Fidel Castro's speech THE in Camagiiey, July 26 International Socialist Review pages 9-12

A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 53/NO. 32 SEPTEMBER 1, 1989 $1.00 Anti-apartheid defiance Eastern strikers spreads in South Africa appeal to Gov't violence unleashed to halt protests subcontract BY RONI McCANN Rubber bullets, whips, police dogs, guns, workers truncheons, tear gas. News reports out of South Africa list the weapons used by police BY SUSAN LaMONT against striking workers, schoolchildren, pro­ NEW YORK-On August 21 some 20 testers, and students, the majority of whom striking Eastern Airlines workers and sup­ are Black, as the campaign of defiance porters set up picket lines at three sites at La against apartheid continues. Guardia Airport, in addition to the regular daily picket there. The regime has met the peaceful campaign The added picket lines were aimed at with force and violence. The defiance efforts reaching workers at Hudson General, a sub­ are aimed at Pretoria's repressive and segre­ gationist laws, which severely restrict politi­ contracting company hired by Eastern to do cal activity. fueling, ramp, and cleaning work on flights restarted by the company in July. The strikers' The third week of August brought a sweep union, International Association of Machin­ of arrests of anti-apartheid leaders, including ists Local1018, organized the picketing. Mohammed Valli, acting general secretary of the United Democratic Front, arrested on Au­ Hudson General workers, who make little gust 18. more than minimum wage and have few ben­ The defiance campaign was launched efits, are also lAM members. nearly four weeks ago by the Mass Demo­ Strikers gathered at Local 1018's union cratic Movement, an alliance of restricted hall near the airport before the sun came up anti-apartheid groups. to make picket signs and organize into teams. Since 1986 when the South African regime Strikers' signs read, "Stop Hudson General imposed a state of emergency, many political scabbing." Everyone had leaflets in English organizations have been banned by the gov­ and Spanish directed to "our brothers and ernment and forced to function under difficult sisters at Hudson General." conditions. In 1987-88 new restrictions were "While the fight at Eastern has always been imposed, making this situation even more a fight of the entire membership of the lAM," unbearable. The defiance of these laws today the leaflet explains, "it is now directly and is a fight for more legal space in which to immediately a fight of the /AM at Hudson operate politically. General. Hudson has entered the battle at "We have come to the position where we Eastern on the side of Frank Lorenzo. In New can't accept being restricted, or where we York and Boston Hudson General is provid­ can't accept a meeting being banned," said ing scabs to replace striking members of the Thabo Mbeki, director of international affairs lAM. This goes against the time-honored for the African National Congress of South Afrapix-Impact Visuals/Cedric Nunn principle that unions do not allow the compa­ Africa (ANC). Johannesburg, July 1989. Delegates arrive at the third national congress of the nies they organize to do work for other com­ Efforts are also aimed at apartheid's segre­ Congress of South African Trade Unions. COSATU called for a week of action leading panies where workers are on strike." Similar Continued on Page 2 up to the September 6 parliamentary elections as part of defiance campaign. companies, such as Ogden Allied and Servair, have also been hired in other cities. The leaflet appeals for solidarity from Hudson General workers and explains their stake in the Eastern fight. "If we are able to Behind government shift in Poland defeat Lorenzo's union-busting, this will put our union in a better position to fight for the BY DOUG JENNESS conditions are deteriorating. Rates of serious and led by workers in Poland's shipyards, living wage and decent working conditions The appointment ofTadeusz Mazowiecki, diseases have been increasing sharply during steel plants, and coal mines. They forged an that you deserve. We, the strikers at Eastern, a leader of the Solidarity union movement, as the 1980s, and life expectancy has been fall­ alliance with farmers and inspired students, pledge our support in that fight." the prime minister of Poland, reflects the ing. mobilizing millions in a country of 38 million The leaflet invites Hudson General work­ deepening crisis facing the Polish Commu­ Measures taken by the CP-led government people. Out of this struggle for improvements ers to stop by or call Local 1018's strike nist Party and the bureaucratic caste it serves. have failed to reverse the crisis. These have Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 6 The privileged bureaucracy that has domi­ included attempts to stimulate capitalist busi­ nated Poland for the more than 40 years since ness. Private companies, for example, have capitalism was overturned has not lost power been extended more legal rights. Price controls, which to some extent have kept food and other prices down, are being 'Militant' supporters to set goals NEWS lifted. More than 50 percent of. such controls have already been eliminated. An increase on for Sept. 9-Nov. 12 sales drive August 1 jacked up the price of sugar 42 ANALYSIS percent, flour 100 percent, butter 77 percent, BY SUSAN LaMONT An important component of the drive and ham 277 percent. As the September 9 kickoff date for an will be selling every new subscriber a to Solidarity. But it has been forced to admit Moreover, the government's attempts to international circulation drive nears, Mil­ copy of the Action Program to Confront that it can't govern without the help of this make their manufactured export goods more itant supporters around the world are dis­ the Coming Economic Crisis. organization, which has considerable credi­ competitive on the world capitalist market cussing the goals they will be taking. The basis of the proposed goal is the bility among Poland's working people. have failed. Supporters of the paper in Australia, success of an eight-week circulation The economic and political difficulties fac­ As conditions have gotten worse, the re­ New Zealand, Sweden, Britain, Canada, drive earlier this year that topped by 16 ing the bureaucratic castes throughout East­ sentment of working people has mounted and the United States, Iceland, France, and percent its goal of winning 8,000 new ern Europe and the Soviet Union are espe­ protest strikes have increased. Last year two Puerto Rico will be participating in the readers. cially acute in Poland. Economic stagnation rounds of strikes sounded a warning to the nine-week drive. To get the campaign off to a strong start and low levels of labor productivity com­ bureaucracy about the possibility of a revolt The overall goal is to win 9,000 new international distributors are projecting a pared to capitalist Europe plague the country. like the one in 1980 -81 that gave rise to readers for the Militant, the Spanish-lan­ September 9-16 kickoff week. During Inflation, which was about 60 percent a year Solidarity. guage monthly Perspectiva Mundial, the this eight-day period, supporters of the ago, is running at an annual rate of 100 per­ This led to a series of discussions between French-language quarterly Lutte publications will be taking special mea­ cent today. Chronic shortages of food and government officials and Solidarity leaders, ouvriere, and the Marxist magazines New sures to organize extra sales efforts. other necessities are worsening the living resulting _in the organization's regaining its International and Nouvelle lnternatio­ Militant readers are urged to join in the conditions of working people. legal standing in April of this year and to its nale. international campaign to win new read­ participation in the June parliamentary elec­ Before the drive ends November 12, ers for the socialist press. If you would Cut back on medical care tions. There it made an impressive showing, supporters plan to sell 5,800 introductory like to take on a goal, or order copies of Moreover, many social benefits are being winning 99 of 100 seats in the Senate in or renewal subscriptions to the Militant, the publications, write to the Militant at slashed. Last year, for example, the govern­ addition to the 161 seats assigned to it in the 1,400 to Perspective Mundial, and 400 to the address on page 2. ment cut back on Poland's free medical care, 460-member legislative assembly. Solidarity Lutte ouvriere, to workers, farmers, A scoreboard listing the goals for each forcing people to pay for drugs and hospital had been outlawed since the December 1981 youth, and political activists from Price, city, town, and/or country will be pub­ services. This was the officialdom's response military crackdown. Utah, to Stockholm, Sweden. lished soon in the Militant. to growing protests by workers that hospital The 1980 -81 upsurge was spearheaded Crisis in Poland leads to gov't shifts Continued from front page are usually presented by their supporters, per­ vance to a broader understanding of them­ kenly anticommunist. Many are champion­ in living and working conditions and more estroika and glasnost are a counter reform selves as part of an international class of ing wider use of capitalist economic methods say in the economic and political life of the effort by the crisis-ridden bureaucratic caste workers fighting against exploitation and op­ along the lines of Gorbachev's proposals to country, Solidarity, a mass union organization to try to head off the kind of revolt that pression, from Angola to El Salvador, and try to solve the economic crisis. outside the structures of the bureaucratic re­ occurred in Poland and potentially even from the United States to South Africa. In­ The organization declined from the l 0 mil­ gime and the official CP-dominated unions, deeper social explosions. stead of advancing a communist outlook that lion members it had in 1981 to 2 million was created. The conditions against which the Polish would sharply contrast with the narrow na­ today, although it still enjoys broad popular The specter of this kind of workers' rebel­ workers rebelled were intolerable, and their tionalist, administrative, and middle-class support, particularly in a contest with the lion still haunts the bureaucracies throughout militancy and creativity inspired working outlook of the bureaucracy, they looked for thoroughly discredited Communist Party, as Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. It con­ people throughout the world. The leadership support from the imperialist governments and in the June elections. tributed to Soviet President Mikhail of Solidarity, however, failed to chart a course the anticommunist, proimperialist union offi­ Gorbachev 's launching the economic restruc­ that would deepen the workers' self-confi­ cials in the capitalist countries. Communist Party turing measures and reorganization of the dence and experience in exercising control in After its suppression, the Solidarity lead­ The Communist Party's poor performance bureaucracy called perestroika and glasnost. the economic and political life of the country. ership, never homogeneous, divided still fur­ in the elections led to a big internal discussion Far from being a reform movement, as they The leadership failed to help workers ad- ther. Some components have become outspo- and a shake-up in the party's leading bodies. This took place through a series of events: • OnJuly 19 partyleaderGen. Wojciech Jaruzelski was narrowly elected president by Campaign of defiance spreads in S. Africa parliament. • Ten days later he gave up formal lead­ Continued from front page August 19-20 weekend. broad defiance efforts along with youth and ership of the party to former prime minister gation laws. The first phase of the defiance On August 19 police blocked beach en­ student organizations, church groups, and Mieczyslaw Rakowski. Five of the 17 mem­ efforts targeted whites-only hospitals around trances with barbed wire and flew helicopters trade unions. bers of the party's Politburo resigned, as did the country. The anti-apartheid alliance called low to blast sand at families sitting on the Church leaders, including Frank Chikane, five of the eight secretaries of the Central beach. They used dogs, whips, and clubs the general secretary of the South African Committee. against hundreds of demonstrators. The fol­ Council of Churches; Tutu, archbishop of Demonstrators lowing day when protesters returned, police Cape Town; and Rev. Alan Boesak an­ • On August 2 Gen. Czeslaw Kiszczak shot at them and fired tear gas. nounced their support for the campaign. was appointed prime minister, but was unable unfurled an AN C flag, Tutu, present at the beach, said, "It's in­ to get the representatives from the 500,000- an illegal act credible that the government is prepared to Mine workers' union member Peasants Party and the Democratic use arms on people who wish to have a pic­ The National Union of Mineworkers has in South Africa. nic." joined the campaign against racially segre­ South African workers also continue to be gated facilities and reports Blacks have begun Chronic a target of attack. The Food and Allied Work­ to use a whites-only cafeteria and buses. on doctors and health workers to insist on food shortages ers Jailed ANC leader Nelson Mandela has treating all patients regardless of race. As a Union said whips and shotguns were used August 18 against workers protesting a lock­ backed the nationwide efforts. are worsening result, hundreds of Blacks were given medi­ Jay Naidoo, secretary general of the 1-mil­ cal care at these facilities. out at their workplace. Four days later police arrested more then 100 striking hospital lion-member Congress of South African living conditions. Ephraim Nkoe, a leader of the restricted Trade Unions (COSATU), spoke at a rally South African Youth Congress (Sayco), de­ workers in Cape Town. Schoolchildren gathering for anti-apart­ early on in the campaign after the first suc­ clared the efforts victorious. cessful efforts against segregated hospitals in Party, based on small businesspeople, to join heid rallies in Cape Town were beaten with his cabinet. On August 14 he stepped down. "We commit ourselves to defy apartheid Durban. laws and the system of white domination in whips and fired on by police using rubber • On August 18 Jaruzelski appointed bullets. "The defiance campaign will be taken to this country," he stated. every comer and every section ofsociety until Tadeusz Mazowiecki, editor of Solidarity's After the initial success, several rallies Despite Pretoria's attempts to squelch de­ newspaper, as prime minister. fiance efforts, the campaign continues. An apartheid is unworkable," he said to thunder­ were planned going into the weekend of Au­ ous applause. "This is just the beginning." gust 19. The apartheid regime then decided to ANC news release from Lusaka on August 22 The new cabinet will include representa­ At its July convention COSATU outlined try to thwart these efforts. tives from the Peasants and Democratic par­ plans for five days of action leading up to the ties as well as the CP and Solidarity. The CP Despite September 6 parliament elections in South will retain its control over the police and the Rallies disrupted, banned Africa. ~olored and Indian populations have armed forces. A rally on August 20 at Witswatersrand Pretoria's violence, token representation in parliament, and South While many CP leaders have been upset University was disrupted by South African Africa's 23 million Blacks have none at all. with this new setup, Jaruzelski, with the back­ police who staked out the campus and turned campaign continues. Calling the elections an insult to the major­ ing, if not the prodding, of Gorbachev is away buses bringing supporters from Soweto ity of people in the country, the ANC urges pushing it through. and other townships. all South Africans to boycott them and de­ The bureaucracy is hoping that outlined the mass actions that took place the The government banned a scheduled rally nounces them as "yet one more attempt by the Mazowiecki and Solidarity can get workers past weeks in the schools, parks, hospitals, in Johannesburg. One demonstrator said po­ regime to win sorely needed legitimacy and to go along with new belt-tightening mea­ mine compounds (where miners are forced to lice were turning back buses but that a crowd credibility." sures, including cuts in escalator clauses for live separated from their families), and of about 150 showed up anyway and unfurled COSATU has also launched a campaign wages and slashes in social benefits. beaches. an ANC flag, an illegal act in South Africa. against Pretoria's Labour Relations Amend­ "Our policy can't be soft," Warsaw Soli­ As they were leaving, police attacked them, "The victories we have scored place even ment Act, which greatly limits the activity of darity leader Zbigniew Bujak asserted, sug­ and several were beaten with clubs. greater challenges on our shoulders-," states the trade unions and all but illegalizes the gesting the direction the Mazowiecki admin­ The same day at the University of the the release. Continued defiance activities right to strike. istration will be taking. Western Cape another rally was banned by "must be led and coordinated by effective "The all-around isolation of apartheid But as long as it turns to capitalist methods, the Pretoria regime. Archbishop Desmond structures at the national, regional, and local South Africa is intensifying, as Africa and the including increasing unemployment and let­ Tutu then secured a meeting place in a Cape levels." rest of humanity further close ranks around ting the market regulate prices, the problems Town church; several thousand turned out. The government-banned United Demo­ the positions of the struggling people of our facing working people will get worse, and the Whites-only beaches in Cape Town were cratic Front, a coalition of 700 anti-apartheid country,led by the ANC," the August 22 press crisis facing the bureaucratic caste can't be the focus of desegregation efforts over the groups, has thrown its weight behind the release sums up. solved. THE MIUTANT TELLS THE TRUTH The Militant Closing news date: August 23, 1989 Editor: DOUG JENNESS Circulation Director: NORTON SANDLER Nicaragua Bureau Director: LARRY SEIGLE Introductory subscription oner Business Manager: JIM WHITE Editorial Staff: Susan Apstein, Seth Galinsky (Nicaragua), Arthur Hughes, Susan LaMont, Sam Manuel, Roni McCann, 12 weeks for $4.00 for new readers - an $8.00 savings Greg McCartan, Selva Nebbia, Peter Thierjung, Judy White (Nicaragua). Published weekly except one week in August and the last The Militant carries firsthand coverage of • Reports on advances in Cuba week of December by the Militant (ISSN 0026-3885), 410 the Eastern Machinists' strike and other West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Telephone: Editorial Of­ labor battles. It features news and analysis • On-the-scene coverage from our fice, (212) 243-6392; Fax 727-0150; Telex, 497-4278; Busi­ of the developing capitalist economic cri­ ness Office, (212) 929-3486. Nicaragua Bureau, Apartado bureau in Managua, Nicaragua 2222, Managua. Telephone 24845. sis, and resistance by workers and farmers Correspondence concerning subscriptions or changes to employer and government attacks - Enclosed is of address should be addressed to The Militant Business from the U.S. to the Philippines, Britain to Office, 410 West St., New York, N.¥.10014. D $4 for 12 weeks, new readers D $9 for 12 weeks, South Africa. renewals Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y. and at addi­ D $17 for 6 months D S30 for 1 year D $55 for 2 tional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Militant, 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 1001 4. Sub­ years scriptions: U.S., Canada, Latin America: for one-year sub­ D $1.00 for Action Program to Confront the Coming scription send $30, drawn on a U.S. bank, to above address. Economic Crisis, a Pathfinder pamphlet. By first-class (airmail), send $65. Britain, Ireland, Continen­ Name ______tal Europe, Africa: £22 for one year, £1 2 for six months, or Address ------­ £6 for three-month renewal. Send check or international City State__ Zip ------money order made out to Pathfinder Press and send to Path­ Phone__ _ Union/Schooi/Organization _ _ _ _ _ finder, 47 The Cut, London SEI 8LL, England. Australia, Asia, Pacific: send Australian $60 to Pathfinder Press, P.O. Send to THE MILITANT, 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014 Box 153, Glebe, Sydney, NSW 2037, Australia. Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily represent the Militant's views. These are expressed in editorials.

2 The Militant September 1, 1989 Cuba proposes cooperation with U.S. gov't to curb drugs

BY SELVA NEBBIA "They continued to project Bush's cata­ Drug trafficking and drug consumption The Cuban government has called on the strophic view of worldwide socialism while were widespread in prerevolutionary Cuba. U.S. government to cooperate with Cuba in underscoring the opinion that the Cuban gov­ A 1986 Cuban pamphlet titled Drug Con­ the fight against drug trafficking. ernment was not promoting these initiatives sumption and Traffic explains, "The main An editorial in the August 7 Granma, the out of sincerity and goodwill but because of socioeconomic problems responsible for the daily newspaper of the Cuban Communist 'economic and political difficulties.' " improper use of drugs were solved with the Party, explains Cuba's initiative. It was pub­ triumph of the revolution on Jan. I, 1959. 30-year record lished soon after as a pamphlet and is being "Within a very short time," continues the widely circulated by the Jose Marti publish­ "For 30 years we have been effectively pamphlet, the Cuban people "put a stop to ing house under the title Cuba's Proposal to fighting drug trafficking in this area in spite the activities of those involved in this illicit the United States: Take It or Leave It. of the lack of cooperation or understanding business. Many of them fled justice and Granma points to Cuba's strategic impor­ on the part of the U.S. authorities," said sought refuge in the United States." tance for drug smuggling from the Caribbean Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Ricardo However, because of its geographical po­ and South America into the United States Alarcon at a July 24 press conference in sition, Cuba's beaches, offshore waters, and "given that its geographic location virtually Camagtiey, Cuba. airspace have been used by drug smugglers. Deputy Foreign turns it into a 1,200-kilometer-wide corridor Even before the triumph of the Cuban Between October 1970 and March 1986, leading to the southern United States." Lo­ revolution, Fidel Castro issued a law in Oc­ Alarcon. for example, the Cuban Coast Guard captured cated in the Caribbean, Cuba is 90 miles from tober 1958 to be enforced in the territories 328 drug smugglers, confiscating 250 tons of Florida. controlled by the rebel army in the Sierra marijuana, one ton of cocaine, 735,000 tab­ and adopt a "human rights" policy to In late July and early August congressional Maestra region. lets of Quaalude, and 147,000 tablets of Washington's liking. committees and subcommittees met to dis­ "It is the responsibility and aim of the Dilaudid. At a recent Republican fund-raising lun­ cuss Washington's policy toward Cuba. revolutionary movement and this administra­ Referring to the tactics employed by drug cheon, President George Bush said that im­ Instead of taking up Cuba's proposal on tion to completely eliminate hard drugs and smugglers flying over the Caribbean, U.S. proved relations with Cuba "cannot be and bilateral cooperation to curb the drug trade, illicit gambling, which at present make the customs officials say that today many drug it will not be as long as Castro violates the "the July hearings, sponsored by congress­ real physical, mental, and economic devel­ traffickers drop their load from planes into human rights of his own people, as long as men and senators notorious for their antago­ opment of the Cuban people impossible," this the ocean, to be picked up by small boats, he, almost alone in the entire world now, nism toward the Cuban revolution, centered order stated. and fly back to their point of departure. swims against the tide that is bringing sweep­ on the subject of Cuban participation in the The law called on the rebel police and ing change and democracy and freedom to drug trade," the Cuban newspaper pointed military authorities to take "severe action" in A July 30 New York Times article reported, closed societies around the world." out. all drug cases. "After the drop, they scatter in different di­ rections, frequently off Cay-Sal, a chain of "This is not a serious position," explains islands about 25 miles north of Cuba. 'We Granma. "The Cuban revolution will not don't have the resources to track six boats enter into this immoral game of give-and­ simultaneously,' said Robert Viator, a take. In our policies concerning drug traffick­ Newark meeting celebrates customs pilot." ing we aren't obliged to present 'good conduct' certificates to anyone." Ochoa-La Guardia case By dealing decisively with the problem of Cuba's role in Third World On July 13 former general Arnalda Ochoa, drug trafficking by government officials in former colonel Antonio de Ia Guardia and Cuba, "the Cuban revolution severed, in a BY JANICE LYNN two other high-ranking officials of the Cuban manner without equal in our hemisphere, the NEWARK, N.J. -An August 17meeting army and Ministry of the Interior were exe­ treasonable connection that had been made here at the Newark Public Library celebrated cuted for drug trafficking and high treason. between our country and drug trafficking," the 30th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, Others received long prison sentences. stated Granma. "The Bush administration, attracting 100 people. The audience was pre­ During the extensive investigation that led like its predecessor in the White House, has dominantly Black. to their arrest and trial, it was revealed that behaved like a vulgar accomplice of its own The meeting's theme was a discussion of having had information concerning the rabble." the Cuban revolution from an African-Amer­ Ochoa-de Ia Guardia group's drug trafficking The Cuban government makes no such ican perspective and coincided with the activities, the U.S. government did not supply demands on the U.S. government, the edito­ 102nd anniversary of Marcus Garvey's birth. it to the Cuban authorities. rial concluded, and reiterated its offer of Garvey was a Jamaican-born Black nation­ "The truth is that because they failed to cooperation in the fight against drugs. "It is alist leader who headed the Universal Negro cooperate with Cuba by providing that infor­ up to Washington to respond." Improvement Association, which attracted mation," Granma points out, "six tons of hundreds of thousands of supporters in the cocaine ~ the equivalent of 4 million doses early 1920s. - were smuggled into U.S. territory. Gathering in Montreal· Speakers noted Cuba's commitment to the people of the Third World, in particular the "Although this represents less than 1 per­ defends Cuba's rights internationalist brigades of soldiers, teachers, cent of the United States' annual cocaine and doctors in Africa and other countries, and consumption, some teenagers in the United on 30th anniversary Cuba's decisive role in helping Angolan States may have died on account of these drugs or crimes related to them," continues forces defeat invading South African apart­ BY JOHN STEELE heid forces. the editorial. "Some families may now be in Militant/Selva Nebbia mourning just because President George MONTREAL - Nearly 200 people at­ Those addressing the meeting spoke about Rosemari Mealy in Cuba, 1989. Bush's administration did not permit its spe­ tended a celebration here August 19 of the the emphasis placed by Cuban President 30th anniversary of the Cuban revolution. Fidel Castro on the country's African heri­ cialized agencies to cooperate with the Cuban government." The "Fiesta Cubana" was organized by the tage. Movement," she added, "we will see it come Quebec-Cuba Friendship Association. The social gains of the Cuban revolution under attack more and more." Following the drug-trafficking revelations In welcoming the participants, executive were illustrated in slideshows and a video "We must defend that revolution," Mealy involving Ochoa and high officials of the member Cecile Deschamps explained that presentation by local Black artists, one of stressed, "not only because there are Black Ministry oflnterior, the Ministry of the Rev­ the Quebec-Cuba friendship organization whom has been to Cuba 13 times. Cuba's people there, not only because Assata is there, olutionary Armed Forces issued a press re­ was in its 1Oth year. It has brought many free hospital and medical care, free educa­ not only because they carried out their inter­ lease June 24 stating that any aircraft violat­ Cuban artists and performers to Montreal tion, and the big gains made in combating nationalist duty in Angola, but because they ing Cuban airspace that refuses to obey the with the goal of developing cultural relations racism, hunger, homelessness, unemploy­ are asking us to defend that revolution for its order to land would be shot down. between Quebec and Cuba and increasing ment, prostitution, and drugs were contrasted principles." This was a shift from the previous policy knowledge about Cuba throughout Quebec. to the conditions facing the Black community Sponsoring groups included the People's of accepting detours of up to 20 miles in the To warm applause Deschamps introduced in Newark. Organization for Progress, a Newark-based international corridors that cross Cuba when Lourdes Urrutia, the Cuban consul general in A multimedia tribute to Black rights fighter community group; Horizontes, a local Latino they have been required for safety of flights, Montreal. Assata Shakur, who presently resides in publication; the All-African People's Revo­ or have resulted from navigational errors. Friendship Association Secretary Michel Cuba, was presented by a member of the lutionary Party; Frontline Artists, a local cul­ "On many occasions," the statement said, Dugre told the audience that the work of the Venceremos Brigade. tural group; and others. "private aircraft have violated Cuban air­ group is more and more needed as the threats Rosemari Mealy of WBAI Radio and the space and refused to land despite repeated by Washington against Cuba continue to National Alliance of Third World Journalists, BY MARTIN KOPPEL warnings. Such flights, and the subsequent mount. He explained that this fall the U.S. who just returned from Cuba, spoke. CHICAGO - A joint celebration of the conduct by the violators, can only be ex­ government is committed to opening a TV She denounced the U.S. government's Nicaraguan and Cuban revolutions attracted plained as being part of drug-trafficking ac­ station that will illegally use one of Cuba's economic blockade against Cuba, restrictions more than 300 people here July 22. tivities." television channels to spread its slanders and on the rights of U.S. citizens to travel there, Prominent Nicaragua solidarity activist In the wake ofthis announcement, accord­ lies against the Cuban revolution. Washing­ and the denial of visas to Cuban journalists, Walter Urroz chaired the meeting. Commu­ ing to U.S. law enforcement agencies, drug­ ton has also warned it will carry out a "surgi­ artists, and others to visit the United States. nity leader Emma Lozano, who went to Cuba smuggling flights over Cuba have come to a cal strike" into Cuba if the Cuban government Mealy encouraged people to join the on the recent Venceremos Brigade, talked virtual halt, reported the July 28 Washington follows through with its intention to jam the Venceremos Brigade and other organizations about the brigade's experiences. James Post. television signals, warned Dugre. that are taking up these fights. Starks, a leader of the Palestinian Solidarity "These actions and threats are a violation Discussing the recent trials and executions Committee, discussed Cuba's outstanding in­ Washington's hypocrisy of Cuban sovereignty," said Dugre. "They of top Cuban government officials for crimes ternationalism and noted especially Cuba's Before the U.S. government would engage must be protested." He urged everyone to join of treason, corruption, and drug trafficking, support for the freedom struggles of the An­ in any kind of cooperation with Cuba in the the association to strengthen its ability to Mealy explained that Cuba has done more golan, Puerto Rican, and Chilean peoples. fight against drug smuggling, stated U.S. build bonds of friendship with the struggle of than any country in this hemisphere to solve A satellite hookup with the meeting fea­ authorities at the congressional hearings, the the Cuban people. the drug problem. tured a live message from Nicaraguan Pres­ Cuban government would have to meet a Last summer the organization organized a She explained "how important the rectifi­ ident Daniel Ortega. series of conditions. successful two-week tour to Cuba of workers, cation process has been for the Cuban revo­ The meeting was sponsored by a broad Among these are the demands that Cuba students, and others who participated in lution in building socialism. As Cuba contin­ coalition and endorsed by a number of orga­ break relations of support and solidarity with Cuba's voluntary work movement by joining ues to maintain its own independent policy nizations, including Casa Nicaragua and the revolutionary movements in Latin America, a construction crew working on a hospital in and remains a beacon for the Nonaligned Venceremos Brigade. modify its relations with the Soviet Union, Havana. ' September 1, 1989 The Militant 3 Puerto Rico independence marchers sign for Curtis

