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THE A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 63 NO. 27 AUGUST 2, 1999 No gov't strikebreaking! Students in Iran demand Join shipyard strikers' rally to protest U.S. Navy "Stop Navy Strikebreaking!" That is the rights, end call printed in big black letters on the leaflet put out by striking Steelworkers in Newport News, Virginia, to build a July 23 action in to cop attacks Washington, D.C., in support of their fight. The -Hi/itant urges workers, farmers, advo­ BYMA'MUD SHIRVANI cates of social justice, opponents ofU.S. for­ Students in Iran demonstrated in and around eign policy, and others to heed their call and universities for five days straight to defend be at the Navy Memorial at 11 :30 a.m. that democratic rights and to oppose police brutal­ day with co-workers, friends, and family. ity. They gained the support ofworking people The three-month strike by nearly 9,000 and forced government officials to promise to shipyard workers captures the growing mood act on their demands. These were the largest in the working class today, where the bosses national protest actions since Iran's revolu­ tion of 1979, when mass worker and peasant struggles toppled the U .S.-backed monarchy. Students started protesting July 8 after they EDITORIAL found out the Tehran daily Salam, which sup­ ports President MohammadKhatami, was shut and the government that represents them down the previous day by order of the judi­ have failed to impede workers' desire to fight ciary, which is under the control ofthe conser­ and show solidarity for others in struggle. vative wing ofthe regime. That evening some The stakes for labor in the battle at New­ 200 students held a protest rally around Tehran port News Shipbuilding are high. The mem­ University dormitories inAmirabad, located bers ofUnited Steelworkers ofAmerica Lo­ Militantffony Kennedy a few miles north of the university. cal 8888 build and repair war vessels the Locked-out KaiserAluminum worker Bill Harmon from Newark, Ohio, speaks at July 10 At the same time security forces, antiriot U.S. government deploys all over the world, solidarity rally with strikers at Newport News Shipbuilding outside Vrrginia shipyard. police, and extralegal thugs in civilian clothes and they walked off the job in the midst of began to assemble in the area trying to pro­ the U.S. waragainstYugoslavia. The ruling voke a confrontation. Shortly after 3:00 a.m. billionaire families, whose interests the U.S. Locked-out Kaiser workers rally they started firing tear gas and raided the dor­ armed forces are put together to defend, mitories without warning. They broke down have a special concern about this fight. For bedroom doors, beating students indiscrimi­ this reason shipyard workers have had to with strikers at Newport News nately and setting their rooms on fire.- Tehran stand up not only to the company and cops, papers reported that some students were but to the U.S. Navy. BY DANNY BOOHER ping hands on the picket line here July 10. The thrown from second- and third-floor windows. MM¥J?f ~Newport News strikers are ANDTONYKENNEDY strikers carried picket signs that read: About 500 students were reportedlyarrested; veterans ofthe 1979 strike for union recog­ NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia-Chants of "Locked-out workers at Kaiser support Local the nwnber ofinji.Jr:ies has not been announced. nition, as well as decades of struggle in the "No Justice No Peace!" and "What Do We 8888," and"Local8888 supports locked-out Authorities have reported that one person, fight for Black rights. They bring these ex­ Want? A Contract! When Do We Want It? Kaiser workers." Ezzat Ibrahim-Nejad, was killed. He was a periences to younger generations coming Now!" broke out as Steelworkers on strike at Fourteen locked-out Kaiser workers from Continued on Page 3 into the shipyard-who bring their own leav- Newport News Shipbuilding and locked out at United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Continued on Page 14 Kaiser Alwninwn greeted each other by slap- Continued on Page 14 Join caravans UN committee on decolonization affirms to Active Puerto Rican right to self-determination Workers BY BRIAN TAYLOR lonial status and approved a resolution sup­ cotted by the U.S. government, has approved UNITED NATIONS- The United Na­ porting that LatinAmerican nation's right to similar resolutions for most years since the tions Special Committee on Decolonization self-determination, including independence. early 1970s. Conference held hearings here July 6 on Puerto Rico's co- The committee, which has always been boy- The UN committee heard testimony from almost two dozen representatives of organi­ BY ARGIRISMALAPANIS zations. The big majority were pro-indepen­ AND STEVE CLARK dence groups. Their testimony hammered Over four days from August 5 through 8, away at two issues in particular that highlight hundreds of socialist workers, youth, and the consequences ofU.S. colonial rule. One other militants involved in struggles against was the campaign to free 17 Puerto Rican po­ class exploitation and national oppression litical prisoners who are locked up in U.S. will gather for an Active Workers Confer­ prisons because oftheir pro-independence ac­ ence at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. tivities. The other was the renewed fight to "OnAugust 1, a car caravan will leave from get the U.S. Navy out of the Puerto Rican is­ the Bay Area for Ohio;' said Norton Sandler, a land of Vieques. member ofthe Socialist Workers Party's Trade The final resolution adopted by the UN Union Committee and organizer ofthe Cali­ committee, which as in most previous years fornia State Committee of the SWP, in a July was sponsored by the revolutionary govern­ 14 interview. ment of Cuba, explicitly supports these two "On the way it will stop by Fresno to pick campaigns. up a contact of the Young Socialists and meet Calls for U.S. Navy to leave Vieques others driving up from Los Angeles. Where "For almost 60 years our island [Vieques] else the caravan will stop will be decided in has been used by the Navy for U.S. wars;' the next two weeks," Sandler added, "as party stated Isrnael Guadalupe, a leader ofthe Com­ andYS members join picket lines by workers mittee for the Rescue and Development of fighting a lockout by Nestle near Stockton, Vieques. "The presence ofthat military appa­ actions by hotel and restaurant workers trying ratus comes as a result of a political situation to unionize the Marriott in San Francisco, and in which decision-making powers do not lie rolling job slowdowns by dock workers up and within our country, but in another country." down the West Coast." The committee has been leading sustained All across the United States, resistance to protests in Vieques, including on restricted assaults by the employers continues to erupt­ Navy territory, sinceApril19, when the U.S. from the successful union organizing drive by Navy "accidentally" bombed and killed David textile workers in Kannapolis, North Carolina, AVAilABlE FROM BOOKSlDRES, INCLUDING THOSE LISTED ON PAGE ll, Sanes in a military training exercise taking to the 14-week-long strike by Steelworkers at OR WRITEPATHRNDER,41 0WEST5T.,NEWYORK,NY I 0014. place during Washington's assault onYugo- Newport News, VJ.rginia. These fights are fur- Continued on Page 12 Continued on Page 5

Communist League in United Kingdom holds congress- page 6 IN BR~F------

Baghdad expels U.N. official the overall increase. Sugar production has The Iraqi government July 8 expelled a UN dropped precipitously since the early 1990s, hit official, Ian Broughton, after accusing him of by the cut in fuel, fertilizers, and other inputs attempting to sabotage the country's crops by that came with the collapse in trade with the breeding locusts. Iraqi government officials Soviet Union, as well as several natuml disas­ said Broughton, a former officer with the New ters. Overall, Lage said, industrial output grew ZealandArmy, planted boxes oflocust eggs 6.4 percent, including a 23.4 percent upturn in onApril8 near Khanaqin, close to the Iranian sugar processing. The growth rate in agricul­ border. Earlier this year, Clinton administra­ ture for the first half of 1999 was 10. 7 percent tion officials were forced to admit U.S. spies compared to the previous year. worked under cover on the UN Special Com­ mission as ''weapons inspectors." N.Y. cop acquitted after shooting Meanwhile, U.S. warplanes bombed an Iraqi Black 'squeegee' man communications site in the country's northern Acting Justice John Collins of the State "no-fly zone" July 8.1t was the 58th time that Supreme Court dismissed all criminal charges U.S. imperialist planes attacked Iraqi facili­ July 8 against New York cop Michael Meyer, ties in the northern area since December 28. who shot and wounded an unarmed man. Washington imposed two "no-fly zones" on Meyer was charged with attempted murder the country after it led the slaughter oflraqi and lesser counts in the June 1998 shooting of people in the 1990--91 GulfWar. Antoine Reid, who had soaped up the wind­ shield ofthe off-duty cop's car to clean it for a Greek workers protest job cuts few dollars at an exit ramp in New York City. Workers at Olympic Airways in Greece Collins had dismissed the attempted mur­ held a 24-hour strike July 7, forcing the com­ der charge two days earlier, saying the pros­ pany to cancel 50 ofits 79 domestic and inter­ ecution had failed to disprove Meyer's asser­ national flights. It was the second one-day tion that he shot Reid because "he feared for job action against the state-owned company his life." The acquittal in the nonjury trial in two weeks. The unionists were protesting came after several witnesses testified that the possibility oflayoffs as the airline's man­ Meyer stepped out of his car, backed up Reid agement was taken over by Speedwing, a con­ across several lanes of traffic, and then shot Workers at OlympicAirlines in Greece demonstrate last April against cutbacks sulting firm for BritishAirways. Speedwing him point blank in the chest. After the deci­ bosses seek to cut labor costs to make Olym­ sion, Reid, who lost his spleen as a result of pic more profitable. A week earlier the Washington imposes tariff on for Washington suspending anti-dumping in­ the shooting, said the verdict was "an outrage. airline's new chief executive officer, Rod New Zealand, Australia lamb .•. vestigations of Brazilian steel exports. Bra­ Just because you're a cop doesn't give you the zilian officials also agreed to set a minimum right to shoot somebody." Lynch, threatened workers to submit to the U.S. president William Clinton announced price their steel producers would sell their "restructuring" or see Olympic shut down. July 7 that Washington would impose quotas Heat wave toll rises to 27 in N.Y. on lamb imports from Australia and New commodities for in the U.S. market. Last June The death count rose to 27 people in New Moscow plans military exercises Zealand and duties of9, 6, and 3 percent over the U.S. Senate narrowly rejected legislation that would have imposed quotas on steel im­ York City during the second week ofJuly when The Russian defense ministry announced three years. Any sales above the quota will be record temperatures reached more than 100 subject to a 40 percent tariff. Combined im­ ports. U.S. commerce secretary William Daley July 8 it will conduct military maneuvers in degrees for three days in the Northeastern part ports for both countries will be set at 1998 said the decision does not effect the "investi­ Northern Caucasus, the region between the of the United States. Some 7,000 calls were levels for one year, rising slightly for the fol­ gations" into whether Brazil and several other Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Airborne made to city ambulances and other emergency lowing two years. Australia and New Zealand countries were selling large amounts ofcold­ troops, ships from the Black Sea Fleet, and rolled steel at low prices to gmb more ofU.S. agencies in the city. The New York City ad­ units from the North Caucasus military dis­ account for about 95 percent ofU.S.lamb im­ ministration responded to the heat wave by ports, worth $146 million. Australian tmde market share. trict will participate in the exercises, sched­ throwing sprinklers on a few open fire hydrants, minister Mark Valle, warned that Washington uled July 13-16. Last month the Russian mili­ Argentina: truckers win strike and 15 schools were opened with air condi­ tary pmcticed "West-99;' which involved re­ is provoking a "global tmde war." tioning. After a record demand for e!~city, pelling aggression from imperialist countries. After tens of thousands of truck drivers ..• squeezes Brazilian steel trade throughoutArgentina struck for three days, the Con Edison, the giant utility monopoly in New While Moscow would not state what force York City, cut off the power in working-class would launch an assault on the country, the The U.S. Commerce Department an­ government voted to postpone a proposed ve­ hicle tax until November 15. The two main neighborhoods in upper Manhattan, leaving Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta as­ nounced July 7 the Bmzilian government will truckers organizations warned they were pre­ more than 200,000 people with no refrigera­ serted, "Few doubt that the enemy is NATO's restrict the level ofhot-rolled steel exported tion, air conditioning, or fans for 18 hours. armed forces in Europe." to the United States by 28 percent in exchange pared to pamlyze the nation's highways indefi­ nitely. The regime ofPresident Carlos Menem -MEGANARNEY threatened to declare a state ofsiege that would suspend constitutional rights and give the mili­ tary and cops the power to arrest striking truck­ ers and seize their vehicles. But the Argentine ruling class and imperialist investors feared that the strike would wreak economic havoc on the already deepening recession in the country, and bowed to the truckers' demands fornow. Cuban economic growth is up The Cuban economy registered a growth rate of6.1 percent in the frrst half of 1999, Carlos Lage, the secretary of the Cuban Counsel of State, reported in early July. An upturn in sugar production, which increased by half a million tons from the previous year, was a key factor in

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2 The Militant August 2, 1999 Students in Iran demand rights, end to thug attacks Continued from front page complicity ofWashington and imperial­ conscript soldier visiting a friend at the dor­ ist powers. The Tehran daily Kar va mitory and had read a poem at the rally that Kargar(Work and Worker) quoted a vet­ evening.lbrahim-Nejad's father, a peasant in eran of the Iran-Iraq war at one of the Pole Dokhtar in the south, told reporters he rallies at Tehran university as saying, first learned ofhis son's death on television "They would tell us in the front to treat along with everyone else in his town. Since Iraqi prisoners of war with respect and then students have been coming to his house kindness, but here they bloody the Ira­ to extend their solidarity. nian students and drag them to the ground" As they marched to join students in Protests spread across country theAmirabad dormitories for a sit-in July National radio and television did not publi­ 11 , students from other universities in cize the assault on Tehran students, but as the Tehran chanted rhythmic slogans in Farsi news spread by other means, students in other patterned after slogans during the revolu­ cities began to organize protest demonstra­ tion: "Militant students, unity, unity!"; tions. Some 5,000 students in the northern city ·~Bats, clubs, and knives no longer intimi­ ofTabriz, in Azerbaijan, mobilized early in date us." In reference to theAnsare Hezbollah defeat a democratic anti-imperialist move­ Similar eruptions have taken place in other the morning July 11 demanding the immedi­ and the rightist 1973 coup in Chile led by Au­ ment and bring the shah (king) to power. cities, always ending in defeat. InTehran these ate release of the students arrested in Tehran. gusto Pinochet, they chanted, "Ansare The occupation became a rallying point for demonstrators invariably clash with the secu­ They also shouted, "Long live Khatami, down Pinochet, can't turn Iran into Chile!" workers and peasants to come back on the cen­ rity forces and Ansar, leading to victimiza­ with the dictator!" They were attacked by the Working people support students ter stage ofpolitics to defend the gains of the tions. After July 12, Tahkeem pulled out of same combination offorces as the Tehran stu­ revolution. Tahkeem is supportive ofKhatami demonstrations and their character changed. dents, leading to injuries and the death of an Following the assault in the early hours of and is also associated with the Khane Kargar Workers who had been supportive ofthe ear­ Islamic clerical student by unknown assail­ July 9, students from around the city rushed to (Workers' House) a pro-government umbrella lier student protests pulled back. ants later in the day. These forces are usually Amirabad and took control of the dormitory organization of workers, an offshoot of the As events unfolded the conservative wing of spearheaded by a group called Ansare complex. They organized checkpoints, estab­ workers shoras (councils) formed during the the ruling class, which had been on the defen­ Hezbollah (Supporters ofthe Party ofGod). lished security, and did not allow in any pro­ revolution. Khane Kargar issued a statement sive since July 9, got wind in its sails and called The Tehran daily Neshatreported July 12 vocateurs or government security forces. Thou­ in support ofstudents. for calm and unity. They took the propaganda that people rallied to students' defense in de­ sands of working people and students in Te­ offensive in the name ofprotecting the state. fiance of the orders by security forces. The hran and other cities converged there in soli­ Regime seizes on riots to clamp down Forces associated with this wing called a mass intervention brought down the tensions darity. Parents and family members even trav­ A split took place among the students July demonstration for July 14 and began to use and further bloodshed was averted. eled from other cities to be with the students. 12. Some people, frustrated by the lack ofde­ their positions in the state apparatus to build Student demonstrations ofcomparable size This prevented any further assaults. cisive action from the president and high lev­ it. The liberal wing associated with Khatami to those in Tabriz were held at the F erdowsi People carne forward and took collections els of government in arresting and prosecut­ went along. Governmental ministries and fac­ University in Mashhad in the East, Urmia in to help get food and other necessities for the ing those responsible for the July 9 dormitory tory managers were told to mobilize for the the West, Kermanshah in Kurdistan, Isfahan, students occupying the buildings and for those raid, began to branch off to central points in demonstration. Shiraz Ramadan, Gilan south of the Caspian dormitory residents who had lost their belong­ the city. Petty-bourgeois and bourgeois cur­ Estimates ofthe size of the July 14 demon­ Sea, Zanjan, Ardabil in Azerbaijan, and in ings during the raid and fires set by the invad­ rents who favor the overthrow of the govern­ stration vary from tens of thousands to hun­ some smaller towns. Presidents of30 univer­ ers. This buoyed the students' spirits. ''We have ment were included in this split. As they dreds ofthousands. But industrial workers gen­ sities around the country issued a statement not yet reached our goals; we want freedom of moved through the streets they attracted oth­ erally stayed away. The organizers tried to set protesting the violation of the sanctuary of expression and will keep on till we get it;' a ers to these demonstrations, which ended with the stage to curtail some ofthe political space universities by security forces and the tram­ student named Ahmad told the Tehran daily attacking stores and smashing windows and gained earlier for democratic rights and pling ofstudents' rights. KhordadJuly 11. cars. Some banks were attacked and the door against police brutality. They threatened that .. The minjstcr.of culture and higher educar "People are supporting us; they organize to of the Ministry ofthe Interior was set on fire. some ofthose arrested would be given the death tion resigned in protest. Ayatollah Kharnenei, get water and food for us. So long as we are on Some unemployed youth angry with the penalty. But they did not go as far as reversing the head ofstate, and President Khatami both the right track we are confident they will sup­ capitalist government's unfulfilled promises the general condemnation of those who at­ denounced the attack on the Tehran students. port us." Ahmad, an accounting student at to lift the "oppressed of the earth" were at­ tacked students at Tehran University. EvenAnsare Hezbollah issued a curt statement RoodhenAzad University on the north side of tracted to these demonstrations.A young man The demonstration was also a factional denying their involvement in the July 9 raid theAlborz mountains, had traveled to Tehran who had joined a demonstration of500 roam­ move against Khatami, who had endorsed it. Most of those assaulted at the Tehran uni­ to join the students in struggle. This kind of ing the city told a bystander, "I am unemployed His picture was as conspicuously absent from versity dormitory were students from outside relationship ofthe general population to dem­ For 20 years they have been lying to us. I have the placards as Ayatollah Khamenei's was Tehran. Many of them come from working­ onstrators and strikers was established during come to give my life for them [the students]." abundant class and peasant families thanks to the 1979 the months of Iran's revolution of 1978-79. He said he had earlier participated in the Regardless ofthe fortunes ofthe factions in revolution, which brought forth a certain de­ The main student organization that called Islamabad riots. Islamabad is a district out­ the regime, the country went through a series gree ofaffirmative action in favor ofworking the protest demonstrations around the country side the Tehran city limits, mostly inhabited ofintense experiences in a period ofless than people. Papers reported that ofsome 500 stu­ and the Amirabad sit-ins and security was by newly arrived workers from the country­ one week. The bond established in struggle dents arrested during the assault in Tehran, at Daftare Tahkeem Vahdat (Center to Strengthen side. Tensions exploded there in 1995 when between students and working people in de­ least 80 carne from families of martyrs in the Unity.) It is based on IslamicAssociations at the gasoline prices and transportation costs fense ofdemocratic rights and against police Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88.1n that war, volun­ the universities and its origins go back to the were raised shatply. Cars were smashed and and vigilante violence points to the opening teers from villages, working-class neighbor­ anti-imperialist students who occupied the burned and security forces were attacked. ofa new chapter in the class struggle. And this hoods, and factories mobilized to go to the U.S. embassy in November 1979 .At the time Military units were brought in to beat and ar­ does not bode well for the imperialists' inter­ war front and defend the revolution against the occupation was a protest against rest the demonstrators. ests in the region. the military assault of the capitalist govern­ Washington's moves to organize a counter­ ment of Iraq, which was launched with the revolutionary coup, as it had done in 1953 to What U.S. imperialism lost in Iranian revolution In 1979 a revolutionary upsurge by Ira­ states. In the configuration ofimperialist props nian workers and peasants overturned the in the region, the shah's "peacock throne" had U.S.