prevent marine pol­ legislation. rivers leading into it, impinges on the life of all lution. However, his own facts and comments in­ The facts presented in this book indict both the the other seas. On a worldwide scale, the oceans dicate that no help can be expected from industry profit-hungry businesses and the capitalist poli­ exert a stabilizing influence on the atmosphere. or governments. ticians and point to the need for a worldwide Without this watery "global thermostat," the con­ For example, Moorcraft points out that the In­ planned economy, to save the seas, the air, and tinents would experience temperatures much like ternational Whaling Commission, established to the world's natural resources. -EVELYN SELL THE CHICANOS': SOME CRITICISMS The Chicanos by Gilberta Lopez y Rivas. was unity among the delegates, based on com­ and Republicans. This was the real significance Monthly Review Press. New York, 1973. 187 mon conditions of oppression which give them a of the convention. common enemy. . . . There was also division Questions of strategy continue to be discussed pp. Cloth $7. 95. among the delegates around questions of tactics. and debated in the Raza Unida parties. These Nevertheless, the importance of the convention was embryonic independent parties are the most posi­ This is one of the many books in recent years that the forces of unity prevailed- not without a tive expression of the Chicano movement so far dealing with the history of Chicano oppression struggle- over the forces of division." and can move the struggle forward. Any attempt and the various forms the movement against that to give a rounded picture of the Chicano move­ oppression has taken. In reality, the El Paso convention reflected major ment today demands a serious and thorough evalu­ L6pez y Rivas begins by presenting aspects of differences, not over "tactics," but over the prin­ ation of this important development. the social, cultural, and economic oppression faced cipled question of whether the Raza Unida par­ - MIRTA VIDAL by Chicanos. The second section of the book con­ ties should forfeit their independence for support tains a series of articles and documents aimed to the Democratic or Republican presidential can­ at giving an overall view of the key issues raised didates. These differences came to the fore after by the Chicano movement. The quality of these Jose Angel Gutierrez, founder of the Texas Raza is uneven. Unida Party, put forward his "balance of power" Several articles included in this section do not strategy. In an article published before the convention, Gutierrez maintained that Chicanos, because they constitute a decisive voting bloc in several South­ western states, should throw their vote to the "high­ Books est bidder," i.e., whichever capitalist candidate of­ fered the biggest crumbs. accurately reflect the experiences of La Raza in Many of the delegates correctly viewed this as a the course of the struggle. retreat from the concept on which these independent One article is "La Raza Unida Party in the Chi­ Chicano parties were founded. They opposed any cano Movement," written by L6pez y Rivas and support whatsoever to either Democrats or Repub­ Jorge A. Bustamante_ in early 1973. Here the au­ licans, with the Colorado delegation in the fore­ thors' effort to outline the rise and development front of defending this position. of the independent Chicano parties falters con­ The advocates of the "balance of power" strategy siderably. didn't clearly spell out their views at the conven­ Summarizing what happened at the national con­ tion. However, the convention took a clear stand vention of Raza Unida parties held in El Paso, -by a near unanimous vote-against supporting Texas, in September 197 2, the authors say: "There either McGovern or Nixon or other Democrats

20 Parent-teacher alliance discussed

The district's Puerto Rican super­ maneuvers. intendent, Luis Fuentes, vigorously Many teachers throughout the city opposes any budget cutbacks. Fuentes and in District 1 supported the recent delivered a letter to city Chancellor school maintenance workers' strike for Irving Anker and the central board better wages, and were disgruntled by on Jan. 28 which stated: "Mter many Shanker's opposition to honoring the meetings with parents, principals, and strikers' picket line. Some of the teach­ staff and community representatives, A militant response can be expected from community if central school board goes ers ignored the orders of Shankers' I have received a mandate of not through with cuts in school budget. chapter chairmen and women and re­ taking any budget cuts.... I am fused to cross the maintenance work­ committed to this mandate. ers' picket line. "The deficit, incurred by accrued turally distrust among parents for flowery rhetoric about meeting the The question of whether parents overspending since September 1973, teachers in the district. needs of teachers; but his record is should seek allies among the teachers is the result of the irresponsibility of Albert Shanker has done his best one of betrayals. In 1968, 2,800 teach­ is an important one. Parents and the former illegally elected school to fan the flames of distrust between ers were fired with no hearings by teachers face a common enemy. The board. . . . This is a firm and ir­ teachers and parents in District 1 - the city school administration- some threatened cutbacks provide the basis revocable position based on the rea­ he sees any kind of alliance between for participation in demonstrations for an alliance based on the demands sonable position that implementation parents and teachers as a threat to against the Vietnam war. of "No cutbacks in District 1!" and of these budget cuts would result in his privileged position in the union Shanker did not lift a finger in pro­ "More money for the district's children!" District 1 providing less of an edu­ and his thirst for even more power The District 1 community faces a cation to our children this year than test. In five years more than 5,000 in the labor bureaucracy. powerful array of forces, including last." teachers have been "excessed" by the city board with little more than a almost all the Democratic and Repub­ If the central