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DEMOCRATIC LEFT 2 Nov.-DEC. 1985 A TOO-LOYAL OPP by Harold Meyerson

ymptOllls of Democratic disori­ entation, 1985: Democratic Na­ tional Committee Chairman Paul Kirk, guardian of conventional wisdom, passes through Los An­ gelesS -one "day this April and suggests that applying a means test to Social Security is . \ .....) probably a good idea; the much-vaunted Democratic tax reform of early 1985, Brad­ ley-Gephardt, taxes workers' fringe bene­ fits. The reactionary Kemp-Kasten bill ex­ empts them; the current Rostenkowski al­ ternative to the Reagan tax reform adopts the basic premises of declining progressivity --- and revenue neutrality that underpin the ad­ ministration proposal; unprompted by any ROTH CO discenuble shift in public opinion, House and aid Democrats reverse themselves vote 'l

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 3 Nov.-DEC. 1985 margin. These numbers reflect not only the the forces that have driven the lower middle sure, remains distinctly more Democratic recovery but Ronald Reagan's articulation of class away from the Democratic party-in­ than the nonunion. In 1984, union households a supply-side scenario, however implausible, cluding not just a feeling of neglect, but a supported the Democratic nominee by a for ongoing growth. Even implausible sce­ deep-seated antipathy to many of the party's margin 12 percent higher than the general narios, though, work better than none. efforts on behalf of the disadvantaged" How electorate-the same margin that existed in Stranded between the implicitly market-ori­ Galston has come to confuse the potential the 1964, 1968, and 1976 elections. The un­ ented economics of Gary Hart and the ex­ constituency for full employment and trade ion edge increases when we look at those plicit needs of working people and the poor, policy with that for AFDC is a mystery, but a constituencies that swung most sharply to­ Walter Mondale offered no model of growth mystery that at least partially explains the wards the Republicans. Thus, white blue­ whatsoever. silence of Walter Mondale and the center of collar unionists voted for Mondale at a rate The neolibs and neocons have it wrong: the party on a range of key issues. 20 percent higher than white blue-collar non­ it was not so much what Walter Mondale said There is, however, a deeper reason for unionists. As for that most fretted-over during the 1984 campaign that hurt him, but the Democrats' paralysis, which is that the swing constituency, southern white males, what he didn't say. Democrats have honored forces in the party committed to opposing the CBS/New YOt'k Times exit poll showed the claims of "special interests" since before models of growth- business interests to a that the 89 percent of southern white male the modem party took shape ("He's the man more market-oriented model, labor and mi­ voters who were nonunionists favored Rea­ the people choose/Loves the Irish and the norities to a more social democratic one­ gan by a margin of 77 to 23 percent. The 11 Jews"- Ira Gershwin, "Wintergreen for stand at rough parity. As Thomas Edsall percent who were union members favored President," 1931). The problem was not that points out in Tire New Politics ofInequality, Mondale, 50 to 49 percent Mondale addressed "special interests" but every dollar that Congressional Democrats For all the inadequacies of unions' politi­ that he never found a way to address the receive from unions and progressive organi­ cal programs, then, th~ Democrats' electoral national interest with an economic policy. zations is matched by a dollar from corporate problem is not so much waning support The problem is, this was not a personal fail­ and conservative PACs. (The Republican ra­ among unionists for Democratic candidates ing, but one of liberalism generally. tio is $.33 in corporate and right-wing con­ as it is the declining number of workers en­ On one level, the Democrats' inability to tributions for every $1 in labor and progres­ rolled in unions. It is the decline in union formulate a plausible economic scenario may sive contributions.) Tus one-to-one ratio members, more than anything else, that ex­ be traced to the ascendancy within Demo­ marks a precipitous shift in the source of plains why a united Democratic party could cratic circles of Charles Schultze, Chair of Democratic financial support; as recently as not do better for Walter Mondale than a di­ the Council ofEconomic Advisers in the Car­ 1974, Democratic Representatives received vided Democratic party could do for Hubert ter administration and Senior Fellow at the $3 from labor for every $1 from business. Humphrey in 1968 or George McGovern in Brookings Institution. Since 1983, Schultze Tus is not simply a question of trading 1972. Hthe 1984 election were replayed with has argued against the need for any form of one set of contributions for another. To the the percentage of the workforce organized at industrial policy, let alone state-sponsored contrary, the decline of the labor movement its postwar high of 35. 5 percent rather than full employment, on the grounds that de­ is central to the decline of the Democratic the 18.8 percent at which it stood last year, industrialization is nothing more than a nor­ party at the polls and to its inability to formu­ Mondale would have received not 40.6 but mal transition among industries, and that the late a policy to reverse the decline of the 49.6 percent of the vote, the Democrats public sector is less able than the private to economy. would control the Senate-and, just con­ allocate resources in a productive and so­ A close examination of the 1984 elec­ ceivably, might have a political agenda. cially beneficial manner. Democratic eco­ tion, for instance, shows that labor's dimin­ Indeed, MIT economists Richard Free­ nomics, Schultze contended, should be con­ ishing num.bers played a major role in doom­ man and James Medoff have observed that fined to deficit reductions and tax increases ing the Democrats. The union vote, to be each one percent decline in union member- -a prescription Walter Mondale faithfully . and disastrously followed. But the definitive expression of the par­ ty's paralysis on economic questions, and the most fascinating post-mortem on last year's election, is that of William Galston, Mon­ dale's issues director, in last winter's Brook­ ings Review. "The Democratic party," Gal­ ston begins, "has no guiding idea"-where­ upon he attempts to demonstrate that, given the invalidity of every idea in current circula­ tion, it should have no idea. "It cannot, in current circumstances, stand for more gov­ ernment," he notes. "It cannot, without los­ ing its distinctiveness and integrity, stand for less government" Warming to these themes, Galston criticizes the retreat from universal­ --::::::=::::::= ity of social programs as politically and pro­ grammatically self-destructive; but he also -- criticizes progressive economics for alienat­ ing the middle class. A program of planned full employment, fann support, and most trade policies, he avers, "overlooks most of "What the hell do you mean you're a Reagan liberal?"

