Chinese gov't cracks down on dissent • • •• ·• 6 TH£ 'Brigadistas' help harvest Nicaraguan coffee • 9 Union, church figures back Apri125 action • 11

A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 51/NO. S FEBRUARY 6, 1987 75 CENTS

Coup attempt 30,000 march in Georgia highlights to advance Black rights crJsJS• • m• Philippines BY KEN MILlNER CUMMING, Ga.- More than 30,000 BY FRED FELDMAN people marched here January 24 in a An unsuccessful coup attempt by Philip­ "Brotherhood , March," the largest civil pine military units, coming five days after rights demonstration in the South in over the murder of 18 demonstrators by troops two decades. The outpouring came to this and police, deepened the crisis wracking tiny town in Forsyth County on less than a the government of President Corazon week's notice, after a violent attack here on Aquino. It highlighted the intensifying so­ 75 peaceful demonstrators January 17. cial conflicts in the country. · The sea.of marchers poured down Old Buford Highway to the Forsyth County The coup attempt began January 27 when rightist military units supporting Courthouse and held a rally ~ exactly · what marchers had been prevented from ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos attemp­ doing the week"before as a result of the Ku ted to seize the Defense Ministry, two air bases, the main power company, and radio Klux Klan .attack and the lack of police protection. and television stations. BecauSe of massive outrage at the Klan Four soldiers were reported killed as violence, police officials and'the state gov­ units defending the government pushed ernment were under big pressure to protect back the attack on the Villamor air .base the second march. Over 3,000 police and near Manila. sofdiers were on duty, including 1 , 700 On January 27 Amiy Chief of Staff Fidel Georgia National Guardsmen called out by Ramos publicly negotiated for the sUrren­ Gov. Joe Frank Harris and hundreds of der of holdouts who had occupied a Marilla state and local cops. radio station. In a switch observed by many who have "The armed forces of the Philippines is · marched for civil rights before, the fully in control of the military situation and Guardsmen and cops, who formed a ring supports the government," he said. around the entire march route, had their backs to the marchers and their eyes on the The antigovernment units included jeering riffraff who gathered to scream, members of the Guardians, a military fra­ "Go home niggers," ternity involved in a previous coup attempt The huge size 9f the march stunned the last July when soldiers seized a Manila · nicisls ~ who had mobilized ffornarourldlhe hotel and proclaimed a Marcos crony . as country. Waving Confederate flags and president. After surrendering at that time, spitting ouf racist and anti-Semitic epi­ the coup plotters were allowed to return to thets, the countermobilization peaked at duty with hardly a reprimand. about 1,000. Nor was any action taken last November The racists included many youths, when . officers linked to then'-Defense women and children, as well as veteran Minister Juan Ponce Enrile openly boasted white supremacists such as J.B. Stoner, of their plans to strike at the government. just out of jail for bombing an unoccupied This time Aquino said that "the full force Black church in Alabama in 1958. All of of the. law" would be brought against those them fell into stunned silence as Blacks and Massive throng of antiracist marchers approaches courthouse in Cumming, seat of involved. wl;tites with linked arms marched for as far Georgia's Forsyth County. as the eye could see in either direction. "This attempt reflects the inability of According to a report in the Atlanta some elements, both in the military and in Journal-Constitution, Shane Pruitt, lean­ over one-third of the demonstrators were Chamber of Commerce, personally greeted the civilian sector, to face the fact that ci­ ing on the staff of a Confederate flag as the white. thousands at the beginning of the march. vilian government is here to stay and that marchers approached, blurted out, "God Leading the protest were Coretta Scott The massive turnout on January 24 nothing will derail our efforts to establish Almighty, man, look at all those people." King, Southern Christian Leadership Con­ showed that the racist violence televised full constitutional democracy in the com­ As the awesome crowd turned in the direc­ ference (SCLC) President Joseph Lowery, around the world the week before had ing plebiscite." tion of the courthouse, he said, "Man, Atlanta City Councilman Hosea Williams, stirred widespread outrage. She was referring to the February 2 they're still coming. Look at that." · National Association for the Advancement Millions had watched in disbelief as over plebiscite on a constitution drawn up by a The sheer volume of the protest delayed of Colored People (NAACP) President 400 Klansmen and their supporters commission she appointed. Rightists par­ the departure from the Martin Luther King, Benjamin Hooks; and U.S. Congressman Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 13 Jr. Center iJi Atlanta for over four hours John Lewis. that Saturday morning. When the caravan They were joined by prominent figures fmally got under way, some 4,000 people from across the country, including Demo­ were left behind without transportation. cratic presidential hopeful Gary Hart, U.S. Prominent figures celebrate At one point the line of vehicles going to Sen. SamNunn(D-Ga.), U.S. Sen. Wyche Cumming stretched for three miles along Fowler (D-Ga.), Dick Gregory, Atlanta Georgia Highway 400. Upon arrival, the Mayor Andrew Young, and many others. publication of Castro book over 300 buses and hundreds of cars and A welcoming committee for the mar­ vans unloaded for almost three hours. The chers included Nunn, Cumming Mayor BY MARGARET JAYKO troduced during the course of the meeting last marcher did not reach the courthouse Ford Gravitt, and County Commission NEW YORK- Many prominent fig­ and many messages were read. until the one and a half hour rally had Chairman Leroy Hubbard. Roger Crow, ures in the fight for social change in this Mary-Alice Waters, member of the ended. March organizers estimated that president-elect of the Forsyth County country and internationally attended a board of directors of Pathfinder, chaired meeting and reception here on January 23 the gathering. She pointed to one of the to celebrate the publication of Nothing Can central themes of the evening: the impor­ Stop the Course of History. The book con­ tance of this book for advancing the right Hearing ;tteld on gov't spy riles tains the edited transcript of an interview of the people of the United States to learn with Cuban President Fidel Castro con­ the truth about Cuba. · BYJOHNSTUDER tion." ducted by Rep. Mervyn Dymally and Prof. It is also a blow, she said, against the de NEW YORK-The political rights case When he issued his decision, Judge Jeffrey Elliot. It was published by Path­ facto travel ban that prevents most U.S. re­ against government spying and disruption, Griesa mandated further proceedings to finder Press. sidents from visiting Cuba. And it helps won by the Socialist Workers Party and "identify precisely what documents and re­ Dennis Rivera, executive vice-president make more difficult U.S. government at­ Young Socialist Alliance last August, was cords fall into this category." He noted that of Local 1199 of the Hospital and Health tempts to blockade information coming back in U.S. District Court here January at stake in the arguments over this injunc­ Care Employees Union, welcomed the-275 from Nicaragua, South Africa, and else­ 27. tion is the disposition of "the enormous people in attendance. His union donated where. At issue is the one remaining uncom­ files in the Federal Government relating to the use of the Martin Luther King Labor Mervyn Dymally, the chair of the Con­ pleted section of the decision issued by the SWP, the YSA and certain of their Center for the evening. gressional Black Caucus and a ranking Judge Thomas Griesa on Aug. 25, 1986. members." Keith Wright, special assistant to Man­ · member of the House Foreign Affairs After finding the 45-year government The January 27 hearing represented a big . hattan Borough President David Dinkins Committee, was scheduled to be the key­ disruption operation against the socialist step forward in advancing the fight for an · and his Harlem coordinator, brought greet­ note speaker, but illness prevented him organizations and their members illegal, effective injunction. Since the decision ings to the meeting on behalf of Dinkins. from coming. His legislative assistant, the judge announced that he would grant an was issued five months ago, one off-the-re­ A significant number of Black, Carib­ Marwan Burgan, ably represented him, injunction against government use of secret cord conference was held last November in bean, and Latin American activists at­ and brought greetings on his behalf. files that were "obtained illegally or de­ the judge's chambers to discuss how to tended the event. New York State Assemblyman Roger veloped from illegally obtained informa- Continued on Page S A broad range of special guests were In- Continued on Page 4 Steelworkers voice views on·USX pact

BY HOLLY HARKNESS cured stronger language about the use of tract before it was taken to the member­ 'from the very frrst day. The contract sum­ CIDCAGO - Skepticism, confusion, outside contractors on jobs inside the mills. ship. Larry Regan, Local 1014 president, mary spells out requirements for a three­ anger, resignation, and relief. These were "Maintenance or repair work or work as­ was one of four presidents who opposed week "restart period" where job classifica­ the mixed emotions of steelworkers as they sociated with the fabricating of goods, ma­ the proposed settlement. Thirty-eight voted tions can be totally ignored and no grie­ considered their v_ote on the proposed con­ terials, or equipment purchased or leased in favor. "I am against concessions," vances may be filed over seniority, hours tract between their union and the USX cannot be contracted out unless it passes Regan said, "we gave enough in 1983. of work, overtime, vacation scheduling, or Corp. the reasonableness test," the summary Back then they said our jobs would be se­ foremen working. booklet states. The "reasonableness test" is Informational meetings were held cure. We have lost 7,000 jobs [at the Gary a list of 11 criteria none of which are listed The 31 ,000 steelworkers eligible to vote around the country the week of January Works] since then. So much for job secu­ in summary. rity.;' have until January 31 to mail their ballots 19-24 to explain the provisions of the set­ to the USWA International headquarters in tlement to· the United Steelworkers of "I don't want you to think that this is Other workers were confused over the Pittsburgh. America (USWA) membership, A vote to over, no matter what the contract says," combination of job classifications. Hank ratify the contract would end the six~month George Vrhoretis, Local 1014 grievance Vernia, a welder in Local1014, said, "I am lockout of 21,000 workers. committee chairman, told union members more confused than ever over this. We still Holly Harkness is a member of USWA at a January 20 Gary meeting. - Militant reporters talked to workers out­ don't know ifwe have our jobs. We don't Local 7999 in Chicago: This article is side the contract meetings and at skeleton ''They'll use their lawyers and try to know who will be doing what job." based on reportsfrom steelworkers Omari picket lines the union rilaintained in D­ make this contract say what they want it to Musa and John Votava in Chicago; Louise linois, Indiana, Ohio, PeMsylvania, and say," he added. "We'llhave a fight on our Union in weaker position Halverson in Pittsburgh; Ed Fruit and Utah. Most workers predicted the contract hands no matter what we do." ·There's no doubt the union will reenter Mary Zins in Salt Lake City; and from would be· approved but expressed resent­ Local union presidents voted on the con- the mills in a considerably weaker position Susan Lamont in Cleveland. ment over the concessions they would be forced to accept. The four-year contract would cut wages and benefits by $2.45 an hour and im­ Meat-packers reject Iowa Beef offer mediately eliminate 1,300 jobs. Three holi­ days will be lost. During the first two years BYDIANESHUR Fuentes, a worker with 10 years at IBP, of the plant said, "When the company of the contract, workers will also give up a SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. - Over explained; "We should at least get back the reopens the plant and tries to run scabs, week of vacation time and an additional 2,300 meat-packers voted overwhelmingly $1.07 we gave up in 1982, and we need we'll fight. What other choice do we holiday. Shift premiums will be cut by a here January 25 to reject Iowa Beef Proces­ better insurance: It will take ·a fight," have?" third. sors' contract proposal. This was the sec­ Fuentes continued, "I know from the strike Closing the press conference, UFCW Every Steelworkers member eligible to ond time the workers turned down IBP's in 1982." Packinghouse Division head Lewie Ander­ vote was sent a ballot along with abooklet demands for concessions. Txanx, a worker born in Laos who has son said the union is trying to mobilize out­ summarizing the agreement. The booklet · The members of United Food and Com­ been at IBP for four years, said, "The fore­ side support for the locked-out workers contained a brief introduction by the mercial Workers union (UFCW) Local 222 man tries to hurry us up too much and from other unions, community organiza­ union's negotiating committee urging ap­ have been locked out at IBP's nearby many people end up quitting. I don't speak tions, and from farmers. proval of the pact. . Dakota City plant since December 14. English too good," he said, "but I know Anderson also announced that demon­ Over 1 , 700 of those in attendance voted to that the union helps us." strations will be organized against Occi­ Encouraged to retire reject IBP's proposed pact. Only 38 voted Looking ahead, another 10-year veteran dental Petroleum, IBP's parent company. In a move designed to encourage older to accept it. workers to retire early, "special pensions" At a press conference following the bal­ with a $400 monthly supplement will be loting, Local 222 Business Agent Bill granted to each worker taking early retire­ Schmitz explained that a large group who Protest held at Minn. Hormel plant ment. One employee on layoff is supposed attended the meeting refused to vote be­ to be recalled for every two who retire with cause they were furious over IBP manage­ BY LYNNEFAIN Afterwards, the protesters marched b.ack special pensions. ment's allegation that workers were reject­ AUSTIN, Minn. -One hundred and to the Support Group office where Ray Ro­ fifty meat-packers and their supporters gers from Corporate Campaign, Inc. Many workers, however, were skeptical ing the contract because_of ignorance and confusion. demonstrated here J~uary 21. ·The protest spoke. CCI organized support for United that they would ever get back to work. marked the frrst anniversary of the ·Min­ Food and Commercial Workers ' union "Nobody with less than 20 years' seniority Schmitz said the union had agreed to nesota N~tional Guard being sent to town Local P-9 during their strike against Hor­ is going to get back in," a worker from take the second vote because "we wanted .to allow Geo. A. Hormel & Co.-to:reopen mel. Local 1104 in Lorain, Ohio, said,_Mqst ­ -to prevent the,eomp8ny ft:,o.mhiding be{bi:td '' its .Austjifpacking plant here with" strike- Rogers shated his experience from tour­ workers at the Geneva Works in Orem, phony issues, from being able to say the breakers, · ing the country talking to unionists and Utah, believe that mill will be closed soon. workers really want to return to work. We Over 800 of the former strikers have not others about the Austin meat-packers' fight. "You can see the handwriting on the wall," want to discuss the real issues: wages, gotten their jobs back. . ''There -is support for this st:rllggle said Ray, a bricklayer with 31 years in. working conditions, insurance, the two-tier At 5:30a.m., demonstrators met at the around the country, and we, the Corporate ''This is just my opinion," he continu~, wage system, the 32-hour guaranteed office of the Austin United Support Group. Campaign, will be with you through the "but this time the union stuck out its chin work-week," he explained. Carrying flashlights · and signs, they entire struggle, it's not over," he said. and said take a whack, and the union didn't marched to the Hormel plant's south gate. The vote Came after a federal mediator's Later, 85 protesters laid a wreath on the give one lick back. Now we have people at Spirits were high during the demonstra­ attempt to get the negotiations going again. monument Local P-9 retirees erected to the point that they're hungry and will take tion, which received coverage in the local anything." It was at a meeting with the company on media. · · three members of an ABC Television news January 21 .that IBP offici;tls charged that crew who were killed in a helicopter crash Austin United Support Group leader Contrac~ meetings Local 222's membership was not really while traveling to Austin to cover.. the Na­ Barbara Collette explained that the purpose knowledgeable· about the contract. tional Guard occupation. As workers filed into the Genesis Con­ of the demonstration was to protest the Na­ vention Center in Gary, Indiana, to hear IBP's most serious threat is that the con­ tional Guard being sent to Austin "because Preparations irre under way for a national the USWA leadership's explanation of the tract offer is only good until February 1. it was an attack on working people, and to rally in Austin on March 14. Publicity has contract,. they were making angry com­ The company didn't say what it has in store let people know that 'the struggle is not gone out to unionists and supporters around ments about what they had read. But the for February 2, but many workers looking over." the country. The day's activities will in­ crowd sat subdued for several hours as they back on past strikes assume this means at­ The line, of protesters· stretched 200 clude a parade and a rally. For more infor­ -listened to a discussion about the contract tempting to reopen the plant with scabs. yards facing the entrance to the Hormel mation contact the Austin United Support language. As workers streamed out of the conven­ plant. Despite the cold weather the demon­ Group at P.O. Box 396, Austin, Minn. The union leadership says they have se- tion center some stopped to talk. Homer stration lasted an hour. 55912 or call (507) 437-4110. The Militant tells the truth - Subscribe today! The Militant The Militant is written in the Closing news date: January 28, 1987 Coeditors: MARGARET JA YKO interests of. workers and farm­ . and DOUG JENNESS ers. Every week it tells the truth Circulation Director: MALIK·MIAH about the war Washington and Nicaragua Bureau Director: CINDY JAQUITH the employers are waging Business Manager: JIM WHITE _ Editorial Staff: Susan Apstein, Fred Feldm~. Ernest against working people at home .· Harsch, Arthur Hughes, Harvey McArthllr (Ni,caragua), and abroad. We provide Robert Kopec (Nicaragua), Hany Ring, Norton Sanciler. frrsthand coverage of important Published weekly except one week in August and the last struggles in other countries, week of December by the Militant (ISSN 0026-3885), 410 such.as Angola, Haiti, and the West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Telephone: Editorial Of­ flee, (212) 243.,6392; Telex, 497-4278 ECG UI; Busines~­ Philippines. In addition, regu­ fice, (212) 929-3486. lar on-the-scene reports come Correspondence concerning subscriptions or c:banges from our Nicaragua Bureau. of address should be addressed to The Militant Business Enclosed Is Oflk:e, 410 West St., New York, N;Y; 10014. . Subscribe today. . ·---- 0 $3.00 for 12 weeks. new readers I Second-class postage paid at New York, N ~Y . POST­ Ifyou already have a subscrip­ MASTER: Send address changes to The Militant, 410 West 0 $6.00 for 12 weeks, renewals tion, by renewing now for six 0 $12.00 for •lx month• St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Subscriptions: U.S., Canada, months or a year you'll receive a Latin America: for one-year subscription send $24, drawn 0 $24.00 for one year I free issue of New International on a U.S. bank, to above address. ~Y frrst-class (airmail), Na~ ------(cover price $5.00), a magazine send $60. Britain, Ireland, Continental Europe, Africa: Addraa of Marxist politics and theory send £25 check or international money order made out to 1 City------State Zip _ ____ Pathfinder Press and send to Pathfinder, 47 The Cut, London published in New York. The cur­ SE1 8LL, England. Australia, Asia, Pacific: send Austra­ Union/School/Organization __-_ - I Telephon~ rent issue features the article, lian $60 to Pathfinder Press, P.O. Box 37, Leichhardt, Syd­ "The Coming Revolution in ney, NSW 2040, Australia. ' Send to' THE MILITANT, 410 West St., New York; N.Y. 10014 Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily represent I South Africa," by Jack Barnes. the Militant's views, These. are expressed in -editorials. < .. ~·· ;

