JULY 17, 1981 75 CENTS VOLUME 45/NUMBER 27

SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY /PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE NAACP backs AFL-CIO march· against budget·cuts -PAGE 5 Defending Bill of Rights Rallies back socialist · suit against se~ret police PAGES 9-11 . Polish workers vow: 'We · won't be divided' -PAGE7 Lester Cole, one of Hollywood Ten, addresses San Francisco rally sponsored by Political Rights Defense Fund.

How miners pushed back bosses, gov't. -PAGE&

Militant/Stu Singer In Our Opinion VOLUME 45/NUMBER 27 JULY 17, 1981 CLOSING NEWS DATE-JULY 8 A woman on the Supreme Court If she's approved by the Senate, Sandra O'Connor will become the first woman ever ap­ pointed to the Supreme Court in its 191 years of existence. That tells you something about the reaction­ ary nature of the institution right off the bat. The media have called O'Connor's nomination a "milestone" and a "breakthrough" in the fight for women's rights. It's nothing of the kind. The decision by the rulers of this country to nominate a woman does reflect their recognition that giant changes have occurred in women's role in U.S. society. These changes have produc­ ed a deep sentiment against the pervasive sex discrimination women face. The exclusion of women from the Supreme Court has stood as a glaring contradiction to the myth that women have all the equality they need. So, just as they added a Jewish judge to the court in the early part of this century; just as they added a Black judge, Thurgood Marshall, when the civil rights movement exploded in the Arizona, praised her as a "conservative jurist. And on June 29, they upheld the revocation of 1960s; they decided it was time to appoint a . . . She has not been an advocate of the pro­ Philip Agee's passport, ruling that the State De­ woman. choice people." partment has the right to decide who can and can­ From the standpoint of the ruling rich, O'Con­ Liberal Democrats joined in. Sen. Edward not travel abroad. nor's appointment will enhance the image of the Kennedy said: "Every American can take pride in The Supreme Court has also consistently cut Supreme Court so it can better serve their inter­ the President's commitment to select such a wom­ away at abortion rights over the past few years, ests. an for this critical office." undermining its own 1973 decision legalizing They consciously foster the idea that the court O'Connor's political record helps explain the abortion. is an independent wing of the government praise she's receiving. O'Connor's nomin~tion comes at a time when -that it stands above class conflicts. It's sup­ She assured Reagan that she finds abortion women are increasingly angry at government posedly immune from the corruption of the De­ "personally abhorrent." moves against their rights. Liberal Democrat mocrats and Republicans, from corporate con­ As an Arizona state senator, she introduced the Morris Udall heaped praise on Reagan for select­ trol. It's the last resort of those seeking justice Equal Rights Amendment into that body in 1974, ing a woman. "This is incredibly smart politics," -the last court of appeals. but later withdrew her support for the measure. the Arizona congressman said. "It's a real strike. The reality is that the Supreme Court is one of She helped draw up death penalty laws as a You take all the groups in America, and there has the three institutions through which the state senator. On the bench, she's known for met­ been none more distrustful of Reagan than the wealthy maintain their rule. It-along with the ing out the death sentence. women's movement. This just cuts the ground out president and Congress-exists to protect the This hanging judge also supported a resolution from under them." profits of the bosses and restrict the democratic urging Congress to stop busing for school desegre­ Indeed, National Organization for Women Pres­ rights of the masses. gation. ident Eleanor Smeal immediately issued a state­ These nine robed reactionaries of the ruling And she's a staunch supporter of "state's ment calling O'Connor's nomination "a victory for rich-in particular-have the job of giving legal rights"-the racist code word for rolling back the women's movement." sanction to attacks on working people's rights. civil rights legislation. But 'the presence of a woman on the Supreme Although some Moral Majority spokespeople O'Connor will fit right in with the current Su­ Court-regardless of her politic~oesn't change have criticized O'Connor's nomination, Reagan preme Court and its recent decisions. in the least the purpose of that reactionary insti­ and his supporters are clearly united on the On June 25, the court ruled that registration tution. Witness the unemployment, discrimina­ choice. and the draft are constitutional, opening the door tion, and racist violence suffered by Blacks more Reagan said, "I am completely satisfied with to reinstituting conscription and arresting draft than a decade after Marshall was appointed to the her." resisters. same post. Sen. Barry ~ldwater of Arizona, O'Connor's The next day, the court ruled that divorced For 191 years, the Supreme Court has faithfully home state, said the president couldn't have found spouses of military personnel are not entitled to served those who profit from the exploitation of a woman more qualified for the job. any of their military pension, a big economic blow the great majority in this country. Adding a wom­ Sen. Dennis DeConcini, the Democrat from to thousands of women. an's face will not alter that record one bit.

Militant Highlights This. Week The Militant Editors: CINDY JAQUITH ANDY ROSE Business Manager: NANCY ROSENSTOCK Editorial Staff: Nan Bailey. Nelson Blackstock, Steve Bride, Fred Feldman, Nelson Gonzalez, Wil· 4 Postal workers' protest liam Gottlieb, Sue Hagen, Suzanne Haig. Diane Texas Blacks killed Jacobs. Margaret Jayko. Malik Miah, Harry Ring, Vivian Sahner, Priscilla Schenk, Stu Singer. 5 News from Iran July 19 actions set Published weekly except two weeks in Au­ 8 Socialist wins delay in gust, the last week of December, and the first deportation hearing week of January by the Militant (ISSN 0026· 9 Bay-area PROF rallies 3885), 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. Civil rights leader on SWP suit 10014. Telephone: Editorial Office, (212) 12 ERA rallies 243-6392; Business Office, (212) 929-3486. Correspondence concerning subscrip­ 13 Dominica coup plot tions or changes of address should be addressed to The Militant Business Of­ 13 Solidarity with Central fice, 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. America & Caribbean 10014. 14--16 World News and Analysis Second-class postage paid at New York, 17 AsiSeelt N.Y. Subscriptions: U.S. $24.00 a year, out­ Learning About Socialism side U.S. $30.00. By first-class mail: U.S., 18 The Great Society Canada, and Mexico: $60 .00. Write for air­ Union Talk mail rates to all other countries. What's Going On Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily 19 Letters Tomas Borge is interviewed about the church, U.S. threats, represent the Militant's views. These are expressed ff You Like This Paper . .. Nicaragua's relationship with Cuba and the Soviet Union. Page in editorials. 14.

2 THE MILITANT JULY 17, 1981 Fifth Irish hunger striker dies Belfast councilman appeals for U.S. support By Steve Bride H-Block prisoner Joseph McDonnell is dead. McDonnell died July 8 in Northern Ireland's Maze Prison, on the sixty•first O'Hare to speak day of his hunger strike. at solidarity rally He is the fifth inmate to die at Maze since hunger strikes began March 1 to Belfast City Councilman Fergus protest British refusal to grant political O'Hare, currently on U.S. tour, will status to H-Block prisoners. next appear in New York City at a On July 3, as McDonnell was nearing July 11 solidarity rally for Ireland's death, a Belfast city councilman and the · hunger strikers. relatives of two other hunger strikers The rally, which is sponsored by went before the cameras and micro.- · the New York H-Block/Armagh phones in New York City to appeal for Committee, will begin at 7:30 p.m. support from the American people. at the Irish Institute, 326 W. 48th "The people of America have shown St., near Ninth Avenue. For more clearly in recent demonstrations that a information call (212) 777-2528; large section of the population is pre­ pared to act," Belfast Councilman Fer­ gus O'Hare told a packed news confer­ Millitani/Marc Lichtman ence. At July 3 New York press conference, from left: former Attorney General Ramsey "Now we are asking that you take Clark;.Oiiver Hughes, brother of late hunger striker Francis Hughes; former New York whatever action you can to further iso­ City Council President Paul O'Dwyer; Belfast City Councilman Fergus O'Hare; Alice by former New York City Council Presi­ late Britain, to show Britain that she is McElwee, mother of hunger striker Thomas McElwee_ dent Paul O'Dwyer, former U.S. Attor­ a leper in the world" for refusing to meet ney General Ramsey Clark, and Father H-Block inmates' demand~. Daniel Berrigan. O'Hare, a member of People's Demo­ on an H-Block platform. The elections, he said, combined with Responding to a question from repor­ cracy, the Irish Trotskyist group, was Alice McElwee,. mother of current "the mobilizations of tens of thousands ters, O'Hare said the recent U.S. demon­ recently elected to the Belfast City hunger striker Thomas McElwee, also in the streets," have dealt "massive strations against Prince Charles "boost­ Council on a platform that centered on spoke. body blows against the British." ed the morale of people in Ireland im­ support for the prisoners. O'Hare pointed to the election of In fact, Sands's election so damaged mensely. O'Hare's words came the day after hunger striker Bobby Sands to the Brit­ Thatcher's pretense that the hunger "We've had a long period of intense last rites were administered to McDon­ ish Parliament, two hunger strikers to strikers are common criminals that the struggle," he continued. "People are nell. the Irish Parliament, and others like British government has introduced a weary but determined. Any activity Joining O'Hare at the July 3 news himself and Hughes to local elected bo­ bill in Parliament that would bar "con­ such as the Prince Charles 'welcome,' as conference was Oliver Hughes, brother dies as proof that British Prime Minis­ victed felons" from entering elections to well as having vital importance interna­ of the late hunger striker Francis ter Margaret Thatcher is lying when that body. tionally, lifts people's morale in Ireland. Hughes. Oliver Hughes recently won she says the prisoners have no support U.S. supporters of the hunger strikers It gives us more determination and election to the Derry City Council, also in Ireland. · were represented at the news conference courage to carry on." New York's 75-cent ride to death· By Nelson Gonzalez oration of the New York transit system pect less and less service for higher and that benefit from mass transit would NEW YORK-On July 2 New York falls squarely on the city administration higher prices. provide plenty of money to run a safe, ef­ commuters had a fifteen-cent fare hike and the banks who have let the system Koch and Carey have been shadow ficient transit system. shoved down their throats. fall into total decay. boxing for weeks over how to make up Just fourteen hours later, one subway The MTA has even admitted that sig­ the transit deficit. But the only real dif­ train crashed into another in Brooklyn, nals like the one that killed Cole are be­ ference between their plans is which tax crushing Black motorman Jesse Cole to ing replaced on such a gradual schedule scheme will better make working people death and injuring 135 passengers. that some parts are kept in service up to foot the bill. The cause of the accident was report­ thirty-five years longer than they Both are also trying to make transit edly a faulty signal light system. should. workers the scapegoat. In addition to It turns out the system was installed And at the same time they have the blaming the latest accident on the in 1918. gall to raise the fare to seventy-five worker who was the victim, the city and The Metropolitan Transit Authority cents, with a $1 fare hanging over com­ state officials are setting the stage to (MTA), while acknowledging the anti­ muters' heads! blame a fare hike to $1 on transit quated nature of the signal system, has Since 1978, there have been eight ma­ w:orkers' demands in their upcoming tried to blame the dead motorman for jor subway accidents in New York. contract negotiations. the crash. MTA President John Simpson Trains have jumped tracks, motors have The Transport Workers Union, which said Cole failed to stop when he saw the fallen off, fires have broken out in tun­ supports free mass transit and is fight­ faulty signal, and thereby "created an nels. Hundreds of people have been in­ ing for safer subways and a decent con­ unsaJe condition." jured, thousands evacuated. tract, deserve the full support of all Transit workers are outraged at the But even a "normal" ride on the train working people. charges against Cole. More than 500 is torture. It requires football tech­ If we could inspect the books of the people came to his funeral on July 8. niques to board the already overcrowded MTA and the banks, we could find out Trains passing by on a nearby elevated cars, for which one is rewarded by suffo­ the truth about where the deficit comes track stopped and sounded their horns cation in the summer, freezing in the from. Those books would show that the in solidarity. · winter, and late arrivals all the time. funds aren't being squandered on Local 100 of. the Transport Workers No one pretends the new seventy-five­ workers' wages or repairs, but on exor­ Union called for a July 9 picket line in cent fare will mean any improvement in bitant interest payments to the banks front of MT A offices. these conditions. Mayor Koch, Governor that hold the transit bonds. Full responsibility for the crash,· Carey, and the bankers they serve hav~ A moratorium on the interest pay­ Cole's death, and the horrendous deteri- made it clear New Yorkers should ex- ments and taxing the big corporations

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JULY 17, 1981 THE ~ILITANT 3 Postal Workers Solidarity Day hits gov't stalling on contract By John Olmsted Hache died at a Portland post of­ ther fueled by the fact that pos­ HARRISBURG, Pa.:-Postal fice when his skull was crushed tal workers' political activity is workers here joined thousands between a low-hanging ceiling limited by the reactionary of their co-workers across the and a lift platform. Hatch Act. country picketing the post offi­ An investigation by the Occu­ ces on June 25 to demand that pational Safety and Health Ad­ the government get down to se­ ministration and a DuPont de By George Kontanis rious bargaining for a new con­ Nemours and Company report NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia tract. showed that the Postal Service -More than lOOmembersofNa­ "Postal Workers Solidarity delayed safety improvements on tional Association of Letter Car­ Day" was called by the Amer­ equipment and failed to provide riers Branch 609 picketed out­ ican Postal Workers Union and safety guidelines to the side the downtown and Denbigh the National Association of Let­ _workers. Because of the empha­ post offices on June 25. They ter Carriers, unions that repre­ sis on speed-up and cutbacks in were part of a day of solidarity sent 500,000 of the 600,000 pos­ federal subsidies, the Dupont with postal workers across the tal workers. The current three­ report said, "Safety in the country who are fighting for a year contract with the Postal United States Postal Service is decent contract. Service expires July 20. not managed now." In an interview with the Mil­ The mood on the picket lines In response to the increasing itant, John Reeder of the Letter hazards, the postal unions are was one of anger and a determi­ Carriers said, "We want Post­ nation to do whatever is neces­ demanding the right to refuse to master Bolger to negotiate in sary to gain a decent contract. work under unsafe conditions. good faith. We are here to let Postal workers are barred by Picketers also expressed fear our president, Vincent Sombrot­ law from striking. that the government will go af­ to, know we are solidly behind Much of the anger was fo­ ter the cost-of-living clause in him. cused on Postmaster General the present contract. The Rea­ .-Bob Greene, a community center employee, William Bolger, with signs like gan administration has already "A fighting issue is retention picketing after 1,500 municipal workers struck July 5 for equal "Bungle-it-Bill is not going to announced its desire to cut of our cost-of-living clause. With _ pay for women. City workers, who are members of Local1 01 of Buffalo us!" wages for most federal employ­ today's inflation rate, we must American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employ­ The Militant asked the local ees. have a COLA in our contract," ees, are demanding $3.2 million over four years to correct pay president of the APWU what With further mechanization Reeder said. discrepancy between men and women performing comparable were the biggest issues postal on the horizon, the nine-digit zip jobs. workers faced. Speed-up and code and electronic mail, postal The American Postal Work­ mandatory overtime, he an­ workers fear for their jobs. ers Union also participated in swered. The workers can be Workers must have six years of the national day of solidarity forced to work eleven hours a seniority to be covered by the with informational picket lines day and some are reported to be contract's no-layoff clause. at the Riverdale Shopping Plaza doing that seven days a week. The frustration against the and at the Bulk Mail Center in Chrysler workers: This is coupled with a speed­ Reagan administration is fur- Hampton, Virginia. up that affects all the workers. The routes for the letter carriers 'mad, getting madder' get longer, workers inside are By Vivian Sahner Fraser, who sits on the forced to process mail at faster According to the June 20 Chrysler board, was among and faster rates. USPS figures Cleveland Plain Dealer, those voting to restore Iacocca's show a 5.5 percent increase in workers at Chrysler's Twins­ pay. productivity in 1980 alone. burg stamping plant "are mad Marc Stepp, UAW vice-presi­ One picketer commented "I and getting madder." dent in charge of Chrysler, told quit the Marine Corps to get the press, "I didn't know it until away from harassment; things It was adding insult to injury I saw it in the papers . . .. The haven't gotten better since I when the United Auto Workers corporation will rue the day came to the post office." members learned that the they did this." While automation and prod­ Chrysler board restored 90 per­ According to the Plain Dealer, cent of Chairman Lee Iacocca's uctivity have increased, work­ "Anger and protests are spread­ ing conditions have deteriorat­ $360,000-a-year salary retroac­ ing throughout Chrysler's ed. Hazardous conditions in post tive to last September. 54,000-strong U.S. hourly work offices have cost three lives and "We had to give up a lot of our force as workers become con­ hundreds of injuries in the past money to keep Chrysler open vinced they got a raw deal last eighteen months. and then they turn around and January, when they voted to ac­ Michael McDermott, a mail­ do this," John Toth, a press op­ cept the final batch in more handler at the New York Bulk erator and Chrysler worker for than a billion dollars in conces­ and Foreign Mail Center, was seventeen years, told the paper. sions to keep Chrysler from go­ mangled by a sorting machine "It was a dirty trick," agreed ing under." in December 1979. Reymundo Caswell Pearson, an assembly In a number of recent UA W Lara was smashed by a half-ton worker. "And I fault [UA W elections, the paper reports, lo­ roller bar on a conveyer belt at a President Douglas] Fraser a lot. cal presidents who backed the mail sorting center in Los An­ Putting him on the board was a wage concessions are being geles last November. And a fatal mistake." booted out. week after Lara's death, Joseph Scene from March 1970 postal strike San Jose machinists Sheriff's deputies implicated end their strike By Roberta Frick San Jose area helped defray the in drowning of 3 Texas Blacks and Kim Allen costs of the rally and make it a By Floyce White after it was delivered. from the victims' bodies after SAN JOSE-After an eleven­ success. They included the DALLAS-The small town of Three officers arrested the their recovery. week strike against the Food United Food and Commercial Mexia, Texas, is suspicious and youths while they were parking Dallas headlines such as Machinery Corporation here, Workers, an International · angry following the June 19 for the event. A fourth man in "Drowning witnesses uncer­ members of International Asso­ Longshoremen's and Ware­ .deaths of three Black youths. the car was not arrested . tain" support the local sheriff, ciation of Machinists Local 562 housemen's local here, the San­ The three-Steven Booker, The three youths were led on­ but conflicting reports by the ratified an improved contract of­ ta Clara Labor Council, and lri­ nineteen, of Dallas; and Carl to a small boat, along with the medical examiner and Mexia fer and returned to work on ternational Association of Baker, nineteen, and Anthony three arresting officers. The morticians indicate the Black June 17. Machinists locals 565 and 1101. Freeman, eighteen, both of boat had no lifejackets aboard, men may have been handcuffed It was the first strike at FMC lAM Local 565 at Westing­ Mexia-were drowned while in and had a capacity of only 600 in the boat before they drowned. in sixteen years. house donated $300 and $300 the custody of sheriffs deputies. pounds. Two of the deputies A special public inquiry has worth of food to the strikers. The each weighed more than 200 been convened, and FBI agents Benefits won in the contract Westinghouse workers had a di­ The young men were being include a reduction in mandato­ pounds. will review documents to deter­ rect stake in a victory for Local taken across a lake in a small ry overtime and an increase in When the boat began to take mine if the victims' civil rights 562-the contract at 562 will set boat after having been arrested pension benefits. Viewed by on water, the cops turned.offthe were violated. a precedent for what Local 565 for possession of marijuana. most union members as a step in motor and let it capsize. The of­ State District Judge P.K. can win when their contract ex­ the right direction, the local Every year, about 10,000 per­ ficers were able to swim to the Reiper said he hoped that only pires in July 1982. passed it by a three-to-one mar­ sons celebrate "Juneteenth" at a command post on the other side "gross ignorance" by the offi­ Local 562 went back to work gin. privately-owned park at Lake ofthe lake. cers-who are now on medical with heads held high. And a few Mexia. The celebration of June­ Five hundred people wit­ leave-was to blame. The strike had won broad sup­ sported T-shirts that read "More teenth, an official state holiday, nessed the drowning, but none Meanwhile, the Southwest port from the labor movement in in '84." commemorates June 19, 1865. were able to help because it was Region of the NAACP has beg~ San Jose. Support activities in­ That was the day Texas Blacks more than 120 feet offshore. un their own investigation in cluded a June 7 picnic that at­ Roberta Frick and Kim Allen heard of the Emancipation Proc­ Several people say they wit­ order to make every bit of evi­ tracted more than 500 people. are both members of lAM Lo­ lamation, more than two years nessed the removal of handcuffs dence available. A number of unions in the ca/562.