Mark Curtis is a unionist and tis case to the violations of demo­ information table at the August 13 political activist from Des Moines, cratic rights encountered by the labor solidarity rally held in that city. Iowa, who is serving a 25-year jail Puerto Rico/Hartford 15, Puerto More than 5,000 workers partici­ term on frame-up charges of rape Rican independence activists pated. and burglary. framed up by the U.S. government. An international team of Curtis The Mark Curtis Defense Com­ Sixty-eight people signed in sup­ supporters from Britain, Switzer­ mittee is leading an international port of the right of Curtis and other land, New Zealand, and Canada campaign to fight for justice for prisoners to receive non-English lit­ pitched in to help distribute defense Curtis. For more information erature and correspondence and committee literature. about the case or how you can their right to share literature. help, write to the Mark Curtis Fifty-six workers signed letters Defense Committee, Box 1048, • addressed to the warden at the prison Des Moines, Iowa, 50311; tele­ Hazel Zimmerman, secretary of where Curtis is incarcerated protest­ phone (515) 246-1695. the Mark Curtis Defense Commit­ ing prison regulations against non­ If you have news or reports on tee, spoke to a meeting of the Ne- English literature. Signers included Richard Adams, first vice-president of the Pittsburgh DEFEND MARK CURTIS! Board of Education and Pennsylva­ nia Rainbow Coalition chairperson; activities in support of Mark Cur­ braska Rainbow Coalition in Omaha Molly Rush, a Plowshares Eight de­ tis from your city or country on July 29. She was invited to the fendant; Thomas Merton, Center for please send them to the Militant. meeting by Frank Lamere, a board Peace and Justice staff member; and member of the national Rainbow Vickie Stacy, unit vice-president of Some 2,000 people braved a tor­ Coalition and the executive director Communications Workers of Amer­ rential rainstorm in New York on of the Nebraska Inter-Tribal Coun­ ica Local 4372 in Wheelersburg, August 12 and marched to demand cil. Ohio. independence for Puerto Rico. A For many it was the first oppor­ popular chant of the demonstrators tunity to hear about the case. Partic­ was "Independence yes, colonialism ipants included activists from Militant/Robin Mace • no!" Nebraskans for Peace, Winnebago Sixty-eight people at New York Puerto Rican demonstration sup­ The Mark Curtis Defense Com­ The march was sponsored by a tribal leaders, leaders of the Rain­ ported Curtis' and other prisoners' right to receive non-English mittee has published new materials variety of Puerto Rican organiza­ bow Coalition from other parts of literature. to help win support for Curtis. They tions displaying a spirit of unity that the state, and farm leader Merle include a new pamphlet featuring a also encouraged a favorable re­ Hansen. committee. Native American leader among themselves. Delegates from speech by defense committee leader sponse to the case of Mark Curtis. Lamere pointed to the similarities Art Hill also became a sponsor and four locals asked to have a meeting John Gaige (25 pp., $1 ), a reprint of Supporters of the Curtis defense ef­ between the Curtis case and the agreed to publicize the case. to hear more about Curtis' case and Curtis' federal civil rights lawsuit fort set up a literature table at the frame-up of Native American activ­ Zimmerman also met with lead­ defense campaign. against the city of Des Moines and action. ist Leonard Peltier. Hansen, a long­ ers in the Latino community in Steelworkers Local 1011, which the police officers who beat him Members of left-wing Puerto time Curtis supporter, motivated the Sioux City, Iowa. represents more than 3,000 workers after his arrest ($.50), and an updated Rican organizations from both the importance of every political activist at LTV steelworks in Indiana Har­ international list of endorsers of the island and the United States gave supporting the defense effort. Plans • bor, invited Curtis supporters to set defense committee. Copies and bun­ their support. Several unaffiliated were made to talk with other na­ Curtis defense committee sup­ up a booth at its Labor Day picnic. dles of these materials are available marchers expressed familiarity with tional Rainbow Coalition leaders porters reported a good response Curtis had addressed a local union from the Des Moines defense com­ Curtis' case because they had read about the Curtis case. from delegates at the Chicago-Gary meeting prior to his incarceration, mittee office. about it in Perspectiva Mundial, a Zimmerman met with National area United Steelworkers of Amer­ and the local has heard reports since Spanish-language monthly pub­ Association for the Advancement of ica District 31 annual conference, then to update members on the de­ lished in New York. Colored People (NAACP) Legal held August 11-12. velopments in the case. Evelyn Vega from New York , Pat Edwin Vargas, president of the Defense lawyer Wadie Thomas and Eight delegates signed a petition Leamon from Omaha, Mitch Rosen­ National Congress for Puerto Rican Nebraskans for Peace board mem­ protesting Iowa prison authorities' • berg from Chicago, and Michael Rights, endorsed the defense effort. ber Don Fiedler. Both signed up to non-English ban and restrictions on Pittsburgh supporters of the Mark Pennock from Pittsburgh contrib­ He noted the similarities in the Cur- be sponsors of the Curtis defense prisoners circulating literature Curtis Defense Committee set up an uted to this column. Pittston fight continues, more strikes are called

BYMARYIMO At Big Bear Mining, owned by A.T. Mas­ fired back in self-defense. Henry Farley, in gust 9 miner Phillip Anderson was sentenced AND MAGGIE McCRAW sey Coal Co., miners have been off the job the picket shack at the time, said, "We don't to five months in a federal prison on contempt NORA, Va. - Two miners on strike without a contract since October. The mine carry guns. We're not allowed to. They'd of court charges. Also, an August 30 trial date against Pittston Coal told a crowd of 400 here has since been running with scabs. arrest us if we did." has been set in the case against UMWA that the company's attacks on health care and Rum Creek Coal, an A.T. Massey opera­ The weekly strike newsletter points to the Vice-president Cecil Roberts, arrested with benefits for pensioners were key issues that tion in Logan County, West Virginia, has been company as the source of violence. "They 18 others on July 25. pushed them to strike 19 weeks ago. "It's like the focus of protests even before it was struck. can escape justice due to them by claiming Preparations are also under way for a strike what the phone company is offering the CWA It is one mile from Pittston's Elkay mine­ a 'legitimate business interest'," union offi­ against BethEnergy mines, owned by Beth­ [Communications Workers of America] shut down since the strike against Pittston cials stated when they announced the recently lehem Steel. The union has confirmed that members," one said. "Pretty soon only the began. called strikes. They contrasted this to the BethEnergy is supplying coal to fill Pittston's rich will have any health care at all." Rum Creek closed its preparation plant and fines and jail terms miners receive. On Au- orders. Pittston wants to set up its own health and declared bankruptcy in July, blaming its fi­ retirement funds rather than contribute to the nancial difficulties on the sympathy strikes UMWA Benefit Trust Funds set up in 1950. earlier this summer in support of Pittston Curtis given defense committee mail, The August 19 rally drew miners and sup­ miners. The plant employed 15 union miners. porters from several states. An International A few weeks later it canceled its contract with Association of Machinists member who the UMWA and hired nonunion contractor denied letters from garment workers spoke contributed money collected at his Con-Serv, Inc., to re-open the plant, accom­ Boeing plant in Tennessee for the striking panied by heavily armed Nuckols Security BYJOHNSTUDER order the periodical from the publisher. miners. guards. DES MOINES, Iowa- On August 10 the In the same l~tter reporting on the prison Community residents and miners organ­ Mark Curtis Defense Committee received a authorities' decision to give him mail from his "I know of many nonunion plants in Ten­ ized daily protests of 50 to 100 people to letter from Curtis reporting that a ban on his defense committee, Curtis wrote that the of­ nessee, and it's important you're sticking ·prevent coal from being moved. A temporary ficials "denied to me a message from some together to stop Pittston from breaking your receiving mail from the defense committee union," he said. restraining order was then issued against had been ended after two weeks. Curtis garment workers, written in Chinese or Ko­ picket activity, but process servers were wrote, "Today when I picked up my mail at rean, I couldn't tell which, on the basis that it Another rally in support of the Pittston turned away before they could present the noon, I was given two packets from the de­ was in a foreign language. So this foreign­ miners, who are concentrated in Virginia, papers. fense committee including photocopied ma­ language correspondence fight continues." West Virginia, and eastern Kentucky, is slated Massey and Con-Serv responded with terial." Prison authorities at the Iowa State The defense committee stated, "The fight for Labor Day weekend in St. Paul, Virginia. provocations and violence. On August 15 two Men's Reformatory in Anamosa had im­ to overturn these restrictions is now at the Miners are encouraging strike supporters to women pickets were hit by a company truck. pounded the packets until then. center of the ongoing battle to defend Mark's bring tents and stay at Camp Solidarity, cen­ The Mark Curtis Defense Committee sent right to continue functioning as a political ters set up during the wave of sympathy 'SCAB 1' a letter to supporters around the world report­ activist while he is behind bars. The commit­ strikes this summer by 44,000 miners. Two days later the Charleston Gazette ing, "This victory is the latest step in a con­ tee is asking all supporters of basic demo­ carried a full-page story on the Con-Serv Three new strikes tinual tug of war over Mark's rights and his cratic and human rights to send telegrams and outfit, complete with a photograph of com­ ability to maintain contact with the outside letters to the warden at Anamosa urging Cur­ In Charleston, West Virginia, officials of pany President Michael Holbrook. In his world and to participate in his own defense tis, and all other prisoners, be allowed to the United Mine Workers of America an­ bullet-proof vest, gun on hip, Holbrook is campaign, which will continue until the min­ receive correspondence in any language they nounced strikes against three other southern leaning on his truck, which is covered with ute Mark walks out the door of the prison." want and to exchange material with each West Virginia coal operators on August 20. right-to-work stickers and has the license Even while granting Curtis the packets other." Miners at Chafin Coal have been working plate "SCAB 1". Holbrook is a former mine from the defense committee, prison authori­ Protests should be sent to John A. Thalack­ without a contract since the company refused boss and supplied A. T. Massey with scabs ties used arbitrary regulations to deny him er, Warden, Iowa State Men's Reformatory, to sign the industrywide agreement in 1988. during the 1984-85 strike. some of the material in them. He was denied Anamosa, Iowa 52205. Copies should be sent On August 19 Roy Blankenship, a mine a photocopy of a recent Supreme Court deci­ to Attorney General Thomas J. Miller, Hoo­ union local official at Pittston's Elkay Mine, ver State Office Building, Des Moines, Iowa Labor news in the Militant sion restricting prisoners' rights on the was shot by guards and hospitalized for sur­ grounds he could get it in the prison library. 50319, Paul Grossheim, Director, Depart­ The Militant stays on top of the most im­ gery. At the same time a company loading He was denied a copy of the periodical Bars ment of Corrections, Capitol Annex, 523 E. portant developments in the labor move­ ment. You won't miss them if you subscribe. machine demolished the Pittston miners' and Stripes, a prisoner-rights journal, because 12th St., Des Moines, Iowa 50309; and to the See the ad on page 2 for subscription rates. picket shack nearby. The company claimed the entire issue, rather than just an article or defense committee, Box l 048, Des Moines, the miners started shooting and its guards two, was included. Curtis was told he could Iowa 50311.

4 The Militant September 1, 1989 Socialist conference attracts workers, activists from 20 countries BY PETER THIERJUNG industrial union in this country since World OBERLIN, Ohio- More than 1,000 War II." communists and other political activists from The outcome of the Eastern Airlines strike 20 countries met here August 5-9 at the "is not settled at all," Warren explained. He International Active Workers and Socialist stressed the need for all workers and unionists Educational Conference. to join together to respond to the most recent Setting the political framework for several challenges by Eastern Airlines management days of political discussion and education, to break the strike. Militant/Janet Post Jack Barnes, national secretary of the U.S. The director of the Nicaragua Bureau of International Active Workers and Socialist Educational Conference featured political Socialist Workers Party, opened the confer­ the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial, Larry talks on imperialist crisis, socialist Cuba, class conflict in the United States, the ence with a talk called "Communist Future Seigle, presented a talk on defending Nicaraguan revolution, and building revolutionary working-class parties. and the Crisis of Imperialism Today." Nicaragua's workers and peasants. As the crisis of capitalism and imperialist He reviewed the significance of the Nica­ domination deepens, "the tremendous un­ raguan revolution, its evolution over the past National Organization for Women for No­ International and Nouvelle lnternationale; evenness in world developments gets accel­ I 0 years, the present course of its leadership, vember 12 in Washington, D.C.; • and organizing international support erated," Barnes said. But "behind the uneven­ and the important task of defending it from • advancing the fight against racism and and fund-raising for the completion of the ness" there is the "coming together of U.S. imperialism. defending affirmative action, including Pathfinder Mural Project - a six -story high struggles, the human material, and the forging SWP leader and New York mayoral can­ building the August 26 march on Washington mural painted by international artists on the of revolutionary leadership." didate James Harris closed the week by out­ called by the National Association for the Pathfinder Building in New York. "To see the convergence of tasks, attitudes, lining the international political priorities and Advancement of Colored People; Special workshops were held to discuss and character of communists worldwide," campaigns over the next several months for • promoting communist election cam­ many of these projected activities. and "to be co-combatants" in this process, the communist groups that helped organize paigns and the distribution of the pamphlet In addition to the featured talks and work­ the conference. Action Program to Confront the Coming Eco­ shops, major class series were organized. Harris projected: nomic Crisis; These focused on the political continuity of It's revolutionary Cuba • solidarity with and defense ofthe Cuban • meetings to discuss two new books pub­ the Socialist Workers Party; the experiences revolution; lished by Pathfinder Press, In Defense of and lessons of workers' and farmers' govern­ that's advancing the • solidarity with the struggles in southern Socialism by Fidel Castro and Malcolm X: ments in Algeria, Grenada, Cuba, Nicaragua, cause of socialism Africa, particularly Namibia and South Af­ The Last Speeches, and raising $150,000 to and Azerbaijan; and the rectification process rica; support the publishing projects of Pathfinder; in Cuba. There were also introductory classes worldwide. • stepping up the fight for victory in the • increasing circulation of the communist on socialism and a variety of other topics. Machinists strike at Eastern Airlines; press by organizing from September through A special panel discussion took place with • winning support for imprisoned politi­ not just interested observers or supporters, is November to get 9,000 new readers for the African National Congress of South Africa cal activist and unionist Mark Curtis; Militant, the Spanish and French socialist the challenge before revolutionists and com­ member Fred Dube; Paca-Kabedi, an attache • building actions in defense of abortion monthly magazines Perspectiva Mundial and munists. of the Permanent Mission of Angola to the rights, especially the protest called by the Lutte ouvriere, and the Marxist journals New Barnes underscored the assessment of Continued on Page 17 Cuban President Fidel Castro that the world is living through a great economic crisis, particularly in the Third World, creating con­ ditions that make the experiences of the Rally demands freedom for Mark Curtis French revolution and the Russian revolution more relevant today. BY PETER THIERJUNG Crisis of bureaucratic regimes OBERLIN, Ohio-"We're not going to let anyone tum us around. We have to inten­ Contrary to the claims of the representa­ sify the fight for Mark Curtis, because what tives of capitalism, "what is happening is not happened to Mark is against the working the disintegration of socialism" in countries people of the world," Mississippi civil rights where capitalism has been overthrown, fighter Hollis Watkins said. Barnes explained. What exists is the crisis of Watkins was the opening speaker at an the bureaucratic regimes there that are inca­ international rally on August 6 here in support pable of leading workers and farmers forward of political activist and unionist Mark Curtis. to socialism. The rally platform reflected the growing It is Cuba, Barnes underscored, where the worldwide support won for the imprisoned leadership and working people are genuinely packinghouse worker as the result of the cam­ advancing the cause of socialism worldwide. paign conducted by the Mark Curtis Defense Stressing a theme repeated throughout the Committee based in Des Moines, Iowa. conference, Barnes said that telling the truth Curtis is serving a 25-year jail term at the about Cuba and defending Cuba's socialist Iowa State Men's Reformatory at Anamosa revolution is a central priority for communists on frame-up charges of rape and burglary. and political activists today. Since his incarceration began last Septem­ New International editor Mary-Alice Wa­ ber Curtis has remained active, discussing his ters gave a talk titled, "Socialism or Death: political ideas with other prisoners, standing Cuba's Communist Leadership Today." (See with other prisoners whose rights are vio­ article in last week's Militant.) lated, challenging unjust regulations and ac­ Mac Warren, SWP organization secretary, tions by prison authorities, and expressing his took up political developments in the United solidarity with the struggles of working peer States in his talk, "Sharpening Class Conflict pie across the world. Curtis is the secretary of in the United States." i the Martin Luther King, Jr., Organization, a Militant/Janet Post Militant/Eric Simpson Warren noted the impact of the decade­ prisoners' group, and a member of the Social­ Alfredo Alvarez, chair of the Des Moines Human Rights Commission, and Susan long offensive of the employers against the ist Workers Party. Mnumzana, member of African National Congress' observer mission to UN, spoke at rights and standard of living of working peo­ Margaret Jayko, former editor of the Mili­ rally. ple in the United States. The labor officials' tant and author of The Frame-up of Mark course of collaboration with the employers Curtis: A Packinghouse Worker's Fight for led to the gutting of union power. Justice, a pamphlet published by Pathfinder, officials for exposing and criticizing the per of Curtis' continued political activity in jail chaired the rally. lice department's racist and sexist practices. which, she explained, will help other prison­ Warren referred to statistics that show He explained that these conditions "swal­ ers understand better the system that has tried wages did not increase in the last economic Jayko pointed to the move by prison au­ thorities to prevent Curtis from receiving lowed up Mark Curtis." Curtis, a Des Moines to dehumanize them. upturn - the first time in 50 years this has resident, was arrested, framed, and beaten by happened during an upswing in the capitalist mailings from his defense committee. This Gil Sierra, a member of Local 43 1 of the was the most recent of a series of attacks by police there. "What happened to Mark Curtis United Food and Commercial Workers business cycle. is wrong," Alvarez concluded. "To allow him In the context of the worldwide capitalist officials to limit Curtis' political activities. (UFCW) union and an alderman in Daven­ to remain behind bars is to allow ourselves to port, Iowa, explained that the frame-up of crisis, it is these conditions that will drive New Zealand farm activist Denis Hiestand be imprisoned by injustice." millions of workers toward struggle and to­ described the successful struggle to win free­ Curtis is part of the ongoing attacks on labor ward "the possibility of developing con­ dom for Arthur Allan Thomas, a dairy farmer Dag Tirsen, a member of the National Food and civil rights in the United States. He noted sciousness of themselves as part" of a world­ from that country who was framed and later Workers Union in Sweden, described suc­ Curtis' defense of immigrants' rights and wide working class, he said. vindicated in a double murder case. Hiestand cessful efforts of Curtis supporters there, es­ pledged to continue to help win support for said Curtis was framed for fighting for justice pecially among immigrant Kurdish and Turk­ Curtis, particularly in the labor movement Eastern strike as Thomas had and appealed to everyone to ish workers. He explained that Swedish and UFCW. Warren discussed the rise in political ac­ keep up the fight on Curtis' behalf. workers face similar attacks on their rights. Comparing the strike by Eastern Airlines tivity and labor struggles in the United States, Alfredo Alvarez, chair of the Des Moines Tirsen was fired recently for his union and workers with Curtis' struggle, Rick Walker particularly the strike at Eastern Airlines. The Human Rights Commission, said the city is political activities. said, "We're fighting for workers' rights; so strike by the Machinists union, he said, "racially and economically polarized." Al­ Susan Mnumzana, secretary for women's is Mark Curtis." Walker is a member of the backed up by flight attendants and pilots, "is varez and the Human Rights Commission affairs of the African National Congress Ob­ Machinists union in Miami and a striker. He the longest nationwide strike battle of an have come under attack by Des Moines city server Mission to the United Nations, spoke Continued on Page 17

September 1, 1989 The Militant s 1,000 welcome strikers' caravan at Atlanta rally

