JULY 3, 1981 75 CENTS VOLUME 45/NUMBER 25

A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY /PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE Wayne Williams: cops' scapegoat . for murders · · in Atlanta? -PAGE 4

A socialist in office:

Councilman MilitanVLou Howort Mel Mason -PAGE 10 El Salvador: Reagan concocts new 'white paper'. I -PAGE 12 In Our Opinion VOLUME 45/NUMBER 25 JULY 3, 1981 CLOSING NEWS DATE-JUNE 24

war groups have joined together on PRDF plat­ Voting Rights Act forms in the broadest demonstration of unity The Voting Rights Act is under attack. Unless against the secret police we have seen in decades. it is renewed, it will expire in August 1982. The An editorial in the Winston-Salem, North Ca­ Reagan administration and its key allies in rolina, Chr:onicle, a Black newspaper, addressed Congress are preparing moves to gut the law. the socialist suit as one of the most important in The Voting Rights Act made it possible for the the nation's history. Speaking at a PRDF rally in overwhelming majority of Blacks in the South that city, Clifton Graves, Jr. of the Chronicle de­ to vote for the first time. For decades before clared that the real plaintiffs in the suit "are all of then, Blacks were barred from voting, and often us, especially the Afro-American community." lynched for trying. The desire for a common fight for democratic If the Voting Rights Act is allowed to lapse, rights has also been expressed in the ~ig turnout the racists will be emboldened to step up their for the "No More Witch-hunts" rallies held June attacks on all aspects of Black rights. In moving 19, the anniversary of the murder of the Rosen­ against the act, the Reagan administration is bergs. And in the support generated for the · trying to reestablish the idea that Blacks have NASSCO Three, unionists who have been rail­ no right to look to the federal government for Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina is roaded in San Diego on charges of conspiracy to protection against racist practices. chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee bomb a shipyard there. The Voting Rights Act was not a gift from the that must approve extension of the Voting In the coming weeks, a series of major rallies in rulers of this country. It was won in a long Rights Act before it is voted on by the Senate. support of the socialist suit are scheduled. struggle in which some civil rights supporters, This is the same Strom Thurmond who in 1948 We urge our readers to join in these meetings, Black and white, gave their lives. ran for president in defense of Jim Crow. In and in the drive to raise the huge amount of mo­ Passage of the act in 1965 followed massive 1965, Thurmond filibustered against the Voting ney needed to meet the trial costs of the socialist Rights Act. He is now seeking to defeat its ex­ protests by tens of thousands against police bru­ lawsuit. tality in Selma, Alabama. Selma cops brutally tension. Thus far, PRDF has collected nearly $90,000. The Reagan administration wants to remove beat Blacks trying to register. Blacks in Selma Another $16,000 has been pledged, leaving nearly the requirement that the federal government were led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. $20,000 to be raised. approve election laws in areas covered by the act The Act prohibited literacy tests, poll taxes Your contribution to this effort will give added that have a "good" record in recent years. And and other devices which disenfranchised Black strength and unity to the whole movement for de­ people. It requires federal approval of changes the White House is undoubtedly open to other mocratic rights. in election laws in areas with a history of racial changes, if it can get away with them. discrimination in electoral matters. The stuffing The bosses are stirring up the embers of ra­ ofballot boxes was outlawed and intimidation of cism. They are trying to isolate Blacks and roll would-be voters was made liable to criminal pe- back their rights. This explains the attacks on nalties. Federal examiners were empowered to busing and affirmative action. In this way, they July 19 rallies register voters in states with a history of racial hope to undermine the solidarity of working On July 19 the Committee in Solidarity with intimidation. people and make it easier to attack the living the People of El Salvador (CISPES) has project­ In 1975 the Voting Rights Act was expanded. standards and rights of the great majority. ed activities across the country to mark these­ In areas where more than 5 percent of the popu­ A massive movement must be built to defend cond anniversary of the Nicaraguan revolution. lation speaks a language other than English, and extend the Voting Rights Act. Only in this In New York, in conjunction with other Cen­ election ballots and other materials must be hi- · way can the racist offensive of the bosses be de­ tral American solidarity committees, CISPES lingual. This provision has made it possible for feated. will be organizing a march and rally around the many Latinos and Asians to vote. These provi­ theme "No U.S. intervention in Central Ameri­ sions will expire in 1985 if not renewed. ca." The Voting Rights Act victory in 1965 drove San Francisco activists are planning a com­ the nails into the coffin oflegal segregation in the Socialist lawsuit bined demonstration and celebration sponsored South. It opened up new opportu~ities for Something important is happening at the round by Casa El Salvador, Casa Nicaragua, the Gua­ Blacks and other oppressea nationalities in the of rallies now being organized by the Political temala News and Information Bureau, and oth­ North as well. The gains won by Blacks helped Rights Defense Fund. ers. inspire the women's rights movement. · The rallies, taking place in dozens of cities from Boston activists are planning a picnic and cul­ In spite ofthe gains since 1965, we are still far coast to coast, are getting out the word on the So­ tural program with groups representing the from real equality, including in the electoral ar­ cialist Workers Party suit now being tried. Central American countries participating. ena. The economic gap between whites and They are drawing together supporters and rais­ Los Angeles will be holding a teach-in. Blacks is widening. Through such techniques as ing much-needed funds. The goal is $125,000. (See Atlanta and Houston are also planning to at-large districts, Blacks are still being denied pages 8-9 for reports on the latest rallies.) hold activities, as are other cities. the right to representation. Although 12 percent These meetings have demonstrated a new re­ Given the current attempts by Washington to of the population is Black, only 1 percent of cognition of the need for unity in face of attacks by strangle the Nicaraguan revolution, we urge as elected officials are (a vast improvement from the Reagan administration. many of our readers as possible to get involved pre-1965 days, when there were almost no Black Witch-hunt victims, Black leaders, representa­ in the July 19 day of solidarity with Nicaragua elected officials). tives of the unions, left parties, women's, and anti- and the people of Central America.

Militant Highlights This Week The Militant Editors: CINDY JAQUITH ANDY ROSE Business Manager: NANCY ROSENSTOCK 5 No more witch-hunts rally Editorial Staff: Nan Bailey, Nelson Blackstock. Grenada Friendship Society Steve Bride, Fred Feldman, Nelson Gonzalez, Wil· liam Gottlieb, Sue Hagen, Suzanne Haig, Diane 7 Witness FBI didn't call · Jacobs. Margaret Jayko, Malik Miah, Harry Ring, ·· 8 PRDFrallies Vivian Sahner, Priscilla Schenk, Stu Singer. 12 Canadian union leader on Salvador Published weekly except two weeks in Au­ gust, the last week of December, and the first 15 Salvador refugee gets support week of January by the Militant (ISSN 0026- 21 Miners blast TVA 3885), 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. Chicago transit crisis 10014. Telephone;..Editorial Office, (212) 7 Day-By-Day 243-6392; Business Office, (212) 929-3486. 13 Solidarity with Central America Correspondence concerning subscri~ and the Caribbean tions or changes of address shOuld be 14 National Picket Line addressed to The Militant Business Of­ 16-19 World News & Analysis fice, 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. 10014. 20 lnReview Second-class postage paid at New York, 22 Great Society N.Y. Subscriptions: U.S. $24.00 a year, out­ American Way of Life Pressure on Poland side U.S. $30.00. By first-class mail : U.S., What's Going On U.S. bankers are insisting that the Polish government Canada, and Mexico: $60.00. Write for air­ 23 Letters slash workers' living standards, as Moscow demands a If You Like This Paper . . . mail rates to all other countries. crackdown on independent union movement. Page 4. Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily represent the Militant's views. These are expressed in editorials.

2 THE MILITANT JULY 3, 1981 An appeal to our readers Mojgan Hariri-Vijeh is an Iranian student at Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee na­ Morgan State University in Baltimore. tional chair; and Tony Benn, Labor Party member On July 7 she will go before an immigration of British Parliament. The recent convention of judge to fight for her right to stay in this count~y. the National Alliance Against Racist and Politi­ Hariri-Vijeh has committed no crime. cal Repression passed a resolution in her behalf. Last February she joined the Young Socialist Telegrams and petitions are urgently needed as Alliance. A few weeks later immigration cops the July 7 hearing approaches. Protests demand­ were at her door. ing a halt to the deportation proceedings against The government says she should be deported be­ Hariri-Vijeh and renewal of her student visa cause her student visa expired. But Hariri-Vijeh should be sent today to: Commissioner, INS, believes the real reason is her socialist politics. Washington, D.C. 20536. The case has already wop significant support. Send copies to: Political Rights Defense Fuud, Among those backing Hariri-Vijeh are Rep. 2913 Greenmount Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland John Conyers (D.-Mich.); Michael Harrington, 21218. MOJGAN HARIRI-VIJEH France: Socialist Party in election ·sweep By William Gottlieb people during his first days in office. He The Communist Party lost about half The sharp fall of the French franc on The French Socialist Party won a re­ raised the minimum wage by 10 per­ of the eighty-six assembly seats it had international money markets following sounding victory June 21 in the second cent, raised state benefits to low-income held. Mitterrand's election was a warning round of elections to the National As­ families by 25 percent, increased aid to Many workers hold the CP responsi­ that big business will oppose any poli­ sembly. The SP and its allies won an ab­ older people by 20 percent, and upped ble for previous electoral victories by cies that benefit working people. solute majority in the 491-member rent subsidies to the poor by 25 percent. Giscard and the capitalist parties, be­ The capitalists demand that Mitter­ body. The Mitterrand government also can­ cause of its sectarian refusal to unite rand continue the antilabor austerity The outcome confirmed the Socialist celed plans to build a nuclear power with the Socialist Party to defeat the policies that made Giscard so unpopu­ mandate won in the May 10 presidential reactor in Brittany. right. lar. elections, when Francois Mitterrand's Mitterrand also sought to preserve his The CP also repelled many voters But the French workers and their al­ victory was greeted with dancing in the reputation as a supporter of liberation with its ·racist propaganda against im­ lies are expecting big, progressive streets by French working people. struggles in Latin America by appoint­ migrant workers. changes from the Socialist government. The voters massively repudiated the ing Regis De bray, a friend of the late And wide support for the Polish They expect Mitterrand to provide jobs policies of Mitterrand's predecessor, Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, as a workers also weakened the CP's stand­ and protect the living standard of work­ Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who had car­ foreign policy adviser. Mitterrand is a ing among workers. ing people from the effects of the capital­ ried out antilabor economic policies like member of the Committee for the De­ The Mitterrand government and the ist crisis. They want him to oppose the those of the Reagan administration fense of the Revolution in Nicaragua, Socialist majority in the assembly face drive to militarize Europe and prepare here. r initiated by the Socialist International. massive problems stemming from the for war. And they want a government Mitterrand helped assure a socialist At the same time, Mitterrand af­ decline in the world capitalist economy. that will speak out strongly against legislative majority by taking a number firmed his support to U.S. plans to place Unemployment is at 8 percent while in­ South Africa and U.S. intervention in El of measures in the interests of working new nuclear missiles in Europe. flation is running at 14 percent. Salvador.

By Hayden Perry Constitutional Mall for the protest ral­ LOS ANGELES--A group of Vietnam ly. veterans brought the story of their Ogden said they expect veterans and struggles with the Veterans Adminis­ sympathizers to join their car caravan tration to a Militant Forum here on in towns and cities across the country. June 20. Vietnam Veteran Steve Suwalsky Richard Ogden, author of a novel on told the forum audience about their four Vietnam, Green Knight-Red Mourning, demands: an impartial investigation of explained how their fight developed the VA; publication of the truth about from a local into a nationwide protest of Agent Orange; recognition of delayed veterans. stress syndrome as a service-related dis­ Ogden was one of the initiators of the ability; and a direct response from Pres­ Vietnam Veterans' hunger strike at ident Reagan acknowledging the justice Wadsworth Veterans Administration of the veterans' demands. hospital here. The group is now prepar­ Dennis Miller, a Vietnam veteran and ing for a protest rally in Washington on member of the Socialist Workers Party, July 4. described the plight of the vets. "At first we had to capture the na­ "When we were eighteen, they want­ tion's attention," Ogden said. "We did ed our strong bodies to fight in Viet­ that by our hunger strike and sit-in at nam," Miller said. "Now that we have Wadsworth Veterans hospital. Mes­ returned with bodies weakened by sages of support poured into our en­ wounds and poisons, they say disap­ campment from every part of the nation pear-we want to forget you, you don't and from overseas. The whole country look good to the new generation we want has been alerted. to draft for new adventures overseas. Hunger strike in Los Angeles Militant/Walter Lippmann "But the Vietnam veterans do not in­ "Our negotiations with the VA tend to disappear," Miller declared. "We reached a stalemate. Their hidebound will keep the memory of Vietnam alive bureaucracy, some in office since 1930, our campaign-a caravan to Washing­ heart attack and has been hospitalized. to ensure that no more Vietnams will be is incapable of responding to the needs ton where we will be joined by thou­ A contingent of hunger strikers and perpetrated by American imperialism of today's veterans. sands of other veterans." their supporters is already in Washing­ in other parts of the world." "The VA has forced us off their The hunger strike is continuing, the ton. The group has a permit for La­ A collection was taken at the forum to grounds but it is no defeat," Ogden said. veterans pointed out. One hunger strik­ fayette Park, across from the White help the veterans on their way to Wash­ "We are preparing for the next step in er, Michael Chapman, has suffered a House, through July 4, and a permit for ington. Special offer Subscribe today

0 $2 for eight issues (new readers only) to new readers 0 $5 for three months 0 $24 for one year 0 New 0 Renewal . The Militant~8 weeks/$2 Name Lies, distortion, and suppression of news. That's Address all you get from the establishment media on El C1ty Salvador. The Militant tells the truth about the State ------'-- Z1p struggle there, the role of the U.S. government, 14 Charles Lane. New York. New York 10014 and how the movement against U.S. intervention is growing. You need the Militant each week.

JULY 3,1981 THE MILITANT 3 Atlanta killing§ Is Wayne Williams cops' scapegoat? By Tom Fiske According to the Journal, "the FBI costed Williams on a bridge over the victims, the mothers, and anyone who ATLANTA, Ga.-Based on flimsy, and the local U.S. attorney's office con­ Chattahoochee River on May 22. They speaks out agai-nst the way the cops are circumstantial, and highly questionable tinued to pressure Slaton to arrest Wil­ said Williams stopped his car on the "investigating" the murders. evidence, Wayne Williams, a twenty­ liams over the next two-and-a-half bridge and threw something into the For example, few people outside of three-year-old Black man, was arrested weeks. Finally the local FBI office sent a water which made a "loud splash." Atlanta know that on June 12, a Span­ June 21 and charged with the murder of voluminous report on the case to Wash­ But now they say they are uncertain ish-language film crew found a plastic Nathaniel Cater, one of twenty-eight ington, to be reviewed by top FBI and . whether Williams stopped his car on the bag containing a uniform and badge of a Black youth murdered here. Justice Department officials." bridge. One of the two cops who stopped Clayton County policeman, J. C. Mit­ Three days later, Judge Albert It was informatio_n based on that re­ him had been asleep at the time of the chell, floating down the Chattahoochee Thompson of the Fulton county State port which prompted the June 19 meet­ alleged "splash." The other officer now River, near the location where Natha­ Court forwarded the case to a grand jury ing between Busbee and Slaton. admits there is no way he can place Wil­ niel Cater's"body was found. after a heavily guarded three-hour pre­ Although Atlanta's mayor, Maynard liams on the bridge at the time of the The police and media are keeping a lid liminary hearing. Jackson, was not present at the meet­ "splash." He had no clear view of the on this while broadcasting anything District Attorney Lewis Slaton said ing, a radio newscast reported that he bridge. that can be used to prejudice public he would seek an indictment against was "overjoyed" by the arrest. He went More important than the weak evi­ opinion against Williams. The cops Williams within thirty days. No bond is to Washington on June 24 to meet with dence is what the police investigation claim the badge and uniform were stol­ set. President Reagan. has not come up with. They have no wit­ en from Mitchell's home in April 1980. Williams maintains that he is inno­ nesses. They have no motives. They Lee Brown, the Public Safety Commis­ cent. Public response can't show any access by Williams to sioner, claims it has no connection to the the many victims. murders-but provides no proof of this. Almost 300 people packed the court­ The role of the White House in Wil­ room for the hearing, including the So­ liams's arrest has raised more questions One high-ranking cop observed that the fibers and dog hairs now being pres­ cialist Workers Party candidate for than answers. Most people are skeptical Investigate the investigation ented as evidence "might be blown to mayor of Atlanta, Andree Kahlmorgan. about the FBI and polic!l investigations. The flimsy evidence against Williams hell by a good defense attorney." She told the Militant, "All they had No one the Militant talked to believes indicates the need for an investigation were two carpet fibers, three dog hairs Williams committed twenty-eight mur­ of the role of the cops, FBI, and White with 'no significant microscopic differ­ derB---{)r even the twelve or thirteen the Role of news media House in the case, and their failure to ence' from hairs and fibers taken from cops imply he may be tied to. No one The police and news media have find the killer or killers. Williams's home and car. And a state­ feels.safe. created a racist, legal lynching atmos­ In a campaign statement released to ment by a cop from the surveillance "The arrest doesn't put me at ease one phere in the case. Just as in the 1920s, the press at the hearing, Andree Kahl­ team. He said he heard a loud splash in bit," observed one grandmother, Lucille when Black men were lynched by hys­ morgan pointed to the example being the Chattahoochee River two days be­ Robinson. terical mobs on the basis of concocted ev­ set by the National Black Independent fore Cater's body was found floating in Anita Slaton, who lives in the Sum­ idence, so Wayne Williams is being Political Party. The party plans to send the river. That's it." mer Hill community, said, "I still watch tried and found guilty by the media. a fact-finding commission to investigate Reactions from those attending the my two children like a hawk. I don't feel The same day as the hearing, another the investigation in early July. hearing-including the media which that things are any safer because there judge denied Williams's request for a "I urge all Black and trade union lead­ came from around the country and the are still twenty-seven murders for temporary order limiting the informa- · ers in the state and across the country to world-were mixed. Two young Blacks which we don't know who did it, and I tion the cops and news media could follow the example of the National told the press that the cops had "no evi­ am not sure by the evidence that Wayne make public about his life. Williams Black Independent Political Party. An dence." Williams committed the murder they was concerned about the damage to his independent commission of inquiry is Mary Welcome, Williams's attorney, say he did." reputation and for his personal safety. the only way to learn the facts about commented after the hearing, "I feel the Camille Bell, mother of one of the Thus the noose around Williams's J . C. Mitchell's uniform and badge, and state has a very, very weak case. Any­ slain youth, said, "an arrest is not a con­ neck continues to tighten. the role of the cops and media; to expose one of you, under the circumstances, viction. I hope Wayne Williams gets a Now that he is behind bars without the cover-up; get the views of communi­ could have killed Cater. You all have fair trial." bond, Williams is unable to answer the ty residents; objectively evaluate the ev­ fibers in your hair. My client is inno­ After talking to members of her charges against him. He will not be able idence against Williams; and learn the cent. He did not kill anyone. No one union, Dorothy Bolden, founder and to hold another news conference as he whole truth. even saw his car stop on the bridge that president of the National Domestic did, to the embarrassment of the cops, "We must demand: night." · Workers union, stated, "People aren't so after the FBI interrogated him. "Open the files of the investigations. enthusiastic over his being arrested. A By jailing Williams, the cops are buy­ "Stop the cover-up. Role of White House lot of people said it's a frame-up." ing time to straighten out their conflict­ "Stop the media conviction of Wayne Williams. What led to Williams's arrest? Why A white reverend in Cobb County, ing stories and concoct more "evidence" "Stop the murders of Atlanta's chil­ now? Rev. Charles Higgins, said he and his to be publicized in the media. The estab­ dren." · According to all news accounts Wil­ friends "have a great deal of skepticism" lishment newspapers around the coun­ liams's arrest was due to direct pressure about the arrest. "I fear, however, that try are already pouring out instant placed on Atlanta officials by the FBI he [Williams] could become a scapegoat "psychological profiles" portraying Wil­ and the White House. for a number of them [murders] because liams as a potential mass murderer. The June 22 Atlanta Journal says, police officials have been feeling the Since the beginning of the investiga­ NASSCO 3 protest "the decision to arrest Williams was not pressure" to find the killers. tion, the suspects have almost always prompted by the discovery of any major Andree Kahlmorgan observed that been Black. A reporter on one of Atlan­ Supporters of the NASSCO Three piece of new evidence linking Williams "Reagan, Busbee, the FBI, and local po­ ta's television stations expressed satis­ have called a July 11 march and ral­ to Cater's death. What prompted the ar­ lice are taking a big gamble: by jailing faction that Williams had been arrested ly in San Diego to protest the guilty rest was a seven-hour meeting at the Williams they hope to halt the flood of because, he said, "it shows the murders verdict against the three. Georgia governor's mansion June 19 of criticism surrounding the investigation. are not racist." · The demonstration will occur the George Bush, Gov. Busbee, Fulton They want the investigation over and It doesn't matter if the killer or killers weekend before their sentencing, County District Attorney Lewis Slaton, done with, whether the real murderer is are Black or white. The murders as well scheduled for July 14. and other officials." caught or not." as the investigations have been racist. Demonstrators will assemble at Williams was picked up on June 3 and Whoever is behind the killings has chos­ 11 a.m. in Newton Park and march questioned for twelve hours by the FBI. Case extremely weak en to kill only poor Black youth, and has through downtown San Diego. Slaton, however, had refused to arrest As the hearing exposed, the case gotten away with it for two solid years. For more information call (714) Williams, saying there was not enough against Williams is extremely weak. The investigations have always been 563-0149. evidence linking him to the slayings. ·Police initially claimed they first ac- marked by foot-dragging, attacks on the U.S. bankers put the ueeze on Poland - By Suzanne Haig decisions that may be made at the Com- U.S. bankers are stepping up pressure . munist Party congress scheduled to con­ on the Polish government to impose a vene in Warsaw July 14. Due to more severe austerity program on the Polish democratic election procedures, many workers and farmers. Poland is current­ members of the party central committee ly unable to meet the demand for pay­ are being defeated in the election of del­ ment of its $15 billion debt to capitalist egates. Already 130 of the 428 delegates financial institutions. elected so far are members of Solidarity, The U.S. bankers, according to the the independent union movement. A to­ June 22 Wall Street Journal, are de­ tal of 2,000 will be elected. Many dele­ manding that Poland continue to make gates will be attending their first con­ massive interest payments while pay­ gress. ment rescheduling is negotiated. About Poland is in deep economic difficul­ $1.4 billion of Poland's debt is owed to ties. There are acute shortages of food U.S. banks. supplies, such as meat, cheese, and The new demands came after Moscow bread. Many items have been rationed. ordered the Polish government to crack Some factories are unable to run be­ down on the independent union move­ cause of lack of materials, components, ment, strengthen the police, increase and spare parts from the West. There is censorship of the media, and end the fer­ also a lack offoreign exchange to pay for ment in the country. vital imports. workers. Bankers co1mr1IAi1n Moscow is particularly fearful of the Continued on page 14 longed austerity.'

