Socialist IUE members m~et ...... • 6 TH£ Skoglund: example for communist workers . . 7 Interview with Cuban·art critic 17

A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 48/NO. 29 AUGUST 3, 1984 75 CENTS Nicaraguan Democrats no answer to revolution celebrates bosses' war, austerity

BY MALIK MIAH fifth year The Democratic Party is attempting to present itself as the "savior" of working people in the elections in November. To BY JOSE G. PEREZ project this image, it nominated former MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Mobilized Vice-pres. Walter Mondale for president around the slogan, "Everything for the war and Geraldine Ferraro for vice-president at front, everything for the fighters," some its recent convention in San Francisco. Fer­ 200,000 or more people rallied here July raro is the first woman to ever run on a 19 to commemorate the fifth anniversary of U.S. capitalist party presidential ticket. the Nicaraguan revolution. The crowd to­ The Democratic ticket will be running tilily filled Managua's new Carlos Fonseca against Pres. Ronald Reagan and Vice­ Plaza, spilling over into the neighboring pres. George Bush, who are expected to be grounds of the Ruben Dario Theater and nominated at the Republican convention in beyond it along the Simon Bolivar August. Boulevard. It was difficult to gauge the The Democratic convention ended on an total attendance. Estimates ran as high as exhilarating note of unity. The delegates 300,000. hailed the party's platform. They cheered The turnout for the celebration exceeded the decision of Jesse Jackson and Sen. by far the predictions of Sandinista offi­ Gary Hart to urge their supporters to cam­ cials, who had aimed to mobilize 150,000 paign wholeheartedly for Mondale and people. Given the resources needed to Ferraro. And they hoped a vice-presiden­ maintain defense against the U.S. war tial nominee who is a woman will help here, government leaders decided not to rally the support needed to win the elec­ provide tr.ansportation for massive turnouts tion. from other cities. The platform adopted opens by saying, Carlos Fonseca Plaza had just been com­ "A fundamental choice awaits America ­ pleted througha round-the-clock effort by a choice between two futures." This choice workers from the Junta for the Reconstruc­ is between four more "bad" years of tion of Managua, the local government. Continued on Page 3 Delegates .at Democratic Party convention The plaza is named after the founder of the Sandinista National Liber~tion Front (FSLN) who fell in battle in 1976.

CDS vigils Gonzalez demands: free Puerto Rico Although the rally did not begin until al­ BY MARTIN KOPPEL Puerto Rico as a showcase of progress and our sister peoples in Nicaragua, El Sal­ most 10 a.m., the neighborhood Sandinista SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The final freedom in the Caribbean. "But the coloni­ vador, Cuba, and Grenada." This, she Defense Committees (CDS) began rousing leg of a solidarity and fact-finding tour in al reality is that Puerto Ricans suffer high added, "is being done against the will of people well before dawn. In some areas, · the Caribbean took Andrea Gonzalez to the unemployment and drug addiction, as well the Puerto Rican people, as shown by the CDS activists held all-night vigils and par­ U.S. colony of Puerto Rico. as political repression at the hands of U.S. demonstration of 30,000 people organized ties. In others, especially those relatively Gonzalez, Socialist Workers Party can­ grand juries and the FBI." last April against U,S. intervention in Cen­ distant from the plaza, people began didate for U.S. vice-president, earlier at­ She emphasized that "Right now there tral America and the Caribbean." gathering as early as 4 a. m. for the trip to tended the first convention of the Socialist are 25 Puerto Rican independence fighters the day before, Gonzalez took part in a one of the assembly points from which Bloc in the Dominican Republic. From jailed by the U.S. government for their po­ rally against Washington's use of the contingents marched to the rally site. July 17- 19 she attended a conference of litical ideas." Puerto Rican National Guard in Central In the first ranks of the immense throng Caribbean anti-imperialist organizations Asked about Puerto Rico's role in the America. at the plaza were units of the Sandinista held in Fort-de-France, Martinique. U.S. government's foreign policy, Gon­ The socialist candidate's news confer­ People's Army and Sandinista People's A well-attended news conference was zalez said that "U.S. colonialism has ence was immediately followed by another Militias. Many of the army units were held for the U.S. socialist on July 23 at the turned Puerto Rico into a huge military one involving Pedro Grant, PSP General composed of sombreritos, (little hats), as Puerto Rican Lawyers Guild office here. base, as a springboard for its war against Continued on Page 4 the young men drafted through the Patriotic Pedro Grant, president of the Puerto Military Service are affectionately called. Rican Socialist Party (PSP), explained to In the weeks leading up to the celebra­ the media that a range of organizations on tion, the revolutionary government had the island were planning to meet Gonzalez UAW pickets GM headquarters been on a massive campaign to get tens of to "discuss the political situation in the thousands of young Nicaraguans to register United States and Puerto Rico with her, as as auto contract talks begin for the draft, and to volu~teer to be called candidate for the Socialist Workers Party." up. Grant said her visit would "emphasize BY ANDREW PULLEY and other concessions imposed by General The sombreritos at the front of the crowd meetings with trade union leaders and · DETROIT - More than 3,000 auto Motors in 1982. set a militant and enthusiastic tone for the workers." workers picketed General Motors world An airplane circled the GM building entire rally. Building human pyramids, Gonzalez stated that the SWP campaign headquarters as national contract talks pulling a sign behind it also demanding Sandinista soldiers would wave high the supports independence for Puerto Rico. began July 23 . They came by bus from at "Restore and More in '84!" Nicaraguan-and FSLN flags and lead their ''I'm here," she said, "to extend solidarity least 30 United Auto Workers (UA W) loc­ As workers marched around the GM comrades in chants. to the forces fighting for national liberation als, mostly from Flint, the Detroit area, building, which occupies an entire block, One would shout, "From the border" and and to learn more concretely about the im­ and other cities in Michigan where GM is they chanted "Eliminate unjust absentee the rest would answer, "No pasaran" - pact of U.S. colonialism on Puerto Rican centered. Thirty buses were counted by this programs," "No concessions in benefits," "They will not pass !" Other popular chants working people." reporter. "Restore PPH," "Stop outsourcing," and included "People's power"; "National Di­ In response to a reporter's question, .Som e workers evidently· were left be­ "Cost of living on all pensions." The chant­ rectorate - we await your orders," refer­ Gonzalez said that Washington presents hind in Flint because there were not enough ing got louder when UA W interilational ring to the FSLN national l eader~hip ; and buses. . Pres. Owen Bieber briefly led the pickets "A single army," meaning that all working In a show of solidarity, striking workers before going in to negotiate with GM .. people in Nicaragua need to form a solid from Toledo's AP Parts plant were invited Most workers came from GM plants. front against the imperialist aggression. to the rally. One hundred fifty strikers But some came from Ford, including work­ In addition to these chants, which are ai­ came on three buses, including members of ers carrying a banner from Local 600, rep­ ready common, a new one appeared at this the Women's Auxiliary. AP Parts workers resenting workers from the giant River rally; De frente con el Freiue," which hadn't brought enough buttons supporting Rouge plant here. the UAW began means "Forward with the [Sandinistaf their four-month strike to satisfy the de­ negotiating with Ford July 24. Front." It had been prominently featured at mand at the demonstration. So they sold In addition, a few workers from the big a meeting two days earlier where the their personal ones to their fellow union­ Jeep plant in Toledo participated. Socialist FSLN, vanguard of the Nicaraguan revolu­ ists. members of UA W locals participated as tion, announced its ·candidates in the This demonstration was called by presi­ well. Protesters bought 60 copies of the November 4 presidential and legislative dents of many UA w_ locals at General Militant from them. Helen Meyers, mem­ elections. Motors under the slogan, "Restore and ber of U A W Local 1200 and Socialist Adding to the theme of military pre­ More in '84." This slogan, which is also Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate paredness, there was a display of San­ the name of the national committee formed from Michigan, was also on hand. The De­ dinista army equipment at the back of the by these presidents, refers to the demand to troit National Black Independent Political plaza: armored personnel carrie~s, trucks, Socialist Workers Party vice-presiden­ get back the wages, benefits, work-rule Party distributed a leaflet supporting the Cbntinued on Page 5 tial candidate Andrea Gonz81ez. changes, paid · personal holidays (PPH), UAW's fight. -SELLING OUR PRESS AT THE PLANT GATE------

BY LEE MARTINDALE representation ·election. This at­ Militant, socialist campaigners yard for repairs also buy the_Mili­ harassment by the brass or right­ Socialists in Newport News, tempt was beaten back by the have reached more workers with tant. wingers, the socialists have seen Virginia, have been organizing USWA, and a new contract won the ideas of the Socialist Workers For the past year, the giant nu­ indications that each copy sold weekly sales for nearly two years with the company. Party candidates for president and clear-powered aircraft carrier the gets passed around on the ship. at the gates of the giant Tenneco War and war spending are big vice-president, Mel Mason and U.S.S. Nimitz has been in the yard Some of the sailors also took an shipyard. questions for unionists who build Andrea Gonzalez. They, along for an overhaul, with its crew of interest in the fight last fall to de­ The yard stretches for two miles and repair warships. with Green, blast the Democrats' 3,000. As the carrier moved along fend the union. For many young and Republicans' bipartisan sup­ the yard at different stages of the along the waterfront. More than Eli Green, who works at Ten­ sailors who have never worked a 18,000 production workers are port for funding the war in Central work, the socialists moved their . union job, this involved discussing neco and is a member of the America. They call for eliminating sales to those gates to reach the employed at the yard, working USWA, is the Socialist Workers what unions are and whether mostly on Navy ships. Sailors sta­ the war budget and using the concentrations of shipyard work­ they're good for workers , Party candidate for Congress from money to put all the unemployed ers who moved with the ship. This tioned on the ships also travel in the I st Congressional District. and out of the plant gates. to work at union wages on projects meant they were selling to sailors, The socialists' best sales ever at At the press conference held to that will benefit workers and farm­ too. the gate took place immediately In the late 1970s, a successful announce his campaign, the first ers here and abroad. The sailors are generally at­ after the October 1983 U.S. inva­ battle was waged to organize ·question - and the lead in the tracted by the Militant's coverage sion of Grenada. They noted a big workers at the yard into the Uni­ The regular presence of Militant local paper's article on his cam­ of Washington's wars against . ted Steelworkers of , America salespeople at the gate over the increase not only in sales but also paign- was on Green's proposal workers and farmers in Central in hostile comments, as the ques­ (USWA). last two years has led to workers to abolish the war budget and con­ America and other parts of the recognizing the paper and buying tions workers had about im­ vert the war industries to produc­ world. They want to check out all perialism's war policies broke out ·. Tenneco has never accepted the it when some political issue arises ing things people need. Green's the information they can about the union, however, and last fall was that they want a socialist point of into more heated discussion . The places they may be sent to fight. behind an attempt by the old com­ coworkers reacted favorably to view on. Sales average five to 10 socialists expect both sales and pany union, the Peninsula Ship this idea, although most don't see While many refuse to buy the papers a week. arguments to increase as the war Builders Association (PSA), to how it's possible to accomplish. paper because it "talks against against Nicaragua and El Salvador oust the Steelworkers i!l a union Through plant-gate sales of the Sailors stationed on ships in the their boss," or out of fear ·of escalates. NJIUF conference takes up international struggles

BY MOHAMMED OLIVER Bishop, mother of the slain prime minister. NBUF both for its aid in getting out the tivities on demanding the withdrawal of all CHICAGO - Building opposition to She was given the award by Rev. Herbert truth about the Grenada revolution and for foreign troops from Grenada. She also said the U.S. occupation of Grenada and win­ Daughtry, national chairperson of NBUF its opposition to the U.S. occupation. She that it's important for supporters of the rev­ ning support for the national liberation at a July 21 rally during the convention. outlined what she called "the two tides of olution to travel to Grenada. movements · in southern Africa figured Bandele said NBUF had carried out im­ history," which are the "history of the op­ Noting how "politically inspired" she prominently in the deliberations of the fifth portant anti-apartheid activity over the last pressed peoples seeking liberation and the was by the "victory of the Jesse Jackson national convention of the National Black year. He mentioned in particular the history of those trying to hold back that campaign," Williams invited Jackson to United Front (NBUF). The convention, group's work in building a boycott of revolutionary tide." Both these tides, said come to Grenada himself. held here July 19-22, was attended by Black artists who have performed in South Williams, show themselves in Grenada's history. Jackson was supposed to have been a 350-400 Black activists, who participated Africa. in the many workshops and several plenary Supporters of the Grenada revolution, featured speaker at the July 21 rally. How- sessions. In her talk, Dessima Williams thanked explained Williams, should center their ac- Continued on Page 6 A panel discussion on international af­ fairs took up the fight against apartheid in South Africa and what could be done here in the United States to aid that struggle. Wide variety of classes at SWP conference The panel included Dessima Williams, BY ILONA GERSH sons that revolutionary and radicalizing hosted by the Socialist Workers Party 1984 former Grenadian ambassador to the Or­ A wide variety of classes will be held at working people can learn from the historic presidential and vice-presidential candi­ ganization of American States, who dis­ the 1984 Socialist Workers Party Educa­ Teamster rebellion in 1934, and the first­ dates, Mel Mason and Andrea Gonzalez, cussed the present situation in Grenada and tional and Activists Conference, which is hand account by Dobbs of the rise of the and Peter Thierjung, national chairman of how U.S. Blacks could help fight the U.S. combined with the party's national conven­ powerful union bureaucracy of today. the Young Socialist Alliance. occupation of that Caribbean island. tion, scheduled for August 4-9 in Oberlin, The fourth major series is entitled 'The Discussions will be organized following Adeyemi Bandele, . vice-chair of Ohio. workers and farmers government and com­ major political reports at the -convention, NBUF's international affairs committee, Major class series will be based on new munist political continuity." and a series of introductory classes on told convention attendants that they should and recent publications of the socialist This six-part series is based on the article Marxist politics will run throughout the be proud of the work they did in solidarity movement. These include a five-part series in the Spring-Summer 1984 issue of the week . with the Grenada revolution. based on the Pathfinder book, The Found­ theoretical magazine New International ti­ If you are interested in attending the con­ NBUF has produced two videotapes - ing of the Socialist Workers Party. This tled, 'The Workers and Farmers Govern­ vention and conference, fill out the coupon one an interview with Don Rojas, former series will examine the central questions ment: A Popular Revolutionary Dictator­ below and send it to the SWP branch press secretary for Grenadian Prime Minis­ that formed the programmatic basis of the ship," by SWP national cochairperson nearest to you (see directory on page 20). ter Maurice Bishop, and the other based on Socialist Workers Party when it was Mary-Alice Waters. Some of these classes an NBUF fact-finding tour of Grenada last founded in 1938. will be given by SWP leaders who have March. Another five-part series will center on just completed a five-month study of the ----I am interested·------in attending the 1984 In addition, NBUF actively raises funds Lenin's struggle for a revolutionary Inter­ writings of Marx and Engels at the SWP Socialist Workers Party convention and and other aid for the Maurice Bishop and national. This will be based on the newly leadership school. educational and activists conference, Au­ gust 4-9, in Oberlin, Ohio. October 19, 1983, Martyrs Foundation. published first book of the series, The Students from the school will present This group was formed to help preserve the Communist International in Lenin's Time. two additional class series: a four-part Name ______~--- revolutionary legacy of Bishop and the The classes will be a guide to beginning to series on Marx and Engels on the national other central leaders of Grenada's People's read. and study the.rich collection of docu­ question and a six-part series on Marx, En­ Address ----~------Revolutionary Government who were mur­ ments in the new book, which will be on gels, and the First International. City ---'------State ______dered in a counterrevolutionary coup last sale for the first time at the conference. Classes and discussions will be or­ October. Their assassinations were fol­ A four-part series will be based on four ganized during the conference for those Zip Phone _____ lowed by the U.S. invasion of the island. books written by Farrell Dobbs, titled, who are attending their first socialist con­ Union/Organization/School _____ At its convention NBUF established a Teamster Rebellion, Teamster Power; ference . "Maurice Bishop Pan-African Award"­ Teamster Politics, and Teamster Bureauc­ These activities include a welcome rec Clip and send to: SWP National Office, 14 the first recipient of which was Alimenta racy. These classes will focus on the les- ception on the first night of the conference, Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. 10014. SPECIAL OFFER TO MILITANT SUBSCRIBERS The Militant

"Maurice Bishop Speaks" Closing news date: July 25, 1984 Editors: CINDY JAQUITH This collection of interviews with and speeches by the slain prime minister of Grenada MALIKMIAH also includes an introduction explaining the events that led to the overthrow of the Business Manager: revolution, Bishop's assassination, and the invasion by U.S. troops. LEE MARTINDALE We are offering the book to subscribers for a special price of $4 (a $2.95 discount!). Editorial Staff: Connie Allen , Pat Grogan, Arthur You can also participate in getting this important book out to others by ordering a Hughes, Margaret Jayko , Geoff Mirelowitz, Mohammed bundle of 3 or more copies for $3.50 each. Oliver, Harry Ring . ------~ ·------"------Published weekly except. two weeks in August, the last week of December, and the first week of January by the Please 0 begin 0 .renew 0 extend my subscription: Militant (ISSN ' 0026:3885), 14 Charles Lane, New 0 3 months/$6 0 I am enclosing an additional $4,00 York, N.Y. 10014. Telephone: Editorial Office, (212) 0 6 months/$15 for a copy of Maurice Bishop Speaks 243-6392; Business Office, (212) 929-3486. 0 one year/$24 Correspondence concerning subscriptions or changes of address should be addressed to The Mili­ Name ______~------~------tant Business Office, 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. 10014. Address ______~-- Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y. POST­ City/State/Zip ______MASTER: Send address changes to The Militant, 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. 10014. Subscriptions: Telephone Union/Organization------U.S. $24.00 a year, outside U.S. $30.00. By first-class 0 Enclosed is $ ___ for a bundle of __ copies of the book at $3.50 each to mail: U.S., Canada, and Mexico: $60.00. Write for air­ mail rates to aJ.I other countries. sell to friends and coworkers (minimum of 3 copies). Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily rep­ 0 Enclosed is $3 for a 12 week introductory subscription (book offer not available): resent the Militant's views. These are expressed in edito7 rials. • Mail to: Militan~ 14 Charles Ln., New York, N.Y. 10014.

2 The Militant Aug-.st 3, ., 1984 Democrats no answer to employers' war

Continued from front page Ronald Reagan or four "good" years of traditional Democratic liberalism, they claim. The actual platform, however, is not substantially different than current govern­ ment policies, except for some liberal win­ dowdressing. For example, it openly advo­ cates an austerity program that includes cutbacks in social services. In fact, it is more conservative than the platforms adopted at the last few Democratic conven­ tions. This rightward trend, however, does not signify that working people are getting more conservative. Rather it reflects the rightward drift of capitalist politics flowing from the employers' need to weaken the labor movement and drive down the living standard of working people. Generally, however, the platforms of both the Democrats and the Republicans don't mean much. They are primarily vote, catching devices and do not have much to do with what policies candidates will carry out when elected. Mondale, in his acceptance speech, ad­ mitted that whoever is elected in November will have to carry out the same basic au­ sterity measures. "Whoever is inaugurated in January, the American people will have to pay Mr. Reagan's bills. The budget will be squeezed. Taxes will go up. And any­ At Democratic Party convention Jesse Jackson claimed Mondale-Ferraro campaign will be step forward for Blacks and other one who says they won't is not telling the working ~ople~ truth to the American people." The bipartisan agreement between the Democr:ats and ·Republicans on foreign strikes, demonstrations, and solidarity ac­ policy is even clearer. tivities - of the workers against the em­ Socialists get good response at Sounding little different than Reagan, ployers and their political representatives. the platform says, "A Democratic Presi­ Most of the left was also jubilant about dent will be prepared to apply military the Democratic Party convention. marches outside S.F. convention force when vital American interests are The Communist Party, which is running BY JERRY FREIWIRTH featured Laura Garza, a national youth co­ threatened, particularly in the event of an its own presidential ticket, hailed the con­ SAN FRANCISCO - More than ordinator for the socialist presidential cam­ attack upon the United States or its im­ vention as a big advance for working 100,000 unionists joined · in a massive paign and a National Cdmmittee member mediate allies." people. The July 19 Daily World headline "Labor Parade" down San Francisco's of the Yountt Socialist Alliance. Well over The platform continues, "The Western read: "DEFEAT REAGAN! Unity prevails Market Street July 15 on the eve of the I 00 unionists attended the open house dur­ Hemisphere is in trouble. Central America as Dems sharpen attack on issues." Democratic Party convention. ing the course of the day, including nearly is a regional war. Latin America is ex­ The Guardian, a radical weekly pub­ Organized by the AFL-CIO, the Interna­ 40 people new to the Mason,Gonzalez periencing the most serious economic lished in New York, ran an editorial on tional Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the campaign. crisis in 50 years . ... Mindful of these Ferraro's nomination entitled, "Better late International Longshoremen's and Ware­ Introducing Laura Garza at the . open realities and determined to stop widening, than never," and welcomed it as a major housemen's Union, the march was de­ house was Marilee Taylor, SWP candidate militarizin~ and Americanizing 'the con, achievement for the women's rights move­ signed primarily as a show of strength to for State Assembly in San Francisco's 16th flici, a Democratic President's immediate ment. An article in the same issue stated, reinforce the union officialdom's bargain­ DistriCt and a member of the International objective will be to stop the violence and "Walter Mondale will be the Democratic ing power at the Democratic convention. Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Taylor pursue a negotiated solution in concert with Party's presidential nominee, but Jesse Many rank-and-file unionists, neverthe­ is also chairwoman of the San Francisco our democratic allies. . . . " Jackson will function as its soul and con­ YSA. The document also adds, "the Demo­ science." less, saw the parade as a way of expressing their anger at the government and employ­ "No one who was here today could fail cratic Party affirms its commitment to the The main reason why the left and many to see the enormous potential power of the selective, judicious use of American mili­ liberals were enthusiastic about the Demo­ ers' joint antiunion offensive. They carried signs and chanted slogans reflecting their labor movement," "I:aylor began. tary power in consonance with constitu­ cratic Party convention was Jackson's role "Just think what all this potential power tional principles and reinforced by the War there. concerns. "We want jobs, not bombs," said ban­ could do, if instead of hitching itself to the Powers Act." Flora Lewis, a liberal columnist for the parties of the bosses, suppose the labor While a few minor amendments were New York Times, said the convention re­ ners and signs carried by the Printing Trades United contingent. Thousands of movement used this power to organize a proposed, the basic platform was agreed to vealed "signs of a new populism." The real fight against the antiunion.drive by the by the entire convention. "new" Democratic Party, she said, now unionists in nearly every contingent held signs saying, "No U.S. troops or arms to government and the employers ," Taylor "include[s] women and blacks, those inter­ continued. 'Historic convention' nal migrants who arrived late on the politi­ Central America." cal scene." "No cuts in Social Security," demanded Garza explained that the YSA is support­ The convention was presented by the ing the socialist presidential campaign, Jackson's "Rainbow Coalition" was retired International Association of capitalist media, the labor officialdom, and "because Mason and Gonzalez are putting quite visible on the convention floor: There Machinists (lAM) members. the Black, Latino, and women misleaders forward the only truly realistic perspective were over 700 Black delegates - the most CWA Local 9410 carried a huge banner, as a "historic" event. New York Times col­ for working people, family farmers, and ever at a Democratic Party convention - which reflected the thinking of many umnist Tom Wicker declared that "the the oppressed. Not one of the legitimate and many more Latinos and women than march participants: "Reaganomics - the modern Democratic Party has become a demands made by the unionists marching normally seen at past Democratic Party rich get richer, the poor get poorer, the fuse new instrument in American politics." conventions. gets shorter." today can be met by the Democratic Party. The tabor officialdom was especially The power of labor n~eds to be marshaled overjoyed by the outcome of the conven­ 'officially, however, the parade was or­ Victory for ruling class independently to fight for our rights - on tion. "We are all very pleased with the out­ ganized around no specific political de­ the picket lines, in the streets, in the plants, come," said Glenn Watts, president of the This registered the Democratic Party's mands or slogans other than "We can do and in every political arena." Communications Workers of America. success in drawing the "internal migrants" it." And the "it" that we can do was made Garza encouraged .e veryone present to But unlike Black and women delegates and the "leftouts," as Jackson calls them, very clear: replace Ronald Reagan with join .in supporting the socialist presidential who were quite visible and vocal at the into the mainstream of capitalist politics. Walter Mondale. campaign . She especially urged the many convention, most labor skates kept a low This was a victory for the employing class. "The primary duty of all u'nionists," young people in the audience to join the profile. They accept the antilabor smear Jackson admits that this was an objective thundered AFL-CIO Pres. Lane Kirkland Young Socialist Alliance, which is helping that the unions are a "special interest of his campaign. While declaring the in his address to the·m arch participants, "is to spearhead this effort. group" seeking to control Mondale. number one goal for all liberals and "pro­ to march to the polls in November. We Two other large events took place the Mary Hatwood Futrell, president of the gressives" is to defeat Ronald Reagan in must march to the polls and elect Walter same weekend in conjunction with the National Education Association, said, "We November, Jackson said this could not Mondale." opening of the Democratic Party conven­ are playing a major role behind the scenes, happen unless the Democratic Party An alternative perspective was put for­ tion . Following the conclusion of the Labor but we did not want to give the appearance broadened its base of support - top to bot­ ward at the march by unionists supporting Parade, 100,000 supporters of gay and les­ of domination .. . . We hope we have influ­ tom. The Democratic Party had to let more the Socialist Workers Party presidential bian rights marched to the convention site. ence, but we did not want to give the im­ liberal capitalist politicians who are Black, ticket of Mel Mason and Andrea Gonzalez. The next evening, some 20,000 people pression that Mr. Mondale is controlled by Latino, or female participate in decision­ Machinists, oil workers, garment workers, gathered at the Moscone Center for a "Vote the unions." making. Teamsters, and others campaigned vigor­ peace '84 rally" featuring Jesse "Jackson, The leadership of the AFL-CIO had been When the convention opened, Jackson ously for the socialist candidates,· talking peace activists, and speakers from Nicara­ campaigning for Mondale in the Democrat­ told his delegates, "We don't have to win, about their program and distributing cam­ gua and El Salvador. ic primaries since last October when it but we have to raise the right issues.'' paign material to. thousands. Nearly 500 copies of the campaign made an unprecedentedly early endorse­ He added, "We shall leave this place on As the marchers turned off Market Street newspapers, the Militant and Perspectiva ment of a presidential candidate. Friday with our minds made up. We must to the rally at San Francisco's Civic Cen, Mundial, were sold at the three rallies. A As they have traditionally done, the retire the repressive Reagan regime, and ter, a striking sight was a large banner banner behind the literature table at the labor officials are projecting the elections with our minds made up we have the proclaiming: "Jobs not war, Mason for "Vote peace" rally proclaimed, "Grenada as the most important arena of political ac­ power. president, Gonzalez for vice-president." Ji ves! Read about the Grenada revoluti0n in tivity for the unions, and the capitalist par­ "This fall we are going to work with pas­ The banner was mounted atop a large Maurice Bishop Speaks," a book of i1es as effective vehicles for advancing the sion because our eyes are on the prize. We wooden campaign literature booth, which speeches by the slain prime minister. The interests of working people. They counter­ are going to elect school board members did a brisk business all day . table drew scores of people who wanted pose this electoralist approach to organiz­ and supervisors. . . . " The Mason-Gonzalez campaign hosted more information about the new book and ing and leading independent struggles - Continued on Page 4 an open house following the march, which recent events in Grenada.

