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THE A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 64 NO.2 JANUARY 17. 2000 Chechnya stakes rise Farmers build march for Moscow, in Atlanta to press fight BY MARY MARriN Washington WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Black Farm- . · ers andAgriculturalistsAssociation (BFAA) BYPATRICKO'NEILL has issued a call for farmers and supporters to "We have been fighting all over Chechnya, join their contingent in the January 17 Martin but Grozny,is the first place we have come Luther King Day march in Atlanta. across such intense resistance," said Russian The farmers are marching to protest wors­ army Lt. Konstantin Kukhlovets January l. ening conditions they face; refusal ofthe gov­ The Russian forces that invaded the territory ernment to implement a March 1999 consent ofChechnya in September are engaged in tough decree settlement that is supposed to award combat in the capital and in the south near the damages to farmers who have suffered racist Caucasus mountains. discrimination by the government; and con­ The day before, President Boris Yeltsin re­ tinuing harassment at the hands of.govern­ signed from the post he has held for over nine ment farm agency representatives. years. "I have signed a decree placing the du­ Melvin Bishop, a cattle farmer and presi­ ties of the president ofRussia on the head of dent of the Georgia chapter ofBFAA, said, government, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin," . "Working people in the cities have a stake in saidYeltsin. "In three months presidential elec­ the fight ofthe Black farmers. Georgia BFAA tions will take place," he said, and "I don't is organizing to let working people know that doubt what choice you will make at the end of the lawsuit is not settled, that we haven't got March2000." the money in our hands." After being named prime minister lastAu­ The farmers and their supporters will be gust by Yeltsin, Putin publicly campaigned in leading off the annual King Day March in support ofthe war. At one point he employed a Atlanta. The day is a federal holiday, won barracks-room phrase to emphasize his posi­ through massive protests and the only one to Militant/Stu Singer tion, stating that he would wipe out Chechen honor anAfrican-American. The Atlanta pa­ Nearly 100 farmers and their supporters rallied in Lafayette Park hi Washington, D.C., rebels even if they were killed in their toilets. rade is a sizable event each year, and the farm­ December 13 to protest the U.S. Department ofAgriculture's discriminatory policies. In the December elections for the parliament, ers' struggle will add a political and fighting or Dumas, Putin gained ground when parties aspect to the celebrations as a whole. and rally at the King Center onAuburnAv­ enue," Bishop added. supporting him increased their vote by around Bishop said the farmers will form up their enue around 2:30p.m. The government signed the consent decree 30percent. contingent January 17 at 11:00 a.m. at "Prior to the march there will be a 9:00 and touted it as a victory for farmers against Following Yeltsin's resignation, Putin Peachtree and Ellis Streets in downtown At­ a.m. breakfast meeting at the First racist discriniination by the U.S. Department Continued on Page 12 lanta. The march will step offat 1:00 p1m. lconium Baptist Church on MorelandAv- ofAgriculture. Through their struggle the furm­ ers forced the government to admit extensive racist practices that crippled the ability of thousands offarmers who are Black to remain on the land. Under terms ofthe ruling the gov­ 'Anti-terrorist' raids target democratic rights ernment was to pay plaintiff farmers $50,000 each. Few farmers have in fact received any Algerian companion, Bouabide Chamchi, were BY JOANNE PRITCHARD later police here said they had dismantled a money to date. network of thieves whose crimes served to arrested in Vermont after entering the United MONTREAL--The police here have an­ In a phone interyiew, Gary Grant, presi­ finance Algerian terrorist activities. States from Canada. The press dropped all pre­ nounced that they are on a mobilization foot­ dent ofBFAA, said, "My understanding is we Police evacuated 400 people in the work­ tense ofpreswnption ofinnocence and reported ing against "Algerian terrorism" in the wake will be a lead contingent in the march. This ing-class neighborhood here after locating that "Garofalo led such a strange life that the ofthe arrest December 14 in Washington state call for action is for Black farmers to join in AhmedRessam's truck, claiming more bombs FBI, the CIA, the RCMP, and Montreal police ofanAlgerian,Ahmed Ressam, as he was driv­ the King Day march and celebrations to help could be found. No explosives turned up how­ can't rule out that she is involved in terrorist ing his car across the border from Canada. bring forth to national attention the second activities." Authorities claim Ressam possessed materi­ ever. time the check has been mailed and returned The incident is being used by Ottawa to als that could be made into a bomb. Two days On December 19 Lucia Garofalo and her marked 'insufficient funds.' Too many gain acceptance for broader use of its secret Continued on Page 4 police, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), and intrusions into the rights of working people. In the midst of a media barrage andY2K threats hype, the CSIS called for a law to crack down on so-called "terrorist Pathfinder fund-raising" by charitable organizations in Capitalism's World Disorder: Canada. CSIS director Ward Elcock said that Working-Class Politics at the Millennium 50 "terrorist" organizations have a presence volunteers· in Canada andthat 350 individuals are being Jack Barnes tracked. Leon Benoit, immigration spokesperson in InakeScan "The capitalist rulers offer us social Parliament for the opposition and rightist Re­ form Party, has called for tighter immigration disaster. They offer us depression. restrictions by the Canadian government. 2000goal They offer us death from curable dis­ Benoit called the current regulations "a sieve" that allows ''terrorists and others into the coun­ BY JERRY GARDNER ease. They offer us war. They offer us try." ANDWARRENSIMONS. Washington is also stepping up pressure on The Pathfinder Reprint project closed out fascism. They offer us an unending Ottawa. The chairman of the House Subcom­ 1999 with significant advances in all areas of mittee on Immigration, Lamar Smith, aRe­ its work. The biggest accomplishment is that list of horrors. But we offer ourselves publican from Texas, told the media that the Scan2000, the campaign to finish the first the ability to prevent those horrors arrests in the state ofWashington were "the stage of the international effort to prepare best wake-up call" about the "porous shared Pathfinder books for the presses, was com­ from becoming the final reality, the border'' between Canada and the United States. pleted on time. In addition, December was An aide said Smith "has made it clear that the volunteers' best month ever (or making confidence that we can transform he would like to work cooperatively with the books ready for print. that future." Canadians-but so far the response has not Eighteen months ago, supporters ofthe So­ been encouraging." cialist Workers Party undertook the project of REGULAR PRICE: $23.95 The U.S. Justice Department has raised converting all ofPathfinder's titles from film that Canada should start demanding visas from to CD-ROM' s so that they can be rapidly pre­ more people traveling from abroad pared for printing using new computer-to-plate Available from bookstores, including those listed on page 12, or write Pathfinder, 410 West A number of voices are speaking up to de­ technology. Now, the Reprint Project is avol­ St., New York, NY 10014. Tel: (212) 741-0690. Fax: (212) 727-0150. When ordering by mail, fend democratic rights and against the anti­ unteer effort of more than 100 volunteers in please include $3 to cover shipping and handling. immigrant attacks. A prominent article in La eight countries. They are working together to Continued on Page 11 Continued on Page 4

Activists in Miami protest deportations- page 4 . IN BRIEF------

Ivory Coast army cracks down panies paid out this year. In 1998, he said, General Robert Guei" who assumed power 147 companies were allowed to defer pay­ in the Ivory Coast after a military coup De­ Panama takes over the Canal ment, citing the monetary crisis. cember 24, announced a shakeup of the army command five days later. He vowed to "slash Scandal rocks German party throats of those we have put in custody," if A financial scandal involving Germany's supporters of deposed President Henri most prominent politician of the last two de­ Konan Bedie attempt to restore him to power. cades is rocking the Christian Democratic Opposition figure Alassane Ouattara, prime Union and embarrassing the country's capi­ minister of the country from 1990 to 1993, talist rulers. On December 29 prosecutors returned to the capital Abidjan from Paris in Frankfurt said they would begin a crimi­ five days after the coup. Ouattara served as nal investigation into funds managed by deputy managing director of the Interna­ Helmut Kohl, chancellor of the country from tional Monetary Fund in Washington until 1982 until his defeat in December of 1998 declaring his intention to represent the by the Social Democratic Party. Rally of the Republicans party in presiden­ The revelations of secret bank accounts tial elections next year. have already become a target of muckraking The former colonial rulers of the Ivory frenzy in the media. Kohl, dubbed "Europe's Coast in Paris initially proposed to rein­ most powerful leader for most ofthis decade" force their base of 550 marines near Abidjan by the New York limes, still plays a major role with hundreds of soldiers from Gabon and in the Christian Democratic Union. The furor Senegal. Guei" refused their entry, threaten­ around Kohl adds to the problems ofthe rulers ing a blood bath. Paris has offered Bedie of Europe's largest economy, which remains asylum but has not demanded that his re­ mired in slow growth and high unemployment. gime be restored. An official at the U.S. embassy inAbidjan praised General Guei for Many stocks decline in boom "making the right noises" after he promised Ifthe U.S. economy is still growing in Feb­ to honor the country's huge foreign debts. ruary its expansion will have lasted nine years Crowds celebrate during the December 31 ceremony to transfer ownership of the and be the longest on record. Much of the Argentine workers resist layoffs Panama canal from Washington to Panama. The occasion felt like "Independence continued growth is driven by trading in newer On December 20 state workers in the Ar­ Day" commented participants to one reporter. "high tech" companies. Most companies, how­ gentine province of Corrientes began re­ ever, in the Standard and Poor's index of 500 ceiving several months' back wages they are Kashmir focus of hijack stocks have declined in value. On the New owed. A week earlier hundreds ofworkers had dered by Washington as a "sponsor of ter­ York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq index, Tensions between the Indian and Paki­ blocked an important bridge to demand their rorism." The Indian and Pakistani rulers which features high tech companies, two-thirds stani governments surfaced during a hijack­ pay. Federal police fired on the protest, kill­ have clashed many times over control of of stocks are down 20 per cent or more from ing drama in Kandahar, Afghanistan, which ing two, after the federal government assumed the Kashmir region, where working people their peaks. began December 24. Several hijackers di­ control ofthe bankrupt province. Federal "in­ have waged a decades-long struggle for self­ Speculative trading plays a major part in verted an Indian Airlines jet from its route, tervener" Ramon Mestre coupled his order for determination. The coalition government sustaining the market's growth, as shown by demanding the release of 36 people held the payment of the back wages with an an­ in Delhi, led by the rightist Bharatiya Janata the rise of many Internet-related companies. by the Indian government. One passenger nouncement ofa program ofdeep-going cuts Party, tried to whip up support for its refusal In 1999 some 73 percent of IPOs or Initial died of stab wounds and the Taliban gov­ in public spending, including wage reductions to bow to the hijackers' demands against Public Offerings earned no profits-an ex­ ernment in Kabul surrounded the aircraft and layoffs. the wishes of relatives of the hostages. They traordinarily high figure. The earnings ofln­ with dozens of soldiers and several military A group ofseveral hundred workers chanted have arranged meetings between journal­ ternet startups are even more meager: 93 per­ vehicles. On December 31 New Delhi "Murderers" at Mestre and other officials as ists and widows of soldiers killed during cent had no profits in 1999. agreed to free three Kashmiri prisoners in a they entered the Corrientes government house battles in Kashmir last summer. deal that allowed the hijackers to leave the on the day of the announcement. That night, country after they released the remaining Students protest in Jordan 3,000 workers affiliated to the General Con­ Jakarta workers protest vs. Nike hostages. federation of Labor (CGT) demonstrated to Some 8,000 protesting workers from two Some 500 university students rallied in the The hijackers had demanded the release of oppose the austerity drive. Corrientes is the Nike factories in Indonesia demonstrated Jordanian capital ofAmman on December 8. MasoodAzhar, who calls for the independence latestArgentine province to erupt in protests. December 22, during negotiations over their The action was called to protest the ofKashmir and is a leader of the Harakat ul­ holiday payments. "We want larger holiday government's deportation on November 21 of Ansar or Partisan movement. He has been sian- bonuses and the 10 percent tax imposed on the four leaders ofHamas, a bourgeois-national­ ist organization that has gained a following I bonuses to be canceled," said a protester. The workers make shoes for the U.S. company in among Palestinians in the region with its factories in Tangerang, near the capital city stance against Israeli occupation ofPalestin­ of Jakarta. The protest also demanded that an ianlands. TH£ election be held for a union representative. Most of the participants in the protest, a MILITANT Other workers organized actions on the rare event in Jordan where most such activi­ same issue. The union office in the PT Adis ties are banned, were affiliated with the Mus­ plant was damaged during a struggle waged lim Brotherhood Movement. Jordanian police Oppose Washington 's w:itciJ~hr.~nt by 6,000 workers who forced their employers deported the Hamas leaders, who are Jorda­ to fork out the bonus, which is usually equiva­ nian citizens, to Qatar, claiming that they had The U.S. rulers are witch-hunting lent to a month's salary. Many employers tra­ been involved in military training. Hamas lead­ immigrants from countries w!Jere the. ditionally pay the bonus at the time ofthe Idul ers denied the allegations. Authorities closed Fitri celebrations, during which millions of Hamas offices and banned activities of the Islam rt!ligio~ h~ llianjfoll!Jwers•. working people travel from the capital to their organization in a crackdown which began in They frame up workers, tzlkglnj home towns and villages. The Indonesian Min­ late August. "lslamit; terrorist'rplots with no · ister ofManpower [Labor] said that most com- -PATRICK O'NEILL evidence. The ~Militant' exp'pStfS these .. baseless alleglltion~ and ctzllsfor equtzl tights for bnmigrafits anfl.• address. By first-class (airmail), send $80. Asia: an end to cop harrassment. /)on 't The Militant send $80 drawn on a U.S. bank to above address. miss a single issue! Vol. 64/No. 2 Canada: Send Canadian $75 for one-year sub­ scription to Militant, 4581 St. Denis, Montreal, Closing news date: January 6, 2000 Quebec H2J 2L4. Editor: NAOMI CRAINE Britain, Ireland: £36 for one year by check or international money order made out to Mili­ SUBSCRIBE TODAY! 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2 The Militant January 17,2000 China "spy scare" frame-up targets rights BY JIMALTENBERG his phone call. Messemer cific American Bar Association to the Chi­ SAN FRANCISCO - Offering no evi­ further charged that Lee had nese Physics Association and the Asian dence but the word of an FBI agent, Los met with scientists and of­ American Manufacturers Association, have Alamos National Laboratories physicist ficials from China over a de­ begun to come to Lee's defense. They view Wen Ho Lee has been framed up by U.S. cade ago, and that he used Lee has having been singled out because he government officials amidst slanderous false data to get around Los is Chinese. Some point to the U.S. charges about passing nuclear weapons se­ Alamos computer security government's increasing hostility to China crets to China. systems when copying ma­ in creating a climate of anti-Asian prejudice. The government campaign, and big busi­ teriallabeled "secret." "We're going to support him morally and ness media coverage of the frame-up and The government n~ver monetarily," said Bill Chang, president of jailing of Lee, targets democratic rights and produced evidence at the the Chinese-American Engineers and Sci­ dovetails with Washington's preparations for time Lee was fired from his entists Association of Southern California, military confrontations with the Chinese job that Lee's meetings with which has more than a thousand members. workers state down the road. Chinese scientists were pro­ "I'm not saying he's not a criminal, but that Lee was fired from his job at the lab last hibited. Lee's attorneys this has to be proved beyond a reasonable March in the wake of a government investi­ have explained that missing doubt and the process has to be fair," Chang gation into China's development of a sophis­ computer tapes the govern­ said. ticated, miniaturized nuclear weapons de­ ment alleges to have been "From what I've seen so far, this looks livery system said to be similar to passed to China had been like prejudice and overkill. We've never Washington's W-88 nuclear warhead, which destroyed. His use of lab done anything like this before, but I've been allows multiple atomic weapons to be loaded computer data fell within getting a lot of calls from our members. onto a single missile. legal guidelines, Lee's law­ They're very scared and angry. They're re­ Washington has a strategic advantage over yers said. ally upset about what this means for them." China in the number of nuclear weapons and Meanwhile, nine workers at the Lawrence quality of its missile delivery systems. China Academic freedom Livermore Laboratory in the Bay Area have is reported to have 20 intercontinental mis­ California Democratic filed a lawsuit charging the lab with dis­ siles, capable of carrying only a single war­ party Senator Dianne crimination against Asian-Americans in hir­ head each, that can reach North America. Feinstein added her voice to ing, promotions, and pay rates. The work­ According to the New York Times, the the frame-up climate by ers told the San Francisco Chronicle that Navy puts five of the W-88 bombs on each charging that the University their fight was "part of the continuing fall­ of24 missiles carried by the Trident nuclear of California, which oper­ out from the treatment of Wen Ho Lee" in submarine, for a total of 192 of the thermo­ ates the Los Alamos lab as Los Alamos. Lee and his wife Sylvia are also nuclear weapons per boat. The "Navy is add­ well as the Lawrence suing the Department of Energy, which op­ ing them to its Pacific fleet, so in the next Livermore lab in northern erates the labs, as well as the FBI and Jus­ few years the W-88 is likely to be aimed at California, were not serious The avy m"''"'."''" tice Department for giving confidential in­ China," the Times reports. in guarding against leaks of ward patrols of these vessels, which are fitted with 192 formation on them to the news media in vio­ Although Lee has never actually been secret information. At a nuclear weapons, near Russia. Workers states, especially lation of federal privacy laws. charged with espionage, he was arrested De­ June 1999 closed-door Sen­ China and Russia, are long-term military targets of the The "spy scare" being whipped up around cember 10 on 59 felony counts of mishan­ ate hearing, which featured U.S. rulers and their armed forces. Lee comes as Washington steps up its on­ dling classified information stored on com­ Attorney General Janet going campaign to weaken and ultimately puters at the government lab. After a three­ Reno testifying on the Lee overturn the Chinese workers state. This in­ day hearing, U.S. District Judge James affair, Feinstein said academic freedom by Lee's side in the visiting room. cludes moves to install a missile defense Parker denied Lee's application for bail, seems to have jeopardized national security. At Lee's bail hearing, Messemer told the system in south Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, spurring the government's smear that Lee In an attack on the day-to-day collabora­ judge that Lee had to be isolated from oth­ which would enable the United States to might pass secret nuclear weapons informa­ tion that takes place among scientists, ers because "a single utterance" might give launch a first strike nuclear attack on China tion allegedly in his possession to another Feinstein questioned whether the "culture away national secrets, and that the Chinese without fear of retaliation. country if he is not kept behind bars. of interaction" at the national labs, encour­ language itself was structured for deception. In 1995, U.S. warships sailed through the Unnamed "experts" at Los Alamos now aging employees to participate in sympo­ While Lee's supporters laughed in protest narrow Straits ofTaiwan in a demonstration claim that Lee downloaded the equivalent siums and share information with nonlab at the cop's racist allegations, the federal of U.S. naval power off the Chinese coast. of some 800,000 pages of information on colleagues, is "an appropriate framework for judge agreed to prohibit him from speaking Last year, Washington announced plans to Washington's nuclear weapons, enough to America's essentially deepest and darkest Chinese with his family. Reporters at the bail beef up the Taiwanese military forces with "change the world's strategic balance," as nuclear secrets." hearing filled out the picture, echoing long­ Aegis destroyers and advanced jet fighters. one claimed. FBI agent Robert Messemer, Lee is being held in solitary confinement standing racist images of Chinese as myste­ An earlier "spy scare" in 1997 led to the the chief government witness, added to the near Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he may rious, emotionless, and timid people. conviction of another Taiwanese-born sci­ story by stating that Lee had called another stay for as long as a year while his trial is entist, Peter Lee, for supposedly leaking scientist on the phone in 1982 who was "un­ prepared. He is allowed visits only from his 'Prejudice and overkill' secret information to China. The documents der investigation" for espionage. immediate family and attorneys. Visits are Asian-American civil rights and scientific in question turned out to be declassified af­ Unbeknownst to Lee, the FBI had taped limited to one hour a week. A guard remains organizations, from the National Asian Pa- ter all. UAW 411 members say 'No' to Terex Crane (again) BY JOE SWANSON Dunbar explained that the union recently plant, referring to the "low boys," 40- the outcome ofthe vote, Carlsen said, "I loved SHELL ROCK, Iowa -A big cheer could negotiated with the company after the bosses foot flatbed semi-trailers, they have in it. I think the worker who donated the money be heard outside the Boyd Building on main threatened to seek a court injunction limit­ the plant right now. The company was for the turkeys would love it to." street here December 28 as union officials ing the number of strikers at the plant gate. loading up cranes while union members announced the results of the vote by over "We thought the court would likely go along were voting on their latest offer. 200 members of United Auto Workers with the company for only three strikers at "They knew we were voting this UnitedAuto Workers Local411 members (UAW) Local411. the gate and we got the company to agree to morning," he said. "That is why I think voted on another contract offer from the UAW members struck Terex Crane, lo­ six," he said. the vote was even a wider margin today company January 2. cated in Waverly near here, December 6. Almost all the strikers had big smiles and then before we walked out." Duckworth "The latest offer was rejected by 88 per­ Most of the strikers are assembly workers slapped each other on the back after hear­ went on to explain that the vote before cent," said striker Charles Murray. "The and build "man lift" cranes that are used for ing the results of the vote. "They offered us the strike was about 87 percent against company offered only a small wage increase. construction and maintenance work. The nothing, " said Randy Henson who has the contract and "this morning it was The union members want a $1 an hour wage strikers are fighting for better wages, health worked for the company for five years. "We 97 percent against." increase for each year of the contract," care, and pension benefits. showed the company what we think of their On the road to Waverly we spotted Murray said in a phone interview. "The com­ "I think we'll turn down by a sizable latest offer. The vote is how the members three "low boys" with cranes on trail­ pany offered 50 cents for welders and 65 majority the most recent offer by the com­ feel; the insurance package they offered is ers. Visiting the picket line and the union cents for assembly workers and a four year pany," said Mike Dunbar, a 32-year veteran horrible," he said. "The vote was 196 against hall, workers explained that there have contract." Currently the average wage is of the plant. The strikers had stepped out­ the contract and 6 for," Henson said. been "gobs of cops" when the company $12.31. On December 28 the company of­ side for a smoke and fresh air while the votes Mike Ahrenholz, who looked to be in his had hauled out the cranes, "but that was fered 30 cents per hour each year over four were being counted. early twenties and worked for Terex for when we had pickets up," according to years, according to Murray. "The only thing they have offered in the about a year before being laid off shortly Duckwortl'l who works in the union hall A central issue remains the cost of health most recent negotiations is a retirement plan before the strike, said he thought the "vote kitchen. insurance to union members. Murray said allowing workers to retire at age 55 if they was right. It shows we are serious and to­ In a strike in 1995, "we were out one the company does not want to put a cap on have 30 years of service," said Dunbar. gether." week. The contract vote carried by four any future increase in cost. "In other words, "There is no offer of a higher wage and the votes and we only got a 25-cent an hour we would be taking a wage cut any time cost of the health care package to the mem­ 'Shows how strong we are' wage increase per year," said Dick health insurance goes up." he said. bers actually adds up to a wage cut." Gary Freerks, a 35-year veteran of the Haziltt, who has worked at the plant for "The company wants the right to give plant, said there were 60 laid-off workers, 34 years. "Things are different now. We your job away if you happen to call in sick, mostly young, before the strike began. are more solid and serious about the even if only for a day," Murray said. "If some "They have the right to vote on the contract contract issues," explained Haziltt. supervisor doesn't like you, for example, the but can't receive strike assistance pay. Many "Solidarity has come from workers company can give your job to anybody that of them have part-time or other jobs since and unionists from simply visiting the holds the same job classification. It would being laid off. picket line to one worker from Water­ be like throwing away your seniority rights. "What the result of this vote showed is loo, Iowa, who said he was a member "The vote means that the negotiating com­ how strong we are together," said Freerks. ofUAW Local 83 8 which organizes the mittee goes back to the table," the UAW "The company had offered us earlier in the John Deere plant," said Local411 mem­ member said. "This is the best support we contract negotiations a $500 bonus if we ber Jim Carlsen at the union hall. "He have ever had from the Waverly townspeople accepted their offer. They said the laid-off donated $2,100 to buy 238 turkeys for and from other unionists." workers would get an additional $500 when every member of the local. He did not they are called back." leave his name. He just wanted to offer Joe Swanson is a member ofUAW Local "You know what Terex thinks of us," said his support for the strike." 1672 in Des Moines. Jennifer Ponce, a mem­ Terry Duckworth, a 27-year veteran of the When asked what he thought about ber ofUAW 1672, contributed to this article. January 17,2000 The Militant 3 Miami rally opposes Haitian deportations

