Superpowers'

EDITED BY MICHAEL HARRINGTON Balancing Act April 1980 Vol. VIII No. 4 $1 By Sanford Gottlieb OVIET-AMERICAN RELATIONS baa deteriorated seriously be­ INSIDE fore the invasion of Afghani­ stan, and one of the reasons Meeting of the Minds, p. 3 on the Soviet side, perhaps the When they gathered for the Socialist Inter­ most important one, was the national Party Leaders' Conference the party NATO decision to deploy heads condemned the Soviet invasion and the medium-range missiles on Eu- new cold war. Michael Harrington reports. ropean soil. Secretary of State Vance de­ On Another Front, p. 5 scribed the rationale for this decision last Bogdan Denitch speculates about Yugoslavia December: "The Soviet deployment of after the death of Tito. modern MIRVed SS-20s, and the Back­ Campaign Curiosities, p. 7 fire bomber, threatens to provide the Soviets with nuclear preponderance in If the public only looks at personalities, why the European theater. In response, the does the press refer to Kennedy setbacks as (NATO) alliance has developed parallel defeats for liberalism? programs of modernization and arms Left at the Church, p. 8 control." In reality, "modernization" is a Is American Protestantism about to reclaim misnomer and there has been no arms some of its socialist heritage? Jim Gorman control. Pershing la/U.S. Army examines the rise of leftwing evangelicalism. The NATO fear of Soviet prepon­ Beyond Big Business Day, p. 10 derance is based in part on the USSR's replacement of older, single-warhead '' The new NATO Staying Home, p. 11 medium-range missiles targeting West­ missiles cannot be Breaking Away was one of the best-loved ern Europe with multiple-warhead SS-20s deployed before 1983. movies of 1979. Dorothee SOile and Jim Wal­ that can destroy more targets. This de­ By then the USSR could lace ask why we were all so happy not to see velopment stems from the MIRV tech­ anyone leave the patterns of sexual roles and nology that was pioneered by the United double the number of meaningless work. States and developed five years later by its SS-20s. The situation What's Left to Read, p. 13 the Soviets. calls for negotiations For many years NATO has allocated at the earliest possible Canadian Elections, p. 14 some 400 submarine-lilUnched nuclear Eric Lee went north for the elections and warheads to balance the Soviet medium­ time. '' notes that we can envy our neighbors their range missiles. Four hundred warheads­ large socialist caucus. each several times more powerful than On the Left, p. 14 the Hiroshima bomb-happen to repre­ Harry Fleischman begins a new column on sent the amount mentioned by former left-leaning items of interest. Defense Secretary McNamara in the 1960s as constituting an adequate nuclear to their official rhetoric, this decision will creasing lead in tactical (battlefield) nu­ deterrent. (The United States today has aggravate their fears and spur their clear weapons. Therefore, NATO should 10,000 strategic warheads in its arsenal.) counter-measures. build up immediately, not in the indefi­ The NATO decision to add 464 Was the NATO decision necessary ? nite future. The new NATO missiles ground-launched cruise missiles and 108 No, not from a military viewpoint cannot be deployed before 1983. By that Pershing II missiles to the European the­ and certainly not from an arms control time the USSR, if unchecked by arms ater does much more than "modernize" viewpoint. The International Institute agreements, could double the number of existing forces. It would be the first time for Strategic Studies' "Military Balance their SS-20s. The situation calls for ne­ that NATO missiles capable of reaching 1979-80" concludes that "something gotiations at the earliest possible time. targets in Russia would be deployed in very close to parity now exists between Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. the Theater Nuclear Forces (weapons Missed Opportunities In an international climate where the with ranges greater than 100 miles) of Jn Octnber 1979, Soviet President Soviet leadership feels increasingly "en­ NATO and the Warsaw Pact." More­ Brezhnev offered to "unilaterally reduce circled," a term that has recently returned over, NATO has a significant but de- the number of medium-range nuclear

To the Editor: While few feminists would call for family was to heighten the conflict be­ We think your discussion of news the destruction of the family, neither is rwecn upper middle class professionals and current issues 1s interesting, but as it accurate to speak of a "new romance and working class women whose lives the newsletter of a socialist organization, with the family." To recognize that the typically were centered in their families. there's something that's sorely lacking­ family does meet human needs docs noc It should not surprise us that feminism and that is news about organizing. We preclude the recognition of the oppres­ (at times ambivalently) embraced the in­ want to hear what locals in Texas and ~iveness of the woman's "double day." dividualistic ethos which Dorf and Lan­ Michigan are doing. We want to know Betty Friedan may find herself in a new dau wish to confine to the otherness of about their successes and failures, how relation to her cooking, but most women corporate capitalism. Their conclusions they recruit new members. We want to find themselves in the same old one. belie their criticism; they begin by deny­ know how to operate locally as part of a Feminists seek new institutions, such as ing the past but end by embracing the national organization lo bring socialism community controlled day care, that very concern with interdependence which lo America.' would relieve some of the intense pres­ I suggested is at the heart of an impor­ Eva Olien sure now placed on the family. tant tendency in contemporary feminism. Renee Pink Socialists must realize that 1t is the • • • Rochester, N.Y. individualizing pressure of a corporate­ To the Editor: • • • dominated society, not feminism, that is Ir. his January article, "New Cold To the Editor: weakening all human bonds, including War Risk to Peace" Michael Harrington As DSOC members and participants those of family. We should search for gives Richard Nixon the credit for coin­ in a DSOC socialist-feminist study group, forms of community-in the family, the ing the phrase "throw money at prob­ we were disturbed by the tone of Jan neighborhood, and at work-that cele­ lems. . . ." In fact the quote belongs to Rosenberg's "New Shift in Family Fo­ brate the human interdependence of free, Senator Kenneth B. Keating as reported cus" () anuary 1980) . Its snide attitude equal people. in the New York Times of Dec. 24, 1961. towards feminist concerns and ideas was Carol Dorf The full quote is as follows: "Too often coupled with misreading of the actual Nathan Landau our Washington reflex is to discover a views of the family held by feminists. To New York, N.Y. problem and then throw money at it, speak of "genuflecting," "missionary Jan Rosenberg replies: hoping it will go away." zeal," and "orthodoxies" without ac­ In the movement's early days, vir­ Stephen R. Parker knowledging the value and power of re­ tually every radical feminist theorist de­ Jackson Heights, N.Y. cent feminist thought is not conducive to fined the family as the linchpin of sexism Letters lo the editor m11.rl be signed. W't­ ~ ~ympathetic, critical response to fem­ and called for its destruction. One unin­ reserve the right to edit for brevity. inism. tended consequence of the attacks on the Please limit letters to less than 250 words.

Michael Harrington D ..: MOCRATIC LEFT is published ten times a year Editor (monthly except July and August) b} the Dem­ DEMOCRATIC ocratic Socialist Organizing Committee, 853 Formerly the Maxine Phillips Broadway, Suite 801, New York, N 't 10003. Newsletter of the Managing Editor Telephone: (212) 260-3270 Subscnpt oru: S lO IBYf Democratic Left sustaining and institutional ; s~ regular; sz . ~o Jim Chapin limited income. Signed amcles ex p:~~ the National Director opinions of the authors ISS:-.: :> 1 6~ -.r~o- . Second Class Permit Paid at l':ew Yo:' ~ T.Y.