4 THE MILITANT JULY 3, 1981 Rallies demand 'No more ·witch-hunts!' By Michael Smith Folk singer Holly Near drew a tre­ NEW YORK CITY-More than 2,000 mendous response, both for her artistry people turned out June 19 for a "Day of and her message. "The 1980s will be a Resistance." The event was sponsored time of coalitions, when we all take the by No More Witch Hunts, a newly lessons of the past and get together and formed New York-based political rights applythem," she said. coalition made up of some seventy-five groups and individuals. Communist Party leader Gil Green A street festival in front of the United and several other speakers described Auto Workers District 65 headquarters their experiences during the 1950s. in Lower Manhattan was followed by an Green said he was forced underground evening rally with a broad panel of by the government for four-and-a-half speakers. years, and then spent another eight in Similar events were organized in prison. Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Detroit; Houston; Los Angeles; and other cities. Angela Davis sent a message pledg­ June 19 marked the twenty-eighth ing "to fight the witch-hunt to the fin­ anniversary of the execution of Julius ish .. . . We-united with all progres­ and Ethel Rosenberg. They were framed sive and democratic forces-will win." on atom-spy charges during the height of the McCarthy period. Their son Mi­ John Connelly spoke for the Political chael Meeropol was a featured speaker Rights Defense Fund, describing the at the rally. trial of the U.S. government in the law­ Civil rights leader Anne Braden suit filed by the Socialist Workers Party asked for a moment of silence for the Ro­ and Young Socialist Alliance. senbergs , "two people who did not com­ 2,000 participated in New York rally Militant!Steffi Zeughauser promise, two people who all Americans Other speakers included Dr. Helen are indebted to." Rodriguez, an outspoken fighter for "How was the witch-hunt of the past abortion rights; Bob Lewis, chief attor­ More Witch Hunts, talked about the Mobilization for Survival, the Nation­ defeated?" Braden asked. "It was the ney for the United Electrical Workers, need to build a political rights campaign al Emergency Civil Liberties Commit­ civil rights movement which set the for­ whose union was decimated during the that brings together people from diverse tee, National Lawyers Guild, New York ces in motion. The lopging of Black peo­ McCarthy period; and actor and actress groups and outlooks. Anti-Klan Network, People's Anti-War ple to be free was just too powerful." Richard Dreyfus and Susan Sarandon. Endorsers of No More Witch Hunts Mobilization-D.C. chapter, the Social­ She stressed the need for unity with Richard Dhoruba Moore, a leader of include the Center for Constitutional ist Workers Party, and Young Socialist the Black rights movement today. the New York Black Panther Party who Rights, Committee for Abortion Rights Alliance were also endorsers. Judge Bruce Wright blasted the Se­ has spent ten years in prison as the re­ and Against Sterilization Abuse, Com­ Anne Braden summed up the senti­ nate Subcommittee on Terrorism. Pa­ sult of an FBI and New York City Red mittee in Solidarity with the People of ment of those at the rally, "We are going raphrasing Samuel Johnson, Wright Squad frame-up, sent a message to the El Salvador, Communist Workers Par­ to take this decade for the people who said, "Patriotism isn't the last refuge of rally. ty, Greensboro Justice Fund, and the H­ love justice. The witch-hunters will not scoundrels, it is the first." Debby Chaplin, chief organizer for No Block Committee. have it. It will belong to us." Grenada Friendship Society launched in N.Y. By Diane Wang Grenada is a totalitarian state. "We NEW YORK-About 300 people ga- know what a police s'tate is, and we thered here June 19 to launch the New know Grenada isn't one!" declared York chapter of the U.S.-Grenada Colette Pean of the Mobilization Com­ Friendship Society. The rally was held mittee Against Police Brutality. She on the first anniversary of the counter­ pointed out that "in New York there are revolutionary bombing that killed three dogs in the subways and thirteen-year­ persons and injured many oShers in olds tried as adults" in courts. Grenada one year ago. Lou Wolff of the Center for Constitu­ tional Rights explained the dangerous Recalling that attack, Grenadian Am­ new legislation peing proposed in Con­ bassador to the United Nations Cald­ gress that would make solidarity with well Taylor said, "Our people didn't go the Grenadian, Salvadoran, and other­ home and cry; they went home to organ­ peoples illegal. ize, to mobilize, to join the militia." Elombe Brath of the Patrice Lumum­ ba Coalition and the National Black In­ Taylor recounted the violence, eco­ dependent Political Party answered nomic destabilization, and propaganda criticisms that Grenada has not yet attacks that have been aimed at Free scheduled new elections. He pointed to Grenada, but warned that "imperialism the March 13, 1979, revolution on the is­ will have to learn serious lessons in Gre­ land and concluded, "the election for nada. Grenada was held March 13." "We want normal diplomatic and pol­ Professor Archie Singham of Brook­ itical relations [with the United lyn College continued the explanation, States]," he said. "but on the basis of saying Grenada had had enough of what equality. he called "cuckoo:' politics. That's the "Part of your job has to be to convince kind of politics where democracy sup­ them of our right to develop our own posedly gets exercised only once every country." Grenada is "nobody's back­ Grenada's self-determination is an at­ agenda of every Black and progressive few years at a ballot box, he explained, yard or front yard." tack against Black self-determination" group in this nation," he said. like a cuckoo bird popping out of a clock. Adayemi Bandele of the Black United in this country. Several speakers answered slanders "We want new politics," he said, "not Front explained that "an attack on "Defense of Grenada should be on the recently aired on U.S. television that just new politicians." Speaking about Washington's cam­ paign of threats and slanders against the revolution, Socialist Workers Party Grenada charges CIA link to newspaper leader Andrew Pulley explained that it's "not because Grenada will attack On JJJ.ne 19 the Grenadian People's boasted that a counterrevolutionary also be heard and seen by Grenadi­ Miami, but because of the hope and Revolutionary Government seized co­ newspaper would be put out in Grena­ ans. promise of liberation that Grenada of­ pies of The Grenadian Voice, a right­ da and had met with leaders of the "The challenge facing the revolu­ fers." wing newspaper that the government counterrevolutionary group. tion today is that of a group of coun­ The rally was opened by Esmarelda states has ties to the U.S. Central In­ "Xhis latest manifestation of coun­ terrevolutionaries closely linked with Brown of Nueva Alternativa Popular telligence Agency. terrevolutionary activity has abso­ the CIA." Panamefta. It ·heard greetings from the According to a news release from lutely nothing to do with "freedom of As the Caribbean's first·genuinely Democratic Socialist Organizing Com­ the office of the secretary for National the press," declares the Grenadian independent Black government, the mittee, Committee in Solidarity with Security in Grenada, the group of press release. "The Trinidad Express PRG has good reason to be concerned the People of El Salvador, Athie Martin twenty-six that published the Voice is newspaper, which has attacked the about counterrevolutionary plots or­ of the Dominica Liberation Movement, the same one that has been issuing Grenada government more strongly ganized from the United States. Dominican Movement for Socialism, pamphlets calling for violence_ in than any other newspaper in the en­ Washington has provided a haven Guatemalan Solidarity Committee, and Grenada and the violent overthrow of tire region, continues to circulate for ousted dictator Eric Gairy, who a professor C?f the Caribbean and Latin the PRG. Evidence implicates at least freely in Grenada, where several has been attempting to organize an American Studies Program at City Col­ one of twenty-six in a recent plot hundred copies are sold each day. Sev­ invasion force. lege. to attack militiamen and soldiers in eral other regional newspapers areal­ And the Ku Klux Klansmen who A representative of the Grenada Rev­ Grenada. so sold in Grenada, along with Time were placed on trial in New Orleans olutionary League captured the spirit of According to the news release, two magazine, Newsweek, and U.S. News for plotting to invade Dominica had the rally, urging people to "join the U.S.­ senior CIA· officers associated with and World Report. Eight radio sta­ originally selected Grenada as their Grenada Friendship Society and make the U.S. embassy in Barbados had tions and two television stations can target. your contribution in an organized fa­ shion!"

JULY 3, 1981 THE MILITANT 5 ·POLITICAL POLICE ON TRIAL FBI snitch testifies against SWP By Harry Ring of things, including: NEW YORK-Edward Heisler, who • He submitted lists of names to the functioned within the Socialist Workers FBI of people who attended public SWP Party as a paid informer for the FBI, tes­ forums, drawing attention to the names tified June 17 and 18 in the damage suit of foreign-born people who could be sub­ bro'Jght against the government for pol­ ject to deportation and victimization in itical victimization. their homeland. The government called Heisler to the • He submitted a report to the FBI stand as one of its principal defense wit­ which falsified what SWP leader An­ drew Pulley had said at an antiwar con­ nesses. He joined the Milwaukee Socialist ference. Workers Party in 1960 and Young So­ • He submitted a lying report about a cialist Alliance in 1961. Later he was a visit to this country by Ernest Mandel, a leader of the Fourth International and a member of the Chicago SWP and YSA. noted economist. In 1975 he was elected to the SWP's na­ tional committee and served in several • He entered the party headquarters capacities as a party spokesperson. during off hours to copy political and personal correspondence for the FBI. According to his testimony, he be­ Heisler told the court that he contact­ came an FBI informer in March 1966. ed the Chicago FBI in March 1966 and In bringing him to the stand, the gov­ told them he was disillusioned with the ernment apparently hoped to convey SWP and YSA and was interested in that such informers are not as despica­ making money as an informer. ble as they seem and don't do the dam­ age that their victims claim. Fanciful tale Throughout its examination of him, But, he testified, what he told the FBI the government sought to establish that wasn't the real reason he had decided to even though he was an informer he had become an informer. He then told the been a "dedicated" and '_'l_oyal" member court a patently absurd tale. He had be­ of the SWP. Heisler proved a cooper­ come persuaded, he said, that at some ative witness who tried hard to bolster point the government would try to vic­ this preposterous thesis. timize the SWP. If he "infiltrated" the 'Loyal,' 'dedicated' FBI, he would undoubtedly be presented as a witness at some future trial of the Representing the defense, U.S. Assist­ party. He woutd then expose the govern­ :.; .:;:·. ant Attorney Edward Williams asked ment frame-up. FBI INFORMER-EDWARD HEISLER Heisler: Under cross-examination by SWP at­ "Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, did torney Margaret Winter, a more plausi­ you consider yourself a dedicated Marx­ ble story emerged. Pulley was one of the speakers at the Cross-examined by Winter, Heisler ist-Leninist?" At the time he signed up with the FBI conference. At the time, Pulley had won said it was unlikely Pulley would have Heisler responded, "Yes." he was eligible for the draft and had al­ national attention as one of the Fort said Gls "are not yet ready" to take up And during this period, Williams con­ ready had his pre-induction physical. Jackson Eight, a group the Army at­ arms, "although this is the long-term tinued, "did you consider yourself a ded­ In fact, it was established, he just re­ tempted to victimize for their active op­ perspective." icated memb_er of the SWP?" ceived his induction notice. position to the Vietnam War. "Yes, I did." Apparently forgetting his previously Shortly after his visit to the FBI, asserted concern for "accuracy," Heisler "Isn't it true that without question Heisler was called up for induction, only Lying report your loyalties were with the SWP?" added, "First, I rarely if ever went over a to learn~to his"surprise"-that he had In his informer's report to the FBI, report after I had prepared it.... " Again, "Y~s." been classified 4F. Heisler had written: Presiding Judge Thomas Griesa was The government attempted to estab­ Apparently it was no routine matter. "Andrew Pulley spoke first. He stated quite inrtlrested in an assertion that an lish that Heisler had submitted accu­ A memo from J. Edgar Hoover was sent the antiwar movement should attempt SWP or YSA member favored Gls tak­ rate reports on the SWP. to a ranking Army intelligence officer to reach Gls on the basis of a free speech ing up arms against their officers, now Heisler agreed. He testified under advising that Heisler had agreed to be­ fight and the bring the troops home now or in the future, and he questioned oath that he had never fabricated infor­ come an informer against the SWP. • demand rather than support the NLF Heisler closely on this. mation and tried, as best he could, to be And "inform" he did. [Vietnamese ·National Liberation accurate. The attempt to frame Andrew Pulley Front] as the SDS proposes. According He finally asked Heisler: "Do you re­ His testimony, particularly under was perhaps the most sinister. to Pulley, Gls are not yet ready to take call now consciously putting down an in­ cross-examination, proved his "accu­ Heisler had submitted a report to the up arms against their officers or to over­ correct summary of what he [Pulley] racy" was on the same par as his veraci­ FBI on a 1969 Cleveland Conference of throw capitalism, although this is the said?" ty and his "loyalty" to the party. the Student Mobilization Committee long-term perspective." (Emphasis Heisler replied: "No, I don't recall con­ His testimony established a number Against the War in Vietnam. added.) sciously doing that."

Inside view: How political cops operate NEW YORK-'-When FBI informer gin with," Best explained. " ... there gossip about those being spied on. Giligan presented him with a copy Edward Heisler finished telling his must be information in our possession Gilligan asked how he squared that of an early 1960s report from the Los tale, the defense put Edgar Best on that a given organization is involved with one informer's report about an Angeles field office to the FBI director the stand. Best is Special Agent in in something diametrically opposed SWP member being pregnant. entitled, "Socialist Workers Party, Charge of the Los Angeles field office to our form of government and may It is not possible, Best replied, to as­ Disruption Program." of the FBI. A veteran of twenty-one even be in a position where they vio­ sure that each informer "follows in­ The report advised that an informer years with the Bureau, he testified as lently want to overthrow our govern­ structions to the letter." in the SWP branch there was doing an authority on how it functions. ment. "Since the inception of the Bureau," effective work in sharpening a politi­ In targeting political organizations, "So we would direct our informants he explained, "we have probably cal dispute then going on in the they are not concerned with possible . . . to obtain information concerning handled well in excess of a quarter of branch. crimes. In the case of the Socialist that kind of philosophy or action." a million informants." "As a result," the report said, "it is Workers Party, for example, Best said This in turn bears on how informers Moreover, he added, they some­ believed that this informant has the agency would be "investigating a are paid. There are no fixed fees, B~t times do want personal information played an important part in 'fanning philosophy with motivation." testified. Rather, informers are paid about individuals. the flames' of discord and discontent Informers are essential for political varying amounts based on the "quali­ "For instance," he said, "suppos- · within the LA/SWP." as well as criminal investigations, he ty" of the "information" they submit. ing we wanted to target as an info'r­ When Gilligan asked if he would said. SWP attorney Donna Marie Gilli­ mant someone in an organization and not rule out instructing an informer "For instance," he explained, "if gan asked him if the FBI would pay we were looking around to try to find to engage in such disruption, Best there is going· to be a meeting of the more to an informer who filed reports a fallacy in that person's operation. replied: hierarchy of a given organization asserting that the Socialist Workers We found . out the individual was "Well, I would have to look at the wherein they are going to enter into a Party advocated the violent over­ heavily involved in debt. We may go totality of the investigative objective. conspiracy to discuss something. ..." throw of the government. to him and advise him of that point I would want to know, what are we Best replied, "Yes." and say that we might assist him fi­ Groups are not investigated to de­ trying to achieve? Are we trying to termine if they are "subversive." The This can lead, he conceded, to in­ nancially and therefore gain his coop­ achieve the breakup of a group?" government decides that first, then it formers submitting the kind of infor­ eration as an informant." "investigates." mation they think the agency wants Although presented by the defense He did not explain what legal au­ This bears on the type of informa­ to hear. However, ·he assured, FBI as an authority on FBI activity and thority the FBI has to try "to achieve tion informers are instructed to ob­ agents are skilled in spotting "embel­ methods, Best did try\ to pretend he the breakup of a group" that has tain. lishments:" really didn't know anything about the neither been charged with rior con­ "Well, obviously, we feel we have a He also asserted that, generally, Bureau's Cointelpro disruption activ­ victed of a crime. very good reason to open a case to be- the FBI is not interested in personal ity. -H.R.

6 THE MILITANT JULY 3,1981 This flatly contradicted his earlier an­ ,cal attacks on SWP members." could offer no reason for so thinking. swer to Winter's questioning. He added that his "handler" assured Heisler's testimony resulted in· the him that if the FBI did learn of any slat­ government being caught in one more Mandel targeted ed future attacks by the Legion of Jus­ cover-up in the suit. Heisler was also established to be a tice, "I would be alerted . . . so I Complying with a 1976 pretrial order, liar in the report he submitted to the wouldn't be injured . ..." the FBI had turned over to the court FBI about Ernest Mandel. Winter asked him if he considered purported complete lists of documents In the fall of 1968, while Mandel was himself a loyal member of the SWP at obtained from the SWP by informers. on a lecture tour in this country, Heisler the time. Heisler replied, "Ye~. " The informers were identified only by sent a report to the FBI falsely asserting What, she then asked, did he plan to code number. In the document bearing that Mandel had given a report to the do if the FBI did notify him in advance what now proves to be Heisler's code Chicago branch of the SWP. (Participa­ of a future attack? number, the FBI had listed but one set tion in such a meeting could have been He would, he gravely assured, have of stolen minutes anp a few other docu­ the basis for charging that Mandel had notified the party, even though it would ments. violated the terms of his visa.) mean the end of his career as an in­ But after Heisler's disclosure as an in­ DAY49:THURSDAY,JUNE18 The report went on to offer an even former. former, the FBI was required to release FBI informer Edward Heisler com­ copies of all SWP materi.al he had pro­ more invidious fals~hood . It stated: Why then, she further inquired, had pletes testimony. vided them. Apparently forgetting to "Ernest Mandel's tour is primarily de­ he submitted a report after the first at­ SWP leader Linda Jenness is ask~d signed to raise money for the financing of tack with a subheading, "Proposed Se­ check back on its original sworn claim of if she put on a job application that she the operations of the Fourth Internation­ curity Measures"? This section of his re­ what he had turned in, the FBI disclosed was 1972 SWP presidential candidate . al. $250 was received from Student Gov­ port to the FBI described how the SWP substantially more documents than it and if she is a partisan of Cuban revo­ had admitted to in 1976. And then it ernment at Northern Illinois University planned to minimize the risk of break· lution. . . . and another $250 was received ins, including, Heisler wrote, "A flush was further disclosed that there is still Edgar Best, Special Agent in Charge from Notre Dame University where door lock will be installed on the outside material the FBI is withholding. of Los Angeles field office, testifies on Mandel spoke." (Emphasis added.) firedoor entrance to the hall." how secret cops operate. This lying report could well have been ·In passing on this information to the Just 'quit' Thomas West, former undercover one of the pretexts for the State Depart­ FBI, Winter asked, did he think he was Heisler asserts he quit being an FBI Chicago policeman, testifies he was ment's later denial of visas to Mandel. insuring the safety of the organization? informer in 1971. But it was not until ·~penetrant" in YSA in late 1960s. Questioned by Winter, Heisler again "No." That too was "a contradiction." July 1980 when the present trial ap­ An FBI agent testifies that just-com­ had to concede his "accurate" reporting Heisler's dirty tricks were not limited peared to be headed for court that, for pleted twenty-minute search by Bureau was not all that accurate. His report on to the SWP. reasons yet to be established, he wrote a staff members failed to turn up person­ Mandel allegedly attending an SWP In 1967, Heisler went on a tour of In­ letter to the party revealing he had been al correspondence Heisler admitted branch meeting was "contradictory" in diana, Illinois, and St. Louis for the Stu­ an informer. He was promptly expelled. stealing from SWP office. that the report gave a list of people who dent Mobilization Committee. The SMC According to Heisler's story, when he attended and Mandel's name was not was building at the time for an a ntiwar told the FBI in 1971 that he no longer among them. demonstration in Washington. intended to be an informer his handler DAY 50: FRIDAY, JUNE 19 And concerning Mandel's alleged paid him one visit to find out if he want­ Merril Kelley, top official in military fund raising for the Fourth Internation­ Rat on anyone ed more money. Heisler says he told him intelligence in Department of Army in al, Heisler was compelled to admit he Heisler and t~e person traveling with no and that was the last he heard from Washington, D.C., testifies. Goes over had no other basis for the assertion than him compiled a list, some half-dozen the FBI until he revealed himself. policies during Vietnam War and today his "guess at the time." pages long, of people to contact for possi­ Such respect by the FBI to an in­ on spying on civilian antiwar demon­ Heisler's professed "loyalty" to the ble support to the action. They included • former's desire to quit seems unusual. strations. Says that if member of armed SWP fared no better. two Episcopal ministers in St. Louis and In fact the government even continued services were found to be in SWP or In 1970, a gang of right-wing thugs an Indiana clergyman who headed a to shield him. In 1976, Heisler had YSA an extensive investigtion would known as the Legion of Justice made group opposed to the war. signed a waiver authorizing the govern­ be initiate,st. several physical attacks on the SWP Heisler filed the entire list with the ment to turn his complete dossier over to Russell Harding, informant for Arizo­ headquarters. Later it was established FBI. the SWP in preparation for the current na .state police in early 1970s testifies that this gang had the complicity of the He further testified that while a trial. (He was one of thirty-five leading that YSA plotted takeover of campus . Chicago Police Department "red squad" member of the SWP, he had violated the party members for whom the files were administration building. Says Morris and an Army intelligence unit. The FBI party's long-standing policy prohibiting requested.) Starsky, former professor and SWP denies direct involvement. its members from using illegal drugs. Judge Griesa wanted to know from member, asked if he knew how to make He had "on several occasions" smoked the government why it had continued to a bomb. 'Personal safety' marijuana in the presence of other shield Heisler's identity after he had Ed Shaw is questioned about his After the first Legion attack, Heisler members. signed the waiver. Government attor­ work in Fair Play for Cuba Committee testified, he had a meeting with his FBI He asserted that because he was an neys responded with their customary in early 1960s. "handler" and "indicated to him that I informer he assumed he would be im­ double talk, but failed to explain why was concerned about my own personal mune from prosecution if caught and they had concealed this information DAY51:MONDAY,JUNE22 safety in the event of any future physi- that the other persons would be too. He from the court and ·from the plaintiffs. FBI informer Ralph Desimone testi­ fies that he volunteered to be an FBI in­ former at the University of California at Berkeley in 1971. He then joined the Oakland-Berkeley YSA and SWP and I'I don't talk to cop cops or lawyer cops' I remained an SWP member until 1976. Claims FBI told him to be an average By Nelson Blackstock FBI agents were at his door with a sub­ had none. good comrade and never do anything NEW YORK- Lawyers for the FBI poena. It "commanded" him to turn over The government lawyer then suggest­ illegal. Desimone says he spied on av­ dropped the name of Bill Massey from to the government "all documents in ed an informal meeting. erage twenty to twenty-five hours per their witness list June 19. your possession or control referring or "Williams proposed to my attorney week. He received over $22,000 for his that I come down and look over some Any hope they might have had of us­ relating to the Socialist Workers Party, 'voluntary' work. ing his testimony for their benefit had the Internationalist Tendency and documents. He said this would give me Lawyer Howard Liebow testifies on collapsed. Fourth International." an opportunity to familiarize myself university investigation of SWP Now a member of the Workers World It also "commanded" him to "testify with those I would be questioned on.' member Starsky, who lost job at Arizo­ Party, Massey was once a member of the on behalfofthe United States of Ameri­ "I immediately rejected this. I don't na . State University due to FBI dirty Socialist Workers Party and a leader of talk to cop~whether they are cop cops ca" in the socialist suit. tricks. the Internationalist Tendency, a minor­ "My decision was automatic. It flowed or lawyer cops. I had no desire to talk to James Perkins, assistant director of ity group inside the SWP in the mid- from my own outlook and the outlook of the government." personnel in the Austin, Texas, school 1970s. my party. We would in no way cooperate On Monday, June 15, Massey got system, says SWP member Evelyn Sell During the previous week, Hedda with the government. The fact that this word from the government that he was was not hired as kindergarten teacher Garza, an ex-SWP member who had also is a case against the government to testify the following Friday. because she never applied. Claims no been a leader of the Internationalist brought about a convergence of inter­ "I got to the courtroom early that knowledge of FBI report that her re­ Tendency, gave testimony that an FBI ests with the plaintiffs, the SWP and morning. As I was sitting there, one of lease from Austin school system was attorney admitted had been prepared in YSA." Williams's associates, whom I had never result of cop report to administration collaboration with the government dur­ Massey informed SWP members hall­ met, pointed me out to him. on Sell's political affiliation. ing secret,'off-the-record meetings. dling the suit about the subpoena and "Williams came over and asked if I By contrast, Bill Massey's rejection of his attitude toward it. was Bill Massey. government overtures for off-the-record He then secured an attorney, Jesse . "I said, 'Yes.' DAY 52: TUESDAY, JUNE 23 meetings is an example of how members Berman. "I explained our position on "He asked if I had received his mes­ YSA leader Lisa Hickler testifies on of the workers movement have tradi­ the case, which was to cooperate with sage. I said I hadn't. YSA finances. tionally handled sue h moves by the po­ the plaintiffs." "Williams then said, 'We're dropping A certified public accountant for the lice. Berman then contacted Edward Wil­ you as a witness.' He paused a second, Internal Revenue Service testifies that The trial of the SWP and Young So­ liams, assi'stant U.S. attorney and head then added, 'Unless you want to be?' party's bookkeeping does not follow cialist Alliance suit against government of the legal team defending the FBI, "I said, 'No.' normal accounting procedures. Says it spying and ·harassment is now in its CIA, and other government agencies. "'Would y ou like to meet ·and talk is impossible to calculate profits and third month. . Williams said that Massey would not about it?' he asked. losses from such records. In an interview with the Militant, be called to testify for a few weeks. "'No,' I answered. Raymond Wawnall, retired high FBI Massey told how the government had When Williams inquired about the "doc­ "'Well, I'm sorry about the inconven­ official, explains Cointelpro history attempted to draw him into collaborat- ' uments" the government was asking ience,' Williams said. · and legal nature. Says that Cointelpro­ ing against the SWP and YSA, and how for, Berman said that his client had in­ "Then, as I was leaving the room, he ·type operations were approved on ad he rebuffed them at every turn. structed him to inform the government came after me and said, 'Mr. Massey.' hoc bases before formal launching of "It began when I got an unusual call that he had no such documents. "I turned around. program. Says that Cointelpro-type op­ on March 31," Massey said. "When the Still, in the next weeks Williams con­ " 'You are entitled to a $20 witness fee eration can be approved on a one-by­ caller identified himself as being from tinued to press Massey through his at­ for your trouble, if you like.' one basis but says to the best of recol­ the FBI, I immediately hung up." torney to produce the documents, even " 'No,' I said. 'I don't want anything lection none occurred between 1971 The next morning at 6:45 a .m. two though he repeatedly insisted that he from you.'" and his retirement in 1976.