BY BILL KALMAN and now president of the Miami NAACP; MIAMI-Chanting, "No, no, we won't and U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart. In par­ go, if you make us go, we will return!" 250 ticular Diaz-Balart, a Republican and one Haitians and their supporters rallied here of three Cuban-Americans in Congress, is a January 3 to protest the U.S. government's bitter foe of the Cuban revolution. decision to return a boatload of immigrants These big business politicians were joined to Haiti. by two Cuban-American rightists: Jose The day before, 400 mainly Haitian pro­ Basulto, leader of the counterrevolutionary testers demonstrated at the Miami Beach group "Brothers to the Rescue," and Ramon Coast Guard station demanding, "Justice! Sanchez of the Movimiento Democracia Equal treatment!" On New Years Day the [Democracy Movement], another rightist Coast Guard intercepted a 60-foot wooden Cuban outfit. Both groups are well known vessel transporting 389 Haitians, 16 Domini­ for staging provocations against Cuba's sov­ cans, and 2 Chinese immigrants. The boat ereignty. The Brothers to the Rescue ban­ left Haiti with no radio, navigational lights, ner was prominently displayed on the stage. or lifejackets. After the vessel ran aground on a reef a 'Works directly with the imperialists' mile off the Florida coast, the Coast Guard While previous protests championed the sent cutters to take those on board into cus­ demand "Amnesty for All," most of the tody. U.S. immigration officials later de­ speakers at this protest raised fighting for cided to return all but four of the group of "due process" and "the right to individual 406 to Haiti. interviews." No Haitian spoke until a an hour 11 .. ·'. Leontes Joseph, a landscape worker in and a half into the program, when a Hai­ Haitian immigrant workers and supporters protest outside Coast Miami, said he came to the action because tian-American city councilwoman was al­ Miami against U.S. gov't decision to return 406 immigrants to Haiti. "maybe I know some of them [on the boat]. lowed to address the rally. A leader ofVeye I want to help." Like others there, Joseph Yo was given the last slot as many people party system as the road to further social ary 3 rally. first heard about the protest on Creole-lan­ were leaving. advances. For example, Rep. Carrie Meek, "The U.S. government," Girard said, guage radio stations in Miami. The Haitian Diaz-Balart called for "solidarity with our speaking to these aspirations, told the crowd, "does not need to interview Haitians to know rights groupVeye Yo organized rides to the oppressed brothers and sisters," and led a "You have the power now." Marleine why they are leaving. The U.S. is directly Coast Guard station protest. chant "One South Florida." Basulto was in­ Bastien, the main leader of the Haitian­ responsible for the exploitation and domi­ The January 2 protest began as other dem­ troduced as a "great freedom fighter fight­ American Grassroots Coalition, told the nation of the Haitian people, which is why onstrations for Haitian rights: Haitian and ing against the reign of Castro the Terrible." Miami Herald, "We're not saying that ev­ people are forced to leave their homeland." Haitian-American working people arrive Basulto said that his pirate outfit would be­ ery one should be allowed in. We're just say­ "We can't put our faith in the hands of first and spontaneously march and chant. gin aiding Haitians at sea. ing, give them the chance to make their the Democratic and Republican parties," the People brought handmade signs reading, Reginald Meteus, one of the protesters, case." socialist candidate said. "We need to depend "Coast Guard-Free My People" and was not impressed. "Everybody should stand The super-wealthy rulers here have an on ourselves and our allies, and to keep "Equal Treatment for Haitians." up for justice", he said, "but he [Basulto] is interest in developing a "responsible" lead­ mobilizing. My campaign demands amnesty A few people wore union T-shirts from a hypocrite. He works directly with the im­ ership that speaks in the name of all Hai­ for all, end all deportations, and open the the Union ofNeedletrades, Industrial, and perialists." tians in the city. Various big business politi­ U.S. borders!" Textile Employees and the Service Employ­ The appearance of anti-Castro politicians cians, and even well-known Cuban-Ameri­ Girard said in an interview that fighters ees International Union. and organizations at a Haitian rights activ­ can rightist figures, are seeking to advance against deportations and for immigrant About an hour after the protests began the ity is a new development in this city. While this course, as well as gain political advan­ rights "need to oppose Washington's attacks entourage of speakers entered the fenced-in an estimated 780,000 Cubans comprise 35 tage of their own. against the Cuban revolution. The U.S. gov­ area. The speakers' platform was chaired by percent of the population of Miami-Dade ernment uses immigration as part of its 40- U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, along with her son, County, Haitians number about 115,000, or Socialist candidate offers another view year drive to topple the revolutionary gov­ state Sen. Kendrick Meek, both prominent 5 percent. But the Haitian population is Rollande Girard, the Socialist Workers ernment there and take back the island for Democrats who are African-Americans growing, and a small middle class has candidate for mayor of Miami, launched her U.S. corporate interests. They have participated in other Haitian pro­ emerged. For example, in El Portal, just 1 campaign in the midst of these protests and "Those who attack Cuba and.side with tests. north of the city line, the city council is now discussions. Girard, an aerospace worker, is Washington are not friends of working What was different from past actions in majority Haitian, the first in the United a member of the International Association people here standing up to the assaults on defense of immigrant rights was the char­ States. of Machinists. A special election has been our rights, unions, and social gains," she acter of the speakers' platform. Besides In the absence of a rising labor movement, called for March. said. Meek, other speakers included Miami-Dade many Haitian small businessmen, elected Girard was interviewed by 610 AM County Mayor Alex Penelas; Bishop Victor officials, and religious figures see their in­ NewsRadio at the January 2 protest. She also Bill Kalman is a member of United Trans­ Currie, pastor ofNew Birth Baptist Church terests tied to wealthy layers and the two- spoke in Creole to demonstrators at the Janu- portation Union Localll38. Pathfinder volunteers achieve Scan2000 target Continued from front page phlets is done putting them in initial digital There are several steps to making the been prepared on CD. Volunteers have a put the entire arsenal of Pathfinder titles into form. Only three of the titles-French lan­ hard-copy book digital and ready to be used long-term goal of producing 10 CDs per digital form. This is making it possible to guage editions of the New International­ by Pathfinder's new computer-to-plate print­ month, and are now getting closer to reach­ reprint books on Pathfinder's backlist in a have to be massaged, a stage in the process ing technology. These stages are ( 1) scan and ing this target. During December, the vol­ timely and cost-efficient manner. that readies the titles for being sent to the massage, (2) proofreading, (3) formatting, unteers also completed proofreading and Now, all the scanning of books and pam- proofreaders. (4) graphics, and (5) indexing. format checking of Making History and Scanning creates the digitized file from worked on a rush order for Origins of the the hard-copy book page, and massaging is Family, Private Property, and the State. This a quality control process done to ferret out title will be finished the first week of Janu­ common errors introduced during scanning. ary. Farmers organize march in Atlanta The massagers prepare files for proofread­ Those who have been working on scan­ ing and help rationalize later stages of pro­ ning and massaging will now be able to help Continued from front page this fight I was told I didn't have a leg to duction. with other aspects of production. A small Black farmers are being denied payment." stand on and to go home. The volunteers who took on the assign­ team of three volunteers will take a month Recent articles in the big-business press, "Now I'm standing on both legs and ment of scanning and massaging have been or so to double-check all the work submit­ including the Washington Post and the New they are running! The government and the working feverishly since September to get ted since September and then pass it on to York Times, have presented a picture of a bill collectors keep telling me,. 'You and all the books and pamphlets assigned to the proofreading. settled fight. your brother you each have to just look department done by January 1, 2000. The The dozen volunteers who have been car­ Jet magazine, for example, ran an article out for yourself.' I say, 'No! Me and my scan and massage volunteers worked on rying out the job will take new assignments brother have to look out for each other!"' on December 13 entitled, "Black Farmers about 22~ titles and 54,000 pages, spending in the other departments. So far three have Receive Settlement Checks in Class-Action Witcher, who has been denied loans and over 3,500 hours at their computers and agreed to move on to the formatting area, Lawsuit." The magazine asserts that some has been unable to farm for the past sev­ scanners. one to graphics, two to proofreading, and 2,400 farmers have received checks. But of eral years, is a plaintiff in the farmers' This huge effort was sustainable because two to indexing. Additional volunteers con­ the original six plaintiffs only two have re­ class-action suit. the volunteers know that laboring now on tinue to be recruited to the project, includ­ ceived any compensation. The idea for the march originated at the digitizing Pathfinder's books and pamphlets ing three from Sweden who have experience Tim Pigford, for whom the suit against end of the successful December 13 farm ensures that future fighters can find answers producing Ny International, the Swedish the USDA Pigford v. Glickman is named, protest in Washington, D.C., which was on how to resist and fight back, and to de­ language version of the Marxist magazine has not received a cent. called by BFAA and the National Black velop the capacities, the virtues, and the New International. Sherman Witcher, a tobacco farmer from Farmers Association (NBFA). Farmers habits that will allow for the development All who worked on the scan and massage Rocky Mount, Virginia, said the march "is present also called for another protest in of a self-confident proletarian leadership effort should be congratulated! All who a much needed event to increase awareness Washington at the end of February. capable of charting a course forward for struggle for or support the ultimate goal of in the whole country-not only for Black The annual Martin Luther King day cel­ humanity. the Reprint Project should be encouraged farmers but also for whites as well-if we ebration honors the contributions of civil Eight additional titles, Ultima lucha de that we are one giant step closer to realizing are to get anywhere." rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., in Lenin, Eastern Airlines Strike, My Life, His­ that end. Tobacco farmers continue to be hit by the the fight against racist discrimination and tory of American Trotskyism, Introduction Warren Simons organizes the Scan and government system of quotas, a system that for Black equality in this country. The to Marxist Economic Theory, Structure and Massage department of the Pathfinder Re­ regulates how much tobacco they are al­ event is sponsored by the King Day Com­ Organizational Principles ofthe Party, Or­ print Project. Jerry Gardner is a member of lowed to grow. "Farmers know how to mittee. ganizational Character ofthe SWP, and Fi­ the Steering Committee of the project. Any­ weather storins,"Witcher said, "but there is del Castro on Chile, were put onto CD and one wishing to participate in the Pathfinder only so much you can weather if you have 'Mary Martin is a member ofInternational delivered to Pathfinder in December. Reprint Project should contact Ruth Cheney no financing. Eight years ago when I started Association ofMachinists Locall759. This brings the total to 61 titles that have by e-mail at [email protected]. 4 The Militant January 17,2000 CAMPAIGNING WITH CAPITALISM'S WORLD DISORDER--­ ''The book has clarified what the Cuban revolution is'' BY PATRICK O'NEILL ists organized a national campaign with In the first week of the new year reports Capitalism's World Disorder. They intro­ are rolling into the Militant office of sales duced the book to working people and youth and placements of Capitalism's World Dis­ they met at picket lines, farm protests, fac­ order: Working Class Politics at the Millen­ tory gates, and university campuses. They nium. followed suggestions of books and librar­ Pathfinder Press published this title in ies to visit. Dozens of copies of the book mid-1999. It contains speeches by Jack Bar­ have been placed on the shelves of such nes, the national secretary of the Socialist outlets, making it accessible to a larger po­ Workers Party and author of several Path­ tential readership. Campaign supporters finder books. The chapters and the photos have been able to place and sell other Path­ in the book cover major political develop­ finder titles, including the newest publica­ Militant/Angel Lariscy ments which set the scene for the 21st cen­ tion Making History-Interviews with four Rollande Girard, Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of Miami, discusses tury. The stock market crash of 1987, the generals of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Pathfinder titles at Jan. 3 rally in Miami to defend rights of immigrants from Haiti. new boldness of a vanguard of the reaction­ Forces, as part of this effort. ary right like Patrick Buchanan, and the pre­ The accompanying chart, recording sales est Pathfinder title, Making History. titles on revolutionary Cuba were also sold. cipitate decline in the weight of Stalinism and placements of Capitalism's World Dis­ Following the meeting, the volunteers in the workers states and the labor move­ order organized by workers active in a range visited the local outlet for a large bookstore ment are among the key questions covered of unions, shows the progress~and uneven­ chain based in the south. The visit followed "It's a great book" says unionist in the book, captured in the give and take of ness~of the campaign. The reports below one of a couple of weeks earlier, when the experience and discussion its pages record. indicate that no Y2K bug brought the cam­ store took one copy of Capitalism's World BY CAPPY KIDD Most important, the book records the sea paign to a halt; instead, it is continuing into Disorder. The one copy had been sold, and AND HARVEY MCARTHUR change in working class politics that is the new year. At national planning meetings the store's buyer decided to take two more "Holly and I have been working our way weaving "a new pattern ... in struggle today in Pittsburgh on the weekend of January 1 copies and another eight titles in Spanish. through Capitalism's World Disorder. It's a as working people emerge from a period of and 2, socialists in the garment and textile Two other volunteers visited a vegetable great book," said Tom Smith, a member of retreat." unions and in the mines decided they want farmer in Palm Beach county who is a part United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 974. In the last third of 1999 socialist union- to continue the effort into the early months of the class action lawsuit by Black farmers Smith, who works for the Caterpillar Cor­ of2000. against the United States Department ofAg­ poration in the Peoria area, has for years riculture (USDA) for decades of racist dis­ been a member of the tactical response team, Campaign to sell crimination. He bought a six-month sub­ better known by its nickname, the Blue Capitalism's World Disorder Florida teams reach out scription to the Militant and said he hoped Shirts. He spoke with Militant reporters at a to attend the January 17 protest called for union-sponsored Christmas dance. to workers and farmers BY ANGEL LARISCY Atlanta to demand payments of the monies Since a hard-fought strike against Cater­ MIAMI~Socialist workers promised in the settlement with the USDA pillar ended in 1995, it has become a tradi­ Placements Individual Sales and young socialists who are and to continue the fight for the right of tion for the Blue Shirts to lead their local in supporters of Pathfinder Press in Black and all farmers to keep their land. organizing solidarity with other workers on Union Goal/Sold Goal/Sold Miami had a number of suc­ Before visiting his farm, the two stopped strike. Christmas socials in solidarity with cesses over the past week in sell­ at a bookstore that caters to the Black com­ other UAW locals are part of that tradition. lAM 75/80 50/73 ing copies of Capitalism's munity. The manager decided to order five On this occasion, however, the party was World Disorder as well as plac­ books, including two copies ofCapitalism's organized not in support of another local, UAW 40/12 35/10 ing the book and others in World Disorder. but in solidarity with newer members of Florida bookstores while reach­ Socialist workers and a young socialist their own local who have been forced by UFCW 42/14 39/26 ing out to farmers and fighters. wrapped up the week by setting up litera­ Caterpillar onto a permanent and much They met with a farmer from ture tables at the two protests called to de­ lower pay scale. This was the issue at the UNITE 35/13 25/28 Plant City, Karl Butts, who is mand the release of over 400 Haitian immi­ center of the strike. planning to visit Cuba with a grants who were intercepted off the coast "I have been reading the Militant every USWA 40/43 30/24 group ofU.S. farmers, and with of Florida by the U.S. Coast Guard and held week," said Smith, "but to tell you the truth an activist from Tampa in Ft. in detention before being sent back to Haiti. I skipped over the Cuba part and focused UTU 65/74 35/44 Meyers to discuss speeches by They sold a dozen copies of the Militant mainly on the labor solidarity articles. Read­ Fidel Castro on the first and sec­ newspaper, one copy of Capitalism's World ing the book has clarified what the Cuban TOTALS 307/229 224/203 ond agrarian reform in Cuba. Disorder and three copies of the Marxist revolution is all about. Now when I read the Each bought a copy of the new- magazine Nouvelle Internationale. Three Militant, I read the Cuba articles as well." U.S. gov 't to return boy, maintain anti-Cuba stance Continued from page 16 permitted to enter the United States," and a Vietnam Airlines flight from Bangkok to out that the pilot could have intended to drop U.S. government official said one reason that it had "discontinued its practice of grant­ Ho Chi Minh City. He was released from "explosives on us, flammable material, or they would like to see Gonzalez come to ing parole to all Cuban migrants who reach jail in 1998 and returned to the United viruses or bacteria." It added the "provoca­ Miami is to "ease the concerns among Cu­ U.S. territory in irregular ways." States. tion took place as always in Havana, the ban-Americans that he currently is not free Washington also agreed to allow a mini­ A Customs Service radar center tracked capital of Cuba, the little revolutionary to speak his mind because of Cuba's tight mum of 20,000 Cubans to emigrate to the Tong's flight after leaving U.S. airspace. He neighbor which for four decades has been controls over its citizenry," furthering a slan­ United States each year, not including im­ was released without charge after returning the target of blockade, pirate attacks, and der that the father is not free to speak his mediate relatives of United States citizens, to the United States. political, economic, and military aggres­ mind in Cuba. but has failed to live up to this pledge ac­ A Cuban government statement pointed sion." Throughout the entire episode, the Clin­ cording to Cuban government officials. ton administration continued to perpetrate The CubanAdjustmentAct was adopted the lie that Cubans live in a totalitarian state by Congress in 1966. The measure encour­ USWA members fight wage freeze and are not free to leave the country. But it ages Cubans to take risky boat trips because is U.S. government policies that limit legal those who reach U.S. shores are allowed to BY JORGE LEDESMA as organizing to get all the strikers to sign immigration from Cuba and encourage il­ obtain U.S. residency within a year, giving CARLSTADT, New Jersey~Mem­ a letter explaining their fight to a local legal and hazardous trips across the Florida Cubans preferential treatment over other bers of the United Steelworkers of Spanish-language TV channel. Straits. Latin American or Asian immigrants who America (USWA) Local 8228 are in the On December 30, six strikers joined are usually deported or remain in limbo for second month of a strike against vinyl the nearby picket line set up by Team­ 'Free men and women' years. manufacturer General PMC Corporation. sters fighting for union recognition and In a speech on May 1, 1980, Cuban Presi­ This week the political character of When the contract expired a year ago a contract at Overnite trucking: Some 60 dent Fidel Castro told a rally of 1.5 million Washington's immigration policies and how the union agreed to extend it for 12 members of the Teamsters union turned people in Havana during the wave of emi­ they are used as a weapon against Cuba was months. But on November 18, workers out for an expanded picket line event fea­ gration from the city of Marie!, that by al­ demonstrated when the INS immediately walked out under threats that the com­ turing William Bradley, a Democratic lowing free passage out of Cuba "we were moved to deport 400 Haitians, Dominicans, pany would close the factory, said Hec­ party candidate for U.S. president. rigorously, strictly complying with our and Chinese people who were shipwrecked tor Lopez, a striker. The 48 strikers are After Bradley departed, 15 Teamsters, watchword that anyone who wanted to go while attempting to reach U.S. shores (see fighting for a wage increase and to de­ some of them on strike against Overnite to any other country that would accept them article page 4). fend their health care benefits. The com­ in Long Island, New York, decided to car could do so and that the building of social­ The Cuban government also had to pany is demanding workers go another caravan to the steelworkers picket line ism, the work of the revolution, was a task scramble two MiG fighter jets this week three years without a pay raise. to return the show of solidarity. Several for free men and women. Don't forget this when Ly Tong, a right-wing Vietnamese­ Roberto Rodriguez, a shop steward, members of the Union ofNeedletrades, principle," he said. "Don't forget this prin­ born U.S. citizen, piloted an unauthorized said he also objected to the treatment by Industrial, and Textile Employees from ciple which has tremendous moral value." flight from Florida to Cuba and over Ha­ management of the majority Latino work area garment shops and textile mills In 1994 Washington signed an immigra­ vana, dumping thousands of anti-Cuban force. USWA member John Murillo added joined the picket line as well. tion accord with Cuba to "ensure that mi­ leaflets on the city. that the company has not yet paid the gration betw,een the two countries is safe, Tong fought in Washington's war against yearly Christmas bonus workers are due. Jorge Ledesma is a member of the legal, and orderly." The U.S. government the people ofVietnam as a pilot in the South Murillo said strikers have taken initia­ Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and said that "migrants rescued at sea attempt­ Vietnamese air force. He became a U.S. tives to win support for the struggle, such Textile Employees. ing to enter the United States will not be citizen in 1988 and four years later hijacked January 17, 2000 The Militant 5 'We want to learn about the agrarian reform in Cuba' BY ARLENE RUBINSTEIN with the cause of the Black farmers is al­ ATLANTA- "When I get to Cuba, I most unbelievable." Meeting participants would like to thank comrade Fidel Castro came from Atlanta, , Birmingham, Tampa, for helping to free Nelson Mandela," said Miami, as well as southern Georgia. Eddie Slaughter, a Buena Vista, Georgia, At the meeting each of the farmers ex­ farmer and paper mill worker who will be plained why they decided to join the del­ participating in a February 13-20 fact-find­ egation, and about their struggle to hold onto ing trip to Cuba by U.S. farmers. their land in the face of the worst world­ "ABC, CBS, and NBC has us thinking wide farm crisis in decades. America did it," he told a meeting here to Lee Dobbins told the meeting that both publicize and raise funds for the trip. "But his father and his grandfather were share­ thousands of Cuban troops did the