Secret Service not above the law .. 3 THE UN Decolonization Committee meets . • • 7 Mayor Koch takes aim at homeless . 14

A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 51/NO. 34 SEPTEMBER 18, 1987 $1.00 Nicaragua 7,000 in Calif. condemn adopts historic attack on antiwar vet BY DIANE WANG CONCORD, Calif. - "Death squads/ autonomy Death trains - The war comes home," read one banner carried at the September 5 antiwar march here. "In the U.S., we have trial by locomotive," read another. These plan expressed the mood of the 7,000 people who gathered to protest the attack on Brian BY CINDY JAQUITH Willson, a Vietnam veteran run down by a MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Nicaragua navy munitions train four days earlier. One has become the first country in this hemi­ sphere to adopt a sweeping law guaran­ teeing the political, economic, language, Interview with eyewitnesses cultural, and religious rights of Indians and to attack on Brian Willson Blacks. · The law establishes autonomous govern­ appears on page 2. ments on Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast, where most Nicaraguan Indians and Blacks of his legs was severed and the other ampu­ live. It was adopted overwhelmingly by the tated as a result. National Assembly September 2. Willson and the local antiwar office have "This is an historic decision without been getting messages of support and of­ precedent in this part of the world," said fers to help at a rate of 200 calls per hour. Sandinista leader Tomas Borge, president Across the road from the rally, the U.S. of Nicaragua's National Autonomy Com­ Naval Weapons Station had strung barbed mission. Autonomy for the Atlantic Coast, wire across its entrance and covered its he explained, is "a kick in the gut of the sign with cloth. Buffalo Bills and the scalp collectors." It is The U.S. government was under such the hope for victims of racism "from the public pressure that it granted a visa to North Pole to the South Pole." Rosario Murillo, a Sandinista leader who is Borge stressed that autonomy is only married to Nicaraguan President Daniel possible here because Nicaragua has bro­ Ortega. She came on behalf of Ortega to ken the chains of U.S . domination and car­ give his message of solidarity to Willson's Demonstrators assist Brian Willson after he was run down by munitions train during September 1 protest at naval base in Concord, California. Evidence shows naval of­ ried out a revolution that placed workers work opposing the U.S. -run war in Central ficials' responsibility for attack. and peasants in political power. . America. Murillo spoke with Willson in A continental problem the hospital and visited the site where he Speakers included Holly Rauen, Will­ Rosario Murillo. However, when Jackson Like most other countries in North and was hit. son's wife; Duncan Murphy, a veteran who concluded his speech with a call to join him South America, Nicaragua has several dis­ For many this rally was their first an­ was with Willson when the train ran him in a procession to the tracks, most of the tinct Indian and Black communities that tiwar demonstration. down; Ken Butigan of the Pledge of Resis­ have historically suffered theft of their "A lot of people in this country are on crowd took it for a signal to adjourn the the edge of action," said Pat McCallum, a tance; singer Joan Baez; and Jesse Jackson. rally and go immediately. lands, persecution of their languages and Rally organizers had planned to have As people crowded about, music played, cultures, denial of political rights, and dis­ demonstrator who had witnessed the train Miriam Linder, Daniel Ellsberg, and a many sat on the tracks, and a large group crimination in employment and education. run over Willson. "Many don't normally spokesperson for Rep. Ron Dellums speak. set about tearing up several hundred yards In Nicaragua's case, the majority of the see themselves as activists, but now is the time to begin." They also intended to read greetings from of rail. country's more than 3 million people are Spanish-speaking mestizos, concentrated on the Pacific Coast. On the Atlantic Coast there are 182,000 mestizos. But there are also 75,000 Miskito Indians, with their Iraq steps up war as U.S. fleet grows own language; 26,000 Creole Blacks, who speak English; 9,000 Sumo Indians, with BY FRED FELDMAN and five other warships joined the U.S. Washington attempts to pass off as "neu­ their own language; and I, 750 Garifonas Iraqi warplanes bombed 13 cities, power fleet now menacing Iran. tral" shipping. and 850 Rama Indians, who both speak plants, oil centers, and factories in Iran The arrival of the Missouri group raised The naval build-up represents a massive English. The original languages of the September 9. Iranian radio said 105 people the number of U.S. warships in the region U.S. military intervention on the side of Garifonas and Ramas have been lost by all had been killed or wounded. to more than two dozen. This includes an the Iraqi regime, which has waged war on except a few elderly people. The government of Saddam Hussein in aircraft carrier, guided missile cruisers, de­ Iran since invading that country in 1980. Until the 1979 Sandinista revolution, the Iraq said the attacks on civilian targets stroyers, an amphibious-assault ship, and The regime in Kuwait is a close ally of Atlantic Coast was dominated by U.S. and would continue as "revenge" for Iranian minesweepers - backed up by fighter the Iraqi rulers in the war. Kuwait provides Canadian corporations, with the complicity missiles that have reportedly landed on the planes, bombers, helicopters, and Iraq with its only operating ports, devotes of Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza. territory of Kuwait, which borders on Iraq. thousands of military personnel. much of its oil revenue to bankrolling the They fostered mestizo prejudice against In­ The reported Iranian missile strikes caused The pretext for the build-up was the de­ Iraqi war, and allows Iraqi planes to over­ dians and Blacks, and kept working people no casualties. cision to place 11 Kuwaiti oil tankers under fly Kuwaiti territory for attacks on gulf of the two coasts isolated from one As the Iraqi regime reopened its air war the U.S. flag and command. Washington shipping or Iranian territory. another. In the eight years since Somoza against shipping bound to or from Iran in has threatened military strikes against Iran The French and British governments Continued on Page 13 the Persian Gulf, the battleship Missouri if Iranian forces menace the tankers, which have also sent smaller war fleets to the gulf area. And Japanese Prime Minister Yasuh­ iro Nakasone claimed August 29 that the country's constitution- which bars there­ Mass strikes, protests shake South Korea gime from waging war - did not forbid it from sending minesweepers to aid U.S. BY ERNEST HARSCH Cemetery, where many victims of the 1980 gime to ease its repression and promise di­ war moves in the gulf war zone. Nakasone Though the South Korean police have Kwangju massacre are buried. That rect presidential elections. Since then, said that no warships would be sent at this launched a new roundup of strikers and po­ slaughter took some 2,000 lives and was some 3,200 strikes have been officially re­ time. litical activists, workers and other oppo­ ordered by now-president Chun Doo corded, most of which were settled within The Saudi Arabian mona~-;hy is also in­ nents of the authoritarian regime have not Hwan. It followed a massive popular revolt a few days. As of September 5, nearly 600 creasingly involved in the U.S. naval been intimidated. sparked, among other things, by Kim's ar­ strikes were still under way. buildup. "The Saudi military has been In the southern city of Kwangju, hun­ rest. Fueled by an average wage of $1.75 an working closely with U.S. forces in the dreds of thousands of people poured out Referring to the martyrs of 1980, Kim hour, an average workweek of 57 hours , gulf, monitoring the waterway with U.S.­ September 8 for one of the largest street told the crowd, "We have to fulfill their and labor restrictions ·that allowed only supplied AWACS surveillance planes and demonstrations ever to take place in the dreams. We have to try to make it possible company unions (if any unions at all), the reportedly providing case-by-case landing country. for the entire nation to sing the song of strikes have hit all sectors of the economy . rights for carrier-based U.S. planes," re­ The action was held to welcome opposi­ freedom." Repeatedly, workers have said that they ported the September 3 Washington Post. tion party leader Kim Dae Jung. A native are also fighting for respect and dignity. The Iraqi regime reopened the air war of Cholla Province, of which Kwangju is 'Treated like human beings' "We just want to be treated like human be­ against shipping in the Persian Gulf on Au­ the capital, Kim had not been able to visit Meanwhile, workers throughout the ings," one worker at the Daewoo shipyard gust 29, after halting attacks for 45 days at the region for 15 years, having been re­ country have continued to strike in record in Okpo told a reporter. U.S. urging. Washington feared that Iraqi peatedly detained, exiled, held under death numbers. One of the most spectacular walkouts hit attacks on gulf shipping would deepen op­ sentence, or placed under house arrest for The strike wave began in late June, in­ Hyundai, South Korea's largest industrial position in the United States and interna­ his political activities. spired by the massive demonstrations for conglomerate. After tens of thousands of tionally to the massive U.S. military pres- One of Kim's stops was Mangwol democratic rights that forced the Chun re- Continued on Page 9 Continued on Page 13 Navy had two spotters on front of train Interview with vets who saw Brian Willson run over by arms train

BY DIANE WANG On August 21, 10 days before he was been before," said Murphy. CONCORD, Calif.- Was Brian Will­ hit, Willson sent the base commander, Even the navy spokesperson has agreed, son a fanatic who threw himself under a Capt. Lonnie Cagle, a letter explaining that "When a train approaches a hazardous situ­ train to grab publicity for the antiwar he and others would be on the tracks for 40 ation, navy procedure says the train movement? That's how a navy commander days beginning September 1. Copies of the shouldn't proceed until the hazard is and big-business papers have portrayed the letter were sent to state and county police, clear." September 1 incident here, when a as well as to politicians and the press. Instead, the train started up. Eyewitnes­ weapons cargo train hit the Vietnam vet­ Willson called three times to make an ses report the train sounded its hom but did eran. appointment with Cagle, but was rebuffed. not slow down; it seemed to pick up speed. Firsthand accounts, backed up by a Moreover, when the protesters arrived As the train suddenly bore down, the three video tape and documents, refute this September 1, they gave the guard at the veterans did what they could to save them­ cynical version. The Militant spoke with main gate a copy of the letter. selves. "I grabbed the guard rail; Brian David Duncombe and Duncan Murphy, The county sheriffs office, eager to dived down," said Murphy. Duncombe two veterans who sat with Willson on the avoid blame for the violence, says the was able to jump aside. Willson suffered a tracks that day, and other eyewitnesses. naval base called them at 11:33 a.m. that fractured skull, and lost both his legs. Since June 10, antiwar veterans and day. Previously, the sheriff had asked base To Duncombe, it was a vivid example of supporters have held daily vigils as trains personnel to call 30 minutes before they the war brought home. "We've been doing leave the U.S. Naval Weapons Station at wanted help in clearing the tracks. In fact, this, have killed hundreds of thousands in Concord, the largest munitions depot on the train moved out only 17 minutes later, Central America, run over them like a the West Coast. at 11:50 a.m. train." The trains carry weapons to Washing­ The navy had two civilian spotters riding Duncombe said police questioning him ton's mercenaries and puppet regimes outside in the front of the locomotive. had fished for evidence to show Willson abroad. A document listing some war Their usual job, Duncombe said, was "to was suicidal, but Duncombe denied that. materiel shipped from the base was pried make sure no obstruction was on the track, Willson was simply a veteran whose ex­ from the government through the Freedom whether a log to derail the train, or perience in Vietnam had converted him of Information Act. The documents people." from being a "Goldwater Republican." showed that in only two days, the U.S. "We could see the observers and they After the war Willson went to law school, government had sent El Salvador could see we were kneeling on the tracks," and later was a dairy farmer. $6,394,434 worth of demolition bombs, recalled Murphy. machine-gun ammunition, and white phos­ As the war heated up in Central Ameri­ Veterans marching in April 25, 1987, So much for Cagle's claim that the vet­ phorous rockets (which the Salvadoran ca, Willson opposed it. As he explained in antiwar protest in Washington, D.C. erans may have "jumped on the tracks at government has denied using). his letter to Captain Cagle, he has been to the last moment." Nicaragua five times and to El Salvador "All summer we held up signs and gave fast against the war last year on the steps of and Honduras once. "I have walked and the peace symbol as the trains went by, try­ "I've watched the trains all summer," the U.S. Capitol, and later organized the ridden 700 kilometers in the northern war ing to win people over," explained Dun­ said Duncombe. "They usually stop at the Veterans Peace Action Teams to go toNic­ zones combe. guard gate for a few minutes, then start of Nicaragua ... . I have talked with aragua. Only once had someone from the vigils out. This is the only time I've seen them several hundred victims of the contra ter­ David Duncombe, now a clergyman, ventured onto the rails. The train was stop and have a conference. We thought rorists, most of them civilian casualties." came from a military family and was a hardly moving then and stopped; the pro­ they were deciding where to stop." Willson, Murphy, and two other vet­ weapons designer in the army. He is a vet­ tester left the tracks. "We expected to be arrested, as we had erans carried out a nationally publicized eran of both World War II and Korea. Duncan Murphy explained that as a vet­ eran of World War II, he had helped liber­ ate the German concentration camp at British anti-apartheid conference planned Bergen-Belsen. "I vowed then I would do everything I could to prevent such atroc­ BY JON SILBERMAN Britain's NUM has also been a driving based. UDM officials led a breakaway ities," he said. He has been to Nicaragua LONDON- Cyril Ramaphosa, general force behind the establishment of the Inter­ from the NUM following the 1984-1985 every year since 1983. "I learned from the secretary of South Africa's National Union national Miners Organization (IMO). Sol­ British miners' strike. NUM members are a Nicaraguans that the same things the Nazis of Mineworkers, will be a featured speaker idarity with the struggle against apartheid minority in the mines there. The Notts Gala did our tax money is now doing through the at a September 19 anti-apartheid confer­ was put at the center of the IMO confer­ is seen as an important event for the NUM, contras." ence in Sheffield, England. ence in London last November. and union members came from all over The conference is jointly organized by At the conference, James Motlatsi, pres­ Britain. Marching in the gala parade were Britain's National Union of Mineworkers ident of the South African miners' union, many activists from Women Against Pit Protests against the assault on Brian (NUM) and the Anti-Apartheid Movement described the conditions workers face in Closures (WAPC). Willson have taken place in a number of to demand an end to the import of South the mines and in the hostels where they are Notts NUM President Ray Chadbum cities. African coal into Britain. forced to live in apalling conditions hun­ called for a minute of silence in memory of In Boston, 10 veterans staged a sit-in A preconference rally on September 18 dreds of miles away from their families. the South African miners killed during the September 2 on the tracks of the Green will feature Ramaphosa and Arthur Scar­ During the recent South African miners' strike, and for those who died in a mining Line, one of the city's main subway routes. gill, president of Britain's NUM. strike, the British miners' union estab­ accident immediately after it ended. Two days later, more than a hundred vet­ The British NUM has been waging a lished a national solidarity fund and began Godfrey Mokate from the South African erans and supporters held a vigil at the Park campaign in support of the struggling to mobilize its members. To date, over Congress of Trade Unions, and Panduleni Street subway station. South African miners. It was initiated at $100,000 has been collected and donations Itula from the South West Africa People's Some 250 people, mostly youth, held a the union's 1986 conference when are still coming in. Organisation of Namibia, also spoke. rally September 4 in Manhattan to protest Ramaphosa made his first public appear­ Some 55 British NUM locals have cho­ the government's role in running down ance following the Pretoria regime's decla­ Solidarity with the struggle in South Af­ sen delegates to attend the anti-apartheid Willson. ration of a state of emergency. ~ince then, rica was a major theme of the September 5 conference. The National Union of Rail­ In Washington, D.C., 50 people pick­ the British mine union has issued a hand­ Nottinghamshire NUM miners' gala in waymen and the W APC will also be well eted the office of the main Nicaraguan con­ book, Miners United Against Apartheid, Mansfield. represented. In the port city of Liverpool tra organization. On September 4, a that has been distributed to every union Nottinghamshire is the area where the alone, 27 organizations have already regis­ hundred picketed the White Oak Naval member. Union of Democratic Miners (UDM) is tered for the event. Surface Weapons Center in Maryland.

The Militant tells the truth ~ Subscribe today! The Militant The Militant is written in the Closing news date: September 9, 1987 interests of workers and farm­ Coeditors: MARGARET JA YKO and DOUG JENNESS ers. Every week it tells the Circulation Director: MALIK MIAH truth about the war Washing­ Nicaragua Bureau Director: CINDY JAQUITH Business Manager: JIM WHITE ton and the employers are wag­ Editorial Staff: Susan Apstein, Fred Feldman, Ernest ing against working people at Harsch, Arthur Hughes, Susan LaMont, Sam Manuel, Har­ home and abroad. We provide vey McArthur (Nicaragua), Roberto Kopec (Nicaragua), first-hand coverage of events in Harry Ring, Norton Sandler. Published weekly except one week in August and the last other countries, such as Haiti, week of December by the Militant (ISSN 0026-3885), 410 Burkina Faso, and the Philip­ West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Telephone: Editorial Of­ pines. Regular on-the-scene re­ fice, (212) 243-6392; Telex, 497-4278; Business Office, ports come from our Nica. (212) 929-3486. ragua Bureau. Correspondence concerning subscriptions or changes Enclosed is of address should be addressed to The Militant Business ··~~~~ If you already subscribe, Office, 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. D $4.00 for 12 weeks, new readers by renewing for 6 months ~~'-1~ Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y. POST­ D $9.00 for 12 weeks, renewals or longer you can receive MASTER: Send address changes to The Militant, 410 West D $17.00 for six months ~ I the current issue of New St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Subscriptions: U.S., Canada, D $30.00 for one year ll $55.00 for two years International for $3.50 Latin America: for one-year subscription send $30, drawn on a U.S. bank, to above address. By first-class (airmail), Name (cover price $6.50). It is a send $65. Britain, Ireland, Continental Europe, Africa: Address ______magazine of Marxist poli­ send £25 check or international money order made out to Pathfinder Press and send to Pathfinder, 47 The Cut, London City ------State ___ _ _ Zip ____ tics and theory. This issue I features the article, "The SE1 8LL, England. Australia, Asia, Pacific: send Austra­ Telephone _____ Union/School/Organization ______lian $60 to Pathfinder Press, P.O. Box 37, Leichhardt, Syd­ Second Assassination of ney, NSW 2040, Australia. Send to THE MILITANT, 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014 Maurice Bishop," by Steve Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily represent I Clark. the Militant's views. These are expressed in editorials.

