Zimbabwe vote: victoryfor Black freedom -PAGE 8

MARCH 14, 1980 50 CENTS VOLUME 44/NUMBER 9

A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY /PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE

arc --.

NOWcalls nat'I march lor ERA:Chicago, May 11 The National Organization for month voted unanimously to en- · Women has called a national dorse the labor conference and march for ratification of the Equal march. Rights Amendment in Chicago on At a February 16 Detroit-area the weekend of Mothers Day, May conference on "Labor's · Case for 11. The action is announced on the the ERA," NOW representative front page of the March issue of Ruth Whitney announced the National NOW Times. spring campaign for ERA ratifica­ tion in Illinois to an enthusiastic The march will be the culmina­ audience. She stressed the impor­ tion of ERA activities in Illinois tance of labor in other states build­ this spring. A labor conference for ing this action. the ERA is slated for April 26. Illinois is the only northern The Chicago Coalition of Labor industrial state that has not rati­ Union Women is working with fied the ERA. A massive turnout NOW to build the spring activities. in Chicago can break through the The United Steelworkers District log jam on ratification and give 31 Women's Conference last powerful impetus to winning ERA. In Our Opinion VOLUME 44/NUMBER 9 MARCH 14, 1980 CLOSING NEWS DATE-MARCH 5

So Washington must also try to defuse the existed in Colombia have been under siege. explosive potential of the Arab revolution. The That is why a group of youth seized the imperialists hope to convince the Palestinian Dominican Republic's Embassy in Bogota, and Arab masses that gains can be made in Colombia, and now holds dozens of diplomats alliance with Washington. hostage. Eighteen months of Turbay Ayala's Hence the need for Washington to take some repression evidently convinced them that only distance from the most extreme policies of the extreme measures would get a response. Begin government of Israel. They are demanding that the government But whenever the issue is pressed, Washing­ free several hundred political prisoners. They ton will side with its basic ally, Israel. want an end to torture and legalized murder. Washington will never seriously pressure These demands deserve support. They ought Israel to pull back from its expansionism and to be granted without delay. aggressive opposition to Palestinian rights. BehindCarter's These policies are built into the nature of the colonial-settler state, and Washington knows Iran:truth will out it. - On Sunday, March 2, the popular television flip-flop-on U.N. vote The settlements policy goes to the heart of news program, 60 Minutes, confirmed every Seven months after the Andrew Young the problem. Israel was founded through such major charge the Iranian people have made affair, the Carter administration is once again expansionist policies, that is, taking lands against the U.S. government. embroiled in an embarassing flap over its from the Arabs, and then expelling them. In answering the question, "Why has the Mideast policy. Replying to Israeli critics of the settlements, taking of the American hostages received such On March 1, U.N. Ambassador Donald Israeli Agricultural Minister Ariel Sharon massive support from Iran's people," reporter McHenry voted with all the other United recently said that the current-day settlers "are Mike Wallace revealed the following: Nations Security Council members for a reso­ really fulfilling what their parents [the Zionist • The CIA put the shah back in power in lution that "strongly deplores" Israel's settle­ pioneers] were doing." 1953. ment policy in the occupied West Bank-Arab Only the American working class can force • The CIA organized SAV AK, the shah's territories captured by the Zionists in the 1967 an end to U.S. backing for Israel's outrageous secret police, and trained its agents in "interro­ war. violations of Palestinian rights. gation techniques." Three days later, the White House said the Stop all U.S. aid to Israel! • To.rture on ·a massive scale was practiced vote had been an error, the result of a "failure under the shah. in communications" between Washington and • The U.S. embassy deliberately suppressed McHenry's office in New York. Secretary of information about this in order to support the State Cyru.s Vance is now taking the blame. Bogotajustice shah. But almost no one believes the White House This is justice in Colombia: • The U.S. still harbors SAV AK agents account. A dissident city council member is arrested responsible for the death of hundreds of peo­ What is the underlying cause of this gaffe? by the military. His corpse is later released by ple. To portray it as personal bumbling or indeci­ the army. He has been tortured. • The U.S. government planned to admit siveness on Carter's part misses the point. Students are picked up by the military the shah months before his alleged illness, Underlying the administration's floundering police. Their bodies turn up later on deserted knowing that this would produce an explosion Mideast policy is the overall weakening of U.S. roads. in Iran. imperialism in the region since the Iranian Government-backed terror squads gun down Ori March 4, members of the family of revolution. trade unionists and other "trouble-makers." hostage John Earl Graves demanded that On the one hand, the overthrow of the_ shah A group of 350 people is tried by a military Carter apologize to Iran for the U.S. govern­ drove home Washington's dependence on the tribunal on charges of belonging to guerrilla ment's actions. Zionist state as its only reliable ally in the organizations. They are denied any opportun­ "We're going to have to admit to what past Mideast, the only one that can be counted on ity to defend themselves. Their trial judge also administrations did in Iran," said Graves's to protect imperialist interests against the commands the most infamous torture center in daughter, Lizette. Arab revolution. This holds true regardless of Colombia. All are convicted. "We have to stop meddling in other people's tactical differences between Washington and When union leaders and civil libertarians affairs," said Bonnie Graves, the hostage's Tel Aviv. protest, President Turbay Ayala threatens wife. "We can't continue in our neocolonialist On the other hand, Iran also showed the them with repressive measures. approach." limits on the ability of either Washington or Since Turbay Ayala invoked the "security The revelations on 60 Minutes point to the Israel to intervene with military force at any statute" in September 1978, a month after only just solution to the hostage crisis: send given moment. taking office, the shreds of human rights that back the shah!

MilitantHighlights This Week The Militant Editor: STEVE CLARK AIIOClate Editor1 : CINDY JAQUITH ANDY ROSE 3 Pulley: All out Merch 22 Bu1in911 Manager : PETER SEIDMAN 5 Antldralt movement and Alghanl1tan Editorial Staff : Nancy Cole, Fred Feldman, Jim Sale, drive to bulld March 22 Full aid to Nicaragua! Garrison, Suzanne Haig , Osborne Hart, Gus 6 Kabul 'uprising': what really happened? Horowitz, Diane Jacobs, August Nimtz, Harry Socialist vice-presidential candidate Matilde Ring, Dick Roberts, Priscilla Schenk, Stu Singer. 7 Iran worker1 rally at U.S. Emba11y Zimmermann charges U.S. Congress is 8 Zimbabwe victory for liberation lorcn holding reconstruction funds hostage. Page Published weekly by the MIiitant (ISSN 0026-3885), 14 Charles Lane, 9 Record .. tety vlolatloni at Va. 1hlpyard 13. New York, N.Y. 10014. Telephone: 10 Soclall1t a11all1 FBI In KKK bombing Editorial Office, (212) 243-6392; Busi­ 11 Campaign fund ·drive ness Office, (212) 929-3486. 12 Women 1tNlworker1 fight layoff, CoffNPO"denc• concerning eub- 13 Soclall1t hlll Congn111 on Nicaragua blll 1ertptlon1 or chtingH of lddr• 16 Appeal, board hear1 Marroquin caH lhould be eddrHNCI to Th• Mlllt•nt 8111lnen Officf., 14 Ch8r1H 17 Leader1hlp IChOOI begin, HUion, une. Chicago fire fighters Ne- York, N.Y. 10014. 18 Fla. nuclear accident Labor forms coalition to back striking unionists. Page 9. Second-class postage paid at New 20 Labor campaign In Quebec York, N.Y. Subscriptions: U.S. $20.00 22 Cuba 1how1 way agaln1t recl1m a year, outside U.S. $25.00. By first­ 23 Tank, overflow but oll prlcn 10ar class mail: U.S., Canada, and Mexico: $50.00. Write for airmail rates to all 10 HMr Soc/al/it Workers C.nd#date1 other countries. 11 C.mpetgnlng tor S0c#al/1m For 1ubscriptlon1 airfreighted to London and then posted to Britain and Ireland: £3.00 for" ten 18 No Nulceal 118U89,£8.00 for 1ix months (twenty-lour l11un). 24 In Rewew £11.00 for one year (forty-eight luun). POiied 25 The Great Society Steel women and layoffs from London to Continental Europe: £4.50 for By Any Mean, Nflce, .. ry ten issun. £10.00 for 1ix months, £15 .00 for one What'• Going On USWA District 31 Women's Conference discussed how to year. Send check, or International money order (peyable to /nt•rcontinental Preu account) to 26 Our Revolutionary Heritage fight attacks on affirmative-action hiring gains. Page 12. Intercontinental Pr811 (The Militant). P.O. Box Leffers 50. London N1 2XP. England. 27 Learning About Soclallam Signed artlcln by contributors do not necff­ .. rlly represent the Militanrs vi-•·Th- are exprnsed in edltoriela.

2 ' ~-,. )·. • ·. . ; :iu', ;'.' ' Nat'I antidrafl march gathers momentum By Suzanne Haig campaign, assemblies in high schools, Teach-ins ,· rallies, bus ticket sales, and a March 20 rally outside Central and other activities are under way to High School in Newark. build the March 22 National Demon­ In Baltimore buses are being organ­ stration against Registration and the ized citywide by the Americans Draft in Washington, D.C. Friends Service Committee and at The Mobilization Against the Draft Johns Hopkins University, where fifty office in Washington has printed leaf­ to sixty people have already signed up. lets and posters, which are finding Antidraft sentiment is high there. A their · way onto telephone poles and recent campus poll showed 70 percent campus bulletin boards across _the of the student body against the draft. country. A meeting on Women, the ERA, and International Women's Day, March the Draft will be held there March 16. 8, has become part of the antidraft Speakers include Caroline Finney, fight this year with actions stressing chair of Baltimore National Organiza­ women's opposition to the draft for tion for Women's minority women's both sexes. task force; Octavia Roberts, Central The mobilization office has an­ Labor Council ERA Committee chair; nounced that the March 22 speakers Matilde Zimmermann, Socialist Work­ list will include: Bella Abzug , Rev. Ben ers Party candidate for U.S. vice­ Chavis, Washington City Councilper­ president; and others. It is co­ son Hilda Mason, Stokley Carmichael, sponsored by the women's caucus of Rev. William Coffin, Michael Harring­ Maryland CARD and Johns Hopkins ton of the Democratic Socialist Organ­ CARD. izing Committee, Maggie Kuhn of the Campus planning meetings are also Grey Panthers, Rev. Barry Lynn of scheduled at City College of Baltimore, Committee against Registration and University of Maryland School of So­ the Draft, Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-Ore.), cial Work, and the University of Mary­ Rep. Robert Kastenmeier (R.-Wis.), and land, Baltimore County. Rep. Theodore Weiss (D.-N.Y.). In addition a petition is being circu­ lated at Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows North to south Point plant. Colleges and high schools in New Further south in Virginia, blizzard York City are targeting the first half of conditions did not keep antidraft acti­ March for teach-ins to build March 22. vists from contacting religious figures, The schedule includes Hunter College Black, labor, and student groups to on March 5; Stuyvesant High School, Poster Issued by .Moblllzatlon Against the Draft attend a planning meeting at the Uni­ March 17; a twelve-hour teach-in at tarian Church in Norfolk March 8 to New York University , March 8; Brook­ organize support for March 22 in the lyn College, March 3 and 5; Cooper ganized from the mobilization office in tended a planning meeting February Tidewater area. Union, March 4; and nightly forums New York City. 29 called by the Y outli Committee Fifty people representing a number for a week at Columbia University. Thirty people, primarily . Newark, Against the Draft. of organizations formed Atlanta Buses to Washington are being or- New Jersey, high school students , at- Their plans include a petitioning CARD on February 29. They have reserved three buses. Three campus groups in Atlanta are organizing against the draft. Two are at Atlanta University: the National Black Student Association and the Black Students Coalition of Atlanta, which had a successful picket line around the campus February 29. The third is at Georgia State College. Midwest The St. Louis Coalition Against the . Draft called a successful demonstra­ tion of 350 people February 16. Partici­ pating in the march was a spirited group of steelworkers from American Steel Foundry in Granite City, Illinois. Young socialists who are active in the draft coalition brought leaflets and antidraft buttons to their co-workers at the plant, who were so interested that they decided to form a contingent for the march. The steelworkers pooled their money for a banner reading "Steelworkers Against the Draft," which was well received by the other demonstrators. Union activity is also occurring in Detroit. The political/legislative com­ mittee of the United Auto Workers Continued on next page

THE MILITANT PERSPECTIVA MUNDIAL ( ) $2.50-ten weeks (new subscrib- Biweekly Spanish-language Keep up ers only) socialist magazine ( ) $5-four months ( ) $12-six months ( ) $5-five months ( ) $20-one year ( ) $12-qne year with the Name Name Address ------­ Address ------City ______.:___ struggle... City ------State Zip ___ _ State Zip __ _ Send to : 14 Charles Lane, New York, Send to: 408 West Street, New York, Subscribe today New York 10014. New York 10014.

THE MILITANT/MARCH 14, 1980 3 Wideningprotests shake plans for draft By Gus Horowitz incensed at the draft registration prop­ The presidential race has also been When President Carter came before osals. Rev. Joseph Lowery, president of , affected as Edward Kennedy, his cam­ Congress on January 23 to deliver his the Southern Christian Leadership paign faltering, decided to criticize the State of the Union address, he received Conference, said February 21: "Lei plan, and began picking up votes in a hearty ovation. them draft the rich old men who are the · New Hampshire primary as his His appeal for economic sacrifice at always making decisions to send poor position became known. Although home and increased military power young men to die." Kennedy lost, the very fact that a abroad, including plans to register Young women, who for the first time leading contender for the nomination young people for the draft, seemed to face the possibility of being drafted, could consider an antidraft stance as strike just the right chord among the have been strongly represented in the beneficial to his campaign is an ac­ assembled senators and representa­ antidraft demonstrations. knowledgement that antidraft atti­ tives. They were not being called upon This growing movement against the tudes are widespread. to sacrifice their own lives or well­ draft shows that Carter is still far from In announcing his registration ·plan, being, to be sure, and were quite wi­ his objective of reversing the antiwar President Carter argued that it was a lling to see how the idea went over sentiment that arose during the Viet- necessary precaution in case the draft with the rest of us. nam war era. itself was required in the future. White They soon found out. In fact, the antidraft protests today House representatives said that it The student movement, about ~hich are as large as most of the protests would save up to 100 days of mobiliza­ so many obituaries had been written in that developed against the Vietnam tion time . the mass media, took on new life. war in 1965 and 1966, in many cases This argument was exposed as Demonstrators by the thousands, in all larger; and they are much more wide­ fraudulent on February 25 when Sena­ parts of the country, showed that an­ spread geographically. The involve­ tor Mark Hatfield released a recent tidraft feeling on the campuses runs ment of women, Blacks, and Latinos is report by the Director of Selective high. more developed. The fact that there are Service himself, stating that the differ­ Similar sentiment is reported among already dissenting positions by labor ence would be only seven days. young workers in the plants. William officials on all levels is a stage far in Why, then, did Carter even announce Winpisinger, president of the Interna­ advance of the early years of the the registration plan? tional Association of Machinists, said movement against the Vietnam War. he views the draft registration prop­ Test osal as risking the alienation of Problems in Congress It was a test: to probe the willingness another generation of American youth. These signs of persistent antiwar of young people to go along, and to Significantly, Winpisinger and feeling have caused problems for Car­ continue prodding working people into George Hardy, president of the Service ter in Congress, where several legisla­ accepting Washington's pro-war for­ Employees International Union, voted tors have been prompted to object. eign policy. against the AFL-CIO executive coun­ On February 26, their objections, The New York Times explained this ··,< cil's pro-draft position. This contrasts combined with those of the hawks, explicitly in a February 10 editorial: Militant/Susie Beck with the usual pro-war consensus in who say that Carter's war plans don't "At the moment, we see only one Involvement of union activists Is sign of the top councils of the AFL.,CIO. It is a go far enough, caused a tie vote on the powerful reason to ask young Ameri­ potential power of new antldraft move­ sure sign that the dissident officials measure in a House of Representatives cans to register for an eventual mil­ ment. perceive a widespread antiwar mood in appropriations subcommittee . This will itary draft: to demonstrate that the the ranks. cause the measure to be debated in the public, and especially the generation Blacks and Latinos, who suffered a committee as a whole. The House must that grew up with Vietnam, is once The Times editorial indicates how. disproportionately large percentage of approve funding before the draft regis­ more ready to contemplate conscrip­ high are the stakes involved . If the the dead and wounded in Vietnam, are tration plan can go into effect. tion for military action abroad." antidraft protests continue, if they spread and grow larger, then it will be a clear demonstration of the very oppo­ site that the Times hopes for. It will show that the generation that -Nod.raft! grew up with Vietnam is no more Andrew Pulley and Matilde Zimmer­ D I want tQ join the Young Socialist ready to contemplate conscription for mann, Socialist Workers Party candi­ Alliance. military action abroad than their dates for president and vice-president, predecessors of the 1960s. are campaigning against Washington's A copy of our report is filed with the Federal Carter's draft registration proposal Election Commission and is available for pur­ plans to send American youth to fight chase from the Federal Election Commission , is clearly in trouble, not only in Con­ and die in new Vietnams. Join us! Washington, · D.C. gress, but also, and more importantly, D Add my name to the list of Young A federal court ruling allows us not to disclose among the tens of millions of working Socialists for Pulley and Zimmer­ the names of contributors in order to protect their people who do not want to get involved mann. First Amendment rights. in new Vietnam wars. D Send me Andrew Pulley's brochure, Name ------­ St U ·. The registration plan is not doomed How to stop the draft-4¢ a copy. op .S.war drive to defeat, however. Rather, a battle is D Send me the c_ampaign poster "No Address ------­ shaping up. As the Vietnam antiwar draft"-3¢ a copy. City ______State __ _ experience showed, the outcome of this D Send me the YSPZ antidraft Zip _____ Phone VOTE battle will be decided primarily by the button-50¢ each, 35¢ each for 10 or actions that take place in the streets, more. Union / School/org. ------­ !9t)IALIST and by the overall mood of opposition D Send me a one-year subscription to Send to: Socialist Workers Presi .dential ww0RKERS that these actions generate and rein­ the Young Socialist newspaper . En­ Campaign Committee, 14 Charles 1bungSocialists for force among the population as a whole. - '"•~-·-·--... Pulleyand Zimmerllldnn closed is $1. New York, New York 10014 --- '"""-- r- .... ;,o,.,r.o,_~ - ,-.M ,.,,,, It is in that spirit that antidraft activists are working to bring the largest possible turnout to the March 22 antidraft demonstration in Wash­ ington, D.C., and elsewhere.

Rallies and teach-ins have occurred In Seattle, Washington, 500 people other actions, for posters, leaflets, or at Macalester College, Collegeville, the ra.llied February 23 in an action organ­ bus information contact Mobilization ...nat'I march College of St. Benedict, and St. Johns ized by Seattle CARD. against the Draft: Continued from preceding page University in Minnesota. A state-wide demonstration 1s In Washington, D.C. (202) 234-6883 Region 1 Youth Council met February planned for March 15 in Olympia. In New York City (212) 260-2002 23 and decided to hold a speakout on Out West For further information on these and In San Francisco (415) 731-9378. the draft after March 22. It will include March 22 was endorsed by acclama­ the Region 1 Women's Council. tion by 400 participants at a teach-in sponsored by some thirty groups at the Detroit CARD has reserved three University of Colorado in Boulder Feb­ buses for Washington. Two high ruary 29-March 2. Antiwar activistframed-up schools are starting CARD chapters They also endorsed an International and are planning a day to sell tags PORTLAND-Frank Giese, a 63- Major evidence at the trial con­ Women's Day Stop the Draft rally on year-old Vietnam antiwar activist sisted of radical books, some used reading "no registration, no draft" at March 8. school to raise money for the buses. framed-up on charges of conspiracy as college texts, found at the de­ Chicago CARD has called a rally for The West Coast Mobilization against to bomb military recruitment build­ fendants' homes. Friday, March 21, at the Daley Plaza the Draft has called a March 22 action ings in 1973, was sentenced Febru­ Giese had lost his appeal to the to send off the buses for Washington in San Francisco. San Francisco State ary 22 to two and a half years in U.S. Supreme Court in December, and provide a focus for people not able College plans a rally March 12 and a jail plus a $5,000 fine. and was appealing to U.S. District to go. forum March 19 to build for the action. Giese, a former French professor Judge James Burns for a reduction CARD and other groups have called Teach-ins have been held at Univer­ at Portland State University, was of his sentence to the ten weeks he a picket line in Cincinnati March 15 at sity of California, Berkeley, March 4, convicted in 1974 on the basis of had already served. the post office. Buses are being re­ and Laney College, February 28. flimsy evidence from two witnesses Giese and his supporters, who served. Organizers for the March 22 action arrested before him. One testified packed the courtroom and adjacent A March 15 march and rally are also in Los Angeles have announced two of against Giese to reduce his own hallways, were stunned to hear the planned in Milwaukee by the Wiscon­ their speakers. They are Vietnam Vete­ bond; the other later admitted to judge's decision to cut the original sin Committee Against the Draft. rans leader Ron Kovic and Rev. James lying. sentence only in half. St. Paul, Minnesota, will hold a Lawson, vice-president of the Southern March 22 action to coincide with the Christian Leadership Conference, west- national march. ern region. L...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-' 4 ShOuldantidraft movement take a positionon Afghanistan? By Paul Mailhot zation Against the Draft headquarters these questions by antidraft activists been trying to drum into our heads. The March 22 antidraft protest in in Washington, D.G., contribute to this is just beginning. And the paragraph passes over the Washington, D.C., can be an important goal-such as the leaflet ·and poster Caution is especially warranted now-public drive by Washington to blow to Carter's efforts to turn Ameri­ building March 22. since the information most Americans bring down the Kabul government, can youth into raw material for new But the call issued by majority vote are getting about Iran and Afghani­ including the CIA's provision of arms Vietnams. of the mobilization steering committee stan is coming from the very govern­ and other help to the rightists. Doesn't The slogans of the .demQnstration has important weaknesses. ment and establishment press that are this violate the "self-determination are: No registration! No draft! No war! While stressing the antidraft focus of trying to stampede us into accepting and independence" of Afghanistan? They express convictions that are at­ March 22 and reaffirming the central the draft. (For examples of how the The statement that the draft "would tracting support from college and high slogans, the call states: news media lie about Afghanistan, see not have prevented either crisis" may school students, Black and women's "We forthrightly condemn the taking page 6.) be read as implying that the authors rights activists, unionists, and others. of hostages in Iran and support the A significant number of antidraft would favor military measures if they The key to building the most effec­ call for an international tribunal to activists-including members of the could be shown to be effective weapons tive antidraft action March 22 is to investigate the crimes of the shah. We Socialist Workers Party, Young Social­ against Iran, Afghanistan, and the unite in action as many people as oppose the Soviet intervention in Af­ ist Alliance, Communist Party, Young Soviet Union. possible. This is also a vital need for ghanistan, as we oppose all violations Workers Liberation League, Workers We think few antidraft activists going on from March 22 to build a of self-determination and national in: World Party, and others-strongly want to be committed to a hastily movement that can stop the draft and dependence." It adds, "Draft registra­ differ with the position taken in the adopted stand on Afghanistan or Iran other war moves by the Carter admin­ tion is inappropriate and would ·not call. without thorough discussion. istration. have prevented either crisis in any Many more are still making up their Most materials issued by the Mobili- case." minds. A similar debate arose during the It was incorrect, we think, to attempt The rush to judgment on Iran and struggle to end the war in Vietnam. Paul Mailhot is National Organiza­ to present these stands as the consi­ Afghanistan by the authors of the call After U.S. forces began to be sent to tion Secretary of the Young Social­ dered position of the March 22 anti­ did not go over very well in some local South Vietnam in the early . 1960s, ist A7liance. draft demonstrators. Discussion of antidraft coalitions that are building some in the peace movement insisted March 22. In Cleveland, Washington, that antiwar actions must "equally" D.C., and New York, coalitions decided condemn both the U.S. government that such statements are out of place and the North Vietnamese. in a call for united antidraft action. The Socialist Workers Party and In our opinion, the controversial Young Socialist Alliance were among If you oppose passage is wrong on every count. It those who insisted that, to be effective, makes an unwarranted concession to an American antiwar movement must Carter's plan the Carter administration's claim that direct its fire at the U.S. government. the Iranian masses, the Afghan gov­ And we explained that there was much for draft ernment, and the Soviet Union are more to the Vietnamese struggle than threats to peace requiring a response was being presented in the U.S. media. registration, by Washington. In the course of discussions, debates, It contains an implicit estimate that and the test of events, a big majority of you'll want to read the targets of the Carter administra­ the organized antiwar movement came tion's ire may b.e equally to blame for to share this view. Millions learned this book. the war danger. that the Vietnamese were fighting a In the case oflran, growing numbers just struggle for national liberation of Americans are beginning to realize and social progress. Teach-ins to get that Carter provoked the hostage crisis out the facts about Vietnam helped the Out Now! A Participant's Account by bringing the shah to the United educational process. of the American Movement Against States. Condemnation of Iran is espe­ Today, antidraft teach-ins and other the Vietnam War. By Fred Halstead . the Vietnam War . . ." Dr. Benjamin cially out of place considering that educational activities, such as those Spock Carter has sent the largest naval ar­ called for by the United States Student "A vivid and valuable account of a mada in the world (and, most recently, Association, can be a good format for If you're interested in preventing mass popular movement that had a 1,800 marines) to threaten that coun­ airing viewpoints and getting out another Vietnam, read Out Now! tremendous impact on modern his­ try. facts. This can provide activists with tory ... an important contribution A Monad Press book, 759 pages. As for Afghanistan, the paragraph powerful arguments against Carter's . ." Noam Chomsky $8.95 (include 75¢ for postage). implies that the right-wing rebels-not justifications for the draft . 0 rder from Pathfinder Press , 410 the Afghan government-represent the As discussions continue, the building "Out Nowt brings back vividly the West Street, New York, New York "self-determination and independence" of the biggest possible demonstration whole story of the struggle to end 10014. of the Afghan people . This, of course, March 22 remains top priority. is what Carter and the media have All out for March 22! Militant,PM sales drive to build March 22 By Peter Seidman Andrew Pulley and Matilde Zimmer­ paign. To get involved, contact the 35¢ per copy from: Militant Circu­ Next week members of the Socialist mann on the ballot in thirty states. SWP or YSA branch nearest you lation Office, 14 Charles Lane, Workers Party and Young Socialist Petitioning for ballot status-a top (see page 27). Or you can order New York, N.Y. 10014. Telephone: Alliance begin an eight-week drive to priority for all SWP branches this bundles of five or more papers at (212) 929-3486. sell single copies and subscriptions of election year-will take a lot of time the Militant and its Spanish-language and energy. sister publication Perspectiva Mundial. Nonetheless, as the scoreboard indi­ This sales campaign_ opens during a cates, when they're not petitioning, Projectedsales goals week of intense activity leading up to most SWP branches and YSA chapters the March 22 national march against plan to sell roughly the same number Papers Lower Manhattan 60 40 30 the draft. of papers per week as during last fall's per week Upper Manhattan 95 30 40 To ht1lP build this action, many circulation drive. City MIiitant PM Subs Newark 140 20 30 branches and chapters of the SWP and Branches also plan to sell about the Albany 73 2 25 Phlladelphla 135 25 60 YSA will take larger than usual bun­ same number of subs per month as last Albuquerque 115 25 30 Phoenix 100 25 25 dles of papers to sell. fall-except, again, when petitioning. Atlanta 100 25 Piedmont 90 20 Some areas, with big responsibilities Socialists will pay special ·attention Baltimore 80 20 Pittsburgh 185 50 for petitioning to put the 1980 presiden­ during the drive to maintaining their Boston 150 40 Portland 85 20 tial ticket of the SWP on the ballot, progress with industrial sales at plant Chicago 215 35 50 Salt Lake City 110 5 20 may schedule special target weeks for gates and on the job. These were 16 Cincinnati 80 15 San Antonio 60 25 25 later in the drive instead. percent of last fall's total sales. Cleveland 70 15 San Diego 120 20 40 San Jose 90 25 This spring will be a good time for Weekly PM goals reported so far this Dallas 80 20 25 Seattle 152 8 circulating the socialist press. There spring are somewhat lower than last Denver 86 14 20 30 St. Louis 95 20 have already been significant demon­ fall. Detroit 210 10 100 Tacoma 110 20 strations like the one against Klan The issue of PM sold during the first Gary 90 10 25 Tidewater · . violence in Greensboro, North Carol­ week of the sales drive (number five), Houston 60 25 80 25 ina, on February 2. should give a real boost. to this aspect lndlanapolls 75 15 Toledo 60 15 And there are a lot more such ac­ of the campaign. Features include an Iron Range 70 35 Twin Cities 175 80 tions coming up, beginning with interview with Andrew Pulley on his Kansas City · 100 7 35 Washington, DC 100 50 25 . March 22 and continuing through the recent trip to Cuba and an interview Los Angeles 275 70 TOTAL 4,446 406 1,340 April 26 protest against nuclear power with one of the leaders of the freedom Louisville 80 25 TOTAL PAPERS/WEEK 4,852 ., in W aslrington, D.C., and the Chicago struggles now rocking El Salvador. Miami 70 10 15 Mothers Day action for the Equal MIiwaukee 90 fO 35 Rights Amendment on May 11. A new goal of this circulation drive Morgantowti 80 30 This spring and summer, SWP cam­ is to increase collaboration between New Orleans 75 5 40 NOT REPORTING GOALS: Bir- paign supporters will have even more the SWP and YSA on sales of the New York City mingham, Oakland/ Berkeley, San chances to sell their campaign papers Young Socialist, monthly paper of the Brooklyn 80 10 25 Francisco . at actions like these, as well as while YSA. petitioning to put their 1980 presiden- We invite all readers of the Mili- tial and vice-presidential candidates, tant to join our spring sales cam-