job," croppers in Greensboro, Georgia. "I would along with freedom fighters from Angola like to be a farmer, " said Dobbins, who is Militant and the African National Congress of South the secretary of the Georgia chapter of Farmers who spoke at meeting in Atlanta who will be participating of a delegation to Africa, when they defeated a massive inva­ BFAA. the in Cuba by the NationaiAssociation of Small Farmers (ANAP), sion of Angola by the army of the racist, Dobbins explained that his views on white-minority apartheid regime in 1988. Cuba "changed 360 degrees" after meeting Luis Morejon and Itamys Garcia, two Cu­ are in distress. We have no medical care and "They have all gone to Cuba this year, The Cuban internationalist volunteers some of us can't read. We are poor and there and been given licenses with the full bless­ "put the finishing touches on in it in the ban youth leaders who toured the U.S. in the spring of 1999. While in Georgia, is brutality by the police." ing of the U.S. government. Why shouldn't battle ofCuito Cuanavale, a town inAngola. "We got very curious," the farmer said, workers and farmers who want to go also That opened a new chapter in the freedom Morejon and Garcia met members of the Georgia BFAA and toured several farms that "when we learned that in Cuba young people be given a license or at least the same op­ struggle. That led to Mandela' s release from went into the mountains to teach everyone, portunity? The decision to get a license for prison," Slaughter said. belong to the South Georgia Vegetable Pro­ ducers Cooperative. young and old, and in the smallest towns this trip sets a good precedent," Harris said. "I want to go to Cuba," he said, "because how to read. It shows us that it is possible to . _While in Cuba, the farmers plan to pub­ I would like to understand exactly how they "Those young people were vehement about Cuba. They were unconditionally and solve a problem- all you have to do is want hclze the recent class-action lawsuit against do it: how they fight racism, bigotry, and it bad enough. We like the idea that rent is the United States Department ofAgriculture hatred when it can't be done here." unequivocally pro-Cuba," stated Dobbins. "When people in the audience tried to de­ 10 percent of your income, instead of hav­ (USDA) which was initiated by farmers who The farmers will be hosted in Cuba by ing to pay most of what you make, like the are Black in response to extensive racist dis­ the National Association of Small Farmers bate them, they stood their ground. They gave quick, accurate answers, such as, 'Hey, government housing in this country. crimination by the government agency. (ANAP), which represents the economic and "Most of all we want to learn about the More than eight months after the farmers social interests of Cuban peasants. It was this is our country, we know what's going on.' agrarian land reform, how it was achieved, forced the government to admit guilt and founded in 1961 and has 200,000 members and how those same methods can be applied promise a financial settlement, the vast ma­ including over 28,000 women. They will "This didn't line up with what I'd been told about Cuba. I knew these were the real here in my own country and community," jority of farmers haven't seen any change in meet and exchange experiences with Cuban Williams said. "It impresses us that 40 years government lending policies or any money farmers, visit different kinds of farm coop­ people of Cuba. When I gave Itamys a BFAA button, she was deeply moved. When we later, the small farmer still is the owner of as of this date. eratives, and learn about the Cuban revolu­ the land in Cuba." tion. disturbed a seed of corn when we were on Worsening conditions on farm the farm, Luis didn't relax until I planted Slaughter, who is also the national vice­ 1959 agrarian reform in Cuba Since the settlement in the farmers' suit president of the Black Farmers andAgricul­ that tiny seed back into the soil. My heart went out to them. I want to go to Cuba and Williams was referring to the 1959 agrar­ conditions have actually worsened. A cas~ turists Association (BFAA), chaired a De­ ian reform law, which more than any act in point is that of Willie Head, a Georgia cember 18 meeting attended by 40 people. see the whole thing for myself. The Cuban people suffer from an embargo of one type defined the character of the workers and vegetable farmer and plaintiff in the suit who The event was sponsored by the Atlanta farmers government established by Cuban will also be making the trip to Cuba. Like Network on Cuba (ANOC) which is orga­ and the American people suffer from an embargo of factual information," he said. working people after overthrowing the U.S.­ thousands of farmers, Head has not received nizing the farm delegation. b~,wl\ed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. the $50,000 promised by the governmen,(s,,, "It has been a long-term dream of mine Gladys Williams;·a member of the Fed­ eration of Southern Cooperatives and the Millions of acres oflarge landed estates held consent decree. Now he is having a difficult to see the normalization of U.S. relations by U.S. and Cuban ruling families were con­ time getting any new loans or credit because with Cuba," said Reverend Tim McDonald South Georgia Vegetable Producers Coop­ erative, also spoke. "I live in a small town fiscated and hundreds of thousands of peas­ the banks and creditors believe he has al­ in welcoming the group of farmers, work­ ants received titles to the land that they ready received a settlement check. To make ers, and activists to the First !conium Bap­ in southwest Georgia," she told the meet­ ing. "The conditions are very bad; the people worked. Since the victory of the Cuban revo­ matters worse, he wasn't receiving loans or tist Church. "To have that cause married lution, no working farmer has been fore­ credit in the first place. Head was unable to closed on for nonpayment of debts or forced attend the ANOC meeting due to the press to sell their land to someone else. of daily work necessary to sustain his farm "Look at the tremendous hypocrisy of under these conditions. America. They try to get us to believe that Melvin Bishop, president of Georgia they were bombing Yugoslavia to protect the BFAA, invited participants at the meeting Albanian minority, while back in America, to join the farmers in a protest on January they have stolen 13 million acres of land 17 in Atlanta. "We are asking you to join Che Guevara Talks to from the Black farmers," added Slaughter. with us because we will be marching and "I was born in America, and raised in demonstrating. We demand to know why the Young People America, and I have been chasing this USDA doesn't discipline its people in the American dream. field who have violated the Black farmers' "But I can't stand this capitalism with rights," Bishop said. "We will be uniting all of its injustices, living off its ability to with striking truck drivers and everyone else "We are attacked a great deal exploit somebody. Ifi can't be a capitalist, I marching for fair treatment on the Martin might as well see the world, and go to a Luther King Day holiday." because of what we are. But we country where farmers are respected, where Bernardo Gomez, coordinator of the At­ are attacked much, much more cultivating the soil is considered important." lanta Network, says the committee is orga­ because we show to every na­ nizing speaking engagements for the farm­ A government of workers and farmers ers when they return. "The farmers will be tion of the Americas what it's Karl Butts, a vegetable farmer from Plant in an excellent position to clearly explain possible to be. What's impor­ City, Florida, explained that what attracts how the agrarian reform works and the ben­ tant for imperialism - much him most about the trip to Cuba is "the efits it has brought to farmers and the Cu­ chance to see a government which is not the ban population in general. It is our hope," more than Cuba's nickel mines paid representatives of a few wealthy fami­ Gomez said, "that Cuba solidarity groups, or sugar mills, or Venezuela's lies, but a government of workers and farm­ farmers' groups, colleges and universities, ers. We want to tell others when we come and grassroots organizations will host these oil, or Mexico's cotton, or back about> a different set of values, of the meetings. We have already gotten some ini­ Chile's copper, or Argentina's human solidarity and culture that Cuba has." tial requests for presentations by the farm­ cattle, or Paraguay's grass­ The delegation has decided to apply for ers. I also want to acknowledge the Com­ a license from the U.S. Treasury Department ~ittee on Cuban Youth and Education, based lands, or Brazil's coffee - is to travel to Cuba. In 1999, over 2,800 indi­ 111 LosAngeles, which organized the speak­ the totality of these raw mate­ vidual licenses to Cuba were granted, includ­ ing tour for two Cuban youth last spring. rials upon which the monopo­ ing many to individuals involved in agricul­ Without their efforts, we would not be in a ture- primarily representatives of giant position to organize a farmers trip to Cuba lies feed." agribusiness corporations that are interested one year later." -Che Guevara, july 28, 1960 in opening up trade to Cuba to sell wheat, "The national tours, and the collaboration (from Che Guevara Talks to rice, soybeans, and other farm produce. But between Cuba solidarity groups, students, some delegations have also included a few workers, and farmers is important, and we Young People) working farmers. shouldn't underestimate the results of this $15.95 "What do the U.S. Grains Council, the work," Gomez said. American Farm Bureau, Archer Daniels For more information on the fact-finding Midland, John Deere, and the U.S. Wheat trip to Cuba contact: Atlanta Network on Available from bookstores, including those listed Associates have in common?" asked James Cuba, P.O. Box 5560, Atlanta, GA 31107. on page 12, or write Pathfinder, 410 West St., Harris, a member of the Union of Needle­ New York, NY 10014. Tel: (212) 741-0690. Fax: trades, Industrial and Textile Employees Arlene Rubinstein is a member of the Air­ (212) 727-0150. When ordering by mail, please (UNITE) and the National Committee of the craft Mechanics Fraternal Asiociation. include $3 to cover shipping and handling. Socialist Workers Party, who will also par­ Gladys Williams finm Quitman, Georgia, ticipate in the delegation. contributed to this article. 6 The Militant January 17,2000 New Jersey farmers fight for their land BY MAURICE WILLIAMS encing disaster conditions to defer payments loan. They said that the FmHA district di­ farm while her husband worked another full­ BUENA BORO, New Jersey-Three to the FmHA, giving them time to get their rector attempted to stall the loan by claim­ time job at Atlantic Electric as a field super­ women here are waging a determined finances in better shape. "When I went to ing the titles submitted on the equipment had visor. When the owner decided to sell the prop­ struggle to defend their right to farm and the FmHA for the moratorium they denied been lost. He insisted the Viscontis get re­ erty in 1982 for $175,000, the couple decided against sex discrimination by the U.S. De­ it existed," said Codario. placement titles or they would be denied the to apply for a loan to buy the farm. partment ofAgriculture (USDA). Meanwhile, operating costs for seeds, fer­ loan. The loan was finally approved at an "There were farmers who wanted our land," ''I'm a squatter," declared Anna Marie tilizer, and pesticides were rising while astronomical 16 percent interest rate. Ordille explained. One farmer who owned the Codario, who remains on the land despite prices she received for produce were falling The district director also put himself in adjacent land offered the sellers $10,000 more, government foreclosure on her farm. "I want below the cost of production. the position of having the sole authority to raising the purchasing price to $185,000, she my land back and compensation for the 22 In the fall of 1980, Codario sold her pars­ release checks on the produce sold by the said. He was the brotheroftheAtlantic County years I have fought to get it back." ley crop and later that year stopped farm­ Viscontis. Vineland Produce Market, which FmHA supervisor at the FSA office. The Codario and Mary Ordille, two farmers ing. She was bankrupt, her car was repos­ bought their crops, would not issue checks farmer on the other side of Ordille' s farm was in Atlantic County, New Jersey, and Mary sessed, and telephone disconnected. to them. "I would sometimes have to sit in a board member at the FSA office in Mays Visconti, a farmer in nearby Cumberland Landing. County, filed claims in 1997 against the Ordille explained how this maneuvering USDA for sex discrimination. A few years alarmed her and her husband so they asked ago they learned about the fight being waged for their loan application to be processed at by farmers who are Black against racist dis­ another FSA office. The county supervisor at crimination by the USDA and contacted the other FSA office demanded that she and a them. The three women joined that struggle her husband be co-applicants for the loan. The and have spoken at several rallies organized Ordilles had asked that Mary be the sole ap­ by the Black Farmers andAgriculturistsAs­ plicant, since she would tend to the farm while sociation and the National Black Farmers her husband worked his regular job. Association. "For six years I had worked hard, but we "We have always supported the Black had no idea ofthe nightmare the next 16 years farmers. We are in the same boat," said would bring to our family," she remarked. Codario. "We went to Washington in sup­ The terms of the FmHA loan included in­ port of all farmers who have suffered dis­ terest of 13.25 percent and the Ordilles were crimination from FSA," said Ordille. forced to put up their home and the fann as The FSA (Farm Service Agency) is an collateral, a total of $375,000 to secure a agency of the USDA. It replaced the Farm­ $185,000 loan. "I do not believe that we would ers Home Administration (FmHA), which have been treated that way if I was not a fe­ loaned money to farmers who could not male and the principal operator of the farm," qualify for conventional loans from banks she explained. and other lending institutions, and was seen by many farmers as the "lender of last re­ Uninformed of disaster relief programs sort," Codario explained. Farmers at December 13 protest in Washington, D.C. From left to right are Anna From 1982 to 1985 the farm operations "In 191 0 my grandfather and father came Marie Codario holding sign, Mary Ordille, and Mary Visconti. At far left is Gary were successful. In 1987, however, a bad from Sicily, Italy, to Landisville, New Jer­ Grant of Black Farmers and Agriculturists Association and to the right of Codario is freeze cut production by 50 percent. Ordille, sey, to farm vegetables," said Codario .. "I John Boyd of the National Black Farmers Association. Codario, and Visconti were never informed have worked on the family farm since I was by FSA officials about disaster relief pro­ six and was trained by my father." grams, grants, moratoriums, or set-asides In 1972 Codario' s brother, Angelo She landed a job at the New Jersey De­ the office for hours until he gave the per­ to offset bad weather conditions. Only later DeFelice, owned the farm. "He lost the en­ partment of Agriculture the following year mission to sign the checks," said Visconti. did they learn that other area farmers were tire crop of about 125 acres valued at and was informed by the FmHA county su­ "It was stressful and humiliating. I would given these servicing options and that they $100,000 due to a wet spring, Hurricane pervisor that he would begin foreclosure see other people come in to have their checks had been treated differently. In 1988, the Agnes, and heavy hail. The next year hail proceedings. In February 1982, the federal signed and go out while I was still waiting." crop did not recover from the previous damaged 80 acres of fruit and he lost an­ agency informed her that the loan repayment In 1988, the Viscontis filed for bankruptcy years' freeze and the Ordilles fell behind in other $100,000 in revenues," Codario ex­ schedule was being accelerated and the "because we kept getting threats from the mortgage payments. They succeeded in get­ plained. He received a paltry $5,000 from FmHA state director claimed she "was not FmHA. We continued to farm, although the ting the interest reduced to 8.25 percent. the FmHA as disaster relief payment for one a legitimate farmer." farming became a single operation for me Later they won approval for a farm program year. The Federal Land Bank, which had a lien when my husband became disabled in that gave them a new mortgage rate of 5 "I couldn't even buy a pack of cigarettes," on the property, foreclosed on the farm in 1989." percent. But the FSA officials stalled on DeFelice said. These disasters forced him 1984 and the FmHA purchased the farm and The farm experienced more weather di­ granting the new rate and the interest on to borrow from the FmHA for operational placed it in its inventory. "I was forced into sasters in 1990 and 1992. "We were awarded the loan continued to accrue. Two years af­ and other expenses. His troubles continued foreclosure because of the lack of servicing disaster payments,"Visconti explained. "At ter being approved for the program, the FSA with low crop prices and bad weather. by the FmHA as well as being forced to pay one meeting with the FSA I asked to assume had still refused to grant them the new rate The FmHA accelerated the payment them the money I had saved for my first the mortgage and they asked who would sign and the interest on the FmHA loan bal­ schedule on his loan in 1976-77, began fore­ mortgage," Codario asserted. with me. I told them at my age, 4 7, that looned to $14,000. closing on the farm, and denied him loan "I have been actively complaining about wasn't necessary." When she asked whether The FSA continued their machinations. services to restructure his debts. In 1977, FmHA' s discriminatory treatment of me," as a woman she should be considered ami­ At a meeting in 1990, Ordille said a FSA Codario applied for an FmHA loan to pur­ said Codario. "Those county agents knew nority, the FSA official remarked, 'you're agent proposed they have someone buy the chase 127 acres of the family farm to pre­ Angelo was in trouble and they were like the wrong color.' " farm or take over the mortgage. The agent vent the foreclosure. She had taught school buzzards honing in on the farm." The FSA has withheld the disaster relief further suggested selling it to the son of the since 1958 while still working on the farm, check pending an appeal with the National FSA board member whose farm was adja­ then left her teaching job to start farming 'They have taken everything' Appeal staff. "They bang you down so bad," cent to theirs. Faced with mounting pres­ full-time. "Because we raised so much Cain we're said Visconti. "No one has unlimited funds sures offoreclosure, the Ordilles applied for "From the beginning of my contact with still living on our land. They've taken ev­ to fight the government." a conveyance deal in 1994, which would Farmers Home Administration, I was denied erything else," declared Mary Visconti, a In 1993, they lost title to their farm when transfer the title ofthe farm to the FSA. The servicing, due process, and support on the vegetable farmer. "I'm a squatter also," she it was foreclosed on by the first mortgage agreement would allow them to keep their basis of my sex," she explained. "The FSA added referring to the statement by Codario. holder, Equitable Life Assurance Society. "I home, which was not on farm property. The representatives were annoyed that I jumped Visconti has been involved in farming for was always current with Equitable,"Visconti county supervisor sent instructions, Ordille in to help my brother. nearly 40 years, which included working on explained. "But the government forced us said, insisting they sell their farm equipment "When I met with the FmHA county su­ the farm owned by her mother and father. into foreclosure" by denying much needed before the conveyance could be considered. pervisor, his opening remark to me was She and her husband John obtained a loan servicing. Meanwhile, the FSA had the farm ap­ 'You're a school teacher, what do you know from the FmHA and purchased some 195 "I have filed numerous complaints of dis­ praised at $283,000, a price that was too about farming,"' Codario said. "I had ruined acres of farmland in Cumberland County, crimination on the basis of my sex, female, high for the prospective buyer who had the plans of some farmers and the FmHA to New Jersey, in 1977. and national origin, Italian American, hoped to get good land at a cheap price. get their hands on our land." Shortly after they received the title to their against the USDA for violations of the Equal Ordille said the FmHA district director said farm Visconti says the former FmHA dis­ Opportunity Act of 1972 and numerous they had to sell their home to pay off the Meeting mortgage payments trict director declared, "I don't know how other statutes,"Visconti stated. In 1987, she FSA debt before he would consider the con­ Codario said the county supervisor denied you got this farm, it was already promised. sought out Codario and they linked their veyance. In 1995 the Ordilles sold their farm her request for a full mortgage package I'm going to see that you lose this farm." In struggles together to defend their right to equipment and completed the sale of the through the FmHA at 5 percent interest. In­ the summer of 1979 the FmHA district di­ farm. farm in 1998. stead, half the mortgage was placed through rector and the county supervisor visited the Visconti said her son John has tried to "We paid the FSA a total of$370,712.36 the Federal Land Bank (FLBA), at variable farm. "In voices loud enough for our labor­ make a go of farming but also faces discrimi­ to pay a $185,000 loan and still have a bal­ interest, which at times reached 9 percent, ers to hear, they began accusing us of being nation by USDA officials. For three years ance due of $90,000," said Ordille. "You increasing her payments substantially. delinquent in our payments to FmHA," said he has applied for loans but has not received could get a better deal from a loan shark." "In July 1978, I planted 50 acres of fall Visconti. "At this point the men stopped any aid. Ordille heard about the battles waged by vegetables. My farm plan was prepared as a packing and began listening intently. We had Codario and Visconti in the local papers and prerequisite to signing my mortgage pay­ to convince them they would get paid." A bureaucratic nightmare decided to join their struggle. "We need to ment," Codario said. Income on the harvest In 1978 and 1979 the Viscontis lost about "Why is our government so determined bring this out in the media in Washington, was low due to low market prices, but she $80,000 because of weather conditions. to destroy us?" asked Mary Ordille of D.C., so our government officials will take paid the bank and FmHA mortgages for 1978. When they applied for an emergency loan Hammonton, New Jersey. "We have all suf­ notice and stop ruining our lives," she said. In August 1979, hail destroyed her fall in 1980, the county agents "insisted that it fered far too long and at a very high cost to All three women stated their intentions crop, forcing her to miss the mortgage pay­ was poor management on our part and that our lives, families, and financial stability. to continue fighting for their right to farm. ment due in January 1980. No one at FmHA we should not be granted the loan," Visconti This should not have happened to people "I can honestly say I will not give up my advised me that disaster relief payments explained. who only wanted to work hard to better fight for what is due my family and me oth­ were available due to the loss of my fall crop When the loan was finally granted it was themselves and their families." erwise there will not be any family farms at anytime in 1979 or 1980," said Codario. too late to plant spring crops. This loss of Ordille said filing a discrimination claim left," said Visconti. "The mortgage with FLBA was always income together with low yields and low with the USDA's Office of Civil Rights had "I intend to make this whole thing as pub­ current but when I fell behind with FmHA prices pushed them behind in payments on become "another bureaucratic nightmare, lic as possible, reach out to other farmers, the state director insisted I pay FmHA the the FmHA loan. similar to the one in the FSA." and pressure the government to give us back arrears, instead of advising me of the mora­ In 1982 the Viscontis were forced to put For six years Ordille and her husband our land," Codario stated. "The Black farm­ torium program," she said. up their farm vehicles and farm equipment Richard had rented a 72-acre farm, which ers did not get their settlement and we have The moratorium allows farmers experi- as collateral to apply for another emergency had 42 acres ofblueberries. She worked the not gotten ours either." January 17, 2000 The Militant 7 Socialist coal and garment workers meet