2 The Militant September 18, 1987 Ruling on spy files says Secret Service is not above law BY FRED FELDMAN agency, a division of the Treasury Depart­ The U.S. Secret Service is not above the ment, is also mandated to suppress coun­ Jaw. It may not use its stated function of terfeiting of currency, and the forging or il­ protecting the president and vice-presi­ legal sale of government checks, bonds, dent, their families, and others as a license and securities. for spying on those opposed to the policies Purportedly to carry out these limited of the U.S. government. functions, the Secret Service has estab­ This simple affirmation that the Secret lished a network of scores of offices in the Service must abide by the Bill of Rights United States and Puerto Rico. was one of the victories for democratic "Inherent in the performance of [theSe­ rights upheld in an August 17 injunction is­ cret Service's] protective function," sued in New York City by Judge Thomas claimed Richard McCann, head of its intel­ Griesa. ligence division, "is the need to determine The injunction barred the government and, to the extent possible anticipate the from using files it had illegally gathered on actions of those individuals and groups ... the Socialist Workers Party and the Young who on the basis of their past history, Socialist Alliance. The documents had ideology, or avowed goals, may constitute been accumulated through burglaries by a possible threat to the physical safety of FBI agents, thefts by informers planted in individuals receiving Secret Service pro­ the organizations, illegal wiretaps, opening tection." This assertion was made in the of mail, and other surveillance techniques. Secret Service affidavit submitted to Judge The injunction reaffirmed and n;inforced Griesa. Griesa's August 1986 ruling in the suit McCann went further than slandering brought by the SWP and YSA against the the SWP and YSA as potential assassins, attorney general, and federal cop agencies. without a shred of proof. He insisted that Herblock The ruling held that the FBI's spying and the court concede the Secret Service's right "Except for those of us who are above it" disruption operations against the SWP and to obtain spy data on any protest organiza­ YSA had been illegal and unconstitutional. tion "regarding matters such as what type of demonstration activity may be expected publican Conventions" to be held the fol­ lence ag·ainst public officials, but rather a The Secret Service was one of 10 federal from the group, the number of protesters lowing year. mass of information about peaceful politi­ police agencies that submitted affidavits to which the group is capable of amassing and The Secret Service, of course, had no cal activities and the private lives of indi­ Griesa after the 1986 ruling, urging him the group's ability as well as propensity to evidence that the SWP or YSA were plan­ viduals." not to enjoin them from using the illegally disrupt or otherwise interfere with the ning such disruptions, and Dean found He stated: obtained files. They sought to bolster the movement of a protectee." none. The pretext was just that: a pretext "As to matters such as protection of offi­ Justice Department's claim that an injunc­ This would amount to allowing the Se­ for political spying. cials by the Secret Service or other agen­ tion might place "the nation's vital interest cret Service to place any group or indi­ Griesa's injunction rejected the govern­ cies, there is no realistic suggestion of why of self-preservation at risk." vidual that protests government policy or ment claim that use of the documents might there would be any need, including an The affidavits backed the Justice Depart­ advocates socialist, antiwar, or other dis­ prove vital in an "emergency." He noted emergency need, for information from the ment's proposal that the injunction - if senting views on a list of permanent "sus­ that the documents - accumulated over illegally obtained materials. one was issued - include an escape clause pects" for potential offenses ranging from decades of intensive surveillance· of the "The Secret Service," he concluded, allowing the government to use the ·mate­ assassination to obstructing traffic. Those SWP and YSA - "contain little or no in­ "should be bound to perform their tasks on rials at its discretion in an "emergency." tagged as "suspects" because of their formation bearing on national security, and the basis of lawfully obtained informa­ The role of the Secret Service as a polit­ "ideology" or "avowed goals" would for­ no information about actual or planned vio- tion .... " ical police force has received much less feit the right to meet, organize, picket, or publicity than that of the FBI or CIA. But speak without Secret Service surveillance. like other government police agencies, the Even before McCann's admission, the Secret Service uses its legally established socialists' suit had produced evidence that Puerto Rican activists' lawyer functions as a license for wide-ranging sur­ the Secret Service was operating in this un­ veillance and disruption against critics of constitutional way. In 1971 the agency sent government policy. Special Agent Wayne Dean on an under­ hails injunction in SWP suit The agency justifies trampling on the cover assignment to the Young Socialist Bill of Rights by smearing its targets as im­ Alliance convention in Houston, Texas. The foUowing column, "Victories federal judge, to make sure no excesses mediate or potential threats to the physical Carrying a hidden tape recorder and safety of top government officials. against repression", was written by were being committed. camera, and no identification, he tape-re­ Rafael Anglada LOpez. It appeared in A ruling by federal Judge Haight in The Secret Service was founded in 1865 corded the convention and photographed the August 28 EJ Diario-La Prensa, a Manhattan supposedly ended this method in the wake of the assassination of Presi­ 44 speakers and others who attended the Spanish-language New York daily. Ang­ of compiling political intelligence on the dent Abraham Lincoln. It is authorized to convention. His alleged reason: "to deter­ lada L6pez is a member of the legal de­ Black community in New York City. protect the president and vice-president, mine whether or not plans were being made fense team for the 16 fighters for Puerto Meanwhile, in Puerto Rico, the Civil their families, and the president-elect. The to disrupt the National Democratic andRe- Rican independence who are facing trial Rights Commission of the Commonwealth in Hartford, Connecticut. The transla­ of Puerto Rfco is continuing to examine the tion is by the Militant. "subversives" list compiled by tve Puerto Rican Police Intelligence Division with the Join the fight Last Monday, August 17, in a Manhat­ collaboration of the FBI operating in tan court, 15 years of litigation culminated Puerto Rico. Judge Armando L6pez of the for democratic rights in a 16-page decision written by Judge Superior Court of Puerto Rico has already Thomas P. Griesa that supports the civil ruled that the practice violates the civil Help the Political Rights Defense fund prot~ct the Bill of rights of all U.S. residents and constitutes a rights of Puerto Ricans and has ordered it Rights. Support the suit brought by the Socialist Workers victory for all of us fighting for the most to cease immediately. Party and Young Socialist Alliance against government fundamental rights of our peoples. The police superintendent of Puerto The Socialist Workers Party and the Rico, lawyer Carlos L6pez Feliciano, ad­ spying. youth group affiliated to it, the Young mitted to the press Monday, August 10, Socialist Alliance, were infiltrated and that the police have at least 74,000 names, harassed for decades by various U.S. including 19,000 in active files. DECISION: police and intelligence agencies, under an Psychologist and author Ronald Fernan­ FBI operation that supposedly ended in dez has just discovered in the National Arc­ Government spying 1976. hives in Washington that in 1937 Luis and disruption are Judge Griesa wrote a permanent injunc­ Muiioz Marin was considered a "subver­ unconstitutional tion prohibiting the various· U.S. agencies sive" by the 65th Infantry Regiment of the and illegal from using any information obtained on U.S. Army in Puerto Rico. As is known, at U.S. citizens and residents during the dec­ that time Luis Muiioz Marin was a proin­ Complete text of Judge Thomas ades-long illegal operation. dependence leader who would later Griesa's August 1986 decision in On Aug. 25, 1986, this same federal triumph in the electoral arena at the head of Sociali~t Workers Party v. FBI law- magistrate had written an opinion, hun­ a party that, at that time, was proindepen­ ~"~· ' suit. plus text of his injunction bar- Rights dreds of pages long, documenting in detail dence. o.tense ring use of FBI files. ~~~~======~~~~ro~ the depth of the violations of the civil rights None of these small victories arises out of tens of thousands of human beings who of the brilliance of judges and lawyers. were exercising their constitutional right to They are a result of the people's struggle D Enclosed is my tax-deduc- belong to the political organizations men­ for its most basic, human demands. We tible contribution of $ __ Name tioned above. have an excellent opportunity to share in D I want to be a sponsor of Address A month ago it was discovered that the these victories and continue fighting: Sun­ PROF. New York City police intelligence division day, August 30, early in the morning, City D Send me ___ copies of was recording the entire programming of thousands of Puerto Ricans, Latinos, and the federal judge's deci- State Zip two radio stations that carry knowledge­ North Americans will travel to Hartford to sion {$1 each). Organization able coverage of the city's Afro-American commemorate the August 30 arrest of inde­ community. pendence fighters in Puerto Rico by the Signature This was happening despite the fact that U.S. government. Great social struggles Send to: Political Rights Defense Fund. P.O. Box 649, Cooper Station. NY, NY 10003 the police department maintained a citi­ must be begun and sealed with the sweat zen's panel of three, including a former and participation of all of us.

September"18, .1987 The' Militant 3 Cuba is topic of Austin, Minn. forum Socialist discusses revolution's historic turning point

BY DOUG JENNESS ing away from capitalism and toward Louis, and Mac Warren, SWP national AUSTIN, Minn.- Seventy-five union­ socialism must be the work of human be­ field organizer in the Midwest, made brief ists and political activists from the Midwest ings - people who are conscious of where presentations. celebrated Labor Day here by attending a they are going and know how to get there." Leonard emphasized the opportunities talk on the significance of recent develop­ One feature of this shift, she said, is at­ for winning support from unionists for the ments in Cuba for working people through­ tempting to inspire workers to volunteer lawsuit. The successful effort the PRDF out the world. their labor for building clinics, child-care waged last spring and summer to sign up The presentation , "Cuba: a Historic centers, and housing. 4,000 new endorsers, he said, shows the Turning Point," was given by Mary-Alice Waters noted that Che Guevara, a leader potential. "It's also an excellent way to get Waters, a national leader of the Socialist of the Cuban revolution who was assassi­ into discussions with workers about other Workers Party and an editor of New Inter­ nated in Bolivia in October 1967, dealt a attacks on democratic rights and what's national, a Marxist political magazine pub­ great deal with the question of the transi­ happening politically in the country," he lished in New York. tion from capitalism to socialism. said. Hosted by the Austin Militant Labor During the course of her talk, Waters re­ Warren summarized several sections of Forum, the meeting was held on the eve­ ferred to several articles by Guevara. She an article in the most recent issue of New ning of September 6 at the Cedars, a meet­ said they will appear as part of a new book International. The article by Larry Seigle, ing hall on the edge of town. of speeches and writings by the communist "Washington's 50-Year Domestic Contra Many of those attending were in Austin leader that is being published by Pathfind­ Operation," Warren said, is "the best ex­ for a meeting of the Iowa District of the er/Pacific and Asia. The book is due to planation of the origins of the SWP-YSA Socialist Workers Party. The district in­ come off the press at the end of October. lawsuit and what it's all about." He urged cludes SWP members in Des Moines, On the following day, the Militant Labor all supporters of the suit to read and study Iowa; Austin, Minnesota; and Omaha, Forum held a discussion on the govern­ it, and hold classes on it. Nebraska. (Coverage of the district meet­ ment's 50 years of harassment of the labor A chicken barbecue followed this event ing will appear in a future issue.) movement and on the SWP and Young where discussion on Cuba, the fight for Others attending the forum came from Socialist Alliance's lawsuit against the FBI democratic rights, and other topics con­ Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; St. and other cop agencies. tinued. Paul, Minneapolis, and Rochester, Min­ Joe Swanson, Midwest labor spokesper­ During the weekend's activities, the nesota; and Chicago. Most were unionists, son for the Political Rights Defense Fund, Pathfinder Bookstore in Austin organized a . ) some of them employed in the meat-pack­ was scheduled to speak, but was unable to special literature display. The bookstore, Militant/Holbrook Mahn ing industry. make the meeting. In his place Tom which opened in June, is located on Aus­ Socialist Workers Party leader Mary­ Some 1 ,500 union meat-packers were on Leonard, PRDF spokesperson from St. tin's Main Street. Alice Waters was keynote speaker. strike in Austin against Geo. Hormel & Co. in 1985-86. They fought a bitter battle for restoration of wages and benefits and for safer working conditions. This struggle Subscription drive gets under way helped inspire a fight by unionists in the meat-packing industry that continues today. two steel mills, a meat-packing plant, and a Waters noted that the newspapers and garment shop. These worksite sales teams television in the United States have or­ are regular week-to-week efforts to meet ganized "a conspiracy of silence about and discuss politics with unionized work­ Cuba." She said learning the truth about ers in important industries . what's happening in Cuba is made even A Militant suppmter from Milwaukee more difficult because Washington has called in to report a highly successful Mil­ banned travel to that country for most itant sale in De Pere, Wisconsin. At a sol­ people in the United States. idarity rally for striking paper workers or­ Waters described the accomplishments ganized by the United Paperworkers Inter­ the Cuban people have made since they national Union, 17 subscriptions were overturned capitalist rule and broke from sold. the domination of U.S. bankers, landlords, Mike Baumann, circulation director for and manufacturers in 1959. New International in New York, reports Waters explained that even with these extremely good sales of the magazine at the impressive achievements that are the result Caribbean Carnival in Brooklyn, Sep­ of working people taking the ownership of tember 7. Several people came up to the lit­ industry, land, and commerce out of the erature table, Baumann said, asking for the hands of the capitalists, Cuba "still has to latest issue because of the article on "The deal with the legacy of the past." Second Assassination of Maurice Bishop," Cuba is now undergoing a historic pro­ by Steve Clark. cess, she said, of attempting to overcome A total of 46 copies of New International some of the difficulties that have arisen as a were bought - 40 from the Pathfinder result of competing with the past. This par­ bookstore literature table, where $800 ticularly includes attempting to look out for worth of books and pamphlets were sold. one's self or immediate family, rather than Militant With 150 copies sold, New York support­ working collectively for social answers to Militant supporter in Lawrence, Kansas, discusses paper at literature table set up by ers have now made nearly half their goal of problems. Young Socialist Alliance. selling 350 copies of New International. Waters referred to speeches by Cuban An important aspect of the subscription President Fidel Castro stating that a major BY MALIK MIAH taken by distributors to increase the circu­ campaign is to talk with current subscribers shift is being made away from a blind be­ So far, supporters of the Militant in more lation of the Spanish-language monthly to the Militant and PM about extending lief that some mechanism, like economic than two dozen areas have taken subscrip­ Perspectiva Mundial and the Marxist their subscriptions. To date, we've re­ planning, can lead the way to socialism. tion goals to help expand the socialist magazine New International. ceived a significant number of renewals - "The Cuban Communist Party leader­ weekly's readership base. The objective is to win 6,000 new sub­ some 220 for the Militant. On average, the ship," Waters stated, "explains that mov- The chart below also reports on goals scribers to the Militant and 1,500 to Per­ business office receives 40 Militant renew­ spectiva Mundial, and to sell 2,000 copies als per week. of New International by the end of We have received several new or ex­ November. The drive began in mid-Au­ tended international subscriptions, as well, gust. including 11 Militant and 2 PM subscrip­ Fall Sales Goals As of September 8, 581 Militant sub­ tions from Canada and 5 PM renewals from scriptions, 52 PM subscriptions, and 212 Puerto Rico. Goals Goals New New copies of the New International had been If you would like to take a Militant, PM, Perspectiva Inter- Perspectiva Inter- sold. That's 9.7 percentoftheMilitant, 3.5 and/or New International goal for the fall drive, please clip and mail the coupon Area Militant Mundial national Area Militant Mundial national percent of the PM, and 10.6 percent of the New International goals. below. While this is behind where we should be Atlanta 120 20 35 Morgantown, W.Va. ·130 5 25 at this point in the campaign, it is a solid Baltimore 140 10 40 New York 600 150 350 starting point to launch the target sales D Send me a bundle of __ Militants Birmingham, Ala. 150 5 * Newark, N.J . 350 125 75 week September 12-18, which will pro­ per issue. Boston 200 100 50 Oakland, Calif. 150 50 100 vide every area with the chance to catch D Send me a bundle of __ Perspec­ Charleston, W.Va. 125 0 20 Omaha, Neb . 70 10 20 up. tiva Mundials per issue. Chicago 225 75 * Philadelphia 200 50 50 Omari Musa, who helps organize Mili­ D Send me a bundle of __ New In- Cleveland 105 15 20 Portland, Ore. 80 30 40 tant distribution in Chicago, explained in a ternationals. Des Moines , Iowa 110 15 35 Price, Utah 48 2 10 September 8 telephone interview that a Name ------Detroit 200 25 35 Salt Lake City 125 25 25 "big push is planned for this coming Satur­ Address ------Greensboro, N.C. 115 10 20 San Diego 85 40 25 day. Teams will be going to working-class City _____ State ______Houston 160 40 50 San Francisco 180 70 * communities as well as to the LTV and Zip Phone ------Kansas City, Mo. 105 20 25 Seattle 300 50 50 USX steel mills in Indiana." Los Angeles 300 175 * St. Louis 175 10 * The Socialist Workers Party and Young Miami 120 40 40 Twin Cities, Minn. 180 20 100 Socialist Alliance, which help get out the Milwaukee 115 15 35 Washington, D.C. 130 30 * Militant in Chicago, recently moved to new offices on the South Side. Subscribe to * New International goal not adopted yet Goal Totals 5,093 1,232 1,275 Even during office construction, Musa Drive Goals 6,000 1,500 2,000 continued, supporters of the Militant have the Mililani organized four sales teams to area plants -

4 The Militant September 18, 1987 Utah demonstration protests ·execution Death penalty condemned as 'cruel and unusual punishment'

