· AUSTRALIA$2.50 · BELGIUM BF60 · CANADA$2.50 · FRANCE FF10 · ,..,_ UK £1.00 · U.S. $1.50 Interview with Cuban Brig. Gen. Harry Villegas THE - International Socialist Review, PAGES 7-16 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 63 1NO. 25 JULY 12,1999 Meatpackers strike IBP Imperialist troops over wages, speedup expand

BY LEA KNOWLES PASCO, Washington- Members of the control Teamsters union, other unionists, and strike supporters rallied and marched here June 19 in solidarity with the 1,200 meatpackers from ofKosova Teamsters Local556 on strike against Iowa Beef Processing (IBP) in nearby Wallula, BYARGIRIS NL\LAPANIS Washington. The action was co-sponsored by Two weeks into their occupation ofKosova, Teamsters Local556 and MEChA, a Chicano student organization. The 700 marchers as the Militant went to press June 24, U.S.­ NATO troops were expanding control of the chanted, "Sf se puedl!' (Yes, we can do it) and "What do we want? A contract! When do we province with a force projected to exceed want it? Now!" Signs in the crowd included, 50,000 soldiers. In the process, they are deal­ "Long live the union" and "Strike for justice." ing blows to the right ofKosovars to national A popular chant at the rally was "Vote no!" self-determination and deepening divisions referringtotheupcomingvoteonthecompany's betweenAlbanians and Serbs there. latest contract offer- a $1.57 wage increase As Duci Petrovic, a leader of the Students over the life ofa five-year contract. This wage Union of"fugoslavia, put it in a June 23 phone offer is only a slight improvement from the interview from Nis, "NATO is setting up a $1.05 wage increase IBP offered last week. The protectorate in Kosova. They intend to stay union is demanding a $1-a-year wage increase there a long time to control the situation. In over the life ofa three-year contract. Continued on Page 3 Workers described health, safety, and speedup as other central issues. Kill floor vet­ eran Edelmiro Vera said that years ago the plant killed 1,500 head ofcattle in eight hours. BuildAugust Today the number has risen to 2,050; between two shifts the average daily output is 3,600. The march ended in Memorial Park where Militan,t/Sc,ott Breen active workers Continued on Page 6 IBP strikers and supporters hold mass picket at plant in Wallula, Washington, June 12. conference BY MARriN KOPPEL Join July 7 actions to free Jose Solis, Seven politically active youth attended a recent discussion on "Youth and the commu­ nist movement" in Chicago, YS member Jay other Puerto Rican politicalprisoners Paradiso told the Militant, reporting on the summer school program sponsored by the BY JOSHUA CARROLL At a gathering at the Puerto Rican Cultural cated in part to the Puerto Rican prisoners. Young Socialists and the Socialists Workers Party in that city. The next day, six of them CHICAGO-Thousands turned out for the Center following the Chicago parade, Jose Lo­ On July 6-9, the United Nations Special marched together with several hundred other annual Puerto Rican People's parade here June pez, director ofthe center, spoke about the fights Committee on Decolonization will hold its 19. ·The event was officially dedicated to the to win justice for Solis and to oppose the ha­ annual hearings on Puerto Rico's colonial sta­ Continued on Page 18 people ofVieques, an island of Puerto Rico rassment ofthe Cultural Center. The center has tus. Supporters ofPuerto Rico's independence that is occupied by a U.S. Navy base, and to now been targeted with five subpoenas by a are planning a delegation to testifY at the hear­ ' ·-. Jose Solis Jordan, a Puerto Rican independence federal grand jury investigation. Lopez urged ings, as well as public events in New York City. · Tedie>w-orkersvote'i'br .· activist wh() was convicted March 12 on frame­ participation in the July 7 picket lines as well The focus of the testimony at the hearings up charges ofterrorism. as the July 22-25 actions in Washington, D.C., will be on the fight to get the U.S. Navy out of ·.. uaioain N;.CaroHna •- Supporters ofthe campaign to free Solis will to demand the release ofall Puerto Rican po­ Vieques and the campaign to free the political hold a picket line at the Chicago federal build­ litical prisoners in U.S.jails. prisoners, reports Ismael Guadalupe Ortiz, a BYMII(EJ.TALIE . .. .· .. ing July 7, the day he is to be sentenced here. The day following the parade, 50 people leader ofthe Committee for the Rescue and De­ ATLANTA- Workers at the s-ix· There will also be picket lines that day at fed­ showed up for a Fathers' Day vigil outside the velopment ofVieques, who will be one ofthose Fielderest ·Cannon textile. plaats li( eral buildings in other areas, from San Juan, downtown prison where Solis is being held. testifYing along with Carlos Ventura, president Kannapolis, North~tina; voted2,2•. · Puerto Rico, to several U.S. cities-Oakland, In New York, the July 7 picket at Federal ofthe Vieques fishermen's association. 2,102 in favor qfjoining the Union of . California; Minneapolis; New York; Boston; Plaza and the July 22-25 actions are being Repeated demonstrations have been held Needletrades,Industrial and Textile EJn;. . Miami and Orlando, Florida; Washington, D.C.; built by several organizations including Pro­ in Puerto Rico against the U.S. Navy's use of ployees; The June 13--24 eleetion was the·· Philadelphia; Camden, New Jersey; Cleveland; Libertad, National Committee to Free Puerto Vieques for bombing practice. A major action fifth orgarrizing attemPt $ince 1974~ and Des Moines, Iowa. Rican Prisoners ofWar and Political Prison­ will take place July 4 in Ceiba, at the en­ Pillowtex, which bought the Fieldcte$t The Des Moines action has been initiated ers, Committee in Solidarity with Dr. Jose Solis trance to the Roosevelt Roads U.S. naval base. mills in 1997, is protesting the uniop's . by the Socialist Workers Party in collabora­ Jordan, and Interfaith Prisoners ofConscience victory; and an 285 additional ballots are tion with theAd Hoc Committee on Human Project. In New York's huge Puerto Rican Day Rose Ana Berbeo in New York and Martin being Chall:\.tue;'-'U...... "- c;~ Rights, an immigrant rights group made up Parade June 13, a prominent contingent, in­ Koppel contributed to this article. predominantly of workers at the giant Swift cluding family members of the prisoners, meatpacking plant in Marshalltown, Iowa. marched with a float. The parade was dedi- $20 Special oHer good through June 27 Seoul sinks N. Korean boat, Capitalism's World Disorder U.S.gov'tbacksprovocation Working-Class Politics at the Millennium JACK BARNES "We have watched the first large-scale war take place in Eu­ BYNL\trnaCEWILL~S Vincennes and the Mobile Bay, as well as elec­ After several days of escalating naval tronic warfare aircraft and antisubmarine air­ rope in almost half a century. There has been massive, sus­ provocations, south Korean warships fired 150 craft. The DPRK's ambassador to the United tained artillery shelling. Air power has been used to bomb ci­ artillery shells and more than 7,000 machine Nations, Li Hyong Chol, urged the UN Secu­ vilian populations in Europe for the first time since the bomb­ gun bullets at vessels from the Democratic rity Council June 18 to "take a measure to ing of Dresden, London, and other cities during World War People's Republic ofKorea (DPRK) June 15. cease at once the military provocations on the II.... All this has been taking place in Yugoslavia. It is a war The barrage set fire to a north Korean patrol part ofthe U.S. and the south side." Li said that has brought to the surface the deepest conflicts among boat and sank it, killing all 17 crew members. Washington was deployingAC-130 ground at­ the imperialist powers in Europe and North America since the Washington, which maintains some 40,000 tack planes, as well as F -15 and F -18 fighter collapse of the Stalinist apparatuses at the opening of the 1990s."- Dec. 31, 1994 troops and a naval armada in and around south bombers in south Korea, had moved its war­ Korea, immediately announced it was deploy­ ships into the area, and put U.S. Marines on Available from Pathfinder, see stores on page 16 ing more force, including two cruisers, the Continued on Page 4 Colorado miners face boss threat to hire scabs -page 6 IN BRIEF------

Iraq rejects 'new' sanctions plan the border said 17 homes Mexico's banks held thou­ Baghdad rejected June 18 a proposal spon­ were hit by Russian heli­ Workers protest in south Korea sands of bad loans when the sored by British and Dutch government offi­ copter rockets and mortar. peso was devalued in 1994. cials to accept a '·new inspection agency" with Attempting to crush the Under new legislation. several a new group of UN "arms inspectors" in ex­ Chechen independence Mexican banks were for the change for a partial lifting of the U.S.-led movement, the regime of first time taken over by impe­ embargo imposed on Iraq in 1990. Boris Yeltsin launched an rialist banks, including Wall AbdulghaniAbdughafur, an Iraqi govern­ invasion in December 1994 Street's Citibank. The new law ment official, said the deal would only "pro­ by 30.000 Russian soldiers. ratified a government ''bail­ long the unfair embargo on Iraq." The pact This was a deeply unpopu­ out"" of the \ltexican banking would require UN Security Council approval lar war among working system of some S60 billion - every four months and could be scuttled any people in Russia. 16 percent of the country's time the Clinton administration decides to During the first year and gross domestic product. Serfm crank up its punishment of the iraqi people. In a half of relentless Russian unloaded S6 bi Ilion in bad debt January of this year, White House officials army bombing and shelling. on the Mex11.:an government in were forced to admit U.S. spies worked under an estimated 35,000 people that ·'resew:·· deal. cover on teams ofUN"arms inspectors." were killed and the capital Meanwhile, U.S. warplanes bombed an Iraqi city ofGrozny and dozens GM bosses campaign radar installation near the city ofMosul June of Chechen villages were for job cuts 18. The jets were enforcing Washington's "no­ devastated. The Chechen As contract negotiations ap­ fly zone" imposed on northern Iraq after the fighters defeated Moscow in proach between the Big Three 1991 GulfWar slaughter, supposedly to pro­ 1996 and forced the Russian auto barons and the United tect Kurds in northern Iraq and Shiite Mus­ army out of their territory. Auto Workers (UAW), the lims in the south. The "no-fly zones" cover The Kremlin, however, does bosses are preparing their cam­ more than 60 percent oflraq. not recognize Chechnya as paign to squeeze more out of an independent state. GM auto workers. Asian crisis expected to worsen "GM's labor costs per ve­ Oil workers protest Officials of the Asian Development Bank hicle were nearly double (ADB) said the economic crisis hammering in Venezuela Toyota's and 31% higher than workers and peasants in the region "is likely Laid-off oil field work­ archrival Ford Motor Co.'s;' to worsen," London' sFinancialTimes reported ers in Venezuela have been asserted a June 18 article in June 21. TheADB study said the crisis, which protesting the construction the Wall Street Journal. The erupted in mid-1997, has provoked rising un­ ofan oil refinery using con­ article said GM bosses need employment, plunging incomes, more hunger, tract workers. The workers to dump 40,041 workers to and deteriorating health care. In Indonesia, have also demanded safe match the productivity of the world's fourth-largest country, the poverty working conditions and Toyota's North American level jumped from 11.3 percent ofthe popula­ compensation for the fami­ plants and almost 30,000 to tion in 1997 to up to 20 percent in 1998. lies ofemployees who have equal Ford's. Last year UAW Imperialist banks foisted short-term loans been killed or maimed by members at two GM plants in on governments and corporations inAsia at an accidents on the job. Ven­ Workers on strike lay down in front of government building in Seoul, Flint, Michigan, walked off accelerating rate in the 1990s, precipitating ezuelan president Hugo south Korea, June 17 to protest government attacks on union rights. the job for several weeks, shut­ the crisis. By the end of 1997, the foreign debts Chavez sent in 250 military ting down much of the auto had ballooned to $140 billion in Indonesia, police June 16toprotectthe giant's assembly and parts op­ $150 billion in south Korea, and $95 billion in construction site, a joint erations in North America. The Workers at the HanYoung truck parts plant Thailand. venture between the state-owned Petr6leos de strike began when workers walked out over Venezuela (PDVSA) and the U.S.-based oil in Tijuana, Mexico, have been on strike since health and safety issues, outsourcing, subcon­ Russia, Chechnya border clashes company Conoco. May 3. They are demanding a 35 percent wage tracting, and demands for production "effi­ increase, government-mandated profit-shar­ Chechen fighters opened fire at Russian Meanwhile, Venezuela's 40,000 oil worlc­ ciency" through speedup. ing, and a wage scale linked to seniority. The outposts and barracks June 18, killing seven ers won pay hikes of 3--6 percent after threat­ city government's Special Forces police de­ -MAURICE WILLIAMS policemen and Interior Ministry troops. The ening to strike against a decision by PDVSA tachment and state cops tore down strike flags day before, the Chechens fired mortars at the to freeze their wages in 1999. posted at the facility and escorted 70 scabs Russians and killed three Interior Ministry into the plant. The strikebreakers, however, guards. Chechen residents in a village near Mexican workers strike for raises did not know how to operate the plant's weld­ REVISED SUMMER ing equipment and were forced to leave. The HanYoung worlcers, who organized the PUBLICATION SCHEDULE independent October 6 Union for Industry and The Militant's summer publi­ Commerce in 1997 to replace the government­ cation schedule has been re­ affiliated union, earlier struck the company in THE MILITANT May1998. vised. The next issue, no. 26, will be printed in two weeks, on Mexican bank goes belly-up Thursday, July 8. The next is­ Re.~li$e Pucil]!o·Ricanpolitical prisoners Mexico's Bank Savings Protection Institute sue will be printed a week later, ' . . ... ·: ~· announced June 17 it would take over Grupo Financiero Serfin S.A., the country's thini-larg­ :011 July 15. The paper will then est bank, which had declared bankruptcy. . be printed biweekly, on July 29, -\fREEDOM Serlin's shares had dropped 41 percent since August 12,· and August 26; We the beginning ofJune and are now worth about .. ~sume w•ly publication in five cents each. The agency said it would in­ ject at least $1.3 billion to make the bank .·.··· ,~tember~ · available for sale.