THE MILITANT/MARCH 14, 1980 5 period of the strike. Only two actually A reporter from the Netherlands claimed to have travelled through said: "This place makes colorful copy. Kabul parts of the city. Although they des­ The readers will love it. Who cares if cribed some damage said to have been there's a bit of show? Anyway, these caused by the fighting, they did not see Afghans have a legitimate cause and any demonstrations or battles. could use a little help." 'uprising': As I arrived at a makeshift hospital Fabricated accounts for wounded mujahedeen-Moslem The claim that thousands partici­ warriors-a West German news crew pated in antigovernment actions is had just wrapped up a shooting ses­ what thus based on unsubstantiated ac­ sion. counts originating from unnamed sour­ An interpreter for the Islamic Party ces (including pro-American "diplo­ took me into rooms where 11 men lay matic officials"). on bamboo cots. Only five had obvious really Published estimates by the U.S. me­ injuries. dia of the number killed in the fighting One had what looked like a badly varied wildly-from three in a Wash­ sprained or broken ankle. ington Post report on the first day of "This mujahedeen was hit by a happened?the two-day "uprising," to 50 in the Russian bullet during a battle near March 3 Time magazine, to 200 in the Jalalabad," the party spokesman said. By Fred Feldman March 1 New York Times, to many A second man, whose arms were The extent of the antigovernment hundreds more in some other journals. paralyzed, was also reportedly hit by a actions that began in Kabul, capital of The February 29 issue of the New­ Soviet bullet. Afghanistan, on February 21 is still ark, New Jersey, Star Ledger carried Two other mujahedeen had casts on difficult to ascertain. a front-page headline proclaiming their legs and a fifth wore a bandage, But one thing is certain. The mer­ "1,000 Afghans machine-gunned in so it was difficult to see their bullet chants' strike and armed actions car­ reprisal." wounds. ried out by rightists in Kabul were But the same day's issue of the New But the first two bore no signs of encouraged-if not actually insti­ York Times was forced to admit that gated-by Washington. bullet entries. No scars, no broken this accusation was a fabrication. A flesh. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter's na­ Kabul dispatch stated, "Some Western tional security adviser, indicated he When this was pointed out to the diplomats and independent Afghan Afghan interpreter, he said calmly but was in on the plans when he posed for sources expressed skepticism about a photo with Afghan rightist guerrillas firmly: "These mujahedeen have been reports from Islamabad, Pakistan, that wounded by Russians as I told you." during a February 3 visit to the Khyber the Afghan Government of Babrak The following day, I met the camera­ Pass in Pakistan. "It'll be a historic Karmal had begun putting Moslem photo," Brzezinski promised. "Three man for the West German news crew Shiite rebels to death. They said they at the press office operated by the weeks before the march on Kabul." had heard nothing to suggest that Pakistan Government. No journalist The Afghan government charged summary executions had taken place." that agents of the American, Chinese, can visit the guerrilla headquarters or Washington claims that the conflict refugee camps without clearance from and Pakistani governments were in­ in Afghanistan is basically between volved in the disturbances. On Febru­ this office. the Soviet army on one side and the The Pakistani press administrator ary 22 it announced that it had ar­ entire Afghan population on the other. rested a U.S. citizen as a CIA agent. asked the cameraman: "Where is your But the press has been forced to ac­ news fellow?" His name has been variously given in knowledge that it was Afghan troops news reports as Robert Lee and Robert "He's making up his commentary for and militia that contained the right­ the shooting we did yesterday," the Lezzard. wing attacks in Kabul. cameraman replied with a laugh. The State Department denied the "Soviet and Afghan helicopters flew I asked if he believed the injuries of charge, stating that Lee-Lezzard had over rebel areas, but at no point did some of the wounded at the hospital merely been looking for a teaching job reporters see the helicopters or jets were caused by bullets. in Kabul. open fire," reported the March 1 New But a February 20 news release from York Times. "No. They were not made by bullets. 'Say cheese!' Afghan rightists In Paki­ No holes. You have got to have a hole Counterspy magazine suggested a dif­ "Apart from light tanks backing stan strike heroic poses for Western or scar for a bullet wound." ferent story. heavier Afghan armor, the air activity photographers. Asked if the news reporter had It quoted a left-wing Indian news­ appeared to be the limit of the Soviet questioned the claims made . by the paper as charging that the U.S. Em­ role." group, the cameraman said: "No. He's bassy in Pakistan was the site of a The scene: the headquarters of the CIA task force. "The recent spurt in not interested in facts, just a story." He Civil war Islamic Party of Afghanistan, situated laughed. counter-revolutionary activities on the Actually the conflict in Afghanistan in a reeking slum on the outskirts of At the hotel where most of the jour­ Pak-Afghan border is apparently the is fundamentally a civil war. On one Peshawar. nalists are staying , several cameramen handiwork of this team ... under the side are the Afghan government and "No, no. Stop!" a cameraman loudly joked in a bar for foreigners overall command of R. Lessard." the workers and peasants. On the shouted as his colleague, an Austral­ about the fictional approaches their Counterspy stated that it "has docu­ other side are right-wing guerrilla for­ ian reporter, stepped into the room. respective reporters were taking to sto­ mented that Robert P. Lessard is a ces, led by dispossessed landlords, "He did it all wrong." ries. CIA officer" who "served in Iran for opium smugglers, and similar types. "You!" the cameraman called out, Guerrilla factions are always offer­ . the exceptionally long time of 10 Their aim is to turn back the land pointing at the bewildered guerrilla ing to take journalists into Afghani­ years." reform that the government has car­ fighter. "You will come to the door stan. At Jamiat-i-Islami Party head­ ried out, reimpose discriminatory res­ from that side. Don't put your back to quarters, the leaders agreed to make Merchants' strike trictions on women, and crush the the camera . He will ask for your leader From most accounts the clashes in struggles of Afghan working people. the trip there with five reporters and and you will take him into the office. photographers and me. Kabul began with a merchants' and Despite the sketchiness of the re­ Carry your rifle in your hands like shopkeepers' strike on February 21, ports, it looks as though the outcome of After accepting, I learned the jour­ this-it looks more effective. ney would not be to areas where the which reportedly shut down most the "march on Kabul" proclaimed by · "Explain that to him, please," the stores and the main market in the Brzezinski left the reactionaries still mujahedeen are confronting Soviet for­ cameraman said, waving to a transla­ ces. capital. far from their goal. tor for the Islamic Party. By February 22 the merchants' The guerrilla nodded and the ever­ "We are taking you to -places where strike was accompanied by armed dem­ smiling reporter trotted back outside. there are mujahedeen forces near the onstrations and attacks on govern­ "This is great stuff, mate," he said border. We cannot take you to where ment and party offices. The same day, as he noticed me leaning against a the Russians are. It will take too long the government of Babrak Karma! How wall near the doorway. "I'll only be a to get there," said a spokesman for the declared martial law in the city, bar­ minute, then they'll be yours. I'm with group. ring unauthorized public gatherings of 60 Minutes in Australia. Who are you I told him I wasn't interested in a more than four persons. with? Got to go. Talk to you in a public relations tour set up specifically The Afghan army and civilian mil­ Afghan for the press. He asked me to leave. minute." itia took up positions through the city. Again the reporter rapped on the What about some of those stirring According to the March 1 New York door. It opened, the camera was rolling photographs you've no doubt seen in Times, the "uprising" was over by and news was in the making . some newspapers of bands of mujahe­ February 23. Within a few days the war news deen patrolling mountainous regions businessmen's strike, too, was over. Scenes like this are taking place all of Afghanistan, rifles in hand? Demonstrations predicted for Febru­ over Pesha:war, where guerrilla groups One thing you quickly learn here is ary 29 never took place. from Afghanistan have set up provi­ how easy it is to set up such pictures. Several reports stated that leaflets is faked sional headquarters to plan strategies So-called mujahedeen will · pose distributed in Kabul had threatened The following article by Victor to win back their homeland from in­ gladly for that kind of photo without violence against shopkeepers who did Malarek, showing how the media vading Soviet forces. ever leaving Pakistan. Moreover, a not join the strike. have manufactured news reports Reporters, cameramen and photo­ number of photographers have been As part of Washington's propaganda about 'heroic Afghan freedom graphers from around the world­ hoodwinked into thinking they were campaign against Afghanistan and fighters,' appeared on the front Canada, the United States, Britain, actually taken to Afghanistan to get the Soviet Union, the U.S. media page of the February 9 Toronto France, West Germany, the Nether­ shots of insurgents. seized on unrest in Kabul as proof of 'Globe and Mail.' lands, Japan and Finland-are here. Several reporters from reputable massive opposition to the Karmal gov­ And what is obvious, even in the newspapers and wire services are ernment and the Soviet presence. PESHAWAR, Pakistan-The door short while I've been here, is that miffed at the unprofessional conduct of All manner of rumors and outright was flung open from the inside by a many of them are inventing stories some of their colleagues. fabrications were presented as facts. fierce-looking Afghan freedom fighter and shooting "action" films and photo­ "There's a lot of bull going on. It's Many of the reports were based on wearing .an old weather-beaten army graphs that rightly should be cap­ too bad. But what can you do?" a UPI dispatches originating from Pakistan coat, a black turban and toting a rifle tioned simulated. reporter said. and India . The Wes tern reporters with fixed bayonet . Reporters don't bother to question An English reporter added: "I just based in Kabul were restricted to the - He was bathed in the glare of spot­ the flimsiest claims made by various hope it's not too widespread. It's stuff Inter-Continental Hotel throughout the light se_t up behind him in the room. guerrilla leaders. like that that gives us all a bad name."

6 Back students, demand shah's return Iran workers rally at U.S. Embassy By Suzanne Haig sage, the army of twenty million is itary freedom from the United States. They ended their demonstrations While the news media here continue ready to rise." (This is a reference to Another plank requested that radio February 18 after receiving assurances to speculate about when and how the Khomeini's call last year for training and television stations set aside spe- from Ayatollah Khomeini that their hostages will be released from the U.S. and a~ing twenty million Iranians .) cial times to cover workers' struggles. grievances would be investigated. Embassy in Tehran, the real develop- "Conciliations-no,. The workers are The workers also declared their sup- The student militants' exposure& ments in Iran are being virtually ig- awake.'.' port for Islamic liberation movements have added weight to the cadets' nored. "Deals with the United States by throughout the world, especially the charges. Little is reported about the thou- any power are a betrayal of the peo- Palestinian struggle. sands of crippled and maimed Iran- pie." The workers made no mention of the ians, tortured under the shah, who are "The shah must be returned and rightists guerrillas in Afghanistan, testifying before the United Nations executed ." who are often falsely referred to as Commission in Tehran. "The capital of the plunderers must "Islamic revolutionaries." HKE prisoners Nor has the press given much space be nationalized in the interests of the In defense of the militant students, to the fact that everywhere commis- toilers." the workers called for continuing the moved to Tehran sion members go thousands of Iran- "The sho:i:as are the trenches of the exposures of documents found in the Mahsa Hashemi and Fatima Fal- . ians come out into the streets express- toilers and the shoras are the trenches U.S. Embassy. lahi, two Iranian women prisoners, ing their hatred of U.S. imperialism of the oppressed." This powerful action by Iranian were moved from Ahwaz to Tehran and demanding the return of the shah. "Conciliators should be expelled workers came just one week after the on February 27. This has been a Yet the demand by millions of ordi- from the shoras." Iranian Ministry of Labor sponsored a request of their supporters, and is an nary people like these that the shah be seminar February 17-19 to draft sta- encouraging sign. brought to justice is the reason why At the end of the march, a twelve- tutes for the shoras. About 1,000 work- They are members of the Iranian point resolution was adopted. It in- the hostages are still being held. ers participated, representing shoras Revolutionary Workers Party (HKE) On February 27, two days after eluded many of the anti-imperialist from throughout the country. They and longtime activists against the masses of Iranians marched past the planks adopted at a similar demonstra- stressed the need for shoras to take on shah and U.S. imperialism . U.S. Embassy to salute the students tion last December: direct control of increased powers. Of the fourteen HKE activists occupymg· It,· tens o f t h ousan d s of the factories, land reform in the inter- The anti-imperialist actions of the jailed last summer, only these two workers also marched to the embassy ests of the peasants, nationalizations students have spurred on the further are still being held. m· a d' ISP I ay of so I'dI anty· Wit · h t h e to free Iran from foreign economic development of ·shoras in the factories Supporters of the Iranian revolu­ domination. students. and have also led to the call for their tion . are circulating an appeal for This action was organized by the "There should be nationalizations of creation among members of the Iran- their release. Signers include Prof. Islamic Workers Shora, which repre- all interests of the capitalists con- ian air force. Rajai-e Bussailah, a Palestinian sents many factory shoras (commit- nected to imperialism, the plunderers A five-day sit-in by 2,000 air force rights activist at Indiana University; tees) in the Tehran area. and those who have escaped," . the cadets at Tehran University's mosque and Phil Herrera, president of the More than fifty factories were repres- resolution declared. "A plan must be demanded the formation of shoras a:qd Independent Municipal Employees ented by signs and banners, including instituted in order to abolish capital- a thorough purge of the armed forces. Federation of Denver. the large Benz-Khaver auto assembly ism in the interests of the oppressed Except for some top generals, much of Messages should be sent to presi­ plant, where 7,000 workers are em- and create a new Islamic economic the officer corps is the same as under dent Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, Tehran, ployed. order." the shah's dictatorship. The cadets Iran, and to Ahmad Janati, Islamic Some of the slogans were: The resolution called for complete accused senior officers of harboring Revolutionary Court, Ahwaz, Iran. "United States-this is our last mes- political, cultural, ~onomic, and mil- pro-American sympathies. Rezaie family tortured, murdered by SAVAK By Cindy Jaquith groups and popular sentiment backing President Carter refused · at a news them, SA V AK turned its sadistic meth­ conference several weeks ago to give ods to the whole Rezaie family. Late an answer to the question, was it right one night agents arrived at their house for the U.S. government to put the and arrested everyone in it, including shah back in power in 1953? Zahra, her husband Khalil, Fatima, Millions of Americans believe it was and even a nine-year-old brother . They wrong. And the story of what the shah demanded to know where Sadigheh did to one Iranian family will convince was hiding. even more. The family was taken to the infam­ When I visited Tehran _last De­ ous Komiteh prison in Tehran. Fatima cember, I interviewed Fatima Rezaie was eight months pregnant at the and her mother Zahra . The chilling time . She was spared physical torture, story of terror, torture, and murder but not psychological torment. Her visited upon their family is a powerful parents were whipped in front of her in indictment of the U.S. government's hopes she would reveal where Sa­ crimes in Iran. digheh could be found. Each member The Iranian people opposed the re­ of the family was kept in solitary turn ofthe shah to power in 1953, but confinement for two months. They with the help of U.S. military and CIA refuse~ to talk. advisors, Pahlavi was able to crush most of the opposition to his rule. By When Fatima went into labor, the early 1970s, however, the new SA V AK agents kicked her down three generation of young people on the flights of stairs on the way to the campuses and in the factories began to hospital. She and her new baby were more openly challenge the police state returned to prison the day after deliv­ they were forced to live tinder. ery. For eight days, the infant lived The Rezaie children were part of this with her in the cell, until the authori­ generation. Because public opposition ties finally relented and allowed the to the dictatorship meant instant family to send the baby to relatives. death, they became involved in under­ Sadigheh was captured and killed in ground activities aimed at getting rid 1975. Fatima, incarcerated the longest, of the monarchy and bringing demo­ was freed only · in 1979, when masses cracy to Iran. stormed Qasr Prison during the insur- Zahra Rezaie's sons Reza and Ah­ rection. . mad were killed in the early 1970s for "Our family is only one of the thou­ their political activities. Her son Mehdi sands of families this happened to," was arrested at age eighteen and im­ Fatima told me. "The poverty and prisoned. misery imposed on our country has Charged with being a member of the maimed the majority of Iranian fami­ Mujahedeen, an anti-shah guerrilla lies." group, Mehdi underwent gruesome tor­ Militant photos by Cindy Jaquith "We believe the direct responsibility ture at the hands of SA V AK, the CIA­ Top: photographs of four Rezale children killed by shah's secret pollce. Bottom: lies with the U.S. government," she trained secret police. Khalil, Fatima, and Zahra Rezale. Fatima, Jailed and tortured when she was eight emphasized, "which did this through SA VAK demanded that Mehdi re­ months pregnant, remained In prison untll masses stormed the Qasr Prison during its hand-picked government in Iran. veal information on other opposition­ 1979 Insurrection. "We don't hold the American people ists so they too could be picked up. He responsible. Our biggest hope is that refused. · Because of his principled tion to the shah, we'll torture you to inspired thousands of young people for the people of the United States will stand, SA V AK agents pulled out his death. whom he became a national hero. realize what their government has nails and burned him with torches Pretending to go along with SAV­ Mehdi died a horrible death in 1973. done and oppose this injustice, against until he was crippled. AK's offer, Mehdi accepted a trial. But Today you can see posters of him all us in Iran, and against people all of er Mehdi refused to break. Then when he took the witness stand, he over Tehran. the world." SA V AK offered him a trial. If you gave a stirring denunciation of the One of the Rezaie's daughters, Sa­ Zahra added, "If the American peo­ renounce your views, you might get dictatorship and defended the Mujahe­ digheh, was also involved in armed ple know what crimes their govern­ life, Mehdi was- promised. But if you deen's struggle against despotism and actions against the shah. ment has committed, they will stand .try to get up and defend your opposi- imperialism. This sealed his fate, but Determined to stamp out guerrilla up for their own rights, too."

THE MILITANT/MARCH 14, 1980 7 Zimbabwe vote victory for liberation forces By Ernest Harsch ZANU, led by Robert Mugabe, re- As the election results announcing a ceived 63 percent of the popular Black sweeping victory for the Zimbabwean vote, winning fifty-seven out of the liberation movements were released on eighty seats reserved for Blacks in the March 4, tens of thousands of Blacks new parliament. (The other twenty in Salisbury and other parts of the seats had previously been set aside for country poured into the streets in cele- whites.) bration. With a clear majority of seats, Mu- Factories and offices emptied out, as gabe will become the first prime minis­ Black workers took the day off to join ter of a Black-ruled Zimbabwe when the demonstrations. Youths danced in the country gains its independence the streets, shouting slogans of the from Britain in several weeks. Zimbabwe African National Union The other main liberation group, (ZANU), the biggest winner in the Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwean African elections. Jubilant crowds gathered in People's Union (ZAPU), won 24 per­ the Black townships surrounding Sal­ cent of the vote, gaining tweµty seats. isbury. Despite all the efforts of the British Taken together, the two parties thus colonialists, the Rhodesian white won a resounding total of 87 percent of settler minority, and the racist South the 2. 7 million votes cast. Both had African regime to. impose their own previously waged a long armed strug­

favorite candidates, the anti-imperial­ gle against the white supremacist re- ··/'./,/ ist parties had won. Continued on page 16 Mugabe supporters celebrate electlon triumph Black Agenda conference opposes draft By Osborne Hart and police brutality; demanded sever­ diate prosecution of all the Klan and The racist affront showed, on the one RICHMOND, Va.-The National ing all U.S. ties with and imposing Nazi members responsible for the hand, that the two-party nominees Conference on a Black Agenda for the sanctions on the racist regime in South murders, and the dismissal of all have nothing to say to Blacks-and '80s, meeting here February 28-March Africa; and called for U.S. aid to Afri­ -charges against the anti-Klan acti­ they know it. 2, unanimously passed a resolution can liberation groups and a "just set­ vists. On the other hand, it was an embar­ opposing the "renewal of selective tlement in the Middle East." The 1980 election campaign was a rassing reminder that the strategy of service registration and the draft." Passage of the ·Equal Rights Amend­ major concern, although organizers the conference leaders-organizing The conference attracted some 1,200 ment and ending Klan and Nazi vio­ and participants stressed throughout Blacks to lobby and vote for Demo­ delegates and observers. The majority lence were given special attention. the conference that the meeting was cratic and Republican politicians-has were Black elected officials from Wash­ A large audience, mostly women, not convened to endorse presidential not enhanced Black political clout, but ington and across the country, as well packed the workshop on "ERA: Impact candidates. weakened it. as representatives of the NAACP, on Black Americans" for a lively two­ Informal social meetings were ar­ The Black Agenda for the '80s-with Southern Christian Leadership Confer­ hour discussion . The final version of ranged by Carter and Kennedy suppor­ few additions-is basically the same ence, Urban League, Operation PUSH, the ERA resolution noted Virginia was ters, and a presidential panel was produced by similar meetings since the National Council of Negro Women, an unratified state and called on the scheduled. Invitations were extended 1972 National Black Political Conven­ and others. state government to pass the ERA; only to Democratic and Republican tion in Gary. And we're not any closer The antidraft position taken by the urged a convention boycott of unrati­ contenders. to solving the problems or winning the delegates is a blow to the Carter ad­ fied states by Black organizations; and Many participants were anticipating demands it lays out. ministration's campaign to reinstitute proposed collaborating with women's a public discussion by the candidates Andrew Pulley-Socialist Workers conscription. It was the culmination of groups for ERA passage. on issues concerning Blacks. Party candidate, a steelworker, and the sentiments expressed by many during The resolution against Klan · and No such luck. only Black running for president-was the conference. Nazi violence condemned the No­ In an act of contempt for the Black denied a platform by conference organ­ Jesse Jackson, president of Opera­ vember 3, 1979, massacre of five anti­ leadership and the Black community, izers. Pulley proposes a different stra­ tion PUSH, said during his · address Klan demonstrators in Greensboro, the Democratic arid Republican presi­ tegy for the Black Agenda. that "we adults have an obligation to North Carolina . It demanded imme- dential candidates all refused to show. Pulley told the Militant: "I welcome the young generation to say no to the the stands taken by the conference draft." against the draft and Klan violence, Citing the high percentage of for the ERA, for jobs and decent living Blacks in the military, Rev. Joseph standards for our people. We should all Lowery, SCLC president, said that fight side by side on these issues." "rich, old, white men," should be the But Pulley explained, "Reliance on only ones drafted and "we should the two capitalist parties renders resist dragging our youth" into war. Blacks politically powerless." Richard Hatcher, mayor of Gary, · "My campaign proposes breaking Indiana, and conference convener, and from the Democrats and Republicans. Urban League President Vernon Jor­ The majority of Black people work for dan told the Militant they also opposed a living; we make up a large part of the both registration and the draft. ranks of organized labor. Our interests lie with our union brothers and In another blow to Carter's efforts to sisters-white, Latino, and Black-not whip up anti-Soviet hysteria, Jackson, with the racist parties of the bosses. Lowery, comedian and activist Dick "We need a labor party, based on the Gregory, and former United Nations unions," Pulley declared. "You can bet ambassador Andrew Young all ex­ that Black workers would be a power­ pressed opposition to boycotting the ful force in such a party. It would give Moscow Olympics. The conference it­ Militant/Osborne Hart us a way to fight politically to smash self took no position. From left: Andrew Young, Rep. Walter Fauntroy, Rep. Cardl11 Colllna, Rev. Jesse the Klan, win jobs and equal rights, Other resolutions adopted by the Jackson, Richard Hatcher, Carl Holman, and Coretta Scott King addre11 news and improve the living standards of all delegates opposed the death penalty conference. working people." Pulley urges support for Chicago strikers CHICAGO-Andrew Pulley returned standard for public employees," Pulley On February 29, .Kennedy . walked ana, toured the huge U.S . Steel Gary to his home here February 19-25 and said. "It should come from trucing the through a picket line of 500 jeering fire works. Both he and Ettlinger work at plugged his campaign right into the rich, who have the money to pay, and fighters to attend a fund-raising ben­ this steel plant (Pulley is on leave), and working-class battles taking place in from eliminating the $142 billion war efit organized on his behalf by Mayor they received a warm response from the Chicago area. budget." Byrne .. their fellow workers when they came through as candidates for office. The Socialist Workers candidate for Pulley, whq. ran against Byrne in While in Chicago, Pulley also at­ tended a protest by workers of the After Pulley attended his union president blasted Chicago Mayor Jane last year's mayorality contest, had International Harvester company, who meeting (Local 106(>),one of the other Byrne for her "vicious union-busting predicted that the Chicago Democrat have been on strike for four months unionists present commented, "We've efforts" aimed against 4,300 striking would carry out antilabor policies if against forced overtime. never had a presidential candidate fire fighters who are seeking a union she were elected. He urged Illinois Al Orr, an agricultural implements here before, and I'm grateful that you coniract. voters in the current elections to sup­ worker at the Caterpillar Tractor came." port Lee Artz, SWP candidate for U.S. Throughout his tour Pulley stressed works, told an SWP campaign rally Pulley got a good hearing for a Senate. Artz accompanied Pulley in his that the interests of the powerful in­ February 23 that "during our strike the motion that the local sponsor a candi­ Chicago tour. dustrial unions in the Chicago area lie only positive coverage, encouragement, dates night before endorsing anyone in supporting the fire fighters and Pulley's support for the fire fighters and aid came from the Socialist Work­ running for office. waging a united fightback against the strike contrasted with the attitude of ers Party." Pulley also pledged his backing for city government's budget cuts. Democratic contender Edward Ken­ · Pulley also visited Gary, Indiana, the steelworkers, who are now engaged "There is plenty of money to provide nedy, who was here a few days after­ where he and Etta Ettlinger, SWP in tough contract negotiations with the social services and a decent living wards. candidate for U.S. Senate from Indi- companies.