2 DEMOCRATIC LEFT April 1980 rockets stationed in the western part of tions in those Western systems that are the various arms races in which they're the USSR, compared with the present to be deployed only in the mid-1980s. I engaged. May or June will be the last level, provided there is no additional think this approach never produced any­ chance to ratify SALT JI before it be­ deployment of medium-range nuclear thing in the past, nor will it now." The comes a perishable commodity. The Mu­ weapons in Western Europe." While the general might have added that Schmidt's tual Balanced Force Reductions Talks NATO countries could not accept this hawkish political opponents have been (MBFR), now stalled, need to be re­ offer at face value, it could have been breathing down his neck. vived. MBFR could be a possible forum seriously explored. Instead, the United The NATO decision did not occur for discussing medium-range missiles if States pressed its allies to approve deploy­ in a vacuum. It was part of the unravel­ SALT III is nowhere in view. ment of the new missiles. Afterward, ing of detente. This unraveling has been On March 3 Secretary Vance said in Secretary Vance declared: "We are pre­ fed by the Soviet military buildup, the Chicago: "Specifically, the offer to nego­ pared to enter into serious negotiations use of Cuban proxies in Africa, and the tiate an agreement on limiting theater on long-range theater nuclear forces, repression of dissidents at home. On the nuclear forces in Europe remains on the within the framework of SALT III." U.S. side, it was fostered by restrictions table. The Soviet Union should pursue it Yet, SALT II was then in trouble in the on trade, closer relations with China, de­ with us." Perhaps the superpowers, hav­ Senate and after Afghanistan was indefi­ lays in ratifying SALT II, and the deci­ ing faced the distasteful prospects of a nitely deferred. There is thus no SALT sion to give the Pentagon a budget of new cold war, will now summon the will II, no SALT III, and no talks on medium­ 5 percent above the inflation rate, as well to contain the European sector of their range missiles in Europe. as the NATO decision on new missiles. nuclear arms race. • If the ground-launched cruise mis­ Once the passions over Afghanistan Sanford Gottlieb is Acting Exect1ti11e Di­ siles are deployed, their small size and and Iran die down, and before if pos­ mobility will make any verification system sible, the superpowers will have to get rector of New Directions, a Washington­ virtually impossible. back to the negotiating table to curtail base1 lobby on international iu11es. Jn the interim, the Soviet Union can continue to build up its SS-20s, perhaps without phasing out its older missiles tar­ geting Western Europe. The Netherlands and, to a lesser ex­ tent, Denmark and Norway resisted the Sharing Socialist NATO decision. The Dutch said they would make no decision for six months about deployment of the weapons on their territory. The Danes and Norwe­ gians finally went along, emphasizing the need for negotiations. Views inVienna It was the West Germans who helped the Carter Administration push By Michael Harrington through the decision. Asked by the Mos­ HENEVER SOMEONE IN ment to continue the struggle for detente cow correspondents of the New York DSOC independently ar­ and disarmament nevertheless; a ·whole­ Times why Helmut Schmidt, "who is rives at my conclusions some rejection of Cold War II. There not a confrontationist," would want these about something, I have was, of course, one major difference be­ weapons, retired Soviet Lieutenant Gen­ been known to remark, tween the consensus in Vienna and the eral Mikhail A. Milshtein gave a realistic "That proves that Marx­ positions we took in the States: the peo­ answer. "First, as we have all been told," ism is a science." Not, ple who agreed at the SI conference are replied Milshtein, "all the Pershing II's mind you, that I think it the leaders of governing or major oppo­ would be deployed in West Germany, is-I have written at length against that sition parties in their respective societies, and this would give that country a bigger delusion-but the phrase is simply a fa. and their attitude might make a signifi­ role within NATO. Second, some un­ cetious way of saying that I am happy that cant contribution to keeping the world doubtedly believe the allegation that the our minds meet. Sitting at the huge table sane and whole. SS-20 has given superiority to the War­ at the Vienna Hilton in early February The Vienna Conference was attend­ saw Pact. Third, the issue has come to be as a participant in the Leaders' Confer­ ed by the major leaders of the European pictured, to some extent, as a test of ence of the Socialist International (SI), democratic left, including SI President NATO's ability to make basic decisions I was tempted to mutter that phrase Willy Brandt, Bruno Kreisky, Fran~ois about its military strength. Fourth, many again. For the heads of the mass parties Mitterand, Olof Palme, James Callaghan, in NA TO consider it more effective to of the SI had responded to the Soviet Mario Soares and Joop den Uyl. In addi­ sit down at the negotiating table with a invasion of Afghanistan in much the tion, Shimon Peres of Israel, Bulent decision in their pocket. They could then same mode as DSOC: a clear condemna­ Ecevit of Turkey, along with representa­ talk about reducing the present Soviet tion of the Soviet violation of the right tives from Chile, the Dominican Repub­ weapons systems in exchange for reduc- of national self-determination; a commit- lic, El Salvador, Grenada, Jamaica, Sene- - April 1980 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 3 ·EXCERPTS FROM A STATEMENT BY THE ghan of Britain similarly emphasized that SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL PARTY LEADERS CONFERENCE, SALT II had become all the more impor­ VIENNA, FEBRUARY 5-6, 1980 tant in the light of recent events. ... Th~ Socialist International condemns the intervention of the Soviet I found it of great interest that the Armed Forces in Afghanistan and calls upon the Soviet Union to Withdraw expulsion of Sakharov from Moscow had all of its troops from that country. emotionally affected most of the leaders The policy of detente and the search for harmonisation of differing more than Afghanistan. If they regarded interests which was begun more than a decade ago has led to significant re­ the Soviet invasion as something of a 'suits which are noticeable in the every-day lives of many people, although new departure - "the worst thought this process is restricted mainly to Europe and the world powers. It is in the through Soviet adventure ever," one said interests not only of one side but to the benefit of all concerned that the ten­ sions between East and West be reduced and that cooperation be extended. -it did not catch them by surprise. But ... The struggle for human rights is waged with great courage and sacri­ the treatment of Sakharov could herald a fice in all continents. In Latin America many Democratic Socialists have re-Stalinizing trend in Russian life. That lost their lives in the struggle. In the USSR, the harassment of Andrei would not merely unsettle East-West re­ Sakharov is a clear example of the constant persecution of those expressing lations for a time; it could mark a re­ dissenting opinions in communist countries. treat from the very possibility of negotia­ The Socialist International is deeply concerned by the dangerous esca­ tions in Moscow. And since the European lation of tension, the intensification of the arms race and of great power ri­ socialists want to respond negatively to valries and the growing recourse to force in international relations.... In the Soviet action and continue to push the interests of peace and in order to safeguard detente the Socialist Inter­ for detente even under more difficult cir­ national therefore regards it essential: -that all opportunities for bilateral and multinational dialogue be taken cumstances, Sakharov's treatment might advantage of; be an even more ominous portent than -that the USSR withdraw its troops from Afghanistan; the Soviet troops in Kabul. -that the preparations for the second follow-up meeting of the Conference of Security and Co-operation in Europe (Helsinki) to take place in Ma­ Third World Ties drid in the late fall of this year, should be continued; Another important topic in Vienna -that the suggestion by the USSR of a European Conference on Energy was the Third World. Brandt, who has be explored as soon as possible; led the SI in its turn toward the "wretch­ -that new openings be found to negotiate a halt to the deployment of new ed of the earth"-missions to Southern nuclear arms in Europe; -that the Vienna negotiations take on a greater sense of urgency; em Africa, support for the Sandinistas -that all efforts be made to start negotiations on SALT III as soon as and the Dominican Revolutionary Party possible. and now for the Guatemalans and El Sal­ The Socialist International will put increasing emphasis on its contacts vadorians-rightly felt vindicated in the with the Non-Aligned Movement. context of the current crisis. For the first time in history, European socialists have relations with both socialist and non­ gal, and Venezuela were present. George Soviet SS-20s-and all of them considered socialist forces in the poor countries. In­ Fernandes, the head of the Indian under­ that Soviet move as aggressive and de­ deed, Bruno Kreisky had recently re­ ground during the Emergency, a Cabinet stabilizing. Joop den Uyl of the Dutch turned from a trip to Thailand (the deeds member in the Janata Government, and Labor Party (along with the Belgian so­ of Pol Pot, he said, reminded him of now a chief of a main anti-Indira faction cialists) had voted to postpone the Euro­ Auschwitz) , the Philippines, India and in the Parliament, was an invited guest. missile acceptance to see if those weapons Saudi Arabia. He warned of simplistic Impressive as the Third World participa­ could not be "traded off" against the equations which put Indira Gandhi (who tion was, it was somewhat less than at the SS-20s even before they were built. At is quite hostile to the SI because of its Lisbon meeting of the SI Bureau in Oc­ Vienna, he pointed out that Europe is the sharp opposition to the Emergency) in tober 1979, which included Sandinistas, most heavily armed region on the planet. the Soviet camp. members of southern Africa liberation Olof Palme added that it might well turn Afghanistan, Brandt commented, movements and delegates from a number into the battlefield of World War III. proves that the Third World must be a of Latin American parties. Fran~ois Mitterrand was particularly major area of political concern, for events The broadness of representation is insistent that there is a "margin of ma­ evidence that the policy of reaching out, neuver" in the current situation. The initiated by the SI at the Geneva Congress West, he argued, should probe the Rus­ of 1976 which elected Brandt president, sians over the summer and early fall ; it is working. The SI is now the only func­ should not rush to a new policy or engage tioning international of political parties in a politics of ultimatums (most of the in the world. leaders present oppose the O.Iympic boy­ The presence of so many European cott) . Mitterrand, and almost every other leaders focused much discussion on the leader, urged that plans for the Madrid reaction of that region to the Afghanis­ European security conference in autumn tan crisis. Some of the parties had voted must go forward (that is a follow-up to to accept Euromissiles to counter the the Helsinki agreement) . James Calla-

