· AUSTRALIA$3.00 · CANADA$2.50 · FRANCE FF10 · ICELAND KR200 · NEW ZEALAND $3.00 . SWEDEN KR15 . UK £1.00 . U.S. $1.50 SPECIAL Introduction to 'From the Escambray to the Congo' THE -PAGES8-11 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL 66/NO. 02 JANUARY 14, 2002 Bush: U.S. Political explosion spreads will keep bombing as Argentine crisis grows Mghanistan Workers, students take to streets; four presidents resign BY MARTIN KOPPEL, BY BRIAN WILLIAMS CHRISTIAN CATALAN, Stating what has been the intent of the AND ROMINA GREEN U.S. rulers from the start of their war against BUENOS AIRES. Argentina-An erup­ Afghanistan, President George Bush made tion of mass protests across the country, in­ clear at a news conference at his ranch in cluding the capital city of Buenos Aires, Texas December 2.8 that U.S. troops will forced President Fernando de Ia Rua tore­ remain in that country for "quite a long pe­ sign halfway into his four-year term. In face riod of time." of continuing street mobilizations, his re­ Since October 7 Washington has dropped placement, Adolfo Rodriguez Saa, stepped 12,000 bombs throughoutAfghanistan, kill­ ing thousands of civilians. A convoy of Pashtun tribal elders traveling to Kabul to Firsthand report from attend the December 22 inauguration of Hamid Karzai as the leader of the newly team in Argentina appointed Afghan government, became one ofWashington 's bombing targets. About 65 people were killed in the attack, which the down barely a week later. On New Year's Pentagon insists was a Taliban convoy. Day, hours after the Argentine Congress The new Afghan defense minister, Gen. appointed Peronist leader Eduardo Duhalde Mohammed Fahim, asked in an interview as president-the fifth in 12 days, thousands December 28 for Washington to end its of protesters were once again in the streets, bombing raids inAfghanistan. Bush promptly chanting, "I didn't vote for him!" dismissed this request and the Afghan De­ On December 20, with tens of thousands fense Ministry December 30 backed down of angry demonstrators in front of the presi­ from objections to the U.S. bombings. dential house defying a newly imposed state Three days later Reuters reported that a of siege and chanting "Out with him!" de Ia U.S. air strike killed more than 100 civil­ Rua announced his resignation, climbed to ians, many of them women and children, in the roof of the building, and took off in a the village of Qalaye N iazi in Paktia prov- helicopter. Continued on Page 12 The protests by working people, as well Militant/Romina Green as by middle-class layers, were a response Thousands march to presidential house on evening of January 1 to protest congres­ Garment Continued on Page 6 sional appointment of Peronist leader Eduardo Duhalde as president of Argentina. strikers say, 'World events make production of 'We'll keep revolutionary books more important' Waters, was held eight days earlier, on De­ December, he reported, volunteers in the Meeting celebrates cember 15. In the course of the week be­ Pathfinder Reprint Project had prepared nine fighting' tween the two celebrations, work crews had books from Pathfinder's catalog for reprint­ progress of work crews transformed the meeting location from a ing. The figure registered the increasing BY SYLVIE CHARBIN helping to reorganize largely empty area into a freshly painted pace of the international work to convert AND NATHAN CECCKIN space ready for installation of sheetfed Pathfinder's 350-plus titles to digital files, MONTREAL-Despite colder weather Pathfinder's printshop presses on which all Pathfinder books and which can be easily turned into plates for and a two-week holiday plant shutdown, pamphlets are produced. the printing presses. striking garment workers here continued to Barnes, the Socialist Workers Party na­ Two days earlier, he said, socialist work­ BY PATRICK O'NEILL walk picket lines they set up December 14. tional secretary, opened the meeting point­ ers in Upper Manhattan held the first Mili­ Of the 3,000 union members who struck A public meeting held in the Pathfinder ing to other steps forward by members and tant Labor Forum at their new Washington some two dozen men's garment shops in printshop on December 23 celebrated a supporters of the communist movement. In Continued on Page 3 Quebec, two-thirds work in four big plants "major turning point in the work of the in­ here: Golden Brand, Jack Victor. SFI, and ternational communist movement," said Samuelsohn. Jack Barnes. the chairperson, in his intro­ The strike by members of the Union of ductory remarks. He was referring to the War tensions grow between India Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Em­ ongoing work by volunteers from across the ployees (UNITE) began after garment work­ country and Canada to reorganize the and Pakistan; U.S. backs New Delhi ers narrowly rejected for the second time a printshop. and in the months to come, the contract offer by the Men's Clothing Manu­ offices of the Militant, Perspectiva Mundiul, BY ROGER CALERO Borrowing from the imperialist rhetoric facturers Association (MCMA). The second and Pathfinder. Facing a massive military mobilization by used by Washington to justify its war moves proposal improved by a nickel the initial Held under the banner, "The place of the government of India and severe diplo­ against Afghanistan and other countries in wage hike of 40 cents an hour over a three­ Pathfinder books in building the interna­ matic pressure from Washington, Pakistani the region, Indian prime minister A tal Behari year contract. Most workers earn between tional communist movement," the meeting, president Gen. Pervez M usharraf announced Vajpayee said December 30 that India's "ob­ $7.25 and $8.40 an hour (Can$l=US 63 which drew 90 people, was the second in a January 1 that his government will cut off jective is to put an end to Pakistan-spon­ cents). In previous negotiations, the MCMA series of such events. The first, which fea­ all support to "nonindigenous" groups fight­ sored cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Continued on Page 4 tured New International editor Mary-Alice ing India's occupation of Kashmir. Among Kashmir and the rest of the country." Seiz­ other measures, Musharraf ordered the sec­ ing on the opportunity provided by the tion of military intelligence that provided armed attack on the Indian parliament, New Coming February 1 from Pathfinder training and military support to the groups Delhi seeks to deal a decisive blow to the to be closed down. Kashmir independence movement, and gain From the Escambray to the Congo: Continuing a military escalation aimed at ground over its neighbor and capitalist rival In the Whirlwind of the Cuban Revolution Pakistan that has brought the region to the in the region. brink of war, New Delhi insists that the gov­ "Lowering the level of insurgency is not (• Interview with Victor Dreke, leading participant in Cuba's ernment in Islamabad extend its crackdown too high a price to pay for protecting the revolutionary movement. See advertisement page 9. on Islamic groups accused by India of carry­ country" against attack from India, whose ing out an armed attack on the Indian parlia­ conventional forces far outnumber •:• Read the introduction and first chapter of the Spanish-language ment December 13. The five attackers killed Pakistan's, said Musharraf on January 2. edition in the January issue of Perspectiva Mundial. eight people outside the parliament, most of The Pakistani regime had earlier moved them guards, before being gunned down. Continued on Page 4 Support grows for fight of fired garment worker- pages 4-5 Volunteer crews help reorganize printshop

Brian Williams, Hilda Cuzco. and Romina Green

On December 22-23 more than 80 volunteers joined crews in the Path­ finder building on Manhattan's westside to continue the work of reorganizing the publisher's printshop. Volunteers also took part in an auction of bound THE MILITANT volumes of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial, disused tools, and com­ puter and other equipment that raised $2,500. A dinner, meeting, and social event were organized December 23 (see article page 3). Defend workers' rights The following week, a crew prepared the relocation of the two sheetfed presses to the refurbished factory area. The work included the dismantling of Imperialist governments from the an enclosure around the presses needed to maintain air quality. United States to New Zealand Clockwise from top left: volunteers clear the debris left after a crew re­ have stepped up their campaign to moved the press enclosure; a meeting to assess and organize the work; paint­ restrict rights utilized by working ing the factory walls and floor to tum the space into a press room; looking people in our struggles against over sale items; taking down the walls around the sheetfed presses; restacking boxes ofPathfinder books moved to the first floor; and preparing photographic capitalist brutality and exploita­ film of books to send the Pathfinder Reprint Project volunteers. tion. 'Militant' correspondents from around the globe keep read­ ers abreast ofthese developments. above address. By first-class (airmail), send $80. Don't miss a single issue. The Militant Asia: send $80 drawn on aU .S. bank to above address. Vol. 66/No. 2 Canada: Send Canadian $75 for one-year Closing news date: January 2, 2002 subscription to Militant, 4613 St. Laurent, Editor: GREG McCARTAN Montreal, Quebec H2T IR2. SUBSCRIBE TODAYI Business Manager: MAURICE WILLIAMS Britain, Ireland: £36 for one year by check Editorial Staff: Roger Calero, Martin Koppel, or international money order made out to Mili­ Jack Willey, Brian Williams, and Maurice Will­ tant Distribution, 4 7 The Cut, London, SE I 8LL, NEW READERS iams. England. Continental Europe, Africa, Middle Young Socialists column editor: ROMINA East: £40 for one year by check or international GREEN money order made out to Militant Distribution 0 $10 for 12 issues NAME Published weekly except for one week in June, at above address. August and December. France: Send FF420 for one-year subscrip­ tion to Militant, Centre MBE 175, 23 rue The Militant (ISSN 0026-3885), 410 West St., RENEWAL ADDRESS Lecourbe, 75015 Paris; cheque postale: 40 134 New York, NY 10014. Telephone: (212) 243- 34 U. 6392; Fax (212) 924-6040. Iceland: Send 6,500 Icelandic kronur for CITY STATE ZIP E-mail: [email protected] one-year subscription to Militant, P.O. Box 233, 0 S15 for 12 weeks The Militant website is: www.themilitant.com 121 Reykjavik. Sweden, Finland, Norway, Correspondence concerning subscriptions or Denmark: 550 Swedish kronor for one year. UNION/SCHOOL/ORGANIZATION PHONE changes of address should be addressed to The Pay to Militant Swedish giro no. 451-32-09-9. 0 $27 for 6 months Militant Business Office, 410 West St., New York, New Zealand: Send New Zealand $90 to P.O. CLIP AND MAIL TO THE MILITANT NY 10014. Box 3025, Auckland, New Zealand. Australia: 410WESTST, NEW YORK, NY 10014. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY. Send Australian $90 to P.O. Box K879, POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Haymarket, NSW 1240, Australia. Pacific Is­ 0 $45 for 1 year Militant, 410 West St., New York, NY 10014. lands: Send New Zealand $90 to P.O. Box 3025, Subscriptions: United States: for one-year Auckland, New Zealand. 12 weeks of the Militant outside the U.S.: Australia and the Pacific, $A20 • Britain, £7 • Canada, Can$15 • Caribbean subscription send $45 to above address. Signed articles by contributors do not nec­ and Latin America, $15 • Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, £8 • France, FFSO • Iceland, Kr1,800 • New Zealand, Latin America, Caribbean: for one-year sub­ essarily represent the Militant's views. These NZ$20 • Sweden, Kr75 (Send payment to addresses listed in business information box) scription send $65, drawn on a U.S. bank, to are expressed in editorials.

2 The Militant January 14, 2002 'World events today make production of revolutionary books more important' Continued from front page Only by going through such experiences can Koppel, who edits Perspectiva Mundial The founding convention of the Commu­ Heights hall and bookstore. And SWP and a leadership be built and converge toward and is an editor for Pathfinder, described the nist League in Iceland is planned for March, Young Socialists members in Alabama are the kind of forces where revolutionary or­ massive protests that forced the resignation said Newton. lt will coincide with the pub­ planning a grand opening at the end of Janu­ ganizations can start having a real objective of President Fernando de Ia Rua on Decem­ lication in Icelandic of the English-language ary of their new hall in a workers district in impact, such as they did during the Cuban ber 21 (see article on page 1.). New International no. II, with the feature Birmingham. Revolution. Pathfinder books help explain the deep article "U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the Cold Building branches of the party and chap­ roots of the crisis and the revolutionary an­ War." "Communists in Sweden and Iceland ters of the Young Socialists; making Path­ Bush on 2002: a 'war year' swer to capitalist depression, brutality, and are studying Pathfinder titles such as finder books and the socialist press avail­ Barnes pointed to the December 21 state­ war, Koppel said. The last reporting team to Struggle for a Proletarian Party and In De­ able to workers on the job, on street comers ment by U.S. president George Bush, who, Argentina in 1997 took with them the new fense of Marxism," she said, emphasizing and plant gates, and from local Pathfinder in response to a question about what the Spanish edition of The Changing Face of that "Pathfinder books are central to these bookstores; joining the resistance of work­ New Year will bring, responded: "Next year US Politics. Titles published in both English advances in Europe." ing people; and carrying out the weekly ef­ will be a war year." fort to tum all of Pathfinder's titles into Bush added that "our ready-to-print digital files are part of the war on terrorism ex­ same work being done by the volunteer tends way beyond Af­ work brigades to reorganize and make more ghanistan." efficient the production of the books at the The SWP leader re­ Pathfinder Building in New York, he said. called a talk he pre­ Barnes painted a picture for those at the sented a few months meeting of how the volunteer "Red Week­ after the inauguration end" projects arc aimed at finding out how of William Clinton in to organize the printshop so it can be highly 1993, where he said productive in printing Pathfinder as well as that "Clinton is a war commercial jobs. At the same time, the president. That in­ printshop reorganization will strip down the cludes international shop to only what is needed to run a three­ economic and finan­ press operation. Organizing for just-in-time cial wars that will end paper inventories and smaller and more fre­ up destabilizing capitalism and threatening quent press runs of Pathfinder books, and real wars, as they always have throughout turning paper files into digital records stored the history of capitalism. It will include the on the printshop and publishing houses' cold-blooded use of assaults against op­ computer network data bases, are two ex­ pressed and exploited peoples and nations, amples of work being organized to cut down in order to further advance Washington's the amount of space needed by the shop, dominant position in the imperialist feed­ ing chain." Pathfinder, and the Militant. So far this ap­ Militantillilda Cuzco proach has made it possible to consolidate What we couldn't see then, he said, was Jack Barnes speaks at December 23 public meeting. The SWP leader discussed the the shop onto one floor, where it previously the degree to which the preparations for ongoing work by volunteers to reorganize printshop and, over the coming months, the occupied three floors of the building. what is happening now were hidden for a offices of the Militant, Perspectiva Mundi a/, and Pathfinder. Inset: Participants in the Through this work. Barnes said, the period of time because of the crisis in meeting, which took place in newly painted and cleaned factory and warehouse area. movement will know what kind of space is Clinton's administration, and how they set needed for the shop and have the confidence up what is happening today more than we that it can be run eHiciently to meet the rig­ ever guessed at the time. and Spanish since include Capitalism's "Keep your minds open. The political tra­ ors and competition of commercial print­ What has marked Washington's war World Disorder; the issue of Nuna jectory elsewhere is the same as in Sweden ing in New York. ..against Afghanistan is how much the U.S. Internaci15nal containing the article "U.S. and Iceland-v.;e are heading toward a fu­ A similar process is still ahead in the Alili­ rulers held off their imperialist"allies" from Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War;" Che sion," said Jack Barnes. "'Whatever the tant and Pathfinder, along with the party's much of any role-save for a distant sec­ Guevara Talks to Young People: Cuba and forms it takes, we are confronted by a uni­ national office, which Barnes described as ond place for London. Now, Washington has the Coming American Revolution: and Fer­ versal opportunity'' as resistance by work­ an even bigger challenge for the movement. allowed a British-German-French-domi­ tile Ground: Che Guevara and Bolivia. ing people deepens and young fighters nated international force to carry out a knock on the door of the communist move­ Explosion in Argentina "housekeeping" security task in Afghani­ International youth meeting ment. Barnes noted that in a certain sense, "if stan. SWP leader Jack Willey had just returned you look at economics, there is no differ­ The U.S. rulers' "thanks'' to the regime with other representatives of the Young So­ Work crews mobilize ence between Argentina and Brazil." The in Pakistan for its support to Washington's cialists from a meeting of the General Coun­ Many of the participants in the meeting, Brazilian government tried to keep its cur­ assault has been to back the Indian cil of the World Federation of Democratic Barnes noted, had taken part in the inten­ rency at a value that was not sustainable­ government's demand that Pakistan crack Youth in Athens. Participants in the meet­ sive voluntary work efforts of the previous it keeps transferring value to the imperialist down on Kashmiri independence forces ing discussed an evaluation of the World nine days. At the high point of participa­ countries no matter what it does-and it fi­ based on its soil. India and Pakistan, nuclear­ Festival of Youth and Students held in Al­ tion, some 80 people. from cities along the nally, after a great deal of warnings, deval­ armed countries of I billion and 145 mil­ geria lastAugust. Meeting participants gave northeast coast, and from Miami, San Fran­ ued its currency. The Brazilian rulers did it lion people respectively, are "close to the the festival a "positive evaluation," he said. cisco, Houston, and from Canada, were in­ early enough so that there were no mass brink of a major war,'' he said. The U.S. rul­ Many agreed that the festival, which at­ volved. actions that spread around the country. and ers' ability to foster India as an ally is "prob­ tracted 6,500 participants and was held in Among the crews were those led bv Den­ they did it with the blessing of the imperial­ ably the biggest plus for Washington of the Africa for the first time, marked a step to­ nis Richt~r. a textile worker in North Caro­ ist powers. relative weakening of Russian power," he ward the reconstruction of a '"real anti-im­ lina, and Sarah Katz. a San Francisco gar­ "From an economic point of view there said. perialist youth movement." A delegate from ment worker. which painted the factory floor is nothing different today in Argentina· "These events," Barnes said, "and how Namibia, for example, explained the need and walls; Ilona Gersh. an auto parts worker they are going through a massive devalua­ they happen, give substantially more impor­ for development because ofthe exploitative in Detroit. headed the network wiring crew; tion of the peso," Barnes said. But it is end­ tance to the end product of everything we and brutal role of imperialism in Africa in Don Mackie, a meat packer from Detroit, ing with a social explosion "because of the are doing here this weekend." the post-colonial period. supervised the team that moved boxes of way it was done, because of the myth that Each celebration like this, he said, will There are several ongoing discussions books from the third floor of the Pathfinder you could hold any currency in a greet somebody returning from, and send among WFDY members about how to build building. along with their shelving, and semicolonial country in parity with the off someone else heading out to, important an anti-imperialist youth movement that can restacked them in the first floor factory; American dollar. in a deflationary period. political openings in the world. Of the three more quickly and decisively respond to new crews led by Stu Singer, a meat packer in "The government thought they could con­ speakers who addressed the December 23 imperialist assaults around the world. These Washington, D.C .. and Pittsburgh garment tinue to kid the Argentine people by telling meeting, two-Jack Willey and Olympia include holding anti-imperialist youth fes­ worker Chris Remple took on important them, 'just a little bit longer; just a little more Newton-had just returned from overseas, tivals more frequently. construction and plumbing tasks. denial; just a little more tightening your belt and one--Martin Koppel-was preparing to The meeting decided to hold the next Eva Braiman, a meat packer in Cleveland, and we will have everything stabilized in lead a Militant/Perspectiva Mundial report­ general assembly in Havana in February organized the volunteers who cut down the next decade,"' Barnes said. Instead, ing team to Argentina. 2003, Willey reported. The assembly will Pathfinder's last sheets of photographic film, before there was any preparation-and elect organizations to the general coun­ used by the publisher until its adoption of in a total surprise to the imperialist cil and ofticers to serve in WFDY's head­ digital techniques in the late 1990s. The film world-an explosion broke out. quarters in Budapest. It will likely de­ contained Pathfinder's Russian-language "Politics is the business we're in," the cide when and where the next festival will publications, including the Bulletin of the SWP leader said. "Economics is impor­ be held. Many delegates projected hold­ Opposition, and Leon Trotsky's Mv Life and tant because it affects politics. But poli­ ing the next gathering in a semicolonial The History ofthe Russian Revolution. The tics is how all the questions of humanity country, most likely in Asia. film will be used by the Reprint Project vol- are resolved in one way or another. The Continued on Page 14 super-wealthy rulers cannot anticipate Fusion of communist movement political explosions," he said, "because Young Socialists and SWP leader they have no ultimate feel for what is too Olympia Newton joined the platform of much. And so political explosions take the meeting having just returned from You are invited to attend another place. And the entire world in the com­ Sweden. Newton had taken part in recent Red Weekend special event ing period will be marked by these kind meetings in Stockholm, Sweden, in of political explosions." which Young Socialists members joined Sat., January 5 Events such as these open up the pos­ together with veteran socialist workers Dinner: 6:00 p.m. sibility for building an international lead­ in each country to prepare to join their Program: 7:00 p.m. ership against imperialism made up of two organizations in a common commu­ nist party over the coming months. A youth and of toilers. It involves learning at the Pathfinder Building, fusion congress is planned for mid-Janu­ the lessons of past struggles of working Cuzco 165 Charles St. (one block north people and communist workers being Martin Koppel, who is leading a Militant/Per­ ary in Sweden, she said. Simultaneously, with the toilers and with the vanguard spectiva Mundial reporting team to Argentina, communists there are organizing to set of 10th@ West St.) when these explosions happen, he noted. speaks at December 23 event. up a branch in the city of Gothenburg. January 14,2002 The Militant 3 Tensions grow between India and Pakistan