4 THE MILITANT JULY 17, 1981 July 19 actions §!pt. 19 budg~protest on Central America NAACP backs AFL-CIO marcti Opponents of U.S. intervention in By Mohammed Oliver President Ronald Reagan also spoke Centra,} America will hold nation­ DENVER-Delegates to the seventy­ before the convention. In his speech, wide events on July 19, the second second national convention of the Na­ Reagan said that his cutbacks in social anniversary of the Nicaraguan revo­ tional Association for the Advancement services and the rest of his economic lution. of Colored People (NAACP), held here package could get the U.S. economy Coordinated actions on this date June 29-July 3, endorsed the call by the back on its feet. A healthy economy, the have- been jointly called by the Com­ AFL-CIO for a "Solidarity Day" march president said, will solve many of the mittee in Solidarity with the People on Saturday, September 19 in Washing­ problems confronting the Black commu­ of El Salvador (CISPES), the Na­ ton, D.C. This will be the first time since nity. tional Network in Solidarity with the 1963 March on Washington that the President Reagan got a very cool re­ the People of Guatemala, and the NAACP ,has called for a protest in the ception. National Network in Solidarity with country's capital. Margaret Bush Wilson, the chair­ the People of Nicaragua. woman of the NAACP's National Board Benjamin L. Hooks, executive direc­ Activists in New York City; of Directors, and Benjamin Hooks held a Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Boston; tor of the NAACP, said that the demon­ news conference immediately following Houston; San Francisco; Los An­ stration is needed to "show the dissatis­ Reagan's speech. There they outlined geles; and Bloomington, Indiana, faction of workers and minority the NAACP's plan for countering the are busy planning a myriad of activ­ members alike" with the Reagan ad­ new wave of attacks on Black rights. ities in solidarity with Nicaragua ministration's cutbacks. This campaign was discussed more con­ and to demand a halt to U.S. inter­ "The NAACP shares a common hu­ cretely in the workshops and plenary vention in the region. manity with the workers of the AFL­ sessions of the convention. In New York many organizations CIO and the basic goals and objectives that will be brought to the fore by ·this are planning a march beginning at Four-part plan the Guatemalan embassy and a cul­ joint demonstration," Hooks said. "The budget cuts for 1982, sponsored The NAACP plan has four parts. tural fair at Tompkins Square Park, First, the NAACP is planning a major where all organizations are invited by the Reagan administration, will have an adverse effect upon the working men campaign to win extension of the Voting to set up informational booths. BENJAMIN HOOKS Rights Act. A march is also planned in San and women of this nation," Hooks added. Secondly, and coupled with the first Francisco, beginning at 10:30 a.m. goal, the NAACP is going to launch an at Precita Park, followed by a rally 'Labor Luncheon' effort to counter the "new conserva­ at Dolores Park. The AFL-CIOsent mailgrams to all of tism." At a workshop entitled "Klan The Committee for Democracy in At a "Labor Luncheon" held during its affiliates asking them to support the the convention, the need for Blacks and Alert-A Political Action Program," Jo­ Latin America in Bloomington is protest, Perkins said. He said the labor seph Madison, the director of NAACP's planning an evening in solidarity the trade union movement to join to­ federation also sent mailgrams to about gether in the fightback against the Rea­ Voting Education Department, ex­ with the People of Central America 175 organizations and groups outside of plained the need for a massive drive to and the Caribbean, with speakers gan budget cuts was stressed again. the labor movement. So far, Perkins re­ Evelyn Dubrow, vice-president of the register Black voters in 1982. . representing different solidarity ported, there have only been positive re­ The third part of the NAACP plan is groups. International Ladies' Garment Workers · sponses to the AFL-CIO call. Union, told the delegates and observers their alternative budget proposal. The Washington, D.C., is scheduling a United Auto Workers President Dou­ NAACP economic proposals are in its full week of activities starting July there that the "trade union movement glas Fraser was the keynote speaker at didn't just get started to fight for better 130-page book entitled, Alternative Poli­ 19. the luncheon. His speech echoed the cies in the Public Interest for Economic wages and working conditions . . . but theme of the NAACP convention: he for human dignity." Growth. This budget, much like the blasted the Reagan budget, called for an budget proposal of the Congressional Subscribe to Dubrow went on to say that the dele­ extension of the Voting Rights Act, and Black Caucus, claims it's possible to in­ gates should "go back home to our com­ urged support for the September 19 crease productivity and combat infla­ Perspectiva Mundial ~ munities to build the kind of force that demonstration. tion without massive cuts in social ser­ will show on September 19 that the Perspectiva Mundial is the Spanish­ "We're in the minority philosophical­ vices. American people will not tolerate a soci­ ly-so we're told," Fraser said. "They language sister publication of the Lastly, the NAACP is urging chapters ety where the rich take care of their own say that the Black leaders don't repre­ Militant. Like the Militant, it carries to build the September 19 Solidarity and the poor are made to suffer." sent the Black community; the labor Day action. regular coverage of the labor move­ Also attending the luncheon was John leaders don't represent labor. We say we In an important-show of unity, other ment and the struggles for social Perkins, who is the associate director of do. They say we don't. We must show leaders of traditional civil rights organi­ justice in the United States and the AFL-CIO's Committee on Political them we do. We must mobilize for Soli­ zations were also present at the conven­ abroad. Education and the national coordinator darity Day on September 19. We've got tion. They included Vernon Jordan Jr., $2 for five issues. $5 for four of the Solidarity Day action. to mobilize the greatest demonstration president of the National Urban months. . Perkins told theMilitant that the Sep­ since the March on Washington in 1963. League; Rev. Jesse Jackson, president of 408 West Street, New York, N.Y. tember 19 demonstration was called as. "This is a time to stand together," Operation PUSH; and Coretta Scott a "counter plan to Reagan's so-called 10014. Fraser ended, "a time to fight. And if we King, head of the Martin Luther King mandate. He has no mandate.:' do that, We Shall Overcome." Jr. Center. Iran revolutionaries condemn Tehran bombing The Revolutionary Workers Party There is opposition to these youth be­ Kargar were ransacked, and HKE cal neighborhood committee where the (HKE) of Iran has issued a statement ing executed among most working peo­ members were injured in a number of Kargar offices are located. It stated that condemning the June 28 bombing that ple. other attacks. since Kargar is a legal newspaper and killed more than seventy leaders of the In June the HKE itself came under at­ In response to protests by the HKE, the Kargar office a local office, it should Islamic Republican Party (IRP). tack by right-wing gangs known as the head of the central neighborhood be protected by the local committee in In their statement, the HKE pointed "hezbollah." The offices of its newspaper committees sent a letter July 2 to the lo- the neighborhood. out how these types of attacks have been carried out by U.S. imperialism against revolutions throughout the world. "They have taken place for more than twenty years against the Cuban revolu­ tion and its leaders, with U.S. imperial­ 2 socialist workers jailed in Iran ism trying many times to destroy the On the morning of July 4, two the campaign of military training and ing an important part in the cam­ Castro leadership," the HKE statement members of the Revolutionary first-aid instruction for the fight paign to defeat the Iraqi military in­ said.. "They are doing this right now Wo:rkers Party (HKE) in Iran were against the Iraqi invasion. vasion. against the Nicaraguan revolution and arrested and taken to Evin Prison. The two women, both pregnant, had Copies should be sent to Jomhuri-e­ they have planted bombs against Gren­ Faranak Zahraie and Monavar worked at Ray-0-Vac for more than a Eslami, Tehran, .Iran and Kargar, adian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop." Shir Ali-two young women workers year. Box #43/174, Post Area 14, Tehran, The HKE also pointed to the assassi­ at the Ray-0-V ac battery factory in Supporters of the Iranian revolu­ Iran. nations of Patrice Lumumba in Africa Tehran-were arrested at work by tion are urgently requested to send and of Martin Luther King and Malcolm order of the National Industrial Or­ telegrams such as the following to X in the United States. ganization, which administers na­ Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Ali Rajai and Speaker of the Parlia­ Its statement urged that the working tionalized factories such as Ray-0- ment Hojatolislam Ali Akbar Hashe­ class be mobilized to counter any moves Vac. by reactionary forces, saying that "in all The two women were falsely mi Rafsanjani; Majlis Building; Teh­ the factories we call for mass assemblies charged with starting a strike in the ran, Iran. of workers where the policies of U.S. im­ factory. perialism would be explained. Factory Both women had been active in the * * * guards should be elected to guard the six-month campaign to win release factories against any imperialist at­ from prison of Ray-0-Vac worker and As a supporter of the Iranian revo­ tacks, or sabotage by their agents." HKE leader Nemat Jazayeri. This lution, I call on you to release from campaign succeeded in winning Ja­ Evin Prison two anti-imperialist The HKE statement also opposed the zayeri's release last March. fighters-Faranak Zahraie and Mo­ government's execution of more than Zahraie and Shir Ali were also ac­ navar Shir Ali. 100 Mujahedeen and other leftist youth. tive in the factory's military mobiliza­ These two women Ray-Q-Vac The executions, the HKE said, only help Militant/Jose Perez tion and helped organize support for workers, arrested July 4, were play- FARANAK ZAHRAIE "U.S. imperialism carry out its plans."

JULY 17, 1981 THE MILITANT 5 Coal contract 1981 : miners win against bosses and ov't-stop takeback drive By Stu Singer On June 6 United Mine Workers members voted 69 percent in favor of a new contract, ending a seventy-two day strike. The new contract is much better than the takeaway demands the coal op­ erators wanted. The employers failed to inflict a union-busting settlement on the 160,000 coal miners. After the contract between the DMW and the Bituminous Coal Operators As­ sociation (BCOA) was approved, the As­ sociation of Bituminous Contractors · (ABC) continued to stonewall negotia­ tions covering 11,500 UMW mine con­ struction workers. In solidarity, the ma­ jority of UMW miners stayed off work for almost two weeks more until a new ABC contract was negotiated. The mine construction workers approved their contract June 24. What the miners accomplished in 1981 was to stop a campaign by the mine owners and the government planned for three years since the 111- day strike of 1977-78. The bosses in­ tended to cripple the union and push nonunion coal. Some of the decisive battles around this took place before the contract ex­ pired March 27. The first contract pres­ ented to the ranks for a March 31 ratifi­ cation vote already represented a gain against some of the worst company de­ mands. Two and a half weeks before contract expired, UMW closed mines; 8,000 marched on Washington against Reagan cuts In black When they rejected it by a two-to-one lung benefits. Show of strength by union pushed back bosses and government. margin and went on strike for over ten weeks, the miners pushed the bosses back further. they get in benefits. coverage," was restricted by a U.S. Su­ cent confrontations between labor and This view of the 1981 coal contract is And no matter what the benefits are, preme Court decision last J anuary. management where the bosses came out different than the version peddled in they never replace the lungs destroyed The court ruled that the union was on top, they thought they could defeat most of the news media. to produce coal company profits. acting like a corporate monopoly in en­ the miners. The operators took credit in the gray forcing contract restrictions on hiring The model for labor relations the Black lung protest book for the decline in mine fatalities nonunion contractors and in making bosses look to is the defeat of the United One of the most important battles for since 1969. They did not mention how leasing arrangements. Auto Workers by Chrysler. They've the 1981 contract was fought on March 9 they fought the Coal Mine Health and Even with the weight of the Supreme really been jumping up and down over and 10, 1981, two-and-a-half weeks be­ Safety Act, which was passed by Con­ Court behind it, the miners forced the that one. fore the old contract expired. The min­ gress in 1969 after a massive effort by companies to retreat a little on this The Steelworkers agreed to sacrifice ers shut down union coal mines in the miners. The companies fought it all the issue in the second contract. But the thousands of jobs in Youngstown, Ohio, United States those two days, and 8,000 way. contract weakens the miners' ability to and accepted a wage freeze for workers demonstrated in Washington. The dem­ The gray book said that miners have limit company moves to use nonunion at U.S. Steel's American Bridge div­ onstration was to protest Reagan ad­ "more than enough provisions on safety workers. ision. ministration attacks on black lung be­ and health." The 1981 contract between the UMW Refinery workers conducted a long nefits. Black lung is a crippling disease and the BCOA covers forty months, end­ 1980 strike that ended in a stalemate caused by inhaling coal dust. More and less and less ing October 1, 1984. Wages will go up and victimizations. Winning federal dust standards and a Business publications of the last few $3.60 an hour; shift differentials up 10 Right in the middle of the coal strike, benefit program for victims of black years gave a picture of the demands the cents each; the day after Thanksgiving the entire union movement was wea­ lung required an enormous fight by the operators were pushing. is added as a holiday. kened when leaders of most rail unions miners a little over ten years ago. Rea­ They wanted a seven-day, around­ Miners won a dental program, and signed a $200 million wage giveaway gan's budget cuts threaten that historic the-clock production schedule; break-up widows of miners who retired before with Conrail, hoping to placate the Rea­ victory. The miners' march in Washing­ of the industry-wide pension plan to a 1976 get a $95-a-month pension; pre­ gan administration. ton March 9 was the first mass action by company-by-company basis; reducing vious contracts had neither one. Public workers throughout the coun­ any group against the Reagan budget government safety and environmental The Arbitration Review Board, the fi­ try have taken crippling blows-wages cuts. rules; stopping union control of safety nal step in the grievance procedure that frozen, benefits cut, jobs eliminated, and It gave notice to the operators and the conditions in the mines; a probation pe­ had been rewriting the contract in favor speed-up. government that the miners were in no riod to divide the workforce; and a of the operators, is abOlished. But its Compared to these defeats, the min­ mood to be pushed around. They showed number of measures to eliminate union past decisions stand. ers' contract stands as a victory. it would be difficult to isolate this union obstacles to developing nonunion mines. Pension and sickness and accident be­ in order to inflict the kind of attacks For example, the February 1980 issue nefits are increased. Government intervention that were planned. of the industry publication Coal Age fea­ The contract approved June 6 has a The president of the BCOA, Joseph What the operators wanted in the 1981 tured a big headline, "7 -day work number of gains over the one rejected Brennan, commented on the 1981 con­ negotiations was made clear in black, week." The magazine cover was filled March 31. tract that "there was no massive inter­ white and gray to every working miner with a design repeating over and over, Royalty payments on coal purchased vention by the federal government." just a week or two before the March 9 "more production, less work, less cost." from nonunion mines are raised over That is false. The intervention by the and 10 black lung demonstration. The companies wanted to end union­ the 1978 contract. In the March propos­ federal government-and also state gov­ won restrictions in contracting out al, the union gave up the royalties. ernments- against the union in this The gray book work in and around mines. They wanted Under the first proposal, the ARB contract fight was different than in the The BCOA distributed a twenty-page to eliminate the royalty payment that would have continued for ninety more last strike, but the intervention ,was printed pamphlet to every miner along discourages nonunion coal production. days. The new contract abolishes it im­ massive ~ with paychecks in February. The gray­ They wanted an end to union restric­ mediately. The government was involved colored propaganda tract was titled: tions on selling, leasing, or opening new There is no probation period for new through the Supreme Court ruling "UMWA National Agreement- Coal: mines that would be nonunion. miners. A forty-five-day period was in­ against part of the contract, the black Today's Reality vs. Tomorrow's Prom­ The attack on these issues was not li­ cluded in the March proposal. lung cuts, threats against union leaders ise, a Presentation by the Bituminous mited to the contract negotiations. The A setback is that the pension for wid­ by investigating union finances, and Coal Operators Association." It was dat- operators had direct government inter­ ows is cut from $100 to $95 a month. government purchases of nonunion coal ed J anuary 23, 1981. · vention to back them up. They won It takes multi-billion dollar corpora­ by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The "gray book" reminded miners of court challenges against contract provi­ tions like Conoco and U.S. Steel to take State governments also intervened the contract takebacks forced on sions, used decisions of the Arbitration $5 a month from a widow. heavily on the side of the companies. Chrysler workers. Every page de­ Review Board, lobbied federal and state The operators weren't happy with the State police guarded scab coal and at­ manded more profits and more producti­ governments, and used the news media second contract. U.S. Steel Board Chair­ tacked union pickets in Virginia, Ken­ vity- speed-up. The gray book made against the miners. man David Roderick called it "inflation­ tucky, and Maryland. In West Virginia, clear the price miners are supposed to But even with all this support, the op­ ary." Governor John D. Rockefeller IV or­ pay for this: sacrifice pensions and be­ erators had to back down from their "When you look at past productivity, dered a slash in the state budget during nefits and jeopardize health and safety. goals. They had to drop the seven-day it's a very expensive settlement. We're the strike, mainly hurting school chil­ The most outrageous lie in it was that week and the company-by-company not jumping up and down over it." dren and teachers. He blamed the min­ retired miners suffering from black lung pensions before the March contract ers for the cuts. disease earn $28,000 a year. proposal. The Chrysler model Most retired miners are very poor. They did achieve one important take­ It was the gray book proposals that Why UMW is different Those suffering from black lung have to back from the union. The protection in Roderick and his gang would have The United Mine Workers avoided fight the companies for every penny Section lA of the contract, "scope and jumped up and down about. Based on re- Continued on page 12

