AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.50 · FRANCE 2.00 EUROS · ICELAND KR100 · NEW ZEALAND $2.00 · SWEDEN KR10 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 SPECIAL FOUR-PAGE FEATURE Capitalism's long hot winter has begun by — PAGES 5-8 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 68/NO. 40 NOV. 2, 2004 Vote Socialist Workers! • U.S. out of Iraq! Support struggle for development in colonial world • Organize and strengthen unions; for a labor party based on the unions that fights in the interests of workers and farmers worldwide SWP candidate for EDITORIAL Vote Socialist Workers! Vote for the SWP president starts fi nal leg candidates where they are on the ballot and of campaign in Miami write their names in where they’ve been excluded. That’s what we urge our readers BY LAWRENCE MIKESH to do on November 2. AND ALEX ALVARADO The Militant, as our masthead explains, MIAMI—“We say, U.S. troops out of is a socialist newsweekly published in the Iraq now!” said Róger Calero, Socialist interests of working people. In asking you Workers Party candidate for president, to vote Socialist Workers, we say working speaking October 12 at a meeting of Veye Yo, a Haitian rights organization here. Given Róger Calero for President the new brutal offensive by U.S. occupation for Vice President troops and the Iraqi military in Fallujah and elsewhere in central Iraq that has resulted in See list of all 44 candidates, page 10 mounting deaths, including many civilians, this demand has urgency, he said. people will be voting for themselves, for “We also stand with you and others fi ght- their interests. ing for the withdrawal of U.S. and United Including its nominees for president and Nations forces in Haiti,” Calero added. vice president, the Socialist Workers Party “The SWP says workers and farmers need is fi elding 44 candidates in 22 states and Militant/Lawrence Mikesh to have our own voice, a political voice,” the District of Columbia who offer a work- Róger Calero (left), SWP candidate for president, talks with workers October 11 outside Calero said. “Every four years they tell us Point Blank Body Armor plant in Oakland Park, Florida, north of Miami. After two ing-class alternative to the twin parties of we have to vote for one of their candidates— U.S. imperialism—the Democrats and years of struggle, workers there won representation by the UNITE union and their fi rst the Democrats or Republicans. Regardless contract last year. The plant makes bullet-proof vests for U.S. armed forces, police. Republicans. of who is elected, Bush or Kerry, the ruling The SWP presidential ticket of Róger class will continue its exploitation of work- Calero and Arrin Hawkins, and socialist ing people worldwide,” he said. candidates for state and local offi ce across Fallujah: Iraqi government warns Many in the audience nodded their heads the country (listed on page 10), are present- when Calero said, “If you have diffi culty ing a revolutionary working-class program distinguishing between Bush and Kerry it’s in the United States to reach out to our sis- militias, as U.S. forces pound them because they have no differences on the fun- ters and brothers around the world in order BY SAM MANUEL Musaba al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian leader of damentals. They stand for capitalism, the to strengthen the struggle against our com- The Iraqi interim government of Prime Tawhid and Jihad. This is a group that has plundering of Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti. Bush mon enemies—the imperialist aggressors Minister Iyad Allawi is threatening a ma- taken responsibility for several kidnappings says, ‘We’re killing the terrorists.’ And Kerry and capitalist exploiters the world over. jor offensive against opponents in Fallujah and beheadings of hostages, and bombings responds by saying, ‘We’ll do it better!’ The SWP campaign has been explain- unless clerics and others hand over Abu Continued on Page 9 “We need to begin to think and act in- ing that to resist stiffening assaults by the Continued on Page 4 Continued on Page 10 Sunday, October 31 City Utah coal miners receive messages Before the Vote: The Real Results of the of solidarity with unionizing struggle 2004 U.S. Election Campaign Support grows for fi ghting bosses’ suit against UMWA backers Speakers BY ANNE CARROLL eligible to vote. HUNTINGTON, Utah—Miners here “I am writing to urge that the NLRB JACK BARNES, Socialist Workers Party National Secretary fi ghting to win representation by the United rule on the side of justice in these miners’ The hidden centrality of the “union question”: the transformation Mine Workers of America (UMWA) at the efforts to join the United Mine Workers of America,” wrote Charlie Flemming, presi- of the working-class vanguard that has begun and the political Co-Op mine have received dozens of mes- dent of the Atlanta Central Labor Council, challenges before us sages in solidarity with their struggle. Many of them, the miners report, include copies AFL-CIO, in a letter to B. Allan Benson, The ongoing transformation of U.S. imperialism’s global military of letters sent by unions and other organiza- regional director of the labor board. posture and political world strategy that will advance regardless of tions to the National Labor Relations Board A number of other messages have arrived which party wins control of the White House or Congress (NLRB) urging the government agency to from workers who have also been involved set a date for a union election at the mine in union-organizing struggles. Many came The slow but steady politicization and factionalization of the offi cer and rule in favor of the UMWA’s demand Continued on Page 10 corps of the U.S. armed forces to exclude members of the owners’ family The implications for workers and farmers of the continued and other supervisory personnel from being coarsening of bourgeois politics and militarization of the “homeland” The employers’ continuing progress in pushing down wages, SWP candidate for Also Inside: stretching out the workday, speeding up the line, and further Senate in Pennsylvania U.S. Navy deploys Aegis weakening the unions—their answer to intensifi ed interimperialist campaigns in Utah destroyers off Korean waters competition and the opening stages of a world depression as part of ‘missile shield’ 2 The undermining of Social Security, the never-ending assault on for Calero, Hawkins social solidarity, and the bosses’ drive to throw the young and the BY TERI MOSS Venezuela ups royalties old of the working classes to the dogs PRICE, Utah—Four coal miners from for investors in extra-heavy the Co-Op mine in Huntington, Utah, wel- crude from 1% to 16% 3 ROBERTO VILLANUEVA, on new stage of the Utah Co-Op miners’ battle for a comed Brian Taylor, Socialist Workers Party union, and the political fi ght against the mine owner’s harassment lawsuit candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, Congress authorizes doubling CELEBRATE at the airport in Salt Lake City on October U.S. troops in Colombia to 800 3 the reopening of the fi rebombed 16. They accompanied him to a coffee shop Socialist Workers campaign headquarters in Hazleton, Pennsylvania where several young workers and a reporter US Air voids union contracts, Reception 1 p.m. Program 2 p.m. Refreshments afterward from the Salt Lake Tribune were waiting. cuts wages and benefi ts Taylor thanked supporters of the socialist behind fi g leaf of bankruptcy 9 campaign for inviting him “to see the real- — 307 West 36th Street, 10th fl oor, Manhattan — ity facing working people in Utah,” explain the common threads with his experiences in SWP candidates campaign for Sponsored by the Socialist Workers Party National Committee and Young Socialists Calero, Hawkins in Puerto Rico 11 Hosted by the Socialist Workers Party in New York (212-629-6649) and Newark (973-481-0077) Pennsylvania, and campaign for the SWP Continued on Page 11 For more information, call or go to www.themilitant.com U.S. Navy deploys Aegis Baggage handlers strike at airport in London destroyers off Korean waters for ‘missile shield’ BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS tion will be provided by U.S. satellites as At the end of September, the U.S. Navy well as a Japanese land-based radar network deployed state-of-the-art Aegis destroyers and command-and-control center. The step in the Sea of Japan off the waters of north is part of the accelerating course by Tokyo Korea. The ships, part of the Navy’s Seventh to rebuild its military and deploy its forces Fleet, help lay the foundation for a U.S. “mis- abroad—as the dispatch of Japanese soldiers sile shield” that includes Japan. The purpose to Iraq as part of the U.S.-led “coalition of of the so-called missile defense system is to the willing” has shown. intercept ballistic missiles from adversaries, Washington has also gained agreement thus giving Washington and its imperialist from the governments of Australia and Tai- allies fi rst-strike nuclear capacity. wan to be part of the radar and missile ring Vice Admiral Jonathan Greenert, com- in Southeast Asia. The shield is supposed to mander of the Seventh Fleet, said the new be fully operational by 2007. Meanwhile, destroyers would provide long-range search talks are under way with the government of and tracking of missile activity. Data from India, which has committed scientists to the the ships will be transmitted to Ft. Greely research effort. LONDON—Six hundred baggage and cargo handlers at London’s Gatwick airport in Alaska and Vandenberg Air Force Base in The governments of China and north Ko- began a series of 24- and 12-hour strikes September 25 backed by the Transport . Interceptor missiles could then rea have condemned these moves, rejecting and General Workers Union. Earlier in the year their employer, Servisair, the sec- be launched from those bases. claims by U.S. and Japanese offi cials that ond largest of four Gatwick handling agents, imposed new working practices that Comprised of the radar and satellite net- the missile system is “purely defensive.” threaten health and safety and don’t allow for adequate rest times between shifts. work, sea-based missiles, and land-based Moscow announced in February that it was The union members’ determination to strike was fueled by the company suspension Patriots, such a shield would advance the developing a missile capable of evading the of their senior shop steward. The four strike days so far were followed by 12-hour goal of Washington and its allies to be able radar and other detection and interception strikes October 13 and 15. to launch strikes without fear of retaliatory devices. “This isn’t just about pay and conditions. It’s about defense of the union,” one of attacks from states such as north Korea, Government representatives of the Demo- the workers picketing told the Militant. “If they get away with the victimization of China, or Russia. cratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), our shop steward, they’ll walk all over us.” The Bush administration laid the foun- or north Korea, have called Washington’s Workers from a large number of passing cars and work vehicles on the service dation for this system two years ago by deployment of the Aegis destroyers “the road to the airport honked in solidarity. One woman stopped at the busy slip road to withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic most outright hostile act against the DPRK hand over cigarettes for the pickets. Servisair has been using management personnel Missile treaty, which banned ship-based and a part of its unchallenged attempt to to continue operations. “missile defenses.” dominate the Asia-Pacifi c region.” — CELIA PUGH “I can’t specify adversaries, but you’re looking at rogue nations,” said Greenert, according to a September 24 Associated Press article. The news agency said the GM workers walk out in Germany to protest layoffs country “best fi tting” this description is BY MICHAEL ITALIE use of their “right of information” from the unions. Department store giant Karstadt north Korea. Quelle won concessions October 14 from “This week,” the AP article said, “Japa- Up to 6,000 auto workers went on strike union about the announcement of job cuts, October 14 at the General Motors Opel a union offi cial said. A company spokes- the Verdi union in order to smooth the nese naval ships were dispatched to the company’s path to receive loans from its waters off North Korea amid reports that factory in Bochum, Germany, after the person had singled out the Bochum plant, company announced massive job cuts in its located in western Germany, as having a creditor banks. The bosses will chop 5,500 Pyongyang was preparing to test launch a jobs from its payroll of some 100,000, and ‘Nodong’ missile, which can reach much European division. That day, GM Europe “competitiveness issue.” The evening crew chairman Fritz Henderson told reporters that then stayed off the job and the morning crew freeze wages for the next three years. Un- of Japan—and the more than 50,000 U.S. der a concession contract signed earlier this troops stationed there—in just minutes. the company would eliminate 12,000 jobs joined the strike the following day. Workers in Europe, one-fi fth of its workforce there. remained at work at the other Opel plants year, Siemens workers will now be working North Korea is believed to have at least 40 hours per week instead of 35, with no 100 of the missiles.” Opel plants are projecting cutting 10,000 in Germany. of 33,000 jobs in Germany by 2008. GM, The social democratic government in increase in pay. DaimlerChrysler won $600 The Japanese Diet, the country’s national million in wage cuts after threatening to shut parliament, voted in late March to spend $10 the world’s largest auto manufacturer, said Berlin called for workers to end their strike the cuts were aimed at saving the company at Bochum and backed the company’s ac- down operations at its Stuttgart plants. billion over the next decade on building such Workers in Germany face job losses at a “missile shield” around Japan. Tokyo plans $620 million per year by 2006. tions. “It’s clear this is also about Germany Workers on the afternoon shift at the as a place to do business and it’s clear that Volkswagen as well, where negotiations to add U.S. Patriot and other missiles to its between the company and the IG Metall four Aegis destroyers. Guidance informa- Bochum plant began the strike, making the reform process… has to go further,” said Economy Minister Wolfgang Clement. union have stalled over company demands Berlin has carried out a series of measures for “cost reductions.” that cut social programs. The latest, known as Hartz IV, cuts deeply into unemployment benefi ts for working people in Germany and will have the greatest impact in the East, SUB SCRIBE TO where unemployment is at 20 percent. The PERSPECTIVA national jobless fi gure hit 10.7 percent in September, the highest it’s been in five MUNDIAL years. Find out about Utah miners’ fight for union A Spanish “Without a doubt so-called non-wage labor costs play a very important role. We language socialist After a 10-month strike, Co-Op min- maga zine ers in Huntington, Utah, returned have to do everything we can to free labor from additional costs,” said Clement. “This Special offer to work July 12 and have continued process has to go further.” for new read ers: $5 for 4 the battle for the union from inside. This “process” is advancing. Factory months owners in Germany are taking advantage From day one of the strike the ‘Mili- Send your order to Perspectiva Mundial, 306 of workers’ uncertain job prospects to push W. 37th St., 10th Fl. N., New York, NY 10018 tant’ has given weekly coverage to through concession contracts with their this important labor struggle. New subscribers can get two back issues of Longshore workers from ILWU Lo- their choice to fi nd out more about it. cal 10 drill team join rally to support address. By fi rst-class (airmail), send $80. the Co-Op miners February 7. Africa, Asia, and the Middle East: Send $65 Don’t miss a single issue! The Militant drawn on a U.S. bank to above address. Vol. 68/No. 40 Canada: Send Canadian $50 for one-year sub- Closing news date: October 20, 2004 scrip tion to Militant, 6955 Boul. St. Michel suite 202, Montreal, QC. Postal Code: H2A 2Z3. Editor: ARGIRIS MALAPANIS United Kingdom: £25 for one year by SUBSCRIBE TO DAY! Business Manager: MICHAEL ITALIE check or inter na tion al mon ey order made out Washington Bureau Chief: SAM MANUEL to CL London, 47 The Cut, Lon don, SE1 8LF, Editorial Staff: Róger Calero, Michael Italie, En gland. Martín Koppel, Sam Manuel, Doug Nelson, Republic of Ireland and Continental Eu- NEW READERS NAME and Paul Pederson. rope: £70 for one year by check or in ter na tion al Published weekly except for one week in Janu ary, mon ey order made out to Mil i tant Dis tri bu tion ❏ June, July, and September. at above address. 