Continued from front page Calling the attack on the Indian parlia­ India. well as from any of its several hundred MiG- to comply with India's demands to freeze ment a "strike against democracy," Bush Along with its military moves, India has 27, MiG-29, and Su-30 fighter planes. U.S. the assets and arrest leaders of Lashkar-e­ made a pledge to Vajpayee to work together closed its international airspace to Pakistani intelligence services estimate that India has Taiba (Army of the Pure) and J aish-e­ against terrorism. The Bush administration airliners. On December 27 New Delhi or­ about 60 nuclear weapons in its war chest. Muhammad (Army of the Prophet), the two has added Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e­ dered Islamabad to withdraw half its diplo­ India's military mobilization includes ana­ groups that India alleges carried out the Muhammad to the State Department list of matic staff and confined the remaining rep­ val task force-incorporating its only air­ December 13 attack. More than 80 people "terrorist" organizations. resentatives to the capital. craft carrier, six other ships. and two sub­ associated with the two organizations have While welcoming the latest measures, the Pakistan has responded to India's mili­ marines-deployed off Pakistan in the Ara­ been detained by the Pakistani military in New Delhi government announced that it tary threat by moving several anny divisions bian Sea within striking distance of Karachi. the last two weeks. New Delhi has also in­ will not withdraw the hundreds of thousands and heavy arms equipment to its border, Seeking to exploit its growing ties to sisted that the leaders of the two groups be of troops, short-range ballistic missile bat­ including medium-range ballistic missiles, Washington, the government ofindia is en­ handed over for trial. teries, and hundreds of combat aircraft it has and has declared that it will consider any cmn·aging Bush to keep up the pressure. On December 29 White House spokes­ massed along its 2000-mile border with attack on its territory an act of war. "Pakistan cannot continue to support these man Scott McClellan infom1ed the press that Pakistan. "It's too short a time to think of The arsenal wielded by India's vastly su­ groups for even one day· if the American U.S. president Bush had called Musharraf de-escalating now," said an Indian defense perior and larger anny of I million-com­ government puts enough pressure on be­ and had told him "to take additional strong ministry official. Instead, India has pressed pared to the 600,000-strong Pakistani force­ cause Pakistan is so vulnerable economi­ and decisive measures to eliminate the ex­ its demand that Pakistan arrest and hand -includes some 75 Prithvi ballistic missiles cally." said a senior Indian minister. The tremists who seek to harm India, undermine over for trial 20 people it accuses of being that could be launched from any of its 14 Pakistani regime has for decades been U.S. Pakistan, provoke a war." "terrorists" who have committed crimes in Russian-made nuclear-capable bombers, as imperialism's key ally in the region, and it quickly opened its military bases for Wash­ ington to use in its assault on neighboring Afghanistan. In the period following inde­ Garment strikers say, 'We'll keep fighting' pendence in 1947 India had closer ties with the Soviet Union. Continued from front page India has a population of more than I bil­ offer has added up to 75 cents an hour over lion people, and a Gross Domestic Product three years, although not without a fight. in I996 of $1.54 trillion, compared with The latest offer, which had been recom­ Pakistan's population of 145 million and mended by the union leadership, also con­ GDP of $296.5 billion. Close to one-fifth tained concession clauses around vacations. of India's export and I 0 percent of its im­ The bosses are pushing to calculate vaca­ port trade is with the United States. tion pay, which had formerly been based on Both the Clinton and Bush administra­ both weekly earnings and seniority, as a tions have pressed for closer ties with In­ percentage of gross earnings. Many work­ dia. This past November Bush hosted India's ers fear that shorter workweeks, which are prime minister for talks, declaring his ad­ becoming increasingly common with the ministration to be "committed to develop­ slowdown of the economy in North ing a fundamentally different relationship America, could significantly reduce vaca­ with India." tion earnings, something that had been Commenting on the turn of events over fought for in earlier struggles. the past few weeks. an aide to Gen. Another clause opposed by the union Musharraf said December 29 that "moving members would allow bosses to force work­ against Lashkar and Jaish was never an 'if.' ers who extend their vacations without au­ it was only a 'when,"" adding that until In­ thorization to be rehired as new employees. dia "threatened war over the issue. the In most shops, such authorizations are ex­ Americans accepted that we should have to tended to a select few workers. As a result, move carefully on any issue involving Kash­ it has become common practice for many mir. But the attack in New Delhi acceler­ workers, particularly immigrants, to take ated the agenda. Something that might have extra time during a two-week summer shut­ been accomplished in weeks suddenly had down in order to travel more cheaply on to be tackled in days." weekday flights to their country of origin. Past contracts allowed bosses to impose Members of UNITE picket outside Golden Brand garment plant. Strikers are demand­ British division oflndian subcontinent a hefty monetary penalty, paid with deduc­ ing a decent pay hike and oppose anti-immigrant proposals by the bosses. India and Pakistan have fought three wars. tions from a worker's paycheck, for unau­ two of them ignited by their dispute over thorized extensions. This much-hated policy bosses wouldn't offer any more. A heated have been on strike for two weeks, we have Kashmir. The roots of the conflict date back was removed from the bosses' latest con­ discussion continues to take place on the to go all the way. We have to keep fighting." to the partition of colonial India in 194 7 by tract offer, but workers fear the companies picket line and in the union hall. Discussions on all the picket lines have the British imperialists. The colonial mas­ will now use the remaining clause to fire or "We have to stick together. It's the only continued to deepen as union members have ters of the subcontinent, facing a rising an­ take away seniority from whomever they power we have," said Christian Allendes, a sought to maintain and strengthen their unity ticolonial struggle after World War II in choose. cutting-room worker on strike at Jack Vic­ in face of the MCMA refusal to negotiate a which masses of working people staged Although morale remains high, many tor, "This society makes us act as individu­ better wage offer or to withdraw any con­ strikes and demonstrations, carved up the strikers express concern that some compa­ als, but we need to be more conscious that cession demands. region in an attempt to split up the people, nies in the bosses' association will attempt breaking bonds of unity being forged among to sign separate agreements-breaking in when we do that it only helps the capitalists to divide and weaken us." Svlvie Charhin is a sewing machine opera­ the Indian masses. fact what has been a tradition of single ne­ "I first signed the petition because I didn't tor and Nathan Cecckin is a pressa Both London utilized religious divisions in its gotiation for the many thousands of work­ are members of'UN!TE on strike at Jack Vic­ attempt to perpetuate imperialist domination ers in this section of the industry in Que­ realize what it meant," said a presser at Jack Victor who didn't want to be named, "but of the Indian subcontinent, claiming to be bec. This has both meant the full power of tm: afterwards, I changed my mind. Now that we Continued on Page 14 this section of garment workers could be brought to bear in strike action and has helped to maintain similar wages and work­ ing conditions at union plants, especially At world youth event, leaders back fight of Miami through the massive and successful strikes of 1975, 1986-87, and 1998. garment worker fired for his political views During the 1998 strike, the MCMA broke apart when the bosses at Jack Victor bolted BY JACK WILLEY missed ltalie because "we cannot have any­ the Western Sahara liberation youth organi­ from the association and settled with the ATHENS, Greece-Youth leaders from one who is attempting to subvert the United zation UJSARIO; Irina Jukova, a member of local union. Then the other shops in the as­ 15 organizations around the world endorsed States ofAmerica" work at the plant. Good­ Komsomol of the Russian Federation; sociation quickly settled with the same of­ the Committee to Defend Free Speech and will did not contest Italie's filing for unem­ Adriano Augusto, from the October 8 Revo­ fer, a significant step back from their initial the Bill of Rights, which is campaigning to ployment benefits, and the State of Florida lutionary Youth of Brazil; Kazuki Kondo, of demand for major concessions. That strike win the reinstatement of Michaelltalie. who Unemployment Compensation Program the Japan League of Socialist Youth; Mauricio lasted two weeks, with the exception of is fighting against a political firing from his stated in awarding ltalie's benefits that the Rodriguez, a leader of the Communist Youth Samuelsohn, where workers stayed out for job as a sewing machine operator at Good­ "claimant was discharged because of politi­ of Colombia; and two representatives of the one more week. will Industries in Miami. The new support­ cal views. No information has been submit­ Communist Youth of Finland. This time around the bosses at a small ers learned about the case from representa­ ted which substantiates misconduct." Earlier in December, cadres of the fight firm that subcontracts for the bigger plants, tives of the Young Socialists during a Gen­ Another new endorser ofltalie's fight at to shut down the U.S. naval base in Vieques, left the MCMA, and struck a separate four­ eral Council meeting of the World Federa­ the meeting here was Juan Carlos Frometa. Puerto Rico, joined the expanding list of year agreement with the local union. Un­ tion of Democratic Youth (WFDY), held representative ofthe Union of Young Com­ endorsers during the Sao Paulo Forum held confirmed reports say that workers at three here December 18-20. munists (UJC) of Cuba at WFDY's head­ in Havana. Cuba. Carlos Zenon, president other plants have settled as well. The con­ "All young people around the world must quarters in Budapest, Hungary. of the Vieques Fishermen's Association, and tents of these contracts are not known to the support this case. It's part of fighting the "For us in Cuba," the UJC leader said, Ismael Guadalupe, a spokesperson for the strikers. domination of U.S. imperialism; part of op­ "this case is very important. It shows the Committee for the Rescue and Development Under the impact of these reports, and the posing the American invasion of Afghani­ hypocrisy of the U.S. government when it ofVieques, both endorsed Italie 's fight. way in which the last negotiations ended; stan," said Tran Dac Loi, of the Vietnam Youth speaks as a defender of freedom and democ­ The Committee to Defend Freedom of some workers at Jack Victor have begun cir­ Federation, after deciding to become an en­ racy. There is very limited freedom to ex­ Speech and the Bill of Rights is organizing culating a petition on the picket line and in dorser of the fight. Loi was also the coordi­ press your view if you are a worker." a national speaking tour for Michael ltalie the union hall calling on the bosses at Jack nator of the International Organizing Com­ Kathrin Schmidt, representing the Free to win further support for his campaign. Victor to leave the association and negoti­ mittee for the 15th World Festival ofYough Gennan Youth (FDJ) based in Berlin, Ger­ Plans are now under way for Ita lie to speak ate separately with the local union. Although and Students, held in Algiers last August. many, explained when endorsing the Miami at the end of January in Tampa. Florida, and many strikers have signed the petition, oth­ ltalie, who ran for mayor of Miami on committee that there has been a growing in Valdosta, Georgia. ers have refused, reflecting a disagreement the Socialist Workers Party ticket, was fired number of similar violations of democratic For more information or to offer assis­ that already existed at the beginning of the October 22 after speaking out against the rights in Germany during the last few months. tance in this campaign. contact the Com­ strike. U.S. war in Afghanistan and in defense of Others who signed endorser cards are: mittee to Defend Freedom of Speech and Those who signed the petition said that the Cuban Revolution during a televised Mohammed Mohiartin, of the National the Bill of Rights at P.O. Box 510127, Mi­ the strike wasn't going anywhere and that candidates' debate. Goodwill CEO Dennis Union of Eritrean Youth and Students; ami, FL 33151-0127. Tel: (305) 724-5965. given the slowdown in the economy the Pastrana told the Miami Herald that he dis- Elmami Brahim, a representative in Spain of E-mail: [email protected]. 4 The Militant January 14, 2002 Support grows for 'Fired for expressing his views,' reports column in Cuban paper Italie's fight to be The following article entitled "Fired It's almost obvious to say that Pastrana for his views" is from the Cuban daily is of Cuban origin, and is convinced he Juventud Rebelde, published by the faces no problems because the firing is Union ofYoung Communists. legally justified by his employee's po­ reinstated to his job litical views, an action he could not have BY CHARO MARTIN taken on grounds of race, sex, or religion. It barely made the local news: Michael The Cuban-American boss must feel Ita lie, Socialist Workers Party candidate protected by his godfather George W. 'An act of persecution' says civil for mayor of Miami, has just been fired Bush, who a few days ago signed a Pa­ from his job at the Goodwill company, triotAct that restricts many U.S. civil lib­ rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth which manufactures uniforms for the erties and will give the ACLU a lot of U.S. army, because he supports the Cu­ work to do. ban Revolution and opposes the U.S. Police powers have been expanded on The following interview with civil rights events of September 11 and the items pro­ military presence in Afghanistan. an institutional level, and Mr. Pastrana, leader, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, of the duced at Goodwill Industries, i.e., U.S. flags The announcement of ltalie's firing, by his own account, has assumed the role Greater New Light Baptist Church in Cin­ and military uniforms, do you think they had which he received October 22, came af­ of enforcer. cinnati, Ohio, was conducted by Pamela just cause to fire Italie? ter he issued a series of documents ex­ The action in Miami has a reflection Vossenas, from Detroit. Vossenas is the Shuttlesworth: The firing of Michael Italie pressing his views, sparking an intoler­ in Managua. What a coincidence! The chair, at-large local, of the National Writ­ was not only unjust, but it was a shame-to ant "patriotic" reaction from Dennis Nicaraguan foreign ministry announced ers Union/UAW Local 1981. For the basic harm a person's living condition because of Pastrana, the company's director. that its advisor on border affairs, Augusto facts of the case, see article on page 4. what someone else perceives to be their be­ Pastrana regarded the mayoral candidate Zamora, has been dismissed because he liefs. Goodwill Industries obviously is for­ as "subversive" because his "communist" criticized the U.S. war in a local paper. Vossenas: Do you agree that the firing of getting that in America a person is free to political inclinations "are an assault on This extreme measure only reinforced Michael Italie was legal? think what they like and to speak their mind. private enterprise inAmerica;' [Mexican the argument made by Zamora, an attor­ Shuttlesworth: Not only was the firing of Without these freedoms, the essence of news agency] Notimex reported. ney, whose article, entitled "Terminator," Michael Italie illegal but it was also an act America is far less than what we claim it is Of course, Michaelltalie has gone to states, "Terrorism threatens all of human­ of persecution; a further continuation of the and want it to be. the American Civil Liberties Union ity. The terror of being the next ones. Of witch-hunt that almost ruined America dur­ Freedom-loving people should join to­ (ACLU) to condemn this discriminatory being singled out. Of being targeted by ing the McCarthy era. gether and jump on any company that prac­ treatment for expressing his views. The the Great Terminator's aircraft carriers People who would do that now at a time tices racism, sexism, and McCarthyism es­ organization is supposed to look into the and missiles. Of being pushed back to like this, after September II, when we need pecially at a time like this: a time when we case. the Stone Age." · to be united, make themselves unworthy to are trying to get rid of violence, trying to call themselves a good American. Not to address the meanness, hatred, and bigotry mention, a good businessman. in society. can't see that. folk have been praying to God than before, America hasn't gone too far in the What we need now more than ever is to Vossenas: As a member of the Socialist we see that we must work together and bring struggle for civil rights and civil liberties, define terrorism as the mistreatment of any Workers Party, Michael Italie has fought to an end to the causes of discrimination and but it has certainly gone further than allow­ human being without a just cause. Now that keep affirmative action alive in Atlanta. violations of human rights. ing such injustices to prevail. It is time for is terror. where he also worked as a garment worker. Unity must mean that we can stand and all people to demonstrate and speak against And so as President Bush leads the drive and is part of the fight in Miami and Talla­ speak for each other's rights and privileges. these attacks and also to bring lawsuits so to stamp out terrorism in the world. he needs hassee, Florida as well. What connection do /lbssenas: Given your experience in the injustices like these can be done away with. to redefine what terrorism is, so that Ameri­ you see between the attack on ltalie 's right tight for civil rights, what do you believe is Vossenas: What Supreme Court cases cans can get along with a variety of people to express his beliefs and the current attacks the role of civil liberties in such tights? exist barring discrimination based on one's and beliefs in their own country and in the on atlirmative action'? Shuttlesworth: There can be no civil rights political views? rest of the world better than we do at the ShuttlesH·orth: l congratulate people of without civil liberties. It was my part in the Shuttlesworth: The Dombroski case, gen­ moment. whatever race for speaking out against any struggle to not only tight for civil rights but erated by officials demanding lists of names. Vossenas: Do you view the firing of injustice in America, from north to south, to combine the two. A violation of either is bears directly on the harassment of people Michaelltalie as an attack on constitutional and I further congratulate people who are a violation of a person's human rights. With­ for their beliefs and for interfering with their rights, in particular. the First Amendment willing to suffer for the cause of getting rid out civil liberties there can be no civil rights. freedom of association. The right of Michael Right of Freedom of Speech? of racism in this country. They are the true Vossenas: Do you think the Italie case is Italie to express his beliefs and keep his job Shuttlesworth: Well, the firing ofMichael heroes just as much as those fighting on one of many attacks we are seeing today on is legally protected by the Dombroski deci­ Italie is a direct, blatant, and open attack on battlefields. civil liberties? siOn. the constitutional process in this country. No We must be united on what this country Shuttlesworth: Any persecution of any Vossenas: Taking into consideration the mistake about that. People are blind who stands for. Since September ll, when more people for use of any freedom they have is not only terror but also a dereliction of duty. I commend the people who keep this issue Art student, a native alive by speaking about it and I intend to speak out on it wherever possible. I will of Lebanon, framed speak about it during my January visit to St. Petersburg, Florida. for having a plastic Vossenas: With the recent passing of the USA Patriot's law, the government has new utility knife at airport freedoms to perform surveillance on its citi­ BY LARRY QUINN zens, pave the way for military tribunals, and eavesdrop on conversations between PITTSBURGH-Salam El Zaatari, a 21- lawyers and imprisoned clients. With a law year-old art student whose name was added that essentially makes attacks on civil liber­ to Attorney General John Ashcroft's "ter­ ties legal, do you think that in addition to rorist list," pled guilty December 12 in fed­ the Italie case, there will be many others eral court to the charge of attempting to whose constitutional rights will be violated? knowingly have a concealed dangerous Shuttlesworth: Out of fear we are passing weapon accessible to him during a flight. laws that impinge on people's freedom. We El Zaatari, a native of Lebanon, was re­ should be raising a big cry about that. No turning home October 28 when he was ar­ one has the right to snoop on what a person rested at Pittsburgh