' A'tigrist'J, 1984 The Militant 3 ·Democrats no answer to employers' war

Continued from Page 3 turned into a raisin and my joy bell lost its ment over tlie "loss of our boys" in the in­ According to this strategy of building a resonance, please forgive me," Jackson vasion of Grenada last October and in El New methods of struggle will emerge as base (what Jackson calls a "progressive" pleaded. "Charge it to my head and not to Salvador and Honduras while fighting social and economic crises and imperialist wing) inside the Democratic Party, Blacks. my heart." against the Salvadoran and Nicaraguan war tear apart the current political and other working people should focus Jews and Blacks, he went on, "are people. framework of relative social stability. Under these conditions workers' con­ their energies on voting in November to copartners in a long and rich religious his­ Despite all the hoopla in the media about dump Reagan and to elect more Blacks to tory - the Judeo-Christian traditions .. .. sciousness will be transformed. Then and Jackson's more radical social program, his only then will millions of workers opt for a local offices. This is consciously counter­ We are bound by shared blood an~ shared speech and proposals were little different posed by Jackson to organizing a serious sacrifices. class-struggle approach to politics and than Mondale' s. begin to transform their unions into instru­ fight against the blows raining down on "We must share our burdens and our Jackson's one proposal that the conven­ working people, especially Blacks and joys with each other once again. We must ments of struggle. This includes the fight to tion did agree to - a small modification of build a mass labor or Black party. Such women. ·tum toeach other and not on each other and the section of the Democrats' platform on parties will not arise short of those mass choose higher ground." affirmative action - was not much of a Depoliticizing campaign This apology, of course, won quick struggles. concession. Jackson proposed that the fed­ This, of course is not the case today. praise from the more conservative sectors eral government play a more active role in Because the Jackson campaign did not of the Democratic Party as well as the mid­ Thus the illusions in the Jackson campaign break from the framework of capitalist the enforcement of affirmative action pro­ as an advance for Blacks and other working dle-class leaders of the major Jewish or­ grams. There was no mention of quotas. politics, it has served ~o depoliticize those ganizations. people. who were attracted to it; divert attention Nathan Perlmutter, national director of On enforcement of the Voting Rights This pressure of electoralism is so great from organizing fightbacks; and is an ob­ the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Act, an early issue of the Jackson cam­ that most of the radical and left organiza­ stacle to developing independent working­ B'rith, referred to Jackson's "personal paign, Jackson's and Mondale's proposals tions claiming to be socialist or communist class political action. statement and apology" as "welcome, and to the convention were nearly identical. succumb to it. Many believe it is necessary Those who came to the convention hop­ one hopes it's for real and will be a contrib­ Mondale proposed, and it was adopted, for workers to go through a Jackson or ing Jackson would refuse to endorse the ution to civil discourse." that the Democratic Party do a "serious in­ even a Ferraro experience to reach revolu­ ticket unless more Blacks and "leftouts" depth study of the use of second tionary consciousness. were given greater authority in the official The Workers World Party, for example, Jewish leaders' ·response ~o Jackson primaries." Jackson called for the "cpm­ campaign quickly learned otherwise. Jack­ plete elimination of the runoff primary." is running its own presidential ticket. But it son was already committed to helping tum Rabbi Henry Michelman, executive presents the Jackson campaign as progress out Black voters for Mondale and Ferraro. vice-president of the Synagogue Council of During his campaign Jackson had said for Blacks and other workers. It took the "Tonight we come together," he began America , was pleased, but added Jackson that if the convention did not take a stand sucker bait. against the runoff primary he wasn't sure his sermon-pledge of loyalty, "bound by will have to prove ·himself further: "I ap­ Its approach proves in the negative why - he could back the ticket. Not only did he our faith in a mighty God, with genuine re­ preciate Rev. Jackson's confessional and running an "independent" socialist cam­ back down on that position but his speech spect and love for our country, and inherit­ found It heartening. However, we will paign is not identical to independent work­ failed to mention other important social is­ ing the legacy of a great party - the Dem­ watch to ~ee if he truly emerges as a re­ ing-class political action. Independent sues such as busing to achieve school de­ ocratic Party :...._ which is the best hope for sponsible leader dedicated to pluralism." working-class political action can never segregation, which is under heavy attack redirecting our nation on a more humane, Perlmutter also cautioned that Jackson begin with elections. Only the struggles of by the government and courts. just, and peaceful course." had "excoriated South Africa, but said workers and their allies to improve their "To be strong leaders," he continued,. nothing about his embrace of [Fidel] Cas­ wages, working conditions, and lives, and Why rulers make adjustments "we must be long-suffering as we seek to tro, Hafez ai-Assad, [Yasir] Arafat and the finally moving toward· taking political right the wrongs of our party and our na­ Sandinistas, all of whom are echo cham­ The employing class recognizes that the power through a revolution, is independent tion. We must expand our party, heal our bers of anti"Zionism and anti-Ameri­ ferment in the working class will increase working-class politics. party, and unify our party. That is our mis­ canism." as the attacks on working people increase. sion in 1984. These middle-class leaders of the major This is why they no longer exclude the idea Mason and Gonzalez ca11_1paign ·"We are often reminded that we live in a Jewish organizations share little with of a woman or even a Black becoming their great nation- and we do. But it can be Blacks. It is a myth that Blacks and Jews representative in the White House. There is only one voice in the elections greater still. The Rainbow isenandating a have "shared blood and shared sacrifices," They would prefer this not to be the that is explaining that the working class new definition of greatness." as Jackson claimed. Blacks are an over­ case. They liked it better when they had a cannot advance its struggles by looking to To show his total loyalty to the Demo­ whelmingly working-class oppressed na­ "whites only" and "only males apply" two­ the electoral arena, particularly to the cratic Party higher-ups and "60 families" tionality; Jews today are mostly middle­ party system. But as a result of big social capitalist parties. This voice is the presi­ that control the country, Jackson gave a class and professionals. Under the right­ gains won by Blacks, women, and labor dential ticket of the Socialist Workers groveJilig apology to the racists who have ward drift of capitalist politics, most Jews through struggle, the ruling class has had to Party. attacked him during his campaign. have become more conservative as re­ make these adjustments in order to main­ Mel Mason and Andrea Gonzalez, SWP "If in my low moments, in word, deed or flected in their opposition to issues of great tain their rule over society. They continu­ candidates for president and vice-presi­ attitude, through some error of temper, importance to Blacks and all working ally seek to Undercut new struggles by ab­ dent, are using the electoral arena to ex­ taste or tone," Jackson said in a clear refer­ people such as affirmative action programs sorbing their leaders. plain their revolutionary perspectives and ~nce to his initial refusal to repudiate Louis that use quotas. In the 1930s, for example, when the proposals to working people. Mason and Farrakhan, a Black nationalist and strong Perlmutter's concern about Jackson labor movement was on the march and or­ Gonzalez explain that genuine social opponent of Israel, "I have caused anyone "embracing" Castro et al. was reflected in ganized most of basic industry, the bosses change will not be brought about through any discomfort, created pain, or revived Jackson's speech. Jackson kept the San­ were able to co-opt most union militants the results of the November elections. someone's fears, that was not my truest dinistas, the Palestinians, and Cuba out of and get them involved in electoral politics, They explain that participation in elections self." the hour-long talk. His only reference to mainly in the Democratic Party. The labor is not the road to transform society, in fact, "If there were occasions when my grape Central America and Grenada was his Ia- bureaucracy played a crucial role in this it is a barrier to advancing toward indepen­ process. That's where the famous dent political action. Roosevelt coalition arose - Blacks and The heart of their campaign - and that ---New from Pathfinder------. unionists in the North, and racist Dixiecrats of other SWP candiates around the country in the South. - is explaining revolutionary ideas as' a In the 1960s, during the height of the way to advance and win a layer of van­ civil rights movement, the electoral system guard workers to their revolutionary pro­ was altered again to allow thousands of gram and party. {J:NIN'S . Blacks to be elected to public office. Today While the Democratic Party convention there are liberal Bfacks heading several showed the depth of illusions in the major cities .. capitalist electoral system, the response The Democratic Party even includes Mason and Gonzalez are receiving for their "socialist" congressmen like California's revolutionary program shows the great po­ STRUGGLE Ron Dellums. Everyone is welcome as tential to win many working people to long as they observe the rules and defend socialist ideas. FORA the system. The Jackson campaign is in that tradition of capitalist politics. The success of the Gonzalez on Puerto Rico Jackson campaign for the ruling class is Continued from front page REVOLUTIONARY that it drew in new layers of the "leftouts" Secretary Carlos Gallisa, other PSP lead­ into active participation in the capitalist ers, and Puerto Rican nationalist hero electoral system. Rafael Cancel Miranda. Gallisa announced a July 25 rally to INTERNATIONAL Where leadership will come from mark the sixth year since the police assassi­ The heavy weight of the labor official­ nation of two young independence fighters ·Documents: 1907-1916 dom in working-class politics is the main at Cerro Maravilla. The protest will de­ reason the liberals who lead the major mand justice in the case and an end to the The Preparatory J-ears Black, Latino, and women's rights organi­ cover-up being carried out by the U.S. and zations can succeed in pushing pro-Demo­ Puerto Rican governments. cratic Party, pro-electoralist policies. The Cancel Miranda also urged participation This is the first in a series of volumes that will publish the docume nts of lack of a class-struggle leadership in the in another rally on the same day in Guanica the Communist International in l e nin's time. This initial volume e ncom­ unions undermines the development of for the 86th anniversary of the U.S. mili­ passes the years whe n the groundwo rk was being laid for the launching of militant Ieaderships among its allies. tary invasion and occupation of Puerto the Cominte rn in 1919. The majority of docume nts in this book have neve r This problem of leadership is mainly a Rico. before been published in English or are lo ng o ut of print. Included are the result of the level of class struggle in the Gonzalez will take part in these actions. proceedings of the 1907 Stuttgart congress of the Second Inte rnatio nal, country. The working class hasn't yet gone She will later meet with fishermen in through enough struggles to be able to docume nts from the 1915 Zimme rwald conference, and articles by V.I. Mayagtiez and the island of Vieques, as develop new leaders who can challenge the well as organizations fi ghting against polit­ Le nin, Karllie bknecht, Rosa luxemburg, Leon Trotsky, Karl Kautsky, and class-collaborationist leadership of the ical repression and for independence. Karl Rade k. trade unions and the liberal misleaderships Gonzalez, whose news conference ap­ 624 pp., $10.95 of the mass Black and women's org_aniza­ peared on the 6 p.m. television news, was tions. These new leaders who will come also interviewed by the PSP newspaper, O rde r from Pathfinde r Press, 41 0 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Please along will be predominantly young, Black, Claridad, at its offices. Several more tele­ enclose 75 cents for postage and handling. Latino, and female. They will be workers vision, radio, and newspaper interviews - not bureaucrats. · are scheduled.

4 The Mllitant August 3;·1984 Nicaraguan revolution

Continued from front page rulers, don't be demagogic, . cynical and and 122-millimeter field artillery pieces. antidemocratic: stop the aggression!" In addition, to one side of the speaker's stand, there was a battery of seven more 7,391 killed 122-millimeter cannon. Ortega gave facts and figures illustrating The rally itself was relatively brief, the toll the U.S. war of aggression has about an hour long . Its overriding theme taken on·Nicaragua. was defense of Nicaragua and the revolu­ tion against U.S. imperialist aggression. In the past three years some 7,391 Nica­ raguans - many of them civilians, espe­ 'Sons of Sandino' cially peasants in isolated settlements - have been killed by mercenary forces Following the national anthem, there armed by the CIA._ were introductions of the FSLN National The economic cost has been staggering: Directorate, the government junta, and . 2.28 billion cordobas, roughly $200 mil­ other dignitaries. Then the Sandinista mu- lion. Ortega compared Nicaragua's losses . sica! group Carlos Mejfa Godoy y los de to those suffered by U.S. families "that Palacagiiina presented a new song dedi­ were victims of the rapacious and aggres­ cated to the "sons of Sandino," the young sive p<)licy of their government" against men in the Patriotic Military Service. Vietnam. The song ended: "Happy Birthday homeland. "The annual proportion of deaths suf­ "We swear in your honor fered by Nicaragua in three and a half years "To the last bullet, to fight for the has been four times greater than the propor­ principles tion of deaths suffered by the American "That Carlos revived." people in eight and a half years of im­ Then a tape of Carlos Fonseca speaking perialist aggression against the Vietnamese was played. people." Managua, July 19: fifth anniversary celebration. This was followed by another song by Carlos Mejfa Godoy y los de Palacagiiina, During his speech the .Sandinista leader "Comandante Carlos Fonseca," which is announced -that, given the U.S. war, the based on the final section of FSLN leader State of Emergency would be extended Cuba-Nicaragua: 'friend~hip Tomas Borge's book, Carlos, Dawn Has another 90 days. Nevertheless, some re­ Ceased to be a Temptation . Borge wrote strictions are being relaxed. The ban on the book whiie in Somoza's prison after outdoor political meetings has been lifted grows stronger every day' learning that Fonseca had been killed by so that "all the parties participating in the election can carry out rallies both indoors the National Guard. The following letter was sent by governments. You can be sure that among In the middle of the song, the battery of and outdoors, mobilizations and demon­ strations in public plazas." Daniel Ortega, coordinator of the gov­ our people the memory of these com­ the 122-millimeter artillery fired off a 21- erning junta of Nicaragua, to Cuban paiieros will live forever, and as our revo­ round salute. The boom from the powerful Also, until now all Nicaraguan publica­ leader Fidel Castro. It was printed in the lution develops we will continue paying cannon could be heard all over Managua. tions were subject to prior censorship. July 13 Barricada, daily newspaper of homage to their memory, granting them the As each round went off it drowned out Now, only reports dealing with military or the Sandinista National Liberation place of our immortal heroes. momentarily the roar of applause, cheers, other national security information will be Front. We wish to express to you our unwaver­ and shouts of"People's power," "No pasa­ subject to review before publication. ing decision to defend our conquests as we ran," and "Carlos Fonseca, presente!'' that Managua, July 12, 1984 have been doing up until now. Similarly, welled up from the crowd. Likewise the amnesty offered to mis­ guided Nicaraguans who may have joined At 50 years ... Sandino lives! we wish to express our desire for peace and Once the cheering had subsided, Com­ for mutual respect in our relations with the the counterrevolutionary forces has once To his excellency, Commander Fidel Cas­ mander Jaime Wheelock, on behalf of the rest of the countries of the world. We reit- . again been extended, this time until tro Ruz, president of the Council of State FSLN National Directorate, gave agrarian erate that we are a people who love peace; November 4, so that such persons "can par­ and of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba, reform land titles to members of the Au­ we are making great efforts to achieve it. ticipate in the election process." Leaders of Havana gusto Cesar Sandino Cooperative of the But if our imperialist enemies ·attack us, Rio Coco area, right on the border with counterrevolutionary organizations, how­ ever, are excluded from this offer. Esteemed Commander Fidel: they will find a people ready to defend with Honduras. The peasants, who were dressed The 23rd of July, 1979, scarcely five their lives and their blood the achievements in their militia uniforms , are the children of Church hierarchy provocation days after the revolutionary victory of our they have obtained. farmers first organized into cooperatives country, we began to experience the frater­ On this fifth anniversary of our collab­ by Sandino in the late 1920s and early Ortega also took up a new provocation nal and timely collaboration between our oration, on behalf of the Sandinista Na­ 1930s, when he led a struggle against the by the Catholic church hierarchy, which in peoples, parties, and governments, with tional Liberation Front and of the battle­ U.S. Marines. the past months has sharply escalated its the arrival of the first brigades of doctors hardened Nicaraguan people, we want to In the two weeks before the rally, FSLN political campaign against the revolution. from your country. With this noble gesture make known our undying recognition of leaders gave out titles for a total of720,000 The Nicaraguan government recently a beautiful process of friendship was in­ the Cuban party, government, and people, acres to 12,000 peasant families. announced that Fernando Cardenal would itiated by a' people who, despite the indis­ with the certainty that these bonds of The main talk was given on behalf of the be taking over as minister of education, re­ criminate imperialist blockade which they friendship between our peoples are and will. FSLN leadership by _Daniel Ortega, the co­ placing Carlos Tunnerman, who is Nicara­ have suffered for years, directed their heart be unbreakable. ordinator of the governing junta and FSLN gua's new ambassador to the United States. and efforts toward a sister people who, tom presidential candidate in the November Cardenal has been a teacher and directed apart by the war, held their head up and With a fraternal embrace, election. the highly successful literacy crusade. He looked toward the future with great hope. Daniel Ortega Saavedra Ortega's speech, like the whole month­ is also a Catholic priest belonging to the From that date, five years have passed and long commemoration of the insurrection Jesuit order and a member of the FSLN. our bonds of friendship and brotherhood that toppled Somoza five years ago, was Since the annouLlcement, the Vatican are being consolidated and grow stronger focused on the imperialist war of aggres­ has been proclaimimg that Cardenal must every day . sion against Nicaragua. Though short - a resign from his government post. The Ma­ It is appropriate to mention on this occa­ half hour, if that- the talk was interrupted nagua capitalist daily La Prensa claims that =national) sion that in all that time, the collaboration A Magazine of Marxist Politics and Theory more than 20 times by applause and slo­ a delegation from Jesuit headquarters is on you have offered our country has reached gans from the crowd. its way to Managua to expel Cardenal from The Workers' and incalculable magnitude and has been of di­ "We believe that words are superflu­ the order should he refuse to abandon the verse kinds, the most noteworthy being Farmers' Government: A ous," Ortega began, "because this speech Ministry of Education. what we have received in the areas of edu­ Popular Revolutionary about the fifth anniversary of the victory of Ortega pointed out that "This is a revolu­ cation, health, and construction. Dictatorship the Sandinista People's Revolution has al­ tion that respects the religious sentiments by Mary-Alice Waters ready been given by the people." The and practices of the people. With the help of your people we have built bridges, hospitals, schools, plants for crowd answered with applause and chants "It is said that the Church is made up of Imperialism and of "People's power, people's power." the people of God. It is said that the voice prefabricated houses, and a cement fac­ tory . We have also received large dona­ Revolution in Latin · of the people is the voice of God. America and the State of Emergency "There are those who lodge themselves tions of food , medicine, school supplies, up in temples and_ plug their ears with machinery and spare parts, feed, fishing Caribbean Ortega devoted the bulk of his remarks boats, construction material, sports equip­ by Manuel Pineiro to answering the noisy, imperialist-in­ egoism," he continued. "'Whitened sepul­ chers and pharisees,' Christ called them, ment, and finally , a vast amount of aid of spired campaign by Nicaragua's capitalist great value to our people. The FSLN and the political parties and the Catholic Church and with a whip drove them from the tem­ ple." Equally, about 5,000 young Nicara­ Nicaraguan Revolution hierarchy demanding the lifting of the State by Tom;ls Borge of Emergency that has been in effect here Ortega then proposed - and the crowd guans are being prepared in Cuban educa­ unanimously reconfirmed- the naming of for more than two years. tional· institutions in the various areas of D Send me the Spring-Summer 1984issue for$4. "We would like the emergency to be sus­ Cardenal as education minister. "Hope­ science and techniques. They are future D Send me the Fall 1983 issue featuring "Their pended now, at this very moment," Ortega fully there will be ears that won't be deaf to professionals who will put at the service of Trotsky and Ours: Communist Continuity said, "because first of all suspending the the voice of the people of God in Nicaragua our revolution the knowledge they are ac­ Today," by Jack Barnes, for $4. emergency means suspending the aggres­ and to their incessant cry of, 'We want quiring from you, setting their sights on To subscribe: sion against Nicaragua, suspending the peace!'" Ortega said. fortifying and consolidating the Nicara­ emergency means thousands of youth re­ guan Government of Reconstruction. D In United States, four issues for U.S.$12 turning to their homes, their schools, their Message to U.S. people This account, dear Commander, is a D In Canada, four issues for $18.50 (Canadian) small summary of the collaboration that we Send to: New International, 1317 Est. Ste. workcenters." In his speech, Ortega also appealed to Catherine, Montreal, PQ H2L 2H4 "We say to the U.S. rulers: stop the ag­ the people of the United States to oppose have received from you who, despite suf­ fering your own limitations, share your re­ gression so that the emergency can stop, the U.S. government's war of aggression. Name and under those circumstances the State of "We want to send our Jllilitant embrace sources, experiences, and frief!dship with our young revolution. Address Emergency would automatically cease. to all the peoples of the world," he said, City/State/Zip "The emergency has not been imposed "and especially to the people of the United Of immeasurable value to the Sandinista Country by the .people and government of Nicara­ States. We tell the people of the United People's Revolution are the lives which our Send to New International, 14 Charles Ln. , New gua," Ortega continued, "the emergency States that this revolution is also their rev­ Cuban brothers have offered in the fulfill­ York, N.Y. 10014. has been imposed by you . Gentlemen U.S. olution." ment of the first tasks assigned them by our

August~~ 1984 TheMUitant 5 Electrical workers face ·layoffs, ·employer attacks Socialists in IUE urge solid'l:rity

BY GEOFF MIRELOWITZ letter he sent to all the 8,000 IUE members The "factory of the future." of Local 20 I . That's what the General Electric Co. The flexible machining center is needed, calls the flexible machining center it plans said Krebs, "to help achieve cost superior­ to build in Lynn, Massachusetts, alongside ity - to assure a clean-cut competitive its giant aircraft engine plant there. The edge over our rivals: Pratt & Whitney, Gar­ new facility will be a modem, highly auto­ rett, Lycoming, Allison, Rolls RQyce and mated operation. others." dreds of temporary workers. These work­ nearby Rahway in support of an Oil, GE put its "offer" to spend the $51 . 7 Krebs posed as one of those in GE man­ ers are provided by "job shoppers," sub­ Chemical and Atomic Workers local million to build the new plant to a vote agement who believe that "creative man­ contractors who pay the temporaries little locked-out by Merck and Co. among the members of International Union agement, a dedicated workforce, and a above minimum wage for work in a plant of Electronic, Electrical, Technical, cooperative union can work together. ..." where unionized workers earn several dol­ Women workers Salaried and Machin.e Workers (IUE) Others, he said, thought the plant should be lars .an hour more. Pete Brandli, an IUE Severalof the New York meeting partic­ Local 201 at Lynn on June 26. It passed by built nonunion from the start. These, he in­ member from St. Paul, described a similar ipants noted the large number - perhaps a vote of3,903 to I ,502. timated, were the company equivalent of phenomenon where he works. Both 40 percent - of women who belong to the unreasonable union "hard liners" who are pointed to the way this undermines union union. The IUE has participated in the Co­ Clever union busting "uncomfortable with high technology." work rules and conditions for all workers in Gurewitz and Gauvreau explained that alition of Labor Union Women from Union-busting blackmail is what was the plant. socialists in the IUE local urged a vote CLUW's inception. The electrical and really involved, Local 201 member Don against GE's blackmail. This was not out electronics industries are among those Gurewitz told a leadership meeting of Default by IUE officialdom of any fear of high technology. Rather it where women have been more established socialist IUE activists held in New York was because they believe that the union's Like the other top officials of the U.S. for some time - although, as Gurewitz July 14. The work rules and working con­ goal should be to fight to protect the inter­ labor movement, Gurewitz explained, the . explained, "in the lowest paid and dullest ditions at GE's "factory of the future" will ests of workers and insist that they benefit IUE leadership offers no effective answers jobs." be a giant step backward for the union, said from any modernization. to these attacks on the union. President The fight for women's rights has roots Gurewitz. The "factory of the future" scheme came Reagan, they claim, is the main source of that go back many years in the IUE and The 140 workers to be employed there up, they explained, in the context of other the problem. They encourage unionists to other electrical unions, Gurewitz noted. will be forced to do the work of 200-300. setbacks for the union including job losses work for Democrat Walter Mondale in The meeting agreed to discuss this further Twelve-hour shifts will be the norm and and the introduction of a "Quality of Work November as the way out of the crisis. at the August gathering. the result will be an average 42-hour work­ Life" plan, also aimed at undercutting Brandli observed that socialists got the week. Pay rates may also suffer, Gurewitz The IUE officials, said Gurewitz, also union power· and furthering the false idea support "new industrial policy" schemes best response to their ideas from younger, explained. that workers and GE share common inter­ more militant workers. GE told IUE members in Lynn that the which provide government loans to super­ ests. The meeting agreed that it is primarily new facility could be built there - or at a rich corportations - like GE- at low in­ Socialists at the Lynn plant explained among such workers that a current of revo­ nonunion GE site elsewhere such as the terest rates. Such plans will only lead to that the competition among workers lutionary-minded Marxists can be built in "satellite plant" it operates in nearby Hook­ more "factory of the future" setups, at the pushed by GE is a permanent feature of expense of union members and other work­ the IUE. As in other unions in which set, New Hampshire. The choice, GE workers' existence under capitalism. But socialists are active, those in the IUE strive claimed, was up to the unionists. Thus the ers. unions, they explained, were built pre­ to win other workers to the ideas of solidar­ company blackmailed workers into accept­ cisely to protect and defend workers from Anti-imports campaign ity, union democracy, and independent ing a union-busting scheme that will under" the harmful effects of this competition· by working class political action, and to fight mine the national contract the IUE and fighting for the maximum working-class The IUE officialdom also actively em­ for these ideas in the union around specific other unions have with GE. solidarity. brace~ the protectionist drive against im­ issues of the day. The company's conditions for opening ports promoted by other AFL-CIO offi­ the new plant in Lynn were "non-nego­ One example of attacks cials. Socialists, said Gurewitz, "need to British strike and Central America tiable" from the start. Many workers, in­ explain the deadly logic of fostering com­ cluding those who didn't like the plan, saw The experience at Lynn was just one ex­ petition with workers in other countries." The meeting devoted much time to dis­ cussing openings for advancing the idea of it as a vote for or against jobs in the Lynn ample of the deepening employer assaults It is true that the employers in the electri­ international working-class solidarity. This plaht, said Gurewitz. on the IUE across the country that were cal and electronics industry are shifting discussion focused on supporting the Brit­ cited by Gurewitz in a report· to the New production to Latin America and Asia ish coal miners' strike and fighting U.S. in­ · Response of IUE officials York meeting. The meeting was held to where they exploit workers unmercifully tervention against the advancing revolu­ prepare a larger meeting of all members of and reap superprofits. But the union's an­ Most top union officials accepted the tions of workers and farmers in Central the Socialist Workers Party and Young swer to that must be to step up international company's framework for the debate, America. Socialist Alliance who are members of the working-class solidarity, Gurewitz said. explained Local 201 member Chris Gauv­ union, to occur during the party's August Participants in the meeting agreed that a reau. These IUE officials told workers "if convention and educational conference. The logic of the anti-imports drive will big priority would be trying to send a you're for progress, you'll vote yes," she lead to more competition among workers socialist electrical worker to Britain to Tens of thousands of union jobs have see reported. A minority in the local's leader­ - among union members who work for the coal strike firsthand and report back to been iost over ·the• past decade at plants ship opposed the plan but did not campaign different companies, and even among other workers about it. Noting that socialist owned by the big electrical companies like actively against it until the last minute. members of the same local who work in coal miners have already made the trip, GE and Westinghouse, and elsewhere, said The majority of the local's leadership ac­ different buildings of the same plant. This they agreed that electrical unionists, ·)ike all cepted the idea that the union has to work Gurewitz. In 1970 the IUE boasted can reduce the union to little more than a workers, could learn a lot from the class­ 300,000 members. Today the figure stands with GE against its competitors. James mouthpiece for company productivity struggle methods of the British miners. at about 170,000. Krebs, general manager of GE's military propaganda aimed at increasing the com­ Several socialist members of the IUE addition to organizing workers in the and small commercial engine operations, hi pany's share of the market for its products have already been to revolutionary Nicara­ war industry, like those at Lynn, the IUE explained the company's views on this in a - at workers' expense. gua. Gurewitz noted that slide shows and also includes workers who produce other socialist forums reporting on such trips are electrical and electronic equipment, appli­ Signs of resistance among the most useful political activities ances, computers, and office equipment. socialists can conduct among fellow work­ The IUE is also the second largest union in The meeting also noted initial signs of NBUF holds conference ers today. the auto industry with 20,000 members at resistance to the employer offensive among The meeting also agreed that there are Continued from Page 2 General Motors plants. the IUE membership. Gurewitz pointed to ever, Jackson did not appear at the conven­ Packard Electric's Warren, Ohio, plant some special opportunites within the IUE tion . Amiri Baraka, a well-known Black All have felt the blows of the employer for advancing the fight against U.S. inter­ offensive. Gurewitz cited several exam­ where the company promoted a plan called writer and political activist, was also the Final Assembly Option (FAO). Like vention in Central America. IUE Interna­ . scheduled to speak, but failed to show. It ples . tional Pres. William Bywater is among the At GE's giant Schenectady, New York, the factory-of-the-future scheme, this was announced that they had remained in members of the National Labor Committee plant, half of the 12,000 workers are laid called for building a new operation in War­ San Francisco following the Democratic ren. It would have paid workers only $6 an in Support of Democracy and Human Party's convention to negotiate with Wal­ off. In the early s~ges of the last economic Rights in El Salvador. The union leader­ recession, GE's Louisville appliance park hour. The two-tier wage scheme would ter Mondale over what role Jackson and his have divided and weakened the union. ship's public position opposing U.S. inter­ supporters would have in the Democratic cut its work force in half. Despite the pick­ vention in that country can provide open­ up in GE' s appliance sales as a result of the IUE Local 717 members voted the plan Party's presidential campaign. ings for involving the ranks of the union in upturn in the capitalist economic cycle, down. Packard officials then hinted they discussions and action aimed at mobilizing Daughtry arrived late to the NBUF meet­ thousands in Louisville remain out of might take the plan to another IDE-or­ union power against the U.S. war. ing due to his participation in the Demo­ work. At the Packard Electric division of ganized plant in Mississippi. But the three Prince called attention to recent na­ cratic Party's convention and the sub­ a General Motors in Warren, Ohio, the work IUE locals involved banded together to re­ tional appeal put out by the labor commit­ sequent talks. The NBUF gathering, which force has gone from 14,000 to 9,000. sist the corporate blackmail. tee. It urged efforts to free 10 Salvadoran came on the heels of the Democratic con­ Mary Gutekanst, an IUE member at ITT Dave Prince, an IUE member in Edison, electrical union leaders who have been im­ vention , had no organized discussion as­ in New Jersey, said that the attacks on the New Jersey, pointed to frequent skirmishes prisoned for four years by the brutal re­ sessing the Jackson campaign and what it union are especially graphic in some of the involving workers on the shop floor over gime. One IUE member in Schenectady accomplished. older centers of the electrical industry like issues of safety, speedup, and job combi­ suggested that socialists make greater use Daughtry told the NBUF gathering that New Jersey, where GE has shut down and nations. At the Edison Products plant, he of the labor committee's report titled, El discussion of what to do next in the elec­ where Western Electric and Otis Elevator reported, Black workers have been fighting Salvador: Labor, Terror, and Peace. Is­ toral arena should wait "one more week" are closing plants. for more Black representation in the union. sued as a pamphlet following a trade union on the outcome of negotiations between She also pointed to ITT's efforts to un­ Black workers recently helped to organize fact-finding tour to El Salvador last sum­ Mondale and Jackson. dermine union power by employing hun- the IUE local's participation in a rally in mer, it has recently been reprinted.