BY GEORGE GILLIGAN SALT LAKE CITY, Utah- On August Dlsbibutlon of 1,8741nmates by State 27 some 150 people assembled on the hill overlooking the Utah State Penitentiary in a vigil of protest against the execution of Pierre Dale Selby. Selby, a black carpenter originally from the West Indian country of Trinidad and Conn. Tobago, was killed by lethal injection at 0 1:18 a.m. on August 28, ending his 13- N.J. year struggle to get his death sentence com­ 25 muted to life imprisonment. Convicted of murdering three people during a robbery of an Ogden hi-fi shop in 1974, Selby was sentenced to death by an all-white jury. Selby's execution was the first one in Utah since the firing squad shot Gary Gil­ more 10 years ago, signaling the return of capital punishment throughout the country. Selby had fought his death sentence to the bitter end. The state went on a public cam­ Alaska - No death penalty paign to justify his execution. Hawaii - No death penalty As Selby said in a July 19 letter to the Milltary-1 TOTAL-1,874 Salt Lake Tribune, "With this case espe­ cially, there's only one way to go: 'Hang the niggers.'" On August 21 the Utah Board of Pardons denied his last appeal for a life sentence. Number of people on death row as of April 22. Pierre Selby was one of three prisoners executed in United States in one day. The day of Selby's execution, his attor­ neys' last chance to halt the death sentence, Penalty said, "Support for the death pen­ Light responsible for the deaths of 19 coal allowing reinstatement of the death penalty a fourth plea to the U.S. Supreme Court, alty may be a mile wide, but it's only an miners at Wilber." Breen was referring to a and the Gilmore execution that three was refused. inch deep." He urged people to continue 1984 Utah mine disaster. people were put to death on the same day. The protest vigil was organized by Am­ educating and organizing against it. In nearby Ogden, in an event described Meanwhile, William Andrews, Selby's nesty International. which is conducting a Scott Breen, Socialist Workers candi­ as "macabre" by the Tribune, a celebration accomplice and codefendant, awaits exe­ worldwide campaign for abolition of the date for mayor of Salt Lake City, also of Selbv's execution was held at Rowducks cution in January 1988. Although he did death penalty. spoke, condemning the execution as a "rac­ Saioon •& Grill, complete with a cake iced not murder anyone in the robbery attempt, Despite the intimidating presence of ist legal lynching." Pointing out that there with "Bye, bye Pierre. It's about time." he too was sentenced to die. Such sen­ state and local police at barricades that "is no death penalty for the rich," he de­ One patron interviewed said , " I had to tences were upheld by a recent Supreme sealed off entrance to the penitentiary, and clared, "While the attorney general's office come and join it . It's sick, but it 's good." Court ruling that "major participation in a camouflage-wearing SWAT team of 50 spares no expense to insure Selby's death, On the same day Selby was killed, two the felony committed, combined with re­ surrounding the vigil, the crowd of mostly they have not and will not lift a finger to other prisoners were executed -- one in ckless indifference to human life, is youths listened through the program of a prosecute a single management official of Alabama and one in Florida. It was the first sufficient" to justify a death penalty. He dozen speakers who denounced the execu­ Emery Mining Co. and Utah Power & time since the 1976 Supreme Court ruling has not yet exhausted the appeals process. tion . A message protesting Selby's execution from Cesar Chavez, president of the United Fam1 Workers union, was read. The Amer­ ican Civil Liberties Union representative Socialist campaigners well received pointed out that the death penalty was a form of "cruel and unusual punishment," which is prohibited by the Constitution. in Boston's working-class areas In response to recent polls claiming to show that 90 percent of Utahans support the execution of Selby, Jim Sunderland of BY JON HILLSON crews. A local rowing club leader had an­ people for the candidates one afternoon in the Colorado Coalition Against the Death BOSTON, Mass. - During a three­ nounced the crew would not be welcome South Boston. week petitioning drive to put Socialist because it included "two niggers." In "One worker asked for a leaflet to read Workers candidates Mark Emanatian and newspaper articles and television inter­ before he would do anything," Aaron said. Denise Mcinerney on the fall primary bal­ views, local residents slammed his action Later "he came over to me and said, 'I want lot, Boston campaign supporters visited as unrepresentative of the community. to shake your hand. I didn't know you Support the Fall every working-class neighborhood in the A crowd of 400 Blacks and whites could do this here. But there are more Socialist city. Emanatian is running for mayor and watched the regatta at Carson Beach, people like me in South Boston.' Then he Mcinerney for Boston School Committee. which was the scene of rioting a decade signed the petition," Aaron said. ago by police and racist thugs attempting to In Charlestown, two young men strolled Publications In all, signatures were netted for 5,300 prevent Blacks from swimming there. Emanatian, along with 4,000 for Mciner­ by as a petitioner quickly told them about Today Black, Latino, and Asian children Fund ney. Thousands of the signatures were the socialist candidates "who oppose a new regularly use the beach. Vietnam in Central America." One youth gathered in Boston' s Black and Latino At a rally August 14 In addition, Blacks and Latinos are communities and other working-class waved a hand. "Not interested," he said, we announced the slowly moving into the previously all­ neighborhoods. About a fifth of the signa­ and walked on. The other stopped, saying, launching of this white areas, and many more are working "My father died in Vietnam. I'll sign any­ tures were collected in South Boston, fund, which has a there. thing to stop another one. We've got to Charlestown, East Boston, Hyde Park, and goal of ratsmg One of the top petitioners, Aaron - a the North End. These majority-white areas keep our noses out of other people's busi­ $150,000 by Nov. 24. coworker of Emanatian's- signed up 130 ness." were noted for their sharp opposition to Its purpose is to fi­ court-ordered school desegregation in nance publication of 1974. . the Militant, the At that time, racist resistance in these Tacoma machinists fight takebacks monthly Perspectiva neighborhoods flared into sustained anti­ Mundial, the Marxist Black violence - physical abuse of Black BY DAN FEIN represents the mechanics at the majority of magazine New Inter­ students, rioting, and attacks on school TACOMA, Wash. - "The company car dealerships in nearby Tacoma, as well national, the French­ buses bearing Black youth. The "anti-bus­ wants all takeaways and we just want the as workers at Tam and other smaller shops. language Nouvelle In­ ing movement," organized by local Demo­ same contract," strike captain Bob Jowders Mechanics at Titus-Will had been work­ ternationale, and Path­ cratic Party politicians, was finally de­ said. His union, International Association ing without a contract since October 1986. finder books and feated by a mobilized Black community of Machinists (lAM) Local 1152, has been On July 30 they began their strike. The pamphlets. that inspired solidarity nationwide in on strike against Tam Engineering Corp. dealership recently increased its shop rate As of September 9, marches and protests. since July 22. · to customers to $42 per hour and then pro­ $80,000 has been Emanatian, who spent an afternoon on Tam, an engine rebuilding firm , wants posed a pay cut for new hires. The com­ pledged and South Boston's main streets shaking hands to cut pensions 50 percent and wages from pany wants to eliminate the apprenticeship $4,400 collected. and distributing flyers , reported, "I made a $.50 to $3 per hour; eliminate seniority program with automatic progression to journeyman and substitute a new classifi­ I wish to help the fund, enclosed is: point not only of stressing our opposition to rights; make workers pay for part of the the war in Nicaragua and our support to the medical coverage, to the tune of about $30 cation for new hires - "utility mechanic" - $1,000 - $500 - $100 Sandini"sta government, but also talked per month; and change the contract expira­ - which means helper. The pay for utility mechanic will be $8 per hour and no bene­ _ · $25 $ other about how working people had to oppose tion date from July to just before Christ­ racist attacks and how labor had to lead the mas. fits at all. The 14 workers struck over this issue as well as cuts in health and dental Name ------­ fight for jobs and democratic rights, from better housing to the right to abortion. The Company ads in the newspaper have net­ care, sick leave benefits, life insurance, Address ------­ ted 30 scabs. So far, 32 lAM members out and pension. City------response was cordial and without inci­ State Zip ______dent." of 146 have joined the outside scabs and Strikers from Tam are helping Titus­ crossed the picket line. Will mechanics with picket duty. Pickets Mail to Fall Socialist Publications A sign of the changes was the response The owners of Tam Engineering own say new car sales are down as a result of the Fund, 410 West St., New York, N.Y . . by many South Boston residents to an at­ Titus-Will Ford-Toyota-Hyundai where picket signs. 10014. tempt to bar a New York City rowing team members of lAM Local 1152 are also on from . a Memorial Day regatta for Irish strike. Local 1152, an amalgamated local, Dan Fein is a member of JAM Loca/289.

September 18, 1987 The Militant 5 Auto bosses seek·new round of concessions Ford, GM propose lump-sum bonuses instea4 of wage increases

BY JEFF POWERS other benefits that are tied to-the base wage KANSAS CITY, Mo. -On August 31, rate also remain frozen. the United Auto Workers announced that Also, in earlier settlements, the auto Ford Motor Co. has been chosen as its companies have agreed to roll cost-of-liv­ strike target when the union's contracts ing increases from previous years into the with the two largest U.S. auto companies new base wage. This time around, GM expire September 14. says it won't roll in the 86 cents an hour Those contracts cover 370,000 UA W that has accrued over the current contract. members at General Motors and 104,000 at !f GM is successful in extending lump­ Ford. sum bonuses for three more years, it would UA W officials chose Ford as a target be­ mean that auto workers begin the next set cause it was the more profitable of the two of negotiations receiving the same hourly in 1986, netting $3.3. billion. GM raked in pay they were getting in 1984. $2.9 billion. The auto giant also wants to eliminate or The union will try to negotiate a contract substantially reduce cost-of-living pay­ with Ford that can be used as a model for ments. Other proposed takebacks include reaching an agreement with GM. continuation of the two-tier pay scheme UAW negotiators say they rejected that starts newly hired workers at 85 per­ Ford's initial proposal, which included cent of the normal base rate and a lower lump-sum bonuses instead of pay in­ wage scale for workers in parts and compo- . creases. nents plants. Union President Owen Bieber said Ford Ford manufactures 50 percent of its parts must also agree to a "meaningful job secu­ at its U.S. plants. The rest are obtained rity program." from either U.S. or foreign suppliers. GM, He means extending programs nego­ which manufactures 70 percent of its own tiated in previous contracts, such as the parts, says a wage cut is necessary if its Guaranteed Income Stream (GIS), Supple­ parts plants are to remain competitive. mental Unemployment Benefits (SUB), Militant/Mark Friedman If either company gets away with lower­ and the Job Bank. Members of UA W Local 594 in Pontiac, Michigan, on strike over local issues at be­ ing wages for parts workers, it will under­ Under GIS and SUB, higher seniority ginning of year. Negotiations on local issues are now under way at 182 GM plants. mine solidarity in the union. workers could continue receiving checks In the negotiations, the auto bosses are and some benefits from the auto companies placing emphasis on increasing productiv­ for a limited period of time in the event of Lump-sum payments are especially ben­ A frozen base pay assures workers a ity. They are trying to push through sweep­ a plant closing or a long shutdown. GIS eficial to the auto companies. Until 1984, drop in their standard of living. Even in a ing changes in work rules and eliminate or also contained provisions that enabled auto union members customarily expected contract with cost-of-living provisions, combine many job classifications. Much of some workers to transfer to other plants. to receive an annual 3 percent wage in­ without increases in base pay, workers lose this is being done at the local plant level. The Job Bank provided company-funded crease. The lump sums introduced in the ground to inflation because cost-of-living Negotiations on local contracts are taking payments to retrain a limited number of 1984 contract amounted to 2 percent of a payments in union contracts almost never place at GM's 182 plants. Agreements workers. worker's yearly wage. keep up with price rises. Pensions and have been reached at 22 of them. GM pleads poverty GM's billionaire owners are pleading poverty. They are demanding a new round of concessions regardless of what happens San Diego machinists suffer setbacks in the Ford negotiations. Auto workers have not had a contractual BY MARl HAWKES vinced that they needed to wage a major were handed letters giving them a date they pay increase since 1984. Like Ford, GM SAN DIEGO-Strikes by Machinists at fight against the company. Less than half could come back or informing them that wants to continue paying lump-sum two plants here in July and August ended in the membership attended the July 18 pre­ they were being put on a "recall list." bonuses instead of wage increases. GM defeats for the union. strike meeting and the July 26 meeting Solar used to be regarded as one of the says the size of the bonuses should be' tied On August 13 International Association where a company offer was discussed. better places to work in San Diego. The av­ to both profits and productivity at indi­ of Machinists (lAM) Local 1125 ended its The union officials did little to clarify erage age in the plant is 45 and most work­ vidual plants. strike at General Dynamics. Five days later the issues in dispute. They refused to make ers have about 12 years seniority. Now Local 685 ended a walkout at Solar Tur­ the two-tier wage scale a major issue. many are wondering if they will get their bines. The officials focused on lump-sum pay­ jobs back. Auto workers protest As soon as workers at General Dynam­ ments as the major monetary issue. They One worker who's been allowed back in­ ics' Convair and Space divisions voted to popularized the slogan, "Dump the lump" side said it's "like there is no union. There closing of Ohio plant go on strike, General Dynamics began try­ but their explanations didn't take into ac­ are no shop stewards, no seniority. It ing to scare workers into crossing the pick­ count how much $2,400 up front is for seems like the company can do what it BY MAURICE WILLIAMS et line. someone making $6 an hour. It's about 20 wants." ELYRIA, Ohio- Some 600 protested Union members got letters and phone percent of his or her annual income. Union Workers in San Diego are drawing a here August 22 following General Motors' calls at home telling them if they didn't re­ officials didn't put forward the need for a variety of conclusions from these defeats. announcement that it will close its Fisher turn to work they would be permanently re­ raise in the hourly rate along with the Some say the strikes were a mistake or that -Guide plant in 1988. placed. lump-sum payment. strikes in general are a bad idea. Others are The march went from the United Auto Full-page ads announcing 3,000 job On the heels of the General Dynamics discussing what it will take to wage a suc­ Workers Local 780 hall to downtown openings appeared in the San Diego Union. defeat, workers at Solar decided to end cessful fight against takebacks and union­ Elyria. Members of other UA W locals and Similar ads ran continuously on local their strike without a contract. Solar had busting. several other unions participated along radio. begun hiring scabs and was subcontracting with Local 780 members. · The company distributed bulletins at the out work. About 23 percent of the workers Mari Hawkes is a member of JAM local Many workers carried signs reading, plant gate describing how many workers had already crossed the picket line. When 1125 at the Electronics Division ofGeneral "Fight for jobs" and "People before prof­ had returned and how well they were main­ the strikers tried to return to work, they Dynamics. its." Several drivers along the way honked taining production in face of the strike. their horns in support, as did an engineer in By the fourth week, more than a a locomotive passing overhead. thousand workers had returned to their jobs At a downtown rally, union officials and out of a work force of 4,000. And about Union food pantry aids strike politicians urged GM to keep the plant 550 scabs had been hired. open. "This is a viable productive plant in On August 13, at the urging of the the GM chain," said Warren Davis, direc­ union's officers, the membership voted to by S. Dakota meat-packers tor of UA W Region 2. "The blame belongs end the strike. in the lap of the GM corporation. Eleven Terms of the contract General Dynamics BY DEAN DENTON county, and federal agencies. The Sioux GM plants are closing while they are open­ imposed included a three-year wage SIOUX FALLS, S.D.- Since June, the Falls Food Bank, which is partially funded ing about a dozen in Mexico where they freeze, with lump-sum payments of $2,400 families of meat-packers on strike against by the United Way, a national charity or­ pay workers $3.00 a day. We must do the first year and $1,200 the second and the John Morrell & Co. plant here have ganization, is also denying aid to the strik­ everything we can to stop GM running out third years. been getting their weekly groceries from ers. on this community," Davis stated. The starting pay rate was lowered, cost­ the union's Food Pantry. To add insult to injury, the same food GM first announced last year that it in­ of-living payments were lowered, and the The 2,700 members of United Food and bank is helping the scabs the company tended to close its Fisher Guide plants, in­ workers now have to pay $5 for each doc­ Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local hired in its attempt to break the strike. cluding the one in Elyria. Potential buyers tor visit. 304A have been on a sympathy strike since For this reason, Doc, a 304A member, were encouraged to look over the facility. The company was able to sever the com­ May 1. told me he will no longer solicit funds from GM launched a publicity campaign de­ mon seniority lists between the Convair coworkers for the United Way. signed to convince. the workers. and the and Space divisions and instead establish The strike began when roving pickets Morris Ruchholz, Local 304A treasurer, community that s.ale of the plant was a separate lists. were set up outside the South Dakota plant estimates that the union's members contri­ good deal for everyone concerned. In addition, those hired to break the by meat-packers on strike at Morrell's buted about $90,000 to the United Way last Eventually Johnson Controls Co. strike remain in the plant, even though sev­ Sioux City, Iowa, operation some 90 miles year. emerged as a likely buyer. GM im­ eral hundred union members have not been from here. Funds for the Local 304A Food Pantry mediately began pressuring the union to ac­ recalled. Morrell hopes to defeat the strike by have come from a number of area unions, cept a contract that would be attractive to About 40 percent of those currently draining the union's fund and starving out including several UFCW locals. the pros.pective owner. The workers saw working at General Dynamics are not the workers. Buchholz says the union's pantry helps this as a tactic to cut wages and benefits. union members. Company personnel is Fred Lea is the food service manager for insure that food is equitably distributed to Then Johnson Controls gave the union doing work previously performed by union Local 304A. He said the union set up the workers who need it and that everyone gets two weeks to agree on a takeback deal. members and fear is rising that the com­ Food Pantry to help stretch the $40 per served without being hassled. When the local rejected the ultimatum, pany will try to have the union decertified. week strike benefits the workers receive. Contributions can be sent to UFCW Johnson pulled out of the deal and GM an­ As the strike developed, it was clear that Lea explained that the strikers' families Local 304A, 101 S. Fairfax, Sioux Falls, nounced the plant will be clos.ed down . a majority of the workers were not con- have been denied assistance from state, S.D. 57103.

