ON THE INSIDE What happened to Cuban Revolution? by Raya Dunayevskaya P. 5 :£ New York: a new Alabama P. 2 :•:• r 'Work ethic' and P. 7 £: » Labor leaders' EWS foHy divides workers' vote by Charles Denby, Editor The national election is over, and the wide margin by which won over McGovern stunned many people. You hear commentators give their analysis of what happened without saying that the overwhelming majority came from racists' votes that went to Nixon. The "last mile" on November 7 was the walk that white America took to get to the polls. The statistics say that only 10 or 15 percent of the Printed in 100 Percent Blacks in this country voted for Nixon-Agnew. One would VOL. 17—No. 10 Union Shop DECEMBER, 1972 be thinking wrongly, however, to think that the rest of us were voting for McGovern. Out of all McGovern's speeches, not once did he mention civil rights or the Editorial Article struggle of Blacks in this country as an oppressed minority. This same reason is why many white labor leaders who did support McGovern can't understand why so many of the white working class deserted their tradition Nixon's racist victory places and voted for Nixon and Griffin in Michigan. Because they too have swept the question of Black workers under the rug from the early beginnings of the UAW. They would say it is a class question, with no separate or American civilization on trial special problems outside the class nature. They never By Andy Phillips students on the campus of Southern University would take on management alongside Black workers The first bitter harvest of President Nixon's in Baton Rouge, La., where students had been when it came to breaking down lily-white departments. racist victory at the polls on Nov. 7 was reaped boycotting classes for weeks in an effort to have In those early days of the UAW, practically every on the campus of America's largest Black college local union had one officer called the Education Direc­ a greater voice in determining the school's ad'' tor, and at least once a month we were asked to attend barely a week later, on Nov. 16. Two murderous ministration policies and curriculum. an educational meeting. And every teacher would be blasts from police shotguns, fired into a crowd of The storm of outrage on the part of the Black com­ ready to lecture on the class question, or trade unionism, protestors, ripped into the heads of two Black munity forced Louisiana Governor Edwards to appoint or any political question except the independent struggle a "blue-ribbon" commission to investigate the senseless of Blacks in the shop or the country as a whole. Many killings, which police officials and the governor had at white workers, some just up from the Deep South, were first denied were committed by the police. But what­ ready and willing to learn all about the struggle that ever the findings of that commission, they will not be Blacks were fighting. But the union leaders weren't connecting what happened on the Southern University ready. campus to what had happened at the polls on Nov. 7. Now there is no such education director, and racism FLOODGATES OF AMERICAN never was discussed openly because most of the labor RACISM OPENED leaders were prejudiced themselves, although the great That is when the floodgates of American racism were majority of them had been previously connected with opened wide. It is not enough to explain the overwhelm­ some radical group. Some had more deep-seated racism ing victory of Nixon to say that he had skillfully con­ in them than many of the so-called raw whites just up ducted a racist campaign for re-election—which cer­ from the South. tainly goes back to his 1968 nomination in Miami where he pledged to restore "Law and Order," and by which When some, like Meany, said that McGovern was a he clearly meant to call a halt to gains made during radical, and never mentioned Black people in his cam­ the decade of the '60s by Black Americans. paign, it was just like most of these old trade union It is true that Nixon had found other expressions radicals. during his administration to reaffirm his opposition to BUSING HYPOCRISY Black progress and national desegregation. Every Amer­ The white UAW leaders of today never uttered a ican, Black and white, understood exactly that Nixon word about the business of busing, so Nixon and Wallace was lashing out against further Black progress when he made it the main issue. As a Black worker said to me: —IMS photo demanded an end to school busing, permissiveness, wel­ "I pass through an all-white working-class neighborhood East Baton Rouge, La., police stand over covered fare abuse, laziness or crime in the streets. About his every day, and many of the houses have signs in the bodies of two murdered Black Southern University own racism, Nixon was perfectly clear. (Continued on Page 7) students. However, it was not Nixon's racism that was demon­ strated in the voting booths, it was the racism in the majority of white America. Even more critical is the cold and hard fact that for the first time in modern America, so many working class whites voted for a West coast longshoremen auctioned off Republican—only this was not just any Republican, it Los Angeles, Cal.—The latest discussion we the rumor that the ILA was not interested in merging was a thoroughly racist Republican, Nixon. So deep have been having on the docks in Los Angeles is with ILWU. But the basic questions of will we have real was this racism that workers had to disregard their autonomy, will we be able to get out if and when we own self-interest to vote for Nixon. For the overwhelm­ about merger. Our local president Curt Johnson ing majority of white workers know very well that released a letter sent him by President Gleason want to, have not been touched. Bridges seems ready to deliver us to the Teamsters. Nixon's economic policies mean a continuation of high of the East coast International Longshoreman's Others want to deliver us to the ILA. When are we going unemployment, worsening working conditions and wor­ Association (ILA) in which he stated the ILA was to be consulted? When are we going to have real de­ sening standards of living. interested in merger with the West coast long­ cision-making power over what happens to us? Not OTHER ISSUES WERE MINOR shoremen. merely a vote when everything is decided and we have Of course, there were many other issues: Nixon's Gleason spoke about how unity could work for both no real choice, but before that when it really makes , his invasion of Cambodia and Laos, his unions against anti-strike legislation in the longshore a difference. attacks against the youth and Blacks, Watergate bug­ industry, a united front in contract negotiations and pro­ —Longshoreman, L.A. ging, corruption a la ITT and a raft of campaign fund tection against raiding by other unions. He stated that scandals. Then there was McGovern, alienating old west coast longshoremen would have a substantial degree party regulars at the Miami convention, the Eagleton of autonomy and representation in the union. affair, his vacillating policies on welfare reform. But all of these factors pale in the light of the one over­ The release of this letter has to be seen in the context Season's Greetings riding conclusion: the unifying force s" Nixon's land­ of ILWU President Harry Bridges' attempts to have us slide victory was racism. merge with the Teamsters' Union. Many in both the to Our Readers Certainly many election results were not all Nixon- membership and the leadership are unhappy about pos­ ite. The fact that Democrats retained control of both sible merger with the Teamsters. Many of us don't I houses of Congress, and indeed increased control in the think we would have much security in the Teamsters. As For Your Gift-Giving Senate, will prevent a completely free hand by Nixon. a union we feel its- effectiveness is nil. If it came down Moreover, the Black Coalition in the House of Repre­ to a choice I know many would prefer the ILA to the sentatives was increased from 13 to 16, with the addi­ Teamsters. See Our Special Offer tion of Barbara Jordan of Texas, Yvonne Braithwaite But what becomes very clear is that much of the Burke of California and Andrew Young of Georgia— leadership wants to merge with someone. The question On Page 7 I with the latter winning in a predominantly white dis­ for them is who. The politics of running a union is every­ trict in Atlanta. thing to these leaders, the rank and file comes second, Have you put N&L on your gift list? | Another significant victory was the defeat of Chicago if then. Democrat Edward Hanrahan, who waged his campaign The letter fr^m ILA President Gleason cleared up (Continued en Page 5) PACE 2 NEWS & LETTERS DECEMBER, 1972

