ICELAND KR200 · NEW ZEALAND $3.00 · SWEDEN KR15 · UK £1.00 · U.S. $1.50 INSIDE Malcolm X: 'It's youth who are THE joining fight vs. oppression' A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 66/NO. 35 SEPTEMBER 23, 2002 100 U.S. and British warplanes launch massive air assault on Iraq Socialists Ill II IJ White House campaign against leads campaign U.S.war moves for imperialist BY ALICE KINCAID war in Mideast CRAIG, Colorado-Jason Alessio, the Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Con­ BY PATRICK O'NEILL gress in the Third District in this state, On September 5 some 100 U.S. and Brit­ launched his campaign at the annual Labor ish warplanes attacked air defenses in the Day gathering in the nearby coal-mining and west of Iraq, striking as close as 50 miles ranching town of Oak Creek. from the Jordanian border. Supporters of Alessio, a union coal In the little-publicized action, nine U.S. miner, set up a campaign table at the event F-15 Strike Eagles and three British Torna­ and introduced the socialist candidate to does took off from airfields in Kuwait, many of the hundreds of working people backed up by dozens of planes performing who attended from towns throughout the such tasks as fighter cover, midair refuel­ area. ing, and reconnaissance. "My campaign presents a fighting, work­ The aircraft dropped their precision­ ing-class alternative to the twin parties of guided bombs on an Iraqi command and big business: the Democrats and Republi­ control facility and military airfield-the cans. Two crucial and related questions fac­ major such installation in the western re­ ing working people are the imperialist war gion of the country. drive and the deepening depression condi­ U.S. and British planes carried out an­ tions in the world;' Alessio said after intro­ other bombing assault, this time southeast ducing himself to Paul Cruz, a retired miner of Baghdad, on September 9. The "past "few and railroad worker from Craig. weeks have seen a resurgence of [hostile] 1 Alessio explained his opposition to . : '8~b~rah Liatos; Powell activity in the no-fly zones," reported one Washington's preparations for launching an Top: Olympia Newton, Socialist Workers can- major British daily. invasion oflraq. He outlined his campaign's , didate for secretary of state in California, cam­ U.S. military officials are organizing a program to unite working people in a fight paigns at August 25 United Farm Workers rally simultaneous buildup of heavy military for jobs, entitlements, and other social gains in Sacramento. Bottom: Jason Alessio, right, equipment in the Arab-Persian Gulf region. that are under attack. socialist candidate for Congress in Colorado, In contrast to the United States, where Cruz replied, "Reagan tried to take away speaks with rancher at Oak Creek Labor Day the scale of the September 5 raid went vir­ railroad retirement and then Clinton-from event. Center: Chicago hotel workers rally tually unreported, prominent papers in the 'my' party, the Democratic Party-got in August 23 for wage hike and lower medical United Kingdom described the attack in and tried the same thing," referring to former costs. Candidates are taking socialist message some detail. Its military purpose "could Continued on Page 5 to fighting workers and farmers everywhere. Continued on Page 9 Protests greet New York City, Saturday, September 28 Hotel workers U.S. bombing Communists and the World Struggle in Chicago exerc1ses• over against Imperialism Today mobilize, Speakers Vieques Jack Barnes Mary-Alice Waters win pay hike BY PATRICK O'NEILL National Secretary, Socialist Workers Party Editor of New International BY CHESSIE MOLANO As U.S. naval forces began another round Jason Alessio Martin Koppel CHICAGO-Hotel workers here, who have been mobilizing in a fight for a con­ of war exercises on the Puerto Rican island UMWA miner, Socialist Workers candidate Editor of the Militant and of Vieques, despite the overwhelming op­ tract, voted 892 to 153 to approve a four-year position of the Puerto Rican population, for U.S. Congress in Colorado Perspectiva Mundial agreement on September 5. Non-tipped workers won wage hikes of $3.27 an hour, residents of Vieques and their supporters Arrin Hawkins Ma'mud Shirvani have stepped up their protests, braving ar­ as well as a reduction in health insurance rests by military police and tear-gas assaults Socialist workers candidate for Farsi editor, costs from $85 per month to $30 over the by U.S. Navy security officers. lieutenant governor in New York State Pathfinder Press four years. The workers also won-for the The ship-to-shore and air-to-ground ma­ Continued on Page 11 neuvers, scheduled to last 23 days, began Olympia Newton September 3. That same night, several pro­ Young Socialists National Leadership Council, testers entered the Navy-occupied land on Socialist Workers candidate for secretary of state in California Also Inside: Vieques. The next morning, five supporters of the Puerto Rican Independence Party •:• Iraq and the Arabian peninsula: Washington's drive to redivide Volunteers set up Pathfinder (PIP) were arrested there and detained at the the region and dominate oil distribution center in Atlanta 2 U.S. military's Camp Garcia. The follow­ ing day, three Vieques residents were held •:• A new world depression is unfolding Bondholders in N.Y. reap and interrogated by FBI agents. The pro­ •:• Deepening contradictions in U.S. labor: opportunities and dangers profits while bosses slash tests have continued virtually daily, despite the arrests. •:• Campaigning for communism and responding to political openings wages and services 3 In New York, on the first day of the bomb­ ing ofVieques, dozens of people held a bois­ Buffet dinner 4:00 p.m., program 5:30 p.m. sharp Protesters in Washington State terous picket in Times Square, near the U.S. oppose cop assault on worker 4 Navy recruiting center. "Vieques si, Marina Frank Altschul Auditorium, 4th Floor, 420 W. I 18th St. [Navy] no," they chanted. at Amsterdam Ave. (on the Columbia University campus) One year later: how Since World War II, when the U.S. gov­ communists responded to ernment used Puerto Rico--its colony in the Hosted by New York/New Jersey SWP: (212) 695-7358; (212) 740-4611; U.S. war drive and 9-11 9 Caribbean-to establish a Navy bombing (973) 481-0077 range on the small island ofVieques, to the Swedish rulers target east of the main island, fishermen and other Sponsors: Socialist Workers Party National Committee workers' rights, social wage 10 Vieques residents have protested the in- Continued on Page 3 Young Socialists National Leadership Council

._ Pathfinder opens new distribution center in Atlanta BY BRIAN TAYLOR of the sharpening international AND ARGIRIS MALAPANIS class struggle, and the steps by so­ ATLANTA-"We are on target to begin cialist workers and youth to take shipping books out tomorrow!" declared advantage of the political oppor­ Holly Harkness to dozens of people gath­ tunities they face today. The dis­ ered here September I to celebrate the open­ tribution center, located near the ing of the Pathfinder distribution center in city's international airport, made Atlanta. an appropriate venue. Those present at the celebration barbe­ On behalf of the Atlanta hosts, cue had just completed two days of volun­ SWP National Committee member teer labor. Participants in this Red Weekend James Harris welcomed the 90 par­ hailed from Charlotte, North Carolina; ticipants and introduced SWP Houston; Miami; New York; and Tampa, leader Norton Sandler, who Florida; as well as Atlanta. chaired the event. By the afternoon of Labor Day, the vol­ unteers had completed setting up the distri­ Turning point bution center for Pathfinder Press, previ­ "The double Red Weekend that Militant/above: Linda Joyce: inset: Dave Wulp ously located in New York. After a ribbon­ we are in the midst of here tonight Pathfinder supporters participate in Red Weekend of volunteer labor to set up revolutionary cutting ceremony to formally launch the new is a real turning point for the party publishing house's distribution center in Atlanta September 1. Inset, Holly Harkness, organizer facility, close to 30 orders of Pathfinder as we have transformed ourselves of distribution center's steering committee, discusses tasks with other supporters. books were prepared for shipping. and the entire movement over the "We've now turned a corner," said last four years," said Socialist Workers Party is the supporters of the communist move­ and the efforts by socialist workers to capi­ Harkness, "toward increasing sales of Path­ leader Mary-Alice Waters in the feature pre­ ment, "a disciplined organization that is talize on political openings that have been finder books many-fold over the coming sentation. marching in lockstep with the party" and around for several years. months and years." "We are creating the printshop and pub­ helping to "qualitatively transform the le­ Harkness, organizer of the Atlanta-based lishing house that we need today-one that verage and outreach" of the revolutionary A transit point, not a warehouse steering committee that will centralize the is sustainable with the forces and resources party today. "This distribution center is a transit point, work of the new distribution center, headed we have, without having to give up a single These supporters are now taking respon­ not a warehouse," said Sandler. "Books will up the three-day effort. The other members one" of the books in Pathfinder's ambitious sibility for a campaign to increase the sales come here from Pathfinder's printshop in of the committee are Bob Braxton and publishing program," she said. "In fact, quite of Pathfinder books, she noted. With such New York to be shipped rapidly to all parts Maceo Dixon, also supporters of the SWP the opposite. We have transformed the books an effort, they will help to "begin to reverse of the world to reach working people and in Atlanta, and party leader Paul Mailhot. into much more attractive, readable, and what is probably the single biggest discrep­ youth involved in struggles." The August 31-September 2 effort fol­ usable tools, and expanded significantly our ancy between the potential of our movement The work done by supporters of the com­ lowed a Red Weekend in New York one capacity to produce new literature." and what we have actually realized"-the munist movement in Atlanta over the last week earlier, in which 130 volunteers from Waters illustrated her point by referring level of sales and distribution of Pathfinder 18 months played a big role in the city's across the country packed the books, shelv­ to three books whose blown-up covers were books. She stated that sales ofthese revolu­ selection as the site of the new distribution ing, and other material into more than I ,200 displayed at the front of the meeting. They tionary titles can be rapidly multiplied by center, he said. At the same time as they have boxes and readied them for their southern were the new French-language edition of at least four or five times. made solid contributions to Pathfinder's journey. There they also accomplished other The History ofAmerican Trotskyism, 19 28- "What we are entering into now in the Reprint Project, which began as an effort to tasks in the ongoing transformation of the 38: Report of" a Participant, by James P. world is a period that will last for years," digitize all Pathfinder titles and has ex­ facilities in New York where revolutionary Cannon, just printed with a new preface af­ Waters said, "an extended period of capi­ panded as the supporters have taken on in­ books and pamphlets, along with the Mili­ ter the first edition sold out within three talist economic crisis and of depression con­ creasing responsibilities, they have made tant and Perspectiva Mundial, are published months; the upcoming, first-ever Spanish­ ditions that are intertwined with accelerat­ advances in selling Pathfinder books and (see "Expanding communist propaganda language edition of Malcolm X Talks to ing wars by imperialism. The preparation pamphlets to commercial bookstores and and political education of working people" Young People; and October 1962: The 'Mis­ for war against Iraq is the sharpest"-but libraries. in September 16 issue of the Militant). sile' Crisis as Seen from Cuba, by Cuban not the only-"assault on the horizon," she "Volunteers in the Reprint Project have A public meeting on the evening of Au­ author Tomas Diez Acosta, scheduled for said, emphasizing that the imperialists them­ risen to the challenge of producing new gust 31 helped the Atlanta volunteers place publication in October. selves can't predict the broader scope and books, not just reprints," said panelist Jim their collective effort in the broader context Key to this successful effort, Waters said, outcome of this offensive. Altenberg, a member of the project's San At the same time, Waters explained, "the Francisco-based steering committee. "We giant speculative bubble that ended the up­ are now producing books in languages other ward part of the cycle of the long waves of than English-and not just in Spanish and capitalist development has burst." The weak­ French, but in Icelandic, which has a differ­ ening of the giant debt structure that was ent alphabet. I look forward to Farsi." THE built up through the 1990s, she said, "threat­ Altenberg elaborated on the plans to in­ MILITANT ens to bring down the entire house of cards crease sales of revolutionary books through for the imperialists. The capitalist equilib­ major outlets. The steering committee has rium established by the imperialist victors launched a campaign to place Pathfinder Justice for janitors in Boston in World War II is now, at an accelerating books and pamphlets in dozens of book­ pace, becoming destabilized." stores and libraries across the country, he From janitors who clean office How this crisis, unfolding over years, will said. Volunteers have set a goal of 200 pro­ buildings in Boston to hotel be resolved depends on the class struggle, motional visits by October 15, the publica­ workers in Chicago and San Waters said, and on "the capacity of com­ tion date of October 1962: The 'Missile' munist forces to play a leadership role in Crisis as Seen ji-om Cuba, sales of which Francisco, working people are those struggles that are coming." will be at the center of this stepped-up work. resisting the bosses' assaults and The other members of the panel at the Supporters will also promote the new Span­ battling for improved wages, meeting took up different aspects of the ish-language edition of Malcolm X Talks to health benefits, and conditions. book publication and distribution program, Continued on Page 11 The 'Militant' brings you a fighting working-class perspec­ Asia: send $80 drawn on a U.S. bank to above tive. Don't miss a single issue! .Justice for Janitors The Militant address . Canada: Send Canadian $75 for one-year Vol. 66/No. 35 subscription to Militant, 1237 Jean-Talon est, Closing news date: September II, 2002 :'vlontreal, QC. Postal Code: H2R 1W l. Editor: MARTiN KOPPEL Britain, Ireland: £50 for one year by check SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Business Manager: JACK WILLEY or intemational money order made out to Mili­ Editorial Staff: Roger Calero. Jack Willey, Brian tant Distribution, 4 7 The Cut. London, SE 1 8LF, Williams. and Maurice Williams. England. Continental Europe, Africa, Middle NEW READERS Young Socialists column editor: ROMINA East: £70 for one year by check or intemational GREEN money order made out to Militant Distribution Published weekly except for one week in June, at above address. 0 $10 for 12 issues NAME August and December. France: Send 65 euros for one-year subscrip­ The Militant (ISSN 0026-3885). 410 West St., tion to Militant, Centre MBE 175, 23 rue Lecourbe, 75015 Paris; cheque postale: 40 134 ADDRESS New York. NY 10014. 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2 The Militant September 23, 2002 NY rulers use bonds to reap profits while they slash wages, services

