AUSTRALIA $1.50 · canada $1.00 · france 1.00 euro · new zealand $1.50 · uk £.50 · u.s. $1.00 INSIDE Capitalist rule is source of violence, not of its decline —Book review/PAGE 6 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE vol. 76/no. 7 february 20, 2012 Athens deepens gov’t cuts and Longshore workers win targets private industry workers union at EGT terminal From California to Alaska, West Coast remains ILWU

Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images Striking steelworkers march to Greek parliament in Athens Feb. 7 during one-day political strike. Action protested latest government moves forcing workers to bear brunt of crisis. AP Photo/Don Ryan ILWU members and supporters protest EGT’s union-busting drive in Longview, Wash., Sept. 7. BY john studer driven cuts and economic contrac- The Greek government of Prime tion, with more than 45 percent of By Mary Martin EGT’s terminal 24 hours a day since Minister Lucas Papademos—in- youth out of a job. The job losses are LONGVIEW, Wash.—The Inter- June. stalled under pressure from Berlin, accompanied by ever deeper cuts in national Longshore and Warehouse The first grain ship to dock at EGT’s the eurozone’s dominant power—is health, education and other services. Union has defeated the EGT bosses’ terminal arrived Feb. 7 and was tied assaulting the working class on sev- For the first time, European Union attempt to shut the union out of its up by ILWU members. eral fronts to stave off a default on leaders and the U.S.-backed IMF are terminal here. Port work along the en- EGT had refused to hire ILWU payments to holders of its debt. demanding the Greek government tire West Coast remains ILWU-orga- workers in violation of an agreement The so-called troika—the Europe- lead assaults on workers in private nized, as it has for eight decades. Continued on page 9 an Commission, International Mon- industry as a precondition for further On Feb. 1 EGT recognized ILWU etary Fund and European Central loans. Local 21 as the bargaining represen- Bank—underwrote previous loans to Among the demands are a 25 per- tative for workers at its grain terminal Drive kicks off Greece to put off default, on condition cent cut in the minimum wage, which here both for ship-loading operations of austerity measures, and is dangling would lower the wage scale across the on the dock as well as work inside its $171 billion in new loans if Athens board; reductions in holiday bonuses, facility at the port. The union had or- to win long-term will make deeper cuts. equivalent to eliminating two months’ ganized several major protest actions The Greek government has agreed Continued on page 9 and maintained picket lines in front of subscribers to to cut 15,000 additional public sector jobs over the next year and a total of workers’ paper 150,000 jobs by 2015, about 20 per- BY Louis Martin cent of all government jobs. The un- Hundreds protest killing of “I really like the Militant,” said Ta- employment rate is already 19 percent mara Johnson, a locked-out worker from previous rounds of austerity- Black youth by New York cop from American Crystal’s plant in East Grand Forks, Minn. “What I like best is the global coverage of labor issues. Caterpillar shuts It’s probably the best source for that that I know of.” Johnson, one of 1,300 sugar beet Canada plant, workers who have been fighting American Crystal Sugar’s union-bust- workers picket ing lockout campaign for more than six months, renewed her subscription for severance pay to the paper in November. Her comment is a reflection of the BY JOHN STEELE Continued on page 3 MONTREAL—Workers in Lon- don, Ontario, have maintained pick- ets against Caterpillar subsidiary Electro-Motive Diesel since the com- Also Inside: pany announced Feb. 3 they are clos- ing the plant. Members of Canadian 4 workers killed in 7 months Auto Workers Local 27 don’t trust the Militant/Ruth Robbinett at Vale’s mines in Canada 2 Some 500 people gather in Bronx, N.Y., Feb. 6 to protest killing four days earlier of 18- bosses and are making sure they get year-old Ramarley Graham, gunned down by an undercover narcotics cop in his home. the full severance pay they’re entitled Wood donation aids to under Ontario labor law. by Ruth Robinett person to be shot by cops in New York sugar workers’ pickets 4 The 450 workers, who assemble and Nancy Boyasko City in the last month. diesel locomotives, were locked out BRONX, New York—Some 500 An undercover narcotics cop shot NZ gov’t presses frame-up Jan. 1 after they rejected the com- people at a Feb. 6 protest condemned and killed 18-year-old Graham inside of activists for Maori rights 7 pany demand for a 50 percent wage the police killing here of Ramarley Graham’s apartment Feb. 2 in Wake- cut and massive cuts to their pensions Graham, marching from the victim’s field, a heavily Black and Caribbean Prosecute cops who and benefits. They set up 24/7 pick- home to the nearby police precinct neighborhood. Video from surveil- killed Ramarley Graham! 9 Continued on page 4 headquarters. Graham is the fourth Continued on page 7 4 workers killed in 7 months at Vale’s mines in Canada BY JOHN STEELE of which were imposed on the workers MONTREAL—Nickel miner Ste- at the end of the walkout. At the time of phen Perry, 47, was killed Jan. 29 at the the strike there were 3,300 production Vale Ltd. Coleman Mine in Levack near and maintenance workers. Now there Sudbury, Ontario. He was crushed by are 2,600. falling rock at the 4,215-foot level while “We are angry at the company,” said operating a loader. Perry is the fourth miner Tim Levesque, who has been worker to die in seven months at Vale working at the Coleman mine for eight mines in Canada. years and knew Perry. “When we came Vale, based in Brazil, is the second- back from the strike the company elimi- biggest mining company in the world. nated some safety regulations. Before, Last June two miners were buried we could directly file our ‘079 reports’ under a run of muck at its Stobie mine on safety concerns. Now we have to do Gerry Kingsley United Steelworkers members block road to Clarabelle Mill near Sudbury, Ontario, May 2010 near Sudbury. In October, a miner was it through the foreman, and it is up to his during yearlong strike against Vale. Company imposed concessions on workers after strike. killed while operating a scoop tram at discretion whether to have the complaint Recent deaths at Vale mines in Canada come amid drive for higher productivity and profits. the Thompson, Manitoba, operation. dealt with.” The Coleman, Stobie and Thomp- Levesque also reported that a compa- In the case of the two deaths at the perienced miner with 16 years at Vale, son mines are organized by the United ny change to its “bonus” system, a form Stobie mine, Local 6500 and Vale orga- was working alone. Steelworkers. of piece work, rewards miners for work- nized separate investigations, a depar- “Years ago we had a buddy sys- Vale officials temporarily closed all ing faster at the expense of safety. ture from past practice, because union tem and nobody worked underground five of the company’s Sudbury-area Vale’s media department in Sudbury officials refused to accept Vale’s terms alone,” said Seppo Vataja, who works mines following Perry’s death. The min- has not responded to Militant calls. for the inquiry. at the North Mine. “Now you can work ers will receive their basic pay during “Four fatalities in seven months is On Feb. 2 union officials and Vale alone. We are supposed to call in every the shutdown. As of Feb. 6 some miners unacceptable … this has got to stop,” agreed to a joint investigation of Perry’s two hours. But what if you call in and had begun returning to work, although Local 6500 President Rick Bertrand death. The two sides have also started a five minutes later you have a serious ac- production remained suspended. told the Sudbury Star. “We’re not even joint plant-gate collection to raise money cident. You won’t be reported missing Miners who spoke to the Militant finished one investigation and we’re into for Stephen Perry’s daughter. until two hours later and that could be pointed to Vale’s drive to increase pro- another.” At the time of his death Perry, an ex- too late.” duction and profits as the underlying cause of high death and injury rates. “We are being pushed to do more pro- duction,” said smelter worker Paul The- Women fight discriminatory hiring at Illinois mine riault. “There used to be eight guys per BY ALYSON KENNEDY sponse. or were experienced miners, some cur- level and now there are only six and we CHICAGO—In March 2008 Brooke Petkas, who has been an underground rently working.” are doing the same amount of produc- Petkas from West Frankfort, Ill., con- coal miner since 2003, currently works at On Jan. 24 the first hearing with a tion and more. So we have fewer guys tacted the Equal Employment Opportu- the Peabody-owned Wildcat Hills Mine. judge took place by phone conference. working harder. Since the strike they nity Commission and filed a complaint “I come from a family of coal miners,” The trial is scheduled for July 2013, ac- have been pushing us.” against the Mach Mine for sex discrimi- she told the Southern. “My father works cording to Cohen. Steelworkers Local 6500 fought an nation. When the Mach Mine opened in a mine. My grandfathers and great- Mach Mine has responded to the almost year-long strike in 2009-2010 near Johnston City in 2006 Petkas sent grandfather worked in the mines. It’s EEOC complaint, denying it engaged against concession demands, a number resume after resume but never got a re- Southern Illinois—that’s what you do.” in any civil rights violations or unlaw- The Chicago District EEOC Office ful employment practices. The mine is began investigating Petkas’s complaint being represented by Ogletree Deak- and determined that discrimination had ins, the antiunion law firm that is rep- occurred, Ethan Cohen and Ann Henry, resenting Peabody