:8 'Your union may be next' Chicago labor coalitionbacks fire fighters By Lee Artz CHICAGO, March 4-Labor support for striking city fire fighters is grow­ ing . A representative of the strikers announced today formation of a com­ mittee of union leaders to help win new backing for the strike, now entering its fourth week. Members of the solidarity committee include James Balanoff, director of District 31 of the United Steelworkers, and Charles Hayes, a vice-president of the United Food and Commercial WorkfrS Union. This past Sunday afternoon, in a biting cold, a thousand unionists gath­ ered at an outdoor rally in downtown Chicago ·in support of the firefighters . Earlier, on February 27, more than 3,000 firefighters and other unionists turned out for a rally at the Chicago Amphitheater. The strike was forced by Mayor Jane Striking fire fighters rally. 'Nobody goes back until everybody goes back.' Byrne 's stubborn refusal to grant a contract to. the International Associa­ February 21. He was given five months fighters have gone back. All the rest, families. tion of Fire Fighters. During her cam­ for refusing to order the strikers back including the city's 400 Black fire James Balanoff of the Steelworkers paign for election , Byrne , a Democrat, to work . fighters, are solidly behind the strike. pointed to the high stakes for all labor. pledged that she would sign a contract In a telephone message from jail to At the Sunday rally, acting union " If Byrne can get away with breaking with the union, which has functioned the amphitheater solidarity rally, Mus­ president William Reddy told the strik­ you," he said to the strikers, "there's without one up to now. care reiterated, "Nobody goes back ers they must "redouble the picket nothing to say she won't turn on us ." She has declared the strike "illegal" until everyb ody goes back!" lines." A call was also issued today by the and refuses to meet with union repre­ He assailed a claim by Mayor Byrne Participants in the rally included Coalition of Black Trade Unionists for sentatives . that strikers were returning to work in steelworkers, municipal workers, all organized labor to rally behind the Frank Muscare, president of the significant numbers . Despite heavy teachers, and fire fighters from other strikers , warning that "your union striking local, has been in jail since pressure, only 382 · of the 4,350 fire areas, as well as the strikers and their may be.next. " Safety violationsset record at Newport News By Jon Hillson Each of the OSHA citations was than 417 percent between 1976 and NEWPORT NEWS, Va .-The Occu­ backed up by confirming testimony, 1979, from $1.9 million to $7.89 million. pational Safety and Health Adminis­ which included as many as forty inci ­ That's still a drop in the bucket com­ tration (OSHA) hit Newport News dents per charge. pared to the money the employers save Shipbuilding with record-breaking OSHA cited Tenneco for exposing by refusing to make the yard safe. fines for violations of federal safety workers to cancer -causing levels of The bosses also claim with pride that standards in its long-awaited report on lead , asbestos, silica , cadmium, and lost time due to injuries dropped in February 27. chromates . It said the yard 's medical 1979. They failed to note that a big OSHA penalized the shipyard staff neither reported lung abnormali­ reason for that was the Steelworkers $780,190 for the illegalities. ties to workers nor referred them for eighty-two-day recognition strike . ,OSHA came to the shipyard last fall further tests when such maladies Tenneco fought the inspection every in response to worker complaints filed showed up. step of the way, even filing charges in by United Steelworkers Local 8888. The investigation also exposed court against OSHA. It harassed Health and safety have been major cover-up attempts by Tenneco. The OSHA investigators and Steelworkers issues throughout the union's long shipyard , OSHA charged, denied its who attempted to aid their inspection . struggle for recognition and a contract inspectors "access to medical records from Tenneco, the oil-rich conglomer­ by removing asbestos-related medical Two union members, including Local ate that owns the shipyard. information from the medical files 8888 safety committee chairperson OSHA's 538-page report cites the prior to authorized medical OSHA Steve Sawyer , were fired for their yard for 551 safety and 68 health viola­ representatives ' review of the records ." cooperation with OSHA. Steelworker­ tions . Inspectors also cited the yard for filed complaints against Tenneco for Of these, 54 were deemed "willful," "willful" violations in regard to faulty the firings are before the National or illegalities the shipyard knew about construction, improper ventilation, Labor Relations Board. but did nothing to correct. Another 473 lack of preventive measures in numer­ Even this victimization is a far cry were cited as "serious." These are ous job sites, inadequate safety equip ­ from the days before the Steelworkers violations which "could have been ment, and unsafe exposure to electric­ were a fighting presence in the yard, known by the employer with reasona­ ity. when workers feared for their jobs if ble diligence ." Shipyard President Edward Camp­ they so much as mentioned OSHA. Employer "diligence" would have bell has already pledged a court battle It took a struggle to get OSHA into meant a multi-million-dollar clean-up against OSHA's report and fines . He the yard, and it will take a bigger one and repair operation. boasted recently that Newport News is to force Tenneco to obey the order of Instead , Tenneco chooses to pay out the "safest shipyard in the country ." the report: eliminate the deadly $10,000 death benefits and worker com­ However , Tenneco's own figures in­ dangers. pensation-when workers can get it. dicate the yard is going from bad to But the truth is out . Now the public Militant / Jerry Hunnicutt In both the "willful" and "serious" worse. knows what workers here live with Steelworkers picket during strike last categories there is an immediate The shipyard's payment on worker every day. year. Union Is fighting for safe condi­ danger of death or serious injury. compensation claims has leaped more It's a killer to work for Tenneco. tions at Newport News shipyard.

Tenneco stalls on contract; angry steelworkers to meet NEWPORT NEWS, Va.-Send a Talks between the Steelworkers force at the upcoming membership ers to sign up with the Steel­ message to Tenneco! That's the arid Tenneco were broken off Feb­ meetings. The stewards began workers . angry sentiment among Steel­ ruary 22, with big differences over signing up new members at the "I signed up whites, Blacks, workers here, and they plan to wages, benefits, and other unre­ shipyard gates following the meet­ young people , older workers, eve­ convey it to shipyard bosses in solved economic issues. ing . rybody," a Steelworker said. membership meetings on March 7. On March 1, United Steelworkers Leafletting has been set for the The two local union meetings, District 35 Director Bruce Thrasher gates in the week leading up to the Among the newest union staggered, to accomodate the yard's told the media that negotiations membership meetings . members is a former delegate for shifts, were called in response to would resume. Reports noted that the old company union , the Penin­ Tenneco's hard line at the bargain­ Thrasher had met with shipyard "Tenneco is putting our backs to sula Shipbuilders Association. The ing table. United Steelworkers Lo­ negotiator D. Thomas Savas in an the wall," a welder told the Mili­ machinist who got her into the cal 8888, which won union recogni­ effort to reopen the bargaining . tant. "We have to show them that union told the Militant, "She came tion at the huge shipyard after a On Feburary 27, 500 Local 8888 we mean business." up to me and said, 'I want to sign long strike last year, is now seek­ shop stewards met in two meetings The shipyard's stinginess has up.'" ing its first contract . to organize for a massive show of convinced many non-union work- -J.H.

THE MILITANT/MARCH 14, 1980 '9 Socialistassails F Bl coverupof Klanbombing By Randi Lawrence - - BIRMINGHAM-Matilde Zimmer­ mann, Socialist Workers candidate for vice-president, called on the Justice Department to make public all its files on the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church here. Four Black girls were killed in the explosion. At a February 29 news conference here, Zimmermann condemned the FBI's cover-up of the racist killers. She cited a secret Justice Department study leaked in February by the New York Times. "The Justice Department's report states that eyewitnesses placed four known Klan members at the church just hours before the bombing," Zim­ mermaim said. "Yet FBI chief J. Ed­ gar Hoover blocked this information from being used for prosecution. "The report also admits that paid FBI_ 'informers' were involved in nu­ merous other violent attacks on civil rights activists in Birmingham in the 1960s. "The report directly implicates the police and FBI in protecting known criminals and even participating in LOS ANGELES organizing racist attacks. Why has the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, headquarters of civil rights movement In Bir­ SOCIALIST WORKERS Justice Department itself, which has mingham, Alabama, after It was bombed by racists In 1963. Four Black children were CAMPAIGN RALLY had this repo.rt for over seven months, killed In explosion. Socialist Workers Party vice-presidential candidate Matilde Speakers: held back its release?" Zimmermann demanded release of all FBI files In case. Andrew Pulley, SWP candidate The March 1 Birmingham Post­ for president Herald quoted Zimmermann as saying, George Johnson, SWP candidate "the people of Birmingham have a for U.S. Senate right to know the truth about the Sunday, March 16 church bombing ." 3 p.m. reception 4 p.m. program The socialist candidate called on Gov't fails to stop suit 2211 North Broadway Mayor Richard Arrington to demand Donation: $3 that the Justice Department publish citing FBI link to murder For more information call the report. The same article noted that (213) 225-3126 the mayor was "not available for com­ By Jo Carol Stallworth family's suit against the govern­ ment." DETROIT-A federal judge in ment, filed with the help of the Zimmermann pointed out that such Detroit refused February 29 to dis­ American Civil Liberties Union. incidents of racist violence are not all miss a $2 million damage suit filed Justice Department attorneys in the past . The Greensboro, North against the government by the argued that a statute of limitations Andrew Pulley Carolina, Daily News recently reported family of civil rights worker Viola should apply, and the Liuzzo law­ candidate for president Liuzzo, who was shot to death in suit should be dismissed. that there were police informers among March 9-11 San Diego Klan and Nazi terrorists who shot Alabama in March 1965. But U.S. District Judge Charles Liuzzo, mother of five, was shot Joiner agreed with the Liuzzo fam­ March 16 Los Angeles down five demonstrators there last March 18, 21 Bay Area November 3. as she drove between Selma and ily and the ACLU in finding that Montgomery, with passenger Leroy they had no reason to suspect the March 23, 26 Portland "But today," Zimmermann said, March 28-31 Puget Sound "North Carolina Judge James Long is Marten, a Black. FBI role in the murder until 1975, considering dismissing the charges Three of her assailants, members when Senate hearings disclosed against the murderers and is instead of the Ku Klux Klan, were acquit­ Rowe's activities and exposed FBI pursuing prosecution on trumped-up ted of murder, but later convicted of knowledge of his participation in Matilde Zimmermann violating her civil rights. The tes­ Klan violence. charges of some of the demonstrators candidate for vice-president who escaped death that day." The vice­ timony of Gary Thomas Rowe, an Young Thomas Liuzzo, fighting presidential candidate called for drop­ FBI informer, was crucial in the back tears, -said afterwards, "It March 9-11 Newport News, Va, ping the charges against the anti-Klan conviction. matters to all humanity and de­ March 16-17 Baltimore demonstrators. But Rowe himself has since been cency ... [the FBI's] finger was on March 21-22 Washington, D.C. Two days after the New York Times indicted for the Liuzzo murder . the trigger right along with his March 24-25 Indianapolis reported on the Justice Department This was the basis for the Liuzzo [Rowe's]. March 29 Harrisburg, Pa. report, the Birmingham police and the March 30-31 St. Louis county district attorney's office an­ nounced they were reopening the in­ vestigation of the 1963 bombing. The Edward Kennedy. Kennedy, however, Sands is the cop who shot and killed For more information, call the SWP branch Carter administration has still not never mentioned the case of the church Bonita Carter, a young Black woman, nearest you , See the directory on page 27 made the report available to local offi­ bombing. last summer. for phone numbers and addresses, cials. Thirty people turned out to a rally After many months on sick leave On February 21 the Birmingham for Zimmermann on March 1 even "this murderer has never been made to Post-Herald ran an editorial calling on though a snow storm had closed all the stand trial for his crimes and instead the Justice Department to comply with highways in Birmingham. Mohammed may be returned to active police duty," the county district attorney's request Oliver, Socialist Workers candidate for Oliver said. for a copy. mayor here last fall, also spoke. "We pledge our support to any efforts Also campaigning in Birmingham Oliver denounced the recent proposal mounted to block the city administra­ during Zimmermann's visit was Demo­ by the Birmingham police department tion from putting Sands back in uni­ cratic Party presidential candidate to reinstate officer George Sands . form with a gun in his hand." SWP entersKentucky senate race By Amy Belvin dates on the ballot in thirty states . tions enforced by the union," Swetland and Chris Rayson Campaigners expect to go considera­ told reporters. "Wendell Ford claims bly over the requirement of 5,000 sig­ that coal fsn't mined because antipollu­ Tom Swetland, member of Interna­ He proposed a massive public works natures each -on nominating petitions tion and safety standards in the mines tional Union of Electrical Workers program and a shorter work week as for president and U.S. senator . are rising and strip mining controls Local 761 at General Electric's ap­ other measures to overcome unemploy­ In the press conference Swetland are stricter. But that's a lie. Techno­ pliance park in Louisville and a leader ment. of the Young Socialist Alliance, an­ expressed the concerns of Kentucky logy exists to mine coal safely and put nounced his candidacy for the U.S. workers over high unemployment and all the miners to work. Workers and Swetland also took aim at Carter's Senate at a news conference here Feb­ inflation. Unemployment has hit the the public safety can't be sacrificed to proposal to institute draft registration ruary 28. The Socialist Workers Party Kentucky coal fields particularly hard, the profit margin of the coal compan­ for men and women. "Why should also announced a drive to put Swet­ especially in western Kentucky where ies." women fight for a government which land and the SWP presidential ticket the mines are largely organized by the Swetland challenged the govern­ won't even put a sentence about their on the Kentucky ballot . UMWA. ment's expansion of the use of nuclear rights into 'the constitution? Why Swetland is challenging Democratic power as an energy source. "The Ken­ should any young workers-male or fe­ Socialist petitioners in Kentucky will Senator Wendell Ford, a former Ken­ tucky coal fields have enough fossil male--die in another country so that be collecting thousands of signatures tucky governor and member of the fuel to supply energy needs while other Texaco and Exxon can continue to rob during the next few weeks in Louisville Senate committee on energy. alternatives are developed," he de­ us blind at home." and elsewhere in the state as part of a "Every miner has a right to work at clared. "Let's shut down the nuclear The news conference was covered by nationwide effort to put SWP candi- union scale and under safety condi- power plants now!" two Louisville television stations.

10 St. Paul candidate:'Nationalize oil' - MOSER ON ENERGY companies in downtown St. Montpelier. McGraw will campaign to CRISIS: "The giant inter­ Paul. For working people, he Carrying signs "World help build the growing an­ national oil companies have proposes to mobilize city War III, we don't want to tidraft movement among un­ deliberately created a short­ employees to canvas St. see," and "We won't fight ionists and on high school age of fuel to force working Paul homes and explain the for Exxon," the Vermont and college campuses. people and farmers to pay benefits of insulation. protesters made clear their Antidraft sentiment more," said Libby Moser in Moser called for national­ oppostion to the war plans among workers at General announcing her campaign izing Northern States Power of Democratic and Republi­ Dynamics, which is organ­ for mayor of St. Paul, Min­ and other big utilities and can politicians. _ ized by the International oil companies to end their "We're opposed to going Association of Machinists, nesota, on the Socialist into a war for the sake of the is high. This sentiment was Workers ticket. profiteering at public ex­ pense. "The energy indus­ security of the multinational given a boost recently when Moser, twenty-eight, is a oil companies," one student the California Conference of production worker at the try should be run by an told the crowd. Machinists passed a resolu­ Twin Cities Ford assembly elected public board with A University of Vermont tion against the draft. plant. everything out in the open," professor said, "The in­ A dozen workers from the She hit the energy pro­ she said. "No secret meet­ crease in military spending General Dynamics plant ga­ Militant/Arnold Weissberg gram of her Democratic ings, no secret records, no that the government has thered outside the gate dur­ Arizona soclallsf Dan Fein hidden ripoffs." initiated and which the ing the news conference to denounces attempts to Intim­ Moser also urged Minneso­ draft will accelerate will show their support for the idate SWP campaign suppor­ tans to "organize a big further strain already inade­ Socialist Workers election ters. movement to shut down quate funds for meeting hu­ campaign. NSP's Prairie Island and man needs." The press conference was names of campaign contrib­ Monticello nuclear power Vermont socialist cam­ attended by two San Diego utors. Given the govern­ plants, which are a deadly paigners have printed up radio stations as well as the · ment' a long history of ha­ threat to the people of this and distributed over 1,000 San Diego Union and Trib­ rassing party supporters, state." leaflets with a statement by une. disclosure would violate the The announcement of socialist presidential candi­ LEGISLATIVE WASTE: first amendment rights of Moser's campaign was cov­ date Andrew Pulley blasting The February 1 Arizona Re­ contributors and discourage ered by two Twin Cities Carter's proposed reinstitu­ public reported that Arizona people from giving money to television stations, three tion of draft registration. Secretary of State Rose Mof­ the SWP campaign. daily newspapers, and sev­ ford said, "she needs an After the federal · ruling, eral radio stations. ANTIDRAFT CANDI­ emergency appropriation to some states agreed to ex­ Militant/Mimi Pichey DATE IN SAN DIEGO: resist a Socialist Workers empt the SWP from state Libby Moser announces her VERMONTERS WON'T "If he's for the working peo­ Party lawsuit that seeks to disclosure provisions. But campaign for mayor of St. GO: Socialist Workers cam­ ple I'm all for it," was the exempt the ·party from dis­ not Arizona. Paul. paign supporters in Ver­ response by a co-worker of closing its campaign contri­ Secretary · of State Mofford mont have joined with other Mike McGraw's to his candi­ butions and expenditures." met with legislative leaders. Party opponent, George Lat­ antidraft activists in protest­ dacy for Congress. · Dan Fein, the Socialist She said they agreed to sup- , imer, as a "caulking and ing President Carter's ef­ McGraw works at the Gen­ Workers 1979 mayoral can­ port a $10,000 appropriation. walking cutback program forts to register young eral Dynamics Conveyer didate, deflounced this at­ Fein suggested that the for working people and a women and men for the plant in San Diego. He an­ tempt by Democratic and state legislature "use the tax-money giveaway to the draft. nounced his carr1paign · as Republican parties to intimi­ $10,000 for something con­ St. Paul rich." More than 300 people dem­ the Socialist Workers Party date socialist campaign sup­ structive, rather than fight­ Latimer has endorsed a onstrated in Burlington, candidate for the forty-first porters. ing against the democratic tax-subsidized project to pro­ Vermont, last month and Congressional seat at a Last year the SWP won a rights of a working class vide hot water for heating to another 80 held a similar news conference outside the federal court ruling allowing party." the banks and insurance protest in the state capital of plant on February 7. the party not to disclose the -L. Paltrineri

Campaignfund: another way to fight the draft By Priscilla Schenk candidates Andrew Pulley and Matilde Zimmer­ Opposition to Carter's attempt to reinstitute mann are activists. They are the presidential the draft is growing. And the Socialist Workers candidates who are out campaigning against the Party campaign is committed to helping build draft and exposing Carter's war moves. Zimmer­ this movement. The SWP national campaign mann recently addressed 300 people in Manches­ office has published a button, poster, and bro­ ter, New Hampshire, who marched through the chure against the draft. Pulley-Zimmermann downtown streets demanding, "No draft!" campaign supporters are distributing these mate­ At the State University of New York campus in rials across the country, selling the Militant and Stony Brook she spoke to 100 antidraft protesters Young Socialist newspapers, and building the while her campaign supporters distributed litera­ March 22 national antidraft march in Washing­ ture and signed up Young Socialists for Pulley ton, D.C. and Zimmermann to help with campaign activi­ Just like the people who support them, SWP ties. Zimmermann will also speak at an antidraft teach-in in Morgantown, West Virginia. $50,000 This is spreading the word fast that Pulley and Zimmermann are fighters in the movement against the draft. People are picking up their campaign literature and many are writing to the national campaign office. In one such letter, a $40,000 supporter from Gulfport, Florida, said, "Myself and several of my friends have decided to go SWP in '80, so we need a little paraphernalia to let others know. I am following the '80 campaign ...... of the SWP in the Militant and am very excited Enclosed is my contribution of $ $30,000 by it. Keep up the good work! SWP in 1980!" Dozens of letters like this are received every Name week in the national campaign office. Requests Address------for information, literature, and volunteers to City State __ _ help. We want to answer every letter, every Zip Phone ------Union/School/Org . $20,000 request. We want to print plenty of the "para­ phernalia" our campaigners need. And we want to make sure that Pulley and Zimmermann can Make checks payable to: reach as many cities as possible. Socialist Workers Presidential Campaign Committee, You can help in this effort. The SWP Presiden­ 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. 10014. $10,000 tial Campaign has launched a $50,000 fund drive lasting to June 15. Already campaign supporters, A copy of our report is filed with the Federal Election Commis­ sion and is available for purchase from the Federal Election eager to get this fund drive off to a good start, Commission, Washington, D.C. have donated $2,700. A federal court ruling allows us not to disclose the names of We need your help to make that figure grow. contributors in order to protect their First Amendment rights. Begin today by sending us as generous a contri­ bution as you can.