6 The Militant August 3, 1984 International Socialist

~e~ie~~· ------s~up~p-•e_m_e_nt_t_o_ ___A_u_gu_s_t ____•_9 __ ~ Carl

BY DOUG JENNESS In the evenings, especially during the long dark win­ This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Teamster ters, there was little to do except sit around the fire and strikes that made Minneapolis a union town. This drama­ tell stories. These usually centered on the activities of tic victory laid the basis for an organizing drive through­ Skoglund: trolls and similar creatures that lived in the woods. The out the upper Midwest that brought tens of thousands of stories terrified the young Carl so much that he feared to members into the union in the next few years. Along with go out at night. the Toledo Auto-Lite and San Francisco general strikes in His parents had probably never been furtber than 50 the same year, the Minneapolis Teamster strikes inspired miles from home. They had taught themselves to read, workers throughout the country and helped pave the way example lor although there were no newspapers other than the church for the formation of the Congress of Industrial Organiza­ bulletin. tions (CIO). The Minneapolis Teamsters showed what workers First lesson on class society with honest and politically clear-sighted leaders can When Carl was nine he started school and went for accomplish through struggle. These leaders were com­ three years. School was in session only during the sum­ munists, experienced class-struggle fighters who had no communist mer months, as it was too cold and snowy to make the interests apart from those of the working class. .. two-mile walk in winter. Although it was a public Among them was Carl Skoglund. This year is also the school, the curriculum was especially weighted to study­ 100th anniversary of his birth. ing catechism and memorizing material from tl:le Bible. He was an active part of all the chapters of the Teams­ The reader concentrated on the history of kings and their ter struggles that Farrell Dobbs has described in the four­ workers · deeds. Carl rebelled against the heavy religious indoctri­ volume series - Teamster Rebellion, Teamster Power, nation, and when he turned 15 refused to be confirmed. Teamster Politics, and Teamster Bureaucracy. At school Carl got his first taste of the class divisions It was Skoglund and Ray Dunne who first mapped out in capitalist society. Students from better off families in the campaign to crack the employers' open shop town made fun of him because of his worn clothes and stranglehold on the city's workers. Working through . simple lunch (usually mashed potatoes between slices of General Drivers Local 574 of the International Brother­ bread). The teacher also clearly favored the children from hood of Teamsters (IBT), they emerged as central leaders town. As a result Carl did not like school and often of the victorious rebellion that accomplished this objec- played hooky. ti~. ' But even this bit of schooling, as well as his childhood, Carl helped lay out the course to use this union power abruptly came to an end when Carl was 12. That year his to organize over-the-road truck drivers in II states and to father died and he and his brother Gustav, the two oldest help workers in other unions win battles against their em- children, had to go to work in a nearby pulp mill. The ployers. · mill converted pulpwood to a mass that went to a paper His political experience and Marxist outlook helped factory. steer the union along an independent course and avoid the Eventually his other brothers were to work at the mill pitfalls of relying on any capitalist politicians. He and the too. The employer demanded they change their name other union leaders recognized that the existence of a from Andersson to Skoglund, because there were "too Farmer-Labor Party government in the state afforded cer­ many" Anderssons on the job. "Skoglund" -means tain opportunities the union could tum to its advantage, "wooded area." Other workers were also required to while at the same time they refused to permit the union to change their names. be subordinated to this reformist-led party. Carl was to work in the pulp mill in Skapafors for As World War II approached, Carl helped lead the most of the time in the next 13 years. Those years saw the fight to resist the combined drive of Pres. Franklin rapid industrialization of Sweden, as factories and rail­ Roosevelt's administration and the Teamster bureauc­ roads penetrated areas that had been isolated for cen­ racy, headed by Daniel Tobin, to line the union up behind turies. the imperialist war. As a result he was among 18 socialist Big mining and lumber companies bought up large workers railroaded· to jail under the Smith Act for oppos­ tracts of land and tens of thousands of small farmers were ing the war. driven off their small plots and into the factories. Carl On the anniversaries of the Teamster strikes and Skog­ was part of an entire generation of young men and lund's birth, it is appropriate to celebrate with an account women who were thrust into jobs in. textile plants, saw­ of Carl's life. This rich story has never been put together mills, pulp mills, shipyards, and iron and -copper mines. in one place and published before. This article will not be M They rapidly crossed over from the traditional, rural way a substitute for the full biography that should be written This year marks tOOth anniversary of Skoglund's of living from the land to become wage laborers, working some day; rathet it will summarize some of -the high­ birth and 50th anniversary of Minneapolis Teamster 12 hours a day to survive. lights. strikes he helped lead. The long working day was made even longer by the Particularly important are the years before the Teams­ distances the workers often had to walk to get to work. ter strikes. Skoglund, 50 years old in 1934, was by then The work was often very hazardous and there were many and later a paper pulp mill were built on a nearby lake. a battle-seasoned communist with rich experience in the ·accidents. The miserable conditions spurred workers to Then the dynamite manufacturer, Alfred Nobel, built a union movement. His entire life before the strikes had organize unions and conduct struggles to improve their nitroglycerine plant in Bengtsfors . When he was 9 or 10 helped prepare him for the central role he was to play in situation. Carl attended the celebration marking the opening of the them and in the Minneapolis labor movement in the The period that Carl worked in the pulp mill were years first railroad in the area. 1930s. of tumultuous political and economic struggles involving Carl's grandfather and his ancestors for many genera­ hundreds of thousands of workers throughout the coun­ tions had been feudal serfs. His father lived by tilling a try. Unions grew rapidly and thousands joined the Social I. Swedish years small plot of land he rented from a big landlord. When Democratic Party and its youth group. By 1914 the So­ the sawmill was built, he also cut trees in the winter and Carl wasborn April 7, 1884, in southwestern Sweden cial Democratic Party was the largest in the country. not far from the Norwegian border. He and his five floated them down the lake to the mill in the summer. brothers and two sisters grew up in a two-room log cabin Carl's father was a jack-of-all-trades and worked part Part of big political struggles in a thickly-forested area called Svaiirdlongskogen near of the time making various necessities for the home. He .the town of Bengtsfors. * made most of the family's household belc.tgings, includ­ In 1902 the Social Democratic Party launched a major When he was born there were no factories or mills and ing furniture and eating utensils. He also made shoes for drive to win universal male suffrage by eliminating prop­ no railroads in the region. There were no roads, only the eight children, and guns, which he bartered with erty qualifications. Big demonstrations were held in trails, leading to his town. In his early years a sawmill neighbors for clothes and other essentials. There was sel­ Stockholm and other towns, and a two-day strike of more dom any money exchanged. than 100,000 wotkers was held while the Riksdag (parli­ *The principal sources for this article were two unpublished in­ In the winter time much of the family's food came ament) debated a suffrage bill. The campaign led to vic­ terviews that Skoglund gave in the 1950s to Fred Halstead and from hunting. The forests of Sweden abounded with rab­ tory in 1907 when universal male suffrage for the second . George Weissman. Other sources used include: Farrell Dobbs' bits, elk, deer, and game birds. chamber of the Riksdag was adopted . four-volume account of the Teamster union and his two-volume Until industrialization reached this area, there were no Carl's older brother, with whom he was very c;Iose, series on Marxist L eadership in the United States - Revolu· doctors there. The family treated illness with herbs and first introduced him to socialist ideas. By 1905 Carl had tionary Continuity; the Militant; files in the Library of Social berries and by bloodletting. joined the Social Democratic Youth League. That year History in New York; the tape of a 1981 intery_iew with Oscar There was no church nearby so each Sunday Carl's was one of the most politically intense that his generation Coover, Jr.; a series of five articles by Kjell Ostberg that ap­ father read sermons to the family at home. Sometimes went through in that period. peared in the Swedish weekly, lnternationalen in 1981 ; and translated copies of articles by Skoglund from Svenska Socialis­ circuit p!J!achers would come through and hold services First, the workers and peasants of Russia rose up in a ten (Swedish Socialist) and Ny Tid (New Age), published re­ in neighborhood homes. His parents adhered to the state massive uprising. The waves of this revolution swept to spectively by the Scandinavian Socialist Federation and United church (Lutheran) and believed in predestination. Like Sweden's borders as Finland , on Sweden's eastern bor­ Scandinavian Socialist Federation. Art Sharon also offered many other people in the area, they also attributed mys­ der, was then under Tsarist rule and also engulfed in the helpful suggestions. terious occurrences to demons or trolls. Continued on next page

August 3, 19~ The Milimnt 7 International Socialist Jte\fie~'------~------A-u~gu_s_t_I_sw__2

Continued from preceding page Irish. Many were migrant laborers who worked in the revolution. The Youth League in Sweden organized meet­ camps in the winter and in the wheat fieids in the sum­ ings in solidarity with the Russian revolution and helped mer. They were hired by the logging companies through raise funds to aid Social Demdcratic workers in Russia. employment agencies. The workers had to pay the agen­ In June of the same year Norway decided to sever its cies a small fee plus railroad fare from Minneapolis, St. union with Sweden and declare its full independence. Paul, or wherever they were hired. Since 1814 Norway had been under the sovereignty of The workers lived in barracks that were kept either too the Swedish king and the Swedish Riksdag. In response hot or too cold and were crawling with lice. The work to Norway's unilateral act, the Swedish capitalists day was arbitrarily determined by the boss and was usu­ threatened military action. Swedish troops were moved ally more than 10 hours a day, six days a week. The to the Norwegian border and military fortifications were biggest demand of the workers was for decent food. Due built all along it. to the conditions, there was a high turnover rate, which However, the Swedish workers, in their big majority, also made it difficult to organize the workers into unions. were opposed to war with Norway. Rather than calling The pay varied from $14 to $45 a month, depending on for opposition to military action, however, the oppor­ the supply of lumberjacks. Carl received $45 a month for tunist leadership of the Social Democratic Party circu­ the period he worked and saved much of his early earn­ lated a petition ·calling for a conciliatory policy toward ings with the intention of returning to Sweden. But he Norway. worked less than six months before a tree fell on his foot The Youth League's leadership, on the other hand, is­ and severely injured it. sued a proclamation calling on young workers to refuse From the end of January until October 19 i 4 Carl lay in to go if drafted or refuse to go to the front' if ordered. a hospital bed in Bemidji, the town nearest to the camp, Most young workers, while sympathetic with the call, waitjng for his foot to heal. When it didn't get better he did not risk jail sentences by defying draft orders. Forced went to the University of Minnesota hospital in Min­ into the army, they continued to express their opposition neapolis, where it was diagnosed as tuberculosis of the to the war and fraternized with Norwegian fellow work­ bone. But the doctors there failed to treat it adequately, ers in uniform who they met on the border. and he began to fear he was going to lose his foot. Among those drafted that year were Carl and his older Finally, he found a doctor who put him in his clinic for brother, who were sent to the Norwegian border to build three weeks and cured the foot. But even after the TB was fortifications. Carl served 180 days in 1905 and was re­ cured, it was several months before Carl could walk well leased shortly before the Swedish government was forced enough to work. to recognize Norwegian independence. During this period he lived in a boarding house. Not by The opposition of Swedish workers was decisive in nature a loafer, Carl set up a regular schedule and each preventing an invasion of Norway. Russian Bolshevik day packed a lunch and walked on his crutches to the leader V.I. Lenin, writing about these events a few years public library. He would arrive when it opened and stay later, stated, "The close alliance between the Norwegian until it was closed. and Swedish workers, their complete fraternal .class sole In spare hours he participated in soapbox discussions idarity, gained from the Swedish workers' recognition of Swedish sawmill at turn of century. Skoglund gained in a public park near the boarding house. Many Swedish the right of the Norwegians to secede. This convinced the his first experience in labor and socialist movements immigrants gathered there and discussed religion, sci­ Norwegian workers that the Swedish workers were not while an active trade unionist in Sweden. ence, socialism, and many other topics. In addition to infected with Swedish nationalism, and that they placed studying English in the library, Carl used his studies to fraternity with the Norwegian proletarians above the help hone up his arguments for the debates in the park. privileges of the Swedish bourgeoisie and aristocracy." locked the workers in at the end of the workday, so they (Lenin, Collected WorkS, Vol. 20, p. 429) could not be reached by striking workers at nearby Scandinavian Socialist Federation Carl was also called back for 30 days' duty in 1906 and plants. But the workers at the mill struck anyway, and again in 1907. During his short term in 1906, he partici­ Carl became head of the local strike committee. Several other S~edes in the boarding house put Carl in pated in a protest with thousands of other workers in uni­ While the workers waged a determined struggle, the contact with the Scandinavian Socialist Federation form. The soldiers contended that 16 days should be de­ top leadership of the Swedish Confederation of Trade (SSF), which he joined in the latter part of 1914. ducted from their term of duty for the extra days they had Unions took a passive stance. The workers suffered a bad - The SSF, fourrded in 1910, affiliated to the Socialist served the previous year. Carl was among those arrested defeat. Big wage cuts were imposed and trade union Party (SP) in 1911. It was one of a number of language by the military authorities for participating in these ac­ membership dropped by half. Thousands of the most mil­ federations that played a big role in the SP. Initially im­ tions. itant workers were fired and blacklisted. Faced with these migrant workers who formed socialist groups based on hardships, many were forced to emigrate to the United their own languages had little or nothing to do with the Struggle for education States. · SP. Then in 1910, the SP adopted the policy that lan­ guage federations with 500 or more members could af­ On joining the socialist movement, Carl was hungry to Carl was among this layer of class-struggle fighters filiate by assigning a translator to work in the national of­ read and study in order to broaden his world outlook. who were victimized in the aftermath of the strike. In the fice. They were paid by the SP. Like many young socialist workers of that time he par­ fall of 1910 he was demoted to a common laborer in the For national SP conventions each state organization ticipated in study circles organized by the International mill with reduced pay, so he quit. His employer saw to it was entitled to a certain number of delegates based on the Order of Good Templars (IOGT), one of the principal that he was blacklisted from employment in other plants. size of its membership. These were apportioned out temperance organizations. The IOGT also had a library In addition to his role during the strike, Carl attributed among the language federation affiliates and the English­ where he was able to borrow books. this discrimination to his attempts to start classes for speaking branches. Then each language federation and The Social Democratic Youth League was active in the workers in the mill. These classes were to teach reading the English-speaking sections elected delegates on a temperance fight and barred alcoholic drinks from all of and writing and basic arithmetic. He also promoted the statewide basis. The language federations also had their its functions. Many Social Democrats in that period be­ idea of a workers' library. His goal was to help young own national conferences. longed to the IOGT. work~rs get a broader picture of life beyond the small In 1917 the SSF had 3, 700 members nationally and 13 When he was 24 Carl decided that he would try to es­ · comer of Sweden where they were born and where they branches in Minnesota, one of its strongest centers. The cape factory life and get an office job. So he took six had lived and worked all their lives. SSF was a very big factor in the working-class movement months off to attend business school. He paid his own Another reason, he thought, for his victimization was in Minnesota during this period. · .way out of his savings. There he studied Swedish gram­ that he was dating the mill foreman's daughter. The fore­ There was a wide range of political views in the SSF mar, German, math, and shorthand, among other sub­ man highly disapproved of Carl's revolutionary activities including members of the Industrial Workers of the jects. But instead of getting an office job when he left the and wanted to get him away from both the plant and his World (IWW), reformists, and left Social Democrats. school, he went back to the pulp mill in the spring of daughter. Carl soon emerged as a major leader of the SSF in Min­ 1909. He had lost all of his seniority, however, and was During this period Carl was also a delega~e to a district neapolis and in the state. In the fall of 1917 he was rehired as a temporary worker. He had to work his way convention to select socialist candidates for the 1910 elected to serve both as secretary of the Minneapolis fed­ up again to a better-paying position. Riksdag elections. He served as secretary of the conven­ eration and chairman of the Minnesota district. He continued to work at the Skapafors mill until the tion. After the Russian revolution in October 1917, he also fall of 1910. This final year and a half was one of the joined the English-speaking branch, where he served on After more than six months of unsuccessful job hunt­ most eventful in Carl's youth. the Hennepin County Executive Committee. He attended ing, Carl decided to go to the United States. Shortly after For more than a decade Sweden's relatively new work­ national conferences of both the SP and the SSF as a del­ his 27th birthday, he sailed from the seaport city of ing class had been steadily making gains. Increasing egate. numbers of workers were organized into unions and more Goteborg, not far from Bengtsfors. His girlfriend saw him off and urged him to write and to come back soon. victories than defeats were scored in struggles with the 'Mill City Chronicle' employers. But with the cards stacked against him at home and not certain when, if at all, he would return, he suggested they In 1916 he was assigned to be the Minneapolis corres­ 1909 general strike call it quits. He never wrote to her; nor did he ever return pondent for Svenska Socialisten (Swedish Socialist), the to the country of his birth and formative years as a revo­ weekly newspaper of the SSF, published in Chicago. But in 1909 the employers banded together to take the lutionary socialist fighter. Most of his articles appeared in the form of a column, offensive and break the growing power of labor. In July "Mill City Chronicle" (the reference was to Minneapolis, they organized a nationwide lockout of most of Sweden's a major wheat milling center). His columns were written industrial workers - about 300,000. The workers re­ in a folksy style, sometimes with allusions to the Bible or sponded with a general strike that lasted until early Sep­ II. First years in the Nordic myths_ The articles informed Swedish readers tember. Sporadic strikes continued in some areas for a around the country about the activities of the Minnesota few· months more. United States organization arid served as a tool for helping to organize This was the first real showdown between the capitalist Carl arrived in Boston on May 8, 1911. From there he the Minnesota branches. class and the working class in Sweden and was one of the took a train to Minneapolis, a city where there was a large The SSF chapters, like the SPas a whole, was loos!!IY fiercest battles ever fought by Swedish workers. Swedish immigrant population. At first he got seasonal organized, which reflected the political heterogeneity Workers throughout Europe offered their solidarity, work for two summers working for a cement contractor. and different levels of political commitment. In this and Lenin, writing about the strike at the time, noted it Then in September 1913 he went to the logging camps in framework, Carl attempted to convince the members of was "one of the biggest general strikes of the recent northern Minnesota. He got a job as a sawyer working for the SSF to take party organization seriously and to devel­ period." the Crookston Lumber Co. op a professional approach to party building. When the general strike began, the management of the Most of the workers in the lumber camps were foreign­ His tolurrins tried to get members to see financial re­ Skiipafors mill where Carl and his brothers worked born - Finns, Swedes, Norwegians, Poles, and some sponsibilities as an important obligation of membership.

8 The Militant August 3,,1984 August ISR/3

He was critical of public meetings or social events that diction of one of the existing craft unions. Carl's local, lost money. He urged that subscription work, recruitment which included 400 Pullman workers in Minneapolis and of new members, "free speech" forums, and education be St. Paul, became Local 299 of the Brotherhood of Rail­ systematically organized. way Carmen, AFL. Carl, who had played the leading As he had done in Sweden, he emphasized the impor~ role in organizing the local, was elected president. tance of education and explained that it was integrally The superintendent at Pullman resisted the unioniza­ connected to winning new members. In one column in tion effort and attempted to withhold Carl's pay. But the November 1916, for example, Carl wrote: ploy was unsuccessful and he was forced to tum over to "To those socialists who read these words, I'd like to Carl $600 in retroactive wages. say: in case you're not already basically at home in the Carl was a tireless recruiter to socialism and was con­ principles and theories of socialism, take the time now to tinually trying to bring coworkers around the Socialist seriously study the philosophy of socialism, as well as its Party. One of his more important recruits during .his first economic basis, not so much for your own sakes, but months on the railroad was Oscar Coover. Oscar, who rat~er so you will be able to, in an easy and clear way, ex­ worked in the same yard as Carl, was employed by Great plam to your friends and acquaintances what the goals of Western as a chief electrician and was a leading union ac­ the movement are, as well as the reason we have put our­ tivist. He..had earlier been a member of the SP, but at this selves in the ranks of the struggle for freedom. time he was a staunch supporter of Pres. Woodrow Wil­ "Now is the right time to prepare yourselves to explain son. He had been taken in by Wilson's slogan that the to your coworkers what is meant by the materialist con­ war was "to make the world safe for democracy." ception of history; the labor theory of value; and the Carl, who strongly believed that the workers should reason for the class struggle, its goals and end results, be­ not support either of the warring imperialist camps but cause it is on these that the entire philosophy of socialism deepen th~ir struggle against capitalist rule in their own rests. country, argued with Coover during lunch breaks. Over "My op~n~on and firm conviction is that only those time Carl won him over and Oscar became a revolution­ who are wJ!Itng to spread knowledge of the principles of ary socialist to the end of his life in 1950. socialism in all wider circles are of any real value to the movement." Revolution is road to peace Carl recognized the importance of utilizing elections With U.S. entry into the war, the political divisions for ,getting out socialist ideas by running candidates. that existed inside the SP were more clearly revealed. However, he rejected the electoralist approach held by Shortly after Congress declared war on Germany, the SP those in the party's reformist wing. His perspective was Ray Dunne and Skoglund. The two met in 1915 ~d held an emergency convention in St. Louis. A majority to build a revolutionary working-class organization with remained lifelong collaborators and·friends. bloc of leftcwing militants, centrists, and pacifists advo­ members who devoted their lives year 'round to its activ­ ities. cated organized ·working-class opposition to U.S. in­ Minne~polis or St. Paul. He explained the strong_and the volvement in the military conflict. A right-wing minority "Those who call themselves socialist," he wrote just weak s1des of the IWW. Even in those days he was as of reformists supported Washington's war effort. ·after the 1916 presidential elections, "but don't for a year much at home with Wobblies as he was in the Socialist However, the SP did not function by majority decision and a day use the least bit of agitation, but rather wait Party. Both recognized him as a leader. But he was a and the minority carried out its own line publicly. As the until election day in order _to then bring about freedom - party man, first and always; an internationalist, of war went on and pressure from the capitalists mounted, those people are of almost zero value and no worth for a course." (Farrell Dobbs, Teamster Rebellion, p. 31) the pacifists and centrists moved to the right. The left­ movement such as ours. wing militants, mostlyworkers, stood alone in continu­ "That man or woman," he continued, "who sells a Opposed to anarcho-syndicalism ing the struggle against imperialism. They waged a fight socialist book or pamphlet pr gets a subscription for our to get the AFL, whose leaders were strongly prowar, to paper does more for the socialist movement than the one Carl, wlw had become a Marxist before arriving in the organize and support the antiwar struggle. A good many who votes our ticket from top to bottom. United States, was opposed to the ultraleft and sectarian workers were imprisoned for their irreconcilable opposi-. "It is only appropriate that those who have the right to tactics of the IWW and its abstention from the political tion to the war. vote not only cast their ballot for the candidates support­ arena. He disagreed with its refusal to participate in AFL ed by the Socialist Party, but also. endorse our principles unions and its opposition, in principle, to using the elec­ But the left wing did not have a clear understanding toral arena to conduct socialist propaganda. that imperialism could be effectively opposed only within ~nd register their protest against the present wrong situa­ tion. In many instances the IWW refused to conduct any the framework of a revolutionary political course aimed "Agitation and propaganda on social questions is the legal defense for its members who were jailed, on the at removing the capitalists from power and establishing main thing, and in this work young and old, men and grounds that it was unprincipled to have anything to do the political rule of the workers and their allies. The left­ women, voters and nonvoters can all participate." with the capitalist legal system. Carl was dead opposed to wingers generally thought that militarism, not im­ this policy, which unnecessarily created obstacles to win­ perialism, was the key issue in the fight against war. 'Free speech' forums ning support from broader layers of the working class. This was most clearly shown in their approach to the draft. The St. Louis convention had called for a cam­ . "Free speech" forums where individuals from different He felt so strongly about this that when his younger brother Richard, who had become an IWW leader in the paign to oppose drafting workers into the imperialist political persuasions were welcome to attend and partici­ armed forces. This campaign, however, failed to arouse a pate in the discussion were a popular institution among state of Washington, was indicted under an antisyn­ dicalist law and refused legal aid, Carl broke personal massive resistance to the draft. So individual members of Wobblies (as IWW members were known) and socialists the SP refused to be drafted and ended up in jail. This ba­ during that period. The SSF in Minnesota organized and political relations with him. However, many Swedish socialists were attracted to sically moral stance isolated them from conducting revo­ many meetings of this type for Swedish-speaking the IWW. Some had become syndicalists even before lutionary work among fellow workers in uniform. socialists. The topics ranged from industrial unionism to coming to the United States. An anarcho-syndicalist temperance, from religion to women and socialism, and Carl was among the left-wing militants who was arriv­ movement had grown up in Sweden in the immediate af­ ing at a Marxist understanding of the war and the tasks from imperialist war to basic socialist education. termath of the 1909 strike defeat. One of Carl's columns in October 1917 reports that he that it imposed on the working class. In an article pub­ Carl saw that there were many serious revolutionists in lished in Svenska Socialisten in November 1917, he was to participate in a debate at on~ of these forums on the IWW, and as a tactical move he joined the IWW in the topic, "Is there salvation in Jesus, or should we save explained that the war was caused by the capitalist profit 1917 to meet and discuss with activists there and to win drive and the forcible opening of new markets. The same ourselves?" As in Sweden, the question of religion and · whomever he could to Marxism and to the SP. capitalist army, he said, that was used to fight the war for temperance were big issues in the United States for For a short period during the war he was part of a com­ profits abroad was used against strikirrg workers at home. Swedish socialists. Many joined the IOGT in this country mittee that helped put out a Swedish-language IWW He pointed out that even if "the entire earth were one and its h~adquarters were often used for radical meetings. monthly called Allarm. The editor and business manager country, with one government, this would not stop the It is clear from Carl's columns that there was an ongo­ had been arrested in 1917 in a government round-up of bloodbaths under capitalism." The only road forward, he ing discussion in the SSF about how to win more women IWW members. said, is the "march forward to socialism." to socialism. Carl, in encouraging recruitment to the Carl also followed the situation in the international SSF, emphasized winning more women. In one column Organizing in the rail yards Continued on next page he underlined this point by urging each member to bring "a male and two female workers to the Club." In the fall of 1914, Carl was able to go back to work. In 1915, soon after Carl joined the SSF, he met Vin­ He got a job in a greenhouse firing the boiler for a year cent Raymond Dunne at a street meeting in Minneapolis. before he was laid off. He then worked as a janitor in sev­ The two working-class revolutionists became life-long eral apartment buildings. He was fired from one job on a For further reading friends and political collaborators. Ray, like Carl, had frameup of stealing a gold watch. The Founding of the been forced to leave school at an early age to go to work. Then in 1916 he got a job working for the Pullman Co., Socialist Workers Party: He worked as a lumberjack, harvest hand, and itinerant the railroad passenger-coac;:h maker. He first worked as Minutes and Resolutions, 1938-39 laborer in many states. an inspector and later as a mechanic. He worked in a rail 395 pp.' $8.95 Ray had been a member of the IWW for nearly a dec­ yard owned by the Chicago Great Western Railroad in ade when Carl met him, and he was in the process of Minneapolis. breaking from its anarcho-syndicalist orientation. He was When the U.S. government declared war against Ger­ By James P. Cannon: not in the SP. many in April 1917, it took over the railroads and ran Carl had a big impact on Ray, which Ray described them throughout the war. Federal officials imposed a no­ The First Ten Years of American many years later as follows: strike policy. At the same time they believed they could Communism "Skogie, as he was affectionately called from the ear­ best enforce this if the formation of unions was permit­ 343 pp.' $6.95 liest days by his comrades and intimate friends, was my ted. teacher and close comrade. He was not only a skilled When Carl was hired by Pullman he was required, like The History of American Trotskyism mechanic; he was an intellectual of considerable stature. all employees there, to sign a "yellow dog" agreement 268 pp.' $6.95 He had a fine library of Marxist literature and in most of promising to have nothing to do with unions. But in light our spare time we were together . .. . I spent a good deal of the government's new policy, Carl and his coworkers The Left Opposition in the U.S., 1928-31 of time reading books and pamphlets in between short disregarded this antiunion clause and organized a union 466 pp.' $8.95 'curtain lectures' from Carl. at Pullman. Railroad management was at a disadvantage "At times there would be six or eight other comrades during the war, because there was a labor shortage. There Order from Pathfinder Press, 410 West St., New with us in his room or in the IWW headquarters or in the had been no union at Pullman since 1894 when the Amer­ York, N.Y. 10014. Please enclose 75 cents for IOGT on the north side in the sawmill district, which was ican Railway Union led by Eugene Debs was defeated . postage and handling. the headquarters of the largest Socialist Party local in Each craft in Pullman was organized under the juris-

August 3, 1984 The Militant 9 International Socialist lte1tie~~------~Au~g~us~t-•=s~ru~4

