Interview with leaders of THE Federation of Cuban Women Page 8-9

A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 53/NO. 31 AUGUST 25, 1989 $1.00 200,000 Thousands back miners, phone workers Eastern, phone strikers on strike 6,000 march in Pittsburgh demonstration UMWA District 4 in Ohio. BY SUSAN LaMONT Two groups of UMWA strikers, from A strike by 200,000 telephone workers Pittston in Virginia and Duquesne Light & against four of the country's seven regional Power here, led off the march. They were phone companies began August 6 when followed by Eastern strikers from the Pins­ 160,000 employees in 15 states walked off burgh area. the job. The strike widened a week later when Behind them carne hundreds of marchers 40,000 workers in five more states joined the wearing the red "Take a stand" T-shirts of the walkout. Communications Workers of America. Some Most strikers are members of the Commu­ 200,000 telephone workers have gone on nications Workers of America (CWA); a JtLsUce strike in 20 states against four regional phone smaller number are in the International companies. Behind their contingent carne Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). hundreds of members of the United Steel­ The biggest issue in the strikes is the workers of America and United Electrical companies' demands that telephone opera­ t~,rthe workers. tors, installers, technicians, and other workers Teamsters, teachers, and fire fighters pay substantially more for medical coverage marched alongside rail, auto, postal and gov­ now paid for by employers. b.tSterM ernment workers, members of dozens of Involved in the strike are: other unions, and activists from civil rights • 40,000 CWA members and 20,000 and women's organizations. IBEW members at Nynex, the regional phone ~bi~rs..... company for New York, Massachusetts, Ver­ Eastern strikers mont, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Eastern Airlines workers staffed a table and Connecticut. and signed up people for a possible action at • 41,000 CWA members and 11,000 the Pittsburgh airport. Since March 17,000 IBEW members at Bell Atlantic, which cov­ Machinists union members, flight attendants, ers Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Penn­ and pilots have waged a fight against Eastern sylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wash­ Unionists and supporters from several states participated in August 13 march and Airlines. ington, D.C. rally-in Pittsburgh to support striking Pittston miners, telephone workers, and East­ The rally's main speakers were UMWA • In California and Nevada, 43,000 work­ ern Machinists, flight attendants, and pilots. See Eastern strike coverage pages 6, 14. President Richard Trumka, United Steel­ ers at Pacific Telesis. workers President Lynn Williams, and Inter­ Workers at these three companies walked national Association of Machinists official out August 6. On August 13, they were joined BY STEVE MARSHALL Airlines, Pittston Coal, and Bell Atlantic tele- . Charles Bryan. They called for unity behind by: PITTSBURGH- This city's downtown phone company. the coal, airline, and telephone strikes. • 40,000 unionists at Ameritech, which streets echoed with roars of "We ... are ... Members of the United Mine Workers of Edna Jones, speaking for the Daughters of co~ers Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and union!" as 6,000 unionists and supporters America (UMWA), arriving in bus and car Mother Jones women's auxiliary in Virginia, Wisconsin. Last month the company reached joined in a March and Rally for Labor Soli­ caravans from Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Vir­ announced receipt of a $400 donation from an agreement with IBEW locals representing darity August 13. The demonstration voiced ginia, and West Virginia, made up the largest the British group Women Against Pit Clo­ Continued on Page 7 support for workers on strike against Eastern contingents. Seven busloads came from sures. Greetings from South African and Salvadoran union federations were read and applauded. Most of the coal miners present were iden­ Apartheid regiiDe's disruption challenges tified by the camouflage they wore, which has become a symbol of the Virginia miners in their 18-week strike against Pittston Coal. NaiDibia's election process, freedom fight In June 44,000 UMWA members walked off their jobs on a sympathy strike across the BY RONI McCANN sitional process to Namibia's independence and administrative structure inside the coun­ country backing the Pittston miners in their "Systematic and serious violations by hangs in the balance." try that includes thousands of Black fight. South Africa of both the letter and spirit of Namibians. Some 1.1 million or 90 percent "It's the only way we can make a state­ the United Nations plan for the independence UN Security Council of Namibia's population is Black. ment," said a miner from Ohio. In his opinion of Namibia" are being carried out in the Both SWAPO leaders called on the UN Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 13 southwest African country, charged Security Council to take immediate steps to Hinyangerwa Asheeke, UN representative insure the end of South Africa's campaign of for the South West Africa People's Organisa­ sabotage and disruption. tion (SWAPO), on August 10. "The Security Council must carry out its S. Africa leader's tour part of "South Africa's noncompliance with Res­ fu~J responsibility by implementing the res­ olution 435 violates virtually every provision olution in its original and definitive form," anti-apartheid defiance campaign of the UN plan," said Asheeke. stated Asheeke. The SWAPO representative gave numer­ Resolution 435 was first adopted by the BY GREG McCARTAN anyway, and organizations spoke in their own ous examples of South Africa's disruption of Security Council in 1978. In March 198 8 the A broad campaign of defiance against names. The flags of Sayco, the African Na­ the election process under way in Namibia. South African army was defeated by Angolan apartheid has been launched by anti-apart­ tional Congress, and the South African Com­ troops, SWAPO forces, and Cuban interna­ heid organizations inside South Africa. munist Party were hoisted. All of this activity South African paramilitary units tionalist fighters in a strategic battle at Cuito Backed by the United Democratic Front is considered illegal by the government." The Pretoria regime refuses to disarm its Cuanavale in southern Angola. Soon after­ (UDF) and the Congress of South African Detainees are activists in South Africa who paramilitary units, used to terrorize the ward the Pretoria regime signed an agreement Trade Unions (COSATU), as well as church were arrested during the past two years and Namibian people. On August 15 South Afri­ beginning the process of implementing Res­ and youth groups, the campaign is challeng­ held in prison with no charges filed against can-appointed Administrator Louis Pienaar olution 435. ing restrictions on political activity and seg­ them. After release from prison, many were ordered I ,200 members of the paramilitary regationist Jaws imposed by the regime in restricted from participating in political meet­ units back to their bases. SWAPO demands Elections Pretoria. ings, speaking in the name of their own orga­ that the units be completely dissolved as The plan provides for the withdrawal of Rapu Molekane, general secretary of the nizations, or traveling outside of certain outlined in Resolution 435. South African administrative and armed South African Youth Congress (Sayco), who areas. forces from Namibia. During the transition is in the United States on a speaking tour, The South African government is also period the country is being administered by explained that during the first week of Au­ Tour is part of defiance campaign taking advantage of loopholes in the Voter UN special representative Martti Ahtisaari; gust, Blacks went to white segregated hospi­ Molekane, himself a former detainee, is in Registration Act, which it drafted, to bus in Pienaar, the South African-appointed admin­ tals in Natal and Johannesburg and were the United States as part of the defiance effort. thousands of white South Africans and others istrator general; and the UN Transition As­ treated. · He represents the 1.5-million member Sayco to register to vote in the Namibian elections. sistance Group (UNTAG), charged with "Detainees have attended press confer­ on the UDF's executive committee. The On August 9 in London, SWAPO President monitoring the election process. UN-super­ ences and spoken at church services," he said. youth body is comprised of students, young Sam Nujoma said that notwithstanding the vised elections to establish an independent "There was also a funeral in the Western Cape workers, and unemployed youth. Molekane Namibian people's desire to see Resolution Namibia are to take place on November 6. for two who were blown up by limpet mines. was released from 16 months detention fol­ 435 implemented without interference, "the South Africa has ruled Namibia for 73 The government said that it was not to be a lowing a series of hunger strikes in the prisons prospects for a genuinely free and fair tran- years and has built up an extensive military political funeral, but thousands turned out Continued on Page 13 Challenges to Namibia fighters

Continued from front page on UN special representative Ahtisaari to According to the law written by the South Beginning in the 1970s Pretoria began to adopt a more forceful position against police African government, South Africans who build up the 24,000-member South West Af­ intimidation. have lived in Namibia as civil servants, sol­ rican Territorial Force. Taking advantage of The UN reduced from 7,500 to under 5,000 diers, and police personnel, and their chil­ the economic conditions in the country, South the forces it sent to Namibia. Moreover, most dren, are all free to cross the Namibian border Africa offered Namibian volunteers a slightly are unarmed and can do nothing to prevent and vote. better standard of living. SWATF became the the intimidation and violence carried out by "Consequently," says SWAPO President largest employer of Narnibians. Part of the the South African forces. Nujoma, "right-wing elements in South Af­ SWATF strategy has been to offer education When asked about a recent shooting in rica are now busily mobilizing buses, car and other services to volunteers, aimed at early August by Koevoet elements, one pools, and train tickets to transport an esti­ reducing dissatisfaction among the Black UNTAG unit commander responded, "I mon­ mated 150,000 South Africans to Namibia." population. itor. I don't make conclusions. We can report The members of the Organization of Afri­ South Africa also maintains its counterin­ them, but we can't stop them." can Unity at their meeting in Addis Ababa, surgency unit, Koevoet. Koevoet means Along with this violence and intimidation, Ethiopia, July 24--26, noted these violations crowbar in Afrikaans, the language that the Pretoria regime is trying to block SWAPO of UN Resolution 435 and issued a declara­ evolved from Dutch spoken by early settlers from winning the two-thirds majority it needs tion urging the UN secretary general to take in South Africa. to establish a government. Pretoria is bring­ steps to insure free and fair elections. Hidipo Harnutenya, SWAPO director of ing in white South Africans, mercenaries The Commission on Independence for mobilization and information, says that recruited outside the country, and Angolans Namibia, a private U.S. group sponsored by Koevoet units in armored vehicles routinely who are members of UNITA (National Union the Washington-based Lawyers Committee - raid villages in northern Namibia searching for the Total Independence of Angola), to for Civil Rights Under Law, recently returned for SWAPO "terrorists" and beating up vil­ register to vote for parties in opposition to from a week-long visit to Namibia and cited Militant/Fred Murphy lagers, warning them not to vote against the SWAPO. "major obstacles" to fair elections. SW APO leader Hinyangerwa Asheeke Democratic Turnhalle Alliance. The DTAhas ruled Namibia under Pretoria's guidance for the last four years. Koevoet units, combined with other forces, bring the number of armed personnel I nt'l effort to win readers set for fall to one for every 14 Narnibians. South African troops were supposed to be BY SUSAN LaMONT ing in Washington, D.C., to defend abortion and airport workers in cities around the reduced according to the UN plan. However, On September 9 Militant supporters rights. world. Supporters in Sweden, Canada, and instead of disarming the Koevoet paramilit­ around the world will kick off a nine-week Supporters plan to sell 5,800 introductory the United States who have organized airport ary unit and dismantling its command struc­ campaign to win 9,000 new readers for the or renewal subscriptions to the Militant, sales teams have gotten an enthusiastic re­ ture, it has been incorporated into the police Militant, the Spanish-language monthly Per­ 1,400 to Perspectiva Mundial, and 400 to sponse from worlcers who want to learn more force, and brutalization of the Namibian peo­ specfiva Mundial, the French-language quar­ Lutte ouvriere during the sales campaign. The about the Eastern Airlines strike and other ple continues. terly Lutte ouvriere, and the Marxistmaga­ goal also includes 1,400 single copies of New developments covered in the Militant. Today SWAPO estimates the Koevoet zines New International and Nouvelle International and Nouvelle lnternationale. Lutte ouvriere, which began appearing in forces make up 70 percent of the police force lnternationale. The drive will conclude No­ Supporters will be organizing sales of the a new monthly magazine format in Novem­ in northern Namibia. SWAPO officials call vember 12, the day thousands will be march- socialist press in working -class communities, ber 1988, will be published quarterly, an­ at plant gates, on picket lines, at demonstra­ nounced editor Michel Prairie recently. The tions and other political events, on busy socialist magazine is published in Montreal downtown streets, and on campuses. and circulated among French-speaking work­ New 'Militant' staff writer McCartan An important part of the international cir­ ers and activists in Canada, France, Haiti, the culation drive will be getting a copy of the United States, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and will join reporting team to Africa Action Program to Confront the Coming Eco­ other countries. This move will allow sup­ nomic Crisis into the hands of every new porters of Lutte ouvriere to place more em­ The Militant is adding Greg McCartan to subscriber. The Action Program was first phasis on regular sales of the Militant, which, its staff beginning with the current issue. issued by socialists in mid-1988 in response as a weekly paper, offers more rounded cov­ Before joining the paper McCartan was the to the October 1987 stock market crash, erage than is possible in a magazine published national chairperson of the Young Socialist which signaled a world economic and social less frequently. At the same time, Prairie said, Alliance. crisis in the 1990s. making Lutte ouvriere a quarterly will mean As a leader of the YSA, McCartan helped Since then, tens of thousands of copies an improved magazine, with each issue of to coordinate several tours of anti-apartheid have been sold to workers, farmers, political lasting value. youth leaders from South Africa. He will join activists, and others in many countries. The "An important part of the circulation drive James Harris from New York and Alan Harris program has been translated into Spanish and will be selling New International and Nou­ from London in representing the Pathfinder French; Swedish and Icelandic editions will velle lnternationale to the same fighters who publishing house at the Fifth Annual be available soon. buy the Militant, PM, and Lutte ouvriere," Zimbabwe Bookfair August 28--September The circulation drive will build on the Prairie stressed. Supporters have already 2, in Harare, Zimbabwe. successful eight-week spring sales campaign, begun to have experiences that show this is TheMilitant is making plans to send James during which 9,290 new readers internation­ possible. "Workers and young people who Harris and McCartan on to the southern Af­ ally were won for the socialist press - 116 want to learn more about Cuba, or the deep­ rican countries of Angola and Zambia during percent of the original goal of 8,000. Of these, ening struggle in southern Africa, or the con­ September to report for the Militant on de­ nearly 20 percent live in countries outside the tinuity of the communist movement will be velopments in the region. United States. able to get into these, and other, subjects in With the developments in the region over In the corning drive, Militant supporters in a deeper way by reading New International the past year in the struggle against the apart­ Australia, Sweden, Iceland, Britain, Canada, and Nouvelle lnternationale." He explained heid regime, firsthand coverage in the Mili­ New Zealand, the United States, France, and that the six issues of New International that Militant/Charles Ostrofsky tant will be a valuable tool for getting out the Puerto Rico.will be taking on goals. have appeared so far are being reissued with Greg McCartan, former national chair­ truth to anti-apartheid fighters around the Part of the campaign will be an interna­ newly designed covers to make them more person of Young Socialist Alliance. world. tional effort to sell the socialist press to airline attractive to new readers.

The Militant THE MIUTANT TRLS THE TRUTH Closing news date: August 16, 1989 Editor: DOUG JENNESS Circulation Director: NORTON SANDLER Nicaragua Bureau Director: LARRY SEIGLE Introductory subscription oner Business Manager: JIM WHITE Editorial Staff: Susan Apstein, Seth Galinsky (Nicaragua), Arthur Hughes, Susan LaMont, Sam Manuel, Roni McCann, 12 weeks for $4.00 for new readers - an $8.00 savings Greg McCartan, Selva Nebbia, Peter Thierjung, Judy White (Nicaragua). Published weekly except one week in August and the last The Militant carries firsthand coverage of • Reports on advances in Cuba week of December by the Militant (ISSN 0026-3885), 410 the Eastern Machinists' strike and other West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Telephone: Editorial Of­ labor battles. It features news and analysis fice, (212) 243-6392; Fax 727-0150; Telex, 497-4278; Busi­ • On-the-scene coverage from our ness Office, (212) 929-3486. Nicaragua Bureau, Apartado of the developing capitalist economic cri­ bureau in Managua, Nicaragua 2222, Managua. Telephone 24845. sis, and resistance by workers and farmers Correspondence concerning subscriptions or changes to employer and government attacks - of address should be addressed to The Militant Business from the U.S. to the Philippines, Britain to Enclosed is Office, 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. 0 $4 for 12 weeks, new readers 0 $9 for 12 weeks, South Africa. renewals Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y. and at addi­ tional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes 0 $17 for 6 months 0 $30 for 1 year 0 $55 for 2 to The Militant, 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Sub­ years scriptions: U.S., Canada, Latin America: for one-year sub­ 0 $1.00 for Action Program to Confront the Coming scription send $30, drawn on a U.S. bank, to above address. Economic Crisis, a Pathfinder pamphlet. By first-class (airmail), send $65 . Britain, Ireland, Continen­ Name ______tal Europe, Africa: £22 for one year, £12 for six months, or Address ------£6 for three-month renewal. Send check or international City . State __Zip ______money order made out to Pathfinder Press and send to Path­ Phone ___Union/Schooi/Organization ______finder, 47 The Cut, London SEI 8LL, England. Australia, Asia, Pacific: send Australian $60 to Pathfinder Press, P.O. Send to THE MILITANT, 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014 Box 153, Glebe, Sydney, NSW 2037, Australia. Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily represent the Militant's views. These are expressed in editorials.