JULY 3, 1981 THE MILITANT 7 POLITICAL POLICE ON TRIAL Political Rights Defense Fund rallies: and motives," Rush said. At the rally, which forty-five people "In World War I, the Espionage Act attended, Graves pointed out that "al­ was used against Eugene V. Debs, the though the Socialist Workers Party is socialist. In 1919, 350,000 steelworkers the main plaintiff in this trial, the real Chicago: struck. The Department of Justice plaintiffs are all of us, especially the moved in, carrying out raids on those Afro-American community." 200 attend who were aliens and began deporting Lee Faye Mack spoke of her many them." years of experience as a leader of Win­ June 13 rally Joni Rabinowitz, chairperson of the ston-Salem's Black community. By Jon Hillson Pittsburgh chapter of the. New Amer­ "We're sitting in one of the most racist CHICAGO-It was an evening where ican Movement, said, "The defense of towns on the map of America," Mack the slogan "an injury to one is an injury free speech is probably the most impor­ told the audience. "When all the 'have to all" came to life. tant right we need to maintain. For nots' come together, then don't you The occasion was a June 13 rally in without free speech there is no move­ know there'll be changes in this coun­ support of the Socialist Workers Party ment. It is an indication of the time that try!" and Young Socialist Alliance lawsuit the government is now admitting to Mack reported that, only a few nights against government spying. As Illinois wiretaps and illegal searches with the before, Black City Alderman Larry Lit­ American Civil Liberties Union director excuse that it's okay to break the law in tle returned to his car after a meeting at Jay Miller told the more than 200 people the interest of national security. city hall to find "KKK" written all over present, the case "is incredibly impor­ "The Socialist Workers Party suit is it. "Now that car was parked right be­ tant to all of us." being carefully watched as a test case to tween the jailhouse and the police sta­ Greetings to the rally, sponsored by see how much they can intimidate us in­ tion," Mack explained, "and you can't the Political Rights Defense Fund, came to shutting up. We cannot and will not tell me someone wrote all those 'K's' on from a range of groups and individuals: LOU PARDO let this happen," she said. there without being seen." the Chicago chapters of the NAACP, the Other speakers included Bob Ander­ The local Ku Klux Klan, which has staff of the newsweekly In These Times, son of the Communist Workers Party, been increasingly active, is running its Illinois National Organization for Wom­ important defense campaigns. One in­ who spoke on the case of the NASSCO leader, Joe Grady, for mayor ofWinston­ en President Sheila Stoll Clark, and Illi­ volves a suit against the government for Three, in which an FBI agent provoca­ Salem as a Republican. nois International Association of Machi­ complicity in the murders of five anti­ teur was used to frame three union mil­ Mack said that people had called her nists Legislative Director Charles Wil­ Klan demonstrators in Greensboro, itants. to ask why she was speaking "down liams. North Carolina, in November of 1979. Jesse McDonald, a member of the there at a socialist rally." She replied, The urgency of the socialists' legal The other is the case of three union acti­ Young Socialist Alliance and a striking "If their rights have been violated, my battle was highlighted by Lou Pardo, vists at the San Diego. NASSCO ship­ coal miner, and Richard Blackett, a pro­ rights have been violated." president ofiAM Local 113, the largest yard recently convicted on trumped-up fessor of Black Studies at Pitt Universi­ Mack and Graves are both active in tool-and-die unit in the International conspiracy charges on the basis of testi­ ty, spoke about the current threat by the the Winston-Salem chapter of the Na­ union. mony provided by an FBI agent provoca­ Immigration and Naturalization Ser­ tional Black Independent Political Par­ Attacks on the SWP, he said, "are a teur. vice to deport j>eople if they disagree ty. Mack stated that the NBIPP is like a prelude to the main course," an all-out Other speakers included prominent "With government policies. new baby about to be born and "there assault on the labor movement by the civil libertarian Quentin Young, Leroy Both McDonald, who was born in Ire­ ain't no stopping us . with infiltra­ government and big business, who be­ Wolins ofVeterans for Peace, SWP lead­ land, and Blackett, who was born in Tri­ tors-the baby will be born in August in lieve "trade unions should not exist in er Fred Halstead, and Chicago YSA nidad, could be victimized by such a Chicago. We want all the Black sisters any viable form." member Lori Laningham. move. and brothers here tonight to join the The crisis in the U.S. economy, Pardo Greetings came from the Committee Malik Miah, SWP national co-chair­ Black Independent Political Party." said, has made the historic "gentlemen's for Reconstruction and Aid to the People person, gave an update on the trial. Also speaking at the rally were Doug agreement between the union leader­ of Nicaragua and the Committee in Soli­ Participants reached deep into their J enness, a member of the political com­ ship and the corporations" obsolete. darity with the ·People of El Salvador. pockets to contribute more than $700 to mittee of the Socialist Workers Party, That deal, he said, of official union sup­ These committees and the Chicago Cu­ help with the costs of the case. and Travis Payne, a member of the Na­ port for U.S. foreign policy in exchange ba Committee displayed literature at tional Lawyers Guild. for "steady, regular increases in the the rally. "The SWP suit comes at a very oppor­ standard of living," is over. Among those attending the rally were tune time- a time when government in­ "Ws a new ballgame," Pardo told the members of the Democratic Socialist Or­ timidation and the police state mentali­ crowd. Attacks on the rights of Blacks, ganizing Committee and the Commu­ ty are on the rise," Payne told the rally. Latinos and socialists are the opening nist Party. Supporters of the Commu­ "It gives us the opportunity to educate salvos. nist Workers Party, Revolutionary ourselves and others about what's going Pardo called the government-corpo­ Communist Party, and the Communist on. Anyone who loves democracy should rate gang-up on fifteen socialist Party, USA (Marxist-Leninist) also had be supporting this lawsuit." workers, fired from the lAM-organized literature tables at the event. Participants at the rally approved Marietta, Georgia, Lockheed plant, a Urging broader and deeper solidarity telegrams protesting the conviction of challenge to the labor movement. If against attacks on democratic rights three trade unionists at the NASSCO such attacks go unanswered, he asked, was a common stance taken by speakers shipyard in San Diego and the threa­ "what happens to our freedom of at the rally. tened deportation of Young Socialist Al­ thought and action?" "If we learn to stick together," SWP liance member Mojgan Ha riri ~ Vijeh. The SWP, Pardo said, "is defending leader Fred Halstead said to cheers and They also pledged over $900 to the Polit­ the constitution. It is a serious political applause, "if we learn to disagree as ical Rights Defense Fund to pay the le­ group with serious political ideas and is comrades, as brothers and sisters, while gal costs of the trial. offering solutions" to the problems fac­ uniting against them-and we all know ing the trade unions. who 'them' is- then we can beat them, The socialists, Pardo continued, "have too." the right to project their views, the right San Diego: to be listened to, and the right to win ad­ herents. A victory in their suit is a victo­ Defend the ry for all of us." Pittsburgh: LEE FAYE MACK This spirit of solidarity was a power­ NASSCO 3 ful theme in the rally. From the moving We all have a By Mary Calder presentation on behalf of the rights of SAN DIEGO- A rally here June 6 for foreign born activists given by Black stake in this suit Winston-Salem: the Socialist Workers Party lawsuit South African exile Dennis Brutus, a re­ By Kathy Mlckells against the FBI, CIA and INS drew sev­ nowned poet the U.S. government is PITTSBURGH-Sixty steelworkers, FBI won't stop enty-five people and raised more than seeking to' deport, to Chicago Alderman miners, environmentalists, and antiwar $2,000. Danny Davis's plea for financial support activists gathered here June 6 at a rally Rodney Johnson, one of the NASSCO to PRDF. sponsored by the Political Rights De­ 'Black party Three, was a featured speaker . He and Davis's fund speech brought in more fense Fund. By Steve Craine two other workers at the National Steel than $2,600. An additional $500 was It was obvious that Reagan's attacks WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.- "For the and Shipbuiding Company in San Diego raised for PRDF in response to a Chica­ on working people's rights are not sit­ past eight weeks, one of the most impor­ were recently convicted on trumped-up go fund letter. ting well with anyone. tant 'political' trials in this nation's his­ charges of conspiracy to bomb the ship­ Lawyer Mike Deutsch saluted local Speakers included Molly Rush , direc­ tory has been taking place in New York. yard. The government's key witness was supporters of the Pontiac Brothers, 17 tor of the Thomas Merton Center and a A trial with perhaps more serious rami­ an FBI agent-provocateur, Ramon Bar­ Black prisoners recently acquitted of defendant in the trial of the Plowshares fications for the Black American com­ ton. The three are scheduled for sen­ frame-up charges stemming from the Eight antinuclear protesters (who in­ munity than the trials of Joan Little, tencing on July 14, and could face up to Pontiac Prison rebellion where three cluded Daniel and Philip Berrigan). She Angela Davis and the Wilmington 10 forty years in jail. · white guards were killed. A lawyer for put the current suit of the Socialist combined!!!" Johnson and Mark Loo, another one of the Pontiac Brothers, Deutsch was Workers Party and Young Socialist Al­ This was the opening paragraph in a the frame-up victims, are members of warmly applauded when he urged de­ liance against the government in histor­ signed editorial, "FBI on Trial," in the the Communist Workers Party. fense of his other clients, the Puerto Ri­ ical perspective. J une 13 issue of The Chronicle, Win­ Johnson expressed appreciation to all can nationalists accused of being · "Particularly in times of military ston-Salem's Black weekly. That same who have supported the defense effort members of the Armed Forces of Nation­ build-up approaching wars and in war­ night, Clifton E. Graves, Jr., the author of the NASSCO Three. "We have to al Liberation (FALN). time, this has been the result- repres­ of the editorial, spoke at a rally in sup­ continue to build this type of unity gen­ Mark Blessoff of the Communist sion, attempts to jail people, or to exile port of the Socialist Workers Party law­ erated in the course of our struggle at Workers Party spoke on behalf of two people who question government tactics suit. NASSCO to stop the attacks on the

8 THE MILITANT JULY 3,1981 Socialist suit fi hts for eve one's rights tion of these statements of solidarity from various organizations. "One of the most positive and ironic things that is happening around this case is that a tremendous amount of unity has been forged precisely to fight against the FBI and other government agencies who sought to blow apart such unity," Pulley said. "People have learned to unite in spite of whatever differences they may have, we need to unite in the face of a common enemy. It bodes well for the future struggles of all working people and of all those who are oppressed that such unity is being forged today." Philadelphia: $2,500 raised for PROF By Bob Stanton PHILADELPHIA-Defense of Irish freedom fighters was a feature of the Political Rights Defense Fund rally held here at the First Unitarian Church June 6. Militant More than 100 people gathered to sup­ Three NASSCO workers framed by the FBI, David Boyd, Mark Loo, and Rodney Johnson. SWP member Hector Marroquin, right, port the fight for democratic rights and read a support statement at June 6 news conference in San Diego. the S~cialist Workers Party lawsuit against government spying. They con­ tributed more than $2,500 to PRDF. American people," he said. sorship of political thought and where it attended the Political Rights Defense Portions of the rally were filmed by SWP member Hector Marroquin, who might end; who will be next, and where Fund rally here June 14 to show their Channel6-TV. told the rally about the socialist trial in will it stop." support for the Socialist Workers Party Jack McKinney, columnist for the New York, stressed the importance of Kevin O'Connor of the Irish Rights lawsuit against the government. They Philadelphia Daily News spoke about supporting the NASSCO Three. Committee spoke about the lack of civil contributed more than $900 toward le­ the case of Michael O'Rourke, an Irish Earlier in the week Marroquin gave rights in Northern Ireland and the gal expenses in the case. freedom fighter who has been impri- . greetings to a fundraising program at­ struggle for a free and independent Ire­ Jose Angel Gutierrez, a founding soned in the United States and faces de­ tended by seventy-five supporters of the land. member of the Raza U nida Party and portation. McKinney said that new evi­ NASSCO Three. Kirk Olson of Orange County Irish former judge in Zavala County, Texas, dence proved Immigration Service ha­ Cindy Pearson of Woman Care told of Northern Aid entertained the audience was unable to attend the rally, but sent rassment of the judge hearing a Department of Health investigation with revolutionary Irish music. the following message: "I am an activist O'Rourke's deportation case. Margie into four women's self-help clinics inCa­ Greetings were sent to the rally by in the Chicano struggle against the very Lee O'Rourke added that government lifornia, part of a general attack on Jim Walsh of the American Civil Liber­ same agencies the SWP faces in court to­ agents who were involved in a "criminal women's rights. She was optimistic ties Union. day. I must stand with you. conspiracy should be in jail," not ller about the outcome of her struggle and "Many of us in the Chicano struggle husband Michael. the others: have been the target of surveillance, Karen Detamore, National Board "I'm confident all of us will win, the sabotage, intrigue, and harassment for member of the National Lawyers Guild, SWP with their suit, the NASSCO Portland: years. The files we have obtained under commended the SWP for not settling out Three.... We will not let them separ­ the Chicano Legal Defense Fund pro­ of court. She urged all to "fight to see ate us anymore," Pearson said. Unity is being gram reveal the extent to which many of that the gains of the last twenty years' Bill Roe, a founding member of the us in Raza.Unida have been targeted by struggles are not lost." Committee Against Registration and the FBI, the CIA, the INS and many oth­ Max Weiner, longtime leader of the the Draft, also gave greetings to the ral­ forged today ers. It is imperative that we all join with Philadelphia Consumer's Party, called ly. The outcome of the SWPlawsuit will By Bev Hansen you t!hold the government accountable attention to the Militant news coverage affect many, he said. "The issue is cen- PORTLAND-More than forty people for these senseless activities that consti­ ~n the trial. He attacked the gov­ tute the most basic criminal actions." ernment's assertion that the Constitu­ "We support you because the govern­ tion gives the president virtually dicta­ ment's illegal activity over the past for­ torial power. He added that if the SWP ty years is an attack against all of us, succeeds, then all who act for peace and Political Rights Defense Fund against everyone who dares have and progress will be able to work "with a lit­ voice any criticism against the govern­ tle more freedom." _rallies planned ment," declared Elizabeth Linder of the Leonel Zepeda from Asociaci6n del Women's International League for Istmo Centroamericano Nicaragftense Supporters of the Political Rights Defense Fund are planning rallies across the Peace and Freedom. "We support your (known as ISTMO and representing the country during June and July. Up-to-the-minute trial news on the Socialist Workers courage,.dedication and perseverance in Nicaraguan community of Camden, Party $40 million lawsuit against the government will be a main attraction. not accepting a settlement out of court New Jersey) spoke of the importance of and in taking this lawsuit all the way to the struggles in Central America. Victims of the government's political police-trade unionists, Black rights acti­ trial at the cost of thousands of dollars Philip Foner, the noted labor histori­ vists, participants in the women's movement, and others--will be featured speak­ and hours of time. We recognize the im­ an, stressed, "the time to assert a right ers. For more information on the rally nearest you, call the numbers listed below. portance of this trial to all of us, and we is when that right is called into ques­ thank you." tion." June 27 Newark July 11 Washington, D.C. Co-chairperson of the Citizens Party Jane Perkins of the Harrisburg Com­ (201) 643-3341 (202) 797-7699 in Portland, John Troxel, said, "I bring mittee for Safe Energy and Full Em­ June27 Morgantown July 12 Kansas City, Mo. from our members the greetings, best ployment, spoke, as did Sonia Sanchez, (304) 296-0055 (816) 753-0404 wishes, and most of all thanks for the ef­ professor and poet and herself a victim June27 Phoenix July 11 Virginia, Minn. fort you have undertaken, which is cur­ of FBI harassment. Sanchez read a sa­ (602) 255-0450 (218) 749-6327 rently being played out in New York tirical poem she had written about the June27 Newport News, .Va. City. Our chapter is in complete support FBI. (804) 380-0133 of the Socialist Workes Party in its suit Father Paul Washington, of the June28 Milwaukee against the federal government. Church of the Advocate in North Phila­ (414) 445-2076 "We support this action because it is delphia, gave the fund appeal for PRDF. June28 Louisville right and correct, but also, frankly and The fund collection featured the auction (502) 587-8418 pragmatically, because it could have of an original cartoon by syndicated car­ July 1 Albuquerque profound implications down the road for toonist Tony Auth, which Auth donated (505) 842-0954 us," Troxel added. "What the govern­ to PRDF. July2 Denver ment is now doing to the SWP and other Nelson Blackstock of the Militant re- · (303) 534-8954 groups, it could be doing in the future to ported on the political issues coming to July 11 Boston others, including the Citizens Party." the fore in the trial. (617) 262-4621 Dave Worthington, president of Local Statements of support at the rally July 11 Atlanta 724 of the Brotherhood of Painters and were read from Spencer Coxe, past di­ (404) 872-7229 Allied Trades, spoke of the need for soli­ rector of the Philadelphia ACLU; Jeff darity from the labor movement. Brown, vice-president of Dist. Council Andrew Pulley, the 1980 SWP presi­ 33, AFSCME; and the National Alliance dential candidate, voiced his apprecia- of Third World Journalists.