Some 8,500 International Asso­ for a 24-hour stay in the area. of union locals turned out at Los Los Angeles are planning another strike this fall. ciation of Machinists members Before heading downtown for the Angeles International Airport Au­ expanded picket line for August 26. struck Eastern Airlines March 4 rally, the caravan held a motorcade gust 12, between 9:00 a.m. and • in an effort to block the company's through the Atlanta airport. 11:00 a.m., for the second expanded • The Eastern strike was a promi­ drive to break the union and im­ The caravan, which is aimed at picket line organized by Eastern Amtrak workers at Washington, nent part of United Steelworkers of pose massive concessions on gaining broader public and labor strikers and supporters in that city. D.C.'s Union Station showed their America District 31's annual confer­ workers. support for the strike, left Miami A spirited contingent of 25 Inter­ support for the Eastern strike July 31 ence, held August 11-12 in Downers Backed by flight attendants and August 11. A rally of 250 strikers national Ladies' Garment Workers' by donating more than $350 to a Grove, Illinois. pilots, the walkout crippled East- and supporters gathered at Machin­ Union members participated, as collection that went to the Three strikers from Chicago at­ ists Local 702's union hall at 7:00 they had two weeks earlier at a mass Machinists' and flight attendants' tended the conference. Aight atten­ a.m. to give the procession a send­ picket. The ILGWU members are food banks. dant and strike leader Betsy Murtagh SUPPORT off. on strike at La Mode factory, fight­ Members and officials from the addressed the delegates and guests, It is working its way up the East ing for union recognition and a con­ United Transportation Union, inviting them to "participate in the Coast, visiting 26 communities. tract. Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, longest national strike in 30 years" EASTERN A second caravan, organized by Refinery workers, auto workers, and Brotherhood of Railway Car­ by helping to "mobilize the entire the flight attendants, leaves Miami Machinists' union members, and men organized the collection. The labor community" in support of the STRIKERS! August 20. Strikers will be stopping other unionists joined strikers to day before, a leaflet was passed out battle against the carrier. in Orlando and Jacksonville, Aor­ "keep the heat on Lorenzo," as the to Amtrak workers explaining the The strikers, with the help of ern, grounding a big majority of ida; Atlanta; Knoxville, Tennessee; leaflet for the action said. status of the Eastern strike and ask­ some Steelworkers, sold hundreds its 1,040 daily flights. Raleigh, North Carolina; Norfolk, ing workers to bring extra money of dollars of strike T-shirts and During the picketing, one strike Since July Eastern has been try­ Virginia; Washington, D.C.; Balti­ the next day. Several railworkers signed up many steel locals to re­ supporter- an lAM member from ing to restart operations. By Au­ more; Philadelphia; Newark, New helped an Eastern striker with the ceive strike reports. McDonnell Douglas - stood in gust 15 it was scheduling 390 daily Jersey; New York; and Greenwich, collection. Steelworkers President Lynn front of the door to Eastern's facili­ flights. Connecticut. In many of these stops, Workers belonging to the nine Williams, Vice-president Leon ties, talking with passengers about The Eastern workers' fight has airport rallies are planned, along unions at Amtrak all responded en­ Lynch, and staff representative why they should support the strike won broad support from working with other activities. thusiastically to the collection ap­ Oscar Sanchez, who coordinates and not fly Eastern. people in the United States and Both caravans will be participat­ peal. Some had thought the strike strike solidarity for the union, also Canada. Readers - especially ing in an August 25 solidarity rally Eastern personnel got upset and was over. Most agreed the fight at stressed the importance of the fight Eastern strikers - are encour­ in Castlewood, Virginia, to support called the cops, who came and sur­ Eastern has big stakes for the entire at Eastern. aged to send news of strike soli­ striking Pittston coal miners. They roundedthepicket. Thecopstoldhim labor movement. darity activities to this column. will also be joining in the September he was "disturbing the peace" and "You're damn right I'll give. We Striking /AM Local702 member Jeff 4 Labor Day march in New York and that if he continued to try to talk to may be next," said one engineer. Miller from Miami; Mitchel Rosen­ One thousand Eastern strikers and September 6 labor demonstration in passengers, he would "get in trou­ Many other railworkers had the berg from Chicago; Liz Ziers from supporters turned out at the Atlanta Washington, D.C. ble." The Machinist stood his same response. Atlanta; Ike Nahem from Washing­ Civic Center for a rally to greet the ground, and the cops finally backed Amtrak workers themselves face ton, D.C.; and Lisa Ahlberg from Machinists' and pilots' "Journey for • off. demands for more concessions from Los Angeles contributed to this col­ Justice" caravan, which had arrived Some 200 workers from a score Eastern strikers and supporters in management, which could lead to a umn. Eastern strikers appeal to Hudson Gen 'I Machinists

Continued from front page nize this picketing most effectively. action at La Guardia, backed by the New York headquarters. "Hudson, and subcontractors in other cit­ Central Labor Council, to answer Eastern's Strikers also carried copies of a petition for ies, will be doing even more hiring in the next projected start-up of more flights. The com­ Hudson workers to sign, stating their solidar­ few weeks, as Eastern gets ready to try to pany plans to go from 390 daily flights to 600 ity with the Eastern workers' fight. increase the number of flights again," said that day. Strikers will be leafleting the Labor Pickets were dropped off at the three sites Local 1018 strike committee member Ernie Day action about the September 7 event and by one of Local 1018's strike vans. They Mailhot. "If strikers can reach the lAM mem­ urging others in the labor movement to par­ covered Post No. I, away from the main bers, and new hires, at Hudson, and convince ticipate. terminal, where fuel, freight, mail, and cater­ them that our fight is theirs, it can weaken Meanwhile, the Air Line Pilots Association ing trucks for the different airlines and sub­ Eastern's strikebreaking 'reorganization' executive board adjourned a two-day meet­ contracting companies enter and leave the scheme. ing August 18. They did not act on Eastern airport. "If you look out on the runways, you can pilots' request that a poll be taken of the Post No. 2 also got pickets. This is the main see the confusion and disorganization, as 38,000 active ALPA members to gauge sup­ entrance for Eastern scabs. Workers going to these new workers scramble to try to handle port for a one-day national pilots' work stop­ the Continental Airlines hangar also drive in Eastern's planes without adequate training or page, called an "SOS." Eastern pilots have there. other experienced workers to help break them been pressing for such action since early Au­ A third group of strikers stood downstairs in. When Eastern tries to add flights again in gust, when more than 200 pilots and hundreds at Eastern's doors to the main terminal, where September, it will be even worse. With new of flight attendants crossed picket lines at they expected some Hudson workers to come pilots, flight attendants, and ground person­ Eastern. to report for work. nel, and aging planes just coming out of mothballs, the threat to passengers' and First attempt at reaching workers workers' safety is growing." Haiti: Nat'l Popular "We're going to try to convince the Hud­ son General workers not to cross our picket 'A stronger appearance' Assembly leader lines and to support us," explained Derek Eastern strikers from La Guardia Air­ Louis Richardson, a 26-year-old ramp ser­ arrested, beaten Robain, who worked as an air freight handler port joined July 11 march to support vice worker at Eastern, was one of the strikers at Eastern for five years before the strike striking hospital workers in New York. who helped picket and talk with Hudson Jean-Robert Lalanne, a leader of the Na­ started March 4. He was picketing at Post No. workers. tional Popular Assembly (APN) in Haiti, was I. "This is really our first effort to communi­ "Things are kind of confused now in the the union so they can say that no lAM mem­ arrested without a warrant August I in the cate with them." strike," he said. "This is not exactly a high bers are doing work for Eastern. northern city of Cap-Hailien. point. We're not in the press. The pilots are While few Hudson workers were seen at One young man who had worked at Hud­ Lalanne was taken to jail, held for 24 hours, crossing the line. The strike needs beefing up. this spot, workers from other airlines and son for several years told pickets he had done and severely beaten. APN spokesman catering and fueling companies were glad to work on Eastern planes. He was surprised to "The Hudson General workers are our Franr;ois Pierre-Louis told Radio Metropole see the Eastern strikers. They took copies of hear that he had a right to refuse such work. union brothers," he continued. "They're in Port-au-Prince that Lalanne was "so badly the leaflets to distribute inside the airport and Several Hudson workers took leaflets to scabbing on us, and most of them probably beaten that he was limping. We had to hos­ put on the "Stop Lorenzo" buttons strikers take inside. One, a young Black man, gave don't even know that. It's important for us to pitalize him at Hospital Justinien with an IV gave them. strikers his phone number. Another said he inform them. in his arm. He was so badly beaten that his "Hudson has been working on Eastern was thinking about coming over to the union "Now is the time for us to make a stronger entire body is swollen.... " planes for awhile," said one American Air­ hall. appearance," Richardson said, adding that he Lalanne was arrested at the courthou,se in lines worker who drove by. "You should have Two Latino women stopped and signed the had recently attended rallies for striking tele­ Cap-Haitien, where he and others had gath­ been out here before." petition. phone and hospital workers. "It's time for us ered to attend the arraignment of Patrick "We're at the 'make it or break it' point in Another worker, a 20-year-old Black man to get back in the news. Casimir. Also a leader of the APN, Casimir the strike," explained Robain. "What we're with three weeks at Hudson, stopped and "We need more public activities," he was arrested in late July following an at­ doing out here today is important to win­ talked to pickets as he was coming off the stressed. "Rallies are so important - they let tempted demonstration that was disrupted by ning." midnight shift. you know what you're fighting for. Some­ the army. He was also beaten by authorities. Workers sign petition He had responded to Hudson's ad in the times you can feel isolated at the airport, but As people were gathering for Casimir's paper, he explained, adding that his mother if you go to a demonstration, you see others arraignment, armed soldiers began surround­ The main terminal proved to be the spot had told him a little about the strike at Eastern. who are fighting and who support you." ing the courthouse. People began to disperse, where most Hudson workers could be He works on the ramp, fueling tubs and other and soldiers arrested Lalanne. reached. equipment. Labor Day march, September 7 start-up Lalanne is a nationally known leader of Although strikers missed some of the Cleaners at Hudson make $4.20 an hour, Support for the Eastern strike will be the the APN who has frequently been harassed workers coming in for first shift, they man­ he said, and ramp workers make $5 an hour. theme of this year's New York Labor Day and intimidated by authorities in the northern aged to talk to more than 20 Hudson workers. He lives in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of march, set for September 4, marking the sixth part of the country, reports the Brooklyn­ Most were Black and Latino, and many had Brooklyn and has to spend $50 a week of his month of the walkout. The march will be Jed based Committee against Repression in Haiti. just been hired. take-home pay of $150 on transportation, he by a contingent of striking Eastern Machin­ In March he was fired on by soldiers during Hudson is hiring people every day, one explained, pulling out his check stub. The ists, flight attendants and pilots. Special plac­ a demonstration in Cap-Haitien, but escaped worker explained. Although lAM officials strikers listened carefully. ards and T-shirts are being made up for the unharmed. had been told that "only probationaries"­ He signed the petition and asked strikers to action, and other unions are urged to make the Messages protesting Lalanne 's arrest and that is, workers not yet in the union - were come back again and talk. fight at Eastern part of their contingents' pres­ beating should be sent to: Gen. Prosper Avril, working on Eastern planes, Hudson workers Altogether 11 Hudson workers signed the ence. Strike activists are working to insure a President of Haiti, National Palace, Port-au­ told pickets about one worker with three years petition, and many others took leaflets. large turnout of Eastern workers for the Prince, Haiti, with copies to: Committee seniority who is doing the work. Another Strikers came back again the following march. Against Repression in Haiti, 1398 Flatbush worker said the company keeps people out of morning. They are discussing how to orga- Local 1018 is also planning a September 7 Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11210.

The Militant September 1, 1989 Unionists in Britain prepare fight for 35-hour workweek BY BRIAN GROGAN made by a 200-strong delegate meeting rep­ LONDON - Voting is to begin among resenting some 70,000 workers, for a higher workers in the 12 major engineering (manu­ levy than that set by the unions nationally. facturing) companies targeted for strike ac­ tion by unionists demanding a 35-hour work­ 'Would create jobs' week. The outcome of this fight will directly Bill Jordan, president of the 800,000- affect some 2 million workers. member Amalgamated Engineering Union, On August 14 the unions launched ana­ told the rallies that the implementation of a tional levy of one hour's pay per week from 35-hour week would create jobs. It would all engineering workers (machinists, auto also be a reward, he said, for the collaboration workers, aerospace workers, and other man­ of the union with management over the past ufacturing workers) but primarily aimed at decade in dramatically increasing productiv­ those working for the 4,000 firms in the ity through speed-up, increased job flexibil­ Engineering Employers Federation. ity, and so on. Some 5,000 British Aerospace workers in "It is the men and women who work in the Militant/Paco Sanchez Preston in the North-West of England rallied engineering industry who have transformed Picket line of the National Union of Railwaymen in London during strike in July. at the local football stadium and 4,000 Rolls its productivity and profitability," Jordan Workers in other industries in Britain now look to build on their successes. Royce aerospace workers in Bristol in the said. "By the acceptance of change and new South-West of the country gathered outside technology, they have already earned the Unions representing the 8,500 manual 1 to return to work. The port employers have their plant to hear union officials explain the right to the 35-hour week." workers at Vauxhall (General Motors) have been successful in substantially gutting union campaign. Both mass meetings backed the The present campaign has been planned raised the 35-hour week as a central plank organization. Many union activists have been 35-hour workweek fight. over the past four months following the of their annual claim. The unions at Ford are victimized, and at certain ports the employers Workers at 70 factories in Manchester breakdown of negotiations with the employ­ expected to do the same. The 28,500 Ford have refused to recognize the unions at all. began to pay the weekly levy immediately. ers. The Engineering Employers Federation manual workers traditionally set the level for One-third of the 9,000 dockers at the start And workers in the Manchester area who had offered a one-hour reduction in the cur­ workers in manufacturing as a whole. of the strike have been driven out of the rent 39-hour working week, phased over have been designated to strike are meeting industry. to plan for action. three years and tied to a two-year wages deal Dock strike ends Several factories in Coventry in the Mid­ substantially below the present level of infla­ A dock strike ended August 8 when a mass Despite the dock strike defeat, workers in lands responded immediately to an appeal, tion. meeting of dockers in Liverpool voted 3 to other industries are using the space opened up by the rail workers' strike success earlier this summer to defend their living standards and union organization. Western phone workers end walkout Half a million local government workers are voting on a new offer from their employ­ BY SUSAN LaMONT ists on strike, have continued. On August 21, some 200 unionists gath­ ers of an average 8.8 percent wage rise; Some 43,000 striking telephone workers in Some 1,000 CWA and IBEW strikers dem­ ered in downtown Washington, D.C., for a lower-paid workers will get a greater per­ California and Nevada returned to work Au­ onstrated in Newark, New Jersey, August 15, rally called by the city's Central Labor Coun­ centage rise. This follows six days of national gust 21 after union negotiators reached a ten­ tying up downtown traffic for nearly an hour. cil. strike action and some selective strikes. tative three-year agreement with Pacific Tel­ The Bell Atlantic strikers had obtained a po­ "This is not an Eastern strike; it's not a Workers on the London Underground esis Group, the regional phone company. lice permit for the rally. Earlier, a judge issued Pittston strike; it's not a CWA strike," United (subway), organized by the National Union On the question of health care, Communi­ an order barring mass picketing at Bell head­ Mine Workers official Ron Baker told the of Railwaymen (NUR), scored a substantial cations Workers of America negotiators quarters and six other Bell sites in New Jer­ rally. "Workers across America are saying: victory in defeating employer attacks on agreed to accept a health plan in which work­ sey. This is all, this is it, we won't give any more." work practices. ers would pick doctors and hospitals from a The same day in downtown Boston, adem­ Most of the participants were CWA mem­ company-chosen network. Workers who go onstration of 5,000 NYNEX strikers and sup­ bers on strike at Chesapeake & Potomac, the Following this, train crews on the under­ outside the network would have to pay more. porters took place. Contingents of striking local phone company under Bell Atlantic. A ground system won raises of £ 13 to £ 16 Demands by "Baby Bell" regional phone coal miners and Eastern workers were also contingent of Local 25 Hotel Workers joined (US$21-$26) a week. The train crews are companies that workers pay more for health there. the action. Their contract covering 6,000 ex­ members of both the NUR and the train care costs and insurance are the most impor­ A week later, more than 500 NYNEX pires September 15, and area hotels are de­ drivers' union. They had taken 14 individual tant issue in the strikes by 200,000 telephone workers, along with striking Eastern workers manding health benefit cuts similar to those days of strike action. The raise is above workers that began August 6. and coal miners, and members of dozens of being pushed by the phone companies. inflation, but the settlement reached by the The proposed agreement at Pacific Telesis, other unions, held another rally in Boston More than 500 Ameritech strikers from- all joint union negotiating committee at the na­ which must be voted on by union members, near the headquarters of John Hancock Insur­ over Illinois carne to Chicago for a spirited tional level has met with widespread oppo­ also calls for wage raises of 3.1 percent in the ance Co. The site was chosen to focus atten­ noontime rally at the Bell headqmuters down­ sition, including among NUR activists at the first year, 3.7 percent in the second, and 2.6 tion on the demand that Hancock divest itself town on August 23. district level. percent in the third. of holdings in Texas Air Corp., Eastern's Oil-rig workers who had also engaged in Wages under the old contract ranged from parent company. Jerry Dumahaut, CWA Local2336 member a series of one-day actions over nine weeks $228 a week for some operators to $650 a Some 1,500 people came to Nyack, New on strike at Chesapeake & Potomac, and have won a substantial pay rise but not yet week for skilled technicians. York, August 18 to attend the funeral of CWA Susie Winsten, Local796/nternational Asso­ established fully recognized unions on the A few days earlier, a tentative agreement striker Edward Horgan, who died August 15 ciation of Machinists member on strike at offshore rigs. An unofficial Offshore Industry was announced between Bell Atlantic and the after being struck by a car driven through a Eastern Airlines, both in Washington, D.C.; Liaison (OIL) committee has been estab­ CWA. The new three-year pact covers 41,000 NYNEX picket line by a scab, in nearby and Kip Hedges from Boston contributed to lished to continue the fight for union recog­ workers. It includes a health plan similar to Westchester County. this article. nition. that at Pacific Telesis and small wage in­ creases each year. A cost-of-living adjustment is also included in the last two years of the contract. New Jersey meat-packers on strike 2 months Bell Atlantic has yet to reach an agreement with the 11 ,000 International Brotherhood of BY JERRY FREIWIRTH and Commercial Workers Locall74. "They never replace the hooks used for Electrical Workers members who are also on NEWARK, NJ.- Packinghouse work­ Although workers at Linden haven't had hanging carcasses," said one worker, who strike. The CWA has stated that its members ers at Linden Beef have been on strike since a wage increase since 1981, the owner offered walked with the aid of a cane. "They say it will not return to work until an agreement is the end of June, after rejecting the company's only "a token raise, really an insult," one will cost too much." Just before the strike reached with the IBEW. Bell Atlantic covers latest demands for concessions. striker explained. began, a hook holding an entire carcass fell Pennsylvania, New Jersey, VIrginia, West Linden Beef is a kosher slaughterhouse The owner also demanded an increase in off the overhead rail on the kill floor, falling VIrginia, Delaware, Maryland, and Washing­ and the only cut-and-kill beef operation in the use of piece-rate wages, decreases in the on top of him. The weight was so great that ton, D.C. the New York metropolitan area. The plant number of sick days and personal holidays, it broke the large knife hanging in a metal is tucked away in an isolated industrial sec­ and job combinations, which will lead to scabbard at his waist, driving the knife into NYNEX strike tion of the city, and the strike itself has further speedup in the plant. The demand for his thigh. Meanwhile, the strike at NYNEX by received little attention in the media or from more givebacks came on top of concessions Most strikers think that the boss is trying 60,000 CWA and IBEW members continues. the rest of the labor movement. made in the last two contracts. to drive the union out of the plant. "It's like NYNEX is the regional phone company for On a recent visit to Linden -made with Workers were especially angry about the . what Lorenzo is trying to do at Eastern," one New York and the New England states. several Eastern Airlines strikers from nearby boss' demand that workers not be paid during worker said. "And if he gets us, what do you On August 21 a state judge in New York Newark International Airport - we found a production shutdowns ordered by govern­ think other packing bosses are going to do issued a temporary injunction against mass group of strikers on picket duty outside the ment inspectors, if the reason for the shut­ when the contract for the rest of Local 174 's picketing or interference with phone com­ old, run-down brick slaughterhouse. Some down is deemed by the owner to be the wholesale meat division comes up next year? pany operations by strikers. Union officials 400 head of beef a day were killed and workers' fault. It'll be like a green light, open season." contested the judge's jurisdiction and said the processed there for the large kosher market "Since the bosses are always looking to In mid-August the company sent out a union planned to continue its picketing. "Es­ in the New York area before the strike began. cut comers, the meat inspectors shut down letter stating its intention to close the plant sentially it means nothing," said William Sul­ Most of the pickets were Black workers, the line all the time," explained one veteran in October. Some workers regard this as a livan, president of the Utica-area CWA Local veterans of many years in the plant. They kill-floor butcher. "Now they want to blame scare tactic aimed at getting the union to 1126. welcomed the Eastern strikers. "We feel us and dock our pay. It's unbelievable!" agree to the company's demands. "If he At least 40,000 telephone workers are also pretty much alone," said one worker with 31 If this provision is enacted, it would seri­ wants to close it, fine," said others. still out at Ameritech, the phone company for years at Linden. ously erode safety conditions in the packing­ five Midwest states. Workers at Ameritech The Linden workers struck after the owner, house, which are already very bad, another Jerry Freiwirth is a member of United Food walked out August 13. refusing to consider the union's proposals, striker added. The pickets' missing fingers and Commercial Workers Local 174. He Rallies and demonstrations to support presented a series of concession demands. and limps were silent testimony to conditions works as a lugger in New York's 14th Street striking telephone workers, and other union- The workers are members of United Food in the plant. meat district.

september 1, 1989 The Militant 7 Judge issues findings in 10-year lawsuit, affirms suit's intent was to disrupt SWP