Continued from preceding page socialist movement and was able to counter the view that the entire socialist movement in Europe had collapsed when most leaders· of the Second International supported their own imperialist governments in the war. He wrote in May 1917, "From different directions yoy hear that socialism in Europe suffered defeat when war broke out, because leaders in the same movement went over to their respective nationalisms. This is not true, be­ cause I can count many who have remained true to their principles." He cited the cleavage in the Swedish Social Democrat­ ic Party where a minority of the Socialist deputies strongly opposed the war, taking an internationalist stand. The big majority of the SP's 5,000 members in Min­ nesota opposed the war. The mayor of Minneapolis, Tom Van Lear, and many of the city aldermen were among the SP members who spoke out against the war. There was also widespread opposition among small farmers, many of whom were organized in the militant Non-Partisan League. As the war went on, the employing class accelerated its efforts to intimidate antiwar activists and revolution­ Jailed for opposition to imperialist war, II of Minneapolis defendants celebrate release from prison in 1945. Skog­ ists by whipping up jingoist hysteria and organizing lund (at head of table) served 13 months. gangs of vigilantes to tar and feather union and farmer militants, and use troops to break up demonstrations. on the job about the new workers and peasants republic When the SP called a protest in November 1918 to de­ III. 1919: a decisive that he became known as "the Bolshevik" among his co­ mand no U.S. troops be used against workers' revolu­ workers. tions and freedom for political prisoners, the governor turning point The debate inside the SP came to a head at the August­ and the county sheriff banned it over the opposition of By the end of the war in November 1918, the grie­ September 1919 national convention in Chicago. The Mayor Van Lear. The SP defied the governor's order and vances of workers, who had been hamstrung by the no­ left wing organized a conference in New York a few 100 people, including Skoglund, marched anyway. strike policy, created an explosive 'situation. They de­ weeks before the convention, where it drew up a plat­ There were many more on the sidewalks supporting manded wage increases to catch up with inflation, an form to serve as the basis of selecting delegates. The plat­ them. The governor called out the national guard and eight-hour day, and better working conditions. form called for support to the Russian revolution, disaf­ 2,000 troops followed the marchers for 10 blocks before When these demands were rejected by the employers, filiation from the Second International, and building a lining them up against a wail with their bayonets to stop the largest nation-wide strike wave up to that time swept revolutionary communist party. In Minnesota the left the march. the country. Throughout 1919 . textile workers, copper wing carried all the language federations and the English­ miners, coal miners, and many others went out. The speaking sections. Espionage Act wave crested with the big steel strike in the fall. Straight from the rail strike, Carl went to the conven­ The ruling-class attack on antiwar militants and revo­ The government turned the railroads back to their pri­ tion as part of the Minnesota delegation. lutionists was intensified after the Espionage Act was vate owners, who quickly moved to impose a wage cut. But the left-wing delegates were barred from the con­ adopted. This notorious legislation made it a crime to In July the workers in six shop craft unions ih Chicago, vention by the party's right wing, with the assistance of obstruct the draft, incite insubordination in the armed without authorization from their national union chiefs, Chicago cops. forces, interfere with the sale of war bonds, or use the responded by striking. The strike spread to other loca­ The left wing then proceeded to hold its own conven­ mails for "subversive" propaganda. Federal agents con­ tions, including the Twin Cities. tion. There a fight broke out that led to a split and the for­ ducted raids on SP and IWW headquarters and hundreds Carl was elected to head the strike committee in the mation of two parties - the Communist Party (CP) and of activists were arrested and imprisoned. It was under Twin Cities. During the strike, President Wilson sent a the Communist Labor Party (CLP). this act that such prominent socialist agitators as Eugene representative, an official of the rail machinists union, to Carl did not think that the differences warranted the Debs and Kate Richards O'Hare were jailed. Minnesota to urge the workers to return to work. At a split that created two communist parties. Disgusted with the whole situation, he left before the left-wing conven­ In Minnesota, one of the leading victims of the Espion­ meeting of about 5,000 in the St. Paul auditorium, he was shouted down every time he attempted to speak. This tion was over. age Act was Jacob Bentall, a state leader of the SSF and During the next few weeks each group organized meet­ the SP' s candidate for governor in 1916 and 1918. He militant spirit led Wilson, who still had war powers over the railroads, to order the employers to drop the wage cut ings throughout the country to explain their views and to was charged with making a speech that "influenced win members to their respective organizations. drafted men and caused them to refuse military service." and guarantee no reprisals against the strikers. On this basis the workers went back to work about two weeks In Minnesota, where the left wing was a big majority: A defense committee was set up on Ben tall's behalf for after the strike had begun. the SP called a state convention in early October where it which Carl acted as secretary. It organized a big public During the strike, an organization was set up called the decided to affiliate to the CP. A week later a Hennepin meeting in Minneapolis. Special efforts were made to Twin City Railroad CounciL All rail crafts elected dele­ County convention was organized of which Carl was win support for Bentall's defense from unionized work­ gates to represent them on this body. It was seen not only elected chairman. The meeting of about 100 delegates, ers in the Twin -Cities. Through connections with rail as a way to organize support for the shopmen' s strike, but influenced by the Russian language federations, also workers, for example, Carl was able to present the case to· as the beginning of an ongoing organization to help over­ voted to go with the CP. Carl was still unhappy with the a meeting of the Soo Line's shopmen, a local of I ,800 come the old craft union divisions. It generated a great split and the unwarranted factionalism it generated. How­ members. The local pledged $1 per member for the de­ deal of enthusiasm among rail workers and most of the ever, he went along with the majority decision. fense . meetings were attended by between 200 and 250 dele­ Shortly after the two communist groups were formed, In spite of the energetic defense efforts, Bentall served gates. the government launched a fierce offensive. against them. two years at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. When he However, a serious problem developed when IWW In November federal agents raided many of their offices was released the Scandinavian Federation organized a big members tried to tum the council into a branch of the and confiscated tons of literature and files. reception for him and took him to city hall. With the help IWW. IWW members had played a prominent role in the of some socialist city council members, the council voted strike and were influential in the counciL Their policy The Palmer raids to present the city's key to Bentall. was to get the council to adopt the IWW program and join This set the stage for Attorney General A. Mitchell the IWW. Another big defense campaign in which Carl partici­ Palmer to organize a massive dragnet on the night of Jan. Many of the delegates opposed this proposaL They ar­ pated at this time was the case of Tom Mooney and War­ 2, 1920. On that night government agents descended on gued that while it was possible to unite the various crafts ren Billings. Mooney and Billings were two union or­ meetings, homes, and dinner tables in more than 70 cities around common action against the employers, which ganizers who were framed up on a charge of bombing a and seized 10,000 men and women. In some cities those chauvinist "preparedness" 'demonstration in San Fran­ could lead to a more industrial union set-up, it was not arrested were handcuffed and paraded publicly through pcissible to unite all the unions and their members around cisco in 1916. Nine people were killed in the bombing. the streets. Foreign-born workers, who were a significant the IWW's program. The opposition was spearheaded by The two were leading a stre.et car strike at the time and component of the communist movement, were the princi­ Charles R. Hedlund, a railroad engineer who was in­ charged that antilabor agents provocateurs were responsi­ pal target and thousands were deported under the Depor­ volved in a national movement to amalgamate the rail ble for the bombing. Billings, tried first, was sentenced tation Act of 1918. crafts. Skoglund and Hedlund met at this time on a night to life. In 1917 Mooney was sentenced to hang. Carl, who was not home that night, was missed by the train to Chicago, where they were both going to a union raiders when they came knocking at his door. However, In response to this sentence a massive international de­ conference. They spent the entire night discussing and fense effort was galvanized to save Mooney's life. It was with an order out for his arrest, he went to the courthouse Hedlund found he was in agreement with Carl. He was a few days later and submitted to questioning by an agent one of the biggest labor defense campaigns in U.S. his­ won to Marxism and remained a part of the revolutionary of the Justice Department. tory and Mooney's name became very well-known socialist movement until he died in 1969. throughout the country. The campaign reached its peak in Carl, who had more than two decades of experience in The opposition fought for three months, but, in spite of dealing with the bosses and their agents, was not unpre­ 1918 and was successful in staying the hangman's hand. its efforts, the IWW captured the rail counciL All that Mooney and Billings, however, served time in San pared for the interrogation. He was careful not to con­ was left was about 15 members of the IWW. In another tradict anything that the agents could have found in the Quentin .and Folsom prisons until 1939 when they were three months it was dissolved. released. stolen files, which included minutes of CP meetings. Nor did he tell the interrogator anything more about the party During the spring and summer of 1918 there were at­ Impact of Russian revolution and its activities than what the government already knew. tempts to get a general strike called on behalf of the de­ The militancy of the workers across the country was He didn't volunteer any information, except to create an fendants. Although this never materialized, many pro­ also greatly inspired by the Russian revolution. The rev­ impression that he might be losing interest in the CP. tests were organized including those held on July 28, olution's impact widened the divisions inside both the SP He was allowed to go, thus surmounting the first of 1918, which was declared Mooney Day. Hundreds of ral­ and the IWW, precipitating a very heated debate ~ what would over time become an endless stream of de­ lies in more than 40 cities were held that day. Carl was among the left-wingers who firmly supported portation threats. Carl played a leading role in the Mooney defense com­ the R-ussian revolution from its beginning and recognized On arriving back at the rai!'yard, most of the workers mittee in Minneapolis during that period and spoke be­ that an organization like the Lenin-led .Bolshevik Party shook hands and congratulated him. Carl was still presi­ fore union meetings on behalf of Mooney's defense. had .to_be built in the United States, He agitated so much dent of the local and the relationship of forces between

10 The _1\{ili~nt Augu~t ~,_1984 August ISR/5 the workers and management was such that the employer was to be elected - three company officials and three continued ·working on the railroad for two more years didn't try to victimize him at this time, workers. until he too was fired and blacklisted. Following the raids the two communist organizations Local 299 charted out its own course to counter the Carl went for a year after the strike without a job. His' went underground. In May 1920, at an underground con­ employers' ploy. Rather than boycotting the election, first job was working one fall in the harvest fields. Then vention, the CP fused with the majority of the CLP to which would have opened the door to the company he took up operating a gasoline station for a year and a form the United Communist Party (UCP). Carl was choosing three workers to run, the union chose three of half or so before becoming a truck driver iri one of the. elected to the UCP's district executive committee in the its own leaders, including Carl, to run in the company city's coal yards. Twin Cities. elections. Uncontested, the three won easily. When the company called a meeting of the new committee, the Resisting antilabor attacks Fight for legal party three worker representatives resigned. The defeat of the national rail strike and other impor­ Management, furious at being outwitted, calle(t During the next couple of years one of the principal tant strikes put wind in the sails of the employers, and another election. This time theunion decided not to run struggles in the, UCP was over whether to remain under­ they pushed on with their attacks. They were aided in this candidates and called on the members to cast blank bal­ ground or to establish a legal, public organization. Con­ effort by the AFL officialdom, which mounted a cam­ lots. The membership, well educated by this time about nected to this debate were other questions of strategy, in­ paign to drive Communists and other dissidents out of the what the company was up to, overwhelmingly cast blank cluding whether to form separate communist unions or to labor movement. ballots. Only half a dozen votes were counted. work in the existing AFL unions, whether to stand out­ In Minnesota, the Communists in the unions attempted , As in many unions at the time, Blacks were barred from . side the movement for a labor party or to join it, and to resist these attacks. For example, at the Minnesota membership in the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen, ex­ whether to boycott elections or use them for conducting State AFL convention in July 1924, the Communist del­ cept for a phony auxiliary that did not funcion. Blacks revolutionary propaganda. egates countered the officialdom's attack on industrial working at Pullman were hostile to the union and were unionism and communism with proposals to fight the em­ Carl was among those who strongly favored establish­ the only ones management was able to elect to the com­ ployers. ing a legal organization, working in the AFL, working in pany union. But a meeting of that union was never called. According to a report by Carl in the August 9 Ny Tid, Minnesota's Farmer-Labor Party, and using the election The company's plans were blocked for the time being, the Communist fraction called for organizing unions, arena. and the bona fide union continued tofunction. When the Workers Party of America was set up in De­ amalgamating craft unions into industrial unions, jobsfor the unemployed, better working conditions for women in cember 1921 as the legal expression of the UCP, Carl 1922 rail shopmen's strike supported it and was elected to its Minnesota district ex­ industry, and for the right of Blacks to become union ecutive committee. He continued to serve on this body But the attacks on the rail workers did not let up. The members with the same rights as white workers. until November 1928, when he was expelled from the 1920 Transportation Act established a presidentially ap­ The same year, at the initiative of the AFL Executive party. pointed tripartite U.S. Railroad Board with near-to-dic­ Council, both Skoglund and Dunne were expelled from In the spring of 1922, a fight emerged over whether to tatorial powers over wages, work rules, and workwg the Minneapolis Central Labor Union (CLU), a body dissolve the underground organization of the party. This conditions. This board's decisions in 1920-1921 tore­ made up of representatives from all AFL locals in the was finally resolved only with the help of the Communist vise the wartime laws, abolish overtime pay for work on city. International (Comintern, Third International). The UCP Sundays and holidays, amalgamate shop craft jobs, make Due to his role in the carmen's union, Carl had been formally dissolved in early 1923 and the Communist drastic wage cuts, and reverse other gains precipitated a elected a delegate to the CLU a few years earlier. The movement kept the name Workers Party. In 1925, it was strike in 1922. AFL officialdom, which dominated the CLU, frequently changed to Workers (Communist) Party ·and in 1929 to In the Twin Cities a strike committee was set up repre­ used it to impose its dictatorial control over dissident Communist Party, USA. senting workers at Pullman ·and all the main rail lines. local unions. Even so, revolutionists could do useful One of the more famous episodes on the road to form­ Skoglund was elected chairman, and Oscar Coover, sec­ work within it. They could try to block unjust acts by ing a united legal party was the underground convention retary of the committee. AFL officials and influence could be exerted to promote of the UCP in Bridgman, Michigan, in August 1922. --Early in the strike Pres. Warren Harding got a U.S. the building of a left wing throughout the labor move­ Carl attended this meeting as an elected delegate from District Court to issue an injunction that virtually pre­ ment in the city. Minneapolis. vented picketing. The injunction permitted only two Shortly after the Communist delegates were expelled The convention was held in the woods at an out-of-the­ pickets at each entrance into. the various yards. from the CLU, they joined wifh other left-wingers to run way summer resort on Lake Michigan. Carl later recalled The rail lines put extra cars on the trains to haul in a full list of candidates in the January 1925 CLU elec­ that walking the mile and a half from the Bridgman rail­ scabs from other cities. They lodged them in Pullman tions. Standing on the program of the Communist-led road station, the delegates, with their suitcases and city sleepers in the yards and had dining .cars put on tracks to Trade Union Educational League, they presented an al­ clothes, were a curious sight, and anyone seeing them feed them. Professional strike-breaking outfits furnished ternative to the red-baiters who dominated the CLU. The would immediately suspect something was up. the employers with rent-a-scabs who were paid hand­ slate included Skoglund as candidate for vice-president Carl spent the first few days waiting while those who somely. and Dunne for editor of the CLU newspaper, Labor Re- favored continuing the underground organization cau­ The strike was defeated in about three months when view. cused. Carl was among the minority that favored the president of the employees department of the AFL Their platform called for an immediate union organiza­ liquidating the underground party. However, his creden­ secretly negotiated a contract with the Baltimore and tion campaign; formation of an unemployment council; tials were challenged by a member of the majority from Chicago company. This shattered the possibility of an in­ campaign for wage hikes and against lengthening the Minneapolis, and he was not seated. He was assigned to dustry-wide contract and the unions had to settle with working day; a fight for a child-labor law; turning the be a look-out on top of a nearby hill. each employer separately. As a result most big com­ Labor Review into a fighting organ; no persecution of Shortly after the convention got under way, the dele­ panies organized company unions rather than settle. members for their political views or affiliations; and a gates got word that it was to be raided. Carl and another Pullman refused to sign a contract, and over time the fight against all capitalist politicians, including U.S. Sen­ member- who later turned out to be a government agent workers became demoralized. Carl formally was on ator Robert LaFollette, who ran for-president on the Pro­ - were assigned to bury the typewriters, briefcases, strike for a year, but he was never able to go back to work gressive Party ticket in the 1924 elections. files; etc. The international guests and noncitizens were at Pullman or on the railroad. The CoTQmunists in Minnesota were also active in the evacuated first. Carl and three others walked to a chicken The Great Western, where Coover worked, signed an Farmer-Labor Party (FLP). The FLP had been estab­ coop on a nearby farm where they hid until a car picked agreement, but scabs were given preference in filling the lished in 1918 in Minnesota as an alliance between the them up and they safely escaped, covered with feathers. available jobs. The strike committee decided to create AFL unions and the farmers' Non-Partisan League. Seventeen party leaders, however, were arrested. some vacancies so that strikers could go back to work. In the early 1920s, the work of Minnesota Communists This was accomplished with a simple announcement de­ in the FLP was disrupted by an adventurous policy im­ Scandinavian federation signating a day when the union men would come to clear posed by the CP national leadership. By the time this line out the scabs. Most cleared out on their own as soon as was reversed, the best opportunities for exerting influ­ Just as the Russian revolution shook up the SP.and led they heard the announcement, and most of the workers ence in the FLP had passed. to the formation of the CP, it also affected the Scandina­ returned to work. vian Socialist Federation. In 1919 the majority voted to But Communists continued to participate in the FLP Management, however, still refused to let Coover and establish an independent federation oriented to the Com­ and tried to prevent its reformist leadership from liquidat­ another worker come back. ing what influence workers and farmers exercised over munist International. In 1922 it merged with a left split from the Socialist Labor Party's Swedish affiliate to form A special committee was set up headetl by Carl to force party policy through the unions and the farm organiza­ the United Scandinavian Socialist Federation (USSF). It the company to put the two workers bac.k to work. After tions. Skoglund and Dunne were both delegates to several affiliated to the Workers Party, and the newspaper's threatening a strike and convincing management that the committee meant it, the company backed down . Coover name was changed toNy Tid (New Age). Continued on next page Carl remained active in the Swedish federation through this period and continued to write for its paper. He served on the national steering committee of the USSF and for a time was district organizer for District 9, which included Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, and northern Michigan . Catl's articles in Ny Tid show that the USSF was active in organizing relief aid for Russian workers and farmers during the 1921-22 famine. It also organized public meetings to hear reports from Communist leaders who had visited the USSR and held discussions on such topics as "What is the difference between the Second and Third Internationals?" The Palmer raids, which had dealt a sharp blow to the Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Minneapolis Teamster newly-born communist movement, were also part of a broader offensive that the employers and their govern­ rebellion - take advantage of special offer from Pathfinder Press ment launched against the labor movement. The goal was Fifty years ago truckdrivers of Min­ drive and a lifelong revolutionist, Teamster Power 255 pp. $6.95 to destroy and weaken the unions, which had grown con­ neapolis began ·the struggle that wrote the story of how it was done. Teamster Politics 256 pp. $6.95 siderably in the 1917- 1919 period. made the city a union town. They Hi s four volumes on the Teamsters Teamster Bureaucracy 304 pp. $6.95 The Pullman bosses were among those employers who built a militant union movement that are invaluable in understanding the saw an opportunity to get rid of the union organized by. spread across the north-central political tasks facing industrial work­ the workers during the war. They started by mapping·out United States and helped pave the ers today. Order from Pathfinder Press, 410 a plan to establish a company union. At the national way for the industrial unionism of the West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Offer available only by mail. Please headquarters in Chicago, they drew up a constitution that . CIO. . Special offer: $20 for all four volumes . . Farrell Dobbs, one of the central (25% off list price). include 75¢ for p<>stage and handling. specified the procedures for electing leadership bodies to leade rs of thfs Te ainsters' organizing Teamster Rebellion 192 pp. $5.95 Offer expires September 1. th.is.~;~ ew organ_ization. On the local.!evel a committeeof six

11 International Socialist Jte\fie~------A~ug~u-st __Is_w-6

Continued from preceding page Russian CP in the fall of 1927. expelled, they had been considering an organizing drive· . FLP conventions. For most of the 1920s, Dunne was sec­ Carl later recalled that in the Twin Cities he attended a among truck drivers. Several of the CLA members, in­ retary of the 12th Ward FLP Club in Minneapolis. He half-dozen membership meetings organized for the pur­ cluding Carl and Ray, worked in the coal yards where the was expelled when the CP announced his candidacy for pose of explaining what was wrong with "Trotskyism." drivers were unorganized. U.S. Senate in 1928. No counter documents or organized presentations of al­ Shortly after their expulsions, Carl joined Local .57 4 of ternative views was ever permitted. After hours of de­ the Teamsters union. In a letter to the Dec. 14, 1929, CP's state union director nouncing Trotsky as a counterre\7olutionary and traitor to Militant, Carl wrote: "The League in Minneapolis is car­ In 1926, Carl was designated trade union organizer for the working class, a vote would be taken at each meeting. rying on real good work, which will bring in many new the CP's Minnesota District, the third largest in member­ Everyone who voted yes on the international policy was members from among the American workers. We are ship in the country. In this capacity he probed for oppor­ okay. Those who abstained were to be investigated, and about to start a campaign to organize the general drivers tunities ' in Minneapolis to break the open-shop those who voted against were to be expelled. into unions. We have very good connections in this par­ stranglehold of the Citizen's Alliance, one of the At one of the meetings Carl sat in a comer reading an ticular industry .... " strongest and best organized employers' associations in article from the Nation, a liberal weekly, about Trotsky. While they were laying their plans to organize the driv­ the country. The district organizer seeing this denounced Carl in the ers, CLA activists also got involved in other labor activ­ One test came with a strike at an upholstery plant of meeting, charging him with Trotskyist sympathies. ity. In 1930 Ray and Carl were approached by the newly­ several hundred workers. Carl worked with a group of The situation in "the party continued to worsen and it elected business agent of the AFL's building council for CP contacts in the plant to chart out a policy that could became increasingly difficult to carry out constructive help in organizing the building trades. The building win. The relationship of forces was such that it was not work. Carl and Ray became more and more discontented trades unions had lost many members in the 1920s due to likely the strike would succeed, but the workers wanted with the party's course. the employers' success in defeating struggles of workers to give it their best shot. In the early spring of 1928 when Cannon came through in that industry. Revolutionists such as Carl had learned a lot about the Minneapolis on tour on behalf of the International Labor The discussions with the CLA leaders led to the forma­ employers' methods from previous strikes, mostly de­ Defense, Carl _and Ray asked him what he thought abo1,1t tion of the Organization Education Committee of the feats. On Carl's advice, the workers decided to make the expulsion of Trotsky and Zinoviev. . . . . Building Trades Unions - a delegated body with repre­ preparations by establishing a headquarters near the He answered them, "Who am l to condemn the leaders sentatives from various building trades unions. Carl par­ plant; equip that headquarters with a kitchen, set up well­ of the Russian revolution," thereby indicating that he was ticipated in its meeting as a member of Local 574. organized picketing, start immediately to mobilize the not very sympathetic to the expulsion. They were tore­ The committee called a conference to discuss union or­ labor movement to support the strike, and make itclear member this a few months later when the fight in the ganization that drew 10,000 workers in the municipal au­ that the union would take responsibility for anyone in­ party broke into the open. ditorium. At the meeting a Stalinist speaker attacked Carl jured on picket duty. Then in the summer of 1928 the sixth congress of the and the CLA, and the president of the CLU made a red­ The plant was closed down and the employers were not Comintern was held in Moscow. Foster, who was the baiting speech. Carl was scheduled to speak, but decided able to open it up with scabs. The strike lasted for months first of the leaders to get back, was assigned to Illake a not to because of security considerations stemming from and the strikers were finally starved into going back to national tour to report on the congress to the party mem­ his not having citizenship papers. He later recalled that work. The company was only able to hold out because of bership. Although he was not scheduled to give a report other League members thought he had made an error in the considerable financial aid it got from other employ­ in the Twin Cities, his train west took him through th~re. not speaking. ers. But while the strike lasted it was effective, and it be­ Carl and Ray went to St. Paul to make the 10-minute . The committee died of its own accord when it was not came widely known as one of the best organized strikes train ride with Foster to Minneapolis in order to find out able to accomplish anything due to worsening unemploy­ to have been conducted in the city. The strike served as a what happened at the congress. He told them that Trotsky ment. But it showed that in spite of their expulsions from dress rehearsal for some of the tactics that would be em­ had submitted the draft of a programmatic resolution in the CLU, the CP, and the Farmer-Labor Party, the revo­ ployed six years later in the Teamster strikes. opposition to the one submitted by the majority. lutionary communists in the CLA were not completely Trotsky's document had some valid criticisms, he said, isolated. · · The history of the Teamsters strikes and the sub­ Expulsion from the CP but beyond that he wouldn't volunteer any information. Carl and Ray's suspicions were greatly aroused by this sequent role of the union in the Midwest has been told in In November 1928, Carl along with Ray Dunne, Oscar brief encounter. Carl's reaction was that they should Farrell Dobbs' four-volume series. Carl's life during that Coover, C.R. Hedlund, ·and a couple dozen other CP break from the party right away. Ray convinced him that peri~d was integrally connected with those develop­ members in Minneapolis were expelled from the party. it was premature. ments, and Dobbs' books are the best source for studying This action reflected both changes occurring inside the Shortly afterwards, Cannon arrived back in the coun- . them. It will suffice to highlight a few particular points party and in the Communist International. try. As a member of the program com~ission at the con­ about Carl's role. The party was never able to establish·a homogeneous gress, he had obtained a copy ofTrotsky's resolution, Carl, along with Ray Dunne, played adeeisive role in centralist organization along Leninist lines. The internal read it, and agreed with it. mapping out a strategy for the organizing drive. But on situation degenerated into one of permanent fac­ When he returned he used Trotsky's draft to win over Carl's proposal, Ray assumed the role of the party's pub­ tionalism, which became particularly acute after the 1925 other central leaders of his caucus in the party, most not­ lic spokesman and head of the party's fraction of mem- · party convention. At that convention two major factions ably Max Shachtman and Martin Ahem. hers in the union. contended for leadership of the party. The faction led by After a few weeks of winning recruits one-by-one, In a memorandum to Dobbs, Dunne stated: "Skogie William Foster and James Cannon had a majority of the Cannon, Shachtman and Ahem were put on trial by a proposed that I, rather than he, accept the role of party delegates and the faction led by Charles Ruthenberg and joint session of the Control Commission and the Political public spokesman and leader of the party fraction. The William Loves tone were a minority. During the conven­ Committee. There they announced their support for reasons for Carl's proposal were as follows: we both tion the leadership of the Comintem sent a telegram dec­ Trotsky. They were immediately expelled. knew, and he argued, that it was a touch-and-go matter. laring that the Lovestone group was more loyal to the In Minnesota, a district committee meeting was called If we were successful the employers would pick up the Comintem and ordered the party to give them a majority to endorse the expulsion. Skoglund, Dunne, Coover, and matter of his noncitizenship. If he were a public spokes­ of the positions on the Central Committee. Skoglund and two other CP leaders introduced a resolution demanding man for the union, this could add additional dangers .... Dunne, both delegates at the convention, supported the that Cannon and the others be given a hearing before any I was a native-born citizen. In addition l was well-known Foster~Cannon faction as they had at previous CP con­ expulsion ofthem became effective. A counterresolution to quite a large section ofthe prospective recruits. I had ventions. was moved to uphold the NC's decision and to expel the been a candidate of the Communist Party for U.S. Sena­ They had met Cannon in 1923 when he had come signers of the resolution Carl, Ray and the others had in­ tor in 1928 and was therefore known quite widely in sev­ through Minneapolis on a national speaking tour follow­ troduced. Tbe counterresolution won by a slim majority. eral important sectors of the state. . . . We came to agree­ ing a six-month stay in the Russian Soviet Republic. Ray A couple of days later a membership meeting was ment after long discussion and consideration of the local became a member of the Cannon caucus in the party. Carl called wh~re the same two resolutions were submitted to and state political climate." (Farrell Dobbs; Teamster Re­ was closer to the trade unionist Foster than to Cannon up a vote. The majority of members supported the resolution bellion, pp. 41-42) to 1928. presented by the executive committee majority. Some 30 Dobbs adds, "Also to be noted is the salutary fact that The supporters of Foster and of Cannon usually more ..members supporting the minority resolution were Ray and Carl always acted as a team. Neither was given blocked together against the other party factions, al­ expelled. to strutting about as an individual star or posturing as the though after the 1925 convention relations between them fount of all wisdom. Both were serious revolutionists, or­ became more strained. ganization men, who knew how to teach younger leaders Foster was the principal leader of the party's trade IV. The struggle by precept and example." union work. In 1925 Cannon and his closest collaborators assumed responsibility for organizing the International for a new·party Union positions Labor Defense. A week after Cannon and the others were expelled, the Carl had intended to apply for citizenship when he was Outside of New York, the Foster and Cannon groups Militant began to appear. This, along with other material first eligible in 1916. But by then he was working on the tended to function more closely. In the Twin Cities, sent from New York, helped the Minnesota group to edu­ railroad and never got around to taking time off from where Carl and Ray had been collaborators and friends cate themselves on the issues behind their expulsion. work to go through the necessary paperwork and inter­ for a long time: relations were very cl<:?se. In May 1929, the expelled members met at a conven­ view. After his close call during the Palmer raids, he did tion in Chicago to form the Communist League of Amer­ not consider it a serious possibility. Anti-Trotskyist campaign begins ica (CLA). Carl was a delegate to the convention and was His noncitizenship was always a factor, however, that Riding back .on the train from Chicago to Minneapolis one of seven regular national committee members elected he and the other party leaders weighed carefully when after the 1925 convention, Ray and Carl discussed the in­ by the delegates. making decisions about his role in the mass movement. ternal situation in the party and agreed that something The CLA started charting the course toward building a While he did not shirk from responsibilities in the labor was seriously wrong, but they could not explain it. new party based on the program of the first four congres­ movement, he did not act recklessly either. They did not yet have a clear picture of the fight inside ses of the Communist International. While it paid atten­ After the three 1934 Teamster strikes had won a col­ the Russian Communist Party an.d the Comintem being tion to winning members from the CP, the CLA had no il­ lective bargaining agreement for Local 574, the union waged by the Bolshevik::-Leninist opposition led by Leon lusions about being readmitted to the CP, nor did it press elected key strike leaders to official positions for the first Trotsky. Nor could they see yet how this affected the for readmission. Rather it began the fight to build a new time. Carl was not among them, however. Dobbs noted . party based on the Marxist program. . situation in the U.S. party. that they decided not to run him because of his citi~enship In Minnesota, particularly, the CLA began to tum out­ The Bolshevik-Leninist opposition was attempting to status. reverse the overturn of the program of the first four con­ ward and probe opportunities for work in the mass move­ But two years later, under changed circumstances, gresses of the Comintem by the Stalinists who were bu­ ment. Dobbs reports that Skoglund was elected a trustee of the reaucratically taking control of the Russian CP and the Teamsters locaL The changed situation was that the ' Comintem. Plans to organize drivers local, which had been suspended from the IBT shortly Following the-1925 convention, talk against "Trotsky­ Following up on the work they had been doing while in after the strikes, was readmitted after an unsuccessful at­ ism" in the U.S. party began to mount. This became a the CP, Carl, Ray and the other Trotskyists immediately tempt by the Tobin leadership to crush it. The readmis­ veritable campaign after the expulsion of Gregory began to consider possible ways of challenging the open sion was based on Tobin's support for launching a gen­ Zinoviev and Trotsky, two leading Bolsheviks, from the shop set-up in Minneapolis. Even before they had been eral organizing drive in the Midwest. Local 574 merged

