Chicago cops fail to take action • 1n right-wing attack on socialists - story page 7

The Y SA convention p. 3 The GE strike p. 4 SMC aids GE strikers p. 5 A letter to Life p. 10 Background on Quebec p. 12

,._.... w• AN EDITORIAL

Sto~ the killer-co~sl Independent probe needed of the Panther murders Overwhelming evidence that Illinois Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were mur­ dered by the Chicago cops has prompted numerous organizations and public figures, representing a '::: broad cross section of the population, to demand a public investigation of the killings. Those who realize that the cops' version of events on the night of Dec. 4 is an outright lie include individuals and organizations all the way from the Chicago Afro­ American Patrolman's Association, to state senators, the mayor of Hampton's home town, officials of the Americans for Democratic Action, the United Auto Workers, the Alliance for Labor Action, the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union, black and white newsmen, and hundreds of people who have visited the apartment in which the Panthers were murdered. The thousands who turned out for memorial ob­ servances gave testimony to the deep anger of the black community and to the realization that the systematic campaign of extermination being waged against the Panthers is an attack on the entire black community, against anyone who isfightingtochange this racist society. Sensing the growing rage, and hoping to divert it, the .Justice Department has announced it is con­ sidering an investigation into the Chicago slayings. Other government agencies have been called upon to set up commissions of inquiry. A full, public investigation which will establish all the unassailable facts of the premeditated po­ lice murder is clearly needed. But no government agency or committee can be entrusted with such a task. Twenty-eight Panthers have been murdered in the last two years. Hundreds of other Panthers have been wounded, framed-up, jailed and harassed. Panther headquarters across the country have been attacked and ransacked. All this has been part of a plan that could only have been initiated at the highest levels of policy-making. No governmental agency is immune from suspicion. Only an independent investigation whose proceed­ ings are fully public, an investigation carried out by a representative cross section of organizations in the black community itself can establish the full truth. Such an investigation is crucial if the systematic murder and destruction of the Panthers is to be stopped. Only by exposing the full truth and mobi­ FRED HAMPTON lizing national and international public opinion against the continued campaign of extermination can it be stopped. Such an independent investiga­ 1948-1969 tion is vital to the defense of the Black Panther Party. Page 2 THE MILITANT Friday, Dec. 19, 1969 THE Playwright framed; faces 10 years MILITANT Editor: HARRY RING Managing Editor: MARY-ALICE WATERS Business Manager: BEVERLY SCOTT please let me know because I would Helped raise funds for Published weekly by The Militant Publishing like to help. I'm going to attend some Ass'n., 873 Broadway, New York, N. Y.10003. of the educational meetings Dec. 5-7, Phone 533-6414. Second-class postage paid Panther breakfast program at New York, N.Y. Subscription: domestic, and in the future I. will probably join $4 a year; foreign, $5.50. By first class mail: the YSA. All power to the people. domestic and Canada $10.50; all other coun­ Beverly Hills, Calif. tries, $15.00. Air printed matter: domestic and Six months ago Donald Freed was B.W. Canada, $15.00; Latin America, $24.00; Eu­ [Readers will be fully informed of rope, $28.00; Africa, Australia, Asia (including assistant to the Provost at the Califor­ USSR), $33.00. Write for sealed air postage nia Institute of the Arts, the winner plans for 1970 socialist election cam­ rates. Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily represent The Militant's views. These of the John Larkin Award for his play, paigns as this information becomes are expressed in editorial•. Inquest; The United States Vs. Julius available. Socialist Workers Party cam­ paigns have already been launched in and Ethel Rosenberg, and an activist Volume 33 ...... Number 50 in the wasteland of black-white orga­ California and Washington state. -Ed­ ~·· nizing. Now, along with others, Freed itor.] Friday, Dec. 19, 1969 faces ten years in Federal prison on the fantastic charges that he was a supplier Militants cover his walls of explosives to the Black Panther Par­ Closing news date- Dec. 12 ty. How could this nightmare happen? Philadelphia, Pa. JUSTICE FOR ALL is a new group When the police "overreacted" to the that intends to spread the word of the supply us with a regular bundle of Contingent in Solidarity, [Nov. 15 dem­ repression that is flowing from the Nix­ 10 Militants which we will pay for week­ we would not distribute on campus onstration at Justice Department] I was on administration. Our intent is to edu­ ly. again. merely a bus captain attempting to lo­ cate and to defend. In the case of Mr. I'm sure the number will soon increase We feel a definite need to keep our Freed, for instance, we now know that from 10 per week. cate his bus. I observed the people flee­ paper going and the only way to keep a police agent was infiltrated into a Larry Paradis ing in an orderly manner but couldn't it going is to contest the school ruling group to which Mr. Freed belonged Chairman, SRC understand all the fireworks. I thought in court. We are intent upon exercising (this group raised funds for the Pan­ [Bundles are available from The Mili­ it was a group of ultraleftists using M- our constitutional rights as prescribed ther hot breakfast for children program, tant business office, 873 Broadway, 80s and cherry bombs. When I felt the by the First Amendment. To bring this and arranged black-white dialogues at N.Y., N.Y. 10003. The cost is 10 1f2c gas I knew the face of the enemy. to court we need a lot money. We are the racial and political level). As is per copy which means you break even I never saw the pigs. The three photos appealing the The Militant readers to happening with sickening frequency, if 7p percent or' the bundle is sold. of police on page 10 of the Nov. 28 keep our paper alive. this agent saw it as his job not to pre­ -Editor] issue sufficiently captured the spirit of One of the ways to wage revolution vent but to provoke crime. The gov­ the thing. in this country is to educate the peo­ ernment was after Freed for his tireless The covers have been great, and they ple and the people in San Diego are speaking and writing for peace and Finds charge of SWP, YSA are all over my walls since the Mora­ unimaginably ignorant. Your support justice. The explosives charge is intol­ torium issue. is desperately needed. Please send dona­ erable not just because Freed in a fi­ sectarianism unfounded K.M. tions to: The Student Voice Defense nalist in the International Gandhi Cen­ Fund, P. 0. Box 15644, San Diego, tennial competition and is known Cleveland, Ohio Calif. 92115. throughout the peace movement as a In sending this sub order, I had to The high schools could be the key man of militant non-violence, but be­ congratulate you all in spite of my­ the socialist movement needs. As it cause, in the name of law and order, self. The SWP and YSA had, in some stands now, the high schools are in a dissent itself is being choked. circles, a reputation for sectarianism total state of apathy. Please try and JUSTICE FOR ALL will work on and I was determined to be critical. move the schools to action. famous cases like that of Huey P. New­ But The Militant's excellent layout and Jordan S. Alpert ton and Bobby Seale and little known informative, clearly '\vritten and, as far Treasurer ones like Donald Freed's. We feel that as I know, strictly factual reports make unless the savage attacks now being it second to none. made against youth, blacks and peace J.R. Indian Center and Unity are answered lucidly and bravely then all America will soon be a prison. Fund set up in New Mexico We ask you to make a contribution Wants info on 1970 Traditional Indian Unity Fund, Inc. to those under the fire of repression socialist campaigns instead of the usual holiday gift giv­ 6501 Avalon N. W. ing. Make checks to: JUSTICE FOR Albuquerque, N. M. 87100 Many Militant readers will remember ALL, Box 3314, Beverly Hills, Calif. Forest Hills, N.Y. the Indian family in Cornwall, N.Y., 90212. The Socialist Workers Party and the whose Indian Center was burned down Father Blase Bonpane Young Socialist Alliance first came to by racists last January [See The Mili­ Robert Carl Cohen my attention in the middle of this year tant, Jan. 31, 1969]. Donald Duncan While working in SDS at St. John's University. (It is not split and has no We are appealing to you for support signs of splitting. It is very sane but in our efforts to continue work among Militant helps build we are getting fucked over by the ad­ New pamphlet on Mideast our Indian people. We have relocated here in New Mex­ ministration and have been assaulted plugged by reader campus group several times by YAF and White Peo­ ico in the heart of Indian country. ple's Party pigs.) Paul Boutelle spoke Because of the fire, we lost everything: New York, N.Y. Endicott, N.Y. to us at a lecture and he was fantas­ the museum, the library, trading post I was interested in Merit Publishers On behalf of the Students for Radical tic. I heard a speech of his at a Black crafts, teaching supplies and office new pamphlet, "Israel and the Arabs­ Change ( SRC ), I would like to tell you students meeting in a Bronx High equipment. Militant Readers Debate the Mideast of the great aid The Militant has been School on WBAI and I thought he was We are asking for funds to start again Crisis." [The pamphlet is a collection to us. We've gathered many new mem­ the only competent candidate for mayor. our Indian Center. of letters, pro and con from readers of bers after they've read articles that He was overpowering on TV (WOR, We aim to promote Indian unity for The ·Militant beginning at the time of you've printed ("How Songmy relates Nov. 3). the purpose of: the June 1967 invasion of the Arab to American capitalism" in the Dec. 5 He mentioned that the SWP will run 1) Peace, brotherhood, better under­ countries by Israel. -Editor.] issue was one of the best). a statewide slate in NY next year. If standing and intertribal cooperation. It is in keeping with the Marxist trad­ We would be very gratefulisyoucould you have any information on that 2) Restoring a meaningful sense of ition that a paper like The Militant pride to all Indians. should take its stand with the Arab 3) Giving proper guidance to our In­ revolution and at the same time pro­ dian youth and dissatisfied Indian peo­ vide for an exchange of views on an ple along a nonviolent path and ap­ issue that has been a source of con­ proach to solving our many and varied flicting opinions within the radical problems in the "Indian Way" of honor, movement. I hope the pamphlet is read pride, and dignity. by many. 4) Making our Indian people self­ IF YOU SUPPORT THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT, THE BLACK LIBERA­ H. B. supporting without jeopardising the title TION STRUGGLE, THE WOMEN'S LIBERATION MOVEMENT, THE to our lands, culture, heritage, treaty FTGFllfeR- SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY IN EASTERN EUROPE, A SO­ High school militants rights, and traditions. 5) Assisting in sending Indian lead­ CIALIST AMERICA, YOU BELONG IN THE YSA. fighting for their rights ers to "troubled areas" to give-both moral and legal advice to our people at a moment's notice. ------clipandmail ------San Diego, Calif. Any and all donations will be wel­ Young Socrolrst Alloonce. Box 471 Cooper Station, New York. N Y 10003 As a junior in high school and one of the very few radicals of the San comed. Diego high school community, a group Louise Madison, director 0 I would like more mlormotion 0 I wont to 101n the YSA a fellow students and I found it neces­ sary to start a "subversive" newspaper Nome_ • _ - .. - ...... - . · ·- for our school. We have printed five issues of the paper and on Dec. 4, seven Address ... __ ..... staff members were suspended for dis­ tributing issue number five on school Coty _____ .. _ .. . __ . _ .. _ _ State _ . _ ... _ Zop grounds. Although we were reinstated, we had to promise our administrators Friday, Dec. 19, 1969 THE MiliTANT Page 3 A 2-week break and then COMI TO MINNIAPDliS we 'II be J6 pages weekly

By HARRY RING In the drive for new readers which Continuing our program of expan­ concluded Nov. 15, we obtained more sion, The Militant will regularly be 16 than 6,000 subscriptions for The Mili­ pages beginning with the issue dated tant and Young Socialist, exceeding our Jan. 9, 1970. original expectations which had been Meanwhile, we'll be taking a partial expressed in an initial quota of 4,000 breather. To make it possible for our new readers. staff members to attend the Young So­ We are planning another subscrip­ cialist convention in Minneapolis, to tion drive for the spring and while we ease the pace a bit, and to prepare are not yet even at the stage of think­ for an expanded schedule, we'll be skip­ ing of projected target dates we are ping the holiday issues dated Jan. 2 hoping that over a period of time, con­ and Jan. 9. tinued expansion of our circulation will Sixteen months ago, we moved from provide the basis for a further expan­ an eight-page paper to a 12-pager. Since sion of our size. Meanwhile, we believe then many of our issues have been ex­ a regular 16-page paper will improve panded to 16 pages. But our basic our news coverage and analysis. schedule has called for a 12-page pa­ per during this period, both in terms In addition to making preparations of personnel and finances. for this during the two issues that we'll Now, with a strengthened staff and be skipping over the holiday period, an increased circulation, we are in a most of our staff will also be in Minne­ position to publish a 16-page paper apolis for the Young Socialist Alliance YOUNG SOCIALIST on a regular basis. convention. We'll begin the new year Mary-Alice Waters is now the man­ with extensive coverage of that impor­ NATIONAL CONVENTION aging editor of the paper and begin­ tant gathering. ning in January, David Thorstad, now The staff would like to take this op­ Dec 27-30,1969 on the editorial staff of the Young So­ portunity to extend revolutionary new cialist, will be joining the staff of The year's greetings to all and we hope to University of Minnesota Militant. see many of you in Minneapolis. CUP AND MAIL YOUNG SOCIAliST AlliANCE NAME ...... BOX 471 COOPER STATION Women's liberation group NEW YORK, N.Y. 10003 ADDRESS ......

o I WANTTO JOIN THE YSA CITY ...... opens fight at S. Carolina U SEND ME MORE INFORMATION ON o THE YSA 0 THE YSA CONVENTION STATE ...... ZIP ... . COLUMBIA, S.C. -The image of the "date nights" they are allowed to stay docile southern belle on her pedestal of out until the bewitching hour. It ap­ virtue is suffering a blow from which parently never occurred to the framers it will never recover at the University of the rules that women might have of South Carolina. A women's libera­ other purposes than dates for staying tion group has been formed in response out late-such as studying or political Press parley hears to two especially glaring examples of meetings. After all a coed's place in women's oppression at the university. the evening is to be with a future hus­ A biology professor and medical doc­ band but not for too many hours. YSA convention plans tor has been told that she cannot teach Analogous to its quota on Blacks, next semester because of a school rule the USC has a quota of five male stu­ By TONY THOMAS faced at many radical gatherings. Most that any woman more than six months dents to every woman student, a quota DEC. 10-At a press conference in YSA locals and many at-large members pregnant cannot be employed by the that was increased recently from four Washington today national officers of are arranging special transportation to university. to one. the Young Socialist Alliance announced the convention. Hotels and private Meanwhile the male student body pres­ Now women at the USC are orga­ the final plans for the Young Socialist homes have been secured for housing. ident has vetoed a bill permitting lib­ nizing educational campaigns to teach National Convention to be held at the Free housing will be available to those eralization of women's dormitory cur­ other female students about their op­ University of Minnesota, Dec. 27-30, who would not otherwise be able to at­ few hours and the male-dominated stu­ pression and to build the support nec­ and launched the final phase of the tend. dent senate has put its stamp of ap­ essary to force changes in university campaign to reach the maximum num­ Special buses will be available from proval on this attempt to keep the rules. Women here are fighting to gain bers of radical youth with word of the the Minneapolis airport to the conven­ women in their place by refusing to their liberation in the backyard of those convention. tion housing and registration center on pass the bill over the president's veto. great protectors of "white womanhood" In the period since the split conven­ the evening of Dec. 26 and the morning Present rules require women to be in and the "American Way," Strom Thur­ tion of the SDS last June, the YSA has of Dec. 27. Convention shuttle buses will by 10 p. m. except when on certain mond and Clement Haynesworth. emerged as the strongest and most co­ also operate between the hotels and the hesive radical youth organization in university, morning and evening. Meals will be served at the university through­ 1 t;;~r-··· 1::1 J ······· the U.S., the only one with a consis­ , • n.: uu r were. tently revolutionary socialist program out the convention, and there will be and orientation to offer radicalizing facilities for taking care of children dur­ youth in the Third World, campus and ing convention sessions. REVOLUTIONARY antiwar struggles. The convention, To top it all off, the spacious new which will reflect this, will be an im­ Minneapolis YSA headquarters will be portant event not only for YSA mem­ converted into a "cabaret," where young bers, but for all revolutionary-minded socialists can relax and get to know one youth. another after the sessions. Tables, YSA chapters around the country and chairs, refreshments and music will be the YSA national office have already available. received hundreds of inquiries about It seems that the only minor discom­ the convention and every effort is being fort that the YSA couldn't eliminate is bent to make it easy for large numbers the occasionally sub-zero Minneapolis of radical youth to attend. weather. However, the YSA national The plenary sessions of the convention staff has sent out a communique re­ will hear reports on and discuss the minding everyone to "dress warmly!" International Youth Radicalization, Information on transportation and Revolutionary Perspectives for the housing is available from Young So­ 1970s, the New Stage in the Antiwar cialists in local areas or from the YSA Movement, and the Struggle for Black national office, Box 4 71, Cooper Sta­ Self-Determination. Workshops on the tion, New York 10003. antiwar movement, Third World strug­ gles, socialist electoral action, women's liberation, the high school movement, Bound volume 1968 and the international student movement will be held. Highlighting the special features at the convention will be a key­ TH£ MILITANT note address by Farrell Dobbs, the na­ tional secretary of the Socialist Workers $10 Party. Send check or money order to The convention is being organized The Militant, 873 Broadway, with an eye toward eliminating some New York, N.Y. 10003 GI panel at 1968 YSA convention. of the unnecessary chaos and hardships Page 4 THE MILITANT Friday, Dec. 19, 1969