6 The Militant September 18, 1987 -_.,.f UN committee backs independence for Puerto Rico, Namibia

BY SAM MANUEL colonial government of following Wash­ NEW YORK - The United Nations ington's lead in restricting democratic Special Committee on Decolonization reaf­ rights. firmed its stand in support of independence Awilda Palau, president of the Puerto for Namibia and Puerto Rico at its hearings Rican Committee of Intellectuals for the this year. It also backed independence for Sovereign Peoples of the Americas, said the Pacific island of New Caledonia. the U.S. State Department had denied visas The annual August hearings of the com­ to individuals from Cuba and the Domini­ mittee are an important international forum can Republic who were to attend a confer­ in the fight for independence and self-de­ ence organized by the University of Puerto termination. According to a committee re­ Rico. From 1980 through this year, 200 port, more than 3 million people still live writers, artists, professionals, and students under the colonial yoke. were similarly denied visas. The decolonization committee was Gerald Keogh, president of the Brehon formed in 1961 , a year after the UN Gen­ Law Society, an Irish-American organiza­ Thousands in San Juan welcome Puerto Rican nationalists released in 1979 after eral Assembly adopted the "Declaration on tion of judges and lawyers, compared the serving 25 years in U.S. prison. Rafael Cancel Miranda, one of former prisoners, tes• the Granting of Independence to Colonial colonial status of Puerto Rico to the British tified at UN decolonization hearings. Countries and Peoples." Until that time the occupation of Northern Ireland. main body charged with the responsibility for overseeing the process of decoloniza­ Two Puerto Rican defenders of U.S. rica to annex them would be illegal, null, The French government has announced tion was the Trusteeship Council, com­ domination of Puerto Rico were dredged and void." plans for a referendum on independence for prised largely of the colonial powers. up to testify before the committee. Elsie In a separate resolution the committee the island. Originally scheduled for July, The deliberations and decisions of this Valdes Ramos, of the Movement United in condemned the activities and policies of the referendum has been postponed several year's two-week-long meeting of the com­ Face ofUncertainty asserted that the u,s. governments that continued to support or times due to protests against it led by the mittee were summarized in a series of press government wanted self-determination for collaborate with foreign economic interests Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front releases, which the following report is Puerto Rico, and claimed that the standard illegally exploiting Namibia's mineral and (FLNKS). The referendum, which is cur­ based on. of living was now very high in Puerto Rico sea resources. rently scheduled for September 13, is rig­ thanks to Washington. In a third resolution the committee ex­ ged to prevent a vote for independence. Puerto Rico At the conclusion of the hearings on pressed its regret that the World Bank con­ Yann Celene Uregei of the FLNKS told More than 25 petitioners testified at the Puerto Rico the committee adopted by tinued to maintain financial and technical the committee that the referendum would hearings on Puerto Rico. Among them majority vote a resolution drafted and in­ links with South Africa, and called for achieve nothing. He condemned the 134- were representatives of the National Con­ troduced by Cuba. It recommended the UN them to be discontinued. It also condemned year legacy of French colonialism, stating gress for Puerto Rican Rights, Puerto General Assembly reaffirm the inalienable the collaboration between the International that its sad balance had resulted in only one Rican Socialist Party, National Ecumenical right of the people of Puerto Rico to self­ Monetary Fund and South Africa. native Kanak doctor, two professors, and Movement of Puerto Rico, United Com­ determination and independence and ex­ Stating that he generally supported the one judge in all of New Caledonia. mittee Against Repression, and the Law press its hope, and that of the international resolutions on Namibia, the Swedish mem­ According to Uregei there is now one College of Puerto Rico. community, that the Puerto Rican people ber of the committee objected to support soldier for every three adult Kanaks on the The U.S. government has consistently "may exercise without hindrance its right for the armed struggle of the Namibian island. He reported further that a signifi­ refused to cooperate with the committee in to self-determination with the express rec­ people against South African occupation. cant number of young people had been im­ regards to Puerto Rico. In a Sept. 15, ognition of the people's sovereignty and The committee, however,"reaffirmed the prisoned for refusing to serve in the coloni­ 1986, reply to a request for information on full political equality." legitimacy of their struggle by all means at al army. action taken or proposed to decolonize their disposal to achieve freedom." The Other decisions of the committee in­ Puerto Rico, the U.S. permanent represen­ Namibia committee also strongly condemned col­ cluded: tative to the UN answered that the United After several days of testimony the com­ laboration with the South African regime in • Reaffirmation of the right to self-de­ States did not consider the issue of Puerto mittee reaffirmed the "inalienable right-of the nuclear field. termination of the peoples of Pitcairn, An­ Rico to be a proper subject for examination the Namibian people to self-determination guila, and Bermuda, which are adminis­ by the UN. He charged that the committee and independence." Namibia has been oc­ New Caledonia tered by Britain. had again sought "to invent a decoloniza­ cupied by South Africa since the outbreak At its closing session, the committee • Reaffirmation of the right to self-de­ tion problem with respect to Puerto Rico." of World War I. There are currently "affirmed the inalienable right of the termination of the peoples of Cayman Is­ Carlos Gallisa, general secretary of the 100,000 South African troops in Namibia. people of New Caledonia to self-determi­ lands, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Puerto Rican Socialist Party, reminded the The South West Africa People's Organisa­ nation and independence." It stated that the the Turks and Caicos Islands, and St. committee that 15 years ago it had ap­ tion is leading a political struggle for French government was obligated to trans­ Helena - administered by Britain; and of proved the right of the people of Puerto Namibian independence, and an armed re­ mit information to the committee on New the Virgin Islands and Guam administered Rico to self-determination and indepen­ sistance to the South African occupation. Caledonia and regretted that it had not done by the United States. dence. The resolution reiterated, according to a so. • Urged the governments of Argentina The imperialists, he said, could no committee press release, "Namibia's ac­ It called on the French government to re­ and Britain to resume negotiation in order longer prevent the UN from considering cession to independence must be with its sume dialogue with all sections of the to find a peaceful solution to the the case of Puerto Rico. "Cuba's voice had territorial integrity intact, including its population of New Caledonia to facilitate sovereignty dispute of the Malvinas (Falk­ never been hushed by the arrogance of the offshore islands. Any action by South Af- rapid progress toward self-determination. land) Islands. United States," he said, referring to revolu­ tionary Cuba's vanguard role in bringing the issue of Puerto Rico's colonial· status to the attention of the world. Nan1ibia Day n1eeting celebrates launching Julio lcaza Gallard spoke to the commit­ tee on behalf of the Nicaraguan govern­ ment. He said Washington was spending of fight against South African occupation millions of dollars to use Puerto Rico as a military base. He demanded that the U.S. BY ED WARREN "The U.S. government is trying to paint bian Workers; and John Pandeni, general government apply UN Resolution 1514 (on NEW YORK -On Aug. 26, 1966, the SW APO and the ANC as terrorist. But it is secretary of the Namibian Food and Allied the independence of Puerto Rico and other People's Liberation Army of Namibia took the U.S. government itself which should be Workers Union. colonies) and respect the identity of Puerto up arms against the racist South African re­ held in contempt for its continual support They are all charged under the terrorism Rico as a Latin American nation. gime, whose troops have occupied to the real terrorists, the apartheid regime act. Under that law, they can be held in­ Much of the testimony centered on the Namibia since 1915. This date is now ob­ of South Africa," Dube said. Condemning definitely without access to their families, campaign of surveillance, frame-ups, and served throughout the world as Namibia Washington's support to the contras in Nic­ lawyers, or doctors. "We fear for their wel­ imprisonments of independence activists Day. aragua, he said, "They are killing peasants, fare and that of many other Namibians who and leaders carried out by Washington with Some 175 people attended a meeting at women, and children. Isn't that ter­ remain under constant threat," Hamutenya the support of the government of Puerto the Hospital and Health Care Employees rorism?" said. Rico since the early 1950s. District 1199 hall here on August 27 to He solidarized with the miners' strike in U.S. government officials are proposing The latest example of this dirty work is show their solidarity with the freedom fight South Africa. "Also in Namibia, 4,000 reactionary legislation to prohibit represen­ the arrest, jailing, and pending trial of 15 led by the South West Africa People's Or­ mine workers went on strike at the copper, tatives of the ANC, SW APO, and the Pal­ Puerto Rican independence supporters and ganisation (SWAPO). Representatives of lead, and zinc mines of Tsumeb Ltd. and estine Liberation Organization (PLO) from a U.S. attorney. Eleven of them were ar­ United Auto Workers District Council 65; were joined by several hundred others at traveling beyond the confines of the cities rested in an Aug. 30, 1985, raid on the is­ American Federation of State, County and the Kombat and Otjitlase copper mines," where their United Nations missions are lo­ land by more than 200 armed FBI agents. Municipal Employees District Council 37; he reported. cated. "This is supposed to be antiterrorist Marfa Dolores Fernos, of the Committee and the General Union of Palestinian The companies dismissed the workers legislation," said Dube. "The fact is that of Friends and Relatives of Those Arrested Women, Youth and Students gave greet­ and got a court order evicting them from the U.S. government is the biggest terrorist on August 30, told the committee that ings to the meeting. A message was read company hostels. Army troops and cops in the world." Puerto Rico would only achieve self-deter­ from Local 1199 President Georgianna were then used to transport the workers to mination through independence. After de­ Johnson. The keynote speech was given by Hidipo the northern war zone, reported scribing the arrest and treatment of the 15 Fred Dube represented the African Na~ Hamutenya, information secretary for Hamutenya. The fate of these workers is Puerto Rican independence supporters by tional Congress (ANC) of South Africa. SWAPO. He told the audience that on Au­ not yet known. U.S. authorities, she concluded that the Dube, a professor at the State University of gust 18 more than 10 leaders of SWAPO He appealed to opponents of the apart­ 1952 Constitution of Puerto Rico had no New York at Stony Brook, is currently had been arrested in Namibia. Among heid regime to continue to support the legal or juridical value. fighting an attempt to deny him tenure by them were Hendrik Witbooi, SW APO's struggles of workers in Namibia and South Rafael Cancel Miranda also appeared at the university's board of trustees. "The acting vice president; Daniel Tjongarero, Africa and to insist on immediate im­ the hearings. He is one of five Puerto Rican ANC is present to show the unity of the or­ acting national chairman; Nico Bessinger, plementation of United Nations resolution nationalists imprisoned for 25 years begin­ ganizations fighting against the racist coordinator of foreign affairs; Anton 435, which calls for independence for ning in 1954. Cancel Miranda accused the apartheid regime," said Dube. Lubowski of the National Union of Nami- Namibia.

September 18, 1987 The Militant 7 Nicaraguan contras continue terror attacks Sandinista land reform further isolates mercenaries

BY CINDY JAQUITH cated properties being turned over to MANAGUA, Nicaragua - While the them," he added. Instead the land went to process around the Central America peace state farms or cooperatives. accords has unfolded, the U.S.-run contra From the military standpoint, when the war against Nicaragua continues. The contras began their armed attacks in 1981 peace discussions show that Washington's their troops included people from the rural contra mercenaries are more politically iso­ Matagalpa region, while the Sandinista lated inside Nicaragua and around the forces sent in to fight them came from the world than ever before. Yet the massive aid cities and were seen as "outsiders." they receive from the U.S. governmental­ By 1984, said Zamora, the contras "had lows them to keep sowing death and de­ become a dangerous military force, with a struction in Nicaragua. certain hegemony among the peasantry, while we had had to abandon some areas" Sabotage increasing of the countryside. Between June 5 and July 5 the contras "We sat down and did a profound criti­ bombed eight electric towers in the cism and self-criticism of our work in gen­ Matagalpa, Esteli, and Chontales regions. eral. In 1984 there were 20,000 peasant A contra sabotage team managed to infil­ families whose lack of land had not been trate Esteli itself, a northern town and one resolved. We hadn't put together the neces­ of the country's largest, to bomb a pylon. sary military forces to confront the enemy. During the same period, the mercenaries At the same time, our presence as the rev­ carried out a series of murderous assaults olution was weak, bureaucratic, and dis­ on civilians: persed." • June 10: a mortar attack on the Atlan­ What progress has been made? Begin­ tic Coast town of Pearl Lagoon, wounding ning in 1984, the national government re­ six. versed its prioritization of resources for the • June 14: an assault on the northern cities and began earmarking most funds peasant village of Panali, wounding seven. and social services for the countryside. • June 18: an attack on a farm coopera­ Second, some 13,500 families in the tive in the south-central Nicaragua Chon­ Militant/Bill Gretter Matagalpa region have received land. The tales region, killing five. Land-distribution ceremony in San Marcos, Masaya Province, in January 1986. government originally gave out land • June 18: an attack on a state farm, Banner declares, "Let there be no peasant without land in Nicaragua." mainly to peasants willing to set up killing eight. cooperatives. But, Zamora explained, "many peasants were afraid to till the land • June 18: the kidnapping of 12 peas- · heavy weaponry, and running tens of the Matagalpa region. "The counterrevolu­ ants from the Chontales village of San thousands of U.S. troops through "exer­ tion was building up a social base and had and form co-ops because the contras would Ubaldo. cises" in Honduras to prepare them for a assassinated almost 600 peasants in attack them. So we said, okay, we're going • June 24: the murder of Chilean tech­ possible intervention. The U.S. military cooperatives, [farm union] leaders, and to give you the land in the form you want nician Manuel LOpez Ibanez, near El it." presence in the region has become teachers. They had forced almost 200 Over time, he said, more peasants have Sauce, 15 miles south of Esteli. "routine" and almost "legitimate" Ortega cooperatives to pull back or close down become convinced that they are safer and • July 1: an attack on a farm coopera­ warned. - and had practically expelled us from some more productive working in cooperatives tive in Chontales, killing one. But, he continued, the Nicaraguan territories." with organized militias. • July 3: an ambush of a bus near people have also achieved something im­ Things had reached this point, said On the military plane, the government Nueva Guinea, also in south-central Nica­ portant: "We have basically broken up" the Zamora, in part because of errors by the established a national draft in 1984 and ragua, killing 11. contra army. Sandinistas. began expanding local militias and reserve • July 3: the assassination of Tomas Big contra military victories were sup­ Following the victory of the revolution units. Thousands of peasants have been in­ Zavaleta, a Salvadoran priest working with posed to create the conditions for aU. S. in­ in 1979, the new government initially con­ corporated into defense units, frequently peasant cooperatives in the north, killed vasion of Nicaragua, Ortega explained. centrated its scarce financial resources in fighting in the area where they grew up and when his truck hit a land mine. Washington "thought that by now Nicara­ the cities, not the countryside. "At the be­ are known by local residents. The high point of these terror attacks, gua would be undergoing a deep destabili­ ginning," Zamora recalled, "we were The task now, Zamora told Barricada, according to the CIA's script, was to be the zation due to a civil war, with a vigorous thinking about organizing the economy of "is to accelerate the defeat of the contras, spectacular seizure of an important peasant counterrevolutionary army capable of the cities, the problems of the Pacific, of redouble our mobilization, and win the town, Quilali, located about 35 miles liberating zones, territories, and important Managua. The [economic] situation of the war. We mustn't get accustomed to living northeast of EstelL On June 25, up to 500 towns, capable of tipping the military re­ peasant began to deteriorate." forever with the counterrevolution." contras attempted to invade the town. U.S. lationship of forces in its favor," he said. Although the revolutionary government The Barricada reporter asked, "But reporters were even brought in from Hon­ "Had they achieved this, it would not quickly expropriated the properties of land­ won't accelerating the defeat [of the con­ duras to cover "the taking of Quilalf." only have facilitated the step of U.S. inter­ lords close to Somoza, the redistribution of tras] bring a direct aggression by the Yan­ But a well-organized militia of Quilali vention - which remains a real danger - land to poor peasants went very slowly. kees closer?" workers and peasants responded im­ but brought it much closer in time." The ex-landlords organized a minority "On the contrary," answered Zamora. mediately to repel the attack. Militias in After six years of trying, however, the of peasants to resist the revolutionary The U.S. government "is taking into ac­ surrounding villages also went on the alert. contras have failed to take and hold a single changes taking place. These were poor count the fact that we have thousands of As a result, more than 40 contras were town, much less start a civil war. Their peasants whose entire lives had been de­ youth who have gone through military killed. They succeeded only in partially ability to launch major military offensives pendent on a big landlord "who was the training." Militias and reserve battalions damaging the main grain storage facility in has been shattered. The Sandinistas esti­ godfather of their children, who took care have been organized throughout the rural town. mate they have reduced the number of mer­ of them when they were sick, who loaned areas "complete with their own command­ In a news conference June 25, San­ cenaries by almost two-thirds since 1984. them money to solve their problems, and ers, combat training, defense plans, and dinista People's Army (EPS) political di­ However, the contras "still maintain a who they did not see as tied to mobilization capacity. And this is the very rector Hugo Torres was asked about the in­ certain capacity to replenish their ranks," Somozaism," said Zamora. structure we are going to use against the crease in contra attacks. He pointed out Ortega said. At the beginning of 1987, the Nor did these peasants "see the confis- gringos in the hour of an invasion." that the mercenaries are concentrating their army estimated the number of contras at attacks on lightly defended peasant areas about 6,500. The Sandinistas have killed and that many of their victims have been some 2, 700 in battle in the last six months. unarmed women and children. One goal of But the current troop strength of the mer­ Right-wing group boasts of the terror, he said, is to discourage peas­ cenaries is about 6,000. ants from taking advantage of the revolu­ Where do the new recruits come from? Calif. tion's land reform program. Ortega said that on the one hand, 12- and murdering Vietnamese in Torres also said that the increased aid 13-year-old Nicaraguan boys living in "ref­ approved by the U.S. Congress last year ugee" camps in Honduras are being pressed BY NELSON BLACKSTOCK bility for several previous terrorist assaults. Last year in Orange County they shot an has allowed the CIA to give more sophisti­ into the contra ranks. LOS ANGELES - A right-wing Viet­ cated training to contra commanders. namese group has claimed responsibility official in the former U.S.-backed regime "We should also not be afraid to say that Asked how the army is meeting this new for the murder of the editor of a popular in South Vietnam who now favors normali­ [inside Nicaragua], where the majority of challenge, Torres stressed deepening the magazine in Orange County, just south of zation of relations with Vietnam and who the population supports the revolutionary participation of peasants in militias. He this city. refused to tum over $10,000 to them. changes, there exist sectors that are against said that even some ex-contras who have Tap Van Pham died August 9 when an In 1981 they announced they had in­ the revolution," he continued. received amnesty are joining militias. This arsonist-set fire swept through the offices voked the "death penalty" in the fatal development is most striking on the Atlan­ These sectors include peasants "who are of Mai in the Little Saigon area of Garden shooting of Lam Trong Duong, who pub­ tic Coast, he said, "where we have entire manipulated, above all in the most isolated Grove. lished a small pro-Vietnam newspaper in militia units made up of Miskito and Sumo parts of the countryside, through pressure A letter postmarked that same day and San Francisco. Indians" who have left the contras. or by landlords. There are still sectors [pro­ mailed from San Jose in Northern Califor­ The group also said it was responsible viding] a certain social base, which grows nia claimed responsibility for the attack. for shooting restaurant owner Nguyen Van Washington's goal for contras smaller every day, for the mercenary Received by Vietnamese-language news­ Luy and murdering his wife in San Fran­ On July 15 Gen. Humberto Ortega, head forces," Ortega explained. papers in Orange County, the letter was cisco. They had willed their estate to the of the EPS, gave an overview of the current signed by the Vietnamese Party to Extermi­ Vietnamese government "to heal wounds military situation. He explained that Wash­ Political battle nate the Communists and Restore the Na­ and to rebuild the country." ington's goal since the contra war began in The political struggle to win over peas­ tion. After this latest murder, the editor of 1981 has been to overthrow the Nicaraguan ants influenced by the contras has made big The letter said the magazine, s offices Orange County's largest Vietnamese-lan­ government. To do so, Washington has strides forward in the last three years. Car­ were being "destroyed" because the editor guage newspaper reported, "Many been trying for the last six years to lay the los Zamora, head of the Sandinista Na­ had refused to heed warnings not to carry businessmen also received [a threatening basis for using U.S. troops in Nicaragua. tional Liberation Front (FSLN) in the advertisements by Canadian-based firms letter], and they and others are very, very The U.S. government has been success­ northern Nicaragua Matagalpa region, de­ that aid Vietnamese immigrants in sending frightened." ful on one count, Ortega explained. They scribed the progress in a recent interview in funds to relatives in their homeland. Some The police have so far not managed to have succeeded in carrying out a massive the Sandinista daily Barricada. 120,000 Vietnamese live in Orange bring any of the attackers to justice and say military build-up throughout Central Zamora said 1984 through early 1985 County. they are not sure that the group claiming America, constructing airports, bringing in was the worst period for the revolution in This same group has claimed responsi- credit really exists.