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 4 Nov.-DEC.1985 ship within a given state makes that state's ------REPORT FROM BRITAIN------Congressional delegation almost one percent (0. 86 percent) more resistant to union­ backed legislation. More generally, the Western European experience makes clear Prospects for the that unions are the key force ill thwarting reversion to an unmitigated market economy and in counterposing more egalitarian mod­ New Jerusalem els of growth. Even in the United States, it is the Auto Workers and the Machinists who have formulated •the most participatory by forms of industrial policy. Maurice Isserman And yet, though these plans were for­ hortly after I arrived in Bourne­ ties of campaigns and elections. As the La· mulated during the Reagan years, they have mouth I found myself standing in bour party's leader Neil Kinnock put it in his been far from central to the mainstream left's line with other foreign visitors to keynote address to the conference, "power response to the Reagan onslaught. Over the receive fraternal delegate cre­ without principles is ruthless. sour, empty, past four years, unions, minority groups, dentials. An Asian gentleman vicious," while "principle without power is feminists, peace and envirorunental organi­ aheadS of me turned around, studied the DSA idle sterility." zations-often separately, sometimes to­ fist-and-rose button on my lapel in a thought­ On the face of it, the Labour party's gether- have battled the reversion to a pre­ ful manner, and then asked, "D-S-A? Demo­ prospects in the next general Parliamentary New Deal America. Their criticism of the cratic Socialists of America? Michael Har­ elections, due to be held in two years, should inadequacies of the centrist Democratic al­ rington?" I thought he was doing pretty well be excellent. The Tories, under Margaret ternative (necessarily the chief focus during with two out of three correct. It turned out Thatcher's leadership, have been in power the Carter years) has been muted. If it ac­ he was in Bournemouth as the representa­ complished nothing else, though, the Mon­ tive of the "Chinese Association for Interna­ dale campaign made painfully clear the cost of tional Understanding" from Beijing, a high­ those inadequacies. The lesson of the elec­ ly-skilled professional conference-goer who ''Large or small, socialist tion is that, as Lear told Cordelia, nothing will knew the ins and outs of even the most ob­ movements need to strike the come of nothing. scure affiliates of the Socialist International (one of which, of course, I had the honor of proper balance between The good news, then, is not merely that representing). I didn't find wyone else as principle and pragmatism, the democratic left has sharpened its criti­ knowledgeable on that particular subject in cism of Democratic vacuity. It is also that the between posturing and my next five days in Bournemouth. Most conunon agenda of the left is growing as a expediency. ,, Labour party delegates I met seemed aston­ changing urnon movement moves further ished, and a few openly amused, to learn that from the old Meanyite cold war verities to a there were any socialists in Reagan's America. closer alliance with the movements of the To be fair to our British comrades, I can sixties and seventies. It is also that those since 1979 and have led Britain into economic understand why they might have overlooked Democratic officials who share the left's cri­ and social disaster. The latest official unem­ DSA's role in American political life. After tique of the party's rightward lurch are rep­ ployment figures reveal that one in seven all, they control a third of the seats in Parlia­ resented disproportionately in the key Sen­ Britons are without jobs, the highest level ment as well as city governments in major ate races of 1986. since the 1930s (a figure which matches the cities. We have a long way to go till we get to current unemployment rate for black Ameri­ The task before the democratic left, where they are. cans). The north of Britain, home of the then, is to bolster all its elements, to bring nation's heavy industry, has been particular­ them together to create a tendency that Labour Party Crisis ly hard-hit. In Liverpool unemployment stands clearly for a democratized economy So coming to this conference as DSA's stands at over 25 percent. and a survey of -growth through equity is the catchphrase representative, and listening to Labour party economic problems by the European Eco­ that many have used- and in opposition to leaders and activists debate the "crisis" in nomic Community placed the Merseyside re­ reaction on social and foreign policy. This is a their ranks, it took me awhile to overcome gion's economic wellbeing just above that of task that must be undertaken at the local my gut reaction-namely ''What crisis? We Sicily and Sardinia. Under the Tories, Brit­ level across the nation, in the electoral arena should only have such problems. " And yet, ain's north has become part of Europe's on behalf of those candidates who have op­ the more I listened, the more I began to think "south." Not surprisingly, high levels of un­ posed the conservative drift within the party. that despite die discrepancies in size and employment have brought with them an epi­ It is a task that must be undertaken in the importance of our two movements, the di­ demic of drug addiction, racial tension, and a lenunas facing the Labour party seemed all pervasive sense uniting older unemployed arena of national political discourse. For the 1too familiar. Large or small, socialist move­ workers and young people searching for their profound disarray of the center has made it ments need to strike the proper balance be­ ' first job that they are all part of a "lost gen­ much more urgent and (at last) a little more tween principle and pragmatism, between eration" in British society. All of which possible to reconstitute the American left. • posturing and expediency, between what should provide fertile soil for the cultivation satisfies the party faithful as they gather to­ of Labour's electoral prospects. gether in the wannth and excitement and But, as is also no news, things are never fraternity of a political conference, and what that simple. Hard times have bred despair as Harold Meyerson is a California-based polili­ will be of most use to the party as it goes on well as anger, and cynicism as well as re­ cal consultant. He serves on Ille NEC. to face the cold, harsh and uncongenial reali- solve. Public opinion polls this past summer

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 5 Nov.-DEC. 1985 Scargill' s tactics (most notably his decision to launch the strike without benefit of a strike vote), the heroism and endurance displayed by the miners and their families eventually won a considerable measure of public sym­ pathy. Scargill's miners may have become popular, but Scargill himself did not, except among his miners and among the Labour party's left. In the aftermath of the strike's defeat, he was not content to lick his wounds in private. Instead, he announced his inten­ tion to bring a resolution before the Labour party conference which would require any future Labour government to review the cases of all miners imprisoned or fired for their strike activities, and reimburse the Na­ tional Union of Mineworkers for the fines levelled on it by the courts during the strike. Kinnock was willing to accept the first part of the resolution but not the second He argued that taking on such a commitment to "ret­ rospective legislation" would only lend am­ munition to the Tories as they sought to portray the Labour party as the tool of union "bosses," and as a haven for dangerous radi­ cals who would ignore the law and the courts whenever it suited their purposes. Scargill, supported by both the Labour party left and by the usually conservative trade unions, had the votes. The Tory press confidently pre­ dicted Kinnock's humiliation when the min­ ers' resolution caine up for a vote on the fourth day of the conference. But Kinnock took the press and the con­ ference by surprise by not waiting until the fourth day to make his move. In his keynote address on the afternoon of the third day of and through the early fall revealed that the rary American politics: they Wlderstand the the conference, Kinnock slashed into the Mil­ chief political beneficiary of all of this distress importance of "image," even if the actual itant Tendency (a Trotskyist grouping in the has been the "Alliance," the electoral coali­ policies they would pursue in office remain party) for their conduct in running the Liver­ tion formed by the old Liberal party and the somewhat of a mystery. The voters, in any pool city government. In Liverpool, as in new Social Democratic party (the latter case, seemed to like it, and the blow-dried other cities, Labour governments have had founded as a rightwing split from the Labour specter of the Alliance leeered over the shoul­ to contend with spending and taxing limits party). Had a general election been held in ders of Labour party delegates as they gath­ imposed by Parliament, so-called "rate-cap­ September 1985, the most likely result ered in Bournemouth at the end ofSeptember. ping." In most cities Labour governments would have been a "hung Parliament," with have attempted to offset the impact of rate­ no party holding a majority of MPs. As the High Noon capping by juggling their budgets so that they party in the middle, the Alliance would be could maintain as many services and lay off as able to dictate terms for a coalition govern­ Party leader Neil Kinnock, a somewhat few workers as possible. In LlverpooL under ment with either Labour or, more likely, the colorless political technician in the center of the Militant Tendency's influence, the city Tories. Alliance leaders, who are very skillful the party, took and won a desperate political government kept spending at previous lev­ politicians, portray themselves as standing gamble at Bournemouth. In the weeks be­ els, and simply announced to the city work "above politics." Their basic message bears fore the conference the newspapers had force that at the end of the year the money a striking resemblance to the "neoliberal" , billed it as a battle to the death between would run out and they would all be laid camp in our own Democratic party. Politi­ Kinnock and leftwing union leader Arthur off-some 31,000 teachers, firemen, police cians, ideologies, special interests, so the Scargill, usually predicting Scargill the vic­ officers and other public workers, all told. refrain goes, have brought us to disaster~ tor. Last year, Scargill's mineworkers fought The tactic was supposed to force the Tories what is needed is a corps of rational adminis­ a prolonged, epic but doomed strike against to back down on rate-capping, but since the trators to set things right. Labour and the the Tory government's plans to close down a only people who would suffer in the ensu­ Tories are both class-based parties that seek number of the nationalized coal mines. The ing debacle would be the public workers and to divide society: the Alliance will pursue police and courts did their worst: thousands the residents of a Labour-dominated city, policies which bring the classes together and of strikers were jailed, and hundreds lost Thatcher showed no inclination to blink. In­ serve the collective national interest. Alli­ their jobs. Despite some misgivings-even stead of backing this ploy, Liverpool's unions ance leaders would fit in well in contempo- within the trade union movement- over went to court to force the city government to