4 DEMOCRATIC LEFT April 1980 there can have repercussions upon the who, when they think of the SI, conjure versati0t}' between SI General Secretary great powers. Significantly, the SI Prest up the Second International before Bernt Carlsson and a Christian JOUrnalist dent left Vienna to come to the United World War I, or rather, its faults. They after the meeting ended. What, Carlsson States in order to present No,.1h-So111h, are blissfully unaware of the enormous was asked, do the mass parties of the SI the report of his independent commission changes that have taken place in the in­ "get" out their membership. Not too on international development, to Kurt tervening sixty-five years and particularly much, he said. But the SI lets them aid Waldheim and Jimmy Carter. His own ignorant about the transformations since movements which are in process, strug­ deep moral commitment on these ques­ Brandt assumed the presidency in 1976. gling agains great odds. "Like," he said, tions long predates Teheran and Kabul, A1 the Lisbon Bureau meeting of the SI since I was sitting at the table, "the so­ but those events demonstrate that he is last October, there was a non-European cialists in the United States." I do not right in terms of ,.e,1lpoli1ik as well as of majority for the first time in history. want to romanticize. No one, including compassionate solidarity. If the miseries Close relationships with African and the most enthusiastic Eurosocialist, has of the poor are left to fester indefinitely Latin l1berat1on movements are now com­ messianic illusions about a movement -which is more or less what we have monplace. And, in the current crisis the which has known more failures than vic­ been doing for some years now-the en SI 1s a relatively unified-by consensus, tories. Yet it is alive, more so than in a tire globe will eventually be infected not by vote, which is the rule in this or­ long time, and in its relationship with a I touch on only

April 1980 DEMOCRATIC 1BFT ~ Yugoslavia who would support a close on the central federal institutions which challenge the regime, any more than link with the Warsaw Pact and a more have progressively weakened as the re­ those in the West do) , and the various repressive regime internally. It is in the publics have assumed more autonomy. republics negotiate openly and aggres­ pursuit of such alternatives that there The "Rumanians" have poor pros­ sively over economic and social priorities. have been repeated attempts to form an pects. An alternative unacceptable to the This grouping will probably consolidate illegal, underground, pro-Moscow Com­ leaderships of the three most developed its power after Tito's death. munist Party. This is the reason why the republics has little chance. Further, the overwhelming majority of the political large new middle class which the re­ Advent of Liberals dissidents in jail in Yugoslavia today are gime has created wishes to enjoy its privi­ The advent of the Yugoslav League "Cominformists," i.e., pro-Soviet dissi­ leges and relatively great personal free­ of Communists "liberals" should have dents. However, this grouping is mar­ dom, and is backed up in that desire by several consequences. The first, and most ginal, limited almost exclusively to pen­ the groups which dominate the decen­ obvious, is that the relations between the sioned-off police and army officers in tralized self-managed Yugoslav economy. Soviets and the Yugoslavs will probably some less developed regions. It is unlikely that the group representing worsen as they relapse into their normal The constitutional mechanisms for polemical exchanges. After all, these are replacing Tito are clear. It is intended precisely the elements that have been re­ that there be no second Tito. The func­ peatedly denounced as revisionists by the tions and prerogatives of Tito will be dis­ Soviets and who in turn have most vigor­ tributed to a collective body formed from ously denounced Soviet-type systems as the leaders of the republics, a general statist caricatures of .socialism. Secondly, secretary of the party, a ceremonial rotat: much closer relations with the West Eu­ ing president, a chairman of the League ropean Communist and socialist parties of Communists, and a head of the mili­ are likely to follow, not only because of tary forces. This collective leadership has ideological affinities but because Yugo­ reasonably good prospects of taking hold, slavia is increasingly Europeanized in since it reflects the genuine bases of pow­ terms of its economy and cultural links. er in Yugoslavia today. The question still The side effect is likely to be a somewhat is what range of alternatives exist within lower profile in foreign policy and with the League of Communists or, rather, the nonaligned world. The younger party which currents will dominate the collec­ leaders have developed in the era follow­ tive leadership. I assume that none of ing the Soviet-Yugoslav break and are Yugosl3v Pross & Cultural Cont

6 DEMOCRATIC LEFT April 1980 Us and Them in the Polls By Jim Chapin conservatives five to two for Carter. In the end, then, issues shape results. 0 FAR THE COVERAGE OF THE Reagan did so well among New Hamp­ 1980 primaries has wavered shire Republicans because they agreed between two theories: rough­ with him on the issues: once Bush ly they can be termed "the end stopped looking like the pragmatic choice of ideology" and "the end of he was dead. But personality also affects liberalism." The first theory­ the results: if Kennedy had been riding based on the discovery some high he would have done better across time back that most of the the board. It's not the end of ideology or electorate doesn't know all that much the end of liberalism. Ideology matters, about candidates or issues-argues that policy by 45 percent; but among New and the liberals are still there. There is the key to primary campaigns is a great Hampshire voters the comparable figures no liberal majority-but there never wa.r. organization, good media coverage, a were 13 percent and 62 percent. What there was in the past (and still is pleasing personality, and money. The ef­ People voted along issue lines. For in the present) is support for specific ele­ fects of ideology only matter so far as instance, among the two leading Repub­ ments of the liberal program. On the they influence the first and last of these licans, 62 percent of Bush voters sup­ other hand, there is no conservative ma­ four factors. ported the ERA while only 28 percent of jority either. The country has not moved The second theory, although it con­ Reagan voters did. Those opposed to to Reagan's ideas, and if he gets the nom­ tradicts the first, has sometimes been ad­ draft registration voted heavily for Ken­ ination we will see that in the fall results. vanced by the same people: Kennedy's nedy and Brown; those supporting it Our task is two-fold : to reassemble the showing reflects the final defeat of lib­ voted heavily for Carter. A majority of elements of a specific platform around eralism in the national arena: "we" now those favoring gas rationing supported which a majority can be gathered, and to "know" that the sixties were an unfortu­ Kennedy. Self-identified Democratic lib­ convert a majority of the population to nate mistake because people believed that erals went seven to four for Kennedy; our more basic ideological thrust. • peace and prosperity were possible and desirable, instead of the hard "reality" that war and misery are inevitable. It is impractical or immoral to believe that government can do anything about the South Bronx, but wise and practical to Discover Democratic Socialism believe that it can control the Middle East. The only proper role of employees Do you think of yourself as a socialist? Do you belong to a socialist organi­ zation? If you answered yes to the first question and no to the second, then of government is to kill people: anything you should join the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC). else is "big" government, and we will be DSOCers are active in unions, minority, community and feminist organiza­ left to choose our conservative poison : tions, the anti-nuclear movement and the left wing of the Democratic party. "Old," "New Right," or "Neo." We do not separate our vision from practical politics. It is because we are Both perceptions have some roots in socialists that we have a unique contribution to make to the democratic left, reality. Most voters don't pay attention showing how incremental reforms must be extended toward a structural to the issues until they have to. Personal­ transform ation of society. By joining thousands of DSOC members in 40 ity, money, organization and media are locals and every state you can be part of the resurgence of the American left. important. But when elections approach, O I'd like to join the DSOC. Enclosed find my dues. ($50 sustaining; the voters do begin to make choices-and $20 regular; $10 limited income. D ues include $5 for DEMOCRATIC LEFT.) make them on a largely issue-oriented Send to: Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, 853 Broadway, Suite basis. A New York Times/ CBS poll com­ 801, New York, N.Y. 10003. T el.: (212) 260-3270. paring the national electorate, the New O I want to subscribe to DEMOCRATIC LEFT. Enclosed is $10 for a sustain­ Hampshire electorate, and the New ing subscription; $5 for a regular subscription; $2.50 for a limited income Hampshire voters shows the difference. subscription.) Only 18 percent of the national electorate said they were paying a great deal of at­ tention to the race, but 45 percent of the New Hampshire electorate and 56 per­ AddreslS------~ cent of the voters were. Foreign policy City/State'------iP·------was considered the key issue by 32 per­ cent of the national electorate; economic P hone______Union, School, Other Affiliatio,11-______