6 THE MILITANT JULY 17, 1981 An eyewitness account Poland rally commemorates 1956 revolt By Ernest Harsch Rising up from Adam Mickiewicz POZNAN-By 8:00a.m., Adam Mick­ Square was a huge monument that had iewicz Square in central Poznan was al­ 'IP' staff writer on the scene just been completed the night before, ready beginning to fill up. Within sever­ This is the first in a series of eye­ built mainly by workers from the Ce­ al hours, more than 200,000 people had witness reports by Intercontinental gielski factory. Comprising two giant packed the. square and the surrounding Press staff writer Ernest Harsch. crosses and a stylized bust of the Polish streets to commemorate the twenty-fifth Harsch is currently touring Po­ eagle, it bears the main slogan of the anniversary of the June 28, 1956, Poz­ land, cove,ring the workers' struggle Poznan revolt: "For freedom, right, and nan uprising, the first major workers re­ there and events leading up to the bread," as well as the years 1956, 1968, volt in the history of the Polish People's congress of the Polish United 1970, 1976, 1980, all high points of the Republic. Workers Party, scheduled to begin Polish workers movement. Long neglected, distorted, and slan­ July 14. A banner hung down from the tower dered in the official history books, the In 1978, Harsch traveled through­ of the old German castle next to the courageous struggle of the Poznan out southern Africa, interviewing square, bearing the names of seventy­ workers has at last begun to regain its leaders and . participants in the one of the known martyrs of 1956, plus proper place in Poland's heritage. South African freedom struggle. three anonymous victims to symbolize But the twenty-fifth anniversary cel.e­ One result of these travels was the the many whose names are not known brations were more than just an effort to book South Africa: White Rule, (it is estimated that up to 120 were revive a suppressed chapter of history. Black Revolt, published by Pathfind­ killed in June 1956). The names of the Coming in the midst of a new series of er Press. known martyrs were read out at the be­ attacks by government and party offi­ ginning of the rally. cials against the Solidarity union move­ Besides Walesa, other speakers in­ ment, the June 2~ rally-one of the larg­ cluded Archbishop Jerzy Stroba, Zdzis­ est held so far this year-was a powerful law Rozwalak of the regional Solidarity expression of the unity of Polish work­ leadership, Poznan Mayor Stanislaw Pi­ ing people and their determination to otrowicz, and Stanislaw Matyja, a lead­ continue their fight for democratic and er of the 1956 strikes. social freedom. A message from Pope John Paul II Amidst thunderous applause, Solidar­ was read, and a mass followed the un­ ity leader Lech Walesa responded tore­ veiling of the monument. cent charges by Tadeusz Grabski, a "When I look back twenty-five years," member of the ultra-Stalinist wing of Matyja declared in his speech, "one feels the ruling Polish United Workers Party, a great joy in his heart, but also a great and Stanislaw Kociolek, the party first feeling of pity for the workers who were secretary in Warsaw, both of whom ac­ oppressed, who were simply humiliated cused Solidarity of harboring "antiso­ and deprived of human dignity, and who cialist" and "counterrevolutionary" ele­ had to turn to a demonstration to realize ments. their own dignity." 'Let us not be divided' Organized struggle "Let us not be divided," Walesa de­ clared. "Let us not be set against each Matyja, elaborating on a point made a other. Let us not allow anyone to search few minutes earlier by Walesa, ex­ for 'antisocialist' and 'counterrevolu­ plained one of the lessons of the 1956 re­ tionary' forces." volt: that more could be achieved Walesa indicated that the most recent through an organized struggle than charges against Solidarity were like through spontaneous, unorganized ac­ earlier accusations of"hooliganism" and tions: "troublemaking" leveled against rebel­ "I am here today as one of those who lious Polish workers, such as those of organized the demonstration at Cegiels­ ki," he said. "It had its roots in our in­ Poznan in 1~56. "In a society like this," W alesa con­ ability to take any measures other than tinued, "there are and, ofcourse, always the most extreme. This outburst over­ will be different opinions. But working whelmed common sense and reason. The people are not counterrevolutionary. same mistake was then repeated in· They are not 'anti.' They are honest and Gdansk in 1970. hard working. "Today," Matyja continued, "Solidar­ "So stop insulting us, stop dividing us, ity has achieved what we failed to because· we will no longer let ourselves achieve over all those years. We owe a be insulted or divided. Let those who are great tribute to the shipyard workers (of looking for antisocialist and counterrev­ the 1980 Gdansk strikes), whose de­ olutionary forces first look for a name mands were the same as ours, the Ce­ for those who have been slandering us." gielski workers and the rest of the Poz­ Walesa concluded, "Victory is in our nan population." hands-if we do not let ourselves be di­ Matyja also dealt with the continued vided and set against each other, if we difficulties facing Solidarity and the march together whenever n'ecessary to Polish people as a whole, particularly show the solidarity of working people, the present tense situation and the fail­ the solidarity of honest people against ure of the government and party leader­ the dishonest and the dictators." · ship to carry through on its promises of The vast crowd of people surrounding a democratic "renewal." the podium was a clear expression of "There is a lot of talk about a rene­ such solidarity, as well as living proof of wal," he said, "but somehow we cannot Walesa's statement that "working peo­ see it. . . . The people are fed up with ple are not counterrevolutionary." the nervous atmosphere and the false The memorial activities to commemo­ accusations. We must do away with rate the Poznan revolt actually began June 28, was the center of the commem­ where they worked. Contingents from such things." the day before, on June 27, the anniver­ oration, taking place exactly twenty­ Rural Solidarity, the independent union Matyja at the same time stressed the sary of the first workers strikes in Poz­ five years to the hour after the mass ral­ of individual farmers, also joined in. need to avoid another bloody police nan. Polish flags went up by the thou­ ly of 100,000 that was held in the same Some of the older participants came crackdown like the one in 1956. sands, flying from the windows and bal­ square (then called Stalin Square) in in the uniforms of the Polish Home "Let's talk, talk, and talk again, but conies of houses and apartment build­ 1956. Army, which fought against German oc­ let us never shoot at each other." ings, from the roofs of public offices, While most of the participants were cupation of Poland during World War This point was underlined by one of from the backs of buses. Poznan was a from Poznan, there were individuals II. At least one former inmate of the the banners carried at the rally: "Let no sea of white and red. from other parts of the country as well. German concentration camps wore his Pole ever again shoot at another Pole." Photo displays of the 1956 revolt drew This outside participation would have old camp uniform. There is hope for Poland, Matyja large .crowds. Posters were tacked up on been larger if the government had not Young people, families dressed in pointed out. That hope lies in the young walls and in windows everywhere. adopted a policy of suppressing news of their Sunday clothes, and other Poznan people. "Let's give credit to the young, Plays, film showings, and other cultural the anniversary actions in the national residents turned out. Much of the city's who are too young to have had their events were staged. news media. population of 700,000 watched the rally minds poisoned as we-the older gener­ Workers contingents marched to the on the local television station, which ation-have had for the last thirty-six Rallies at factories rally site behind Polish flags and ban­ broadcast it live. years." In front of the ZNTK railway plant ners of their local Solidarity chapters. Matyja then concluded his speech, his and the Cegielski metal factory, two of Coal miners from southern Poland came Tribute to martyrs last words virtually drowned out by ap­ the centers of the 1956 strikes, workers in their black ceremonial uniforms, At the very beginning of the rally, the plause. "When we are united, there will and their'families rallied to pay tribute with plumed hats. Steelworkers came in sirens of nearby railway engines were no longer be any layers of privileged to the struggle of the Poznan workers. tan uniforms, behind an elaborate em­ sounded for one minute in tribute to the people. Then we will really be able to do They marched down the newly named broidered Solidarity flag. Almost every­ martyrs of 1956, a deafening peal that what Poles are capable of doing. And a June 28 1956 Street. one wore Solidarity badges, many of was audible throughout much of the Pole can do things." The rally on the morning of Sunday, them designating the factory or region city. From Intercontinental Press

JULY 17, 1981 THE MILITANT 7 POLITICAL POLICE ON TRIAL Socialist wins dela of deportation hearing By Joel Britton Immigration Judge Joan Arrowsmith has postponed until the fall the deporta­ Petitions tion hearing of Mojgan Hariri-Vijeh. The action was taken during a July 6 still needed conference call between the judge, Im­ Petitions and other protests de­ migration and Naturalization Service manding restoration of Mojgan Ha­ trial attorney Bruce Barrett, and Shel­ riri-Vijeh's student visa and a halt ley Davis, attorney for Hariri-Vijeh. to all deportation proce-edings are A deportation hearing had been still needed. The postponement of scheduled for July 7. her hearing allows time to gather The postponement is a victory in the the broad support necessary to de­ fight of Hariri-Vijeh, a nineteen-year­ feat this move to deport her for her old Iranian student at Morgan State views. University in Baltimore. It has fueled Send protests to: Commissioner, hopes that the INS will reconsider its Immigration and Naturalization denial ofHariri-Vijeh's request for rein­ Service, Washington, D.C. 20536. statement of her student visa, which ex­ Send copies to: Political Rights pired in 1978. Defense Fund, 2913 Greenmount Hariri-Vijeh explains that she didn't Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland renew her student visa in 1979 or 1980 21218. "due to the anti-Iranian hysteria whipped up in this country after the fall of the U.S.-backed shah." Hariri-Vijeh Already, Hariri-Vijeh's battle to stay was never contacted by the INS until in the U.S. has won wide support, in­ February 23, 1981, just two weeks after cluding backing from Rep. John Con­ she joined the Young Socialist Alliance. yers (D-Mich.); British Member of Par­ Hariri-Vijeh, who is also a member of liament Tony Benn; journalist I.F. the Socialist Workers Party, says: "I am Stone; Camille Bell of the Committee to being singled out because of my political Stop Child Murders in Atlanta; Morgan ideas. I will fight for my right to stay in State Student Government Association this country. The U.S. government President Alvin Alston; Morgan State found room for the shah, who was re­ Philosophy Department Chairman Dr. sponsible for the torture and murder of Clifford DuRand; and many others. tens of thousands of my people. Why can't I stay here to finish my educa­ Hariri-Vijeh had been seeking the tion?" postponement pending the outcome of Hariri-Vijeh has pledged to "appeal the YSA and SWP suit against govern­ any deportation order within the INS ment spying, harassment and other dis­ and .through the courts if necessary. I ruption of the socialists' activities. am confident that many, many people Militant/Salm Kolis She had also been seeking the post­ will come to my support." MOJGAN HARIRI-VIJEH ponement pending a review of the SWP Etta Ettlinger, who is coordinating and YSA status currently being con­ support for her case, commented: "We ducted by the INS. The review, accord­ plan to use this postponement to gather gan Hariri-Vijeh's right to stay in this at deporting f()reign-born persons be­ ing to an INS document introduced dur­ even more support for Hariri-Vijeh. country is secure." cause of their political ideas and activi­ ing the trial of the socialist suit, will de­ This is an important civil liberties case, Documents disclosed through the $40 ties, while using other pretexts as a termine whether the SWP and YSA are not just for her but for thousands of oth­ million lawsuit by the YSA and SWP cover. Attorney Shelley Davis plans to "proscribed" organizations whose for­ er non-citizens who live under threat of against the INS and other government use these documents in Hariri-Vijeh's eign-born members would automatical­ deportation. We will not rest until Moj- agencies reveal an INS program aimed defense. ly be "excludable or deportable." Dennis Brutus fights for right to stay in U.S. By Adam Shils neither had South African Black speak­ Kirkpatrick's meeting with South Afri­ CHICAGO-An emergency campaign ers nor discussed Northwestern's own can military intelligence and plans to has been called in an attempt to stop the $80 million investment in that country. give military aid to South African back-. political deportation of Dennis Brutus. A Zimbabwean citizen, Brutus was or­ ed guerrillas in Angola. Brutus, who was exiled from South dered to leave this country by July 5. A Dennis Brutus Defense Committee Africa in 1966, has been ordered to leave His request for a renewal or extension of has been formed to campaign for Bru­ the United States. He is well known as a his visa was denied. Brutus requested a tus's right to remain in this country. All teacher, poet, and South African acti­ visa so that he could teach African Li­ opponents of political deportations vist. He played a central role in the terature at Northwestern University. should immediately send protest tele­ movement to force universities to divest Brutus remains in the country and is grams to Joel Rogers, Acting District investments in South Africa and has ap­ fighting the order. Director, Immigration and Naturaliza­ peared before both the United Nations The decision to deny an extension of tion Service, 219 South Dearborn and congressional committees in Wash­ Brutus's visa may well be part of the Street, Chicago, Illinois 60604. ington, D.C. Reagan administration's new "construc­ Copies should be sent to the Dennis Recently, Brutus was active in the tive engagement" policy toward the Brutus Defense Committee at 2730 struggle to boycott a Northwestern Uni­ South African apartheid regime. This Hampton Parkway, #B2, Evanston, Illi­ Militant/Charles Ostrofsky . versity conference on South Africa that policy has included UN Ambassador nois 60201. Telephone (312) 328-5935. DENNIS BRUTUS . Justice Dept. orders new hearings for Haitians By Andrea Baron ent status to the thousands of refugees by false or grossly inadequate transla- ernment had deferred to mass pressure MIAMI-Retreating in the face of .who have INS cases pending." tion of the proceedings provided the and permitted those arriving from Haiti widescale publicity and pressure, the Ira Kurzban, a leading attorney for Haitians. to be settled in the community here. But Justice Department announced July 6 Haitians, added that the government Jocelyn Legrand, a local college this May, in a drive to send them back, that it will grant new hearings to should now ensure the right of those de- teacher of Creole, studied tapes of the the INS began holding those detained at eighty-five Haitians previously ordered tained to have access to attorneys. He hearings and offered examples. the detention center. Built for 524 peple, deported. The eighty-five, plus eleven also insisted that deportation hearings In one case when the judge asked if the miserable campsite soon swelled to already shipped back, had been ordered be held individually and in a regular 1,500. The INS then began releasing f: deported in mass "hearings" that totally federal courtroom, not in the prison-like the refugees could return safely to Hai- peop1 e aster than community agencies ti, the word "safely" was omitted in the violated their legal rights. "court" thrown up at the detention cen- could resettle them. On June 23, the The Justice Department retreat came ter here. translation. INS took more than a hundred refugees in the face of a suit by the Haitian Refu- That was the scene of "hearings" last When the judge asked if they wanted from the camp and dropped them off at a gee Center, Inc., charging that those month where ·the mass deportations to apply for asylum in the United States, Miami street corner at midnight. seeking political asylum here had been were ordered. Haitian Refugee Center the translator neglected to translate the Attorney Kurzban charged the INS denied due process of law. attorneys and the media were excluded word asylum precisely. For most Hai- was using this tactic to turn public opin- Responding to the Justice Depart- from the sessions and those bejng tians it means "insane asylum." ion in Miami against the Haitians. ment announcement, the Haitian Refu- turned back over to the Duvalier dicta- When the judge asked if they wanted Meanwhile, in a recent visit here, At- gee Center, Inc.; said, "This is a step in torship were denied legal counsel. to appeal his decision to a higher court, torney General William French Smith the right direction. We hope the Reagan They faced an INS judge in batches of it was translated to inquire ifthey want- said the Reagan administration wanted administration will continue to move in twenty-five. ed to move to a larger courtroom. to change the immigration laws to the right direction by granting perman- The kangaroo hearings were marked For the past several years, the gov- "streamline" the deportation procedure.