2 The Militant ' February 6, 1987 . White.House urges more funding for 'contra' terrorists BY ERNEST HARSCH probe into this recruitment and into reports Though shaken by the continuing revela­ that CIA operatives were also shipping tions of the Iran armS-<"ontra crisis, the arms to tJte contras, the January 15 Wall White House has not abandoned its efforts Street Journal reported. But the U.S. attor­ to drum up support for the Nicaraguan ney's office in Miami, where many of the counterrevolutionaries. contra-support activities are based, stalled In his State of the Union address "January until later that year. 27, President Ronald Reagan declared, "I Reagan's 'findings' will fight any effort to shut off their [Nica­ raguan contras'] lifeblood and consign Besides recruiting mercenaries outside them to death, defeat, or a life without the·agency, the CIA also gave the contras direct assistance. freedom. There mu$t be no Soviet beach~ head in Central America." The supposedly legat basis for this was. Several key administration officials provided by a secret intelligence order - called a "finding" - signed by Reagan on made public appeals on the contras' !Jehalf Reagan with cootra leader Adolfo,Calero in 1986. Evidence is JDOUDtin~ that U.S. January 23, at the, start of new prop­ Jan. 9, 1986._ According to the Jan. 14, a ; 1981,'Washtngton('ost, this authorized the flight crews who suppUed contras .J!fth weapons also smuggled drugs into this coun- aganda push designed to portray them as try. . "freedom fighters" worthy of U.S. assis­ CIA to provide intelligence advice, train­ tance. This comes at a time when some leg­ ing, and communications equipment to the islators are considering an effort to block contras~ totaling $13 million last year. CIA operations if the president certified Besides Israel, which has been used by $40 million in aid to the contras, the por­ Although Congress h~ formally barred that they were in the interests of U.S. "na­ Washington to send arms to both Iran and tion of last year's $100 million in congres­ direct U.S. military aid to the contras at the tional security" and if specified committees the contras, this circuitous arms sales and sionally approved assistance that has not time, the "finding" took advantage of Con­ of Congress were notified. supply network also drew in several o~er already been disbursed. gress' decision to make an exception of In practice, this method of governance governments. Frank Carlucci, Reagan's new national "intelligence and communications aid:" by decree has enabled the administration to It was previously known that U.S. offi­ security adviser, argued in a speech in That exception was so broadly worded, one get around certain laws formally restricting cials had solicited the Brunei and Saudi Washington against "terminating our sup­ intelligence official told the Post, that a covert CIA operations. Even the congres­ Arabian regimes for aid to the eontras. Re­ port for the democratic resistance"- the CIA officer could "do just about anything sional notification requirements have not, cent information obtained by congressional · White House's euphemism for the contra except pull the trigger." in fact, been adhered to. committees, and reported in the January 23 terrorists. Elliott Abrams, assistant secre­ It was a similar presidential finding, A recently uncovered memorandum by Wqshington Post, also cited the govern­ tary of state for inter-American affairs, signed by Reagan just a week later, that North on routing the U.S, arms sales to_ ments of Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. · claimed that it would be "absolutelycrazy" provided the official authorization for the Iran via Israel explicitly suggested to to abandon the contras. secret arms sales to Iran. Reagan that "under an appropriate finding, Little is known about how much, if any­ The use of such presidential findings you could authorize the CIA to sell arms to thing, the latter three governments actually Coadne dealers was first given legal status in the Intelli­ countries outside the provisions of the laws provided. But the sultan of Brunei is re­ But a front-page article in the January 20 gence Oversight Act of 1980, which per­ and reporting requirements for foreign mil­ ported to have kicked in $10 million, and New York Times did not help the White mitted the White House to authorize covert itary sal~s . " the Saudi monarchy some $20 million. House's campaign any. According to the report, investigators of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have uncovered "convincing evi­ How Watergate scandal led to dence" that the U.S. flight crews that dropped arms to the Nicaraguan contras "were smuggling cocaine~ and .Qther drogs on.their return trips to theUnited States." Nixon's forced ,resignation Many of the fliglits went thr9ughEl Sal­ vador's restricted llopango air base. When BY FRED FELDMAN in the Watergate break-in, · including editors of the New York Times, Time crew me~bers operating out of El Salvador (Second of three parts) throqgh payment of hush money to the cap­ magazine, and other publications called on learned of the DEA investigation early last The frnt article in this series, published tured burglars. Nixon to resign. fall, one of them warned that they had last week,·traced the opening stages of the The White House. was further damaged Nixon backed down. He agreed to tum Whi~ House protection, specifically men­ "Watergate crisis." This included the reve­ by Nixon allies, such as former White over nine tapes. Leon Jaworski was ap-­ tioning Lt. Col. Oliver North, the National lations about illegal government spying House Chief of StaffH.R. Haldeman. Mil­ pointed as the new. special prosecutor. Security Council staffer who has played ·a and other crimes that began in J_uly 1972 lions watched on television as Haldeman But administration officials now claimed central role in both the Iran arms sales and when five burglars were arrested in the of­ answered 150 questions with, "I can't re­ that two of the nine tapes did not exist. An the contra supply network. fices of the Democratic National Commit­ member" or "I have no recollection." 18-minute erasure was found on a third - Although the DEA' s investigation was tee in the Watergate complex in Washing­ But Nixon insisted he was innocent. It eliminating parts of a discussion between not formally cloSed, its agents stopped pur­ ton, D.C. appeared that the issue could boil down to Nixon and Haldeman. suing it. Now, however, several of the The article concluded with the exposure his word against Dean's. Special Prosecutor Jaworski went to committees set up to probe the Iran-contra of the involvement of top government offi­ Then a decisive source of evidence court in April 1974 demanding tapes and affair are again looking at the drug:smug­ cials in the burglary and cover-up, the turned up. A White House aide ad~tted in documents of 64 White House discussions. gling evidence. opening of hearings by a special Senate July that, at Nixon's request, he had in­ The administration then released 1 ,200 On Jjllluary 26 George Morales, a drug committee, and President Richard Nixon's stalled a taping system in the White House. pages of edited tape transcripts. smuggler, pleaded guilty in a U.S. district reluctant decision to approve the May 18, Since 1970, every discussion and phone Even sanitized to eliminate outright court in Aorida to operating a criminal en­ 1973, appointment of a special federal pro­ call had been taped. proof of criminal actions, the transcripts terprise in providing money and supplies to secutor. Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox now were devastating to Nixon. His conversa­ the contras. His planes were also being The investigations increasingly centered · asked for several tapes. Nixon refused, tions, peppered with racist remarks, re­ used to import cocaine. In return for the on the issues of Nixon's personal role in claiming a right to secrecy - or, as he vealed· an administration· with no qualms guilty plea, the government agreed to rec­ the crimes of the White House staff. As called it, "executive privilege." Cox went about . trampling on democratic rights or ommend a 20-year prison term rather than Republican Senator Howard Baker put it: to court to force Nixon to tum over the hiding the truth. . a life sentence. "What did the president know, and when tapes. When Senate investigators compared the did he know it?" In · October, as this battle heated up, few tapes they had received with the trans­ A CIA mercenary talks In June 1973 John Dean, a former White Vice-president Spiro Agnew pleaded guilty cripts of them published by the White In recent weeks, information gathered . House aide who jumped ship when he sus­ to tax evasion charges and resigned. Nixon House, they found discrepancies. The by federal ~d congressional investigators pected he was being set up as a scapegoat, chose Representative Gerald Ford to re- March 22 transcript, for instance; deleted has also shown that the CIA's direct role in testified at televised hearings of the Senate place him. _ . th~s March22, 1973, declaratiqn by Ni,xon recruiting, training, and arming the contras committee. Federal Judge John Sirica, who had tried to his aides on the investigations: "I don't has been ' mOre extensive than either the Dean discussed the _"Huston plan," : the .burglars, ordefied the .White::tJouse to give a shit what happens. I want. you to White H~qse or the CIA itself have ac- which stemmed from a June 1970 meeting turn the tapes over to ,.ftim. Att appeals stonewall it, let them plea(~ ':, the · Fifth knowledged so far. · - of Nixon with the heads' of the FBI, CIA, court upheld his ruling ~ . . · .. _Amendment, cover up, or an}1hing else if Although it is only now being reported, National Security Agency, and Defense In­ On October 20, 1973, AleJ(ander Haig it will save it - save the whole plan." a U.S. mercenary told FBI and Justice De­ telligence Agency. The meeting, which -who succeeded Haldeman as Nixon's On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court partment investigators in March 1986 that followed the nationwide explosion of pro­ chief of staff- ordered Attorney General ruled that Nixon must tuni over the tapes to he had been recruited by the CIA in Oc­ tests that followed the U.S. invasion of Elliott Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson Jaworski. When he did so, tlley proved tober 1984 to form a Green Beret-style­ Cambodia ·(now called Kampuchea) in refused and resigned. Deputy Attorney what almost everyone by then was sure of special forces unit to fight with the contras. May 1970, led to the adoption of a plan General William Ruckelshaus followed - that the p~sident had controlled the The mercenary, Jack Terrell, was a mem­ calling for burglaries, opening of mail, and Richardson's example. cover-up from the start. ber of the ultraright Civilian Materiel As­ other activities against foes of U.S. policy. After finding a Justice Department offi­ At the end of July, the House Judiciary sistance, l "private" organization involved The report, approved by Nixon in July, cial who would carry out the order, the Committee approved articles of impeach­ in raising funds and supplies for the con­ pointed out that these activities were White House announced that the special ment against Nixon. Impeachment in the teas. He recruited 10 U.S. mercenaries, but "clearly illegal." prosecutor's office had been abolished. House, and removal from office in a trial they were expelled from Honduras before ''There was also maintained what was In .the wake of what became known as by the Senate, now seemed certain. they could see any action, Tertelltold the called an enemies' list," Dean said, ''which the October 20 "Saturday Night Mas-. Nixon announced his resignation on investigators. was rather extensive and continually being sacre," 3 million letters and telegrams of Aug. 8, 1974. On September9 he got a full This operation came at a time when Con­ updated." - protest flooded Congress. Most called for pardon from his successor, Gerald Ford­ .gress had explicitly barred any U.S. aid to Most damaging of all from the Nixon's impeachment. The House of Rep­ guaranteeing that he could not be prose­ the contras, and was thus illegal. standpoint of the senators, Dean said that resentatives voted November 15 to have cuted for crimes he committed during his Some investigators had urged in early Nixon had been directly involved in efforts the Judiciary Committee investigate presidency. 1986 tha,t a -federal grand jury launch a to cover-up the role of government officials whether impeachment was called for. The , (To be continued)

February 6, -l987 Tlie''MUitaDt 3 Prominent figureS hail Castro book

Continued from front page along the course history is dictating today Green, chair of the state Black and Puerto as the way forward," Seigle continued. Rican Legislative Caucus, spoke first. He It is this common objective that explains singled O\!,t the book's chapter on what why Pathfinder publishes the collected motivates fighters for social justice and on writings and speeches of Nelson Mandela, the qUalities of leadership. Maurice Bishop, leaders of the Nicaraguan · Making an observation echoed by sev­ Sandinista National Liberation Front, and eral other speakers, he contrasted CastrO Castro, as well as U.S. workers' leaders with, the PQliti~al leadership of the United such as James P. Cannon and Farrell States; wtnch j$ "incapable of understand­ Dobbs, and Malcolm X, "who showed the ing. (he:aynaniics- of history." way forward in the fight for Black libera­ The book, Green explained, comes at an tion at:td the fight for a nonracial' society important time for young activists in this here and everywhere." country. He specifically . referred to the It is to aid this process of learning from thousands of youths who had marched in previous struggles that Pathfinder has em­ New· York earlier in the week against the barked on one of its most ambitious pro­ racist lynching in Howard Beach in De­ jects ever - putting in print for the first cember. 1bey "need this book as a guide" time the entire record of the early years of to be able to study how other people have the Communist International. won their.freedom so they can do the same An increasing number of political fight­ thing here at home, he said. ers in the United States are part of this in­ A standing ovation greeted Fred Dube, a ternational drawing together, said Seigle, representative of the African National Con­ like those who are saying "enough to gress of SOuth Africa· and professor of Af­ lynchings such as the one in Howard rican Studies and Psychology at the State Beach, enough to places in this country · Univ~rsity of New York at Stony Brook; · where Blacks aren't supposed to go such as 'Freedom f'Jghters love Fidel' .. . Forsyth County in Georgia, enough to apartheid and Washington's refusal to Referring to the Cuban president, as a break all ties with the racist South African "cpmrade·in arms," Dube said','''1fyou are regime, enough to the U.S.-run mercenary ·a freedom fighter, if youare a IOvet of-de­ war against Nicaragua, and enough to the mocracy and freedom, theri~ of c®rse, you U.S. government dictating what countries just love Fidel Castro~·~ ,, . · ,. U.S. residents can visit and who can't be But if "you are.. an oppres~;. -_ a - rilcist, invited here." and an imperiillist~then)tou hafu·Fidel Cas- tro." - .. '· _ , . : photos . Among the prominent individuals who attended and were introduced during the "Why is this man who is leading a small Fred Dube, ANC (top left); Marwim Burgan, legislative assistant to Rep. Mervyn little country like Cuba so much of a threat .Dymally (top right); Sandra Levinson, Center for Cuban Studies (bottom left); and eveni_ng were: Fernando Garcia Bielsa, Elio Savon, and Gilberto Herrera­ to" the U.S. government, Dube asked. It's Larry. Seigle, Patbf'md~r Press (bottom right). Ramirez, first secretaries of the Cuban Obviously not out ofany fear of a Cuban in­ vasion of the United States. Rather, Castro mission to the United Nations; Nguyen Si Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College and in Minneapoli_s promoting the book. represents a "bad example"of "people who Xurig, _third secretary of the Vietnamese chair of the City University of New York The fj.nal speaker was Larry Seigle, the are free .to decide for themselves," who mission; and Hinyangerwa P. Asheeke, committee that arranges faculty and stu­ member of Pathfinder's board of directors deputy permanent representative of the . have banished illiteracy, hunger, and ra­ dent exchanges with Cuba. who worked most closely with the authors South West Africa People's Organisation cism. Bonilla described his and others' unsuc­ on preparing the manuscript for publica­ mission to the United Nations; Dessima Dube praised Cuba's agreement to send cessful efforts to get visas for Cuban pro­ tion. Seigle also represented Pathfinder at Williams,' former representative to the Or­ soldiers to Angola in 1975 to .defend that fessors to visit the United States. the Third Internati,onal Havana Book_ Fair ganization of American · States of the country against a South African invasion. Bohilla stressed that the ·section of the in Cuba last September. Sandra Levinson, director of the Center People's Revolutionary Government of book on the debt of the semicolonial coun- Grenada, and a leader of the Grenada for Cuban Studies in New York, warned . tries merits special attention. l'be fac~ aJ1d Power of ideas Foundation; Esmeralda .Brown , coor

