ICELAND KR200 · NEW ZEALAND $3.00 · SWEDEN KR15 · UK £1.00 . U.S. $1.50 INSIDE Irish freedom fighters stand up to imperialist pressure TH£ -PAGE7 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 65/NO. 37 OCTOBER 1, 2001 Defend democratic rights! U.S. hands off Afghanistan, Iraq! Socialist candidate Washington takes in NY opposes steps to militarize Coal miners strike wins war drive, attacks U.S., prepares support in United Kingdom on workers' rights 'long war' abroad BY JACK WILLEY BY GREG MCCARTAN NEWYORK-"My campaign demands Over the past week Washington has taken that Washington keep its hands offAfghani­ the sharpest moves in decades in militariz­ stan and that it immediately withdraw all ing the United States, accelerated the assault its warships, planes, and troops from the on democratic rights-especially targeting Mideast and South Asia," said Martin immigrant workers-and put the U.S. mili­ Koppel, Socialist Workers candidate for tary on a war footing in preparation for a New York mayor, when interviewed here brutal assault on the people of Afghanistan September 19 by a reporter for Panama's and other countries such as Iraq. national television. As part of the war drive it has unleashed Koppel noted that the U.S. government since the September 11 attacks on the World now has arrested at least 115 immigrants Trade Center and the Pentagon, the U.S. around the country who, under new rules government already has 115 immigrants in announced by the Bush administration, can preventive detention. Under new regulations be detained indefinitely without charges if enacted by the Justice Department, immi­ the U.S. authorities declare a "national grants can be held indefinitely without emergency." charges if U.S. officials declare a "national The Socialist Workers candidate pointed emergency." Pickets at Rossington colliery. Miners explain that they are striking for parity to a statement he had issued September 11 With bipartisan support, Congress is au­ with other workers at UK Coal, in work hours, bonuses, and other issues. that called on working people "to speak out thorizing extended government powers to against the U.S. rulers' demagogic efforts, wiretap phone and computer communica­ in the name of preempting 'terrorism,' to tions and other attacks on constitutionally BY PETE CLIFFORD strate the continuing support for the strike rationalize restrictions on political rights" guaranteed rights. The U.S. govemment's ROSSINGTON, England-Miners at should the coal bosses attempt to lock and to oppose "the campaign by the U.S. chauvinist warmongering abroad and ha­ Rossington colliery in Yorkshire, now in the miners out. Skidmore said he was Continued on Page 14 rassment of immigrants at home has given their fifth week on strike, are preparing to confident the union would get another a green light for the recent wave of violent stand up to a lockout by UK Coal. A few vote for strike action. attacks on individuals from the Mideast and hundred coal miners gathered at the Min­ Skidmore said the NUM in the York­ South Asia. This includes the killing of an ers Welfare Hall August 17 to hear Na­ shire area had appealed for financial sup­ Workers and Indian man in Mesa, Arizona; a Pakistani tional Union of Mineworkers (NUM) port from miners at other pits. The bosses immigrant in Dallas, Texas; and an Egyp­ leader Arthur Scargill extend the support at the mines had taken down union leaf­ tian man in San Gabriel, California (see ar­ of the national union to the fight. Strike lets encouraging contributions to the youth snap ticles on pp.l 0-11 ). leader John Gibson reported in an inter­ Rossington support fund. "This will not John Goheen, a spokesman for the Na­ view that the 260 NUM striking miners stop us from winning support," he said, tional Guard Association, told the New York remain 100 percent solid. "because I'm confident about the feel­ up 'Militant,' Times that the government response to the Miners discussed out plans to advance ing of others out there." Donations have September 11 attacks "is a new kind of the fight and also to build up a solidarity arrived from branches of the Fire Bri­ homeland defense." fund that the union has launched. In an gades Union, the Amalgamated Engi­ attend foruiDs The Clinton administration established interview after the meeting striking miner neering and Electrical Union in Bristol, BY ROGER CALERO for the first time a North American com­ Chris Skidmore said, "Ifwe go back now and the public sector union UNISON. AND MAURICE WILLIAMS mand for the Pentagon, authorizing all we will be going back for nothing. I don't "The messages of support that come with "As soon as the Militant came off the press branches of the military to prepare for do- want to do that." He explained miners de­ these donations are as important as the cided to hold a second ballot to demon- Continued on Page 12 September 13 with the headline, 'Oppose Continued on Page 8 U.S. military assaults and curbs on demo­ cratic rights,' we hit the streets of the Gar­ ment District in New York," said socialist Books for working people and youth worker Dan Fein. "In five days, more than II 0 people bought copies of the Militant, fighting imperialism and its war drive 11 people purchased subscriptions, and two Capitalism's World Disorder more bought subscriptions to Perspectiva $2 01+ El(lf linE 10 :\'EW Mundial. We were determined to get out the Working-Class Politics at the Millennium 1J\J11.11: I \T' ,1.\'IJ 1 l'ER<;PH TH/1 truth about Washington's war drive. One by Jack Barnes person who bought a Militant subscription JUUNIH;Il.' ">UH<;( RIHI RS said she needed the Militant every week as The social devastation, police brutality, and military assaults the war pressures were going to be around Cuba and the Coming accelerating around us are the inevitable forces unleashed by for a while," he added. American Revolution capitalism~ But the future capitalism has in store can be changed Fein's remarks reflect the activities by the united struggle of workers and farmers conscious of their by Jack Barnes around the world where members of the power to transform the world. Available in French, English, and Spanish. Socialist Workers Party, the Young Social­ Discusses the struggles in the imperialist Special offer $20 (regular price $23.95) ists, members of the YS and Communist heartland and the example of Cuba that revo­ Leagues in other countries, and supporters Also by Jack Barnes Che Guevara 'llllks to lution is not only necessary-it can be made. Young People of the communist movement worldwide are Special offer $9 (regular price $10.95) The Changing Face of U.S. organizing a working-class campaign Special offer $12 (regular price against imperialism and war. They are reach­ Malcolm X Politics:working-Ciass Politics and $14.95) ing out to co-workers on the job and other 1aiks to Young the Unions Special offer $16 (regular Marxism and 'Ierrorism price $19.95) unionists, setting up literature tables in People by Leon Trotsky working-class districts, selling at plant gates Includes Malcolm X's and mine portals, more deeply involving The Working Class and the Whatever the intentions behind it, says condemnation of themselves in the struggles of workers and Transformation of Learning Trotsky, individual terrorism relegates farmers, and getting out to college campuses imperialist wars in the Special offer $1 with subscription the workers to the role of spectators Congo, Vietnam, and to engage in political discussions with stu­ (regular price $3) and opens the workers movement to dents. Socialist workers and YS members elsewhere. Special of­ provocation and intimidation. Special are also responding to the imperialist war fer $9 (regular price See directory on page 12 offer $1 with subscription (regu­ drive by deepening their own education and $10.95) lar price $3.50) Continued on Page 5 South African workers rally against privatizations - page 2 South Mrican strike Koreans march against U.S. war plans opposes Pretoria's plans to privatize

BY T.J. FIGUEROA unionists. He later told reporters that the An August 29-30 national strike against reception he received was "rather vicious." plans to privatize some state-run industries The strike was supported by the South in South Africa saw sharpening public dif­ African Communist Party (SACP), South ferences emerge between the 2-million­ African National Civics Organization, Na­ member Congress of South African Trade tional Council ofTrade Unions, and student Unions (COSATU) and the governing Afri­ and other organizations. can National Congress (ANC). The results of the strike were themselves The privatization debate a subject of dispute, with COSATU officials The government plans to sell off enter­ stating that about 65 percent of the prises worth about $13 billion over the next workforce-about 5 million workers­ five to seven years, saying it needs to raise Riot police arrest participant in protest near U.S. embassy in Seoul, south Korea, stayed away from work, and that there had money, and that in private hands these enti­ September 17. The march, which was sponsored by 21 labor and other groups, also been a good turnout in rural areas. The ties will stimulate economic growth by opposed Washington's plans for military strikes. Organizers reported that U.S. SouthAfrican Chamber of Business, which boosting competitiveness. Those scheduled authorities barred South Korean servicemen from entering U.S. bases recently speaks for many major industrial employ­ for full or partial privatization include placed on alert. "Koreans are considered as a possible terrorist group and this is ers, estimated that only 37 percent struck. Telkom, the state phone company; Transnet, a significant insult to Koreans," stated a number of protesters with indignation The government put the number at about which runs the railroads, ports, and South The U.S. military has 37,000 troops stationed in south Korea. The AFP news 30 percent. However, the government's fig­ African Airways; Eskom, the state electri­ service described the action as a "rare public show of opposition to U.S. force." ures include those classified as civil servants, cal utility; and Deuel, an arms manufacturer. including cops and soldiers. Government Some municipalities have begun privatizing officials were quoted saying the strike had water service. Over the past several years, as job losses agreed on; that government stop privatizing not enjoyed overwhelming support. Many workers and the unions point out have mounted not only among government basic services such as water and electricity; No industrial breakdown of the walkout that the sell-offs not only threaten the jobs of employees but also in privately held indus­ that any restructuring be negotiated with was provided, but news reports indicated tens of thousands, but will have a dispropor­ try, criticism of aspects of the ANC's eco­ communities and labor and be approved by that central Johannesburg was deserted, and tionate impact on working people in town nomic policy has been particularly pointed parliament; and that any restructuring aim marches of varying size took place in cities and country because of expected price hikes from COSATU officials. Leaders of the at improving communities, especially the nationwide. News reports said 8,000 and cuts in service of vital resources, such as union federation have instead lobbied for poor." marched in gale-force winds in Cape Town, electricity, phones, and public transport. what they call a "developmental state." During a post-strike press conference, while in Pretoria, the capital, about 5,000 The revolutionary democratic movement "We elected the ANC to defend us and COSATU general secretary Zwelinzima workers took to the streets. A rally in to end apartheid, which drew tens of thou­ protect our interests," Gwede Mantashe, gen­ Vavi said: "Over the last few months we Johannesburg was estimated at about sands of workers, peasants, and youth into eral secretary of the National Union of have been deeply disappointed that govern­ 10,000. action against the racist state of the white Mineworkers (NUM), told demonstrators in ment made no genuine attempts to address Signs carried by marchers urged "Hands­ minority, was led by the ANC. In the 1980s Johannesburg on August 29. He said the our concerns. They have said they are will­ off our national assets," and "The economy struggles of black workers forged trade NUM is opposed to the government's macro­ ing to discuss the details but not a change of the country should create jobs not pov­ unions in major industries such as steel, economic framework, known as the Growth, of program. This is the type of arrogance erty." mining, and transport The national labor Employment and Redistribution policy, we are facing." In Pretoria, marchers presented a memo­ federation formed as a result of those "which has conservative plans that do not In the week prior to the strike, South Afri­ randum listing their demands to Public Ser­ struggles, COSATU, backed the AN C. protect the interest of workers. Privatization can presidentThabo Mbeki wrote in a news­ vice andAdministration Minister Geraldine Under white-minority rule the state-owned will not improve the lives of the poor citi­ paper column that the government has not Fraser-Moleketi, who has been one of the enterprises were used to buttress the apart­ zens," he said. "We cannot be told jobs will betrayed policies agreed to by the broad ANC leaders at the forefront of the heid regime and an economy that benefited be created while we see government destroy­ democratic movement with regard to the is­ privatization drive. When she tried to ad­ an elite minority. After the fall of apartheid ing jobs." He said by striking, workers were sue of the restructuring of state assets. He dress the demonstrators, she was met with the country faced massive unemployment, highlighting their differences with the gov­ said COSATU argues that "we have aban­ shouts of "Hamba, hamba," ("Go away, go vast areas of underdevelopment where the ernment. "But the question is, are these dif­ doned the pursuit of the objective of a better away," in Zulu) and whisked away by her majority of the population lives, and the ferences reconcilable or not? If they are rec­ life for all," but said the government's policy bodyguards. In Cape Town, public enter­ sharpening impact of the world capitalist eco­ oncilable, the interests of the workers should had been discussed and put forward in vari­ prises parliamentary services director Lucky nomic crisis, which has hit Africa, Latin be protected. We will continue to support the ous ANC documents since the early 1990s. Montana was booed and shouted down by America, and Asia the hardest. ANC as a movement, but the ANC should "The question that arises," he continued, not take our support for granted." "is why lies are being told and false claims COSATU officials say that privatization made of the possibility of easy victories over moves have already eliminated 200,000 the colonial and apartheid legacy. Whose jobs, and threaten tens of thousands more, interests do they serve, who abandon the in an economy where unemployment is es­ morality of revolutionaries, so that they can THE MILITANT timated at 35 percent, according to the use workers as cannon fodder to launch an government's own statistics bureau. They offensive aimed at defeating their own lib­ charge that the economic policy adhered to eration movement! The time has come that Support labor, farm struggles by the ANC government, which is charac­ the organized workers and the rest of our terized by targeting "fiscal stability" and progressive movement should ask these News about the struggle of encouraging foreign and domestic capital­ questions and demand answers. Those who ist investment, is hurting the working class. have, apparently from 'the left,' joined hands workers and farmers world­ According to COSATU, the demands of with the right wing, that has always sought wide can be found in the the two-day walkout included "a morato­ to defeat our movement, need to know this." rium on privatization until a new policy COSATU officials urged a meeting with 'Militant' every week. These framework that will incorporate the de­ the ANC following publication of these re­ stories shine a spotlight on the mands of the Freedom Charter and theRe­ marks, but said their campaign against crisis of the imperialist system construction and Development Program is privatization would continue. and the growing resistance of working people. Don't miss a above address. By first-class (airmail), send $80. single issue. Subscribe today! The Militant Asia: send $80 drawn on a U.S. bank to above address. VoL 65/No. 37 Canada: Send Canadian $75 for one-year Closing news date: September 19, 2001 subscription to Militant, 4613 St. Laurent, Editor: MARTiN KOPPEL Montreal, Quebec H2T IR2. SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Business Manager: MAURICE WILLIAMS Britain, Ireland: £36 for one year by check Editorial Staff: Roger Calero, Greg McCartan, or international money order made out to Mili­ Maggie Trowe, Jack Willey, Brian Williams, and tant Distribution, 4 7 The Cut, London, SE I 8LL, NEW READERS Maurice Williams. England. Continental Europe, Africa, Middle Young Socialists column editor: ROMINA East: £40 for one year by check or international GREEN money order made out to Militant Distribution 0 $10 for 12 issues NAME Published weekly except for two weeks in Au­ at above address. gust and one week in December. 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2 The Militant October 1, 2001 Struggle for free land, equality in W. Sahara Printed below is an interview with against the invasion by the governments of Mariem Salec, Minister of Culture and Mauritania and Morocco. The SahrawiArab Sports of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Democratic Republic is a full member of Republic, founded in 1976 by the Polisario the Organization of African Unity. A lot of Front, the liberation organization lead­ countries have recognized our country and ing the fight for the independence ofWest­ government. We defeated Mauritania and ern Sahara. Salec is also on the national have liberated part of Western Sahara from secretariat of the Sahrawi National Moroccan occupation and still continue to Women's Union. She was interviewed by fight to liberate the rest of our country. Very Young Socialists members Yonatan briefly, these are the main objectives of the Moldanado, Bobbi Negron, and OIOf Polisario Front. Andra Proppe during the 15th World The Sahrawi National Women's Union Festival of Youth and Students in Algiers, was created during Spanish colonization, Algeria. and called for women's rights and decolonization. After the withdrawal of Young Socialists: Can you explain the Spain, it became an instrument for women history and aims of the Polisario Front and to support the just struggle of our people the Sahrawi National Women's Union? against the invasion of Morocco. We are Salec: The history of our organizations fighting not only to free our land but also begins in 1973 with the struggle for the for justice and equality. No one can speak Willey decolonization ofWestern Sahara. Ours is a about the Sahrawi struggle and Sahrawi lib­ Meeting between world youth festival participants from Western Sahara and the United struggle for a free land. Of course this eration without speaking about the proud States in one of the Western Sahara tents at the festival. "We are fighting not only to struggle began against Spanish colonization. role that women play in our society. free our land but also for justice and equality," says Mariem Salec. On Feb. 27, 1976, Spain withdrew its last Our women are fighting on two fronts. troops after a three-party agreement with The first is to have a free and independent women to make our future. lives in exile under hard conditions, the other Morocco and Mauritania to divide our coun­ state. Without a state we can do nothing. Young Socialists: What is happening to­ part lives under foreign occupation. There try. The agreement was a flagrant violation Secondly, we are the motor force in the day in Western Sahara? is repression and no respect for human rights of the right of self-determination of the struggle to change the view that men have Salec: We are seeing a great violation of in the occupied territories. Sahrawi people. of women, and to get women to play their the right to self-determination because our Young Socialists: What is your opinion With the division of our country we de­ full role in our society. With one gender you country has been forcibly divided by the of the world youth festival? clared our republic and started fighting cannot have any future. We need men and Moroccan invasion. One part of our people Salec: I can say that it's a successful fes­ tival because of the large number of partici­ pants, the large number of activities, and the high value of the discussion. We sent a big Festival participants speak in Twin Cities delegation to meet with others in different parts of the world to exchange views and BY BECKY ELLIS that it is the tiny minority of superwealthy open mind. She explained how, just months experiences. We might not agree but we should converse. It's very important also to ST. PAUL, Minnesota.