JULY 3, 1981 THE MILITANT 9 POLITICAL POLICE ON TRIAL Testimony of socialist city councilman Below is a slightly abridged tran­ I had also the party's candidate for script of the testimony under direct vice presidentofthe United States, who examination of Mel Mason, Seaside, at that time was Willie Mae Reid, to California, city councilman and a speak at Monterey Peninsula College. member of the Socialist Workers I had an opportunity to discuss with Party, in the trial of the U.S. govern­ them the Socialist Workers program, re­ ment. flecting also on the fact that I had been Direct examination was conduct-· reading the Militant off and on over the ed May 28 by Donna-Marie Gilligan, years and I remembered that Malcolm X a member of the socialists' legal had made some real good statements team. that the Militant was a good newspaper. Judge Thomas Griesa presided. So it was this combining of having read the Militant anc.\ having met the Q: Where do you live, Mr. Mason? then-Socialist Workers Party candi­ A: I live in Seaside, California, which dates for office that helped me make up is located on the Monterey Peninsula, my mind to become a member of the So­ which is in the central coast area of Ca­ cialist Workers Party. lifornia. It was immediately after that contact Q: And are you a member of the that I had with those two candidates Socialist Workers Party? that I then drove over to the Salinas Of­ A: Yes, I am. fice of Elections, Monterey County, and Q: Where are you currently em­ had my voter registration changed from ployed? Independent to that of the Socialist A: I am employed at Monterey Penin­ Workers Party. sula College in Monterey, California, Q: Now, you stated earlier that and I am student activities coordinator. you were elected to the Seaside City Q: How long have you been so em­ Council in 1980. Was that the first ployed? election you ran in? A: I have been working there now for A: No, I ran for office once before in seven years. 1977. I ran for the Monterey Peninsula Q: Do you hold any electoral posi­ Unified School District School Board. tions? There were three seats, if I remember A: Yes, I do. I am a city cou~cilman MEL MASON correctly. for the City of Seaside, California. Judge Griesa: When did you run Q: When were you elected? for the school board? A: In April of 1980. worked in the daytime and I went to child Industries right outside Sunny­ A: In 1977. Q: Did you ever serve in the school at night for about two-and-a-half vale, California. We organized the Judge Griesa: On what ticket? Armed Forces? years, and I received a bachelor of arts Black workers caucus at Lockheed, A: I ran, well, it is a non-partisan A: Yes. I was in the United States Air degree in political science and sociology. which was in Sunnyvale, and also at election, so therefore no one is allowed Force from 1961 to 1965. Q: After you left college in 1967, Western Electric. to declare their political party, but I ran Q: Were you honorably dis­ were you involved in any union ac­ Q: Did you participate in any pub­ openly as a socialist. charged in 1965? tivities? lic activities with the Black Panther I ran on a platform that included affir­ A: Not in 1965. In 1965 I was dis­ A: Yes. I was working at Western Party? mative action, relevant curriculum for charged from the United States Air Electric Company in Sunnyvale, Cali­ A: Yes. I participated in a number of minorities, community .control over de­ Force with a bad conduct discharge. I fornia, from 1967 to 1969. In 1969 I was political rallies and also community fo­ cision-making that occurred at the had been involved in a theft when I was instrumental in helping to establish a rums and ·community meetings. board level within the school district, overseas, in Istanbul, Turkey. I was Black workers caucus for Black workers Q: Why did you leave the Black and also dealing with discriminatory court-martialed and I spent time in the · at Western Electric Company. Panther Party? punishment that was being meted out to stockade. The purpose of that caucus was to deal A: I left the party in 1969 because Black students in the Monterey Penin­ After that I was stationed at Fort with the problems that were besetting something was happening that I did not sula Unified School District. Worth, Texas, at· Carswell Air Force Blacks on the job; namely, we were deal­ agree with myself personally. I felt that I think it was significant in this cam­ Base, at which time my Air Force record ing with the problems of hiring, we were the political perspective of the Black paign that there were three seats open was causing me to have some difficulties dealing with the problems of affirmative Panther Party had changed; that there at the time and I finished fourth in the with noncommissioned officers in action, we were dealing wit}) the prob­ was-an evolution going on with the par­ election. charge and I went AWOL and was sub­ lems of promotions for Blacks, discrimi­ ty that was moving the party more in Gilligan: You said you did run as sequently discharged from the Service. natory treatment against Blacks on the the direction of being rhetorical about a socialist? Q: Did you ever get this bad con­ job. the revolution, and moving away from A: Yes, I ran openly as a socialist. duct discharge changed? Q: Did you belong to any political · the mass-based organizing of Black peo­ Q: Why did you decide to run for A: Yes. In 1967, the discharge was parties during this time? ple that originally attracted me to the city council in 1980? changed to one under honorable condi­ A: In 1968 I joined the Black Panther party . A: After my organizing work with tions by the then-senior senator from Party. .• I felt that the party was spending the Citizens' League For Progress, there California, Mr. Thomas Kuchel. Q: And how long were you a more time making rhetoric about the were a number of citizens who came to I went back to college in 1966. member? revolution, and that they were not me and asked me to consider running for Q: Did you graduate from Monte­ A: I was in the Black Panther Party spending hardly any time at all in or­ office, for the office of city council, be­ rey Peninsula College? from 1968 until 1969. ganizing Black people around the day­ cause they felt that they had not been A: Yes. I graduated from Monterey Q: Why did you join? to-day struggles that were happening in receiving adequate representation and Peninsula in 1967 with an associate of A: I joined the Black Panther Party the community. So I left. that I would be a person who would not arts degree. because I felt that the party had the best Q: After you left the Black Panth­ be afraid to deal with the real issues Q: Did you attend any further col­ program and was also addressing, was er Party, were you involved in any that confronted the community. leges? doing more in terms of addressing the other political organization? I considered it, I ran for office. Those A: Yes. When I left Monterey Penin­ problems that were besetting the Black people supported me, the Citizens' sula College, I left with approximately people in this country. I joined for that League For Progress supported me, and ·70 athletic scholarships in basketball. I · reason. Community activities I subsequently won my seat on the city chose to go to Oregon State University." Q: What was the Black Panther A: In 1976, I helped to found and es­ council. Party doing? tablish the Community Action Coalition Q: What were the issues of your Discrimination in sports A: Well, the thing that attracted me in Seaside, California. That was an or­ campaign? After I enrolled at Oregon State Uni­ to the Black Panther Party was the fact ganization that was established primar­ versity and signed the scholarship con­ that they were advocating, first of all, ily to address the needs and issues that Affirmative action tract, then I found that there were some the mass organizing of Black people. were affecting Blacks, poor people, and A: My campaign dealt specifically discriminatory limit standards that They were also advocating independent minorities in the Seaside community. with affirmative action in city hall as applied to Bl~ck athletes, Black stu­ political action on the.part of the Black Q: And were you involved in any far as hiring, affirmative action for con­ dents in general. That was that Blacks people. I felt as though those were two other community organizations? tracts with the city in terms of getting were not allowed to be out on the street things that were necessary for Black A: Yes. in 1979 we dissolved the more. minority contractors involved, in as late as whites, that Blacks were not people to be able to accomplish their Community Action Coalition because I that the contracts were processed at city allowed to go to certain places where goals and to resolve the problems that had been asked by a number of citizens hall. whites attended, and basically we were were besetting them. in Seaside to help form what became a I also ran a campaign that was deal­ asked by the athletic administration to Q: What activities did you engage larger-based organization called the Ci­ ing with the problems of housing in that keep a very low profile as far as living in as a member of the Black Panther tizens' League for Progress, which was area, especially housing problems that outside the campus was concerned. I Party? also an organization that supported my affected minorities and poor people. challenged that and told the coach that I A: Well, first I was, since I was al­ political campaign for office. J was advocating an ordinance that couldn't live by those kinds of rules and ready involved in union organizing, the Q: How did you decide to join the would control rents, and also advocating standards. Black Panther Party simply asked that Socialist Workers Party in 1976? an ordinance that would ban discrimi­ We had confli<;ts. I was kicked off the I continue to carry out that particular A: Well, in 1976, I had a number of nation against children in rental units basketball team and then I withdrew function. Socialist Workers Party candidates for which impacted extremely heavily on from college. We organized Black workers caucuses office to speak on campus at Monterey the minority community. Q: Did you ever finish college? not only at Western Electric Company, Peninsula College. I had the Socialist I campaigned heavily for jobs, ·espe­ A: Yes; I did. I finished college in but also caucuses at places like the Ford Workers Party candidate for the guber­ cially jobs for youth, and also for in­ 1972 at Golden Gate University, which plant in Milpitas, California. We organ­ natorial office in California to speak at creased public participation in the deci­ is located in San Francisco, California. I ized Black workers caucuses at Fair- MPC. sion-making process at city hall.

10 THE MILITANT JULY 3, 1981 Q: Did you run in that election that were passed by the city council. ever using my title of city councilman which was formed last November in campaign as a socialist also? Those were two ordinances dealing with whenever I engage in, as they say, uni­ Philadelphia. A: Yes, I ra n openly as a socialist, affirmative action. lateral activities. Q: Do you hold any elected posi­ but, again, due to the California non­ One was dealing with giving minority Q: Is this resolution in effect? tions in that party? partisan election laws, I was not allowed vendors additional bidding credits m A: No, the city attorney made a pub­ A: Yes. I am a member of theN ation­ to state my party affiliation on a ballot the bidding process. lic statement to the effect that the reso­ al Party Organizing Committee. form or anything. Judge Griesa: What process? lution was without any legal effect Q: What does the National Black But I did run openly as a socialist. I A: Bidding for vendor's contracts whatsoever. Independent Political Party stand ran at that time in my campaign telling with the ,city. The minority vendors fu~ . people that I was a supporter and affil­ were given a 4 percent,- FBI harassment A: The National Black Independent iated with the Socialist Workers Party. Griesa: These were city ordinan- Q: Have you ever encountered Political Party, first of all, stands In fact, some of the people who were ces? any harassment or any interference against racism and sexism in this coun­ opposed to me running for office ran let­ A: Yes, ordinances. in your life from the FBI? try. ters to the editor, ads in the newspaper Griesa: Were they pas~ed? A: Well, let's see. After I had learned It stands for the promotion of the in­ to the effect that I was a member of the A: Yes, they were passed. of the visit of the FBI to Burlington, terests of Black people and building an Socialist Workers Party and that as a The other affirmative action ordi­ Vermont, I called the Monterey County independent political vehicle to make result of that people should not vote for nance I passed was dealing with'minori­ office of elections. This must have been sure that those issues and concerns of me. ty contractors; that 9.1 percent of all city around, I guess, the 15th of April. [The Black people are addressed in the politi­ Q: How was your campaign con­ contracts over $10,000 would have to be FBI sent an agent to investigate Bur­ cal arena. ducted? given to minority contractors. lington Mayor Bernard Sanders after Q: Who belongs to this party? A: It was a very low-budget cam­ Also for major cpntractors, the ordj­ his name came up at this trial as an A: People from all backgrounds and paign. Most of our work was done in the nance provides that all major contrac­ elector for the SWP in 1980.] all walks of life belong to this party. streets. We talked to people in the tors would have to have at least 20 per­ I asked the assistant registrar of vo­ For instance, we have people who at streets, we went door-to-door and, of cent minority and women working in all ters from Monterey County if the Feder­ one time or another were involved in course, I held a number of community craft areas with the corporation in order al Bureau of Investigation had been by Democratic and Republican Party polit­ meetings. to qualify for contracts. in any way conneCted with me. ics. We have people in this party who Q: How many people ran for city Q: Were you opposed to any reso­ She said that they had. They had were members of unions, members 'of council? lutions or ordinances? come by and she said they flashed community organizations throughout A: There were eleven people running A: Yes. There were two ordinances­ badges, but she was not at liberty to di­ this country, and also people who are for city council and there were two seats Judge Griesa: I don't know what vulge any information. I would have to members of churches. available. this relates to. The case is not about talk to Mr. Ross Underwood, who was Q: Is there any conflict or contra­ Q: How many people live in Sea­ affirmative action or rent control of the registrar of voters for Monterey diction in belonging to the Socialist side? Section Eight subsidies or any of County. Workers Party and the National A: 36,000. these other items. I contacted Mr. Underwood the next Black Party? Q: As a socialist city council Gilligan: I understand, your Honor. day, and he said that the FBI indeed had A: No, there is no conflict at all. In member, what activities have you Griesa: These other projects been by, two agents had come by. fact, the Socialist Workers Party has engaged in since you were elected? which this witness was in favor of, it They had asked for copies of my elec­ long supported the idea and concept of is irrelevant to me what he was in fa­ tion file. I asked Mr. Underwood, did the the Black political party. Strike support vor of or not in favor of. FBI tell him why they were asking for The Socialist Workers Party supports A: I supported three strikes publicly Gilligan: The reason that I am ask­ my election file? He said no. the National Black Independent Politi­ since I have been in office. ing these questions, and there are only a So I called the FBI office in Monterey cal Party and supports and encourages One was involving the International very few more on what he has done, is and asked to speak to whoever was in its building, just as we support and en­ Brotherhood of Carpenters. The other that Mr. Mason is the only person in the charge there. courage the building of the independent was involving the Meat Workers Union, Socialist Workers Party holding elected The secretary told me that no one was labor party for the working class. and the other one was involving the lo­ office. in, but that she would take a message Q: As an elected official of the cal Social Service Workers Union. I think it is important to show to the and give it to the appropriate person. Seaside City Council, are you con­ In all of these strikes, I supported Court what an elected official who is a I left my name and also left the reason trolled or directed by the SWP in them publicly. In fact, in the case of the member of the SWP will do and is doing why I called-which was, namely, to your activities? Social Service Workers strike, I was on as an elected official. find out what was happening, whether the picket line walking with them. Griesa: He is on the city council or not I was being investigated. If I was Controlled by electorate Q: Have you been involved in any and whatever they do in the city being investigated. what I was being in­ A: No, I am not controlled by anyone other activities as a council council at Seaside. I assume that. vestigated for? except the electorate of Seaside. Those member? The question is, I don't know that I also called a press conference, be­ are the people that put me in office, and A: Yes. I was involved in organizing there is any claim that Mr. Mason cause it was my concern as a public offi­ those are the people who can take me two tenant unions. One was a senior ci­ aas done anything other than carry cial that, should information get out to out if they are dissatisfied with me. tizens tenant union at one of our local out his political beliefs in these the public that the FBI was over at the But I think what has to be taken into senior citizens housing projects. ways. Monterey County office of elections account here is the fact that I ran on a The way that came about was that the Gilligan: I don't think there has been looking in my election file, this would program as a socialist. I ran with the so­ · senior citizens contacted me and asked a claim directed specifically to Mr. Ma­ somehow imtfly to the community that I cialist program and that program was me for assistance in a problem they were son. am serving as a public official that I am voted on by the people. having in terms of rent hikes. Griesa: Let's have it very short. somehow under investigation by the The fact that I was voted into office Since they were on fixed income, and These are familiar programs that FBI. So I wanted to clear the air on that means that the people voted for me most of them living on Social Security people are for in some cases. I think particular issue. based on that program. benefits, they felt continuing rent hikes I understand. I received a call from the agent in As far as political discipline is con­ would just be something they could not What else do you have? charge-Mr. Bunch, I believe his name cerned, obviously I am under the politi­ afford. Gilligan: Mr. Mason, have any of is-the following day, asking me ifl had cal discipline of the SWP because I be­ They said that they had pleaded to your activities created any conflicts any questions for him. lieve in the party and I believe in the other elected officials in the past, and no with other council members? other elected officials helped them. They FBI run-around political program of the party. The one thing that has to be taken in­ felt I would be the one that would possi­ Black Gls I told him that I did. One of the ques­ bly at least try. to account here is the fact that, unlike • A: Yes. Some· months ago, I was ap­ tions I wanted to know was, was I under Democrats and Republicans who give us I went there. I helped them to organ­ proached by a group of Black GI's at any kind of investigation? He said no. one program when they run for office ize a tenants association because I felt it Then I asked him, if I am nOt under Fort Ord, California, which is a military and then exercise another program after was necessary for them to protect their investigation why were the agents over installation right outside of Seaside. they get elected, I carry out the same own interests with such an organiza­ At that time they told me they were at the Monterey County elections office program that I ran for office on. tion. frustrated because they had attempted asking about my election file? He said Then I got involved in communica­ to bring some grievances to the post no comment. Trip to Grenada tions with the Department of HUD command, and they felt these grievan­ I asked him, who could I talk to that [Housing and Urban Development ) to Q: Now, Mr. Mason, have you ces had been swept under the carpet. could comment on this? made any trips abroad since you see if there was some kind of program Specifically, they were talking about He said, you would have to call the that could be made available, that the were elected? the kinds of racism and discrimination United States Attorney's office. A: Yes. I was in Grenada March 9th Federal Government could use to assist they were receiving as Black GI's at I said, who would I talk to? those people in their rental situation, so through 16th. I went there for the specif­ Fort Ord. He said, I don't know. ic purpose of seeing for myself what was they would not have to be forced to pay They were saying that Blacks were­ I said, what is the number of the of­ rent hikes. going on in the country and then report- Judge Griesa: What is the rele­ fice? . ing that back to the constituents in Sea­ vance of this? There are many pro6- He said, I don't know that either. side, which I recently did. Rent hike blocked lems in Seaside and Fort Ord. All of I also read the following day's edition There was a program called Section these are difficult political problems of the Monterey Peninsula Herald, Q: Did you meet any government Eight, which is a federal assistance to in this country. which is the daily newspaper in that officials while you were there? rent program. Finally, after about three Mr. Mason has acted according to area. In that news article, it also said A: Yes. Briefly, I had a chance to or four months, HUD came down with a his beliefs. I don't need to get into all that the FBI stated that I was not under meet just about all of the ministers in declaration that said that the housing of these issues. investigation, but that they could not the government. I didn't have a formal project would be 100 percent Section­ The Fort Ord problem, I don't comment on the reason why they were meeting with them but I did get a Eighted, which means that every tenant know what it has to do with our case. there. chance to talk with them and discuss that lived in that unit would be exempt Gilligan: All right, let me just ask I did learn subsequently that the FBI with them my feelings of solidarity with from any rent hikes in the future be­ one other question. had made a statement later that they the revolution of the Grenadian people. cause Section Eight means that the ma­ Q: What happened as a result of were investigating something regard­ Q: And how did you report your jority of the rent is paid for by the feder­ your support to the Black soldiers at ing me and this particular trial. trip to your constituents? al government. . . . Fort Ord who were protesting dis­ Q: Mr. Mason, are you a member A:- This past weekend: we had a slide Q: Did you initiate or support any criminatory treatment? of any other political organizations show and discussion in Seaside, at resolutions or ordinances as a coun­ A: The city council that I served on besides the SWP? which I spoke and showed slides about cil member? passed a resolution a t the following A: Yes. I am a member of the Nation­ it, about Grenada. A: Yes I initiated two ordinances council meeting which forbade me from al Black Independent Political Party, Gilligan: No further questions.

JULY 3, 1981 THE MILITANT 11 Religious·groups, Cuba framed up in new Salvador 'white paper'

By Nelson Gonzalez He portrayed the United States as the Relief Services, Oxfam America, and Jon Glassman, the State Department victim of "a sustained political and mil­ the World Council of Churches. official who compiled the "captured" itary effort by Cuba to establish Com­ They have never been charged direct­ documents on which the department's munist regimes in the Caribbean and ly, learned of the charges through news­ white paper on El Salvador was based, Central America," said the Times. paper accounts, and have never been al­ admitted June 8 that the white paper is To bolster his claim, Enders pointed lowed to respond to the charges, which a bundle of inaccuracies. to such supposedly outrageous behavior they vociferously deny. As he was doing this, the State De­ as Cuba's economic and military aid to The new white paper charges that two partment announced that a new, im­ Nicaragua. Salvadoran relief agencies were plan­ proved white paper was coming out. According to Enders's logic, any coun­ ning to form a single organization that The "improved" version centers its try that refuses to join Washington in would then be secretely "controlled by fire on Cuba in order to smear the liber­ refusing aid to Nicaragua is guilty of Communist revolutionaries and whose ation movements in El .Salvador and "subversion." money would be used to buy arms, other Latin American countries as for­ The new white paper is being used to among other things," said the Journal. eign-based "communist conspiracies." prepare moves to tighten the U.S. eco­ Monsignor Robert J. Coli, assistant It even portrays American-based aid nomic embargo against Cuba. The director of Catholic Relief Services in organizations such as Catholic Relief Times reported: New York, went to El Salvador to check Services as dupes of the conspiracy. "The special report on Cuban support out the charges. It thus sets up Americans working for guerrillas in the Caribbean and Cen­ He found that two relief agencies did with these agencies in Latin America tral America is expected to serve as the merge into a single agency, known as for intimidation, torture, and even basis for increased United States pres­ ASESAH. But Monsignor Coli found murder for disagreeing with State De­ sure on the Havana regime. that President Jose Napoleon Duarte partment policy. "Mr. Enders said the Administration and Salvadoran acting Archbishop Ri­ The new white paper claims to be was considering tightening economic vera y Damas both endorsed ASESAH's based on the same sources as its prede­ regulations that allow some exports work and Damas had assigned "the best cessor, plus sixty-one other "captured" from the United States to Cuba and that priest in his diocese" to it. guerrilla documents. anti-Communist radio broadcasts were Nancy Clark of the World Council 'under very active consideration.'" of Churches denounced the charges .. During the Vietnam War, "captured "There are thousands of people, chiefly documents" were mass-produced by the The Reagan administration goes · widows and children, for whom this mo­ U.S. military and its Saigon allies to jus­ beyond threats to Cuba and other gov­ ney [relief aid] is responsible for their tify U.S. intervention. It can safely be ernments that show solidarity with the daily food," she pointed out. assumed that the Salvadoran military Salvadorans. It is also threatening relief The State Deprtment has informed and its U.S. "advisers" are up to similar organizations working in El Salvador Lawrence Simon, an official from Ox­ tricks. that have dared to tell the truth about fam, that it will distribute these red­ events there. baiting documents widely. Cuba targeted "An article based on the documents According to the June 9 New York Red-baiting attack was distributed in April by United Press Times, the new white paper "denounces According to the June 8 Wall Street International, which didn't quote the Cuba as the instigator of revolutionary Jou#nal, the State Department's Glass­ charities' denials," the Journal noted. movements in El Salvador, Guatemala, man has "declared that some of the doc­ Simon is worried that these lies will Colombia, and Costa Rica." uments, not yet generally released, be spread by Latin American newspa­ In testimony before the Senate For­ show that relief funds raised by several pers. "Saying someone is connected to eign Relations Committee, Thomas major U.S. charities are subject to diver­ the Communist Party of El Salvdor," he Enders provided a preview of the white sion to the Communist war effort in El said, "is tantamount to signing some­ paper. Enders is Reagan's choice for As­ Salvador, with or without the charities' one's death warrant down there. We're sistant Secretary of State for Inter­ knowledge." concerned about the. danger this has American Affairs. Organizations cited include Catholic placed our field staff in."

Canadian labor leader blasts U.S. interveni The 70,000-member Manitoba want to control those countries. . . . people. They told us stories of the movement involved in the Central Federation of Labour (MFL) has Those countries also have immense atrocities that are taking place, per­ American struggle? given strong support to the Sal­ natural resources. For example, in petrated by the right-wing military vadoran people. The MFL held a Guatemala it is well known that they junta and their supporters, the right­ Martin: I met last week with the solidarity concert on May Day and have some big oil finds [which] are of wing death squads. American consulate here and told raised $600 for food, shelter, and major importance to countries like I also question what the American them of the federation of lahor's dis­ medicine for the people of El Sal­ the United States. They certainly military are doing in El Salvador. gust with the American policy in El vador. don't want those mineral deposits and What is happening is that the Amer­ Salvador. I also told them of our de­ On May 27 'Socialist Voice' cor­ oil wells taken over by public corpora­ ican military-although they don't mand to remove all American troops respondents Bob Ages and Jack tions. So they are going to fight to the seem to be taking a direct approach to and military aid from El Salvador. I Wilson interviewed MFL presi­ bitter end. it at all-are certainly counseling told them the situation should be set­ dent Dick Martin. Martin is the tled internally and a political settle­ former president of the United ment should come about there, rather Steelworkers local at the Inco 'I met with the American consulate and told them of than a military settlement. . . . Nickel mine in Thompson, Manito- SV: What role do you see for Cana­ ba. · the federation of labor's disgust with the pqlicy in dian unions in the Salvador solidarity 'Socialist Voice' is the Canadian El Salvador. I told them of our demand to remove movement? · sister publication of the 'Militant.' The following interview has been all American mili tory aid from El Salvador.' Martin: I think the Canadian labor abridged for space reasons. movement can do two things. One is to advocate a political settlement in Socialist Voice: How would you de­ SV: Recently two unionists from El people to take care of all those dissi­ El Salvador through the political pro­ scribe the situation in El Salvador? Salvador visited Winnipeg. What did dents that don't agree with the gov­ cess. I totally support [NDP leader they tell you about the situation? . ernment. Ed] Broadbent on his mission to El Martin: It's not an unusual case. Salvador to try to bring about a settle­ What is happening in El Salvador is Martin: They talked about the bru­ ment there. precisely the same thing that hap­ tality that is taking place in El Salva~ SV: The Canadian Labour Con­ Failing that, I don't see any way pened in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and dor, the repression. Against the gress (CLC) was involved in the soli­ possible except a military solution to Honduras. An oligarchy has been in unions, but also against virtually darity campaign with Nicaragua, and the. whole thing, and I say military in control of the country for a long, long every group that has any progressive the MFL has supported the Salvado­ that the Democratic Revolutionary time. That oligarchy is supported by type of attitude at all: cooperatives, ran struggle with events like the May Front (FDR) should be supported in multinational food corporations that trade unions, even sm~ll business Day concert. How else is the labor order to overthrow . the government.