4 The tftilitint February 6, 1987 Hearing held on .barring·.··gov't use of spy files on socialists

Continued from front page days and 12,000 bug-days, from 1943 to governmental agencies. These were then proceed in arguing out the scope of the in­ 1963. He noted that "the installation of filed under dozens of different headings, · junction. At that conference, the court bugs generally required a surreptitious under the names of both political groups asked the two sides to confer and return in entry into private premises." and individual persons, or in other files a month with some progress. Until the The judge ruled, however, that accord­ specifically meant to be hidden from poten­ hearing today, the government has stalled ing to federal law the SWP was not entitled tial disclosures, such as "Do Not File'' and there had beeri no further motion. to money damages from the government files. At the January 27 hearing Judge Griesa for bugging and wiretapping the plaintiffs. One example was provided recently to ordered both sides to present their views to For violations of the SWP and YSA' s the Political Rights Defense Fund, the the court in two weeks. constitutional and legal rights in the other committee organized to publicize, gather The judge's decision in August found three areas- their disruption operations, support, and raise funds for the prosecution that the bulk of the contents of the govern­ break-ins, and· use of spies - the judge of the case. ment's files are either the direct products of awarded them $264,000 in damages. "The A reporter in California provided · the or derived from "four types of FBI activity, evidence in this case demonstrates," he PRDF with a copy of an FBI memorandum - disruption, surreptitious entries or ruled, "that the three types of FBI opera­ sent from its New York office to San Fran­ burglaries, use of informants, and elec­ tions here under diScussion were directed cisco. This document was never released to tronic surveillance (telephone wiretaps and against entirely lawful and peaceful politi­ the SWP during the course of the lawsuit, 'bugs' in offices and dwellings." cal activities.of the SWP." but other materials demonstrate that the These are the broad categories of gov­ Using these unlawful means, the FBI FBI obtained the materials described in it ernment activity reviewed by the judge in amassed hundreds of thousands of files of by burglarizing the nati()nal office of the his ruling and found to be unconstitutional raw data, such as informer reports listing YSA in New York in 1965. and unlawful. all those who attended a party campaign This document, which repririts copies of The vast bulk of the raw data amassed by rally, copies of forum mailing lists stolen letters sent to the. YSA office, reports on the government was the product of their in­ from party headquarters, and reports on both the political and personal affairs of a formers. Judge Griesa fol1nd that the FBI disruption efforts. · number of YSA members. These docu­ had 1,300 informers spying on the SWP The FBI then used these files containing ments, the memorandum shows, were and YSA, who took 12,600 of their docu­ names, political information, and personal placed in 13 different files in the San Fran- ments between 1960 and 1976 alone. gossip to generate tens of thousands of ad­ cisco FBI office alone. . The judge found that these spies focused ditional files. Evaluations of party activ­ At issue in the unfolding. court baitle on two areas: (1) ''thousands of reports re­ ities and plans were produced. Proposals over the injunction ·mandated by Judge cording peaceful, lawful activity," and.(2) for further disruption efforts were·drafted. Griesa is· whether the ·FBI and other gov­ "a great deal of . . . personal information Materials were as'sembled to prepare sum­ emnient defendants will be prevented from Militant/Diane Jicobs about the SWP and YSA members, and mary characterizations ·of the SWP and using these fruits of their illegal operations Judge Thomas Griesa their . families," including "marital or YSA. These characterizations were ~stri­ to continue to victimize the SWP, YSA, cohabitational status, marital strife, health, buted to dozens of other government agen~ and the thousands of individuals the gov­ travel plans, and personal habits." cies for the purpose of singling out and vic­ ernment has associated with them in their at its command to attempt to narrow the Judge Griesa explained that the infor­ timizing anyone associated with these or­ ftles all over the country. reach of the court's order, neutralize its ef­ mers provided information on th_e plaintiffs ganizations. The longer that this issue remains unset­ fect, and weaken the overall impact of the "so that the FBI could decide where, and Names of party supporters were com~ tled, the longer such harm will contiriue to judge's histone ruling. · by what means, to attempt to disrupt piled. They were disseminated to other occur - even though the judge has ruled The stakes in this fight extend to all po­ them." agencies for inclusion on various lists, such that it should be stopped. And the govern­ litical and union activists who want to or­ The judge concluded that the use of in­ as the State Department's "Lookout List," ment will.have more time to seek ways to ganize. and.act to defend themselves from formerS ''was wholly incompatible with the the Immigration and Naturalization Ser­ get around the reach of an injunction. The government and corporate policy. Leonard SWP's First Amendment right to freely as­ vice's "Watch List," or the FBI's own SWP and YSA are entitled to, and need, Boudin, lawyer for the SWP, explained, semble and freely speak on political mat­ "Administrative Index" of individuals to be protection now. "The question of what happens to files of a ters." rounded up if the president declared a na­ Judge Griesa ruled January 27 that both political nature that were obtained through A second major source the government tional emergency. the government and the SWP must return illegal means has never been addressed used, to put together files on the SWP and Dozens of copies of these reports, docu­ to ~ , cc;mrt in two. w.eeks prepared .to argue squarely by any· court. As with so many YSA was burglary. Judge Griesa wrote that ments, and lists were circulated both within the .scope of the injunction he will issue. other aspeets of this case, we will be break­ he had been presented with proof of "at the FBI all across the country and to other The government will use all the resources ing new ground." least 204 surreptitious entries of SWP and YSA offices and at least four such entries of SWP rnember8' homes." He noted that in the course of these black bag jobs, "at Farm crisis.meet held in Minnesota· least 9,864 documents were removed or photographed." BY JIM ALTENBERG values have dropped by 60 to 70 percent in communities. These documents contained "informa­ ST. PAUL, Minn. - "A new Ap: every county in Iowa, making it difficult This has also affected some caPitalist tion concerning the political activities and palachia is emerging" in all of rural Amer­ for farmers to secure loans. Thousands of farmers. RaUl Saenz from the United Farm finances of the SWP and YSA, legal mat­ ica, Marty Strange said in opening the farmers have been pushed into foreclosure. Workers of America explained that the ters, and the personal lives of the mem­ Third Annual Food and Farm Policy Con­ And government farm policy at all levels John Hancock Life Insurance Co., after bers." ference here. has served to speed the process of forcing foreclosing on a California vineya.-d, is The judge ruled that the break-ins were Strange, codirector of the .Center for farmers off the land. now trying to destroy the farm workerS "obvious violations·of the Fourth Amend­ Rural Affairs in Walthill, Nebraska, In workshops and speec~s. conference union there. ment." explained that rural Anlerica is today organizers put forward their solutions to Hormelmeat-packers from Austin, Min­ A third soorce of data for government plagued by disinvestment, absentee land­ the crisis. Among them was urging passage nesota, set up an inf~rmational table at the files was the FBI's SWP Disruption Pro­ lordism,. misuse of resources, and bank­ of legislation restricting corporate control conference. gram itself. Judge Griesa reports that the rupted local government services. · of the land and passage of the Harkin­ A workshop on farm and peace issues FBI carried out at least 46 disruption oper­ Sponsored by the Family Farm Organiz­ Gephardt "Save the ·Family ~Farm Act." discussed the need for fanners to oppose . ations against the party and its members. ing and Resource Center, the December Named for·its congtessional .sponsors, this the war in Central· ·America and govern­ He ruled that "these disruption opera­ 12-13 conference here. was attended by 200, · bill seeks to raise farm prices by removing ment military spending. tions were patently unconstitutional and including activists from a number of Mid­ land from production and by halting ag­ A highlight of the gatheririg was the par­ violated the SWP's First Amendment west farm organizations. ricultural impOrts into the United States. ticipation of Jaime Tadeo, president of the rights of free speech and assembly." The meeting took place against the Many participants were skeptiCal of this Peasant Movement of the Philippines. In The fourth method the government em­ backdrop of an ongoing farm crisis that did approach, especially since it meant curtail­ the evening keynote speech, Tadeo said the ployed to obtain names and information to not let up in 1986. Prices for farm products ing food production. North Dakota farm same corporations that are ruining U.S. file and use to victimize activists was eleC­ have dropped at the same time the value ·of activist Roger Livdahl explained,. "No so- farmers are . also destroying the lives of tronic surveillance. The judge found evi­ Midwest farmland has fallen. The Des · lution could be found for U.S. agriculture peasants in the Philippines. ln'both cases, dence that there had been 20,000 wiretap- Moines Register reported that farmland outside the solution to global hunger." the corporation's assault is backed up by Others proposed forcing the large land­ the power of the U.S. government . owners to bririg farmland back into produc­ Tadeo said that in the Philippines ''there tion. Many participants were searcbing for can be no justice without fighting for a better understanding of the source of the land." He added that while the government DECISION: crisis. · of Philippines President Corazon Aquino In Minnesota and Iowa, hundreds of has given the peasants "democratic space" Government spying farmers have had experience recently with to organize in, it i~ seeking to consolidate a and disruption are state-sponsored mediators who were sup­ base for itself among the landowners. posed to help them "reOrganize" their oper­ Aquino herself is a big landowner, Tadeo unconstitutional ations. Farms have not been· saved by noted. mediation. Instead, farmers have .been and illegal pressured into deeding their_land over to Booklet has the complete text of the lending agency now rather than risk 'Militant' Prisoner Fund Judge Thomas Griesa's decision in everything later. Others have found that . The Militant's special pris­ Socialist Workers Party v. FBI lawsuit. they have no control over their finances, no With new introduction on what has money to live on, and are even barred from oner fund makes it possible to send reduced~rate subscriptions been won in this case. taking off-the-farm jobs. A well-attended workshop on corporate to prisoners who need help .pay­ Only $1. control of land pointed out that 12 insurance ing for the paper. Please send Order your copy today from the your- contribution to: Militant ·FI:Jiitical companies hold over one-third of the fore­ Rights Political Rights Defense Fund, P.O. Box closed farms. Their misuse of the land in Prisoner Subscription Fund, 14 Defense 649, Cooper Station, New York. N.J. Charles Lane, N~w York, N.Y. Fund pursuit of profits has led to drastic environ­ 10003. mental destruction, affecting not only indi­ 10014. vidual working farmers but also many Fet.n.ry 6, 1917 s Tille~-·- ChiDeSe goV't ..craCkS down· on disSeRters

BY FRED FELDMAN Chinese cities in December and the begin­ ing Liberal Democratic Party, Deng ac­ charged, "Fang was on~ of the instigators In the midst of a crackdown on student ning of January. While voicing support for cused the student demonstrators of ·ad­ of the student unrest over the past weeks.". protesters, professors, and others in China, the economic reforms undertaken by the re­ vocating "total Westernization" and oppos­ Shortly before the protests began, Fang Hu Yaobang stepped down January 16 as gime headed by Deng Xiaoping, the stu_­ ing the party leadership. He cited three was accused of telling students in Hefei, head of the Chinese Communist Party, a dents asked for more political rights. party members -Fang Lizhi, Liu Binyan, "Democracy is not a favor bestowed from post he had held since 1981. He was re­ At a December 30 meeting of top gov­ and Wang Ruowang -as having violated abov~. and it should be won by the placed by Prime Minister Zhao Ziyang. Hu ernment figures, Deng is reported to have party discipline and misled the youth by people's efforts." reinains on the . Political Bureau's five­ signaled a crackdown by declaring that the expressing dissenting views. Liu Binyan was a popular writer for the member standing committee. party had been "too lax in curbing the tides All three have since been expelled from People's Daily, a Communist Party news­ ,AQ official statement· said that HJJ had of bourgeois liberalism." the party. paper. He specialized in . slightly fic­ made a self-criticism on "mistakes on Fang, until his recent dismissal, had tionalized expo~s of corruption in the gov- First directive major is;ues of political Principles." Hu been vice-president of the University of ernment and party apparatus. ' had been identified with _moves to allow The first directive issued by the party's Science and Technology at Hefei, the cap­ This is not Liti's first run-in with the au­ more criticism of the government and central committee in 1987 quoted Deng as ital of Anhui Province. The wave of dem­ thorities. He was expelled from the party Communist Party officialdom, as well as saying,·"When necessary we must deal se­ onstrations began in Hefei in early De­ for expressing critical views in 1957 · and with economic measures aimed at spurring verely with those who defy orders. We can cember. A speech by Deng condemning reportedly spent the next 21 years working production and encouraging more foreign afford to shed some blood. Just try as much Fang was read in all workplaces, the Janu­ in a rural labor cainp. as possible not to kill anybody." . ary 20 New York Times reported. _ trade and investment. Wang Ruowang, the third target of the Escalating attacks on dissent followed ln a January 13 .discussion with Noboru On a Chinese television news broadcast expulsions, was a Shanghai writer knoWn student-led ·demonstrations in a dozen Takeshita, secretary-general of Japan's rul- January 19, Xu Leyi, a party official, for his criticisms of the regime. In addition to the expulsions, two top of­ ficials of China's Academy of Sciences were dismisSed from their posts. Subscription renewals cQntinue to grow The Shanghai newspaper Society has been shut down, and several fihits and BY MALIK MIAH plays have been banned. The number of subscription renewals The g~vemment announced January 22 coming into our business office continues that it was establishing a new bureau to to grow. This past week another 65 arrived exercise "supervision and control" over - five more than the previous week, They newspapers and other publications. include 44 renewals from readers who first bought the Militant during last fall's suc­ Letter from 1,000 students cessful circulation campaign, which netted By January 19 about 1 ,000 of the ·to,000 more than 8,600 new subscribers to the Chinese youths studying in U.S. colleges Militant. and universities were said to have signed Since the close of the fall subscription an open letter criticizing the crackdown campaign, the business office has received and the change in party leadership. 616 renewals from supporters. Some 341 The letter said, "We are shocked and are from first-time subscribers. deeply upset by his [Hu Yaobang's] depar­ At this rate, prospects are good that our ture, which will gravely harm people's long-term paid readership base can double confidence in reforms . ..." The expul­ by February 28, the end of the current re­ sions from the party were also criticized. newal campaign. When we kicked off the "We sincerely hope that the party and fall circulation drive in September, the Mil­ the government will persist in reforms, op­ itant's paid subscription base, excluding li­ pose retrogression, persevere in the princi­ brary and complimentary subs or those sent ple of the rule of law, and avoid punishing to prisoners, was under 1 ,000. people for ·voicing their opinions." A major aim of the renewal campaign is Both Deng and Zhao Ziyang, Hu's suc­ to significantly increase this paid reader­ MilitanUElizabeth Kilanowski cessor in the party post, have stated that the Militant salespeople got a good response at Georgia march to defend Black rights ship, while at the same time maintaining crackdown does not s~gnal any retreat from ·single-copy sales of the paper to political recent economic reforms. activists; fanners, workers, and students. after a snowstorm -in the Ndttheast /pre­ young political activists," Herreshoff said. "The i mportant matter is that we are not Supporters around the country generally vented their bundle from arriving on time On a typical Saturday, he told me in a going to change our policy ~" Deng told fmd discussions with subscribers interest­ for Saturday sales, January 24, eight sup­ phone interview, the eight to 12 supporters Noboru Takeshita.·" The demonstrations do ing and quite political. As we found in sell­ porters divided into four teams to call and in the area divide up: four do renewal not influence our open-door policy" on ing subscriptions last fall, the best results discuss with readers extending their sub- work; six to eight go out to the community economic relations with other countries. . tend to come from the collective efforts of scriptions. . to sell papers. ... . distributors. They were able to reach 30 people, with "Since we started systematically calling Matt Herreshoff, a machinist and or­ three renewing their subscriptions. Two subscribers four weeks ago," he said , ganizer of Militant and Perspectiva Mun­ bought three-month extensions. The other "seven people have extended their sub­ Iowa meat-pack~rs dial distribution in Seattle, reports that renewed for six months. "The three were scriptions." r~red for strike 'misconduct' Special offer for ·'New International' BYKATEKAKU MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa - Eleven if you renew your 'Militant' s bscription meat-packers have received termination notic~s from Swift Independent Packing Corp. for alleged "misconduct" during their recent strike . Another 190 former strikers are on a "recall list" at the Swift packing plant here. Members of Local 50 of the National Brotherhood of Packinghouse and Industri­ al Workers (NBPW) were on strike for 10 weeks against Swift's takeback demands. The company hired scabs as soon as the strike began. Workers voted to end the strike December-14. The company said that as part of the set­ tlement, 60 strikers would be allowed tore­ turn to their previous jobs and the rest of the workers would be put on a callback list based on "job experience" rather than seniority. In the month since the strike's end only 55 union members have been called back. "'/ o\. 2, ~o. 2 NBPW has ftled grievances against the company's arbitrary firings. Commenting If you renew your Militant International. (Specify NI No. $3. on the company's charge of violence the subscription today, you'll re­ Vol. No. de­ D Subscription to New Inter­ 'Chief shop steward, Ross Boyer, said , New sired.) $24. national. $12 for three is­ "One of the guys was arrested for spitting ceive free an issue of In­ and two others for trying to help their ternational, a magazine of D Six-month renewal and sues. Current issue sent wives." Marxist politics and theory, free New International. free. Union recording secretary Rita Lewis published in New York. (Specify Vol. __ N~e ______said that during the strike cops looked for Or for only $10 you can re­ No. ) $12. Address ______excuses to arrest strikers and their support­ ceive all of the five issues of ers. "One of our strikers poured coffee on D All five issues of New Inter­ City ------'---- the ground and was taken away by the New International that have national (without Militant appeared·- a big saving. State Zip ___ _ cops," she said. renewal).· $10. Lewis also reported that the company Please send me: . · Make check payable to the Mili­ has hired a part-time work crew. The con­ 0 One-year Militant renewal D One issue of New Interna­ tant, and send to 410 W~st St.; tract with the union allows the conipany to subscription and free New tional. 'vol. __ New York, N.Y. 10014. hire IS percent of the work force as casual laborers who work all shifts. · ' F.....,.6, 1987 30,000 demonstrate· ·for Black rights '-.f_/1 . ,. ··t·•_' ' l'J .J.. ',;/;, ''1. .i : ,-· ,.. ~ - ·. Continued from front page before. She thought that about 450 people screamed obscenities, gave Nazi salutes, had come from Maco~ for the day. and chanted, "Get the Diggers." Several of the 75 marchers January 17 were injured as I walked part of the way with a family racists hurled rocks and bottles. from Cumming who had participated the The violence that day focused the atten­ week before. Arthur Goldberg was op­ tion of millions on Forsyth County, a timistic about what the demonstration segregated enclave in Georgia. would mean for the future of Forsyth In announcing the January 24 march to County. the media, both Lowery and Williams Dina Anderson,-a Cumming high school placed the blame for the Klan violence at student who had also marched on the 17th, the doorstep of Governor Harris for not said she was at the center of a lot of discus­ providing enough security to defend the sion in school, and that many had been em­ marchers. Lowery challenged, "The gover­ barrassed by the mob violence. At school, nor of this state ought to join in Forsyth her teacher tried to explain, "You can't County to send a message to the world. I change human nature." Dina disagreed think the·governor ought to redeem himself with the teacher; saying, "People aren't and redeem his law enforcement officers born racists." who are supposed to protect the citizens." Harris responded midweek by saying As thousands poured down the two-lane that he wo1,dd not "grandstand" by march­ highway toward the courthouse, signs were ing, but would deploy whatever law enfor­ held high, "Forsyth County do right," Militant/Elizabeth· Kilanowski cers were.necessary to ensure the safety of "Black by popular demand," "Compensa­ January 24 march drew protesters from around country the marchers. tion for those driven out of Forsyth," and By the end of the week, the Cumming­ "Desegregate Forsyth County." A group Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce that had come from New York carried a Because ofthe large size of the demon­ County, not in Georgia, not anywhere in took out a full-page ad in area newspapers poster reading, "Justice for the victims of stration and the 3,000 lawmen, most mar­ this country." welcoming marchers to the county. Howard Beach and Forsyth County. chers had no enc.ounters with the racists, Senator Nunn said, "One week ago As the momentum grew throughout the except to pass by them during the Qllll'Ch. today, we had a group of people march week, civil rights organizations hummed here for brotherhood and a second group of Several bundred racists Speaking front the courthouse, SCLC with activity and thousands of people be­ people turned them away. City officials, President Lowery said, "We did not come came involved in building the march. On As the rally began at the courthouse, a county officials want all of you to know to Forsyth County to scare you to death. January 22 a snowstorm hit Atlanta and group of several hundred racists .started to that that second group does not speak for surrounding areas, closing down the city. try to move into one comer of the march. We came to Forsyth to challenge you to Forsyth County." But people braved the ice and snow to get Georgia National Guardsmen lined up four live a life of decency." to two mass rallies held during the week to deep to keep them back. Fifty-six racists He then got one of the best responses of Two of the featured speakers of the day organize and to raise money. were arrested during the day. A small the day when he said, "In 1912, Black were Dean Carter and Hosea Williams, co­ number of marchers· were slightly hurt by ·people ran off and left some land .... I be­ organizers of the ma.rCh a week before. 'I bad to be bere' flying rocks, and one man was cut when ra­ lieve that if you mean what you say, let's Williams told the crowd, "Today's march will not end the · struggle in-·Forsyth Many of the people this reporter talked cists smashed his car window with a ce­ give those people money and compensate to at the demonstration had never marched ment block. A Black TV anchorwoman them." County. The fight still has to be waged to before, and expressed the same thing - "I was hit with mud and spat upon when she Congressman Lewis told the marchers, desegregate this county, and to end its his­ had to be here." attempted to interview some counterprotes­ "I think by being here you are saying that tory as a racist hide-away from the rest of ters. we will not tolerate racism, not in Forsyth the world." Many people traveled long distances to participate. ~e man jumped in his car when he heard about the march and ~ove two and one half days from California. There were participants from Kansas, Atlanta-area unionists discuss ma:cch Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, New York, and BY KEVIN DWIRE going. An lAM member talked with his live in Forsyth County had got» to the first most Southern states. ATLANTA.....:.. The January 241!J1tiracist wife about going to Forsyth. When she march out of curiosity. Although they Three members of United Food and march in Forsyth County sparked discus­ raised the possibility of his getting injured didn't agree with it, they condemned the Commercial Workers Local P-9, ousted . sions and debate among unionists in plants if the march was attacked again, he told violence . from the Hormel meat-packing plant in in this area during the week leading up to her, "Then that's the price you have to pay Another said, "I don't have anything Austin, Minnesota, as a result of a strike, the march. for freedom." against colored people, but I think that had driven throughout the night from Many workers were shocked at the racist Hosea [Williams] just took those people up Miami. They had been on a speaking tour attack on the first march January 11. One A white UAW LocallO member told a there to start trouble. I don't want to get in­ there. The meat-packers went to Cumming Black worker who is a member of Amalga­ Black coworker that she was glad he was volved with this." on a bus from the King Center, and dis­ mated Clothing and Textile WorkerS Union going to the march, and to be careful. At Doraville, one white worker· said cussed unionism and the fight for human (ACTWU) Local 365 at Arrow Shirts pro­ "This stuff is- from back in the '30s," she people should stay home and leave Forsyth rights for hours with others on the bus. claimed, ''This isn't the '60s, this is the said. "This is old and we have to get rid of County alone and not become "outside They carried a banner in the march that '80S. We will not stand for this racism." it." agitators." . read, "Boycott racism, boycott HormeL" "These people don't know what they White workers at ACTWU Local 365 Other workers who supported the march Six buses came from Columbus, Ohio, started when they attacked last Saturday," expressed support for the march. "I don't said they would stay home because of the and trade unionists brought two buses from said a young Black woman from United go in for this kind of thing [racism] like possibility of violence. St. Louis. Students came in buses from Auto Workers Local I 0 at the Doraville some whites," said one. "l really do be­ The result of the week's discussions was Tuskegee University in Alabama and from GM plant. ''They started something they lieve that Blacks and whites are equal. I that thousands of union members and other A&T University in Greensboro, North can't finish. We're going to go back there can't be there on Saturday, but I will defi­ workers attended the January 24 march. Carolina. and finish it." · nitely be there in spirit." · Seventy-six members of a church con­ At Atlantic Steel, organized by United - However, not all people supported the Kevin Dwire is a member of JAM Lodge gregation in San Francisco came to march, Steelworkers of America Local 2401, a marches. At Lockheed two workers who 709 at Lockheed in Marietta, Georgia. as well as Trappist monks from Georgia. foreman asked a young white worker if he While union participation was not obvi­ had attacked the march. He angrily replied, ously evident, many marchers told the Mil­ "I wasn't there, but ifl had known about it itant that they were auto workers, garment I would have been there, but on the other Facts about Forsyth County workers, assembly line workers, etc. side of the fence. The only difference is Yoaka Newbill, a yourig Black woman that if someone had started throwing things Forsyth County was a cotton-growing warned Blacks, "Don't let the sun set on from Macon, Georgia, had never marched at me, I don't know if I would have stood area in 1912 when Blacks, mostly farmers, you in Forsyth County." there and taken it like those people." were driven out by racist terror. The pre­ But some things have been changing in At the Lockheed plant in Marietta, or" text was the alleged rape of a white woman this white enclave. Poultry processing is ganized by International Association of by three Blackyouths. . now the county's main industry. Since By . Machinists (lAM) ·Lodge 709, a white One of the Blacks was strung up by a 1980 some 30 factories have moved in, and worker who was outraged by the attack lynch mob. The other two were tried by a the population has increased by 27 percent brought in newspaper clippings about it all kangaroo court and hanged while a crowd to 35,600. The per capita income has quad­ Malcolm X week. "Anyone should live where they of 10,000 cheered. rupled since 1970. And a new beltway is want· to," he said, and pointed out the Then nearly 1 ,000 Blacks were ter­ being constructed that will integrate the threat the Ku Klux Klan poses for working rorized into leaving Forsyth and neighbor­ county even more into the Atlanta metro- By Any Means Necessary $5.95 people. ing Dawson Counties. politan area. · "They come around and told us we had A growing number of Blacks work in the Malcolm X on Afro-American The announcement of the January 24 History $2.95 to be out by sundown . ... Or they were county, make deliveries, or conduct busi­ march was greeted with enthusiasm in the going to blow us up," recalled Cleveland ness there in other ways. But Blacks still Malcolm X Talks to plants. Workers passed around lists to sign Bowen, who was a small child at the time. don't live there. Most restaurants will not up for the march and made arrangements to Young People $0.75 Now a resident of Marietta, Georgia, he serve Blacks. meet coworkers and march together. One Two Speeches by Malcolm X $0.75 told the Washington Post, "I heard my As late as the 1970s, a local gang burned Black member of lAM 709 said, "I grew daddy say .he was just one payment from unfinished houses because the construction Malcolm X Speaks ~.95 up in North Carolina in the early '60s and I having paid for the farm. We had 40 crews included Blacks.,, , Autobiography of remember Jim Crow. I'm not going back acres." In 1980 a Black fireman was shot while Malcolm X $3.50 without a fight." Another, when asked if he Forced to leave their homes; land, and at a picnic in the county. '(he8onviction of would be going on the march, replied that crops behind, the Blacks J'eCeivegno com­ two white men for aggravated. assault Available ·1rom Pathfinder bookstores list8d about half ofhis department was going. ori Pag8 12 or by rnail from Pathfinder Press, pensation for the plunder of their property. marked the first time ln··the ~couhty that 410 WestSt, New York, N.Y. 10014. maude White workers also expressed support For decades a- sign-'in the courthouse whites had been convicted for a crime 75 cents for~ ~ ~&ndUng. . ,, for the -march , and -said they would be square in Cumming, the county capital, against Blacks. !1 Ortega salutes African Nat'l Congress anniversary