BYTEDLEONARDANDJACOBFOX the mines and garment and textile shops, in tensified, safety conditions in the mines have to maintain lifetime health care for miners. PITTSBURGH-Progress in building factories and working-class communities been weakened, and we're working long hours Others described meetings that are being or­ units of communist workers in the coal around the country, and especially now among each week." ganized in coalfield regions to respond to mines and in garment and textile plants small farmers. Most ofthese struggles are scat­ Contract labor is increasingly used as a way massive layoffs. across the United States was registered in a tered and often end in defeat or stalemate. to drive down wages and conditions and di­ Like most miners today, many of the so­ series of meetings in Pittsburgh over the But in almost every case, he pointed out, vide miners, Ward pointed out. Some large cialist miners are working in nonunion mines. New Years weekend. there are individuals or small groups offight­ underground and surface mines in the West "The bosses use temp agencies and contrac­ At the heart of the reports and discus­ ers that arise out ofthese struggles determined and in the southern Midwest are run entirely tors to keep the union out," explained Harriet sions was the interconnection between work­ to continue the fight. These workers and farm­ by subcontractors. In other mines, contract Melor, a coal miner in the western coalfields. ers and their unions in the coal and garment ers are thinking about broader politics, are on workers are brought in to work side-by-side "But union miners are in all ofthese nonunion industries in the coal mining regions. the lookout for other fighters to ally with, and with miners employed by the mine company. mines and they talk about the union." Social­ Miners from the northern and southern Ap­ are open to read­ The contract ist coal miners noted that in the mines where palachian coalfields, the booming west­ ing communist miners, of they work there are a number ofyoung miners em coal areas, the anthracite region of east­ books. This is course, get in their first jobs, as well as experienced min­ em Pennsylvania, and the coal-rich area of true in every re­ sharply lower ers, many with union experience. the lower Midwest came together to discuss gion ofthe coun­ pay and ben­ "With this New Years conference, we can developments in their industries and unions try. efits. Of all the celebrate our success in rebuilding a presence and chart a course for deepening communist "The best ex­ socialists work­ in the coal mines," said Ward. "We have got­ work there. They were joined by garment and ample before us ing in the mines ten into both underground and surface mines textile workers from many of these same re­ of this fact of at the meeting in five of the main coal centers and all signs gions as well as other cities across the United politics today," only one of point to our fraction of communist workers States. Ward said, "can them was mak­ growing substantially in the coming months. About a year ago, the Socialist Workers be seen among ing more than This will put us in a good position to partici­ Party decided to rebuild its presence in the small farmers $lOan hour. pate in the struggles unfolding today and the coal mines and the garment and textile plants, who are Black. Jeremy bigger ones that will surely come." as well as in the United Mine Workers of They have Friend, a coal America (UMWA) and Union ofNeedletrades, fought for years miner in Ala­ Connection between garment and coal Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). against dis­ bama, reported A separate meeting of socialist garment Along with rebuilding its presence in the criminatory to the meeting and textile workers continued the discus­ meat-packing plants organized by the practices that of socialist coal sion begun in the joint meeting on the con­ United Food and Commercial Workers have led to many miners held af­ nection between garment workers and coal (UFCW), these moves were made possible being driven off ter the joint miners. Diana Newberry, a sewing machine by the bottoming-out of the retreat by the their farms. The meeting that in operator and a member of UNITE, works in working class in the face of a decade-long recent settle­ nonuruon mmes a shop located in the coalfields near here. drive by the employing class to increase ment oftheir dis­ in Alabama it is She and another socialist sewing machine their profits. For some time, there has been crimination now common operator started talking to coworkers about convincing evidence that workers and fam­ lawsuit against for new hires to a front-page story in the local newspaper ily farmers are now willing to stand up and the government, Workers at Trio Dye and Finishing in Paterson, New be brought in as about a coal miner who had been killed in fight or are looking for ways to do so. which held the Jersey, picket line of December 22. "independent the Canterbury mine not far away. "The reality we face at the millennium is false promise of contractors" for "We found out," Newberry said, "that we like the first line of Charles Dickens's novel, a solution, at months and had coworkers who had relatives who were A Tale of Two Cities: 'It was the best of first disoriented many. But as the scope of the sometimes years before they are hired on as working in that mine and others that knew times, it was the worst of times,"' said James government's duplicity in this settlement be­ mine employees. These workers get no ben­ the miner who died." The mine closed a few Harris, a worker in a UNITE-organized ware­ comes clear, fanners are coming together again efits ofany kind, and the company avoids pay­ days later. Nonunion now, the mine had house in Atlanta. "The big-business media to press their demands." He proposed the so­ ing Social Security and unemployment taxes. been organized by the UMWA in the 1980s. crows that we live in the best of times, the cialist workers help build upcoming actions Especially hard-hit has been health care "A couple of coworkers talked about the biggest and best economic expansion since organized by the farmers to continue their benefits, explained Fred Forrest, a coal miner fights at that mine led by the UMWA in the World War II. But this push for increased struggle. in the Pittsburgh area. Thousands of miners mid-80s. We found coworkers, who we had corporate profits has been fueled by driv­ Ward described the social impact of the are now working without medical insurance. never before talked to about the role of ing down millions of workers and small employers' offensive in the coalfields. "The "It is not unusual to hear fellow coal miners unions, who spoke up in discussions in the farmers in a way not seen for generations." bosses are closing down the union mines and explain that they couldn't take a sick child to lunchroom about the importance of unions," Jack Ward, an underground miner in the opening up nonunion mines at a rapid clip. the doctor because they couldn't afford it," he she said. Much of the activity and state­ Midwest, reported to a joint meeting of the More coal is being mined with less workers. said. The coal bosses continue their drive to ments by the officials ofUNITE are focused miners and UNITE fractions that there is In most cases this means that wages are overturn lifetime medical benefits won by on protectionist schemes such as their "anti­ growing resistance to the bosses' offensive in slashed dramatically, the pace of work is in- union coal miners. The black lung programs sweatshop" campaign. In the union, among are being gutted, he said, and hospitals and garment and textile workers, and student clinics in coal areas are being forced to shut youth, the union tops portray workers in down. other countries as victims of greedy corpo­ Reprint project achieved tremendous victory Forrest described a developing struggle to rations, not as fellow fighters. The campaign I keep the Mann Hospital in southern West Vir­ draws workers and young people in this The following is a message from Warren P.S. I need to find outASAP what each ginia open. "This is currently the only hospi­ country deeper into believing our problems Simons to Pathfinder Reprint volunteers of you will want to do next. For those of tallocated in the three main coal-producing can be solved by working together with our on New Jears Day. The note was read to the you who have contacted Tom or myself counties in southern West VIrginia. There have bosses and their government. socialist workers participating in the Pitts­ please disregard this request. been protests with up to a couple hundred Recently some 1,300 UNITE members burgh meetings who decided to send are­ people in front of the hospital demanding that waged a four-day strike at 12 New Jersey turn message as well. To the reprint project volunteers it stay open," he reported. dye houses. Andy Buchanan, a textile Pittsburgh, PA "Just think what it means to miners in the worker in New Jersey, quoted a UNITE offi­ Dear Comrades, January 2, 2000 area if there is an accident in the mine and cial from a newspaper article published The final results for our drive to get Dear Comrades, someone has to be rushed to the hospital," he shortly before the strike took place. The all the books into the computer are in. The Socialist Workers Party andYoung said. "Or what it means for any of the rural official said that textile workers there can't All the titles we are responsible for are Socialists members in the UNITE and workers and poor farmers in the area who need compete with China or even with North and scanned, OCR' d, run through check rec­ coal miners' fractions, meeting here in immediate medical attention. They will now South Carolina. ognition, and saved as Word files! All the Pittsburgh on January 1-2, salute your have to drive 50, 60 or maybe 100 miles." At the meeting the garment workers dis­ cussed that taking such questions up is cen­ titles except four French-language New achievement of completing Scan 2000, Disparity between city and country Internationals are massaged and ready for the first phase of the digitizing project tral to functioning as communists in the proofreading. of Pathfinder books. The impact of the bosses' offensive is es­ union. "The goal of the unions and the Two of the French Nis are being mas­ This task completed on schedule by pecially severe in the countryside, explained struggle of working people is to eliminate saged as we speak and we aim to have volunteer labor is a model for revolution­ Ward. "As we get more people hired into the the dog-eat-dog competition that capital­ the other two completed in January. This aries to follow. The further achievement of mines, we see firsthand the growing disparity ism foists upon us," said Greg McCartan, a one slight shortfall in Scan2000 is solely presenting nine Pathfmder titles to the print between urban and rural living conditions." textile worker from Boston. "We can raise the result of not having enough volun­ shop in December marks another leap for­ While the Clinton administration touts the low with workers a perspective of revolution­ teers who are fluent in French. ward in keeping in print the revolutionary levels of unemployment nationally, some ary struggle to form our own government These results are a tremendous vic­ history ofour class. counties in. the southern Midwestern coalfields and overturn capitalism," he said. tory! All who have worked on it should This meeting marks for the first time in now report unemployment rates over 10 per­ "The 'threat of Chinese imports' theme pause for a moment and contemplate the many years, that the party andYS are build­ cent, he explained. "Added to this, the defla­ by the union officialdom aids Washington glory of our labor. I've attached to this ing UMWA and UNITE fractions that are tionary pressures driving down the price of in its long-term drive to overturn the work­ e-mail a small excerpt from one of the organically connected and mutually rein­ basic farm commodities are having a devas­ ers state in China," McCartan raised. "Ex­ books I massaged during our work and forced by the struggles developing in the tating effect on family farmers, who are being plaining the conquests of the Chinese revo­ then went back and read cover to cover, coalfields. The central importance ofhav­ driven into poverty and off their land." lution and why we need to defend it against Cosmetics, Fashion, and the Exploitation ing Pathfmder titles ready and available is The attacks against coal miners and their Washington is part of our job in the unions." ofWomen. I especially like this item and indispensable as we deepen our fraction union are beginning to meet with resistance, Jorge Ledesma, a sewing machine opera­ it speaks to us as we sit at our computers building through mass work with others in said Ward to the meeting of socialist coal tor and UNITE member from Newark, de­ and scanners. Evelyn Reed said that labor struggle such as the Ovemite strikers, the miners. "There are stirrings underneath the scribed getting out to a picket line by Team­ was the most honorable, the most nec­ rural proletarian, and students and youth. surface that reflect the beginnings of a social sters at the Ovemite trucking company along essary, the most useful and beautiful ofall The opportunity to win recruits to the movement in the coalfields and a fight for the with two textile workers, one of whom has human attributes. Laboring now to en­ revolutionary movement is now on the life ofthe United Mine Workers union." recently met socialists on the job. sure that today' s and tomorrow's fighters agenda. Your continued efforts on this Ward pointed to the effort by mine workers After participating in classes on commu­ can find answers on how to resist, to fight project will make available the ideas and in western Pennsylvania and southern Illinois nist politics at the local Pathfinder Book­ to circulate petitions defending health ben­ back, and to develop the capacities, the lessons needed to build a, party that c~ . store, joining socialists selling the Militant to virtues, the habits that will allow them to·· advance the worldwide si:rttggle for socialP efits for mQ,lers as one reflection ofthis social dye workers during and after their strike, and fight effectiyely and win is a deeply satis­ ism. · movement. This campaign follows a series of joining in several picket lines, he told the so­ fying experience. Comradely, mass meetings organized by the UMWA last cialists that he could "see how to build your Congratulations to all of us! Harriet Melor and Paul Cornish fall to press the government and the coal bosses Continued on the next page Warren