~"Coming out of rulers that run the country," Negron said. earlier, she had thought Cuba was an un­ this summer's conferences, we are politi­ A month earlier, 158 young people from democratic and repressive country. "Like reinforce the solidarity between youth. We cally strengthened and determined to build the United States traveled to Havana, to par­ with many misconceptions we're taught, I want a future without oppression. a communist youth organization that is part ticipate in the Cuba-U.S. Youth Exchange. questioned this and decided to go to Cuba Young Socialists: After the independence of a worldwide movement to fight imperi­ Holly Santiago, a student from St. Cloud to see for myself." she told the forum. At St. vote, what next? alism," said Arrin Hawkins, a leader of the University, and Lawrence Mikesh, a meat Cloud University she has been part of a fight Salec: We can read from the experience Young Socialists and a meat packer from packer and member of the Young Socialists, against anti-Semitic and racist acts by the of liberation movements in the past that Chicago. She was part of a panel of five were both part of the Minnesota delegation administration toward instructors. women can take, and did take, a great role young people at a Militant Labor Forum and spoke on the panel at the forum. Santiago said, like many students, she in the struggle, only to be marginalized af­ here September 9 who reported on the 2nd Mikesh spoke about how the "battle for works long hours to support herself while ter independence. Our women are very con­ Cuba-U.S. Youth Exchange in Havana, and ideas" in Cuba today -- political initiatives attending school. She pointed to the soli­ cerned with this situation and we are mak­ the 15th World Festival of Youth and Stu­ by the communist leadership -- aimed at darity among the Cuban people, especially ing our own plan and our own strategy to dents held August 8-16 in Algiers, Algeria. young people who were not part of the gen­ the attention to education of the youth and guarantee our presence and to play a big role The world youth festival was attended by erations who carried out the revolutionary care for the old. "I want to bring all of this in the running of our state. We are Arab and some 6,500 young workers and students . war, nor of internationalist missions in Af­ information to the fights that we are involved we are Muslim women. Religion is very from 160 countries. Forums, speakouts, and rica, Latin America, and elsewhere through in here," Santiago told the meeting. important for any woman and for any man informal get-togethers were held during the the 1980s. but it should not be a reason or excuse to nine-day event. Santiago said she went to Cuba with an Becky Ellis is a sewing machine operator. marginalize women. Hawkins said that the conference in Algiers helped young people to see the need to begin with an international working-class perspective. The participation in the festi­ Cuba-U.S. exchange part of 'battle of ideas' val by thousands of youth, mainly from countries oppressed by the imperialist pow­ plained their views on the five Cubans ers, helped bring home this point. They de­ framed-up by the U.S. government ones­ scribed the battle for national liberation and pionage charges in Miami. the struggles of workers, peasants, and stu­ Another participant said he learned about dents in their countries. the priorities of the Cuban Revolution, such Jack Willey, a leader of the Socialist as sending doctors around the world to give Workers Party who attended both confer­ medical attention to working people in poor ences, said the world youth festival regis­ countries and providing sports facilities for tered that while still in its infancy, "the anti­ youth. A native of the Ivory Coast told the imperialist youth movement is the beginning gathering that he went to Cuba with a skep­ of putting together a worldwide anti-impe­ tical view because of what he had heard rialist movement~for all toilers, not just about the revolution in the major media. youth." "Once I returned to the United States I had Organizers of the Algiers festival invited some time to think about the trip," he said. a wide range of groups which supported the "I realized that with very little the Cubans anti-imperialist aims of the gathering to at­ do a lot." tend. This encouraged discussion and de­ Jack Willey spoke about his participation bate by participants with a wide range of in the 15th World Festival ofYouth and Stu­ views on a host of central political questions dents held in Algiers, Algeria, in August as well as the Cuba-U.S. Youth Exchange. facing working people today. Militant/Rosa Green Members of the Cuban delegation, about What was clear at both of these events was Among the speakers at the meeting on the Cuba-U.S. Youth Exchange were (from left the proletarian internationalism of working 750 in number, described in a number of to right): Jack Willey, Jason Corley, Claudia de Ia Cruz, and Elizabeth Olsen. forums how the Cuban Revolution tri­ people and youth in Cuba. A leader of the umphed in 1959, and why the country's in­ Cuban delegation in Algiers told participants dependence, sovereignty, and social accom­ BY CANDACE ROBBINS UJC, who.invited students, young workers, in that conference that they were there "for plishments would be impossible without NEW YORK~Being part of the Second and other youth from the United States to one reason. The battle of ideas is not a Cu­ having made a socialist revolution. Delega­ Cuba-U.S. Youth Exchange this past summer, learn about the Cuban Revolution. Nearly ban question. We want to bring that cam­ tion members raised the point of view that said Seth Dellinger to a September 8 meet­ 160 people from across the United States paign to everyone." the way forward for humanity was to not ing of nearly 50 people here, was an oppor­ responded to the invitation. Through resistance to the offensive by the only overthrow pro-imperialist governments tunity "to understand that a revolution is pos­ At the reportback meeting held in Wash­ capitalists and their governments around the but for workers and peasants to take power sible. It was clear just how vicious are the ington Heights, seven young people from world, and the struggle by peoples in the in order to end capitalism and build a dif­ lies we hear in the United States about Cuba. New York who attended the exchange spoke semi colonial countries against imperialism, ferent kind of society. If you go to Cuba and see the truth, the lies about what they learned in Cuba. The event working people and youth are "beginning Bobbi Negron, Young Socialists member become an insult that you take personally." was sponsored by the Dominican Friends to rebuild a revolutionary movement. The from St. Paul and a meat packer, reported Dellinger explained that the Cuba-U.S. of Cuba, the Dominican Left Bloc, San Cuban Revolution is an aid to doing this," that delegates from around the world in Youth Exchange was part of the "battle of Romero of the Americas Church, Socialist Willey explained. "Coming back here, I'm Algiers were surprised to learn that there ideas" being waged by mass organizations Workers Party, and the Young Socialists. more determined to build such a movement are socialists in the United States and that in Cuba today, from the Cuban Communist One of the places the delegation visited to do in the United States what workers and there are workers and youth who study Party and Union of Young Communists in Cuba, Dellinger said, was the country's peasants did in Cuba ~make a revolution." Marxism here. "Others said that we have a (UJC), to trade unions and student groups. psychiatric hospital. "Unlike in the United Youth Exchange participant Claudia de Ia democracy in the United States and won­ He said the battle poses and answers the States," he said, the hospital "wasn't like a Cruz said that once she was in Cuba she didn't dered why we would be opposed to the gov­ question: What is the better social system~ prison. For example, each patient had been want to return to the United States. But in ernment. This would lead to discussions capitalism or socialism? given work they were capable of doing." discussions with other participants, they ex­ about the resistance of workers and farmers The July 22-30 exchange was initiated Patients organized a concert performance plained to her that Cuba had already made a to the assaults by the employers and their by youth organizations in Cuba, including for the youth from the United States and revolution. "My job is to make the revolu­ government in the United States and the fact the Federation of Cuban Students and the during breaks in the music patients ex- tion here," she said. October 1, 2001 The Militant 3 Conference addresses deepening social crisis in Latin America BY JANE LYONS participated in the event. Panels dealing spe­ AND LUIS MADRID cifically with politics and culture in Cuba WASHINGTON-The Latin American included: "Cuba: The Special Period Gen­ Studies Association held its 23rd interna­ eration and the Theme of Exile;' "Poetic and tional congress here September 6-8, with Philosophical Discourse in the Writings of some 4,000 university professors, graduate Jose Lezama Lima and Alejo Carpentier," students, researchers, writers, and others "Cuba's Foreign Relations," and "Cuba: The from both the United States and countries Challenges of Development in the Epoch of throughout Latin America in attendance. Globalization," among others. Participants also included people from the A panel entitled "Social Proposals by U.S. State Department and other govern­ Today's Cuban Cultural Magazines," fea­ ment institutions, as well as government tured Norberto Codina, editor ofLa Gaceta officials from various countries. de Cuba; Jorge Dominguez, a Harvard Uni­ versity professor and one of the initiators • • Militant/Arnold Weissberg More than 700 panels, workshops, and Participants at annual congress of the Latin American StudiesAssociation held in Wash­ of the U.S.-based magazine Cuban Studies; meetings were organized, with up to 50 ington, D.C., purchased hundreds of dollars worth of Pathfinder titles. events going on at any one time in the course Rafael Hernandez, editor of Havana-based of this three-day gathering. Major areas of Temas; and Victor Rodriguez, a former edi­ discussion included, "Agrarian and Rural tor of University of Havana's El Caiman On the opening day of the conference Although not part of the official confer­ Life," "Arts and the Media," "Culture and Barbudo. the New York Times ran an article claiming ence program, a meeting was held to launch Power," "Labor Studies and Class Rela­ At one of the main events held in the LASA was "under fire for sponsoring a the bookintelectuales vs Revolucion: El Caso tions," "Social Justice and Social Move­ course of the congress, Mexico's minister Communist Party official from Havana in­ del Centro de Estudios Sabre America (In­ ments," and more. of foreign affairs, Jorge Castaneda, spoke strumental in a recent purge of Cuban intel­ tellectuals versus Revolution: The Center for The deepening economic and social cri­ to some 200 conference participants on lectuals." It charged that Dario Machado had Studies on the Americas Affair). The book sis across Latin America provided the back­ "Mexico and the Americas: A New Approach led "an intellectual offensive in the 1990's is part of imperialism's anti-Cuba campaign, drop of the conference. The region's work­ to Hemispheric Affairs."Castai'ieda raised against scholars who strayed from a strictly claiming the Cuban leadership organized a ers and peasants are feeling the brunt of the point of view that the United Nations orthodox [Cuban Communist Party] line and purge of intellectuals in the country. How­ capitalism's world economic crisis particu­ Security Council plays "a key role in peace­ forged ties" with foreign academics, and ever, neither the Times article nor the book larly hard, and are responding to its effects. keeping processes and policies around the others. Machado is director of the Center launching, which attracted less than a dozen In recent weeks, for example, toilers in Ar­ world." The Mexican government, for Studies on the Americas, an institute for participants, had any perceivable repercus­ gentina have been organizing protests to Castaneda added, will seek to play a promi­ research on politics and economics in the sion on the discussions at the congress. reject attempts by the government of nent role in shaping what he described as a hemisphere. The article went on to report Machado himself participated in a panel Fernando de la Rua to slash wages and other fledgling"new international system" where that Juan Antonio Blanco, a former aca­ entitled "Cultural Politics and Political Cul­ social conquests. Similarly, on the eve of imperialist powers, "unable to be dominant demic who left Cuba and is now director of ture After the Cuban Revolution," without LASA's congress, 12,500 auto workers in despite their might, end up identifying their the Ottawa-based Human Rights Internet, any incident. Puebla, Mexico, scored an important vic­ own interests in rules [established by] con­ questioned LASA's sponsorship of The next LASA conference will be held tory against Volkswagen. Through an 18- sensus" among various nations. Machado's visit. in the spring of 2003 in Dallas, Texas. day strike, they wrested a 10.2 percent wage increase, and other benefits, such as school supplies for their children. Aspects of these and other developments 'I really appreciate the work of Pathfinder' were addressed in the discussions and 1,600 papers presented at the conference. There BY JANE LYONS in Spanish, were also among those present. Pathfinder does," he told Pathfinder volun­ were, for instance, panels on "Plan Colom­ WASHINGTON-Hundreds of partici­ Many conference-goers were familiar with teers. He purchased copies of two recent bia," where, under the guise of the "war on pants at the Latin American Studies Asso­ Pathfinder and expressed their appreciation titles, Fertile Ground: Che Guevara and Bo­ drugs;' Washington is increasing its mili­ ciation congress stopped by the Pathfinder for the role its books play in getting out the livia, an interview with Rodolfo Saldai'ia and tary intervention in South America; the cri­ Press booth featuring a full array of its revo­ truth about the Cuban Revolution as well as Making History: Interviews with Four Gen­ sis in Ecuador; the land ownership struc­ lutionary arsenal of books and pamphlets. addressing other issues. Others were finding erals ofCuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces. ture in Central America; moves by a num­ Displaying attractive blow-ups of covers of out about Pathfinder for the first time and More than $760 worth ofbooks and pam­ ber of governments to adopt the U.S. dollar several of its new titles, Pathfinder was one left their cards, indicating they would be in­ phlets were sold over the two and a half as their country's currency; and more. Al­ of some 100 publishers, distributors, and terested in using some titles in their class­ days, including nearly $90 worth of books though the majority of presentations were various university presses from the United rooms. Among those who stopped by was a snapped up by a Venezuelan researcher who in English, many panels, reflecting the com­ States, Mexico, and other Latin American professor from Buenos Aires, Argentina. purchased the Spanish-language editions of position of the conference, were held en­ countries that participated in the book ex­ A political science professor from South­ Capitalism 's World Disorder, The Chang­ tirely in Spanish or in Portuguese. hibit held in tandem with the congress. western University in Georgetown, Texas, ing Face ofU.S. Politics, Lenin's Final Fight, Highlighting the place ofthe Cuban Revo­ Ediciones Cubanas, a Cuban publishing said he orders Pathfinder titles for his courses and a copy of the Marxist magazine Nueva lution in the hemisphere's politics, more than house, and Foreign Affairs en Espafiol, a and left the names of several other profes­ Internacional featuring the article "Defend­ 80 scholars and academicians from Cuba journal of political analysis published here sors to call on. "I really appreciate the work ing Cuba, Defending Cuba's Socialist Revo­ lution" by Mary-Alice Waters. The best-selling title over all was The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning by Jack Barnes, with eight copies Pathfinder books snapped up at Paris event sold in English and Spanish, followed by Che Guevara Talks to Young People, with BY NAT LONDON Party (PCF). Americans killed in New York," she said. Almost $900 worth ofliterature was sold, "It is not fair that we can honor the Ameri­ seven copies in both languages. Six copies PARIS-Sales were brisk and debate was of Fertile Ground in English and Spanish nonstop around the Pathfinder stand during including 118 books and pamphlets, 11 cop­ cans killed but are refused the right to honor ies of the Militant and one Perspectiva the young Palestinians killed in the intifada were also purchased. Other titles in both the three-day Fete de l'Humanite, which languages included Cuba and the Coming took place as the U.S. government went on Mundial. Pathfinder supporters from Bel­ or the young Iraqis killed by the bombing gium and Britain joined five from Paris and and economic blockade of Iraq." She added, American Revolution, Capitalism 's World a war footing. The imperialist war drive, Disorder, Making History, Habla Malcolm combined with the growing number of one from Marseille to help make the booth "Many teachers were upset about the circu­ a big success. lar from the Education Ministry ordering the X, and issue number 9 ofNew International books published by Pathfinder in French, on "The Rise and Fall of the Nicaraguan made for brisk sales and political discus­ French participants snapped up 25 cop­ three minutes of silence. The circular said ies of the two new French language Path­ that all critical remarks made by students Revolution." Several individuals expressed sions. The Fete de l'Humanite is an annual interest in reviewing Pathfinder books in event organized by the French Communist finder pamphlets of speeches by Thomas should be noted down by their teachers, thus Sankara, as well as seven copies of the New transforming them into informers." journals they publish. International issue on the "Opening Guns George Trebaol, who works at the Renault In addition, 15 copies of the Cuban cul­ Genocide against ofWorld War Three" and six copies ofCuba auto plant at Choisy-le-roi, also stopped by tural magazine La Gaceta de Cuba were pur­ and the Coming American Revolution. Three the Pathfin.,der stand. He told how a demon­ chased along with five copies of the Cuban the Indians copies ofCapitalism's World Disorder were stration organized in the town where he lives theoretical journal, Cuba Socialista. Volun­ also sold. Hundreds of copies of a French had been canceled the day before. The dem­ teers at the booth also distributed about 1,000 George translation of the September 11 statement onstration had been organized to protest the copies of a special leaflet that featured the Novack opposing Washington's war moves and at­ rerouting of airline landing patterns at the new titles by Pathfinder, and several hundred flyers promoting La Gaceta. Why did the tacks on democratic rights by Martin Orly airport The new routes would bring Koppel, SWP mayoral candidate in New planes in just over the heavily residential, A Miami distributor that· specializes in leaders of the Cuban cultural items ordered 50 Cuba- and Europeans who York, were distributed. working-class area. The government had for­ Many of those who came to the Pathfinder bidden the demonstration, invoking the art-related books, totaling more than $400, settled in North for a store they will be opening up in that America try to stand gave examples of the growing threat Vigipirate emergency plan, which has been to democratic rights and free and open de­ reactivated in the wake of the New York at­ city. exterminate the One worker from the hotel where the peoples already bate that has accompanied the imperialist tacks. Vigipirate suspends a number ofdemo­ war drive. RhanyaAit Gougam, who works cratic rights and has put machine-gun-toting gathering took place did a double take upon living there? seeing the large book cover of Che Guevara How was the as an aid at the Lycee D' Alembert in the soldiers into airports and train stations. working class suburban town of The French Communist Party has been habla a Ia juventud and emptied his pock­ campaign of ets to purchase two titles by the Argentine­ genocide against the Indians linked Aubervilliers just outside of Paris, stopped declining in members, votes, and influence born Cuban revolutionary. Other hotel work­ to the expansion of capitalism in the by the Pathfinder stand with a group of her in recent years. This is the first time in a ers also spent some time looking over the United States? Noted Marxist young friends. Gougam, who is just a few number of years that participation in the years out of high school, comes from the festival has grown. Agence France Presse books at the Pathfinder booth. They, along George Novack answers these ques­ with a number of students from the area, tions. $4.00' Kabyle region of Algeria. estimated that over the three days, some "Many of us-school workers, teachers 500,000 people came to the festival, many were glad to learn of the Pathfinder book­ Available from bookstores, including those listed store that will be opening soon in the Co­ on page12 and students-refused to take part in the of them attending the numerous concerts three minutes of silence in honor of the that are part of the schedule of events. lumbia Heights section of Washington. 4 The Militant October 1, 2001 Workers and youth snap up the 'Militant'