April 1980 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 7 Evangelicals Uncovering Traditions of the Left By James R. Gorman EPENDING ON THE WAY YOU count, we may be entering what some historians are call­ ing the Third or Fourth Great Spiritual Awakening. The first took place just before the American Revolution under the leadership of Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield and others. The second began before the Civil War and the third may have been the resur­ gence of orthodoxy (fundamentalism) in the face of the liberalism of the late 19th century. If the scholars and prog­ nosticators are right, we are entering, then, the era of "The Fourth Great Awakening." That there is an increased religiosity can hardly be argued. The conclusions Members of the Fisherfolk from Colorado joined the Sojourners Commu­ one might draw from that, however, are nity and other religious groups in a December 197~ demonstration in sup­ varied. Michael Harrington, noting such port of the moratorium amendment to the SALT II treaty. phenomena as the Jonestown Massacre, the Moonies, Hare Krishnas and the like, conclusion might be valid. First, the The­ Side, which originates from Philadelphia. quotes Leszek Kolakowski as saying, ology in the Americas project, a North The election of a self-confessed "There will be a rain of gods upon the American dialogue with Latin American "born-again" evangelical Christian to the funeral of the one true God." Whether liberation theology, reported on by Rose­ Presidency has· had much to do with the times like these represent a "rain of gods" mary Ruether in these pages recently, has recent flowering of the evangelical move­ or an awakening of genuine faith is an raised the consciousness of many, espec­ ment in general (though it is now show­ argument beyond the scope of this article. ially in the Roman Catholic community. ing signs of abating). Evangelicalism, Of more interest is whether this awaken­ Another trend currently receiving some once the fountainhead of political con­ ing (let's assume that it is happening) attention is being styled the "Young servatism in America, now ranges from will give birth to a socially and politically Evangelicals." This promises to be one of Jerry Falwell's "Moral Majority" on the responsible faith. Some very good signs the most important developments in far, far right to this new movement on suggest that this is happening. American political theology since the the left. The history leading up to this Martin Marty, University of Chi­ thirties. These Young Evangelicals are point has at least three major steps. First cago church historian and much sought­ the grandchildren of fundamentalism, the founding of "fundamentalism" at the after Protestant commentator, in one of who ace rediscovering a faith that has al­ turn of this century (the "Third Great his "decade-end" summaries, quotes re­ ways had real social and political impli­ Awakening" as some call it); second, the searcher William G. Mcloughlin as sug­ cations and responsibilities. Groups are renewal of fundamentalism-a rejection ~esting that "early in the 1990's at best" being formed such as "Evangelicals for of its separatist and sectarian personality there will emerge a kind of "Judeo­ Social Action," "Evangelical Women's -in what was called neo-EvangelicaJism Christian socialism" of a non-Marxist and Caucus," and, some will remember, in the forties, spearheaded by Carl F. H. democratic sort within the mainstream of " Evangelicals for George McGovern." Henry, founding editor of Christianity American religious life. Marty is skepti­ The magazine that most represents this Today; and now this third reformation cal, but finds it interesting enough to use movement is Sojo11rners, published by a of fundamentalism-another rejection of in dosing his article. collective of evangelicals in Washington, the cultural captivity and political con­ Some present trends in American D.C. Another influential journal, slight­ servatism of the ne0-Evangelicals (such theology do suggest that McLoughlin's ly to the left of Sojo11r11er1, is The 01her as Billy Graham) .

8 DEMOCRATIC LEFT April 1980 Back to Barth There is also a good deal of cross­ they were born and raised. They did not This third step is itself a mixed bag, fertilization and dialogue between these leave their churches or religious heritage ranging from political liberals who spend Young Evangelicals and liberation the­ when it failed to address the issues raised their time searching for scriptural justi­ ology. Jose Miguez Bonino, the Argen­ by the civil rights and antiwar movements fication of their positions, to what is be­ tinian Methodist, who has done a good of the sixties (and instead continued to ing called the "orthodox evangelicals" deal of writing and thinking in the area prohibit TV on Sundays at its colleges who are more disciplined intellectually of the Christian-Marxist dialogue, is con­ along with the usual prohibitions against and tend toward the neo-orthodoxy of sidered by some Young Evangelicals as a smoking, playing cards, dancing, drink­ German theologian Karl Barth, as well "bridge figure" between the two camps. ing, etc.). Instead, they began to look as the reformed theologies of French The evangelicals, however, remain criti­ more carefully at their tradition and dis­ Calvinist Jacques Ellul and Episcopalian cal of what seems to be liberation theol­ covered in it movements as politically lawyer William Stringfellow, friend and ogy's openness to violence and its seem­ radical as those of the sixties. Donald defense lawyer to the Berrigans. It may ingly too great dependence on Marxian Dayton, in a book that shows up on every be that as this aspect of the movement categories. Young Evangelical bibliography, Dis­ grows, there will be a more genuine ap­ These Young Evangelicals are good covering an Evangelical Heritage (Har­ plication of Barth's insights to this con­ children. They love the tradition in which per & Row, New York, 1976) documents tinent than has ever been possible before. Because the evangelicals grew up in a strong biblical environment and now THE RIFKIN THESIS Jeremy Rifkin and Ted Howard, The Emerging Order: God in an Age of maintain a biblical commitment, they may Scan::ity (New York: Putnam, 1979). be hearing Barth's biblical theology for the first time. More importantly perhaps, This book has received much publicity on the left. There is much to recommend it. In an age of scarcity of natural resources, Rifkin asks, how because these young folks are people who will America, committed as it is to an ever-expanding economy, define it­ became politically aware during the late self? How will it look at its world, and reorganize its economic life to adjust sixties, they are placed in a historical mo­ to a non-growth future? ment in many ways similar to that of From a religious history point of view, however, the thesis is overstated Barth. Barth was writing and preaching and at points inaccurate. Essentially, he argues that Protestantism is re­ during the collapse of a civilization that sponsible for the liberal ethos on which capitalism is built and he looks no one thou~ht could collapse. forward to the possibility that a reformed Protestantism can be responsible Karl Barth was a socialist and his for shaping the next age toward a more human economy. socialism was intrinsic to his theology. The initial part of his argument is not new. First expounded by Max American neo-orthodox theologians such Weber, it holds that John Calvin laid much of the theological groundwork as Paul Tillich and Richard and Reinhold for capitalism, especially through Calvin's doctrine of "double predestina­ Niebuhr were also socialists, though none tion," which became twisted into the "work ethic." Calvin is also held re­ sponsible for "the person of order, the rational person: the machine person of them ideologically so. They were af­ for the machine age." filiated with various sorts of religious Holding Calvin responsible for capitalism is similar to holding Mane socialism, but despaired over the many responsible for the Soviet Union. Though Rifkin does point out that the splits and subgroups to which that move­ liberal bourgeois ethos is a fundamental distortion of Calvin's insights, he ment as well as the socialist and social goes on to argue that Calvin and Luther must be "retired to the theological democratic parties seemed to fall prey. archives to be replaced by the yet unnamed heretics of the second great In their call to "holistic salvation," reformation." a view of salva~ion that takes account of While Rifkin looks to the evangelicals as one of the major forces in this more than just the personal, the Young new reformation, he neglects to notice that they are rereading Calvin rather Evangelicals are sharply critical of what than placing him on the back shelves. they would call "structural evil." Further, Rifkin's argument is a misplaced one from the sixties. The more non­ institutional and experiential the social phenomenon, the argument goes, they do not faJJ into the neoconservative the better. So he looks wistfully toward the charismatics, hoping that they trap of assuming that, since the structures will bring about a great theological liberation that the more stable, but cannot be changed, there must be "ne­ still noninstitutional, young evangelicals will shape into something upon cessary evil," (often called " Christian which a new economy can be built. Realism") . The Startin~ point for their The charismatics that I know are all leisure-suited, middle class types critique of capitalism is prophetic and who have accumulated all the material they can and are now discovering non-Marxist, thou~h they are no longer that such accumulation does not speak to their deepest yearnings. They totally averse to Marxian tools. Their have moved from materialism to spiri~ualism which is more escapist than criticisms of capitalism eschew the tradi­ revolutionary. True revolution (and religion) results from honest dialogue tional language of economic critique such between the two rather than a commitment to one over the other. as "bourgeois," "proletariat," "means of Finally, I wonder whether religion really causes or gives shape to social upheaval, or rather follows (usually at a great distance) an upheaval that production," etc. As one professor at has already taken place. I'm not sure whether religion paved the way for Billy Graham's alma mater, Wheaton capitalism, or whether intellectual and social forces emerging from the Mid­ College, put it, "It is clear that we are dle Ages paved the way ~or both capitalism and the Reformation. Religion movin~ beyond capitalism, but toward is primarily a conservative force in a liberal society and that may be its most what is not so clear." revolutionary feature, especially in an age of scarcity. ]. R. G.