2 The Militant August 25, 1989 Cuban events mark advance for socialism Defense of Cuban revolution central theme at int'l socialist conference BY PETER THIERJUNG and the meaning of the political commitment OBERLIN, Ohio- The events in Cuba to the struggle in Angola." The Cubans sub­ over the last two months pose a real challenge ordinated everything to achieve victory in to class-struggle fighters around the world, Angola, she noted. Socialist Workers Party leader Mary-Alice Waters also pointed to the lessons gained Waters said. in the Ochoa affair about collective leader­ Waters referred to events that included the ship functioning, proletarian ethics and mo­ arrest of several government officials on rality, and party building -lessons that en­ charges of corruption and the trial and exe­ rich the work of communists everywhere. cution of four officers of Cuba's Revolution­ The Ochoa affair "is not a question of good ary Armed Forces and the Ministry of Inte­ people versus bad people. It is a question of rior, including Gen. Amaldo Ochoa, for drug social pressures, of economic pressures, of trafficking. much broader social forces," Waters ex­ "The 'Ochoa affair,' for lack of a better plained. term, is not the end of a chapter, not the "The stakes," Waters said, "are the same closing of a book on some shameful episode as the ones that Che Guevara raised and of the past," Waters said. "It registers what fought for over 25 years ago." The effort by has already taken place, what has been ac­ working people to build a socialist society complished over the last three years as Cuban will not happen through capitalist methods working people more and more bring their based on profitability and individual material weight to bear in determining the direction interests, but through the conscious collective and advance of the revolution," she ex­ effort by politically motivated men and plained. "It is the beginning of a qualitative women, she explained. step forward, a deepening of the revolution­ Militant/Joan Campana ary mass movement that is the heart and soul One of the thousands of Cuban internationalist volunteers who has returned from Fight to reinforce communist relations of the rectification process." She said the Angola. He is working on a voluntary work brigade repairing housing in Camagiiey. The rectification process is the fight to recent events marked the "sharpening of the organize economic relations and forces in social conflict in Cuba." Cuba to reinforce communist relations. With­ the Ministry of the Interior and its various the past two months is a lesson in "real Waters was speaking at the International out it privilege, corruption, and liberalism departments to rebuild it. politics," Waters said. Leading the class Active Workers and Socialist Educational will assert themselves and "all the calls for As this shakeup is happening, Waters ex­ struggle, organizing a working-class van­ Conference here, which attracted more than moral principles, virtues, and revolutionary plained, thousands of battle-tested Cuban guard to advance political consciousness, I ,000 communists and activists from nearly will not be able to alter what has happened," internationalist soldiers are returning from showing the world what socialism really is, 20 different countries. Waters said. Angola ready to take up the tasks at hand in and why its worth fighting for, "it is these Waters quoted Castro's final remarks in The gathering was held August 5-9. Cuba. examples of what is taking place in Cuba that his Council of State speech, saying they Throughout the conference's major reports, Waters noted how these developments co­ we have an obligation to learn from," Waters summarized the stakes in Cuba today. "We classes, and workshops the advances in build­ incided with significant leadership changes explained. cannot rest until there is one single world ing socialism in Cuba and Cuba's battle to that occurred earlier this year in the sugar Waters underscored the deeper apprecia­ here," Castro said, "not the world of the defend a worldwide communist perspective workers' union and the leadership of the tion one develops for Cuba's internationalist bourgeoisie, the petty bourgeoisie, but the were central themes. A rally to celebrate 30 Central Organization of Cuban Trade role in Angola and the role Cuba's returning world of our workers, our working class, our years of the Cuban revolution was organized Unions. internationalist volunteers have in the recti­ proletariat, our farmers." during the conference. These developments, Waters explained, fication process as one studies the informa­ "Class forces in Cuba are moving for­ The featured talk given by Waters was "reflect and register the deepening debate, tion revealed in the Ochoa affair. ward," Waters concluded. "We here approach titled "Socialism or Death: Cuba's Commu­ the discussion taking place inside Cuba" over nist Leadership Today." In addition to the material price Cuba had this from within the working class, to explain the course of advancing Cuba's socialist rev­ to pay in the Angola mission, Waters pointed this, and to make it our battle. Once more the Waters explained that communists world­ olution. to the strain caused by the substantial alloca­ Cuban revolution has proved itself stronger" wide have a stake in the outcome of the tion of leadership resources, including the than all the imperialist attempts to roll back conflict as it is now unfolding in Cuba. They Lessons of Angola, Ochoa affair rotation of 8,000 to 9,000 officers in Angola history. have to see it within the context of today's Waters focused on some of the rich lessons every two or three years. world capitalist crisis, which gives rise to about Cuba's heroic role in Angola and about "Despite war weariness, despite the Conference rally celebrates revolution imperialist war, civil war, national uprisings, communist leadership that can be drawn from stretch," Waters said, "we can now better "Angola and Cuba are blood brothers in and exploding class struggles. the Ochoa affair. understand the strength of the leadership of struggle," Paca-Kabedi, an attache of the She underscored Cuban President Fidel The conduct of the Cuban leadership in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, Continued on Page 10 Castro's warning of the increased threat of war by the U.S. imperialists, who have been emboldened by what they see as a crisis of socialism. Waters pointed to Operation Global Shield '89, a massive rehearsal for a Cuban government ministers charged strike attack and invasion of Cuba, as evi­ dence that Castro's warnings were not rhet­ oric. with corruption are replaced "The leadership challenges in Cuba today are our challenges as well. The rectification BY SELVA NEBBIA bunal sentenced Diocles Torralbas Gonzalez charged with negligence in the fulfillment of battle is our battle. We place ourselves within On August 2 Levi Farah Balmaseda was to 20 years' imprisonment. Torralbas was the duty, corruption or tolerance of corrupt be­ that battle," Waters emphasized, and from removed from his post as minister of Cuba's minister of transportation and vice-president havior, improper use of resources, illegal there communists face the challenge of how construction materials industry. Farah was of the Council of Ministers. possession of state funds for nonessential to advance the social, economic, and political replaced by Jose Cafiete Alvarez, the techni­ Arrested on June I3, Torralbas was MININT spending, and creation of unautho­ power of working people the world over. cal vice-minister of construction. charged with embezzling, abuse of authority, rized enterprises for commercial activities in The rectification process is a fundamental The Ministry of the Construction Materials unlawful use of financial and material re­ the foreign trade sphere. political reorientation in Cuba. It was initi­ Industry was set up to facilitate the distribu­ sources, illicit occupation and administering Other MININT officials arrested were: ated by the Cuban Communist Party leader­ tion of materials necessary for the many of buildings, and falsifying public docu­ Gen. Roberto Gonzalez Caso, former chief ship in I986 in response to evidence of construction projects initiated as part of the ments. He was also accused of having a of immigration and foreign affairs; Oscar growing political demobilization and demor­ process of rectification. This effort, initiated corrupt, wasteful, and dissolute personal con­ Carreno Gomez, former chief of customs; Lt. alization among Cuba's working people. in 1986, has been mobilizing thousands of duct. Col. Rolando Castaneda Izquierdo; and These trends were registered by increasing Cubans in voluntary work brigades to build During the course of Torralbas' trial it was Hector Carbonell Mendez. Carbonell is a instances of bureaucratic mismanagement, housing, day-care centers, family-doctor revealed that he had bought 200 cars, which former director of an enterprise that canied indifference, abuse, declining labor produc­ clinics, and other much-needed social pro­ he arbitrarily distributed. According to a re­ out operations in foreign currency and was tivity and work morale, and the growth of jects. port in the July 24 Granma, the cars were closely linked to the MININT. corruption and fraud. Cafiete led the Sixth Congress Contingent, illegally purchased with more than $840,000 • On August 6 Col. Rafael Alvarez Cueto, which recently completed work on expand­ chief of the Department of Finances of the Castro's Council of State speech in funds from two enterprises of the Ministry ing the Miguel Enriquez Hospital in Havana. of Transportation that operated outside the MININT, committed suicide. The August 7 Waters urged everyone to read Castro's The hospital construction project was taken country. issue of El Diario-La Prensa, a New York July 9 speech to the Cuban Council of State, up as part of the rectification process and was As a result ofthe trial and investigation of daily, reported that Alvarez had left letters which presented the facts that had led to the completed in record time. Torralbas, charges were brought against five explaining that he had reached that decision conviction of Ochoa and the Ministry of the The Sixth Congress Contingent was one other officials of the Ministry of Transporta­ due to his "embarrassment over the situation Interior officials. (The full text of the speech of the special contingents of skilled construc­ tion. facing the institution to which he had dedi­ is reprinted in the August II issue of the tion workers that are taking on major projects. These events come in the context of cated most of his life." Militant.) They have been set up alongside the sweeping changes made in the Ministry of • As part of the rnajor leadership changes Castro's speech catalogued Ochoa and the minibrigades, which are volunteer brigades the Interior (MININT) since the convictions taking place in Cuba, Emilio Aragones was others' worst crimes, which included using composed primarily of men and women who in July of Gen. Amaldo Ochoa and other removed from his position as head of the their official positions to carry out business are not professional construction workers. high-ranking officials of the armed forces International Finance Bank and of Cimex. operations for personal gain; theft of funds The contingent Cafiete headed took its name arid the MININT on charges of drug traffick­ Aragones was a member of the Central Com­ from Nicaragua, Angola, and Cuba; and ul­ from the Sixth Congress of the National ing and high treason. Ochoa and three others mittee of the Cuban CP since 1965. timately dealings with the infamous Medellin Union of Construction Workers, held in July were executed on July 13. The International Finance Bank and drug cartel, operations that threatened the 1988. • On July 31 Jose Abrantes Fernandez, Cimex were set up to facilitate bank and security and integrity of the Cuban revolu­ According to Granma, the newspaper of former head of the MININT, was arrested. commercial transactions between Cuba and tion. the Cuban Communist Party, the appointment Abrantes had been replaced on June 29 by foreign enterprises. Cimex had close ties with The revelations that surfaced, and subse­ of Cafiete as minister of the construction Gen. Abelardo Colome Ibarra from the Rev­ the MININT. quent events, Waters said, have led to a materials industry is "to attain more effi­ olutionary Armed Forces. For several years • Jesus Candido Gonzalez Torre and reorganization of the entire general staff of ciency in the directing of this ministry." Abrantes had been in charge of the personal Angel Marcos Britos, both vice-presidents of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces, as After a judicial hearing that took place July security of Cuban President Fidel Castro. the state committees of Prices and Finances; ranking FAR generals have been assigned to 20 and 21, Havana's Provincial People's Tri- The former head of the MININT was Continued on Page 10

August 25, 1989 The Militant 3 Nicaragua bookfair nets many new Curtis supporters

Mark Curtis is a unionist and ers and activists in solidarity cam­ ways be important for Mark in his political activist from Des Moines, paigns for Nicaragua, including work, and in his union and political Iowa, who is serving a 25-year jail from Belgium, Dominican Repub­ activities. term on frame-up charges of rape lic, Canada, Sweden, Britain, and "I call on you to let all prisoners and burglary. The Mark Curtis several parts of the United States, receive non-English materials of Defense Committee is leading an including Iowa where Curtis is from. their choice and to end restrictions international campaign to fight Others were activists in unions on prisoners' rights to share litera­ for justice for Curtis. To contact ranging from the Workers Commis­ ture with each other." the committee, write Box 1048, sion of Spain to the teachers union Meat-packers from the Konsum­ Des Moines, Iowa 50311; tele­ in Queensland, Australia. Chark factory in Sweden sent the phone (515) 246-1695. following protest message: • "We demand that you reverse the Eighty-eight new endorsements Supporters of the Mark Curtis De­ undemocratic ban on Spanish and were given at the July 20-26 Inter­ fense Committee set up a literature other foreign-language literature national Bookfair in Managua, Nic­ table at the 1989 national conference sent to Mark Curtis. We specifically aragua, for the defense of Mark of the National Organization for protest your return of our union newspaper, Mal och Medel. It must be a democratic right [for Curtis] to DEFEND MARK CURTIS! read what the Swedish food workers union - Svenska Livsmedels­ Curtis. Women in Cincinnati. The message arbetarforbundet - wrote about The maJonty of those signing of justice for Mark Curtis was well Mark Curtis." lived in Nicaragua, a few of these received throughout the July 21-23 Reflecting the composition of the being on solidarity projects from conference. work force at Konsum-Chark, the other countries. Among the endors­ Seventy NOW members signed a letter was signed in Swedish, Span­ ers was bookfair organizer Ernesto petition protesting the denial of non­ ish, Creole, Tagalog, Kurdish, Cardenal, president of the National English literature and correspon­ "Swinglish," Thai, and Tamil. Council of Culture, and Nicaraguan dence to Mark Curtis and other Militant/Robert Kopec Weiss' letter and the message poet Carlos Rygbi. prisoners at the Iowa State Men's Ernesto Cardenal, president of the National Council of Culture in from the Swedish meat-packers are A young Nicaraguan woman Reformatory in Anamosa. Some Nicaragua, endorsed the Curtis defense effort. two of thousands sent to Iowa prison studied the leaflet about Curtis care­ signers suggested other organiza­ authorities to protest their ban of tions to approach for support. non-English materials and corre­ fully and then asked to take some ward, a number of participants came abama, to the growing call for the more leaflets. She came back with One woman originally from Mex­ spondence and right of prisoners to to the Curtis literature table for dis­ release of Mark Curtis for unjust share literature. endorsements from five of her ico asked if Iowa is an "English cussions and more information. imprisonment." The Mark Curtis Defense Com­ friends, some of them members of only" state where other languages His letter concludes, "I will try to mittee is on an international cam­ the JS-19, the Sandinista youth or­ are excluded in official use. She • do what I can to publicize and sup­ paign to win these rights for Curtis ganization. Also signing were Com­ expressed the necessity to fight such Publisher John Zippert of the port the work of the Mark Curtis mandantes Lumberto Campbell, the developments. Greene County, Alabama, weekly Defense Committee." and other prisoners. head of government for the South Scores of women received litera­ The Democrat, signed up as a sup­ Protests should be addressed to: Atlantic Coast region, and Monica ture and discussed the frame-up of porter of the Mark Curtis Defense • John A. Thalacker, Warden, Iowa Baltodano, a leader of the Nicara­ Curtis. Some NOW activists were Committee. John "Skinny" Weiss, a leader of State Men's Reformatory, Anamosa, guan women's organization, not surprised at the use of a rape "From the information I have the 1985-86 meat-packers struggle Iowa 52205. AMNLAE. charge to frame a political activist. seen, Mark Curtis was probably in Austin, Minnesota, wrote to the Copies should be sent to: Attor­ Support for Curtis extended to One woman, herself a victim of framed by the FBI in collaboration warden at the prison where Curtis is ney General Thomas J. Miller, Hoo­ visitors from 13 other countries. sexual assault, noted that the police with the Des Moines police for incarcerated. ver State Office Building, Des Two Basques came over to the table and the courts do not respond union activities and opposition to "Prisoners should not be cut off Moines, Iowa 50319; Paul after members of their work brigade quickly or sympathetically to rape U.S. imperialist policies in Central from the rest of the world. As a Grossheim, Director, Department of had passed around leaflets. They victims. For that reason she was America," Zippert wrote in a letter retired packinghouse worker, I real­ Corrections, Capitol Annex, 523 E. told how hundreds of Basque na­ immediately suspicious of the vig­ to the defense committee. ize the importance of workers being 12th St., Des Moines, Iowa 50309; tionalists were political prisoners in orous prosecution of a political ac­ "His ability to make multicultural able to communicate with each and the Mark Curtis Defense Com­ Spanish jails, some on frame-up tivist on charges of raping a young and multiracial links necessary to other. The work force is changing mittee. rape charges. Other fighters for na­ Black woman. advance the struggle singled him out - more Asians, Mexicans, and oth­ tional rights who signed up came Curtis supporters distributed de­ for police attack," he continued. ers entering it every day. If we are Ellen Whitt from Des Moines, Iowa, from Ireland, El Salvador, and Pal­ fense committee literature at a "Let me add my small voice, as to communicate, we must learn each and Maria Hamberg from Stock­ estine. march and rally for abortion rights publisher of a weekly newspaper in other's languages. holm, Sweden, contributed to this Many of those signing were lead- held during the conference. After- a black majority county in rural AI- "Using various languages will al- column. Report shows massive FBI spying on antiwar group

BY ELLEN WHITT ies in El Salvador and U.S. government aid to • FBI agents pretending to be home buy­ international terrorism investigations." A report by the U.S. Senate Select Com­ El Salvador." ers to tour the home of a subject of the in ves­ The report called for "the removal from mittee on Intelligence has revealed more Upon receiving this report, the FBI in­ tigation; FBI custody - by expunging or by transfer about the scope of spying by the FBI against formed the White House Situation Room, the • opening an investigation of a college to the Archives - of the FBI headquarters the Committee in Solidarity with the People Secret Service, the Justice Department's professor "on the basis of an exam question and field office files [on CISPES and spin-off of El Salvador (CISPES). Emergency Programs Center, and the State and a speaker invited to the class"; subjects] which lacked information establish­ Made public July 14, the report includes an Department of the planned demonstration. • subjecting the CISPES affiliate in Bir­ ing a valid" cause for investigation. admission by FBI inspectors that 39 investi­ The CISPES national office in Washing­ In June 1981 Frank Vaielli was hired by the mingham, Alabama, to a special three-month gations related to the one directed against ton, D.C., issued a statement challenging the FBI to infiltrate and spy on the Dallas "security/terrorism" investigation with no ap­ CISPES continued after June 1985 - the finding that the FBI's actions were an "aber­ CISPES chapter. During 1981 the govern­ parent cause; date when bureau officials say they closed it. ration." The Senate committee report, the ment sought to establish a basis for prosecut­ • obtaining long-distance telephone re­ statement read, "raises new and worrying CISPES is a nationwide organization that ing CIS PES on charges of violating the For­ cords of CISPES offices and investigating plays a prominent role in activities calling for questions about the true purpose of the inves­ eign Agents Registration Act. No evidence recipients of calls; an end to U.S. intervention in El Salvador and tigation and whether similar investigations was found to support a charge. • directing infiltration of a national con­ provides material aid to the victims of the war continue today under different names." ference of CIS PES in Chicago; there. The FBI surveillance extended to 'Terrorism' investigation • gathering bank records of local chap- groups and individuals that had any contact In March 1983 the FBI opened "an inter­ ters; with CISPES - from unions to members of • accepting materials regarding school Congress. national terrorism investigation" of CIS PES. Although all CISPES files reported on con­ records in violation of the Buckley Amend­ P11TIIfi;1/!J£R The FBI inspectors told the Senate com­ f()/1( The stitutionally protected legal activity, the FBI ment barring such disclosures; mittee that the agency's files identify "a total • approving closed-circuit TV videotap­ of 24,285 unique names, consisting of 13,198 continued this investigation through June ing of the entrance of an office; frame-up of persons and 11,087 organizations." 1985. The field office in Norfolk, VIrginia, was • obtaining biographical data on leaders The main CISPES surveillance operation ofCISPES; Mark Curtis targeted 200 groups. The FBI admitted con­ among the first to be authorized to investigate local chapters ofCISPES. Headquarters gave • spin-off investigations of the Pledge of ducting 178 spin-off investigations of indi­ Resistance and other national groups; viduals or groups. The last spin-off investiga­ the go-ahead after CISPES activists in Nor­ by Margaret Jayko folk sponsored an event featuring Alejandro • sorting through trash disposed of by tion is said to have been closed in March Molina Lara, a Salvadoran labor leader, at CISPES activists; and This pamphlet tells the story of 1988. Old Dominion University. • checking of licenses, employment, Marll Curtis, a unionist and fi~hter The inspectors said that all 59 FBI field credit bureau, and criminal records of indi- for immi~rant offices were involved, and more than 20,000 In June 1983 the plans of the Dallas viduals. · ri~hts. who is employee hours were spent on the investiga­ CISPES chapter to participate in a counter­ servin~a tion. CISPES and spin-off operations pro­ demonstration against a scheduled Ku Klux The Senate Select Committee on Intelli­ 25-year duced at least 650 volumes of FBI files com­ Klan march was reported to senior FBI offi­ gence termed the investigation "a serious fail­ sentence in prised of thousands of pages. cials. ure in FBI management" and an "aberration." an Iowa An attached note initialed by then FBI "There was a legitimate basis for the FBI prison on File opened in 1981 Director William Webster stated "that to investigate material support for the use of trumped- According to the Senate committee report, CISPES was the subject of an FBI investiga­ violence by guerrillas seeking to overthrow up rape the FBI opened its first file in January 1981, tion and that the Dallas office was instructed the Salvadoran Government," the committee char~s.71 "because of a report to the Washington field to provide appropriate coverage to this dem­ asserted. It criticized the FBI for tending "to pp.,$2.50. office from the U.S. Park Police that CISPES onstration based on the possibility of vio­ emphasize those groups that attack U.S. in­ Order from Pathfinder. 410 West St.• was planning a demonstration in Washington, lence." terests" in selecting targets, but held that the New Yorll, N.Y. 10014. (Please include D.C., to protest Salvadoran government vio­ Other examples of FBI activities concern­ investigation did not reflect "significant po­ $.75 for postaQe and handlinQ.) lence, the slaying of four religious missionar- ing CISPES include: litical or ideological bias in the conduct of