-backed regime of Mohammed Reza formed the third leg ofa tripod. The other two Pahlavi, also known as the shah. This vic­ were Israel - by far the strongest leg, in its tory dealt an enormous blow to Washington's capacity as a massively armed junior imperi­ domination in the region. Below is an ex­ alist power- and the Saudi and Gulf state cerpt from New International no. 7 featur­ monarchies, the weakest. ing the article "The opening guns ofWorld For more than ten years the U.S. rulers have War ffi: Washington's assault on Iraq," by been trying to recoup some of what they lost Jack Barnes, on U.S. imperialism's goal in with the overthrow of the monarchy in Iran. the 1990-91 GulfWar and political devel­ For much of the past decade they did so by opments in the region since the defeat of providing encouragement to Saddam one of the U.S. rulers' most reliable client Hussein's war against Iran and supporting the states.New Intemotionalis copyright© 1991 course of their imperialist allies, especially by 408 Printing and Publishing Corp., re­ the French government, in supplying arms to printed by permission. Iraq for the war effort That conflict, launched in 1980 with a massive Iraqi invasion ofsouth­ BY JACK BARNES em Iran, has been among the most slaughter­ The U.S. rulers' aim is to shift the relation­ ous conflicts in this centwy, with hundreds of ship of class forces in the Middle East to its thousands of deaths and injuries. Despite advantage, to take back some ofwhat has been Washington's thinly disguised aid and com­ lost over the past three decades. The most fort to Baghdad, however, that murderous eight­ recent big blow to Washington's power in the year war brought·the U.S. rulers no closer to region carne in 1979 with the victory of the their goal ofestablishing another subservient Iranian revolution. regime in the region directly beholden to im­ Prior to the overthrow ofthe shah, Iran had penalist interests and reliant on imperialist been one ofWashington's most reliable client military support. August 2, 1999 The Militant 3 SWP supporters campaign to increase annual contributions BY NAN BAILEY print project was cited in that report as one SEATTLE -Pledges so far have reached of the important ways supporters are step­ $169,780 in the campaign launched by the ping up their activity. Socialist Workers Party to raise monthly Politics today presents the party with new contributions from supporters of the party opportunities, and the party is responding with to $175,000 annually. The campaign's goal decisions like establishing a branch organiz­ is to increase these contributions - which ing committee in St. Louis, to forming two totaled $139,000 over the last year- to the new organizing committees in the coal fields. new level by August 8, the last day of the All these opportunities present new chal­ Active Workers conference in Oberlin. Ohio. lenges. Finances is one challenge, and is an The increase in pledges reflects. goals area where supporters of the party have been taken and pledges raised in eight cities so of particular help in the past. The party is Socialist Workers Party supporters in Seattle at June meeting that decided to help lead far: Boston, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia, proposing that we increase that support in an national campaign to increase contributions to party. From left, Louise Goodman, Sara San Francisco, Seattle, Twin Cities, and organized way. · Gates, SWP branch leader LietTGutthiudaschmitt, and Stuart Crome. Washington, D.C. The SWP has embarked on a campaign The pledges that have been raised so rap­ to raise the annual contributions to the party raise that by $440 to $2,132 monthly. We had a ofother supporters in Seattle is working with idly reflect a tremendous response from sup­ by supporters to the National Office from good discussion about how we can reach this me to coordinate this effort. We are asking porters in several cities. They are reacting its present level of$139,000 to $175,000 by goal. We suggested that each supporter who supporters in every area to contact us directly with enthusiasm to the party's appeal to help the end of the Active Workers Conference now contributes should consider whether he about the progress you are registering in this raise the funds that will be put to use by the in Oberlin, Ohio, on August 8. Supporters or she can raise their pledge. We discussed a campaign, including the local goal you've party to help take advantage of the political around the country are encouraged to par­ number ofother party supporters who do not taken. We will be keeping a chart of our opportunities opening as we participate as ticipate in this campaign, which begins with currently pledge and agreed that we should progress nationally and will distribute it to communist workers in struggles taking place working with branch executive committees suggest to the branch executive committee local areas. If you haven't already done so, across the country: from union struggles like in your area to set a goal for how much the that we meet with these people and discuss please contact me at the E-mail address be­ those of Steelworkers striking against New­ level of monthly contributions can be raised the campaign. low. port News Shipbuilding and Kaiser Alumi­ in your area to help meet the $175,000 goal. With some preliminary work done before We'd also like to receive the name and E­ num, to political protests such as actions Here in Seattle we held a meeting on Sun­ the meeting, and with some raises offered at mail address ofthe supporter in each area who demanding freedom for Puerto Rican politi­ day, June 20, at which time we discussed the meeting, we've raised the amount pledged takes responsibility for collecting the monthly cal prisoners. this campaign. The jump from $139,000 to monthly to $222, more than halfway toward contributions. Below we reprint a letter written by Sara $175,000 is a 26 percent increase, so we our goal! We think that other areas will be Gates, a supporter in Seattle who has agreed decided to increase our participation by that inspired by this campaign, too. In solidarity, to coordinate the campaign nationally. Sup­ amount. Currently, supporters in Seattle I have been asked to organize the campaign Sara Gates porters interested in helping with this cam­ contribute $1,692 monthly. We decided to among supporters and a steering committee [email protected] paign are welcome to join us by making a pledge or raising the amount of a current pledge. Bookstores stock up on Pathfinder books Nan Bailey is a member ofthe SWP 's Trade Union Committee. BY SARA LOBMAN World Disorder, the bookstores purchased of the city, they already had The Truth about 300 other books, for a total of$3 ,600 of sales Yugoslavia displayed on the front counter. July 12, 1999 Workers and youth interested in the fight for socialism and a Marxist analysis of the at wholesale prices. More than 70 different The buyer commented that it was selling well. Dear Supporters, crisis of capitalism can now purchase cop­ titles were ordered, including Marxist clas­ After a discussion on how the material in Now is an exciting time to be a supporter ies of Capitalism's World Disorder: Work­ sics like the Communist Manifesto by Karl Capitalism's World Disorder and New Inter­ of the Socialist Workers Party. Mary-Alice ing-Class Politics at the Millennium, from Marx and irederick Engels, Imperialism by national no. 11 help explain what's happen­ Waters' report to the Toronto convention and at least 15 additional bookstores as a direct V.I. Lenin, and The History of the Russian ing in world politics today, the buyer decided conference organized by the Communist result of the sales efforts in June by sup­ Revolution by Leon Trotsky; titles on the to get three copies each of those titles. He League in Canada in April of last year reg­ porters ofPathfinder Press. Visits and phone Cuban revolution; and books on the labor also ordered a dozen other books, including istered the qualitative increase in numbers calls with buyers at the stores resulted in movement, and fights for Black rights and Coal Miners on Strike, The Bolivian Diary and breadth of supporters coming forward sales of 35 copies of the book, which has women's liberation. This clearly indicates ofErnesto Che Guevara, andJohn Coltrane to help increase the striking power of the been on the top of Pathfinder's "best sell­ that the increased interest in working-class and the Jazz Revolution ofthe 1960s. SWP and its sister parties around the world. ers" list since it came out earlier this year. politics is having an impact on the possi­ In Atlanta, Jill Fein visited three book­ The successful work of the Pathfinder re- In addition to the copies of Capitalism's bilities to place Pathfinder titles in local, stores at the Atlanta airport. All placed or­ chain, and college bookstores. ders, for a total of 55 books including eight Orders came in as a result of volunteer copies of Capitalism 's World Disorder. YOUNG SOCIALISTS sales work from Atlanta, Birmingham, De­ Sales volunteers in New York got orders troit, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, New from five different bookstores, totaling 93 York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. books. Their efforts added more than $1,000 AROUND THE WORLD When sales volunteer Cindy Jaquith to Pathfinder's June sales. One buyer ordered called a university bookstore in Alabama, five copies of Capitalism s World Disorder Iceland YS speaks out against NATO the buyer initially said she didn't have time after being shown the index to the book and for a meeting, but agreed to talk briefly if discussing how it covers a broad range of This column is written and edited by The Young Socialists in Iceland issued a Jaquith came right over. ''This was right at politics in the current period. Another book­ the Young Socialists (YS), an interna­ statement that was printed in one of the the height of the U.S. and NATO attacks on store in New York, at one ofthe city colleges, tional organization of young workers, stu­ newspapers. It said, "The NATO drills in Yugoslavia;• Jaquith reports, "so I decided bought two copies ofCapitalism sWorld Disor­ dents, and other youth fighting for social­ Iceland ... are used to prepare for more mili­ to focus on some of the titles related to that der, as well as copies ofNew International nos. ism. For more information about the YS tary conflicts and make people used to the first. They seemed to be just what she was 7 and 11 and a dozen other titles. write to: Young Socialists, 3284 23rd St., idea of soldiers running heavily armed in looking for to strengthen the main trade sec­ Pathfinder is encouraging supporters who San Francisco, California, 94110. Tel: their backyards. They are carried out under tion of the store." The buyer ended up or­ get bookstore orders to place their names (415) 824-1429. the pretext of defending the country from dering two copies each of Capitalism 's on the top of the order form. If the store uses Email: [email protected] imaginary terrorist acts, but their real target World Disorder, The Truth about Yugosla­ their own purchase orders, please drop Path­ is working people." via, and The Balkan Wars. finder a note so the staff can keep accurate BY OLOF ANDRA PROPPE More than 100 people came to the park, Margaret Savage reports from Detroit that records of how this work is progressing. Any AND FJOLA DiSA SKULADOTTIR where the helicopter was supposed to land. when she and sales volunteer Frank Gorton reports on visits can also be sent to Path­ REYKJAviK, Iceland- ''No to NATO!" Some people stayed for a short stop, others visited a bookstore in Femdale, a suburb north finder. and "NATO out ofthe Balkans!" said dem­ stayed there all day. There were people from onstrators in Reykjavik June 23. They were ;various organizations, such as the Campaign protesting a drill called North Viking that ,Against Military Bases; Briet, an organiza­ has been held every other year in Iceland . tion of young feminists drawing its name since 1983. from a pioneerin the fight for women's rights An anny helicopter was supposed to land in Iceland; Anarchists in Iceland, who ran in Hlj6mskalagar3ur, a public park in down­ for the parliamentary elections this spring; town Reykjavik. The soldiers aboard were the YS; and many others. to run through a residential neighborhood The weather was bad, but spirits were high. to the U.S. embassy to free some "hostages" People were playing soccer, listening to mu­ •mitluo~,efll, .tttt~ Ol.l~s.H w. ~­ and bring them to the U.S. military base in sic, chatting, and talking politics. A group of m:»&c~(to~ April1~9&) Keflavik. people had brought cultured milk to throw at th8 ObtWer revelutiol'i (Havarta, .. Iceland, a founding member of NATO, the soldiers. YS members discussed this with has hosted a U.S. base since 1951. NATO some people there and most ofthem disagreed and the base has always been a big issue with this method of protesting. ·~ttMiilli~lta'ths'i!lfj~.!idm comrttunfet prop~arit.ls and reoon­ here, although the debate has diminished in In the evening, when the exercise had not fUi!lnlllll!illa~~a,'I'U!:I throu1h revoltW!onary centrali5m (tha the last decade. The 2,000 soldiers from the yet been carried out, the protesters declared ~ vociaHat Workera Party OOlW6tl- base took part in the drill together with an victory. The army helicopter never landed additional force from the United States. in the park. As a result of this and previous Units from Germany and the United King­ activities of the YS, a group of young people dom played the role of environmental ter­ came to the Pathfinder bookstore two days ~'fl. triCIUlllfl~ thoe6l~il Crt ~B 12, Or' WJ'itB fs1ll1f!J1tABl'.. 410 W!et rorists. Dozens oflcelanders participated as later. They stayed for two and a half hours 741·oe>sl0. ~ {!2~~) 121-0t00;Wft8ri omenl1f*'Y tmlil.. ·Ff.- well, mostly from the Coast Guard and the discussing politics and showed interest in police. coming to a forum scheduled a week later. 4 The Militant August 2, 1999 Conference Help build and participate in the Continued from front page ther evidence ofa sea change in the mass psy­ chology of the working class since at least Adive Workers Conference 1997. The Ohio conference- sponsored by the August 5 8 • Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio SWP andYoung Socialists-will register the progress worker-bolsheviks have made over the last year in fusing their activity with Strudurin' Party Units and struggles by other vanguard workers and farm­ Trade Union Fractions through Mass Work ers. It will be an opportunity for those involved in such struggles, and building solidarity with ... that will be the unifying theme of panels, talks, and classes, including ... them in the labor movement, to exchange ex­ periences and learn from each other, and from the past battles of the workers movement. "Structuring party branches and union frac­ • A rolling, three-day panel of socialist worken, other unionists, tions through mass wor/C' -that theme will farmers, and young socialists engaged in land and labor run throughout the August gathering, as it did actions, reaching out through the unions to broader social during a previous Active Workers Conference struggles, and keeping the continuity of the communist in Pittsburgh in July of last year. The Ohio workers movement in print. conference will register what the communist movement has accomplished sirice the Pitts­ • Talks by Jack Barnes, Socialist Workers Party national burgh gathering in responding to the opportu­ secretary, and by Mary-Alice Waters, editor nities and obligations presented by the new of the Marxist magazine New International. situation in the working class. Progress has been made in an accelerated • Classes based on Capitalism's World Disorder by Jack way since the end of 1998. In December, SWP national secretary Jack Barnes presented a talk Barnes, Struggle for a Proletarian Party by James P. Cannon, at the closing session of a conference in Los and other books. Classes will focus on clarifying questions Angeles jointly sponsored by the Young So­ discussed in summer schools organized across North America cialists and SWP. The conference coincided by Young Socialists and the SWP. with the thirdYS national convention. Pointing to the expanding numbers ofvan­ guard workers and farmers engaged in strikes, Militant/Tim Mailhot March in Des Moines, Iowa, by workers on strike lockout conflicts, and farm struggles around against Titan Tire, November 1998 the United States- several of whom were present at that meeting - Barnes observed that as socialist workers and youth turn to­ Exhibits ward these fights by other wotking people, "We • Books and pamphlets will be on sale throughout the conference will transform our movement together. We will -many at special discounts. find ourselves in small towns as well as large cities." This talk is the opening chapter ofthe • Socialist summer schools. book Capitalism s World Disorder: Working­ Class Politics at the Millennium by Barnes, • Keeping the arsenal of Pathfinder books and pamphlets in print. published early this year. "I'm not making a prediction," Barnes said • Expanding the use of the internet and network computing to advance "I'm not saying we should go someplace in political centralization and collaboration in the communist move­ particular. I'm saying we are open to that ment. Preview the new website of the Militant newspaper to be course, and we will follow it. We will have the courage of our convictions, and our rolled out soon after the conference! movement's leadership will be defined by a sensitivity, a responsiveness, and a compe­ Social events a fun Militant/Mike ltalie tence in moving in this direction. Political Sports a swimming Selling Capitalism's World Disorder to strikers at Ingalls op~nings and responsibilities will determine c' Shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, May 1999 organizational forms." A rolling panel discussion that will open Schedule the Ohio Active Workers Conference and con­ tinue over the next two days will put the spot­ ~ light on the best examples marking progress 8:00am- 12:30 pm Registration 9:00am -11:30 am Panel discussion (3rd session) the communist movement has made along this 1:00pm-1:30pm Welcome to Ohio 1999 1:30 pm-4:00 pm Classes course. Sandler and Jack Willey, also a mem­ c Active Workers Conference-Jack Willey 7:00pm- 11:00 pm Organizing to Carry Out the ber of the SWP's Trade Union Committee, 1:30 pm-4:00pm Panel discussion (1st session) will be the moderators. Perspectives of the Active Workers Conference-Jack Barnes The panel will include SWP members and 7:00pm -10:30 pm Structuring Party Units and Trade Union Fractions through Mass Work Young Socialists active in working-class poli­ launching the Pathfinder Fund tics and the industrial unions, operating equip­ ~-JackBarnes 11 :30 pm- 1:00am Party ment in the party printshop, as well as other workers and farmers engaged in struggles. In 9:00am- 11 :30 am Panel discussion (2nd session) ~ addition, the panel will feature supporters of 1:30 pm - 4:00 pm The Place of the Party's Auxiliary (Allday) Joint meeting of steering committee the communist movement organizing to help Organizations-the Young Socialists and members of the SWP's national advance the party's work in a range ofways. Party Supporters- in Building the trade union fractions On the first evening, following the opening Communist Movement-Mary-Alice Waters Meeting of Young Socialists panel, Barnes will address the overall theme 7:00pm -10:00 pm Classes VVorkshopsforconference ofthe conference from the standpoint ofshifts participants volunteering for the in U.S. and world politics, accelerating class Pathfinder reprint project polarization, and perspectives for building pro­ letarian parties. Follow natural lines of resistance Sandler pointed out that following the July 1998Active Workers Conference in Pittslmgh, the National Committee ofthe SWP launched a campaign to increase the number of party members working in meatpackingjobs orga­ nized by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and garment and textile jobs FOR TRANSPORTATION AND OTHER INFORMATION CALL: organized by the Union ofNeedletrades, In­ YS and SWP supporters nearest you (at numbers listed on page 12) dustrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), as YS National Committee: (415) 824-1429 well as to rebuild a national fraction of coal miners in the United Mine Workers (UMWA). SPONSORED BY: Young Socialists, SocialistWorkers Party Doing so, Sandler said, was the road to bringing to bear in today 's new situation the political lessons, working-class habits, and strike against Freeman United Coal in central ers;' he pointed out, "have been tied to the to put SWP andYS members in the auto, steel, disciplined functioning conquered by the party Illinois; the walkout by anthracite miners in fight for equal rights for immigrants, against rail, and machinists unions back on the disci­ in the late 1970s when it made a turn toward Hazelton, Pennsylvania; and the Deserado the raids by the hated Ia migra and its Opera­ plined footing we conquered during the open­ getting the overwhelming majority ofits mem­ strike in Colorado. At the same time, hiring tion Vanguard that allows the INS to look ing years ofthe party's turn to industry." bership and leadership into industry and the for coal mine jobs increased in certain areas through employers' records and deputize lo­ Willey said that as the party makes progress industrial unions. These accomplishments are ofthe country-including hiring ofyounger cal cops to be INS agents." along this course, "We are meeting people recorded in the book The Changing Face of generations of workers and of women. The Members of the SWP and YS are also again we had gotten to know years ago, as U.S. Politics: Working-Class Politics and the combination of the job openings and our in­ strengthening union fractions in garment and well as meeting new militant workers:' For Trade Unions by Jack Barnes. volvement in helping to organize solidarity textile plants in cities where the party has example, he said, the SWP last month estab­ "Coming out of the Pittsburgh gathering, with these struggles led the party to set up two branches and in mills in surrounding areas. lished a branch organizing committee in St. we knew the party's structures would be trans­ organizing committees in the coalfields. We Willey pointed to an important recent victory Loui~, where there had been a party branch formed through mass wOik,'' said Sandler. "But are in these areas early, before important class won by textile workers-the successful union­ until the mid-1990s. Socialist workers have we had no preconceived notions ofthe forms battles unfold." ization drive in Kannapolis, North Carolina. maintained coritact with airline workers there this would take. We followed the natural lines A third organizing committee was formed "Reinvigorating the party's political and who have been engaged in fights at TWA over