Coal in its attempt EEOC attorneys involved in the case, to keep the democratically elected told the Militant. United Mine Workers of America out “We requested a list of applicants to of its Willow Lake Mine. An attempt the Mach Mine,” explained Henry, and by the Militant to get a comment on the Workers in Egypt organize, fight for rights then sent letters to see if they had been lawsuit from Mach Mining was unsuc- hired. After hearing about the case, oth- cessful. One year since the oust- er women also contacted the EEOC. The women miners are seeking back er of President Hosni “At least 30 women have agreed to pay, compensatory damages, jobs search Mubarak, working people be part of the suit,” said Cohen. “Quali- expenses, and punitive damages, said in Egypt are using newly fied applicants weren’t hired. The mine, Henry. “We will want hiring relief to get won political space to orga- which was a new mine, didn’t have a women jobs at the mine. And we seek women’s bathroom. Many of the wom- injunctive relief barring the company nize and advance their class en who applied had mining certificates from discrimination in the future.” interests. The ‘Militant’ covers this and other strug- one year send $35 to above address. Hundreds of thousands rallied Jan. 25, Latin America, Caribbean: For one year gles of our class worldwide. first anniversary of the mobilizations that The Militant Vol. 76/No. 7 send $85, drawn on a U.S. bank, to above Don’t miss a single issue! helped topple President Hosni Mubarak. address. Closing news date: February 8, 2012 Africa, Asia, and the Middle East: For one Editor: Steve Clark year send $85 drawn on a U.S. bank to above Managing editor: Doug Nelson address. SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Business manager: Lea Sherman Canada: For one year send Canadian $45 to Editorial volunteers: Róger Calero, Naomi the Militant, 7107 St. Denis #204, Montreal, Craine, Harry D’Agostino, Maura DeLuca, Quebec H2S 2S5. 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2 The Militant February 20, 2012 ‘Militant’ renewal drive Continued from front page Militant at Occupy Montreal in Octo- interest supporters of the socialist ber and recently renewed. newspaper have found as they begin “I like the coverage on labor strug- a four-week international campaign gles and strikes that I don’t find any- to sign up 500 readers to renew their where else,” he added. “I also enjoy subscriptions. The effort to increase the articles on the different books the long-term readership of the paper each week,” a reference to the “Books will run from Feb. 11 to March 11. of the Month” column that features New subscriptions for six months or excerpts from books by Pathfinder longer count toward quotas. Press offered at reduced prices. As of Feb. 8, local quotas by distrib- Peterson also purchased a copy of utors add up to 477, with 90 renewals The Making of a Revolution Within or long-term subscriptions sold since the Revolution. Jan. 21—a registration of the effort al- This column will run for the dura- ready under way in many areas. tion of the drive. Please send notes “The Militant makes me aware of and brief comments on the renewal a lot of things that interest me, how effort in your area to the Militant by Militant/Mary Martin other people are dealing with situa- Tuesday, 8:00 a.m. EST. They are ir- Jerry Webb, longshore worker from Vancouver, Wash., reads Militant inside ILWU picket tions like what we are dealing with. replaceable. tent in front of EGT Development terminal at Port of Longview in Washington, Jan. 21. I share it with a couple of union guys and also show it to my brother,” said Manuel Ramon, another stalwart of the fight against American Crystal Maine disclosure law undermines workers rights in East Grand Forks who renewed his BY john studer gay marriage law by referendum. National Organization for Marriage’s subscription to the paper in Decem- On Jan. 31 the U.S. Court of Ap- After the vote, which did repeal the legal challenge, authorizing the Ethics ber. peals for the First Circuit upheld a state’s gay marriage law, Fred Karger Commission to continue its probe into “The first worker I approached Maine law that may force an orga- of Californians Against Hate filed the group and ruling the commission with the Militant at the Verizon work- nization, in this case a conservative a complaint with the Maine Ethics has the power to compel it to publicly ers rally on Feb. 2 told me he had just group that opposes same-sex mar- Commission arguing the group had disclose names of contributors. renewed his subscription to the paper riage rights, to disclose the names of not registered and disclosed contribu- Announcing that National Organi- for one year,” writes Seth Galinsky its financial contributors. This would tors’ names, and urged the commis- zation for Marriage will appeal the from New York. “He said he often open them to harassment and victim- sion to force them to do so. ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, clips articles from the Militant and ization for their views and associa- The commission launched an “in- James Bopp Jr., the group’s lawyer, posts them on a bulletin board at the tions and strike a blow to the political vestigation.” National Organization said, “When they disclose who they union office.” rights of working people. for Marriage filed suit in federal are they can reasonably expect to be Five books are on special for new The organization, National Organi- court, arguing that government action harassed.” and renewing readers during the zation for Marriage, has raised money forcing to make its contributors pub- drive, as well as the new book by to challenge gay marriage laws in lic would be an unconstitutional vio- Pathfinder Press, Women in Cuba: referendums in a number of states, lation of its right to privacy and free militant The Making of a Revolution Within including California, Washington speech. the Revolution. (See ads below and and Maine. In each case some gay The fight against disclosure has a labor on page 6.) rights supporters and proponents of long history. In Alabama and other “I like reading about actions by so-called transparency election laws southern states, officials seeking to forums people, not just ideas,” said Michael have fought to force the group to make buttress Jim Crow segregation used Peterson, a philosophy graduate from public the names of its contributors. “transparency” arguments in the California KnowThyNeighbor.org has posted 1950s to publicize the names of sup- San Francisco the University of Alberta currently Why Are There So Many Prisoners in working at a music store in Montreal. the names of hundreds of thousands of porters of the NAACP, opening them the United States? Speaker: James Har- He bought his first subscription to the signers of such petitions in Massachu- to cop and Klan attacks, in order to ris, Socialist Workers Party. Sat., Feb. 18. setts, Florida and Arkansas. “Uncom- destroy the organization. Since 1974 Dinner, 6 p.m.; program, 7:30 p.m. 5482 fortable but desperately needed con- the Socialist Workers Party has fought Mission St. Tel.: (415) 584-2135. Militant Renewal Drive versations continue to take place every successfully to exempt supporters of day as a result,” the group boasted. their election campaigns from disclo- Iowa Quotas Des Moines The National Organization for sure, citing decades of government The Fight for Black Liberation and the Country Quota Marriage contributed $1.8 million to and rightist harassment and attacks. Road to Workers Power. Speaker: Da- campaign for overturning Maine’s The federal court ruled against the vid Rosenfeld, Socialist Workers Party. UNITED STATES Fri., Feb. 17, 7:30 p.m. Donation: $5. 3707 Douglas Ave. Tel.: (515) 255-1707. Atlanta 35 Special offers with new or renewed Militant subscription Boston 15 Minnesota Chicago 35 Malcolm X, Black Liberation, Minneapolis Des Moines 30 and the Road to Workers Power The Keystone XL Pipeline in Nebras- by Jack Barnes $20 $10 with subscription ka: What Are the Stakes for Workers, Houston 18 Working Farmers? Speaker: Tom Fiske, This book helps us understand why it is the revolutionary conquest of Socialist Workers Party. Fri., Feb. 17, 8 Lincoln 6 power by the working class that will make possible the final battle for p.m. 1311 1/2 E. Lake St., 2nd floor. Tel.: (612) 729-1205. Los Angeles 30 Black freedom—and open the way to a world based not on exploitation, violence, and racism, but human solidarity. A socialist world. Miami 20 texas New York 55 The Changing Face of U.S. Politics Houston Greece: Workers Brace for New At- Philadelphia 20 Working-Class Politics and the Unions tacks on Living Standards. Speaker: San Francisco 35 by Jack Barnes $24 $10 with subscription Steve Warshell, Socialist Workers Party. A handbook for those seeking the road toward effective action to overturn Fri., Feb. 10, 7:30 p.m. 4800 W 34th St., Seattle 40 Suite C-50L. Tel.: (713) 688-4919. the exploitative system of capitalism and join in reconstructing the world Twin Cities 35 on new, socialist foundations. Washington Washington, D.C. 15 Teamster Rebellion Seattle Total US 389 Labor Fights the Bosses’ Offensive: by Farrell Dobbs $19 $10 with subscription From the ILWU Battle Against Union AUSTRALIA 15 The story of the strikes and union organizing drive the men and women of Busting to Other Labor Struggles Teamsters Local 574 carried out in Minnesota in 1934, paving the way for the continent- Around the World. Speaker: Mary Mar- CANADA 23 tin, Socialist Workers Party. Sat., Feb. 18. wide rise of the Congress of Industrial Organizations as a fighting social movement. Dinner, 6:30 p.m.; program, 7:30 p.m. Do- nation: $5 for dinner and $5 for program. NEW ZEALAND 20 Is Socialist Revolution in the U.S. Possible? 