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2 The Militant November 2, 2004 In Romania, NATO OKs merging two military missions in Afghanistan BY SAM MANUEL posedly only involved in “peacekeeping” Over the objections of Paris and Berlin, and assisting Kabul in training and setting defense ministers of the North Atlantic up its military and police forces. Treaty Organization (NATO) agreed in Paris and Berlin objected. “There are principle to a proposal by Washington two operations with two different mis- that the two military missions in Afghani- sions—the OEF is fi ghting terrorism, the stan—one led by U.S. forces and the other ISAF is an operation for securitization,” by NATO—be combined into one under the argued French defense minister Michele direction of the Atlantic alliance. Alliot-Marie, according to Reuters. Participants also resolved to step up the “We are against the merger of the two deployment of 330 military instructors mandates,” added German defense minister to Iraq by the end of the year to train the Struck. Berlin is one of the largest con- Iraqi military. They also announced that a tributors to the ISAF mission with 2,500 NATO rapid reaction force is now ready soldiers. for deployment. “Most countries that spoke today, in- Reuters/Susan Walsh The meeting was held October 13–14 cluding our country, said the goal should Romanian defense minister Ioan Mircea Pascu (left) tours U.S. defense secretary in Romania, the newest NATO member. It be one NATO mission,” said Burns, con- Donald Rumsfeld October 11 at air base in Constanta, on Black Sea coast. Washington registered the degree to which Washington fi dent Washington’s proposal would carry is preparing to take control of base as part of repositioning its troops toward east. is making progress in reshaping imperialist the day. armies in Europe to match the changes be- In his opening remarks, NATO secre- 17,500 soldiers and is projected to reach deployment of the 2.5 million European ing carried out in the U.S. military aimed tary general Scheffer announced that the full strength with 24,000 troops in 2006. troops outside their home countries. at speedier deployments and greater ma- alliance’s rapid reaction force was up and The Iraqi deployment is another step “There has been some movement, but neuverability. running, reported the BBC. Scheffer said toward expanding NATO’s jurisdiction there is enormous room for change,” said Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to the NATO Response Force, which consists beyond Europe and around the world. The the U.S. ambassador to NATO. He also NATO, said the NATO “security instruc- of warships and fi ghter planes, gives the fi rst was the ISAF mission in Afghanistan, said there was discussion about increas- tors” would be on the ground in Iraq before alliance the capability to intervene in which was sanctioned by the United Na- ing military spending in Europe in order the end of the year. NATO secretary general “crises” anywhere in the world within fi ve tions in October 2003. to bring it in line with that of the United Jaap de Hoop Scheffer added, “Speed is of days. “This is an important milestone in According to the Washington Post, States. Washington budgets an estimated the essence here, and it’s what the Iraqis our quest for more usable and deployable Burns told reporters the defense min- $417 billion for its military compared to want.” There are now about 40 NATO in- forces,” Scheffer said, “but more needs isters spent hours talking about how $200 billion by all the other NATO mem- structors in Baghdad, working with Iraqi to be done.” The current force includes to limit government restrictions on the bers combined. generals, reported the October 14 Inter- national Herald Tribune. Paris and Berlin, the central leaders of what U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld has referred to as “Old Eu- U.S. Congress authorizes doubling rope,” initially objected to NATO’s train- ing of Iraqi military personnel inside Iraq citing “security concerns” and proposed of U.S. troops in Colombia to 800 instead that it be carried out outside the country. Underneath this dispute is the BY MICHAEL ITALIE a successful 37-day strike to prevent the that included the deployment of troops to confl ict between Paris and Berlin, on the The U.S. Congress decided to double state-run oil industry Ecopetrol from being oil facilities and the fi ring of 248 union one hand, and Washington on the other, Washington’s military presence in Co- sold off to foreign capitalists. The unionists militants, the strikers forced the govern- over their competing imperialist interests lombia October 9, to back Bogotá’s war said that privatization would likely mean ment to back off its privatization plans. in the Middle East. against opponents of the country’s right- layoffs and reduced benefits. Despite It was the fi rst strike by the union against As in every other signifi cant turning wing regime, including the Revolution- “anti-terrorist” measures by the police Ecopetrol since 1977. point regarding the war in Iraq, U.S. im- ary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). perialism prevailed once again. The total Congress voted to double the cap on U.S. number of NATO troops to be sent to Iraq military personnel stationed in Colombia could go as high as 3,000. Washington has to 800 and increase from 400 to 600 the Caracas ups royalties for investors in largely been responsible for training Iraqi number of “private contractors” the U.S. army units, while London has taken the lead government may hire for military opera- extra-heavy crude from 1% to 16% in training new Iraqi national guard forces. tions in the South American nation. All training of Iraqi armed forces will be The State Department said the troops BY MICHAEL ITALIE that had previously gone without. The man- under the command of U.S. Army Lt. Gen. were necessary to aid the “high tempo and Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez an- agement before 2003 had allocated only David Petraeus, the Tribune said. overall progress” of Colombian president nounced in an October 10 radio broadcast $40 million per year for social programs. At the NATO meeting, German defense Álvaro Uribe’s campaign against “narco- that companies with extra-heavy crude oil That year, the Chávez administration minister Peter Struck said that although terrorists.” The U.S. troops will participate contracts will pay royalties of 16.7 percent, installed a completely new management sending German troops to Iraq in the in a range of military and police operations, up from the 1 percent they had paid for a at PDVSA after company offi cers joined foreseeable future is excluded, he could including “intelligence support,” upgrad- decade. “We are no longer going to give other capitalists in a two-month “strike” “think of other times in years to come when ing Colombian aircraft, and training of our oil away for reasons that no longer ex- aimed at bringing down the government. there could be a German role,” according Colombian forces. ist,” said Chávez. Venezuelan government The lockout failed, even though it did to the Financial Times. A spokesperson U.S. forces have trained a growing offi cials said the additional $770 million succeed in curtailing oil production for for German chancellor Gerhard Schröder number of troops and police in Latin raised would be used for social programs months, because of large-scale defi ance denied any change in Berlin’s opposition America—more than 22,000 in 2003, a 52 such as schools and hospitals. by oil and other workers. to sending troops to Iraq. “There will be percent jump over the previous year. The Previous governments in Caracas had Weighty sections of the capitalist class, no German soldiers in Iraq,” the spokes- majority—nearly 13,000—were from Co- signed sweetheart contracts with oil compa- with Washington’s backing, have tried person said. lombia, double the number of Colombian nies in the 1990s to develop four extra-heavy unsuccessfully to unseat the Chávez ad- Christoph Bertram, chairman of the forces trained the previous year. crude (syncrude) projects—known as Petro- ministration three times since 2001. That’s German Institute for International Poli- The U.S. government has sent $3.3 zuata, Cerro Negro, Sincor, and Hamaca. when the government passed measures that tics and Security, told the big-business billion to Bogotá since 2000 under Plan The government at the time justifi ed con- would cut into the profi ts of many capital- London daily that some members of the Colombia, initiated by the Clinton White tracts providing for the meager 1 percent ists and landlords, if implemented. The German government have for some time House. President George Bush expanded royalty payments on the basis of needing employers’ failed efforts have included been “trying to fi nd elegant ways of not on Plan Colombia with the 2002 Andean to attract investors to production in these the April 2002 military coup, the bosses’ being without options when the need Regional Initiative. Justifi ed under the pre- fi elds. “However, refi ning concerns have “strike” seven months later, and a presi- arises” in Iraq. text of fi ghting the “war on terrorism” and since been surmounted,” notes the Business dential recall referendum this summer. The In an October 14 editorial subtitled the narcotics trade, this military buildup is News Americas news service. “The market measures in dispute included a hydrocar- “Germany prepares to reposition itself on being carried out in anticipation of sharper has welcomed syncrude and the partners in bons law that increased most production Iraq” the Financial Times’ editors advised resistance by workers and farmers to the these projects are making handsome profi ts royalties payable by local capitalists and Berlin, France, and other European govern- economic catastrophe that is gripping Latin with oil at US$53 a barrel.” international companies investing in oil ments opposed to the U.S. course in Iraq America. U.S. oil giants ChevronTexaco and and natural gas exploration and extraction that with impending elections in that coun- Confi rming bipartisan support for U.S. ConocoPhillips each have a 30 percent from 16 percent to 30 percent. try next year and the possible reduction of military intervention in Colombia, Demo- stake in Hamaca; the balance is held by Earlier government increases in royalty U.S. forces the new Iraqi government may cratic presidential hopeful PDVSA, the Venezuelan state oil company. payments in oil angered most of the capi- well ask other countries for military aid. stated October 15, “As a Senator I have Other international oil companies that will talists in Venezuela and their imperialist “Germany—as well as France and other consistently supported Plan Colombia; and have to pay the increased royalty are Exx- allies. But as it became clear prior to and EU members such as Spain—would do as President, I will work with President onMobil, France’s Total, Norway’s Statoil, after the defeat of the August 15 recall ref- well to start preparing their answers now,” Uribe to keep the bipartisan spirit alive in and British Petroleum. erendum, international capital in oil, and a the editorial said. support of Plan Colombia.” With the largest known oil reserves in minority of Venezuelan capitalists, act on The NATO defense ministers decided Popular opposition to Uribe’s course was the Western Hemisphere, Venezuela is the the hope they can continue to do business to draft options for the integration of the demonstrated by mass marches October 12 fi fth-largest oil producer in the world. Gen- with the Chávez administration and profi t U.S.-led and NATO military missions in in major Colombian cities. About 300,000 erating $46 billion in yearly sales, PDVSA from their operations. Afghanistan. Some 15,000 U.S. troops, unionists, farmers, and others rallied provides 80 percent of Venezuela’s export “We haven’t pulled the plug on anything along with 5,000 from 19 other countries, in Bogotá, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, revenue. More than 50 percent of exports based on this,” said one ChevronTexaco are in Afghanistan as part of “Operation Cali, Cartagena, and Medellín. The labor- go to the United States and Canada. official after Chávez’s October 10 an- Enduring Freedom” (OEF), ostensibly organized actions protested Uribe’s brutal In addition to government programs, PD- nouncement. “But we have to see what the hunting for Osama bin Laden and other “war on terrorism,” his efforts to change the VSA has budgeted $1.7 billion in 2004 for longevity of the royalty change is and how leaders of al-Qaeda. NATO has a force of constitution to allow him to run for reelec- public works projects such as sinking wells it affects our long-term plans. Anytime you 9,000 troops in an “International Security tion, and rising unemployment. for potable water and irrigation, and piping go from 1 percent to 16 percent in royalties, Assistance Force” (ISAF), which is sup- This spring 5,500 oil workers waged natural gas to working-class neighborhoods that comes right off your bottom line.” The Militant November 2, 2004 3 Subscription drive extended by two weeks BY PAUL PEDERSON culation drive is now ahead of pace. The Militant editors have decided to extend the interna- Pat Miller from Price, Utah, sent in tional subscription campaign by two weeks until November the following note on the reception 21 to allow partisans of the socialist newsweekly and its that the socialist campaign has been getting in the Western coal fi elds: Spanish-language sister publication Perspectiva Mundial O more time to campaign with the socialist press. “We invite everyone selling subscriptions to the Militant BY PAT MILLER and PM and campaigning for the Socialist Workers Party candidates to come to New York and attend the meeting HUNTINGTON, Utah—“I’ve al- on October 31, ‘The World Important Results of the 2004 ways told myself if I ever saw a copy Election Campaign,’” said Militant editor Argiris Mala- of the Communist Manifesto, I’d buy it,” said Dale Brackett as he walked panis. “We don’t want anyone to worry while building Militant/Michael Ortega this meeting or when they are in New York about losing up to a Socialist Workers Party campaign table at a Salt Lake City Abby Tilsner (left) campaigning at October 17 rally of thousands in support a weekend of campaigning, so we’re extending the drive. of striking workers at seven casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey. When campaigners return to their cities they can use the fl ea market a few weeks ago. “I’m more than two weeks after the meeting to make sure we go registered to vote SWP,” he told the over the top on the circulation effort. socialists as he signed up for a subscription to the Militant introduced one of her neighbors to supporters of the social- “The socialist campaign doesn’t end on election day,” and picked up his copy of the pamphlet. ist ticket at the campaign table at the October 2 solidarity Malapanis added. “We will continue to campaign for social- Over the past month supporters of the SWP campaign rally for the Co-Op miners (see article on front page). “He’ll ism regardless of what party occupies the White House.” in Utah have been busy getting out the socialist campaign be interested in the Militant,” she said. Sure enough, he A total of 162 Militant subscriptions and 53 PM subscrip- platform. They are visiting the homes of many previous signed up right away for a subscription and thanked the tions were sold in the past week. With the extension, the cir- subscribers to the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial to see socialist campaigners for getting him the paper. if they would like to renew their subscription and talk about “We defi nitely need a revolution in this country,” said a the working-class alternative to the parties of capitalism in retired miner who has been a staunch supporter of the Co- Militant/Perspectiva Mundial the 2004 elections. Op miners’ battle as he put down his money for a Militant Fall Subscription Drive During a recent trip by campaigners to three mines in subscription during a visit by campaigners at his home. He Farmington, New Mexico, nine miners and power plant also picked up a book and a pamphlet that address that very Aug. 28–Nov. 21: Week 7 of 12 workers signed up for Militant subscriptions. One woman question: Cuba and the Coming American Revolution and stopped to talk to the socialists. She said she was happy to The Working Class and the Transformation in Learning. Militant PM see that socialist candidates were running nationwide. “I’m Eight Co-Op miners brought food and other donations Country Goal Sold % Goal Sold SWEDEN 30 25 83% 5 2 glad someone is doing what your candidates are doing,” to an SWP campaign fund-raising barbeque held over the ICELAND 30 23 77% 2 0 she said, giving a $2 donation to the campaign. Labor Day weekend. In all $150 was raised for the social- UNITED KINGDOM A longtime subscriber to the Militant in the Price area, ist campaign. London 50 38 76% 12 4 Edinburgh 25 16 64% 2 0 UK total 75 54 72% 14 4 AUSTRALIA 55 31 56% 8 4 Calero enters final leg of campaign in Miami NEW ZEALAND Continued from front page this country and internationally. We urge everyone here to Auckland 45 26 58% 1 1 dependently from the capitalists and build our own party,” break with the parties of capitalism and vote for the SWP Christchurch 35 19 54% 1 0 in this election,” the socialist told the 20 people present, N.Z. total 80 45 56% 2 0 the socialist candidate continued. “We have to break from UNITED STATES the parties of the bosses in this country and around the mostly students. Craig, CO 50 47 94% 20 5 world.” “Our campaign offers a real working-class alternative. Houston 75 68 91% 20 8 Third parties like the Libertarians or the Greens are also We say let’s mobilize the collective power of workers and Detroit 40 30 75% 10 7 for upholding capitalism, Calero said. The / farmers to fi ght effectively against the employers and their Birmingham 40 29 73% 8 3 Peter Camejo “independent” campaign does the same thing parties. If we mobilize union power we can have safer work- Price, UT 50 35 70% 20 12 by serving as left pressure on the Democrats. ing conditions and a way to fi ght back. And we need our New York 180 125 69% 70 31 “The only thing we’ve got is ourselves, but we are the vast own party, a labor party based on the unions, that will fi ght Newark 90 62 69% 25 15 majority,” Calero said. “We say, if you don’t have a union, for our interests 365 days a year.” Seattle 55 37 67% 12 8 organize one. If you have one, make it more effective. Our Workers in this country face a daily grind because of Des Moines 65 43 66% 25 18 unions are weak today, but it’s what we’ve got. What we the employers’ offensive to increase their profi ts, Calero Omaha 55 34 62% 45 16 need to do is transform them.” The socialist campaign, he said. “We see the results of this in a faster pace at work, Atlanta 80 45 