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 6 Nov.-DEC. 1985 withdraw the redundancy notices. Kinnock the Tories, establish a minimum wage, un­ than they do to the resolutions passed at lambasted the Militant Tendency for seeking dertake public works projects, and establish Bournemouth. His personal popularity in to commit the Labour party to "impossible various programs and policies designed to New Zealand is soaring because of his de­ promises." The Labour party could do abso­ shift investment into deserving regions and fiance of the United States and France on lutely nothing for workers in Liverpool or any­ industries. Labour's greatest domestic im­ nuclear weapons issues. I doubt that Lange's where else in Britain if it did not meet the pre­ pact would probably be felt through adminis­ triumph has escaped Kinnock's attention. condition of winning the next general election: tration rather than legislation: getting rid of Suppose for a moment that a Labour govern­ the Tory-hired union busters on the National ment is in power in Britain in the spring of H our response to... despair and anger is to chant slogans, if we Coal Board, for example. That all adds up to 1988 and actually begins a process of nuclear give the U:ppression that if we a decent but hardly radical domestic pro­ d.isannament. For the first time in history a make enough noise the walls of gram, one that-at least in better years­ member of the nuclear club will show that it is Tory Jericho will fall, then we will the Democratic party would have been cap­ possible to dispense with all the cant and not convince people and we will able of endorsing. The most dramatic effects hypocrisy and mumbo jumbo of "arms limita­ not deserve to convince people. of a future Labour government might be felt tion" negotiations, and simply start to dis­ in foreign relations. Although I was the only arm. What would be the impact on world Kinnock delivered this speech with DSAer in Bournemouth, I was not the only opinion? On the fortunes of the peace move­ great emotional force and great oratorical American there. The American embassy ment in America, Europe, and even in the skill. When he finished he received a pro­ sent a platoon of observers, who looked in­ Soviet bloc? What would be the impact on the longed standing ovation from the delegates, creasingly gloomy as the week wore on and Democratic convention in the summer of • and the scattered boos of Militant Tendency the conference adopted resolutions reaffirm· 1988 and on the presidential election the fol­ supporters could barely be heard. I don't ing the Labour party's commitment to a lowing November? think anyone in the hall failed to understand "non-nuclear defense" of Britain, and con­ American reform movements have long that Scargill, rather than the Militant Ten­ demning American policies in Central Ameri· owed a debt of gratitude to their British dency, was Kinnock's real target. Many who ca. Kinnock has repeatedly stated that on his counterparts. The growth of the British cheered Kinnock that afternoon did so fully first day in office he would order that the movement against slavery in the early 19th intending to vote against him the next morn­ cruise missiles in Britain be dismantled and century did much to inspire the organization ing when the miners' reimbursement issue shipped back to the United States. He has of an American abolitionist movement. The came up for debate (as expected, the resolu­ committed himself to dramatic cutbacks in adoption of new and creative tactics by Brit­ tion did pass, though by a smaller majority nuclear weapons systems that would go a ish suffragists at the beginning of the 20th than predicted). But Kinnock had success­ long way toward making Britain a nuclear­ century did much to inspire the revival of the fully deflated the media hype over the reim­ scarce if not a completely nuclear-free zone. American women's suffrage movement. And bursement issue, consolidated his own sup­ Perhaps some skepticism is in order. The US perhaps-just perhaps, because ultimately it port within the party, and evidently done a government has means to encourage prag­ depends more on us than it does on them-a great deal to persuade a skeptical British matists like to forget about certain British Labour party victory over Thatcher­ electorate that a British Labour government Kinnock campaign promises. But it is my impression ism will help inspire and will foreshadow our would not be weak, divided, or irresponsible. from talking to many people at Bournemouth Polls taken in the immediate aftennath of defeat of Reaganism in 1988. • that this is one set of issues Kinnock is not Kinnock's speech showed that Labour had personally inclined to compromise on. And jumped to first place, the preference of near­ Maurice /ssennan is a member of the Smilla on this particular issue, even political expe­ Colkge history department, and teaclting ly 40 percent of British voters, while the is diency might argue for defying the US. Look Tories trailed by 6 or 7 percentage points and this fall at the University of Sussex in En­ at David Lange, the Labour party leader and the Alliance shambled along in a miserable gland. He altenlkd the Labour party's annual prime minister of New Zealand, whose do­ and insignificant third place. Kinnock has conference September 29-0cWber 4 as DSA 's mestic policies lean more towards Thatcher proved himself the leader of the Labour party representali~. -but the Labour party has shown that it is still willing to teU him, publicly, when it thinks he's wrong. And Liat is, perhaps, the best of ON THE GREENPEACE AFFAIR all possible situations for the party in the aftermath of the Bournemouth conference. The following is the tut ofa telegnmr sent by DSA co-dlair Michael Harringtqn to Fmtelt Presidml Francois Miltmrmd immediately after the G~ allack, prior to~ Foreign Policy Impact revelations ofgovemmmt amrplicity. A lot can happen between now and the next general election, which is not due to As one who long supported you in your difticult and lonely political take place until late 1987 or early 1988. But if struggle before May, 1981, and who is in deep sympathy with your cour­ the Alliance bubble has burst, the Tories ageoUB fight to defend poor and working people even as you lead in the continue to falter. and Labour comes to pow­ modernization of France, I appeal to you to end nuclear testing and to er, what can be expected from a Kinnock-led bring to justice all who were responsible for the attack on the Green­ Labour government? Labour has launched a peace ship. I fully appreciate the principled differences which eeparate public relations offensive, caUed the "Jobs us on the nuclear issue, but in the light of the currentGeneva negotiations and Industry campaign," to publicize its eco­ and the forthcoming Soviet-American summit I believe that a ceuation nomic proposals. Stripped of hyperbole, of tests would give France greater and more positive influence in the these proposals are not the stuff of the New world than any technical improvementa in ita deterrent force. A.. m.tory Jerusalem. A Labour government would re­ honors Mendes-France for his unilateral initiative in Indochina in 1964, store Thatcher's cuts in the welfare state, so it would honor you for a signal contribution to world peace in 1985. renationalize the industries denationalized by