On the GE picket line

''Don't rock the boat!11 ~The foreman can tell (._ you to clean the latrine ~--- and you have to do it'

By FRANK LOVELL leaflet entitled, "Why I Voted Strike," The strike struggle being waged by put out by Bob Fairbanks of UE Lo­ 14 7,000 GE workers against the giant cal205, in Ashland, Mass. GE corporation is already in its sev­ On wages, Fairbanks points out, "The enth week. A great deal is at stake in company speaks of 20 to 46 cents per this confrontation. On the one side, G E hour increases. I, like the majority of hopes to impose terms on the workers GE workers (81 percent) will receive which will maximize profits and keep only 20 cents... The company's offer the 13 different electrical unions in its has no cost of living protection and various plants as weak and divided as at the rate it has been rising the 20 possible. On the other side, the GE cents would be eaten up in six months." workers are standing firm in their de­ Fairbanks also points out that GE termination to hold the line against the workers on hourly wages have never anti-union, anti-worker policies followed had sick leave: "If we are sick, we lose by this company for many years. the pay. Salaried employees receive 10 The company is backed up by the sick days and 10 personal days with Nixon administration which is anxious pay. For years we have asked for equal to keep wages down in order to further treatment. This year the company of­ shift the cost of war-induced inflation fered three days sick leave for an em­ onto the backs of the workers. The ployee with 10 years service to become administration is especially concerned effective 19 71." UE News about the G E strike because they hope Interviews with strikers at the G E it will help set a pattern for the wage Hotpoint plant in Chicago reported in battles coming up in the next year in Business Week, Nov. 8, showed the such basic industries as communica­ many different grievances, harassments 'It you don't like it you can quit.'" keen interest in "fighting inflation," is tions, trucking, construction and auto. and inequalities suffered by G E work­ James J. Matles, Secretary-Treasurer one of the real inflationary culprits. In ers: of the United Electrical Workers ( UE), 1969, for example, G E showed a 3rd Because of the success of GE's union­ James Conners, ,~ 33-year-old black reports that in negotiations with GE quarter profit of $90,333,000, up 11 busting "divide-and-rule" policies in the man, who earns $2.64 an hour, said, the union had asked the company to percent from the same three-month pe­ past, the wages of GE workers have "The foreman can tell you to clean the provide all special clothing required riod of a year ago. fallen behind those in other industries. latrine and you have to do it. No em­ of women employees. "GE refused," says A demand for "opening the books" In the years 1960-69, for example, the ployee has any right to refuse a job. Matles. "This mighty corporation would also serve to expose the game between G E and the Nixon adminis­ pay rates for GE workers fell 22 cents Everything is at the sole discretion of claimed that women sometimes wear tration. It would serve to expose many an hour below the average in machinery the company, and it's got to be these dresses outside of the plant and of those in the Democratic and Repub­ manufacturing, 49 cents an hour behind changed." even to church on Sunday. So let them lican parties who pass themselves off the average in aerospace, 54 cents an Another worker, 50-year-old William buy their own after the first two wear as "friends of labor" while in reality hour behind the average in automo­ J. Fitzgerald, with 20 years at GE Hot­ out." they are puppets of Big Business. bile manufacturing. point, earns $2.69 an hour as a ma­ Every GE worker on the picket In a strike of this magnitude, when One of the clearest descriptions of the chine operator. He says, "There's no­ lines across the country has his own these capitalist politicians are put to grievances which GE workers are fight­ thing extra for long service. When we personal grievance against this imper­ the test, the conditions are created mak­ ing in this strike was contained in a make a complaint, the company says, sonal and faceless corporation. It is ing it easier for strikers to conclude these workers who suffer the most as that what workers in this country need the strike drags on week after week and is a labor party. A notable example of they are seeking ways to end the strike this was the 1966 airline mechanics Electrical unions say no as soon as possible on terms that meet strike when the need for a labor party be­ their needs. came obvious when representatives of One of the central demands now be­ Congress made strike-breaking moves. to GE's fake 'new offer' ing advanced by the union is the in­ Strikers being able to see that their clusion of a cost-of-living escalator problems stem not only from the in­ clause in the union contract which transigence of the company, but involve would guarantee that wages be kept much broader questions of a political By FRANK LOVELL the GE proposition as "an affront to the fully abreast of rising prices at all times. nature such as war, inflation, etc. DEC. 8 - General Electric Corp. employees." A labor party is not a spur-of-the­ spokesmen called union negotiators to In the most recent talks the IUE, pre­ The danger of unemployment is not moment organization that can be called bargaining sessions last weekend under sumably in the name of the union bar­ imaginary. General Electric is well into being by the adoption of a reso­ the guise of submitting new contract gaining coalition, submitted a serious aware that the government is trying lution at a local union strike meeting. proposals. proposal in an effort to get negotiations to curb inflation by inducing an eco­ But the idea that workers need their The "new" proposals turned out, upon off dead-center after seven weeks. It of­ nomic recession. And they know that own independent political party to de­ examination, to be the same old offer of fered to settle for a 16-month national an increase in unemployment will put fend their interests against the attacks Oct. 7. Now the corporation is offering contract to expire May 1, 1971, with an them in a stronger position in their of the employers and their political sys­ efforts at resisting the legitimate wage its workers "an immediate pay increase immediate basic wage increase of 35 tem is bound to gain currency. demands of the workers. from 20 to 45 cents an hour in the first cents an hour and a full cost-of-living These demands, and others of a simi­ The G E strikers need protection in year of the contract." This is exactly the adjustment after the first year. lar nature, designed to defend the special the new contract against the ravages same as the original proposition of Oct. The average pay of electrical work­ needs and interests of the workers, will of unemployment. A provision to share 7-same rates, same words. be taken up by the most aggressive ers now on strike is $3.25 per hour. available work by a reduction in hours A change was made for the second, and popular of the strike leaders as The new offer of the union bargaining of work with no reduction in pay, com­ and third years of the three-year con­ the struggle stretches on into the winter. committee was rejected out of hand by mensurate with any rise in the level tract. Now the corporation is willing to GE. of unemployment, is a demand that grant pay increases three to five per­ The real purpose behind GE's "new" should be included in the new contract. cent in each of these years rather than offer was revealed in a follow-up (Dec. Another necessary demand in this sit­ The Marxist Theory of tfte State leave wages open for renegotiation. In 9) full-page advertisement in big-city uation is the one that was raised back addition, GE now talks about a "cost-of­ dailies across the country. Here GE in 1946 when General Motors refused by &nest Mandel living adjustment," but not to exceed 5 claims "some union officials" rejected to bargain with the UAW and held percent. the offer, whereas the truth is all union out for 113 days. Then the UAW de­ CONTENTS Such "new" proposals come under the officials to whom the offer was sub­ manded, "Open up the Books of the Origin and Development of the State general category of "changes without mitted rejected it. Corporation!" in the History of Societies difference." Here again nothing has changed. Part Enough is now known about the price­ The Bourgeois State: The Face of of the GE strategy is to divide the fixing deals and crooked contracts of Everyday Reality Union negotiators recognized the GE unions, to deal with some not all. Such G E to make this demand for opening The Proletariat in Power "offer" as a subterfuge. Representatives fake "new offers" are also submitted so up its financial records for public scru­ from the International Union of Elec­ GE can appeal to the strikers directly in tiny one to which the U.S. Congress trical workers (IUE) characterized it as its constant efforts to get a back-to-work must pay serious attention. Just as a Merit Publishers, 873 Broadway "shadow rather than substance." The movement started in order to break the starter, it would be learned that this New York, N.Y. 10003 United Electrical workers ( UE) rejected strike and break the unions. company which professes to have a riday, Dec.19 , 1969 THE MILITANT Page 5

Antiwar · students back · unions IUE, UE endorse SMC action The following statement was SM~C builds support for GE strike issued jointly by Charles Kearns, Director of Public Re­ NEW y~')R1K- The Student Mobili LZa- to preserve their living standard, w.hich In 1940 GE was indicted for con­ lations, UE, and William By­ . C mm· ·•tee at Columbia Uni ver- is br~ing constantly eroded by the war spiring with Krupp, the German 'indus­ water, President, District 3, ton o 1' , . it· has launct.'~d a campatgn to keep inflettion, at the same time that GE trialist who financed Hitler's rise to I UE, on Dec. 8. , Ey ecruiters off (>·am pus and to force is making millions of dollars on the power and capitalized on NF .tzi war • r · \ · · t t" t b • • • he uhivel'"sity adm. ~~·us ra t.on o . oy- wnr. This strike is an indication that preparations, to fix prices intr ~rnation­ UE and I UE welcome the ott GE pf&~cts. 1\ll_lmedmt.e a ~twns American working people are no longer ally. Student Mobilization Commit­ willing to pay the financial cost of the In 1959 GE was involved in 35 con­ nc l u d e a r~titi"'n ., dr;1•ve whtch ts al- tee's show of support for work­ eady under way, an.d , a supp~J rt rally war in Vietnam." spiratorial meetings; cornpany ex­ ing people on strike against )r the GE strike which was sl, lted for Indicative of the prevailing attitude ecutives used code nam .es, pay tele­ the General Electric Company. )ec. 11. Union officials sc~ec·.iuled to on campus is the editorial "Blackout phones, plain envelopes e tnd never con­ on GE," that appeared in the Dec. 8 GE workers throughout the .ddress the rally included ~tllta.m By­ tacted each other at c·ompany head­ country are making tremen­ Columbia Spectator. "The suggestion quarters. In 1960 GE was named in rater of the International. { Jmo~l of dous sacrifices in their strug­ :lectrical Workers, Ernest ).')f! Maw of made by several members of the Uni­ 37 antitrust suits. le United Electrical workers, :and Ralph versity Senate, as well as the Student (The information published in The gle to achieve a decent stan­ liamond of the United At 1to Workers Mobilization Committee, that Columbia Old Mole is availabl.e in pamphlet form, dard of living for themselves join the AFL-CIO boycott of General and their families, and to pre­ ,ocal 259. "GE, Profile, or a Corp." by Jerry De­ For Dec. 12, the SMC had .slated Electric products, does not require the Muth, New Eng~.tand Free Press, 791 vent GE from establishing a city-wide Moratorium pic ·ket .lme at university to set any new precedent. Tremont S1t., Boston. Similar material union-busting formula in this ~ E Corporate headquartet ~s m New Purchasing policies have been conscious­ has also br~en compiled by the AFL­ country. 'ork .. ly altered for political reasons be­ CIO Coor•dinated Bargaining Commit­ UE and IUE are gratified After the GE strike C>egan, students fore .... tee in a small pamphlet entitled "Re­ that students are becoming t Columbia wrote univer~i~y {: 1 reside~t "We believe that the electrical workers member How G E Broke the Law? Sure more and more aware of the ,ndrew Cordier protesting c;~·s . recrmt- deserve the university's support and -Which One?", available by writing fact that GE policies are hav­ 1g on campus. Cordier held ~n eme.r­ we urge 'Columbia to join the boycott to 815 '16th St., N. W. Washington, D. C. ing harmful effects not only ency meeting with the executive cot.nmtt­ of GE products as it has joined the 20006.) on its employees but on the :e ofColumbia'sSenate,(whichinclt 1 ~es boycott of California grapes." Coh.1mbia isn't the only campus that nation as a whole. ~presentatives of the students, facm y, Besidf !S driving G E recruiters off the has had the opportunity to cause prob­ The G E workers are fight­ mployes, and administration) and dt ~­ campus.es, holding support rallies to lems for GE recruiters who are not ing this billion dollar corpora­ :ded to permit GE to recruit nearby help educate the student body as a anx'ious to duplicate the Dow experience. tion with their weapon of with­ te campus. Anti-G E feeling on the earn­ whole, offering support for picket lines A 'GE recruiter at Boston University holding labor. They are deep­ us is high because the students are \ if neecle:d, etc., antiwar students have was met Nov. 25 by a student rally ly appreciative of all the as­ ware that GE produces a tremendous ~~egun :scandalizing GE by digging up de1aouncing GE, following which 30 or sistance they get in this strug­ mount of war goods. it~' past record of illegal practices, court 401 students marched to the conference gle. When GE learned that a rally had cor.wic :1tions and corruption. holl where the recruiter was speaking. een planned for the first day a re­ The· Old Mole, in Boston, for example,. W hen they found the doors barred they ·uiter was scheduled to appear on publi·shed in its Nov. 21-Dec. 4 isSllll~ d• ecided to wait and confront the GE tmpus, his visit was quickly cancelled. a nmdown on the criminal and anti­ r'epresentatives later, when more peo­ Tiierina found The petition campaign now underway union record of GE from 1911 to 1965. ple would be around. aimed at forcing the university to Price -fitxing is a congenital G E habit As they started to leave, however, they guilty of 'assault' sue a statement that it will respect whidt was first proved in 1911 when were set upon by cops, a number were e GE boycott and cancel all purchas­ a fede1ral court convicted the corpora­ beaten, and 24 were arrested for assault g orders with the corporation. tion of violating the antitrust laws. There and battery, inciting to riot and tres­ in New Mexico have bt ~en at least 65 such price-fixing The petition says, in part, "GE's 150,­ pass. The response of the students to By DELLA ROSSA )0 workers are presently on strike cases sh 1ce then. what they properly called a "police riot" LOS ANGELES- Reies Tijerina, a was a list of 13 demands adopted at leader of the land-grant movement in a mass meeting on Dec. 2 and ad­ New Mexico, was convicted by a Fed­ dressed to university authorities. In­ eral District Court in Albuquerque on New York SMC strik~e statement cluded were demands that B. U. honor Nov. 26 on two charges stemming from the G E boycott and cancel all existing a June 1967 action by the Alianza Fed­ The following statement, urging antiw •ar students to suppo~ orders, and that GE recruiters not be eral de Pueblos Libres. Tijerina was al­ the strike against GE was issued by the New York Student Mobi- allowed on campus for the duration of ready in jail serving a two-year sentence lization Committee. the strike- unless they were willing to de­ for "assaulting a forest ranger" during bate the issues of the strike in an open another action by the land grant move­ • • • meeting. 147 000 workers have struck the Gene.ral Electric company ment, which seeks to recover land be­ While the university has refused to longing to Spanish-Americans in the and have called for a boycott of all GE pr1C>ducts. This strike comply with the demands as yet, GE Southwest. was precipitated by the refusal of GE. t~ pnwide ~ rise. in wa~~s has announced that its representatives Tijerina had been acquitted on almost which equals the rise in the cost of livmg due to mflation. VVhy will not return to campus because they identical charges last December. This should this strike be of special interest to :students and to evt~ry­ feel "the political climate at B U is not time he was convicted of "assault" on one who is opposed to the war in Vietnam? favorable." Students at B U in a mass meeting de­ Rio Arriba County jailer Eulogio Sala­ Because: zar, and of falsely imprisoning a county 1) cided to continue the actions against General Electric is the second largt~st military contractor deputy sheriff. Tijerina was acting as in the U.S. GE. Local 205 of UE, in a leaflet dis­ tributed on campus, thanked the stu­ his own lawyer and was acquitted on 2) G E' s military contracts from the De_partment of Defense ALONE two other charges of assault on law of­ totalled one billion 489 million dollars m 1 968. dents for their support and said, "Wel­ come to the struggle. We are glad to ficers. Sentencing is set for .Jan. 5 and 3) Twenty percent of the total business done by GE is in the have you as brothers, sisters and allies." the first charge carries a two-to-ten year military sector. sentence. 4) In 1968 G E was also fifth natio~~lly i~ contracts w.it~ the Tijerina was arrested and prosecuted National Aeronautics and Space Adrmmstration ($191 rmllion). after violence broke out when thecounty These contracts were primarily for Atomic Energy Commission district attorney tried to stop a legal facilities dealing with the production of nuclear weapons. meeting of land-grant heirs, and they in In other words, GE is making a gigantic profit ($357 million turn attempted to make a citizen's arrest. in 1968) in large part off the military maehine. They are directly Three other leaders of the Alianza­ involved in manufacturing military materials for the war in Viet­ Ezequiel Dominguez, Alfonso Chavez aam. Meanwhile, that war is causing an ever escalating inflation and Cristobal Tijerina- are also cur­ rently serving 60-day sentences arising in this country. While big companies like GE are making millions from land occupation actions. Jff the war, the wages of working people are continually being Rumors which appeared in the press ~roded by inflation. That inflation is caused directly by the Viet­ that Tijerina had resigned from the lam war, a war which is costing $1,000 a second as well as Alianza because he could not agree with ~ountless American and Vietnamese lives. newly elected officers and new policies, The strike against GE then is not only a strike for higher wages, were denied by the organization. Wil­ Jut an indication that the American working people are not in­ freda Sedillo, an Alianza vice president, erested in financing the war in Vietnam as well as supplying told The Militant that Tijerina had def­ he troops. It is a strike which should be supported ACTIVELY initely not resigned from the organiza­ Jy all antiwar forces. tion but had decided to resign from the The just demands of the strikers deserve our support, and it presidency because his prison confine­ san important step in the directionofbuilding a powerful alliance ment made it impossible for him to func­ 1etween the antiwar movement and the labor movement. Such tion in a leadership capacity. m alliance is a necessary step toward building a movement vhich has the direct power to put an end to the war in Vietnam. The Student Mobilization Committee urges all students to boy­ :ott GE products and to participate on picket lines against stores vhich carry G E products and against G E plants and facilities. [f you are interested in becoming active in this effort, contact ;Me. Page 6 THE MILITANT Friday, Dec. 19, 1969

