Israeli objections threaten to scuttle THE U.S. plans for Mideast conference PageS

A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 55/NO. 28 AUGUST 9, 1991 $1.50 Mandela, Castro share platform at July 26 mass rally in Cuba ANC leader Castro hails salutes struggle Cuba, aid against to Africa apartheid BY MARY-ALICE WATERS BY SETH GALINSKY MATANZAS, Cuba- "The people of MATANZAS, Cuba-The speech made Cuba hold a special place in the hearts of the by ·Nelson Mandela "was the greatest and people of Africa," Nelson Mandela told the most profound tribute that has ever been July 26 rally here marking the 38th anniver­ given to our internationalist combatants," sary of the beginning of the Cuban revolu­ said Cuban President Fidel Castro. tion. "The Cuban internationalists have made Castro and African National Congress a contribution to African independence, free­ President Mandela were the speakers here dom, and justice unparalleled for its princi­ July 26 at the celebration of the 38th anni­ ples and selfless character." versary of the attack on the Moncada bar­ The president of the African National racks, which inspired millions of Cubans in Congress headed a delegation of ANC lead­ the fight against the U .S.-backed dictatorship ers who spent three days in Cuba as part of of Fulgencio Batista. their five-country tour of Latin America and The first third of the Cuban leader's re­ the Caribbean. marks focused on the fight against apartheid, Mandela's tribute to the internationalism in response to the themes introduced by of the Cuhan revolution and his clear presen­ "Cuban internationalists made a contribution to African independence, freedom, and Mandela. tation to the Cuban people of the goals and justice unparalleled for its principled and selfless character," Mandela told rally. Continued on Page 11 characterofthe struggle in South Africa today was the high point of his visit. It undoubtedly helped to advance Cubans' understanding of and identification with the mass struggle to bring down the apartheid regime. Young socialist convention plans set

Awarded the Order of Jose Marti BY CAITLIN DIXON The convention program includes eyewit­ and Communism: African National Congress At the ceremony in Matanzas, the prov­ NEW YORK- Only nine days remain ness reports from leaders of the Socialist Fighters Face the Coming Struggles," on ince where the first slave rebellions of the until the opening of the 27th National Con­ Workers Party (SWP). Greg McCartan, edi­ Friday night. On Saturday, Mary-Alice Wa­ 19th century occurred, Mandela was also vention of the Young Socialist Alliance tor of the Militant newspaper, attended the ters, editor of New International magazine, decorated with the Order of Jose Marti. The (YSA). Youth from around the country, Eur­ African National Congress conference in will deliver "The Cuban Revolution Faces a medal, the highest honor awarded by the ope, Asia, Africa, and North America. plan Durban, South Africa this past month, and Changing World: Rectification at a Cross- Cuban Council of State, was bestowed in to attend. YSA members and chapters are will speak of developments in that country recognition of Mandela's outstanding lead­ continuing a concerted effort to make sure in his talk, "National Liberation, Stalinism, Continued on Page 12 ership and the role of the ANC in the "broad all interested young people can get to Ober­ and heroic struggle of the Black people of lin, Ohio, to participate. Come to the 27th National Convention South Africa against the apartheid regime." All participants are invited to attend con­ On arriving at the Jose Martf international vention sessions from I 0:00 a.m. on Friday, of the airport Mandela was warmly greeted by August 9, through Saturday evening. Sunday YOUNG SOCIALIST ALLIANCE Cuban President Fidel Castro and other mem­ will be a session for YSA delegates, who will bers of the Cuban leadership, as well as a elect a new National Committee. August 9-10 Oberlin College Oberlin, Ohio small but enthusiastic crowd of Havana res­ Delegates to the convention will be dis­ idents who turned out on the four-day holiday cussing and voting on proposals that will help Eyewitness Reports weekend to welcome the ANC leader. transform and strengthen the internationalist "National Liberation, Stalinism, and Continued on Page 10 revolutionary youth organization. Communism: African National Congress Fighters Face the Coming Struggles" by Greg McCartan, editor of the Militant newspaper, attended July ANC national conference in Durban, South Africa Victory for working people Friday, August 9, 7:30p.m. "The Cuban Revolution Faces a Changing World: scored in Gates' resignation Rectification at a Crossroad" by Mary-Alice Waters, editor of New International BY HARRY RING ing to curb police brutality and right-wing magazine, just returned from reporting trip to Cuba LOS ANGELES - The decision by forces which rallied in defense of the chief. Saturday, August 10, 7:30p.m. Daryl Gates to retire as police chief is a In a farewell message to his club-happy, victory for the "Gates must go" forces that trigger-happy force, Gates declared them "Youth, the Working Class, and Capitalism: sprang up in the wake of the videotaped "the most clearly committed and most hon­ Sharpening Class Polarization in U.S. Politics" police beating of Rodney King. orable group" of cops anywhere. In the July 22 letter announcing his deci­ Mayor Thomas Bradley, who had found by :Jack Barnes for the National Committee sion to quit, Gates set April 1992 as the date himself thrown into conflict with Gates, wel­ of the Socialist Workers Party of his retirement. comed the chief's declared departure and saw Saturday, August 10, 1:00 p.m. In a separate letter he added that if a it as closing a period of "agony, of trauma." successor has not been chosen by then, he Repeated TV broadcasts of the videotaped 0 Yes! l want to come to the convention. Please send me more information. would stay on until one is. beating of King, a construction worker who Danny Bakewell of the Brotherhood Cru­ is Black, triggered a wave of anger and shock 0 I want to join the YSA. sade commented that it was "dangerous" to in the city that reverberated nationwide. Name ______take Gates' word that he will retire. Public outrage quickly focused on Gates Address ______~------~~------__ "We cannot blindly trust his so-called who initially tried to dismiss the police as­ City ______...:.______...:.__ _ _;__._ State ____ ZIP ---~---'"----....: 'timetable,' " the civil rights activist warned. sault on King as an "aberration." The announcement of Gates' decision Too many people knew it was no aberra­ Phone------~------....: came after nearly five months of political tion- and they knew that Gates' defense of For more information: call the YSA nearest you (see page 12), or write YSA, P.O. Bqx 21 strife in the city, marked by a deepening the cops was no aberration either. He was New Yqrk; N,Y. 1001 L Tel: (212) 727-8422. polarization between the broad forces fight- Continued on Page 13 Behind debate on Clarence Thomas Nominee's right-wing views divide middle-class Blacks

BY JAMES HARRIS ties. Few who claim to represent the interests the hype around his background as a means An emerging debate over U.S. President of working people who are Black put these to secure the Supreme Court seat and gain George Bush's nomination of Clarence Tho­ rulings in the context of the broader em­ wider legitimacy in bourgeois public opinion mas to the Supreme Court highlights the class ployer-government offensive. for the views he presents. divisions within the Black nationality and Thomas, an appellate court judge, has "Anybody who takes him on in the area the need for independent working-class po­ been outspoken in his opposition to raising of civil rights is taking on the grandson of a litical action. the minimum wage, school busing, affirma­ sharecropper," crowed Republican Senator So far the debate in the Black population tive action, abortion rights, and other mea­ Orrin Hatch. has been dominated by leaders of civil rights sures aimed at unifying working people. organizations, Black elected officials, and The Bush administration and Thomas Right-wing views other middle-class individuals. have worked overtime to take the maximum A former head of the Equal Employment Some back Thomas because they agree propaganda advantage of Thomas' impover­ Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Thomas with his right-wing views. Those who say ished youth and rise to bourgeois circles. has actively campaigned against affirmative they disagree with his political stands on Thomas is touted as a role model and exam­ action. "I believe in compensation for actual even basic issues of democratic rights are ple of "individual initiative and self-help." victims, not for people whose only claim to divided between supporting Thomas because The official version of his life history is used victimization is that they are members of a he is Black and opposing him in spite of his to discount the need for working-class soli­ historically oppressed group," he says. nationality. darity. Social welfare programs are labeled As far as affirmative action quotas go, President George Bush has picked Thom­ "handouts." Thomas says he doesn't "believe in quotas. as because his virulent anti-working-class Thomas is fond of relating folksy homilies America was founded on a philosophy of politics will aid the ruling rich in their con­ supposedly handed down from his parents individual rights, not group rights." tinued assault on the democratic rights and and grandparents. He quotes his grandfather Thomas calls the 1979 United Steelwork­ Jiving standards of working people. as saying: "Man ain't got no business on ers v. Weber Supreme Court ruling that up­ The debate ha:s arisen because ofthe rising relief as long as he can work. Damn welfare, held the use of an affirmative action plan at number of decisions by the Supreme Court that relief!" Kaiser Aluminum "an egregious example" that chip away at hard-won rights and liber- Thomas' supporters are attempting to use of "creative interpretation of" the federal Supreme Court nominee Clarence antidiscrimination law. Thomas calls welfare a "handout," op­ Thomas, while stating that he agreed with poses affirmative action quotas and the outcome of the 1954 Brown v. Board of right to privacy. Education Supreme Court case, nevertheless First issue? Subscribe! has criticisms of it. The Brown decision provided the legal basis for school desegre­ the Department of Health and Human Ser­ gation. vices, a Black who firmly supports Thomas. The landmark ruling led to "a disastrous ''I'm trying to deal with the nomination in series of cases requiring busing and other the context of what our realities are," said $10 for polices that were irrelevant to parents' con­ John Jacob, president of the National Urban cern for a decent education," says Thomas. League. "If Judge Thomas is not selected, Despite his vaunted concern for individual what the Administration has proven is that, 12 weeks rights, Thomas has raised objections to the standing in the wings are a bunch of other decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, a Su­ folks who are not African-American, who preme Court ruling that widened the consti­ have not had the kinds of life experience that tutional right to privacy. The right to privacy Judge Thomas has had, but who have the is one of the underpinnings of the Roe v. same philosophical traits that we criticize in Wade decision and the constitutional protec­ him." tion of abortion rights. New York attorney and Black activist C. Thomas is also in favor of requiring prayer Vernon Mason, who is best known for his in public schools. involvement in the Tawana Brawley case in For coverage of the central political issues "My mother says that when they took God New York, also supported Thomas. facing working people resisting the out of the schools, the schools went to hell. "His background is from the rough side She may be right. Religion is certainly a of the mountains," said Mason to New York employer-government assault at home and source of positive values, and we need as Newsday. "I think what we ' ll see is someone abroad, you need the Militant every week. many positive values in the schools as we who will bring a different perspective to the From the picket line to protests against can get," he says. bench and someone who will examine a Some middle-class Blacks have supported number of issues involving the black com­ police brutality; from the battle to abolish Thomas' nomination and his stands on these munity that have been ignored." apartheid in South Africa to events in issues. Others see the clash of his views with Calvin Butts, political activist and pastor revolutionary Cuba- you need the facts, their liberal opinions as subordinate to the of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, fact he is Black and up for an important took a more ambivalent stance. news, and analysis in the Militant. government post. They feel that this is reason "But I'm not going to be one of those Subscribe today! enough to support him. Their stance reflects people who says Clarence Thomas can de­ their own desires to become more integrated stroy everything. In truth, there is not much into the capitalist economic and social sys­ he can do anyway, the way the court is set ~ ------tem as Thomas is doing. up. "So what is the sense of beating up on 0 Special introductory offer: $10 for 12 weeks Class differentiation Clarence Thomas? Some conservative­ D $15 for 12 week renewal D $27 for 6 months D $45 for 1 year Victories won by the civil rights move­ even if not Thomas - is going to be con­ ment in the 1950s and 1960s broke down firmed. So I pray to my ancestors that they Name ______many legal and de facto barriers faced by reach down into the heart of that Black boy Address ______Blacks in jobs, education, housing, and other and tum him around." aspects of social and political life. Since his nomination Thomas has taken a City ______State ______Zip ______Out of the gains of this massive working­ more conciliatory tone toward the various class movement a substantially larger layer civil rights organizations and their leader­ Union/School/Organization of the Black nationality than has existed at ships. Earlier he, like many right-wingers, Clip and mail to The Militant, 410 West St., New York, NY 10014 anytime in the past has been able to become baited the civil rights establishment for its middle class. In income, social milieu, and inconsistency, complacency, and Jack of per­ political outlook, this layer is far removed spective in the struggle for Black rights. 12 weeks of the Militant outside the U.S .: Australia and the Pacific, $A 10 • Britain, £6 • from the big majority of Blacks who remain All they do is "bitch, whine and moan," Canada, Can$12 • Caribbean and Latin America, $10 • Europe, Africa, and the Middle working-class. he is quoted as saying. He has now backed East, £10 • France, FF80 • Iceland, Kr800 • New Zealand, NZ$1 0 • Sweden, Kr60 While still concerned about racism and away from this harsher stance and credits the discrimination, Blacks who are middle class civil rights movement for making his own have to a great degree integrated themselves progress possible. "1, of course, have benefited greatly from 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Sub­ into the broader middle class and adopted its concerns and class outlook, including its fear the civil rights movement, from the Justice The Militant scriptions: U.S., Latin America: for one-year whom I'm nominated to succeed," Thomas Closing news date: July 29, 1991 subscription send $45, drawn on a U.S. bank, and contempt for working people, Black or to above address. By first-class (airmail), send white. says, referring to Thurgood Marshall, who Editor: GREG McCART AN recently retired from the court. Business and Circulation $80. Canada: send Canadian $75 for one-year At the same time the vast majority of Director: RONI McCANN subscription to Societe d'Editions AGPP, C.P. Blacks face sharply worsening social and To some degree Thomas pitches his mes­ Editorial Staff: Seth Galinsky, James Harris, 340, succ. R, Montreal, Quebec H2S 3M2. economic conditions, suffering the brunt of sage to those who have become frustrated Cindy Jaquith, Roni McCann, Janet Post, Judy Britain, Ireland, Africa: £35 for one year by the ruling-class offensive against the living with the lack of progress in the struggle for Stranahan, Peter Thierjung. check or international money order made out standards and working conditions of all Black rights and who see a paralyzed mid­ Published weekly except for one week in June, to Militant Distribution, 47 The Cut, London, working people. According to conservative dle-class leadership unable and unwilling to one week in July, one week in August, and the SE I 8LL, England. Continental Europe: £50 chart a course forward. for one year by check or international money government figures, about one-third of the last two weeks of December by the Militant Black population lives under the official pov­ In attacking affirmative action Judge (ISSN 0026-3885), 410 West St. , New York, order made out to Militant Distribution at above address. New Zealand, Asia, Pacific ertylevel. Thomas demagogically said to a Miami Her­ N.Y. 10014. Telephone: (212) 243-6392; Fax ald reporter, "If quotas help you, fine. If they 727-0150; Telex , 497-4278. Islands: Send New Zealand $75 to P.O. Box For many in the well-off layer of men and get you a BMW or Mercedes, say that is why Correspondence concerning subscrip­ 3025, Auckland, New Zealand. Australia: women who are not so directly affected by tions or changes of address should be ad­ Send Australian $75 to P.O. Box 79, Railway the ruling-class assaults on working people. you want quotas. Man, quotas are for the dressed to The Militant Business Office, Square Post Office, Railway Square, Sydney the fact that Thomas is Black is for them black middle class. But look at what's hap­ 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. 2000, Australi a. more important than any political stance he pening to the masses. Those are my people. Second-class postage paid at New York , N.Y ., Signed articles by contributors do not nec­ might hold. They are just where they were before any of and at additional mailing offices . POSTMAS­ essarily represent the Militant's views. These "He is committed to equal opportunity. these policies." TER : Send address changes to the Militant, are ex pressed in editorials. He's committed to fairness and is committed The National Association for the Ad- to justice," said Louis Sullivan, secretary of Continued on Page 6