OEMOCIATIC LfFT 7 Nov.-Dfc.1985 ROOTS OF THE CRISIS

by stood element in this country has been the use another strategy. On one side, there bas Gay W. Seidman roots of the current uprising. Foreign jour­ been the development of a strongly grass­ nalists tend to make regular comparisons roots-based union movement; today, some year ago, if you said South with the 1976 "unrest," when high school 12 percent of the black work force belongs to Africa was reaching a turn­ students inspired by the Black Conscious­ unions, and many more workers feel alle­ ing point, people responded ness movement took to the streets. A com­ giance to the union movement. On the other, incredukiusly: Ameroms had mon analysis of the present uprising rests on there are a range of other types of groups, grown used to the idea that which have allowed activists to mobilize new the South African goverrunent would brutally a generational argument, which suggests groups in the black communities. There are repress any opposition to minority rule, and that the students we see in street demon­ strations now are simply the latest age co­ tenant groups, formed to fight rent increases would continue indefinitely to preserve apart­ hort to come up against the state. But this on government-owned housing; squatter heid. Today the statement sounds almost view is superficial at best. communities, organized to resist forced re­ cliched. But to say the situation is more fluid moval to the bantustans; community organi­ today than it has been for years begs further The Black Consciousness movement was oriented towards intellectuals and ac­ zations fighting increases in goverrunent­ questions. How is the present crisis likely to tivists; the students in 1976 were never very regulated fares on the buses that carry work­ develop? What can we expect to see in the successful in mobilizing support from other ers from black residential areas to industrial next few months? And for those who believe parts of thetr communities, from workers or sites. There are women's organizations, only a democratic system will end the in­ community groups. The roots of the present which fight apartheid's impact on black South stitutionalized violence that is apartheid, uprising lie in a much broader-based. grass­ African families; and student groups, which there is a third question: what can we do to roots mobilization; although activists across object to the segregated system of inferior block the government's efforts to preserve South Africa have been jailed, killed or forced education, white supremacy? to go underground, the uprising has not died To varying degrees, these groups have Three main forces have shaped the cur­ down. set up democratic structures and decision­ rent situation: internal resistance, govern­ In 1977, the govenunent was able to making processes, and have learned to use ment efforts to enact limited changes in the crush the Black Consciousness movement what power they have to confront the regime apartheid system, and international pressure by detaining leaders and banning its organiza­ directly. Unions, of course, use recent mod­ on the economy. Perhaps the least under- tions. Since then, activists have learned to ifications in labor legislation to organize workers and back up their demands with both legal and illegal strikes. Tenants or­ ganize massive rent strikes, denying the lo­ cal township authorities the funds they need for local administration. Commuters refuse to ride buses or trains, walking miles to work for months until the fare comes down. Stu­ dents refuse to attend classes, or even more threateningly, organize their own learning groups inside the school buildings. Since late 1979, groups have also learned to coordinate their struggles and strategies in specific cam­ paigns. Obviously, linkage between different groups makes all of them stronger, and makes it harder for the government to crush resistance. It would be misleading, I think, to talk about the rise in open mass-based resistance to apartheid in the last fe·w years without talking about the rising awareness inside South Afnca of an intensifying guerrilla struggle. Although strict censorship laws prohibit most descriptions ~f guerrilla activ­ ity inside the country, there can be no doubt that since the late 1970s, most anti-govern­ ment activists have been aware of attacks by

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 8 Nov.-DEC.1985 the armed wing of the African National Con­ 1981, this awareness was heightened by an gress on police stations, oil refineries, elec­ apparent conscious strategy on the part of trical power stations and even military of­ guerrillas, who chose targets that could eith­ fices. During the 15 years after the ANC and er damage the regime's economic or military other black political groups were banned in capacity or that were directly linked to popu­ 1960, the ANC's armed wing slowly built up lar, open struggles. an underground network, infiltrating, ac­ For example, in 1983, there were at­ cording to Western intelligence reports, tacks on police stations, Bantu administra­ some 2, 000 trained guerrillas into the coun­ tion buildings, electric power stations and try by 1980. Certa\n)y, this effort was aided railways. But the two attacks that stood out by changes in the whole Southern Africa re­ were the bombing of the air force and military gion: the independence of Angola and Mo­ intelligence headquarters in Pretoria, and zambique in 1975 and '76, and the independ­ the destruction of the "consulate" of the ence of Zimbabwe in 1980, removed the buf­ nominally-independent Ciskei in Johannes­ fer belt of colonial states that had once pro­ burg at a time when the Ciskei authorities tected South Africa's and Namibia's borders were involved in brutally repressing a bus from guerrilla infiltration. boycott, which underlined the links between By 1979, an independent report pub­ the Ciskei and white-ruled South Africa, and lished in South Africa argued that the country which showed the links between popular re­ was already engaged in a low-intensity war, sistance and guerrilla activity. There is little doubt that the growth of visible support for the ANC during this pe­ riod is partly linked to the impression made by such attacks on young activists: from the early '80s, ANC slogans and songs appeared more and more regularly at meetings and rallies, and the ANC colors, green, gold and black, began to appear at activists' funerals. But the ANC's influence goes beyond the armed struggle; the ANC is botha politi­ cal and a military movement, and in fact places as much emphasis on the role of popu­ lar struggle as it does on military opposition to the regime. From about 1980, the ANC's influence on political activity became increas­ ingly evident: many of the community and union groups which emerged expressed a 1983, with the fonnation of the United Dem­ clear commitment to the non-racial, demo­ ocratic Front-today, the organization most cratic tradition of the ANC. Turning away clearly suffering from government attempts from the Black Consciousness approach, at repression. A coalition of more than 600 which argued that blacks had to create sepa­ groups, the UDF allowed any group that rate organizations within the black commu­ wished to affiliate to join a broad front oppos­ nity, activists in the early '80s argued that ing the new constitution-including groups anyone willing to fight for majority rule, in­ with white members. By creating a non-rac­ cluding progressive whites, should be able to ial democratically organized front against the find a place in the movement. regime, the UDF hoped to plant the seeds of In 1980, a campaign to recognize the the new order within the old. Although the 25th anniversary of the Freedom Charter, UDF's leaders and members are over­ adopted as the ANC's fundamental principles whehningly black (a term that encompasses in the late 1950s, allowed activists-includ­ people classified "Asian" and "coloured" as ing older ANC activists, who had been in­ well as "African''), a few sympathetic whites c:ld the ~emment was already talking volved in the movement when it was still have also participated actively. More sym­ Dx1 the need to build up ns defense capac­ legal and who were emerging after long jail bolically, perhaps, but also important, the cy ~t Ai~C guerrillas. In 1981 and 1982, sentences or bannings-a forum in which to UDF chose as patrons for the fledgling or­ there appears to have been an average of a discuss the ANC's approach to the liberation ganization all the longterm ANC prisoners, uerriI?a attack every two weeks some­ of South Africa The Freedom Charter be­ including Nelson Mandela, and Helen Jo­ ~ m the COlDltry. The ANC's armed gins, "South Africa belongs to those who live seph, a white woman who spent some 20 ~ Umkiwnto ""Sizwe. is well known for in it, both black and white," and calls for years under house arrest for her resistance eEnrts to aYoid unnecessary civilian ca­ one-person, one vote in a unitary state, as activities. ;:....::_.-:;:"" but us attacks on empty govem­ weU as for the nationalization of monopolies The UDF's formation and strategy can c::ec: bciKfni:?s and on military personnel, and land reform. only be understood in the context of govern­ o::l~:::;; po6ce, undoubtedly offered activ­ The clearest indication both of the re­ ment initiatives during the late '70s and early seose of the possibilities of armed surgence of popular organization and of the '80s. In the late '70s, the South African state S!:l~~ agamst the regime. From about growing importance of the ANC came in embarked on what was called a "total strat-