of resistance in the working class. to advance the party's work among packing­ trade union work among workers in garment c the past year, as well as with workers in other "Since last fall there have been at least house workers in the Midwest, Jack Willey and textile factories, packinghouses, and coal industries. And they are getting to know other three contract battles by UMWA miners: the said. "Many recent struggles by meatpack- mines;' Sandler added, "is also the best way Continued on Page 11 August 2, 1999 The Militant 5 Communist League holds congress in United Kingdom BY PETE CLIFFORD "Responding to this change is more than AND PAUL DAVIES seeing the need for more sales and discus­ LONDON- The Communist League in sions with workers," he continued "It poses the United Kingdom held its Sixth Congress the opportunity to be part of these fights, here June 26--27. Twenty voting delegates working and fighting together with others." discussed and adopted political and organi­ Hunt pointed to the continued significance zational reports, as well as electing a new of the fight for union rights by 278 members Central Committee. Fraternal delegates from of the Transport and General Workers Union the Communist League in Canada and Swe­ (TGWU) workers who were sacked after a den, as well as the Socialist Workers Party one-day strike at LSG Sky chefs at Heathrow in the United States, were seated, as was a airport. These workers led and dominated the Militant/Caroline Bellamy representative of supporters of the commu­ 3,000-strong May Day march in the London Picket line rally of 300 for striking Skychefs workers at Heathrow airport in February. nist movement in Iceland. Representatives this year. Two days later 400 people took part of the Young Socialists in Iceland, Sweden, in a rally at the Skychefs picket line. Several and the United States also attended. League members accompanied workmates to Other delegates pointed to the impact the countries rather than the capitalist class in Prior to the congress, members ofthe Com­ join this action. The company has recently progress ofthe nationalist struggle in Ireland the UK, and as yet there were no attempts munist League had centered their discussions agreed to talk with the strikers, but as yet re­ is having on the confidence of workers who by farmers organizations or trade unions to on "A sea change in working-class politics," fuses to reemploy them. After initially pull­ are Irish living in Britain. Among a delega­ build links in their struggles. the opening chapter ofthe new Pathfinder title ing back from reaching out for solidarity dur­ tion of 27 from London to join nationalist fighters defending the Garvaghy Road July Building the Young Socialists Capitalism s World Disorder: Working-Class ing these talks, the strikers are now organiz­ Politics at the Millennium by Jack Barnes, as ing to step up the pressure again. 3--4 were several Irish workers. In the previ­ The second day ofthe congress spent some well as the preface to that book. Both docu­ Two delegates at the CL congress whore­ ous years, few would have taken this step, time addressing the error that the League had ments discuss the challenge for communists cently started work at the airports described fearing both possible state repression and also made by not building and recruiting to chap­ and other fighting workers and filrmers to how the Skychefs strike is part of a broader isolation from their workmates. ters of the Young Socialists over the last pe­ respond to the openings in politics today. In picture in the industry. Aer Lingus workers The Communist League has to respond to riod. In doing this, the League had followed addition League members discussed the pref­ at Heathrow, for example, are also discuss­ fights where they break out, Hunt said in his a different course than its co-thinkers in com­ ace to the new edition ofEl rostro cambiante ing how to respond to an attack on their jobs summary. He pointed to the importance of munist leagues around the world. Many del­ de Ia politica en Estados Unidos the Spanish and conditions as the company prepares to recent teams to the Yorkshire coalfields, egates joined this discussion, pointing to how translation of The Changing Face of US. sell its operation there to Swissair. At the which could only be done with two branches this had to be reversed to take full advantage Politics: Working-Class Politics and the Trade Manchester airport there have been a num­ reaching outwards, as part of a national or­ of the openings today - to not wait for Unions by Barnes. The preface, focuses on ber of wildcat actions in recent weeks. ganization. The team inYorkshire had higher young people to join the CL, but work to win the fight for a politically homogenous inter­ At Heathrow, Skychefs strikers are now sales than previous teams to coal miners, in­ revolutionary-minded young fighters to the national communist movement The del­ taking other jobs at the airport while con­ dicating how despite the blows these work­ YS. Delegates pointed to how recent teams egates at the congress voted to adopt all three. tinuing to sustain their 24-hour picket. "This ers had suffered after the 1984-85 strike, their in the Yorkshire coalfield and to meet dock­ poses an opportunity to work alongside these experience of using union power was likely ers at Felixstowe had been stronger through Reaching towards workers resistance fighters" to build support and solidarity, to become important as more fights open up. youth being a part of them. "Ifwe don't build In the opening report to the congress, Com­ explained one delegate. Steps like this can Deepening contact with this layer of work­ the Young Socialists, we won't build the munist League leader Tony Hunt explained, significantly strengthen the union fractions ers means that both branches of the League Communist League;' Hunt said, summariz­ "We are at the beginning of a process of that the League organizes in the TGWU; have to do work in the coalfields. ing the discussion. "Ifwe take young people change in the working class .... It's a profound Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT); In the week following the congress, three to the new lines of working-class resistance shift in the mood and attitudes of workers, and Amalgamated Engineers and Electri­ League members formed a five-day team to and fight to build chapters of the YS we can and there is an increase in workers' resis­ cians Union (AEEU}, Hunt explained. Scotland, a few days after the openittg of the build the League through this." tance." He challenged the conclusions of a Delegates at the Congress pointed to other first Scottish parliament to meet in nearly 300 Midway through the congress a Militant report published by the Trades Union Con­ examples of the ·new openings for commu­ years.As weltas discussing the national ques­ Labour Forum was held titled, "Forty years gress a few weeks earlier that claimed the nist work in the trade unions. Paul Gallo­ tion, they.went to meet with shipyard work­ of the Cuban revolution: workers and farm­ number ofstrikes in 1998 was the lowest since way from Manchester, a member of the ers who are discussing how to respond to re­ ers can follow its example in the UK." Mary­ 1891. "The TUC misleader& are now calling AEEU at a tractor plant, reported that 60 of dundancy (layoff) threats and also seek com­ Alice Waters, the editor ofNew International for more 'partnership deals,' " Hunt said, his workmate& had signed a protest letter in mercial orders for Pathfmder books. Hunt magazine, shared the platform with Com­ "because they say the bosses have 'nothing the last week, after their former workmate explained it is through working with fighters munist League leader Pete Clifford and to fear' from the union." Antonis Partsasis had received a court sum­ in other parts of the United Kingdom that Young Socialists leader Samantha Kern. He pointed to the experience of a Militant mons from Wigan Borough Council. League members will be able to become part Clifford described the openings for commu­ sales team the previous week to Felixstowe Partsasis was charged under undemocratic ofthe resistance and begin changing the work nists in the United Kingdom. Kern spoke docks, east ofLondon.After a 87 percent vote street trading laws for promoting the Mili­ that they do in the union fractions in the cit­ about the strengthening of the YS as a com­ for strike action by these 1,800 dockers, there tant and Pathfinder books on a Communist ies where the branches are based. munist youth organization, and described the summer schools and other activities young was a "combative spirit, the first move to­ League stall in February. Some workers Imperialist occupation of Yugoslavia ward action in nine years." Although their signed the protest letter to register support socialists and socialist workers are organiz­ action was called off, this wa8 not likely to for his political activity, and others simply A special report was given to the congress ing across the United States. be the end of the story, Hunt noted. to show their support for free speech. by Anne Howie, who had participated in the This opening to the program was ''the best three-week Militant reporting team to the possible context for talking about 40 years Balkans during the height of the bombing. of the Cuban revolution," Waters said She Howie explained that the agreement being had participated in the Militant andPeY.Ypec­ implemented in Yugoslavia "registers a ma­ tiva Mundial team reporting the 40th anni­ US Airways workers reject jor blow to the Yugoslav federation and to versary celebrations of Cuba's agrarian re­ the fight for self-determination of the Ko­ form. She said this was "not about some­ • sovar Albanians." Nevertheless, she argued, thing 40 years ago, it was about today and concesston contract this blow has not resolved the situation and advancing the socialist revolution today in imperialism's quagmire has deepened. Cuba and around the world." She explained BY DAVE WELTERS The proposal would have introduced part­ She pointed out the Blair government isn't ''the Cuban revolution is not about some­ PmSBURGH- Maintenance workers time cleaners for a proportion up to 35 per­ stronger today coming out ofthe war. "There thing long ago or far away, but it's about at US Airways have voted down a contract cent of full-time cleaners in line mainte­ is no wave of nationalism, no boost to the advancing the struggles of workers, farm­ proposal that union officials said would pro­ nance in any station, or 25 percent system­ ability to drive through attacks against work­ ers, and youth here in the UK and interna­ vide ''the best wages and working conditions wide. It also allows mandatory overtime for ers here, or in Ireland. Think about what tionally. Its about us acting in such a way in the industry." After almost four years the first time for mechanics de-icing aircraft. [former prime minister Margaret] Thatcher that we push forward the development of a without a contract, many workers felt the "If they start with some part-time with was able to do after the Malvinas war" real class-struggle vanguard from the strik­ offer was too little too late and introduced this contract, they'll make it larger next time against Argentina in 1982. Thatcher "came ers at Skychefs, to the Garvaghy Road, to serious concessions, such as part-time work­ until this is a part-time job altogether;' said out of that and won the election and took on the farmers in Yorkshire and Wales." Waters ers for the first time ever. About 74 percent Yvonne Key, a cleaner at US Airways in the miners. This isn't the same." Howie ex­ went on to describe how in this way fight­ of workers voted against the proposal, and Philadelphia. "Then we'll all be working two plained that imperialism has not accom­ ers in Cuba, like participants at the congress, 81 percent voted for strike authorization, ac­ part-time jobs just to make a living." plished its goals in Yugoslavia and that as were starting not only with their own real­ cording to initial results announced July 14. Opposition to the proposed contract was union resistance continues in the United ity but with the world reality. The tentative agreement, reached June 6 widespread. In Pittsburgh workers in one Kingdom, discussions among working Among the participants at the forum were between US Airways and officials of the In­ hanger made and distributed 100 bright red people on the military occupation ofYugo­ nearly a dozen supporters of the communist ternational Association of Machinists T-shirts proclaiming, "I am voting No," in slavia remain wide open. move~ent who, in response to the openings {lAM}, covers 7,000 mechanics, utility, and large letters. Several delegates reported on their expe­ discussed at the congress, have over recent stores workers. Many workers are unhappy Meanwhile, on June 25 the National Me­ riences in the last three weeks on teams in months extended the time they have contrib­ that after more than four years without a diation Board ordered that a new union rep­ South Wales and Yorkshire meeting work­ uted to different tasks. Many have been in­ raise the agreement offered only a 3.57 per­ resentation election for 9,500 US Airways ing farmers. The impact of the deflationary volved in aiding the reprint project of Path­ cent wage increase for all workers. For passenger service agents, over company crisis of world capitalism on these produc­ finder books, others have taken on staffing cleaners, who are at the bottom of the pay objections, take place by August 20. The ers has been ruinous; one Scottish paper re­ the Pathfinder bookshop in London. At the scale, the raise is just 28 cents, bringing their Communication Workers ofAmerica, which ported that the average annual income of forum the speakers encouraged these sup­ pay to $8.11. won a September 1997, election to bargain dairy farmers there was £47 ($70). Del­ porters to join with other fighters in attend­ Future raises would be determined by a for passenger service agents and was in the egates reported that farmers wanted to talk ing the Active Workers Conference to be "parity" formula that ties wage rates to those midst of negotiating their first contract, was not just about the devastation they face, but held August 5-7 in Oberlin, Ohio. Some at four competing airlines, weighted heavily decertified by a federal appeals court in May. were keen to hear how farmers in other coun­ £750 was donated at the forum towards a toward nonunion Delta Airlines. Ron Jack­ tries are resisting the impact of the capital­ special party-building fund of £3,000 son, a cleaner for 10 years, said "You have Dave Welters is a member of JAM Local ist crisis. At the same time, the actions or­ launched by the League. to get away from all the mumbo jumbo about 1976 in Pittsburgh. Rebecca Arenson and ganized by farmers in Britain in recent parity-plus-1-percent and get to the core is­ Nancy Cole, members of JAM Local 1776 months remained in a nationalist framework, Peie'clifford and Paul Davies are membeY.Y sue -keeping up with the cost ofliving." in Philadelphia, contributed to this article. targeting the produce of farmers in other oftheTGWU 6 The Militant August 2, 1999 40th anniversary of workers and farmers in power in Cuba RaUl Castro on 1953 Moncada assault: 'Aim was to spark revolutionary armed action' BY RAUL CASTRO In the opposition camp the Orthodox Party, Eight years ago, all ofCuba was shaken by with great influence in the petty bourgeoisie, an event that the censored and venal press cov­ had the most authority. The Popular Socialist ered only partially and in a distorted way: the Party had broad influence among the masses assault on the Moncada garrison, the military ofworkers and peasants.3 The UnitedAction fortress ofthe eastern province. Party (PAU), created by Batista and others of What most people knew at the time was his ilk, had no chance ofvictory. that on July 26, 1953, a large group of young The Orthodox Party, with its founder people, led by Fidel Castro, had launched a Eduardo Chibas dead,4 turned down a unity bold military opemtion to capture the Moncada pact proposed by the PSP, which had offered garrison, that there had been a fierce battle, to support the Orthodox Party's presidential that more than eighty young people had been candidate. 5 While theortodoxos rejected unity taken prisoner and then murdered, and that in with other political forces, however, they the days that followed, others had been ar­ opened their doors and offered important lead­ rested and jailed. ership posts to a large number ofold-time poli­ July 26, 1953, opened a new phase in Cuban ticians, plantation owners, bankers, Platt history, the phase of armed action as the prin­ Amendment types,6 and so on. cipal method of struggle against the Batista Nevertheless, with admirable discipline tyranny and against the semicolonial foreign and a spirit of sacrifice, the Cuban Commu­ domination of our country. nists thought only about what was best In his trial, Fidel was both his own defense for Cuba at the time, despite rejection attorney and an implacable accuser ofthe tyr­ by the Orthodox Party and daily warn­ anny and of the existing social and economic Right: National Institute of Agrarian Refurm ings from that party's principal lead­ system in Cuba. In his speech to the court, Above, view of Moncada garrison, showing bullet holes _ ers that they wanted no agreement which became known as "History Will Ab­ from the attack by Cuban revolutionaries in 1953.At with the Communists. These warnings solve Me;' he explained the basis and justifi­ right, Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces were aimed above all at the ears of cation for that historic attack, which the tyr­ Raul Castro, speaking at 1960 ceremony where the imperialists so they would look fa­ anny turned into a blood-soaked massacre, and Moncada was handed over to the ministry ofeducation vorably on an Orthodox Party govern­ the political ends he intended to achieve. to be made into a school. ment in Cuba. The PSP decided to sup­ The assault on the fortress did not aim to port the Orthodox Party presidential achieve power through the action of a hun­ situation and discontent in the country, fighters candidate while running their own in­ dred men. Rather, it was meant as the first would come forward spontaneously as soon as dependent candidates for the Senate step by a determined group to arm the there were arms and leaders.lt is important to and House of Representatives on a people of Cuba and begin th~ revolution. point out, however, that he was not trying to deep-going program of measures: It was not a putsch that sought an easy vic­ organize an action behind the back of the against imperialism, landlordism, dis­ tory without the support ofthe people. 1Rather, masses, but mther to find the means to arm and crimination, unemployment, attacks it was a surprise attack to disarm the enemy mobilize them for the armed struggle. The goal on unionists, and Mujalism. 7 and arm the people, with the aim of sparking was not to take over the seat ofgovernment and revolutionary armed action. grab power, but rather to initiate revolutionary Batista's coup action to bring the people to power. labor movement; the closing down ofthe revo­ Thus there was no doubt that, as the major Nota putsch · The government ofCarlos Prio was coming lutionary press and the murder of many of its opposition party and with the backing of the It was not simply a blow to take power from to an end. Like earlier governments, it had fallen leaders. The Authentic Party, which brought Popular Socialist Party, the Orthodox Party's Batista and his accomplices in power• .Rather, into discredit because of its subordination to Prio to power, had been greatly weakened. It victory in the next elections would be easily it was the opening shot of an effort to trans­ imperialist interests; beCause of gangsterism;2 lost many members and lacked any semblance attained. form the whole political, economic, and so­ That was where things stood in Cuba on cial system in Cuba. It sought to end foreign March 10, 1952, eighty-two days before the oppression, poverty, unemployment, unhealthy Moncada "was the opening shot of an effort to transform elections. On that day a coup d'etat led by living conditions, and lack of culture, all of the whole political, economic, and social system of Cuba." Batista took place, with imperialist sponsor­ which weighed heavily on the homeland and ship, aimed at reinforcing Cuba's semicolo­ the people. nial status and preventing an Orthodox Party At that time Fidel did not have an organiza­ the shameless theft ofpublic funds; its inter­ ofmass support. The Authentic Party, together victory in the elections. The coup makers had tion built around and committed to those ends. vention into the unions and the imposition of with the Liberal, Democmtic, and Republican nothing to fear from that party's top leader­ Fidel was confident that, given the political handpicked leaders; the repression against the Parties, had formed a government coalition that ship. But there was indeed reason to fear the came to be known as the "hip pocket parties;' masses who supported the Orthodox Party, as 1 Accusations that the Moncada attack was a 2 In the midst of the revolutionary upsurge of representing a small minority ofold-time cor­ well as their demands after the party came to putsch were common in the bourgeois press at the the 1930s that in 1933 toppled the dictatorship of rupt politicians, who in turn represented the power. These masses would not be satisfied time. This was also the position ofthe pro-Mos­ Gerardo Machado, a number of armed "action traditional dominant sectors ofCuban society. with formal liberties. cow Popular Socialist Party (PSP). In a July 1953 groups" were formed, composed initially of revo­ These "corks" were accustomed to floating atop In a matter of hours, the government col­ statement of its position, reprinted by the Aug. 5, lutionary-minded young people. As the momen­ all the political tides and storms in the country, lapsed like a house ofcards and the president, 1953, issue of the Daily Worker, newspaper of tum of the revolutionary upsurge was contained showing that the earlier political upheavals in Carlos Prio, cowardly fled. the U.S. Communist Party, the PSP wrote, "We and then reversed over the course of the decade, our country had not yet been enough to keep oppose the actions of Santiago de Cuba and however, these groups degenerated into rival gang­ There was generalized national indignation; Bayamo. The putschist methods which were used ster-like formations that served the interests of them down underwater for good. the masses filled the streets--but then returned are characteristic ofbourgeois groups .... The PSP various bourgeois currents. Armed conflicts be­ The people were dissatisfied, but they ex­ to their homes discouraged The opposition lead­ condemns the putschist adventurism which is di­ tween the different gangs reached a peak in the pected change in the next general elections, ers, who were to spend the seven long years of rected against the fight of the masses." years before Batista's coup. for which everyone was preparing. anti-Batista struggle at podiums each claim-