International Airport. says or writes. If government becomes a big The "dangerous concealed weapon" was a brother, it will become a big terror. disposable pen-sized plastic utility knife We can't judge one people, one class, or among his art supplies inside a laptop com­ one religion as better than another. For ex­ puter. The U.S. Attorney's office offered no ample, it was a white American who blew evidence linking El Zaatari with any terror­ up the federal building in Oklahoma City ist incidents or groups. and we didn't suddenly become suspicious A dozen supporters and friends of El of white Americans. Zaatari attended the court hearing where Michael Italie, former Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of Miami, with supporter America must be a melting pot or it will Judge DonettaAmbrose said the penalty for outside Goodwill Industries garment plant shortly after being fired in October for cease to be America. We must be vigilant; the crime could include fines, three years expressing his views in support of the Cuban Revolution and union rights. we must be ready to fight all evil, all terror. supervised release, and a jail sentence of not more than 10 years. She accepted a guilty plea bargain from El Zaatari and sentenced him to time served, immediate deportation, Minnesota UFCW leader 'appalled' by firing a $100 assessment fee, and "debriefing" by FBI agents. December 12, 2001 regarding his opposition to the United States their views. In this case, the obvious method El Zaatari's attorney, Anthony Mariani, Mayor Joseph Carollo policy in either Afghanistan or Cuba. In to stop him would be not to vote for him said that "his client had agreed to depart at City Hall addition, I disagree with much of the stated and encourage others to do the same. his own expense without the need for a de­ 3500 Pan American Drive policies of the Socialist Workers Party. How­ In reality, his boss, Mr. Pastrana appears portation order and will remain eligible for Miami, FL 33133 ever, to deprive one's ability to provide.for to be displaying his personal displeasure of a visa to return to the United States." Dear Mayor Carollo: himself and family by taking away his job Mr. Italie's views and with his power of be­ Since his arrest, the Lebanese student has I was appalled to hear of the termination is simply not right. ing boss, decided to deliver his own pun­ been held without bail in Allegheny County of Mr. Michael Italie from his position at As a candidate for mayor, I believe it was ishment on someone whose views he didn't Jail, locked down 23 hours a day in a Goodwill Industries. Of most concern is the his duty to make known his views on any like. Again, the more effective means of cramped "protective custody" cell, and reasons given for his termination. It was not and all issues discussed. It would have been stopping Mr. Italie was not to terminate him, faced death threats from other prisoners. A for poor work performance or a poor atti­ dishonest for him to withhold his views and but simply not vote for him. friend and supporter of El Zaatari said the tude at the workplace, but for his views ex­ say the "right" things in an attempt to win Sincerely, student couldn't take it any more in the jail pressed as a candidate for public office in support. The democratic process is for vot­ Howard Kern and asked his lawyer to make a deal so he Miami. ers to hear the views of all candidates and Union Representative could return home. I do not agree with Mr. Italie's position judge which candidate most closely mirror UFCW Local 789, St. Paul, Minnesota January 14, 2002 The Militant 5 Political explosion in Argentina spreads Continued from front page country, while rail workers and rested as if they were martyrs." to increasingly unbearable economic con­ teachers held actions to demand The police killed five demonstrators in the ditions, together with outrage at de Ia Rua 's payment of back wages. The next Plaza de Mayo that day; about 30 were killed declaration of a state of siege and the un­ day a general strike by the unions and several thousand arrested nationwide. leashing of police violence. Some 30 people shut down the country to protest the "We picked up people wounded with lead were killed in cities around the country government's economic policies. bullets," Carlos Area, an ambulance driver December 19-20, many of them fatally shot Small businessmen and other who works at theArgerich hospital, told the by police. middle-class layers of the popula­ Militant at a December 30 public employ­ Since the fall of the de Ia Rua govern­ tion joined the marches and ees' rally. ment, many protesting workers and young cacerolazos, or pot-banging pro­ people have expressed a sense of increased tests.Already squeezed by debt and Union of messengers and couriers confidence that they can have an impact on high interest rates, they reacted with "Two motoqueros [couriers on motor­ the course of events. "What do I feel? A outrage to a government decree lim­ cycle] were killed by the police and another wonderful anger!" said Carolina, 25, dem­ iting bank withdrawals to $1 ,000 a two were wounded," said SIMECA union onstrating in the Plaza de Mayo, site of the month to prevent a run on deposits. member Calvo. Many young messengers Casa Rosada (Pink House), as the presiden­ Many workers, especially in the took part in the demonstration. They also tial residence is known here. De Ia Rua, she provinces, were not directly affected helped to rescue protesters being assaulted declared, "wasn't removed by the military by this measure simply because they by the police and take the wounded to the or the cops. We were the ones who got rid have no bank accounts. hospital. of him." SIMECA, established a year ago and not State of siege backfires yet recognized by the Ministry of Labor, 'People have lost their fear' In cities across the country, large organizes messengers and others such as "People have lost their fear," remarked crowds of pauperized working pizza delivery workers --mostly workers in Esteban Soria, 51. a laid-otf train conduc­ people-men. women, and chil­ their teens and early 20s who face low tor staffing a protest tent organized by a dren-began to stom1 supermarkets, wages, no benefits. and employer abuse. group of rail unionists in front of the Con­ taking food and clothing. The daily Calvo emphasized. ''Unlike most unions gress building. Clarin reported that hundreds of today, we have no full-time otlicers --·all our Streets protests have continued daily, stores had been sacked by Decem­ members work. The decisions are made at from rallies by public employees against ber 19. regular membership meetings, not by paid That day de Ia Rua announced the functionaries." The distrust of the cutbacks to demonstrations against police Militant/Romina Green brutality in working-class neighborhoods. "resignation" of the hated economy Participant in Buenos Aires march on January 1 officialdom of the CGT (General Workers Argentina has been ravaged by a four­ minister Domingo Cavallo, associ­ holds banner of the Mothers ofthe Plaza de Mayo. Confederation) and other established unions year-long depression. One out of five work­ ated with the austerity measures. He . by the messengers was echoed by many of ers is jobless, and even higher numbers are also decreed a state of siege-a po- the youth and workers at the mass demon­ underemployed. such as the growing num­ litical miscalculation that precipitated his their windows and came onto the streets with strations. where the organized labor move­ bers of cartoneros-workers who scratch downfall. weapons to drive back the supposed loot­ ment was largely absent. out a living by selling cardboard, pieces of "Within minutes ofhis speech. there were ers. but these never materialized. reported When de Ia Rua resigned, some of the aluminum. and other discarded items. cacerolazos in neighborhoods throughout Marina Girondo. 28. who is active in the couriers rode their motorcycles down This South American nation is being the city," Christian Laffrata. a Buenos Aires human rights group HIJOS. Avenida de Mayo spreading the news to squeezed by a foreign debt to U.S. and other schoolteacher, told the lv!ilitant. "Thousands Tens of thousands of people fi lied the clusters of demonstrators who would burst international banks that surpasses $132 bil­ of people were banging pots and pans from Plaza de Mayo the night of December 19. into cheers. lion. The government has been unable to their windows. People poured out of their "In the middle of the night. the police be­ De Ia Rt!a was briefly replaced by the keep up with the massive interest payments houses and into the streets and began to head gan to repress people without provocation." Senate president. Rodriguez Saa. the that drain Argentina's wealth. to the Plaza de Mayo. I was leaving the Laffrata reported. Mounted police charged Peronist governor of San Luis province, was To meet the relentless demands of the school around I 0 p.m.--a little early be­ the demonstrators, clubbing and tear-gas­ then chosen by the Congress to serve until imperialist creditors, de Ia Rt1a 's regime. a cause there were rumors that something sing even members of the Mothers of the elections projected for March. Rodriguez coalition led by the bourgeois Radical Party. might happen-- and I saw the first streets Plaza de Mayo-mostly working-class Saa got off to a rocky start, however. "When carried out economic measures that have hit being blocked." Entire families marched women. today in their 70s and 80s. who for asked by a reporter whether 'the priority wi II working people the hardest, such as slash­ downtown with their kettles, whistles. homs, decades have fought to demand justice for be the [foreign] debt or the people.' he re­ ing public employees· wages and pensions and other noisemakers. their sons and daughters, ''disappeared" by plied 'the debt.' but quickly corrected him­ by 13 percent, hiking taxes, and undermin­ "I saw I 0 blocks of people marching the U.S.-backed military dictatorship that self and said, 'the people."' the December ing union rights. The cuts have been par­ through my neighborhood from the w~~st,'' ruled Argentina from 1976 to 19X3. 21 Cfa,.fn reported. ticularly devastating in the provinces, where said Ezequiel Garcia. who lives in the noi1h­ The following day, a noisy crowd of dem­ Seeking to demobilize the mass protests. wages are lower and unemployment higher. ern district of Floresta. ''I'd never seen any­ onstrators gathered in front of the Casa Rodriguez Sa<1 announced a temporary The administration continued the drastic thing like this before," added Garcia, 25, Rosada calling on de Ia Rtw to resign. "All moratorium on debt payments and prom­ social cutbacks initiated by his predecessor, who works as a messenger. kinds or people were there----workers and ised to create l million new jobs. In prac­ Carlos Menem of the Peronist party, who The huge crmvd in the Plaza de Mayo the middle classes, political tendencies from tice. the de Ia Rt"w government. virtually sold off most state-owned industries. lead­ called for lifting the state of siege and de­ the left to the right," said Girondo. This even bankrupt, had already defaulted on debt ing to layoffs of hundreds of thousands of manded of de Ia Rua, "Que se vaya!" (Out included, she said, a small but visible pres­ payments after the International Monetary workers over the past decade. with him!).lt included workers, housewives, ence of supporters of Mohamed Ali Fund refused to release $1.3 billion of a pre­ Since the Menem administration, the gov­ men in business suits. students, and others. Seineldin, a fascist-minded former military viously approved $22 billion loan. ernment has pegged the Argentine peso to There was a large middle-class partici­ officer who uses radical, nationalist rheto­ Rodriguez Saa also announced that a third the U.S. dollar in the name of monetary sta­ pation in this action, "but most of the dem­ ric such as advocating the cancellation of currency, the argentino, would be issued. bility. Prices of many consumer goods in onstrators were workers," said Gabriel Argentina's foreign debt. Seineldin remains The new currency would be used to pay back Buenos Aires today are not much below Calvo, 26, an active member of the Inde­ in prison for leading a failed military revolt wages and other domestic debts. But many those in New York, although wages are sub­ pendent Union of Messengers and Couriers in 1990. working people interviewed have remarked stantially lower. High school teachers, for (SIMECA). As the crowd grew, it was brutally at­ that the plan basically amounts to printing example, typically earn about $400-450 a tacked by the cops. Downtown BuenosAires more money and that the currency-like the month; many retired workers must survive Rulers seek to play on fears to divide became a battlefield for more than seven one-year bonds already used in the prov­ on monthly pensions of $150. The ruling class sought to undercut the hours. Cops drove protesters out of the Plaza inces to pay public employees-would be While there have been numerous social protests by contrasting the "peaceful" de Mayo but the crowd kept surging back increasingly worthless. They are already eruptions in the provinces and seven gen­ middle-class protesters with the "violent" into the square. The Buenos Aires Herald affected by the de facto devaluation of the eral strikes since de Ia Rua took office in workers who had sacked supermarkets. The reported, "The scene was repeated time and peso. 1999, public protests accelerated in mid­ police and big-business media spread false again. The greater the repression, the more Two measures, however, sparked further December as working people reacted to the rumors in middle-class and working-class people returned. Later on, it spread all across outrage. The Supreme Court ratified the tightening grip of the capitalist economic neighborhoods that mobs were heading the city center." Cops fired waves of tear gas, continuation of the partial freeze on bank crisis and government austerity measures. from the shantytown suburbs known as vil­ rubber bullets, and water cannon, as smoke withdrawals, a measure known here as the On December 12 unemployed workers las miseria (povertyvilles) to loot private clouded the sun. "Protesters and passersby corralito, or small corral. And the president blocked roads and held rallies across the homes. Some panicked residents boarded up noisily cheered the dozens who were ar- appointed former Buenos Aires mayor Carlos Grosso. notorious for his corruption, to head the new cabinet. Help fund Militant/PM reporting trips to Argentina and Cuba 'Cacerolazo' protest The night of December 28, a cacerolazo A team of workers correspondents that includes spread through neighborhoods-both work­ Perspectiva Mundial editor Martfn Koppel is in Argen­ ing-class and middle-class-across the capi­ tal. "I heard the cacerolazo and I joined the tina to bring readers of the Militant and PM firsthand marchers in my slippers," said CeliaAscheri, coverage on developments there including the revolt a schoolteacher. "The boulevard from the that has erupted against soaring unemployment and Congress to the Plaza de Mayo was filled with tens of thousands of protesters." Many brutal cutbacks in living standards imposed by the capi­ chanted slogans against both major parties, talist government, social polarization the crisis engen­ the Peronists and the Radicals, and de­ ders, and discussion among working people on how to manded the resignation of the Supreme confront the capitalist collapse. Court as well. Some chanted, "They should all leave" and "Criminals! Thieves!" attrib­ Another reporting team is schedule to leave in early uting the economic crisis to corruption by February for the Havana International Book Fair and re­ establishment politicians. Graffiti painted lated events. near the legislature declares, "There's heli­ copters for everyone," inviting members of Your contribution makes reporting trips such as these Congress to follow de Ia Rua 's example. possible. Please make checks or money orders payable Militant/Romina Green While several of the small left-wing par­ Laid-off rail worker Esteban Soria tellsMilitantreporter ties were present in this and other demon­ to the Militant earmarked Travel Fund, and send to: The Martin Koppel December 30 of workers' demand for re­ strations, those organizations too are widely Militant 410 West St., New York, NY 10014. call of200 conductors who lost jobs with rail privatization. discredited, especially among newly radicalizing youth. 6 The Militant January 14, 2002 Ascheri said the police fired volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets at the demon­ strators, who fought back and sent 11 cops to the hospital. A group of youth made their way into the congress building and began to throw sofas, chairs, and busts of politi­ cians down the steps, setting fires inside until they were evicted. Members of HIJOS, the organization of the children of the disappeared, said they were convinced the government used police provocateurs to encourage incidents such as the vandalization of the Congress building in order to smear opponents of the govern­ ment and justify the police violence. At a January 1 press conference, HIJOS repre­ sentatives disassociated themselves from fake leaflets that have been circulating with the name of their organization and provoca­ tive slogans such as "Let's take the Govern­ ment House" and "We must avenge the bloodshed." In the wake of the December 28 outpour­ ing and continuing protests, Rodriguez Saa announced his resignation after only a week in office. For almost a day there was no head of state. After a fourth president came and went, Congress, on New Year's Day, ap­ pointed Duhalde, a Peronist and former gov­ ernor ofBuenosAires province who had lost to de Ia Rua in the 1999 elections. Both Radical and Peronist legislators voted to Dyn/Lco Ia Valle support him. Buenos Aires, December 20: police detain youth wounded by rubber bullets fired by security forces. Cops also used water cannons The congressional announcement that and fired tear gas and lead bullets at protesters. Residents of working-class neighborhoods have protested police brutality. Duhalde would serve till 2003 rather than quickly organizing new elections, however, wing of the party, which is associated with work together with the Mothers, took part in Belgrano line. Esteban Soria noted that sparked yet another street mobilization that austerity measures. the Floresta rallies. I 00,000 rail workers were left jobless in the night of several thousand people, mostly City employees have been protesting as 1990s as a result of the Menem government's Protests against cop brutality young workers, students, and low-paid pro­ well. They held a rally December 30 in front sell-off of the state-owned railroads. fessionals. One marcher, Julia, a 23-year­ Meanwhile, other social protests continue ofthe municipal legislature to oppose moves "Conductors are now working 12-hour old University of Buenos Aires student who to bubble. In Floresta, a working-class to pay them in bonds, reduce medical cover­ shifts," Soria said. "In fact, many other asked that her last name not be used, said, neighborhood, a security guard who is a age, and extend working hours. workers in Argentina are working 12-hour "We demand the right to a popular vote to retired cop shot to death three youths who In an indication of the growing social ten­ days today because of the government's 'la­ elect the president." had argued with him over the previous sions, angry passengers burned down nine bor flexibility' laws." Diego, 26, a musician who walked two week's police repression in the Plaza de rail cars December 28 after a labor dispute hours from Buenos Aires province to join Mayo. In response, hundreds of local resi­ temporarily stopped service on a commuter 'Now it's happening in Buenos Aires the protest, said he was against both Radi­ dents took to the streets, demanding the line. The 3,000 workers, members of the Soria noted the changing attitudes among cals and Peronists but was not sure what he killer be prosecuted. The hatred for the po­ Railway Union, were demanding payment working people here. "People in the prov­ was in favor of-a common response by lice and their brutality has become increas­ of back wages. While the focus of the pas­ inces were the first to lose their fear because many of the marchers interviewed. ingly vocal among working people, and sengers' vandalism was not the workers but conditions there were the worst and we had The next day, as Duhalde was sworn in, demonstrations against cop "impunity" the company, the company used the incident nothing to lose," he said, pointing to the counterposed demonstrations of Peronist sometimes become intertwined with the to fire 150 unionists. 