BY JACK WILLEY main vehicles they use to expand the wealth When New York City mayor Michael of the ruling rich at the expense of working Bloomberg presented a $41.4 billion bud­ people. get plan earlier this year he proposed slash­ New York City, like many cities in the ing funds to the Administration for United States, is always in debt. It does not Children's Services by nearly 18 percent and raise enough funds through taxes to cover services for workers who are homeless by its expenses. That shortfall is made up by 17 percent. Programs for the elderly were issuing bonds-a source of easy profits for to meet a similar fate. the parasitic ruling families. The mayor is seeking to eliminate $225 Issuing a bond is similar to taking out a million in pension and health benefits owed loan. For example, the Port Authority of New to city workers and plans to scale back the York and New Jersey issued S934 million in Thousands of city workers in Manhattan in to oppose to building of new schools by 20 percent. And bonds in 1997 to finance the construction of their health-care benefits. Capitalist rulers target working people's wages and social his administration has raised taxes on ciga­ a new terminal at JFK International Airport. entitlements while prioritizing payment of billions of dollars in bonds to rich investors. rettes, which now cost $7.50 a pack. It sold coupons to the financial houses Demonstrating his heartfelt concern for Lehman Brothers and Citicorp, which are Ross Perot, for instance, is one of the big­ the state constitution to issuing only gen­ working people who have been pushed out middlemen that turn around and sell the gest individual holders of municipal bonds eral obligation bonds with a cap on how of their homes, the billionaire resident of bonds to the capitalist families. The Port in the United States. much debt the city can incur, the rulers have Gracie Mansion opened up an old prison with Authority agreed to pay an average of 6.2 set up a host of different corporations to sell lead paint on the walls for a rapidly rising percent interest a year on a variety of bonds. Rising cost of debt service bonds. These include the Municipal Water number of homeless families to sleep in. Written on each bond are the words, "Full New York City owes $42 billion to bond­ Authority. the Health and Hospitals Corpo­ Bloomberg has cast his plans to slash so­ faith and credit," meaning the government holders, which would translate into some ration, the Dorn1itory Authority of the State cial entitlements in terms of the need for body that issues them guarantees they will S5,000 "owed" by each city resident. This of New York, the Transitional Finance Au­ "fiscal responsibility." He claims he has no be paid. And the guarantee is that bondhold­ figure has more than doubled during the thority, and the Tobacco Settlement Asset choice but to make cuts that hit working ers will always be at the head of the line "boom years" of the 1990s. A large portion Securitization Corporation. people the hardest in order to make up for a when it comes to the city budget. They are of the city budget goes toward paying off The city issued tobacco bonds in 1999, "budget deficit." never on the list of those who must "share these obligations. In 2002 the city will spend and is considering doing so again. It is sell­ In response to these attacks, a series of the pain," as Bloomberg prescribed for one out of every five tax dollars to pay debt ing coupons backed by promised funds from labor struggles have taken place in recent working people. When a city builds up a service-principal and interest-straight a national lawsuit settlement with tobacco months. More than 5,000 transit workers deficit. it's the wages and benefits of city into the coffers of these billionaire coupon companies, which are to pay the money over rallied April 24 to defend their health-care employees. as well as city services and pub­ clippers. a 25-year period. benefits, and workers struck the bus lines in lic education that working people rely on, In the state budget. debt service costs are The cash up front does not come free. Queens for two months this past summer that take a back seat. This dirty little secret the fastest-growing categories of spending. Because of the extra risk involved, the city around the same issue. is never explained in the daily barrage of Some S4.4 billion dollars was turned over is paying a premium to those who buy the School teachers organized a number of articles by the big-business press on the to bondholders in the last fiscal year, a 4 7 tobacco bonds. Interest rates for these bonds protests for pay increases after having been "budget crisis." percent increase from 1997. New York's generally run 40 basis points (I basis point without a contract since November 2000. State comptroller Carl McCall. now the S I. 948 in debt per person is more than equals 0.01 percent) higher than debt backed Many involved in these struggles do not Democratic Party candidate for governor. double the national average and ranks fourth by income tax revenues and 30 basis points buy City Hall's argument that working said that since 1998 in New York City. "stop­ highest among the states in tax-supported higher than general obligation debt paid out people must be the ones to put their heads gap measures have substituted for the hard­ debt per person. from general revenues. on the chopping block. They know what choice changes that must be made if capital Just how much do the city and state gov­ Another agency. the Port Authority of Bloomberg is not saying: some people won't programs are to succeed." signaling deeper ernments combined pay each year in debt New York and New Jersey, owns and oper­ be "sharing the pain" or "making the sacri­ cuts in social services and other programs. service to the superwealthy minority? Some ates the region's three major airports, New fices." Municipal bonds. together with U.S. $8 billion. not counting "independent" pub­ York/New Jersey bridge and tunnel cross­ Treasury bills. are the prerogative of the very lic agencies whose debt and interest pay­ ings, port districts. and the PATH commuter Municipal bonds rich. They are not sold directly to the pub­ ments far exceed both the city and state. rail system. The wealthy rulers work hard to cover up lic, but through registered broker dealers. To top it otf, municipal bonds are tax free. To pay for bonds issued on a $9 billion the class realities of their system of exploi­ Each coupon sells for tens of thousands of The wealthy holders of state and local debt five-year capital program, the Port Author­ tation, including how city governments op­ dollars. putting them well out of the reach do not have to pay any federal. state, or lo­ ity jacked up fares and tolls in 2001. Tolls erate to serve the interests of the billionaire of working people and many in the middle cal taxes on the interest they rake in. at bridges and tunnels went from S4 to S6 minority. Municipal bonds arc one of the class. Billionaire ex-presidential candidate Because New York City is constrained by and fares on the PATH train rose from $1 to a S 1.50. Port Authority Chief Operating Officer Ernesto Butcher claimed. "The new toll and Protests greet Navy exercises on Vieques fare structure is a well-reasoned plan that will address traffic congestion by providing trav­ Continued from front page elers with an incentive to change their com­ fringemcnt of the U.S. military on their land. muting habits to ofT-peak hours, and by en­ Many in Puerto Rico have opposed couraging the use of mass transit." Washington's use ofVieques over the years In fact. the increases are another form of as a training ground for invasions or assaults taxation of working people and the middle on other countries, from Grenada and N ica­ class. ragua to Yugoslavia and now Iraq. In addi­ The Port Authority runs a S4.5 billion tion, the repeated bombings, as well as the annual budget. Of that. S500 million a year storage of hazardous materials, have had a is handed over to bondholders for payments devastating effect on the residents' liveli­ on interest and principal. hoods and health. The rulers don't leave to chance who will The protests erupted anew in 1999, when oversee these massive financial operations. a U.S. warplane dropped an "errant" bomb For example, the chairman of the Metropoli­ that killed a local resident, David Sanes. tan Transit Authority (MTA), Peter Kalikow, Since then, thousands have taken to the is president of H.J. Kalikow & Co., one of streets of Puerto Rico and several U.S. cit­ New York City's largest real estate finns. He ies with large Puerto Rican populations to is also the governor of the Real Estate Board demand the Navy's withdrawal. Numerous of New York and fom1er owner and publisher protesters have entered the Navy-occupied oftheNevr York Post. Although the MTA does territory in acts of mass civil disobedience not post its profits, it collects fares from more that have enjoyed wide popularity in Puerto than 2.3 billion subway, bus, and commuter Rico. Up to 1.500 protesters have been ar­ rail riders each year; and tolls on the bridges rested for "trespassing" and other charges. and tunnels from 300 million drivers a year. In face of these sustained demonstrations. Opponent of the U.S. Navy in Vieques, Puerto Rico, holds one of the smaller U.S. In addition to New York State's $38 bil­ then-president William Clinton signed an bombs used by the Pentagon in its war exercises on the island. lion debt. the total debt at the end of 2000 agreement with the colonial governor at the for public corporations such as the MTA and time, Pedro Rossell6. saying that the U.S. planes in the USS Harrv S. Truman Battle 51 square miles. the Port Authority stood at $65.8 billion. Navy would withdraw by May 2003 if Group. The round of exercises-the first Over the past year. U.S. courts have been Added together, the serviceable debt from Vicqucs residents voted for such action in a since April and the third since September handing down stiffer sentences and fines the New York City government, state gov­ referendum. While U.S. authorities canceled II oflast year-was launched as the White against opponents of the Naval exercises ernment. and state-backed agencies comes the scheduled November 200 I referendum. House cranked up its preparations for an since Washington accelerated its prepara­ to more than $145 billion-a virtually end­ a big majority voted for immediate with­ invasion of Iraq. tions for war abroad and attacks on work­ less trough for the capitalist class. drawal of the Navy in a nonbinding refer­ By the third day of their three-week du­ ers· rights in the United States. Robert That is why city workers are right when endum organized in July by the Puerto Rican ration, the exercises were getting into full Rabin. a leader of the Committee for the they reject the "budget deficit" argument administration of Sila Calderon. Since swing. as a squadron of F-14 and F-18 jets Rescue and Development of Vieques, was used by big-business politicians to justify George Bush took office his administration dropped bombs on the 900-acre bombing given a six-month sentence; he is due to be their austerity demands. For the labor move­ has verbally said it will abide by the Clinton­ range at the island's eastern tip, and the de­ released in October, reported Ismael ment, the needs of working people-not the Rosell6 accord. but the continued military stroyer USS Briscoe and the guided missile Guadalupe. another leader of the commit­ employers and wealthy coupon-clippers­ maneuvers have created skepticism among destroyer USS Mitscher fired five-inch tee. Six-month sentences against anti-Navy must come first. many opponents of the Navy's presence. shells and other munitions, along with tlare protesters have increasingly become the The current maneuvers involve I 0 sur­ tracers. in ship-to-shore training. The Navy norm. Guadalupe said in a telephone inter­ Jack Willey is the Socialist Workers candi­ face ships, 2 attack submarines and 80 claims more than two-thirds of the island's view from Vieques. datefor NeH· York State comptrolla September 23, 2002 The Militant 3 Socialist campaigning helps kick off 10-week subscription drive BY JACK WILLEY ist press and some $850 in Pathfinder books. In the opening weekend of the fall sub­ On September 9 socialist workers in Ala­ scription and book campaign, supporters of bama kicked off their campaign at a march the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial started in Anniston to protest the U.S. Army's out strong in cities around the country and planned start-up of a chemical weapons in­ internationally. The drive, running from cinerator at the local army depot. Residents September 7 to November 17, is a combined have fought the project for years. effort to sell I, I 00 new and renewed sub­ Susan LaMont, socialist candidate for scriptions to the Militant and 500 to U.S. Senate, lent her solidarity and ex­ Perspectiva Mundial, as well as 725 copies plained her opposition to imperialism and of Capitalism's World Disorder: Working­ its mounting war drive against Iraq, receiv­ Class Politics at the Millennium and New ing a good response from the largely youth­ International magazine. The Socialist Work­ ful protesters. LaMont and her supporters ers election campaigns, presenting an alter­ sold a subscription and 17 copies of the native to the twin parties of the ruling rich Militant as well as a copy of Malcolm X and their drive toward war and economic Talks to Young People. depression, are giving a boost to the drive. Lisa Potash from Chicago reported that In the run-up to the campaign, Socialist one worker bought a Perspectiva Mundial Workers candidates and their supporters in subscription at a picnic involving California racked up some impressive re­ meatpacking workers embroiled in a fight sults in sales to fann workers. Bernie Senter for benefits following the closing of their from San Francisco reported that at the plant. United Farm Workers (UFW) convention "We also sold a Militant subscription re­ \1ilitant!Darryl Sheppard held on the August 31-September I week­ newal and a new subscription to Per.1pectim Sam Manuel, Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of Washington, D.C., campaign­ end, participants picked up nine subscrip­ Mundial along with a copy of Nueva Inter­ ing at the University of the District of Columbia. Socialist candidates are getting a tions to the Militant and I 0 to Perspectim national at a Militant Labor Forum," she good hearing among workers and young people, helping to boost subscription effort. Mundial. noted. Nan Bailey and Deborah Liatos, the so­ Socialist candidates in Chicago carried A fom1cr co-worker of Rottach 's cialist candidates for state governor and U.S. out soapbox street campaigning in a work­ from ConAgra ·s Northern States Militant/Perspediva Mundial Congress respectively, attended the conven­ ing-class neighborhood. netting one new Beef plant told campaigners. "You tion and set up a campaign table. Farm work­ subscriber to the A1ilitant and four to guys are nonstop!" He had run into Subscription Drive Goals ers from Watsonville, Oxnard, and the San Perspectint Mundial. and signing up those them on street tables before, and this Joaquin Valley. as well as high school stu­ interested in the campaign. time decided to buy a copy of September 7-November 17 dents and others. bought the paper and At a sale at the entrance to a Perdue meat Penpectim Mundial and Cuha and processing plant in the Charlotte area. one magazine. A longshore worker from Los the Coming American Remlution. Militant PM Book Angeles who was interested in learning worker asked. ''So this magazine will ex­ Several others bought copies of the Country Goal Goal Goal more about the Cuban Revolution and com­ plain how we can fight for the working paper. Australia 28 6 12 munist leader Emesto Chc Guevara bought class?" When he was told yes. he pulled out The Militant oflice has been sent Canada $30 in Pathfinder books. He had purchased his money and said. 