8 The Militant January 17, 2000 Venezuela faces social disaster after rains and mudslides

BYANGEL LARISCY in camouflage fatigues and a paratrooper's red MIAMI-With the death toll up to 50,000 beret. He acts as a classic Bonapartist politi­ and 500,000 homeless, mud slides precipi­ cian, who in times ofsharp crisis presents him­ tated by torrential rains in the northern Car­ self as the "man of destiny" who can stand ibbean coast ofVenezuela have become the above social classes and the muck of tradi­ worst disaster since an earthquake hit the tional politics to rescue the nation and bring country in 1967. social peace. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has re­ The trademark of his presidency has been ceived special wartime powers by the Con­ appeals for national unity regardless of class stituent Assembly to deal with emergency in the face of crisis. "The fisherman, the tasks. Chavez has given the military a farmer, the rancher, the store owner-they greater role in the disaster areas while work­ are all working to rebuild the Venezuelan ing people in that country go through the family," Chavez stated when the disaster first Vehicles buried by the mudslides in the seaport of La Gua~ra near Caracas. deepest economic crisis in more than a de­ unfolded. "This is a moment of union; it is cade. a moment of solidarity." Venezuela's ambassador to the United States, 600,000 people losing their jobs this year. In mid-December, massive mud and rock "We will emerge from below and from Alfredo Hardy, contended the problem wasn't Venezuela currently owes more than $23 bil­ slides buried thousands of people and vil­ the mud!" Chavez declared in a speech deliv­ the warnings of the rains but poverty. "Local lion in debt to imperialist banks. lages after 10 days of heavy rains. Only a ered aboard a flatbed truck in the town of governments should have reinforced their du­ The present economic situation is worse few thousand bodies have been recovered Macuto at the end of December. ties in controlling building-construction per­ than anytime since 1989 when during the ad­ and 23,000 homes were destroyed. Chavez has faced criticism that the gov­ mits," contended Hardy. "This urban anarchy ministration of former President Carlos Perez Chavez, a former colonel in the military, ernment delayed warning people about the was inherited by the Chavez administration the economy shrunk by 8.9 percent. Perez was elected less than a year ago under the potential dangers of the rainstorms in order and is one of the challenges of his govern­ launched a "free market" austerity drive that banner of fighting corruption and address­ to push through a vote on a new constitu­ ment." led to antigovernment protests oftens ofthou­ ing the country's deep-going social crisis. tion, which took place December 15. Gov­ Venezuela, a country with the largest oil sands ofpeople. The Perez administration re­ He has relied heavily upon popular resent­ ernment officials contend they did not issue reserves outside of the Middle East, is rife sponded with a bloodbath, deploying cops and ment against the parties that dominated warnings or urge evacuations because rains with massive poverty-nearly 80 percent of troops who slaughtered as many as several Venezuela's political scene for more than over the previous two weeks caused no the 23 million people live below the pov­ thousand people. four decades. Despite the continuing eco­ safety hazards. erty line. The country has an official unem­ In the midst ofthis social turmoil, Col. Hugo nomic crisis he has been widely popular. In a letter to the Miami Herald complain­ ployment rate ofover 15 percent and reports Chavez led other lower echelon members of Chavez has visited numerous sites dressed ing about criticism of the government, of unemployment as high as 64 percent with the officer corps in a coup against the Perez government in February 1992. The coup failed and Chavez and others were jailed. Upon becoming president, Chavez pushed Coal miner killed in roof collapse for the election ofa National ConstituentAs­ sembly. Convened in July, its main task has BY DIANA NEWBERRY and that 45 other miners were then in the mine. as October the company had plans to expand been to write a new constitution for the coun­ APOLLO, Pennsylvania-Robert Fran­ In its preliminary report, the federal Mine the mine by 16,000 acres and was waiting for try. Chavez also launched a campaign against cisco, a 4 7 -year-old coal miner from Safety and HealthAdministration (MSHA) approval from the state Department of Envi­ corruption in the judiciary by firing and sus­ Avonmore, Pennsylvania, was killed De­ said Francisco was killed after a 15-foot­ ronmental Protection. pending 300 judges and court workers. cember 23 at Canterbury Coal Company's long rock fell on him. The report said no Canterbury Coal is the ninth largest under­ On December 15, Venezuelans ratified the DiAnne #2 underground mine when a roof other miners were injured in the roof fall. ground mining company in Pennsylvania. It new constitution by over 71 percent, with 54 collapsed on him. At the time of the acci­ MSHA will release its final report in the employed 138 miners. The closing comes in percent of the population abstaining on the dent, Francisco was operating a continuous coming weeks, which will be available to the wake of recent closings ofUnited Mine vote. mining machine about one mile from the the public. · ·· ,., Workers ofAmerica (UMWA) mines in the The new constitution increases Chavez's portal. This was the first death in this west­ One week later, on December 30, Canter­ same coalfields. term of office from five years to six and al­ ern Pennsylvania coal region since another bury closed the DiAnne #2 mine, citing "low These mines were owned by Consol En­ lows him to be elected for consecutive terms. roof-fall death in July 1997. productivity" and "bad geological conditions." ergy, the largest underground coal company It also eliminates one ofthe chambers ofCon­ The company reported Francisco was The company refused to say how many will in the United States. With the closing of gress, reduces civilian control of the military, working alone at the time ofthe roof collapse lose their jobs because of the closing. As late Canterbury, some 1,000 coal miners have and expands government management of the been thrown out of work in the past two economy. months. This is a huge blow to this largely rural area where mining has been a main­ 'Market economy with human face' stay for decades. The Chavez administration has stated it is Socialist coal miners and garment An emergency meeting of the Pennsyl­ striving for a "market economy with a human vania Coal Caucus, composed of 52 state face." Chavez's goal has been to cultivate an workers meet in Pittsburgh legislators, will meet on January 5 in Indi­ image ofa savior and champion of the down­ ana County to discuss the recent layoffs. trodden while seeking to keep protests and Continued from the previous page Out of this work they get referred to get anger among the working class at a minimum. party now." orders from bookstores, outlets, and libraries 'We're all fired' As recently as late November, 4,000 workers Lisa Potash from Chicago told about a where fighters buy their books. Meeting par­ "I'm fired. We are all fired." one young at Venezuela's largest steelmaker went on shop floor struggle around piece-rate wages, ticipants voted to propose the campaign be miner told a Militant reporting team at the strike demanding pay raises. Oil workers have pointing to the opportunities for workers to extended until the end ofFebruary since the mine portal December 30. He said this was carried out numerous strikes and protests over join together to fight to transform the unions effort has proved useful in finding workers, his first job. the past year. as they enter into struggles and build ties farmers, and youth interested in the perspec­ The miners went into work that day with no As Venezuelans attempt to recover from among themselves. tive of revolution. information on the closing and very little on the recent flooding disaster, dozens of coun­ Tony Prince, a garment worker from Cleve­ It will also allow communist workers a the death of their coworker. One miner said tries have sent aid as working people around land, discussed how he was part of organizing chance to take advantage of the soon-to-be that when they got ready to go underground the world have responded. The tragedy has solidarity with steelworkers at Armco. "We released Spanish-language and French-lan­ they were told that the mine was closed and surpassed the destruction of Hurricane translated a flyer and got a good number of guage editions of the book. This extended they were without jobs. Other miners on their Mitch in Central America last year and the signatures on it. Workers contributed $30 to effort could incorporate distributing more way out of the mine stopped by to explain 1985 earthquake in Mexico City. give to the strikers when we went to the picket widely Pathfinder's two newest titles about their anger in being told by the company that The minister of foreign affairs, Jose line," he said. the Cuban revolution: Making History and they were not even entitled to the 60-day no­ Rangel, reported that $30 million received While socialist workers seek to work in the upcoming Che Guevara Talks To Young tice law. in international aid will be allocated for shops and mills organized by UNITE, they are People. The law requires companies to give 60 days housing construction. The governments of also getting hired at nonunion shops where Paul Cornish, a warehouse worker in a notice before closing. They said they didn't Canada and the Dominican Republic have there are no UNITE-organized plants. Sev­ UNITE-organized distribution center and a accept the. company's word on this and were been recent contributors to relief funds. eral participants spoke to the opportunities to member of the Young Socialists from At­ going to go and find out ifthey could do some­ Saudi Arabia has committed two planes in discuss the same politics on the job, and the lanta, described how he and other socialist thing about it. humanitarian aid. Spain Italy, Chile and fact the union question is posed. Janet from workers had gone to the Teamsters Overnite One miner explained he was on strike at Brazil have pledged to help in the construc­ Houston said that many workers have been in picket line in Atlanta. Through political this mine in 1985 and 1990. In response to tion ofhouses. union shops and that the drive by the company discussion and active follow-up they sold a the closing, this miner said, "This is not Rangel said it is uncertain if any grants are to speed up work and cut wages means ''work­ copy ofCapitalism's World Disorder to one of over." Canterbury broke the UMWA at this available and that it will be necessary to seek ers at the shop where I work come into daily the pickets. mine in a long strike in the mid-1980s and has loans from the Inter-American Development conflict with the bosses." Cornish also described how socialist work­ run the mine nonunion since then. Bank, the World Bank, the United Nations, A Militant Labor Forum on Saturday night ers in Atlanta had participated in a recent The death of Robert Francisco was the and the European Union entitled "Capitalism's World Disorder and the fund-raising dinner by some farmers in Geor­ 33rd mine death in the coal mining indus­ On the other hand, the revolutionary gov­ Prospects for Socialism in the Twenty-First gia who are planning a factfinding trip to try in the United States in 1999.According ernment of Cuba has sent more than 400 Century" was given by Norton Sandler, a mem­ Cuba in February. The farmers are also active to MSHA, 11 miners were killed during medical staff, doctors, nurses, hospital work­ ber of the national committee of the SWP. in the fight against the racist discrimination of September and October. The federal agency ers, to help mainly in the state ofVargas. Doc­ Participants in the coal miners and UNITE the United States Department ofAgriculture called it a "dramatic increase in mining fa­ tor Raul Perez, vice minister ofheath in Cuba, fraction meetings also discussed the campaign that has forced thousands of farmers off their talities."Twenty-nine miners were killed in said that the Cuban medical personnel "will to sell Capitalism 's World Disorder. For the last hmd. At the dinner they met a young Black mine accidents in 1998. stay as long as the Venezuelan government four months communist workers have been woman who the next day'came toihe·Path­ considers itnecessary." · working to get the book in the hands offighters finder Bookstore. She bought Capitalism's World Diana Newberry is a member ofthe Union The United States Defense Department through individual sales, street tables, protest Disorder and is now attending some classes ofNeedletrades, Industrial and Textile Em­ sent water purification equipment and thou­ actions, on picket lines, and sales at plant gates. based on the book. ployees in Pennsylvania. sands ofbody bags to Venezuela.

January 17, 2000 The Militant 9 Declassified files expose Washington's routine massacres of civilians during Korean war BY BRIAN WILLIAMS ents were killed. "It was clear that we were Newly declassified U.S. government refugees." Many witnesses said that they documents bring to light more information had refrained from speaking out for decades on the extent of the military attacks against because they feared reprisals from the south Korean war refugees heading south into ar­ Korean military, which ruled the country eas controlled by Washington. until 1992. The files detail the facts about orders In one assault U.S. pilots killed about 300 given to U.S. military pilots to gun down south Korean civilians on Jan. 20, 1951, at civilians fleeing the war zone in the early a cave where they had taken refuge in months of Washington's 1950-53 war Youngchoon, 90 miles southeast of Seoul. against Korea. Four planes dropped incendiary bombs near "Some people in white clothes were the cave's entrance, villagers said. Most of strafed three to four miles south ofYusong," the inhabitants were suffocated by smoke. an after-mission report by four U.S. squad­ "People yelled and cried for their children," ron pilots noted on July 20, 1950. A spotter said survivor Cho Bong Won. Earlier that aircraft "said to fire on people in white same week, another 300 south Korean refu­ clothes," the report stated. gees were killed by a U.S. air at­ Some of these pilots in recent interviews tack as they crammed into astor­ expressed concern about being ordered to age house at the village ofDoon­ machine-gun noncombatants. "We were po, according to survivor Kim In concerned, very concerned," said an Air Tae. Force retiree, Herman Son. He said that it These incidents provide a "was by no means clear on the surface who glimpse of the scope ofthe dev­ these people were." A report by pilots in Mr. astation imposed by Washington Son's Fighter-Bomber Squadron said, on the people of Korea through "Leaflets should be dropped on them warn­ the course of this war. The U.S. ing them to keep out of sight or that they rulers conducted saturation will be strafed." bombing of northern cities, fac­ Right, students at June 2, 1995 protest against U.S. mili­ Following their victory over Japan in the tories, and mines as well as many tary forces in south Korea. Above, U.S. Marines ad­ second inter-imperialist world slaughter, areas in the south, resulting in vance in Korea after U.S. warplanes bomb hillside. Washington set up a puppet regime in the the deaths of2 million north Ko­ For nearly 50 years the U.S. government and Seoul southern part of Korea in a deal with the rean civilians, 1 million civilians have tried to cover up the facts about the slaughter of government of Joseph Stalin in Moscow to in the south, and 500,000 north civilians during Washington's war against the Ko­ divide the country. In the south Washing­ Korean soldiers out of a total rean people. U.S. saturation bombing resulted in the ton worked to suppress the revolutionary population of 30 million. Some deaths of more than 3 million people on the Korean struggles of working people in the wake of 5.7 million U.S. troops were in­ peninsula. the liberation of the country from Japanese volved in the war and 54,000 colonial rule. were killed. In the north, these struggles led to the Bacon said they are still looking into the lished, the south Korean Defense Ministry Despite this onslaught, Washington breaking of the domination of the landlords, report on No Gun Ri and will decide later has received petitions for investigation or failed to win the war or achieve its goal of with land being distributed to tenant farm­ "if other incidents warrant further study." compensation for at least 37 other such in­ reversing the anticapitalist revolutions first ers and other rural toilers. The mines and For nearly 50 years Washington and Seoul cidents. in the northern part of Korea and then in other industrial centers were nationalized had tried to cover up the facts about this "I want to ask the U.S. government why," China. The Korean peninsula remains di­ and the Democratic People's Republic was carnage and other massacres carried out by said a survivor, Hong Won Ki, who is de­ vided to this day, with a massive U.S. mili­ established in 1948 U.S. forces against the people of Korea. manding an accounting from Washington for tary nuclear-armed force stationed in the Washington mobilized its armed forces Since the report about No Gun Ri was pub- strafing and napalm attacks in which his par- south. in mid-1950 in response to the southward movement of Korean troops from the north and mobilizations of workers, peasants and youth who rose up against Korean landlords, Socialist Workers candidate launches usurers, capitalists, and their cops and po­ litical agents. The justification of the targeting of refu­ gees by Washington is that troops from the campaign for Oakland city council north, disguising themselves as peasants, had infiltrated the civilian movement south­ BY JIMALTENBERG and their governments from Oakland to Wash­ A young Black man the socialists met on ward OAKLAND-Omari Musa, a railroad ington, D.C.," Musa told the Militant. "We the first day returned on the second for more Last September the Associated Press, worker and member of the United Transpor­ bring to working people in Oakland the per­ discussion, and helped the team distribute based on interviews with ex-Gis, reported tation Union, has been placed on the ballot spective ofa revolutionary struggle by work­ campaign leaflets. Altogether 11 people on the slaughter carried out by U.S. mili­ for the at-large seat on the Oakland City ers and farmers to form our own government," signed up for more information on the social­ tary forces at the No Gun Ri railroad bridge Council. he said. ist campaign. from July 26-29 1950. U.S. warplanes killed "I'm running for Oakland City Council to In the preceding days, supporters of the "We're seeing some important resistance about 100 refugees and U.S. Army troops present to working people in Oakland and socialist campaign hit the streets in Oakland to the bosses' attacks by workers and farmers then killed about 300 more. the Bay Area a socialist alternative to the gathering more than 125 signatures, way in this country today," Musa explained. In The Pentagon had no comment on the slash-and-bum policies being carried out above the 50 required to place Musa on the Puerto Rico, a broad section of the popula­ latest revelations. Spokesperson Kenneth against workers and farmers by the ruling rich ballot for the March 7 election. Signers in­ tion has stood up to the U.S. Navy and has at cluded a coworker of Musa's and several least temporarily forced it to halt its bomb­ members of the International Association of ing ofVieques. Teamsters at Ovemite Truck­ Machinists at the Oakland airport. ing are fighting hard for a union, while their from Pathfinder Musa and a team of socialist campaigners fellow unionists at Basic Vegetable in King joined a spirited rally of 450 youth demand­ City, California, continue to confront cops ing freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Black and company thugs as their strike stretches Mo"&ebook of an Aali"&a"&or rights fighter and journalist facing the death into its sixth month. penalty in Pennsylvania who was framed-up Farmers who are Black are in the forefront From the Wobblies to the Fight against on charges of killing a Philadelphia cop. The of the struggles of working people today. the Korean War and McCarthyism socialist candidate also addressed the crowd. Facing falling prices and soaring production While campaigning outside of a union costs that are squeezing all farmers, they are James P. Cannon meeting involving hundreds of Oakland fighting to hold onto their land in the face of Articles spanning four decades of working-class battles-defend­ teachers December 14, Musa learned of the blatant discrimination by government and school district's scheme to try to get teachers private lending agencies. Coal miners and ing IWW frame-up victims and Sacco and Vanzetti; 1934 Minne­ to accept layoffs ofclassroom support staff to others in the coal field communities have apolis Teamsters strikes; battles on the San Francisco waterfront; finance a pay increase for teachers. begun to hold meetings, protests, and strikes labor's fight against the McCarthyite witch-hunt; and much more. $21.95 "There should be more teachers in the to push back moves to gut miners' health care schools, not less. Class size should be sharply and pensions, as well as hard-won improve­ Openlina Guns reduced. Support staff, including teacher ment in safety in the mines. aides, school psychologists, nurses, and oth­ "These struggles by workers and farmers of World War Ill ers should be increased," Musa said. increasingly overlap and reinforce each other," Musa said, "and fighters involved in­ Washington'sAssault on Iraq Interest in a perspective of revolution creasingly seek one another out to learn and "We're getting a little taste of the interest figure out what to do next. These are some of jack Barnes workers and young people have when we the people who will be most attracted to the The U.S. government's murderous assault on Iraq heralded in­ present a perspective of revolution in re­ socialist campaign." creasingly sharp conflicts among imperialist powers, the rise of sponse to the problems confronting us," Musa Campaign supporters are planning an ac­ rightist and fascist forces, growing instability of international capi­ said after campaigning on a busy street in tive few weeks leading up to the March elec­ talism, and more wars. In New International no. ?.Also includes downtown Oakland. tion, which will include campaigning on city "Communist Policy in Wartime as well as in Peacetime" by Mary­ Twenty-one people bought copies of the street comers, factory gates, as well as high Militant there from two socialist campaign Alice Waters. $12.00 school and college campuses. A socialist cam­ teams December 27 and 28. paign rally in Oakland featuring Musa is set Available fron'l bookstores, including those listed on page 12, or write Pathfinder, 410 West St., Musa noted that the main questions people for January 22. New York, NY 10014. Tel: (212) 741-0690. Fax: (212) 727-0150. When ordering by mail, please asked him were what his campaign has to say include $3 to cover shipping and handling. about the rapidly rising housing costs in the Jim Altenberg is a member ofthe United Bay Area, and the lack ofjobs. Transportation Union. 10 The Militant January 17,2000 Union activist at Caterpillar protests suspension• BY CAPPYKIDD next day by the East Peoria vice president of CHICAGO-The Caterpillar corporation Caterpillar, Jim Despain, who took issue with suspended United Auto Workers (UAW) the health and safetyT-shirt Wheat was wear­ member Bill Wheat December 23, and is ing and told him, "This plant has an excellent threatening him with termination. safety record." Wheat was notified of this company at­ Wheat responded that he believed the tack while conducting a plant-gate collec­ injury was responsible for Stein's death. tion for members of UAW Local 2036 in According to Wheat, Despain replied, "No, Henderson, Kentucky, who have been he died of a heart attack," and threatened locked out by the Accuride corporation for Wheat with termination for his tone of voice and body language. Michael Reeser 22 months. "Illegally terminated" strikers from Caterpillar. Bill Wheat is in the third row, on the far Caterpillar claims Wheat threatened a left. Wheat is a leader of the Blue Shirts and active in building solidarity for workers in boss on the plant floor over safety condi­ Leader of Blue Shirts Bill Wheat has a long history as a militant struggle elsewhere in the region. He is fighting suspension by Caterpillar, who "had it out tions in the factory. for him for a long time," according to another union activist. On December 17, UAW member John union fighter. He is a founding member and Stein was injured while loading scrap steel central leader ofthe Tactical Response Team, into a railroad gondola at Caterpillar's LL also known as the Blue Shirts, which grew out facility who are on a much lower second tier his union local, along with an unfair labor prac­ Plant in East Peoria. Stein's arm was crushed ofthe struggles and strikes by the UAW against pay scale. They also organized to drive a load tice charge with the National Labor Relations when the load shifted and he died in sur­ Caterpillar's antiunion drive over the past de­ of presents to UAW Local2036 in Kentucky Board, and a complaint with the human rights gery the next day. cade. and paid a solidarity visit to the Christmas Division ofthe EEOC. The cause of death was listed as blood clots The Blue Shirts have continued to reach dance ofLocal1969 ofthe United Mine Work­ Messages of solidarity may be sent to in the heart. out to back other struggles of working ers ofAmerica in Girard, Illinois. UAW Local 974 at 3025 Springfield Road, The following Monday, Wheat spoke with people in the area. Fellow Cat worker and Blue Shirt Tom East Peoria, IL 61611. Fax: (309) 694-3199. union officials in the plant, raising the need In the two weeks prior to Wheat's suspen­ Smith said the suspension of Wheat is "a for an investigation by the Occupational sion, they had helped to organize a Local 974 cheap shot by Despain. He has had it in for Cappy Kidd is a member ofthe United Auto Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). Christmas party in solidarity with a layer of Bill for a long time." Workers Local 890 in Morton Grove, Illi­ According to Wheat, he was confronted the workers at Caterpillar's Morton, Illinois, parts Wheat said he has filed a grievance through nois. New York cops, FBI, raid building in Algerian's arrest