"Notes from Nicaragua" is a mate right to a life of dignity. anQ Ranchers (UNAG) inaugu­ organization ACRA for their aid in television has been featuring column prepared by Cindy "We also demand - today rated Nicaragua's first peasant making the $1 million project ·popular Cuban TV series. The first Jaquith, Robert Kopec, and more than ever - the uncondi­ training center outside of the city come about. He said UNAG is re­ program shown, "To Do More Harvey McArthur, of the Mili­ tional freedom of Nelson Man­ of Leon on Dec. 20, 1986. It ceiving substantial aid from sev­ Than Dream," tells the story of tlult's bureau in Managua. deJa, living symbol of African dig­ standson land formerly owned by eral West European governments, four young Cubans who volunteer nity and the struggle against race a hated commander in the National particularly Sweden. for the army after finishing high Nicaraguan President Daniel ·discrimination," Ortega declared. Guard of dictator Anastasio school and eventually get sent to Ortega hailed the 75th anniversary Somoza, who was overthrown • Angola, where they help the An­ • here in 1979. On January 14, Nicaraguan golans defeat a South African in­ Nicaragua's Sandinista Youth The center has a mechanical businessman Guillermo Quant Tai vasion. NOTES FROM carried out a petition campaign workshop, soil and veterinary lab­ - a self-confessed CIA spy - The second series, "Beyond the last fall to gather signatures calling oratories, library, graphic studio, was sentenced to 30 years in jail. Call of Duty," was shown here NICARAGUA for Mandela's release. The cam- · printshop, cafeteria, classrooms, Prior to his trial before the during the downing of Eugene paign was particularly successful . and 150 acres of land for experi­ People's Anti-Somozaist Tribun­ Hasenfus' CIA plane. It features of the African National Congress in the Atlantic Coast city of mental crops. als, Quant had admitted to provid­ Cuban Ministry of the Interior (ANC) in a message sent to ANC Bluefields, where many Nicara­ UNAG leader Felipe Mendoza ing the CIA with. information on agents who infiltrate the Honduran President Oliver Tambo January guans who are Black live. said· that in addition to technical the location of the. Sandinista base of Aguacate, where U.S.­ 7. Sandinista Youth leader Omar training and research, the center army's fuel and military supplies. paid mercenaries are trained to at­ ''The Mrican National Con- Enrique told the. Militant that will offer courses on the history of He also named the CIA agents at tack Nicaragua. gress is today the solid vanguard thousands of signatures were col­ Nicaragua and its peasant strug­ the U.S. embassy in Managua to leading our South African brothers . lected in the Bluefields high gles, land reform, the farm whom he reported. In the series, "It Had To Be In in a united manner toward the schools. In addition, petitioners cooperative movement, worker­ In addition to the jail sentence, Silence," the hero is an under­ overthrow of the ignominious got many names in Black neigh­ peasant alliance, and UNAG's the court ruled that Quant's prop­ cover agent of the Cuban Ministry apartheid [system). At the same borhdo

BY GEORGE A. ROSE . military invasions. The Somoza family EPES, Ala.- Two visitors from Nica­ dictatorship, imposed by U.S. Marines in ragua touring the southeast in December the 1930s, heightened the poverty and mis­ got their wannest and most enthusiastic re­ ery of the majority of Nicaraguans. ception from a meeting of 80 Black farmers "The wealth from our gold and our cof­ and other rural activists here. Both the Nic­ fee and our cotton was building skyscrap­ araguans and the Alabama farmers, discov­ ers in New York," Hodgson declared, ering they have similar problems and often "while we lived in cardboard huts with dirt confront the same enemies, left the meet­ floors." ing eager to develop more contact and mutual support. Sharecropping and land theft Marina Jarquin de Peralta from Many Nicaraguan farmers suffered Matagalpa Province, who has lost two sons under a system much like sharecropping in killed by the contra mercenaries. and Ray the U.S. South, Hodgson said. "Once the Hodgson, mayor of Bluefields, spoke to crop was in, they had to hand cover a la:Fge more than 500 people, most of them Black, part to the landowner, And if the 'l1toP during their four-day stay in Alabama. failed and the farmer couldn't pay, he They spoke to student audiences at probably lost the land." Alabama State University in Montgomery The story of Marina Jarquin de Peralta, and the University of Alabama in Tus­ who had spoken briefly through a trans­ caloosa, to a youth leadership camp in Tus­ lator, was typical. Her family,Iiving in the· kegee, and to several events in Birming­ northern mountains, worked hard for many ham. years to acquire a small piece of land. But Within this highly successful tour, the one day Somoza's surveyors came and encounter with farmers stood out because measured. They announced that the land of the strong rapport that was established was part of the domains of a wealthy land­ almost immediately. owner nearby. To protest this theft would "I come·from a slave heritage just like be to invite death from Somoza's National you," said Ray Hodgson, who explained Guard. that much of Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast Hodgson was repeatedly interrupted by where he is from is peopled by descendants applause as he described how all this Nicaraguans told Alabama farmers how revolutionary government in Nicaragua has of African slaves brought by the British in changed with the overthrow of Somoza by distributed land to poor farmers. Above, Nicaraguan farmer receives title to land. the 17th and 18th centuries. There were the Sandinistas. "They shared up the rich nods of understanding in the audience as he guys' land, which had been stolen from the throwing a government, a small crust. But through foreclosure. If a crop failed and a described how Nicaraguan Blacks, -like poor farmers, and said to the farmers, 'This in Nicaragua the government is the people. farmer could not repaya loan, it's up to the slaves in the United States, were forced to land is yours!' Now the farmers have land, The people decide what is going to happen, government and the bank to provide techni­ learn the language of the English slavemas­ and nothing makes the fanner happier than and the people have arms in their hands to cal help. ters and had to fight to maintain any as­ when he works his own land. defend what they have won. You can't The Alabama farmers, themselves pects of their African culture. "But your government didn't like that,· overthrow the people. You would have to among the poorest in this country, seemed He added that the civil rights struggles of because they were afraid you might get the kill us all." shocked to learn that most Nicaraguan U.S. Blacks were a great inspiration to idea of doing the same thing! farmers are so poor they not only lack trac­ people in Nicaragua. "Before, a farmer's kid could never hope 'Give $100 million to Alabama farmers' tors but don't even have draft animals. On Hodgson said that before the 1979 revo­ for higher education," Hodgson said. the majority of Nicaraguan farms, the soil lution, Nicaraguans had never really ruled "Now the farmer has the chance to send his "Why not take the $100 million Reagan is blowing up down there [in aid to the con­ is tilled by human muscle power alone. their own country. Beginning in the mid- kids to the highest levels of school. Several farmers spoke about their own 1800s, he said, Spanish control of the "It's taken Reagan six years of hard tras] and give it to Alabama farmers?" Hodgson asked, tQ cheers and applause, plight and the antifarmer policies of the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua and British con­ work trying to overthrow the Nicaraguan U.S. government. One older man de­ trol of the Atlantic Coast was replaced by people. But he'll never do it, he can't do it. "instead of sending it to kill people who are just like you." scribed how in neighboring Greene U.S. domination, enforced by a series of He imagines it is just a matter of over- County, Alabama, more and more land has The meeting was held at the headquar­ been taken over by wealthy whites who ters of the Federation of Southern Coopera­ don't even farm it but collect government tives in this tiny west Alabama town. The subsidies not to raise food. "And all around U.S. farmers to tour Nicaragua federation, an outgrowth of the civil rights there people are hungry and can't even struggles of the 1960s, pmvides technical A delegation of North American farmers and international markets? What role do have a garden on that land." assistance, training, and other services to will visit Nicaragua March 14-21 to meet farmers play in deciding government farm The discussion kept returning to one cooperatives and individual small farmers. farmers in that country. The tour will be programs? question: "How can we help?" In fact, after While most of those active in the Federa­ hosted by the National Union of Fanners the time set for the meeting had passed and The tour is being organized by the North tion are Black, the farm crisis of recent and Ranchers (UNAG). other business had to resume in the meeting American Farm Alliance; a coalition of years has prompted some white farmers to U.S. and Canadian farmers' groups set up hall, about 25 people jammed into a smal­ Tour participants will visit private get involved as well. farms, production cooperatives, credit-ser­ more ~ three years ago. ler room to continue discussing specific vice cooperatives, and state farms. The cost of the tour is $1,200, which in­ After the presentations, the farmers had plans to link up with the Nicaraguan farm­ -cludes airfare, hotels, .meals, and guide a lot to say and a lot to ask. Did Nicara­ ers. They will meet with leaders and mem­ service. guans who benefited from land reform get They were especially interested in find­ bers of UNAG and the Association of The deadline for applications, which actual title to the land, one asked. ing ways to share their tools and their skills Rural Workers (ATC). should be submitted with.a $200 deposit, is Yes, Hodgson affirmed. with Nicaragua. Upon learning that there They plan tO explore questions such as: February 14. Applications should be sent What about bank lqans and foreclo­ are brigades of North Americans who help What is the government's policy regarding to Jemma Turner - UNAG, P.O. Box sures? bring in harvests in Nicaragua,· several access to land, credit, and equipment? 411011, San Francisco, Calif. 94141- Hodgson explained that no working older people pointed out that they are ex­ What about farm prices, consumer prices, 1011. farmer in Nicaragua. could lose his land perienced growers and pickers of cotton.

8 The Milifallt Febnuary 6, 1987 Coffee harvest 'brigadistas' help Nicaragua's economy

BY DEAN PEOPLES International and Nicaraguan coffee pickers carry out bags of rojitos at Matagalpa plantation SAN RAMON, Nicaragua - "iAhora que?" . · · "iA cortar cafer' (Now ~hat? Nicaraguan. students, whose classes are in Nicaraguans the goal was twice that. country . . . . Pick coffee!) recess from December through March; by a Conditions of life at Laguna were diffi­ One afternoon our brigade. met with This was a popular chant raised at a rally bngade of Sandinista police from a nearby cult. During most of our two-week stay the Francisco Franco-Sosa, the administrative of about 300 Nicaraguan and international town, and a weekend brigade of 82 army hose delivering water to the barracks was director for Region VI for MIDINRA, the brigadistas at the Laguna coffee plantation reservists who were conducting prepara- not functioning. Most washing and bathing governmental department which oversees in Region VI near the town of Matagalpa. tions in the area. was done at a nearby creek. Meals con­ agrarian reform and agricultural develop­ Nicaraguans of the towns and coun- A brigade from Holland was picking sisted of tortillas, beans, and rice three ment. He explained how important this re­ tryside and brigadistas from many coun- with us, and we also encountered brigades times a day. Some of the women and chil­ gion is for Nicaragua's economy. tries rush to the mountains of north-central from Sweden, Switzerland, Britain, Aus- dren who lived at the farm picked coffee The sale of coffee generates large Nicaragua from December through March tralia, Germany, and Canada. with no shoes on. amounts of foreign exchange because the to help pick the rojitos- the little red cof- price is relatively good now. This money is fee beans _ that mature .rapidly with the The amount of human toil that goes into Changes at Laguna since revolution needed to buy industrial goods to· keep the . arrival of the rainy season. producing the coffee we slosh down so lib- Although the people at the farm are very economy going and the army supplied in its The early January rally was held at the erally is striking. The terrain is often very poor compared to those in the United war against the contras. conclusion of 15 days of picking coffee by steep and muddy. This makes climbing up States, farm workers who had worked at Also 30-35 percent of Nicaragua's cattle a brigade of 37 from the United States or- to where the coffee is to be picked, and car- Laguna under the previous owner are raised in this region, 60 percent of all ganized through Nicaragua Exchange in rying out the heavy bags, very difficult. explained some of the gains that they had vegetables are produced here, and there is Washington, D.C. The brigade was named Each rojito must be picked carefully by made. an important dairy project. "Constituci6n Popular" in honor of Nicara- hand so as not to damage the branches or It had been owned by a wealthy Italian gua's new constitution enacted January 9. the other berries that are not yet ripe. Each airline pilot closely associated with Anas­ 'Contras' driven out Laguna is one of a consortium of 48 berry contains two coffee beans. The cof- tasio Somoza' s tyranny. The farm had been This year the government hopes to reach state-run coffee farms in the surrounding fee bushes are picked about once a week used as a torture center. production goals set for basic grains in this area: There are about 65 permanent work- during the season as the beans ripen. Under the old administration, workers region for the first time because the contra ers at Laguna employed in the community The workday is l01J2 hours, six days a worked longer hours and were paid less, forces have been driven out. kitchen, the coffee-processing plant, and in week, for the coffee pickers, and 12 hours did not get lunch, and were not allowed to People have been moving closer to­ cultivating, fertilizing, and spraying the at the coffee-processing plant and for the see their production records to verify earn­ gether into more easily defended settle­ coffee bushes during the rest of the year. women who work in the kitchen. We were ings. Women were not paid independently ments and cooperatives, and taking more At harvest time they are joined by hundreds up at 4:30 a.m., had breakfast at 5:00, for their work; their earnings were given to responsibility for organizing their own de­ of volunteer brigadistas to help pick the marched to the field, and were ready to their husbands. Workers who complained fense in cooperation with the army. The crop. begin picking at the crack of dawn. were fired, beaten, or worse, and they were Association of Rural Workers organizes The brigadistas and permanent farm never allowed into the owner's house. defense at the state farms. Who~cipates io tbe b~deS? :w.9(](e{S b.a.d a~d to work part of the day .. This ,house is· now, used ·as .a school for The defeat of the contra forces in Region The ''previous couple of ye~ " tii~'1an~ on iheir triiditional holidays of Christmas the children whose families reside at VI has allowed many people to stay on the dinistas virtually closed down some gov- and New Year in order to bring in the cof- Laguna, for meetings and parties, and as land and be productive instead of migrating emment departments and mobilized every- fee crop that matured exceptionally fast administrative offices. A child-care center to the cities. one available to the mountains to pick cof- this year. has been constructed, latrines have been in­ Although the contra forces have been de­ fee. This presented difficulties in feeding, Sunday was a special voluntary work stalled, and health care is available now. feated, some terrorist activity still occurs. housing, and transporting the giant day in solidarity with El Salvador. Workers Under the old ownership the coffee was The MIDINRA administrator told us that brigades, and disrupted important govern- can contribute some or all of their earnings grown inefficiently, only to provide a the day before, a truck had been bombed in ment offices and factories. to the Farabundo Marti National Liberation source of income so that the owner could which two people were killed and several The brigades are now comprised of Front. Most people showed up for work on buy luxury items for himself. Now it is cul­ children injured. A few days earlier three workers recruited from closer to the region Sundays. tivated intensively in order to contribute to campesinos were killed while walking where the coffee is grown and is limited to • The goal for international volunteers providing the means to improve the eco­ along a road at night about 50 miles from those brigadistas who have proven to be amounted to a 100-pound sack a day. For nomic and social conditions of the whole Laguna. good pickers in the past. We werejoined at Laguna by brigades of Join a 'Militant,' 'PM' popular with brigade BY MARY GUTEKANST At our brigade evaluation meeting, Bob, intend to get in touch with the Young Nicaragua MANAGUA, Nicaragua - It was our a restaurant worker from Buffalo, New Socialist Alliance. last day in Nicaragua, and before we went York, told us he agreed with the emphasis In our final brigade meeting, we talked work brigade to the Plaza of the Revolution for the sign­ on production. The coffee harvest is a top about participating in solidarity activities ing of the new constitution, seven of us economic priority for the country. back home. We discussed press interviews from the "Popular Constitutien" coffee­ Bob made his frrst trip to Nicaragua last and slideshows, and material aid for Nica­ picking brigade stopped by the Militant­ year with Witness for Peace. In addition to ragua. The April 25 demonstrations in Perspectiva Mundial bureau office. getting the latest issue of the magazine New Washington, D.C., and San Francisco Reporters Cindy Jaquith and Harvey International, which features South Af­ against the contra war in Nic311lgua and McArthur gave us a tour of the place and rica, Bob subscribed to the Militant. He apartheid in South Africa will be a focus for many of us. described how they cover developments in said he'd waited long enough to get a "rad­ revolutionary Nicaragua. ical publication." · Some brigadistas picked up copies of Nelson Mandela: The Struggle Is My Life Impressed with coverage and Nothing Can Stop the Course of His­ Michael read the Militant for the first tory, an interview with Cuban President time when fellow brigadista Dean gave him Fidel Castro, which are available at the a copy. Michael had been a packinghouse Militant-PM office. (Both books are pub­ worker and was impressed with the cover­ lished by Pathfinder Press in New York.) age of the Austin, Minnesota, meat-pack­ Four of these brigadistas are new sub­ ers' struggle, as well as the articles from three scribers to the Militant. During our Nicaragua. He got an introductory sub­ weeks in Nicaragua, 15 of the 37 brigade scription and a copy of Fred Halstead's members decided to subscribe to the Mili­ pamphlet, The 1985-86 Hormel Meat­ tant, and one to both Perspectiva Mundial Packers Strike in Austin, Minnesota. and the Militant. Four people on the brigade were already regular readers of the Another brigadista, a student from up­ socialist publications. Elizabeth Lariscy state New York, told me he frrst saw the from Toledo, Ohio, was top subscription Militant on the Great Peace March from Nicaragua: The Sandinista seller. · California to Washington, D.C., l~t fall. People's Re~olution. A new. col~ Brigadistas included a commercial He already had three speaking engage­ lection ·contains more than 40 fisherman working in Alaska, more than a ments set up for when he got back and speeches by leaders ofthe·Nicara­ dozen students from around the United planned a rice and beans fundraising din­ guan revolution. $7.95 (include 75 Contact the Nicaragua Exchange, States, artists from the San Francisco area, ner. cents for postage and handling). 239 Centre St., New York, N.Y. and industrial workers. The brigade's top He and his roommate, also on · the Order from Pathfinder {'ress, 410 10013. Telephone (212) 219-8620. picker, or vanguardia, was a 40-year-old brigade, plan to get an anti-intervention West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. administrator from Topeka, Kansas. group together on their campus. And they