'Til try it out." other examples of the interest among Montreal 15 10 20 previous issues of the Militant on the docks. Socialist campaigners for Lisa Rottach. working people and youth in the Toronto 30 5 25 who is running for governor of Nebraska. socialist press and books that explain Another participant took advantage of the Vancouver 30 5 20 S25 special offer for the Militant and found a similar hunger for political ideas as the underpinnings of the world cri­ Canada total 75 20 65 Capitalism's World Disorder. they campaigned leading up to Labor Day sis facing capitalism today. We look Iceland 9 25 The total sales for the 11-day UFW march weekend. Meatpackers at Nebraska Beef in forward to receiving more. All con­ New Zealand from Merced to Sacramento, the August 25 Omaha were greeted by campaign support­ tributions to this column should be Auckland 20 5 Sacramento rally suppot1ing the farm work­ ers at a table near the plant that featured sent to the Militant no later than Christchurch 12 1 4 ers' struggles to organize. and the UFW con­ poster-size copies of the front page of the Sunday evening in order to make it N.Z. total 32 2 9 vention totaled 35 subscriptions to the social- Militant and Penpectiva Mundial. into the following issue. Sweden Gothenburg 15 3 10 Stockholm 12 3 5 Sweden Total 27 6 15 Protesters in Washington sYakima Valley United Kingdom Dundee 10 8 London 45 15 20 oppose cop assault and frame-up ofworker UK total 55 15 28 United States BY DENNIS BRYSON including 15 children. According to other witnesses. Atlanta 35 15 25 YAKIMA. Washington--In an angry pro­ "One cop showed up and told us to turn children were roughed up and pep­ Birmingham 22 10 12 test against police violence. dozens of down the music and lights. We did." she said. per sprayed by the cops. Lucil Boston 28 20 25 people marched in front of the police head­ "An hour later more police came and wanted Jimenez said. "We took two children Brooklyn 50 25 40 quarters here September 3. chanting in En­ to speak to my husband. They wanted him to the hospital. One was five and the Brownsville 8 2 6 glish and Spanish. "Stop Police Brutality'' to come outside off our property to speak to other II. The five year old was Charlotte 20 8 20 and "Drop the Charges." They were de­ them. My husband refused. More police bleeding from the nose from the Chicago 45 30 25 manding that the cops who beat and arrested came and one rushed into the house and pepper spray and the hospital re­ Cleveland 28 7 15 Ricardo Jimenez be prosecuted and that the knocked Ricardo to the floor. The cop hand­ fused to treat her because we had Des Moines 25 12 12 charges against him be dropped. cuffed him and then began beating him. no msurance.'' Detroit 43 12 25 The Jimenez family was hosting a bap­ "More police came into the house and one Among the pickets were repre­ Houston 35 15 30 tism party for their two-year-old son on hit an 11-ycar-old girl with a baton. and they sentatives of the Washington Alli­ Los Angeles 45 30 25 August 31 when the gathering was attacked pepper sprayed everyone in sight. includ­ ance for Immigrants and Refugees. Miami 30 10 25 by police. Lucil Jimenez. wife of Ricardo. ing the children." United Farm Workers (UFW), West­ NE Pennsylvania 30 7 15 reported there were 40 guests at her home. The police claim Jimenez's guests at­ ern Council of Industrial Workers. Newark 55 35 25 NY Garment Dist. 65 35 60 tacked them. One cop told the Yakima and Socialist Workers Party. Omaha 15 23 12 Herald-Republic. "A crowd of 30 to 50 U FW organizer Ana Guzman said Philadelphia 25 10 15 people began hitting oftlccrs and tugging in an interview, ''I am here to sup­ From Pathfmder Pittsburgh 40 4 15 at their firearms." The newspaper also port my community and all those San Francisco 30 20 20 The Working Class and the noted that according to court papers. the who are treated like this. I'm op­ Seattle 40 12 30 Transformation of Learning cops reported they hit Ricardo Jimenez posed to police brutality and came Tampa 25 8 12 "several times." to demand justice for Ricardo. Tucson 1 The Fraud of 5 5 Lucil Jimenez replied. "The police are Rogelio Montes. an organizer for Twin Cities 55 30 25 Education lying about being attacked. Almost half the Western Council of Industrial Upper Manhattan 50 35 30 Reform under of the guests at my house were under 12 Workers and an organizer of the pro­ Washington 30 12 25 Capitalism years old. We don't know why they beat test. said. "I was a guest at the cel­ Western Colorado 20 10 12 my husband.'' ebration and I saw what happened. U.S. total 438 By Jack Barnes 899 586 Another witness to the assault was We organized this protest in less than lnt'l totals 1125 488 740 "Unti I society is DemencioAbundiz, cousin of26-year-old 24 hours. It is a good start. We are Goal/Should be 1100 500 725 reorganized so that Ricardo. "The police got angry at my out here to get justice. We will do IN THE UNIONS education is a cousin because he refused to go outside another picket this Friday." Militant PM Book the house and told the police they could human activity from Jimenez, who is being held on Goal Goal Goal not come inside." he said. "The police S25.000 bail. was arraigned Septem­ the time we are very New Zealand would not tell him what they wanted. young until the time L:L:::l!L.o'---.....,-"..:...-"""'...J ber 5. He was charged with two NDU 2 Ricardo refused and they attacked him. we die, there will be counts of assaulting a police officer. MWU 3 1 We videotaped the attack. They even no education worthy of working, forgery. resisting anest. and giving a Total 5 2 pointed a gun at me and told me to turn false statement to police. If convicted creating humanity. That is the historic United States off the camera. The cops think they can truth." $3.00 of all charges Jimenez could face UMWA 25 4 13 do whatever they want." Describing the more than 16 years in prison and pay Available from bookstores listed on page UNITE 50 40 60 huge police presence. Abundiz said. "I up to S36.000 in tines. Members of UFCW 50 65 60 8 or visit www.pathfinderpress.com stopped counting at 17 patrol cars. includ­ the Jimenez family and their support­ Total 125 109 133 ing riot police and dogs." ers arc raising funds to cover the bai I. 4 The Militant September 23, 2002 Socialists campaign against imperialist war

Continued from front page Another team went to the Trapper Mine, a presidents Ronald Reagan and William union surface mine, and received a similar Clinton. response. One miner stopped and said, "Yeah, The Third Congressional District encom­ I heard he threw his hat in the ring this morn­ passes most of western Colorado, includ­ ing on the radio. I wish him good luck." ing all of Colorado's working coal mines Over the weekend, Alessio and his sup­ and much of its sheep ranches. Alessio, 25, porters went to the town of Meeker and set is an underground miner at the Deserado up a campaign table at a bluegrass band con­ mine in Rangely, Colorado. He is a mem­ cert in the park, speaking with many ranch­ ber of United Mine Workers of America ers and miners. A Rio Blanco Herald reporter (UMWA) Local 1984. Alessio is also a approached Alessio to ask for an interview. member of the Young Socialists. Socialists also campaigned door to door, went to a sheepdog contest, and set up a table 'No foreclosures' at a store in Craig to meet working people. This year's drought has forced ranchers At the store, one rancher, who said he lost in this state to sell more than half of their most of his crop and has received no govern­ herds at rock-bottom prices because they ment aid, volunteered to give Alessio a tour cannot afford to buy hay to feed the cattle. of the drought-stricken ranch land around At the Labor Day event, rancher Susan Rossi Craig and help write an article for the Mili­ told Alessio, 'The hay program doesn't meet tant, to which he decided to subscribe. the needs of local ranchers, with the price ·:· of hay up to $185 a ton plus costs for truck­ Militant/Ilona Gersh ing." He explained to her, "Our campaign Don Mackie, center, Socialist Workers candidate for governor of Michigan, won a good BY MARTIN KOPPEL calls on the federal government to provide hearing from workers at the Detroit Labor Day festival. Socialist Workers campaigners around the immediate, massive relief funds for all work­ country hit the streets on Labor Day week­ ing farmers and ranchers affected by the distributed dozens of campaign statements "Another co-worker asked about my cam­ end. In several cities they went to the local drought. We join in the fight to demand an and sold 12 copies of the Militant, a sub­ paign. I told him this campaign is not about Labor Day rallies to present their commu­ end to farm and ranch foreclosures." scription to Perspectiva Mundial, and sev­ me-it's about workers and farmers stand­ nist perspective to other workers. They met Rossi's husband was president of a UMWA eral Pathfinder books. ing up and defending our rights. He said he several workers interested in the campaign. local at a surface mine during a fight in the When campaign director Jeff Powers went was glad I was running." Because of the pro-war, patriotic theme of 1980s when the company, Energy Fuel, de­ to Denver to submit a notarized affidavit at Campaigners also took the socialist alter­ the rallies organized by the AFL-CIO cided to close the mine and open up the non­ the secretary of state's office to certify Alessio native to the big Colowyo surface mine, officialdom, the socialist campaigners did not union, underground Twenty Mile mine. "We as an official write-in candidate, he was in­ where they gave out a lot of flyers and sold march in the parades, but they plunged into organized a real fight, setting up picket lines terviewed by the Pueblo Chieftain and the two copies of the Militant. Alessio was joined political discussions and received a wide at the mine and getting the word out in Associated Press. Coverage onAlessio's cam­ by two supporters with a prominent sign read­ hearing from unionists they spoke with. coalfields throughout the country," she said. paign appeared in the Chieftain and on radio ing, "Alessio for Congress-Socialist Work­ In New York, the Central Labor Council During the Labor Day action, many young stations throughout the region. ers Party-No to Washington's Imperialist officials had organized a rally ceremony people came up to the campaign table and "Our campaign is getting quite a response War Drive." Just about every car stopped and that, in the name of commemorating "our signed up to find out more about the activi­ from my co-workers," Alessio reported. "A miners in several cars spoke to the candidate union brothers and sisters who died" on Sep­ ties of Young Socialists for Alessio. They surface miner I worked with came up to me at length. One miner, at first thinkingAlessio tember 11, gave union cover to the U.S. em­ were attracted to the socialists' opposition to and asked, 'Is it true you are running for was a Democrat or Republican, said neither ployers' drive toward a war of plunder in Washington's war drive and interested in the Congress?' He had heard it announced on a party represented working people. When he the Mideast. Nonetheless, socialist cam­ perspective of making a revolution to bring Utah radio station. He shook my hand and realized Alessio was running on the Social­ paigners set up a table next to the crowd about a workers and farmers government. said, 'That's great!' He called over another ist Workers ticket he said, "Oh, you are the and engaged in nonstop discussions. "Not By the end of the day campaigners had co-worker and told him I was running. type of candidate I vote for!" only did we not encounter any hostile re­ sponse from workers there, we sold out all 15 copies of the Militant we had brought with us, and we passed out a lot of cam­ New contributors to Pathfinder Fund are key paign leaflets," reported Margaret Trowe, Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Con­ BY MAGGIE TROWE From the very beginning, the campaign­ are also sending fund appeal letters to po­ gress in the 14th District. The $105,000 Pathfinder Fund campaign ers are working to raise and collect funds tential contributors. ln northeastern Pennsylvania, Betsy is off and running. Across the United States on a steady, weekly basis, which means col­ Steve Clark, editorial director of Path­ Farley, the Socialist Workers candidate for and other countries, supporters of lecting $9,450 a week internationally for finder, will speak on "Imperialism's Course U.S. Congress in the 11th District, launched Pathfinder's efforts to publish books and each of the 11 weeks of the drive. To ensure Toward Depression and War" at meetings her campaign by joining the picket lines of pamphlets on revolutionary working-class this, contributors are being urged to make both in New York's Garment District fund striking teachers in Hazleton, and meeting politics are soliciting contributions from regular payments on their pledges. meeting, on September 13, and in Newark, garment workers at the entrance to the Hol­ fellow workers, farmers, young people, and Pathfinder partisans in Philadelphia or- New Jersey, on September 20. Clark is edi­ lander Home Fashions plant in Frackville. others. ganized a successful fund-raising meeting tor of the new, expanded edition ofMalcolm At the Labor Day parade they received a September 7. They hosted a forum X Talks to Young People, which, along with warm response from numerous workers. A on the class struggle in South the first-ever Spanish-language edition, retired garment worker, part of a group of $105,000 America today and prospects for Malcolm X habla a Ia juventud, is being retired unionists, said she was glad to hear Pathfinder Fund building the communist movement released this fall. The meetings help fund someone speaking up against Washington's in the United States. The featured campaigners bolster their efforts to solicit war campaign. A young janitor said he was Goal Paid % speakers were Militant and new contributions and to gather payments registered to vote Socialist Workers but it Charlotte 3,000 1,100 37% Perspectiva Mundial editor Martin on pledges. was the first time he had met an SWP can­ San Francisco 8,500 1,350 16% Koppel and Young Socialists leader In New York, Pathfinder supporters have didate. He invited Bill Shriver, a young so­ Romina Green, both of whom went also been stepping up their work to promote Western Colorado 2,600 375 14% cialist campaigner, to come back and dis­ to Paraguay and Argentina in July and sell revolutionary titles to bookstores, cuss the campaign the next weekend. Pittsburgh 4,200 400 10% to meet working people and youth libraries, and other outlets. At the Philadelphia Labor Day rally, a team Newark 3,600 323 9% looking for a communist perspec- Gale Shangold, who directs the book of campaigners introduced Hilda Cuzco, the NY Garment District 5,000 430 9% tive. sales effort in New York, said, "New York socialist candidate for lieutenant governor in Boston 2,700 200 7% Local fund director Bob Stanton City supporters know we are in one of the Pennsylvania, to workers in different union Des Moines 1,200 75 6% reports, "Their political talks made best book markets in the world, whose po­ contingents, including members of the Union Miami 2,100 120 6% clear the impact of the books from tential we've never tapped. We have taken a ofNeedletrades, Industrial and Textile Em­ Birmingham 3,100 100 3% Pathfinder and the revolutionary goal of making 25 visits to book buyers by ployees (UNITE), International Long­ Upper Manhattan 3,600 110 3% continuity they represent for fight- October 15. We've already made six visits. shoremen's Association (ILA), Laborers In­ ers around the world today. During We plan to send out a promotional flyer on Philadelphia 3,500 100 3% ternational Union, and teachers union. the collection, seven new pledges Pathfinder's new book, October 1962: The Many of the longshore workers, orga­ Houston 4,500 115 3% were made, bringing the total 'Missile' Crisis as Seen from Cuba by nized in the ILA or Laborers, were particu­ Northeast PA 1,200 15 1% pledged from the area up to Tomas Diez Acosta, by e-mail and fax to larly interested in the Socialist Workers Atlanta 4,250 50 1% $4, 140." This meant an increase in 200 buyers as a way to get appointments championing of the West Coast longshore Omaha 900 10 1% Philadelphia's goal from $3,500. and orders." workers battle for a contract and their op­ Tampa 2,000 20 1% "Another project we will be tackling is to position to the U.S. government using "na­ Expanding first-time Detroit 3,000 20 1% send a press release to periodicals in the tional security" as a pretext to intervene on contributors Chicago 5,500 25 0% area, including newspapers with readerships the side of the shipping bosses. A young Stanton points out that "several in the Black and Latino communities," Laborer and an ILA member in particular Los Angeles 9,500 10 0% of the pledges are from first-time Shangold said. This new book will come off expressed interest and signed up to be con­ Brooklyn 3,200 0 0% contributors who appreciate Path- the presses on the eve of the 40th anniver­ tacted about the Young Socialists for Lane Cleveland 1,500 0 0% finder books and want to help in sary of when Washington pushed the world and Cuzco. Anthony Lane, a union coal Seattle 7,500 0 0% getting them out to more people. to the precipice of nuclear war by threaten­ miner in Pittsburgh, is the Socialist Work­ Twin Cities 5,000 0 0% One worker from the area near the ing to bomb and invade revolutionary Cuba ers candidate for governor of the state. Washington DC 3,000 0 0% bookstore took a pledge envelope if it did not remove nuclear missiles sup­ In New York, a team of supporters of so­ Other 574 with him to consider what his plied by the Soviet Union. Diez describes cialist congressional candidate William U.S. Total 94,150 5,522 6% pledge should be, promising to re- in the book how "Cuba defended, with dig­ Estrada soapboxed in Washington Heights. tum it later this week." nity and courage, its self-determination and Sweden 1,400 100 7% "We took turns getting up on the milk crate," Pathfinder Fund campaigners in sovereignty," staying the hand of the impe­ said Seth Dellinger, one of those campaign­ New Zealand 1,200 40 3% some cities are considering taking rialist warmakers. ing with Young Socialists for Koppel and Australia 1,300 0 0% on a goal for how many first-time October 1962 and other Pathfinder titles Hawkins, the SWP gubernatorial ticket. Canada 4,500 0 0% contributors they can win through will be featured at the Pathfinder booth at "Afterward, some of us went to the cam­ Iceland 150 0 0% the course of the drive. Their ob- the "New York is Book Country" street fair paign headquarters and took part in a class United Kingdom 1,200 0 0% jective is to expand the campaign September 29, where several hundred thou­ on one of the pamphlets we've been cam­ France well beyond longtime supporters of sand people will browse the book stalls set paigning with, The Working Class and the International total 103,900 6,236 6% Pathfinder books to include others up along Fifth Avenue. It will be a golden Transformation of Learning, by Jack who know they depend on these opportunity to gain new readers of Path­ lnt'l goal/should be 105,000 9,450 9% Barnes. We were joined by a young electri­ revolutionary political tools. They finder books and literature. cian who just met our campaign." September 23, 2002 The Militant 5 ._ MALCOLM X TALKS TO YOUNG PEOPLE 'It's young people who are joining figh1 Pathfinder to release new, expanded edition of 'Malcolm X Talks to Yot