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2 The Militant July 12, 1999 Occupation ofKosova Continued from front page In a small village near Pee - a city in the future people will not tolerate that. They western Kosova that has suffered some ofthe will protest." Washington and its imperialist worst destruction - KLA soldiers reportedly allies have secured the acquiescence of the killed three Serb civilians June 19. Units of Russian regime in carrying out their course. the Kosova LiberationArmy- the guerrilla As part ofMoscow's unending- and fruit­ group that waged an armed struggle for inde­ less - search for stable relations with impe­ pendence for several years - have surfaced rialism, Russian president Boris Yeltsin agreed throughout the province and in many cases to send about 3,000 troops to Kosova that will declared a "provisional government." The in fact answer to NATO's command there. Mos­ KLA became an appendage to NATO's forces cow agreed to this blueprint by Washington at during the 11-week war against Yugoslavia. a June 18 meeting in Helsinki, making it clear On June 21, its leadership signed an agree­ that the dash of200 Russian soldiers from Bos­ ment with NATO commanders in Kosova to nia to Pristina, Kosova's capital, before impe­ disband its military structures and turn in its rialist troops arrived on the scene was nothing heavy weaponry within 30 days. At the same but a bureaucratic stunt by the Kremlin. time, the group got a NATO promise to be Yeltsin's regime was instrumental in coaxing allowed to reorganize as a police force ofsome sort. In the refugee camps in Albania, Belgrade to hand over control ofKosova to the Serb residents ofKosova flee to Serbia after U.S.-NATO forces began their occupation of Montenegro, and Macedonia inApril and May, Atlantic military alliance. Kosova June ll.About 50,000 Serbs have left Kosova in the first two weeks ofthe NATO Militant reporters witnessed KLA members Through 78 days ofbrutal daily bombings takeover of the province, in addition to the 50,000 who had left during the 11-week war - that devastated much ofYUgoslavia' s industzy being used to police those Kosovar Albanians who don't follow Washington's line. halfthe prewar Serbian population ofthe province of200,000. The imperialist troops there and infrastructure, Washington dealt a blow to are fomenting national divisions between Albanians and Serbs. the Yugoslav federation. The U.S. rulers' aim A number of Albanians expelled from is to weaken and eventually overthrow the Urosevac and other towns had told Militant Yugoslav workers state and gain more of an reporters stories similar to Vladimir's about not NATO -calls the shots in Kosova." While electrical power has been restored in edge on their European rivals in the bargain. Serbian neighbors trying to protect them from Vukasovic and others said the Yeltsin re­ most ofYugoslavia since the end ofthe bomb­ The Clinton administration made gains along Serb paramilitary units and about Serb sol­ gime does have conflicting interests with ing, theday-to-dayhardshipsforworkingpeople its pragmatic course in the Balkans, but paid a diers refusing to carry out orders to drive Al­ Washington but was simply using the war in are enormous and most expect them to worsen. price. The White House set back Washington's banians out and instead deserting their units. Yugoslavia to bargain for some economic con­ "Without fuel and enough electricity we'll have ability to use ground troops for a military as­ cessions by imperialism. Ever since May 6, a rough winter," said Dusan from Novi Sad sault abroad, by giving the false impression Self-determination when Moscow signed the U.S.-crafted state­ Imperialist powers pledged reconstruction that U.S. imperialism can advance its inter­ Many Serbs in Kosova and elsewhere inYu­ ment in Cologne, Germany, agreeing to the aid for Kosova at the recent G-8 summit but ests through a high-tech air war. goslavia are influenced by the nationalist dema­ deployment of an international "peacekeep­ made it explicit no funds will go for rebuild­ gogy of the regime of Yugoslav president ing" force in Kosova, it was clear it was just a ing any parts of Serbia as long as Milosevic NATO troops abet looting Slobodan Milosevic toward Albanians. After matter of time before Milosevic would give remains in power. NATO troops, led by British units, began the developments in the last three months, how­ in. "Yeltsin cooperated with Washington," The Milosevic regime has been issuing entering Kosova June 11, the day after Belgrade ever, vanguard layers among Serb workers and said Dusan from Novi Sad. "He probably did calls on state radio and TV for people to join started withdrawing its forces. By June 20, all youth have been advocating more forcefully it to get some more loans from the IMF." At reconstruction efforts. "It's a Potemkin vil­ Serb military forces, some 4 7,000 troops, had the need to support the KosovarAlbanians' de­ the so-called Group of Eight summit in Co­ lage;' said Duci Petrovic, a facade, referring left Kosova As the Militant went to press, mands for self-determination as the only way logne June 20, Yeltsin did get some promises to these announcements. NA1D haddeployed20,000 soldiers throughout to counter both the reactionary line and course of new IMF loans but only if his regime suc­ "There are no funds or materials;' Dusan the province into five "sectors" - areas occu­ of the Milosevic regime and the imperialist ceeds in pushing through austerity measures. pointed out. "Plus most people are not going pied by British, U.S., French, German, and Ital­ attempts to dismemberYugoslavia. Only after Moscow signed off on NATO's to cooperate with this regime, which they hold ian troops. Throughout this time, NATO forces "The people ofKosova have a right to de­ terms did Milosevic capitulate. Even the big­ responsible for the disaster we face." have been fostering divisions between Serbs cide their future," said student leader Duci business press now admits that NATO's claims Milosevic's troubles begin to grow andAlbanians, their claims that they are there Petrovic. "It's almost like a natural right. Self­ of major damage its air strikes inflicted on to provide security for all residents notwith­ determination is what they need. It's the only Belgrade's military were greatly exaggerated "Discontent is growing against the regime," standing. The big-business press in the United basis on which we can build real cooperation NATO officials acknowledged June 22 "that said auto worker Rani c. "Everyone here ex­ States and other countries has been aiding the withAlbanians in Kosova. In the future we'll the alliance knocked out a good deal less mili­ pects anxiously his fall," referring to effort to portray the conflict as one between all have a chance to rebuild ties with Albanian tary equipment in Kosovo than had been Milosevic. More than 100 army reservists Serbs on one side and allAlbanians on the other. students there." thought;' said a front-page article in the June blocked a main road in Kragujevac, leading to On June 23, U.S. Marines shot and killed Petrovic and his group, the Students Union 23 International HeraldTrirone. ·~they were Belgrade, June 19 demanding their back pay, one Serb and wounded two others in a gun of Yugoslavia, had organized canvassing counted through NATO checkpointS," the ar­ Ranic said. They had been promised about $10 battle at Zegra, a village south of Gnjilane throughout Serbia last year against the sup­ ticle stated, "the Serbian force ofnearly 4 7,000 a day for serving in the army during the NXI'O where the U.S. forces- now numbering 4,500 pression of national rights of Albanians in men seemed less demoralized than allied ac­ air strikes. The protest was defused after the and expected to grow to 7,000- have set up Kosova who comprised 90 percent ofthe pre­ counts had led people to expect. They took army promised to pay them within a week. their headquarters. The Pentagon claimed its war 2.1 million people there. The Students back into Serbia what seemed to be hundreds Ranic said her husband, an officer in troops came under fire before shooting. Union had sent a delegation from Belgrade to of tanks, artillery pieces and armored person­ Nezavisnost, has been called to Belgrade for a In Mitrovica, a city about 60 miles north of join large student-led demonstrations in nel carriers." broad union meeting to discuss how working Pristina in 1998 demanding reopening ofthe people can be mobilized to begin rebuilding Pristina that used to be inhabited by 120,000 No jobs, worries for winter people before the war, "the French are allow­ Albanian-language university and other rights. the country and organize more effective oppo­ ing the effective division ofthe town into eth­ Branislav Canak, president ofNezavisnost, The NATO air raids, however, did inflict a sition that can lead to replacement ofthe gov­ nic districts," according to a report in the June the trade union federation in Serbia indepen­ great deal ofdamage on working people. Al­ ernment. Ranic and others said the recent call 24 New York Times. Fort\\0 days, French troops dent of government control, and other trade most all of Serbia's oil refineries, a majority by the Serbian orthodox church for Milosevic's there reportedly did nothing to stop looting and unionists have taken a similar public stance of heating plants that provide heat and hot resignation was another indication the regime burning ofhomes ofGypsies. on self-determination and are attempting to water to city residents, much ofheavy indus­ may not be able to hold on to power for too long. In the first two weeks ofthe NATO occupa­ reknit ties with fellow Albanians in Kosova. try, and dozens of roads, railways, hospitals, The most consistent protests against tion ofKosova, about 20 percent ofthe 860,000 "NXI'O will tiy to deny that," said Petrovic. and schools were destroyed. Milosevic have taken place in and around deportedAlbanians returned to the province, ''They are against self-determination. Just like According to Dusan Rakovic inNis, a stu­ Belgrade by Serbs who fled Kosova since the according to unofficial estimates, often fmd­ Milosevic. He brags that in the agreement he dent whose father used to work in a machine NATO occupation. "Up to 1,000 people from ing their houses or other property destroyed­ signed with NATO there is no clause for a tool plant and is now out of a job, and repre­ Kosova who tried to enter Belgrade but were either from the NATO bombing or attacks by referendum on the status ofKosova." sentatives ofNezavisnost, unemployment in turned back in the suburbs yesterday pro­ chauvinist Serb forces.A still unknown num­ He was referring to the deal that allowed Serbia is about 70 percent. tested;' said Martina Vukasovic June 23. Hun­ ber ofAlbanians, probably thousands, were the U.S.-NATO troops to occupy Kosova, ac­ "We've been without jobs sinceApril9," dreds have been waging protests inside Bel­ killed during the mass expulsions. cording to which the province remains under said Christina Ranic, a member of the metal grade for the last three or four days. The gov­ In the village ofGrace, between Mitrovica the formal sovereignty ofthe Federal Repub­ workers union in Kragujevac, an industrial city ernment is trying to force most of the 50,000 and Pristina, returning Albanians reportedly lic ofYugoslavia ''with substantial autonomy." 60 miles south ofBelgrade. She worked at the Serbs who left Kosova to return. State radio looted and burned homes of Serbs, after driv­ Zastava car manufacturing plant, which at one and TV are calling these protesters "traitors" ing them out, on June 20, while British and Russian troops, Moscow's role timeemployedmorethan30,000workers."We and are hiding the extent of the exodus. French troops on the scene directed traffic. Petrovic, Canak, and other interviewed by now occasionally go to the factory to clean up "Milosevic handed part of Yugoslavia to Lieut. Col. Robin Clifford, a NATO spokes­ this reporter did not think very highly of the the debris. We survive mainly from humani­ NATO. Now he has the gall to call Serbs who man, described the event as "an unfortunate role ofMoscow in the conflict. "No one men­ tarian aid that comes from some trade unions leave Kosova, who are afraid for their lives, incident." Accounts in the big-business media tions the Russian troops anymore;' Petrovic but mainly from Greek churches." Continued on Page 18 paint a picture that virtually all Albanians in said. "There was a flurry ofhysteria about it Kosova want all Serbs to leave, regardless of two weeks ago. Now the whole episode is for­ whether they participated in the "ethnic gotten." He was referring to the speedy dis­ cleansing" and other atrocities committed patch ofabout 200 Russian troops from Bosnia M'CAR lC Y 0 UR CAL E N D A a· largely by Serb chauvinist paramilitary groups to Kosova through Belgrade. Moscow used the and special police forces. action as a bargaining chip to push its demand In telephone interviews and other accounts that it be granted control of a section ofKo­ U~~~""illil>Labor' ' "0 ~ ' ' , ~, ' ' " ' " ' ' ' anfl Farm' Action$' ; ' "' ' ',, , ~ ' , the Militant obtained, however, many sova. Washington adamantly rejected that and Yugoslavs paint a different picture. Yeltsin gave in at the Helsinki meeting, where Vladimir is a university student in Novi Sad he agreed that Russian troops will be dispersed FEideralBulldio9$ across u~s...... $olidBrily who asked that his last name not be used. He in the five sectors controlled by imperialist Sponsor: Committee in wlfi:IJt. knew anumberofSerbs in Urosevac (Ferizaj in powers and their top officers will have to an­ Jos6 Solis Jordan. For more~, , (312) 40fHJ801. . . Albanian), a town in southern Kosova near the swer to the unified NATO command. call: border with Macedonia ''They were determined "We were all surprised at the beginning, to stay after NATO troops entered Kosova," he when we saw the Russian troops passing through said, "but they have left and are now in Novi Belgrade;' said Martina Vukasovic, a math­ Sad They were not afraid of their Albanian ematics student at the University ofBelgrade, neighbors returning from Macedonia; these in a June 23 phone interview. "But soon the dust Serbs had tried to stop the 'ethnic cleansing.' settled and the pomp was over. The Russian But they were afraid ofcriminal elements and troops will be dispersed, and they will basi­ units of the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA) cally be under the command of NATO. Just that are trying to drive all Serbs out. NATO is like in Bosnia. Our government uses it to give a helping that, they are letting it happen." false impression that the United Nations - July !2, 1999 The Militant 3 Party-Building Fund goes way over the top BYBRIANTAYLOR and Young Socialists leader, Cecilia Ortega, Supporters of the Socialist Wmkers Party­ spoke here with Waters June 12 at a banquet Building Fund scored a big victory, zooming and meeting to raise money for the Party­ well beyond the initial $75,000 goal by the June Building Fund. 15 deadline. In the following days checks ear­ Waters was recently in Cuba as part of a tnalked to the fund kept pouring in -more than Militant reporting team that joined celebra­ $93,000 has been deposited The final fund chart tions and meetings marking the 40th anniver­ will appear in the nextMilitantissue. sary of Cuba's first agrarian reform. The first Now let's take the momentum from the fi­ Agrarian Reform Law adopted by the revolu­ nal weeks of this campaign and roll it right tionary governmentofCuba was signed on May into efforts to win new readers and subscrib­ 17, 1959, signaling the end ofthe wealthy land­ ers to the Militant newspaper and its Spanish­ owner class' rule in that country. language sister publication, Perspectiva Mun­ "The lesson ofthe Cuban revolution is that dial, as well as selling Pathfinder's Capi­ you have to have an organization dedicated to talism 's World Disorder: Working-Class Poli­ changing the world;' Waters said tics at the Millennium. It gives a boosts to the Waters also talked about the failure ofU.S. socialist summer schools that Young Social­ imperialism to reimpose capitalist social re­ ists chapters and Socialists Workers Party lations on working people in Yugoslavia. "The branches in many cities have launched to­ workers in the workers states cannot be starved gether. Call your nearest city listed on page 16 into submission, but will have to be crushed, for more information. beaten in combat, to accept capitalism." All of these efforts to build the communist Working people today, especially those in­ movement will come together in the August volved in struggles, have wider ears for a com­ munist perspective on the world, noted Fran­ 5-7 Active Workers Conference in Ohio (see Militant/Amy Roberts ad on page 6). Many ofyou who have contrib­ cisco Picado. He described some ofthe fights Supporters of Socialist Workers Party-Building Fund can use momentum to win new uted to this campaign will want to make plans by workers and farmers today that reflect a readers to socialist press.Above, selling Militantat TWA contract vote in St. Louis June 8. to join the car caravans from all over the coun­ change in the thinking and confidence ofmil­ try headed to the conference. lions ofworking people, who increasingly are Supporters in a number ofcities made final seeking ways to resist the bosses and their and other Marxist literature; participate in po­ butions and pledges to the Party-Building Fund pushes to blow the top off the goal. Below is government and connect with other fighters. litical actions from campaigning against the there. one page from that story. These developments pose an exciting chal­ U.S. war in Yugoslavia to strike pickets and The next evening, Waters spoke at a simi­ lenge for communist workers to join with those upcoming demonstrations demanding there­ lar event in Los Angeles that put supporters fighting today, wherever struggles may break lease ofJose Solis and other Puerto Rican po­ there more than $3,000 over their $6,000 goal. BYHOWARDELKHARf out. This requires that the party organize on a litical prisoners; and to do politi- SAN FRANCISCO -"The celebration of regional basis and extend its reach by getting cal work in industrial plants the 40th anniversary ofthe agrarian reform [in jobs in meatpacking, garment plants, and coal along with other party members MILITANT Cuba] is not about the past. It is about advanc­ mines. and Young Socialists. The sum­ ing the socialist revolution in Cuba and the Ortega outlined the Young Socialists' plans mer program will culminate at PERSPECTIVA MUNDIAL world today," said Mary-Alice Waters. for an ambitious summer program ofstudy and an Active Workers Conference, Subscription drive Waters is editor of the Marxist magazine political activity. Many young socialists are set for August 5-7 in Oberlin, New International and a member of the Na­ now moving to Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, Ohio. MAY 1-JUNE 27 tional Committee of the Socialist Workers Los Angeles and other cities to join SWP mem­ The 55 participants at the Party. Francisco Picado, a leader of the SWP bers in classes on Capitalism s World Disorder meeting raised $3,600 in contri-

Militant Nl Goal Sold o/o boat $old Goal Sold Chicago: hundreds protest cop brutality Sweden* 16 10 63o/o ... 8 . 7. 8 10 Australia 14 8 57% BYPATTIETHOMPSON nesses stated that she was fatally shot getting tinued all week leading up to the CHICAGO - More than 500 people out ofthe car with her hands up. The cop who June 17 march. Canada marched to the police headquarters here June fired claimed she thought a cell phone in the Antonia Randolph, a student Vancouver* 30 23 77% ·..• ~ : f 15 12 car was a gun. from Northwestern University, 17 protesting two recent killings of Black Montreal 20 10 50% ,,:1(J :c~; 30 12 people by Chicago cops. The same day Haggerty was killed, the po­ where Robert Russ was to have Toronto* Chanting "No justice, no peace," and car­ lice shot Robert Russ at point blank range after graduated June 11, joined the 35 12 34% ' ·< ·3· 25 14 rying signs referring to these and other vic­ breaking the rear driver's side window to get at demonstration "because we've Canada total 85 45 53% 70 38 him. The cops had started their pursuit ofRuss got to put pressure on the cops tims of police brutality, the protesters de­ New Zealand manded a full irwestigation ofthe killings and supposedly because of''erratic driving." like in New York City," referring an end to the cops' cover-ups.A caravan ofl0- Within hours ofthe Russ killing, the police to the wave of protests against Christchurch 16 10 63% :' 6 0 15 UPS drivers drove their delivery vans to department stated the shooting was acciden­ the cop killing of Amadou Auckland 30 12 40%. 5 0 the march, honking their horns and displaying tal. Later that day, police spokespeople an­ Diallo. N.Z. total 46 22 48% 11 0 signs that said, "Stop Police Brutality." nounced that their investigation cone luded it The cops gunned down LaTanya Haggerty was justified. Pattie Thompson is a member of United Kingdom June 5 after they approached the driver ofthe Dozens joined protests at the city hall im­ International Association of London 35 22 63% 30 10 car she was in for double parking. Eyewit- mediately. The daily lunchtime protests con- MachinistsLocall474. Manchester 24 6 25% 14 7 UK total 59 28 47% 44 17