Life in· CJri aUto plant

a worker ''TUIS~ ~~IDIHE. Bass'' IS 'looQ "THE. AMBITiouS YouNG wo~~ED flips out. ~Cf-\1 f..lE • WO'R\<.. \-\A'RD A~D V£1<"1' KA~D So A~ A !REWARD I WILL- ~:EW~Rt) You!'' !tiE C'RA.T£:rL1L FQSS···

By TOM CAGLE (This is one of severqi articles on ufe in an auto plant. The ~uthor is a 'veteran imion activist who has worked for many years at the General Motors plant in Fremont. Cauf.)

General Motors is recognized through­ out the world as tlie model to be copied in business efficiency, and production THE ''SAltS time and motio-n stUdy. To understand ~o'R~'r'~SAID Bo~ • • • DNCE T~Ef?E WA·S. AJ\\ why, it is necessary to enter one of A~E SLew. WE ARE DVERSToci<'E~ A~BI1icUS ~UNC M~N l.411+0 their' plants and spend some time being :Do~'i CALL ME1 I'LL C~LL '1' ou ..~ ~EA!) 'UcLV WANTeD' ADS .•• victimized by their .efficiency. As the "new moder cars go into pro­ duction each year, .the assembly line on the bumper line, with two years The inevitable breaking point was as we ate confined to a station on a is run at a stop-start' pace to allow the seniority,. allowed his grievances to "eaf' reached. This black brother grabbed his movinfconveyor line. workers to adjust gradually, and get on him to the extent that he laid down tormentor and threw him into a dark At tmes the noise level becomes un­ \.Jsed to their operations. Each day the his tools, put on his jacket, walked corner of the boxcar, and there proceed­ bear~ble as management attempts to Jobs-per-hour are increased. The pro­ to the plant exit As unsuspectingguard, ed slowly to work him over (with con. pacify us with music. We have to shout cess is desigried to apply pressure psy­ in routine fashion, started to ask for sideracle personal satisfaction, I am at two paces in order to be heard. chologically so as to systematically con­ thiS worker's exit pass. That guard sure) for about five minutes until he dition the workers for maximtlm out- receive~ a blow· that almost broke his ran out of steam. Production glut p~ ' .jaw. The worker walked on out of the This worker knew he was automa­ Jitney drivers must constantly push The work'ers of riece~~Sity mUst resist, plarit tcally fired, but he was surprised to see the "cripples" and unsafe cars out into to do otherwise woUld invite more work City pouce in auto plants Fremont city police, in the plant, run­ the yard where they are parked row onto. their already loaded .op~rations .. Another incident occurred on dock rilng toward him with drawn clubs. The upon row. They fill the west yard, the Thu8 be~ns the yearly rihtal of class #5 as a white foreman from the South city police slapped handcuffs on the south yard, the east yard, the valley, struggle which at times breaks out into who had built up a lot of racial ani­ worker and arrested him. PMT, the shop, and the center aisle. opeQ: gqerrillawarfare. "' .: · mosity for his. discriminate use of sus­ When all these are filled, it literally As pressure mounts and life on the pe~ions on .black workers was con­ We can only surmise that GM man­ chokes off production and management assembly liiie becomes unbearable, tem­ stantly badgering a black dock work­ agement now has a "hot line" to thE then sends the production workers pers snap .. A case in. point: A worker er to hurry up and unload a box car. Fremont police station and havE home. worked out contingency plans to han When this happens the entire plant die all kinds of trouble with a Ba:' utility classification together with the Area :nobile tactical squad setup aJ material department is mobilized to go s. c·arolina: .students fight our plant. out into the yards andrepairor"shyster'' these poorly built cars. Then there is the rash of accideqs Work goes on for as much as 77 to help free imprisoned Gl such as a forklift running over a fol~ hours a week- seven days a week, all man's foot and a harrassed janik>r three shifts-while line workers are held who heaved a trash can into a gon­ down to the minimum 35 hour work By BARBARA HERBERT and For the next nine days, Carson was dola so hard that it went completely week. JOF;L·ABER alternately on restriction or under ar­ over onto the other side and hit his COLUMBIA, S.C.-Christmas carol­ rest. The Army even refused to give him foreman on the head. Shoddy products ing by University of South Carolina leave to see his parents, who had trav­ line speedup Management corrupts the inspectors students will have an important political eled halfway around the world to see in order to get an OK on the "crip­ him. His father is a U. S. government thrust this year. "Free Private Carson The major conflict takes place quiet­ ples." Thousands of cars go out with mortuary officer stationed in the Phil­ by Christmas" will be the central focus ly on the assembly lines as worke1s nuts, bolts, and screws missing. Many ippines, whose job it is to prepare the of the carolers who plan to serenade Ft. cannot complete their assembly open­ are outright faulty with operational d~ mutilated }?odies of dead Gls for ship­ Jackson .Gis during the December Viet- tions because of line speed and ove:r­ fects. These are shipped off to the deal­ menthome from Vietnam. nam Moratorium .days. They will be load of work. ers who unload them onto unsuspect­ demanding the release of Pvt. E-1 On Oct. 19, Carson was thrown into The foremen, in applying pressure, solitary confinement and charged with ing customers. The customers then un­ Charles Carter Carson and all other will resort to the threat of discipline. dergo a long and frustrating "service political prisoners at the, Ft. Jackson distributing .petitions without authoriza­ The threatened worker must protect complaint procedure" with the dealers. stockade. tion, contrary to the direct order of one himself, so he calls for his union com­ Although he has not yet .been tried, Col. Rast. This charge was quickly mitteeman and files a paragraph 78 dropped 'when the brass realized its in­ This criminal and chaotic production Pvt. Carson has been in solitary con- grievance. (Grievances protesting too defensible legal position. The First is the end result of corporate manag~ finement for over 50· days for exercising much work-para #78 of the UAW Amendment right of G Is to p~tition had ment's mad drive for profit his constitutional right to petition his· contract- are strikeable issues.) It amazes me that no UAW union government. The Army's persecution of already been tested with these same Ft. leader from any of the many auto the 18-year-old Black soldier began af­ Jackson authorities in the case of the During the second week after model plants across the country has the cour­ ter he collected signatures at Ft. Jac~son Ft. Jackson 8. And the G Is won. changeover, management becomes im­ age or crusading "Ralph Nader spirif' for the Student Mobilization Commit­ patient to knock the stops out of the So the Army came ,up with five new to expose this common practice of pro­ tee's .Nov. 9 New York Times adver­ line and let her roll. This produces sham charges· to substitute for the il­ ducing shoddy products and foisting tisement that . ultimately. had 1,365 ac- some interesting results. legal petitioning charge, including al­ them off on unsuspecting and helpless tive-duty Gis' signatures. legations that Carson · "willfully dis­ A flood of "cripples" comes rolling The Decem~r Moratorium will be off the end of the assembly line, loose buyers. obeyed a direct order to remove his Why have we in the UAW not pro­ only the first step to spearhead the grow- hands from his pockets on 7 Oct." and fans fly off through the radiator and duced a Ralph Nader? I can only sur­ ing local civilian movement to free Car­ a direct· order on Oct. 9 to leave the hood, electrical hari;J.ess shorts and mise that our entire UAW officialdom son. The ca,rolers plan to return to the company commander's office, and that burns, gas lines leak and produce fires. suffers from a "leadership crisis" (not sto~ade Christmas eve if Carson is he broke restriction and went AWOL at the kind they now talk about) brought still there. various times. Two of these charges Roll test inspectors become nervous on by collaborating with management A defei;J.se .leaflet has. been drawn up were subsequently dropped. · as these cars literally fall apart and here signed by. USC antiwar activists blow up on the roll test. Cars have· for too long, becoming corrupt silent and Afro-American student leaders, Gis When visited by attorneys Kennedy fenders, hoods, bumpers, doors, and partners in crime. stationed at Ft. Jackson, representatives and Schulder ~. 7, Carson was still hard trim missing. Operators have put The workers in our plant want to of the Great Speckled Bird (an Atlanta in solitary confinement but had been two gallons of gas into a car only to build a good product, but we are pr~ underground newspaper), the southeast removed from the "box," a 5 x 8 foot discover that the gas tarik was mis­ vented from doing so by a stifling, regional Young Socialist Alliance, South reconverted refrigerator, and was in ex­ sing. Oil leaks are common, which bureaucratic, arrogant management Carolina RYM, the USC SMC, and at­ cellent spirits~ He is allowed no visitors creates a safety hazard and makes that uses its vast power in an abusive torneys Diane. Schulder and Florence other than legal counsel. floors slippery to walk on. Kennedy of New York. · Carson is being defended by attorneys manner. This management has ways Pvt. Carson had collected 72 signa­ Howard Moore of Atlanta and Thomas We are constantly plagued with ma­ of enforcing speedup in production, in tures on the GI antiwar .advertis~ment Broadwater of Coliunbia, S.C. in con­ terial shortages. We must contend with collaboration with the UAW leadership, ibefore many of his petitions were con­ junction with the G I Civil Liberties De­ faulty air guns, hoses, stock shortages, which I will describe in detail in an­ fiscated by a Corporal Jordan Oct. 10. fense Committee of New York. and a thousand and one irritations, other article. Friday, Dec. 19, 1969 THE MILITANT Page 7 Are Chicago police looking the other way? Right-wing thugs attack socialists