FORCE 'Sophisticated' New York: a new Alabama Canarsie whites bar Black students Low income housing killed in Queens New York, N. Y.—"This isn't Little Rock, this New York, N. Y.—For the past months this isn't Mississippi. It's not going to happen here," city has seen incident after incident of pure shouted a Black woman, angry, frustrated, hurt, racism which can't help but remind one of George into a T.V. microphone. She was from the Tilden Wallace and Alabama, although this is "sophisti­ f AND Houses project in the Brownsville section of cated" New York in 1972. Brooklyn. We have seen vicious racist mobs of whites phys­ REASON Since the beginning of the school year about 30 ically keep Black and Brown students from entering a Black and Puerto Rican children from the projects were school; an assault on children in a school bus, and the refused entrance into John Wilson Junior High School barring of a low-income housing project. The Northern WL needs Black-white unity 211 by a mob of white parents from the Canarsie section racists got 'the Nixon-Agnew message even before the The issue behind which the new racism is of Brooklyn in which JHS 211 is located. election. barely disguised is supposed to be the big concern WHITES BLOCK DOORWAY Thirty Black and Puerto Rican junior high students of women—school busing. This horrible situation were kept from attending Junior High School 211 in the demands that Women's Liberation take a stand, These parents occupied the building and blocked Canarsie section of Brooklyn by mobs of white parents not only because we need to attract Black women the doorway to the school on the grounds that JHS 211 for weeks. JHS 211 is in a community school district to deepen our own movement, not only because was "correctly" integrated; the school would be over­ comprised of all-white Canarsie with a border of all- racism is "wrong," but in order to define our- crowded, and they wanted to "save" their neighborhood. Black neighborhoods. Although the school has some selves* Rev. Wilbert B. Miller, a spokesman for the group middle-class Black children, the new students are from ALL WOMEN ARE NOT OUR SISTERS. The racists of Black parents said "There would be no question of a low-income housing project, the Tilden Houses. are not, and we had better know it, not only because 'overcrowding' if our children could turn white right STUDENTS ATTACKED the reactionary movement will sweep away the small this minute!" In a separate but not dissimilar incident, a group gains of the young WL movement too, but because As the Black and Puerto Rican students finally got of white men in Ozone Park in Queens boarded a school racism is the Achilles heel of every freedom movement. into JHS 211 to begin classes, white students began a bus filled with Black and Puerto Rican children, 12 to WL ROOTS IN CIVIL RIGHTS boycott of all schools in School District 18. A few white 16 years old, beat them up and threw oil on them and The WL movement was born out of the Black civil parents escorted their children to school during the 12- the bus. Some of the kids were beaten so badly they day boycott. They too faced a barrage of racial slurs rights movement, as the new revolutionaries of the 1960's had to be hospitalized. When the men were caught, from the "unbiased" white mob. they said the kids had provoked the attack by their caught the universal idea of freedom and applied it to The local school board, which the Black, Puerto still another layer of the population. demeanor as the bus passed through town. Rican and poor communities had fought hard for to get In Forest Hills, another area of Queens, it is now - But what has happened since those more exciting better schools and better education for their children, times? A few women and Black men have gotten fancy almost sure that little or no low-income housing will be turned against them. The whites conceded to stop the built. The original plan called for two 24-story projects. jobs, but for most, as the 1970 census reveals, the dis­ boycott and have their children return to school only parity in economic conditions between men and women, Demonstrations, petitions and political pressures against while they await a new school zoning plan by the local the project climaxed recently at a hearing called by and between whites and Blacks, has increased. The WL school board, which had been ordered to promote inte­ movement is in disarray, and has failed to maintain the City Board of Estimate. gration and improve racial balance at the three district The hearing lasted for ten hours, during which mass activities and momentum.. And the Black popula­ 18 high schools. tion to a person is being persecuted outright again. MIGHT RENEW BOYCOTT Blacks and tenant groups spoke for the project, while The revolutionary nature of women's liberation is those against it screamed racial slurs, and didn't even The whites declared they reserve the right to "renew bide their racism in their speeches to the Board. that it raises the most basic issue of all—the relation­ the boycott if the new zoning plan does not meet the law­ ships between human beings—which is implicit in every GIVES IN TO RACISTS ful and equitable aspirations of the people of Canarsie." The Queens Borough President yielded to the racist revolutionary movement. Not only were there racial slurs and obscenities CHANGE REQUIRES UNITY residents of Forest Hills and introduced a "compromise" shouted at the Black parents and students, but they plan for 12-story buildings that would be limited almost Canarsie is the American history in which we live were put down for being poor and being welfare re­ and whic'i we cannot escape. WL became a movement entirely to the elderly and veterans, in other words, few cipients. The white families in Canarsie, for the most Blacks. for freedom and changed the course of American history part, had poor beginnings. The racial issue, inflamed when we began to see the universality of our individual Only the Borough President voted against by the likes of President Nixon and Vice-President it; the other boroughs and the mayor

Mini-strikes oppose speed-up by John Allison • The GM mini-strike is at last declaring war on Auto­ NY postal workers face noise, speed-up on job mation and production standards; Production for years New York, N. Y.—Though possibly not as There is also the tension of speed in this service. has been too high, and that's a fact. The Pension was dramatic as the problems of the auto worker, the There was a time when three carriers followed the line supposed to create jobs for young workers. Automation of 20 clerks on mail flow. This was changed when four was supposed to do the same. Overtime was supposed experiences of U. S. postal workers is just as followed the line, but they had to follow 45 or 50 clerks. to disappear, and the six-hour day was supposed to be dire to them. First, let me speak of conditions This increased speed is the USPS answer to better ' on its way. where I work. service. They have also added a machine called an History will show that as production has gone up, There is peeling leaded paint and 80-year-old dust optical character reader which does the work of an unemployment has gone up, and management pockets continually filtering through the air. Then we have additional 20 people. I am sure it is intended to be the profit. As dvertime goes up, outside contracting goes noise pollution which tears at and finally destroys the stepped up when it is entirely workable. up. This mea'ns that small shops with cheap labor will nerves of all workers to the point of being belligerent If the USPS is desirous of improving service let do the work for Chrysler and they pocket the savings. to each other and careless in the performance and them first improve working conditions. And let them The union knows all this. The contract permits this safety of our work. Some of these machines are obsolete talk and work with people, not machines and computers illicit relationship between union and management. and 95 per cent not in use and should be removed or for solutions, because people are the power to create. Chrysler always reports, a high manpower requirement turned off. — Postal Worker, GPO to the press, and lays off before 90 days are up. The For example, about eight years ago they installed press never reports this kind of information. miles of overhead moving belts to carry mail trays Local 490 is in the process of negotiating a new con­ around the entire station. They were so bad that some­ tract for Borgman and U.S. Radiator. Both companies times the trays didn't show up until the next day. Teamsters stab on WW have been given strike notices. These workers are under They've pulled the route belts long since but they still San Francisco, Calif. — The United Farmworkers UAW contract. Yet the big bad UAW is asking these run the overhead belts. The noise is like riding between won a smashing victory in California Nov. 7, defeating workers to accept management's last offer. two subway cars all day. the unionbusting Proposition 22 by over 1 million votes, The reason the UAW refuses to fight is that both But the worst danger is when the trays hit a jam but the growers' representatives said they would come of these companies have plants in the Upper Peninsula and begin to fall. They put metal nets below the worst back with another farm labor ballot in 1974. of Michigan that are not organized. jam-ups, but the trays still fall down on unprotected Meanwhile the growers have called in their lackeys You would think that all factories, large and small, areas where people are working. The only good thing in the Teamsters Union to do their job. Teamster Presi­ would be organized so management could not pit worker about the belts is that it forced management to air- dent Frank Fitzsimmons gave Catholic bishops "a against worker at contract negotiations. Compared to condition the work floor so the motors wouldn't overheat. couple of weeks to win Chavez to a peace pact"—which auto workers, these workers are just above the poverty A clerk said the noise on the letter sorting machines was turned down. The Teamsters want an end to the level, and yet they make more money than their sisters upstairs is just as bad. They started to lay carpet in Farmworkers' boycott of "scab lettuce," picked by work­ and brothers in the Upper Peninsula. one corner, and she thought they would finish the whole ers under the "sweetheart contracts" signed by the The local unions are pressuring the UAW to take floor. It turns out the carpet was put down to absorb Teamsters and two hundred growers without the workers away some of management's power: 1) Management's the noise from a new high-speed cancelling machine. ever voting. This method of "organizing" has been chal­ right to control starting and quitting time. 2) Manage­ That corner is right next to the women's swing room lenged by Chavez in a lawsuit now before the State ment's right to hire and fire. 3) Management's right to and lockers. You never get a break from the racket. Supreme Court. let outside contracts. The union could have had all of this during the sit- down strike. At that point in history, the union — to their sorrow — trusted management. They have abused their power. So the thinking now is to take the power away. Management is like the police force, Army, Navy and FROM THE AUTli HOPS Air Force. They all abuse power — and that's a fact.