BY SUSAN LaMONT SWP three years earlier as part of this disrup­ forced to admit that there was never a shred no probative value in this litigation. The dis­ On August 15 in Los Angeles, federal tion operation - was expelled from the party of evidence to substantiate any of the charges covery was not conducted for the purpose of Judge Mariana Pfaelzer issued her written after filing a legal brief in federal court charg­ against the party. She had decided to rule in discovering evidence in support of plaintiff's findings in the 10-year-old lawsuit brought by ing that the SWP was controlled by FBI favor of the SWP, she said. claims; one of its main purposes was to gen­ Alan Gelfand against the Socialist Workers agents. The brief was aimed at undercutting When the trial was over, the SWP filed a erate material for political attacks on the SWP Party. the SWP's lawsuit against FBI spying and motion asking the court to rule that Gelfand by the Workers League and Workers Revolu­ The "findings of fact and conclusions of disruption, ongoing at the time, which re­ and the law firm representing him, Fisher & tionary Party." law" put in written form the ruling announced sulted in an historic ruling against the FBI and Moest, had to pay attorneys' fees to the party. by the judge at the conclusion of the trial six other federal police agencies in 1986. The aim of this motion was to deter other 'Conclusions of law' and a half years ago -that is, not "a single Mter he was expelled, Gelfand filed a suit lawyers from taking on similar harassment In her conclusions of law, the judge reaf­ piece of evidence" exists for any of Gelfand's in federal court demanding that he be rein­ lawsuits and, if possible, to recover some of firms the decision to hear Gelfand's lawsuit charges. stated into membership and that the party's the thousands of dollars spent by the SWP in in the first place, stating that the court has In addition to restating that "there is no elected leadership be removed. His claim was defending itself. jurisdiction in the case "under the Constitu­ evidence" against the SWP, the judge de­ that his constitutional rights had been violated Recently, in an out-of-court settlement, tion and laws of the United States." clared that Gelfand's aim in the lawsuit was because "FBI agents" in the party's leader­ Gelfand's lawyers agreed to pay the SWP an to harass the SWP. "Plaintiff's initiation of ship had expelled him. At the same time, she spells out the basis undisclosed amount for attorneys' fees. As a this litigation was not in good faith," she says. The judge upheld the court's right to decide for ruling against Gelfand in all of his claims. result, the SWP withdrew its motion for the "His motivation was to disrupt the SWP." whether Gelfand had been improperly ex­ Gelfand's expulsion from the SWP did not court to award the party attorneys' fees in the The five-day trial occurred in March 1983, pelled and whether the SWP's elected leader­ violate any of his constitutional rights, nor did case. four years after a lawsuit was filed by Gelfand ship should remain in office. This decision - it violate the party's Constitution, organiza­ against the SWP. In the suit, he charged that regardless of the outcome of the trial itself­ Shortly thereafter, the judge issued her tional principles, or traditions, the judge the party is run by FBI agents and on this was damaging to the constitutional rights of written findings in the decade-long case. states. "The SWP and the individual SWP basis, asked for court intervention into the privacy and freedom of association. It gave defendants are entitled to judgment against 'Not in good faith' SWP's internal affairs. backing to the idea that courts have the right the plaintiff." The SWP is also entitled to From the beginning, the party fought to to interfere in political organizations to de­ "I can only assume that there was a motive recover court costs incurred in the case, she have the case thrown out of court for the cide questions of policy and membership. somewhere in here to paralyze the Socialist said. Workers Party," the judge declared at the end harassment lawsuit it is. The judge refused to In ruling on Gelfand's charge that the SWP do so. Slander campaign of the 1983 trial. · During the four years before the trial, the is secretly run by FBI agents, the judge con­ A fight was launched to win the broadest The August 15 findings restate the same court gave Gelfand and his lawyers a free cludes, "As a bona fide political party, the possible backing for the defense against point. "Plaintiff [Gelfand] did not then have hand to interrogate SWP leaders and mem­ SWP is entitled to the full protection of the Gelfand's suit, headed by the Political Rights any substantial basis in fact for any of his bers for hundreds of hours. First Amendment. Any attempt by any gov­ Defense Fund. Meetings and rallies were or­ allegations, nor did he have a good faith belief The judge then went on to allow similar ernment agency to manipulate, control, or ganized around the country to explain the that the allegations were true. Plaintiff had questioning in the trial itself, although after­ secretly influence the private or public activ­ issues in the case and widen support for the been a practicing attorney for several years ward she admitted that such questioning was ities or decisions of the SWP would be unlaw­ defense effort. and appreciated the nature and meaning of a abusive. ful. However, there is no evidence in this case, Union officials, political activists, sup­ legal proceeding brought in good faith .. .." In this way Gelfand and his lawyers credible or otherwise, that any such manipu­ porters of democratic rights and civil liber­ amassed some 7,000 pages of "evidence" lation, control, or secret influence occurred." ties, civil rights fighters, elected officials, and "A large part of the discovery in this case about SWP's leaders' background and views The next step in the case is for the SWP's many others joined the SWP in demanding an was not conducted in good faith," the judge for use in the Workers League' slander cam­ end to the disruption operation. continued. "The pretrial discovery conducted attorneys to file the final papers. After that, paign against the SWP. by plaintiff was abusive, harassing, and in Gelfand has 30 days in which to file an ap­ Implications for other organizations At the conclusion of the trial, the judge was large part directed to matters that could have peal. They explained that for the case to come to trial at all - much less drag on in the courts for years -established a precedent of gov­ ernment intervention in voluntary associa­ Maori artist paints on New York mural tions, threatening everyone's right to privacy and freedom of association. Although the BY SAM MANUEL SWP was the immediate target in the Gelfand NEW YORK- Aswirling, 75-footbright case, its course and outcome would have red pennant is the latest addition to the six­ implications for trade unions, other political story mural being painted on the Pathfinder parties, civil rights organizations, farmers' Building here. An inscription on the pennant groups, and similar associations, they ex­ in the Maori language reads,"Te Wepu Kooti" plained. (Te Kooti's Whip). Throughout the Gelfand case, the SWPhas The pennant was painted by a prominent fought against the use of the courts to carry Maori artist from New Zealand, Para out lawsuits whose only purpose is to harass, Matchitt. He was one of a team of four artists disrupt, and financially drain political associ­ from the South Pacific who painted portraits ations. It has also taken action aimed at pre­ of leaders of working-class struggles and venting lawyers from profiting by waging opponents of colonialism in the region. such fraudulent and abusive lawsuits. Te Kooti led armed Maoris in fighting Gelfand's case is part of a broader antilabor against British settlers and their Maori col­ disruption campaign waged by the Workers laborators in New Zealand in the mid-1800s. League, a small U.S. sect, along with a British "The large pennant was placed at the head of group, the Workers Revolutionary Party. Te Kooti 's forces as they rode into battle or In 1979 Gelfand - who had entered the through an enemy village," Matchitt added, "crackling like a whip in the wind. I chose to paint Te Kooti 's pennant," explained Disabled workers held Matchitt, "because it symbolized the struggle of a people and because there are no accurate fewer jobs last year likenesses of him." than in 1981 Te Kooti was a trader and fisherman. His first attempt to organize Maori resistance to Disabled workers held fewer jobs last year British settlers who competed with Maoris in than they did in 1981. Their wages did not trading and fishing ended with Te Kooti and keep pace with inflation, and the gap between his followers being imprisoned on Chatham the wages of the disabled and that of other Island. workers grew larger. "However, they overcame their guards, In 1981, a total of 29.8 percent of disabled captured a ship, sailed the nearly 500 miles Para Matchitt, Maori artist from New Zealand, paints Maori battle pennant on men held fulltirne jobs. By last year it had back to New Zealand, and began their cam­ Pathfinder mural. The six-story mural is being painted by an international team of dropped to 23.4 percent. paign again. This time they used guerrilla artists on the side of the Pathfinder Building in New York. Among the completed Disabled women registered a slight gain tactics, striking and moving on. Te Kooti 's portraits are those of Nelson Mandela, Thomas Sankara, Maurice Bishop, Che - 11.4 percent held jobs in 1981 and 13.1 forces took everything with them, including Guevara, Eugene Debs, and Rosa Luxemburg. The mural is scheduled to be finished percent last year. their families," Matchitt explained. by the first week of November. For more information or to send a contribution write, The average earnings of a disabled male Pathfinder Mural Project, 410 West St., New York, N.Y.10014. worker was $12,579 in 1980, increasing to Soon the British militia was called in to $15,497 in 1987. Taking inflation into ac­ hunt down Te Kooti. Maoris were allowed to count, this represents a wage cut. serve in the militia, especially as trackers. journey." begun work on a portrait of the cofounder of At the beginning of the 1980s, disabled "But Te Kooti 's forces were given sanctuary During his imprisonment on Chatham Is­ scientific socialism, Frederick Engels. Chi­ men earned 77 percent of what all workers by Maori groups on the western side of the land Te Kooti founded the Maori religion of cago artists Barbara Wheeler and Katherine got. By last year it had dropped to 64 percent. North Island, and the British militia was Ringatu, based on the old testament of the Stetson decided to come to New York and For disabled women, the rate fell from 69 , never able to break through to capture Te Bible. Matchitt noted, "Over the last decade paint on the mural after seeing a slide pre­ percent to 62 percent. ' Kooti," Matchitt said. Te Kooti has become one of the symbols of sentation in Chicago. They painted in a scene Paul Hippolitus, director of the President's Te Kooti was finally pardoned by the Brit­ Maori pride and culture. I am honored to have of two marchers for women's rights. Ian Committee on Employment of the Handi­ ish at the end of the 1800s. He was greeted been able to put his pennant among all these White, also from Los Angeles, has begun capped, said laws to ensure equal opportunity in Maori villages as his forces and their other fighters for justice." work on portraits of antislavery fighters John for the disabled had little impact. He added families began their journey back across the The pace of painting on the mural is pick­ Brown and Nat Turner. White's father, that those disabled who did get jobs had little island. "Te Kooti never reached the eastern ing up as the artists drive to complete the Charles White, was one of the most promi­ opportunity to advance to better-paying side of the island," Matchitt explained, "be­ mural by the first week of November. nent Afro-American artists of the last half­ ones. cause he was killed in an accident during the Marjan Hormozi from Los Angeles has century.

8 The MiUtant September 1, 1989 International Socialist

~e~ie~------s_u~pp~t-ern_e_n_t_to_t_he_M__ ni_m_n_t ____s_e_pt_e_rn_~_r __ t98__ 9

Militant photos by Selva Nebbia President Fidel Castro in Camagiiey, Cuba. People of city turned out to hear Cuban leader's July 26 speech in which he reviewed the progress in contruction projects made since rectification process was launched in 1986. 'Socialism is science of winning people to this great cause' Fidel Castro on rectification in Cuba, 'difficulties in socialist movement' The following is the complete text of Cuban President possibility of building our own future and writing our own who could hardly read and write, the population's average Fidel Castro's speech given on the occasion of the 36th history has meant for our nation and our fellow citizens. degree of schooling today is seventh grade. Thirty-five out anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban revolution. If we ask ourselves, and if the many visitors among the of every I 00 citizens here are studying. Children's enroll­ July 26 marked the day in 1953 when a group of young foreign delegations ask themselves, what the revolution has ment in school has reached nearly 100 percent and the rebels led by Castro staged an attack on the Moncada done for man, we could answer without going into very dropout rate is 3 percent. Barracks in Santiago de Cuba. Although the attempt much detail: look at a field like education - about which Studying at Camagiiey University today are nearly twice failed and Castro and other leaders of what came to be our compatriots in the past, from Jose de Ia Luz y Caballero the number of students that the whole country had when the known as the July 26 Movement were imprisoned, it to Jose Marti, spoke so much as an essential precondition for revolution triumphed. [Applause] More higher education marked the beginning of the end of the U.S.-supported the progress of a people, the independence and dignity of a students graduate here every year than the total of university Batista dictatorship, which collapsed Jan. 1, 1959, with country - we could point out some of the things accom­ graduates in the whole country when the revolution tri­ the triumph of the revolution. plished by the revolution in this field in this province. umphed. The July 26 celebration address was attended by a First, the creation of a university with nine schools and 25 Infant mortality, which exceeded 60 per I ,000 live births crowd of 150,000 in the city of Camagiiey, the capital of fields; a higher institute of medical science we have just and which still I 0 or II years ago stood at 26 per I ,000, has the central province of the same name. finished with an enrollment capacity of 3,000 students and now dropped to II per I,OOO. [Applause] The text is taken from the August 6 English-language three faculties; a higher teacher training institute with seven Life expectancy has gone up to nearly 75 years; the edition of the Cuban newspaper Gramna Weekly Review. faculties; a senior high school for the exact sciences with number of family doctors was multiplied manyfold and the room for 2,500 students; a military vocational school; a family doctor program is already in full swing with over 350 Distinguished guests; vocational art school; a teacher-training school for over doctors. The number of family doctors we have here now People of Camagiiey; 2,000 students; a school for 500 day-care attendants; a exceeds the total number of doctors there was in the province Fellow citizens all over the country: school for physical education and sports instructors with when the revolution triumphed! [Applause] I thought that perhaps we might have some rain during room for over 500 students; a school for basic training in In the field of economy, all the province had was sugar­ the ceremony. I thought that as I listened to the news that a sports for over I ,000 students; 2I senior high schools in the cane and sugar industrial development, plus some small front was moving in from east to west; but after so many countryside; 43 new junior high schools for nearly 40,000 industries or rather hole-in-the-wall businesses. months of drought, even if it rains on a day like today, blessed students; 3I9 primary schools, all of them with morning and Born with the revolution was the electrical industry, be the water. [Applause] afternoon sessions; 63 day-care primary schools with close which multiplied nearly 40 times the generation capacity We don't know whether the drizzle will go on all after­ to 36,000 students; 12 polytechnics for over 15,000 students; that the province had, with nearly 5,000 kilometers of power noon, we don't know whether it 'II get worse or soon be over, 41 special education schools; 62 day-care centers; and eight lines being installed. How could we possibly conceive of this but it's up to you to decide whether I should hurry [shouts Pioneers palaces, not to make the list of projects too long. city today, all these lights, the stadiums, conceive of this of"No!"], speak fast [shouts of"No!"] , or take my usual time. [Applause] . ceremony without that electrical development? [Applause and shouts of "Yes!"] I know no amount of rain Born with the revolution was the chemical industry. can cool our enthusiasm or weaken our determination. Is there any place where more has been done? Today the province is capable of producing ammonia, urea, Now, what is it that draws one's attention at this July 26 Did any of these institutions exist before the revolution and mixed fertilizer, turning out hundreds of thousands of commemoration - that draws my attention particularly. triumphed? Is there any other place where more has been tons every year. The admiration voic~ by so many visitors in Camagiiey, done to educate the people? And, mind you, I'm only Born with the revolution was Camagiiey's machine in­ even by so many journalists, concerning the work done, the referring to this province of Camagiiey. · dustry. It can now proudly exhibit that modern plant where degree of enthusiasm, and the fighting spirit they've found In the field of public health: building, remodeling, and thousands ofCamagiieyans work [Applause] for civilian and in this city and in this province. modernizing 24 hospitals with nearly 5,000 beds [Ap­ military production; the barbed wire and galvanized cable Why is it that after so many years of revolution - it's plause]; 25 polyclinics, 15 dental clinics, and 18 dental factory, tool factory, and about 200 machine shops just in the quite a few by now -our enthusiasm, far from sagging, prostheses labs [Applause], all of them providing free ser­ field of agriculture! keeps growing, our fighting spirit keeps growing? How can vices for the people. Plus dozens ofother institutions ranging Born with the revolution was the building-materials in­ this be explained? It seems to me that there's no mystery from old people's homes and homes for the disabled, to dustry, starting with a modern cement plant that can turn out involved here: it's what the revolution has done for the maternity homes, etc., etc. 600,000 tons a year and that runs like clock-work; modern people. It's what the revolution has done on behalf of people And what about the results? From being a province with factories turning out porcelain fixtures; eight stone-crushing throughout the nation and in this province. It's what the a large number of illiterates and a large number of citizens Continued on next page

September 1, 1989 The Milimnt 9 International Socialist Jte\fieYV______se_pt-em_~ __ r ___ Is_w_2_

Continued from previous page 800 sports facilities created by the revolution in this province the barren and sterile plain into highly productive land. mills - one of which has a capacity of over 1 million cubic of Camagiiey. [Applause] We proposed the idea of promoting fish breeding in meters; and dozens of plants turning out construction mate­ While Camagiiey residents can feel pleased with what every possible reservoir, dam, and minidam. rial, of different types. Which is what makes all these pro­ they have done through their own efforts and revolutionary We even proposed turning the manure from the huge jects you're looking at today possible. [Applause] spirit in the last 30 years of the revolution, I think they can herds of cattle around the city into humus, through the use Born with the revolution was the prefabricated and mech­ feel even prouder of what they are doing right now and of of worms, producing thousands of tons of animal protein anized construction industry, with many factories like the the outlook for the future. for the manufacture of fodder. Sandino, Gran Panel, and IMS plants, thanks to which we I visited this province a little over two years ago for ______several days and toured various spots with Comrade Lazaro ,, can build impressive things like the brand-new 26-story building here that was finished practically in one year. Vazquez. Comprehensive planning was lost [Applause] Construction processes were mechanized. I remember that, in the midst of the process of rectification of errors and negative tendencies, in major sectors the pace because theoreticians of Food industry is born of development in our country had slowed down or was Really born with the revolution was the food industry, paralyzed. second-rate commercialism got the whose main exponent is that modem brewery that turns out In view of the enthusiasm in this province, the cultural 25,000 cases a day and is rated among the best in the country and technical level it was acquiring, the prestige and author­ crazy idea of toying with quality-wise [Applause]; the modem meat complex that can ity of our party, I talked to Camagiiey residents about these capitalist mechanisms here ... process up to 1,000 head of cattle a day; the hog -processing important plans. We considered the major natural resources plant capable of handling and packing 500 pigs a day; ------,. pasteurizing plants; the new cheese plants; and dozens of We proposed maximum use of science and technology other food industries. on our soil, to plant the right kind of cane in every field The revolution boosted the development of the sugar and the right type of pasture on every hectare. industry with the new standardized sugar mills built in this Here you had a major program in agriculture and other province. All the old sugar mills have now been rebuilt or sectors. We analyzed carefully how this agricultural devel­ remodeled. Also born was the sugarcane by-products indus­ opment would take place with comprehensive plans, try that continues to be developed. something which had been started in the first years of the Our agriculture is now more sophisticated technically, revolution and that was then lost because of the theoret' more modem, mechanized. When the revolution triumphed, cians of second-rate commercialism, who got the crazy all our rice production was harvested by hand, all the cane idea of toying with capitalist mechanisms here. that was processed was harvested and hauled by hand. Most This even gave rise to the ghost towns, which were agricultural work and transportation were done using ani­ towns with buildings but no streets, or with streets but no mals. sewage system, or with a sewage system but no running How could anyone imagine this modem Camagiiey if our water; or without stores, day-care centers, schools, or country still needed to harvest rice manually, cut and haul services of any kind. We stressed the idea of all-round the cane manually? How could the sugar harvest be carried plans, in keeping with a truly lofty and revolutionar · out without the 115 cane-conditioning centers the province concept of socialism, which means the opportunity to plan now has? development and not leave the solution of problems to All that resulted in big advances: agricultural production chance. was multiplied manyfold in many products, as were indus­ We remember that during those days we urged the trial production and construction. Thousands of economic province to work to host this July 26 celebration [Ap­ and community facilities were built in these years of revo­ plause] and what's more, to strive to host the Fifth Con­ lution! Thousands of kilometers of highways, railroad gress of the party. [Prolonged applause] Of course, in this tracks, and country roads were also built in these years! And struggle it will have to compete with the other provincr"­ I'm only referring to the province of Camagiiey as it is now of the country, but I am sure that although the struggle witt constituted. [Applause] be difficult, Camagiiey is far from being on the bottom of Facilities of all types were built in the ports: bulk-sugar the list. warehouses, mechanized loading operations, new ports, new To n'iarkrthis July 26, the province has finished rllore fuel installations or installations to store ammonia, some of than 1,000 projects, ranging from a small embryo-trans­ them extremely costly. plant center, with an area of about 800 square meters, to a building like this of more than 100 apartments and 26 105,000 new housing units stories. This building is counted not as 100 or so projects, In a province where I believe there was only one small but as one project, just like the multipurpose gym, whi1.. .. dam during those years, we have built 44 major dams and Militant/Selva Nebbia is counted as one project. [Applause] More than 1,000 179 minor ones. [Applause] Voluntary worker at minibrigade construction site. projects have been completed in the last 18 months, since Thanks to this progress, since the victory of the revolution "Voluntary work," Castro said, "had virtually disap­ the province proposed to become the venue for the July 26 105,000 new housing units have been built in Carnagiiey peared in Cuba, but the rectification process has raised celebration! Of course, the effort made by the province Province. [Applause] I haven't done the precise calculations, it to unprecedented heights." impresses all visitors. but given the total number of inhabitants in the province - Yesterday we toured around with a big group of jour­ just over 700,000 - we can assume that more than 50 nalists. They expressed admiration, and more than admi­ percent of the families in Camagiiey are now living in of the province, the most sparsely populated or with least ration, amazement. We visited the dairy center being bui~ ., housing built after the victory of the revolution. [Applause] population density per square kilometer in the entire country, as much as was possible to see in a few hours. We visited I haven't mentioned three important sectors: scientific and worked out a series of programs. the communities for cattle workers, built in periods of not activities, which were born with the revolution in this prov­ We proposed to the leadership of the party in Camagiiey more than a year, communities with 300 homes each, as ince. There are now dozens of laboratories and that very Province the idea of transforming the province into a devel­ we had projected when we drafted the dairy center pro­ modem genetic engineering and biotechnology center, the opment model for the Third World and, first of all, a model gram. second in the country, has just been inaugurated. [Applause] for food production and social development. But these weren't ghost towns: they were communities Perhaps it wasn't right to say inaugurated, for a few weeks with finished buildings, streets, water supply, sewage sys­ of work remain, since to assure top quality they dido 't want Largest dairy center in world tems, day-care centers, day-care schools, food stores, are· to speed things up just to finish on the specified date. In previous years some of these plans had been paralyzed. for other services required by the community. There was [Applause] I won't explain now, since I have done so on various a home-office for the family doctor and space had been set Now we are doing things of the kind that can be seen at occasions, the factors that led to this situation. aside for the construction of the community center in the the shrimp-breeding center, in the biological processes that In fact, we proposed building in Camagiiey the largest future. [Applause] This was an all-round community and take place there: artificial insemination of female shrimp, dairy center in the world, in record time. [Applause] This it wasn't the only one being built. artificial spawning, and all the scientific and technical pro­ would involve the full development of the more than cesses that give us the foundation for significant develop­ 180,000 hectares [ 1 hectare= 2.5 acres] that can be used for Concept of socialist development applied ment in this field of production. cattle breeding near the city: to the west, southwest, south They also set out to build or complete projects lt"l"t Our hospitals have achieved a high scientific level. and southeast, east and northeast. unfinished in previously built communities where there I haven't mentioned the cultural field that has advanced We prepared a plan for the construction of 300 new were no day-care centers or schools or other services, or so much during the years of revolution, which is symbolized dairies, the large kind, with the complementary installations where new homes had to be built. It was the idea of by the Ballet of Camagiiey, the symphony orchestra, the in a period of no more than six years. The first equipment socialist development, the true concept of socialist devel­ Ignacio Agramonte Museum, the reconstruction of theaters, was allotted and work started. opment fully applied; hundreds of kilometers of roads and the development and preservation of the historic section of We proposed that rice production in the province be highways, straight highways and belt roads: the first, sec­ the city, and the cultural centers in all the municipalities of doubled. ond, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth belt roads that begin from the province, something which has enabled the city of We proposed that sugarcane cultivation be boosted in the area near Vertientes; some of them begin in the south­ Camagiiey to stage a program of extraordinary quality like order to assure sugar production of at least a million tons a west and end in the north. what we saw yesterday, using only performers from year and the raw materials for other uses for cane, especially I can assure the residents of Camagiiey that here, on the Camagiiey. [Applause] animal feed, with the goal of not wasting a single green or outskirts of this city, we are building the world's largest I haven't mentioned the field of sports, which was born even dry leaf. dairy center as an all-round unit. An integrated unit cover­ with the revolution with major facilities like the Candido ing almost 188,000 hectares, organized into a large pro­ We proposed a big boost in the production of tuber Gonzcilez Stadium or the recently completed multipurpose ductive unit. Let me know if there is anything of the kind vegetables and other vegetables to fully meet the needs of gym, surely the largest and one of the most beautiful in the elsewhere. the province. country. [Applause] It will have about 540 cowsheds, some already built and A passerby who sees the multipurpose gym here wouldn't We proposed boosting citrus fruit production to reach the others under construction, and hundreds of other install know if he was in Camagiiey or in ancient Greece at the 13,400 hectares proposed initially and working hard in the tions: calf-breeding areas, integrated centers for raising the construction of irrigation systems, which at the time didn't height of its greatest architectural splendor. [Applause] heifers that will replace current milk-producing cows, even cover 1,340 hectares. This progress in sports is reflected not only in the centers for breeding males. In short, everything needed for instructors' school that I mentioned before, the schools for We proposed taking full advantage of the available water the overall development of every dairy group. basic training in sports, or the athletic improvement schools, in rivers and streams; restoring the awareness of the need for On this project we have the cooperation of the Food and which I think I haven't mentioned. It is reflected in the nearly water conservation. We proposed the idea of transforming Agriculture Organization, a UN agency. I know how