12 THE MILITANT JULY 3, .1981 I I I

Detroit labor backs Salvadorans On June 14, some 110 union members and others participated in a labor speakout on El Salvador, sponsored by the Detroit chapter of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CI$PES). The meeting was held at the Detroit headquarters of American Federation of State, County ).lew U.S. 'white paper,' which portrays religious and other aid organizations as and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). !Communist dupes, attempts to legitimize more actions like murder of four Catholic Victor Rubio, official spokesperson for the Revolutionary Democratic ~issionaries, left. Front (FDR), outlined the history of the Salvadoran trade union movement, the repression, and the fighting response of the unions. Cathy Callahan, president of AFSCME Local1640, read excerpts from the AFSCME International Executive Board resolution condemning military intervention in El Salvador. Reg McGhee, AFSCME international representative, stressed the crucial role of the solidarity movement in the United States and urged trade unionists present to continue their efforts at building the movement. Endorsers of the speakout included Robert Lopez, international represen­ tative of the United Auto Workers Union (UA W); UAW internatiomil vice­ president Mark Stepp; Mike Rinaldi, president of UAW Local 600; Harry Lester, distict director of District 29 United Steelworkers of America; and Gerald Deneau, president of Graphic Arts International Union Local 289. A statement of support sent by Martin Gerber, UA W international vice­ president, declared: "I am opposed to any U.S. involvement in that war-torn country. I support those in El Salvador seeking to exercise their basic hu­ man rights of free express!on, and to organize freely and independently. Trade unionists in El Salvador have shown tremendous courage in the face of severe repression. They deserve our full support in their struggle to ob­ tain a more free and democratic society." Stan Glassman, president of Lodge 82 of the International Association of Machinists, and Paul Domeny, general secretary of the United Catering, Restaurant and Bar Workers Union, also sent messages of solidarity.

Cultural festival solidarizes with Salvador On June 6-7, the Mexican Committee in Solidarity with El Salvador held a cultural festival in solidarity with the people of El Salvador. Uno Mas Uno, a Mexico City daily newspaper, reported that "the festival took place last Saturday and Sunday in the Plaza Hidalgo in Coyoacan, where thousands of spectators-in addition to taking in the music, the poe­ try, dance, and theatre of twenty-five Mexican, Salvadoran, Peruvian, and Chilean groups-also received the message of the armed struggle that liber­ ates a people from injustice and oppression." Gilberto Lopez y Rivas from the Mexican Committee in Solidarity with the People ofEl Salvador pointed out that "the festival is part of a series of activities to intensify the solidarity between the Mexican and Salvadoran people." He continued: "It can be affirmed that if Reagan intervenes in El Salvador, thousands of Latin American men and women will, be disposed to wage an international solidarity struggle." Uno Mas Uno reports that the United Union of Workers in the Nuclear In­ dustry contributed 4,463,000 pesos (US$185,214). On June 27-28, the first international forum of solidarity with the Salvadoran revolution will take place in Mexico City. More than 150 Mexican and Latin American organiza­ tions will attend. ion in E.l Salvador El Salvador 'Most Censored' story by media The June .12 Lancaster Independent Press reports: There is no other way about it. torship. I support that. "'Project Censored', a nation wide media project, has selected El Salvador When I say that, I am saying that Second, there is no evidence at all it as the most 'censored' story of 1980. the CLC and the MFL should support is a Communist conspiracy or any "Each year Project Censored, which is coordinated at Sonoma State Uni­ any way possible to achieve a political other kind of conspiracy. The people versity in California, names ten stories which nationally recognized media solution, meaning democratic elec­ simply want to have a part of the na­ jurors choose as being ignored or mishandled by the major media. tions.· But if there is not that, and I tional economy to live in some decen­ "El Salvador tops the list this year because, according to noted journalist mean in the very near future, we cy .. . Noam Chomsky, one of the project jurors, 'The major news media presented should throw our support behind the the American public with an inaccurate picture of what was happening people who are struggling for demo­ SV: The Honorable Secretary of cracy and control of their country. State has stated Canadian policy to be there.' And Carl Jensen, the project's director, adds that coverage ofEl Sal­ "quiet acquiescence" to the American vador is 'a prime example of how the mass media, either through misinfor­ SV: The American government has policy. Would you agree that that is mation or ignorance, generated public support for a misguided U.S. foreign said it supports the junta in El Salva­ Canadian policy? policy that threatened to embroil America in another Vietnam War.'" dor to stop the so-called "international What "Project Censored" failed to note, however, is that-despite the me­ Communist conspiracy." How would Martin: It's not acquiescence, it's dia's best efforts-polls show a majority of Americans oppose Washington's you answer that? total collaboration as far as I am con­ policy of providing arms to the junta. cerned. Every drop of blood that is Martin: There is ·no. evidence at all dropped by a Salvadoran peasant and that the El Salvadoran revolutionar­ guerrilla fighter is a responsibility of ies are supported by the Cubans or Canada's, just as much as it is of the 'Grenada-Nobody's Backyard' Russians. But I wouldn't be surprised United States and General Haig. if there was Cuban military equip­ The Americans, in my belief, would On June 26-27, the film, Grenada-Nobody's Backyard, directed by El­ ment and Russian military equip­ have listened to Canada if [Minister len Ray, will be shown at the New York Marxist School, 151 W. 19th St., ment there, and why not? of External Affairs Mark] McGuigan seventh floor. They made an appeal to the West­ had spoken out and said, "Your posi­ The showing begins at 8 p.m. for an admission of$3. Caldwell Taylor, rep­ ern world to support them and the tion is wrong, get out of El Salvador, resentative of the Grenada Mission to the United Nations, will be on hand to Western world turned them down. quit sending military equipment." answer questions. They are against a brutal repressive The Americans would have looked dictatorship, and if I was them I around a little more before they made -Nelson Gonzalez would go to any country in the world another move. We are guilty as much Please send information on activities in your area to Nelson Gonzalez, that would provide me arms to over­ as the Americans of what is taking 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. 10014. throw that brutal, repressive dicta- place there today.

JULY 3, 1981 THE MILITANT 13 • • • Poland's economy Continued from page 4 fered the same shocks of unemplo)mlent nal Picket The U.S. banks want to delay a deci­ and inflation as experienced by the capi­ sion on the debt repayments until the talist-·countries, its economy has suf­ Kania government convinces them that fered. Solution of the problem has been it can contain the working-class up­ blocked by. bureaucratic mismanage­ surge in Poland and implement the bru­ ment and the waste of resources by the tal austerity measures necessary to pay highly privileged officials. off the huge debt. Jaruzelski puts the demands of the At the current time, explained Rich­ bankers first. The Polish workers and ard Portes, economics professor at the farmers, on the other hand, are fighting University of London, in the June 19 for a solution that will protect the living New York Times, the banks "see no evi­ standards of working people and ad­ dence of improvements in Polish eco­ vance the overall interests of the Polish Cotton dust restrictions upheld in court nomic management and of willingness nation. to accept prolonged austerity." Jaruzelski is opposed to relying on Labor won an important victory on June 17 when the U.S. Supreme Court Portes believes that the U.S. loan the Polish workers and farmers to resist ruled that the benefits of cotton dust regulations should not be measured sharks will want even higher interest the demands of the banks, because he · against the costs to the industry. Such a step, the court said, "would inevita­ rates as part of an agreement. The Pol­ represents the special interests of the bly" lead to le~s protection. The decision upheld the cotton dust standard, ish government has already been pay­ privileged bureaucracy that governs Po­ which sets maximum allowable levels in mills. ing extortionist interest rates--1.5 per­ land today. The decision helps protect the health of an estimated 800,000 workers in cent above the standard European rate. Solidarity is putting forward a pro­ the textile industry who are exposed to cotton dust, the cause of brown lung. The bankers are outraged that while gram for solving the crisis. The stance of It was a setback for the Reagan administration, which is carrying out an the cost of Poland's scarce food supplies the union was summed up by Solidarity aggressive campaign to undercut Occupational Safety and Health Adminis­ soars, the price of food has not risen leader Lech Walesa at an International tration regulations. The ruling is a precedent against similar court cases on since last.summer. Labor Organization meeting in Geneva exposure to benzene, asbestos, arsenic, lead, and coke-oven emissions. June 5. On May 4, the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union organ­ Obstacle for bankers W alesa stated that the union was not ized thousands of active and retired textile workers to demonstrate in Wash­ "Keeping food prices down has been responsible for the crisis. Everyone ington and other cities in support of the cotton dust standard. expensive for the government," ex­ knows, he said, that the crisis is the re­ plained the Wall Street Journal, "be­ sult ofthe "political errors and the irres­ cause it has had to raise by about 40% ponsible economic and social policies of Harbor shutdown in Los Angeles what it pays farmers for their products. the state leadership over the last [sever­ ~e effect is a subsidy costing the gov­ al] years." Mike Downs, a longshoreman from Los Angeles, called to report on the ernment about $8.4 billion a year." twenty-four-hour shutdown of the Los Angeles harbor Monday, June 15. The big obstacle to the bankers' goal 'Solidarity will cooperate' The protest action included a rally by 5,000 workers at the Longshore of milking Poland for debt payments is Solidarity, he said, is prepared to co­ Hall. It was organized by the L.A. Harbor Coalition, eight local unions that Solidarity. operate with any "rational program for came together last year. The bankers, of course, do not" openly overcoming the economic crisis and of The aim of the protest action was to stop U.S. Senate Bill1182. It is an at­ call for harsh ·measures, like those de­ reconstructing the existing forms of or­ tack on the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers Compensation Act. The manded by Moscow in Poland. That ganization of our social and economic Reagan administration is pushing to reduce benefits and restrict coverage. would expose the duplicity behind life. We are conscious of the fact that to The protest was initiated by Local13 of the International Longshoremen's Washington's posture of sympathy for find a way out of the present difficulties and Warehousemen's Union. the Polish workers--a stance taken as will require sacrifices and self-denial part of their anti-communist, anti-So­ from every Pole. . . . viet propaganda campaign. "We have also advised all the An article in the New York Times, branches of the Solidarity union that August 31, 1980, noted that "both com­ they should not make any new wage de­ munist authorities and the capitalist mands or launch any new strikes with­ bankers recognize a common interest in out first consulting the central leader­ stability-so much so that one Western ship." banker, who asked not to be cited by W alesa added, "We intend to fight so name, said that if the Russians actually that no one in Poland goes without a job did invade Poland, the nation's credit and to defend the vital interests of the ratings might actually increase." poorest sectors of society in town and In his speech to parliament June 12, countryside alike." Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski Walesa made clear that the Polish 20,000 workers protest in Illinois pointed out that the efforts to reorganize workers take seriously the threats of in­ 20,000 trade unionists jammed the capitol grounds in Springfield, Illinois, Poland's economy were being seriously vasion from Moscow and have no inten­ June 2 to protest a flood of antilabor bills bei!lg proposed by the state legisla­ hampered by the lack of an agreement tion of giving up their hard-won gains. ture. with the Western banks. Solidarity stands with the over­ The rally was organized by the Illinois AFL-CIO and included large con­ whelming majority of the Polish people tingents from the building trades, steel, auto, rubber, and other unions. Blaming the workers who are united and committed to Jaruzelski, however, failed to explain deepening the changes occurring there. The Democrats and Republicans have proposed bills that reduce workers' the real causes of the crisis. "I would like, from this international compensation, unemployment insurance benefits, safety standards on con­ Instead, he blamed the workers. forum," Walesa told the meeting, "to tell . struction sites, and cut the "prevailing wage" on publicly funded projects. Industrial production in May, he said, everybody, all peoples of the world, that A "right to work" bill that was approved by the House Labor Committee was down 18 percent in comparison with the Poles are capable of settling their was voted down just a few days before the protest. May 1980. Coal production was down 20 own internal affairs by themselves and Robert Gibson, state AFL-CIO president, told the cheering crowd, "That percent. Moreover, incomes had in­ among themselves. It is the common in­ union-busting measure went down because they knew you were coming." creased, creating an excess of$16 billion terest that external intervention should of demand over supply. not become an obstacle to the process of "Polish workers work shorter hours, consolidation now going on in Polish so­ Sick of the givebacks produce less, but earn more," he com­ ciety." And he continued: plained. "The mountain of money" in "Our union was born out of protest. Workers at the Chrysler plant in Belvidere, Illinois, found their own way workers pockets he described as "suck­ Using the traditional methods of to mark June 15-the day they should have gotten a cost-of-living increase ing almost every product out of the workers' struggl~emonstrations and in their paychecks. market. Lines are getting longer, chaos strikes--it contributed in a definitive More than 50 percent of the night shift called in sick the Friday before. on the market deepens, and speculation way to launching a profound transfor­ Fifty percent of the day shift got sick that Monday. The company had to can­ grows." mation of the social and political life of cel production both times . . . and 1,300 fast-selling Omnis and Horizons What is the real reason for the crisis? the country. There is no area which has didn't come off the line. The Polish government's economic remained unaffected by this process of The COLA payment was lost in the last round of Chrysler givebacks, a planning in the past decade was based renewal." concession that workers in the Belvidere plant have overwhelmingly voted on the assumption that the market for against. Poland's products in the capitalist coun­ 'Only the beginning' tries would continue to expand. But this "Even though we are aware this is on­ perspective foundered when the capital­ ly the beginning of these changes, no Anti-communist oath ruled illegal ist economy went into decline on a world one in Poland has any doubt as to the A district court magistrate in Providence, Rhode Island, has ruled that an scale in the mid-1970s. Trade possibili­ fact that there is no way back to the pre­ anti-communist oath in Local 94 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters ties began to contract, forcing the Polish vious methods of ruling the country and and Joiners is illegal. government to borrow more and more governing its economy." According to an article in the June 12 Daily World, a newspaper that re­ from the imperialist banks. Solidarity "has become the greatest, flects the views of the U.S. Communist Party, District Court Magistrate the largest social organizaton in the his­ Mismanagement and waste Jacob Hagopian ruled on May 22 that the union was violating the First tory of my country. Its members . . . are Amendment by demanding that prospective union members declare wheth­ Attempts to pay back this enormous joined by one common striving . . . life er or not they are members of the CP. debt by cutting food subsidies and thus in civic freedom, in freedom of thought The suit was brought by John Hovan, a floor tile installer who refused to raising food prices, caused the explo­ and speech, in human dignity and na­ answer the question in 1978 and lost the chance to obtain work at a union siops in June 1976 and then in June tional sovereignty," he said. shop. 1980. This heralded the beginning of the Walesa added that "the principles of workers' upsurge, which brought down social justice, democratic freedoms and the Edward Gierek government in Sep­ independent action that are the guide­ Let us know what's happening in your area-strike news, union reso­ tember 1980 and led to the formation of lines of Solidarity transcend the fron­ lutions, local press clippings, whatever--drop us a line at the 'Militanr, Solidarity. tiers between states, blocs, or systems. 14 Charles Lane, New York, New York 10014. Although Poland (a workers state They are the common property ofthe la­ -Vivian Sahner with a planned economy) has not suf- bor movement."

14 THE MILITANT JULY 3, 1981 By Carole Lesnick Iiams, general chairman of BRAC Sys­ MINNEAPOLIS-Tulio Figueroa tem Board #46, representing clerks on Mendoza, the Salvadoran unionist seek­ the Burlington Northern Line, sent ing political asylum in the United packets of literature on the Mendoza States, has just completed a successful case to locals in the twenty-eight states tour of Minnesota. Mendoza is a he represents. member of ANDES, the Salvadoran Ed­ On June 16 Mendoza traveled to Vir­ ucators Association. ginia, Minnesota, in the Iron Range, The tour began June 13, when Mendo­ where he was interviewed by the Mesabi za participated in a panel on "The Labor Daily News, the Hibbing Tribune, and Movement Under the Republicans." The WEVE radio. panel was part of a three-day regional Mendoza spoke to fifty people at Me­ conference on union democracy in Min­ sabi Community College in a meeting nesota sponsored by the Association for sponsored by the Northern Minnesota Union Democracy (AUD). It was at­ Committee on El Salvador. A represen­ tended by sixty delegates from unions in tative of Minnesota Congressman the region. James Oberstar, author of House Reso­ Other panelists included Carl Auer­ lution 126, which would grant Salvado­ bach, professoroflaw at the University of ran refugees "extended voluntary de­ Minnesota; and Victor Reuther, former parture," greeted Mendoza and read a director of International Affairs for the message of support to the meeting. In United Auto Workers (UA W). addition, Mendoza was able to meet Ed After Mendoza spoke, Reuther blasted Walberg, vice president of Local 1938 Washington's role in El Salvador. Heal­ United Steelworkers of America,a spon­ so denounced the role of the American sor of previous solidarity activities. Institute for Free Labor Development I That evening, the St. Cloud Central (AIFLD), a CIA front that operates in El From left, Carole Lesnick, representative of El Salvador Solidarity Committee; Alan Labor Council passed resolutions con­ Salvador with official AFL-CIO support. Benjamin, representative of U.S. Committee for Justice to Latin American Political demning U.S. economic and military aid Reuther characterized the killing of two Prisoners; Tulio Mendoza; Bob Killeen, sub-regional director, Region 10 United Auto to the Salvdoran junta and supporting AIFLD officials by right-wing gangs as Workers; Virgil Moline, vice-president, Minnesota AFL-CIO and president of Minnea­ Mendoza's and all Salvadoran refugees' tragic, but pointed out that the two had polis Central Labor Council. right to asylum. nothing to do with the labor movement. A noon press conference in the Duluth Instead of carrying out an "agrarian'' re­ City Council chambers June 17 was at­ form in El Salvador that resulted in the On the evening of June 15 at the Min­ Other speakers included James Man­ tended by all three major networks and death of thousands of peasants, he said, nesota Labor Center, 225 people, mostly gan, member of the Joint Board of the KQDS and KDAL radio. The Duluth real union people would be out organiz­ trade unionists, turned out for a labor Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Tribune and Labor World, the AFL-CIO ing farmworkers right here in the speakout in support of Mendoza spon­ Workers, and representatives of the paper, were also on hand. United States. sored by the Minnesota state AFL-CIO. Guatemala and El Salvador solidarity Seventy people attended a rally at Fifty-two people signed Mendoza's pe­ An impressive array of speakers· par~ committees. Civic Plaza sponsored by the Duluth tition for asylum, including Reuther, ticipated. Bob Killee, sub-regional di­ Over $300 was raised and 150 people · Central Labor Council, the Northern Auerbach and Gordon Haskell, presi­ rector of UA W Region 10, chaired it. signed a petition requesting asylum for Minnesota Committee on El Salvador, dent of AUD. Virgil Moline, vice president of the Min­ Mendoza. and Clergy and Laity Concerned. On June 14 and 15, Mendoza was in­ nesota AFL-CIO and president of the Statements of support were sent to Speakers included Mendoza, Jenny Ri­ terviewed by Gordon Speilman, editor of Minneapolis Central Labor Council, al­ the meeting by Brotherhood of Railway chardson of the Duluth Federation of the Union-Advocate, newspaper of the so spoke. He brought a message of sup­ and Airline Clerks (BRAC) Minneapolis Teachers, Tom Huntley, representing St. Paul AFL-CIO; the Minnesota Daily; port from Dave Roe, president of the Lodge 1310, and by United Transporta­ the Duluth City Council, and Bishop and radio stations KUOM and KFAI. Minnesota AFL-CIO. tion locals 650 and 911. Gordon Wil- Paul Anderson of Duluth. 10,000-Ariz. workers hit union-busting move An estimated 10,000 unionists carried signs saying, "Keep America called the requested rate hike "outrage­ holders that the company's earnings in marched and rallied in Tucson, Arizona, Union," and denouncing Brown & Root, ous" and told the crowd, "it should not 1980 had improved for the sixth straight tfu. May 13, according to a story in The the scab contractor. be tolerated." year. The proposed rate hike would Arizona Republic. A significant number of the partici­ After the rally in Presidio Park, the bring in $28 million. They were protesting Tucson Electric pants were Chicano workers. protesters marched through downtown In an editorial entitled, "Outrageous!" Power Company's awarding of a $150 John Fitzpatrick, president of the Re­ to the power company's headquarters, The Arizona Republic complained of the million contract for construction of a tail Clerks Union, Local 727 in Tucson, where their annual shareholders' meet­ "gall" of the Palo Verde construction coal-fired power plant to a nonunion was cheered when he told the crowd, ing was taking place. workers in taking off from work to at­ firm. "open shop means scab shop or anti­ At that meeting, Theodore Welp, tend a labor protest rally. They were also outraged at the utili­ union shop." president of Tucson Electric, explained What really defied belief, the editorial ty's proposed 11.8 percent rate increase. Arizona is a "right-to-work" state. why Brown and Root, the largest continued, was that workers claime~ Among the demonstrators at the builder of power plants in the country, they were protesting rate hikes. Wednesday protest were almost all of Dudley Brown, business manager of won the contract. the 5,000 union workers from the Palo the Phoenix Building Trades Council, Brown and Root plans to use 500 few­ But, The Republic fumed, "Perhaps Verde nudear plant under construction explained, "We're here in Tucson be­ er workers than the union contractor it the most incredible statement flowing near Phoenix. cause the enemies of labor are here in was competing with. Utility officials es­ from this wildcat behavior came from a The Phoenix Building and Construc­ Tucson." timate this will save them $50 million union spokesman who tried to justify tion Trades Council, AFL-CIO, had ap­ He charged that Tucson Power "and in labor costs. the walkout by comparing it to the ac­ pealed for those workers to join the pro­ their Wall Street bankers want to break No estimates were given of the health tivities of Solidarity in Poland." test. the unions. hazards and poor working conditions The editorial concludes by urging ac­ At the rally__:reportedly the largest "We're mad as hell, and we're going to which result when too few workers are tion against the workers and measures ever in Tucson-iron workers, carpen­ blow the whistle on Brown and Root." employed on a construction project. to prevent such work stoppages in the ters, electricians, and other unionists Tom Volgy, vice-mayor of Tucson, Welp also explained to the. share- future.