5418 Rainier Ave. S Tel.: (206) 323-1755. UNITED KINGDOM by Mary-Alice Waters $7 $5 with subscription London 20 United Kingdom The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning London Manchester 10 Rebellion in Syria. What’s at Stake for by Jack Barnes $3 $2 with subscription Working People? Speaker: Paul Davies, UK Total 30 Communist League. Fri., Feb. 17, 7 p.m. Total 477 Donation: £3. 120 Bethnal Green Road Contact distributors on page 8 (first floor, entrance in Brick Lane), E2 GOAL 500 Pathfinder 6DG. Tel.: (020) 7613-2466. Militant subscription rates on page 2 Press The Militant February 20, 2012 3 Locked-out tire workers Wood donation aids sugar workers’ pickets in Ohio win solidarity Reach out from Serbian workers to Toledo students BY ALYSON KENNEDY ing three months for paychecks,” FINDLAY, Ohio—Members of Greer said. United Steelworkers Local 207L He and local President Rod Nelson locked out of their jobs for more than got a good response from students 10 weeks continue to gain support in at Toledo University, Greer stated, their battle against Cooper Tire and where they were invited to speak to Rubber Co. a class by a sociology professor who The lockout began Nov. 28 after the supports their fight. workers voted 606-305 to reject the “We spoke to a class of 50 and company’s “last, best and final offer” talked about the lockout and what it to cut wages, speed up work and es- represents,” Greer said. “One stu- tablish lower pay and benefits for new dent asked, ‘How can you be mad at hires. scabs when they need to work?’ We In an interview with the Militant, explained that the economy and what Rob Greer, a locked-out worker and corporations are doing is putting Scott Ripplinger Rapid Response and Political Coordi- those workers in that position, pitting John Ostendorf, above right, who makes a living as a beef farmer and nator of USW Local 207L, described worker against worker to get wages as wood hauler, delivers a semitrailer of wood Feb. 5 to members of the his recent trip to Serbia as part of a low as possible.” Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Internation- al Union locked out at American Crystal Sugar Co. in East Grand Forks, USW delegation that included There- Members of USW Local 752L at Minn. Ostendorf was greeted by 15 locked-out workers ready with their sa Brown, another locked-out worker. Cooper Tire in Texarkana, Ark., ap- chain saws. The split wood is needed to keep warm on the picket lines. “Shortly after we were locked out, proved a four-year contract in a 1,006- Some 1,300 workers have been locked out since Aug. 1 at seven facili- Cooper Tire announced they were 141 vote Jan. 26. It does not include ties in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa. The union is receiving solidar- buying Trayal Tires in Krusevac, Ser- the company’s original demand for a ity and donations, including food aid and financial contributions. bia,” Greer said. “The workers, mem- five-tier wage scale. Steve Share, editor of Labor Review in Minneapolis, who visited the bers of Nezavisnost, the Trade Union On Feb. 6 the company resumed picket lines last week, brought a check for $5,000 from the Minneapolis of Chemistry, Nonmetal Energy and negotiations with the Findlay local Regional Federation of Labor to help with a food drive. Mining, sent us a letter of solidarity and a federal mediator. Talks broke Send messages of solidarity and contributions to BCTGM Local 167G, and invited us to visit them.” off the next day, Local 207L President 100 N 3rd St. Suite 50, Grand Forks, ND 58203. Greer said there are 490 people who Nelson told the press, with no agree- —FRANK FORRESTAL work at the plant. ment. “Cooper bought the plant, let ev- eryone go and then rehired them for a probation period and after 90 days they are to be able to start to organize Using bankruptcy, American Airlines to lay off 13,000 again,” noted Greer. BY naomi craine in 2003, including wage cuts of up to 4,000 jobs. They also visited a fertilizer plant American Airlines announced Feb. 30 percent and virtually no raises for “It’s a race to the bottom,” Jamie represented by Nezavisnost and met 1 that it will seek to use bankruptcy the last nine years. Horowitz, a spokesman for the Trans- with local union officials. Greer said protection to lay off at least 13,000 The proposals include shutting the port Workers Union, told the Militant. that they were told the plant had been workers, end pension plans, and im- company’s maintenance base in Fort “They plan to outsource these jobs to bombed in the U.S.-led NATO war in pose other concessions on ground Worth, Texas, at the cost of 1,200 companies that pay lower wages, of- 1999. crews, mechanics, flight attendants jobs, and laying off more than 2,000 ten with no benefits.” Workers in Serbia, like those in and pilots. mechanics and others at the base in The TWU represents 26,000 me- much of Europe, are being hit hard American, owned by AMR Corp., Tulsa, Okla. chanics, baggage handlers, cleaners, by the unfolding capitalist economic is one of the last major U.S. airlines Other cuts include 2,300 flight at- and others at American and American crisis rooted in a slowdown of produc- to use the bankruptcy courts in this tendants, 400 pilots and unspecified Eagle. tion, trade and employment. Jobless- way. The company complains its la- numbers of gate agents. American Since 2003 workers at American ness in Serbia stands officially at 23.7 bor costs are too high compared with wants to outsource daytime cabin “have increased productivity by an percent. its competitors. This is despite deep cleaning, cargo, fueling, and other incredible amount,” Horowitz said. “Some workers in Serbia are wait- concessions taken by union members operations amounting to more than “Union members invented ways to overhaul an airplane in half the time.” The union worked together with man- agement to market its maintenance Canadian Caterpillar unionists demand severance bases to other airlines, but now Amer- Continued from front page ued. “We need to show that they are not a Caterpillar-organized jobs fair closed ican wants to move the work overseas, ets at the main plant gate and received alone in the battle.” Mott, who has low down three hours early after 4,000 peo- he said. strong support from workers across seniority, said he expects little severance ple turned up to apply for 250 jobs at the “There’s a big degree of shock that the country. for himself. Muncie plant. the company proposal is so deep,” “What is in that plant is our sever- “The cost structure of the operation “I will be going back to the picket Rick Walker, a ground service worker ance pay,” locomotive painter Graham was not sustainable and efforts to ne- line,” David Giesbrecht, who works as a at Miami International Airport and Alexander told the Militant, referring gotiate a new, competitive collective fabricator, told the Militant. “We have to member of TWU Local 568, told the to inventory and machinery worth hun- agreement were not successful,” said a stick together. We can’t let these corpo- Militant. “Everyone would just be dreds of millions of dollars. “It’s time to Caterpillar media release. rations dictate to us.” throwing bags. All the jobs where you get back to the picket line. We are con- “Caterpillar had no intention of keep- Messages and financial contributions could rest your body would be con- tinuing the fight. Caterpillar didn’t get ing this plant open,” said CAW Presi- can be sent to: CAW Local 27, 606 First tracted out. The brutality of the work the wage cut they wanted. In a sense we dent Ken Lewenza in a union statement. St., London, Ontario N5V 2A2 (atten- would be even greater than it is now.” drove them out of town. We took a hard “From day one we believed that Cat- tion Electro-Motive workers). Fax: (519) In addition to the layoffs, American kick in the ass, but we’re still standing.” erpillar was trying to provoke a crisis, 455-3960. E-mail messages can be sent will “seek court approval to terminate “The way CAT [Caterpillar] has treat- by forcing deep cuts that were not pos- to: [email protected]. our defined benefit pension plans” ed us they won’t be forthcoming in rela- sible.” and “discontinue company-subsidized tion to severance pay,” said Rick Walter, The company said without being spe- Joe Young contributed to this article. retiree medical coverage for current another locomotive painter. “We have to cific that it is moving the work to other employees,” according to a letter from make them pay us what is ours. That is operations in North and South Ameri- The Eastern Airlines Strike Jeff Brundage, senior vice president why we are going to make sure nothing ca. Accomplishments of the of human resources. The company is is moved from that plant.” Workers and union officials said they rank-and-file Machinists also demanding more “flexible” work “Why couldn’t they be honest and tell assume this means shifting work to Cat- by Ernie Mailhot, Judy Stranahan and Jack Barnes rules. us that they are going to close when they erpillar’s locomotive plant in Muncie, The company’s demands are now to The story of the 686-day locked us out?” commented locomotive Ind. The plant is nonunion. Wages there strike in which a rank-and-file be negotiated with the TWU as well tester Brian Mott. The workers were are $12 to $18 an hour compared to $34 resistance by Machinists pre- as the pilots’ and flight attendants’ disqualified from getting government an hour for the London workers. vented Eastern’s union-bust- unions. If no agreement is reached, unemployment compensation during Thirty-six hours before the an- ing onslaught from becoming American can ask the bankruptcy the road to a profitable non- the five-week lockout. nounced closure, Indiana Gov. Mitch- union airline. judge to impose new conditions. “I’m concerned about the guys with ell Daniels signed anti-union so-called “We’re very much still fighting this,” 20 to 30 years in the plant,” Mott contin- “right-to-work” legislation. On Feb. 4, $12 - pathfinderpress.com said Horowitz.