2 The Militant August 9, 1991 The double squeeze on working farmers Prices too low to meet rising costs

BY DOUG JENNESS Widespread protests by working farmers (First in a series) and their supporters were organized to de­ For several years there have been exag­ mand an end to the foreclosures and press gerated reports from government officials, the government to provide relief. They set agricultural economists, and newspaper edi­ up many new local and national organiza­ tors about the extent working farmers have tions to advance their struggle, some of which recovered from a decade of crisis. Many signs still exist. now clearly point to a worsening situation Recent gatherings of farmers have dis­ for working farmers. cussed some of the problems facing working These developments shatter the notion that farmers. In January there was a conference farmers are going to enjoy long-run stability of small farmers in South Carolina and the or prosperity. To the contrary, like working American Agriculture Movement Inc.'s na­ farmers throughout the world, they are tional convention in Arkansas. In February a caught in a double squeeze between low national conference of Black farmers took prices for the commodities they produce and place in Washington, D.C., and a Northeast sell and the mounting prices they pay for fuel, farmers' meeting was held in Vermont. Militant/Jon Flanders fertilizer, seeds, machinery, rent, and interest. The National Rural Strategy Summit, a Dairy farmers protest in New York state. "Dairy farmers in New York are only able to Corn, wheat, and soybean producers and coalition of various farm protest organiza­ pay two-thirds of our day-to-day costs," said Jo Bates, president of the Empire State dairy farmers have been particularly hard hit tions, met last November to discuss the farm Family Farm Alliance. the past year. In April the Wall Street Journal bill then pending in Congress. The Summit reported that a $2 billion drop in U.S. wheat called a demonstration for Washington, D.C., exports resulted in a sharp dive in income for on March 7. with their payments, the parasitic exploiters tives to deliver a specified quantity of milk. wheat farmers. The same report said prices The action, however, was postponed. The can take their land away, depriving them of Food processors in general are attempting dairy farmers get for their milk are down February 5 AAM Reporter quoted Summit an essential means for their livelihood. to get farmers to sign contracts rather than about 20 percent since last summer. Chairman Merle Hansen stating that "the war Holding a title to the land is no guarantee sell their own products on the market. Under These trends have continued. In July the with Iraq has changed our plans. We do not of being able to keep the use of the land. such agreements farmers are more tightly tied price of corn was down about 24 percent feel that the American public is going to be Since farmland is one of the principal forms to the marketing monopolies. They have to from the same time in 1990. The price of ready or willing to deal with secondary issues of collateral that farmers use to obtain bank buy feed, seed, and fertilizer from the pro­ wheat dropped 20 percent and soybean prices as soon as March. Nor do we want to add to loans for operating expenses or purchasing cessor. Many poultry raisers also buy their were 13 percent lower. Government officials security problems for our government." new equipment or livestock, they lose title chicks from corporate processors. are predicting that net farm income this year As of July 24, according to the AAM's to the land when they can't pay back their This process has intensified with the blows will be substantially lower than last year's national office in Washington, D.C., the ac­ debts. working farmers took in the 1970s and 1980s. and that farm failures will rise for the first tion had not been rescheduled. With rent and interest payments on mort­ Contract farming, for example, is increasing time since 1987. gages and loans leading to increased costs in hog production. An article in the June 2 The reason dairy farmers are having so No control over conditions for exploited farmers on the one hand, in­ Des Moines Register describes how North much difficulty making ends meet "is that Working farmers are victims of conditions comes are kept low because farmers are Carolina-based Murphy Farms provides the government sets milk prices, and it sets over which they have no control. But these forced into the role of price takers on the young pigs to Iowa farmers and helps them them too low," said Jo Bates, president of the are not primarily natural conditions - bad other. Throughout the 20th century the ruling construct finishing buildings with automated Empire State Family Farm Alliance. weather, insect infestation, and so on - as capitalist families in the United States have feeding and cleaning systems. The ones who profit from this, she ex­ devastating as these can be. They are social increasingly concentrated and monopolized The farmers are then guaranteed a price plained in a telephone interview, are the dairy conditions, the result of the workings of food and fiber processing and distribution. processors, the "middlemen," who have a from Murphy Farms as long as death losses capitalism - exorbitant interest rates; mo­ As this has developed, the commercial cap­ aren't too high and if the hogs use a minimum monopoly on the market. They buy the milk nopoly control over marketing; and monop­ italists have been able to set prices. cheap from the farmers and sell it at increas­ of food for each pound of weight they gain. oly-rigged pricing of farm machinery, fertil­ This, for example, is what dairy farmers As this spreads the result will be even greater ingly higher prices to the supermarkets. izer, seeds, and fuel. face. Although many dairies are referred to "Dairy farmers in New York are only able to capitalist domination over working hog The capitalist rents and mortgages system and may have originated as cooperatives, farmers and their families. pay two-thirds of our day-to-day costs," she is particularly onerous. Through rents and they have been largely transformed from said. "We're using up our equity, and more interest landlords and bankers suck up a big instruments of leverage by the producers into The next article will take up the efforts of and more of us are going down." hunk of the wealth working farmers create. profitable capitalist enterprises. Many dairy working farmers to get relieffrom the gov­ Bates noted that in Washington County in Moreover, when the producers can't keep up fanners sign contracts with "their" coopera- ernment and the /990 farm hill. upstate New York where she farms, the num­ ber of dairy farmers has decreased from 1,000 to less than 300 in the past decade. The number of cows on these farms range from Algoma Steel pleads poverty; cuts wages 50 to 400. "We should be getting cost-of-living in­ creases," the farm protest leader said, "but BY BEVERLY BERNARDO by pointing to what they claim are examples out, pensions, and wages. But the Stelco the government doesn't even consider setting SAULT STE. MARIE, Ontario, Canada of successful union-organized employee bosses succeeded in breaking the chain bar­ the price so that we can make a living." -Faced with massive concession demands buyouts at Echo Bay Mines, LTV Corp., and gaining of Stelco locals. A survey conducted by Norwest Corp., a and cries of poverty by the Algoma Steel Kerotest Manufacturing in the United States. At Algoma the bosses did not succeeded Minneapolis-based bank-holding company, Corp., members of the United Steelworkers The union officials unveiled their plans in dividing the six USWA locals that organize revealed that 1.4 percent of farmers borrow­ of America (USWA) here voted to accept June 19 in response to a company proposal workers in Sault Ste. Marie and Wawa, On­ ing from bankers in the Upper Midwest had wage reductions for the next four months. made in May. Algoma had announced it tario. recently quit farming. This was the first time The June 27 vote- 2,506 to 930- was the needed a $60 million loan to meet its payroll in five years the attrition rate had gone up so first step in a "worker buyout" scheme ad­ and make payments on its $800 million debt Discussion on buyout much. During the worst of the farm crisis in vocated by the union officialdom. to its creditors, in particular the Royal Bank The proposal to accept concessions as a the mid-1980s, 3.8 percent of the bankers' The concession amounts to a cut of $2.89 of Canada. The company demanded an im­ way to save jobs has provoked a broad dis­ farm borrowers folded. per hour, 14.5 percent of the average hourly mediate 20 percent wage cut and insisted cussion among Algoma workers. wage increases be limited to 1.5 percent in Another signal that more farmers are feel­ wage of $19.64. It was proposed by Ontario While most workers were unhappy about 1992 and 3 percent from 1993 to 1996. ing the pinch is that calls to state-supported USWA Director Leo Gerard and the presi­ the proposal, the majority expressed the opin­ Algoma also proposed the elimination of telephone hotlines in the Midwest have dents of the six USWA locals at Algoma ion that the union's buyout proposal, includ­ several product lines and cutting the work soared in recent months. According to a Steel. ing the four-month wage cut, was their only force by 50 percent. report in the Wall Street Journal, the Iowa The USWA leadership plans to put the $10 alternative given Algoma's financial crisis. State University Rural Concern Hotline is million accumulated from the wage conces­ The June 24 Sault Star published an article 112-d~y strike getting 600 calls a month, about double last sions into a "Save Our Jobs Fund," part of a featuring the comments of several Algoma year's rate. $50 million loan Algoma Steel says it needs Algoma's renewed demand for conces­ workers. to continue operating while the union works sions are a major attack on the USWA. The "I don't think much of the plan. But if it Decade-long slump to put together its buyout proposal. ranks concluded a successful 112-day strike has to be done, it has to be done," said John last November, reversing a pattern of con­ During the decade-long slump that began The loan would be guaranteed by Algoma Fischer. in the mid-1970s and continued through 1986 workers, Dofasco (the giant Hamilton steel­ cessions over many years. "With this huge debt looming over every­ - the worst crisis for working farmers since maker that bought Algoma for $562 million Two-and-a-half months into the strike, one, do we really have any options?" asked the 1930s- hundreds of thousands of farm­ in 1988), the Ontario government, the federal workers rejected a new set of concession John Douville, a 36-year veteran in mechan­ ers and their families were forced off their government, and the banks. demands by the company. They finally suc­ ics and auto parts. Dave Hammerstedt, in land because they couldn't keep up with the In order to stimulate worker buyouts to ceeded in winning a three-year contract in electrical engineering, was withholding his interest payments on bank loans and mort­ save financially strapped or bankrupt com­ which hourly wages, including cost-of-living support "until I know for sure it will save the gages. When the banks foreclosed on their panies, the Ontario government of the New raises, would increase by 17.5 percent or plant." loans many farm families were forcibly Democratic Party (NDP) has announced $2.89 an hour over three years. The contracts driven out of their homes and off their land plans to put forward a discussion paper and also contained a letter of agreement between Other workers were opposed. "No one's by sheriffs' posses. Their farms, machinery, draft legislation in July that would give em­ Algoma and the union on limiting the con­ going to cut my mortgage payments or gro­ and livestock were put up for sale in public ployees tax incentives for participating in tracting out of union jobs and on the indexing cery bill," said one of them. auctions. buyouts. The NDP is a social-democratic of workers' pensions. "They should shut herdown.l can't afford Between 1980 and 1987 the number of party that advocates workers make conces­ Ten thousand USWA members at another to work here," said another. farms dropped 14 percent, from 2.428 million sions in the face of Canada's economic crisis. major steelmaker, Stelco, walked out at Most workers had many questions. "I to 2.088 million. During the same period the Among its central leaders are many top union plants in Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec at the would buy into the plan only if we had some average size of farms increased 7 percent, officials. same time as the Algoma workers. The com­ say in our destiny and future. If we work from 429 to 462 acres. From 1980 to 1986 the The USWA officials recognize that work­ bined strikes paralyzed 54 percent of there, we should be allowed some input into total tractor horsepower increased more than ers could lose their money and that more jobs Canada's steel production. Stelco workers what goes on," said Gary Primeau from qual­ 2 percent, from 304 million to 311 million. could be lost. They motivate their proposal won similar provisions around contracting ity control. August 9, 1991 The Militant 3 . ., Student protests ·. PALAU ·.-, .• ... ···~. .. rock campuses in SOLOMON ,,-ISLANDS,, •' :··. Papua New Guinea ' .~. . . ~VANUATU • BY BOB ANDREWS Early on June 5 another squad of I 00 fully I • ~, SYDNEY, Australia - Acting in the face armed police occupied the Waigani campus • FIJI;. of an ongoing student boycott of classes and in Port Moresby. On the same day 80-100 exams, university administrators in Papua students from the Vudal Agricultural College 'J-:• New Guinea closed the main campus in Port were stopped at a police roadblock. Shots NEW CALEDONIA Moresby for the rest of the year. The officials were fired, a number of students beaten, and also announced mass expulsions at the Uni­ about 40 arrested. versity of Technology (Unitech) in Lae. The student strike entered a new phase • Papua New Guinea is a country made up June 17 when students on both UPNG and of the eastern part of the island of New Unitech decided to boycott first semester Guinea, in the South Pacific, as well as exams. several surrounding islands. The population In response to this the prime minister, Rabbie TasrtJSn Sea is 3.5 million. Untill975, Papua New Guinea Namiliu, threatened to terminate the scholar­ was a colony of Australia. It remains a heav­ ships of students who didn't take exams. On ily dependent neocolony today. June 19 the Unitech administration placed the Students at the country's two universities campus under a state ofemergency, taking wide Papua New Guinea is former Australian had been spearheading national protests powers to search rooms and suspend students. colony. Economic, political crisis has against a proposed pay rise for members of NUS President Wilson Pesh and 20 other stu­ erupted in student actions, strikes, the national parliament, passed without de­ dents were banned from campus. farmers' protests. bate on the final day of the parliamentary In Port Moresby the UPNG administration session May 22. suspended the Student Representative Coun­ Although the government backed down cil indefinitely June 19 and banned student May 28 and promised to rescind the pay rises forums. Two hundred cops converged on in health and education spending, have been strike blocking the gate. when parliament reconvened July 9, the stu­ Waigani campus and arrested three students. in place since January 1990 after the Austra­ The following morning police, who had dents resolved to stay out until the politicians Two, Klower Waini and the SRC President lian-owned Panguna copper mine on the is­ been flown in by company helicopter, fired fulfilled their pledge.. Peterson Pipi, were charged with provoking land of Bougainville closed. shotguns and tear gas at the strikers, wound­ When the parliament met July 9 it voted a breach of the peace and released the fol­ The mine, which accounted for about 40 ing two. The strike ended following a meet­ as one of the first orders of business to lowing day on bail. percent of Papua New Guinea's export in­ ing between the union and the company. postpone the wage rises until after the next On the first day of exams at Unitech, June come and 20 percent of government revenue, The country's economy has been hit by election. By then the students had faced an 24, a student forum of 500 was held outside was shut down in May 1989 due to sabotage low coffee prices in recent years. Some increasingly tough response from the gov­ the main gates of the campus. Two days later by landholders demanding compensation for 200,000 smallholders produce 70 percent of ernment, including the June 4-5 occupation the vice-chancellor, Sam Pearce, announced the mining operation on their land. the coffee crop. One estimate puts the number of both campuses by armed police firing tear the expulsion of 340 students. More than 90 Bougainville has been in the hands of pro­ of households that rely on coffee growing as gas and shotguns. percent of the students at Unitech boycotted independence forces for over a year. lbey have their main source of cash income at 50 per­ the exams and have been formally failed in withstood a bloody police operation by the cent of the total. How protests began their first semester courses. Australian-trained Papua New Guinea army The wave of militant student-led protests Faced with a boycott of exams in Port that include the use of Australian army heli­ Papua New Guinea's villages have tradition­ against the politicians' wage rise erupted Moresby the Academic Board at the UPNG copters and a total blockade of the island from ally engaged in subsistence agriculture. But with May 24 with a protest by almost I ,000 stu­ met June 28 and postponed the exams there March 1990 to February 1991. the greater penetration of capital over the past dents - which is most of the student popu­ until mid-July, threatening that those who Also symptomatic of the social tensions few decades a large layer of unemployed youth lation- on the Waigani campus of the Uni­ didn't appear would be failed. They also in Papua New Guinea was a May 29-30 have moved to the towns. Some 50,000 youth versity of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) in cancelled second semester courses in the strike at the giant Australian-owned competed for 9,000 jobs in 1989. Port Moresby. faculties of arts, education, law, and science Porgera gold mine near Wabag in the Cen­ On March 14 Prime Minister Rabbie Namiliu The students there declared a boycott of - that is, the Waigani campus is closed for tral Highlands. announced a "war on crime." Measures include classes, which quickly spread to other cam­ the rest of the year. When the Porgera Workeri; Union presi­ an 8:00p.m. to 5:00am. curfew in four main puses, including Unitech in Lae, Forestry dent, Jethro Tulim, was barred from entering cities -Port Moresby, Lae, Mt Hagen and College in Bulolo, Teachers College in Gar­ Political, economic crisis the mine to attend a meeting with company Popondetta, the tattooing of all convicted pris­ oka, Mount Hagen Technical College, and The protests mark a deepening political officials over a series of union demands, 300 oners, and the creation of a national guard in Vudal Agricultural College near Rabaul on crisis in Papua New Guinea. Harsh austerity surface workers converged on the main se­ which all youth aged 13 to 19 years would do the island of New Britain. High school stu­ measures, including wage restraints and cuts curity gate and staged an overnight sit-in one year of compulsory service. dents also took part. During protests May 24-25, II govern­ ment vehicles were burned on the Port Moresby campus. On Lae campus students British miners face fight on jobs, wages confiscated 15 government vehicles. On May 27 Minister of Education Utula Samana was BY RICH PALSER ries," Scargill said the NUM should fight for One of the highlights of the meeting was dragged from his car, which was then over­ BLACKPOOL, Britain- The annual a Labour government "that will, hopefully, a report from two NUM leaders, David Guy turned and torched. conference of the National Union of regenerate Britain's economy, revive our and Frank Cave, on their recent fact-finding Following these incidents, students lead­ Mineworkers (NUM), held here July 8-11, health service, rebuild our education, wel­ tour of South Africa. ers stressed that they want the protests to be focused on the challenges facing coal miners fare, and transport systems." Guy and Cave described their visit to a peaceful. Students began to stage rallies in in defending their jobs and forcing British company hostel where Black miners are Port Moresby and Lae to drum up support Negotiations on wages Coal to negotiate on wages. housed. "It was surrounded by barbed wire, for their campaign to have the politicians' Opening the conference, NUM President Scargill also called for a campaign to force security guards with guns, and guard pay rise cancelled, winning broad support Arthur Scargill said that since 1985, 10 I pits British Coal to the negotiating table over dogs," said Guy. The two asked to see the from the general public. have been shut down. Some 115,000 fewer wages and working conditions. British Coal security guards' weapons arsenal. "It con­ Students also marched or rallied in Rabaul miners are working as a result. unilaterally scrapped an agreed-upon concil­ tained every conceivable weapon," Guy re­ and Mt. Hagen. In Bulolo all government Scargill warned the work force would iation scheme following the 1984-85 strike. ported. "I asked someone from security why vehicles were ordered into the police station be reduced to 30,000 union members at 30 The board gave sole negotiating rights to a they had so many weapons and was told that yard when students marched May 29. Most mines if these trends continue, "unless our breakaway scab union in areas and pits where sometimes they had trouble with some of the government offices there were forced to close union reasserts itself and fights for the a majority of miners belong to the pro­ 'inmates."' down May 30. survival of the industry with the same company outfit. "When . I asked why people should be A National Union of Students Congress, determination we saw between 1982 and Scargill argued against the union accept­ locked up like prisoners the reply I got from held in Lae May 31, resolved to continue the 1985." ing, as some members have urged, this new the owners was that they had the right to protest campaign and called for a general The NUM waged a hard-fought strike in negotiating structure. "No trade union protect their property," said Cave. "When I strike June 6-7 if parliament had not been 1984-85 against government plans to shut can possibly give away the right to represent asked why they had not got barbed wire recalled by then to rescind the pay increases. down "unprofitable" coal mines. its members," he said. "We have every right fencing 'round their white employees' The NUS declared that "we believe that The NUM president also said a reorien­ to demand a conciliation scheme giving our houses, which they also own, there was such a pay rise for MPs [Members of Parlia­ tation of the Labour Party is needed. The union recognition and representation for all deathly silence- no reply." ment] is not warranted especially in light of Labour Party leadership had abandoned our members." the ailing economic situation of this country." basic principles on the grounds they had NUM General Secretary Peter Heathfield Guy told the conference that white miners "Furthermore, the mass who constitute the to do so in order to win the next election, warned that the conciliation scheme imposed earn on average five times the pay of the nonemployed sector is hard hit by means of he said. "Policies such as nationalization by British Coal emerged during the 1984-85 highest paid Black miner. In 1990, 675 Black the ever-increasing cost of living." and unilateral nuclear disarmament are strike, when the employers set out to "reclaim miners died in mining disasters. Students closed off Waigani and Lae cam­ ditched along the way whilst the European their right to manage." The conference unanimously backed a res­ puses at the beginning of the protests, setting Economic Community and the City of These moves by the employers are aimed olution which declared: "As British miners up roadblocks to determine who could enter. London are courted. And finally you end at "g(:!tting miners to go to work and do as we recognise that we have a particularly The police responded May 28 with a road­ up with the grotesque spectacle of a Lab­ they are told," he said, and are part of the common cause with the miners of South block of their own outside Waigani campus. our leader ... supporting privatization in government's policy of moving away from Africa against the domination of the multi­ Police Commissioner Ila Geno threatened Liverpool." national negotiations and breaking the national mining companies. These compa­ that the police would "act swiftly and deci­ Workers are currently fighting layoffs and union's negotiating strength. nies mercilessly exploit the Black South Af­ sively to contain any situation of unlawful wage cuts imposed through the privatization By · a two-thirds majority the conference rican miner." assembly in any public place." of services by the Labour-controlled Liver­ voted to maintain the stance of the union The resolution called for the release of all In Lae, the provincial premier warned June pool Council. against acceptance of the conciliation political prisoners, the ending of all forms of 4, "It is going to be nasty if the boycott contin­ Warning that in the past the election of a scheme. A special delegate conference will apartheid, a halt to state violence and state­ ues." Later that evening I 00 fully armed police Labour government "has given us the unsa­ be held to plan further action in the event supported violence against the working class moved onto the University ofTechnology cam­ vory spectacle of the Labour Party leadership British Coal refuses to negotiate the union's in South Africa, and for political rights for pus firing rifle shots and tear gas. trying to run capitalism better than the To- wage claim. all South Africans. 4 The Militant August 9, 1991 Israeli government's intransigence WORLD NEWS threatens 'peace' conference plans BRIEFS BY JAMES HARRIS Cholera spreads at 'catastrophic Despite an agreement reached between pace' on African continent five Arab regimes and Washington, Israeli government objections threaten to unravel Cholera is spreading through Africa at "a plans for a Mideast "peace" conference. catastrophic pace," a report by the World The conference has been pushed by the Health Organization said July 23. The disease Bush administration since the end of its war is easily preventable and can be treated. against the Iraqi people. Washington hopes The 45,000 known cholera cases in Africa it can parlay its massive military intervention reported so far this year exceed the total into imposing a "solution" to the Palestinian number for 1990. The death rate for those struggle for self-determination. infected by the cholera bacterium is 6 percent The refusal of the Palestinian people inside to 10 percent in some African countries, but "Greater Israel" to submit to Tel Aviv'sdenial reaches as high as 30 percent in particular of their rights has so far been the sticking areas. point for Washington and capitalist regimes Zambia reported the highest number of in the Mideast in making progress on the cases, II ,000. Almost I ,000 people there conference. have already died. Nigeria, which had no On July 18 Secretary of State James Baker reports of cholera for several years, now announced that Syrian President Hafez al­ reports 7,600 cases and 990 deaths. Ghana Assad had accepted the U.S. proposal for a has 6,500 cases, more than I 0 times the peace conference. The announced deal was number last year. seen as a breakthrough for Washington. Health professionals attribute the disease's "I am pleased to report that Syria has spread to the declining maintenance of water agreed to the proposals we have made," said systems and sanitation by governments Baker, "including coming to a peace confer­ caught in the grip of the growing capitalist ence. The terms of reference would be a economic crisis and massive debt paymentS to imperialist banks. Cholera disappeared in comprehensive settlement based on UN res­ Militant/Argiris Malapanis olutions 242 and 338. I think this is an the United States, Canada, and other devel­ -Palestinian house on \\t!st Bank destroyed by Israeli army. Israeli Prime Minister oped countries a century ago with the intro­ extraordinarily important and positive step." Yitzak Shamir defiantly refuses to consider returning any land stolen from Arabs. "The meeting with President Assad was duction of improved water and sewage sys­ good," said Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk tems. al-Sharaa. "There was no difficulty having conciliatory stance toward Israel and prepar­ Israel is also demanding that it have final agreement." ing the way for direct negotiations. say on which Palestinian representatives at­ Prime ministers of North and tend the conference. Shamir stated that Tel South Korea to meet for talks Resolutions 242 and 338 Arab boycott of Israel Aviv will not participate in the meeting if Security Council Resolution 242, ap­ The Egyptian and Saudi Arabian regimes Palestinians from East Jerusalem or with any North Korean Prime Minister Yon Hyong proved in 1967, calls for Israel to trade the also called on Arab countries to drop the connection to the Palestine Liberation Orga­ Muk proposed a fourth round of talks with land it conquered from Arab countries that economic boycott oflsrael if Tel Aviv agreed nization (PLO) participate. the prime rrtinister of South Korea be held August 27 in Pyongyang, the North's capital. year for the Arab governments' recogni­ to certain concessions. Israel has a long-standing position of no South Korean authorities accepted Muk's tion of its borders. The resolution's pur­ The boycott has been in effect since 1948, talks with the PLO. The regime says that initiative. posely vague formulations are continually the year that Israel was founded. It bans trade allowing the attendance of Palestinians from The talks, aimed at reducing political and debated and do not stipulate how much between Arab countries and Israel, and it also East Jerusalem would give legitimacy to the military tension on the Korean peninsula, land is to be returned. Resolution 338, bars any Arab nation from doing business Palestinians' position that East Jerusalem is were suspended by the North earlier this year approved in 1973 at the end of another war with a company that does business with not part of Israel, Shamir said. between Israel and several Arab countries, Israel. The cessation of the boycott would be after the Seoul regime proceeded with "Team calls for negotiations. a step toward ending Israel's econorrtic and "We must know who are the people who Spirit" military exercises, involving 45,000 Until its recent announcement Syria's po­ political isolation in the region and the nor­ will compose the Palestinian delegation U.S. troops. sition on the structure and content of the malization of relations. within the Palestinian-Jordanian delegation," In a phone message to the South Korean proposed peace conference was a major "If Israel could suspend the building of he told the New York Times July 24. "This is prime minister, Muk challenged Seoul to stumbling block to the meeting. In May, settlements in the occupied territories I be­ our right. Under no circumstances can they "create a good atmosphere for the dialogue" President Assad stated that Syria would not lieve that the Arab states should make a be from East Jerusalem. Jerusalem, united in by releasing South Koreans imprisoned for participate in a conference unless the United reciprocal concession by suspending the boy­ its completeness, is the capital of Israel." visiting the North, including lm Su Kyung. Nations played a central role in the meet­ Im, a university student in South Korea, cott," said Egyptian President Hosni Palestinians meet with Baker ing.The conference would have to be the first Mubarak. was arrested in 1989 after traveling to gathering of an ongoing body capable of The concessions that the Arab regimes are In meetings with Palestinian representa­ Pyongyang for the 13th World Festival of hearing, discussing, and resolving differ­ willing to make serve to highlight the refusal tives, Baker told them that they are in too Youth and Students. She was convicted under ences, Assad said. of Israel to make compromises. The Israeli weak a position to negotiate and should ac­ the notorious National Security Law, which Israel opposed the conference and ob­ regime so far will !lOt even consider the "land cept Israeli demands. prohibits contact or travel to the North and jected to both proposals from Syria. for peace" proposal. "We told Mr. Baker that the United States forbids advocating ideas judged by the Seoul In a June 1 letter to Assad and Israeli Prime In fact, the government is doing the oppo­ does not recognize the Israeli annexation of regime to benefit the "enemy." Minister Yitzak Sharrtir, Bush proposed com­ site by continuing its policy of building set­ East Jerusalem, so how does he expect us prorrtises on these positions: that the United tlements on land it stole from its Arab neigh­ to?'' explained Hanan Ashrawi, a West Bank Former monarch to head Nations have an observer at the conference's bors in the 1967 war. On each of Baker's Palestinian leader who has been meeting with Cambodian UN delegation opening event, but that the observer not be previous visits to Israel after the Gulf war, Baker. allowed to actively participate; and that after the Israeli government made a point of defi­ Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the former "There is no Palestinian - credible or in~ the opening ceremony, the conference be antly moving trailers for settlers into new monarch of Cambodia, will head an official credible - who will be prepared to take part reconvened only for reports from bilateral areas of the West Bank, disregarding U.S. delegation representing Cambodia at the in a peace conference in which no Palestin­ negotiations between Israel and individual government opposition. United Nations. It includes Cambodian ians from East Jerusalem are allowed," she Arab regimes, such as Syria or Jordan. Even "Jewish settlements are not an obstacle to Prime Minister Hun Sen a nd Khieu said. "It is a matter of substance. It means with these stipulations, Bush proposed that peace, they are an obstacle to war," said Ariel Samphan, a leader of the Khmer Rouge. accepting the Israeli annexation." the conference only be reconvened with the Sharon, Israel's housing minister. The setup was agreed to during peace talks full agreement of all participants. "I do not believe in territorial comprorrtise," The widespread solidarity with the Pales­ by the government in Phnom Penh and the Governments in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Shamir said July 24. "Our country is very small. tinian people and their struggle for self-de­ counterrevolutionary guerillas that fought and Saudi Arabia quickly agreed to partici­ Where would you find among the nations of terrrtination among the Arab masses is an unsuccessfully for 12 years to overthrow it. pate after Assad's announcement. These re­ the world a people who would be ready to give obstacle .to the Arab regimes, who wish to The counterrevolutionary groupings include gimes are on a course of adopting a more up the territory of their homeland?" participate in the conference, adopt a more Sihanouk's troops, those of former capitalist conciliatory approach toward Israel, and es­ forces that overthrew Sihanouk, and Pol Pot's tablish even closer links to U.S. imperialism. hated Khmer Rouge, which killed at least 1 They hope to not be seen as simply selling million people (estimates range as high as 3 Supposed POW photo is cruel hoax out Palestinian demands in pursuit of these million) during his genocidal rule from 1975- goals. 79. These forces coordinated efforts against Trinh said he had met with Barbara Continued from Page 16 The war against Iraq showed the growing the Phnom Penh government. sent back to the United States after the 1973 Robertson and Johanna Lundy July 23 and willingness of capitalist regimes in various Sihanouk was also elected president of the invited them to come to Vietnam to con­ agreement between Washington and Hanoi Arab countries to openly collaborate with new Supreme National Council of Cambodia duct their own investigation. ending the war. "Vietnam has no interest imperialism. This limits Israel's heretofore by unanimous vote of representatives of the whatsoever in holding U.S. prisoners," he The ambassador also announced that his unique position in the region as a eat's paw government and guerilla forces. The council said. government had decided to allow three U.S. for imperialism, with its well-equipped and will govern during a transition period when Since the end of the Vietnam War, 13 joint veteran organizations to set up an office in modern army. Israel is no longer elections for a new government are planned. investigations and more than 100 trips to 28 Hanoi, Vietnam's capital, to pursue investi­ imperialism's only reliable ally in the Mid­ While a cease-fire agreement has been of the 40 provinces in Vietnam have occurred gations of those killed or designated as miss­ east. signed, there are still issues of contention with the cooperation of the Vietnamese gov­ between the opposing sides. The Cambodian ing in action. The three veterans organiza­ Utilizing its alliances with the Arab re­ ernment to verify the fate of some of the tions to staff the office are Vietnam Veterans government has objected to a call for the 2,300 U.S. Gls designated as rrtissing in gimes, Washington is trying to achieve its "factions," including the government, to de­ of America, American ~gion , and Veterans broader goal of bringing stability for its eco­ action. of Foreign Wars. mobilize their forces. Hun Sen has main­ nomic and political interests to the Mideast. tained that to dismantle the government's Trinh said U.S. records show that Lundy "We demand that whoever produced the The U.S. government hopes to work with and Stevens were shot down over Laos; troops would open the door to the Khmer picture cooperate with our government and Arab regimes to solve the thorny political Rouge seizing military control. The Khmer Lundy in 1%6 and Stevens in 1%9. Penta­ the U.S. government to get to the bottom of question in the region, that of the fight of the gon records list them as "killed in action." Rouge has at least 30,000 troops and is the and clarify this matter," Trinh said. "If they Palestinian people for self-determination. strongest and best armed group in the coun­ The results of the 9th joint U.S.- Vietnam refuse to cooperate and the investigation They are willing to do this at the expense of terrevolutionary coalition. investigation held in February and March of shows that the picture was fabricated for the Israeli regime's immediate interests. For 1990 show that Robertson was killed when money-making purposes, they should be its part, Tel Aviv shows few signs of willing­ his plane crashed, the ambassador said. condemned by public opinion." ness to compromise. August 9, 1991 The Militant 5 NLRB says Ravenswood lockout is illegal