April 1980 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 9 this buried treasure of evangelical radi­ evangelical and democratic socialist cur­ calism. rents may be merging, making the possi­ Dayton discovers in evangelical his­ bility of dialogue exciting indeed. tory prohibitionists, abolitionists, femin­ Marx and Jesus have always had ists and socialists. William and Catherine much to say to one another, and now in Booth, founders of the Salvation Army, a humanized Marxism and a reformed for example, were considered "Socialists evangelicalism they can begin to use new and something more ..." according to language and insights as they find them­ a contemporary biographer. As William selves, once again on the side of the poor Booth put it, "I say nothing against any and disenfranchised. short cut to the Millenium that is com­ It is instructive to note that Billy patible with the Ten Commandments. I Graham is now on the left side of the intensely sympathize with the aspirations SALT II treaty, saying that it allows an that lie behind all these socialist dreams "idolatrous" arms race to continue at an ... what these good people want to do, insane pace. Things are changing in I also want to do." mainstream Protestantism and the Young Nothing could sum up better the Catherine Booth, cofounder of the Evangelicals are no small contributing feeling toward contemporary democratic Salvation Army. factor in that change. • socialism on the part of these Young is not economic or sociological theory. It Evangelicals. The authority for their is the symbolic heritage of the Evangeli­ f im Gorman is pastor of a ch11rch in present commitment to the reformation cal tradition itself. The starting points Chicago and chair of the DSOC Religion of American values and social structures are different, but just now the left wing and Socialism Commission. Anticorporate Strategies By Maxine Phillips seeing the corporations. on labor law reform two years ago would seem to indicate that the troops ;ust OR SEVERAL MONTHS DSOC D.L.: As socialists, we in DSOC partici­ pate in liberal coalitions, but our Jong aren't there for the ambitious undertak­ members have been working on ing you describe. anticorporate activities around range goal remains the basic transforma­ Big Business Day. They range tion of society. Does this coalition offer SCHIPP.ANI: It's true that every group from a major educational con­ possibilities for str11ctural change? comes into a coalition with its own agen­ ference in New York City to a ScHIPP.ANJ : Two major changes would da. We've been pleased by the breadth Corporate Hall of Shame in be public control over investment and of the coalition. It includes people who Detroit, to an outdoor fair and increased public and employee represen­ normally wouldn't consider themselves corporate roast in St. Louis and teach-ins tation on corporate boards. We're kid­ allies-small shareholders, Southern Bap­ at several campuses. Now that April 17 ding ourselves if we think that either goal tists, trade unionists, academics, right-to­ is almost here, DEMOCRATIC LEFT went can be reached in the near future. How­ lifers, feminists. At the moment there is to BBD Director Mike Schippani to ask, ever, I could see the shadow board for no mass movement against corporate "Will there be life in the anti-corporate Duke Power Company, for instance, get­ power. But the potential is there. If we campaign after April 17 ?" ting more and more interested in public can keep the energy of the groups now D.L.: What effect will the actions have power, perhaps organizing to bring about in the coalition and draw more in, we after the day is over? investment in solar power. Even if we could build that movement. One very ScHJPPANI: We see April 17 as the kick­ had actual union and public representa­ important point here is that within this off of a decade-long campaign. There tion on corporate boards right now, their coalition the labor movement can link up will be a major Constitutional Conven­ numbers would be small. The shadow with others so that it can win future bat­ tion on the Giant Corporation in Wash­ board points the way, though, to the pos­ tles. This builds a constituency that win ington, D.C. at which shadow boards for sibilities that such representation would receive an ongoing education about cru­ 10 major corporations will be named. open up. cial issues. This is a time when the anti­ These "boards" are in reality coalitions D.L.: This coalition inc/11des groups corporate campaign has to attack on all of various groups, whose representatives ranging from churches and feminist fronts. The corporations haven't been shy will sit on them. Over the next few years groups to the B11ilding Trades Council about attacking us for years. Recently, the they will follow "their" corporation, of the AFL-CIO to the national network Chamber of Commerce issued a special looking at its investment policies, labor of Public Interest Research Groups. ls it report to its members telling them to practices, social responsibility. In effect, realistic to expect that it will be able to counter-organize against Big Business these boards will be models for ways in maintain the momentum for a decade­ Day. We plan to be in this fight for a which the public can be involved in over- long anticorporate campaign? The defeat long time. •

10 DEMOCRATIC LEFT April 1980 On Not 'Breaking Away'

By Doro~ee Solle and Jim Wallace REAKING AWAY JS A MOVIE ------., that mirrors the wishes and fears of Americans at the end of the seventies yet subtly manipulates them in a nos­ talgia for the imagined sim­ plicity and cleanness of the fifties. Most of our friends loved the film; most of us were warmed by the endearing treatment of life in a small university town in the Midwest. The camera gently plays across the faces of lower middle class youths and adults with easy good humor. It has the am­ bivalent quality of the heroic myth about ordinary young people as we know it from Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. The film's hero, Dave, has recently graduated from high school, and is now, along with his three buddies, without a job. All four are hanging around at the end of the summer without hope of entering the local state university which ''We are shown a man estranged from his job and his family they see as being only for rich kids. What we liked about the film was the hero's and a woman imprisoned in the myth of the feminine role . .. what aisarming enthusiasm for life, his naive we are given could be better entitled 'sticking m.''' purity of love and his giving himself to whatever he docs: bicycle racing, wooing a beautiful girl on the campus and even The qualities of the hero are so ap­ it." He enters college and his friends are selling his father's used cars. Through pealing that we easily forget his comrades heard from no more. Brecht put it well his bicycle racing he falls in love with who in the beginning of the movie seem in the Threepenny Opera: Italian life: its food (which the father to be as important as he is. Yates selects And some are in the dark disgustedly describes as all ending with from the collective hero of four young and the others are in the light "ini"), its music (even the arias of Jobless boys the young, sweet, innocent Only those in the light we see Puccini), its language (which he dili­ one instead of the angry, tough former those in the dark we don't. gently learns and brokenly speaks from a high school quarterback whose hopes Parallel to Yates's treatment of the phrase book), and its family life (which have been raised through his athletic gang of boys, David's family conflicts are seems to him to be much more intense prowess only to be frustrated. This boy powerfully presented and sentimentally and caring than his own experience of passionately insists on the gang's sticking solved. His father is introduced as a for­ family ties in America). together rather than taking meaningless mer stonecutter who, along with the These elements of a foreign culture jobs. In his cha.racter there is the potential fathers of the other three boys, had loved are used by the director, Peter Yates, as for a better film; one that values solidar­ his work during the construction of the symbols of a young man's seach for iden­ ity over individual achievement. But the university. But when we meet him, he is tity. "Breaking away" means leaving the filmmaker has this bitter young man fail an overfed, imaginationless, sexless, used inherited world of hamburgers and milk­ in his struggle against class and genera­ car salesman. David's mother is a warm­ shakes and, at least for a while, looking tion conflicts. In our culture he is not the hearted housewife with all the qualities for a different way of life. The film­ kind of boy people want their sons to of femininity: she protects her husband, maker raises these hopes for a new iden­ grow up to be. David's three friends are consoles her son, attempts to bring a little tity, and then disillusions the boy through used to support his heroic bicycle racing romance into this boring marriage. Al­ an unscrupulous Italian bicycle team, victory, but then, in the last scene, they though there 1s ample cause for a wo­ leading him and us back to the virtues disappear. The American dream is again man's suffering and conflict in her role, of American Life. individually fulfilled by David's "making Continued on page 15