4 The Militant February 20, 2012 on the picket line Aluminum workers strike On Jan. 25, the NLRB filed an in- against concession contract junction against Renaissance to end the DAVENPORT, Iowa—Bundled up lockout and reinstate the workers at their against a cold rain, members of Team- prior wages and benefits. The filing will sters Local 371 maintained 24-hour next go before a federal judge. picket lines at Nichols Aluminum cast- “We’re still waiting to see what the ing and rolling plants here Feb. 4. Nich- judge is going to say,” said Clarke. ols is a subsidiary of Quanex Building “We’re still waiting, still picketing, still Products Corp. The strike began Jan. fighting.” 20. Some 220 workers out of 254 in the The locked-out workers picket seven plants are members of Local 371. days a week and have received strong Mechanic James Gaul said the union support from the community, including Flatbush Gardens residents. agreed to wage concessions in previous Rich Gonzalez contracts. “We signed some contracts in “On Christmas Day one guy from a Cable installation workers at Cablevision subcontractor in Yonkers, N.Y., walk out Feb. 2 the past that we shouldn’t have, to keep church close by brought donations,” said and seek union backing after company demanded cuts in pay and new work rules. our health insurance the way it was. Clarke. “And Verizon and UPS workers Now they want us to pay 20 percent are honoring our picket line.” The pick- voted to be represented by the Commu- and returning a $5 wage deduction it had of the premiums, with a $6,000 annual ets and UPS workers allow the delivery nications Workers of America. taken that morning for TV and Internet deductible.” The company also wants a of medicines. Con Edison workers don’t When CorBell workers showed up installation. Although other demands two-tier wage scale and a wage freeze cross the line unless there’s a gas leak or for work the morning of Feb. 2, bosses were not addressed, the workers agreed during a four-year contract. another emergency, he said. informed them of new work rules and to return to work. Dan Barry, a union steward, said —Deborah Liatos a variable wage scale. The workers re- “We are still underpaid and we are he was inspired by a solidarity rally sponded by striking. They met in the working to get the other contracting in front of both plants Jan. 28. “There NY cable workers walk out, parking lot and called the CWA for as- company employees involved with us,” were at least 200 people from different push back bosses’ cuts sistance. Winston Wright, one of the strikers told unions in the area. They were steel- Some 100 cable installation workers Ken Spatta, chief steward for CWA the Militant. workers, autoworkers, communications walked off the job Feb. 2 in Yonkers, Local 1101, which represents Verizon —Dan Fein workers, and teachers from the National N.Y., seeking union backing and higher workers, went to Yonkers to meet the Education Association.” The rally was wages. strikers. Spatta said when he met with ‘We’re not giving up seniority,’ initiated by United Steelworkers Local They work for CorBell, a contrac- company representatives he was told, say striking NY building workers 105, which organizes Alcoa Aluminum tor that does installation work for Ca- “They are in the streets. They can stay FAR ROCKAWAY, Queens, N.Y.— workers here. blevision in the Bronx and Westchester there.” They did stay there, where they Workers and their supporters have kept “I’ve been changed by going out on County. were warmly supported by passersby the picket line up in front of Dayton strike and getting this kind of support,” One week earlier, 282 workers in and neighborhood residents. Beach Park Co-Op apartments every Barry told the Militant. “I was ignorant Brooklyn became the first Cablevision By 2 p.m. the company agreed to ne- day here since they went on strike July about what was going on with labor. But employees to join a union when they gotiate, giving a $2 raise per truck stop 7, 2011. now, if someone else is on strike, I plan More than a dozen workers were on to help them.” the picket line Jan. 28. Many people Nichols Aluminum did not return driving by or entering the complex phone calls from the Militant seeking waved and honked in support. comment. The 27 workers, members of SEIU Negotiations between Nichols Alu- Local 32BJ, went on strike in response minum and the Teamsters resumed two to management’s contract demands that weeks after the strike began. include higher health insurance, a four- The company is attempting to main- year wage freeze, and layoffs. tain some production with management “We are down to 25 workers, union personnel and by hiring replacement steward Ray Ceballos told the Militant workers. while picketing. “The board wants to re- —David Rosenfeld duce the staff by six. Then they’ll write us up if we don’t get all the work done. Locked out for over 14 months, The union agreed to a reduction of three NY building workers win ruling people but board president Jennifer NEW YORK—“They’re trying to Grady had a list of senior men she want- break the unions,” locked-out worker ed to get rid of. We said no. We told the Lucien Clarke told the Militant Jan. 28 Militant/Maggie Trowe board we’re not giving up seniority.” at the picket line in front of the Flatbush Members of Teamsters Local 371 picket Nichols Aluminum in Davenport, Iowa, Feb. 4. —Deborah Liatos Gardens apartment complex in Brook- lyn. “All of us have to make a stand. We have to stand strong.” 25, 50, and 75 years ago Some 70 porters and maintenance workers were locked out of their jobs at the complex by the owners, Renaissance Equity Holdings, Nov. 29, 2010, after re- fusing to accept a more than 30 percent cut in wages and benefits. February 20, 1987 February 19, 1962 February 20, 1937 In 2011 Service Employees Interna- When the owner of the Cuirs Haw- President Kennedy’s decision to General Motors has signed its first tional Union Local 32BJ filed unfair ton leathergoods factory in Haiti fired plunge this country deeper into the national agreement with an industrial labor practice charges against Renais- six workers in December 1986, all the South Vietnamese civil war can mean union. This fact represents a real victory sance with the National Labor Relations workers went on strike to demand that a blood-bath even worse than Truman’s for the auto workers and for the forces of Board. the six be rehired. Their strike is an ex- “police action” in Korea. the Committee for Industrial Organiza- ample of the efforts by Haitian workers Kennedy’s decision to put a four- tion. The first major breach in the iron to build a fighting union movement in star general in charge of operations front of the open shop mass production Read about the battles that the face of stiff opposition from U.S. there and to accelerate the flow of industries has been made. forged the industrial unions and Haitian bosses. troops and equipment deliberately Definite gains involved in the settle- For 29 years Haiti was ruled by the flouts the Constitution which says ment were: first, establishment of the U.S.-backed Duvalier dictatorship. More only Congress can commit the coun- principal of national bargaining between than half of all workers were unem- try to war. national officers of the company and of ployed and wages averaged less than $3 The claim that “aggression” by the United Auto Workers of America. a day. This meant big profits for Haitian North Vietnam is responsible for the Second, recognition of the union as the bosses and for the many foreign capital- civil war now in its eighth year and sole bargaining agent in seventeen strike ists, most from the United States. that the U.S. has intervened to stave off bound plants for a period of six months. $30 When a massive popular rebellion a possible victory of “totalitarianism” The sit-down strike is by inference forced Duvalier to flee the country in is the cruelest kind of lie. The civil war recognized as a legitimate weapon February 1986, Haitian workers began is a popular uprising of the peasantry since it is mentioned in the terms of to raise demands for higher wages and against the oppression of the Ngo Dinh settlement and the corporation agrees to started to form unions. Factory bosses, Diem dictatorship—a dictatorship that withdraw all court action based on plant See distributors on page 8, both Haitian and U.S., responded with survives only by the grace of U.S. guns occupation and now pending against the or order at www.pathfinderpress.com intimidation and arbitrary firings. and dollars. union.