By LEE SMITH Stewart showed up at the YSA-SWP burst into the hall l'arrying ball bats, phone calls from someone posing as CHICAGO, Dec. 10-In a sidewalk offices. He asked for help in fighting tire irons, and cans of chemical mace. Richard Hill reporting that "The office press conference in front of the police the suspension of editors of an under­ They maced the four and clubbed Jef­ has been tommy gunned . . . People department's first district headquarters, ground newspaper at his school, Lane fers. They compelled them to lie on are lying on the floor bleeding and un­ a spokesman for the Socialist Workers Tech, in north Chicago. YSAers helped the floor. Dengler was able to watch conscious. . . There is evidence of po­ Party today assailed failure of the po­ him mount a successful defense of the the group from where he was on the lice collusion" and pleading for help. lice to act against an ultraright group­ suspended students and invited him to floor because his glasses had partially Following on the heels of Fred Hamp­ ing, the "Legion of Justice," which has attend a July 4 Cleveland antiwar con­ protected his eyes from the mace. Along ton's murder that very morning the directed physical violence and death ference, which he did. with those who were masked, he also threats against the SWP and Young After that, Stewart disappeared. But saw a blond woman and a blond teen­ Socialist Alliance. Instead of acting before dropping out of sight, he intro­ aged youth who were not masked. The against the rightwingers, he charged, duced the YSAers to a Greg Schulz, attackers moved swiftly removing a me the police are "apparently trying to another Lane Tech student, whom he drawer, some tape recordings, and all frame-up and entrap the victims of these identified as his friend. Schulz also soon the petty cash in about five minutes. attacks." dropped out of sight. Dengler clearly saw the face of the Richard Hill, Chicago SWP organi­ In late August, the Legion of Justice unmasked teen-ager as they left. A po­ zer, exhibited to newsmen copies of a raided the Chicago office of the radical lice officer was notified of the incident death threat that had been pinned to film group, Newsreel, and seized some at the hospital where Derrick Jeffers the door of his home the night previous films which they later burned publicly. was taken to have stitches in his head. and described the incidents leading up On Sept. 22, two persons were ar­ But the police did net respond until to the threat. He explained he was giv­ rested on the Northern Illinois Univer­ Richard Hill called them two days later ing them duplicated copies of the death sity campus in DeKalb, Ill., for pasting with a full report and then their atti­ threat in an effort to prod the thus far up Legion of Justice leaflets on school tude was half-hearted. reluctant police into action on the case. buildings. The two came to trial and On Nov. 11, the Chicago press re­ The note read: "Richard Hill has been were acquitted. The two were Tom ported that on the following day S. found guilty of treason. Treason must Stewert (the same one, it was established Thomas Sutton, on behalf of the Le­ be punished, and believe us treason later, who had been around the YSA) gion of Justice, would hold a press will be punished. We missed you in your and a Sam Oleinick. conference to display material "liberated" office. We missed you in DeKalb. We Oleinick, according to press accounts, from a "communist" headquarters which missed you at home. Where the hell is also known as "Cicero Sam Novack" assertedly proved treason on the part are you Rich? Peace." and was reportedly active in the same of the group concerned. The note was affixed to a leaflet bear­ organizations and opposition to open Richard Hill and Chicago YSA orga­ ing the insignia of the Legion of Justice, housing in which S. Thomas Sutton nizaer Carl Finamore went to the press Richard Hill a guillotine framed in the cross hairs first came into prominence. conference where the material on dis­ story was completely believable and it of a rifle sight with the inscription: play turned out to be some of that took several phone calls to establish "Treason must be punished." taken from the SWP-YSA hall. The mate­ that the calls were a hoax. The Legion Hill explained that the threat came rial was being discussed by attorney apparently made these calls hoping that on the heels of a violent attack on the Sutton and displayed by two young either the police would enter expecting Chicago SWP hall, a similar attack men. One of them was the ubiquitous trouble and some incident would start on members of the YSA in DeKalb, Tom Stewart. The other was identified them shooting-which very easily could and other acts by the fascist-like Legion as Eugene Cozzi. have happened-or that in the wake of of Justice. He demanded an investiga­ Police were present among the press, the previous Legion attack, the YSA tion of these actions and an end to po­ and Hill and Finamore demanded they and SWP would leave themselves open lice harassment of the SWP-YSA victims arrest the trio for possession of stolen to prosecution by taking some illegal of it. A particular focus of such a probe, property. measures to protect the hall such as he said, should be the activity of the Reluctantly, and only under the pres­ keeping unregistered guns in the office. principal spokesman for the ultraright sure of the presence ofnewsmen, the cops The next day, Stewart and Cozzi ap­ thugs, an attorney named S. Thomas took the trio to the station, along with peared in Boy's Court and got a post­ Sutton who has long been associated Hill and Finamore as the complainants. ponement of their trial for possession with white supremacists groups which Stewart and Cozzi were charged with of ·stolen property. Tom Dengler, who have attempted to forcibly maintain resi­ possession of stolen property but, with had never before seen Stewart either in dential racial segregation in the area. the notation obligingly added by the the summer or at Sutton's news con­ Hill sketched the development of On Oct. 30 the Chicago YSA received police, of property with a value of less ference, was present in court where he event':>. In May, the Legion of Justice a phone call from a girl who said she than $100, thus reducing the charge said he recognized with full certainty held a public meeting at the University was interested in the YSA but for some from a felony to a misdemeanor. Sutton, Stewart as the unmasked youth who of Illinois Circle Campus where Sutton unexplained reason wanted to come who had carefully avoided actually had taken part in the Nov. 1 attack was the speaker. Although Sutton now down to talk to someone without a handling the materials at the press con­ on the SWP-YSA hall. carefully presents himself simply as lot of people around. A YSAer sug­ ference left his youthful associates hold­ Dekalb attack "counsel" for the fascist-like gang, the gested Saturday, Nov. 1, because most ing the bag. He was not charged at all. Then, on Dec. 6, there was an attack leaflet for that meeting described him of the YSAers would then be at a dem­ On Nov. 13 Richard Hill swore out a on the DeKalb YSA. Some eight or ten as "director" of the Legion of Justice. onstration in behalf of the Conspiracy warrant for Sutton on a charge of being masked men armed with tire irons and Sutton's speech was largely a red­ Eight. associated with the theft. Shortly after­ cans of mace suddenly broke into the baiting attack on the left and on the On the afternoon of the demonstra­ ward, Greg Schulz, the friend Tom apartment of members of the YSA in movement against the war in Vietnam. tion there were only four people in the Stewart had introduced to the YSA again DeKalb, near the campus of Northern SWP-YSA hall. These were Derrick Jef­ Illinois University. He suggested that those in the au­ turned up at the hall. fers, a YSAer, Tom Dengler, an SWPer, and Carl Finamore politely in­ Threatening the lives of the students dience concerned with doing something Hill and two members of the Black Panther formed Schultz that because of his re­ present, they demanded the books and about such "treasonous" activity meet Party, Gene Charles and an unidentified lation with Stewart he would have to records of the YSA. All in the room with him privately after the meeting. young women. Jeffers and Dengler were leave. He left without incident. were maced and one of them, Ray Ha­ Shortly after that meeting a high school showing Charles and his friend litera­ But the next day Schultz swore out milton, was struck twice in the head student who said his name was Tom ture when about a dozen masked men warrants for Finamore and Hill on with a tire iron and required about the charges of assault and battery and half a dozen stitches. "illegal restraint." (Illegal restraint is Another one of the YSAers, Val Mol­ a felony charge akin to kidnapping ler, grabbed one of the attackers and and not something a high school stu­ rammed his head against the metal dent would be likely to know about bed post, alarming all the hooded in­ without help from a lawyer, the police, truders and causing them to beat a or both). Finamore and Hill were ar­ retreat before they could seize any prop­ rested on those warrants on Nov. 20 erty. and held for extensive questioning. Meanwhile, hearing the commotion, On Dec. 4, a sinister even occurred. the landlady notified the police who Thirty police with drawn pistols burst arrived right after the attackers left. into the SWP-YSA office. They were (continued on pae;e 10) acting, they later said, on information that there had been a "shoot-out" in the office and urging them to proceed with "extreme caution." Naomi Allen, YSA regional traveler,

who was in charge of the office at the MINNEAPOLIS time, firmly insisted they provide their THE GE STRIKE: THE WORKERS PAY FOR THE WAR. names and full explanation of why they Speaker: Fred Ferguson, veteran trade unionist and were there. When it was clearly estab­ antiwar activist. Sot., Dec. 20, 8:00 p.m. 1 Univer­ sity Ave. NE. 333-7781. Contrib. 75c, students 50c. lished that the "tip" was a fake, instead Ausp. Twin Cities Socialist Forum. of proceeding to tracing the tip, the • cops searched the offices looking for NEW YORK FILM: THE BAlTLE OF ALGIERS. 2 showings - 8:00 possible violations of the law. p.m. and 10:00 p.m. Fri., Dec. 19. 873 Broadway DeKalb YSAer Laura Miller addresses press conference Meanwhile, members of the SWP and (nr. 18th Street). Contrib. S], h.s. students 50c. Ausp. YSA around the country were receiving Militant Labor Forum. Page 8 THE MILITANT Friday, Dec. 19, 1969 Murder of Chicago Panthers evokes demands for action

By RAY FOLLET Ever since last Thursday, steadily story is that the cops were refused en­ a swimming pool for the Maywood CHICAGO, Dec. 9- The racist police increasing numbers of people have lined try to the apartment and broke through ghetto. murder of Black Panther Party leaders up all day long to view the apartment the front and back doors. He says The Chicago black community, es­ Fred Hampton and Mark Clark has where the murders took place, to see the cops opened fire after being met at pecially black youth, is responding with generated a wave of anger and pro­ for themselves the evidence of the po­ the front by a man and woman firing deep feeling to Hampton's death. Many test in the black community here which lice attack. In addition to the two who at them. rallies, memorials, and demonstrations is still rising. And on all sides, or­ were killed, two men and two women But, all the bullet holes in the apart­ are taking place. Whites are partici­ ganizations and individuals, public and Panthers were wounded in the assault. ment were made by firing into the apart­ pating in some of them. private, are challenging the official po­ Three others, one a woman eight months ment and into the bedroom walls; none The Panthers held a memorial rally lice version of the killings. Demands pregnant, were arrested and charged of the bullet holes could have been made on Saturday in a West Side church filled have been made for an independent with attempted murder of the invading by firing outward. The front door had with at least 3,000, while another 1,000 public investigation of the police role. police. not been forced open as the cops claimed. or more remained outside. The rally Tonight, at a funeral service for Fred Representatives of the Afro-American The lock and latch were undamaged, was addressed by Panther leader Bobby Hampton in Melrose Park, huge crowds showing that the door had been opened Patrolmen's League, a generally con­ Rush, by Fred Hampton's olderbrother filled the church and overflowed onto from the inside. servative organization of hundreds of William, and by Debra .Johnson, one the steps and street outside. Rev. Ralph It could be seen that Fred Hampton black policemen, visited the apartment of the Panthers arrested in the raid. Abernathy of the Southern Christian and have stated they are convinced that was killed in bed. The mattress was A candlelight demonstration was held Leadership Council spoke, vowing, "We the official police version of what hap­ still soaked with blood where his head at the Civic Center on Dec. 5. Holy are going to see that Fred Hampton pened is a lie. had lain. The walls of his bedroom did not die in vain." State's Attorney Hanrahan's official were lined with bullet holes at the level Angels Catholic Church in the black of his head on the pillow. community held a memorial mass at­ President Renault Robinson of the Pa­ tended by 1,200 black children, at which trolmen's League told the press, "We seventh graders praised Hampton as found no evidence that anyone had a revolutionary hero. The mass ended fired from within the apartment ... with everyone in the church- adults, Anybody engaged in a gun battlewould children, priests, nuns and laity- giving not do it from the bed- and it appears the black power salute. Hampton died in the bed." Robinson Malcolm X City College on the West­ said the men were killed "for no reason" side, where Fred Hampton was a stu­ in a deliberate police "setup." dent, honored him as a revolutionary. State Senators Newhouse and Chew Black college president Charles Hurst both have stated their disagreementwith told a college memorial meeting that the police report after viewing the apart­ Hampton's death emphasized the need ment. Newhouse said the police knew for the college to promote revolution­ what they wanted to do and knew just ary black studies, to develop new lead­ where to find Hampton. ers, and to begin a progam "to teach Chicago Alderman A. A. Rayner people how to protect their homes and charged the police with "assassination," community." adding that it was "part of a systematic "We are going to have to help the dissolution of all Black Panther Party Black community learn how to defend leadership." itself," Hurst declared. He renamed the Daniel Miller, president of the United main conference room of the school Automobile Workers Chicago-Area Fair for Hampton, and turned over the me­ Practices and Civil Rights Council, con­ morial meeting to speeches by Black demened the "brutal and unwarranted Panther Party representatives. slayings." On Monday, the Malcolm X College The National Association for the Ad­ student body left classes and conducted vancement of Colored People has a mass march to the funeral home termed the killing a "lynching," and the to view Hampton's body. NAACP and American Civil Liberties High school students walked out of ONE OF MANY. Los Angeles funeral of Thomas M. Lewis, 18, Union have called for an investigation. classes and held memorial services in Black Panther murdered with two others by local cops. Since Jan. One group of visitors to the murder at least seven Chicago high schools. 1, 1968, according to press reports, 28 Panthers have been killed apartment included the mayor of the The walkouts were mostly black, but by cops across the country in a systematic drive to destroy the Pan­ village of Maywood (a western suburb included white students in some schools. ther Party. of Chicago) and several village officials. Six hundred left Kenwood High School. After seeing the apartment, they con­ Many classes were canceled at Crane demned the killing of Hampton and High School. Half the student body of Clark as murder and are demanding Chicago Vocational High School was Attack on home of Bobby Rush the Attorney General of Illinois place out. Black students from some suburban murder charges against the policemen. high schools also walked out. CHICAGO- On Dec. 5, the day after the murderous pre-dawn Fred Hampton lived in Maywood be­ police assault that killed two Panthers, the cops broke into the fore he helped to found the Illinois Black apartment of Bobby Rush, minister of defense of the Black Panther Party in Chicago. He was pres­ Panther Party. They claimed they were looking for unregistered ident of the youth council of the West guns in his apartment. When they found no one at home, they Suburban NAACP while he was a high school student, and led a fight to acquire obtained a warrant for Rush's arrest on the charge of failing to register a small derringer found in the apartment. The next day Rush made a dramatic appearance at the Satur­ day meeting of Operation Breadbasket of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Before 5,000 people, Rush appeared on the stage with Rev. Jesse Jackson and surrendered himself by pre-arrangement to Renault Robinson, president of the Afro­ American Patrolmen's Association, and to two black police of­ ficials. He told the audience he was taking this means of pro­ tecting himself, because the police had also expected to find him in Hampton's apartment when they broke in. "fm turning myself in to the Black people and to Black po­ licemen while the Black community witnesses the event," he said. Throughout the past year, police harassment of the Black Panther Party in Chicago has been intense. The Panther head­ quarters in the Westside ghetto, the center of the breakfast for children program, has been raided and wrecked by police three times in the last seven months. In a wrecking raid in June, eight Black Panther Party mem­ bers were arrested on charges of hiding a fugitive from arrest. The "fugitive" later turned out to be a police informer. In Oc­ tober the police attacked with gunfire, and charged six Panthers URGE PROBE. Fred Halstead (left) 1 vice presidential candidates of Socialis with attempted murder. The charges were dropped later for Photo by Shannon lack of evidence. Hampton and issued call for united mo Bobby Rush to need for an independent probe tc: Friday, Dec. 19, 1969 THE MILITANT Page 9

Captured Los Angeles Panthers are led in chains in police station.