1993 working-class rebellion in his prov­ organizations and opponents of the new long-standing campaign by the Mothers of In yet another action, 200 laid-off railroad ince, Santiago del Estero. Then the revolts president took place. Duhalde is a leader of the Plaza de Mayo to bring to justice those conductors have maintained a protest tent in spread to other provinces, he said. a wing of the Peronists that has maintained responsible for the torture and murder of front of Congress since they lost their jobs "Now we see the same change in moods a more "populist" posture than the Menem their children. Members of HIJOS, who two years ago after the privatization of the in Buenos Aires. That's new." Several workers remarked in interviews that the U.S. government and other imperi­ alist powers are concerned about the social explosions in this country. Diana Fasoli, a NY laundry workers strike for city employee who works at the Colon The­ ater, one of the demonstrators in front of the city legislature, said Washington recently contract and recognition of union conducted joint military maneuvers in north­ em Argentina, which has been a focal point BY BILL ESTRADA sented to the company October 30. About The workers at Flex-0-Tex are from vari­ of protests by jobless workers. "And my sis­ AND JOHN HAWKINS half walked off the job December 5.Another ous Latin American countries, including the ter, who lives in Tolhuin, Tierra del Fuego, NEWYORK-"We're on strike because worker, Juana Gonzalez, explained, "The Dominican Republic, Honduras, Puerto says there are reports that the U.S. govern­ we want a union that will defend our rights workers still working inside are working Rico, and Mexico. Maritza Cordoba, a ment wants to establish a military base as workers. We want better working condi­ only because they are intimidated by the leader of the strike, explained how the boss there." The target of the U.S. military, she tions, a more just salary, and respect from boss. He threatened to fire them if they "thinks that because many of us don't speak noted, was not "terrorism" but working­ the company," said Maritza Cordoba, a joined the picket line. We want a real union enough English, he can treat us like animals class unrest. presser for 10 years, at a spirited picket line for all of us-for those still inside and for and deny us our rights." She added, "He On December 20, the U.S. Senate ap­ outside Flex-0-Tex Laundry in the south us out here on the picket line." signs or closes down. We all work or no­ proved the so-called Andean Initiative. This Bronx, New York. Workers at Flex-0-Tex decided to join body works." expands the previous "Plan Colombia" that, Workers went on strike December 5 after UNITE after their previous union, the Team­ under the cover of"fighting drug trafficking," Flex-0-Tex owner Gabriel Blau refused to sters, failed repeatedly to help them wage a Bill Estrada and John Hawkins are meat is aimed at expanding the U.S. military pres­ negotiate with UNITE, the Union of fight for wage increases and benefits. packers and members of United Food and ence in Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Em­ "The company wants us to have no ben­ Commercial Workers Locall74. and other South American countries. ployees. "The owner does not want to ne­ efits but that's not right," said Herlinda gotiate with us," UNITE organizer Alfredo Martinez, a presser for nine years. "I have Mieses said. "He says he doesn't have the unpaid bills from the hospital and I can't resources to meet the contract proposal." possibly pay them. We have no insurance and Staff changes on the 'Militant' The union's proposed contract includes I make less than $7 an hour. We are not ask­ medical insurance, paid sick days, paid per­ ing for the world. We only want what is fair." BY JACK WILLEY Militant staff, in addition to continuing to sonal days, the establishment of a union In an article in the Spanish language daily As the front-page story from Argentina edit Perspectiva Mundial. health and safety committee, and recognition newspaper El Diario, Blau stated, "These reports, Militant editor Martin Koppel is To facilitate these ambitious plans the of UNITE as the sole representative of the people don't understand what is happening heading up an international reporting team Militant has agreed to release Koppel from workers. It also includes a substantial wage with the company. We have had to make in the South American country. And in early his assignment as editor, and has appointed increase-75 percent the first year, 45 per­ bank loans to keep the business operating. February Koppel will also join a Militant Greg McCartan to replace him. McCartan cent the second year, and 40 percent the third Now members of UNITE are sending let­ reporting team to Cuba to cover the Havana has twice served as editor of the paper and year of the proposed three-year agreement. ters to my clients and we have lost our best International Book Fair and other events has shared substantial editorial responsibili­ The wage increases and other demands contract." there. ties with Koppel over the past year. would bring conditions at Flex-0-Tex into Flex -0-Tex services hotels and nursing In addition to editing the monthly Staff writer Maggie Trowe will be leav­ line with those at other laundries in the New homes in New York City. Marino Morel, Perspectiva Mundial, Koppel has growing ing the paper with this issue to help build York-New Jersey-Connecticut area where another UNITE organizer at the picket line, editorial responsibilities for Pathfinder's the communist movement in New York, UNITE won a number of organizing victo­ reported that one of the hotels that has Spanish-language publishing program. where she is a leader of the Garment Dis­ ries and contracts last year. Workers at stopped doing business with Flex-0-Tex is Pathfinder has expanded its titles in Spanish, trict branch of the SWP. Trowe, the Social­ Princeton Laundry across the street from the Helmsley Hotel. Morel also said they and in the coming months plans to release ist Workers Party vice-presidential candidate Flex-0-Tex are covered by the agreement. are mounting a campaign to inform the sur­ the Spanish-language editions of From the in 2000, joined the staff with the conclu­ Currently workers at Flex-0-Tex make rounding community of what the union is EscalJlbray to the Congo: In the Whirlwind sion of the campaign in December of that minimum wage or slightly above it regard­ fighting for, contacting the company's cli­ of the Cuban Revolution by Victor Dreke; year. For the past six months she has been less of the amount of time they've been on ents to let them know: the stakes in the fight, The History ofAmerican Trotskyism by James on leave of absence from the Militant at the the job. and taking the issues in the fight to the me­ P. Cannon; and Their Trotsky and Ours: Com­ request of Pathfinder's printshop, where she . All 52 of the workers at the plant signed dia, as well as planning activities to build munist Continuity Today by Jack Barnes. has been part of efforts to reorganize work the petition to join the union and it was pre- solidarity for the strike. Koppel will remain an active member of the there. January 14, 2002 The Militant 7 FROM THE ESCAMBRAY TO THE CONGO · . . 'From the Escambray to the Cor In the Whirlwind of the Cuban • Introduction to new Pathfinder book, an interview with revolutic Reprinted below is the introduction to lutionary government could neither be in­ the new Pathfinder book From the timidated nor bought off. Every act ofYan­ Escambray to the Congo: In the Whirlwind kee aggression was met by growing mil­ of the Cuban Revolution, an interview with lions of determined toilers of city and coun­ Cuban revolutionary Victor Dreke. tryside who swelled the ranks of the revo­ Dreke fought in the Cuban revolution­ lution and pushed it forward, transforming ary war, led by the Rebel Army, that over­ themselves in the process. threw the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship The first free territory of the Americas in January 1959. In the early 1960s, he was was born. a commander of the volunteer battalions Decades later, Washington can still nei­ that fought the U.S-organized counterrevo­ ther forgive nor forget. It continues to turn lutionary bands in the Escambray moun­ every effort to destroy the living example tains of central Cuba. In 1965 he was sec­ of Cuba's workers and farmers. it looks for ond in command of the column of Cuban every opportunity to punish them for the internationalist volunteers, headed by audacity of having thrown off the imperi­ Emesto Che Guevara, that joined with na­ alist boot and making a socialist revolu­ tional liberation fighters in the Congo. He tion on Washington's doorstep. For the au­ subsequently carried out numerous inter­ dacity of neither bowing to the empire nor nationalist missions in Africa. accepting its rules and definitions. Mary-Alice Waters, president of Path­ On July 26, 1953, when 160 mostly finder Press, and Luis Madrid, a Pathfinder young, determined opponents of the Batista editor, conducted the first session of the dictatorship simultaneously attacked the interview with Dreke in Havana on Oct. 26, Moncada garrison in Santiago de Cuba and 1999. Pathfinder editor Michael Taber and the Carlos Manuel de Cespedes garrison in Perspectiva Mundial editor Martin Koppel, nearby Bayamo. they were, like Victor together with Waters, conducted a second Dreke, still far from being the conscious interview session on Dec. 2, 2001. communists they became in the course of This book is scheduled to be released in struggles to come. "We learned Marxism February, with simultaneous editions in Above: Courtesy Victor Dreke; Inset: Mil Fotos Cuba from books, but above all we learned it from English and Spanish. Copyright © 2002 by Members of Youth Movement of the Third Regional Workers Federation hold rally on life," Cuban President Fidel Castro said Pathfinder Press, reprinted by permission. May 8, 1956, in town of Sagua Ia Grande on anniversary of 1935 assassination of anti­ twelve years later at a mass rally in Santa imperialist leader Antonio Guiteras (inset). Dreke (kneeling at left) was 19 at the time. Clara. Thousands of workers, peasants, and students simply began fighting for a more just What were we on July 26, he asked? BY MARY-ALICE WATERS world as they resisted U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. "We were ready "Among the books they seized from us af­ "When I was young, my father used to to die, to oust Batista" said Dreke, "but we didn't know the first thing about revolution." ter the attack on the Moncada barracks were tell me, 'Don't get involved in anything,"' books of Marti and Lenin," Castro noted, Victor Dreke recalls. but he and his compafieros were not Marx­ "My father wasn't for Batista, he was "Fortunately, I didn't listen." street vendors, most still in their teens and ists or Leninists. "We still had much to against Batista. But he didn't believe in The whirlwind events of the early years early twenties-simply began fighting for learn, much to understand. We understood anyone. 'Don't join anything,' he'd say. of the Cuban Revolution, along with men a more just world following the March I 0, some of the essential principles of Marx­ 'Things will always stay the same. One side and women whose actions changed the 1952, military coup that installed the U.S.­ ism, the reality of class society divided into wins now, the other side wins later, and the course of history, come alive in these pages backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. exploited and exploiters. We understood the Batista's regime quickly role of the masses in history. But we had became one of the most bru­ not yet deepened our consciousness and our tal tyrannies Latin America revolutionary education enough to under­ had yet seen. "We were ready stand, in all its profundity and magnitude, to die" to bring down Batista, the phenomenon of imperialism .... That we Dreke says, "but we didn't learned about in our own flesh." know the first thing about Through D.reke's eyes and experiences revolution." we see the history-shaping class battles In his account of how easy unfold. Following the lines of his story, we it became after the 1959 vic­ come to understand how millions like him tory of the Cuban Revolution were transformed from inexperienced if to "take down the rope" that unflinchingly courageous revolutionary for decades had segregated youth into seasoned proletarian leaders of blacks from whites at dances a people who have proven themselves ca­ in the town squares, yet how pable of defying the demands and multi­ enormous was the battle to faceted aggressions of the Yankee rulers for transform the social relations nearly half a century. underlying this and all the And we see both the shape and the scope other "ropes"-inherited from of the revolutionary class battles still to colonialism, capitalism, and come across the Americas and around the Yankee domination-Dreke globe. captures the historical chal­ lenge of our epoch. At the heart of this book lies the will­ From the Escambray to the Congo: In ingness, determination, and the Whirlwind of the Cuban Revolution creative joy with which opens a window on one of the chapters of Cuba's working people, for the revolutionary struggle in Cuba that is over forty years, have de­ neither well known nor understood outside fended their revolutionary that country. It tells a piece of the story of course when confronted by the more than six-year-long battle to elimi­ the imperialist empire to the nate the CIA-backed counterrevolutionary north, a power whose vital in­ bands-"bandits," as Cubans across the is­ Gran rna terests the world over are land came to call them. Although the ban­ The main columns of the Rebel Army, commanded by Fidel Castro, enter Havana victoriously on threatened by the outreaching dits operated from one end of the country Jan. 8, 1959. As the revolution deepened and workers and farmers advanced their interests, the U.S. dynamic and ongoing ex­ to the other, their actions were concentrated government responded with deep hostility. "To Washington's amazement, the young revolutionary ample of the new class order in the Escambray mountains of Las Villas government could neither be intimidated nor bought off. Every act ofYankee aggression was met by in Cuba. province in central Cuba. growing millions of determined toilers who swelled the ranks of the revolution and pushed it forward ." As the Batista dictatorship During the opening years of the Cuban crumbled on January I, 1959, Revolution, nearly 4,000 bandits organized in face of a rising tide of mass in 299 groups were armed, trained, sup­ ones with money will always be in power. through the rich detail of Dreke 's account, popular resistance and the military ad­ ported, and financed by the U.S. govern­ Study and get an education and don't mess providing evidence that si se puede. Things vances of the small Rebel Army com­ ment. They were instruments of a policy with strikes or any of that. It won't get you need not "always stay the same." manded by Fidel Castro, the U.S. govern­ of sabotage and terror designed to drain the anywhere. Besides, that stuff's not for Rebel-minded young people the world ment accelerated efforts to defend the prop­ resources and demoralize the supporters of blacks.' over will find it easy to identify with Victor erty and privileges of Cuba's ruling class the revolution. "That was my father's way oflooking at Dreke and the way he responded to condi­ along with the vast landed estates and in­ The first counterrevolutionary band ap­ things. And I think this was how many tions around him. He tells how he and thou­ dustrial monopolies held by American cor­ peared in 1959 in the westernmost prov­ blacks in Cuba looked at things. Until the sands of men and women like him-work­ porations and wealthy families. To ince of Pinar del Rio. The last group of victory of the revolution. ers, farmers, students, shopkeepers and Washington's amazement, the young revo- bandits was eliminated in the central prov-

8 The Militant January 14,2002 tgo: !evolution' •nary combatant Victor Dreke ince of Camagiiey in 1965. But more than Revolutions develop unevenly. Inequali­ ~alf of those counterrevolutionary forces ties between city and countryside, as well operated in the Escambray, where over as social, economic, and other historically 2,000 were killed or captured, and 295 de­ established differentiations from one region fenders of the revolution~nearly double to another~and unique combinations of all the number of those who fell at Playa these inheritances~are a legacy of capi­ Giron~lost their lives in the struggle talist relations and imperialist exploitation. against them. How well a leadership wields state power Victor Dreke was commander in the to begin redressing such unevenness is a Escambray region of the special Lucha decisive test. As Cuban President Fidel Contra Bandidos (LCB) [struggle against Castro explained in a speech in Matanzas the bandits] battalions of workers and peas­ on the thirty-fifth anniversary of the 1961 Gran rna ants established in mid-1962 by the Revo­ defeat of the U.S.-organized invasion at the Literacy volunteer teaches family of fishermen to read and write. As the new revolu­ lutionary Armed Forces. He was second in Bay of Pigs, the enemy picked the tionary power organized working people to defend their interests, some 100,000 youth from the cities mobilized to the countryside in a nationwide literacy campaign. Through command of the LCB overall. Escambray because "the Escambray was this effort, concluded in 1961, 1 million Cubans learned to read and write. Located in the middle of the island, the politically weak." Escambray is a large mountainous region The counterrevolutionary bands there in which communications are difficult. "had some help from the campesinos," from forces. I won't call them cowards. There out the agrarian reform and eliminating More decisive than geographical consider­ the peasants and rural toilers, Castro can be people who are mistaken and even support to the counterrevolution by a layer ations, however, were the political factors noted~"a minority of them, but support very mistaken who are personally brave but of rich farmers in the region, some leaders that led Washington to choose the nevertheless~ 10, 15, or 20 percent, no­ not personally moral. One must never un­ of the new government and Rebel Army in Escambray as the base for counterrevolu­ body could say exactly. But the war had derestimate the enemy. areas of Las Villas and neighboring tionary operations. developed in a different way there than in "But they were the opposite of us in the Matanzas province confiscated crops and Sierra Maestra. In the Sierra Maestra we illegally expropriated farms. were always on the offensive, organizing These actions were "completely at vari­ ambushes, organizing strikes, and those ance with revolutionary law," said Carlos people in the Escambray were always run­ Rafael Rodriguez, at that time head of the ning away from the revolutionary troops." National Institute of Agrarian Reform, They were "waiting for the U.S. invasion," known as INRA, in a report published in Castro said. the May 1963 issue of Cuba Socialista. In late 1960, as Dreke relates, the whole Rodriguez explained that resistance to these world knew a landing ofU.S.-trained forces policies by small and middle farmers in was coming sooner rather than later. The 1961 led to a "perceptible drop in the plant­ revolutionary leadership decided to carry ing and marketing of farm produce that was out what became known as the first limpia, felt throughout 1962." After Playa Giron, the first cleanup operation to eliminate the he noted, "the CIA and its agents tried to counterrevolutionary bands that were be­ strengthen the counterrevolutionary bands ing prepared as a fifth column. that had already been dealt a decisive blow "The revolutionary army mobilized the by the beating they took in the Escambray." militias, encircled the entire Escambray and In response, he said, the revolutionary gov­ stationed a squad of militiamen in each ernment "decreed the expropriation of the house," Castro told anAprill9, 1965, rally. land of all farmers giving direct aid to the The militiamen "went there with primers counterrevolution and of those holding land to teach the peasants to read and write. And areas of 15 to 30 caballerias [500-1,000 they went there not only with the willing­ acres] who gave them indirect aid or in ness to fight, but many of them put them­ some manner promoted counterrevolution­ selves to work there to help the peasants. ary positions." Rodriguez continued: The revolution mobilized 50,000 men .... Bohemia We eliminated [the centers of the counter­ But when Fidel laid out this policy Militia members in Escambray mountains of central Cuba conduct a sweep against revolution] before the invasion at Giron." adopted by the National Leadership, U.S.-organized counterrevolutionary bands, which conducted sabotage and terror After the crushing defeat of the merce­ he made it very clear that all those against working people. By 1965, workers and peasants had successfully crushed these nary invasion at the Bay of Pigs in April measures had to be taken with the "bandits," as they became known in Cuba. 1961, the Kennedy administration orga­ participation and consideration of the nized once again to build up the counter­ small and middle farmers, in meetings the Sierra Maestra. There was never the As Dreke describes, the revolutionary revolutionary bands in the Escambray. The of ANAP [National Association of intense political work that had been done struggle against the Batista dictatorship bandits were able to win support from a Small Farmers], and without harming came late to the Escambray, a region long in the eastern provinces, and some of the layer of peasants because in that region that section, encompassing a substan­ scarred by petty tyranny, corruption, and groups in those areas had even committed actions carried out in the name of the revo­ tial percentage of the farmers. abuses." banditry. The guerrilla column established lution were in fact contrary to national poli­ Nevertheless, it is well known that At the high point prior to the victory at by the student-based March 13 Revolution­ cies being implemented elsewhere, a reflec­ serious errors were committed, par­ Playa Giron, Castro pointed out, the coun­ ary Directorate began operations in Febru­ tion of a broader political challenge within ticularly in Matanzas province. Revo- ary 1958, more than a year after the revo­ terrevolution "had 1,000 armed men in the the revolution. Under the guise of carrying Continued on page 10 lutionary war against the Batista dictator­ Escambray who were experts in evading our ship was already under way in the eastern Sierra Maestra mountains. The Rebel Army column headed by Ernesto Che Guevara NEW FROM "P~ arrived in Las Villas in mid-October, barely the other "ropes" inherited the March 13 Revo­ ten weeks before the fall of the tyranny, from colonialism, capital­ lutionary Director­ and unified, under Guevara's command, the From the ism, and Yankee domina­ ate, Rebel Army revolutionary forces in the area. In the tion, Victor Dreke captures fighter, a com­ rebel-held territories, Guevara's November Escambray the historical challenge of mander of the vol­ 8 Military Order no. 1 initiated agrarian our epoch. unteer battalions reform in Las Villas, but there was little to the Congo that defeated the time to extend it, or to broaden revolution­ IN THE WHIRlWINDOF At the heart of this book ary political work with the peasants of the THE CUBAN REVOlUTION lies the willingness, deter­ counterrevolution­ region prior to the January 1 victory. mination, and creative joy ary bands in the Complicating the political challenges in "We were ready to die to with which Cuba's working Escambray moun­ the Escambray was the existence of another bring down the Batista dicta­ people have, for more than tains of central armed group that presented itself as part of torship," says Cuban revolu­ forty years, defended their Cuba, international­ the forces fighting the dictatorship. Initially tionary Victor Dreke, "but we revolutionary course ist combatant at the set up by the Revolutionary Directorate, and didn't know the first thing against the imperialist bas­ side of Che known as the Second National Front of the about revolution." tion to the north. Guevara in the Escambray, it became an assortment largely Victor Dreke has been a Congo, political of self-serving adventurers and ambitious In his account of how easy it be­ leading participant in Cuba's revolu­ leader and educator, and repre­ power-seekers who turned the peasants came after the 1959 victory of the tionary movement for half a century: sentative of the Cuban Revolution against them by confiscating animals and Cuban Revolution to "take down the as high school student activist, July throughout Africa. crops, robbing families of supplies, raping rope" that for decades had segre­ 26 Movement member and cadre of women, and terrorizing those who resisted. gated blacks from whites at dances After being expelled by ·the Revolutionary In English and Spanish, $17.00 in town squares, yet how enormous Directorate, the Second National Front con­ was the battle to transform the so­ tinued operations in the region. Available from bookstores, including those listed on page 12, or write Pathfinder. 410 West cial relations underlying this and all St., New York, NY 10014. Tel: (212) 741-0690. Please include$3forshippingand handling.