BY MARY NELL BOCKMAN cials names on them be taken down from the The NLRB ruling came five days after and a contract by Local5668. Interviews with RAVENSWOOD, West Virginia- Hun­ front of the union hall grounds. unemployment benefits for the steelworkers local members and their families and footage dreds of steelworkers fighting for a contract RAC President Don Worlledge responded expired. Local members received $250 per of the fortress built around the plant dramatize against Ravenswood Aluminum Corporation to the ruling in a news release. The statement week after the state of West Virginia ruled the eight month battle. (RAC) rallied at their union hall July 18 after read, in part: RAC had locked them out. Ravenswood strik­ Union officials announced that the video learning that the National Labor Relations "We intend to pursue this matter, even into ers receive financial assistance from the union has been sent to every USWA District office Board (NLRB) upheld the union's charges the court system, because we believe the to pay bills or grocery vouchers, amounting in the country and is also available from against the company. evidence will show RAC has acted in good to $IOO per worker per week. The Interna­ Local 5668. Supporters present at the picnic Seventeen hundred members of United faith and according to the law in this matter." tional Steelworkers' strike fund has a balance signed up to get copies to show at union Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local The statement reaffirmed RAC's commit­ of$I50 million, according to Gary Hubbard, meetings in southern West Virginia. International Communications Director. 5668 have been on strike since Nov. 1, 1990, ment to. the I,IOO scabs now working in the Delegations from other unions have been when management refused to extend the plant. "The dedication and enthusiasm of the The local at RAC has stepped up its cam­ coming to the Tuesday picnics held at "Fort union contract and threw the workers out of permanent replacement workers are very im­ paign to appeal for solidarity and financial Unity," a newly constructed park with a the plant. portant to us," he said, "and the management support from other unions. A new video kitchen, covered shelter and stage built on The NLRB backed the union's complaint of RAC believes we owe them our loyalty premiered at the weekly Tuesday night picnic the grounds of the union hall. that RAC failed to bargain in good faith and in return." Rae placed an ad in a local news­ July 9. declared an impasse in negotiations with the paper the day after the NLRB ruling urging "The Battle of Fort RAC" is a I6-minute Mary Nell Bockman is a member of USWA union when none existed. It also states that the scabs to continue to report for work. film that tells the story of the fight for safety Local 40 in Huntington , West Virginia. the company illegally locked out union mem­ bers; implemented its final contract offer on Nov. 29, 1990; and replaced the Steelworkers with scabs. Concessions imposed on rail workers Ed Verst, director of NLRB District 9, said the complaints against RAC will be heard before an administrative law judge Septem­ BY RAY PARSONS ber 23. Verst said the NLRB will seek to A three-person board set up by Congress reinstate the unionists with back pay. At the in April has upheld earlier concession de­ hearing both the company and the union can mands on rail workers made by the Presiden- . offer evidence and cross-examine witnesses. tial Emergency Board (PEB). A decision against RAC can be appealed to The board's findings took effect July 28. the full labor relations board and then to the The last contract covering rail workers was federal court system. Verst has said a final signed in I985. It expired three years ago and ruling "could take years." rail owners have been pushing for massive USWA District officials urged the crowd concessions ever since. Last year, the PEB at the union hall to continue picketing RAC was set up by Bush to settle the dispute. plant gates here and step up a union-sponsored Earlier this year, the board made nonbinding campaign that promotes a consumer boycott recommendations that included many con­ of products made with RAC aluminum. cession demands that a majority of union Chief union negotiator Joe Chapman said members considered unacceptable. the NLRB ruling "is a significant event, not On April I7, 235,000 members of eight just for Ravenswood. I think it sends a mes­ rail unions struck major U.S. freight carriers. sage that the tactics used by Ravenswood are Nineteen hours into the strike, the top union Militant/Mike Galati not the way the game's going to be played." officials ordered the rail workers to return to In April, 235,000 rail workers went on strike, but union officials ordered members Unionists on the picket line expressed work when Congress declared the strike "il­ back to work after Congress declared strike illegal. Above, March 28 rail workers guarded optimism."It sounds good but I'm legal." rally in Gillette, Wyoming. not going to count my money till I get it in The three-person review board, appointed my hand," one said. Another added, "This is by U.S. President George Bush, rejected the The PEB 's recommendations, presented percent of increased health insurance costs, just what the advisory board of the NLRB unions' proposed modifications to the PEB's January I5, represented a massive attack on and imposing an inferior health care program says. They can't make the company do any­ findings. Rail workers cannot vote on this workers' standard of living and working con­ on new hires. thing." latest round of attacks against them. ditions. The PEB proposed increasing the basic­ Because the company has successfully day miles from 108 to 130. The mileage Even in the short period of the walkout, While the recommendations included an gotten production going again and the union figure is the equivalent of a day's pay for strikers in a number of areas reported impor­ II percent pay raise in lump sum pay in­ officialdom has refused to continue the fre­ conductors, brakemen, and engineers who tant solidarity from working people who rec­ creases spread over the life of the contract, quent rank-and-file mobilizations that oc­ work over the road, outside the rail yard. ognized the attempt to fight the worsening these payments would not become part of the curred early on in the fight, many strikers In addition to approving the PEB 's recom­ believe a favorable NLRB ruling is their only conditions rail workers face. wage base, would not figure into benefits or pensions, and up to one-half would be set mendations, the new board ruled July 18 that hope. Railroad owners demanded changes in crew sizes be negotiated on a local basis and Picketers also reported that federal mar­ work rules that would increase the safety aside to pay for increased health insurance costs to the carriers. that any disputes be settled in arbitration. The shals had recently arrived in Ravenswood. hazards already associated with the rail in­ findings also require track-maintenance They are accompanying scabs leaving the dustry and lead to further job loss, including Other proposals included increasing out­ workers to travel much farther to do their plant at shift change and visited the union reducing the number of workers on each train of-pocket costs of health insurance coverage work. hall to ask that effigies with company offi- crew. for current employees, covering up to 25 A spokesman for Union Pacific Corp.'s rail unit echoed the freight carrier's delight with the results. Saying they had hoped for steeper concessions, he said, "On the balance Textile workers to vote on joining union we think the report is fair and we're pleased that the special board has maintained the BY NAOMI CRAINE in the organizing drive explained in an inter­ union, saying that it would discourage other integrity of the original recommendations." GREENSBORO, North Carolina - view that in some of the mills the company industries from locating in the city. Ray Parsons is a member of United Trans­ Workers at Fieldcrest Cannon Textile mills has reorganized the jobs, making them harder Naomi Craine is a member ofACJWU Local portation Union Loca/1291 and works for in and around Kannapolis, North Carolina, to do. When workers complain they are 385Tat FieldcrestCannon's Decorative Bed­ Norfolk Southern Railroad based out of Bir­ will vote August 20-2I on whether to join treated with no respect or dignity. ding mill in Eden, North Carolina. mingham. the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile The pension fund is another issue. The old Workers Union (ACTWU). The mills em­ Cannon pension fund, which is separate from ploy 9,000 workers. the current pension plan, was invested in a Forty-five hundred Fieldcrest Cannon California insurance company by former Behind debate on Clarence Thomas workers belong toACTWU atthemillsowned Cannon Mills owner David Murdock. by Fieldcrest before it bought Cannon Mills Murdock got several million dollars from Continued from Page 2 Rowan also urged opposition to Thomas' in I986. Workers at Cannon have tried unsuc­ the deal. The insurance company is now vancement of Colored People has not taken nomination: cessfully to unionize several times before. The bankrupt. The bankruptcy court ordered a 30 a position on the nomination. Calling the selection of Thomas a "deft most recent organizing drive, in I985, was percent cut in pension payments to Cannon Benjamin Hooks, executive director of the political move by President Bush," Rowan defeated by a 2-I majority after a hard 15- retirees in April, and Fieldcrest Cannon is NAACP, said, "We're not going to be stam­ predicted that Thomas will be confirmed. month campaign. The company's owners and refusing to make up the difference. ACTWU peded into mass hysteria just because some­ "Choosing a black conservative to replace other local capitalists waged a vicious fight members at Fieldcrest Cannon protested the one says we're waffling. What we're doing Justice Thurgood Marshall has divided black against the workers, including threatening to pension cuts at a stockholders' meeting in is what we've always done. We're not waf­ America," Rowan wrote. "It has won Bush close the mills if the union was voted in. April. fling." and Thomas the support of Republican con­ Despite that loss the organizing drive is There are safety issues, too. One example Many influential Black organizations and servatives who in normal circumstances getting a good response. Union organizers workers point to is a $73,800 fine against the individuals oppose Thomas, but despite the wouldn't give a black man the sweat off their report 4,000 workers signed union cards in company for an elevator accident at Field­ debate not one of them has broken out of the brows. It has given Mr. Bush protection the first four days of the campaign. It took crest Cannon in Kannapolis that injured I3 confines of a discussion about the Supreme against cries that his administration is racist I2 months to get a similar number of cards workers. Court and sought to mobilize working people and anti-poor in its ranting cries of 'quota in I985. The most recent union organizing A union victory would mean a lot for to fight against the attacks on affirmative bill' in opposing the civil rights legislation meeting drew about 500 people. workers in the region, a highly industrial­ action, abortion rights, and other democratic pending in Congress." A few workers from other ACTWU-or­ ized area. Textile mills abound in small rights. Haywood Bums, chairman emeritus of ganized mills in the area have gone to cities and towns. Few are unionized. In a vote of I9-l the Congressional Black the National Conference of Black Lawyers, Kannapolis to help union-building efforts. So Workers in other industries in the area, like Caucus opposed the nomination. The dis­ sharply criticized Thomas in an article on far the union has not organized large numbers tobacco and garment, are watching the senting vote came from the one Republican the opinion page of the July 19 New York of rank-and-file members to go help. organizing drive. A number of those inter­ member of the overwhelmingly Democratic Times. The union is winning support based on a viewed at a Kannapolis supermarket were Party body. Six members did not vote. Citing Thomas' reactionary political posi­ number of issues. Over the past few years hoping the union gets in. Speaking against the nomination, Repre­ tions, Bums said, "These and other issues · wages have been driven down substantially. The company is campaigning against the sentative Edolphus Towns said Thomas "was related to his qualifications - not the role Work loads and the length of the workday union, according to local papers, by showing not the person to carry on the legacy of model and American Dream nonissues - have increased at the same time. workers antiunion videotapes. Kannapolis Thurgood Marshall." should be explored in detail during the Senate A Fieldcrest Cannon worker who is active city officials have also spoken out against the Nationally syndicated columnist Carl hearings."