Continued from front page Washington's war drive and assault on drive. He read the statement by the party's war drive that have been organized in sev­ that of other workers and youth by distrib­ democratic rights, was featured in the issue candidate for mayor ofNew York and asked eral cities. At the federal building in down­ uting, studying, and holding classes on Path­ that came out September 13. "Then one day to join the Young Socialists." town Minneapolis some 125 people, mostly finder books. he drove to work with a U.S. flag displayed In New Zealand, campaigners for the students from the University of Minnesota A key component of this campaign will in his car," Malapanis continued. "A num­ Militant sold out of their supply of papers and Macalester College, chanted, "Hands off be an eight-week circulation drive starting ber of us had discussions with him about at two tables they set up in working-class Afghanistan!" and "Hands off the World!" September 22 to win new readers to the so­ not giving support to Washington's patriotic districts in Auckland. As they passed out On September 15 students at Columbia cialist press. The sales effort also includes campaign for war, including one worker leaflets supporting the campaign of Felic­ University in New York utilized the platform selling the special campaign titles listed on who plans to renew his PM subscription ity Coggan for mayor ofAuckland, one man of a campus forum to protest attacks against page one. With a new issue of Perspectiva when it expires in November. After those walked up to one of the tables and handed Arabs and Muslims, reports socialist worker Mundial out on the streets early in response Ruth Harris in Upper Manhattan. to the U.S. war drive, socialist workers have YS members have done consistent work an effective tool to use in reaching out to on the campus at the University ofArizona, workers whose first language is Spanish. including having a weekly literature table In Chicago, meat packer Joel Britton, the with banners in support of the struggle of chairperson of the SWP in the city, reported Palestinian people. Willie Cotton, a YS that seven people signed up for more infor­ member in Tucson, was invited to speak as mation about the Young Socialists at Ball part of a panel of university professors and State University in Muncie, Indiana, where student leaders at a teach-in about U.S. for­ two socialist meat packers and a supporter eign policy. of the SWP staffed a literature table on cam­ pus. They participated in a meeting that Organizing classes, reading, recruitment night, where Arrin Hawkins, a leader of the SWP and YS members are also organiz­ Young Socialists and a meat packer in Chi­ ing public classes as part of the campaign cago, spoke on "Youth and the fight against against the war drive. In the Garment Dis­ imperialism." An article about the meeting trict, activities began this past Sunday with appeared in the Ball State Daily News the a roundtable class on the article by Jack next day. Barnes, "Opening Guns of World War III: "We have been on a campaign since Sep­ Washington's Assault on Iraq," that appears tember 11 when we organized a discussion in the Marxist magazine New International, on the events around the World Trade Cen­ and ended with a Militant Labor Forum to ter," said Britton. "Altogether we ended up discuss the war preparations attended by 31 selling nine copies of the Militant, one sub­ people. scription and one copy of The Working Class Socialists across the country have re­ and the Transformation of Learning that ported that a number of people who sup­ day." port the SWP have called up and offered to Britton reported that they sold six Militant Working people pick up Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, and books at table in Brooklyn. help out with sales tables or other activities. subscriptions at De Paul University during a Pathfinder Press has also received offers to program featuring Norberto Codina, the edi­ discussions he took the flag down and said over a $20 donation without comment. pitch in with any help that is needed as part tor of the Cuban culture magazine La Gaceta he had gotten heavy pressure from his fam­ Many working people, youth, and others of responding to Washington's war drive. de Cuba. Britton also said that earlier in the ily to be part of the patriotic hoopla." will be attracted to the weekly Militant La­ "I have been very actively circulating anti­ week a high school student from Indianapo­ Lisa Potash, a garment factory worker in bor Forum series as a place to respond to war information via e-mail. I have mailed lis who visited the Pathfinder Bookstore in Chicago, said one of her co-workers re­ the imperialist war drive. In Atlanta social­ electronic copies of the SWP statement by Chicago met members of the YS there, and newed his subscription as part of a discus­ ist workers quickly organized a public fo­ Martin Koppel and the news article in last set up a meeting of high school students in a sion on the job about Washington's war rum on September 14. Ellie Garcia, a tex­ week's Militant to lOOs of people," wrote coffeehouse in Indianapolis at which a Chi­ drive. "He didn't renew his subscription tile worker, gave a presentation based on Ben Fiering from New York State. "I am cago YS leader will speak. when it expired. But during our discussion Koppel's campaign statement. A steward in beginning to get some feedback, clearly it he said he agreed with the Militant," she the Graphic Communications Union said he will be possible to mobilize antiwar senti­ Campaigning in factories and mines said. "Two weeks ago I had sold him a copy was glad a meeting had been organized for ment. Keep up the work of providing valu­ Socialist workers who are members of the of the Pathfinder pamphlet, Revolution in people to come together and discuss the re­ able information." United Food and Commercial Workers the Congo." cent events around the World Trade Center. So far the goals for the subscription drive Union, United Mineworkers of America, A socialist garment worker in Newark He invited Garcia to speak on his radio pro­ and book sales campaign received from par­ and the Union of Needletrades, Industrial was confronted with a situation on the job gram the following week. tisans of the Militant around the world are and Textile Employees said they have made last week when the boss decided to have the coming in higher than our last effort. Next substantial progress over the past week in entire shop go to church dur,ing the "na­ Socialists join protests against war drive week the Militant will run a chart with all the campaign to win co-workers and other tional prayer day" encouraged by the U.S. YS members and socialist workers have the goals and announce an overall target in militant workers to renew their subscriptions government as part of its war drive. She de­ joined protest actions against Washington's the drive. to the Militant and PM. They have been clined, despite pressure from the boss and a getting into wide-ranging political discus­ layer of workers, and ended up having some I sions on the job, standing up to patriotic and discussions about her views with co-work­ New International no. 11 For further U.S. Imperialism Has pro-war pressure from the bosses and some ers, even though the plant is nonunion and I workers, and earning a reputation as prin­ she is new on the job. reading Lost the Cold War by cipled proletarian fighters. They are help­ Jack Barnes and The ing to show other vanguard workers why Sales, forums, election campaigns Communist Strategy they don't carry out a revolutionary class­ Socialist workers organize weekly sales of Party Building Today by Mary-Alice struggle course in peacetime and a peace of the Militant, PM, and Pathfinder books Imperialism: The Highest Waters. Two course in war time. in working-class districts as part of the cam­ Stage of capitalism paign against imperialist war. Carol Lesnick programmatic Socialist workers and YS members have documents of the in Brooklyn reports that supporters of the V.I. LENIN "I trust that this pamphlet will put a premium on selling Militant and PM help the reader to understand the fundamen­ Socialist Workers Militant set up tables in the area around the subscriptions to co-workers on the job. "One tal economic question, that of the economic Party. $14.00 of my co-workers recently renewed his sub­ party headquarters and Pathfinder bookstore essence of imperialism," Lenin wrote in 1917. scription to the Militant," said Argiris over the weekend. "We had lively discus­ "For unless this is studied, it will be impossible Malapanis, who works in a meatpacking sions and debate, and sold two PM subscrip­ to understand and appraise modern war and plant in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "He was tions and around $50 worth of literature. A modern politics." $3.95 excited about the campaign statement by few months ago we met a young Mexican New International no. 10 worker at a literature table in the neighbor­ Martin Koppel," said Malapanis. The state­ Thomas Sankara Speaks •Imperialism's March Towards Fascism and War hood. This past weekend he came to an event ment by Koppel, the Socialist Workers can­ by Jack Barnes. •What the 1987 Stock Market didate for mayor of New York, opposing where we discussed the imperialist war Peasants and workers in the West African country of Burkina Faso established a popular Crash Foretold. •Defending Cuba, Defending Cuba's Socialist Revolution revolutionary government and began to by Mary-Alice Waters. •The Curve of Capitalist Development combat the hunger, illiteracy, and economic by Leon Trotsky. $14.00 Washington -8 rivals in Europe balk at new backwardness imposed by imperialist domination. Thomas Sankara who led that 'counterterrorism' role imposed on NATO struggle, explains the example set for all of Pathfinder Was Born with BY JACK WILLEY rialist rivals in Europe. Quoting an unnamed Africa. Ill English $19.95 the October Revolution "Fresh concerns have arisen among NATO official, the Times reports that ''what Mary-Alice Waters NOW IN FRENCH Nato's European members about their de­ happened last week was that the U.S. got a Explains the origins of Pathfinder Press as cision last week to allow the U.S. to invoke new role for Nato. It turned Nato into a Nous sommes les heritiers part of the forces that arose on a world scale Article 5," opened a September 19 article counter-terrorism organization." According des revolutions du monde to defend and emulate the first socialist in the Financial Times, a big-business daily to the paper, Jacques Chirac of France, (we are the revolution of our epoch in Russia in October Joschka Fischer, German foreign minister, based in London. inheritors of the 1917. In English, Spanish, and French. $3.00 and other European Union officials planned After the attacks in New York and Wash­ revolutions of ington the U.S.-dominated NATO alliance to raise the issue with the Bush administra­ tion during their visits to the United States. the world) invoked Article 5 of its charter for the first Speeches and The Eastern Airline Strike time in its 52-year history, which states if The U.S. government failed to win inclu­ Accomplishments of the Rank-and­ sion of terrorism, sabotage, and organized writings by Thomas one member country is attacked, all the other Sankara, 1983-87. File Machinists and gains for the nations will join in its defense. Article 5 crime in Article 5 at a NATO summit meet­ Labor Movement ing in 1999. Washington's rivals in Europe $7.00 opens the door for European imperialist Ernie Mailhot, Judy Stranahan, rejected the proposal at the time, but "last governments to provide access to air space and Jack Barnes and runways, troops, equipment, and other Wednesday changed all that," the NATO official said. "We are in a completely new The story of the 686-day strike in which a backing for U.S. military assaults against rank-and-file resistance by Machinist Afghanistan or any other country in the ball game now," a European Union diplo­ mat told the Times. "Whether or not the U.S. prevented Eastern's union-busting onslaught Middle East or Near East. from becoming the road to a profitable The article, titled "EU doubts grow over invokes Article 5, it hardly matters. Last nonunion airline. $9.95 'switch' in Nato role," shows some of the week we gave the U.S. what it wanted: a conflict between Washington and its impe- counter-terrorism role for NATO." October 1 , 2001 The Militant 5 Socialist candidate campaigns at N.Y. labor day parade BY LAURA GARZA printed signs for one or another of the Demo­ NEW YORK-Martin Koppel, Socialist cratic Party candidates for mayor, Koppel's Workers candidate for mayor, and a team message met with a positive response among ofhis campaign supporters joined thousands many of the workers at the parade. of workers who marched in the September As Democrat Mark Green rapidly glad­ 8 Labor Day Parade here. They mingled handed his way through the UNITE contin­ with union contingents and set up a cam­ gent, three garment workers stepped closer paign table along the Fifth Avenue march to hear what Koppel was saying as he spoke route, carrying signs with demands such as about the employers' offensive against work­ "Oppose U.S.-backed Israeli war drive" and ing people throughout the country and the "Jobs for all: shorten the workweek with no world. They told Koppel they were march­ cut in pay." ing because the garment shop where they "I agree with you-the Third World debt worked had recently shut down and left them should be canceled," Sergio, a union painter, jobless. Koppel said his campaign argued for told Koppel after leafing through a working-class alternative to endorsing the Perspectiva Mundial, the socialist "lesser evil" of the two parties of the bosses. campaign's magazine in Spanish, to which "We point to the road to change which is what Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of New York, Martin Koppel (at left), cam­ he subscribed. The worker, originally from we, as working people, can do to fight to paigns during city's Labor Day Parade, September 8. Brazil and a member of District Council 9 defend our interests," he said. ''And we need of the painters union, told of his experiences our own government-a government of cialist campaigners with some pride that he table with a display of revolutionary litera­ backing the 1995 oil workers strike against workers and farmers." was a veteran of many protests at nonunion ture and the Militant and Perspectiva the privatization of the oil industry in that He said the bosses are driven by their race construction sites where workers showed up Mundial. Two workers subscribed to the country. for profits to speed up production, lengthen with the now-famous giant inflatable rats. Spanish-language magazine, and 19 bought Discussing the prospects for working the workweek, slash wages and benefits, and He bought a copy of Perspectiva Mundial. copies of the Militant. Several signed up for people in the United States, Koppel pointed attack union rights. Several workers Koppel Lopez was originally hired by a company more information on activities sponsored by to the signs of working-class resistance that spoke with noted from their own experi­ paying $7.50 an hour. "Companies are ex­ the socialist campaigners. marked the parade itself. One was the de­ ences that they had seen shops close only to ploiting workers, paying almost the mini­ Later that afternoon Koppel joined a dis­ fense campaign for the Charleston Five, reopen under a different name with no union mum, and it's important to be united to fight cussion by 40 people at a meeting in Wash­ which many unionists here first heard about and lower wages. Koppel noted that coal this," he said. A few years ago he joined with ington Heights that heard a panel of seven at the march itself. miners in Pennsylvania and Ohio were set­ about 300 other workers to fight for union youths report on their fact-finding trip to The five are dockworkers facing frame­ ting an example for all labor by mobilizing contracts, refusing to work until the bosses Cuba as part of the Cuba-U.S. Youth Ex­ up charges arising from a January 2000 cop the ranks to defend their union rights. agreed. Now he makes union-scale wages, change. Koppel also took part in that visit riot at a picket line against the use of non­ Jose Luis Lopez, a member of Laborers about $25 an hour. as a Militant reporter. The meeting was union labor on the Charleston, South Caro­ Local 79, which organizes construction Many workers and a number of young sponsored by several political organizations lina, docks. Ken Riley, president of Inter­ workers, mason tenders, and others told so- people stopped by the socialist campaign in the Dominican community there. national Longshoremen's Association (ILA) Local 1422 in Charleston, was one of the ILA members who took part in the march and promoted solidarity for the fight waged Socialist candidates in Cleveland well received by his local. BY EVA BRAIMAN bookstore from previous work we had done have been involved in various struggles that Also visible was the fight to demand resi­ CLEVELAND-Two socialist workers in the neighborhood." advance the unity and self-confidence of the dence rights for undocumented workers. are running for public office here in the Braiman and Prince got a favorable re­ working class. "A number of working Members of the Union ofNeedletrades, In­ November elections: Eva Braiman, a meat sponse as well from their co-workers on the people and youth we have spoken with are dustrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE) pack;er, is the Socialist Workers Party can­ job. Several workers at the Hugo Boss gar­ inspired by the idea that workers and farm­ carried signs saying, "Amnesty for all im­ didate for mayor of Cleveland, and garment ment factory where Prince works signed ers are the producers of wealth and that we migrants." Also marching were members of worker Anthony Prince is on the ballot for petitions to put him on the ballot, and one can and should run society instead of the the Laborers Union sporting T-shirts that Cleveland City Council in Ward 18. Prince donated $50 to the campaign. At Country bosses and their parties," noted Braiman. declared, "One Language-Solidarity." is a member of the Union ofNeedletrades, Custom Meats, where Braiman works, the The Cleveland candidates joined with the Both unions, with a heavily immigrant Industrial and Textile Employees. campaign is a lively topic of discussion, and supporters of the Socialist Workers cam­ membership, have been prominent in the During a petitioning drive to place Prince several co-workers have bought books re­ paign of Osborne Hart for mayor of Detroit amnesty campaign. on the ballot, supporters talked with hun­ lating to ideas put forward by the candidates, in participating in protests against police Teachers at the City University of New dreds of working people in the neighbor­ such as the Communist Manifesto, Revolu­ brutality that followed the cop murder of a York marched with signs saying, "We want hood around the campaign headquarters. tion in the Congo, and Cosmetics, Fashions youth in Cincinnati. They followed up with a contract." Public school teachers, also fac­ "We received an excellent response from and the Exploitation of Women. Some fel­ several visits to that city to sell the Militant ing contract negotiations, turned out in large working people in Ward 18," Prince said, low workers also discussed the answers and distribute a statement from the socialist numbers. The city administration is on a big "who liked seeing a worker running for of­ Braiman drew up in response to endorse­ candidates titled "Jail the Killer Cops," push to deal a blow to the union by impos­ fice. Many wished us luck, and others asked ment questionnaires she and Prince have which states in part: "It is not a matter of 'a ing "merit pay" and undermining seniority to be put on our mailing list or bought cop­ received from civic and labor organizations. few bad apples' or a need to adjust the com­ rights, among other attacks. ies of the Militant. Some were already fa­ In the weeks since launching the cam­ position or training ofthe police. When they While many union contingents carried pre- miliar with the paper and the Pathfinder paign, supporters of the socialist candidates terrorize working people, they are carrying out their role in capitalist society: to keep working people down, divided and afraid. The police cannot and will not be reformed." Braiman and Prince attended a meeting -Martin KopJJ(tl;:-:sociitlist Workers of local unionists to discuss solidarity with the struggle oflongshoremen in Charleston, South Carolina, five of whom have been candidate for 11tlJj0r iJJNew York framed up on false charges stemming from ' ' a police riot in that city. In addition, the Martin Koppel is the edit()r of the so­ Koppel has fr~q1,1~nt1y r~pOited fiisthiina on Republic, Nicaraglla, and Grenada. mayoral candidate participated in a hearing cialist newsweekly The Militant and of d,evel()ptn~nts jti.Cub~ _f()t the Militat;t and · Before. joining·· the Militant •· staff in in which Ohio workers and their families the Spanish-language monthly magazine Perspei:tiva Mundiali inCluding a Maich 1991, he Wa$ a steelworker in Chicago suffering the health effects from working in Perspectiva Mundi a/. He is a member of conference in Havana mar ' the 40th an. and)neinbet of the {Jnited Ste¢'lwQrkers the nuclear weapons industry confronted the National Committee of the Socialist niversary of Cuba's defeat o ...... ~backed ofAn1efica u:trlo~. ·l'here. he. was active government officials. W()rkers Party. mercenaries· at ·the Bay of Pigs;· He: has m()ppo~g:tJie U;S.-.led waragainstlraq in 1990-91. ' .. . . The socialist candidates have also re­ Koppel, 44, a native ofArgentina who help¢d organize and spoken at SeYf3tal eVents sponded to the layoffs and concession de­ grew up in the United States, h~ been . in NewYork in defense oftbe Cuban'Revo, <- ··K.opp¢l~firstibecame··involved in. po-· ·· mands related to the bankruptcy of LTV involved over the years in building soli­ lution; litieal activitywbiltfati exchange student Steel, which is a major employer in Cleve­ darity with struggles of workers and A longtimesupporteroftlte :Pu~rto Ri¢an in :Marseille, France. The next year,· in land. The socialists widely distributed a farmers both in the United States and independen()e. struggle, :JC6ppel· has spoken .1977, hejQined, the Socialist Workers statement at entrances to the LTV mill, at internationally. He has been active in several times on behalf ofthe.SWP National :Party-in Baltimore; T1tere; as a unionist· special union meetings called to discuss the defense of the Cuban Revolution, in the Connnittee .·at the .. annual united Natidns wotkiJ:Ig at •the giant Bethlehem Steel crisis, and door-to-door in Ward 18. campaign to force the U.S. Navy out of decolonization hearings, joining with the plant, he took part in- numerous actions Central to the campaign has been the can­ the Puerto Rican island ofVieques, and broad11mgeofpro-independen~ fo~es te$--: froin the defense of' affirmative action to didates' outspoken stance against Israel's in other protests against imperialist as­ ti:tying there, In August 1999 he visited the support f()rw()tketsattheNewportNews drive towards war in the Middle East and in saults on· working people around the protesi camps set up on the -u;s. Navy's shipyard. in Virginia fighting for a union. support of a democratic, secular Palestine. world. bombing range in Vieques, and has taken Koppel is; the editor of Nueva "Campaign supporters were invited to set In July he participated as a Militant part innumerouS actions here .m support of InternO.cional, a Marxist magazine in up literature tables in front of several busy reporter in the Cuba-U.S. Youth Ex­ that strugg1e ~swell as the campaign to fi'ee SpaniSh:. He is also. the editor of Puerto grocery stores owned by Arab people down change, a week-long fact-finding trip to the Pqerto Rican pplitical :Priooners. · Rico.~·.lndependenr;:e• i$ a Necessity .. bY the street from our headquarters, and we Cuba by more than 150 young people Koppel' has also traveled extensively in Rafael Candel .. Mirart