This fall Pathfinder Press will is­ responsible for the racism that ex­ sue a new, expanded edition of ists in this country, along with the Malcolm X Talks to Young People, as Republican Party. The leading rac­ well as the first-ever Spanish-lan­ ists in this country are Democrats. guage edition, Malcolm X habla a Ia Goldwater isn't the leading racist­ juventud. Printed below are excerpts he's a racist but not the leading rac­ from two pieces that appear in the ist.2 The racists who have influence book. The first is from an interview in Washington, D.C., are Demo­ Malcolm gave to the Young Socialist crats. If you check, whenever any magazine on Jan. 18, 1965, at there­ kind of legislation is suggested to quest of the Young Socialist Alliance mitigate the injustices that Negroes leadership. suffer in this country, you will find The second piece. which has been that the people who line up against newly added to the 2002 edition, is it are members of Lyndon B. an article titled "Two Interviews," by Johnson's party. The Dixiecrats are Jack Barnes, written to mark the one­ Democrats. The Dixiecrats are only year anniversary of the assassination a subdivision of the Democratic of Malcolm X. In it Barnes, one of Party, and the same man over the the two young socialists who con­ Democrats is over the Dixiecrats .... 3 ducted the interview, describes his Young Socialist: What part in the meeting with Malcolm X a few days world revolution are youth playing, later at which Malcolm reviewed and what lessons may this have for and approved the final text. The in­ American youth? terview appear in the March-April Malcolm X: Ifyou've studied the 1965 issue of the Young Socialist. captives being caught by the Ameri­ The anniversary article by Barnes can soldiers in South Vietnam. originally appeared in the Feb. 21, you' II find that these guerrillas are 1966, issue of the Militant. Barnes is cur­ young people. Some of them are just chil­ rently national secretary of the Socialist he asked me very frankly: WelL where did anyone who wants to teach our people non­ dren and some haven't yet reached their Workers Party. that leave him'J Because he was white. He violence until someone at the same time is teens. Most are teenagers. It is the teenag­ Copyright © by Betty Shabazz and Path­ was an African, but he wa~ Algerian, and teaching our enemy to be nonviolent. I be­ ers abroad, all over the world, who are ac­ finder Press, reprinted by permission. to all appearances, he was a white man. lieve we should protect ourselves by any tually involving themselves in the struggle And he said if I define my objective as the means necessary when we are attacked by to eliminate oppression and exploitation. victory of Black nationalism, where does racists .... In the Congo, the refugees point out that Young Socialist: What are the aims of that leave him'J Where does that leave revo­ Young Socialist: How much influence many of the Congolese revolutionaries are your new organization? lutionaries in Morocco, Egypt, Iraq, does revolutionary Africa have on the think­ children. In fact, when they shoot captive Malcolm X: There are two organiza­ Mauritania? So he showed me where I was ing of Black people in this country? revolutionaries, they shoot all the way down tions. There's the Muslim Mosque, Inc., alienating people who were true revolution­ Malcolm X: All the influence in the to seven years old-that's been reported in which is religious. Its aim is to create an aries dedicated to overturning the system world. You can't separate the militancy the press. Because the revolutionaries are atmosphere and facilities in which people of exploitation that exists on this earth by that's displayed on the African continent children, young people. In these countries who are interested in Islam can get a better any means necessary. from the militancy that's displayed right the young people are the ones who most understanding of Islam. The aim of the So I had to do a lot of thinking and reap­ here among American Blacks. The positive quickly identify with the struggle and the other organization, the Organization of praising of my definition of Black national­ image that is developing of Africans is also necessity to eliminate the evil conditions Afro-American Unity, is to use whatever ism. Can we sum up the solution to the prob­ developing in the minds of Black Ameri­ that exist. And here in this country, it has means necessary to bring about a society lems confronting our people as Black na­ cans, and consequently they develop a more been my own observation that when you in which the twenty-two million Afro­ tionalism? And if you notice, I haven't been positive image of themselves. Then they get into a conversation on racism and dis­ Americans are recognized and respected as using the expression for several months. But take more positive steps-actions. crimination and segregation, you will find human beings. I still would be hard pressed to give a spe­ So you can't separate the African revo­ young people are more incensed over it­ Young Socialist: How do you define citic definition of the overall philosophy lution from the mood of the Black man in they feel more filled with an urge to elimi­ America. Neither could the colonization of nate it. Africa be separated from the menial posi­ I think young people here can find a pow­ tion that the Black man in this country was erful example in the young simbas [lions] satisfied to stay in for so long. Since Af­ in the Congo and the young fighters in rica has gotten its independence through South Vietnam. revolution, you'll notice the stepped-up cry Another point: as the dark-skinned na­ against discrimination that has appeared in tions of this earth become independent, as the Black community. they develop and become stronger, that Young Socialist: How do you view the means that time is on the side of the Ameri­ role of the U.S. in the Congo? can Negro. At this point the American Ne­ Malcolm X: As criminal. Probably there gro is still hospitable and friendly and for­ is no better example of criminal activity giving. But if he is continually tricked and against an oppressed people than the role deceived and so on, and if there is still no the U.S. has been playing in the Congo, solution to his problems, he will become through her ties with Tshombe and the completely disillusioned, disenchanted. and mercenaries. 1 You can't overlook the fact disassociate himself from the interest of that Tshombe gets his money from the U.S. America and its society. Many have dont The money he uses to hire these mercenar­ that already. ies-these paid killers imported from South Young Socialist: What is your opinion Africa-comes from the United States. The of the worldwide struggle now going on pilots that fly these planes have been trained between capitalism and socialism? by the U.S. The bombs themselves that are Malcolm X: It is impossible for capital­ blowing apart the bodies of women and ism to survive, primarily because the sys­ children come from the U.S. So I can only tem of capitalism needs some blood to suck. view the role of the United States in the

Congo as a criminal role. And I think the 1The prime minister of the newly independent Militant/Eli Finer seeds she is sowing in the Congo she will government of the Congo was Patrice Lumumba, Protest at the United Nations in New York against U.S.-Belgian intervention in Congo, have to harvest. The chickens that she has who had led the liberation struggle there. Wash­ Dec. 4, 1964. Third from left is Clifton DeBerry, Socialist Workers presidential candi­ turned loose over there have got to come ington and Brussels moved swiftly to prepare the date, at whose initiative this and similar actions were called nationwide. home to roost. overthrow of the Lumumba government. In face Young Socialist: What about the U.S. of attacks by Belgian troops, units of mercenar­ Black nationalism, with which you have which 1 think is necessary for the liberation role in South Vietnam? ies, and the forces of the imperialist-backed se­ cessionist regime of Moise Tshombe in south­ been identified? of the Black people in this country. Malcolm X: The same thing. It shows em Katanga province, Lumumba took the fata 1 Malcolm X: I used to define Black na­ Young Socialist: Is it true, as is often the real ignorance of those who control the step of requesting military help from the United tionalism as the idea that the Black man said, that you favor violence'J American power structure. If France, with Nations. In September 1960 Congolese army should control the economy of his commu­ Malcolm X: I don't favor violence. If all types of heavy arms, as deeply en­ officer Joseph Mobutu. at the instigation ofWash­ nity, the politics of his community, and so we could bring about recognition and re­ trenched as she was in what then was called ington and Brussels, deposed Lumumba. He was forth. spect of our people by peaceful means. well Indochina, couldn't stay there. I don't see later arrested and. as UN forces looked on, But when I was in Africa in May, in and good. Everybody would like to reach how anybody in their right mind can think handed over to Tshombe's forces. who murdered Ghana, I was speaking with the Algerian his objectives peacefully. But I'm also a the U.S. can get in there-it's impossible. him in January 1961. In 19M Tshombe was in­ ambassador who is extremely militant and realist. The only people in this country who So it shows her ignorance, her blindness, stalled as prime minister of the central govern­ is a revolutionary in the true sense of the are asked to be nonviolent are Black people. her lack of foresight and hindsight; and her ment in the Congo. 2 In the 1964 presidential election, the Repub­ word (and has his credentials as such for I've never heard anybody go to the Ku Klux complete defeat in South Vietnam is only lican candidate Barry Goldwater was defeated having carried on a successful revolution Klan and teach them nonviolence, or to the a matter of time .... by the Democratic candidate Lyndon B. Johnson. against oppression in his country). When 1 [John] Birch Society and other right-wing Young Socialist: What is your opinion 3 The Dixiecrats were the openly segrega­ told him that my political, sociaL and eco­ elements. Nonviolence is only preached to of the Democratic Party? tionist wing of the Democratic Party dominant nomic philosophy was Black nationalism, Black Americans, and I don't go along with Malcolm X: The Democratic Party is at the time in most of the U.S. South.

6 The Militant September 23, 2002 against oppression' 5 People' this fall

Capitalism used to be like an eagle, but now it." " ... as he stands there across the ex­ it's more like a vulture. It used to be strong panse of bare, ill-swept floor, conferring enough to go and suck anybody's blood with the ominous attendant...! am watch­ whether they were strong or not. But now it ing him, and he knows I am watching him, has become more cowardly, like the vulture, but he gives no sign." Malcolm's failure to and it can only suck the blood of the help­ give a sign that he knows Warren is watch­ less. As the nations of the world free them­ ing him is clearly as sinister as the "atten­ selves, then capitalism has less victims, less dant" has now become. to suck, and it becomes weaker and weaker. "Finally" Malcolm beckons Warren into It's only a matter of time in my opinion be­ the tiny room used as his office. "Malcolm fore it will collapse completely. X tells me that he has only a few minutes, that he has found that you waste a lot of time with reporters and then you don't get :\1alcolm X and Fidel Castro meeting at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem during Castro's BY JACK BARNES much space." And so the interview begins. trip to ~ew York to address the United ~ations General Assembly, September 1960. Robert Penn Warren interviewed a man It seemed somewhat different when named Malcolm X in June, 1964, and I Barry Sheppard and I interviewed Malcolm helped to interview a man with the same in the same office on January 18, 1965, a went away with. pressed by in Africa and Europe. He said name in January 1965. I phrase it that way month before his assassination. Our inter­ Malcolm knew the white liberal type very he had a long list of them-he called them because, after reading Warren's account, I view was taped for the Young Socialist. well. and he must have had to grin ("leer") "contacts"-and would give me a copy so almost wondered if we had interviewed the The thing that stmck me first was how when he saw how closely Warren was con­ we could send them the issue of the Young same man. Of course, the difference was tired Malcolm looked. (In the Autobiogm­ fonning to the type. And when Warren asks Socialist that contained his interview. He really in the interviewers, in their attitudes phy, Alex Haley describes the 18-hour Malcolm "if he believes in political assassi­ also spoke about The ;'vfilitant. and how and assumptions. schedule he followed.) At one point toward nation" ('),it is not hard to see why Malcolm often he had seen it abroad. Warren4 was born and raised in the South the end of the interview, a yawn can be might "turn the hard, impassive face and I told him I might be going to Algeria for and, as a young man, believed in segrega­ heard on the tape, followed by the apol­ veiled eyes" upon Warren and say, ''I the World Youth Festival (then scheduled for tion. He has spent much of his life in the ogy, "Excuse my tired mind." We were a wouldn't know anything about that." the summer of 1965) and might be able to North as a writer and teacher, and is now little uncomfortable at first, feeling that I retumed to Malcolm's office less than a meet some of his contacts there.' He said, against segregation. Stirred by the Negro Malcolm might need rest more urgently week after our interview. bearing the edited "Great. that would be a good experience; upsurge, he wanted to find out more about than we needed an interview and, because transcript Barry had made from the tape. (If they have a hard time believing that revolu­ what Negroes think. So he set out to inter­ this was the first time we had met. there we had known this would be the last thing tionaries exist in the United States." We ar­ view many of them for his book, Who Speaks was some over-politeness on both sides. we would get from him, we of course would ranged that he would give me the list after for the Negro? (Random House, 1965). Malcolm sent out for coffee for the three not have shortened the transcript. even the Young Socialist came off the press. His approach is that of a liberal. One of of us, making his famil­ slightly.) Malcolm was talking to a young I reminded him about our proposal for a iar joke about his prefer­ man in his inner office. While I waited. for national campus tour. This time he re­ ence for light coffee, and about ten minutes, one of Malcolm's co­ sponded very favorably: he must have after that the atmosphere workers. the only other person in the outer thought about it further and may have dis­ warmed up. office, dozed at a reception desk. cussed it with some of his co-workers. He After the formal inter­ A small stack ofMilitants lay on the desk said he had learned from much experience view, we offered to type with a couple of dimes on top. of speaking on campus that youth were in it up and bring it back, As Malcolm read the transcript. he be­ general the onlv whites that seemed to be edited to fit our space gan to smile. When he came to the ques­ ~pen-minded. He said he was sure that the requirements, for his fi­ tion about capitalism and the statement, government would try to buy off the white nal check and correc­ ''It's only a matter of time in my opinion students who were radical, that this was tions. I also asked him if before it will collapse completely." he said. their main problem. He said they should he would like the Young "This is the farthest I've ever gone. They "get in a closet"-away from the profes­ Socialist Alliance to or­ will go wild over this." I asked if he wanted sors and the job offers from government ganize a national speak­ to tone it down and. without hesitation. he and business-and think out their ideas ing tour of campuses for answered no. more thoroughly and basically. They could him later in the year. He He said he felt the editing had sharpened travel the road before them in one of t\VO expressed interest in this, up what he had originally said; that he had ways. he said. "-as missionaries or as Young Socialists sell Pathfinder literature at World