February 6, 1987 The Militaat 9 Howard· Beach victims give evidence to special prosecutor

BY HARRY RING . It was also charged that the arresting cop . NEW YORK -With a grand jury now had lied about Stewart's condition and had hearing evidence in the case, the two sur­ been guilty of dereliction of duty. vivors of the Howard Beach lynch assault After being beaten unconscious, Stewart have provided an extensive account of was· taken to a hospital, bound and in a what happened the night of December 20 to coma. He died 13 days later. the special prosecutor now handling the Despite the testimony of a number of case. eyewitnesses to the savage ~ating, a half · Prosecutor Charles Hynes told reporters dozen of the cops involved were acquitted he had met with Cedric Sandiford and · in November 1985. \Timothy Grimes January 15 and that their Public anger was so deep that the next detailed account provides "essential evi­ day, Mayor Edward Koch recommended a dence which will significantly ~id our in­ special probe. Now, with the year-long quiries." study in hand, transit officials said a new Hynes added that Sandiford and Grimes study would be made to determine what to had been "completely forthcoming." do about it. Grimes had managed to elude the How­ The report charged it was a dereliction of ard Beach thugs, but Sandiford was badly duty that the arresting. cop had Stewart beaten. His stepson, Michael Griffith, was taken to the hospital "hog-tied in the cargo killed by a car when he ran onto a highway section of a police vehicle with no officer trying to escape his attackers. monitoring him." It also found it "unwar­ In the aftermath of the attack, Sandiford ranted" that Stewart· was bound, hands to and Grimes became convinced that city of­ his feet, to "restrain" him when there were ficials were engaged in a cover-up of the at least 11 cops in the immediate area. lynch gang. Stewart's family has a $45 million suit They charged that the local prosecutor, pending in the case. Alton Maddox, Jr., at­ .John Santucci, refused to seriously consid­ torney for Sandiford in the Howard Beach er their account of what happened and was case, is one of the lawyers representing the On January 21 some 4,000 New Yorkers protested murder of Michael Griffith. Pub­ conducting what Sandiford branded a Stewarts. lic outcry since December resulted in governor appointing special prosecutor. "masquerade" investigation. Rather than give credibility to a sham prosecution, the two refused to cooperate with Santucci and demanded appointment WHlie Turks' killer is back on the street of a special prosecutor. Gov. Mario Cuomo finally deferred to BY HARRY RING said, "starkly contrast with the response of The defense handpicked the jury. Blacks strong . public ·. pressure and designated NEW YORK-When state investigator Brooklyn D.A. Liz Holtzman in the 1982 were excluded. So were transit workers - Hynes to take over the case from Santucci. Charles Hynes was appointed special pro­ murder of Willie Turks. Within an hour of white or Black. Earlier, a city judge dismissed murder secutor in the case. of the racist attack at that killing, an assistant D.A. was on the In Brooklyn, which is estimated to be 50 and manslaughter charges against three ad­ Howard Beach, he suggested that the out­ scene." percent Black and Latino, they came up mitted participants in the attack, leaving come of the Willie Turks case showed that The Voice went on to criticize attorneys with a jury of 11 whites and one Latino . charges of "reckless endangerment." . justice could be obtained. Turks was Alton Maddox and C. Vernon Mason for Bova was acquitted of second-degree Hynes has not said if he will limit him­ beaten to death by a racist gang in the pointing to the Turks case as an example of murder and given the five-to-15-year tenn self to these lesser charges or press the Gravesend section of Brooklyn in 1982. justice not done. for manslaughter and assault. With time grand jury to reinstate the murder and man­ The defendants in that case "went to jail, Maddox and Mason represent Cedric off, it came to three years. .· : . . slaughter charges. that's been proven," Hynes said. ., Sandiford and Timothy Grimes, survivors The od$r 'dJi:w:e ;,got .....even easier'.' :fA.; And while his aides indicated he would Others also recalled the Turks case. of the December 20 Howard Beach attack. later trials, two of them got three to nine question other participants in the attack, New York Times reporter Michael The Voice berated them for saying that years. If, from their vantage point, all goes they did not specify if Hynes would seek Oreskes wrote, "Mayor Koch attended Mr. New York's track record is, "Never con­ well, they'll do even less time than Bova. additional indictments or simply use them Turks's wake, and civil-rights protesters vict a white person for killing a Black per­ The third drew two consecutive one-year as witnesses against the three who have marched through Gravesend." son." terms. To show how irresponsible Maddox and been booked. The weekly Village Voice cited the Response to killing Meanwhile, in another notorious case, a Turks case as an example of justice done. Mason are on this, the Voice asserts that special investigation found that excessive In the January 20 issue, an article "the murder of Willie Turks resulted in the The Turks killing did evoke deep anger restraint had been used against. Michael criticized Queens County District Attorney manslaughter conviction of Gino Bova, and some protest. But not enough sustained Stewart, the graffiti artist, who was beaten Santucci for his slow entry into the Howard who is now doing five to 15 years in action to force an effective prosecution. to death by city transit cops in 1983. Beach case. ''These delays," the Voice prison." A month after the killing, 1,500 protes­ ters marched in Gravesend, S<;eneofthe at­ Bova back on street tack. In making this point, the Voice either Dixorr worked persistently and coura­ Do you know someone who reads· Spanish? didn't realize, or neglected to mention, that geously to keep the spotlight on the case. Bova was back on the street last year, after Activists in Transport Workers Local serving three years of his five-to-1 5 sen­ 100, of which Turks had been a member, Behind the gov't crisis tence. pressed the case. Officers of the union gave Three years for participating in an attack some support. The current U.S. govern­ in which one man was beaten and stomped The National Black Independent Politi­ ment ·crisis has enabled mil­ to ·death and another barely escaped with cal Party worked hard on the case. Several lions of working people to learn his life. An example of justice done? civil rights leaders gave their support, as What really happened in the Willie did a few union officials. - a great deal about how Wash­ 1 ington is an. enemy of democ­ Protestas dicen basta' Turks case? But those pressing the case were not able a los ataques racistas On the night of June 22, 1982, Turks, a to actively involve broader forces - racy and the self-determina­ union, civil rights, student, religious, and Piden cjrcel para INtones de Howard Beach city transit worker, and two coworkers, tion of nations. Dennis Dixon and Donald Cooper, drove community groups. Because the response What triggered the crisis from work to a nearby shop to pick up was not strong enough, city officials were was the failure of the U.S.­ some bagels. Driving away, their car able to get away with a faint-hearted pro­ backed contras to spark a civil stalled and they came under fierce attack secution. The resulting slap-on-the-wrist war in Nicaragua. But the by about 15 racists armed with pipes and sentences were no deterrent to future at­ crisis is deeper than that. .bottles. tacks. The U.S. rulers find the con­ Badly beaten, Dennis Dixon managed to What attorney Maddox is saying today escape. He ran toward the scene of a car ac­ about the Turks case is not a recent opin­ stitutional structtire of U.S. cident where there were cops and an ambu­ ion. capitalism more and more of Comoc3n ~ marc:has nadonales antiguerra lance. His head streaming with blood, At the time the jury gave its verdict in an obstacle in pursuing their p11a el 25 de abrl Dixon told the cops what happened and the Bova case, Maddox declared, "It is a war on working people at home urged them to go quickly to aid his two co­ signal to the white community that they can and abroad. workers. get away with stomping Black people to The current issue of PM fea­ Subscription~: $7 for one year; The police responded, "We'll send death." tl:ires an extensive article $4 for six months; Introductory somebody ... We'll call someone." Howard Beach confirms that Maddox offer, $2.00 for five months. At that point Dixon was about to keel wasn't just blowing off steam. · about this crisis and its mean­ over and they put him in the ambulance. · The Willie Turks case does not tell us we ing for working people in the 0 Begin my sub with current issue. They took him to a hospital arid sewed can now relax and rely ·on a special pro­ United States. him up. secutor. It tells us how urgent it is to in­ Perspectiua Mundial is the Name ------­ Later they brought Willie Turks in. A volve maximum forces in an ongoing fight policewoman told Dixon that Turks had to make sure that the Howard Beach killers Spanish-language socialist maga­ Address ------of Michael Griffith are tried, convicted, zine that every month brings you been found with his skull cracked open and City/St~te/Zip ______and given a maximum sentence. . the .truth about the struggles of his brains hanging out. Only five of the estimated 15 thugs who working people and the oppressed Clip and mail to PM, 410WestSt., ,. participated in the attack_were indicted. .. in the U$. and around the world. New York, NY 10014. One of the five was killed in an unrelated You won't miss a single incident. and. four ~ven~al~,Y w~nt to trial. issue if you subscribe. Bova was tned firSt. · · · · · - . -: ··~

11 Union, church leaders back·April 25 action Protest will hit apartheid and Washington's intervention in Central America

Presidents of several national trade and Commercial Workers International Church· of the Brethren ian Orthodox Church of Antioch unions and numerous church Oflldals Union (AFL-CIO) Bishop P. Francis Murphy, Catholic Arch­ Rabbi David Saperstein, director, Relig­ are included in the list of initial sponsors diocese of Baltimore ious Action Center of Reform Judaism for the AprilZS-27 actions against U.S. Religious Sister Maureen McCormack, S.L., presi­ Rabbi Alexander Schindler, president of government intervention in Central Sister Luise Ahrens, M.M., president, dent, Loretto Community Union of American Hebrew Congrega- America and apartheid in South Mrica. Maryknoll Sisters Bishop James Niedergeses, Catholic Dio­ tions · cese of Nashville, Tennessee The list was released by the Mobiliza­ Sister Helen Amos, R.S.M., president, Sister Julie Sheatzley, CSJ, president of Sister Anne O'Neil, RSCJ, provincial, So­ tion for Justice and Peace in Central Sisters of Mercy of the Union · the Sister:s of St. Joseph of Medalle ciety of the Sacred Heart, U.S. Province America and Southern Mrica, which Rev. James Andrews, stated clerk, Pres­ Rev. J. Ralph Shotwell, executive direc­ Sister Kathleen Popko, S.P., president, called the demonstrations. byterian Church (USA) tor, International Council of Community Sisters of Providence The upcoming events include·a march Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron, Churches and rally in Washington on AprillS. A O.F.M., Cap., Archbishop of Agana, Rev. A very Post, president, United Church ofChrist · Bishop John Snyder, Catholic Diocese of similar action, mobillzing activists from Guam St. Augustine, Florida the Western states, will be held the same Sister Kaye Ashe, O.P., prioress general, Bishop Kenneth Povish, Catholic Diocese Rev. Gordon Sommers, president, Provin­ day in San Francisco. Sinsinawa Dominicans of Lansing, Michigan cial Elders' Conference, Moravian · Asia Bennett, executive secretary, Ameri­ Sister Carol · Quigley, IHM, president, Church, Northern Province can Friends Service Committee Leadership Conference of Women Re­ Bishop Walter Sullivan, Catholic Diocese Labor Rabbi Balfour Brickner,. Stephen Wise ligious of Richmond, Virginia · Morton Barr, president, Communications Free Synagogue, NYC Rev. Graham Rights, president, Provincial Rev. C.T. Vivian, chairman, Center for Workers of America (AFL-CIO) · Rev. Arie Brouwer, general secretary, Na­ Elders' Conference, Moravian Church, Democratic Renewal Owen ·Bieber, president, United Auto tional Council of Churches Southern Province Dr. Doris Anne Younger, general director, Workers (AFL-CIO) Most Rev .. Edmond Browning, presiding Archbishop Mar Athanasius Samuel, Syr- Church Women United Kenneth Blaylock, president, American bishop, Episcopal Church Federation of Government Employees Sister Kay Burton, SNJM, provincial di­ (AFL-CIO) rector, Sisters of the Holy Names Bernard Butsavage, president, Interna­ Sister Margaret Cafferty, PBVM, congre­ tional Molders and Allied Workers gational superior, Sisters of the Presen­ -WORLD NEWS BRIEFS-- Union (AFL-CIO) tation of the Blessed Virgin Mary William Bywater, president, International Rev. Ben Chavis·, executive director, Baryshnikov invited to Union of Electronic, Electrical, Commission for Racial Justice Salaried, Machine Workers and Furni­ Bishop C.D. Coleman, senior bishop, perform in Moscow ture workers. (AFL-CIO) Christian Methodist Episcopal Church Mikhail Baryshnikov, the internation­ Cesar Chavez, president, United Farm Bishop Philip Cousin, 11th District, Afri­ ally known ballet dancer who defected Workers of America (AFL-CIO) can Methodist Episcopal Church and to the United States in 1974, has been in­ Mary Hatwood Futrell, president, National president, National Council of Churches vited to perform as a guest dancer with Education Association Bishop James Crumley, Jr., Lutheran the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. · James Herman, president, International Church in America - The invitation was revealed at a Janu­ Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Bishop Paul Duffey, United Methodist ary 19 news conference in New York by Union Church the Bolshoi Ballet's director, Yuri Dolores Huerta, vice-president, United Bishop Nicholas D'Antonio, O.F.M., Grigorovich, who said the offer had the Farm Workers of America (AFL-ClO) Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans Soviet government's official sanction. Georgianna Johnson, _president, Local Rev. Walter Fauntroy, United States The news conference had been called to 1199 - Drug, Hospital and Health Care House of Representatives, Washington, outline the repertory of the Bolshoi's up­ Employees Union, RWDSU (AFL-CIO) D.C. coming tour of the United States. If Baryshnikov accepts the invitation, . he would be the first major defector to return to the Soviet Union to perform under official auspices. Grigorovich said Chief Gatsba Buthelezi that "mucb is changing" in the Soviet Union and that he regarded Baryshnikov South Africa about that," Tambo said. and other defectors to be "artists of the "This has been going on for some time world." and is aided by the police. There you Grigorovich said that he had recently have a problem of a leader who has discussed cultural affairs directly with placed himself in the hands of the re­ Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. "We gime." are expecting a period of great change," Grigorovich said, "which most people welcome." S. Korean officials ousted in torture death Buthelezi role cited in In response to widespread public out­ . South African massacre .rage in South Korea over the death by Militant/Ernest Harsch torture of an arrested student, President. Assailants burst into a home. in the New York. antiwar demonstration last October. A massive turnout is expected for Chun Doo Hwan on January 20 dis­ demonstrations in Washington, l>.C., and San Francisco on AprillS. Black township of KwaMakhuta, near missed his interior minister and national Durban, January 21 and opened fire with police chief. automatic weapons. Twelve of the 13 The 21-year-old student from Seoul Keith Johnson, president, International Sister Helen Flaherty, S.C., president, Sis­ people in the house at the time were National University, Park Chong Chol, Woodworkers of America (AFL-CIO) ters of Charity of Cincinnati killed, among them seven children ages had been killed a week earlier during in­ James Kane, president, United Electrical, Sister Patricia Flynn, SSND, provincial three to seven. · terrogation by two officers of the special Radio and Machine Workers of America leader, Baltimore Province, School Sis­ The house belonged to the father of a anticommunist police squad. He suffo­ (UE) ters of Notre Dame leading activist in the United Democrat­ cated when his throat was crushed while David Livingston, president, District 65, Sister Helen Maher Garvey, BVM, presi­ ic Front (UDF), the coalition of more the officers were plunging his head into United Auto Workers (AFL-CIO) dent, Sisters of Charity of the Blessed than 600 anti-apartheid groups that has a bath filled with water. Frank Martino, president, .International Virgin Mary been leading many of the protests The regime has attempted to present Chemical Workers Union (AFL-CIO) Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Catholic against the South African regime's poli­ the case as an isolated incident, but po­ Gerald McEntee, president, American Archdiocese of Detroit cies. The father, Willie Ntuli, was liticai activists and leaders of the oppo­ Federation of State, County and Munic­ Sister Joyce Hoben, provincial moderator, killed. His son, Vincent, a ieader of the sition New Korea Democratic Party said ipal Employees (AFL-CIO) Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (Ohio UDF-affiliated K waMakhuta Youth Park's killing was just "the tip of the Joseph Misbrener, president, Oil, Chemi­ Province) League, had been in hiding at the time iceberg" of widespread, institutionalized cal and Atomic .Workers International Bishop Clinton Hoggard, Fourth Episcopal and ~caped the massacre; but he was ar­ torture of political prisoners. Union (AFL-CIO) District, African Methodist Episcopal rested by the police when he returned to Henry Nicholas, president, National Union Zion Church · the house after the killings. .of Hospital and Health Care Employees Bishop William Hughes, Catholic Diocese Leaders of the UDF blamed the attack Ghana protest hits (AFL-CIO) of Covington, Kentucky on Inkatha, the political organization of James Norton, president, Graphic Com­ Rev. John Humbert, general minister and Chief Gatsha Buthelezi. The head of the British policies KwaZulu Bantustan, Buthelezi is a key munications International Union (AFL­ president, Christian Church (Disciples Thousands of Ghanaians rallied out­ ally of the apartheid regime and a pro­ CIO) of Christ) side the British embassy in Accra, the claimed opponent of the UDF and the Charles Perlik, president, The Newspaper Bishop Joseph Imesch, Catholic Diocese capital of the West African country, Jan­ outlawed African National Congress Guild (AFL-CIO) of Joliet, Illinois uary 12 to protest a visit by Lynda (ANC). His Inkatha thugs have fre­ Cleveland Robinson, secretarY-treasurer, Rev. Jes·se Jackson, president, Rainbow Chalker, minister of state in Britain's District 65, United Auto Workers (AFL­ Coalition quently beaten and murdered UDF sup­ Foreign Office. CIO) Rev. Joseph Lowery, president, Southern porters in the Durban area. Jack Sheinkman, secretary-treasurer, Christian Leadership Conference While formally denying responsibility The demonstrators condemned the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Bishop Raymond Lucker, Catholic Dio­ for the massacre, Buthelezi admitted British government's ties with the apart­ Workers Union (AFL-CIO) cese of New Ulm, Minnesota that his Inkatha members were involved heid regime of South Africa. They also John Sweeney, president, Service Employ­ Rev. C. J. Malloy, Jr., general secretary, in armed ''retaliation" against the UDF. called for the unconditional repeal of re­ ees' International Union (AFL-CIO) Progressive National Baptist Conven­ Speaking in New York during his visit cent immigration laws in Britain that William Winpisinger, president, Interna­ tion, Inc. to the United States, ANC President make it harder for Ghanaians and other - tional Association of Machinists (AFL­ Bishop Dale Melczek, Catholic Diocese of. Oliver Tambo also blamed the massacre peoples from Africa and Asia to enter CIO) Detroit on Buthelezi. ''There is nothing new in that country. William Wynn, president, United Food Rev. Donald Miller, general secretary,