Continued from front page to "use all necessary and appropriate force" mestic deployment of troops, aircraft, war­ against targets abroad, and appropriated an ships, and secret police of the U.S. armed initial $40 billion to the domestic militari­ forces. The current moves by the Bush ad­ zation drive and war effort abroad. ministration are the first massive use of that There is now overwhelming bipartisan command. agreement to end any pretense of a "lock­ The Pentagon has begun activating tens box" of Social Security funds. Bush had pre­ of thousands of reservists and National viously said the "Social Security surplus" Guard troops to fly air patrols between would only be used in time of recession, war, Washington and New York, serve as police or other emergencies. "We've had all three, at military bases and airfields, and supple­ it seems to me," he told reporters Septem­ ment regular forces in intelligence gather­ ber 19. ing, engineering, computers, and foreign languages. U.S. president George Bush gave British support, caution elsewhere the Defense Department authority to call up Washington's war drive is winning mili­ some 35,000 reservists for deployment at tary backing for its war drive from imperi­ home and abroad. alist governments in English-speaking coun­ Gun-toting Guardsmen, along with state tries includingAustralia, New Zealand, and troopers and other cops, have been conduct­ the United Kingdom. ing widespread identification checks on British prime minister Anthony Blair New York streets. In the city's harbors the strongly backed Bush, declaring, "Whatever Coast Guard has deployed ships mounted the technical or legal issues about a decla­ with heavy-caliber machine guns. Troops ration of war, the fact is that we are at war are boarding commercial vehicles and with terrorism." (Also see articles on pp. 8 blocking access to recreational boats. Demonstrators in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, opposed Washington's threats against and 16.) Coast Guard personnel have boarded and Afghanistan. Washington is mobilizing massive forces in preparation for a military strike. But the war moves are drawing more cau­ searched more than 300 vessels this past tion for other imperialist rivals of the U.S. week in San Diego Harbor, and shut down rulers such as Paris and Berlin, who fear the Boston harbor on September 16. "We the military headquarters for U.S. imperial­ Referring to U.S. casualties, Bush said Washington will use the military assault to have never done these kinds of security ism from the Hom ofAfrica to Pakistan, has September 18, "There will be costs" to the strengthen its position in the world to their measures, to this extent, any time in our his­ 20,000 troops, 17 5 warplanes, and 14 ships war, but the military is "ready to defend free­ detriment. According to the Financial Times tory," said a Coast Guard spokesperson this at its disposal already. The BataanAmphibi­ dom at any cost." of London, French government officials week in New York. ous Ready Group, which includes a Marine Many commentators have noted that an "urged President George W. Bush not to All nuclear power plants and most hydro­ force of 2,100 equipped with helicopters, invasion of mountainous Afghanistan will make the world yet more dangerous with electric dams have been put under military amphibious assault vehicles, and artillery, is not be a cakewalk for Washington, which ill-planned retaliation." guard. National Guard troops were deployed due to leave Camp Lejeune in North Caro­ has no bases in neighboring countries. "The Many governments in the Mideast, aside to Hoover Dam, replacing Interior Depart­ lina September 20. U.S. armed forces do not have a single sol­ from the Israeli regime, are urging Wash­ ment guards. Nine germ warfare Guard Washington is targeting Afghanistan, jus­ dier or officer who speaks Pushtu," the prin­ ington not to pursue a unilateral course to units, in their first deployment ever, have tifying its planned military assault in the name cipallanguage in Afghanistan, a senior mili­ war, as are Moscow and Beijing. Egyptian been sent to undisclosed locations. of pursuing Osama bin Laden, whom U.S. tary official told the British daily Telegraph. president Hosni Mubarak urged Washing­ Washington is considering moves to mili­ officials and the big-business media say is The paper noted that "according to authori­ ton to carry out its response under the for­ tarize the airlines by federalizing security the "prime suspect" in the September 11 at­ tative reports, before the current crisis the mal auspices of the United Nations and checks at airports and placing armed air tacks. Democratic and Republican politicians CIA had no agents on the ground inside called for an "international conference on marshals on all commercial flights. and Pentagon officials are busy trying to gain Afghanistan and the State Department has terrorism." An official of the GulfCoopera- "The bottom line," a Chicago cop told broader support for the deployment of ground no high-level contacts with the anti-Taliban Continued on Page 10 reporters, "is people need to understand you troops, beginning with special forces. forces in northern Afghanistan." can no longer come and go as you please." "The planning and the language used by To compensate, U.S. officials met with Disabusing any idea that the deployments administration officials," a New York Times senior Pakistani officials and "demanded that are localize or temporary, U.S. senator article reported, "is preparing the way for a Pakistan agree if necessary to allow Ameri­ Rulers ofAustralia Charles Hagel called the moves "exactly military force that could ultimately be used can ground troops and special forces units to right," adding, "Not only do we have a short­ to occupy Kabul, the Afghan capital, and operate from this country," according to press prepare for war term issue, but this is a long-term fight overthrow the ruling Taliban party." reports. In face of this U.S. pressure, Maj. against organized terrorism worldwide." Bolstering the case that combat troops Gen. Faiz Gilani, a top officer in the Paki­ BY RON POULSEN will need to be used and preparing the U.S. stani military's secret police, was dispatched SYDNEY, Australia-The government of Targeting Afghanistan population for casualties, Defense Secretary to Kabul to tell Taliban officials to tum over Liberal Prime Minister John Howard, with As dozens of heavy bombers and other Donald Rumsfeld said, "Several countries Bin Laden or face a U.S. invasion. Labor Party backing, has fully and uncon­ U.S. warplanes were dispatched to bases near have exhausted themselves pounding [Af­ Due to deep opposition to this collabora­ ditionally backed Washington's accelerated Afghanistan September 19, Washington sent ghanistan]. There are not great things of tion with Washington among the Pakistani push for militarism and war under cover of a battlegroup led by the aircraft carrier USS value that are easy to deal with. And what people, Washington is closely watching the "retaliation" for the September 11 air attacks Theodore Roosevelt to bolster forces in the we'll have to do is exactly what I said: use developments in the country. Referring to in New York and Washington. region. The United States Central Command, the full spectrum of our capabilities." the Pakistani president, Gen. Pervez On September 14, as part of a motion of Musharraf, who came to power in a mili­ condolence in the federal Parliament to the tary coup, one top U.S. official said, "A lot U.S. government, Howard gained support of us are worried that he may not survive from Labor to invoke the ANZUS military politically." pact formally for the first time ever. ANZUS The government of the former Soviet re­ was drawn up between the imperialist pow­ New York City, Sun., September 30 public of Uzbekistan, which shares a bor­ ers ofAustralia, New Zealand, and the United der with Afghanistan, told Washington it States in the midst of their brutal war drive "was ready to discuss any form of coopera­ against the Korean people 50 years ago. Commtmists and the Wo tion in the struggle against international ter­ In keeping with Australia's history as a rorism in or region, including the deploy­ militarily aggressive, junior imperialist against Imperialism ment ofU.S. forces." Uzbekistan was a cor­ power, Howard went further than any other ridor for troops and supplies from the So­ government, immediately pledging military viet Union in Moscow's ill-fated occupation involvement "to the limit of our capability," Speakers include of Afghanistan in the 1980s. and citing Clause 4 oftheANZUS treaty on Washington has already imposed a de acting "to meet the common danger." Jack Barnes Mary-Alice Waters facto embargo on Afghanistan, a nation op­ Canberra has said it is prepared to con­ National Secretary, Socialist Workers Party Editor of New International pressed and exploited by imperialism. The tribute a warship to a "multi-flag armada" Jack Willey Steve Clark governments of Pakistan and Iran have and to send a battalion of ground troops under U.S. command. Since 1991 Austra­ National Committee, SWP Editorial director, Pathfinder Press sealed their borders with Afghanistan to try to stop an already massive flow of people lian warships have been deployed in the •:• Growing divergence of anti-imperialist struggles in the colonial world seeking to get out of the country prior to Arab-Persian Gulf to jointly police the im­ and radical politics in the imperialist countries the U.S. assault. perialist embargo on Iraq begun during the Some in the Bush administration are also Gulf War. At Washington's request, •:• The Algeria world youth festival: a step on the road to a pushing for Washington to openly declare Canberra announced September 16 that new communist international Iraq a target of the current war drive. Deputy HMAS Anzac's tour of duty in the Gulf •:• Energy, science, and agriculture: uniting toilers of Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and I. would be extended. town and country worldwide Lewis Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiments •:• The disintegration of Stalinist forces and their convergence with anarchism Richard Cheney, are both pressing for U.S. have been fanned by prowar hysteria in the military attacks on Iraq-with the aim of media, especially talkback radio. Incidents •:• The place of Pathfinder books and pamphlets: from Algeria to Cuba, overthrowing the government of Saddam of racist abuse, threats, and physical assaults factory gates and mine portals, to street corners in workers districts, to the Hussein-and on Lebanon's Bekaa region. have erupted. In Brisbane a school bus car­ 'Lumumba' film show Wolfowitz has been more "concerned about rying Muslim children was pelted with rocks bombing Iraq than bombing Afghanistan," and bottles on September 12. The next night Reception: 1:00 p.m. Program: 2:00p.m. one senior administration official told the two Molotov cocktails were thrown at a Frank Altschul Auditorium, 4th Floor, 420 W. I 18th St. at press. mosque. An Islamic school in Adelaide has Amsterdam Ave. (on the Columbia University campus) A number of capitalist politicians deliv­ had to close because of threats. In a case of ered a letter to Bush September 19 urging mistaken identity, an Orthodox church in Hosted by: Brooklyn SWP: (718) 567-8014; Garment District SWP: (212) 695-7358; him to "make a determined effort to remove Sydney frequented by Lebanese Christians Newark SWP: (973) 643-3341; Upper Manhattan SWP: (212) 740-4611; Saddam Hussein from power," even ifthere has been defaced with swastikas and racist Young Socialists: (212) 695-1809. is no link established between Iraq and the threats to "avenge America." attacks in Washington and New York. Ron Poulsen is a member of the Maritime Sponsors: Socialist Workers Pa~ 15lationat C!Sommittee Congress passed a resolution September Union ofAustralia. Young Socialists 15lational1£xecutive tsJommittee 14 granting the president sweeping powers

8 The Militant October 1, 2001 Working-class resistance to war and attacks on rights

Reprinted below is an excerpt from tion to, imperialism and its drive toward war. "Opening Guns of World War III: We joined with co-workers and unionists at Washington's Assault on Iraq," the fea­ antiwar protests and continue to bring them ture article in New International no. 7. The to political meetings to discuss the war, its article is based on talks presented by SWP ongoing consequences, and other political national secretary Jack Barnes in March questions .... 1991 and the latter part of 1990. Copy­ right © 1991 by 408 Printing and Pub­ 'We' versus 'they' lishing Corp., reprinted by permission. The big-business media, capitalist politi­ Subheadings are by the Militant. cians, and the labor officialdom have con­ sciously sought to confuse working people BY JACK BARNES about who "we" are and who "they" are as For most working people in the United we think about-and discuss what to do U.S. troops in Saudi desert prepare for 1991 military assault against Iraq States, the war in the Gulf was the first they about-the U.S. war and its consequences have experienced in a world of deepening for the people of that region and the world. home!" is a disorienting concession to the whether the agency involved is the United economic crisis and breakdowns in the capi­ Working to clearly explain and counter this rulers' patriotic prowar propaganda. The Nations or some "Arab peacekeeping talist system, similar to that of the worldwide confusion, in the many forms it keeps crop­ Gis, in their great majority, are from our force"-the true role of which, in both cases, Great Depression of the 1930s. Both the U.S. ping up, has been central to an effective cam­ class and its allies; they are workers and has been further exposed by the U.S. war in war in Korea and the war in Vietnam took paign by worker-bolsheviks against impe­ farmers in uniform. But the U.S. armed the Gulf. place during the long post-World War II in­ rialism and war. forces are "their troops"-the troops of the During the buildup to the U.S. war and ternational capitalist economic expansion. For example, the enormous disparity be­ U.S. imperialist government and the hand­ during the bombing and invasion itself, these The U.S. war against Iraq, to the contrary, tween the handful of U.S. combat deaths in ful of wealthy capitalist families it repre­ patriotic pressures bore down with increas­ took place not only during a recession, but the Gulf and the slaughter and maiming of sents. (We should also note that, in com­ ing weight on the radical currents that po­ more fundamentally in a segment of the curve hundreds of thousands of Iraqis underlines parison to the Vietnam War, a substantially litically dominated the leaderships of vari­ of capitalist development with sharply dif­ the political disorientation and chauvinism larger percentage of the "boys" in the Gulf ous antiwar action coalitions on a local and ferent dynamics from the previous one. reinforced by those in antiwar organizations were actually women-6 percent. At the national level. Especially following the large The segment we are living in today is and coalitions who centered their opposi­ time of the Vietnam War 1.5 percent of the January 26 demonstrations in Washington, marked above all by world capitalism's evo­ tion to the war drive on the prospect oflarge U.S. armed forces were women, where to­ D.C., and the San Francisco Bay Area, these lution, signaled by the 1987 stock market numbers of U.S. body bags returning from day the figure has jumped to 11 percent.) forces increasingly retreated from a perspec­ crash and growing strains on the imperial­ the Gulf. o We insisted that yellow ribbons-no tive of mobilizing united actions against the ist banking system, toward a depression and This is exactly what the bipartisan war matter who was wearing them, or for what war. It was among young people that the social crisis .... makers in Washington had counted on! For individual reasons-play the same role as greatest opposition to Washington's war was Working people and youth have been at­ unconditional opponents of the U.S. war an American flag in bolstering patriotic sup­ manifested. Youth- and student-led commit­ tracted to discussions about the war at meet­ drive, the starting point had to be what the port for the war. It doesn't matter whether tees were at the fore of efforts to organize ings of the Militant Labor Forum. The num­ imperialist assault was going to mean for the person wearing the yellow ribbon (or a ongoing public protests, such as the Febru­ ber of cities around the country where these all the working people in the Gulf-in uni­ flag) is a worker, a lawyer, or a capitalist; ary 21 meetings and rallies on campuses and forums now take place almost every week­ form and out, whatever country they came white, Black, Puerto Rican, or Chinese. It in cities and towns across the country.... end has grown in the process. from. We refuse to make any distinction doesn't matter ifhe or she was persuaded to In the face of the rulers' tightening war­ Large slates of Socialist Workers candi­ between the life of an Iraqi soldier or civil­ wear it by a neighbor, or is understandably time pressures on democratic rights, the dates for state and local office have been ian and that of a U.S. soldier or civilian--or concerned about a son or daughter stationed greatest protection for communists and other able to explain more broadly how working a Yemeni, Filipino, Palestinian, Egyptian, in the Gulf. We opposed liberals and radi­ vanguard fighters in the working class is to people can organize to resist the capitalists' Pakistani, or Syrian toiler caught in the cals in the trade union officialdom or vari­ go deeper into our class and its organiza­ attacks on our rights and living standards at wrong place at the wrong time. ous coalitions who suggested attaching yel­ tions and to press to the furthest limits pos­ home by fighting against the imperialist We are part of an international class­ low ribbons to antiwar buttons, or wearing sible the space for political organization and system responsible for war, exploitation, the workers of the world-along with our a different-colored ribbon. This is an objec­ activity-from the factory floor through all racism, the subjugation of women, and other allies among the oppressed and exploited tive political question. The ribbon's practi­ the institutions of capitalist society. We need forms of oppression. of all countries. Imperialism is a world sys­ cal meaning and impact in politics is noth­ to encourage debate and discussion. We In carrying out this campaign, we have tem. Its victims, and its gravediggers, are ing more than a capitulation to patriotic, need to encourage co-workers and other consciously avoided the political trap of toilers who have been brought together in a prowar pressure in a sentimental guise. The unionists to join with us-and with other functioning as communist workers in peace­ single world by the expansion of capitalism worker can change his or her mind, but the opponents of the war-in protests, public time, and then sliding toward acting as radi­ over the past century. For most of the his­ ribbon can't change its function. meetings, and demonstrations .... cal pacifists in wartime. We act as the com­ tory of humanity, the world's toilers were o Communists explained that there is also At such times, it is more important than munist component of the vanguard of the almost entirely isolated from each other, but no "we" on the international level that pa­ ever for revolutionary-minded workers to working class, at all times and under all con­ we and our fortunes have been tied together pers over the class division between the capi­ reaffirm the truth explained in the founding ditions. We have been confident that a work­ by the world imperialist system .... talist exploiters and exploited workers and program of our movement, The Communist ing-class campaign carried out in this way Bending to the rulers' patriotic drive has farmers, or between oppressed and oppres­ Manifesto, that communists "disdain to con­ will be politically attractive to and will draw taken a wide variety offorms since last Au­ sor nations. There can be no solution to wars ceal their views and aims." We explain and in fighters-whatever their social back­ gust. We have had to debate and clarify each in the Middle East or elsewhere enforced advocate the same things to our co-workers ground, especially among the youth-who one as we resisted efforts by bourgeois lib­ by a classless "international community" or and to the broader working-class public as oppose imperialist war, who want to under­ erals and petty-bourgeois radicals to politi­ "international organization." That is true we do our to our members and supporters. stand the roots of such wars, and who seek cally divert the struggle against the war. ways to act on their convictions. From that standpoint, we joined with oth­ Government of the employers for further reading ers in building united action to organize lo­ oWe explained to our co-workers and oth­ cal, regional, and national demonstrations ers why the U.S. government is not "our" 'Tile Struggle for a Proletarian Party and protest meetings during Washington's government, but the government of the em­ seven-month-long war. We understood how ployers, of the capitalists, of the imperialist James P. Cannon important public protests are in defending the exploiters and oppressors of working people In this companion to Trotsky's In Defense of Marxism, Cannon and other leaders of the space for political organization and action­ the world over-"their" government. Thus, Socialist Workers Party defend the centrality of proletarianization within the political both in opposition to the war, and around nothing that "their" government and "their" and organizational principles of Marxism in a polemic against a petty-bourgeois cur­ other labor and social issues. We recognized army did would help our class brothers and rent in the party. The debate unfolded as Washington prepared to drag U.S. working that these events are arenas where commu­ sisters, fellow working people in the Gulf, people into the slaughter of World War II. $21.95 nists can meet and have political discussions throw off the tyranny of landlord-capitalist with large numbers of young people who can regimes in the region-whether Saddam In Defense of Marxism be won to a working-class political perspec­ Hussein in Iraq, other Bonapartist capitalist The Social and Political Contradictions tive, to the fighting traditions of the commu­ regimes such as those in Egypt and Syria, of the Soviet Union nist workers' movement. or the varied monarchies in Saudi Arabia, Leon Trotsky From the outset, as I pointed out earlier, Kuwait, and Jordan. Writing in 1939-40, Trotsky replies to those in the revolutionary the fractions of party members in ten North oWe opposed those who argued that "our workers movement who were beating a retreat from defense of American industrial unions have been pro­ government" has the right to blockade Iraq the Soviet Union in face of looming imperialist assault. $24.95 viding a special impulse and energy to get­ and Kuwait--or to intervene in the affairs ting the party on a campaign footing. These of any peoples, anywhere in the world. We Revolutionary Continuity: Marxist Leadership worker-bolsheviks are members of the pointed out the devastating consequences of Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Work­ this act of war for the lives of our fellow in the United States ers Union; International Association of working people in the Gulf. We explain that Farrell Dobbs How successive generations of fighters took part in Machinists; International Ladies' Garment the embargo was part of Washington's war the struggles of the U.S. labor movement, seeking to build a Workers' Union; International Union of preparations that inevitably culminated in leadership that could advance the class interests of workers and farmers. Electronic Workers; Oil, Chemical and the U.S.-organized bombardment and inva­ vol1 $16.95, vol2 $18.95 Atomic Workers; United Auto Workers; sion oflraq. We call for an end to the block­ United Food and Commercial Workers; ade, and the immediate exemption of food The Communist Manifesto United Mine Workers; United Steelworkers; and medicines. We explained how the ef­ Karl Marx, Frederick Engels $3.95 and the United Transportation Union. fects of the embargo come down on the com­ Fighting Racism in World War II Available from These communist workers went to the mon people of Iraq-not the privileged or bookstores, heat looking. for every opportunity on the their government. C.L. R. James, George Breitman, Edgar Keemer, and others including those job and in the unions to explain and discuss o We explained why any variant of slo­ A week-by-week account of the struggle against racism in the listed on page 12. the character of, and help organize opposi- gans such as, "Support our boys, bring them United States from 1939 to 1945. $20.95