board decides to ignore lican politicians in New York City, the demands of the District 1 commu­ Shanker is always ready to subordi­ murmer from Shanker. By his own the racist leadership of the UFT, and nity, and attempts to arbitrarily make nate basic needs of parents, children, admission, there are more than 10,000 the central board of education. New the cuts, a militant response can be the oppressed communities, and teach­ unemployed teachers in New York allies willing to fight with the parents expected from parents. Six hundred ers to his personal aspirations. In the City. Where is his defense for these will be important in strengthening the parents met Jan. 24 and flatly stated: present crisis, his real concern is not teachers? struggle the parents are leading. "No budget cuts!" A survey of the the firing of teachers. Rather, he is The answer is that Shanker has no The advisability of a parent-teacher district's 20 schools conducted by the trying to use the crisis to further the argument with past actions of the city's alliance is under considerable discus­ Parent Association presidents showed divisions and as a launching pad for school government. At the present, sion among parents in District 1. At more than 80 percent opposed to any his latest false. hate-mongering many of the city's other 32 school dis­ the Jan. 27 meeting of the district's cuts. charges against Fuentes and the Dis­ tricts are also threatened by cuts. But . Community Advisory Committee (a An important question that has trict 1 community. Shanker's fire is not aimed at his broad coalition of community activists come up in the struggle against cut­ In a recent telegram to District 1 friends on the central board of edu­ and parents) one young Puerto Rican backs is whether parents and teachers teachers, Shanker said: "Cutting cation; his approach is to blame the activist suggested that at the next meet­ should unite in a common effort teacher positions in accordance with Black and Puerto Rican communities against the cutbacks. Many teachers, Fuentes plan unacceptable to UFT. and the decentralization la~, and to ing a major point on the agenda take especially the older and more conser­ We demand that the padded District hint that if all school government con­ up the differences between Shanker and vative ones, are in general agreement 1 payroll be reduced and that no trol were centralized there would be rank-and-file teachers. This suggestion with the United Federation of Teach­ teachers or school programs be elim­ far fewer problems. was accepted. ers bureaucracy, headed by Albert inated. Cut the patronage pool and A prime reason for parent distrust It is in the interest of both teachers Shanker, and have been hostile to not needed educational services." of teachers is precisely this kind of and parents to unite and fight the parents. This is Shanker's phony approach divisive, bureaucracy-serving tactic cutbacks; but the burden is not on to "defending" teachers. If he were real­ used by Shanker. This makes it more the parents, and they certainly are These teachers have opposed the ly interested in saving the 114 teach­ difficult for parents to think in terms not going to give up the independence right of Puerto Rican, Black, and ing positions, he would instead en­ of an alliance with teachers to fight of their organizations. Teachers must Chinese parents to have more say courage teachers to join with the the cutbacks. make the decision to join the Puerto over the education of their children parents in the fight the parents have But within the last two weeks, some Rican, Black, and Chinese commu­ and have swallowed Shanker's racist initiated against the proposed cut· of the newer, younger teachers in the nities who have been leading the strug­ line that "community control means backs. district have been coming to meetings. gle for better education in District 1 mob rule." Consequently, there is na- Shanker offers lots of promises and These younger teachers are directly for years. Shanker pulls back from raid against AFSCME By DOUG JENNESS a few weeks earlier, but Shanker made The raid against the AFSCME local NEW YORK-Albert Shanker, presi­ a face-saving pretense of ploughing began last October when Shanker sent dent of the United Federation of Teach­ ahead anyway toward the representa­ out a letter to UFT chapter chairmen ers ( UFT), has pulled back from a tion elections scheduled for Feb. 14. and district representatives indicating raiding operation against American Following the AFT vote, Shanker that "no other November activity Federation of State, County and Mu­ stated, according to the Jan. 21 New should have priority over· this cam­ nicipal Employees (AFSCME) Local York Times, paign." 372. - "We still believe that school aides Every week the New York Teacher, After several months of vigorous will be better off as part of the union official publication of the New York campaigning to sign up low-paid which represents theoverwhelmingma­ State United Teachers, Inc., featured school aides now represented by jority of school employes. But the long­ this drive on its front page. Thousands AFSCME, Shanker retreated on Jan. range interests of school aides, as well of dollars was spent on fancy literature ·20 when the executive council of the as all other school employes, rest on to try to convince the aides, most of UFT's parent body, the American a strong, united labor movement. We whom are hall monitors, clerks, and Federation of Teachers (AFT), called are withdrawing from the school-aides cafeteria workers, to sign up with the on him to obey an AFL-CIO order election because it appears that the UFT. to desist. The vote was 13 to 5 with campaign might divide the labor Shanker promised bigger salaries three abstentions. Shanker was not movement." and better fringe benefits than adverse to this convenient decision, He thus served notice of future raids. AFSCME offers. His slogan was being unprepared to defy the AFL­ In his. drive for expansion and power "Here's your chance to catch up with CIO order. Shanker had gone " little too far this other school employees." SHANKER: empire-buiider retreats, tem­ The AFL-CIO ruling had been made time. Continued on page 22 porarily.