April 1980 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 11 Socialists Moved Ahead But Liberals Took Canada By Eric Lee HIS IS NOT THE TIME IN CAN· But the election was not destined ada for pessimism. I leave that to be a breakthrough for the party. True, to Mr. Clark. . . Far from it Canadian voters had had enough of Joe -now is the time, surely, as a Clark and his minority Conservative gov­ people to grab hold. Now is the ernment. But autumn 1979 polls indi­ time to say yes, we can do it, cated strong support for a stable, majority but do it 011rselves." With those Liberal government. The situation was words, spoken to hundreds of in one sense analogous to the 1974 elec­ supporters in Ottawa in early January, Ed tions: voters wanted a strong and stable Broadbent set the tone for the New Dem­ government. In that bout, the NOP vote ocratic Party's (NOP) 1980 campaign. fell by more than a quarter million and Six weeks later, Canadians responded by 17 seats were lost, including that of Party giving the New Democrats more votes Leader David Lewis. and more seats in the House of Com­ This time, the election results mons than ever before. seemed at first to be a replay of 1974. Early in the campaign, the NOP In every part of Canada except Alberta, leader declared that energy was "the Sell Clark the Conservatives collapsed like a house number one subject matter in this cam­ of cards, losing nearly 30 seats nationally. paign." The New Democrats called for A Liberal sweep began in the Atlantic an expansion of Petrocan, the federally­ provinces, picked up steam in Quebec, owned oil and gas corporation, into the raced through Ontario and didn't stop largest energy company in Canada. Aim­ My till it reached Manitoba. In Newfound­ ing to break the power of foreign-based land and Nova Scotia, the NOP lost its multinationals, Broadbent told voters of heart's only two seats east of Ontario. The loss his vision of Petrocan gas stations from on the of Fonse Faour's seat in Newfoundland coast-to-coast, each gas pump decorated left was especially bitter-he had won it by with a maple leaf. The NOP called for - over 7 ,000 votes last year; he lost it by a federal commission to control oil com­ 3,360 this time-a massive shift among pany prices and profits, and demanded a the electorate. halt to exporting energy resources from Three veteran NOP Members of Western Canada to the U.S. while the Parliament were defeated in Ontario, in­ Atlantic provinces were importing Mid­ cluding John Rodriguez, a leader of the dle Eastern oil at OPEC prices. party's left caucus. But two victories-in The NOP made the call for a na­ Toronto and Hamilton-left the Ontario tional industrial strategy-a plan to de­ NOP with a net loss of only one seat. velop Canada from a resource-based econ­ After an early scare in the election re­ omy into a modern industrial manufac­ turns, final tallies showed Ed Broadbent turing economy-a central plank in its The party also emphasized its tra­ winning his seat in Oshawa by a 12,000 campaign. Broadbent declared that Can­ ditional bread-and-butter issues: inflation vote margin. ada could become the "Scandinavia of and unemployment. It proposed price North America" in furniture production, controls to cub inflation and massive Gains in West could build a first-rate deep sea fleet for government spending to lower the un­ The Liberal juggernaut came to a commerce, could set up a fish marketing employment rate, which is significantly full stop at the Manitoba border. The board to rescue the fishing industry in higher in Canada than in the U.S. The Liberals won only two seats in the West, the troubled Maritime provinces. Every NOP campaign also targeted a whole losing their Vancouver Centre seat in resource Canada exports, Broadbent range of social issues, including women's British Columbia. The New York Times points out, represents an average loss of rights, pensions, Native peoples' issues, reported that the Conservatives retained six jobs in that industry. and environmental concerns. Continued on page 15

12 DEMOCRATIC LEFT April 1980 'S LEFf 10 RFAD By Ronald Radosh Labor History, Fall 1979, Vol. 20, No. 4; $16 per year, ize their dream is no reason to forget the solid, if limited, $4.75 per single copy. c/o Bobst Library, Tamiment In­ achievements they scored. He chastises our own generation of stitute. New York University, 70 Washington Sq. South, democratic socialists as well, for failing to give attention to the New York City, N.Y. 10012. struggles of our ancestors, and for concentrating solely on

HERE HAS BEEN SOMETHING OF A TENDENCY, RE­ studies of Norman Thomas and of faction fights among the cently, to both eulogize and romanticize the Com­ leadership. The result of that he terms "a serious distortion of munists of the 1930s and '40s, as if they were the the past." only radicals involved in organizing and tryin~ to • • • create a socialist consciousness. It is refreshing to find Radical America, Vol. 14, No. 1, $2.00 per issue, $10 per a corrective in the excellent article by histonan Roy Rosenzweig, " 'Socialism in Our Time': The Social­ year, 38 Union Square, Somerville, Mass. 02143. ist Party and the Unemployed, 1929· l 936," m the In an important article, Htm?,ar)' 1956: The AnaJomy of current Labor H11lory. a Political Rei·o/111io11, Agnes Heller and Ferenc Feher-two Starting with a picture of the New York City Washington Hungarian exiles who were students and political allies of the Heights branch of the Socialist Party (SP) and the Young late Georg Lukacs, as well as young activists in the Hungarian Peoples Socialist League (YPSL), Rosenzweig shows how Revolution-argue that the revolt was a classic pol1t1cal revo­ their effort to build a local Unemployed League was seen both lution that held lessons "especially important for socialists." as a "chance to win specific, immediate improvements in the A political reYolt is a crisis ''caused by the loss of legiti­ living conditions of the unemployed," as well as an ··oppor­ macy of a tyrannical regime," rather than by external factors tunity to attract the jobless to the Socialist cause." After 1932, such as a war, That revolt against tyranny which Lukacs it was Socialists who played a major role and provided the thought would purify socialism " from Stalinist dirt ... within leadership for locally based unemployment groups. Unlike a year," produced the leadership of Imre Nagy, a man they the Communists, they tried to "impart to these groups an see as having transcended his own CP base to stand firmly for underlying v1s1on of a new social order." a new "that political pluralism and independence from the The Socialist activity spread through the nation. In the So\Jet Union could be compatible with fundamental socialist Midwest, Workers' Committees formed by Socialists stopped values and ideas." This is a stand which the authors see as the evictions, got people onto relief rolls and interfered with bu­ ~tart of the "long and tortuous story of Eurocommunism." reaucratic mistreatment. And when thousands of young people The Hungarian Revolution created a new institution, they came into the movement to work in Norman Thomas' 1932 note, workers' counols tn factories, schools, offices and other campaign, that recruitment "provided the impetus for a great workplaces, and their direct democracy was the reaffirmation expansion of Socialist efforts to mobilize the Jobless." The of the century-old "recurring ideal of every true socialist move­ Socialist Party also began successfully, in some areas, to work ment." with blacks Unemployed League organizers worked in the Had it won, the)' argue, a coalition of "socialists, social black community in Baltimore. Urging black and white unity, democrats and peasant deputies," in alliance with the councils, and holding a "fierce commitment to anti-lynching legisla­ would have created a democratic socialism, a form of direct tion," they attracted some two to three thousand black mem­ democracy in the factories combined with a new representative bers to their ranks, thereby building an integrated organization pol1t1cal system. Instead 1t was crushed by Soviet arms. Yet, in racist Baltimore-no small achievement 1 Rosenzweig writes : they admit, whether the outcome of the Revolution would Under this Socialist leadership with its flexible com· have been authentic socialism Trotsky's desired second revo­ binat1on of immediate needs and socialist vision the lution-was only problematic. The masses were building insti­ unemployed movement achieved some significant tutions which pointed towards a possible socialist future, as victories. It won relief adjustments, blocked evic­ well as creating safeguards against .1 conservative dictatorship. tions, secured high relief rates ... and propagan­ They wanted prtmarily to destroy an existing tyranny. dized for unemployment insurance. It also raised the Admitting that the populace "did not fight for any spe­ political and social consciousness of its members. cific social formation," they argue that the Revolution must Eventually, these burgeoning movements affiliated with lea,·e open the field of alternatives for an emancipated society. the Work Proiects Administration, and workers offered their The Hungarian Revolution held out two alternatives-democ­ support to both New Deal relief measures and to F. D. R. the racy or conservative dictatorship-not, as the imported Stalinist man. Viewing the federal government as their patron. Rosen­ regime argued, dictatorship or socialism. The militants who zweig writes, many saw less need for continued militant acti­ fought were neither doctrinaire nor "interested tn a genuine vity. Moreover, the new Communist line affected strategy, and socialist revolution," but rather in democracy. "whose 'class­ soon the CP became the dominant force in the movement. A less' character was a source of ridicule for all the high priests newly merged Worker's Alliance-with both Socialists and of various socialist doctrines." Their view, forcefully ex­ CPers in leadership, operated "within the confines of Popular pressed, is that socialists should support any revolt for democ­ Front Amencanism and New Deal liberalism." racy-regardless of its outcome-and try to advance socialist Rosenzweig argues that the old Socialists' failure to real- concepts within the terrain of the struggle. •