Young 5oc;ialiete $9,000 Fund Drive Military provocations United States Aprii3-June 30 Atlanta 28 25 89o/o ·• 16 8 against north Korea Houston 35 27 77% 20 5 City Goal Received Miami 35 26 74% 20 17 Chicago 500 596 119%" Continued from front page Los Angeles 65 46 71% 40 30 Phila.delphia. 50 57 114% alert in Okinawa. U.S. Navy and Air Force warplanes have Birmingham, AL 35 21 60% 10 Seattle 250 268 10'7% also stepped up patrol flights over the region. San Francisco 90 49 54% 40 10 Seoul has amassed frigates, destroyers, and landed ships in San Francisco 1000 100% Seattle 45 23 51% 15 4 I !tOO the area, while putting its entire armed forces, including Adanta 300 182 61% 650,000 troops, on combat alert. Washington, D.C. 50 25 50% 30 10 SantaCna 300 134 45% . The conflict began June 7 when six north Korean patrol Detroit 35 15 43% 15 10 Twin Cities 400 175 +4% boats escorted fishing vessels into a crab-fishing area just off New-York 120 49 41% 75 21 Boston 200 60 30% its west coast. DPRK officials said the naval escorts were Philadelphia 32 13 41% 15 0 necessary in response to actions by Seoul's warships, which Los Angeles 1000 240 24% Chicago 50 20 40% 30 8 chased offnorth Korean fishing boats in the crab-rich region. Des Moines 40 15 38% 20 8 New York 1000 200 20% South Korean officials claimed the ships from the DPRK Pittsburgh 30 11 37% 20 0 Salt Lake City 100 10 10% crossed the "northern limit line;' which was unilaterally im­ Newark, NJ 125 43 34% Austin,MN ISO 0% posed by the U.S.-led UN Command after the Korean people 60 29 Cleveland 40 12 30% 10 3 Detroit 200 0% fought Washington to a stalemate in the 1950-53 war. The DPRK does not recognize the line. Boston 35 8 23% 25 15 Houston 100 0% After a tense encounter over the disputed waters, south Twin Cities, MN 50 11 22% 15 Newark 200 0% Korean patrol boats rammed four north Korean vessels June Central Illinois 20 1 5% 7 2 Springfield, IL 75 0% 11. "Our ships are ready to butt the north Korean intruders So. Minnesota 8 0 0% 3 1 Washington, D.C. 200 0% again;' declared Col. Hwang Dong Kyu the next day. U.S. total 968 440 45% 486 183 Other 500 Seeking to ratchet up military pressure on the DPRK, south Total 6015 3421 57% Korean Defense Minister Cho Seong Tae met with U.S. Gen. John Tilelli, the chiefU.S. military commander in south Ko­ Iceland 8 3 38% 2 0 The YS has launched a $9,000 fund drive to be com­ rea, and asked him to put some U.S. troops on high alert "The pleted by June 30. ihe funds are needed for the ex­ U.S. Command would help us," asserted Capt. Shin Han Woo, France 5 0 0% 25 3 pensea in building a proletarian youth organization that a south Korean defense ministry spokesman. On June 13 the DPRK government agreed to a meeting lnt'l totals 1201 556 51o/o 658 252 is financially independent and can reapond rapidly to called by U.S. military officials in south Korea. Two days Goal/Should be 11 00 1023 93o/o 600 558 political development6 and maintain ita national office. later, however, Seoul's warships sunk the north Korean vessel, * =raised goal • and Pyongyang suspended contact with Seoul. 4 The Militant July 12, 1999 Miners and fighting workers buy 'Militant' BYMAURICEWILLIAMS and several commented about different times "We want our Militant bundle overnight," they had met other workers distributing the said Cappy Kidd, a member ofthe UnitedAuto Militant during the strike. Workers in Chicago. "We need more papers to "We told them there were a lot of other send sales teams to knock on doors in work­ strikes going on that needed their help," said ing-class communities where the cops re­ McArthur. "One of the miners said he was cently killed two Black men and one Black willing to do something, but that they never woman, LaTanyaHaggerty." got any information about what was happen­ Socialist workers and members of the ing in other parts of the country. He bought a Young Socialists are using the Militant, Per­ copy, and is considering getting a subscription spectiva Mundial, and the book Capitalism s to the Militant to help fill this void. World Disorder: Working-Class Fblitics at the "After we left the Crown no. 3 mine portal, Millennium to reach out to workers involved we went to the Bridgestone/Firestone plant in in struggles, at plant gates, and on the job. Bloomington, Illinois, where workers, mem­ Militant/Bill Kalman Taking the social press and Marxist literature bers of the United Steelworkers ofAmerica Selling the Militant at U.S. Steel Oak Grove mine portal in Alabama. to fighting workers, farmers defending their (USWA), are headed for a contract dispute later land, and rebel-minded youth are essential to this year. We sold five copies of the Militant the campaigns. and a subscription there." there is a large Swift-Monfort pork packing workers insisted on getting our phone num­ As we go to press with four days remaining plant. One of the main objectives of the team bers so they could call us if a struggle devel­ in the drive, we need to sell 475 copies of Talking to Continental Tire strikers was to find out more about the attitudes and oped inside the plant." Capitalism s World Disorder, 544 subscriptions Supporters from Birmingham and Atlanta experiences of the workers inside the plant. to the Militant, 132 subs to the Spanish-lan­ spent five hours on the picket line talking to "We went door to door in two trailer parks guage magazinePerspectiva Mundial, and 347 several USWA members on strike against in Worthington, where we sold five sub­ Pathfinder Press editor Mike Baumann copies ofNew International to reach the inter­ Continental General Tire in North Carolina. scriptions to Perspectiva Mundial, includ­ reports that Coal Miners on Strike, which re­ national goals. The key to meeting this chal­ "Spending the time to get to know the strikers ing four to meatpackers," said Amanda prints Militant articles on the 1977-78 and lenge lies in taking advantage of political op­ and listen to their concerns as well as discuss­ Ulman, who works in packinghouse in 1981 miners strikes, is one ofPathfinder' s top portunities over the next few days to talk to ing Capitalism s World Disorder with them is Marshalltown, Iowa. sellers this year. In the two months its been strikers at Newport News shipyard in Virginia, very important," said Ardy Blandford from "We also sold five copies oftheMilitant, out, some 600 copies have been shipped to meatpackers on strike in Washington State, Birmingham. She said their discussions with eight copies ofPM, and one copy ofthe pam­ Pathfinder stores and supporters. working people resisting police brutality, and the unionists ranged from why the strikers felt phletAn Action Program to Con- others fighting assaults by the bosses. the company was trying to break the union, to front the Coming Economic Cri- what the capitalist system as a whole has in sis in Spanish. We sold two PM Coal team in central IUinois store for working people. subscriptions to two Swift work­ Five workers subscribed to the Militant af­ "One of the strikers who bought the book ers who were part of a group five CAMPAIGN TO SELL ter meeting socialist workers at a mine portal didn't have the money, but another striker re­ or six Swift workers hanging out and plant gate in central Illinois. One also got alized how much his fellow union member near one of the trailer parks on 'Capitalism's World Disorder' a copy of the recently reprinted Pathfinder wanted to read it and offered to loan him $20. Sunday afternoon. pamphlet Coal Miners on Strike. "We set up a meeting at the home ofa striker "We had a discussion with April1 - June 27 "We first sold at the entrance to the Free­ who had bought a subscription to the Militant them that lasted an hour, which man Crown no. 3 coal mine in Farmersville;' from an earlier visit. He purchased a copy of covered a broad number of top­ Country Goal Sold % said Harvey McArthur, a meatpacker and Capitalism 's World Disorder from us this ics. We talked about the campaign member of the United Food and Commercial time;' said Blandford. "He offered to put us up for justice for framed-up immi­ New Zealand the next time we come to North Carolina and grant workers Jose and Gonzalo Workers. "We had a sign that said, 'Subscribe Auckland 20 22 110% to the Militant. 12 weeks for $10,' tucked un­ have a barbecue, hang out, and talk politics." Ledezma, the U.S.-NATO war der the windshield wipers ofour car. Two pass­ The team also sold one Militant subscrip­ against Yugoslavia, and how to Christchurch 14 13 93% ersby saw the sign, made aU-turn and came tion, and three copies of the socialist news­ confront dangerous working con­ N.Z. Total 34 35 103% back to talk to us. One, a truck driver, bought a weekly to the strikers. Several strikers ex­ ditions," said Ulman. "One ofthe Militant; another, a staffer for the Laborers pressed interest in building and partici­ Iceland 4 4 100% International Union, bought a Militant sub­ pating in the June 27 "Steelworkers for scription and the coal miners pamphlet." Justice Rally" in Gramercy, Louisiana. CAMPAIGN TO SELL Canada McArthur said three of the miners bought "Capitalism's World Disorder' subscriptions to the Militant among the 40 who Packinghouse workers in Minnesota Montreal 7 11 157% Three socialist workers from Minne­ IN THE UNIONS were going in to work. And seven others got Vancouver 21 30 143% copies of the paper. Many miners were famil­ sota and Iowa went on a two-day regional team to Worthington, Minnesota, where Toronto 50 32 64% iar with the Militant from their strike last fall, Goals Sold % Canada Total 78 73 94% New Zealand EU 2 2 100% -MILITANT LABOR FORUMS- Total 2 2 100% Sweden 6 5 83% MASSACHUSETTS ers candidate for Boston City Council. Fri., United States United Kingdom July 9, 7:30 p.m. 838 Washington St. Do­ PACE (Houston) 15 19 127% BOSTON nation: $4. Tel: (617) 282-3354. New England Family Farmers Hit by Price, Debt UTU 80 63 79% London 41 35 85% Squeeze. Speaker: Andrea Morell, Socialist Work- UAW 75 52 69% Manchester 17 11 65% NEW JERSEY lAM 110 64 58% UK Total 58 46 79% NEWARK USWA 80 49 61% MILITANT SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE The Rise in Working-Class UFCW 80 28 35% Resistance: A Report Back UNITE 70 16 23% United States In the unions from the Newport News Total 510 291 57% Atlanta 40 45 113% strike. Panel discussion. Fri., Should be 500 480 96% Militant PM Nl July 2, 7:30p.m. 87A Halsey San Francisco 136 129 95% Goal Sold % Goal Sold Goal Sold St.. Donation: $4. Tel: (973) United Kingdom Washington, D.C. 60 55 92% 643-3341. Australia TGWU 7 3 43% Los Angeles 82 63 77% MUA 2 50% 1 0 RMT 4 25% Detroit 78 54 69% AMWU 3 33% 2 0 AUSTRALIA AEEU 2 50% Total 6 5 83% Pittsburgh 40 27 68% Australia total 5 2 40% 3 0 SYDNEY The Struggle Inside Indone­ Canada Birmingham 60 40 67% Canada sia Today: Eyewitness Re­ port. Speaker: Bob Aiken, lAM 7 8 114% Seattle 50 33 66% lAM* 6 5 83% 4 participant in an international USWA 7 3 43% Miami 45 29 64% USWA 7 1 14% 6 0 Militant reporting team. Fri., UFCW 3 0 0% Philadelphia July 2, 7 p.m. 1st floor, 176 UNITE 3 0 0% 50 32 64% UNITE 4 0 0% 6 0 St. Redforn. Donation: $4. Tel: Canada total 20 11 55% Houston 70 43 61% Canada total 17 6 35% 2 2 16 1 96901533. Boston Australia 50 29 58% United States NEW ZEALAND AMWU 5 2 40% New York 120 67 56% USWA 35 18 51% 4 20 AUCKLAND MUA 4 0 0% Des Moines 55 29 53% Total 9 2 22% lAM 50 21 42% 11 2 21 7 Is 'Zero Tolerance' the An­ Twin Cities, MN 50 26 52% UNITE 15 6 40% 20 10 12 9 swer to Crime? Speaker: Terry Coggan, Communist C. Illinois 17 8 47% UTU 50 16 32% 5 20 9 League candidate for Chicago 75 35 47% UAW 40 11 28% 4 1 15 1 Auckland Central. Fri., July Cleveland 60 26 43% UFCW 35 7 20% 25 39 20 6 2, 7 p.m. 203 Karangahape PACE (HoustonY 1 14% 1 0 3 0 Road. Donation: $3. Tel: (9) Newark 150 65 43% 379-3075. U.S. total 232 80 34% 70 54 111 33 S. Minnesota 14 1 7% CHRISTCHURCH U.S. Total 1302 836 64% New Zealand Equal Rights for Immi­ EU 3 33% grants! Oppose Antidemo­ cratic Laws. Speaker Lars Australia 20 9 45% MWU 2 0 0% Ericson, Communist League. SFWU 2 0 0% Fri.,. July 2, 7 p.m. 199 High International t6tal 1546 1035 69% St. Donation: $3. Tel: (3) 365- N.Z. total 7 14% 6055. Total goal/should be 1500 1425 95% July42, 1999 The Militant 5 Colorado mine boss threatens to hire scabs

BY JEFF POWERS "We are not children;' Local1984 record­ RANGELY, Colorado- "The company ing secretary Carol Amy said as she de­ has run adds for replacement worlcers in the scribed some of the conditions behind the Denver Post, the Salt Lake Tribune, the strike. She has worked at the mine 10 and a Grand Junction newspaper, and every news­ half years. "They were so disruptive. I paper in every small town between here and caught a foreman doing our worlc one day Salt Lake," Vince Conkle president ofUnited and I stopped him. This was something they Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Local tried to do all the time. Then the company 1984, told the Militant. promoted someone out of seniority before The members of Local 1984 struck the me and I stopped that too." Deserado mine onApril27 over health care "The last negotiations we had a couple of for retirees, control over job bids and job weeks ago broke off after the company said assignments, vacation scheduling, and pay. we would have to change our position," Deserado is owned by Blue Mount!lin En­ Conkle said. "New negotiations are sched­ ergy and it produces coal exclusively for a uled for June 23." company-owned power plant near Vernal, Picket lines are staffed 24 hours a day. Militant/Carole Lesnick Utah. The miners went on strike after re­ The company has not yet tried to bring in Striking miners in Colorado on June parade float thanking community for support jecting the company's final offer by a vote scabs. "Nobody has crossed the picket line of 105-2. so far," Conkle reported Militant reporters were on the picket line, a time," the picketers explained. "The other Three people have been killed in the mine The strikers remain disciplined despite security guard positioned himself on a dis­ day a guard drove his four wheeler off the since it opened in 1984 and last year the Blue Mountain's repeated attempts to pro­ tant knoll to get good pictures of the report­ road all over the place right near where we Federal government cited Blue Mountain voke the miners through the use of a private ing team. have ourpickets,just trying to get us angry. We Energy for more than 60 safety violations. security force hired for the strike. While "This is something that happens all the Continued on Page 18 Newport News strikers: 'what we do makes a difference'

BY BRIAN WILLIAMS between the 35th and 50th street entrances an office where workers submit their bills hers, or more than 85 percent of eligible NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia-"We must on June 24. The following day some 30 to be paid. Strikers can also receive cash sti­ workers. Since then 786 members have re­ let them know that they can't walk all over busloads of strikers will board buses to at­ pends of$50, if they specifically request it. signed from the union." Virginia is a so­ us any old way. What we do here will make tend the Newport News Shipruilding annual Steelworker officials announced in early called right-to-worlc state, so workers are not a difference to the other companies." This shareholders meeting in Richmond, Virginia. June that for the rest of the month there will obligated to join the Steelworkers even is how Glenda Saunders, a pipefitter at the In addition to picketing the many gates be substantially less assistance. According though the union has won the right to repre­ Newport News shipyard for 19 years and a of entry to the shipyard, union members held to the new rules, the union will pay only sent all of them. member ofUnited Steelworkers ofAmerica a floating picket line June 9 with more than emergency bills for members, such as mort­ Despite increased financial pressures, (USWA) Local 8888, summed up her view a dozen boats full of striking steelworlcers. gages on the verge of foreclosure, utilities many of those on the picket lines are deter­ of the strike battle here. Meanwhile, the company is doing all it can on the verge ofbeing cut off, and rent if the mined to stick with this fight. "I made my After two and a half months on the picket to keep the pressure on. In mid-June, ship­ member is about to be evicted. sacrifices," said Barry Creedle, a striking lines, the big majority of the 9,200 hourly yard bosses announced they were consider­ An article in the June 17 Newport News pipefitter. "I'm staying out here for the union:' workers represented by USWA Local8888 ing instituting a separate higher pay scale for Daily Press cited USWA spokesman Tony are holding the line in their fight with the skilled worlcers. In the previous union con­ Montana as saying that when the strike be­ Brian Williams is a USWA member Local company for respect and dignity on the job tract the yard paid all production worlcers on gan, "the Steelworlcers claimed 8,000 mem- 2609 at Sparrows Point, Maryland. and for a decent contract with increased the same wage scale with a top pre-strike wages and pension benefits. wage of$14.53 per hour. As we go to press, union members are Local 8888 members are not receiving building an expanded picket line at the plant strike pay. Instead, l,JSWA officials set up Meatpackers strike ffiP Continued from Page 1 doors of the plant so no other workers could there was a rally featuring get outside to join the walkout. A shop stew­ strikers and other speakers, ard called the police from a cell phone to including a worker fighting say that the workers were being held against her suspension by Alaska their will, and when the company found out Airlines. Francisco Picado, a the police were coming they unchained the meatpacker and member of doors. Many more worlcers left the plant. the United Food and Com­ Later workers from the afternoon shift mercial Workers Local 120 joined the picket in front of the plant. At its at Galileo Foods in the San peak the picket line numbered about 500 Francisco Bay Area, brought people. a message of solidarity from Most of the worlcers did not work after his co-worlcers. Meat market that, but instead demanded the union hold a owner Polo Aguilera also ex­ strike vote immediately. On June 8 the pressed support, saying, "As Teamsters officially went on strike with a long as IBP treats my people vote of 84 7 to 291 in favor of the strike. like it's doing to you, I will According to Martinez, about 80 percent of not buy any IBP products." the workers are Latino, and the others are The picket line at the IBP from Bosnia, Laos, and other countries. plant in Wallula after the rally On June 12 the workers organized a mass was lively, where 200 people picket, which was attended by more than 400 had gathered in front of the strikers and others. That day workers dis­ plant. tributed a flyer in Spanish with their main The strike began unoffi­ demands: "We will fight for a just contract, + Feature Reports cially June 4 after 30 worlc­ for a safe job, for respect and for sanitary •:• Books & Pamphlets ers were fired. Maria Mar­ work conditions." Jose Avila, a worlcer with + Information Tables •:• Recreation tinez; the chief shop steward almost seven years at IBP, said the strike "is at the plant, said the bosses not just about money; we want to be treated "tried to discipline an opera­ better. We want to change things for those tor for stacking [letting the who will come later." Avila makes $8.58 an meat pile up on the line). I hour as a meat cutter. He said that when new KJJ shut off my machine and workers arrive in his department, he urges Demonstration against U.S. NATO war in tried to find out what was them to worlc slowly and safely. Yugoslavia and for self-determination of happening. They told me to The strikers rejected the company's new Kosova, in Los Angeles, March 1999. go back to my station and not contract proposal June 21, by a vote of 688 concern myself with this. As to 51. Union officials said another 342 bal­ a shop steward, I refused to lots were excluded because there were ques­ DISCUSSIONS WILL INCLUDE: back off." tions of eligibility. IBP responded that they Labor Battles + Farmers' Struggles Workers said when were withdrawing the offer and would be­ + Actions Against Police Brutality • Martinez and 29 other worlc­ gin hiring replacement workers. Martinez Women in Industry • The Fight for ers walked out of the plant a said about 150 workers have quit the union National Self-Determination and company "attendant" de­ and returned to worlc; the company claims Against Imperialism and War • The manded they tum over their the number is 500. Continuity of the Communist Move­ badges and worlc equipment The strikers are beginning to reach out ment and the Fight for Socialism • and said they were fired. to others to get support for their fight. On The Cuban Revolution+ Building an When some workers tried to June 16 they spoke at a meeting of the King County Labor Council in Seattle to explain Alliance of Workers and Farmers get back into the plant, they were pushed back by the at­ their fight, and on June 23 strikers ad­ tendant. "We told the boss ei­ dressed a rally protesting raids by the im­ thereveryonecomesbackin migration cops. or everybody stays out," said Rodolfo Blanco. Then the Francisco Picado and Ned Dmytryshyn con­ supervisors chained the tributed to this article. 6 The Militant July 12, 1999 International Socialist Review SUPPLEMENT TO THE MILITANT I JULY 1999 •we are a political army. fully aware of what we are defending• Interview with Brigadier General Harry Villegas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba

Brigadier General Harry Villegas was and head of operations. Villegas was awarded the medal born in 1940 in Yara, a small village in the of Hero of the Republic of Cuba, the country's highest foothills of the Sierra Maestra mountains honor, by the Council of State. of eastern Cuba. As a teenager he joined In recent years Villegas served as head of the Political the struggle against the U.S.-backed dic­ Section of Cuba's Western Army, and was a member of tatorship ofFulgencio Batista, and in 1957 the Political Directorate of the General Staff of the Revo­ joined the Rebel Army, fighting under the lutionary Armed Forces (FAR). Currently he heads the Sec­ command of Emesto Che Guevara. retariat and is ideological director of the Patriotic-Mili­ After the victory of the revolution in tary and International Front of the Association of Com­ January 1959, Villegas served as head of batants of the Cuban Revolution. He is also a deputy in Guevara's personal escort. In 1961, fol­ the National Assembly of People's Power, and a member lowing Cuba's nationalization of imperi­ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba. alist- and domestically-owned industry, he The following interview with Harry Villegas was con­ worked with Guevara as a factory admin­ ducted in Havana, Cuba, on November I 0, 1998, by istrator, in the broadening effort to orga­ Mary-Alice Waters and Martin Koppel. Waters is editor nize Cuban working people to take more of the Marxist magazine New International. Koppel is direct control of the organization of the editor of Perspectiva Mundial. economy. He returned to active military Copyright© 1999 Pathfinder Press, reprinted by per­ duty the following year. mission. In 1965 Villegas volunteered to take part in an internationalist mission in the Congo, where he served as chief adjutant Mary-Alice Waters: The region of eastern Cuba where to Guevara, who led the front. It was dur­ you were born and raised has historically been the cradle ing this campaign that he received the of revolutionary struggle in Cuba, the stronghold of the nom de guerre he has since come to be independence forces for more than a century and a half. known by- Pombo. How did these traditions affect you as a youth? What Villegas is best known around the world experiences led you to join the revolutionary struggle as one of the Cuban revolutionaries who to overthrow the Batista dictatorship? fought alongside Guevara in Bolivia, in Harry Villegas: Oriente has been the birthplace of what Pombo describes as "an epic chap­ all of Cuba's independence struggles. In fact, this was ter in the history of the Americas." In July even where the first rebel in Cuba, and the first Cuban 1966 he was sent by Guevara to Bolivia internationalist, you might say - the Indian to help coordinate advance preparations Hatuey - started fighting. Hatuey was a native of the for the effort to establish a revolutionary island of Quisqueya - or Espanola, which was the front in Latin America's Southern Cone. name given it by the colonizers; today it is the Do­ In November of that year he became part minican Republic.1 of the guerrilla unit there led by Gueva­ ra, serving on its general staff throughout Top photo by Antonio Nuiiez Oriente's revolutionary traditions the course of the eleven-month campaign. right: courtesy of Harry Villegas I think there are two major reasons why the people After Guevara was killed in October 1967, Villegas, above right, December from Oriente have played a decisive role from the be­ Villegas commanded the group of surviv­ 1958, with (clockwise) Lupe Velis, • ginning in our struggles for independence, both of ing combatants that was able to elude the Che Guevara, and Miguel Manal, • which are closely interrelated. One is economic. Ori­ encirclement jointly organized by the Bo­ during Cuba's revolutionary war. ente was one of the poorest areas, with the highest livian army and U.S. military and intelli­ Villegas, right, early 1970s, while illiteracy rate, cut off from social development. Here gence forces. After numerous battles, the serving as commanding officer at in Cuba we say that struggles come from the east­ three Cuban combatants crossed the bor­ border with U.S. naval base at that independence came from the east ~ but culture der into Chile in February 1968, and ar­ Guantimamo. comes from the west. The revolution has evened this rived in Cuba the following month. out somewhat, making things more equitable. But Ori­ Villegas is author of Pombo: A Man of Che 's 'guer­ of the Angolan ente was really much more backward than the west­ rilla,' his diary and account of the 1966-68 revolutionary government, em provinces. The other factor was that exploitation campaign in Bolivia. Additional recollections of the Bo­ helping to de­ by the powers that be, and the repression, were more livian campaign by Villegas are included in the appendix feat an invasion intense there. This generated dissatisfaction and pro­ to The Bolivian Diary ofEmesto Che Guevara and in the by the apartheid regime in South Africa. The responsi­ tests. It generated acts of violence. pamphlet At the Side of Che Guevara. All three titles are bilities he carried out included serving as front com­ If you go back to 1868, to the first independence war, published by Pathfinder. mander and a member of the general staff; member of the people from Oriente were the ones who adopted the From 1975 until1990, Villegas served most of the time the general staff of Operation Olive (the struggle against most radical positions. Their starting point was always in Angola, as part of the leadership of the Cuban volun­ right-wing bands in Angola); liaison between the mili­ the need for independence. There were other tendencies, teer military contingent that was there at the request tary mission and the armed forces command in Havana; such as the annexationists and the reformists, rut the peo~le from Oriente always fought hardest for independence.

rfrniln-ble-frPm-~fHuHr 1 Hatuey, a Taino Indian chief who had fled the Spanish co­ lonial forces from what is today the Dominican Republic, led Pombo: A Man of Che's guerrilla an uprising in Cuba against the colonizers; he was captured With Che Guevara in Bolivia, 1966-68 and executed in 1511. Tradition has it that when he was of­ fered last rites by a Spanish priest so his soul could go to heaven, A never-before-published story of the 1966-68 revolutionary campaign in Bolivia led by Hatuey asked if that's where the souls of the Spanish conquer­ Ernesto Che Guevara; the diary and account of Pombo- a member of Guevara's ors went When he was assured it was, he declined the rites, general staff, a young fighter still in his 20s. Harry Villegas is today saying he preferred his soul go elsewhere. a brigadier general in Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces. His day­ 2 There were two important Cuban wars of independence to-day account of this epic chapter in the history of the Americas from Spain: the war of 1868-78, and the war of 1895-98 that illuminates the times we are living through and foreshadows the ended in Spain's defeat. Cuba became an independent repub­ titanic class battles that will mark the Americas of the 21st cen­ lic, but its government was in fuct dominated by U.S. occupa­ tion forces. tury. $21.95. Also available in Spanish. Opposing the perspective of independence in the years be­ At the Side Che Guevara fore 1868 were two currents led primarily by wealthy Cuban­ of born landowners. These were generally referred to as the re­ INTERVIEWS WITH HARRY VILLEGAS (POMBO) formists and the annexationists. The reformists sought to win Harry Villegas, currently a brigadier general in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, a certain degree of autonomy from Spain, while reforming the worked and fought alongside Ernesto Che Guevara for a decade-in Cuba, the Congo, and system of chattel slavery in order to maintain it. The other Bolivia. In these interviews he talks about the struggles he has taken part in over four current favored annexation of Cuba to the United States. Most decades- including the war in Angola and the defeat of the South African apartheid army looked to the slaveholding states of the U.S. South, seeing an­ nexation as a way to strengthen the slave system in Cuba. A at Cuito Cuanavale in 1988. Above all, he explains the importance of Guevara's political smaller group looked to the U.S. North. After the U.S. Civil legacy for a new generation of fighters around the world. In English and Spanish $4.00. War, some opponents of slavery in Cuba were also attracted to Available from bookstores. including those listed on page 16, or write Pathfinder, 410 West St., annexationism, seeing it as a means to eliminate slavery. Sla­ New York, NY 10014. Tel: (212) 741-0690. Please include $3 to cover shipping and handling. very in Cuba was ·not abolished until 1886.