THE MILITANT/FEBRUARY 8, 1974 21 Party, St. Louis Coalition to Impeach Nixon; Steve be settled favorably in the course of unity discussions. 'chase, Socialist Workers Party. Fri., Feb. 8, 8 p.m. the class struggle in Vietnam, through The merger discussions with the 4660 Maryland (at Euclid), Room 17. Donation: $]. Ausp: Militant Forum. For more information call (314) a successful socialist revolution and NEA are also a hot issue inside the Calendar 367-2520. the establishm~t of a workers state." AFT officialdom. The NEA opposes BOSTON a merged union affiliated to the AFL­ SAN DIEGO THE MIDEAST: A LASTING PEACE? Speakers: Johno­ CIO. David Selden, AFT president, SEXISM IN ADVERTISING, A SLIDE SHOW. Speaker: than Brandow, from the Real Paper; Alan Einhorn, proposes this opposition be met with Becky Grothaus, National Organization lor Women. Socialist Workers Party; others to be announced. Fri., Fri., Feb. 8, 8 p.m. 4635 El Cajon Blvd., Second Floor. "trial affiliation." Shanker won't settle Feb. B, 8 p.m. 655 Atlantic Ave. (opp. South Sta.) Donation: SJ. Ausp: Militant Forum. For more informa­ for anything less than outright affilia­ Third Floor. Donation: $]. Ausp: Militant Forum. For tion call (714) 280-1292. ... Shanker more information call (617) 482-8050. tion like the merged organization in Continued from page 2 l New York. WASHINGTON, D.C. BROOKLYN He failed to mention that the board THE SOVIET DISSIDENTS: THE MOVEMENT FOR SO­ In December Shanker rammed a HAITIAN REFUGEES IN THE U.S.: ASYLUM OR DE­ of education has been cutting back resolution through the executive coun­ PORTATION? Speakers: Father AntoineAdrien, activist CIALIST DEMOCRACY IN THE SOVIET UNION. Speaker: Rich Robohm, Socialist Workers Party. Fri., on personnel, and the UF T hierarchy in ·Ad Hoc Committee to Defend Haitian Refugees;, cil urging Selden to resign. Selden Feb. 8, 8 p.m. 1345 ESt. N.W., Fourth Floor. Dono­ hasn't done much about it. Nor was Sandra Martin, KODDPA representative at recent La refused. At the Jan. 20 executive coun­ lion: $]. Ausp: Militant Forum. For more information Raza Unida antideportation conference in Chicago. there a word in the literature directed call (202) 783-2391. cil meeting the Shankerites were suc­ Fri., Feb. 8, 8 p.m. 136 Lawrence St. (near A & S). to the aides about Shanker's racist cessful in severely curtailing Selden's Donation: $]. Ausp: Militant Forum. For more informa­ opposition to the struggle for Black, tion call (212) 596-2849. power. A committee of three vice-presi­ Puerto Rican, and Chinese control of dents, all Shanker men, was estab­ CLEVELAND schools in District 1. This may have lished with final authority over all SEXUALITY IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY. Speakers: been because Local 372 backed the Selden's papers, publicity, news re­ Mary Waxman, writer lor feminist newspaper What pro-community-control slate for school She Wants; Chris Gauvreau, Young Socialist Alliance; leases, and financial expenditures. He ... Vietnam board in District 1 in last May's elec­ was barred from using the union's Bob Bresnahan, Socialist Workers Party. Fri., Feb. 8, 8 p.m. 4420 Superior Ave. Donation: $]. Ausp: Mili­ Continued from page 9 tion. mailing list. tant Forum. For more information call (216) 391-5553. Mirelowitz to the twelfth national con­ The response of AFSCME's District So while Shanker had to pull in the vention of the Young Socialist Al­ 37 leadership, headed by Victor Got­ reins on his raid against Local 372, DETROIT BLACK WOMEN'S LIBERATION: DOES IT WEAKEN OR liance, held Nov. 23-26. baum, was to view this raid primarily he continues to push forward in his STRENGTHEN THE BLACK MOVEMENT? A panel of "Under military pressure from im­ as a "legal'' question. Consequently struggle to assume command over the Black women activists. Fri., Feb. 8, 8 p.m. 3737 Wood­ perialists, and diplomatic and mate­ they relied heavily on the AFL-CIO AFT. ward. Donation: $]. Ausp: Militant Forum. For more rial pressure from Moscow and constitution for their defense. information call (313) 831-6135. Peking," Mirelowitz said, "the Viet­ Why was this raid against another LOS ANGELES: WEST SIDE namese have been forced into accept­ AFL-CIO union placed on the top of GRAND OPENING, WEST SIDE MILITANT FORUM. ing a settlement