3 The Popular Socialist Party was the name taken in 1944 by the Communist Party of Cuba. 4 Eduardo Chibas was founding leader of the opposition Cuban People's (Orthodox) Party in 194 7. The party attracted support from many workers and youth who opposed the corruption and subordination to Washington of Prio's Au­ thentic Party. Fidel Castro was a leader of the left wing of the Orthodox Party. In August 1951, Chi bas committed suicide at the conclusion of a radio address as protest against government cor­ ruption. 5 The PSP regularly supported candidates of bourgeois parties. 6 The PlattAmendment, named after U.S. Sena­ tor Orville Platt, was a provision imposed on the Cuban government that was established during the U.S. military occupation following 1898. Un­ der the terms ofthat amendment-incorporated in Cuba's new constitution- Washington was given the "right" to intervene in Cuban affairs at any time and to establish military bases on Cuban soil. These provisions were eliminated from the Cuban constitution in the wake of the 1933-34 revolutionary upsurge there. 7 Eusebio Mujal was head of the Confedera­ tion of Cuban Workers (CTC). Originally a sup­ pprter ofPrio 's Authentic Party, he became a finn 'adherent of Batista, and sought to use the CTC officialdom as a vehicle to police the labor move­ ment for the dictatorship. August 2, 1999 The Militant 7 40th anniversary of workers and farmers in power in Cuba ing to best represent the people, immediately the turn of the masses, who in bitter silence revealed their timidity and weakness. have suffered these mistakes. There could be The coup not only produced a political cri­ no more appropriate moment than today, when sis in the country. At the same time it brought we render accounts to Chibas at his tomb. about a deeper crisis in the leadership of the "These vast masses of the PPC are ready, Orthodox Party, which had come so close to more determined than ever. Ask yourselves in power and now was so far from it. All their these moments of sacrifice: 'Where are the weaknesses, ambitions, and incapacity-with aspirants-those who wanted to be first in the the exceptions we're all aware of--came to seats of honor in the assemblies and govern­ the fore. ment councils; those who ran for office and Neither the party nor any of the innumer­ formed tendencies; those who demanded to able factions its leaders were divided into, be up at the speakers' stage at the mass ral­ could offer a road forward, much less a pro­ lies?Today they are not running for office, not gram of struggle, to the masses who yearned mobilizing in the streets, not demanding places for something more than formal rights. The ofhonor in the front lines ofcombat. masses had shown even before the coup that "Faced with this picture, those who have a they wanted something more than a mini-pro­ traditional concept ofpolitics might feel pes­ gram ofhonesty in government, which would simistic. For those with blind faith in the not solve anything. They were beginning to masses, however, those who believe in the in­ understand that the reactionary coup was not destructible strength ofgreat ideas, the indeci­ aimed against the previous government but sion ofthe leaders will not give rise to weaken­ against them and their honest aspirations. In ing or discouragement, because the vacuum will face of this situation, a leadership that advo­ Members ofthe Orthodox youth demonstrate in Havana, Jan. 27, 1953. quickly befilled by honest menfrom the ranks. cated doing nothing, supposedly out of"dig­ "The hour is revolutionary and not political. nity;• while making useless complaints to the more to pay tribute to him and take advantage we need not criticize ourselves, is rather loose Politics is the consecration of opportunism by Organization ofAmerican States, and raising of the opportunity to hold a demonstration and easy with his conscience." those who possess means and resources. The such pitiful slogans as not buying shoes and against the tyranny than to listen to the usual "Those sterile quarrels after Chibas 's death, revolution opens the door to true merit, to those clothes, not going to the movies, buying as empty words ofthe speakers. those huge conflicts, not ideological but purely with courage and sincere ideals, to those who little as possible, moral repudiation, etc., etc., There among the crowd a small mimeo­ selfish and personal, still ring as bitter offer up their bare chests and take the banner in would not do. These things would not even graphed newspaper of several pages was cir­ hammerblows in our conscience. their hands. A revolutionary party must have a have scared the mayor of a small town. culated, called El Acusador [The Accuser], "That disgraceful act of using public fo­ leadership that is revolutionary, young, and of Worst ofall was that their influence and pro­ edited by Fidel Castro and severalortodoxos. rums to air B)'Wltine quarrels was a deep symp­ popular origin. That is what will save Cuba." posals posed a genuine obstacle to mobilizing It carried an article entitled "A Critical As­ tom ofindiscipline and irresponsibility. In that article Fidel expressed the concerns the masses in revolutionary struggle against sessment of the ppc8;• signed by Fidel and "March 10 came unexpectedly. It was to of the ortodoxo masses. He had decided to the tyranny; they blocked unity in action ofthe expressing the sentiments of the ortodoxo be hoped that such a serious event would make these ideas public after several months revolutionary forces. Their most prominent lead­ masses. It stated: pull up by its roots the petty squabbles and ofknocking on all the doors of those politi­ ers practiced and preached anticommunism, "Above the tumult of the cowards, the me­ sterile personal issues in the party. But was cians for whom Batista and imperialism, with without which no bourgeois leader would get a diocrities, and the weak-spirited, it is neces­ this what happened? their coup and its deep consequences, had green light from theYankees in order to obtain sary to make a brief, yet useful and construc­ '"To the swprise and indignation ofthe party's placed a gravestone on their public lives with power. So, we had a sizable task before us: to tive assessment of the ortodoxo movement ranks, the stupid quarrels began to resurface. the initials R.I.P. on it. Seven years later it fight Batista as well as what many ofthe oppo­ since the death of its great leader, Eduardo Those responsible showed total lack of sense would be the tum of Batista and imperialism, sition leaders represented. Ciubas." in not noticing that while the opportunity to which fought to keep him in power. They would Later it stated: attack the regime in the press was limited, the be buried by the hands of the people and their Opposition to the tyranny "Whoever believes that everything we've door to attack each other was wide open. There revolution ofJanuary 1959. The results were not long in coming. Five done up to now was good and was correct, that have been many such examples ofthis type of months after the coup, the first anniversary of conduct, which has served Batista. Youth take to the streets the death ofChibas was approaching. On that 8 The initials in Spanish for the Cuban People's ''No one will be shocked that such a neces­ The masses who supported the Orthodox day thousands of citizens went to his tomb, Party, commonly known as the Orthodox Party. sary assessment is being made today. It is now Party ended up like an anny whose officers had Series marks key steps by Cuban revolution BY MIKE TABER to defend their interests. president by Osvaldo Dortic6s, a prominent .Some of the speeches planned for this This is the seventh piece in a series The first government that carne to power lawyer with ample credentials as an anti-im­ series have never before appeared in En­ appearing in the Militant each month in January 1959 was a coalition of the revo­ perialist and anti-Batista fighter and a mem­ glish. Others have been out of print for throughout 1999 celebrating the 40th lutionary forces led by the July 26 Move­ ber of the July 26 Movement. many years. Militant readers who are in­ anniversary ofthe Cuban revolution. The ment and bourgeois opposition figures, The July 26 Movement as well as other terested in helping with the translation series features speeches by central lead­ among thein the new president, Manuel groups that participated in the fight against are invited to contact Pathfinder Press at ers of the revolution marking turning Urrutia. Fidel Castro remained commander­ Batista were profoundly affected as (212) 741-0690. Messages can also be points and accomplishments as the work­ in-chief of the RebelArmy. He had no posi­ procapitalist forces split away. More than a sent to 73321.414 @compuserve.com or ers and farmers ofCuba pressed ahead in tion in the new government. few joined armed counterrevolutionary or­ mailed to Pathfinder at 410 West Street, the opening years of the revolution, de­ The July 26 Movement and Rebel Army ganizations. New York, N.Y. 10014. fending their interests against the capi­ forces under Castro's leadership, both in­ By November 1959, the last of the bour­ talists, landlords, and imperialist rulers side and outside the government, contin­ geois forces had left the government. Wash­ in the United States. ued to mobilize the toilers to carry out the ington launched a full-scale political, eco­ Don't mis~ this ~es! The revolutionary struggle that program they had fought for. As the revolu­ nomic, and military campaign to overthrow Subseribe·: ' . .to·.tlJe..· Milit411t. ., .. todaY.. toppled the U.S.-backed dictatorship of tion deepened, Fidel Castro became prime the workers and farmers government. Fulgencio Batista on Jan. 1, 1959, was minister in mid-February. Among the mea­ Fmn August to October 1960, in direct Coming~--.. .. ·. led by the July 26 Movement and the sures decreed by the government in early response to the escalating U.S. attacks, 11 Etnest.o Che Guevat.t to (be ~tin' RebelAnny commanded by Fidel Castro. 1959 and implemented in practice by the Cuba's working people mobilized by the AmeticanYoutl)(;c)~ ~·fJ!~~na These organizations had mobilized Rebel Army at the head of the workers and millions to support and implement govern­ iri jul~~st 'i9t.Q . • . · ': . · .. · Cuba's toilers to bring down the bloody farmers vanguard were the dismantling of ment decrees nationalizing the factories, re­ E.rtter·mstawn:Mmts._ere:·'·· ·. regime, throw offthe yoke of Yankee eco­ the military and police forces of the Batista fmeries, mills, and other holdings of U.S.­ nomic and political domination, and ini­ regime; the eradication of the extremely and Cuban-owned corporations. The domi­ ' rrn~ d·fTl~t;~tic ;!~~ of ~h· tiate radical land refonn. Also opposing profitable U.S.-dominated gambling and nation ofcapital was broken and the founda­ ...... ·!;~~·~~"\l~lt;. Batista were substantial bourgeois forces, prostitution operations; the outlawing of tions laid for beginning a transition to so­ most ofwhom did little to bring down the racist discrimination in hiring and social cialism. In April 1961, the day after U.S.­ dictatorship but were energetic in seek­ services; and the slashing ofrents and prices organized bombing assaults on Cuban air­ ing to block the Rebel Army's victory. for other basic goods and services, such as fields and on the eve of the landing ofU.S.­ When it became clear this could not be telephone and utility rates, that consume trained and -fmanced mercenary troops at prevented, these forces - in league with most workers' income. the Bay ofPigs, the socialist character of the Washington- set their hopes on buying Most decisively, in May 1959 an agrar­ revolution was proclaimed. The invaders at ".,~~ offand corrupting the revolutionary lead­ ian reform law was implemented. Millions the Bay of Pigs were defeated in 72 hours. •Th•Sodal aimsofthe~IAnny~ ership. They confidently expected to en­ of acres oflarge landed estates held by U.S. The standoffbetween the two irreconcil­ speech by &nest0CheGuev;n.January.l7; gineer the sequence of events often seen and Cuban ruling-class families were con­ able forces represented by Havana andWash­ 1959(MifCh2l~') ·.· .· . . . elsewhere in Latin America throughout fiscated, and hundreds of thousands ofpeas­ ington, which continues to this day, has •ne battJe to end racial dis<:rirt:tina• the 20th century: that the July 26 ants received title to the land they worked. marked much of world politics throughout ·tlorl;.,..... speech byfitWCastrO. Match22. Movement's program would remain only To implement the land refonn, the new gov­ the last 40 yearS. 1959 ~it 19 issue) · a piece of paper, while in practice the in­ ernment established the National Institute Most of the speeches that will be included terests ofWashington and ofCuba's land­ ofAgrarian Reform (INRA) and Castro was in this series will appear in books that Path­ •"t.ltperialiSitl misJudged'the courage lords and capitalists would be secure. named INRA's president. finder is preparing for publication. These of the· Cuban peopte..the·~.of the Eventually, they anticipated, the situa­ These measures provoked a sharpening include two volumes of speeches by Fidel revolution .. - fi

8 The Militant August 2, 1999 fled in disorder and for good. Its youth still par­ Whenever they had the opportunity, the stu­ son, everything else ticipated in any activity called against the tyr­ dents took to the streets in demonstrations and would fall apart. anny, while new leaders were emerging from confrontations with the police. But in spite of One thing depended its ranks. Tirrough struggle these forces were their growing combativity, they remained a on the other, the big evolving politically. While fighting against the small part ofsociety. Keeping their heroic tra­ engine on the tyranny, they formed circles where Marxism dition ofstruggle alive, they constituted a per­ smaller one. But it was studied, pamphlets were printed-single manent agitational factor, but by themselves was possible, and sheets, small mimeographed newspapers--and they could do little or nothing. we threw ourselves they prepared themselves for the struggle. Many We were all in agreement, and were con­ into it. joined the SocialistYouth.9 scious that to destroy the tyranny it was nec­ July26, StAnn's A few months later, on January 28, 1953- essary to set in motion a mass movement. But Sunday, was chosen the hundredth anniversary of the birth ofJose Marti-a large dem­ onstration of workers, students, white collar employees, and the people in general set off from the steps of the University ofHavana. Within the crowd, attention was drawn to a group of several thou­ sand youths who marched in per­ fect formation, filling up six blocks. because, as every- emy" Batista and imperialism, could imagine At their head was Fidel. These were one knows, on that what would come later. the youth, in their majority from the day Carnival is at With such limited resources, arms were few Orthodox Party, who had now found its high point in and oflow quality. One by one, several dozen a leader and were searching for new Santiago de Cuba. automatic five-cartridge 12 gauge shotguns and methods of struggle. 10 Thousands of Cu- a similar number of semi-automatic .22 cali- Batista, feeling himself invulner­ bans from all over her rifles were purchased We obtained only able, with his stubbornness and the country, includ- one .45 caliber Browning machine gun, an M-1 blindness, as well as his specific ing many tourists carbine, several.44 caliberWmchesterrifles- role as imperialism's guard dog, had from Havana, as like those used by cowboys in U.S. Westerns- led the country to a dead end. All well as natives of andsomepistolsofvariouscalibers. This was that was possible through peaceful Santiago who re- our entire arsenal. It was enough, at one weapon means would be a contest among turn to their home per fighter, to arm 150 men. It was easy to ob- the various leaderships ofbourgeois Top, young revolutionaries just before the Moncada assault. From left to right, town for a week to tain such arms with fake licenses, using them parties who were vying for power Calixto Garcia, Raw Castro, Jose Luis Tasende, and Nico Lopez.Above, national enjoy the tradi- overandoverindifferentgunshops. This was behind the backs ofthe people and sugar workers' strike shook Cuba two years after Moncada attack. tional popular eel- because in spite of the vigilance and control against their interests. There were ebration. This theregimemaintainedoverthesaleofarmsin four parties that, together with the Authentic given everything that had happened as men­ meant that our men could travel from Havana the capital, no one could imagine that a mili- Party, had made up the government coalition tioned above, how could this be done? At that to Santiago, passing themselves off as just tary fortress would be attacked with rifles of Carlos Prio. One of these, the Republican time Fidel was saying, ''A little engine is other tourists. Together with the movement of meant for shooting birds. Party, lined up behind Batista only two days needed that will help start up the big engine." masses ofpeople and luggage, the transport of The plan moved forward amidst all sorts of after the coup. Before the end of the year, the The little engine would be an initial action weapons was also made easier. anxieties and unimaginable difficulties, in- Democratic and Liberal Parties were in power with those same young people who, marching Well over a year had passed since Fidel cludingeconomicstrainsandgovernmentvigi- once more, together with Batista. It was an in virtual military formation, followed Fidel had begun assembling together the movement. lance. It was true that such vigilance had not example ofhow politics in Cuba was a thieves' that January 28, 1953. They began receiving Up to that point it remained without a name. reached the brutal and implacable forms of picnic. Among the working class, the ouster of basic military training, including the handling It was known simply as "The Movement" to bloody persecution as it would in years to its honest leaders was intensifying. The gang­ of arms and target practice. Sometimes this the best of the ortodoxo youth who were able come; yet it nevertheless required that we ob- ster-like imposition of false leaders, armed was done in small groups at the university; to have contact with it. serve all the rules and security measures of assaults on the unions, the gradual loss ofmany other times it was conducted at small farms Several chapters of a book would be war- clandestine struggle. ofthe workers' conquests, and the offensive of offriendly peasants in Havana province. ranted to fully recount this whole historical There was a small general staff, led by Fi- the bosses allied with Mujal and imperial­ event, including the period ofadvance prepara- del. It was composed ofAbel Santamaria, our Movement ofworking-class youth ism, :was deepening the divisions within it. !. . tionfortheMoncadaaction.Iwilllimitmyself second in command; Jose Luis Tasende; Their banner was anticommunism, carefully These youth came from poor fliinilies:The - here to pointing outthe essennalfeatures. · -Renato Guitart; Antonio ''Nico" Lopez Fer- fed by the U.S. embassy through its agents in majority consisted ofworkers and white collar nandez; Pedro Miret; and JesUs Montane. Of leading posts in the CTC. All this meant that employees, along with a few peasants. Most Financed by those who gave everything them, only Fidel and the latter two are still the day when the mass workers movement came from Havana and provincial towns in Ha­ The success ofthe operation depended to a alive. Nico LOpez died in the Granma landing would be ready to fight was far off. vana province. Some were from Pinar del Rio. large extent on the military strength available three years later. to us, and therefore largely on the economic The principal tasks were divided among resources we could assemble. Unfortunately, these compafieros. Each pursued the plans in "Youth participated in activity against the tyranny, while after many sacrifices, only 20,000 pesos were his own area ofresponsibility. The other men raised. Three examples are sufficient to show were grouped in cells, which became some­ new leaders were emerging. They formed circles where how the money was raised, to cite cases of thing like seven-man squads. Later on, as or­ Marxism was studied, pamphlets were printed, and they cornpaiieros who were killed Elpidio Sosa sold ganization became further refined, they were his small business and appeared before Fidel organized into groups made up of several prepared themselves for struggle." with three hundred pesos "for the cause." squads each. Fernando Chenard sold the equipment from his These conditions made for difficult work­ photography studio, from which he earned his ing conditions. No less difficult was the situ­ In the countryside, the now-vanished Rural Artemisa stood out for the number ofmagnifi­ living. Pedro Marrero borrowed against many ation created by the hostility, humiliations, Guard, a type ofrural political police, carried cent young fighters it provided. Many ofthem months' future wages, and he had to be pre­ underestimation, contempt, and ridicule that out the same role as do the carabineros today in would fall in battle over the coming years. vented from selling all the furniture from his we suffered in that "opposition to Batista" sister countries. They did not even allow our Some became heroic Moncada combatants, home. There were other cases like this. It's easy environment, where it was not clear who was peasants to meet to form organizations allow­ firm revolutionaries in prison and exile, Granma to imagine how the funds were raised, among being opposed more-Batista, or those who ing them to fight for their most immediate de­ expeditionaries, 12 and courageous guerrilla those who gave everything, and later on gave worked honestly against Batista.Although the mands. Only a few such fighters remained, who officers. Some were Rebel Army founders­ their lives. There is no way to measure the gap people and nearly the entire youth had lost at a heavy cost had been able to resist the at­ like Ciro Redondo and Julio Diaz, heroes ofour between the honorable and patriotic attitude of faith in them, there were still a lot of "big tacks ofthe land grabbers and their Rural Guard youth who, like so many others, fell in the Si­ these young Cubans and the attitude ofthose chiefs" full ofthe "dignity ofdoing nothing"; defenders. These included peasant fighters at erra Maestra without being able to see the tri­ politicians who spent millions on their elec­ big shots who looked down on us with scorn, Realengo 18, Las Maboas, and El Cobre.ll wnphoftheircause. Inhomagetotheirmemmy, toral campaigns but were incapable ofgiving especially toward Fidel. There were a lot of once the war was over and after seven years of one cent to free the country. And I don't think it pompous individuals, coffehouse strategists 9 The Socialist Youth was the youth OJ:ganiza­ absence and tireless struggle, they were trans­ was because they were aware that later on we who in well-known restaurants were jotting tion of the Popular Socialist Party. ported on the shoulders of the people to their would free ourselves from them too. Because down on napkins their plans for solving Cuba's native city ofArtemisa. at that time, neither they, much less ''their en- problems. In a not very disguised way, they 10 Jose Marti (1853-1895) was a noted poet, That's what those young people were like, writer, speaker, and journalist, who founded the sons ofour working people, who marched be­ Cuban Revolutionary Party to fight Spanish rule hind Fidel that January 28. They had already and oppose U.S. designs on Cuba. Under Marti's received some military training, preparing History Will Absolve Me by Fidel Castro leadership, the party launched an independence themselves for the road ofarmed struggle, the war in 1895 in which he was killed in battle. Marti's revolutionary anti-imperialist program is part of only road we saw that had the possibility of the internationalist traditions and political heritage success. Meanwhile, they participated in dem­ #~~~itt > . > > . of the Cuban revolution. onstrations, rallies, and any other type of · F~el·,o~tf*!l• 'Pol'*•' Stlotegy: Within Cuba the young anti-Batista fighters struggle against the Batista tyranny. were closely identified with defending Marti's Fidel had already decided that the little .,,.m(t1~pccrcl