4 The Militant August 25, 1989 Nicaraguan peasants given land from state farm BY SETH GALINSKY the other group to leave," Peterson stated. SAN RAMON, Nicaragua- "Every day Francisco Gonzalez, a leader of the 41 peasants come to our office asking for land," families that have been promised half of San Denis Medina, an official of the Ministry of Juan, said in an interview at the ranch that Agrarian Development and Reform there are three nearby farmers with more than (MINDRA), said. "Many times they ask for 1,000 acres apiece, some of it idle. But the parcels that belong to the state farms, but we peasants are not asking for that land, are not always for giving it to them." Gonzalez said, "because it is government pol­ But the case of the 2,600-acre San Juan icy now to not touch the private producers" ranch, one of 17 properties in the state-owned -that is capitalist farmers. Denis Gutierrez corporation, is different, Me­ Gonzalez, like the rest of the group has dina stated. Since San Juan is a cattle ranch lived most of his life in a small town near San and the rest of the properties are dedicated to Juan. He rents land from other farmers and Militant/Seth Galinsky coffee, "it's not really important for the cor­ also works part of the year for a wage, picking Peasant, one from a group of 41 families, was given land on a state farm run by poration," he said, "and it is underutilized." coffee. agricultural workers. Nicaragua's agrarian reform ministry did not want to seize The Association of Rural Workers (ATC), Ranch supervisor Lucas Loagsi said that private lands held by capitalist farmers to settle these landless peasants. which organizes farm workers at the corpo­ giving half the property to the peasants would ration, including 20 at San Juan, opposed require the reduction of the livestock herd. ing three houses at San Juan. Some of the UNAG's organization secretary for there­ giving the whole ranch, Medina added. "But Gonzalez disagreed. "The state just doesn't Denis Gutierrez units have child-care centers gion, Oto Francisco Zeled6n, outlined a dif­ we reached an agreement and the ATC has manage this ranch properly," he said. and teachers on the farms paid by the corpo­ ferent position. "When there is demand for agreed to giving half." It's not a question of idle or underutilized ration. land, we think the first place we should look There is no danger of a conflict between land, Vidal Picado, ATC president for Denis "We believe that the peasants' demand for is at the already existing state farms and co­ the agricultural workers and peasants, ac­ Gutierrez, said. "This is social property that land is just and we support them," Picado operatives. If there is idle land there it should cording to Medina, "First of all, because we the revolution nationalized." For the peasants said, "but their demand cannot be met at the be given to the peasants," he stated. Only explain to the workers that they are the allies he stated, "this is a nearby piece of land, but expense of the workers." when all other alternatives are exhausted of the peasants. We've been very careful not for the workers it is our reserve for future According to Picado, there are other alter­ should individual landowners be expropri­ to provoke a confrontation." And secondly, development." ATC leader Jose Adan Rivera natives to meet the needs oflandless peasants. ated, he said. he said, "We do not go directly as the state to says the state farms "are the seeds of social­ There are numerous large landowners, "many The ATC has reluctantly accepted the gov­ tell the workers to tum the land over. Instead, ism." who live outside the country and leave some­ ernment action turning over part of the San the leaders of the workers themselves explain The state farms have been able to signifi­ one else in charge," he stated. "And a lot of Juan ranch, "but it must be made clear that the decision and accept responsibility for it." cantly improve the living standards of farm their land is idle." It is their lands that should this is the last time and from now on the Noting that there are several other areas in workers, Picado stated. He pointed to new be given to the peasants, Picado argued, not people's property will not be touched," said the Matagalpa region where landless peas­ living quarters built on the state farms, includ- the state farms. Picado. ants have looked toward the state farms as the place to meet their demands for land, Medina concluded, "We hope that with adequate at­ tention we will be able to continue avoiding conflicts in the future." A visit to a Philippine prison cainp

2,000 families still landless BY RUSSELL JOHNSON The guards made no objection to two over­ Rodolfo Salas, for example, the longest­ Since the revolutionary government came AUCKLAND, New Zealand- Camp seas visitors entering the prison. Because held of the prisoners who was arrested in to power in 1979, 29,000 peasant families Crame, on one of Metro Manila's busiest many of the inmates are internationally September 1986 during the peace talks while have received land in the Matagalpa and thoroughfares, was the focus of the military known, the authorities appear to treat them having medical treatment at a Manila hospi­ Jinotega provinces of central and northern mutiny and mass mobilizations that finally better than they do left-wing detainees else­ tal, is accused of being in possession of four Nicaragua. But, according to leaders of the brought down the Ferdinand Marcos dicta­ where in the Philippines. The II share a bullets. In his case a court granted him pro­ National Union of Farmers and Ranchers torship in the Philippines in February 1986. communal block with basic kitchen and bath­ visional bail, but the army simply refused to (UNAG), there are still more than 2,000 fam­ But Crame quickly reverted to its repres­ room facilities. Their families can sleep and release him. ilies in need of land in this part of the country. eat with them much of the time, and they are Baylosis, de Vera, Marco Palo, and four While additional land is still being distrib­ sive role against the Philippine freedom c struggle. It is the headquarters of the Philip­ allowed access to television, word proces­ others were arrested in Manila on March 29 uted, it has not been enough to solve the sors, books, and periodicals on a relatively last year. After being taken away their houses problem. Jaime Peterson, UNAG president in pine Constabulary, the indigenous military force constructed by the U.S. conquerors at unrestricted basis. were illegally searched without witnesses San Ramon, cited a group of peasants who Most of the detainees we spoke to had first present and their property confiscated. Sub­ recently were granted title to land in his dis­ the tum of the century to quell the anticolonial struggle without further loss of U.S. lives. become politically active on the side of the sequently, the army claimed to have found trict. When they arrived to begin farming, peasants and workers as students in the late an assault rifle and some grenades during they found that another group of peasants had Now the Constabulary is central to President Corazon Aquino government's "counterin­ 1960s and early 1970s. After Marcos de­ their search. just occupied part of the land. "I've gone out clared martial law in 1972 and assumed dic­ Baylosis, Palo, and de Vera said that when there, but I have not yet been able to convince surgency" drives against rebellious peasants and workers. tatorial powers they had gone underground they requested their trial judge to set aside Camp Crame houses a military prison. Its to continue the struggle. the illegally obtained evidence he refused, 160 inmates are mostly soldiers convicted of Some of the prisoners, such as Rafael ruling that the search was justified in their Seattle: farm workers common crimes or of participation in a series Baylosis, had been captured and detained case because firearms were supposedly march for rights of right-wing coup attempts against the during the early years of the Marcos dicta­ found. Aquino government during 1986 and 1987. torship, but subsequently escaped or were The defendants are appealing this decision released. They did not reappear in public until to the Supreme Court. They are demanding BY MATT HERRESHOFF One block is known as the "VIP stockade" the cease-fire, negotiated between the NPA SEATTLE - Striking nurses, grocery because it accommodates 17 rightist officers that the government and its courts uphold and the Aquino government at the end of their own constitution, said Baylosis, and workers, and other Seattle-area unionists who plotted against Aquino. These prisoners 1986. joined nearly 100 farm workers from eastern are looked on very kindly by their captors grant them at least provisional liberty. Jorge Madlos served as a spokesman for Baylosis said the real charge against them Washington last month on a March for Farm and have considerable freedom of movement. the National Democratic Front on the island Worker Rights. Several of them are reported to have been is that they are ranking leaders of the CPP. of Mindanao during the cease-fire. In July For this reason, he said, he was not optimistic "Unions are coming together because we secretly brought back into active service 1988 he was arrested near the University of do have common foes -the corporations," against the guerrillas of the New People's that their constitutional rights would be up­ the Philippines in Quezon City, not far from held and that they would be released. Roger Yockey, a spokesperson for United Army (NPA). Camp Crame. He was held in a windowless Another detention block, however, is more Food and Commercial Workers Local 1105, cell and denied access to a lawyer for nine Using courtroom as platform for views told the rally of 300. More than 8,000 UFCW closely guarded. It houses II left-wing polit­ days while his captors debated what to do He expressed interest in books published members are on strike against major Seattle­ ical detainees who have been arrested since with him. Those captured with him were by Pathfinder that record how working-class area grocery chains. 1986. The government alleges they are cen­ tortured, Madlos explained, but he was left leaders from Fidel Castro to Nelson Mandela A contingent of nurses, members of Hos­ tral leaders of the outlawed Communist Party alone as he was ill with a urinary tract infec­ to Farrell Dobbs used the courtoom as a pital and Health Care Employees Local of the Philippines and the NPA, including the tion and could not walk properly. Madlos was platform to present their revolutionary views 1199NW, also joined the rally and march. alleged CPP chairman, Rodolfo Salas, and illegally held for five months before charges to the people. The New York-based publisher Some 1,300 nurses are on strike against secretary general, Rafael Baylosis. were brought. puts out books that contain Castro's 1953 Group Health, a Seattle-based health main­ Last April this reporter and Kate Kaku Under the Marcos dictatorship, known op­ "History Will Absolve Me" and Mandela's tenance organization. spent a day in the Camp Crame stockade, ponents of the regime would frequently be 1962 "The Struggle Is My Life" statements "It was a rally of the struggling unions visiting with the II detainees to discuss their arrested and held indefinitely without trial. made during their trials, and Dobbs' 1981 supporting the farm workers," said Tomas situation and that of Kaku 's husband, Mark But to continue doing this has become polit­ testimony in the Socialist Workers Party suit Villanueva, president of the United Farm Curtis, the framed-up packinghouse worker ically more difficult for the military under the against FBI harassment. Workers of Washington State. "We could see and political activist doing a 25-year stretch Aquino government, because of Aquino's we're not alone." in a U.S. prison. need to preserve at least the appearance of The prisoners expressed their solidarity Just one week before the march and rally, We were escorted to the stockade by Betty the rule of law. with Mark Curtis' fight for justice. They said the UFWWS led two successful strikes in the de Vera, the wife of Crame detainee Benjam in they had read about Curtis' case as they had cherry harvest in Wenatchee. In just two days, de Vera. De Vera was herself a political Victims of frame-up been receiving the Militant in the prison. the growers were forced to rescind pay cuts prisoner from 1982 to 1986. The government has gotten around this by Subsequent to our visit, the Committee for and give raises to 200 workers in two or­ Inside the military camp, our first stop was framing up suspected supporters of the CPP the Defense and Freedom of Rafael Baylosis, chards. These were the first farm-worker at a grocery store to buy food for the prison­ under one of the undemocratic laws from the Benjamin de Vera, and Marco Palo was es­ strikes this year, and the union's first actions ers. Businesses linked to army officers are Marcos era. By charging them with "illegal tablished. Messages of support to the com­ ever in the Wenatchee area. supposed to feed all the prisoners, we were possession of firearms for the furtherance of mittee, or letters to any of the prisoners, The action helped publicize the UFWWS 's told. But as they steal most of the funds, rebellion," which carries a possible life sen­ should be sent c/o Betty de Vera, KAPATID boycott against Chateau Ste. Michelle, the leaving only starvation rations, prisoners tence, troublesome opponents can be held office, 44 Banahaw St., Cubao, Quezon City, state's biggest winery. must be fed by their relations and friends. without bail pending trial. Philippines.

August 25, 1989 The Militant 5 Regional strike support rally draws 450 at Newark Some 8,500 International As­ held in one of the Sheraton Hotel's noon rush-hour traffic. Along the struggle for justice," the message call to strengthen the picket line, 50 sociation of Machinists members main meeting rooms, near Newark way, truckers and motorists honked said. "Our employer has tried to members of more than a dozen struck Eastern Airlines March 4 International Airport. Among those their horns and waved in support. scare us from joining the union by unions came in the morning and 30 in an effort to block the who joined the scores of strikers The demonstrators, however, holding up your strikes as reasons in the afternoon. Normally, picket­ company's drive to break the from Newark were 25 Eastern strik­ were prevented from marching to not to go union. We have, however, ing is limited by airport authorities union and impose massive con­ ers from Philadelphia; three from the airport itself by police and airport drawn nothing but inspiration from to six people. The picket lines were cessions on workers. Buffalo, New York; and more than authorities. Hundreds of cops were your fights on behalf of your mem­ covered on both the noon and eve­ Backed by flight attendants a dozen from La Guardia and Ken­ mobilized to keep the march from bers and all the rest of us. We know ning television news programs and and pilots, the walkout crippled nedy airports in New York. A group proceeding onto airport property. that your victories will make our by the Baltimore Sun. Eastern, grounding a big major- of striking Pittston coal miners and struggles that much easier. An injury their families, rail workers, Com­ • to one is an injury to all!" • munications Workers of America Workers in Helper, Utah, who are members, many construction work­ trying to organize a United Mine • Fifty striking flight attendants and SUPPORT ers from Laborers' Local 4 72, and Workers ofAmerica local at Jennmar On August I Eastern strikers and pilots traveled to Nantucket, Massa­ several United Paperworkers Inter­ Corp. recently sent a message of supporters organized expanded chusetts, July 29 to greet Frank EASTERN national Union members were also solidarity to Eastern strikers and to picket lines at Baltimore-Washing­ Lorenzo at his home there, reported there, as were auto workers, operat­ UMWA District 28, where Pittston ton International Airport to respond Boston-based Machinists Local STRIKERS! ing engineers, government workers, miners are on strike. Jennmar is the to the start-up of flights there for the 1726's Strike Bulletin recently. several union members visiting largest manufacturer of coal mine first time since the strike began. Texas Air Corp. Chairman Lorenzo from Britain, and other unionists. roof bolts and plates for the coal Three daily flights to and from At­ called local cops to escort him from ity of its 1,040 prestrike daily The room, decorated with "Stop operators in the western states. lanta are planned by Eastern. The his home because, according to po­ flights. Lorenzo" balloons and streamers, "The UMWA In-House Organiz­ first day, however, one of the flights lice, he felt threatened by the strikers. Since July Eastern has been was filled to overflowing. ing Committee at Jennmar Corp. was canceled. Afterward, strikers went into trying to restart operations. By The rally program, which fea­ extends our fullest solidarity to your Responding to lAM Local 846's town and sold "Stop Lorenzo" T­ August 15 it was scheduling 390 tured speakers from the striking shirts and talked to Nantucket resi­ daily flights. unions and other labor officials, was dents about the strike. The Eastern workers' fight has chaired by Machinists Local 1445 won broad support from work­ strike coordinator Frank DeMaria. • ing people in the United States "The same circumstances that put A Women's Solidarity Day picket and Canada. Readers - espe­ us on strike are still there," Eastern line was held at San Francisco Inter­ cially Eastern strikers -are en­ pilot John Anderson told the rally. national Airport July 29, called by couraged to send news of strike "They haven't changed. Have they the Coalition of Labor Union solidarity activities to this col­ changed?" The crowd roared back, Women and lAM Local1781. About umn. "No!" Striking Pittston miner Ed 50 strikers and supporters marched, Rose, who was greeted with a stand­ chanting, "No more concessions! More than 450 Eastern strikers ing ovation, also spoke. Shut Lorenzo down!" Meat-pack­ and supporting unionists from The speakers were barely able to ers, oil workers, garment workers, around the Northeast demonstrated conclude their remarks before rally and others participated. August 4 in Newark, New Jersey, to participants, eager to start marching, show their determination to con­ began to stream out of the hotel. tinue fighting Eastern's union-bust­ Chanting and waving signs and ban­ Amy Belvin from San Francisco, ing and to mark the five-month an­ ners, the workers marched down the Rachele Fruit from Baltimore, and niversary of the strike. main highway leading to the New­ Dave Hurst from Price, Utah, con­ The event started off with a rally ark airport, slowing Friday after- August 4 strike support march in Newark tributed to this column. New York Eastern strikers to picket subcontractor

BY SUSAN LaMONT crossed between March and July. tion" plan calls for 800 flights by the end of ~ight or so people total even came to apply," NEW YORK - Striking Eastern Airlines In early August ALPA President Henry the year. reported Local1018 member Susan Anmuth workers at La Guardia Airport are going to Duffy met with the Eastern pilots' leadership Eastern says its July flights were 75 percent afterward. "Several people left after we begin regular picketing of Hudson General in Washington, D.C., and urged them to find full and that it intends to continue discount talked to them about the strike and why they facilities there. Hudson is the main subcon­ a way to end the strike and return to work. tickets to help fill the added flights. shouldn't scab. Another few said they would tractor doing ramp and cleaning work and The Eastern pilots' Master Executive At the same time, the lack of qualified think seriously about what we said, and only fueling for Eastern Airlines in New York. Council responded by calling on Duffy to aircraft mechanics is posing problems for a couple were hostile." Hudson workers- like 8,300 of the East­ poll all 41 ,000 ALPA members to see if Eastern, which is trying to meet its flight em strikers - are members of the Interna­ Telephone strike enough support exists for a national pilots' schedule with planes that have been sitting tional Association of Machinists. one-day work stoppage, called an "SOS." on the ground in some cases for months. Eastern strikers in New York and other In July Eastern resumed a significant num­ Eastern pilots from Miami and Atlanta sent Eastern President Philip Bakes said August cities have been fighting to strengthen picket ber of flights for the first time since the strike messages to the ALPA leadership saying that 11 that lack of skilled mechanics and other lines and build other strike-support actions to by Machinists union members, flight atten­ they would rather see the airline liquidated maintenance personnel were now Eastern's respond to the new flights. dants, and pilots began March 4. To service than go back to work for Frank Lorenzo. biggest problem. In recent days, strikers from La Guardia the flights, Eastern has hired companies like Lorenzo heads Texas Air Corp., which owns Because it doesn't have enough airworthy have joined with striking telephone workers Hudson General, Ogden Allied Services, and both Eastern and Continental. planes and mechanics to keep them going, and hospital workers at rallies and mass pick­ Servair in cities around the country to do jobs On August 5 the Eastern pilots' MEC voted Eastern has announced it would lease another ets, actions that striking Pittston coal miners previously performed by Eastern lAM mem­ unanimously against a return to work. 10 planes and pilots and flight attendants from Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky bers. Management personnel and some scabs Two days later 1,000 pilots and spouses from Continental to meet its September pro­ have also participated in. are also doing much of this work. meeting in Atlanta cheered when ALPA jections, in addition to the five leased in The next major demonstration to support Eastern strikers are outraged that compa­ an official asked whether they wanted to con­ August. workers on strike in New York will be the nies organized by the lAM are doing subcon­ tinue the walkout. "Duffy can't force us Local 1018 members picketed two scab September 4 Labor Day march in Manhattan, tracting work for Eastern. back," Eastern ALPA spokesman Dan Ashby hiring sessions for mechanics held by Eastern called by the New York Central Labor Coun- "Members of our local - and strikers in told the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. inside La Guardia terminal August 16. "Only Continued on Page 10 other cities too -are pressing lAM officials "We can't have the national leadership stand to take steps to stop the undermining of the back and let the individual airline [locals] strike by such measures," said Ernest Mailhot fight their own battles." Eastern pilots in other August 16. Mailhot is a member of lAM cities also voted to remain out. 10,000 strikers march in New York Local 1018's strike committee at La Guardia. Roughly 2,800 ALPA members are still on "Many pilots here have also been urging the BY JON HILLSON CWA and Local 1199 members marched strike at Eastern, though some have since lAM to fight to bring this to a halt. If strikers NEW YORK -Thousands of striking with signs that said, "Fighting back for qual­ gotten other jobs. and lAM members at the subcontracting hospital and telephone workers were joined ity health care." The telephone workers are companies work together, it can be done." Pilots at La Guardia and in other cities who by Eastern Airlines strikers and a group of resisting company demands that they pay Local1018 will be distributing a leaflet to remain committed to the strike have been miners on strike against Pittston coal com­ more for medical care and accept other cuts the Hudson workers explaining the issues in canvassing pilots at other airlines, urging pany in a militant march that stopped business in health benefits. the Eastern strike, and appealing for their them to back the SOS work stoppage by as usual in lower Manhattan August 14. 'Telephone workers, hospital workers, pi­ support. Indications are that many Hudson sending telegrams to Duffy. The ALPA na­ The crowd - 10,000 strong - marched lots who fly planes, the machinists who repair workers oppose being forced to do struck tional leadership is supposed to meet August from City Hall down Broadway to a labor them, the miners who dig coal, we're all in work and are also looking for ways - if they 17-18 to consider the Eastern pilots' request solidarity rally in Battery Park. The event was this together," CWA Vice-president Jan are backed up by the union - to support the for a poll on the action. hosted by Local 1199 Hospital and Health Pierce told the cheering crowd. "We will not Eastern strikers. Hundreds of striking Eastern flight atten­ Care Employees Union and the Communica­ be divided." dants, members of Transport Workers Union tions Workers of America. CWA members are United Mine Workers of America Presi­ More pilots, attendants cross line Local 553, also crossed picket lines in early on strike at Nynex and three other regional dent Richard Trumka also spoke. "Those who The fight to keep lAM-organized subcon­ August, in some cases encouraged by return­ telephone companies. say there is no link between New York hospi­ tractors from doing work at Eastern is just ing pilots. At least 1,300 out of 5,700 flight The rally kicked off a three-day strike by tal workers and coal miners from Appalachia one of the serious challenges facing Eastern attendants have now crossed the picket lines. 43,000 members of Local 1199 against the are wrong," he said. strikers after nearly six months on the picket Less than 200 lAM members have re­ League of Voluntary Hospitals in New York. lines. turned to work. Local 1199 President Dennis Rivera an­ "We're still holding strong," said a striking The erosion of support from Air Line Pilots nounced to a roar of applause the decision by Eastern Machinist as he was marching toward Association officials is another. More flights the management at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, the park. These demonstrations "help make During the first 10 days of August, more The continued start-up of flights poses where 1,800 union members work, to break people aware we are still out and are a morale than 200 pilots crossed picket lines, bringing another major challenge to the strikers. ranks with the league and sign a contract. The booster for all of us," he added. the total number of pilots who have crossed On August 15 Eastern increased its daily hospital agreed to the union's demand for a Striking telephone workers, Eastern strik­ to 600. This figure includes 200 management flights from 350 to 390, up from 226 in July. 17 percent wage increase over two years. A ers, and Local 1199 members had joined and regular pilots who stayed on the job when Some 600 are projected for September 7. small nursing home also signed with the ranks for a demonstration of 5,000 that the strike started and 175 to 200 pilots who Lorenzo's strike-breaking "reorganiza- union. marched down Wall Street August 10.