6 The Militant August 9, 1991 Safety hearings discuss hazards of diesel equipment in underground mines

BY ALYSON KENNEDY soot. Soot was the first chemical compound BIRMINGHAM, Alabama-The Mine encountered in the workplace that was found Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to cause cancer among workers exposed to has begun to take some serious steps toward it. implementing regulations governing the use That was in 1775. The workers involved of diesel equipment in underground coal were English chimney sweeps. mines in the United States. The amount of soot produced by diesel After more than a decaoe of stalling, a engines is 30 to 100 times greater than that series of hearings were held in Salt Lake City, produced by gasoline engines. Added to this Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Birmingham in are other byproducts of combustion such as March at which MSHA officials presented carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocar­ draft regulations for public comment. bons, nitrogen oxide, and sulfur oxides. The hearings, requested by the United In an underground mine, diesel engines Mine Workers of America (UMWA), drew can produce nitrogen dioxide at similar levels hundreds of miners and other unionists. found in polluted city air. Many testified on the extent of the health hazard presented by the use of diesel equip­ One positive aspect of the proposed reg­ ment in the enclosed atmosphere of under­ ulations is the mandatory training of diesel ground mines. "MSHA has finally acted to mechanics to maintain equipment under­ regulate the growing use of diesel equipment ground. Miners being transported from underground mine. Use of diesel equipment increased in underground coal mines and that's a step Several electricians at the hearings in Bir­ forward," said Jim Weeks at the Salt Lake mingham said they received little training tenfold from 1974 to 1989. Diesel exhaust causes respiratory illness, increased chance City hearing. "But we can't ignore the fact before being assigned to work on diesel of heart attack, fatigue. that the agency has failed to address the equipment. Proper maintenance is essential chronic health risks diesel exhaust poses to to keeping exhaust emissions low. coal miners." Weeks is the UMWA's deputy But just as important is the widespread director of occupational health. practice among companies of harassing elec­ At the hearings in Birmingham, miner tricians and other miners who try to insure PATHFINDER after miner related their experiences working that the equipment is operated safely. in mines where diesel equipment is used. One electrician who works for Jim Walter AROUND THE WORLD Charlie Jones from UMWA District 23 in Resources in Alabama described the com­ RICH STUART Kentucky described the headaches and nau­ pany harassment he was put through. sea many miners began to suffer when the "There was a blue fog throughout the company he works for introduced diesel section from the diesel exhaust," he said. equipment. "I worked on a unit with a diesel Pathfinder, located in New York with 15 Pathfinder books by Nelson Mandela, "Lots of times the automatic cutoff switches distributors in Australia, Britain, and Fidel Castro, Leon Trotsky, Malcolm X, ram car," Jones said. "I had headaches and that won't let the equipment operate when took aspirin every day. The company should Canada, publishes the works of work­ and Che Guevara. The exhibit's center­ the water or oil systems are out of order are ing-class and communist leaders who piece is Pathfinder's Che Guevara: Eco­ have studied the effects of the fumes. jumped out to keep the machines running. "What are the long term effects?" he have made central contributions to the nomics and Politics in the Transition to asked. "I know one thing, the immediate "Many miners are reluctant to complain forward march of humanity against ex­ Socialism by Carlos Tablada. effects are it makes you sick." because of the constant threat of layoffs," he ploitation and oppression. Pathfinder Pathfinder was the first U.S. publisher Although diesel equipment has been em­ said. bookstores are listed in the directory on to respond to the library's request for do­ ployed in U.S. underground mines since While welcoming MSHA's belated first page 12. nations. In return, the library sent 14 books from Cuba to Pathfinder as a gesture of 1946, its use was limited until the mid- step toward regulating diesel equipment in "From New York, The Hand of a Friend solidarity and requested six more titles 1970's. the mines, miners pointed to several impor­ - Pathfinder Press" is the title of a feature from the new Pathfinder catalog. During the decade that followed, the cap­ tant weaknesses in the agency's proposal. article in the June 14 issue of the Cuban Ahora! describes the Pathfinder Mural italist owners of mining companies found Foremost among these is the lack of a newspaper Ahora! Published by the Pro­ in Manhattan as "a collective work by themselves under the lash of stiffening com­ maximum level for exposure to diesel par­ petition, the result of a rapid expansion of vincial Committee of the Communist painters from 20 countries, among them ticulate. Party of Holguin Province, Ahora!. tells its Cuba." investment in the industry on the heels of the The only chemical compounds the regu­ readers, "Pathfinder is a U.S. publishing 1973 oil crisis. lations propose to measure and limit are house that prints the works of revolution­ • . Hundreds of weaker mining outfits went carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and ni­ ary working-class leaders. Since 1959 it Pathfinder has just released a new edi­ under. The work force at union-organized trogen oxide. has published texts by leaders of the Cuban tion of the popular book OUT NOW! A mines decreased from 160,000 working min­ These chemical compounds are to be mea­ revolution, and it is considered the princi­ Participant's Account of the Movement in ers to 80,000. Coal production doubled and sured by weekly sampling of air in the returns pal publisher abroad of the speeches of the U.S. Against the Vietnam War, by Fred the use of diesel equipment in the mines - not in the immediate area where diesel Fidel Castro in English." Halstead. With a forward by Socialist increased tenfold-from 150 units in 1974 equipment is operated and where concentra­ Ahora! continues, "Authors such as Workers Party leader Kate Kaku and a to 1,500 units in 120 mines in 1989. tions of the chemicals to which the operators Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X, Marx, striking new cover designed by Eric Simp­ As early as 1975 the director of the Na­ are exposed are much higher. Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, Carlos Fonseca, son, the book is must reading for workers, tional Institute for Occupational Safety and Che Guevara, and Leon Trotsky are among farmers, and young fighters who want to Health (NlOSH), in a letter to MSHA, ex­ Only when concentrations of these com­ pounds in the returns exceed 50 percent of those published by this prestigious pub­ learn about the historic fight millions of pressed serious concerns about the dangers lishing house." people waged against Washington's ag­ posed to miners' health by diesel exhaust the allowable limit will companies be forced Ahora! salutes Pathfinder for its contri­ gression in Vietnam. compounds and their interaction with coal to take samples of the air operators actually breathe. If the personal sample exceeds 75 bution of books to the Benito Juarez Li­ OUT NOW! is on sale at Pathfinder dust. brary of the Oscar Lucero Moya Higher bookstores around the world and is avail­ Ten years later MSHA was only beginning percent of the allowable limit, companies will be required to monitor the exposure level Technical Institute of Holguin. The library able to Pathfinder Readers Club mem­ to study the effects of diesel exhaust in un­ now has an exhibit entitled "From New bers for a 25 percent discount until Sep­ derground mines. The agency did not start each shift. York, the Hand of a Friend," displaying tember 1. drafting regulations covering diesel equip­ But nowhere do the proposed regulations ment until 1988. say what is required ofcompanies if exposure Ron Carver works at the Chetopa Mine in levels are exceeded. In fact, every effort is UMWA District 20 in Alabama. He described made to make the regulations something one of the damaging effects that diesel ex­ mining companies can easily live with. haust can have on the human lung. "It's like One example of this is a paSsage in the laughing gas; it causes the lungs to swell," proposed regulations that states: "The air in The Pathfinder Readers Club he said. "And when scrubbers aren't working the immediate return would be a combination For an annual fee of U.S. $10 (£5), mem­ properly the fumes are unbearable." of several air splits of lesser quantities and bers of the Readers Club receive a 15 PATHFINDER Diesel exhaust is a mixture of some 9,000 therefore would be a diluted concentration percent discount on all Pathfinder pub­ different compounds produced when diesel of possible personal exposures to other areas fuel is burned. Exposure to diesel exhaust is of the mine ventilated by the air. MSHA lications at any of the forty Pathfinder known to cause chronic respiratory illnesses, believes this action level will not be burden­ bookstores around the world. Members increased chances of heart attack, eye irrita­ some upon the operator [mine owner)." also enjoy even higher discounts on tion, and fatigue. In an article on the union's participation special selected titles and receive a free Moreover, some of the compounds are in the hearings, the March-April UMWA Pathfinder catalog. known to be carcinogenic. Workers exposed Journal reported that MSHA has announced To join and to obtain a list of Pathfinder to high levels of these chemicals run the risk it will issue an exposure limit for diesel bookstores, send the annual fee to of developing cancer in 10 to 30 years. particulate later this year. No date, the Jour­ NlOSH estimates that approximatelyl.35 Pathfinder, 410 West Street, New York, nal pointed out, has been set for release of N.Y.10014. million workers are exposed to high levels the final rules. of diesel exhaust in 80,000 work-places. Discount does not apply to Issues of New lntemational, One of the most dangerous of the com­ Alyson Kennedy is a member ofUMWA Local Nueva lntemacional, or Nouvelle lnternatlonale. pounds contained in diesel exhaust is partic­ 2368. She works at Jim Walter #5 Mine in ulate matter - more commonly known as Brookwood, Alabama. August 9, 1991 The Militant 7 ANC discusses the fight in South Africa for a constituent assembly and a republic

BY GREG McCART AN continues and the apparent decisive role of our country and its people the horrors of to free political activity and association." The African National Congress is fighting the SACP within the ANC has been con­ detention without trial, torture, the murder of A resolution on the violence endorsed the for a constituent assembly in South Africa, firmed." He said "critics" would continue to patriots at the hands of their torturers, and course of keeping political fire on the gov­ elected on the basis of one person, one vote. regard the "ANC and SACP as one." successive states of emergency." ernment by demanding it end involvement The convening of the assembly would mark The South African Sunday Times said the In addition to these attacks on the ANC, in numerous attacks in Black townships and a giant step in the struggle for the election of leadership election "underlines the dilemma the ruling National Party is taking steps to stop turning a blind eye to the murderous a new parliament, marking the establishment facing the ANC: Whether it can transform try to appeal to wider layers of the population assaults when they occur. of a democratic republic in South Africa. itself from a national liberation movement for support. It seeks to portray itself as the Last year, opposition among many ANC ANC President Nelson Mandela said in into a streamlined political party complete best hope for impoverished Black workers members had blocked an initiative by remarks at the closing of the organization's with specific policies." and to delay elections for as long as possible. Mandela to meet with Buthelezi. Doing this, 48th Conference, held in Durban July 2-6, "Though times are rapidly altering the A report by the South Africa Institute of some ANC members argued, would only that "we are not yet in a state of transition" perceptions about how disadvantaged the Race Relations says that the National Party serve to play down Inkatha 's role in the to a nonracial South Africa. "There ~till re­ ANC still is," wrote John Patten in an opinion is attempting to form alliances with the In­ violence and give Buthelezi unwarranted po­ mains an enormous difference in the percep­ column in the Natal Mercury, "the organisa­ katha Freedom Party, Labour Party, Solidar­ litical stature. tions of the oppressed about the natme of the tion nevertheless wishes to retain its role as ity, Zion Christian Church, and various .Ban­ Mandela sought to make clear the ANC's necessary changes that have to occur and the a resistance or liberation movement instead tustan officials. goal of drawing Inkatha away from collabo­ character of a future society and that of the of a political party, and to reserve the right Inkatha is headed by the chief minister of ration with the government and de-escalating National Party government." to use methods that do not fit comfortably in the K waZulu Bantustan, Mangosuthu the spiraling violence, especially in Natal. "We have convened," he said in his speech a democracy." The author did not offer any Buthelezi. The report indicates that since the This would help counter government propa­ opening the conference, "as part of our con­ ideas of how to bring about a democracy in Inkatha Freedom Party opened its doors to ganda that the fighting was a feud between tinuing effort to make further inputs into the the ANC and Inkatha and a result of "tribal" unstoppable offensive to end the criminal rivalries. system of apartheid, to transform South Af­ A meeting between Buthelezi and Man­ rica into a nonracial democracy, and to re­ deJa was eventually held at the end of January construct it as a country of justice, prosperity, this year. A joint resolution called for "an end and peace for all our people, both black and to the present violence," said "both parties white, in keeping with the objectives con­ are committed to political tolerance and free­ tained in the Freedom Charter." dom of political activity," and set up "joint The Freedom Charter was adopted in 1955 mechanisms" to resolve further disputes. in Kliptown, near Johannesburg, by the Con- The course of seeking talks with Buthelezi has helped shift the burden of bringing an end to the violence back on the government and exposed Inkatha when its members have NEWS ANALYSIS been involved in ongoing assaults. As to winning over South Africans at­ tracted to Inkatha to the ANC's political gress of the People, a broadly-attended gath­ program, John Jeffery, a leader of the com­ ering of delegates from several democratic mission on violence, told a press conference organizations. As a revolutionary democratic that "some Inkatha members have joined the program the charter has served for decades ANC. But that is not the aim of the ANC." as a guide to action in the battle to bring down "Inkatha has a right to recruit members as the apartheid state structures and forge a do other organizations," he said. South African nation. Several commission members down­ The tactics used by the ANC to advance played the fact that Blacks join Inkatha be­ the strategic aims of the revolutionary strug­ cause of its political perspectives, saying gle are posed in a new way because of the Militant/Ruth Haswell instead that recruitment is a result of intimi­ enormous victories scored in the fight against Conference delegates discussed and debated the immediate tasks before the revolution­ dation. apartheid -a by-product of which are the ary democratic organization and the steps needed to draw millions into the struggle. "There are people who are moving from decisions by the Pretoria regime to lift the the ANC to Inkatha because of a matter of ban on political organizations, release anum­ necessity," Jeffery said. Jobs, education, and ber of political prisoners, scrap central pieces a country where Blacks are still denied citi­ whites, "substantial numbers" have joined. housing are often denied those who do not of apartheid legislation, and publicly pledge zenship rights and a white minority regime The Labour Party is an organization of join Inkatha in areas controlled by the Kwa­ to extend the vote to the entire adult popula­ remains the government. Coloureds that agreed to participate in the Zulu administration. tion. After numerous articles appeared in nearly apartheid regime's illegitimate "tricameral" The conference resolved to begin a "pub­ Documents were put forward by confer­ every newspaper speculating on how many parliament. Real legislative powers are licity campaign both locally and internation­ ence commissions and adopted by the dele­ SACP members were elected to the ANC vested in the white-only chamber of parlia­ ally to expose the true nature of the violence" gates on a range of matters: negotiations with leadership, The Citizen, a conservative daily, ment. The other two chambers - one for and to complete the "task of forming self the de Klerk government, how to respond to said in an editorial that "the public is entitled those designated by the regime as "Col­ defence units in all areas." The ANC called violent attacks in townships, land reform, to know who the Communists in the NEC oureds" and the other for "Asians"- are for community-based self-defense organiza­ health care, international relations, and the are because of the role they are playing not aimed at providing window dressing for this tions last spring. perspectives for the ANC's armed wing, Um­ only in the SACP, but in the ANC itself." racist setup. A resolution on the negotiations with the khonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation). ANC- leaders refused to be drawn into The government is also taking pains to government notes that "the Pretoria regime In addition, the ANC's newly published these traps and responded effectively to each portray itself as the initiator of the reforms has not yet removed all the obstacles to "Bill of Rights for a New South Africa" was charge. that, in reality, it has been forced to make. negotiations" and "has thereby blocked prog­ discussed, a constitution for a South African In press conferences and speeches they The regime contends that the lifting of laws ress towards the creation of a climate condu­ republic circulated, and a new ANC consti­ explained the goal of the organization was denying Blacks access to land and those that cive to negotiations." tution adopted. to draw millions more into the struggle. They imposed segregation of housing, health and The resolution calls negotiations "an ad­ Different points of view on these questions explained that there is no contradiction be­ educational institutions, and public facilities ditional terrain of the struggle." The talks "do were debated at the conference and in articles tween building a revolutionary democratic virtually amounts to complete equality for not win our freedom," the resolution says, and resolutions leading up to the meeting. organization and standing for elections if they Blacks. "but represent the recognition of the victories occur. Combined with continued repression of we win on the ground." Response in big-business media "If the government does not want mass the democratic movement through its pro­ The conference was widely covered in the action it is easy for them to stop mass action, motion of violent attacks on Blacks, the Fighting for political space big-business press. For the entire week the by opening the gates of parliament to all," National Party hopes to hold onto power as Currently talks between the regime and serious deliberations on policy issues, the Mandela told supporters at a July 7 rally of long as possible and minimize the develop­ the ANC focus on matters related to the democratic nature of the discussions, and the 50,000 in Durban to celebrate the ANC con­ ment of the revolutionary struggle in the release of political prisoners, ending the vi­ very fact that such a historic conference was ference. Denied the vote the majority has no country. olence, and the return of political exiles. Until being held in the country were the political other way but mass action to bring its aspi­ As these conflicts sharpen in the months such matters are resolved negotiations and focus of attention in South Africa. rations to bear on the government, he said. ahead, the issues discussed and debated at steps toward election of a constituent assem­ Statements by government officials and As the red-baiting of the ANC leadership the ANC conference will become life-and­ bly will not begin. editorials in the press concentrated on calling escalated, the organization's newly elected death questions for the future of the national, Throughout its history the ANC has de­ on the ANC to stop public protest activities, secretary general, Cyril Ramaphosa, directed democratic revolution. Progress in deepening manded the regime enter into negotiations end its support for sanctions, and become a ANC NEC members not to answer questions the revolutionary struggle will advance pros­ on ending apartheid, extending citizenship "political party." By "political party" their as to their political affiliations. Ramaphosa, pects for the ANC to win hegemony in the and democratic rights to all regardless of race bourgeois voices mean an electoral organi­ who is one of six officers of the ANC, said he democratic movement and forge the kind of or nationality, and the establishment of a zation that organizes to win elections, not a did not belong to the SACP after numerous organization needed to lead the fight for a republic whose franchise is based on one revolutionary democratic organization that is articles in the press identified him as a mem­ constituent assembly and a republic. person, one vote. also preparing to run for public office. ber. Conference discussions and documents In his closing address to the ANC confer­ Following the election of the new ANC Some leaders of the ANC have previously took up the immediate tasks of winning ence, Mandela said that "the government National Executive Committee, a barrage of identified themselves as members of the greater space for working people to engage during the last 40 years has told the country editorials and opinion columns demanded the SACP, an organization in South Africa that in political activity in the country. and the world that the solution to the prob­ ANC identify those leaders who are also is now legal. These include NEC members lems of this country was the policy of apart­ members of the South African Communist Chris Hani, Joe Slovo, Cheryl Carolus, Harry Countering the violence heid, in which blacks would continue to be Party (SACP). Gwala, and others. A resolution on negotiations adopted by hewers of wood and drawers of water. Pretoria's minister of constitutional devel­ the ANC conference explains that "the cam­ "On the contrary we announced a nonra­ opment, Gerrit Viljoen, said one "negative 'McCarthyite witch-hunt' paign of terror carried out against the people cial policy," Mandela explained. "We an­ aspect" of the conference was that "confusion Ramaphosa called the attack on the ANC intended to destabilise society, intimidate the nounced that we were and still are fighting by supporters of the current regime a "Mc­ people, undermine and weaken the ANC, its for a democratic South Africa, molded on the Militant editor Greg McCartan was part of Carthyite witch-hunt." He said that "for 40 allies and the rest of the democratic move­ principle of one person, one vote. The gov­ a three-person Militant reporting team at the years South Africa has borne the brunt of ment is an obstacle to the objective of creat­ ernment has now admitted they were wrong July 2-6 ANC conference in Durban. anti-Communist hysteria which visited upon ing a climate conducive to negotiations and and we were right." 8 The Militant August 9, 1991 The two issues related to the negotiations money to buy out the targeted industries; the most discussed at the ANC conference were possibility of "skilled personnel leaving the (1) the accountability of the leadership to the country"; the fact that "nationalisation is no membership and (2) whether or not unnec­ longer favoured in the world today"; and the essary concessions have been made by the danger that benefits might only go to those ANC to the government in pursuit of a cli­ working in the industry. mate of free political activity. "We cannot have the view that nationalisa­ The resolution on negotiations states that tion will give a new democratic government the "conference directs the NEC, as a matter the means to provide us all with jobs, houses of extreme urgency, to take steps to ensure and education," the article concludes. "We the creation of appropriate and effective need to look more carefully at the economic mechanisms for consultation and communi­ reality and begin to find a more overall cation with the membership" on steps taken economic policy that will begin to solve our in talks with the government. problems." By forcing the government into negotia­ In a speech to Portuguese businessmen tions, Mandela said to the July 7 rally in July 12, Mandela said he did not advocate Durban, "We are gaining what is ours. We Militant/Greg McCartan the nationalization of all small trading con­ do not go to the negotiating table as beggars. Conference hall at the University of Durban-Westville. The historic meeting held the cerns. But the "monopoly of our national "The manner in which we have handled country's political attention for the entire week. economy cannot rest with a few multination­ the negotiations up to now has been subject als," he said. to severe criticism both inside and outside Maharaj announced he had been convinced self-defense organizations throughout the "After the traumatic experience of apart­ this hall," Mandela said to the crowd. "Some to run for the NEC. Differences with the country, which the ANC has called for in heid, where the majority of the people have of these criticisms have been fair." course of the organization could be ironed response to the rising number of vigilante had no access to resources, it would be fool­ Mandela acknowledged the need to estab­ out, he said. attacks on townships, members of the ANC, ish of us not to use state power to rectify this lish ways to report more effectively on the Maharaj said that those who advocated a and others fighting apartheid. injustice," Mandela said. outcome of discussions with the government. "We must defend our people at the same "phasing out" of sanctions based their ap­ Land reform But, he said, "we can't adjourn the meeti'1g proach on the "wrong premises." He also time as we push forward the process of for a referendum" on every issue up for argued that mass action had to be "unleashed leading to the transfer of power to our peo­ A resolution on land reform was distrib­ discussion. "On fundamental issues the lead­ in a far wider and more concentrated way." ple," Mandela said of the need for these uted to delegates, guests, and the press at the ership has to consult" with the membership, This assertion was rebutted by Mandela, defense committees. Numerous resolutions conference. Mandela said. who added a note of caution as to how "mass at the conference noted that making rapid "The alienation of land from the indige­ action" should be organized. progress on establishing these defense units nous peoples and the denial of the African The 'four pillars' Seeing mass action as simply an endless was needed, because little had been done to majority's rights to land and political power The place of what many in the ANC call series of strikes, boycotts, demonstrations, encourage their formation in the past months. in our country" are intimately connected, the the "four pillars" of the anti-apartheid strug­ and other forms of protest can lead to political Hani, however, took a cautious approach resolution begins. "Apartheid has destroyed gle was taken up at the meeting. These are disorientation and resulting demobilization to formation of the units. They must be the productive capacity of black rural pro­ the armed struggle; mass action; the under­ on the part of working people. carefully organized and supervised, he said, ducers. On commercial farms workers are ground organization; and international soli­ "Many people have alleged that we are now or else they will "degenerate into lynching devoid of any legal protection and are highly darity - usually defined as the sanctions en­ giving more attention to negotiations and squads." exploited." acted against the Pretoria regime by govern­ ignoring mass action," Mandela said in his Following the July 2-6 meeting, the ANC The document states that land "is a natural ments around the world. closing address. "We regret to say that this is leadership announced that a policy confer­ resource to be used for the benefit of the During the years of severe government an allegation which is made by people who ence would be held in several months to nation" and calls for "a comprehensive land repression, the ANC was pushed back and have no real idea of what is happening in their discuss questions of economy, land, health, reform." many leaders were exiled from the country. own organization, in their own country. education, and other issues. "Restoring land" to those driven off their Given these conditions, the ANC had to rely "It is common knowledge that at no time While the need to come to a decision on farms by the regime is the central axis of the to a substantial degree on these forms of in our history have we had so many forms these matters was raised by Mandela in his document. It calls for a "comprehensive ag­ advancing the struggle. of mass actions as we have done during the opening address, a full discussion of them by ricultural support structure," with the state Victories scored through the deepening last two years," he said. the delegates did not take place. Coming to playing a "leading role in the acquisition and battle inside the country over the past decade, "Our labor organizations have had to give a majority agreement on these questions, redistribution of land to the poor." as well as decisive military defeats suffered us a warning that we must not just resort to which are central to the revolutionary dem­ One of the most comprehensive docu­ by the regime in the late 1980s in its expan­ mass action every time we get angry," he ocratic program articulated in the Freedom ments distributed at the meeting was the "Bill sionist invasion of Angola, have altered these continued. "The question of mass action must Charter, is essential in meeting the goal of of Rights for a New South Africa." conditions, however. be carefully examined because of the down­ winning broader numbers to the organiza­ The document is based on those aspects Possibilities for ,revolutionary struggle by tum in the economy of the country and the tion. of the Freedom Charter that address dem­ tens of millions on a scale not previously high level of unemployment." ocratic, political, and cultural freedoms possible have been opened up today. The Building mass-based ANC and the right to education, health care, a detour imposed on the ANC of having to rely Umkhonto we Sizwe "It is proper here to be absolutely brutal job, and a fair trial. In addition, it details to the degree it did on sanctions, the armed The commission oh Umkhonto we Sizwe about our weaknesses" in building "a mass­ Continued on Page 12 actions, and underground organization has (MK) debated what role the ANC's armed based ANC to the fullest extent," Mandela ended. wing should play now that its actions have said in his closing address. Reorienting to this new situation is the been suspended. Some expressed reserva­ "Many of us have made the mistake of central challenge before the ·ANC. Turning tions about the ending of the guerrilla effort, thinking that the mere declaration of our to the masses of working people - including although it consisted mostly of small-scale policy in the Freedom Charter .. . meant the white workers, Indians, and Coloureds - hit-and-run sabotage. masses would come rushing to join the ANC. and winning them to the political perspec­ Large numbers of MK members remain This is not our position." tives of the ANC is the only road toward this in camps outside of South Africa. Some He noted that some of the nearly 1,000 goal. commission members noted dissatisfaction ANC chapters had been set up "so as to Some delegates expressed the view that among the ranks of MK in the camps who exclude minority groups," that is, whites, the fight has been weakened because the feel their role has been diminished. After the Coloureds, and Indians. This "indicates that armed struggle, sanctions, and underground commission ended, the conference decided the overwhelming majority of Africans in organization seem to have less of a role to to hold a separate meeting of MK members this country are not taking into account the play today. in coming months to address those concerns minority groups of this country." The conference made a significant adjust­ more fully. Mandela urged the delegates to reach out ment in the ANC's position on sanctions in It was decided to keep MK in a state of to toilers in the rural areas, whites, Indians, a discussion in the international affairs com­ "constant combat readiness" and to ask and Coloureds in door-to-doorcampaigns "to mission. Summing up some of the initial friendly countries to train its members in bring the policies of the ANC alive to the ideas raised in the meeting, Mandela said naval, aircraft, and army officer training in people." proposals by ANC leader Thabo Mbeki were order to become integrated into a post-apart­ Two of the most controversial sections of "an attempt to get the delegates as well as heid South African armed forces. the Freedom Charter being debated inside the organization not to rely on mere rhetoric MK Chief of Staff Chris Hani said that the and outside the ANC are ( 1) nationalizations New International no. 5 focuses but to look at the problem as it is developing." government had to recognize the role of the of banking, industrial monopolies, and min­ on the revolutionary struggle in Noting that Washington, the European ANC's armed wing in a future defense force. eral wealth and (2) a radical land reform. The South Africa, its impact throughout Community, and numerous countries in Af­ He said, in tum, that the current South African charter calls for making land available to rica had lifted a range of sanctions or were Defence Force and South African Police had Blacks who want to farm, backed up by a southern Africa and worldwide, and on the verge of doing so, Mandela said the "quite an important role to play" in the future government program of cheap· credit and the tasks of opponents of apartheid ANC should adopt the perspective of a armed forces. assistance in providing needed implements in the labor movement internationally. phased lifting of the measures. "Unless there Joe Modise, commander of MK, was and other support. The feature article, The Coming is a great deal of flexibility and imagination asked at a news conference if the suspension The debate on nationalizations has un­ Revolution in South Africa by Jack we will be left holding a shell and nothing of the armed struggle was a significant con­ folded in the ANC monthly journal May­ Barnes, discusses the national, else," he said. cession by the ANC, since MK had never ibuye. An unsigned article in the February democratic revolution and the battle seriously challenged the government. 1991 issue raises possible advantages and Differing opinion Modise replied that the armed actions had disadvantages of such measures. to establish a nonracial democratic One ANC leader who differed from the been like "fleas on the body" of the state, but Positive aspects, the article states, could republic. approach on the sanctions and mass action they forced the regime to commit large num­ include ensuring basic services are available adopted by the conference was Mac Maharaj. bers of troops to protect areas of the country. to all, improving working conditions in those . . . includes the A prominent figure in the ANC underground, Hani said he and Modise had not been to industries, ensuring that "the profits from Freedom Charter Maharaj had said prior to the conference that camps outside the country since April 1990. nationalised industries are invested in useful he would not stand for re-election to the ANC The commission also decided that MK ways," and democratizing the economy. Send $9 to New International, 410 West Street, New Yorlc, N. Y. 10014. Add $3 for shipping and National Executive Committee. members now inside South Africa would The possible disadvantages it cites are handling. At a press briefing at the conference assist in setting up the community-based indebtedness from borrowing large sums of August 9, 1991 The Militant 9 ANC leader salutes Cuba, role in Africa