THE MILITANT/MARCH 14, 1980 11 District31 conference Women steelworkers:how to fight layoffs? By Pat Grogan that.'' Brian Weber was a white worker and Markie Wilson who filed suit against an affirmative­ CHICAGO-Layoffs and plant clos­ action plan negotiated by the USW A. ings are threatening the hard-won Women in the audience quickly ans­ gains of women steelworkers in hiring, wered, "But we fought Weber and promotion, and training. Determina­ won," and "Steelworkers didn't sup­ tion to fight back was a theme of the port Weber." third annual United Steelworkers Dis­ Indeed, Vice-president Lynch in his trict 31 Women's Conference, held Feb­ keynote address had hailed the union's ruary 15 in Merrillville, Indiana. successful fight against Weber and the [A campaign for ratification of the support it won from "all the leading Equal Rights Amendment in Illinois, .civil rights, human rights, and another big topic at the conference, was women's rights groups, as well as the reported in last week's Militant.] liberal press ." District Director James Balanoff told "I helped marshall our union's legal the 400 delegates and guests, "How resources to fight and finally win the secure are our gains? Not very. The Weber case in the highest court in the biggest problem is the cutbacks and land," Lynch said. layoffs, which hurt women and minori­ The conference passed a resolution ties the most." calling on "District Director Balanoff Leon Lynch, USW A international to organize a special, district-wide vice-president for human affairs, re­ meeting to discuss further measures to ported on progress made under the overcome the discriminatory effect of consent decree, an affirmative-action layoffs." program negotiated in 1974 by the A resolution on "Strengthening the union and nine major steel companies. Role of Women in the USWA," adopted · He said the consent decree goal of 20 at previous District 31 Women's Con­ percent women among new hires had ferences, was again passed. It called been reached. "In 1974, there were on the international union to set up a approximately 3,828 women working Department on Women's Affairs, con­ in these companies. In three years that vene a union-wide Women's Confer­ figure has grown to around 14,000 As a result of cutbacks and layott,, women are losing the better-paying Jobs they ence, and encourage the establishment women employees," Lynch said. have fought tor 11'.1basic Industry. of local union Women's Committees to have equal status with Civil Rights 'We need these figures' Committees . Women at the conference wanted to trict Director Balanoff. quotas not only for hiring but also for During a question period, Lynch said know why they had been unable to get Marie Head, a trustee of the District retention of women, Blacks, and Lati­ this request was being given serious figures from the company or the union 31 Women's Caucus and member of nos in periods of layoffs. consideration. on compliance with the consent decree Local 1014, told the Militant, "I think In the workshop on Civil Rights goals and timetables. the question on everyone's mind is how Proceduree and discrimination, Mag­ No to draft Carolyn Jasin, chairperson of the many of those 9,500 women [hired gie McCraw of Local 65 said, "If we Workshops were also held and reso­ women's committee of Local 1033 at under the consent decree] are still don't take measures to make sure we lutions passed on sexual harassment, Republic Steel, explained that she had working? At Local 65 we know that keep our jobs, everything we've won health and safety, apprenticeships, finally obtained the figures for Repub­ only 100 out of 500 women are still on under the affirmative-action plans and other issues. lic from the federal government the job. I would bet that a large could be lost." Toward the end of the conference, through the Freedom of Information number of the women at this confer­ The majority of women in the work­ when unfortunately few participants Act. They confirmed the company's ence are laid off.'·' shop agreed it would be only fair to use were still present, a resolution against "revolving door policy" of firing dual seniority lists so that women and the draft was adopted. Everyone women on probation in order to side­ Discriminatory layoffs minorities are not disproportionately agreed on opposition to drafting step the consent decree. The figures also The conference passed resolutions affected by layoffs. women or men, and that the question showed Republic's failure to fill the , for a shorter workweek with no cut in Jonathan Comer, a representative of of drafting women was being used to quotas in apprenticeship programs. pay and a ban on forced overtime to the USW A Civil Rights Department, undermine efforts to ratify the ERA. "We need these figures," Jasin said. curb layoffs. Another resolution called responded, "I know its a problem . Let's "We must be able to monitor the hiring on the steel companies to provide Sup­ take American Can, for example. After A proposal to include a condemna­ and firing practices of the companies plemental Unemployment Benefits so many years we finally get eight tion of the Soviet Union's role in to prove our case and force them to live (SUB) for all employees and to allow Blacks hired. So what happens when Afghanistan was defeated. up to the provisions of the consent older workers to voluntarily take layoffs come down? Is it fair that they Mary Jo Wuetrich, co-chairperson of decree." layoffs and collect SUB pay so that should go?" the Health and Safety· Committee of Lynch promised the conference that younger employees continue working. Comer continued, "Seniority isn't Local 65, said, "I'm against any war. the implementation figures would be A discussion was initiated at the s~cred, but we would have a revolution I'm against going to war for Exxon compiled and made available to Dis- conference on the proposal to institute if we touched it. Weber showed us and Texaco."

USWA official pledges fight for women's rights CHICAGO-The address to the fulfillment of affirmative-action "Advances and innovations in an's sexual favors, often by super­ District 31 Women's Conference by programs in hiring and apprentice­ child care services are necessary so visory personnel, which when re­ USW A Vice-president Leon Lynch ship training. that women can get and hold good fused result in firing, demotion, reflected the progress women steel­ jobs to help support themselves denial of raises, promotions, or workers have made in bringing and their families," Lynch said. opportunities for training. Many their concerns to the attention of "Child care services will enable women are forced to quit their jobs the union as a whole. women to more fully participate in rather than to succumb. Lynch declared that the issues the total life of our union. We want "This practice has to be stopped being raised by women steel­ and need them to attend local because it is both a denial of hu­ workers "are part of our union's union meetings regularly, serve as man rights and another, and most basic steel negotiating position" in officers and members of commit­ vicious, fm;m of economic exploita­ upcoming 1980 contract talks. tees, be delegates to conferences tion." He urged women to file griev­ He quoted from the policy state­ and conventions, etc." ances over sexual harassment ment adopted last November by The union vice-president sharply and called on local unions to "take 600 local union presidents, which condemned sexual harassment. effective action." "called for management to provide "Some think that this issue is a Lynch also pointed to the chal­ day care centers, maternity leave, joke," he said. "It is not, because it lenge of unionizing women work­ personal days off based on family denies women their dignity and ers. need, improvements in apprentice­ often serves to keep them in a "As the USWA officer responsi­ ship training and testing, reforms position of inferiority, which not ble for overseeing the work of our in the probationary procedure, and only wounds women members Organizing Department," he ex­ other measures to protect women deeply, but hurts our union ." plained, "which recently did a from sexual and other forms of Lynch said that "unwanted and great job unionizing 25,000 New­ harassment and to provide them unsolicited verbal comments, ges­ port News shipyard workers, a with equal opportunities." tures, propositions and other ac­ large number of whom are Blacks I.ynch said that in the fight for tions that treat women as sex ob­ and women, and now we are going ratification of the Equal · Rights jects rather than workers ... -after 50,000 DuPont workers, I Amendment, the United Steel­ [have] no place in our industry or want to tell . . . all of you that 'We workers "will stay out front until union.'' mean to put women in our union.' victory is won." Militant "The other type of sexual harass­ "The bottom line is, 'We need He condemned steel company USWA Vice-president Leon Lynch ment," he continued, "is more like women in our union and women management for hampering the a crime . It is demands for a worn- need our union.' "·

12 Socialist hits congressional bill Drop conditions, full aid to Nicaragua! The follow­ "aid" bill is its blackmail conditions. It ing statement mandates a cutoff of funds if Nicara­ was issued gua supports "guerrilla activities " else­ BPR leader ordered freed March 1 by where in Latin America . Matilde Zim­ Right now its target can be none mermann, So­ other than Nicaragua's solidarity with cialist Work­ the people of El Salvador . Events there ers Party are movillg toward a civil war and candidate for Carter has rushed to back the repres­ U.S. vice-pres­ sive regime with more arms and U.S. i dent. Last military "advisers." month Zim- ZIMMERMANN mermann. Amendments to the bill also make headed a delegation of Socialist aid dependent on protection of human Workers candidates on a week­ rights and free labor unions-as inter­ long fact-finding tour of Nicara­ preted by the U.S. government, of gua. course! There was never a peep from these Capitol Hill guardians of rights The so-called aid bill for Nicaragua when Somoza was torturing and mur­ passed February 27 by the House of dering his opponents and banning Representatives is an outrageous viola­ an ything but government-controlled tion of Nicaraguan sovereignty. It unions. ,....,,, attempts to hold vitally needed recon­ The most despicable string attached Mil itanVAlex is Irizarry struction aid hostage while Washing­ to the U.S. loan offer is the provision On March 3 a Judge In El Salvador ordered three revolutlonary leaders freed. ton demands guarantees that the Nica­ prohibiting any money from going· to Juan Chacon, general secretary of the Revolutlonary People's Block (BPA), raguan revolutionary process will not schools where Cuban teachers are and two leaders of the February 28 People's Leagues (LP-28), Jose Canenguez go forward . working. This is a direct attack on the and Carlos Argueta, had been arrested the week before. Chacon'• wife and The U.S. government, which armed National Literacy Crusade . Infant daughter, also seized, were released earlier. Shown above Is a February and financed the Somoza family dicta­ Under Somoza there was no money 28 picket line In New York City protesting the arrests. Demonstrations torship in Nicaragua for more than for social needs such as education . demanding no U.S. Intervention In El Salvador are now planned for March 15 In four decades, bears full responsibility Thus half the reading-age popul ation New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. for the destruction Somoza inflicted on is illiterate, with the rate as high as 90 the country last year as he tried to percent in some rural areas. The Sandi­ drown the Sandinista-led popular up­ nistas have set top priority on teaching rising in blood. these Nicaraguans to read and write, are 23 million functional illiterates, · tral Americ a. Washington itself estimates that the and the nation is joining in the literacy would deny the right to read and write Congressional efforts to strangle the devastated country needs a minimum mobilization . toNicaragua's people. Nicaraguan revolution shou ld spur the of $730 million this year for the most Cuba, itself still struggling to over­ Th e real aim of these .dela ys and · Nicaragua solidarity movemen t here urgent reconstruction. come economic difficulties imposed by conditions on U.S. aid to Nicaragua is to redouble our efforts to raise material Yet the House of Representatives the U.S. blockade, has given selflessly to sabotage th e progress workers and aid. stalled for four months before voting to the Nicaraguan people. One of its peasants there have made in reclaim­ Carter , who never hesitates to speed on a loan package of only $75 million . biggest contributions has been 1,200 ing the wealth of their nation. The U.S. guns and funds around the world to The bill faces further delay while a volunteer Cuban teachers to aid the government wants above all to ensure defend U.S. corporate profi ts , should House-Senate committee quibbles over litera cy campaign. there is no "new Cuba" in Central issu e an executive order to provide at the differenc es between their two ver­ What better statement of U.S. aims America. least the bare-bones $730 milli on for sions of the bill. And after that another in Central Am erica: Congressional Th e Congressional bill is an insult to Nicaragu a. bill would hav e to be passed to actually Democrats and Republicans, who have the heroic Nicaraguan people and to Congress sho uld drop all conditions appropriate the money. done nothing but cut back on educa­ American workers , who want peace and immed iate ly approve the aid ne­ The most outrageous aspect of this tion funds in this country where there and friendship with th e people of Cen- cessary for Nicaragua. SandinistasOn tour seek U.S. solidarity Four leade rs of Nicaragua's Sandi­ tains outside Matagalpa , is an execu­ nista National Liberation Front tive committee member of the ATC. (FSLN) brought the message of their "As a farm worker, I want to tell you revolution to thousands of Americans that I'm not just a Nicara guan farm in recent tours of a dozen U.S. cities. worker but an int ernational farm Noel Gonzalez spoke from the FSL N work er with all the farm workers of the Foreign Relations Secretariat, and the world, " he sai d. three others represented Sandinista-led Arceda briefly recalled the history of mass organizations: Sayda Hernandez the ATC from its formation in 1976 to from th e Nicaraguan Women's Associ ­ its growth to 90,000 militants today. "I ation, Justino Arceda from the Rur al . say 90,000 militants because like me, Workers Association, and Olga Avilez we have 90,000 revolution arie s who from the Sandinista Workers Federa ­ bring you their warmest greetings." tion . Avil ez also explained th e back ­ In New Orleans, Arceda and Avil ez ground of what is today the CST from spoke to a meeting of 100 at Tulane the days whe n the Sandinis ta Na­ Univer sity February 22. Some $550 tional Liberation Front did clandestine was rai sed. In New York City , Hernan­ organizing am ong workers under the dez addressed 300 people February 29. Somoza dictatorship. In Minnesota 's Twin Cities, Avilez Since the revolution last July, she and Arceda spoke to a meetin g of 120 said, 500 unions hav e been orga nized Militant at the St. Paul Labor Templ e Febr uary Olga Avilez and Justino Arceda. FSLN representatives brought truth about their on the factory level. Th e new task is to organize on an industrywide basis. 29. Also bringing greetings were Sue revolution to American audiences. Abderholden , president of the Twin The meeting's sponsor here was the Cities Nation al Organization for Coalition to Aid Nicara guan Demo­ Women, and Frank Guzman, a Chi ­ Mexican -American Students Associa ­ gua," sai d Angelo Verdin, interna­ cracy. Berta Zam udio, a leader of Es­ cano rights activist. tion. About $360 was raised . tional represe ntative of the Allied In ­ peranza U nida, told the rally how The two FSLN repres entat ives were Dallas Mayor Robert Folsom, Bishop dustrial Workers (AFL -CIO). CAND was found ed only a few months presented with a check for $1,700 for ago after several individuals returned Thomas Tschoep e, and Dallas County "All .I can tell you is that as far as th e literacy campaign raised by stu ­ NOW President Cynthia Rutledge all from the November national solidarity dents at the College of St. Benedict and I'm concerned, and as far as my union conference held in Detroit. sent messages of support to the meet­ is concerned, we support your efforts St. John s Univer sity. The money was ing. (Metroplex Citizens for Aid to Other speakers included Father Eu­ collected during two weeks of campus for the Nicaraguan people and in your gene Pocernich from . the Archdiocese Nicaragua will hold its next meeting at case for democr acy." fund raising. 7 p.m. on March 12 at the Bata an of Milwauk ee; Donny Satterfield, Uni­ During th eir two-day stop in the Community Center in West Dallas .) Verdin was one of sev era l promin ent ted Farmworke rs of America ; and Er ­ Twin Cities, Avilez and Arceda also A report on the Milwauk ee meeting Milwaukeeans who brought solidarity nesto Chac6n , executive director, Latin spoke to an Int erna tional Women's follows. greeti ngs to a rally of mor e than 200 Amer ican Union for Civi l Rights . Day event at El Centr o Chicano Com­ here February 27. Featured speakers About $700 was raised at the meet­ munity Cen ter in Minn eapo lis an d a * * * were Justino Arceda from Nicar agua's ing from th e sal e of tickets , posters, meeting at the University of Minn e­ Rural Workers Associat ion (ATC) and buttons, T-shirts, and books. Another sota. By Lynn Rashkind Olga Avil ez from the Sandinista Work­ $550 was collected during a fund pitch Nin ety people in Dallas, Texas, MILWAUKEE - "As a lab or leader ers Fed eration (CST). given by Father Peter March etti, who heard Arceda and Avilez March 1 at a in the city of Milw aukee, I would like The day before, 200 people heard just returned from a trip to Nica ragua. meeting sponsored by the Metroplex to extend a welcome to th e young Avi lez and Arceda in Madison. One hundred and fifteen people Citizens for Aid to Nicarag ua and th e people in th e gr eat country of Nicara - Arced a, a peasant from the moun - signed the CAND mailing list.

THE MILITANT/MARCH 14, 1980 13 Sandino

not to retur recruits pa march. GI" Managua c lnsurrectlor

for Somoza, and the snail's pace of the current congressional proceedings . Activities "They never used to vacillate before, when each day Nicaragua was plunged deeper into debt," Ortega said. spotlight "And now they're speeding $400 mil­ lion in military aid to Pakistan and doing something similar with El Sal­ vador." imperialism One of the largest events of "San­ dino Lives!" week came February 23, By Fred Murphy when tens of thousands of Nicara­ MANAGUA-"Sandino Lives!" guans marched into the Plaza of the That was the theme of a week of Revolution here in Managua to greet activities across Nicaragua February Prime Minister Maurice Bishop of the 17-24 to commemorate the forty-sixth People's Revolutionary Government of anniversary of the assassination of the Grenada. Bishop and the delegation of anti-imperialist fighter, Gen. Augusto Grenadian leaders had been especially Cesar Sandino. invited to attend the week's ceremo­ The high point of the last day of nies. activities February 24 was a parade in Like Nicaragua, Grenada has been Roberto Clemente Stadium in the city facing increasing pressures and of Masaya by 1,200 newly recruited threats from U.S . imperialism, which members of the Sandinista People's has objected to the revolutionary gov­ Militias (MPS). The militias are being ernment's acceptance of aid and relaunched in a massive way and are friendly relations with Cuba . to be based in the factories, workpla­ "Grenada is not alone," Nicaraguan ces, schools, neighborhoods, farms, junta member Sergio Ramirez told the and villages. February 23 rally. "It has free and "In times of peace the militias will Sandinista Nicaragua at its side, with stand guard over the wealth our work­ all the dignity and sovereignty that ers and peasants produce daily," army has been conquered by our people in Commander-in-Chief Humberto Ortega arms." said at the Masaya ceremonies. "In Along with Bishop, other special wartime the militias will defend that guests at the February 23 rally in­ wealth, for they themselves are the cluded Haydee Santamaria, a longtime SANDINO workers and peasants who produce it." MANAGUA-Gen. Augusto leader of the Cuban revolution and Throughout the week the history and Cesar Sandino and most of his director of Cuba's Casa de las Ameri­ significance of Sandino's struggle general staff were murdered on the cas publishing house; Cuban poet Ro­ against imperialist domination was night of February 21, 1934, on the berto Fernandez Retamar, recently discussed in school classrooms and in orders of National Guard chief and awarded the first annual Ruben Dario meetings organized by the Sandinista soon-to-be dictator Anastasio Som­ Poetry Prize by Nicaragua's Ministry Defense Committees, trade unions, and oza Garcia. of Culture (he donated the $1,000 prize other mass organizations. Somoza, father of the recently to Nicaragua's literacy campaign); deposed tyrant, had the blessing of Leaders of the FSLN and the Gov­ Gustavo Machado of Venezuela and U.S . Ambassador Arthur Lane, ernment of National Reconstruction, Andres Garcia of Mexico, both interna­ whose superiors in Washington along with thousands of other Nicara­ tionalist veterans of Sandino's army; wanted to put an end to the ongo­ guans, traveled to the village of Niqui­ and delegations from solidarity com­ ing threat Sandino posed to their nohomo on February 21 for ceremonies mittees in Panama, the Dominican domination of Nicaragua. establishing the house where Sandino Republic, and other countries. was born as a national museum. In a The previous year Sandino's The betrayal and murder of San­ Bishop pointed to Grenada's "firm speech to a rally there, FSLN Com­ worker and peasant army had dino and his top aides was followed detennination to confront imperialism mander Daniel Ortega denounced the driven the U.S. Marines out of the next day by the massacre of wherever it rears its ugly head." He right-wing U.S. congressmen who are Nicaragua. His troops were then more than 300 peasants in Sandi­ said this was "recently demonstrated seeking to block or place political con­ disarmed under an agreement with no's main cooperative in Wiwilf. in the case of the struggle of the people ditions on the $75 million loan to the government installed before the Further repression soon put an end · of Afghanistan in the face of imperial­ Marines left. to what remained of Sandino's Nicaragua. "Those who seek to prevent aid to ist maneuvers to turn back the revolu­ Sahdino returned to his strong­ organized followers. tion of the Afghan people." Bishop hold in the northern Segovia Moun­ In the early 1960s the Sandinista Nicaragua today," Ortega declared, "are the same ones who yesterday noted that Grenada was "one of the tains to organize peasant coopera­ National Liberation Front (FSLN) two countries of this hemisphere that tives. He was in Managua for talks took up Sandino's banner, and on supported the criminal, Anastasio Somoza Garcia, and his cowardly as­ voted against the recent Western­ with President Sacasa (later over­ July 19, 1979, came to power at the inspired resolution in the United Na­ sassination of Sandino ." thrown by Somoza) when he was head of a mass insurrection. tions ." killed. -F.M. Ortega emphasized the "marked dif­ ference" between the rapidity with Bishop explained that international­ which U.S. loans used to be approved ism is a life-or-death question for Gren- 14 Week in Nicaragua •

\ i t-"'f ..' .\/ I ' '" \\ tJ

ro reactivate [the economy], to exprop- 1veIt calls on Agrarian Reform Institute 1 single Inch of seized land. New militia :te. Miskito-language signs In ATC 1dlan leader Maurice Bishop greets Nd. Banner at right links victory In , coming victory In literacy campaign. Militant photos by Fred Murphy da and Nicaragua : INRA [Nicaraguan Institute of Agrar­ farmers to the banks that are now assistance to the peasants; and sharp "The triumph of our revolution can ­ ian Reform] that could not be confis­ state owned; the eradication of bureau­ reductions in the interest rates charged ot be an isolated event," he said. "The cated now pass over to the Peoples cratic practices by some !NRA and small farmers on the new loans the ery character of world imperialism Property Sector and that not a single bank functionaries who are supposed state is providing them. 1stifies the necessity of revolutionary inch of land be returned" to the big to be providing technical and financial From Intercontinental Press/lnprecor :>lidarity among oppressed peoples ev­ landowners. rywhere." . Garcia was referring to the growing From Intercontinental Press/lnprecor number of big farms that have been placed under INRA administration Arms charges filed against ultralefts owing to the refusal of their private MANAGUA- owners to put them into production or Further charges to meet the new government's stand­ have been formally ards on wages 1 working conditions, brought in the 3QOOO and social benefits for farm laborers. criminal courts The landlords have been clamoring to get back the intervened estates, but the here against lead­ )easants ers of the ultraleft ' campesino demonstrators clearly made known their total opposition to return­ Stalinist People 's ing the land. Action Movement (MAP) and its ~ally The government's attitude on this trade-union arm , ly Fred Murphy question was explained at the ATC rally by Minister of Agricultural Devel­ the Workers Front MANAGUA-In an impressive dis­ (FO). lay of the growing strength of the opment and INRA director Jaime Wheelock, and by government junta On February 22 'SLN-led mass organizations in Nica­ auxiliary penal agua, more than 30,000 peasants and member Sergio Ramirez. "The revolution is not only not going prosecutor Alberto gricultural laborers from across the Gamez filed ountry marched and rallied here Feb­ to return a single inch of land," Whee­ lock declared, "it is not going to return charges against uary 17. Photo from 'Barrlcada' showing weapons reported a single speck of soil." seven MAP I FO It was the first time in Nicaraguan seized In Managua apartment, along with Frente Obrero Ramirez reaffirmed Wheelock's leaders for viola­ istory that working people from the tion of Article 1 documents and banners. Equipment shown to reporters pledge and said a decree would be ountryside demonstrated in the capi­ Included rifles, some 300 pounds of ammunition, contact issued shortly to back it up. Section D of the al under their own banners. bombs, wiring and detonators for dynamite, uniforms, Other demands included in the Public Order and Organized by the Rural Workers Security Law , helmets, and walkie-talkies. ~ssociation (ATC), the action ATC's Plan of Struggle include a total revision of the old regime's Labor which calls for rnnched a week of activities commem­ three to ten years Code-left in effect provisionally by rating the February 21, 1934, assassi­ imprisonment for anyone "who quently discovered. the new government-with the partici­ ,ation of Augusto Cesar Sandino attempts to depose . . . local au­ Unauthorized possession of arms pation of the ATC and the trade un­ thorities or to prevent those duly violates a decree adopted by the The march was led off by a spirited ions; a halt to firings and harassment revolutionary government last Oc­ ontingent of Indians from the remote of ATC organizers on private estates; named or elected from taking of­ tober that had called on all citizens own of Waspam, on the Honduran greater participation by farm workers fice." The law further sanctions not belonging to militia units to ,order in the Atlantic coast region . in the administration of INRA's State those who "try to prevent the au­ turn in their arms to the Sandi­ 'hey bore signs and banners with Farms with full knowledge and discus­ thorities from freely carrying out logans written in their native lan­ sion of production plans, income, and their functions or enforcing com­ nista People's Army (EPS). At that :uage, Miskito. expenses; and further improvements in pliance with their administrative time the MAP said that the MIL­ Some compaiieros from Waspam told food, housing , health care, and educa­ or judicial measures." P AS had been disbanded after the ne that under the Somoza dictatorship tion on both state and private farms. The charges also cite violations victory of the insurrection again.st hey had been forced to migrate to of Article 4 Section A of the same Somoza. "We want it to be quite clear," Gar­ law, which provides penalties of The brief also states that meet­ londuras to find work during harvest cia added, "that any coffee grower or eason. Now , however, they look for- three months to two years at public ings of the MAP and FO were held other producer that doesn't want to. works for those convicted of "ille­ at the farm on several occasions 1ard to steady jobs in Nicaragua carry out the harvest or that boycotts wing to the agrarian reform and the gal possession of firearms, explo­ and that proposals for armed ac­ production will be denounced by us as sives, or other military parapherna­ tions against the revolutionary overnment 's plans to develop the an enemy of the revolution and that ,tlantic coast region. lia . ... " government were debated at those with our own efforts we will get the As evidence, the prosecutor's gatherings. The A TC focused the march and production moving that they want to brief cites a large cache of arms Two of those affected by the new ally on mobilizing peasants and farm sabotage." discovered by Sandinista security charges are among the ·· four aborers around a "Plan of Struggle" The ATC has already stepped in to personnel in late January at a farm MAP IFO leaders sentenced on mnounced February 7. Most of the complete the coffee harvest on a on the outskirts of Managua, which February 11 to two years at public hants, placai:ds, and banners centered number of private plantations where Vice-minister of Interior Hugo works on charges of "seeking to •n the demands raised in the new ATC the owners try to halt it and lay off Torres said February 2 belonged to damage the popular interests." The ,Ian. workers .' The ATC has also begun the MAP's armed wing, the Anti­ earlier charges were related to their At the rally in the Plaza of the putting special stress on organizing Somoza People's Militias (MIL­ role in the MAP / FO's now banned {evolution, ATC general secretary Ed­ peasants who farm their own small or PAS) . Two other arms caches daily El Pueblo. :ardo Garcia explained the plan . medium sized plots of land . linked to the MAP were subse- From Intercontinental Press/lnprecor "In the first place," Garcia said, "we The Plan of Struggle calls for cancel­ '.emand that the lands intervened by lation of all the debts owed by small