8 The Militant September 18, 1987 Borge: 'We have fought tirelessly to reach an accord' On August 26 Nicaraguan Interior On the other hand, the Washington Post Minister Tomas Borge addressed a confer­ notes that "the police broke up a demon­ ence in Managua of women scientists and stration of 2,000 opponents through technicians from Central America, the bloodshed and gunfire. Among the four or United States, and Europe. In his opening six arrested are two ... " and it mentions remarks, he took up the lies in the U.S. their names. press about the Sandinistas' attitude toward the accords signed recently in Guatemala No blood or gunfire for an end to military conflicts in Central I must tell you that the attempted demon­ America. stration was 400 people, not 2,000. And it A member of the National Directorate of was not broken up in bloodshed and gun­ the Sandinista National Liberation Front, fire. There was no blood and no gunfire. Borge refuted charges that the Sandinistas Nobody even got hit, except some police have ulterior motives in signing the ac­ who received minor blows. cords. He also dispelled rumors that he per­ They're trying to exploit small and insig­ Funeral of Nicaraguan victim of contras. "Who could be against peace, against the sonally opposes the Guatemala agreement. nificaNt incidents, which in any other coun­ Guatemala accords?" asked Sandinista leader Tomas Borge. "Only those who are ir­ Finally, he appealed to the women present try in the world would have no signifi­ responsible, the provocateurs, those who have identified themselves with U.S. pol­ to intensify solidarity with Nicaragua's cance. Four hundred people try to hold a icy." struggle to end the U.S.-imposed contra demonstration. They're finally persuaded war. not to, and they don't. There's an exchange The Sandinista leader devoted the re­ the counterrevolution has been defeated in block boycotts and traps aimed against the of words, some plastic bags filled with strategic terms. peace accords. mainder of his talk to a history of women's water are thrown at policemen, and nothing oppression, the rise of feminism, and its re­ Because had the counterrevolution not The support for the accords, which has more. Two, not six, are arrested. They re­ been defeated, and had the people of Nica­ been unanimous, is still lukewarm. It lationship to the class struggle. ceive 30-day, noncommutable jail sen­ Below we reprint excerpts from Borge's ragua turned their backs on the revolution, should be passionate, much hotter, more tences. then we would not have any accord. The enthusiastic. If you can do something in initial remarks. The transcription and In any other city in the world such an in­ translation is by the Militant. domestic relationship of forces inside this your own countries in any way, it would be cident has no importance. No one picks it country has been decisive in reaching this important. Do it for peace in this bloodied * * * up, not even an insignificant gossip col­ reasonable and realistic agreement in country, this country that has shed so much umn. Yet this insignificant incident mer­ Guatemala. blood and so many tears in the cause for It wouldn't be a bad idea to talk about ited five columns in a U.S. daily. And it the current conjuncture and read what the peace in the Central American countries. became a scandal .in the United States and I am not pessimistic Because if a generalized war comes, no other parts of the world. What the future holds is unknown. There one knows what the consequences will be, Divisions inside Sandinista Front? are those who are pessimistic about the including on the level of world peace. stand that the U.S. government may take. They try to give the impression that in­ And there are obvious, objective reasons to Nicaragua's economic crisis side the Sandinista Front there are those be pessimistic. The visceral policies of Mr. In Nicaragua we cannot hide the fact that who oppose the peace accords and those Reagan make one think that it's going to be we are in a difficult economic situation. who support them. As if there were blood­ very difficult for him to not somehow veto The international news agencies speculate thirsty tigers on the one hand and meek the Guatemala accords. about this, and even say that we signed the lambs on the other. You should know, sis­ Nonetheless, I am not so pessimistic. accords because we are suffering an eco­ ters, and the whole world should know: in Because Mr. Reagan also wanted to liqui­ nomic crisis. this country we have neither tigers nor date the revolution in Nicaragua, and he What fools they are! We signed these ac­ lambs. What we have are lions to defend hasn't been able to. And there was a mo­ cords because we support peace on princi­ the homeland. ment when in their concrete plans they had ple. You laughed when I read these news dis­ decided in the United States to invade Nic­ And if there is a country to whom we are patches. But believe me, they do leave aragua, but certain factors arose that made deeply grateful for its selfless and uncondi­ their imprint on the consciousness of the it impossible, at that moment, to invade tional aid, that country is the Soviet Union. U.S. people. our country. It has carried out all its agreements for sol­ Of course it's not possible that the revo­ I don't think its enough for Mr. Reagan idarity with Nicaragua. It's even possible lutionary leadership in this country, the to want to liquidate the Guatemala accords. the Soviet Union will go beyond those National Directorate of the Sandinista The support these accords have gotten has agreements and increase its aid in this con­ Front, has important differences over the been so great, so unanimous, so universal, crete situation. decisions we make. Even so, these seem­ that it will muzzle imperialism's ferocious I ingly confused people - and they are not But more important than the oil the teeth and prevent it from chewing up these Soviet Union has given us - or may give Tomas Borge really confused, but deliberately trying to accords. confuse public opinion - these people us by increasing its quota - is the respect This is a real possibility - if humanity, with which it has treated us. They have international press is saying, particularly should know that in this country no one makes individual decisions, fortunately for conscious of the need to find a peaceful never imposed the slightest conditions on the U.S. news agencies. solution in Central America, unites to pre­ us. Of course we would not accept condi­ The Washington Post says: "The sorry Nicaragua and for the revolution. Deci­ sions are made after being discussed. vent obstacles to the development of peace. tions from anyone. The Soviet Union has state of the Nicaraguan economy may have I believe we all must make new efforts been exemplary in this regard. And we been a decisive factor in inducing the San­ And who could be against peace? Who everywhere to expose U.S. policy and to have the moral obligation to say so. dinistas to accept an internal democratiza­ could be against the Guatemala accords? tion as part of the Guatemala peace ac­ Only those who are irresponsible, the pro­ cords. The Soviet Union seems to be losing vocateurs, those who have identified them­ patience with Nicaragua's economic situa­ selves with U.S. policy could be against tion." this kind of miracle produced in Strikes, protests inS. Korea And the New York Times says: "Dip­ Guatemala. lomatic sources have said that President Nicaragua and the Sandinista Front sup­ Continued from front page National University, leading to renewed Ortega phoned President Arias recently to port and will continue to support the workers marched and rallied in Ulsan, battles with student protesters. explain the reasons behind his trip to Guatemala accords. At a meeting of the where the Hyundai auto and shipbuilding With the rise in labor unrest, students Havana. They say Ortega had to seek Sandinista Assembly, the Sandinista Front complex is located, government officials have sought to build support for the work­ Fidel's support in order to soften the pres­ came out with a single position paper sup­ felt compelled to urge the company to rec­ ers' struggles. The National Federation of sures from the hard-liners in his own gov­ porting the signing of this agreement by the ognize the workers' union. Upon a com­ University Students, which was inaugu­ ernment. Ortega is concerned above all president of Nicaragua. pany promise to do so, the workers went rated August 19 and includes student lead­ with the challenges coming from Minister back to their jobs. ers from nearly 100 campuses, pledged to of the Interior Tomas Borge, who controls Why accords were won But on September 2 up to 30,000 Hyun­ make "common struggle and solidarity" the security and intelligence agencies." It is natural for us Nicaraguans to have a dai workers again staged marches and sit­ with striking workers one of its key goals. A New York Times editorial reports that special interest in peace. We shouldn't ask ins in response to the company's foot-drag­ Alarmed by the continuing strikes and "there are signs that not all Sandinistas why Nicaragua signed these agreements, ging on their wage demands. the moves to build a worker-student al­ agree with the peace plan. One of them is but rather, how is it that the other Central Another major conflict occurred at the liance, the Chun regime began to crack Borge, whose cops beat up demonstrators American presidents finally signed them? Daewoo shipyard. Strikers there won a down more forcefully. and jail human rights activists, which may Through all these years we've fought wage increase, but at the cost of one work­ Claiming that "impure leftist forces" make the internal differences explode and tirelessly to reach an accord. When the er killed by the police. When the workers were infiltrating the labor movement, the help the pragmatic Sandinistas." Contadora Act was proposed [in 1984], the attempted to stage a massive funeral march police have seized scores of political activ­ The New York Times also says: "Soviet Nicaraguans were the only ones willing to to K wangju to bury the slain striker, police ists, and announced that more than 1,000 frugality is beginning to make itself felt. sign it. again intervened, hijacking the coffin to are under investigation. The Soviet refusal to increase its aid to These Guatemala agreements would not block the action. On September 4 riot police stormed the Nicaragua has caused an economic crisis." have been possible, of course, without the Hyundai shipyard in Ulsan and a Daewoo The Christian Science Monitor asks: factors that contributed to this historic mo­ Peasants, students protest car plant in Pupyong, detaining about 100 "Can the Sandinistas solve their internal di­ ment in Central America. And these in­ Other sectors of the population have also striking workers at each site. Another 300 visions and carry out the reforms? Will clude not only the internal crisis in the expressed their opposition to the regime's workers were picked up for conducting sit­ they have the same incentive to maintain United States resulting from the Irangate policies. in strikes in seven other cities. such a policy of [democracy] once U.S. aid scandal; not only the fact that there is a se­ Peasants have staged protests, charging But this only succeeded in prompting a to the contras is suspended?" vere economic crisis in Central America, a that they were cheated by the official agrar­ further response from the workers. On Sep­ The Wall Street Journal says that "the great weariness with the tensions and con­ ian programs. tember 7 some 10,000 workers again oc­ Sandinistas will not allow the peace plan to stant pressure from the United States. But On September 1 college campuses cupied the Hyundai shipyard, demanding force them out of power so easily." Of also the fact that the Nicaraguan people reopened for the fall semester, and within higher wages and the release of the arrested course not. support the Sandinista revolution and that hours police massed at the gates of Seoul workers.

September 18, 1987 The Militant 9 Salvador students A llANOS Dtl and workers stage Vll G&NOCIDIO tl[Yftf10S tOS antigov't protest PUNOS PARA tUCHRR. Banners announce day of solidarity with students and people of El Salvador, marking an­ niversary of 1975 massacre of students on campus.

BY DON GUREWITZ ering their faces , mounted the stage briefly dents of the University of El Salvador tant activities. That is why AGEUS is a SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - to address the audience. (AGEUS). One had his arm in a sling, the member of the National Union of Salvador­ Twenty thousand students and workers One of the most popular chants at the result of being shot by the police at a dem­ an Workers. marched through the streets July 30 to march was "presupuesto" ("budget"). This onstration for the striking hospital workers commemorate the massacre of 20 students refers to the fact that the government re­ the week before. Don Gurewitz is a member ofInternational here 12 years ago. The action was or­ fuses to provide an adequate budget for the The AGEUS leaders explained to us that Union of Electronic Workers Local 201. ganized by the General Association of Stu­ 36,000-student university. they consider participation by the student He has visited El Salvador on two other oc­ dents of the University of El Salvador. A During the height of the repression of the movement in support actions for struggling casions as part of U.S. trade union delega­ large contingent from the National Union early 1980s, the army invaded the campus workers, peasants, unemployed, and polit­ tions. He recently visited again as part ofa of Salvadoran Workers joined the protest. with tanks, helicopters, and heavy arms ical prisoners as some of their most impor- labor-student delegation from Boston. and shut it down. The march went by the national Social When the U.S. administration was sub­ Security hospital, where workers have sequently trying to clean up the Salvadoran been conducting a militant strike for two regime's image, the Salvadoran govern­ Mass. electrical unionists months. As the demonstrators passed, ment allowed the university to reopen - members of the Salvadoran Institute of So­ but without funds. cial Security Workers, which is carrying see Nicaragua for· the~nselves Today, although teachers and campus out the occupation of the hospital, cheered workers are paid, there is no money for BY FRED FELDMAN bargo. "Farmers don't have the machinery wildly. books, lab equipment, campus activities, The march also passed the U.S. em­ "UE Members Say Nicaragua Wants to work in the fields. In the pharmacies etc. The students and faculty have had to bassy, which had a huge phalanx of sol­ Peace and Progress, Not Contra War," read they don't have the medicine." They visi­ rebuild the entire campus through dona­ diers and cops in riot gear stationed out­ the headline on a full-page article in the ted a health clinic that had medical supplies tions. They still lack many essential mater­ side. The walls of the embassy compound August 10 UE News, published by the on hand totaling less than one-third the ials. are covered with graffiti condemning U.S. United Electrical Workers. The article­ medicines that the delegation had brought. Like the rest of the population, students published also in Spanish in the same issue Pina said they had feared Nicaraguans intervention and the U.S.-backed regime face government and right-wing violence. of Jose Napoleon Duarte . -describes the impressions of two factory would be hostile to them because of Wash­ In June, for instance, the infamous death workers who participated in a 15-member ington's role in the war, but he found in­ The protesters' colorful banners spanned squads announced over their clandestine delegation to Nicaragua from New Bed­ stead that the people were "warm, friendly, the width of the streets. Referring to the radio station a list of popular leaders and ford, Massachusetts last May. open, honest, and receptive to questions." shooting of the students in 1975 , a banner activists who had 24 hours to leave the Pina said the Nicaraguan people "do not carried by the high school students' federa­ The delegation, including an aide to the country or face execution. The student blame Americans for the involvement of tion read, "12 years after the vile genocide city's mayor, brought $12,000 worth of leaders answered the threats with redou­ medicines, paper, and pencils; and 36 the U.S. government in Nicaragua. They we raise our fists in struggle." bled efforts to build the popular movement, baseballs and gloves to Telica, a town in know the people of America are just like July 30 had been proclaimed "Interna­ including the July 30 mass march. the cotton-producing region northwest of they are. tional Day of Solidarity with El Salvador" The university has been singled out for Managua. The donations were raised from "They just want to be left alone in peace. by the International Union of Students. repression by the regime because it is a unions and other organizations in New If they have to they will fight and die for Delegations from a number of countries, center of popular protest. On July 20, for Bedford, where proposals are under dis­ peace and the future of Nicaragua, which is including Switzerland, Argentina, West example, there was a campus rally cele­ cussion to adopt Telica as a "sister city." their children." Germany, and Canada joined the demon­ brating the Nicaraguan revolution. The Teresa Almeida, president of UE Local stration. A contingent of students and trade Sandinista anthem could be heard booming 219 at Columbia Electronic Cables, and unionists from the United States also from the loudspeakers. Frank Pina, a member of Local 277 who is Mayor Young pledges marched. Another event that was advertised while a finish grinder at Morse Tool, were mem­ The day of protest was capped by a con­ we were there was a three-day seminar of bers of the delegation. Guatemala's cops cert on the campus that night. During the student groups from all over Latin America "The picture is not the one they're paint­ spirited concert-rally, members of the on the issue of the foreign debt. ing here," in the United States said Al­ can train in Atlanta Farabundo Martf National Liberation Front We were able to meet with two of the meida, after discussions with Nicaraguan BY ELLEN BERMAN (FMLN), armed and with bandannas cov- leaders of the General Association of Stu- government officials, opposition leaders, ATLANTA- "Young's pledge a P.R. farmers, workers, religious activists, and coup for Guatemala" read the lead headline people on the street. Speaking Portuguese, in the Atlanta Constitution on August 6. Subscribe to 'Perspectiva Mundial' she was able to communicate with the The pledge is to train Guatemala's National Spanish-speaking Nicaraguans. Police in Atlanta. This city was specifically "People spoke openly of their problems chosen as a possible training site because Puerto Rican fi hters speak everywhere we went," Frank Pina told UE I of Mayor Andrew Young's international As a reader of the Militant you News. "You can oppose the government so reputation as a human rights figure. are familiar with our weekly PerspecJiva · long as you don't pick up arms against it." From 1978 to 1985 an estimated coverage of the struggles of Almeida stated, "People in Nicaragua 50,000-75,000 Guatemalans, out of a .Mundial have the right to choose what government working people around the population of 8 million, were killed by the they want. There is widespread support for military, National Police, other police, and world. Nicaragua ofrece paz, the Sandinistas, the coalition responsible If you can read or are studying right-wing death squads. The 70 percent of EU hace Ia guerra for the successful 1979 revolution against the population that is Indian has been the Spanish, there is a complemen­ the Somoza dynasty." ,/' primary target of this violence. tary monthly magazine for you: (NO "They have found a government that Although a civilian president was '\ . Perspectiva Mundial. PM is a • works for them," Pina added. elected in 1985, real power still lies with Spanish-language socialist mag­ "Everyone is going to school, not just the military, which works hand in hand ="':c~).:. young people," Almeida reported. "Old azine that carries many of the (j, "fi:i) with the National Police. people are going to school to learn how to same articles you read in the ~?/· Despite a campaign to improve read and write, farmers to learn how to ad­ Guatemala's human rights image, of which Militant . EU minister their farms." Hablalider '2!. the plan to train the police in Atlanta is the The September issue of PM desindiato Unlike under the violently antilabor latest step, estimates are that more than 500 features an interview with c:ampesino en Juez prohibe al elestmode Somoza dictatorship, unions have pros­ Guatemalans have been "disappeared" or Filiberto Ojeda Rios and Juan Washington FBI usar archivos pered under the Sandinista government. killed since Vinicio Cerezo's election as Segarra Palmer, two of the 16 sobre socialistas "They have a lot of members right now in president. No attempts have been made to fighters for Puerto Rican inde­ the unions," said Almeida. She suggested find the killers. this is a reason why President Reagan Solidarity activists here held a meeting pendence who are being framed Subscriptions: $9 for one year; up by the FBI. "wants to keep the contras over there." with the mayor in an attempt to dissuade $5 for six months; Introductory Summing up their views, the UE News him from taking a "fact-finding" trip to Although no court has proven offer, $3.00 for five months. reported: "The war stands in the way of Guatemala. Among those attending the At­ them guilty of anything, Ojeda D Begin my sub·with current progress. In nine years the Sandinista gov- . lanta meeting was Beto Rodriguez, a and Segarra have been in jail for emment has worked to improve the lives of Guatemalan exile who was in the army for more than two years, without issue. the Nicaraguan people. There is much left three years coordinating counterinsurgency the right to bail and with no trial Name------to do." operations with the National Police. He left date in sight. Address ______Almeida described seeing "children with the army in protest against human rights In the interview, the two de­ handicaps from the war. We met a woman violations. Since then, eight members of City/State/Zip ______who buried her two teenage sons, mur­ his family, including his father, brother, fendants explain their struggle . dered by the contras, in her backyard. We sister, nephews, and fiancee, have been and the stakes for U.S. working Clip and mail to PM, 410 West met other women who told us of the torture kidnapped. They have not been heard from people in this fight. St., New York, NY 10014. of family members by the contras." since. She described some of the economic ef­ In Guatemala, Young was met by adem­ fects of the U.S. war and economic em- onstration of human rights activists.