were seeking to advance their personal aspi­ that the Granma expeditionaries suffered at rations for the future. the beginning ofthe guerrilla struggle, the firm­ But our plans went ahead, ignoring these ness and tenacity of Fidel in inculcating in triflers who, through the heat ofbattle, the fall those first few fighters the idea of never giv­ ofBatista, and the coming of the revolution, ing up sustained the guerrillas in those early would see their clay pedestals dissolve and days. The support ofthe peasants and agricul­ would be unable to tolerate or understand, tural workers were obtained first; the support much less assimilate, the revolutionary storm ofthe working class and the rest ofthe popula­ in our country that would engulf them all: the tion came later. All this constituted the big pseudorevolutionaries as well as Batista and engine that toppled the tyranny and began the imperialism. [ ... ] revolution. This did not happen on that July [The article then details the attack and the morning in 1953 butratheronJanuary 1, 1959, reasons for its failure- ed.] when, with a firm base, we began the storm­ ing of the heavens, which for a true revolu­ Program benefiting workers, peasants tionary, for a Marxist-Leninist, is conquered The Moncada attack was not aimed simply here on earth: progress, well-being, and the at overthrowing the tyranny. Nor were its aims happiness of our people. separate and apart from the economic and so­ July 26 is a great anniversary date of the cial situation the country was in. revolution. Its basis was precisely the total repudiation July 26 is a great day in the history of our of Batista, his government, and what it repre­ homeland. sented. The general crisis of our semi colonial July 26 was extended in the Granma, in the structure was worsening. Unemployment was mountains, in the plains. It materialized in Janu­ increasing. The workers, the peasants, all the ·"#";.1/£ ary 1959; on May 17 in the agrarian reform; in popular sectors in our country were showing Fidel Castro, at far right, and other detainees in the urban reform; 15 in the army garrisons trans­ great dissatisfaction. Our bourgeoisie was dis­ the Santiago de Cuba jail after the Moncada at­ formed into schools; in the nationalization of satisfied too, because ofthe economic stagna­ tack. Left, Abel Santamaria, second in command the electricity and telephone monopolies, of tion Cuba was suffering and the ruinous compe­ at Moncada, who was tortured and killed. the banks, the sugar mills and other large in­ tition of the voraciousYankee imperialist mo­ dustrial enterprises in the country, all ofwhich nopolies. The latter did not worry too much allowed the revolution to take into its hands all about the bourgeoisie's concerns, however, "The logical reaction ofthe opposition poli­ the main pieces ofour economy, a basic mea­ knowing that it was paralyzed by fear-above ticians in face of this clear fact should be to sure to strengthen ourselves and move forward all in Latin America-that the working class answer the revolutionary action ofjidelismo under the circumstances that surround us. It is and the peasants would lead a patriotic and with some resolute political action of their tied together and extended in the Declaration democratic struggle and win power. The Yan­ own." ofHavana, 16 in the victory at Playa Gir6nl7 kee imperialist monopolies were confident that Third, it brought Fidel Castro to prominence and with the proclamation ofthe socialist char­ in a crisis the national bourgeoisie would take as the leader and organizer of the armed acter of our revolution, which realizes in our their side against the sovereignty and indepen­ struggle and of radical political action by the beloved Cuban land the highest and most cher­ dence ofits own country. Cuban people. ished ideal ofhurnan society: putting an end to For our part, the plan was the following: [To­ Fourth, it served as a lesson subsequently the exploitation ofman by man. gether with the Moncada attack] we would si­ in organizing the Granma expedition and the multaneously attack the Bayamo garrison, with guerrilla action in the Sierra Maestra. the aim of placing forward units at the Cauto Fidel has not come to be Cuba's national 15 The agrarian reform law of May 17, 1959, River. We would arm the people with weapons leader solely for demonstrating courage and set a limit of 30 caballerias (approximately I ,000 taken from the dictatorship's soldiers. We would daring, firmness and decisiveness in organiz­ acres) on individual landholdings. Implementation cut the highway and railroad by taking the ing the Moncada assault. Rather, because to­ ofthe law resulted in confiscation ofthe vast estates bridges. We would occupy the airport and radio gether with that, he presented the program of in Cuba-many of them owned by U.S. compa­ about people we're talking about the six nies. These lands passed into the hands ofthe new stations. We \\Ould then address the people with hundred thousand Cubans without work, the country and the people. And he not only a program that would take effect immediately put forward that program, but he had the will government, :Ql1'1law also granted sharecroppers, who want to earn their daily bread honestly tenant farmers, and squatters a deed to the land they in the territory under our control, a program without having to emigrate from their to bring it about, and he showed the road to its benefitting workers and peasants, profession­ homeland in search of a livelihood; the five realization. tilled Another provision ofthe law established the National Institute ofAgrarian Reform (INRA). als, the petty bourgeoisie, middle-class layers hundred thousand farm laborers who live If' Karl Marx said that the Paris The urban reform law of October 1960 gave all in the city. We were convinced that by our ac­ in miserable shacks, who work four months Communards were "storming the heavens," 14 Cubans either outright ownership of their dwell­ tion, we would unleash the revolutionary storm of the year and starve the rest, sharing their we should say ofthe dozens of young people ings or permanent use of them with a monthly fee throughout the country. misery with their children, who don't have armed with bird guns who attacked the not to exceed 10 percent of their income. A description of the basic aims of our an inch ofland to till and whose existence Moncada garrison, that they ''tried to take the would move any heart not made of stone; 16 The First Declaration ofHavana, adopted at struggle were an important part of the com­ the four hundred thousand industrial heavens by surprise." bative speech Fidel gave in his own de­ Years later, on the Granma, the little en­ a mass rally in Havana in September 1960, was a workers and laborers whose retirement condemnation ofU.S. imperialism and its domi­ fense-an accusation and a program deliv­ funds have been embezzled, whose benefits gine would come again. Conditions had rip­ nation of Latin America. It was expanded and ered before the nervous judges (who hours are being taken away, whose homes are ened; we were not counting on the success of a single action, making all other plans depen­ deepened by the Second Declaration of Havana later would sentence him to fifteen years in wretched quarters, whose salaries pass from of February 1962. Both documents are contained prison) and the watchful and open-mouthed the hands of the boss to those of the dent on it. Rather, we made it so that one or in the pamphlet, The Second Declaration ofHa­ soldiers guarding him. moneylender, whose future is a pay more failures would not doom the entire ef­ vana (Pathfinder, 1962). Amidst absolute silence Fidel's words were reduction and dismissal, whose life is fort.And in spite ofthe early, serious setbacks heard clearly. How far were these judges and endless work and whose only rest is the 17 OnAprill7, 1961, 1,500Cubanmercenar­ tomb; the one hundred thousand small 14 The Paris Commune of 1871 represented ies invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs on the south­ soldiers from imagining that the words of a farmers who live and die working land that prisoner being tried secretly so that no one the first attempt to establish a revolutionary gov­ em coast. The counterrevolutionaries, organized is not theirs.[ ... ] These are the people, the and financed by Washington, aimed to declare a would find out what he said, would, years later, ones who know misfortune and, therefore, ernment ofthe toilers. The working people of Paris for the benefit ofthe people, become the laws held and administered the city from March 18 provisional government to appeal for direct U.S. are capable of fighting with limitless intervention. The invaders, however, were de­ ofthe nation! courage! To these people whose desperate until May 28, when their resistance was crushed roads through life have been paved with by the forces of the French bourgeoisie, working feated within seventy-two hours by Cuba's mili­ in league with the Prussian army. In the ensuing tia and its Revolutionary Armed Forces. OnApril I stated that the second consideration the bricks of betrayal and false promises, we were not going to say: "We will give terror more than seventeen thousand working 19 the last invaders surrendered at Playa Giron on which we based our chances for success people of Paris were massacred. The quotation by (Giron Beach), which is the name Cubans use to as one of social order. Why were we sure of you ... "but rather "Here it is, now fight for designate the battle. (The fifth installment in this it with everything you have, so that liberty Marx is from a letter to Ludwig Kugelmann dated the people's support? When we speak ofthe April 12, 1871 (Marx and Engels, Collected series, in the May 10 Militant, was a speech by and happiness may be yours!" [ ... ] people we are not talking about those who Works, vol. 44, pp. 131-32). Fidel Castro on the battle of Playa Giron.) live in comfort, the conservative elements ofthe nation, who welcome any oppressive Historic results ofMoncada regime, any dictatorship, any despotism­ To get to today, the historic results of the prostrating themselves before the masters failed attack on the Moncada garrison were ofthemomentuntil they grind their foreheads of vital importance. into the ground. When we speak of struggle First, it initiated a period ofarmed struggle and we mention the people, we mean the vast unredeemed masses those to whom that did not end until the tyranny's defeat. everyone makes promises and who are Second, it created a new leadership and a deceived by all; we mean the people who new organization that repudiated passivity yearn for a better, more dignified, and more and reformism; that was determined and com­ just nation; those who are moved by ancestral bative; and that, in the trial itself, raised a aspirations ofjustice, for they have suffered program with the key social, economic, and injustice and mockery generation after political demands needed to transform Cuba. generation; those who long for great and They rejected the PlattAmendment spirit of wise changes in all aspects oftheir life; people the old-time leaders, who were left behind, who, to attain those changes, are ready to losing influence among the masses. give even the very last breath they have, when they believe in something or in As a concrete demonstration ofthis loss of someone, especially when they believe in influence, the following appeared in the "Po­ themselves. The first condition of sincerity litical Parade" section of the magazine and good faith in any endeavor is to do Bohemia, on December 4, 1955:13 "Fidel precisely what nobody else ever does, that Castro is too dangerous an opponent for some is, to speak with absolute clarity, without of the opposition leaders who in three and a fear. The demagogues and professional half years have not seen fit to take a straight­ politicians who manage to perform the forward stance on Cuba's situation. These lead­ miracle ofbeing right about everything and ers know it very well. They already feel them­ of pleasing everyone are, necessarily, deceiving everyone about everything. The selves displaced due to the strength of revolutionaries must proclaim their ideas fidelismo in the battle against the military. courageously, define their principles, and express their intentions so that no one is 13 Bohemia was Cuba's leading newsmagazine deceived, neither friend nor foe. in the 1950s, with a weekly circulation of over a In terms of struggle, when we talk quarter of a million. 10 The Militant August 2, 1999 Ohio conference

Continued from front page branches are on a campaign working people in St. Louis who have been to become debt free and re­ involved in union battles and in building conquer a proletarian ap­ solidarity with fights elsewhere in Missouri, proach to financing a nation­ Illinois, and Iowa. ally centralized party." The party looks a little different today The party's nationally orga­ than a year ago, Willey said. "We are ex­ nized supporters have also panding to some smaller towns, often sur­ taken an August 5 goal of in­ rounded by cornfields or ranches." Both creasing monthly contribu­ there and in larger cities where SWP units tions to the SWP from just un­ are organized, worker-bolsheviks are now der $140,000 to $175,000 per gaining some new experience in integrat­ year. To advance towards this ing their political work with efforts by farm­ goal, all party units are orga­ ers fighting - in face of declining produce nizing meetings of supporters prices and rising indebtedness - to hold in their areas this month. ''At on to land and to their means oflivelihood. the Active Workers Confer­ Across the South, SWP andYS members ence we'll work to meet this have taken part in at least a dozen meetings goal and discuss the next About 900 constuction workers block Interstate 70 in St. Louis July 12, calling for affirmative action by farmers this year, most around the settle­ steps," Sandler said. in highway-construction jobs and contracts. SWP just established branch organizing committee there. ment in a class-action discrimination suit filed last year against the U.S. Department Summer schools, conference classes resentation victory in Kannapolis and the workers to the California summer school ofAgriculture (USDA) by farmers who are In June and July, the Young Socialists Steelworkers strike in Newport News, VIr­ special weekend. In addition, a farmworker Black, said James Harris, who works in a and SWP organized summer schools in cit­ ginia. YS and party members had also set from Watsorwille -who took part in a drive UNITE-organized warehouse in Atlanta. ies across North America to study and dis­ up a literature table the day before at Au­ to unionize Coastal Berry farms last year "A few of these furmers have been attend­ cuss central questions in world politics, the bum University in Alabama, where five stu­ and was beaten up by company thugs - ing Militant Labor Forums in Atlanta occa­ lessons and history of struggles for power dents have purchased copies ofCapitalism's attended the first day of the educational sionally, driving hours to do so. They have by the working class and its allies, and the World Disorder. "We have now set up a class weekend. also invited us to take part in fights in their continuity of efforts by vanguard workers on campus with one of these students who During the weekend, Kern said, one par­ areas, like a rally against racist violence in to build communist parties. Readings in­ is interested in coming to the Active Wolk­ ticipant asked why the SWP since the early Ashburn, Georgia." clude Capitalism's World Disorder, The ers Conference?' 1980s had resumed its call for a workers In response to the shifts in class politics, Struggle for a Proletarian Parly by found­ Reading, studying, and discussing with and farmers government, instead ofa work­ socialist workers have found receptivity ing SWP leader James P. Cannon, and In each other, while actively taking part in the ers government as it had done for a number among co-workers to taking part not only Defense ofMarxism by Leon Trotsky, a cen­ class struggle - that's been the pattern of of years in the 1960s and 1970s. This initi­ in union solidarity activity, but also in ac­ tral leader of the Bolshevik-led October the summer schools that have been the most ated a discussion on the central place of the tions to support working farmers and pro­ 1917 revolution in Russia. successful. This is especially true in areas worker-farmer alliance in the revolutionary tests around a range of social and political Classes at the Ohio conference will fo­ where Young Socialists moved for the sum­ struggle for power in the United States and issues. In the New Yolk and New Jersey area, cus on clarifying questions that came up mer, creating new concentrations ofYS mem­ other imperialist countries. for example, a party member working in rail during these summer schools. bers. The California SWP State Committee and brought a co-worker to a Militant Labor Fo­ "What's a 'nascent country' and what's In LosAngeles, for example, two YS mem­ party branches in LosAngeles and San Fran­ rum on the fight for Puerto Rican indepen­ the continuity of communism on the fight bers who moved there from northern Califor­ cisco are making a special effort, including dence, while two other party members there against national oppression?" This is one of nia got jobs in a union meatpacking plant. A fundraising, to ensure that every YS mem­ brought independence activists from Puer­ the questions discussed at the summer third YSer from Chicago got into a UNITE­ ber and contact come to the Ohio confer­ to Rico they had met to a picket line for school classes on James P. Cannon's His­ organized garment plant two weeks earlier. ence. A similar effort is needed across the striking Domino Sugar workers. tory ofAmerican Trotskyism in Birmingham, "This had a big impact on the 40 workers United States. said Roberto Guerrero, a YS member who and young people who took part in the July YS and party members in California are Structures that meet party needs recently moved there from Houston. "We've 11-12 statewide educational weekend at a now organizing a team to join steelworkers As the SWP has responded to changes in discussed the struggle for Quebec indepen­ mountain camp in Ben Lomand, Califor­ locked out by Kaiser Aluminum at a July working-class politics by extending its reach dence, spurred by the presence here of two nia;' said Samantha Kern, California state 17 solidarity rally in Spokane, Washing­ geographically, it has needec ·~ !ru1ke use of YS members from Canada, and we plan to organizer of the Young Socialists and a ton, Kern said. "We will bring these experi­ the state and district structures provided for read something by Lenin on the right of member of the YS National Committee. ences, and hopefully some of these fight­ by the party constitution. State organizations self-determination of oppressed nations." "One of the YS members who got the ers, to the Active Wolkers Conference?' ofthe SWP have been established in Califor­ Guerrero said another question.that,has meatpacking job in LA gave a class on nia and Minnesota, as well as a Southern sparked a lot of interest there is the historic 'Leading the party into industry' from Place ofYoung Socialists, supporters regional committee and a district organiza­ weight of workers who are Black in the Changing Face of U.S. Politics. We now On the second day of the conference, tion in New Yolk and New Jersey. changing South. He had just returned from have union fractions in meatpacking in