56% 20 10 said, is for a labor party based on the unions that fi ghts in deteriorating safety on the job, a longer work-week, a longer Twin Cities 105 58 55% 40 18 the interests of workers and farmers. working year, and a longer working life. Working people Boston 100 54 54% 40 13 “Why do you come so late to the elections?” one worker have less and less access to affordable health-care and the Cleveland 40 21 53% 10 4 in the audience of 50 asked. “Can you help us organize a parties of the employers have our Social Security pensions Tampa 40 21 53% 10 6 union here?” in their sights.” Philadelphia 95 47 49% 10 0 “We don’t come late to the elections,” stated Calero. “You kind of touched upon it earlier, but could you dis- Washington 115 56 49% 21 8 “They try to keep us out. The parties of the rich have a cuss factors that cause limitations of electricity in Third Chicago 100 47 47% 40 22 World countries?” asked one student. Los Angeles 150 70 47% 50 32 virtual monopoly on the airwaves, television, and the newspapers. The last thing they want is working-class “It has to do with the world economic system, imperial- Pittsburgh 65 30 46% 4 1 ism,” said Calero. “We live in a class-divided society. There 125 45 36% 35 13 candidates on the ballot. Our campaign doesn’t end in NE Pennsylvania 55 19 35% 15 10 November because the fi ght doesn’t end in November. I are those who own the factories, mines, mills, and banks, Miami 100 32 32% 50 5 know that among you there are many who know how to and there are those of us who have to work for them. The U.S. total 1870 1055 56% 600 265 begin to organize unions.” world is carved up by a handful of imperialist powers. In this CANADA “Are you representing one union or many?” another system there are large contradictions. Semicolonial nations Montreal 32 19 59% 12 3 worker asked. “I am part of a union. I need to be in it to that have fuel and resources are prevented from using their Toronto 85 36 42% 18 4 protect myself. It costs to be in the union. I am thinking national wealth to develop. Paraguay is a major exporter CANADA total 117 55 47% 30 7 about withdrawing from it to put my money in a fund, of electricity, but the toiling majority of that country is not 14-day campaign* - 179 - - 31 because the union is often not there for me.” allowed to use it.” Int’l totals 2225 1467 64% 668 313 Calero responded, “Our unions are weak today. There Another student asked, “What would you do about Goal/Should be 2300 1335 58% 550 330 are many obstacles placed in front of us. But, it is up to health care?” *14 days of campaigning in New York Aug. 21–Sept. 3 at protests “We should fi ght for universal health care for all and and events leading up to and during the Republican convention us to change that. We must organize on the shop fl oor and use the structures of the union to fi ght the bosses. We must it should come under a federally funded and protected IN THE UNIONS keep our fi re on the employers who are the source of the program,” Calero replied. “There is absolutely no reason Militant PM problems we face.” why workers shouldn’t have free access to health care.” Goal Sold % Goal Sold Calero pointed to the example of what was accomplished AUSTRALIA Three people in the audience approached campaign sup- AMIEU 8 4 50% porters after the meeting to purchase one of the new SWP by Cuba after 1959, when workers and peasants toppled NEW ZEALAND campaign T-shirts. a U.S.-backed dictatorship and opened the fi rst socialist MWU 2 1 50% This fi nal day of a two-day visit here that began with revolution in the Americas. Cuba, Calero said, has the larg- NDU 2 1 50% campaigning at 5:30 a.m. outside the International Long- est number of doctors serving around the world. “How is it Total 4 2 50% shoremen’s Association hiring hall near the docks of the possible for a Third World country to do this? It’s because SWEDEN Port of Miami. Calero was joined by Lawrence Mikesh, workers and farmers took power in Cuba. We need to do Livs 2 1 50% 1 0 SWP candidate for U.S. Congress in Florida’s 21st District, the same here.” UNITED STATES That same evening Calero spoke at a public meeting at UNITE HERE 50 26 52% 40 14 and other campaign supporters. This was followed by a talk UFCW 135 64 47% 150 61 at Florida International University’s north campus and a the national headquarters of the 2004 Socialist Workers UMWA 30 11 37% 15 5 public meeting at the Miami campaign hall. campaign along with Nicole Sarmiento, SWP candidate for Total 215 101 47% 205 80 “Internationally,” the socialist candidate said at the U.S. Senate in Florida. Twenty-fi ve people attended, includ- CANADA FIU meeting, sponsored by the Africa New World Stud- ing a young worker who came to the FIU North meeting UFCW 6 3 50% 3 2 ies department, “Washington and its imperialist allies use earlier that day. Pablo, a young worker attending the event, UNITE HERE 2 0 0% 1 0 their economic dominance and military threats to prevent had fi rst been introduced to the SWP campaign when he Total 8 3 38% 4 2 semicolonial countries from being able to develop. About 2 ran into local candidates soap boxing at the Government ICELAND billion people worldwide—one-third of humanity—have no Center transportation hub in downtown Miami. Hlíf 2 1 50% access to modern energy. We support the right of countries The previous day, about 15 garment workers gathered Efl ing 2 0 0% after work across the street from the Point Blank Body Total 4 1 25% from Iran to north Korea and Brazil to decide what energy sources they want to use, including nuclear power. Electri- Armor plant in Oakland Park to speak with Calero. Several AMIEU—Australasian Meat Industry Employees’ Union; fi cation is a prerequisite for economic and social advances, of the workers wanted to discuss the current situation in Livs—Food Workers Union; MWU—Meat Workers Union; and it’s an elementary step to the advancement of the work- the plant, which was recently unionized after a two-year NDU—National Distribution Union; UFCW—United Food ing class here and around the world,” Calero said. struggle. The campaigning took place under a banner hung and Commercial Workers; UMWA—United Mine Workers of “The debates between George Bush and John Kerry,” he from the trees that read in English and Spanish, “It’s not America. Hlíf—Union of Unskilled Workers in Hafnarfjörður. continued, “are absent of almost any content about the real who you’re against, but what you’re for! Vote Socialist Efl ing—Union of Unskilled Workers in Reykjavík. conditions and problems facing working people today in Workers Party in 2004!” 4 The Militant November 2, 2004 Capitalism’s Long Hot Winter Has Begun U.S. rulers confront sharpening political, military confl icts, as imperialism enters opening stages of a world depression

Below are major excerpts from law of value guarantees that “Capitalism’s Long Hot Winter Has they will pull their system back Begun” by Socialist Workers Party up. They must only endure; we national secretary Jack Barnes, the full must conquer…. text of which will appear in issue no. 12 of the magazine New International. The U.S. imperialism’s march article is the edited transcript of the po- toward war litical report and summary adopted by The big-business press has delegates to the July 2002 SWP national given a lot of attention over the convention. past two months to Bush’s June The portions printed here complement 1 [2002] address to the gradu- a statement by the SWP National Com- ating class at West Point. That mittee entitled “Their ‘Transformation’ speech marked another step in and Ours” that will be published in Washington’s drive toward war, the same issue of the magazine. That toward the aggressive use of its statement deals with the post-Cold War military might, but not for the changes in the military posture and reasons babbled by the bobbing political world strategy the U.S. ruling heads on TV. class is pursuing—and will continue to The self-styled pundits, par- pursue, regardless of which party oc- roted by many on “the left,” pro- cupies the White House or organizes claim that Bush said something Congress following the November 2 dangerously new at the military election. It points to the convergence of academy when he spoke of be- Washington’s accelerated militarization ing “ready for preemptive action drive with the interimperialist economic when necessary to defend our confl icts being deepened by the open- liberty and to defend our lives.” ing stages of a world depression. And But the fact is, all military as- it explains the transformation of the saults by Washington and other vanguard of the working class that has Reuters/Marcos Haupa (right) imperialist powers have been begun as resistance grows to the social “Few people today have lived, as political people, through a world depression,” says Jack Barnes. “Con- “preemptive.” consequences of these world capitalist ditions of that kind, which have stalked the most vulnerable parts of the colonial world over the past The U.S. armed forces crises. decades, will become widespread and devastating. We’re living through the opening stages of such a weren’t under attack by Korea “Capitalism’s Long Hot Winter Has depression.”Above, left: Bread line in Manhattan, New York, February 1932, during Great Depression. in 1945 when Washington or- Begun” is copyright © New Interna- Right: Thousands lined up outside banks in Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 2002, hoping to buy U.S. dered the troops to occupy the tional 2004. Reprinted by permission. dollars as value of the peso, the local currency, plunged during fi nancial collapse. For the fi rst time in southern half of the peninsula, decades, deaths from malnutrition began spreading in that South American country. divide it across the middle, and when the inevitable result are “natural” (to capitalism) to restart a miserable but occurred fi ve years later, launch a murderous war aimed, BY JACK BARNES real revival of production and trade. They will continue unsuccessfully, at conquering the entire country. Cuba did Many members of the communist movement today have dominating the earth and threatening the very survival of not threaten or invade the United States in 1961, nor in never lived through a ground war launched by the imperial- civilization. So long as they don’t lose state power, the Continued on next page ist rulers, one involving large numbers of soldiers from the ranks of the American working class and resulting in many thousands of deaths on all sides. We are going Coming in December to see wars of that kind not just in the decades ahead, Two New Issues but in the years, possibly even months ahead. Only a couple of participants at this convention, New International no. 12 those close to eighty years old, have lived, as political people, through a world depression. Some of us have CAPITALISM’S LONG HOT WINTER HAS BEGUN experienced two or three deep-going slumps since by Jack Barnes the mid-1970s. In one or another of these downturns stock prices dropped sharply over a number of years, “None of the underlying contradictions of world capitalism that are unemployment shot into double digits in several im- pushing toward depression and war began with 9/11 and its consequenc- perialist countries, and there were sudden bursts of es. Some were accelerated by those events, but all have their roots in the infl ation. That’s different, however, from a defl ation of downward turn in the curve of capitalist development a quarter century such magnitude that the fi nancial backbone of world capitalism—its debt structure and dominant fi nancial ago and the interrelated collapse of the Stalinist apparatuses in the Soviet institutions—buckle, production plummets, long-term Union and Eastern Europe at the opening of the 1990s.” joblessness spreads worldwide, and the great mass of One of capitalism’s infrequent, long winters has begun, Jack Barnes humanity is hit by economic contraction or bouts of ruinous price explosions—sometimes both together. explains. “Now, with the acceleration of imperialism’s drive toward war, Masses of people lose faith in capitalism, but at fi rst it’s going to be a long, hot winter. More importantly, slowly but surely and they just lose hope. Conditions of that kind, which have explosively, it will breed a scope and depth of resistance not previously stalked the most vulnerable parts of the colonial world seen by revolutionary-minded militants in today’s world.” over the past decades, will become widespread and dev- astating. We’re not predicting such a world depression; we’re living through its very opening stages today. Also in NI no. 12 To function effectively as communists in the world Their “Transformation” and Ours situation that is developing, we have to internalize an Socialist Workers Party National Committee Statement understanding of imperialism—the stage of world capi- Crisis, Boom, and Revolution talism reached early in the last century and continuing up to today. Until the contradictions of that exploitative 1921 Reports by V.I. Lenin & Leon Trotsky and oppressive social system are resolved—and that can be achieved only by the proletariat tak- ing power from the capitalists and landlords in the imperialist countries and joining in the New International no. 13 worldwide struggle for socialism—humanity OUR POLITICS START WITH THE WORLD has no sure future. by Jack Barnes As Lenin helped us learn, for the imperialist rulers “there is no such thing as an absolutely “Our job is to make a revolution in the country where we live and work. hopeless situation,” even when capitalism is in To do so we must understand—and understand thoroughly—politics and profound crisis.1 There is no hopeless situation the class struggle within those national boundaries. But we can do that for the bourgeoisie so long as state power is not wrested from it by the proletariat, led by only as part of an international class that has no homeland—the working a revolutionary movement that will not, at the class. As part of an international alliance with exploited and oppressed decisive moment, fear the awesome responsibil- toilers throughout the world. That’s not a slogan. That’s not the result of ity of assuming power and shrink from taking an act of will. It is the class reality of life in the imperialist epoch.” it. And holding it. Without such a revolution—without the insur- rection that opens the road to workers power— Also in NI no. 13 the capitalist state and the employers will wreak Farming, Science, and the Working Classes by Steve Clark devastating enough defeats on the working class Capitalism, Labor, and Nature: An Exchange through fascist terror, and will destroy enough agricultural and industrial productive capacity Richard Levins, Steve Clark through wars as well as economic means that ORDER FROM:

1 Notes appear at the end of article, on page 8. WWW.PATHFINDERPRESS.COM The Militant November 2, 2004 5 CAPITALISM’S LONG HOT WINTER HAS BEGUN

Continued from Page 5 1962. Neither the assault by U.S.-backed mer- cenaries at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961, nor the U.S.-provoked “missile crisis” of October 1962 was an act of “self-defense.” Vietnam did not hurl weapons against American cities or territories, provoking a massive escalation of U.S. bombing and troop deployments in the mid- and late 1960s. These actions that defi ned the “American Century” were all “preemptive” assaults by the U.S. rulers. So, too, were the bloody twentieth century wars among the imperialist powers—World War I and World War II. In the years leading up to both of these slaughters, the rival powers instigated incidents and provocations they knew would inevitably hand them a pretext to declare war and advance their national interests. At least as early as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Quarantine the Aggressor” speech Photo courtesy José Ramón Fernández (right) in October 1937, for example, the Democratic “All military assaults by Washington have been ‘preemptive,’” Barnes administration had set a course toward building says. “The U.S. armed forces weren’t under attack by Korea in 1945 up U.S. military power in order to take on Japan when Washington ordered them to occupy the southern part of the in the Pacifi c, establish itself as a dominant im- country. Cuba did not threaten or invade the United States in 1961 or perial power in Europe, and hopefully preside 1962. Vietnam did not hurl weapons against American cities, provok- over the subordination if not the destruction ing a massive escalation of U.S. bombing and troop deployments in the of the Soviet workers state in the process. Ac- 1960s.” Above: U.S. Marines land at Inchon, Korea, 1950, at start of cording to the history we’re taught in school Korean War. Right: Cuban revolutionary troops at Bay of Pigs, April and see in the big-business dailies and on TV, 19, 1961, after defeating U.S.-organized mercenary invasion. it was Tokyo’s “preemptive” bombardment of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, that drew the United States into World War II. Since that “unprovoked Reagan administration, resumed during the later Clinton in stepped-up Filipino-American cooperation in the war and dastardly attack by Japan,” Roosevelt told Congress years, and now being pressed forward by Bush, is to restore against “terrorism” and Islamic extremism in the Pacifi c the very next day, “a state of war has existed between the Washington’s ability to use its massive nuclear arsenal to region. United States and the Japanese empire.” blackmail governments such as these in the colonial world, Two processes are taking place unevenly but in tandem: as well as their “friends,” the fi ckleness of one or two of U.S. imperialism’s war preparations abroad and ongoing What usually goes conveniently unmentioned by apolo- 2 gists for the allied powers is the Roosevelt administration’s whom might be revealed in an ever-changing future. militarization on the home front, anticipating increased “preemptive” act against Japan six months earlier impos- We must act on the assumption that the Pentagon plans resistance by workers and farmers down the road. The ing a total embargo on Japanese oil imports (as well as an for a multifront invasion and war against Iraq “leaked” Bush administration and Congress are advancing along embargo on scrap metal imports and the freezing of all earlier this month are the initial steps to prepare a massive the bipartisan trail blazed by the Clinton administration and Japanese assets in the United States). Washington knew U.S.