6 The Militant August 25, 1989 Nissan auto workers reject union bid to organize plant

BY JEFF POWERS from outlying areas when they were hired and SMYRNA, Tenn. -Workers at Nissan took out mortgages to buy houses. The weight Motor Manufacturing Corp.'s auto assembly of these and other debts was felt during the plant here voted last month I ,622 to 711 campaign. against union representation. The vote came "Nissan scared those folks, saying if the after a five-year effort by the United Auto union came in there would be layoffs," one Workers union to organize the plant and was U AW organizer explained. "If that happened, widely reported as a significant setback for they would lose everything." the union. Nissan 's effort to keep the union out was The UAW allocated significant resources also firmly backed by the state's capitalist to the organizing effort. For almost a year, 34 politicians and media. full-time organizers were on staff in Smyrna, The assembly line at Nissan's Smyrna, Tennessee, plant. which lies 15 miles outside Nashville. The Health and safety union boasted an in-plant organizing commit­ The main issues around which union orga­ tee of 164 workers. nizers fought to win support for the UAW Eventually Davidson was told to return to auto plants throughout the United States, in­ Union organizers distributed thousands of were health and safety and seniority rights. his old job. When he told the company he cluding at Smyrna. leaflets and brochures and paid for radio and Getting a union contract, UAW leaflets could no longer do it, he was laid off. He will We are now in a new era of labor-manage­ television commercials urging a pro-UAW said, would prevent the company from "try­ receive two-thirds of his pay for 30 months ment cooperation, UAW officials frequently vote. Top union officials, including President ing to run the line toofast,"by giving workers for his disability. After that, Nissan is free explain, adding that the old methods of"con­ Owen Bieber, came to Smyrna. Hundreds of an "effective voice" to "slow it down." from its obligation to him. frontation" are no longer applicable. house meetings were organized to try to firm Also, if jobs were too difficult or over­ "Under the contract you sign when you With this approach, the UAW could not up support. loaded, workers could file an "overwork hire in at Nissan, you can be laid off at any effectively argue against Nissan's propa­ On election day, union organizers, while grievance." In addition, another union leaflet time, for any reason, especially if you can no ganda that workers do not need a union to expecting a close vote, confidently predicted explained, the "International will train local longer perform the job you were hired in for," represent them. In fact, UAW organizers victory. The company, however, carried the officials to become time study people. If nec­ explained one UAW organizer. often said that a union at Nissan would im­ day. essary, the International will come directly "Without your union, your supervisor de­ prove cooperation between labor and man­ After the defeat UAW officials said that into the plant to time jobs." termines your shift," said another UAW leaf­ agement. Nissan had intimidated workers and created Nissan workers suffer an exorbitant num­ let. Having a union allows workers to use When the company claimed bringing in a a "climate offear" inside the plant, leading to ber of job-related injuries, the UAW said. seniority to determine their shift. Layoffs and union would mean strikes at Nissan, the the union's loss. Union supporters petitioned the Tennessee job assignments would also be determined by UAW responded that there has not been a Occupational Safety and Health Administra­ seniority under a union contract, the UAW Challenge to union major auto strike in 20 years. tion to provide a log of all workers injured in argued. UAW efforts in Smyrna were not helped The UAW faced a difficult challenge in the plant. The company- despite a $5,000 The Nissan plant has discriminatory poli­ by the union's failure to win fights aimed at organizing the plant. fine by OSHA - refused to provide this in­ cies, explained another union organizer. Al­ slowing line speeds at Ford, Chrysler, and Wages, which range from $12 to $16 an formation, citing employees' right to privacy though 12 percent of the workers are Black, General Motors plants. Job-related injuries hour, are among the highest in Tennessee. as an excuse. The company is contesting the none are in the skilled trades. Until recently suffered by Nissan workers are experienced Since the plant opened in 1980, there have fine. only one woman was in the skilled trades, by workers in UAW-represented auto plants. been no layoffs. In one leaflet about a worker named Rich­ although 500 women work in the plant. The union leadership has done little to fight In addition, the company is involved in a ard Davidson, the union described what hap­ 'Labor-management cooperation' the job combinations and speedup responsi­ major expansion of the plant that is projected pens to disabled workers at Nissan. Davidson ble for these often crippling injuries. to almost double production and add 2,000 was hurt on the job putting crankshafts into Despite the problems faced by workers at During the organizing drive, the union also new jobs, making it the largest auto assembly trucks. "After surgery I was put on light duty Nissan, the union fared badly in the election. plant in the country. driving trucks off the line because I can't One reason was union officials' commitment pointed to the Japanese ownership ofNissan as a reason to vote for the U AW. "Pressure for Many workers at Nissan moved to Smyrna stand too long," he explained in the leaflet. ·· to the ''team concept" now widely used in more productivity in Smyrna comes from persons unknown- 6,000 miles away," said one union leaflet. The UAW plans to keep a staff of three NUMMI workers evaluate setback organizers in Smyrna for the time being. A year from now, it can petition the National BY GEORGE JOHNSON The U AW made much of Nissan 's refusal concept," an example of cooperation between Labor Relations Board for another election. FREMONT, Calif. - Many workers at to report repetitive-motion injuries at company and workers promoted by both auto The union has yet to decide if it will do this. the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. Smyrna. But NUMMI doesn't report them bosses and the UAW. Despite claims that the Conditions in the plant will undoubtedly auto assembly plant here closely watched either. Nor does the joint safety committee team concept gives workers more say over worsen. Immediately following the UAW's reports of failed efforts by the United Auto here, which has but one union representative line speed and job loads, experience here has defeat, the company increased the line speed Workers to organize workers at the Nissan on it, appointed by the UAW International. shown that a killing work pace is its actual by two cars an hour without creating one new auto plant in Smyrna, Tennessee. Many workers here say the safety committee result. job. NUMMI is a joint venture of General Mo­ helps the company cover up injury rates. tors and Toyota, owned half by each. It is At both UAW-organized NUMMI and George Johnson is a member of UAW Local Jeff Powers is a member of UAW Local 174 often held up as a model of labor relations and nonunion Nissan, work is organized by "team 2244 at NUMMI. at Lear Siegler in Detroit. productivity by the auto bosses and capitalist media and by top UAW officials, as well. Most U AW members at NUMMI consider the union here to be much too weak. Despite 200,000 phone workers strike across U.S. this, a big majority were bothered that other auto workers would vote down the union. Continued from front page those where most workers are women. "The 160,000 workers. Union resistance to "They 'II change their minds after a little 13,000 workers at Illinois Bell. IBEW offi­ compensation offer they made would have AT &T's demands that workers pay more for more experience without any union at all," cials there have authorized union members to widened the pay gap by giving a lower rise in health care forced the company to back down said one member of UAW Local 2244 here. cross the Communications Workers' picket base wage to the people who earn less now, on that issue. Many pointed to Nissan's antiunion screen­ lines and work. - predominantly women," explained Califor­ For the first time, the two unions negoti­ ing in hiring and the relatively high wages nia CWArepresentative Vira Milirida. ated jointly with AT&T. "This proves how workers in Smyrna earn in "right to work" 'Health care for all' A tentative agreement between Be!ISouth successful we can be if we stick together," Tennessee as reasons for the union's defeat. The companies are proposing that workers and 64,000 workers was announced August commented CWA President Morton Bahr Many NUMMI workers also blamed the begin paying part of medical insurance pre­ 5, averting a strike in the Southeast. when the agreement was announced. The policies of the U AW officialdom for the fail­ miums for the first time. In addition, they are Tentative contracts were reached on Au­ CWA and mEW are also bargaining jointly ure. It was widely reported here that the U AW demanding that employees pay a certain gust 13 between US West and unions repre­ with Nynex for the first time. was campaigning at Nissan against job over­ amount of their medical costs before insur­ senting 42,000 workers in Arizona, Colorado, loading and high line speed, and the conse­ ance payments kick in - up to $2,400 a year Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Rallies, mass pickets quent repetitive motion injuries, such as car­ for a family by the end of the contract. They New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Since the walkouts began, strikers have pal tunnel syndrome and "tennis elbow." also insist that workers accept limits on what Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. organized rallies and mass picket lines in "Who could believe that?" asked one their medical insurance will cover and the The same day the CWA and Southwestern New York; Boston; Los Angeles; Pittsburgh; worker. "The union doesn't protect us against type of coverage offered. Bell Corp. announced a tentative pact cover­ Newark, New Jersey; and other cities, and job overloads and injuries. How could it be At one ofNynex 's buildings in lower Man­ ing 41 ,000 workers in Arkansas, Kansas, more are planned. In some cities, striking any different at Nissan?" hattan, strikers wore picket signs demanding Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. Details on Eastern Airlines workers and miners on strike NUMMI brags that in each worker's min­ "Health care for all- not health cuts at these agreements are not yet available. at Pittston coal company have joined the tele­ ute on the job, all but two seconds are "pro­ Nynex." phone workers' actions. ductive." Two seconds isn't much time if a "We knew we would have to strike," said 'Baby Bells' Strikers in the Boston area report heavy part is dropped or something doesn't fit right. Lu Benitez, a switching equipment techni­ The seven regional phone companies - police presence and harassment at the picket And some jobs don't even have that. cian who has worked at the phone company known as "Baby Bells" - were created in lines; dozens of strikers have been arrested. Workers on many jobs are always behind, for 20 years. "The company was adamant 1984 when American Telephone and Tele­ N ynex and Bell Atlantic are both charging the or running to "stay out of the hole." This work about cutting our medical benefits. But this is graph - "Ma Bell"- was broken up by strikers with vandalism, including severing pace causes physical and emotional stress. just a foot in the door. If we give in on this, court order. AT&T now handles long-dis­ cables. Everyone here knows someone who has been where will it end?" tance phone and information service, and the On August 15 Edward Horgan, a CWA driven out, fired, or encouraged to quit be­ Workers at Pacific Telesis are also oppos­ regional companies provide customers with striker on picket duty in Westchester County, cause of wrist, elbow, back, or shoulder inju­ ing the company's offer of pay raises that the dial tone and handle local calls. New York, died after being struck the previ­ ries. Turnover at NUMMI runs at 25 percent would widen the difference in wages between In May the CWA and mEW reached a new ous day by a car driven through the picket line per year. job categories where most men work and three-year agreement with AT & T that covers by a scab.

August 25, 1989 The Militant 7 uban women gain under 30 years of revolutil Interview with two leaders of Federation of Cuban Women during

BY JON HILLSON world. The state, Aguilar said, has no popula­ as many of the violence-inducing pressures rectification process taking place in Cuba. NEW YORK - There's hardly a topic tion policy; it has "no opinion" on whether or that exist in capitalist society have been dra­ This is the society-wide effort launched by more heatedly debated today than the role, not any woman should have children. matically reduced. the Cuban CP in 1986 to strengthen the strug­ status, and rights of women in society. • A big increase of women in the labor gle toward socialism by placing working peo­ The views of the leadership of the Cuban force, which is now 39 percent female. Society responsible for domestic tasks ple and their conscious political action at the revolution on questions at issue in this battle • The lifting, after a campaign by the The FMC, Aguilar said, backed by the center of the revolutionary process. were recently explained by two leaders of the FMC, of the last "official barriers" to women Cuban Communist Party, believes "society Aguilar described some of the background Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) who working in "nontraditional" jobs. In the last has the responsibility to assume domestic to this process. spoke at meetings in numerous U.S. cities last three years, the number of female construc­ tasks and childhood education," thus freeing She began with the pioneering role of the June. Their tour was sponsored by the U.S.­ tion workers, many of whom have been women to participate fully in economic, so­ Argentine-born Cuban revolutionary Emesto Cuba Woman's Exchange, Venceremos Bri­ trained as masons, plumbers, carpenters, and cial, and political life. The resources must be Che Guevara in developing the "budgetary gade, and the Women's International League heavy-equipment operators, has increased by made available to accomplish this, she said. finance system" of economic management in for Peace and Freedom. 25,000. The FMC does not agree with those who the early years of the revolution. In an interview following a meeting here, • The massive involvement of women in "blame women for certain problems and want This stressed developing working-class women to return to the home," Aguilar consciousness as the most fundamental chal­ stressed. lenge in carrying through the transformati• 1 It's this perspective of full participation by of the economic and social relations inherited women that Cuba seeks to advance in the from capitalism in the process of establishing international battle for women's liberation. \ socialism. "We know about the debate taking place For this reason, Che, and others in the here in the United States," Aguilar said, "but Cuban leadership who agreed with him, re­ this is a debate taking place in the world. It's jected the concept of attempting to spur pro­ not just in the capitalist countries, but the ductivity by increasing wage differentials and socialist countries, too. We know there are paying individual bonuses as incentives. women who share our views in North Amer­ ica. Such capitalist methods, Che argued, "We have," Aguilar noted, "taken a very would not and could not develop socialist clear stand so that there can be no doubt, consciousness. Guevara left Cuba iri 1965 to nationally or internationally. We say that in continue his revolutionary activity in Latin the tasks of the second millennium, in the year America. He was murdered by U.S.-organ­ 2000, it's not possible for women to take one ized forces in Bolivia in 1967, and the system step backward." of economic management he fought for "didn't keep developing," Aguilar explaim · A question of principle In time, it was supplanted by another polit­ Insuring the practical exercise of full ical perspective that emphasized wage bo­ human rights for women, Aguilar said, "is nuses and other material incentives as the primary, a question of principle. If we don't road to increased production, economic de­ achieve this we think the revolution is not velopment, and socialism. complete and that it would not be a revolu­ In 1976, Aguilar continued, Cuba imple­ tion. This is of such magnitude, it's a question mented the Economic Management and of the principles of the Communist Party of Planning System, based on these concepts,' ' Cuba." guide the country's economy. This, she said, Militant/Margrethe Siem The stance of the Cuban party, both in "introduced capitalist aspects in production" Carolina Aguilar (center), leader of Federation of Cuban Women, and Cather,ine Ribas Cuba and the world, she said, is that "the place in an expanded way. And this resulted in, (right), FMC's North American department head, at New York forum. Olga Sanabria of of women and the place of men is exactly the unanticipated and serious problems. ,, Puerto Rican Socialist Party translates. same: to create a new society, to create to­ Agricultural production was deformed, gether from a basis of strict equality and strict Aguilar said, creating "millionaire" or capi­ respect." Aguilar is a member of the Cuban talist farmers, along with middlemen who they fielded questions in a wide-ranging in­ national defense. Three of every four militia CP. engaged in lucrative speculation. formal discussion with political activists. reservists are female, Ribas said, and all­ A key to fighting for this goal is under­ "There were errors having to do with pro­ In the New York meeting, Carolina Agui­ women units from the regular armed forces standing "the position women lost in history," duction," Aguilar said, as planning became lar, a founding member of the FMC and cur­ both fought in Angola and now make up Aguilar said. It is important also to realize, more bureaucratized, inefficient, and inco­ rent member of its national leadership, and antiaircraft defense units for the country's she added, that communists "don't have rec­ herent, introducing "economic errors that Catherine Ribas, head of the North American capital, Havana, and at the border of the ipes for the future, that in the future families were holding back development." department of the FMC, highlighted the gains U.S.-occupied, 5,000-troop military base at will be like this or that." Cuban women have made since the triumph Guantinamo. "Now," she continued, "we are dealing Social needs were unmet of the 1959 revolution that swept the U.S.­ • The participation of tens ofthousands of with present problems. The commitment "Red lights began to flash," the FMC backed Batista dictatorship from power. women in the mini brigade movement, which we've made to future generations is that we leader said. On the one hand, a layer of fan .. - Among them are: mobilizes Cubans of all ages and occupations cannot tum over a worse society than the one ers was getting rich, yet there were shortages • The right of Cuban women to choose to volunteer their labor and skills to build we received." of certain produce. Social needs were going facilities that are socially needed. Ribas said whether or not to have children. This includes This struggle implies male responsibility, unmet. Women had begun "demanding day­ this meant that Ill day-care centers in Ha­ the right to abortion, which is legal and free Aguilar said, noting that the oppression of care centers," the construction of which had vana, servicing more than 20,000 children, (as is all health care), easy access to inexpen­ women has made men "miss out on the best ground to a standstill. were constructed from 1987 to 1988. sive birth control, as well as one of the most of life." It was argued, Aguilar said, "that there comprehensive child-care systems in the • A decrease in violence against women And it is a struggle, still. The FMC con­ were 'priorities' that were more important, fronts the "double burden" of women carry­ according to the economic plan." .....------from Pathfinder ing the load of work in the home as well as on The negative effects of this approach the job. fanned throughout society, she said. In the FMC, "our work developed into a schema," 'Revolution in the family' as Cuban women became the object of direc­ Fidel Castro This point will be taken up at the March tives. An attitude of indifference to criticism 1990 FMC congress, at which delegates rep­ became widespread. resenting the organization's 3.3 million mem­ "And we were very clear there were no In Defense of bers will discuss this and other challenges economic problems, none at all," Aguilar s< · i under the theme "a revolution in the family." wryly. The aim of this revolution is to further liberate The aim of the rectification process, she Socialism Cuban women to more "fully participate in said, is to "recover lost terrain" and to ad­ the revolutionary process," Aguilar said. vance. A concrete example of this is the revival of Four Speeches on The congress will also discuss promoting the volunteer construction crews - the women in employment. Cuban law prohibits mini brigades- which in Havana alone have sexual discrimination in employment and built scores of day-care centers and thousanr1s the 30th Anniversary mandates equal pay. But the legacy and ves­ of apartment units. tiges of women's oppression and the impact of the Cuban of the double burden have tended to concen­ There's a renewed emphasis on moral in­ trate female employment in the services and centives and the need to develop political Revolution lower rungs of the professions. consciousness to combat the inequalities and Castro explains his views on the les­ These jobs pay less, resulting in an "aver­ abuses that grew up in the period of almost age lower wage" for women, Catherine Ribas exclusive reliance on wage rewards and fi­ sons of 30 years of building socialism said. nancial bonuses. in Cuba; the prospects for socialism in These changes are a product of deepgoir , today's world; internationalism; and Rectification organized discussions led by Cuban commu­ many other topics. 142 pp., $7.95. The FMC congress will also discuss incor­ nists in Cuba's workplaces, unions, farmers' porating farm women into production, com­ organizations, youth movement, and profes­ batting sex role stereotyping of women in sional groups on the aims, scope, and meth­ Available from Pathfinder bookstores listed on page 12 or by mail from Pathfinder, 410 West St. New York, NY 10014. Cuban film and television, and the large num­ ods of rectification. Please include $1 for postage and handling. ber of teenage pregnancies. These and other Isn't one of the most "revolutionary as­ topics will be debated in the context of the pects" of rectification that it makes possible_