Festival but did not commit him­ been tired when he gave the interview. He revolutionaries." of Youth and Students held in Algiers, Algeria, in August self. saying he would dis­ made very few changes and I said that would He asked a lot of questions about the 2001. Works by Malcolm X were big sellers there. Thirty-six cuss it the next time we be the final copy, just as he had left it. He Young Socialist Alliance-how many lo­ vears earlier Malcolm had offered to help put Young Social­ got together. said. "Make any additional changes you cals. where. what campuses') He wanted to ist Alliance leaders in touch with his contacts planning to Let us return to poor want-it's tine. This is the kind of editing know how long the tour would last; he said attend a summer 1965 World Youth Festival in Algeria. The Warren. He tries to catch it's a pleasure to read." The Young Socialist he could not make it until after his return event was called off after a coup in June of that year over­ Malcolm in a contradic­ made no changes. The interview appeared from another trip abroad that he was com­ threw the popular revolutionary government there. tion. but Malcolm deftly as Malcolm had read and approved. mitted to make, but that would be the best avoids the trap, and Malcolm then began to talk about young time. I said I was sure that on most cam- makes his own point. Warren's reaction: revolutionaries he had met and been im- Continued on Page 8 his favorite questions of the people he in­ "I discovered that that pale, dull yellow­ terviewed was did they think that it would ish face that had seemed so veiled, so stony, have been a good idea to have compensated as though beyond all feeling, had flashed New, expanded edition the Confederate slaveholders for the slaves into its merciless, leering life-the sudden emancipated; he seemed to hit it off best wolfish grin, the pale pink lips drawn hard with those who said it would have been a back to show the strong teeth, the unveiled Malcolm X Talks to Young People good idea. He evidently was smart enough glitter of the eyes beyond the lenses, giving to omit this question with Malcolm, or at the sense that the lenses were only part of a "All over the world, it is young people who are actually involving least he doesn't mention it. clever disguise, that the eyes needed no help, themselves in the struggle to eliminate oppression and exploitation. Warren goes to the Hotel Theresa in that they suddenly see everything." They are the ones who most quickly identify with the struggle and Harlem for his interview with Malcolm. "I Malcolm had ruined his eyes reading by the necessity to eliminate the conditions that exist." -Malcolm X, am admitted by a strong-looking young poor light at night while he was in prison, January 7965 Negro man, dressed impeccably... ; he is and says in the Autobiography that he had silent but watchful, smooth-faced, impas­ astigmatism. Never mind the facts-War­ This new expanded edition includes four sive, of ominous dignity." (Not being a poet, ren senses "that the lenses were only part talks given to young people in Ghana, as is Warren, I find it hard to conceive a of a clever disguise" (an elaborate scheme the United Kingdom, and the United dignity that is "ominous.") Malcolm shakes for fooling liberals somehow). Warren Warren's hand, "with the slightest hint of a didn't really need to look into Malcolm's States in 1964 and 1965; a 1965 smile." Warren looks him over: eyes-he came to the interview convinced interview with the Young Socialist "The most striking thing, at first, about that Malcolm was racist, demagogic and magazine; and an enlarged display of that face is a sort of stoniness, a rigidity, as opportunist ("He may end at the barricades, photographs. In the last year of his life though beyond all feeling. When the lips or in Congress. Or he might even end on Malcolm X spoke out more and more move to speak you experience a faint hint the board of a bank"), and that is what he of surprise. When-as I discover later-he directly about the capitalist roots of scores a point and the face suddenly breaks " Robert Penn Warren ( 1905-19S9) was an racism, exploitation, and imperialist into his characteristic wide, leering, mer­ American novelist, poet, and literary critic. He oppression. The collection concludes ciless smile, with the powerful even teeth is the only writer to have won the Pulitzer Prize with two memorial tributes by a young gleaming beyond the very pale pink lips, both for fiction and for poetry. socialist leader to this great revolutionary, ' The ninth World Youth Festival had been the effect is, to say the least, startling. But whose example and words continue to speak the truth for generation after beyond the horn-rimmed glasses always the set for July 28-August 7. 1965, in Algiers. and the Young Socialist Alliance had asked Barnes eyes are watching, pale brown or hazel, generation of youth. This new English-language edition is being released to lead its delegation. Organizers of the festival together with the first-ever Spanish-language edition, Malcolm X habla a Ia some tint of yellow. You cannot well imag­ postponed the event and began looking for an­ ine them closed in sleep." other site following the June 1965 coup that juventud. "After the handshake, he turns to his overthrew the popular revolutionary government Available from bookstores, including those listed on page 8, write Pathfinder, 410 aide .... I am, for the moment, dismissed, of Ahmed Ben Bella, which had offered to host and wander across the room, inspecting the international youth gathering. West St, New York, NY 10014. Tel. (212) 741-0690; or VISit www.pathfinderpress. com.

September 23, 2002 The Militant 7 -GREAT SOCIE1Y------Give it a try-We had to sim­ while workers were getting Approved as part of an attempt to CEOs at 23 major corporations who A reporter for Denver's Rockv mer down to write this .... With US slammed. But, he squeaked, "If the curb juvenile offenses and unruly are now under federal scrutiny en­ lvfountain News was denied access Airways filing for bankruptcy, entire upper management were to behavior... the measure could apply joy 70 percent greater compensa­ three times. with a warning the third workers were slated to vote on an quit... the company could not oper­ to children as young as 13. tion than their counterparts in other time to stay offjail property. A civil ate." "Under the legislation approved comparable similar companies. The liberties lawyer observed: "What by the National Assembly, the State riddle seems to be: Do they steal seventh-graders arc learning in civ­ 'America, the Beautiful'­ Prosecution Service can begin pro­ more because they have more, or ics classes is not exactly what is in Florida: Men standing in toilets is ceedings against children who 'at­ vice versa? practice in our country right now." part of the standard tableau along tack the dignity or respect due' to death row during sticky, hot sum­ their teachers-or police and fire Quiet understatement-Since Creme de '??-"Popular sun mers, prisoner advocates say. The officers, gendarmes and railway July 22 James Ujaama of Denver creams, moisturizers and shampoos men do this to escape temperatures guards.' The maximum penalty is six has been held in a federal prison in are being blamed for 'an alarming of I 00 degrees in their cells, which months" and a $7,000 fine.-The Virginia as a material witness who epidemic' of painful skin com­ are not air-conditioned, according Times, London. is "suspected" of having aided the plaints, including rashes, swelling, agreement to slash wages and fire to a federal class-action lawsuit. Taliban before September II. He's and itching. Five times as many employees. Meanwhile, it was dis­ All at once?-"Judgcs want being held under a name he alleg­ people are reporting allergic skin closed that top company dogs pock­ Capitalist education-"French names of corrupt politicos"-News edly used in Pakistan. It took law­ reactions .... European Union scien­ eted $6 million in bonuses. Union schoolchildren can be sent to prison headline. yers, reporters, and his mother ape­ tists have identified a chemical spokesperson Joseph Tibert con­ for up to six months under a new riod to locate him. Access is se­ found [in major products] as the ceded that this didn't look good law for insulting their teachers .... A puzzle-A study found that the verely limited. culprit."-The Times, London. Retail workers in Canada strike against 'merit pay' BY ROSEMARY RAY selection, rather than pressuring them to buy TORONTO-Members of the Canadian things that they don't want," she added. Auto Workers (CAW) union picketed the Stanley told the Militant how Hudson's Hudson's Bay department store at Sherway Bay bosses attempt to bribe strikers with Gardens Mall here as dozens of strikers, in "friendly chats" to cross the picket line. their majority women, circled the mall, They were being offered up to S300 and 5 handing out leaflets to shoppers asking them percent wage increases. She said that out of not to shop at the store. the total workforce of 200 at the store in Some 800 retail workers set up picket Toronto about 50 workers had returned to lines August 29 at five Hudson's Bay de­ their jobs. partment stores in Toronto, Windsor, Bob Kalida, senior vice president of hu­ Kitchener, Brampton, and Kingston. The man resources at Hudson's Bay, said link- strikers are fighting a company proposal to ing an employee's pay to the success of the replace their current wage agreement with store is ·•a competitive requirement in the a "merit pay system." retail sector." In early August the company Hudson's Bay has more than 500 stores issued an earnings warning on its second­ across Canada with 70,000 employees. Of quarter profits. the five stores where workers are on strike Overall sales have dropped by 2 percent four remained open for business except the compared with the second-quarter of 200 I. store in Windsor where union pickets had The company's share price plunged by 45 forced it to close. percent in the days following the earnings "I don't believe in the merit system," said warning. Industry analysts say the Bay's Dominique Stanley, who has worked at the profit margins have been "squeezed" by Bay for 14 years and is a sales specialist in competition from department store giant the Liz Claiborne designer clothes section. Wal-Mart. She explained that the merit system would On the same day as the Bay issued the create favoritism in the workplace with su­ earnings warning, former employees of pervisors deciding which workers would get Simpsons, a retail chain that Hudson's Bay wage increases. bought in 1979,launched a class-action law­ "They want us to sell more and be more suit claiming that the company illegally si­ customer-driven but I prefer to spend time phoned off S75 million from their pension with the customer and help them in their fund. Malcolm X -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP Continued from Page 7 puses we would be able to get broader spon­ Where to find Pathfinder books and MINNESOTA: St. Paul: I 13 Bernard St .. AUSTRALIA West St. Paul. Zip: 55118. Tel: (651) 644- sorship than the YSA for his speeches, and distributors of the Militant, Perspectiva Sydney: I st Fir, 3/281-287 Beamish St.. 6325. E-mail: tcswp(a;qwest.net he said he didn't care how broad or how ilfundial, New International, Nouvelle Campsie, NSW 2194. Mailing address: P.O. narrow the sponsorship would be. Internationale, Nueva Internacional and NEW JERSEY: Newark: 168 Bloomfield Box K879, Haymarket, NSW 1240. Tel: (02) He asked me if I read French and then Ny International. Avenue. 2nd Floor. Mailing address: 9718 9698. Riverfront Plaza, P.O. Box 200117. Zip: E-mail: cl_australia(abigpond.com gave me a magazine from Paris with a story UNITED STATES about his talk there in November, 1964. 6 He 07102-0302. Tel: (973) 481-0077. BRITAIN E-mail: swpnewark((Lyahoo.com said he thought it was a communist maga­ ALABA!\1A: Birmingham: 3029A London: 4 7 The Cut. Postal code: SE I 8LL. zine, and that "things arc very different in Bessemer Road. Zip: 35208. Tel: (205) 780- NEW YORK: Brooklyn: 372A 53rd St. Tel: 020-7928-7993. Europe and Africa. There are communists 0021. E-mail: bhmSWP(c1/bigfoot.com (at 4th Ave.) Mailing address: PMB I 06. 4814 E-mail: cllondon(a!onetel.net.uk and socialists all over. and no one makes a CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 4229 S. 4thAve. Zip: 11220. Tel: (718) 567-8014. E­ big deal out of it. They can't imagine how CANADA Central Ave. Zip: 900 II. Tel: (323) 233-93 72. mail: swpbrooklyn(~,earthlink.net; Garment narrow-minded this country is." E-mai I: 7 4642. 326(£1;eompuserve .com District, 545 8th Ave., 14th Floor. Mailing Montreal: 123 7 Jean Talon E. Montreal, Malcolm also spoke at some length about San Francisco: 3926 Mission St. Zip: 94112. address: P.O. Box 30. Zip: I 0018. Tel: (212) QC. Postal code: H2R I WI. Tel: (514) 284- imperialism, along what Marxists might call Tel: (415) 584-2135. E-mail:sfswp 695-7358. E-mail: [email protected]; 7369. E-mail: Librpath~lsympatieo.ca Luxemburgian lines-how the West is in a (a;hotmail.eom Lpper :VIanhattan: 599 W. 187 St. #lA Toronto: 2761 Dundas St. West, Postal real bind because the colonial revolution is COLORADO: Craig: 6 West Victory Way. Zip: 10033. Tel: (212) 740-4611. E-mail: code: M6P IY4. Tel: (416) 767-3705. cutting off places where imperialism can Zip: 81625. Mailing address: P.O. Box 1539. swpuptown(i_!usa.net E-mail: milpathtoronto~~sympatico.ca expand. Zip: 81626. Tel: (970) 826-0289.E-mail: ~ORTH CAROLINA: Charlotte Area: Vancouver: 2645 E. Hastings, Room 203. I felt completely at ease with Malcolm westemcoloradoswp~j;yahoo.eom 2001A N. Cannon Blvd. Kannapolis Mailing Postal code: V5V IZ5. Tel: (604) 872-8343. throughout this discussion, which lasted FLORIDA: Miami: 8365 NE 2nd Ave. address: P.O. Box 5624, Concord. Zip: 28087. E-mail: clvancouver(i1cs.com quite a while at his initiative. He grew quite Tel: (704) 932-0821. E-mail: excited at the thought of his African youth #206 Zip: 33138. Tel: (305) 751-7076. E-mail: FRANCE miamiswp(cibellsouth.net: Tampa: 1441 E. CharlotteSWP(CI,aol.com contacts getting the Young Socialist inter­ Paris: Centre MBE 175, 23 rue Lecourbe. Fletcher. Suite 421. Zip: 33612. Tel: (813) 910- OHIO: Cleveland: 11018 LorainAve. Zip: view and at the possibility of my meeting 8507. E-mail: TOC I [email protected] Postal code: 75015. Tel: (01)47-26-58-21. E­ them. I had no sense of "taking" his valu­ 44111. Tc I : ( 2 I 6) 6 8 8- I I 9 0. E-m a i I: mail: 73504.442({/,compuserve.com able time-he was giving it voluntarily, and GEORGIA: Atlanta: 2791 Lakewood Ave. I 03253.1111 (a.eompuserve.com Zip: 30315. Mailing address: P.O. Box ICELAND not out of mere politeness. PE~~SYLVA~IA: Hazleton: 69 North It is inconceivable that he would be like 162515. Zip 30321. Tel: (404) 763-2900. Wyoming St. Zip: 1820 I. Tel: (570) 454-8320. Reykjavik: Skolavordustig 68. Mailing that with a liberal. There would be no com­ E-mail: atlpathfinder({l;es.eom Email: swpnepa@ intergrafi x. net address: P. Box 0233. IS 121 Reykjavik. Tel: mon points of departure, no common ILLINOIS: Chicago: 1212 N. Ashland Philadelphia: 5237 N. 5th St. Zip: 19120. Tel: 552 5502. E-mail: milpth(ammedia.is projects of any kind, for him to discuss with Suite 20 I. Zip: 60622. Tel: (773) 342-1780. (215) 324-7020. E-mail: NEW ZEALAND a liberal who felt, as Warren did, that he was E-mail: ChicagoPathfinder(cz~compuserve.com PhiladelphiaSWP(dyahoo.com Pittsburgh: 5907 Penn Ave. Suite 225. Zip. Auckland: Suite 3. 7 MasonAve., Otahuhu. accomplishing his mission when he got IOWA: Des Moines: 3720 6th Ave. Zip: Postal address: P.O. Box 3025. Tel: (9) 276- Malcolm to "admit" that he didn't "see in 50313. Tel: (515) 288-2970. E-mail: 15206. Tel: (412) 365-1090. E-mail: pghswp(ZI bigzoo.net 8885. the American system the possibility of self­ [email protected] E-mai I: mi lpath.auckland(iL~actrix.gen.nz regeneration." TEXAS: Houston: 619 West 8th St. Zip: MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 12 Christchurch: Gloucester Arcade, 129 77007. Tel: (713) 869-6550. E-mail: Bennington St., 2nd Floor, East Boston. Gloucester St. Postal address: P.O. Box 13- '' The question-and-answer period from that swphouston(a,ev !.net Mailing address: P.O. Box 261. Zip: 02128. 