January 14, 2002 The Militant 9 FROM THE ESCAMBRAY TO THE CONGO

lutionary law was not respected. Poor other revolutionary movements." and rich were hit indiscriminately, Guevara was unflinching and unambigu­ without taking into consideration all ous in his judgment, Dreke notes. And it's the circumstances in each case. In­ not that Che was wrong at the time. "Ev­ stead of discussing with the farmers ery word Che wrote, absolutely every let­ themselves in order to decide what ter, without changing so much as a comma, measures to take, in many places it happened the way Che said." But "he left was primarily agricultural workers the door open so that later others could givt> who were called together. Carried their opinion, and it could be analyzed with only by their class feelings, they al­ the passage of time and events." ways tended towards expropriation. Che "would make a different assessment if he were doing it now," Dreke insists. ''I'm Until the leading cadres responsible for absolutely sure of that. He'd continue to the policy abuses were removed in early say we should've won, that we were fight­ 1962, and the policies of the revolutionary ing to win and didn't. But there are things government aimed at strengthening the you'll see in the book that Che blames him­ worker-farmer alliance reinstituted, the dis­ self for, and when you analyze the situa­ affection among sizable layers of the peas­ tion you'll see they weren't Che's fault at antry gave political space to the counter­ all .... One hundred and twenty-eight men revolutionary bands. can't change the characteristics of an Afri­ "The enemy takes advantage of our can country." weaknesses," Castro told an April 1962 Simultaneous with the volunteer mission leadership meeting, in a speech published led by Guevara, another column of Cuban the following month in Cuba Socialista. internationalists-led by Jorge Risquet and "But no enemy radio, no enemy campaign Rolando Kindelan-was hundreds of mile will prosper where it does not have a base to the west in Congo-Brazzaville aiding to prosper, where there are not many people popular militia units in that country and aggrieved, discontented, disgusted--no helping to train and equip combatants of longer with the injustice that has been done the Popular Movement for the Liberation to them, but with the injustice they've seen of Angola. The MPLA, as it was known, done to someone else, and that they think had recently opened a new front against the tomorrow could be done to them." Portuguese colonizers, who still ruled vast The revolutionary leadership corrected stretches of southern Africa. Dreke, likf course and strengthened political work Courtesy Alcida March Ale ida Guevara in her foreword to Episodes throughout the Escambray, as Dreke de­ From left to right, Victor Dreke with Cuban doctor Rafael Zerquera (Kumi) and of the Revolutionary War: Congo, explains scribes in some detail in these pages. On Ernesto Che Guevara in the Congo in 1965. That year, a column of 128 Cuban inter­ that the lessons learned from these initial the military front, Castro explained at an nationalist combatants led by Guevara went to the Congo to aid the national libera­ internationalist missions in sub-Saharan April 19, 1965, rally, "we adopted another tion struggle there. Dreke was deputy commander of the column under Che. Africa laid the foundations on which suc­ tactic" after the victory at Playa Giron. In­ cessful volunteer efforts were carried out stead of mobilizing tens of thousands of How is this possible with the millions over the next twenty-five years in Guinea­ militia troops from across the country as of dollars that were spent, with the From the Escambray to the Congo also Bissau, Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia. was done for the first cleanup operation­ thousands and thousands of weapons opens a window on another chapter of the and elsewhere. which had to be done rapidly because of they sent and brought into the coun­ Cuban Revolution about which little has Most decisive of all was the mission to the impending invasion-the revolution try? How can it be possible that with­ been written until recently-the 1965 in­ Angola that began ten years later, in No­ organized the Lucha Contra Bandidos bat­ out mobilizing any more fighters than ternationalist mission of 128 Cuban vol­ vember 197 5, when the white-supremacist talions. Made up of peasants and workers those from the mountainous regions unteers, headed by Argentine-born Cuban regime in South Africa, with de facto back­ from the area, the LCB battalions "practi­ of Las Villas, their counterrevolution­ revolutionary leader Ernesto Che Guevara, ing from Washington, invaded that coun­ cally swept [the bandits] off the map. They ary bands were annihilated? to aid the national liberation struggle in the try in an attempt to block the Angolan hunted them in the caves where they hid Guerrilla warfare is a formidable Congo. people from realizing the fruits of their themselves, in camouflaged areas, in holes. weapon, but it's a revolutionary In April 1999 Guevara's assessment of hard-won independence from Portugal, the And they put them out of action." weapon. Guerrilla warfare is a for­ that mission, written some thirty-three last European power maintaining colonies With the successful conclusion of the midable weapon when fighting years earlier, was published for the first on the continent. The operation ended some battle to eradicate the counterrevolution­ against exploitation, against colonial­ time. In writing Episodes of the Revolu­ thirteen years later-after more than ary bands in Cuba, "imperialism received ism, against imperialism. But guer­ tionary War: Congo, Che drew on the cam­ 300,000 Cuban volunteers had participated a lesson no less important than it received rilla warfare will never be an ad­ paign diary he had maintained throughout in the struggle-when the South African at Playa Giron," Castro told a cheering equate or useful instrument for coun­ the mission. Che "subjected his notes on government was forced to withdraw its throng a few months later in Santa Clara terrevolution, for the imperialists to the struggle to a deep critical analysis," troops. That withdrawal followed a crush­ on July 26, 1965, celebrating the capture fight against the exploited, to fight Aleida Guevara March wrote in the 1998 ing defeat of the armed forces of the apart· of the last groups of bandits. Washington against the people. We hope they foreword to her father's book. She empha­ heid regime at the southern Angolan city learned that counterrevolutionary guerrilla have learned this lesson well .... sized that "Che is critical and direct in the ofCuito Cuanavale by the combined forces forces could not prevail against the work­ In case they have not learned the les­ hope that his document will make it pos­ ofthe Cuban volunteers, the Angolan army, ers and peasants of Cuba, mobilized to de­ son, however, we are keeping our sible to analyze the errors and ensure that and Namibia's SWAPO (South West Africa fend a revolutionary course that strength­ Lucha Contra Bandidos battalions they are not made again." People's Organisation). In subsequent ne­ ened the worker-farmer alliance, and with organized! ... And the peasants in the Release of the full text as edited by Che gotiations, South Africa ceded indepen­ a communist leadership who by its actions Escambray are organized into moun­ involved "a major obligation to history" for dence to Namibia as well, and the death had won the confidence of the masses of tain companies just like the peasants another reason, Aleida Guevara said, since knell of apartheid itself was sounded in toilers. It was not primarily a question of of Oriente province. They are trained major excerpts of other versions "corre­ February 1990 by the unbanning of the military tactics, but of revolutionary class and armed. So for the enemy our sponding to Che's first transcriptions" had African National Congress and release of politics in the imperialist epoch. "The im­ mountains now constitute impen­ already appeared in print in Mexico and Nelson Mandela after twenty-seven years perialists probably ask themselves," Castro etrable bastions of the revolution. France. of imprisonment. said, The column of Cuban volunteers went As Mandela told a mass rally in Cuba's to the Congo in 1965 at the request oflead­ Matanzas province in July 1991, "The de­ feat of the apartheid army was an inspira­ DISTRIBUTED BY PATHFINDER ers of that country's national liberation movement and with the agreement of nu­ tion to the struggling people inside South Africa! Without the defeat of Cuitc. Che merous African governments. Its aim was Cuba and the Coming to provide military training to, and to fight Cuanavale our organizations would not American Revolution Guevara alongside, the uneasy alliance of forces who have been unbanned! The defeat of the rac­ JACK BARNES Talks to were part of the movement that had sup­ ist army at Cuito Cuanavale has made it Discusses the struggles in the ported slain Congolese independence possible for me to be here today! ... Cui to Young Cuanavale has been a turning point in the imperialist leader Patrice Lumumba. They were strug­ People gling to prevent the consolidation of a struggle to free the continent and our coun­ heartland and try from the scourge of apartheid!" Ernesto Che semicolonial regime supported by the the example country's murderous former colonial mas­ In November 1985, in a ceremony mark Guevara, of Cuba that ter, Belgium, and the U.S. imperialist gov­ ing the twentieth anniversary of the two revolution is drawing on his ernment. White mercenary forces from columns that served in the Congo and not only experiehce as a South Africa and Rhodesia had been Congo-Brazzaville, Cuban Minister of the necessary--it leader of the brought in to do much of the fighting. Revolutionary Armed Forces Raul Castro Cuban Revolution, talks as an equal Victor Dreke was the deputy commander told the assembled volunteers that the par­ can be made. ticipation of hundreds of thousands of Cu­ with youth of Cuba and the world. of Che's column in the Congo. As he says In English, bans in internationalist missions to Angola In English and in Spanish. $14.95 in this interview, which took place in Ha­ Spanish, and vana a few months after publication of over the preceding decade French, Guevara's book, "helping to tell this story $13.00 is a responsibility I have, a historic duty." is highly revealing, not only about Unlike Che, who died in Bolivia less than the historical significance of the Episodes of the Congo two years after the Congo mission, Victor mission entrusted to you twenty Revolutionary War Dreke is able to place the experience in a years ago, but also about how much Ernesto Che Guevara much longer historical perspective. the relationship of forces on a world Guevara's preface to Episodes of the scale has evolved in favor of the PASAJES DE LA GUERRA REVOLUCIONARIA: CONGO causes of national liberation and so­ Published for the first time in 1999, Guevara's account Revolutionary War: Congo (published in English under the inaccurate title, The Af­ cial progress, and how much our in­ presents the central lessons of the Cuban volunteer rican Dream: The Diaries of the Revolu­ ternationalist consciousness has contingent that fought alongside anti-imperialist forces tionary War in the Congo) begins with the matured. in the Congo in 1965 and discusses the prospects for statement, "This is the history of a failure." Two decades ago more than three hundred men made up the two col­ revolutionary struggle in Africa. In Spanish $23.95 Any importance the story might have, Che wrote, "lies in the fact that it allows the umns we are honoring. The highest Available from bookstores, including those listed on page 12. experiences to be extracted for the use of praise we can pay to that campaign,

10 The Militant January 14, 2002 which was a precursor, is to be able of the United Nations General Assembly, to say that every one of you has been declaring, "The war in Afghanistan must multiplied a thousandfold in your be stopped." The U.S. government must halt noble pledge to pay back with your its "unjustifiable bombing campaign very lives, if necessary, our debt of against that people," which "has targeted gratitude to humanity. children, the civilian population and Inter­ national Red Cross hospitals and facilities Today, responding not as suffering vic­ as enemies. As to its methods, no honest tims but as a fighting humanity determined voice would rise in this hall to defend an to resist the rapidly accelerating ravages of endless slaughter-with the most sophisti­ imperialist domination, new winds of cated weaponry-of a dispossessed, starv­ struggle are stirring throughoutAfrica. This ing, helpless people .... Those responsible was registered in Algiers in the summer of for it will one day be judged by history." 2001 at the 15th World Festival of Youth Perez Roque went on, in the name of the and Students, where young people from Cuban government, to strongly condemn 1cross broad stretches of the continent came the terrorist attacks of September 11. searching hungrily for speeches and writ­ Attempting to blunt the force of Cuba's ings by African Marxist leaders such as unequivocal stand, John Negroponte, chief Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso, prole­ U.S. representative to the United Nations, tarian internationalists such as Emesto Che told the New York Times that he welcomed Guevara, and other leaders of the modem the "almost universal" condemnation of working-class movement from its found­ terrorism and support for Washington's ing by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels !50 murderous course expressed by the repre­ years ago to today. sentatives of governments who had spoken Surprisingly large crowds, young and from the General Assembly's marble ros­ Militant/Martin Koppel old, are pressing into theaters in the United trum. The Cuban declaration, however, was From left to right: Mary-Alice Waters and Michael Taber from Pathfinder with Victor States and elsewhere around the world to "outlandish" and "totally unwarranted," he Dreke in Havana, December 2001, preparing final work on interview. see the film Lumumha, trying to learn the said. Even Iraq's "negative statement," truth about such deliberately distorted chap­ Negroponte proclaimed, "was not as stri­ ing the glossary is due to Commander Faure assisted by Martin Koppel, editor of ters in the history of our common struggles. dent and vitriolic" as Cuba's. Chom6n, member of the Central Commit­ Perspectiva Mzmdial, who took part in the It is a world in which the international­ Cuba's decades-long internationalism tee of the Communist Party of Cuba, who second session. ism of the Cuban Revolution, as represented and revolutionary intransigence, however, commanded the forces of the March 13 Editing of the English translation as well by people such as Che Guevara and Victor are neither "strident" nor "vitriolic," let Revolutionary Directorate in the as preparation of the annotation and glos­ Dreke, will be studied and learned from alone "unwarranted." To the contrary, for Escambray in 1958, and to Col. Armando sary were the work of Pathfinder editor with growing interest and in which the true politically conscious workers, farmers, and Martinez, a combatant of the July 26 Michael Taber, who also participated in the historic measure of the Congo mission they youth the world over, the Cuban Movement's urban underground, a veteran second interview session. of internationalist missions, and former A large team of volunteers around the deputy head of the Political Directorate of world made possible the production of the the Revolutionary Anned Forces of Cuba. book. which is being published simulta­ Aleida March, director ofChe's Personal neously in both English and Spanish. Tran­ Archive, provided several photos, includ­ scription and translation of the interview ing the one of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, were the work of Marty Anderson, Eva and Victor. Dreke that appears on the back Chertov, Paul Coltrin, Carlos Cornejo, cover, taken on the eve of Guevara's and Sabas Herrera, Ruth Nebbia, Andres Perez. Dreke 's departure for the 1965 internation­ Alejandra Rincon, Aaron Ruby, Mirta alist mission to the Congo. Vidal, and Matilde Zimmermann. The Antonio Nunez Jimenez Foundation Eric Simpson designed the photo pages, for Nature and Humanity authorized use and together with Mike Shur, prepared the of a number of the historic photos in its maps. Eva Braiman designed the cover and collection. Carmen Ibanez of Granma, text. Manuel Martinez of Bohemia, and Dixie The Pathfinder Reprint Project volunteers Lopez of Verda Olivo searched the archives copyedited, formatted, and proofread the of those publications to locate many of the text, assuring that it is was print-ready and other photos that appear in these pages, and substantially free of typographical errors. offered other assistance. The combined labors of all made pos­ Hermes Caballero, veteran of the No­ sible this contribution to our knowledge and vember 30, 1956, uprising in Santiago de understanding of the Cuban Revolution and Cuba, assumed responsibility for innumer­ its place in the modern history of working able research tasks. people the world over who are fighting Luis Madrid, a staff editor of Pathfinder against exploitation and racism and for Press, participated in the first interview national liberation and socialist revolu­ session with Victor Dreke and was respon­ tion-the only future for humanity. sible for editing the text in Spanish. He was December 2001 Militant /T.J. Figueroa Cuban volunteer doctors working in South Africa's Mpumalanga and Free State prov­ From Pathfinder inces, 2000. For politically conscious workers, farmers, and youth the world over, Cuba's decades-long internationalism and revolutionary intransigence remains liv­ ing proof that in the tumultuous anti-imperialist battles and revolutionary class Capitalis~n•s World Disorder: struggles to come in the 21st century, there are good reasons today to join the fight to Working-Class Politics at the Millennium change the world in the interests of the toiling majority. JACK BARNES "The capitalist rulers offer us social disaster. They offer us took part in will be taken. Revolution's course-as related in these depression. They offer us death from curable disease. They offer "Our country, the only socialist bastion pages by Victor Dreke-remains living us war. The offer us fascism. They offer us an unending list of at the gates of Yankee imperialism, sends proof that in the tumultuous anti-imperial­ horrors. But we offer ourselves the ability to prevent those ist battles and revolutionary class struggles its soldiers to fight and die in a foreign land, horrors from becoming the final reality, the confidence that we on a distant continent, and assumes full to come in the twenty-first century, there are very good reasons today to "join some­ can transform that future." Also available in French and Spanish. public responsibility for its actions," wrote $23.95 Che Guevara in his account of the Congo thing" and "take sides." Things will not always stay the same. mission. "This challenge, this clear posi­ Making History tion with regard to the great contemporary issue of relentless struggle against Yankee Interviews with four generals of Cuba's Revolutionary imperialism, defines the heroic significance The interview with Victor Dreke took Armed Forces place in Havana, October 26, 1999, with a of our participation in the struggle of the l#•(n:i•·~~ ::-ttl! Jiwr gpnn!li< On January 1, 1959, men and women of Cuba in their millions second session on December 2, 2001. The oft.,fM'< Hr.of11ti"""l1" Congo." -lrm.:dl'mor• ceased being simply the objects of history. They became its For more than forty years, the working interview was arranged with the encourage­ makers as well. By their actions they opened the door to the first people of Cuba and their leadership have ment and support of the leadership of the socialist revolution in the Americas. Who they were, where they remained an unbending source of clarity­ Association of Combatants of the Cuban came from, and the experiences that transformed them are the and decisive action-"with regard to the Revolution, especially Division General subject of these interviews with Nestor Lopez Cuba, Enrique great contemporary issue of relentless Nestor Lopez Cuba, vice president of its Carreras, Jose Ramon Fernandez, and Harry Villegas. Edited and Executive Secretariat at the time of his struggle against Yankee imperialism." with an introduction by Mary-Alice Waters. $15.95 In September 1990, when Washington death on October 15, 1999. sought cover from the fifteen-member Victor Dreke himself, with great good United Nations Security Council for the humor, devoted many hours to reviewing in New International no. 10 the manuscript, explaining details, and se­ murderous bombardment and invasion of • Imperialism's March toward Fascism and War curing maps, photos, and documents. Iraq being prepared by the imperialist pow­ by Jack Barnes ers, the Cuban delegation-which held one Ana Morales Varela and Iraida Aguir­ of the ten revolving seats on the Council at rechu helped clarify and expand the con­ • What the 1987 Stock Market Crash Foretold that time-voted against the U.S.-initiated tents of the interview; their knowledge and • Defending Cuba, Defending Cuba's Socialist resolution. "Cuba voted against it, the only animated interest kept us all going. Each Revolution by Mary-Alice Waters of them also provided considerable edito­ country to do so!" said Fidel Castro in a • The Curve of capitalist Development speech to the Cuban people soon after­ rial help through a close read of the manu­ by Leon Trotsky $14.00 wards. "We had the honor and glory of be­ script and assistance in locating photos, ing the only country to vote 'No'!" maps, biographical information, and other Available from bookstores, A decade later, in November 2001, Cu­ materials that make the book more accu­ including those listed on page 12, ban foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque rate, accessible, and enjoyable to all. or write Pathfinder, 410 West St., began his remarks to the opening session Special thanks for assistance in prepar- New York, NY 10014.