10 The Militant September 18, 1987 Thousands in Toronto hear Oliver Tambo ANC leader presses for sanctions

BY JOAN CAMPANA trators of this system who say we must stop TORONTO - A roar of welcome fighting. greeted Oliver Tambo, president of the Af­ "Why should we not use every means we rican National Congress (ANC) of South can, every arm we can, against this sys­ Africa, as he stepped forward to address a tem? When a slave, after generations of rally of more than 2,000 people here on enslavement, at last decides to pick up a August 29. gun and fight, he's unlikely to put that gun Tambo was invited to Canada to meet away until he has freed himself." with representatives of the Canadian gov­ Those who oppose sanctions, Tambo ernment. That Canadian officials felt com­ said, are those "who have a material inter­ pelled to receive him is a direct reflection est" in maintaining apartheid .. of the deepening struggle of the South Af­ rican masses and of the ANC's growing au­ Referring to the red-baiting of the ANC, thority. Tambo continued, "For a long time the Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mul­ South African regime has been talking roney, in a tour of African countries earlier about this communism. Among the op­ this year, promised to impose tough sanc­ pressed in South Africa this is utter non­ tions against the apartheid regime of South sense and doesn't mean anything. Our ob­ Africa. But, as little meaningful action has jective is a united, democratic, nonracial ensued, the government has come under South Africa. But that objective that we pressure to put more substance into its criti­ have stated for decades they regard as com­ cisms. munism." Militant/Roberto Kopec In discussions with Tambo, however, Tambo said he told Mulroney, "If indeed African National Congress President Oliver Tambo Canadian government leaders backed away you are genuine . . . cut off your links to from action, citing the ANC's "use of vio­ that country." But, he told the rally, "let us not even wait, let us tell the government to Erasmus, national chief of the Assembly of in support of the ANC and we call upon the lence" and its "connections to Marxism." First Nations of Canada. Cromarty con­ Canadian government to impose full eco­ New sanctions will "not necessarily" be impose sanctions, and let us impose sanc­ tions ourselves." demned the South African government for nomic sanctions upon the government of imposed, stated Foreign Affairs Minister "its manipulation of some of our people." South Africa," stated Cromarty. Joe Clark. Tambo also called for support for the The South African regime has demagogi­ Tambo also met with union officials, in­ Tambo's address to the rally took these National Union of Mineworkers, which cally tried to pose as a defender of cluding Canadian Labour Congress Presi­ issues head on. was then on strike in South Africa. He em­ Canada's Native peoples in order to under­ dent Shirley Carr, who promised an Apartheid has meant a violent, decades­ phasized that "their stand of tremendous cut opposition to its racist order. $800,000 donation to unions in South Af­ long war against the Black people of South courage is of the kind that will defeat apart c "The Assembly of First Nations stands rica. Africa, he explained. Now "there is an heid. We need that resistance, that re­ armed struggle taking place against this siliance, that determination, that staying system ... . Who is surprised that Blacks, power; we need that to defeat apartheid. who are the victims of this system, have "Apartheid will end. It depends on us. decided to take up arms against it? -WORl.D NEWS BRIEfS-- Let us go ahead as united as the miners of "Who is the great promoter of the notion South Africa." Israeli air strikes Washington has provided Habn! with that the ANC should abandon the armed Tambo was joined on the platform by antiaircraft missiles and other military struggle? It is the criminals, the perpe- Dennis Cromarty, representing Georges slay 41 in Lebanon assistance. In early August, Habre's forces cap­ In the most devastating Israeli air raid tured Aozou, the main town in the into southern Lebanon this year, at least Aozou Strip, a disputed 43,000-square­ 41 people were killed September 5 when mile area along the Chad-Libya border Stop S. Africa hangings! several Israeli jets bombed the Ain that is claimed by both countries. But on Khilwe district. August 28 Libyan forces retook the BY SAM MANUEL kini alone refused to resign. According to Reports from nearby Sidon said hos­ town. On September 1 the South African gov­ reports in the big-business press, this was pitals there were overflowing with casu­ Several days later, a company of ernment began implementing death sen­ the reason for his death. alties. French troops was reported to be in the tences for 32 Blacks convicted of murder The real story, however, can be found in A local Muslim radio station de­ region around Ounianga Kebir during a by the apartheid courts. The first to be the April 1987 issue of Sechaba, which is scribed the attack as savage. The Pales­ battle there. This contradicted French hanged were Moses Jantjies and Wel­ published by the African National Con­ tine Liberation Organization (PLO) said government claims that its troops would lington Mielies. Along with 30 others, they gress (ANC) of South Africa. that the air strikes had caused "carnage." stay in the south, away from the war were convicted of murder for alleged Kinikini, owner of a supermarket and fu­ The Israeli government claimed the front. crimes committed during protests against neral parlor, along with members of his targets were "terrorist" bases. But the On September 5 Habre' s forces struck apartheid since 1985. family, led an armed right-wing vigilante Lebanese police cited civilian homes into Libya itself, attacking the Matan as Jantjies and Mielies were convicted for group known as the "Peacemakers." They among the buildings that were bombed. Sarra air base. the murder of Ben Kinikini, a Black town­ often kidnapped, interrogated, and beat Ain Khilwe, with a population of Following this assault, the Libyan ship councilman, and several members of people who fought against the apartheid re­ 50,000, is the largest Palestinian district government sent a message to the United his family. Township councillors are gime, later turning them over to the police. in southern Lebanon. Since the begin­ Nations Security Council warning of a largely seen as collaborators with the apart­ Kinikini's wife had even traveled to ning of the year, it and other areas in and wider conflict "resulting from the direct heid regime. In March 1985 members of London to demonstrate against "terrorism" around Sidon have been the targets of 20 participation by France and the U.S.A." the Kwanobuhle council resigned in protest outside the offices of the AN C. different Israeli air attacks. against attacks on the township by police On the morning of March 23, 1985, the and government-backed vigilantes. Kini- Peacemakers kidnapped four youths in the Philippine rightist township at ·gunpoint and took them to French forces deepen appeals for rebellion Kinikini's funeral parlor. The funeral par- intervention in Chad U.S. miners' union -lor was known as a place where the Col. Gregorio Honasan, leader of the Peacemakers held their victims. A 16-year­ Using a U.S.-made Hawk missile, failed August 28 coup attempt against backs S. Africa miners old girl testified at the trial of Jantjies and French military forces near Chad's capi­ the Philippine government of Corazon Mielies that she had been taken there by tal, Ndjamena, shot down a Libyar1 Aquino, has issued a public appeal for The strike by 340,000 members of South one of the members of Kinikini' s family, warplane September 7. This marked an Africa's National Union of Mineworke.rs renewed efforts to topple her. handcuffed, beaten, raped, and locked in a escalation of direct French involvement drew widespread solidarity from working The 15-minute appeal was telephoned coffin overnight. in the Chadian conflict. people around the world. to a Manila radio station, which broad­ Police estimate that a crowd of at least a The war in that Central African coun­ cast it. It was Honasan's first public In this country, the United Mine Work­ thousand people converged on the funeral try pits the Chadian regime of Hissene statement since the coup bid, which cost ers of America (UMW A) helped collect parlor to demand the release of the youths. Habre against Libyan·troops allied with 53 lives and hundreds of wounded. Al­ funds from unions and individuals to aid The Kinikinis fired shots at the crowd. The Chadian forces seeking to overthrow though more than I , 100 rebel soldiers the strikers. The AFL-CIO Executive crowd then set fire to the building. The Habre's proimperialist regime. Habn! were captured or surrendered, Honasan Council issued a statement backing the Kinikinis were captured and killed as they seized power in 1982 with covert U.S. managed to escape and went into hiding. strike. tried to escape. assistance. Continued support to the National Union No evidence was presented during the Demagogically claiming that the In late 1986, the war began to swing of Mineworkers (NUM) is important. The trial proving that Jantjies and Mielies had Aquino government is corrupt, Honasan South African miners had no strike fund to in Habre's favor. Most of the Chadian maintained that opposition to it is "an killed them. A video film made on that day guerrilla groups allied with neighboring help them during the walkout. The agree­ by police spies showed only that the two initial necessary step" to prevent a return Libya deserted to Habre's side, enabling ment they reached with the mineowners were present during the incident. The cru­ to the abuses of former dictator Fer­ lasts for one year. NUM General Secretary his troops to capture significant territory dinand Marcos. cial evidence against Mielies was a "con­ in the northern war zones. Cyril Ramaphosa emphasized, "This strike fession" he was alleged to have made while Such claims seek to mask Honasan' s was a dress rehearsal for further action; under arrest. Habre's advances were also made rightist aims, which include closing off 1988 is already set as the year when the The case against Jantjies and Mielies possible by increased French and U.S. the democratic opening that the Philip­ union makes gains." was similar to those of the remaining 30. assistance. Some 1,200 French troops pine workers and peasants won with The fund established by the UMW A to The only "crime" in all these cases is hav­ are based in Chad, primarily in the their overthrow of Marcos. One of Hon­ aid the South African miners is ongoing. ing fought to bring down the hated apart­ south, as are French jet fighters, bomb­ asan' s complaints against the Aquino Unions and individuals can continue to heid regime. ers, reconnaissance aircraft, radar units, government during the coup attempt was send checks to the South African Miners The Detainees' Parents Support Com­ and artillery. Since January alone, that it was not doing enough to militarily Aid Fund, c/o United Mine Workers of mittee is continuing a campaign to save the French aid to Habre has surpassed $70 counter the rural-based guerrillas of the America, 900 15th St. NW, Washington, lives of the 30. All opponents of apartheid million. New People's Army. D.C. 20005. should add their voices iA protest.

September 18, 19.87, . Tile ~ilitant 11 -THE GREAT SOCIETY------

Miami law'n order - The Un-Korean- "The way young of the Philippines Marcos saw the $68,800,000." -Harper's maga­ No, just a good banker - feds busted three more Miami people dress today and let them­ recent unsuccessful right-wing zine. During his Washington tenure as cops, charging them with lifting selves be carried away by wild military coup as stemming from Their best-kept secret - As­ head of the Federal Reserve 320 pounds of cocaine. Mean­ music is indicative of their frame the fact that "the people are des­ suring there would be a prompt in­ Board, banker Paul Volcker while, the Miami cops busted a of mind." - South Korean Presi­ perate, hungry, sick, and frus­ vestigation of the CIA staffers bought a washing machine for his woman for letting her hungry dent Chun Doo Hwan, bemoaning trated." Sure, and if the coup had who spotted those misprinted post­ daughter who lived nearby. He the growing radicalization of succeeded it would have helped age stamps and sold them to a then brought over his laundry each workers and students there. insure that things stay that way. dealer, an agency spokesperson week for her to do. "He's just sort advised: "We don't take questions of cheap," she explains. Memo to Col. North - Adnan One for you, five for me - of improprieties lightly. . . . We Kashoggi, contragate arms mid­ Since 1981, the wages of man­ have very high standards here." Thought for the week- "New dleman, wants to sell his $35-mil­ ufacturing workers increased an York attorney Stuart Speiser, a Harry lion yacht. Eleven spacious average of 0.8 percent a year. They're catching on - A wrongful-death specialist who rooms, marble baths with gold fix­ Meanwhile, during the same Northern California woman was represents some families in the Ring tures, and a helicopter landing pad period, workers' productivity in­ busted for raising a marijuana gar­ Northwest Airlines disaster, said - and the boat freshly repainted. creased an average of 4 percent a den. She said she was doing it to the main criterion for determining Maybe it could be used as a float­ year. raise money for the contras. The damages is whether the victims youngster eat a canned sausage on ing retirement home for the top DA said, "The officers im­ had dependents. The value placed a "no eating" train. She was held contra flunkeys . Professional what? - "Aver­ mediately searched the residence on young children and the elderly for an hour and faces a possible age income of ten most prosperous to make sure she didn't shred any is generally much less."- News 60-day sentence, plus $500 fine . Expert opinion - Ex-dictator Wall Street professionals in 1986: documents." item. -CALENDAR------

GEORGIA $1.50 for each class. Sponsors: Militant Labor The Havana Bienal: A Discussion. Hear the Workers Party , member International Ladies' Forum and Young Socialist Alliance. For more viewpoints of artists who support the revolu­ Garment Workers' Union Local 300. Sat. , Atlanta information call (313) 961-0395. tionary process in Cuba and who attended the Sept. 12, 7:30p.m.; dinner, 6 p.m., sponsored The Miners' Strike in South Africa and the Bienal, a show with works by more than 800 by Young Socialist Alliance. 2521 Market Ave. Struggle Against Apartheid. Speakers: repre­ artists from Latin America and the Caribbean. Donation: $2; dinner, $3. Sponsor: Militant sentative of African National Congress of South MINNESOTA Speakers: Mike Alewitz, Newark artist and di­ Forum. For more information call (216) 861- Africa; Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers St. Paul rector of Pathfinder mural project; New York 6150. Party, member of United Mine Workers of Haiti Today: Duvalier is Gone but Dictator­ artists Marina Gutierrez (a Bienal prize-win­ America Local 2368 . Translation to Spanish. ship Remains. Speakers: Ramona Olson, ner), Juan Sanchez, and Willie Birch. Sat., OREGON Sat., Sept. 12, 7:30p.m. 132 Cone St. NW. Socialist Workers Party, member of Oil, Chem­ Sept. 19, 7:30p.m. 141 Halsey St. Donation: Portland Donation: $2.50. Sponsor: Militant Labor ical and Atomic Workers union; others. Sat., $2. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. For more The U.S. and Central America: A Confer­ Forum/Foro Perspectiva Mundial. For more in­ Sept. 12,7:30 p.m. 508 N Snelling Ave. Dona­ information call (20 I) 643-3341. ence in the Spirit of Ben Linder. First Congre­ formation call (404) 577-4065. tion: $2. Sponsor: Militant Forum. For more in­ gational Church, SW Park and Madison. Fri ., formation call (612) 644-6325. NEW YORK Sept. 25 through Sunday, Sept. 27 . Benefit MARYLAND Stop Contra Aid! Speaker: John Linder, feast with conference speakers, Sat. , 6-8 p.m. Baltimore Manhattan Donation: $12-$30. Proceeds from conference brother of Benjamin Linder, the U.S . engineer AIDS: Fact vs. Myth. Why the U.S. Govern­ Solidarity With the South African Freedom murdered by the contras in Nicaragua. Tue., go to the Ben Linder Memonal Fund . Sponsor: ment Treats AIDS Victims Like Criminals. Struggle. Speakers: Dumi Matabane, represen­ Sept. 15 , 7 p.m. Wesley United Methodist Portland Central AnL-rica Solidarity Commit­ Speaker: Margaret Jayko, coeditor of the Mili­ tative of the African National Congress of South Church, Marquette Ave. Sand Grand St. Dona­ tee , others. For more informatiGn call (503 ) Africa; Annapolis Councilman Carl Snowden, tant, others. Translation to Spanish. Fri ., Sept. 236-7463. tion: $3. Sponsor: September 15 Coalition. For 18 , 7:30 p.m. 79 Leonard St. Donation: $3. recently returned from a fact-finding trip to more information call (612) 378-1460 or 379- South Africa; G .I. Johnson, member Local Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum/Foro Perspec­ 8799. tiva Mundial. For more information call (212) \VEST VIRGINIA 2610, United Steelworkers of America Civil Cuba: An Eyewitness Report. Speaker: Rev. 226-8445. Charleston Rights Committee. Sat., Sept. !2, 7:30p.m. Curtis Herron, pastor of Zion Baptist Church, Prcforum dinner, 6 p.m. 2913 Greenmount New York City Is Racism on the Rise? A pVeterans for Peace, Ave. For more information call (612) 644- mittee to Oppose Apartheid in U.S. Tennis, at Plant Closings, Union-busting: What Can Inc., recently returned from Nicaragua; Tom 6325 . (212) 828-2696. Working People Do? A panel discussion. Sat., Ryan, Vietnam vet, friend of Willson's; Jon Sponsors: South African Council on Sport, Sept. 12, 7:30p.m. 221 Pleasant St. Donation: Hillson, Socialist Workers Party, worked with Tennis Association of South Africa, South Afri­ $2. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. For more Willson on 1986 coffee brigade in Nicaragua. MISSOURI can Non-racial Olympic Committee, American information call (304) 296-0055. Translation to Spanish. Sun., Sept. 13, 7 p.m. Committee on Africa, Brooklynites Against 605 Massachusets Ave. Donation: $2. Sponsor: St. Louis Apartheid, Communications Workers of Amer­ WISCONSIN Militant Labor Forum. For more information Revolt in South Korea: Korean People Chal­ ica Local 1180, National Rainbow Coalition, lenge Dictatorship. Panel followed by discus­ Milwaukee call (617) 247-6772. November 29th Committee for Palestine, New sion. Translation to Spanish. Sat. , Sept. 19, York South Africa Solidarity Coalition, Nicaragua Today. Eyewitness reports with re­ MICHIGAN 7 p.m. 4907 Martin Luther King Dr. Donation: Socialist Workers Party, Patrice Lumumba Co­ cent videotape. Speakers: Dennis Chambers, $2. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. For more alition, S.O.S. Racism, Westchester People's Socialist Workers Party , member International Detroit information call (314) 361-0250. Action Coalition. Union of Electronic Workers Local 1199; Socialist Educational Conference Duane Bean, Pledge of Resistance. Sat., Sept. "Episodes in the Struggle for Black Rights. 12, 7:30p.m. 4707 W Lisbon Ave. Translation Black Detroit, Where We Were, Where We NEW JERSEY omo to Spanish. Donation: $2. Sponsor: Militant Are, 1967-87." A forum with Maceo Dixon, Newark Cleveland Labor Forum. For more information call (414) Socialist Workers Party, member United Auto Haiti: An Eyewitness Report. Speakers: Art Central America Peace Treaty: A Blow to 445-2076. Workers. Sat., Sept. 12, 7:30p.m.' Young, reporter for the Militant newspaper; U.S. War. Speakers: Ike Downs , Miskito In­ Watsonville: How the Strike Was Won. "Slavery in the Ancient World," and "Slav­ Merceda Rigaud, Haitian Community Services dian from Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast; Ruth Speaker: Carlos Hernandez, a leader of Watson­ ery in the Western World, 1500s to 1865 ." of Irvington. Translation to Spanish and Gibson, chairperson, Central America Solidarity ville strike. Forum in Spanish with translation Sun., Sept. 13 , 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Two French. Sat., Sept. 12, 7:30p.m. 141 Halsey Association; Frank Kendrick, associate profes­ to English. Sat., Sept. 19, 7:30p.m. 4707 W classes by Maceo Dixon. · St. Donation: $2. Sponsor: Militant Labor sor, Department of Urban Studies, University Lisbon Ave. Donation: $3 . Sponsor: Militant All events translated to Spanish and held at Forum. For more information call (201) 643- of Akron; Linda Mast, Cleveland-area coordi­ Labor Forum. For more information call (414) 2135 Woodward Ave. Donation: $2 for forum; 3341. . nator, Quest for Peace; Marty Pettit, Socialist 445-2076. -If YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP'------Where to find the Socialist Workers Party, St. NW, 2nd Floor. Zip: 30303. Tel: (404) 577- 4725 Troost. Zip: 64110. Tel: (816) 753-0224. 16412. Tel: (814) 398-2574. Philadelphia: Young Socialist Alliance, and Pathfinder 4065. St. Louis: SWP, YSA , 4907 Martin Luther SWP, YSA, 2744 Germantown Ave. Zip: bookstores. ILLINOIS: Chicago: SWP, YSA, 6826 S. King Dr. Zip: 63113 . Tel: (314) 361-0250. 19133. Tel: (215) 225-0213. Pittsburgh: SWP, Stony Island. Zip: 60649. Tel: (312) 363-7322. NEBRASKA: Omaha: SWP, YSA, 140 S. YSA, 402 N. Highland Ave. Zip: 15206. Tel : ALABAMA: Birmingham: SWP, YSA, INDIANA: Muncie: YSA , c/o Scott Shaf­ 40th St. Zip: 68131. Tel: (402) 553-0245 . (412) 362-6767. 1306 1st Ave. N. Zip: 35203. Tel: (205) 323- froth, 1125 W. Marsh St. Zip: 47303. Tel: (317) NEW JERSEY: Newark: SWP, YSA, 141 TEXAS: Austin: YSA, c/o Mike Rose, 7409 3079. 282-2996. Halsey. Zip: 07102. Tel: (201) 643-3341. Berkman Dr. Zip: 78752. Tel. (512) 452-3923. ARIZONA: Phoenix: SWP, YSA, 1809 IOWA: Des Moine : SWP, YSA, 2105 For­ NEW YORK: Albany: YSA c/o Lisa Sand­ Houston: SWP, YSA, 4806 Almeda. Zip: 77004. W. Indian School Rd . Zip: 85015. Tel: (602) est Ave. Zip: 50311. Te :: (515) 246-1695 .. berg, 120 Lark St. Zip: 12210. Tel: (518) Tel: (713) 522-8054. Lubbock: YSA, c/o Amy 279-5850. LOUISIANA: Baton Rouge: YSA, 4264 463-8001. Mid-Hudson: YSA, Box 650, Waugh, 2202 22nd St., Apt. B. Zip: 79411. CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: SWP, YSA, Oxford Ave. #4,Zip: 7(1 808 . Tel: (504)766-0510. Annandale. Zip: 12504. Tel: (914) 758-0408. UTAH: Price: SWP, YSA , 23 S. Carbon Ave. , 2546 W. Pico Blvd. Zip: 90006. Tel: (213) 380- New Orleans: YSA, c; , Ray Medina, 730 Penis­ New York: SWP, YSA, 79 Leonard St. Zip: Suite 19, P.O. Box 758. Zip: 84501. Tel: (801) 9460. Oakland: SWP, YSA, 3808 E 14th St. ton St. Zip: 70115. Tel: 504) 899-5094. 10013. Tel: (212) 219-3679 or 925-1668. Path­ 637-6294. Salt Lake City: SWP, YSA, 147 E. Zip: 94601. Tel: (415) 261-3014. San Diego: MARYLAND: BaWmore: SWP, YSA, 2913 finder Books, 226-8445. Rome: YSA , c/o Cos­ 900 South. Zip: 84111. Tel: (80 I) 355-1124. SWP, YSA, 2803 B St. Zip: 92102. Tel: (619) Greenmount Ave. Zip 21218. Tel: (301) 235- mos Andoloro, 7172 RickmeyerRd. Zip: 13440. VIRGINIA: Portsmouth: YSA, P.O. Box 234-4630. San Francisco: SWP, YSA, 3284 0013. Stony Brook: YSA, P.O. Box 1384, Patchogue, 6538, Churchland Station. Zip: 23707. 23rd St. Zip: 94110. Tel: (415) 282-6255. San MASSACHUSET'r": Boston: SWP, YSA, N.Y. Zip: 11772. WASHINGTON, D.C.: SW P, YSA , Jose: SWP, YSA, 461f2 Race St. Zip: 95126. 605 Massachusetts Av Zip: 02118. Tel: (617) NORTH CAROLINA: Greensboro: SWP, 3165 Mt. Pleasant St. NW. Zip: 20010. Tel : Tel: (408) 998-4007. Seaside: YSA, P.O. Box 247-6772. YSA, 2219 E Market. Zip: 27401. Tel: (919) (202) 797-7699, 797-7021. 1645. Zip: 93955. Tel: (408) 394-1855. MICIDGAN: Detr