Rage builds over L.A. cop attack

By TERRY HARDY without opposition. But when three cops This attack is part of the systematic Socialist Workers Party candidate wearing bulletproof vests and visored campaign of murder, imprisonment for California Controller helmets walked up to the front door of and physical harassment directed by Assails attack LOS ANGELES, Dec. 9- The Black the Panther headquarters at 4115 S. the state and federal authorities against community has responded with deep Central Avenue, they met a different the Black Panther Party. It was reported outrage to yesterday's police raids on response. Before the raid had begun, here that Gov. Reagan had been con­ on Panthers two Black Panther Party offices and a cops dressed in black jump suits, black sulted on the attack in advance. Re­ home of a Panther. Police claim the boots and black baseball caps carried gardless of any political differences, it raids were organized to search for arms sniper rifles into the building facing the is the obligation of everyone in the caches they believed the Panthers were Panther office. Bandoliers of ammuni­ movement to do everything possible to assembling and to arrest a Panther tion were draped over the uniforms. mobilize massive defense for the Pan­ charged with threatening a policeman They were also armed with M 16 rifles, thers against this reactionary attack. with a weapon. black jackets and gas masks. There There was a Black community meet­ At the Panther community breakfast were 40 police in the assault team ing of 300 people Monday night at the center and at a home on 55th Street the backed up by over 200 more mobilized Second Baptist Church in south central police arrested a total of eight people in police cars, ambulances, and fire Los Angeles to discuss this attack on the trucks on nearby streets. An army per­ Panthers and the Black community. Out sonnel carrier similar to those used in of this meeting came the decision to hold Vietnam was requested from an Army a mass march on City Hall Dec. 11 in engineering unit as the national guard defense of the Panthers. was put on alert. Roads were blocked A defense meeting of 150 people was around the Panther headquarters. also held in the white community. The This armed police invasion of the decisions from that meeting were: 1) to Black community began when, after build the mass march on City Hall Dec. screaming to be let in, the police bat­ 11; and 2) to hold educational rallies tered in the steel-plated front door with and leafleting on the campuses. a ram. The people inside, with the mem­ Both of these meetings, though quick­ ory of last week's police murder of the ly called, were broadly representative Chicago Panthers fresh in their minds, and indicated the support already mo­ responded by defending themselves and bilized in defense of the Panthers and the headquarters, at which time police the Black community and the scope and outside began firing at the upper win­ potential for extending that support. dows of the office. During the assault, The Socialist Workers Party Cam­ police set off two dynamite charges on paign Committee in California pledges SAN FRANCISCO- Her­ the roof of the Panther headquarters full solidarity with the Black Panther man Fagg, Socialist Workers to try to blast their way into the build­ Party against these attacks. We're going candidate for governor of Ca­ ing from above. to actively build support to the mass lifornia, condemned the "con­ After four hours, the 13 people in­ march on City Hall. The YSA at Fair­ scious attempt by federal, state, side the building finally surrendered in fax High School has called for a dem­ and local police forces to des­ face of this overwhelming show of force onstration in defense of the Panthers. by the state. Four Panthers, Tommye On Wednesday, Herman Fagg, Socialist troy the Black Panther Party." Williams, Wayne Far, Parker Hill and Workers candidate for governor, and •• These attacks must be pro­ Roland Freeman were wounded by gun­ Phil Conner, Socialist Workers candi­ tested by the people of Calif­ shot and one woman Panther suffered date for state treasurer, were slated to ornia," he said. "If the Pan­ a miscarriage during the attack. hold a press conference with other black thers are not defended today, Paul Boutelle, 1968 presidential and In all, 14 arrests were made with bail and brown militants expressing their the right of everyone, not on­ orkers Party, attended funeral of Fred ranging from $1,250 to as high as solidarity with the Panthers and to help ly Afro-Americans, will be in nent defense of Panthers. They pointed $100,000. Three cops were supposedly build public support against the attacks jeopardy tomorrow." are all the facts about police murder. injured in the "gun battle." here by the cops. Page 10 THE MILITANT Friday, Dec. 19, 1969

Antiwar fight gained new forces Florida students • win acquittal on Trade un1on support to Nov. 15 r public obscenity'

Participation in the antiwar movement Other unions represented, most of TALLAHASSEE-Mass student sup­ by trade unionists has increased signif­ them AFL-CIO affiliates, were Local port and effective legal defense forced icantly in the past year as growing 101 of the International Ladies Gar­ a University of Florida student conduct numbers of workers are affected by the ment Workers, the National Farm committee to find YSA members David growth of mass antiwar sentiment in Workers union, Local 29 of OPE, Local and Judi Rossi not guilty of "public the population as a whole and by the 43 of the Amalgamated Clothing Work­ profanity'' charges evolving from an need for wage increases to cope with ers, the American Federation of Teach­ arrest on Oct. 10. war-created inflation. ers Locals 1352, 1570, and 61, Civil More than five hundred sympathetic This increased antiwar feeling was Service Employees Union Local 390 persons witnessed the ten-hour hearing, reflected in the union participation in and 535, Painters Local 4, Hod Car­ which ended at 2:05 a.m. with the an­ the Nov. 15 demonstrations in Wash­ riers Local 36, Service Employees In­ nouncement of aquittal. ington and San Francisco which was ternational Union Local 400, the Wom­ David and Judi Rossi were originally greater than in any previous demon­ en's Auxiliary of ILWU in Oakland, arrested Oct. 1 0 after they offered a strations. There were many unions and the Santa Clara County and Con­ campus policeman a leaflet announcing which either officially endorsed the ac­ tra Costa County Central Labor Coun­ a speech by antiwar GI Andrew Pulley tions or whose officers participated. In cils. of the Ft. Jackson Eight. The charges Washington, the Amalgamated Clothing Prominent Bay Area union officials of "resisting arrest" and "profanity" stem­ Workers, the Drug and Hospital Work­ on the march included Ed Barlow, sec­ ming from this incident were so patent­ ers Union 1199, District 65 distributive retary-treasurer of Teamsters' Local 9, ly absurd that they were dropped by workers, and others were officially rep­ and Mike Johnson, secretary of North­ the city. But, David A. West of the resented. Local officers of the United ern California District Council, ILGWU. university administration decided to Auto Workers came from many states, Much of this union support was fore­ take further campus action. West, whose even though the International officers shadowed by the sentiment expressed official job is protector of procedural were not present. Harold Gibbons last May at the founding conference of rights of students in hearings at Florida, Harold J. Gibbons of the Internation­ the Alliance for Labor Action by Team­ acted as prosecutor in many instances al Brotherhood of Teamsters was one by a vote of the membership. sters' president Frank Fitzsimmons in during the hearing. of the featured speakers in Washington, There was a higher union participa­ his opening remarks at that conference. Kay Ellis and Lew Tally, law stu­ and such prominent union officials as tion in the giant Nov. 15 demonstra­ He said then, "We find the youth of the dents at Florida, defended the Rossis. Pat Gorman of the Butchers and Frank tion in San Francisco because of easier nation up in arms over an unpopular Marcia Heighton, a secretary in the Rosenblum, secretary-treasurer of the transportation. The United Electrical war in Vietnam, up in arms over the office where the incident occurred, tes­ Amalgamated Clothing Workers, en­ Workers Union called a membership billions of dollars this country spends tified that she had heard the words "son dorsed the action. Cleveland Robinson meeting and marched in a body. Like­ annually to carry on this war in the Far of a bitch" but she could not say who of District 65 marched in the front ranks wise, the International Longshoremen East, when our people go begging right said them. She testified she was not of the demonstrators along with hun­ and Warehousemen's Union Locals 10, here at home. offended by the words. dreds of other union members and of­ 34, and 6 marched under their own "This war, the bane and the plague of An editorial on the case in the cam­ ficials. banners. The Union's International Ex­ both Democratic and Republican ad­ pus newspaper, the Florida Alligator, In Detroit, the American Federation ecutive Board and its Bay Area Pen­ ministrations, must be stopped, and called for an end to harassment of of Teachers officially endorsed Nov. 15 sioners also marched. must be stopped soon." students such as Judi and David Rossi who want to excercise freedom of ex­ pression. The editorial told the admin­ istration: "leave them alone. And look Banquet tops off Woman tells Life: Your ads at yourselves. And tell us where the danger lies." weekend meeting • • are stepp1ng on my 1mage ... right-wing thugs tn Los Angeles [The following letter was originally ballerina, Mattei makes Dancerina, a sent to Life magazine, which did not pink confection in silken blouse and ruf­ (continued from page 7) By OSCAR COOVER see fit to print it.] fled tutu." Is that by any chance their LOS ANGELES-A well-filled ban­ * * * definition of a girl? The cops behaved in a manner very quet hall heard Farrell Dobbs, nation­ You're stepping on my image. In The second ad is devoted to more much like the Chicago police. While al secretary of the Socialist Workers your Nov. 7, 1969, issue, you dis­ dolls and it states, "Barbie, a young the students were being taken to the Pa,rty, highlight the Second Southwest played an advertisement for Mattei fashion model, and her friends do the hospital and then to the station for Regional Educational Conference of the toys which insinuates that females are 'in' things GIRLS SHOULD DO!: Talk questioning, the landlady, Zana Hep­ Young Socialist Alliance here on Nov. good for nothing except dancing, talk­ about new places to visit, new clothes perly, and Sean Shesgreen, a Northern 29. For the 120 guests it was success­ ing and modeling while males can to wear and new friends to meet ..." Illinois University professor she had ful as a political, social and fundrais­ think, build and learn. If the company insists on designing summoned, witnessed the police care­ ing event. Following the old adage, "Ladies nothing but dolls for girls, why not fully search the apartment and rifle Dobbs paid special tribute to the left first," (which has been used to brain­ stick in a woman scientist, doctor, law­ the book shelves, taking several books wing of the Southern California anti­ wash women into thinking they've got yer, pilot or president? and pamphlets without a warrant or war movement for initiating and carry­ it made so they won't wake up to the The section advertising boys' toys receipt and in the absence of the tenants. ing through the first event in the fall fact that they're society's servant class), begins with the statement, "Because boys A housing inspector who also appeared antiwar offensive with the action at the the ad opened with a photo of a little were born to build and learn, Mattei took a list of DeKalb YSAers from summer White House in San Clemente blonde girl in a tutu admiring her look­ makes Tog' I (a set of building blocks) the wall which was later produced by on Aug. 17. alike dancing doll and the statement, for Creative play." This ad shows a the police at the station while they were The banquet was scheduled to coin­ "Because girls dream about being a boy surrounded by a variety of "Cre­ questioning the victims of the attack. cide with the 41st anniversary of the ative toys." In small print, at the bot­ Very few of the police's questions re­ founding of The Militant, and Carole tom of the page, the company throws lated to the attackers, most of them Seidman, director of the recently con­ in the line, "And girls love Tog'l too." focusing instead on the political beliefs cluded subscription drive in Los An­ (My emphasis.) and associations of the YSAers. geles, pointed to the success of the drive Another picture shows a boy playing The entire DeKalb campus commu­ as an important step in the program with "imaginative and fantastic cre­ nity has responded to this vicious at­ of expansion of the revolutionary so­ ations that challenge young minds to tack and to the scandalous behavior cialist movement in Los Angeles. think as they build." Needless to say, of the police with the formation of an Funds raised at the banquet added girls aren't even mentioned in this ad. unusually broad, united defense com­ another big boost to regional expan­ (My emphasis.) mittee embracing Arab students, Stu­ sion. Prior to the meeting a friend of The last section begins, "Because boys dents for Israel, the Young Democrats, The Militant contributed a 1966 VW are curious about things big and small, the Young Republicans, the Young microbus to be used for regional or­ Mattei makes Super-Eyes, a telescope Americans for Freedom, the New Uni­ ganizing, and an appeal for funds to that boys can have in one ingenious versity Conference, the Student Asso­ keep the bus on the road brought in set of optically engineered lenses and ciation, the American Federation of $520 as well as a set of tires when scopes . . . that . . . create dozens of Teachers, the Student Mobilization Com­ needed, plus the use of a gas credit viewing devices- all for science or all mittee, and other groups. This united card. for fun." These ads, of course, are strict­ front held a press conference on Mon­ Herman Fagg, Dianne Feeley, Dave ly aimed at males, without even the pre­ day, Dec. 8, attended by 250 students. Frankel, Terry Hardy and Froben tence that a little girl might happen to · The defense committee has already Lozada, all SWP candidates for Califor­ enjoy science or fun. forced the city administration ofDeKalb nia state offices, were introduced, as were Such advertising contributes to the to set up a board of inquiry on which representatives from San Diego, Tuc­ traditional oppression of women in a YSAers will sit to investigate the in­ son, and Phoenix. way somewhat reminiscent of the old cident. Steps are under way to relate The spontaneous singing of the In­ black (body)- white (brain) stereo­ these efforts in DeKalb and a concerted ternationale at the end of the banquet types. Suppose the ad had stated that campaign in Chicago to a coordinated typified the atmosphere throughout. white children think and learn and legal and political national campaign should be given scientific creative toys to expose and render ineffective Sutton and his fascistic group, to halt police A MERRY MARXMAS TO ALL! while black children are encouraged to talk and dance? collusion and indifference, and to bring The little girl image Maryanne Raphael an end to these attacks, Friday, Dec. 19, 1969 THE MILITANT Page 11