12 The Militant August 3, 1984 August ISRJ7 with a small competing local that Tobin had set up and formed Local 544. · Under these circumstances, Dobbs wrote, "There was a definite reason for our change in policy concerning Skoglund's official role. Because of his extensive knowl­ edge about organizational infighting, it was considered vital for him to play a direct role in the formal executive apparatus, where our delicate situation as a minority would present unusual difficulties. So we decided to take a chance regarding problems that could arise from his lack of citizenship papers." (Farrell Dobbs, Teamster Bu­ reaucracy, p. 79) In May 1938 Bill Brown, president of Local 544, was. murdered. A special election was called in July to elect a new president. Of four candidates nominated, Carl won by a majority of the votes cast. One of the candidates, Tom McCue, a member of the independent truck owners section of 544, smeared Carl as a "red," a foreigner who couldn't speak English, imd generally incapable. Carl requested permission to speak to a membership meeting of the independent drivers section, which was granted with some protest. He explained that he was there only to ask a few ques­ tions. "I am asking the following questions," he said, "because my opponent is spreading rumors that I can't With childr~n at Moun~n. Spring Camp. Skoglund spent much time with young people at camp, giving them speak English, I am a red and a foreigner, and to see if we classes on scaence and politics. · · can't clear up the atmosphere. I further say that if anyone in the meeting could answer the questions differently than I would, I will relinquish my candidacy to some him, as well as long discussions about the fundamentals At that time the Immigration and Naturalization Ser­ other member. of Marxism. vice (INS) got a federal judge to deny his application and "Question number one: is there anyone here in this hall Dobbs relates that. when he, as a young worke~ in­ order him deported to Sweden. But because communica­ that thinks they had any choice in picking your own volved in the organizing drive in the coal yards in 1934, tions were cut off with that country due to the war, the mother? If you think so, please raise your hand." No one was taken to Carl's hoine and met Ray Dunne, "~ finally order could not be carried out. did, so he went on to the second question. got a start on the political education I had been seeking." But even before this order was issued, a big blow tQ "Is there anyone in this hall who had anything to say In the late 1930s Carl donated his "fine library of Local 544 and the SWP came when 29 leaders of the about who your fatqer was going to be? If you think so, Marxist literature" referred to by Ray Dunne to the SWP union and of the party were indicted under the Smith Act please raise your hand." Again, no hands were raised. branch in Minneapolis. This formed the basis for what for allegedly conspiring to overthrow the government of "Three: is there anyone in this hall who had anything to was the best branch library in the party for many years. the United States. The real reason for the indictments was say atx;>ut what spot on this Earth you were going to be Carl knew from his own youth in Sweden the importance the antiwar views of the defendants. . born? If you think so, please raise your hand." No hands for young workers who are eager to learn to have a place Twenty-eight of the 29 were booked and released on went up. where they can have easy access to books and meet fel­ bail pending trial. Skoglund, however, was also arrested "Question number four: is there anyone in this hall that low workers to discuss what they are reading. on a deportation warrant issued by the INS. He was held had any choice about determining what nationality or In addition to the elected leadership positions that he in jail and bail was set at the exorbitant figure of $25,000. color they were when born? If you think so, raise your held in the movement in the_United States, Carl was also He was released in a week at a reduced bail only after hand." Again, no hands. one of three party leaders who was elected to the first In­ nationwide protests poured into the White House. "Question number five, the last question: is there any­ ternational Executive Committee of the Fourth Interna­ An extensive defense campaign was launched by the one irt this •hall who didn't understand what I .said? If so, tionid when it was formed in Sep~ember 1938. party for the defendants and the Civil Rights Defense will you please raise your hand." No one did. Carl followed closely the ·discussions in the world Committee (CRDC) was set up to mobilize broad sup­ When Carl finished, there was loud applause. As he movement and was particularly interested in the discus­ port. On December 8, 1941, the court sentenced six of walked out the door, he turned to McCue and said, sions on the central programmatic document adopted at the defendants to a year and a day and 12 of them, includ­ "Tom, who the hell do you think you is?" the founding conference, "The Death Agony of ing Carl, to 16 months in the federal penitentiary. The ap­ Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International." peals, however, continued, as did the defense campaign. Rules for negotiating One of his biggest regrets was that he was unable to par­ The defendants did not begin their terms until the end of ticipate in the discussion between SWP leaders and December 1943. · Carl was particularly adept at negotiating with the em­ Trotsky on this program. He had been designated, along ployers. The prestige and strength of Local 544 led to with Cannon, Dunne, Shachtman, and Rose Karsner, to Move to California many requests that it help other unions with strike sup­ participate in these discussions in March 1938. He had . During this interim, Carl went to Los Angeles with his port and negotiations. Carl, as president of Local 544, travell!d as far as the Mexican border, but then it was de­ was often called upon to participate in these negotiations. wife. Carl had married in the late 1930s, around the time cided he should not risk leaving the country because of he was elected president of Local 544. Up until then he He once explained that he had a general approach to all his citizenship status. negotiations. He started by stating to the employers that, had been unmarried. He had not really wanted to go to California, bu( his wife, who was not in the party, in­ "We are going to be frank , use very simple words that Teamster bureaucracy sisted. On their way they stopped in Las Vegas, where have only one meaning, and whatever we agree upon we I Carl worked on a housing project for about two months. are going to live up to to the letter. We expect you to do The days of Teamster rebellion and Teamster power the same. And if you try to evade the agreement, ·we will drew to a close when the capitalist rulers began to step up In Los Angeles he tried his hand at raising rabbits and show you that it won't pay. their preparations for war. They took steps to tame the in­ chickens. But after five months of this, he realized his "We are only interested," he would continue, "in the surgent unions that had been formed with labor's giant wife was trying to divorce him from the movement that he had been part of for most of his active life . So he left well-being of our members, and are sure that you as em­ uprising in the mid-l930s. In the IBT the Tobin bureauc­ her and returned to Minneapolis. ployers are able to take care of yourselves, which you did racy ganged up with the employers and the Roosevelt ad­ before the union existed." · · ministration to eliminate the left-wing leadership of When he got back he was broke. At first he got a job with a supply company. The now bureaucratically con­ He also proposed to the employers that it was a waste · Loca1544. trolled Teamster Local 544 sent 15 goons to his work­ of their money to hire expensive attorneys to represent In October 1940 a ruling on a suit filed in 1938 against them. "Because of that," he said , "they dispensed with Local 544's executive board was handed down. The suit place and threatened violence against him if he did not the use of attorneys to such an extent that the bar associ­ was brought by five finks in cahoots with the employers leave the job. He took the necessary precautions to de­ ation in Minneapolis was talking about a suit against me charging the union officials with misusing funds and re­ fend himself at work and got out the word that he would for discrediting a profession." lated offenses. The decision in the "fink suit," as it be­ not go down without a fight. He was also prepared to take came known throughout the labor movement, stated that some legal action. Communist leader in the union there was no basis to remove the officers for misuse of But he soon left that job to go into business repairing funds. washing machines with another one of the 18 defendants. Carl was never a trade unionist in the pure-and-simple Generally this decision was highly favorable to the On December 31, 1943, the 18 labor defendants began sense of that term, nor even just a revolutionary trade! union, but there were a few negative aspects. One was their prison terms. Carl was among the 14 who were in­ union leader. He was a communist leader who was striv­ that the judge ordered Carl to step down from the union carcerated at the U.S. penitentiary in Sandstone; Min­ ing to build a mass revolutionary workers party capable presidency within 40 days. The basis was a reactionary nesota. of leading the overturn of capitalist rule and establishing clause in the IBT constitution barring noncitizens from A few days before going to prison Carl spoke at a a workers and farmers government. All of his work in the holding union office. The capitalist press went on a cam­ farewell banquet in Minneapolis. "I can guarantee you," unions was conducted along the lines of advancing that paign to prejudice the workers against Skoglund. Dobbs he said, "that we are not the last ones who will go to objective. reports, "The attempt failed, though, as shown by the prison for their political opinions. Many of the best think­ Through the 1930s Carl served on national committees spontaneous ovation given the victimized official at the ers in the past have gone, but I hope that such sacrifices of the CLA; the Workers Party, formed when the CLA next membership meeting of the local." will be reduced to a minimum and the working class will fused with the Workers Party of America in 1934; and the come to understand and to prevent them." Socialist Workers Party founded in early 1938. Deportation order Carl was released on Jan. 24, 1945, three months be­ Carl, never as comfortable in English as in his native fore his term was up. The oldest of the defendants, he tongue, did not write for the party press as he had done Carl had, in fact , been attempting to get his citizenship turned 60 while in prison. during his days in the SP and CP Scandinavian federa­ papers prior to this decision. But the Roosevelt adminis­ When he walked out of the prison doors he still had a tions. tration had thrown roadblocks in his way. It continued to deportation threat hanging over his head. With the end of · However, he contributed to many leadership discus­ obstruct his application until early 1941. Then an FBI the war the deportation attack was relaunched. The sions and brought with him to the party the same insis­ agent told him that he could get citizenship papers if he CRDC organized a campaign in defense of Carl and for a tence on education and professionalism that he had tried repudiated the union and went over to the employers' few years it was able to keep him at liberty on bond. to instill in the members of the SP and the SSF. Many company union. He rejected this cynical maneuver and When Carl got out of prison he went to work repairing young workers first coming around the movement got nothing further on his application was heard until July washing m&chines again, but by the middle of 1946, it their first introduction to Marx , Engels, and Lenin from 1942. Continued on next page

August 3,.1984 The Militant 13 International Socialist Jte\lievv.______A_u-gu_s_t_I_sw_s

Continued from preceding page for his union activities and political ideas, who can con­ was clear he couldn't make enough to live on by doing sider himself secure in his rights? That is the basic issue that. Shortly after he and his partner sold their repair presented in his case; that accounts for its importance." business, he was hit by an automobile and injured so Cannon stated that the SWP hopes the "fight will be badly that he couldn't work for about a year. He then got victorious. Such an outcome would not only render jus­ a job repairing roads for the Hennepin County Highway tice to Skoglund, but would be ail outstanding triumph · Department. The highway commissioner was an old as­ for American liberties over reaction. sociate of Carl's from his days in the SP, and helped him "Your letter indicates that if Skoglund should be de­ get the job. But reactionary political pressure· was ported," Cannon concluded, "he will receive a warm brought to bear on the highway department, and Carl lost welcome in Sweden. It is gratifying to know that he that job. It was around then that members of the party would have friends among the workers there who would purchased Mountain Spring Camp in New Jersey, which come to love and respect him as have the working people was used for some party activities, including a party of the Northwest who know him best. However, we hope leadership ~chool. Cabins were also rented out in the that if he does revisit his birthplace, he will go, not as a summer . stigmatized deportee, but as a free man." . . Carl took on the assignment of heading up mainte­ Carl, a consistent internationalist, explained that nance at the camp and lived there year round. This coin­ "There is one citizenship they cannot deprive me of, and cided with a big step-up in the deportation drive against that is citizenship in the working-class movement. I took him. out those papers back in Sweden when I was 16 or 17 years old, a member of the Young Socialists and of the New deportation order union in the paper mill where I worked. Throughout the On December 15, 1950, the INS ordered that Carl be years, I think I have served that movement faithfully and deported under provisions of the newly enacted McCar­ to the best of my ability. The time is coming when gov­ ran Immigration Act. He was the second person to be ernments all over the world will recognize loyalty to the found deportable under this nefarious Jaw, just as he had interests of the working people as the highest form of been one of the first defendants tried under the Smith citizenship." Act. The basis for the deportation order was that Carl be­ Confronted with the constant threat of deportation in longed to the Communist Party in the 1920s. No other the last decade-and-a-half of his life, Carl was unable to evidence was presented to show why he should be de­ maintain a direci role in the day-to-day life of the party. ported. He was not able to attend meetings and he went offthe The CRDC waged a campaign and the case went national committee. Farrell Dobbs and Skoglund. At time o{Skoglund's During his last years at Mountain Spring Camp, he through a series of appeals. Finally on May20, 1954, a death, Dobbs wrote, "Young revolutionists can well few weeks after his 70th birthday Carl was imprisoned on kept a regular routine, usually spending at least eight afford to study the lessons of his life and continue to hours a day working. Not being able to be active in the Ellis Island to await deportation. He was confined there learn from them." for more than three months and then put on a freighter for party, he intensely pursued a long standing interest in as­ Sweden. Ten minutes before it was to sail, he was re­ tronomy, which helped keep him intellectually alert until moved from the ship. The CRDC had succeeded in con­ to see him in Sweden for some time, if at all, since his the end of his life. He read widely on the topic and was vincing Socialist Party leader Norman Thomas to ask the case is far from concluded. conversant with all the current theories about the origins State Department to halt the deportation. "For over a decade government officials and other of the universe. He scanned the skies on clear nights with Carl was released from Ellis Island on October 7 on agents of the employing class have persecuted this vet­ a telescope given to him by friends. His telescope still re­ $1 ,000 bond after nearly five months' imprisonment. eran warrior of American labor, hoping to eliminate him mains with his party where students at the party's leader­ Less than 48 hours later he was rushed to a hospital for an from the union movement and expel him from the coun­ ship school continue to use it. emergency operation. try: However, he together with his host of friends and During the leadership school sessions held at Mountain In mid-November, Ellis Island, for decades the point supporters have never· ceased combating these attacks Spring Camp, Carl followed the studies of the students of embarkation for immigrants and disembarkation for and they intend to continue the fight for his rights and and was available in evenings for discussions. He occa­ many deportees, was shut down. The mounting protests against his deportation. sionally gave classes. against the barbarous treatment of detainees forced the "Skoglund's case," Cannon continued, "has wide­ In.the summer when visitors came to the camp for rec­ government to dose it. If Skoglund had still been there spread support in labor and liberal circles. Many promi­ reation, a children's camp was organized. Carl in­ when it was shut down, he would have been transferred nent defenders of civil rights in this country have come to stitutionalized weekly classes for the children, especially to a federal prison in Manhattan. his aid through the Civil Rights Defense Committee. on science. Carl's freedom of movement was greatly restricted for Skoglund merits this support first of all for his long and The day he died; Dec. II , 1960, Carl had just finished the remaining six years of his life. He could not travel far honorable record of service to labor's cause. For almost helping to put a new boiler in the furnace at the camp. beyond New York City and had to report frequently to the · 40 years he has been active in union ranks and was fore­ The old one had broken down and the leadership school INS, where he was subjected to humiliating interroga­ most among those who helped build labor's present in session had been without heat for a week. tions. He occasionally did slip past La Migra's restric­ power throughout the Northwest." The party had severe financial difficulties and, rather tions to visit Minneapolis to see old friends and also once Cannon pointed out that "his defenders have recog­ than call on the national office for financial help to buy a or twice to California. nized that the persecution against him is more than a per­ new boiler, the party members on hand chipped in to buy sonal matter and involves issues affecting every Ameri­ it. Carl offered $100. After he died it was discovered he Issues in defense campaign can. Skoglund is the second victim of the recently­ had $174 to his name. enacted McCarran Law, which has been condemned by At a small social gathering to celebrate the installation Shortly after the news of the 1950 deportation order every big labor organization and civil liberties body as of the new boiler, Carl died from a heart attack at the age against Skoglund reached Sweden, the SWP national of­ unconstitutional, unjust, and a violation of all democratic of 76. fice received a letter from a Swedish Trotskyist asking traditions and principles. This instrument of oppression From an isolated Jog cabin in a Swedish forest, sur­ somewhat eagerly when Carl would be arriving in Swe­ has been designed to harass foreign-born Americans, to rounded with the backwardness-of the past, Carl became den. This letter offered an opportunity to explain clearly victimize militant unionists, to gag anyone who criticizes an outstanding leader of the most advanced and con­ what the issues were in the case. James Cannon, national the foreign policies of the capitalist rulers and who op­ scious detachment of the working class. secretary of the SWP, wrote a letter in response. Both let­ poses big-business plots against the welfare of the At the time of Carl's death, Farrell Dobbs wrote in the ters were published on the front page of the Jan. 22, people. Its aim is to outlaw Marxism and to suppress Militant, "His credentials as a revolutionary-socialist 1951, Militant. radical political organizations. fighter and teacher are powerfully set forth in the simple "It is true, as you read in the press," Cannon wrote, "If a man like Carl Skoglund, who has Jived here for story of his life. Now that he can no longer teach them di­ "that the U.S. Immigration Department has ordered Carl 40 years and devoted his life to productive labor and the rectly, young· revolutionists can well afford to study the Skoglund's deportation. However, you should not expect advancement of the working people, can thus be tleported lessons of his life and continue to learn from them." Visit to lew Spring I new economac• zone I in southern Vietnam

Continued from ISR/12 They do the initial work to clear the land and install elec­ "Besides the production, we have a political task the government, with help from the mass organizations. trical service, sanitation, wells, and housing before here," Hoa said . "The people who have settled here have Hoa told us that it will take two more years - about eight families move out from the cities. a complex past," he explained. years in all ---'- for this new economic zone to become fi­ Down the road we stopped in the recreation and cul­ About half of the volunteers who pioneered the work nancially self-sufficient. In the meantime it gets help tural hall. Traveling performances or fi lms are shown were students who signed up to rebuild the country. from the youth association in Ho Chi Minh City. The every week. In addition, each brigade has a radio, a cas­ Another 40 percent were unemployed young people like youth association also helps enlist volunteers and signs sette recorder, and a TV. These help ease the isolation. Le Van My; the others were former soldiers from the up families in the city to move out here. Next door, Pham Thi Bich Nga, a young woman, was Thieu army. The youth association plays a special role at the new taking care of about five babies and a dozen toddlers at Most of these soldiers, of course, had been given no economic zone itself, too. Vu Dac Quy, secretary of the the childcare center. Each child receives an allowance to schooling or skills while working for the U.S. puppet re­ youth association at New Spring, explained that the provide lunch. Child care like this is one of the features to gime. They had only been expected to serve the war youth association is in charge of cultural activities. attract families to the new economic zones, since centers machine. Each brigade has a unit of the youth association. It sets are not yet widely available in Ho Chi Minh City. Now they have a chance to start a new life, support the pace, explains what the zone is trying to accomplish, The school, a one-story building built two years ago their families, build new communities for their children. and tries to help people with individual problems that in­ with five rooms, has preschool classes and the first three to grow up in. terfere with work. grades of primary school for children. The administrator "We depend on the realities of life to convince people. Touring the settlement at New Spring, Hoa pointed out explained that as the children get older, the school wm We depend on these people," Hoa said. "The great the canal and the hard-packed dirt road we were strolling open the next levels. majority have found a stable life here and want to stay down. "All this we had to build ourselves," he explained. In addition, there are adult education classes. here to work .'" "During the war this was a free"fire zone, where every Each year the zone also sends people off to technical kind of bomb was used. When we came there was noth­ and professional school, Hoa explained. In this way the Diane Wang and Steve Clark spent 20. days in Vietnam ing but wild grass." zone has trained four mechanics, two doctors, and nine and 10 days in Kampuchea last February and March for Volunteer teams pioneer the -new economic zones. technicians. · the Militant and lntercontinenta~ Press.

> . 14 The Militant August 3, 1984 August ISR/9 Len1ns • I

In this month's International Socialist Review we First International , Engels expressed the firm opm10n are reprinting the introduction to the new book that "the next International- after Marx's writings have Lenin's Struggle for·a Revolutionary International, struggle exerted their influence for some years - will be directly Documents: 1907-1916-The Preparatory Years, communist and will candidly proclaim our principles." which has just come off the press. (Selected Correspondence, p. 271.) This was not to be As the book's ~ditor John Riddell explains in the in­ the case as quickly as Engels had hoped. An International troduction below, this is the first volume in a series ti­ lor a that was "directly communist" would not be launched tled The Communist International in Lenin's Time, until 1919. printed by Monad Press. Pathfinder Press is the dis­ The fou nding of the Second International in 1889, tributor of the series. however, did mark an advance toward winning the work­ Monad Press has embarked on this publishing pro­ ers' movement to a consistent revolutionary perspective. ject because of the renewed interest in the lessons of revolutionary During the first two decades of this International, sharp the early Comintern among today's revolutionary debates among its divergent ideological currents were on worker militants. Much of the record of the early in­ the whole decided "in the spirit of revolutionary Marx­ ternational communist movement led by the Bol­ ism ," as Lenin put it following the organization's 1907 shevik Party has never been available in English or InternatiOnal congress. has been out of print for decades. The rise of world imperialism that coincided with the What inspires the current generation of communist early years of the Second International brought new pres­ workers to study the lessons of the Comintern are the sures to bear. Class-collaborationist currents gained ' revolutions in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Grenada, where ground in the International, challenging more and more for the first time since the Lenin-led Communist In­ directly the proletarian internationalist tenets of its pro­ ternational, proletarian revolutionists took power gram. On the other hand, the Russian revolution of 1905- and acted to extend the socialist revoiution on a world 1907 was the harbinger of a new period of worker and scale. The emergence of these leaderships .marked a peasant uprisings in Europe and Asia, providing rich les­ historic advance for the working class. · sons for the revolutionary forces within the International. Workers and farmers inspired to study the example As this volume documents, however, the majority of of these revolutions will rmd valuable lessons in the leaders in the International's most authoritative parties struggle of Lenin and the Bolsheviks to construct ·a continued to move to the right. By the end of the first revolutionary international in the early part ·of this decade of the Twentieth Century, most of its parties were century. Contained in the first volume are rich lessons severely eroded from within by class-collaborationist on the fight against imperialist war, the struggle practices. Business unionism, electioneering, and horse­ against racism, communists' attitude toward trading in bourgeois legislatures were standard operating bourgeois elections, national liberation and the colo­ procedures for the majority of party leaders, trade-union nial question, and many other political questions con­ officials, and parliamentary deputies in the Second Inter­ fronting serious revolutionists who are striving to lead national. In their daily practice, the parties of the Interna­ the workers and farmers toward the seizure of politi­ tional more and more placed the reform of capitalism cal power. through legislation, deals with the bosses, and coopera­ The introduction is copyright © 1984 and reprinted tion with "their own" governments above any orientation by permission of Monad Press. toward educating and organizing the workers and farmers for a revolutionary struggle to conquer power. The Inter­ BY JOHN RIDDELL national mobilized little active solidarity with the op­ This is the first in a series of volumes on the Com­ pressed co!onial peoples, and work to build parties in the munist Intem;ational to be published by Monad Press. colonial countries had a low priority. The series will encompass the preparatory years from The outbreak of the imperialist world slaughter in Au­ 1907, through the Bolsheviks' call for a new Interna­ gust 1914 revealed that the Second International had tional in 1914, until its foundation in 191 9. It will then ceased to be an organization that reflected the interests of follow the political development of the Communist Inter­ Lenin and Bolshevik leadership team laid program­ the broadest layers of the working class and others among national (Comintem) until the end of 1923, the years dur­ matic foundations, led political struggle, and took or­ the oppressed and exploited. The most prominent of its ing which the policies of the Comintem were shaped by ga•dzational initiatives that forged Communist Inter­ parties began openly acting as instruments of the ruling V.I. Lenin and the team of Marxist revolutionaries led by national. class in its attacks against the workers in their own coun­ ' him. tries· and worldwide. Forthcoming volumes will include further materials Marx, Engels, and other Communist League leaders Three years of war brought European capitalism to the from the preparatory years shaped by the Russian revolu­ threw themselves into the democratic revolutions that breaking point. The Russian revolution of February 1917 tion of 19 17; resolutions and proceedings from the first broke out in France, Germany, and much of Europe in overthrew tsarism; and in October 191 7 the workers and four Com intern congresses; from the meetings of its Ex­ early 1848. By the end of 1849 these revolutionary up­ peasants under the leadership of the Bolshevik Party es­ ecutive Committee; and from special conferences called surges had been defeated, and by late 1850 it was clear to tablished a revolutionary government. The victory in Oc­ under its auspices - conferences of revolutionary trade Marx and Engels that no early revival could be expected. tober won millions of working people around the world unionists, communist women, revolutionary nationalists · In 1852, at their initiative, the Communist League was to a revolutionary perspective, and won the best of their from colonial countries, and young workers. dissolved. leaders to the international communist movement. This series aims to make more accessible the example By the beginning of the next decade, the workers' The establishment of the revolutionary workers' and and lessons of the international communist movement peasants' republic in Russia transformed politics, shift­ that grew out of and was led by the Bolshevik Party. It movement in Europe had begun to show signs of recov­ ery from the post-1849 reaction. In 1864 the International ing the world relationship of class forces to the advantage will present the discussion and debates within this of. the working class and its allies. The young Soviet re­ worldwide movement that were shaped by the great polit­ Working Men's Association was formed, which has be­ come known as the First International. It included impor­ public was an ally of revolutionary struggles both in the ical upheavals of the first quarter of this century. It will industrially advanced capitalist countries and in the colo­ include the key exchanges between the leaders of the new tant workers' organizations from Britain, France, Ger­ many, and elsewhere in Europe. Some of these were in­ nial nations oppressed by imperialism. · International and various reformist, centrist, and anar­ The triumph in Russia made possible the launching of cho-syndicalist currents. fluenced by the communist current around Marx and En­ gels, who played a leading role in the organization from the Communist International in March 1919 at a congress The Collected Works of Lenin, who was the dominant held in Moscow. The Marxist program could now be en­ leader of the Comintern, have been in print in English for the outset, while others were influenced by anarchist and various petty-bourgeois socialist currents of the day. riched to encompass the world's first experience of the . several decades. So, too, have been a few important successful overthrow of capitalism by the workers and works by other central Comintem leaders. But only a Marx drafted what became the 'founding program of the new organization. Writing to Engels in November peasants, and of a revolutionary government of the ex­ small portion of the debates surrounding the rise and de­ ploited. velopment of the Comintern, or of the record of its pro-. 1864, he commented that "it was very difficult to frame the thing so that our view should appear in a form accept­ The international working-class moVement, Lenin ceedings, has ever been published in English. The edi­ explained, "now rests on an unprecedentedly firm base" · tions that do exist are incomplete and often suffer from .able from the present standpoint of the workers' move­ ment," which was then .only beginning to revive from - the conquest of power by the workers and peasants of inadequate translation; most of them have been unavaila­ Soviet Russia. ble for many decades. more than a decade-long retreat under the blows of reac­ tion. Contrasting this political situation in Europe to the The new International's program was founded on its * * * revolutionary years of 1848-49, Marx explained that, "It understanding of the imperialist epoch as a new phase of From the origins of the modem communist workers' will take time before the reawakened movement allows world capitalism: a period of interimperialist wars, of co­ movement in the middle of the Nineteenth Century, its the old boldness of speech." (Marx and Engels, Selected lonial uprisings, of civil war and socialist revolution. leaders have worked to build an international organiza­ Correspondence, pp. 139-40.) The early statements of The Comintem recognized the vanguard role that.the tion to lead the worldwide struggle for socialism. The the International were careful in tone but, from the very colonially oppressed peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin launching of the Communist International in 1919 was a beginning, firm on principle. America were beginning to play in the world revolution. continuation of that historic effort. The high point of the new period of struggles in Europe With aid from Soviet Russia, the Comintem held, the ex­ In taking the name "communist," the new International came in March 1871 with the establishment of the Paris ploited peasants and small working classes in even the recalled the first international organization formed by Commune by the insurgent workers and other exploited most economically backward countries could success­ revolutionary workers - the Communist League, producers of that city. Following the bloody crushing of fully organize soviets and follow the revolutionary road to power over the exploiters. It was vital to begin build­ founded in 1847 in London. Karl Marx and Frederick En­ that uprising the following May by the combined forces ...... gels, who were among the leaders of the League, ac­ of the .French and German exploiters , another period of ing communist parties in these oppressed nations, so that cepted the assignment to draft its founding program. This reaction took hold throughout Europe. The First Interna­ the working class could be organized to give consistent document, the Manifesto of the Communist Party, pub­ tional, which had championed the Commune and worked revolutionary leadership to t.he democratic . revolution lished at the beginning of 1848, is the foundation of the tirelessly to generalize and spread its lessons, went into against imperialist domination and. landlord-capitalist ex­ program of the modem revolutionary workers' move­ decline. ploitation. ment. In 1874, two years before the final dissolution of the Continued on next page

August 3, 1984 The Militant 15 International Socialist lte\fie~------Au-g~us_t_I_sw__ •o