8 THE MILITANT JULY 17, 1981 Defending the Bill of Rights As testimony ends in the Socialist Workers Party and Young Socialist Alliance lawsuit against the gov­ ernment, recognition grows that the trial of the FBI and other police agencies is vital to all progressive forces. On the following pages, we report some of the rallies held to back the case.

Screenwriter Lester Cole, one of Hollywood Ten witch-hunt victims, addresses San Francisco rally for socialists' lawsuit.

SAN FRANCISCO-The Political ment at Laney College in Oakland, told Rights Defense Fund held successful Jessica Mitford the meeting there how the INS has been Dr. Owen Chamberlain rallies in Oakland, San Jose, and here in used over the years as an instrument of San Francisco June 12-14. The meetings Jessica Mitford, the well-known oppression against migrating mexicanos Dr. Owen Chamberlain, a Nobel were in support of the Socialist Workers radical writer whose book, The and against Chicanos. Laureate in physics at the Universi- . Party suit against the federal govern­ American Way of Death, became a The Oakland meeting also heard Ig­ ty of California, was unable to par­ ment. More than 200 people attended best seller, sent a message of solidar­ nacio de la Fuente, business representa­ ticipate as planned at the Oakland the rallies and contributed more than ity and a $50 contribution to the tive ofLocal164 of the Molders Union. PRDF meeting. He sent a message expressing his regret and added: $5,000 to help finance the suit. Oakland PRDF rally. Mitford, who Jose Gutierrez of the Guatemalan has long opposed the witch-hunters "History has shown us that if we Jack Barnes, national secretary of the News and Information Bureau spoke at want law-abiding public servants SWP, was the principal speaker at each wrote: ''A thousand congratulations the San Francisco and Oakland meet­ on your magnificent fight against we must continually take to task of the meetings. He was joined on the ings, while the San Jose meeting heard those who break the law. And the platforms by prominent figures from my own best enemies-the FBI, CIA Peggy Handler of the same organiza­ and INS." law must apply equally to all. The radical organizations and various social tion. The government is trying to com­ lawsuit against the FBI and CIA is movements and unions. pel Guatemalan solidarity activists in extremely important. We must all In San Francisco, Lester Cole was giv­ this group to register as "foreign support it. I pledge my support and I en a standing ovation when he urged and a long-time member of the Commu­ agents." hope all of you will do the same. unity of the left against the Reaganites nist Party. Also on the platform in San Jose was Again, I'm sorry to be absent to­ and declared his support for the SWP The Oakland rally heard Miles My­ Evelyn de Castellon, chair of the San night." suit. "I was a survivor and you are survi­ ers, representing the California Federa­ Jose Nicaragua Solidarity Committee. vors also, as long as you never stop tion of Teachers. The federation was one Paul Kangas of the Peace and Free­ fighting," Cole declared. of the earliest supporters of the socialist dom Party was heard at the San Fran­ A screenwriter, Cole had been one of suit. cisco meeting, and David Wald, 1980 Bill Mays of the National Lawyers the Hollywood Ten jailed in the 1950s The meeting in Oakland was chaired senatorial candidate for Peace and Free­ Guild Immigration Committee spoke in for defying the witch-hunters. He is cur­ by Karen Wald. She is the author of a dom, spoke in San Jose. The Brown ad­ San Francisco. Bill Carsen of Covert Ac­ rently a contributor to the People's book on Cuba's nursery schools, Chil­ ministration is now trying to put a bill tion Information Bulletin was heard in World, the West Coast weekly reflecting dren ofChe, and a member of the Cuban through the California legislature to San Francisco, and Steve Cook of the the views of the Communist Party. Resources Center. strip the party of its ballot place. same magazine was heard in Oakland. John Hunter of the Democratic So­ In San Jose, Robert Lindsay, a slated W ald told the meeting of what she had Hrair Balian, an Armenian activist cialist Organizing Committee spoke in speaker, was unable to attend and sent a learned when she obtained her own gov­ fighting deportation, spoke in all three message of solidarity. A well-known fig­ ernment files under the Freedom of In- . San Francisco, as did Michael Miller, cities. associate director of the Northern Cali­ ure in the radical movement, Lindsay is formation Act. The FBI, she. said, Deborah Liatos of the Young Socialist fornia ACLU. proprietor of Bread and Roses bookstore, seemed particularly in~rested in her Alliance was heard at each of the rallies. collaboration with Socialist Workers Kay Wiley of the San Francisco Na­ Party members in the movement tional Organization for Women spoke at This article is based on reports by Ann Ignacio de Ia Fuente against the Vietnam War. both the San Francisco and San Jose Menasche, Steve Iverson and Barry Norm Gusner of the Communist meetings. Shepjiard. Speaking at the Oakland PRDF Workers Party spoke at the San Jose rally, Ignacio de la Fuente, business rally, and Floyd Huen of the CWP was representative of Molders Local164, heard in San Francisco. They declared Judy Shattuck said: their solidarity with the fight being "It is the obligation of everyone in waged around the suit and urged sup­ Fifteen unionists, including dividuals, to muffie dissent, to slow labor to support the Socialist port to the NASSCO 3, the San Diego members of the Socialist Workers down efforts to organize against so­ Workers Party and its suit. Imagine shipyard unionists convicted in a "bomb Party, have been fighting their fir­ cial and economic oppression. what will happen when the labor plot" frame-up. ing by the Lockheed company in "What kind of venture has it movement starts to build its own In Oakland, the meeting heard Judy Georgia. In her speech at the Oak­ been? On what cynical basis is this political party, a party that must Shattuck, president ofLocal1695 of the land PRDF meeting, Judy Shattuck, venture run? What are we to think disagree with both the Democratic American Federation of State, County president of AFSCME Local 1695 at of an operation that can be conduct­ and Republican parties. The govern­ and Municipal Employees. The local UC Berkeley, addressed herself to ed by Lockheed's Mr. Lang, the ex­ ment will say it has the right to dis­ covers nonacademic workers at the Uni­ these firings. She declared: FBI agent whose 'subversive' profile rupt this party too. versity of California, Berkeley. (See box "In this case, as in the recent past, identifies as suspect any worker "If we can't defend the SWP's this page.) the government's good friend is from California, any worker with a rights here, how can we call on oth­ Rail union official Seymour Cramer Lockheed. Together, it seems, gov­ college degree, any worker whose ers to defend labor's rights on the spoke in San Francisco. ernment agencies and Lockheed emergency contact person is a per,­ same issue?" Miguel Angel, head of the Mexican have ventured out to intimidate in- son with a name that sounds alien." and Latin American Studies Depart-

JULY 17, 1981 THE MILITANT 9 POLITICAL POLICE ON TRIAL Wide range of speakers 1

Dale Lindsey, of the Central Amer­ Cleveland: civil ican Solidarity Committee, said that the ideas of the SWP-

10 THE MILITANT JULY 17, 1981 Jack trial·of secret police

conspiracy charges. The frame-up was San Antonio: part of a larger union-busting· effort Wirtston-Salem Cltrorticle aimed at derailing a fight for safety in 'migra' attacks the yard. By Clifton E. Graves, Jr. "The struggle for working conditions and job safety is going to become a more condemned crucial issue" in the 1980s, McMichael FBI on· Trial By Matthew Hervey said. "Unless we unite and take a stanq, SAN ANTONIO-News of the Social­ the government is going to sense they For the past eight weeks, one of the FBI had a great deal to do with the ist Workers Party lawsuit-the case can get away with more and more" at­ most important "political" trials in this murders of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that put the Immigration and Naturali­ tacks like the NASSCO Three. nation's history has been taking place in and Malcolm X. zation Service on trial-was the center­ Ray Hill, station manager of KPFT New York . A trial with perhaps more Though the COINTELPRO operation radio, described the attempts to bring to serious . ramifications for the black piece of a rally for political rights held at itself. was allegedly .disbanded years ago, El Mercado June 20. justice the cop who murdered gay rights Ameriqm community than the trials of the mentality uwhich created that monster activist Fred Paez a year ago. Joan Little, Angela Davis, and the Wilm­ is very much alive today. The Reagan Ad­ The rally was- chaired by Antonio Ca­ ington 10 combined!!! bral, vice-president of American Feder­ "The laws of this state are quite fre­ ministration has arcady proposed giving quently in conflict with the ethics of hu­ On April 2nd , Judge Thomas Griesa the FBI more authority to spy on ation of Government Employees Local began hearing arguments in the case of domestic groups. Reagan's recent pardon 3220 and editor of El Pueblo, a radical manity," Hill said. "The laws are there Sociali~l Workers Party (SWP) vs. At­ of former FBI officials {and bilingual monthly paper. Cabral de­ to protect the rich from us. The laws are torney General of the United States. In its COINTELPRO operatives) Felt and scribed the years of harassment by the there to protect the privileged from us. suit, the SWP (ii'Nmpletely different enti­ Miller (convicted for authorizing illegal FBI and la migra against the Chicano "I am here at this rally to encourage ty than the CWP) charges the federal break-ins) further demonstrates his bent. movement. your support," he said. government--specifically the FBI--with it-· It is perhaps this support from the top Solidarity with the socialists' suit is Kazem Ala, an Iranian-born member legally spying on its activities, and cons­ that gave the goyernment.'s lawyers the needed, Cabral said. "Today the Reagan of the YSA, told the rally about the case tant harassment of ils members exten

JULY 17, 1981 THE MiliTANT 11 ERA countdown rallies held across country By Priscilla Schenk Workers Region 9 Women's Committee The National Organization for Wom­ sponsored an evening rally at the en sponsored a series of ERA Count­ union headquarters in Cranford. Nearly down Rallies June 30 in cities across the 600 people attended those events. country. The rallies, planned to coincide Linda Ray reports that the San Fran­ at noon, marked the beginning of the cisco NOW chapter held a rally in the fi­ last year for ratification of the Equal nancial district, where thousands of Rights Amendment. Three more states women work in clerical positions. The need to pass the ERA for it to become 200 people participating heard repre­ the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the sentatives of NOW chapters; Leslie Rai­ Constitution. ney, president of the San Francisco Coa­ The rally in Washington, D.C., was lition of Labor Union Women; Walter held outside the White House in La­ Johnson, a longtime women's rights fayette Park. NOW President Eleanor supporter and president ofLocal1100 of Smeal addressed the 3,000 participants, the Retail Clerks; and others. as did actor Alan Aida and other promi­ Five hundred people in Los Angeles nent ERA supporters. gathered at the federal building, many wearing green and white, the ERA co­ In New York City, 1,000 people ral­ lors. lied on the steps of the New York Public In Raleigh, North Carolina, 300 sup­ Library. Actress Marlo Thomas, Betty porters of the ERA gathered for a can­ Friedan, Emagene Walker from the dlelight march. The Religious Coalition Coalition of Labor Union Women, and for the ERA has organized a vigil every others spoke. southern Illinois, and thirty-five dent of the National Coalition of Labor Monday night since the beginning of the One of the largest gatherings was in members and friends from United Steel­ Union Women; Esther Rolle, actress state legislative session. North Carolina Springfield, capital of Illinois, an unrat­ workers Local 65. NOW chapters from from the TV show "Good Times"; and has not yet ratified the ERA. ified state. Maggie McCraw reports that across the state chartered buses to the others. · Other reports came from Pittsburgh, the 1,500 participants included union event. In New Jersey, in additiQn to rallies where a rally of 500 was held. There delegations of the United Auto Workers, Addressing the rally were actress Pat­ sponsored by NOW in Newark, Trenton were 350 in Portland; 1,000 in St. Paul; United Mine Workers members from ty Duke Astin; Addie Wyatt, vice-presi- and Jersey City, the United Auto 150 in Toledo; and 1,000 in Boston. ... miners push back bosses and gov't Continued from back page the miners face serious challenges. the defeat the operators had in mind The rights they maintain under this this year because of their fighting tradi- contract will be attacked by the opera­ tion .and the democratic control they ex- tors at every opportunity. The main are­ ercise over their union. na of attack involves production of non- In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the union c~al. miners carried out a virtual revolution The UMW is a lot stronger than it is in the UMW when they threw out the portrayed in the news media. In almost entrenched bureaucracy. They demo- every article and news report about cratized their union through the fight coal, the fact is repeated that UMW for black lung benefits and for mine miners produce only 44 percent of U.S. safety standards. coal, a much lower rate than in the past. The ranks are involved in this union But this fact is misleading. more .than in most others. They exercise The UMW represents about 70percent the nght to read ~nd study a contract of U.S. miners. They mine almost all a~d then vote on It. T?ey do no.t w?rk metallurgical coal, used to make steel. Without a contract. This makes I~ diffi- The areas where the union is strongest, cult for the co~l operators ~ twis~ the Appalachia and Illinois, are much closer arms of the mi~ers by. selhng a bill of to the industrial and population centers goods to the umon officials. . where coal is most used. And the heat That was proven when the mmers content of coal from the union mining v~ted do~ the ~rst contract offer' even areas is usually higher than that of coal ~Ith umo~ President Sam Church try- from the nonunion western strip mines. Militant mg to s~llit. . . In other words, it often requires trans- Ceremony at UMW headquarters in solidarity with Black community of Atlanta May 25. In spite of the strength of their umon, porting twice as much coal three or four times further to compete with coal from union mines. er unions. It has a powerful tradition of As the fightback develops against the But it is true that the percentage of involvement in social battles. Every or­ employers' and government attacks, the Eric Sell dies nonunion coal is increasing. Organizing ganizing victory in the past and every UMW will be part of the leadership of Eric Sell, a supporter of the Social­ nonunion miners is the most immediate strike has required it. the struggle. ist Workers Party and Young Social­ challenge the UMW faces. The UMW helped organize a national The miners are now back at work. ist Alliance for many years, died in Like all unions, the UMW faces a demonstration against nuclear power They are assessing the fight for their Carlsbad, California, on June 12. united opposition from the bosses and and for full employment in Harrisburg, 1981 contract, and discussing what to do Sell, twenty-seven years old, had the labor-hating government. Pennsylvania, last March 28, the day af­ next. been a member of the YSA and SWP ter their contract expired. What the miners showed iq this year's from 1968 to the mid-1970s. A fu­ Workers' rights are under attack. So­ When the mothers of the murdered contract fight is that it is better to fight. ture issue of the Militant will carry cial and economic gains won over dec­ Black children in Atlanta demonstrated It is possible to win. an appreciation of his contributions ades are being slashed. in Washington May 25, a wreath-laying Once again, the UMW has set an ex­ to the socialist movement. The UMW faces these challenges from ceremony to protest the killings was ample for the rest of the labor movement a somewhat stronger position than oth- held at the UMW headquarters. and for working people as a whole.