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 9 Nov.-DEC.1985 egy," designed to meet the total onslaught the UDF calls the "authentic leaders" of the through townships. it believed was coming from the north. Rec­ country's population would be acceptable; Most of the UDF's national leadership ognizing the inherent tensions in the old and that means, UDF leaders say, that it now faces treason charges, for promoting a apartheid system, which allowed the growth must include leaders who have been jailed or pre-revolutionary climate; nearly 200 UDF of an urban black working class that had no forced into exile because of their demands activists have disappeared or been found stake at all in the status quo, government for majority rule. dead over the last year. But across the coun­ commissions began to recoIIllllend granting The UDF strategy of boycotting elec­ try, local groups continue to come up with limited rights to urban blacks, while speeding tions was overwhehningly successful, with tactics suitable to their organizations and lo­ up the process of cutting the 13 percent of voter turnouts of one percent in many parts cal contexts, sometimes imitating other are­ the land area set aside as bantustans off from of the country. But in September 1984, the as' efforts, sometimes inventing new tech­ white-ruled South Africa. You can find the new constitution went into effect anyway. niques for making the country ungovernable. same approach in statements by P. W. Botha The opposition movement broadened its From the late '70s, while the govern­ even today: on one side, he will grant limited strategy: instead of simply refusing to parti­ ment carried out limited modifications in autonomy to black residential areas, but on cipate in new administrative bodies, it tried apartheid, it also began to build up its military the other, he insists on retaining the Group to make the new system unworkable. Black capacity in earnest. recognizing and some­ Areas Act, under which different areas are councilors and Asian and Coloured parlia­ times overstating the threat from guerrilla set aside for each racial classification. mentary delegates were asked to resign; activity. Its defense of Namibia, the colony Alongside this limited autonomy, how­ those who did not were threatened with South Africa controls illegally, today involves ever, went an increase in the power of the property or personal damage. Today, only about $2 million daily, and some 100,000 central government: even white parliamen­ two townships still have functioning town white troops in an area with a population of tary opposition leaders, who reject one-per­ son one-vote, say the new constitution grants dictatorial powers to the executive. Elections might be held for representatives to black urban councils or Asian or Coloured houses of parliament, but the white minority government would continue to decide the issues on which those bodies could vote, limiting the power of those elected represen­ tatives to participation in meaningless shop talk. This August, when the international community responded with horror at State President Botha's refusal to consider a dem­ ocratic system for South Africa, the leader of the white parliamentary opposition, Van Zyl Slabbert, commented, "P. W. Botha has nev­ er lied about what he intends doing.... Any­ one who believes P. W. is trying to bring about a major political refonn is a victim of his own wishful thinking." Leaders in the United Democratic Front would undoubtedly agree with Van Zyl Slab­ c- bert's analysis; in fact, they began to argue :>- ':::> 0 ~~---·t:::. along these lines when the government first @ Punch ~~~~ began discussing a new constitution in late "I'm worried about the effect ofsanctions on our economic situation." 1982. They believed that the effort to create separate autonomous bodies could divide councils. Townships near Johannesburg re­ only a million. It has steadily built up de­ black opposition: people classified Asian and fused to pay rent increases, which were to fenses along the other borders, and become Coloured might be split off from the broad fund the new administrative bodies; those about 75 percent self-sufficient in arms pro­ movement, while urban blacks might be split rent strikes quickly turned into massive duction. It also began a concerted policy of off from people living in rural areas or work­ demonstrations, leading to a two-day stay­ destabilizing neighboring states, with direct ing as migrant laborers. Further, they ar­ away in November that crippled the nation's bombing raids, assassinations, and support gued that any participation in elections for industrial center. of contra groups against neighboring govern­ new black urban councils or Asian and Col­ In early 1984, ANC president 0.R. ments who support the hberation move­ oured houses of parliament might create a Tambo called on the country to make itself ment Support for a contra group in Mozam­ stratum in black communities that derived its ungovernable; by the end of the year, it was bique led to the 1984 Nkomati Accords, power from the apartheid system, and would clear that that strategy was succeeding. The where Mozambique finally agreed to restrict therefore defend that system. "unrest" had spread into small towns in rural ANC activities inside its borders; but recent From 1983, the UDF began to mobilize areas; in larger townships, resistance con­ evidence proves conclusively that South Af­ its nearly two million members to oppose the tinued despite military occupation of the rica continued to fund the contra group any­ new constitutional proposals, calling for a streets. Local administration and control way, apparently figuring that a trouble-free complete boycott of any forms of administra­ was virtually impossible: by the middle of Mozambique on its borders could still pro­ tion that were imposed on the black popula­ 1985, not only whites but blacks who worked vide a dangerous example of socialist devel­ tion. Only a constitution drawn up by what for the regime could no longer move safely opment policies. South African invasions of

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 10 Nov.-DK. 1985 Angola over the past ten years have cost I would have to be nationalized when the Free­ we let international attention turn away from Angola over $10 billion in damages, to say dom Charter is implemented. On their return South Africa, where two or three people are nothing of lives lost and homes destroyed. to South Africa, the businessmen appear to dying daily already-the process of attaining Inside South Africa, military input into have returned to an earlier effort to push the a non-racial, democratic future could take decision-making bodies has increased dra­ government to abandon racial discrimination much, much longer. In 1960 and 1976, in­ matically, so that military advisers sit on ev­ before it is too late. ternational capital pulled out because of in­ ery city council and a state secunty council At the same time, there seems to be ternal resistance; in both cases it returned, advises the cabinet. By 1984, the South Af­ significant business support for a new group­ helping the state build up its abiilty to repress rican military budget was up to R 3. 75 billion, ing, the Convention Alliance, which is trying and control the black population. about half a billion rrtore than the combined to bring black leaders inside the country to­ As long as we continue to fight for sanc­ budgets for health, social welfare, tertiary gether with moderate white politicians to dis­ tions, as long as we push institutional inves­ education and all black education. cuss possible forms of future governance. By tors to put more pressure on American com­ 'This military build-up has been costly: mid-October, this alliance seemed to have panies, we deny the South African regime South Africa now owes some $20 billion to little hope of succeeding: only Gatsha Buthe­ the capital it needs for its economy; we deny foreign ban.ks, and has become increasingly lezi, head of the KwaZulu bantustan who is the regime the technology it would need to dependent on foreign technology in its effort widely hated for the way his followers attack make its repressive apparatus even more to be self-sufficient in arms and energy pro­ and sometimes kill activists who reject the efficient. And we deny the minority regime duction. It is because of this dependency that bantustan system, had agreed to join the new an important psychological prop, its confi­ the state of emergency has proved disas­ group. UDF leaders were unwilling to join dence that in the end, the United States will trous for the regime: international concern the alliance, arguing that while their "au­ back the minority government against some over the murders of some 700 people by thentic" leaders remain in jail or in exile no mythical communist threat. If we allow Con­ police turned to outrage at the imposition of negotiaions can be meaningful. Without the gress to aid Angolan contras, we help South the state of emergency. UDF's participation, it seems wilikely that Africa protect its borders against guerrilla Today, it is difficult for even the Reagan the Convention Alliance will amount to a seri­ attacks; if we allow Reagan to make distinc­ administration to claim that Botha's reforms ous option. tions between black South African leaders mean very much; even F<>rtune magazine no Where does this description leave us? who have used violent and non-violent tac­ longer considers South Africa's strategic Neither resistance nor apartheid is likely to tics, we help South Africa divide the resist­ minerals crucial to American interests. In­ disappear overnight; at the moment, it ance movement. South Africa will be free; ternational sanctions may not have much seems probable that the struggle will con­ there will be a non-racial democratic future, practical impact on South Africa, but they will tinue for years, until there are free and open no matter what happens in the United States. make possible investors wary. Already in the elections, and representative black leaders But what we do can certainly help make that grips of a deep recession, and already in have some say in designing the system of day come sooner. • debt, South Africa cannot pull out of the re­ government. In this scenario, what can the cession without new sources of capital- and international community do? So far, interna­ Gay Seidman is a member of East Bay DSA that capital is wilikely to appear while the tional pressure has proved to be of immea­ and a leader ofthe U. C. Berlteley Diveslmml "tmrest" continues. When South Africa an­ surable importance, more in staying the gov­ Coali!Wn. SM has lived and worlled in soul/t­ nounced a moratorium on debt repayments, ernment's repressive actions than in forcing ern Africa al varWu.s times during tlte last causing massive panic among foreign inves­ meaningful concessions. If we stop now- if eight years. tors in South Africa's gold mines, it became dear that the country's economy was teeter­ ing on the brink. Into this conflict between growing inter­ Change the USA! nal resistance and an apparently intransigent govenunent stepped a third force: South Af­ Join the DSA! rican and multinational capital, which in re­ Members of the Democratic Socialists of America work in every day-to-day struggle for cent months has begun to look for new al­ social justice. We bring a strategy for building alliances among all the movements for social ternatives. Unlike Botha, whu must answer change. And we bring a vision of a society that can satisfy the demands for dignity and to a white electorate, and wilike the ANC, justice- a socialist society. Join the people working to bring together all the movements for which believes that majority rule must in­ social change ... and to bring together day-to-day battles and long-term strategies and visions. volve some redistnbution of South Africa's JoinDSA. assets, South Africa's business community is likel>· to seek a centrist solution. In Zimbab­ O Send me more information about democratic socialism. we, the terms of the Lancaster House agree­ 0 Enclosed find my dues ( D $50 sustaining; D $35 regular; D $15 limited income. Dues ment have limited the government's ability to include $8 for DEMOCRATIC LEFT.) nationalize large resources or carry out O I would like to subscnbe to DEMOCRATIC LEFT: O $15 su:;taining; O $8 regular widespread land reform; South African busi­ O I would like to subscnbe to the disrussion bulletin, Socialist Forum, $10. nesspeople are already beginning to think about a similar deal, where blacks could elect Send to: Democratic Socialists of America, 853 Broadway, Suite 801, New York, N. Y. 10003. the government but where private property Tel.: (212) 260-3270. would be protected. A recent meeting in Name ------Lusaka between businessmen and the ANC Address failed to produce much common ground, since the ANC leaders told their visitors that City/State Zip their businesses, all large conglomerates, Phone ______Union, School, Other Affiliation ------