BY DOUG NELSON AND border crossing a week earlier. the Militant that the most recent arrests ties against Muslims. The community ac­ PETER THIERJUNG The most recent arrest here occurred on have had a chilling effect on the immigrant tivist recalled past attacks on the Muslim NEWYORK- For three nights prior to January 1, when Abdelwahib Hamdouche community. community including the 1995 frame-up December 30 a small plane circled low, was picked up at Kennedy International "New Yorkers should condemn this injus­ of Sheik OmarAbdel Rahman and nine oth­ menacing the predominately Muslim Airport. He is being held by authorities with­ tice," Khokhar said. "This is straight harass­ ers for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Midwood neighborhood here in Brooklyn, out charges. ment. There is no proofpresented. The people Center under the seditious conspiracy stat­ reported Tariq Khokhar, a Pakistani rights A January 3 hearing for Hamdouche before in the community feel this is a fabrication." ute. Rahman and the defendants were not activist and resident. Federal Magistrate Judge Michael Dolinger "The issue here is not just an individual convicted of a criminal act, but of"conspir­ Midwood residents also reported that fed­ to hear the complaint was held in secret. The alone, but how they make the whole Muslim ing" to overthrow the US government. The eral agents were noticeable throughout the judge refused a request by the New York Times community the criminal," Khokhar explained. case rested on false testimony by an informer community for several days moving about to open the hearing and gave no explanation. "It is the classic evil way of the media, how who was paid $1 million by the FBI. in unmarked cars. The provocative cop pres­ Currently there are about 20 people in the the media characterizes a whole community, Rahman is iri prison ser\ring a·life sentence. ence caused concern and became the center United States, almost allArab, who are being I'm against this and I am protesting to the Khokhar stressed that the American of a discussion at a December 29 held in jail without charges on secret "evi­ governor and the mayor not to destroy our per­ people need to know what the U.S. govern­ Rahmaddan service of 2,500 at the Makki dence" stemming from arrests in previous sonal character." ment is doing to Muslim people around the Mosque. Khokhar and other community years, according to theArnerican-ArabAnti­ Khokhar reported that this assault on the world. "The media doesn't let people know leaders called on residents to be vigilant. Discrimination Committee. Muslim community is not new and is part of the truth. The truth will come out by our On December 30, FBI agents and New A worker who is Muslim in Midwood told an ongoing campaign by New York authori- efforts," he said. York police orchestrated a massive opera­ tion that raided an apartment building here and led to the arrest of Abdel Ghani. The raid followed the December 14 arrest of Anti-terror raids target rights in Canada Ahmed Ressam at the Canadian border near Seattle for allegedly bringing bomb materials Continued from Page 1 ployees (UNITE) opposed the government explaining that "the anti-Arab, anti-Mus­ into the United States. A criminal complaint Presse reported that an organization of Mus­ moves by pointing out that since the be­ lim chauvinist campaign is aimed at divid­ accused Ghani ofhaving "knowledge of a ter­ lims held a press conference to respond to the ginning of the Kurdish movement for inde­ ing working people. It is part and parcel of rorist network ofAlgerian nationals" and of "anti-terrorist" campaign being whipped up pendence the Turkish government has la­ the efforts of the ruling billionaire capital­ having a connection to Ressam. by Washington and Ottawa. Spokesperson beled them terrorists. ist families that run the governments in Three others have been arrested since then Mostafa Ben Kirane denounced the moves as The CanadianArab Federation explained Washington, Ottawa, and other imperialist on immigration charges while authorities at­ "hate propaganda being aimed at the whole in a statement, "We are concerned with pos­ capitals to increase the use of police pow­ tempt to link them to Ressam. Lucia Garofalo Muslim community in Montreal." sible overreaction by authorities that could ers against working people." These attacks, and an Algerian man were arrested December Workers from the Middle East and ofArab lead to a disregard for civil liberties. TheCa­ the statement says, are part of "their re­ 19 in Vermont as they tried to enter the United origin at work sites around the city are also nadianArab and Muslim community fears a sponse to the increasing resistance of work­ States. On December 24, Abdelhakim speaking out. A presser in a garment shop here repeat of the GulfWar experience when the ing people to the growing disorder of world Tizegha, another Algerian, was arrested in who is Kurdish and a member ofthe Union of community felt targeted and misrepresented." capitalism." Bellvue, Washington, for an alleged illegal Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Em- The Communist League issued a statement Joanne Pritchard is a member of UNITE.

In New International no. 6 Newlntemalional Basque fighter deported from Miami The second W.Shlln~Pon•s 50-Year assassination of Domes-c:llc Con-c:ra Opera-c:llon Maurice Bishop BY RACHELE FRUIT Aldasoro was arrested on December 1, by31ereCIIIIt lARRY SEIGLE MIAMI-Ramon Aldasoro Magun­ 1997, in Homestead, Florida, by the FBI's As the U.S. rulers prepared to smash working-class resistance acelaya, a fighter for the independence of joint terrorism task force, working with the and join the interimperialist slaughter ofWorldWar II, the na­ the Basque country, was extradited from Mi­ Spanish police agency Interpol and the U.S. tional political police apparatus as it exists today was born. ami to Spain the week ofDecember 19. State Department. He was imprisoned in Miami's Federal Detention Center until the Documents the consequences for the labor, Black, antiwar, and The U.S. government's move came de­ spite arguments by Aldasoro's federal pub­ extradition. other social movements and how the working-class vanguard lic defenders that he faces possible torture Defense attorneys explained that all of has fought over the past fifty years to defend democratic rights while awaiting trial on frame-up charges in the Basque "witnesses" who initially im­ against government and employer attacks. In New International Spain. The Spanish government claims that plicated Aldasoro did so under torture and FBI OII'I'RIAL Aldasoro aided in the killing of a retired subsequently recanted their testimony. In The Victory in the Socialist Workers Party Suit Spanish air force general and two cops in a 1998, federal judge James King in Miami ruled against extradition, agreeing that the against Government Spying ...... mortar attack on a civil guard's barracks in 1988, and that he is a member of the ETA evidence againstAldasoro was not credible. Available from b okstbres, - 0 (Basque Homeland and Liberty), which This ruling was overturned on appeals. This EDITED BY MARGARET JAYKO including those 1isted Qti --' · fall the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take The victory in the case fought from 1973 to 1987 •page ·-12. or write· Pathfinder. fights for the independence of the Basque the case. "increases the space for politics, expands the de 410 West St" New York; NY country from Spain. 10014. Tef: (212) 741:0690. · The Basque are an oppressed nation of In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State facto use of the Bill of Rights, increases the confi­ Fax: {212) 727-0150. When about 3 million people who live in northern Madeleine Albright seeking to block the dence of working people that you can be political ordering by mall. please in­ Spain and southern France. About 25 per­ extradition, defense lawyers said, "There is and hold the deepest convictions against the gov­ clude $3 to cover shipping cent of the people in the Basque country, or evidence of gross violations of the human ernment and it's your right to do so and act upon and handling: · Euskal Herria, speak Basque, although it is rights ofBasque detainees in Spain. A con­ them"- from the introduction. $17.95 not recognized as an official language by sistent pattern of violations justifies denial either the French or Spanish governments. of extradition."

January 17, 2000 The Militant 11 Chechnya war intensifies, stakes mount Continued from front page sia by means ofloans and investment alone, low.... It rose to well nigh the world average in sistance inside Grozny and in the south ofthe signed a decree shielding the former presi­ but will require military pressure, and ulti­ the production of raw materials and electric­ country. dent from criminal charges and granting him mately, force. ity, but is 20-24 percent of the U.S. average in "Our first real losses started when we en­ a lifetime pension, housing, bodyguards, and the other industries .... tered Grozny," 20-year-old private Aleksei medical care for his family. Yeltsin will re­ Oil reserves are focus of conflicts "This is the result of the consistently dwin­ Lyulin told reporters on January 1. He had pre­ ceive a pension equivalent to 75 percent ofhis The major oil reserves that are already be­ dling national investments ... And foreign in­ viously been stationed inAlkhan-Yurt to the salary, which was $40,000. ing exploited by the Russian government and vestors are not in a hurry to contribute to the west of the capital. Another private, Sergei The deal throws a little light on social re­ some foreign oil companies in the regions of development ofRussian industries. The over­ Chigayev, said, "You can see from the way the lations in Russia, which after a decade of the Caspian sea and the Caucasus mountains all volume of direct foreign investments in villagers stare at us that they really don't want market "reforms" remains a workers state. have also whetted the appetite of the imperi­ Russia amounts to barely $11.5 billion. China us here." Russian forces attacking Grozny be­ Yeltsin has been a member of the ruling bu­ alist governments. received as much as $43 billion in foreign in­ hind heavy artillery fire and air strikes face reaucratic layer in the Soviet Union for all of Moscow is a competitor for the exploita­ vestments." ambushes and sniper fire. Official figures his adult life. But he must still appeal to the tion of these reserves. Washington has con­ Putin reports that "the overall monetary place the death toll at I 0 a day. "Soldiers are state to provide health care, housing, and in­ cluded a deal to route a pipeline through Geor­ incomes of the population, calculated by the killed by the dozen," said one soldier, com­ come in his retirement. gia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkey from UN methods, add up to less than 10 percent of plaining that "we are hit by our own mortar U.S. President William Clinton stated that the oil-rich Caspian sea. Meanwhile, Moscow the U.S. figure. Health and the average life fire." Hospitals are "filling up fast with the Putin's succession is "encouraging." Accord­ is constructing a diversion of its current pipe­ span, the indicators that determine the qual­ wounded," according to one report. ing to the New York Times, Clinton adminis­ line to bypass Chechnya, claiming that theft ity oflife [have] deteriorated." tration officials say the president elected in of the oil is common in the "lawless region." Most Russian politicians avow support for Moscow's generals plan occupation March might "negotiate with authority While Washington proceeds with its more "reforms" and integration of the Russian Larger-scale combat was also reported on Washington's proposal to modifY the 1972Anti­ confrontational course, it also entertains hopes economy into the world capitalist market. In January 3 when Chechen rebel forces launched Ballistic Missile Treaty." that Putin and his allies may provide some his document, however, Putin hints at the so­ an attack westward from Grozny to the towns "Russia has objected to changes," the ar­ openings for new inroads on the social and cial relations which have stymied attempts at ofAlkhan-Kala andAlkhan-Yurt, occupied by ticle went on, "that the United States wants economic relations that prevail in Russia. the reintroduction of capitalism to date. "The Russian forces for a month. Two days later to allow both nations to field national defenses Following the December parliamentary majority of Russians are used to connecting Chechen fighters attacked Russian troops in against limited long-range missile attacks. elections, Clinton stated that his administra­ improvements in their own condition more Grozny' s northern outskirts. After these kinds Moving up the election could buy both sides tion would not seek to block economic aid to with the aid and support of the state and soci­ of clashes Russian soldiers point to the "fear­ three more months to resolve the dispute be­ Moscow. On December 28 the World Bank ety than with their own efforts, initiative and lessness" of the city's defenders. An Associ­ fore next summer, when President Clinton is granted the country a $100 million loan. "We flair for business. And it will take a long time ated Press journalist reported, however, that to decide whether to begin building a missile support this disbursement of funds, which will for this habit to die." "the Chechen offensive could be short-lived. defense." be used to restructure the coal sector," said a This "habit" is a legacy of changes wrought The rebels in Grozny are reportedly short of Washington is pressing ahead with the de­ Clinton administration official. "It is fully by the socialist revolution in Russia, which ammunition." velopment of a system designed to shoot in­ consistent with the common objective ofpro­ triumphed under the leadership of the Bolshe­ "The period of the Russian army's trium­ coming enemy missiles out of the sky. The moting market reforms in Russia." vik Party in 1917. phant march through Chechnya is over. A turn­ deployment of such systems would give the The money, in fact, is earmarked for clos­ ing point in the second war in Chechnya is Pentagon the ability to carry out a first nuclear ing down mines considered by capitalist con­ Working people fight for social rights about to occur," stated Chechen presidential strike while fending off a retaliatory attack. cerns to be "inefficient." Publicly, some of Although the Stalinist regimes that held administration chief Apti Batalov in a rare Putin and other Russian officials have re­ the funds are to be used for payments to min­ sway from the 1930s crushed the initiative of publicized statement of the Chechen forces. fused to bow to Washington's demands for ers who will be laid off in the 116 mines that working people and rolled back many of their Moscow's invasion has targeted not just the changes to theABM treaty, recognizing that Moscow has agreed to close. gains, they did not overturn nationalized prop­ Chechen military forces but the official the Russian and Chinese workers states are Now attention is focused on a $640 million erty. And working people in Russia are deter­ elected government of the territory, which has the ultimate target of the new weapons sys­ loan to Russia, frozen by the International mined to hold onto the social rights they have held sway since the defeat of the Russian of­ tems. Monetary Fund in September amidst criticism won-rights that stand in the way of the tri­ fensive in 1995. Washington's military preparations stem of the war in Chechnya. umph of the "free market." "After the operation is completed ... a full from the recognition by the U.S. rulers that "He has been a prime reformer," said U.S. Calling for "Russian renewal, "Putin states army division will remain. A full brigade of capitalism will not be reintroduced into Rus- Secretary of State Madeleine Albright of that the country "was and will remain a great Interior Ministry troops will ensure the main­ Putin' s record. In a paper released last year power.... Russia needs a strong state power tenance of constitutional order on this part of Putin espouses his support for the kinds of "eco­ and must have it." Putin is presently laying Russian territory and border troops will seal nomic and political reforms" that Albright out his qualifications for the role ofstrongman the state border," said Col. General Valery refers to. "How can we make the new market ruler in the crisis-ridden country. In one state­ Manilov, a senior officer on the Russian Gen­ -MILITANT mechanisms work to full capacity? "he asks ment he called for a 57 percent increase in eral Staff on December 28. in the lengthy document. military spending. He left no doubt of the im­ The stiff resistance mounted by Chechen Beyond the rhetoric, however, Putin lists portance he attaches to the offensive in Chech­ fighters may force the generals to redraw those LABOR statistics that indicate the deep crisis in the nya when he visited the front on his first full plans. It also buys time for the erosion of the Russian economy. Russia's Gross Domestic day as acting president. On his return to Mos­ popular consensus in Russia that has so far FORUMS- Product "nearly halved in the 1990s," he writes, cow Putin said that "everything we have done allowed the war to proceed with little orga­ "and its [Gross National Product] is ten times so far has been justified." nized opposition. Vladimir Putin's electoral CALIFORNIA smaller than in the USA and five times smaller The Russian commanders themselves re­ prospects, and a great deal more besides, rest Los Angeles than in China .... Productivity... is extremely port that Moscow's forces are facing stiff re- on the outcome of the fighting in Chechnya. The Origins of the Oppression ofWomen and the Culture War against Women's Rights To­ day. Speaker: Samantha Kern, Young Socialists National Executive member. Fri., Jan. 14, 7:30 -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP---- p.m.2546W. Pica. Blvd. Donation: $5. Tel: (213) 388-9600. Where to find Pathfinder books and 2500. 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E-mail: I 04077 .51! @compuserve.com WASHINGTON, D.C.: 3541 14th St. NW Zip: 20010. Tel: (202) 722-6221. E-mail: IOWA: Des Moines: 3720 6th Ave. Zip: 75407 [email protected] WASHINGTON 50313. Tel: (515) 288-2970. E-mail: NEW ZEALAND Seattle I 04107 [email protected] WASHINGTON: Seattle: 2533 16thAve. Auckland: La Gonda Arcade, 203 South. Zip: 98144. Tel: (206) 323-1755. U.S. Navy Out ofVieques! Independence for Karangahape Road. Postal address: P.O. Box MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 683 Wash­ E-mail: [email protected] Puerto Rico! Speaker: Jeff Hamill, Socialist Work­ 3025. Tel: (9) 379-3075. E-mail: ington St. Mailing address: P.O. Box 702. I [email protected] ers Party. Fri., Jan. 14,7:30 p.m. 2533 16th Ave. Zip: 02124. Tel: ( 617) 282-2254. E-mail: South. Donation: $4. Tel: (206) 323-1755. I [email protected] AUSTRALIA Christchurch: Gloucester Arcade, 129 Sydney: 1st Fir, 176 Redfern St., Redfern Gloucester St. Postal address: P.O. Box 22- MICHIGAN: Detroit: 7414 Woodward NSW 2016. Mailing address: P.O. Box 530. Tel: (3) 365-6055. BRITAIN Ave. Zip: 48202.Tel: (313) 875-0100. K879, Haymarket Post Office, NSW 1240. E-mail: [email protected] London E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 02-9690-1533. E-mail: I [email protected] Why Imperialism Wants to Destroy the Chi­ MINNESOTA: St. Paul: 1569 Sherburne SWEDEN nese Revoluti9n. Speaker: Phil Waterhouse, Com­ Ave. W., St. Paul. Zip: 55104. Tel: (651) Stockholm: Vikingagatan I 0 (T-bana St munist League, and National Union of Rail, Mari­ 644-6325. E-mail: [email protected] BRITAIN Eriksplan). Postal code: S-113 42. Tel: (08) time, and Transport Workers. Fri., Jan. 14, 7 p.m. MISSOURI: St. Louis: Box 19166,2910 London: 4 7 The Cut. Postal code: SE I 31 69 33. 47 The Cut. Donation: £2. Tel: 0171-928-7993. Meramec Street. Zip: 63118. Tel: (314) 924- 8LL. Tel: 0171-928-7993. E-mail: I 00416,[email protected] 12 The Militant January 17,2000 'Developing' nations will never become industrial powers