12 The Militant September 18, 1987 New rights for Nicaragua Indians, Blacks

Continued from front page took power in 1979, it was based on the was overthrown, Nicaraguans have strug­ Pacific Coast and had little knowledge of gled to find a way to overcome racial divi­ the Atlantic Coast and its history of racial sions and mutual suspicions in order to oppression. forge a united Nicaraguan nation that, at Sandinistas sent to the Atlantic Coast at­ the same time, protects the identities of In­ tempted to implement political and eco­ dians and Blacks. The result is the new au­ nomic plans without taking into account tonomy law, drafted by the Indians, the opinions and demands of the Indians Blacks, and mestizos of the Atlantic Coast. and Blacks living there. "There was a tendency toward pater­ Contents of new law nalism and inflexibility," Borge told the The preamble of the law explains that National Assembly. This led to conflicts the Nicaraguan people are building "a new, between local residents and the Sandinis­ multiethnic, multicultural, multilingual na­ tas. Although the Sandinistas adopted leg­ tion" that will "guarantee equality amidst islation outlawing all forms of race dis­ diversity and strengthen national unity and crimination, the conflicts persisted. The the territorial integrity of the nation." people of the Coast had still not won the The following are some of the main pro­ right to determine for themselves how the visions of the law: revolution would be carried out in their re­ • All residents of the Coast enjoy "ab­ gion. solute equality of rights and duties," re­ The U.S. government capitalized on gardless of the size of their community or these problems and managed to recruit its level of development. They have the some Indians to its contra army, turning right to develop their own culture, religion, what was a political clash into a military language, and forms of organization. one. In the course of the ensuing armed • While Spanish remains the official confrontations, Borge said, there were language of Nicaragua, the languages spo­ abuses committed by Sandinista soldiers. ken by Indians and Blacks are official lan­ "These were punished severely," he added, guages on the Coast. Every child has the "a fact that is not sufficiently well known." right to a bilingual education. The military and political conflicts • Land that has traditionally belonged began to subside in 1984 when the Nicara­ to Indian communities remains in their guan government adopted the perspective hands and cannot be sold or taken away. of autonomy for the Atlantic Coast. Tes­ The communities have_the right to benefit timony to the changed relationship of "in just proportion" from the wealth pro­ forces was the presence here in the Na­ Militant/Roberto Kopec duced on their communally owned land. tional Assembly of Miskito members of the Sandinista youth in Bluefields on Atlantic Coast, where most Nicaraguan Indians and • Residents of the Atlantic Coast will group Pro-Peace KISAN. At one time Pro­ Blacks live. Nicaragua is first country in hemisphere to guarantee autonomy to native elect their own regional governments - Peace KISAN was fighting the Nicaraguan and Black population. one in the north and one in the south - in government arms in hand and has now which each of the six racial groups is to signed a cease-fire. There are only a few have representation. The governments will That became clear in the National As­ munities, complaining about the fact that hundred Indians left in the contra ranks sembly debate over the law, during which the national government currently sub­ be responsible for seeing that political, so­ today. cial, and economic projects are carried out some deputies of the capitalist parties ob­ sidizes food and transportation costs on the respecting the traditions and aspirations of jected to key provisions in the bill. Atlantic. Coast residents. 'Many battles remain' Most virulent in their opposition were Conservative Daniel Brenes opposed the While the adoption of the autonomy law members o( the "Sicilian faction" of the rights given to the Coast regional govern­ 'Tendencies toward paternalism' represents a big victory, Borge warned that Conservative Democratic Party, who voted ments, charging they would become a rival Arriving at autonomy was not easy for "many battles remain," including "the bat­ against the law. One leader of this faction power to the National Assembly. the Sandinista revolution. When the San­ tle to eliminate racism, its remnants, and is Enrique Sotelo, who was the lawyer for Leading the debate against detractors of dinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) reinfections." CIA mercenary Eugene Hasenfus when he the law were three deputies of the FSLN was put on trial here last year. who are all from the Atlantic Coast: Ray Hooker, Dorothea Wilson, and Hazel Law. Sicilian deputy Sergio Torres protested None of the six other parties in the National making Miskito, Sumo, and English offi­ Assembly have any deputies from the Iraq escalates war on Iran cial languages on the Coast. He went so far Coast. as to read from an Atlantic Coast newspa­ When the final vote was taken approving Continued from front page In 1984 the UN Security Council con­ per, making fun of words in the Sumo lan­ the law, Hazel Law gave a victory speech ence. But the Iraqi attacks, which put pres­ demned Iran for its retaliatory attacks on guage. in Miskito, which was translated into sure on Iran to retaliate, also help Wash­ shipping bound for Iraq's allies in the gulf, Torres also challenged the right of Coast Spanish. She called the law "a dawn for us ington by setting the stage for incidents that but made no criticism of the Iraqi regime residents to use their natural resources for on the Coast, for all of Nicaragua, and for can provide pretexts for U.S. naval and air for initiating the attacks. the development of their own com- the other peoples of the Americas." strikes against Iran. The latest Security Council resolution, During the six days after the Iraqi escala­ adopted July 20, marked an effort by tion, 20 ships were attacked in the gulf- Washington and its allies to prevent the de­ 12 by Iraqi planes and 8 by Iranian or un­ feat of the Iraqi regime in the face of con­ -10 AND 25 YEARS AGO--- identified forces. tinuing, although modest, gains by Iran in The Reagan administration attempted to the ground war. Washington fears that an tiously and weigh carefully plans to destroy dissociate itself from the latest Iraqi escala­ Iranian victory could bring down the Iraqi TH£ MILITANT the Cuban revolution by military attack. tion. The State Department claimed Au­ government, which has increasingly fol­ He knows that such an attack could only gust 31 to have made a "strong -protest." lowed Washington's lead, and spur opposi­ Sept. 16, 1977 succeed if U.S. troops and planes were The tone of the protest was indicated by the tion to other reactionary governments in used and that the U.S. casualty rate would comments of Assistant Secretary of De­ the area. On September I the United States and - be extremely high. fense Richard Armacost who described the Unlike the 1980 resolution, the new Se­ Cuba simultaneously opened limited dip­ His administration has been giving the Iraqi attacks as "understandable" while curity Council measure does not call for an lomatic missions to restore some of the of­ green light to Cuban counterrevolutionary criticizing their "deplorable" timing. unconditional end to the fighting . Instead, ficial relations that were broken after the groups in Florida for random shelling at­ The governments of the United States, it demands that a cease-fire include Iranian Cuban revolution 16 years ago. tacks on Cuban coastal cities and shipping, Britain, and France, which make up the withdrawal from the strips of territory its Ram6n Sanchez Parodi, head of the issuing public declarations about using majority of the permanent members of the troops have occupied in several parts of Cuban [Interests Section] in Washington, military force to stop Cuban "aggression," UN Security Council, have openly or Iraq. D.C., demanded that the United States lift and inflaming public opinion with accusa­ covertly backed Iraq in the war as a means And while no sanctions were imposed on the economic blockade it has imposed on tions that "the Cubans are firing at our of weakening and containing the Iranian the regime of Saddam Hussein for invading Cuba. During the mission's opening cere­ planes." revolution. Iran in 1980, the passage of the latest reso­ monies Sanchez Parodi said, "On our side, What is lost sight of in all the hysteria is They have used the Security Council to lution has spurred a high powered U.S. Cuba has always been open to establishing what the Cubans have actually done. They provide diplomatic aid to the Iraqi regime campaign to have the Security Council im­ normal relations between the two coun­ have built up their defenses as much as under the guise of peacemaking. pose an embargo on arms sales to Iran. tries." they could. No country anywhere has a bet­ After the Iraqi military invaded Iran in Despite the Security Council's tilt to­ ter right. They were invaded only a little September 1980, the Security Council ward Iraq throughout the bloody seven­ · more than a year ago. They face constant adopted a resolution calling on both sides year war, the Khomeini regime in Iran has THE attacks from raiders operating with immun­ to stop fighting. The resolution did not call not rejected the latest Security Council res­ ity from U.S. territory. on Iraq to withdraw from the territory it olution as a possible basis for ending the MILITANT Facing this situation, the Cuban govern­ had occupied. In effect, the resolution conflict. Published in the Interests of the Wor~inq People ment obtained radar, antiaircraft, and sought to help the Iraqi forces consolidate On August 31 , speaker of the parliament Sept. 17, 1962 Price !Oc coastal defense equipment. The several their initial gains on the battlefield by call­ Hashemi Rafsanjani declared that Iran was thousand technicians from the Soviet bloc ing on the Iranian government to end its re­ willing to offer "all-out cooperation with Sept. 12 - For three weeks the war are not an exorbitant number to install, sistance. the Security Council" provided that the drums have been pounding against Cuba. maintain, and teach the use of this equip­ The 1980 resolution dovetailed with body condemned the Iraqi government for The Kennedy administration is feeding the ment. Yet this is parlayed by the U.S. press Washington's initial hopes that the Iraqi in­ having invaded Iran. flames of the destroy-Cuba hysteria being into a "threat." vasion would deal a severe defeat to the Washington opposes including any criti­ whipped up by the big-business press and It is a terrible commentary on the level to Iranian revolution that had overthrown a cism of the Iraqi invasion in the resolution, the politicians of both capitalist parties. which U.S. politics has sunk that there is U.S.-imposed monarchy in 1979, and since this might encourage opposition to It is not that President Kennedy yields to not a single congressman, not a single perhaps even topple the regime headed by the war in Iraq and make it more difficult anyone in his hatred of Cuba and his desire prominent political figure in the country Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. for U.S. forces in the gulf to bolster Sad­ to overthrow the Castro government. It is who dares to get up and tell the truth about As Iranian forces succeeded in expelling dam Hussein by attacking Iran. simply that after the April 1961 [Bay of this "crisis," not a single Democrat or Re­ the Iraqi occupiers, the Iraqi regime mas­ Iranian leaders also invited UN Secre­ Pigs] invasion debacle, whose plans and publican officeholder anywhere, who has sively escalated its attacks on shipping tary General Javier Perez de Cuellar to launching had been approved by him, bitter the courage to declare that the United bound to and from Iran in the gulf. come to Tehran to discuss ending the war. experience disposes him to approach cau- States should keep its hands off Cuba.

September 18; 1987 The MHitant 13 -EDITORIALS------·Beware of bosses bearing End U.S. military aid to Haiti gifts Last July in Haiti, a demonstrator against the military This summer, more than 35 peaceful protesters were junta there shouted to a reporter, "The United States put murdered by government troops. In the countryside, BY DOUG JENNESS it in and is backing it to keep it in power against the gangs of armed thugs have reappeared. On July 24 they There's scarcely anybody that wouldn't welcome a big people." slaughtered at least 100 poor peasants demanding land. chunk of money if it was offered to them. But most of us The truth of his charge was underlined by the recent U.S. military aid to the junta is supposed to be condi­ have learned from experience to be wary of such offer­ State Department decision releasing a final military aid tional on "human rights" progress. In March the first pay­ ings, because there's usually a catch. payment to the Haitian government, completing .a $1.7 ment was made on the basis of a State Department report The current proposal of General Motors and Ford to million commitment for the year. affirming of such progress. · give auto workers a lump sum payment is no exception Described as "nonlethal," the military aid includes A slated June report had to be "delayed" when the (See article on page 6). Auto workers have little reason to such items as trucks, riot shields, and tear gas. junta tried to rig the election and break the unions. trust employers bearing "gifts." The junta was appointed by Jean-Claude Duvalier, the Now, to justify the military funding, a State Depart­ Lump-sum payments have become increasingly popu­ U.S.-backed dictator, just before he fled an eruption of ment official said, "You've got a problem with that lar with employers in the last few years and many work­ mass opposition in February 1986. army, but it's still the only institution in Haiti at the pres­ ers, including auto workers, have already had some ex- The junta consists of two top Duvalier officers, plus a ent time." window-dressing civilian. Its 19-month rule has been What he means is, the only institution in a position to marked by savage repression. try to thwart the popular movement for democracy. It tried to rig slated elections by turning the election That's why the Haitian people have been demonstrat­ LEARNING ABOUT procedures over to the army. It tried to outlaw the unions ing in their thousands, calling for the ouster of the U.S.­ and it jailed key union leaders. The powerful mass pro­ sponsored junta. Working people in this country should SOCIALISM test triggered by such moves has been answered with join with the people ofHaiti in demanding a halt to U.S. gunfire. aid to the military government. perience with them. So they know that these payments are usually offered in exchange for gutting cost-of-living clauses or freezing the wage base. The owners of GM and Ford, for example, are propos­ ing that over the next three years, the basic wage rate will New anti-immigrant move remain the same. Instead of wage increases, workers will get a cash payment. GM wants the size to be determined Under the new immigration law, those undocumented medical programs like Medicaid, and the food stamp pro­ by how profitable each plant is and how productive the irnqligrants who finally succeed in becoming legal per­ gram. workers are. manent residents will be less equal than other permanent Now the Immigration and Naturalization Service has On the surface, this may not appear to be such a bad residents of this country. Congress and the Reagan ad­ announced proposed new regulations substantially ex­ deal. Workers get their wage raise all at once and can use ministration have joined hands to insure that this hap­ panding this denial of rights. Under the proposed regula­ it right away to make purchases. pens. tions, those who become permanent residents under the But there's a lot of flaws in this. For one thing, work­ ers don't always get the lump-sum payment up front. In passing the law, Congress wrote in a proviso that "amnesty" program would be denied access to such pro­ This means that workers who are fired or laid off during those who become legal permanent residents shall not be grams as job training for youth, rent and mortgage assis­ the contract period, but before the "bonus" is paid, lose eligible for any kind of federally funded welfare. Now tance programs, Small Business Administration loans, out. the administration proposes to expand this to cover other and even such things as home weatherization and other social programs and benefits for which permanent resi­ energy-conserving programs. Moreover, the amount of the lump-sum payment is dents are normally eligible. Combined with the law's no-welfare provisos (which rarely as much as the amount the wage increases would applies to temporary and permanent legal residents give a worker over the contract period. For example, auto When Congress enacted the anti-immigrant law it de­ alike), the new regulations are bad enough in themselves. workers generally used to expect to get a 3 percent wage cided to make it more palatable by including an "am­ But, equally important, if the principal is established increase every year. But the lump sums paid since 1984 nesty" provision. that some legal residents in this country have less rights have amounted to only 2 percent of workers' annual pay. Under this, undocumented immigrants who can prove than others, then that denial of rights can be extended to But even if the lump sum was equal to or even some­ to the satisfaction of the government that they have been other areas as well. what higher than the wage increase and it was paid as soon as the contract was signed, there would be prob­ here since before Jan. 1, 1982, are granted temporary Before such regulations are put into effect a period of lems. legal residence. public response is required. Organized labor, immigrant­ One reason is the deterioration of the basic pay rate Normally permanent residents have the same rights as rights groups, and all those concerned with equal rights should oppose these reactionary regulations. through inflation. If wages are frozen, the reality is that citizens, except the rights to vote and hold office. real wages will drop. The buying power of a $10 an hour All immigrant workers- undocumented, temporary wage will be considerably less at the end of three years. But the immigration law, for the first time, creates a legal residents, or permanent ones - should have full new, unequal class of permanent residents. and complete legal rights in this country. Anything less Auto workers, whose basic wage rate has been frozen Congressional action denies such residents Aid to leaves them vulnerable to victimization, and that weak­ for the past three years, are now being pressed to freeze Families With Dependent Children, federally supported ens the cause of the entire working class. them for another three years. This will amount to a sub­ stantial lowering of real wages by the end of the 1984-90 period, and will place workers in a much less favorable position from which to bargain for wage increases in the next contract. Mayor Koch takes aim at homeless And no one should have any doubts about tfle corro­ sive effects of inflation. According to the Bureau of In a move publicized as aiding the homeless, New of the seriously ill can be brought back to the point where Labor Statistics, workers whose wages went up 3 percent York's Mayor Edward Koch has ordered the involuntary they no longer need hospital care and can function in in the past year have suffered a drop of .7 percent in real hospitalization of the mentally ill - or those deemed to properly organized and supervised residences. wages as a result of price increases. Workers whose be so. But it's a cruel travesty to speak of accomplishing any­ wages didn't go up at all are in an even worse position. thing with a term in a New York snake pit. This will be a serious encroachment on the rights of After a protracted erosion of the basic wage rate and those targeted for confinement and has been properly Indeed, a good number of the mentally ill who find pensions and other benefits, workers will be particularly scored by the New York Civil Liberties Union and themselves on the streets of New York are people who vulnerable when the employers say, "Times are tough for others. have already been dumped out of hospitals. By Koch's Officials estimate that 500 people a year will be hos­ us now. We can't give any more lump payments." own figures, in recent years the number of mental pa­ Instead of "bonus" payments workers need big wage pitalized under the plan. tients in New York state hospitals has been slashed from increases to catch up with what they have lost from infla­ The mayor's proposal is intended to accomplish sev­ 90,000 to 20,000, with a large number of the victimized tion. And they need regular cost-of-living adjustments in eral purposes. For one, Koch hopes it will be viewed 70,000 soon joining the ranks of the homeless. their wages that are pegged to increases in consumer positively by those who voice the reactionary demand Nor will there be any significant help for the mentally prices. that the streets be swept clean of the growing numbers of ill until the issue of all the homeless is tackled. Wage rates can also be indirectly lowered by increas­ homeless. The reason for the escalating number of homeless is no ing the intensity of work during the same working hours. big mystery. It boils down to an acute scarcity of afford­ GM and Ford, for example, are pushing for big changes And Koch apparently hopes it will undercut the pe~d­ able housing. in work rules in order to speed up production. When the ing class-action suit filed against the city by the Coalition auto employers speed up the assembly line, reduce rest for the Homeless and the N.Y. Civil Liberties Union. Across the country there is a growing number of long­ term unemployed. Some have lost homes they were pay­ breaks, and impose other changes of .this sort, auto work­ The suit charges the city with failure to provide psychiat­ ers increase their daily output without any additional ric care for the homeless and others who need it. ing for. Others can't deal with steadily rising rents. In urban areas, lower-cost housing is bulldozed or ren­ wages. The owners sell the increased number of cars at A growing homeless population is not a uniquely New ovated in the name of "gentrification." the same price and pocket the profit. York problem. There are an increasing number of home­ New York landlords are permitted to "warehouse" va­ Workers, however, are not compensated for the addi­ less individuals and families in cities and towns across tional medical, food, and other costs necessary to main­ the country. Advocates for the homeless estimate the cant apartments to escape rent regulations. And the city, which owns many buildings claimed for taxes, simply tain their bodies in good enough shape to continue work­ number as high as 3 million. A program of meaningful ing as a result of the intensified work. This is, in effect, assistance is urgently needed for all of them. lets them sit rather than renovate and utilize them. All of this needs to be turned around - in New York a cut in real wages. The fight against this wear and tear is the day-to-day Certainly, those who are ill should be a top priority. and nationwide. battleground where the fight over how much the employ­ But it's no help to scoop people off the street into hospi­ Decent, affordable, federally subsidized housing must ers will get from the workers takes place. This struggle tals so overpacked and understaffed as to preclude ade­ be made available. And for those occupants who can't be does not cease when lump-sum payments are made. quate medical care. provided jobs, an adequate standard of unemployment, disability, or retirement assistance. A New York union of professional psychiatric workers For the ill, there must be long-term medical care ­ points to the Manhattan Psychiatric Center where a lone competent and humane care. nurse is assigned to half a dozen wards with an average of As Mayor Koch's odious proposition confirms, such a 30 patients each. And, a union spokesperson emphasizes, program will not be initiated by Democratic or Republi­ this is not "an isolated incident." can politicians. It is something working people must Experts agree that with proper care, perhaps a majority wage a fight for.