10 The Militant Septem~r 1,1989 September ISR/3 highly they value this program, their view of this program, of communities, in the construction of the zeolite factory; That's why by July 26, 95 percent of the sugarcane in which they visit nearly every month, which they present in the construction of schools, day-care centers, and Camagtiey had been weeded, a rate never before obtained. ..s an example of livestock breeding development in a homes; in the construction of the biotechnology center; In spite of the drought, whose damage is incalculable, Third World country. But I would say that in any first wherever work was going on. we expect to maintain an acceptable level of sugar produc­ world country as well. Socialism is the science ofleading the people to promote tion in Camagtiey Province; because people have done I'd like to know whether in the United States, for exam­ the development of the country, leading the masses to what they could in planting, cultivation, and weeding. But ple, there is a unit of this kind. I'd like to know whether in direct participation in the development of the country, of course a lot will depend on the rains in the final part of Europe, in France or the Netherlands, there is an integrated winning over the people for this great cause. Socialism is the month, especially in August and September. production organization of this magnitude that will also the science of creating, preserving, and developing the Overall, this is what the great effort of Camagtiey resi­ include all the necessary laboratories and shops, all the greatest possible link, the most profound link of the party dents means. Nobody knows how far we can go working ecessary power lines and irrigation systems, built accord­ with the masses. Socialism is the science of leading with like this. ing to the hydro potential. correct methods. Socialism is the science of example. But amidst what international conditions does our effort That is why we can proudly say that surrounding this Regarding this, we have seen very important things in transpire? I have to talk a bit about this; it is very important. city we will have a cattle breeding center that is unique in recent days. We have to understand where we are, what world we live the world.[Applause] Yesterday, when we visited the cheese factory, which is in, what problems threaten the productive efforts of our The province has worked intensely for this July 26 under construction and almost finished, we found people people. celebration in the construction of dams and minidams. doing voluntary work there since the early morning: all the We live in a time of great economic problems in the This year there will be a 13,800-ton increase in rice secretaries of the party cells in the Sibanicu municipality, world, especially in the Third World; of major debts and •roduction and the goal in the not-too-distant future is all the cadres of People's Power, and all the cadres of the major economic crises. 138,000 tons, which is more than double the current mass organizations. [Applause] The entire population of We live in a special moment for the world revolutionary amount. The citrus fruit program is advancing with about Camagtiey, dividing up total voluntary work hours among movement. We aren't going to beat around the bush; we 9,390 hectares planted of which over 4,000 have been the number of inhabitants- including those born in the must tell it like it is. irrigated. We are advancing on the production of tuber first half of this year- has an average of 25 hours of There are difficulties in the world revolutionary move­ vegetables and other vegetables, which has increased 2.6 voluntary work. Fifteen million hours of voluntary work, ment; there are difficulties in the socialist movement. We times in recent years but is still inadequate. Construction nearly 2 million eight-hour shifts! [Applause] can't say with certamty that the supplies from the socialist for hog-breeding is coming along, something I hadn't Lazaro was telling me something that is decisive, vital. camp that have been arriving here with the punctuality of 11entioned before, and in the last few years there has been He told me that all those cadres of the party, Young a clock for nearly 30 years will continue to arrive with this a 60 percent increase in pork production, a 40 percent Communist League, People's Power, local or central ad­ same security and punctuality. increase in egg production, and a 60 percent increase in ministration, and the mass organizations who are physi" ,, ______poultry production. This year, in spite ofthe drought, milk cally fit to do so did at least 208 hours of voluntary work production has increased by 11 million liters. in the last 18 months. Real and meaningful work: cleaning There are difficulties in cane fields or cutting cane, building, working with their We are sure that the plan to reach 300 million liters of hands. [Applause] milk yearly in the province will be obtained in the not-too­ the world revolutionary and distant future, given the current pace. Two hundred and eight hours of well-organized and socialist movements .•. Construction on the powdered milk factory has been well-directed work, which equals 20 days of more than 10 ______,, started and the new cheese factory is being concluded. It hours, or more than 25 eight-hour days, amidst the work and obligations of any cadre in the party, the Young will have a capacity of more than 30,000 liters daily and While the country has done more than ever with less than Communist League, mass organizations, or administra­ there will be new investments in this field. ever- and these accomplishments demonstrate this, done tion. That's called being exemplary and that is the really In recent years the province's stock of sheep and goats with less foreign exchange than ever - it is possible that revolutionary and socialist path, capable of leading a peo­ has increased fivefold and in the sterile plain of the past, in the future we will have to continue to work and ple to any goal, even to the ends ofthe earth! [Applause] where progress is being made speedily, there are about strengthen - and work miracles! -with prob­ I was thinking about how Che would have felt, he who o~lves 40,000 animals. The goal is 300,000. lems also in the obtaining of supplies from the socialist so often advocated voluntary work and provided so many countries. .2xperiences are being extended to other provinces examples of personal dedication to voluntary work, how But, perhaps the biggest problem is the euphoria of the he would have felt if he heard this. [Applause]He gave us This news is a source of pride for Camagtiey residents imperialists, the overconfidence of the empire and the his example. and enthusiasm for the province as a whole; but also imperialist government ______, , -- - ~·" ·, ·-- __ ~nthusiasm f.or the coontry, because some·ohhe experi­ ,, Never has any government, not even that of Reagan, ences gathered in this work are being extended to other been so arrogant. Never has anyone given such arrogant provinces. How would have Che, who so speeches. In the face of difficulties in the socialist camp, An ambitious construction program for cattle installa­ often advocated voluntary work, but fundamentally in some socialist countries, the Bush tions is under way, not of the magnitude of this one but of administration has given speeches that take the premise that .he same quality, in neighboring Las Tunas Province. A felt if he heard of the socialist community is in decline, that socialism is in project like the one in Las Tunas is under way in neigh­ decline, and that socialism will end up in the trash heap of boring Ciego de Avila Province. There is a project similar these achievements ... history, which is precisely the place those brilliant creators to that of those two provinces in Granma Province. And ______,, of the socialist movement reserved for capitalism. this year we propose to start a project in Sancti Spiritus In the face of these difficulties - which are evident and and, if possible, also a major project in Pinar del Rio. Voluntary work had virtually disappeared, but the rec­ which everyone acknowledges- that have existed and All the provinces in the country are seeking the areas to tification process has raised voluntary work to unprece­ exist in Poland, the difficulties in socialism that have ex­ build new dairies, because the ideas we are developing dented heights in the history of the revolution. isted and exist in Hungary, Bush organized a triumphal tour, '1ere in Camagtiey are being extended to all provinces. That's why Camagtiey - despite the rains, which came a triumphal trip to these two countries in recent weeks. It's As we were telling Comrade Lazaro, we do nothing by at the wrong time right down to the end, in the last two clear that there are difficulties there, and Bush didn't go to having the project limited to Camagtiey. We must develop months of the sugar harvest, and didn't come when they those countries by chance. them and are developing them in line with the natural should have come after the harvest either- could pro­ He went to encourage the capitalist tendencies develop­ resources, in all the provinces of the country. duce a million tons of sugar this year. [Applause] Continued on next page I want to stress that we aren't just working in Camagtiey. We are working with the same spirit all over the country. [Applause] These plans require effort, coordination, and FROM PATHFINDER------, •he supply of cows. We will build more than 200 large and small dairies a by year and I want you, the residents of Camagtiey Province, Fidel Castro to know that when the rectification process started we were building seven a year. That's what this toying with the mechanisms of capitalism led us to. In Defense of Socialism We are doing the same with schools, day-care centers, hospitals, and polyclinics. We are doing the same thing Four Speeches on the 30th Anniversary of the Cuban with economic and social plans. We are doing the same Revolution. Castro explains his views on the lessons of with the construction of roads and highways. We are doing 30 years of building socialism in Cuba; the prospects the same with water conservation. In addition, our ambi­ for socialism in today's world; internationalism; and tious food-production plan is being carried out in all prov­ many other topics. 142 pp., $7.95. inces in the country. Now how has this province achieved these successes? "Cuba Will Never Adopt Capitalist It's no accident. We know that right from the start of the Methods" Excerpts from Castro's July 26, 1988, revolution, Camagtiey was characterized by its great en­ speech. 32 pp., $1.50. thusiasm, but that alone isn't sufficient. I think the secret 0f these programs' success in Camagtiey Province is closely connected to the party and its work style in this by Carlos Tablada province [Applause], with the effort of the 37,000 party members and 35,000 members of the Young Communist Che Guevara: Economics and League, and the massive support of the people of Camagtiey. [Applause] Politics in the Voluntary work in Camagtiey, as in the rest of the country, had virtually disappeared, because the evils Transition to Socialism Nhich I mentioned previously gave rise to these problems. Now available in English, the 1987 bestseller in Cuba The technocrats didn't want to hear anything about volun­ looks at Che Guevara's theoretical contributions to tary work. building socialism. 286 pp., $11.95. I ask myself if it would have been possible to build the Available from Pathfinder bookstores listed on page 16 or by mail over 1,000 projects inaugurated in these days without the from Pathfinder, 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Please include support ofthe masses, without voluntary work. [Applause] $1 for postage and handling. The people participated in everything: in the construction

September 1, 1989 The Militant 11 International Socialist Review september ISR/4 ~------~------

Continued from previous page He has a policy of peace toward the big powers and of sand like an ostrich? No! Never! ing there and the political problems that have emerged war toward the small, progressive peoples. His policy is We have to be more realistic than ever. But we have to there. It will be the work of historians, someday, to deter­ based on the premise that if socialism disintegrates the speak, we have to warn imperialism not to have so many mine the causes of those problems. I have my own ideas Cuban revolution would disappear. This reasoning in­ illusions in regard to our revolution, in thinking that our on the matter, but now is not the time to expound them. creases the aggressivity and hostility of U.S. imperialism revolution won't be able to resist if there is a debacle in the The fact is that they have difficulties. In the recent toward our people, toward our revolution, toward our coun­ socialist community. Because if tomorrow or any other day · elections in Poland the liberal opposition - the procapital­ try. we receive news of a great civil war in the Soviet Union, ist, or at least antisocialist, opposition, whose intentions This is the truth. For this reason we now see the empire or even that the Soviet Union has fallen apart, things we have still not been really well defined - won the senatorial more insolent that ever, more villainous than ever, more hope will never happen, even then Cuba and the Cuban elections, almost 100 percent of the seats. And today in threatening than ever. revolution will continue to struggle and continue to resist! Poland the leader of this opposition, Mr. Walesa, who is Imagine what would happen in the world if the socialist [Prolonged applause] known in our country through news reports, has even community were to disappear. This would mean, if this suggested to President Jaruzelski, who won the presidency were possible - and I don't believe it is - that the impe­ It's time to speak clearly by one vote more than the minimum number of votes rialist powers would set upon the Third World like wild Cuba and the Cuban revolution would resist! This is required, that the best thing for him to do would be to hand beasts. They would divide the world up all over again like what I say, and I say it calmly, serenely, with a very cool the government over to the opposition. in the worst days before the victory of the first proletarian head. It's time to speak clearly to the imperialists and to the He has even said in recent days that he is not against revolution. They would divide up the oil, the natural re­ entire world. We're not joking. members of the opposition accepting positions in the gov­ sources, and the labor of billions of people. Three-quarters What could scare us now, when nearly 27 years ago we ernment, but that they would not enjoy the support of the of the world's people would once again fall under colonial­ lived through the October crisis? Historians have written opposition; that the only thing the opposition will accept is ism. papers about it, giving their version of events. We have still the handing over of the government. But the struggle would never end this way. Never would not given ours. Yes, we attended a conference in Moscow In Hungary the same thing is happening. Yesterday an our peoples accept this. People would continue to struggle, where there were Americans, people from that period, election was held for four parliamentary seats, and three perhaps more than ever, and our people, our nation, our Soviets, and a few Cubans. We have still not given our were won easily by the opposition. revolution would be in the front ranks of this struggle! version of events nor have we released our documents, for ,, ______[Prolonged applause] we too have documents. Naturally imperialism is deceiving itself greatly. Bush is And one thing is certain: we lived through that experi~ The right to construct socialism deceiving himself in regard to the problems that the Soviet ence, and I don't remember seeing a single Cuban hesitate. Union is experiencing. It's clear that the Soviet Union, the Cubans would resist any concession to imperialism. And wasn't given to us by anyone. bulwark of the socialist system, is experiencing difficulties, Cubans from that generation - most of whom are still it's no secret, and the dream of the imperialists is that the alive and who have been joined by younger, well-trained We won it ourselves, Soviet Union will disintegrate. generations who have a highly developed political con­ we will defend it ourselves ... There are difficulties and the tension between nationali­ sciousness -they were ready to die without any hesita­ ______,, ties in the Soviet Union is increasing. Internal tensions are tion. Death before retreat! Death before surrender! [Pro­ also evident in the Soviet Union, and we've seen the strike longed applause] In light of these phenomena, are we perhaps witnessing of hundreds of thousands of coal miners in Siberia, in What can frighten our revolutionary people? There is peaceful transition from socialism to capitalism? This is Donetsk, and other places. These reports fill the reactionar­ nothing in the world that can make them waver, that can possible; we're not against it. We defend each country's and ies worldwide and the imperialists with joy. frighten our revolutionary people. each party's sacred right to independence. This is what we In these days, we have received a very warm and frater­ Some time ago, a little more than eight years ago when ask for all the people in the world, for the peoples of Latin nal message from the Soviet Union in the name of the Reagan burst onto the scene with great threats against America and the Third World: the right of each country to Soviet party, government, and state. Our feelings of friend­ Cuba, we abandoned academic books about war. We did construct socialism if it wants, which is something the ship towards the Soviet people and our recognition of the accept all the positive experience, all the experience of United States tries to prevent by force of arms- our role of that great country are enormous. This you all know. conventional warfare, and we adopted the doctrine of the people's right to constru<;:t socialism. Obviously this right We also feel an infinite appreciation toward this country. defense of the country and the revolutionary concept of the wasn't given to us by anyone; we won it ourselves and we war of all the people. will defend it ourselves. [Applause] Our desire is that Soviets overcome difficulties Everyone knows what this is, because everyone partici­ I believe many mistakes have been made that have Our most fervent desire is that the Soviets manage to pates in it. It's what our country should do in all circum­ created these problems. Sometimes I even wonder if it overcome their difficulties, that they manage to reestablish stances, what it should do in the case of a total blockade in wouldn't be better if the new generations born into socialist their unity and to maintain and enlarge the great role their which not a single liter of gasoline would come in, not an Poland and Hungary didn't take a little trip through capi­ country has played in the world. ounce of food. It's what we would do, and we know, we talism, so that they could get to know it: the egoism, The problems of the Soviet Union are of great concern know very well what we would do, and we know that we brutality, and inhumanity of capitalist society. This is a very to the Third World countries, the former colonies, whose would resist. delicate point, but these are my sincere reflections on these peoples don't wish to be recolonized, because the Soviet In the case of a war of attrition, we know what we would problems. Union has been their fundamental and firmest ally. do. We know we would resist. In the case of an invasion During his triumphal tour, it is said that a multitude At the sight of these problems, the imperialists start to and occupation of the country by U.S. troops, we know how greeted Bush in Gdansk, Poland. And according to news dream of a 1,000 -year empire, like the one dreamed of by we would resist, how we would fight, and what we would reports from the biggest U.S. news agency there were many Adolf Hitler with his Third Reich. He thought it would last do. And we know that sooner or later the price would be so placards-I can't verify whether there were many or a 1,000 years, but actually it lasted very little time indeed. high for the aggressors that they would have to leave our few, because I wasn't there, I didn't see it on television, I It's possible that in the most reactionary sectors of imperi­ country. [Applause] only read the wire stories - they say there were many alism these dreams are being repeated, and I'm sure that Concerning defense we learned some time ago to count placards that said, "The best Communist is a dead Commu­ they won't last long either. only on our own forces and we know that in the case of a nist!" You see how profoundly fascist, how clearly fascist, This is not a question of nuclear arms, of one side or the complete blockade not a single liter of gasoline, not an these placards in Gdansk were during Bush's tour. other's missiles, or of nuclear disarmament agreements. It ounce of food, not a single bullet would enter the country. would make us very happy if they got rid of those weapons. The Soviet Union would not have the conventional forces Of course, there are two kinds of Communists: Commu­ But' the independence of our people has always and will to break a blockade thousands of miles from home. No nists who let themselves be killed easily and Communists always depend on ourselves, and not on the nuclear missiles country can entrust its defense to another, a country can like us who don't let themselves be killed easily! [Pro­ of the Soviet Union or of anyone else. only rely on itself for its defense. longed applause and shouts of, "Fidel, Fidel, give the ______Our will, our ideas, our concepts have been worked out Yankees hell!"] ,, and developed. And what do they think, that we lose sleep over this? What do they think, that we're overcome by What does it mean to call Lenin a 'murderer'? We must warn imperialism not to doubt because of these premises and hypotheses? They These imperialist news agency wire stories gleefully have illusions that our revolution should sweep the cobwebs out of their heads, because we relate that other placards said, "Lenin, Jaruzelski, murder­ know what we are, what we have, what we can do. We ers!" I'm not going to defend Jaruzelski, I think he can won't be able to resist if there know our resources, and for that reason we're not worried. defend himself. But what does it mean that in a country Not even the worst thing scares us, not the worst premise, whose liberation from fascism cost the blood of half a is a debacle in the not the worst hypothesis! But since we live in this world, million Soviet soldiers, people call Lenin, the founder of socialist community ... on this planet, we have to be aware of the realities and we the first socialist state, a murderer? Lenin, who opened the ______,, have to reflect on the realities. road to liberation for the peoples of the world, the founder The future holds threats due to this imperialist policy, to of the first socialist state, whose revolution made possible I recall the October crisis* and a phrase that we used these beliefs, to this euphoric idea that socialism is in the disappearance of colonialism, when more than 100 during that crisis: "We don't have strategic missiles, but we decline, and the day will come when they will want to states gained the.ir independence, more than 100 former have moral weapons." These are the arms our people use collect from Cuba for its more than 30 years of revolution. colonies gained their independence. to defend themselves. I believe in the peoples of the earth. They won't collect anything here! I'm leaving aside whatever political errors the Soviet And more than ever I believe in them like I believe in my And this is not a recent idea, this has been true for a long Union may have committed in other times in relation to own people, and know what our people are capable of! time. Antonio Maceo said it, said what would happen to Poland. I'm referring only to the fact that a half million [Prolonged applause] those who tried to take over Cuba. Soviets died fighting alongside Poles for the liberation of Here, thinking very coolly - as one has to think with This is the country and the people of [Carlos Manuel de] Poland. How repugnant it is to use the term "murderer" for the people on a day like today, at a historical moment like Cespedes and Marti! [Applause] This is the country and the Lenin, whose people achieved victory, liberated the world the world is living today - we have to consider: Are we people of Agramonte and Maximo Gomez! [Applause] This from fascism with the sacrifice of 20 million of their best going to slow down? Are we going to give up this colossal is the country and the people of Maceo! [Applause] This is sons and daughters. To call Lenin a murderer is , really effort? No! Never! Will we close our eyes to reality? No! the country and the people of Yara and Baire! [Applause] distressing. Never! Will we, in the face of reality, stick our heads in the This is the country and the people of the Baragua Protest! But, clearly, this increases Bush's euphoria. It greatly [Applause] This is the country and the people of the increases his triumphal attitude, the imperialist hostility Moncada, of GirOn, and of internationalism, but with a toward Cuba. Because if Mr. Bush is starting from the •In 1962 Cuba acquired missiles from the Soviet Union to defend itself revolutionary consciousness that has never been so devel­ premise that socialism is in decline, that the socialist com­ from a threatened US. invasion. In October of that year, Washington oped! [Prolonged applause] And this people and this coun­ munity is about to disintegrate, what must he think about initiated the "Cuban missile crisis" by ordering a total blockade of Cuba try will be loyal to their glorious history! Cuba, this solid, brave, heroic Cuba that neither gives in or and placing U.S. forces on nuclear alen. The crisis abated following an jPatria o muerte! agreement between the U.S. and Soviet governments to withdraw the sells out? If he accepts that premise, why change the policy missiles in exchange for a commitment by Washington not to invade jVenceremos ! toward Cuba? Cuba. [Ovation]