THE MILITANT/MARCH 14, 1980 15 Gov't case crumbling Appeals board hears Marroquin case By Roger Rudenstein mean the charges were politically-mo­ FALLS CHURCH, Va.-The govern­ tivated." ment admitted February 25 that it was "Even in the context of all the evi­ wrong in stating that Hector Marro­ dence in the trial record?" interjected quin should be denied asylum because judge Mary McGuire. Hurwitz he is a socialist. shrugged. "The government concedes that its Winter reminded the board that trial attorney was incorrect when he Judge Smith had repeatedly expressed stated that Marxists can't get political hostility towards Marroquin at the asylum ," government lawyer Jerry deportation hearing because of Marro­ Hurwitz told a three-judge panel of the quin's socialist views. He allowed the Board of Immigration Appeals here. INS prosecutor to question defense Marroquin is appealing an order witnesses about their political beliefs­ that he be deported to Mexico issued by even going so far as to quiz Robert Judge James .Smith of the Immigra­ Goldman, dean of the American Uni­ tion and Naturalization Service after a versity Law School, about whether he hearing in Houston last April. In a was now or had ever been a commu­ brief published in N oveniber to support nist. ("No, a Republican ," Goldman Smith's order, the government argued told the INS .) In his decision, the judge disparaged that it had the duty to "exclude an ilitanVHarry Ring avowed Marxist like Marroquin. " Marroquin's membership in the Social­ 'Torture, death, or right of asylum for Marroquin,' reads banner at San Antonio picket ist Workers Party and hinted that he "This is a victory," Hector Marroquin llne last year. should seek asylum in "Castro's Cuba" told the Militant after Hurwitz's retrac­ instead . tion . "We have shown that I was can't get asylum , it is still trying to Department report on human rights in "I submit," said Winter, "that the framed up by the Mexican police and judge's reasons for refusing asylum that return to Mexico would mean deport Marroquin. Mexico, over 700 people have been Hurwitz's presentation for the gov­ kidnapped by government terror only reveal his profound hostility to torture and even death. La migra Marroquin as an undocumented hasn't been able to dispute a single ernment repeated immigration judge squads. The report cites Amnesty In ­ Smith 's claims that Marroquin would ternational's statement that those who worker and a member of the Socialist piece of evidence we presented . Instead Workers Party." they said they could deny me asylum be safe in Mexico and that charges have been amnestied by the regime are against him were not a frame-up. being rearrested. "Hurwitz's stand shows that the because I'm a member of the Socialist government's retraction is just a ma­ Workers Party and Young Socialist Margaret Winter, Marroquin's attor­ In addition, the amnesty did not ney, pointed out that two of Marro­ clear Marroquin of charges by the neuver," said Winter after the hearing. Alliance. "They haven't changed their position "Now even they admit that they quin's schoolmates charged along with state police in Monterrey-and the him had been murdered, while a third Mexican government has asked the at all. They're still trying to deport can't do this ." Marroquin because he's a socialist­ Mexican authorities charge Marro­ has "disappeared." U.S. government to return him to Mex­ Claiming that a 1978 amnesty law ico. they're just not going to say it publicly quin with offenses including murder anymore." based on guerrilla actions he is alleged made it safe for Marroquin to return, In the face of trial testimony and to have participated in. Hurwitz stated, "The judge gave documentation indicating that Marro­ The Hector Marroquin Defense Com­ Marroquin never belonged to any weight to this law as an effort by the quin was framed, Hurwitz conceded, mittee plans to continue to bring the guerrilla organization, and his attor­ Mexican government to clean things "It could be that the police charged facts about his case to the American ney presented evidence last April that up." him and he was innocent . That people until this fight for the right of all the charges are frame -ups. For in­ But according to the latest State happens all the time. But it doesn 't asylum has been won . stance, the Mexican government ac­ cused Marroquin of participating in a shoot-out at a bakery-at a time when he was in a Texas hospital with a broken leg and pelvis . Lowery,others support asylum Marroquin's attorney also presented A number of Black leaders, trade Committee; and Andrew Pulley, Rights." documents and testimony that showed union officials, and civil libertar­ Socialist Workers Party candidate Speaking at the press conference, Marroquin was being victimized by the ians have sent a letter to Attorney for president. Matilde Zimmermann; Socialist Mexican government for his political General Benjamin Civiletti urging The letter was released by Gina Workers candidate for vice­ views and would be in grave danger if him to stop government harass­ March, coordinator of the Hector president, pointed out that the he returned to Mexico. Under the law ment of Hector Marroquin and Marroquin Defense Committee, at INS 's attack on Marroquin and the the government must grant asylum to grant him asylum. a news conference February 25 at SWP "interferes with the right of people persecuted for their political Signers of the letter are: Reve­ the National Press Club building in our party to carry out its lawful beliefs. rand Joseph Lowery, president of Washington, D.C. activities, including our election There are signs that the govern­ the Southern Christian Leadership "The attempt to deport Hector campaign." · ment's case for deporting Marroquin is Conference; Robert Lopez, interna ­ Marroquin can only be seen as a She pointed out that documents crumbling. tional representative of the United further effort by the government to released in the SWP's $40 million The hearing before the immigration Auto Workers; Alice Peurala, presi­ victimize socialists for their beliefs suit against government harass­ appeals board was postponed three dent of Local 65, United Steel­ and lawful activities," the letter ment showed that the FBI and the weeks because the INS attorney as­ workers of America; Congressmen states. Immigration and Naturalization signed to argue against him refused to Ronald Dellums and Mickey Le­ "The INS's persecution of Marro­ Service entered into an agreement take the assignment. The attorney, land; Aryeh Neier, past president quin threatens the rights of trade to attack the SWP by trying to Jim Haynes, told members of the Hec­ of the American Civil Liberties unionists, Black and Latino acti­ deport socialists who were not U.S. tor Marroquin Defense Committee Union; Thomas Emerson, professor vists, fighters for equal rights for citizens. that, in his opinion, Marroquin had of law at Yale University; Frank women, and everyone who speaks "The FBI admits that it has over presented a convincing case for asy­ J ackalone, national chairperson, out on questions of-public policy," 30,000 documents on this program lum. United States Student Association; the letter continues. It urges the which it is keeping from us. I But Marroquin is not out of danger. William Kunstler, attorney; Mi­ Attorney General "to order an im­ demand that all materials on this Although public support for his right chael Harrington, National Chair, mediate halt to the INS's ominous illegal program be turned over im­ of asylum forced the INS to back down Democratic Socialist Organizing attempts to curtail the Bill of mediately." from its legal argument that socialists

after having done everything they promised to institute land reform and South African Prime Minister P.W. ...Zimbabwe could to subvert them. But the real other social measures to benefit Botha warned that if the new regime Continued from page 8 reaction of the imperialists was better Blacks. does anything to undermine South gime and are nominally allied within reflected in the London stock market, The assassination attempts against African "security ," it "will have to face the Patriotic Front. where the prices of Rhodesian govern­ Mugabe, the ' threats of a white -led the full force of the Republic's Bishop Abel Muzorewa, who closely ment bonds plummeted, as did the military coup, and the harassment and strength." In light of the South Afri­ collaborated with the white settlers stocks of companies with Rhodesian intimidation by the Rhodesian govern­ can invasion of Angola in 1975-76, the and who received substantial backing holdings. ment forces could not prevent Blacks threat of South African intervention is from the apartheid regime in neighbor­ The victory of the Patriotic Front from choosing the party that seemed to real. ing South Africa, was trounced . Al­ will also do much to inspire anti-im­ them the most willing and able to The existence of the ZANU and though he spent nearly $30 million perialist fighters in the rest of Africa, bring about sweeping changes. ZAPU armies and especially the mass during his lavish campaign, his party particularly those in the South African Big obstacles and dangers still lie mobilizations in support of the libera­ managed to retain just three seats. ruled colony of Namibia and in South ahead, however. The white settler com- · tion forces will compel the imperialists The election results came as a shock­ Africa itself. munity remains in control of the econ­ to proceed cautiously. But they will do ing blow to. the white racists and the The gains of ZANU and ZAPU show omy and dominates the armed forces, everything they can to prevent the British.,, and American governments, that both liberation groups had built police, and state apparatus. The impe­ Zimbabwean workers and peasants who had hoped to prevent the most up significant support in their years of rialist powers have already begun to from taking power into their own radical groups, particularly Mugabe's struggle . put pressure on Mugabe to go slow on hands. ZANU, from coming to power . ZANU was the big winner in the the promised social reforms. The Black masses of Zimbabwe will The British and American govern­ elections because it played the most Hundreds of South African troops need all the international solidarity ments officially greeted the elections- active role in the guerrilla war, and remain stationed in the country, and they can get.

16 SWP leadershipschool beginssessions By Gus Horowitz The Socialist Workers Party Leadership School began its first session March 1, as seven SWP leaders packed their bags and set out for five months of systematic study of Marxism. The school, long in the planning stage, was set up as part of an overall expansion of party education along with the tum toward greater involvement in the struggles of the industrial working class. Betsey Stone, director of education for the SWP, explained the connection at a sendoff party and fundraiser in New York February 23. "Many party members have remarked that as industrial worl<:ers they are now better able to understand exploitation and the class struggle. Marx's explanation of how the employers want to extend the working day, for example, takes on a new meaning when it is not merely a textbook study but part of one's daily life. "This is true in a broader sense, too. After all, what is Marxism? It is simply the political and theoretical expression of the fight of working people for their own interests .... This means that as we MilitanVMarc L1crnm,m are more involved in the struggles of the working Young Soclallst Alliance leader Cathy Sedwick (left), told New York aendoff gathering she was 'very proud' to be class, we have to review and enrich our study of attending the SWP Leadership-School. So 11MIiitant associate editor Cindy Jaquith (center). Harry Ring (right), Marxism." tells about the SWP school that had been set up In the 1940s and 1950s. The leadership school, she said, will teach Marx­ ism, not in the manner of academia, but "from the standpoint of the interests of the working people. It the first day. I was dressed in a blue uniform, with helped to reconvince her that "there is no other will be the only school in the entire country where my white blouse, bobby sox, and a beanie. A nun road, that all the talk about Marx being refuted was to qualify, you have to be a revolutionary." was waiting for me at the entrance to the huge a lot of bunk." Those who attend will be "party leaders who have steps, and she said, 'God will take care of you my assumed very big responsibilities, but who never child.' The same point is valid today, Ring said, but with had much of a chance up to now to carry out a "Little did I know that God had a rod, and that an important difference. The school in the 1950s systematic study of the fundamentals of Marxism." the wrath of God was not reserved for judgement was held in a period of reaction, when the party was day. smaller and had been weakened by a split. "Then it 'The sweep of history' "The school that we're about to open is not going was a holding operation, to harden people for what The participants in the school "will be able to step to teach obedience to capitalist authority . It's going we knew was a long haul. Today, we are preparing back for a while, to look at the sweep of history, to to be a completely different type of school. It's going for the great struggles that clearly lie ahead in this study what revolutionists have done before us, and to be an institution to serve our class; its aim is to country." to see where we stand now in the movement of train future leaders of working class struggles in Ring also recalled some of the economic hard­ history. This understanding is, in the end, what this country . And I'm very proud to be a member of ships of the former school. It was located at a gives us our dedication and enables us to take on the first class of 1980." campsite in the country. "To conserve fuel, we used the weighty historical tasks that we have to." to burn wood in the coal-burning stove. We would go The students will be at the school for five months. Earlier school !IP to the hills, cut down some trees, saw the wood, Then a new student body will be selected. "After a The SWP had once before set up such a school, in and bum it. As fast as we sawed it, we burned it." while," Stone explained, "there will have been the late 1940s and through the 1950s. Harry Ring, His group set a record for economizing on food dozens and dozens who will have gone through the currently a Militant staff writer, was a student expenses. "We used the standard technique," he school. Think of the enormous impact this will have there in the 1950s. "It was a memorable and on the party." invaluable experience," he recalled. explained. "Old veal bones, 20-gallon cans of frozen The "spirit and understanding engendered by the pork liver. When we had guests, we would bring out school will spread through the party, and give the "What a school like this really does is to help the frozen mackerel; it could be served as tuna whole party confidence that we can be successful in clear your head of some of the pro-capitalist ways of salad, chicken salad, shrimp salad, or filet of sole." the big struggles that lie ahead." thinking . that are continually pounded in. We The school today won't be so destitute, he said in Cathy Sedwick, a leader of the Young Socialist learned how to approach political questions from a conclusion. But even keeping costs to a minimum, it Alliance and one of the seven students now attend­ working class point of view." will take $50,000 to set it up for the first session. ing the school, told the audience of her feelings as Ring also conveyed to the audience a conversa­ The 180 people present at the New York gathering she was about to begin. tion he jqst had with Reba Hansen, who was a then donated over $6,000 toward that goal. "I couldn't help remembering my first days at student at the school at the same time he was. So far, $41,400 has been raised - to meet the school. I was enrolled in the first grade, and I was What had she gotten out of the school, Ring had expenses of the school. Contributions can be made absolutely terrified. My mother took me to school on asked. "Staying power," she replied. The school had on the form below.

SWP Leadership School Fund

0 $10,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $50,000 'Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement. 1 V.I. Lenin

• • • • 11.a._.__. • • • • • • • • • • -• • •••••••a•••••••••••••••••••• Right now the students are at the school site, a Of special interest will be a book that is not yet I want to contribute: large old building in upstate New York, where published, but which will probably be available __$1,000 __$500 __$200 __$100 they are fixing the plumbing and electrical in manuscript: a history of the SWP by longtime __$50 __$10 _other __ wiring, and putting in the final touches to get the party leader Farrell Dobbs. Dobbs begins back in Make checks payable to: place into shape-all in addition to their studies, 1848, with the origins of the workers movement SWP Leadership School Fund of course. in t4e United States. Mail to: The curriculum will center around the political Finally, they will study Spanish, so necessary SWP Leadership School Fund, writings of Marx and Engels, beginning with the today for building the party among Latinos and 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. 10014 Communist Mani{ esto and the 1848 revolutions. for linking up with the new generation of Latin They'll study some of Lenin's works, too: on American revolutionists. Name imperialism and war, on the roots of racism and The fund drive stands at $41,400, not much Address ------­ City ------the oppression of nationalities, and the Bol­ short of the $50,000 goal. To help, fill out the State ____ _ shevik contributions on women's rights. • form and send in your contribution by March 31. Zip -----~--

THE MILITANT/MARCH 14, 1980 17 NRC rushesto hushup Fla. nuclearaccident By Mark Dressler "They've just got a little water on the MIAMI-More than 40,000 gallons floor." of radioactive water spilled into the According to Florida Power, a sud­ containment building of the Crystal den loss of power to the control panel River nuclear plant February 6, triggered the reactor's emergency sys­ prompting a shutdown and emergency tem, thereby automatically stopping Progress on April 26 march evacuation of some plant workers. the unit and pulling extra cooling water into the reactor's core. It was Organizing for the April 26 antinuclear March on Washington took The Crystal River plant, owned by then that over 40,000 gallons of ra­ another step forward with the March 1 and 2 coordinating committee Florida Power Corporation and located dioactive water from the plant's prim­ meeting of the Coalition for a Non-Nuclear World. Close to 100 antinu­ seventy miles north of Tampa, supplies ary cooling system escaped into the clear activists from as far away as Florida, Texas, and Minnesota about 20 percent of the electricity for thirty-story concrete silo which houses attended the meeting held in Washington, D.C. the utility's 725,000 customers. Soon the reactor. New materials for building the action were on hand including stickers, after the accident and shutdown, scat­ The Crystal River plant was de­ a coalition newsletter, and T-shirts and buttons produced by Region 8 of tered blackouts occurred in Florida signed by Babcock & Wilcox, the same the coalition. Power's thirty-two-county service area. firm that designed the Rancho Seco Plans for more than thirty Three Mile Island antinuclear protests the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in­ plant in California where a similar weekend of March 28 were announced, followed by a report on the March vestigators rushed to the scene and accident occurred two years ago. Bab­ 29 demonstration planned for Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-site of the joined with Florida Power officials in cock & Wilcox al.<10designed the Three Three Mile Island reactor. trying to assure the public that all was Mile Island plant which underwent a under control. A report on trade union involvement in the April 26 action pointed to near meltdown just one year ago. the endorsement of United Steelworkers Local 1010 in East Chicago, "The event is over," announced NRC The February 26 accident at Crystal Indiana-the largest local in the steel union. regional division chief Hugh Dance. River was only the latest in a series at The coordinating committee meeting also voted to endorse and build "The company is going to have to the plant sin.ce it went into operation the March 22 antidraft demonstration in Washington and to endorse the clean things up and determine what three years ago. NRC records list re­ Midwest regional antinuclear march in Chicago June 7. was the cause, but their evacuation peated spills of radioactive water-yet For materials and more information contact: Coalition for a Non­ was very precautionary." the plant continues to operate. Nuclear World, 413 Eighth Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. (202) 544- The accident meant that some plant There is no reason to believe that the 5228. workers were exposed to radiation accident at Crystal River was as harm­ levels of up to 50 roentegens-about less as Florida Power would have us NRC lifts ban on new plants ten times the official allowable limit think. The nuclear industry, and its for an entire year. Dance claimed that loyal friends in the NRC, are notorious The ban on new nuclear plant operations ended February 28. The radiation levels dropped to near zero for covering up and lying about the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave the go ahead for the several hours later. nuclear danger as the Three Mile Is­ Tennessee Valley Authority to start up its Sequoyah unit number one land accid1,mt tragically showed. near Chattanooga. Company spokesperson Bob South The NRC imposed the moratorium after disclosures around the Three echoed the NRC in downplaying the They still don't know exactly why Mile Island accident last year revealed how routinely nuclear licenses are accident, saying, "There was no dam­ the accident at Crystal River hap­ handed out. age to the reactor, no damage to the pened. The 40,000 gallons of radioac­ President Carter had urged the NRC to lift the ban by this spring. The fuel rods, and no radiation released tive water has to be "cleaned up," accident at Florida's Crystal River plant February 26 caused the commis­ anywhere. There was nothing dis­ whi~h threatens our lives as well as sioners to "pause," reported the Wall Street Journal-for about twenty­ turbed in the plant, there was no core our pocketbooks. four hours! meltdown or anything like that." And who knows when it, or some­ The TV A decision is expected to begin a series of NRC okays for new thing worse, will happen again. An NRC spokesperson told reporters, nuclear plants. Gov't plans to ship wastes through NYC The U.S. Department of Transportation is planning to adopt regula­ 100 meet in Ohio to form tions permitting the shipment of radioactive waste through New York City and other high-population areas-no matter what laws and ordinan­ state antinuclearcoalition ces those communities may have against it. By Lynn Edmiston discussion about the need to get people The department says it has the authority to do this under the interstate and Peter Archer to Washington for the march. Many commerce clause of the Constitution. WOOSTER, Ohio-One hundred an­ areas have already reserved buses and It claims this plan is safer because detours around cities such as New tinuclear activists from Ohio met here are planning activities to build local York take longer and thus increase the risk to drivers and residents of the March 1 to form the Ohio Non-Nuclear participation in the m·arch. areas the vehicles go through! Organization (ONNO). They repres­ A labor workshop drew some twenty­ Dr. Leonard Solon, director of New York City's Bureau for Radiation ented thirty-six different groups and five participants, including members Control, has said that an accident involving a nuclear waste shipment in came from twenty cities throughout of the United Auto Workers and Inter­ New York could cause thousands of deaths . New York City, a couple the state. national Chemical Workers. The un­ dozen suburban communities, and .the states of Connecticut and New In addition to area environmental, ionists made plans to bring the issue of Jersey all have bans or restrictions on nuclear shipments. energy, and antinuclear groups, confer­ nuclear power to their local unions. Public hearings on the Transportation Department's proposal are ence endorsers included District 6 of Other activities discussed at the required. Hearing sites, which notably do not include New York, are the United Mine Workers, the Farm conference were commemorative ac­ Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, and Seattle. Labor Organizing Committee, and the tions of the Three Mile Island nuclear Compiled by Nancy Cole Amalgamated Food and Allied Work­ accident March 28-29, the national ers. march against the draft March 22, and The conference was held only a few an action at Kent State University weeks after the announced cancella­ May 4 marking the tenth anniversary tion of construction plans for four new of the National Guard murder of four nuclear power plants in Ohio: Davis­ Kent students during a demonstration Besse II and III and Erie I and II. against the Vietnam war. New from Pathfinder: Mike Ferner, a member of the Toledo The main resolution passed by the Safe Energy Coalition who opened the conference here called for the "imme­ a weapon in the antinuclear conference, commented, "I didn't rec­ diate halt to the licensing, construc­ ognize the full significance of this until tion, and operation of all nuclear facili­ struggle I read in the New York Times that this ties in Ohio," "prohibition of nuclear is by far the largest cancellation of waste storage and transportation of What are the dangers of nuclear nuclear megawattage in the U.S. to non-medical nuclear materials through radiation? What caused the Three date." Ohio," and "guaranteed employment Mile Island nuclear accident? What Ferner compared the antinuclear for all displaced nuclear workers." are the alternatives to nuclear movement to the fight of the Abolition­ Unfortunately, because the confer­ power? This · pamphlet answers ists against the southern slaveholders ence plenary spent much of its time on these and other questions about the in the Nineteenth Century. Like the the organization of the discussion, problems and dangers of nuclear abolitionist movement, he said, the little time was left to discuss the actual power . antinuclear movement must become a resolutions placed before the confer­ Also included is a statement · mass movement, reaching out to mil­ ence. As a result, many were referred "What We Can Do To End Nuclear lions of people throughout the country. for action to the newly formed steering Power" by Andrew Pulley, Socialist Conference participants enthusiasti­ committee. Workers Party candidate for presi­ cally agreed. A workshop on demon­ But despite some frustration with the dent. strations and actions unanimously en­ drawn-out organizational confusion 40 pp., $.95 dorsed the April 26 march on during the final plenary session, con­ Order from Pathfinder Press, 410 Washington against nuclear power. ference participants came away with West- St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Although this resolution did not enthusiasm and a renewed sense of the Enclose $. 75 for postage. reach the conference floor due to lack strength of the antinuclear movement of time, there was a lot of informal in Ohio.

18 Californiamarket clerks Consolprovoked block companytakebacks . W.Va.coal strike By Jeff Mackler tor in the contract will increase union ad called "Anatomy of a By Pat O'Brien and ' the miners began to re- OAKLAND , Calif-Striking wages an estimated $1.10 an Lie" responded : "The giant MORGANTOWN, W. Va .- turn. clerks voted March 2 by a ten hour if inflation is 10 percent. food employei:s made ... .their At the urging o.f United Mine But then they found Consol to one margin to end their six- Improvements were won in 'final' offer, like a mugger in Workers Local 4060 President had escalated its attack by week strike against San Fran- pensions . There was also an the park, deliberately pointed a Mike Zemonick-and facing suspending "with intent to dis­ cisco Bay Area supermarket amnesty provision for all strik- loaded pistol at the clerks' stiff fines-about 6,000 miners charge " Zemonick and two oth- chains. ers. head . The message was clear: returned to work March 3, end- ers on trumped-up charges of The contract won by the The outcome of the strike give us your job or else . . . . ing a week-long strike that just "insubordination, acting irres- United Food and Commercial was a welcome change from "To achieve their goal , the about shut down coal produc- ponsibly, and instigating a Workers Union beats back an the 1978 defeat suffered by the food giants ' final 'offer' de- tion in northern West Virginia . work stoppage ." attempt by the Food Employers Teamsters, who organize the mantled numerous 'take- On March 2, an arbitrator This led to another walkout Council to wipe out union con- supermarket warehouses and aways' -every one calculated upheld Consolidation Coal February 21, which quickly tract prov1s10ns won over drivers. Using the lockout, con- to stretch their profit margins Company's suspension of Zem- spread throughout the district. thirty years. tinued operation , heavy adver - at the expense of the clerk and onick for "inciting" an earlier All of Consol's operations in The Food Employers Council tising, and open violence consumer." walkout by his local. It was his District 31 were shut down, is the union -busting coalition against the strikers, the Food suspension and that of two and miners working for East- of supermarket bosses in this E mp I oyees C ounc1·1 £LOrce d An important factor pushing other members of his mine ern, Republic , Southern Ohio , back the bosses this time was area . T eamsters to return to wor k on committee that sparked the and Badger coal companies company terms. the threat of the strike spread - ing to surrounding counties. strike throughout UMW A Dis- also struck in solidarity. The success of the union in The companies tried a sim- · UMWA D" · 3 p "d maintaining contract provi­ ilar policy this' time . After· Thi"s would add 15,000 more tnct 31. 1stnct 1 res1 ent sions on seniority, upgrading, seven UFCW locals went on supermarket clerks to the Following the arbitrator's Burdette Crowe said , "We're warning notices, and bidding stri k e J anuary 20 against S afe- Picket lines. decision , Consol immediately doing everything we · can to for increased hours is espe­ way, the largest chain , five UFCWU members in the fired Zemonick and suspended alleviate the problem. They cially important. The bosses ot h er supermar k et companies· area from Salinas to Reading, the two mine committee have been instructed to return wanted t o replace large declared lockouts of the UFCW California nave already voted members for thirty days. to work. This is an illegal numbers of full-time workers members . to reject the same take-away As we go to press , it is not picket line and we certainly do with lower-paid part-time ones . At the same time they tried proposals that led to the Bay clear what the miners' next not condone it." Some concessions were to keep all the stores open . area strike . That contract is step will be, but their anger at Federal Judge Robert Max.­ forced on the UFCW, including They invested heavily in adver- still being negotiated this deck stacked against them well ordered the miners back to extending the probationary pe­ tising against the union. Another factor may have is readily apparent. work February 26, but his order riod for new employees from The supermarket chains had been the nine-week-old strike of The dispute at Zemonick's was ignored. Then he set thirty to sixty days. And the a full page ad in the J .anuary thousands of Bay Area oil re- mine near Four States, West March 3 as the deadline for the new contract .does allow a few 24 San Francisco Chronicle finery workers . The potential Virginia, began over tempor- beginning of $3,000-a-shift regular clerk jobs to be re- · with 2 inch headlines : for the powerful labor move- ary work assignments . UMWA fines against Local 4060 and placed by lower-paid workers . "Enough is enough" . The ad ment in the Bay Area to unite members take work assign- its officers if the miners The new thirty-eight-month urges people to shop at the in solidarity with both these ments seriously, especially weren't back at work. contract increases top pay for stores on strike and denounces strikes may have held back the with negotiations for a new Consol , the largest employer clerks by $1.81 an hour . Clerks the union as greedy . employers from the all-out at- national contract scheduled to of UMW A miners, pulled out of made $8. 79 an hour before the But the union responded tack on the supermarket work- begin in a few months. This is the Bituminous Coal Operators strike. The cost-of-living escala- with its own ads and leaflets. A ers they seemed to want. a traditional time for coal oper- Association last spring, charg- ators to weaken solidarity and ing that the industry bargain­ sow divisions among miners by ing arm buckled under pressure manipulating seniority provi- and granted too many conces­ sions of the job bidding system . sions to the union during the Local 4060's mine committee, 110-day strike in 1978. Recently led by Zemonick, tried to settle _ it has been reported that Cons the dispute at the mine site but sol is considering rejoining the was rebuffed. BCOA, but only on its own As miners gathered before terms . the day shift, the mine commit- Consol ' s provocations tee informed them that . the against Local 4060 are part of complaint would be taken to the industry 's efforts to soften the District 31 officials and up the union before the next that the miners should go to round of contract talks and work . But at that point the possible strike. mine superintendent decided to Although the 6,000-strong provoke a walkout with an walkout here did not resolve abusive order to "get to work." the strike issues, it did show · The assembled day shift the power the miners have to turned around and went home. stop production when they act Consol officials immediately together in defense of their un­ got a back-to-work court order, 10n.