July 12, 1999 The Militant 7 2Rnternatlonal Soclallst Review JULY 1999

Over time traditions developed. The war of nomic, and political conditions? 1868, led by Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, 3 be­ Villegas: Discrimination in this region was not gan in Oriente. The war of 1895 spread a little very severe. Its effects were not greatly felt. I don't more to other parts of the country - there were know the reasons why. It might be because we uprisings in Havana, Matanzas, Las Villas, and had a little money. I come from a poor family, but elsewhere. But the deepest and most determined my mother had a store and we were slightly bet­ uprisings were in Oriente- not only in Baire,4 ter off. but also in Guantanamo and several other places But Oriente wasn't like Las Villas, for example. in the province. If you went to a park in Las Villas-just to point The traditions of struggle in this region con­ out the kind of discrimination there -blacks tinued, fassed along through families and walked through one part of the park and whites schools. Jesus Menendez, the "General of the through another. This was not the case in Yara. Canefields," was murdered in cold blood in Ori­ There blacks and whites walked together, and ente in 1948. He was from Santa Clara, not Ori­ blacks and whites mixed at the fiestas. ente, although he had support there. And they There were separate social circles, of course. killed him while he was visiting the sugar mills White clubs and black clubs were separate. Places there.6 where whites went for parties and dances, blacks In 1952, when Batista's coup d'et.at took place, o~~':%f¢WW r ~~"'~~i&l could not go. But they played sports together. They resistance in Oriente was boiling. People hoped went to the same schools. In other words, discrimi­ somebody would step forward to lead the fight. FI~MA FIDEl EL PDIMED TITUlO nation there wasn't as severe as in other parts of Then came the attack on Moncada in 1953, the the country. Granma landing in 1956. The struggle exploded Perhaps it was because my region was more everywhere. Oriente was on a war footing. 7 *•CONfNZANOS ADA~ LA TIERRA isolated. Perhaps because Yara was very close to By then, Celia Sanchez's influence had been , t CAMPfSINOS POll DONDE where slaves were first freed in Cuba, right there greatly felt in the area where I lived.8 And the as in La Demajagua. Or perhaps because the first July 26 Movement - Celia, that is - had won slaves who fought for Cuba's independence were over a number of peasants to support the Granma MISN() fNPEZAUON AQUITAASELA lOS those from Yara, on October 11, 1868.11 These landing. In Manzanillo and surrounding urban things too may have had an influence. areas, there was some organization in the under­ CONUUiSTADO.UtS A LOS INDiOS, POll My grandfather was a sergeant in the mambi ground struggle, fostered by Celia. The incorpo­ army. He fought in Maceo's invasion column.l2 ration of the first peasants in the Sierra Maestra BARACOAlt' I Z N 7 He was one of those who fought for independence didn't come about spontaneously: Celia had made Monument to Taino Indian chief Hatuey, "the first Cuban rebel and in the region aroundYara. So he was very respected contact with Guillermo Garcia, with Crescencio the first Cuban internationalist." He was killed in 1511 by Spanish in town. He w:•. regarded with a great deal of af­ Perez, with Ciro Frias. 9 In other words, she had colonizers. Sign from 1959 quotes Fidel Castro's declaration on sign­ fection. Perhaps these were all reasons why we organized a whole group of peasants who quickly ing the first land reform deed: "We're beginning to distribute land to didn't suffer much discrimination, why we didn't stepped in to support the Granma expeditionaries. the peasants in the same spot where the conquistadores started to experience its full effects. I had a brother who belonged to a cell of the take it away from the Indians- in Baracoa." After the triumph of the revolution, however, July 26 Movement. So when the tyranny reacted I had a chance to see what discrimination really to the revolutionary struggle by intensified repression, rect influence led people to join the revolutionary struggle. was. I remember returning to Havana en route from Yara. we really felt it firsthand. My participation began in an underground cell, carry­ It was the first time after the victory of the revolution The upsurge in revolutionary struggle in response to ing out small actions like throwing chains over electrical I'd gone home. They had given me a pass, and I had these epic events, these legendary battles, had a profound wires in order to cut power, planting small hombs, distrib­ gone to see my family. I was nineteen years old at the impact on the young people of the region. That's why there uting propaganda, selling bonds to raise money. In a small time. We st0; ped at one town in Las Villas, the last one were very few young men in the vicinity of the Sierra town, the normal things one does become known very you come to on the Central Highway going west before Maestra who did not go up to the mountains to join the quickly, and the authorities singled us out, trying to stop getting to Matanzas- I think it's called Los Arabos. Rebel Army. That explains why there were so many com­ these actions. They arrested me two or three times and A dance was going on and we went in. I was withAlberto batants from Yara and Bayamo and Manzanillo. This di- slapped me around. A cousin of mine and my mother Castellanos, who is white. Both of us were in Che's stepped in. They would automatically go down to the gar­ personal escort, and we went around together. rison to see what was happening. Because you know how When we walked into the hall, we saw everybody go­ 3 Carlos Manuel de Cespedes was the initiator of the Cuban these small towns are. Yara was a tinderbox. Word spread ing "shhhhh," making comments to each other. I really independence war of 1868-78. He was killed in battle in 1874. rapidly. "So-and-so is in jail," they would say. Right away didn't notice at first. They sent for a police officer who the entire family headed over to the garrison. was black to come tell us we couldn't be there because 4 Cuba's second independence war was launched in Baire in It was getting harder and harder to live there. It was a that club was for whites only. "Who says this is for whites 1895, in what became known as El Grito de Baire (the Cry of only?" we replied. "And why did you, a black man, agree Baire). very small town, very tiny. And the army maintained a permanent presence in the vicinity. It became an impor­ to be sent here?'' Castellanos added. We were wearing 5 Fidel Castro and Raul Castro were both born in Oriente tant center for the army, with battalions of troops sta­ our officers' uniforms, and we started asking young and spent much of their youth in this province. tioned there. There were more soldiers in Yara than resi­ women to dance with us, and they did But then we dents. You couldn't go anywhere without running into a thought, perhaps it wasn't such a good idea, nor was it 6 Jesus Menendez, general secretary of the National Federa­ soldier. the right thing, to go to this place from which they wanted tion of Sugar Workers and a member of the Popular Socialist At one point, early in the struggle, the general staff of to kick me out. Party, was murdered at the Manzanillo train station in January the tyranny's army was in the Estrada Palma sugar mill, Castellanos stepped in and said no, they couldn't kick 1948 by police captain Joaquin Casillas. At the time the gov­ nowcalled Bartolome Mas6. It's right next to Yara, in me out. He couldn't accept that; that if I had to leave, he ernment of Cuba was under the bourgeois-democratic regime the same foothills. To get to Estrada Palma, you had to would do so as well. We caused a stir. But in the end we of President Ramon Grau San Martin. had a huddle and decided to leave. Blacks were not ex­ 7 On March 10, 1952, Fulgencio Batista organized a mili­ pected to show up at their club. tary coup against the government of Carlos Prio and canceled The same thing happened to us here in Havana, in scheduled elections. Batista was a retired Cuban army general ..Che explained to us Tarani. After Che left La Cabafi.a, we moved to Tarara.13 who had been strongman in successive governments in Cuba why agrarian reform There was a club in Tarara that blacks were not permit­ from 1934 - in the wake of a revolutionary upsurge that ted to enter. One day we went for a walk, and we went toppled dictator Gerardo Machado -until 1944. As the Cu­ was a necessity... " into the club. They sent for General Bayo to get us out. ban bourgeoisie and their Yankee patrons reconsolidated power We respected Bayo; he was the general who served as following the initial battles of late 1933, Batista bought off most of the insurgent political leaders, using repression against pass through Yara. those who resisted. Following the 1952 coup, with support from Washington, So we asked for authorization from the movement to 11 On October 10, 1868, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, the Batista imposed a brutal military dictatorship that lasted until go up to the Sierra. They didn't give it to us, but since owner of a sugar plantation at La Demajagua near the town of January 1, 1959. On that date Batista fled the country as his we were a little undisciplined, we went and joined up Manzanillo in southeastern Cuba, rang the sugar mill's bell military and police forces surrendered to the victorious Rebel anyway. and assembled the plantation slaves. Cespedes announced he Army advancing under the command of Fidel Castro, with the was freeing the slaves, that they were free to join him or not in growing popular support for the July 26 Revolutionary Move­ Waters: Earlier today you mentioned informally a fact a fight to win Cuba's independence from Spain. He then formed ment, culminating in a general strike. I found very striking - that six generals currently in the up a contingent of fighters and attacked the nearby town of On July 26, 1953, some 160 revolutionaries under the com­ Revolutionary Armed Forces come from Yara. Yara. This act, known in Cuban history as the El Grito de Yara mand of Fidel Castro launched an insurrectionary attack on Villegas: Among the many fighters that Yara pro­ (the Cry of Yara), was the beginning of Cuba's first war for the Moncada army garrison in Santiago de Cuba, and a simul­ independence, which lasted until 1878. taneous attack on the garrison in Bayamo, marking the begin­ duced- and it produced a lot of them- six have at­ ning of the revolutionary armed struggle against the Batista tained the rank of general. 12 Mambi refers to fighters in Cuba's wars of independence dictatorship. After the attack's failure, Batista's forces massa­ Waters: Did you all know each other back then? against Spain, many of whom were freed slaves or agricultural workers. The term "mambi" originated in the 1840s during the cred more than fifty ofthe captured revolutionaries. Fidel Castro Villegas: It's a very small town, so it would be pretty and twenty-seven others were tried and sentenced to up to fif­ fight for independence from Spain in the nearby island of Santo teen years in prison. They were released on May 15, 1955, hard not to have known each other. Division General Domingo. After a black Spanish officer named Juan Ethninius after a public defense campaign forced Batista's regime to is­ Leopoldo Cintra Frias, a Hero of the Republic of Cuba, Mamby joined the Dominican independence fighters, Spanish sue an amnesty. came from that town. You also have the first and only forces began referring to the guerrillas by the derogatory term On November 25, 1956, eighty-two revolutionary fighters, woman to have earned the rank of general in Cuba, Tete "mambies." Later the related term "mambises" was applied to including Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, Juan Almeida, and Ernesto Puebla - Delsa Puebla, but we call her Tete. Then there's the freedom fighters in Cuba, who adopted it as a badge of Che Guevara, set sail from Tuxpan, Mexico, toward Cuba Manuel Lastre, brigadier general; Miguel Lorente, also honor. aboard the yacht Granma, to initiate the revolutionary war a brigadier general. And there's Orestes Guerra. Plus Antonio Maceo y Grajales (1845-1896), a black Cuban known against the Batista regime. The expeditionaries landed in south­ myself. There are six of us. The town ofYara really did as the Bronze Titan, was a brilliant military strategist and po­ east Cuba on December 2, 1956. produce a lot of fighters for the Rebel Army.1 0 litical leader. He was a leader of the 1868-78 and 1895-98 wars of independence. He was killed in battle on December 7, 8 Celia Sanchez, a leader of the July 26 Movement in Man­ Fight against racist discrimination 1896, after having led the invasion of Pinar del Rio from Ori­ zanillo in Oriente Province, organized the urban supply and ente. recruitment network for the Rebel Army. She became the first Waters: What differences were there between blacks woman to become a combatant in the Rebel Army. and whites? Was the struggle against racial oppression 13 Tarara in prerevolutionary times was an area of luxury part of your rebellion against the existing social, eco- beachfront homes outside Havana. Diagnosed with exhaustion 9 Biographical information on these and other Rebel Army and pneumonia, Guevara was moved there for rest and recu­ fighters can be found in the glossary to Ernesto Che Guevara, peration at the beginning of March 1959 on doctor's orders, Episodes ofthe Cuban Revolutionary War 1956-58(Pathfinder, 10 In the late 1950s Yara had a civilian population of seven­ together with his family and escort. He remained there until 1996). to ten thousand. May 1959.

8 The Militant July 12, 1999 JULY 1999 ISR/3 instructor for the Granma expeditionaries in Mexico.l4 where they made furniture and did construction work. And he told us we had to leave, because blacks could not He was in the army for a while when he was young. I be there. We asked how it was that he, who was so well never knew him when he was in the military, but niy respected and so well liked in the army, could fail to older brothers did. His family came from the Canary Is­ understand that we had not fought so blacks would con­ lands and he was a very educated man for our small town, tinue being oppressed. But we left. uncommonly so. Very good at chess. He sat us down and When I got home and told the story to the other mem­ taught us how to play. He used to play chess with all the bers of the escort, however, they grabbed their rifles and kids in the neighborhood. My mother Engracia was of went out and took over the club. They made everyone African descent. She had a shopkeeper's heart, and liked leave saying, "This is now the Rebel Army's club." Later business, commerce. She started out making candy. Then Bayo went and told Che about it. Che then spoke to us, she set up a little store in Yara Arriba, and later expanded telling us we shouldn't do things like that, because they it. After that she bought a little store in Las Tunas. Later could be utilized by the enemy. He said the revolution on, with her sister in Palma, they started a bakery. had not yet progressed far enough for people to under­ They were two completely different types of people. stand that there were neither blacks nor whites, but rather My father was extremely kind. He had nothing. Every­ that we are fighting for all Cubans, for equality, against one loved him. He was the best-loved person in town. discrimination.l5 Whenever he saw something that needed to be done, he did it. My mother put her family first, took care of her Martin Koppel: What soldiers took over the club? family, saw that the kids went to school. She was more Villegas: The soldiers under my command. I was head self-centered, you might say. My father was a little more ofChe's escort and I had a platoon there, at the beachfront socialist, more open, kinder. in Tarani. Waters: On your orders? Koppel: How did your aspirations, your expectations, Villegas: No. they did it spontaneously. I didn't get change with the revolutionary struggle? involved. But these were more or less my experiences Villegas: When we went to the Sierra, pushed by the with discrimination. This was as close as I came to be­ expanding struggle against the dictatorship, we didn't have ing directly affected by it. a well-defined Marxist or Leninist political outlook. Sim­ Discrimination is always a rather complex phenomenon. ply a sense of justice. Our aim was to fight the system that It might not affect you directly, but you feel it. You could existed, that was imposed on us, and to fight things that Gran rna Whites-only country club, 1955, attended by mem­ say it's a problem that lies in people's subconscious, and were wrong. Generally that's what motivated us and many they have to be educated. There are people, friends even, others. Often people didn't even know why they went ex­ bers of Cuba's ruling class. In the first months of the revolution in 1959, all whites-only facilities were who have told me, ''I'll give my life for you, but I wouldn't actly. They simply got caught up in the spirit of the struggle opened to everyone, or closed down. let you marry my daughter because you're black." and joined the people who were in the Sierra. Can you believe that? My brother had been a member of the Cuban People's (Orthodox) Party, the same party Fidel had belonged to. ploited. When you spoke with them, they told you sto­ Waters: It seems that at that time in Oriente, blacks It embodied the most progressive section of Cuban youth ries about how they had ended up in the Sierra Maestra, also owned land. That must have affected social rela­ at that time. Theoretically speaking, you might say, the since they had no way to make a living, no way to sup­ tions as well. most progressive elements should have been in the So­ port themselves, searching for a piece of land to provide Villegas: There were regions of the country, like Las cialist Party.l6 But from the point ofview ofthe masses, for themselves by the sweat of their brow. Villas, where discrimination was very severe. Blacks had the most progressive elements among Cuban youth at All these things had a radicalizing effect. When I met their place as blacks. In Havana, too. the time were in the Orthodox Party. And those young him, Che was concerned about the people's health. He In Yara you didn't see really rich people. When I go to people in the Orthodox Party later joined the July 26 would explain to us his ideas ofjustice and equality. How one had to work with the peasants to win them over, from an ideological point of view. How we had to en­ gage in armed propaganda. How we weren't allowed to ''The revolution has created the conditions to end mistreat the peasants. These concepts would form part discrimination and is fighting to do so ... '' of the basis of our socialist ideas. Later on, when the distribution of land began, Che explained to us why it was so urgent, why land distribu­ visit people now, for example, I realize I used to think Movement under Fidel's leadership, my brother among tion was a necessity. He was the first one to argue for so-and-so was rich, but now I realize he wasn't; he didn't them. As one might expect, he dragged me along with agrarian reform. Che was the one who participated in have anything. He was a storekeeper just like us. With him toward those ideas -+- I was the youngest child; while drafting the first agrarian reform law in the Sierra, and the same things, the same status, the same conditions of he was the oldest.l7 And when my brother left town to later he drafted one with Humberto Sori Marin.l8 Fidel life. But he was white, and whites always had a little join the Rebel Army, I stepped forward and threw my­ was seeking a balance. Not just the communist tendency, higher status. That's still the case in Cuba today. The self into the work of the cell. not just the capitalist tendency. Sori Marin was a lawyer, revolution has created the conditions to end discrimina­ That was when my revolutionary activity began, with­ and Fidel paired him with Che, and this is how the first tion and is fighting to do so, but there are still those who out any theoretical foundation. Later, over time, reality agrarian reform law was drafted. It was pretty much bal­ will insult you to your face. itself took hold of my consciousness. When you arrived anced between the two tendencies. This also happens with women. We're fighting to end in the Sierra Maestra, you saw how the peasants lived, All these things had an influence on us. Later, the revo­ discrimination against women. But there are still people how they lacked everything, how they were truly ex- lution itself, as it dramatically unfolded, continually in the armed forces itself who think that women only pushed us to become more and more conscious of the cause us problems. When they have children, they take a importance of building a different society. 16 The Cuban People's (Orthodox) Party was formed in 1947 In my case, I was forced to read and study. I was very maternity leave. The woman's job remains unoccupied on a platform of opposition to imperialist domination of Cuba for up to a year, and that causes conflicts. Of course, that and government corruption. Its youth wing provided initial doesn't mean we shouldn't have women in the armed cadres for the Moncada assault and for what became the July 18 On October 19, 1958, the general command of the Rebel forces; we've got many. 26 Movement. In the 1950s the official party leadership moved Army issued Law no. 3, on the peasants' right to the land. The But they are not treated the same. We don't take disci­ rightward and fragmented. The Popular Socialist Party (PSP) law abolished tenant furming and sharecropping in liberated plinary action against women. If a woman is absent, it's was the name taken in 1944 by the Communist Party of Cuba. territories, and recognized all those who worked the land, in- not the same as a man being absent. Women are not put It opposed Batista's coup, but from the time of the Moncada cluding squatters, as the legitimate owners. . assault until the final months of the revolutionary war, the PSP Humberto Sori Marin was a lawyer who joined the Rebel on trial, but men are. It's a question of courtesy, and cour­ Army in the Sierra Maestra in 1957. Shortly after the 1959 tesy toward women is part of the revolutionary ethic. rejected as adventuristic the political course of the July 26 Movement and Rebel Army. victory he went into opposition and joined an armed counter­ revolutionacy band seeking to topple the revolutionary gov­ The forging of a revolutionary 17 At the time Villegas was 14 years old; his brother was 35. ernment. He was captured and executed in 1961. Waters: As a young person you certainly didn't imag­ ine that one day you would be a general in the Revolu­ tionary Armed Forces. When you were growing up, what did you think you would do? Villegas: We Cubans don't like to be military men. I never wanted to be in the military. I wanted to be a Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War, pilot. That was what I longed for, what most interested 1956-58 me. At home they wanted me to be a storekeeper like my ERNESTO CHE GUEVARA mother, but that's not what I wanted. My father was a worker, a carpenter. He had a shop Ernesto Che Guevara, Argentine by birth, became a central leader of the Cuban revolution and one of the outstanding communists of the 20th century. This book is his firsthand 14 Alberto Bayo had been an officer in the Republican army account of the military campaigns and political events that culminated in the January 1959 during the Spanish civil war. In 1956 he provided military train­ popular insurrection that overthrew the U.S.-backed dictatorship in Cuba. With clarity and ing in Mexico to the future Granma expeditionaries. He moved humor, Guevara describes his own political education. He explains how the struggle to Cuba after Januacy 1, 1959, and worked for the Revolution­ transformed the men and women of the Rebel Army and July 26 Movement led by acy Armed Forces. He had authored a number of books on mili­ tary matters, including 150 Questions for a Guerrilla, which Fidel Castro. And how these combatants forged a political leadership capable had been printed and circulated in several South American and of guiding millions of workers and peasants to open the socialist Central American countries in the 1940s and 1950s. It was pub­ revolution in the Americas. Guevara's Episodes appears here com­ lished in Havana in 1959 following the revolutionacy triumph. plete for the first time in English. Introduction by Mary-Alice 15 On March 22, 1959, around the time of the events Villegas Waters. $23.95 is describing, Cuban prime minister Fidel Castro gave a speech The Bolivian Diary that came to be known as the revolutionacy government's "Proc­ of Ernesto Che Guevara lamation against Discrimination," calling for a campaign Guevara's day-by-day chronicle ofthe 1966-67 guerrilla campaign in Bolivia, a painstaking against unequal treatment of blacks in employment and public effort to forge a continent-wide revolutionary movement of workers and peasants. Includes facilities. In the weeks following the speech, all whites-only facilities in Cuba were rapidly opened to everyone. Those re­ excerpts from the diaries and accounts of other combatants, including- for the first time in fusing were closed down. A translation of this speech was pub­ English -My Campaign with Che by Bolivian leader Inti Pereda. lished in the April 19, 1999, issue of the Militant, and will Introduction by Mary-Alice Waters. $21.95' appear in a forthcoming Pathfinder book containing key An edition of Che Guevara's Bolivian Diai'Y is also available in Spanish. speeches and policy declarations by Castro from the early years of the revolution. Available from bookstores, including those listed on page 16, or write Pathfinder, 410 West St., New Yoik, NY 10014. Tel: (212) 741-0690.