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JULY 3, 1981 THE MILITANT 15 World news and analysis from. . . INTERCONTINENTAL PRESS combt::1t inprecor Irish hunger strikers win worldwide support By Sean Flood tain, has declared its support for the de­ DUBLIN-I recently got a sense of mands of the hunger. strikers. the extent of worldwide support for the Representatives of two left parties in republican hunger strikers in the H­ the Danish parliament, and thirty­ Blocks of Maze prison by speaking to eight members of the Finnish parlia­ Sean Halpenny, the secretary of the ment have declared their solidarity, as Foreign Affairs Bureau of Sinn Fein have the Catalonian and Basque par­ (the political organization associated liaments in Spain. with the Provisional Irish Republican Army). Trade union support "There has been support from all In Italy the three major union federa­ quarters of the world," Halpenny point­ tions have all taken up the cause of the ed out, "and this has been an ongoing hunger strikers and there have been process since the start of the first street demonstrations. hunger strike." That hunger strike ran The major newspapers in India have fifty-three days in October, November, blasted the British government's atti­ and December 1980 and ended withcon­ tude and supported Prime Minister In­ cessions by the British government, dira Gandhi's criticisms of Margaret which were later reneged upon. "On the Thatcher. second hunger strike," Halpenny con­ Leading figures in Iran have also tinued, "this support has solidified and made strong statements. Abolhassan advanced." Bani-Sadr and Ayatollah Khomeini In particular, Halpenny drew atten­ Funeral for Bobby Sands, hunger striker who died May 5 sent messages, as did the prime minis­ tion to the massive support for the ter and Tehran's mayor. The Iranian hunger strikers that has been seen in government sent a representative to the United States. A number of state Bobby Sands's funeral and renamed the legislatures have passed resolutions in freedom fighters have also come from 9,000 people marched through Lisbon street running past the British embassy support of the demands of the hunge.r the major organizations currently bat­ carrying black flags and pictures of in his honor. strikers. tling to overthrow the repressive junta Sands. Sinn Fein has also received support Many U.S. trade unions have ex­ in El Salvador. In France, Halpenny said, all four for the demands of the hunger strikers pressed their support for the hunger Cuban diplomats have publicly de­ major union federations have called on from the National Democratic Front-a strikers. Among them are the Team­ clared their support for the Irish prison­ the British government to grant the de­ broad coalition of political and cultural sters Union, the Texas Farmworkers ers. mands of the prisoners. There have also organizations-in the Philippines. Union, the New York Central Labor Messages have been received from a In Canada, the Irish struggle has been big demonstrations around the pri­ Council (representing one million number of important trade unions in been closely followed in Quebec in par­ soners in France. One of 10,000 people workers), the Ne'Y York Trades Council, New Zealand and Australia, including ticular. Halpenny pointed out that the was organized by the Communist Party. the California Labor Federation (repre­ the Australian Council of Trade Unions. major unions in French-speaking Cana­ The new French president, Franc;ois senting 1.75 million workers), and nu­ Among the national liberation move­ da, have sent messages of support. A Mitterrand, sent messages of condolence merous individual union branches. ments that have endorsed the demands May 8 support demonstration in Mont­ to the Sands family following Sands's Other U.S. groups that" have ex­ of the hunger strikers are the Popular real was led by the president of the Que­ death. pressed support include the Arab-Amer­ Front for the Liberation of Palesti­ bec Federation of Labor and the general In Belgium youth organizations re­ ican University Graduates, the Interna­ ne,the Zimbabwe African National secretary of the Quebec Teachers Feder­ sponded by printing tee-shirts bearing tional Indian Treaty Council (a body Union (now the governing party), the ation. pictures of the prisoners and slogans representing ninety-eight Indian na­ supporting their demands. South West Africa People's Organisa­ tions in the U.S.), and Puerto Rican and European support for the hunger The teacher's union in West Ger­ tion in Namibia, the African National ~hicano organizations. strikers has been "incredible" according many has declared its support for the Congress in South Africa, the Polisario Two important messages of support to Halpenny. During the first hunger prisoners. Prominent writers, artists, Front in the Western Sahara, the Eri­ were sent to Sinn Fein from Nicara­ strike, the Portuguese parliament and musicians have signed a solidarity trean People's Liberation Front, and gua--one from the government and the passed a resolution condemning the petition. the South African Youth Revolutionary other from Julio Lopez, director of for­ Thatcher government and calling for re­ A Sinn Fein delegation recently Council, which is a Soweto-based group. eign affairs for the Sandinista National cognition of the prisoners' political sta­ toured East Germany. The delegation, Liberation Front (FSLNJ. tus. British Prime Minister Thatcher re­ which included two former prisoners, Solidarity in Britain sponded by threatening to cut off diplo­ was interviewed on radio and television Halpenny is greatly encouraged by 'An inspiration' matic ties. and by two leading newspapers. the growth in solidarity inside Britain. Maurice Bishop, the prime minister of Nevertheless, during the second The British government lodged a for­ Messages of support have come from the the Caribbean island nation Grenada, hunger strike the Portuguese parlia­ mal protest about the visit, but the East Edinburgh Trades Council, the Scottish discussed Ireland in his speech on the ment passed another motion in support German government responded with a Trades Union Congress, the National second anniversary of the Grenadian of the five demands of the strikers. statement blasting the use of torture in Union of Miners, and other unions. Sev­ revolution. Bishop called the Irish About seventy Vlembers of that body British prisons. eral city councils and student organiza­ struggle an inspiration to all went to the British embassy to express Halpenny told me that every Commu­ tions have also expressed their support revolutionaries throughout the world. their views. nist Party in Europe, with the notable for the hunger strikers' demands. Messages of solidarity with the Irish On the day Bobby Sands died, some exception of those in Ireland and Bri- From Intercontinental Press

Swiss voters approve equal rights amendment By Janice Lynn parties in the Federal Council intro­ The amendment was bitterly opposed by en workers in the watch-making indus­ Women in Switzerland won an impor­ duced a counterproposal. While not as the employers. At present, Swiss women try are unionized. This makes it more tant victory June 14 when voters ap­ inclusive as the women's original initia­ earn 25 to 30 percent ·less than meri for difficult for the women to fight for their proved a constitutional amendment on tive, the Federal Council's proposal still the same job. rights. equality of the sexes. contained the important equal pay prin­ In the watch-making industry, one of The Socialist Workers Party (PSOJ, The amendment expands an article in ciple. The women's groups campaigned the most important industries in Swit­ Swiss section of the Fourth Internation­ the present constitution that proclaims actively for approval of the amendment. zerland, half of the 40,000 employees al, points to the need for the trade union "all Swiss are equal under the law," This victory will lay the legal ground­ are women (and 35 percent of these are movement to increase its presence in making explicit that women and men work for women to carry on their strug­ immigrant women). Yet, 80 percent of the watch-making industry and revise are entitled to both equal rights and gle for equal rights and to campaign for the women workers are employed in un­ the industry's present policy of orient­ equal pay. implementation of the amendment. skilled categories, as compared to only ing women workers to the unskilled, The full text of the amendment that It wasn't until1971 that Swiss women 17 percent of the men. lower-paying jobs. The PSO calls for was approved by Swiss voters states, first won the right to vote in national The women, who perform the bulk of training programs that will allow wom­ "Men and women have the same rights. elections. Yet there are still cantons the very repetitive, detailed work, re­ en access to all trades. The law provides for equality, especially where women are not allowed to vote in ceive an hourly wage, and in 93 percent The PSO was actively involved in the in family, education, and w~rk domains. local affairs. Under the new constitu­ of the cases this wage is linked to prod­ campaign in support of the equal rights Men and women are entitled to equal tional amendment, women may be able uctivity. Meanwhile, the bulk of the amendment. It calls for the independent pay for equal work." to bring legal action to win their right to male workers receive a monthly wage. mobilization of women workers and the The amendment grew out of a propos­ vote in local elections. One of the demands in the coming workers organizations to assure that the al initiated by various women's organi­ Similarly, the amendment gives legal contract negotiations is for a monthly rights now legally guaranteed to women . zations. The women withdrew their backing for the trade unions to fight for wage for all workers. are actually implemented. original proposal after the bourgeois . securing equal pay for women workers. However, only 12 percent of the worn- From Intercontinental Press

16 THE MILITANT JULY 3, 1981 Washington, Peking take aim at Vietnam By David Frankel the five members (Singapore, Thailand, Asia-the most populous area in the Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philip­ world-also confronts some of its most pines) of the Association of Southeast pressing problems. Hunger, malnutri­ Asian Nations (ASEAN ). tion, and disease affect millions. In most Upon his arrival in the Philippines countries economic development has Haig asserted that he had come to con­ been stunted by the legacy of colonial sult with the ministers on "the danger­ oppression. The peoples of Vietnam, ous activities of Vietnam with the en­ Laos, and Kampuchea are still attempt­ couragement and with the support of ing to reconstruct their countries, which the Soviet Union." were the victims of the most savage de­ Emphasizing his support for tlie cor­ structive campaign in world history. ruption-riddled regime of Philippine But not one of these problems has dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Haig said been addressed by U.S. Secretary of that Washington was prepared to "shore State Alexander Haig in his tour of up those who are under threat and Asia. Instead, Haig has concentrated on danger and in the front lines." threats against Vietnam; support to the Precisely because of the ev·er-present shaky dictatorships in Thailand and the danger of revolution· that they face from Philippines; encouragement of greater their own people, the ASEAN regimes militarization in Japan, Australia, and are haunted by the threat of the Viet­ New Zealand; and new steps in Wash­ namese revolution-although they pre­ ington's counterrevolutionary alliance tend that the threat is military rather Deng Xiaoping and Alexander Haig with Peking. than political. Haig wasted no time in setting the At the center of the campaign against guarantee against any return-ofthe hat­ change in government iri China, one tone for his trip. After three days of the Vietnamese revolution right now is ed Khmer Rouge regime. ASEAN diplomat told Washington Post meetings with officials in Peking, he an­ the demand that Vietnamese forces Militarily and politically, the counter­ correspondent William Branigin, "Al­ nounced June . 16 that Washington withdraw from Kampuchea. Washing­ revolutionary forces are fragmented and though the ASEAN countries now see would open up arms sales to the Chinese ton sees this as the first step toward there appears to be little prospect of Vietnam as the main threat in the re­ regime. reestablishing a counterrevolutionary their unification. Despite murderous gion, in the longer term China could be This announcement was followed up beachhead there. raids and harassment, they have been the main threat." with a June 18 article by New York With encouragement from Washing­ unable to prevent a new government Times correspondent Philip Taubman, ton, both the Thai military dictatorship from being consolidated and from reviv­ No help from Japan who reported: "The United States and and Peking have been funneling arms ing the economic life of the country. A further indication of the underlying China are jointly operating an electron­ and supplies to the Khmer Rouge army Nor are the capitalist regimes in the weakness of Washington's position was ic intelligence-gathering station in Chi­ of former Kampuchean ruler Pol Pot, area convinced that more extreme the response of Japanese officials to na to monitor Soviet missile tests, ac­ which was responsible for the deaths of measures would prove any more effec­ Haig's demands that they increase mil­ cording to senior American officials." millions of Kampucheans during its tive. The announcement that Washing­ itary spending and move to play a According to Taubman, Washington years in power. ton will sell arms to Peking revives me­ broader military role in east Asia. provided the equipment for the spy sta­ U.S. arms sales to Peking mean that mories of the Chinese invasion of Viet­ tion, which is operated by Chinese tech­ this aid to the Pol Pot forces will be Massive opposition to such moves nam in January 1979. nicians and periodically visited by ad­ stepped up. And at the ASEAN meeting, among Japanese working people had led As David Van Praagh reported in the visers from the CIA. Singapore's foreign minister, Supiyal to the resignation of Japanese Foreign June 29 issue of Business Week, "A Dhanabalan · threatened that if Viet­ Minister Masayoshi Ito in May and to growing ASEAN fear is that China, em­ Military pressure on Vietnam namese forces are not withdrawn from the cancellation of Haig's planned visit boldened by U.S. military hardware, Kampuchea, "Vietnam will continue to to Japan--originally scheduled as the U.S. officials left no doubt as to the would go to Thailand's help if it were be isolated, aid to them from the inter­ first stop on his tour. aim of any arms sales by Washington to threatened by Vietnam. But some national commmunity opposed and de­ The week before Haig arrived in Man­ the Peking regime. In a June 16 speech Southeast Asians fear that Chinese for­ in Peking, Assistant Secretary of State nied and every nationalist group resist­ ila, U.S. and Japanese military and gov­ ces could be beaten." for East Asian Affairs John Holdridge ing Vietnamese occupation will be en­ ernmental officials met in Hawaii. Ac­ singled out Vietnam. couraged." The fact that Washington is being cording to a report in the June 20 Wash­ Complaining that the Vietnamese forced to turn to Peking for help in con­ ington Post, the U.S. team proposed mil­ "are very tough people," Holdridge de­ Behind the bold front taining the Indochinese revolutions is itary spending increases as high as 50 clared that "we will seek, if we can, to Behind the bold front put up by the an indication of just how weak the U.S. percent to the Japanese. find ways to increase the political, eco­ ASEAN regimes and Haig, however, position in the region really is. Capital­ At Manila, the new Japanese foreign nomic, and, yes, military pressures on there is not much confidence. ism, after all, has been abolished in Chi­ minister, Sunao Sonoda, met with Haig Vietnam ... ." Far from resisting "Vietnamese occu­ na, despite the counterrevolutionary and rejected the proposed military in- The following day, Haig flew to Mani­ pation," the Kampuchean people view foreign policy of the current regime. creases. la to meet with the foreign ministers of the Vietnamese presence as a welcome Referring to the possibility of a From Intercontinental Press Israeli bomb raid: the lies start unraveling By Janice Lynn las Veliotis said June 17 that the State testimony by producing a former IAEA tained no call for sanctions against Is­ One after another, every justification Department had conducted a thorough inspector who testified he believed Iraq rael. given by Israeli Prime Minister Mena­ search for this article and any others was developing nuclear weapons. chem Begin for the June 7 bombing of supposedly threatening Israel with nu­ But this was contradicted by every U.S. ties to Israel an Iraqi nuclear reactor has turned out clear weapons. "Those articles did not other scientist who testified. And it Just to make clear where Washington to be nothing but lies-pure and simple exist," Veliotis flatly admitted. turns out this self-appointed expert on really stood, in case anyone had ques­ lies. Both Begin's office and the Israeli Iraqi intentions had never even inspect­ tions, the American delegate Jeane • On June 9, Begin had read repor­ Foreign Ministry were forced to finally ed the reactor. Kirkpatrick declared before the vote ters a quote he said was from Iraqi Pres­ admit that there was no such quote. • Knowing he was on shaky ground, that even though Washington had con­ ident Saddam Hussein. It was supposed • Begin repeatedly claimed that the Begin resorted to an even bigger lie. On demned the attack, "we know it is neces­ to have appeared in the October 4, 1980 Iraqi nuclear reactor was designed to June 11 he declared that the real target sary to take into account the context of official Baghdad newspaper, Al Thawa­ produce atomic bombs. of Israel's bombing raid was actually a this action, as well as its consequences." ra. On June 17, U.S. Under Secretary of secret, underground facility (about 130 Kirkpatrick reminded the UN dele­ The statement Begin read was sup­ State Walter Stoessel admitted that the feet underground, in order to avoid de­ gates that "President Reagan said Israel posedly made several days after planes, CIA had not been able to come up with a tection, he said), where the Iraqi's were might have sincerely believed it was a reported to have been Iranian, damaged shred of evidence to show that Iraq was secretly preparing atomic bombs. (Begin defensive move," and she extolled the the Iraqi nuclear facility. planning to develop a nuclear weapon. later changed it to a chamber that was "strength of the United States ties and • Begin had also claimed that Iraq only thirteen feet underground.) commitment to Israel." According to Begin, the Iraqi newspa­ had refused to allow the International "Nothing has happened that in any per quoted Hussein as saying: "The French nuclear experts firmly denied Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to in­ way alters the strength of our commit­ Iranian people should not fear the Iraqi the existence of any underground "bomb spect the reactor. ment or the warmth of our feelings," nuclear reactor, which is not intended to chamber." On June 14, Bertrand Barre, In fact, the agency's inspectors had vi­ Kirkpatsick said. "We, in the Reagan be used against Iran, but against the a chief attache at the French embassy in sited the facility as late as this January administration, are proud to call Israel Zionist enemy."· Washington, declared: and had found no evidence that the Iraqi "We have built this reactor and every a friend and ally." This quote, widely distributed by Is­ regime was attempting to build bombs. auxiliary piece of equipment that goes New -evidence of Washington's "com­ rael's Foreign Ministry, was picked up IAEA director-general Sigvard Ek­ with it and there is nothing secret about mitment to Israel" surfaced June 19 by much of the bourgeois press in 'll.n at­ lund said it was "practically impossible" it." when a representative of the U.S. Nu­ tempt to give credence to the Israeli for the Iraqi reactor to have been mak­ clear Regulatory Commission revealed claim tnat the bombing was really in ing plutonium, for the production of nu­ Israeli authorities later backed away it had advised Israeli scientists about self-defense. clear weapons. from the whole claim that there was a how much damage could be inflicted on secret room under the reactor. a nuclear reactor with 2,200-pound Nonexistent 'Inspector' contradicted Meanwhile, the United Nations Se­ bombs. It turns out that no such quote ever U.S. Senator Alan Cranston (one of curity Council voted unanimously to Bombs of that-size were used in the Is­ existed! the most outspoken defenders of Israel's strongly condemn the Israeli military raeli rai<;l on the Iraqi reactor. U.S. State Department official Nicho- bombing raid), tried to rebut Eklund's attack. The resolution, however, con- From Intercontinental Press JULY 3, 1981 THE MILITANT 17 - sa-ndinistas address problems of Atlantic coast The following interview with Guerril­ then it was only a legal incorporation. stand the concerns of our people, even land. That would be anti-Sandinista. So la Commander Manuel Calderon was There was no economic relationship, nor when our people are ignorant of the we have a real problem. obtained in early May by Lorraine Thie­ social, nor cultural, no recognition of the facts, or are being tricked. baud and Matilde Zimmermann in special character of the coast. The reactionaries are taking advan­ Isolation from revolution Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua. What happened was the foreign com­ tage of this situation. Recently articles Q. Do you think that economic devel­ Calderon, also known as "Coman­ panies came to exploit the area and they have been coming out in the I:Ionduran opment is the most important way to win dante Rufo," is the military commander built economic enclaves. They built big press saying that the Miskitus are flee­ the confidence of the residents of the of the northern half of the Atlantic company stores and hired lots of peo­ ing to Honduras because they are being coast? Coast region and a central leader of the" ple-as laundry women, ironers, wood repressed, because the Sandinista A . It is a many-sided task. A lot of dif­ Sandinista National Liberation Front cutters, drivers, and mechanics. arrned forces are. after them. ferent elements have to come into play. (FSLNl in the area. On Nicaragua, the The people of the coast, because of There is also the matter of the radio The revolutionary war never reached term Atlantic Coast refers to the entire their political backwardness, did not see station called "15th of September." It the Atlantic Coast. If you haven't lived eastern half of the country.) how they were being abused by the com­ calls on the people of Nicaragua to fol­ through a war, if you haven't expe­ The interview was conducted in Span­ panies. The truth is that imperialism low the example of the struggle of the rienced the difficulty of this struggle, ish. The translation is by 'InterCQntin­ exploited this area even more cruelly Miskitu people, who are rising up then how are you going to know the rev­ ental Press.' The interview has been than other areas. · against the government to win their fi­ olution except through its accomplish­ slightly edited for reasons of space. At least in the Pacific Coast they al­ nal liberation. It calls on Miskitus to ments? And here, frankly, the revolu­ lowed a certain amount of economic come to Honduras to join the Somoza­ Q. When we visited the gold mines of tion has not accomplished great things development, but here they did nothing. ists, to join the ex-National Guard who the Atlantic Coast, representatives of the because we just haven't been able to. There wasn't even the development of will liberate them. unions explained to· us how the miners There is a problem with communica­ class consciousness here, because of the are divided along racial lines. Can you tion. We are trying to finish this landing racial divisions. Promoting development explain to us how this problem affects not strip so that big planes can land. We What they said was___:"You're a Sumo, Q. just the mines but the whole region of the What is being done to overcome weren't able to finish the Waslala-Siuna you can't do anything. You can't either, these problems? Atlantic Coast? road (linking the Atlantic and Pacific you're a Miskitu. You're a Black, maybe A. The organization of trade unions coasts) because the rainy season came A. Under Somoza, one's status here you can be a mechanic. You're half early. Water transportation is a prob­ was defined by race more than by social white, or half Spanish, maybe you can has helped some. The unions are formed lem we haven't been able to resolve. class. This was the way Somoza kept be a boss." by Miskitus, Blacks, and Spanish­ speaking. They elect their own leaders Here even a little project costs 10 mil­ things in control. In this area you can have two -it's not a question of the FSLN choos­ lion cordobas (10 cordobas= US$1). Pro­ North Americans were at the top, the workers, one Miskitu and the other ing leaders for them. Little by little, this viding drinking water just for the town people who could do anything. Then Spanish-speaking, and they don't think is starting to improve things. came the Chinese, who didn't speak of themselves as workers. They have ra­ of Puerto Cabezas costs 9 million cordo­ We know that overcoming these divi­ bas. Improving the landing strip costs Spanish and were the merchants. Then cial consciousness rather than class con­ about 8.5 million. came the Blacks, whose status was low­ sciousness. The companies taught them sions will take a long time. We need time. The problem is that this is an ex­ Another example is the housing we er but who had a special relationship racial consciousness, although of course tremely undeveloped area. are building for the miners. We know with the North Americans because they they never solved the problems they spoke English and with the Spanish be­ have as a race. There are no means of communica­ that these houses won't be fit to live in tion. There are no sources of permanent in five years. But we don't have the re­ cause they learned Spanish quickly. When people here resisted this domi­ work. There are no good schools or good sources to build better houses. The ones Still lower were the Miskitus, and then nation, they resisted on the basis of be­ health centers. There are no vocational we are building cost 49 million cordo­ below the Miskitus the Sumos, and low­ ing Miskitus, or Blacks, or Ramas. Nev­ schools. The illiteracy rate is very high. bas. er still the Ramas. er on the basis of being exploited, of be­ For example, there were areas where 90 We have to bring the prefabricated Somoza took advantage of all these ing workers, of being desperately poor. divisions, pitting the Miskitus against percent of the population was illiterate. houses in by sea, and then by river to the Blacks, the Sumos against the Mis­ Racial divisions The population is very dispersed. Alamikamba, where we take them off The economy is basically one of sub­ the boats and put them on trucks to take kitus. The Ramas were hardly consi­ Q. What kinds of problems are these sistence. People grow food in order to to the different mines. And we don't dered worth worrying about. divisions causing today, and to what ex­ live, in order to eat. This is not because really have the trucks and big boats we Th~ "Spaniards," those who spoke tent is imperialism able to take advan­ they want it that way-it is because need to transport them. It is an enor­ Spanish, were always the ones in gov­ tage of this situation? ernmental posts·, so here the person who they have no way to sell their products. mous task. speaks Spanish has come to represent A. There is an organization here In 1980 we went way into the country­ called MISURASATA (Miskitus, Su­ exploitation, humiliation. side. We handed out all kinds ofloans to Indian groups need to unite mos, Ramas, and Sandinistas United). The "Spaniards" learned English, but peasants, but we did it in a romantic Q. What kind of role can an organiza­ But the top leader of this organization, they didn't learn Miskitu, because there way, only to find out later that there tion like MISURASATA play in helping whose name is Steadman Fagoth, turns was no economic or social reason to was no way to get out the products they to change this situation? What types of out to have been a police agent for Somo­ learn Miskitu. had grown. demands does MISURASATA put for­ za. He has been leading the organiza­ The Blacks already knew English and. This cost the country millions of cor­ ward? they learned Spanish too. The Miskitus tion to take antigovernment positions, dobas. But as good revolutionaries we and this was made easier by the isola­ A. The role it plays depends on what learned English better than Spanish: can't take away a peasant's little plot of tion of the area. kind of orientation it has. If the organi­ The Sumos almost never spoke their This is a population that didn't know zation had a nationalist orientation, if own language. They spoke Miskitu be­ 1. Since this interview, Fagoth was released its purpose was to build nationalist sen­ cause the Miskitus had higher status. how to read and write, a population that . wasn't organized in any way. And they from house arrest in Managua and allowed to timent or patriotic sentiment, it could are upset and don't understand why return to Puerto Cabezas. He had promised to help. Colonized by English use his influence to persuade Miskitu youth their leader has been arrested. They In the first place it could unite the Q. How did this sitution come about? who had left for Honduras to return to Nica­ three different Indian groups. Then at don't understand, even though we've ragua. Instead Fagoth himself fled to Hondu­ A. The Atlantic Coast was colonized tried and tried to explain. We even least the problem of racial antagonisms ras, where he made broadcasts in Spanish among the three groups could be re­ by the English, not the Spanish. It brought Fagoth here so that he could ex­ and Miskitu on the Somozaists' radio station wasn't until 1894 that this region was plain.1 attacking "the Sandino-Communist govern­ solved, and it would be easier for them incorporated into Nicaragua, but even As revolutionaries, we have to under- ment." to move forward if they were united. The problem is that the individuals who are heading the organization tend to lead it in another direction. One of the demands MISURASA T A puts forward, for example, is that 80 percent of the coast's earning should be kept here for the development of the coast. The truth is that if we limited our­ selves to 80 percent of the coast's earn­ ings, this region wouldn't be developed in 100 years. The total earnings of the Atlantic Coast are less than 100 million cordobas a year, because the industry that pro­ duces the most is mining, and their goal for 1981 is 70 million cordobas. But in 1981 the government plans to invest 250 million cordobas in developing the coast.

