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Vietnam vets march ....... 3 TH£ Support grows for June 12 rally. .4 Nuclear weapons & antiwar fight . 8 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 46/NO. 21 JUNE 4,1982 75 CENTS Reagan deepens U.S. role in British war on Argentina Antiwar Pentagon protest rushes arms in London to Royal Navy The U.S. capitalist press is trying to BY FRED MURPHY convince American workers that there As three more British warships were is 100 percent support in Britain for reported sinking in the South Atlantic, Thatcher's war against Argentina. No­ Washington declared it was increasing thing could be further from the truth: military aid to Margaret Thatcher's opposition is mounting in the British bloody invasion of the Malvinas Islands. labor movement, despite government ef­ The U.S. government has now admit­ forts to intimidate antiwar unionists. ted it is shipping Sidewinder air-to-air More than 8,000 people turned out in missiles and other ammunition to the London May 23 to demonstrate against British, according to the May 26 New the imperialist war in the Malvinas. Y ark Times. The Times said that British During the demonstration, police broad­ forces "were consuming missiles and cast warnings to the marchers not to other ammunition at a high rate to fight chant "provocative slogans." They off attacks by Argentine aircraft." Antiwar march in Manchester, England, on May 1 threatened to arrest those they deemed White House officials also "suggest­ provocative for "breech of the peace." ed" to the Times that they were consid­ Despite such intimidation, the de­ ering supplying Britain with "more ad­ monstration went ahead as planned. vanced missiles." Tony Benn, the leader of the Labour While much of the actual U.S. invol­ U.S. war on Nicaragua: Party's left wing, told the crowd at vement is still kept a secret from the Trafalgar Square that their action, and American people, it is clear that the others like it taking place around the U.S. rulers intend to do everything pos­ the cover-up continues country, were "an antidote to the poison sible to help the British imperialists res­ of nationalism and hate released in our tore their colonial grip on the Malvinas society by the war." BY MICHAEL BAUMANN ragua. These include businessman Al­ and deal a sharp blow to the Argentine MANAGUA - "Listen, companero. fonso Robelo, leader of the so-called Ni­ Other speakers at the demonstration workers and peasants. · They came around 9:30 in the morning. caraguan Democratic Movement included Fire Brigades President Bill "Not only does Britain urgently need "They began by shouting, 'Give up, or (MDN), the main capitalist outfit. Dean, Tobacco Workers Union General immediate military equipment and in­ you're going to die!'" Along with several of his associates, Secretary Terry Marsland, and Rafael And then the counterrevolutionaries Runco, a former Argentine political pris­ telligence assistance, but it also needs Robelo has now openly gone over to the U.S. diplomatic backing over the long opened fire. side of armed counterrevolution. In vo­ oner. haul to en~ure the islands have the kind Alberto Reyes was one of the lucky In Edinburgh, hospital worker Kevin luntary "exile" abroad, he has joined of future Britain can accept," the Wall ones. A small farmer and head of the lo­ Holmes told 2,000 antiwar de­ forces with ex-Sandinista Eden Pastora, Street Journal said May 25. cal militia unit in the little town of El who has publicly called for overturning monstrators: "We are not at war with Guabo in central Nicaragua, he and his Nicaragua's government. the Argentine people. We are at war "U.S. backing 'matters more and more 14-year-old daughter held off the terror More than 60 clashes between coun­ with Mrs. Thatcher. This is the war we as time goes on,' says Col. Jonathan Al­ squad during a two-hour gun battle May terrevolutionary forces and the Sandi­ should all be fighting." ford of the [British] International Insti­ tute for Strategic Studies. 'We would 6. Although he and his family· were nista military have taken place so far Holmes appealed for support to the feel totally isolated without U.S. sup­ eventually able to slip out the back way, this year- that is, since Reagan put in­ fight for higher wages now being or­ port.'" their house and all their belongings to effect his $19 million CIA program to ganized by health service workers in Reagan officials coupled their an­ were burned to the ground. "destablize" Nicaragua. Britain. Both the health workers and nouncement of more aid to Britain with You'll find no word of this in major Most attacks have been along the rail workers have come under attack for U.S. newspapers. It has never been re­ Honduran border, but some have taken carrying out strikes during the war. threats against