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Genuine Trade Union Movement in the Soviet Union? by JACK CLAU

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Genuine Trade Union Movement in the Soviet Union? by JACK CLAU Genuine trade union movement in the Soviet Union? by JACK CLAU. Free Trade Unions of Workers in the USSR, these Inspired by the tactics and the courage of the dissi- workers had acted individually in taking complaints dents' movement, the working class in the Soviet Union about job conditions to supervisors, to local party and is beginning to stir. governmental units, and finally to the highest decision- In recent months, members of the "Klebanov group" making bodies in the USSR. The results were unfruit- have begun to organize an independent trade union in ful and unpleasant. the USSR. They have issued appeals to humanitarian "When we have appealed to higher authorities," the groups and trade unions, as well as world opinion in Association said to the ILO and Western trade unions, general, to support their efforts. The group, organ- "instead of taking constructive eteps, they have applied ized by former mine foreman Vladimir Aleksandrovich impermissible methods against us for exercising our Klebanov, includes among its 110 candidate members, rights to complain. Under the pretext of registering us factory workers, collective farmers, miners and engi- for reception by the leadership, they seize us one by one neers. Prior to the organization of the Association of (Continued on page 6) ?fhgdttwr, o/ THE DEMOCRATIC LEFT May, 1978-Vol. VI, No. 5 Edited by MICHAEL HARRINGTON by PAUL and LINDA DAVIDOil'F as crucial issues in a year when even such an astute "Urban policy" is a ehorthand for "federal policy on critic as Michael Harrington wrote about urban policy racial and class inequality," with emphasis on the phy- without identifying the issue of race. !ical locations where most lower income and minority In addition, the Carter policy contains a number of citizens live. If cities were not the homes of concentra- programs which may well have a positive redistributive tions of minorities and the poor, there would be little impact in urban areas. Its best features include 8eriou8 need for an explicit "urban policy"; we might have a stress on minority busine8s procurement programs by national development policy or an industrial location federal agencies; location of federal facilities in cities; policy, but cities would not have to be singled out for several forms of direct aid to citizen groups and com- special treatment. Indeed, the Carter Administration's political need for announcing a special, forceful, "urban policy" arose when, early in the administration's first year, it was brought sharply to task by black leaders Urban policy: for its failure to deal with racial problems-now viewed by those leaders as problems of employment and income for minorities. Race is the.issue So an urban policy can be judged primarily by the impact it is likely to have on the poor and the minori- munity development corporations; and a flow of fed- ties. Its success in other terms-beautification of some erally guaranteed credit into depressed urban commu- areas now marred by blight, halting the flight of whites nities. None of these programs involve enough money and the affluent from the cities, preservation of historic to make a massive impact on urban poverty, but each landmarks and high culture-are important, but the at least points in a positive direction. first criterion is its impact on redistribution of goods Other parts of the Carter urban program are of less and services to those who need them most. certain value. Sixteen years or so of federal urban re- There are some victories and some defeats in the newal, with department stores, universities and parking Carter urban policy. The first defeat is the massive, lot operators given subsidized land development pack- central political fact that there will be no major federal ages from which poor' families had been driven, still budget shifts to change the economic rules for cities and echo in the new Urban Development Action Grants. their residents. The victories include a degree of clarity While UDAC has enough :flexibility to enable HUD to in defining unemployment and racial discrimination (Continued on page 4) Soares leads delegation to Latin America: Socialist International turns South by LAURENCE R. BIRNS In Mexico, the delegation was hosted by the Party of Last month, for the first time in its history, the So- Revolutionary Institutions (PRI). Sr. Lopez-Portillo, cialist International sent a formal delegation to Latin the President of Mexico, concentrated on such themes America. The significance of the occasion was lost as his nation's inability to obtain a fair price for the on neither the hosts nor the delegation. This was a flag- natural gas it exports to the U.S., and his problems flying moment for an essentially European-bound or- with the flow of illegal immigrants into the Southwest- ganization anxious to further the commitment