Continued from front page crete gains of the revolution in terms of imperialist-orchestrated campaign to destroy Mrica," Mandela said. Other activities included the inauguration economic development and advances in the impressive gains made by the Cuban "That impressive defeat of the racist army of an impressive housing complex called the health care, education, and the elimination revolution," Mandela said. at Cuito Cuanavale gave Angola the chance Pan-American Village, in which thousands of racism and inequality. But most important, "We too want to control oui- own destiny," to enjoy peace and consolidate its own sov­ of athletes competing in the August 2-18 he stressed, is the example of the Cuban _ he went on. "We are determined that the peo­ ereignty. Pan-American games here will be lodged; revolution for all those everywhere fighting ple of South Mrica will make their future and "The defeat of the racist army allowed the the laying of a wreath at the monument to for freedom and justice. that they will continue to exercise their full fighting people of Namibia to finally achieve Cuba's national hero, Jose Marti; a tour of "There are many things we have learned democratic rights after liberation from apart­ their independence. Old Havana and the Museum of the Revo­ from your experiences," Mandela told the heid. We do not want the popular participation "The decisive defeat of the apartheid ag­ lution; a well-attended press conference; and crowd. "In particular we are moved by your to cease at the moment when apartheid goes. gressors destroyed the myth of the invinci­ time for discussions between the ANC del­ affirmation of the historical connection to the We want to have the moment of liberation bility of the white oppressor. continent and people of Africa. Your consis­ open the way to ever deeper democracy." egation and their hosts. "The defeat of the apartheid army was an tent commitment to the systematic eradica­ A planned visit to the Isle of Youth, where Returning to this same theme later in the inspiration to the fighting people of South tion of racism is unparalleled. But the most thousands of African young people are study­ speech Mandela explained that the goal of Mrica," the ANC president said. important lesson that you have for us is that the ANC remains the achievement of the ing and working on full scholarships pro­ "Without the defeat inflicted at Cuito no matter what the odds, no matter under what demands of the Freedom Charter adopted in vided by the Cuban government, had to be Cuanavale our organizations would not have cancelled. difficulties, you have to struggle, there can be 1955, and that the people of South Mrica no surrender. It is a case of freedom or death." been unbanned," he explained, adding that Mandela's powerful speech to the thou­ will settle for nothing less. Referring to the extremely difficult condi­ "the defeat of the racist army at Cuito sands of Matanzas residents and guests who "No process of negotiations can succeed tions Cuba faces today as the effects of the Cuanavale made it possible for me to be filled the plaza was broadcast live on radio until the apartheid regime realizes that there 32-year U.S. trade embargo are compounded present with you here today. and television and heard by millions of Cu­ will not be peace unless there is freedom and by the near total collapse of trade with Eastern "Cuito Cuanavale constitutes a landmark bans. It was also published in full in the next that we are not going to negotiate away our Europe and to a lesser degree with the Soviet in the history of the struggle for the indepen­ day's Granma, the newspaper of the Cuban just de111ands," Mandela explained. "They Union, Mandela noted that "your country is dence of southern Africa," the ANC leader Communist Party. Due to a paper shortage, must understand that we will reject any con­ experiencing many difficulties now, but we said, and "was a turning point in the struggle Granma is the only national daily now being stitutional scheme that aims at continued have confidence that the resilient people of white privileges. for the liberation of the continent and of our published in Cuba. · country from the lash of apartheid." Cuba will overcome these as they have helped "There is reason to believe that we have other countries overcome theirs." Cuba's example: no surrender not yet succeeded in bringing this home to With the poor of the earth "We admire the sacrifices of the Cuban the government," the ANC leader noted, In his tribute to the Cuban people at the people in maintaining their independence "and we warn them that if they do not listen Mandela expressed concern over the Bush Matanzas rally, Mandela pointed to the con- and sovereignty in the face of the vicious, we have to use our power to convince them. administration's decision to lift many eco­ That power is the power of the people. Ul­ nomic sanctions imposed against South Af­ timately we know that the masses will not rica by the U.S. government. Mandela noted Outpouring of support greets only demand but win full rights in a nonra­ that this was the context in which the ANC cial, nonsexist, dem~ratic South Mrica. deeply appreciated the friendship of Cuba. "But we are not only seeking a particular He recalled the ANC's first experience Mandela on Jamaica tour stop goal," he went on. "We also propose a par­ with the internationalism of the Cuban rev­ ticular route for realizing it, and that is a route olution. In the 1960s, when the ANC was BY OSBORNE HART that involves the people all the way through. forced by the indiscriminate massacres of the KINGSTON, Jamaica-An outpouring We do not want a process where a deal is apartheid regime to take up arms to defend of support greeted African National Congress struck over the heads of the people and their the struggle, ANC representatives went to (ANC) President Nelson Mandela and his role is merely to applaud. many governments in search of aid. Only in wife Winnie as they began a day long visit "The government resists this with all force Cuba, Mandela recalled, were they received here July 24. because the question of how the constitution not by low-level government functionaries The Mandelas arrived via Cubana Airlines is made, how the negotiations take place, is but by the highest officials. They were im­ as part of their Caribbean and Latin American vitally connected to whether or not a demo­ mediately offered everything they needed tour. Scheduled stops include Cuba, Mexico, cratic result ensues," he said. and wanted. "That was our first experience Brazil, and Argentina. with Cuban internationalism," he said. Airport workers applauded and shouted Africa's debt to Cuba Today, Mandela remarked, "you are with "Mandela! Mandela!" as the South African In addition to explaining the current stage us because both our organizations, the Com­ leader made his way through the crowd shak­ of the struggle in South Africa and the stance munist Party of Cuba and the ANC, are ing hands and raising his fist in response. of the ANC toward the negotiations with the fighting for oppressed masses to ensure that As the motorcade proceeded from the air­ apartheid government, Mandela concen­ those who make the wealth enjoy its fruits. port to the capital city, workers from the Shell trated a significant part of his remarks on Your great apostle, Jose Marti, said, 'With Oil refinery and the huge cement plant along what he called "the great debt we owe the the poor people of the earth I want to share the route greeted Mandela waving placards people of Cuba." my fate.'" reading "Down with apartheid." Mandela recalled that he was in prison in "We in the ANC will always stand with the Crowds numbering in the tens of thou­ 1975 when he first learned of the massive poor and rightless. Not only do we stand with sands lined streets of the downtown area aid to the people of Angola from the inter­ them, we will ensure sooner rather than later waving the ANC and Jamaican flags nationalist forces of Cuba. "We in Mrica are that they rule the land of their birth and - in chanting a colloquial phrase, "Man de ya!" accustomed to being the victims of other the words of the Freedom Charter - the peo­ [The man is here ] which rhymes with countries that want to tear apart our territory ple shall govern," Mandela said. "And when Mandela. As the motorcade passed, youths or subvert our independence," he noted. that moment arrives it will have been made ran alongside and behind the Mandelas' "In the history of Africa there is no other possible not only by our own efforts but car, some wearing "Welcome Mandela to case of a people that allied themselves with through the solidarity, support, and encour­ Jamaica" T-shirts. us in our defense," he said. agement of the great Cuban people." In honor of the ANC president's visit, the Those who fought and died in Angola, Mandela closed his remarks by referring Jamaican government declared a half-day Mandela noted, were only a small percentage to the Order of Jose Marti that had been holiday. Jamaiean Broadcast1ng Company Militant/Osborne Hart of those who volunteered. "For the Cuban awarded him minutes earlier. television and RJR radio broadcasted the Crowd at stadium where Mandela spoke people internationalism is not simply a word, "I am very much humbled by this award," ceremonies and events for the Mandelas. In but something we have seen put to the test he said, "because I do not think I deserve it. the days prior to the visit the Daily Gleaner, to parliament. Jamaica has had sanctions for the good of large sections of humanity." It is an award that should be given to those the major newspaper on the island, featured against South Africa since the late 1950s. The ANC leader then turned to what he who have already won the freedom of their the ANC Freedom Charter and a series of The highlight of Mandela's stay was a called the "truly historic significance" of the peoples." articles covering the recent ANC conference. mass rally at the National Stadium. More battle at Cui to Cuanavale in Angola. In early The award has been given, he noted, in To a standing ovation, Mandela told the than 45,000 people from all over Kingston 1988 the combined forces of Cuba, Angola, recognition of the fact "that the people of Jamaican people and the world that sanctions jammed the stadium to overflow capacity. A and the Namibian independence fighters of South Africa stand on their feet and are against the apartheid regime must continue. majority of the crowd waited more than SWAPO decisively defeated a massive inva­ fighting for their freedom. We sincerely hope "We cannot as yet take it for granted that seven hours to hear the ANC leader speak. sion of Angola by the South Mrican army. that in the days that lie ahead we will prove apartheid will go down without a fight," the They were entertained in a concert of more "The crushing defeat of the racist army at worthy of the confidence which is expressed ANC leader said. "Nor can we assume that than 60 reggae artists and bands prior to Cuito Cuanavale was a victory for all of in this award." the destruction of apartheid, when it does Mandela's arrival. occur, will lead without hindrance to the birth Earlier in the day, a ceremony honoring of a truly democratic South Africa. Mandela was held at the University of the "It would, therefore, be dangerously pre­ West Indies (UWI). Thousands cheered him 8uuif Plf Cu.Jaf~oM Patiflrrl~ mature for the international community to from the rooftops and on the mall of the lift, as some have regrettably done, existing campus as he walked to the auditorium where Che Guevara: Economics and PoHtics in the pressures, including sanctions. Change in he received an honorary Doctorate of Laws Transition to Socialism South Africa will only become truly profound degree. Mandela's speech to those gathered By Carlos Tablada and irreversible when all our people, regard­ at UWI stressed the role of education in a Examines Guevara's contributions to building socialism. Guevara explains less of race, color, creed, or sex shall have post-apartheid South Africa and that the pro­ won the right to vote," Mandela stated. why the "dull instruments" of capitalist methods can only lead away from new cess of dismantling apartheid is not over. social relations based on growing political consciousness and control by As one Jamaican told us, of Mande'Ia's Despite the moves that the government of working people. 286 pp., $16.95 uncompromising stance against apartheid, "I F. W. de Klerk has been forced to take as a really like Mandela. He pushes out strong result of the pressure of the South African In Defense of SociaHsm words." masses and international solidarity, this is a By Fidel Castro Prime Minister Michael Manley presented "regime that still seeks to preserve white In these speeches from 1988-89, Castro argues that the future belongs to a resolution to the Parliament, approved domination and privilege," Mandela said. socialism, not capitalism. Castro also discusses Cuba's role in helping to unanimously, reiterating Jamaica's ban on Concluding his talk, Mandela said the defend the peoples of Angola and Namibia against the apartheid regime. 142 trade with South Africa and urging others to masses of South Africa were inspired by the pp., $12.95 continue their sanctions. solidarity afforded them from Jamaicans. He "We will not lift it [the ban] until it is clear invoked the words of the famous reggae Available from Pathfmder bookstores listed on page 12. Or by mail from Pathfinder. 410 that the fundamental principle of one man or singer Bob Marley as an example of that West St., New York. N.Y. 10014. Please add $3.00 shipping and handling for first title. one woman, one vote, is irrevocably in solidarity: "Get up, stand up. Stand up for $.50 each additional title. place," Manley stated after Mandela 's speech your rights." 10 The Militant August 9, 1991 Castro hails struggle against apartheid