that poses serious the UFT's priority list? Part of the IN DEFENSE OF WOUNDED KNEE. Speakers: Carter obstacles to the successful conclusion explanation is Shanker's thirst for ex­ Camp, former chairman of AIM and defendant in of their struggle. The nine-point plan panding the number of members under Wounded Knee trials; Julie Christensen, United People ... Young for Wounded Knee. Fri., Feb. 8, 8 p.m. 230 Broad­ broadcast by Hanoi on October 26 his domination. This has been central Continued from page 24 way, Santa Monica. Donation: $]. Ausp: West Side does not as a whole represent a vic­ to his activity for the past few years. auto workers fight the layoffs. He has Militant Forum. For more information call (213) 394- tory for the Vietnamese. In 1972 he forged a merger between 9050. done nothing to help workers defend "Let's look at what would happen the AFT in New York and the New themselves from runaway prices of NEW YORK: LOWER MANHATTAN if the agreement were carried out just York affiliate of the National Educa­ food, gasoline, and other necessities; THE FIGHT AGAINST REPRESSION IN IRAN. Speakers: as it says. In the first place, the cap­ tion Association (NEA) to form the nor to expose the energy fraud that Bobak Zahraie, former president, Foreign Students italist state, Thieu's army and police New York State United Teachers, Inc. the oil companies are contriving. Council, Univ. of Washington, Seattle; Bahram Alai, secretary, Committee for Artistic and Intellectual Free­ apparatus, would be left intact and A few ye.ars earlier after a few run-ins During Young's campaign, he re­ dom in Iran. Fri., Feb. 8, 8 p.m. 706 Broadway (near in control of the major population with AFSCME he brought the para­ ceived the support of the president of 4th St.), Eighth Floor. Donation: $]. Ausp: Militant centers. professionals (teacher assistants) into the United Farm Workers, Cesar Cha­ Forum. For more information call (212) 982-6051. "The fate of more than 200,000 po­ theUFT. vez. But Young has not come to the litical prisoners in South Vietnam NEW YORK: UPPER WEST SIDE Another reason is that the AFSCME aid of the UFW in their struggle to stop THAILAND: THE FIGHT AGAINST U.S. DOMINATION. would remain unclear. The North leadership and Shanker are on dif­ the sale of scab products in the city's Speakers: Somsak Pankam, associate editor, Kien Tang Vietnamese have contended that re­ ferent sides of a growing division in supermarkets. Daen; Ernest Harsch, contributor to Intercontinental lease of these prisoners is part of the the labor bureaucracy. Shanker is tied In his campaign, Young tried to Press. Fri., Feb. 8, 8 p.m. 2744 Broadway (near 105th St.) Donation: $]. Ausp: West Side Militant Forum. proposed accord, but the U.S. has in with AFL-CIO President George convince Blacks that they "will not For more information call (212) 663-3000. insisted that this is a matter that will Meany, while AFSCME International have to go outside the system in order have to be negotiated later with the President Jerry Wurf has expressed to have some control over their own OAKLAND/BERKELEY government of South Vietnam .... criticisms of the Meany leadership. destiny." ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN AND THE SOVIET DIS. SIDENTS. Speaker: Milton Alvin, Socialist Workers "The question of which class will Furthermore, AFSCME has estab­ His retreat from his early campaign Party. Fri., Feb. 8, 8 p.m. 1849 University Ave. (near rule in Vietnam- the oppressed or the lished friendly relations with the NEA promises on STRESS should be taken Grove St.), Berkeley. Donation: $]. Ausp: Militant oppressors- is the question that must at a time when the AFT was having as one of the first signs that when the Forum. For more information call (415) 548-0354. be settled before there will be peace. merger discussions with the same or­ chips are down Young will side with No election can settle that question ST. LOUIS ganization. The raiding operation "the system" against Blacks and others THE LEFT LOOKS AT WATERGATE. Speakers: Richard in favor of the Vietnamese workers against AFSCME was in part a fighting for "some control over their Baron, ACLU; Bill Hirzy, chairman, St. Louis People's and peasants. The question can only warning not to get in the way of these destiny."