BACKGROUND ANALYSIS FROM EUROPE

Maior strike battles create social crisis for Italian capitalism

Strike demonstration in Rome

On Nov. 19 an estimated 10 million ers in the cafes stopped work. working-class combativity and of re­ selling out the workers' objectives. Italian workers- one-half the entire They threw into disarray the great sistance by a leading sector of manage­ This challenging of a reformist and working population of the country, in­ economic machine of a country enjoy­ ment ... bureaucratized unionism is thus indica­ cluding farmers and self-employed per~ ing full "prosperity," where life would be On May 13, 1969, a strike began tive of the revolutionary character of sons - joined in a one-day general rosy for the bourgeoisie if it were not which lasted six weeks and wu ended the atruggles being waged in Italy. But strike. It was Italy's third such strike for this "regrettable" continually spread­ by an agreement signed on July 1. For this process is not proceeding without this year. (See The Militant, Dec. 12. ) ing social agitation. the bosses this mean 50,000 caraleaa in confusion. Some "Mao-anarcho-sponta­ The following article, excerpted from The most immediately striking thing the midst of a peak period, 50,000,- neiat" groups are pushing concern for the Belgian revolutionary socialist week­ about this situation-the fact that gives 000,000 lire [$83-84 million] less in "grass-roots democracy" and opposition ly, La Gauche, describes the dynamic it an already prerevolutionary char­ Agnelli's coffers. (Agnelli is the head of to "bureaucratization" to an absurd ex­ of the Italian labor upsurge that pre­ acter-is the breadth of the mobiliza­ FIAT.) treme. For them any structured organ­ ceded the Nov. 19 general strike and tion, which has spread to the most di­ Two elements were decisive in touch­ ization is susceptible to bureaucratiza­ which is still propelling the widening verse social strata and virtually all sec­ ing off this strike and extending it­ tion and consequently harmful. For labor unrest in Italy. The translation tors of the workers movement; its per­ the work of the factory fraction of the them, any "delegation of power" is in­ is by intercontinental Press. sistance (the crisis has subsisted for PSIUP (the Italian Socialist party of admissable. . . . In a number of introductory para­ long months); its violence; and the es­ Proletarian Unity), which is diatinctly It is evident that today the Italian graphs which we have omitted, the au­ calating character the rank-and-file more to the left in Turin than in the working masses often go further than thor recapitulates the events surround­ workers have given a struggle which rest of the country, and the work of the the "bureaucracies" want, an initial stu­ ing several demonstrations in late Oc­ the bosses and the union leaderships student movement. . . . dent-worker linkup has developed in the tober. alike are doing their utmost to keep Before the summer was over the an­ struggles, and a new vanguard has re­ • • • within the framework of"static warfare" ticipation of a post-vacation confronta­ vealed itself in the plants. But it is no From one end of Italy to the other, and prevent from developing into an tion in October moved up the aocial leu true that the union leaderships still throughout the various sectors of the all-out test of strength. calender. On Sept. 1, two shops in the retain an important part of their power. economy, hotbeds of violence erupted. For the time being, these leadership& Role of the rank and file biggest FIAT factory in Turin (the Mi­ The gates of the Bergamo (!ement fac­ alone have the power to organize the The role played by the rank-and­ rafiori plant, where the summer strug­ tory were broken down; general strike struggles on a national scale, they alone file workers-spontaneously or more gles had been the sharpest) went out on movements in several cities-Pesaro, are able to issue general strike calls often spurred on by groups to the left strike and refused to allow the union Pes car a, Rome, Milan, and other towns that will be followed. of the PCI (Italian Communist Party) leaderships to represent them in any -mobilized the working population in In this area, the student movement and the union leaderships -is another way. its entirety against the high cost of liv­ bears a great responsibility. It is frag­ striking feature of the Italian situation. The management responded with a ing and rising rents. mented, narrowly regional, and has Last week's L'Express (a liberal lockout. Its aim was to isolate the van­ Tens of millions of letters were held generally refused to coordinate the French weekly) reported these remarks guard elements and play off against up during strikes by communications struggles (although the ideas on this of a top leader of the CGIL (Italian them the most apprehensive workers, workers. Some days the transportation score are evolving a bit in Italy).... General Confederation of Labor, the those fearful above everything of un­ vehicles did not leave their parking As the French socialist weekly, Lutte CP-dominated union federation) on the employment. . . . areas. Intermittently, the papersstopped Ouvriere, ~orrectly wrote: "No more in "leftisr groups: Unions "tum to the left" publishing. Several million foundry But this action had a natural and Italy than in France can the workers' "When the splinter groups manage to confidence be won by waving a few red workers, chemical workers, bakers, ma­ opposite result-it forced the union or­ stir the workers," he said; "something flags or changing some slogans more sons, electricians, typographers, bank ganizations to make an important turn is wrong in the unions. It is true that radical than those of the official organ­ and municipal clerks, and even the wait- in their program of demands. While at two years ago our relations with the izations. The leftists must prove their the beginning they spoke only of de­ workers were paternalistic and bureau­ competence and responsibility in the mands for different job categories, they cratic. We have turned again toward the day-to-day struggles of the working adopted the "equalitarian" slogans ad­ rank and file so that all the decisions class." vanced at FIAT (equal raiaes for all, will be made by the workers. As a re­ In order for the struggle to culminate CHEROKEE reduction of the job-category wage dif­ sult of the habits that developed, the in "workers power"-in "dual power" on ferential, and a 40 hour week now) and task was difficult, but we have succeed­ a broader scale than that of a few plants EXAMINER demands for workers control over the FOURTH ISSUE NOW ed. The challenge posed by the splinter -the essential question remains that of groups is a legitimate one. They lie in product\~m-line tempos and productiv- the revolutionary party. Because in the AVAILABLE 0 0 0 wait for us like snipers, ready to start ity. abeence of an alternative, the only party An independent hard hitting shooting if we betray the workers. It Also as regards the methods of strug­ that still has the ear of the working class NATIVE AMERICAN is up to us not to betray." gle, the unions accepted the principle is the PCI. And the PCI's only objective PERIODICAL Indeed, this language, which assumes that there did not have to be a truce is a shift in the parliamentary majority written by all the appearances of good faith and in the battle while negotiations were or participation in a bourgeois govern­ HOSTILE AMERICAN INDIANS nonsectarian humility- and which cer­ carried on. And-contrary to what had ment. History Problems of today Potential solutions. tainly contrasts with the tone of the been originally foreseen-the trade­ As La Gauche wrote already in July, "We Will have justice for Fr.ench CGT (General Confederation of union leaders were to negotiate under "The opportunity for revolutionists lies our people!" Labor, the CP-controled union)-indi­ the pressure of workers struggles. And hi the fact that in all parties in Italy cates the difficulty in which the bureau­ this has been true not only for the foun­ (even the Christian Democrats) the CHEROKEE EXAMINER cracy finds itself. dry workers but for the chemical in­ ranks, the masses, are further to the P.O. Box 687 South Pasadena, Calif. 91030 This tone reveals that these trade­ dustry, the building industry, printing, left than the leaderships. But these lead­ union bureaucrats, who have distin­ and the banks, where new-contract erships are not going to be replaced just Please enter my subscription for guished themselves many times by their negotiations are now taking place like that." , 12 consecutive issues at $5.00, If the Italian vanguard left the effec­ \ or 6 consecutive issues at $3.00. anguished scrambling for an agreement also.... Subscription prices reduced in with the bosses at any cost (notably at Union democracy tive leadership of the struggles to the support of the Christmas pur­ FIAT) now realize how fragile their The current struggles have also raised union bureaucracies, if it refused to take , chasing boycott. Enclosed is check, cash or money order for: power over the working class is, how the question of trade-union democracy. up the question of the party now, it $ ______difficult it will be for them to control new Nearly everywhere the worker van­ would prove itself incapable of contrib­ upsurges of the workers movement, how guard and the "Student-Worker" groups uting to the solution of this problem. limited their margin for maneuver is. have demanded new forms of organiza­ But by its own logic the mobilization The case of FIAT tion that would enable the rank and of the class will undoubtedly assist the The case of FIAT (180,000 workers) file to direct the action, to maintain con­ vanguard to rid itself of its spontaneist is all the more exemplary because this tinual power of initiative and control, illusions. In any case, so it is to be factory has been a barometer both of to prevent the union bureaucracy from hoped. Page 12 THE MILITANT Friday, Dec. 19, 19M Ailitant national struggle mounts in French Canada

Deaf, were moved to join the FQF! Both major bourgeois parties sup­ ported the bill, but they were shaken. Fight for single language Members of both the ruling Union Na­ tionale and the Liberals voted against • the bill when it came before the National Assembly. In the schools a key issue One of the most significant aspects of the struggle was the involvement of the MONTREAL - The militant street popular opposition was the series of labor movement. This was an impor­ demonstrations that erupted in the fight street demonstrations which took place tant departure from the normally nar­ for a French-only school system in Que­ in Montreal and across the province. row outlook of the labor brass. The bec have subsided, and the Quebec Na­ The first demonstration in Montreal, Confederation of National Trade tional Assembly has adopted the highly called on short notice, rallied some 10,- Unions, (CNTU) representing some unpopular Bill 63. But the massive 000 people; subsequent demonstrations 225,000 Quebec workers, after some movement that developed in opposition were larger; across the province, areas internal struggles came out against the to this governmental measure will not which had never seen mass demonstra­ bill and for unilingualism. The Cor­ disappear easily, and new campaigns tions in the streets witnessed hundreds poration of Quebec Teachers, which rep­ are already being planned. of thousands of persons marching. The resents 70,000 teachers in the province, Growing numbers of Quebecois are entire protest movement converged on has been known for its nationalist bent, demanding a policy of official French Quebec City, Oct. 31, for a mass march but in this instance they went much fur­ unilingualism in the province. Through and rally in front of the Parliament. ther than before, cooperating with the this measure they seek to combat the Over 40,000 took part. students in protest actions, marches, domination of the Quebec nation by It is difficult to describe the atmo­ and teach-ins against the bill. Two foreign capitalist monopolies. in a for­ sphere in Montreal those days. The union representatives, one from the eign tongue, English, and the conse­ streets were constantly filled with march­ CNTU and the other from teachers, quent process of Anglicization of the ers. During the day, thousands of stu­ sit on the nine-man executive committee nation. But the government clings to dents would walk out of their schools, ofthe FQF. the official policy of bilingualism (i.e., march on other schools to get them to The other union federation, the Que­ "equal status" for both French and Eng­ walk out, and then set out acrooss town bec Federation of Labor (affiliated to lish), reflecting the interests of its cap­ in spontaneous, militant, and orderly the Canadian Labour Congress, the italist backers. demonstrations. Later on in the week, Canadian counterpart to theAFL-CIO), In recent years this confrontation has the students undertook the door-to-door refused to take a stand. QFL president centered about the school system. Last circulation of leaflets and petitions Louis Laberge declared that "this is a year a notable victory for a French­ against the bill. Each evening, the day's matter of more interest to pseudo-in­ only school system was won in the Mon­ activities would culminate in a mass tellectuals than to workers." But two treal suburb of St. Leonard, where the demonstration or rally. reporters of the Montreal Star, after unilingualist forces won the local school While the overwhelming bulk of the interviewing numerous unionists, made board elections. Under the strong pres­ demonstrators were students-many of the following observation on Oct. 31: "Top leaders of unions tend to support Quebec: sure of the English-language minority, them from high school and quite the government reacted and proposed young-there could be no mistaking Bill 63. But from the staff down, it is Bill 85, which would have guaranteed the popular support they had. The na­ impossible to find a single supporter the right to schools in either French or tional unity against the bill can be most of the same bill." Two of the largest QF L affiliates took official positions English, and thus decapitated the move­ clearly seen in the composition of the By ARTHUR YOUNG against the bill-the _,Steelworkers, ment for a single system of French Front du Quebec Francais (French Que­ (The author is the editor of La Lutte schools. A rapid public outcry against bec Front), a loose front grouping all through a declaration of their Quebec Ouvriere, the Trotskyist monthly news­ president, Paul Gerin-Lajoie, and the the bill combined with divisions in the those opposed to the bill and demand­ paper published in Montreal.) Cabinet forced the government to shelve ing a French Quebec. The only layers Quebec wing of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. the measure. not represented in the FQF were the Events in Quebec have been making The Confederal Council of the CNTU This fall, however, they brought in English-speaking minority, the govern­ the news more and more these days. obviously did not agree with Laberge's Bill 63 which simply took up again the ment, and the capitalist class. The Front Popular Quebec nationalists and union­ statement. At its meeting on Oct. 21 it theme of the abandoned Bill 85. The came to include virtually the entire Que­ ists are facing charges of sedition, mass came out for unilingualism. This Coun­ introduction of the bill was met with a bec middle class, all Quebec French stu­ demonstrations have been straining the cil, the highest body of the CNTU be­ massive outpouring of opposition from dent associations, most of the socialist bourgeois equilibrium, and even the tween conventions, was presented with almost all quarters of society and mass groups, and two of the three Quebec police force has staged an illegal strike. a broad survey conducted by the demonstrations of a size unseen in Que­ labor federations. Even religious How can these events be explained? CNTU among 680 of the unions af­ bec since the conscription crisis during groups like the Congregation of the Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau World War II. Fathers of the Holy Sacrament, and filiated to it. The survey found that has his own explanation. "Society," he The most spectacular manifestation of others, like the Quebec Society of the strong pressures on the job forced says, "has run amok." But, of course, French workers to speak English, that the truth has to be sought elsewhere, these pressures were stronger in the among the class forces which are at larger companies though they could work in Quebec, leading to a wider and also be felt in French-Canadian-owned wider expression of popular discontent. firms. The highest posts were held by The French-speaking people of Que­ the English, and the French were gen­ bec, the Quebecois, constitute an op­ erally not promoted to these positions, pressed nation within Canada. Compos­ even if they spoke English. To get a ing some 30 percent ofthe Canadian pop­ promotion, it is almost obligatory for ulation, they have sought to defend a French-speaking Quebecois to be bi­ themselves against this national oppres­ lingual. sion for several hundred years. It is The struggle against English privi­ this struggle for national liberation leges in the Quebec school system has which, combined with the great weight subsided since its high point in late Oc­ of the Quebec working class, has given tober and early November, but it is far recent struggles in Quebec their explo­ from over. The FQF, which now has sive character. 205 organizations adhering to it, is be­ The British army conquered Quebec ginning the second stage of its actions from the French in 1760. The British to defend the French language. They rulers sought to subjugate their new plan an extensive program aimed at French-speaking colony in a series of publicizing their counter-Bill 63, called ways, and ultimately integrated it polit­ Quebec Draft Law No. 1, which pro­ ically and economically with the rest of vides for a policy of French unilingual­ ism throughout Quebec. A Quebec-wide Canada in 1867, the year Canada was referendum on the bill is planned in born as an autonomous country. But early January. the British and later the Canadian rul­ Undoubtedly, the movement to defend ers of Canada were unable to force the the French language suffered a tempor­ Quebecois to give up their national iden­ ary defeat with the passage of Bill 63, tity and submerge themselves into the but the setback should not be exagger­ Canadian melting-pot. ated. The most outstanding feature of The Quebecois fought assimilation in the movement was its truly massive a variety of ways, and some of the character, the unprecedented national forms of struggle were profoundly rev­ front against official Quebec bilingual­ olutionary. In 1837, for example, an ism. Further battles of even wider scope armed uprising took place against Brit­ and leading to real victories are inevit­ ish colonial domination. During both able. world wars, the Quebecois refused to Canadian soldiers stationed at Quebec City Hall -ARTHUR YOUNG fight, and battled against the imposi- Friday, Dec. 19, 1969 THE MILITANT Page 13 outcry involving all sectors of Quebec society in the struggle to preserve the nation. Both the federal government of Tru­ deau and the Quebec national govern­ ment are committed to a policy of of­ ficial bilingualism, that is, of "equal status" for both French and English. The Quebec government mouths some words about making French the "na­ tional language" or the "language of work" but has never taken a single effective move in this direction. It can­ not afford to displease its English back­ ers, who use official bilingualism as a sanction to operate their businesses in English. This basic conflict between the offi­ cial bilingualism of the government and the desires of the French-speaking popu­ lation underlies the recent mass strug­ gles in Quebec. The importance of this issue to the daily life of the Quebec working class explains why the unions, normally as politically "neutral" as their American counterparts, have joined in this massive movement. If national liberation is to be won in Quebec it can only be done under the resolute leadership of the working class. Only the working class has the organi­ zation, the key position in society, and the interest in completely breaking the hold of imperialism. The national bour­ geoisie is a weak but willing partner of foreign domination. The petty bour­ geoisie is too feeble and irresolute to During October 1968 an estimated 50,000 Quebec school students demonstrate. The sign in front­ be able to accomplish the task; it has high school, junior college and college students "Cardinal to the Seminary" -is a play on the edu­ demonstrated this repeatedly in the last occupied their schools demanding student control cation minister's name. This fall's mass demonstra­ few years. Once the working class is in over education. Left: "student power" sign in ad­ tions, which won significant support from the unions, motion, it will move with its own dy­ ministration office of occupied school. Above: high were also spearheaded by the students. namic, along the road of a complete break with imperialism, forward to a socialist society. Yet the labor movement today has no political voice in Quebec, even though its most dramatic struggles in recent times have centered around political issues- such as the language question. An oppressed nation There is not one representative of a working class party in the Quebec Na­ tional Assembly. When large powerful unions undertake to strike in the pub­ lic or semi-public sector, they are often tion of conscription in Canada. The thy that the largest trade union federa­ colonies. The tiny national bourgeoisie, forced back to work by special strike­ world wars were nothing but imperial­ occupying only the fringes of the econ­ tion in Quebec, the Quebec Federation of breaking laws passed by the Nation­ Labor, representing some 300,000 ist wars to divide the spoils of the world, omy, has nonetheless exposed its na­ al Assembly in emergency session. And, said the Quebecois, and they wanted ture as a servant of foreign capital. Its members, is a wing of the Canadian as in all other capitalist countries, the nothing to do with them. When the Ca­ control of the Quebec provincial govern­ Labor Congress, the pan-Canadian la­ workers' wage gains are wiped out by nadian government carried out a ref­ ment has been no small factor in this bor federation. The CLC is ln turn af­ government action in other fields- hous­ erendum on the conscription issue, in process. filiated to the AFL-CIO. ing, inflation, taxation, etc. The most 1942, some 90 percent of the Quebecois The weakness of the native Quebec The issue which has been able to outstanding element lacking in current voted no. ruling class has allowed the middle rally large numbers of Quebecois in Quebec political struggles is consistent Trudeau and his supporters deny that class to come forward as the national struggle has been the defense of the political action of the working class. the Quebecois are a nation. But this spokesman in the struggle against Ot­ French language, for it is a cruel fea­ The instrument necessary for such ac­ denial hardly stands up to serious ex­ tawa and Washington. This class has ture of the oppression of French Ca­ tion, a mass labor party, has yet to be amination. The Quebecois consider engaged in numerous constitutional nada that its exploitation takes place created in Quebec. themselves to be a distinct nation, and squabbles with the federal government, in a foreign tongue, English. The Eng­ The situation cries out for a labor they meet all the formal criteria set out and has sought, through its influence lish-speaking corporations who rule party. All the more so as a Canadian to define a nation- possession of a on the Quebec government, to secure Quebec, both Anglo-Canadian and labor party, the New Democratic Par­ common territory, language, history concessions which would strengthen its American, impose the use of English ty, already exists. The NDP presents and culture distinct from other nations. economic position. But it has gained on the French-speaking population. its candidates on both the federal and It is the growing national conscious­ little in the process, and the nation has English is the language of work, of provincial levels, except in Quebec, ness of the Quebecois that has given gained almost nothing. It is among the commerce, and of business adminis­ where it only contests federal elections. rise to many of the spectacular events middle class and related layers that the tration. Occupying the commanding As a result, it is a weak and declining which have made recent headlines in the separatist movement has found support. heights, English comes to dominate international press. Revolutionary Marxists in Quebec force in Quebec. Supported primarily other vast sectors of Quebec life-even by the trade-union movement, the NDP In many respects, the Quebec nation give unconditional support to the right to the point of being the language in has been consolidating its position is an internal colony within Canada. of Quebec to self-determination. They which the majority of senior high school across the rest of the country, and re­ It is politically subordinated within the insist that the Quebec nation has the and university textbooks are written. federal state that is controlled by Eng­ historic right to secede from the Cana­ cently took power in the province of Manitoba. lish-Canadian interests and their Amer­ dian state at any time it wishes to. But The French-speaking Quebecois must Quebec socialists are raising the de­ ican backers; economically it is exploit­ they advocate neither the present federal learn English to get ahead. The English mand for an all-inclusive conference ed by foreign capital. This imperialist structure, nor separation. No national minority of Quebec does not have to of the unions, NDP members, social­ domination results in a distorted econ­ consensus in favor of separation has learn French. And so more and more ists, and other radicals to launch a omy, giving undue weight to extractive, emerged in Quebec. The separatist French-speaking Quebecois are aban­ Quebec labor party. Once organized, raw-materials industries. Education, movement, which has existed for many doning their native tongue and their the labor party will be pushed by the health and other public services are years, has yet to gain the support of nation to assimilate into the English starved for money. Unemployment is anything near a majority of the popula­ pressures of events in Quebec and else­ minority of Quebec. In recent years where to take a more and more radical higher than in almost any other re­ tion, despite the widespread publicity this rate of assimilation has increased road. The revolutionary dynamic of gion of Canada, wages are low, but from which it has benefited. sharply, aided by two factors common Quebec will thrust the party towards the profits are high. A tiny number of huge Revolutionary socialists in Quebec to all industrialized countries: the fall­ taking of power, the establishment of monopolies control the Quebec econ­ advocate, promote and organize for ing birth rate and a high level of im­ a workers' and farmers' government. omy. the form of action that can guarantee migration. The immigrants opt mas­ The socialist revolution will liberate But Quebec is no Venezuela or Al­ Quebec's right to self-determination and sively for the economically-dominant Quebec. geria. It is a modern, heavily indus­ bring about the genuine liberation of language, English; the high birth rate trialized region with an educated and Quebec-the independent action of the of French-Canadians had until recently skilled population living in the large working class and its allies. At the been one of the factors permitting the metropolitan Montreal area. The na­ present time, the program of political survival of the nation surrounded on Fascism: tion is overwhelmingly working class separation does not aid the develop­ all sides by a sea of people speaking in composition, and since the Second ment of such action. The workers of English. The proportion of French­ What It Is How to Fight It World War the workers have engaged the two nations within Canada have speaking Quebecois has fallen signifi­ in fierce, militant struggles to organ­ a common enemy, the federal state, cantly. In a few decades, the French­ A Revised Compilation ize themselves in unions and to im­ and their struggles flow inevitably speaking majority of Quebec could be leon Trot sky 50c prove their living standards. Class dif­ along parallel paths. At the present wiped out, ensuring the disappearance Merit Publishers ferentiation is qualitatively more de­ time each group of workers have much of the Quebecois as a distinct nation. 873 Broadway New York, N.Y. 10003 veloped in Quebec than in "classical" to learn from the other. It is notewor- This prospect has created a national Page 14 THE MILITANT Friday, Dec. 19, 1969 END The economic front: U.S. WAR fA scary CRIMES.' and shaky our oF business' V11JBA~