Northern Calit ! nia Labor Clerks picket. Company demands were 'a loaded plstol at the clerks' head. The message was clear: give us your Job or else.'

Championfires protestersas unionaccepts forced overtime By Paul Tierney . in the world. It operates plants between the shop committee TOLEDO-By a very sHm from Venezuela to South Africa and union ranks. They were margin, nearly 2,000 workers to New Zealand. also angered by continued at two Champion Spark Plug Before the contract ratifica­ wage and benefit discrimina­ plants here recently ratified a tion, five workers-including tion against probationary and new contract .· The contract in­ two stewards and a former ste­ first-year employees . troduces mandatory overtime ward-were fired and eight The current downturn in the for the first time-requiring others given ten-day suspen­ automotive industry , which employees to work two Satur­ sions. The workers were disci­ has meant thousands of layoffs days a month "if scheduled." plined for peacefully demon­ of UAW members here, has not strating outside the plant , on adversely affected Champion's Included in the contract, their own time, against the sales. Less than 10 percent of patt erned after th e General company's demand for forced the plugs the' company produ­ Motors and Ford agreements, overtime. ces go into new cars. Most are a 3 percent wage increase , This violation of their rights plugs are sold as replacement an improved cost-of-living for­ was aimed at intimidating parts for tune -ups · and other mula beginning in 1982, and workers into accepting the pro­ repairs. better pensions and benefits for posed contract. The company raked in re­ retirees. · cord-breaking profits in 1978- The international settlement Many Champion workers are 79. also covers 3,200 auto workers upset at the introduction of The concession made on at five other Champion-owned mandatory overtime, along forced overtime is a bad omen plants in the United States and with a stri ct absentee policy . for the rest of the 400,000 auto Canada. Workers resented the secrecy workers in the UAW 's Inde­ MilitanVNancy Cole Champion boasts of being that surrounded negotiations pendent Parts and Suppliers Miners picket White House during 1978 110-day strike. Industry la the largest spark plug producer and the lack of communication Division. already preparing for next contract fight. ·

THE MILITANT/MARCH 14, 1980 19 A labor campaiQnin Quebec 'Wherecan we go to protect what we negotiated?' By Stu Singer place in active politics. '!'his was prob- MONTREAL-In t_he February 18 '.·_--·..._.·-_· ably caused by not havmg the proper federal elections the New Democratic : education. Party , the labor party in Canada, IJ "This problem doesn't only apply to increased its vote ~n Quebec by nearly ; Quebec. I imagine it applies in all of 100,000. This about equalled the net - · North America. increase for the NDP in the country as .,.."""''""''"-"''"'·=·-·0 ·'·""•'·•'iL "The labor movement is up against a whole . the corporate establishment. They own A "parallel campaign" for the NDP all the means of information. When the was organized by the Canadian Labor labor movement tries to get involved Congress, the union federation com­ on the political sc;ene, they react. And parable to the AFL-CIO . a lot of workers don't understand it. The union effort for the NDP in The boss has the upper hand right Quebec was on a smaller scale than in now." English Canada. The failure of the Roy thinks that " there is a place for NDP to champion the national rights the NDP in Quebec," but that the of the Quebecois makes it an unattrac­ party's future depends in large part on tive alternative for many nationalist­ the stand it take s on Quebec national minded workers. (For information on rights. the oppression of the Quebecois, see If the NDP simply echoes the Liber­ story below .) als' talk of "national unity"-meaning Although Quebec unions have car­ continued subordination to English ried out some of the most militant Canada-then "the NDP won't go very struggles in all of North America, the far in Quebec. But if the NDP takes local ·and provincial labor bodies here into consideration what people here are for, there is a possibility for the are still tied to supporting capitalist Lutte Ouvriere / Paul Kouri political parties . Roger Roy, union activist, ran for Parliament: 'Just taking the union demands to NDP to grow." In 1976 the Parti Quebecois (PQ) another step.' Roy thinks that the official NDP won a surprise victory in the provin­ stand against Quebec independence cial election. The PQ is a capitalist "didn 't hurt us more than the Liberals party, but its nationalism won it the run for federal office) and favors a were "long and pitter. But you always or Conservatives," which are also support of major unions in Quebec. "yes" vote in the upcoming referendum - gain something in a strike. We got a against independence . But he esti­ In the recent election , NDP candi­ for "sovereignty-association," that is, big wage gain in 1973. Then we lost mates that atleast 1,500 protest votes dates in Quebec who were most suc­ more autonomy for Quebec. The NDP twenty-two ,cents an hour from [Liberal in St. Jean that should have gone to cessful were known as supporters of leadership opposes it. Party Prime Minister Pierre] Trudeau's the NDP were instead cast for the Quebec national rights or even inde ­ Roy said his position was made clear wage freeze policy in 1976. When you farcical "Rhinoceros Party" or other­ pendence. Recognizing the depth of in the local newspaper, but that he add that to inflation, we actually lost wise thrown away. nationalist sentiment, federal NDP walked a thin line during the cam­ fifty cents an hour that year ." On the other hand , he believes the leader Ed Broadbent declined to act paign in expressing opinions different For Roy , running for office as an NDP is picking up "more support from against Quebec NDP candidates who than top NDP leaders . NDP candidate is "just taking the the farmers than ever before. " violated the party line on this. His election campaign was actively union demands to another step." supported by local unions. The St . "Over the years I came to realize Language rights St. Jean campaign Jean Labor Council organized this that we can fight," he said. "We are The struggle for the right of Quebe ­ One of the strongest NDP cam­ support and raised money for him. quite well organized in Quebec . Maybe cois workers to use French on the job is paigns in Quebec was in the working­ Roy's background is similar to thou­ more than in the States and the rest of an important one for the union . class town · of St. Jean, south of Mont­ sands of other Quebecois workers. He Canada . We can negotiate good con­ "All the foreign companies are the real. The NDP candidate there was grew up on a small farm in eastern tracts, there's no doubt about it . same, " Roy said. "They come here and Roger Roy , thirty -seven, a wireman­ Quebec on the Gaspe peninsula. His "But the thing we can't do is control their technical language is English. tester in the local Westinghouse plant. father worked as a lumberjack. In the prices. The question is, where can we Management is English. It only Roy is president of United Electrical late 1950s the family moved and Roger go to protect what we negotiated? started to change a little before the PQ Workers Local 560 and a vice-president went into the army after high school. Politics is the answer . It 's the only came in. Then we got Law 101," which of the St . Jean Labor Council. He quit after six years and began work logical way to go. It's impossible to established French as the official lan ­ Roy received more than 5,000 votes, at Westinghouse in 1969. bargain faster than the prices are guage of work in Quebec. or 15 percent. This is double the NDP going up." "The union is the watchdog to make vote in _the last election. Union struggles & politics After the experience of Trudeau's sure the law applies," he explained . A few days after the election, I went Roy helped lead an effort to bring in wage controls, how did Roy explain the "The law itself is not enough. The to St. Jean along with Marie Simoneau the UE as a stronger replacement for high . vote for the Liberal Party, which government does not send inspectors and Paul Kouri of the Ligue Ouvriere the CSN (Confederation of National got more than 66 percent in St. Jean? to each work place. Revolutionnaire / Revolutionary Work­ Trade Unions) local there. He was a "How do you explain the belief in "Now all the manuals are in French . ers League, sister party of the U.S. leader of strikes in 1973 and '78 and Santa ·Claus?" he replied. The workers in the office are not in the Socialist Workers Party. We met Roy was elected local president in 1979. He . union. English is the word there. But in the Metallo (Steelworkers) building works full time in the plant. Layoffs Obstacles not in the plant." and talked for almost two hours. have cut the work force to 180 from an Roy pointed to the obstacles a labor One of the main promises of the PQ Roy said he supports the PQ in · earlier high of more than 300. party faces. "In the past the general was to hold a referendum on independ­ provincial elections (the PQ does not Roy told us the 1973 and '78 strikes feeling was that the union had no ence for Quebec. Finally, about four Quebe~-200 yearsof oppression Quebec is a nation within Canada. Roger Roy pointed to one example . One of the most dramatic was According to Jean-Marc Carle, It has its own territory, language , Workers at Westinghouse in St. Jean during World War II. There was who heads up the information ser­ culture, and history. Compared to make $1.50 an hour less than at · mass resistance to the draft in Que­ vice for United Steelworkers District most nations in the world it is ad­ Westinghouse in the neighboring bec. The people felt they had little 5 (Quebec and the maritime provin­ vanced . Its capitalist class exploits English Canadian province of Onta­ stake in fighting on behalf of their ces), membership in the USWA in­ workers both in Quebec and else­ rio. And Westinghouse workers in British, Canadian, and U.S. exploit­ creased from 16,000 in 1965 to 45,000 where . Ontario make a little less than their ers. today. The Steelworkers union , which organizes the miners spread But at the same time Quebec is an counterparts in the United States. Since the early 1960s there has throughout Quebec , is probably the oppressed nation . It was conquered Industrial development is concen­ been a big influx of Quebecois into by the British in 1763. Ever since most powerful industrial union trated in Ontario rather than Que­ the cities and into industry , social there. then the Quebecois have been dis­ bec. The Quebec economy is much services, and the unions . This shift criminated against for using their more dependent on extraction and from a predominately rural popula­ Carle noted, "The Quebecois have own language and culture . export of natural resources through tion to art increasingly urban and changed . They are not as shy as Knowledge of a foreign lan ­ mining and lumbering. industrial one gave impetus and twenty years ago." guage-English-was a requirement Rail shipping rates and other eco­ power to the movement for Quebe­ for the French -speaking Quebecois nomic activities regulated by the cois rights . One popular move by the national­ to get decent jobs or function in federal government favor Ontario ist Parti Quebecois government, colleges and courts . (In recent years over Quebec. The militancy of the working class which came to power in 1976, was to waves of demonstrations and strikes The Quebec Federation of Labor in Quebec has also inspired strug­ change tlie slogan on auto license gles against the federal government plates. have led to important gains, espe­ points out that the unemployment cially i.n language rights.) rate in Quebec is "always two or and capitalist bosses throughout In Ontario , just to the west , plates three percentage points higher than Canada. Quebec was a strong base have a symbol of the British crown Although it is a capitalist nation Ontario and the rest of Canada." of support for the one-day general and the slogan , "Keep it beautiful." in its own right, Quebec is economi­ Struggles to preserve the French strike · against wage controls in 1976, Quebec plates bear the French fleur cally exploited by capitalists in Eng­ language and culture reflect the the militant strike of the postal de lys symbol and the words, "J e me lish Canada, the United States, and nationalist pride of the Quebecois . workers in 1977, and the current souviens," meaning "I remember. " other powers . There have been many political ex­ strike by telephone workers against It is understood as , "I remember United Electrical Workers leader pressions as well. Bell Canada . 200 years of .oppression. " -S.S .

20 Cuban community· won'tbuy Espinosalies By Harry Ring Hildo Romeo, a spokesperson for the Two Florida travel firms which or­ alliance said the idea of sending badly ganize visits to Cuba by members of needed tires and batteries had origi­ the U.S. Cuban community are back in nated with cab drivers in Havana. · business. Last fall, in the wake of Hurricane American Airways Charters and Frederick, the alliance sent food and Travel Service, Incorporated, had been clothing to Cuba. shut down on a flimsy technicality by Now, in response to Espinosa's alle­ the mayor of Hialeah Park, outside gations, the Commerce Department Miami, after charges that officials of has declared it is probing for possible the two companies were Cuban spies. civil and criminal violations in the The mayor backed off after they shipment of the tires and batteries . went into federal court. The department did not say how any . Meanwhile, Rep. Claude Pepper (D­ possible prosecution could be squared Fla.) called upon Cubans to stop visit ­ with official sanction of the shipments. ing their homeland. Since such travel The readiness of the federal govern­ began in early 1979, some 10,000 U.S. ment to investigate such unfounded Cubans have visited their homeland . charges stands in contrast to its re­ At the same time, Rev. Manuel Espi­ fusal to act against the counterrevolu­ nosa, source of the wholesale "spy" tionary terrorist gangs in this country. charges against members of the Cuban These thugs have murdered two parti­ community, tried to put a monkey sans of the Committee of 75 in the past wrench into badly needed economic aid year and perpetrated two bombings of to the people of Cuba. the Cuban Mission to the UN at the Espinosa is the Miami-area minister close of last year. who made a sudden somersault on It is a joke for the authorities to say opposition to the U.S. blockade _of they don't know who these people are Cuba. In late January he unleashed a or how to catch them. barrage of spy charges against a broad Recent revelations established that range of individuals and organizations leading Ku Klux Klan killers were in associated with the Committee of 75, in the employ of the FBI. Is there any which Espinosa had been a leading good reason not to believe that the figure. same is true of the counterrevolutionar­ ies who admittedly received training The committee has promoted re­ newed ties between Cuba and the and funds from the CIA? These terrorists are able to carry on Cuban community abroad. Its efforts led to the release of 3,600 Cuban pri­ their bombings and assassinations soners convicted of crimes against the only because they have the assent of revolution. the United States government. It was the Committee of 75 that But they don't have the support of Union-led demonstration In Montreal during October 14, the Cuban community. union movement throughout Canada. initiated the travel to Cuba. Espinosa's unsubstantiated spy One more indication of the true charges have been widely publicized in sentiment within the community was provided when Espinosa resigned as years after coming to power, the PQ the Quebec labor movement. The the Miami area by Spanish-language radio stations which have carried his pastor of- the Evangelical Reform government has set a tentative date for Groupe Socialiste Travailleur/Socialist Church of Hialeah. He quit February 5, the referendum in June. Workers Group also ran candidates in "press-conference" diatribes live, in­ cluding one at which leaders of two the first Sunday after he made his The referendum question is not a Quebec advocating a labor party. sudden, widely publicized flip-flop on clear choice of self-determination, how­ Class-conscious worker leaders like counterrevolutionary exile groups ap­ peared with him. friendship with Cuba. ever, but for a vague "sovereignty-as~ R,oger Roy, who used the NDP as a The Miami Herald reported that sociation." Way of pushing forward an independ­ In one broadcast, Espinosa asserted attendance that Sunday was one-third The Quebec unions are in the thick ent working-class alternative in the that "contraband" was being shipped normal. of the debate over the referendum. -Roy federal election, are helping point the to Cuba in violation of Washington's The church membership had been told us his union "will have a seminar way forward for Quebec workers . embargo. early workers for friendship with on this next month. Our local will Their experience has something to What was this "contraband"? Cuba. Despite threats and bomb at­ propose to the St. Jean Labor Council say to unionists in the United States According to the Miami firm which tacks, they had picketed and demon­ that we have a debate on it. Our role is as well. shipped the goods, it was 1,996 auto­ strated for an end to the blockade. to inform people and get them to decide mobile tires and 400 car batteries. U.S. Espinosa's present smear campaign for themselves." Customs papers show the shipments against the Committee of 75 may be His local is joining a drive to get out were stamped "cleared." welcomed by Washington and its coun­ 260,000 copies of a special issue on the More than 'boo' The tires and batteries were bought terrevolutionary hirelings. But it ob­ referendum of Le Monde Ouvriere Union support for the labor­ with money raised by the Alliance of viously doesn't sit well with his former (Workers World), newspaper of the based New Democratic Party Workers in the Community . parishioners. Quebec Federation of Labor, to union differs between English Canada members throughout the province. and Quebec. But the basic challenge is the Labor party discussion same: to convince the working The vote for the NDP in Quebec class and its allies to act independ­ Shockleysperm bank: doubled, while the vote for every other ently in politics, to escape the trap party declined. And while the Quebec of choosing between the parties of labor movement did not throw itself the bosses. plan for masterrace? into the NDP campaigns as the unions The unions' "parallel campaign" By Diane Jacobs number of them Black, many of them did in most of English Canada, the for the NDP reached tens of thou­ Eugenics-the selective breeding and young girls bare_ly in their teens. . . percentage of NDP candidates who sands of workers in Canada and its sterilization of human beings to elimi- On the other side of the same com 1s were union members was higher in success is reflected in a local cam­ nate undesirables and achieve genetic a sperm bank program organized in Quebec than English Canada. paign like that of United Electrical purity. Didn't it disappear with Hitler's 1977 by a wealthy California indus­ According to an election analysis Workers leader Roger Roy. Third Reich? Apparently not. trialist, Robert K. Graham. Donors to appearing in Socialist Voice, the Eng­ We asked his view of the U.S. A recent search of records at a Virgi- the bank are limited to Nobel lau ­ political parties. lish-language paper of the RWL/LOR, nia state mental institution revealed a reates. Recipients of the sperm must be in Quebec "the highest NDP votes "I don't know 'boo' about politics fifty-year program of sterilization at "highly intelligent" married women. were in working class, francophone in the United States," Roy said, hospitals throughout the state. The most outspoken contributor to ridings [districts], in Montreal, Quebec "but I am interested in the people. I The victims included thousands clas- the sperm bank is inventor William City, Lac Saint-Jean, Sherbrooke and have in mind that I see the Demo­ sified as retarded, prostitute~, petty Shockley, a pseudo-geneticist most Hull ." crats like the Liberal Party and the criminals, and simply maladJusted- famous for his theory that Blacks are In the discussion around the referen­ Republicans like the Conserva­ such as unwed mothers and children genetically inferior to whites. dum, the question of independent labor tives." with disciplinary problems. Many were Sh kl d c d d h" t ·b t· ns political action will be ,.central. While The most powerful unions behind · Id oc ey faen e 1s con n u 10 the NDP in Canada-such · as the :old only td~atl the bolpera.~10n wou to the project: " . . . my past and the Parti Quebecois still retains great ' correct me 1ca pro ems. · · ed · h popularity, its capitalist nature has United Steelworkers, United Auto It l ft t th d . t· f th present emphasis 1s on r ucmg t e Workers, and rail unions-are in­ was e up o e 1scre 10n o e · ll d" d become more apparent to workers now h osp1ta· 1 direc" to r t o d ec1·d e 1"f s t en·1· 1za- tragedy of theb genetica ,, y 1sa van- than when it came to power. In its ternational unions with big mem­ tion was "in the best interest of such taged at the ottom. three years in office the PQ has broken berships in the United States . They patient and society." There you have it. Those "at _the campaign for the - labor party in strikes by public workers. It is stuck The program· ended in 1972, but the bottom" have only themselves-their Canada but still support the capi­ with the job of administering the aus­ law authorizing it was upheld by the genes, that is-to blame. The solution talist parties, the Democrats and terity measures required by the world­ U.S. Supreme Court, and is still on the is not to elevate the poor but to elimi­ Republicans, south of the border. wide capitalist economic crisis. books. nate them. To make room, presumably, The LOR/RWL calls for building a As workers in the United States Sterilization operations became so for the master race of Shockley clones. become disillusioned with the two­ labor party in Quebec based on the frequent in many states that racist But that's a dismal vision of things party swindle, the example of their unions. It ran two candidates in Que­ doctors called them "Mississippi ap- to come. The struggle for socialism is a own unions itt Canada shows a bec to raise its socialist program and pendectomies"-performed most often much better way to insure humanity's real alternative. to put forward this next urgent step for on impoverished southerners, a large bright future.

THE MILITANT/MARCH 14, 1980 Havana 1chool chlldren on vl1lt to mu1eum take time out for a game.

By Harry Ring the 'head of the household.' Not ten When we were there there were a "They feel solidarity with Black Andrew Pulley, the Socialist Workers percent on everyone in the family number of articles on Zimbabwe . people in the United States , in Africa. Party presidential nominee, was one of that 's working. "All of this shows how the leader­ They know about the struggle .'' the group that travelled to Cuba in late "You have .·free education from kin­ ship is educating the Cuban people to Several people, he said , asked him January with the SWP Cuba seminar. dergarten through college. the fact that they 're citizens of the about Malcolm X. They had favorab le Pulley was enthusiastic about his "From what I could observe, " he world, that the struggle of people ·comments about Malcolm. visit and in an interview, he described said, "nobody's denied these things. abroad is their struggle.'' some of his impressions. That means, practically speaking, that Pulley described how his visit com­ The first thing that struck him was racism's..been abolished.'' pared with his anticipations . End the blockade "the total absence of segregation of Pulley 's visit persuaded him of the Afro-Cubans. " Gains of women Human needs met great importan ce of American working "Here in this country ," he explained, Another thing that impressed Pulley "I had heard a lot about the eco­ peopl e learn ing more abou t Cuba. "I "you see some superficial desegrega­ was the role of women in Cuba . nomic difficulties and the shortages," intend to use my campaign to help tion. Black movie stars , Black political "I think wom en are about 30 percent he explained. "And I expected to find make people more .aware of Cuba," he figures. But when you get into the of the Cuban work force. But what's much more scarcity than I did. I cer­ sa id. "T o make them aware of the lies community, you cease to see desegrega­ significant is the ground women have tainly didn't expect to see that so in the news ·media. tion. There are still strict white com­ gained in the twenty years since the many Cubans have television. "I' m going to promote the idea that munities and strict Black communi­ revolution. "I had just read a Wall Street Jour - . there shou ld be diplomati c relations ties." "People told me that before the revo ­ nal article about this one Cuban who between this country and Cuba ," he "In Cuba, though, you see Blacks in lution adult women had to get permis­ said things were fine as far as jobs and said. "That the blockade agains t Cuba every conceivable job. Housing is inte­ sion to go out of the house. Now you free education were concerned. But he should be lifted. And that the govern­ grated, people live where they want. see boys and girls, from six to fourteen, was upset h e didn't hav e a television. ment should sto p h elping the coun ter ­ You see people mingling freely in going away together to the Pioneer The implication I got was that televi­ revolutionary exile terrorists who are clubs , in restaurants-,-and there 's no camps for vacation. I think this in sion was a rare item in Cuba. trying to intim idat e the Cuban people apparent friction or animosity among itself represents a gigantic change in "But in Ha vana, and in the rural in this count ry who want a policy of the rac es th ere. attitudes. areas, the opposite seemed to be the friendship. "It made me remember when I was a "Eve n more significant," Pulle y case. Most people seemed to hav e TV. "I'm going · to urge people to go down kid in Mississippi ," h e continu ed. "We ad ded, "is th e options that women in "Also, there didn't seem to be any there and see for themselves, " he said. were bu sed past the best whit e school Cuba have toda y. They're no long er big shor tage of clothing . People "Cuba makes it easier to convi nce to go to the worst white scho ol. Th at's relegated to being wives or maids - or seemed to be nicely dress ed, well people of the correct ness of socia lism. nonexistent in Cuba." prostitutes. Those were the three 'ca­ dressed. "Look at the irony ," he said. "In Pulle y said he also took note that reers' women could have befor e the "I was also surprised by the diver ­ Chicago, the y're shutting down hospi ­ Cuban childr en get two meals a day at revolution." · sity of clothing ," Pulley added. "What tals. The y're going to close six schools , school and free uniforms . "When I was "Be ing in Cuba jus t one week, you you hear from the capitalist media is lay off 2,000 teachers. And in tiny a kid," he recalled, "the bigges t strug­ ca n see how this has changed. In a that it's all one color. I didn't rea lly Cuba they're expandin g the hospita ls gle I face d was having clothes to go to clothing fac tory we visited, a woman believe that . But it does rub off on you , and building up th e schools ! school in . And not to be embarrassed worker head ed up the militia unit . even if you're skeptica l." "Doesn 't it make it clear, " he sa id, by wearing the same thing every day ." Another was the head of the union. " Pulley sa id he was moved by the "that the problem is the profit syst em. "So th e thing that really stood out warm reception he got from peopl e in That working people ha ve to break out for me," Pull ey repeated , "was all the Medical care in U.S. and Cuba Cuba, especiall y Afro-Cubans. of the framew ork of capitalist politics, concrete evidence I saw of how racism Pulley was also much impressed by "Everybody was very friendly ," he the two parties , build a labor party and can be laid to rest ." Cuba's system of socialized medicin e. sa id, "but with Afro-Cubans, it was a begin to follow the pro-worker policies What give th e abo liti on of racism a "One of the people on our tour got little extra. It 's not every day they being followed in Cuba. solid base, the socialist nominee ex­ sick," he said. "H e got good car e and meet a Black socia list running for "Ev erywhere I go," Pulle y con­ plained, are the economic gains of the didn't have to pay a dime.'' presid ent of the Unite d States . cluded, "people will hear about Cuba ." revolution. These favor , all working "You saw the diff erence ," he added, people, he said, but especially those "as we returned to the stat es. One of who were hardest hit before, the our people got prett y sick on the flight. Blacks. Th e pilot rad ioed ahead. But when we "You have full emp loyment in land ed th ere was no doctor. They laid Cuba, " he said . "P eople are payin g him out on a ba ggage rack until a only ten percent of thei r in come for couple of param edics arrived . rent. And that ten percent is only for "They told him they could tak e his vital signs free of charg e- like in £ Cuba , th ey said. But then they told -.-... "" him that if he wanted to go to the Readings hospital for treatm ent , it would be $75- in advanc e!" A particu larly inspiring thin g for on Cuba Pulley was "the int ernationalism. Both Dynamics of the Cuban of the governm ent and the people . It's Revolution, by Joseph Hansen not just what Cuba h as don e to aid the . tr.-.,\-<:,.. . strugg les of other countries, like An ­ w 385 pages , $5,95 Selected Speeches of gola . But also how th ey're making th e Fidel Castro 136 pages, $4,00 Cuban people awar e of these struggles . Th e int ernation alism seems to be The Second Declaration widely support ed among the peopl e. of Hav,na, by Fidel Castro "I met one Afro -Cuban who just 31 pages, $,75 return ed from Angola. And he was Fidel Castro at the UN proud of his service th ere. 48 pages, $1,25 "You see the int ernationalism re­ flected in th e Cub an media," he added. Ord er by mail from Pathfinder M'iliia~VHarry Ring "In t}J.epap er Granma ther e's articl es Andrew Pulley, center, and Robert Matson, left, talk with Nicaraguan merchant Press, 410 West Str eet, New every day on th e different coun tri es 1eaman during SWP Cuba tour. They met In Clenfuego1 hotel dining room. The York , N ,Y. 1001 4 . (Please wh ere the cla ss st ruggle has hea ted up. Nicaraguan crew wa1 1eelng Cuba whlle their 1hlp wa1 being repaired. They were enc lose $.75 for postage.) Plac es like El Sa lvad or, Nicar ag ua. delighted to meet U.S. soclallsts who 1upport Nicaraguan revolutlon.