1'.....,6, 1917 11 -CALENDAR----~~--~~~--~~~~~--~~

CALIFORNIA member of Managua, Nicaragua, bureau of the 643-3341. American Civil Liberties Union; Julius Snipper, Los Angeles Militant newspaper in 1985-86. Sat., Feb. 7. Socialist Workers Party. Sat., Jan. 31, 7 p.m. Contragate: Behind tbe Government Crisis. Dinner, 6 p.m.; forum, 7:30 p.m. Pathfmder NEW YORK 1701 W Bancroft St. Donation: $2. Ausp: Mil­ Speaker: Fred Halstead, author of Out Now! A Bookstore, 2913 Greenmount Ave. Donation: Manhattan itant Forum. For more information call (419) Participant's View ofthe Movement Against the dinner, $3; forum, $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Abortion: A Woman's Right to Choose. 536-0383. Vietnam War, leader of Socialist Workers Forum. For more information call (301) 235- Speakers: Moira Morissey, National Abortion Party. Translation to Spanish. Sat., Jan. 31, 0013. Fifteen percent discount on all books dur­ Rights Action League; Carol Burke, Socialist OREGON 7:30 p.m. 2546 W Pico Blvd. (nr. Vermont). ing month of February. Workers Party. Translation to Spanish. Fri., Portland Donation: $2. Ausp: ·Militant Forum. For more Women in South Africa. Video interview with Jan. 30, 7:30 p.m. 79 Leonard St. Donation: . Report Back from Central American Strug­ information call (213) 380-9460. Winnie Mandela. Speaker: ltumeleng Mokate, $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum/Foro Perspec­ gles. Speakers: Dave Worthington, president Celebration of tbe 7Stb Annivenary of the representative, African National Congress. tiva Mundial. For more information call (212) Painters Union Local 724; Robert Scafe, Young . Founding of the ~ National Congress Sat., Feb. 14. Dinner, 6 p.m.; video and pre­ 226-8445. Socialist Alliance, student at Roosevelt High of South Africa. Hear Oliver Tambo, president sentation, 7:30 p.m. 2913 Greenmount Ave. Celebrate Solidarity With Puerto Rican In­ School. Sat., Jan. 31, 7:30 p.m. 2732 NE of the ANC. Translation to Spanish. Mon., Donation: dinner, $3; forum, $2. Ausp: Militant dependence. Speakers: Rafael Cancel Union. Donation: $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Feb. 2, 7 p.m. Trinity Baptist Church, 2040 W Labor Forum. For more information call (301) Miranda, Puerto Rican national hero; Jose Forum. For more information call (503) 287- Jefferson Blvd. Ausp: Coalition of Black Trade 235-0013. L6pez, Movimiento de Liberaci6n Nacional. 7416. Unionists, Free South Africa Movement, Inter­ Malcolm. X. Tbe Man and His Ideas. A film, Welcome Shelley Mille!', grand jury resister, on national Ladies' Garment Workers' Union loc­ The Struggle for Freedom. Discussion led by her release from prison. Sat., Jan. 31 . Dinner, 7 PENNSYLVANIA als 55, 84, 96, 97, 482, and 512; California Ken Morgan, Socialist Workers Party. Sat., p.m.; program, 8 p.m. Earl Hall, Columbia Pittsburgh Democratic Council, Southern Christian Feb. 21. Dinner, 6p.m.; forum, 7:30p.m. 2913 University,116th and Broadway. Donation: $3. Greenmount Ave. Donation: dinner, $3; forum, Nelson Mandela and tbe Liberation Struggle Leadership Conference, TransAfrica, Southern Dinner, $4. Ausp: New Movement in Solidarity in South Africa. Speaker: Dennis Brutus, Africa Support Committee, and others. $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For more in­ with Puerto Rican Independence and Socialism. formation call (301) 235-0013. · exiled South African poet and anti-apartheid ac­ Oakland · For more information call (212) 243-0202. tivist. Sat., Feb. 7, 7:30p.m. 402 N Highland From Howard Beach, New York, to Forsyth Georgia: Mass Protest Beats Back Radsts, Unionists and tbe Fight APtnst War: Why County, Georgia: 1be Fight Against Racist Ave. Don~on : $2. Ausp:· Militant . Labor Workers in ''Defense" Plants Should Oppose Shows Way to Win Justke in Howard Beach ·Forum. For more information call (412) 362- Violeoce. A panel discussion. Speakers to be Lynching. James Winfield, National Comn'Ut­ Washington's War Drive. Panel of trade . announced. Sat., Feb. 28. 7:30 p.m. 2913 6767. unionists. Sat., Feb. 7, 8 p.m. Hyatt Regency tee member, Young S9eialist Alliance, partici­ Greenmount Ave. Dinner, 6 p.m.; forum, 7:30 pant in January 24 antiracist march in Georgia. TEXAS Hotel, .1100 Broadway. Donation: $3. Ausp: p.m. Donation: dinner, ·$3; forum, $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For more information Translation to Spanish. Fri., Feb. 6. Dinner, Dallas Militant Labor Forum. For more information 6:30 p.m.; forum, 7:30 p.m. 79 Leonard St. call (415) 261~3014 . The Political Legacy of Malcolm X. Video call (301) 235-0013. Donation: foi:um, $2; dinner, $3. Ausp: Militant showing and ·presentation. Translation to FLORIDA MASSACHUSETTS Labor Forum/Foro Perspectiva Mundial. For Spanish. Sat., Feb. 7, 7:30p.m. 336 W.Jeffer­ more information call (212) 226-8445. son Ave. Donation: $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Miami Boston Music Against Apartheid m. FeatUring Af­ Forum. For more information call (214) 943- Report from NicaragUa." Speaker: Danielle Tbe U.S. Farm Crisis; Speaker: Barbara Si­ rica's legendary Babatunde Olatunji and his 5195. ' Beauvais, Young SocialistAlliance, recently mons, Socialist Workers Party. Translation to Drums of Passion, Abdullah Ibrahim (Dollar Houston 1 spent two weeks in Nicaragua'. Sat., Jan. 31, Spanish. Sat., Jan. 31, 7:30p.m. 107 Brighton Band), and famed South African composer and Stop Racist Attacks: From Howard Beacb to 7:30p.m. 137NE54th St. Ausp: Militant Labor Ave., 2nd.floor, Allston. Donation: $2. Ausp: musician Sathima. All proceeds to African Na­ GeorP to Houston City Halt A panel discus­ Forum. For more information call (305) 756- Militant Labor Forum. For more information tional Congress of South Africa. Fri., Feb. 27, sion, speakers to be announced; Translation to 1020. ' ·. .call (617) 787-0275. . . 7 p.m. Borough of Manhattan Community Col­ Spanish. Sat., Feb. 7, 7:30p.m. 4806 Almeda. EyeWitness ACcount froJn Forsyth County, Howard Beach to Boston: Stop Racist At­ lege, 199 Chambers St. (near City Hall). Tick­ Donation: $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For Geo~Pt· S~ers: participants in the January tacks~ Speakers to be announced. Translation to ets $10 and $12 ($15 at door). Ausp: N.Y. more information call (713) 522-8054. 24 march· Sat., Feb: 7, 7:30 p.m. 137 NE 54th Spanish. Sat., Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m. 107 Brighton Southern African Solidarity Coalition. For more ·St. Ausp: · Mili~ Labor Forum. For more in­ Ave., 2nd floor, Allston. Donation: $2. Ausp: information call (212) 828-2696 or 690-7180. UTAH formation call (305) 756-1020, Militant Labor Forum. For more information · Salt Lake City call (617) 787-0275. NORTH CAROLINA GEORGIA Tbe Fight for Civil Rights From Montgom­ Atlalltl\: - " . . . MINNESOTA Greensboro ery to Howard Beach. A panel discussion. St. Paul · Martin Luther KinK and the Strugle for Translation to Spanish. Sat., Jan. 31, 7:30p.m. LePey ~tbe:Clvll Rights Movement aDd the Workers' Rights. Video: lAm Man. Speak­ 767 S State St., 3rd floor. Donation: $2. Ausp: · How to Solve the U.S, Farm Crisbl. Panel dis­ a Figltt APIIIIIt Racism Today. A panel discus­ ers to be announced. Sun., Feb. l, 5 p.m. 2219 Militant Forum. For more information call sion. Sat., Jan. 31, 7:30 p.m. 132 Cone St. cussion. Speakers: Maggie McCraw, Socialist E Market St. Donation:· $2. Ausp: Militant (801) 355-1124. Workers Party, member United Food and Com­ NW. 2nd floor. Donation: $2.50. Ausp: Mili­ Labor Forum. For more information call (919) A SoclaUst Response to Reagan's State of the mercial Workers Local 789; others. Sat., Jan. tant Labor Forum. For more information call 272-5996. . Uaion Address. Speaker: Buddy Beck, 31, 7:30p.m. 508 N Snelling. Donation: $2. (404) 577-4065. Racism in the Greensboro Schools. Sat., Feb. ·Socialist Workers Party and member of Oil, Ausp: Militant Forum. For more information 7, 7 p.m. 2219 E Market St, ·Donation: $2. ILLINOIS call (612) 644-6325. Chemical and Atomic Workers union. Sat., Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For more infor­ Feb. 7, 7:30 p.ni. 767 S State St., 3rd floor. Chicago . Tbe Anti-apartheid Movement Here. and Stop Radst Attacks! Tbe Truth Rebind the mation call (919) 272-5996. Donation: $2. Ausp: Militant Forum. For more Abroad. WllatWa. Y.Forward.·'! .S..un.,F.q, .. 1. , 4 Tbe PoUtic:al ~y of.Mtdcolm X. Video information ~,(800 355-:1124. · .. • , , ... , Howard Beach Killing. Speakers to be an­ p.m. 508 N · Sueftmg- fl~; ~usy. · -¥JJung showing and presentation. Sun., Feb. ·22, 5 nounced. Translation to Spanish.· Sat., Jan. 31, Socialist ·Alliance. For more information call p.m. 2219 E Market St. Donation: $2. Ausp: 7:30p.m. 3455. S Michigan Ave. Donation:$~. (612) 644-6325. VIRGINIA Ausp: Militant Labor Foruni. For more infor­ Militant Labor Forum. For more information Newport News Miles of Smlles aDd Yean of Stniggle. Film call (919) 772-5996. mation .call (312) 326-5853. about the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Reagan's lllepl 'Contra' Comlectioa: The and Blacks in the trade tinion movement. Dis­ l'be Freedom Struale in South Africa. Stake for WOI'king PeoPle Ia the Ina.Anns . LOUISIANA cussion to follow..-Sat, Feb. 7, 7:30p.m. 508 N . Speakers to be announced. Sun., March 1, 5 Deal• . Speakers: Greg R~f;lerg, National Snelling. Donation: $2. Ausp: Militant Forum. .p.m. 2219 E Market St. Donation: $2. AUsp: Committee, Young Socialist 'Alliance; John New Orleans Militant Labor Forum. For more information Eyewituess Report from tbe Cumming, For more information call (612) 644-6325. Domn'lisse, M.D.; Sout4 African exile; Jack call (919) 272-5996. Sherman, chair, PeninSula ·PeaCe Education Geo~Pt, Civil Rights March. A panel of mm:h participants. Sat., Jan. 31, 7:30 p.m. MISSOURI · omo Center; Minister Raftk Zaidi, Portsmouth Con­ 3640 Magazine St. Donation: $2. . Ausp: Mili­ cerned CitiZens. Sun., Feb. l,7:30p.m. 5412 St. Louis Cincinnati JefferSon Ave. Donation: $3. Ausp: Milil!IDt tant Labor Forum. For more information call Jamaica: Eyewitness Account of Underde- (504) 895-1961. ' . Tbe Fight Against lsrae.. OccQpation of tbe Labor Forum. For more inf~ call (804) . velopment. Speaker: Ted Kayser, member of West Bank. Speak.ers to be announced. Sat., 380-0133 . . Tbe st:ruare fer .Palestiniu Liberation United Auto Workers Local 2250. Sat., Jan. Today, Speakers: representatives of the Feb. I, 7 p.m. 4945 Paddock Rd. Donation: $2. 31, 7 p.m. 4907 Martin Luther King Dr. Dona­ Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For more infor­ WEST VIRGINIA ·Socialist Workers ~ and· November 29th tion: $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For more mation call (513) 242-7161'. Comn'littee. Sat., Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m. 3640 information call (314) 361-0250. Charleston ...... _ Magazine . ~t. Donation:. $2. A~sp: Militant Cleveland In Defense or Abortion ltighia. A panel dis­ Labor Forum. For more informabon call (504) NEW JERSEY Tbe Struggle Against tbe Pinocl,tet Dictator­ cussion, speakers to be annotiikcct Sun., Feb. '895-1961. . Newark ship. A film showing of the Chilean Connec­ 1, 7 p.m. 116 McFarland St.'Donation: $2. Protest Racist Lyodling in Howard Beach. tion and. . remarks by representatives of the Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For more infor­ MARYLAND Speakers: Rev. Arthur.Jones, St. Mark's AME Cleveland Chilean Solidarity Comlni~. ·Sat., mation call (304) 345-3040. Baltimore Church; Quentin Smith, African Heritage; Mike Jan. 31, 7:30p.m. 2521 Market Ave. Donation: Morgantown Do Blacks Have A Stake in tbe U.S. War Shur, Scx;ialist Workers Party, member Interna­ $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. for more in­ Legacy oftbe Civil Rights M9vement and tbe formation call (216) 861-6150. Against NiCaragua? Speakers: Clarence Fitch, tional Union of Electro~ic Worke11> Local431. Fight Apibst Radsm Today; A panel discus­ New York-New Jersey.coordinator of Vietnam Translation to Spanish. Sat., Jan. 31, 7:30p.m. Toledo sion. Sat, Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m. .221 Pleasant St. Vets Against the War, who led a tour of Viet- 141 Halsey St. Donation: $2. Ausp: Militant War on Drugs: ~ Invasion of Privacy. Doriation: $2. Ausp: Militant Labor Forum. For . nam vets to Nicaragua in 1986; Hector Carri6n, Labor Forum. For more information call (201) Speakers: Gerry. Daley, labor lawyer with more infC?rmation call (3

ll ---THEGREATSOC~TY-----~~------~~--~--

Oh -"It was not one of the big rules to meet ambitious recruit­ lieu of interest on certificates of One. with a Swiss bank ac­ was something you used to' order smuggling rings anyway." - A ment goals. High school diplomas deposit, an Illinois bank offers a count - We missed the an­ your winter underwear. Now one drug enforcement agent explain­ were forged and other comerS cut. set of automatic weapons. nouncement, but Imelda Marcos from Tiffany's offers a clip of cul­ ing why the feds dropped a probe said she had been asked to endorse tured pearls set in 18-karat gold, of drug-running by the crews that Must have been a logic prof- The sane society - What with a line of shoes and said that if she plus . diamonds set in platinum. ferried anns to the contras. :E4ucation Secretary Bennett pre- · paranoia about terrorism, escalat­ accepted, she would contribute the $45,000. fers that rather than spending more ing corporate espionage, and in­ profit to a human rights founda­ on education, children should be · creased marital infidelity, New tion. That's the · Street Wall Jour­ able to read better. York's Counter Spy Shop is doing nal? - The Wall Street Journal nicely, including impressive sales threatened trademark-infringe­ Unemployment checks ac­ It ragures- Jeannette Rankin of the Bullet Proof Super Car (up ment action against the .Small cepted - Dogs that lose weight was the first woman elected to to $385,000.) Features include Street journal, a 1 ,000-crrculation Harry and build muscle tone often regain Congress (from Montana in 1916). annor plate, steel enforced tires, children's monthly. some of the playfulness they had For that reason she was honored and machine gun ports. Ring as pups, assures Beverly Jiarkey with a statue ~ in the Capitol's Thought for the week - "We of the Doggery Animal Center,' a· Statuary Hall and an official book. How tasteful can you get? - are the only industrialized nation chic L.A. dog spa that features Thought they were working All of the others with statues there Designers of the Super Car had in the world that has no system for treadmills and Jacuzzi. ' for Ollie - Army recruiters .in have hardcover books. Rankin's is considered a driver's seat that guaranteeing health care for all. Minnesota are being reassigned or a paperback. would cream a hijacker against the Consequences are unforgivably otherwise penalized for yielding to roof. But they decided this was Modern times - We re­ harsh."- Robert Ball, former So­ pressure from superiors to break For early withdrawal? - In "overly distasteful." member when a mail-order catalog cial Security commissioner. Philippines government shaken by attempted coup