-organized military assault. Within days [British prime Congress during the previous eight years. Reinforcement that act of economic war, designed to starve Japan and stop minister Anthony] Blair weighed in, pledging complete sup- of the so-called homeland defense command structure; the wheels of industry from turning, would force Tokyo to port and participation. “Leaked” documents detailed the centralization of intelligence operations; use of “secret respond militarily. The only surprises were the unexpected use of depots for war matériel in Uzbekistan and plans for evidence,” “preventive detentions,” and curtailment of re- audacity of the Pearl Harbor attack, the reach of Japan’s air, sea, and land operations staged from bases in Kuwait, view and appeal rights, targeting noncitizens and prisoners naval fl eet, and the skill and boldness of “the little yellow” Qatar, Bahrain, Turkey, Diego Garcia, and elsewhere. There fi rst and foremost; bolstering of commando and SWAT-style pilots from Asia. are great hopes among sections of the Turkish bourgeoisie squads on the federal, state, and local levels—none of this In reality, what was noteworthy for class-conscious work- that in return for their cooperation imperialism will offer began in the closing months of 2001. ers about Bush’s West Point talk was not his comment about some relief from the growing debt burden and economic “preemptive action “ but the ease with which he slid back crisis gripping that country. And the U.S. rulers will make A ‘homeland’ command sure their royal highnesses in Saudi Arabia and Jordan The Northern Command will formally stand up later also come around before the shooting starts. this year. The prototype for this homeland command was Washington is determined to accomplish what it established in October 1999, tagged with the Clintonian could not try to do as part of the “Free Kuwait” coali- Pentagonese euphemism “Joint Task Force Civil Support.” tion during the 1990–91 war. The U.S. rulers aim to It is undergoing a slight metamorphosis, to emerge as the fi ght a major war to the fi nish—and are gathering a (more Rumsfeldian) Northern Command on October 1. coalition accordingly. With one foot in Tel Aviv and Under the banner of combating “terrorism,” this new another in Baghdad—and new military bases to the military command will be charged with maintaining “law north, east, and south of Iran—they believe, U.S. impe- and order” as needed within the boundaries of the United rialism will then be able to recoup some of what it lost States when there is a threat of civil disorder. with the revolutionary overthrow of the U.S.-backed Currently, the U.S. military command structure con- shah of Iran in 1979. Above all, Washington is con- sists of nine Unifi ed Combat Commands—the European fi dent it can redivide military and political infl uence Command, Pacifi c Command, Southern Command, Central over the region at the expense of its rivals in Europe Command, and so on. The chain of command goes directly and Japan and assert its domination over oil and other to each of them from the president of the United States, resources. Some 65 percent of the world’s oil reserves through the secretary of defense. The new Northern Com- are in that region—more than 10 percent in Iraq, and mand will be headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base a quarter in Saudi Arabia alone. in Colorado and will be headed by Air Force Gen. Ralph Eberhart, currently commander of the U.S. Space Com- U.S. spreads military deployments mand. NORTHCOM, as it will be called for short, will U.S. Air Force/Tim Vining The United States is bolstering its military presence encompass NORAD—the North American Aerospace U.S. troops at Karshi-Khan airfi eld, Uzbekistan, February 2. elsewhere as well. It used the war in Afghanistan to Defense Command—whose U.S. commander has the ul- “Washington is moving to bolster its military presence else- establish bases not only there but across former Soviet timate power by treaty, without prior consultation, to put where in the world,” Barnes says. “It used war in Afghanistan Central Asia, in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyz- the Royal Canadian Air Force under his command. When to establish bases not only there but across former Soviet stan. Last December Congress approved the so-called NORTHCOM stands up a few months from now, Mexico, Central Asia, in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.” Andean Initiative, which builds on the existing “Plan in the eyes of Washington, will for the fi rst time fall under Colombia” to expand the presence of U.S. armed the responsibility of a U.S. combat command. and forth between proposals for strikes against “enemies” forces across Latin America in the guise of “fi ghting If you simply add up fi gures on economic output, arms at home and “enemies” abroad. “Our security,” Bush said, drug traffi cking.” The 1,200 U.S. military “trainers” in the budgets, and conventional and strategic weaponry, then “will require the best intelligence to reveal threats hidden in Philippines, scheduled to complete their mission there in a U.S. imperialism is the strongest power in world history, caves and growing in laboratories. Our security will require few days, may prove to have been just a foot in the door, as towering above its closest rivals on every front. But that’s a modernizing domestic agencies such as the FBI, so they’re indicated by talks already under way between Washington snapshot lifted out of time as well as political and economic prepared to act, and act quickly, against danger.” and Manila about reestablishing permanent U.S. military context and direction of development. The course we’ve storage facilities there. At least it will be the opening wedge been describing here is that of an imperialist power that is Washington’s ‘axis of evil’ More important than the West Point talk was Bush’s “axis of evil” speech to Congress four months earlier—his State of the Union address in late January 2002. We take seri- ously the threats issued in that talk. The White House did not simply pick Iraq, Iran, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Ko- rea out of a hat as a representative sample of Clinton’s many “rogue states.” And the “axis of evil” is not simply three oppressed countries whose governments the U.S. rul- ers would like to overturn. They are three such governments that have the economic, engineering, and technical capacities to someday soon place weapons—includ- ing nuclear warheads—on ballistic mis- siles whose range could at least prevent Washington from attacking those countries “The most immediate aim of the U.S. rulers’ drive for an Anti-Ballistic Missile System, reinitiated during the Reagan admin- with impunity. In fact, the most immediate istration, resumed during the later Clinton years, and now being pressed forward by Bush, is to restore Washington’s ability aim of the U.S. rulers’ drive for an Anti-Bal- to use its massive nuclear arsenal to blackmail governments such as Iran and north Korea in the colonial world,” Barnes says. listic Missile System, reinitiated during the Above, diagram showing how Washington’s “missile shield” is supposed to work.

6 The Militant November 2, 2004 CAPITALISM’S LONG HOT WINTER HAS BEGUN weakening vis-à-vis its ability to stabilize a world in which the lives of hundreds of millions of restive toilers in semi- colonial countries are marked by the increasing turmoil, want, and disease produced by the world capitalist system itself. An imperialist power less and less able to handle the political challenges it cannot but create, because it is a power that cannot stabilize the global capitalist economy, the effects of which keep coming down on workers and farmers worldwide. A power that must bear a disproportion- ate load in policing the planet for imperialism in one crisis of its own making after another, from the Balkans to every corner of the semicolonial world. One that has not achieved its goals in a single major war since 1945. One that now, after supposedly winning the cold war “without fi ring a shot,” is no longer exempt from attacks on its home soil. An imperialist power in its heyday is able to bend regimes to its will. To order “allies” to turn to. To crush resistance by toilers in the colonial world. It has the economic reserves to stabilize its international currency. That is not the situa- tion of U.S. imperialism today, however, and has been less and less so since the mid-1970s. Instead, the moves we are witnessing are part of the decline of the world’s fi nal empire, which today faces the political and military consequences of its imperialist course at the same time it is entering its greatest economic crisis since the 1930s…. Curve of capitalist development In a 1923 letter, Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky said that unlike trade and commercial cycles of reces- None of these trends—none of the underlying contra- sion and recovery, there is no “rigidly lawful rhythm” to long-term capitalist development. Trotsky included the dictions of world capitalism that are pushing toward de- above chart of a hypothetical 90-year period—a “pictorial juxtaposition” of major political and social events and pression and war—began with the September 11 assault the economic ups and downs of the curve of capitalist development. on the World Trade Center and its consequences. Some were accelerated by those events, but all have their roots in the downward turn in the curve of capitalist develop- shares in the United States were corporations, often the consequences for communist strategy and party building. ment a quarter century ago and the interrelated collapse same corporations that had issued them. And we’ve already Some of the most useful were their reports and writings of the Stalinist apparatuses in the Soviet Union and across discussed the explosion in Wall Street leveraging of casino around the time of the third and fourth congresses of the Eastern and Central Europe at the opening of the 1990s. chips called derivatives. Communist International in 1921–22.5 Trotsky summarized We have followed these trends over that entire period: in That’s why, at this early stage in the onset of a world these conclusions in a brief 1923 letter that we published The Changing Face of U.S. Politics, in feature articles in depression, we need to keep our eyes on the unfolding in New International magazine under the title, “The Curve several issues of New International magazine—“What the fi nancial crisis of the bourgeoisie. In the history of mod- of Capitalist Development.”6 1987 Stock Market Crash Foretold,” “The Opening Guns of ern capitalism, and in the imperialist epoch above all, the Unlike capitalist business cycles of recession and recov- World War III,” “Imperialism’s March toward Fascism and fi rst giant shocks that begin shattering the confi dence of ery with their chartable, and recurring, patterns, Trotsky War,” and “U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War”—in sections of the rulers themselves are centered in fi nancial said, there is no “rigidly lawful rhythm” to the long-term Capitalism’s World Disorder, and in Cuba and the Coming institutions—in the banks and markets for currencies, debt, development of world capitalism. In the 1923 letter, Trotsky American Revolution. and equity—not in factories, mines, and mills. The devas- contrasted this conclusion to that of a Soviet academic It’s useful now to go back to Capitalism’s World Disorder tation of production and employment follows afterwards, named Nikolai Kondratiev. Pretending to formalize what and reread “So Far From God, So Close to Orange County: and with a lag…. could not be formalized—the materialist dialectic of mod- The Defl ationary Drag of Finance Capital,” a talk given to a Sometime in the mid-1970s we entered a downward seg- ern history—Kondratiev bourgeoisifi ed the work Lenin and regional socialist conference in Los Angeles at the opening ment in the curve of capitalist development, and that’s the Trotsky had presented at the third and fourth Comintern of 1995. The rudiments of the unexpected and violent credit period we’re still living through today. Lenin and Trotsky congresses. He argued that in addition to shorter trade and contraction we are threatened with once again today could provided us with the necessary political tools to analyze inventory cycles, there were also regular cycles of roughly be seen in late 1994 in the collapse of the Mexican peso and these long-range trends in the history of capitalism and their Continued on Page 8 in the bond default—chosen in preference to raising taxes—by the government of a wealthy county in southern California. We said at the time: Questions posed in the 2004 elections aren’t new With returns on investments in capac- ity-expanding plant and equipment under Lessons for the struggles of today and tomorrow pressure since the mid-1970s, owners of capital have not only been cost cutting; PATHFINDER SUPERSAVER SALE the holders of paper have been borrow- ing larger and larger amounts to buy and ALL PAMPHLETS $1 TO $3; ALL BOOKS $5 OR $10 sell various forms of paper securities at 24 TITLES; SEE WWW.PATHFINDERPRESS.COM FOR FULL LIST a profi t. They blew up a giant balloon of debt in Orange County over a period of years [betting on interest rates continu- Capitalism’s World Disorder By Any Means Necessary ing to go down in the early ’90s was an Working-Class Politics at the by Malcolm X insight only greedy county administrators Through these speeches from the last year of and Merrill Lynch bond salesmen were Millennium his life, Malcolm X takes his place as one of the given by God; going massively short and by Jack Barnes twentieth century’s outstanding revolutionary uncovered was protected by the alignment The social devastation and fi nancial panic, the thinkers and leaders. Malcolm sought, as he put of the stars!]; the bondholders thought coarsening of politics and politics of resentment, it, to “internationalize” the fi ght against racism. they had died and gone to heaven…. the cop brutality and acts of imperialist aggression He condemned Washington’s war in Vietnam, When the balloon international bankers accelerating around us—all are the product of solidarized with the African freedom struggle, lawful forces unleashed by capitalism. But the had infl ated in Mexico in the 1980s began and championed the revolutionary victories of future the propertied classes have in store for the Chinese and Cuban people.$23.95 to collapse, the bondholders stepped in us can be changed by the united struggle and and blew it back up for a while. But in selfl ess action of workers and farmers conscious $10 Orange Country, the more local offi cials of their power to transform the world. In English, New International no. 10 borrowed to make a killing using public Spanish, and French. $23.95 funds to gamble [in collusion with] bond includes: merchants, the greater their vulnerability $10 What the 1987 Stock Market became.... Cuba and the Coming American Revolution Crash Foretold Now the capitalists and their public by Jack Barnes by Jack Barnes Imperialism’s March Toward representatives—and not just in Mexico or “There will be a victorious revolution in the United States before Fascism and War by Jack Barnes Orange County—have been given another there will be a victorious counterrevolution in Cuba.” That state- Defending Cuba, Defending warning of the long-run possibilities of ment, made by Fidel Castro in 1961, remains as true today as when Cuba’s Socialist Revolution an uncontrollable defl ation. Over the past it was spoken. This book is about the class struggle in the United by Mary-Alice Waters couple of decades, upturns in the business States and the example demonstrated by the people of Cuba that Also in Spanish, French, and Swedish cycle have relied on fl oating large amounts revolution is note only necessary—it can be made. In English, Span- $14 of fi ctitious capital—ballooning debt and ish, and French. $13 other paper values. The capitalists are now $5 $10 paying the piper for the lack of suffi cient economic growth during that period to keep New International no. 7 rolling over the loans.3 Problems of Women’s Liberation The capitalists pushed off the crisis for by includes: Washington’s Assault on Iraq: another half decade after the mid-1990s by Six articles explore the social and economic roots of women’s op- Opening Guns of World War III pression from prehistoric society to modern capitalism and point inventing and infl ating more credit instru- by Jack Barnes the road forward to emancipation. 12.95 ments and paper assets. The stock market, 1945: When U.S. Troops Said as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial $5 ‘No!’ by Mary-Alice Waters Average and the S&P 500, more than tripled. [In Spanish] Sexo contra sexo o clase contra Washington’s Third Militarization Corporate borrowing more than quadrupled clase Drive by Mary-Alice Waters in the United States over that fi ve-year pe- 18.95 Also in Spanish, French, and Swedish riod—not to expand productive capacity, but $10 $12 often to buy back their own bloated shares, bloat them further, and sit on what more $10 and more becomes a cash hoard.4 Between ORDER ONLINE AT: WWW.PATHFINDERPRESS.COM 1995 and 2000, the biggest net buyers of Also available in bookstores, including those listed on page 8. Offer good until Nov. 30, 2004.