in a week. Even somye yof Stanley's supporters said it Eagle: old sweat-shop today Ford Pico Rivera was a damn shame the way the election was rigged. Some workers are saying that this proves that even Long Island City, N. Y.—Eagle Electric is a Los Angeles, Cal. — A worker was recently run over when you win you still lose. Stanley's people figure the manufacturing complex of seven buildings. The by a plant vehicle at Ford. He had to go to the hospital opposition will be so disgusted that they won't bother to 3000 people who work here produce 2000 dif­ and has been off the job ever since. The plant vehicle vote again. But I will damn sure be there to vote against ferent parts of electrical hardware. transports men from where they have driven,new cars Stanley because when you go in with him on a grievance The worst shops in Building No. 1 have to be Stamp­ to the gate line where they pick up cars. It was on one he talks to you worse than a boss does. ing and Plating. Metal plates, shells, and screws are of these trips that a man was struck at about 20 mph. . • made in Stamping, and there are many big machines On the accident report it said three mph. Both the which make an unbearable noise. On some of the ma­ The company is saying that it will move the Bart chines, the pieces are shot out of the machine and are company and the union knew this was not true, but both and Valiant jobs out of the Mack plant by Thanksgiving, agreed to put down three mph anyway. On the part of caught by a plate and drop into a barrel. If the plate and the speed and rush to finish up is enough to drive fell off, the sharp pieces could cut somebody badly. The the union and workers, no one wanted to say anything you insane. You don't have a steady job on that opera­ to get the driver in trouble. I don't think the driver floor is so covered with grease that a hi-lo could slide tion any more. Metal finishers are doing everything from and hurt someone. should be blamed either, because most likely it wasn't stock handling to sweeping the floor, and the union is his fault. The Plating shop is almost all Black, except for the doing nothing. white foremen. Some of the vats use acid dips which The speed limit in the plant is supposed to be eight They have hired some new workers, but the word splash and give off dangerous fumes. mph. But the Ford plant management is not interested is that all new hires will be laid off before Christmas. Many of the men here believe that none of the in enforcing this. If they were, they would put governors —Mack worker women, who all work on the upper floors, would help on all vehicles — fork lifts, tugs, kalmazoos, foremen's them strike for better conditions and wages. They say golf carts — so that they could not go over eight "mph. that the women are happy as long as they are getting But Ford has cut down on the PDA people (pre­ their pocket money. I don't think this is true. Most of the delivery area) while at the same time running the same GM Southgate men are at least able to move around and talk with number of cars down the line. Cutting jobs and not cut­ Los Angeles, Cal. — Guilty until proven innocent is each other, but the women are stuck to their machines ting production means that the drivers have to speed up the theme by which General Motors operates its em­ and assembly operations and have to repeat the same in order to keep up with production. That is why the ployee relationship program. Whenever a brother or brief motions second after second, hour after hour, day plant vehicles are zooming around the plant at unsafe sister is tafcen off to the "," they have already after, day,''.''!''' J i • been sus'pecfed, captured, tried and found guilty. '• It ! If there was a strike, I believe that the women would The union should hit out at this under health and takes an act of God to get out with one's scalp! be the first to go out. Then we'll see if the men will safety. If we attack it from this point of view then man­ One brother was dismissed for picking out a half follow, or be the ones who stay in! agement can't hit out at the driver. It wasn't his fault, it cup of screws from the sweeping debris and taking them was the company's fault. to his car. Employees have been harassed for being sick —Ford worker or injured when these judges thought Otherwise. These Local News & Letters Committees CM be ill men take pride in their power. contacted directly in the following areas: If a grievance is filed against the company, the CONNECTICUT: PO Box 291, 1! employee has to comply with the matter being contested Hartford, Conn. 06101 (527-9868) ill Chrysler Mack while the problem itself is argued on, pocketed, or goes LOS ANGELES: PO Box 24371, Hi Detroit, Mich. — Nobody can imagine how low the through lengthy channels. A grievance here at Southgate Los Angeles, Calif. 90024 union has sunk in the past 15 or 20 years in regard to means that it takes a month, or a year, or two years to DETROIT: 1900 E. Jefferson, workers' thought or actions. We held an election in 9790 be told that the company is never wrong. Detroit 48207 (961-1010) last month for Chief Steward. Our present Chief Steward, There's nothing radical in proper representation or NEW YORK: PO Box 5463, Grand Central Sta. jjj Stanley, was defeated, and many workers began cele­ fair, speedy trials, or in democratic methods of setting New York, NY. 10017 brating. policy, on in humane treatment from the bosses. These MONTREAL: Le Comite Humaniste-Marxiste ][( Then they heard that there were some votes for things are as non-radical as they are non-existent here de Montreal, PO Box 134, Mon- ill Stanley that weren't counted. There was a lot of yelling, at Southgate. treal 600, Quebec and finally the opposition agreed to have a new election —Southgate worker PACE 4 NEWS & LETTERS ; DECEMBER, 1972 Readers9 Views

THE AFTERMATH OF NOV. 7 operate a very complex crane. He wasn't UFWOC study to compute the "human capital It looks like the only country which moving fast enough for him. It reminded UFWOC has stepped up the lettuce loss caused by the war." Their study the Pentagon succeeded in bombing back me of years ago when nothing Blacks boycott lately and the Teamsters have was based on the theory "that the dis­ to the Stone Age is the U. S. could do on the docks would satisfy the responded by refusing to deliver UFWOC counted value of a person's expected Correspondent whites. lettuce! It's bad enough that unions don't earning power during his lifetime is Montreal We are not going to stop fighting. refuse to handle non-union goods these capital and that his death or disability * * * Whether Nixon has his way will depend days, but to refuse to handle union resulting from war reduces the nation's on the amount of opposition Black goods is unbelievable. I think this is wealth." The Nixon victory, whose massive part of the new respectability of racism. They wound up computing that the proportions include the white working people put up. But we have' to" develop more cohesiveness with others. We have The unions don't even pretend not to be loss in human lives in the Vietnam war class, is the ultimate triumph of the reactionary any longer. cost the U. S. $11.6 billion through 1970. architects of one-dimensional man.. to get together with movements like Women's Liberation. Otherwise we will Reader So much for the state of "Political This reader is waiting for Marxist- Economy" in the epoch of degenerate Humanism to develop an analysis of that be murdered. New York Black Longshoreman capitalism! (predominant) phase of the existence of Reader the masses: not the sporadic, albeit Los Angeles » * * ISRAEL AND MUNICH New York heroic, episodes of revolutionary up­ * * * surge, but the enduring, pervasive re­ A young co-worker of mine came to The title of your editorial shocked me: affirmation of the ruling order. work the day after the elections with "Terrorism and Retaliation Serve Coun- To some of us in the Movement, jail a homemade paper button pinned on his ter-Revolution." Our reactionary TV is what night is to the 24 hour day —• Never have so many consented to their just the other half of life. And as for own rape. shirt that said, "He's not My President." press and radios have bombarded us Mine, either. with this kind of reactionary ideology. worrying about "1984," it will come over Pessimist our dead bodies, so we don't have to New York Electrical Worker It is the aim of the world powers to Cleveland convince those who have no real power worry about it. * * * Collective * * * that we have no hope of transforming Despite Nixon's anti-labor policy this world . . . To talk about Palestine, California The UAW said that they supported many, many workers voted for him. Zionism or hatred of Jews when the •. #.* . What I want to know is what is going McGovern. But I worked in their cam­ events occurred at the Olympics is to to change this? We can't "moralize" paign and saw that the money that play the game of our class enemy ... AFRICAN LIBERATION about the racism of many white work­ trickled down got used for other local Correspondent Would you please announce that your ers. But somehow they will have to see races of Democrats who didn't even readers can help our support work for want to be associated with McGovern. Paris that their future is tied up with the * * * the Liberation Movements in by black people who are the only ones con­ UAW Campaign Worker ordering the 1973 Liberation Calendar. Los Angeles I endorse the basic ideas expressed All proceeds from the sales will go to sistently fighting Nixon. in your Editorial on Munich and ter­ Teacher * * * support Frelimo, MPLA, and PAIGC. rorism. There are certain points, especi­ Calendars are $3 and can be ordered Los Angeles It was infuriating to listen to the ally regarding the Arab refugees and 9 * * from: newscasters on election night, reporting the responsibility of the Israeli govern­ all the groups that were "going for" Liberation Support Movement How completely unreal are all the ment that I would have put in a different Nixon. They never once mentioned the order. But it is impossible to expect one Information Center candidates, all the alternatives offered Black voters as a category, or that they Box 338, Richmond, B. C. to the voter. The control of life-work, far from the actual scene to know all were solidly not "going for" Nixon. It the facts, or to look at things the way Canada leisure, politics, remains in the same was the same during the campaign — hands. The campaigns revolve, not we do. I am enclosing the public state­ they kept talking about the "blue collar ment of a coalition of left wing and around realities, but images, as if the workers" as if all of them were white. WORKERS IN ITALY . . . political life of the country was no more liberal elements, critical of the Israeli I guess the Black people just don't exist government's policy, which I hope you I assume you have read about what important than choosing between brands for them. of cigarettes. can publish. seems a fascist attempt against a train White Student carrying 900 workers to Reggio Calabria Now the spectacle is over and we go Correspondent Detroit Israel for a demonstration organized by the back to work — or looking for work, national unions that were holding a * * * * * » which is worse. I am fed up to the gills The people who voted Nixon in will Congress there on "The Economic De­ with sitting in employment agencies, Editor's Note: See "World in View," velopment of the South." Fortunately, get what they deserve. He worked up page 8. state and private, being treated like one so much hatred against the people on they were incompetent dynamiters. The of Nixon's "spoiled children." The as­ * * * first explosion, wounding six, gave the welfare. I was listening to one white I expect that you will be getting com­ sumption