Continued from front page- ...... fishing villages a few hours' journey from ticularly . oppose.. the .charter's provision Manila. guaranteeing Aquino a term of office end­ The frrst line of . riot police carried ing in 1992. Unions and other popular or- shields bearing the slo~an, "Maximum To­ . ganizations voice opposition because the lerance" - part of the effort to refurbish constitution's provisions would obstruct the image of the armed forces in the wake social cJtanges like land reform arid allow of Ferdinand Marcos' ouster last year. WashingtQn to keep military .bases'in the "As far as I'm concerned we did exercise country at le~ through 1.991. . · maximum tolerance against these wild The coup attempt took place jn ahighly men," boasted Gen. Ramon Montano, tense atmosphere created by the gunning head of Manila's police forces. "We have down of peasants and their supporters who· tolerated them for so long." had participated in a January 22 march jn The massacre wa8 .the worst in the Manila demanding the distribution of land Philippines sitlce the September 1985 kill­ and other measures. ing, under the Marcos dictatorship, of 28 About -10,000 people participated. peasant protesters on the island of Negros. When Aquino· refused ·· to meet with their The January 22 killings were followed representatives, they marched toward by the breakdown of talks between the gov­ Malacaiiang Palace, where the president's ernment and representatives of the New offices are located. People's Army, which has won wide sup­ Philippine protesters·ftee after trOops fire on January 22 march As the procession came to a bridge near port among Philippine peasants. Satumino the palace, troops opened fire. Ocampo, a leading representative of the "The demonstrators fell to the ground, guerrillas in the negotiations, said the kill­ screaming, in a swarming mass as the frr­ ings were "part of a pattern by the military ---10 AND 25 YEARS AGO____,___,___ ing continued," reported a dispatch frQm to destabilize the.situation and blame it on Manila in the January 23 New Y art Times. us." burglary. . "Some troops •aimed handguns ·and auto­ The 60.:day cease-frre.between the gov­ ,TII£ •.MJLlTANT·.· ·It· wasn't the furniture heist that· became matic rifles at the mass of huddling demon­ ernment and the guerrillas, scheduled to a national scandal though, but another strators 40 yards away." expire February·8, continued. February 4, 1977 burglary that Redfearn p~lled July 7.: Many were shot in the back while flee­ In the face of massive popular anger, About 4:30 that morning he drove ~ver mg. Others·were shot in the .head; ' Aquino .sought to dissociate her adminis­ to the Militant Bookstore, headquarters for After the shootings, police rldiilg 'in MrS. Kehr came home June . 24 and tration from the rna,ssacre. She announced foimd her. house and. garage broken in~o, the Denver SWP and YSA, He cut through . jeeps chased down smaller groups 9f dem­ tt,at an independent, nongovernmental the padlock, quietly entered, and .went onstrators, firing ·automatic· weaPQils and her furniture gone. commission would investigate the killings, So she called the police; and a Detective straight. for a file cabinetjn the im,ide of- lobbing teax: gas canisters at them. , , , and that Gen. Montano would be placed on fice. · · · In addition to the lS killed,, about 100 Cross came for her statem~nt. leave of absence during the probe. ~he or­ But there were no fmgerprints' and no peOple -were wounded. . ., dered the release of all those arrested at the Most ;o£,the,' victims were men and suspects. THE· prot,est...... , Those last weeks of June .were a low women in their 298 and 30s who had come · On January Z3 Gen. 'Jlice officials, the government re­ Frances' roonurtate, the man who had Commission desegregating bus stations, nomics• . Pamptllet . ex- ' moved barricades set ·up to block the mar­ Mrs. Kehr's stolen, furniture, tuined out to and to return money paid for bail during the plains why a revolu.tion . chers from reaching the palace gate and or­ be no ordinary prowler. ·· mass arrests in December. · At the mass meetings, Student Nonvio­ by workers is .necessary dered cops to stay o~ . of sight on side He was FBI informer 481~S. Timothy streets. Redfearn. Or, "lennop," as. he signe

February 6, 1987 The Militant 13 -EDITORIALS--___;,_.,; _____...... __._.__--.- How did the parasitic caste · • arise in the USSR? Pregnancy ruling codifies gams BY DOUG JENNESS In the last two columns I've attempted to show why the All supporters of women's equality should welcome in his dissenting opinion, "permits employers to single Soviet Union is not capitalist or imperialist. the January 13 Supreme Court ruling upholding the con­ out pregnancy for preferential treatment." While I like to hope that my presentation convinced stitutionality of state laws requiring employers to grant many readers, I realize that some may be asking: "Isn't special job protection to employees who are unable to Justice Thurgood Man;hall, who wrote the majority there a new type of ruling class in the USSR, one that is work because of pregnancy. opinion, said that the California law's preferential treat­ different than the capitalist class in the United States and ment of pregnant employees is not discriminatory. other countries? How else can you explain the repressive This decision registers the progress made by the mas~ Rather,.it "promotes equal employment opportunity" be­ policies and .social inequalities that exist 1ri the Soviet sive civil rights movement, as well as. the women's rights cause it "allows women, as well as men, to have families Union?" · movement, in .forcing the government and the employers· without losing their jobs." rn order to evaluate the social formation that now to take some affmnative action to begin to bridge the so­ The. heart of the issue here is a simple biological fact: dominates political and economic life in the USSR, it is cial and economic gaps that are the consequence of race pregnancy is a peculiarly female disability. Only women necessary to take a look at its origins and evolution. and sex discrimination. become pregnant. And they do so in a society where When the workers and peasants overthrew tsarism and The court's 6-to-3 vote to uphold state pregnancy dis­ women confront discrimination on the basis of their sex. capitalist political rule in 1917, they established their ability laws is also a measure of what the Reagan admin­ Women's wages are lower than men's; women bear the own government. They participated in this government istration., Congress, employers, and the right-wing have brunt of caring for children; women are kept out of cet- · through theii own mass organizations and were able to been able to accomplish in rolling back women's not tain jobs that are predominantly male; and there are still advailc~ their interests through it. . · . rights, despite the fierce barrage of propaganda against laws that make it legal to discriminate against women. Working people mobilized behind the new regime to affmnative action, legal abortion, government funding Therefore, protective legislation, which helps working expropriate the capitalist class and begin the process of for child care, and the very notion of equality itself. women who are pregnant keep their jobs, makes male building a society. based on nationali~d pr~perty rela­ The Supreme Court decision involved the case of Lil~ and female workers a little more equal. .tions. Millions threw themselves into the successful ef­ lian Garland, a receptionist for the California.. Federal fort to defend their government frorp a counterrevolution- . Savings and Loan Association. She lost her job after tak-­ "Similar treatment [of men and women] may lead to jQg-time off to give birth. inequality," pointed out Marian Johnston, California's A Calif~ law requires that women who take up to deputy attorney general . .That's why special treatment is four months' disability leave for childbirth be gUaranteed needed. LEARNING ABOUT their jobs back. At least_nine other states have laws that The court's decision will give a boost to the fight to get . specifically protect the jobs of women who take time off pregnancy disability legislation passed in the other states SOCIALISM to give birth. that don't have it, as welt as on the federal level. ·.This is no small qlJ:estion for working people. Of the 44 The changes in the position of women workers ary war in which troops from more than a dozen capitalist percent of the_work force that is female, 90 percent are codified in this decision strengthen the work force by les­ countries participated. expected to have-children at some point in their working sening the divisions along sex lines among workers. It The victory in this civil war was achieved not only by lives. Many women lose their jobs when they are forced strengthens the fight for temporary disability leaves for military organization; with just that the exploited classes to take a leave to have a baby. all workers, with all kinds of disabilities. could not have won. It was accomplished by the moral Garland's employers cballenged the California law on By reaffmning that it takes special measures, not sim­ standing of the regime, whose revolutionary measures the grounds tha~ it provides special rights for pregnant ply ''race and gender neutral" treatment, to overcome the and unstinting support for the exploited and oppressed women and therefore discriminates ~gainst men. · second-class status of women, the ruling also helps the inspired and won solidarity from working people fight for the rights of Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Chicanos, throughout the world. Under the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Asians, and others who benefit from affmnative action But the young workers' and peasants' republic faced which was passed by Congress in 1978, employers can't programs. many difficulties from the outset. discriminate against pregnant workers in hiring, promo­ Chief among them was the economic and cultural tion, or disability benefits for pregnancy, childbirth, and The labor movement should hail this decision and pro­ backwardness of the country and the international isola­ other related conditions. Such benefits must be provided pose that it be extended to the entire work force. tion resulting from the failure of working people to take on an equal basis as other non-occupational disabilities The fight for affmnative action for women - in hir­ power in any other country, particularly in Europe. On and illnesses. ing, promotion, traini~g. and benefits-must be right in top of this, tens of thousands ofthe most able workers, What the Supreme Court has now decided is that it's the center of the struggle -by labor for women's equality with the most consistent revolutionary outlook, were constitutional to go beyond simply outlawing discrimina~ as well as cJefense of labor's own immediate needs. Dis• killed.in the civil war. _ .. . .· . tion against workers who are pregnant. It is in keeping crimination agllinst women drags down the wages, work­ All of these elements helped generate widespread pes­ with the Civil rights laws, the court affmned, to provide ing conditions, and unity of the entire working class. simism. And they reinforced tendencies for people to preferential treatment-affmnative action -in order to look out for their own individual interests, rather than For women workerS who have children, the fight for try to make up for the inequality between male_ and carry forward the collective ~ffort to advance the fight of gove~ent-funded child care, that is open around-the­ female workers. · working people in ~ussia and internationallyA clock and available to all workers, is of crucial impor­ Under the conditions of backwardness and scarcity, It is uPtrolding,of affmnative action and . tance .. this preferen~ these moOds gave an impulse to securing economic and tial treatment of the oppressed that the Chamber Qf Com­ · . It is around these issues, combined with uncompromis­ social privileges. An entire section of the. government merce,Justice ,Department, and three_judges who voted ing support for legal abortion, the Equal Rights Amend- · and the Communist Party apparatus based itself on and against the court majority objected to ·so strongly. ment, and other democratic rights for women, that the became part of this privileged, self-serving layer as it de­ The California law, complained Justice Byron White labor movement must mobilize and fight. veloped. It.skimmed off for its own consumption a dis­ proportionate share of what working people produced. This stratum resorted to police measures against work­ ers and peasants to safeguard its position, gutting the democratically run institutions of the early years of the New .ID measure hurts all workers revolution. This layer, however, did not acquire the essential char­ For the frrst time all workers applying for a job in this Under the new regulations, which are to be finalized acteristics of a new ruling class. Unlike the capitalist or country will have to prove they are U.S. citizens or other­ and go into_effect in April, U.S. -born workers will have slaveowning classes, this privileged bureaucratic forma­ wise legally entitled towork here. to produce either a passport or two of several other docu­ tion dido't take shape as a result of deeply rooted needs of ments- for instance, a birth certificate and a driver's Regulations specifying the kind of documentation production. Slaveowners are necessary to an economy license. Other documents will be required of naturalized workers will have to submit to get a job have been drawn based on slave labor; capitalists are indispensable to pro­ citizens and legal residents. up by the Immigration and NaturaliZation Service - Ia duction based on wage labor. But the privileged layer migra - under terms of the reactionary "Immigration Job applicants will have to fill out a new "1-9" form on that emerged in the Soviet Union and still exists there is Control and Reform Act" passed by Congress last year. which they will have to give biQgraphical data and liftirm not necessary to an economy based on nationalized prop­ The rights of all workers will suffer from these meas­ that they are legally entitled to work. Those who give in­ erty and centralized planning. ures: They open the door to greater invasions of the right formation deemed to be false will be subject to prosecu- To the contrary, it is an obstacle to the most rational to privacy and give the government new means of keep­ tion for perjury. · and equitable development of a planned economy. It is a ing track workers. parastic growth on the new economic foundations estab­ ot Some undocumented residents will be able to apply for . The new provisions will especially reinforce the pariah lished by the workers. It more closely resembles a caste amnesty. Legal status will be granted to those who can statl,ls of undocumented workers and increase discrimina­ than a class. prov~ to .the satisfaction of Ia migra that they have lived tion, against all .other fo~ign-born workers. The political takeover by this parasitic caste did not .here continuously since before Jan. 1; 1982. Under the new immigration law, it is illegal for em~ · · · occur without resistance. Many workers continued their · Each amnesty applicant must pay a $100 fee, plus . ployers to knowingly hire undocumented workers. But · activities as revolutionary communists: They·continued · lawyers' bills. Those denied amnesty will have to pay for every employer who is. selectively fined or jailed, to see the road forward for working people in the USSR · another $50 each to appeal. hundreds of others will be placed in a stronger position to to·be inseparably.liriked to the struggles of workers and blaciQnail ..and .pockeLbig extra profits from workers ·.When the drive \)egan in the 1970s to pass an anti-in1~ · oppressed peoples internationally. · without papers. .· ·migrant bill, some of those who favored it pres~ to · As· the privileged bureaucracy consolidated · its hold "I might pay a fine,· or maybe even go to jail for being . have the law include a proviso requiring all workers to ·over the country in die late 1920s and 1930s, it savagely gOOd enoogh·to hii:e you," will be the bosses' refrain. carry a national identity card - an internal passport. Ob• repressed these_ working-class fighters. Tens of Legally denied the·right to work, ·undocumented work­ jections to such an antidemocratic move were strong thousands were· purged, exiled, impriSoned," and mur- ers are separated out·as an outlaw caste with no right to. enough to prevent it from being included in the new law. dered. - The most prominent leader of the Soviet government minimum wage, safe working conditions, or the right to . But requiring workers to produce birth certificates, JOm• • a. uruon.• I· to continue carrying out a revolutionary internationalist etc., to exercise .the elementary right to hold a job is a course was Leon Trotsky. During the battle to maintain And discrimination and harassment against foreign­ step in the direction of a national ID card. That alone is a th_is persJ)ective, Trotsky wrote many articles and docu­ born workers who do have papers, but whom the employ­ mark of how reactionary the entire law is and why the en­ ments describing the new bureaucracy-and its rejection of ers think look "illegal," will be stepped up. tire labor movement should condemn it. revolutionary communism. I particularly recommend to readers The Third International After Lenin ($8.95) and The Revolution Betrayed ($7.95), both published by Pathfinder Press, 410WestSt., New York, N.Y. 10014. . · Next week, we'lllook into whether or not there's any'­ ,;thing progressiv~ about the Soviet bureaucracy's foreign policy. · ·