both Mary-Alice Waters, editor of New Interna­ In early June, the SWP National Com­ a visit to Phoenix City, Alabama, and Co­ San Francisco and Los Angeles." tional magazine and president of Pathfinder mittee also made a number of decisions to lumbus, Georgia, where YS and party mem­ YS National Committee member Cecilia Press, will present a talk on the place of the structure party units along lines better bers sold nine copies of the Militant at the Ortega and another party member, who work SWP's auxiliary organizations -theYoung suited to meeting current political oppor­ plant gates of two Fieldcrest Cannon mills in a UFCW-organized meat-processing plant Socialists and nationally organized party tunities. "Establishing organizing commit­ and talked to workers about the union rep- in the Bay Area, brought one of their co- Continued on Page 14 tees in new areas means we'll have smaller units in some other places right now," Sandler said. "More than half of SWP branches are in Clinton's 'reform' would weaken Medicare the process of moving to headquarters that fit their current size and fmancial resources BY MEGAN ARNEY would go up $2-3 each year. still well out of reach for many who need it. by the end of September," he said. "And all In the name ofproposing a "reform plan" The scheme would also push more Medi­ This Medicare proposal is still to be de­ for Medicare June 29, President William care patients into health maintenance orga­ bated before Congress. The Clinton admin­ Clinton took the lead in attacking the 34- nizations (HMOs), which often offer poorer istration has already led greater inroads Colorado miners year-old national medical entitlement for the quality care, especially affecting wotking against Medicaid. A recent study by Fami­ elderly. people who cannot afford private insurance. lies USA, reports that 675,000 people- in­ end two-month strike The White House scheme aims to weaken Cuts in Medicare payments to most health cluding 420,000 children - lost Medicaid Medicare as an entitlement, increasing the care providers from 1997, which were due coverage in 1997 because of the Clinton BY RON KASPER payments workers make out of their pock­ to expire in 2003, will be extended. administration's assault on welfare. That Members of United Mineworkers of ets for the limited coverage it provides. As part of the package, Clinton revived was the year Aid to Families with Depen­ America Local 1984 in Rangely, Colorado, Clinton says the plan would cut $72 billion his earlier scheme to "adapt" Medicare to dent Children (AFDC), the main federally settled a more than two-month strike against from the government budget over 10 years. include U.S. citizens between the ages of funded cash relief program set up in 1935, Blue Mountain Energy at their Deserado Medicare, which provides medical ben­ 55 and 65. Instead of lowering the age for was eliminated. mine July 4. In a telephone interview Carol efits for those who are disabled or over the eligibility, since 3.2 million people between According to the study, at least one in Amy, the union local's recording secretary, age of 65, was established in 1965. Along the ages of 55 to 64 are uninsured, the presi­ five former welfare recipients do not have reported that the 74-14 vote put in place a with Medicaid, which provides medical cov­ dent proposed allowing laid-off wolkers age medical insurance today. In New Yolk City, five-year contract with a raise in wages of erage for low-income families, it was a by­ 55 or older the option to pay up to $400 a a Federal district judge ruled that thousands $1.85 over that period. The strikers were able product of the gains of the civil rights move­ month for health benefits. Medicare recipi­ of people were improperly denied Medic­ to cut down mandatory overtime hours to ment and an extension of the 1935 Social ents between 62 and 65 would pay $300 - aid at city welfare offices. 250 per year and stave off all cut-backs on Security Act. health care. Anyone over the age of 65 is eligible for Medicare at a cost of $45.50 a month; 39 million people receive coverage. AVAILABLE FROM PATHFINDER Clinton touts his plan as an expansion of ol A C K A Medicare because it will allow recipients to ,.be Cbana•na Face of u.s. PoiWcs purchase additional coverage for prescrip­ Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions tions drugs, which currently must be paid out ofpocket. There are substantial costs and JACK BARNES limitations to this coverage, however. Medi­ "This book grows out of the experience of the care would cover half of the beneficiary's drug costs up to an annual limit of $1 ,000 working class over the last twenty years. It reflects for a monthly premium of $24 (or $288 a hard-earned lessons drawn from the activity of the year) in 2002. The premium increases to $44 organized class-conscious and revolutionary-minded a month in 2008, with an annual limit of section of that class." -from the introduction. In­ $5,000.All costs above these caps would be paid by the recipient. cludes sections on the 1979 Newport News strike The White House proposal also includes and the revolutions in Iran, Grenada, and Nicaragua adding a 20 percent co-payment for clinical that year. $19.95 Also available in Spanish and French. laboratory services, which currently costs nothing. The deductible for doctor's office vailable from bookstores, including those listed on. page 12 visits - set at $100 per visit since 1991 - August 2, 1999 The Militant 11 UN hearings: 'Free Puerto Rico' Continued from front page a similar point. slavia. The protests have drawn fishermen, stu­ Jorge Farinacci, a leader of the Socialist dents, religious leaders, and others. Front ofPuerto Rico, told the UN delegates, "In carrying out these actions in open defi­ "The U.S. government continues to be deaf to ance ofthe U.S. Navy;• said Guadalupe, ''we the universal call for the freedom of our politi­ have four principal demands: demilitarization cal prisoners, who are the longest-held politi­ ofVieques, the return of our land, decontami­ cal prisoners in the western hemisphere." nation, and the development of that land." Rodolfo Benitez, Cuba's delegate at the Vieques residents have long accused the Navy hearings, asked for more information on the not only of occupying three-fourths of their frame-up of Solis. Farinacci took the oppor­ land, but of polluting it and devastating tunity to announce demonstrations planned the island's economic development. at federal buildings across the United States "On Feb. 6, 1978, a group ofVieques fisher­ and in Puerto Rico on July 7, when Solis men, armed only with their own little boats, was due to be sentenced, to demand his im­ slings, stones, and the willingness to risk their mediate release. lives, met NATO warships at sea," testified Martin Koppel, who spoke as a member Zoe Lugo-Mendoza, 24, a member of the of the Socialist Workers Party National Com­ Vieques Support Campaign in NewYork City. mittee, focused on why the fight for Puerto Militant/Joe Swanson "They succeeded many times and more than Rico's independence is in the interests of July 7 picket in Des Moines, Iowa, demanding release of Jose Solis and other Puerto Rican 30 war maneuvers had to be aborted [over the workers and farmers in the United States. political prisoners. Most ofthe dozen pickets were meatpackers from the region. years] .... "Colonial rule of Puerto Rico gives the U.S. "It was after the recent death of a civilian government a freer hand to attack the demo­ statehood governor Pedro Rossello addressed dence fighters from Puerto Rico spoke at pub­ by a U.S. bomb that the whole island ofPuerto cratic rights of those in the United States the UN decolonization committee. He called lic meetings that took place all over New York Rico has finally heard the message. Now all who struggle in defense of our livelihood," for the U.S. Navy to leave Vieques and used City. The evening after testifying at the United ofPuerto Rico along with Vieques is demand­ he stated. "A successful struggle for the in­ Puerto Rico's colonial status as an argument Nations, Fernando Martin, Ramos, Muriente, ing, 'Stop the bombing ofPuerto Rico. U.S. dependence of Puerto Rico will deal a pow­ for why it should be become the 51st U.S. state. Reveron, Eduardo Villanueva Mufioz of the Navy out ofVieques.' " erful blow to our common enemy. It will His administration had earlier appointed a Lawyers Guild of Puerto Rico, and others "In 101 years of military occupation of show that it is possible to stand up to the commission that issued a 53-page report de­ spoke on a panel before an audience of 90 Puerto Rico we have had the dubious repu­ most brutal capitalist class in the world and tailing the U.S. Navy's atrocities, which ended people at Hunter College. tation of serving the U.S. empire in several break its domination." with a call for the U.S. military to withdraw Following a July 8 picket line in front of wars, conflicts carried out under the con­ Other petitioners included Juan Marl Bras from Vieques. the United Nations, the Vieques Support cept of' common defense,' which in our view and Lolita Lebron, longtime figures in the Representatives ofa few other pro-state­ Campaign in New York sponsored a forum is nothing but a subterfuge," said Olga independence movement. Also speaking in hood organizations spoke. Nearly every that also featured a broad panel of speakers, Cintron of the Great Eastern National Ma­ favor of independence were Fernando speaker at the hearing denounced the U.S. which Corretjer, Farinacci, Guadalupe, sonic Lodge of Puerto Rico, a pro-indepen­ Martin, vice president of the Puerto Rican military occupation ofVieques. Unlike pre­ Muriente, and Santana addressed. dence group. Independence Party; Julio Muriente, presi­ vious years, no representative of organiza­ The next day Guadalupe and Farinacci The chair of the committee hearings, dent of the New Independence Movement tions supporting the current "common­ got a warm reception when they visited the Cuban ambassador Rafael Dausa, opened of Puerto Rico (NMIP); Vanessa Ramos, gen­ wealth" setup attended the hearings. picket line of striking Domino Sugar work­ the floor for discussion after each presenta­ eral secretary of the American Association The UN resolution in support of Puerto ers in Brooklyn, New York. Guadalupe tion, which a number of UN delegates took ofJurists; and Eunice Santana ofthe Commis­ Rico's right to self-determination and inde­ spoke with strikers about his participation advantage of. After hearing several petition­ sion of the Churches on IntemationalAffairs. pendence was approved with 12 votes in favor, in the struggle in Vieques, while learning ers expose the U.S. Navy for its use of de­ In an unusual appearance for the head of none opposed, and 6 abstentions. about the sugar workers' fight against job cuts pleted uranium-coated bullets in Vieques Puerto Rico's colonial administration, pro- While in town, several of the indepen- and for better wages. and the high levels of cancer among Vieques residents, Iraqi representative Mowafak Mahmoud Ayoub asked a ques­ tion and said, "I am speaking because the ---MILITANT LABOR FORUMS United States used the same type of weap­ NEW JERSEY tended e\'l:!nts commemorating the 1959 agrarian onry in Iraq, particularly in the South. Can­ reform law. Fri., June 23, 7:30 p.m. 59 Fourth NEW ZEALAND cer has risen in those areas." Newark Avenue (comer of Bergen). Donation: $4. For Auckland Defend the Cuban revolution: Celebrate 40 more information, call (718) 399-7257. Protest and Dissent in Iran. Speaker: Colin Free Puerto Rican political prisoners Years of Workers and Farmers in Power. Parker, Communist League. Fri., June 23, 7 p.m. Speaker: Melissa Harris, Socialist Workers Party. A number of speakers pointed to the 59 203 Karangahape Road. Donation: $3. For Fri., July 23, 7:30p.m. 87A Halsey St. Donation: PENNSYLVANIA more information, call (9) 319-3075. frame-up of Puerto Rican independence $4. For more information, call (973) 643-3341. Philadelphia advocate Jose Solis and the U.S. Christchurch government's incarceration of 17 Puerto Rightists Pushed Back in Northern Ireland. NEWYORK Speakers: Representative of Irish Northern Aid; The Struggle Inside Indonesia Today: Eye­ Rican independentista prisoners, some of New York Connie Allen, 1999 Socialist Workers Party candi­ witness Report. Speaker: Participant in the re­ whom are serving jail sentences of up to 98 Celebrate 40 Years of the Cuban revolution. date for mayor ofPhiladelphia. Fri., June 23, 7:30 cent Militant reporting team to Indonesia. Sat., or 105 years. Speaker: Brian Taylor, staff writer for the Militant p.m.J906 South Street (at 19th Street). Donation: June 24, 7 p.m. 199 High Street. Donation: $3. "Even as we testify," said Marisol who recently returned from Cuba where he at- $5. For more information, call (215)546-8218. For more information, call365-6055. Corretjer, vice president of the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico, addressing the case of Jose Solis, a professor at the University of Puerto Rico, "the United States is seeking -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP---- the incarceration of yet another political Where to find Pathfinder books and dis­ NEW JERSEY: Newark: 87A Halsey. Manchester: Unit 4, 60 Shudehill. Postal prisoner, a distinguished university profes­ tributors of the Militant, Perspectiva Mun­ Mailing address: Riverfront Plaza, P.O. Box code: M4 4AA. Tel: 0161-839-1766. sor who dared teach students to question dia I, New International, Nouvelle 200117. Zip: 07102-0302. Tel: (973) 643-3341. Compuserve: 106462,327 their colonial status. These violations of our Internationale, Nueva Internacional and Ny Compuserve: 104216,2703 human rights can stop only when we are a free InternationaL CANADA and independent nation." Wilma Rever6n, co­ NEW YORK: New York City: 59 4th Av­ enue (comer of Bergen) Brooklyn, NY Zip: Montreal: 4581 Saint-Denis. Postal code: chair of the Hostos National Congress, made UNITED STATES 11217. Tel: (718) 399-7257. Compuserve: H2J 2L4. Tel: (514) 284-7369. Compuserve: 104614,2606 ALABAMA: Birmingham: 111 21st St. 102064,2642 ; 167 Charles St., Manhattan, South Zip 35233. Tel: (205) 323-3079. NY. Zip: 10014. Tel: (212) 366-1973. Toronto: 851 Bloor St. West. Postal code: Cornpuserve: 73712,3561 M6G 1M3. Tel: (416) 533-4324. Compuserve: OHIO: Cleveland: 1832 Euclid. Zip: 103474,13 CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 2546W. Pico 44115. Tel: (216) 861-6150. Compuserve: Puerto Rico: Blvd. Zip: 90006. Tel: (213) 380-9460. 103253,1111 Vancouver: 3967 Main St. Postal code: V5V Independence Is Cornpuserve: 74642,326 San Francisco: 3284 3P3. Tel: (604) 872-8343. Compuserve: 23rd St. Zip: 94110. Tel: (415) 282-6255,285- PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 1906 103430,1552 a Necessity 5323. Cornpuserve: 75604,556 South St. Zip: 19146. Tel: (215) 546-8218. Compuserve: 104502,1757 Pittsburgh: 1103 RAFAEL (ANCEL MIRANDA FLORIDA: Miami: 137 N.E. 54th St. Zip: FRANCE E. Carson St. Zip 15203. Tel: (412) 381-9785. Paris: Centre MBE 175, 23 rue Lecourbe. In two interviews, 33137. Tel: (305) 756-1020. Compuserve: Compuserve: 103122,720 103171,1674 Postal code: 75015. Tel: (01) 47-26-58-21. Cancel Miranda TEXAS: Houston: 6969 Gulf Freeway, Compuserve: 73504,442 GEORGIA: Atlanta: 230AuburnAve. N.E. -one of fiVe Puer­ Suite 380. Zip: 77087. Tel: (713) 847-0704. Zip: 30303. Tel: (404) 577-7976. Compuserve: Compuserve: 102527,2271 ICELAND to Rican National­ 104226,1245 ists imprisoned by Reykjavik: Klapparstig 26. Mailing ad­ ILLINOIS: Chicago: 1223 N. Milwaukee WASIDNGTON,D.C.: 1930 18thSt.N.W Washington for dress: P. Box 0233, IS 121 Reykjavik. Tel: 552 Ave. Zip: 60622. Tel: (773) 342-1780. Suite #3 (Entrance on FloridaAve.) Zip: 20009. 5502. INTERNET:[email protected] more than 25 Compuserve: 104077,511 Tel: (202) 387-2185. Compuserve: 75407,3345. years until 1979 IOWA: Des Moines: 2724 Douglas Ave. WASHINGTON: Seattle: 1405 E. Madi­ NEW ZEALAND -speaks out on Zip: 50310. Tel: (515) 277-4600. Compuserve: son. Zip: 98122. Tel: (206) 323-1755. Auckland: La Gonda Arcade, 203 the brutal reality of 104107,1412 Compuserve: 74461,2544. Karangahape Road. Postal address: P.O. Box U.S. colonial MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 683 Wash­ 3025. Tel: (9) 379-3075. Compuserve: domination, the ington St. Mailing address: P.O. Box 702. Zip: AUSTRALIA 100035,3205 campaign needed to free 16 Puerto 02124. Tel: (617) 282-2254. Compuserve: Sydney: 1st Fir, 176 Redfern St., Redfern Christchurch: 199 High St. Postal address: Rican political prisoners, the example 103426,3430 NSW 2016. Mailing address: P.O. Box K879, P.O. Box 22-530. Tel: (3) 365-6055. of Cuba's socialist revolution, and the MICHIGAN: Detroit: 7414 Woodward Haymarket Post Office, NSW 1240. Tel: 02- Conipuserve: 100250,1511 resurgence of the independence move­ Ave. Zip: 48202. Compuserve: 104127,3505 9690-1533. Compuserve: 106450,2216 ment today." In English and Spanish. Tel: (313) 875-0100. SWEDEN $3.00 MINNESOTA: St. Paul: 2490 University BRITAIN . Stockholm: Vikingagatan 10 (T-hana St Available at bookstores listed at right Ave. W., St. Paul. Zip: 55114. Tel: (651) 644- London: 47 The Cut. Postal code: SE1 8LL. · Eriksplan). Postal code: S-113 42. Tel: (08) 31 6325. Compuserve: 103014,3261 Tel: 0171-928-7993. Compuserve: 101515,2702 69 33. Compuserve: 100416,2362 12 The Militant August 2, 1999 Fascism: What it is and how to fight it The following selection is from the dis­ When we say that fascism is not a form of cussion following a Nov. 7, 1992, talk on capitalist rule, but a way ofmaintaining capi­ "The vote for Ross Perot and Patrick talist rule, we do so in order to stress that Buchanan's 'Culture War': What the fascism is not a way of organizing capital­ 1992 elections revealed," by Jack Barnes, ism. Instead, it is a radical petty-bourgeois the national secretary of the Socialist movement in the streets -the most horrible, Workers Party. The entire talk and dis­ malignant such movement in history. Banal, cussion period appear as the final chap­ mediocre, figures- but ones adept at radi­ ter in Capitalism s World Disorder: Work­ cal demagogy, nationalism, phrase-monger­ ing-Class Politics at the Millennium. The ing, and organization- rise to leadership in book is copyright © 1999 Pathfinder these movements. Thugs rise among the cad­ Press, reprinted by permission. Subhead­ res. The fascists ape much of the language of ings are by the Militant. currents in the workers movement. "Nazi" was short for National Socialist German BY JACK BARNES Workers Party. COMMENT: In a talk you gave earlier this These movements never begin with broad year on the fight against Buchananism you ruling-class support. At first, the rulers in their made the point that fascism is not a form of majority alternately scorn and fear this rowdy capitalist rule. 1 I wonder ifyou could explain "rabble"; only handfuls of capitalists back that, because I've always thought of fascism them at the outset. But as the bourgeoisie be­ as being precisely a form of capitalist rule. come convinced they confront an irresolvable RESPONSE: The communist movement social crisis, and as the working class puts has written a great deal about"fascism, what up an increasingly serious challenge to capi­ it is and how to fight;' to use the name of a talist rule itself, growing layers of the exploit­ very valuable pamphlet by Leon Trotsky that ers start supporting, or tolerating, the fascists is published by Pathfinder. But the person in order to try to smash the workers and their from whom I learned the most about fas­ organizations. That is the job the fascists are Militant/Jay Paradiso June 26 picket in Chicago to counter rightist action against women's rights cism concretely was Farrell Dobbs. Farrell finally enlisted to do by the bourgeoisie when was the national secretary of the Socialist the threat to capitalist rule reaches a certain all workers' rights, and as a mass commu­ ment will already be rallying masses Workers Party from 1953 until1972, and in threshold. of toil­ nist party is forged in revolutionary struggle. the 1930s was a central leader of the strikes The fascists' stock of "ideas," encrusted ers and impoverished middle-class layers to Fascism is nowhere close to conquering our banner and actually beginning to and over-the-road organizing campaigns with historical mystification, are borrowed anywhere in the world right now. What we threaten capitalist rule. Only then does the that built the Teamsters in the upper Mid­ from the sewers of the bourgeoisie's own are seeing today - and this is new - is west into a fighting industrial union move- views, values, and attitudes. The things the ruling class increasingly tum to the fascist the development of nuclei of incipient fas­ movement for help. capitalist rulers say privately among them­ cist movements in more and more coun­ selves, the subtle and not-so-subtle bigotry Under these conditions, the working class tries, including here in the United States. will have the opportunity once again - as from the pages of they promote, are taken up as the banners of They are finding ways of legitimizing on numerous occasions during the two de­ a radical mass movement. The demagogues themselves in bourgeois politics. In parts cades between the first and second world use these banners to mobilize and channel of Europe, some of these fascist outfits wars - to stop the march toward fascism Capitalism's the energies of radicalized layers ofthe fright­ have carried out violent mobilizations in and war ened, resentful, and ruined middle classes in by taking power out of the hands the streets, especially against immigrants. World Disorder bourgeois society. of the capitalists. If proletarian combat par­ Because of the nationalist, class-collabo­ ties have not been built that are capable of The fascists initially rail against "high fi­ rationist character of the labor leading the workers and farmers in making ment. I learned from Farrell both directly, nance" and the bankers, lacing their nation­ misleadership throughout the imperialist a socialist revolution, however, then the ef­ in the course of our work together for nearly alist demagogy with anticapitalist rhetoric. world, the workers movement has been fort will fail, horrible disappointment in the a quarter century until his death in 1983, When they come to power with support from blunted from effectively explaining the potential and from his four-volume series on the weighty sectors of finance capital, however, of the working-class movement dangerous logic of these incipient fascist Teamsters struggles published by Pathfinder. the anticapitalist rhetoric slacks off quickly. will set in, and the fascists can and will make currents or responding in a timely and vig­ In the third volume, Teamster Politics, That is what happened in Italy