Continued from front page American Summit, which took place in Gua­ Castro also took advantage of the occasion dalajara, Mexico, July 17-19. Castro was one to explain the increasing instability of the of 23 heads of state or government from 19 U.S. economy, the deepening rivalries be­ Latin American countries, plus Spain and Por­ tween Washington and its imperialist com­ tugal, who attended (see Militant, August 2). petitors in Europe and Japan, and the reasons The Guadalajara meeting occurred in the why capitalism cannot solve the accelerating context of the "tremendous wave of neo­ social crisis in Latin America. liberalism sweeping Latin America and the Other guests introduced at the beginning whole world," Castro .remarked. of the celebration and warmly embraced by The government leaders attending the Castro and Mandela were Rashid Karwawa, summit spoke about injustice, the poverty of a leader of Tanzania's ruling party; Luis millions in Latin America, and of inequality, lnacio Lula de Silva, president of the Workers Fidel noted. Party of Brazil; Guennadi Kisiliov, member "I asked, where does injustice and inequal­ of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet of ity come from? Where does poverty and the USSR; and Brahim Gail, a leader of the inequality come from? Where do all of these Polisario Front from the Sahara. Daniel Or­ calamities come from, if not from capital- tega, newly elected secretary general of the ism?" Sandinista National Liberation Front of Nic­ In Guadalajara, Castro said, people talked aragua, was also introduced as a special "as if the creator of heaven and earth is guest. responsible for the fact that there are poor Calling South African apartheid "hateful people, as if the social system does not have and repugnant," Castro said "there cannot be anything to do with this. Cuban volunteers in Angola made decisive contribution to defeat of invasion by South a more just cause than the one led by the "It's incredible," he exclaimed. African army. Fidel Castro described apartheid as "a creation that expresses the ANC and Comrade Mandela." The world "is divided between immensely essence of capitalism." Referring both to the U.S. government and rich capitalist countries and the immense the capitalist governments of Western Eu­ majority of extremely poor countries," Cas- mony. It has lostthese positions." tution, the systematic theft of the public trea­ rope, Castro noted that "the West supported tro said. · The Cuban communist leader said that the sury, lowly politicians, the shameless exploi­ apartheid. It made available technology. It The Cuban president pointed to the 250 United States was more powerful than ever tation of workers, landless peasants . . . racial contributed billions of dollars in investments million people in Latin America who live in militarily and "politically it has enormous discrimination. and untold amounts of arms. And it gave it poverty, to the high rate of infant mortality, influence. But economically it is weaker than political support. and other indications of the crisis. "We already know about capitalism," Cas­ ever. It has serious problems." tro stated to loud applause. "And we are not "Imperialism never broke with apartheid," While Latin America is divided, Castro Castro recalled that during an interview a going back." Castro said. "It maintained and still maintains said, the imperialist powers in Europe, Japan, U.S. reporter told him the Soviet Union was excellent relations with apartheid." and the United States are becoming more Castro referred to the "special period" ruined by the arms race. Who created apartheid? Castro asked the protectionist. Cuba is going through, due to the sharp drop "I told him that ' the Soviet Union may be crowd. "Communists, socialists, socialism? in trade with Eastern Europe and the Soviet In Guadalajara, Castro raised the need for first, but that you [the United States] were No. It is a creation that expresses the essence Union- previously Cuba's main trading Latin American economic integration and a also ruined. Don't sing victory,' I told him." of capitalism. It is a creation of colonialism partners- since the beginning of 1990. Dur­ united stance to defend the interests of the It remains to be seen, Castro said, "how and neocolonialism." ing the first six months of 1991, oil was people of the region in the face of what he the world will evolve with this phenomenon Castro noted that while Cuba, which had virtually the only product arriving from the called the three economic blocks. of competition between the great economic systematically worked to eradicate the legacy There would be no need for Cuba to aban­ USSR, and in far smaller quantities than blocs." Cuba needs. of racial discrimination, was blockaded by don its socialist course to be part of an With the events in Eastern Europe and the Washington to "punish it for its revolution Some factories have been closed, newspa­ integrated Latin America, Castro said. Soviet Union some people are saying that and its social justice," the boycott against The Cuban leader told the Matanzas rally per circulation is reduced, virtually all food Cuba must change, Fidel said. "What they is rationed except for fresh fruits and vege­ South Africa was ignored by the imperialists, about the thousands of demonstrators who want is not change, but to put the gears in who only implemented "some lukewarm assembled outside the summit meeting. They tables, and working hours have been cut back reverse." due to shortages in every area. economic measures." warmly welcomed Castro to Mexico and "Capitalism is in vogue because of the To begin to meet the challenge, volunteer booed U.S.-imposed Panamanian President political disasters in Eastern Europe," Castro Cuba risked everything brigades and contingents have been organ­ Guillermo Endara. said. ized for work in the countryside to increase Imperialist support to the racist regime in Anyone with any "class instinct," Castro "This is not the best place to analyze the Cuba's agricultural production. Tens of thou­ South Africa stands in stark contrast to said, knows that Cuba is with the poor, the reasons" for the events there, the Cuban sands of bicycles have been distributed to Cuba's record of bold opposition. oppressed, and the exploited of the world. leader stated. "We have our opinions about provide transportation in the absence of suf­ In 1975 when Angola was invaded by the all of these questions and we have had our Putting out fire with gasoline ficient gasoline supplies. South African army, Cuba responded to own ideas for some time. Angola's request for aid with troops. Capitalism, Castro noted, whether it is "But it was Che [Guevara] who had very "What are they going to threaten us with?" Castro noted how Cuba did everything called market economy, neoliberalism, clear ideas on this, clearer than the waters of Castro asked, referring to those who want possible to help Angola, including weaken­ privatization, or any other "strange name," Varadero. Che was a prophet. He foresaw Cuba to "change." ing the island's own military defense by will not solve Latin America's problems. what some practices in the construction of "With starvation, with blockades, with sending troops and weapons. "The revolution "The Soviet Union needs tens of billions socialism would lead to." wars? risked its own existence," he said. of dollars. Where is this money?" he asked. Putting the present difficulties into historic "We will work things out one way or "It played all its cards." "Today the whole world is asking for money. perspective, Castro explained that private another," Castro said to the Matanzas partic­ "Our combatants made it possible to main­ The countries of Eastern Europe need money property has existed for thousands of years. ipants, who listened attentively to every word tain the integrity of the sister republic of .. . The Middle East needs money in enor­ "For thousands of years," he remarked, "not throughout his speech. '.'But we will not Angola and achieve peace," Castro stated. mous quantities. And Latin America owes only things, but men were objects of prop­ return to the slave barracks." "They contributed to the existence of an $430 billion" in its foreign debt. The impe­ erty." "Let's not emphasize that we are imperfect independent Namibia. rialist countries are not swimming in gold, Without disparaging the contributions of and have deficiencies," Castro told the "We knew that those events would pro­ he said. ancient Greece to art and culture, for exam­ crowd. "We know that and we will not forget foundly affect the life of southern Africa," "To think that the neoliberal recipes are ple, Castro said it cannot be forgotten that it it. Let's emphasize the effort that our people Castro continued. "One of the motives, one going to promote the miracle of development was a slave society. are making, their virtues and capacity for of the great incentives that drove us forward, in our countries is an incredible illusion," he "Four guys met in a courtyard and they sacrifice." was that we knew that by solving the problem stated. "It's like wanting to put out a fire with called this democracy," he said. "The rest of there in Angola, the forces that fought against gasoline." the citizens had no rights and the great ma­ 'Socialism is in diapers' apartheid would also benefit from our strug- The world has changed over the past sev­ jority were slaves." "Capitalism is thousands of years old," gle." · eral decades, Castro stressed. Slavery had its impact in latin America as Castro said. But socialism is still "in diapers Above all else, the key element in the Today, he said "the main worry of the well, Castro pointed out. Africans were tom . .. still in those first six or seven days of a anti-apartheid fight, Castro said, has been the United States in· the face of the new interna­ from their homes and brought "to this hemi­ child's life that are the most dangerous. heroism and spirit of sacrifice and struggle tional situation is its competition with Europe sphere to be enslaved and exploited to their of the South African people, led by the ANC. and Japan." "We are in the intensive care postnatal last drop of sweat and blood." unit," Castro added. "It is logical that . . . The presence of Mandela in Cuba, Castro "But of these three blocs the United States Even after the elimination of slavery, racial socialism would pass through dangers and added, was proof that "the blood of our is the worst off," Castro stated. discrimination continued in Cuba. Like difficulties." internationalist fighters was not shed in "Nobody believes that the United States South Africa, Castro said, Blacks "on one vain." is lying in a bed of roses from the economic side, and whites on the other." But no matter how difficult things become, The U.S. government has tried to pressure point of view. "the more we know about imperialism and the ANC to break its ties with the Cuban "In Europe, Germany- a defeated power Cuban revolution makes great strides its miseries, the more socialist, the more communist we feel," he said. leadership. At the same time, many people in World War 11- is the most powerful. With the 1959 victory of the Cuban revo­ who used to consider themselves revolution­ Japan, another loser, is powerful." lution, giant strides were made in eliminating "We are fighting for a better world," Castro aries, Castro stated, now regret ever having racial discrimination and other economic and declared. "A world like the one Marx and pretended to be socialists, communists, or No longer center of capitalism social inequalities. Engels wanted, where men are brothers, not "friends of communists." Castro detailed the economic crisis facing The agrarian reform granted land to small wolves." "I don't know if you are sufficiently con­ the U.S. rulers. After World War II, the rate peasants. Unemployment was eliminated and "We are internationalists. We are not nar­ scious," Fidel told the crowd, "of the sym­ of profit in the United States was as high as women domestic workers free from what row nationalists or chauvinists," Castro said. bolism and above all the valor" ofMandela's 24 percent, he said. Now it is down to 8 Castro called both "open and semihidden "The blood of Angolans is our blood. The visit to Cuba and speech in Matanzas. percent. He pointed to the low rate of savings, forms of prostitution." The factories and blood of Namibians is our blood ... The More than once Castro was interrupted by the huge public and private debt, the trade wealth of the nation were placed in the hands blood of humanity is our blood." shouts from the crowd of "Fidel, Mandela, deficit, and the declining competitiveness of of the people. "Internationalism today means to defend Cuba will be respected." industries such as auto and chemicals. "How far we slaves have come," Castro and preserve the Cuban revolution. It is our "The United States was the center of said, referring both to Cuba's revolution and greatest revolutionary duty," he concluded, A tremendous wave of neoliberalism capitalism," Castro said. "The richest of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. "to defend this front line, this bastion of Castro also took the opportunity of the all countries, the most competitive. After "Don't come and speak to us about the socialism. That is the greatest service we can Matanzas rally to talk about the First lbero- the second World War it had total hege- times past when there were beggars, prosti- ever do for humanity." August 9, 1991 The Militant 11 Socialist -MILITANT LABOR FORUMS------The Militant Labor Forum is a weekly MARYLAND AUSTRALIA free-speech meeting for workers, farmers, Baltimore youth, and others. All those seeking to ad­ Sydney The 1945-46 Revolution in Yugoslavia and Korea: The Fight for Unification. Speakers: youth set vance the fight against injustice and exploita­ the Class Conflict There Today. Speaker: Jim representative, Korean Youth League; represen­ tion should attend and participate in these Sarsgard, Socialist Workers Party, member discussions on issues of importance to work­ tative Communist League. Fri., Aug. 2, 7 p.m. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 19 Terry St., Surry Hills. Donation: $2. Tel: ing people. 27. Sat., Aug. 3, 7:30p.m. 2913 Greenmount At the Militant Labor Forum you can ex­ 02-281 3297. convention Ave. Donation: $3. Tel: (301) 235-0013. press your opinion, listen to the views of fel­ low fighters, and exchange ideas on how to BRITAIN best advance the interests of workers and NEBRASKA Manchester plans. farmers the world over. Omaha Celebrate publication of New International The Fight for Democratic Rights for Gls. no. 8 "Che Guevara, Cuba and the Road to Speakers: Andrew Pulley, Socialist Workers Socialism." Speaker: Helen Warnock, Commu­ ALABAMA Party, former active duty anti-Vietnam War GI; Continued from front page Birmingham nist League. Fri., Aug. 2, 7:30 p.m. Unit 4, 60 road," a talk based on her recent reporting Dan Cobos, former GI opposed to U.S . war Shudehill. Donation: £1. Tel: 061-839 1766. Railroad Workers' Contract: Which Way For­ against Nicaragua. Sat., Aug. 3, 7 p.m. 140 S trip to Cuba. Saturday afternoon will feature ward? Speaker: Ray Parsons, Socialist Workers 40th St. Donation: $3. Tel: (402) 553-0245. "Youth, the Working Class, and Capitalism: Party, member United Transportation Union Local CANADA Sharpening Class Polarization in U.S. Poli­ 1291; others. Sun., Aug. 4, 5:30p.m. Ill 21 st St. NEW JERSEY Montreal tics," by Jack Barnes, for the National Com­ S. Donation: $3. Tel: (205) 323-3079. Newark The 1945-46 Revolution in Yugoslavia and mittee of the Socialist Workers Party. Free Mark Curtis! Excerpts from video, The the Class Conflict There Today. Sat., Aug. 3, Frame-Up of Mark Curtis. Speaker: Pat Hunt, What the Cuban Revolution Has Achieved 7:30 p.m. 6566 boul. Saint-Laurent. Donation: The convention will also include two re­ and Its Significance for Working People ports from the YSA leadership. One will Socialist Workers Party, activist in Birmingham $4. Tel: (514) 273-2503. Supporters of the Mark Curtis Defense Commit­ Today. Speaker: Doug Jenness, Socialist Work­ welcome participants to the historic conven­ ers Party. Translation to Spanish. Sat., Aug. 3. Toronto tee. Sun., Aug. 18, 5:30p.m. Ill 21st St. S. Quebec Sovereignty and the Crisis of Cana­ tion, and the second will address the chal­ Donation: $3. Tel: (205) 323-3079. Dinner, 6:30p.m.; program, 7:30p.m.; Young lenges and political opportunities the YSA Socialist fund-raising party to follow. 141 Hal­ dian Capitalism. Speaker: Colin McKay, faces in the coming months. The report will sey St., 2nd floor. Donation: Dinner, $5, pro­ Young Socialists. Sat., Aug. 3, 7:30 p.m. 410 IOWA gram $3. Tel: (201) 643-3341. Adelaide St. W, Suite 400. Donation: $3 . Tel: discuss putting at the center of the YSA's Des Moines (416) 861-1399. work defending the Cuban revolution, build­ Class Conflict in Yugoslavia Today: Lessons Vancouver ing support for framed-up packinghouse NORTH CAROLINA of the 1945-46 Revolution. Speaker: represen­ Greensboro Matewan. Film on opening battle of historic worker Mark Curtis, and the importance of tative Socialist Workers Party. Sat., Aug. 3, struggles by coal miners in Appalachian region the distribution of revolutionary literature Issues Facing Farmers in the United States 7:30p.m. 2105 Forest Ave. Donation: $3 . Tel: and Europe. Speakers: Harry Hart, dairy of United States. Fri., Aug. 9, 7:30p.m. 1053 such as the Militant and Pathfinder books. (515) 246-8249. farmer from Bolton, North Carolina, who will Kingsway, Suite 102. Donation: $3. Tel: (604) In addition to these talks, the convention report back and show slides from visit with 872-8343. will feature a range of classes. Participants ANC discusses fight farmers in Europe; Robert Dees, Socialist will be able to choose from subjects such as Workers Party, textile worker. Sun., Aug. 4, 7 "The Revolutionary Internationalist Legacy in South Africa for p.m. 2219 E Market. Donation: $3. Tel: (919) San Francisco of Malcolm X," given by Mac Warren; "How 272-5996. Marx and Engels Became Communists," constituent assembly garment company given by Hector Marroquin; and "500 Years TEXAS of Colonialism: Puerto Rico's Fight for In­ Continued from Page 9 Houston closes down dependence," given by Doug Jenness. Other the rights of workers, women, disabled The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Pact: What Stand Should Working People Take? classes include "Marxism and the Fight for persons, and children. Continued from Page 16 Women's Emancipation," "Stalinism, the Speaker: Steve Warren, Socialist Workers Party they will ask Smith to specifically investigate 1945-46 Revolution in Yugoslavia, and the Need for organization candidate for Houston city controller. Sat., Aug. whether the Kongs defrauded workers by 3, 7:30 p.m. 4806 Almeda. Donation: $3 . Tel: Class Conflict There Today," and "Cops, Cop Taking steps to reverse organizational coaxing them to loan their own money - (713) 522-8054. from $3,000 to as much as $50,000- to the Violence and Class Polarization." weaknesses was the subject of a report to the Aftermath of the Gulf War: Video Nowhere The convention will also provide a history conference by outgoing secretary general to Hide. Sat., Aug. 10, 7:30p.m. 4806 Almeda. Kongs. In some cases, this was the workers' of the YSA with a film and slide show. The Alfred Nzo. Donation: $3. Tel: (713) 522-8054. life savings. film, a chronicle of the 1971 YSA conven­ In reaching out to explain the ANC per­ Defending Abortion Rights Panel Discussion. "They said they would pay employees 20 tion, provides a sense of the leading role the spectives, "we appear very happy to remain Speakers to be announced. Sat., Aug. 17, 7:30 percent interest if they loaned them money," organization has played in U.S. politics over pigeonholed within the confines of populist p.m. 4806 Almeda. Donation: $3. Tel: (713) said ILGWU representative Jeff Bauman. the last 30 years. rhetoric and cliches," Nzo said, according to 522-8054. The couple's companies also had a worker Do Working People Need an Independent The film shows the YSA's part in the fight the Sunday Star. It would be "blatantly naive health plan that was partly financed by de­ Labor Party? Speaker: Willie Mae Reid, So­ ductions from employees paychecks. Earlier against the Vietnam War- especially rele­ of us to become complacent and act as if under cialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of vant now as YSAers come out of building no circumstances whatsoever can the ANC Houston, member Oil, Chemical and Atomic in July, according to Bauman, the workers opposition to the war against the Iraqi people. be threatened or even be removed from the Workers Union Local4-367. Sat., Aug. 24,7:30 found out they had been dropped from the The movie features interviews with young leadership pedestal it now occupies." p.m. 4806 Almeda. Donation: $3 . Tel: (713) plan because the Kongs had not been paying Gis who explain their antiwar position and One additional step to take, Treasurer Gen­ 522-8054. the premiums. shows YSA activists as part of the fight for eral Thomas Nkobi said, was for the ANC to "This case of highway robbery puts a women's rights, such as the right to legal become self-financing. In 1990, 5 percent of WEST VIRGINIA badly needed public spotlight on the sweat­ abortion. the organization's funds came from the mem­ Charleston shop conditions common in the garment in­ YSA members and chapters around the bership. Although significant contributions Resisting the Worldwide Capitalist Offensive dustry," said Sandra Lee, Socialist Workers country continue to work to attract new par­ came from abroad, Nkobi said, monies raised ... Building the Revolutionary Party. Speak­ ers: Linda Joyce, Socialist Workers Party; Party candidate for district attorney in the ticipants to the convention. The New York during Mandela's tour to the United States city elections. Lee is a railroad worker and chapter has been using a petition drive to win David Anshen, Young Socialist Alliance; Clay last year have yet to reach the ANC. Nkobi Dennison, Socialist Workers Party, member active member of the United Transportation ballot status for socialist candidates in the said that some ANC property abroad will be United Mine Workers of America Local 1499. Union. "The Kongs should be prosecuted, city council race there to discuss politics and sold and the funds returned to the ANC in Sun., Aug. 4, 4 p.m. 1586 E. Washington St. jailed, and forced to repay every penny to distribute leaflets for the convention. Over South Africa. The central goal, he said, inust Donation: $3. Tel: (304) 345-3040. these workers," she added. 20 young people have signed up for more be to base the ANC's finances on the workers, information on the YSA there. farmers, and others inside the country who • Margaret Jayko is a laid-off garment worker The Los Angeles YSA chapter expects a support the organization. and member of ILGWU Loca/101. number of contacts to attend the convention, and has reserved a block of discount plane tickets to Cleveland to make sure everyone -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP can attend. In addition, the chapter has been promoting the convention through a class Where to find Pathfinder books and distrib­ MINNESOTA: Austin: 407 II.! N. Main. Zip: 221 Pleasant St. Zip: 26505. Tel: (304) 296-0055. series on Cuba over the last few weeks and utors of the Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, 55912. Tel: (507) 433-3461. Twin Cities: 508 New International, Nouvelle lnternationale, N. Snelling Ave., St. Paul. Zip: 55104. Tel: (612) AUSTRALIA is holding a fund-raising dinner in conjunc­ Sydney: 19 Terry St., Surry Hills, Sydney and L'internationaliste. 644-6325. tion with a forum on police brutality. NSW 2010. Tel: 02-281-3297. A YSA team, consisting of members from MISSOURI: St. Louis: 1622 S. Broadway. UNITED STATES Zip: 63104. Tel: (314) 421-3808. ALABAMA: Birmingham: Ill 21 st St. BRITAIN New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, London: 47 The Cut. Postal code: SE1 8LL. South. Zip: 35233. Tel: (205) 323-3079, 328- NEBRASKA: Omaha: 140 S. 40th St. Zip: D.C., is already in Cleveland to prepare for Tel: 71-401 2293. 3314. 68131. Tel: (402) 553-0245. the upcoming convention. NEW JERSEY: Newark: 141 Halsey. Zip: Manchester: Unit 4, 60 Shudehill. Postal For more information on registration and ARIZONA: Phoenix: 1809 W. Indian code: M44AA. Tel: 061-839 1766. School Rd. Zip: 85015. Tel: (602) 279-5850. 07102. Tel: (201) 643-3341. transportation to the YSA convention, or to NEW YORK: Albany: P.O. Box 6185. Zip: Sheffield: 2A Waverley House, I 0 Joiner St., CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 2546 W. Pico Sheffield S3 8GW. Tel: 0742-729469. join the convention building team in Ohio, Blvd. Zip: 90006. Tel: (213) 380-9460. San 12206. New York: 191 7th Ave. Zip: 10011. contact the YSA national office at (212) Francisco: 3284 23rd St. Zip: 941 10. Tel: (415) Tel: (212) 727-8421. CANADA 727-8422. 282-6255. NORTH CAROLINA: Greensboro: 2219 Montreal: 6566, boul. St-Laurent. Postal CONNECTICUT: New Haven: Mailing ad­ E Market. Zip 27401. Tel: (919) 272-5996. code: H2S 3C6. Tel: (514) 273-2503. dress: P.O. Box 16751, Baybrook Station, West OHIO: Cleveland: 1863 W. 25th St. Zip: Toronto: 410 ·Adelaide St. W., Suite 400. Haven. Zip: 06516. 44113. Tel: (216) 861-6150. Columbus: P.O. Postal code: M5V 1S8. Tel: (416) 861-1399. By Malcolm X FLORIDA: Miami: 137 NE 54th St. Zip: Box 02097. Zip: 43202. Vancouver: 1053 Kingsway, Suite 102. 33137. Tel: (305) 756-1020. Tallahassee: P.O. PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 1906 Postal code: V5V 3C7. Tel: (604) 872-8343. Malcolm X Talks to Box 20715. Zip: 32316. Tel: (904) 877-9338. South St. Zip: 19146. Tel: (215)546-8218. Pitts­ ICELAND Young People $9.95 GEORGIA: Atlanta: 172 Trinity Ave. Zip: burgh:4905 Penn Ave. Zip 15224. Tel: (412) Reykjavik: Klapparstfg 26. Mailing address: 30303. Tel: (404) 577-4065. 362-6767. P. Box 233, 121 Reykjavik. Tel: (91) 17513. By Any Means ILLINOIS: Chicago: 545 W. Roosevelt Rd. TEXAS: Houston: 4806 Almeda. Zip: Necessary $13.95 Zip: 60607. Tel: (312) 829~6815, 829-7018. 77004. Tel: (713) 522-8054. NEW ZEALAND lOWA: Des Moines: 2105 Forest Ave. Zip: UTAH: Price: 253 E. Main St. Mailing ad­ Auckland: 157a Symonds St. Postal Ad­ Malcolm X Speaks 50311. Tel: (515) 246-8249. dress: P.O. Box 758. Zip: 84501. Tel: (801) dress: P.O. Box 3025. Tel: (9) 793-075. (cl()th) $16.95 KENTUCKY: Louisville: P.O. Box 4103. 637-6294. Salt Lake City: 147 E 900 South. Christchurch: 593a Colombo St. (upstairs). 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12 The Militant August 9, 1991 -THE GREAT SOCIETY------The government as role model at $10,000 a pop. It doesn't test the occupant. It was the wrong ad­ Check with your bookie-We Anyway, it's honest-A dis­ -In 1989, women held 43 per­ products, just checks the test results dress. The Associated Press de­ don't know if they have ties with claimer on a plastic cutting board: cent of federal jobs and 3 percent submitted by manufacturers. A scribed it as "the latest in a series the airline ipdustry, but two scien­ "Manufacturer has made no affir­ of top-level positions. They were foundation official concedes the re­ of police errors." tists calculate that, during the next mation of fact and has made no promise .. . which has created or sults could be faked, but assures, "I 50 years, your chance of being amounted to an express or implied don't think anyone would do that." As sensible as capitalism - In killed by an asteroid smashing into Utah, a hunter bid $21,630 for the warranty ... and disclaims any Not to worry- In Puerto Rico, the earth is 1 in 6,000. Meanwhile, warranty of ... fitness of this sheet one-time right to bag a desert big­ they assert, the odds on your dying a government study showed that 9.4 hom sheep. Another paid $5,555 for any particular purpose whatso­ Harry percent of the island's coastline is to hunt a Shiras Moose, and a third in an airplane crash during that ever. unfit for swimming because of in­ forked over $5,000 to stalk a time is a relaxing 1 in 20,000. Ring dustrial waste dumping and other bison. According to one explana­ Thought for the week-"Where pollution, but the public is not being tion we read, the money goes to Talk about cultural imperial­ warned of the danger. An official would Christianity be if Jesus got 8 85 percent of the clerical work help preserve endangered species. ism.,....-A Southwest food company explained, "The study shows trends, to 15 years, with time off for good force and averaged $25,015 a year, is offering oat bran tortillas-at 50 not imminent dangers." behavior?"-New York State Sen. compared to $34,430 for men. Probably so- "One could percent more than the regular price.· more easily open a nuclear waste The indicated amount of oat bran James Donovan speaking in support As long as the check clears­ Nobody's perfect- In a Kan­ dump in Los Angeles" - A lawyer per tortilla suggests that if you eat a ofcapital punishment, as reported by The Skin Cancer Foundation has sas City drug raid, cops smashed griping about the reported difficulty gross a day it might help lower your Pittsburgh chapter, American Athe­ endorsed 112 sunscreen products - up a home and worked over the in getting a porn shop license. cholesterol. ist Assn. Gates' resignation: victory for working people