The excerpt below is taken from "So far the imperialist overlords over division of the from God, so close to Orange County," a surplus value produced by the peasants and report given at a regional socialist educa­ workers. But the national bourgeoisies are ulti­ tional conference held in Los Angeles, Cali­ mately too weak to come out on top in these fornia, over the 1994-95 New Year's week­ conflicts, short of the kind ofworking-class and end. The report was discussed and adopted peasant mobilizations that would threaten the by delegates to the SWP's 38th National privileged classes' own wealth and power in the Convention, held July 8-12, 1995, in Oberlin, process. That is why as long as the bourgeoisie Ohio. The entire talk appears in Capitalism's remains in power in a semicolonial country, na­ World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the tional sovereignty cannot be achieved. Millennium. Copyright© 1999 by Pathfinder When you read or hear the terms "develop­ Press, reprinted by permission. Subheadings ing countries" or "emerging economies," be sure are by the Militant. to notice the "-ing" on the end of the adjec­ tives-"develop-ing," "emerg-ing." That is the Demonstration in Jujuy province of Argentina in May 1997, supporting unemployed BY JACK BARNES tip-off that not one of these "developing" coun­ workers leading occupation of highway. Rebellions exploded around Argentina that The biggest nightmare in Latin America is tries has developed into an advanced industrial year demanding jobs, unemployment benefits, housing, and health care. The same com­ not what President [Ernesto] Zedillo in power in the twentieth century. Not one "emerg­ bativity surfaced in a number of struggles during 1999. In a world "divided into a large Mexico, or President [F emando Henri que] ing" economy has emerged from bondage to number of oppressed nations and an insignificant number of oppressor nations," Argen­ Cardoso in Brazil, or President [Carlos] the big banks and strong currencies of the ruling tina is one of those countries "emerging forever; emerged... never." Menem inArgentina have been waking up to families of fmance capital. Emerging forever; in recent days. The real nightmare is the eco­ emerged... never. Not one. "This," Lenin said "is the essence of imperi­ Nor would Lenin have been at all surprised nomic and social reality that hundreds of It is not surprising, in face of this reality, that alism and imperialist parasitism." by the much-talked-about proliferation of millions of workers and peasants wake up to many workers and young people initially con­ For that reason, Lenin added Marxists should "derivatives" on Wall Street in recent years­ each and every morning. Actual nightmares, clude that the deepening crisis that surrounds not object to those at the time--including some basically, bets placed on the future rise or of course, are unpredictable, chaotic. But the them must be a symptom of chaos. Everything bourgeois commentators-who had begun to decline in the prices of stocks, bonds, or other seems to be out of control. Everything seems refer to the major capitalist industrial powers of pieces of paper-whose total value has now from the pages of unpredictable. the day as "rentier states" or "usurer states. "The reached some $20 trillion. In fact, he would Others suppose there must be a conspiracy. I rival imperialist powers remain industrial giants remind us that such speculative devices al­ am sure all of us will be talking to workers over and fight over markets for their exports, Lenin ways become necessary to the capitalist rentier Capitalism's the next few weeks who will tell us something said. But at the same time, "The world has be­ class at a certain point. When the total yield to this effect: "I didn't expect miracles in Mexico, come divided into a handful of usurer states on from their bonds goes down, they always at­ but I thought things were getting a little better. I the one side, and a vast majority of debtor states tempt to float new kinds of paper that tum a World Disorder thought there would be some progress. What on the other." heftier profit. happened? How could it be so sudden? There Since Lenin's time, of course, the absolute Yes, bonds are just pieces of paper. But as one unfolding across the Americas and else­ must have been some kind of a plot." increase in the industrial output and exports of long as capitalism exists, they are the most where is not born of chaos. It is the product of That is not an unreasonable assumption. manufactured goods by the imperialist powers important pieces of paper in the social world. the lawful, predictable, irreversible, and Workers know from bitter experience that the has been enormous. But Lenin would not have And if you want to know what happens when unreformable inner workings-the "value employers and their politicians scheme and plot been at all surprised by the even greater relative you do not show the bondholders the proper relations"----of the world capitalist system. all the time. They scheme to cut wages and ex­ increase, especially over the past two decades, respect, just ask the Mexican bourgeoisie or No Third World country can or will de­ tend the workday. They plan ways to cut social in the income capitalists derive from interest, the officials of Orange County! velop today into an economically advanced programs the working class has fought for and dividends, commissions, royalties, and returns "The creditor is more permanently at­ industrial power with the class structure of won to the benefit ofall. They are always cheat­ on a widening range of paper securities-what tached to the debtor than the seller is to the the United States, Canada, the countries of ing on the edges; they are always plotting to Marx called "fictitious capital." buyer." Lenin approvingly cites that assess­ Western Eumpe, Japan; Australia, or New one degree or another. They lie as a matter of Lenin would not have been surprised that ment from a book on British imperialism by Zealand. No new centers of world finance course. And workers learn never to trust them. the world's quantity ofbonds, stocks, and other a bourgeois writer. And it remains true today. capital are going to emerge. That has been paper values since 1980 has grown two and a settled by history. That is one of the great Workings of capitalism half times faster than the national income of the lessons of the twentieth century. It hasn't But no plot is necessary to explain what is major imperialist countries, and that the volume changed since Bolshevik leader V.I. Lenin happening in Mexico---or in Orange County of trade in these securities has accelerated even I. V.I. Lenin, "Report of the Commission on summed up the scientific conclusion of the either, for that matter. Nor is what is happening more. He would not have been surprised that the National and Colonial Questions" to the Sec­ ond Congress of the Communist International, communist workers movement seventy-five chaotic. It is the outcome ofthe lawful workings international sales and purchases of U.S. Trea­ July 26, 1920, in Collected Works, vol. 31, p. 240 years ago. The imperialist world, Lenin said, of capitalism in the imperialist epoch. It can all sury bonds alone shot up from $30 billion in (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1966). It can also has been "divided into a large number of op­ be understood and explained to other workers. 1983 to $500 billion in 1993, nor that the ratio be found in Pathfinder's Workers of the World pressed nations and an insignificant number Our point-the point of the politically con­ of international currency transactions to world and Oppressed Peoples, Unite! Proceedings and of oppressor nations, the latter possessinf scious vanguard of the working class-is not trade in actual industrial and agricultural goods Documents of the Second Congress, 1920, vol. 1, colossal wealth and powerful armed forces." that something didn 't work, but that this is how rose from 10 to 1 in 1983 to 60 to 1 in 1992. p. 212. It must have seemed unbelievable to many it works. people when Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and other Capitalism by its very laws of motion oper­ leaders of the Soviet Communist Party and ates to take tools and land away from working -25 AND 50 YEARS AGO--- Communist International insisted on this farmers and other small producers. It operates to conclusion at the time. After all, it had not amass the wealth produced by the toiling ma­ gal repressive actions of the government, been true for that long. It had not been true in jority in the hands of the propertied minority. It and laid the basis for winning even broader the previous century. Only seventy-five years operates to produce and reproduce not only com­ before Lenin spoke those words in 1920, Ger­ modities and the profits from their sale, but also TH£ MILITANT A SOCIAl~T t'H£ OF~£ many was still one of the most economically the entire class structure and social relations of NI:WSWEUU'/P08USH£D IN- t:NTU-ESfS WQU!NO f'fOI'H TH£ MILITANT backward regions in Europe; it wasn't even a subordination that make this system of exploi­ January 17, 1975 PU&LISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE united nation-state at the time. And even just tation possible. St. Louis-The fourteenth national con­ 1\"EW YORK, !\ Y a decade or so prior to the tum of the century, As I was leaving to catch the plane to come vention of the Young Socialist Alliance, no one could have accurately predicted that out here this morning, a comrade in New York which met here Dec. 28-Jan. 1, signaled a support for civil liberties in the future. coal- and oil-poor Japan-just beginning to handed me a copy of Lenin's Imperialism. He major turning point for the YSA. emerge from feudalism-would soon de­ urged me to reread it during the flight. Given The delegates voted unanimously to January 16, 1950 velop into an imperialist power, while Argen­ what had begun happening in Mexico, he said, throw the YSA's forces into a nationwide Probing for a vital spot in the mine owners' tina would end up among the oppressed not I was bound to fmd something useful in prepar­ campaign against the racist attempts to solid front, the coal miners on Jan. 9 began strik­ the oppressor nations in the world. ing for this meeting. He was right. block school desegregation in Boston. ing at the "captive" pits of the mqjor steel com­ When Lenin used the term "imperialism"­ A determined fight to defend the rights panies which have been the main hold-outs in More, not less dependent and Marxists still use the term the same way­ of Black youth to an equal education, YSA the seven-month battle of the United Mine Since the consolidation of imperialism at he was not just speaking in a political and mili­ leaders asSerted, has the potential to galva­ Workers for a new and improved contract. the opening of this century, every action by tary sense about the aggression and oppression nize the student movement. It can initiate a In spite of their magnificent solidarity and finance capital in relation to the more eco­ imposed by the rulers of a handful of wealthy dynamic new civil rights movement of the militancy, the miners so far have failed to make nomically backward countries ends up fur­ and powerful nation-states on colonial peoples. 1970s, whose logic will point toward chal­ any significant breach in the operators line. ther warping the economies of the colonial He was not just referring to the colonial system lenging the very foundation of racism: the They are now concentrating on the steel com­ or semicolonial countries. That is the effect and related forms of semi colonial exploitation. capitalist system itself. panies, which are operating at close to capac­ of every bank loan to their ruling classes; That is a permanent aspect of imperialism, but Another element in the excitement and ity, in hope they can force a settlement before every investment in landed, industrial, and Lenin was referring to something more funda­ enthusiasm that pervaded the convention their depleted resources reach exhaustion. commercial capital; every purchase ofbonds mental. sessions was the YSA's confrontation with The long struggle appears headed for a show­ issued by a scmicolonial administration; ev­ Imperialism, Lenin explained, is the final the FBI. down. The mine owners, backed by the whole ery trade pact; every scheme to peg the value stage of capitalism. He described its features. In the weeks before the convention, news capitalist class and government, are plainly seek­ of weaker currencies to stronger ones. Every Reading Imperialism, I discovered once again, media throughout the country and espe­ ing to impose a crushing defeat on the coal min­ one of these moves makes the oppressed na­ is well worth the effort. The chapter that struck cially in St. Louis followed the YSA' s court ers. tions ofLatinAmerica, Asia, and Africa more, me in a new way this time is the one entitled, battle to bar FBI surveillance of the con­ Time and again in the past decade the min­ not less, dependent on capital, technology, "The Parasitism and Decay of Capitalism." vention. ers have pioneered far-reaching demands, like and imports from the imperialist nations. Lenin wrote the booklet in 1916, just a year The FBI won an eleventh-hour delay in company-financed pensions, which have in­ Their currencies are ever more reliant on, and before the Russian revolution. At that stage complying with a court order against its sur­ spired the struggles of other sections oflabor. vulnerable to, the U.S. dollar, the British in the development of world capitalism, he veillance, pending a decision on the entire Time and again their militant methods have pound, the German mark, the French franc, or explained, 'The income of the bondholders suit filed by the YSA and SWP against gov­ won gains that have spurred the rest oflabor the Japanese yen. isfive times greater than the income obtained ernment harassment. to action. Above all the miners have relied on Capitalist classes do arise in these coun­ from the foreign trade of the greatest 'trad­ Nevertheless, convention participants felt their own strength rather than on the govern­ tries, and they do come into conflict with ing' country in the world [Britain]. the fight had done a lot to expose the ille- ment for their gains. January 17, 2000 The Militant 13 -EDITORIALS------Keep fire on Government targets rights Washington While all the hype aroundY2K disasters has faded fast, ment frame-up that should be condemned. Lee is essen­ In his letter on the facing page, reader Steve Patt poses Washington's campaign around "terrorist threats" has not. tially accused of downloading classified information from important questions for fighters: why is the U.S. govern­ Leading up to the turning of the clocks into the new government computers while being of Chinese descent. ment the number one enemy of working people? Is it pos­ millennium, Washington issued a number of"worldwide The campaign-against Lee fits into Washington's increased sible to fight against capitalism in general without fight­ terrorism warnings" as it beefed up the cops at its border. economic and military drive against the Chinese workers ing against the capitalist government in the country where The arrest of several individuals who were originally from state. you live? Algeria fits in with the rulers' drive against immigrants, Despite Washington's anti-terrorism hype, it is the big­ Supporters of the Militant and members of the Young and its slander of toilers who hail from parts of the world gest source of state organized terrorism in the world to­ Socialists and Socialist Workers Party mobilized in Se­ where Islam is a leading religious belief. day-from the bombing of Iraq, which continues to this attle to discuss revolutionary politics with thousands of Pakistani rights activist Tariq Khokhar is absolutely day; to the recent bombardment ofYugoslavia; to the de­ correct when he points out, "The issue here is not just an cades-long economic embargo of Cuba. individual alone, but how they make the whole Muslim The rulers are probing and setting the stage for deeper community the criminal." attacks in the future against workers and farmers resisting DISCUSSION WITH In the name of combating "Islamic terrorism" the U.S. the growing disorder of capitalism. They hope to foster rulers and their cops show utter contempt for established the belief that the government should curtail democratic legal and civil rights. Slander, innuendo, paid informers­ rights in order to protect "us" in the United States against OUR READERS all have been used in the absence of evidence. "them." Some are being arrested for visa violations and then The raids conducted in Montreal and Brooklyn and the charged in the media with being part of an international calculated propaganda offensive over the new year are youth and workers who showed up because they are sick terrorist network The rulers want us to assume those designed to intimidate us. But such campaigns do not nec­ and tired ofthe normal functioning of the capitalist sys­ rounded up and arrested are guilty who must prove their essarily have the intended effect, as evidenced by those tem. Many mistakenly believed that the demonstrations innocence. But you're innocent, innocent, innocent-un­ who have spoken out in protest against them. Working and actions offered a way to fight the brutalities that capi­ less they can prove you're guilty. people, including those who are immigrants, are not in­ talism brings to the world. When Abdelwahib Hamdouche was picked up at clined to allow themselves to be cast as outlaws. The Militant sharply took on the reactionary, economic Kennedy Airport on New Years Day, the judge ordered The labor movement needs to take a stand alongside nationalist, pro-U.S. imperialist character of the events that the complaint against him be held in secret. This is these allies to help organize them in political action. This and their leadership- including union officials and lib­ part of an increased use by the government of secret trials is the road forward toward overcoming the divisions fos­ eral political figures. We sought to provide a revolution­ and secret evidence. Some 20 individuals remain incar­ tered by the rulers that weaken our ranks. "We;' is work­ ary perspective to all who where interested, and found cerated in U.S. prisons without even knowing what they ing people the world over who are exploited and oppressed many who were. are being charged with. by "them"-the billionaire ruling families who are driv­ There is a wealth of experience in the workers revolu­ The arrest and imprisonment without bail of the Tai­ ing against our rights at home and toward more military tionary movement to draw on concerning Patt's questions. wanese-born scientist, Wen Ho Lee, is another govern- assaults abroad. V.I. Lenin, the central leader of the Bolshevik party that led tens of millions of workers, peasants, and soldiers in history's first socialist revolution, wrote in August 1917: "The unheard-ofhorrors and miseries of the protracted war are making the position of the masses unbearable and Support farmers march increasing their indignation. An international proletarian revolution is clearly rising. The question of its relation to The January 17 march in Atlanta affords unionists and ally for the continuing strikes and actions by workers the state is acquiring practical importance." This involves, fighting farmers the opportunity to strengthen alliances, and their unions resisting assaults today. When a wave he wrote, "the problem of elucidating to the masses what step up the heat on the federal government on the consent of farmers struggles rose in the 1980s the labor move­ they will have to do for their liberation from the yoke of decree, and highlight the crisis facing working farmers ment was in serious retreat, unable to reach out and capitalism in the very near future." today. reinforce the farmers' battles in a common struggle Not only must the existing capitalist state be shattered, Reports in these pages over past several months help against the corporations and their government. wrote Lenin, but "the proletariat needs state power... both bring out the facts about the devastating crisis farmers face Many farmers, and workers as well, have learned of for the purpose of crushing the resistance of the exploit­ today. With falling prices paid by the grain and food and been inspired by the struggle waged by farmers ers and for the purpose of guiding the great mass of the monopolies for the products of farmers' labor- includ­ against racist discrimination at the hands of the U.S. population-the peasantry, the petty-bourgeoisie, the semi­ ing hogs, milk, wheat, cranberries, and more - farmers Department of Agriculture. While facing the same proletarians-in the work of organizing a socialist are being driven more deeply into debt slavery. The story squeeze all farmers do, farmers who are Black have to economy." of the three farmers in New Jersey told in this issue is not battle practices aimed at driving them off their land in These same questions were addressed in a similarly unusual: they faced the added strike against them of sex even greater numbers. revolutionary fashion in a speech by Jose Ramon Balaguer discrimination in obtaining loans needed to keep their farm Utilizing the corning weeks to get out the word about to an international workshop on "Socialism on the Thresh­ operations going. the January 17 march, and another planned for Febru­ old of the Twenty-First Century," held in Havana, Cuba, A product of the farm crisis is the decisions by some ary in Washington, D.C., is a way to concretely in 1997. Balaguer is a member of the Central Committee farmers to fight back, thus helping to forge an important strengthen all our struggles. of the Cuban Communist Party. Balaguer argued that "socialism will not appear on the historical scene through a modernization of present soci­ ety, but through a revolutionary transformation of its domi­ An awesome achievement nant structures. In this sense, the question of the seizure of power remains a basic requirement.." Congratulations and celebrations are in order! Mili­ litical and literacy acquisitions. Until the victory in the Russian revolution every state tant readers have been following with keen interest the This is ongoing, long-term work of immense value to functioned as the instrument of the minority ruling class progress of the Pathfinder reprint volunteers. The dis­ socialist workers around the world. As the garment work­ to defend its interests against the majority. The capitalist ciplined and collective work that made possible meet­ ers and coal miners point out, the historic lessons of the state in Washington defends the interests of the tiny hand­ ing the Scan2000 goal on time deserves a working­ struggles of working people contained in Pathfinder titles ful of billionaire families that rule the United States. The class salute. are an essential component of forging a communist lead­ government acts as the executive committee of this brutal The completion of Scan2000 releases their labor ership out of the struggles of worker and farmers. ruling class, rather than as the handservant of the social power and skills for formatting and other work. Hav­ Ensuring the continued and expanded distribution of system of capitalism in general, as Patt states. ing achieved this milestone this volunteer brigade is these books for fighters around the world who want to It was a mark of the anti-WTO actions that U.S. Presi­ setting its sights on the next one. In the same month discover the real history of the modern working-class dent William Clinton could come to Seattle and not find a that Scan2000 was brought home the "digitizers" movement and its communist vanguard is the goal of the single protest against any aspect of the assault his admin­ turned over 8 complete books-a huge step towards Pathfinder volunteers. Their political consciousness, or­ istration has carried out-either at home or abroad. In­ their aim of producing 10 a month, and grounds for ganization, and determination to make sure those who want stead, he was able to trumpet the protests' demands against confidence they will make it. to educate themselves to be prepared for the struggles of child labor, destruction of the environment, and for labor This work represents an immense contribution of today and tomorrow can find the historical record dis­ laws in other countries, and turn them to Washington's time, energy, and funds. It is driven by the political tilled in the books and pamphlets published by Pathfinder advantage against the governments in the semi-colonial commitment and confidence of the individuals in­ Press is a real example to fighters everywhere. world and workers states. volved. They know deeply the irreplaceable value of We encourage any readers who feel they can contribute Washington is the chief world cop of capitalism; U.S. the titles that Pathfinder produces and will produce as to this project in any way to contact the organizers, listed imperialism is the most brutal, exploitative, and oppres­ coming revolutionary struggles provide their own po- at the end of the news article starting on .Page one. sive power humanity has ever seen. Its record is literally umivaled from its wars of annexation, to two inter-impe­ rialist world wars, to the more recent assaults against the peoples oflraq and Yugoslavia. But this enormous center of capitalism has also brought into being the most potentially powerful working class in the world, that, together with proletarians in rural areas, can mount a revolutionary struggle where fighters in their tens of millions can take power out of the hands of the ruling rich and, as Lenin explained, guide the great mass of the population to abolish capitalism and join the world­ wide struggle for socialism. Tens ofthousands of those in the streets of Seattle, in­ cluding much of the trade union officialdom sponsoring the nationalist actions, were-verbally at least-in favor of struggles against the evils that abound today and for measures such as canceling the third world debt, a shorter workweek, or a substantial increase in the minimum wage. But for vanguard fighters and young people being drawn toward the working class today such important demands need to be linked to a revolutionary perspective.