July 12, 1999 The Militant 9 4Rnternational Socialist Re1'iew JULY 1999

an officer of the FAR. How did the Villegas: The October Crisis came when I was at the working class respond to the invasion? school for administrators.22 I was one of those who had This is important because Wash­ become an administrator without ever even having been ington's hand was not stayed prima­ told what a factory was, so they told me that I had to rily by Cuba's military strength, but by study. Che took me out of the factory and sent me to a politics - they feared the determina­ school, a school for administrators, where there were tion of Cuba's working people to de­ about 400 compafi.eros. While I was there at that school, fend their revolution. They feared the the crisis hit. price the U.S. armed forces would have Officers from the FAR general staff came there and to pay. They didn't want to run the risk explained to us that we were being formed into a unit of of invading Cuba, because the casual­ the reserves. They organized us and kept us on alert, ties would have been so high. waiting to see how things went. An officer came by fre­ From your perspective at that time, quently to brief us. But at first we didn't know exactly wooong as intervener at the ceramics what was happening. factory, how did working people re­ Soon we were given more complete information, about spond to news of the invasion at Playa the blockade of the island ordered by the U.S. govern­ Giron? ment. About our decision, the government's decision­ Villegas: At the time of the merce- which by that time had been made public - to not al- low them to inspect us. 23 That would have been a hu­ miliation, an affront to our dignity and our sovereignty. All those questions were explained to us. One thing the revolution Militant has always done is explain Picket line at United Nations, New York, early things to those who don't October 1962, several weeks prior to Cuban Mis­ fully understand. In that sile Crisis, demanding "Hands off Cuba!" sense, Fidel has been a pa­ tient teacher, concerning young and wanted to hang out and have a good time. But himself with reaching even Che said, "Your first duty is to raise your educational level." the least informed citizen. He explained that we had to raise our educational level in That's why people say that order to be more useful to the revolution and to our people. ,"" ~- Fidel is an educator, and it's Then one day, he said to me, "You're a factory inter­ true. He's a master at help­ vener."l9 I said, "Me?" "Yes, you. You're a factory inter­ ing people understand. And vener." Che sent me, with no training and little more people have seen that his than a sixth-grade education, to Sanitarios Nacionales, a ideas correspond to reality. factory just outside Havana (today it is in the municipal­ That is why they trust him. ity of San Jose) that produced bathroom fixtures and other Gran rna When he explained why we ceramics. It was the frrst company we acquired that had Cuban militia in action at Playa Giron (Bay of Pigs), April 1961. U.S.-organized couldn't let ourselves be in­ been jointly held by foreign and domestic owners. It be­ Cuban mercenaries invaded the country; they were defeated in 72 hours. It was spected, why we could nei­ longed to a Mexican and a Cuban. The revolution seized the workers who responded to the call to defend the Cuban revolution. "Every ther give in nor give up, the the assets that belonged to the Cuban, and left the part Cuban, every worker, wanted to go to Giron." people understood. Che was right when he nary landing at Giron, I said an entire people was prepared to sacrifice themselves. had recently left Che 's per­ It didn't matter that the enemy had nuclear weapons, or sonal escort. In essence, I that it had the military might it did. That has never really felt more like a guard than mattered to us. Today, when I think back on those days, a worker. So when they and with the degree of militazy training I now have, I landed, I automatically re­ realize that we truly had great courage, great determina­ ported to Che, ready to go tion, great bravery.. This is ~hat ~. aJways forcect ~he tliere with him and partici­ enemy to stop and think. When a people is determined pate in battle. Che had to defend itself, there is no weapon that can defeat them. done the same thing. 21 He Fidel has said moral weapons can be more powerful than intended to go fight. But nuclear weapons. Marti said the same thing:24 "trenches everyone was ordered to of ideas are stronger than trenches of stone." The Cuban stay at their assigned post. revolution has eloquently proven the truth of Marti's as­ Fidel told Che that he had sertion. to be at his assigned post in Pinar del Rio. The whole Waters: That was the decisive factor in the resolution thing was totally orga­ of the October Crisis. It was not Kennedy and Khrushchev nized. And Che told me the who decided the outcome. It was the Cuban people. same thing Fidel told him. Kennedy and his advisors understood what was happen­ "Stay in the factory," Che ing here in Cuba. The Pentagon told them they could ex­ said. "You must remain at pect 18,000 losses in the first ten days ofan invasion. That's the helm, organizing the more than they were later to suffer in the first five years in defense, the security of the Vietnam. When Kennedy learned that, he changed course factory, and maintaining and began searching for a way out of the crisis. Cuban militia members during October 1962 missile crisis. The battle at Playa production." Villegas: I think those two historical moments were Giron and the Cuban people's response to the October Crisis were "two his­ Who responded when decisive in consolidating the revolution. And the atti­ torical moments decisive in consolidating the revolution." Cuba needed to be de­ tude and character of Fidel during both events was deci­ fended?Who was called to sive. We can't imagine a struggle without someone in belonging to the Mexican alone. Those were the condi­ service? The workers. Those mobilized in their volun­ charge, and Fidel has always led. Che talked about this, tions under which I went there. teer militia battalions were sent off. One of those who about why Fidel is so important. was killed at Playa Giron came from our factory, and it Fidel led the troops at Giron. He got there, although Playa Giron, October Crisis was subsequently named after him. Waters: Several months ago we had the opportunity It's difficult to describe. You'd have to have lived to interview three other generals of the Revolutionary 22 In the face of escalating preparations by Washington for through it to see how every Cuban, every worlcer, wanted an invasion of Cuba in the spring and summer of 1962, the Armed Forces about their experiences during Playa to go to Giron. The workers wanted to leave the factory, Cuban government signed a mutual defense agreement with Giron20 and the October Crisis. We talked with division and I had to stand there telling them that evezyone had to the Soviet Union. In October 1962 President Kennedy de­ generals Nestor Lopez Cuba and Enrique Carreras and carry out the task they were assigned to. Their task was manded removal of Soviet nuclear missiles installed in Cuba Brigadier General Jose Ramon Fernandez. Each one had to remain there and produce, because it was also impor­ following the signing of that pact. Washington ordered a naval a unique perspective on those historic events, of course. tant to maintain production. It was the same thing I had blockade of Cuba, stepped up its preparations to invade, and And your experience during the days of Playa Giron adds been told by Che. I had been convinced of it, and now in placed U.S. armed forces on nuclear alert. Cuban workers and another element. You were working at the ceramics fac­ turn I had to convince others. farmers mobilized in the millions to defend the revolution. tory you just mentioned and were not on active duty as Nevertheless, many worlcers were pulled out. All those Following an exchange of communications between Washing­ ton and Moscow, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, without who were members of militia battalions and sub-battal­ consulting the Cuban government, announced his decision to ions were sent to Giron. Everyone was anxious to know remove the missiles on October 28. 19 After the Cuban revolution came to power in 1959, the new exactly what was happening. It was a challenge to main­ government took over the running of a number of economic enterprises held by Batista's cronies, as well as some public tain discipline, because every time the tanks went by, or 23 Following the October 1962 missile crisis, the U.S. gov­ utilities. These actions, known as "interventions," were in tum the transport vehicles filled with men went by, everyone ernment, with Soviet acquiescence, demanded that the United directed by "interveners." Following Cuba's nationalization of wanted to come out and watch, to cheer for them and Nations conduct an "inspection" of Cuba to verify that the foreign- and domestically owned capital between August and wave, to see the militiamen off. My task was a vezy peda­ Soviet nuclear missiles were being withdrawn. Cuba unam­ October 1960, the term came to be used to describe the revolu­ gogical one. biguously refused this demand. Cuba's position was expressed tionary cadres assigned to head the workplaces in the newly by Fidel Castro on October 23, 1962: "Anyone who tries to nationalized industries. Koppel: And where were you in 1962 at the time of come and inspect Cuba should know that he will have to come equipped for war." the October Crisis? 20 On April 17, 1961, some 1,500 Cuban mercenaries invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs on the southern coast. The counterrevo­ 24 Jose Marti (1853-1895), noted poet, writer, speaker, and lutionaries, organized and financed by Washington, aimed to 21 At the time, Guevara was minister of industry. During the journalist, founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party to fight Span­ declare a provisional government to appeal for direct U.S. inter­ Playa Giron invasion, as well as the Cuban Missile Crisis of ish rule and oppose U.S. designs on Cuba. He organized and vention. The invaders, however, were defeated within seventy­ October 1962, the revolution's central leaders were assigned planned the 1895 independence war and was killed in battle in two hours by Cuba's militia and its Revolutionary Armed Forces. command of troops in different regions of the country. On both Dos Rios on May 19 of that year. His revolutionary anti-imperi­ On April 19 the last invaders surrendered at Playa Giron (Giron occasions, Guevara was sent to head the defense of Pinar del alist program is part of the internationalist traditions and politi­ Beach), which is the name Cubans use to designate the battle. Rio, Cuba's westernmost province. cal heritage of the 'Cuban revolution.

10 The Militant July 12, 1999 JULY 1999 ISR/5 our people didn't want him to be there. of course, has meant fewer perfor­ But he knew it was important not only to mances being opened, but now we're command those who were going to fight, beginning to see a resurgence.28 We but to go himself to fight along with have real theater, like the Escambray them. And the people knew he was there. Theater Company, 29 which brings This gave each combatant extraordinary plays directly to the countryside, and moral courage, to know their commander it's had a tremendous response. was there with them. That he hadn't just There's an element of truth in what given them orders, but was sharing their the NorthAmericans were saying about fate. That was decisive. this. Nobody writes or produces a play The decision during the October Cri­ for the sole purpose of educating sis that under no conditions would we people about theater. In other countries, accept being inspected was also impor­ people usually do it for money. But in tant. There was no fear during either of the case of the revolution, it wasn't for these two events. We were fully con­ economic reasons The important thing vinced we were right and would triumph. was getting the message across. Cul­ Just like we're convinced now that we ture enables man to be fuller, more are right and that, sooner rather than later, complete, more human, and therefore we'll win, we'll overcome the situation more revolutionary. we're in. I can tell you, for example, that I worked on Mother when I was in the Waters: How did the working people school for administrators, and we pre­ respond when the October Crisis ended? sented that play. 30 Shortly thereafter How did they view the settlement be­ we organized a theater competition at tween Washington and Moscow? school, and we put on a number of Villegas: The response was one ofgreat Revolutionary Armed Forces plays. unity. It wasn't a matter of not knowing Members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces visiting art museum. "We're fighting hard So that's the assignment Che was the risks. The Cuban people were fully to have culture become ingrained in the military environment .... As guarantor of the given at that time, and I think he car­ aware of the risks. We also knew that to revolution, the Rebel Army had to raise the educational and cultural level of the people." ried it out extraordinarily well. He give in entailed even greater risks. We developed a series of initiatives that maintained the same stance as our leaders. tion, to broadening the cultural horizons of working were very good. The strong identification between Fidel and the people. It captures the class character ... Later he founded a magazine, Vente Olivo, which many people -which continues today- meant that every­ Villegas: ... of the revolution. people followed because of its clear message from a po­ one understood and supported the position of our gov­ Waters: Yes, and the aspirations of working people to litical and cultural standpoint. 31 It was a weekly of the ernment. For that reason, some of us didn't understand transform themselves, to educate themselves, to be the armed forces directed very much to the entire population. the Soviets. The vast majority of Cubans never under­ bearers of culture into the future that they alone can build. At the time, when the party had not yet acquired a mass stood why the Soviets caved in. Villegas: Che felt that the task of creating and develop­ size, the armed forces was the most authentic representa­ I've read some of the analyses that have been made of ing the Rebel Army's Department of Instruction and Cul­ tive of the people's interests, of the interests of the work­ the crisis. In truth, the Soviets did not have their feet on ture at the time was not only to encourage the creation of ers. That was where you found the best of the country's the ground, because at the time their intercontinental cultural works. Che was the first one to start a campaign working people. The people trusted the armed forces, and nuclear weapons capability was extremely low. The re­ for literacy. Because there is no culture without literacy. they still do, Fidel once said, and Raul repeats it every lationship of forces was totally against them. The North The Rebel Army was an army of people with humble day, that the Rebel Army is the soul of the revolution. Americans had much greater capacity in intercontinen­ origins. If you read the book Secretos de generales, 27 Raul says that the armed forces continues to be the soul of tal weapons. That's why the Soviets brought their weap­ you'll see that almost all the generals interviewed come the revolution. And it is true. The people see the armed ons here. from families of workers or peasants. That was the com­ forces as the representative of the revolution. But we didn't expect the Soviets to back down. For position of the Rebel Army. That's why the first thing we the Cuban people, who are well-informed, it was a great did was set up schools to eradicate illiteracy. The De­ disillusionment that they backed down. We had the im­ partment of Instruction was created, and everyone who 28 The Special Period is the term used in Cuba for the ex­ age of the Soviets from World War II, men of sacrifice, couldn't read and write was emolled in these schools. tremely difficult economic conditions the Cuban people have Che looked for teachers and the work began. faced since the early 1990s, and the policies the leadership has As part of all this, a movement was created to bring implemented to defend the revolution. With the disintegration cultural works to those who had never seen them before, of the regimes of the Soviet bloc that previously accounted for "Who responded when to the members of the Rebel Army. We bad a large the­ 85 percent of Cuba's foreign trade, much of it on tenns favor­ able to Cuba, the island was brutally thrust deeper into the world ater in La Cabana, a huge theater that could hold the Cuba needed to be capitalist market. The sudden break in trading patterns - which entire garrison. Plays were put on there, ballet perfor­ took place as the world capitalist crisis intensified, and has been defended? The workers ... " mances, and other cultural presentations. Movies were exacerbated by the ongoing economic warfare organized by brought in, and other companeros would join us for dis­ Washington - led to the most severe economic crisis in Cuba cussion after a movie was shown. The purpose of all this since 1959. By 1996, through the efforts of Cuban working effort, courage. The general image was one of warmth was to raise the cultural level of the army, which at that people, the decline in industrial and agricultural production bot­ and respect. time was very low. Almost all of us were peasants. tomed out. Shortages of food and other essentials, though still Our decision to stand firm, to not back down, was un­ I think the North Americans must have been worried, severe, have eased. derstood perfectly by the people. Later they didn't un­ thinking that culture for workers and peasants was a sign derstand why the Soviets hadn't maintained the same of communism. But our purpose was to create a move­ 29 The Escambray theater group, based in a rural area of Cuba's position we had. That's the truth. Escambray mountains, is one of Cuba's best-known theater ment that later grew very powerful in the army, with the troupes. For thirty years it has staged plays in towns and vil­ aim of becoming participants in culture, making it our lages across Cuba, including the most isolated areas. Social aims of the Rebel Army own. So a group of amateurs developed, which put on Waters: I'd like to go back to the early days of the plays, performed songs, held festivals. All these things 30 Mother, by the Russian writer Maxim Gorky, recounts the revolution and your experiences as a young soldier un­ were promoted as part of the process of creating a higher atmosphere of utter poverty in which the Russian people lived der Che's command at La Cabana.25 There is a very spe­ cultural level. under tsarism. cific thing related to culture and education, to the social We are still fighting for this today. In the armed forces aims of the Rebel Army, that we'd like to ask you about. we're still fighting for soldiers not to become isolated. 31 Verde Olivo was the weekly magazine of the Revolutionacy One of the recent "biographies" of Che quotes from Because the life of a military man ends up isolating him Armed Forces, published in Havana beginning in 1959. It is currently published as a monthly. some dispatches sent by U.S. embassy personnel to Wash­ from cultural events unless that is con- ington during the first months of1959. The communiques sciously combated. For example, I can tell express concern over what was happening in the garri­ you that one of the hardest things we face son at La Cabana. Che, they reported, was doing some­ in the army is to get soldiers into the habit NEW INTERNATIONAL thing with very disturbing implications. He was organiz­ of going to museums from time to time. A MAGAZINE OF MARXIST POLITICS AND THEORY' ing a department of culture within the Rebel Army and You've got to take people there. Soldiers U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War teaching soldiers to read! The Department of Culture was don't spontaneously go to museums very also doing things like organizing concerts, poetry read­ often. The soldier has very little free time, Jack Barnes ings, and ballet performances right there in La Cabana, and when he does he looks for other forms The Communist Strategy not for the officers but for all the soldiers. The dispatch of entertainment. We're fighting hard for of Party Bullding Today said this was very worrisome, because it showed Che's this, to get people used to going to muse­ Mary-Alice Waters communist tendencies. 26 ums, to have culture become ingrained in I think this captures something very important, on both the military environment, to maintain a Socialism: sides. The U.S. government had good reason to be afraid, cultural level, to get people to like cul­ A Viable Option of course. When education and the cultural conquests of tural events, to like poetry, to like theater. Jose Ramon Balaguer all previous civilization become the property of the work­ But also for them to be able to know when Young Socialists ing class, when working people take this as their right, the poetry is not good, to be able to appre­ Manifesto their prerogative, the rulers should tremble. A new rul­ ciate the quality of cultural works. ing class is in the process of asserting itself. The inci­ Che was a man with a very high cul­ $14.00 • No. 11 dent also captures the importance that not only Che but tural level. He was not just someone with the entire leadership of the Rebel Army gave to educa- a broad political knowledge. He also had The Politics of Economics: Che Guevara and Marxi$t Continuity broad cultural knowledge. He liked po­ etry, the theater, all these things, and he Steve Clark and Jack Barnes 25 Located in Havana, La Cabana had been a garrison of tried to get all of us to take part in it. Che,s Contn'bution to the Cuban .Eoonomy Batista's army before the revolution. On the evening of Janu­ ary 2-3, 1959, Guevara's column took over La Cabana, and he Today the entire population has a dif­ Carlos Rafael Rodriguez became commander of the Rebel Army base stationed in the ferent cultural level. The Special Period, On the Concept of Value and The Meaning of SodalistPianning fort. Batista's main garrisons were soon closed by the revolu­ Two articles by Ernesto Che Guevara · tion and converted into schools. 27 Secretos de generales, (Secrets of gen­ erals) a book written by veteran Cuban jour­ $IO.OO.No.8 26 The dispatch, dated March 20, 1959, is quoted on page nalist Luis Baez, comprises 41 interviews 152 of Jorge Castaneda's biography of Guevara, Compafzero: with top officers of Cuba's Revolutionary Distributed by Pathfinder The Life and Death of Che Guevara (New York: Alfred A. Armed Forces and was released in 1997 by Availabfe from bookstores, including those.Ji$ted on pa!J: 16, or write Pathfinder, 410 West St., Knopf, 1997). Si-Mar Publishers of Havana. New York, NY 10014. Tel: (212) 741-0690. Please include $3 to cover shipping and handling.