Socialist Directory

ARIZONA: Phoenix: YSA, c/o Steve Shliveck, P.O. -(312) 939-0756. MISSOURI: Kansas City: YSA, c/o Student Activities Philadelphia: SWP and YSA, I 004 Filbert St., (one Box 890, Tempe, Ariz. 85281. INDIANA: Bloomington: YSA, c/o Student Activities Office, U of Missouri at Kansas City, 5100 Rockhill block north of Market), Philadelphia, Po. 19107. Tel: Tucsom YSA, S.U.P.O. 20965, Tucson, Ariz. 85720. Desk, Indiana University, Bloomington, lnd.47401. Road, Kansas City, Mo. 64110. (215) WAS-4316. CALIFORNIA: Berkeley-Oakland: SWP ond YSA, 1849 Indianapolis: YSA, c/o Dave Ellis, 309 E. Vermont, St. Louis: SWP and YSA, 4660 Maryland, Suite 17, Pittsburgh: SWP and YSA, 304 S. Bouquet St., Pitts­ University Ave., Berkeley, Calif. 94703. Tel: (415) Indianapolis, Ind. 46201. St. louis, Mo. 63108. Tel: (314) 367-2520. burgh, Pa. 15213. Tel: (412) 682-5019. 548-0354. KANSAS: Lawrence: YSA, c/o Christopher Starr, Dept. NEW JERSEY: New Brunswick: YSA, Box 445, Wood­ TENNESSEE: Knoxville: YSA, P. 0. Box 8476 Universi­ Los Angeles, Central-East: SWP and YSA, 710 West­ of Entomology, Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence, Kans. 66045 bridge, N.J. 07095. Tel: (201) 634-3076. ty Station, Knoxville, Tenn. 37916. Tel: (615) 524-8967. lake Ave., Los Angeles, Coli!. 90017. Tel: (213) 483- KENTUCKY: Lexington: YSA, P. 0. Box 952, University NEW YORK: Binghamton: YSA,. Box 1073, Harpur Memphis: YSA, c/o Maryrose Eannace, 3681 Win­ 1512. Station, Lexington, Ky. 40506. College, Binghamton, N.Y. 13901. Tel: (607) 798-4142. chester Pk. Cr. '7, Memphis, Tenn. 38118. Tel: (901) Los Angeles, West Side: SWP and YSA, 230 Broad­ Louisville: YSA, P. 0. Box B026, Louisville, Ky. 40208. Brooklyn: SWP and YSA, 136 Lawrence St. (at Wil­ 365-2528. way, Santa Monica, Calif. 90401. Tel: (213) 394-9050. MARYLAND: Baltimore: YSA, 2103 Belair Rd., Balti­ loughby), Brooklyn, N.Y.11201. Tel: (212)596-2849. Nashville: YSA, P.O. Box 67, Station B, Vanderbilt Los Angeles City-wide: SWP and YSA, 710 S. West­ more, Md. 21213. Tel: (301) 732-8996. Geneseo: YSA, State Univ. College at Geneseo, University, Nashville, Tenn. 37212. Tel: (615) 383- lake Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. Tel: (213) 483-0357. College Parle YSA, University P. 0. Box 73, U of Md., College Student Union Box 85, Geneseo, N.Y. 14454. 2583. Riverside: YSA, c/o University of Calif. Riverside, College Park, Md. 20742. Long Island: YSA, 20 John St., Roosevelt, L.l., N.Y. 1134 Library South, Riverside, Calif. 92507. 11575. Tel: (615) FR9-0289. TEXAS: Austin: YSA, SWP, Militant Bookstore, Harriet San Diego: SWP, YSA, and Militant Bookstore, 4635 MASSACHUSETTS: Amhetst: YSA, R. S. 0. Box 324, U New York City- City-wide SWP and YSA, 706 Broad­ Tubman Hall, 1801 Nueces, Austin, Texas 78701. Tel: El Cajon Blvd., San Diego, Calif. 92115. Tel: (714) of Mass., Amherst, Mass. 01002. way (4th St.), Eighth Floor, New York, N.Y. 10003. Tel: (512) 478-8602. 280-1292. Baston: SWP and YSA, c/o Militant Labor Forum, (21 2) 982-4966. Houston: SWP, YSA, and Pathfinder Books, 3311 San Francisco: SWP, YSA, Militant Labor Forum, 655 Atlantic Ave., Third Floor, Boston, Mass. 02111. Lower Manhattan: SWP, YSA and Merit Bookstore. Montrose, Houston, Texas 77006. Tel: (713) 526-1082. and Militant Books, 1519 Mission St., San Francisco, Tel: SWP-(617) 482-8050, YSA-(617)482-8051; Issues 706 Broadway (4th St.), Eighth Floor, New York, N.Y. San Antonio: YSA, c/o P. 0. Box 774, San Antonio, Calif. 