April 1980 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 13 ONTIIELEFf By Harry Fleischman to raise $4 million of the total $15 million budget from HE UNSHAKABLE KATHARINE SMITH : AT 87, SHE'S unions, with most money to come from the National Endow­ Still a Social Activist." That five-page story, with ment for the Humanities. PBS scotched the deal, prohibiting a color cover photo, about one of DSOC's oldest support from companies or organizations having a "direct in­ active members, appeared last month in Newsday's terest in a program's subject matter." PBS was not so pure magazine, LI. Katharine transformed her home in when it gave its blessing to the business-oriented "Free To Massapequa, 1.1. eight years ago into PeaceSmith Choose" series with Milton Friedman, champion of free­ House, a meeting place for nuclear power protesters, market capitalism. That series, which received $2.4 million in farm union supporters, advocates of publicly-owned financing from such corporate giants as General Motors, W . R. utilities, opponents of racism, backers of socialism, the Long Grace, General Mills, Pepsico and the National Federation of Island Progressive Coalition, and followers of other progres­ !ndependent Business, was promoted as "the first major effort sive causes. Newsday describes her as the "rock-hard, heart­ m an overall campaign" to promote free enterprise unham­ soft glue that holds it together." Almost 40 years ago, when pered by government. such actions were not popular, she Jived in a biracial coopera­ ••• tive in Harlem. Her backyard was the scene of numerous sum­ AN INDEPENDENT SOOALIST NEWSPAPER, AGENDA, IS BEING mer picnics for Norman Thomas and the Socialist Party. She published by Harvard-Radcliffe students. The 25 staff mem­ helped run a coop store in Hempstead. Last year she stood in bers, a "democratic collective" providing "socialist analysis on th~ rain at ~~oreham to oppose the nuclear power plant being current issues," encourage participation by women and minori­ b~1lt there. At an age when most people are happy just to be ties in the paper. For more info, write Perry Mehrling, 91 alive," says Newsday, "her interest in world affairs and in mak­ Walker St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138. ing the world a better place to live is undiminished." DSOCER GERRY COHEN, TWO-TIME OTY COUNOL MEMBER • • • AN IMPORTANT SPONSOR OF BIG BUSINESS DAY IS TIMOTHY in Chapel Hill, N .C., ran a strong campaign but was beaten in Smith, executive director of the Interfaith Center on Corporate the nonpartisan mayoralty race by a liberal Democrat who Responsibility, a coalition of 14 of the largest U.S. Protestant polled 2,025 votes to Cohen's 1,510. Appointed to fill Cohen's denominations and about 180 Catholic orders and dioceses. council seat was DSOCer Joe Henenberg. The Center, now ten years old, puts the mouth of the church A NEGOTLATING COMMITTEE OF THE NEW AMERICAN MovE­ where its ~oney '.s, forcing moral and social issues on corpo­ ment (NAM) and the Democratic Socialist Organizing Com­ rate Amen: a. Smith says that church money in pension funds mittee (DSOC) has been meeting to explore differences and and other mvestments adds up to more than $55 billion. The similarities and to consider ways and means of working center's main tool is the shareholder resolution but it is not together for democratic socialism. Both are active in such afraid to demonstrate, as it recently did against i~fant formula coalitions as the Progressive Alliance, Citizens/ labor Energy manufacturers, including Nestle and Bristol-Meyers. Coalition and Big Business Day. NAM and DSOC have called This year, Center-affiliated church groups plan to propose on their locals to get to know each other and try to start joint 104 resolutions to 81 companies. The subjects range from ad­ work where possible. In San Francisco, both campaigned in van~ng equal employment opportunity, bank redlining, plant the successful city council race of DSOCer Harry Britt, and are closmgs, nuclear energy, pollution from chemical companies, working together against Carter's draft registration drive and genetic h~ards in the ~orkplace and links to the military. • on tax reform referenda. . . Detroit has established a jointly­ Items of rnteresl for thu column may be sent to HllN'y Fleisch­ sponsored Socialist School. . . . The NAM and DSOC locals man aJ the DSOC National Office. Nancy Kleniewski, whose in Madison, Wis. merged into the Democratic Socialist Alli­ Socialist Notes used to appear in this space, will continue to ance, affiliated to both national groups. . . . A jointly-sponsored write about DSOC activities across the country on a more occa­ de?ate on ele~oral activities was held in New York City, with sional basis. Michael Hamngton and Stanley Aronowitz talking to 400 at Col~bia University, and a joint meeting is planned for April ••• DEMOCRATIC AGENDA to discuss reports on the DSOC-NAM negotiating committee CYNTHIA WARD HAS BEEN APPOINTED COORDINATOR OP THE meetings . ... NAM and DSOCs Health Commission staffed DEMOCRATIC AGENDA 1980 project. Cynthia was formerly the a joint literature table at the American Public Health Associa­ head of the DSOC Youth Section, and now serves as a member tion Conference in December .... Joint meetings and activities of the National Executive Committee. She worked as an aide are also taking place in Champaign-Urbana, Ill., St. Louis, to the president of the State University of N~ York at Stony Pittsburgh and Long Island. Brook, where she is studying for a Ph.D. in American History. • • • She will be active in coordinating testimony and appear­ WHEN UNIONS FIGHT TO GIVB AWAY MONEY, THAT'S UN­ ances at the Democratic Party platform hearings in Washing­ usual. But the Public Broadcasting Service has turned thumbs ton an~ around the country; in organizing delegates, Platform down on labor money for a project, "Made in U.S.A.," which Comnuttee members, and party activists around the DEMO­ would include ten movie-length TV films on the history of CRATIC AGENDA Platform, and in planning a major DEMO­ American workers and the labor movement. The producers, CRATIC AGENDA event at the Democratic Party Convention in Public Forum Productions and WGBH-TV in Boston, hoped New York City August 11-14. t ~ DB1-!0CRATIC LBFT April 1980 AWAY, from page 11 CANADA, from page 12 crats. Nowhere in Quebec did the NDP she is portrayed as if the women's move­ their hold on the West. That is simply come close to winning a seat. ment had never occurred. We are skill­ not true. Where the Liberals stopped, the In some ways, the NDP's political fully shown a man estranged from his NOP advanced. In Manitoba, the New future is bleak. Trudeau will likely re­ job and his family and a woman im­ Democrats picked up two new seats. In main Prime Minister with his comfort­ prisoned in the myth of the feminine Saskatchewan, they won two more. In able majority for the next five years. The role. Rather than changing their frozen what British Columbia NOP Leader NOP caucus in the House of Commons, situation, these parents are apparently Dave Barrett called a "sweet victory," larger than ever before, will not be able reconciled to it by the innocent goodness the NOP picked up four new seats there. to play the balance-of-power role it had and warmth of their son. If we can trust The party held its one seat in the North­ hoped for this time. With the referen­ again in American family life, we are west Territories, and came within a hair's dum on sovereignty-association for Que­ told, we don't need any social change. breadth of taking the other seat there. bec now at the center of attention in Ca- Although "breaking away" from the West of Ontario, the NOP gained eight given patterns of life would seem to new seats and held on to e11ery seat it promise personal growth and social had won in May 1979 and after. ''As Ed Broadbent has put it, change, what we are given could be better By the time the final results were in, the Conservatives were simply entitled "sticking in" these patterns, e.g. the NDP had won 32 seats and 19.8 family bonds, sexual roles and meaning­ percent of the vote (compared to 17 .9 Liberals in a hurry.'' less work. percent in May 1979) . More than two The nostalgic world of the fifties million Canadians had defied the Lib­ nadian politics, the NOP remains unable that this movie yearns for is free of poli­ eral landslide and given a democratic to influence the vote there. In Quebec, tics, of sex, hard generation conflicts and socialist party its largest vote in the po­ and on the federal level, the NOP seems of labor struggles, not to mention drug litical history of this continent. destined to play, at least for the next few problems, racism and se~ism . It is an ode There was even good news for the years, the role of a minor party. to the lost virtues of the Midwest. It has NOP in Quebec. Although Broadbent But this is not the case in provincial been called "the most authentic American rarely visited the province, and the NOP politics. The NOP is one seat away from film of the year." Indeed. • bad never won a federal seat there, more being the Official Opposition in the Pro­ than a quarter million Quebecois voted vincial Parliament in Ontario. Polls show Theologian and poet Dorothee Solle NOP, over 9 percent of the vote (com­ the NOP likely to return to power in teaches each winter semester aJ Union pared to 5 percent in May). Of 73 con­ British Columbia in the next election­ Theological Seminary in New York City. tested districts, the NOP placed second with the B.C. Social Credit government Jim Wallace teaches engineering science, in 35. Nevertheless, it remains quite weak tainted with its own mini-"Watergate" is chair of the Washington, D .C./Mary­ in Quebec. In seven Quebec districts, the scandal. The federal results in Manitoba land local, and a member of the NaJional Parti Rhinoceros, which mocks the elec­ give evidence of a strong NDP that can Executi11e Committee. tion process, outpolled the New Demo- win the next provincial election. In bringing Trudeau back to power, the Canadian people lost this election. Over the next five years, they are likely to see the Liberals implement the very policies that brought down the Conser­ vative government. As Ed Broadbent has Conference sponsored by DSOC Boston Youth Section. STIJDENTS AGAINST CORPO­ DEBS-THOMAS DINNER put it, the Conservatives were simply RATE POWER: STIJDENT ACTIVISM IN May 9, 1980, NYC Liberals in a hurry. But the Canadian THE '80s. April 18-20. Harvard University, people have gained something that their Cambridge, Mass. Speakers: Michael Harring­ Honoring Ray Majerus ton, Stanley Aronowitz, Ruth Jordan, Noam Director, Region 10, UAW American neighbors might envy: the Chomsky. For Information, call Boston DSOC, 212-260-3270 largest socialist caucus ever to sit in a 617-426-9026. $4 in advance, $5 at the door. national parliament on this continent. I would predict that when Trudeau FOOD MONITOR covers all aspects of who The government and big business tax you every controls our food C60urces. In Issue #16, day of the year. We do it only once a month. calls the next federal elections, he will read "The Creation of Agricultural Depend­ Join the DSOC Pledge Plan. Write to DSOC, find the New Democrats in power not ence in Puerto Rico," "COIN's Analysis on Suite 801, 853 Broadway, New York, N.Y. only in Saskatchewan, but in B.C. and Food Inflation," and Jim Chapin on U.S. Pub­ 10003 for more details. lic Opinion and World Hunger. Publisher, Jack Manitoba. As the results of this election Clark. Subscription $10/ year to World Hunger have shown, the real opposition in Can­ Year, P.O. Box 197:m , Garde11 City, NY CliZssifud rain iZre $2 per line ( 40 'hiZrlZ(/erJ 11HO. per line), $50 per