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12 THE MILITANT JULY 17, 1981 Dominica coup plotters get mere slap on wrist By John Linder rights to develop casinos, tourism, a NEW ORLEANS-Two members of a lumber industry, and other businesses. mercenary army were convicted June 20 According to a federal undercover in a plot to overthrow the government of agent, Perdue also planned to develop a Dominica, a Caribbean island. A third cocaine laboratory on the island. He ex­ defendant was aquitted on the same pected to pocket $3 to $5 million within charges. five years, then leave Dominica. Stephen Donald Black; the imperial Financing for the invasion came from wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux businessmen in Louisiana, Mississippi, Klan, and Joe Daniel Hawkins, who and Texas, who wanted to "fight com­ packed a Confederate flag for the inva­ munism" . . . and get a cut of Nortic. Nicaraguan priests will serve revolution sion, face a maximum of eight years in The ten mercenaries, all of whom had On June 4, Pope John Paul II ordered four Nicaraguan priests holding jail and a $38,000 fine for their part in Klan or Nazi connections, were to re­ high posts in the Nicaraguan government to resign from their posts. On what has become known as the "Bayou ceive $3,000 for a month's work, and a June 9, the four priests refused to do so. The Conference of Nicaraguan Bi­ of Pigs" case. chance to share in Nortic. shops replied that the priests participating in the government should re­ They were among ten men arrested nounce their governmental responsibilities immediately and reintegrate April27 in eastern New Orleans as they CIA themselves in their priestly responsibilities. prepared to load a cache of explosives · The three defendants all claimed they The following are excerpts, obtained from Latin America Press, from a let­ and weapons onto a boat that would had been told by Perdue that the CIA ter written by these four priests in response to the bishops' ultimatum. take them to Dominica. and State Department'were behind the "Our faith, our hope, our love: As a first response to the communication Seven of the men made a plea-bargain plot. Donald Black told the court: from the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference, we way to our NicaragUan bi­ deal, reducing their maximum sentence "The U.S. government, as is common shops . . . the following: to three years and a $3,000 fine, in ex­ knowledge, has been engaged in covert "We believe in God the Father, Creator of the world and all humanity; change for testifying against the other operations for a long time. . . . It had "We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Brother and Savior; three, including Black and Hawkins, been very strongly stated that Mr. Rea­ "We believe in the Church, the visible body of Christ, to which we belong; who pleaded not guilty. gan didn't want any more Communist "We believe injustice, the basis for human coexistence ... . takeovers in this area. From everything "We believe in the NicaragUan Popular Revolution, carried out by the I knew about the government, I figured Grenada people in order to overthrow tyranny and establish justice and love; they've done this before and apparently "We believe in the poor who will be the ones to build a more just nation The invaders' ringleader, Michael E. were doing it again." and who help to save us. . . . Perdue, of Houston, testified that he This argument clearly disturbed gov­ "And in accordance with our beliefs, we have sought to serve our fellow ci­ would have preferred to stage a coup ernment prosecutors. When Black com­ against Grenada, a neighboring island pared the Dominica plot to the Bay of tizens in the posts they have given us. We shall continue to do so anywhere where a revolution brought workers and Pigs invasion, one of the government that our presence and service are necessary because our positions have giv­ farmers to power in March 1979. David prosecutors leaped to his feet to cut off en us the following possibilities: Duke, then the Klan's imperial wizard, the discussion. • the power to serve, not the power to dominate; was supposed to get men for an invasion. During her closing arguments, pro­ • the power to give up our comforts, not the power to get rich; . Perdue even discussed his plan with secutor Pauline Hardil). asked the jury, • the power to become like Christ in service to our brothers and sis­ Eric Gairy, the former dictator of Gren­ "Do you think we c~m have Americans ters . ... ada, but later decided that "communists going around overthrowing legally "In order to keep us steadfast in our faith, hope and love, as well as in our were too deeply entrenched" in Grenada elected governments? Do you think Ron­ purpose to serve, we count on the good will, understanding, counsel and for an attack to succeed. ald Reagan wants our country in­ prayers of our brother bishops, priests and laypeople. volved in this way?" David Duke, sitting "Finally we state our irrevocable commitment to the Sandinist Popular Swastikas and cocaine in the back of the room, nodded "Yes." Revolution, in fidelity to our people, which is the same as saying fidelity to Perdue then'turned his sights on Do­ While there is no evidence that the God's will." minica, a predominantly Black island of government played a direct role in the 80,000. Dominica coup attempt, it certainly did In the name of fighting communism, as little as possible to bring stiff jail Doonesbury on the White Paper terms against the Klansmen and Nazis. he planned to invade the island to help Several newspapers have decided to drop the Doonesbury cartoon strip. Sir Patrick John, the ultrareactionary All ten were offered the plea-bargain The reason they gave was that it wasn't because of political reasons but former prime minister, overthrow the deal within four or five hours of their ar­ elected government of Eugenia Charles. rest. rather because of inappropriate language-whatever that means. In exchange for his services, Perdue No charges have been brouglit Coincidentally, the same time that these newspapers were dropping was to receive $150,000 and become se­ against David Duke, who introduced Doonesbury, the cartoon strip had spent almost a week.ridiculing the now­ cond-in-command of the Dominica De­ Perdue to backers in Canada and the discredited "white paper" on El Salvador. Below is a sample from the June fense Forces. He would also become ex­ United States, including the captain of 23 issue of the New York Daily News. Draw your own conclusions. clusive agent for Nortic Enterprises-a the boat chartered to take the terrorists tax-free corporation that would have the to Dominica. A Tour to Grenada August 11-27 The San Francisco-Bay Area chapter of the U.S.-Grenada Friendship Society is organizing an educational and political tour of the Caribbean island of Gre­ nada. Find out for yourself the achievements of the people of Grenada since the March 1979 revolution. Attend meetings and seminars with .Grenadian leaders. -Nelson Gonzalez Cost is $1,272 from San Francisco; $932 from New York. Includes round-trip Please send information on activities in your area to Nelson transportation, lodging, and meals. Deadline for payment is July 15. Contact: Gonzalez, 14 Charles Lane, New York, New York 10014. 1921 Oak View Drive, Oakland, California 94602. Telephone: (415) 530-1031. Dick Tussey: labor organizer & socialist By Dennis Sweetenham the unusual step of granting him a the Mechanics Educational Society of early 1950s, became well known to CLEVELAND-Dick Tussey died deferment. In 1943 America, Tussey became an organizer young activists. The ideas of the civil June 5 here at the age of sixty-two. In a Tussey defied a city and educator for MESA. In 1958 he rights, civil liberties, anti-war, feminist, note attached to his will he said if there statute prohibiting played an important role in the labor and socialist movements were discussed was to be a memorial, "make sure political speeches coalition that defeated a ballot proposal and debated there late into the night. in the city's parks. for a state right-to-work law. there's enough to drink and labor songs While Tussey never joined another to sing." In a precedent-set­ In 1960 Tussey made three trips to ting decision, the political party after leaving the SLP, he On June 10 a memorial meeting was Cuba and observed firsthand the unfold­ maintained his socialist principles. statute was de­ ing of the revolution there. He helped held at the United Food and Commer­ clared unconstitu- .. cial Workers District Union 427 head­ organize the Cleveland chapter of the As Socialist Workers Party leader tionaI. Farrell Dobbs wrote in a note to Jean quarters. In attendance were veterans Fair Play for Cuba Committee and be­ By 1947 Tussey Tussey: "He was a capable working­ of four decades of social struggles. The came its chairperson. This led to his be­ had rejected the class fighter wholly dedicated to the la­ Cleveland Plain Dealer ran a prominent ing called before the U.S. Senate Inter­ SLP position of abstention from labor bor movement, which he served well obituary. nal Security Committee and his dismis­ union activity. He left the SLP and got a sal by MESA. through its trade union arm. His work Tussey had come to Cleveland as a So­ red card in the Industrial Workers of the in that sphere was exceptionally con­ cialist Labor Party organizer in 1940. World. The IWW local represented sev­ In 1965 he became a business agent sistent and effective because-unlike At the onset of World War II he refused eral metal fabricating plants in Cleve­ and organizer for the Amalgamated the average union business agent-he conscription on the grounds it was a cap­ land at the time and he was to remain Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen. acted in the daily class struggle with the italist struggle and his loyalty was to with this local for almost twenty years. The home Tussey shared with Jean, ultimate goal of establishing a socialist the working class. His draft board took After his local voted to affiliate with his companion and partner since the society always in mind.':

JULY 17, 1981 THE MILITANT 13 World news and analysis from. . . INTERCONTINENTAL PRESS comb:::~t inprecor

'No one' tells us what to do' Interview with Nicaragua's Tomas Borge The following excerpts from an is moving to the opposition in a bloc. If interview with Tomas Borge, the that should occur and the hierarchy only surviving founding member of would openly join the opposition inside the Sandinista National Liberation the country, would it not be a heavy blow Front (FSLN) and currently Nicara­ to the revolutionary process? gua's minister of the interior, ap­ A. I think it would be a very serious peared in the May 28 and June 4 blow to the church of the rich people. issues of 'Latinamerica Press,' a Revolutions are irreversible historic weekly news bulletin published in events; they come to stay. If the church English in Lima, Peru. stands against the Revolution, the revo­ lutionaries are there. . . . It will be a Question. Let's talk about the church, matter of swimming against the cur­ Comandante. In Nicaragua the church rent. We highly respect religious beliefs and religion are important, especially in and priests. But we do. not respect con­ politics. How are Church,Revolution re­ spirators even if they are religious peo­ lations? Seemingly they have deteriorat­ ple. And I tell you that there are some ed greatly in recent months. religious here who are conspiring. Answer. Everyone knows that there are two churches. For ex;ample, in Mexi­ U.S. aid cut off co there is the church of Bishop Mendez Q. The cutoff of U.S. financial aid is a Arceo and that of others. In Nicaragua, problem for the Revolution. Washington the church of Fernando (Cardenal), Mi­ is justifying its move by alleging that Ni­ guel (d'Escotol, Uriel (Molina) and of caragua is giving Salvadoran insurgents many wonderful sisters dedicated to the military backing. What comment does people, is the church of the poor. The this merit? other church is tied to the past; it is the A. Actually what worries the United church of the rich. States is our revolutionary process. By This ·is not something new, because its decision, imperialism tries to "pun­ Christ also, when he was 33, I believe, ish" our "bad behavior," in other words found that there were two churches in our Revolution. Thus it is now saying the Church that he was building: the that it will help us again if we behave church of the temple, where he went correctly, that is, according to its crite­ with a whip, and his own church, that of ria. To this we reply that we will not the fishermen and humble people. And take a single step backward. We Nicara­ He, who founded this Church of which guans announce to all the people of the we are speaking, fought against the oth­ world that we shall continue to behave er church, the one of the Pharisees, with badly in the eyes of imperialism and a whip in his hand. I think that if he had that we are ready to die to defend our Intercontinental had a submachine gun he would have Revolution. We are willing to fight to Tomas Borge, founding member of Sandinista National Liberation Front. used it! The Pharisees ·sacrificed this the last drop of blood to hold on to the man. Now history is repeating itself; al­ conquests gained since July 19, 1979. though history changes, it also has its Q. What are the basic features or constants. Q. You just mentioned "conquests" of development of bourgeois culture and main aspects of the "bold" Sandinist rev- the Revolution. Would you say what they whether the entrepreneurs can go olutionary experiment? - Great sympathy for poor are? beyond the line of political savagery: Q. Would you give an example? Many bourgeois sectors still dream of A. The principal one is that we are A. Our model is framed in a mixed the past and do not accept the fact that A. One is that the people are divided under way. We have also eliminated ter­ economy, and its synthesis is political now we have power. That obstructs the throughout the country-the poor on ror, won independence and national sov­ pluralism. We have said many times national dialogue going on between the one side and the rich on the other. The ereignty and taken some positive cultu­ that we are very interested in continu­ government and the opposition. universal church attends the poor and ral steps, as in the case of the literacy ing with the peculiarities of our process, the rich. Some take the side of the poor crusade. We have achieved a substan­ but everything depends on the historic Q. Washington accused Nicaragua of and others the side of the rich. Indeed, tial reduction in infant mortality and circumstances of each moment. We have falling rapidly into a Cuban-Soviet mod­ we have great sympathy for the church have put the country's principal means always had our feet firmly on the el. What is your reaction to charges that of the poor, though we also respect that of production at the service of the peo­ ground, and we do not want to fall into the Sandinist Revolution is beginning to of the rich and even dialogue with it, as ple's needs. Finally, I would mention the the pattern or the errors of other revolu­ be dependent on Cuba and the USSR? tions. Our model is intimately linked to we do with businessmen and owners of example of unity that we have shown for A . We do not owe imperialism any the needs of production and national re­ the means of production. the Latin American revolutionary explanation. But we will say· to Latin construction, because the State does not movement. But perhaps our most impor­ Americans that we are not going to be­ have managerial talent. We do not de­ Q. It seems that the church which proc tant effort is the bold experiment of come another Cuba. Neither do we want precate the bourgeoisie's administrative duces the costly ideological merchandise creating a new society. anyone to become another Nicaragua. ability nor its ability to make the means Every revolution has its own framework of production function. and its own style. We feel very close to the Cuban Revolution. We do not deny Dialogue with opposition that nor will we ever deny it because Q. If I have understood you, Coman­ that would be dishonest. However, we dante, you do not disdain the contribu.­ are also aware that our Revolution is tion of the businessmen. You do not sa­ different from Cuba's in many ways: we tanize the bourgeoisie when it is willing have political pluralism and a mixed to cooperate with the revolutionary pro­ economy. We have not executed anyone. cess. We also have a collective administra­ tion. A. We reached the conclusion that they are necessary so that production 'No one tells us what to do' will not have a sharp drop. Now it is up Q. Am I to interpret this as a censure to the businessmen to see that the mixed of the Cuban Revolution? economy-which is basic to political pluralism-does not disappear. We real­ A . No. With my comments I am not ize that we have to work to maintain a censuring Cuba; I simply point to differ­ mixed economy, and we have a sincere ences between the Cuban Revolution interest in maintaining it. But if the en­ and ours. What I mean to show is that trepreneurs decapitalize the companies, each revolution has its own characteris­ if they conspire against the Revolution, tics, its own manner of expression. We they will bring an end to mixed economy coincide with the Cuban Revolution on and pluralism. Thus the economy de­ many points, for example in our anti­ Bottling factory in Nicaragua. Sandinista revolution is 'bold experiment of creating a pends on the businessmen. imperialist stance. Of course, we also new society,' says Borge. 'Our model is Intimately linked to the needs of production Our interest and good will are evi­ have differences. Without going into de­ and national reconstruction.' dent. It now depends on the degree of tail, in international policy the Nicara-