14 The Militant · September 18, 1987'. Employers try to expand use of part-time workers

BY MARK FRIEDMAN in the full-time work force. It also called for new hires to and by not working voluntary overtime. AND ED JOSEPHSON receive $8.37 an hour. To keep up with flight schedules, the company has In Detroit, as in many other cities, employers are try­ The workers decisively rejected the contract and shut been forced to upgrade many part-time workers to full­ ing to expand the use of part-time workers. This is in ad­ the store down tight. The 700 meatcutters from UFCW time status and has had to hire others. dition to trying to impose more two-tier contracts that pay Local 539 honored their pickets as did the majority of Many union members realize that the introduction of new hires less than those with more seniority. shoppers. part-time work is a method of union-busting. Part-timers The issues in the one-week strike here by 5,000 clerks A week later, union members approved a slightly im­ invariably receive lower wages and get little or no bene­ and cashiers at Farmer Jack's markets, organized by proved contract after being offered bonuses of between fits. United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local $350 and $700 for each year of the agreement. After a Companies try to keep them out of the union. Then the 836, are an example. The union went on strike to try to two-year "moratorium," management will still be able to threat of hiring more part-time workers is used as a club reduce full-time workers to part-time until 50 percent of to get full-timers to moderate their demands and accept the work force consists of part-timers. less and less. The airline industry is also trying to force through part­ We must unite to stop this union-busting scheme. This UNION TALK time work. means not just fighting against the introduction of part­ This is one of the central demands Northwest Airlines time work. It also means fighting to help part-timers win stop the company from reducing 1 ,000 full-time employ­ is making on International Association of Machinists higher pay and benefits where part-time work has already ees to part-time status. Workers currently getting paid the Local 141. In 1982 the local successfully struck North­ been introduced. This approach can help strengthen our top rate of $10.37 an hour were offered $16,000 each if west and prevented the introduction of part-time work. unions. they would give up their jobs by October 3. Today, the lAM is fiercely battling management's at­ Those refusing would automatically be reduced to tempts to introduce part-time work, a two-tier wage Mark Friedman is a baggage handler and member of part-time status, which would mean losing many bene­ structure, and job combinations. lAM Local/41 at Northwest Airlines. Ed Josephson is a fits. Union members have responded to management's meat-packer and member of UFCW Local 26 at Thorn This proposal would have led to a one-third reduction threats with demonstrations, a "safety first" campaign, Apple Valley Meats. One man's fight with 'medicine for profit'.system

The following column is by Scott Ware, organizer rate." Julius' evaluation alone cost $10,000. Its conclu­ beeper had been taken away was for "not complying with of the Cleveland Socialist Workers Party. It is ex­ sion was that a heart transplant was necessary, at the cost doctor's orders," and that he was off the list. cerpts from a talk he gave at a recent meeting in of more than $100,000. By some miracle, Julius' health None of this tells us whether, under other cir­ Cleveland to celebrate the life of Julius Snipper, who insurance covered this cost. cumstances, Julius would have lived or died, but it is a died of·heart failure July 25. So Julius made it through the first hurdle. He, unlike damning indictment of our current "medicine for profit" most workers, could pay. system. Julius devoted his life to changing a system like Among the emotions we feel today is anger- anger at At this point he was informed that there was a "short­ this - to creating a society based on the model of the a medical system that provides infinite, and often super­ age" of hearts. Very little money is spent nationally on Cuban revolution, where health care, whatever its techni­ fluous, treatment for the rich at the expense of even mini­ public education campaigns to increase the number of po­ callimits, belongs to all the people. mal care for poor and working people. tential donors. The money is all in artificial-heart tech­ Cuba has begun its own successful program of heart In his last months Julius had to fight not only his dis­ nology, which has directly benefited from this "shortage" transplants. In a recent speech, Fidel Castro compared ease, but a set of bureaucratic and procedural barriers of real hearts. their program to the system in the United States and com­ Unlike wealthy patients, ordinary people face a strin­ mented, "In Cuba it wouldn't cross anybody's mind that gent set of rules. You have to be under 55 and in perfect they need money to have a heart transplant, regardless of health - outside of your heart - in order to be consid­ the cost and who the person is. The human side to our AS I SEE IT ered. Big-shot hospitals like the clinic don't want their medical system cannot be compared to theirs, and we reputation sullied by less than the best track record for will take the lead - that's for sure." thrown up by a medical system based on profit and pres­ their "prestige" operation. This is what Julius fought for his entire life: a system tige, not human needs. Health, however, is not enough. Julius also had to pass that would take over the Cleveland Clinics of the world, Julius was a heart patient at the Cleveland Clinic, one a vocational aptitude test, presumably to make sure that if build more in every city, and tum them into centers to of the most prestigious medical centers in the United he survived the operation, he would be worth something provide care for all, regardless of income, aptitudes, or States. It serves the rich and powerful in this country and to the bosses. other criteria. around the world. U.S .-sponsored dictators like King Somehow Julius got through all this and was accepted Two days before he died, I talked to him at the hospi­ Hussein of Jordan, consider the clinic "their" hospital. into the program, and a new set of indignities began. tal, and he laid out his battle plan. He was going to fight Meanwhile, the population of Cleveland within a one­ He was threatened for' not following a diet he hacfn't for his health, and he was going to fight to force the clinic mile radius of the clinic has an infant mortality rate the been given yet. His emergency beeper was taken away in to let him back into the program. In his view, however, same as that of Honduras. June, supposedly because there was a beeper shortage as these battles were only preliminary. They were necessary The clinic's Patient Guidebook proudly proclaims, well as a heart shortage. In the last week before he died, to clear away the obstacles to what he really wanted to "We charge more than the usual and customary hospital he was told by the head nurse that the real reason his do, get back into the fight for a better world. -LETTERS------!'f.SEEMS I \-lA \1 E:. 5-ETII NG Haiti ity and appreciation. Nicaragua THE'{ 'RE Over the past couple of weeks As a Palestinian and a commit­ Much thanks to Doug Jenness NEVER \HIN6S UP there have been demonstrations in ted communist, who was pushed for his article recommending the READY TO SEEN -n4E M the Miami area against the military to the West in a manner beyond interview with Tomas Borge in the dictatorship in Haiti. They have my control, I feel relieved to see latest New International. Nt60TIATE ~ 0 ~v5Y... averaged a hundred people each. your publication. I feel relieved to I read the interview. It is short. The picket lines at radio station see the goals and objectives of It shows Borge has thought well W AVS in Davie, Florida, charged Third World revolutionaries pre­ about how art goes along with rev­ announcer Leon Veillard with sented in your pages. olution. It shows why so many crimes he committed as a former Revolution until victory! Tonton Macoute and for his cur­ E. Rishmani Nicaraguans are wonderful artists rent relations with the military Davis, California as well as the finest revolution­ junta. The Macoutes were a pri­ aries. vate army used to terrorize the Time is ripe Borge says, "You cannot and workers and peasants under the should not separate artistic crea­ overthrown Duvalier dictatorship. The time is ripe for the Socialist tion from the class struggle, but it Workers Party and the American is a crime to place it in the service Right-wing, Confederate flag Communist Party to consider of art dealers and bureaucrats." waving mobs have organized merging together. Total agree­ I agree. Neither art nor the rev­ counter protests 50 feet away. ment is unnecessary, in fact, coun­ Shouting racist comments, they olution itself should be placed in terproductive. the control of businesspeople or rallied to challenge the constitu­ The reason for two separate par­ bureaucrats. It would be a crime to tional right of Haitians to express ties may no longer exist. What a do so. an opinion. step forward could be made! Lee Oleson At a recent picket line at the sta­ C.L. Dallas, Texas tion, more than 100 Haitians and Stevens Point, Wisconsin anti-apartheid and antiwar activ­ ists assembled to reaffirm their The letters column is an open right to protest. Gerard Jean-Juste, Women's center forum for all viewpoints on sub­ director of the Haitian Refugee I'm sad to report that the jects of general interest to our Center and organizer of the dem­ Women's Liberation Center of readers. Please keep your letters onstration, promised to return the New York City, located on West brief. Where necessary they will following week with even more 20th Street, has been closed after be abridged. Please indicate if support. 16 years of loyal , devoted service you prefer that your initials be Julie Wolenski to our women's development. used rather than your full name. ·Miami, Florida It seems that the city couldn't The Militant special prisoner sell us the building that housed it fund makes it possible to send for a reasonable enough price, one reduced-rate subscriptions to Proud that we could afford. So they just prisoners who can't pay for Revolutionary greetings. I'm closed the sale out from under us them. To help this important proud to see a newspaper such as in favor of a nice profit-making cause, send your contribution the Militant come out in a country business. to: Militant Prisoner Subscrip­ such as this one. I would like to M. Pittsburgh tion Fund, 14 Charles Lane, extend to you my deepest solidar- New York, New York New York, N.Y. 10014. Barricada/R6ger September 18, 1987 The Militant 15 THE MILITANT Scab-run mill pollutes Maine river Striking paperworkers demand governor shut down plant

BY JON HILLSON Maine came to salute the Jay workers at JAY, Maine - International Paper their mass meeting. They included paper­ Co.'s scab-run operation here became a workers from Millinocket, Maine, who major health hazard to area residents in the raised nearly $3,000 at a dance; a local early morning hours of August 30 when the Teamster official who brought the first of­ plant poured millions of gallons of treated ficial backing from that union; a vice-pres­ and untreated mill waste into the Andros­ ident of a Bath, Maine, local of shipyard coggin River. workers who brought a check for $1 ,500; It turned the waterway brown and and top AFL-CIO officials. covered it with a thick layer of foam, ac­ cording to the Lewiston Daily Sun. This act 'Need to hear what's happening' of environmental pollution prompted lead­ A common theme from these and other ers of Local 14 of the United Paperworkers guests who took the floor and gave brief re­ International Union (UPIU) to demand marks, is the need for their coworkers "to Maine Gov. John McKernan shut down the hear what's happening in Jay." mill. As one Millinocket UPIU stalwart from Local 14 was forced on strike June 16 the Great Northern paper mill explained, against devastating concessions demanded "every day there're more questions and we by IP. Union leaders such as local Presi­ need you people to answer them." dent Bill Meserve have repeatedly warned Bill Meserve read a letter from the coor­ that scab and supervisory personnel work­ dinator of transportation at the August 22 ing 12-hour shifts could not operate the Lock Haven solidarity rally of 3,000. He plant safely. described how in the past he'd lost a lot of "With a skilled work force, an accident hope in the labor movement. But the spirit such as this would not have happened," and determination of the Jay strikers, 170 Meserve told the media September I. IP, of whom drove more than 12 hours to Lock he stated, has "put the health and safety of Haven for the march, turned him around. all people along the river in jeopardy." "For the first time in 22 years" as a Meserve termed the spill the "most mas­ unionist, he wrote, "I know the meaning of sive" in memory, when he addressed more the words 'united,' 'comrade,' and 'sol­ than I ,000 strikers and their supporters at idarity.', Local 14's weekly union mass meeting For more information on the Jay strike Militant/Jon Hillson September 3. contact: UPIU Local 14, Box 272, Jay, Area unionists lining up to present contributions to Jay strikers at their August 4 Maine 04239. meeting. Strike continues to draw strong solidarity from Maine unions. Teachers back paperworkers At the September 3 meeting, Maine Teachers Association President Thomas Vassallo blasted IP for a television adver­ Rally backs Wisconsin paperworkers tising campaign that depicts a classroom teacher supporting IP management against the union. BY JESSE SMITH Wisconsin Farm Unity Alliance. "We're didn't strike, but in the last days of negoti­ "Nothing could be further from the DE PERE, Wis.- A three-month strike all in the same boat. We're all working ations, workers just walked off the job. truth," he told the crowd. "The average is hard on a union and its members, but the people trying to make a living." The company knew we couldn't take much Maine teacher believes IP is wrong in Jay." Nicolet paperworkers are hanging tough. But, he added, "big business is trying to more." Vassallo presented Local 14's president "We're not the same union we were the reduce everyone to Third World levels. The IP strike in De Pere is solid, with with a $1,000 check and the endorsement day we went out. We're a lot stronger and The only way we're going to beat them is nearly all of the local's 370 members still of the strike from the 22,000-member a lot more together," said Jerry Herwald, by our numbers." out. IP claims the plant is being operated teachers' union. president of United Paperworkers Interna­ Another contingent was made up of by 300 scabs and supervisors. Local President Meserve reported that tional Union (UPIU) Local 6288. unionists from the Packerland packing­ But John Ambrosius, a member of Local the strike remained strong in Jay, with One reason the local is stronger is be­ house in Green Bay. They were led by their 6288's bargaining committee, said, "The 1,227 workers remaining out. No one, he cause of the support it has received from 32-year-old President Lewis Lambert. Like main thing they are shipping out of there is said, referring to 23 "superscabs"- union other Paperworker locals in the nearby the Nicolet paperworkers, they see Packer­ waste." Green Bay area and from other unions as members who've gone back to work- has land making big profits, but still trying to followed their strikebreaking example in well. squeeze more from meat-packers. Jesse Smith is a member of International more than a month. This is despite a heavy This was evident at the September 5 "We just settled our contract, without Association of Machinists Lodge 76 in Mil­ campaign by IP to force highly paid Labor Day rally here. Organizers of the having to take cuts," Lambert said. "We waukee. maintenance workers back with scare tac­ day's event estimated that up to 4,000 at­ tics of permanent replacement by scab tended. labor. Weekly union meetings are packed with But with financial pressures mounting as wives, husbands, and children of the,strik­ Mine workers force con1pany the strike nears the conclusion of its third ers. And since the Nicolet plant was pur­ month, and the company claiming that the chased by International Paper (IP) a year union is "stalling" in negotiations, the situ­ ago, Local 6288 members are part of a to settle Colorado strike ation is getting "more tense every day," larger family of IP workers who are on Meserve said. He pledged the local's sup­ strike in several cities. BYDOUGHORD Under the UMW A contract, miners can port to workers and their families who need "It's a coordinated strike. There's MORGANTOWN, W.Va.- "Every­ call memorial days and take off from work special support and counseling. strength in numbers," a union member thing was rolling, well planned, and ready to honor those who have been killed in explained. "For us in De Pere, it's our best to go," said Carl Petro, president of United mine disasters. Over the previous month, Joint work of 3 striking locals shot at beating the company - now, when Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Local production at the Emerald mine in Waynes­ Local 14 Vice-president Felix Jakes told the people in Maine and Pennsylvania are 2258. He was describing the situation at burg had been halted by a series of 10 on­ the meeting that a joint delegation of Jay on strike." the Emerald Mine in Waynesburg, again, off-again memorial days. In the two workers and UPIU strikers from other "We haven't taken big concessions Pennsylvania, on the eve of a sympathy weeks before the August 23 deadline for ci-ties that went to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, here," he added, "but we can see what's strike scheduled to begin August 23. the sympathy strike, production had been had "awakened the members" about IP' s happened other places." These Pennsylvania miners were ready halted five times. efforts to divide and cripple the unions in Union members at the Nico!et plant are to go out in solidarity with United Mine Local President Petro explained that the forced to work three out of every four Sun­ the IP chain nationally. The Pine Bluff IP Workers members on strike against Col­ memorial days and the sympathy strike days. As is the case at the other IP plants, workers' contracts have expired as the orado Yampa Coal Co. in Colorado. were not steps taken lightly by the 220 one of the company's key takeback de­ unions continue to negotiate there. The target was Cyprus Minerals Co., members of Local 2258. But, he said, mands is an end to double time pay for owner of both the Emerald Mine and Col­ "everybody was basically in agreement Jakes reported increased scab hiring in Sundays and holidays. orado Yampa Coal. once we explained what the ramifications Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, where the Herwald explained that the company would be for us. What would have been union is also on strike against IP. A levy of also wants to get rid of "all existing side UMW A members at Colorado Yampa our chances of winning a good contract in a $1 ,000-a-day fine against the union is in agreements and letters of understanding" rejected a concession contract and went on January if we turned our backs on our place and a stiff injunction limits Lock and wipe out "pending grievances." strike April 22. The company refused to brothers out there?" Haven pickets to three per gate. "If we went along with what they want, settle the strike at the same time others in UMW A President Richard Trumka an­ He emphasized that the Local 14 Jay it would be the death of the union," he the West were resolved. nounced the settlement at a Local 2258 leadership would continue efforts nation­ added. However, faced with the possibility of meeting hours before the strike deadline. ally to stimulate greater joint work and This industrial area is surrounded by sympathy strikes at Emerald and at another Eleven members of Local 1344 from common efforts by paperworkers across cornfields and dairy farms. Some farmers UMW A-organized Cyprus mine in Col­ Colorado Yampa were also on hand for the the country to stand up to the industry attended the Labor Day event. orado, Cyprus Minerals gave in at the last meeting. They returned home in good giants. "We as farmers know what it is to lose minute and offered a contract to the work­ spirits, satisfied because of a job well Union leaders and activists from across everything," explained John Bergum of the ers at Colorado Yampa. done.

16 The Militant September 18, 1987