14 Tbe'Mifit8at February 6, 1987 Drug testing· is attack on the rights of workers BY JIM MILES sponsible for accidents that endanger lives, property, and The only radio the Conrail crew had before the Amtrak It seems _the main topic of conversation among rail the environment. collision was a weak handset which prevented their being crews on the Chicago & Northwestern railroad these days Highly inaccurate drug tests, which violate the provi­ able to communicate directly with the Amtrak crew. is, "Who got fired this week?" sions of the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing individuals Similar conditions prevail on the Northwestern where At least 17 brakemen and five engineers have been the right to protect themselves from unwarranted extra-board crews feel lucky to get even a handset radio. searches and self-incrimination, are portrayed as guaran­ Some workers are simply fired for refusing to be tested tees of public safety. or urinate while a company official watches. The majority of those fired on the Northwestern so far UNION TALK The reality behind the smoke screen is that it gives the are Black. Since .the criteria for subjecting a worker to a carriers yet another green light to eliminate jobs and at­ test can be as little as "suspicious or unusual behavior" in tack work rules and union rights. the eyes of a company official, the potential for a racist The "Omnibus Drug Bill" passed into law by Congress fired in the Chicago yard since last August when the com­ firing increases. last fall calls for penalties of up to five years in prison and pany began implementing extensive drug and alcohol The United Transportation Union (UTU) is challeng­ tests. $10,000 fines for operating trains or engines under the in­ ing the legality of testing in the courts. That's important, These are the same types of tests that were adminis­ fluence of drugs or alcohol. The companies are pushing but it's not enough. We have to join together with airline tered to the crews involved in the Amtrak and Conrail through large-scale· firings of workers accused of drug workers and other unionists to publicly expose the unde­ collision January 4. Sixteen people have died so far from use under the threat of criminal prosecution for those who mocratic, union-busting fraud of drug testing. test "positive." that' accident. Drug tests have supposedly turned up The Bill of Rights is a conquest of all working people. "traces" of marijuana in the blood and urine of the two The real threat to public safety, however, comes from We as trade unionists have a big stake in defending it. Conrail crew members. the deteriorating conditions rail workers are being forced · The smoke screen being put up by politicians, the Fed­ to work under. Trying to maximize profits, the carriers Jim Miles is a member of UTU Local 577 and a brake­ eral Railway Administration, the rail companies, and the invest as little as possible in maintaining and improving man in the Chicago & Northwestern's Chicago Freight media is that drunken, drug-crazed rail workers are re- rail beds and equipment. Terminal. -LETTERS------Still want 'Militant' great depth and ciarity to the polit- cussing the "labor dispute at 1 have hesitated renewing my iC~ discussions taking place h~re; Northwest Airlines." subscription. because I was not , ~bich has been sore~y ~acking A spokesperson for the FAA an­ sure if I still wanted the Militant. l smce the branch close~ m Lmcoln. nounced, "We are stepping up sur­ have finally decided that, yes, I do The m~~o;packers struggles veillance as we usually do when still wantto receive your paper. ~d the trammg of ~ebraska Na- there is a .labor dispute at an air­ 1 would also like to comment on ttonal_ Guard forces m . Hond~s line." the Howard Beach killing and ra- are ISsues on ~e . un~edtate The lAM has rejected any im­ cism in this country. It is quite evi- agenda, and the SOCialist v!ews on. plication that it has anything to do dent to me, a white, suburban the~ need to be heard. I m glad . with the whole affair and has youth, that despite the success of they re ~ack. . . . . launched its own investigation. the "Cosby Show," racism is still I don t g~t UJ? to Omaha very No evidence that I know of indi­ rampant in this country. The kill- . oft~~· bu! I d like to be on the cates a union mechanic carried out ing in Howard Beach illustrates mailing l~st when they start the tamperings, and insinuation that this clearly. forum senes. . . this is the case is dangerous to the It is therefore imperative that all Pleas~ _k~p me mformed of union. Northwest mechanics are those who wish for a better future your activities. the ones committed to safe air­ for all of mankind do their best to R .L. craft, not the company, which en­ put an end to racism. This will not Lincoln, Nebraska courages speedup and imposes be easy, though. Racism is rooted overtime; and not the FAA, which very deeply in our society, and has recently reduced · its fines for Howard Beach coverage safety violations by the airlines. much work will be required to fi­ Thank yop _for the job you are nally weed it all out. Meanwhile, as the lAM election doing in covering the news around campaign heats up, a who-:-dunit E.H. the world. There are so many arti­ Morgantown, West Virginia climate of suspicion is ~ing fos­ cles that I would have no knowl­ tered. And as unionists are.gearing edge of if it weren't for left-wing up for this campaign, FAA and Marx on tape papers such as yours. FBI snoops will conveniently be Here is $24 for a year's sub­ breathing down our necks. and shouted in solidarity. sored by the National Alliance Militant ·teilders who are dis­ scription, and I want to let you · Jean Armbruster · The strike was provoked by Against Racist and Political Re­ abled or who know people who are know that as a result , of your Minneapolis, Minnesota Portee's owners on November 2. pression and the St. Louis chapter disabled may be · interested to 'coverage of the Howard Beach in­ The company refused to negotiate of the Coalition of Black Trade know of a source of Marxist litera­ cident, I am writing a letter to New when the contract . expired. It Unionists. ture on recotded tape. York Governor Cuomo asking that China wanted to cut back on benefits and Keynote speaker Lennox A few years ago, wherillost the that incident be 19Qked in~o further I am outraged at your "Students freeze wages. Hinds, attorney representative to ability to read books in the normal . Wttil it .is cleared up and justice is protest across China" article! [Mil­ If may be a long time before the United Nations for the Interna­ fashion, I ·discovered Recording done. . · itant, January 9]. Portec's bosses negotiate. "In tional Association of Democratic for -the Blind, Inc. (RFB), a ser­ E.c. How do you expect to develop November, December, and Janu- Lawyers, gave a presentation on vice primarily .but .not exclusively· Ann Arbor, Michigan an independent revolutionary per­ ary it's too cold to repair train how Blacks, Native Americans, oriented toward blind and disabled spective when you side with the traclcs any~ay . So there isn't Latin0s, an~ l'§orpeople .~eed to students. •RFB has dozens . of Northwest 'Airlines U.S. ruling class? Sorry I sub­ mueh reason for Portee to produce· fight for our rightS that are-spelled Marxist titles, including many scribed. track 'ties,'; said Nicholas Bizaro, · out in the Constitution. Several classics by Marx;, Engels, Lenin, IQ. the first week of this year, A reader president of Local 8652. UA W locals and Region 5 UAW and Trotsky. . Northwest Airlines, where I work, Maryland Bizaro noted, '.'The union of- CAP Council members were After spending a year and a half repor.ted to the federal authorities ' fered management a six-month ex- there, along with civil rights, re­ two cases of alleged tampering listening to these titles, I began to Portee strike tension on the contract provided ligious, and antiwar activists. thirst for some of .the new Path­ with aircraft at its Twin Cities the company increases hospitali- Joe Allor finder titles I saw advertised in the maintenance facilities. The Fed~ · Chanting "Let them go, let them zation coverage in the meantime. · St. Louis, Missouri Militant. I was recently able to eral Aviation Administration go!" 80 pickets from United Steel­ But Portee turned us down. strike a deal with Pathfinder to (FAA) and the FBI are currently workers of America (USWA) "Frankly we feel as though they have some of these titles recorded conducting investigations at the Local 8652 and their supporters wanted .us to go out - to test us, 'Blood in My Eye' by RFB . maintenance hangars. · surrounded Troy, New York, to see how strong we are:" Just wanted to thank you for In the coming year disabled This comes at a time when rep- . police cars outside the Portee Larry Lane sending me my copy of your readers can e~pect to see the fol­ resentations elections are about to plant. The cops were taking away George Kontanis newspaper. At the same time · I take place. at the airline. Fourteen lowing titles. made. avail.able: Cos-. three union activists arrested, after Albany, New York would like to know if there is any metics, Fashions, and the Exploi­ thousand clericat, passenger 'ser­ the police attacked the picket line. way you could get me a copy of vice, and ground service employ~ The angry pickets had surrounded tation of Women; Nelson Man­ the book Blood in 1My Eye by de/a, The Struggle Is My Life; ees will be choosing among the In- · the front gate, and the manage­ King Day George Jackson and anything you Fidel Castro: .. Nothing Can Stop ternational Association of ment and its van-loadof scabs A seeond national -celebration may have on Lolita Lebron. the Course of History; .Nicaragua: Machinists (lAM), Air Line Em- found themselves unable to get honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., A prisoner·· The Sandirtista People's Revolu­ . ployees Association, and the out. was held on January 19 in the-Old Attica, New York tion; The German Revolution and· Brotherhood of Railway :and Air­ The striking steelworkers, ·who Court House in St. Louis. · the Debate on Soviet Power; line Clerks as to wlrich Will repre­ make railroad ties, were joined by The building is a hlstorical site The letters column is an open Teamster Rebelli(Jn; and Socialism sent them. The mechanics have representatives from union locals where the .state court made the ftrst forum for all viewpoints on sub­ on Trial. . _ . been~ and will continue to be, rep- · organized into the Solidarity Com­ ruling in the infamous.Dred Scott jects of general· interest to our Blind and disabled people who . resented by the .lAM. mittee of the Capital District. This case, which was upheld by the readers. Please keep your letters are interested in applying for the . There is a lot at stake in these united demonstration of labor U.S. Supreme Court in 1857. The brief. Where necessary they .will services of RFB .can write the'm at elections.·If the JAM wins the vote unity and the arrests took place de.cision in this case legally af­ be abridged. Please indicate if 20 Rozel Rd., Princeton, N.J. it, will mean that all personnel on several weeks ago. firmed that Black slaves were you prefer that your initials be 08540, ·or call (609) 452-0606. the ground ,....- from the ticket The Portee owners called in the property and these property rights used rather than your full name • Mike Rose .counter and baggage area to the· police to rescue the scabs. As 15 were protected by the Constitution Austin, Texas hangars - will be brothers and police cars arrived and the cops es­ anywhere in the United States. The MJHtant special prisoner sisters in one union. corted the bosses through, the The King Day civic ceremony fund makes it possible to send l:'he company .. and · the local angry workers struck up a chant was addressed by many communi­ reduced-rate subscriptions to Omaha branch media have seized upon these al- that must have been heard in Al­ ty, religious, and labor leaders. prisoners who can't pay for congrat~llitions to •the Socialist leged .tamperings .., to smear the bany, across the river: "What do Later that night, the Dr. Martin them. To help this important Workers Party for opening a new lAM. {JnioQ personnel are as­ we want? Union! What does Por­ Luther King, Jr., Human Rights cause, send your contribution branch in Omaha, Nebraska, and sumed to be the guilty party. All tee want? Scabs!" Cars going up Awards Banquet was held at the to: Militant Prisoner Subscrip­ setting up the Iowa distqct. The · .. the . articles and news spots de­ the hill in this working-class Troy United Auto Workers (UAW) tion Fund, 14 Charles Lane, presence of the' party here will add voted to this inCicJ~iit wind up dis- neighborhood honked their horns Local 25 union hall. It was spon- New York, N.Y. 10014.

February 6, 1987 · The Militant 15 THE MILITANT Rojas speaks on Caribbean struggle N.Y. meeting hears ~ representative of Anti-Imperialist Organizations

BY MALIK MIAH Organizations, he said, shows that it is pos­ Nicaragua. He appealed to those in the au­ NEW YORK - Some 350 people sible to forge "unity in action out of diver­ dience to support this effort. ,packed a meeting room at Columbia Uni­ sity and ideological plurality. It is possible "In the final analysis, it is you who live, versity to hear Caribbean journalist and to put our rich diversity to work as a posi­ work, and struggle in this country who are revolutionary Don Rojas January 24. Rojas tive force for cooperation and progress." the guardians of our region's sovereignty. was concluding a five-city tour speaking on Such unity, Rojas explained, is neces­ You are the ones who must continue to "The Freedom Struggle in the Caribbean sary to achieve the political independence shout: 'Hands off Nicaragua!'" and Central America." from imperialist domination and to put an Brief remarks were also made to the Rojas is the former press secretary of end to the ruthless exploitation of the·re- · meeting by Bill Starr, a chaplain and mem­ Grenada's Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, gion's working people and resources. berof the Columbia University Students in who was murdered after a coup in October 'The struggle for freedom in the Carib­ Solidarity with Nicaragua; Ben Dupuy, 1983. Shortly after, the U.S. government bean and Central America," he said, "is the editor of Haiti Progres and leader of the organized an invasion and imwsed a pup­ .struggle for social and economic develop­ Committee Against Repression in Haiti; pet regime on the island. ment."· and Richard Hoyen, ·president of the The evening meeting was sponsored by Rojas detailed the wretched social and Jamaica Democratic Association. Eddie several Central American and Caribbean economic conditions of the peoples of the Demmings of the National Conference of organizations in the New York area. More region in countries with regimes subser­ Black Lawyers gave a fund appeal. than 20 other groups endorsed the meeting. An vient to imperialism. alternative path Kay Saunders and Santiago Grull6n, Jose Soler of the Puerto Rican Socialist - one ·based on independence from im­ Party·opened .the meeting. The goal of the representatives of sponsoring Bahamian perialism and reorganizing society to give and Dominican groups, co-chaired . the gathering aDd of Rojas's tour, Soler said, priority to the of the vast majority - needS event. The Dominican singer Lurni pre­ was to introduce a new·and unprecedented has been taken by Cuba, Nicaragua, and, sented solidarity songs. development in the Americas-the forma­ for four and a half years, by Grenada. tion of the Anti-Imperialist Organizations . "Only anti-imperialist struggles and of.the Caribbean and. Central America. anti-imperialist victories," he said, "can Formed in June 1984 at a, broadly at­ WASHINGTON, D.C. - Don Rojas put om peoples on this new path." toured here January 21 and 22. Although tended meeting in Havana, Cuba, the Anti­ As an example of these two opposing Imperialist Organizations includes more his main broadly sponsored meeting was ,toads, Rojas contrasted the abysmal condi­ canceled due to a major snowstorm, Rojas than 30.parties from some 20 countries in tions in Grenada today under the U.S.-im­ the Spanish-, English-, French-, and joined a panel of antiwar and solidarity ac­ posed regime of Herbert Blaize to the gains tivists to speak on the current situation in Dutch-speaking Caribbean and Central in education, medical care, and democratic Don Rojas at Columbia University meet­ America. Rojas represents the Maurice ing. the Caribbean and Central America. involvement that had been registered by the He was joined by Grenada's former am­ Bishop Patriotic Movement of Grenada on People's Revolutionary Government under the 10-party Coordinating Committee of bassador to 1he Organization of American the leadership of Maurice Bishop. The Anti-Imperialist Organizations, States, Dessima Williams; Fritz Long­ the Anti-Imperialist Organizations. Rojas said · that his own party, the After being greeted with a standing ova­ Rojas said, will be publishing regular. ma­ champ, executive d~ctor; of theWashing­ Maurice Bishop Patriotic Movement, was terials i"n three languages - English, ton Office on Haiti; Dumi Matabane, Afri­ tion, Rojas explained the significance of "a revolutionary democratic, anti;.;im­ the new organization, calling it "the p}Ost Spanish, and Fren~h - and holding re­ can National Congress representative in perialist" organization with the goal of re­ gional meetings·· on matters of common D.C.; and a member of the Farabundo important and positive development in our sisting the reactionary policies of the U.S.­ region over the past three years." concern. Marti National Liberation Front-Revolu­ imposed regime and of struggling to restore tionary Democratic Front of El Salvador 'An idea whose time had come' a government based on the interests of the MobUize against 'contra' war diplomatic mission here. The panel was Grenadian people. Although formed after the defeat in Gre­ A central focus of the group, he said, chaired by Committee in Solidarity with nada, Rojas said, "This organization- in Rojas called on people -in the United will be to mobilize opposition to U.S. im­ the Peoples of El Salvador national coordi­ the most fundamental sense - was a prod­ States .to support' the. Anti-Imperialist Or­ perialist-organized militarization and op­ nator, Angela Sanbrano. uct of the survival of the [ 1959] Cuban rev­ ganizations in whatever way possible. pression in the region - in particular the Forty-five peace, anti~ar. anti-apart­ olution for more than a quarter century, "Help us get out the word.of our joint activ­ mercenary contra war against .the San­ heid, and solidarity leaders carne to the and 6f the victories of the Grenada and ities and our common goals," he said. dinista-led revolutionary government in meeting. Nicaraguan revolutions in 1979. It was an idea whose time had come." . This organization, Rojas said, is a step toward overcoming the artificial divisions Sandinistas assess Contadora tour among the peoples of the Caribbean and Central America imposed by different co­ BY CINDY JAQUITH guan proposals. But the three governments 1954 or the isolation of Cuba." lonial powers over nearly 500 years. MANAGUA, Nicaragua- The U.S. felt compelled to meet with the delegation, This traditional OAS role, Barricada despite their insistence that negotiations continued, "has now finally been defeated "The competing powers divided us - government is more politically isolated in Latin America today and in a weaker posi­ are not possible at this time. by history itself. In other words, Latin their servants and their slaves - along lan­ When the tour came to Honduras, sev­ America is telling Washington that the guage lines," Rojas said. "And the im­ tion to pursue its military aggression against Nicaragua. This is the assessment eral hundred Honduran citizens organized days when the OAS banner could.be used perialists have sought to tum our lan­ a demonstration to welcome the delegation to intervene in countries like the Domini­ guages, to tum the rich cultural diversity of ofSandinistas here in the wake of a Central and demand that President Jose Azcona can Republic are now past." - our Caribbean peoples and nations, against America tour by Latin American foreign ministers and the general secretaries of the . cooperate with its efforts. Overall, said Barricada, the tour dem­ ourselves." onstrated that Reagan's war policy toward The formation of the Anti-Imperialist United Nations and Organization of Amer­ The Guatemalan government told the ican States (OAS). Nicaragua '!remains isolated" in Latin delegation its stand .was "active neutral­ America. "This underlines the real and ob­ N.Y., Chicago meetings ·The tour was organized by the Conta­ ity." jective possibility of a peaceful solution, dora Group, whose stated purpose is to find At the conclusion of the tour, Perez de whenever the U.S. rulers have the will to discuss April25 action a negotiated.settlement to the military con­ Cuellar said, "Unfortunately, I didn't find accept that course." flict in the region. The group is made up of a desire [on the part of the five govern­ In an interview in Barricada, Nicara­ There were large turnouts in both New the governments of Columbia, Mexico, ments] to sacrifice positions in order to ar­ gua's vice-foreign minister, Victor York and Chicago, for the initial meetings of Panama, and Venezuela, whose foreign rive at a solution." However, he and the Tinoco, singled out what the Sandinistas ministers were part of the delegation. rest of the delegation said they would pur­ local coalitions to build the April 25 demon­ con&ider the most important of their nine Also joining them were the foreign sue negotiations efforts as well as po&sibly stration. points for negotiations. The April 25 action in Washington, D.C., ministers of Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and send international observer teams to the First, he said, is the proposal for renewal Central American countries' borders, a will demand an end to the U.S. government's Uruguay, countries that make up the Sup­ of U.S.-Nicaragua talks. If Washington port Group to Contadora, and UN General step the Nicaraguan government supports. intervention in Central America and apart­ would agree to such talks, the Nicaraguans heid in South Africa. An action with similar Secretary Javier Perez de Cuellar and OAS The Sandinistas consider the tour a sig­ would be open to discussing the regulation General Secretary Joao Baena Soares. demands will. be held in San Francisco the nificant blow to Washington's attempts to of. international military maneuvers and the The delegation visited all five Central same day. isolate Nicaragua diplomatically and to presence of foreign· advisers ' in Central American nations in late January. They Held at the Hospital and Health Care Em­ line up other Latin American governments America. discussed with each government the pos­ ployees Local 1199 hall January 28, the New behind U.S. efforts to militarily crush the A second option, said Tinoco, is there­ York meeting was attended by 200 unionists, sibilities for negotiating an end to the re­ Nicaraguan revolution. The participation newal of negotiations among the five Cen­ gional military conflict that ·is rooted in students, and solidarity and anti-apartheid ac­ of the OAS in the delegation, over Wash­ tral American nations under the auspices of tivists. A coalition office has been set up at Washington's mercenary war against Nica­ ington's explicit objections, is viewed as Contadora. This would include Nicaragua 1199's headquarters. ragua. particularly significant. renewing its proposal to discuss limitations Unions, solidarity groups, students, and The Nicaraguan government seized the As the Sandinista daily Barricada put it: on weapons levels in all five countries. Black rights organizations were represented initiative during the tour to present the del­ "The tour demonstrates the changes in Third, Nicaragua is willing to drop its at the Chicago meeting at Columbia College egation with a nine-point program for Latin American mentality, above all within lawsuits against the governments of Hon­ on January 24. About 100 activists partici­ negotiations. the OAS, which was created by the United duras and Costa Rica in tl- '.World Court if pated. As expected, Washington lined up the States in its own image and with whose those two governments al -ee to accords Next week's Militant will carry reports on governments of El Salvador, Costa Rica, blessing political crimes have been carried with Nicaragua guaranteeint. mutual bor­ · the New York and Chicago meetings. and HondJ,lras to flatly re:ject the Nicara- out, such as the invasion of Guatemala in der security.

16 The Militant February 6, 1987