Q. But don't people believe that the mines are producing tremendous wealth which is being stolen from the Atlantic Coast by the Pacif~c region? A. The leaders of the MISURASATA certainly know that is not true. They know that the Siuna mine, up to recent­ ly, was losing almost two million cordo­ Militant/Russell Johnson bas a month. Rosita was losing a million Nicaragua's Atlantic coast. Under Somoza's rule foreign companies exploited area, keeping it extremely poor, underdeveloped, or a million and a half. Up to recently and racially divided. 'This was the way Somoza keptthings in control.' Bonanza was the only mine producing a

18 THE MJLIT ANT JULY 3, 1981 revolution. because of a little matter of a bullet. I I was recruited in Leon, as a student. I had been wounded in 1976 and the bul­ grew up on a farm outside of town. Then let stayed inside. I spent three years at the National When the war ended, I stayed for the Seminary in Managua, studying to be a liberation of the mines and then came priest. I started working in the high­ here to Puerto Cabezas. When we got to school student movement in 1970, when Puerto Cabezas the National Guard had I was sixteen. Then I worked in the stu­ already left. dent movement in Managua inside the seminary. Then they threw me out of Taking the mines the seminary. Q. You helped organize the taking of So when the earthquake came in 1972 the mines. What was the reaction of the I went back to Leon and started to study miners? at the Instituto N acional del Occidente. A. It was positive. Just in Rosita and There I began working with the FSLN Bonanza, about 300 young people joined as well as continuing to work in the stu­ us. Th&t was May 28, before the victory. dent movement. I was doing political And mine workers joined us too. work in the student movement and also The first response of the miners was to work in the barrios with the FSLN, so I want us to burn down the mines. We got burned [known to the police] fast. I said no, we couldn't do that. And we ex­ was burned at school and burned in the plained why. We told them they would barrio, so I had to go underground. need a place to work afterwards. And we Mostly because of my physical condi­ told them we would win within a month tion-because I was used to the country or a month and a half. Then for the first and used to walking long distances time they believed that victory was -they decided I should go directly into close. the mountains. And I never came out The workers here, such as the miners, until the victory. don't have ideological or political vices. The problem is the one I described to you Q. And you lived with campesinos in earlier, the lack of any experience with the mountains? organization. There has never been a political life here before, rio meetings, . Pablo Ubeda Brigade no seminars. These things can't be ac­ A . We had some contact with the quired overnight. campesinos in order to get information or food, but we tried to stay off on our But the miners, for example, have own as much as possible to avoid their told us about some attempts at sabotage being victimized. Sometimes we had to or theft, and they are the ones watching walk half a day or even a whole day to out for these things. Comandante Manuel Calderon, right, member of the provincial leadership of FSLN, get food when we were camped. In the mines we have had tremendous has worked on Atlantic coast region since revolution. It was a very irregular life. Some­ problems getting spare parts, and the times we camped two or three days. miners themselves have had to make Sometimes we could camp fifteen days, them from the parts that are there. surplus, and the leaders certainly know port from the peasantry of the coast but but at other times we couldn't. Some­ When the gringos left they said that in this. not from the miners. Can you tell us if times we would come down and carry six months the mines would close for lack of parts. It has been a year and a Part of this pro~lem could be a lack of that is true? out two or three military actions and communication. It is the same problem then go back and watch and see how the half and they haven't closed, and they A . It is not right to put it like that. of a lack of human resources. A person enemy would react. aren't going to close. ·The truth is that we never tried to do can't be in every different community. We were part of what was called the There have been difficult times. At political work among the miners be­ And then there has been a language Pablo Ubeda Brigade. It included Com­ one point the miners had to make some­ cause we didn't think we were strong problem, which we are trying to over­ mander Hugo Torres, Commander Wil­ thing out of cloth to replace a screen enough. There were only three of us come. liam. Ramirez, Commander Francisco that was broken. They knew it wouldn't working in the area of the mines, and Rivera. Who else is still alive? Com­ last more than a week, but that was our most urgent task was to organize a History of MISURASATA mander Rene Vivas, Commander of the enough to look for the part. The miners support network among the peasants-a Revolution Henry Ruiz, and also Com­ go through the old dumps where the Q. Does MISURASATA carry out ac­ logistical base that would enable us to tivities like the other mass organizations, mander of the Revolution Victor Tirado gringos threw things out, looking for come in and out safely and bring in organizing literacy classes, the militias, Lopez. At its biggest it was about 100 parts they can use. arms, because it was a question of arm­ people. Another example is the participation community projects, and so forth? ing people for war. The Pablo Ubeda Brigade was almost in the People's Militias. We are at the A. It has played a role in some areas. It was a question of giving people mil­ wiped out in 1977. We were reduced to point of forming a Reserve Battalion in It participated in the literacy drive in itary training, organizing arms caches, about eleven people as a result ofCON­ the mines. There are departments Miskitu, Sumo, and English, for exam­ couriers, organizing guerrilla columns. DECA 2 getting involved. People were where all the workers want to join the ple. On the other hand, in the current We couldn't go into a barrio, work along­ captured, and there was brutal repres- militias, although it hasn't been possi­ vaccination campaign it has done no­ side people, have meetings, discuss their sion in the area. · ble to organize everyone yet. thing. problems and their demands, resolve I only came out of the mountains once. The fact is that we are still fighting a these problems. All we could do was I got a Lanica plane in Bonanza, along war, and a harder war than before. Be­ Q. What is the history of this organi­ grab the most active types and recruit with a nun who was pretending to be my fore you could see what imperialism was zation? them to the FSLN. sister. This disguise enabled me to get to doing. It was right in front of your eyes A . There was ari organization called Bluefields, where I had to have an X-ray and you had a motive for fighting it. Q. Alpromisu formed in 1972. In the begin­ How much time did you spend in Now we have thrown out the foreign the mountains? ning it was against Somoza, but Somoza 2. CONDECA-Central American Defense companies. But we still have the job of was able to buy off some of the leaders, A . I spent a little more than four and Council, a U.S.-sponsored military pact forging a class consciousness in order to and the organization almost died. It a half years in the mountains and a total among the armies of Guatemala, El Salva­ take on the huge problems of develop­ stopped causing Somoza any problems. of seven years in the FSLN before the dor, Honduras, and Nicaragua . ment that we face. . Then with the triumph of the revolu­ tion, this new organization was born. There was an assembly in which it took the name MISURASATA, which gave the false impression that it was going to be a Sandinista organization. I don't think it is fair to say it is anti­ Sandinista. It is a question of under­ standing the whole history of this re­ gion. The truth is that the people of the coast are Nicaraguans, and they are op­ pressed. The Atlantic Coast has always been considered very far away. When I grad­ uated from high school, I thought all there was on the Atlantic Coast was There was staff writer Janice Lynn's discussion of the latest move in Israel's war drive-the bombing raid in Iraq. Are­ Bluefields. I didn't even know Puerto print from the Free West Indian reports on the African Liberation Day celebration held on the Caribbean island of Grena­ Cabezas existed, or the mines, or any­ da. George Saunders, who recently visited Poland, brings readers up to date on events leading up to the July Polish thing, because in school we never learn­ United Workers Party congress. Also, the first installment of the draft program of Solidarity, Poland's independent trade ed anything about the Atlantic Coast. union movement, appears in this issue. Reading Intercontinental Press every week is a must. Subscribe now. Q. When did you come to this area? Yes! Start my subscription now! Make checks payable to : 0 INTRODUCTORY OFFER. Send me three months of IP for $8.75. Intercontinental Press A. I've been here since the revolu­ Mail to: tion, as head of the region on the mil­ D Send me six months of IP for $17.50. D Send me one year of IP for $35. Intercontinental Press itary level and as a member of the pro­ 41 0 West Street vincial leadership committee of the Name ------New York, N.Y. 10014 FSLN. Address ------Q. But you also fought here during City/State/Zip the war. People have told us that during Canadian Rates: $41 for one year; $21 for six months. Send for rates to other countries. the war the Sandinistas got a lot of sup-

JULY 3, 1981 THE MILITANT 19 In Review 'The Spike': keeping public disinformed .The Spike, by Arnaud de Borchgrave and Robert Well, one of them, de Borchgrave, got a chance to active recently cultivating businessmen close to the Moss. Avon Books. 458 pp., $3.50 paperback. do that last April: as a witness before the Senate Sub­ Reagan administration." His source for this? "Sour­ committee on Security and Terrorism (SST). He even ces." got some free advance work from high places. If all this was starting to sound like it was from a In case you were wondering, here's how the Rus­ About a month before the SST hearing, -Secretary bad novel, that's because it was: de Borchgrave's nov­ sians did in the shah of Iran. of State Alexander Haig briefed a group of foreign el. And, by the time of the hearing, lots of people had "As you remember," Barisov continued, "the cam­ diplomats on the situation in El Salvador. "The Com­ questions about how "fact-based" that thing was. paign to isolate the Shah of/ran from Western support munist countries," he told them, "are orchestrating The questions began last year, when co-author was conducted over many years.lt was masterminded an intensive interm:}tional disinformation campaign Moss called disinformation "one of the biggest stories by Directorate A. We succeeded in having the Shah de­ to cover their intervention while discrediting the Sal­ that I have come across." He and de Borchgrave, he picted as a uniquely bloodthirsty tyrant, when in fact vadoran government and American support for that wrote, "decided that we would probably reach a his regime was mild compared with some of those in government." larger number of people with our message if we put it neighboring countries." Unfortunately, when asked later by reporters how in the form of a novel. . . ." It's okay if you didn't know this. Most of the rest of this was being done, a State Department spokesman Fellow journalists thought this approach odd. the world was taken in, too. What with all those hu­ had to admit he had no idea what Haig was talking What if, for example, Woodward and Bernstein had man rights groups denouncing the shah, and all the about. opted for this? The result would have been a steamy photos of maimed bodies that even the U.S. press had De Borchgrave didn't do much better in his appear­ tale of crime in government, and Richard Nixon to print. Hell, the Iranians themselves were fooled in­ ance before the SST (the date of which, by the way, happily serving out the rest of his term in office. to overthrowing the guy. happened to coincide with a publicity tour he was do­ Eyebrows arched even higher when it was learned Clearly the folks at Directorate A know their busi­ ing for The Spike). that a single challenge to the veracity of The Spike ness. He had "irrefutable proof," he told the subcommit­ had led to a flurry of last-minute changes to avoid a tee in his opening statement, of massive Soviet influ­ libel suit. ence in the media. Of course, any proof is irrefutable So people couldn't help but wonder what this man so long as you don't tell people what it is. So de Borch­ and his comic book were doing in front of the Senate. Books grave wisely kept his to himself. And why the Secretary of State had endorsed his As for what he shared with the subcommittee, all it views. At least, journalists Arnaud de Borchgrave and Ro­ proved was that the main thing the Soviets were in­ Some answers came in the weeks after the hearing, bert Moss think so. They're the authors of The Spike, fluencing that day was his overheated imagination. when the Reagan administration floated proposals to: from which the above passage is taken. Disinformation, he began, was part of a Russian (1) limit public access to government documents un­ The Spike is one of what are called "fact-based" plan, hatched in 1968, to take over the world "with­ der the Freedom of Information Act; (2) permit the novels. That is, stories that contain a bunch of asser­ out having to fight a war." The "guiding principles" of FBI to conduct surprise searches of newsrooms; and tions the author thinks are true but can't prove. Some this plan were formulated 2,500 years ago by "the (3) make it a crime to publish the names of undercov­ things The Spike asserts are: Chinese philosopher of war, Sun Tzu." This, de Horeb­ er intelligence agents. • All the revelations of illegal FBI and CIA activ- · grave said he got from "European intelligence servi­ The deBorchgrave show, then, was part of the effort ity were stories planted in the media by Russian ces" and "numerous defectors." to do away with media reportage of FBI-CIA shenani­ agents-"disinformation." Next, the Russians' plan included "control of the gans. • Many social movements in this country (notably Western world's oil supply in the Middle East" by More important, it was part of the larger effort to that against the Vietnam War), if not run outright by "playing a covert role in promoting the antinuclear do away with the antigovernment sentiment that for­ Russian agents, at least owe their popular support to lobby." There was a "direct link-up between the ces the media to report this sort of thing in the first Soviet disinformation. World Peace Council, a well-known Soviet front or­ place. A shot at reestablishing the credibility of the • This disinformation campaign gets help from top ganization, and . ., ... Mobilization for Survival, which intelligence agencies as instruments of foreign and U.S. government officials. is a leading umbrella organization for antinuclear domestic policy. Now de Borchgrave and Moss aren't kidding about groups." This, he said, had been "suggested" by "lead­ De Borchgrave and Moss were closely associated this. Maybe that means we shouldn't either. Heaven ing scientists." with a group of government and intelligence officials knows, if one of them could actually prove any of it, Finally, "the UN infrastructure is under increas­ who had the bad luck to serve as such during the Wa­ he would be doing us all a big service. ing KGB control," and KGB agents have been "very tergate years. The massive evidence of government The Clash in concert: 'Sandinista!' Sandinista! by The Clash. Epic Records. Three-re­ crowd, but allow all ticketholders to see them. Then The Clash wrote songs about their own experien­ cord set, $14.98 list. the Building Department moved in and closed the ces, which they had in common with a whole genera­ club for other violations. In the end, The Clash played tion of the working-class: unemployment, repression, Sandinista! is the title of the latest record album for more than two weeks to over 30,000 people. Tick­ racism, the threat of nukes, and the army offered as by The Clash, one ofthe original English punk-rock ets had been sold out weeks in advance. their only "career opportunity." The Clash supported bands. They caused quite a furor in New York in ear­ Although there were no doubt technical violations, the Rock Against Racism movement and performed ly June and made area rock fans aware ofthe Nicara­ I suspect that part of the city's problem came from a at the April 1978 Antiracist Carnival in London, at­ guan revolution and its Sandinista leadership. reaction to The Clash similar to the one Newsweek tended by 80,000 people. Originally booked to play a one-week engagement had when reviewing Sandinista! in their February Since the early punk days, their experience has at a rock-and-roll dance hall, The Clash came to the 23 issue: been that of successful musicians. They've traveled attention of tens of thousands through the media as "Now comes 'Sandinista!,' a three-record set that and seen a bit of the world, in particular the United the city twice tried to close down the club. fills two and a half hours with agitprop sermonizing, States, but their original concerns haven't changed. The performance I attended showed that The Clash urban chatter, echoed noodling, all afloat in an inky In fact, they've broadened. live are what their highly-acclaimed records would mix that pulses with a crazy, compelling, distracted During their concert, The Clash used photo mon­ lead you to expect-a powerful, versatile, and politi­ energy.". tages flashed on the wall behind the band to illus­ cally committed rock band. Certainly one of the finest In case "urban chatte~" and "energy" excites you trate the themes they build their music around. bands in the world today. rather than puts you off, Newsweek got more specific: "The Guns of Brixton"-written several years ago "'Washington Bullets' rehearses some of imperial­ -was accompanied by last April's headlines about ism's greatest hits. . . . It has one jarring couplet: the massive Black rebellion in that predominantly 'For Castro is a color, is a redder than red.trhose West Indian London neighborhood. Music Washington Bullets want Castro dead.' "In these conservative times, one would like to 'The Call Up' One high point was "Washington Bullets," a song cheer signs of opposition-but what is the message of "The Call Up"-an antidraft song-was played as inspired by the Nicaraguan revolution. During the this music?" Salvadoran and Vietnamese victims of war were pic­ song, a Salvadoran representative from the Commit­ The message of this music is very clear. Newsweek tured along with anti-imperialist graffiti from the tee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador and ,the New York City Building Department just walls of Belfast. The song ended with a huge color (CISPES), wearing a Sandinista-style red bandana, don't like it. photograph of a banner from a British demonstration spoke from the stage as leaflets cascaded from the calling for "Troops Out!" of Ireland. The banner lin­ ceiling over the dancing crowd. CISPES had a table Serious social themes gered on ·the wall into the next song. set up inside the club during the entire Clash engage­ Far from being "agitprop sermonizing,'' the lyrics . "Lightning Strikes," "Broadway,'' and :·somebody ment, handing out leaflets and selling T-shirts, but­ of The Clash are witty and sophisticated presenta­ Got Murdered"-songs about urban life, New York in tons, and literature. They reached many draft-age tions of serious social themes, and the hard-edged in­ particular-were played to recent headlines from the rock fans; some had never been handed a political tensity of the music lends itself to them. New York Post and Daily News screaming: "10 Min. leaflet before. And it's nothing new for The Clash. The punk Over Baghdad"; "Sex, Dr-ugs, Murder Linked to movement came to the fore in 1977, a year marked in Raid"; "Landlords Hike Rents 32%." Harassment Britain by the contrast between the high inflation, The New York event was their only U.S. appear­ After the first night, the Fire Department closed increasing social tensions, racist attacks, record­ ance, so to hear them you'll have to get their records. down the club, Bond International Casino, for being breaking youth unemployment and the organized London Calling won the 1980 Jazz & Pop Critic's overcrowded. The Clash announced that they would hoopla of the queen's Silver Jubilee. (Think of the Poll by a landslide. play double the number of concerts to reduce each 1976 Bicentennial with a crown on top.) Sandinista! is a mammoth work, consisting of

20 THE MILITANT JULY 3, 1981 Miners blast TVA on nonunion coal By Bronson Rozier BEAVER DAM, Kentucky-Sixty residents of Muhlenberg and Ohio counties confronted the Ten­ nessee Valley Authority and the Army Corps of Engi­ neers at a public hearing June 17. TVA plans to have a barge-unloading facility built for its Paradise Pow­ er Plant on the Green River. The plant is now supplied by coal brought directly from mines in the area. These are United Mine­ workers mines. Last year·, the government-run TV A tried to bring in nonunion coal by truck. The miners stopped them. Now the TV A wants to ship in nonun­ ion coal on the river. Witnesses,.from left, William Colby, author Claire Sterling, and Arnaud de Borchgrave swearing to tell Senate sub­ Alan Mullins, director of fuels for the TVA, testi­ committee the truth. fied the barge facilitywould enable the TVA to get the lowest-cost coal for the power plant. He claimed most of the low-cost coal had been mined out of local wrongdoing that surfaced in those years soon made Even de Borchgrave managed to pull out of orbit mines. these people former officials. long enough to tell the SST that "guidelines" make it Mullins's testimony was quickly discredited. The Swept out in the housecleaning under Ford and "very difficult for the FBI to monitor the very groups people who mine coal for a living testified there was Carter, most of them landed in the extreme right­ and individuals that the KGB hopes to manipulate or plenty of coal in the area and they'd be more than wing organizations, like the Heritage Foundation. A recruit." willing' to help mine it. few, like Haig, managed tl) avoid the broom altogeth­ The ruling class will try almost anything to con­ Mullins also refused to answer questions about er, went to work for the Rockefellers, an!f are now vince the American people that more spying is why the TV A tried to bring in nonunion coal last back in power. needed. Use right-wing groups like the Heritage year. Shipping and other costs made that coal more It is interesting to note that many of the individu­ Founda'tion, organize a circus like the SST hearing expensive than the union coal from local mines. als who were responsible for unloading these people, and put the spotlight on a clown like de Borchgrave. UMWA District 23 Executive Board member Joe or who oversaw the intelligence agencies in their ab­ Behind all this, though, stands the serious business Holland, and Local 1359 President Dale Barnes, led sence, are easily recognizable as the KGB agents who of, for example, stepping up domestic surveillance by the attack on the TV A and the Army Corps of Engi­ are unmasked at the end of The Spike. the CIA, as was proposed last March. neers. Holland listed over ten mines where hundreds So there is some personal vindictiveness here. But Or fabricating documents that show Russian con­ of UMW A members were laid off. this is only the human drama, if you will, being trol of the Salvadoran revolution. ·Barnes pointed to the effects on the river from the played out against the backdrop of world events. Or the most serious business of all: getting away ' barge use. Water quality, fishing, and recreation Rival factions of the "intelligence community" may with this stuff, a big problem for them. would be damaged. have their own views on how U.S. foreign policy At the SST hearing, Colby had to admit the CIA Town and county governments oppose the TV A should have been carried out in the post-Watergate had found the anti-Vietnam War movement to be "an barge facility. They expect to be burdened by new years. But they hold in common the view that these indigenous movement, not dependent on foreign sup­ costs resulting from it. Already, barge traffic on the were years in which the rest of the world got away port." river has damaged water-supply pumps. with murder. The Vietnamese finally got the U.S. out Two days after the hearing, FBI Director William One local resident said at the hearing: "You all of their country, the Iranians and Nicaraguans had Webster added that his agency had "no real evidence" stopped bringing in nonunion coal· because you feared revolutions of their own, and so on. of Soviet-sponsored terrorism in this country. blood would be spilled on the highway. Well, there'll And the El Salvador documents have found their This is a view that is shared by the ruling class as a be more than oil spills and coal dust on the river if way onto the growing pile of what everyone knows is whole. As they see it; it is time to go back on offense you try and bring nonunion coal that way." CIA dis1nformation. with U.S. foreign policy. This means, among other So you were right all along about the shah of Iran. things, getting the intelligence agencies back on And the fact that most of the rest of the world· agreed their political feet. with you was the main reason the Iranians were able The point of all the disinformation talk is simple: if to get rid of him without having to take on the ma­ Thousands stranded the Russians have their covert operations, then we rines at the same time. must have ours. Hopefully, this clears up a few things for you. As in Chi. transit crisis As SST co-witness William Colby, a former director for me, I'm still trying to figure out where the Chi­ By Jon Hillson of the CIA, obliquely put it, "the solution to disinfor­ nese philosopher of war, Sun Tzu, fits into all this. CHICAGO-Three suburban transit lines have mation is better information." -Steve Bride shut down here, leaving 40,000 bus and train commu­ ters to find other ways to Chicago. Larger rail lines have used the crisis to win Illinois Commerce Com­ mission approval for whopping fare increases. The Burlington Northern's ticket prices will go up 58 percent, while the Milwaukee Road and Illinois Central Gulf were granted 75 and 80 percent hikes. Democrats and Republicans in the state legisla­ ture are now discussing an increase in state sales and liquor taxes-which hit working people the har­ dest-to Close multimillion dollar deficits incurred by the suburban lines. The Chicago North Western railroad is threatep­ ing a shutdown to win approval for a fare increase. Last year's fare increase for buses and subways was just jumped a dime, making the 90-cent one-way ride the most expensive in the country. Mayor Jane Byrne has announced $26 million in service cuts. The politicians of both parties are taking aim at the Amalgamated Transit Union's contract with the Chi­ cago Transit Authority, which includes regular cost­ of-living adjustments and a no-layoff provision. "We're not going to re-open our contract," ATU president John Weatherspoon said on June 15. "We assume the CTA will live up to the contract and 'we will hold them to the letter of it." The ATU's stance has forced Byrne to float other ideas, notably a 4 percent tax on professional servi­ ces, such as lawyers and doctors. But it's big business that should pay for mass tran­ The Clash, from left, Joe Strummer, Nicky Headon, Paul Simonon, and Mick Jones. sit. It would be interesting to see the books of the banks and the railroads. How much money are the thirty-six songs covering an extraordinary range of lustrated lyric sheet is included. banks making off mass transit? What's the real fi ­ musical styles and influences, all the while remain­ At a news conference, Clash member Joe Strum­ nancial position of the railroad companies and subur- · ing unique and innovative. mer explained that they're trying to give the au­ ban bus lines? dience "music that makes them think while they're Reggae influence dancing." In addition to the hard, driving rock that The Clash Sandinista! does just that. In addition to encourag­ Socialists put FBI, CIA, INS are masters of, they've developed into accomplished ing you to think about Nicaragua, Cuba, Ireland, Ja­ ON TRIAL! reggae musicians. The reggae influence is clearly maica, and Harlem, the album is a vivid expression of Read about it in the Militant. more from the leaner reggae of places like Brixton, living and working in an advanced industrial society Special subscription offer: where two of the band members grew up, than from that will destroy you through poverty, war, drugs, 8 weeks for $2.00. the more melodic sounds of the islands. and boredom unless you recognize that your problems 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. The Clash are also delving deeper into the roots of aren't simply your own but are social and can be ex­ rock, into much of American music: jazz, gospel, Mo­ plained and fought against. 10014. town. Sandinista! The production on the album is excellent and an il- -David Martin