22 -ers' demands. But that remains the ...inflation Carter administration's justification. Storagetanks filled There is a battle going on now to Continued from back page food stamps, veterans benefits, and defend our living standards against related programs. One proposal is to inflation . but oil pricessoar end the use of the Consumer Price In the front lines are 55,000 members By August Nimtz administration would have us blame Index to determine cost-of-living in­ of the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Work­ Once again the law of supply and Iran or the Organization of Petroleum creases in benefits, in favor of using ers Union, on strike against the profit­ demand has proved inoperative in the Exporting Countries (OPEC). the "gross national product deflator," swollen giants of the oil industry . Big capitalist oil market . Both supplies As for Iran, a Treasury Department which ran about four points under the oil is hanging tough against granting and prices are soaring at the same study, which the Carter administration CPI last year. health benefits and a living wage to time. sought to squelch, concluded that the This would take about $5 billion out the refinery workers because they "Stocks of crude oil in the United mass struggles there never caused an of the pockets of the hungry, the poor, know that a victory for OCA W will States reached their highest point on oil shortage and could not account for the aged, and the disabled. inspire other workers to fight harder record last Friday, while supplies of higher oil prices (January 4 Times). Government economists are starting for a fairer deal. gasoline were the largest in two Nor is OPEC to blame. The price to claim that the CPI overstates infla­ The government hasn't forgotten to years," according to the February 21 working people in this country pay for tion. But in fact the CPI understates lend a hand to the oil barons in this New York Times. A spokesperson for oil is rising faster than OPEC prices. the impact of inflation on working clash. Washington officials complain Continental Oil was quoted as saying The fundamental reason for the price people by including luxury goods that the settlement reached by the "every tank we have is brimming." rise is monopoly control of the oil whose prices rise more slowly. The union at eight small refineries exceeds Experts are calling the situation a industry. With a few companies­ index for basic necessities-which is their guidelines. worldwide oil glut ..Data of the Interna- American companies, not Arabs or what we spend most of our money on­ tional Energy Agency in Paris show Iranians-controlling marketing, oil rose not 13 percent but 17.6 percent "that the non-Communist world now prices can be kept artificially high. last year. produces about a million more barrels A more immediate reason for sky ­ Another frequently cited target of of oiJ a day than it consumes, with the rocketting prices lies with the Carter the budget-cutters is the Department of excess going to storage." administration's decontrol of domestic Labor. They aim to gut programs that According to the February 27 New crude oil. provide training and jobs for the unem­ York Times, U.S. Energy Department The oil monopolies are expected to ployed, and to slash funds for the officials were telling reporters that reap at least $1,000 billion in: extra Occupational Safety and Health Ad­ they foresaw "$1.50-a-gallon gasoline profits over the next decade from de­ ministration . OSHA has irritated big and $1.15-a-gallon home heatii:ig oil by controlled oil sales. business by exposing a few of the the end of the year." To great fanfare, Congress is adopt- · unsafe conditions that kill and maim The end of the year is coming early ing the "windfall profits" tax, which is tens of thousands of workers each in 1980. A survey of gas stations in the supposed to prevent the oil companies year. New York metropolitan area showed from growing too fat off the energy But target number one is our wages . that motorists are already paying as cns1s. Here the main weapon is the "guide­ much as $1.41 a gallon. "And retailers But actually the government is tak- lines" issued by the Carter administra­ are saying that the average price . . . ing no more than 23 percent or $227 tion. The official wage guideline re­ could reach $1.50 in three months, six billion. (Since corporations can evade mains 7 percent, although the White months earlier than predicted this taxes more easily than you or I, it House seems likely to accept an in­ week by Federal Energy Department remains to be seen how much of this crease to a 7.5-9.5 percent range recom­ Carter alma to cut benefits to elderly, officials," reported the March 1 Times . will actually be paid.) mended by a board of top corporate sick, disabled. One expert is predicting that the Much of the tax money collected and union officials. price will reach $1.88 a gallon by the ~m the oil companies will be plowed But even increases of 9 and 10 per­ end of the year . back to them and to other big busi- cent would mean a savage cut in our The February 12 New York Times Why are oil prices rising so rapidly? nesses through special tax credits. real income in a yea:r of 18 percent reported, "Federal experts expect that There's certainly no shortage! Under capitalism, this is known as inflation. the major companies will refuse to The oil companies and the Carter "equal sacrifice." The promoters of "wage restraint" settle at so nigh a level." That's the are especially unhappy about cost-of­ Carter administration's way of letting living escalator pro·visions-the only it be known that the government Tweedledee and Tweedledee protection workers have against soar­ stands fully behind the oil companies ing prices. They're talking about build­ in their fight to push the oil workers ing restrictions on COLA into the new down. guidelines. The battle lines to defend the work­ The Wall Street Journal summed up ing class against inflation's ravages · the meaning of Carter's guidelines are also drawn in Chicago, where fire when it hoped March 4 that "the fighters are striking for a signed con­ administration's voluntary wage-price tract; at International Harvester, guidelines help prevent the inflation in where workers are resisting company the energy area from spilling over into demands for forced overtime; and in the nation's wage structure." other strikes across the country. , In other words, make sure our wages Our response must be to organize the never catch up with oil company price greatest possible solidarity of labor (l ~-=- gouging. and its allies behind the oil workers When teal wages have already been and others fighting for a decent living falling for well over a year, it takes standard. That's the real fight against OIL 50ARIN0 some gall to blame inflation on work- inflation today . (NDUSTRY coSTOF PflDFrrs LIVING

Amoco killstwo, bars OSHA An explosion February 13 at the recognized both in the union con- Amoco Oil Refinery in Texas City, tract and in federal law. Texas, led to the deaths of two OSHA is seeking a court-ordered strikebreakers employed there by search warrant to enter the plant, private contractors. but Amoco has petitioned that this The accident confirms the request not even be considered. If charges by the striking Oil, Chemi- the search warrant is granted, the cal and Atomic Workers union that company says, its "only remedy the scab operation of the refineries will be to refuse to comply." is highly dangerous . In a related inciderit, Arco charged that twenty-seven women Am.oco is blocking an investiga­ and children had "harrassed and tion by the Occupational Safety intimidated" people trying to enter and Health Administration. The its struck plant on February 14, the company refuses to allow OSHA day following the Amoco accident. inspectors to be accompanied by The demonstrators were protesting the union-designated safety repre­ unsafe conditions at the Arco refin- sentative, even though this right is ery.

THE MILITANT/MARCH 14, 1980 23 ln·Review Angi Vera: subtle view of corruption Angi Vera. Written and directed by Pal Gabor. Relea,sed by New Yorker Films.

Angi Vera is a Hungarian film that is both a sensitive study of character and a subtle depiction of the relationship between the bureaucracy and the working class in that country. The time of the action is 1948, shortly after the Stalinists took power following World War II. Very likely this period was chosen so that the film-mak­ ers might claim that whatever criticism of Hungar­ ian society is implicit in the film pertains only to that time, not to now. But the bureaucracy has not disappeared . The young heroine, Vera (the last name first is Hungarian usage in formal writing), is a hard-work­ ing nurses' aide in a hospital. Orphaned by the war and leading a lonely existence, she is quiet, shy, and sensitive. Although she doesn't say much, her expressive face shows her sympathy for others. With these qualities Vera has the courage that goes along with her honesty of feeling . At a meeting of the hospital's workers, the director gives the obligatory party-line speech, which is evidently Appearing In 'Angl Vera' are Veronika Papp (left) and Erzal P6aztor mere verbiage for him and everyone else. But in the question period Vera astonished everyone by speak­ ing up about the shameful conditions at the hospi­ the making, one beer for the workers. shameful to treat an old comrade in this fashion. tal. At school Vera has fallen in love with her teacher, When it comes to Vera's turn, she creates a It turns out, however, that this is the best thing a devoted militant with an outstanding record of sensation by confessing that, infatuated by author­ she could have done for herself, for the Communist anti-fascist struggle . She can scarcely talk out of ity, she spent the night with her teacher. She shyness, but with the same over-riding honesty and thereby causes him to be removed from his post and boldness that she showed in speaking up at the ruins his career. She herself is, however, com­ hospital meeting she confesses her love to him. He mended for her honesty. Film does likewise, and they spend the night together in There is some ambiguity here. Was Vera merely the absence of his wife. being naive, taking seriously what no one else took party had been planning to ditch the director. The school has sessions of criticism and self-criti-' seriously, as when she spoke out at the hospital Although the workers were not involved in the cism conducted by a Communist party functionary meeting? decision-making, the bureaucracy was glad enough from outside, who is received by the school's direc­ Or, profiting from that experience, did she speak to be able to justify its decision as a response to the tor with extreme deference. with at least some measure of calculation? She legitimate grievances of the workers. Ostensibly, these sessions are for the purpose of signed the report condemning the oppositionist Vera us sent to a school for the training of cadres. reaching a cpmmon goal by frank discussion of worker, and she did not speak out in defense of the There she befriends, Anna, an older woman who is shortcomings. Actually , we see that they serve the veteran. Has she been unconsciously corrupted by outraged by the freedom with which the other purpose of the Stalinists' bludgeoning the workers Anna? women discuss their sexual experiences. Anna and making them toe the line. It is hard to tell, but she is undoubtedly distressed herself had had a very brief affair with a married The workers uncertain of how to participate in the by the consequences of her act and willfully courts man that ended unhappily with his being killed by charade are accused by the session leader of being pneumonia . The other students having left by train the profascist government. arrogant and cynical, but it is he who is both. In during her illness, Vera is taken to her destination At first our sympathies, like Vera 's, are with spite of the adjurations to be honest, no one would in a limousine by Anna, who informs her that she Anna, but we soon enough see that she is not only dare to speak out against his insufferable smug­ has won the rare opportunity to become a journal­ repressed but repressive. When she and Vera go out ness. ist . • to register people in the neighborhood, she has no At one point a veteran happens to mention that As they are driving, they pass Maria pedalling compunction about reporting a worker who had he commanded a revolutionary brigade in the along on a bicycle. Vera's face lights up and she belonged to another workers' party. revolutionary regime that was set up after World taps on the window to attract Maria 's attention. A long-time Communist party activist, she feels War I. The session leader rebukes him for being Maria does not, however, hear her, and the limou­ that she merits some special privileges for her boastful and comments that he probably thinks sine speeds along, leaving her behind. activism. "We deserve it," she says as she orders a himself better than the present leaders of the party. second liqueur at the cafe to which she and Vera Evidently, criticism does not extend to the top Vera's road is no longer that of the workers. She have gone after completing their registration as­ leadership. has been co-opted by the bureaucracy, and, having signment. This contrasts with .a Communist func­ This is too much for Maria, an earthy, plain­ passed through a sexual experience similar to tionary's forbidding any one to have a second beer spoken worker, who has served as a contrast for Anna's, will become another Anna. at a school party: two liqueurs for the bureaucrat in Anna. She remonstrates indignantly that it is -Paul Siegel A 'must-see'slide show on nuclear power "Nuclear Power: Miracle or Menace?" The success of Kaku's narrative lies in the fact actors, and 34 percent of the film crew have since A slideshow produced for the Mobilization for that he has put this history together with all the died of cancer. There is a leukemia epidemic in St. Survival by Dr. Michio Kaku (associate profes­ hard-hitting visual aid that photography-mainly George today. sor of nuclear· physics, City College of New from government files-can provide. A few slides highlight the tragic health problems York). You see some of those 85,000 barrels of radioac­ of transient workers in the nuclear industry. They Available for $20 rental from MFS, 135 W. Fourth tive waste that have been dumped off the San go from plant to plant, doing repair and mainte­ Street, New York, New York, 10012. (Phone Francisco and New York coasts. There they are, nance jobs and unwittingly receiving dangerous (212) 673-1808). corroding and splintering apart, with unsuspecting doses of radiation. fish swimming by. We learn that 25 percent of the The exploitation of workers in the nuclear indus­ barrels have already broken open, and that all of try would itself be a goo_d subject for a slide show or Usually I don't get too fired up about slideshows. them will do so in the next few years. The govern­ film. But this presentation by Dr. Michio Kaku is excep­ ment has no plan for preventing this. Ideally, this would be done in cooperation with tional. It's the sort of account of what's happening News reports over the past year have revealed the the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union. today that leaves you making a mental list of past use ·of waste uranium tailings as foundations After his litany of nuclear horrors, Kaku really people you know who've got to see it. for homes, schools, and public buildings. Kaku starts socking it to us in slide sixty-nine: Who is For most people who have been active in the shows us a shopping center in Grand Junction, responsible for this mess, he asks . antinuclear movement, and for many who haven't Colorado, built in this way: Kaku fills in the bottom line by detailing the ties been, the nuclear horror stories here-all fact-will "The government's position is that there is no between the nuclear industry and the giant oil not be new. danger to anyone walking briskly through the corporations. And he shows the control exercised shopping center." over both industries by the most powerful banks . We have read or heard about the giant sponges, We learn that John Wayne's death may have After this outline of what we are up against, shots the Brown's Ferry disaster, the Fermi I reactor been the result of nuclear weapons testing by a of the May 6, 1979, Washington, D.C., antinuclear incident that nearly caused us to lose Detroit, government that he prided himself on defending . demonstration inspire us to fight back. Kaku re­ leakage at the Hanford waste dump, Karen Silk­ Wayne was part of a film cast making a movie in minds us that mass actions by the American people wood's fight, the Idaho Falls tragedy, the Wind­ St. George, Utah, while an atomic testing program against nukes are under way . We can win. scale, England, uranium fire, etc. was being carried out in the region . All the leading -Jana Pellusch 24 The GreatSociety Harry Ring.

Corporate threads-When an exec stoicism and the practical concerns of ida, school principal . and the county Image-makers-There are now 160 does a tax-deductible two-martini modern leaders." superintendent. Barnes is the chap U.S. brands of cigarettes. Do some lunch, he should dress right, right? So who ordered $9;ooo worth of deluxe offer better tobacco than others ? Don't now they have tax-deductible "war­ Warming the bench-Some 20 per­ plumbing , including gold-plated toilet be naive . "Smokers are self-image buy ­ drobe analysis " and "suit leasing ." At cent of federal judges have attended fixtures, for a nonexistent plumbing ers," confides a spokesman for Loril­ the proper fee, an attire specialist all-expenses -paid "economics" semin­ class . A contractor who's putting up a lard. "They're attracted to a cigarette studies a corporation's clothing needs ars in· the sunny clime of Coral Gables, $121,000 weekend home for Barnes not because it contains a better grade and provides executive suits on a two­ Florida. The tab is picked up by such said he was told to put the plumbing in of tobacco but because they convey an year "lease ." The exec gets a free suit corporate court-goers as ITT , U.S. Steel the house. image they like to identify with ." and the company another deduction . and Exxon . An annual report on the Could there be a link between "self­ seminars assures they have "favorable The wheels of justice-Matthew image " and saturation advertising? No Like gold · bullion and brown implications for private property and Troy , former New York City council­ more than between smoking and rice-A new book, "Transcending the free markets. " member, is seeking review of what he cancer. Power Game : The Way to Executive sees as an unduly harsh prison term . Nice for the kids-Rolls Royce has ·serenity," offers "an alternative philo­ Just an inflation hedge­ Troy drew twenty six weekends in jail decided to break into the popular price sophy of executive power-a blend of Indictments have been issued against for stealing $30,000 from two elderly market by handling the British sports Taoist thought , Greek and Roman Solomon Barnes , a Dade County , Flor- women whose money he was handling. car, the Lotus. About $37,000. By Any MeansNecessary AugustNimtz Drugs,poverty, and war When I began leafing through the New York of the children born in Harlem were born drug-ad­ reinstitute the military draft-two moves that will Urban League's recently issued Status of Black dicted " (emphasis added). place an even greater burden on the Black commun­ New York Report-1980, I didn 't expect any sur­ Even allowing for a statistical margin of error, ity. prises. The facts and figures in the twenty -five-page this appalling finding reveals the depths of the, Little wonder that Black leaders, reflecting senti­ report are all too painfully familiar . plight of the Black community . What afflicts Har­ ment within their communities, increasingly speak lem afflicts all Black communities . out against Carter's war drive . As Rev. Joseph • -The employment picture for Blacks in New Lowery , president of the Southern Christian Leader­ York City is worse than it's ever been. The extensive use of drugs reflects the sense of hopelessness that prevails among large numbers of ship Conference , recently pointed out, the U.S. • Black youth are unemployed at three to five Blacks, especially youth. This figure affirms the Army is now 33 percent Black , and Blacks make up times the rate for whites. terrible human toll of the other appalling facts and 47 percent of the combat divisions. As he asked , • The gap between Black and white income is figures in the New York Urban League 's report . "Now who's going to die in a war?" As if these cutbacks and war drive proposals widening. This is the tragic outcome for young people who are denied jobs , adequate education and health weren't enough of an affront to Blacks, the right­ • The overwhelming majority of the 160,000 wing guerrillas that Washington is backing in families on the three-year waiting list for public care--people who are made to feel worthless . Hav­ ing been written off by the rulers of this country, Afghanistan are among the primary suppliers of housing are Black. the heroin that pollutes the veins of our youth and from the Carter administration down to that of even · poisons Black babies in their mothers' wombs. • Health care is in even greater jeopardy today Mayor Koch, thousands of Black youth see drugs as j Just as was the case in Indochina, the CIA's so­ as a result of Mayor Koch's threat to close down the only escape from a dismal existence. Even hospitals serving Blacks and Latinos. sadder , their false solution to hopelessness means called "freedom fighters" are scum who thrive on profits from the deadly heroin trade. that a new generation of Black youth will enter the • New York schools have a dropout-pushout rate Not only are the U.S. rulers creating the condi­ world even more crippled than their parents . of nearly 50 percent, mainly Black and Latino tions for even more widespread drug usage in the Rather than address the plight of Blacks, the children. Black community, they are helping to supply the All of this, unfortunately, was expected. However, solution of the White House and the rest of the U.S. If their drugs don't finish us off, a ruling class is "to attack the budget" -the new code dope themselves. what I read on page sixteen of the report shook me bullet or bomb in one of their wars somewhere -in from my sense of deja vu. · word for cutting back on the meager social and economic programs that could benefit Blacks . the world will . "In a startling revelation, the New York Library Can there be any doubt that the interests of on Special Statistics reported that 934 infants were Coupled with the cutbacks, Washington is now on Blacks lie only in bringing about an American born to mothers identified as narcotic addicts in a campaign to create war hysteria . Using the society in which human needs take priority over 1978. ·A rate of 8.8 per 1,000 live births. There are Afghanistan crisis as an excuse, the Carter admin­ profits and war become an anachronism-that is, a unconfirmed estimates that as many as 4.5 percent istration is increasing war spending and seeking to socialist America? What'sGoing On

Vietnam veteran ; Bob Martin, member , Vietnam Era Speakers: Enriqae Camilo , Young Socialist Al· 7:30 p.m. 711 NW. Everett St. Donation : $1. Ausp: ARIZONA Veterans Association ; representative of Agent liance ; Fernando Torres , Perspective Mundial staff . Militant Forum . For more information call (503) 222- PHOENIX Orange Victims International ; others . Sun., March 9, Forum will ·be in Spanish and English . Fri., March 7225. THE REVOLT IN CENTRAL AMERICA . Speakers: 7 p.m. 510 Commonwealth Ave. (4th Floor , stop at 14, 8 p.m. 108 E. 16th St., 2nd floor( % block east of Eduardo Quintana, Socialist Workers Party; repre­ Kenmore) . Donation : $1,50. Ausp: Militant Forum. Union Square) . Donation : $2. Ausp . Militant Forum sentative of Phoenix Committee to Aid Nicaragua . For more information call (617) 262-4621. and Foro de Perspectiva Mundial. For more infor ­ Sat., March 15, 7 p.m. 1243 E. McDowell. Dona­ mation call (212) 260-6400. tion : $1. Ausp : Militant Labor Forum . For more information call (602) 255-0450. TEXAS NEW JERSEY SAN ANTONIO REVOLT AND REPRESSION IN EL SALVADOR. NEWARK Speakers: Pat Fernandez, member of Mexican CALIFORNIA NICARAGUA : SLIDE SHOW WITH VICTOR American Student Organization at St. Mary's Uni­ LOS ANGELES NIETO. Nieto is the Socialist Workers Party candi­ NORTH CAROLINA versity and Young Socialist Alliance ; Ron Zimmer­ SOCIALIST WORKERS CAMPAIGN RALLY. date for U.S. Senate in New York, recently back PIEDMONT man, television journalist recently returned from El Speakers: Andrew Pulley , SWP candidate for presi­ from Nicaragua . Sat., March 8, 8 p.m. 11-A Central Salvador; Sonia Rubino , Salvadoran student . Video­ Ave. (near Broad St.). Donation : $1.50. Ausp: Mili· SOCIALIST EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCE ON dent; George Johnson , SWP candidate for U.S. THE DRAFT. 11 a.m. "History and Lessons of the tape of recent demonstration and government Senate, just returned from Nicaragua. Sun., March tant Labor Forum . For more information call (201) reprisals . Fri., March 14, 8 p.m. 112 Fredricksburg 643-3341. Anti-Vietnam-War Movement: the Crisis of U.S. 16, 3 p.m. reception ; 4 p.m. program . 2211 N. Foreign Policy and the Draft." Speaker: Douglas Rd. Donation : $1. Ausp: Militant Forum . For more Broadway (just off Golden State Freeway). Dona­ Cooper , Socialist Worker s Party candidate for information call (512) 735-3141. OPEN HOUSE TO MEET NEW JERSEY SOCIAL­ tion : $3. Ausp: SWP Campaign Committee . For governor. 3 p.m.: Workshop on 1980 North Carolina IST WORKERS CANDIDATES . Speakers: Chris more information call (213) 225-3126. Socialist Election Campaign . Speaker: Rebecca Hildebrand , SWP candidate for Congress , 10th Finch, SWP candidate for U.S. Senate. Sat., March SAN FRANCISCO District ; Jon Britton , SWP candidat e for Congress, 11th District. Slide show presentation on January 15, 216 E. 6th St.. Winston-Salem. Donation : $2. ARE HUMAN BEINGS REALLY GREEDY? A talk Ausp: Young Socialist Alliance . For more informa­ WASHINGTON 13 march for the Equal Rights Amendment. 5-8 p.m. on human nature and socialism. Speaker: Stephanie tion call (919) 723-3419. 11-A Central Ave. (near Broad St.). Donation : ~.50 . SEATTLE Coontz. Socialist Workers Party. Sat., Mar. 22, 8 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY. A panel dis­ p.m. Donation: $2. 3284 23rd St. Ausp: Militant Ausp: N.J. SWP Campaign. For more information call (201) 451-2113. cussion. From Iran: Tayabeh Fallahi, anti-shah Forum . For more information call (415) 824-1992. fighter ; from Nicaragua : Teresa Alexande r, Commit­ tee fo r Humanitarian Aid to the Nicaraguan People; from Grenada: Doreen Malmsten, femini st; from MASSACHUSETTS NEW YORK U.S.: Mary Nell Bockman , Sociali st Workers Party OREGON candidate for governor. Sun., March 9, 7 p.m. 4868 BOSTON LOWER MANHATTAN PORTLAND Rainier Ave. South . Donation: $1.50. Ausp: Mil itant AGENT ORANGE: THE LEGACY OF CHEMICAL COLOMBIA: THE EMBASSY TAKEOVER AND TENANTS RIGHTS STRUGGLE IN PORTLAND . Forum and Young Sociali.st Alliance. For more WARFARE IN VIETNAM. Speakers: Louis Font, THE STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS. Speakers: Mike McTague ; others . Sun., March 16, information call (206) 123-5330.