October 1, 2001 The Militant 9 U.S. government steps up assault on democratic rights BY BRIAN WILLIAMS previous 24 hours-to decide whether or not Since September 11 the U.S. government to release a jailed immigrant "in the event has sharply accelerated its assault on work­ of emergency or other extraordinary circum­ ing people in the Untied States, targeting stance." The Justice Department could hold democratic rights. The Bush administration the person for "an additional reasonable is building on the range of attacks on such period of time" without charges.Arrned with rights carried out under the Clinton admin­ these new powers, the Justice Department istration, seeking to polish the image of the said it will not release 75 immigrants cur­ Immigration and Naturalization Service, or rently being held, allegedly in connection Ia migra, the most hated and largest U.S. with the September 11 attacks. police force. The moves also seek to In addition, a draft bill has been intro­ strengthen the executive power of the im­ duced in Congress that would give the Jus­ perialist state, another strategic goal that tice Department new authority to arrest im­ ranks high with the U.S. rulers. migrants suspected of"terrorism," acceler­ National Guardsmen check identification of people heading into New York's financial Government officials and commentators ate the process of deporting them, and cur­ district. Some 5,000 Guardsmen are deployed in the city as part of Washington's in the big-business press pose this issue as tail court appeals. The Illegal Immigration stepped-up militarization of the country. "fighting terrorism" and the need to choose Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, between "security" against liberty. They which has been on the books since 1996, seek to convince working people that their already authorizes the deportation of non­ new law September 17 significantly expand­ "Some drivers said that officers seemed to hard-fought struggles for rights over de­ citizens without judicial review or appeal. ing the use of wiretapping surveillance by single out drivers who appeared to Arabs cades, including those incorporated in the According to a Daily News report, the state cop agencies. For the first time, the law and Muslims." At Kennedy International Bill of Rights to the U.S. constitution, must Justice Department has given U.S. Attorney establishes a felony offense of "terrorism". Airport on September 13, the article quotes now be significantly altered in order to give Mary Jo White, the leading federal prosecu­ Funding a group named terrorist will also one passenger as saying, "Anyone with dark greater powers to various police agencies. tor for the Southern District of New York be a felony. It allows the death penalty for skin or who spoke with an accent was taken For example, a September 15 poll on the based in Manhattan, "extraordinary powers anyone who commits murder while carry­ aside and searched. And then they went to home page of the Internet provider to proceed in secrecy against anyone impli­ ing out an act deemed terrorist. The 1996 any male with too much facial hair." Compuserve posed the question like this: cated" in the attack. Search warrants and Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty *Federal and local police have conducted "Which freedoms would you be willing to records will be sealed and federal authori­ Act defines terrorism as "any violent act or a growing number of raids of homes and compromise to wipe out terrorism?" The ties "no longer will disclose when arrests acts dangerous to human life that are a vio­ offices, as well as stopping individuals choices were, "Freedom of Speech, Free­ are made or when material witnesses are lation of the criminal laws of the United riding in cars or vans. The New Jersey Star­ dom of Travel, Right of Privacy, All of the taken into custody," the Daily News reports States," giving the government wide latitude Ledger, for example, lists 12 such raids con­ Above, [and] None of the Above." a Justice Department spokesperson saying. in going after union members on a picket ducted in 11 different cities in that state from "Everything is under review," stated *Two days after the attack on the World line or against demonstrations the cops al­ September 11-16. Reporting on one such Secretary of State Colin Powell. This in­ Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Senate lege to have blocked public access. raid in East Rutherford September 11, un­ cludes "how the CIA does its work, how the hastily added an amendment to a spending *Federal authorities have also made der the title "FBI agents search an urban FBI and Justice Department does its work, bill making it easier for cop agencies to track crossing the border into the United States Moving System van," the paper stated, "Po­ are there laws that need to be changed and individuals' communications on the an onerous affair. By requiring intrusive in­ lice stopped the van, containing five men, new laws brought into effect." Internet, without having to obtain multiple spections of practically every vehicle and after receiving a report they had been vid­ This campaign to roll back democratic search warrants. The FBI is also pursuing checking every bag they deem suspicious, eotaping and celebrating the disaster on the rights is being conducted with bipartisan its plan to pressure internet providers to al­ they have created a gridlock of cars and Hudson County waterfront. The men, who support in the halls of Congress. "We're in low them to hook up the Carnivore system, trucks seeking to cross along the 2,000-mile identified themselves as Israeli citizens, have a new world where we have to rebalance which monitors all electronic communica­ U.S. Mexico border. since been released, according to a law en­ freedom and security," stated House Demo­ tions on their networks. *The U.S. government has expanded se­ forcement source." cratic Leader Richard Gephardt. "We're not curity checks at federal buildings and na­ In San Diego harbor, officials have going to have all the openness and freedom Expansion of wiretapping tional monuments. They have also closed boarded and searched more than 300 ves­ we have had." Senate Minority Leader, Re­ *Attorney General John Ashcroft said that more than 50 embassies around the world. sels in the week since September 11. publican Trent Lott, sounded a similar the Justice Department is seeking to broaden The Federal Aviation Administration theme. "When you're in this type of con­ its authority under a 1978 law to allow the (FAA) has imposed tough new regulations Press censorship flict, when you're at war, civil liberties are department to seek authority to eavesdrop at commercial airports, resulting in hours *According to a CNN report, "America's treated differently," he stated. "We've been on any phone used by a person targeted for of delays for many seeking to catch a flight. 'new war' against terrorism will be fought having an academic discussion and holding surveillance, rather than getting wiretap or­ The FAA has agreed to put armed marshals with unprecedented secrecy, including our breath in this area for several years. We ders for each individual telephone number. on many flights. The first group would be heavy press restrictions not seen for years." can't do that anymore." The current law on the books established a drawn from federal police agencies, with The U.S. Defense Department has stopped Among the new restrictions are: secret federal court that hears government more to be eventually hired. posting on the Internet the general location *The Bush administration announced requests to wiretap specific lines. *Some 5,000 members ofthe New York of U.S. warships. In addition, "The Penta­ September 18 a major expansion of its For the FBI to more effectively "randomly National Guard have been patrolling the gon currently has no plans to allow report­ power to detain immigrants, saying that le­ monitor telephone communications within streets of Manhattan together with tens of ers to deploy with troops, or report from gal immigrants can be held indefinitely dur­ the United States," noted the Times, it will thousands of New York police. As workers warships, practices routinely carried out in ing a "national emergency." In addition, a need to call on the services of the National returned to their jobs in Lower Manhattan the 1991 Persian GulfWar," noted CNN. bill being rushed through Congress would Security Agency, which "is limited by law around the Wall Street area September 17, *Among the regulations the administra­ give the Justice Department the ability to and executive order in monitoring commu­ they were required to produce identification tion is seeking to revise, Secretary of State waive a new 48-hour deadline-up from the nications within the United States." These to enter the area and had their packages and Powell said, is a 1976 executive order is­ rules were established in 1978 by the For­ bags searched. sued by President Gerald Ford that bans U.S. eign Intelligence Surveillance Act. "There *In the days following the attack on the personnel from engaging in assassinations. are now bound to be efforts to rewrite that World Trade Center, police in New York set The order was issued in the wake of hear­ U.S. drives to war law to give the NSA greater latitude," stated up checkpoints on the bridges into Manhat­ ings before the U.S. Congress that exposed Continued from Page 8 the newspaper. tan. A New York Times column titled "Last the numerous assassination plots undertaken tion Council told the London-basedA/ Hayat *The State Senate in New York passed a Week, Profiling was Wrong," pointed out, by the CIA over the years. that the "Americans are intent on a military operation and we can only hope that this will not have repercussions on the region." In Japan, lawmakers began to debate new Washington hunts former ally bin Laden legislation that would allow logistical sup­ port for any U.S. military action. Prime BY PATRICK O'NEILL won popular backing. The Kabul govern­ mujahedeen's arsenal would tum out to be Minister Junichiro Koizurni, who has been "The focus right now is on Osama bin ment squandered that support by attempt­ U.S.-made Stinger missiles. They used the pressing for a revision to the country's con­ Laden, no question about it," said U.S. Presi­ ing to impose its reforms, first by decree, missiles to shoot down hundreds of Russian stitution to allow deployment of the mili­ dent George Bush during a September 17 and then.....!....<:onfronted with the landlord­ helicopters." tary for "self-defense" of an ally, said the visit to the Pentagon. Asked by a reporter if backed resistance-by indiscriminate Pakistan's secret service, "working government "should consider what Japan he wanted bin Laden dead, Bush referred to bombings of villages, and other brutal acts. closely with the CIA, was in charge of re­ can do and what Japan should do." "an old poster out West... that said 'Wanted: Following Moscow's invasion, U.S. presi­ cruiting and training the guerrillas;' reported Washington has put Tel Aviv under heavy Dead or Alive."' dent James Carter signed a secret directive Hundley, while "money for the undertak­ manners, scotching hopes of Prime Minis­ Amidst his war talk, Bush has made no authorizing the supply of covert aid to help ing poured in from the anti-communist Sau­ ter Ariel Sharon to use the crisis to acceler­ mention of bin Laden's former role as an organize an army to topple the government dis." ate its own war drive against the Palestinian ally of Washington during the 1980s war in in Kabul. These forces received encourage­ During the war, bin Laden, a businessman people. The Financial Times reported Sep­ Afghanistan. The U.S. government culti­ ment from Afghani landlords, who opposed and inheritor of a family fortune, commanded tember 19 that "Israel responded to intense vated such figures as tools of its opposition the threat to the power and land. The na­ the Maktab al-Khidimat, "which recruited U.S. and European pressure yesterday by to the Soviet backing of the government in tionalism of the self-styled freedom fight­ fighters from around the world and imported agreeing to stop offensive military actions Kabul. Moscow sent tens of thousands of ers was generally marked by reactionary and equipment to aid the Afghan resistance against the Palestinians, removing a poten­ troops into Afghanistan in December, 1979, brutal policies towards workers, peasants, against the Soviet army," according to a Sep­ tial obstacle to the creation of a U.S.-led to back up an increasingly unpopular re­ and women. tember 14 BBC report. Bin Laden was international coalition against terrorism." gime. "What began as a trickle would soon tum "trained by the U.S. war experts to fight the In the 1970s growing social unrest chal­ into a flood of arms and money," wrote Tom Russians" reported a January 4 United Press lenged the traditional rulers ofAfghanistan, Hundley in the September 17 Chicago Tri­ International dispatch. "According to the THE MILITANT where Afghan peasants, representing some bune. "The CIA took responsibility for ac­ Central Intelligence Agency, which helped 80 percent of the workforce, labored under quisition and shipment of weapons. Much arm the anti-Soviet Mujahedeen, bin Laden semifeudal conditions. The government ini­ of the hardware was purchased on the black had between 12,000 and 20,000 supporters """"""·themilitant .com tially charted a course of social reforms, in­ market from Soviet bloc countries, although trained in arms, explosives and the use ofU.S. cluding the redistribution of land, which one of the most effective weapons in the Stinger missiles." 10 The Militant October 1, 2001 Racist attacks on rise as war drive heats up BY PATRICK O'NEILL Middle East. "Our turbans have turned us People of Middle Eastern heritage and into targets," said Mandeep Singh Dhillon those of Muslim faith have reported a in California. spreading rash of racist violence and abuse Accounts have come in from at least six against them as Washington increases "in­ states of attacks on Muslim mosques. ternal security" and gears up for its "war on AAAN, which monitors incidents ofharass­ terrorism." Three people have been killed, ment, reported on September 12 that "ap­ while verbal and physical assaults have proximately 350 people, some waving grown markedly. American flags ... attempted to march" on a Washington and its police agencies set the mosque in Bridgeview, a Chicago suburb stage for the attacks by targeting Arabs and that is home to many Arab-Americans. The Muslims in the days following the Septem­ police say they prevented the march from ber 11 events. In highly publicized arrests reaching its target. In Cleveland, a man at New York's Kennedy and La Guardia air­ drove his car through the doors of an Islamic ports, the FBI arrested 11 people claiming center, causing up to $100,000 in damage. they were connected to the hijacked airlin­ Alongside such serious assaults have been ers. Mike Glass of Seattle told reporters the numerous incidents of verbal and physical federal agents took aside and searched "any­ abuse, including the forcible removal of the one with dark skin or who spoke with an scarves often worn by Muslim women. Re­ accent." Ten of them were later quietly re­ porting incidents of "harassment or threats leased without any charges being filed. Po­ on kids in junior high school or high school," lice stopped an Amtrak train in Rhode Is­ Salam al-Marayati, director of the Muslim land September 12 and arrested a Sikh man Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles, who was wearing a green turban. Other raids noted, "There's been a backlash after every by federal agents in Florida and elsewhere major international crisis involving the helped foment an anti-Arab and anti-Mus­ HassanAwdah stands behind bulletproof glass of gas station he owns in Gary, Indiana, Middle East." lim air. showing marks of September 12 attempt on his life. A man wearing a ski mask fired Faced with the two killings and reports Students at New York's Columbia Univer­ assault rifle more than 21 times. Awdah was born in Yemen, and is a U.S. citizen. of widespread assaults, President George sity protested incidents of abuse at a Sep­ Bush stated, "Our nation should be mindful tember 13 forum organized by the Colum­ others who work by themselves, like taxi at another gas station. He then fired into the that there are thousands ofArab Americans bia North Africa and Middle Eastern Club, drivers, are particularly vulnerable to attacks. home of anAfghan family. As he was arrested who live in New York City, who love their known as Turath. One student had been on Balbir Sing Sodhi, the Sikh proprietor of a and handcuffed, he said, "I'm a patriot. I'm flag as much as [we] do, and we must be the receiving end of obscenities because she gas station, was shot and killed on Septem­ a damn American all the way." mindful that we seek to win the war, that "wears a head covering," Henna Hussain of ber 15. Twenty minutes later, the gunman shot Sikh representatives have pointed out that we treat Arab Americans and Muslims with the Muslim Students Association, told the at, and missed, a clerk of Lebanese descent their religion is neither Muslim nor from the the respect they deserve." meeting. "We just want all Muslims and any South Asian-looking people to just be care­ ful because there are people out there who don't differentiate," she said. Charleston 5 representative speaks in Ohio "Arab people sympathize with [the vic­ tims]," said one participant. Many objected BY NATALIE CORVINGTON them and badly wounded many, including Line, which had begun using a nonunion to the media coverage of reaction to the at­ AND EVA BRAIMAN union president Ken Riley. For 18 months, stevedore company on the Charleston docks. tacks in the Middle East. "I was watching CLEVELAND-In response to union­ five of the workers have been under house The ILA reached out for support in the fight, CNN on Tuesday and I kept hearing three busting attacks against longshoremen in arrest, unable to leave their homes from 7:00 he said, and pointed to the example of words: Islam, Jihad, and Terrorism," said Charleston, South Carolina, unionists and p.m. to 7:00 a.m. unless they are working. dockworkers in Spain who refused to ser­ HafsaAli. others met here August 22 to hear Ken Riley, The response of the union has been to build vice Nordana Line ships until the company A range of organizations have added their president oflnternational Longshoremen's worldwide support for the framed-up union­ met the demands of the Charleston long­ voices to the widespread outrage at such Association (ILA) Local 1422 in Charles­ ists, now known as the Charleston 5. shoremen. After having its access to crucial attacks. The representatives of the Ameri­ ton speak about the ongoing struggle on the Riley was welcomed to Cleveland by Pam Spanish ports threatened, the company can-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, docks in South Carolina. Rosado, political director of Service Em­ "couldn't find us quick enough," recounted the American MuslimAIIiance, and six other Riley addressed a crowd of nearly 200 at ployees International Union Local47, which Riley. groups met September 12 and issued a state­ a union hall, explaining the background and hosted the event. She explained that "an in­ Another example of international solidar­ ment urging "our fellow Americans, the context of the felony charges being leveled jury to one is an injury to all, and we are ity evident in this struggle is the promise of government and media to ... not assign any by the state against five union members. The here to support our brothers in South Caro­ French dockworkers and others around the form of collective guilt against communi­ frame-up charges of"inciting to riot" against lina." John Ryan, executive secretary of the world to suspend work during the trial of ties for the crimes of individuals." the ILA members came in the wake of an Cleveland AFL-CIO, was present on the the Charleston 5, scheduled for sometime The Arab American Action Network assault on union picket lines by 600 cops in stage, and Warren Davis, director of region this fall. "It just goes to show what interna­ (AAAN) reported that on September 12 a riot gear in January 2000. The pickets faced 2 of the United Auto Workers, noted to ap­ tional solidarity can do," Riley said. "We number of church, civil liberties, and com­ military helicopters, gunboats, police scuba plause that "their fight is our fight and we're must be one unified workforce. As our cor­ munity groups organized a press conference divers, night-vision snipers, and canine, with them to the end." porate bosses go global, we have to, too. in Chicago "in solidarity with Arab Ameri­ motorcycle, and horseback units. Riley said that leading up to the cop at­ We have generations of gains to lose in this cans and Muslims." During the attack, workers say state po­ tack, the union was engaged in a fight with fight." Staff and proprietors of retail outlets, and lice in riot gear spewed racial epithets at the Danish shipping company, Nordana Riley encouraged other union members to come to Charleston for the trial as part of the political campaign demanding South Carolina's attorney general release the union Crisis-ridden airlines announce mass layoffs militants immediately and drop the charges. The ILA has established a solidarity fund BY PATRICK O'NEILL its doors the day after the attacks, dismiss­ line companies slumped by 40 percent. to help defend the union, which already Tens of thousands of aircraft cleaners, ing 1, 700 employees. Overall, the Dow Jones industrial index fell faces $365,000 in legal fees alone. Partici­ baggage handlers, flight attendants, and pi­ "Even before Tuesday's attacks," reported almost 9 percent in three trading days. The pants in the meeting here contributed $3,331 lots face imminent layoffs across the United the September 15 New York Tzmes, "a sharp decline in the Nasdaq index was 10 percent. on-the-spot for travel and other expenses. States, as a number of major airlines an­ decline in the number of high-paying busi­ Capitalist pundits are already calling for Natalie Corvington is a student at Ohio State nounce massive restructuring in the wake ness travelers, combined with high fuel prices airlines to "put their house in order," in the University; Eva Braiman is a meat packer of the September 11 airliner hijackings and and expensive new labor contracts, have sent words of the Investor Business Daily. The and Socialist Workers candidate for mayor attacks. most major carriers into the red." The indus­ paper quoted analysts calling for cuts in of Cleveland. The two-day shutdown of airports across try would "emerge much smaller" from the