14 THE MILITANT JULY 17, 1981 · guan Revolution has its own opinion about Afghanistan and Poland. To those who say that our Revolution Somozaist gangs kill 16 in Nicaragua is a copy of Cuba's we maintain that a By Arnold Weissberg the capitalists who are behind them. Commander Humberto Ortega, minis­ revolution that mechanically copies MANAGUA-A series of terrorist They are mocking the small and medi­ ter of defense, announced that new laws another one is finished as a revolution! raids by armed counterrevolutionaries um farmers." against counterrevolutionary maneu­ We are in a position to assure all people has left sixteen Nicaraguans dead in At a June 15 meeting, Guerrilla Com­ vers were under consideration. that no one is going to tell Nicaragua less than two weeks. mander Alonso Porras charged that the Ortega said that decapitalization of what it has to do. And when I say no The most serious incident came in the counterrevolutionary bands were being enterprises should also be viewed as one, I mean exactly that: no one! Other­ ear,ly morning hours of June 23, when a financed by the big coffee growers in the counterrevolutionary action. He de­ wise we would not have had a revolu­ gang of thirty Somozaists crossed the area around Jinotega, and that they had clared that the government would have tion . . . . Honduran border and killed seven peoc ties with the big-business organization to find the arms necessary for the people ple in the township of Panama, thirty COSEP and with the Nicaraguan Demo­ to defend the revolution. Q. But, Comandante: You saidjust a crati<; Movement, one of the capitalist It was no coincidence, Ortega said, short while ago that within two years 100 kilometers from the northern Nicara­ guan city of Somoto. political parties here. that the sixteen dead all came from Ni­ percent of Nicaraguan revenue will be Porras called on the Council of State caragua's working classes, and that designated for servicing the foreign debt Another attack had come from Hon­ duras the previous day-with an assault to enact a law allowing the confiscation there was not a single wealthy grower or and buying petroleum. Then, even more capitalist among them. on the Nicaraguan border post at Gua­ of property of those who collaborate than now, foreign financial assistance "The ones who were privileged in the zapo. One Sandinista was wounded in with counterrevolutionary terrorists. will be needed. Do you sincerely believe past must learn to live with the people, that attack Two more militia members died in a that socialist countries will help Nicara­ with the humble, and must keep in mind Attempting to shift the blame for the June 21 ambush in Piedra Me nuda, just gua to continue upholding political plu­ that the people have hegemony in this incidents onto Nicaragua, the regime of twenty-three kilometers from Mana­ ralism and a mixed economy? Isn't it ut­ gua. Two others were wounded. process. But these sectors are decapital­ opian to think that such sources will be Gen. Policarpo Paz Garcia in Honduras izing their enterprises and abusing the And on June 23 a seventy-five-year­ interested? Do you truly think that there charged that the Sandinista army had democratic liberties conquered by the will be no "pressure" for Nicaragua to attacked Honduras. old militia member was killed when two people. They are making use of their follow a specified course? No proof of such attacks was forth- counterrevolutionaries claiming to be communications media to minimize the coming. police came to his house in the evening aggression by the counterrevolution." A. I am entirely certain that we will Earlier this year, a similar series of and demanded he turn over his shotgun. have help without restriction from so­ The right wing is on a big campaign counterrevolutionary raids from Hon­ When he refused and went to look for here right now to demand "elections." cialist countries. Remember that yester­ duras created a tense situation between shells to hold them off, they shot him to day's history cannot be the same as to­ But as Ortega noted, the counterrevolu­ the two countries. This appeared to have death. tionaries in Honduras "are not organiz­ day ~ s. Conditions in the world have been resolved after a meeting between The wave of killings has aroused deep ing themselves to come here for an elec­ changed. The Yankees invaded the Do­ top Honduran and Nicaraguan officials. anger among Nicaraguans. minican Republic; now they would toral process." But the attacks have now resumed. Managua's eastern neighborhoods think 200 times before doing the same The Socialist International's Commit­ Six persons were killed on June 14, were the scene of protest demonstra­ in Nicaragua. The Soviets likewise have tee for Defense of the Sandinista Revo­ seventy kilometers north of Jinotega, tions the night of June 24 that lasted in­ had experience in Cuba where the revo­ lution, which has been meeting here, when a band of between seventy and to the early hours of the morning. Resi­ condemned the killings. lution took place under specific circum­ eighty counterrevolutionaries am­ dents took to the streets, held meetings, stances. If the Soviets-and the socialist Humberto Ortega's characterization bushed a truck being used as a pass­ lit bonfires, and set off fireworks. In the of the capitalist daily La Prensa hit the countries-did not understand that they enger vehicle. neighborhood of Bello Horizonte, a post­ would be antihistorical. We have the mark perfectly. When it reported the Thousands of persons poured into the midnight rally heard Commander Lenin hope, rather the almost absolute cer­ killings at Panama, La Prensa printed streets of Jinotega in protest. Thou­ Cerna, chief of State Security, express the story beneath a much bigger feature tainty, that the Soviets understand per­ his satisfaction at the massive repudia­ fectly what is going on here and would sands again gathered at the town's on an incident at a boxing match in Lon­ chapel when the victims were buried. tion of the counterrevolutionary terror­ don, where the Nicaraguan expatriate not think of trying to guide our Revolu­ ists. tion. "We must be hard with these people," Alexis Arguello was competing for the said Juan Pablo Corea Gonzalez, fathei In a June 23 speech paying homage to world middleweight title. 'Historic sense of smell' of a slain farmers' leader. "Hard with the seven dead in the Panama attack, From Intercontinental Press. Q. Why are you so sure of uncondi­ tioned socialist aid, Comandante? On what are you basing its assurance? A. It is a kind of historic sense of Puerto Rico: 'U.S. Na out!' smell.

Q. On that alone! It is a very weak base. Besides, history so far disproves what you have said. A . But history changes. And if that is not enough, I repeat that we would re­ fuse any conditioned "aid." When I talked to Mexico's President Jose Lopez Portillo he offered us aid without condi­ tions. I told him that that gesture was what we were most grateful for. Let any one who wants to help us, do it the same way! Otherwise we prefer to die of star­ vation. With all honesty I can say that so far neither the Soviets nor the Cu­ bans nor the leaders of other socialist countries have set conditions for their solidarity. In this, I might say, they have been more respectful than many others.

Q. A problem that disturbs Latin America is the possibility of armed The following article, written by tions, among them the Federation of diate cessation of the bombing of the is­ agression against Nicaragua. How se­ Young Socialist Alliance member Puerto Rican Teachers, the College of land of Vieques by the U.S. Navy; b) a rious is the danger ofattack by the Somo­ Veronica Cruz, appeared in the July Lawyers, the National Ecumenical return of the lands taken by the Navy; za forces that are outside of Nicaragua, 13 issue of 'Perspectiva Mundial,' Movement, the Federation of University c) indemnity payments to the people of especially in Central America and the the Spanish-language sister publica­ Students for Independence, the Interna­ Vieques; and d) an end to the repression United States? tion of the 'Militant.' tional Workers League, the Young So­ of the people of Vieques and their sup­ The article concerns the continu­ cialists, the Puerto Rican Socialist Par­ porters. A . They have already attacked us ing protests against the use of the is­ ty, and the National Committee in De­ several times. Last year they made doz­ land ofVieques by the U.S. Navy as a fense ofVieques. The Crusade to Rescue ens of attacks. The latest one was less bombing target in practice exer­ Vieques organized the activities on than a week ago. We are afraid these at­ cises. Translation is by the 'Militant.' Vieques itself. Ultrarightist attack tacks will be more frequent in the fu­ ture. But the real danger is not these at­ In addition, the pilgrimage received in Britain VIEQUES, Puerto Rico-An estimat­ tacks by ex-guardsmen. More serious is the endorsement of various personali­ On June 20. ultrarightist thugs ed 500 Puerto Ricans marched from Rio the possibility of their being an element ties, such as the ex-mayor from the Na­ stormed into The Other Bookshop in Piedras to Fajardo June 5 and 6 in the of provocation to create a conflict be­ tional Progressive Party, Radames Tira­ Pilgrimage to Rescue Vieques. London, a socialist bookstore in the tween Honduras and Nicaragua. Even do; Severo Colberg, vice-president ofthe same building as the national head­ so it would be difficult to overthrow the The pifgrimage passed through the Puerto Rican House of Representatives quarters of the International Marx­ Sandinist Revolution. The only way to towns ofRio Piedras, Carolina, Con6va­ from the Popular Democratic Party; Na­ ist Group (IMG-the British section defeat us militarily would be by an inva­ nas, Rio Grande, Luquillo, Fajardo, and tionalist heroes such as Oscar Collazo, of the Fourth International). sion of U.S. troops; though even they lastly via ferry to the island of Vieques. Irving Flores, and Rafael Cancel Miran­ A woman member of the IMG,who would pay a very high price in lives, pol­ In addition to the wide coverage by the da; as well as Juan Mari Bras and Car­ was in the bookstore was severely itical prestige and future perspective. news media, thousands of people saw los Gallisa. Leaders of the Puerto Rican beaten and had to be hospitalized. For us belligerency is not the main prob­ the protest directly. Also, thousands of Socialist Party also participated in the The goon squad vandalized the lem. We are more concerned about the leaflets in support of Vieques were dis­ march. The Continental Organization of bookstore and scattered profascist war against backwardness, poverty and tributed by the participants in the Latin American Students was repre­ material around. underdevelopment. That is what wor­ march. sented by Elena Tejada from the Feder­ Messages of solidarity should be ries us more and we hope that there will The Pilgrimage to Rescue Vieques ation of Dominican Students. sent to the IMG at P.O. Box 50, Lon­ not be an outbreak of warfare in the was organized by hundreds of political, The pilgrimage was organized around don N1 2XP, England. area. ecumenical, and professional organiza- four principal demands: a) an imme-

JULY 17, 1981 THE MILITANT 15 - OAU hits Reagan alliance with apartheid The U.S. government was strongly main pro-independence group, the told a congressional hearing at the end At a June 7 rally in Zimbabwe, SWA­ condemned for its "collusion with the South West Africa People's Organiza­ of June that Washington had offered to PO leader Sam Nujoma blasted Wash­ South African racists" in a formal reso­ tion (SW APO). train members of the South African ington's attempt to impose conditions on lution adopted June 27 by all fifty The OAU's denunciation was pro­ Coast Guard and to-increase the number the Namibian people's right to self-de­ members attending a four-day meeting voked by the Reagan administration's of military attaches and consuls each termination. "We will not accept any of the Organization of African Unity position that Namibia should only re­ country maintains in the other. other country, no matter how powerful, (OAU). ceive its independence after a new con­ to draw up our constitution. That is the The resolution denounced "the unholy These moves are all part of what the stitution is drawn up that would include Reagan administration describes as its prerogative of the Namibian people and alliance between Washington and Pre­ political and economic "guarantees" for nobody else." toria" and accused the Reagan adminis­ policy of "constructive engagement" the white minority in Namibia and for with the South African regime. It is a Nujoma also said that white settlers tration of sabotaging efforts for achiev­ Pretoria as well. were "welcome to live side by side with ing Namibian independence. further step in Washington's long­ The OAU resolution also condemned standing alliance with Pretoria aimed us in an independent Namibia.. .. We The more than one million Namibians just say we want to have a share in run­ have been struggling for an end to the the governments of Britain and France at holding back the liberation move­ for supporting the South African re­ ments in southern Africa. ning the state, and we want the majority South African regime's racist colonial to have the final say. The wealth of the rule. They want the establishment of a gime. Washington, London, and Paris Washington also wants Namibian in­ recently vetoed a move in the United country must be shared among the peo­ genuinely independent state. dependence linked to the withdrawal of ple." The South African regime has occu­ Nations Security Council to impose new Cuban troops in Angola and to the inclu­ economic sanctions against South Afri­ The OAU resolution concluded that in pied Namibia since the end of the First sion of the South-African-backed Na­ the absence of agreement on Namibian ca. World War. Pretoria has sent in more tional Union for the Total Independence independence, "armed struggle remains than 60,000 troops to terrorize the Nam­ Chester Crocker, Reagan's assistant of Angola (UNITA ) in the Angolan gov­ the most effective form of action." ibian population and to strike at the secretary of state for African affairs, ernment. From Intercontinental Press So. Africa regime moves to halt strikes, protests By Fred Murphy In East London, the South African Al­ Also calling for a boycott was the Ro- The boycott of Republic Day was ac­ The apartheid regime in South Africa lied Workers Union is playing a role man Catholic Churrh. · companied by several armed actions for has launched a fresh wave of repression similar to that of Macwusa. According On May 27 there were student demon­ which the African National Congress in an effort to halt student protests and to a June 25 dispatch by Lelyveld, "it in­ strations at the Johannesburg city hall, later claimed credit. A police station strikes by Black industrial workers. sists on voicing the political grievances at the University of Witwatersrand in near East London was attacked with More than forty persons were jailed of black workers" and also rejects the Johannesburg, and in Cape Town. Each hand grenades and machine-gun fire, under the security laws in the month of apartheid regime's labor laws. The em­ involved several hundred protesters. bombs hit commuter rail lines in Dur­ June. The laws allow detention without ployers have fought the union by firing ban and Johannesburg, power lines charge or trial, or even public acknowl­ some 2,000 of its 16,000 members, but At Chris Botha high school in the Co­ were sabotaged in the province of edgment of the victims' whereabouts. this has not dampened its militancy. loured suburbs of Johannesburg, 150 Orange Free State, and a powerful ex­ Among those arrested was Khotso students held a hunger strike. ("Co­ plosion destroyed an army recruiting of­ Seatlholo, former president of the Sowe­ 'Republic Day' protests loured" refers to persons of mixed ances­ fice in Durban. try. Coloureds are part of the overall to Students Representative Council and While the strikes by auto workers in On June 16, nearly 5,000 persons ga­ Qne of the central figures in the Black Port Elizabeth were going on, the re­ Black population, but are placed in a se­ parate category by the apartheid regime thered at a church in Soweto to mark student revolt in Soweto in June 1976. gime was facing more generalized pro­ the fifth anniversary of the student up­ Seven other Black student leaders tests against its apartheid policies. The as part of its attempt to divide the op­ pressed masses.) rising in that Black township of Johan­ were arrested at about the same time as focus was the government-sponsored nesburg. Seatlholo. celebrations of "Republic Day," the Botha's cops broke up other university twentieth anniversary of South Africa's students' protest in Johannesburg and In the days following the Soweto pro­ Strikes by Black workers withdrawal from the British Common­ arrested forty-eight students in Cape tests, the security forces announced the Leaders of Black trade unions have wealth. Town. Among those jailed in Cape Town arrest of Khotso Seatlholo and other also been jailed. These include Thozam­ There were calls for a boycott of the was Andrew Boraine, the white leader Black student leaders, Thozamile Gqwe­ ile Gqweta and Sisa Nijikelana, presi­ festivities by many organizations, rang­ of the National Union of South African ta and other trade unionists, and jour­ dent and vice-president of the South Af­ ing from the banned African National Students. As of June 26 Boraine was nalists. Among the latter were two lead­ rican Allied Workers Union, which is Congress to the South African Council still being held under the security laws. ers of the Media Workers Association of based in East London; as well as much of South Africa, ex-President Zwelakhe Si­ of Churches. Inkatha, the organization Police also moved against the Co­ the leadership of the Motor Assembly sulu and General Secretary Thami Maz­ headed by Gatsha Buthelezi, chief min­ loured high-school students who organ­ and Components Workers Union of ister of the KwaZulu "homeland," wai. Mazwai is the news editor of The ized the hunger strike in Johannesburg, South Africa (Macwusa), a new and mil­ Sowetan. placed advertisements in major South arresting student council president Aziz itant Black organization in Port Eliza­ African newspapers calling on Blacks to Jardine. The identities of most of the arrested beth. boycott Republic Day. trade-union leaders have not been re­ The apartheid rulers are especially ported. However, the New York Times worried by the mounting unrest among Anniversary of Soweto said June 23 that they were "mainly Black industrial workers. Since the be­ Don't miss an issue. On June 9, some 6,000 Coloured high­ from black unions that have so far re­ ginning of 1981 there have been some school students in Johannesburg and fused to seek formal registration under fifty strikes by Black workers. Subscribe today. Cape Town boycotted their final exami­ the Industrial Conciliation Act, which The most significant struggle was in nations to protest the brutal attacks and bars labor leaders from taking any ac­ Port Elizabeth, the center of South Afri­ The Militant, 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. 10014. continue demanding the release of Aziz tive role in politics." ca's auto industry. When 1,500 Black Jardine. From Intercontinental Press workers at the Firestone tire factory there stopped work to oppose planned cuts in pension benefits, the company fired them en masse. Later all but 160 were reinstated. Nevertheless, 3,500 Subscribe to Intercontinental Press Blacks at three of the city's Ford plants went on strike in solidarity with those and receive either of these books at half price! dismissed at Firestone, and 200 Black workers at General Motors did the South Africa: White Rule/Black Re­ Fidel Castro Speeches, Edited by MI­ same. volt, By Ernest Harsch. This is the sto­ chael Taber. These speeches give a According to the London Economist, ry of South Africa's Black majority detailed picture of Cuba's foreign policy ''This is the first time black workers -from Dutch colonialism to the apart­ and its internationalist world outlook. have staged strikes in support of heid regime. 350 pp. List price $6.95, 391 pp. List price $7.98, you pay only workers in other sections of an indus­ you pay only $3.50. $3.98. try." The Port Elizabeth work stoppages FIDEL lasted for two weeks and ended with a CASTRO partial victory on June 3. Firestone SPEECHES agreed to immediately reinstate twenty­ one of those fired and to rehire the oth­ Many of the Militanfs articles on world events come from Intercontinental Press. IP carries we·ekly features on the struggle in ers as jobs became available. Northern Ireland, along with speeches by revolutionary leaders like Fidel Castro and Grenada's Prime Minister Maurice Bishop The Port Elizabeth strikes were led by . . . and much more. During the month of July, new subscribers to IP can get one of the above books at half price. · the Motor Assembly and Components Workers Union of South Africa. New Yes! Start my subscription now. Enclosed is$ _ _ for: York Times correspondent Joseph Lely­ veld described Macwusa in a June 3 dis­ 0 $35 for one year subscription 0 $17.50 for six months Mail to: patch as "one of the newest and most as­ 0 $3.50 for South Africa: White Rule/Black Revolt 0 $3.98 for Fidel Castro Intercontinental Preas sertive black labor unions." He said it Speeches 41 0 West Street stood out for "its refusal to play by the Name ______New York, N.Y. 10014 intricate rules of the South African sys­ Address tem of labor relations and its insistence City/State/Zip ______on its right to act on behalf of the entire black community."