made ern U.S. His focus seemed to be on Mexico's external by SI president Willy Brandt "to break out of Euro- problems rather than its internal ones. pean isolation and become a truly global organization." In Jamaica, Prime Minister Michael Manley, who The delegation was cordially and effectively led by heads the People's National Party government, Portuguese Prime Minister Mario Soares. In 10 days, stressed the nation's economic difficulties and the peri- the members of the delegation visited Mexico, Jamaica, lous situation of having its foreign exchange earnings the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Venezuela. based on a fickle tourist industry. Several members of It should be noted that most of these nations are among the SI delegation felt that Manley was struggling over the more democratic societies in Latin America. whether to look to Cuba or to the U.S. for solutions to Few regions of the world have had their institutions some of the island's difficulties. It was the conclusion more despoiled by military regimes than has been the of all that the narrowness of its economy portende case in Latin America. Repression in the area takes difficult days ahead for Jamaica. many forms. In such countries as Chile, Argentina, Our stopover in the Dominican Republic provided Uruguay and Paraguay, constitutions have been abol- the sole bit of comic relief. As the plane landed, a gaily ished, legislative bodies disbanded, courts turned into dressed military band began to toot out the anthems of fictions, educational institutions taken over by the Portugal and the Dominican Republic, and President armed forces and every semblance of free expression Balaguer and members of his cabinet were awaiting us. stifled. Even more depressing are the political assasina- In his airport remarks, Balaguer addressed Prime Mini- tions, the torture of the innocent, the imprisonment of ster Soares and colleagues as if this was a state visit thousands without charges and the abduction and dis- of the Portuguese, rather than an SI visit to its fraternal appearance of thousands more. party, the PRD (Dominican Revolutionary Party). This, then, was the setting for the SI visit, something It was quickly divined that Balaguer, a puppet of the quite different from the backgrounds of the visiting Trujillo dictatorship who had ruled the country almost delegation, who came mostly from European socialist continuously since U.S. intervention in 1965, was try- and social democratic parties. (I, as the sole DSOC ing to take election year advantage of the occasion. representative, and the delegate from Senegal were the Behind the facade of the state visit-behind the exotic elements of the party for our French, Finnish, fence in fact-we finally found our PRD hosts, waiting Spanish, Portuguese and Swedish brothers and sisters.) to greet us. A series of rallies was then staged in various Although the countries visited were not experiencing re- districts of Santo Domingo, culminating in a mass pression in its crudest forms, our Latin American hosts meeting that drew 250,000 people. The following day, never let us forget their concern for the distressingly a nationwide tour was interrupted by the nation's chief high levels of human rights violations in the other coun- of police. He threatened Soares and his party with ar- tries of theiLregion. rest for interfering in the internal affairs of the Domi- In all of the countries visited, except the Dominican nican Republic. Republic, SI members or allies were holding power. Ever the amiable tactician, Prime Minister Soares determined that the time for an unscheduled departure was at hand, and the SI group was flown out of the ~ddtu o/ country on the personal plane of President Carlos THE DEMOCRATIC LEFT Andres Perez of Venezuela to its next stop, Costa Rica. Michael Harrington, Editor In Costa Rica, the delegation was the guest of the Jack Clark, Managing Editor National Liberation Party (PLN), whose candidate had just been defeated in a presidential election. The Signed articles express the views of the author. recent campaign had been fought over the issues of Published ten times a year (monthly except July corruption, the presence of Robert Vesco 'in the coun- and August) by the Democratic Socialist Organizing try, and inflated government expenditures. What Committee, 853 Broadway, Room 617, New York, wasn't contested was the leadership role the current N.Y. 10003. Telephone (212) 260·3270 government was giving to a strong human rights stand Subscription rates: Sustaining $10 per year; Regu- in hemispheric councils. lar $5 per year; Limited Income $2.50. SecoAd class postage paid at New York, New York. Laurence R. Birns is director of the Council on Hemi- spheric Affairs. 2 be presented at the SI May planning meeting in Dakar. Threatened Latin American free institu- Undoubtedly, democracy in Latin America can bene- fit directly from this new interest on the part of the tions, such as the trade unions, can be Socialist International.
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