January 14, 2002 The Militant 11 U.S. in Afghanistan

Continued from front page cumstantial evidence and testimony frorh ince, which borders Pakistan. witnesses who can remain anonymous. While much of the intensive U.S. bomb­ In response to these leaked changes, ing of Afghanistan has stopped, U.S. war­ Satire hailed the administration's planned planes continue to fly 50 to 70 daily sorties changes. "Cooler heads are prevailing,'' over the country "ready to attack targets of he wrote in a December 13 column. opportunity," stated a defense department "What we are likely to get, if Bush is wise spokesman. B-lB bombers and B-52 bomb­ enough to ask for it, is Congressional ers flying from the Indian Ocean island of approval of overseas trials of terrorist Diego Garcia rotate sorties so that bombers leaders by military courts adhering to are in the air and on call for missions in basic standards of U.S. military justice. Afghanistan 24 hours a day. Most civil libertarians as well as With thousands of U.S. troops currently Ashcrofite zealots would express a de­ operating inside Afghanistan, along with gree of satisfaction with this, just as they massive firepower positioned in Central have with the trial of the accused con­ Asia, the Gulf state region, and on U.S. spirator Zacarias Moussaoui in a regular warships in the North Arabian Sea, Wash­ criminal court in Alexandria, Va." ington is digging in for the longterm to prop The panel of uniformed officers con­ up and defend its imperialist interests in this ducting these trials will be making their part of the world. Despite the installation of recommendations to the secretary of de­ a new regime in Kabul, U.S. forces operate fense, and the final verdict and sentence at will across the country, including decid­ will be up to the president. The Bush ing where to bomb and deploy new forces. administration maintains that it has the Some of the 3,500 prisoners held by U.S. troops in a jail built for 800 with heads covered. Paving the way for a more permanent authority to proceed with these tribunals military presence, the Pentagon has sent without Congressional approval. soldiers from the 101 st Airborne Division Washington has so far refused to classify custody to the U.S. navy base at of special operations units, and a massive to replace the more than 1,000 marines who the Taliban fighters it has incarcerated as Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. U.S. bombing assault, should now be di­ had set up a U.S. military base and POW "prisoners of war," which under the Geneva rected against Iraq. camp at the Kandahar airport in southern Conventions would guarantee them a court­ Renewed calls for U.S. assault on Iraq "Old Strategy on Iraq Sparks New Debate: Afghanistan. While the soldiers from the martial, as well as various rights in deten­ Meanwhile, a number of bourgeois com­ Backers Say Plan Proven in Afghanistan,'' 15th and 26th Marine Expeditionary Units tion. Instead the Bush administration has mentators, reflecting a wing of the U.S. rul­ read the headline of a December 2 7 article in will return to amphibious assault ships in described them as "detainees" or "unlawful ing class, are pressing forward their call for the Washington Post. "The U.S. Must Strike the north Arabian Sea, they will remain in combatants." a renewed U.S. military assault on Iraq. at Saddam Hussein," was the title of a Ne>v the region on call "to do other things," ac­ Nearly 7,000 Taliban and al Qaeda fight­ They argue that Washington's "Afghan strat­ York Times column appearing the following cording to a spokesman for the U.S. Cen­ ers are being held by the new Afghan gov­ egy," which includes backing an opposition day by Richard Perle, the assistant secretary tral Command. A third Marine Expedition­ ernment and interrogated by the U.S. mili­ proxy force on the ground, the deployment of defense from 1981 to 1987. ary Unit with 2,200 troops on board is set to tary and various police and spy agencies. arrive in the Arabian Sea by mid-January. This includes some 3,500 fighters held in To assist Washington in maintaining or­ abysmal conditions at the Shibarghan prison der-and to carry out housekeeping chores in northern Afghanistan, who are crammed -MILITANT LABOR FORUMS- into cells built to house 800 people, and as the pecking order of the imperialist pow­ CALIFORNIA Flom~ Donation: $4. Tel: (973) 643-3341. ers dictates-a British-led occupation force hundreds of others being held by the Paki­ of up to 5.000 troops began arriving in stani government. Los Angeles Back the Palestinian Struggle. Speakers: Samera NEW YORK Kabul, the nation's capital. Agreed to by the Many of those taken into direct custody Brooklyn by Washington-numbering 150 so far and Sood, president, Palestinian-American Women's new Afghan government after some hesita­ Association of Southern California: AI Duncan. Celebrate 43Years of the Cuban Revolution­ tion, and with blessings from the United growing-have been taken to the U.S. base Socialist Workers Party. Fri .. Jan. II, 7:30p.m. Example for Toilers around the World. Nations Security Council, the troops will be at the Kandahar airport, where they are Celebrate 43 Years of the Cuban Revolution. Speaker: Pat Hunter, Socialist Workers Party. Fri., based near the Kabul airport while conduct­ bound, blindfolded, and separated from each Speaker: Nan Bailey. Socialist Workers Party. Jan. 4, 7:30 p.m. 372.4 53rd St. (at 4th Ave.) ing military patrols in the surrounding ar­ other by concertina wire. These prisoners Fri., Jan. 18, 7:30 p.m. Both events at 4229 S. Donation: $5. (7 I 8) 56 7-80 I 4. eas. Britain has announced plans to contrib­ face even more intensive military interro­ Central Ave. Donation: $4. Tel: (2 I 3) 389-7181. Garment District ute at least 1,500 troops. Others sending gation. The U.S. military is holding eight India-Pakistan Tensions Escalate; Washington soldiers include France, Germany, Spain, others, including U.S. citizen John Walker NEW JERSEY Backs Drive against Kashmir Independence Italy, Jordan, and possibly Malaysia. aboard an amphibious assault ship in the Newark Groups. Fri., Jan 4, 7:30 p.m. 545 8th Avenue The UN-sanctioned force will, however, Arabian Sea, and at least a couple at the Social and Economic Crisis in Argentina­ 14th Flom: Donation: $4. (212) 695-7358. be under the overall command of Gen. Tho­ Bagram air base north of Kabul. Workers and Farmers Rebel against Capital­ Upper Manhattan mas Franks, the leader of the United States In a brazen affront to the sovereignty of ist Collapse. Speaker: Nancy Rosenstock, So­ Celebrate 43 Years of the Cuban Revolution. Central Command, responsible for the on­ Cuba, U.S. officials announced plans De­ cialist Workers Party, member, Union of Speaker: Salm Kolis, Socialist Workers Party. going U.S. military operations in Afghani­ cember 27 to transfer within the next few Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees. Fri., Jan. 4, 7:30p.m. 599 W. !87th Street. 2nd Fri., Jan. 4, 7:30p.m. 506 Springfield Ave., 3rd stan. While participating in the operation, weeks the prisoners being taken into U.S. Floor. Donation: $5. Tel: (212) 740-4611. the German government has expressed ob­ jections to the force having to report to a U.S. general. -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP Preparing to use military tribunals Where to find Pathfinder books and Zip: 48244. Tel: (313) 554-0504. Campsie, NSW 2194. Mailing address: P.O. Washington is also moving ahead with distributors of the Militant, Perspectiva E-mail: I [email protected] Box K879, Haymarket, NSW 1240. Tel: (02) plans to start using military tribunals against Mundial, New International, Nouvelle MINNESOTA: St. Paul: 113 Bernard St., 9718 9698. noncitizens. The Bush administration has Jnternationale, Nueva Jnternacional and West St. Paul. Zip: 55118. Tel: ( 651) 644- E-mail: [email protected] backed off for now in deciding to haul Ny International. 6325. E-mail: [email protected] people residing in the United States before BRITAIN NEW JERSEY: Newark: 506 Springfield London: 4 7 The Cut. Postal code: SE I 8LL. these "courts," and instead says it will use UNITED STATES Ave. 3rd floor. Zip: 07103. Mailing address: them against captured Tali ban and al Qaeda Tel: 020-7928-7993. ALABAMA: Birmingham: 3029A Riverfront Plaza, P.O. Box 200117. Zip: E-mail: I 0 [email protected] fighters captured and now incarcerated in Bessemer Road. Zip: 35208. Tel: (205) 780- 07102-0302. Tel: (973) 643-3341. Afghanistan. 0021. E-mail: 73 [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] CANADA Bush authorized the tribunals in a Novem­ Montreal: 4613 St. Laurent. Postal code: ber 13 military edict but they created divi­ CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 4229 S. NEW YORK: Brooklyn: 372A 53rd St. Central Ave. Zip: 900 II. Tel": (323) 233-9372. (at 4th Ave.) Mailing address: PMB I 06. 4814 H2T IR2. Tel: (514) 284-7369. E-mail: sions in U.S. ruling circles. Conservative [email protected] columnist William Satire labeled them "kan­ E-mail: [email protected] 4thAve. Zip: 11220. Tel: (718) 567-8014. E­ San Francisco: 3926 Mission St. Zip: 94112. mail: [email protected] Garment Toronto: 2761 Dundas St. West, Postal garoo courts" and others in both the Demo­ code: M6P IY4. Tel: (416) 767-3705. cratic and Republican parties pushed the Tel: (415) 584-2135. E-mail:sfswp District, 545 8th Ave. Mailing address: P.O. @hotmail.com Box 30. Zip:10018. Tel: (212) 695-7358. E-mai I: [email protected] administration to recraft the proposal. The Vancouver: #2020-4806 Main St. Postal tribunals were given wide authority to in­ COLORADO: Craig: 6 West Victory Way. E-mail:[email protected]; Upper Manhattan: 599 W. 187 St. 2nd floor. code: V5V 3R8. Tel: (604) 872-8343. E-mail: troduce hearsay as evidence, conduct much Zip: 81625. Mailing address: P.O. Box 1539. Mailing address: 4049 Broadway #275. [email protected] of their proceedings in secret, and order Zip: 81626. Tel: (970) 826-0289 .E-mail: [email protected] Zip: 10032. Tel: (212) 740-4611. E-mail: executions short of a unanimous agreement [email protected]; FRANCE of the "judges." FLORIDA: Miami: 8365 NE 2nd Ave. OHIO: Cleveland: 11018 LorainAve. Zip: Paris: Centre MBE 175, 23 rue Lecourbe. Under pressure, the administration leaked #206 Zip: 33138. Tel: (305) 751-7076. E-mail: Postal code: 75015. Tel: (01) 47~26-58-21. E­ some changes in the draft rules for the tri­ [email protected] Tampa: P.O. 44111. Tel: (216) 688-1190. E-mail: 103253.1111 @compuserve.com mail: [email protected] bunals. According to the New York Times, Box 16002. Zip: 33687. E-mail: measures under consideration "would allow TOC [email protected] PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 5237 N. ICELAND 5th St. Zip: 19120. Tel: (215) 324-7020. E­ tribunals to be open to the public and the GEORGIA: Atlanta: 2791 LakewoodAve. Reykjavik: Skolavordustig 6B. Mailing news media, would grant defendants the Zip: 30315. Mailing address: P.O. Box mail: [email protected] address: P. Box 0233, IS 121 Reykjavik. Tel: Pittsburgh: 5907 Penn Ave. Suite 225. Zip. presumption of innocence and allow them 162515. Zip 30321. Tel: (404) 763-2900. 552 5502. E-mail: [email protected] to have military lawyers and their own ci­ E-mail: [email protected] .15206. Tel: (412) 365-1090. E-mail: [email protected] NEW ZEALAND vilian lawyers and would require a unani­ ILLINOIS: Chicago: 1212 N. Ashland Auckland: Suite 3, 7 MasonAve., Otahuhu. mous verdict for imposition of the death TEXAS: Houston: 619 West 8th St. Zip: Suite 201. Zip: 60622. Tel: (773) 342-1780. Postal address: P.O. Box 3025. Tel: (9) 276- penalty." The tribunals will still allow cir- 77007. Tel: (713) 869-6550. E-mail: E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] 8885. E-mail: [email protected] IOWA: Des Moines: 3720 6th Ave. Zip: WASHINGTON, D.C.: 3437 14th St. NW -CALENDAR- 50313. Tel: (515) 288-2970. E-mail: Zip: 20010. Tel: (202) 387-1590. E-mail: Christchurch: Gloucester Arcade, 129 [email protected] [email protected] Gloucester St. Postal address: P.O. Box 13- ALABAMA MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 12 969. Tel: (3) 365-6055. Bennington St. Mailing address: P.O. Box 702. WASHINGTON: Seattle: 5418 Rainier E-mail: [email protected] Birmingham Avenue South. Zip: 98118-2439. Tel: (206) Zip: 02124. Tel: (617) 569-9169. E-mail: SWEDEN Celebrate the Grand Opening of the Path­ I [email protected] 323-1755. E-mail: [email protected] finder Bookstore in Its New Location. Sun., Stockholm: Domargriind 16 (T-bana Jan. 27,3:00 p.m. 3029A Bessemer Rd. Tel: (205) MICHIGAN: Detroit: 4208 W. Vernor St. AUSTRALIA Viistertorp) Postal code: S-129 04. Tel: (08) 31 780-0021. Mailing address: P.O. Box 441580 Sydney: lst Fir, 3/281-287 Beamish St., 69 33.E-mail: [email protected] 12 The Militant January 14, 2002 -GREAT SOCIEJY------Truly a great society-In the hearts of corporate "givers," but could not be taught to their students. Dollars and scents-Some Manif"esto, "Workers of the World California's Orange County, the can't seem to raise the necessary For example, since the existence of members of the Blockbuster chain Unite!" The art commission is hunt­ Young Women's Christian Associa­ annual $72,000 budget. dinosaurs was not compatible with will do a trial run on scented VCRs, ing for a substitute for the unity call. tion (YWCA) rents two buses to the school's religious beliefs re­ like, maybe, gun smoke on action bring homeless children warehoused No medical leave?-A Duke garding the age of the planet, any films. (Please, send further sugges­ A bit like a traffic ticket-Two University prof arbitrarily rejected references to dinosaurs in science tions to Blockbuster.) British engineering fim1s admitted lab-job applications by three Paki­ books or literature were blacked out they had ignored safety precautions stani students. Then, responding to with felt pen or otherwise ob­ Easy living-"Road kill pro­ and, as a result, four workers protests, he explained he was shook scured."-Letter to The Globe and gram helps feed the needy. Alaskan plunged from a bridge to their up by September 11 and "headed Mail published in Toronto. troopers salvage meat from moose deaths. Both firms were fined in a paranoid direction." killed by cars, trains each year."­ S375,000. In the Times of London, Snip, snip-In December, AP headline from Anchorage, it was a two-inch news item. Dinosaur? No way!-"It is American Express acknowledged it Alaska. completely baffling to me why the would take a $280 million loss for Gee-A Denver cop was fined in motels to school. This also frees Ontario government wants to sup­ the last quarter, and would chop Unity building in Tennessee-In $500, plus costs, for clubbing a parents to hold down jobs when the): port private religious schools with 6,500 more workers from the pay­ Memphis, a new sculpture at the young curfew violator on the head can get them. But the YWCA may tax credits. I was principal of a pri­ roll. The L.A. Times ran it as an "In downtown library features quotes with his flashlight. Also, the court have to scrap the program for lack vate religious school for three years Brief' item headlined: "American from Shakespeare, the Constitution, ordered him to write a letter of apol­ of funding. They've tried tugging at and learned a great deal about what Express to Trim Payroll Further." the Bible, and, from the Communist ogy. Meat packers protest closure of Chicago hog plant BY ARRIN HAWKINS company's claims that it shut down invol­ CHICAGO-Meat packers laid off in an untarily. They point to the fact that last fall antiunion attack when American Meat Pack­ the bosses relocated part of the ham line of ing Corporation closed its doors November the boning department to Illinois Meat, a 16 are demanding back pay and extended sister nonunion plant a few blocks away. medical coverage from the company. Workers on the ham line were offered a po­ On December 24, 50 workers picketed the sition at the nonunion plant, but would have company chanting in English and Spanish, lost their union membership and taken a cut "Si, se puede" and "What do we want? Jus­ in pay. No worker accepted this offer. Later, tice! When do we want it'? Now!" Among management received three warnings from the signs, with demands in Polish, Spanish, USDA inspectors to improve the conditions and English carried by the union members, in the plant, which included rat droppings one said, "AM PAC: Scrooge of the Year." and condensation on ceilings. While routine There was some coverage of the picketing, cleanings were done each day. these warn­ mostly in the local Spanish-language media. ings went largely unheeded. · By claiming the decision by the U.S. Workers have organized several delega­ Department of Agriculture to suspend in­ tions to meet with union officials about their spections at the plant forced them to shut demands. The officials agreed to file a Free­ down, the American Meat Packing Corpo­ dom of Information Act claim with the ration (AMPAC) avoided regulations under USDA seeking inspectors reports leading up the Workers Adjustment and Retraining Act to the closing in order to learn more about which states companies must give a 60-day appy the company's claims. notice of a plant closing. After being laid Holding signs in English, Spanish, and Polish, workers picket hog plant December 24. After the meeting Sunday, Pei'la said the off''temporarily'' as of November 8, work­ company "thinks they can use us. They want ers were sent a letter dated November 16 Poland who has 16 years at the plant, added, leaders ofa strike in 1985. That walkout was us to keep our mouth shut and let them take stating that as of that day their employment "We have no jobs, insurance, or anything." a hard-fought 15-month battle, where 60 advantage of us. From this experience, I was "permanently terminated." Silvia Contreras, one of the few women workers among the 350 at the plant stayed learned that we have been cheated. I didn't The plant of 400 was organized by the who worked in the upper kill department, out the entire time. "Most of those you see know that there were people who would United Food and Commercial Workers union explained she wanted to be part of the rally today were those who stayed out with us. We cheat you like this after you give your en­ (UFCW) and was the last hog slaughterhouse because ofthe "injustice" ofAMPAC's clos­ kept our word. When we said we were going tire life to them and leave you with nothing. in Chicago. ing. "The company gave nothing to the poor on strike, we went on strike." The strikers I gave so much to make those guys rich, now AMPAC, a division of the Pinnacle Food people who worked hard for them a lot of were not recalled to work until positions I have nothing. I hope that we get our rights. Group, had already begun to farm out work years," she said. "We have to fight for our opened up in the plant. The union later won We have to fight for them." to the company's nonunion plants. Workers rights, for the rights of everybody." a lawsuit for lost wages against the company received a letter from Pinnacle officials of­ Many workers at the rally had been un­ for unfair labor practices. Arrin Hawkins is laid off.fi'om American fering them jobs starting as "new hires" at able to find a new job, and face a cutoff in Many workers do not believe the Meat Packing Corporation. the company's nonunion plant in Des their medical insurance. A number of the Moines. Pinnacle offered $250 in "reloca­ laid-off union members are in the middle tion expenses" and another $250 loan-to of expensive medical treatments and one -25 AND 50 YEARS AGO--­ be repaid out of the workers' first 10 pay­ came to the rally on crutches. What will checks-to anyone who decided to move. happen to company pensions is also a ma­ "Our demands are very simple," said jor concern for those present. TH£ MILITANT Shawn Robinson, one of those at the De­ UFCW Local 15461 OOA vice president THE MILITANT PU&LISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE cember 24 action. "We want an extension Javier Ramirez and La Union Latina de "SOC!.ILl!it N~_WSWfEKl'i/f>tJ&tJ~HEDIN nUOIN-lUE$1~ orrHf WC.lrUoNG f'!Df'O! of our medical benefits for three months and Chicago (Latino Union of Chicago) direc­ severance pay. We demand the truth about tor Jose Landaverde both spoke at the event. January 14, 1977 January 14, 1952 what really happened with the closing ofthe The protest was initiated by laid-off CHICAGO-FBI agent-provocateurWil­ plant. It is the least they can give us." AMPAC workers and built by La Union liam O'Neal-the key witness in the Fred The Big Money and its Big Press have Robinson explained that while the company Latina, which organizes day laborers and Hampton/Mark Clark trial here-is trying announced their choice of Gen. Dwight D. had previously said they were bankrupt, they temporary workers in the area. Days before to turn the tables by "remembering" only Eisenhower, life-long professional militarist, never gave warning to the workers that the the action. an ad hoc group of 25 former what he wants to about his infiltration of as the man they prefer for Republican presi­ plant would close. "They robbed our fami­ AMPAC workers gathered at La Union the Black Panther party. dential candidate. Their decision to back lies of both Thanksgiving and Christmas," Latina to discuss their demands and issued BPP members Hampton and Clark were Eisenhower, in preference to Taft. is