16 THE MILITANT JULY 17, 1981 Goon squads and the Israeli elections The recent elections in Israel provided new evi­ calling, a worried debate has broken out on the fu­ zens have sometimes been confined to their home­ dence of how reactionary the Zionist rulers of that ture of the country's democratic process. towns and had meetings aqd organizations banned country are. The campaign was marked by the sys­ "Many Israelis who are usually not given to ex­ for political reasons. tematic use of violence by supporters of Prime treme statements are now sounding urgent alarms "Last year Israel's Parliament enacted legisla­ Minister Menachem Begin against the opposition about antidemocratic trends, insensitivity to indi­ tion banning the display of the Palestinian flag Labor Party. vidual rights, governmental pressures against a and the singing of Palestinian national songs and Despite that violence-and partly because of it­ free press and a rising chauvinism that sees criti­ providing a maximum of three years in prison for -the Labor Party apparently won forty-seven cism as disloyal, treacherous and unpatriotic." violators. seats in parliament as against forty-eight for Be­ The dispatch reported that Mayor Teddy Kollek "The measure was called the 'Prevention of Ter­ gin's Likud bloc. of Jerusalem had charged Begin with fostering a rorism Law."' Israeli workers and farmers had no real choice "personality cult which arouses fears of the growth One Labor Party leader told the Times: "I'm be­ in the election. of fascism in this country." ginning to detect a ring, 'Are you soft on Arabs?' In addition to the violence, Begin's bid for re­ Israel's attorney general, Yitzhak Zamir, Like 'Who is soft on Communism?"' election was marked by strident jingoism and warned that the systematic attacks on opponent Jacobo Timerman, the exiled Argentinian pub­ rallies "pose a substantial danger to· freedom of lisher who was jailed and tortured by the military speech . . . . " junta there and now lives in Israel as a Zionist, A Begin aide assured the Times that democracy told the Times: in Israel is "so strong and so healthy." "I have seen the growing up of clandestine ar­ As I see it "Nevertheless," the Times dispatch said, "the vi­ mies, terrorists, in Argentina. I see very clearly a . olence has taken on new proportions, according to repetition of what happened in Argentina here." -Harry Ring McCarthy-type red-baiting. He boasted of his most accounts, never seen here before. sneak bombing of Iraq's nuclear power plant and "Hardly a Labor Party rally can take place now promised more of the same. without disruption by gangs of toughs jeering Mr. His Labor Party opponents agreed with his basic Peres off the platform, pelting him with eggs and program of Zionist expansionism, objecting mildly tomatoes and drowning him out with chants of'Be­ to his excessive rhetoric. gin, Begin, king of Israel.' Neither offered a meaningful answer to the "After one such rally in the Tel Aviv suburb of country's present st~ggering inflation rate of 133 Petah Tikvah, supporters of Mr. Begin smashed percent and the hardships this has created. windows in a nearby Labor Party headquarters The use of right-wing thugs by the Begin ma­ and burned Labor leaflets. chine suggests the depth of the simmering social "Stores displaying Labor posters have their win­ crisis in Israel and makes plain how the country's dows smashed, cars with Labor bumper stickers Zionist rulers propose to deal with the real opposi­ suffer shattered windshields and stolen tires. tion that lies ahead. "One automobile was spray-painted with the Both U.S. and Israeli papers discussed Begin's hugewords, 'Traitor, traitor, traitor."' goon tactics. A Begin campaign aide piously advised, "We One Israeli paper, Ha'aretz on June 15 described dissociate ourselves from the violence." a meeting of 10,000 where Begin's Labor oppo­ The vicious campaign against the Labor Party nent, Shimon Peres, tried to speak: goes hand-in-hand with the continuing racist re­ "About 500 Likud supporters equipped with pression of Palestinians and other Arabs under Is­ wooden boards, placards, bike chains and tomatoes raeli domination. rioted throughout the meeting. . . . After the end The Times dispatch describes the situation on of the meeting, the mob continued to riot in the the West Bank of the Jordan River, occupied by Is­ streets. They stopped any car displaying a Labor rael since its 1967 invasion. sticker, and if the driver refused to immediately "On the West Bank," the Times reports, "a few of remove the sticker he was beaten up. . . . The the nationalistic, militant settlers trying to estab­ · mob also rolled burning refuse bins into the Ma­ lish Jewish control have taken on a vigilante role, pam Party headquarters ...." (Mapam was in a using their automatic rifles to terrorize Arabs, bloc with the Labor Party.) smashing windows, breaking into homes and issu­ The scope of the violence was indicated in a dis­ ing threats. patch in the June 15 New York Times. "The Government has reacted mildly, arresting It stated: "As Israel moves through an emotional rarely and punishing lightly. political campaign marked by violence and name- "Inside Israel proper, Arabs who are Israeli citi- Labor Party office trashed by Begin supporters

Learning About. Socialism Is society's problem 'overconsumption'? letter from a reader: "Overproduction," however, refers to something great majority of the people. Relative to human This is in response to an article on Reagan's tax else. needs, capitalism always underproduces. plan that appeared in the June 26 Militant, and par­ Each individual capitalist firm is obliged by the The gross inadequacy of mass transit, housing, hos­ ticularly to the line, "High prices and high interest competition of other capitalist firms to maximize its pitals, and schools is one glaring example. rates limit the ability of people to buy what's pro­ profits. A firm that does not maximize profits inevita­ There is unemployment in the steel industry today duced." bly falls behind the competition and eventually goes not because the world's need for steel is being met, While workers don't approach the excessive con­ out of business. but because working people of the world cannot afford sumption levels of the capitalists, they still consume In order to maximize profits, the capitalists must to buy the housing, appliances, and transportation at high levels and in large numbers. expand production to the limit-while holding costs, they desperately need. Capitalism is responsible for overproduction and including· wage costs, to the minimum. Periodically, the contradiction between the growth makes a virtue of overconsumption on everyone's This applies not only to individual capitalist firms of production and the more limited growth of the part. but to capitalist nations. As international competi­ market leads to acute crises. Interest rates shoot up The ethic of overproduction and overconsumption tion heats up, each capitalist government tries to and credit dries up. Goods pile up in warehouses be­ must be eliminated with capitalism. Only in this way slash ·social benefits and hold down wages. In this cause they cannot flnd buyer's. can we conserve for as many future generations as way, the government hopes the competitive position The capitalists cut back on production because it is possible the precious, finite resources of this planet of the capitalists. it serves will be improved on the unprofitable. Workers are laid off and factories are upon which we depend, and only in this way can we world market. shut down. Massive want and misery exist because focus on the fundamental task of building a new soci­ more has been produced than capitalism allows to be This is the basis of Reagan's current budget. He consumed. ety-the full development of our human resources hopes that by slashing social benefits to working peo­ It takes years before factories are again working at and creativity. ple and cutting the taxes of the American bosses, U.S. Brad Bohland anywhere near their full capacity. By the time they business will gain a competitive advantage over its Denver, Colorado are, there is again so much overproduction that a new European and Japanese rivals. crisis breaks out. The cycle then repeats itself. William Gottlieb replies: In doing so, however, Reagan is depriving whole The only escape from this vicious circle is to remove · Reader Bohland misunderstands the term "over­ layers of the working population of the ability to buy the fetters of private ownership from the means of production." basic necessities. There is no overconsumption here. production. It is private ownership that is the root It is true that capitalism produces many commodi­ The overall result is that under conditions of pri­ cause of overproduction crises and squandering of re­ ties of very dubious usefulness. Modern advertising is vate ownership of modern industry, I'roduction devel­ sources-not "overconsumption." used to excite artificial needs. ops faster than the ability of the great mass of people When the economy is geared to human needs, not The most extreme example of wasteful production to pay for increased production. private profit, society's goal will be to increase prod­ is nuclear weapons, which threaten to destroy mod­ "Overproduction" is therefore overproduction rela­ uction in order to meet the material needs of every ern civilization. tive to the market, not relative to human needs. Be­ human being. In addition, since capitalism is based on short-term cause it holds purchasing power within narrow This alone will make possible "the full develop­ gain, not long-term planning, natural resources are limits, capitalism is incapable of developing produc­ ment of our human resources and creativity" that we recklessly squandered. tion sufficiently to meet the material needs of the and reader Bohland both look forward to.

JULY 17, 1981 THE MILITANT 17 The Great Society Harry Ring

Dropping acid-Pollution-created A gas-When the Brown & William­ acid rain? No problem. Let the pigeons son tobacco company developed a ci­ drink it up. Two steel cables on the garette with a filter that assertedly of­ SPJLCO Brooklyn Bridge snapped recently. En­ fers greater protection from a gas that gineers said the acid in pigeon drop­ may be linked to heart disease, the com­ pings had been eating away at the ca­ pany ad agency wanted to feature it. bles for years. The proposal was iced. A likely result of 1_ focusing on the gas problem, the com­ The reddening of America-The pany explained, "would be the escala­ New York Times reported that standing tion of the quitting rate among smok­ ers." in a subway token line, Spencer Burke, a real estate broker, doesn't look like a revolutionary. But asked for his opinion Bill of Rights man-New Yorkers on the latest fare hike, he responded: were concerned when some deranged "For one thing; there has to be a revolu­ person inflicted knife wounds on eight tion in this country. I really believe for men sleeping on street benches. But for the first time that there has to be a vio­ Bill O'Reilly of CBS, the constitutional lent overthrow of government. I don't issue was key. "One of our basic'rights in this country," he declared, "is the pur­ think this so-called elective process works." suit of happiness. And for some people that means sleeping in the streets."

Add it to the list-We're ·not sure Thought for the week-"The federal what can be done this side of socialism, Department of Energy reported that by but research indicates that most people the year 2000, the nation will be bur­ 1-7 ~- are allergic to cockroach remains. For dened with millions of tons of atomic c,_.._.__.... those with asthmatic conditions, it can waste. The report left unresolved how to .•. - trigger wheezing, coughing and chok­ dispose of the waste safely."-News 'We have a serious oil glut on our hands, gentlemen . . we'd better declare another ing. item. shortage.' Union Talk What kind of ·union do steelwo.rkers need? The following column is by David Salner, a me­ else is necessary to save its union rights? steelworker answered Kirsch this way: "Damn right chanic apprentice at the Eveleth Mines on Min­ In the same leaflet, Kirsch attacked Samargia for El Salvador is a special interest-a very special inter­ nesota's Iron Range. He is a member of United spending "most of his time playing up to special inter­ est of mine." Steelworkers Local .6860. ests, like the El Salvadore [sic] issue." One young In an interview following the election with the Du­ luth News Tribune, Kirsch repeated his attack by What kind of union do Steelworkers need? This was saying, "We've got to forget about special interest the issue in the recent campaign for director of groups." United Steelworkers District 33. What Kirsch doesn't understand is that what he Eldon Kirsch, a fourteen-year staff man, won the calls "special interests" are of direct concern to all race with 35 percent of the total vote. During the steelworkers. . campaign, Kirsch put out a leaflet attacking the poli­ In addition to avoiding another Vietnam-style in­ cies of his chief contender, Local 1938 President Joe volvement in El Salvador, steelworkers want action Samargia. We got a good picture of Kirsch's brand of against layoffs and the threat of the military draft. unionism by looking at what he picked out to attack They want equal rights and affirmative action and a in Samargia's campaign. leadership willing to fight off Reagan's attacks on so­ cial security and retirement benefits. Kirsch criticized Samargia for supporting a protest against Minnesota Gov. AI Quie's Reagan-style cut­ These issues are our "special interests." They are backs. Kirsch said steelworkers should "respect the issues that unite us and make us stronger if we act on office of Governor." He condemned Samargia for re­ them in an aggressive way. A retreat on these issues sorting to "boycotts and picketing instead of sitting is like a message to the companies that we will not de­ down to try and resolve issues." fend the interests of our members regardless of age, Of course any responsible labor leader will nego­ sex, or race. tiate with the powers that be. The real question is, The District 33 election began a useful discussion where does labor's power come from? From the dead among the ranks of steelworkers on the Iron Range weight of a union representative's hind end as he sits and throughout the district. across the negotiating table, or from the power of a And we should always have. an open mind. I hope rank and file that is willing not only to sit down and Militant/Stu Singer District Director Kirsch will take up the fight for all • negotiate but also to boycott, picket, or do whatever Shovel at mine on Iron Range our interests. What's Going On

GEORGIA ers: Malik Miah, Socialist Workers Party National Com­ District; AI Church, director, Regional Agency, American 1012 Second Avenue South. Ausp: Solidarity Bookstore mittee; Jan Douglass, director, Community Relations Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; Forum Series. For more information call (218) 749-6327. ATLANTA Commission ; Martha_ Gaines, president, Georgia Amer­ Barbara Lamppa, director, Historical Services, Iron RALLY TO DEFEND THE BILL OF RIGHTS. Speak- ican Civil Liberties Union; Andree Kahlmorgan, SWP Range Historical Society; Peggy Metzer, National Or­ candidate for mayor; others. Sat., July 11 , 7:30p.m. Stu­ ganization for Women; Bill Qjala; Michael Paymar, Du­ dent Center, Georgia State University, Room 460. Dona­ luth ·City Council member; Mickie Scholtus, board NEW YORK tion: $2. Ausp: Political Rights Defense Fund. For more member, Minnesota Civil Liberties Union ; Waubun-lnini WASHINGTON, D.c.· information call (404) 872-7640. (Vernon Bellecourtf, American Indian leader; Mac War­ MANHATTAN ren , Political Committee member, Socialist Workers Par­ 'THREE PLUS FOUR,' Kampuchean film, English RALLY TO DEFEND POLITICAL RIGHTS. ty. Sat., July 11 , reception 6 p.m .. rally 7 p.m. Mesabi narration. Produced by Kampuchea Ministry of Culture. Speakers: Ben Chavis, director, Commission for Community College, Commons, 9th Avenue and West 45 minutes. Meet and hear: Chan Bun Han, the first Racial Justice; Rob Duncan, D.C. Committee to MICHIGAN Chestnut St. Donation: $4, $2 rally only. Ausp: Political Kampuchean to travel to his homeland since 1975 and return to the U.S. Fri. , July 17, 7 p.m. Global Village, 454 Defend the NASSCO Workers; Michael Gaffney, DETROIT Rights Defense Fund. For more information call (218) National Lawyers Guild; Mojgan Hariri-Vijeh, 741-4968. Broome St. , near Mercer. Donation : $2.50. Sponsor: Young Socialist Alliance member who faces de­ NICARAGUA: TWO YEARS LATER. Speaker: Jim Committee in Solidarity with Vietnam, Kampuchea, and portation; Doug Jenness, Socialist Workers Party Zelinski, Michigan Interchurch Committee fvr Central Laos. For more information call (212) 624·8173. CUBA TODAY. An eyewitness account with siide Political Committee; Hilda Mason, D.C. City American Human Rights. Sat. , July 18, 7 p.m. 6404 shOw and special displays from Cuba. Speakers: five Council; Lee Perkins, D.C. National Organization Woodward. Donation: $2. Ausp: Militant Forum. For steelworkers who visited Cuba in May. Sun., July 12, 11 for Women and Commission on Human Rights; more information call (313) 875-3522. a.m. Solidarity Bookstore, 1012 Second Ave. South. Do­ Phil Wheaton, EPICA. Sat. , July 11, 6:30p.m. re­ UTAH nation: $2. Ausp: Solidarity Bookstore Forum Series. For ception and entertainment; 7:30 p.m. program. more information call (218) 749-6327. SALT LAKE CITY Ethical Society of Washington, 7750 16th St. WINNING THE ERA IN UTAH. Speakers: National N.W. Donation: $3. Ausp: Political Rights De­ MINNESOTA RADICAL LABOR TRADITtONS ON THE IRON Organization for Women's Equal Rights Amendment fense Fund. For more information call (202) 797- VIRGINIA RANGE. Speaker: Michael Karni, coeditor of For the missionaries. Sat., July 18, 7 p.m. Militant Bookstore, 7699. RALLY TO DEFEND THE BILL OF RIGHTS. Speak­ Common Gooci--'Finnish Immigration and the Radical 677 S. 700 East. Donation: $1.50. Ausp: Militant Forum. ers: Tom Anzelc, St. Louis County Commissioner, 7th Response to Industrial America. Fri., July 24, 7:30 p.m. For more information call (801) 355-1124.