July !2, 1999 The Militant 11 6Rnternational Socialist Renew JULY1999

the FAR has always been very important in Cuba. After the events with Ochoa, Abrantes, and the others,34 Fidel called on the top leadership of the armed forces to take on more responsibilities in the leadership. That's when Furry became minister of the interior, I believe. Villegas: Yes, after the Abrantes affair.

Waters: A year ago Division General Ulises Rosales del Toro, who was Raul's second at the time, took over as head of the ministry of the sugar industry. Turning around sugar production is undoubtedly one of the most difficult challenges the country faces. Fidel often makes these kinds of demands on the leadership of the FAR. It's one of the differences with the top officer corps of imperialist armies. When they retire from active duty, with very lucrative business connections, they often be­ come millionaires. The generals of the FAR exemplify the place of the army in Cuban society. They take on the toughest jobs, winning people's respect. What has been the role of the armed forces in the Spe­ cial Period, and how is the army responding to the more difficult material conditions Cuba has faced in recent years? Villegas: Through its example the FAR is helping to solve a whole series of tasks. Because of the confidence people have in the army, as you were saying, whenever there's a need for a cadre who is a real sharpshooter. eyes tum to members of the FAR. That explains the ex­ ample ofUlises, due to the situation we face at the present Courtesy of Richard Dindo time with sugar. Che Guevara and Pombo in Bolivia, late 1966 or early 1967. Rene Martinez Tamayo (Arturo) is at right. Members of the armed forces are trained to provide an example of austerity, of honesty, of honor. Moreover, Of course, there are still a lot of people who were Central America would be inconceivable in Cuba because they are people who know how to lead. And that's ex­ among the original founders of the armed forces, people the government and armed forces represent the same class tremely important. In a factory, an enterprise, an institu­ of very humble origins. Raul has been at the helm of the interests as the big majority of the people. tion, you are leading human beings. That's why you need armed forces, and this has guaranteed that they do not Villegas: In Guatemala, they are criticizing the presi­ organizational ability- to be able to lead people. And go off track. Raul is a very strict person; very fair, but he dent, among other things, for not going to the areas af­ this plays a big role in decisions to take cadres out of the demands that those serving under him be held account­ fected by the catastrophe. Compare this with what hap­ armed forces and put them in such positions. able for their errors. The people have tremendous trust pened here during Hurricane Flora in 1963, which was Fidel said something recently that's a source of pride in the armed forces. one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit Cuba. for us: we don't have anyone from the armed forces who Fidel was right there in the middle of the storm over the is rich. No member of the armed forces has utilized that Waters: The policy on education and culture that Che objections of the rest of the national leadership, putting position to get rich. Rather, every member of the armed put in practice at La Cabaiia was not his policy but the himself at risk and nearly drowning. He was riding an forces who leaves does so under such extraordinarily policy of the revolution. It was first implemented by the armored transport vehicle and traveling aboard a heli- humble circumstances that they have to look for another Rebel Army in the Sierra, wasn't it? Villegas: Yes, Fidel and Che began it in the Sierra. As the guarantor of the revolution, the Rebel Army had to raise the educational and cultural level of the people. ... Culture enables man to be fuller, more complete, That's where the literacy campaign began. Then it was extended to the entire population. But it started with the more human, and therefore more revolutionary... " Rebel Army.

Revolutionary Armed Forces copter, evacuating children. You can understand why the job in order to continue paying their bills. Because there Waters: Your remarks concerning the trust the Cuban people of this country love Fidel so much. are no privileges in our armed forces, no one who retires people have in the armed forces makes me think about This time he didn't go there himself, but you saw him has privileges other Cubans don't. what is occurring now in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Gua­ on television, not sleeping day or night, following the What we receive is honor and recognition from the temala, the terrible social disaster unfolding there fol­ status of the hurricane, keeping people informed about people for the work, the effort, and the sacrifice we've lowing Hurricane Mitch.32 It is useful to contrast this what was happening. He sent Raul to the eastern prov­ made in defense of the country. When I retire, in my with the way the Cuban government responded when Hur­ inces, however, as well as Machadito and Balaguer_33 neighborhood, the CDRs will throw a party for me_35 In ricane Georges swept across Cuba a few weeks earlier. And knowing Fidel, I imagine that he was calling them recognition of my work they will read a summary of my The armed forces took emergency measures, mobilized on the phone every hour asking how things were going biography, and that's it. What the members of the armed resources to help evacuate people and livestock and pro­ and getting information. He couldn't sit still at all, know­ forces need are incentives of a moral character. That tect property. The kind of social disaster occurring in ing that he wasn't there on the front lines. But he made doesn't mean our material needs are completely ne­ absolutely sure that someone was there on the spot at all glected. We still get a wage that you can pretty much get times, to say what had to be done to prevent damage. by on, although I wouldn't say it's easy now in the Spe­ 32 The fall of 1998 saw two major hurricanes devastate the His direct instructions were that the party had to remain cial Period. Many who retire have to look for work in Caribbean and Central America. other places, and they keep working. They're still in good Hurricane Georges slammed into the Caribbean in September there on the scene. And the president, Fidel personally, health, they have a lot of experience, and this enables 1998, killing over 300 people in Puerto Rico, Haiti, and the was the one who was seeing to what had to be done, Dominican Republic. In Cuba, although the storm damaged down to the last detail - how to prevent electric power them to continue feeling useful. We're also not accus­ 40,000 homes, because of the civil defense evacuations, the death lines from falling, how to guarantee that the people main­ tomed to being idle. That's something we don't like. We toll was held to six. tained discipline. like to always be doing something. Hurricane Mitch hit Central America in November, killing over But among all the retirees from the armed forces, you 9,000 people, mostly in Honduras and Nicaragua. Koppel: What role did the FAR play in won't find anyone who's gotten rich, anyone who's mis­ these mobilizations? used the position they've had in the armed forces. And if Villegas: The FAR helped out with he­ they're given leadership tasks, it's because of their abil­ 71e ~~ad«PJ~dd~ licopters, with armored transport vehicles, ity from a leadership and administrative standpoint, be­ How Far We Slaves Have Co111e! with the presidents of the Civil Defense cause they have experience in leading others. units, who in Cuba report to the FAR and South Africa and Cuba in Today's World its minister. The head of Civil Defense is 34 In June-July 1989 Amaldo Ochoa, a division general in the NELSON MANDELA AND FIDEL CASTRO a deputy minister of the armed forces. So Cuban army, and three other high-ranking officers of the Revo­ Speaking together in Cuba in 1991, Mandela there's a direct link. When the general staff lution Armed Forces and Ministry of the Interior were tried, and Castro discuss the unique relationship and is activated in a municipality, you're ac­ convicted, and executed for hostile acts against a foreign state, example of the struggles of the South African tually activating the entire defense appa­ drug trafficking, and abuse of office. Ochoa had organized the smuggling of ivory and other goods while heading Cuba's mili­ and Cuban peoples. Also available in Spanish. ratus that we have in each of these regions, but for specific purposes, such as com­ tary mission in Angola and had established contacts with Pablo $9.95 bating hurricanes, disasters, things like Escobar and other major international drug dealers. At the same trial, thirteen other Cuban army and Ministry of the Interior that. It's not like it was in the past when The Leninist Strategy officers were convicted. we would have to go and evacuate people. That same month, Jose Abrantes was removed as head of the of Party Building Now the population is more organized Ministry of the Interior in connection with these events. In Au­ The Debate on Guerrilla Warfare under the leadership of the Civil Defense, gust he was convicted and sentenced to twenty years in prison in latin America -- which is part of the armed forces. Our par­ on charges of abuse of authority, negligence in carrying out his JOSEPH HANSEN ticipation, the participation of the FAR duties, and improper use of government funds and resources. In the 1960s and '70s, revolutionists in the itself, is less public, but it's more a lead­ Abrantes was replaced as minister by Army Corps General Americas and throughout the world debated ership role. You also have the party and Abelardo Colome (popularly known by his nickname Furry) who how to apply the lessons of the Cuban all the other institutions. When necessary, at the time was deputy minister of defense and first substitute for the minister Raul Castro. revolution to struggles elsewhere. all the troops participate too. It must be By a participant in that debate. $26.95 A documentary record of the case of Ochoa and others con­ remembered that the Revolutionary victed with him can be found in Case 111989: End ofthe Cuban Armed Forces are the people in uniform. To Speak the Truth Connection (Jose Marti Publishing House: Havana, 1989). Why Washington's "Cold War' against Cuba Doesn't End Waters: This broad leadership role of 35 The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs) FIDEL CASTRO AND CHE GUEVARA were organized in 1960 on a block-by-block basis as a tool with In historic speeches before the United Nations and UN bodies, Gue­ 33 Jose Ramon Machado Ventura (Ma­ which the Cuban peop.Ie could exercise vigilance against coun­ vara and Castro address the workers of the world, explaining why the chadito) and Jose Ramon Balaguer are mem­ terrevolutionary activity. In subsequent years it has also served U.S. government so hates the example set by the socialist revolution bers of the Political Bureau of the Commu­ as a vehicle to organize participation at mass demonstrations, in Cuba and why Washington's effort to destroy it will fail. $16.95 nist Party of Cuba. Both are veterans of the take part in vaccination campaigns and civil defense, the fight July 26 Movement and Rebel Army. against petty crime, and other tasks. Available from bookstores, including those listed on page 16.

12 The Militant July 12, 1999 JULY 1999 ISR/7

fessors are brought to speak ditions. This is important, because it's not just someone on specific topics. talking about a battle that took place many years ago. In When we take the case of most cases it's the combatants themselves telling chil­ globalization, for example, dren about what happened on a historic date. It's living we look at it from different history. For example, I am assigned to the school right angles. How the develop­ here at the comer. I have been asked to go and meet with ment of the productive the students, to make a presentation about the meaning forces led to globalization, of the revolution's triumph, the Rebel Army, and then .as Marx explained How, as open it up for questions. It's another one of the methods Fidel has said, it is an inevi­ we have of patriotic and internationalist education. table process that will either In a general sense, the party leads this wotk. It's the be socialist or capitalist. most concrete form of conducting ideological work How neoliberal globaliza­ among the people. Military law- I think it's Article tion is capitalist globaliza­ 75 - says that patriotic-military and internationalist edu­ tion. We look at how it af- cation is political wotk carried out among the popula- tion with the aim of defend­ ing the revolution. Why do we say "with the aim of defend­ ing the revolution"? Because we're creating a sense of pa­ triotism, we're creating a spirit of defense of the home­ land based in all our traditions and values. Above: Militant/Martin Koppel Student rally of 70,000 people in support of the Cuban Koppel: During the Special revolution at University of Havana, September 7, 1994. Period, the economic mea­ Banner of Union of Young Communists (UJC), quoting sures Cuba has been obliged Cuban national hero Jose Marti, reads, "Revolution: to adopt have brought greater Everything I have done until now and everything I will penetration of the world capi­ do, is for that." The UJC, Villegas says, "must win over talist market and its values and other young people to their ideas." social relations, which are the antithesis of the social rela­ What a military person needs most, I think, is recog­ tions and values the revolution nition by society. For example, currently, whenever has fought for. Revolutionar­ people see things going badly, someone will ask, "Why ies in Cuba are waging a po­ don't they bring a military person here?" It's completely litical battle against all these different from other countries. Camilo once said the Rebel influences. What impact does Army is the people in uniform. And it's no different to­ this situation have on the type day in the slightest. That statement by Camilo still holds of living history you convey up. It's a great truth.36 and the political lessons you Courtesy of Richard Dindo try to bring to a generation of Three Cuban veterans of the Bolivian campaign, from left: Pombo, Benigno, Waters: Many readers of the Militant and Perspec­ young people who have never and Urbano, with guides Estanislao Villca and Efrain Quicanas, as they cross tiva Mundial read with great pleasure the interviews with been through the experience of the border from Bolivia into Chile, February 1968, after escaping encircle­ generals Lopez Cuba, Carreras, and Fernandez that were making a socialist revolution ment of Bolivian army. published a few months ago.37 A comrade who works in and beginning to build a new a steel mill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, read them to­ society? gether with some of his cowotkers who he said were very fects international communications, the influence of the impressed. When I asked, "What is it that impressed you Internet, the information superhighway, all those things. Union ofYoung Communists and your fellow workers about the interviews?" the an­ That is one example, but we also have classes in Marti, Villegas: I believe what we're doing is vitally impor­ swer was very interesting. After thinking a few seconds, in Marx, in Lenin. Twice a month there are classes with tant. By itself, it doesn't solve the problem of the ideo­ he replied, "Two things. First of all, the political level of eight hours of instruction. There are also classes for rank­ logical struggle. There are a whole series of institutions those genemls." He said that we're used to the"fact that and-file soldiers, an entire system. But we don't leave it that must also be a part of this fight, the whole ideologi­ Fidel's speeches are very political, but these interviews there. We also give classes to workers, to civilians. cal fight. But having people who are respected, who are show there's a much broader political leadership cadre. The subject matter in the courses given in the army is highly regarded in their own neighborhoods, who are ex­ He noted that generals in the United States are not thought recorded and taken to all the units. Lectures given by amples of sacrifice, work, and dedication, has a deep of as being men of profound ideas. The second thing that ministers, by leaders of the revolution, are recorded on influence on young people. impressed him and his cowotkers, he said, was "the hu­ video and later shown to all the units. The course mate­ I think the Union ofYoung Communists (UJC) should manity of the genemls." rial on a number of subjects from the perspective of the have more of a presence in the neighborhoods. Not only Don't those two observations capture important lead­ ideas of Marx, Lenin, and Marti, are collected together in the factories, not only in the schools, but in the neigh­ ership qualities, political qualities, that distinguish a revo­ in a notebook. Last year the topics dealt primarily with borhoods too. Sometimes a young person is not in school lutionary army? Che. We analyzed all aspects of Che's ideas. and not wotking, yet he or she is in the neighborhood. We also have a system for studying anniversary dates. Political education We have what are called "encounters with history." These Villegas: The political level of a geneml, of a soldier require real pre