By DICK ROBERTS Capitalist politcal commentators are growing increasingly concerned about possible explosive social consequences lodged within the economic program of the Nixon administration. This pro­ gram seeks to place the burden of war­ induced inflation on the working people by creating a "controlled" recession. The growing alarm over the possible consequences was rather dramatically expressed in the Dec. 4 New York Times.

"President Nixon's attempt to escape Photo by Michael Hardy from inflation has become at least as PROTEST. Some 5,000 New Yorkers picketed the club-happy mood, savagely attacking group that risky and dramatic as his effort to with­ tried to raise red flag near hotel. Others were in­ draw from Vietnam," writes New York Waldorf-Astoria Dec. 9 where football group gave Times chief Washington correspondent Nixon annual pigskin award. Action was orga­ jured and 67 jailed in further police attacks. Mean­ nized by Peace Parade Committee coalition and while, a counterdemonstration by Nixon's •silent Max Frankel. majority' drew 25, including six uniformed Nazis. "Though no one is demonstrating built on campus by Student Mobe. Cops were in about it in the streets, as yet, and the telltale signs of the drama are still scat­ ment are being reached. Programs to war continues. It adds up to a highly tainties of the capitalist policy makers tered through the general and financial cope with crime and pollution and other explosive mixture. begin. news pages, the professional worriers major irritants of life are being set back The recessionary policies of the ad­ The real wages of American workers here are now watching the economic by the high cost of borrowing as well as ministration call for slashing federal have already fallen behind the rapidly front even more closely than Southeast the chronic shortage of public funds ... spending and tightening the money sup­ rising cost of living caused by war­ Asia," Frankel continues. "These sacrifices, it is thought, will be ply until there is a significant measure primed inflation. New York Times la­ "'This is a scary and shaky business,' difficult enough to bear even if the worst of unemployment and workers shrink bor expert A. H. Raskin pointed this out one high official remarked this morning fears of aggravated recession prove from fighting for higher wages. in explaining why the battle between in acknowledging that the anxiety has groundless ... Business Week magazine, which has a electrical workers and GE is "so fateful spread far beyond the President's small "The second level of concern here goes taste for terse summations of economic for the Nixon anti-inflation program": circle of economic advisers. 'We don't to Mr. Nixon's ability even if he can policy, spelled it out in its "Business "The average factory worker was go around saying it, but we know it.'" stabilize the economy, to come out of Outlook" column Nov. 15: earning $7.31 a week more last month Max Frankel is an influential colum­ the exercise with any significant time "Both inflation and inflationary ex­ [September] than he had a year be­ nist with "pipe lines" to top administra­ and money left to meet the nation's do­ pectations are proving a lot more stub­ fore ... but that was 39 cents worse tion officials. It is worthwhile looking mestic needs." born than the Nixon policymakers had off in what he could buy after allow­ at the list of White House worries he Frankel concludes on an exception­ calculated. They now think they will ances for taxes and higher prices." (Oct. elaborates: ally pessimistic note: "It may be that of have to draw blood to prove they mean 26.) "The first is whether the President and all the bequests to Mr. Nixon by Presi­ to end the continuous price rise ... Raskin made a point of quoting one the country will be able to absorb the dent Johnson, the inflationary boom "Nixon advisers are now prepared to union official who told him: "Our people pressures and tolerate the political risks will turn out to have been more trouble­ go to the wall, meaning recession, if can learn all they need to know about of a painful belt-tightening. Some of the some than the intractable war." that's what it takes ... Nixon econ­ inflation in the supermarkets. Nixon consequences of the slowdown are only The fundamental problem facing the omists favor unremitting restraint until tells them he is licking inflation and the beginning to be felt widely. capitalist rulers of this country- and it business flattens . . . The main objec­ next day prices take another big jump." "The housing crisis has deepened due is two-fold- can be stated more simply: tive is to bring next year's wage in­ There is another powder keg: The to the shortage of capital funds. The Prices will continue to rise long after creases below this year's ..." first to lose their jobs as a result of re­ barely 'tolerable' limits of unemploy- employment declines- and while the But that is exactly where the uncer- cession are the marginally employed, women and young people, and blacks before whites. That this is already be­ • ginning to happen was visible behind the "colorless" unemployment figures re­ Railway craft un1ons offered pact leased by the Labor Department for November: The long drawn-out dispute between Tunnels were exposed to twice the car­ Total unemployment actually declined the nation's railroads and the four shop bon monoxide considered dangerous from 3.9 to 3.4 percent, but this "re­ craft unions has apparently beensettled. to health. flected mainly a drop in the number of However, the new pact has not yet been In July, 1968, when State, County persons seeking work, concentrated ratified by the 48,000 men involved. and Municipal Employees union forced among women and teen-agers. These The actual terms of the contract are Robert Morris, the Authority Commis­ persons simply left the labor force, pos­ not officially known as yet, but "it has sioner, to give them a copy ofthereport, sibly because jobs are becoming more been learned" (New York Times, Dec. traffic in the two tunnels had doubled. difficult to find," according to the Dec. 6 5) that the 1969 wage increase, most of Despite the increase in vehicular traf­ New York Times. which is retroactive to Jan. 1, amounts fic, ancj the subsequent increase in car­ James Reston, New York Times vice to approximately 11 percent, with an in front of commercial buildings, stores, bon monoxide levels, and in face of the president, recently warned Nixon about additional 10 cents per hour skill differ­ and high-rent apartment buildings. The report that even in 1965, these levels young people: "One of the most disturb­ ential, and another seven percent bonus 2,000 members of Local 813, Team­ were double what is considered lethal ing results of the war," he wrote Nov. for ratification. sters, won a $40-a-week wage increase in time, ventilators in the tunnels are 30, "is that a great many of our most The 1969 increases are supposed to over three years- $20 the first year and turned on only when levels reach three intelligent and promising young men bring average wages up from $3.59 to $10 each of the next two years. times allowable saturation! and women, who should be the leaders $4 per hour. But skilled workers would They also won an increase in pension An agreement, reached a few hours of the nation in the seventies and eight­ have their wages raised from $3.59 to benefits from $200 to $300 a month. before the Thanksgiving strike deadline, ies, are now not only challenging the $4.28 by August 1, a gain of 69 cents • • • transfers control of air pollution from war and President Nixon, but charging or nearly 19 percent. Strikes by milk drivers and plant the TA to a city Dept. of Air Resources. that the whole system of government, as Increases for 1970 are said to be an­ workers in both New York and New The city also agreed to set up a pro­ now practiced, is unfair, corrupt, and other five percent to bring the average Jersey were won recently. gram of periodic health examinations indifferent to the loss of human life." (unskilled) wages to $4.20 with an ad­ The very first action of the milk in­ for all workers in AFSCME Local1396. But Reston was talking about the ef­ ditional four cents per hour in May and dustry in both states was to raise the Previous examinations conducted by the fect of the war. What the specialists are August, in lieu of an escalator clause. price of milk by two cents. union showed carbon monoxide levels now telling Nixon is "ditto Reston in The unions involved are the interna­ • • • in 22 workers "strikingly abnormal." relation to the economy." tionals of the machinists, boilermakers, In the July 25, 1969 Militant, I re­ Now it remains to be seen if the Dept. Paul McCracken, chairmen ofNixon's electricians and sheet metal workers. ported the following facts: of Air Resources will do a better job than Council of Economic Advisers, told a • • • In 1965 an independent report, com­ the Tunnel Authority did. It costs mon­ meeting of businessmen: "We are enter­ On Dec. 5 a strike of private sani­ missioned by the Triborough Bridge ey to turn on those ventilators. And to ing an interlude where all things will tation men in New York City was set­ and Tunnel Authority, revealed that most of these politicians, the money seem to be going the wrong way."(Busi­ tled after a four-day walkout, during workers on eight-hour shifts within the comes first. ness Week, Nov. 29.) For capitalism, which time garbage and trash piled up Queens-Mid-town and Brooklyn Battery -MARVEL SCHOLL that is. Friday, Dec. 19, 1969 THE MILITANT Page 15