the Soviet Union, Cuba, and other Latin American nations. De­ portedon U.S. radio or TV. place deep inside the country, and at They have been accused of "treachery" But the attack on the home of Alberto least three along the southern border by the Tory press. fense Department spokesman Benjamin Welles declared that "any extracontin­ Reyes is part of an undeclared war with Costa Rica, including one May 20 Demonstrations · also took place in ental involvement in the Falklands against Nicaragua that is being organ­ Continued on Page 3 Continued on Page 2 ized and directed by the White Ho\).Se. would be viewed seriously by this ad­ It was never voted on by Congress or ministration." approved by the American people. Welles specifically mentioned the So­ Yet scores of Nicaraguans have been Iran wins major battle in Iraq war viet Union, and Pentagon officials as­ killed, hundreds wounded. One whole sured reporters the warning was meant section of the country, the area along BY SUZANNE HAIG bilizations to send volunteers to the for any "outside interference." the northeast border with Honduras AND FRED MURPHY front. But the war in the South Atlantic is where the Miskitu Indians live, has had The streets of Tehran broke into cele­ Khorramshahr was seized by the Ira­ precisely about "outside interference"­ to be evacuated because it could not be bration May 24 as news arrived that qis in the early days of the war. The by the British imperialists, who have in­ defended. Iranian troopE! had liberated the city of fierce resistance its citizens put llp to vaded Argentine territory, and by their Most of these attacks are mounted by Khorramshahr in Khuzestan province. the Iraqi occupation led Iranians tore­ partners in the United States, who are forces based in camps locatedAust across This was the last major stronghold of name it Khuninshahr, or "city of blood." escalating their own involvement. the border with Honduras. There, some Iraqi troops in the war against Iran. The Iraqi retreat in the first weeks of 4,000 to 5,000 counterrevolutionaries. Upon hearing the news, Iranians May was only the latest in a series of The British rulers had hoped for a are permanently based. rushed to stores to buy candy and cook­ military setbacks for the Baghdad re­ quick retreat by the Argentine regime These opponents of the 1979 revolu­ ies as gifts for friends celebrating the gime headed by President Saddam Hus­ in face of intense military, economic, tion that overthrew U.S.-backed dicta­ victory. Dancing began in the streets. sein. These began last September when and diplomatic·pressure. Instead, con­ tor Anastasio Somoza are trained, Drivers turned on their car lights and Iran's army broke the siege of Abadan, a fronted at home with massive expres­ armed, and paid by the U.S. govern- beeped their horns. key city just south ofKhorramshahr. In sions of anti-imperialist sentiment, the ment. At 9 p.m. tens of thousands of Tehran November, the Iraqis were routed from junta stood firm on its demand that Lon­ Most are former members ofSomoza's residents went up on their rooftops and the border town of Bostan and 70 adja­ don give up its 149-year-old colonial hated National Guard. Others have chanted ''God is great!" cent villages. And in late March, with rule over the Malvinas Islands. been recruited from military forces The celebration was especially big in an offensive marking the Iranian New As a result, the conflict has escalated throughout Latin America. south Tehran, the working-class area of Year, combined army, Revolutionary into a major confrontation between In recent months they have been the city. Many of the soldiers killed in Guard, and volunteer militia forces semicolonial Latin America and the im­ joined by representatives of capitalist the war had come from south Tehran. drove the Iraqi occupiers from an 860- perialist powers. political formations based inside Nica- The. population there had continual mo- Continued on Page 5 Continued on Page 2 Reagan escalates military aid to Thatcher Continued from Page 1 London] say similar situations could de­ the British Labor Party have criminal­ giil, the Liverpool Trades Council, the "Continental solidarity has taken mand that the United States or France ly defaulted on their elementary duty to Fire Brigades Union, and others. firm hold around the contention that a make commitments outside Western oppose a war that can only bring further Reflecting this growing rejection of rich European nation is punishing a Europe.... hardship to British workers. Despite Thatcher's war by the trade unions are poor Latin one," a New York Ti'mes dis­ "The diversion of much of the British this, there are growing signs of opposi­ the representatives of the left wing of patch from Brazil said May 22.

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