seems to be that since we are guy about how everybody on welfare alarm and later dynamite was found not working, not making profit for any­ plaints from those who thought you were all along the track and also other tracks should be out to work. So I asked him too harsh on Israel, and from those who body, we have nothing better to do than was he willing to give up his job. There where it would have been possible to sit in their offices reading old copies of thought you unjustly criticised the ter­ divert trains. wasn't a thing he could say. rorists. As far as I am concerned, your Business Week or Sports Illustrated. Here the country's so upset about wel­ I wonder what would have hapoened Unemployed U. C. Graduate even-handedness was the first sane if the train did blow up. Would the fare while this Senator Eastland down analysis I read anywhere. Sacramento in Mississippi gets $250,000 from the workers have limited themselves to a * * * Supporter one hour general strike the following government for not growing anything on Detroit A vote for Nixon was a war crime. his land. I understand what hard times day? Here, as in the rest of the world, Student we're living in since I was laid off for almost everyone feels as though they Kalamazoo, Mich. a while after putting in over 10 years CUBA are sitting on a keg of dynamite, even 11 * I! at Royal Typewriter. That's the situation I was stunned when I read that Cuba if they're not conscious of it. The im­ in this country but if you start talking intended to keep those three hijackers patience makes one wish that something Whites don't seem to realize that the truth about it they'll call you a would happen, no matter what it is. Nixon will be choking them as well as in 4 foot by 4 foot by 4 foot cells for the communist or something. rest of their lives! I can't believe it is Correspondent us. Just watch the prices rise. Just Italy watch the number of whites on welfare. Black Worker true. That sounds like Hitler—or Thieu. And what has happened to all those Hartford, Conn. If it is true, I can't help feeling that it * * * is racist viciousness — the white man young people who were anti-war? They . . . AND IN BRITAIN must have also succumbed to racism at Nixon had better not think because who hijacked a plane to Cuba with his the polls. McGovern lost that the turmoil in the sons just a few weeks before, and ac­ There is trouble brewing here over tually killed a man in the process, was I feel very shaky about things to come. country is over. It'll probably start up Heath's wage freeze. It is now illegal at his inauguration. not caged like that. Every Black I know to strike against Government policy. I At work people are getting nasty and feels the same way. arrogant already. A Southern guy at Activist can see shop stewards landing in trouble. work kept making comments about a Connecticut Black Worker For that, we must prepare. Black crane operator who was trying to Detroit Heath knows nothing about working * * * people but he is, obviously, being ad­ ROOTS OF MALE-CHAUVINISM Editor's Note: See "Two Worlds," p. 5. vised. The old age pensioners and the • While I agreed with the editorial about lower paid workers are receiving some News and Letters the fight against the sexist medical text­ • attention. Rents are going up, but there Vol. 17, No. 10 December, 1972 book, the statement about "the in­ THE PRICE OF WAR are rebates for lower paid workers. The separability of male chauvinism and its Scott Camil, a leader of Vietnam aim is to split the working class. News & Letters is published every roots in the capitalistic system" is Veterans Against the War, is under in­ It would be idle to deny that the Gov­ month except during the summer poorly stated. It is true that male dom­ dictment by the federal government for ernment has met with some success in months when issues appear June-July, ination is now deeply entrenched and Conspiracy to disrupt the Republican persuading some workers that their in­ August-September, by News & Let­ works along with the capitalistic system Convention with, among other things, a terests are completely tied up with the ters, 1900 E. Jefferson, Detroit, Mich. in exploiting women. But male chau­ slingshot! His trial and that of seven national economy. Some trade union 48207. Telephone: 961-1010. Subscrip­ vinism predates capitalism. Women other members of the.VVAW will start leaders are accepting lower wage in; tion: $1 for 12 copies; single copy were the first object to be owned. In in January 1973 in Gainesville, Fla. If creases on the grounds of the serious 10c; for bulk order of ten or more— some non-capitalist parts of the world, crisis. 6c each. your readers want to help keep them women are still treated as chattel and from being silenced by the government, At the last Trades Council meeting, breeding machines. please have them contactr I raised the issue of the shorter working Raya Dunayevskaya, Chairman day. 'I dealt with the significance of National Editorial Board It is conceivable to have an economic VVAW, Gainesville Conspiracy Defense Committee this demand historically and fundamen­ Charles Denby. Editor change without changing the lives of women. That is why there must be a PO Box 1317» Gainesville, Florida 32601 tally. My resolution was carried but not O. Domanskl Managing Editor strong Women's Liberation Movement, • * * a single CP member spoke. I doubt if fighting for freedom now. I could hardly believe my eyes when they saw the significance of the issue. Second Class Postage Paid at Harry McShane Detroit, 'Michigan. Feminist I saw a report in the newspaper about Detroit a professor who had just completed a Glasgow DECEMBER, 1972 NEWS & LETTERS PACE 5 TWO WORLDS What has happened to the Cuban revolution? By Raya Dunayevskaya tion Latin America had ever witnessed. There is no or in the press. Those who had hailed the revolution had Author of Marxism and Mreedom doubt that with the overthrow of the bloody Batista by now as little freedom to criticize any action of the Editor's Note: When the daily papers carried a story dictatorship, the revdlution broke decisively with United government least of all its total embrace of all things that Cuba intended to keep three Black hijackers, States imperialism which had plundered the Cuban Russian, Chinese, East European, including the bloody Henry Jackson, Lewis Moore, and Melvin Cole, "in economy. In expropriating the American capitalistic regime of Radar's Hungary. 4 by 4 by 4 ft. cells," we received several letters from owners, it achieved an agricultural revolution and put The stream of refugees are by no means restricted Black readers, shocked beyond belief, who asked, an end to the feudal relations between the Cuban pea­ to "Batista's supporters" or "agents of American im­ "What has happened to the Cuban Revolution? And sants and the Cuban-American plantation owners. At perialism." Every one from the editor of Bohemia to what is your position?" Below is what Raya Dunay­ the same time, however, the power lay not in peasant militant trade unionists have attempted to escape, and evskaya had written December, 1960, only one year committees, but in the state who was the new owner. if the price isn't always the firing squad, it is always after the Cuban Revolution shook off American im­ STATE-ISM silence. When only a Castro—Fidel or Raul—or a Che perialism. Other articles will follow as the trial of As for Castro's attitude to the industrial workers, Guevara have endless voice here and abroad while the the Black hijackers opens, and the underlying global from the very start his bossist, administrative mentality masses are made voiceless; when all spontaneity be­ politics is disclosed. stuck out from the very first day of victorious entry comes bypostatized into state grooves; when relations * * * into Havana when he demanded that the revolutionary with the outside world are not as people-to-people but The Cuban Revolution: The Year After students and workers there put down their arms. He through armed-state powers; and when all this occurs in In a few weeks the Cuban Revolution will mark the proclaimed his movement alone to be the government, a world whose division into two nuclearly-armed powers first year of its victory. It is no accident that its enthu­ his army alone the army. Nevertheless, the overwhelm­ which threaten humanity's very existence-^-isn't it time siastic and uncritical alliance with the Russian orbit of ing enthusiasm for the revolution made the proletariat, for a new realistic balance sheet to be drawn up? Least power is almost as old. Contrary to the claims of the despite its reservations, lay down its arms, and will­ helpful in this regard are the old radicals. old radicals, who can no longer remember what con­ ingly tighten its belt even as the unemployed con­ OLD RADICALS stitutes principled working-class politics, this was not tinued to be silent. When it did, in due course, at the Trotskyists, who have spent years in exposing Rus­ the only path open to it when it shook off the American first trade union congress question some economic sia as "a degenerated workers' state" headed by a imperialist yoke. The revolutions that preceded it—in policies of the new government, Castro ran out of the counter-revolutionary bureaucracy, now feel that it is the Middle East and in Africa—took advantage of the convention, calling it a "madhouse." necessary to whitewash that regime "in order to fight global division into two nuclearly-armed blocs fight­ It is at this point that a kinship was established the main enemy, Yankee imperialism." Even some radi­ ing for world power to play off one against the other between the new regime and the native Communists, for cals who have spent many years exposing Russian to its own national advantage. If Cuba chose to dis­ it is they who used their leadership of the trade unions Communism as just another form of state capitalism regard this precedent and align itself with but one of to transform them into a pliant tool of the new armed feel that it is their "revolutionary duty" to spend all these power blocs, the answer cannot lie outside of itself. state. Together with world communism Fidel Castro their time attacking American imperialism, and none FIDELISMO shared the conception of the "backwardness of the exposing the other pole of world imperialism—Russian Forget Russia for a moment—it was nowhere around masses" who had to be led. The State would hence­ totalitarianism. when Fidel Castro marched into Havana at the head forward give the orders, the workers and peasants would What is it that impels such self-imposed blindness Of the July 26th guerilla movement. Neither it nor the continue to work harder while the leaders continued to to the tragedy of the Cuban Revolution which still has a native Cuban Communists supported that movement lead and set foreign policy. chance to compel its leaders to follow an independent during the seven years it hid out in the Sierra Maestra Just as the peasant found that, in tilling the soil, he road? Why should the workers and peasants in Cuba Mountains. The revolutionary petty-bourgeois lawyer was responsible, not to a committee elected by himself be allowed to think that in the Chinese "commune" the who led this movement had been so little concerned with and subject to his recall, but to the state, so the worker Chinese peasants are any less oppressed than the Cubans Communist theory that he gained financial help from found that he too had no organization responsible to were by the American plantation owners? Why should many a Cuban, and even some American, liberal bour­ him. Despite the lower rents, there has been no change, the Cuban workers be kept in ignorance of conditions of geois who had had their fill of the corrupt Batista. except for the worse, in the workers' conditions of life labor in totalitarian state capitalistic Russia? Why The guerilla fighters from the mountains, the pea­ and labor. Unemployment continues as do poor wages. should the Cuban people know that the Guantanamo base sants in the Oriente province, the proletariat and stu­ Worst of all, there are no Workers' Councils or any other is a threat to their existence and not know that the dents of Havana merged to bring the greatest revolu- form of free expression whether in their own organization (Continued on Page 8) Nixon's racist victory puts American civilization on trial (Continued from Page 1) where the change has to be made. Without white and on his racist reputation gained by his defense of Chi­ Orangeburg—1968 Black unity, the reorganization of American society cago police who had murdered Black Panthers, and Jackson State—1970 from top to bottom can never succeed—any more than who promised all-out war against Blacks in Illinois if Southern U.