The Militant November 2, 2004 7 CAPITALISM’S LONG HOT WINTER HAS BEGUN

Continued from Page 7 these. Over the past quarter cen- fi fty years that could be charted over the his- tury, not only did wage inequality tory of capitalism since at least the opening increase within the working class, of the industrial revolution in the latter half but above all the income gap wid- of the 1700s. ened explosively between workers Kondratiev’s empirical chart itself was and better-off middle-class and a roughly accurate sketch of trends in professional layers, not to mention capitalist development over the previous the wealthiest propertied families century and half, Trotsky said. But if you (whose astronomical annual in- looked carefully at its turning points—and comes, let alone their accumulated at the duration and steepness of its upward, wealth, are not even counted in downward, and fl atter segments—it was government statistics). Real wages, clear that these corresponded to major medical and pension coverage, job- events in politics and the class struggle, less benefi ts, workers comp, afford- not solely “economic” factors as normally ability of housing, food, and college understood. There was nothing “automatic” education—all these declined, often or “cyclical” about an upturn in this longer sharply, for the majority of workers curve, as there is at a certain point in the and working farmers. If, during the destruction of value and drawing down of late 1990s, take-home pay rose for inventories during a capitalist recession. certain layers for several years, even “As regards the large segments of the that relief has reversed engines once capitalist curve of development,” Trotsky again today.8 wrote, “their character and duration are As long as the capitalist economy determined not by the internal interplay is heading up, as long as real in- of capitalist forces but by those external terest rates are stable or coming conditions through whose channel capital- Militant/Paul Pederson down, as long as the dollar remains ist development fl ows. The acquisition by “In seeking to boost their profi t margins, more and more employers have been unable to strong relative to the currencies of capitalism of new countries and continents, count on anything other than pressing to drive down wages and benefi ts, lengthening hours, Washington’s imperialist rivals, this the discovery of new natural resources, and, and intensifying labor,” Barnes says. Above: Janitors who are members of the Service debt-ridden house of cards keeps in the wake of these, such major facts of Employees International Union rally September 23 in New York to protests attempts by standing—and standing taller (in ‘superstructural’ order as wars and revolu- building owners to cut health-care benefi ts. dollar terms!). But as all this begins tions, determine the character and the re- to change, as it has since sometime placement of ascending, stagnating, or declining epochs of debt and paper values, adding little to productive capac- late in 2000, the entire structure becomes increasingly of capitalist development.”7 ity in comparison to the post–World War II expansions in unstable. Marx’s observation that “interest-bearing capital the United States and later in Europe and Japan. In seeking always [is] the mother of every insane form” of capital is A long hot winter to boost their profi t margins, more and more employers once again being demonstrated in spades.9 Kondratiev did employ a useful metaphor in describing have been unable to count on anything other than press- Neither we nor anybody else has any way of predict- this long-term curve, whose character he did not under- ing to drive down wages and benefi ts, lengthening hours, ing exactly how long it will take for these gigantic bal- stand. He, and his rediscoverers and vulgarizers today, and intensifying labor. This stretch-out and speedup, this loons—stock prices, consumer debt, real estate costs, speak of the slow beginnings of raecovery as “spring”; increase in absolute and relative surplus value, is the the relative “value” of the dollar—to defl ate. But since sharply rising segments as “summer”; the stagnant open- “secret” to the productivity growth that Greenspan exag- everyone can see it coming, it can seem natural to say: ing of a downward segment as “autumn”; and the more gerates and brags about in order to reassure the capitalist “Surely the capitalists will do something to stop it!” sharply downward segment as “winter.” We’ve been in au- class that something more is happening than a further But that’s not how the law of value works. That’s tumn since the mid-1970s; now one of capitalism’s infre- expansion of the massive government debt-created bubble. not how a market system driven by the competition of quent long winters has begun. With no seeming limits on By the U.S. government’s own fi gures, however, including capitals—and, in the imperialist epoch, on the more and the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department’s blowing those of the Federal Reserve, neither economic output nor more violent competition of bigger and bigger capitals, up every balloon they can fi nd, and now the accompanying labor productivity during these two most recent booms and more and more leveraged speculation—operates. acceleration of imperialism’s drive toward war, it’s going came anywhere close to increasing at the rates logged Finance capital since the mid-1970s has postponed the to be a long, hot winter. Even more important, slowly but from the late 1940s through the early 1970s. crisis and moderated the frequency and volatility of the surely and explosively, it will be one that breeds a scope swings of the trade cycle. But it did so only at the expense and depth of resistance not previously seen by revolution- Class inequality widens of infl ating the debt balloons more and more, increasing ary-minded militants in today’s world. It’s worth repeating what a delegate from Washington, their variety as they debase the purchasing power of the During world capitalism’s quarter-century-long “au- D.C., Sam Manuel, reminded us of during the discussion. currency, thus making the eventual bursting of the bubble tumn,” the business cycle continued oscillating, including It’s never enough just to look at government statistics, or even more destructive to imperialist stability, self-confi - two long capitalist upswings—one for nearly eight years even at how the average or median sector of the working dence, and alliances. after 1982; the second stretching an entire decade from class might be faring for a few years. We have to keep 1991 to 2001, the longest cyclical upturn in U.S. history. our eyes on various layers of the working class, and the Both upturns, however, were fueled by a massive infl ation differential social consequences of “booms” such as Notes 1. V.I. Lenin, “Report on the World Political Situation and the Basic Tasks of the Commu- nist International,” Workers of the World and Oppressed Peoples, Unite!, Proceedings and IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP Documents of the Second Congress, 1920 (New Where to find distrib u tors of the Zip: 48244-0739. Tel: (313) 554-0504. 9698. E-mail: [email protected] York: Pathfi nder, 1991), vol. 1, p. 139. Also in Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, and E-mail: [email protected] CANADA Lenin, Collected Works, (Moscow: Progress New International, and a full display of MINNESOTA: St. Paul: 113 Bernard St., Publishers, 1966), vol. 31, p. 227. Pathfi nder books. West St. Paul. Zip: 55118. Tel: (651) 644- QUEBEC: Montreal: 6955 Boul 2. In July 2004 the U.S. government loaded 6325. E-mail: [email protected] St-Michel, Suite 202. Postal code: H2A the fi rst ground-based Anti-Ballistic Missile UNITED STATES 2Z3. Tel: (514) 284-7369. E-mail: lc_ interceptor into a silo in Alaska, a project begun NEBRASKA: Omaha: P.O. Box 7005. Zip: [email protected] during the Clinton administration. President ALABAMA: Birmingham: 3029A 68107. E-mail: [email protected] ONTARIO: Toronto: 2238 Dundas St. Bush hailed the installation as “the beginning Bessemer Road. Zip: 35208. Tel: (205) 780- NEW JERSEY: Newark: 168 Bloomfi eld of a missile-defense system that was envisioned 0021. E-mail: [email protected] West, Suite 201, M6r 3A9 Tel: (416) 535- by .” Avenue, 2nd Floor. Zip: 07104. Tel: (973) 9140. E-mail: [email protected] CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 4229 481-0077. E-mail: [email protected] 3. Jack Barnes, Capitalism’s World Disorder: FRANCE Working-Class Politics at the Millennium (New S. Central Ave. Zip: 90011. Tel: (323) NEW YORK: Manhattan: 306 W. 37th 233-9372. E-mail: [email protected] York: Pathfi nder, 1999), pp. 60–61. Street, 10th floor. Zip: 10018. Tel: (212) Paris: P.O. 175, 23 rue Lecourbe. 4. Government figures showed declining San Fran cisco: 3926 Mission St. Zip: 629-6649. E-mail: [email protected] Postal code: 75015. Tel: (01) 40-10-28-37. capital investment throughout 2001 and 2002. 94112. Tel: (415) 584-2135. E-mail:swpsf E-mail: [email protected] Even the modest upswing beginning in mid-2003 @sbcglobal.net OHIO: Cleveland: 11018 Lorain Ave. Zip: 44111. Tel: (216) 688-1190. E-mail: focused on replacing worn-out equipment, driv- ICELAND ing labor costs down by intensifying the pace COLORADO: Craig: 11 West Victory [email protected] Way, Suite 205. Zip: 81625. Mailing address: Reykjavík: Skolavordustig 6B. Mailing of work and lengthening the workday, not by P.O. Box 1539. Zip: 81626. Tel: (970) 824- PENNSYLVANIA: Hazleton: 69 North address: P. Box 0233, IS 121 Reykjavík. Tel: expanding capacity and output. An article in 6380.E-mail: [email protected] Wyoming St. Zip: 18201. Tel: (570) 454- 552 1202. E-mail: [email protected] the July 19, 2004, Business Week magazine, 8320. Email: [email protected] headlined “Corporate Coffers Are Stuffed With FLORIDA: Miami: 8365 NE 2nd Philadelphia: 5237 N. 5th St. Zip: 19120. NEW ZEALAND Dough,” pointed out that “so far at least, instead Ave. #206 Zip: 33138. Tel: (305) 756- of putting all this fi repower to work—by pump- Tel: (215) 324-7020. E-mail: Philadelphia Auckland: Suite 3, 7 Mason Ave., 4436. E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Pittsburgh: 5907 Penn ing up capital budgets, upping the pace of hir- Tampa: 1441 E. Fletcher, Suite 421. Otahuhu. Postal address:P.O. Box 3025. Tel: ing, restocking inventories, or passing out bigger Ave. Suite 225. Zip. 15206. Tel: (412) 365- (9) 276-8885.E-mail: milpath.auckland@ac Zip: 33612. Tel: (813) 910-8507. E-mail: 1090. E-mail: [email protected] dividends—companies are keeping much of their [email protected] trix.gen.nz powder dry.” Companies, Business Week said, are TEXAS: Houston: 4800 W. 34th St. Suite GEORGIA: Atlanta: 2791 Lakewood Christchurch: Gloucester Arcade, putting their cash into money market funds and C-51A. Zip: 77092. Tel: (713) 869-6550. E- stock buybacks of their own shares. Ave. Zip: 30315. Mailing address: P.O. Box 129 Gloucester St. Postal address: P.O. mail: [email protected] Box 13-969. Tel: (3) 365-6055. E-mail: 5. These reports can be found in the two- 162515. Zip 30321. Tel: (404) 768-1709. volume collection of Leon Trotsky’s writings E-mail: [email protected] UTAH: Price: 11 W. Main St. Rm. pathfi [email protected] 103. Zip: 84501 Tel: (435) 613-1091. entitled The First Five Years of the Communist International (New York: Pathfi nder, 1972) and ILLINOIS: Chicago: 3557 S. Archer Ave. [email protected] SWEDEN Zip: 60609. Tel: (773) 890-1190. E-mail: in Lenin, Collected Works, vols. 32 and 33. ChicagoPathfi [email protected] WASHINGTON, D.C.: 3717 B Stockholm: Bjulvägen 33, kv, S-122 6. Trotsky, “The Curve of Capitalist Georgia Ave. NW, Ground floor. Zip: 41 Enskede. Tel: (08) 31 69 33. E-mail: Development,” in New International no. 10 IOWA: Des Moines: 3707 Douglas Ave. 20010. Tel: (202) 722-1315. E-mail: [email protected] (New York, 1994), pp. 209–10. Zip: 50310. Tel: (515) 255-1707. E-mail: [email protected] 7. Ibid., p. 210. [email protected] UNITED KINGDOM 8. In late 2003, according to the Wall Street WASHINGTON: Seattle: 5418 Rainier MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 12 ENGLAND: London: 47 The Cut. Postal investment bank Goldman Sachs, the annual Avenue South. Zip: 98118-2439. Tel: (206) code: SE1 8LF. Tel: 020-7928-7993. E-mail: growth rate of hourly earnings in the United Bennington St., 2nd Floor, East Boston. 323-1755. E-mail: [email protected] Mailing address: P.O. Box 261. Zip: [email protected] States fell to “the slowest pace ever recorded.” Over the next half-year, through the middle of 02128. Tel: (617) 569-9169. E-mail: AUSTRALIA SCOTLAND: Edinburgh: First Floor, [email protected] 2004 when this issue was going to press, real Sydney: 1st Flr, 3/281-287 Beamish St., 3 Grosvenor St., Haymarket. Postal Code: weekly earnings actually fell. MICHIGAN: Detroit: 4208 W. Vernor Campsie, NSW 2194. Mailing ad dress: P.O. EH12 5ED. Tel: 0131-226-2756. E-mail: 9. Karl Marx, Capital (London: Penguin, St. Mailing address: P.O. Box 44739. Box 164, Campsie, NSW 2194. Tel: (02) 9718 [email protected] 1981), vol. 3, p. 596. 8 The Militant November 2, 2004 Remarks by Kerry, Edwards on Cheney’s daughter show coarsening of bourgeois politics BY SAM MANUEL appropriate for Senator Kerry to bring up The lowest point in the debates between Mary Cheney at the debate,” said White the top candidates of the Democratic and House press secretary Scott McClellan. Republican parties came when John Kerry Kerry’s remark drew a sharp response pointed to the sexual preference of Mary from Vice President Cheney during a sub- Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick sequent campaign rally in Florida. Saying he Cheney, to score a political point. Kerry was a very “angry father,” Cheney described made the remark while debating President Kerry’s statement as that of a man who “will George Bush in their third and fi nal televised do and say anything to get elected.” His wife, encounter, which took place October 13 at Lynne Cheney, called Kerry’s remark “a the University of Arizona in Tempe. cheap and tawdry political trick.” Kerry’s statement was similar to what Not stepping back at all from the coarse his running mate, John Edwards, had said remark, Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth, who is a week earlier while debating his Republi- also active in the Democratic campaign, John Edwards (right) debates Republican opponent Richard Cheney October 5 in can opponent in Cleveland. These calculated accused Lynne Cheney of “overreacting” Cleveland. Remark by Edwards on Cheney’s daughter was low point of encounter. remarks were additional signs of the coars- and showing “a certain degree of shame ening and pornographication of bourgeois with respect to her daughter’s sexual pref- outfi ts on?” tax-free “health savings accounts” to pro- politics. erences.” Such debasing remarks have more and vide medical insurance based on individual Debate moderator Robert Schieffer of The level of exchanges between the two more marked the political climate in the coverage rather than employer-sponsored CBS News asked the candidates whether campaigns sunk even lower in a second set United States over the last decade. Their plans. Workers would receive tax credits they believed “homosexuality is a choice.” of base remarks by the Democratic vice- source is the steady offensive by the ruling for putting savings into these accounts. “If you ask Dick Cheney’s daughter, who presidential candidate. Appearing on the Jay class to push down wages, worsen work- This proposal, along with a similar one is a lesbian,” answered Kerry, “she would Leno talk show October 12, Edwards was ing and living conditions, and attack social establishing individual “retirement savings tell you that she’s being who she was, she’s asked if he could beat President Bush in a programs that working people have won in accounts,” forms the centerpiece of the being who she was born as.” foot race. Edwards said he played football as struggle in order to increase profi ts for the rulers’ preparation for the next round of Bush did not comment on the remark dur- a student and that Bush was on a cheerlead- employers. This was also evident in the third assaults on Social Security. ing the debate. But the administration did ing squad. “Bush was on the side, with his Bush-Kerry debate. Kerry, who has been silent on Bush’s have a formal response later. “The president pom-poms,” Edwards said. “I don’t know, On health care, for example, Bush reiter- specifi c proposals, sketched in a few more of the United States does not believe it was can you run fast with those cheerleading ated his proposals to establish individual, elements of his own plan. It too reinforces the position that health care is an individual’s responsibility, not a social right. In exchange for the federal government taking over the U.S. warplanes and tanks pound militias in Fallujah cost of health care for children on Medicaid, Continued from front page against such methods, and taking advantage obtain weapons. U.S. and Iraqi troops are Kerry said, the states would cover individu- against civilian and other targets in Iraq. of the fact that the main leader of Tawhid and also fi ghting militias in al-Anbar province, als with an income up to three times higher Talks between the U.S.