8 The Militant August 25, 1989 J~ary uov't their U.S. tour

the participation of millions of Cubans in collectively resolving the economic and so­ cial problems they face, the two women were asked. "Exactly," Catherine Ribas replied. "You know, we keep being criticized because we haven't adopted perestroika. Before, when · ~ copied models, we were a 'satellite' of the Soviet Union. But now, when we do things our own way, when we develop our own model, they criticize us because we haven 't followed the perestroika model." 'Deeper links' with women "The spirit of rectification is to renew so­ r ;

August 25, 1989 The Militant 9 Cuban events mark-advance for socialism This coworker told Mailhot, "If I had victory," Barnes said, pointing to Cuba's the truth about it, and getting it known among known what I know today I would never have internationalist missions in Africa, Latin working people "is not just a task," Barnes come to this country from Cuba." There is America, the Middle East, and Vietnam. stressed. "It is to redeem the fighters, to more openness to Cuba among workers today "They fight selflessly, not under compul­ redeem the blood." because of their experiences, even in the sion- economic compulsion," he ex­ On the final day of the conference, Social­ Cuban-American community of Miami, said plained. "They fight because they believe the ist Workers Party leader James Harris out­ Mailhot. time has come to fight with others to end the lined the international tasks and campaigns Arturo Trevino, a member of the executive violence of this earth." for conference participants. of the United Farm Workers of Washington "It is in the process of the fight that they State, read greetings from his union's presi­ also earn something," Barnes said. "They The foremost responsibility and interna­ dent, Tomas Villanueva. Trevino added com­ earn the right to say what they want to say tional campaign is solidarity with the Cuban ments of his own, saying "The Cuban revo­ and what they have learned about socialism, revolution, Harris said. "Solidarity with the lution is not something that is just celebrated. about socialism or death." Cuban revolution is in a real sense," he em­ phasized, "essential work that must be carried It is reflected in the daily actions of the farm Barnes returned to the challenge events out to build the communist movement any­ workers in Washington, workers across the today in Cuba pose for communists world­ where in the world. United States, and around the world." wide. "We should understand the importance Don Rojas, former press secretary to the of what is happening. We should not be "Understanding the centrality of what is slain prime minister of Grenada, Maurice concerned or worried," he said. happening with the Cuban revolution, the Bishop, noted Cuba's leadership in the strug­ "What is being led is not a Cultural Rev­ rectification process, and the leadership Cuba gle against the Third World debt. He also provides on a world scale," Harris continued, emphasized that without Cuba, there would olution. What is being done is something extremely deep. The Cuban toilers are taking "means orienting to it, giving it support, and not have been revolutions in Grenada and defending it." Nicaragua in 1979. more and more of the revolution and chang­ ing themselves in the process," Barnes ex­ Harris outlined how this could be done 'Believing in our own history' plained. through building and supporting organiza­ tions that exist to defend the Cuban revolu­ The final rally speaker was Jack Barnes, "We fight with them, we learn from them, tion. In the United States Harris pointed to national secretary of the Socialist Workers and we read their works," Barnes empha­ the Venceremos Brigade, the Antonio Maceo Militant/Margrethe Siem Party. The Cuban revolution made commu­ sized. This is why it is so important to publish, Mary-Alice Waters Brigade, and Casa de las Americas as such nists in other countries believe in their own make available, and promote the speeches groups. In many other countries, Cuban history, Barnes said. and writings of leaders of the Cuban revolu­ friendship societies exist, he added. Continued from Page 3 "We must grasp what great hiatus in his­ tion, he said. "We support the goals of these organiza­ tory was closed" when the Cuban revolution tions, believe that they should be carried out, Permanent Mission of Angola to the United triumphed. "An almost inconceivable step 'Duty to organize Cuba solidarity' Nations, said at the rally celebrating 30 years and are worthy goals revolutionists should was taken in restarting a process that began "It is the duty of everyone who defends support," Harris said. of the Cuban revolution. "The people of in 1917" with the Russian revolution, he the Cuban revolution to loyally build, aid, Angola will never forget the Cuban people. A workshop on solidarity work with the explained. construct, and move forward" organizations Cuban revolution was organized at the con­ We will always consider ourselves in the in solidarity with the Cuban revolution, same trench, in the same struggle." Barnes stressed what the Cuban revolution ference and well attended. The discussion Barnes added. "Cuba has been the most important ally of teaches through its deeds. "Ridding the earth reflected important progress already made the Puerto Rican people in the struggle for of individualism releases all individuals to be In the process the lie that workers and and the growth of activities in support of self-determination and independence," said truly human," he said, Cuba shows that "the farmers in the United States and elsewhere Cuba. Olga Sanabria, a member of the Puerto Rican individualism of the few and the attempt by can not be won to the Cuban revolution can Several classes on Cuba took place at the Socialist Party Central Committee. She un­ others to ape this was a wave of the past, not be shattered, the SWP leader said. "It will conference. They included sessions on the derscored the historical connections between the future." primarily be workers, farmers, and farm origins of the Cuban revolution, the process the struggles of Cuba and Puerto Rico. From the Cubans, fighters learn "the self­ workers that will be attracted to Cuba. Cuba's by which the capitalist class was expropriated Fred Dube, a member of the African Na­ lessness that says the struggles of the entire doing what they intend to do. Cuba will put and the socialist road begun, Che Guevara's tional Congress, explained how word of the world are your struggles," Barnes explained. its mark on them. They will put their mark ideas on economics and politics in the tran­ Cuban revolution trickled to Africa in the "The soil of this earth is damp and will on the movement in solidarity with Cuba." sition to socialism, and Cuba's international­ 1950s and '60s and reached young African remain damp with Cuban blood until final Defending the Cuban revolution, telling ist volunteers in southern Africa. rebels. "There was a celebration for a people we did not even know," he said. "But we did know one thing, that these people were fight­ ing for the same thing we were fighting for, Cuban government ministers replaced self-liberation." Beverly Treumann, a longtime activist in Continued from Page 3 the Soviet Union has somehow been left "Even proponents of domestic servitude the Nicaragua solidarity movement, and a and the vice-ministers of the ministries of without a history," continued Granma. These for women are found to be represented in new member of the Venceremos Brigade, construction and of agriculture, Manuel Lanz articles emphasize the "idea that work has to these publications," added Granma. "Mos­ explained why she joined the brigade and Suarez and Julio Cesar Balmaseda, were re­ start from zero, overcoming years of errors, cow News and Sputnik are paving the way went to Cuba. "I was interested in going to moved from their positions for "failing to crimes, misadventures, and stupidities. for those who have begun to attack Leninism Cuba," she said, "because Cuba right now is carry out orders or recommendations," "defi­ "Also emphasized is the idea that the entire and distinguish themselves by their attacks the only country in the world, and Fidel ciencies in their work," and "lack of abili­ past must be negated so as to advance with on V.I. Lenin himself." Castro is the only world leader, speaking out ties." new concepts, concepts not compromised by for and defending socialism." Treumann said "We would be less than truthful," Granma ideology, along the road of economic devel­ continued, "if we were to deny that such the worldwide debate about socialism moti­ Two Soviet publications are banned opment, imitating the methods of developed vated her to take a closer look at Cuba. developments had not led to some problems In an editorial under the headline, "A de­ capitalist countries, with all the conse­ in our country." It cited those "who are im­ Winning workers to Cuban revolution cision that cannot be postponed and that is quences that entails." itative in terms of solutions" and are "trying consistent with our principles," the August 4 The pages of these publications "present Two union fighters at the rally touched on to invent here the very errors we have been Granma explained the reasons behind the an apology for bourgeois democracy." "They the opportunities to reach workers and win spared." banning in Cuba of two publications from are fascinated with life in the United States," them to support the Cuban revolution. The editorial said that many members of the Soviet Union. the editorial said. Ernie Mailhot, a Machinist union member the Cuban Communist Party as well as others "Those in the Soviet Union who deny the on strike against Eastern Airlines, explained "Beginning more than a year ago," opened throughout Cuba "have for some time been leading role of the party and call for multi­ how his coworkers were being changed by the editorial, "the leadership of our party has applying the pressure of public opinion" and party pluralism, call for freedom of action their struggle. Mailhot, a member of the been compelled a number of times to take up "have spoken to the Central Committee to for the laws of the marketplace, praise foreign Eastern strike committee at La Guardia Air­ and discuss the content of some of the many express protests against articles" that have investment, rediscover private property, port in New York, told about a Cuban-Amer­ Soviet publications that circulate in our coun­ appeared in these publications. ican coworker in Miami who had his eyes try. At issue, above all, are Moscow News and question internationalism, and question sol­ idarity and aid to other countries - those "This combination of circumstances has opened when Eastern forced the Machinists Sputnik, a weekly and monthly respectively. left the leadership of our party no other out on strike. "Both publications put forward a point of people are presented in these publications as view and positions regarding the construction democrats, radical leftists, defenders of the alternative than to halt the circulation in our of socialism based on a certain interpretation interests of the people," the editorial contin­ country of Moscow News and Sputnik," con­ of the Soviet experience," the editorial con­ ued. cluded the editorial. Eastern picket tinued. "These positions nearly always argue against or substantially diverge from our Continued from Page 6 party's point of view and fundamental orien­ cil. A big contingent of Eastern strikers, in­ tation. 'Perspectiva Mundial' plans special cluding from Newark, New Jersey, will help "This includes our views on the ways and lead the demonstration. methods of building socialism as well as on September issue on events in Cuba Similar actions are also planned in other key questions of ideology and ethics." cities, as strikers push to gain wider support By virtue of international agreements 36 The Spanish-language socialist monthly in the case. The September issue of the mag­ in the labor movement and aid each others' Soviet publications are distributed in Cuba, Perspectiva Mundial will be publishing a azine will also include the editorial "We will fights. The AFL-CIO has called on "all the editorial noted, with a total circulation of special 40-page issue in September. PM is take exemplary measures to eradicate out­ unions on strike" in the Washington, D.C., more than 16 million copies per year or 1.5 expanding its regular 24-page format to in­ rages such as this," which appeared in the area to join in an August 21 demonstration issues per Cuban. clude important information on recent events June 22 Granma, daily newspaper of the there. If Cuba wanted to send the Soviet people in Cuba. Communist Party of Cuba. news about Cuba, the editorial stated, and its Meanwhile, two caravans of Eastern strik­ The special issue will include material on In addition, PM is translating and running ers are traveling up the East Coast from "point of view on important questions in the trial of former army Gen. Arnaldo Ochoa building socialism, we would have to send the editorial on Cuba in the August 11 Mili­ Florida, stopping in cities and towns along and officers in the Cuban Ministry of the tant and the report on Cuba's July 26 cele­ them 420 million copies of Cuban publica­ the way to seek new support for the strike. Interior. Ochoa and three officers of the bration that appeared in the same issue. One caravan is sponsored by the lAM and tions each year. Anyone can understand that Cuban army and Ministry of the Interior were "The September issue of Perspectiva ALPA, the other by the Transport Workers this is materially impossible. found guilty of drug trafficking and high Mundial," explained PM editor Luis Madrid, Union. Both plan to travel to the United Mine "As a consequence, what is known in the treason, sentenced to death, and executed on "will be indispensable for our readers in Workers' Camp Solidarity in Castlewood, Soviet Union about the views of our party is July 13. Ten other army and Interior Ministry understanding current developments in Cuba. Virginia, at the end of August, and then fragmentary, isolated, and carefully selected officials were sentenced to prison. participate in the New York Labor Day march and edited in their press." PM will reprint the speech given by Cuban "The September issue will include a num­ and a September 6 labor action in Washing­ Cuba rejects the articles in Sputnik and President Fidel Castro to the Council of State ber of other articles of interest to our readers ton, D.C. Moscow News "that give the impression that in Havana on July 9 that explained the stakes as well," added Madrid.

10 The Militant August 25, 1989 Rights of privacy, voluntary• associati?n• • at stake in 10-year harassment lawsuit

BY MARGARET JAYKO "constitutionally protected activity." Over The constitutional rights of privacy and the years, however, the NAACP was forced freedom of association for working-class po­ to spend huge sums of money fighting off litical organizations are at stake in a 10-year­ racist legal offensives. old lawsuit against the Socialist Workers Party, still pending in federal court in Los 'Evidence' Angeles. During the four years of legal proceedings The lawsuit, filed by Alan Gelfand, before the trial, the court gave Gelfand's law­ charges that the party is run by FBI agents and yers permission to interrogate SWP leaders claims that the courts should therefore have and members for hundreds of hours on every­ the right to regulate the internal affairs of the thing from their childhood activities to their SWP. views on religion and philosophy. Instead of throwing this case out of court Although the judge herself admitted such for the harassment lawsuit that it obviously is, actions were an abuse of court procedure, she federal Judge Mariana Pfaelzer has let it drag allowed them to continue. on and on, thus establishing a precedent of An example of the type of probing by government intervention that threatens Gelfand's attorneys is the questions asked everyone's right to voluntary association. SWP leader Doug Jenness in a deposition One of the major issues in the case has been Protest by NAACP and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) against a St. Louis lasting several days. After interrogating Jen­ whether lawyers should be allowed to carry department store. In 1960s NAACP organized boycotts targeting racist hiring practi~es. ness about his adolescent years, his activity in out this kind of harassment and profit from it A group of white merchants in Mississippi took t~e NAACP to court dema_nd.mg the Boy Scouts, and his father's employment with impunity. That's why the SWP filed a payment for alleged boycott damages, using the court m attempt to break group. Stmllar as a professor of biochemistry, Gelfand's at­ motion in 1983, following the conclusion of use of courts has been employed against the SociaUst Workers Party in Gelfand case. torney went on to ask Jenness, "Did your the trial, asking the court to rule that Gelfand parents, during this period of time believe in and the law firm representing him, Fisher & was fraudulent, be held responsible for their forced to admit, after the trial was over, that God as a supreme being, do you know?" Moest, had to pay attorneys' fees to the SWP. actions? Gelfand never had "a single piece of evi­ The lawyer then asked Jenness whether he The purpose of this motion was not only to dence" to substantiate his charges. himself did ". . . still believe in God as a Background supreme being?" recover some of the tens of thousands of But the fact that the judge agreed to hear Alan Gelfand had entered the SWP in Some 7,000 pages of such "evidence" was dollars spent by the SWP in defending itself the case at all - much less let it drag on for 1976, as part of a broader disruption cam­ amassed by Gelfand and his lawyers. The in the case. It was also to establish a deterrent a decade - means that a blow against dem­ paign organized by the Workers League, a judge then went on to allow similar "evi­ to other lawyers taking similar disruption ocratic rights has been struck. It gives cre­ small U.S. sect, in collaboration with a British dence" to be introduced in the trial itself. cases in the future. dence to the idea that it is legitimate for the group, the Workers Revolutionary Party. Thus Gelfand and his lawyers were able to In a victory for democratic rights and step courts to intervene into political organiza­ forward toward ending such abuse, this issue accomplish one of the aims of their lawsuit: Today the main activity of the Workers tions to decide questions of policy and mem­ to generate more copy for the Workers has now been resolved, with Gelfand's attor­ League and its collaborators around the world bership. neys agreeing to pay an undisclosed amount. League slander operation against the SWP. is disrupting the work of the Mark Curtis What meaning does freedom of associa­ Gelfand's backers have in fact published sev­ "A settlement has been reached on the Defense Committee. Mark Curtis, a packing­ attorneys' fees issue that is satisfactory to us," tion have if a judge-not the members of an eral volumes based on the "official court re­ house worker, union militant, and political organization - can decide who does and cord" of this case. activist in Des Moines, Iowa, was framed up does not belong in that organization? Or who At the conclusion of the five-day trial, the by cops on phony charges of rape and bur­ should be elected to leadership positions? Or Trade unions, civil rights judge declared to Gelfand and his attorneys: glary. what the group's policies should be? Gelfand was expelled from the SWP in "You have not proved anything that you said groups, and others will be On the eve of the trial in the case, Southern 1979 after he filed a legal brief in federal court you were going to prove. Nothing.... I can Christian Leadership Conference leader Fred charging that the party was controlled by FBI only assume that there was a motive some- affected by outcome of Taylor released a statement that said, "The agents. The brief was designed to undercut Gelfand case. trial itself is a violation of the most fundamen­ the party's lawsuit against decades of FBI , tal rights of the American people: the right of spying and disruption, which resulted in a By refusing the people to band together in voluntary or­ said Mac Warren, SWP organization secre­ historic ruling against the FBI in 1986. ganizations like labor unions and civil rights to throw out suit, tary, in response to an inquiry from the Mili­ After his expulsion, Gelfand filed a lawsuit organizations, and to set their own policies, tant. against the SWP. He demanded that the court elect their own leaders, and determine their judge established The party is continuing to press its demand reinstate him into membership and remove own membership. that Judge Pfaelzer rule on the case. precedent of court the party's elected leadership. His constitu­ "The intervention of the U.S. District This case poses the question of the right of tional rights were violated, he claimed, be­ Court into this area of democratic rights is an intervention. political parties to function without interfer­ cause the "FBI agents" in the party's leader­ infringement of the First Amendment rights, ence from the government and its agencies, ship had expelled him. not just of the Socialist Workers Party, but where in here to paralyze the Socialist Work­ including the courts. The SWP responded by demanding that also of the rights of all Americans. The SWP is the immediate target in this ers Party. Judge Pfaelzer dismiss the case. No court, the "As a voluntary organization, the Southern "The whole aura of facts in here," she harassment lawsuit. But its outcome will have party said, has the right to meddle in the Christian Leadership Conference could be implications for trade unions, other political continued, "leads me to question the motiva­ internal affairs of a political party. Gelfand's opened up to a similar attack by the govern­ tion for the lawsuit. If I had been presented parties, civil rights organizations, farmers' accusation of an FBI "takeover" of the SWP ment by this type of court intervention. We groups, and similar associations. with one single piece of evidence that [the was absurd, and he hadn't a shred of evidence know the U.S. government, through the FBI, SWP leaders] are agents of the Government, The question of harassment lawsuits is also to back it up. has intervened into the SCLC by intense sur­ that would be an entirely different matter. I at issue. The SWP has spent tens of thousands The judge, however, refused to throw the veillance of our founder, the Rev. Martin haven't had a single piece of evidence given of dollars and untold time and effort defend­ case out. Gelfand, she said, must have his day Luther King, Jr., and by the use of informers. tome." ing itself against this suit, which has had as in court. The court had a right to decide, the "The SCLC would no more welcome the She further stated at the trial's conclusion one of its aims exactly that kind of disruption judge insisted, whether Gelfand's expulsion invasion of the rights of our organization and that she had decided to rule in favor of the of the SWP's Political work. was proper, whether he had been dealt with its members through the means of a Federal SWP. fairly, and whether the elected leadership of Can the courts be used for suits whose aim District Court. . . . Stop this travesty of jus­ But, six years later, no decision has been the SWP was fit to hold office. is to harass, fmancially burden, and otherwise tice!" handed down. abuse an organization? And can the lawyers The trial was held in1983, four years after who brought the case, knowing full well it Gelfand filed his suit. The judge was fmally Harassment lawsuits Broad defense effort The SWP has not been the only victim of The SWP, working with others, has organ­ disruption lawsuits. ized a broad campaign to explain the issues Abuse of the courts has often been used as involved and to mobilize opposition to this a form of political harassment. The capitalist disruption operation. FBI on Trial: The Victory in the government, and other enemies of demo­ Public meetings, with platforms that re­ cratic rights with money and resources, know flected wide support for the party's defense, Socialist Workers Party Suit they can do damage to organizations and were held in more than 50 cities around the Against Government Spying individuals fighting injustice by dragging time of the trial. Many people have contrib­ them through burdensome and costly legal uted funds to help cover the burdensome Editor: Margaret Jayko proceedings. costs of the fight. In Port Gibson, Mississippi, a group of $9.95, 260 pp. Union officials, civil rights figures, farm white merchants sued the National Associa­ protest leaders, women's rights fighters, tion for the Advancement of Colored People Puerto Rican activists, civil libertarians, lead­ (NAACP) in 1969 because of damages sup­ Cointelpro: The FBI's Secret ers of the Native American movement, repre­ posedly incurred in a boycott organized by sentatives of other political organizations, War on Political Freedom the Black community in the late 1960s. The and elected officials have stepped forward to objective of the boycott was to force busi­ by Nelson Blackstock defend the SWP and democratic rights in this nesses to hire more Blacks and make changes case. $8.95, 190 pp. in the city's government. The purpose of the merchants' suit was to cripple and if possible Supporters include civil rights activists destroy the NAACP, thereby setting back the Anne Braden, Ben Chavis, and Robert F. Available from: Pathfinder, 41 0 West St., New York, Williams; labor officials David Dyson and N.Y. 10014 • 47 The Cut, London, SE1 8LL struggle for Black rights in the area. A Mississippi court did in fact order the Anthony Mazzocchi; and witch-hunt victims England • P.O. Box 153 Glebe, Sydney NSW NAACP to pay the merchants $1.25 million Frank Wilkinson and Ring Lardner, Jr. 2037, Australia • 410 Adelaide St. W., Suite 400, ,, in damages. The NAACP was able to beat With the I Oth year approaching, there is a Toronto MSV 1S8, Canada. Add $1.00 for handling. back this serious attack when the Supreme renewed need to spread the word about the Court reversed the lower court ruling in 1982 case and the critical issues involved and to and upheld that the boycott was a form of demand that the judge make her ruling.