Continued from preceding page began to emerge in the German party. - -Inline witf-thrs perspective, Lenin and other central Overall, however, revolutionary forces remained a Comintem leaders were determined that the new organi­ minority in the International , and were not able to halt its zation would break from the pattern of the Second Inter­ degeneration . national, which had, "in reality, only recognized the When the First World War broke out in August 1914, white race," as one Comintem document put it. The Sec­ the opportunist leaders of Socialist parties broke with ond International had been largely limited to parties in every proletarian internationalist principle that had been the industrialized countries in Europe and North Ameri­ adopted by congresses of the Secqnd International . Most ca, or with populations of European origin; even in these of the International's best-known leaders now became countries, its parties had few members from oppressed open chauvinists. nationalities. The Comintem, on the other hand, gave as­ These social-chauvinists =- the term used by Lenin to sistance and encouragement to revolutionists in building describe them - rallied the toilers under the banners of · parties in the colonial world. Its parties in the imperialist the imperialist states and sent them into fratricidal com­ countries began to orient to recruiting Black and Asian bat against their brothers and sisters of other countries. working people, and toilers of other oppressed They supported the repression by "their" governments of nationalities. It acted on the slogan, "Workers of .the colonial revolts. world and oppressed nations, unite!" The Socialist International had collapsed. Bankrupt as Millions of working people were attracted to the par­ a leadership of the world wqrking class, it had become, in ties of the Communist International during these years. the words of Rosa Luxemburg, "a stinking corpse." Delegates and observers at early Comintem gatherings A minority of leaders in the Second International re­ came from divergent political backgrounds: some from fused to go along with the chauvinist betrayal of August the Bolshevik-led revolutionary left wing that had broken 1914. Russian and Serbian Socialist parliamentary de­ from the Second International, some who had held cen­ puties voted against financial appropriations for the war trist views prior to the Russian fevolution, some influ­ budget ("war credits") at the outbreak of the war. The enced by anarcho-syndicalism, and some just passing German revolutionist Karl Liebknecht did the same in through on their way back toward 1'eformism. The meet­ December 1914, __as did the Italian Socialist Party when ings of the International heard wide-ranging debates on Italy entered the war in 1915 . the issues they were deciding that enriched the partici­ Only the Bolsheviks, however, called for a complete, pants' understanding of Marxism. 1910 antiwar demonstration by Social Democrats in public , and definitive break with the Second Interna­ The Communist International was guided by a team of Berlin. With outbreak of World War I in 1914, op­ tional , as part of an uncompromising struggle not only leaders of the Soviet Communist Party politically led by portunist leaders of Second International sougbt to against the open social-chauvinist majority, but against Lenin. These included Nikolai Bukharin, Karl Radek, rally workers under banner of imperialist govern­ those centrist forces who sought to maintain ties with Leon Trotsky, Gregory Zinoviev, and othe"s. Under this m·ents. these betrayers in hopes that the bankrupt International leadership, the International became a great school of could be revived at the war's end. revolutionary strategy and tactics. Soviet government to its imperialist allies in the ·war. The Bolsheviks fought from the outset to bring to­ The Comintern developed a transitional strategy for This counterrevolutionary course was the oppo~ite of gether, around a revolutionary program, the forces for a the working class and its allies, aimed at building a that charted by Lenin - the course that led to the found­ new International. While other revolutionary currents bridge between their present struggles and conscious­ ing of the Communist International and guided its activ­ contributed cadres and important experiences to the ness, and the revolutionary fight by the workers and ity from 1919 through 1923. The Comintem's achieve­ movement that would accomplish this goal five years farmers to conquer political power. ments during these first five years, which will be re­ later, Lenin led the political struggle for that revolution­ It discussed and adopted reports and resolutions on ·corded in these volumes, stand as an almost inexhaustible ary perspective throughout the war. The Bolsheviks con­ revolutionary work in the trade unions; on how com­ source of political lessons for revolutionary workers tinued on their revolutionary course in Russia, which was munists use bourgeois elections and parliaments; on the today . to make possible the October 1917 victory and lay the. fight against the exploitation of agricultural workers, foundation for a new , a communist, International. peasants oppressed by landlordism, and working farm­ * * * The first international conferences of Socialists who ers; on the national liberation struggle of peoples op­ This volume opens with proceedings from the 1907 sought to rally workers against the imperialist war took pressed by imperialism; on the fight for the emancipation Stuttgart congress of the Second International. The posi­ place in 1915 . The most important, held in September of women; on the struggle of Blacks against racism in the tions advanced by internationalists on three questions de­ 1915 in Zimmerwald, Switzerland, launched an interna­ United States and worldwide; and on many other ques­ bated at that congress were to remain at the center of the tional organization, often called the "Zimmerwald move­ tions important to revolutionary working-class strategy. Bolshevik-led fight for a revolutionary International ment." This Zimmerwald conference brought together Most importantly, the Com intern acted on these deci­ throughout the next decade. These questions were posed Socialist opponents of the imperialist war with sharply sions. by the opening of a new epoch in the history of world divergent positions. It included centrists who combined The October 19 I 7 revolution in Russia was followed capitalism- the rise of modem imperialism. pacifist proposals for ending the war with continued sup­ by several years of upsurge in the international workers' The first question was how the International and its port for "national defense" and who were still voting for · struggle, with its high points between 1918 and 1920. parties should respond to the growing threat of im­ war credits. It also included a left wing, led by the Bol­ With the defeat of revolutionary struggles in Germany perialist war. The second · was how the International sheviks. and elsewhere in Central Europe during those years, should respond to colonialism. The third was the position Lenin responded to the call for the 1915 conference by however, the international workers' movement went into that Socialists shm!ld take on capitalist attempts to whip organizing what became known as the Zimmerwald Left, a period of retreat throughout the rest of the 1920s. up racist sentiments against immigrant workers. As the immediate forerunner of the Communist Interna­ Lenin's death at the beginning of 1924 coincided with Lenin explained in his article on the Stuttgart congress, tional. Composed of several revolutionary currents, its . the end of the period during which the Communist Inter­ which appears in the first chapter of this volume, these program advanced the struggle for th'e new International national on the whole charted a revolutionary course debates revealed profound differences in the Interna­ and called on workers and peasants to utilize the war along the lines developed by the Bolshevik team he had tional, and showed that significant layers within it were crisis to advance the revolutionary struggle for the .over­ led. Over t.he next decade, the Comintem came to reflect giving gmund to imperialist pressures. throw of capitalist rule. "Civil war not civil peace" was the setbacks of the world revolution, an expansion of the The Stuttgart conference is also an appropriate place to its slogan. world capitalist economy, and the rising influence of a begin a volume on Lenin's struggle for a revolutionary The appeal issued by the Zimmerwald conference for privileged bureaucratic caste identified with Joseph Sta­ International, since it was there, following the 1905 rev­ the workers of the world to unite in international solidar­ lin in theSoviet Communist Party and workers' state. By olution in Russia, that Lenin and the Bolsheviks began ity against the war and for socialism helped inspire work­ the second half of the I 930s it had charted a class-col­ the process of drawing around them a revolutionary ers to resume their struggles. The Zimmerwald majority, laborationist course, promoting "popular front" alliances Marxist current in the Second International . This in­ however, refused to call for a definitive break with the between Communist and capitalist parties in the "demo­ cluded efforts to deepen their collaboration with consis­ Second International. cratic" impenalist countries. The Comintem was dissol­ tent internationalists in the German party such as Rosa The Zimmerwald Left was led by the Bolsheviks as a ved during the Second World War as a concession by the Luxemburg. The rest of this volume traces the develop­ public alternative to this centrist course of the Zimmer­ ment of the initially small internationalist current through wald majority. It published and circulated worldwide its big tests in the world class struggle and a process of po­ own documents, which had been rejected at the 1915 litical debate , differertiation, and clarification. Lenin cou ference . For further reading and the Bolshevik leadership team around him laid the By the end of 1916, where the collection of documents in this volume concludes, 'any progressive role of the Revolutionary Continuity: The Early programmatic foundations, led the political struggle, and Years, 1848-1917 took the organizational initiatives that guided this process Zimmerwald movement had been exhausted. As Lenin 221 pp., $5.95 forward over the next decade. Out of these efforts came insisted, it had become an obstacle to rebuilding a pro­ the embryo of the Communist International. letarian internationalist leadership. Revolutionary Continuity: Birth of the The years after the 1907 Stuttgart congress saw the - As the war raged on, the imperialist governments in­ Second International increasingly dominated by its class­ creased their attacks on working people, and the workers Communist Movement, 1918-1922 of warring and neutral countries mounted increasingly 240 pp., $5.95 collaborationist wing . Seeking to reverse this process, the small left wing counted on further uprisings like that combative mass resistance. By the beginning of 1917, of 1905 in Russia, and above all on victorious revolu­ many Socialist parties, including the German party, had These two volumes, by Farrell Dobbs, tions, to provide the · impetus that could make the split under these pressures, and others were clearly should be studied along with Lenin's Struggle For a Revolutionary Socialist International into a revolutionary instrument headed in that direction. The revolutionary Socialists, taking advantage of growing class polarization, International. They describe the rise of the that would advance the historic interests of the exploited and oppressed. ' strengthened their links with the working masses and Marxist movement in the United States and won new forces . The Zimmerwald Left made progress in its interconnection with the forging of an Under the leadership of Lenin, the Bolsheviks during the decade before World War I built a workers' party in convincing more revolutionists on the centrality of the international communist leadership. The Russia with a strategy for the revolutionary overthrow of political issues separating it from the centrist Zimmer­ second volume takes up the first three tsarist autocracy and landlordism, and the conquest of wald majority. congresses of the Communist International power by the proletariat and peasantry. This program had Lenin waged a political struggle to influence and win and the Zimmerwald conference. been tested in Russia's tumultuous revolutionary up­ the revolutionary Spartacist group in Germany led by heaval of 1905-)907, and in the subsequent rise of mass Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. The Bolsheviks Order from Pathfinder Press, 410 West St., also made persistent proposals for collaboration to the New York,N.Y. 10014. Please enclose 75 struggles after 1911 . The party was firmly based in the cents for postage and handling. industrial working class in Russia, and it had developed Russian revolutionists around the left-centrist Paris an experienced cadre of party leaders. newspaper Nashe Slovo edited by Leon Trotsky. These During these years, a revolutionary left wing also Continued on ISR/12

16 The Militant August 3, 1984 August ISR/11 Interview The following article appeared in the June 25 issue quently one finds in Cuba a factory worker or a taxi of the Spanish-language biweekly Perspectiva Mun­ driver who is studying in some field. dial, published in New York. The translation is by the "I know a painter, Minerva LOpez, who, at 52, with Militant. with grandchildren, began to paint. In the workplaces and in the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution artists BY ANDREs PEREZ come and teach [different kinds of art] to those in the AND OLGA RODRIGUEZ neighborhood or.'in the factory. Minerva began to do NEW YORK - One of the most impressive gains of papier mache, then began to paint, and now she is work­ the Cuban revolution has been the raising of the educa­ Cuban ing on a vt:ry interesting painting, very valuable. Now tional and cultural level of the entire people. she spends practically all her time doing nothing but paint­ The struggle to bring education and culture to the most ing. She used to be a hairdresser; now she'sselling her remote comers of the country, and to guarantee every paintings." Cuban the opportunity to participate in the enjoyment and production of culture, began with the triumph of the rev­ Some statistics olution 25 years ago. art critic Tens of thousands of young volunteers spread out The cultural explosion Mosquera referred to is evident across the island to teach reading and writing to I million from some statistics. In 1958 there was only one dramatic Cubans who were totally illiterate and another I million troupe in Cuba. By 1975 there were 13. Now Cuba has semi-literates (out of a total adult population at that time not only the National Theater, but various nontraditional of about 4 million). After winning this and other educa­ Mosquera forms of theater, such as those they call new theater, mu­ tional battles, the Cuban workers and peasants today are .sical theater, and mobile theater. Before the revolution · progressing in the campaign to bring the entire popula­ there were six museums in poor condition; by 1980 there tion up. to the ninth grade level. were 78. The revolution has not only offered everyone access to Basic facilities have been organized for cultural work education and culture. It has also encouraged a process of in every municipality of the country. By 1980 there recovering, creating, and spreading the cultural values of existed 117 such "houses of culture," which have carried the Cuban people. out tens of thousands of activities. In its cultural development, as well as in other social The number of records produced and books published aspects, Cuba is in the forefront of Third World coun­ has increased rapidly; in 1980 it had reached 8 million tries. Today, in fact, Cubans are able to speak of becom­ and 200 million, respectively. Both traditional Cuban , ing a "cultural power." dance and ballet have been encouraged, and now Cuba Recently we had the opportunity to interview the dis­ has one of the most renowned ballet companies in the tinguished Cuban art critic Gerardo Mosquera during a world. visit he made to the United States. Mosquera, who writes Cuban films are also world famous, and by 1975 had for the Cuban daily Granma, was invited by several won 136 major awards at international film festivals. The prominent institutions and academic figures to give lec­ number of graduates of art schools grew from 426 in tures in the United States. 1965 to 4,4i6 in 1975; the number of visitors to museums Mosquera described to us the changes that have taken rose from 300,000 to almost a million and a half. place in Cuban culture as a result of the revolution. He Among the cultural achievements of the revolution is pointed to the revolutionary government's efforts to pro­ the famous Casa de las Americas, founded immediately mote culture among the Cuban people. after the revolution's triumph to help fight the imperialist Before the revolution, the cultural situation in Cuba blockade aimed at isolating Cuba from the rest of the con­ was like that of many other countries suffering from im­ tinent. perialist domination. What little culture existed was ac­ Gerardo Mosquera Casa de las Americas is devoted to the production and cessible only to a wealthy minority, while the national promotion of artistic works from throughout Latin Amer­ culture was forgotten. Mosquera noted: "I think this is a silent revolution ica and the Caribbean. Its renowned literary contest, in the 25 times it has been held, has received 10,000 manu­ Playground for rich tourists within the revolution itself, the system of teaching art in Cuba. It's the only case of an underdeveloped country scripts, 200 of whose authors have won awards. U.S. imperialism not only exploited Cuba's natural re­ where any child who wants to dance, play music, or draw sources. It also turned the island into a playground for can get a free, complete education as an artist through 'Amateurs movement' rich tourists and brought its own cultural deformities. scholarships and free schools throughout-the country. Besides these and other cultural institutions, the Cuban Prostitution, gambling casinos, drugs, racism, the degra­ "I think that for the first time in Cuba no Ruben Darfo government has established other forms to broaden the dation of women - this was the predominant culture of could remain in the backwoods wielding a machete," said participation of working people. The revolution created the time. Mosquera, referring to the famous Nicaraguan poet. what is called the "amateurs movement," which in 1980 Mosquera related his own personal experience as an The explosion of culture has been so great in Cuba, consisted of33,000 groups with 250,000 members. example of the new opportunities that opened for Cuban Mosquera explained, that some years ago the government wmking people with the revolution. He was always inter­ The Ministry of Culture recently conducted an experi­ decided to establish a Ministry of Culture, separate from ment to promote art in the factories and other work­ ested in writing arid was a good student, "but because I the Ministry of Education, "to provide more appropriate came from a poor family, I couldn't afford a university places. "It's a project we did last November," Mosquera institutional attention to the wealth of Cuban culture that told us. It involved well-known artists going to the fac­ education. was emerging." "In 1972 there was a change called the revolution in tories and, together with the workers, doing some artistic work related to the materials in that factory . education," Mosquera explained. "One of the advantages Artistic freedom guaranteed brought by this change was that at night all courses in the "For example," Mosquera said, "in a factory that universities were opened to the workers." The free class­ In revolutionary Cuba, Mosquera said, artistic free­ makes printed cloth, artists went there and worked with es enabled Mosquera to graduate with a degree in art his­ dom is guaranteed in the constitution. Every artist enjoys · the designers. In that way they turned out printed cloth tory. complete liberty to use their own methods and themes with designs done by many famous painters. This was Now, besides his literary work consisting of short even when their activity is part of a government cultural one of many experiences whose aim was to have the stories and novels, Mosquera is one of the best-known art program. Artists have the freedom to show and sell their masses enjoy culture more, and for the artists to be able critics in Cuba. He writes, not only for Granma, but also work, and a number of artists make a living from such to project their work in a more immediate social sense. for Bohemia, Casa de las Americas, and other Cuban sales. But the government guarantees every artist em­ It's a movement with a dual purpose. magazines. He also works as an adviser to the Ministry of ployment, so many have another job besides their artistic "The response has been extraordinary. Workers have Culture. production. discovered the aesthetic possibilities of the materials they For working people, Mosquera said, the transforma­ Artists are also provided with complete facilities for use every day, and at the same time they have improved tion of culture brought about by the Cuban revolution displaying their work, Mosquera said. Painters, for ex­ the work environment of the factories. We want to make "has been extraordinary in every sense. In the first place, ample, are allowed to use galleries at no cost, and all the this a regular thing. That time it was done as an experi­ before the revolution, persons who dedicated themselves expenses they would incur personally in a capitalist coun­ ment, organized by the Ministry of Culture. We want this to art or literature were immediately classified as 'miser­ try are covered by the government. to be permanent, so that stable links are created between able bastards.' There were only one or two art galleries, One of the most impressive things about an exhibition the artists and the factories." in the hands of millionaire capitalists. To publish a book, by Cuban painters is the varied racial and social origins of Before the revolution, Mosquera explained, "in Cuba, as an underdeveloped country, the masses were pretty a w~iter had to pay for it himself and distribute the edition the artists. Among the most accomplished artists are among friends. The cultural atmosphere was rather several Afro-Cubans and some others with peasant back­ much removed from art and literature. grim." grounds. "But now, for example, the National Ballet of Cuba · Mosquera explained that "in Cuba we develop any nat­ travels throughout the country. The Symphony Orchestra does too, and this in a country where we ha~e no tradition Everyone can enjoy art ural artistic inclination a child shows. The child comes from the world of a peasant child, the world of a child of so-called classical music. The Orchestra has made After the revolution, Mosquera said, "there was total brought up in a Black environ111ent, or from Afro-Cuban tours of the sugar mills at harvest time. It doesn't matter support for cultural development. Institutions were set traditions. Artists have depicted the countryside many that the acoustics there aren't perfect, the thing is to inter­ up, galleries founded, funds allocated for cultural activ­ times, or Afro-Cuban traditions, but from the outside est the people. Theater groups also do tours. When a mu­ ity, and an educational system created that enabled ~l)Y looking in. Now it is the peasant himself, the Black him­ sical group, a singer, or a show comes to Havana, weal­ child to study who wanted to. self who is painting. It seems to me this can greatly en­ ways try to have them visit the town plazas in the coun­ "Artists are socially esteemed for the first time. In the rich art. Because it brings to art new points of view." try's interior as well . past, a good painter was a marginal individual in society, Cubans often say children are the "privileged class" in "We still have a lot to do. We would like to have gal­ but now any artist has extraordinary social prominence Cuba. But the faci lities provided for the development of leries full of people, Vivaldi concerts full. But what's im­ and is able to broaden his audience and find a place in the adults are also noteworthy. Facilities have been created portant is the transformation we have already made," the social fabric of the country." so every adult who wants to can study; and very fre- Cuban art critic concluded enthusiastically.

August J, '1984 The Militant 17 International Socialist lte\fie~------Au~g~us~t-1~sw~12 Visit to 'new economic zone' in Vietnam BY DIANE WANG lion to about 4 million people in little more than a decade. "At first it' was difficult to get used to living in the Vu Hac Bong, a spokesperson for the Ho Chi Minh countryside," Mai Van Thong said. "But it has its advan­ City administration, described the problem to the Mili­ tages." tant. "The really serious problem is that this had become Thong was describing his impressions of New Spring, a consumers city under the U.S. occupation, with little or the new economic zone where he lives outside Ho Chi no production going on." Most jobs depended on taking Minh City (formerly Saigon) in southern Vietnam. care of the gigantic U.S. occupation apparatus. Thong had a two-room house for his family . On the table;· magazines and math books were scattered; a With the victory in 1975, marked by the renaming of blackboard on the wall was covered with calculations. Saigon as Ho Chi Minh City, economic recovery began, These-, Thong explained, were for his evening but slowly and with difficulty. trigonometry classes in the adult education program. There is still substantial unemployment in Vietnam, Bong told us, the great bulk of it in the south. To solve Soldier in U.S. puppet army the unemployment problem, Vietnam has to ease the In the old days Thong had been a soldier for the U.S. bloated population of Ho Chi Minh City. The new gov­ puppet regime of Nguyen Van Thieu. Thong had been ernment has to persuade people to move out into the worried and had no idea what his future would be when countryside where there is productive work to be done. Thieu's troops were defeated by the National Liberation That's the purpose of the new economic zones. Front (NLF) in 1975. He was sent to a reeducation camp Le Van My and Vo Thi Hoang outside In the United States, propaganda portrays these as vir­ for three years. Spring economic zone. tual concentration camps. That is certainly not true. But At the reeducation camp, Thong said, he spent one Vietnamese officials themselves explain that there were .year in classes. After living under U.S . propaganda for mistakes and problems during the first years when the so long, he learned for the first time about the rest of his 1975. Hoa had been a student at a science university. He new economic zones were organized. country and the world beyond Southeast Asia, why the had not liked the U.S. occupation nor the repressive long war had been fought against French and U.S. oc­ Thieu regime, but he had not been an NLF supporter Many young people were inspired and many un­ cupiers, and what economic problems Vietnam faces. either. employed organized to go out to the zones before there He also worked on housing and bridge construction, were adequate supplies and organizational support. After the liberation Hoa responded to the appeals for People wh'o went to the zones often did not have enough and in agriculture. young people to help rebuild Vietnam. That's how he Thong moved his family to the new economic zone in seed or equipment. Living conditions were primitive. was won to the revolution, and how he ended up at New Many people were demoralized and returned to the city. June 1982. The Ho Chi Minh City municipal government Spring. gave him enough for six months of supplies, equipment Now Vietnam takes great care to do the advance prep­ to get settled, and basic furniture forthe house. Now he Altogether, including the volunteers and some I 00 aration of the new economic zones to assure their success works at the state farm raising sugar cane. His wage is on families, about 465 people live here in what looks like a and reasonable living conditions so that they will attract a par with workers in the city . small frontier town. It is one of seven new economic workers from the cities. Across the canal we visited the _house of another fam­ zones in the countryside outside Ho Chi Minh City. In addition, Bong said, rubber plantations that are ily, this one younger. being developed this year, opening up 150,000 new jobs, LeVan My, the young man, originally had been from Skewed economy left behind will be much closer to the city, so entire families won't an area of the south hit hard during the U.S. war. As a re­ The new economic zones are one of the most ambi­ necessarily have to relocate. Workers can choose to com­ sult, he had moved to Saigon in 1970. The only work he tious efforts to help deal with unemployment and econom­ mute to these plantations, returning home to their could get was doing bike repairs or odd jobs. ic development in southern Vietnam. families in Ho Chi Minh City on weekends. In 1977 he volunteered to join a work brigade, in part The U.S. occupation left Vietnam with a legacy of de­ because he needed work, but also because he wanted to Special role for young people help rebuild the new Vietnam. After working in various struction and underdevelopment, an economy devastated areas, from Tay Ninh Province to Vietnam's neighboring in the countryside and skewed in the cities. New Spring is a particularly successful new economic country, Laos; he married Yo Thi Hoang in 1982 and set­ Chemical spraying of forests and rice paddies, heavy zone. It operates a sugar cane state farm organized into tled here. bombing of the fertile Mekong River delta farmland, vil­ nine work brigades. Of these, seven cultivate cane, one Nguyen Van Hoa, the young director at this new eco­ lage raids like the infamous My Lai massacre, "pacifica­ refines the sugar, and one does handicraft work. nomic zone, told us frankly that he and his friends were tion" programs- all these drove people from the coun­ Most economic projects in Vietnam are financed by unsure what to expect when the liberation forces won in tryside into Saigon, swelling the city from one-half mil- Continued on ISR/8 lew book on Lenin's struggle lor a revolutionary international

Continued from ISR/10 Zimmerwald Left, the debates among its components, A running commentary explains the historical back­ forces were not part of the Zimmerwald Left during the and between. it and other currents that were eventually to ground to the documents that have been selected, so that period covered in this volume. The majority of them, form part of the founding cadres of the Comintern. the documents can tell the story of Lenin's fight for a rev­ however, responded to the revolutionary events in Russia Documents from these years are mainly drawn from olutionary International in a way understandable to read­ in 1917 by, for the first time, charting a course that the debate among revolutionists in Germany and Russia. ers who are not acquainted with the history of this period. turned toward the revolutionary perspectives that Lenin It was in these two countries that the most important at­ In some cases footnotes by the authors of selected and the Bolsheviks had been fighting for throughout the tempts were made during the war to build revolutionary documents have been preserved. Footnotes by the editor, imperialist war, and rallied to the Comintern in 1919. organizations. Emphasis has been given to the writings of giving the source of selected material and some explanat­ Many became members of the Comintern's leadership those who were ultimately to join in launching the new ory notes, are printed at the end of each chapter. A glos­ bodies. · International: the Bolsheviks themselves, who led the sary of individuals, publications, and political currents The collection of documents in this volume ends on the process; the Spartacists in Germany; Leon Trotsky mentioned in this volume is provided. The chronology eve of the Russian revolution of February 1917, which among the left-centrist forces iri Russia; and others. lists important dates related to documents in this collec­ toppled tsarism and opened a European-wide revolution­ The availability of documents in other English-lan­ tion. Existing English-language editions of related mater­ ary upsurge. The establishment of the workers' .and peas­ guage editions has been taken into account in selecting ial are indicated in the bibliography or the footnotes. · ants' republic in October 1917 showed millions of work­ material for this volume. Selections from the. extensive debate on the right of nations to self-determination that * * * ers the way out of the death trap of imperialist war. The This book was made possible by a large number of col­ outbreak of the German revolution in November 1918 took place during this period, for example, have been limited because this material is readily available in sev­ laborators who volunteered their time to collect source brought the war to an abrupt conclusion and led to the material and to translate it into English. formation, the following month, of the Communist Party eral other forms. In the same way, Lenin's Imperialism, of Germany. After the Communist Party of Soviet Rus­ the Highest Stage of Capitalism has not been included We wish in particular to acknowledge the assistance of sia, the new German CP was the second large workers' since it is the most widely republished book of this period Rudolf Segall, Uiko Willms, and the ISP-Verlag pub­ party to rally to the banner of the new International. and is easily available. It is assumed that the present col­ lishing house in Germany; the Socialist Workers Party When the Communist International was founded in lection will be studied together with the corresponding and the Berner Tagwacht of Switzerland; Nat London in March 1919, it received a declaration from participants in volumes of Lenin's Collected Works. France; Aldo Lauria, Ethel Lohman, Alicia Munoz, Art the Zimmerwald movement that "everything in [the Zim­ A Marxist analysis of the evolution of the Second In­ Sharon, and Bob Wilkinson in the United States, who merwald association] that was truly revolutionary is pas­ ternational and the U.S. Socialist Party in this period can shared in the research· work and in obtaining source ma­ sing over to the Communist International." This first con­ be found in Farrell Dobbs's two-volume work, Revolu­ terials; and of Devon Parry. gress of the Com intern formally registered the dissolution tionary Continuity, also published by Monad Press. The team of translators from Russian included Ron of the Zimmerwald movement. Dobbs's two volumes served as a guide in preparing the Allen, Robert Des Verney, Kenneth Eardley, Sonja present collection, and they can be profitably studied to­ Franeta, Joanne Holowchak, Jeff Jones, Steve Mitianin, * * * gether with it. and Marilyn Vogt. The documents in this book present a representative * * * Those sharing in the translation from German included selection of the debates and discussion through which the New translations have been made of all the documents Robert A. Cantrick, Robert Dees, Alex A. Koskinas, Bolsheviks began the process that culminated in the in this collection, with the exception of the writings of Ivan Licho, Peter Thierjung, Michael Tresidder, Duane founding of the Comintern. Documents from the years Lenin, where the standard translations in the most recent Stilwell, Duncan Williams, and other collaborators in before 1914 focus on the Stuttgart congress and the Ger­ edition of the Collected Works have been reproduced Canada, Switzerland, and the United States. man party, where the conflicting positions in the Second without change. Occasional informational material by Will Reissner and Susan Wald helped translate from International were most clearly expressed. After August the editor has been inserted in square brackets in the French, Ernest Harsch from Polish, and Mehdi Assar 1914, its focus shifts to the forces that were to form the documents. from Farsi.

18 The Militant August 3, 1984 ·-YSA.CAMPAIGNS FOR SOCIALISM------

BY RICH STUART wages - which will be even olutionary struggles in Central The decision of the Young lower if Congress passes the sub­ America is by joining the YSA Socialist Alliance to focus its ac­ minimum wage bill; racist and and helping to make a revolution tivity on building the Socialist sexist attacks on oppressed right here in the headquarters of Workers Party 1984 presidential minorities and women; and the world imperialism. · election campaign has enhanced prospect of again being used as The revolutionary ideas of the the ability of the YSA to attract cannon fodder for Washington's YSA are best received by young young fighters to its ranks. wars, this time in Central America Blacks and Latinos. Derek Bracey This was the assessment made and the Caribbean. and Francisco Picado from the Los by leaders of the YSA from across The day before the meeting, the Angeles chapter reported on their t~e country who met in New York Supreme Court upheld the Sol­ chapter's study of the writings of City on July 7 and 8. omon Amendment, which denies Black revolutionary leader Mal- YSA National Committee financial aid for education to stu­ . colm X, who advocated the inde­ members and chapter organizers dents who refuse to register for the pendent organization of the op­ discussed the experiences of the draft. pressed against their oppressors. YSA in getting out the word on the Gail Skidmore told the meeting Bracey and Picado said that socialist campaign of Mel Mason that Chicago YSA members found using the example of Malcolm X's for president and Andrea Gonzalez support among many Blacks for anticapitalist ideas has been effec­ for vice-president. the uncompromising anti-im­ tive in discussions around the One of the main ideas the YSA perialist stance of Cuban Pres. 1984 elections and the liberal pro-­ YSA National Committee members Pat Silverthorn and Laura discusses with the young workers, Fidel Castro and the Cuban capitalist candidacy of Jesse. Jack­ Garza. farmers, and students it talks to is people. And there is a special son. its conviction that fundamental so­ identification with the Sandinista Many young Blacks see the published by Pathfinder Press. over capitalism is a central theme cial, economic, and political revolution in Nicaragua as well . need for Black political power, but Winfield pointed out that for of the YSA's activities in 1984. change will not come about This identification with the San­ lack a perspective for how to gain four years the Grenada revolution The YSA leadership decided to through elections, but through dinistas is strongest among young it. Malcolm X's ideas are a power­ showed in life the meaning of pull out all the stops between now massive struggles against the em­ people who have visited revolu­ ful weapon YSA members use to Black political power as the work­ and tlle November elections to ployers and their government by tionary Nicaragua. Several YSA explain such a perspective. They ers and farmers formed their own continue the progress made in the working class and its allies. m~mbers have participated in in­ contrast these ideas to the dead government and began to organize building the YSA this year. YSA leader Pat Silverthorn ternational work brigades or­ end represented by the Jackson an antiracist, proworker, pro­ They were confident that the from Miami had participated in the ganized as acts of solidarity with campaign. farmer, prowoman society. YSAwill come out of 1984 having won more new members, and recent national conference of the the Nicaraguan people in the face YSA leader James Winfield The Nicaraguan people, Jed by National Organization for Women of the U .S.-organized invasion. from Cleveland noted that another more supporters of the Cuban, the Sandinistas, are organizing Nicaraguan, and Salvadoran revo­ (NOW). Silverthorn said that ex­ The YSA leaders decided to put tool for SWP campaign supporters their country along similar Jines, lutions who want to make a revo­ plaining why elections will not a priority on participatipg in ral­ has been the example, especially despite the aggression by U.S.-or­ lution in the United States as well. solve the problem of escalating lies, picket lines, and other dem­ for Blacks, of the Grenada revolu­ ganized supporters of the former government attacks on women's onstrations opposing the U.S. war tion and its central leader, former regime. of dictator Anastasio To find out more about the YSA rights was a big aspect of the dis­ in Central America and the Carib­ Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. Somoza. and the Socialist Workers Party cussions that YSA members had bean. The YSA has joined with the National Committee member 1984 presidential campaign, with the participants at the NOW A YSA leader from New York SWP in an international campaign Laura Garza, who is currently "on a write to Young Socialist Al­ conference. said that while building these ac­ to discuss the lessons of Grenada. national speaking tour about the liance, 14 Charles Ln., New The receptivity to the YSA's tivities, YSA members can ex­ The focus of this effort has been elections and the U.S. war in Cen­ York, N.Y. 10014. Subscrip­ socialist ideas is directly related to plain to other antiwar activists that the distribution of Maurice Bishop tral America, stated that educating tions to the Young Socialist, the the situation working-class youth one of the best ways young fight­ Speaks, a collection of speeches young people in the United States YSA's bimonthly newspaper, face in 1984: jobs (if any) at low ers in this country can aid the rev- by the slain revolutionary leader on the .superiority of socialism are $3 for one year. Mason brings Az. strikers solidarity from Britain