Continued from front page want to work with one?" already notorious for sanctioning such vio­ A coalition of civil liberties and civil rights lence and inciting it with his inflammatory groups announced a class-action suit against racist declarations. the LAPD to curb the use of police dogs. The He once said that Latinos in the police animals maul hundreds of people - most of department were not promoted because they them Black and Latino- each year. are "lazy." And, in a public demonstration coupled He told a Senate committee that casual with guerrilla theater, Justice for Janitors drug users should be "taken out and shot." Defending police use of the chokehold, he stated that Blacks were more likely to die of Success of 'Gates must go' such strangulation than "normal .people." In the wake of the King beating, he con­ forces puts working people tinued his racist declarations. in a stronger position. Messages sent back and forth on patrol car computers were made public, graphically depicting the racism, sexism and sadistic announced a multimillion-dollar suit against thirst for violence among the cops. Gates said the LAPD. the messages merely reflected the cops' A year ago, police in riot gear attacked a "black humor." Century City march of janitors, members of From the outset, meetings, marches, ral­ the Service Employees International Union, lies, and pickets demanded that Gates get out. who were fighting for a union contract. More On April 6, protesters, 5,000 strong, than 40 workers suffered injuries at the hands marched through downtown Los Angeles to of the cops, ranging from fractured skulls to police headquarters. a miscarriage. - The action was supported by a range of The janitors had been negotiating with the civil rights and civil liberties groups, unions, Militant/Nelson Blackstock city for a damage settlement, but in the wake Demonstators demanding Police Chief Daryl Gates' re ~ignation and an end to cop churches, and public figures. of the King events decided they could better brutality marching through downtown Los Angeles April 6. A pre-march press conference was hosted defend their interests by going to court. by the Los Angeles County Federation of The mainly Latino Justice for Janitors Labor, with executive secretary William participated regularly in the recent protest a minority of "bad guys" in the force were ful information, information which contra­ Robertson presiding. demonstrations. responsible for such violence and that of­ dicts its thesis that the problem is a relative On the eve of Mother's Day, a silent pro­ The growing antipolice ferment and the ficials of the LAPD had failed to control handful of rogue cops. cession of 300 led by women in black, inability of the politicians at City Hall to them. The evidence serves as a reminder that marched to police headquarters. At a rally, contain it led to a direct intervention by the The commission recommended a series of while Gates' days as chief are numbered, several dozen people held aloft large plac­ big-business interests that control the city. structural reforms which will, they assert, 8,450 cops remain in place. Their continuing ards, each bearing the names of a dozen An article in the June 2 Los Angeles Times resolve the problem. function remains to intimidate, brutalize, and people killed or brutalized by police. described a sentiment among business lead­ And, with the support of the members oppress working people. Meanwhile, Gates worked to rally right­ ers that a "corporate elite" take the situation selected by Gates, the commission proposed But the success registered by the Gates­ wing support behind him, beginning with his in hand. that the chief step aside. must-go forces puts working people in a substantial base in the police force. March The article quoted William Riordan, a The commission 's report does include use- stronger position to curb cop violence. 24, he addressed a support rally of 3,000 at multimillionaire lawyer and investor with the Police Academy. Other support meetings strong political influence. were held, and a legal defense fund was "The perception is of almost total lack of established. leadership coming out of City Hall right -25 AND 50 YEARS AGO--- But throughout, the strong, active opposi­ now," Riordan said. "The question is whether tion to police violence has kept the right­ the private sector could get itself organized WAR PARTY" and "JAMES P. CANNON wingers on the defensive. and play a pivotal role." THE FOR MAYOR OF THE CITY OF NEW A bitter fight developed in City Hall, with OnJuly 16,RiordanmetwithMayorBrad­ YORK." Bradley and his civilian police commission ley and two pro-Gates members of the city MILITANT At the top of the nominating petition is a arrayed against Gates and his supporters in council. Published in the Interests of the W orking People picture of a world in chains. The workers the city council. Emerging from the meeting, Riordan said, August 8, 1966 understand chains. They put their signatures But finally it was the Gates' supporters in ''I'm confident that in a few days things are to the fresh paper. They write haltingly, but the council who negotiated the deal for him going to be cleared up." with great concentration and determination. In recent weeks, the Johnson administra­ An old man, a Pole, approaches. He is to step down. Six days later, Gates offered to retire. tion has been escalating the war at an un­ The outcry provoked by the King videotape Big-business intervention in the crisis was curious about the paper his friends are sign­ precedented pace. On July 30, the U.S. fur­ ing. Yes, he voted in the last election. Can­ brought continuing media focus on the case not limited to arm-twisting by Riordan. ther violated the 1954 Geneva accords by and on the general issue of police brutality. The Christopher Commission was created non? He never heard of Cannon, but if he's bombing the demilitarized zone between against the war and the people that make Previous instances of flagrant police bru­ through the merger of a citizen panel named north and south Vietnam. tality were recalled, ongoing fights around by Bradley and another selected by Gates. wars - then he's a good man. Casualty figures of American troops "I have three brothers in the army," a particular cases and issues were given re­ The aim, Bradley declared, must be to "re­ reached a new high in the week ending July newed vigor, and additional brutality victims store the public's confidence in the cop on young Negro says, looking at the petition. 23: 136 soldiers were killed and 578 were "They're good enough to march and fight, gained confidence to fight as well. the street." wounded. The Defense Department stated A former air force captain who is Black Headed by Warren Christopher, a former but when it comes time to eat they're not on July 28 that 4,440 Americans had now good enough to eat with white soldiers. And came forward to recount how in 1990 he had deputy attorney general and deputy secretary been killed in the war since 1961, and noted been hog-tied and beaten by cops who at­ of state, the commission included corporate during rest time they can't even talk .to a that this was more than had been killed in white soldier. Can't be any war for democ­ tacked him without explanation. He an­ executives, prominent attorneys, and educa­ the American Revolution. nounced plans for a damage suit. tors. racy if there isn 't any democracy in the first It was disclosed that a federal grand jury At public hearings of the commission in place. I'll sign your paper." is now preparing to indict two cops who beat the Black and Latino communities, hundreds TH£ Mll'JTANT Now they sign rapidly, one after another. and kicked two Latino youth, fracturing one's of people crowded in to vent their anger at Almost a hundred signatures in an hour's skull. The assault occurred nearly five years the cops. time. ago. . Witness after witness, the commission August 9, 1941 In a shopping center we get signatures by Gay rights activists supported the Gates­ later reported, charged that violence and standing on the sidewalk and shouting our must-go movement and were able to focus abuse by the cops was endemic, and that the It was a blistering hot day in New York slogans. · new attention on widespread police victim­ LAPD's "complaint" system offered little last week when members of the Socialist It is late and slowly the comrades trudge ization of gays and lesbians. redress. Workers Party marched out of the headquar­ back to the headquarters. It has been hard The pressure was substantial enough for The commission found that "excessive" ters with long unsigned nominating petitions work but it has been important work. Impor­ the LAPD to sanction a recruiting booth force was indeed practiced by the cops and in their hands. The petitions were new and tant and exciting and, above all, successful. at the annual Gay Pride festival. (Pre­ linked it to racism, sexism and homopho­ stiff and across the top of them, in bold type, Tomorrow they will go out again - and the viously Gates had said of gays, "Who'd bia. The commission argued though, that were the words, "TROTSKYIST ANTI- next day and the next.

August 9, 1991 The Militant 13 -EDITORIALS Why fight against disclosure law Sanctions: one year later is a rights issue Washington opened its war against Iraq a year ago by The U.S. rulers remain intent on removing Hussein from imposing economic sanctions after Iraqi President Saddam power and replacing him with a more stable and pliant Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. regime capable of doing imperialism's bidding in the region. BY DOUG JENNESS Since then, working people in Iraq have been subjected Despite its military victory in Iraq Washington failed to Iowa state officials have ordered the Socialist Workers to massive bombing, an invasion that became a massacre, achieve its central goal. Hussein still rules Iraq and there is Party to disclose the names of its financial contributors and and, when they rose up against Hussein, backhanded support no sign this will soon change. recipients in the current Des Moines mayoral race. This challenges a series of conquests the SWP and other parties by Washington for the regime's bloody repression. The New York Times July 24editorial- which cynically have won over the last two decades exempting them from Tens of millions of toilers from Iraq, the Middle East, said it may be "tormenting" to accept human suffering as disclosure requirements. The U.S. Supreme Court, federal Mrica, and Asia became refugees as the U.S. government a "diplomatic lever" and forcefully insisted on maintaining district courts, state courts, and the Federal Election Com­ squeezed Iraq, and prepared and carried out the carnage. sanctions - reveals the absolute contempt and disregard of mission have all recognized that exemptions should be Today, even the prowar television news shows some of the U.S. rulers for the working people of Iraq. the results - wrenching photos of emaciated, starving in­ granted where threats or harassment are the likely result of This "let 'em bleed" attitude is no different from the fants and children in Iraqi hospitals -just a few of the revealing names, addresses, and occupations. regard the ruling U.S. billionaire families have for working victims of Washington and its allies' embargo. The Iowa Campaign Finance Disclosure Commission is people here, shown in their draconian cutbacks in social The terrible devastation wrought in Iraq by international probing to test the extent to which socialists and others are services, union busting, rampant cop violence, and attacks economic sanctions is now almost universally acknowl­ able and willing to defend what we've conquered. Court on democratic rights. edged because of a stream of reports by journalists and rulings, in and of themselves, don't give or take away rights observers exposing conditions there. The reports have spot­ Working people in the United States and around the world or protections. Favorable rulings only have value if we fight lighted imperialism's utter brutality and callousness when have no interest in imperialism's designs of conquest and to use them as a tool in exercising our right to organize and in pursuit of its goals. domination in the Middle East. Despite disclaimers by Washington and assertions that We need to extend a hand of solidarity to the sisters and sanctions are aimed at Iraq's rulers, working people in Iraq brothers in Iraq by demanding Washington lift the sanctions are the main victims of the economic stranglehold. and end its blockade now. LEARNING ABOUT SOCIALISM carry on political activity. Gates' resignation a victory The SWP's battle to establish that it doesn't have to disclose the names of its contributors was not easy; it was long and difficult and had to overcome significant obstacles. The announcement by Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl to tell their stories of vandalism, beatings, and murders to Gates that he plans to resign is a big victory for working demand justice. The disclosure requirements were first introduced as part people. Working people, not just those in Los Angeles but na­ of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971. Before that, This blow will give further confidence to v ictirns of police tionwide, began to look at the cops in a new light. Many political parties, including the SWP, were not compelled to brutality and frame-ups to fight. It proves gains can be won saw that their brush with the cops could not be chalked up reveal the names of contributors to their election campaigns. if a struggle is waged. to a personal experience with a "bad apple," but was a result In response to the 1971 Act, the SWP refused to tum over By centering their fire on the demand 'Gates must go,' of the endemic character of the police. any names and in 1974 filed a lawsuit challenging the organizing protests in the streets, and raising the issue in The Christopher Commission report, while attempting to disclosure provision. union and community meetings, fighters against police limit the damage done to the image of the LAPD, nonethe­ The 1971 Act was presented by its supporters as a reform brutality were able to build enough pressure to force the less reveals a police department that is anti-working-class, of the election process. Some even referred to it as a ruling class to bring Gates to heel. racist, sexist, and violently abusive to the core- from the "sunshine" law because it would force into the open for Forcing Gates to resign was no easy task. The cops' police chief to the officers on the street. public scrutiny the financial wheeling and dealing of can­ commander had considerable political influence and is the It shows clearly that, far from being condemned by top didates and the sources of their funds. head of an over 8,000-person police force which he did not officials, the brutal behavior on the part of the cops was The problem, however, was that the provisions of this hesitate to use in his own behalf. When demonstrations were condoned and rewarded. As the struggle continued, the city's new "reform" were to be applied across the board. Many organized to demand his resignation, his supporters, based rulers decided Gates was simply a bigger liability than he liberals and progressives who had campaigned for the law among the cops, organized counterdemonstrations in his was an effective enforcer for the ruling rich. saw no distinction in the way the law should be enforced defense. When the Los Angeles Police Commission voted The character of the LAPD shows the kind of instrument between Democratic and Republican candidates financed to suspend Gates for·60 days, almost the entire city council that the ruling class needs to carry out its polices. The city by big corporations and candidates of political parties, voted to overturn the suspension. of Los Angeles, which pays out millions to victims of police including the SWP, that oppose the capitalist government Before the uproar over the videotaped beating, Gates was brutality, has not checked incidents of police brutality in and have been subjected to harassment. touted by the ruling class as one of the country's top cops. the slightest. This fact alone shows that the rulers are intent The most prominent force campaigning for application He was praised by President George Bush. Tbe well­ on continuing to use police force to brutalize and victimize of the law to ·the SWP was Common Cause, a self-styled equipped, ultra-modem Los Angeles police force -com­ working people. "citizen's lobby." It insisted that the rights of contributors plete with helicopters, a tank-like battering ram, and sophis­ As the ruling class pushes more to grind down the to SWP campaigns must be subordinated to reforming the ticated computers - was cited as an example to be followed standards of living of workers and farmers they need to not election laws. When the American Civil Liberties Union, by police departments around the country. only punish those who stand up and fight back, go on strike, on behalf of .the SWP, filed suit against the disclosure But the pro-cop and pro-Gates offensive could not extin­ or march in a demonstration but will also act to intimidate provisions, Common Cause waged an energetic campaign guish the widespread outrage that working people felt as the whole class through random sadistic acts of violence. to defend these measures. This outfit filed a request that it they watched the videotape of the beating. This is what the cops in Los Angeles and throughout the become a codefendant with the federal government against The continuing protests helped to vividly expose the capitalist world do-day in and day out. the SWP in the lawsuit. wider brutality of the cops and showed it to be routine, not The victory in Los Angeles points the way forward for In a letter to the Minnesota State Ethics Commission, out of the ordinary. In actions demanding Gates' ouster, working people as we fight against the brutality of Kenneth Guido, Jr., associate general counsel for Common victim after victim of arbitrary cop violence stepped forward capitalism's gun thugs. cause, asserted that an exemption for the SWP would create "a dangerous loophole that would destroy the compelling interest underlying the statute," which is to "cleanse.the political process of the potentially corrupting influence of money." The rail contract The SWP waged a public drive to mobilize support for its lawsuit and to counter the scandalous campaign of Rail owners are celebrating a government-appointed re­ contract, facing mountains of red tape due to decades of Common Cause. The socialists won broad support from view board's endorsement of their request that a massive retreat by the labor officialdom who combined cultivating many fighters for democratic rights and received the en­ concession contract be imposed on the nation's rail unions. "good labor-management relations" with backing ofthe two dorsement of a wide range of civil libertarians, labor leaders, The results will mean a lower standard of living, worsened parties of the bosses. and other prominent figures. working conditions, and increased safety risks for railroad Mter all deadlines had passed and every condition had An open letter was sentto John Gardner, national chairman workers. This severe antiunion attack should be widely been met, rail workers went on strike. But within hours the of Common Cause, from former U.S. senator Eugene Mc­ condemned by unionists and all working people. officialdom ordered them back to work under the pretext Carthy, Congressmen Ronald Dellums and John Conyers, In their search for profits the billionaire owners of the of Congress ruling the strike "illegal." Noam Chomsky, Philip Berrigan, the Alameda County, Cal­ major freight lines, like all employers, are driven to attack The union officials' treachery was based on their total ifornia, Central Labor Council, and others. They stated that workers' living standards, weaken the unions, and deepen refusal to organize any kind of struggle against their the SWP campaign committees "have no connection what­ divisions inside the working class. These attacks increase "friends" in Congress or the rail bosses. soever to the corrupting influence of the giant corporations as the economic crisis of capitalism deepens and the em­ who finance the campaigns of the Democrats and Republi­ Millions of working people in the United States have lived ployers and their government try to make working people cans. Shielding contributors to the SWP from harassment through concessions and union-busting. A stand against pay for the crisis of their system. and surveillance by the FBI, local police, or employers would Congress' decision would have won wide backing through­ What the ruling rich have in mind for working people is in no way 'set a precedent' for keeping secret the contribu­ out the country. The potential power of the labor movement, more imperialist wars abroad, pauperization for layers of tions of the executives of ITT or the dairy lobby." today demobilized and hamstrung by the labor officialdom,. the working class, more union-busting, and broader assaults could have been brought to bear. The fight against the disclosure laws went hand in hand on democratic rights. with the campaign waged by the SWP and the Young Socialist The rail owners had made it clear for some time what Instead, rail workers were told to take down their pickets, Alliance in support of a lawsuit against FBI harassment and they wanted from the rail unions. But the trade union return to work, and put their faith in the government review surveillance. The legal action, launched in 1973, forced the officialdom utterly failed to mobilize unionists to fight the board. attorney general's office to release a great many boxes of files concession demands. It serves as one of the best examples The road forward for rail workers and others is to rely documenting decades of electronic eavesdropping, mail tam­ of the bankrupt course of class collaboration practiced by on union power. The ranks of labor must be organized and pering, massive use of informants, illegal entries, job discrim­ the uniori tops. mobilized to effectively oppose the employers' concession ination, and other violations of the SWP's right to privacy. This There was a real determination to fight among rail work­ demands and government drive against the rights and living evidence substantially reinforced the SWP's case that financial ers. They held rallies and demonstrated their unwillingness standard of working people. contributors could be victimized. to give in to the demands of the employers. Their struggle This experience also clearly demonstrates that banking The government agreed to a court -ordered consent decree would have been understood and supported by millions of on the bosses' two parties will only result in continuing in January 1979 that required an exemption for SWP can­ working people. fiascos for the labor movement. Rather, working people didates from the disclosure provisions of the federal election The 235,000 U.S. rail workers involved also command need to chart a course away from the twin parties of law. This set the pattern for similar rulings in relation to real collective power in a decisive industry. Their short -lived capitalism. Increased solidarity and unity among working disclosure laws in many states. 19-hour strike was quickly felt throughout the economy. people along the road to independent working-class political In 1986 the federal district court ruled in the SWP's favor Rail unionists worked for three years under an expired action is the way forward. in the suit against the FBI.