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 11 Nov.-DEC. 1985 Organizer for PRO Peace.. . In Jtme, more The local joined in National Anti-Apartheid than 600 members and friends attended the Protest Day October 11. Debs-Sinclair dinner honoring Raoul Teil­ het. .. That same month, seven members Massachusetts of t1M- DSA West Side Affinity Group were Boston DSA's annual convention was among the 70 people arrested at the Jtme held at the University of Massachusetts in by HARRY FLEISCHMAN action of the Pledge of Resistance.. . Over September. Connected with it was a week­ 50 DSA members and friends walked pre­ end New England DSA Leadership School cincts to elect Mike Woo to the LA City ... A Public Employees brunch was held in Council. .. DSA joined with the Free South late September in Somerville and the local NEWS FROM ABROAD Africa Movement in a rally October 12 is continuing its economic policy discus­ against apartheid. . . San Diego DSA heard sions in Brookline. Prime Minister Olof Palme and his So­ Greg Akili, co-cllair of the SD Campaign cial Democratic party won 45 percent of the Against Apartheid, talk in September on votes and 159 seats to maintain control of NewY

OEMocaAnc LEFT 12 Nov.-DEc. 191s Organization for Women, the National Ur­ er Leila Wrathall, and a Wme and Political Chile," a documentary on the military over­ ban League, the NAACP and the NY City Ferment DSA benefit with an informal tast­ throw of the democratically elected Marx­ Labor-Religion Coalition. How does the ing of wines from the cooperative vine­ ist, Salvador Allende, and his Popular Unity program work? A firm which had to lay off yards of Socialist-led Greece, France, Italy government. .. 20 of its 100 workers toiling 40 hours a and Spain. week could instead give 32 hours a week to 50 nARS LATER all 100, who then would get unemployment Pennsylvania c.ompensation for the fifth day. What's Philadelphia DSA holds a forum Oc­ Fifty years ago, when Nonnan Thom­ more. all would still get such fringe benefits, tober 18 on "Must Workers Sacrifice Their as was speaking at a black church in Bird­ as health insurance. Experience of states Hard-Won Gains?" Speakers include song, Arkansas to support the newly-or­ with this approach reveals that it reduces Thomas Paine Cronin, president, AFSCME ganized Southern Tenant Farmers Union, tension and bitterness between black and District 47; Richard Smith, Machinists Lo­ he was forced to leave the platform by a white workers, and men and women work­ cal 1864 shop steward; and Donna Ford, mob of anned and drunken planters. ers (lillllOrities and women are usually last­ executive vice-president, Dist. 1199-C, It's supposedly all ancient history hired and first-fired), and shows that Amer­ National Union of Hospital and Health Care now, and this year the mayor and city coun­ icans can be innovative in caring for people. Workers ... DSA helped launch a Fair cil of Birdsong held a meeting to honor Short-time compensation, which Califor- Share Coalition, whose first meeting en­ Nomian Thomas, and the state of Arkan­ ' ni.a. Arizona. Oregon, Washington, Flori­ roUed over 25 organizations. The focus of sas plans to erect a historical marker dedi­ da, Maryland and Texas have also adopted, its position paper, "Toward a Better Work­ cated to Thomas and founders of the STFU. is no magic formula for ending unemploy­ ing and Living Climate," deals with the ci­ ment. We :>till need effective fiscal and oth­ ty's budget issues... The Allegheny Social­ STAFF NOTES er policies for full employment. ist, published by Pittsburgh DSA, featured an article on "Gandhi Comes to Dorothy After seven years as managing editor Ohio Six," about non-violence planning for steel­ of DEMOCRATIC LEIT, Maxine Phillips is Cleveland State University DSA will workers trying to save the Duquesne turning m her red pencil and taking up an­ hear Steve Cagan October 17 on "Art and Works from demolition by its owner, U.S. other one. She will become managing edi­ Politics." A university debate is planned for Steel. .. tor of DISSENT in January. Guy Molyneux the winter between Mike Harrington and succeeds her at DL and will be aided by an Representative Jack Kemp... The Beacon Rho

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 13 Nov.-OEC. 1985 VISIONARY REALISM