The Militant February 20, 2012 5 Capitalist rule is source of violence, not of its decline Book serves as apology for imperialism’s brutal nature

The Better Angels of Our Nature. America, and the ideas of the Enlighten- Why Violence Has Declined by Steven ment—the scientific and philosophical Pinker, 802 pages. Penguin Group. $40. ideas that developed as part of the rise of capitalism in the 17th and 18th cen- by Naomi Craine turies—for social progress. He praises The capitalist system—with its state the “institutions of the Civilizing Pro- “monopoly on the use of force,” “gentle cess, namely a competent government commerce” and “cosmopolitanism”— and police force and a dependable infra- has ushered in the least violent epoch in structure for trade and commerce.” human history. So says Harvard profes- The general trend has been a remark- sor Steven Pinker in The Better Angels able reduction in violence, he says, of Our Nature. Why Violence Has De- spreading “not only downward along the clined. socioeconomic scale but outward across the geographic scale, from a Western Struggle for Black rights was fight against state power of capitalist class, their laws, cops, courts European epicenter”—a phrase that and politicians. Above, members of NAACP in Monroe, N.C., armed themselves in 1950s and in review captures his anti-working-class and pro- successfully beat back Ku Klux Klan terror. Book by Steven Pinker peddles lie that decline of racism and violence is natural result of “civilizing process” of modern capitalist society. Pinker’s 800-page tome professes to imperialist outlook. trace through human history a general The early development of the “insti- massacre and genocide, which many capitalist crisis unfolds, the pressures to- trend of declining violence—which for tutions of the civilizing process” is ex- working people will instinctively find ward greater conflict—both trade wars him includes everything from wars to plained well in Capital, where Marx de- morally repugnant. and shooting wars—will mount. eating meat—in order to present the scribes how capitalism came into being Pinker conveniently dismisses these As Bolshevik leader V.I. Lenin ex- current system of capitalist rule as the “dripping from head to foot, from every world conflagrations as flukes of his- plained in 1916, “Peaceful alliances highest possible social system giving pore, with blood and dirt.” Men, women tory, rejecting the likelihood of another [between imperialist powers] prepare rise to an increasingly peaceful and pro- and children were driven off the land. war among imperialist powers. He views the ground for wars, and in their turn gressive world. Among the fundamen- The “civilizing” anti-vagrancy laws the increased membership in “intergov- grow out of wars.” The “peaceful … tal problems with the author’s historical helped drive the dispossessed rural toil- ernmental organizations” such as the alliance of all the powers for the ‘paci- analysis is that he conspicuously disre- ers into factories and mines under hours United Nations and European Union, fication’ of China” one day shifts to gards the struggle between exploited and conditions of labor that exceeded and the increase in so-called peacekeep- “the non-peaceful conflict of tomorrow, and exploiting classes, which Karl Marx the bounds of human endurance—en- ing missions around the world to be fac- which will prepare the ground for an- explained is the motor force of history. forced by the police, judges, jails and tors limiting the risk of war. other ‘peaceful’ general alliance for the Pinker’s opening chapters describe workhouses of the state apparatus. partition, say, of Turkey, on the day af- past stages of human society that have ‘Peacekeepers’ tool of imperialism ter tomorrow, etc. etc.” The imperialist been overcome, including cannibalism, Credit belongs to working class These are in fact some of the main “civilized hyenas,” as Lenin once called human sacrifice, chattel slavery, me- The massive expansion of the he- tools used by Washington and other im- them, haven’t changed their spots over dieval torture devices, and so on. He reditary working class on a world scale perialist powers today to maintain their the last century. continues in this vain as he describes over the last century, drawing in men domination of the rest of the world, its Pinker’s bourgeois class bias and con- inroads in recent decades against rac- and women on every continent, has in- resources and labor. It certainly hasn’t tempt for working people is equally on ism, discrimination against women, and creased the proletarian habits of mutual been a “long peace” for working people display when he turns his attention to other forms of oppression. trust, tolerance, and class solidarity that in Korea, Vietnam, Congo, Iraq, Af- the United States. Under the heading These undeniable advances are above working people learn in the course of ghanistan, Yugoslavia, Haiti and in- “Recivilization in the 1990s,” he dis- all victories of toiling humanity: our so- common struggles. As a result of the numerable other countries subjected to cusses a drop in homicide statistics over cial labor, which has made possible the accelerated development and struggles imperialist military intervention—often the last two decades. Among the factors increase in productivity and develop- by the workers, there is less acceptance in the name of “peacekeeping” or under he credits are that “the Leviathan [the ment of culture, as well as the struggles today of torture, for instance, and of rac- the U.N. flag. And as the current world Continued on page 9 of the laboring classes against oppres- ist and anti-woman violence. The credit sion over millennia of class society. for this however belongs to the revolu- Pinker manages to write a dozen pag- tionary class in society, the proletariat, es under the heading “Civil Rights and not to the capitalist rulers, the source of NY cops step up targeting of Black the Decline of Lynching and Racial Po- violence and oppression whose system groms” with only a passing mention of creates contradictions that invariably the massive, proletarian-led movement explode into war. youth with drug laws, stop and frisk that defeated Jim Crow segregation, let Pinker goes through some intellec- BY brian williams sive “stop-and-frisk” policy. A record alone the battles that preceded and fol- tual gymnastics to explain the horrors NEW YORK—Police in New York 600,601 people, 87 percent of whom lowed it. It’s no wonder: the struggle for of the two mass imperialist slaughters of City have increasingly targeted Black were Black or Latino, were subjected Black rights was a fight against the state the 20th Century, which would seem to and Latino youth for arrest on minor to arbitrary police stops and searches power of the capitalist class, their laws, contradict his thesis. He argues that 15 marijuana possession charges. in 2010. Under state law, police are only cops, courts and politicians. A neces- million deaths in World War I and an un- Cops here made more than 50,680 supposed to arrest a person for possess- sary component of it was armed self-de- precedented 55 million in World War II arrests on the lowest-level marijuana ing a small amount of marijuana if it is fense against state-organized and state- are actually not so much—if considered charges in 2011, an increase for the sev- lit or in public view. But the cops rou- sanctioned violence. And that struggle as a percentage of the world’s population enth straight year and the largest cat- tinely order those they stop and frisk to permanently strengthened the working in contrast to the Mongol Conquests egory of arrests overall. According to empty their pockets, allowing police to class and its capacity to effectively fight over seven decades in the 13th Century figures compiled by Queens College frame up some for having the drug “in the bosses and their government. and the fall of the Roman Empire in the professor Harry Levine and the Drug public view.” Pinker credits the rise of the state, 3rd to 5th centuries. He presents numer- Policy Alliance, the number of these These arrests create a public record particularly modern democratic capital- ous charts and graphs to support this misdemeanor arrests in the last five that can affect every aspect of a person’s ist states in Western Europe and North quantitative comparison to large-scale years surpasses the total for the 23-year life—from employment and education period from 1978 to 2001. to housing. Over the last decade, more than In September 2011, under public pres- Women in Cuba: half of those arrested for possession sure over the racist enforcement of drug The Making of a Revolution of marijuana were Black, although in laws, New York City Police Commis- New! 2010 they comprised 23 percent of the sioner Raymond Kelly issued a memo Within the Revolution city’s population. One-third of those “reminding” cops to stop falsely charg- Firsthand accounts of the social revolution that brought arrested were Latino. Just 11 percent ing people for possessing small amounts down a bloody dictatorship in Cuba and began unique were Caucasian, despite representing of marijuana removed from their pock- integration of women in its ranks and leadership. Special about 44 percent of the city’s popula- ets by order of a police officer. price through March 15. (Cover price is $20.) tion and surveys showing no signifi- Levine has compiled statistics Their Morals and Ours: cant difference in their use of marijua- showing a similar pattern of arrests $15 The Class Foundations of Moral Practice na compared to Blacks and Latinos. for marijuana possession targeting by Leon Trotsky $15 The skyrocketing arrests are close- African-Americans in California and ly connected to the NYPD’s aggres- elsewhere. Available from distributors listed on page 8, or online at www.pathfinderpress.com