12 The Militant September 1, 1989 Fate of Northwest's ancient forests debated BY BRIAN WILLIAMS the cutting of timber in areas where the acreage of old growth to be preserved were erra Club favored the proposal. Representa­ PORTLAND, Ore. - Despite the much­ spotted owl resides. agreed upon. tives of the National Wildlife Federation, heralded "timber summit"' held in Salem, The proposal by Oregon's congressional Sen. Robert Packwood motivated this Wilderness Society, and Oregon Natural Re­ Oregon, in June, the five-year-old battle be­ delegation at the timber summit was pre­ package deal with the threat that if this com­ source Council opposed the deal. tween the timber industry and environmen­ sented as a compromise short-term solution. promise is not accepted, 10,000 people would In mid-July, representatives of the major talists over the fate of the ancient forests of lose their jobs in the next couple of months. environmental groups presented a new pro­ the Pacific Northwest remains at an impasse. It called for a slightly reduced timber har­ posal. Their plan called for reducing the The summit meeting had been called by vest on forest service lands of 8 billion board The industry representatives accepted the harvest level to 7.6 billion board feet from Oregon Gov. Neil Goldschmidt, Sen. Mark feet a year over the next 15 months. This deal, though they made clear that the industry the national forests over the next 15 months Hatfield, and Congressman Les AuCoin. It would be 700 million board feet below cur­ will go ahead with layoffs and mill closures and agreement to lift some of the major court included representatives of the timber indus­ rent levels. The proposal also promised leg­ regardless of whether the compromise is im­ injunctions around the spotted owl. The use try, environmental groups, federal forestry islative protection of some old growth until plemented. Bill Shields, executive vice-pres­ of lawsuits against future timber industry agencies, and the rest of Oregon's congres­ September 1990. In exchange, the environ­ ident of Williamette Industries, speaking for actions was not ruled out. sional delegation. mentalists had to drop the current court in­ the timber industry owners, claimed that the Industry representatives together with the This debate occurs at a time when the junctions in effect and promise not to chal­ proposal could lead to more than 18,000 lost U.S. Forest and Bureau of Land Management timber monopolies are on the verge of wiping lenge in court the timber industry's logging jobs. immediately rejected the environmentalists' out the last remaining ancient forests in the plans. However, no specific sites of total The environmentalists were split. The Si- proposal. United States. Virtually all the remaining old-growth timber in the United States is in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska and falls under the regulation of the U.S. Forest Ser­ Palestine unionist tours U.S., Canada vice. Old growth refers to trees ranging in age from 200 to 1,000 years old. These trees BY CAROLE LESNICK Israeli occupation. no legal right to organize unions and are fired form part of an irreplaceable natural ecosys­ LOS ANGELES- Union leader Hani Bir Zeit University in the West Bank was when they try. tem affecting water conservation, nutrient Baydoun described to teachers and other closed 52 times between 1980 and 1987 and Founder of the Hotel Workers Union in recycling, and a large variety of plant and unionists here the Israeli government's dis­ for the 19 months since the beginning of the Jerusalem, Baydoun also helped establish the animal life. crimination against Palestinian workers. One Palestinian uprising in West Bank and Gaza Progressive Labor Front in the occupied ter­ In the early 1980s the forest service called of the first Palestinian trade unionists to tour Strip, he said. All schools were closed as well, ritories. This is a federation of 2llocal unions for speeding up the cutting of the ancient the United States, he spoke at the United affecting 300,000 children. and seven central labor councils. The union forests, calling them "dead wood" of little Teachers hall last month. Baydoun explained that Palestinians leader was imprisoned by the Israeli govern­ ecological value. In 1988, a record 5.5 billion Congratulating the Los Angeles teachers fought to reopen these institutions because ment in November 1985 and held for more board feet were cut from the 19 national on their recent strike victory, Baydoun de­ "education is a simple human right." Teach­ than two and a half years for his organizing forests in the Pacific Northwest, which is tailed the crisis of the education system under ers in the occupied territories, he said, have activity. three times the annual harvest at the height The Israeli government has closed 95 per­ of the post-World War II building boom. cent of the union headquarters in the occupied According to the Wilderness Society, only territories and detained 18,000 workers and 2.4 million acres of old-growth timber re­ 2,000 union administrators. Twenty-three mains. At the present cutting rates, this will have been deported. According to Israeli law, be gone within 15 years. Palestinians are not permitted to hold union Part of the fight to protect these ancient office if they have ever been arrested, forests has focused on the fate of the spotted Baydoun explained. owl, which lives only in old growth forests of Washington, Oregon, and northern Cali­ He said the Israeli government ordered fornia. In December 1987, the Fish and Wild­ 70,000 Palestinian workers in the occupied life Service issued a report concluding that territories to carry pass cards. The workers the owl was not endangered and thus not in struck against this command and are now need of protection. required to wear orange shirts instead. Last February an investigation by the Gen­ Palestinians in Israel face similar discrim­ eral Accounting Office· concluded that the ination, Baydoun said. Called the "black mar­ Fish and Wildlife report ignored basic scien­ ket'' by the government, they now make tific facts about the spotted owl. This report one-third of the minimum wage. Before the was exposed as a political cover-up for the uprising they earned two-thirds. interests of the timber industry. · · Deductions for taxes, social and health In April the Fish and Wildlife Service insurance, and for the state-run labor organi­ reversed its findings and placed the spotted zation eat up 31 percent of wages. Much of owl on the list of threatened species. this money, the labor leader noted, is sup­ Environmental organizations have suc­ posed to be used to develop services in the cessfully obtained court injunctions blocking On West Bank, Palestinian workers line up in morning, hoping for day labor in Israel. occupied territories, but the people there are only "served" with more troops and repres­ sion. "With international solidarity," Baydoun concluded, "the U.S. administration can be Icelandic workers block price increases forced to stop aiding Israel, and to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization and the BY SIGURLAUG GUNNLAUGSDOTTIR tion to buying Iceland's fish products because concessions by public employees, profes­ right to an independent Palestinian state." He REYKJAVIK, Iceland - A number of of Icelandic whaling practices have fueled a sionals, high school teachers, and others won appealed to the U.S. labor movement to strikes and demonstrations have taken place crisis in the fishing industry. This has Jed to some gains. recognize the Palestinian union movement in recent months in response to government increased layoffs. Icelandair, the country's airline, has also and solidarize with its struggles. measures that impose more of the costs of a The government's currency devaluation met resistance from employees organized in Baydoun 's tour, in the United States and downturn in the country's capitalist economy earlier this year to shore up the profits of the three different unions. From May through Canada, was sponsored by the North Amer­ on working people. fishing industry hurt working people, who July pilots refused to fly new aircraft pur­ ican Coordinating Committee of the Non­ Some 15,000 people rallied here June 1 are now paying higher prices for imported chased by the airline. Machinists organized Governmental Organizations, accredited by protesting government price hikes of 10 to goods. a slowdown. Both were involved in contract the United Nations Division for Palestinian 20 percent on dairy products, meat, and gas­ Prior to the June action, strikes against negotiations and have since settled. Rights. oline. The protesters demanded that the gov­ ernment find other means to solve the enor­ mous state budget deficit. The action, called on a day's notice, was Australia: Black-rights activist rearrested the largest demonstration by working people in many years. Fish processing plants and BY KATE BLAKENEY The charges were dropped for want of the due processes of Jaw and saying nothing other industries were shut down. Post offices SYDNEY, Australia-Tim Anderson has evidence. about this case," he declared, denouncing were closed. Workers employed by banks, been charged for a second time with partici­ In 1979 the three were charged with con­ laws that ban defendants from commenting travel agencies, and other businesses in the pating in a Feb. 12, 1978, bombing outside spiring to murder Robert Cameron, a leader on cases. center of town left their jobs to join the rally. the Hilton Hotel here that resulted in three of the National Front. They were sentenced Protests were also organized in other cities "I think they want to shut me up," Ander­ deaths. to 16 years' imprisonment. The key witness son said of the New South Wales police in an in this country of 250,000 residents. Anderson is an activist in the Committee was Richard Seary, a police informer later Other actions followed, including boycotts interview. "I've been singled out as one of the to Defend Black Rights, which has been ex­ described by Australian High Court Justice of dairy products and gasoline. Workers in three involved in the original frame-up be­ posing and denouncing the large number of Lionel Murphy as "the most unreliable per­ some industries decided to press further. Sea­ cause I have remained vocal on issues that deaths in police custody of Aboriginal people. son ever presented as the principal prosecu­ embarrass the police-police verbals, police men stopped working overtime to press for At an international gathering of judges and tion witness on a serious charge." higher wages and threatened a strike. violence and killings." Police verbals are con­ lawyers held in March this year, Anderson After serving seven years, the three were fessions concocted by the cops and then Under pressure from this resistance the charged that senior police officers in New pardoned, released, and given the equivalent signed by their prisoner. government backed down and eliminated the South Wales had peljured themselves. of US$75,000 compensation each. Anderson pointed out that "for 11 years, mid-May price hikes. This would have been Anderson's second arrest on charges of Within days of Anderson's rearrest in the Terry Griffiths, a policeman injured in the the second round of massive price increases responsibility for the bombing took place Hilton bombing, a public meeting of 250 Hilton bombing, has pressed for an inquiry." since the beginning of the year. May 30. Eleven years ago, days after the people condemned the arrest as a frame-up by Griffiths has stated that he possesses evidence The stagnation ofthis North Atlantic island explosion, Anderson had been arrested along New South Wales police. that implicates the Special Branch of the po­ country's economy has been clear for a few with Ross Dunn and Paul Alistair. Anderson, who received an ovation when lice in the bombing. "If they wanted to clear years. A record number of business bankrupt­ he addressed the gathering, pointed out how The three were members of Ananda up the Hilton bombing," Anderson said, cies are seriously affecting the government the major media had sought to lend credibility Marga, a small religious denomination based "they'd have had an inquiry years ago." budget. in India. Authorities claimed that the bomb­ to the case against him by quoting extensively The capitalist crisis is also seen in the ing was carried out against India's former from police news releases while ignoring Opponents of the arrest and prosecution of fishing industry, which constitutes 77 percent prime minister Morarji Desai, who was at­ those issued by the Tim Anderson Support Anderson are urging that letters of support of the country's export earnings. Declining tending a Commonwealth Heads of Govern­ Group. and donations be sent to the Tim Anderson market prices, increased international com­ ment Meeting at the Hilton, The Indian gov­ "I have no intention of sitting back for Support Group, P.O. Box 737, Sydney South, petition, and U.S. and West German opposi- ernment had jailed a leader of Ananda Marga. another seven years waiting to go through all NSW 2000, Australia.

September 1, 1989 The Militant 13 Ortega on economy, debt, int'l relations Nicaragua's situation 'complicated by confrontation with U.S.'

This article was written prior to the agree­ U.S. government, have been returning toNic­ "The most important thing we asked Ri­ process - have all come out clearly against ment reached at the beginning of August be­ aragua. The Nicaraguan government has re­ vera," Ortega said, "is that he renounce the a U.S. military intervention in Panama," Or­ tween President Ortega and Nicaraguan op­ quired that they renounce ties to the armed armed struggle." What Rivera wants, the tega said. position groups regarding the February 1990 groups. president stated, "is to return here to organize In response to the question about arms elections. Next week's Militant will have a Ortega was asked about rumors that addi­ an armed party. That is absurd." shipments, he said, "Nicaragua has given report on this agreement. tional requirements, including a promise to Two reporters asked Ortega what Nicara­ what aid it can through normal channels so not form an "indigenist party," had been gua would do in the case of a U.S. invasion that the Panamanian people can defend them­ BY SETH GALINSKY placed on Brooklyn Rivera before he may of Panama and if the Sandinistas had sent selves if they are militarily invaded by the MANAGUA, Nicaragua- Nicaraguan return. Rivera is a leader of antigovernment arms to Panama. United States." President Daniel Ortega answered wide­ Miskito guerrillas. "We hope there will be no confrontation Nicaragua also favors a negotiated solu­ ranging questions on the country's economy, Thousands of Miskito Indians on between Panama and the United States," Or­ tion in El Salvador, Ortega explained, "which relations with other countries, and the coming Nicaragua's North Atlantic Coast fought tega replied. "We would like to see a negoti- is what the FMLN proposes." He criticized elections, among other topics at a July 25 attempts by Salvadoran President Alfredo press breakfast here. Cristiani to try to link demobilization of the In answer to a question about the results of contras in Honduras with disarming of the a trip he made earlier this year to Western Farabundo Martf National Liberation Front Europe seeking aid for Nicaragua's troubled (FMLN). economy, the president said that $250 million "The FMLN is made up of the people of El is needed this year to balance the country's Salvador. It is sustained by the people. The budget and "finance the program of eco­ FMLN breathes, moves, and swims among nomic adjustments." However, "we were the Salvadoran people," Ortega stressed. "If the people did not want the FMLN, it would cease to exist." Nicaragua needs The situation with the U.S.-financed con­ tras is "totally different," Ortega said, since $250 million in aid the war in El Salvador is an internal problem. "Undoubtedly we can work in favor of a for coming year. dialogue and a negotiated solution between $50 million promised. the FMLN and the Salvadoran government." Ortega was asked about press reports that the Cuban Antonio de Ia Guardia had made promised about $50 million," Ortega told his first drug contacts in Nicaragua. "I spoke reporters, "20 million of that in hard currency, by phone with Fidel Castro," Ortega reported. which is what is truly practical and useful for "Fidel assured me that there is no involve­ us in resolving the shortfall." The remaining ment by Nicaragua" in the matter of drugs. $30 million, he said, was in lines of credit. "Cuba has given an example of how to All of the underdeveloped nations face fight drug traffic," Ortega said. "The United grave problems, Ortega noted, especially in States should follow that example and inves­ Latin America and the Caribbean. "These tigate U.S. government functionaries like Ol­ problems would not be resolved even by can­ iver North and John Poindexter." North and celing the debt, erasing it altogether." The Poindexter worked with drug dealers to help debt exacerbates "structural problems that are set up a base in Costa Rica to supply the linked to the international economy," he contras, Ortega charged. stated. There must be profound changes in the Militant/Seth Galinsky Child working as street vendor in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. All underdeveloped coun­ In response to a question on why some economic, political, and social structure of members of the armed forces have deserted, Latin American countries, he said, "to tries face grave problems, Ortega said, which cannot be resolved just by canceling their foreign debts. including most recently two officials who achieve social and political stability. Then we fled to Costa Rica, Ortega said that could be talking about a real strengthening of Nicaragua's army, like other armies around democracy." against the government from I98I untili988. ated solution to this conflict." The Nicara­ the world, experiences desertions. "Some of Starting in I986 the government succeeded 'A political problem' guan president said this solution should be the desertions could be directly the work of in reaching agreements to end the conflict promoted by Panamanian political forces, the United States, that is, of the CIA; others Ortega also spoke about relations with the with most of the Miskito groups. They turned Latin American countries, and the United are simply within the normal margin of deser­ Mexican and Venezuelan governments in re­ in their old arms and received others from the States. tion that occurs in any army. sponse to a question by a reporter from a government and agreed to collaborate with "The most important thing is that the bulk Mexican news agency. During the early years Nicaragua's army in defending the region. 'All are against U.S. intervention' of our officials and soldiers are steadfast," the of the revolution, Nicaragua received oil from But armed groups based in Honduras, led by "Everyone in Panama - the defense president concluded. "The defections of one Mexico and Venezuela. But these supplies Rivera and Steadman Fagoth, have continued forces, the political parties, both those that are or two officers are not going to weaken the were cut off in ·1985 when Nicaragua was to oppose the revolution. for and those that are against the Panamanian consciousness of the Sandinista army." unable to pay for them. Nicaragua still does not receive any oil from either country, Or­ tega said. "It's a political problem, not a purely economic problem. S. Korea student protests hit teacher firings "If Nicaragua was not in a confrontation with the United States this would be less BY PETER THIERJUNG out is government controlled. The top leader­ criticized teachers and said some had been complicated," he stated. Nicaragua had Riot police attacked a demonstration of ship of the FKTA is chosen by the Education feeding students leftist ideas. Teachers have hoped that with the election of Carlos Andres high school students and clubbed at least 20 Ministry from among retiring government been reprimanded for contradicting the Perez as president of Venezuela things could of them in Seoul, South Korea, last month. bureaucrats. government's views on the country's history be worked out with that country and that the In a number of cities and towns in the by teaching that South Korea started the Ko­ The average teacher's monthly salary is debt with Mexico could be restructured, the southern rural regions, students clashed with rean War. president said, but "this has not been possi­ secondary school administrators and riot po­ 437,000 won (US$657), far below wages of ble." lice. Thousands of protesting students threw industrial workers. Long working hours, ar­ The growing struggle of the teachers and Since the oil cutoff, Nicaragua has re­ out their desks and chairs in the south western bitrary promotions, government control of the high school student activism has ruling teaching materials, and no leeway for teach­ ceived oil from the Soviet Union, Cuba, East city of K wangju. South Korean circles anxious. "The situation Germany, and Czechoslovakia, Ortega A wave of student protests has been pro­ ers to develop or refine courses offered are of high school youths joining adults [in pro­ some of the grievances. stated. "There were shouts of how we are voked by the government's firing of 65 teach­ tests] is deplorable and worrisome," read an dependent on the Soviet Union. But this is a ers; 92 others have been relieved of their In one of his weekly radio broadcasts last editorial in Dong-A 1/bo, a leading daily July, South Korean President Roh Tae Woo newspaper. healthy dependency. teaching posts. "We would like to be dependent on the Since May teachers have been locked in a United States for oil and financial assis­ struggle to win government recognition for tance," he added. the National Teachers Union. They have de­ Strikes in Sweden reveal discontent fied government edicts prohibiting the forma­ Nicaragua has also been seeking aid for tion of the independent union. BY ANITA OSTLING was stopped, and workers threatened to shut holding the February 1990 elections, the costs Across the country 5,000 teachers have STOCKHOLM, Sweden-A recent wave down passenger traffic. of which are estimated at $25 million. Swe­ engaged in classroom hunger strikes to win of strikes involving more than 6,000 workers The strikes led to an immediate speedup den, Spain, and West Germany have all ex­ support for their struggle. Police have ar­ revealed the growing discontent over wages of negotiations and were enough to win con­ pressed their willingness to contribute to the rested 57 for illegal assembly. and working conditions in this country. tract agreements for some workers. electoral process, Ortega stated, but there are Saying teachers have no right to organize The strikes involved steelworkers, few firm commitments. Nicaragua still "does Monthly wage increases were guaranteed. unions under civil service laws, the Education railworkers, woodworkers, and metal­ These ranged from $75 to $100. Many work­ not have enough money to finance all the Ministry continues to refuse to recognize the workers, many in the north of Sweden. expenses," he added. ers also received bonuses-called "vacation NTU and has threatened to fire all teachers In June workers walked off their jobs in money"- to be paid prior to the July vaca­ The Nicaraguan government is encourag- who support it. NTU organizers said that 24 companies to protest drawn out negotia­ tion period. These lump sum bonuses varied . ing Western European countries to send ob­ hundreds and possibly thousands of teachers tions for new contracts and low wage-in­ between $100 and $300. servers during the election period "and not may be fired. crease proposals by employers. This followed rely on the observations of the United States," "That would disrupt the education sys­ 10 strikes in May. Some areas, however, still do not have a Ortega stressed. That way they will see for tem," said one NTU leader in Seoul, "but if Most strikes lasted two or three days. The local contract. themselves that the elections are "not closed" that is what the government wants, we're longest was in rail, where workers stayed out Agreements in steel and rail are temporary but open to the opposition. willing to pay the price." nearly a week. and expire September I. If new agreements The ministry claims only the Federation of The rail strike was the most widespread. are not reached, workers may decide to strike 'An indigenist party?' Korean Teachers Associations represents pri­ It started in a maintenance shop in the north­ again. In advance of the elections, some former mary and secondary teachers. But many em city of LuleA and then expanded south to Only one of the walkouts in May and June contra leaders, with the encouragement of the teachers reject the FKTA, which they point I 0 rail depots. All northern freight transport was authorized by union officials.

14 The Militant September 1, 1989 No relief under new Mexican debt deal BY DON ROJAS Yet, the bankers' negotiating team, headed Roughly $3 billion a year for each of the by John Reed, chairman of Citicorp, pre­ next four years. That's what the much-her­ vailed on the Mexicans to accept the swaps alded Mexican "debt relief' agreement an­ this time around and to make other conces­ nounced in Washington on July 23 boils down sions to foreign capital. to. President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, chief Favorable to Mexico's creditors and to the spokesman for the Mexican ruling class, has country's ruling capitalist families but detri­ been carrying out an elaborate public rela­ mental to the millions of poor and working tions campaign to sell the "good news" ofthe people bearing the brunt of the debt burden, agreement to the Mexican people. this complicated agreement is being hailed by Salinas, along with others in his adminis­ the George Bush administration as a success­ tration and in Mexico's big-businesscomrnu­ ful breakthrough for Washington's "Brady nity, described the agreement as a historic plan." breakthrough. But opposition parties, union The plan, which claims it will lighten the officials, and independent economists were Third World's $1.3 trillion foreign debt, had less than convinced, labeling it as inadequate stagnated since it was announced in early and unjust. Some union officials said they March by Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas will continue to press for a complete debt Brady. moratorium. President Bush was anxious to have the "You can now, my compatriots, tell your Mexican agreement as a feather in his cap children that the world in which they live will before the mid-July summit meeting in Paris not be easy," declared Salinas in a nationally of the world's seven largest capitalist powers televised address on July 24. "But it will be since the Third World debt had topped the better, because no longer will they bear the meeting's agenda. But this was not to be. burden of excessive indebtedness." Intense pressure on the negotiators by both But Samuel Ruiz Mora, head of Mexico's Brady and Bush, however, resulted finally in National Workers Council, did not see better the agreement being signed a week after the days ahead. "Having been unable to obtain a Paris summit had endorsed the Brady plan in greater reduction in its debt, Mexico is not principle. going to be able to get out of the economic crisis it has been going through," he said. Children of working people suffer the most from Mexico's debt crisis $107 billion debt The Mexican president's optimism and eu­ Depending on what Mexico's creditor phoria has not been shared by some political banks decide to do within the framework of leaders or by the big-business press in the than minimize, the risks posed by the mount­ frightful the social costs. A drained economy the agreement, the country's total foreign United States, Europe, and Latin America. ing debt structure to the already volatile inter­ and a pauperized population has been the debt of $107 billion could be reduced by a U.S. Congressman Charles Schumer of national financial system. price paid for being "the most deserving mere 14 percent, or it could actually increase. Brooklyn criticized the agreement as too easy The Bush administration, on the other debtor." The agreement offers the country's 300 on the creditor banks. "What's needed is real hand, appeared to be more concerned about Who's next on the debtors' list "to benefit" international bankers a range of options: they debt relief," he stated. Latin American fi­ shoring up the political stability of Salinas' from the Brady plan? Initially, Brady had said may forgive 35 percent of a portion of the $54 nance ministers characterized the reduction shaky nine-month-old government and avert­ that his plan would be available to all of the in interest payments under the agreement of ing the kind of debt-related rebellions that nearly 40 Third World countries most in debt, less than $2 billion a year as modest. took place in Venezuela in early March and but now the list has been drastically reduced New lending means in Argentina in early June. to less than 15. 'A stingy package' new profits for Mexico, a country of 83.5 million people, Venezuela, the Philippines, and Costa A New York Times editorial called it "a Rica, all of strategic importance to the United the banks and new stingy economic package" that provides "lit­ has always been considered by Washington as having utmost strategic importance be­ States, top the current list of future benefici­ tle actual debt reduction for an economy cause of its location, size, and influence in aries. debt for the borrower. strangled by debt payments." \ Central America. Furthermore, it is a major The Economist magazine, published in Recently, Brady told Argentina, Brazil and trading partner of the United States and a billion bank debt, cut interest rates by about Britain, stated, "The deal struck in Washing­ other Latin debtors to "do what Mexico did: source of cheap labor and natural resources the same percentage, make new loans, or ton will not provide a definitive solution to bite the bullet, make the tough choices, put on for U.S. capital. choose a combination of these options. It will Mexico's debt problem." economic programs that open up markets, reduce tariffs and barriers." take months before it becomes clear which of Neither were Wall Street traders happy Recently, Secretary of State James Baker the choices will be exercised. Furthermore, with the accord. They argued that few invest­ praised Mexico for being an "economic But Venezuela's government has already the agreement does not cover the more than ors would want to deal with the complexity model" for other debtor nations because it had signaled that it wants more than what Mexico $50 billion in non-bank debt. of the collateral offered under the agreement made significant progress in opening up its got when its tum comes. The Carlos Andres Should some of the banks opt for making or be exposed to Mexican credit risk for 30 economy and had introduced policies that Perez regime is proposing that the country's new loans as guaranteed by the U.S. govern­ years. emphasized privatization of state-owned en­ creditor banks take either a 50 percent reduc­ ment through an arrangement with the Inter­ All of these apprehensions reflect growing terprises and fewer government regulations. tion in debt principal or a 50 percent cut in national Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World concerns in capitalist circles of North Amer­ interest payments on the country's $20 billion Bank, Mexico's debt could even grow more. ica and Europe that piecemeal solutions to the Moreover, for the past seven years Mexico foreign bank debt. So far the creditor banks In fact, the deal guarantees only to keep the Third World's debt problem add to, rather has promptly paid its debt no matter how have balked at this idea. debt at its current level four years from now. This means that the growth of Mexico's debt may be arrested in the near future but the overall volume of foreign debt will not be Canadian Steelworkers fight firings significantly reduced. Debt experts predict that some 40 percent of Mexico's creditor banks, especially the big, U.S.-headquartered ones like Citicorp, and attempts to bust their union BankAmerica, and Manufacturers Hanover, will opt for more lending and the smaller BY MONICA JONES rulebook issued by the company, which in­ The company offensive has especially tar­ banks will take the 35 percent cut in the TORONTO- Members of United Steel­ creases management's powers and widens geted the many workers who, like Bhandal, principal. workers Local 32U at Bilt-Rite Upholstering grounds for dismissal of workers. are injured on the job from repetitive stress, Additionally, the agreement mandates have launched a fight to win back the jobs Mter being contacted by the union, New heavy lifting, and hazardous chemicals. The Mexico to pay higher interest rates (above the of two union leaders fired by the company Democratic Party provincial leader Bob Rae company disputes and delays nearly all current 6.5 percent) if the price received for in an effort to bust the union. wrote to the Ontario minister of labor ex­ claims for compensation. its oil exports rises in the future. The company removed union President pressing concern over the firings and the high Firing the union president is a major esca­ For the large creditor banks new lending is Gogi Bhandal, who was on medical restric­ number of injuries at Bilt-Rite. lation. Bhandal explained that "other workers guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury. This, in tion after an injury, from her packing-line job have received [injury compensation] pen­ effect, means the transference of some of their and sent her home. Later it informed her the Hard-fought strike sions like me, and they're working. They're risk to U.S. working people who pay taxes. It only job available to her was in the office­ The attack on the union comes four months after me because they're after the whole means that they can continue to collect inter­ out of the union. The company then fired after a hard-fought strike. Company owner union." est payments from Mexico. New lending Bhandal when she refused the office job Martin Silver had demanded forced overtime, "All we have to defend ourselves from means new profits. without agreement that she could file a griev­ the right to contract out work, a longer pro­ these attacks - which are sure to continue But new lending also means new debt for ance to return to her old job. bation period, and other givebacks. He as the boss tries to be more competitive at the borrower. Tom Leys, a well-known union activist, counted on past weakness of the union and our expense- is our union," Tom Leys said. was fired on several trumped-up charges, potential divisions in its ranks. Leys, who has worked at Bilt-Rite for three Debt-equity swaps including talking to coworkers and being out The big majority of workers at Bilt-Rite years, is well known as an outspoken unionist To induce banks to choose the debt reduc­ of his work area. came to Canada from Asia, Mrica, the Car­ and socialist. He is the Toronto organizer of tion option the agreement offers them $3.5 Workers responded to these firings, which ibbean, and Latin America. To the bosses' the Young Socialists and a member of the billion of debt-equity swaps and 30-year occurred in June, with a petition demanding surprise, workers united in the struggle, kept Revolutionary Workers League. bonds at a 35 percent discount value in ex­ that the company return Bhandal and Leys up solid picket lines, resisted threats to close "If they can get away with this at Bilt-Rite, change for old loans. to their jobs with full back pay and that it the plant, and after eight weeks finally won. the second-largest Steelworkers-organized This would give the creditor banks the "stop the unjust harassment and provocations They pushed back the concessions and won plant in Toronto, it will be a blow to the entire right to own up to 50 percent of the stock in of our union members now." Some 250 work­ some improvements, including a dental plan. labor movement," Leys said. "But the strike state-owned Mexican companies. ers - more than 80 percent of those in the "We won," Bhandal said, "and it's because showed that we can unite, that many more Debt -equity swap arrangements are partic­ plant during the three-day petition drive - of that they are trying to fire me." workers can step forward to become involved ularly contentious throughout debt-ridden signed the protest. The company has never accepted the union and develop as leaders, that we can win broad Latin American countries since they are A special union meeting July II heard a victory. From the first day after the strike it support in the labor movement. That's our viewed even by the local capitalists as a sell­ report on plans to pursue grievances against stepped up attacks in the plant. It has sought strength, and that's what we have to mobilize out of the region's economic sovereignty to Bhandal and Leys' firings through to arbitra­ to drive down the rates of workers on piece­ now." the transnational corporations. Earlier swaps tion, along with the cases of two injured work. It has imposed speedup, transferred had been so damaging and unpopular that workers fired while out on compensation. workers without regard to seniority, and vic­ Monica Jones is a member of United Steel­ Mexican officials had ceased using them. The union is also taking to arbitration a new timized those who resist. workers Local 32U at Bilt-Rite.