Carter, fought inflation with high interest has just announced that it is not doing too by Michael Harrington rates which all but brought the auto and con­ well. Meanwhile, the most savage attack on struction industries to their knees; and an the standard of living of working people in a he American economy is in insane militarist policy increased expendi­ generatioo proceeds apace. And the Democrat­ deep trouble. And the opposi­ tures even as we were cutting both food ic party watches as some of its hberal leaders tion does not know what to do stamps and medical care for the working poor. vote for .. . a balanced budget amendment! about it. Those two facts de­ Many Democrats want to forget this I do not for a moment want to suggest fine the greatest opportunity outrageous history because they had a hand that socialists have "the" answer to this cri­ socialistsT in the United States have known in promoting it. The congressional Demo­ sis. I do emphatically argue that the debates for a generation. crats, for instance, tried to give away more at the DSA Convention will be infinitely more In saying these things, I do not for a money to the rich than the Republicans in realistic than almost all of the discussions moment want to suggest that the Crash of 1981. They now compound that evasion by now taking place within the Democratic par­ 1986 is at hand Indeed, it is quite possible voting for a policy which takes us back to the ty. Consider just a few of our themes: repeal that the fourth quarter of 1985 will be much good old days before Keynes, during the rule of the tax giveaways of the 1981 law; a sol­ more dynamic and positive from a Republican of Herbert Hoover. idaristic full employment policy aimed at im­ point of view than the three dismal earlier What if there is a recession between proving the conditions of those at the bottom quarters. All I assert is that, sooner or later . now and 1991? If one cannot pinpoint when of the society, women and minorities above and perhaps sooner than many people think, the next downturn will come, it is guaranteed all; new productivity advances through sig­ the structural difficulties of the economy are nificant worker participation in management going to create some serious problems. At or new forms of decentralized social owner­ that point alternatives will be on the agenda. ship; the radical reduction of the working life The Democrats are in utter disarray in as a means toward both greater freedom and the face of this momentous possibility. Paul full employment; a commitment to justice in Kirlc and the Democratic National Commit­ the Tirird World which will protect American tee have tended to treat the crisis of the workers, but not multinationals, through party as if it were simply a matter of poor worldwide reflation (we have the lead of Mi­ packaging in the 1980 and 1984 elections. chael Manley's Socialist International report The party right wing is in favor of building a here). second Republican party; the neoliberals are more discrete but they tend in the same 1-----r/~ There is no point in socialist arrogance. direction. ftOTHCO The anti-capitalist left in the United States Perhaps the most disgraceful moment "Mm.mm-reason for loan-'Want managed to emerge from the Depression and in this sad history occurred last month when to keep the economy rolling.'... " the immediate post-War period weaker than a major portion of the Democratic caucus in @Punch it had been during the days of Eugene Debs; the Senate voted in favor of the bill to commit that the economy will be in deep trouble prior the greatest collapse of the system in history the nation to a balanced budget in 1991 and to to 1991. Are we then to decide in 1985 that did not guarantee the political triumph of switch constitutional authority over finances the old-fashioned. pre-Keynesian virtues are those who had been its most implacable, and from Capitol Hill to the White House. There to be imposed upon the economy no matter often accurate critics. But we are moving were names like Kennedy, Simon and Dodd how many women and men are jobless in the toward a turning point in American society, in the majority that backed this return to the streets? And if the answer to that question and if DSA and its friends act with audacity days of Herbert Hoover. must clearly be "No," how exactly will the and imagination there is now the possibility, In voting for that bill, those Democrats Democratic opposition carry out a policy of not of our leading the society, but at least of joined the conspiracy of silence surrounding deficit spending when the deficit is approach­ our structurally changing our role within it. Ronald Reagan's responsibility for doubling ing half a trillion dollars? In the foreseeable future, that possibil­ the national debt in a mere term and a half in If ever there was a time when the demo­ ity will be focused in the bankrupt Demo­ the Presidency. cratic left must engage in bold new thinking cratic party. The forces of the future are still The Senate behaved as if fiscal irre­ about the economy, it is now. There are assembled there, even if some hberal leaders sponsibility and big spenders were the cul­ structural tendencies at work creating a two­ are marching resolutely into the past. But prits. In fact, the Reagan tax cut of 1981 tier economy with, of course, the bottom tier when the dust settles, "we, along with the structurally changed the internal revenue reserved primarily for minorities and wo­ rest of the Democratic left coalition, will eith­ system so as to guarantee monster deficits; men. The international debt crisis, which er have created a new party, most likely with the cruel double digit unemployment figures was supposed to be over, has come back an old name, or we will have failed. of 1982 and 1983 cut federal revenues, in­ with such force that even the Reagan ad­ If we seize the opportunity, if we are as creased expenditures, and radically raised ministration has now admitted that global radical as the situation, and as realistic as the debt; Volker's monetary policy, which. deflation is not quite the way to go. There is a America's utterly confused politics demand, one must never forget, we owe to Jimmy depression in Silicon Valley and mighty IBM we are on the eve of a new relevance. •

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 14 Nov.-DEC.1985 LETTERS .' Up • is? II you haven't already read 'em, both pendently, to socialist refonns needed and Lighten Insurgent Maico and Ten Dfl!S That Shook possible? Historically, the left always ad­ the World by John Reed are political reporting vanced reforms that were later adopted and To tM Editor: at its best: lively, engaged, entertaining, full carried into practice by the government. Hoo. boy! H anyone ever wants to ac­ of insights. Great stuff. True, we are missing a strong left move­ cuse Democratic Socialists of being insuffer­ And hey, Maurice lssennan.. Do us all a ment, but a left program by DSA may help able bores, all they have to do is point to favor: lighten up! rally such a movement. .. Maurice lsserman's "Beach Reading for Dem­ Lewis Beak The "Pied Piper" in the Oval office pro­ ocratic Socialists" in your May-June issue. Phi/mk/pltia, Pa. claims eternal prosperity and none challenge Now don't get me wrong. I'm not ad­ him. Reagan's prosperity is based on d~t vocating reading flashy trash as represented spending, and that cannot absorb the mass of by Ludlum, Michener or their ilk. But hasn't Maurice lsserman replU!s: unemployed. All branches of government are lsserman ever heard of-gasp!-fiction? You Okay. All right. I'm forced to reveal tbe now committed to deficit cutting, which must know, that's that unreal stuff that dreams are, truth. I did go to the beach this swnmer, and further shrink markets and industry and re­ made of, quite a bit of which is written by rather than anything virtuous I read Nonnan sult in increased unemployment. The fatal people who actually have something to say Mailer's Tough Guys Don't Dance (a good flaw in our economic system is that it needs on a political level read, as they say in the trade, but definitely constant expansion to absorb the human la­ With this in mind, I'd like to reconunend not politically correct). But hey, Lewis bor freed through greater productivity and a few personal favorites as an antidote to Beale, come on, lighten up yourself. U the more efficient administration. Isserman idiocy. These are books I've found self-mockery in "Beach Reading for Demo­ We are rich and spend accumulated sav­ to be well-written, entertaining, and politi­ cratic Socialists" escapes you, maybe it's ings for services and comforts, which, while cally stimulaung (forgive me if they're not all time you started worrying about your own pleasant. cannot continue in the same man­ "politically correct." I'm still not sure what sense of humor. ner. DSA. which is the largest segment of that term means. ) All are in paperllack. To wit the left, has a duty to point to needed and 1. The Jvankiad, b9 Vladimir Voinovich, possible reforms, and the dangers facing the is the Russian emigre author's hilarious ac­ Socialist Reforms country. count of his attempts to get a two-room apartment in lhe Moscow Writers' Housing To tM Editor: Leon Blum Cooperative. Written with the savagery of a Michael Harrington's analysis of the Plantation, Fla. Gogol this is a tale of Russian bureaucracy U.S. economy and his appeal to the Demo­ Ed. Note: Proposals for a DSA Economic gone mad, and one of the funniest books I've crats in Congress to adopt a left populist Program are currently being debated in lo­ ever read. program (''Tax Follies Revisited.," May-June cals and will be voted upon at the November 2. Germinal, by Emile Zola. This novel '85) limits itself to the political and rhetorical convention. They are earned inSocialistFor­ about a French coal miner's strike remains angle. Why not go further and point, inde- um. Nos. 6,7,8. one of the finest books about the proletariat ever \Yfltten. 3. The Word For World Is Forest, by Ursula LeGuin. A science fiction allegory CLASSlflED about the Vietnam War, and the horrors it created. Beautifully written. SOCIAL CHANGE JOBS- COMMUNITY JOBS, NEW INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORDER? a nonprofit newspaper, lists progressive jobs/in­ Wonnation: Brandt Commission Research, Box 4-. Th Joke and TM Unbearabk Light­ ternships nationwide you can believe in. Current 2619, North Canton, OH 44720. ne.ss ofBeing. by Milan Kundera. Those who listing $3. COMMUNITY JOBS, Box 807, 1520 believe that Socialist societies should never 16th Street, N. W., Washington, D.C. 20036. MEET OTHER LEFT SINGLES through the be criticized will call this Czech expatriate a Concerned Singles Newsletter. All areas/ages. r~actionary. Those with open mmds will find PROGRESSIVE PERIODICALS DIRECTORY Box7737-D, Berkeley, CA947CY7, for free sample. that his poetic criticisms of Stalinism and its now available! Good for publicity, networking, consequences are right-on. subscription details on 400 periodicals on labor, Classified~ rota an $2 per Jilu, S50 per peace, international, culture, politics, etc. $4 from coltmol iJlcls. PqyJWJd;,. a""'11ta. TW1tlllly fJer'Otld Box L-120574, Nashville 37212. 5. A Dry White Season, by Andre Brink. di!COfl1ll if ad naas boo or - tiwws. We - A truly harrowing novel about political re­ "" """'to nfect ads. pression in South Africa, written by that "JOBS FOR TifE POOR, TAXES FOR THE country's foremost Afrikaans novelist RICH" bwnperstickers SW. Free catalog of CORRECTIONS AND OMISSIONS 6. Any of the "Jungle novels" by B. Tra­ books, buttons and bumperstickers to aid agita­ ven. This six-book series (Government, Re­ tion, education and organizing. Socialist Party Fa­ The cover photo of our Labor Day issue vors, Box 8211-D, Des Moines, IA 50306. bellion oftM Hanged, etc.) by the mysterious was taken by Earl Dotter of the American leftist author is political rabble-rousing at its Labor Education Center. finesL All about the Mexican Revolution and YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, but the strug­ In the same issue, we made a typograph­ gle continues. Please consider making a bequest the people who fought it. to either DSA or the Institute for Democratic ical error on the name of the press that pub­ Finally, it you must read nonfiction at Socialism. For informatioo, write to the national lished Labor's joke Book. It's WD Press, not the beach, may r recommend the best there office.. WO.