JULY 3, 1981 THE MILITANT 21 The Great Society Harry Ring

/ Think you're crazy?-Defense Se­ fice complex at his San Clemente home. spokesperson explained, was an "inter­ spite a vigorous recruitment drive focus­ cretary Caspar Weinberger says the ad­ Johnson improved his ranch and con­ nal matter." ing on the pay, there's no rush of appli­ ministration has a new strategy to be verted a hangar into an air-conditioned cants. "It's a hard job to attract young prepared to fight at least two major wars movie theater. Ford rented· villas and Subversives-Secretary of Agricul­ people to," an official observed, "because simultaneously-one in Europe and hotel rooms for aides. It's a secret mil­ ture John Block scrapped the depart­ prisons have such a negative reputa­ probably one in the Mideast. Nixon, he itary fund to establish sites for the presi­ ment's Human Nutrition Center, which tion." said, had a one-and-a-half-war strat­ dent to hide during a military attack. • produced a "controversial" diet guide­ egy-a biggie in Europe and a "minor" Reagan swears he won't misuse it. line advising less fat, salt, sugar and al­ Environmental dep't-Interior Se­ one in the Caribbean or Asia. Before cohol and more cereals, breads, fruits cretary Watts said a new contract would Vietnam, he said, we used to have a two­ and vegetables. The "controversy" was be issued for a concessionaire at Yellow­ and-a-half-war strategy. Pocketbook issue-The American with livestock producers. stone Park, with the government waiv­ Medical Association House of Delegates ing the customary concessionaire's fee. voted in favor. of ending federal price Image problem-New York's Koch Instead, the concessionaire will be ex­ Cover money-Nixon used the fund supports (or tobacco farmers. Earlier it administration has slashed away at so­ pected to invest in "improving" the to build a $500,000 swimming pool at voted down a motion to get rid of its re­ cial services, but has increased the park. Like filling it in and paving it Camp David and a helicopter pad and of- tirement fund's tobacco stocks. That, a budget for city prison officers. Yet, de- over? The American Way of Life The silent slaughter of Black workers In 1961 Charles Thomas, a Black man from Alaba ~ tery plants, where workers exposed to lead, chromi­ rna, came to Chicago in search of a better life. He um, and cadmium risk blood poisoning, lung cancer, landed a job at a small lead smelting shop. There was emphysema and other respiratory ailments. . . . no union. "From 1976 to 1978, specialists at Cook County On the job, Thomas heated scraps of lead in giant Hospital examined 42 workers, most of them black, cauldrons, then poured the molten metal into pans to from the KW Battery Co. in Skokie. The men com­ be refined. He was surrounded by fumes from the plained of headaches, fatigue, irritability, insomnia, steaming lead. leg cramps and loss of appetite. . . . In fact, all 42 After fourteen years on the job, Thomas thought he had lead poisoning. Some had been working at the was choking to death. At work he would have to stick plant 20 to 30 years, others as little as one year." his head out the back door to catch his breath. He had The rubber industry also enriches its owners over to take days off. Even the dust in his home made him the bodies of Black workers. Brown and Scheier choke. write, "A 1976 study of 6,500 rubber workers in Ak­ Thomas, along with other employees, was given ron, Ohio, found that 27 percent of the black workers monthly blood tests by the company doctor. The doc­ were concentrated in the compounding and mixing tor failed to indicate to Thomas that a_nything was areas of the plant. Only three percent of white em­ wrong. ployees worked in those sections, said to be the most Finally, Thomas was examined at the Cook County hazardous. The black workers were found to have a Hospital. Lead poisoning was diagnosed. Thomas's particularly high rate of respiratory and prostate blood was flushed for three weeks and he was warned cancer compared to whites." never to work with lead again. As Brown and Scheier note, massive unemploy­ He was earning $3.65 an hour when he was forced In 1973 it was 21 percent higher . ment hits Black and Latino workers especially hard, to quit. There was no pension. Between 1947 and 1969, prostate cancer iri Black forcing them to accept such life-destroying jobs. They His son, Charles Jr., also got a job at the lead smelt­ males went up 55 percent, colon-rectum cancer in­ quote a Latino worker, "My foreman tells me, 'There ing shop. He still works there. creased 50 percent and lung cancer rose 23 percent. are 100 people waiting at the gate for your job.' " The story of Charles Thomas is related by Joanna Brown and Scheier report that "In 1979, the Chica­ The bosses don't rely just on unemployment. They Brown and Ronni Scheier in the March 1981 Chicago go Lung Association tested 73 members of Local 233 take full advantage of the U.S. government's persecu­ Reporter, a monthly information service on racial of the International Molders and Allied Workers tion of undocumented workers. Brown and Scheier issues in metropolitan Chicago. union. The local represents about 1,000 workers, relate a case of a worker from Mexico who was told by They report that exposure to toxic chemicals is de­ mostly black and Latino, in small Chicago-area his foreman, "You call OSHA and I'll call immigra­ stroying the health of U.S. workers. These toxins foundries. Half of those tested showed evidence of dis­ tion." cause cancer, respiratory diseases, and blood poison­ eased· lungs .. . . Of those with scarred and dam­ The Reagan administration's drive against "over­ ing. Black and Latino workers are the special vic­ aged lungs, about three-fourths were black." regulation" of business wili enable the bosses to tims. Another industry destroying the health and lives of squander the health and lives of workers even more In 1950 the rate of deaths from lung cancer was 25 Black workers is the battery industry. freely than they do now. And as always, it is Black percent lower among nonwhite males than it was for According to Brown and Scheier: "The EEOC re­ and Latino workers who suffer most. white males. port also shows a high proportion of minorities in bat- -William Gottlieb What•s Going On

Political Rights Defense Fund. For more information evening: Rally in Defense of the Bill of Rights. Recep­ of Draft Information and Referral Center; John Hils- COLORADO call (303) 534-8954. tion 6 p.m., rally 7 p.m. Sunday afternoon: barbecue. , man, Letter Carriers' Union. Sat., June 27, reception 7 DENVER Reservations .at Solidarity Bookstore, 1012 Second p.m., speakers 8 p.m. Ramada Inn, Routes 48 and A RALLY FOR THE FIRST GREAT CIVIL LIBER­ Ave. South, Virginia. Ausp: Political Rights Defense 119. Ausp: Political Rights Defense Fund. For more in­ TIES BATTL,E OF THE 1980s. Speakers: Hector Mar· KENTUCKY Fund. For more information call (218) 749-6327. · formation call (304) 296-0055. roquin, witness in trial of Socialist Workers Party LOUISVILLE against the government; James Joy, American Civil RALLY TO SUPPORT CIVIL LIBERTIES. Speak­ Uberties Uniqn; others. Thurs. , July 2, 7:30p.m. Exec­ ers: Fred Halstead, witness at Socialist Workers Party VIRGINIA NEW YORK------. utive Tower Inn, 14th and Curtis. Donation: $2. Ausp: trial against the government; Lyman T. Johnson, civil NEWPORT NEWS INDOCHINA: rights activist; Geneva Perry, legal counsel for Ken­ RALLY TO DEFEND DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS. tucky Civil Liberties Union ; others. Sun. , June 28 , 6:30 Speakers: Ron Ault, president of Metal Trades Council U.S. RENEWSWARTHREATS p.m. reception ; 7:30 p.m . rally; 9 p.m. social. Howard at Norfolk Naval Shipyard; Donny Algood, member of Speakers: WASHINGTON, D.C. Johnson's Motor Lodge, 100 E. JeHerson St. , Dog­ Boilermakers Local 684, Norshipco; Gayle Conroy, wood Room. Donation : $3. Ausp: Political Rights De­ Peninsula National Organization for Women ; Cindy Chan Bun Han, native of Kampuchea, RALLY TO DEFEND POLITICAL RIGHTS. fense Fund. For more information call (502) 587-8418. Jaquith, editor, Militant; Johnny Hunter, member, recently returned from visit to Speakers: Ben Chavis, director, Commission for Hampton Education Association. Sat., June 27, recep­ Kampuchea Racial Justice; Rob Duncan, D.C. Committee to tion 6 p.m., rally 7 p.m. Archie's Victory Arch , Warwick Defend the NASSCO Workers ; Michael GaHney, MICHIGAN Hotel, 2410 West Ave. Donation: $1. Ausp: Political Fred Feldman, staff writer for Militant National Lawyers Guild; Mojgan Hariri-Vijeh, DETROIT Rights Defense Fund. For more information call (804) newspaper Young Socialist Alliance member who faces de­ RACE AND CLASS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE. 380-0133. Representative: Committee in Solidar­ portation; Doug Jenness, Socialist Workers Party Speaker: Alan Wald, English Department, University Political Committee; Hilda Mason, D.C. City ity with Vietnam, Laos and Kam­ of Michigan, author of James T. Farrell, the Revolu­ Council; Lee Perkins, D.C. National Organization tionary Socialist Years. Sun. , June 28, 7 p.m. 6404 puchea for Women and Commission on Human Rights; WEST VIRGINIA Woodward. Donation: $1.50. Ausp: Militant Labor Fo­ Friday, July 10, 7:30p.m. Phil Wheaton, EPICA. Sat. , July 11 , 6:30p.m. re­ rum. For more information call (313) 875-5322. MORGANTOWN ception and entertainment; 7:30 p.m. program. GOVERNMENT SPYING VS. DEMOCRACY. An 108 E. 16th St., 2nd floor Ethical Society of Washington, 7750 16th St. evening in support of the Bill of Rights. Speakers: Bar­ Donation: $2. Sponsor: Militant Labor N.W. Donation: $3. Ausp: Political Rights De­ MINNESOTA bara Angle, author, Rinker, disabled coal miner; Nel­ Forum. For more information call fense Fund. For more information call (202) 797- son Blackstock, author of CO/NTELPRO, reporter for 7699. VIRGINIA Militant; Marian Bustin, member, United Mine Workers (212) 260-6400. WEEKEND OF ACTIVITIES JULY 11-12. Saturday - Local 2095; Rev. Jed Griswold, local pastor, co-chair

22 THEMIUTANT JULY 3,1981 Letters

Poland I workers and their allies rille workers state. The political lyn and Ethel point out, that the didn't seem to connect them to directly in their own name. In what was an otherwise revolution in Poland is Polish revolution is not a social the reactionary advances being excellent article in the May 8 And a political revolution inspiring and significant to revolution, in the sense of up­ made on all other fronts issue of the Militant, entitled would of necessity be deep and workers and their allies all rooting capitalist property rela­ against the forces of progress thorough. "Revolution in Poland," David ove17 the world. tions and replacing them with and reason. Frankel unintentionally added Ethel Lobman Adding "social" to the nature nationalized property forms; He minimized the attack, this was done in Poland follow­ a note of confusion by stating New York, New York of the revolution does not make saying if the teaching of ing the Second World War. right at the start, "A political it more important. evolution were banished from [In my article, I used a provoc­ and social revolution has been The article in the Militant the schools, the consequences ative opening sentence, the one unfolding in Poland for the highlights the fact that the on society would not be great. that Ethel and Evelyn object to, past eight months." (italics Poland II Polish workers and their allies But this contradicted the point in order to focus attention on the mine) And though he goes on The Militant deserves are fighting for "a change in he made that biological deepgoing character of the Pol­ to explain very carefully that congratulations for providing the way the entire country is evolutionary thought is one of ish events and to avoid some by social revolution he does not reports and analyses of the run, from top to bottom." Their the great scientific revolutions. demands, not limited to "a possible narrow misinterpreta­ Members of the audience mean an "overturn [of] the extremely important events in tions of the phrase political revo­ economic foundations of Poland. I think some change in government," pointed out that creationism include changes in the lution, which can sound to some vs. evolution is a fight over society," the words in Marxist unecessary and unfortunate readers-both here and in Po­ terminology mean precisely confusion was created by the educational system, health unthinking reliance on care, newspapers, electronic land-as involving a change on­ superstition and authoritarian that. first section of "Revolution in ly in the government. I imagine the purpose is as Poland," reprinted in the May media, etc. Supp01~edly, this thought-control against allows adding "social" to the [I then went on to explain scientific reason. They pointed Frankel himself explains-to 8 Militant from Intercontinental what I meant in the following nature of the revolution. out that the attack on underline the breadth and Press. paragraphs. However, since it There is no mystery to the evolution and our response to it depth of what is changing in The article starts off, "A obviously caused some confu­ broadness of the demands for is not only important but Poland. But Trotsky and all political and social revolution sion among readers who agree change, no need to stretch the fundamental. As one person those who agreed with him has been unfolding in with my main point, and since characterization of the put it, "Evolution is materialist understood that a political Poland. . ." and then goes on the purpose of socialist journal­ revolution. and dialectical and the ruling revolution was not going to be to explain why the revolution ism is to maximize clarity and Evelyn Sell class doesn't like it." just a change on top or even is not a social one! The task of minimize confusion, the Mil­ Los Angeles, California Gould said public debates are the removal of a substantial a social revolution is "to itant will attempt to be more section of the bureaucracy. overturn the ~conomic clear in the future.] just what the creationists In the Revolution Betrayed, foundations of society and want--a forum for their ideas. first published in 1937, Trotsky establish new relations of I disagree. A knowledgeable pointed out how deeply the production." But, ." ... the [David Frankel replies-Ethel debate would demolish any creationist. This fight should bureaucracy has imbedded antibureaucratic revolution in Lohman, Evelyn Sell, and I be brought into the public itself in Soviet society. "Twelve Poland will not usher in new agiee that there is a profound Evolution vs. percent, or perhaps 15 percent property relations . . ." yet revolution underway in Poland light in order to expose of the population-that is the still "it is a social revolution in and that this revolution will re­ creation creationism for what it really authentic social base of the virtually every other respect." sult in fundamental changes af­ Stephen Jay Gould recently is and the motives behind its autocratic ruling circle." I've always read and heard fecting not only the political and gave a lecture on "Evolution proselytizers. All democratic forms of that it is precisely this governmental sphere, but virtu­ vs. Creation" at the New York Deborah Jamison political life have either been "respect" that distinguishes a ally every aspect of social and Marxist School. It was attended Gillette, New Jersey destroyed or so distorted that social revolution from a economic life in that country. It by over 100 people. they serve only the interests of political one. By coincidence, I is a struggle for equality as well Professor Gould teaches the bureaucrats. In Poland this am reading Leon Trotsky's In as for democracy. biology, geology, and the is even more so because the Defense of Marxism which [We also agree that this revo­ history of science at Harvard bureaucrats ruled from the deals extensively with the lution will leave the underlying University, and writes a start. question of a political economic foundations of the Pol­ monthly column in Natural Therefore new political forms revolution against a privileged, ish workers state intact. His tory magazine on these must be developed so that the undemocratic bureaucracy in a · [It is for this reason, as Eve- topics. Two books, The Panda's Thumb and Ever Since Darwin, are collections of those columns. His field of research The 'Militant' special pri­ is paleontology. He describes soner fund makes it possi­ Our party is your party himself as a Marxist. ble to send reduced-rate He explained many points subscriptions to prisoners that reveal creationism to be who can't pay for them. To 0 I want to join the SWP. THE MILITANT is the voice of the neither a theory nor scientific. help out, send your contri­ 0 Send me __ copies of The Changing Face He gave an interesting bution to: Militant Prisoner Socialist Workers Party. of U.S. Politics: Building a Party of Socialist overview of current Subscription Fund, 14 IF YOU AGREE with what you've Workers at $7.95 each. Enclosed is$'----- evolutionary thinking. But Charles Lane, New York, read, you should join us in 0 Please send me more information. there was disagreement with New York 10014. his political analysis of the rise fighting for a world without Name ------­ of the creationist movement war, racism, or exploitation-a Address ------and how to fight it. Many in City ______the audience discussed these The letters column is an open socialist world. Zip ______State points. forum for all viewpoints on JOIN THE SWP. Fill out this coupon Telephone ------Gould downplayed the subjects of general interest to Union/Schooi/Org. ______and mail it today. organizational base and our readers. Please keep your SWP, 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. 10014. motivations of the creationists. letters brief. Where necessary He characterizes them as well­ they will be abridged. Please meaning people just trying to indicate if you prefer that your fight non-responsive and initials be used rather than JOINTHESWP alienating school systems. He your full name.

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JUNE 26, 1981 THE MILITANT 23 THE MiliTANT

i photos Left, demonstrators welcome Prince Charles to New York, June 11. Right, high society walks a 'virtual gauntlet of protesters' on their way to gala with r.h,arll~~ Opera House.

By Steve Bride Block prisoners and ari end to British oc­ a side door, but the rest had to pass truck parked across the street, Sean NEW YORK-Britain's Prince cupation of Northern Ireland. through the receiving line, less than Sands called support in the U.S. for the Charles and the black-tie-and-gown The protest occurred as Charles, Nan­ twenty feet away. hunger strikers "fantastic." crowd found the road to the Metropoli­ cy Reagan, and the beautiful people "British out now," shouted the demon­ Through a window, the partygoers in­ tan Opera House lined with supporters were attending a $1 ,000-a-throw benefit strators as silver and black limousines side the Met could be seen sipping cock­ of Irish rights here June 17. for the Royal Ballet Company at the glided up the front drive of Lincoln Cen­ tails. Occasionally, one would point to The demonstrators-about 5,000 of Met, located in Lincoln Center. ter. the demonstrators, and this would them-demanded political status for H- Charles made it into the Met through For those who had left the limo home, evoke a chorus of boos from the crowd it was an effort-usually unsuccessful outside. -to look disdainful as they walked a "I just hope there is not too much virtual gauntlet of protesters. champagne going down the royal gul­ Women in the crowd banged garbage let," said rally speaker Mulig Parri, a Belfast city councilman to tour can lids on the sidewalk, as women in former lieutenant in the British Army The New York H-Block/Armagh opponent of political status for H­ Northern Ireland do when British sol­ who served in Northern Ireland. Parri is Committee will sponsor a July 2-12 Block and Armagh prisoners. diers invade their neighborhoods. now a member of Northern Ireland tour of several cities for Fergus O'Hare is also a longtime member And everyone joined in hooting down Veterans Against the War. O'Hare, who was recently elected to of People's Democracy, the Irish high society as it passed in review. Meanwhile, inside, four protesters the Belfast City Council on an H­ Trotskyist group, and has been ac­ The demonstration was called by Irish who had somehow gotten tickets for the Block platform. tive in the struggle for freedom in Northern Aid and supported by numer­ Royal Ballet performance interrupted O'Hare is a member of the execu­ Northern Ireland since the civil ous other groups. Among the protesters the show with shouts at Charles: "You tive committee of the National H­ rights movement of the late 1960s. were Sean Sands and Malachy are murdering the Irish." Block!Armagh Committee in Ire­ For information on having O'Hare McCreesh, brothers of dead H-Block As police were removing one of the land. He ran against and defeated ·speak in your city call (212) 788- hunger strikers Bobby Sands and Ray demonstrators, a woman in an expen­ Gerry Fitt, one of the most promi­ 1990 or 436-4770 in New York; or McCreesh; and Elizabeth O'Hara, sister sive evening dress screamed after them, nent Catholic politicians who is an (617) 628-4077 in Boston. of dead hunger striker Patsy O'Hara. "Kill the bastards. They're ruining the Addressing the crowd from a flatbed whole evening." South Africa arrests student, labor leaders By Priscilla Schenk On June 16 this year, 5,000 people ga­ Prime Minister P .W. Botha -has thered in a Soweto church to commemo­ launched a severe crackdown in South rate the fifth anniversary of the start of· Africa. About thirty trade union and the student uprising. South African po­ student leaders have been arrested in lice attacked the meeting, firing teargas the past mon_th. into the packed church. Among those arrested was Khotso There have been other attempts by Seatlholo, a student leader who had the apartheid regime to halt growing been living in exile. Seven other exiled unrest. students were arrested, but authorities On June 4, riot police attacked adem­ have so far refused to release their onstration of Coloured (mixed race) high names. The eight were reportedly at­ school students in Johannesburg. The tempting to enter Soweto, the Black students were peacefully protesting township outside Johannesburg where when police began throwing teargas students launched a rebellion in 1976. cannisters and beating students with Seatlholo was the president of the clubs and whips. Three students were Soweto Students Representative Coun­ injured. cil until he was forced to flee South Afri­ ca in February 1977. The U.S. National Just a day before the arrest of Seatl­ Student Coalition Against Racism spon­ holo and the other stw;lent exiles, Thami sored a speaking tour for him in this Mazwai, a Black journalist and secre­ country shortly thereafter. tary general of the Media Workers Asso­ The tour explained to students here ciation, was arrested. the situation existing in South Africa. Seatlholo appealed to Americans to help On June 20, Zwelakhe Sisulu, a Black break Washington's ties to the apart­ journalist and former president of the heid regime. Media Workers Association, was arrest­ More than 400 Black students were ed. killed in the Soweto uprising. Thou­ A series of seven arrests of student sands more were forced to flee because o( leaders took place since May. Among the brutal repression against political them was Wantu Zentile, president of activists. the Congress of South African Students.

24 THE MILITANT JULY 3, 1981