September 1, 1989 The Militant 15 --CALENDAR------ARIZONA FLORIDA floor. Donation: $3. Sponsor: Militant Labor TEXAS Phoenix Miami Forum. For more information call (201) 643- Houston 3341. How to Defend Women's Right to Choose Nicaragua: Defending the Nicaraguan Revo­ Rally for Choice. Sat., Aug. 26, 9-11 a.m. Sam Abortion? Speakers: Diane Bacon, Coalition of lution Today. Speaker: Peter Seidman, Socialist The Roots of the Civil War in Lebanon. Houston Park, Bagby and Dallas. Speakers:. Labor Union Women, Communications Work­ Workers Party, member International Associa­ Speaker: Georges Sayad, Socialist ·Workers Sarah Weddington, lawyer in Roe v. Wade abor­ ers of America; Angie Barone, Universities for tion of Machinists Local 1126. Translation to Party, coauthor of pamphlet, Palestine and the tion rights case; Craig Washington, Texas State Choice (ASU); Nancy Best, National Organiza­ Spanish. 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Oakland Committee Against Racism; representative of Speakers: Selva Nebbia, Militant staff writer; Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast Region: The liberation struggles in southern Africa; others. others. Sat., Sept. 16, 7:30p.m. 141 Halsey St., Struggle for Peace and Autonomy and Recov­ Translation to Spanish. Sat., Aug. 26. Reception 2nd floor. Donation: $3. Sponsor: Militant CANADA ery from Hurricane Joan. Speakers: Carlos 6:30 p.m.; program 7:30 p.m. Sabathani Com­ Labor Forum. For more information call (201) Maibeth, a Miskito Indian from Puerto Cabezas munity Center, 310 E 38th St. Donation: $3 to Montreal 643-3341. Abortion: For Woman's Right to Choose! in Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast, member of steer­ $10. Sponsors: Africana Student Cultural Cen­ Speakers: Cynthia Kelly, Quebec Coalition for ing committee of South American Indian Infor­ ter, Central America Resource Center, May Day Free and Legal Abortion; Katy LeRougetel, mation Center and of Hurricane Relief for Nica­ Bookstore, Nicaragua Solidarity Committee, NEW YORK Revolutionary Workers League; Margo Stors­ ragua (Hurnica); Matilde Zimmermann, Socialist Workers Party, others. For more infor­ Manhattan teen, National Organization for Women in Bos­ Socialist Workers Party, recently returned from mation call (612) 645-1674. Rock for the Radios. Benefit dance marathon ton; Sheena Weir, Ontario Coalition for Abor­ three months in Puerto Cabezas. Sat., Aug. 26, for radio stations of the Farabundo Martf Na­ tion Clinics. Translation from French to English 7:30p.m. 3702 Telegraph Ave., Donation: $3. tional Liberation Front of El Salvador. Fri., Aug. and Spanish. Sat., Aug. 26, 7:30p.m. 6566 boul. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. For more infor­ NEBRASKA 25, 8 p.m.-4 a.m. Marc Ballroom, 27 Union Sq. Saint-Laurent. Donation: $3. Sponsor: Forum mation call (415) 420-1165. Omaha W. Donation: $12, $15 at the door. Sponsor: Lutte Ouvriere. For more information call (514) Stop the Attacks on Affirmative Action. Committee in Solidarity with the People of El 273-2503. San Francisco Speakers: Diane Shur, Socialist Workers Party, An Injury to One is An Injury to All!: Rally Salvador (CISPES). For more information call Solidarity with Cuba! Speaker: Joe Young, member United Transportation Union. Transla­ in Defense of Mark Curtis. Speakers: Helen (212) 43 1-9251. participated in minibrigade of voluntary work in tion to Spanish. Sat., Aug. 26, 7:30p.m. 140 S Grieco, executive director, San Francisco chap­ Namibia Day: International Day of Solidarity Cuba. Translation from French to English and 40th St. Donation: $2. Sponsor: Militant Labor ter, National Organization for Women; David with the People of Namibia and Their Liber­ Spanish. Sat., Sept. 2, 7:30 p.m. 6566 boul. Forum. For more information call (402) 553- Barber, Barricada lnternacional Support Com­ ation Movement SWAPO. Speakers: represen­ Saint-Laurent. Donation: $3. Sponsor: Forum 0245. mittee; Thabo Bopape, project director, South tatives from South West Africa People's Or­ Lutte Ouvriere. For more information call (514) African International Student Congress, Santa ganisation and African National Congress of 524-7992. Cruz chapter; Margaret Jayko, author of The South Africa; recently returned observers from Frame-Up of Mark Curtis; Jeff Bettencourt, NEW JERSEY Namibia. Video showing of recent documentary striking Eastern Airlines Machinist. Sun., Aug. Newark footage out of Namibia. Cultural presentation 27, 7 p.m. 3284 23rd St. (near Mission). Dona­ On Strike! Striking New Jersey unionists dis­ and refreshments. Sat., Aug. 26, 7 p.m. Hospital f(J/1( PIITIIriiiOER The tion: $3. Sponsor: Supporters of the Mark Curtis cuss Eastern, coal miners', telephone workers', and Health Care Employees Local 1199, 31 0 W Defense Committee. For more information call meat-packers', and hospital workers' strikes. 43rd St. Sponsor: Namibia Day Committee. For (415) 282-6255. Sat., Aug. 26, 7:30 p.m. 141 Halsey St., 2nd more information call (212) 557-2450. frame-up of Going Away Party for Prof. Fred Dube. A New from Pathfinder leader of the African National Congress of Mark Curtis South Africa, Dube is engaged in a battle with the State University of New York over its deny­ ing him tenure because of his political views. APackinghouse This month he is moving to Olympia, Washing­ THE LAST SPEECHES ton, where he will be teaching at Evergreen State Malcolm X: College. Fri., Sept. I, 7- 10 p.m. Cathedral of St. Worker's John the Divine Synod Hall (cor. of Amsterdam The Last and 11 Oth St.) fight for Justice by Margaret Jayko Speeches NORTH CAROLINA Greensboro Support the Pathfinder Mural Project. This pamphlet tells the story of Speakers: Dumile Feni, South African artist and Marll Curtis, a unionist and fi\lhter member of the African National Congress; Mark for immi\lrant Six never-before-published speeches Severs, representative of Pathfinder Press. Sun., ri\lhts, who is Aug. 27. Reception 6 p.m.; program 7 p.m. 2219 servin~a and interviews. Included are Malcolm E Market. Donation: $3. Sponsor: Militant 25-year X's final two speeches in print given in Labor Forum. For more information call (919) sentence in .. , the week prior to his February 1965 272-5996. an Iowa assassination, two December 1964 in- prison on trumped­ terviews, and two 1963 speeches. OREGON uprape Portland char\les. 71 These newly available works shed light on Malcolm X's political The "Ochoa Affair": Cuba Confronts Cor­ pp.,$2.50. evolution during the last months of his life and reaffirm his place ruption and Bureaucracy. Speaker: John Lin­ der, Socialist Workers Party, activist in Central Available at Pathfinder boollstores among the outstanding r evolutionary leaders of the 2Oth century. America solidarity movement, visited Cuba in listed below or by mail from Pathfinder. $8.95. Available now at Pathfinder bookstores listed below, or by mail from 1981. Sat., Aug 26, 7:30p.m. 2730 NE Martin 410 West St., New Yorll, N.Y. 10014. Luther King, Jr. (formerly Union). Donation: (Please include $. 75 for posta~ and Pathfinder, 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. (Please include $1 for shipping.) $2. Sponsor: Militant Forum. For more informa­ handlin\l.) tion call (503) 287-7416. -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP Where to find Pathfinder books and distrib­ LOUISIANA: New Orleans: P.O. Box OREGON: Portland: 2730 NE Martin Lu­ BRITAIN utors ofthe Militant, Perspectiva M undial, New 53224. Zip: 70153. Tel: (504) 484-6418. ther King, Jr. Zip: 97212. Tel: (503) 287-7416. London: 47 The Cut, SEI 8LL. Tel: 01-401 International, Nouvelle lnternatianale, and MARYLAND: Baltimore: 291 3 Greenmount PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 9 E. 2293. Lune ouvriere. Ave. Zip: 21218. Tel: (301) 235-0013. Chelten Ave. Zip: 19144. Tel: (215) 848-5044. MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 605 Massa­ Pittsburgh: 4905 Penn Ave. Zip 15224. Tel: CANADA UNITED STATES chusetts Ave. Zip: 02118. Tel: (617) 247-6772. (412) 362-6767. Montreal: 6566 boul. St-Laurent, H2S 3C6. ALABAMA: Birmingham: 13061stAve. N. MICHIGAN: Detroit: 50191!2 Woodward TEXAS: Houston: 4806 Almeda. Zip: Tel: (514) 273-2503. Mailing address: P.O. Box 11963. Zip: 35202. 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Tel: (3)656-055. ILLINOIS: Chicago: 6826 S. Stony Island Ave. Zip: 10011. Tel: (212) 675-6740. Ave. Zip: 53208. Tel: (4 14) 445-2076. Wellington: 23 Majoribanks St., Courtenay Pl. Ave. Zip: 60649. Tel: (3 12) 363-7322. NORTH CAROLINA: Greensboro: 2219 E Postal address: P.O. Box 9092. Tel: (4) 844-205. IOWA: Des Moines: 2105 Forest Ave. Zip: Market. Zip 2740 I. Tel: (919) 272-5996. AUSTRALIA 50311. Tel: (51 5) 246-1695. OHIO: Cleveland: 2521 Market Ave. Zip: Sydney: 18 1 Glebe Point Rd., 2nd floor, SWEDEN KENTUCKY: Louisville: P.O. Box 4103. 44 11 3. Tel: (216) 861-6150. Columbus: P.O. Glebe. Postal address: P.O. Box 153 Glebe, Syd­ Stockholm: P.O. Box 5024, S-12505 Alvsjo. Zip: 40204-4103. Box 02097. Zip: 43202. ney NSW 2037. Tel: 02-660 1673. Tel: (08) 722-9342.

16 The Militant September 1, 1989 -THE GREAT SOCIETY------~------Pigout a Ia Lorenzo - The agreed to pay a $75,000 federal fine A tonic- "AIKEN, South Car­ tions without need of medical per­ want us to have Jewish workers. It's lawyers involved in the Eastern Air­ for failing, in 1986 and 1987, to olina (AP)- More than 100 em­ sonnel. One prison official en­ more expensive than Arabs." lines bankruptcy swindle have filed make credit card refunds in seven ployees at a nuclear weapons plant thused, "You don't have any bills totaling $7.4 million. Com­ days, and neglecting to notify some here drank water contaminated with Hippocratic Oath problems." Now there's an alibi- Vernon mented pilots' union attorney Bruce customers that certain flights were a highly toxic solvent for 15 months King, ex -prez of a Texas savings and being flown by independent carri­ because of a plumbing mistake, but Ready to retch?- Carolyne loan bank, was charged with provid­ ers. But what with the bankruptcy an official of the plant says the work­ Roehm, spouse of leveraged-buyout ing prostitutes to Linton Bowman, deal, Uncle will have to wait in line ers were not harmed." operator Henry Kravis, is described then a savings and loan commis­ for the money. by Fortune magazine as Kravis' sioner. King's lawyer contends the Granola dum-dums - To help "trophy wife." Fortune's editor ex­ charge is improper because Bow­ protect the environment, police in plains: "Powerful men are begin­ man was impotent at the time. Harry That's capitalism -"WASH­ Britain's West Midlands region are ning to demand trophy wives." Ring INGTON (AP) - Health Secre­ reported planning to use lead-free Capitalist fool - When we read tary Louis Sullivan said the bullets. Price of bagels just went up - that magazine publisher Malcolm success of new treatments should An Israeli couple are operating Forbes was flying nearly 600 pals to Simon, "Bankruptcy is a trough, and encourage more people to be The march of civilization - Jerusalem's first bagel shop. It's off his Morocco estate to celebrate his all the animals in the barnyard come tested for AIDS, though he of­ The American Engineering Com­ to a modest start, but there are prob­ 70th birthday, it reminded us that to feed in it." fered no assurance these therapies pany - gallows, gas chambers, lems. To attract the most devout they really should correct the would be available to those who electric chairs - is marketing a ma­ Jews, they sought a special rabbin­ mispelling in the Forbes magazine P.S.- Meanwhile, Eastern · cannot afford them." chine that administers lethal injec- ical certificate. The problem? "They advertising slogan, "Capitalisttool." International rally demands freedom for Curtis

Curtis, or limit his ability to keep in touch what authorities attempt to do and also expos­ successful decade-long fight to win U.S. res­ with the outside world and remain a political es the political character of Curtis' frame-up. idency. person. Such efforts are crucial for prisoners like Several messages of support from activ­ Curtis to win the space needed to remain ists, unionists, and political figures from the "If an injury to one is an injury to all, then political and to pursue political activity inside United States, Canada, Britain, Sweden, and we cannot remain indifferent to systematic prison walls, and eventually to win their re­ New Zealand were read at the rally. violations of human rights, freedom of lease, he said. Curtis' mother, Jane Curtis, and defense speech, freedom to be a political activist, and Gaige said Curtis is the same person today the right to live," said Marie Claude De Seve, committee leaders Julia Terrell and Stu as when he was incarcerated, that he remains Singer were recognized from the platform, as vice-president of the Montreal Central Coun­ an effective political activist and communist. cil of the Confederation of National Trade were members of the Hoover family from St. Unions. She brought a solidarity message for He concluded his remarks by noting the Louis, who are fighting frame-up charges in Curtis from her organization and called for scope of the worldwide support the defense Mississippi. "unity against such injustices." committee has won for Curtis and called on The rally was sponsored by the Mark Cur­ "We recognize a transparent frame-up, and supporters to continue the fight. tis Defense Committee and was a highlight of the reasons are equally transparent," Graham Other speakers at the rally included Kaku the International Active Workers and Social­ Till, secretary of the Midland District Council and Hector Marroquin, a Mexican-born ist Educational Conference held here August of the National Union ofRailwaymen in Brit­ worker and political activist who waged a 5-9. ain, said. The frame-up is "a blatant attempt to denigrate his [Curtis'] ideas and activities," Till explained. Referring to recent actions by prison authorities against Curtis, Till stressed, 1,000 at socialist conference "We now see an attempt to break him. It is our duty to make sure in our international fight Continued from Page 5 The conference was organized by an in­ that this cannot happen." United Nations; and David Gakunzi, editor ternational steering committee of representa­ rvu:utrade union officials was the beginning of a broad protest move­ rammed through Congress. known from Accra to Harare in Africa to and activists in the Africa Information Centre, ment against the military regime of Gen. The key sections of that resolution give Cuba's Isle of Youth. as well as Susanna Ounei, representative in Romeo Lucas Garcia. In Costa Rica, govern­ Johnson a free hand to repeat the kind of The Pathfinder book Thomas Sankara New Zealand of the Kanak Socialist National ment troops engaged in pitched battles with aggression committed already and to take the Speaks was launched here recently. It con­ Liberation Front of the Pacific island of New some 5,000 striking dock workers. country all the way into war ("all necessary tains the speeches of this president of the West Caledonia. steps, including the use of armed force") if African country of Burkina Faso, who led a The Auckland book meeting also heard General Khanh or another one of our dicta­ revolutionary government from 1983 until Syd Jackson, Clerical Workers Union secre­ THE tor-stooges in Southeast Asia should request his assassination at age 37 in a counterrevo­ tary and longtime Maori rights activist; Phil "assistance in defense of its freedom." lutionary military coup four years later. Amos, an aid worker in Tanzania and former MILITANT The adoption of this resolution makes Featured speaker was David Gakunzi, a minister of education in the 1972-75 New Published In the Interests of the Working People clear that neither party in the Congress wants leader of the Thomas Sankara International Zealand Labour government; Dave Tolich, an Aug. 24, 1964 to or can slow down the war drive. This was Association and editor of the Paris-based organizer for the Hotel Workers Union; and made clear by the unanimous vote in the magazine Coumbite. Ruth Gray, spokesperson for the Communist The U.S. bombing of North Vietnam hits House and the two lone votes of opposition Gakunzi also addressed meetings at Auck- League. squarely at the notion that President Lyndon in the Senate.

September 1, 1989 The Militant 17 -EDITORIALS------'Operation Bootstrap' vs. Bush and Cuba's drug proposal ·socialism BY DOUG JENNESS The White House has announced that on September 5 Like other capitalist multibillion dollar businesses, Should Puerto Rico become independent? Many argue President George Bush will make public his plan to fight drug production and trafficking is a multinational opera­ no, because they fear the country would end up as poor as drug use and sales in the United States. On this occasion tion. U.S. Treasury officials estimate that the handful who the Dominican Republic, Haiti, or many other independent Caribbean nations. It's true that by many measures­ he should accept Cuba's proposal calling for cooperation profit from the U.S. drug trade rake in between $40 and literacy, per capita income, government relief, industrial between the two countries in the fight against drug traf­ $100 billion a year. These families are part and parcel of ficking. the capitalist classes of Latin America and North Amer­ development, and so·on-conditions are better on Puerto The Cuban government has attached no conditions to ica. Rico than most other Caribbean islands. its proposal to Washington. It has not demanded, for ex­ In this context, Cuba's offer to cooperate in putting an In fact, Puerto Rico has been presented as a model by ample, that the U.S. government drop its plans to set up end to some of the traffic that goes through the Caribbean the U.S. capitalist rulers to show how an underdeveloped TV Marti or to dismantle its illegal Radio Marti transmis­ should be a welcome one for working people in the sions to Cuba. The Cuban government has not demanded United States and in the Caribbean, who are the victims of that Washington return the Guantanamo naval base, or this social evil. Stopping this trade is of special concern to LEARNING ABOUT concede independence to Puerto Rico, or institute a sys­ working people in Cuba, since to a huge extent drug use tem of free health care such as exists today in Cuba before and drug traffic have been eliminated inside its borders. SOCIALISM it would be willing to proceed with bilateral cooperation The idea that such bilateral collaboration between with the United States. Cuba and the United States is possible is not some far­ country, with an economy based primarily on agriculture Washington, on the other hand, has so far greeted fetched notion. In the 1960s and early '70s there was a as Puerto Rico's was before World War II, can become Cuba's initiative with demands that Cuba meet a number wave of hijackings between these two countries. In 1973 industrialized and increase national income. of conditions, including that it modify its relations with the U.S. and Cuban governments signed an agreement Beginning in the late 1940s, the colonial government in the Soviet Union and end its solidarity with revolutionary aimed at curbing hijackings of aircraft and boats. Puerto Rico launched "Operation Bootstrap," which was movements in Latin America. Washington also has Even though the agreement was canceled by the Cuban designed to industrialize the country. U.S. corporations stepped up its slander campaign against Cuban President government in 1976 following evidence of CIA complic­ were offered tax exemptions and cheap labor, and environ­ Fidel Castro, and the head of the Cuban armed forces, ity in the blowing up of a Cuban plane over Barbados, mental regulations were tailored to their profit needs. Fed­ Raul Castro, linking them to the drug trade. Cuba continued to honor its antihijacking pacts with other eral grants, loans, credits, and services were extended to On July 26, for example, testifying before a Senate countries. The Cuban government adopted increasingly U.S. businesses setting up shop in Puerto Rico. foreign relations subcommittee, William von Raab, U.S. strict measures against this practice and virtually put an Capitalists poured billions of dollars into Puerto Rico to customs commissioner, called Fidel Castro "another piece end to the problem. build plants. Hundreds of thousands of peasants left the of narco-trash floating in the Caribbean." Yet, it was von Cooperation to curb the traffic of drugs would also be countryside to work in factories. By 1957 manufacturing Raab's department that withheld information on the of mutual interest to the people of both counties. Bilateral had surpassed agriculture as the main export-producing Ochoa-de Ia Guardia drug operation from the Cuban gov­ agreements along these lines would be a positive step in industry. Per capita income rose dramatically. Washington ernment since February of this year, thus allowing hun­ the right direction, as opposed to current threats by some organized special tours for officials from Third World coun­ dreds of pounds of drugs to enter the United States until U.S. officials to send U.S. troops to Colombia in the name tries to see this showcase that proved what capitalism could Cuban authorities arrested those involved and put a stop of combating the drug trade. This would be a gross viola­ do. to it in June. tion of Colombia's sovereignty. Yet, for working people on the island things have been Drug trafficking is a gigantic concern for working peo­ In his September 5 speech on drugs Bush should re­ far from peaches and cream. There's an old adage­ ple throughout the United States, especially among the verse Washington's policy, which has so far met Cuba's "Figures don't lie, but liars figure." That's the case with the most oppressed - Blacks, Latinos, the unemployed, and proposal with nothing but conditions and slanders, and statistics cited by government experts about Puerto Rico. the homeless. They, like their brothers and sisters in the instead accept the proposal of bilateral cooperation in As national income has grown, social inequality has in­ Caribbean and Latin America, want to end this scourge. good faith. creased. The top 20 percent of families in Puerto Rico receive as much of the total income as the other 80 percent. Even under the best of times unemployment rates are considerably higher than in any state in the United States. One million people in a country of 3.5 million live on government assistance. Some 2.5 million Puerto Ricans live in the United States, most of them driven here under Cuban band denied visas the lash of needing jobs. Tens of thousands in Puerto Rico have no homes, but live The State Department's recent denial of visas to Cuban and foreign policies and has placed unacceptable condi­ as squatters in shacks pieced together with tin, cardboard, pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and his band Grupo Proyecto tions on Cuba as prerequisites for normalizing Cuban­ and plywood. is the latest example of Washington's stepped-up cam­ U.S. relations. Moreover, as shown by the devastating effects of the paign of aggression against the Cuban people, their gov­ Washington is also moving ahead with plans to launch 1974-75 and 1981-82 recessions, the people of Puerto ernment, and their revolution. The Cuban musicians had "TV Marti," which will broadcast anti-Cuba propaganda Rico have few safeguards against the consequences of the been invited by prominent arts promoter Joseph Papp to and other lies into the island. coming downturn. perform in mid-August at a Latin cultural festival in New The fact is that "Operation Bootstrap" has brought a York City. In addition, the U.S. military has recently conducted threatening exercises close to Cuba's borders and has profit bonanza to a handful of U.S. businesses. U.S. capital On the surface, this action appears. arbitrary and even increased the frequency of spy flights in Cuban airspace. controls more than 80 percent of Puerto Rico's manufac­ irrational, considering that three Cuban filmmakers were The most recent visa denials are part of this picture. turing, 60 percent of its banks, and 90 percent of its granted visas for the same festival. In recent months other industrial imports. Some 40 percent of U.S. investments in Cuban artists as well as official representatives of the They are also a reminder that Washington not only pro­ Latin America are in Puerto Rico, and the profit returns Federation of Cuban Women and scholars from the Cuban hibits certain Cubans from visiting the United States - from Puerto Rico are 34 percent of what U.S. profiteers Academy of Sciences were all granted visas to tour the denying our right to meet, discuss with, and listen to them - but continues to uphold a generalized ban on travel by rake in from all of Latin America. United States to give performances, lectures, public talks, Puerto Rico may be the best that capitalism can offer the and press interviews. U.S. citizens to Cuba. Third World, but it isn't the only road open. There's also The visa denials, however, are part of an evolving Now is a good time for unionists, political activists, and the example of socialist Cuba. pattern of hostile responses by the U.S. rulers to recent other supporters of democratic rights to step up demands Cuba has demonstrated how a country can break from developments inside Cuba, which have been marked by for an end to U.S. military, economic and propaganda the domination of foreign business interests, set its own political advances on the part of Cuba's workers and aggression against Cuba. We should also demand the course, and at the same time make gigantic strides in farmers. immediate lifting of the travel ban and an end to visa industrial development that can benefit working people. In the wake of these advances, U.S. President George denials. Any Cubans wishing to visit the United States The huge sums that used to flow to the United States to line Bush has attacked the Cuban revolution for its domestic should be allowed to do so. Let Grupo Proyecto in! the pockets of capitalist profiteers are now available for development in Cuba. Unemployment is insignificant, large-scale poverty and slums don't exist, and production is no longer disrupted by the capitalist business cycle. Large parts of the budget are spent on education and health care. As a result, since the revolution in 1959, illiteracy has gone from 24 percent, probably closer to 60 Defending affirmative action or 70 percent by today's standards, to 1.5 percent today. Infant mortality went from 60 deaths per 1,000 live births to 11.9 in the same period, which is lower than many U.S. Protests like the August 26 march on Washington, capitalist billionaire families they serve. They are part of, cities. Cuba's tuberculosis rate is lower than that of Canada D.C., called by the National Association for the Advance­ along with other branches of government run by the two and the United States. ment of Colored People, are a needed response in defense capitalist parties, preparing the future they must confront In spite of the difficulties imposed by the imperialist of affirmative action. - greater economic and social crisis, and massive strug­ blockade, electrical generating capacity has grown more A $2.7 million study by the National Research Council, gles by working people to defend their basic right to make than eightfold, cement production fivefold, steel production financed by the foundations of billionaire families in the a living. 16-fold, and fertilizer production fivefold. Similar figures United States- the Rockefellers, Mellons, and others­ As the economic and social crisis gets worse, hundreds can be cited for other areas of the economy. found what many working people already know. "Racial of divisions among working people will be reinforced and Cuban President Fidel Castro told a crowd in Camagtiey segregation is deeper and more profound" than expected. intensified, sapping the ability of working people to unite on July 26 that the people in that province are creating "a The study found that while Blacks made gains in the in a common fight to improve overall conditions and to model of development in food production as well as social 1960s and early '70s, those trends reversed in the 1980s. change this society. development for the Third World." The project includes The Supreme Court's recent decisions attacking affir­ Defending affirmative action, including quotas, is nec­ building the largest dairy complex in the world, with new mative action codify the progress made over years of essary for advancing the struggle of Blacks, Latinos, and housing projects, child-care centers, schools, and family­ chipping away at affirmative action gains. The court's women for full equality. It is a fight for all working people doctor clinics. There is nothing remotely comparable in any actions also reveal that those who run this country seem to because it is essential to cutting across divisions and part of Puerto Rico. think that since they have been able to get this far, they building working-class unity. The fight for an independent Puerto Rico where working might as well make it legal. Advancing this perspective, especially in the labor people can win social emancipation means taking the The Supreme Court is not just turning the clock back movement, will be critical to the next stages of the battle Cuban road - the socialist road. Cuba is proving that a on civil rights. Its actions reflect the class interests of the to defend affirmative action measures. people living on an island in the Caribbean can do it.