August 25, 1989 The Militant 11 -CALENDAR------...--- NEW YORK -----, Going A way Party ARIZONA sis in China" series in Militant. Sat., Aug. 19, Speaker: Sandra Levinson, executive director of Phoenix 7:30p.m. 141 Halsey St., 2nd floor. Donation: the center. Sun., Aug. 27, 12 noon to 5 p.m. for Prof. Fred Dube How to Defend Women's Right to Choose $3. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. For more Home of Carol and Ping Ferry, 385 Fort Hill Abortion. Speakers: Diane Bacon, Coalition of information call (201) 643-3341. Rd., Scarsdale, N.Y. Reserve a space by Aug. Dube, a leader of the African National Labor Union Women, Communications Work­ 22. Donation: $25. For reservations and more Congress of South Africa, is engaged in a ers of America; Angie Barone, Universities for information call (212) 242-0559. battle with the State University of New Choice (ASU); Nancy Best, National Organiza­ NEW YORK York over its denying him tenure because tion for Women; Rena Cacoullos, Socialist Manhattan of his political views. Next month he is moving to Olympia, Washington, where Workers Party; Charles Fannie!, A. Philip Ran­ Rock for the Radios. Benefit dance marathon TEXAS he will be teaching at Evergreen State dolph Institute, Laborers' International Union; for radio stations of the Farabundo Marti Na­ Houston College. Kim Martin, Arizona Right to Choose; Louis tional Liberation Front of El Salvador. Fri., Aug. Rally for Choice. Sat., Aug. 26,9-11 a.m. Sam Rhodes, American Civil Liberties Union; 25, 8 p.m.-4 a.m. Marc Ballroom, 27 Union Sq. Houston Park, Bagby and Dallas. Speakers: Fri., Sept. 1, 7-10 p.m. Chiquita Rollins, Arizona Women's Reproduc­ W. Donation: $12, $15 at the door. Sponsor: Sarah Weddington, lawyer in Roe v. Wade abor­ tive Rights. Sat., Aug. 26, 7 p.m. 1809 W Indian Heavenly Rest Church, Committee in Solidarity with the People of El tion rights case; Craig Washington, Texas State 90th St. at 5th Ave. School Rd. Donation: $3. Sponsor: Militant Salvador (CISPES). For more information call senator; Deborah Danberg, state representative. Labor Forum. For more information call (602) (212) 431-9251. Music by the Beehives. Sponsor: Choice Coali­ (entrance at 2 E 90th St.) 279-5850. Center for Cuban Studies Benefit Party. tion. For more information call (713) 522-6673. CALIFORNIA San Francisco Socialist Educational Weekend. "Southern Af­ Protests slow down attack against priest rica: The Fight for Freedom," Sat., Aug. 19, 7:30 p.m. and "The Workers' and Farmers' Government," Sun., Aug. 20, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. BY HARRY RING final command to do so was issued, a lengthy After several more visits, the matter was Speaker: Malik Miah, Socialist Workers Party. Public protest has slowed down moves by process of appeals to Rome was possible. dropped when Quest moved to make a public All classes held at 3284 23rd St. (near Mission). the Catholic hierarchy to dismiss William Earlier, in a telephone interview, Callahan issue of the harassment. Donation: Sat. eve $3., Sun. classes $2 each. Callahan from the Society of Jesus because pointed to some of the forces that he believes Next, an auditor from the Internal Revenue Sponsor: Socialist Workers Party and Young of his activity on behalf of Nicaragua. are behind the efforts to curb his work. Service came to check their books to insure, Socialist Alliance. For more information call Callahan has received copies of more than He noted that Cardinal Obando y Bravo she said, that there had been no abuse of (415) 282-6255. 900 letters of protest against the moves to Quest's tax-exempt status. Malcolm X. A film. Tue., Aug. 29, 7:15 and of Nicaragua had made it known to U.S. 9:15p.m. and Wed., Aug. 30, 2:15, 7:15, and curb him. Catholic officials that he doesn't like the work 9:15. p.m. Red Vic Movie House, 1659 Haight A Jesuit priest for nearly 41 years, Calla­ of Quest for Peace. No charges St. Look for the Pathfinder literature table at han is a central figure in the work of pro­ "And certainly," Callahan observed, "the Callahan has appealed the Jesuit directives showings. For more information call (415) 863- viding material aid for the people of Nica­ Vatican itself has not been enthused about to Rome and has asked that he be informed 3994. ragua. Nicaragua." He added that the pressure from of the charges on which the directives have He is codirector of the Quixote Center and the Vatican is not unrelated to its political ties been based. None have been forthcoming. national coordinator of Quest for Peace. They with Washington. He has made it plain that he does not intend MARYLAND are headquartered outside Washington, D.C. to give up his activity on behalf of Nicaragua. Baltimore The Quixote Center was established by The U.S. government, he said, began put­ He explained that in 1980 he had been ting heat on the Quixote Center and Quest at Defending Revolutionary Nicaragua Today. Catholics concerned with social justice. silenced for his activity on behalf of women's Speaker: Rashaad Ali, chairperson Baltimore the end of 1986. That's when a U.S. Customs Quest for Peace, which developed out of the equality and, for seven months, was out of Socialist Workers Party, member United Food agent arrived at their door with a subpoena. center, organizes aid for Nicaragua. activity. and Commercial Workers Union Local 27, re­ He demanded all of Quest's shipping docu­ cently returned from two-week trip to Nicara­ In a five-year period, Quest has raised ments and the names of everyone involved "That time I obeyed," he said. "This time gua. Sat., Aug. 19. Dinner 6 p.m.; program 7:30 more than $100 million worth of aid for in the organization. - given the fact that there haven't been any p.m. 2913 Greenmount Ave. Donation: dinner Nicaragua and, working with other groups, The agent suggested Customs wanted to charges- I think I'm going to stay here." $3; program $2. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. nearly as much again. For more information call (301) 235-0013. determine if any arms had been included in Separation from the Jesuits, Callahan said, Callahan, and Quest, played a key role in the shipments to Nicaragua. would be painful for him. But he considers marshaling emergency aid when a hurricane Callahan said they told the Customs agent it an obligation to support the people of MINNESOTA devastated the Bluefields area of Nicaragua's he was legally entitled to examine their bills Nicaragua "until U.S. policy has been turned east coast last year. of lading, "but no names, no addresses." around and they have a chance to be free." Minneapolis Last spring, Callahan's superior in the So­ Hear About Recent Developments in Cuba and Celebrate Gains of the Revolution. Sat., ciety of Jesus, ordered him to end his function Aug. 26, 7:30p.m. Sabathani Community Cen­ as codirector of the Quixote Center. He was ter, 310 E 38th St. also commanded to disassociate himself from Socialist activist Rick Higgins dies St. Paul Priests for Equality and Catholics Speak Out. BY KATY KARLIN same, and he translated at political meetings. What Can We Do to Defend Abortion Priests for Equality, which Callahan PHILADELPHIA - Rick Higgins, a He had begun a study of French when he Rights? Panel of speakers including Sheri founded nearly a decade ago, now has 3,000 member of the Socialist Workers Party, died became ill. Smith, Action for Abortion Rights; Wendy members in 35 countries. It advocates Lyons, Socialist Workers Party candidate for here on August 11 after an eight-month battle Higgins moved to Houston in the fall of women's equality in civil society and the mayor of St. Paul; others. Sat., Aug. 19, 7:30 with leukemia. He was 38 years old. 1988, where he helped carry out political p.m. 508 N Snelling Ave. Donation: $2. Spon­ church, including the right of women to be activity in the city's large Spanish-speaking sor: Militant Forum. For more information call priests. Higgins joined the Young Socialist Alli­ ance in the early 1970s as a college student in community. (612) 644-6325. Catholics Speak Out, Callahan says, was In January 1989 he entered a Philadelphia Huntington, West Virginia, where he had established to provide "a public voice to hospital for chemotherapy treatment and been active in the movement against the Viet­ counter the forces of reaction that are quite spent the rest of his life there and with his NEBRASKA strongly organized in Rome." nam War. A year after joining the YSA he Omaha moved to Washington, D.C., to join the SWP. parents in New Jersey. Protest Racist Attacks Against Democratic Two directives Although he was not able to continue day­ Higgins went to Albuquerque, New Mex­ to-day political activity, Higgins stayed in Rights. Speakers: Scott Dombeck, Socialist Last March and April Callahan received Workers Party, member Allied Industrial Work­ ico, to help build the SWP there in the late touch with the party's campaigns throughout ers Union Locall71; others. Sat., Aug. 19,7:30 two directives to leave the Quixote Center. 1970s. In 1981 he returned to Washington, his illness. He was able to attend an SWP p.m. 140 S 40th St. Donation: $2. Sponsor: Mil­ He anticipated then that the third and final where he became a member of the Interna­ regional political conference in New York itant Labor Forum. For more information call command would soon follow. tional Association of Machinists. City in the spring. He continued to read the (402) 553-0245. Then, in June Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, From 1983 to 1988 he worked in the Militant until the last few weeks of his life. Vatican head of the Jesuits, met with Callahan printshop at the Pathfinder Building in New A meeting to celebrate the life and contri­ NEW JERSEY in Washington. York City. butions of Rick Higgins will be held in Hous­ Newark In a Quixote Center newsletter, Callahan Higgins felt it was a priority for communist ton on August 27, 6:00p.m. at the Pathfinder China in Crisis: Why Chinese Students and said that Kolvenbach would not budge on the activists to become multilingual and taught Bookstore, 4806 Almeda. Those wishing to Working People Want Democratic Rights. order that he give up his activity. But himself to speak and read Spanish fluently. send messages are encouraged to send them Speaker: Fred Feldman, author of "Behind Cri- Kolvenbach did say that when the third and He encouraged other SWPmembers to do the care of the bookstore. -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP Where to find Pathfinder books and distrib· LOUISIANA: New Orleans: P.O. Box OREGON: Portland: 2730 NE Martin Lu­ BRITAIN utorsoftheMililant,PerspectivaMundial,New 53224. Zip: 70153. Tel: (504) 484-6418. ther King, Jr. Zip: 97212. Tel: (503) 287-7416. London: 47 The Cut, SEl 8LL. Tel: 01-401 lnternatioJUJI, Nouvelle lnternationale, and MARYLAND: Baltimore: 2913 Greenmount PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 9 E. 2293. Lutte ouvmre. Ave. Zip: 21218. Tel: (301) 235-0013. Chelten Ave. Zip: 19144. Tel: (215) 848-5044. MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 605 Massa­ Pittsburgh: 4905 Penn Ave. Zip 15224. Tel: CANADA UNITED STATES chusetts Ave. Zip: 02118. Tel: (617) 247-6772. (412) 362-6767. Montreal: 6566 boul. St-Laurent, H2S 3C6. ALABAMA: Birmingham: 1306lstAve. N. MICHIGAN: Detroit: 501911.2 Woodward TEXAS: Houston: 4806 Almeda. Zip: Tel: (514) 273-2503. Mailing address: P.O. Box 11963. Zip: 35202. Ave. Zip: 48202. Tel: (313) 831-1177. 77004. Tel: (713) 522-8054. Toronto: 410 Adelaide St. W., Suite 400, Tel: (205) 323-3079. MINNESOTA: Austin: 4071,-2 N. Main. Zip: UTAH: Price: 253 E. Main St. Mailing ad­ M5V 1S8. Tel: (416) 861-1399. 55912. Tel: (507)433-3461. Twin Cities: 508 N. ARIZONA: Phoenix: 1809 W. Indian dress: P.O. Box 758. Zip: 84501. Tel: (801) Vancouver: P.O. Box 69742, Station K, V5K School Rd. Zip: 85015. ,Tel: (602) 279-5850. Snelling Ave., St. Paul. Zip: 55104. Tel: 637-6294. Salt Lake City: 147 E 900 South. Zip: (612)644-6325. 4Y7. Tel: (604) 873-8898. CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 2546 W. Pico 84111. Tel: (801) 355-1124. · MISSOURI: Kansas City: 5534 Troost Ave. Blvd. Zip: 90006. Tel: (213) 380-9460. Oak­ WASHINGTON, D.C.: 3165 Mt. Pleasant St. Zip: 64110. Tel: (816)444-7880. St. Louis: 4907 ICELAND land: 3702TelegraphAve.Zip94609. Tel: (415) NW. Zip: 20010. Tel: (202) 797-7699,797-7021. Martin Luther King Dr. Zip: 63113. Tel: (314) Reykjavik: Klapparstfg 26. Mailing address: 420-1165. San Francisco: 3284 23rd St. Zip: 361-0250. WASHINGTON: Seattle: 5517 Rainier P. Box 233, 121 Reykjavik. Tel: (91) 17513. 94110. Tel: (415) 282-6255. NEBRASKA: Omaha: 140 S. 40th St. Zip: Ave. South. Zip: 98118. Tel: (206) 723-5330. FLORIDA: Miami: 137 NE 54th St. Zip: 68131. Tel: (402) 553-0245. WEST VIRGINIA: Charleston: 116 Mc­ NEW ZEALAND 33137. Tel: (305) 756-1020. Tallahassee: P.O. NEW JERSEY: Newark: 141 Halsey. Zip: Farland St. Zip: 25301. Tel: (304) 345-3040. Auckland: 157a Symonds St. Postal Address: Box 20715. Zip: 32316. Tel: (904) 877-9338. 07102. Tel: (201) 643-3341. Morgantown: 221 Pleasant St. Zip: 26505. Tel: P.O. Box 3025. Tel: (9) 793-075. GEORGIA: Atlanta: 132 Cone St. NW, 2nd NEW YORK: Brooklyn: 464 Bergen St. Zip: (304) 296-0055. - Christchurch: 593a Colombo St. (upstairs). Floor. Zip: 30303. Tel: (404) 577-4065. 11217. Tel: (718) 398-6983. New York:I91 7th WISCONSIN: Milwaukee: 4707 W. Lisbon Postal address: P.O. Box 22-530. Tel: (3) 656-055. ILLINOIS: Chicago: 6826 S. Stony Island Ave. Zip: 10011. Tel: (212) 675-6740. Ave. Zip: 53208. Tel: (414) 445-2076. Wellington: 23 Majoribanks St., Courtenay Pl. Ave. Zip: 60649. Tel: (312) 363-7322. NORTH CAROLINA: Greensboro: 2219 E Postal address: P.O. Box 9092. Tel: (4) 844-205. IOWA: Des Moines: 2105 Forest Ave. Zip: Market. Zip 27401. Tel: (919) 272-5996. AUSTRALIA 50311. Tel: (515) 246-1695. OHIO: Cleveland: 2521 Market Ave. Zip: Sydney: 181 Glebe Point Rd., 2nd floor, SWEDEN KENTUCKY: Louisville: P.O. Box 4103. 44113. Tel: (216) 861-6150. Columbus: P.O. Glebe. Postal address: P.O. Box 153 Glebe, Syd­ Stockholm: P.O. Box 5024, S-12505 Alvsjo. Zip: 40204-4103. Box 02097. Zip: 43202. ney NSW 2037. Tel: 02-660 1673. Tel: (08) 722-9342.