based he said. "It is unfair to the people who a call for the rally. murdered in their sleep in December 1969 on the dominant issue of war. worked for them for so many years." One of the leaders of the action, Rufino when Chicago cops shot their way into a ''The 'president-makers' of the Republi­ Henri Korszlak, a worker originally from Pefia, said among those in the fight today are West Side apartment. can Party have chosen Eisenhower because The $47.7 million lawsuit was filed by he is firmly committed to Wall Street's war the families of the two slain Panthers and policy and has been working on its prepa­ by survivors of the murderous raid. It ration by reanning Western Europe and con­ Ferry workers win reduced hours charges an unconstitutional conspiracy by structing U.S. bases there," stated Farrell Continued from Page 16 Advertisements placed by the company the FBI and Chicago cops in planning and Dobbs, the 1948 presidential candidate of negotiations over pay and conditions should in Scottish papers explain the bosses can carrying out the assault. the Socialist Workers Party and its likely have been settled last April. make concessions to the strikers, but any As part of the FBI's Cointelpro operations choice to head this year's ticket. "We do an average of 56 hours a week, improvements have to be ''self-financing," against the Panthers, O'Neal had worked That the war issue is decisive and con­ but only get overtime rates after 44 hours," meaning the strikers have to give something himself up to "captain of security." He was clusive is frankly admitted by theN. Y Times, explained a picket at the Gourock pier head. up in return. responsible for protecting BPP leaders. a mouthpiece of the House of Morgan, "At the end of the day we should be like The ads also claim that significant num­ When pressed, he admitted in court to [which] declared editorially on Jan. 7 its most other workers and get overtime rates bers of strikers want to return to work. One delivering a floor plan of the murder scene "enthusiastic" support of Eisenhower if he after 39 hours." of the pickets at Gourock challenged this, to the FBI. He is also believed to have should be nominated by the Republicans. "I don't think anyone else in the public pointing out that he was not one of the 95 drugged Hampton the night of his death to In three out of five of the last presidential sector is working a 44 hour week," said who originally voted for the walkout but now, ensure the BPP leader would be in a coma elections it supported the Democrats, the union leader Steve Todd. In newspaper ads like most others, is united behind the fight. during the raid. He can't "recall" if he did Times said, "essentially because we were slandering the strikers, the company is In response to company statements seeking it. reluctant to trust the Republican party on claiming the issue is the union's refusal to a "no-strike" deal with the union, several According to the plaintiffs' attorney Jef­ issues offoreign policy... the decisive issues accept a 3.5 percent pay raise, but the pick­ pickets said such a move would take away frey Haas, O'Neal has had to be pressured of the campaign." ets insist the real issues are the long hours "our fundamental tool-the right to strike.'' to "remember" anything about his traitor­ By running Eisenhower, Big Business and their demand for the extra hours they The pickets' anger at these misrepresen­ ous role. hopes to eliminate this "towering" issue work to be reflected in their basic pay rates. tations of the issues by the state-run <:;om­ At first he couldn't recall if he passed from the election debate. Eisenhower tells They point out that wages for ferry workers pany also extends to the role of the Scottish along the layout of the Panthers' apartment us he intends to keep his mouth shut on ev­ with the same company sailing to the West­ executive, the parliamentary governing to the FBI. He also didn't remember that erything; while Truman pointedly empha­ em Isles are consolidated. ''It's divide and body of this country. "The Scottish execu­ his FBI control agent Roy Mitchell paid his sized in his State of the Union Message on rule. We have to work 400 hours more a year tive says they won't interfere in a company­ bail several times and bought several cars Jan. 10 that "we can find plenty of things to to get the same wages." one of the pickets union issue, but they own it!" protested a for him. Documents submitted prove these differ about without... abandoning our bipar­ explained. picket a Gourock. events occurred. tisan foreign policy." January 14, 2002 The Militant 13 -EDITORIALS------Red Weekend Washington's 'year of war' project meeting Continued from Page 3 U.S. president George Bush's statement that 2002 will Another war danger centers on the India-Pakistan bor­ unteers to prepare new editions of these titles. be a "war year" is a serious warning to working people der. Washington, standing in opposition to the Kashmir In his talk Barnes pointed to the four filing boxes set around the world. The capitalist rulers and their govern­ struggle and intent on establishing closer military, politi­ up on the stage that contained packages of the photo­ ment plan more aggression abroad, further attempts to cal, and economic ties with the Indian government, has graphic film of covers for some 80 titles and the text for restrict workers' rights, and more attacks on our condi­ backed Delhi's demand on the Pakistan government to books including the Rus'sian-language publications de­ tions of life, including assaults on the social wage, police crack down on the independence forces. scribed above. Pathfinder's editorial staff had originally brutality, use of the death penalty, and growing economic On U.S. soil, the rulers have gone into overdrive to try proposed to archive this material off-site. "But Pathfinder hardship. to accustom workers to the militarization oflife and other must have working files based on what is needed to pro­ Bush's warlike policies are not a departure from those infringements on fundamental rights-attacks designed duce books," said Barnes, and will make space for files of other U.S. administrations of the last decade. In fact, to restrict our capacity to fight for our own class interests that are needed. "We're not going to send anything out on a wide range of issues, from attacks on immigrant rights as a unified force. They initially come down hardest on for temporary storage or to be archived somewhere," he to proposals to privatize social security, it was the Clinton specific sections of the working class, whether they be stated. Instead, he said, the crews will help organize what White House that laid the groundwork for the accelerated immigrants from Latin America, Muslims, or other op­ needs to be kept for current and future uses of the move­ attacks of the last four months. pressed groups. The ultimate target, however, is the entire ment. The workers and farmers of Central Asia, thousands of working class and our capacity to organize and resist. whom have been killed by U.S. bombs, continue to suffer The capitalist rulers have nothing to offer except war The 'bubble' comes down the consequences ofU .S. aggression. In recent exchanges and the threat of war, and economic breakdowns and social In the week and a half following the December 23 meet­ with the imperialist-installed government in Kabul, Wash­ catastrophes, fromAfghanistan to Argentina, and from Pal­ ing, volunteers worked intensively to prepare the transfer ington asserted its unilateral "right" to bomb where and estine to the Philippines. As the economic situation ap­ of the two sheetfed presses from their location near the when it pleases, and to send its troops anywhere in the proaches an even deeper crisis, workers and farmers in the web press to the newly prepared factory area. On Sunday, country that it deems necessary. imperialist countries will be drawn into a common fate with December 30, about I 0 people helped to dismantle a frame The big-business media reports the open discussion in their class brothers and sisters in the semicolonial world. and clear plastic "bubble" enclosure designed to keep dust ruling circles about whether and when to attack Iraq, in The answer to this rotten system is to link up with the away from the high-quality four-color presses. Among the pursuit of the aim of establishing a Kabul-like protector­ deepening resistance engendered by capitalist crisis and I 0 or so volunteers were present-day sheet-fed press op­ ate. Other countries, from Somalia to the Philippines to brutality. Only the international working class, in alliance erators, and workers who had helped to build the original Colombia, are also being targeted in the so-called "war with working farmers and all the oppressed, can through enclosure. on terror." Through the "Andean Initiative," Washington revolutionary action carve a road for humanity out of this Following the transfer of the sheetfed presses to their is deepening its intervention in Latin America. brutal system and the bleak future it offers. new press room, volunteers are organizing another Red Weekend January 5-6. They plan to clean up and paint the opened up space after the removal of the two presses, then reinforce the floor so it can support rolls of paper Promote new Pathfinder book used on the web press. A public meeting will be held on Saturday January 5 in the space where the sheetfed presses "When I was young, my father used to tell me, 'Don't the foundation for successful volunteer efforts to back lib­ were located. get involved in anything' .... Fortunately, I didn't listen." eration and revolutionary struggles carried out over the next To volunteer to join a Red Weekend crew, contact the So opens the introduction to the forthcoming book, From 25 years across the African continent. SWP and Young Socialists at the address nearest you, listed the Escambray to the Congo: In the Whirlwind of the Cu­ From the Escambray to the Congo demonstrates the on page 12. ban Revolution, by Cuban revolutionary Victor Dreke. The deep ties forged over four decades between the Cuban book's introduction, published in this issue, whets the Revolution and the progressive struggles of the peoples reader's appetite for the richness of political questions that of Africa. Today, new forces are entering into politics Dreke covers in the interviews-from his participation in throughout Africa, determined to resist the rapidly accel­ India, Pakistan the Cuban revolutionary war, to the fight to eliminate coun­ erating ravages of imperialist domination. One expres­ Continued from Page 4 terrevolutionary bandits during the half decade following sion of this was the 15th World Festival ofYouth and Stu­ creating two countries along religious lines. India was to the triumph of the revolution, to his experience as part of dents in Algiers, where youth from across the continent be Hindu and Pakistan was to be Muslim. Following the the international mission led by Emesto Che Guevara to came searching for writings of revolutionary and com­ 194 7 partition, London's criminal policies sparked vast aid the national liberation struggle in the Congo. munist leaders. migrations and religious riots, resulting in hundreds of The Militant welcomes this new title by Pathfinder and The January issue of Perspectiva Mundial includes the thousands of deaths and the creation of millions of refu­ encourages everyone to read, study, and help distribute it. introduction and the chapter, '"Lucha Contra Bandidos': gees. This book will find wide interest, especially among in­ Fighting the Counterrevolution in the Escambray" from The British rulers played another card. "allowing" the dustrial workers and trade unionists, Black youth that so­ the forthcoming book. The Militant will also serialize this heads of the princely states-essentially British military cialists meet on street tables or protests against police bru­ chapter in upcoming issues. Supporters of the two peri­ bases-which ruled over a third of the British colony, to tality, and the growing thousands of Africans who are odicals are encouraged to show the PM around to cowork­ decide which country they would become part of. In Kash­ immigrating to the U.S. and joining the American.work­ ers and talk to people at communist literature tables on mir, where a predominantly Muslim population was ruled ing class. street comers to build interest in the new book. This can by a Hindu aristocracy, the ruler, fearing rebellion by the The book helps show how ordinary working people and be used alongside the book Pombo: A Man ofChe "s Guer­ Muslim population, remained undecided, despite pressure youth can resist, organize, become political, and build rilla, also printed by Pathfinder. from India. revolutionary organizations capable of leading masses of Political explosions like we see today in Argentina will Three months after independence Pakistan moved to people to change the world. mark the opening years of the 21st Century as growing claim the province. Indian troops occupied the Kashmiri The book opens a window on one of the chapters of the numbers of workers, fam1ers, and youth the world over capital of Sri nagar. Fierce battles resulted in a stalemate, revolutionary struggle in Cuba that is not well known or search for ways to resist the onslaught of capitalist ex­ and the United States was called to establish a ceasefire understood outside that country-the more than six-year ploitation and oppression. The Cuban Revolution's line that to this date has marked Kashmir's division. battle following the triumph of the revolution to eliminate course-as related in the pages ofFrom the Escambray to Two other major wars were fought, in 1965 and 1971, the CIA-backed counterrevolutionary bands, described by the Congo-remains living proof that in the anti-imperi­ although the battle in Kashmir has raged on and off for Waters in her introduction, as well as the 1965 internation­ alist battles and revolutionary class struggles to come, there decades. As late as 1999 Musharraf organized a major alist mission by 128 Cuban volunteers to aid the national are very good reasons to "join something" and "take sides." offensive in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir against Indian liberation struggle in the Congo. This mission helped lay This is what the new book has to offer. forces, claiming the disguised army troops were indepen­ dence fighters. India is now fortifying the border in Kash­ mir with a wide fence of barbed wire and concertina wire patrolled by troops. Help fund reporting teams The Kashmir region has an estimated population of 14 million, overwhelmingly Muslim, including 1.5 million refugees in Pakistan. A long-standing movement for in­ The Militant encourages all readers to consider mak­ will be presented at the annual book event: From the dependence from both powers exists in the disputed area. ing a generous contribution to help cover the costs of the Escambray to the Congo: In the Whirlwind of the Cuban reporting team bringing firsthand coverage of political Revolution by Victor Dreke; Playa Gir6n/Bay of Pigs: developments unfolding in Argentina, including the erup­ Washington 's First Military Defeat in the Americas by tion of protests that led to the resignation of five presi­ Fidel Castro and Jose Ramon Fernandez; and Women's From Pathfinder dents in two weeks. The front-page article from Buenos Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle by Thomas Aires in this issue is certainly confirmation of the timeli­ Sankara. The three titles are among those that have been What Is To Be Done? ness of the team and the wealth of information not cov­ published in Spanish by Pathfinder in the last year. Pre­ "The Social-Democrat's ideal should not be the trade-union ered in the big-business press. sentations of From the Escambray to the Congo are also secretary, but the tribune of the people, who is able to react to With unemployment soaring to nearly 20 percent and planned for other Cuban cities, including Trinidad, Santa every manifestation of tyranny and oppression ... " some 15 million people living below the country's offi­ Clara, and Dreke's hometown ofSangua Ia Grande. Imperialism: The Highest Stage cial poverty line, the Argentine capitalist class has sought Working people need to read a working-class newspa­ to squeeze more out of the hides of workers and farmers per that tells the truth, contrary to the capitalist media, of Capitalism to pay U.S. banks and other international creditors. In this which seeks to justify imperialism's assault against toil­ "I trust that this pamphlet will help the reader to understand the and subsequent issues of the Militant, workers and farm­ ers the world over. International reporting teams strengthen fundamental economic question, that of the economic essence of ers will be able to read what Argentine toilers say about the socialist press as a solid source for news and working­ imperialism," Lenin wrote in 1917. "For unless this is studied, it the capitalist collapse in that country, why they refuse to class analysis of world events for workers, farmers, youth, will be impossible to understand and appraise modern war and place paying off superwealthy bond holders above the students, and others who want to understand the truth about modern politics. $3.95 needs of working people, and how a new generation of earthshaking events rapidly unfolding around the world. Changing Face of U.S. Politics workers and youth are responding to the crisis. To continue that work we need your help. Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions Firsthand coverage by the Militant's worker-correspon­ Supporters of the Militant can explain the fund at up­ by Jack Barnes dents provide a working-class view of what's unfolding coming Militant Labor Forums featuring the events in A handbook for workers coming into the factories, mines, and in Argentina and the consequences for workers and peas­ Argentina, among co-workers who read the socialist press, mills, as they react to the uncertain life, turmoil, and brutality of ants throughout Latin America. This gives class-conscious and to subscribers who will want to help out on the effort. capitalism. It shows how millions of workers, as political toilers a better understanding of imperialism and the im­ Contributions large and small make reporting trips like portance of building working-class leadership. these possible, helping to cover expenses for airline flights, resistance grows, will revolutionize themselves, their unions, and Another Militant and PM reporting team will leave in hotels, and communication. To make a contribution, write all of society. $19.95 early February to cover the February 7-17 Havana Inter­ checks or money orders payable to the Militant, earmarked national Book Fair, as well as other political and economic for the Travel Fund and send to: The Militant, 410 West Available from bookstores, including those listed on developments in Cuba. Three of Pathfinder's newest titles Street, New York, NY 10014. page 12. 14 The Militant January 14, 2002 Roots of imperialism's militarization drive