THE MILITANT/MARCH 14, 1980 25 Our RevolutionaryHeritage Letters.

Iran women & the veil sexual freedom is a significant Two recent features in the advance . InternationalWomen's Day Militant go to unnecessary Downer states where the real The following column by Cindy Jaquith lengths to defend the wearing sentiment for wearing the provides a brief history of International of the chador by Iranian chador primarily comes from : Women's Day, which is celebrated around women . Some remarks in the "It's a whole different feeling the world on March 8. The article origi­ February 15 interview with having someone tell you you nally appeared in the March 12, 1976, American feminist Carol cannot dress in a way that Militant . Downer echo similar views your own moral and religious In this year's International Women 's expressed in staff writer guidelines tell you you should Day activities, the theme of women in the Suzanne Haig's December 14 dress ." The Militant should work force is a prominent one . In Hamil­ "Women in Revolt" column. defend the right of women to ton, Ontario, a broadly sponsored rally Haig states that some dress any way they choose, but will be held March 7 to demand that the Iranian women wear the why does it seem compelled to Steel Company of Canada hire women, chador "in opposition to defend reactionary anti-sexual and to salute the increased participation Western dress styles that turn moral and religious guidelines? of women in union battles there. women into sex objects." The Iranian revolution does The New York City Coalition of Labor Downer tells us that men turn not require an unquestioning Union Women and the New York chapter women into "sex objects." defense from the Militant. Our of the National Organizatio~ for Women Materialist thought teaches readers do, however, require an will hold a ceremony at the site of the us that dress styles do not turn objective, Marxist defense. Triangle Shirtwaist fire where 146 work­ Role of women In labor force Is major anybody into anything. Ernie Abdo ers-mostly women-died in 1911. A pro­ theme of International Women's Day cele­ "Western" dress style does not Cincinnati, Ohio gram of speakers, music, and slides is brations. turn women into "sex objects." scheduled for the afternoon . Men are not wizards who can turn·women into "sex objects. " A Chinese. bureaucrat CLUW is also sponsoring activities in small towns and even in the villages . Although some may deny it, New Brunswick, New Jersey; Chicago; Halls were packed so full that they had to The problem of women as a privileged bureaucracy exists and San Francisco. · ask workers to give up their places to the alienated sexual beings does in China today as it did under Women Strike for Peace has called for women. not result from the desire of Mao. A recent Associated Press demonstrations at post offices around the "This was certainly the first show of many women to dress in a story cites Rong Yiren, a country on March 8 to protest registration militancy by the working women . Men sexually attractive style, or former capitalist who employed and the draft. stayed at home with the children for a even that many men are 80,000 workers in Shanghai . change, and their wives, the captive attracted to women who dress Although his pay is similar to * * * housewives, went to meetings." in such a style. The real cause other workers, he has a is the exploitation for profit of International Women's Day is being chauffeured limousine while Such celebrations risked fierce repres­ the fact that women '(and men) celebrated around the world on March 8 others ride bikes to work . sion in tsarist Russia. Nevertheless, the are sexual beings. with speak~outs, teach-ins, demonstra­ Bolshevik party organized a "Morning His home is staffed with half tions , and other protests against the op­ Teach-in on the Woman Question" on Downer ·tells us that the a dozen servants-certainly pression of women . Here in the United March 8, 1913, in Petrograd. Nearly all chador represents a rejection of uncommon for Chinese States, many actions are focusing on the the party speakers ·were arrested at the "Western values ." Readers of workers. As a hobby he collects demand for ratification of the Equal end of the rally. the Militant will not discover expensive cameras and Rights Amendment . Women are also Then in 1917, the March 8 celebration from its pages that some money-of which he has $6 speaking out in defense of our right to that was to transform world history oc­ "Western values" represent a million in the bank. abortion and on other issues. curred. Russian women textile workers in great advance over some This account is highly Through the resurgence of feminism in Petrograd marked International Women 's traditional Iranian values. For probable. While in China last the 1960s, we have restored March 8 as Day (February 23 by the Russian cal­ example , our relatively greater year several Chinese students part of women 's rightful heritage in this endar) by going on strike , demanding country . For decades, however, Interna­ bread and an end to the war . Their strike tional Women's Day had been ignored in spread throughout the city, and soon the United States, despite the fact that Petrograd was engulfed in a workers' Chicano poet against draft this holiday has its roots in the struggles upsurge, which we now know as the The following is an the U.S. when he spoke at a of American working women. February revolution. original poem from Chicano University of Utah Calm On March 8, 1908, women garment The Russian revolution snapped the poet and community activist Voice Forum on the situa­ workers in New York City took to the economic chains that bound women . Dr. Ricardo Sanchez. The tion in Iran. The close to streets. They marched through the Lower When the Bolsheviks came to power, they occasion of this poem was 1,500 students applauded East Side demanding the right to vote and legalized abortion, built child-care centers , Sanchez's appearance at the when he stated that no Chi­ an end to intolerable working conditions . eased divorce laws, and repealed antiho­ February 24 Militant Forum canos are going to die any- Working women, often led by the Social­ mosexual !,tatutes. against the draft. more in wars for the rich. ist party, played an important role in the The great strides forward in the emanci­ Sanchez had previously Ed Berger suffrage movement in this country . In pation of Russian women were betrayed denounced the war plans of Salt Lake City, Utah honor of the suffrage battles in the United when the counterrevolutionary regime of. -and they want another draft- States, the International Socialist Joseph Stalin consolidated his grip. Women's Congress, meeting in Copenha­ The Russian revolution, nevertheless, and they want another draft, gen in 1910, declared March 8 Interna­ marked a historic advance for women, a registration tional Women's Day . illustrating that the struggle for female of our youths March 8, 1911, saw a tremendous out­ liberation is inextricably intertwined with that human blood pouring of women in Europe in support of the fight to end all forms of oppression might grease the wheels of progress , suffrage. Alexandra Kollontai, the Rus­ under capitalism . youthful blood sian revolutionary leader, described it in It takes a socialist revolution to win this rivuletting her pamphlet International Women 's Day: fight-a revolution in which women and asian & near asian fields, "Germany and Austria . . . were one other oppressed and exploited masses seething trembling sea of women. Meet­ seize control of their destinies and forge a and damn ings were organized everywhere-in the new society based on human needs . but the price has ever been high, Our party is your party we've died on too many battlefields, our voices keening out dirges THE MILITANT is the voice of D I want to join the SWP. in every barrio in this land, the Socialist Workers Party. D Send me _ _ copies of Prospects a maligned, second place citizenry , for Socialism in America at $2.95 first in war and ever last IF YOU AGREE with what each . Enclosed$ _ _ _ on the fields of academe, D Please send me more information. good jobs, you've read, you should join and nutrition, us in fighting for a world Name without war, racism, or Address ______and we will not, must not march again exploitation-a sociaHst City ------'------to the howling cries world. State ______Zip __ _ _ _ of amerikan business for needed raza blood Tel ephone ------'- ­ to protect interests JOIN THE SWP. Fill out this SWP, 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. which keep us coupon and mail it today. 10014 bonded to the penury of U.S. genocidal policies, Damn NO, We WON'T GO, not no more! JOINTHE SWP Ricardo Sanchez

26 LearningAbout Socialism

and industrial workers told me of similar accounts . For one Why Militant·defends Soviet Union thing only the government A reader asks: other countries to make socialist revolutions. They try to' officials can ride in cars-and forestall imperialist moves against the Soviet Union by none are privately owned . I am puzzled by the articles in the Militant regarding the offering to collaborate with the imperialists against the Former capitalists have been Soviet Union. It seems to me that the majority of articles I world revolution . reimbursed with interest and read in the Militant condemn the repressive actions of the And they are terrified of granting the working .masses in back pay all that was Soviet Union. At the same time, I see articles that praise the the Soviet Union any democratic rights since this would nationalized during the late Soviet Union. Which is the official stance of the paper? endanger their privileges . 1950s. John C. McNamara The contradictory nature of the Soviet Union has a Although Yiren may be Buffalo , New York classified a "worker, " he is parallel in a formation that our readers are more familiar certainly different from other with: the American trade unions. Chinese. He is not a capitalist Fred Feldman replies: The trade unions were a product of hard -won victories by any more because he has The contradiction you point to is a real one. It lies not in the workers in struggles with the employers . But they ceased to own his former the Militant's coverage of the Soviet Union, but in the became encrusted with a highly privileged bureaucracy. Its industry or any other-but he contradictory structure of the Soviet Union itself . 'concern is not defense of the workers, but holding · on to is part of a bureaucratic caste We have seen this contradiction vividly displayed in posts and high salaries through collaboration with the of government officials and recent weeks . On the one hand , the Soviet rulers felt obliged empl<;,yers. many former capitalists. to send troops to Afghanistan where an allied government Just as we defend the unions in spite of their conserva­ The democracy movement in faced rebellion by ultrareactionary forces backed by the tive, undemocratic, and privileged leadership, so we also China is aware of this Carter administration. defend the Soviet Union . For the Soviet Union remains a bureaucracy and has called for The Soviet intervention has made it possible for the workers state . an end to privileges, and is for Afghan people to preserve social gains they have made in The capitalist class has not regained power there. The a democratic form of the past two years, such as distributing land to poor nationalized , planned economy remains . And this economy government under the workers peasants and beginning to free women from conditions produces some real benefits for the masses. The rise of the state. bordering on slavery. Soviet Union to a modern industrial power, the establish­ Mark Friedman ment of universal literacy and public education, and the San Diego, California Within a few days of that progressive action, the Soviet rulers exiled Andrei Sakharov . His crime in their eyes was availability of medical care to all regardless of income are to demand democratic rights and to raise his voice on behalf examples . Antinuke info of persecuted political dissidents. Another example is the fact that the Soviet Union An article in the Militant Looking back at the origins of the Soviet Union is useful maintains essentially full employment-in contrast to dated February 1, 1980, entitled in finding the key to such contradictory actions. crisis-ridden countries like the United States. "Western State Antinuclear The workers and peasants of Russia, led by the Bolshevik We think these conquests are well worth fighting for. Meeting" caught my attention. Party, took power in October 1917. This was the most And the imperialists are still trying to destroy them, for Being an antinuclear advocate democratic revolution in world history. The workers and the Soviet Union still stands as a giant obstacle to their myself, I am interested in farmers were organized into councils which debated, voted drive to· exploit the whole world. learning as much about the on, and carried out decisions. In spite of the eagerness of the bureaucrats to get along, facts behind the nuclear myth Washington tries to surround the Soviet Union with mil­ as possible. This government abolished the remnants of the czarist regime , and put an end to the domination of the big itary bases , throws billions into research and development Would it be possible to have aimed at developing a nucJear first-strike capacity, and the proceedings of the landlords . It organized and mobilized the workers to take exerts countless other pressures on the Soviet Union. convention which took place? control of production in the factories, and went on to abolish Any other information capitalism and establish a planned economy based on In seeking to fend off these pressures the Soviet rulers are concerning nuclear power public ownership of industry . sometimes forced to provide aid to progressive struggles. would also be appreciated . The Afghan revolution is one example. Sia Ardekani But · the imperialist rulers in Britain , France, the United Similarly, the employers' unrelenting hostility to the Austin, Texas States , and elsewhere (who still dominated the rest of the unions, coupled with pressure from the ranks for action in world) set out to reverse this revolution . They financed and defense of their interests, sometimes forces union bureau­ [In reply: Although to our armed counterrevolutionary armies, and invaded with their crats here in the United States to lead strikes and organiz­ knowledg e proceedings of the own forces . Millions died in the fighting and famine that ing drives . western states antinuclear con­ resulted, but the workers state won out. When that happens we stand with our unions while ference are not f!Vailable, infor­ In the wake of the civil war, the masses were exhausted maintaining our right to disagree with the officialdom . mation on antinuclear groups and hungry. Scarcity was universal (before the revolution, and activities across the coun ­ When the Soviet Union comes into conflict with imperial­ Russia had been a backward capitalist country). ism, we stand on the side of the workers state without try may be obtained from Coa­ Attempts by workers and farmers elsewhere in the world lition for a Non-Nuclear World, lessening our opposition to the policies of the bureaucracy. to follow the example of the Russian revolution were 413 8th Street S.E ., Washing­ The fact that the Soviet workers state represents an ton, D.C. 20003. defeated. The Soviet workers · state was isolated. advance over capitalism doesn't mean that the Soviet [Many informative books These were the conditions that made it possible for a working people should tolerate the greed and bullying of the and pamphlets are available bureaucratic layer to arise and push the workers out of bureaucrats. Just the opposite. on nuclear power, includirig political power. We hold that the Soviet workers and farmers can and will What Working People Should The bureaucracy was and is primarily interested in make a new revolution , to establish a democratic workers Know About the Dangers of assuring itself of privileged access to consumer goods . The Nuclear Power by yeteran and farmers government while preserving the anticapitalist trade union and antiwar acti­ bureaucrats have first dibs on everything from housing to economic foundations of the Soviet state. Today's struggles vist Fred Halstead. The pam­ automobiles to tickets for the ballet . for democratic rights presage this antibureaucratic revolu­ phlet is available for ninety­ The bureaucrats aren't interested in helping workers in tion. five cents from Pathfinder Press, 410 West Street , New York, N.Y. 10014. Include sev­ enty-five cents for postage.] If YouLike This Paper, Look UsUp Where to find the Socialist Workers Party, Young Socialist Alliance, and socialist books and pamphlets Stay informed Love your paper! I've been ALABAMA : Birmingham : SWP. YSA, 1609 5th Ave. Ave .. 4th Floor . Zip : 02215. Tel: (617) 262-4621. SWP, YSA. 2120 Dorr St. Zip : 43607. Tel : (419) N. Tel: (205) 328-9403. Send mail to P.O. Box MICHIGAN : Ann Arbor: YSA. 4120 Michigan Union , 536-0383. getting the Militant for eight 3382-A. Zip : 35205. U. of M. Zip : 48109. Detroit : SWP, YSA. 6404 OREGON : Portland : SWP, YSA, 711 NW Everett. years and find it to be the best ARIZONA: Phoenix : SWP, YSA, 1243 E. McDowell. Woodward Ave. Zip : 48202. Tel : (313) 875-5322. Zip : 97209. Tel : (503) 222-7225. example of a "free press" in the Zip : 85006. Tel : (602) 255-0450. MINNESOTA : Mesabi Iron Range: SWP, YSA, P.O. PENNSYLVANIA : Edinboro: YSA. Edinboro State country. CALIFORNIA : Easl Bay: SWP, YSA, 2864 Telegraph Box 1287, Virginia, Minn . Zip : 55792. Tel: (218) College . Zip : 16444. Tel : (21Si 734-4415. Phlla· Ave., Oakland . Zip : 94609. Tel : (415) 763-3792. 749-6327. Twin Cities: SWP, YSA, 508 N. Snelling delphla : SWP. YSA, 5811 N. Broad St. Zip : 19141. When you didn't publish for Loa Angeles : SWP, YSA, 2211 N. Broadway . Zip : Ave., St. Paul. Zip : 55104. Tel : (612) 644-6325. Tel : (215) 927-4747 or 927-4748. Pittsburgh : SWP, three weeks I could hardly wait 90031. Tel: (213) 225-3126. San Diego: SWP, MISSOURI: Kansas City: SWP, YSA, 4715A Troost. YSA, 1210 E. Carson St. Zip : 15203. Tel : (412) to read what was really YSA, 1053 15th St. Zip : 92101. Tel : (714) 234- Zip: 64110. Tel: (816) 753-0404. St. Louis: SWP, 488-7000. State College : YSA. c/o Jack Craypo , 4630. San Francisco : .SWP, YSA, 32!34 23rd St. YSA, 6223 Delmar Blvd . Zip: 63130. Tel : (314) 606 S. Allen St. Zip : 16801. Tel : (814) 234-6655. happening in Afghanistan. It Zip : 94110. Tel: (415) 824-1992. San Jose: SWP, 725- 1570. TEXAS: Austin: YSA, c/o Tom Dynia, 2024 Good­ was then that I realized how YSA, 201 N. 9th St. Zip : 95112. Tel: (408) 998- NEW JERSEY: Newark: SWP, YSA, 11-A Central rich Ave. #110 Zip: 78704. Dallaa: SWP, YSA, much I depend on the Socialist 4007. Ave. Zip: 07102. Tel : (201) 643-3341. 5442 E. Grand . Zip : 75223. Tel: (214) 826-4711. Workers Party to keep me COLORADO : Denver: SWP, YSA, 126 W. 12th Ave. NEW MEXICO : Albuquerque: SWP, 1417 Central Houston : SWP, YSA, 806 Elgin St. #1. Zip : 77006. Zip : 80204. Tel: (303) 534-8954. Ave. NE. Zip : 87106. Tel: (505) 842-0954. Tel : (713) 524-8761. San Antonio: SWP, YSA, 112 informed. FLORIDA : Miami: SWP, YSA, 8171 NE 2nd Ave . Zip : NEW YORK: Capital District (Albany) : SWP, YSA, Fredericksburg Rd. Zip : 78201. Tel: (512) 735- M.F. 33138. Tel: (305) 756-8358. 103 Centra l Ave. Zip : 12206. Tel: (518) 463-0072. 3141. Bridgeville, Pennsylvania GEORGIA: Atlanta: SWP, YSA, 509 Peachtree St. New York, Brooklyn: SWP. 841 Classon Ave. Zip: UTAH: Sall Lake City: SWP, YSA, 677 S. 7th East, NE. Zip : 30308. Tel: (404) 872-7229. 11238. Tel: (212) 783-2135. New York, Lower 2nd Floor . Zip : 84102. Tel: (801) 355-1124. ILLINOIS : Champaign-Urbana: YSA, 284 Illini Un- . Manhattan: SWP. YSA. 108 E. 16th St. 2nd Floor . VIRGINIA : Tidewater Area (Newport News): SWP, ion , Urbana . Zip : 61801. Chicago: SWP, YSA, 434 Zip : 10003. Tel : (212) 260-6400. New York, Upper YSA, 111 28th St. Zip: 23607. Tel: (804) 380· S. Wabash, Room 700. Zip : 60605. Tel : (312) 939- Manhattan : SWP, YSA, 564 W. 181 St., 2nd Floor. 0133. The letters column is an 0737. Send mail to P.O. Box 438, Washington Bridge open forum for all view­ INDIANA : lndlanapolla: SWP, YSA, 4850 N. College . Sta. Zip : 10033. Tel : (212) 928-1676. New York: WASHINGTON , D.C.: SWP, YSA, 3106 Mt. Pleasant Zip : 46205. Tel : (317) 283-6149. Gary: SWP, YSA. City-wide SWP, YSA, 108 E. 16th St. 2nd Floor. St. NW. Zip : 20010. Tel : (202) 797-7699. points on subjects of gen­ 3883 Broadway . Zip : 46409. Tel: (219) 884-9509. Zip : 10003. Tel: (212) 533-2902. · WASHINGTON: Olympia: YSA, Room 3208, The eral interest to our readers . KENTUCKY: Loulavllle: SWP, YSA, 131 W. Main NORTH CAROLINA: Piedmont SWP, YSA. 216 E. Evergreen State College . Zip : 98501. Tel: (206) Please keep your letters #102. Zip: 40202. Tel: (502) 587-8418. 6th St.. Winston-Salem . Zip : 27101. Tel : (919) 723- 866-7332. Seattle: SWP, YSA, 4868 Rainier Ave., LOUISIANA: New. Orleans: SWP, YSA. 3319 S. 3419. South Seattle . Zip : 98118. Tel: (206) 723-5330. brief . Where necessary they Carrollton Ave. Zip : 70118. Tel: (504) 486-8048. Tacoma : SWP, YSA. 1306 s. K St. Zip : 98405. Tel : will be abridged. Please in­ MARYLAND: Baltimore : SWP, YSA, 2913 Green­ OHIO: Cincinnati: SWP. YSA. 970 E. McMillan . Zip : (206) 627-0432. dicate if you prefer that mount Ave. Zip : 21218. Tel : (301) 235-0013. 45206. Tel : (513) 751-2636. Cleveland: SWP, YSA, WEST VIRGINIA: Morgantown : SWP, YSA. 957 S. MASSACHUSETTS : Amherst : YSA, c/o Rick Drozd. 13002 Kinsman Rd. Zip : 44120. Tel: (216) 991- University Ave. Zip : 26505. Tel: (304) 296-0055. your initials be used rather 203 E Cashin , U. of Mass. Zip: 01003. Tel : (413) 5030. Oberlin: YSA, c/o Gale Connor, OCMR Box WISCONSIN: MllwaukN : SWP, YSA, 3901 N. 27th than your full name . 546-5942. Boston: SWP, YSA. 510 Commonwealth 679. Zip : 44074. Tel: (216) 775-0084. Toledo : St. Zip : 53216. Tel: (414) 445-2076.

THE MILITANT/MARCH 14, 1980 27 TH£ MILITANT Anti-inflationhoax arter ro s workers to pay for war u get By Fred Feldman of 13 percent in 1979; Stepped-up preparations for war • a decline of more than 5 percent in abroad mean an escalating war the real purchasing power of working against the living standards of work· people according to La~or Department ing people at home. figures; and That's the real meaning of the talk • a January inflation rate of 18 per· about containing inflation by balanc­ cent. ing the federal budget in 1981. So hold onto your wallet when Car­ Carter started the year by proposing ter and Congress start talking about a $16 billion jump in military spend­ fighting inflation even harder. ing. Defense Secretary Harold Brown Administration officials say they followed up February 27 by announc­ want to .cut $15 billion out of the 1981 ing that the administration would ask budget published earlier this year. for even more . billions for weapons . I And on February 27, forty-three se­ The reason for swelling the war nators proposed $25 billion in cuts . budget is to guard the investments of The cuts won't come from war spend­ Exxon and the other huge U.S . corpo· ing. "Senior economic officials have rations against new !rans and Nicara· set aside any thought of cutting into guas. the promise of the Pentagon of an The incredible sums Washington increase in 1981," reported Steven spends on weapons-fast approaching Rattner in the March 5 New York $150 billion a year-are the number· Times. one cause of the federal budget deficit. And certainly the profits of the This year's deficit was most recently banks and the oil companies must not estimated at $46 billion. Because the be permitted to suffer! government, in effect, prints extra The politicians in Washington aim paper money to make up the difference, to take the increased war spending / such budget deficits are tremendously right out of our hides. inflationary . One member of the House of Repre· Meanwhile, the administration eased sentatives told the Wall Street Journal controls on oil prices last year­ after a meeting with administration pushing gasoline toward $1.50 a gallon officials that "there was a consensus and beyond. And Carter is talking interest rates on loans to record The result of the last year of infla­ at the meeting to 'go after the runaway about lifting controls on natural gas highs-meaning higher prices for just tion-fighting by Carter and Congress entitlement programs.'" prices, too. about everything, but more profitable was: This means cuts in social security, The Federal Reserve Bank has raised loan-sharking, for the bankers. • an officially reported inflation rate Continued on page 23

Calif. unionsto rally 4,000 march in L.A. behindoil strikers - ···>''·····~ By Nat Weinstein the San Francisco meeting and re­ and Jeff Mackler ported on a support rally and other SAN FRANCISCO-Over · 170 trade efforts there. The meeting also received unionists, including representatives of telegrams from other AFL-CIO leaders the retail clerks , steelworkers, rail , in Los Angeles . hospital, teachers, longshore, and In addition to Guerrero's action prop­ building ·trades unions, met here Feb­ osal, reports on the progress of the ruary 28 to organize support for the strike were heard from Jake Jacobs, of Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers OCAW Local 1-5, and Dorothy Pala­ union (OCA W). cios, OCAW international representa­ OCA W was forced out on strike tive. January 8, after the giant oil compan­ Robert F. Goss, international presi­ ies refused to increase wages and dent of OCAW, sent a telegram to the health benefits needed to maintain the meeting. Goss is slated to speak at the workers' purchasing power, which has March 22 rally here. been severely eroded by inflation. Leaders of many area unions spoke On the suggestion of Fernando Guer­ from the platform or read statements . . .., rero, president of OCAW Local 1-1978, pledging support and aid to the strike. Militant/Walter Lippmann Unit 2, the meeting unanimously decided to call for a mass solidarity The breadth of the meeting repre· By Walter Lippmann which organized the event. rally in San Francisco March 22. sents a significant new development. It LOS ANGELES-Four thousand Other unions represented at the The meeting was noteworthy for its points toward the rebirth of the best people came to a march and rally rally in support of OCA W were the broad sponsorship, which included the traditions of class solidarity, which here March 1 . in support of the National Maritime Union, United heads of the central labor councils in had been eroded since the last big striking oil workers. Electrical Workers, American Fed­ the San Francisco Bay Area; John F. labor upsurge in the 1940s. eration of Teachers, United Auto Henning, executive secretary of the The kind of solidarity shown here, if It was "a real day of working Workers, Teamsters, and the In· California Labor Federation; and continued and developed around the class solidarity," said Jimmy Her· -land Boatmen's Union. Cesar Chavez, president of the United country, can prove decisive in aiding man, president of the International The entire harbor was brought to Farm Workers . the OCA W strike . Longshoremen's and Warehouse­ a near standstill by the ILWU, "a Also reflected was the development Such actions also point in the direc­ men's Union, one of the participat· clear sign," said a TV newscaster, of statewide support for the striking tion of the unions systematically or· ing unions in the Los Angeles-Long "of the power labor has if it OCAW workers. Jim Tatum, business ganizing the working class as a whole Beach Harbor Area Coalition, chooses to use it." representative for the Los Angeles and its allies against the oil and other. County Federation of Labor, addressed corporations .