under Benito their own bid for power. Never in this cen­ orous way to their reactionary acts.All this tury has a fascist movement conquered and Farrell explains how small fascist outfits be­ Mussolini in the early 1920s after il duce also is part of the battle ahead ofclass-conscious gan to grow in this country in response to became premier. That is what happened in taken the reins of government except under the deep economic and social crisis and the Germany under Adolf Hitler a decade later workers. these conditions - after the working-class movement has first had a chance at victory rise of workers' struggles in the 1930s. after the fiihrer also became chancellor. Once Economic and social crisis accelerates "Clashes between capital and labor in times these new regimes set about reviving indus­ and been defeated. Before fascism triumphs anywhere, of social crisis tend to stimulate activity try, building roads, and preparing for war, We are not currently at that stage in the however, the capitalist economic and so­ class struggle anywhere in the world But among political demagogues with a fascist radical diatribes against capital went into cial crisis must first have accelerated to the mentality," he wrote. "They anticipate that rapid decline .... that is what communist workers must be pre­ point that intolerable pressures and ten­ intensification of the class struggle will paring for right now, as we carry out our sions are hammering broad sections of the cause sections of the ruling class to turn A course to mobilize working class political work and develop the habits and middle classes in particular. And before away from parliamentary democracy and its The workers vanguard must chart a course discipline of proletarian functioning. Oth­ fascist organizations begin enlisting en­ methods of rule, and resort to fascism as the to mobilize and lead the working class and erwise, labor will have no tested and com­ raged petty-bourgeois cadres by the tens way to hold on to state power and protect our allies to take power. Along the way, the petent revolutionary leadership as mass and then hundreds of thousands, the labor special privilege."2 labor movement will have to defend our or­ working-class combat begins to unfold­ movement itself must be engaged in a sus­ Farrell understood that ifworkers are mis­ ganizations and those of other oppressed lay­ as it will, with explosive rhythms and a pace led into believing there is some choice be­ ers against fascist thuggery and murderous tained fightback against assaults by the ex­ that neither we nor the exploiters can fore­ ploiters. The revolutionary workers move- tween capitalism as they know it and some violence. see. qualitatively worse form ofcapitalism called Back in the early 1970s, at the height of fascism, then the argument to choose capi­ the youth radicalization engendered by the talism as it is - and even to fight to defend Vietnamese resistance to U.S. imperialism, -25AND50YEARSAGO----- it under certain conditions - can appear some petty-bourgeois ultraleft groups, in .. CIMI During the past year, Black Economic strong. For decades, that is the way the Europe especially, adopted a stance of Survival has carried out 90 such job-site Stalinists have miseducated working people, "crushing fascism in the egg." But a small occupations in Brooklyn and obtained 160 convincing them to subordinate their own group of socialists cannot organize to physi­ THE MILITANT jobs in the industry for Black and Puerto class interests and organizations to various cally smash equally tiny groups of fascists Rican workers. bourgeois parties and governments - to and think they have contributed to stopping July 26, 1974 prevent something worse from happening. fascism. In fact, they will have actually done Chanting, "We need jobs, not welfare;• There are the "democratic capitalists" and the opposite by disorienting potentially valu­ Blacks and Puerto Ricans occupied and the fascists, the Stalinists say, so workers able cadres within the communist youth shut down 10 blocks of construction on THE MILITANT must support the democratic capitalists in movement, miseducating them to believe fas­ Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn on June 24. PU.LIIHID IN THIINTIIEITI OF THI WOIKINO PIOPLI order to stop the fascists. cist movements can be defeated by small They were protesting the refusal by Co­ NEW YORK, N.Y. FIVE (5) CENTS armed groups outside the main battalions of lumbiaAsphalt Corporation, which is pav­ July 25, 1949 Fascism is bred by capitalism the workers movement. As we argued against ing the avenue, to provide 12 jobs on the But fascism is precisely a movement set ultraleft currents in our own movement at the construction site for members of the Fort Groveland, Fla., a small town in the cen­ in motion and financed by sections of the time, "Our egg can't crush their egg." Green community. The action was called tral portion of this Jim Crow state, has been ruling class in desperate circumstances in Fascist movements will be bred and rebred by Black Economic Survival, Fight Back, the scene of unbridled Ku Klux terror for order to maintain capitalist rule. It is not an by capitalism in crisis, and workers cannot and Manpower, three Black organizations several days. Motor caravans have repeat­ alternative to "democratic capitalism"; it is defeat them by going "egg on egg." Nor­ involved in the struggle to win more con­ edly raided the Negro quarter of this little bred by "democratic capitalism." When and this is the other side of the same coin - struction jobs for minority workers. town, pumping bullets indiscriminately into workers understand what fascism really is, can fascist forces be defeated by calling on Negotiations were held at the on-site streets and dwellings. They have burned to then the enormity of the responsibility to the bourgeois state to ban their speech and office between the three groups, the con­ the ground two houses and have threatened get rid ofcapitalism- a task only the work­ writings, or curtail their right to organize. At tractor, and union representatives. The con­ to reauce the entire community to ashes. ing class can organize and lead- becomes various times opportunist, centrist, and other tractor said he would quit the site before The orgy was touched off by the arrest of that much clearer. petty-bourgeois currents in the workers he'd give up more than two jobs. An offi­ two young Negro veterans charged with rob­ movement all combine ultraleft adventures cial ofLocal1010 of the Laborers' Union bing a white native and kidnapping his wife. 1 The March 28, 1992, talk by Jack Barnes, with a dependence on the cops, courts, and also said he would order his men off the Gangs oflynchers immediately converged on entitled "Buchananism: What It Is and How to parties of the capitalist rulers in the name of job if the 12 were hired, since they would the local jail but found themselves foiled by Fight It," was reported on in an article by Steve the fight against fascism. not have union books. the removal of the intended victims to a dif­ Clark in the International Socialist Review Communist workers defend our meetings, Black Economic Survival leaders Moses ferent jail. The would-be lynchers then pro­ supplement to the April 10, 1992, issue of the our meeting halls, our demonstrations and Harris, Mike Thomas, and Oscar Fomby ceeded to unleash their reign of terror. Two Militant. Reprints of the supplement, including picket lines, as well as those of other workers replied that two jobs were not enough and other Negroes are allegedly involved biographies of the SWP's 1992 presidential and and farmers who come under attack. But the that the action would continue until their The entire Negro population ofGroveland, vice presidential candidates, were widely distrib­ some 400 in number, has been reportedly uted over the next several months by supporters workers movement will begin to deal devas­ demands were met. The contractor then of the SWP campaign. tating blows to the fascists only as experience proceeded to pull his equipment off the site. removed in trucks at night to neighboring is gained in real class combat, as picket squads In further negotiations, however, he agreed communities and towns. State and local au­ 2 Teamster Politics (New York: Pathfinder, are transformed into defense organizations, as to provide nine jobs right away and three thonties have issued repeated assurances that 1975), pp. 139-48. we take the moral high ground in defense of more in two weeks. they have the situation "well in hand." August 2, 1999 The Militant 13 -EDITORIALS------August 5-8 No to Navy strikebreaking! Active Workers Continued from front page the antiunion policies of the U.S. government. Many of Conference ening of rebelliousness to the fight-and to other work­ the strikers will take interest in other fights as well. ers who stand with them in solidarity. This strengthens A rally will be taking place in Washington the same day Continued from Page 11 the Steelworkers and other unions who show solidarity to demand the release of Puerto Rican political prisoners supporters - in building the communist movement today. by posing the need to take a stance supporting equal (see back-page calendar). Supporters of this fight, as well as Since its launching half a decade ago, the Young So­ rights for Blacks. advocates ofPuerto Rico's independence, have a special stake cialists - building on the continuity of its predecessor, The antiunion actions taken by the Navy brass in or­ in participating in the Steelworkers action. The Newport the Young SocialistAlliance- has proven itself as a train­ dering sailors and other personnel to scab on the strike News strikers are among the strongest potential allies in ing ground for cadre of the revolutionary party and in help­ and extending production deadlines for the bosses - un­ their fight. They have been up against the shipyard bosses, ing to deepen the proletarianization of the communist der war president William Clinton - shows that the cops, the U.S. government, and its Navy- the same movement. Washington's aggression against working people abroad, Navy that occupies two-thirds of the Puerto Rican island of Experience from the past few years also confirms the from Yugoslavia to Iraq, is the same as its policy toward Vieques for bombing practice. importance of organized party supporters in maximizing toilers at home. As working people get more of a taste of what capital­ the striking power of the proletarian party, helping to fi­ A victory for Local 8888 would strike a blow against ism has in store us -more wars, more unemployment, nance the SWP, and aiding the party's effort to keep in Washington, a common enemy of all those fighting for more union busting, more police brutality, and more deaths print the revolutionary political continuity of the workers social justice. And in taking on a major employer, it will on the job from unsafe conditions - one thing will be­ movement. set an example to workers throughout the country who come increasingly apparent: capitalism is not our system. An indispensable part of this expanding support move­ are looking for ways to stand up to their bosses' attacks Many people who buy the Militant get it because they ment are the 100-plus volunteers around the world who on their dignity and living standards. are thirsty for answers about the economic and social cri­ have been digitizing Pathfinder books. "At the Pittsburgh This is why working people, union and nonunion alike, sis of capitalism and have sensed the marked shift taking conference last year," said Sandler, "volunteers had com­ should march with the striking Steelworkers on July 23. place inside the working class. We encourage all support­ pleted putting into electronic form two titles. They have And it's why anti-cop brutality activists, opponents of the ers of this paper to make sure such people have the oppor­ now finished 34 and will be close to 40 by the beginning death penalty, and advocates for the freedom of Mumia tunity to also pick up Capitalism's World Disorder: Work­ ofAugust." Abu-Jamal, youth who have protested Washington's as­ ing-Class Politics at the Millennium, a book that helps to Their work has become an integral part of Pathfinder sault on Yugoslavia, and fighters of the rights of immi­ explain and demystify the world today-so we can be book production, allowing the communist movement to grants, should get to Washington to join in denouncing equipped to fight to change it. keep its revolutionary arsenal of books and pamphlets available to workers, fanners, and youth at a lower cost and with improved quality. As the communist movement transfonns the timeliness and consistency ofits mass work, reprinting Pathfinder titles is needed more frequently. "Capitalism's World Disorder is proving itself to be a book never to be seen without, on the job or wherever else Kaiser, Newport News workers you are;' said Willey. "Whatever political question ex­ plodes in U.S. and world politics- the war in Yugosla­ via, a deadly refinery explosion, a racist cop beating, an Continued from front page The Newark workers leafleted the Bellwood plant dur­ assault on abortion rights - this book has something to Local 341 in Newark, Ohio, together with several youth ing shift changes July 9, getting a very favorable response. say from a working-class point of view. It helps workers, and other supporters, made the trip here by bus, after spend­ Almost all of the workers stopped to talk and take litera­ farmers, and youth better understand what we can do about ing a day talking to other Kaiser workers in Bellwood, ture. Many took extra copies to bring into the plant. One the system of capitalist exploitation that is dragging hu­ Virginia. Kim Collins, the bus captain and a 20-year Kai­ worker coming out of the afternoon shift change spoke to manity toward social devastation, fascism, and world war." ser employee, explained, "Our purpose was to get our word a leafleteer for several minutes, and then drove up to Greg Members and supporters ofthe communist movement have out to the Bellwood Kaiser workers on what they might Bowman, president ofUSWA Local440 at the plant, and sold more than 1,200 copies of the book between mid­ be facing in 2001 when their contract comes up, and to asked to be reinstated into the union. Since Virginia is a March and the end of June, and its publisher, Pathfinder support the workers on strike in Newport News." "right-to-work" state, not all the workers in the plant be­ Press, has sold 2,800 copies in all since it came off the Kaiser Aluminum workers went out on strike at five long to the union, though most do. presses earlier this year. plants in Washington, Louisiana, and Ohio September 30, The Kaiser workers, a busload ofNewport News strik­ The growing political receptivity to revolutionary books to fight the company's plan to eliminate hundreds of jobs ers, and some of the workers from the Bellwood plant and newspapers among fighting workers and fanners is held a lunchtime rally in front of the factory the same day. from its factories. The union offered to return to work being confirmed~yery week. In early July, DannyBooher, under the terms of the old contract January 13, and Kaiser Workers from USWA Local341 in Ni'.vark arid Local888-8 · a Steelworkers union member from Pittsburgh, joined responded by locking out the workers. from Newport News spoke, as well as the presidents of USWA members locked-out by Kaiser on a solidarity bus Speaking to a rally of the Newport News strikers at the the USWA and lAM locals at the plant and officials of the from Newark, Ohio, to Newport News (see front-page ar­ 50th Street gate to the massive shipyard, Kaiser worker USWA and the Virginia AFL-CIO. Locked-out Kaiser ticle). During the trip, Booher and another socialist worker Dave Lockland from Spokane, Washington, pointed to the workers from Gramercy, Tacoma, and Spokane also spoke. from Cleveland sold eight Militant subscriptions and four disparity in wages and benefits between northern ship­ Whitney Jasmin, a locked-out Kaiser worker from Pathfinder books, including a copy of Capitalism's World yard workers and the predominantly Black shipyard work­ Gramercy, described the devastation caused by a massive Disorder, to workers on the bus and at union rallies. Kai­ ers in Newport News, Mississippi, and New Orleans. The explosion that ripped through the Gramercy plant on July ser workers from Tacoma and Spokane, Washington, and fight at Newport News, where nearly 9,000 workers have 5. Twenty-four people in the plant were injured. Accord­ from Gramercy, Louisiana, took part in the weekend's been on strike since April 5, is a fight for civil rights and ing to an article in the July 7 New Orleans Times Pica­ events. social justice, he said. yune, one-quarter of the 1,200-acre plant was damaged. ''A number of these workers have gotten to know and The explosion shook houses, knocked out windows as far respect party members from Houston to Seattle and Cleve­ 'Stop Navy strikebreakers' away as a mile from the plant, and covered the town in red land because of their systematic solidarity work and had Pensions for Newport News workers are notoriously bauxite dust. bought copies of the Militant before," Booher said. "We'll low. Edward Artis, a welder on nuclear ships, has worked Jasmin told the Militant that Kaiser is now talking of be working hard to get some of these workers to the Ohio at the shipyard for 35 years. He explained, "If I retired closing the Gramercy plant altogether, though other plants conference." today my pension would be $300 dollars. Now how is my in the Kaiser system rely on it for the initial step of pro­ family going to live on that?" cessing alumina out of bauxite. In addition, the company Saturday rally, Sunday events Artis is the picket captain at Gate 50. He was the picket faces dozens of lawsuits from residents of Gramercy and At a Saturday evening, August 8, rally, Barnes will re­ captain at the same gate in 1979 when the members of the surrounding area. view what has been registered through the panels, educa­ USWA Local8888 at Newport News battled the shipbuild­ Union members in Gramercy responded to the blast by tional classes, and discussion over the previous three days ing company for union recognition and for a contract. Artis going into the community and helping their friends and and point to some conclusions for the party's ongoing continued, "This fight is for my life and for my family's neighbors to try to repair the damage to their property. political and trade union work coming out of the confer­ life. It's for all of us." The chairman of the Local8888 organizing committee, ence. Another issue Newport News workers are addressing Jerry Good, also spoke at the Bellwood rally, introducing On Sunday, many conference participants will stay over is the strikebreaking role of the U.S. Navy. While Local half a dozen members of the committee, who are known for a fourth day of activities. 8888 is on strike, U.S. Navy personnel are in the shipyard as the "pit bulls." These workers were responsible for help­ Members of the steering committees of the SWP's in­ working on the ships. The Navy has also extended dead­ ing to lead the campaign to increase the percentage of dustrial union fractions will hold a joint meeting with the lines for completion of work to help the company cope union members leading up to the strike. Trade Union Committee for a full day of discussion to with the strike. The union has called a July 23 march and Eddie Whitley, one of the pit bulls, said that the key to help guide the party's trade union work. rally in Washington, D.C., to protest the strikebreaking their success was that "We told the people the truth. And The Young Socialists are organizing a Sunday meeting. role of the Navy. Local8888 is organizing buses to Wash­ if we said we were going to stand behind them, we stood And there will be a range of training workshops for ington for the rally. behind them all the way." participants in the Active Workers Conference who are After lunch in the Local8888 union hall, several New­ Heading back to Ohio, the Kaiser workers felt their ef­ volunteers in the international Pathfinder reprint project. port News strikers took the Kaiser workers onto the James forts had been worthwhile. "We made a bridge with the On Monday, August 9, the SWP National Committee River in boats to look at the back side of the shipyard, Bellwood and Newport News workers that will hopefully will meet to discuss and adopt decisions to continue ad­ which stretches for two and a half miles. bring northern and southern unions more together," said vancing the party along the course registered at theActive These workers are part of the "boat patrol" that the union Jarrod Whitlatch, a 27-year-old worker. Workers Conference. organizes to ensure the company does not try to bring in Sixteen-year-old John Pennington, who accompanied Over the week following the conference, a volunteer strikebreakers by water. Brian Newsome, a pipefitter on his stepfather on the trip, commented, "We informed the brigade of participants will travel to New York to join in a dry dock 12, is active in the boat patrol. He explained, people at Bellwood about what was going on. I feel if one special effort to repaint and make other improvements in "We organize boat patrol every day, 24 hours a day." The person read the literature we passed out we accomplished the Pathfinder Building, where the Militant, Perspectiva strikers have faced occasional harassment from both the our goal." Pennington, who initiated discussions in his Mundial, and revolutionary books and pamphlets are pro­ company's boat security and the Coast Guard, "But our classes and brought videos to school about the Kaiser lock­ duced. boat pickets will continue. This is our picket line on the out, concluded, "The strike has hit me pretty strongly. I There will be a $20 per day conference registration fee river:• really believe in it." for Thursday through Saturday, as well as $14.25 per night Steve Smyers, a 24-year-old worker who was the vic­ for rooms ($5 for budget housing).A breakfast and dinner Kaiser workers reach out for support tim of a police assault on the picket line in Newark, said, plan will be available fur $12.75 a day, a three-meal plan The first stop for the bus from Newark was in Bellwood, "I'm coming back from this trip really pumped up. I knew for $18. . Virginia, the site of a plant that Kaiser bought from we had support, but when you see it fur yourself it makes For information on participating in the conference, see Reynolds Aluminum in 1997. The 350 workers there, or­ you feel a lot better. I'm looking forward to the future." the ad on page 5. · ganized by the USWA and the International Association of Machinists, are under a contract that expires in 2001. Danny Booher is a member ofthe USWA in Pittsburgh.