—1972 the organization of the CIO could have succeeded with­ elected as State's Attorney. Also in Illinois, Democratic out the coming together of both Black and white labor. gubernatorial candidate Dan Walker, who had headed OUR OWN MY LAIS the Walker Commission which disclosed evidence lead­ ing to the indictment of police for the Panther murders, This coming together, and only this, can prevent won over incumbent GOP Governor Ogilvie. And in the conditions in the U.S. from deteriorating to the California, Paul McCloskey, liberal GOP presidential point where we can easily have our own My Lais—only opponent and constant critic of Nixon, won re-election the bodies that will be counted will not be those of to the House, and a state proposition was defeated that massacred Vietnamese villagers, but of American would have destroyed the effectiveness of Cesar Chavez's Blacks. Unless racism is rooted out of the American United Farm Workers union in California. way of life, totally and completely, we will surely see the day when we will be an AmeriKKKa! MASS DEMONSTRATIONS IMPORTANT President Nixon has already disclosed something But more important than these election results was of what to expect as a result of his victory. In his inter­ the occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building view given to the Washington Star newspaper, he de­ in Washington, D.C., on the very day of the election, by a clared that the "permissiveness of the 80s" would not group of some 600 Indians who came from all over be tolerated. What was this "permissiveness" that Nixon America to demand redress of long-standing abuses. referred to? It was the Civil Rights Movement on the And aboard the U.S. Navy's Constellation, Black and Reprinted from News & Letters, March, 1968. part of the Black Americans, the Free Speech Move­ white sailors joined in protest against racist practices. ment of the students, the anti-war movement of the (See articles, pp. 7 and 8). This does not mean that mass majority of all Americans, the Women's Liberation actions eclipsed the racist retrogression represented by such white agrarian rebels as Tom Watson, and then movement and the thousands of strikes of workers Nixon's landslide victory. It does mean that America so alarmed him with their sharecroppers' strike as to against their inhuman conditions of work. isn't a monolith, and that the duality in the crisis will have Watson make a 180 degree turn to the right (See become the active factor after the elections which will ad for American Civilization on Trial, p. 8). NIXON'S PREVIEW OF THINGS TO COME prove that not a single problem has been solved. The mask of Populism was off the Wallace move­ Even more ominous was Nixon's reference to the average American being like "a child" who has to be It is significant to note how little time is required ment once Wallace was out of the Presidential race— and the Wallace vote went solidly Nixon. given "responsibility" and has to develop a sense of in this era of profound change to turn the entire nation "self-discipline." These are nothing less than the words almost completely around. It was a short eight years It is an absurd notion that anything that workers do ago, in 1964, that the American people totally repudiated is correct. Because of their strategic position at the of a totalitarian who intends to tell all of America (he militarist, racist campaign of Senator Barry Gold- point of production, the proletariat can, and often does, what kind of discipline he wants to be followed. water. win with a revolutionary philosophy. Without it, it would Every worker, both Black and white, understands very well what Nixon means when he says "What is By 1972, racism oozes out of Pax Americana. Since be the worst delusion to play up their "revolutionary nature" when workers are racist. good for business is good for America." It means that Nixon began his troop withdrawal program, which has the working class will not only have the company to resulted in a decreasing number of U.S. troops being BLACK MASSES AS VANGUARD fight, they will also have the government on their backs. killed, although an increasing number of Vietnamese are Those who could not be fooled, of course, were the It means more speed-up, more loss of the little control being, slaughtered, the anti-war movement in the U.S. they still have through their unions. has lost its momentum. Clearly, some even in the anti- American Blacks, who understand both Wallace and Vietnam war movement dropped out once the color of Nixon far better than the whites—including white As for those rank-and-file workers who clearly the dead bodies was changed. In a word, racism is so radicals. The truth of this can be seen in the results recognized the danger Nixon represents, they also realize ingrained in this land that the youth, too, gave nearly of the Nov. 7 election, when Blacks voted 88 percent that a great share of the blame for Nixon's victory half their vote to Nixon. against Nixon. lies directly at the doorstep of the so-called labor lead­ ers (see Workers journal, P. 1). What the Niw Left has failed to show is how Amer­ Any Black votes that Nixon got, he literally bought. ican history can reveal where the revolutionary forces And what is equally important is the total repudiation by The full ramifications of Nixon's victory are yet to ire that are changing and can completely reorganize the great majority of the Blacks of betrayers such as appear. Those who will be hardest hit, along with the American society. Part of the New Left dared even to Sammy Davis, Jr., and ex-CORE leader Floyd Mc- Blacks, will be the rank-and-file white workers. Nixon's nake such a fantastic comparison as to say that racist Kissick, both of whom displayed their total separation election, far from solving any of their daily problems Alabama ^Governor George Wallace represents Populist from the Black masses by their unpardonable support in the shops, will make them far worse. Then the jrinciplesi-thereby revealing their total ignorance about of arch-racist Nixon. critical test will come. Populism in the U.S. As we showed in American The 88 percent vote cast against Nixon is not enough, The class solidarity that many white workers lost Civilization en Trial, the most revolutionary segment of and especially so if it was a vote cast for McGovern. when thpy voted for Nixon on Nov. 7 can be regained 'opulism was in the South, precisely because the.Blacks The fact is that neither one can possibly represent the in the streets. The real battles will first unfold as the vere there—organized one and a quarter million'strong aspirations of the Blacks and workers for a new, totally crisis, which is sure to come, deepens. It is then the n the Populist Party. It was they who first inspired new, society. Blacks, are in the minority in the U.S., last act will begin. PACE 6 NEWS & LETTERS DECEMBER, 197: DOING AND THINKING Youth and McGoverr By Chris Norwell Now that McGovern has been soundly defeated everyone is saying that the youth vote wasn't that im portant after all, or that the youth were apathetic am YOUTH didn't even bother to vote. I didn't get that impressioi from the people I talked to. At Long Beach State One young woman said that she was all for Me Govern before he got the party nomination, but aftei he got it he started backtracking on all his key points like leaving troops in Indochina, not supporting a mini Protest murder of black student mum yearly earning, and not supporting abortion re Los Angeles, Cal.—Roland Peterson, a 20- to killing Blacks, the police do not have to be reasonable. form. She said she was going to vote for him not because year-old black student at California State Long If Roland had been white, a lot of things would she liked him, but because she didn't want Nixon to b< Beach, was killed by a policeman while running have been different. Maybe he would not have had so in. from the rear of his apartment on October 18. many good reasons to fear the police. Maybe he would Another guy who used to work in McGovern's cam never have been killed. paign told me that he couldn't support McGovern because Police were investigating, without a warrant, But if he had, there would have been such an uproar he kept changing his position so much. "He also is play possible burglary of stereo equipment when they on campus that the whole country would know of Long ing dirty politics. Every speech he or Shriver make: heard movement inside the apartment. Officer Beach State as they learned of Kent State, and the news has some bad reference to Nixon in it. If he would on!] Vershaw ran to the back and ordered three run­ media would have carried the story instead of com­ give one speech where he doesn't mention Nixon and ning Black men to stop, then shot one of them pletely ignoring it as if Roland never existed. just tells us what he would do if he got in, then maybe in the back of the head. —Debbie Brown I would vote for him." This guy wound up not voting About 175 students, mostly Black, demonstrated in at all. front of the Long Beach Police Department resulting in Another young person said "Throughout the whol* the temporary suspension of Vershaw. Students held Picket Conn, prison campaign not one mention of race was made by Mc> numerous meetings, inviting police officers to attend to Govern or anyone else while Nixon was making all those provide answers concerning the shooting and the investi­ Hartford, Conn.