July !2, 1999 The Militant 13 BRnternational Socialist Review JULY1999

of the Cuban revolution. 42 realize that potential. He proposed to Fidel that Cuba as­ Villegas: Yes, I'm also pre­ sist some of those African countries, such as Guinea, An­ paring the diary I wrote in the gola, and the Congo. And Fidel believed this was correct. Congo during this time. At the same time, Che himself had already made his decision to leave Cuba. He had not decided to go to Af­ Waters: There's a lot of com­ rica. Anyone who thinks that is completely mistaken. mentary, especially by enemies Che wanted to go to Argentina, to his homeland, to fight of the Cuban revolution, who for Latin America. But the conditions for this did not yet say Cuba's effort to aid the lib­ exist. So he was asked to postpone these plans for a little eration forces in the Congo was while. It was to be a brief postponement, and he felt he a total disaster, an adventure. could use that time to help the Africans. Not as a com­ This type of criticism appears batant, but as an adviser. in several of the recent biogra­ Everything - including the information from phies of Che and in other ar­ compaiieros who had been sent there earlier- indicated ticles. What is your evaluation? that suitable conditions existed. Che studied the situation Villegas: I think we have to in Mozambique, Guinea, and Angola, but it turned out view the events in the Congo that the Congo was really the place with the most battle­ tested fighters, with more of a tradition of struggle, with the whole Lumumba experience behind them. We should also add that Che admired and felt a certain degree of commitment toward Lumumba and his legacy. Che was really inclined to try to help Lumumba's people above all.43 minister of the That wasn't the whole thing. The decision wasn'tjust for Congo Patrice Lumumba, who Che and his unit to go to Africa. The Cuban government was captured while under protec­ also followed through with all the other commitments made tion of UN "peacekeeping" troops during Che's trip. A group of Cubans, a battalion of troops, and murdered following 1960 pro­ was sent to the French Congo to help. A group was also imperialist coup. "Che admired . sent to Guinea. In other words, the commitments made were and felt a certain degree of com­ not left hanging.44 mitment toward Lumumba and With the decision that Che would go, Victor Dreke, his legacy." who had earlier been chosen to lead the Congo group, was named second in command. Everyone in the unit We can't leave them on their own like was black, the only whites were Che -who was going that, unattached. That's my opinion. for a short period of time, to assist- and his liaison The party has neighborhood nuclei with Latin America, Jose Maria Martinez Tamayo, or cells, but the UJC doesn't. It has Papi.45 cells in the factories, the schools, the It was thought that white combatants would not be armed forces. Yet youth are the most accepted by the revolutionary organizations in Africa. numerous group of "unattached" Tricontinental That's why, Che and Papi aside, all the rest of the Cu­ people in the neighborhoods. In the Cuban internationalists in Congo, 1965. Among them are Jose Ramon bans were black. Western Army, the UJC pays atten­ Machado Ventura (with cap), Emilio Aragones and Che Guevara Once we got to the Congo, we found that things weren't tion to nonmembers. (against wall, with Guevara smoking), Harry Villegas (standing), and at all like we had been told by the leaders there. For one The UJC has formed the Panchito Ulises Estrada (at center, facing sideways). thing, we thought that [Laurent] Kabila and [Gaston] Gomez Toro Youth Brigades. It's a Soumialot, the leaders of the struggle in that region, voluntary organization. In fact, to emphasize that it's vol­ from two sides: the political and the human. would leave their centers in exile and come join us at the untary they have to pay twenty cents to join. Members First the human side. During Che's last trip through can participate in recreational activities and other events. Africa and Asia between December 1964 and March 1965, Among them are UJC members who carry out recruit­ he was able to evaluate the revolutionary potential in Af­ 43 For more on the esteem that Guevara and the central lead­ ment work talking about what the UJC is, talking about rica, and consider how the Cuban revolution could help ership of the Cuban revolution had for Lumumba and his lead­ our revolutionary history. UJC members get paired up ership of the anti-imperialist struggle in the Congo, see the with nonmembers. We say to a UJC member: "You look 42 From April to November 1965, Guevara headed a contin­ ·speeches by Guevara and Fidel Castro in To Speak the Truth: after so-and-so, pay attention to him, work with her." We gent of more than one hundred Cuban volunteer fighters in the Why Washington's 'Cold War' against Cuba Doesn't End, pub­ Congo. Harry Villegas was one of these combatants. The con­ lished by Pathfinder. have to do something similar with our youth who are tingent went there to support liberation forces in the Congo neither in school nor working. We can't just ignore them, who belonged to the movement founded by Patrice Lumumba, 44 Following Guevara's trip, Cuban volunteers were sent to just leave them for the enemy to influence. If they like in their fight against the country's pro-imperialist regime. assist liberation fighters in a number of African countries, in­ North American music, if they like dancing and things Patrice Lumumba, founding leader of the independence move­ cluding Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, the Congo-Brazzaville like that, we have to see to it that they have a life too. ment in the former Belgian colony of the Congo, and its first (the former French Congo), and Angola. A number of partici­ When I was young, I was a Boy Scout. I played volley­ prime minister, was the most intransigent of the leaders resist­ pants' accounts of these missions are contained in Secretos de ball, baseball. I had a series of activities that led me to ing the efforts to keep the new nation under the thumb of im­ generales. have a healthy life. perialism. He had been ousted in September 1960 in a U.S.­ Healthy activity has to be available to the youth. And backed coup led by army chief of staff Joseph Mobutu, who 45 Victor Dreke, during Cuba's revolutionary war, had been it has to be organized without telling them what to do. later changed his name to Mobutu Sese Seko. Lumumba, who a leader of the Revolutionary Directorate column in Las Villas had been under the "protection" of United Nations troops, was that collaborated with Guevara's Rebel Army column in the Note that the Panchito Gomez Toro Youth Brigades are a captured and then murdered in January 1961 by imperialist­ fall of 1958. separate group; it's not the UJC. A UJC member creates backed forces loyal to rightist figure Moise Tshombe. Jose Maria Martinez Tamayo, known alternately by the nom the group, organizes it, and UJC members join, but it In mid-1964 a new revolt broke out in the Congo led by pro­ de guerres of Mbili, Papi, and Ricardo, was a Cuban revolu­ doesn't belong to the UJC. They have to win their influ­ Lumumba forces. The rebels were able to gain control of tionary who worked as Guevara's liaison with revolutionary ence individually, as members of this organization, this Stanleyville (today Kisangani), the country's second-largest forces in Latin America beginning in 1962. He served with brigade that encompasses almost everyone. Whatever city. They were defeated in November 1964, however, with the Guevara in the Congo and then Bolivia, where he was in charge influence they have, that's the influence of the UJC. help of Belgian and South African mercenary armies - po­ of the advance preparations for the guerrilla front. He was killed There's no help from the local UJC committee, saying litically and militarily backed by Washington- whose assign­ in battle in June 1967. "you must do this." No. The local UJC committee car­ ment was to prevent the vast mineral wealth of the Congo from escaping imperialist control. ries out this work through its members who belong to Thousands were massacred as the imperialist the brigade. It has to guide its members in how to win forces retook Stanleyville. over other young people to their ideas. Because unless Nevertheless, large numbers of rebel fighters Thomas Sankara Speaks you do so, you kill the spirit of participation by the youth. remained in several areas of the country. These You have to win them over. were the forces whom the Cubans assisted. The Burkina Faso Revolution, 1983-87 Owing to deep divisions and other weaknesses THOMAS SANKARA among the forces in the Congo and the decision Waters: Where does the name "Panchito Gomez Toro" The leader of the Bukina Faso revolution recounts come from? Who was he? of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to Villegas: Panchito Gomez Toro was a son of Maximo withdraw support from the fight against the how peasants and workers in thisWestAfrican coun­ Gomez. He died fighting with Maceo. 41 He's a symbol pro imperialist regime, the Cuban contingent was try began confronting hunger, illiteracy, and economic compelled to withdraw in November 1965. Most of Cuban youth, his story is a very beautiful one. He of the fighters returned to Cuba, but Guevara, backwardness prior to the 1987 coup in which Sankara traveled with Marti through Latin America and was Villegas, Carlos Coello, and Jose Maria Mar­ was murdered. $18.95 greatly influenced by Marti and Maceo. When Maceo tinez Tamayo went to Tanzania, where they re­ fell, he went to defend his body and was killed. mained for several months while preparations were made to open a guerrilla front in Bolivia. Che and the Congo revolutionary war While in Tanzania, Guevara wrote Episodes Waters: In the last year some parts ofChe's Episodes of the Revolutionary War in the Congo, using Cuba's Internationalist Foreign Policy, 1975-80 of the Revolutionary War in the Congo have been pub­ as a reference the campaign diary he had kept. lished here in Cuba in a book by William Galvez, El The complete manuscript was published in FIDEL CASTRO sueiio africano del Che [Che's African dream]. There Spanish in April 1999. Castro discusses the historic importance of the an- Villegas's article on the Congo, "Con el arma have also been a number of articles in the Cuban press, de Ia autoridad moral" (Armed with moral au­ ticapitalist revolutions in 1979 in Grenada and Nicara- including one that you wrote, about what had previously thority), was published in Spanish (July 1997) gua; Cuba's internationalist missions in Angola and been a little-known chapter in the history of Africa and and English (December 1997) in issue 137 of Ethiopia; relations with the U.S. government and with Tricontinental. It is available, along with other articles and interviews by revolutionists who Cubans living in the United States; the fight within the 41 Maximo Gomez (1836-1905), born in Bani, the Domini­ knew and worked with Guevara, in the book­ Nonaligned Movement to forge a front of struggle can Republic, was a military leader of the Cuban independence let, Celebrating the Homecoming of Ernesto forces in the Ten Years War and the 1895-98 war. Following Che Guevara's Reinforcement Brigade to against imperialist exploitation; and the proletarian in­ the defeat of Spain in 1898, he was dismissed as commander Cuba: Articles from the Militant on the 30th ternationalism that has guided the foreign policy of in chief of the Cuban army by the pro-imperialist regime im­ Anniversary of the Combat Waged in Bolivia the Cuban government since the 1959 revolution. posed by the U.S. occupation army. He died in 1905. by Che and His Comrades. That booklet, avail­ Antonio Maceo was one of the chief military leaders of both able in both English and Spanish, can be or­ $20.95 independence wars who was killed in battle in 1896. dered from Pathfinder.

14 The Militant July 12, 1999 JULY 1999 ISR/9 front.46 That didn't happen. The leaders didn't show up; Villegas: The fact is, we came smack up against real­ which we lost some combatants, Che decided to move to not one of them came to the front. This was the situation ity: we had no one on whom we could lean for support. guerrilla warfare. We began to conduct ambushes and to when Che got there, and it didn't change. A decision was made by the forces in the Congo to utilize methods of irregular warfare, carrying out guer­ We had made commitments, and we followed through initiate combat at Front de Force.48 It was done precipi­ rilla attacks. with them, including sending doctors and others to help. tously, before things were ready. More preparation and The government of the Congo, against which the Che had Fidel's complete backing. Fidel said, "We're training were needed. In irregular warfare, if you do the Lumumba movement was fighting, appealed to the Orga­ going to support Che in whatever way we can." He sent basics, things can go well. But we had to start from zero. nization ofAfrican Unity (OAU), requesting that the OAU a number of leading people who might help the organi­ We were up against ideological and religious concepts, intervene in this war because of the presence of Cubans. zation ofthe struggle, including [Oscar] Fernandez Mell, a very complicated task. "Let's dig a trench;' you might There were discussions within the OAU and among the [Oscar Fernandez] Padilla for the Cuban embassy in Tan­ say. And the response would be, "No, we're not getting African presidents at a meeting in Accra,50 and they zania, [Emilio] Aragones.47 in. Holes in the ground are for the dead" You might say, adopted a general line of not giving assistance to opposi­ If a criticism can be made, I think it's that we tion forces in any domestic conflict. They decided didn't fully understand the characteristics and tra­ they would only support forces fighting against a ditions of the Africans we worked with at that colonial power. This meant that in the future they time. The ranks accepted us, but their leaders would give support only to revolutionary move­ didn't That's the reality. It wasn't the fault of ments in the Portuguese colonies -the only colo­ any individual; it was a question of leadership nies that remained. This was a change from the traditions. previous position of the OAU, which had given At a certain point, Che decided that any Cu­ open support to the pro-Lumumba forces. ban who wanted to leave should go, while he and Of course there was Namibia too, but it was those who wanted would stay, because he saw not seen as a colony. It was supposedly held in the possibilities of cadres developing among the trusteeship by the UN. 51 fighters themselves. The Congo groups weren't fighting directly Che's conviction was always that the struggle against a colonial power. Formally the Congo sifts out its own leaders. The struggle itself reveals was independent; the old colonial power, Bel­ who is willing and able to be a leader, and who is gium was gone. They were fighting their own not. Che saw that among that group of thousands brothers, even if the government forces were rep­ of men, their own leaders would emerge. He resentatives of colonial and imperialist powers, worked hard to find someone who would share that the exploiters. It was a different situation, a responsibility together with him. But in the end, struggle against Mobutu. And it was portrayed he wasn't successful. He was unsuccessful, in my as if the two sides were massacring each other. opinion, because there was not yet a deep enough The OAU also exerted pressure on the revolu­ sense of nationhood among them. tionary movement in the Congo, forcing them Those who had such a consciousness were not to say that outside forces had to leave. Pressure there at the front. Instead, there was a tribal con­ Militant/Martin Koppel was put on Mobutu -actually Mobutu was gone sciousness, a regional consciousness. A sense of Mary-Alice Waters and Brigadier General Harry Villegas (Pombo) dur­ at this point, Joseph Kasavubu was in 52 - to nationhood had not yet established roots. This, ing interview in Havana, November 1998. get all the forces there to leave, and to get the in my opinion, is the reason for the failure. mercenaries out. In this context, they also pres­ From the personal standpoint, during the period he "You can't shoot that way, you have to aim the rifle." sured Tanzania to confiscate the ships, weapons, and other was in Africa, Che was tom. He wanted to leave Cuba to But it's not just aiming. We had to show them how to materiel destined for the pro-Lumumba movement forces. collaborate with other fighters. He was unable to go to close one eye and use a directing eye. We had to teach Argentina. So he decided to go where he felt he could be them how to close one eye, because there were some Waters: The whole history of Africa would have been a help. His admiration, his esteem, the regard he felt for who dido 't know how. All this required that we train them different if the conditions in the Congo had more closely Lumumba, for those people in struggle, who really had first, and for this great patience was needed. resembled what you had originally thought. considerable forces, weighed heavily. But the fundamen­ You don't see these things in Che's book; what you Villegas: It would have been completely different if­ tal problem there, which he couldn't surmount, was tribal see in it is a dialogue taking place based around the day's apart from the conditions I explained earlier concerning the divisions. It was the lack of identification between the events.And when someone is as critical as Che, the things individual leaders-the basis had been laid to keep fight­ different groups. At its roots, it was a problem of social written down are always harsh, especially when things ing. The presence of small groups of Cubans in each unit development. are going unfavorably. made this possible. So when this new political situation What actually happened was that we managed to get Our group of Cubans still had many compafieros with developed, Fidel left open the final decision. Fidel gave around the divisions to some degree by putting a group a sixth-grade education. I~ was a challenge to understand Che a free hand; Che himself would decide what to do. And of Cubans to work with each tribe. Then they had some­ the Africans' customs, behavior, and life. This situation he would always have Cuba's support. A senior delegation thing in common -the Cubans who were advising them. led some people - not very many, two or three - to from the [Communist Party] Central Committee was sent from Cuba for discussions with the Tanzanians. But the problem was with the OAU agreement. It ''Che's conviction was that the struggle itself wasn't a problem with the Tanzanians. Che tried, he fought, he worked to see who would stay. reveals who is willing and able to be a leader... " He told the Cubans, "Whoever wants to leave can leave. Whoever wants to stay can stay." That was the decision

This allowed Che to exercise leadership. Although people ask to leave and return to Cuba. 50 Meeting in Accra, Ghana, October 21-26,1965, the Orga­ didn't speak the same language, although they couldn't Che could not grasp this. You have to understand what nization of African Unity decided to limit military aid by for­ understand each other, they more or less always had a being a Cuban revolutionary meant to Cbe. He always eign powers. link, because there were Cubans among them. This was had a very high standard- like everyone holds today. the link that connected all of them to a leadership, and at Che believed that a Cuban revolutionary, above all, had 51 In 1920, under the authority of a League of Nations man­ certain moments it allowed everyone to work together. to be consistent in word and deed date, Namibia (South-West Africa) came under South African But there was something we could not do, as a matter First, there was his understanding of what it meant to control. In 1946 the United Nations called for South Africa to of principle: go around the leadership that invited us there. be a revolutionary. A revolutionary, he once said, is "the submit a new trusteeship agreement. This request was rejected highest level the human species achieves." But then he by the government of South Africa, which maintained that the It's a complex thing. We could not pull everyone around UN had no right to challenge its occupation of Namibia. In us without dealing with Soumialot, Kabila, and the oth­ added the adjective "Cuban" to it. As he says in his letter 49 1966 the UN General Assembly voted to strip South Africa of ers, who never arrived at the front. to Fidel, he would never renounce being a Cuban revo­ its mandate. Therefore, up to the last moment we remained loyal lutionary. Following Che's lead, other Cubans there felt Namibia won its independence in 1990. A decisive factor to them. If one could say there was an error in going to the same way. Che's dedication, his selflessness- these contributing to this victory was the defeat of the forces of the the aid of the Congo struggle, one has to look at it from qualities are not easy for each and every individual to South African apartheid regime in Angola at the hands of the the standpoint of what we were attempting to achieve. achieve. When someone representing the Cuban revolu­ Angolan army, Cuban volunteers, and Namibian independence We were trying to organize them in a way that would tion lacked these qualities, Che was extremely critical fighters. help them develop the struggle much more broadly. This of them. You'd have to have lived through this to understand it. 52 Joseph Kasavubu had been president of the Congo under was Che's conception. And help them in whatever way Lumumba, and supported the coup that ousted Lumumba in possible. Our idea was not to make them communists, I often think I'm not really getting across when I try to late 1960. In July 1964 Kasavubu appointed Moise Thombe as not to make them socialists. The idea was to help estab­ explain it. And when I explain the conditions there, I prime minister, but dismissed him in October 1965. Kasavubu lish Lumumba's ideas and what he had been fighting for. don't do so just to defend Che. I'm speaking about real­ remained as president until November 1965, when he himself As could be expected, our influence moved them a little ity. And our time there was very short, transitory. was ousted in a coup by Joseph Mobutu, who, as Mobutu Sese to the left, made them more anti-imperialist, helped tie Seko remained president of the Congo (Zaire) until 1997. them to the most progressive ideas. And we were mak­ Waters: At the beginning you said there were two ing progress in this. sides, the political and the human; What about the po­ litical? Available from Pathfinder Waters: You could not know what was possible, what Villegas: Seen from the angle of world politics, the could be accomplished, without trying. It would be de­ situation was very complex. We were on the continent of cided in struggle. Africa, in a world that was much less globalized than it El sueno africano del Che: is today. There were organized regional groupings that iQue sucedio en pursued their own continental interests. Ia guerrilla congolesa? 46 Laurent Kabila and Gaston Soumialot were two leaders After combat began at the battle of Front de Force, in of the movement identified with Lumumba. [Che's African dream: what happened in the Congolese guerrilla?] 47 Oscar Fernandez Mell was a commander in the Revolu­ 48 On June 29, 1965, a guerrilla unit composed of fighters Bv WILLIAM GALVEZ tionary Armed Forces. A medical doctor, he later served in from Cuba and Rwanda led an unsuccessful attack on a mer­ various posts, including as head of the general staff of Cuba's cenary garrison at Front de Force (also known as Force Bendera) Contains major Western Army, second in command of the army general staff, in the Congo. Fourteen Rwandans and four Cubans were killed and Cuba's ambassador to Britain. in the battle. excerpts from Oscar Fernandez Padilla was a vice-minister of the Ministry Guevara's Episodes of Industry at the time. 49 Che Guevara's furewellletter addressed to Fidel Castro, of the Revolutionary . Emilio Aragones had been July 26 Movement national coor­ written before he left Cuba for the Congo, was made public in dinator in 1960, and subsequently played a central role in the October 1965, at the presentation of the Central Committee of War in the Congo. national leadership of the political organizations that preceded the Communist Party of Cuba. It is available in many places, Published by Casa de las Americas, Havana $26.95 the Communist Party of Cuba. He served on the CP's Central including in Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War, pub­ lished by Pathfinder. In Spanish. Committee from 1965 to 1991. Available in bookstores on page 16.