12 The Militant August 25, 1989 -THE GREAT SOCIETY---~------

Stiff problem -In the second Contented customers - There nologist says water cannons and tear The slogan: "New York has a new No comparison -With British business quarter, strikebound East­ are benefits for Eastern in that half­ gas are a better, less injurious way problem." corporate execs enjoying wage in­ em Airlines lost more than it took fare-for-corpses deal. They get a of dealing with unruly crowds than creases as high as 70 percent, a New Israeli victory- Israeli in. (Sales, $89 million. Losses­ better class of passenger - folks club-swinging cops. And while it spokesperson noted that executive police broke into a children's camp minimally calculated- $129 mil- who don't fret over late departures has an unjustifiably bad name, he salaries are not out of line with those or notice filthy restrooms, aren't says, he also prefers the South Af­ and arrested four staff people "for of top entertainers and sports fig­ fazed by inexperienced scab pilots, rican sjambok, a rhinoceros-leather promoting Palestinian nationalism ures. And, he sniffed, such types and the intifada," according to the or even care if the plane crashes. whip. "perform a socially and economi­ police. The children had given their cally less important function than Doesn't HUD pay for that? - tents such names as "Intifada" and directors." The Housing Appropriations Com­ Who's got problems? -New "For Every Child Killed a New One Harry mittee voted $578,000 for the care York officials forced the scrapping is Born." Pedagogy dep't- To improve and maintenance of the vice-presi­ of a poster promoting Jason Takes fighting quality, the head of the U.S. Ring dential mansion, more than double Manhattan, the latest horror flick The clean air program - Last Marine Corps wants its officers to last year's figure. The main problem featuring the masked lunatic. The year, some 110 million U.S. people start reading books - at least two a being the Quayles had to convert poster featured Jason slashing -nearly half the population­ year for sergeants and, for starters, lion.) Which sheds light on the East­ third floor space into bedrooms for through the heart in the New York were breathing dangerously pol­ three for colonels. Enlisted person­ em offer to fly corpses for half the their three children. logo, "I • New York." In a substi­ luted air, according to the Environ­ nel weren't included, perhaps on the usual fare, plus frequent-flyer points tute poster, Jason looms over the mental Protection Agency. That's 30 theory that the less you know, the for the mortician. Pacifist type- A British crimi- skyline wielding a hunting knife. million more than the previous year. easier it is to follow orders. S. African youth leader on tour, part of defiance

was followed by new restrictions on a range engaging in political activity. In addition, "Profits are going down, there are strikes, of organizations in 1987-88. The defiance COSATU and other unions in the country are and even organized Afrikaner farmers are campaign, say anti-apartheid leaders, is holding rallies to prepare for "five days of demanding government price supports for aimed at reversing these conditions. action" the first week of September. Prepara­ their crops," Molekane pointed out. tory rallies of up to 10,000 workers have been "The imperialists are also seeing that the UDF leader Zoli Malilndi told the press in held in a number of cities. South Africa following the successful defi­ economy of the country is declining. Their ance at the hospitals, "The time has come for The COSATU action will take place prior interests are at stake. The imperialists would us not to be willing participants in our oppres­ to the September 6legislative elections called like to get out of that situation strong, and be sion. The restrictions imposed on our organi­ by the apartheid regime. Blacks are excluded able to continue with the capitalist way of zations and members are intended to frustrate from voting in the elections. operating the country. So they are trying to our struggle for liberation." Molekane said the government "is facing push the racists to change. While they realize apartheid is doomed and it is going to be Molekane said, "I personally have also a very deep crisis today, which is more visible ousted they only want to make certain broken the restrictions, as have others, and we that it was before. There are two general changes in apartheid." are operating legally. We have opened a groupings within the ruling party, but there is Sayco office iit Johannesburg. We have been no agreement among them as to how to han­ But, Molekane continued, "the people de­ addressing the press, writing on our own let­ dle the situation. Neither has ideas as to ex­ mand the total destruction of apartheid and terhead - all in defiance of the restrictions." actly what to do." the creation of a new society, which would be Traveling outside of South Africa and speak­ with the participation of our leadership, in ing at meetings in the name of Sayco is an­ Economic pressures particular, the African National Congress." other aspect of the defiance campaign, he There are also growing pressures in the Molekane's tour will take him to Washing­ pointed out. South African economy, which are linked to ton, D.C., August 16-17; Birmingham, Ala­ the "general economic crisis in the world bama, August 18-19; Los Angeles August Other signs of stepped-up protest inside economy." 20-21; and New York City August 23-25. South Africa include student demonstrations, in which a number of activists have been arrested. The students shut down the schools in protest and have been organizing rallies to Los Angeles meeting set for Rapu Molekane press for the release of the activists. LOS ANGELES- Preparations are under part of this effort. The event will take place Workers join in defiance way here fora visit by Rapu Molekane,general at the Trinity Baptist Church, located at 2040 Militant/Janet Post secretaryoftheSouthAfrican Youth Congress W. Rapu Molekane speaking at a rally in "Also on the factory floors," Molekane Jefferson Blvd. at 6:30 p.m. (Sayco), August 20-21. The stopover in Los Oberlin, Ohio, August 10. explained, "the workers are taking up the The meeting is sponsored by the African protest by eating in the cafeterias that are Angeles is part of a two-week tour. National Congress, Friends of the ANC, and designated for whites only. We also intend to On Monday, August 21, Molekane will the South African International Student Con­ Continued from front page get into segregated buses, parks, and so on." speak on the campaign of defiance taking gress (Saisco). A donation will be requested. place in South Africa. His tour is considered For more information call (213) 380-9460. last spring. His two-week tour to the United The protests during the past two weeks are States is being organized by the Young So­ only the beginning of the campaign, anti­ cialist Alliance. apartheid leaders say. The UDF is planning a By imposing a state of emergency in 1986, countrywide series of rallies in its own name -10AND25 YEARSAGO-- the South African regime greatly restricted on August 20 as a focal point of the actions the activity of opponents of apartheid. This during the month. The UDF is banned from TH£ MILITANT THE ASC:CIALISTNEWSWEEKLYPUEILJ9-EOINTHEINTERESTSOF11-IEWOAKINGPEOPlE~ Aug. 24, 1979 MILITANT Thousands march in Pittsburgh Publlahed in the Interests of the Working People MANAGUA, Nicaragua- Basing itself Aug. 24, 1964 Continued from front page miners, but what about airllne workers, tele­ on the power of the armed and mobilized the strike has crippled Pittston's coal produc­ phone workers? It's worldwide." masses, the revolutionary Sandinista leader­ The following are excerpts from an tion, but still hasn't forced the company to Another miner who spoke at a prerally ship of Nicaragua has begun taking a series Aug. 6, 1964, statement by Fidel Castro, seriously negotiate with the union. open microphone said he was a Vietnam vet­ of radical measures - a deepgoing land then prime minister of Cuba, and Osvaldo "This rally's a thorn in their side," he con­ eran. "But we've got to fight against a domes­ reform, nationalization of all the country's Dortic6s, then president, regarding the U.S. tinued, "but it won't stop them. We sat back tic enemy: the courts, the cops, the compa­ banks, seizure of all the property held by the bombing of North Vietnam that followed the too long, for 10 years, not having to have a nies." Somoza family and its collaborators, forma­ Gulf of Tonkin incident. fight of any kind." tion of popular militias and a revolutionary Later he remarked, "They're not just pick­ National Organization for Women army, and the organization of committees in The government of the United States de­ ing us out. They say Pittston's at war with coal The National Organization for Women the factories and neighborhoods. vised and carried out its criminal plan in a handed out flyers for an upcoming rally to A high percentage of the arable land in the deliberate, cold, and cynical way. Those who defend abortion rights, generating discussion country was owned by Somoza and his im­ are familiar with the ways of Yankee impe­ pro and con in many small groups across the mediate circle. This land has been national­ rialists when they set themselves for ag­ rally site. NOW activists met an overall ized. Under the direction of Sandinista leader gression, know about their constant Soul Vibrations friendly response, and one steelworker said Jaime Wheelock, the Nicaraguan Institute of provocations, their piratical methods, their male coworkers had pinned on prochoice but­ Agrarian Reform has been set up. INRA is shocking lies, and their shameful pretexts, on U.S. tour tons en route to the rally. supervising the distribution of these vast reject with indignation the falsehood set up Reggae band from Nicaragua's At­ Many of the miners present have visited holdings to the thousands of Nicaraguan by the propaganda machinery of the U.S. lantic Coast recently obtained visas for the Solidarity Camps in Virginia set up during peasants who have historically eked out a government, which is blaming North Viet­ a concert tour in the United States. the sympathy strikes. After miners ended subsistence on tiny plots. nam for this incident. Their New York engagements are: their walkouts in mid-July, traveling to the The land reform is being enthusiastically They did the same on April 15, 1%1, Tues., Aug. 22, 9 p.m. and 11:30 camps became one of the ways for UMWA welcomed by the peasants and farm workers, when they attacked our air bases with air­ p.m. at Sounds of Brazil (SOBs), 204 members and other unionists to extend soli­ who have mobilized in large demonstrations. planes bearing false insignias and claimed Varick St. (comer West Houston). Ad­ darity with striking Pittston miners. Peasant militias are being organized to defend that internal rebellion had taken place. They mission $12.50, $15 at the door. For the new property relations in the countryside. have done the same in the naval base at Recently Mine Workers President Trumka more information call SOBs (212) For now, the Sandinistas say, they are Guantanamo, by shooting at our soldiers and called on unionists and others to come to the 243-4940 or the Bluefields Project limiting the land reform to the somocista declaring later that the aggression came from Virginia coalfield camps. (718) 797-0146. holdings. However, when reporters asked the Cuban side. Striking members of the Communications Wheelock what they will do if the lands run Now more than ever the unity of all the Fri., Sept. 1, 7-10 p.m., at Wet­ Workers, United Food and Commercial out and there are still needy peasants, he forces of the socialist camp, of all the peo­ lands, 161 Hudson St. (comer Laight, Workers, Service Employees International answered: "We'll take the rest of it." ples who have liberated themselves from 3 blocks south of Canal), $10 donation Union, and the International Association of Workers in the factories, stores, banks, imperialist yoke, and of all the forces that for the benefit of Soul Vibrations. For Machinists were among those recently in Vir­ and other workplaces are also forming com­ struggle for peace is necessary in order to more information call (212) 966-5244. ginia where miners have organized sit-ins, mittees. These are usually elected by assem­ stop the criminal warmongering of the pickets and rallies. blies of all the workers. United States.

August 25, 1989 The Militant 13 -EDITORIALS------Is Puerto Rican independence How to advance strike at Eastern As the six-month mark of the walkout at Eastern Air­ a danger to the Eastern strike as /AM-organized compa­ practical? lines nears, striking workers are discussing how to meet nies are being used to do struck work. the new challenges posed in their fight to defend their The sense of betrayal felt by many lAM strikers is BY DOUG JENNESS unions, livelihoods, and dignity. justified. How could union officials allow this to happen? U.S . Congress is discussing a proposal to hold a plebi­ • In early August 200 pilots crossed picket lines, What does a union mean if members of your own union scite in June 1991 on Puerto Rico's status in relation to the doing damage to the unity and morale of the strike. The are forced to scab? United States. The full Senate will likely vote on the pilots' association president encouraged Eastern pilots to Many Eastern strikers are determined not to allow this proposed legislation at the end of this year, and the House break ranks with Machinists union members and flight to go unchallenged. They are seeking ways to extend the of Representatives will take it up early next year. attendants and seek a return to work. strength of their strike to their union brothers and sisters The options being considered for the vote to be held on Hundreds of flight attendants also crossed the line dur­ employed by these subcontracting companies. Bringing the island nation of 3.3 million people are statehood, inde­ ing the same period, in some cases with the encourage­ united union power to bear is the only way to fight to put pendence, or a revised version of the current Common­ ment of pilots. The weight of a long strike has fallen a stop to this strike-breaking practice. Other lAM locals at wealth status set up in 1952. heaviest on the flight attendants. the airports should join in this effort. The proposed vote on status has sparked a great deal of discussion among workers in the United States who come A majority of Eastern pilots, however, voted to stay In this way the road can also be opened for a common out, and many pilot activists are pressuring Air Line Pilots fight to improve the wages and conditions of workers at Association officials to take stronger steps to support the the subcontractors. strike, including a one-day "SOS" work stoppage by all The Eastern lAM local at New York's La Guardia LEARNING ABOUT ALPA pilots nationwide. Airport will be picketing Hudson General, an Eastern Although most pilots and flight attendants remain on subcontractor, and appealing to workers there to support SOCIALISM strike, a blow has been dealt to the fight. the strike. This is an example of the approach needed by Returning workers will help Lorenzo move ahead with strikers in other cities so that this threat can be beaten from Puerto Rico. Several Militant readers have told me his strike-breaking "reorganization" plan. Even more im­ back. that in discussions on the job many recognize that Puerto portant, the returns mark a breach in what has been the • The buildup of flights by Eastern to 390 a day Rico is a colony of the United States and that independence Eastern strike's greatest strength: the unity of the starting mid-August underscores the need for strikers to is a good idea. But it's not very practical, they say. Machinists' and flight attendants' unions and pilots' asso­ deepen efforts to mobilize wider backing in the labor They worry that breaking away from the United States ciation. movement to help reinforce picket lines and to organize and declaring independence could jeopardize federal ben­ At the heart of this unity are the aircraft cleaners, ramp­ rallies and other strike support activities. This should efits, including food stamps, Aid to Families with Depen­ service workers, facility cleaners, mechanics, and stock include reaching out to the Continental workers and ex­ dent Children, retirement payments, and Social Security. clerks organized in the International Association of Ma­ plaining why they should oppose being used to break the Those who argue in this vein point to neighboring countries chinists, who voted overwhelmingly last February to go strike by staffing flights for Eastern. like the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which are politi­ on strike and who have remained solid ever since. Less The actions organized in many cities by strikers and cally independent but have a lower standard of living than than 200 out of 8,300 have returned to work, despite other unions to respond to the flight start-ups in July and Puerto Rico. stepped-up pressure from the company. August point in the right direction. More of the same is A major problem with this argumentation is that the Some strikers have been disheartened by the defections needed now - much more. reason relatively more Puerto Ricans are unemployed and among the pilots and flight attendants. But the response of The "new" Eastern is weak, not strong, despite the more proportionately receive welfare payments and food many others has been anger and renewed determination to stamps than in any of the 50 states is colonial subjugation. fight. number of passengers at the moment. If the power of the labor movement is brought to bear behind the Eastern To accept these "benefits" as the best that can be Organizing this determination to maintain and achieved is to assume that struggle against colonial rule is strengthen daily picket lines and other crucial strike activ­ strikers, centered at the airports, the planes can be emp­ tied and the "reorganization" plan defeated. pointless. We might even conclude that the anticolonial ities is key now. struggles in which millions have shed their blood in the past • The move by Eastern to use subcontracting compa­ More and more Eastern workers have gained confi­ dence over the months as they've learned that the strike's five decades - struggles resulting in political indepen­ nies organized by the lAM and other unions to service the dence for scores of colonies from Algeria to the Philippines carrier's restarted flights is a dagger aimed at the heart of strength lies with them and the solidarity they've earned from other working people, and nowhere else- not with - were futile. the strike. But the opposite is the case. In the course of their fight For this threat to even be posed is a result of the years the government, bankruptcy court, lawyers, or Wall Street financiers. for independence, millions of workers, peasants, and other of deals between union officials and airline and service toilers have been transformed. They have become aware of companies. Mobilizing this strength remains the key to moving the fight at Eastern forward. themselves as makers of their own destinies and more Instead of fighting to defend the wages and conditions self-confident of their potential strength. Moreover, in their The walkout by 200,000 telephone workers has given of all airline and airport workers, union officials have not continuing struggle for full national and social liberation, the Eastern strikers a shot in the arm. In the last few organized a fight to seriously unionize- with equal pay, they have altered in their favor the relationship of forces weeks, big rallies, marches, and picket lines in a number benefits, and working conditions- these subcontracting between themselves and the imperialist oppressors. of cities have brought together striking Eastern workers, companies. At these outfits, workers - many of whom Independence will not be won in Puerto Rico as the coal miners, telephone workers, and hospital workers. are Blacks, Latinos, and immigrants -earn little more result of a colonialist-imposed plebiscite like the one Con­ The potential power of the labor movement is becoming than minimum wage and are subject to abysmal condi­ gress is cooking up but by a massive struggle that mobilizes more evident. Witness the 6,000-strong ·united labor tions. a very large part of the island's population. They end up doing the same jobs in the same airports as march in Pittsburgh. workers at the major airlines for one-third of the pay­ And the decision by other workers to strike - in part If Puerto Ricans wage a successful fight for indepen­ with the blessing of the union tops. Many of these work­ inspired by the Eastern workers' battle - is itself confir­ dence, they will be in a much stronger position to press ers, though, are opposed to being any part of getting mation that the Eastern workers' continued determination forward the fight for economic emancipation too. Puerto Eastern back in the air. to stand up and fight Frank Lorenzo's union-busting is Rican working people will have more elbow room in which This erosion of union strength and solidarity now poses correct. to carry on the struggle to establish their own government that can rid the island of domination by capitalist profiteers who are responsible for the high unemployment, low wages, devastating destruction to the environment, and other social evils. When Puerto Rican working people can determine for Blow to Nicaraguan contras themselves how the wealth they produce will be used - to build new schools, hospitals, and housing instead of lining The decision by the presidents of Costa Rica, El Salva­ through as a threat to the Nicaraguan government. the pockets of billionaire families in North America- they dor, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua to move to The 5,000 to I 0,000 contras and their families now won't have to try to squeeze by on meager welfare pay­ disband the U.S.-backed contra bands located in Hondu­ exist almost exclusively in camps inside Honduras. The ments from Washington. ras is a victory for the Nicaraguan workers and peasants, encampment of a large defeated irregular armed force in Nor should it be assumed that an independent Puerto and working people worldwide. that country has put pressure on the Honduran govern­ Rico will inevitably be isolated. It will be able to establish The August 8 decision by the five Central American ment to work out an agreement to demobilize the contra '· trade relations and secure loans from any country it presidents meeting in Tela, Honduras, marks another set­ bands - even over Washington's objections. chooses, including neighboring Cuba. back for Washington's campaign to pressure, isolate, and, The Bush administration had urged the leaders to delay Moreover, it will inspire working people throughout the if possible, overturn the Nicaraguan government, headed a starting date for contra demobilization until after Caribbean and other regions, laying the basis for broad by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). Nicaragua's elections on Feb. 25, 1990. As indications of solidarity. The independence fight and its victory will en­ The accord calls for creation of an "International Com­ a consensus by the Central American governments in courage millions of U.S. workers fighting the employers mission of Support and Verification," which will be favor of the accord grew, a pressure campaign was and their government, too. Their struggle will be an impor­ formed by the United Nations and the Organization of mounted by the Bush administration to stop it. Secretary tant element in staying the hand of Washington in its efforts American States. The commission, to be formed within of State James Baker and Deputy Assistant Secretary of . to isolate and crush a truly independent Puerto Rico. 30 days of the signing of the accord "will be responsible State Bernard Aronson telephoned Costa Rican President The people on two islands in the Caribbean -Cuba and for all activities that make possible the voluntary demobi­ Oscar Arias to express Washington's displeasure. Grenada - have shown that breaking from dependence on lization, repatriation, or relocation, including reception Following the agreement, White House spokesperson U.S . ruling families and charting a course that benefits the and installation of repatriated persons" to Nicaragua or Marlin Fitzwater said, "Our policy is and has been that we big majority is possible. elsewhere by December 5. would not like to see demobilization before the elec­ Grenada, a country of 100,000 people, for example, won The commission is also charged with verifying the tions." Noting that the contras won't be disarmed by its independence from Britain in 1974. Strengthened by "dismantling of the camps left behind by the Resistance force, a senior administration official said they "won't put this, as well as the anticolonial movement sweeping the and Nicaraguan refugees." down their guns until their legitimate grievances are ad­ Caribbean, Grenada's working people five years later over­ "It's the beginning of the demobilization process," said dressed." turned capitalist rule and set up their own revolutionary Nicaraguan Vice-Foreign Minister Victor Hugo Tinoco. The contra war cost the lives of tens of thousands of government. They didn't say they were too small or poor "It means the end of the contras as a military force and the Nicaraguans who fought to defend their sovereignty and to stop bending their knee to imperialism, but established end of the Reagan administration policy that the Bush independence and did billions of dollars in economic their own trade relations and launched a program of eco­ administration inherited." damage to the country. nomic development and social benefits that provided jobs Even though the U.S.-backed contra war against the The five-nation agreement to begin the disbanding of and improved living conditions. Nicaraguan revolution was decisively defeated in 1987, the contras represents a victory for the fight for self-deter­ The revolutionary government was overturned in 1983 Washington has spent $4.9 million a month in 1989 on the mination for the Nicaraguan people. Pressing ahead to cut by internal treachery, not economic or political isolation. contras to hold them together. Its aim was to maintain the U.S. aid to the contras, to end the U.S. economic embargo Revolutionary Grenada, like Cuba, shows the way for contras as a warning to the fSLN government that Wash­ of Nicaragua, and offer U.S. aid to the devastated country Puerto Rico's working people. ington has no intention of normalizing relations. would be another step forward in defending Nicaragua's The accord registers the fact that the contras are workers and peasants.