BY KAREN KOPPERUD other strikers at the Clifton Social Club and ner, had arrived safely and that the warm next morning for a brunch with <;ampaign CLIFTON-MORENCI, Ariz. Socialist on the afternoon picket line. He presented message of solidarity on the back of the supporters. Some 30 people gathered to Workers Party presidential candidat~ Mel the women's auxiliary with a miniature picture'had been read at a recent Women's meet Mason and discuss his campaign Mason recently returned to Clifton, miner's lantern, a symbol of international Auxiliary meeting. travels. Arizona, where he had begun his campaign solidarity from the Aylesham women's.ac­ Later Mason was able to tell Angel Rod­ Present were young Black supporters of last February. tion group in Kent to their sisters in riguez, president of United Steelworkers the Grenada revolution; unionists from the Mason made a special, unscheduled trip Arizona. Local 616, the story of the £5 note Mason Arizona Farmworkers, United Auto Work­ to Clifton on July 14 to bring gifts and mes­ One woman said , "Wouldn't it be great had mailed to the striking unions' Unity ers, and United Steelworkers; Chicano and sages of solidarity to striking copper min­ if they could come here'and be on our pick­ Council. Bill Kelly, a British coal miner, Black community activists; and feminists. ers and the Miners W oinen' s Auxiliary et line, or if we could go there!" Mason had given it to Mason after a meeting in For several people, this was their first from striking British coal miners and their told them that the coal miners had said they Manchester, saying he didn't have much socialist campaign event. Channel 5 TV women's action groups . would carry signs in support of the copper money but he wanted Mason to send it to covered the brunch. Mason had recently toured Ireland and strikers on their picket line. the copper strikers as a gesture of interna­ After lively discussions people reluc­ the coal mining areas of Wales and Eng­ Mason was assured that another gift, a tional solidarity. Rodriguez said they tantly said good-bye to Mason as he left to land, expressing his campaign's solidarity photograph of members of a Kent women's would frame the bill. fly home to prepare for his dep;uture for with the miners strike. action group standing in front of their ban- Mason returned to Phoenix early the Nicaragua the next day. Clifton and Morenci, along with Ajo, Douglas, and Bisbee, Arizona, and El Paso, Texas, are the scenes of the 13-month strike by 13 unions against Phelps Dodge Mau~ice Bishop's mother speaks in N.Y. Corp. Phelps Dodge has continued .to oper­ ate with scab labor. The bosses' union­ BY NAN BAILEY son as a "true revolutionary." and seeks to educate about the accomplish­ busting has been assisted by Democratic NEW YORK CITY - Two hundred "He loved Grenada and was about the ments of the People's Revolutionary Gov­ Gov. Bruce Babbitt, who has sent in hun­ Blacks packed the House of the Lord business of doing whatever was necessary ernment led by Bishop. dreds of cops and, on two occasions, the Church in Brooklyn for a meeting hosted to promote the welfare of Grenada. The second development she pointed to National Guard. by the New York National Black United Maurice Bishop did not li ve long, but what is the Maurice Bishop Patriotic Movement, When Mason and a team of campaign Front (NBUF) on July 15. he did will live forever," Daughtry said. a new political party headed by "two of the supporters that included Sylvia Zapata, The meeting was a memorial service in "Attempts have been made to distort and outstanding leaders of the Grenada revolu­ SWP congressional candidate from Los honor of former Prime Minister of Grenada destroy what Maurice stood' for," Ali menta tion: Kendrick Radix and George Angeles, artived in town, they went Maurice Bishop and a commemoration of Bishop told the audience. "But Grenadians Louison." straight to the picket line at Phelps Dodge's the sixth anniversary of the founding of the will not forget what four and a half years of "In four days the Sandinistas of Nicara­ main gate. New York NBUF. Guest of honor at the the Grenada revolution brought them," she Picketers greeted Mason warmly. Many gua will be celebrating five years of their meeting was Alimenta Bishop, mother of said. "Despite the painful and tragic cir­ revolution," said Williams. "I ask you to were familiar with his campaign from read­ the slain Grenadian revolutionary. cumstances under which he died, I am ex­ ing the Militant and from his previous visit support tl;teir right to sovereignty and let us Adeyemi Bandele, international affairs tremely proud to be the mother of Maurice pray, Jet us work that they will be more vic­ in February. They listened intently as he chairperson of NBUF, chaired the meet­ Bishop." recounted the strong identification the Brit­ torious than we Grenadians have been in ing. He described the evening's theme as Dessima Williams denounced the Oc­ this immediate period." ish coal miners felt with them. "They feel "Grenada: the spirit still lives." tober 1983 U.S. invasion of her homeland The NBUF bookstore table prominantly tl:!at you are both right up against it, against Other speakers at the meeting included as well as the "militarist, ultraleft, and displayed Maurice Bishop Speaks, a book the government, in a life or death struggle New York State Assemblyman · Roger criminal behavior of the Bernard Coard of Bishop's speeches published by Path­ for your unions," he said. Green; Safiya Bandele, director of Medgar clique." Coard led the counterrevolution­ finder Press. Several copies were sold at Mason pointed out the crucial role that Evers College Center of Women's De­ ary coup that overthrew Grenada's · the meeting, as were promotional posters. women are playing in sustaining both velopment; Rev. Herbert Daughtry, na­ People's Revolutionary Government, mur­ strikes. tional NBUF chairman; and former Grena­ dered Bishop and other government lead­ Strikers were especially impressed by dian ambassador to the Organization of ers; and set the stage for the U.S. invasion. Mason's description of the solidarity ac­ Subscribe to the American States, Dessima Williams. Williams described two "movements" Young Socialist tions by other British unions, like the rail "Maurice Bishop was on the right side of which are seeking to lead the people of Bimonthly revolutionary youth pa­ workers and longshoremen, in support of history," assemblyman Green told the au­ Grenada forward after the setback of Oc­ per covers the fight against Washing­ the miners. Several people repeated , dience. "He was establishing a new begin­ tober 1983. "That's what we need!" ning for Grenada. This meant not just polit­ "One is the Maurice Bishop and October ton's wars an<:! racism. They were interested in his report on the ical democracy, but economic democracy, 19, 1983, Martyrs Foundation, which is a $1 for half-year attitude of the coal miners toward Britain's too. This is the kind of system Maurice broad, progressive social movement," she $3 for one year union-based Labor Party. tried to institute'." said. Williams explained that the New 14 Charles Lane Mason also met with members of the In warmly welcoming Ali menta Bishop York- based Grenada Foundation, which New York, New York 10014 Morenci Miners Women's Auxiliary and to the United States, Daughtry praised her she heads, is affiliated with this foundation

August 3, 1984 The Militant 19 -THEGREATSOC~TY------~------Wear your life belt - A letter They earned it - The Interna­ lost an odd $30 to $40 million due ports TV viewers are increasingly partners," contributions to the from the Royal Viking Line offers tional Monetary Fund celebrated to unauthorized activity by a using their remote control cause of evangelist Oral Roberts a "fascinating and luxurious" the 40th anniversary of its found­ brother-in-law. But, Green as­ switches to "zap" commercials. have dropped heavily. The opera­ Mediterranean cruise on which ing with a get-together at its sures, this will not impair his abil­ The cost of TV time keeps climb­ tion is now suffering a $1 million founding site in Bretton Woods, ity to run for reelection. The as­ ing, he complained, and add in monthly deficit and employees of New Hampshire. There was serted loss, he assures, was "sig­ "the increasing loss of viewers at Oral Roberts University and re­ music, dancing, swimming, golf nificant but not overwhelming." the commercial break· and you lated institutions are getting the and, to top it off, a 1944 musical begin to wonder at what point tele­ ax . Moreover, according to the with Ronald Reagan. Eat and grow rich- We don't vision is no longer worth the operation's PR person, other simi­ know what a box of Cracker Jacks price." lar bible-thumping operations are Eau de Skunk - There's a Harry goes for these days, but you might suffering a similar loss of take. new toilet water on the market - try Diamond Jacks, the new car­ Just like Social Security - Situation normal ... -U.S . "Wall Street -The Fragrance of mel-glazed popcorn with pecans When Carl Albert retired as Ring military advisers in El Salvador Power." and almonds. In one box out of Speaker of the House of Represen­ concede they sometimes train every 2 ,000 there's a coupon re­ tatives in 1976, he was knocking you can meet a world famous That's a relief - Rep. Bill rebel soldiers in basic and ad­ deemable for a $1 ,000 diamond. down $65,000 a year. Today, he ' s opera star, "Or, if you prefer, how Green (R-N.Y.) is under official vanced counterinsurgency tech­ $12.95 a box. drawing a government pension of would you like to talk - face to scrutiny what with some fast niques. When rebel partisans are $87,864. face- with the man who recently juggling of family funds on the Decline of civilization - The forcibly recruited into the govern­ headed America's Central Intelli­ eve of a bankruptcy proceeding. general manager for "strategic Loss of oral gratification? - ment army they stick around long gence Agency (CIA)?'' Actually, Green insists, the family planning" at General Foods re- Despite special appeals to "prayer . enough to pick up some training.

--CALENDAR------~~ FLORIDA Party chairperson; Kibwe Diarra, Detroit NBIPP. Sun ., July 29 , 7 p.m. NW Activities Miami Center, 18100 Meyers, room 224. Donation $2 . The Truth About Cuba. Translation to Ausp: NBIPP. For more information call (313) Celebrate Spanish and Creole. Sat., July 28, 8 p.m. 663 892-2428 . Martin Luther King Blvd. Ausp: Militant Labor 'Maurice Bishop Speaks' Forum. For further information call (305) 756- NEW JERSEY 1020. Newark MINNESOTA 28 , 2-4 p.m. 397 Madison Ave . Ausp: PJ1th­ KENTUCKY Mass and Activity in Memory of the July 30, finder Press. For more information call (418) 1975, Massacre in El Salvador. Film: Camino Minneapolis 449-2942. Louisville de Ia Libertad (Road to Liberty); Speakers from U.S. Out of Grenada! Celebrate the Publi­ Why Working People Should Oppose the Casa El Salvador-Farabundo Marti and other cation of Maurice Bishop Speaks. Speak­ Anti-Immigration Simpson-Mazzoli Bill. organizations. Sun., July 29; Mass, 10 a.m; ac­ ers: Mohammed Oliver, Militant staff writer Speakers: Peggy Kreiner, Socialist Workers tivity, II a.m. St. Augustine's Church, 170 recently returned from Grenada; representa­ PENNSYLVANIA candidate for Congress in 3rd C. D.; Myra Gon­ Sussex Ave . Ausp: Comite Pro-refugiados Sal­ tive, National £lack Independent Political zalez, student at Spencerian College. Sat., July vadorefios-Mons. Oscar Arnulfo Romero. For Party; others. Translation to Spanish. Sat., Pittsburgh 28, 7:30p.m. 809 E Broadway (near Shelby). more information call (20 I) 242-1652. July 28, 3:30 p.m., wine and cheese recep­ Meeting . to Celebrate Maurice Bishop Donation: $2 . Ausp: Militant Forum. For more tion; 4 p.m., program. Ruth Hawkins Com­ Speaks. Speakers: Charles Kindle, member information call (502) 587-8418. WEST VIRGINIA . munity Center, 1801 James Ave . N. Dona­ Pittsburgh NAACP; August Nimtz; Molly Morgantown . tion requested. For more information call Rush , Thomas Merton Center; Jeffrey MICHIGAN (612) 644-6325 . Richardson, reporter for Pittsburgh Courier; British Coal Strike: An Eyewitness Report. Beth Boerger, Central America Mobilization Detroit Speakers: Dave Ferguson and Kathy Mickells, Coalition. Sat. , July 28 , 4 p.m. Homewood­ Black Political Perspectives in '84 Elections. members of the United Mine Workers of Amer­ NEW YORK Brushton YWCA, 7340 Bennett. Ausp: Path­ A panel discussion. Speakers: Mildred Kyle, ica just returned from tour of Britain's mining Albany finder Press, Thomas Merton Center, Central Jesse Jackson delegate to Democratic Party con­ regions. Sat., July 28 , 8 p.m. 957 University Book Reception to Celebrate the Publica­ America Mobilization Coalition. For more vention; Selwyn Rogers, member United Auto Ave. Donation: $2 .. Ausp: Militant Labor tion of Maurice Bishop Speaks. Sat., July information call (412) 362-6767. Workers Local 262; Anderson Thompson, Forum. For more information call (304) 296- Chicago National Black Independent Political 0055. Talks break down between British miners, gov't

Continued· from back page mal working." The article noted that there in the failure of stock exchange prices to ers wives action groups and women's sup­ paper for bankers and industrialists; also were now fewer miners working in the recover following the end of the two-week port groups from around the country held took stock of the situation in a series of ar­ North Derbyshire area than before the gov­ national dock strike. At the beginning of their first national conference at Bamsley ticles after the breakdown of negotiations. ernment-inspired breakdown of the negoti­ the strike, share prices recorded their sec­ in the heart of the Yorkshire coalfields. "The government's main objective in the ations between the NUM and the NCB. ond largest fall iri history. The conference was organized in collab­ next six weeks will be to hasten the drift "If by the end of August," the Financial oration with the NUM, with a leading role back to work. . . . [I]t believes that this can The dockers forced the government and Times concluded, "the drift back to work the employers to retreat from their attacks being played by Ann Scargill, wife of start to happen in earnest once the summer tactic is not succeeding, it is freely ac­ NUM Pres. Arthur Scargill, and Betty pit shutdown period is over and miners on the National Dock Labor Scheme, knowledged in Whitehall [government of­ Heathfield, wife of NUM General Secre­ realize . . . that there is now no hope of an which guarantees job security to registered fices] that the government will have to do port workers. The dispute was sparked by tary Peter Heathfield. early negotiated settlement," said the something, whether that be using the civil the use of scab labor to move iron ore that paper. It was decided to organize a national law to prosecute secondary picketing [sol­ registered dockers had refused to load in But it also pointed to problems with this demonstration in London on August 11 . idarity actions] and hence possibly seizing solidarity with the miners. strategy, noting, "Just how slow that drift This follows a 10,000-strong march predo­ union funds or attempting to move the has been so far can be seen from the na­ An editorial in the Financial Times com­ minantly of miners wives in Barns ley, on pithead coal stocks. Under the 1920 or tional figures on former strikers returning mented: "The end of the dockers' strike is a May 12. Since then miners wives action 1964 Emergency Powers Act, troops could to work . . . the last two weeks. Over that welcome relief to the Thatcher govern­ be used to move coal if contractors and · groups have been established at virtually period - 10 working days - 222 men railwaymen refused:" ment, but it does not alter in any funda­ every mine in Britain. The NUM executive took the decision to return." The article mental way the balance of forces in the has made an office available at its head­ continued, "At that rate, it would take two The capitalist class' lack of confidence mining dispute." quarters in Sheffield to act as a coordinat­ years to get North Derbyshire back to nor- in a victory over the miners was reflected On July 22, women representing 60 min- ing center. -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP------Where to find the Socialist Workers Party, ILLINOIS: Chicago: SWP, YSA, 3455 S MISSOURI: Kansas City: SWP, YSA, Box 261, Annex Station. Zip: 02901. Young Socialist Alliance, and socialist books Michigan Ave. Zip: 60616. Tel: (312) 326- 4715A Troost. Zip: 64110. Tel: (816) 753- TEXAS: Austin: YSA, c/o Mike Rose, 7409 and pamphlets 5853 or 326-5453. 0404. St. Louis: SWP, YSA, 3109 S. Grand, Berkman Dr. Zip: 78752. Tel. (512) 452-3923. ALABAMA: Birmingham: SWP, YSA, INDIANA: Bloomington: YSA, Activities #22. Zip: 63118. Tel: (314) 772-4410. Dallas: . SWP, YSA, 2817 Live Oak. Zip: 205 18th St. S. Zip: 35233. Tel: (205) 323- Desk, Indiana Memorial Union. Zip: 47405 . NEW JERSEY: Newark: SWP, YSA, 141 75204. Tel: (214) 826-4711. Houston: SWP, 3079. Indianapolis: SWP, YSA, 4850 N. College. Halsey. Zip: 07102. Tel: (201) 643-3341. YSA, 4806 Almeda. Zip: 77004. Tel: (713) ARIZONA: Phoenix: SWP, YSA, 17 E. Zip: 46205 . Tel: (317) 283-6149. NEW YORK: Capital District (Albany): 522-8054. Southern Ave. (Central and Southern). Zip: IOWA: Des Moines: YSA, P.O. Box 1165. SWP, YSA, 352 Central Ave. 2nd fl90r. Zip: 85040. Tel: (602) 268-3369. Zip: 50311. . 12206. Tel: (518) 434-3247. New York: SWP, UTAH: Price: SWP, YSA, 23 S. Carbon CALIFORNIA: Bay Area District: 3808 KENTUCKY: Louisville: SWP, YSA, 809 YSA, 79 Leonard. Zip: 10013. Tel: (212) 226- Ave., Suite 19, P.O. Box 758 . Zip: 84501. Tel: (801) 637-6294. Salt Lake City: SWP, YSA, E 14th St., Oakland. Zip: 94601. Tel: (415) E. Broadway. Zip: 40204. Tel: (502) 587-8418. 8445 or 925-1668. 767 S. State. Zip:84111. Tel: (801) 355-1124. 534-1242. Los Angeles: SWP, YSA, 2546 LOUISIANA: New Orlean~: SWP, YSA , NORTH CAROLINA: Piedmont: SWP, VIRGINIA: Tidewater Area (Newport W. Pico Blvd. Zip: 90006. Tel: (213) 380- 3207 Dublin St. Zip: 70118. Tel: (504) 486- YSA, 301 S. Elm St., Suite 522. Greensboro. 9460. Oakland: SWP, YSA, 3808 E 14th St. 8048. Zip: 27401. Tel: (919) 272-5996. News): SWP, YSA, 5412 Jefferson Ave., Zip Zip: 94601. Tel: (415) 261-3014. San Diego: MARYLAND: Baltimore: SWP, YSA, OHIO: Cincinnati: SWP, YSA, 4945 Pad­ 23605. Tel: (804) 380-0133. WASHINGTON, D.C.: SWP, YSA, 3106 SWP, YSA, 1053 15th St. Zip: 92101. Tel: 2913 Greenmount Ave. Zip: 21218. Tel: (301) dock Rd . Zip: 45237 . Tel: (513) 242-7161. (619) 234-4630. San Francisco: SWP, YSA, 235-0013. Baltimore-Washington District: Cleveland: SWP, YSA, 15105 St. Clair Ave. Mt. Pleasant St. NW. Zip: 20010. Tel: (202) 797-7699. Baltimore-Washington District: 3284 23rd St. Zip: 94110. Tel: (415) 282-6255. 2913 Greenmount Ave. Zip: 21218 . Tel: (301) Zip: 44110. Tel: (216) 451-6150. Toledo: 2913 Greenmount Ave ., Baltimore, Md. Zip: San Jose: SWP, YSA, 46 112 Race St. Zip: 235-0013. SWP, YSA, 2120 Dorr St. Zip: 43607. Tel: 95126. Tel: (408) 998-4007. Seaside: SWP, MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: SWP, YSA, (419) 536-0383. . 21218. Tel: (301) 235-0013. WASHINGTON: Seattle: SWP, YSA, JSA, 1184 Broadway. Zip: 93955. Tel: (408) 510 Commonwealth Ave., 4th Floor. Zip: OREGON: Portland: SWP, YSA, 2732 NE 394-1855. 02215. Tel: (617) 262-4621. Union. Zip: 97212. Tel: (503) 287-7416. 5517 Rainier Ave. South. Zip: 98118. Tel: COLORADO: Denver: SWP, YSA, 126 MICIDGAN: Detroit: SWP, YSA, 7146 PENNSYLVANIA: Edinboro: YSA, Edin­ (206) 723-5330. W. 12th Ave. Zip: 80204. Tel: (303) 534-8954. W. McNichols. Zip: 48221. Tel: (313) 862- boro State College. Zip: 16444. Tel: (814) 734- WEST VIRGINIA: Charleston: SWP, FLORIDA: Miami: SWP, YSA, 663 Martin 7755 . . 4415 . Philadelphia: SWP, YSA, 2744 Ger­ YSA, 1584 A Washington St. East. Zip: 2.5311. Luther King Blvd. (NW 62nd St.) Zip: 33150. MINNESOTA: Mesabi Iron Range: SWP, mantown Ave. Zip: 19133. Tel: (215) 225- Tel: (304) 345-3040. Morgantown: SWP, Tel: (305) 756-1020. Tallahassee: YSA, P.O. YSA, 112 Chestnut St., Virginia, Minn. 55792. 0213. Pittsburgh: SWP, YSA, 141 S. High­ YSA, 957 S. University Ave. Zip: 26505. Tel: Box 20715. Zip: 32316. Send mail to P.O. Box 1287. Zip: 55792. Tel:· land Ave. Zip: 15206. Tel: (412) 362-6767. (304) 296-0055. GEORGIA: Atlanta: SWP, YSA, 504 Flat (218) 749-6327. Twin Cities: SWP, YSA, 508 State College; YSA, P.O. Box 464, Bel­ WISCONSIN: Milwaukee: SWP, YSA, Shoals Ave. SE. Zip: 30316. Tel: (404) 577- N. Snelling Ave., St. Paul. Zip: 55104. Tel: lefonte. Zip: 16823. Tel: (814)238-3296. 4707 W. Lisbon Ave . Zip: 53208. Tel: (414) 4065. (612) 644-6325 . . RHODE ISLAND: Providence: YSA, P.O. 445-2076.

20 The·Militant August 3, 1984 -NATIONAL PICKET LINE------~-~-~--

When the contract expired, the ers to fight for a shorter work­ Poultry workers company demanded that workers week. As metalworkers' union battle for union assume half the payments of med­ leader Hans Mayr said, "We've ical coverage. They insisted that forced open a door, and others will in Virginia the union dismantle its grievance · go through it." procedure and get rid of a full time The metalworkers also won an BY FRITZ EDLER shop steward. immediate 3.3 percent raise and DAYTON, Va.- Members of A leaflet issued by the strikers 2.2 percent in April, as well as a Local400 of the United Food and describes the company's efforts one-time $90 payment upon re- Commercial Workers (UFCW) are "to hobble and destroy our union turning to work. · in the eighth week of a strike that would rob of us of our dignity against Marva! Poultry here in the and the only protection we have Shenandoah Valley. against a management concerned This region does a $250 million with profits, not people." Unions investigate a year business in the turkey pro­ The union has organized 24- cop attack on cessing industry, most of it at hour pickets, published a daily Marva!, which is the world's strike bulletin, and organized a copper strikers largest turkey processing plant. radio and leaflet campaign to win Half of the plants in the region support for the strike. BY KAREN KOPPERUD are nonunion, and . major union­ UFCW Local 400 has called for AND ANDY ENGLISH busters like Perdue are moving a boycott of Marva! Products sold CLIFfON-MORENCI, Ariz. into the valley. A defeat for the under the names of Marva!, Wish - The Clifton-Morenci Labor union at Marva! would open up the Bone, Kroger, Table Rite, Manor Unity Council, representing the whole region to the union-busting House, Safe way, and Richfood unions on strike against Phelps drive. brand turkey products bearing the Dodge Corp. , has launched an in­ Four years ago Marva! was USDA Inspection code #P-18. vestigation into the June 30 attack bought by a food conglomerate, by Arizona Department of Public Rocco enterprises. The new man­ Safety (DPS) officers on a peace­ agement began an aggressive anti­ W. German ful picket of striking copper min­ union campaign. ers and their supporters in Clifton. The owners reduced the work workers Twenty-three ·people were ar­ force from 1,000 to 800, while rested in an unprovoked attack by maintaining the already brutaliz­ settle strike for some 150 DPS riot police. The as­ ing speed of the line. Up to 60,000 shorter workweek sault came at the end of a day of live turkeys a day are hung on dis­ activity called by unionists and AFL-CIO NEWS assembly lines. Workers have to West German metalworkers their supporters to commemorate Dallas-Ft. Worth area unionists join striking Continental Airlines hang up to 60 live birds a minute. ended their seven-week strike - the first anniversary of the strike. employ~s to protest carrier's use of scab labor. Th~y get cut, scratched, bruised, the longest and hardest-fought job by 13 unions of copper miners in and soiled. There are frequent action in West Germany's post­ Arizona and Texas against Phelps cases of carpal tunnel syndrome, a World War II history - on June Dodge. unions. After one year of the strike Association (ALPA) held a rally at painful nerve disease. 27. The Unity Council is urging all union members still on strike can­ the Dallas-Fort Worth airport on Efficiency experts claimed the The strike, which shut down witnesses and all those affected by not vote in these elections. No July 1 to show solidarity with the company was losing $17,402 an­ West Germany's auto plants, the tear gas and wooden bullets date has been set by the National pilots who have been on strike nually to "bathroom abusers." began May 14 as the 2.5 million used by the riot police to report Labor Relations Board for a decer­ against Continental Airlines since Now workers are often refused member IG Metall union pressed their experiences to the legal staff tification vote. Oct. 1, 1983. permission to leave the line to use its demand for a 35-hour work­ that is now accumulating Scabs have announced that they In September 1983 Continental the bathroom - causing discom­ week with no cut in pay as a means documentation. plan to have a rally August 20, cel­ filed for "reorganization" under fort, health problems, and of reducing unemployment. I.G. Robert Petris, Unitt;d Steel­ ebrating the day a year ago when Chapter l l of the U.S. bankruptcy humiliating incidents. Metall members are concentrated workers of America District 38 di­ the National Guard and 850 heav­ code. Citing "burdensome" labor The company allows no excuses in the steel, auto, and engineering rector, has pledged the support of ily armed DPS officers, with costs, the company threw out its for absenteeism. One worker was industries and have been hard hit the Steelworkers to this effort. helicopters, SWAT teams, and ar­ negotiated contract, laid off fired for being on National Guard by unemployment. . The Miners' Women's Auxilia­ mored personnel carriers escorted 12,000 employees, and hired are­ duty. By the time the strike ended ry is circulating a petition directed them through picket lines to duced work force at half the previ­ Marva! refuses to aj;;knowledge some 450,000 workers were on to Gov. Bruce Babbitt protesting reopen the Morenci operation. A ous wages. job-related injuries in order to strike, locked out, or laid off. the conduct of the DPS. Fina spontaneous mobilization of strik­ More than 200 members of a avoid costly worker's compensa­ Under the terms of the agree­ Roman, spokeswoman for the ers had shut it down I 0 days be­ dozen local unions came together tion. One woman was forced to ment, in April 1985 the average auxiliary, reported that she inter­ fore. at the rally to show solidarity with work for six weeks before a check­ workweek of the West German viewed 15 elderly people, all over the Continental strikers. up proved her injured arm was metalworker will drop to 38.5 60, who live in· the area near the Capt. Carl Maas told the rally broken. hours with no cut in pay. Although police attack and who were Solidarity rally that workers had to stand up Many women work at Marva!, the 35-hour goal was not reached, overcome by the tear gas as they sat against "an international employ­ large numbers of whom are single the union forced the employers to in their houses or yards. for strikers ers' attack against all working heads of families. They can barely back down on their contention that ·Also, foremen at the Phelps at Continental people and their unions." He make ends meet on the meager the 40-hour week was carved in Dodge operation are reportedly pointed to the struggle of metal­ $5. 7 6 an hour that is the average stone. circulating petitions to initiate de­ BY JOHN DANIEL workers in West Germany and the wage. This will encourage other work- certification for each of the 13 DALLAS ~ The Airline Pilots' British coal miners strike. · Racist, sexist hypocrites steal Williams' crown

It doesn't matter that Suzette Charles is Black too. I'm capitalist media strongly imply that Williams succumbed When Marks told reporters that "The pageant has been still mad. So are millions of other people - especially to this supposedly innate "moral turpitude." built on traditional American values," he spoke of the Blacks and women . Albert Marks, executive director of the pageant, would sexist standard by which women are chained to a pedestal Vanessa Williams, crowned "Miss America" last Sep­ have us believe that Williams is the first "Miss America" of pristine purity, or cast down and denounced as tember, relinquished her title July 23. Williams, the first to have posed nude for a photographer. Can that be be­ "tramps" if they resist. Black to win this competition, was forced to resign by lieved? This sexist society teaches women to aspire to be Penthouse magazine specializes in sexual exploitation. Miss America Pageant officials after they learned that she models and beauty queens. In order to be successful in It's a pornographic sleaze bucket that portrays women as these careers, ·women are supposed to submit to sexual nothing more than degraded objects of sexual pleasure exploitation. for men. And the magazine's owners make a lot of No, Williams wasn't singled out because she posed money doing it. In the first five months of this year. nude, but because she's Black. Penthouse received $8.4 million in ad revenues. BY ANY MEANS "For six decades," said Marks, the pageant "has cele­ According to Robert Guccione, the magazine's pub­ brated the beauty and vitality of young American wom­ lisher, Penthouse makes more than $20 million from its NECESSARY anhood in a fashion that has created wholesome 'role circulation, which stands at 3.4 million. The decision to models for girls and young women throughout the coun­ run the 10-page spread of nude pictures of Williams has Mohammed Oliver try." already boosted the magazine's sales. "It's not a nice Pageant officials think the first Black woman to win thing to do," said a spokesman for one of Penthouse's ad­ the "Miss America" title can't match those standards. vertisers, "but it was a good business decision on Bob had posed for nude pictures before receiving her title. Their decision is a racist smear of all Black women and Guccione's part." The photographs appear in the September issue of Pent­ another episode in their six-decades long history of sex­ The "Miss America" pageant is a big money-making house magazine. ual exploitation. affair too. This year's pageant is sponsored by the owners Charles was first runner-up in last year's pageant. She Marks told reporters that "The ·pageant celebrates the of the Gillette, Pillsbury, Beatrice Foods, and American now holds the title of "Miss America." whole woman, and its spirit is intrinsically inconsistent Greetings companies. These employers are guaranteed at Pageant officials voted unanimously July 20 to de­ with calculated sexual exploitation." least half of the new "Miss America's" 200 appearances mand that Williams resign. They gave her 72 hours to do Is this a case of the pot calling the kettle black, or during her reign. Women are not only exploited as sex so voluntarily. Their decision was unprecedented, and it what? The Miss America Pageant is one giant orgy of objects in the pageant competition, but afterwards as reeked of racism, sexism, and hypocrisy. "calculated sexual exploitation." Thousands of women commodities rented out by the hour to make profits for _ Benjamin Hooks, executive director of the National are placed in competition with one another and examined the capitalist class. Association for the Advancement of Colored People, by a pack of sexist judges looking for that "perfect" body, Williams, it seems, will make no money from Penth­ criticized the pageant officials' decision to force Wil­ and "womanly" talent needed to represent"Miss Ameri­ ouse's sales. She posed for the photographs as a personal liams' resignation: "The lifting of her crown not only ca." favor for her employer at the time, Tom Chiapel, but only penalizes the young woman for a bad past error in judg­ The "wholesome" image of women that the pageant after he promised never to make prints. "I think it is a ment," said Hooks, "but by inference will be used tore­ projects is that of a sex object. With the rise of feminism violation of my rights," said Williams. "I never made any flect upon her race." . in the late '60s and early '70s, women's liberation activ­ agreement with him or Penthouse." Racists have always portrayed Black women as insati­ ists protested the pageant's sexual exploitation of The racist and sexist smear campaign against Williams able "sexpots." In their coverage of this affair, all the women: should be denounced by all .