July 12, 1999 The Militant 15 1 ORnternational Socialist Review JULY1999 he took. Still, not a single leader of the groups that were fighting in the Congo came to the front lines. Not one. At this point the idea arose of go­ ing in search of Pierre Mulele at the other end of the countly.53 We ourselves started to exert pres­ sure by saying that the logical thing would be to go in search of Mulele. Che told us to go look for Mulele. But Mulele was at the other end of the country. We would have had to cross all of the Congo, a country of some­ thing like three million square kilometers. Cross­ ing it would have involved a journey like Mao Zedong's Long March. 54 That was his idea. Che wanted to go with four others. But we argued: How could Che know for sure that Mulele would be there at the front, that he was at the head of his fighters, given that Soumialot and Kabila hadn't come to the front. That made Che think. He really had no basis to be sure that Mulele would be found Santa Clara, there were hardly any open spaces. The there, after this gigantic march. That was when he people came from towns a long way from the highway decided to leave the Congo. to pay tribute to him. I truly believe that Che's position, if we look at There were some very moving things. I remember it from an individual point of view, was an ex­ when we were entering the province of Villa Clara, for ample of selflessness. He subordinated himself example. I don't know how they were able to get every­ completely, without any conditions. Most never 55 one there. As we passed through, they sang Carlos realized who he was. And when the leaders re­ Puebla's song.57 They kept singing, it was played over alized Che was there, it was very disconcerting loudspeakers, and the people were humming along. And for them. What should they do? They themselves it was endless, endless, endless. It was deeply moving. had never been there at the front. They hadn't Fidel's brief speech at the Santa Clara ceremony was shown any interest in being there. And now some­ a masterpiece. It shows why he has such an impact on one had come to help them inside the country, our people. The thoughts on people's minds were summed while they were outside. This was a really diffi­ up by Fidel when he said that this wasn't a farewell to cult situation for them. By the time they were faced Che. We were welcoming a reinforcement detachment. with this decision, the OAU pressure had already A reinforcement detachment! To fight alongside us! begun, demanding that we get out. And now it is Tania who will join that detachment, mean­ So you have to take into account the time and ing that women will become part of it. 58 This is important the place in which all this occurred. In the few brief because of the decisive contribution women make to soci­ months he was there, Che gradually realized there ety. That is what Tania symbolizes. And along with Tania, were no prospects for the thing to go anywhere. Militant photos by Martin Koppel nine other combatants will arrive to swell the ranks of the Massive tribute by the Cuban people in October 1997 to detachment, which as Fidel said is a Latin American de­ Revolutions's reinforcement detachment the "reinforcement detachment,'' as remains of Guevara tachment. And it is important for the entire continent to and a number of his comrades who fell in Bolivia were Waters: Last year, the remains ofChe and sev­ have a detachment of Latin American combatants here. returned to Cuba. The response was an expression of the eral of the other compafieros who died in Bolivia I am convinced these internationalists will give us 56 Cuban people's longtime "identification with Che's ideas were returned to Cuba. You commanded the much greater strength as we confront the struggles that and his principles." military honor guard for the solemn and impres­ lie ahead, the struggles we are waging. sive ceremony in Santa Clara. What seemed to us Che's ideas are alive, and we're still fighting for these most important about those events was thatthey became character. It's not simply respect for someone who died. ideas, which he gave his life for. We're fighting today, dur­ a vehicle for the Cuban people to express their revolu­ It's really a show of love, of esteem, of identification ing the Special Period, to achieve greater productivity, and tionary commitment, to reaffirm their support for the pro­ with what Che represented. That's really what's behind to be more true to our principles. That's what these ideas letarian internationalist course that Che and the other the tribute paid to Che by our entire people. mean today. They are the dreams and ideas that unite us. compafieros in Bolivia fought for. Che helped bring this about by what he taught and The immense dignity of the ceremony, the spontane­ through his personal example. 'Fhat personal example had 57 Carlos Puebla was a well-known Cuban musician who ous outpouring of emotion and respect, paid homage to a deep impact on the people. There are some Cubans who wrote "Hasta siempre, Comandante," a tribute to Che Guevara all those who have fought and died for humanity's fu­ know little more about Che than that he died. Many oth­ that remains popular in Cuba. ture. What impact did these events have inside Cuba? ers wish that Che were at our side today, fighting during Villegas: We're not a people who make a big deal when this difficult and complex time for our people. All this, I 58 In the closing months of 1998, the remains of ten other someone falls. We don't worship the dead. I think the believe, is what led so many to tum out, not only in Santa combatants who fought with Che Guevara were recovered in reception for Che has a deeper political and ideological Clara, but all along the way, in massive numbers. It was Bolivia. Among them was Haydee Tamara Bunke, known by identification with his ideas and his principles. her nom de guerre Tania, the only woman in Che's guerrilla, who fell in combat in August 1967. The remains were returned It had a tremendous impact on me. I traveled in the 53 Pierre Mulele had been minister of education in Patrice to Cuba and interred along with those of Ernesto Guevara and Lumumba's government. In January 1964 he had launched a jeeps that carried the remains of each of the combatants. others at a December 30 military ceremony in Santa Clara. rebellion against the pro-imperialist regime in the province of I could see the extraordinary discipline of the people, Raul Castro presided over the event, and the honor guard was Kwilu, east of Leopoldville (today Kinshasa). the extraordinary organization. I can tell you that from commanded by Brig. Gen. Delsa "Tete'' Puebla. Harry Villegas the Plaza of the Revolution in Havana, all the way to was among the participants in the Santa Clara ceremony. 54 In 1934-35, during the civil war in China, troops of the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong were surrounded in south-central -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP---- China by forces led by Chiang Kai-shek. To break out of the encirclement, some 90,000 troops un­ Where to find Pathfinder books and dis­ NEW JERSEY: Newark: 87A Halsey. 8LL. Tel: 0171-928-7993. Compuserve: dertook what came to be known as the Long tributors of the Militant, Perspectiva Mun­ Mailing address: Riverfront Plaza, P.O. Box 101515,2702 March, traveling 6,600 miles on foot to north­ di a/, New International, Nouvelle 200117. Zip: 07102-0302. Tel: (973) 643- Manchester: Unit 4, 60 Shudehill. Postal west China. During the yearlong trek, their num­ Internationale, Nueva Internacional and Ny 3341. Compuserve: 104216,2703 code: M4 4AA. Tel: 0161-839-1766. bers were reduced to fewer than 6,000. International. NEW YORK: New York City: 59 4th Av­ Compuserve: 106462,327 55 During his seven months in the Congo, Gue­ enue (corner of Bergen) Brooklyn, NY Zip: CANADA UNITED STATES 11217. Tel: (718) 399-7257. Compuserve: vara took the nom de guerre Tatu, and was not Montreal: 4581 Saint-Denis. Postal code: 102064,2642 ; 167 Charles St., Manhattan, publicly identified as leader of the Cuban contin­ ALABAMA: Birmingham: Ill 21st St. H2J 2L4. Tel: (514) 284-7369. Compuserve: NY. Zip: 10014. Tel: (212) 366-1973. gent. Only a few leaders of the Congo liberation South Zip 35233. Tel: (205) 323-3079. I 04614,2606 forces learned his true identity. Compuserve: 73712,3561 OHIO: Cleveland: 1832 Euclid. Zip: Toronto: 851 Bloor St. West. Postal code: CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 2546 W. 44115. Tel: (216) 861-6150. Compuserve: 56 Emesto Che Guevara's remains were found M6G 1M3. Tel: (416) 533-4324. Compuserve: Pico Blvd. Zip: 90006. Tel: (213) 380-9460. 103253,1111 I 03474,13 in Bolivia in July 1997, together with those of six Compuserve: 74642,326 San Francisco: other revolutionary combatants from Bolivia, Cuba, 3284 23rd St. Zip: 94110. Tel: (415) 282-6255, PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 1906 Vancouver: 3967 Main St. Postal code: and Peru. All were killed in the course of the guer­ 285-5323. Compuserve: 75604,556 South St. Zip: 19146. Tel: (215) 546-8218. V5V 3P3. Tel: (604) 872-8343. Compuserve: rilla campaign led by Che Guevara to topple the Compuserve: 104502,1757 Pittsburgh: 1103 I 03430,1552 militaiy dictatorship in Bolivia and link up with FLORIDA: Miami: 137N.E. 54th St. Zip: E. Carson St. Zip 15203. Tel: (412) 381-9785. rising revolutionary struggles elsewhere in Latin 33137. Tel: (305) 756-1020. Compuserve: Compuserve: 103122,720 FRANCE America, especially in the Southern Cone. The re­ 103171,1674 Paris: Centre MBE 175, 23 rue Lecourbe. TEXAS: Houston: 6969 Gulf Freeway, mains of the seven combatants were brought back GEORGIA: Atlanta: 230 Auburn Ave. Postal code: 75015. Tel: (01) 47-26-58-21. to Cuba, where hundreds of thousands of Cubans N.E. Zip: 30303. Tel: (404) 577-7976. Suite 380. Zip: 77087. Tel: (713) 847-0704. Compuserve: 73504,442 mobilized to pay tribute to their example and to Compuserve: 104226,1245 Compuserve: 102527,2271 express determination to remain true to that revo­ ICELAND ILLINOIS: Chicago: 1223 N. Milwaukee WASHINGTON, D.C.: 1930 18th St. lutionary course. At the October 17 ceremony in Reykjavik: Klapparstig 26. Mailing ad­ Ave. Zip: 60622. Tel: (773) 342-1780. N.W. Suite #3 (Entrance on Florida Ave.) Zip: Santa Clara, where the remains were buried, Cu­ dress: P. Box 0233, IS 121 Reykjavik. Tel: 552 Compuserve: 104077,511 20009. Tel: (202) 387-2185. Compuserve: ban president Fidel Castro told participants that 5502. INTERNET:[email protected] he viewed the event as a homecoming. He saw "Che IOWA: Des Moines: 2724 Douglas Ave. 75407,3345. and his men as reinforcements, as a detachment of Zip: 50310. Tel: (515) 277-4600. WASHINGTON: Seattle: 1405 E. Madi­ NEW ZEALAND invincible combatants that this time includes not Compuserve: 104107,1412 son. Zip: 98122. Tel: (206) 323-1755. Auckland: La Gonda Arcade, 203 just Cubans. It includes Latin Americans who have come to fight at our side and to write new pages of MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 683 Wash­ Compuserve: 74461,2544. Karangahape Road. Postal address: P.O. Box history and glory." Castro's speech is available in ington St. Mailing address: P.O. Box 702. Zip: 3025. Tel: (9) 379-3075. Compuserve: the booklet Celebrating the Homecoming of Er­ 02124. Tel: (617) 282-2254. Compuserve: AUSTRALIA 100035,3205 nesto Che Guevara's Reinforcement Brigade to 103426,3430 Sydney: 1st Fir, 176 Redfern St., Redfern Christchurch: 199 High St. Postal address: Cuba: Articles from the Militant newspaper on the MICHIGAN: Detroit: 7414 Woodward NSW 2016. Mailing address: P.O. Box K879, P.O. Box 22-530. Tel: (3) 365-6055. 30th anniversary of the combat waged in Bolivia Ave. Zip: 48202. Compuserve: 104127,3505 Haymarket Post Office, NSW 1240. Tel: 02- Compuserve: 100250,1511 by Che and his comrades, distributed by Pathfinder. Tel: (313) 875-0100. 9690-1533. Compuserve: 106450,2216 It is also available in the October 26, 1997, issue SWEDEN of Granma International. MINNESOTA: St. Paul: 2490 University . gtockholm: Vikingagatan 10 (T-bana St Ave. W., St. Paul. Zip: 55114. Tel: (651) 644- BRITAIN Eriksplan). Postal code: S-113 42. Tel: (08) 6325. Compuserve: 103014,3261 London: 47 The Cut. Postal code: SE1 31 69 33. Compuserve: 100416,2362 16 The Militant July 12, 1999 -GREATSOOEIT------Leave home without it - Last the Pentagon from leasing- at $50 hour period. The regulation was is­ ofCalifomia prosecutors are suing the tions: someofthemostwantedcrimi­ year, 1.4 million U.S. people filed million a year- six luxury busi­ sued in 1985. Rite Aid drug chain for selling con­ nals have regular, easy access to top for personal bankruptcy, triple the ness jets to haul around military traceptives and baby formula well military and government offi­ number of 12 years ago. A large commanders. The military inven­ To sum it up -A New York beyond their expiration date. Like a cials"- European news item. number were credit-card users, the tory already includes 100 executive Times headline advised: "For good pack ofcondoms purchased last month fastest growing category ofdebtors. jets, but a solon dismissed them as health, it helps to be rich and im­ with a "sell by" date of March 1995. "old dumbos." portant." The article added: "More than genes, more than diet, social 'Be your own boss'- A survey class predicts longevity." Not to hurry- Nine people, found that England's 46,000 mom Harry including the pilot, died in the re­ Take that- England's South n' pop groceries are open, on aver­ ···~ ...... ftOJs cent Little Rock, Arkansas, plane West Water company admitted that age 117 hours a week. That's nearly . perating ttl crash. The pilot had been working for a month in 1997, it provided 17 hours a day, seven days a week. auto accident...... • Ring more than 13 hours. The Fedeml 100,000 customers drinking water mined to:iet haek 1n:aCti6Q:~ : Aviation Administration, respon­ unfit for human consumption. A Who could believe that? - .soon a.s possib.l~;· ~~qi:g; sible for air safety, declared its in­ stem magistrate's court fined the "Zealous police in Turkey tapped readers look forward to :'thiS: To visit Yugoslavia?- By a tention to enforce the regulation company about $15,000. the phones oftop military and gov­ ooturiln eac:h w~~- We· ~b. two-thirds majority, the U.S. Sen­ requiring that pilots get at least eight ernment officials, including the him the best. ate voted down a proposal to bar hours uninterrupted rest in each 24 Gotta make a buck- A group prime minister. Among the revela- 'Culture war' aims to mobilize rightist movement The following selection on the "culture These reactionary positions have no logical war" is from a talk presented inApril1993 evolution or rational content. They are a col­ to participants in a regional socialist edu­ lection and recombination of refuse from the cational conference in Greensboro, North past, floating out from the backwaters of class Carolina. The talk, entitled "Capitalism's history. It can be ancient religious ideas, pagan Deadly World Disorder," and discussion on symbols, age-old prejudices, regional attitudes, it are included in Capitalism~ World Disor­ beliefs about women born ofeconomic and so­ der: Working-Class Politics at the Millen­ cial conditions from millennia past. It does not nium. The book is copyright© 1999 by Path­ make any difference; it is accidental. But these finder Press, reprinted by permission. come together in various mixtures. They are patched together into partial truths from the BY JACK BARNES myriad forms of exploitation and oppression The polarization in the "culture war" de­ and pressures under capital. They are invested clared by [Patrick] Buchanan and other ultrari­ with emotional energy and declared to be the ghtists takes many forms: chauvinist anti-for­ banner ofa movement. eigner agitation, racist assaults on affirmative These are not religious movements; it is not "the religious right;' "the Christian right," "the fundamentalist right." These are not move­ from the pages of ments about art or culture; they are not move­ ments about schools or education. Those just provide some of the words that emotional en­ Capitalism's ergy is invested in. It is a reactionary, dema­ gogic, petty-bourgeois social and political Militant/Denise Mcinerney World Disorder movement, one that over time becomes increas­ Supporters of a woman's right to choose abortion defend clinic from rightists in Little ingly brutal and murderous in its methods. RockArkansas, July 1994. Reactionary positions"are invested with emotional energy and action, vulgar attacks on women's social equal­ As the capitalist social crisis deepens, and declared to be the banner of a movement." ity, half-hidden but virulent outbursts ofJew­ the working class and labor movement be­ he came to the windup of the talk. "We must policy during the Gulf War and speaks out hatred, fearful prejudice against homosexuals. gin to engage in battles to defend our living take ... back our culture and take back our against committing U.S. troops to the United These incipient fascist forces are vocal advo­ standards and our unions, growing numbers country," Buchanan said, ''block by blocli' - Nations military opemtion in Bosnia But class­ cates ofthe cops, like those currently on trial in within the ruling class, often reluctantly, will just as the called-up National Guardsmen conscious workers could make no more deadly Los Angeles for brutally beating Rodney King; begin to provide financial and political strp­ had done in Los Angeles a few months ear­ mistake than failing to recognize - and to act fascist movements always draw many oftheir port to the fascists. They will unleash the lier. (Buchanan's description of the L.A. on - the political fact that Buchananism is cadres from the cops.1 There will be no limit to energy of the ultraright in the streets, against events was a gross exaggeration, but that is part of the imperialist war drive today. the pomogmphic overtones oftheir demagogy, striking workers, labor gatherings, social pro­ not the point.) Buchanan will mobilize the rightist move­ as they claim to offer a road to bring a "deca­ tests, and organizations of the oppressed. Block by block- that was the banner ment he is building to demand that Washing­ dent" society out ofits crisis. They will use whatever force and violence is Buchanan raised to bring to their feet his par­ ton use all its military might to back "our necessary to deny enough democratic rights tisans watching him live on TV around the boys." But he's determined to ftrst win the 1 Los Angeles policemen Theodore Briseno, to the majority of working people, eventu­ country. That was Buchanan's summation. war at home against the working class, to Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, and Timothy Wind ally, to preserve the privileges of the upper That fight was his promise. And that day will hamstring us, and he urges his followers to were on trial in federal court for violating the civil middle class and maintain capitalist rule. rights ofRodney King, a Black worker whom they come. act in the image of his heroes, Franco, had been videotaped brutally beating in March Last year, some of you will remember, we You'll sometimes see Buchanan referred MacArthur, and McCarthy. That's a precon­ 1991. Following an earlier acquittal of the cops underlined something in particular about to in the bourgeois press as an "isolationist;' dition to really do the job, Buchanan holds, by an all-white jury in state criminal court inApril Buchanan's speech at the Republican nomi­ or "antiwar." He opposed U.S. government but then America has to do it! 1992, anticop riots broke out across much of Los nating convention inAugust. Everything else Angeles for more than four days. at the convention we had heard before - un­ On orders from the Bush administration, some til Buchanan shoved Reagan aside for an hour 1,100 U.S. marines, 600 army infantry troops, and during prime time and, not to put it more -25 AND 50 YEARS AGO--- 1,000 Border Patrol and other federal cops joined politely than it was, gave the finger to the 6,500 California National Guardsmen and thou­ against German measles as well as means entire respectable Republican bourgeoisie. ofdiagnosing birth defects. Improved health sands of Los Angeles police in occupying large Think very carefully about one phrase in areas of the city's Black and Latino communities. THE MILITANT care for both women and children, he stated, Fifty-eight people were killed over the four Buchanan's speech.As he had done throughout will be adversely affected by the law. days, more than 80 percent of them Black or his campaign, he invoked religious expressions, Latino; some 17,000 people were arrested; and railed against gay rights and "radical femi­ July 12, 1974 immigration cops used the dragnet as an excuse nism," and called for"a religious war," a "cul­ BOSTON - "What we have before us THE MILITANT to deport several hundred detainees. ture war," a war"for the soul ofAmerica." Then is a fight common to all women. Tonight PUILIIHID IN THIINTIIIITI OP THI WOIKING PIOPLI we are issuing a call to action," stated Carol NEW YORK, N.Y. FIVE (5) CENTS Henderson Evans, a coordinator of the Ad July 11, 1949 House ofRepresentatives 'crime' Hoc Committee to Defend Abortion Rights. Shown above are five oftheTrenton Six, She was speaking to an enthusiastic whose death sentences were reversed in a bill attacks democratic rights meeting of250 people at Faneuil Hall June unanimous decision of the New Jersey Su­ 26. The teach-in and protest rally, sponsored preme Court on June 30. [Above photo was BY MAURICE WILLIAMS em culture;' '

20 The Militant July 12, 1999