—Conditions at Somers state prison in Connecticut are not improving. On September 24, the vicious racist remarks about busing and welfare. If Mc­ gation, only to be insulted by their failure to show up. Govern had attacked Nixon for being a racist, maybe he Black students responded to this situation by form­ inmates in administrative segregation submitted to Warden Carl Robinson a compilation of grievances. could have helped destroy the racism in this country ing a committee to make sure that the investigation isn't today." white-washed. They demanded that Vershaw be made Among these were a call to establish a limit to the time to pay for his "mistake," so that other police officers in administrative segregation for any particular offense, LEFT DIDN'T HELP will not feel free to shoot Blacks because they know to pressure prison doctors to make weekly visits to segre­ The Left press didn't help the situation any, either. noth'ng will happen to them. gation, to permit at least one Black and/or Spanish- Many of them were attacking McGovern much harder Police are not in our communities to protect human speaking staff member to participate in disciplinary and oftener than they were attacking Nixon, who had rights, but fie rights of property owners. What better hearings, to shower after recreation, and so on. the power and was much more dangerous than McGovern, proof is there than the killing of a human being during Warden Robinson turned his back and walked away. Some of the Left press refused to attack Wallace and an investigation of stolen stereo equipment? He has also refused to meet with the Concerned Citizens the racism he represented, which Nixon is now mouthing Even the overly-lax police shooting policy, which for Prison Reform (CCPR). Both he and Assistant off. One group even called Wallace a "Populist"! Warden Stout have failed to answer three letters, two allows the shooting of a felony suspect who is trying to I don't think the youth aren't interested or don't care escape, cannot be used to reasonably justify this case, of them registered, requesting a meeting. On October 2», CCPR picketed at Somers. They were about politics. I think many youth were turned off by because Roland was shot in the back of the head'without McGovern's efforts to "win" over as many voters as c-v;::' lieir.g' questioned about the burglary. When it comes threatened with arrest if they did not leave immediately. Doesn't prison property belong to the people, to the tax­ possible, and no longer saw McGovern as a way to make payers who pay for it? The inmates of Somers are im­ this country's rotten conditions any better. The Left, by prisoned in our name, for the avowed purpose of "re­ what they said or didn't say, contributed to the young N.Y. anti-war march habilitation," and yet we have no say about the unjust voters' disillusionment with the election. New York, N.Y.—On Saturday, Nov. 4, about 5,000 punishment and discrimination that goes on there. GOING BACKWARDS angry people marched through Harlem to rally at Lew- —Reader, Hartford Many young working people didn't see the elections isohn Stadium for an immediate end to the war and changing anything basic in their lives. One guy told self-determination for Puerto Rico and other U. S.-occu­ me a fellow he works with told him "Do you think M pied nations. PUBLICATIONS OF McGovern got elected we would get a dollar raise or The march wound through the predominantly Puerto NEWS & LETTERS COMMITTEES something? Nothing would change, politicians aren't Rican and Black community, picking up support along 1—American Civilization on Trial, Black Masses worth anything." the way. The main chant was "Nixon sign the treaty!", as Vanguard Itis true enough that if McGovern got elected no and there were many other shouts like "Viva Puerto Includes "Black Caucuses in the Unions," by one would necessarily get a dollar raise, but I'm afraid Rico Libre!" ("Free Puerto Rico!") and "Que Viva Charles Denby 75e per copy that sinfie Nixon got re-elected he might make everyone Socialismo!" There was a guerrilla theater skit per­ 2—Notes on Women's Liberation— take a dollar cut. I think the Left better get itself to­ formed by several women showing Thieu and Kissinger We speak in many voices $1 per copy gether and appeal to the working masses to destroj as Nixon's puppets. Everyone seemed determined to 3-U.S. and Russia Enter Middle East Cockpit Nixon's divide-and-conquer racist schemes before we se< show their support for the Vietnamese people and their By Raya Dunayevskaya 25c per copy a fascism in this country that hasn't been witnessed ir opposition to U. S. imperialism. 4—The Maryland Freedom Union— my lifetime. There were people from a taxi rank-and-file caucus, By Mike Flug 15e per copy phone company, and postal workers. A line of non- 5—Czechoslovakia: Revolution and medallion (gypsy) cabs led the march to demand an end to the harassment of the only cabs that will go into the Counter-Revolution ghetto to serve poor people. Report direct from Prague 50e per copy Boston police savagery The people along the route gave us a very enthus­ 6—Nationalism, Communism, Marxist- Boston, Mass. — On Halloween Eve, a week befon iastic response as we marched by. Humanism and the Afro-Asian Revolutions— the election, did some premature trick-or —Marcher, New York By Raya Dunayevskaya 25c per copy treating at a fund-raising dinner for her husband at tb 7—Black, Brown, Red Commonwealth Armory here. On hand to greet her wa< Black, Chicano, Indian Freedom Struggles that grand old comedian of capital, , and thi 75c per copy largest anti-war demonstration in Boston since May If I were President' 8—Mao's and the 'Proletarian 1971. President Nixon isn't really concerned with the Cultural Revolution'— The main purpose of the rally was to demand th prisoners of war, or the American people, or the Viet­ By Raya Dunayevskaya 25c per copy signing of the new peace treaty by the President, al namese people, or inflation, or anything else that would 9—Workers Battle Automation though even then the prospect of a settlement was prov bring peace and yet he talks about a "generation of By Charles Denby 50c per copy ing to be an empty pre-election promise. A confrontatio peace." Phooey! Just recently the United States dropped 10—Culture, Science and State-Capitalism between police and demonstrators resulted in seve: over 2,000 tons of bombs on North Vietnam in one day,' By Raya Dunayevskaya 25c per copy people! arrested and seven injured, including two dem matching the record for the most bombs ever dropped in 11—News & Letters- onstrators hospitalized for dog bites. a single day during the war. A Record-American Herald Traveler car was se Unique combination of worker and intellectual, 1 If I were President, I wouldn't be afraid to make published 10 times a year $1 per sub. ablaze and a mounted detachment of "Boston's finest mistakes. I would not kid the people and tell them lies. 1Z—Also Available from News & Letters: ended j the rally. by charging and scattering the demor 1 would be straightforward and not be afraid to say I MARXISM AND FREEDOM by Raya stratofsj - i :•.-. i ) ; did something wrong. No one is perfect. ••• — Student Activn Dunayevskaya I would try to make things better in foreign rela­ tions between the countries, and wouldn't have secret New British edition with special preface dealings and meetings and private talks with the big By Harry McShane $3 per copy East Cambridge, Mass. — On October 21, a 17-yea powers of the world like Russia and China. Everything New French Edition with special introduction old youth, who had had too much to drink, was taken i would be open and the American people would know By Raya Dunayevskaya $6 per copy jail with a friend for what a witness called "puttin everything that went on, instead of playing guessing his fist accidentally through a window." games about what certain people said. MAIL ORDERST"TO : At 3 a.m. the next day, Larry Largey was foun I realize that sometimes the President can't be News & Letters, 1900 L Jefferson, Det., Mich. 48207 unconscious in his cell and pronounced dead on arriv; jumping around from North Vietnam, to , at city hospital. An official autopsy stated an overdos Enclosed please find $ for the following: resulted in his death, but at least one witness claim to Russia, to Asia, to China, but I wouldn't send a per­ Please add 15c to each order for postage and handling. son to a country without letting the people know about the cops pummeled bis face to a bloody mess. 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1112 Five nights of rioting and fires resulted. Larry Lai it, and I would go if matters of importance were being (Please circle number corresponding to literature discussed. desired as listed above) gey was no son of Harvard or MIT. The cops rea< That is the way I would run the Presidency. There differently to the well-breds. These cops might i would probably be a lot of problems with this plan if Name fingered eventually, but that won't bring him bad Only when the cops stop busting skulls will the peop it took effect, but for God's sake anything would be Address better than what we've got now. of East Cambridge put away their grudges. State Zip —Fourteen-Year-Old, Detroit City — East Cambridge Residei DECEMBER. 1972 NEWS & LETTERS PACE 7 BLACK-RED VIEW Black revolts against Navy The U.S. Navy, long a refuge for southern "neer- do-well" whites who sought careers as officers, has Work ethic' and four more years recently been the target for racial outbreaks that would have resulted in severe disciplinary action five By John Alan with no feeling that if he had been elected that their years ago. The events aboard the carrier USS Con­ Black people, Chicano people — and even that sec­ problems would be solved, racially or economically. stellation have brought to a head the racial discrim­ tion of the white working class who voted for "four Nixon's election raises the threat of neo-fascism. ination that has always been common, accepted U.S. more years" of out of their racial fear of As the ground war — that is, for American troops — Navy practice. Blacks, and their uncertainty as to what their real "winds down" in Southeast Asia, the war at home Aboard the "Connie", six black crewmen were position is in the scheme of American State-Capitalism against workers and minorities will grow proportionately scheduled to receive general administrative dis­ — feel dubious and uncertain about the future. hotter. More and more the Administration will be forced charges because they received poor intelligence In talking at random to some 20 or more people, to bring the fundamental issues of capital and labor scores in boot camp three years ago. The men re­ most of whom were workers — Blacks, Chicanos, and into the foreground of the political struggles. The issues fused to sign their discharges and with ISO other whites, who live in the San Francisco Bay Area — I of school busing and welfare will assume their proper Black crewmen, gathered in the messhall and de­ heard the recurrent theme that Nixon was "no good place as aspects of an attempt by American Capitalism manded to see the Captain, J. D. Ward. for labor or minority peoples." What was surprising to to transform from private monopolies to State controlled He refused to see them and sent representatives me, as a Black person, was that the white workers who monopolies. The ploy of race will be seen through. of the Human Resource Council to talk for him. The did vote for Mr. Nixon didn't like him as a choice for Blacks were joined in their protest by 150 white President, nor did they hope for anything beneficial sailors and the Captain ordered 30 Marines to dis­ from his Administration. Secret contract at Norn's perse the demonstration. Failing to restore "order", WORK ETHIC EQUALS SPEEDUP the ship was ordered back to San Diego. Liberal bourgeois sociologists write hundreds of Los Angeles, Calif. — Norris and the UAW have At the base, the remaining 132 protestors were books analyzing the voting habits of the American white just come to agreement on a contract for the next three ordered ashore, and the ship returned to sea. On working class, dealing with their psychological fear of years. It is the usual type of agreement — one inch the day after the elections, the ship returned to port the Black Movement in America and their devotion to forward and two inches back. to pick up the crewmen — who refused to board the Protestant work ethic which causes them to resent We knew nothing about the agreement until after the ship until their four basic demands were met: Blacks on welfare. The latter, of course, is a lot of we listened to an hour of contract language at the mem­ 1) the right to stay ashore until the negotiations intellectual bullbleep, because in the reality of a work­ bership meeting called to accept or reject the contract. were settled; 2) that all punishment be reviewed to er's life. Black and white and Brown, the "Protestant Finally we were told we would get 19c the first year and determine racial discrimination; 3) that higher au­ Work Ethic" is middle class terminology for speed-up. 12c in each of the following two years with a 10c cost thority review all discharges; and 4) that amnesty In plain words, more production and yet more pro­ of living. It really wasn't much, especially considering be granted for all crewmen involved in the protest. duction! And this is both the explicit and the implicit we lost 34c an hour cost of living over the last contract. Back in Washington, the Administration, em­ aim of the Nixon Administration as the needs of Amer­ But that's life under Nixon's Pay Board. barrassed toy the third well-publicized incident of ican capitalism demand ever greater volumes of profits, A few other goodies were thrown in: A change in the racial unrest in the US Navy (the Carrier USS as its ratio of profit falls in relationship to the rapidly medical from SlW deductible to $50, which means we Kittyhawk and the Oiler Hassayampa have both growing super-automated production methods. are back to what we had in the contract before last. had racial disturbances in Vietnam within the past This is not a "theoretical abstraction" coming out The only thing that was passed out was the new wage few months), had Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt read of the head of some intellectual. Any Longshoreman in scales. Everything else was only reported on, and we the riot act to an assembly of no less than 90 Ad­ San Francisco, or any dock in the country for that are still waiting for something written. mirals, telling them "to end" discriminatory prac­ matter, will tell you that Automation on the docks does The contract was accepted as there was no real tices. not improve working conditions but worsens them. feeling for a strike. But real improvements both in Of the 123 men who refused to board the ship, From the East coast to the West coast of this wages and in working conditions weren't on the agenda. 