wages and salaries. the country immediately following the at­ current shakedown, predicted the paper. tack, the heavy cost of new security mea­ Legislators have "rushed to complete an sures, the limited startup of flights over the aid package for the airlines," reported the Toilers of East appeal to workers following days, and continuing low patron­ Times on September 19. Industry executives age have piled losses on companies in a year have placed a shopping list before a con­ Continued from Page 15 can be no victory for the British workers already marked by economic slowdown and gressional committee of a $5 billion cash keep us under an iron heel. You would have over the British capitalists, for the world intense price competition for customers. infusion and $12.5 billion in loan guaran­ to give power over us to your generals and proletariat over world capital. Announced cutbacks in airline staff are tees. The Internal Revenue Service agreed governors. And once they had tasted the And just as you cannot wrest power from 65,000 and rising. The two largest airlines, to the airline companies' demand to defer sweetness of the idle life lived at the expense the hands of the capitalists without unity American Airlines and United, said Septem­ the payment of hundreds of millions of dol­ of our labor and learned how to hold gen­ with us, so you are not in a position to main­ ber 19 that they would each eliminate around lars in ticket taxes that have already been erations of colored toilers in bondage, they tain power without this unity. The capitalist 20,000 jobs-15 percent and 20 percent re­ collected from passengers. would soon turn their bayonets against countries of Europe do not produce enough spectively of their payrolls-and one-fifth of In addition, United Airlines and Ameri­ you-and the wealth accumulated in Asia grain and raw materials to provide food, their pre-September 11 schedule. can-the companies whose flights were hi­ and Africa would be used to thrust you back clothing, and footwear for their workers. Continental Airlines, the fifth-ranking air­ jacked-are pressing for legislation to limit into your previous slavery. Our countries, the countries of the East and line, announced four days earlier that it will their liability in the face of likely law suits If you were to forget us now, you would of Africa, are rich in grain and raw materi­ lay off 12,000 of its 56,000-strong workforce. stemming from the attacks. pay dearly for that mistake; you would have als. Without these supplies, the workers of Company executives said the decision was The ripple effects of the crisis in the in­ cause to remember our chains when you felt Europe would die of starvation after their sparked in part by the cost of implementing dustry are already being registered. Boeing, chains on your own hands. You cannot free victory. They will be able to obtain these the beefed-up security measures demanded the world's largest aerospace company, has yourselves unless you help us in our struggle supplies by uniting with the toilers of Af­ by the government. The airline reported announced plans to lay off between 20,000 for liberation. The wealth of our countries rica and Asia, by helping the toiling masses losses of $33 million in the year to June. A and 30,000 people in its workforce of al­ is, in the hands of the capitalists, a means of of Africa and Asia and thus inspiring them number of major airlines racked up larger most 200,000 people, in the expectation of enslaving you. So long as the British capi­ with confidence and love. deficits over the same period. a steep decline in orders. talist can freely exploit Indian, Egyptian, and Such unity between ourselves and you Other companies, such as U.S. Airways, The airlines' woes were the most promi­ Turkish peasants, so long as he can rob them, will bring invincible strength. We will be America West, and America Trans Air have nent features in the first days of trading on so long as he can force them to serve in the able to feed and clothe each other; we will also announced staff reductions. North Wall Street, which reopened on September British army, he will always have wealth be able to help each other with armies of Carolina-based Midway Airlines, already in 17 after a four-day closure. In the first day's enough and executioners enough to subdue warriors fired with the single idea of com­ Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, closed trading the stocks of the three largest air- the British workers. Without our revolt there mon liberation. October 1, 2001 The Militant 11 Coal miners strike in U.K. wins support

Continued from front page derground trains to go the face; they decided week stopped to talk to Militant supporters said. "One weekend most of the lads said money itself for maintaining our morale," to go home." Miners from the morning shift and tell them how bitterly they are opposed that was enough and refused to volunteer Skidmore explained. met those from the next shifts and they too to the continental shifts. At Stillingfleet, for overtime. But the manager rostered us The Rossington miners also decided to joined the walkout. The following Sunday NUM official Nigel Pearce pointed out that for compulsory overtime. After taking le­ reject a company request that the union the miners held a meeting and decided to re­ "miners want to be at home on weekends." gal advice we refused to do this," he said. allow 39 miners to go back to work to help turn to work and press for a new bonus At the Wellbeck mine in Notting­ "Since then, we've had some well-attended deal with problems involved in securing safe scheme, but still the company refused to an­ hamshire, miners said that although they meetings of 50 to 60 out of the 200 NUM working conditions on some of the coal swer. Miners decided to organize a vote for often receive a £20 bonus per shift they think members there," with some determined to faces. " We won't do this," Skidmore said. official strike action. Gibson reports the re­ the bosses will take advantage of the new press for action and others still uncertain. "It's just a ploy to get some of us back to sult was a clear 71.7 percent in favor of a shift schedules to eliminate jobs. "We have plans for a ballot for industrial work and divide us. We're not on a crusade strike, which began August 15. This action Keith Picken, a surface electrician and action, but these are held up pending talks, here. We want to be able to go back to work, is the first all-out strike in the UK mines since union delegate at Gascoigne Wood prepa­ we're waiting to see what they offer us," and in safe conditions, but UK Coal can the defeat of the yearlong strike in 1984-85. ration plant in North Yorkshire, said the Picken added. "We've got them frightened." cover this work with the pit deputies who At that time there were 140,000 miners work­ Rossington strike "is very important to me. Meanwhile, several hundred miners at are already working." ing in 133 mines. there are now no more than They've been made the lowest of the low. If Hatfield in Yorkshire may win their jobs The striking miner said the company has 8,000 working in 17 deep mines. we support them, then it can help our situa­ back. On August 13 they had marched in withheld sick pay from those who were sick Miners here say UK Coal wants to imple­ tion. We need parity across the board." protest of the sudden closure of the mine before the strike began, pay from those min­ ment seven-day, round-the-clock shifts-a Picken said miners where he works have four days earlier. According to the govern­ ers who worked during their holidays, and big change from the five-day, and 37-and-a also been hit by low bonuses, which are ment, a new buyer has been accepted for tax rebates, "so no we are not going to have quarter-hour weeks at most mines. In an determined on the average production from the mine. 39 go back to please them." interview with the Yorkshire Post, UK Coal the three mines in the area that feed the In a substantial victory for mine workers spokesman Stuart Oliver said that mine preparation plant. "Our bonus has been vir­ and the union, women who have worked as Issues in the strike machinery today "is far more reliable. It tually nonexistent for months," he said, mine canteen workers and cleaners won an "Our fight goes back to June last year," doesn't require the same care and mainte­ showing his wage slip with just £2.65 bo­ equal pay ruling last April. Since then, re­ John Gibson said. "After a 95 percent vote nance program. But working practices nus for the week on top of the £51.90 basic ports NUM Executive Officer Paul Hardman, for action we had an 11-week overtime ban. haven't changed." The coal bosses have shift pay for a surface worker. "You have to women have packed meetings held in min­ Our demands were parity of conditions with launched a drive to cut the cost of produc­ work seven days to get a decent wage packet ers union halls in Barnsley, Yorkshire. The the rest of UK Coal. We have an eight-hour ing coal by 25 percent by early next year. now," he said, noting that "miners often get miners union successfully argued that their shift while the rest of UK Coal has seven­ Among the changes they are looking for, penalized if you miss an overtime shift. They pay should be comparable to other surface and-a-quarter hours for the same money. So the Yorkshire Post reports, are working four­ can stop you working for the next three workers such as bath attendants, who were their hourly rate is higher. Plus we don't get day rotations on longer shifts, a practice weekends" all male. The women stand to gain £1,000 any extra allowances such as shift and travel miners call "continental shifts." At the Gascoigne Wood plant, "Rum­ for each year worked. Some have worked up money," he said. Gibson reported that min­ Miners at many pit gates over the past blings began a few months ago," Picken to 30 years. ers were also concerned that the productiv­ ity bonus are lower at the Rossington colliery than at other mines. MILITANT LABOR FORUMS---- The Rossington mine is run by UK Coal on a 'lease and license' basis from the gov­ CALIFORNIA ference in Havana, Cuba. Speaker: Rollande MICHIGAN ernment. The coal bosses have used this ar­ San Francisco Girard, Socialist Workers Party. Fri., Sept. 28, Detroit 7:30 p.m. Dinner at 6:30 p.m. 3926 Mission rangement to impose conditions on the min­ The Elementary Human Right to Food. Speak Out against U.S. War Drive. Fri., Sept. Street. Tel: (415) 584-2135. ers there that are worse than other mines. In Reportback from the Food Sovereignty Con- 28, 7:30 p.m. 4208 W. Vernor. Tel: (313) 554- response to the miners' demand and their 0504. decision to not work overtime, UK Coal is­ sued "a letter threatening to sack us," Gibson NEW YORK Upper Manhattan said. Fri., Sept. 21 forums on Pathfinder 'Cuba and the Coming American Revolu­ NEW JERSEY After lifting the overtime ban, the union tion,' by Jack Barnes. Speaker: Jacob Perasso, Newark titles as part of 'New York is Book pressed for renegotiation of the bonus scheme Socialist Workers Party. 6:30p.m. 540 W. 165 The Working-Class Campaign against in light of the company opening up a new Country.' St. Donation: $4. Tel: (212) 740-46Jl. Imperialism and War. Protest Attacks on coal face. Instead, the "managers just came Brooklyn Immigrants. Speaker: Maurice Williams, Mili­ 'Che Guevara Talks to Young People,' by "New York is Book Country" will be held tant staff writer, Socialist Workers Party. Fri., to each shift and told them of the new work Sun., Sept. 23, on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, arrangements and bonus. There was no ne­ Ernesto Che Guevara. Speaker: Martin Sept. 21,7:30 p.m. 506 Springfield Ave. 3rdjloor. Koppel, Socialist Workers candidate for New 48th-57th Streets. Pathfinder's booth has the Tel: (973) 643-3341. gotiation. They just announced it," the strik­ theme of "Books for workers and youth re­ ing miner said, adding the company set a base York mayor. 6:30p.m. 372A 53rd Street. Do­ nation: $4. Tel: (718) 567-8014. sisting capitalism's world disorder." Steve of 21,500 tons of coal produced each week Clark, editor of Cuba and the Coming Ameri­ before miners could get a bonus, which in Garment District can Revolution, and Martin Koppel, inter­ NEW ZEALAND the coal mining industry here often amounts 'Capitalism's World Disorder,' by Jack viewer ofRafael Cancel Miranda for the pam­ Auckland to a significant percentage of a worker's Barnes. Speaker: Steve Clark, Editorial Direc­ phlet Puerto Rico: Independence is a Neces­ Oppose U.S. Military Assaults and Attacks on wage. At Rossington, coal production was tor, Pathfinder Press. 7:30 p.m. 545 8th Ave. sity, will be at the Pathfinder booth at 1:00 Democratic Rights. Fri., Sept. 28, 7:00p.m. 7 only averaging 16,500 tonnes a week, mean­ Donation: $4. Tel: (212) 693-7358. p.m. and 3:00p.m. Mason Ave.. Otahuhu. Donation: $3. Tel: (09) 276-8885. ing workers received no bonus at all. In this situation, Gibson explained, min­ ers had only their basic pay to rest on. For the highest paid face workers this totals £69 -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP per shift (fl=US$1.40). "We only got the Where to find Pathfinder books and MINNESOTA: St. Paul: 113 Bernard St., Campsie, NSW 2194. Mailing address: P.O. bonus three times from March to June. We distributors of the Militant, Perspectiva West St. Paul. Zip: 55118. Tel: (651) 644- Box K879, Haymarket, NSW 1240. Tel: (02) requested they discount shifts where there Mundial, New International, Nouvelle 6325. E-mail: [email protected] 9718 9698. was no production, but they refused. Again Internationale, Nueva Internacional and NEW JERSEY: Newark: 506 Springfield E-mail: [email protected] and again they wouldn't meet us." Ny International. Ave. 3rd floor. Zip: 07103. Mailing address: BRITAIN The anger of the miners grew until the Riverfront Plaza, P.O. Box 200117. Zip: bonus figures were posted in early June, re­ UNITED STATES 07102-0302. Tel: (973) 643-3341. London: 4 7 The Cut. Postal code: SE I 8LL. cording no bonus would be received by work­ E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 020-7928-7993. ALABAMA: Birmingham: 1356 Hueytown E-mail: 101515 [email protected] ers. In response, Gibson said, "miners went Road, Hueytown. Zip: 35023. Tel: (205) 497- down the pit shaft and didn't get on the un- NEW YORK: Brooklyn: 372A 53rd St. 6088. E-mail: [email protected] (at 4thAve.) Mailing address: PMB 106. 4814 CANADA CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 4229 S. 4th Ave. Zip: 11220. Tel: (718) 567-8014. E­ Montreal: 4613 St. Laurent. Postal code: Central Ave. Zip: 90011. Tel: (323) 233-9372. mail: [email protected] Garment H2T 1R2. Tel: (514) 284-7369. E-mail: -CALENDAR- E-mail: [email protected] District, 545 8th Ave. Mailing address: P.O. [email protected] San Francisco: 3926 Mission St. Zip: 94112. Box 30. Zip:10018. Tel: (212) 695-7358. Toronto: 2761 Dundas St., Postal code: Casa de las Amtricas invites you to a Tel: (415) 584-2135. E-mail:sfswp E-m a i 1: s wpny gd@ a ttglo ba 1. net; M6P 1Y4. Tel: (416) 767-3705. meeting in New York on @hotmail.com Upper Manhattan: 540 W. 165 St. Mailing E-mail: [email protected] address: 3792 Broadway #250. Vancouver: #202D-4806 Main St. Postal Revolutionary Cuba 10day: COLORADO: Craig: P.O. Box 1539. Zip: Zip: 10032. Tel: (212) 740-4611. E-mail: code: V5V 3R8. Tel: (604) 872-8343. E-mail: 81626. E-mail: westerncoloradoswp@ya­ [email protected]; Pathfinder Mural [email protected] A firsthand report hoo.com Bookstore: 167 Charles St. Zip: 10014. Tel: by participants in the FLORIDA: Miami: 8365 NE 2nd Ave. (212) 366-1?73. FRANCE Cuba-U.S. Youth Exchange #206 Zip: 33138. Tel: (305) 751-7076. E-mail: OHIO: Cleveland: 11018 LorainAve. Zip: Paris: Centre MBE 175, 23 rue Lecourbe. 7:00p.m., Sat., Sept. 22 [email protected] Tampa: P.O. Box 44111. Tel: (216) 688-1190. E-mail: Postal code: 75015. Tel: (01) 47-26-58-21. E­ 33 W 14th St., Manhattan. 16002. Zip: 33687. E-mail: [email protected] mail: [email protected] TOC I [email protected] Suggested donation: $5. PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 5237 N. ICELAND Tel: (718) 857-4477 GEORGIA: Atlanta: 465 Boulevard, Suite 5th St. Zip: 19120. Tel: (215) 324-7020. E­ Reykjavik: Skolavordustig 6B. Mailing 214. Zip: 30312. Tel: (404) 622-8917. mail: [email protected] address: P. Box 0233, IS 121 Reykjavik. Tel: NEW YORK E-mail: [email protected] Pittsburgh: 5907 Penn Ave. Suite 225. Zip. 552 5502. E-mail: [email protected] ILLINOIS: Chicago: 1212 N. Ashland 15206. Tel: (412) 365-1090. Garment District E-mail: I 03122. [email protected] NEW ZEALAND Socialist class series. Suite 201. Zip: 60622. Tel: (773) 342-1780. E-mail: [email protected] TEXAS: Houston: 619 West 8th St. Zip: Auckland: Suite 3, 7 MasonAve., Otahuhu. 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 23. Washington's Postal address: P.O. Box 3025. Tel: (9) 276- Third Militarization Drive. From New Inter­ IOWA: Des Moines: 3720 6th Ave. Zip: 77007. Tel: (713) 869-6550. E-mail: 8885. [email protected] national No. 7, 'Opening Guns of World War 50313. Tel: (515) 288-2970. E-mail: E-mail: [email protected] III: Washington's Assault on Iraq.' 545 8th Ave.. [email protected] WASHINGTON, D.C.: 3437 14th St. NW Christchurch: Gloucester Arcade, 129 14th Floor. Tel: (212) 695-7358. Zip: 20010. Tel: (202) 387-1590. E-mail: MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: P.O. Box Gloucester St. Postal address: P.O. Box 13- [email protected] 969. Tel: (3) 365-6055. Where Lumumba is playing: 702. Zip: 02124. Tel: (617) 470-2620 E-mail: [email protected] WASHINGTON: Seattle: 5418 Rainier E-mail: [email protected] to find out go to: Avenue South. Zip: 98118-2439. Tel: (206) http:/1\'Vww.zeitgeistfilm. MICHIGAN: Detroit: 4208 W. Vernor St. 323-1755. E-mail: [email protected] SWEDEN c:on~/curren1/playdatesl Mailing address: P.O. Box 441580 Stockholm: Domargriind 16 (T-bana lumuniba.playdates.html Zip: 48244. Tel: (313) 554-0504. AUSTRALIA Viistertorp) Postal code: S-129 04. Tel: (08) 31 E-mail: I 04127 [email protected] Sydney: 1st Fir, 3/281-287 Beamish St., 69 33 .E-mail: [email protected] 12 The Militant October 1, 2001 -GREAT SOCIE1Y------2001-Documented Mexican passengers across the Atlantic, are cigarettes that BritishAmerican To­ that international problems would Colorado Criminal Defense Bar immigrants went to a Colorado flag­ resuming flights. They were bacco sells in the South Pacific. drag the United States or Europe called for a comprehensive study to stone quarry on the promise of $10 grounded after a takeoff crash in Health officials contend that the into recession."-News item. determine why so many Blacks and an hour. Instead, they found, they Paris claimed the lives of 113 ingredients are added to lure chil­ Hispanics wind up in the state's had signed an agreement to be paid people. A tire blowout was caused dren who might otherwise shy away What would we do without the prisons."-Rody Mountain News. by a piece of metal on the runway. from the acrid taste of cigarettes. experts?-"Experts say... that any­ British Airways, announcing The company denies the accusa­ one, whether they work on a load­ We dozed-We read the news planned resumption of Concorde tion .... But internal documents from ing dock or in a comer office, can that a federal court of appeals had flights, said it would not check the as long ago as the 1970s from its find satisfaction in their job-or at ordered a new trial for Calvin runway on each flight departure American subsidiary Brown & least find another job that is satis­ Burdine who has been on Death because the new tires are sturdy Williamson, point out that it is a fying. The key is not expecting the Row in Texas since 1984. The or­ enough to withstand punctures. well-known fact that teenagers like job to make you happy."-Work­ der for a retrial came because sweet products."-News item. place Section, Los Angeles Times. Burdine's lawyer "dozed" during a good part of the trial. (One account Short and taii?-One of numer­ P.S.-"Ajob needs to give a per­ PI ai n- spoke n-"G lenn we read bluntly declared the law­ by the ton-and no money until the ous California Highway Patrol in­ son a sense of purpose that he or Hubbard, the chairman of the White yer was drunk.) Anyway, what we stone was sold. So far Colorado of­ dicators of possible drug traffick­ she is not just a cog in the machin­ House council of economic advis­ missed was that earlier a sub-panel ficials have fined the outfit $60 for ing: "Mismatched occupants." 1998 ery. Jobs aren't created with the in­ ers, said the slowdown among of the appeals court had ruled that filthy toilets. The no-money "agree­ California Highway Patrol training dividual in mind."-Same as pre­ America's peers was worrying. But a lawyer could provide effective ment" is being looked into. manual. vious. he also said that the reasons for counsel as long as he didn't conk 'Time is money'-The super­ Int'I pushers-"Sugar and weakness were idiosyncratic ... and You thought it was common out during "important" parts of the sonic Concorde jets, which hurtle honey can be found in some of the that there was no reason to expect knowledge?