18 THE MILITANT JULY 17, 1981 Letters

Mao's record "self-criticism" while The Central Committee of continuing to follow Mao's the Chinese Communist Party counterrevolutionary policies rdeased a statement on June at home and abroad. 30 entitled "Certain Questions They restate that Mao "stood in the History of Our Party." up to the pressure of the social­ Printed in the N ew York imperialists, pursued a correct Times, it retraces Mao's foreign policy, firmly supported "contributions and mistakes." the just struggles of all peoples, Reading the resolution outlined the correct strategy of reminds one of the Khrushchev the three worlds . . . . "These revelations on Stalin that were are all lies that seek to released at the 1956 Congress continue to hide the truth from of the Communist Party of the the Chinese people. Soviet Union. However, the Mao and the CCP played a assessment of Mao is filled counterrevolutionary role in with gross historical their foreign policy. They inaccuracies about the 1949 courted Nixon, supported SUPREME COVR.'r revolution, the fight against NATO, backed the repressive the Japanese, and the Mobutu regime in Zaire, "independence" of the CCP supported the capitalist from the Kuomintang. Sukarno in Indonesia (who Mao's heirs lead us to believe later turned around and murdered 500,000 that socialist democracy was a these revelations do or do not Corporation executives think players could at least sell their communists), opposed the normal part of Chinese life, but mean. Political activists can it's okay to allow workers to labor power to the highest Bengali struggle against then proceed to denounce Mao learn a lot by studying these become sick and crippled, if bidder, instead of being Pakistan for self-determination, for almost all mistakes that the developments and contrasting that's cheaper than cleaning up chained to the same team, etc. CCPmade: them to the unfolding political the conditions that create the thanks to the struggle Curt ". . . [H]is theoretical and The Stalinist leaders of the revolution in Poland. disease in the first place! Flood waged against the practical mistakes concerning CCP t<;>day are no different: Mark Friedman In reality, few brown lung owners. The owners were then class struggle in a socialist backing imperialist threats Brooklyn, New York victims ever get compensated forced to let the players get at society became increasingly against Vietnam and, in fact, for any lost wages, medical least some of the huge profits . serious, his personal invading Vietnam itself to stop costs, and other expenses. they [the owners] were reaping. arbitrariness gradually the development of the Cotton dust ruling Those that do receive some The players realize that the undermined democratic revolution there. On June 17, the U.S. compensation find that it does only way to protect the gains centralism in party life, and While this critique of Mao-­ Supreme Court upheld more not come close to covering all they've made is by sticking the personality cult grew a.lthough quite erroneous--is stringent cotton dust standards those expenses, or providing together through their union. graver and graver." The welcomed, it does not signal a for the textile industry, no living income. The owners also realize this, resolution goes on to denounce break with Stalinist methods matter what the costs of In the context of Reagan's and their main purpose in not the cultural revolution as and theory, and a move toward enforcement are. threats to weaken or eliminate settling the strike is to crush mistakenly "defined as a democratizing China. The Current OSHA standards the standard, this court the players' union. struggle against the revisionist vicious suppression of the state that every measure decision is a victory for all The essence of the strike is line or the capitalist road." democratization movement in feasible must be taken to working people. One weakness not a question of money, but of The purpose of the 35,000- China, by the current rulers, protect the health and safety of of the ruling is the court did the players' right to organize word statement is to let off should be proof enough. the workers. not believe it to be OSHA's together in their own interests some steam building up inside I want to suggest that the Textile corporations wanted responsibility to require against the ruling class of China, to undercut some of the Militant consider doing a major to be able to make "cost-benefit companies to guarantee the baseball. demands of the movements for article on the recent tests" before deciding whether right of transfer to less dusty The players are demanding democracy, and to vent a little developments in China, what to implement the standard. work areas for sick textile that the owners open up their workers. books and reveal their profits, Florence Sandlin, president as all industries in this country of the Greensboro chapter of should do. As a baseball fan the Brown Lung Association, and a socialist, I support the Our party is your party called the ruling "the best baseball strike. news we've had in years, Bill Frey because now textile workers do San Diego, California 0 I want to join the SWP. THE MILITANT is the voice of the have stronger protection in the 0 Send me __ copies of The Changing Face workplace." Socialist Workers Party. of U.S. Politics: Building a Party of Socialist Lisa Potash IF YOU AGREE with what you've Workers at $7.95 each. Enclosed is $c.___ Winston-Salem, North Carolina read, you should join us in 0 Please send me more information.

fighting for a world without Name ------war, racism, or exploitation-a Address ------C~------Baseball strike The letters column is an open socialist world. State ______Zip ______Even though most baseball forum for all viewpoints on JOIN THE SWP. Fill out this coupon Telephone ------,-- players make more money than subjects of general interest to Union/Schooi/Org. ______and mail it today. the average worker, the our readers. Please keep your SWP, 14 Charles Lane, New York, N.Y. 10014. current baseball strke is letters brief. Where necessary essentially the same as a labor they will be abridged. Please strike. indicate if you prefer that your About twelve years ago, the initials be used rather than JOIN THE SWP Supreme Court ruled that the your full name.

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ALABAMA: Birmingham: SWP, YSA, 205 18th St. S. 6149. tral Ave. NE. Zip: 87106. Tel : (505)) 842-0954. RHODE ISLAND: Providence: YSA. 52 Earle St., Cen­ Zip: 35233. Tel : (205) 323-3079. IOWA: Cedar Falls: YSA, Box 352. Zip: 50613. NEW YORK: Capital District (Schenectady): SWP, tral Falls. Zip: 02863. ARIZONA: Phoenix: SWP, YSA, 1243 E. McDowelL KENTUCKY: Louisville: SWP, YSA, 131 W. Main YSA, 323 State St. Zip: 12305. Tel: (518) 374-1494. TEXAS: Austin: YSA, c/o Mike Rose, 7409 Berkman Zip: 85006. Tel: (602) 255-0450. #102. Zip: 40202. Tel: (502) 587-8418. New York, Brooklyn: SWP, YSA, 335 Atlantic Ave. Dr. Zip: 78752. Dallas: SWP, YSA, 5442 E. Grand. CALIFORNIA: Oakland: SWP, YSA, 2864 Telegraph LOUISIANA: New Orleans: SWP, YSA, 3207 Dublin St Zip: 11201. Tel: (212) 852-7922. New York, Manhat­ Zip: 75223. Tel : (214) 826-4711. Houston: SWP, Ave. Zip : 94609. Tel: (415) 763-3792. Los Angeles: Zip: 70118. Tel: (504) 486-8048. tan: SWP, YSA, 108 E. 16th St. 2nd Floor. Zip: 10003. YSA. 6333 Gulf Freeway, Room 222. Zip: 77023. Tel : SWP, YSA, 2211 N. Broadway. Zip: 90031. Tel: (213) MARYLAND: Baltimore: SWP, YSA, 2913 Green­ Tel : (212) 260-6400. New York: City-wide SWP, YSA. (713) 924-4056. San Antonio: SWP, YSA, 337 W. 225-3126. San Diego: SWP, YSA. 1053 15th St. Zip: mount Ave. Zip: 21218. Tel: (301) 235-0013. 108 E. 16th St 2nd Floor. Zip: 10003. Tel : (212) 533- Josephine. Zip: 78212. Tel: (512) 736-9218. 92101. Tel: (714) 234-4630.San Francisco: SWP, MASSACHUSETTS: Amherst: YSA, P.O. Box 837. Zip: 2902. UTAH: Salt Lake City: SWP, YSA, 677 S. 7th E~st, 2nd YSA, 3284 23rd St Zip: 94110. Tel: (415) 824-1992. 01004. Boston: SWP, YSA, 510 Commonwealth NORTH CAROLINA: Piedmont: SWP, YSA, 216 E. 6th Floor. Zip: 84102. Tel: (801) 355-1124. San Jose: SWP, YSA, 44 Race St. Zip : 95126. Tel : Ave., 4th Floor. Zip: 02215. Tel: (617) 262-4621 . St. , Winston-Salem. Zip: 27101. Tel : (919) 723-3419. VIRGINIA: Tidewater Area (Newport News): SWP, (408) 998-4007. MICHIGAN: Ann Arbor: YSA Tel: (313) 663-7068. De­ OHIO: Cincinnati: SWP, YSA, 2531 Gilbert Ave. Zip : YSA, 111 28th St. Zip: 23607. Tel: (804) 380-0133. COLORADO: Denver: SWP, YSA, 126 W. 12th Ave. troit: SWP, YSA, 6404 Woodward Ave. Zip: 48202. 45206. Tel: (513) 751·2636. Cleveland: SWP, YSA, WASHINGTON, D.C.: SWP, YSA, 3106 Mt. Pleasant St. Zip: 80204. Tel : (303) 534·8954. Tel: (313) 875-5322. 2230 Superior. Zip: 44114. Tel: (216) 579-9369. Tole­ NW. Zip : 20010. Tel: (202) 797-7699. Baltimore­ FLORIDA: Gainesville: YSA, c/o Don Macki e. 1208 MINNESOTA: Mesabi Iron Range: SWP, YSA, 101 2 do: SWP, YSA, 2120 Dorr St. Zip : 43607. Tel: (41 9) Washington District: 3106 Mt. Pleasant St., NW., SW. First Ave. Z1p: 32601. Miami: SWP, YSA, 1237 2nd Ave . South, Virgini a, Minn. Send mail to P.O. Box 536-0383. Washing1on, D.C. Zip: 20010. Tel : (202) 797-7021. NW 119th St. , North Miami. Zip: 33167. Tel: (305) 1287. Zip: 55792. Tel: (21 8) 749·6327. Twin Cities: OREGON: Portland: SWP, YSA, 711 NW Everett. Zip: WASHINGTON: Olympia: YSA. Room 3208, The Ever­ 769·3478. SWP, YSA, 508 N. Snelling Ave., St. PauL Zip: 55104. 97209. Tel (503) 222·7225. green State College. Zip: 98501 . Tel: (206) 866-7332. GEORGIA: Atlanta: SWP, YSA, 509 Peachtree St. NE Tel : (612) 644-6325. PENNSYLVANIA: Edinboro: YSA, Edinboro State Col· Seattle: SWP, YSA, 4868 Rainier Ave. South. Zip: Zip: 30308. Tel : (404) 872-7229. MISSOURI: Kansas City: SWP, YSA, 4715A Troost. lege. Zip: 16444. Tel : (814) 734·4415. Harrisburg: 98118. Tel : (206) 723-5330. ILLINOIS: Champaign-Urbana: YSA, 1301 W. Green, Zip: 64110. Tel: (816) 753-0404. St. Louis: SWP, SWP, YSA, P.O. Box 8255. Zip: 17105. Philadelphia: WEST VIRGINIA: Charleston: SWP, YSA, Box 3761 . Room 284. Zip: 61801. Chicago: SWP, YSA, 434 S. YSA. 6223 Delmar Blvd. Zip: 63130. Tel: (314) 725- SWP, YSA, 5811 N. Broad St. Zip: 19141. Tel: (215) Zip: 25337. Tel: (304) 345-3040. Morgantown: SWP, Wabash, Room 700. Zip: 60605. Tel: (312) 939-0737. 1570. 927-4747 or 927-4748. Pittsburgh: SWP. YSA, 1102 YSA, 957 S. University Ave. Zip: 26505. Tel: (304) INDIANA: Gary: SWP, YSA, 3883 Broadway. Zip: NEW JERSEY: Newark: SWP, YSA, 11-A Central Ave. E. Carson St. Zip: 15203. Tel: (412) 488-7000. State 296-0055. 46409. Tel: (219) 884-9509. Indianapolis: SWP, Zip: 07102. Tel: (201)643-3341 . College: YSA. P.O. Box 464, Bellefonte. Zip: 16823. WISCONSIN: Milwaukee: SWP, YSA, 4707 W. Lisbon YSA, 4850 N. College. Zip: 46205. Tel: (317) 283- NEW MEXICO: Albuquerque: SWP, YSA, 1417 Cen- Tel: (814) 238-3296. Ave. Zip: 53208. Tel: (414) 445-2076.

JULY 17, 1981 THE MILITANT 19 THE MILITANT

~yewitness reP-ort: Jobless British youth rebel against police JULY 8-The Militant has received a motorcycle owner Friday night, the po­ special report from Britain where for lice issued an emergency code on their the past five nights a youth rebellion radio. Within minutes, the area was full has hit several major cities. In sections of police cars and vans. of London, in Liverpool, and Manches­ The weekend had begun. ter, the police have been the immediate Clashes broke out for about twp hours target of Black, Asian, and white that first night, then all was quiet. youths. · The next day, police flooded the area In Liverpool, white youths joined with in what was intended as a show of Black in driving back the cops, who strength. But their display crumbled have long harassed them both. when night came on. In the Southall area of London, Pakis­ With their lines of riot shields, they tanis, Indians, and other Asians poured were pushed back from the center of Up­ out July 4 to protest an organized as­ per Parliament Street and kept out most sault on their community the night pre­ of the night. On Sunday hundreds ofresi­ vious by fascist youths. The fascists had dents came out to watch the cleanup. arrived by bus and,' while police stood Burned cars blocked the road and the by, assaulted people and attacked shops. streets were littered with bricks and The area had been the scene of a major broken glass. confrontation with the fascists and cops a year ago. Police driven back The following report on the events in But that was only a lull before bigger Liverpool was received by telephone. clashes. The reporter is a member of the Labour By 11 p.m. on Sunday night, half of Party in the Toxteth section of Liver­ Upper Parliament Street was filled pool, where the eruption occurred, and a with police vans. At the junction of contributor to the British weekly, So­ Grove Street stood a line of police with cialist Challenge. their riot shields. Bricks and bottles were raining down on them and they * * * were being driven back along the road. By Mark Turnbull Soon the police were forced a quarter LIVERPOOL, July 7-The fighting of a mile back up the road. Their vans began on Friday night after police turned tail. Parliament Street belonged chased and arrested a Black youth who to the youths. Reinforcements were brought ip.. hooligans intent on making life unbear­ was riding home on his motorbike. They People began entering shops. Wash­ able and indulging in criminal activity." claimed he had stolen it. But it was his ing machines, fridges, and TV s were Use tear gas All of this is a lie. They were neither bike. carried off. Shopping trollies loaded The turning point came about 2 a.m. hooligans nor criminals and they were by That arrest touched things off. The with groceries were moving in convoys when for the first time ever tear gas was no means "exclusively" Black. At least police have been harassing people in Li­ from the Quicksave supermarket. used on the streets of Britain. Twenty­ half the crowd on Upper Parliament verpool for years, as they have in the It was whites as well as Black people. five cannisters were fired at the .crowd Street was white, as were those who en­ Brixton area of London and in Bristol, Both proudly wore police helmets and over a thirty-minute period. tered the shops. where there have also been anti-police carried riot shields, the prizes of victory Slowly the police moved forward. John Hamilton, a Labour Party city rebellions. in battle. When dawn came they were back in con­ council spokesperson, replied that the Over the weekend, people here told But that wasn't the end of this partic­ trol of the streets. chief constable's. charge 'was "too easy me the same thing. "We knew this was ular chapter. As I walked around the area Monday an escape from facing the deep-sided na­ going to happen," said Linda, twenty-' After being driven from the imme­ morning, there was anger at the reports ture of the social problem" in the Liver­ two. "It isn't just the unemployment or diate area, the police stood and waited that what had occurred was a "race ri­ pool area. the housing, because we've always had for two hours. They later admitted they ot," or that it was caused by "outside ag­ That's for sure. that. It's the police. And they just don't had been beaten and forced to retreat. itators." Liverpool was once an important in­ accept that they're to blame." They claimed that 200 of their ranks The chief constable branded the pro­ dustrial area. But many of the compan­ As they tried to make the arrest of the had been taken to the hospital. testers as "exclusively a crowd of Black ies have gone bankrupt or moved. Un­ employment figures are staggering. In the Toxteth area, the unemploy­ ment rate for whites is estimated at 43 percent. For Blacks, 4 7 percent. Among N.Y. labor forum on El Salvador Black youth throughout Liverpool, the By Ethel Lohman 37. He denounced the waste of re­ jobless rate is estimated as high as 60 NEW YORK-About 125 people sources on the military when chil­ percent! came out for a labor forum on El Sal­ dren are going hungry and medical The extent of the racist victimization vador here June 30. care is denied. of Blacks is seen in the employment for The meeting was sponsored by the John Hudson, vice-president of the Liverpool city council, which is to­ New York Area Labor Committee in the United Hatters Union, outlined day the city's biggest employer. Support of Democracy and Human some tasks of the labor committee. Figures compiled less than a year ago Rights in El Salvador and by the He said it was important to urge show that of the 22,000 workers employ­ Political Action Committee on · El members of Congress to support the ed by the city, only 169 were Black. Salvador of District Council 37 of fight of Salvadoran refugees to stay The Liverpool Labour Party has the American Federation of State, in this country. He also pointed to called for emergency meetings of both County and Municipal Employees. the need to deepen union participa­ the city and county council to discuss The labor committee was formed tion in El Salvador activities. · the root causes of the rebellion and de­ last April by representatives of more clared it will set up "a labour movement than thirty area trade unions. Forums such as the one held June 30 are planned every three or four defense committee." In addition to the June 30 meet­ More than seventy people were ar­ ing, the committee has issued an at­ months. at the headquarters of dif­ ferent unions. rested over the weekend and face tractive newsletter with a statement charges that include arson, assault, of principles and four pages of arti­ For more information, contact La­ looting, and rioting. cles exposing U.S. policy in El Salva­ bor Committee on El Salvador, c/o Besides these planned victimizations, dor. Headwear Joint Board, 49 West the sole response of the Thatcher Tory The meeting was chaired by Thirty-seventh Street, 7th Floor, government to the rebellion has been to Charles Hughes of District Council New York, New York 10018. proclaim the need to provide the police with more and better equipment.