14 The Militant August 25, 1989 New pamphlet will aid Mark Curtis defense etrort The Stakes in the Woridwide Political Campaign to Defend meat-packing industry, to the bosses' demands for conces­ frame-up was revealed later when Curtis was called a "Me.x­ Mark Curtis. By John Gaige. Published by the Mark sions; and the fights across the Midwest of farmers against ican-lover and colored-lover" by the cops who beat him. Curtis Defense Committee; Box 1048, Des Moines, Iowa, bank foreclosures. Despite the judge's exclusion of key evidence at Curtis' 50311. 25 pp., $1. . Curtis functioned as a unionist and political activist in this trial on rape and burglary charges last September, the evi­ context. He stood up to the company and won when Swift dence presented fit Curtis' story, not the cops. The prosecu­ BY PETER THIERJUNG attempted to fire him for walking off the line for a back tion was not able to provide even a shred of evidence Who is Mark Curtis? Why was he framed and jailed by injury. He participated in protest actions against racism. He substantiating the charges. Iowa authorities? How does a frame-up work? What kind of studied Spanish to better communicate with coworkers "We defend Curtis because the facts show that he is not campaign is being waged on Curtis' behalf? Why should whose first language was not English. And he was deeply guilty of the charges," Gaige says, "not simply because he workers, activists, and defenders of democratic rights join involved in defending his 17 coworkers arrested by the INS. is a worker, a unionist, a political activist, a radical, a together in defending him? "In his daily political activity," Gaige explains, "Curtis socialist, and a member of the SWP." The facts show that A new pamphlet published by the Mark Curtis Defense tried to unite workers" because that is the only way to Curtis was victimized for his political activities. Committee provides convincing and compelling answers to advance the struggle for justice, rights, and better working In the pamphlet, Gaige reviews how the trial was stacked conditions. against Curtis and how a number of his rights were violated. This made Curtis a dangerous man for the employers, but, "Mark is supposed to have the right to the presumption of IN REVIEW Gaige says, "he was not unique. The things he did are the innocence, a very important conquest of humanity," Gaige kinds of activities that thousands of workers in the United says. these questions. It will be an asset in the campaign to gain States and the rest of the world do, workerS who are com­ "The capitalist 'justice' system, however, turns every­ wider support for Mark Curtis, who is serving a 25-year jail bative and have a vision of how to change the world." thing on its head. When it's your word against the cops, term at the Iowa State Men's Reformatory in Anamosa on What happened to Curtis is also not unique Gaige points you're presumed guilty," he explains. frame-up charges of rape and burglary. out. "Cops routinely beat workers, thousands of us, in coun­ The pamphlet ends by quoting from Curtis' statement to The pamphlet is an edited version of a talk in support of tries around the world. As in many other cases of political the court upon his conviction. "Up until now, the goal of a Curtis given by John Gaige, a founding member of the Mark frame-ups, criminal charges are being used to carry out the conviction is succeeding, and like many others, I'll do jail Curtis Defense Committee. Gaige is also the national farm frame-up." time," Curtis said. "But the goal of demoralizing and dis­ work director of the Socialist Workers Party, which Curtis Unable to directly challenge a frame-up victim's activities crediting me and my supporters has not and will not succeed. is a member of. because of formal legal rights, authorities will often concoct I'm going to keep on being part of the fight of working Curtis was arrested by Des Moines, Iowa, police on criminal charges to curtail these activities. "A successful people. As far as that goes I'll never be separated from March 4, 1988. In jail police hit Curtis with a nightstick, frame-up using criminal charges," Gaige explains, "lessens people in struggle for their rights. This battle is not over. My shattered his cheekbone, and put a gash in his face that the political space that working people have to function in." case is unusual in only one respect. That is, the number of required 15 stitches. As they jumped him, they yelled, Wheri did the frame-up begin iri Curtis' case? The mo­ people involved in fighting this victimization, which is only "You're a Mexican-lover,just like you love those coloreds." ment the police began to manufacture evidence to attempt beginning to grow. I will be freed." Curtis' arrest came in the midst of protests against a raid to make criminal charges against him stick. "They haven't been able to break Mark Curtis," Gaige by the Immigration and Naturalization Service at his work­ On March 4, 1988, Curtis, driving to the grocery store, concludes. "He's having political discussions in prison just place, the Swift meat-packing plant. Seventeen of Curtis' responded to a young Black woman's plea for help. She Said like he did at Swift and in Des Moines. He carries himself coworkers were picked up in the raid. someone was after her and needed a ride home. Curtis drove with dignity, And he's effective there." In the pamphlet Gaige explains these facts ana then her home and on her request waited on the front p6rch of her Since Curtis' conviction and imprisonment, support has provides the social arid political background to the raid and house so that she could make sure it was safe inside. been won from thousands of workers, activists, and support­ Curtis' arrest - the employers' assault over the last decade Within minutes Officer Joseph Gonzalez grabbed Curtis, ers of democratic rights in the United States and internation­ against workers' living standards; the huge influx o(immi- · took him inside the house, handcuffed him, pulled down his ally - from the South Pacific to Scandinavia, and from grant workers to the United States, who the employers use pants, and read him his rights. Central America to Canada. This new pamphlet produced as a source of cheap labor and seek to pit against native-born '"When Gonzalez pulled Mark's pants down," Gaige ex­ by the Mark Curtis Defense Committee will help Curtis workers; the rising resistance of workers; particularly in the · pla:ins, ''the frame-up began."·The political character of the supporters advance this fight for justice. -LETTERS Sea turtles Shrimpers have threatened more ~eaD HeR You Have T~e RiGH.;, The Kemp's Ridley sea turtle may blockades if the court grants the · HeR RiGHT. To ReMaiN PlleGNaNT. be protected by U.S. law, but it is injunction the environmentalists not protected by the U.S. govern­ seek. ment. On July 24 Secretary of Com­ Ruth Turpin merce · Robert Mosbacher illegally Hammond, Indiana granted Gulf of Mexico shrimp trawlers a 45-day suspension of fed­ Mark Curtis eral regulations requiring the use of turtle excluder devices on their nets. I am from Des Moines, Iowa, and have come in contact with the Path­ Shrimpers blockaded the Hous­ finder Bookstore. I am very in­ ton ship channel the preceding trigued by your newspaper for it has weekend, but Mosbacher denied insight into worldly topics of great that this affected his decision. For interest. What theMilitant stands for the third straight year shrimpers is real and of great value. have been granted a stay. Sea turtles are oxygen breathers. While. I was at the Iowa State They become trapped in the Men's Reformatory in Anamosa I trawlers' nets and drown ~ The nets had the pleasure of meeting Mark typically scoop up about nine Curtis. I believe Curtis is a very pounds of finned fish, seaweed, and intelligent person .who has become turtles for every pound of shrimp. a victim of CircUillstances, who has been used as a scapegoat. The turtle excluder device, TED, A prisoner is a trap door located near the mouth Mt. Pleasant, Iowa of the net. The turtle can push the door upward on its way to the sur­ face for air. The device weighs 37 Death penalty I pounds and is collapsible on deck. The drug running by Cuban Gen­ innocent person. Why is it not better The function of a corrections sys­ This brings us to the question: Is Environmentalists, including the eral Ochoa and the others is a rep­ for the cause of socialism, and more tem should be correction, not pun­ the death penalty necessary in a Audubon Society and the Center for rehensible act of the highest order, consistent with socialist prinCiples, ishment. Punishment is based on the workers' state? Nicaragua shows by Marine Conservation, sued in amounting even to trc;:ason. The to imprison Ochoa and the others for retrograde notion of revenge. It di­ its example that it is not: they have Houston's Federal District Court on question still is whether execution is life, or even after a periOd of reed­ minishes respect for human life and proudly abolished capital punish­ July 28, but the hearing was post­ proper punishment. ucation to allow them to redeem intimidates workers. But the Cuban ment. poned when the government themselves by spending the rest of In the past the Militant has con­ prison system has been exemplary 'Fhe Militant printed Doug claimed it had not had time to pre­ their lives confessing their crimes sistently opposed the death penalty in many respects, providing rehabil­ Jenness' anti-death penalty column pare. and working for the people? itation and reintegration into society in the United States. Why is this adjacent to an editorial endorsing the "There were 47,000 breeding fe­ Ifeven the most heroic and ardent for convicted offenders. situation different? Ochoa death sentence. As Jenness males on a beach in Mexico in revolutionary can fall so far and yet said, " ... communists pledge to 1947," said Sandra Hoover, execu­ It is certainly possible to argue redeem himself, why would this not It's argued that Ochoa so tar­ against the death penalty in capitalist nished the revolution that only his make elimination of capital punish­ tive director of the Houston Au­ be a positive example of socialism ment part of the program of the society while justifying it under so­ execution could eradicate the stain dubon Society. "This year there are at work? Is this not what rectification workers' and farmers' government." cialism. Under capitalism the death he created. This underestimates the 600." is really all about? Lenin is cited in support of this po­ penalty is undemocratic and repres­ intelligence of people all over the Thomas Kleven sition. sive because it is usually, if not al­ Houston, Texas world. People can and do accept life Correction ways, invoked against those who, imprisonment as an appropriate sen­ We should expect no less of Cuba, however heinous their acts, are tence for heinous crimes. Besides, the most politically advanced In the August 11 issue of themselves victims of the system. Death penalty II those who support the Cuban revo­ workers' state. the article "South Militant, the Like other readers; I am disap­ lution would doubtless accept the Albert Fried-Cassorla African union congress Under true socialism, on the other pointed with the Militant's endorse­ authority of a complete house-clean­ Melrose Park, Pennsylvania meets," on the Congress of hand, one might view the death pen­ ment of the death penalty in the alty as the genuine expression of the ing investigation and trial of those South African Trade Unions Ochoa drug-trafficking case. involved as a sufficient correcting convention in South Africa, people's will in response to crimes The chief determinant of ethics action. The letters column is an open misidentified the head of the that undermine a system benefiting for a revolutionary movement is fomm for all viewpoints on sub­ African National Congress all the people. this: Does an action hinder or hurt Second, it's said that Ochoa au­ jects of general interest to our Foreign Affairs Department in There is, though, a strong argu­ the revolution? I believe that for the thorized the death penalty for Cuban readers. Please keep your letters Lusaka, Zambia, as Govan ment against the death penalty in Cuban revolution, which has com­ soldiers who committed rape in An­ brief. Where necessary they will Mbeki. That name should· almost all contexts. pletely consolidated its authority, the gola ... so he should receive no less be abridged. Please indicate if read Thabo Mbeki. Even under socialism there is a death penalty only serves to degrade a sentence. But does one excess truly you prefer that your initials be risk of abuse and of executing an the moral climate of the nation. warrant another? used rather than your full name.

August 25, 1989 The Militant 15 THEMILITANT New York protest: 'Independence for Puerto Rico! Free prisoners!'

BY MIKE FITZSIMMONS ernment for their support of Puerto Rican AND MIGUEL MELENDEZ independence, such as Farinacci and Rafael NEW YORK- More than 2,000 people Cancel Miranda. Cancel Miranda and four marched here August 12 in a spirited dem­ other independence fighters spent 25 years onstration for Puerto Rican independence. in U.S. prisons for their proindependence The lead banner, carried by the coalition actions. organizing the march, read, "/ndependencia, James Harris, Socialist Workers Party can­ sf; colonialismo, no!" (Independence, yes; didate for mayor of New York City, spoke colonialism, no!). about the importance of bringing the truth Now is an important time, explained Car­ about the anticolonial struggle in Puerto Rico los Gallisa, general secretary of the Puerto to all working people fighting for their rights. Rican Socialist party, as thousands have This perspective will lead to greater unity united in protests in Puerto Rico and the against U.S. colonialism and imperialism, the United States in support of independence. common enemy of people around the world, Some 80,000 proindependence supporters he said. marched in Puerto Rico in June. Addressing Harris added that the SWP is campaigning the crowd, Gallisa said imperialism has failed to publicize the truth about the gains being for 91 years to crush the Puerto Rican inde­ registered by the Cuban revolution today. The pendence struggle. He called for a boycott of party is also promoting an Action Program the proposed plebiscite on the status of Puerto that explains why working people must unite Rico now being debated in the U.S. Senate. in struggle to defend themselves against the A torrential rainstorm hit the march as it effects of the coming worldwide economic headed from the Lower East Side to the crisis by fighting to cancel the Third World United Nations. Despite the streets being debt, to shorten the workweek and to defend flooded and subway trains shut down, march­ affirmative action. ers proceeded enthusiastically, with pro­ Rapu Molekane also addressed the crowd. independence chants and songs, accompa­ Molekane is general secretary of the South nied by drums. African Youth Congress and on the executive , : ~. - committee of the United Democratic Front 'Protest colonialism' Militant/Margrethe Siem 2,000 marched August 12 in New York for PuertoRican independence of South Mrica. As part of the current defi­ "This action is to protest colonialism," said ance campaign against apartheid regulations, Andres Sierra, a member of the Andres Fi­ Molekane is touring the United States to gueroa Cordero Foundation. "On August 16 fight for its independence until it's .won, framed up by the U.S. government, also broaden support for the fight against apart­ and 17 the case of Puerto Rico will be dis­ whatever the cost." spoke. One of the central demands of the heid. He expressed support for the Puerto cussed before the United Nations Commis­ march was for freedom for all Puerto Rican Rican independence struggle and discussed sion on Decolonization." Political prisoners political prisoners. the need to organize more pressure to help "We also want to protest against the pleb­ Jorge Farinacci, one of the Puerto The warmest welcome was given to those break U.S. government ties with South M­ iscite." The U.S. Senate's proposal that the Rico/Hartford 15 independence fighters who have been victimized by the U.S. gov- rica. Puerto Rican people vote on their form of government "is an invention made in Wash­ ington," Sierra said. "The U.S. rulers want to take the case of Puerto Rico out of the United UN discusses Puerto Rico's status Nations. You should note that the U.S. Senate conducted hearings on the plebiscite just be­ BY SELVA NEBBIA decisions we did not control." faith concerning the right of the Puerto. Rican fore the UN's hearings on the colonial status UNITED NATIONS, August 16-The Vargas described the effects·of colonialism people to exercise self-determination," Al­ of Puerto Rico." This is a transparent attempt UN Special Committee on Decolonization on 2.5 million Puerto Ricans living in the isberg pointed out, it should "grant amnesty to influence the debate in the UN, continued opened its annual session here today to dis­ United States. "As part of the urban poor," to all incarcerated Puerto Rican political pris­ Sierra, as his contingent prepared to join the cuss the case of Puerto Rico. he explained, "we have been subjected, along oners and prisoners of war." march. The committee, whose purpose is to take with African-Americans and other oppressed Former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Buses brought participants to the march up implementing the UN declaration on national, racial, and ethnic minorities, to ra­ Clark also addressed the UN hearing. "It is from Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Bos­ granting independence to colonial countries cial violence, inadequate health services, seg­ difficult to identify a more extreme case of · ton, and Hartford, Connecticut. Most of the and peoples, was scheduled to meet for two regated and substandard housing, un­ colonialism during the last 500 years than the days. derfunded and segregated education and low­ case of Puerto Rico," he explained. However, due to the great number of rep­ wage jobs with few if any benefits." "First a colony of Spain for nearly four "U.S. gov't proposal for resentatives of organizations that have signed Many of the speakers referred to the pro­ centuries, since 1898 we have seen the colo­ up to address the hearings, it will probably posed plebiscite on Puerto Rico's status that nial exploitation of that island by the United plebiscite in Puerto extend through August 18. is being discussed in the U.S. Congress. States," Clark added. More than 60 organizations have signed Awilda Palau spoke on behalf of the Puerto Rico is violation up to present their views on the political status Rican Committee of Intellectuals. She called Representatives from two masonic lodges, of self-determination." of Puerto Rico, a U.S. colony since 1898. for an end to the jurisdiction of U.S. federal including a women's lodge named after The two main positions presented by the courts in Puerto Rico, an end to the applica­ Puerto Rican patriot and poet Julia deB urgos, speakers have been that of those who advo­ tion of the Taft-Hartley law in Puerto Rico, spoke in favor of Puerto Rico's right to self­ marchers were members of a variety of cate an independent and sovereign Puerto and "an end to the repression and for freedom determination. Puerto Rican community organizations such Rico and those who favor the annexation of to all those who are imprisoned for demand­ as the Women's Issues Group from Hartford Puerto Rico to the United States as its 51st ing their right to self-determination." Statehood and the Albizu Campos Cultural Center from state. Palau was accompanied by Jacinto Rivera, Among those who spoke in favor of Puerto Chicago. The first two speakers, Nora Rodriguez representing the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico's annexation to the United States were North American and Puerto Rican political Matias and Jose Milton Sotero, representing Rico, and by Moises Mendez LOpez, presi­ representatives of the Cahuas Committee for organizations also participated, including the the Puerto Rican Bar Association and the dent of the Federation of Proindependence Statehood, Youth in Favor of Statehood, Puerto Rican Socialist Party, Movement for Puerto Rican Committee to the UN respec­ University Students. Statehooders in Action, and the New Popular National Liberation, Workers World Party, tively, urged the UN to adopt a resolution Party. They called on the UN committee not War Resisters League, Socialist Workers similar to ones approved by that body in Symbol of colonialism to interfere in the case of Puerto Rico, since Party, Young Socialist Alliance, and recent years reaffirming Puerto Rico's right "As we speak today, the trial by the U.S. this was an "internal matter of the United Women's Workshop in the Americas. to self-determination. government in Puerto Rico of independence States." The resolution adopted in 1988 states that and freedom fighter Filiberto Ojeda Rios is Only about a third of those who signed up There were representatives from the main the UN "reaffirms the inalienable right of the reaching its conclusion," said Nancy Al­ to speak at the hearings were able to get the organizations in support of the Cuban revo­ people of Puerto Rico to self-determination isberg, representing the National Lawyers floor today. Among those scheduled to speak lution in the United States: the Venceremos and independence" and "expres~s its hope, Guild. on August 17 and 18 are: Carlos Gallisa, Brigade, Antonio Maceo Brigade, and Casa and that of the international community, that "Ojeda Rios is being tried in an English­ general secretary of the Puerto Rican Social­ de las Americas. Also present were several the people of Puerto Rico may exercise with­ speaking U.S. court in San Juan -the clear­ ist Party; Rafael Cancel Miranda, a former organizations from the Dominican commu­ out hindrance its right to self-determination, est symbol of colonialism - for defending political prisoner who spent 25 years in a U.S. nity and Central America solidarity activists. with the express recognition of the people's his home, his wife, and his country from prison; Juan Mari Bras from Independence A vocal contingent represented students sovereignty and full political equality." dozens of heavily armed FBI agents, includ­ Common Cause; Juan Manuel Delgado from from Hostos College in the Bronx. A student Speaking as president of the National Con­ ing helicopters and bazookas, who attempted the Anti-Plebiscite Committee; James Harris, leader explained what he thought of the pleb­ gress for Puerto Rican Rights, Edwin Vargas, to assassinate him in the early hours of Aug. Socialist Workers Party; Luis Amauri Suarez iscite: ''An oppressed people cannot re­ Jr. stated, "Those of us who live here in the 30, 1985," explained Alisberg. Zayas, general secretary of the General nounce its own independence. So the plebi­ continental United States were the first vic­ Alisberg detailed the situation facing Workers Council of Puerto Rico; and Jose scite is a farce. The United States has to tims of colonialism, forced to migrate by the Puerto Rican political prisoners in U.S. jails. Luis Leon, from the United Committee understand that the Puerto Rican people will economic dislocation-wrought by investment "If the U.S. government is operating in good Against Repression (CUCRE).

16 The Militant August 25, 1989