-GREG MCCARTAN 14 The Militant January 17, 2000 Overnite strikers rally in Atlanta to demand union recognition Supporters of the Militant are contrib­ and their union. uting weekly updates on the strike by As has become a feature of the picket drivers and dock workers at Overnite lines around the country, Teamster members Transportation, the largest nonunion from other trucking companies joined the trucking company in the United States. rally and picket line. Sandra Collier is a The walkout began in Memphis, Tenn., member of Teamster Local 728 and works October 24 and involves some 2,000 work­ at Roadway as a relay driver in Atlanta. ers across the country. We encourage From 1990 until June of this year, Collier weekly updates from strikers and their worked for a nonunion outfit driving trucks supporters in as many areas as possible across the 48 states and Canada. in order to present an up-to-date assess­ ''I'm here to show my support to the union ment ofthis fight to the broadest possible cause," Collier said. "I know what it means number of workers, farmers, and youth. to drive nonunion. A union contract with Notes and articles can be sent to the Mili­ higher wages makes it possible to take time tant at 410West St., New York, NY 10014; off. When I drove nonunion it was paid by by fax to (212) 924-6040; or e-mail to the mile. It was very unsafe. We got paid a [email protected]. Please pittance for loading and unloading. It was enforced servitude. The union contract al­ Militant/Don Pane include your union or school identifica­ December 21 in Atlanta, around 150 striking Teamsters union members and their sup­ lows us more time at home and enough tion if possible. porters marched and rallied in support oftheir demand that the company recognize the wages for me to buy a house." union. The strike began October 24 and involves 2,000 workers across the country. BY DON PANE A delegation of several religious officials ATLANTA~ One hundred and fifty led by Tim McDonald, President of Con­ strikers and their supporters at Overnite cerned Black Clergy, walked onto company "here for the long haul. I'm not going back drying up," said Gordy, a striker at the Transportation rallied at the company's ter­ property. After asking to speak with the com­ in until we get a contract. Five years ago we Overnite depot here outside Chicago. minal here Dec. 21 to demand the company pany representatives they met with the ser­ voted in the union and the company put us "There is a lot of activity as far as trucks recognize the Teamsters as their union and vice center manager. McDonald spoke to the on hold. I'll be here on the picket line until going in and out, but they are mostly empty. to negotiate a contract. Drivers and dock rally after the meeting and said the manager we get a contract." We followed one scab truck that left here workers here voted in their majority for the was sympathetic to the strikers' cause. the other day. It drove around for seven and Teamsters five years ago, but the bosses Karl Bryant, a worker at Overnite for 20 BY CAPPY KIDD a half hours without making any stops." have refused to negotiate with the workers years, said after the rally that the strikers are BEDFORD PARK~"Ovemite's freight is "Our ambulatory pickets are having an impact," he said. "We'll send a couple of guys to patrol an area. When they spot an Overnite truck in a loading dock, they go in and talk to the shipping clerk. They explain Sabre Tech found guilty ofviolating our rights to picket that truck while it's in their loading dock. Once we set up an am­ bulatory picket, no other union carriers will cross our picket line. They drive right by." hazardous materials regulations Gordy explained that some "companies have said right there, 'We don't want any BY RACHELE FRUIT that caused the Everglades crash, which to properly train its employees in hazard­ problems.' They don't want to get backed MIAMI~In the first criminal conviction killed all 110 passengers and crew. ous materials. Each count carries a penalty up before Christmas. We don't tell the cus­ related to a U.S. airline disaster, a Miami The jury found SabreTech's former me­ of up to $500,000, for a possible fine of tomer not to ship with Overnite. That would jury on December 6 found maintenance chanic, Eugene Florence, not guilty of one $4.5 million for the now-defunct company. be illegal. We do let them know that it's their contractor SabreTech guilty of recklessly count of conspiracy and two counts of mak­ Sabre Tech separately faces state charges, decision, but they could face a picket line." violating hazardous materials regulations ing false statements; Daniel Gonzalez not including 110 counts of third-degree mur­ "The hub in South Holland, Illinois, is and failing to properly train workers in the guilty of one count each of conspiracy and der, 110 counts of manslaughter, and one not doing much work," he said. "It is a bulk May 1996 crash ofValuJet 592. making false statements; and Sabre Tech not count of unlawful transportation of hazard­ freight interchange." The jury, however, exonerated the com­ guilty of 14 counts of conspiracy, making ous materials. At the Bedford Park depot the company pany on charges of conspiracy, making false false statements, and willfully violating haz­ Jury forewoman Dorothy Alexander told had maintained sixty-five local routes, but statements, and willingly violating hazard­ ardous materials regulations. the Miami Herald the jury found the indi­ now two-thirds of the drivers are out on ous materials regulations, and acquitted two The jury found Sabre Tech guilty of eight vidual defendants not guilty because they strike. "The younger and older drivers are former SabreTech employees of all charges. counts of recklessly causing the transporta­ could find no evidence of intent to do wrong. bonding on the picket line and getting stron­ SabreTech handled the oxygen canisters tion of hazardous materials in violation of In defense of SaberTech, attorney Jane ger," Gordy said. "Sears Merchandise is that are believed to have ignited the fire federal regulations and one count of failing Moscowitz pointed to maintenance records sending in trucks to pick up freight at the of the 27-year-old DC-9 that show 45 me­ Overnite loading docks. They are the big­ chanical problems in the five months pre­ gest offender crossing our picket lines." ceding the crash, including 22 electrical Flight attendants picket Northwest ones and six auto-pilot failures, five of them during the plane's final week. The 1996 crash highlighted the disregard Airlines across the country of safety not only of the airline bosses, but PRISONER of the government agency that is supposed than three years ago, are fighting for im­ SUBSCRIPTION FUND BY MARY MARTIN to oversee them. Three internal reports by provements in working conditions, job pro­ WASHINGTON, D.C.~Flight atten­ the FederalAviationAdministration (FAA) tection measures, and pay and pensions. The Militant offers reduced subscrip­ dants at Northwest Airlines who are mem­ just a few months before the disaster detailed tion rates to workers and farmers be­ bers ofTeamsters Local2000 held informa­ LastAugust, some 70 percent of the flight a laundry list of problems, from the lack of attendants rejected a tentative agreement with hind bars.A six-month subscription to tional picketing at several airports across the structural inspections of aging aircraft, to the Militant costs $6, and one year costs country on December 15 to press their de­ Northwest Airlines. Northwest flight atten­ the use of the wrong training manuals, to $12. We send a free sample copy on re­ mands for a just contract. According to a dants do not have parity with their peers at inadequate maintenance procedures. quest. union hot line message, the union members other major U.S. airlines, ranking 17th in start­ In September 1996 the U.S. Department handed out thousands of flyers to travelers. ing pay and 15th in pay after six years of ser­ ofTransportation cleared ValuJet to resume Contributions make these special Flight attendants from Sun Country Air­ VIce. operations over the objections of the Asso­ rates possible for those who cannot lines and workers at NorthwestAirlines who They can be forced to work up to IS-hour­ ciation of Flight Attendants, which chal­ afford regular rates. Please send your are members of the International Associa­ duty days. The company has taken a hard-line lenged the carrier's safety record. donation to: Militant Prisoner Fund, tion of Machinists joined the actions in some stance against the flight attendants' demands, The company, since renamedAirTran, has 410West St., New York, NY 10014. cities. The flight attendants, who are work­ calling them "unrealistic" in letters sent to continued to fly despite further findings of ing under a contract which expired more the flight attendants. major safety violations by the FAA. -LETTERS------Main enemy of workers? test, however, offered an opportu­ in a single-man dog cage these neo­ show that if a fee is required for the ticle of yours once a long time ago In its effort to distance itself from nity for worldwide protests against nazis call the yard. We are unable requested material, please enclose and I have been trying to find the protesters in Seattle, the Militant capitalism itself, or at least its ex­ to earn prison wages as we are not the cost by way of a price list. paper since. I hope you can and will erroneously describes the U.S. gov­ cesses. Why not support that seg­ allowed to work, and lack funds. We A prisoner help me. If you give discounts to ernment as "the number one enemy ment of the protesters moving in the do have an informal study group in Cresatown, Maryland prisoners would you inform me of right direction, instead of merely need of progressive literature and a it also? of working people in this country." Enjoy reading your paper Surely it is capitalism itself which denouncing those who aren't? subscription to the Militant would A prisoner is the number one enemy of work­ Steve Patt be of great help. Whether you are A partner of mine shares his copy Auburn, New York ing people, not just in this country Cupertino, California able to provide this or not, thank but we are soon to move on. I'm 20 but the world over. The U.S. gov­ you for your time. years of age and really enjoy read­ Group needs literature The letters column is an open ernment did not create capitalism, A prisoner ing the news and facts you publish. forum for all viewpoints on sub­ it does not control capitalism, it is I am incarcerated in Southport Pine City, New York A prisoner merely the hand servant of capital­ Correctional Facility and I am writ­ Hagerstown, Maryland jects of general interest to our ing for a free subscription to the 'Prisoner Resource List' readers. Please keep your letters ISm. Read a long time ago brief. Where necessary they will To be sure, making demands on Militant. This is a special housing I retrieved your address from the I would like to know how am I be abridged. Please indicate if ones' own government is generally unit in which we are all locked "N a tiona! Prisoner Resource List." to go about receiving your paper? I you prefer that your initials be the correct strategy. The WTO pro- down 24 hours a day with the ex­ Please send me a copy of your so­ ception of one hour a day exercise cialist newsletter. Let the record had the opportunity to read an ar- used rather than your full name.

January 17, 2000 The Militant 15 THE MILITANT As British rulers debate Ireland new space won in fight for freedom

BY JONATHAN SILBERMAN The shattering of the once-solid Ul­ LONDON-In a series of Christmas j ster Unionist bloc upon which British and New Year messages British ruling­ rule over Northern Ireland has rested is class figures, capitalist politicians, and an expression of the broader weakness the big-business media have put forward of British imperialism faced not only with assessments of the recent developments the continued resistance by Irish nation­ in Northern Ireland, in particular the es­ alists but also with sharpened competi­ tablishment in December of a new ex­ tion from its imperialist rivals. This has ecutive for the Northern Ireland assem­ put the traditional bipartisan approach bly. to the Irish question under severe strain. Secretary of State for Northern Ireland A united response by the Labour and Peter Mandelson said, "After 30 years of Conservative parties in Westminster violence Northern Ireland now has an greeted the establishment of the North­ administration that represents all its ern Ireland executive. people, an executive in which former But the Conservative Party leadership enemies sit together to produce programs has, at various times over the last year, and policies to benefit all." sharply rebuked the government with de­ The Irish Independent editorialized mands to halt the release of Republican that an "equitable settlement" has at last prisoners. It has also forced a House of been found, registering "the futility of Commons division over alleged IRA violence and the art of compromise." TV violence and a delay in implementation and radio chat shows featured round­ of the Patten proposals on the RUC. table discussions and call-in shows on A debate among Tories has opened what the United Kingdom's head of state, on Ireland, part of a broader crisis of the Queen Elizabeth Windsor, described in party. A number of newspapers associ­ An Phoblacht/Republican News ated with the Conservative Party right her Christmas message as "the very wel­ The RUC batoned protesters against the Loyal Orange Orders march off the Lower Ormeau Road have warned against the logic of the come progress in Northern Ireland." last August. Resistance by fighters for Irish freedom has pushed back British rule and sharpened measures being implemented. An edito- The executive, provided for under the divisions among unionists. terms of the Good Friday Agreement, in­ rial in the Daily Telegraph wrote of cludes leaders of all the main Northern Ire­ amid public recriminations. In the face of community. Patten's RUC recommendations: "In­ land political parties: the Loyalist forces public criticism by the UUP, the DUP con­ This past September thousands of stead of being rewarded for holding the thin, that backed British rule, the Ulster Union­ tinues to maintain its opposition, refusing Orangemen turned out when the Parades rifle-green line in the face of tremendous ist Party (UUP) and the Ulster Democratic to sit on the executive when Sinn Fein is Commission approved a similar march by adversity, the RUC is now effectively to be Party (DUP); the Social Democratic and present. It has also orchestrated protests by the rightist Apprentice Boys targeting the disbanded. Even by the tawdry standards Labour Party (SDLP), which sought collabo­ students against Martin McGuinness who Catholic area along Lower Ormeau Road in of late imperial retreat this is a great be­ ration with British imperialism; and Sinn was appointed minister of education. Belfast. Resistance by the residents to the trayal." Fein, which fights for a free and united Ire­ Similar Unionist infighting has been in march, and the violence used by the RUC Commenting on the road traveled by land. The executive is allowed to make de­ evidence in the face of demands by local to open the road for the Loyalists, simply Martin McGuinness in taking his executive cisions on issues such as health, education, residents to reroute rightist marches by the fueled the fire of those campaigning for dis­ post, the Telegraph's Philip Johnston writes: and housing. Orange Order and other sectarian organiza­ banding of the RUC. "The only possible conclusion is that he What is known as the "Six Counties" re­ tions through Catholic neighborhoods. A Christopher Patten, chairman of the Inde­ believes that the ambitions oflrish republi­ main part of the United Kingdom. Budgets protest of the rerouting of a march last July pendent Commission on Policing, issued a cans can be achieved by entering the demo­ and overall political boundaries continue to by the government-appointed Parades Com­ series of proposals that fall short of the de­ cratic forum. He has good reason for hold­ be set by the Westminster government, which mission fizzled when a small fraction of the mand by nationalist fighters for disbanding of ing this view: at every turn, it is the Union­ in tum maintains control over all decisive I 0,000 people expected turned out and Loy­ the RUC. Patten is a former Tory government ists rather than Sinn Fein, who have had to questions such as army deployment and alist leaders divided among themselves over minister and the governor of Hong Kong who compromise their position." policing. the action. presided over lowering of the Union flag over To guard its flank the Labour government For over a year the pro-British UUP and the ex-British colony. had the Queen award the RUC the George DUP had blocked the establishment of the A bulwark of reaction Patten's proposals are substantial, how­ Cross, the highest civilian medal for gal­ executive under the slogan of "no guns, no The future of the Royal Ulster Constabu­ ever. They include cutting the number of lantry bestowed by the head of state. Mean­ government." The Irish Republican Army lary (RUC), a bulwark of reaction in the cops from 13,000 to 7 ,500; a change of name while, Peter Mandelson, has held meetings (IRA), they insisted, would have to give up occupied north of Ireland, is an example of to Northern Ireland Police Service; an end with the Orange Order over its demand to pa­ weapons before Sinn Fein would be admit­ the ongoing struggle in Ireland. to flying the Union flag over police stations rade down Garvaghy Road. ted. Opponents of the Irish freedom struggle As recently as three years ago, Loyalist and to the oath of allegiance to the Queen; The government has also sought to make charge Sinn Fein with being the "political mobilizations across the Six Counties, the provision that officers wear their names clear its commitment to defend British im­ wing" of the IRA, a claim Sinn Fein denies. which included sealing off Belfast airport, on their uniforms; and the demilitarization perialist interests in Ireland by authorizing The UUP dropped this demand at a No­ were the foundation for violence against of police stations. Patten also demands the the surveillance and bugging of Sinn Fein vember meeting of the Ulster Unionist coun­ Catholics by the RUC to help force an Or­ closure of special detention centers for al­ president Gerry Adams during the negotia­ cil when 58 percent of the 829 members ange march down Garvaghy Road, which leged terrorist suspects, famous for torture tion process, and by insisting that British present voted in favor ofjoining the council runs through the middle of a large Catholic of Republican prisoners. troops remain in the Six Counties indefinitely. But army deployment is itself becoming part of the debate. Currently 15 percent of the UK' s I 02,400 soldiers are deployed in U.S. gov 't decides to return boy to Cuba Northern Ireland. At the height of the imperi­ alist assault on Yugoslavia last year, a further BY GREG MCCARTAN spumed Gonzalez's request that Elian be re­ sent a delegation to Cuba. After meeting with 4 7 percent was committed overseas, a post­ The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization turned. Instead, they turned over the boy to Gonzalez council leader Joan Campbell said, war high. As Britain seeks to be a player in the Service announced January 5 "that Mr. Juan distant relatives in Miami, sparking weeks of "We are convinced more than we ever were European Union's projections for a 60,000 Gonzalez of Cuba has the sole legal author­ anti-Cuba propaganda by capitalist politicians that this boy belongs with his family in Cuba." troop rapid reaction force, pressure is building ity to speak on behalf of his son Elian regard­ and the media. The Conference ofCatholic Bishops ofCuba to reduce an over-stretched commitment else­ ing Elian's immigration status in the United Gonzalez appealed to the Cuba government issued a statement stating that "the case can where. States." for assistance. Through Havana's diplomatic be resolved in accordance with the most strict In an end-of-year message to readers of INS Commission Doris Meissner said stance and the daily mass mobilizations in right universally accepted, in which the boy's An Phoblacht/Republican News, Sinn Fein therefore "Elian should be reunited with his Cuba, it was clear to Washington that the Cu­ custody belongs to his parents and in the ab­ president Gerry Adams wrote, "When this father." ban people would not back down in face ofthe sence of one ofthem, to the surviving parent." century began Britain had an Empire. As Em­ Washington's decision comes some 40 provocation. New York News day said State Department pires go it could swagger about the planet as days after the six-year-old boy was rescued Militant reader AI Cappe reported in a let­ spokesperson James Rubin encouraged well or better than most other Empires. Now at sea. Since then he has been a political ter to this paper that while visiting Cuba he Gonzalez to travel to Miami to pick up his it swaggers no longer. The Empire is finished .... hostage of the Clinton administration, used as witnessed "daily mobilizations of up to son, hinting that the Cuban government Unionism as we have known it is finished. one more avenue of aggression and slander 300,000 people in Havana which grew to one might not issue an exit visa. "The face of Britain's involvement in Ire­ against the Cuban revolution. of 2 million in 17 cities on December 10." Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's land as we have known it is finished also," Elian was plucked from the ocean Novem­ The New York Times reported on a student-led N a tiona! Assembly, said Gonzalez "should the republican leader said. "Whether these ber 25 off the coast of Florida. He had been march oftens of thousands January 3 in Santa do whatever he wants. And we will help changes amount to no more than the mod­ clinging to an inner tube for more than 24 hours. Clara demanding Elian's return. him. But ifl were him I would ask, for what ernizing of British rule and as a consequence Eli an was taken from Cuba by his mother who Washington has not swayed public opinion reason: to finally return the boy or to delay the modernizing of unionism is entirely de­ joined thirteen others in a doomed attempt to on the case, as polls indicate a majority in the and delay?" pendent on whether we, An Phoblacht read­ reach Florida. She was among the eleven United States thought the boy should be re­ Newsday also reported an unidentified ers and others, are up to the challenges that people who drowned when the boat sank. turned to his father and immediate family in U.S. government official said one reason they are coming." Adams posed that the test "is Although Elian's father, who, even accord­ Cuba. Opponents of the U.S. embargo of Cuba would like to see Gonzalez come to Miami is whether we can establish in the opening ing to the INS "had a close and continuos per­ also organized a number of small demonstra­ to "ease the concerns among Cuban-Ameri­ decades of the next century the republic sonal relationship with his son," and both sets tions opposing the U.S. government stance. cans that he currently is not fee to speak his which was proclaimed at the beginning of of grand parents live in Cuba, Washington The U.S. National Council of Churches also Continued on page 5 this one. I think we can. I believe we can."

16 The Militant January 17,2000