18 The Militant September 1, 1989 -LETTERS------Eastern It also was responsible for an 18- Rod Barber was fired from his mile oil spill off the coast of Cali­ job after confronting Frank fornia, which Exxon continues to c9t'rfl. SEE IF Lorenzo on a downtown .Atlanta deny. ut-m 'LL CRANK! street July 19. A member of the A demonstration of 250 met the Machinists' union, Barber is on Valdez in San Diego, protesting off­ strike against Eastern Airlines. shore oil drilling and production and Lorenzo is chairman of Texas Air Exxon's disregard for the environ­ Corp., which owns both Eastern ment. Others at different points and Continental airlines. along the bay carried signs con­ Barber '---- who worked in ramp demning the contamination of the service at Eastern for eight years Alaskan and California coast lines. before the strike started - was "Change the course - steer toward working for Canuck Industries, a sane energy" was one of the banners trucking company contracted by that Greenpeace and private boats Airborne Express. displayed. He spotted Lorenzo walking in Sylvia Hansen downtown Atlanta. He parked his Gary Willhite truck, got out, and went up to La Mesa, California Lorenzo, who had a crowd of East­ em security personnel around him. 'Militant' editorials After Barber gave Lorenzo a The August 4 Militant editorial good idea of how he felt, an Eastern "Gorbachev and the miners' strike" security agent pointed his finger in was right on target in its assessment Barber's face and told him he had of the Soviet bureaucracy's attempt Wright no right to talk to Lorenzo like that. to deal with internal problems and He threatened him, saying he knew in particular, on its policy of per­ where Barber worked. pulp originally comes from trees. fragments once in a while, as if to Police found his assailant, Fran­ estroika. Even though you did not The Eastern regional security With massive reforestation and the make us think we're really learning cis "Buzz" Scullin, standing over say it, this stands in stark contrast manager went to Barber's truck, use of proper conservation mea­ something. When the Militant the dying youth in an alley in the to the rectification process going on got the license plate number, and sures, the forests can be preserved speaks of Palestine and Ireland, it Feltonville neighborhood of the in Cuba and the Cuban Communist called an Airborne supervisor, the for recreational purposes as well as really speaks, so I wish you would city. Scullin, a white youth, had Party's political approach to deal­ Clayton News Daily reported. The for other needs, including produc­ do so more often. blood on his arms up to the elbows ing with economic problems. Airborne supervisor then called tion of paper. It's frustrating to realize that de­ and there was a bloodstained shirt In a recent letter to the editor, Canuck. spite Chairman Yassir Arafat's vic­ in his hand. Craig McKissic criticizes the July When he finished his deliveries, 'Any Means Necessary' tory in getting the United Nations For a week no warrant for 7 Militant editorial "Significance Barber found a letter terminating session moved to Geneva, hundreds Scullin's arrest was issued. Instead, of the gay rights fight" as the "ex­ Can you send the book By Any his employment from Canuck. His of Palestinians have been murdered police at the scene drew their night­ pected obligatory piece to coincide Means Necessary by Malcolm X? It supervisor said the decision to fire and imprisoned. For these people, sticks on two of the witnesses, with the annual gay pride will be my vade mecum while re­ him came from the top, Barber said. nothing has changed, except, possi­ Crespo's brothers. marches." Does he expect that you siding in solitary confinement - a Lorenzo was actually behind the bly, spiritually, because this moral -It took the medical examiner's wouldn't editorialize on the signif­ place where even Comrade Mal­ firing, regardless of who made the victory did occur, reflecting the feel­ office four days to rule the death a icance of the gay rights struggle at colm spent a large portion of his life. call, the striker added. ings of most of the world. homicide. Police did not interview that time each year? I hope you can send it soon so I After his union local meeting, Patricia Maynard witnesses until 24 hours after the It is true that "thousands of can really dig into its contents and Barber was cheered by several fel­ New Hope, Minnesota death, when family members drove young gays have been galvanized get something constructive out of it. low strikers who said they wished to the Police Administration Build­ into political action" around the When you're excavating for knowl­ they'd had a little of Lorenzo's ing themselves. question of governmental and soci­ edge, truth is the richest resource - Cardiff Red Choir time. One witness knew Scullin's etal responses to AIDS, as Mc­ even gold is not more precious. This The Cor Cochion Caerdyold Miesa Patterson-Zarate name. Someone said Scullin had Kissic states. However, few AIDS is why Fidel Castro said he has al­ (Cardiff Red Choir), which sings Atlanta, Georgia sipped beer over Crespo's body. activists have moved beyond view­ ways told the people the truth. international labor and socialist A prisoner songs, performed in a main shop­ Someone reported hearing, "This is ing the issue as anything more than what you get for stealing a car, you 'Kufur Shamma' an example of the inequality of the Lawrenceville, Virginia ping precinct July 8 in Cardiff, Wales, in support of the Pittston spiel" We were disturbed to read in the health-care system in our society Police say Scullin picked up a July 28 Militant of the banning of and corresponding demands to re­ Eastern strike miners' strike. Many stopped to lis­ ten and read the boards they carried. lug wrench and threw it 15 feet, the EI-Hakawati Palestinian The­ form that system. I've received the Militant begin­ hitting Crespo in the head. They say ater Company's play The Story of A lack of working-class leader­ ning this spring at the annual con­ One choir member, Ray Davies, a steelworker and county councillor, that Crespo fell and hit his head on Kufur Shamma from performance ship in the gay community has re­ ference in Ottawa, Canada of the the concrete, dying hours later. at the Public Theater in New York sulted in few activists concluding National Action Committee on the said, "Those of us from the mining City. that this is a class issue rather than Status of Women. communities of Wales understand The next day, the cover-up When this highly reputed com­ primarily a medical one or a ques­ I am an airline employee and the struggle taking place in U.S. began. Detective Capt. Lawton pany performed its play here in tion of discriminatory attitudes in hungrily digest any and all news coalfields. We've also felt the op­ Connelly of the homicide unit said London, we organized a theater trip society as a whole. you offer of the Eastern strike. pression of anti-trade union legisla­ Crespo might have been punched for our members, and it proved a Only a government of the work­ Their fight is a battle that cannot be tion and the wrath of the courts." but that there was no other indica­ rewarding evening. What im­ ing class and its allies could be ex­ lost. "But last week in one coal-mining tion of violence. pressed us, besides fine, entertain­ pected to respond humanely and I particularly appreciated the ar­ valley," Davies added, "when we Two days later the death was ing acting and imaginative decisively to a crisis such as AIDS. ticles on actions by and for non­ sang and showed solidarity for U.S. officially ruled a homicide but Lt. production, was the depiction of a McKissic has doubts regarding contract workers as I am a ticket miners, we collected £ 120 from a James Henwood announced that group of human beings - who "Cuba's controversial AIDS poli­ agent and would be in that group community devastated by pit clo­ the police investigation had ruled happened to be Palestinians - cies." But Cuba has implemented were I a "former" Eastern em­ sures. We also raised £80 in the out racism as a factor. struggling to confront and over­ humane, decisive, and largely suc­ ployee. (I'm sure Frank Lorenzo Welsh capital [Cardiff] and showed On July 9 an unidentified police come their particular historic trag­ cessful policies to both contain the would have had me fired by now!) the international dimension of the source told the Philadelphia Daily edy. spread of the disease and treat those My employer, Canadian Airlines strike." News that the white men "could We found ourselves relating to who have become ill. International, has recently signed The money collected will be have been heroes. It just went a the characters, empathizing with Glen Munroe alliances with Midway Airlines handed to a singing group from Ken­ little too far. Now somebody's got their laughter and tears, and dilem­ New Orleans, Louisiana from Chicago. I'm interested in the tucky to take back. The U.S. group to pay for it." mas, and continuing their argu­ developments in Midway's pro­ will be playing in Cardiff and the Claire Moriarty Welsh valleys, doing a session called ments among ourselves over a meal Use recycled paper posed purchase of some Eastern Philadelphia, Pennsylvania after the show. Not bad theater! routes and aircraft. "Leaving Egypt." It is about emigra­ I would like to express my con­ tion, and draws on industrial and The Story of Kufur Shamma is What can I do to help? Would Malcolm X Book not some mere propaganda piece cern about the Militant printing on Midway Airlines be next on the social similarities between Ken­ (though the Palestinians are enti­ paper from virgin pulp. The slightly boycott list, if this purchase is ap­ tucky and Wales. I received Malcolm X: The Last tled to make propaganda for their whiter paper obtained as compared proved? Perhaps another of your Anne Howie Speeches, published by Pathfinder. Let me congratulate those respon­ cause), but a genuine, moving, to paper from recycled pulp in no readers has some thoughts on this Cardiff, Wales human, and creative work of art. way justifies the consequent damage twist? sible for this assistance and say that Joseph Papp says he did not want to our priceless environment. I also commend your recent cov­ Brazil you people are on time with and "to make a statement at this partic­ If your newspaper were to use erage on the issue of choice for supporters of Malcolm X. Your coverage of news from A prisoner ular moment" by presenting a Pal­ recycled paper, fewer trees would women. Cuba and Nicaragua is excellent, Attica, New York estinian play. But by barring a play need to be cut, more newsprint S.B. and the column dedicated to the en­ simply because of the subject and would be diverted from our overfull New Brunswick, Canada vironment was a welcome addition. the actors' nationality, he has made landfills, and the Militant would Could you offer some coverage The Militant special prisoner demonstrate its commitment to pre­ fund makes it possible to send a statement - one that ill accords 'Socialism' column of Brazil - in particular the grow­ with his liberal reputation. We serving our world. ing struggle of the Black majority reduced-rate subscriptions to hope others see and enjoy the play. I hope you will take action on this. I must thank the Militant for the there for equality? It is impossible prisoners who can't pay for Charlie Pottins Denise Larson "Learning About Socialism" col­ to find anything about the Brazilian them. To help this important Jewish Socialists' Group St. James, New York umn - particularly for the piece on civil rights movement in any news­ cause, send your contribution to: Militant Prisoner Subscrip­ London, England Beijing, which, with its recap of paper in this country. Editor's reply: background on the People's Repub­ Bonnie Lyle tion Fund, 410 West St., New The Militant strongly favors pro­ lic of China, clarified for me the Chicago, Illinois York, N.Y. 10014. Exxon tecting the environment, including confused picture given by the capi­ Under the protection of U.S. forests. Recycling wastes is one talist press. The letters column is an open Coast Guard boats and helicopters., method that should be promoted to It was also gratifying to read in Stephen Crespo forum for all viewpoints on sub­ the Exxon Valde z was escorted conserve resources and cope with "Learning About Socialism" of the In the early morning hours of jects of general interest to our through San Diego Bay July 30 for the growing problem of waste dis­ role of the French revolution and its July 5 Stephen Crespo, a 15-year­ readers. Please keep your letters repairs at Nassco shipyard. posal. contributions to modem socialism. old Puerto Rican, died in surgery at brief. Where necessary they will Destruction of the environment However, we are not opposed to I would like to see more coverage Albert Einstein Medical Center in be abridged. Please indicate if caused by the oil tanker did not stop using trees for the production of on Palestine and Northern Ireland. Philadelphia, the victim of a brutal you prefer that your initials be with the spill off the Alaskan coast. lumber and paper. Even recycled The media gives the public little assault that fractured his skull. used rather than your full name.

September 1, 1989 The Militant 19 THE MILITANT UN committee reaffirms support for Puerto Rican independence

BY SELVA NEBBIA community, presenting this plebiscitary farce UNITED NATIONS, New York- On as an exercise in the free self-determination August 17, after two full days of hearings, of the people of Puerto Rico, just as they the United Nations Committee on Decoloni­ have done in the plebiscites in 1952 and zation approved a resolution in favor of self­ 1967," Gallisa pointed out. determination and independence for Puerto "The U.S. government cannot be allowed Rico. one more swindle," continued Gallisa, "in its The resolution was presented to the com­ stubborn attempt to maintain the colonial mittee by Oscar Oramas-Oliva, the Cuban regime over Puerto Rico, which today rep­ representative to the UN. resents the most important colony in the "Whether the multinational corporations world. Its more than 3 million inhabitants who want to break her identity will it or not, constitute approximately 80 percent of the Puerto Rico is a Latin American nation," said human beings who still live under colonial Oramas-Oliva, motivating the resolution. rule." While, since the end of World War II, more than 80 colonies have been.decolonized, ex­ Files on 100,000 activists plained the Cuban representative, no matter Juan Mari Bras, president of the organiza­ how much imperialism attempts to hide it, tion Common Cause for Independence, de­ colonialism still remains a scourge for hu­ nounced the presence of U.S. police agencies manity. He singled out the case of Namibia, in Puerto Rico. He pointed to the complicity occupied illegally for decades by South Af­ of the Puerto Rican police with the FBI, CIA, rica. and other such agencies in keeping active The UN Decolonization Committee first files for decades "on more than 100,000 approved a similar resolution in 1972 and has Puerto Ricans simply because they support approved such resolutions continuously since the independence of our country." 1978. "The right of privacy of these Puerto This year's Decolonization Committee, Ricans has been trampled on in many ways," also known as the Committee of 24 after the Mari Bras explained. "They have been sys­ number of member countries, invited the UN tematically persecuted, and they have been Several days before opening of UN hearings on decolonization of Puerto Rico, support­ representatives of Nicaragua, Panama, the subject to various types of harassment in ers of independence for the U.S. colony marched through Manhattan to the UN. Palestine Liberation Organization, and the violation of their exercise of free expression and association." African National Congress of South Africa in the United States spoke, including the dence, ll!ld the peaceful enjoyment of their "During the past year, the persecution by to be part of the committee hearings, at their National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights, homeland, free from foreign intervention," the U.S. government of patriots has in­ request. They all spoke in favor of the reso­ National Lawyers Guild, and Center for Con­ said Cody McCone, president of the Brehon creased," added Mari Bras. "Right now the lution. stitutional Rights. The International Associ­ Law Society. patriot Filiberto Ojeda Rfos is being tried in Nine countries voted in favor of the reso­ ation of Democratic Lawyers also made a "We Irish know well the disastrous con­ a U.S. court in San Juan under conditions lution, two voted against and II abstained. presentation, as well as the Brehon Law sequences that result from enemy occupation similar or worse than those imposed by the The representatives from Chile and Norway Society of New York, an organization of - we have struggled for 800 years against apartheid regime in South Africa against cast the votes against. the British empire," added McCone. those who fight for the human and civil rights Irish-American attorneys. More than 60 organizations had represen­ of the great rnajority of those in that country." "We have repeatedly voiced our concern The approval by the UN Committee on tatives either testify before the committee or Rafael Cancel Miranda, a Puerto Rican with the situation in Puerto Rico, where the DecoIoni zation of the resolution reaffirming submit written contributions. patriot who spent 25 years in a U.S. prison, government and military forces of the United Puerto Rico's right to self-determination was There is a growing debate on Puerto Rico's read a statement on behalf of a "group of States have, for almost a century, denied the seen by those who support independence as political status, stimulated by the proposed clandestine organizations engaged in armed people of Puerto Rico their natural and lawful a victory against Washington's attempts to plebiscite being discussed in the U.S. Con­ struggle" in Puerto Rico. rights to self-determination and indepen- cover up Puerto Rico's colonial status. gress. As a result, the hearings this year As a prerequisite for a decolonization pro­ attracted the participation of more groups cess in Puerto Rico a common set of demands representing the position in favor of Puerto was put forward by those who spoke in favor Rico becoming the 51st state of the United of the UN resolution, both by those at the Protest marks 20th year of States. public hearing as well as by the UN repre­ Representatives of three main parties in sentatives. These included: the Venezuelan parliament, the Social Chris­ • That any process such as the proposed British troops inN. Ireland tian Party, Movement for Socialism, and the plebiscite be supervised by the UN and car­ governing party, Democratic Action, voiced ried out according to international law. BY KATHLEEN DENNY Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein president and their support for Puerto Rico's independence. • That prior to such a process, all sover­ BELFAST, Ireland-The 20th anniver­ member of the British Parliament from West Despite this, the Venezuelan representative eign powers be granted to Puerto Rico. sary of the deployment of British troops in Belfast, commended the nationalist support­ to the Committee of 24 abstained from the • The removal of all U.S. government Northern Ireland was marked August 13 here ers of West Belfast, who marked the anniver­ vote for the third consecutive year. police agencies, such as the FBI and CIA. · by a spirited march down the Falls Road, sary with a week -long festival of political and • Amnesty and freedom for all Puerto followed by a rally at Sinn Fein headquarters cultural workshops and concerts. Many prominent leaders of the Puerto Rican political prisoners and prisoners cif war in Andersontown, a nationalist neighborhood "On this anniversary, we show our human­ Rican proindependence movement spoke at held in U.S. prisons. in West Belfast. The march also marked 18 ity. But the terrorist wing," added Adams, the hearings. Most of them shortened their • The dismantling of U.S. military bases years of the British government's internment­ "marked the 20th anniversary by killing an remarks during the second day of hearings on the island. without-trial policy in the north of Ireland. Irish child." Adams called for a full investi­ to facilitate the proceedings and submitted in "U.S. colonialism in Puerto Rico rein­ A total of 2,753 people have died in the gation into the death of Seamus Duffy, a written form the full text of their prepared forces racism in the United States," said conflict since the British troops came. Belfast youth killed August 9 by an RUC contributions for the committee's consider­ James Harris, representing the Socialist Some 8,000 participated in the demonstra­ plastic bullet. ation. Workers Party of the United States at the UN tion. Contingents from local organizations of Bernadette Devlin McAliskey reflected on "This year the session of this committee hearings. "The oppression and discrimination the Irish republican party Sinn Fein marched 20 years of struggle opened by the civil rights on the colonial case of Puerto Rico," ex­ directed at Puerto Ricans strengthens the with banners. The British Troops Out Move­ movement that she led as a student. plained the general secretary of the Puerto hand of all those who oppose equality and ment sent a contingent from England, and a "Twenty years ago, the poor had no votes," Rican Socialist Party (PSP) Carlos Gallisa, social justice for Blacks, Latinos, Native group of Basque nationalists came from she said, "not here, not in the Shankhill [a "takes on a greater meaning than in recent Americans, and Asians in the United States. Spain. The Irish American Unity Conference Protestant, working-class area]. Now we can years." "Because of their language and skin color," and Irish Northern Aid (Noraid) from the vote, but all we can determine is garbage Harris pointed out, Puerto Ricans "face the United States participated, as well as several collection dates. Plebiscite on political status same second-class treatment as other immi­ left political parties. "We demanded jobs. Twenty years ago we Gallisa placed the proceedings in the con­ grants to the United States from throughout As the Noraid delegation marched, rows of were twice as likely to be unemployed as text of the discussion taking place on the the Third World. Constant pressure on the people lining the Falls Road, a nationalist Protestants. Today we are two and a half times proposed plebiscite on the island's political language and cultural integrity of Puerto neighborhood, burst into applause. as likely," Devlin McAliskey continued. status. The U.S. Congress is currently work­ . Ricans encourages all those in the United Republican bands from all six counties of "We demanded that they take away the ing up the details for the plebiscite, which is States who seek to deny equal rights to im­ Northern Ireland and from Scotland were Special Powers Act. They replaced it with the scheduled for 1991. migrants whose first language is Spanish." interspersed throughout the march, playing Public Order and Emergency Provisions acts. "The United States plans to carry out a Harris, who is the SWP's candidate for rebel songs. Virtually all democratic rights are removed. plebiscitary consultation through legislation mayor of New York, described the disastrous Units of the Royal Ulster Constabulary "But we have changed," she said. "We in which the U.S. Congress unilaterally de­ effects of U.S. colonialism in Puerto Rico displayed their presence on the streets and have learned hard lessons." fines the various political formulas that and pointed to Cuba as an example of what rooftops along the march route. RUC ar­ Joe Roach of the Ancient Order of Puerto Ricans will choose from," explained can be achieved when a people conquer their mored Landrovers rolled down the street just Hibernians, Mary Pearson of the British the PSP leader. national sovereignty and carry out a social ahead of the demonstration. British Army Troops Out Movement, and Gerry Coleman "It is clear that the U.S. legislation is once revolution. troops roamed the side streets feeding into the from an Irish People-sponsored tour of Ire­ again attempting to confuse the international Several others representing organizations Falls Road. land also spoke.

2G The Militant September 1, 1989