-"The head of the trial. Caravan in Miami protests Latin Grammy pullout BY ERIC SIMPSON disruption to the live telecast itself." MIAMI-For upwards of two hours a The list of organizations planning to pro­ caravan of about 40 cars, horns honking and test included a number with records of ter­ covered with placards demanding, "End the rorist activity. Alpha 66, Brigada de Asalto Cultural Blockade of Cuba" and "Miami 2506, Comandos F -4, Directorio belongs to all cultures," drove through the Insurreccional Nacionalista, Grupo Tactico city here September 8. They went past the de Combate, Movimiento Insurreccional AmericanAirlinesArena, where the second Martiano, and Vigilia Mambisa had all an­ annual Latin Grammy recording industry nounced they would join the action. awards ceremony was to have been held. The Cuban American National Founda­ The caravan was protesting the decision tion was also organizing a separate protest, by organizers of the program to move the even though their president, Jorge Mas show to Los Angeles, which was followed Santos, the son of the late Jorge Mas Canosa, by a spate of cancellations of Cuban per­ was one of the co-chairs of the "host com­ formances. The move was announced in late mittee" for the awards concert. August after groups opposed to the Cuban Greene attacked the Cuban Revolution Revolution announced they were moving when he told the Miami Herald that Cuban ahead with plans to disrupt the September president Fidel Castro "could have very eas­ 11 event. ily sent thugs in, to turn what could have The reactionary organizations were infu­ been a peaceful protest into something-all riated by the fact that artists from socialist he's got to do is get five people with rocks Cuba had been nominated for awards and and batteries and it suddenly erupts." Greene were not going to be excluded from the cer­ subsequently said he had been told "a hun­ emony. dred times" that Cuban agents might whip The caravan featured a large RV blaring up the demonstrators and that "all I was music by Cuban artists Los Van Van, Buena doing was repeating what city officials told Vista Social Club, Carlos Puebla, and oth­ me." ers. Many bystanders and others expressed Seven Cuban artists have been nominated support for the action. There were also a few for awards this year, including Omara Militant/Eric Simpson Portuondo, Issac Delgado, Chucho Valdes, Cuban poet Pablo Armando Fermindez signs book for opponents of embargo at Sep­ hostile responses. tember 9 meeting in Miami. Seven Cuban artists were nominated for Latin Grammy The Antonio Maceo Brigade (BAM), the Celina Gonzalez, and Lazaro Ross. All will awards this year and all will be attending the awards ceremony in Los Angeles. Miami Coalition Against the U.S. Embargo be attending the awards ceremony in Los of Cuba, and the Alianza Martiana were Angeles. among the sponsoring organizations. Ac­ Two performances by Cubanismo! sched­ cording to protest organizer Andres Gomez uled for March 2002 were canceled a week -25 AND 50 YEARS AGO--- of BAM, who spoke at the Militant Labor after the pullout of the Grammies. The or­ chestra had been scheduled to perform in when we say that we are seeking to exer­ Forum the night before the protest, the cara­ cise our democratic rights to try to convince van was the continuation of a 40-year fight Melbourne about three hours up the coast from Miami, and in West Palm Beach, which THE MILITANT the majority of the people in this country of for cultural freedom in the city. the need to get rid of capitalism and estab­ The protests against the Grammy award is closer to Miami. John Lochen, who was organizing the lish a socialist society to solve the burden­ ceremonies were a continuation of the at­ October 1, 1976 some problems that are plaguing people." tempts by anti-Cuba organizations to dic­ tour, told the press the group was informed tate whether artists can perform or not based there would be no show "due to the usual Socialist Workers party members have on their politics, Gomez told the gathering. outside pressure from the Cuban commu­ faced the government in court before, as THE MILITANT Later that day, 10,000 people gathered at nity." The director of the Kravitz Center in defendants in frame-up cases. But this time PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE theAmericanAirlinesArena to celebrate the West Palm Beach told the press she canceled the government is in the dock. The social­ r\EW YORK. 1\".Y. FIVE ('iJ CEKTS the performance after meeting with leaders ists are the plaintiffs, suing the FBI and other Virgin del Cobre, who is Cuba's "patron October 1, 1951 saint" in the Catholic religion. The event was of Cuban-American exile groups. police agencies for spying and disruption. presented as a show of force by the right A September 8 performance by Cuban On September 13 Attorney General Ed­ Try to imagine this: A striker is peace­ wing in the city. "Cuba will be free soon if jazz band Irakere was canceled rather than ward Levi admitted there was no basis for fully picketing his plant. A gang of strike­ all the Cubans back there and those around "risk my employees' or patrons' safety the FBI "investigation" of the SWP. breakers come out, armed with clubs and the world pray to the Virgin," Miami mayor based on a projected threat of protesters that Leonard Boudin, attorney for the SWP, blackjacks, and start to beat him up. A cop Joseph Carollo told the crowd. It was the are now telling us they're going to come up answered the government, "We welcome the standing by turns his head the other way 40th year of celebrating the saint's day in from Miami, West Palm Beach, and every­ Attorney General's decision [and] regard it until they have finished their dirty work. Miami. where else to protest," said the owner of the as an appropriate vindication of the Then he drags the striker off to jail on theater where the musical evening was plaintiff's position of the illegality of a forty­ charges of "inciting to riot." Campaign of intimidation planned. In addition, news reports indicated year vendetta against our clients ...." This is what the Cicero case is like. The Leading up to the awards ceremony about that a proposal to host the Cuban National The Militant asked some SWP victims of police looked the other way while a mob, 100 organizations had been discussing with Ballet was also rescinded. this forty-year vendetta what they thought incited by racists, ran wild for several days the Miami police their plans for Grammy Cuban National Ballet tour organizer Jane about the"lawsuit and, in particular, the at­ and gutted the apartment rented by Harvey night protests. Carollo supported a protest Herman said she thought the troupe's Mi­ torney general's announcement. E. Clark, Jr., Negro bus driver. Clark's at­ site directly across the street from the Arena, ami Beach appearances "would have sold One of these former victims is Farrell torney, George Leighton of the NAACP, then at the foot of the so-called "Freedom Tower," out, maybe even double, triple, quadruple." Dobbs, former national secretary of the SWP. went to court and filed suit for $200,000 which is owned by the Cuban American A poll taken in April by el Nuevo Herald He was also a central leader of the 1934 Min­ damages and for a contempt citation against National Foundation. It was this shift to a showed that 90 percent ofthose interviewed neapolis Teamsters strike and headed the the Cicero police who had violated an in­ closer protest site that prompted the orga­ favored having Cuban artists perform at the major Teamster organizing drive in the North­ junction ordering them to protect Clark and nizers of the Grammy ceremony to shift the Grammies ceremony in Miami. Central states during the late 1930s. his property. venue to Los Angeles. One hundred people gathered at a Sep­ Dobbs told the Militant: A grand jury was called in Cook County Grammy president C. Michael Greene told tember 9 event to welcome Cuban poet "The government today has to be more to investigate the anti-Negro riot, which had the press August 20 that the week before the Pablo Armando Fernandez, who won Cuba's careful of its image. It's lied to the people aroused world-wide protest and condemna­ no-protest zone surrounding the Arena "was National Prize for Literature in 1996, Max so long and in so many ways that it's not tion. 117 persons had been arrested at the abruptly changed by officials from the city Lesnic, a leader of theAlianza Martiana who believed anymore. Nobody believes the FBI scene of the outrage, many of them in the of Miami. was a leader of the U.S.-backed invasion and the Department of Justice when they act of burning and destroying parts of the "To further compound this problem, we force at the Bay of Pigs 40 years ago, and argue that they had to carry out their dirty building. then learned that more than 100 Cuban­ Andres Gomez jointly opened the meeting, tricks against us in the interests of national But the grand jury did not take any ac­ American groups now would be allowed to while four people picketed outside. security. tion against any of the 117. Instead, the demonstrate in a high-traffic area for Fernandez was greeted with shouts of"down "This is very significant. It demonstrates grand jury, which was lily-white in compo­ Grammy activities, potentially putting our with the blockade." why a party like ours can fight effectively sition, handed down indictments against five guests at serious risk. Further, the Academy Alianza Martiana says it favors an end in this matter. It's because we're a party with people, all of whom were opposed to the was made aware that protesters had secured to the embargo and a peaceful transition to revolutionary working-class principles. We riot and most of whom were not even present tickets to the show and were organizing a "democracy" in Cuba. tell the truth. We mean exactly what we say when it took place. October 1, 2001 The Militant 13 -EDITORIALS------­ What was the Support striking UK miners character of Miners on strike against UK Coal in Yorkshire, England, auto giants. Farmers, facing the worst crisis since the deserve the support of all working people. Their fight, 1930s, have carried out a series of actions over the last entering its fifth week against an intransigent company, is year demanding financial relief. This past summer, Asian youth festival? the first all-out strike in the British mines since the defeat youth in Oldham and Bradford took to the streets to pro­ of the yearlong strike in 1984-85. test racist attacks. The Irish struggle for independence BY JACK WILLEY Financial support and messages of solidarity have al­ continues to dog the rulers of the United Kingdom. Joseph Fritz, in his letter to the editor, states that the the capitalists who own the factories, mines, and mills ready streamed in from other branches of the mineworkers series ofMilitant articles giving firsthand coverage of the union and from other organized workers. Workers can never pause in their efforts to pit working people against 15th World Festival ofYouth and Students in Algeria "un­ build ~n this support, and go a step further by extending each other, especially workers from different countries. derestimated the anti-globalization sentiment of the gath­ solidarity outside the United Kingdom. They speak about cheap imports or "low productivity" at ering" and that "the World Federation of Democratic Youth The bosses at UK Coal are leading the charge in extend­ home to try to wrest more concessions from our unions. participants called for a continuation of the type of dem­ ing the workweek and driving down miners' wages. For In the United States, thousands of miners are waging onstrations that began in Seattle." the ruling class, this strike is a test to see how far they can struggles against the bosses' assaults on safety, health care, The Algiers festival was stamped overwhelmingly by push in their efforts to further drive down the working con­ pension benefits, and wages. There are growing opportu­ the thousands of young people who hailed from countries ditions of miners throughout the country. Other miners are nities for mineworkers across the Atlantic to offer sup­ oppressed by imperialism-from Africa, the Middle East, following this fight closely. The determination of the UK port against a common enemy and common conditions. Latin America, andAsia. The discussions largely concen­ Coal workers to win encourages other workers to fight back. As the rulers in the United States, Britain, and other trated on struggles they were directly part of against the This strike takes place in the midst of deepening resis­ imperialist countries prepare for war, workers will come brutalities and indignities of imperialist domination. tance in Britain. Hundreds of miners marched to defend under growing pressure to refrain from striking against Leaders of the Movement of Landless Rural Workers their jobs Yorkshire on August 13. In April, mineworkers attacks on our wages and conditions by the employers. (MST) of Brazil provoked quite a bit of discussion about and their union scored a victory when women who work Under the guise of"pulling together as a nation," the rul­ in the mine canteen and as cleaners won the right to wages ing class will try to obfuscate the irreconcilable class dif­ comparable to other surface workers who are men. ferences between the capitalists and exploited labor. Auto parts workers- at Friction Dynamics are in their Strikes like the one at UK Coal take on added importance DISCUSSION WITH fifth month of a strike and lockout in Canaerfon, Wales. in face of the impending imperialist war. This places added Last January, 10,000 auto workers joined union brothers importance on all workers to offer support and weigh in and sisters across Europe to protest plant closings by the on the side of the mineworkers. OUR READERS

peasant struggles for land. The MST has mobilized tens of thousands of peasants and farm workers to occupy huge landed estates and are demanding a thorough-going agrar­ ian reform to grant land to all rural toilers. Socialist campaign in New York Participants from Cuba spoke about the advances work­ ing people there have won through their socialist revolu­ Continued from front page per Manhattan, Militant Labor Forums were held on Sun­ tion, including the two land reforms in the opening years government-Democrats and Republicans alike-to curb day, September 16, titled "Oppose U.S. military assaults of the revolution, when both the foreign and domestically the constitutionally guaranteed space for political organi­ and curbs on democratic rights." Publicized on two days' owned capitalist estates were expropriated and title to the zation and activity and to legitimize the use of the U.S. notice, the meetings drew about 90 people, including a land was given to every peasant who worked the soil. armed forces at home and abroad." number who had just met the socialist campaigners on Other fighters for national liberation, from Palestine to Koppel referred to the mobilization oftens of thousands the street and came to join in a discussion. This included New Caledonia to Western Sahara, campaigned to broaden of troops from the National Guard and reserves for "home­ a group of students from New York University, young solidarity for their struggles. The Korean delegation raised land defense" on U.S. territory, the deployment of armed Palestinian activists, a hospital worker, and young people the demand for U.S. troops out of the Korean peninsula sky marshals on passenger planes, and moves to widen who had taken part in a recent fact-finding trip to Cuba. A and reunification of their nation. These examples of re­ spying and wiretaps by the FBI and other political police Mexican-born furniture worker in Brooklyn decided to sistance imbued the festival, from breakfast discussions agencies. "It's working people who are the target of these join the Young Socialists. over coffee and a croissant to the hours-long workshops reactionary moves," he explained. In Houston, supporters of the socialist candidate for and solidarity meetings. Koppel condemned the wave of violent attacks on im­ mayor, Anthony Dutrow, have been organizing a final push There was unanimous agreement in Algiers for the de­ migrants from the Mideast and Asia, including the killing to collect enough signatures to place his name on the bal­ mands to cancel the Third World debt and to abolish all of an Indian man in Arizona, a Pakistani immigrant in lot. They joined with 60 others at a demonstration in front imperialist military and economic alliances such as NATO Texas, and an Egyptian-born man in California. "The-U.S. of, the federal building in Houston to condemn Wash­ and the International Monetary Fund used by the rulers in government's warmongering abroad and harassment of ington's war moves. the United States and other imperialist powers to assert their immigrants at home is responsible for these criminal at­ 'Imperialism is a death trap for workers in U.S.' domination over the semicolonial world and suck billions tacks," he said. of dollars of value produced by the world's toilers. After the filmed interview, the television reporter com­ A young Dominican-born worker told Koppel, "I think However, this is a separate question from support for mented how Washington had invaded Panama in 1989 the reason they are going to war is oil in the Mideast and the "anti-globalization" protests like those in Seattle, under the pretext of"fighting drugs." Remarking that the other investments. Are they going to send thousands of Quebec City, and Genoa, Italy. Participants at the festival U.S. assault had killed thousands of Panamanians in work­ young people to Afghanistan to die for that?" Another expressed differing opinions about these actions. Many ing-class neighborhoods, she was pleased to hear a voice worker who joined the discussion commented, "The U.S. who came from Western Europe presented these protests of opposition to Washington's aggressive moves. She was is violent all over the world. As long as there is injustice as a new progressive movement to confront "global capi­ disturbed by the American patriotic atmosphere she saw there is going to be war and violence," he said, pointing talism." Others, including the Palestinian delegate men­ at a "memorial" set up at Union Square, which is covered to the 1965 U.S. invasion of his country, the Dominican tioned by Fritz and members of the Young Socialists, with U.S. flags, candles, pacifist signs, "prayer stations," Republic. "Look at the Palestinians-they're fighting for raised disagreement with this assessment. and banners. their land." The protectionist demands that dominate these pro­ Since the U.S. government launched a war drive follow­ Both workers were interested in the response by Koppel, tests-"no dumping" of steel and other imports from ing the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center who pointed to the socialist campaign statement, which China, Russia, or Brazil; "fair trade, not free trade"; and and the Pentagon, Socialist Workers candidates around the explained that "by its systematic superexploitation of the "no more sweatshops"-give support to the trade restric­ country and their supporters have been campaigning to peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America; by its never­ tions imposed by Washington on semicolonial countries explain the nature of this stepped-up war on working people ending insults to their national and cultural dignity; by its and its imperialist rivals: trade weapons that have devas­ at home and abroad by getting out on street tables in work­ ceaseless murderous violence in countless forms-U.S. tating effects to working people in nations oppressed by ing-class districts, speaking out at forums and public pro­ imperialism is turning North America into a death trap imperialism. This is why, under the broad umbrella of com­ tests against Washington's actions, and joining in the resis­ for working people and all who live here." bating global capitalism, ultrarightists like Patrick tance by unionists and other working people to the em­ Socialist Workers campaigners in New York are orga­ Buchanan and his supporters felt comfortable in Seattle ployers' assault on wages, working conditions, and rights. nizing to regularize their weekly sales of the Militant, during the protests against the WTO two years ago. He In Pittsburgh, Kathleen Fitzgerald, a garment worker, Perspectiva Mundial, and Pathfinder books at plant gates used the protests to rail against the WTO as "an embry­ said that socialist workers and Young Socialists joined a in the Garment District and other meat-packing plants and onic institution of world government" and called for de­ rally at Carnegie Mellon University to protest the U.S. clothing shops in the city, to get these publications into fense of "American sovereignty." Anticommunist "free war drive. They met students repelled by the brutality and the hands of other workers who are discussing the events Tibet" groups that call for economic sanctions and other patriotic chauvinist campaign unleashed by the U.S. rul­ unfolding in the world today. measures against the workers state in China have also been ers. These same students were interested in a working­ "Our campaign in New York-and Socialist Workers part of these actions. class explanation of the world and the prospects for build­ campaigns around the country-will be reproducing our What was striking at the world youth festival was how ing a revolutionary movement of working people in this September 11 statement and putting it in every copy of the seldom the antiglobalization protests were raised for dis­ country that can take power out of the hands of the capi­ Militant andPerspectiva Mundial that we ~ell," Koppel said. cussion. The fact that basic anti-imperialist demands are talist warmakers. One student they met at the rally re­ absent from these protests-NATO troops out of Yugo­ newed his subscription to the Militant, the Socialist Work­ slavia, support for the Palestinian fight for self-determi­ ers campaign newspaper. nation, and defense of the Cuban Revolution, just to name Frank Forrestal, a union coal miner and Socialist Work­ a few-helped me to see why so many youth from ers candidate for mayor of Pittsburgh, said he and two other semicolonial countries did not orient toward the Seattle socialists who work at the same mine took advantage of a or Genoa protests but rather drew strength from the battles day off to go to Pennsylvania State University, where Black being waged by workers, farmers, and oppressed people students organized a protest against racist attacks. "They against imperialist domination today. had been pressured to call it off in the wake of the Septem­ The most important conclusion to draw from the anti­ ber 11 events but held it anyway," said Forrestal. imperialist festival in Algiers is the necessity to join those In New York, Koppel and other Socialist Workers cam­ forces that are working to rebuild a communist interna­ paigners set up street tables in the city's Garment District. tional. Those who are in the United States have a special "By being there with the campaign statement and the responsibility to build a communist party here that cham­ Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, and Pathfinder books that pions progressive struggles around the world and that will explain the roots of the war drive and how to oppose it, join with other vanguard workers and farmers to forge we became a pole of attraction for a stream of people who the leadership and mass revolutionary movement needed came over to our tables to talk and purchase literature," to take on and overthrow the strongest and most rapa­ said campaigner Dan Fein. "Some people had sharp dis­ cious imperialist power on earth. agreements with us, but they were civil discussions." A math teacher bought the Militant and invited Koppel to Jack Willey was one ofthe delegates from the United States address his class. to the 15th World Festival ofYouth and Students. In Brooklyn, Manhattan's Garment District, and Up- 14 The Militant October 1, 2001 Toilers of East appeal to workers of the world