August 3, 1984 The Militant 21 - -EDITORIALS---___;_,...------July 26, 1979: how Five years of freedom in Nicaragua Cuba greeted

"A totalitarian dungeon." nied millions of United States citizens the right to vote Nicaragua victory That's how Reagan recently described life in Nicara­ because they were Black . . . a democracy where barely gua today. 30 percent of the population participates in the presiden­ July 26 marks the anniversary of the 1953 attack on "The Nicaraguan people," he claimed, "are trapped in tial elections ... the Ku Klux Klan type of democracy," the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de _Cuba by a a totalitarian dungeon, trapped by a military dictatorship a democracy that "uses its military and economic power group of revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro. Though that oppresses, impoverishes them while its rulers live in to threaten and invade those who qo not submit to its im­ the U.S.-backed dictatorship smashed the attack, less privileged and protected luxury .... " perialist schemes." than six years later, on Jan. 1, 1959, the Cuban revo­ "Tragically," Reagan continued, "there is far less free­ No, Ortega said, that democracy belongs to Nicara­ lution had triumphed. dom in Nicaragua today than there was five years ago." gua's Somozaist past. "Here we are building our own de­ A particularly joyful celebration of July 26 was Seeking to discredit in advance· Nicaragua's slated mocracy,_which in turn is a contribution to the democrat­ held in 1979, just seven days after the victory of the November 4 elections, Reagan labelled them a "Soviet­ ization of Latin America, particularly of Central Ameri­ Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua. For that July 26 style sham." ca." celebration, a delegation of Nicaraguan revolution­ Is it true that there is far less "freedom" in Nicaragua "Freedom" and "democracy" are words that have a dif­ aries journeyed to Cuba. The following are excerpts today than there was five years ago? ferent content depending on which class you represent. from Fidel's speech in Holguin that day. Five years ago, before the July 19, 1979, popular in­ For Nicaraguan workers and peasants, democracy is The full text of the speech is available in Fidel Cas­ surrection that brought the Sandinistas to power, Nicara­ the hundreds of thousands who have learned how to read -tro Speeches: Cuba's Internationalist Foreign Policy gua was run by the U.S.-installed dictatorship of Anas­ and write as a result of the revolution. 1975-80. To get a copy, send $7.95, plus 75 cents for tasio Somoza. Nicaragua then really was run by a dic­ Democracy is free education. postage and handling, to Pathfinder Press, 410 West tatorship that oppressed and impoverished the workers Democracy is tens of thousands of peasant families Street, New York, N.Y. 10014. and peasants while the rulers lived in protected luxury. owning their own land for the first time in their lives, and This [the presence of the Sandinista delegation in To the likes of Reagan, that was "freedom." What he receiving financial aid and technical assistance from the Cuba] is proof of political honesty, because they don't go and other capitalist politicians mean by freedom is the government. about pretending, they don't go about denying that they unrestricted right of U.S. bankers and businessmen to Democracy is the growth and strengthening of the are friends of Cuba, that they feel respect for Cuba, that reap superprofits from the exploitation of the toilers of trade unions, which are schools to train workers how to they are in solidarity with Cuba. Nicaragua, no matter what the economic, social, human, run the government. . ' Yet they themselves will by no means say that the two and political toll. Democracy is free health care and bringing doctors and revolutions are exactly alike. They are both profound With the victory of the revolution, the grip of U.S. im­ clinics to parts of the country where they never before perialism has. been broken and social priorities have been existed. reversed. In Nicaragua today, people come before prof­ Democracy is bringing women forward in all areas of i-ts. For-Reagan, and the capitalist class that he repre­ society and establishing equal rights for all people, in­ OUR sents, that makes it a "dungeon." cluding Ind,ians and Blacks. For the overwhelming majority of the Nicaraguan Democracy is the central role played by the mass or­ REVOLUTIONARY people, however, there is more freedom in Nicaragua ganizations of peasants, workers, youth, and women, today than ever before. and especially the neighborhood Sandinista Defense HERITAGE For the first time, Nicaragua has real majority rule. Committees, which help enforce the political power of The masses of workers and farmers run the country the workers and peasants. through their government, their mass organizations, their Nicaragua's Council of State has a different class com­ revolutions, alike in many ways and in many ways differ­ militia, and their party - the Sandinista National Liber­ position than the U.S. Congress. Representatives 'of the ent, as all true revolutions must be. ation Front (FSLN). productive classes - the majority - predominate, This is important for our people, important also for When the Sandinistas came to power, they im­ whereas in the U.S. Congress, the representatives of the world opinion. Every country has its own road, its own mediately dispersed the murderous. National Guard ruling rich hold sway. problems, its own style, methods, objectives. which maintained the Somoza dictatorship. In its place, What Washington hates about the upcoming elections We did things one way, our way; they will do things they organized a people's militia. In the face of attacks by in Nicaragua is that they will contribute to strengthening their way. U.S.-organized invaders, the government has armed the aod institutionalizing the five-year-old power of the Similarities: they achieved victory by means similar whole population - not exactly what you'd expect in a · workers and peasants. _ to ours; we both achieved victory by the only means by "dungeon." The two most important points in the FSLN's platform which we could free ourselves from imperialist tyranny Washington points to the capitalist two-party swindle are defense of the revolution against U.S. aggressi·on and and domination: gun in hand. that exists in the United States as a shining example of consolidation of the democracy the toilers have won. Many questions are now being raised, and there are "freedom" and "democracy." The U.S. mercenaries who are invading Nicaragua many people wanting to establish similarities between As Nicaraguan government coordinator and FSLN have not been able to halt the advance of the revolution. what happened in Cuba and what has happened in Nica­ candidate for president, Daniel Ortega, explained, "We It's precisely this failure that drives Reagan to escalate ragua. dQn't want that type of democracy that in the 1960s de- his venomous anti-Nicaragua propaganda. Some of these questions are not being posed in good faith, but are inspired by the wish to start creating justifi­ cations and seeking pretexts to apply aggressive meas­ ures against the people of Nicaragua as well: blockades against the people of Nicaragua, aggression against the Duarte's visit bolsters U.S. war people of Nicaragua - all those fi lthy measures and all those crimes they committed against us - and we must "We know that improving our image is worth millions Duarte's "moderate" image is used by U.S. capitalist be careful about this. of dollars of aid for the country." - El Salvador's De­ politicians and the big-business-owned media to obscure The conditions under which their struggle was fought, fense Minister Eugenio Vides Casanova. the fact that El Salvador is still under martial law - its characteristics, were different. For instance, the unity which was imposed the last time Duarte was in the gov­ of the entire people, which was an essential condition for This cynical remark by Casanova, former head of the ernment. Strikes and demonstrations are still illegal. Col­ victory, the participation of all social strata, the organiza­ brutal Salvadoran National Guard, sums up the aim of lective bargaining is still outlawed, wages are still fro­ tion of various popular movements, which joined ranks, Salvadoran Pres. Jose Napoleon Duarte's recent interna­ zen, and land reform is still nonexistent. reaching certain compromises, creating certain cir­ tional trip. Duarte's boast - echoed on Capitol Hill - that since cumstances that differed from ours. In Europe, Duarte was received by top representatives his election government bloodletting has subsided, is Some of the characteristics we have noted in our Nic­ of the imperialist governments of Britain, West Ger­ false. · araguan revolutionary comrades are worthy of mention. many, Belgium, Portugal, and France. Last month, a human rights organization, Americas They have distinguished themselves as great fighters, He publicly reinforced his image as a "democrat" -a Watch, charged the Salvadoran armed forces with "prac­ but they have also distinguished themselves as great po­ masquerade manufactured in Washington - by Claims ticing terror" against civilians. It charged that in the past litical tacticians and strategists. They have displayed that he has curbed El Salvador's infamous death squads six months at least I, 131 civilian noncorpbatants died in great wisdom, great ability to unite, great ability to act in and is reining in the Salvadoran army. indiscriminate government bombings of guerrilla targets. difficult, complex circumstances. These claims were helpful for the likes of France's And in San Salvador, the human rights office of the They fought heroically, but they have also been able to Pres. Fran~ois Mitterrand. The Socialist Party leader Salvadoran Catholic church charged that in June, the first be flexible, and when they needed to negotiate in a cer­ warmly welcomed the chief representative of the murder­ month of the Duarte administration, government forces tain way to avoid the risks of intervention, they were not ous Salvadoran regime. Duarte's "democratic" image have killed 123 civilians. The figures contradict the claim afraid to negotiate. And they showed great ability, great was all the cover Mitterrand needed. The trip to Germany that having the armed forces under Duarte's control talent both in military and political strategy. Needless to netted Duarte a pledge of $ 18 million in aid. . means an end to wholesale government terror. say, had it been otherwise their victory would have been In Washington, Duarte met with Reagan and congres­ During his visit here, Duarte fell into closer step with inexplicable. sional Democrats. In New York, Duarte addressed the Washington's anti-Nicaragua drive. The Sandinistas made some concessions. And it was Americas Society, which is presided over by banker In his address to the Rockefeller group, Duarte as­ wise of them to make these concessions, those they David Rockefeller. The point of Duarte's tour was to en­ serted that the war by the U.S. -organized Somozaists was thought they should make. At the same time they were firm able Washington to give him, as he put it, "a little bit of helping to reduce an alleged flow of arms from Nicaragua and did not make concessions they should not have made. economic aid ." to the Salvadoran guerrilla movement. The Sandinistas are revolutionaries. We don't deny it, "A little bit"? Congress is currently considering an ad­ nobody denies it, they don't deny it. But they are not ex­ After denouncing the Nicaraguan government, Duarte ministration request for another $117 million in military tremists, they are realists. And it is realists who make the said, "Whatever way it is possible to find to cut the flow aid for the Salvadoran regime, plus $1 34 million in so­ best revolutions, the best and most profound revolutions. of arms from Nicaragua to Salvador will be to the good of called economic aid. It's a fine distinction. I predict they will go far because they are taking their the Salvadoran people." Much of the_"economic aid" go~s for rebuilding El time, because they're not extremists, because they're tak­ Salvador's war-torn infrastructure - repairing roads, This amounted to an open · request to Washington, ing things slowly. They know what to aim for at each bridges, rail lines, and airstrips to make them usable for under the cover of defending El Salvador's "sov­ stage of a political and revolutionary process, and the the Salvadoran military forces and, at some key moment ereignty," to step up its aggression against Nicaragua. means that correspond to these aims. in the future, for U.S. troops. The goal of this war is not to stop some mythical "arms They used their heads, too, the Sandinistas, because Without massive amounts of U.S. aid, the Salvadoran flow" but to overthrow the Sandinista government and they closed ranks .at just the right moment and the result economy - and Duarte's government - would col­ drown that popular revolution in blood. Duarte, like the was victory, fruit of the wisdom with which they acted. lapse. White House, fears the political example the Nicaraguan We thank the Sandinistas not only for their beautiful Duarte's assurances that democracy is now being nur­ workers and peasants republic sets for the exploited and gesture, their unforgettable gesture, for the great honor tured by the Salvadoran regime was the excuse for Dem­ oppressed masses of El Salvador. they have conferred on us with their presence and their ocrats and Republicans alike to pledge to support a new Thus, Duarte's visit to the United States accomplished affectionate and fraternal words. We also thank them for aid package, including liberal Democrats who previously precisely the goal that the U.S. rulers had in mind - aid­ stimulating us in our own efforts, in our own struggle, had made minor criticisms of some aspects of Washing­ ing Washington's efforts to increase its intervention in because they help us to improve, to overcome our own ton's intervention in El Salvador. · Central America. · shortcomings.

22 The Militant August 3, 1984 Mass. IUE workers discuss bosses' modernization BY RUSSELL DAVIS officials bought the company's line. by taking on this question squarely could a realistic per­ LYNN, Mass. - On June 26 workers here voted Workers in the plant fell roughly into three groups. A spective of fighting the company's attacks convince most 3,903 to I ,502 to approve a proposal made by General small number liked the GE proposal, or parts ofit, in­ people. Electric to build a new automated flexible machining cluding the overtime and new work schedules. Capitalists have always tried to use the introduction of center- what GE calls the "factory of the future ." A much larger group disliked the proposal but felt we new machinery to speed up production, lengthen the GE said it would build the $51.7 million facility in had no choice. "GE is going to do it anyway so we might work day, and break down established work rules. This Lynn only if International Union of Electro!lic Workers as well have the jobs here," was a common sentiment. often results in layoffs and increased corporate profits. (IUE) Local 20 I agreed to a list of non-negotiable de- Others were afraid of what GE might do if we rejected the GE's "factory of the future" is just a fancy name for this demands. The majority didn't feel that we could take on old-fashioned type of union-busting. GE and win, especially given that the majority of the It is part of the same offensive against workers that is union leadership supported the plan . being carried out elsewhere, including by General UNlON TALK A significant number of workers opposed the proposal Motors and Toyota at their new operation in Fremont, including those who voted against it and others who California. mands including mandatory 12-hour shifts, seven day a abstained. These workers saw the plan as a step back­ The union movement has no stake in opposing moder­ week operations, elimination of most job classifications, ward and .felt that giving in without a fight would embol­ nization. But it has a big stake in demanding that workers and the right to discipline workers who don't meet the den the company to demand more concessions in 1985. A benefit from- not pay for- improvements in new tech­ company's production and attendance standards. small but significant layer are thinking seriously about nology. what it will take to beat GE in the coming battles. Accepting the idea that what is good for the company GE used the threat to build the plant elsewhere to force Two incidents demonstrated a certain militant spirit in is good for workers disarms the union in the face ofGE's . the union to accept these concessions. They will weaken the ranks that was only partially reflected in the final demands that it requires concessions to remain competi­ the IUE, and other unions in the electrical industry, when vote. Several days before the vote, workers in Building tive. This becomes the excuse for continually worsening the next national contract comes up at GE in 1985 . 74, the main aircraft engine production building, walked our working conditions and wages. GE gave the union only four weeks to discuss its de­ out over GE's suspensiol} of a shop steward. GE's victory in this vote will only whet its appetite for mands and many of the details weren't known to workers The next day the local Shop Stewards Council voted more concessions. But the fight is by no means over. GE until 10 days before the vote. In an intense barrage of 63 to 30 against the "factory of the future" proposal, al­ may have won a battle, but it has not yet won the war. company propaganda aimed at selling the proposal, the though the fact of this vote did not become widely known The discussion about how we can rearm our union and GE News came out four times in 10 days. GE's argu­ in the plant until sometime later. prepare for future battles will continue. ments were echoed in the Boston Globe, the Lynn Item · Much of the discussion on the company proposal cen­ and on local radio and TV. These arguments also found tered on how to view automation and GE's claim that its Russell Davis is a member of IUE Local 201 at GE' s an echo in the Local 20 I newspaper because many union demands were necessary to remain "competitive." Only Riverworks plant in Lynn. A coworker and fighter who should be remembered BY GEOFF MIRELOWITZ earlier, in January 1980, Hunter was one of a big group He liked to party. That's really how I got to know him. "I have some bad news for you," the voice at the other of steelworkers from the Point who boarded buses for the From talking over a drink or two at a get-together at the end of the phone said. "Carl Hunter committed suicide ride down to Richmond, Virginia, to march (again in the union hall, and late night parties at someone's house. He last week." cold) in a union demonstration for passage of the Equal was one of a group of steelworkers who closed down a It was a surprise. Rights Amendment. big bash at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Carl Hunter was a 37-year-old Black worker at And just a month after the hospital strike, Hunter and SWP following the King holiday demonstration. Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point plant. We worked to­ I, and several other workers from the Point, drove to I don't know why Hunter gave up fighting and took his gether in the pipe mill at the Point, where he was a crane Washington D.C. in the snow to hear S-tevie Wonder sing life. He'd been out of work a long time. The friend who operator, In March 1982 I was laid off. But I saw him "Happy Birthday" at the historic Jan. 20, 1981, march of called with the news said that at the last union meeting pretty regularly at union meetings. Occasionally he'd 100,000, which demanded that Martin Luther King's where she saw him he was in a bad way. He was just come to a Militant Labor Forum in Baltimore or to a birthday be honored as a national holiday . "doing nothing," he told her then. · Socialist Workers Party election campaign event. The company didn't like Hunter much. He was a Someone heard he had been called back to another job A year later the pipe mill was shut down for good. fighter in the mill too. After we "took the holiday" to go at the Point. But he evidently didn't take it. Hunter (everyone called him by his last name) had 16 or down to Washington for the march, a few of us were It may not have been a job he wanted. Operating a . written up for missing work. The company didn't think crane was a good job, as jobs at the Point go. Hunter much of Hunter's attendance record, so they gave him probably had to fight to get it. There was certainly a time some time off. He fought it, and he won - although it when not many Blacks operated cranes. AS I SEE IT took some time (as the grievance procedure always does) and he used to kid me about that "trouble you got me Perhaps Hunter had second thoughts about his deci­ 17 years seniority, but it wasn't enough. He lost his job into." sion. He must have known a job with decent pay is hard too. The last time I saw him was right around then. He was a shop steward, and a good one. He was will­ to come by in Baltimore these days - especially for Shortly thereafter I moved to New York. ing to help other workers who wanted to fight when the Blacks. Hunter was a fighter. At one time he was a low-paid company hassled them. He was also a guard, a minor of­ But I don't really know if that had anything to do with worker at Johns Hopkins hospital. I learned that on a bit­ fice in Steelworkers Local 2609. his suicide or not. I suppose it's just as likely that he had ter cold evening in December 1980 as the two of us were He was active in the local and he thought that the union simply been worn down by everything that happened to walking together on a picket line at the hospital during a should fight more than it does. That's why he was usually him in this lousy society. Friends said he'd had quite a strike led by the hospital workers union 1199E. around whenever the local did something progressive - few family problems. Whatever the reason, we lost a Hunter knew firsthand how wretcbed the working con­ helping other workers on strike or whatever. good person when Carl Hunter died. We lost a fighter. ditions and wages are for the 1199E members. He joined He also liked to have a good time. On the bus ride back .Like a lot of other workers who get ground up by the picket line because he knew they needed some sol­ from Richmond he (and his thermos full of hot coffee capitalism, he deserves to be remembered by his friends . idarity to win the strike. laced with whiskey) was right in the middle of the loudest and fellow workers. And we'll honor him, and others like It wasn't an uncommon thing for him to do. A year batch of steelworkers on the bus. him, by keeping on fighting.

-LETTERS------~------~------

Farrakhan I ical support. I plan not to renew Since his religious broadcast in March for housing out by the people voicing their de­ As a long time supporter of the my subscription to the Militant or question, Farrakhan has been On June 19, while Philadelphia mands. Expressing frustration, Socialist Workers Party and reader vote for the SWP as a result of shown in a national CNN News i~ Mayor Wilson Goode and Demo­ Goode exclaimed, "They apparent­ of the Militant, I am deeply these apologies for anti-Semitism. terview many times. The tape was cratic candidate Jesse Jackson ly prefer to demonstrate rather played showing that he said "dirty than work with me." shocked by your apology and de­ I think that B'nai B'rith's char­ were attending a convention of fense of anti-Semitic remarks religion" in a context which ex­ U.S . .mayors at the fashionable acterization af the SWP as anti­ posed dirty religious practices by Katy Karlin, Socialist Workers made by Jesse Jackson and Louis Semitic, which from 1938 to 1983 Bellevue-Stratford hotel, about 60 Party candidate for Congress in Farrakhan. fakers. As a Muslim, he reveres people assembled in the Black was incorrect, is now correct, i.e. Judaism and Christianity. He ex­ the 2nd C.D. in Philadelphia, cir­ I completely agree with the Mil­ as of this year the SWP has be­ community in North Philadelphia culated through the rally, handing itant's position that an anti-Zionist poses a fake "Judaism" used by to begin a march to City Hall. come anti-Semitic. the Zionists for genocide. out several hundred copies of her position is not equivalent to being Jonathan D. Pollock campaign platform. She got a anti-Semitic. However, when one In paragraph 13, you state, The demonstration, organized Boston, Massachusetts "Farrakhan denies that he used by the Committee for Dignity and good response as a woman and an calls Judaism a gutter religion and oil worker running for Congress. calls Jews hymies there is only one the word 'gutter.' Whether he did Fairness, demanded jobs, hous­ conclusion to be made - the or not, he incorrectly equates ing, and education for the home­ Six issues of the Militant and a people saying it are anti-Semitic Farrakhan II those who adhere to the Jewish less. Signs were carried by mar­ copy of the Young Socialist were without a question. Shame on you for such sloppy religion with Zionism." (My em­ chers with slogans such as "Jobs bought by people at the rally. phasis of your false sentence) Perhaps the Militant would also reporting! not missiles," and "You must not Other organizatons participat­ like to ·make an apology for Jerry But, ·nowhere does -he say this sacrifice the poor." Your front-page editorial of .ing included the American Muslim Falwell's remark that "God does nor equate this, to my knowledge. Mission, Hospital Workers Union July 13 begins with the intention By the time the march reached not listen to a Jew's prayer." Your editorial attempts to de­ 1199-C, Philadelphia Unemploy­ of defending Louis Farrakhan. City Hall for a rally it had grown to How can one make an apology fend Louis Farrakhan, but instead ment Project, and Philadelphia You correctly expose the racist over 400 people. for Louis Farrakhan who made it helps his attackers. If I am Welfare Rights Organization. smear that equates Zionism with wrong -if Farrakhan slanders all threats on Malcolm X's life? The demonstrators left City Hall anti-Semitism. You pose the cen­ Jews as Zionists - then please Craig McKissic I have always thought of the to march to the Bellevue-Strat­ tral question around which the ra­ make this evident in your newspa­ Philadelphia, Pennsylvania SWP as a party which fights ford. The protesters, who were cist lies revolve: "What did Far­ per. bigotry; anti-Semitism, and injus­ predominantly Black, wanted rakhan actually say?" (Paragraph I call on you to interview Louis tice. This is why for the past 12 Jackson to come out and address The letters column is an open 6) Farrakhan and, if you were wrong, years I have been a supporter of the rally. Jackson came out to. forum for all viewpoints on sub­ to publish a correction and retrac­ the SWP. Your statement defend­ ·Then you never answer the greet people and spoke briefly. jects of general interest to our ing Jackson and Farrakhan have question. Instead you paraphrase tion. You cannot afford to defame readers. Please keep your letters me most disillusioned. and repeat the lies "according to such .an important Black leader According to the Philadelphia brief. Where necessary they will Unless your position changes the capitalist media" (paragraph and ally in the class struggle. Daily News, a press conference be abridged. Please indicate if and a retraction is made, do not 12) that Farrathan referred to Marc Stretten held by Mayor Goode was re­ you prefer that your initials be count on me for financial or polit- Judaism as "your gutter religion." King City, California peatedly interrupted and drowned used rather than your full name.

August 3, 1984 The Militant 23 THE MILITANT SWP candidate visits Nicaragua

BY PRISCILLA SCHENK The Nicaraguan elections are free and MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Among the open to all parties who register with the Su­ more than 200,000 people gathered here to preme Electoral Council. There are now 10 celebrate the fifth anniversary of the San­ parties registered. dinista revolution were many international Tour member Michel Dugre, a Montreal visitors who came to show their solidarity. garment worker running in the Canadian Addressing the crowd, Commander of federal elections on the Revolutionary the Revolution Daniel Ortega saluted the Workers League tiCket, explained to Cor­ international guests and extended special rales what the tour group hoped to accom­ greetings to the North Americans present. plish in its two-week visit. Among the international visitors in the "There are now three elections taking audience was a group of 18 socialist work­ place in this part of the world in the next ers from the United States, Canada, and few months," Mason said, "in Canada, the New Zealand, including Mel Mason, United State~. and Nicaragua. The only Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. free, democratic elections will be in Nica­ president. The socialists' tour in Nicaragua ragua. began with the July 19 celebration and will "Just as the Conservative and Liberal last two weeks.. The tour was sponsored by parties guaranteed the rule of Somoza in Militant/Perspectiva Mundial Tours, Inc. Nicaragua, the Democratic and Republican . As the demonstration ended many Nica­ parties in our country guarantee the rule of raguans came over to meet the tour mem­ the rich," Mason said. "The Democrats and bers and discuss th'e accomplishments of Republicans attempt to keep other candi­ the revolution. dates off the ballot, especially those from Mason and several other socialist work­ workers parties. ers spoke with a young woman from "What we will do with the information AMNLAE, the Nicaraguan women's as­ we have learned here today is take it back sociation. She explained how proud she G.M. ~V\>1\.MJU to the United States to build solidarity with felt of the women who are participating in Mel Mason, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. president, blasts U.S. war the Nicaraguan revolution. On behalf of the defense of the revolution. against Nicaraguan government and people at meeting in Britain. Mason is currently the Socialist Workers Party campaign of Mason told some of the young San­ touring Nicaragua to extend solidarity in their fight against U.S. imperialist war. -myself and Andrea Gonzalez, our vice­ dinista fighter~ . gathered aound that a big presidential candidate, we offer our sus­ part of his campaign in the United States is tained support and everlasting solidarity." "to build solidarity with revolutionary prepared to defend our revolution to the elections are free, democratic, and hon­ Corrales said at the end of the meeting, countries like Nicaragua and Cuba." last person." · est," Corrales said. "Before the revolution "The triumph of the Nicaraguan people A young member of the Sandinista The next day, the tour group visited the there were only two parties - the Liberal over Somoza was not only for the Nicara­ Youth said he was happy to meet a Black office of the Supreme Electoral Council Party of dictator Anastasio Somoza, and guan people. The struggle that the Nicara­ candidate for the U.S . presidency. He (SEC). Julian Corrales, a member of the the Conservative Party. And it was always guans are carrying out today is also not asked Mason to tell the U.S. people that SEC, explained that elections will be held arranged that Somoza would win." Cor­ only for the Nicaraguan people. As a Nica­ the Nicaraguans want peace, but if the on November 4 for president, vice-presi­ rales explained that the Sandinista govern­ raguan citizen I say to the people of New U.S. government "continues to arm the dent, and national assembly. ment has jnitiated a campaign to encourage Zealand, Canada, and the United States, counterrevolutionaries to attack us we are "The first priority is to make sure these all eligible Nicaraguans to vote. we Nicaraguans keep you iri our hearts." Rightist charged in Wash. antiabortion bombing BY LISA HICKLER ton is one of only 12 states. where public Hidalgo, SWP candidate for governor of "What is the message we get when a SEATTLE - The fight to defend and funding for abortions remains intact. Initia­ Washington, has condemned the attacks on right-wing arsonist who confesses in April rebuild the Everett Feminist Women's tive 471 would wipe out the funding and be the abortion clinics and demanded that the is not arrested until July? Health Center received a boost with the another blow against the right to a safe, government act to jail all those who engage "It is the government at all levels, which July 19 arrest of a suspect in the three fire legal, accessible abortion. in terrorist actions against abortion clinics includes the Democratic and Republican bombings that destroyed and closed the Beseda was the Snohomish County, .and endanger the right of women to safe, parties, that is not enforcing the law and is clinic as of April. The clinic is located in Washington, coordinator of the petition legal abortions. in fact spearheading the anti-woman as- · Everett, Washington. · drive to get the initiative on the ballot. Hidalgo pointed to the responsibility of sault. It is the bankers and employers that Curtis Beseda confessed back in April to the government in encouraging the attacks . these two parties represent who are the - . The Everett Femini_st Women's Health main enemies of equal rights for women." the third fire bombing. "I did it for the Center Defense Committee, which has glory of God," he said. Gas cans identical "It was the inactivity of local officials in Hidalgo said her campaign strongly op­ been working to defend the clinic since the responding to the threats against the poses the cut-off of state funds for abor­ to one left at the clinic fire were found in attacks began, has pointed to the initiative Bes.eda's home. Two ski masks and three Everett Clinic that set the stage for it to be tions and supports the reopening of the as a serious attack on abortion rights. The· burned to the ground," she said. clinic. cans of red spray paint were also found. It committee is working to pull together a co­ was the same kind of paint that had been alition to build a large public fundraising used at another clinic in Dellingham that event as part of a campaign to reopen the was destroyed by an arson blaze on March clinic. Signers of a letter inviting groups 4. The words, "Murder Stinks" had been and individuals to participate in a planning Union, gov't talks break down spray painted at that clinic and a man in a meeting for the event included the Seattle ski mask had been seen running from the and Everett chapters of the National Or- fire . . as British coal strike continues -ganization for Women (NOW), Puget A court affidavit linked Beseda to the Sound chapter of the Coalition of Labor BY CLIVE TURNBULL The government outburst backfired. first two arson fires at the Everett Center as Union Women, the executive director of SHEFFIELD, England- The 20-week­ · Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock was well. Washington State National Abortion old coal miners strike entered a new stage forced to come to Scargill's defense, In spite of his confession and the phys­ Rights Action League (NARAL), and the this week following the breakdown of claiming that Thatcher and the Conserva­ ical evidence uncovered, Beseda was not Seattle Reproductive Rights Alliance. negotiations between the National Union tive government were "not fit to govern," arrest(!d until July 19 while entering the The letter states, "The Washington State of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National in light of their "hysterical" speeches. United States from Canada. Initiative 471 could become the local ver­ Coal Board (NCB). Prime Minister Mar­ This is not insignificant, as it was not Beseda was called "a very law-abiding sion of federal legislation that is used to garet Thatcher and other government until the 18th week of the strike that Kin­ person" by Dotty Roberts, one of the cen­ deny government funding for abortions for ministers unleashed a well-prepared prop­ nock appeared on a miners' platform to tral organizers of right-wing picketers who poor, working class, and minority women. aganda offensive against the NUM leader­ support the fight for jobs. The conservative had been harassing the clinic since it Reopening the Everett Feminist Women's ship, in particular trying to isolate NUM Labor Party leadership, like the govern­ opened in August 1983. Health Center would be a block to the Pres. Arthur Scargill. ment, appears to have resigned itself to the The miners must be defeated like the fact that the NUM leaders are not prepared Beseda was one of the most dedicated forces who would send women back to the Argentinians were in the "Falklands" (Mal­ to back down over the issue of mine clo­ pickets and has even been seen on occasion death and degradation of illegal back-alley vinas), Thatcher stated. "We had to fight sures, and that the strike will not be quickly picketing the clinic alone at night. Describ­ abortions." the enemy without in the Falklands but we resolved. ing Beseda as being driven by deep reli­ Whether or not Initiative 471 will be on must also remember to fight the enemy Energy Secretary Peter Walker, appear­ gious convictions, Roberts recalled pray­ the ballot will not be known until the mid­ within, which is just as dangerous to lib­ ing on the television program "Weekend ing with him "over the phone and on the dle of August. The Religious Coalition for erty." World," indicated that the government's picket line." Abortion Rights, Planned Parenthood, Just whose "liberty" is at stake was made strategy is now to wear down the miners. Beseda had also helped organize a large NARAL, Washington Women United, clear in speeches by two right-wing Con­ Walker claimed that coal stocks would last antiabortion prayer vigil outside the abor­ Washington State NOW, and representa­ servative Members of Parliament (MPs), well into 1985 without power cuts. The tion clinic late last year. tives of medical and legal groups are or­ John ·stokes and Sir John Biggs-Davidson, program's researchers were not so confi­ The arrest of Beseda comes in the con­ ganizing to defeat the initiative. who warned that the miners strike was "a dent, predicting that power cuts would start text of a drive to get an initiative on the bal­ 'flte Socialist Workers Party election step to revolution," alleging that Scargill by November. lot here in the fall elections that would pro­ campaign here has been part of the cam­ was "bent on the overthrow of constitu­ The Financial Times, Britain's leading hibit state funding of abortions. Washing- paign to defend women's rights. Cheryl tional, elected government." Continued on Page 20

24 The Militant August 3, 1984