94103. Tel: (415) 864-9174. and Activists Speakers' Bureau (IASB) and Regional 10003. Tel: SWP, YSA-(212) 982-6051; Merit Books­ Texas 78202. San Jose: YSA, c/o Glenda Horton, 1253 S. 7th Committee- (617) 482-8052; Pathfinder Books- (617) (212) 982-5940. UTAH: Logan: YSA, P. 0. Box 1233, Utah State Univer­ St. *70, San Jose, Calif. 95112. Tel: (408) 354-2373. 338-8560. Upper West Side: SWP and YSA, 2744 Broadway sity, Logan, Utah 84321. Santo Barbara: YSA, 760 Oak Walk, Apt. H, Goleta, Worcester: YSA, P. 0. Box 229, Greendale Station, (106th St.), New York, N.Y. 10025. Tel: (212) 663-3000. WASHINGTON, D.C.: SWP and YSA, 1345 E St. Calif. 93017. Worcester, Mass. 01606. N. W., Fourth Floor, Wash., D. C. 20004. Tel: SWP­ COLORADO: Denver: SWP, YSA, and Militant Book MICHIGAN: Ann Arbor: YSA, Room 4103 Mich. NORTH CARILINA: Charlotte: YSA, c/o Gene Phil­ (202) 783-2391; YSA- (202) 783-2363. store, 1203 California, Denver, Colo. 80204. Tel: (303) Union, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. yaw, 1023 Dorm '73 UNCC, Charlotte, N.C. 28213. WASHINGTON: Bellingham: YSA and Young Social­ 623-2825. Bookstore open Mon.-Sat., 10:30 a.m.-7p.m. 48104. Tel: (313) 668-6334. Tel: (704) 537-3235. ist Books, Rm. 213 Viking Union, Western Washington CONNECTICUT: Hartford: YSA, P.O. Box 1184, Hart­ Detroit: SWP, YSA, Eugene V. Debs Hall, 3737Wood­ OHIO: Bowling Green: YSA, Box 27, U. Hall, Bowling State College, Bellingham, Wash. 98225. Tel: (206) lord, Conn. 06101. Tel: (203) 523-7582. ward Ave., Detroit, Mich. 48201. Tel: (313) TEI-6135. Green State University, Bowling Green, O!Uo 43402. 676-3460. New Haven: YSA, c/o Jon Kegler, 1356 Chapel St., East Lansing: YSA, Second Floor Offices, Union Bldg. Cincinnati: YSA, c/o C. R. Mitts, P. 0. Box 32084, Pullman: YSA, c/o Student Activities Office, Wash­ Apt. 3, New Haven, Conn. 06511 . Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich. 48823. Oncinnati, Ohio45232. Tel: (513) 242-9043. ington State University, Pullman, Wash. 99163. FLORIDA: Tallahassee: YSA, Box U-6014, Tallahassee, Kalamazoo: YSA, c/o Gail Altenberg, 728 S. Burdick Cleveland: SWP and YSA, 4420 Superior Ave., Seattle: SWP, YSA, and Militant Bookstore, 5623 Fla. 32306. St., Apt. 3, Kalamazoo, Mich. 49007. Oeveland, Ohio 44103. Tel: SWP-(216) 391-5553. University Way N. E., Seattle, Wash. 98105. Tel: (206) GEORGIA: Atlanta: Militant Bookstore, 68 Peachtree Mt. Pleasant: YSA, P. 0. Box 98, Warriner Hall, CMU, YSA- (216) 391-3278. 522-7800. St. N.E., Third Floor, Atlanta, Ga. 30303. SWP and MI. Pleasant, Mich 48858. Columbus: YSA, ct o Margaret Van Epp, 670 Cuya­ WEST VIRGINIA: Huntington: YSA, c/o Marshall Uni­ YSA, P. 0. Box 846, Atlanta, Ga. 30301. Tel: (404) MINNESOTA: Minneapolis-St. Paul: SWP, YSA, and hoga Ct., Columbus, Ohio 43210. Tel: (614) 268-7860. versity, Huntington, W.Va. 25701. Tel: (301) 525-6323. 523-0610. Labor Bookstore, 25 University Ave. S. E., Mpls. 55413. OREGON: Portland: SWP and YSA, 208 S. W. Stark, WISCONSIN: Madison: YSA, c/o James Levitt, 145 ILLINOIS: Chicago: SWP, ·YSA, Pathfinder Books, 428 Tel: (612) 332-7781. Filth Floor, Portland, Ore. 97204. Tel: (503) 226-2715. N. Butler, Madison, Wis. 53703. (608) 251-5716. S. Wabash, Filth Floor, Chicago, Ill. 60605. Tel: SWP­ St. Cloud: YSA, c/o Atwood Center, St. Cloud State PENNSYLVANIA: Edinboro: YSA, Edinboro State Col­ Milwaukee: YSA, P. 0. Box 1136, Milwaukee, Wis. (312) 939-0737, YSA- (312) 427-0280, Pathfinder Books College, St. Cloud, Minn. 56301. lege, Edinboro, Pa. 16412. 53201.