97 were given extra duty, fined and reduced in rank, country there are signs of growing resistance to the — Norris Worker three were given administrative discharges and the demands for greater production at the frozen wage remainder assigned to shore duty. level. Although Nixon gained a landslide victory by For the record, out of over 73,000 Navy officers, fractionalizing the working class along racial lines, the less than one percent are Black. The first Black needs of the capitalist system is creating an ever grow­ Quebec vote mirrors unrest Admiral in history was appointed only last year. ing gulf between the White House and the workers, Among non-commissioned officers only four percent one that cannot be bridged by skin color. Montreal, Quebec—A little more than a week are Black in the U.S. Navy, in comparison to 20 FOUR MORE YEARS OF UNEMPLOYMENT before the American disaster, Canada had its own percent for the Army, which isn't exactly paradise federal election vaudeville. Widespread discon­ for Blacks. The Black and Chicano workers with whom I spoke tent in English Canada with worsening economic In his retirement speech, Altantic Fleet Com­ considered the future next four years as a continuation conditions showed through in a strong Conserva­ mander Admiral Charles Duncan complained about what they have experienced in last four years. As one tive (P-C) majority and some important gains by those who would change his happy world: "The lack worker put it: "How can things get worse when sooner the Navy is free of this group, the better have been unemployed since last December without the New Democratic Party (NDP), but in the giant off the country and the Navy will be." ny prospect of getting a job?" Black women in the poverty pocket of Quebec, the major focal point uper-markets were all very concerned over the contin- of unrest, the Liberal Party won over half its ed rise in food prices while Nixon retained sharp con- seats (56 out of 108 across Canada) which enabled •ol over wages. it to stay in power. Why? New ambassador loves Franco Black and Brown workers voted for McGovern, but There have been allegations that the English-Cana­ The decision of President Nixon to nominate Admiral dian vote was a racist vote against the "French Mafia" Horacio Rivero as the new Ambassador to Spain has in Ottawa, and this was probably one factor but not been hailed with delight by all the leaders of that WORKER'S JOURNAL "the" reason; Trudeau has been a let-down all the way reactionary regime. It is claimed that the new Ambassa­ around. dor is an admirer of Franco. He retired some months (Continued from Page 1) The fact is that dis-satisfaction is widespread all ago after serving as Commander-in-Chief of NATO windows reading, "This family will not be bused.' One over Canada, but Quebecois are obliged to "choose" the naval forces in the Mediterranean. He has been an lay I was late going to work and all those white chil- least horrible party, and this means either voting Liberal advocate for Spain to be part of NATO. Iren were getting on a bus. What they really mean is or spoiling their ballots. The Conservatives have been hese children will not be bused to Black schools, or traditionally anti-Quebecois and offer a worse alterna­ America has air force and naval bases, including »11 not ride on the same bus with Black children. tive than the present government. People are also wise the nuclear submarine complex at Rota, SO miles west of Gibraltar. The bases are American military enclaves "Tell them they are racists and they will yell, 'I am to former Judge Claude Wagner, the P-C "leader" in Quebec, who is pro-death penalty, anti-welfare, anti- on Spanish soil. President Nixon seems well disposed ot a racist.' I was looking at those Black and Puerto towards fascist Spain. jean children being mobbed by adult white men and unemployment insurance and to former "Justice'' Min­ romen in N. Y. A reporter asked one about racism, and ister who turned Montreal's police stations into virtual Back in 1070 he signed an agreement to supply he said she wasn't a racist. But before she could finish, torture chambers for political "heretics." Spain with no less than seven warships, nine auxiliary he yelled to those Black kids, 'Go back to the jungle What was new was an unusually high number of vessels including mine-sweepers, and other military rtiere you belong.'" spoiled ballots and more importantly, the phenomenal equipment. Congress delayed delivery by refusing to growth of the pro-independence Parti Quebecois (PQ) pass the necessary legislation. It has been agreed to f Wallace says he is not a racist, Nixon says he is let Spain have two destroyers on loan. ot a racist. When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declara- from 28,000 members at the beginning of August to on of Independence, saying "All men are created 59,000 at present. Is it any wonder that the Lieutenant-General has lual," he should have written "All white men are We can probably expect that the results of this elec­ declared that the present dictatorship will last for reated equal," because at the time he wrote it he had tion will deepen the rift between English and French centuries? He is wrong, but he is trying to keep up the lack slaves in bondage. Canada, and the end of this very artificial creation spirits of the reactionaries who are trying hard to sup­ : We have not forgotten that white girl, Cindy Brower, called "The Dominion of Canada" is in sight. press revolt by the workers, students and even priests. le student editor of the newspaper at the University of —P. Gouin, Montreal —Harry McShane assissippi. who criticized the white mob action on the tmpus. She was called a "foul wench," making life ibearable not only for her, but for any white whose Special Holiday Offer PLUS one of these 2 as a FREE bonus titudes were a shade better than the moronic stew : bigotry in many brains. A Gift of Ideas Black* Brown and Red CKNESS SPREADS NORTH Blacks, Chicanos and Indians speak out. 3 In those voices of hate there was one that yelled Marxism and Freedom - (usual price: 75c) e loudest and the most viciously — from the State of or abama. He said segregation today, tomorrow and for- From 1776 Until Today Notes on a Series of Lectures er, and he promised to spread his doctrines to the arth. Every Black knows what happened when he hears by Raya Dunayevskaya Lenin on Hegel's Science of Logic nrthern whites say that Wallace can send them a I by Raya Dunayevskaya essage. The original Marxist-Humanist Lenin's philosophic preparation for the Rassian I I want to say one thing about Sammy Davis and the analysis of modern society. Revolution. Essential reading for coming N&L w Blacks who supported Nixon. The Bible says: classes on PHILOSOPHY and REVOLUTION. %ere are those among you who will sell their birth- Price: $3.00, plus 25c postage |ht for a mess of pottage." We have too long experi- (usual price: 50c) ced those among us. They can never change the fact »t Black America has always played a vanguard role | MARXISM and FRiiDOM, plus yowr choice of eif iter bonus offer for only $3.00, plus 25c postage. | the struggle for freedom in America. We are still I Order from: News 6 leffers, 1900 f. /efferson, Defroif, Mien. 48207 § ying that rpie. PACE 8 NEWS & LETTERS DECEMBER, 1972

By Peter Mallory WORLD IN VIEW Self-mobilized West German voters open new page More important even than Willy Brandt's vic­ Ostpolitik, but that they intend to look beyond soundingly. tory on Nov. 12 was the manner in which the elec­ existing political parties. Don't forget, either, that this did get the cap­ tion was won. We're not referring to the Social Surely, too many have escaped from East Ger­ italists to open their wallets and give no less than Democratic Party's coalition with the Free Demo­ many- and are under no illusions that the barbarous $10 million in the closing weeks of the campaign to crats which helped them chalk up 54% of the votes— Berlin Wall means any sort of freedom. Rather they finance the anti-Socialist scare. Moreover, this elec­ not as in the U.S. of an electorate, 45% of whom wish new freedoms both in East and West Germany, tion had become necessary 10 months before the stayed away from the polls, but of an electorate beginning with the defeat of their own neo-fascists. normal 4 year term of office ended because some This, precisely this, called forth voter participa­ "Socialist" deputies got such cold feet over both the 90% of whom turned out at the polls. Rather, we're tion. When you consider that less than 3 years ago turn to 'the East and the noise of the neo-Fascists referring to the self-mobilized voters. the neo-Fascist party seemed to signal reappear­ that they defected from Brandt's party. Not only were there massive rallies for the ance of fascism, and that the way this was defeated When, in the face of all this, you recognize the first time since 1949; not only did no less than 338 was by mobilization from below, and open fights rapidity with which the atmosphere changed, the 'groups emerge to approve Brandt's new Ostpolitik, to such an extent that the neo-Fascist Party did voters were mobilized not only in the usual big and help defeat the conservative Christian tandem; not run at all this time; when you consider further industrialized cities, but for the first also in Saar but many of these made known that they do not that the neo-Fascist who parades as if he weren't and Lower Saxony and in the Rhineland, so that intend to disappear after the election but would — Franz Joseph Strauss — had the gall to declaim only in Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg did the continue as a "critical partner" of the ruling Social that the election of Willy Brandt would mean bring­ Christian Union retain a large majority, then you Democrats. In a word — and this is especially true ing back "red fascism" worse than "brown fascism," can really conclude a new page in history has of the youth — it wasn't just an approval of you can see what the voters were rejecting re­ begun in West Germany.