6 The Militant February 20, 2012 NZ gov’t presses frame-up of activists for Maori rights

BY MIKE TUCKER raided some 60 homes across the AUCKLAND, New Zealand—The country and arrested 18 people. The government’s frame-up trial opens here small township of Ruatoki—home- Feb. 13 against four Maori rights advo- land of the Tuhoe people—was placed cates: Emily Bailey, Rangi Kemara, Urs under a lockdown as heavily armed Signer and Tame Iti, a prominent Maori police set up roadblocks and ram- rights campaigner and a leader of the paged through homes. Tuhoe iwi (tribe). Police claimed the raids were a They have been awaiting trial for more response to an imminent “terrorist” than four years on charges of “unlawful threat and that those arrested had possession of firearms” and “participat- taken part in training camps nearby. ing in an organized criminal group.” Using warrants under the 2002 Ter- Militant/Mike Tucker Government prosecutors added a new rorism Suppression Act, police had Rally against frame-up of Maori rights advocates at High Court in Auckland, Sept. 12. indictment last September, alleging the secretly shot videos, bugged houses group’s intention was murder, arson, and cars, and tapped phone calls and charges has grown as the case enters its dants were then withdrawn at the High kidnapping and other crimes. text messages over the preceding fifth year. A documentary movie, Op- Court in Auckland Sept. 12. One of the “The police accusations against us year. Most of those arrested were held eration 8: Deep in the Forest, exposing remaining defendants, Tuhoe Lambert, are ridiculous,” said Iti in a phone inter- in jail for nearly a month. the police frame-up, has been screened had died in July. view with the Militant following the an- The raids sparked protests throughout at cinemas throughout the country since However, in a 3-2 decision, the nouncement. New Zealand. In face of this, Solicitor its release last April. Supreme Court ruled that the same The new indictment was filed after General David Collins announced in Government prosecutors had been illegally obtained evidence could be the government was forced to with- November 2007 that he would not au- planning a major show trial to open in used to prosecute the remaining four draw trumped-up firearms charges thorize laying charges under the Terror- Auckland last September. But on the defendants on more serious charges of made against 13 others following a mas- ism Act. The defendants were released eve of the trial, Sept. 2, the Supreme “participating in an organized crimi- sive police operation on Oct. 15, 2007, from jail, but police continued to press Court ruled that illegally obtained cop nal group.” This opened the way to dubbed “Operation 8.” the frame-up under the Arms Act. surveillance was impermissible in the new indictment Sept. 15, alleging At that time more than 300 cops Support for the demand to drop the court. Charges against 13 of the defen- the group was “conspiring” to com- mit violent crimes. A statement released by Valerie Morse Sept. 16 on behalf of the October 15th Hundreds protest killing of youth by NY cop Solidarity committee denounced the Continued from front page frame them,” Molly Gordon, whose two Duane Browne, 26, was shot and new indictment against the remaining lance cameras at the home shows children grew up and went to school killed by cops Jan. 12 while in his pa- four defendants as “utterly unsubstanti- Graham walking up the sidewalk and with Graham, said in a Feb. 5 interview. jamas when cops responded to an at- ated by any credible evidence. … The entering the house. Seconds later two “The cops had no warrant to enter the tempted burglary 911 call. On Jan. 26 charges are rubbish. The case is rubbish, police officers run up and after finding apartment. We are not animals. This Christopher Kissane was killed while and has been since October 15th 2007. the door locked attempt to kick it in. happens mostly to Black people. They allegedly stealing a car. He was shot The charges should be dropped now.” After several minutes the cops gained need to take the cops off the force.” from a distance of 78 feet, “which is re- Sixty people attended a public meet- access into the building through the “I saw the video on TV where the markable shooting,” said police spokes- ing in Wellington Feb. 3 to condemn the back door and then broke down the cops were running to the apartment fol- person Paul Browne. On Jan. 29 an off- frame-up trial. Meetings and protests door to the second floor apartment. lowing Ramarley,” said Winston Blake, duty cop shot and killed 17-year-old are planned in Auckland to coincide The cops claim they saw a gun on a construction worker. “This is a total Antwain White. with the start of the trial. Information Graham, but New York Police Commis- injustice. There was no threat to the can be found at the website http://octo- sioner Raymond Kelly admitted to the cops to justify this murder.” Dan Fein contributed to this article. ber15thsolidarity.info. press that there is no evidence he was armed. Kelly claimed that cops found a bag of marijuana in the apartment’s Australia: death in police custody sparks protest toilet near where Graham was killed. Since the shooting two cops—Richard By Joanne Kuniansky Haste, who pulled the trigger, and his SYDNEY, Australia—Holding plac- ards demanding “Independent inquiry supervisor, Sgt. Scott Morris—have now,” “Release all evidence to the fam- been stripped of their guns and badges ily,” and “Stop Black deaths in custody,” and put on desk duty. 35 people protested here Jan. 19 outside Graham’s six-year-old brother and the Northern Territory tourism office. his grandmother, Patricia Hartley, wit- Terrance Briscoe, a 28-year-old Ab- nessed the shooting. Hartley was imme- original man, was arrested in Alice diately taken into custody and held for Springs, central Australia, by the North- seven hours at the precinct house. She ern Territory Police for public drunken- was released only after Bronx State As- ness at 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 4. Five hours semblyman Eric Stevenson went to the later he was found dead in his cell. precinct house and asked if Hartley was Ray Jackson from the Indigenous being held against her will. Social Justice Association told the rally “They dragged his name through the that, as always, there is the “so-called of- mud,” his father, Frank Graham, told the ficial version” and the “family version” crowd, referring to reports in the media of what happened. from unnamed police sources that Ra- According to the association, since Relatives and community members protest Jan. 4 death of Terrance marley had eight prior arrests. 1980 more than 400 Blacks have died in Briscoe (inset) while in police custody in Alice Springs, Australia. “I want you to know Ramarley was police custody. a wonderful, quiet kid. He always car- Police reportedly told the family that followed by the obligatory whitewash and Robert Dow, who resigned from ried a small Jamaican flag in his back Briscoe hurt his head when he fell over and cover-up.” the Northern Territory Police over such pocket, not a gun,” Lisa Johnson told the before being locked away. But two men Paddy Gibson from Stop The In- instances of cop brutality, also spoke at Militant. “Maybe he did smoke weed, who were arrested with him said he tervention Collective Sydney told the the protest. lots of high school students do. But that was beaten by up to five officers, one of protest that they would be “pushing Today, about one in four prisoners shouldn’t matter. This could have been them a woman. hard for justice and for the police to be are indigenous, even though Aboriginal anyone’s family member in this neigh- His aunt, Patricia Morton-Thomas, prosecuted.” He said that even if Bris- Australians make up just 2.5 percent of borhood.” told the Northern Territory News that coe was not assaulted, the negligence of the total population. Thirty-two percent “They are murderers. Get it in your the conflicting stories made the family the police puts “this death at their feet.” of people living in the Northern Terri- head,” Bronx resident Yolanda Mat- suspicious. Her nephew, she pointed out, STICS was formed to campaign against tory are indigenous. There, the impris- thews shouted at a TV news crew. “We received no medical care for the injury. the 2007 federal takeover of Aboriginal onment rate for Aboriginal people has are tired.” In a media statement, Jackson said communities in the Northern Territory. risen 46 percent in the last decade from “When they kill young people, the that for an Aborigine or Torres Strait Is- Briscoe’s uncle Daniel Taylor, a rep- 523 prisoners per 100,000 adults in 2001 cops claim drugs or guns. The cops lander “arrest becomes a death sentence resentative of Amnesty International, to 762 prisoners per 100,000 in 2011.