969. Tel: (3) 365-6055. November 1964 talk appears under the title "At Telephone: (617) 569-9169. E-mail: a meeting in Paris." in By Any Means Necessary WASHINGTO~, D.C.: 3437 14th St. NW E-mai I: pathfinder.mi litant(a,paradise.net.nz I [email protected] (New York: Pathfinder, 1970, 1992). The meet­ Zip: 20010. Tel: (202) 387-1590. E-mail: ing was sponsored by the organization Presence MICHIGAN: Detroit: 4208 W. Vernor St. de-s wp(a, starpower. net SWEDEN Africaine, and the transcript was run in 1965 in Mailing address: P.O. Box 44739. WASHINGTON: Seattle: 5418 Rainier Stockholm: Domargrand 16. S-129 47. the English-language edition of the magazine of Zip: 48244-0739. Tel: (313) 554-0504. Avenue South. Zip: 98118-2439. Tel: (206) Hagersten. Tel: (08) 31 69 33.E-mail: the same name. E-mail: DetroitMISWP(anetseape.net 323-1755. E-mail: [email protected] pathtbkh(a,algonet.se 8 The Militant September 23, 2002 Drive to war on Iraq Protesters demand arrest of Continued from front page sive new assault on Iraq. SoU .S. forces have killer cops in Downey, California have been to improve control over Iraqi air­ begun a forced march to expand their facili­ space ahead of military action," commented ties in Qatar. A "concerted U.S. construction the London-based Financial Times. "That program" has focused on the 12,500-foot would make it easier to insert troops such runway and hangars at the Al-Udeid base, as special forces without being detected. the British Independent reported. Search-and-rescue missions for coalition U.S.-led attacks from the south would troops could also more easily be mounted draw on the dozens of U.S. and British air­ from Jordan"-an indication of collabora­ craft stationed in Kuwait. "A northern at­ tion by the Jordanian regime with the im­ tack into Iraq would be likely to come perialist war preparations. through Turkey," the Independent stated, The London Daily Telegraph reported while "Bahrain would be an ideal base for that the raid "appeared to be a prelude to air and naval operations." the type of special forces operations that These moves continue despite the stated would have to begin weeks before a pos­ opposition, to one degree or another, by the sible American-led war." governments of these countries to the war At the same time, the Pentagon has con­ preparations. In face of its overwhelming tinued to shift heavy armor, ammunition and military and political influence, Washing­ other equipment to the region, and between ton expects them to "come on board," re­ the Gulf states of Qatar and Kuwait. "We ported the Independent. have done a lot with pre-positioned stocks Washington has adopted a similar stance in the Gulf, making sure that they are in the toward its imperialist rivals in Europe. U.S. right spot to support whatever the president president George Bush warned them on wants to do," said U.S. army secretary Tho­ September 4 that "their credibility is at Militant/Elizabeth Lariscy mas White. stake." Vice President Richard Cheney said Some 150 people in Downey, California, marched August 31 to protest killing of Having exhausted the capacity of its own in a September 8 television appearance, "We Gonzalo Martinez, a worker gunned down in February by cops as he tried to sur­ fleet to cany war materiel to the region, the are in a place now that some ... of our Euro­ render. His Argentine-born mother, Norma, holding banner, participated in march. U.S. Navy has reportedly booked a series pean friends, for example, have difficulty of giant commercial transporters to carry adjusting to. tanks, artillery. ammunition, and backup "They also really don't have the capacity the war drive. Blair declared September 6 dure designed to provide a justification for vehicles. to do anything about the threat." he said, that London would be at Washington's side an escalating assault. rubbing salt into their realization of their "when the shooting starts." White House spokesmanAri Fleischer said Construction at Qatar base military inferiority with respect to Washing­ Muting its previous statements of oppo­ Bush was "pleased" with the French state­ While U.S. forces use Saudi Arabia to pa­ ton. "They could participate in an interna­ sition, the French government has called for ment, Reuters reported. The official "hinted trol the imperialist-imposed no-fly zone in tional coalition, but left to their own devices. a plan involving UN Security Council back­ at the possibility of so-called coercive inspec­ southern Iraq, the Saudi stance is that Wash­ they can't deal with Sad dam Hussein." ing for the use of military force. The pro­ tions in which foreign troops would be pre­ ington and London cannot usc their airfields British prime minister Anthony Blair is posal hinges on aggressive UN inspections pared to shoot their way into suspected weap­ and tenitory as a staging ground for a mas- so far the only enthusiastic public backer of of alleged weapons sites in Iraq-a proce- ons sites if denied access by Iraq." On September 12 Bush took his campaign to the UN General Assembly, arguing for a military assault against Iraq on the basis of One year later: how communists responded Baghdad's alleged possession of"weapons of mass destruction." to Washington's war drive and September 11 Bipartisan support for drive to war Confident ofbipartisan support, the White On Sept. 11, 2001, when the U.S. em­ in U.S. history a North American com­ tematic terror to defend their class privilege House is pushing for a motion of approval ployers and their government accelerated mand-that is, the command structure for and interests at home and abroad-from the in Congress. While Bush administration of­ their drive to war abroad and assault on deployment of U.S. armed forces at home, atomic incineration of hundreds of thou­ ficials have made clear they don't need the workers' rights at home, using as a pretext aimed first and foremost at working people sands at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to the I 0- body's endorsement to launch a war on Iraq, the attacks on the World Trade Center and in this country. The White House appointed year-long slaughter in Indochina, to the war Bush "apparently feels it wise to win a re­ the Pentagon that day, the Socialist Work­ a commander-in-chief of this new homeland against the Iraqi people in 1990-91, to the newal of the authorization Congress granted ers Party released a statement by Martin command, euphemistically called the Joint burning to death of 80 people at Waco on to remove Saddam during [Democratic Koppel. at that time the socialist candidate Forces Command. As part of its prepara­ its home soil, to other examples too numer­ president William] Clinton's second term," for mayor of New York, and cunently the tions, the U.S. government has over the past ous to list. In recent weeks, the White House Wall Street Journal columnist George party's candidate for governor of New York two years canied out simulated "antiterror­ and Congress have stood behind Tel Aviv Melloan wrote September 10. State. The statement was published on the ist'' military operations-together with city, as it escalated its campaign of both random Democratic leaders have made it clear front page of the Militant in its September state, and federal police forces-in New killings and outright murders in its histori­ they support the administration's prepara­ 24 issue. Jersey, northern California, and elsewhere. cally failing effort to quell the struggle by tions for war, while quibbling over tactics. Socialist workers in New York and around The Bush administration is now deploy­ the dispossessed Palestinian people for the ''I'm more concerned about getting this done the country, as well as in other countries ing these forces in their first domestic mili­ return of their homeland. right than getting it done quickly," said Tho­ from Australia to Sweden, immediately hit tary operations. On September II the U.S. Half a century ago the revolutionary mas Daschle, leader of the Democratic ma­ the streets with this statement, campaign­ government placed U.S. armed forces workers movement and other opponents of jority in the Senate. ing to present a communist perspective worldwide on hair-trigger war alert. It called colonial outrages, racism, and anti-Semitism Robert Graham, the chairman of the among fellow workers, farn1ers, and youth. out an army regiment of light infantry onto in all its fonns warned that by waging a war Senate's Intelligence Committee, told the One year later, as the imperialist rulers the streets ofWashington, D.C.; mobilized of tenor to drive the Palestinians from their NeH· York Times September 9 that the Bush continue to press their two-front war against the New York National Guard; and deployed farms, towns, and cities, the founders of the Continued on Page 11 working people at home and abroad, this heavily armed FBI "counter-terrorism Israeli state and their imperialist backers statement remains an accurate presentation squads" and other special federal police in North America and Europe were pit­ of the events that have unfolded and of the units in Los Angeles, along the borders with ting the Jewish people against those fight­ SPECIAL OFFERS: response to them by communist workers and Mexico and Canada. and elsewhere across ing for national liberation in the Middle by Jack Barnes youth. the country. East and worldwide; they were creating In coming days, as the administration acts a death trap for the Jews, which Israel Opening Guns of World War Ill Waving the banner that "America is un­ on Bush's vow "to hunt down and punish remains to this day. By its systematic Washington's Assault on Iraq der attack," that it has sustained "a second those responsible," the labor movement and superexploitation of the peoples ofAsia, Pearl Harbor" in the wake oftoday's assault all democratic-minded organizations and Africa, and Latin America; by its never­ The U.S. government's murderous 1990-91 as­ on New York's World Trade Center and the individuals must be on the alert to protest ending insults to their national and cul­ sault on Iraq heralded increasingly sharp con­ Pentagon, the U.S. government will seek to government frame-up trials and oppose its tural dignity; by its ceaseless murderous flicts among imperialist powers, the rise of right­ advance its "right" to launch military as­ trampling on the presumption of innocence; violence in countless forms-U.S. im­ ist and fascist forces, growing instability of in­ saults on other countries. as it has done over the right to due process; Fourth Amendment perialism is turning North America into ternational capitalism, and the past few years against the peoples of protections against arbitrary search, seizure, a death trap for working people and all more wars. In New Interna­ Yugoslavia, Iraq, Sudan, and Afghanistan. and wiretaps; and freedom of association who live here. tional no. 7. $12.00 ($10.00 The U.S. rulers will become even more bra­ without spying and harassment by govern­ The U.S. rulers know that as they press with A1ilitant or Perspec­ zen in their backing for the Israeli regime's ment informers and agents provocateurs. their assault on the living and working tiva Mundial subscrip­ escalating war drive against the Palestinians. The last four years of the Clinton adminis­ conditions of workers and farmers in the Calls by capitalist politicians and apolo­ tration, and the opening months of the Bush United States, they will meet growing re­ tion) gists for stiffer measures to prevent future White House, have been marked by stepped­ sistance, as working people organize to Capitalism's such "intelligence failures" are being played up bipartisan efforts to strengthen the fed­ defend their livelihoods and their rights. up nonstop by the big-business dailies, news eral death penalty, erode the rights of the That's why Washington is systematically World Disorder: agencies, and TV and radio networks. Anti­ accused and convicted, and increase the strengthening its hand against the battles Working-Class Politics Arab and anti-Islamic bigotry is being room for commando-style operations by the it knows are coming. at the Millennium cranked up to bolster this onslaught. U.S. Border Patrol and other Immigration The Socialist Workers Party calls on "We are living through the consequences of The Socialist Workers Party calls on and Naturalization Service cops, the FBI, workers and farmers in the United States workers, farmers, and all defenders of demo­ and other federal assault agencies. and worldwide to speak out in defense of what the imperialists failed to accomplish, cratic rights to speak out against the U.S. Whoever may have carried out the Sep­ the struggle of the Palestinian people, the because they could not defeat the working rulers' demagogic efforts, in the name of tember 11 operations, the destruction of the people of Western Sahara, the Puerto class. The seeming chaos our class faces today preempting "terrorism," to rationalize re­ two World Trade Center towers, and the air Rican people, the rights of the people of is not chaos. What we face can be understood. strictions on political rights. We must op­ attack on the Pentagon-with the resulting Cuba, and others the world over fighting It is lawful. If we think through, it will help us pose the campaign by the U.S. govern­ deaths and injuries of thousands of men, for their national rights and against all the understand why our class enemies-despite ment-Democrats and Republicans alike­ women. and children-these actions have ways in which the world capitalist order their wealth, their military might, and their to curb the constitutionally guaranteed space nothing to do with the fight against capital­ presses humanity toward fascism and war. brutality-are acting from weakness." $23.95 for political organization and activity and ist exploitation and imperialist oppression. We must oppose U.S. military interven­ ( $15.00 with Militant or Perspectiva Mundial Revolutionists and other class-conscious tion anywhere in the world. We must op­ to legitimize the use of the U.S. armed forces subscription) at home and abroad. workers, farmers, and youth the world over pose efforts by Washington to escalate an During its final months in office, follow­ reject the use of such methods. assault on the political rights of working Available from bookstores listed on page 8 or ing several years of preparations, the Clinton The U.S. government and its allies for people and the organizations of our class visit www. pathfinderpress.com administration established for the first time more than a century have canied out sys- and its oppressed and exploited allies. September 23, 2002 The Militant 9 Swedish rulers target rights, social wage

BY DANIEL AHL of the employers to discipline the AND CARL-ERIK ISACSSON workforce." According to the August 9 So­ STOCKHOLM, Sweden-In the run-up cial Democratic daily Aftonbladet, the over­ to the September 15 elections for parliament all average of sick leave for working-class and county and city seats, the parties of big women has increased from 40 days a year business, and many in the workers move­ in 1990 to almost 50 in 200 I. ment, have targeted the rights of immigrants In a report presented by Social Insurance and promised to go after access to sick-leave Minister Ingela Thalen, the Social Demo­ payments if they are elected. The proposals crats propose to cut the total number of to attack workers' rights and the social wage missed days from work by half by 2008. have been touted as progressive measures Among the proposals by Thalen is that af­ to "help" working people pull themselves ter 60 days. workers on sick leave would up from joblessness. They come at a time have to see a different doctor who would of growing economic insecurity-the stock control their leave penn it. The minister told market has plummeted 64 percent in the last Goteborgs-Posten that "we must try in very two years-and as Washington prepares for many ways to break up sick leaves that last war against Iraq. as long as 60 days." "So far, the politics of immigration are The Left Party, a formerly pro-Moscow the hottest question yet in the election cam­ Stalinist party, has stated that it wishes to paigns," reported the conservative daily join a coalition government with the Social Svenska Dagbladet. Democrats, although Prime Minister Goran The anti-immigrant debate was kicked off Persson says such a coalition is out of the by a speech from Lars Leijonborg, leader Mii Isacsson question. In a statement on its health-care of the liberal People's Party. Leijonborg While the capitalist parties in Sweden step up their attacks on workers' rights and policy, the Left Party repeats the promise of called for language tests for immigrants to their social wage, campaigners for the Communist League candidates are presenting Social Democracy that "Our goal is to cut qualify for Swedish citizenship, deportation a program to oppose imperialism and its war drive and defend working people in by half the number of the unhealthy on the of immigrant workers who are unemployed face of the coming depression. Above, Daniel Ahl, Communist League candidate for labor market by 2008." Both parties call for more than three months, and instituting a parliament, campaigns at Sodertorn University, south of Stockholm. abolishing the denial of pay for the first day five-year period that furthers the second­ of sick leave "in the long run." class status of noncitizens. the "political class" that "has not stood up nation of the Kurdish people-as a "terror­ Role of Swedish imperialism His proposal was trumpeted as a measure for its own people.'' Count Wachtmeister, a ist organization." In late 2001, the Swedish that benefits foreign-bam workers--opening multimillionaire and a member of one of government deported without trial two Among the questions