-installed regime and Jihad is from another country, the interim Rutba, and Hiyt, according to Al-Jazeera. than the poverty line. No state would be negotiators for Baathist and other militias government and its U.S. backers are trying The joint military operations by U.S. obligated to do so. Individuals would also that have been operating in Fallujah broke to drive a wedge between the pro-Zarqawi and Iraqi troops register the progress be allowed to “buy into the same health care down over this issue October 14. Since then, forces and Fallujah’s main Sunni Muslim Washington is making in recruiting, insurance that senators and congressmen U.S. warplanes and tanks have been pound- leaders. And they are scoring successes training, and bloodying a new Iraqi army. give themselves,” Kerry said. ing the city, home to 300,000 people in Iraq’s so far. U.S. president George Bush and defense Members of Congress, however, make Sunni Triangle. Military operations against militias in secretary Donald Rumsfeld have said the more than $150,000 a year. Bush said the Over a seven-day period in mid-October, the city were stepped up after negotiations administration’s goal is to train as many current congressional medical insurance more than 200 Iraqis were reportedly killed with Sunni Muslim clerics in the city broke as 200,000 Iraqi troops that can increas- costs the government $7,700 per family. around the country, most of them civilians, down October 14. The next day U.S. troops ingly take on more of the fi ghting against Kerry blamed rising health-care costs including scores in Fallujah. More than half arrested the main Sunni cleric negotiator, adversaries. and growing numbers of people without died in suicide and other such bombings by Khaled al-Jumeili, as he left a mosque after The Allawi regime has so far been unable any coverage—about 45 million now—on anti-government groups, according to media Friday prayers in a village about 10 miles to obtain a settlement of the type agreed to the president’s policies. But he said nothing accounts. south of Fallujah. The Iraqi interim govern- with Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Members about the deterioration of health care during The U.S.-led assault on Fallujah is part ment released Al-Jumeili a few days later. of al-Sadr’s Mahdi militia began handing the eight years of the Clinton administration. of joint operations between U.S. forces and During recent sermons in mosques over their weapons to the government Oc- Bush’s proposals, in fact, build on the as- the Iraqi military to bring under the author- throughout the Sunni Triangle clerics read tober 11. The Mahdi militia has taken heavy saults on health care under Clinton. Speaking ity of the Allawi government more than 30 a statement declaring that al-Zarqawi’s casualties in fi erce fi ghting with U.S. Ma- at the 1996 Democratic convention, Hillary cities and towns where militias opposed to presence in the city “is a lie just like the rines that began last April in the Shia cities Clinton, now a senator, praised a bill spon- the U.S.-led occupation have been operat- weapons of mass destruction lie,” according of Najaf, Karbala, and Kufa. sored by Senators Edward Kennedy and ing with little opposition. These operations to an AP report. In another development, Staff Sgt. Mi- Nancy Kassebaum that included “portable” began with the takeover of Samarra, also In Ramadi, with the assistance of infor- chael Butler and most of his platoon, another health insurance for people who change in the Sunni Triangle, on October 3. The mants, U.S. Marines arrested 17 alleged 18 U.S. soldiers, refused orders by superiors jobs. It also included an “experimental” goal of the attacking Iraqi and U.S. troops insurgents said to be leaders of a militia to deliver a fuel shipment from the Talil air component in which 750,000 people would is to take control of as many of these areas in the city. U.S. offi cials in Iraq have said base near Nasirya, Iraq, to another base in buy “catastrophic” health insurance and set as possible before elections scheduled for their goal is to “pacify” Ramadi and Fallujah the north. up tax-free individual accounts to cover early next year. before elections next year. The troops said this would have been a routine medical expenses. By the end of The Sunni Triangle is an area of central There have also been press reports of “suicide mission,” because the trucks were the Clinton administration, an estimated 40 Iraq where the former Baathist regime of clashes between U.S. troops in Qaim, a city in bad shape and they would have to drive million people had no health-care coverage, Saddam Hussein had a strong base. near the Jordanian border also said to be a them without any escorts by armored ve- 2 million more than when Clinton fi rst took More than 1,000 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers stronghold for opponents of the Allawi re- hicles. Butler and the other troops are now offi ce. And that happened during the longest have surrounded Fallujah, according to gime and a major route through which they under investigation for insubordination. post-World War II economic recovery. Al-Jazeera TV. At the east and northeast- ern gates of the city, U.S. tanks have been bombarding homes and other buildings in neighborhoods that reportedly have been US Airways guts union contracts using fig leaf of bankruptcy strongholds of militias. The Associated BY SAM MANUEL US Airways was also released from an Press reported that the U.S. military has that it will ask the bankruptcy court to sanc- On October 15 US Airways threw out the agreement it made in its fi rst bankruptcy tion voiding its contractts with the unions asked UK defense minister Geoff Hoon to fi ling to keep at least 279 planes in its fl eet. redeploy more than 650 British troops to contracts with its unions and cut wages and so that the owners could impose wage and benefi ts the airline claims it needs in order to That will likely result in additional layoffs. benefi t cuts. This would be the second round the area to back U.S. and Iraqi forces sur- Attorneys for the unions said the cuts rounding the city. avoid liquidation after getting a bankruptcy of concessions imposed by United, which judge to bless its request. Following suit, were too severe given that employees started bankruptcy proceedings in Decem- A report in the October 17 Armed Forces granted $1.9 billion in concessions in the Information Service (AFIS), a Pentagon United Airlines, also in bankruptcy, an- ber 2002. The union gave up $2.5 billion in nounced it will do the same next month. fi rst bankruptcy. They also said salaried concessions in the spring of 2003 after the news service, said Iraqi Special Forces and employees had taken cuts of only 5 to 10 elements of the First Marine Expeditionary On September 12, US Airways fi led for company threatened liquidation. Despite Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization for percent and US Airways’ chief executive, the concessions and a $1.8 billion federal Force formed a “dynamic cordon” around Bruce Lakefi eld, was not taking a pay cut. the city starting October 15. It also said that the second time in two years after workers government loan guarantee the company refused to bow to the company’s demand Lakefi eld responded that he had already went into bankruptcy anyway. U.S. warplanes blasted a checkpoint set up taken an equivalent reduction because his by Tawhid and Jihad militiamen. The AFIS for $800 million worth of cuts in wages United also repeated its threat to termi- and benefi ts. The company fi rst fi led for $450,000 annual salary was less than his nate current pension plan agreements with report said that informants have “linked predecessor, whom he replaced in April. such checkpoints to kidnappings and execu- bankruptcy protection in August 2002 and the unions and replace them with 401(k) emerged the following April with a $900 The cuts will take effect immediately plans. In August attorneys for the bosses tions carried out by insurgents.” The report except in the case of the airline’s pilots, also claimed that Iraqi and U.S. troops have million gift in the form of a loan from the told a bankruptcy judge that the company government’s Air Transportation Stabiliza- who are expected to approve a concession would be within its rights to terminate re- recovered stockpiles of explosives and cap- agreement that will reduce salaries by 18 tured several of al-Zarqawi’s aides. tion Board. tirement benefi t agreements with the union. Feigning concern for the company’s percent along with cuts in pension and In response to that threat, offi cials of the Tawhid and Jihad has claimed respon- health-care benefi ts. sibility for numerous kidnappings and has 28,000 employees, Judge Stephen Mitchell Association of Flight Attendants and the in Alexandria, Virginia, said he “reluctantly” Lakefi eld and airline chairman David International Association of Machinists publicized the beheading of their captives Bronner praised the tentative agreement on the Internet. It has also claimed respon- agreed with the airline. He ruled that the asked the judge to replace United chief owners could impose a cut of up to 21 per- with the pilots. “Originally we were after executive Glenn Tilton with a court-ap- sibility for car bombing attacks against U.S. a little less than that,” Lakefi eld said, allud- and Iraqi troops and police that have also cent in wages over the next four months. The pointed trustee. company sought approval for a 23 percent ing to the company’s fi rst demand for a 16 After the company’s latest pronounce- resulted in the death of civilians—in one percent cut. case 35 Iraqi children who were receiving reduction over six months, reported the New ments threatening to tear up pension plan York Times. The judge also ruled that the On the same day that Judge Mitchell agreements and the contracts in their candy from U.S. troops. cleared the way to impose cuts on workers Given growing revulsion among Iraqis company may reduce or eliminate its contri- entirety, the union offi cials dropped their butions to employee pension fund plans. at US Airways, United Airlines announced demand to replace Tilton. The Militant November 2, 2004 9 EDITORIAL Co-Op miners’ struggle Continued from front page on time for the October 2 one-year anniversary rally mark- Vote Socialist Workers Nov. 2 ing the start of the organizing fi ght at C.W. Mining, also Continued from front page include voting no on a referendum in Georgia that would known as the Co-Op mine, held at the UMWA hall in nearby bosses, workers in the United States need to organize ban gay marriage and deny basic civil rights to same-sex Price, Utah. A greeting card was signed by 13 sewing ma- unions and to use our unions as effective instruments of partners (see article below). The socialists are calling for chine operators in an unorganized shop in central Iowa, struggle where they already exist. Out of the struggle to full civil rights for gays and lesbians. Similar reactionary where a number of workers have been trying to unionize. organize and transform the unions, a labor party based on initiatives are on the ballot in another 10 states. They should “Thank you for your inspiring example,” the card said. It the unions needs to be formed that fi ghts in the interests all be defeated because they advance anti-gay prejudice included a contribution of $20. of workers and farmers. That’s the only way for working and discrimination. Support is also growing for the miners’ fi ght against a people to fi ght not only on the economic level but to de- The ruling class in the United States has adopted a lawsuit that the Kingstons, the Co-Op owners, fi led in fed- velop our own political voice independent of the ruling military posture and political world strategy since the eral court September 24. It targets the UMWA, 17 Co-Op capitalists and their parties. end of the Cold War that has crystallized over the last few miners, dozens of their supporters, and many newspapers— To promote economic development so necessary for years. This is not the offspring of the Bush administration including the Militant—and other media that have covered social and political advances by working people in Asia, alone but has the backing of the majority of the wealthy the labor struggle. The suit charges the 120 defendants with Latin America, and Africa, the socialists have been expos- rulers—Democrats and Republicans. It includes the “unlawful labor practices” and “defamation.” ing imperialism’s hypocritical campaign to prevent Iran, “transformation” of the U.S. military into more agile and “C.W. Mining Company has recently fi led a federal the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea—and other mobile units that use the most modern technology, and are lawsuit targeting individuals and groups who supported countries they target—from developing the sources of being repositioned away from western Europe and closer the picketing workers,” says a letter to the editor from Ned energy they need, including nuclear energy. to theaters of confl ict imperialism is pursuing, centered Scarlet published October 12 in the Sun Advocate, one of In addition, the SWP candidates have been denouncing in the Middle East and Central Asia. It also includes the the Utah newspapers cited in the Kingstons’ lawsuit for al- the efforts by Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, and others doctrine of preemptively striking “terrorists” and states that leged defamation. “They are also suing reporters who wrote to dictate which weapons may be developed by govern- give such groups shelter. stories about C.W. Mining’s recent labor dispute. Defend- ments in the semicolonial world in face of ongoing military The U.S. rulers are being driven to accelerate their trans- ing oneself in this type of action can be very expensive, threats and aggression by imperialist powers. formation in the teeth of the challenges they face—includ- even if the suit is without merit. I believe this is the latest They have also been pointing out that it is the capitalist ing imperialist rivals vying with them over control of the scheme to intimidate anyone who opposes their practice government of the United States, the common enemy of the world’s aircraft or other markets; the failure of neocolo- of paying low wages and not providing benefi ts. What the toilers outside and within its own borders, that represents nial models, from Iran to Argentina and Singapore, that mine owners do not understand is that when people are the biggest threat to humanity. It is Washington that has imperialists held up in the past as proof that capitalism speaking or writing the truth it is not slander or libel, nor the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, and it is the only and “democracy” work; and a world fi nancial crisis. The is it defamation of character.” government to have ever used the nuclear bomb. ruling class will pursue this course regardless of which On Sept. 22, 2003, C.W. Mining bosses fi red 75 miners The socialists have been calling for the immediate and party occupies the White House or organizes Congress after getting wind of the miners’ talking to the UMWA unconditional withdrawal of U.S. and other imperialist after November 2. about organizing. Miners there were getting paid between troops from Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Korea, Haiti, At the same time, militant workers are being transformed $5.25 and $7 an hour, while wages for underground miners Colombia, and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. as working-class resistance grows to the social consequences in the United States average at least $17 per hour. Calero, Hawkins, and the other socialist candidates are of the capitalists’ course. It is this resistance that’s generating The miners, who are mostly Mexican immigrants, were themselves workers who have been part of the resistance the seeds of the coming rebellions against the rule of the locked out of their jobs after protesting the fi ring of one by working people to the bosses’ offensive on our wages, exploiters and provides hope for humanity’s future. This is UMWA supporter and disciplinary actions against other working conditions, and living standards. They have been what the socialist campaign points to. Join us in supporting miners who supported the UMWA organizing effort. A few urging working people to vote not for the individual, but for the working-class alternative in November, and beyond. weeks later, the miners turned the lockout into a strike. the program. “It’s not who you’re against, but what you are As part of backing the socialist ticket, we also urge you The miners began getting the word out about their for!” has been the slogan of the socialist campaign. to build and take part in wrap-up SWP campaign rallies struggle to the labor movement and others. The depth of The SWP ticket is also advocating principled positions across the country (some of them advertised on page 11) solidarity the miners have received was refl ected at the Oc- in the interests of workers and farmers on local initiatives and the October 31 public forum in New York featuring tober 2 rally here when Bob Butero held up a large stack of and referenda that will be on the ballot November 2. These SWP national secretary Jack Barnes (see front-page ad). messages of support. The 900-member Local Lodge 869 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in Montreal, Quebec, sent such a letter. Socialist Workers Party candidates across the United States The Co-Op miners said many of the messages were The SWP presidential ticket is on the ballot in: Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, greeting cards and letters with signatures of individual Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Utah, Washington State, Wisconsin, and Vermont workers; more than 400 workers signed greetings like these. Workers at the Point Blank Body Armor plant in Oakland Alabama Iowa *Carole Lesnick, for State Board of Education Park, Florida, sent an 8 1/2 by 11 inch card that read in part, Janine Dukes, U.S. Senate *Edwin Fruit, U.S. Senate Pennsylvania “Two years after we started we continue our struggle.