22 tnthe Blacks in February Americas Wars by Robert W Mullen • "From Robert W. Mullen's book, Blacks in Amer­ ica's Wars, comes a shocking revelation of the racist treatment of Blacks serving in the armed forces of th_is country . ... an excellent job . ... "-The Young Socialist • ". . . heavily and interestingly illustrated ... most readable."- Publishers Weekly Dr. Robert W. Mullen recounts the hidden history of Blacks in America's wars, from the Revolutionary War to Vietnam, tracing their changing attitudes towards service in the military. For much of American history, Blacks hoped that their par­ .ticipation in the armed forces and their heroism and sacrifice on the battlefield would help them win full rights in civilian so­ ciety. In recent years this attitude has changed. Many Black Americans now feel they should not have to serve in the military and make battlefield sacrifices for a society in which they do not have full civil and human rights. Dr. Mullen probes the . MILITANT SHOULDER BAG reasons for this shift in attitudes . Order your Mil itont corryi ng bog to­ 96 pp., 35 photos and illustrations, cloth $5.00, paper $1.45. day! Bright yellow canvas bog with Malcolm X red or block lettering. 19x12x9 A MONAD PRESS BOOK distributed by: inches deep, with strong shoulder PATHFINDER PRESS, 410 West Street, New York, N.Y. 10014 on Africa strop. Lorge enough to corry dozens of Militants plus books, leaflets, etc.

Send me ( ) Militant shoulder bogs How to fight at $4 each. ( ) Red ( ) Block Enclosed is$ ____ Nome ______watergate Address ______City ______State· _____ Zip _____ Puerto Rican, Black, and Chinese $1/6 months 14 Charles Lone, New York, N.Y. Community Control in New York City 10014 WAR VS, BOX471 The Fight IN THE NY., NY. 10003 Against MIDDLE EAST Racism in THE SOCIALIST VIEW Our Schools Selections from The Militant by by Luis f=uentes Dave Frankel, Dick Roberts and Tony Thomas Only $.25 from: THE COUP IN CHILE 32 pages, $. 60 ~PATHFINDER PRESS, INC. Order from: PATHFINDER ~ 410 West Street FIRSTHAND REPORT AND ASSESSMENT PRESS, 410 West St., New York, New York, N.Y. 10014 BY HUGO BLANCO AND OTHER N.Y. 10014 REVOLUTIONARIES WHO ESCAPED The September 11, 1973, coup ushered in a reign of terror on a moss scale as well as toppling the Unidod Popular government of Salvador Allende. Interviews with four survivors of the terror describe the political events surrounding the coup and assess the future of the workers' move­ ment in Chile. 25 cents.

Pathfinder Press, 410 West Street, New York, N.Y. 10014 in the Feb. International Socialist Review WATERGATE~------~ THE YOUNG The American SOCIALIST Health Care ALLIANCE Scandal IS FIGHTING by Stephanie Coontz Also: RERADICALIZATION OF AMERICAN BACK POLITICS By George Novack/ PORTUGUESE The YSA is waging a socialist offensive against the Watergaters. We're filing COLONIALISM IN AFRICA By Anna Libera/ a suit to expose the government's undemocratic "dirty tricks" against socialists THE RESPONSIBILITY OF INTELLECTUALS and the whole radical movement. We're showing how the government is run By Alan Wald by a t!ny handful of bankers and millionaires. The Young Socialist Alliance is an organization of young revolutionaries, students and workers, men and ( ) Enclosed is $1 for three months of the ISR. women, Blacks, Chicanos, Puerto. Ricans and whites. We're fighting against ( ) Send me 1 year of the ISR for $5. racism, the oppression of women, the exploitation of working people, and the ( ) New ( ) Renewal Democratic and Republican politicians who run this country. We think the Name ______problem is capitalism and the solution is socialism. If you agree, join the YSA.

__ I want more information about the YSA. Address ______I want to join the YSA! Name: City State Zip __ Addres-s:------International Socialist Review, 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. 10014. City, State &Zip:·-----~------

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THE MIUTANT/FEBRUARY 8, 1974 23 THE MILITANT

Ca~italist Qarties have no solutions Why Coleman Young can't meet needs of Black people By STEVE BEREN oppressed and called. for the building DETROIT- Since Coleman Young of a movement that could take the took office last month, many Detroit power out of the hands of the cap­ residents, especially in the Black com­ italists and put it in the hands of work­ munity, have been looking to this ing people, in Detroit and nationally. city's first Black mayor in the hope In a recent interview with The Mili­ that he will take effective measures tant, Dixon said that Young's victory to cope with their problems. was an expression of the desire of Layoffs idling thousands of auto Black people ·for political power- a workers, skyrocketing prices, inferior confirmation of the potential for build­ schools, deteriorating housing, de­ ing a Black party independent of the clining bus service, police brutality, capitalist two party setup. "Young, as street crime- all are seen by Blacks, a Democratic politician," Dixon said, now half the city's population, as "will not be able to take the necessary urgent issues requiring decisive action. steps to solve the problems we face. But the Young administration's first His loyalty to a racist, capitalist party official statements and actions point will prevent him from representing not in the direction of solutions but of Black people, working people." maintaining the racist status quo. Dixon, who was a leader of the cam­ A case in point is Police Commis­ paign to abolish STRESS, scored sioner Philip Tannian's announcement Young's "anticrime" program of more that the STRESS unit is being reinsti­ cops. tuted. First of all, Dixon pointed out, "the STRESS was a decoy-entrapment Coleman Young (left) receives praises of Henry Ford ll (center) and leonard