largely absent in all the borders for "workforce immigration"­ Sweden's oldest noble families, led a right­ Egyptian citizens on secret charges of"ter­ of the election campaigns except the Com­ in contrast to Prime Minister Go ran Persson, wing Bonapartist patiy called New Democ­ rorism,'' acknowledging that they may face munist League-which nms candidates for from the Social Democratic Workers' Party, racy. which won 6.7 percent of the national execution in Egypt. parliament as well as in the county and city who said in August that there is no need for vote in the 1991 parliamentary elections. Stockholm has gone along with elections in Stockholm and Gothenburg-is government-organized "workforce immigra­ New Democracy was a pillar of support for Washington's detention of Mehdi­ the role of Swedish imperialism in the world. tion" for the next I 0 years. the Conservative Party-led government of Muhammed Ghezali. a 23-year old Swed­ Stockholm's foreign policy has been largely The debate among ruling-class hirelings Carl Bildt at that time. ish citizen who was captured by U.S. troops overshadowed by the anti-immigrant rheto­ revolves around how to restrict the rights of The incipient fascist Sweden Democrats in Afghanistan and is now being held in the ric dominating the pre-election public debate. noncitizens to reinforce a layer of and National Democrats both center on U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay. Cuba. Sweden is a small imperialist country that superexploited workers, and weaken soli­ scapegoating immigrants for capitalism's Under U.S. authority, Ghezali could face developed a closer relationship with Wash­ darity between native- and foreign-born failure to guarantee health care, education. the death penalty. ington in the 1990s to get more elbow room working people. and care of the elderly for ''the Swedes." In their election platform. the Social in the interimperialist competition in Europe. The rulers in Sweden face a similar chal­ They have held public meetings, like one in Democrats promise that with another four For example, Swedish steel companies ex­ lenge to that of their imperialist rivals in Stockholm on August 24. under the banner years in power they will put an additional port $250 million worth of steel to the United Europe. While the U.S. economic boom in of"blue-and-yellow questions" (the colors 4.000 cops on the streets. States each year. When Washington imposed the 1990s was built in part on an influx of of the Swedish flag). Police sealed off a Stockholm has some 900 troops stationed its aggressive steel tariffs in March Swedish millions of workers from Latin America and downtown square to protect the ultrarightists abroad. 780 of whom are taking part in the steel exports were granted exemptions for all other regions of the semicolonial world, the and attacked counterdemonstrators outside NATO-led force occupying Kosova since but S40 million of their exported steel. Swedish rulers confront an aging workforce the meeting. arresting 60 people. the U.S.-led war against Yugoslavia in 1999. Stockholm aggressively promotes its in­ and a rising number of retirees. Under the guise of fighting international Some 35 elite troops are also taking part in terests inside the European Union. Persson Svenska Dagbladet ran a series on immi­ terrorism. Stockholm has taken steps to re­ the imperialist occupation of Afghanistan. joined with French president Jacques Chirac gration, filled mostly with right-wing col­ strict workers rights. Foreign Minister Anna In the past, Stockholm had only deployed to block a proposal in the EU from Britain umnists such as Count Ian Wachtmeister. He Lindh led the charge in the European Union field hospitals to promote their imperialist and Spain that suggested cutting aid to so­ scapegoated immigrants for crime and un­ (EU) to label the Kurdistan Workers Party~­ interests. called "transit countries" for "illegal" im­ employment and criticized what he called one of the groups fighting for self-detem1i- migration. Persson dropped his diplomatic Social wage targeted niceties, calling the proposal''stupid." Such During their eight years at the head of a measure would have reduced potential the national government. the Social Demo­ trade and investment by Stockholm in the Thousands march against ban on crats have built on the attacks on the social Baltic states and by Paris in North Africa. wage carried out by the Conservative Party­ The Swedish rulers are keeping them­ Basque pro-independence party led government of Carl Bildt in 1991-94. selves at ann's length from open support for Between 1992 and 2000. the number of U.S. war moves against Iraq. In a radio in­ health-care sites available to people in hos­ terview, Persson was asked, "What position pitals was cut from 58,000 to 32.000. The will the Swedish government take if Wash­ average time of hospital care dropped from ington goes to war with Iraq?" "We will see," 8.5 to 6.2 days. he replied. Implying that Stockholm will According to Dagen~· Arbete. the paper back a war, however, Foreign Minister Anna of the industrial unions. the number of Lind has stated that an assault on Iraq should workers on sick leave and working while first have the approval of the United Nations. ill has increased since the "first day sick leave without payment" was reintroduced by the Bildt government in 1993. The mea­ sure. which denies compensation for the LETTERS first day of a worker's sick leave, was de­ signed to press more people to work sick Canada's 'antiterror~ law rather than lose a day's wage. The antiterrorism law, Bill C-36, passed Hated by working people. it had been last year by the Canadian parliament is be­ abolished by a Social Democratic adminis­ ing used against working people. Recently tration in 1987. under pressure from the la­ the Ottawa Citizen reported that Liban bor movement. Its reintroduction, the union Hussein, a Canadian citizen and immigrant paper states. "was primarily about the wish from Somalia. was arrested in the fall of 2001 when his name appeared on Canada's list of terrorists and terrorist supporters. a few hours after his name appeared on the -CALENDAR- U.S. terrorist list. Hussein was jailed and his assets frozen. In June of this year he was ILLINOIS suddenly released when the authorities ad­ Chicago mitted there was no evidence whatsoever All Out for Palestine. National march and rally linking him with terrorism. According to his to demonstrate solidaritv with the Palestinian lawyer, Hussein lost his business, his in­ people. Sun .. Sept. 29. I l a.m. to 6 p.m. Federal come, and his prospects for supporting his Pla?a. Sponsored b1· Al-A1nla. Palestine Right family and a number of other relatives. to Return Coalition. For more information: http:! Any individual can now be put on the ter­ !rall1·. a l-a11 ·da. i nfii rorist list on the recommendation of the so­ licitor-general. No hearing is required and Thousands of supporters of the pro-independence Basque political party NEW YORK no evidence need be produced. Anyone hav­ Batasuna, banned- by -a Spanish judge August 26, march September 8 in San Ylanhatttan ing any dealings with such a person or that person's property will also be investigated Sebastian in support of Basque political prisoners. The march also opposed 80th Anniversary Celebration of the Puerto Madrid's measures against Batasuna. Government officials accuse the national­ Rican :\fationali~t Partv. Dinner and dance. and may also find themselves on the terror­ ist party, which has substantial support among the Basque population, of being Exhibit of 21 portraits of .Pedro Albizu Campos ist list. linked to the outlawed group ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom.) Many op­ by Puerto Rican artists. Sat. Sept. 14. 5 p.m. to The Canadian Liberties Association is pose the ban as an attack on the fight for Basque national rights. midnight Julia de Burgos Cultural Cento; 1680 publicizing Hussein's case. Lexington (at 106 St.) For more infimnation: Bea Brvant (917; 597-2488 or (917) 834-5341. 515 entn. Blenheim, Ontario 10 The Militant September 23, 2002 -EDITORIALS------Pathfinder Oppose U.S. war drive in Mideast distribution Continued from Page 2 Young People and the French-language edition of The The big-business media portrays the image of a debate colonial powers-will remain unchanged. The logic of History ofAmerican Trotskyism. taking place among Democratic and Republican politi­ Washington's war drive is another redivision to bring a major cians over whether or not the U.S. government will launch portion of the world's oil and gas resources under its direct Campaigning for socialism a war on Iraq. But Washington's war machine is already control, including those of Saudi Arabia. Liberal politicians Panelist Lawrence Mikesh, the Socialist Workers can­ in motion today. and commentators, in fact, have been among those push­ didate for lieutenant governor of Florida, described ef­ The September 5 air strikes on Iraq by up to 100 U.S. ing most aggressively for targeting Saudi Arabia. forts by campaign volunteers to reach out to working and British warplanes-reported abroad but covered up As shown by the U.S. rulers' failure to whip up a patri­ people and young fighters and draw new supporters into by the U.S. capitalist press-underscore the massive scope otic fervor around the September II ceremonies and their activity. of the war moves under way. Another example is the con­ America First themes, Washington is only in the initial stage Other socialist candidates in Florida are Rachele Fruit, tinuing large-scale transfer of heavy armor to the Arab­ of its military preparations. The cranking up of war fever who is running for governor, and Karl Butts, the candi­ Persian Gulf. The U.S. rulers are carrying out these moves has not yet begun. Pacifist sentiments are still widespread date for commissioner of agriculture. toward war while they beat the propaganda drums for among the U.S. population. The idea that this sentiment Among other activities, the socialist candidates have launching a full-scale assault on Iraq. will "stop the war before it starts" is a pacifist illusion. addressed a rally of striking gannent workers in Oakland No fundamental divisions exist over this question within The imperialist rulers are being driven increasingly to­ Park, Florida; participated in protests by carpenters in the U.S. ruling class or its political servants, the Demo­ ward wars of conquest where the equilibrium ofthe world Miami fired for seeking union recognition; campaigned crats and Republicans. The "debate" is simply over tac­ capitalist system, established after World War II, has come in the streets of downtown Miami; taken part in two can­ tics of how to most effectively conduct the war and con­ unstuck, as seen by the bursting of the giant speculative didates' forums that resulted in press coverage; and set vince working people to accept it. When the invasion starts, bubble and the onset of a world depression. up weekly morning literature tables outside the Interna­ all capitalist politicians will fall in line behind "our com­ This weakening of their system is what pushes the bil­ tional Longshoremen's Association union hall. mander-in-chief." lionaire rulers to war abroad and to an assault on working In the course of these activities, a youth from Miami One of the liberal criticisms of the Bush administration people at home-on our wages, working conditions, and asked to campaign with the Young Socialists for Fruit, is the argument that it is pushing for a preemptive war. social entitlements. In anticipation of wider working-class Mikesh, and Butts and drove up to Atlanta for the Red But all imperialist wars have been "preemptive," not de­ resistance to this offensive, they are seeking to constrict Weekend. He was one of about I 0 young people present fensive. For the past century Washington and other major workers' rights, using secret detentions and deportations, over the weekend who are campaigning with young so­ powers have gone to war because they were driven by the giving more leeway to FBI spying, and increasing the cialists for Socialist Workers candidates in their local ar­ expansionist nature of imperialism and its need to con­ deployment oftroops on U.S. soil. eas. quer more markets and boost profit rates. One year ago, when the U.S. rulers used the September Olympia Newton spoke on behalf of the leadership of Washington's goal is not simply to replace the Iraqi II attacks to escalate their war drive and assault on work­ the Young Socialists. A resident of Los Angeles, she is the government. They are moving toward a bloody assault on ers' rights, socialist workers and young socialists took to Socialist Workers candidate for secretary of state in Cali­ the people of Iraq-a massive bombing and ground inva­ the streets to oppose imperialism and its wars. They ex­ fornia. sion followed by a military occupation of this nation of plained their views in a statement by the Socialist Work­ Not only in the United States are socialist youth cam­ 23 million. ers mayoral candidate in New York, Martin Koppel, that paigning for working-class candidates, she said; in Swe­ What's more, the war preparations are not about Iraq, holds up well today (see page 9). They held a public meet­ den. for example, YS leader Daniel Ahl is running as the much less about September li-the initial pretext the U.S. ing in New York on "Communists and the fight against Communist League candidate for the national parliament. rulers used to accelerate their war drive. While the first imperialism today." She herself has joined other Los Angeles campaigners in targets have been Afghanistan and now Iraq, what is shap­ On September 28, socialists will host another public soapboxing in working-class districts, outlining to pass­ ing up is a series of imperialist wars. The U.S. prepara­ meeting (see front-page ad) to celebrate the anniversary of ersby the main programmatic demands of the Socialist tions to invade Iraq, a country with the world's second­ this proud communist record and to discuss how to build a Workers campaign. largest oil reserves, are one major step toward gaining revolutionary movement of millions that can take power greater control over the Mideast and its oil resources. out of the hands of the wannakers and bring about a gov­ Books unpacked, organized, ready to go There is no reason to think the existing borders in the ernment of workers and fanners, joining in the worldwide Volunteers had accomplished a great deal the first day Mideast-imposed a century ago by the British and French fight for the liberation of humanity and socialism. of the Atlanta Red Weekend, said Harkness in her presen­ tation to the meeting. One of the first big challenges, suc­ cessfully met, was to unload and assemble shelving weigh­ ing a total of almost 36,000 pounds. The next day's un­ packing and storage of the books had depended on the successful completion of that task, she said. Hotel workers win wage hike The construction of a swing-out door to the loading dock from the "pick and pack" department-where books Continued from front page Housekeeping workers in Chicago, for example, have will be boxed ready for shipping-along with a paint job first time-four paid sick days over the life of the con­ been paid $8.83 an hour compared to more than $18 an and a thorough cleaning helped to transform the ware­ tract and a paid IS-minute break each work day. hour in New York City, where workers' medical insur­ house into a professional-standard distribution center. The contract covers more than 7.000 members of Ho­ ance is fully paid by the hotel owners. Early next morning, the books arrived from New York. tel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) locals Francine Johnson, a housekeeper at a Holiday Inn, ex­ That day, the remaining shelves were erected, and the I and 450 at 23 downtown and four suburban hotels. pressed the letdown many workers felt: "We set a dead­ books were organized and stacked onto them. Through Wanda Gilbert, a housekeeper for 16 years at Quality line of Saturday, August 31. The union had taken the stand their collective efforts. volunteers had transformed what Inn, was one of those who voted for the contract. Although that if we didn't have a contract by then we were going to was once a showroom for a major hotel in the area into a the workers did not strike, Gilbert said she believed they strike. I was disappointed when we kept working past that launching pad for Pathfinder books. made gains because of their high level of organization as deadline. We were so prepared to strike, so ready. If we While this work was under way. several Reprint Project the union prepared to strike if necessary. The owners knew had gone out, we could have won more than we got." volunteers in the city worked to finish proofreading and the workers were serious. Javier, who works in the kitchen at Holiday Inn, added, formatting the Spanish-language edition of Malcolm X Gilbert and a younger co-worker, Chris Jefferson, were "We wanted to show them what we could do