… If Clay Dennison, U.S. Congress, 7th C.D. Massachusetts Brian Taylor, U.S. Senate we all stick together, and support each other, everything is California Andrea Morrell, U.S. Congress, 1st C.D. John Staggs, U.S. Congress, 1st C.D. possible.” Workers at this sewing plant make bulletproof Dennis Richter, U.S. Senate *, Massachusetts state repre- George Chalmers, U.S. Congress, 2nd C.D. vests for the army and police. They won representation by Mark Gilsdorf, U.S. Congress, 8th C.D. sentative, Suffolk County District 1 Tim Mailhot, U.S. Congress, 11th C.D. UNITE HERE and their fi rst contract last year. Chessie Molano, U.S. Congress, 12th C.D. Michigan Martha Ressler, U.S. Congress, 14th C.D. Coal miners from Pennsylvania sent a message with a Seth Dellinger, U.S. Congress, 33rd C.D. , U.S. Congress, 13th C.D. John Crysdale, Pennsylvania State Senate, wood sculpture of two Co-Op miners. “Amigos, raffl e this Wendy Lyons, U.S. Congress, 34th C.D. carving to help raise funds! Your brothers and sisters of Minnesota District 7 Naomi Craine, U.S. Congress, 35th C.D. UMWA L.U. 1248, Uniontown, PA,” said the letter. Bill Schmitt, Congress, 4th C.D. *Kristopher Barkanic, Pennsylvania General Florida Assembly, 116th District It is solidarity like this, the miners say, that forced the Nebraska Nicole Sarmiento, U.S. Senate NLRB to uphold UMWA charges that C.W. Mining had Lisa Rottach, U.S. Congress, 2nd C.D. Texas Karl Butts, U.S. Congress, 11th C.D. Anthony Dutrow, U.S.Congress, 7th C.D. fi red the workers illegally last year. After a large majority New Jersey Omari Musa, U.S. Congress, 17th C.D. Jacquie Henderson, U.S. Congress, 18th C.D of the 75 dismissed workers signed a petition demanding *Ved Dookhun, U.S. Congress, 10th C.D. representation by the UMWA, the board also ruled that a Lawrence Mikesh, U.S. Congress, 21st C.D. Washington *Angel Lariscy, U.S. Congress, 13th C.D. union election must be held. The government agency then Connie Allen, U.S. Senate brokered a settlement between the bosses and the UMWA Georgia New York *Martín Koppel, U.S. Senate Washington, D.C. under which the company offered the strikers an uncon- William Arth, U.S. Senate John Hawkins, D.C. City Council—At ditional return to work. A number of strikers went back to Eleanor Garcia, U.S. Congress, 5th C.D. Willie Cotton, U.S. Congress, 6th C.D. Millie Sánchez, U.S. Congress, 8th C.D. Large the job July 12. The NLRB held hearings in Price on July Illinois Salm Kolis, U.S. Congress, 16th C.D. Lea Sherman, Delegate to the House of 20–21 to determine who would be eligible to cast ballots Maurice Williams, U.S. Senate Representatives in the union election. The UMWA and the Co-Op miners Rebecca Williamson, U.S. Congress, 4th C.D. Ohio Romina Green, U.S. Senate *on the ballot argued that Kingston family members and relatives, includ- ing managerial and offi ce personnel who have been brought into the mine to stack the deck against the union-organizing effort, should not be allowed to vote. The bosses argued Vote ‘No’ on antigay initiative in Georgia that all 100 of these “workers” should be permitted to vote BY BILL ARTH with a close vote expected in one, Oregon. Missouri and because they are members of the so-called International Association of United Workers Union (IAUWU), which ATLANTA—Shaking hands with demonstrators at the Louisiana have already passed such amendments. A recent the NLRB has recognized since 1979. The miners counter October 17 AIDS Walk Atlanta, Ellie García, Socialist poll by Zogby International said that 61 percent of Georgia that this is a company union. Workers Party candidate for U.S. Congress in Georgia’s voters favor the amendment. The same poll showed that Attorneys for the IAUWU fi led the recent civil lawsuit 5th District, said, “I urge all working people to vote ‘no’ voters were evenly split on giving gay couples a legal status against the UMWA and its backers along with the King- on Proposition 1, which would ban gay marriage and deny called something “other than marriage.” stons. This action, miners say, is further proof that this is civil rights to same-sex couples. Proposals of this type are Some capitalist politicians have pushed these amend- an outfi t run by the bosses, not a workers’ union. aimed at fueling reactionary prejudices and embolden ments in the aftermath of the Massachusetts Supreme Court Two weeks ago, the IAUWU gave out letters to several rightist forces to go even further and carry out violent at- decision last year to strike down as unconstitutional a state miners revoking their membership. The miners said Juan tacks. They are anti-labor and aim at deepening divisions law that banned same-sex marriage. Salazar’s foreman, Chris Peterson, approached him under- in the working class at a time when working people need Congress failed to pass a similar amendment to the ground October 4 and handed him an envelope with a note to fi nd ways to unite to effectively resist attacks by the U.S. Constitution this summer. Republican candidates from the IAUWU. The letter told Salazar, one of the UMWA employers.” have proposed these measures as a means to energize stalwarts, that he is being kicked out of the “union.” The Georgia amendment to the state constitution will be their conservative electoral base, as well as to score fac- “It has been determined that you are in violation of your on the November 2 ballot. It consists of two paragraphs. tional points against their Democratic Party opponents. A membership agreement with IAUWU,” Salazar reported “This state shall recognize as marriage only the union of number of Republicans, though, including President Bush, the letter as saying. The notice was signed by IAUWU man and woman,” states the fi rst. “Marriages between per- while formally supporting such measures have done little to local president Chris Grundvig. A check for $39.76 was sons of the same sex are prohibited in this state.” The second nothing to campaign for their passage on the federal level, also enclosed as a refund for dues taken out of Salazar’s paragraph says, in part, “No union between persons of the knowing they would fail. Many Democratic politicians have paychecks since July 12. same sex shall be recognized by this state as entitled to the tried to avoid the issue. The miners are asking that letters be sent to the NLRB benefi ts of marriage.” Only the fi rst paragraph will appear Close to 200 opponents of the anti-gay referendum ral- backing the UMWA’s position on the upcoming union elec- on the ballot. Opponents of the amendment fi led a lawsuit lied outside the Georgia State Capitol October 10 in one tion, and demanding the board set a date for the union vote. in the state Supreme Court seeking to have the referendum of the largest protests since the state legislature voted to These letters should be sent to NLRB Region 27, attention taken off the ballot. They argue that paragraph 2 could be put the initiative on the ballot last spring. The majority of B. Allan Benson, director, 600 17th Street, 7th fl oor—North interpreted as prohibiting civil unions, but voters will not those present were high school and college students. A Tower, Denver, CO 80202-5433. Tel: (303) 844-3551; Fax: see this when they vote. They will only see the prohibition small number of rightist counter demonstrators harangued (303) 844-6249. on same-sex marriage. the youthful protesters with obscenities. For more information contact UMWA District 22 at 525 Referenda like the one in Georgia are on the ballot in East 100 South, Price, UT 84501; Tel: (435) 637-2037. 11 states. They are considered likely to pass in 10 states, Bill Arth is the SWP candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia. 10 The Militant November 2, 2004 Socialist candidates campaign in Puerto Rico BY LAURA GARZA Florida. out about the Socialist Workers campaign gained there in fighting for their inter- SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—“Working The forum, chaired by UPR student and its revolutionary perspective. They ests—including land, jobs, literacy, and people in the United States and the people Diego Negrao and attended by 20 students, listened intently as the SWP candidates decent medical care for all—and defeating of Puerto Rico share common interests. was sponsored by the UPR Student Council, described the working-class resistance in attempts by U.S.-backed capitalist forces to We face a common enemy, the billionaire which has backed the campaign against the the United States to the bosses’ profi t drive, overturn the elected government. She urged families that exploit workers and farmers in presence of the U.S. Reserve Offi cer Train- from the successful union-organizing fi ght students interested in the developments in the United States and who maintain colonial ing Corps (ROTC) on university campuses by garment workers at Point Blank Body Venezuela and in the international fi ght rule over Puerto Rico,” Martín Koppel told here. Many of the students at the meeting Armor in Florida to the strike by textile against imperialism to attend the world students at a meeting held here October 18 at had been part of a one-day student strike workers in Massachusetts. youth festival scheduled for next summer the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). Kop- October 7 against the suspension of Profes- “What do you think of the Hugo Chávez in Caracas, Venezuela. pel, the Socialist Workers Party candidate sor Héctor Rosario at the UPR campus in government in Venezuela?” a student The socialist campaigners sold nearly for U.S. Senate in New York, visited Puerto Mayagüez for his involvement in an anti- asked. Sarmiento said Venezuela remains 30 books and pamphlets on revolutionary Rico together with Nicole Sarmiento, the ROTC protest. a fl ashpoint in Latin America because of politics to students on the campus. socialist candidate for U.S. Senate in The students were interested in fi nding the confi dence workers and farmers have Koppel and Sarmiento also joined a picket line by members of the Independent Authentic Union (UIA) on strike against the Water and Sewer Authority (AAA). Some Brian Taylor stumps in Utah for SWP ticket 4,300 workers walked out October 4 after the bosses stopped paying into the union- Continued from front page part to see. The other “third parties,” like the one of their spouses joined in the discus- run health-care fund and contracted with ticket of Róger Calero for president and Libertarians or the Greens, are pro-capitalist sion. Among them were Juan and Rosa a private insurance company. The strikers Arrin Hawkins for vice president. too, he said. The same is true of the Nader/ Salazar. have faced an intense propaganda campaign Taylor was the featured guest at a Camejo “independent” campaign that serves “We have rights, we are workers,” said by the government and bosses, branding the barbeque later that day at the home of a as left pressure on the Democrats. Juan, a leader of the union organizing fi ght UIA as corrupt and accusing the unionists campaign supporter. His presentation was Brackett said he had just fi nished read- at Co-Op. “The bosses can’t treat us as bad- of sabotage. followed by a lively give-and-take. Dale ing the Communist Manifesto, a pamphlet ly anymore. They used to order us around Picket captain Alberto Hernández told Brackett, a 20-year-old steelworker, asked he picked up when he met socialist cam- freely—now they think twice. If they do the socialists the “corruption” charges to take a stack of campaign handouts to paigners in September. He took advantage something to one of us, they know that now were a pretext to justify the anti-union at- distribute in the next weeks. “We have of Taylor’s visit to talk with the senatorial they may be facing 50 of us.” tack. Gloria Martínez, with 25 years on the a one-party system,” Bracket said. “You candidate for several hours throughout the “I agree with what the miners have been job, said the water utility’s equipment is old might as well call it the Capitalists’ Party,” day and ended up buying four more books doing here. Don’t just take it,” added Rosa. and in disrepair, and it’s not uncommon for instead of the Democrats and Republicans. on revolutionary politics. “You have to do something to fi ght back. It entire neighborhoods to lose water service “There is no sense in talking about a lesser The following morning, fi ve Co-Op min- has been very hard, but worth it.” for days at a time. evil. It’s just evil.” ers gave Taylor a tour of the site of their Participants stayed after the program for The socialist candidates also met with Taylor responded that this is the easier 10-month picket line outside the coal mine refreshments and political discussion with leaders of the successful fi ght to get the in a Huntington Taylor and local campaign supporters. One U.S. Navy out of Vieques, joined a protest canyon. miner bought a subscription to the Militant demanding freedom for six jailed anti-Navy In Price, Taylor and picked out dozens of copies of the paper activists, and met with two well-known spoke at the Mili- from recent months to have as a chronicle former independentista prisoners, Rafael tant Labor Forum of the Co-Op struggle. Cancel Miranda and Luis Rosa. hall that afternoon to more than a dozen workers and their families, most MILITANT LABOR FORUMS of them also miners at Co-Op. Celso AUSTRALIA 27, Reception 6 p.m., Program 7 p.m., 3557 Panduro presented Sydney S. Archer Ave. Suggested donation $5. Tel: Taylor with a com- After the 2004 elections: New government (773) 890-1190. memorative T-shirt attacks on the unions and working-class from the one-year resistance Speaker: Bob Aiken, Communist NEW YORK anniversary of the League, Fri., Oct. 29, 7 p.m. 3/281-7 Beamish St., Campsie (upstairs in arcade near Evaline Manhattan Celebrate the accomplishments of the ongoing fight for St.) Donation. Tel: (02) 9718-9698. the United Mine socialist campaign! Speaker: Róger Calero, Militant/Teri Moss Workers of Ameri- Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Brian Taylor, (right) SWP candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsyl- ca (UMWA) at the NEW ZEALAND president, Fri., Oct. 29, Dinner 7 p.m., Pro- mine. gram 8 p.m., 307 West 36 St., 10th fl . (use vania, speaking to miners, their families, and others October 17 Christchurch north elevators) Suggested donation: $5 din- at campaign event in Price, Utah. Taylor urged ‘Law and order’ campaign targets ner, $5 program. Tel: (212) 629-6649. the miners to vote working people Fri., Oct. 29, 7 p.m. ‘The for Calero and Gloucester’ Arcade, (near the Theatre CALENDAR Hawkins, who are on the ballot in Utah, Royal), 129-131 Gloucester St, Donation TEXAS and support the socialist ticket in every $3. Tel: (03) 365-6055. Houston NEW YORK other possible way. Support efforts by workers to organize Manhattan Taylor ended his presentation by reading FLORIDA unions and strengthen those they have Come join the Puerto Rican Nationalist some messages to the miners at Co-Op from Speaker: Róger Calero, Socialist Workers Youth in celebration of the 1950 revolt of Miami Party candidate for president, Tues., Oct. 26, the Puerto Rican Nationalists Thurs., Oct. his co-workers in UMWA Local 1248 at Ma- Support union organizing! Organize unions Reception 6:30 p.m., Program 7:30 p.m. 26, 7 p.m., at El Maestro, 700 Elton Ave (off of ple Creek’s High Quality mine. These union where there are none, strengthen unions 154 St. at 3rd. Ave.) members eagerly await the Co-Op miners where they exist Speaker: Omari Musa, So- For a workers and farmers government joining them in the UMWA, he said. cialist Workers Party candidate for Congress, Speaker: Karl Butts, farmer, and Social- Commemorating the 30th anniversary of In the discussion that followed, one par- 17th C.D., Fri., Oct. 29, 7:30 p.m., 8365 NE ist Workers Party candidate for Congress ‘El Acto Nacional’ a Day of Solidarity with ticipant asked if the socialist