Printed below is an excerpt from To See from one country to another. the Dawn: Baku, 1920-First Congress of To you they said that they were bringing the Peoples ofthe East. This book is one of European knowledge and science to our Pathfinder's Books of the Month for Sep­ countries. But what they brought in fact was tember. The excerpt is taken from a docu­ opium and vodka, so that when sorrow welled ment titled "Appeal to the Workers of Eu­ up in the heart ofthe Asian andAfrican slaves, rope, America, and Japan." they would more easily forget their intoler­ The first Congress of the Peoples of the able life and would not dare to lift their East, held Sept. l-7, 1920, in Baku, capital chained hands against their enslaver. of Soviet Azerbaijan, occurred nearly three Your bosses, the European capitalists, years after the October 1917 revolution in supported our own enslavers, making them Russia, in which the Bolshevik Party had their guard dogs to watch over us. But when led in the establishment of a revolutionary the whip of the local ruler was not enough, workers and peasants government. Some they sent in white soldiers, they sent in can­ 2,000 delegates from more than two dozen non. They destroyed the independence of peoples ofAsia met in joint conference with our countries, subjecting us to their laws and leaders of workers' parties in Russia, West­ their governors and making slaves of us in em Europe, and the United States to ham­ the full sense of the word. The aim of their mer out a common policy in the fight against colonial rule, they told us, was to train us imperialist domination and capitalist exploi­ for future independence. But they fought tation. Copyright © 1993 by Pathfinder with every means against the spread of Press, reprinted by permission. knowledge among us toilers of the East. ·:· Prisons and barracks for us they had in num­ ber, but they did not build schools where Workers of Britain, America, France, the children of Asia might learn what the Italy, Japan, Germany, and other countries! white men had discovered that was great and Courtesy of City Library, La-Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland Residents of town at border of Azerbaijan republic gather in August 1920 to welcome good. They looked on us as an inferior race; Hear the representatives of millions of toil­ train carrying delegates to Baku for Congress of the Peoples of the East. ers of the East. Listen to the voice of sor­ they forbade us to sit in the same railway row, speaking to you from the enslaved carriage that white men traveled in; they countries of Asia and Africa, from Turkey, forbade us to live in the same neighborhood approach us in a fraternal way in order to of Europe and America and the toiling Persia, China, Egypt, Afghanistan, Bukhara, as white people or to eat at the same table teach us how to fight along with you for the masses ofAsia andAfrica will bring libera­ and Khiva. with them. common cause of emancipation. Instead, tion to all who have until now toiled for the For many years, for many decades we You did not see our wounds; you did not you denounced us for our ignorance, you happiness of the wealthy few. If you were have been silent. You did not hear our voice. hear our songs of sorrow; you believed your shut us out of your lives, you excluded us to free yourselves alone, leaving us in sla­ No one told you of us, of how we live, how own oppressors when they said we were not from your unions .... 1 very and bondage, you yourselves would fall we suffer under the rule of those who are people but cattle. You, who are servants to Only a common victory of the workers the next day into the same bondage. For in your masters too. the capitalists, saw us as your own servants. order to keep us in chains and in prison, you Your masters, the European and Ameri­ In America you protested when Chinese and 1For the pre-1914 Socialist International's would have to form packs of prison blood­ can factory owners, merchants, generals, Japanese peasants, evicted by your capital­ stand on immigrant workers from Asia, see hounds to guard us in the East and in the and officials, broke into the peace of our ists from their villages, came to your coun­ Riddell, Lenin 's Struggle for a Revolutionary In­ South. You would have to raise armies to villages and towns, plundered us for centu­ try in search of a crust of bread. You did not ternational, pp. 15-20, 41. Continued on Page 11 ries, took from us what our work in the past had created, and sent all this off to Europe to embellish their lives, their homes, with the labor of our hands and of our ancient -LETTERS culture. They turned us into slaves. gets, not just terrorists, but any state that next time he or any other reader hears of Where previously we had to pay tribute The truth must be told allegedly shelters and/or supports terrorists. such a rightist rally or protest inNorth Caro­ to our own rich men, to the landlords, slave Working people need to prepare ourselves As pertinent background for this we are re­ lina, please advertise it so that we can orga­ owners, sultans, emirs, khans, and mahara­ more politically in view of the thickening minded that Cuba remains on the U.S. nize a counterdemonstration. I live in jas, now the whip of the European slave smokescreen incessantly pouring out of the (short) list of "state-sponsors of terror­ Wilmington, and would be glad to travel to owners was also laid across our backs. We major media ever since the terrorist attacks ism"-this despite the reality that Cuba has were forced to labor on the plantations of on the World Trade Center and the Penta­ such an event, as I'm sure many of my been subjected to over 40 years of terrorist Latino co-workers would as well. the European capitalists. Sweat poured from gon. attacks from their base on U.S. soil, as Fidel Matt Skiba our brows so that they might obtain rice, On the one hand, we are being condi­ has just reminded the world. The implica­ Wilmington, North Carolina tea, sugar, tobacco, and rubber at a cheap tioned to accept that we must begin to give tions of this are chilling-not just for Cuba rate. Our children were born and died in up civil liberties, supposedly in order to as­ and its supporters, but for all supporters of bondage. If it suited the interests of your sist the crackdown on terrorists. On the Anti-globalization protests human rights and justice, for all working bosses and ours, they parted child from other, Secretary of State Colin Powell has As a participant in the World Federation people-in fact, for the vast majority of mother, wife from husband, and drove them led the chorus in declaring as legitimate tar- of Democratic Youth festival in Algeria, I humanity. thought your coverage underestimated the But I hasten to remind you of Fidel's en­ anti-globalization sentiment of the gather­ couraging perspective that "History is on our ing. You quoted a representative of the Pal­ side!" along with his principled directive estinian youth, who asserted that "right­ Out Now!: A Participant's Account that "the truth must not only be the truth; it wing organizations are comfortable" partici­ of the Movement in the United States must be told!" Just as the crisis of U.S. im­ pating in the growing movement against against the Vietnam War perialism continues to deepen with its con­ Fred Halstead corporate globalization. I would be curious sequent descent into reaction, so the resis­ to hear some of these right-wingers identi­ The story of the political tance of humanity to oppression and injus­ fied, as that has not been the experience ei­ fight for a course that tice continues to grow stronger. ther here in the United States or anywhere could organize in action Joe Kleidon else, as far as I know. the maximum number of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Militant reported that only two working people, Gls, and people spoke in solidarity with this move­ To See the Dawn youth and help lead the Likes SWP statement ment, but the final declaration makes clear growing international op­ Baku, 1920-First Congress Congratulations on the September 11 the dominant sentiment. A couple of brief position to the Vietnam of the Peoples of the East statement by Martin Koppel on the attacks War. Gaining momentum quotations will show that, in the majority, from the fight for Black in New York City and Washington, D.C., and the World Federation of Democratic Youth How can peasants and civil rights, the antiwar movement helped force the U.S. government's response. It said all participants called for a continuation of the workers in the colonial the U.S. government to bring the troops home, that needed saying. type of demonstrations that began in Seattle: world achieve freedom spurring struggles for social justice and chang­ Bruce Levine "The ongoing neoliberal globalisation from imperialist exploita­ ing the political face of the United States. Spe· Watsonville, California dictated by multinationals is imposing eco­ tion? By what means can cial offer $23.25 (regular price $30.95) nomic re-colonisation of the developing working people overcome A sterile exposition countries, expanding and intensifying ex­ divisions incited by their na­ Buried somewhere in Martin Koppel's ploitation, widening the gap between the tional ruling classes and act The Revolution Betrayed: statement, one will find a perfunctory men­ rich and the poor.... Being encouraged by together for their common What is the Soviet Union the growing awareness and struggles of the class interests? These ques­ tion of the fact that revolutionaries and class­ and Where Is It Going? conscious workers "reject" the methods people, especially workers, peasants, tions were addressed by Leon Trotsky 2,000 delegates to the 1920 Congress of used by those who destroyed the World women, youth, and students in many parts the Peoples of the East. Special offer In 1917 the workers and Trade Center towers and attacked the Pen­ of the world during the last four years $15.00 (regular price $19.95) peasants of Russia were the tagon. against neoliberal globalisation, against motor force for one of the Not one word of sympathy, not a single imperialist aggression .... We call for more most profound revolutions expression of condolence, for the thousands intensive actions to stop the imposition of To Speak the Truth: in history. Yet within ten of ordinary working people who died! unjust economic orders and anti-people eco­ Why Washington's 'Cold War' years a political counter­ An appalling demonstration of sterile nomic policies ofWorld Trade Organisation, against Cuba Doesn't End revolution by a privileged exposition, whose effect will be to persuade International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara social layer whose chief none and to win over none. which are dominated and manipulated by spokesperson was Joseph The substance of what the statement has U.S., EU, and Japan." In historic speeches before the United Nations Stalin was being consoli- to say is indeed correct. Yet, instead of edu­ Joseph Fritz and UN bodies, Guevara and Castro address the dated. This classic study of the Soviet workers cating and explaining, the SWP has chosen Chicago, Illinois state and its degeneration illuminates the roots workers of the world, explaining why the U.S. to express its views with a declaratory shrill­ government so hates the example set by the of the social and political crisis shaking Russia socialist revolution in Cuba and why and other countries that formerly made up the ness, which is the hallmark of a lifeless sect. The letters column is an open forum for Washington's effort to destroy it will fail. Spe­ Soviet Union. Also in Spanish. Special offer John Rubinstein all viewpoints on subjects of interest to cial offer $12.75 (regular price $16. 95) $15.00 (regular price $19.95)) London, United Kingdom working people. Please keep your letters brief. Where Keep us informed necessary they will be abridged. Please Available from bookstores, including those listed on page 12 I read with interest the letter from Dean indicate if you prefer that your initials Hazelwood. in the September 17 issue. The be used rather than your full name. October 1, 2001 The Militant 15 THE MILITANT Workers protest closure ofAnsett airline BY DOUG COOPER decisions about illegal scheduled to return Prime Minister Helen SYDNEY, Australia-Workers at migrants [from the Clark to New Zealand. Ultimately, a New Ansett-the second of this country's two Tampa], but when it Zealand air force Orion flew to Australia to major airlines with 40 percent of the mar­ comes to expeditious retrieve her. ket--organized impromptu protests Sep­ decisions about 15,000 There is also speculation in the big-busi­ tember 14 when they arrived for work and Australian jobs, we ness press that the Australian government found terminals locked and guards posted can't get a bloody de­ was prepared to let Ansett fail in order to at the doors. The company had abruptly cision." block Singapore Airlines, which is now part closed. Air New Zealand, owner of Air New Zealand, from gaining a Baggage handlers, mechanics, flight at­ despite being the foothold in the domestic market. tendants, ticket agents, pilots, and others smaller airline, took With the demise of its only major com­ joined angry demonstrations at Ansett ter­ full ownership of petitor, Qantas has moved in rapidly, seek­ minals around the country to condemn the Ansett after buying the ing to increase its share of the domestic closure and to demand payment of their es­ News Corp.'s stake in market to 90 percent. Many stranded pas­ timated $A500 million in entitlements to :ml Air New sengers have had to pay full-fare prices to unpaid wages, unused holiday pay, sick pay, Zealand's owners had continue their journey. Virgin Blue has said long service leave pay, and redundancy pay­ long chafed under pro­ it is prepared to increase its operations in ments ($AI= US 49 cents). tectionist laws that the wake oftheAnsett collapse. It currently Despite weeks of increasingly nervous blocked them from en­ operates limited routes with nine planes. speculation, and amid assurances from tering the much bigger Virgin Blue, owned by Richard Branson, Ansett's top bosses that the airline would Australian market for started up in mid-2000 as a no-frills, dis­ stay afloat, the company eliminated the jobs many years. In 1996 count fare airline. of 16,000 workers without notice. Tens of they were permitted to Ansett went to the wall due to the fierce thousands of passengers were stranded in acquire 50 percent of price war since then, combined with sharply the days that followed. Ansett. rising jet fuel costs, the second oldest fleet Workers at wholly owned Ansett subsid­ In the wake of among the world's 50 largest airlines, and iaries, including regional carriers Kendell Ansett's collapse, Aus­ sharp declines in both the Australian and Airlines, Hazleton Airlines, Flight West, tralian politicians and New Zealand dollars in the last year. Aeropelican, and Traveland, one of the top union officials have be­ "I don't think we'll get our jobs back at three national travel agencies, are also out moaned the loss of Ansett," said Eric, a ramp worker with 14 of work. Thousands more who worked for what they term a 65- years on the job, who didn't want his last suppliers, such as national food contractor year-old "Australian name used. "But we're fighting for our en­ Gategourmet, have also been sacked. The icon." Some union of­ titlements." Asked about the likelihood of flow-on effect could mean thousands more ficials have called for a another airline being set up in the wake of workers in related industries will lose their boycott of Air New Ansett's demise, he simply said, "Qantas jobs. Zealand but support for doesn't want any competition." this view is far from Employees at Australian airline Ansett express their outrage Some 50 members of the Maritime Union Largest corporate collapse unanimous. Brian at the decision of Ansett's chief executive, Gary Toomey to of Australia (MUA) from sites around Measured by the number of workers Saxby, a porter/loader shut down the airline. Redesigned poster with message from Sydney joined the protest at the Ansett ter­ thrown out of work, it is the largest corpo­ with five years at the CEO reads: "We absolutely screwed you." minal September 19. "I wanted to do cart­ rate collapse in the history of the country Ansett and a member wheels when the MUA workers and ban­ and comes on top of other recent high-pro­ of the Transport Workers Union, told the he asked. ners arrived" because of what it meant for file bankruptcies, including insurance giant Militant, "We shouldn't boycott Air New Some workers have been drawn into the solidarity, airline worker Brian Saxby said. HIH and mobile phone company One. Tel. Zealand. How's that going to help, if they rulers' nationalist and anti-New Zealand Rural and regional areas were particularly go under?" Saxby also disagreed with put­ framework. On the morning of the collapse, Doug Cooper is a member ofthe Maritime hard hit, withAnsett or its subsidiaries hav­ ting a tax on airline tickets. "Why should workers at Melbourne airport used machin­ Union ofAustralia. Ron Poulsen contributed ing had a monopoly on many smaller, less the public have to pay for our misfortune?" ery to block planes from taking off that were to this article. profitable routes. The workforce is highly unionized. In Adelaide, workers maintained a 24-hour blockade of the terminal for the first three days. Workers in Sydney also protested in New Zealand special forces put on standby the central business district on September duced at airports to screen domestic travel­ leader Winston Peters said, "We're insist­ 14 with a 1,500-strong rally. Smaller pro­ BY JANET EDWARDS ers for the first time, as well as international ing upon taking a boatload ofAfghani queue tests have been maintained during daylight AUCKLAND, New Zealand-In re­ travelers, and military personnel have been jumpers to help out the Aussies, who are in hours to keep watch over assets at allAnsett sponse to Washington's war drive follow­ stationed at the country's three major air­ tum boycotting our airline and our prod­ terminals. ing the attacks on the World Trade Center ports. ucts." Reeling from the protests and with a fed­ and the Pentagon, the New Zealand govern­ Opposition politicians have reopened the National Party spokesperson Lockwood eral election mandated before the end of the ment has put its Special Air Service (SAS) debate about the government's decision to Smith used the events to pressure the Wa­ year, the conservative government of Prime soldiers on standby, ready to join an impe­ accept 150 Afghani refugees from a boat­ terfront Workers Union into canceling its Minister John Howard demagogically prom­ rialist military assault, and increased spy­ load of migrants refused entry to Australia, plans to go on strike. Citing "a time of great ised to revise the Corporations Law to per­ ing and restrictions on travel within its bor­ claiming they pose a threat to security be­ jeopardy to our economy" Smith said the mit employees to go to the top of the list of ders. cause ofpossible "terrorist" connections and government "should talk to its unionist com­ creditors ahead of secured creditors such as The cabinet has delegated authority to a committee of five, authorized to decide should be turned away. rades and tell them to cancel this cynical banks. industrial action. Australia already feels we Ansett was owned by Air New Zealand, Wellington's military commitment on short Referring to the heightened tensions be­ tween Canberra and Wellington following are letting them down in terms of defense and the Howard government has used the notice. the collapse of the Air New Zealand-owned cooperation and airline services. Let's not closing to stoke the fires of Australian na­ The opposition National and Act parties airline Ansett, rightist New Zealand First add maritime trade to that list." tionalism. He promised to pay part of the have called on the government to follow entitlements owed to those workers directly Canberra's lead and invoke Clause IV of the employed by Ansett or its subsidiaries ANZUS treaty, which states that an attack through a tax on airline tickets, if the against one partner is an attack against all. government's pursuit of Air New Zealand, New Zealand is currently suspended as a Strikers continue fight for a contract Ansett's parent company, failed. Air New treaty partner for refusing entry to nuclear­ Zealand is itself teetering on the brink of powered warships. at ciJ,ocolate plant in Vancouver insolvency. Both the lead-up and the after­ Green Party Member of Parliament (MP) math to the Ansett collapse have been Keith Locke, while expressing opposition BY JOE YATES major issues in the strike are a guaranteed marked by anti-New Zealand chauvinism to joining Washington in a military assault, VANCOUVER, British Columbia­ 40-hour work week, a closed union shop, emanating from politicians and labor offi­ gave backing to the imperialist war drive by Nearing the end of their fifth month on and improved benefits. There have been no cials. calling for intervention in the form of "po­ strike, the 100 strikers at Purdy's Choco­ negotiations for weeks. Despite the rhetoric ofclose economic co­ litical and economic pressures" and stating lates here remain determined to win the fight "They think we are over paid," Wong operation across the Tasman Sea, with an that "war criminals like Slobodan Milosevic for a their first contract with the company. added. "They say there is a good environ­ economy and population many times the are now in the dock. An International Crimi­ Asked if the bosses were trying to break the ment and they treat us like family. When we size of New Zealand's, Australia's capital­ nal Court is being set up. Nations should union, striker Julier Odejar responded, ask for medical benefits or long-term dis­ ist class uses these facts to their competi­ cooperate to capture the terrorists and put "They cannot do that, we are strong." Odejar ability they say no. We are immigrants from tive advantage to force Australian goods into them on trial." has been a production worker for six years. Third World countries. They expected us to the New Zealand market and frequently The Labour-Alliance government has in­ Of the strikers, 95 percent are women and a just keep our heads down and keep work­ block access to Australia for goods produced dicated that it will increase funding for spy big majority are immigrants, mainly from ing. They didn't expect us to be united." by New Zealand's workers and farmers. agencies and step up "intelligence sharing" Asia. They are members of Communica­ Eight workers have crossed the picket Attacking what he termed "dithering" by with Washington. Already, a hotline has tions, Energy and Paperworkers Union Lo­ lines and some production is going on. How­ the New Zealand Labour government on a been established for people to call the Se­ cal2000. ever, striking worker Norma Moore reported rescue package for Air New Zealand, Aus­ curity Intelligence Service, the govern­ The company hasn't "accepted the fact that the company has had to cancel corpo­ tralian Labor Party MP Martin Ferguson said ment's main secret police outfit, with any that we are unionized," said striker Lyne rate orders for Christmas because they do September 6, ·~we are talking about 15,000 information they have about "international Wong. The owner "won't even mention the not have enough chocolates. According to Australian jobs and I find it strange that the terrorism." word union. This is our first real contract. Wong, these orders brought in $14 million New Zealand prime minister can make quick New security measures have been intro- We got the union in three years ago." The for the company last year.

16 The Militant October 1, 2001