Woodcock real criminals are the rich and super­ force that gained notoriety during the rich who exploit working people here administration of Young's predecessor and around the world. They are the Roman Gribbs, a fellow Democrat. ones who put Nixon and Agnew, The terror unit was responsible for top cop. a common political goal. And the crooks in their own right, in the White the death of 18 people, all but one of - At the beginning of his campaign Black community is still solidly behind House. It is the capitalists and their them Black. It was quietly shelved last for mayor, Young had pointed to Young, .the great majority seeing him servants- down to the cops on the year following vigorous protests in the widespread police brutality and said as someone who is working in their beat -who are responsible for the Black community. he would abolish STRESS if elected. interests. poverty and oppression that breed The Jan. 15 Detroit News reports John Nichols, wfio resigned as police Actions such as his retreat on street crime. These social conditions that the head of the Felony Preven­ commissioner to run for mayor, cam­ STRESS can be expected to tarnish must be eliminated before such crime tion Section, which absorbed the for­ paigned on an openly right-wing ''law Young's image, but it will take time can be ended." mer STRESS officers, had claimed it and order" line. for the illusions to fade. Dixon campaigned for an end to the "was no longer using a decoy pro­ Since the inauguration, there has police occupation of the Black com­ gram" and that was why the name Changed line also been a high degree of unity be­ munity. He called for the creation of STRESS was dropped. As election day drew near, Young hind Young among many Detroit em­ a force drawn from the community and But Tannian said the name ·would departed from his earlier stance, ad­ ployers, union officials, and capitalist controlled by democratically elected be used again because "we would be vocating more of Nichols's rhetoric, politicians. councils. hoodwinking the public by not using often even outdoing him. He called At a Business and Labor Inaugural What about the problems of infla­ it." He said the police were keeping for adding 1,000 new cops to the Luncheon on Jan. 3 in Coho Hall, tion and unemployment? open the option of using decoy units. force. He said that though he opposed attended by more than 3,000, Henry Young has not lifted a finger to help Ford II and Leonard Woodcock, presi­ Tannian is an ex-FBI agentwhowas the excesses or STRESS, he would Continued on page 22 acting as temporary police commis­ favor the use of police decoy units, dent of the United Auto Workers, were sioner under Gribbs. When Young took the essence of the by then disbanded brought together as guest speakers. office he asked Tannian to stay on as terror squad. Ford and Woodcock tried to outdo The Black liberal Young will be a each other with praise for Young's Dixon appeals more effective voice for ''law and order" "leadership" and his ability to forge than the white reactionary Nichols a "new coalition of business and 'parade' rap labor." Ford and Woodcock and their would have been. This was demon­ DETROIT-Maceo Dixon, 1973 So­ friends in high places are counting strated in Young's inaugural address, cialist Workers Party candidate for on Young to keep a lid on the city, when he proclaimed: mayor, was convicted Jan. 5 on an deflecting the militancy of any strug­ "I issue a formal warning now to eight-month-old misdemeanor gles that develop, particularly in the all those pushers, to all rip-off artists, charge of "deviating from a parade to all muggers: It's time to leave De­ Black community. route." He has been sentenced to five troit. ... And I don't give a damn In his inaugural address, as in ear­ days in jail and a $150 fine. if they are Black or white, or if they lier campaign talks, Young laid the Dixon's attorney, James Lafferty, wear Super Fly suits or blue uniforms basis for subordinating the interests is appealing the verdict. with silver badges-hit the road!" of Black people. He said, "What is The charge stems from a march Detroit News columnist Pete Wald­ good for the rich people of this city and rally last May against meir observed: "If the same words is good for the poor people of this STRESS, a plainclothes police unit had been shouted by his mayoral op­ city. . . . It is clear that we have a that was terrorizing the Black com­ ponent, John Nichols, the crowd would commonality of interests. munity. have been on its feet hollering to toss The demonstration capped a cam­ the honky out. But when the message Socialist view paign against the terror squad by comes from Coleman Young, some Maceo Dixon, who was the Socialist the Coalition to Abolish STRESS. people listen." Workers Party candidate for mayor Dixon was a leader of the coalition. of Detroit, had explained in his cam­ He was arrested nine days after the Elation paign that just the opposite is the case. demonstration and charged with More than 90 percent of the Black He said the interests of Black and having led the marchers down the •>;~;;+nntlr.AnA Yzquierdo vote went to Young, and there was working people are diametrically op­ wrong parade route. This phony April 1973. Demonstrations and other considerable elation and excitement at posed to the interests of the giant cor­ charge was part of a pattern of protests forced end to STRESS police his victory. The election returns porations that run Detroit through the harassment of anti-STRESS acti­ squads. Use of such decoy units- may showed that the Black community can Democratic and Republican parties. vists. resume under Coleman Young. be a powerful force when united behind Dixon stood with the exploited and

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