campaign’s ef- 2nd Ave., #206 Tel: (305) 756-4436. from Florida, Jacquie Henderson and Puerto Rican Independence Keynote speaker: Anthony Dutrow SWP candidates for Juan Mari Bras, founder El Movimiento Pro forts to effect revolutionary change is legal Congress from Houston. Sat., Oct. 30, Independencia, Music by Roy Brown, Sat., Oct. in this country. “I have seen many people ILLINOIS Dinner 6:30 p.m. Program 7:30 p.m. 30, Donations: Students/Seniors $10, General get in trouble fi ghting for these things in Chicago Both programs at 4800 W. 34th St., suite C- admission $15, Tickets available, Hostos Com- Central America,” this worker said. Hear Róger Calero, Socialist Workers 51A, Donation: $5 for dinner, $5 for program. munity College, 450 Grand Concourse (149th Drawing on their past year of experi- Party candidate for president. Wed., Oct. Tel: (713) 869-6550. St) Tel: (718) 518-4154. ence in struggle, several coal miners and LETTERS British Labour Party prohibited standing or stopping in the 15th Congressional District, torial titled “Support SWP ticket in and both parties gear themselves Despite its bourgeois, imperial- the median for any purpose other a district that includes part of St. 2004,” I must take issue with the toward solving the problems of the ist politics, is the British Labour than crossing the street. Petersburg, was allowed to speak. second sentence. Describing the tiny billionaire class. Party still somewhat of a labor City leaders who supported the It seemed that preventing anyone event featuring lead Democratic The point you make in the next party, or only in name? I under- proposals claimed this was a safety who wanted to speak from doing so and Republican Party candidates sentence about the exclusion of stand that some unions are disaf- issue. Opponents pointed out that would have been met with opposi- as a “rehearsed show” I believe the Socialist Workers campaign fi liating from Labour, though not the city had no evidence of acci- tion from the audience. Butts said weakens the editorial. and other campaigns I believe is necessarily towards independent dents caused by such solicitation that the proposals would curtail What difference does it make if absolutely correct. working class politics. and was infringing on free-speech democratic rights. it was rehearsed or not? (Though Brian Taylor Robby Kopec rights of political candidates, By 1:30 a.m., the city council by watching it, I would guess it Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Oakland, California charitable groups, small busi- had heard from over 20 individu- was not). The main point to make nesses, newspapers, and student als and representatives of organiza- there is that neither candidate of- [The reader has a point about fundraisers. Several speakers tions, all opposing the measures. fers a working-class perspective or the “rehearsed show” designa- A blow for free speech attributed the proposals to the Not only were both proposals brings to the table working-class tion—Editor.] Residents of St. Petersburg, efforts of businesses wanting to defeated, the city council also solutions to the deepening eco- Florida, struck a blow for free get homeless people soliciting for voted to opt out of a county ordi- nomic crisis toilers are forced to speech when they forced the city money and jobs as well as political nance regulating solicitation from endure daily. The letters column is an open council to back off some proposed protesters out of their areas. motorists. The way the editorial begins forum for all viewpoints on ordinances on street vending, dem- Outside of city council mem- Cheryl Goertz calling the event staged also gives sub jects of interest to working onstrating, and soliciting. On Sep- bers, no one in the packed chamber Tampa, Florida way to conspiracy-type ideas about peo ple. tember 16, the city council held a spoke in favor of the ordinances. politics. Please keep your letters brief. public hearing on two ordinances. While speaking at the hearing Prepared or unprepared, from Where necessary they will be One would have banned street was to be limited to residents, Bush-Kerry debates the hip or prewritten, the so-called abridged. Please indicate if you vending on “arterial” and “collec- Karl Butts, Socialist Workers Upon reading and thinking debates were bound to be marked prefer that your initials be used tor” streets. Another would have candidate for U.S. Congress in about the October 19 Militant edi- by the fact that both participants rath er than your full name. The Militant November 2, 2004 11 Iceland seamen’s unions Quebec poultry workers strike over hours, wages fight reductions in crews BY GYLFI PÁLL HERSIR lated these provisions, the crew contacted AND ÖGMUNDUR JÓNSSON their union and the owner was instructed REYKJAVIK, Iceland—An attempt by to follow the contract. This meant the fi shing capitalists to bypass the unions on company had to release the workers and one ship and impose a contract on their call them back, which delayed departure own terms has sparked widespread protests for four hours. from seamen and their unions. At many ports across the country, In September the Brim company in unions voted not to unload Sólbakur. Akureyri in northern Iceland set up a sub- When the ship came to harbor October sidiary to operate one of its trawlers, the 13 in Akureyri, the company obtained an Sólbakur, and drew up an “agreement” that injunction to bar the workers from stopping reduces the size of the crew and increases the unloading of the trawler. The seamen’s the workload by 20 percent for those still organizations have decided to bring the on the job. It also revoked a clause in the matter to the labor regulation court. previous contract under which each trawler In a similar attack on labor, Iceland stops for a minimum of 30 hours, and sets Express, a low-fare airline, announced wages on a monthly basis instead of for plans to lay off all 40 of its fl ight atten- each fi shing tour. Workers said they were dants effective January 1. In an interview Militant/Natalie Stake-Doucet told they could not join a union. with Fréttabladid Ólafur Hauksson, head MONTREAL—About 80 poultry workers, members of the Confederation of Unlike Brim, one of the largest compa- of public relations for the airline, said “We National Trade Unions, went on strike here September 13 against Volailles Marvid. nies in the fi shing industry here, the new need to add to the work hours of the fl ight The workers, in their majority Haitians, are demanding more hours of work and a company is not a member of either of the attendants and we are not confi dent that we higher wage. The union contract expired in December 2003. two employer organizations—the Confed- can reach an acceptable solution through The owners of Volailles Marvid, which produces kosher chicken, had added another eration of Icelandic Employers (SA) and traditional methods here in this country, production line months ago that increased the number of workers but at the same time the Federation of Icelandic Fishing Vessel that is, through negotiations.” reduced the workweek to about 20 hours, said pickets. And even the 20 hours are not Owners (LIU). In order to continue working for Iceland guaranteed. Working conditions are also a big question. “We walked out to demand Everyone on the Sólbakur crew signed Express the fl ight attendants must resign suffi cient hours but also for better working conditions,” said Kalil Sy, who has worked the deal. Brim had tried earlier, unsuccess- from their trade unions. Then they might be for two years as a production line butcher. “They are treating us like animals.” fully, to sign a similar contract with seamen rehired through Astraeus, a contracting-out Every Sunday the workers organize a barbecue accompanied by music and singing on another trawler, Gudmundur í Nesi. company. In an interview with Fréttabladid at the same time as the bosses and their relatives try to do some production. They Gudmundur Kristjánsson, manager of Ásdís Eva Hannesdóttir, chairperson for the are pictured above during such an activity on October 17. Brim, has defended the deal as a matter Icelandic Cabin Crew Association, said this —SEBASTIEN DESAUTELS of “freedom of association,” as have other is a new situation for the labor movement fi shing capitalists. in Iceland. “This has not happened before, When the Sólbakur docked in Akureyri that an Icelandic company lays off its Ice- and use this to justify their attacks on the fi fth week. The September 20 walkout has October 5, eight offi cials of the seamen’s landic employees to rehire them through a unions. The problem the employers face, shut down all public schools for students unions tried to stop its unloading by park- foreign contracting-out company and on however, is that neither fi shing industry between the ages of 6 and 16, affecting ing their cars on the docks. After a daylong foreign terms,” she said. workers nor fl ight attendants are taking 45,000 students (see issue no. 37 of the stalemate, the local police arrested the The fi shing industry bosses claim that these attacks sitting down and are backed Militant). The teachers remain united unionists and brought them in for ques- their profi t rates are down, and that must by many other workers who see it as their in spite of an ongoing media campaign tioning next day. The trawler was unloaded, cut labor costs. This means going after the cause as well. against them. More than 1,000 teachers but the workers doing the job decided, at unions. The owners of Iceland Express At the same time, a nationwide strike by packed a theater for a rally on October 11 the urging of the board of their union, that face fi erce competition on European routes more than 4,000 teachers has entered its and are planning a march for October 20. this would be the last time they unloaded the ship under these conditions. This comes at a time when the unions are negotiating a new contract with the Australia unionists protest asbestos exposure LIU—they haven’t signed a new accord in BY AL MITCHELL one a month” in recent times. Along with in earlier decades bags of asbestos were more than a decade. The workers are now AND ROB GARDNER the metalworkers and construction work- unloaded manually with wharfi es (dock- preparing a strike vote. They have been on ers unions, the MUA played a key role in workers) getting covered in dust and fi bers, strike a few times, but the government has SYDNEY, Australia—More than 20,000 trade unionists and their supporters gath- setting up ADFA, he said. he said. Direct exposure continued when always used antilabor legislation to order Asbestos is a fi brous mineral widely the material was shipped in on large pallets them back to work. ered in major cities across Australia Sep- tember 15 to demand “make James Hardie used for decades in the manufacture of with the bags often shifting and splitting The employers’ main demand has been building, fi reproofi ng, and insulation ma- open. Asbestos would go right through to reduce size of the crews on trawlers. The pay.” James Hardie Industries, for decades the largest manufacturer of asbestos prod- terials, and brakes, among other products. the cargo holds and across the docks “like central union demand is for the entire catch It causes a range of diseases, often many snow,” Robson explained, with wharfi es to be brought to market where it can be ucts in Australia, has become embroiled in a scandal after it shifted its corporate years after exposure to its fi bers. Asbesto- demanding “dirt money” if conditions got sold at a higher price. In many cases, the sis is “like breathing wet cement,” Robson too dusty. Some workers got suspended for same company owns both the trawler and headquarters to the Netherlands in 2001, leaving a fund set up to cover compensation said, while mesothelioma can kill someone up to three days if they refused to work in the processing factory, thus setting a lower within months of the fi rst symptoms. these conditions, he said. price. The seamen’s income is largely tied for asbestos-caused diseases A$2 billion (U.S.$ 1.45 billion) short of expected li- Around the world, about 100,000 people In the late 1990s, in the course of fi ght- to the total value of the catch. die every year from these diseases. A lead- ing for compensation for a wharfi e dying Saevar Gunnarsson, chairperson of the abilities. Chanting “James Hardie knew, pay the ing Australian asbestos disease statistician of mesothelioma, the union uncovered a Icelandic Seamen Federation, said a con- has estimated that 27,000 people have died letter written by a port authority doctor in tract could be signed without the partici- victims now,” a rally of around 5,000 in Sydney wound its way through city streets so far in Australia from asbestos-related the 1950s saying, according to Robson, that pation of the union only if the agreement diseases, with another 27,000 expected to “we don’t want the union to fi nd out” about meets the minimum terms of the existing to protest outside the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting. Bernie Banton, die by 2020. the dangers of asbestos. contract. On that basis, he said, the Sólba- Hardie manufactured asbestos until Following an inquiry established by the kur deal is illegal. “The seamen’s unions a vice president of the Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia (ADFA), who suf- 1987, becoming one of the “blue chip” New South Wales state government into the will use all the means they have and the companies in Australia in the process. asset-stripping that was aimed at limiting Seamen Federation will seek aid from fers from mesothelioma, a rapidly-growing malignant lung tumor, told the marchers, Some 3,000 people have sued Hardie for the company’s legal liability to compensa- other trade unions to stop this,” he said in compensation to date. The trust fund set tion claims, Hardie bosses announced that an interview on state radio. “We’re here to let Hardies know we are not going away. We are going to fi ght until we up by the corporation to cover compensa- they would meet future payments “vol- Protests have poured in from most trade tion payments is expected to be exhausted untarily.” The Australian Securities and unions in the country. Crews on more than get justice for victims and their families.” The same day, about 15,000 people in two to three years if more funds are not Investments Commission has announced 40 other trawlers and fi shing boats have allocated to it. that it is to investigate whether Hardie ex- sent declarations supporting the actions marched in Melbourne, with protests also taking place in Brisbane, Adelaide, and “Fibro” wall cladding made from asbes- ecutives lied to the share market about its taken by the seamen’s organizations and tos was widely used as a building material coverage for asbestos liabilities. protesting the Sólbakur deal. Other em- Hobart. Speaking at a Militant Labor Forum in after World War II, due to a shortage of Ivan McMurray, a 63-year-old refrac- ployers, especially those in the fishing other materials and a shortage of building tory bricklayer who is dying of asbestosis industry, view the deal as a trial balloon in Sydney on September 29, Barry Robson, a retired Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) tradespeople during the war, Robson said after handling Hardie products for two their effort to drive down wages and con- at the forum. In the early 1950s, half the decades, is one of many speaking out in ditions. While denying any responsibility offi cial who is the president of ADFA, out- lined the long history of the fi ght for fair houses built in New South Wales were support of a ban on Hardie products. “I for Brim’s actions, they have endorsed the made of “fi bro.” While two small asbestos don’t want to see them get away with it,” contract wholeheartedly. compensation for the victims of asbestos diseases and their families. mines operated in Australia, most of the as- he told the Sydney Morning Herald Sep- Meanwhile, a small fi ght developed on bestos used was imported from Canada. tember 23, adding that the government Sléttbakur, another Brim trawler. The crew “Cases are going to grow and grow,” in coming years, he said. “That is why the Robson worked on the docks in Sydney inquiry had left too much “squirming had been called on board the morning after for 37 years, the last eight as a full-time room” for the company. Some 50 con- the unloading of Sólbakur. According to fund needs to be topped up.” Focusing on the dockworkers’ experience, Robson official of the MUA’s Sydney branch. struction union members walked off the the general contract, the crew doesn’t have While containerization and a sharp drop job on an unsafe housing demolition site to work while the trawler is in harbor and said that the MUA had a policy of sending a union representative to every asbestos- in imports had ended direct handling of after McMurray had addressed them, the the boat has to leave within an hour after asbestos by waterside workers after 1975, Herald reported. the crew is on board. When the owners vio- related funeral of a dockworker—“about

12 The Militant November 2, 2004