by going on Talks to Young People. By September 2 their work was part of a committee of 500 workers who organized within strike." also done. each hotel. "It was a battle," she said. The "warriors" on Another worker at the Drake put it this way: "When I "It was impressive to see the collective work of 80 the committee, like Jefferson, worked hard to win over went in to work Sunday, [September I] I had an attitude. people here this weekend and how quickly everything was every worker to be part of the fight. We shouldn't have been working past that strike dead­ finished," volunteer Linda Joyce, who had also taken part A high point .of the campaign for a better contract was line." in the New York Red Weekend, told the Militant. "We an August 23 march downtown along Chicago's "Mag­ didn't slap anything together just to get it done either. The nificent Mile" on Michigan Avenue that drew thousands Chessie Molano is a member ol UNITE and the Socialist distribution center is now a place where we can be proud ofhotel workers. Workers candidate for lieutenant governor of Illinois. to work." On August 12 more than 4,000 HERE members had turned out for meetings, in which 98 percent voted to au­ thorize a strike if a contract was not finalized by midnight on August 31. Engineering, maintenance, truck driving, laundry, and U.S. rulers accelerate war drive electrical workers unions pledged to honor the hotel work­ ers' picket lines if a strike was called. The Teamsters pro­ Continued from Page 9 Later, however, Cheney said the supposed evidence for vided a warehouse for the HERE food bank, "Hungry for administration needs to develop a broader-based and more this claim would remain "classified." Justice." "aggressive war plan. Victory is going to be won on the Three days earlier, Bush told a public meeting in Ken­ Other unions, as well as immigrant rights groups and offensive." The Democrat listed "Syria and Iran as coun­ tucky that "we cannot let the world's worst leaders black­ churches offered support. The union made plans to reach tries that should be the first targets of any aggressive ef­ mail America, threaten America, or hurt America with the out to workers to convince them not to cross picket lines. fort against state sponsors of terrorist activity," the Times world's worst weapons .... My job is to not only chase down When the negotiations stalemated, Dennis Gannon, reported. those who have hit, but to anticipate. We're a battleground." head of the Chicago Federation of Labor, called on Illi­ Administration officials have primarily based their pro­ The U.S rulers promoted commemorations of Septem­ nois governor George Ryan to intervene in the labor dis­ paganda, not on accusations of some Iraqi involvement in ber II to boost their war preparations. In bipartisan cer­ pute. Ryan went to the HERE headquarters where prepa­ the September 11 attacks. but on Baghdad's alleged de­ emonies across the country, liberal and conservative poli­ rations were being made to announce a strike starting at velopment of missile systems and biological, chemical, ticians issued an orgy of patriotic speeches on defending midnight. Ryan asked the union officials to consider the and nuclear warheads. an "America under attack," while the government used negative impact a strike would have on what he called the On September 8 several members of Bush's "war cabi­ warnings about security to demonstratively deploy mili­ state's "fragile" economy. He then moved the negotiations net," as the Washington Post put it, appeared on television tary planes in the urban skies, National Guard troops on to his office and got the union negotiating committee to shows to reiterate their case for "regime change," that is, city streets, and an aggressive police presence everywhere. continue talks past the strike deadline. He urged a settle­ the overthrow of Iraq's government and the installation Going along with this America First theme, the AFL­ ment before the opening in a few days of the International of a compliant pro-U.S. regime enforced by imperialist CIO officialdom did its part by organizing Labor Day Manufacturing Technology Show, which was expected to bayonets. celebrations in many cities as patriotic, pro-government draw 120,000 visitors and $221 million in revenues. On NBC's "Meet the Press," Cheney declared that Iraqi rallies. HERE officials, as well as many workers on the bar­ president Saddam Hussein has refused "to comply with At the event in New York, held in Battery Park, near the gaining committee, applauded Ryan's intervention. But the United Nations Security resolutions" and has "aggres­ site of the former World Trade Center, the speakers-both there was also sentiment among some hotel workers in sively sought to acquire chemical, biological and nuclear capitalist politicians and union officials-addressed the opposition to what they considered a short-circuiting of weapons" in the II years since the U.S.-led GulfWar. theme of "honoring labor's contribution" to the local re­ the opportunity to bring their power to bear in a strike and "We've underestimated the extent of his [nuclear weap­ sponse to the destruction of the twin towers. Rally orga­ come closer to wage parity with hotel workers in other ons] program," he said. Baghdad, he stated, is "actively nizers and speakers directed participants to applaud as major cities. and aggressively seeking to acquire nuclear weapons." U.S. military jets flew low overhead. September 23, 2002 The Militant 11 TH£ MILITANT Canada farmers demand drought relief BY ANNETTE KOURI them work." VANCOUVER, British Columbia­ Dave Nelson, who has a family farm in Livestock farmers in the Canadian prairie the drought-stricken area, has been forced Workers win right to UNITE election provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan are to sell one-third of his 150-cow herd. Nelson demanding government aid as they confront explained to the Sun that the numbers don't at laundry in Rockmart, Georgia the effects of a severe drought that has work. He is nearly $200,000 in debt from caused the price of feed to skyrocket. buying the little feed he can, and the $7,000 Many prairie farmers in these two prov­ he spent on bait for grasshoppers failed to inces have been forced to sell their livestock stop the pests. His crop and farm insurance or have no harvest in the face of another combined will pay him less than $15,000. summer with less rain than in many deserts. In the last five years, 11 percent of farm­ This has provoked an outpouring of soli­ ers in Canada, most of them family farm­ darity by other farmers and working people. ers, have been forced off the land, accord­ Faced with a lack of feed, ranchers have ing to the National Farmers Union. been rushing their animals to the market in Prices for fertilizer, transportation, and record numbers, driving already low prices farm machinery have skyrocketed over the down even further. Beef producers are re­ past two decades while prices the farmers ceiving the same price for a cow and calf as receive for their produce have dropped or they would normally receive for a single remained stagnant. "Farming is a struggle to cow. A purebred cow that would have sold get all your expenses so you're not too much for Can$1 ,800 at auction last year now sells in debt," said Ross Tory. "Fertilizer is expen­ for Can$600 (Can$1 =US 63 cents).Alberta sive, feed is expensive, and farmers are get­ alone is short 650,000 metric tons of hay, ting less and have to do more with what they and the shortage will put between 400,000 have." Referring to the aid coming from other and 600,000 cattle at risk of being sold or farmers, he said that he was glad to see the slaughtered prematurely. help but felt that it didn't compensate for the A cow eats approximately one ton of hay inadequate government aid. per season. The price of hay before the "If normal everyday folks can chip in and drought was about Can$50 a metric ton, but help, why can't the government do its share? Workers belonging to the organizing committee of the Union of Needletrades, prices have skyrocketed in these drought It's what the government is supposed to do," Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) at Angelica Textiles industrial laun­ areas with some desperate ranchers paying Tory said. dry in Rockmart, Georgia, celebrate in labor court August 28. They had just won as much as twice that amount. Some payments will come in from the a ruling that the company must allow them and their co-workers to vote on union Some Alberta farmers are resorting to Canadian federal government in October but representation. The decision registered the workers' determination to organize a mixing sawdust into cattle feed to make it farm organizations say it's too little too late. union to fight for health-care and other benefits, as well as respect and dignity on go farther. In contrast, farmers in the eastern prov­ the job and an end to abuse by the bosses. The vote is scheduled for September 26 For the last few years smaller beef and inces mobilized to send loads of hay to the and 27. Workers at an Angelica laundry in Chattanooga, Tennessee, are also pork producers across Canada, struggling feed-strapped areas on the prairies in an fighting to organize a union. to get a decent price for their livestock, have operation dubbed Hay West. -PEDRO JIMENEZ often been forced to sell below the cost of It began with a small group of farmers raising the animal. A pork producer in the from Ontario but within days farmers in lower mainland of British Columbia, where Quebec and the Maritime provinces also the drought is less severe, told this reporter stepped forward with their hay. The federal tawa agreed to pay for 190 more rail cars in The hay shipments, which are being dis­ that he receives $10 less per hog than what government initially agreed to contribute early September. The two large railway tributed by lottery, will help only a few farm­ it costs him to produce it. $2.2 million to fumigate, load, and ship 187 companies, Canadian National and Cana­ ers for short periods. The Canadian Wheat Board has estimated more rail cars of hay from the East. Then dian Pacific, claim that they have contrib­ that this year's crop could be down one-third under pressure from farmers, and with tons uted $400,000 in transportation costs but Annette Kouri is a meat packer in the or more, the smallest yield in 28 years. Bar­ of donated hay waiting for shipment, Ot- refuse to do any more. Vancouve1; British Columbia, area. ley production is off 44 percent and canola 57 percent. By some estimates the value of the crop loss in western Canada in the three grains may be as much as Can$2.6 billion. Plan for US. troops in Argentina sparks protests Bruce Sept, who grows wheat and peas on some 13,000 acres, told the Sun that his BY MAURICE WILLIAMS pression and capitalist austerity drive-some neuvers in the northern province of Salta­ crops will only yield about one-ninth the Planned month-long military exercises on six weeks before they are due to begin. a center of protests against wage cuts, lay­ normal production. Argentine soil involving the armed forces of Scheduled to start October 25, the jungle offs, and other government and employer Sept stated, "We are working very hard Washington and Buenos Aires have stirred maneuvers will take place in the northeast­ attacks. Dubbed "Cabanas 200 I," the op­ to make a living at farming. The family farm up controversy and protest in Argentina­ em province of Misiones, near Argentina's eration was sponsored by the U.S. South­ is going to be a thing of the past unless we where working people have waged frequent borders with Brazil and Paraguay. Argen­ em Command. look at all the possibilities of how to make struggles against an ongoing economic de- tine infantry forces quartered in the region of the San Javier mountain will furnish the Expanding U.S. military presence base of operations. In the event the war Mindful of the expanding U.S. military games do not go ahead this year, an alterna­ presence in Latin America, organized un­ Chinese demand compensation for tive date of February 2003 has been set. der the guise of combating terrorism and the In early September President Eduardo "war on drugs," opposition deputies in the Duhalde asked the parliament in Buenos Argentine parliament denounced the 200 I Japanese germ warfare in WWII Aires for formal authorization for some 200 exercises as components of a U.S. "strategy BY MAGGIE TROWE astating epidemics. Other testimony from U.S. soldiers to pitch camp in the northern of aggression aimed at intervening in the A Tokyo district court admitted Au­ former Japanese soldiers described how province between October 25 and Novem­ internal affairs of Colombia and other ber 24. Andean nations." gust 27 that the Japanese rulers con­ part of these biological experiments in­ ducted germ warfare against Chinese cluded infecting food with cholera. The A group of teachers, employed and un­ One sticking point between the two gov­ prisoners of war and civilians during Chinese government estimates that employed workers, and students in the pro­ ernments in the preparation of the exercises vincial capital of Posadas, situated right on is Washington's demand that Buenos Aires World War II, but rejected demands from 270,000 civilians died of diseases intro­ the plaintiffs for compensation and an duced by the Japanese occupiers, and that the Argentine-Paraguayan border, has estab­ extend a special immunity to the imperial­ official apology by the government. some 3,000 people died after being in­ lished a "Misiones commission against the ist troops for the duration of the maneuvers. The court denied the lawsuit's request jected with live viruses ranging from North American intervention" to help orga­ The immunity would guarantee that U.S. nize opposition to the exercises through a for damages of $84,000 to each elderly anthrax to bubonic plague. forces would not be brought before the petition drive and other activities. newly formed International Criminal Court. victim. This decision continues the ada­ Yoshio Shinosuka, 77, who was as­ The border region where the exercises are Having forced through a one-year exemp­ mant refusal of the Japanese courts to signed to Unit 731 's headquarters in planned to take place is close to Ciudad del grant legal claims brought on behalf of Harbin, China, testified that Chinese sub­ tion from the European imperialist powers other victims of Japanese imperialist as­ jects were injected with the plague and Este, home to a large immigrant population that sponsored the court's creation, Wash­ from Lebanon and other majority Muslim ington is pressing a number of governments saults of the 1930s and '40s. then split open for autopsy immediately countries. U.S. officials have alleged that al "It is absurd that the ruling confirmed after or even moments before dying an in Europe to sign bilateral agreements ac­ Qaeda, accused of the September 11 attacks, Japan's biological warfare, but the Japa­ agonizing death. cepting its position. has influence in the city. nese government doesn't have to take any Washington collaborated with Tokyo in One Argentine de­ In its pressure campaign, Washington has responsibility," stated Wang Xuan, 50, covering up these operations. In fact, the fense department source said that it was "ab­ also targeted the government of Colombia­ whose search into her family's past led U.S. rulers made a secret deal to exempt surd to connect these maneuvers to U.S. the recipient of massive U.S. military aid­ her to get involved. Chinese plaintiffs and the germ warfare crimes from scrutiny of government suspicions about links between causing a debate among the country's poli­ Japanese supporters staged a rally in To­ the Tokyo trials, which were held after the al Qaeda with the Islamic Community in ticians. kyo immediately after the court rejected end of World War II. In return, Washing­ Ciudad del Este," according to the Frontera So far, only the regimes in Israel, Roma­ the plaintiffs' compensation claims. ton received the results ofthe experiments. news organization. nia, and East Timor have signed such deals. At the trial several members of Japan's Members ofUnit 731 have never been The U.S.-led military operation is part of In a September 4 statement, Argentine a series of exercises that began in 2000 in infamous Unit 731 testified that they de­ prosecuted. Some have become figures foreign minister Carlos Ruckauf rejected Cordoba province. liberately infected fleas with bubonic in Japanese society. The Japanese gov­ Washington's demand for immunity and Last year some plague that were then air-dropped over ernment still maintains, in the face of a 1,500 soldiers from the said that his government would offer U.S. the Chinese provinces of Zhejiang and mountain of evidence, that it has no United States and eight South American forces the same guarantees as in previous Hunan from 1940 to 1942, causing dev- knowledge of what the unit did. countries conducted "peacekeeping" rna- exercises.

12 The Militant September 23, 2002