14 The Militant August 2, 1999 1,000 dock workers shut Oakland port

This column is devoted to report­ tract negotiations broke down be­ Strikers at­ ing the resistance by working tween the newly-organized members tended and spoke people to the employers' assault on ofCarpenters Local225 and Univer­ ataJune24meet­ their living standards, working sal Concrete Walls (UCW), owned ing on the Right to conditions, and unions. by V.C. Lowell, a local veterinarian. Organize spon­ We invite you to contribute short UCW builds private homes in the sored by the At­ items to this column as a way for wealthy, expanding northAtlanta sub­ lanta Central La­ other fighting workers around the wbs. bor Council, along with other unionists in the ON THE PICKET LINE area. Strikers re­ ceived a standing world to read about and learn from Strikers Francisco Morales, Jose ovation from the these important struggles. Jot down Garcia, and Andres Espinoza ex­ 250 people in at­ a few lines about what is happen- . plained they are fighting for a range tendance, and ing in your union, at your work­ of demands and for basic dignity on more than $1, 100 Militant/Mike ltalie place, or other workplaces in your the job. They said workers receive no was contributed Striking construction workers at rally June 19 in Gainesville, Georgia. area, including interesting politi­ medical coverage, get no breaks dur­ to their food bank. cal discussions. ing the workday, and neither bath­ ference. nearby Tracy, comes to the picket line rooms nor water are provided at their Other activities to build support every day after work. Martinez has at OAKLAND, California- More worksites. Titan Tire strikers rally for the fight include a "road warrior" times come to the picket line with up than 1,000 members of the Interna­ Another burning issue for workers in Quincy, Illinois team that has been visiting Titan tire to 20 ofhis co-workers. Members of tional Longshoremen's and is safety on the job and receiving QUINCY, Illinois-A busload of dealers throughout the Midwest to tell the United Steelworkers ofAmerica Warehousemen's Union {ILWU) Lo­ proper medical treatment for injuries. Titan Tire strikers, members of the union's story. who are fighting KaiserAluminum's cal1 0 shut down the Port ofOakland Garcia said he knew ofthree workers United Steelworkers of America Contract negotiations between the lock-out against its union workforce July 6-7 by refusing to load and un­ who had been injured, taken to the (USWA) Local164 in Des Moines, two union locals and the company have also been to the picket line at load cargo. The work stoppage in the hospital by a boss who filled out the Iowa, joined with other supporters for resumed in late June. Nestle three times. Some truck driv­ country's fourth-largest port, which paperwork in English, and then be­ a day of protests and a picnic here ers refuse to cross the picket line. ended July 8, coincided with a slow­ gan receiving bills for medical ex­ July 10. A major concern ofthe locked-out down by members of the ILWU at Teamsters fight lockout, penses at their homes. They were The 670 Titan Tire workers in Des workers in the negotiations for the shipping terminals in LosAngeles and unable to get further treatment with­ Moines began their strike in May 1998 winsolidar~atlVesde new contract, which expired May 15, Long Beach. out paying the bills, but when they against forced overtime, two-tier LATHROP, California- Seventy is the elimination of the position of Workers at the Oakland port were went to the boss to demand the com­ wages, and for pension and health-care members of Teamsters Local 601 pull pack operator. Pull pack opera­ demanding a signalman be added to pany pay, all three were fired. benefits for retirees. In September have been staffing picket lines and tors make $16.60/hour. Nestle wants the crews to ensure safety. The bosses Workers are shouted at and are hu­ 1998, 500 members ofUSWA Local winning support since the Nestle to shift the work onto the ClassA driv­ refused to hire an extra worker under miliated on the job, said Garcia. "All 303L joined the fight against Titan at Corp. in Lathrop locked them out ers and Class B order pullers, who each crane to keep track ofcargo con­ the boss needs is a whip to complete its plant in Natchez, Mississippi. May 25. Picket signs saying "Nestle make $13.30 and $12.05 per hour. tainer movements on the docks. the picture of slavery." Titan corporate headquarters are Unfair Lockout" along the road in The union is also fighting for com­ The action takes place as 10,000 Morales said the workers finally located in Quincy, along with the front of the facility are easy to see pany contributions to the pension fund West Coast members of the ILWU decided to forrn a union after a worker large Titan Wheel plant, which the from Interstate Highway 5. Two large based on all hours worked per week, who work for90 U.S. and international was ~ured when hit on the head and USWA is working to unionize along signs in front of the facility's main including overtime, not just based on shipping operators continue their fight was taken to the hospital to receive with other Titan plants in Clinton, gate say "Scab Entrance." Truckers 40 hours per week; for an increase in for a contract. The ILWU's 1996 con­ stitches. The boss still hasn't paid Tennessee, and Brownsville, Texas. and others driving down the highway the per-hour pension contribution tract expired July 1. The union is ne­ for this treatment, said Morales.And At the union picnic held on the banks honk in support of the locked-out amount; and for wage increases. gotiating for better wages, pension when the worker demanded that he of the Mississippi River, several Ti­ unionists as they drive by. "In the first days of the lock-out benefits, and job security. be taken back to the doctor for fol­ tan Wheel workers came to meet the "It feels nice that other people replacement workers got out oftheir Since mid-May the ILWU has low-up care, "He was told by a boss, Des Moines strikers. A number of support you. Every honk feels good I cars and on the third day they got out been negotiating a contract with the 'Don't you have toenail clippers?' to Local303L fighters, and other union­ know when there's a honk, the plant with baseball bats and attacked the San FranCisco-based Pacific Mari­ take out the stitches." ists from the Quincy area were there manager can hear it inside," said locked-out workers. Lawsuits have timeAssociation (PMA), which rep­ Workers are also angered by the as well. ShawnaEichelberger, a young worker been filed against the company be­ resents the owners at ports all along company's refusal to pay for overtime The main action was a boisterous who has been at the plant for nine cause we hold the company respon­ the West Coast. The ports include work. They work up to 70 or 80 hours march through Spring Lake Estates, months. She is one ofthe three locked­ sible;• saidLocal601 secretary-trea­ Seattle and Tacoma in Washington per week, but receive a 40-hour a posh neighborhood on the outskirts out workers fired by the company for surer Lucio Reyes. Two ofthe pick­ State; Portland, Oregon; and Oak­ check. Then they get a monthly check of town and home to Sheri Holley, a "behavior on the picket line." ets were hospitalized. Since then at land, San Francisco, Los Angeles, marked "bonus" pay, which never in­ Titan corporate lawyer and sister of Many workers stated that they least one of the assailants has been and Long Beach, California, with a dicates the rate ofpay or number of Titan owner Maurice Taylor, Jr. Both would not go back to work without arrested and charged in one ofthe at­ projected $300 billion worth ofcargo hours worked. Taylor and Holley have become no­ the three fired workers. tacks. moving in and out. The company has a 10-year his­ torious among strikers and their sup­ "It wasn't fair what they did to us, One measure the pickets have New United Motor Manufacturing tory ofhiring immigrants, continued porters for rude and deceitful attacks shutting the doors without us having taken since the attack is making sure Inc. in Fremont is the single-largest Morales. All 20 of the strikers are on the unionists in the media. a chance to vote. I was on strike for there is an adequate number ofpick­ importer through the Port ofOakland, from Mexico. "I've seen the abuse of After an hour police arrived and eight years at DiamondWalnut;' said ets, especially at night. Nestle attor­ bringing "just-in-time" parts from many contractors. Then we started an Adams County sheriff's deputy Minnie Chavez, referring to the on­ neys have gotten temporary restrain­ Nagoya City, Japan, to California's talking about what we face. These conferred with Holley, then at­ going strike by the Teamsters union ing orders limiting pickets to six per only auto plant. contractors try to take advantage of tempted to set up one of the protest­ against that area company. entrance gate. us, thinking immigrants wouldn't ers by claiming that his keys were "I will have two years working at Georgia carpenters strike speak up. But we saw an ad by the stolen from inside his vehicle. Nestle's this November;' Chavez con­ Deborah Liatos, a member ofUnited for dignity, overtime pay union in a Spanish-language paper, The deputy grew hysterical and tinued, "A lot ofpeople show they're Food and Commercial Workers Local GAINESVILLE, Georgia - and we called it up." On May 14 the demanded the return of his keys. supporting us, they're on our side. 101 in San Francisco; Mike Italie, a "Stop Slavery" and "Does Dr. Lowell workers voted 20--0 to join the Car­ While a number of strikers stepped They [the company] hire people, put member of the Union of Treat Animals Better than his Work­ penters union. in to deny the theft ofthe keys, others them up in a hotel, give them free Needletrades, Industrial and Textile ers?'' were among the signs carried The company has hired replace­ stood close by filming the confronta­ food, pay them." Employees inAtlanta; Ray Parsons, at a June 19 rally by 20 striking con­ ment workers. But the workers on tion. Eventually another cop stepped One worker from Teamsters Lo­ a member ofUSWA Local31 0 in Des struction workers and their support­ strike remain solid, with none cross­ in, overruling the deputy, and allowed cal439, Paul Martinez, who works at Moines; and Walter Blades in San ers. The strike began June 3 after con- ing the picket line the protest to wrap up without inter- a Safeway distribution center in Francisco contributed to this column. -LETTERS------For the prisoners' fund used the keys from windshields to sit With his food, clothing, and shel­ at Christmas, I gave Pierre some Path- broke into a railway shack and got I am making this contribution in in trucks and autos. Moving across ter taken care of, Pierre was free to fmder books; Malcolm X Speaks, By caught. He couldn't pay the fine, so memory of my older brother, Pierre. the Prairies, all he had was a duffel­ roam the boroughs-Queens, Bronx, Any Means Necessary, and The Final he had to do the time. Years later, I He died last month at the age of39. It bag full ofbubble gum. Some Natives Manhattan. Coney Island and Long Speeches: February 1965. He read gave him aT-shirt that he liked so was a second burst aortic aneurysm. he met in Manitoba thought that was Island too. them all, several times each, and then much, he wore it all the time.lt said, Very much a proletarian, Pierre pretty funny and shared their red wine But the city was going bankrupt passed them on to friends and co- ''Alcatraztriathlon: 100yarddig, 3/4 worked as a miner, a logger, and a and macaroni. and decided to cut back social ser­ workers. So he knew that the Mili- mile run, 1.3 mile swim." fisher. For the past 10 years, he was a Eventually, he made it to Detroit. vices. When they found that Pierre tant provided a forum for Malcolm Pierre was a worker who loved blue-collar worker for the Parks De­ But the border guards wouldn'tlethim wasn't supposed to be there, he was X. He also knew about the mural on - New York City and Malcolm X. He partment of the town we grew up in, cross, said he was a vagrant. So he immediately deported. Our parents the Pathfinder Press building. I have hated prisons and cops. That's why I Richmond. It'sa subwb of Vancouver. hitchhiked to Buffalo. There, he told got a letter saying, " ... your son is an the posters ofthe mural and the close- think he would have liked more pris­ Growing up, Pierre fell in love them he was from New York and they illegal alien ... " I remember, I was up of Malcolm X in big, fancy pic- oners to read the Militant newspaper with New York City. The Sharks and let him cross. 10 years old, reading that and think­ ture frames that Pierre gave me to and Pathfmder books. the Jets. The Rockettes. "Kilroy was For the next eight months, he had ing, "Oh no, ifmy brother is an alien, put them in. In fact, one of the last For a world without prisons! here." He had to get there one day. the time ofhis life. He got to stay in what does that make me?" times we talked, he had called to let Robert Demorest So, when he was 14 years old, he a boys' home in Brooklyn called It seems that from hanging around me know that Spike Lee's movie, Vancouver, British Columbia ran away from home. (He had Jennings Hall. He wrote home and with the boys ofNewYork, their hero Malcolm X, was on TV in case I The letters column is an open smashed up dad's car.) In the rail yards told us how there were 400 other became his hero. Because Pierre wanted to see it, again. forum for all viewpoints on sub- ofNorth Vancouver, he got into the boys-mostly Black, some Latinos, adored Malcolm X. His favorite story Like Malcolm, Pierre too, for a jects of general interest to our first boxcar he could. But the door and a few Irish. Mom figured they was how Malcolm avoided the draft. time, was cubically contained At 17 readers• .Please keep your letters was shut behind him. It was opened musthavetookhim fora Puerto Rican (By telling the recruiting officer, "I years old, he took off from home, brief. Where necessary they will three days later, and he hadn't even because he had fairly dark skin con­ can't wait to get a hold of a rifle so I again. (He smashed up dad's car, be abridged. Please indicate if made it to the Rockies. From then on sidering his Quebecois-Ukrainian can shoot me up some crackers.") again.)HeendedupinNorthernan: you prefer that your initials be he traveled at the end ofgrain cars, or ancestry. Over the years, on his birthday or tario, freezing and starving. So he used rather than your full name. August 2, 1999 The Militant 15 THE MILITANT Deepening stuggles by working people mark discussion on Indonesia elections (Second in a series) capitalist enterprises, and the military. These reporters traveled toAgrabinta, south ofBand­ BYBOBAIKEN ung on the Javanese coast, and met peasants AND PATRICK O'NEILL demanding their rights to land taken by a JAKARTA-Despite an extremely slow state-owned coconut plantation. They had or­ count in the weeks following June· 7 elec­ ganized protests of up to 3,000 over three tions in Indonesia, it has become clear that days, April29-May 1. the Indonesian Democratic Party ofStruggle Many student groups remain active as part will top the polls. The PDI-P, now with about ofthe opposition to the Habibie government 36 percent of the vote, is the party of the and Golkar. As we were meeting with a stu­ main pro-capitalist opposition figure, dent group from Padjadjaran University in Megawati Sukharnoputri, the daughter of Bandung June 21, several activists returned Indonesia's first president, Sukhamo. In the from a protest of 100 students from 11 cam­ elections candidates from 48 parties stood puses, typical in size and political thrust of for 462 seats in the House of Representa­ the student protests today. Demands they are tives, with a further 38 seats reserved for raising include putting Suharto on trial for military appointees. corruption, abolishing the dual function of The ballot took place just over one year the military, banning the Golkar party, na­ after Suharto, the former president, was tionalizing New Order [Suharto family] as­ forced to resign amidst massive student-led sets, and supporting autonomy for each prov­ protests against his dictatorial, military ince. Short of a "transitional" government based, rule. It occurred as working people that would begin to implement their de­ across Indonesia, hit by the impact ofa dev­ mands, one ofthe students, Muladi, said, they astating economic crisis, seek to use new hoped for a "civil democratic" government political space to fight for union rights, wage with "no connections with Golkar." increases, and land rights. Struggles for na­ Militant/Ellen Haywood Surya, another student helping to build soli­ tional self-determination also continue to Students, farmers proteSt in Bogor, Indonesia, September 1998-. Sign reads: Agrarian reform. darity with peasants fighting for their land in deepen inAceh, West Papua, and East Timor. Agrabinta, told the Militant, ''We have to build The election campaign featured huge, military top brass. While a Megawati presi­ fall ofthe economy has slowed. the political empowerment ofworkers, peas­ celebratoty parades by PDI-P supporters. Many dency is the most likely outcome, it is by no ants, and the urban poor" because last year's working people used these, and other election means assured. Workers, farmers resist effects of crisis student movement [against Suharto] "couldn't rallies, to express their deep opposition to the Golkar is running second with 22 percent of Many struggles by workers, peasants, and make a fundamental change in our society." ruling Golkar party, headed by President B.J. the vote. It fared badly in Java, the island where young people are continuing to erupt as this The political ferment promises to continue, Habibie. 60percentofthecountry's210millionpeople economic crisis grinds on. Several thousand whatever the outcome ofthe horse-trading now More a machine for the dispensation ofpa­ live, especially in the cities, but remains a employees ofthe state-owned Bank BTN pro­ taking place among the capitalist parties. Many tronage and power than a political party, Golkar significant force in many rural areas and in tested July 5 in Central Jakarta against plans working people expect to see a Megawati-led routinely ''won" 62-75 percent ofthe vote in other islands less shaken by the crisis. In to lay off more then 1,280 staff in the near government, and expect such a government to the tightly controlled elections held during Sulawesi, for instance, the ruling party is futtJrtc Th~ same day about 1,000 bus conduc­ take some steps to alleviate the crisis they face. Suharto 's 33-year rule. Working people's con­ claiming a majority of the vote. Charges of tors and drivers protested across town outside Arin Sobarin, a textile worker from Banjaran, tempt for those stage-managed elections was electoral violations and corruption have cen­ the offices ofa state-owned city bus company, near Bandung, told the Militant June 20, "If reflected on June 7, when many gathered to tered on such areas. PPD. After a two-day strike the bus workers Megawati is elected president I hope for better watch the ballot counting. Osid, a leader of a Though the Indonesian economy officially wonapromiseofa 120percentpayhike, bring­ economic conditions." Sobarin is the leader of peasant land struggle in theAgrabinta district declined 13.68percentin 1998, some exporters ing them up to the minimum wage. the union at a state-owned textile plant where ofWest Java, who monitored the vote in the ofraw materials and crops reaped windfall prof­ ''Workers are becoming more bold because workers enforced the minimum wage in two town of Cibinong, told the Militant June 22 its-in rupiah terms-from the collapse of of the reformasi [reform against Suharto]," strikes duringApril and May. Osid also backed that it was "a fair election [there] compared Indonesia's currency, helping to strengthen the Popo Hermawan, the director of the Medan Megawati. He ''hopes the new government will with previous elections" when, "if people governing party's apparatus and vote. The al­ Industrial Park in North Sumatra, complained end KKN [the term for the 'corruption, collu­ didn't vote for Golkar the counters would rip lotment ofparliamentary seats is weighted in to the June 17 Far Eastern Economic Review. sion, and nepotism' ofthe Suharto regime] and up" their ballots. favor of the less populated outer island prov­ Despite almost four dozen soldiers patrolling decrease prices." He also made it clear that the Suharto came to power in a bloody 1965 inces, where many ofthese exports come from, the park's 142 factories, nine strikes have fight for their land is far from over. "We are coup. Hundreds ofthousands ofworkers and giving Golkar a disproportionate number of erupted there this year. brave;' he said, without a trace ofboasting. peasants were slaughtered by the military and seats in the House ofRepresentatives. Likewise in the countryside, peasants are rightist thugs as their struggles were crushed taking up often decades-old grievances over Bob Aiken is a member oftheAustralianManu­ in the coup and the wave of repression that IMF 'bailout' squeeze lands stolen by state-owned plantations, other facturing Workers Union in Sydney. followed. The Suharto regime was marked by Stanley Fischer, the International Monetary the "dual function" of the military- begun Fund's deputy chief, met with leaders from all by Sukamo and continuing to today- which five major parties following the elections, to gives the military a central role in the govern­ confirm their continued support for the IMF's ment apparatus down to the village level, and conditions for a $45 billion bailout package widespread participation in business. The Su­ begun in late 1997. "There are no great differ­ harto family and their close associates also ences in economic policy among the people used their control ofthe government to enrich and parties we have met;' he said June 19. themselves on the backs of the toilers while The IMF and World Bank's "bailout" has . Sat.,Juty17 Fri., July 23 pushing aside rival capitalists. focused on salvaging Indonesia's main banks ·AIJ..tjnions Aalty Stop Strikebreakers! Enf,t As the economy and banking system went Navy and corporations from the weight ofbad debts at Kaiser•s Mead plant Inequality at Navy-funded Shipyards into a tailspin following the collapse of the stemming from the currency crisis. The re­ national currency, the rupiah, in mid-1997, Spokane, Washington- 3-7 p.m. Rally Washington, D.C. -11:30a.m. structuring of the banks alone is expected to for locked-out Kaiser workers. There will Suharto lost the long-standing backing ofthe Support striking United S.lworkersof cost US$87 billion, equivalent to 82 percent be a barbecue afterwards. For more infor· imperialist powers. He was forced to "step oflndonesia's Gross Domestic Product. Their America Locai888S from Newport News and aside" in May 1998 when mass protests against mat/On ·look lip WWWoU$waa2e.org · prescription for "structural reform'' in Indone­ TU$&;Jutv20' . other shipyard W'bfkers Prt>test: 11:30a.m. at his rule erupted Indonesia's People's Consul­ sia involves cutting price subsidies and open­ theNavyMemqrial; ~aidt NoonattheCapi­ tative Assembly is scheduled to elect a new ing Indonesia's resources even further to im­ tot;andRally.12:30p.m.attheWe$t$tepsot president in November. This undemocratic perialist ownership. Pertamina, the state com­ the Capitol. For ihfonnation, eai (157)89&- •· body is made up of the House ofRepresenta­ pany that handles all contracts in Indonesia's f\t\Qn·;-tuwt,~ ·· ..·., .....•...... 9045. · · · tives, plus a further 200 appointees. oil and gas industry, is being privatized, and government officials have cited plans to sell Fri.,July~3 Suharto's party discredited $10 billion in state assets Reflecting the concern in imperialist circles Workers are being squeezed as the price of that the return of a Golkar-led government basic staples like rice has trebled over the would spark widespread riots and protests, last two years while small increases in the MartinAnidjar, an "Asian debt analyst" atJ.P. official minimum wage, and even the mini­ Morgan, told Reuters June 3 that in his view, mum wage itself, are often ignored by the .(212) 927•fJOI!if)...... ·..... "The best result would be a majority vote for bosses. Unemployment has soared much higher the opposition, not because I think the Golkar than the official figure of 15 million. party would be bad, but because there is al­ The rupiah has "stabilized" in recent months, sat.. JulY 24 ...... ready too much hope in the population for an reaching 6,600 to the dollar since the elections, ceretwate~·~~ntt~~ .. ·.·· end to this ... regime." after plummeting by 80 percent to reach 14,700 The five main capitalist parties got about ··~··. the ..OntheMoflcadaBar:tackS .. to the dollar in June 1998. Economics Minister $epior C~(lnt~, B;uildlng•. 0/dState.RoarJ. New YOdcaty,_. 8:0(Jp,m. . 90 percent of the vote June 7 and will thrash Ginandjar Kartasasmita has predicted eco­ out the make up ofthe new government in the Forl11l)ffJ Information, call Mattie Msctc at Casaaelas~. 33Wsst .t4fh$treet nomic growth ofbetween zero and2 percent in (502)422-2838. . (between 5th and6th Avenues) Donation:$10 coming weeks and months, along with the the coming yeru; reflecting hopes that the free .

16 The Militant August 2, 1999