The Militant February 20, 2012 7 Malcolm X: ‘stop and frisk’ an ‘anti-Negro law’ Below is an excerpt from By Any political tricks are being pulled, if you Means Necessary, a book of speeches and I don’t let it be known that we and interviews by Malcolm X from know it, why, they’ll keep on with their the last year of his life. The excerpt skullduggery and their trickery, and is from a speech Malcolm gave at the they will think that the problem is be- second rally of the Organization of ing solved when actually they’re only Afro-American Unity, at the Audu- compounding it and making it worse. bon Ballroom in Harlem, N.Y., July 5, If they can’t enforce laws that are laid 1964, shortly after the U.S. Congress down by the Supreme Court, which is adopted the Civil Rights Act of 1964. the land’s highest court, do you think Copyright © 1970 by Betty Shabazz that they can enforce some new laws and Pathfinder Press. in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia? And if they can’t enforce these new laws, then why do they pretend? Why Books of come up with the bill? What is all this hullabaloo for? It’s nothing but twenti- eth-century trickery, some more of the the month same old legislative trickery that you and I and our mothers and fathers have by malcolm x Robert Parent On Thursday of this week, or I think it Malcolm X speaking at founding meeting of Organization of Afro-American Unity at been handed for the past fifty, sixty, or was Friday, there was a great hullabaloo Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, N.Y., June 28, 1964. Malcolm said Blacks today should fol- one hundred years. made over the recent passage of the civil low example of those in their history who fought back by any means necessary. Prior to one hundred years ago, they rights bill. On the front pages of all the didn’t need tricks. They had chains. newspapers the day after it was suppos- Georgia was found hung on a tree. A these new laws are aimed at the South. And they needed the chains because edly signed so that it was in effect, they 1964 June lynching. Nothing was said None of them are aimed at the North. you and I hadn’t yet been brainwashed had pictures of little black boys sitting in in the paper, no hullabaloo was made Nothing in this legislation is designed thoroughly enough to submit to their barbershop chairs letting white barbers over that. But here’s a little fourteen- to straighten out the situation that you brutal acts of violence submissively. cut their hair. And this was hailed as a year-old black boy in Georgia lynched, and I are confronted with here in New Prior to a hundred years ago, you had great victory. Pick up on that. and to keep you and me from knowing York City. There’s nothing in the bill men like Nat Turner, that Brother Ben- In 1964, when oppressed people all what was taking place, they showed an- that will stop job discrimination in New jamin was talking about, and others, over this earth are fighting for their place other picture of a little black boy letting York, that will stop housing discrimina- Toussaint L’Ouverture. None of them in the sun, the Negro in America is sup- a white man cut his hair. tion in New York, that will stop edu- would submit to slavery. They’d fight posed to stand up and cheer because he This is the trickery that you and I are cational discrimination in New York. back by any means necessary. And it can sit down and let a white man mess faced with every day in this society. There’s nothing in the bill that will stop was only after the spirit of the black up his head. They on the one hand try and show us the police from exercising police state man was completely broken and his At the same time that so much hulla- how much progress we’re making. But tactics in New York. There’s nothing desire to be a man was completely baloo was being made over the passage if we look through all of that propagan- in the bill that touches on your and my destroyed, then they had to use differ- of the civil rights bill, if you read closely da we find that our people are still being problem here in New York City. Every- ent tricks. They just took the physical between the lines, a little black boy in hung, they’re still disappearing, and no thing in the bill deals with our people in chains from his ankles and put them one is finding them, or no one is finding the South. on his mind. their murderers. We are interested in our people in the And from then on, the type of slav- Books And at the same time also that so South. But we have to question whether ery that you and I have been experienc- February much hullabaloo was being made over or not this bill, these laws, will help our ing, we’ve been kept in it, year in and of the Month this new civil rights legislation, a bill people in the South when ten years ago year out, by a change of tricks. Never do went into effect known as the no‑knock the Supreme Court came up with a law they change our condition or the slavery. PATHFINDER law or stop‑and‑frisk law, which was called the desegregated school law, or They only change the tricks. This is done

READERS CLUB 25% an anti‑Negro law. They make one law something to that effect, which hasn’t from the White House right on down to discount SPECIALS that’s outright against Negroes and been enforced yet. And you and I would the plantation boss in Alabama and Mis- By Any Means Necessary make it appear that it is for our people, be children, we would be boys, we would sissippi. Right on down from the White by Malcolm X while at the same time they pass another be mental midgets, if we let the white House you are tricked, right on down to In speeches and interviews, bill that’s supposedly designed to give man even make us think that some new the plantation boss in Mississippi and Malcolm X takes up political us some kind of equal rights. You know, laws were going to be enforced in Mis- Alabama. There is no difference be- alliances, women’s rights, U.S. sooner or later you and I are going to sissippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Texas tween the plantation boss in Mississippi intervention in the Congo and wake up and be fed up, and there’s going while the Supreme Court law has not yet and the plantation boss in Washington, Vietnam, capitalism and social- ism, and more. to be trouble. There’s got to be trouble. been enforced in New York City. You’d D.C. Both of them are plantation bosses. $16. Special price: $12 While they were making so much be out of your mind to even look happy. What you experience in this country is hullabaloo again over the passage of And you’d be way out of your mind to one huge plantation system, the only Problems of Everyday Life these new civil rights bills or legisla- make them think that you’re happy. difference now being that the President by Leon Trotsky tion, they could not deny the fact that all No, when you and I know that these is the plantation boss. $28. Special price: $21 Revolutionary Continuity: Birth of the Communist if you like this paper, look us up Movement, 1918-1922 by Farrell Dobbs Where to find distributors of the ton. Zip: 02128. Tel: (617) 569-9169. address: P.O. Box 164, Campsie, NSW 2194. $19. Special price: $14.25 Militant, New International, and a full E-mail: [email protected] Tel: (02) 9718 9698. E-mail: cl_australia@ display of Pathfinder books. optusnet.com.au MINNESOTA: Minneapolis: 1311 1/2 Problems of E. Lake St. Zip: 55407. Tel: (612) 729-1205. E- Women’s Liberation UNITED STATES mail: [email protected] CANADA by Evelyn Reed QUEBEC: Montreal: 7107 St. Denis CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 4025 #204 H2S 2S5. Tel: (514) 272-5840. E-mail: The social and economic roots of NEW YORK: Manhattan: 306 W. 37th S. Western Ave. Zip: 90062. Tel: (323) [email protected] women’s oppression from prehis- 295-2600. E-mail: [email protected] St., 10th Floor. Zip: 10018. Tel: (212) 629- tory to modern capitalism. San Francisco: 5482 Mission St. Zip: 94112- 6649. E-mail: [email protected] $15. Special price: $11.25 1015. Tel: (415) 584-2135. E-mail: swpsf FRANCE Paris: P.O. 175, 23 rue Lecourbe. @sbcglobal.net PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 3701 Pombo: Pulaski Ave. Zip: 19140. Tel: (215) 225-1270. Postal code: 75015. Tel: (01) 40-10-28-37. A Man of Che’s guerrilla FLORIDA: Miami: 719 NE 79th St. E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] With Che Guevara in Bolivia, 1966-68 Zip: 33138. Tel: (305) 757-8869. E-mail: [email protected] TEXAS: Houston: 4800 W. 34th St., Suite by Harry Villegas NEW ZEALAND C-50L. Zip: 77092. Tel: (713) 688-4919. E- Auckland: 4/125 Grafton Rd., Grafton. $23. Special price: $17.25 GEORGIA: Atlanta: 476 1/2 Edgewood mail: [email protected] Postal address: P.O. Box 3025, Auckland Ave. Zip: 30312. Tel: (404) 525-5200. E-mail: 1140. Tel: (09) 369-1223. E-mail: clauck@ La revolución traicionada [email protected] WASHINGTON, D.C.: 143 xtra.co.nz (The Revolution Betrayed) Kennedy St. NW, Suite 15. Zip: 20011. Tel: (202) 536-5080. E-mail: by Leon Trotsky ILLINOIS: Chicago: 806 W. Washington UNITED KINGDOM $20. Special price: $15 Blvd. Suite 202. Zip: 60607. Tel: (312) 455- [email protected] 0111. E-mail: [email protected] ENGLAND: London: First Floor, 120 Join Pathfinder Readers Club WASHINGTON: Seattle: 5418 Rainier Bethnal Green Road (Entrance in Brick for $10 and receive IOWA: Des Moines: 3707 Douglas Ave. Ave. South. Zip: 98118-2439. Tel: (206) 323- Lane). Postal code: E2 6DG. Tel: (020) discounts all year long Zip: 50310. Tel: (515) 255-1707. E-mail: 1755. E-mail: [email protected] 7613-2466. E-mail: [email protected] Manchester: Room 301, 3rd floor, Hilton Order online at [email protected] www.pathfinderpress.com AUSTRALIA House, 26–28 Hilton St. Postal code: Offer good until February 29 MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 13 Sydney: 1st Flr, 3/281-287 Beamish M1 2EH. Tel: (016) 1478-2496. E-mail: Bennington St., 2nd Floor, East Bos- St., Campsie, NSW 2194. Mailing [email protected]