BY BARBARA BOWMAN Gulf is the first in a number of conflicts and NEW YORK-In recent months as the wars that will be initiated by the U.S. rulers U.S. ruling class has carried out a military in the 1990s, and the opening of a new stage assault and occupation ofAfghanistan, it has of accelerating imperialist preparations-at at the same time stepped up its assault on home and abroad-for those wars." the rights of workers at home. These actions are justified by President George Bush as Line of march of working class necessary steps in a "war against terrorism." Barnes explains that working-class resis­ An explanation of the true roots of tance will also mark the coming period. "In­ imperialism's current militarization drive can tertwined with the historic war logic of the be found in the articles featured in the first imperialist rulers, however, is the class logic, issue of Nueva internacional, the Spanish­ the historic line of march of the working language sister magazine of New interna­ class: to resist and react, to tight and in the tional. The featured article ''Los caiionazos process become revolutionary, to organize inicia/es de Ia tercera guerra mundial: el independently of the exploiters and identify ataque de Washington contra iraq, .. pub­ as a part of a worldwide class, and to wrest lished as "Opening Guns of World War III: the war-making powers out of the hands of Washington's Assault on Iraq" in English, the exploiters and oppressors." provides a blistering condemnation of the Nueva internacional is available at a 25 brutality of the military force used by the U.S. percent discount to members of the Path­ government during the GulfWar. The article finder Readers Club and at 60 percent off to points out that Washington conducted the local Pathfinder bookstores. The titles are most intensive bombing assault in the his­ republished with newly formatted pages tory of warfare, provides an analysis of why with more readable type, and with improved U.S. imperialism is driven to launch such graphics and photographs. wars, and offers a line of march for working A second featured Pathfinder title this people in light of the consequences of the month, The Founding ofthe Socialist Work­ ers Party, contains the minutes and resolu­ course of the propertied rulers. The. Abrams M-IAI ta~k utilized by U.S. military in their ground assault against Iraq The GulfWar "was the first war since the tions of the first two national conventions dunng 1991Arab-Persian GulfWar. The newly republished issue ofNueva Interncional close of World War II that grew primarily of the SWP held in 1938 and 1939. Today, on the war is essential reading for workers and youth fighting imperialism today. out of the intensified competition and ac­ new generations of workers and farmers beginning to resist imperialism will find this celerating instability of the crises­ in defending workers' rights today. book to be especially timely. ist society, the only genuine struggle against ridden .. .imperialist world order," wrote Jack The final featured book this month is To At the SWP's founding convention, vet­ war is precisely the struggle against the so­ Barnes, national secretary of the Socialist Speak the Truth; Why Washington's 'Cold eran communists who were determined to cial system which breeds it, the struggle Workers Party and author of the article. War· against Cuba Doesn't End. It contains build on the Bolshevik continuity of the against capitalism and for socialism," stated The goal of the 1990-91 war drive and four speeches given before bodies of the Russian Revolution, and who rejected the the resolution adopted on the fast-approach­ assault on Iraq, stated Barnes, was to "bol­ United Nations over a 20-year span by Cu­ course of the Stalinized U.S. Communist ing war. "Only through the elimination of ster U.S. dominance in the Arab-Persian ban revolutionary leaders Fidel Castro and Party, joined newer members who had been the causes for war will war itself be done Gulf region, which has some 65 percent of Ernesto Che Guevara. As resistance deep­ recruited out of the class battles of the 1930s away with. Through socialism alone can the world's known oil reserves." ens on a world scale to Washington's as­ to form the new party. They discussed and mankind establish the foundations for en­ Washington hoped to establish a regime saults, from Afghanistan to the United adopted resolutions that addressed the during peace." in Baghdad that would be politically sub­ States, the place of Cuba's more than four "opening guns of World War II"-the civil servient to the U.S. rulers and give them an Peace is possible only under socialism decades of resistance to imperialism will war in Spain and Japan's invasion and oc­ advantage over their imperialist competitors grow in importance on a world scale. cupation of China. They charted a course to "The SWP is against every imperialist in Europe and Asia. But instead Washing­ While U.S. president George Bush may fight against the bosses at home; drew les­ war, and opposes all wars fought by any and ton "broke its teeth on the war," Barnes said, claim that he is fighting "terrorism," work­ sons for workers on the victory of fascism all imperialist states, whether fascist or setting into motion uncontrollable social ers and farmers will be able to more clearly in Europe and how to effectively fight it; democratic, since such wars can only be forces and opening up new conflicts and understand Washington's real aims by read­ the need to defend the Soviet Union against reactionary in character and counter to the struggles throughout the region. ing the speeches by Castro and Guevara. imperialist attack; the right ofBlacks to self­ interests of the masses and of the revolu­ "As the political consequences of Speaking before the United Nations Gen­ determination; the struggle against Jew-ha­ tion. In the imperialist United States, the Washington's military 'victory' in the Gulf eral Assembly in 1960, Fidel Castro ex­ tred and anti-Semitism; support for the in­ S WP fights against war preparations and continue to unfold, we need to recognize plained, "The government of the United dependence of Puerto Rico; and the organi­ militarization; but at the same time always that this is not primarily a postwar period, States cannot be on the side of peasants be­ zational principles of a revolutionary party. makes clear that war cannot be permanently but a prewar period," he wrote. "It is in this cause it is an ally of the landowners. It can­ "Since war is inevitably bred by capital- prevented unless the imperialist government context that we say that the slaughter in the of the United States is overthrown and its not be on the side of workers anywhere in place taken by a workers state, that lasting the world who demand better living condi­ peace is possible only under socialism." tions because it is an ally of the monopo­ FBi on Trial, Pathfinder's third featured lies. It cannot be on the side of colonies that ~n-~+n-ryBOOKS OF THE MON1H book of the month, contains the decision want to free themselves because it is an ally handed down in favor of the Socialist Work­ of the colonizing powers." ers Party and the Young Socialist Alliance Four years later Che Guevara told the * * * * Pathfinder Readers Club SPECIALS suit against the FBI and the CIA, charging United Nations, Cuba "is one of the trenches them with "illegal acts of blacklisting, ha­ offreedom in the world, situated a few steps 25% rassment, electronic surveillance, burglary, away from United States imperialism, show­ The Founding of the Socialist Workers Party DISCOUNT mail tampering, and terrorism." The book ing by its actions, its daily example, that in JAMES P. CANNON AND OTHERS also contains portions of testimony ofSWP the present conditions of humanity the At conventions and leadership meetings in 1938-39, revolu­ leaders Farrell Dobbs and Jack Barnes. It peoples can liberate themselves and keep themselves free." tionists in the U.S. codified 20 years of experience in building a will be a valuable tool for anyone interested communist party. Taking the name Socialist Workers Party, they reaffirmed the Marxist approach in the fight against the com­ ing imperialist war, the spread of fascism across Europe, and --LETTERS------attacks by the bosses at home. $24.95, special price: $19.00 Glass workers' strike the company hiring Blacks and Latinos as Nueva lnternacional No. 1 I am a new Militant subscriber. In the replacement workers to break the strike. December 17 issue I especially enjoyed With these moves the companies aim to get •:• Los cafionazos iniciales de Ia tercera guerra mundial: el Maurice Williams' article, "Striking New strikers to blame someone else other than ataque de Washington contra Iraq JACK BARNES •:• Una Jersey teachers defy court order," and Louis the bosses, and to block off support for the polftica comunista tanto para tiempos de guerra como para Turner's article, "Protesters condemn politi­ walkout from Black and Latino organiza­ tiempos de paz MARY-ALICE WATERS •:• Lecciones de Ia cal firing inN. Carolina." tions and working people. guerra Iran-Iraq SAM AD SHARI F. $13.00, special price: $11.00 However, I would like some clarification regarding a statement in Jerry Ulman and Joel Clarity and focus FBI on Trial Britton's article, "Glass workers fight union­ Please accept this $6 for a six-month pris­ busting attacks in Indiana." The statement oner subscription. The Victory in the Socialist Workers Party Suit against reads: 'The hired thugs, younger Black and I have been faithfully passing the Mili­ Government Spying Latino men, glared at many of the men and tant around and many of the men here have EDITED BY MARGARET JAYKO women on strike, most of whom were white." commented on the excellence of your re­ The victory in the 1973-87 case" expands the de facto use of the Why is an issue made of the races of the porting on W's war and the decaying of the Bill of Rights, increases the confidence of working people that security officers vs. the race of the strikers? world economy. There are 20 to 25 men who you can be political and hold the deepest convictions against the This statement could certainly be read in a read each issue! racist sense. I certainly hope this was not I spend an increasing amount oftime dis­ government and it's your right to do so and act upon them"­ the intention.· cussing the collapse of the world capitalist from the introduction. $18.95, special price: $14.00 David Palmer system. Your paper provides clarity and fo­ Chicago, illinois cus on these issues for us. We just wish there To Speak the Truth was more we could do. Keep up the good Why Washington's 'Cold War' against Cuba Doesn't End Available from Editor's note: The statement was included work! FIDEL CASTRO AND CHE GUEVARA bookstores, in the article to draw attention to the fact Joseph Barrett that, as in a number of strikes over the past Unadilla, Georgia These speeches before the United Nations address the workers including those of the world, explaining why the U.S. government hates the ex­ decade, the bosses try to create or deepen listed in page 12 divisions between whites, Blacks, and The letters column is an open forum for ample of the socialist revolution in Cuba and why Washington's Latinos to weaken the walkout. Often, after all viewpoints on subjects of interest to effort to destroy it will fail. $16.95, special price: $13.00 following discriminatory hiring practices to working people. keep minorities out of a plant, a company Please keep your letters brief. Where .Join the Pathfinder Readers Club for $1 0 will hire a union-busting outfit to put guards necessary they will be abridged. Please and receive discounts all year long who are Black and Latino at the gates. This indicate if you prefer that your initials has been followed on several occasions by be used rather than your full name. January 14,2002 The Militant 15 TH£ MILITANT New Zealand terror bill targets workers BY JANET EDWARDS nancing) Bill, knowingly raising money for "security agencies are investigating allega­ call for employers and spy agencies to have AUCKLAND, New Zealand~A spokes­ terrorist attacks will be a crime punishable tions that the Sri Lankan separatist move­ the right to pry into workers' private lives. person for the New Zealand Tamil Society by 14 years' jail. "Recklessly" providing ment, the Tamil Tigers, has links in New "There was a time when the security has expressed concern that Tamils living money to an organization that turns out to Zealand." sweep which uncovered a man believed to here could be accused of sending money to have terrorist links could earn a seven-year be a stepson of Sad dam Hussein working at the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam term. Prior to the bill becoming law, the Prying into workers' lives Air New Zealand would have offended ide­ (LTTE) and jailed under new "anti-terror­ government has introduced regulations to One indication that the concerns by the alized perceptions of a free and open soci­ ism" laws. enable it to immediately use the bill's sweep­ Tamil community over repressive govern­ ety," the paper editorialized. "The Septem­ Society president George Arulanantham mg new powers. ment actions are not unique was a sensa­ ber II terrorist assaults on the United States said that many Tamils regularly send money At this stage, the government has not tionalized Herald story about another "in­ have changed all that. Now, as never before, to Sri Lanka. "There is concern in the com­ listed all the organizations that will be out­ vestigation," this time of an airline employee the need for vigilance dictates a compro­ munity," he said, "that if we are going to lawed, although Washington has put the that a headline claimed was the stepson of mise between principle and national secu­ send money through any organization, the Tamil Tigers on a banned list.Arulanantham Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Complete rity imperatives .... organization may fall under the category as called for the Tamil Tigers not to be catego­ with a large front-page photo, the paper fea­ "Indeed, all those who apply for work in a terrorist organization." rized as terrorists. "We think there is a dif­ tured an article stating that police security vulnerable industries should be in no doubt Tamils are an oppressed national minority ference between terrorists and freedom checks on airline employees in September that they will be subject to strict vetting, in Sri Lanka and the government has bru­ fighters. We feel [the Tamil Tigers] are free­ came across an Air New Zealand engineer sometimes by security agencies." the edito­ tally repressed their demands for indepen­ dom fighters," he told the Nev.· Zealand whose mother was supposedly a former wife rial continued. "Civil libertarians may rail dence. The regime has fought a seesaw war Herald. of Hussein. Despite quoting government against what they consider intrusive ques­ against the LTTE since the 1980s, and more The United Sri LankaAssociation. which sources that the alert turned up nothing to tioning of applicants for particularly sensi­ than 60,000 people have died in the conflict. opposes Tamil self-determination, has called investigate, and statements by the employee tive jobs. There may be queries. for example. Among the provisions of the on the government to act against suspected that the entire story was based on rumor. about drinking or sexual habits. But that is government's Terrorism (Bombings and Fi- LTTE members. The Herald reported that the paper's editors used the opportunity to because such habit can make people vul­ nerable." Despite these moves, the government was forced to back down on a libel law aimed at restricting free speech and freedom of the Locked-out auto workers in Wales press. The proposed law would have made it a criminal offense to publish or broadcast in the month before an election an untme win union backing in 8-month fight statement that defamed a parliamentary can­ didate and was intended to influence votes. If convicted, the publisher or journalist BY XERADO ARIAS would have faced a fine of up to $5,000 or AND RAPHAEL AYALA three months in jail. CAERNAFON, Wales-Support is wid­ Sharp divisions were expressed in ruling­ ening for workers locked out for eight class circles on the bill, with the major op­ months by car parts maker Friction Dynam­ position parties in parliament and 15 news ics. Union members here have kept up picket organizations speaking out against it. lines at the company six days a week ever The law would have reintroduced the of­ since last April as part of their fight against tense of criminal libeL an anti-working-class the union-busting drive of company owner law dropped in 1992. Criminal libel exposes Craig Smith. people and publications to prosecution by Donations of food, honking of horns by the state, rather than by individuals who passing motorists, and even the contribution claim to have been defamed. of a caravan to help pickets keep warm dur­ The capitalist government used the law ing the winter are all signs of the solidarity as a weapon against workers' rights in 1951 the members of the Transport and General during a major union battle on the water­ Workers' Union (TGWU) have earned front. Watersiders' union leader Jock Barnes through their struggle. was convicted of criminal libel and jailed Recently fourTGWU shop stewards from for comments he made about a cop. Ford Southampton visited, bringing with More recently, current Labour Party them a £3,500 donation, bringing the total prime minister Helen Clark used the crimi­ given by Ford workers to more than £5,000 nal libel laws in 1991 against the doctor who (£I = US$1.45). During two visits to fellow is chairman of the General Practitioners' union members by picket leaders, a TGWU Society, for commei1ts he made about her branch in London added £I ,000 to the war Militant/Jonathan Silberman in a pre-election leaflet. chest and the union's branch in Chloride, Locked-out workers on picket line in Caernafon, North Wales. Sign in Welsh says, In another development, Wellington Greater Manchester, kicked in another £500. "Please help workers at Friction Dynamics in their stand for their rights." moved ahead with its offer to supply spe­ Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, cial forces troops for the U.S.-led war in Af­ organized a benefit concert, with top Welsh better pay and working conditions. These On the picket lines the workers express ghanistan. The deployment was approved artists donating their services, and all pro­ walkouts earned them a reputation for confidence in their fight. "It will not be easy by a five-minister subcommittee, dubbed the ceeds going into the union's fund. John strength and resilience, of which they are to quench the fire that burns in the belly of "war cabinet," which has been delegated the Davies, a leader of the picket, said, "But for proud. the Welsh dragon," Jones pointed out. authority of the entire cabinet. Prime Min­ the donations such as these, we'd be dead Friction Dynamics, with a workforce of The workers plan to continue building ister Clark has also offered troops to be part and buried long ago." some 960 workers at one time, employed support for their fight with a demonstration of the imperialist occupation force in Af­ On the picket line union members were 150 people last April when Smith locked in Cardiff in the New Year outside the Welsh ghanistan, as well as an aircraft to terry "hu­ packing donations of food to be distributed out the workers. assembly when British prime minister An­ manitarian aid." at a Christmas social for the locked-out Smith, who bought the company in 1997, thony Blair is due to visit. For more infor­ The military deployments have deepened workers and their families. In contrast, fac­ is "a union buster 100 percent," said Adrian mation about this, contact the TGWU at 17 rifts in the Alliance, the junior party in the tory boss Smith held a Christmas party in Roberts, the secretary of the strike commit­ Segontium Terrace, Caernafon, LL55 2PN. governing coalition. One faction of the party Caernafon "where he lectured the scabs tee. Ellis added that Smith "tried to destroy continues to stand opposed to the party's about the real meaning of Christmas for an the union, but he has brought us closer to­ Xerado Arias and Raphael Avala are mem­ support for the deployment of troops, al­ hour and had to have a bodyguard and 16 gether. We are stronger now than ever." bers o(the Young Socialists. Paul Davies and though the divisions have yet to lead to a other security staff at the event," said Gerald "When Smith took over he didn't speak Seamus Sheridan contributed to this article. split in the party. Parry, one of the locked-out workers. to any of us for a year," said Gerald Parry. Through our discussion with these work­ "Then he held a meeting where he told us, ers, some of whom have been employed by 'You Welsh people have got to change your Friction Dynamics-formerly Ferodo~for culture.' I didn't think that I would have been Scotland ferry strikers win round as much as 40 years, we've learnt about the here at the beginning of the year. It is quite history of struggles by these trade union­ an experience,-not just for what you find BY PETE WILLSON With the end of the strike the Glasgow ists. As the social crisis in the local area con­ out about yourself but for the solidarity that GOUROCK, Scotland-Ferry workers Herald reported that the new tentative con­ tinues, the locked-out workers see this dis­ you experience from others." here have won a small but important reduc­ tract "gives Clyde pier staff a reduction of pute as an important struggle not only for The locked-out workers are pursuing a tion in their hours after a six-day strike that one hour in their workweek and gives the their own livelihoods but for the commu­ claim for reinstatement to their jobs and ended December 24. Clyde crews parity with their Western Isles nity. campaigning to extend legal protections During a visit to the picket line, one counterparts in terms of pay and conditions." Glynn Jones, who was due to retire after against sackings [firings] during the first striker said 165 workers had mounted picket Ferry workers union leader Steve Todd 40 years at the factory but is sticking with eight weeks of a strike. lines at four pier heads, bringing Caledonian told the Herald that the settlement "repre­ his fellow unionists in this fight, explained Young nonunion workers, who Smith has MacBrayne's ferry service to the southerly sents a significant victory for RMT [Rail, that local job opportunities are limited in brought in as scabs, have themselves been islands off Scotland's west coast to a stand­ Maritime and Transport] members." The the area as the bosses have closed factories subjected to pay cuts and have reportedly still. "Nothing's been sailing on the Clyde," ferry workers have returned to work and will and mines and local shops have closed their been told to expect a further 15 percent pay reported another ferry worker at the pier vote on the agreement in early January. doors. reduction in the next month. Injuries due to head on the Clyde river estuary, west of The strikers' union, has been pressing for Strike committee member Bernard Ellis the substandard training and health and Glasgow. "We're totally solid," said the the last year for a reduction in hours worked said workers struck the company for five safety practices have been reported, such as picket, who declined to be named fearing before overtime rates are triggered. These weeks in 1969 and four weeks in 1971 for a worker losing the fingers of one hand. company reprisals. Continued on Page 13

16 The Militant January 14, 2002