April 1980 DEMOCRATIC LEFT 15 HIGGINS RfS AMERICA'S ELDERLY, CAN WE AFFORD THEM?­ the costs on to others." Newsweek goes on to quote Lane Kirk­ That rather startling question was posed recently by Forbes land unfavorably for saying that the AFL-CIO does not intend (February 18) . The piece argues that the picture of elderly to "preside for long over the continuing reduction in the real poor people is a myth and that demand for further federal income of American workers" (presumably, in Newsweek's spending to serve the unmet needs of the elderly is uncalled view, workers should show patriotic fervor in presiding over for. Several cases are presented of retired people living well, the decline of workers' living standards). Of course, the social and the specter of the young and unemployed rising in revolt justification of capitalism for the last 200 years has been pre­ against the elderly retired is raised. Progr .. mmatically, the cisely that it maximizes the social good by encouraging indi­ piece opposes further indexing of Social Security payments, viduals to "look out for their individual interests." If Adam sneers at the need for home heating fuel subsidies and favors Smith's Invisible Hand (which reconciled these individually the pre-Depression palliative: people should save more for selfish decisions with the larger social good) is no longer there, retirement. Are there r o limits on the new social meanness? why do we still rely on a system of private decision-making at all? We can hardly wait for the next installment of Michael RAMBLINGS ON THE PRIMARY TRAIL-Many Novak's corporate-sponsored apologias (three pages in the things wrong with this year's Presidential primaries, but same issue of Newsweek paid for by SmithKline Corporation) one thing is right: turnout is way up. In Iowa, for ex­ ample, Ted Kennedy's losing vote was just 4000 shy of for an answer. total 1976 turnout; in Maine the caucus participation HOW BUSINESS REGULATES GOVERNMENT­ increased five times over 1976 turnout; and primary That's the title of the introductory chapter and the voting in New Hampshire was up 2S percent. Although theme of The Corporate Lobbies, a study written by the numbers have not meant a left upsurge, the in­ Mark Green and Andrew Buchsbaum for Big Business creased participation can help repoliticize our national Day. The report examines the st.ructure and activities debate.... The press has been playing up Kennedy's of the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Round­ big defeats (Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire), but as of table complete with case studies on the Federal Con­ early March, the delegate count is relatively close, SS sumer Protection Agency and labor law reform. As for Carter, 3 7 for Kennedy. It could be a long, hard­ Green points out in the introduction, there are lS,000 fought primary season leading up to a convention where business lobbyists operating in Washington with a bud­ the outcome is uncertain. Industrial states loom as the get of $2 billion annually. That's about 30 corporate cn•cial test for Kennedy. lobbyists per member and more than 1000 times the $3 LOOK, MA, NO INVISIBLE HAND- Why does inflation million yearly spent by public interest lobbies. And yet, the business community is dissatisfied. As one repre­ persist? In its March 3 cover story on inflation, Newsweek sentative of the National Association of Manufacturers stated clearly and concisely one of the recurring explanations: complained, "Legislators have tended to be more re­ "By most accounts, inflation perpetuates itself by forcing ceptive to the public interest than they have been to Americans to look out for their individual interests and pass business."

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