DEMOCRATIC LEfT 15 Nov.-DEc. 1985 JIMMY HIGGINS REPORTS

Who is Jimmy Higgins, anyway? Lost in the wilderness. In their latest deba­ He was called into existence in 1904 by Ben Hanford, Eugene cle, Congressional Democrats were routed on the issue that was the Debs's running mate, as a metaphor for all those everyday workers centerpiece of the 1984 Democratic presidential campaign: the defi­ who had built the Socialist party into a powerful force. Higgins cit. The party was ill-prepared and baclly split in the face of the recent became the archetypical socialist and trade union rank-and-filer, and Republican balanced-budget initiative. IDustrative of the confusion was even the subject of a novel by Upton Sinclair. He has written this was the role reversal of Senators Hart and Kennedy, with Kennedy column since March 1973, and several years ago began sharing the supporting the bill. Quipped one Democratic activist: "Hart decided responsibility (and credit!) with Janie Higgins, who will return next to become Senator Compassion, and Kennedy Mr. Fiscal Responsi­ issue. Both Janie and Jimmy have been on well-deserved vacations bility." This is a party in deep, deep... er, trouble. for a while, but have now taken up their pens again. Our hope is to present new or little-known infonnation in a lively and provocative Surprising encouragment from conser­ manner. To help us do that even better, send your ideas, comments, vative political scientist Kevin Phillips, .,..ho thinks little of talk about and reports toJllDilly and Janie at the DSA office. a Republican realignment He argues that the second Reagan ad­ ministration marks not the Springtime but the "Indian Summer" of a Whatever happened to the new voluntar­ conservative era that began a decade and a half ago. His pessimism ism? You remember-the private giving that was going to replace stems from the weak Congressional showing of 1984, the "six·year slashed social welfare programs. It seems even the administration itch" that sees Presidents invariably lose support in their second has abandoned this fantasy in the face of the stupendous selfishness mid-term election, and the failure of Republicans to develop plausi­ of today's rich. By contrast, the robber barons of early industrial ble positions on issues like agriculture and trade. capitalism, who at least knew from philanthropy, are looking pretty good. Somehow we just can't see the John DeLorean Endowment Blue ribbon commissions and their tancy for Peace, the Nelson and Bunker Hunt Conservation Fund, or the reports are frequently the last refuge of complacent politicians and T. Boone Pickens Public Trust. bureaucrats. Gravely receiving the distinguished committee's re­ port can serve as a great substitute for changing anything to meet In the power concedes nothing real problems. Happily, the AFL-CIO is not dealing in that manner without struggle department, Columbia University spokesman Fred with its report on '"The Changing Situation of the Workers and Their Knubel, in announcing the university's decision to divest its South Unions." Tom Donahue, the Federation's Secretary­ Abica-related holdings, denied any influence by last spring's student Treasurer, seems to have taken on communicating blockade of an administration building, noting, "The Columbia trus­ the message of the report as his personal crusade. tees have taken a leading role in the struggle against apartheid, He's been to state labor conventions talking about independent of student activism. " Right. And Bull Connor played a using new technologies to organize and remembering leading role in the struggle against Jim Crow. We must have just old ideas about union democracy and rank-and-file overlooked the militant trustees at last winter's sit-ins at the South mobilization. To insiders and outsiders, Donahue is African embassy. presenting a labor movement engaged in self-analysis and readying for what he hopes will be labor's "great­ First, spies in the Navy. .. and now we find est offensive in more than 20 years." an announcement in Stars and Stripes that "The Communist Man­ ifesto," by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, is available for the first time to German readers in braille. We assume Secretary of Defense Weinberger will demonstrate greater editorial vigilance in the fu­ ture. C'mon, Cap, the Free World is depending on you. Moving? Life in the fast lane. A research team at Rush Medical College in Chicago has discovered a common denominator among successful executives: they're dull. Researchers asked 88 That's one time we don't want to be left. execs at major corporations to rate 36 activities like lovemaking, winning the lottery, and fine food. They weren't interested. One executive, who scored high in the dull category, "couldn't slip into small talk. You would lose him with a joke," recalled one researcher. Please' notify us of your change of ad­ N 0 1040 for 40. A study by Citizens for Tax Justice dress. Send old label with new address. reveals that 40 of the nation's largest corporations paid no taxes in 1984 on $10 billion in profits. Such struggling companies as AT&T, General Dynamics, and ITT Corp. were among the privileged group. Obscene, to be sure, but only half the story: 36 of the 40 received nfa"'1s, running as high as $285 million.

DEMOCRATIC LEFT 16 Nov.-OEC. 1'85