8 The Militant February 20, 2012 Editorial ILWU victory Continued from front page between the union and the Port of Longview, Prosecute cops who killed Graham! which is run by the city government. The company “When they kill young people, the cops claim order and enlightenment, making the world a better had instead hired members of Operating Engineers drugs or guns. The cops frame them,” Molly Gor- place for all. (See review on page 6.) Working peo- Union Local 701 at inferior wages without a con- don told the Militant in the wake of the police kill- ple need to learn to see through their claims, and tract through the General Construction company. ing of 18-year-old Ramarley Graham in the Bronx. develop a healthy contempt for their hypocrisy. On Jan. 23 EGT laid off the General Construction Frame-ups and state-organized violence are tools The government of the bosses—with its cops, employees, according to Longshore and Shipping of the capitalist rulers, as many articles in this week’s courts and armed forces—is an instrument of class News. issue illustrate—from the streets of New York to the rule for keeping the toiling majority in line. As part of the initial agreement, EGT got a change longshore workers in Washington who stood up to This state is wielded by the bosses in their drive in its lease agreement with the Port of Longview, re- union busting, from the frame-up case against Mao- for more production and profits. A drive that comes moving the stipulation that said the company had to ri rights activists in New Zealand to the death in cop at the cost of life and limb for workers, as in the hire ILWU labor. custody of Terrance Briscoe in Australia. recent death at a Vale mine in Canada. It serves Despite the lease clause, EGT organized a frontal The use of the capitalist state against working peo- the capitalists in driving down wages—from the 25 assault against the union. But under the existing re- ple at home is paralleled by their actions abroad. They percent cut in the minimum wage in Greece to the lationship of forces as determined in the class strug- want us to accept hunter-killer drones, special forces 50 percent cut at Caterpillar. gle, the bosses were compelled to back down. In that assassinations and full-out military slaughters when The Militant stands with those confronting the rul- context, the lease change is a minor concession the needed to defend imperialist interests—all in the name ers’ frame-ups and violence. We join the longshore bosses will try to use to their advantage in the future. of “peacekeeping,” “stability” and “prosperity.” workers in demanding all charges and fines against But the future of the union there will be decided the The imperialist rulers, along with their petty- union members and supporters be dropped. And we same way that it won its current status. bourgeois apologists such as Harvard professor stand with those demanding that the cops responsible The union has reserved the right to resume pick- Steven Pinker, present themselves as the bearers of for Ramarley Graham’s death be prosecuted. eting at EGT if contract talks on outstanding issues break down. The ILWU also agreed to request that all outside groups, including other labor unions and forces from the Occupy movement, refrain from picketing at Capitalist rule is source of violence EGT. Continued from page 6 reasoning, as measured by IQ scores, leads to less Some West Coast Occupy forces, who had been state] got bigger, smarter, and more effective.” Specifi- violence. Smarter people are more liberal, he argues, planning to caravan to Longview to block the loading cally, the incarceration rate multiplied fivefold and the more educated, more moral. This smartness has been of EGT’s first grain ship, have said they will wait and number of cops mushroomed. trickling down to the rest of us unwashed masses—al- see if the agreement is “satisfactory to the Local 21 How “smart” this seems depends on your class per- though not as much to the less enlightened “red states” rank and file” to decide their next move. The union spective. It’s working-class neighborhoods, especially of the South. It’s the epitome of a self-serving justifica- had opposed such actions, pointing out they could Black and Latino communities, that the police target tion, packaged as scholarly work. lead to unnecessary victimizations. No protest was for stop-and-frisk harassment, frame-ups, arbitrary The development of capitalism has created the pro- held Feb. 7 when the grain ship docked. arrests and draconian prison sentences. ductive capacity for the first time ever to meet the This is a form of violence that Pinker and his col- material needs of all humanity. The contradiction is Women protesters ‘not guilty’ leagues support, but are embarrassed to acknowledge that these means are monopolized by a small minor- Meanwhile, in another victory for the union, four and never experience for themselves. The Harvard ity, whose domination is maintained through violence supporters of the ILWU were found “not guilty” Feb. professor is part of a middle class layer that has grown and whose competition and drive for profits lead to 1 of blocking a train at a Sept. 21 protest against EGT to be millions over the last 20 years—well-placed uni- the most violent explosions. This contradiction can at the Port of Longview. The four were part of a group versity professors and administrators, heads of chari- only be resolved by the working class wresting politi- of nine women who were relatives of ILWU Local 21 ties and foundations, lawyers and lobbyists—who are cal power. members and included some members of the ILWU largely unconnected to the production, reproduction To get a glimpse of the social forces that actually can Ladies Auxiliary no. 14. or circulation of social wealth. put an end to the violent contradictions of capitalism, The group was carrying out a peaceful protest This layer, sometimes described as a “meritocracy,” I recommend reading the newly published book Wom- by sitting down on the railroad tracks leading into serves as well-paid cheerleaders for the capitalist rul- en in Cuba: The Making of a Revolution Within the the EGT terminal. The women were then assaulted ers. They view themselves as smarter and more en- Revolution. It describes how working people, men and by private cops of the Burlington Northern Santa lightened, and they fear the working people through- women, built a revolutionary army whose aim was not Fe Railroad, Cowlitz County Sheriff’s deputies and out the world as a “dangerous class.” So they accept, to kill the enemy, but rather to take power with as little Longview Police. Three members of Local 21—Sec- often with mild criticism or feinted regret, that the bloodshed as possible. It describes how in the course retary-Treasurer Byron Jacobs, Kelly Muller and U.S. must have by far the highest incarceration rate in of the revolutionary war and after its victory the peas- President Dan Coffman—were also arrested. Jacobs the world—more than 1 percent of the adult popula- ants and workers of Cuba increasingly transformed and Muller were assaulted by the police when they tion—as the price of “civilization.” themselves and their society, without preconceived ran to assist the women. Pinker professes that greater capacity for abstract schemes, showing a way forward for humanity. The four women acquitted were Erica Farland, Cara Lindemann, Kahne Witham and Jennifer Wood. The other five women will face a jury trial in March. The cases of Coffman, Jacobs and Muller have not Athens targets private industry workers yet gone to trial. Continued from front page Prime Minister Mario Monti, also installed at the More than 200 union members and supporters pay; and steep cuts in pensions. behest of the stronger imperialist powers led by Ber- were arrested on trumped-up charges as a result of On Feb. 7 the two largest Greek unions conducted a lin. “Monti and Labor Minister Elsa Fornaro have union protests against EGT in the course of the eight- one-day political strike and tens of thousands demon- pledged to make labor reforms,” the Wall Street month fight. Although at least 23 of these have been strated, closing ports, factories and public transporta- Journal reported Feb. 7, “in an effort to put an in- cleared of frame-up charges in recent weeks, includ- tion. debted and economically stagnant Italy on a path to ing in three jury trials, scores more still face hearings “The goal of any pay cuts would be to help make sustainable growth.” or trials. Greek workers, who are generally less productive than Europe’s rulers are incapable of solving the deep- “It’s time for the prosecuting attorney to … drop workers elsewhere in Europe, able to compete more ening crisis of capitalist production and trade. They the remaining charges against longshore workers and effectively inside the euro zone,” the New York Times grasp for short-term measures to kick the can down their supporters for exercising their constitutional said Feb. 3, “where countries share a common cur- the road. With all their competing interests and views, rights during their free speech demonstrations last rency that does not allow devaluations to help even out the one thing they agree on is continued attacks on summer,” Leal Sundet of the ILWU Coast Commit- differences in labor costs.” workers in an effort to increase sagging profit rates. tee said at the union’s international headquarters in Reuters reported that productivity in Greece is just Working people are feeling the impact across the San Francisco. 65 percent of the European Union average. continent. At the end of 2011, eurozone unemploy- “I don’t just dismiss a whole raft of cases because a This line of attack on industrial workers is becom- ment reached its highest level since the euro was inau- jury came back with a not guilty for certain people,” ing increasingly popular with European rulers, in the gurated more than 10 years earlier. Cowlitz County Prosecutor Sue Baur responded in a name of fueling growth. Those pushing this course ar- Over the last two weeks, more than 420 people have statement to the press. gue that reliance on austerity alone only further con- died across Europe as frigid temperatures descend- Meanwhile, the union is appealing more than tracts the economy, driving Greece and other “periph- ed. The vast majority are workers who have become $300,000 in fines levied by a federal judge for alleged eral” countries deeper into debt. homeless as a result of the crisis. Day after day, from damages incurred during union protests at the port. In other words, the propertied rulers’ “alternative” Poland to Italy, dozens have been found frozen to the to continually raising taxes and slashing government ground, unable to find shelter. expenditures—including state workers’ wages, pen- Meanwhile, one area in which Greece’s rulers are Correction sions and jobs—is to combine it with an all-out assault expanding their budget is the construction of a six- The photo of members of the ILWU Local 21 on on wages and working conditions of broader layers of mile-long, 13-foot-high fence along the Turkish border page 5 of the Feb. 6 issue should have been credited the working class. topped with razor wire and remote cameras to keep to “Jenn Davenport,” not “John Davenport.” This approach is being carried out by Italy’s immigrant workers out.

The Militant February 20, 2012 9