14 The Militant August 9, 1991 'Rolling stoppage' wins gains at Australia plant

This column is dedicated to re­ impact of the stoppages on the union members at Tarnie's in many the union-run pension plan and mercial Workers (UFCW) and are porting the resistance by working company started to show. years. The union officials set up the replace it with a company-spon­ employed by 47 meat-packing people to the employers' assault This action was part of a nation­ meeting when they received a letter sored plan. The union pension companies and food distributors. on their living standards, working wide campaign organized by the from Tamie 's management claiming plan was established 70 years ago The employers bargain together as conditions, and unions. Metal Trades Federation of Unions that it would be forced to shut down and all union bakeries in the area the Chicago Midwest Meat Associ­ Working people around the (MTFU) to win a settlement in the unless it received a six to nine month g_articipate in it. ation (CMMA). Union officials say world are involved in skirmishes wage round. Workers at more than deferment on the contract's wage Holsum is the only company that this is one of the last citywide agree­ over speedup, forced overtime, 150 plants have been involved in increase. has 'tried to break out of the pact. ments left in the meat-packing in­ layoffs, or attacks on health and some form of industrial action since Tarnie 's is one of the largest shops The company proposes that the dustry. safety benefits. Some unionists the campaign was endorsed at a in Local 23-25, and according to details for its plan be determined The contract, which takes ef­ faced with steep takeback de­ mass meeting May 8, including a union officials it is the only one so after the contract is signed. fect October 31 , provides mands, lockouts, and union-bust­ national one-day strike by MTFU far that has asked to get out of the The union leaflet distributed at changes in wages, pension, and ing moves by the employers have workers June 13. agreement. the markets said, "Holsum has health coverage. The $500 annual gone on strike to force the bosses One of the first plants to win The meeting opened with the forced their employees to take to bonus provided in the present to back down. the demand for a $12 increase was union officials asking if Tarnie 's the streets to protect their future." contract was eliminated in favor We invite you to contribute Email, another domestic appli­ · workers had been getting the raise. On July 3 the BCTU organized of a 60-cent-per-hour wage in­ short items to this column as a way ance plant, where more than 1,300 To no one's surprise it came out that 150 area unionists to picket the plant crease to be implemented over for other fighting workers around workers went out on strike for two some workers were, while others at the day shift change. Teamsters, three years. There are improve­ the world to read about and learn weeks. weren't. It was the first open discus­ clerks, and office workers partici­ ments in pensions, hospitaliza­ sion about this situation, which had pated in the rally. tion coverage and weekly income led to divisions within the work­ Frances Moreno, a 14-year vet­ benefits; a decrease in medical ON THE PICKET LINE force. eran of the plant and a participant in deductible; and the addition of a A few workers took the floor con­ the leafletting effort, said, "Sisters dependent life insurance plan. from these important struggles. Notices of their victory were cerned about Tamie's threat to shut and brothers have been doing a real The contract does not touch the Jot down a few lines to let other posted up around Hoover, which down. They pointed to the dozens good job. The public has been sup­ existing three-tier wage system, of uniQn shops that have closed in Militant readers know about what made the workers there more deter­ portive. We're letting the public provided in previous contracts, is happening at your workplace or mined to fight. A cominon comment the area over the last few years. It's know what the real meaning of the which established different wage in your union. If there is an inter­ was, "If they can get it, why can't estimated that there are 90,000 un­ strike is. It's not about money." structures based on the start date esting political discussion going on we?'' organized garment workerS in New Another issue of concern for of an employee. This means York. In recent years the use ofchild at work, we would like to hear When the settlement with Hoover strikers is the establishment of a lower pay and benefits for new about that, too. was reached, some workers thought labor and homework has been on the three-tier wage structure that would . hires, who will never attain the they should have gone for more be­ rise. result in new hires starting at a lower wage scale of older workers. Nor After six weeks of strike action, cause the company was just starting But the overwhelming senti­ wage than those already working for does the contract address con­ workers at Hoover, a domestic ap­ to hurt. But overall, the union at ment in the meeting was to de­ the company. Moreno explained that tracting nonunion companies to pliance assembly plant in Sydney, Hoover came out strengthened mand enforcement of the contract. this company proposal gives new replace union workers. This hap­ Australia, won a weekly wage in­ through the experience that workers Applause broke out when one hires "no possibility ofcatching up.'' pened at Vienna Beef, one of the crease of $12 (Australian) July 10. can fight and win. As one worker worker declared, "If we give back A two-tier wage structure was first largest CMMA shops, where the The majority of the 600 workers summed it up: "You never get any­ the wage now, he'll just be back established in the last contract three entire sanitation department was at Hoover are members of the Metal thing out of Hoover unless you fight next year and the next. We have years ago. replaced by a nonunion contrac­ and Engineering Workers Union for it! '' to say no now." · Picket lines are maintained at the tor. (MEWU) but there are five other plant 24 hours a day. About 100 Many older workers favored unions in the plant covered by the • • scabs have been hired and 6 union the contract because of the in­ award. Members of the International About 75 members and support­ members have crossed the line. creases in the pension and health The MEWU initiated the fight at Ladies' Garment Workers' Union ers of striking bakery workers Joe Taylor, a member of the coverage. Some newer workers a plant meeting May 30. The meet­ employed at Tamie 's, a garment fanned out to supermarkets across union's Hardship Committee, said, wereindignant at the minimal pay ing launched a campaign of rolling shop in Brooklyn, turned out for a Phoenix July 6 to publicize and "People want to fight and as long as increase and others felt that some­ stoppages, with different depart­ special shop meeting July 16 at the gather support for-their strike against people see people fighting they are thing could have been done to ments stopping work for four hours ILGWU headquarters. Holsum Bakery. They are asking the with you." protect union work from outside at different times. There had been mounting evi­ public not to buy Holsum products. The union is planning further contracting. At the end of the fourth week dence in the previous weeks that One hundred and eighty mem­ strike support activities. th~ strike was strengthened when the boss didn't want to pay the bers of Local 232 of the Bakery, Linda Harris, an assembly worker other unions backed the struggle. annual 4 percent wage increase Confectionery, and Tobacco • at Hoover and member of the Workers began walking off the won at the end of May in contract Workers Union (BCTU) have A contract covering 2,200 Chi­ MEWU; Vivian Sahner, an ILGWU lines for I 0 minutes each hour. talks between ILGWU Local 23- been on strike against Holsum cago meat-packing workers was ap­ member who works at Tamie's; This had the effect of stopping 25 and the blouse, skirt, and Bakery since June 18. proved by a 4- 1 majority in July. Karen Ray; and Max Monclair, a production for 30 minutes of sportswear manufacturers. The main issue is the The workers are members of Local member of the UFCW LocallOOA, every hour. By the sixth week the It was the first shop meeting of company's demand to eliminate IOOAofthe United Food and Com- contributed to this 'week's column.

---LETTERS------r-IM-~------~ ~N£$\IWIAW 'No more Maravillas' weapons and surrendered before Students mistreated NII..TIONN-1$1 they were beaten and killed ~ These Three policemen in San Juan, revelations came in televised Senate I am a university student and I \ Puerto Rico, have been charged with hearings that were conducted in thought you might be interested to covering up the murder of Manuel 1983. read how students are treated in New Maldonado Irizarry. The charges in­ The Cerro Maravilla case has Zealand by the capitalist govern­ clude second degree murder, per­ opened up a political space for the ment. What do you suppose happens jury, weapons violation and cover­ victims of police brutality to gain a if we students dare to protest at the up. hearing before the public. Today Jack of future career prospects be­ Maldonado, 16, and a companion people in Puerto Rico are much cause of the vicious unemployment were in the process of burglarizing more willing to believe charges of which has been inflicted on the work a store when they were surprised by murder against the police than be­ force by the capitalists' savage eco­ the police. Maldonado was fatally fore. In only months, instead of nomic policies? shot in the back by partrolman Jose years, the killers of Maldonado are I am sure you will be astounded Colon Burgos. to learn that we get run over by facing charges in court. Capt. Reinaldo Castillo Rodri­ government ministers in their pub­ Ron Richards guez arrived on the scene and lic-funded limousines. This is ex­ San Juan, Puerto Rico "found" a pistol on the body of the actly what happened here recently. victim. The police report stated that A student who dared to lie down in the youth was killed after he pointed Inkatha front of a cabinet minister's limou­ the gun at Colon. Billy Modise, the chief represen­ sine, as his protest against unem­ At a probable cause hearing ear­ tative of the African National Con­ ployment, was callously run over, purchased a copy of the Militant, of the revolution, to rebuild the lier this month, forensic pathologist gress in Sweden, spoke about the even though eyewitnesses stated the country after the war. Lyvia Alvarez testified that the current political situation in South vehicle was stationary before the was very upset by the support to Belgrade from the Swedish govern­ Dag Tirsen youth was shot in the back. Africa at a Militant Labor Forum in student took his action and the driver Stockholm, Sweden The police were unable to ap­ Stockholm recently. was aware of what the student was ment. He believed Stockholm wants proach the body before store owner He charged the South African doing. to make money through arms Sales to Belgrade. Miguel Cruz Esquilin arrived and government and Inkatha with re­ To add insult to injury, after the The Militant special prisoner He made a comparison between unlocked the building. Cruz testified sponsibility for the violence there. student was taken to hospital by fund makes it possible to send that when he entered the store he did The police are the main instru­ the repression and corruption of the reduced-rate subscriptions to ambulance he was arrested by the Yugoslavian government today and not see a weapon on the body. ment behind the violence, he said; cops and charged with disorderly prisoners who can't pay for the period of the 1945- 46 Yugo­ "No more little Maravillas," pros­ they escort Inkatha members to behaviour. No action was taken them. To help this important slav revolution. He described soli­ ecutor Teddy Rodriguez Perez told funerals, weddings, and the hos­ against the driver or the cabinet min­ cause, send your contribution to darity of all nationalities during the the daily El Nuevo Dia. tels of ANC supporters where In­ ister. Militant Prisoner Subscription The reference was to the Cerro katha men with spears and other struggle against the Nazis that led Fund, 410 West St., New York, Peter Addison up to the revolution, and the re­ Maravilla case, the best known case weapons massacre unarmed peo­ Auckland, New Zealand N.Y.l0014. of police brutality in Puerto Rico. In ple. The reporters then write construction period after World 1978 the police murdered two sup­ "Black on Black violence." War II. The letters column is an open porters of independence for this col­ Between 3,000 and 4,000 people Yugoslavia then and now He said the Belgrade military ma­ forum for all viewpoints on sub­ ony of the United States. The police who are mainly Zulus have died in I attended a recent demonstration chine today acts out of self-interest, jects of general interest to our claimed that they were killed in a Natal, as a result of Inkatha attacks of Yugoslavians, from Slovenia and to preserve its privileges. This dif­ readers. Please keep your letters shootout. After a massive investiga­ with the help of the police. Croatia, in Stockholm. They were fered from the situation when he was brief. Where necessary they will tion which still continues to this day, Dechor Hien protesting attacks by the Yugoslav a child, he said. He recalled taking be abridged. Please indicate if you it was shown that the two indepen­ Erik Dahlrot army. part in voluntary work that was prefer that your initials be used dentistas had thrown down their Stockholm, Sweden One of the demonstrators, who going on all over Yugoslavia, as part rather than your full name. August 9, 1991 The Militant 15 THE MILITANT New Zealand meat firm to lay off 1,400

BY JOAN SHIELDS has been closed, along with the Kaiapoi plant . will also have a devastating economic effect were needed at the plants remaining open, CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand­ near Christchurch. A third plant, at Nelson, on the small towns in which they are based. he said. Alliance workers were told that New Zealand's largest meat-packing com­ has been put up for sale. Also closed was a One Kaiapoi worker, when asked by a jour­ "profit-improvement plans" would be imple­ pany, Alliance Group Ltd., announced July small lamb-cutting plant near Christchurch nalist if he was likely to get another job in mented at every plant, and they were urged 27 that it was closing two of its I0 meat -pro­ that employed 21 workers. the town, summed it up: "Not a hope in hell." to be part of the Alliance "team" along with cessing plants and laying off more than 1,400 With more than 250,000 workers in New Speaking on July 26, Alliance chief exec­ management and farmers. workers. Zealand already out of work - 15 percent utive Richard Bettie declared that the Initial moves announced at the plants re­ The Ocean Beach plant at the southern­ of the work force - the laid-off meat work­ company's restructuring process would be maining open include staffing cuts and the most tip of New Zealand, with 866 workers, ers face a bleak future. The plant closures ongoing. Productivity increases of 48 percent slashing of some overtime payments. For workers at these plants, relief at hearing they still had jobs - for now, at least - was tem­ pered by apprehension over the widely-ex­ Blockade's impact on Iraqi people forces pected further attacks on their wages and working conditions. Many have already faced such attacks. In January, meat workers at Washington to consider easing embargo Alliance's Mataura plant, in face of a threat to close the plant, accepted pay cuts of up to BY PETER THIERJUNG 30 percent. Stung by continuing reports on the scope Workers at Ocean Beach have taken wage of malnutrition, looming epidemics, and and staffing cuts over a period of years. The death among Iraqi working people and chil­ fact that this did not save their jobs is a lesson dren, Washington and its imperialist allies now being absorbed by meat workers. have begun to say that they might allow Many workers- both at Alliance and Baghdad to sell some oil in order to import elsewhere - feel the need to draw the line food. against the bosses' attacks but are uncertain Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, who recently about how to do it, or whether they are strong headed a United Nations team to Iraq inves­ enough to do so. tigating food and medicine shortages, re­ The same week as Alliance's "restructur­ ported that the UN needs "to take action now" ing" moves were announced, workers at a in order to avert the social catastrophe un­ small meat-packing plant at Ngauranga, near folding there. Wellington, declared that they would resist Iraqi officials report that 11,000 people, their company's attempt to impose a 10 per­ mostly women and children, have died since cent wage cut. In the past few years, these the end of the imperialist-led war against workers have taken several cuts when threat­ Iraq. Among the causes of death have been ened with the plant's closure. malnutrition and disease stemming from the Brigid Rotherham, a mutton butcher at destruction of electric and water-purification Alliance's Sockbum plant and 1990 Com­ plants in the allied bombing of Iraq. munist League candidate for Christchurch U.S. President George Bush, shedding a Central, released a statement on the lay­ few crocodile tears over the suffering civil­ offs. She pointed to mass protests held ians, suggested July 23 that the United Na­ Iraqi bridge destroyed during Gulf war. For Iraqi working people Washington's now throughout the country in April to protest tions Security Council might alter sanctions one-year-old sanctions are bringing untold hardship, death, and disease. the antiunion Employment Contracts Bill imposed on Iraq a year ago after Iraqi forces and government welfare cuts. "These ac­ invaded Kuwait. tions point to the kind of united, fighting fully disclosing its nuclear program and York Times wrote, "To accept human suffer­ On July 25 the United Nations Security response needed in face of Alliance's as­ currency and gold reserves, providing ing as a diplomatic lever is tormenting - but Council began informal consultations on the sault on our jobs," she said. issue, but some diplomats were quick to compensation to the imperialist-led alli­ preferable to leaving the Persian Gulf allies ance for the costs of the war, covering the with no credible way to compel Iraqi com­ "Conceding to employer demands to make dampen any hopes that the council would act 'our' company profitable, or to pull together soon. U.S. and British representatives costs of destroying its weapons of mass pliance except resuming military attacks." destruction, repaying Kuwait for property For Iraqi working people, sanctions are a in the 'national interest,'only results in fur­ claimed they were not convinced that the ther weakening of the labor movement and sanctions needed to be lifted. They claimed taken during the occupation, and sharing continuation of the war by Washington and the expenses of a commission to determine its allies. "We feel we cannot take more wars even bigger setbacks to the already worst-off the Iraqi government had sufficient foreign sections of the working class," Rotherham currency reserves and gold to buy food and the Iraq-Kuwait border. and deaths," a 25-year-old employee at a A UN Security Council-imposed deadline Baghdad hotel told a Christian Science Mon­ explained. "Only through the mobilization of other needed supplies. all layers of working people - employed Washington and London have also ordering Iraq to provide a detailed list of its itor correspondent. "But I do not see the weapons of mass destruction expired July 25 difference between a reeruption of the war and out of work, wage workers, and working pressed linking any easing of sanctions farmers on the land - in a fight against the with the Iraqi government's satisfying de­ with the Bush administration charging that and the continuation of the current condi­ Baghdad had not fully complied. tions .. .. Both will lead to our death." rulers' rapacious demands, can a road for­ mands imposed on it by the formal cease­ ward be charted." fire agreement signed by Baghdad and Leading up to the deadline, both Bush and Restoration of Iraq's electrical generation Washington. These demands include Iraq French President Frant;ois Mitterand threat­ has reached about one-third of prewar levels, Joan Shields is a member ofthe New Zealand ened Iraq with a resumption of bombing. U.S. but is expected to decline due to lack of spare Mr ·t Workers Union at Alliance's Sockburn military planners even made public a list of parts. Sewage systems ruptured by the bomb­ plant. San Francisco garment potential targets to be hit in Iraq. ing are inoperable because electrical short­ "Yet the nations that made up the allied ages have led to dumping and contamination company closes, owing coalition in the gulf war seem to have little of the Diyala and Tigris rivers. Vietnam official states workers $500,000 appetite for renewed warfare at this time," The supply of chlorine, essential to Iraq's supposed POW photo is the July 26 New York Times said after the water purification system, will only last an­ BY MARGARET JA YKO deadline had passed. This was particularly other month, according to an Iraqi chemical cruel, inhuman hoax SAN FRANC! SCO - One of the largest true, the Times explained, because Washing­ engineer. Before the war Baghdad's water sewing and knitting subcontractors in this ton did not want to jeopardize its initiatives system supplied about 20 gallons of pure BY PETER THIERJUNG area abruptly closed the doors of nine shops to get several Arab countries and Israel to­ water per person daily, but now pumps out NEW YORK- Responding to a barrage July 16, owing more than $500,000 in back gether for a "peace conference." less than 4 gallons per person a day. of coverage in the U.S. media that claims wages to the almost 500 garment workers On July 28 Turkey's prime minister, Mesut Press reports indicate that the effects of some Gls listed as missing or killed in action left without jobs. Yilmaz, categorically ruled out use of Turk­ the sanctions have fallen most heavily on during the Vietnam War are alive in Vietnam, Raymond and Yee Nor Kong also owe ish airfields for U.S. air strikes against Iraq. working people and the poor in Iraq, while Vietnam's ambassador to the United Nations, millions of dollars to banks and equipment Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak has voiced the rich hoard scarce goods and clear huge Trinh Xuan Lang, told a July 24 press con­ leasing companies. Some 50 creditors from serious concern over any further U.S. bomb­ profits on items they manage to bring into ference here that the affair was a "cruel and across the United States have filed several ing of Iraq. the country and sell on the black market. inhuman" hoax perpetrated on the families lawsuits in San Francisco Superior Court to Soviet Foreign Minister Vitaly Churkin Shortages of basic foodstuffs, especially of the U.S. Gls. try to collect as much as $50 million owed told the press, "Any new resort to military milk and baby formula, skyrocketing prices, The furor was touched off by the public them by Kong Enterprises. force ... would not be met with equally and declining income for Iraqi working peo­ release in mid-July of a photo purportedly The International Ladies' Garment unanimous approval by the international ple have led to malnutrition. Growing num­ showing three middle-aged men identified as Workers' Union (ILGWU) has held a series community as was the case during the Iraqi bers of working-class and poor women have John Leighton Robertson, Albro Lynn Lundy of meetings with the victimized workers to aggression against Kuwait." sustained their infants on only sugar and Jr., and Larry James Stevens, Gls during the help them collect not only their back pay, but The threats, however, along with the con­ water. U.S. war against Vietnam. Family members an additional $500,000 in loans that the tinuation of sanctions are Washington's way The price of meat has quadrupled, flour who have seen the photo claim it proves the Kongs obtained from them through a phony of browbeating Iraqi President Saddam prices have risen 40-fold, and chicken and men are alive. credit union scheme. Hussein's regime to comply with its dictates other food items have disappeared from mar­ Trinh, speaking at the Vietnamese UN Most of the workers are Chinese and short of military action. Thus, the prospect kets. Government subsidized rations of food­ Mission, said, "Vietnam has more than once Vietnamese women. None of the Kong En­ that Washington may be forced to consider stuffs provide only a third to a half of an made definite statements that there are no terprises shops were organized by the union. easing the sanctions because of the spotlight individual's daily dietary requirements. live American POWs [prisoners of war] held San Francisco Dtstrict Attorney Arlo Smith on the social disaster in Iraq has stirred some "The embargo doesn't touch Saddam or in captivity in Vietnam nor are there any who announced his office will open a full-scale discussion in U.S. ruling circles. the people around him," a Baghdad shop­ choose to stay behind voluntarily." investigation of the case. Union officials said In a July 24 editorial titled, "Don't ease keeper told the Wall Street Journal. "All you He explained that all U.S. prisoners were Continued on Page 12 the squeeze on Iraq," the editors of the New are doing is starving us." Continued on Page 5 16 The Militant August 9, 1991