They noted, on leaving, that they plan a cele­ participation of the Palestinians are conceivable— bration of their own to coincide with the bicentennial demonstrate the hardening of the Israeli govern­ Trail of Broken Treaties celebration in 1976. It was in 1876 that the first ment stand. The American Indian Movement, along with 40 Indian War started. What began as the "law and The latest statements of defense minister Moshe to 50 other Indian organizations throughout the U.S. order" of its day has never stopped. They, as the Dayan aim towards the complete annexation of the and Canada, organized a week-long series of pro­ Blacks, will expose the hollowness of American whole of western Palestine while denying political tests and demonstrations called 'the Trail of Broken democracy as against the sham the Nixon Admin­ rights to the Arab inhabitants of Hie West Bank Treaties, whose highlight was the seizure of the istration will celebrate as the modern day war lords. and Gaza Strip, and put further obstacles on the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the U.S. Bureau path towards peace. of Indian Affairs, which they occupied for six days. The open and underground activities of "The At Fort Robinson, Neb., where Oglala Sioux Jewish Defense League" — the smuggling of arms Chief "Crazy Horse" was killed by the U.S. Army A left voice from Israel and the planning of acts of terror abroad—consti­ in 1876, AIM (American Indian Movement) occupied We have received the following statement from tute a grave provocation externally, and a fascist the Indian Museum and threatened to "burn the the Movement for Peace and Security, a coalition attack on accepted democratic procedures inside damn place down if they come at us with mace or of left wing and liberal elements in Israel which Israel. clubs." They demanded that their- stolen lands be is calling for "A Determined! Fight Against the The movement for Peace and Security calls returned to them. Terror and for an Israeli Peace Initiative." upon all peace seekers amongst the various parties In Michigan, Indian demonstrations occurred, * * * and nonparty circles to raise their voices for an demanding that the bones of their ancestors, ex­ Such acts of individual terror as perpetrated at Israeli peace initiative based upon an independent, hibited as tourist attractions, be returned to the the Lod airport, at the Sabena aircraft, and in Israeli policy, non-aligned with the great powers; Indians for proper burial. Munich, constitute a horrible assault not only on for peace without annexations and readiness for a The Indians are particularly disgusted with the Israeli citizens, but strike most seriously at the political solution on the basis of the security council way the Administration of Indian affairs is run, prospects of rapprochment and mutual understand­ resolution No. 242, of November 1967. either by whites or Uncle Tom Indians. They de­ ing between Israel and the Arab states. Such deeds mand the removal of John Crow, Deputy Commis­ of the extreme nationalist Arab circles supported sioner of the Bureau, and Harrison Loesch, Assistant by certain Arab 'governments cause the hardening Sec. of the Interior. Bob Robertson, Director of the of Israel, strengthen its nationalistic circles, and Black control in Terni. National Council of Indian Opportunity, is equally weaken the hands of the groups that recognize the In Tennessee it is usually difficult to tell Re­ objectionable. just rights of the Palestine people for self-determin­ publicans from Democrats; they change sides so The Indians refuse to have funds which are ation in co-existence with' the State of Israel . . . often and always remain the same. But this time their own administered 'for them" as if they were The Movement for Peace and Security, while the new line-up in the Tennessee House of Repre­ a bunch of incompetent children. Nixon may think supporting a determined struggle against terrorism, sentatives — 51 Democrats and 48 Republicans — all Americans are "children," but the only real declares that the acts of retaliation of the Israeli shows that the seven Black Democrats elected hold Americans — the Indians — want none of that. army in Lebanon killed innocent victims among the balance of power! While the occupation of .the Washington office the civilian population. Such acts do not weaken The showdown will come on Jan. 2 when the was taking place, 21 other BIA offices were taken the terror, but cause a chain of reaction and further organization of the House will take place. The seven over throughout the country. Clearly, this is no victims . . . Black members will be in a position to elect a "provincial" affair. The declaration of the prime-minister, Golda Speaker from either party, demand and get appoint­ When they left, the Indians carried with them Meir, that the giving up of large territories by the ments to key committees. Nothing has thrown "the many boxes of what they said were "incriminating Arab states is a condition for peace, and her latest fear of God" into Tennessee whites as Blacks hold­ documents," the case histories of the mismanage­ statement that negotiations are possible with the ing the balance of power. A new page of freedom ment of Indian Affairs over the past 100 years. Arab states only, and that no negotiations with the has been opened, once again, by Blacks.

TWO WORLDS The true history of America (Continued from Page 5) Russian tanks rolled over the Hungarian Freedom from 7776 to today Fighters? Why should they only know of the discrimina­ tion against the Negroes in the South but not know of the extermination of nationalities opposed to Stalinism American Civilization in Russia? VANGUARD - Why should literacy be equated to illiteracy of the on Trial, realities of a world divided into two, and only two, nuclearly armed powers out for conquest of the world? Black Masses as Vanguard Why not allow your new hero, Castro, to know some things about Russia—its cynicism in foreign policy— Part I—From the First through the Second which might easily result in its dropping of Cuba the American Revolution minute it could get a "peaceful co-existence alliance" with America? Why, for that matter, not make yourself Part II—The Still Unfinished Revolution aware that this petty bourgeois lawyer is just as cynical Part III—Imperialism and Racism and could as easily slide into alliance with the Ameri­ Part IV—Nationalism and Imperialism can State Department if it came to face the only truly Part V—'From Depression through World War II independent third force—the masses wishing to mold their own destiny in their own minds sans Fidel Castro, Part VI—The Negro as Touchstone of History Che Guevara and the newly-arisen state bureaucracy? Part VII—Facing the Challenge There is one reason, and one reason only, behind all this self-imposed blindness to the realities of our Third Edition Includes state capitalistic world. One and all are Planners who fear the spontaneity of the revolutionary masses more "Block Caucuses in the Unions," than anything else on earth, including state capitalism. by Charles Denny Fidelistos, like Communists, Trotskyists like other radicals who thirst for power, share the capitalistic Only 75c mentality of the "backwardness of the masses." All are ready "to lead," none to listen. plus 15c postage It has been said of Jesus: "He could save all others. (bulk orders of 10 or more, 60c) Himself he could not save." It needs now to be said of the old radicals: They could save no one, and now they Order from: News & Letters, do not even want to save themselves. The one con­ 1900 E. Jefferson soling feature is their impotence. Far from being cap­ able of dooming the revolution, history will show them Detroit, Mich. 48207 to be the doomed ones.