A remnant of stability- In these times for 100 portions, plus 68 pages of color of uncertainty and rapid change we photos. WRITINGS OF LEON TROTSKY were comforted to learn that General (1938-39). Edited and with an intro­ Erik Wickberg, supreme commander of Stocking stuffer-And while you're duction by George Breitman and Eve­ the Salvation Army, is sticking tough. ordering the GI cookbook send an ex­ lyn Reed. 152 pages. $2. 95. Tactically flexible, he said the Army tra half a buck for an official full color This is the second of the series of might go along with youthful demands portrait of the President. books containing selections of Trotsky's for change to the extent of doing away writings not otherwise available in with the old high collar on theuniforms. Not following recipe?- Don't take it books and pamphlets. Like the first But, he sternly added, the bonnet re­ as a reflection on the G I cookbook, volume that took in the last year of mains untouched. Also, abstinence from but government auditors were surprised his life, this collection consists of var­ liquor, smoking, dancing, theater and to find that many enlisted men don't ious articles originally published in var­ other "worldly pleasures." like army chow. The Army has been ious periodicals during 1938-9. building mess halls on the basis of The period covered by these writings Police porkier?- Ypsilanti, Mich. cops the assumption that 85 percent of the immediately preceded the outbreak of emerged with a 19-0 victory when they enlisted men ate their meals there. The the Second World War. Trotsky probes came snout to snout with local deputy auditors found this figure way off. This the events which led to the Munich sheriffs in a contest at the Eastern Mich­ was surprising, they said, since they agreement among the capitalist powers igan U stadium which the officers "sar­ found the food and service to be "ade­ of Europe, an agreement that dismem­ donically" dubbed the "Pig Bowl." quate or better." They concluded that bered Czechoslovakia and left the coun­ the men don't eat there "by personal try under Hitler's control. Of special For the ex-GI in the family- Brighten preference." his Xmas by sending $18.50 to the significance is the clarity with which Trotsky saw that Stalin aimed at an Trotsky in exile Government Documents office for the Lots of new brooms-One group of agreement with Hitler which, when fi­ volved in Mexican politics, a promise official Armed Services Recipe Service. businessmen who aren't moaning about nally arranged, triggered the beginning that was scrupulously kept. Toledano's Several hundred recipes, each designed the long hair fashion are the brushmak­ of the war. aim was to compromise Trotsky's stay ers. Sales are up 500 percent over Also included in this first section is in Mexico, the only country in the world 1964. the author's analysis of the relation­ that granted him the right of asylum. T. S. Dept - Inflation has nearly ship between war and revolution as The fifth section is devoted, once doubled country club membership costs well as a thorough critique of the Krem­ again, to the Soviet Union and Stalin­ in the past 15 years. Interestingly, the lin's world policies which resulted in ism, an inexhaustible subject that price hike is pretty much along the the complete destruction of the Com­ claimed most of Trotsky's attentions for lines of those that have hit ordinary munist International. the last 16 years of his life and to which consumers. Country club operating The second section deals with the he made so many profound contribu­ costs have gone up an estimated 65 Fourth International, founded in 1938 tions. There is an especially instructive percent and fees about 92 percent. under Trotsky's leadership. Included article in this section called "The Three here are discussions of the program Conceptions of the Russian Revolution" Thought for the week-"It is true that adopted by that organization as well which explains the author's agreements a handful of men control what the as arguments justifying its formation and disagreements with Lenin, as well American people see of the world in the first place. It is instructive to as an exposition of the famous Trotsky­ through their television screens, but the compare Trotsky's insistence on form­ ist theory of the permanent revolution. answer is not to transfer this power ing an international organization of Section VI deals with the situation in from a handful of men in New York Marxist revolutionaries with the oppo­ France, with the rise of a centrist move­ to a handful of men in the White House. site view expressed by his biographer, ment there following the collapse of the The answer is to return the power to Isaac Deutscher. People's Front sponsored by the Stalin­ the people." Federal Communications The next section takes up the Stalin­ ists and the Social Democrats. An an­ Commissioner Nicholas Johnson, as ist murders of Trotsky's son, Leon Sed­ alysis of centrism as a political current quoted by Boston Globe columnist ov, who was a leading figure in the among the left-wing parties is fully de­ "Speaking For The Great Silent Majority.'. .','' David Deitch. Fourth International, and Rudolf veloped and the tasks of the workers -HARRY RING Klement, also an official in that orga­ in France following the People's Front nization and a former secretary of Trot­ debacle are probed. sky's. Both died within a few months Trotsky's subjection of the politics of of each other in Paris at a time when the Stalinists, Social Democrats andcen­ Stalin's secret police were especially ac­ trists to critical review is particularly tive in trying to prevent, by any means, timely for at least one reason: their the organization of the Fourth Inter­ successors still follow the same basic ARIZONA: Phoenix: YSA, c/o Steve Strnad, P. 0. Box 2nd fl., Mpls. 55413. Tel: (612) 332-7781. national. policies, with the same results. Class 750, Tempe, Arizona 85281. MISSOURI: Kansas City: YSA, c/o Paul Schmidtlein, Section IV takes up Latin American collaboration, that is, the subordina­ CALIFORNIA: Berkeley: SWP and YSA, 2519-A Tele­ 5437 Charlotte, K.C., Mo. 64110. Tel: (816) 523-5468. events, with emphasis on the expropri­ tion of the interests of the workers to graph Avenue, Berkeley, Calif. 94704. Tel: (415) 848- St. louis: YSA, c/o larry Swingle, 5817 Waterman, ation of English and American oil com­ those of the liberal capitalists in order 9334. St.louis, Mo. 63112. panies by the Mexican government. to make an electoral bloc remains an all Hayward: YSA, Gerald Clark, c/o Student Union NEW JERSEY: Newark: YSA, c/o Allan Pump, 158 Trotsky vigorously defends the right too familiar game. Building, California State College at Hayward, 25800 Hamilton St., E. Orange, N.J. 07017. Tel: (201) 674- of the Mexican people to expropriate The last section includes a number Hillary St., Hayward, Calif. 94544. Tel. (415) 537-3656 3144. imperialist holdings in their country. In of miscellaneous articles. Of special in­ or (415) 537-3657. NEW YORK: Albany: YSA, c/o Bill O'Kain, 313 State the course of conducting this defense, terest is an interview published by an Los Angeles: SWP and YSA, 1702 E. 4th St., los St., Albany, N.Y. 12210. the author is compelled to answer at­ American journalist, William R. Math­ Angeles, Calif. 90033. Tel: (213) 269-4953. Binghamton: YSA, c/o Peter Gellert, Box 1389, Her­ tacks and lies all the way from the ews, in the Tucson, Arizona, Daily Star, Son Francisco: SWP, YSA, Militant labor Forum, and pur College, Binghamton, N.Y. 13901. Pioneer Books, 2338 Market St., San Francisco, Calif. New York City: SWP and YSA and bookstore, 873 New York Daily News, which blamed in which Trotsky answers a number of 94114. Tel: (415) 626-9958. Broadway, N, Y., N.Y. 10003. Tel: (212)982-6051. him for being the inspirer of the ex­ important questions. A particularly im­ San Diego: Alan Stancliff, 4143 Georgia, San Diego, NORTH CAROLINA: Chapel Hill-Durham: YSA, c/o propriations, to Lombardo Toledano, portant article entitled "Lenin and Im­ Cal if. 92103. Bob Friedman, P.O. Box 10, Carrboro, N.C. 27510. a Stalinist Mexican union leader who perialist War" contains Trotsky's sum­ COLORADO: Boulder: YSA, c/o lyle Fulks, 2233 Tel: (919) 942-3024. accused Trotsky of interfering in Mex­ mary of Lenin's conclusions drawn Pine, Boulder, Col. 80302. OHIO: Athens: YSA, P. 0. Box 899, Athens, Ohio ican politics. One of the conditions of from the experience of the First World FLORIDA: Gainesville: YSA, Box 13157, University 45701. Trotsky's residence in Mexico was a War of 1914-1918. Sta., Gainesville, Fla. 32601. 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Tel: (313) TEl- Wash., D. C. Tel: (202) 638-0610 or 965-0253. 6135. WASHINGTON: Seattle: Militant Bookstore, 5257 Uni­ STREET East lansing: YSA, c/o Alec Hershey, 914 lilac *7, versity Way N. E., Seattle, Wash. 98105. Hrs. 11 a.m.- East lansing, Mi. 48823. 8 p.m., Mon.-Sat. Tel: (206)523-2555. Ypsilanti: YSA, c/o Dave Davis, 417 Olive St., Ypsi­ WISCONSIN: Madison: YSA, 202 W. Gilman, Madi­ CITY ...... STATE ...... ZIP. lanti, Mich. 48197. Tel: (313) 482-7348. son, Wise. 53703. Tel: (608) 256-0857. MINNESOTA: Minneapolis-St. Paul: SWP, YSA and Milwaukee: YSA, c/o Heald, 929 N. Water St., Mil­ Labor Bookstore, 1 University N. E. (at E. Hennepin) waukee, Wise. 53202.679-1428 or 342-3215. Send to: The Militant, 873 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10003 Page 16 THE MILITANT Friday, Dec. 19, 1969 Mexicano march supports Nixon would like to shift Texas furniture strikers Songmy blame onto Gls

By ROBERT LANGSTON President Nixon's piously hypocritical statement at his Dec. 8 news conference on the Songmy massacre deserves atten­ tion because it admirably exemplifies the systematic campaign now under way to pervert by means of what George Orwell called "double think" the American people's comprehension of the meaning of that slaughter. Nixon insisted that Songmy was an "isolated incident," and that the perpe­ trators of it must be and will be brought to justice. Then he appealed to "the record of generosity, of decency" of the "one mil­ lion two hundred thousand Americans who have been [not "fought" or "battled" Austin rally for furniture workers or "struggled" but merely "been"] in Viet­ nam." They have "helped the people of Vietnam" by building "roads and By MARIANNE HERNANDEZ Furniture is still refusing to recognize schools. . . . The Marines alone this Texas SWP Candidate for U. S. Senator the union. year have built over 250,000 churches, A US TIN, Texas- The predominant­ A rally on the capitol grounds heard pagodas and temples for the people of ly Chicano workers at the Economy strike leaders "Grey" Mojica and Santo Vietnam." The evil deeds of a handful of Furniture company have been on strike Ruiz, Sisto Ramirez, head of. L UCHA, villains must not be allowed to "smear for over a year now, battling for union and other strikers give the history of the decent men that have gone to Viet­ recognition, better working conditions, the strike and intimidations against nam ..." and an end to racial discrimination in strikers, and denounce the Austin City By distinguishing between the "few" thing is turned into the exact opposite promotions. Council's refusal to grant a parade soldiers who commit crimes and the of what it really is. Genocide becomes On Nov. 30, Mexicanos from Waco, permit for the day's march. "tnany" who perform deeds of mercy, action "to help the people of Vietnam." Dallas, Cotulla, Uvalde, and San An­ Other speakers included ex-priest Nixon is, of course, not concerned with The murder of babies, which is the tonio converged on the state capitol to Barregan; Roy R. Evans, secretary­ seeing justice done to the great majority adequate expression of the real nature demonstrate their solidarity with the treasurer of the Texas AFL-CIO; Mario of Gls. He is merely engaged in one of American capitalist society and of its strikers. Compean, president of MAYO, the Mexi­ more crooked effort to shift ultimate re­ relation to the Vietnamese people, be­ The struggle began in May 1968 when can-American Youth Organization; Al­ sponsibility for Songmy from himself, comes an "isolated incident." The acts of the workers at Economy Furniture bert Pena, San Antonio County Com­ his government, and the capitalist class pity and generosity that G Is in Vietnam voted overwhelmingly to unionize. The missioner; and Jose Angel Gutierrez, he serves onto the soldiers who are but so tdten spontaneously perform, acts election was supervised by the Nation­ former MAYO president and one of the instruments of a policy they did not which in reality contradict utterly the al Labor Relations Board, but the own­ best-known radicals in Texas. Teatro make and cannot control. purposes and methods of U. S. inter­ er of Economy Furniture refused to Campesino preformed ballads com­ What the statement suggests, and is vention, are identified with official and bargain with the union. Despite legal posed especially for this rally. intended to suggest, is that U. S. forces wholly fraudulent "aid" projects and actions by the NLRB and orders to Gutierrez read a solidarity message are in Vietnam to do the works of made to appear as the very substance negotiate, and despite the strike which from Cezar Chavez and discussed Chi­ peace. The slaughter of Songmy, then, of that intervention. began on Nov. 27, 1968, Economy cano actions taking place elsewhere in is one of those inexplicable incursions And President Nixon becomes not on­ Texas. He told an extremely receptive of evil that inevitably occur whenever ly the benevolent leader who invites audience that it was Mexicano labor good men are engaged in some humane his countrymen to build temples and Gl wins acquittal which had built the Southwest and that task, and it must be severely punished. schools for the people of South Vietnam; they were tired of being put down as Nixon does not, of course, believe he becomes the avenger of the innocent foreigners on Tierra Mexicana. He that anyone will forget that a war is in lives destroyed by a wicked few of his • called on Mexicanos to build resistance progress in Vietnam. He does however countrymen. 1n Ft. Dix 38 to the Vietnam war, demand their own hope that by identifying in people's In reality, of course, Nixon freely policemen, and stop selling themselves minds the U.S. government's conduct chose to contend for the chance to pre­ like liberal politicians. of that war with such benign activities side over the murderous political ap­ stockade case The day ended with a march by as building schools, churches and pago­ paratus of American capitalism, and he 1,000-1,500 down Congress Avenue, das, people will respond as if that were won that chance. He freely chose to be­ On Dec. 8 Pvt. Terry Klug, the third past the Governor's mansion. Ninety in fact what it is all about. come the commander-in-chief of the of the Ft. Dix 38 to face general courts­ percent of the police force was on hand. In this exercise in double think, every- genocide of Vietnam. martial, was acquitted on charges of riot and aggravated arson, .scoring a major victory for both G I and civilian opponents of the war. Klug was defend­ ed by Henry di Suvero of the Emer­ gency Civil Liberties Committee. Arab-American group meets The fourth GI to face a general courts­ martial arising out of the June 5 "riot" in the Ft. Dix stockade, Pvt. William Brakefield, went on trial Dec. 10. By ROBERT LANGSTON those of the Palestinians by exposing the Two especially noteworthy contribu­ The first two G Is to be tried, Jeffrey DETROIT- The Association of Arab­ incompetence of the present social sys­ tions to the conference discussions were Russell and Thomas Catlow, were both American University Graduates con­ tem and foreign interests in the Arab the papers by Ania Francos, French convicted on charges of aggravated ar­ cluded its second annual convention world so that a transformed revolution­ journalist and author of Les Palesti;[l­ son and riot. Russell was sentenced to here Dec. 7 by adopting a statement ary system, scientifically competent and iens, and Kamal Boullata, a young three years at hard labor and a dis­ declaring the association's full solidar­ freed from all vestiges of a decadent Palestinian artist now living in the honorable discharge. Catlow was given ity with the national liberation struggle social system, can translate Arab po­ United States. Ania Francos stressed only a dishonorable discharge. of the Palestinian people. tential into reality." that the Arab-Israeli conflict is but a The prosecution's case has been full The statement also stressed the con­ part of the anticolonial struggle of the The Dec. 7 session was preceded by of contradictions, and numerous wit­ nection between the Palestinian revolu­ third world and that it can only suc­ two days of discussion on "Palestine nesses have stated that they were forced tion and other struggles for national ceed to the extent that it becomes a Revolution: Its International, Technical to sign false statements. Testimony of liberation throughout the world. "The consciously internationalist, anticapital­ and Social Dimensions." The partici­ army witnesses given during one or Association condemns unequivocally," ist revolution. Kamal Boullata ana­ pants in the panels included prominent another trial has contradicted testimony the statement continued, "all forms of lyzed the formal and thematic elements Arab-American professors and a num­ given at previous trials. None of the racial discrimination from anti-Semi­ of the New Palestinian art in terms of ber of foreign guests. witnesses has yet been able to substan­ tism to white racism," and it "calls upon their origin in the Palestinian people's tially link any of the defendants to any all people of the world who believe in Tariq Ali, the Pakistani Trotskyist experience of utter defeat and now, rev­ of the alleged acts of arson or riot. the right of national communities to de­ who is editor of the British journal, The olutionary awakening. iGug's acquittal and Catlow's mini­ termine their destinies and who are op­ Black Dwarf, had been invited to de­ On the evening of Dec. 6, a demon­ mal sentence at least make it more like­ posed to imperialism to rally behind the liver the keynote speech, but by an arbi­ stration, called by the AA UG was held ly that Russell's conviction will be either Palestinian revolution and render it full trary ruling of the U.S. State Depart­ in front of the Sheraton Cadillac Hotel overturned on appeal, or his sentence moral, political and material support." ment he was denied entry into the coun­ to protest the annual Bonds for Israel reduced. Russell has already been trans­ The statement emphasized the need for try. In his place, Ahmad Eqbal, cur­ Campaign. Some 300 people partici­ ferred from Ft. Dix to Ft. Meade, Mary­ social revolution throughout the Arab rently with the Adlai Stevenson Institute pated in the spirited demonstration, in­ land, separating him from his wife and world: "The Association calls upon the in Chicago and an editor of the French­ cluding many young Arab students and son, and making consultation with his revolutionary forces in the Arab com­ language magazine AfricAsia, delivered supporters of various U.S. radical or­ lawyers difficult. munity to coordinate their efforts with the main banquet address. ganizations.