------• AUSTRALIA $2.50 • BELGIUM BF60 • CANADA $2.50 • FRANCE FF1 0 • ICELAND Kr200 • NEW ZEALAND $2.50 • SWEDEN Kr12 • UK £1.00 • U.S. $1.50 INSIDE No to rightist bombings, defend democratic rights in UK THE -PAGES3,14 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 63 NO. 19 MAY 17. 1999 MayDay Workers pay dearly for rally backs Tttan Ttre escalating NATO assault strikers Moscow signs deal with NATO powers BY RAY PARSONS BYBOBBISMISAILIDES DES MOINES, Iowa- "There's a strike ANDARGIRISMALAPANIS fever going on, and the corporations see TIRANA, Albania- Following the May we're not playing." That's how William Ar­ Day weekend, Washington significantly es­ gue, a striking member ofUnited Steelwork­ calated the U.S.-NATO bombing of Yugo­ ers of America (USWA) Local 303L from slavia. The imperialist force is using new Natchez, Mississippi, described the back­ weapons and striking at targets that haye drop to the May 1 solidarity rally celebrat­ begun to cripple communication among ing the one-year anniversary of the strike working people throughout Serbia and by USWA Local164 against Titan Tire here. Montenegro in a qualitatively new way and The 670 members of Local 164 hit the deprive them of basic necessities such as bricks May 1, 1998, fighting against forced overtime, two-tier wages, and for pension Eyewitness report: workers and health-care benefits for retired workers. Local303Ljoined the strike against Titan from Kosova and Albania Tire in September. The company bought the explain their struggles Natchez tire factory last year, but demanded -PagesS-9 big concessions from the union as part of the deal. Some 70 Natchez strikers came by water and electricity. Continued on Page 6 As the Militant went to press, the media reported that Washington and other imperi­ alist powers signed a joint statement with Moscow calling for an international armed force in Kosova and the withdrawal of ChicagoYS: Belgrade's forces from the region. Kosova Bus and car were destroyed in U.S.-led NATO assault May 3 near the city of Pee, Kosova. is reportedly to remain part of Yugoslavia Washington's claims of attacking military targets have become increasingly Oimsy. down the road, with some type of self-gov­ 'Defend right ernment. There are no indications yet as to for an hour or two,'' said Branislav Canak million people in Yugoslavia's capital are now Belgrade's response. during a May 5 telephone interview from his stf!Jggling to find potable water. "Water "For two days we have had no electricity home in Belgrade. "Water has also been cut tanks sent by the government in some neigh- to choose in almost the entire city of Belgrade except off as a result ofthe NATO bombing." The 2 Continued on Page 12 abortion' BY JACOB PERASSO Baseball game is victory for Cuba CillCAGO-Fifteen students and young workers, including members of the Young BYOLYMPIANEWI'ON during the second inning. Despite a rain cess for Cuba. The Orioles won the earlier Socialists, took part in a protest against an BALTIMORE-In what became a politi­ delay that took the game until almost mid­ game 3-2, in 11 innings. attack on women's right to choose abortion cal, diplomatic, and athletic victory for Cuba, night, supporters of the Cuban team re­ As of May 1, Washington was refusing at DePaul University here April28. "Not the the Cuban national baseball team played the mained in the stands until the end, waving to issue visas to about one-third of the 335- church, not the state, women will decide their Baltimore Orioles in an exhibition game here Cuban flags and chanting "Cuba, si! member delegation from Cuba. Cuban offi­ fate" and "Stop the lies! Hands off my May3. Bloqueo, no!" cials issued a statement to the U.S. State body!" chanted the pickets, ~o kept up The game itself was a sound defe.at for From the beginning, the U.S. government Department May 1, saying that Cuban par­ the action for more than an hour despite a the Orioles, who lost 12-6. Cuban relief and other opponents of the Cuban revolu­ ticipants "feel deceived and offended" over light rain. pitcher Norge Vera kept the Orioles hitless tion tried to keep this game and the teams' the visa denials. It continued, "Under these The protest was ignited by an anti-choice for almost seven innings, after stepping in March 28 match in Havana from being a sue- conditions, we will be forced to cancel the ad placed in the campus newspaper, the game." The State Department DePaulia, by the Illinois Right to Life Com­ changed its course late that mittee. The advertisement claimed that night, issuing visas to the en­ woman who have an abortion are more likely tire delegation. to get breast cancer and asserted that abor­ $20 U.S. officials pulled out all tion is the "# 1 cause of death in Illinois." the stops to try to get Cuban The Young Socialists recently estab­ players to defect. The Immi­ lished a chapter in Chicago, through the re­ gration and Naturalization Ser­ cruitment of a DePaul University student: Capitalism's World Disorder­ vice (INS) said most ofits lo­ The YS has organized two meetings at Working-Class Politics at the Millennium cal staff would be on hand DePaul, one of which was a discussion fo­ during the game "to handle rum on the U.S./NATO bombing of Yugo­ Jack Barnes possible defections." Orioles slavia. Students at DePaul have participated "We have watched th~ first large-scale war take place in Europe in owner Peter Angelos then in campaigns of the Young Socialists, in­ almost half a century. There has been massive, sustained artillery banned INS agents from the cluding building and participating in politi­ ballpark. cal forums, attending demonstrations, and shelling. Air power has been used to bomb civilian populations in In response, Baltimore's staffmg book tables on campus. Europe for the first time since the bombing ofDresden, London, INS director, Ben Ferro, told YS activity on the campus has been cov­ and other cities during World War II .... 1he Baltimore Sun, "We will ered in the DePaulia. The newspaper took All this has been taking place in Yugoslavia It is a war that has have to find other ways to do note of young people selling socialist litera­ what we need to do," includ­ ture and campaigning against the US/NATO brought to the surface the deepest conflicts among the imperialist ing setting up a 24-hour tele­ bombing outside the Schmitt Academic Cen­ powers in Europe and North America since the collapse of the Regular price $23.95 phone hotline to handle in­ ter. It ran a photo of the literature table and Stalinist apparatuses at the opening of the 1990s. It is a war that has quiries by members ofthe del- quoted those campaigning, as well as an ar­ exposed the increasing contradictions egation and others. ticle headlined, "Socialists call for end to FROM PATHFINDER Baseball agent and busi­ in what continues to be called the NATO bombing,'' covering the YS discussion fo­ Get Available from bookstores, in­ nessman Joe Cubas, who has rum on Yugoslavia. 'Capitalism's World alliance." cluding those listed on page 12, made a dubious career of try­ The YS in Chicago has also worked to Disorder' -December 31, 1994 or write Pathfinder, 410 West ing to buy off Cuban baseball bring students from DePaul and other young and 12 weeks of the St., New York, NY 10014. Tel: players, was among those of­ people in the area to picket lines and labor (212) 741-0690. Fox: (212) fering multimillion-dollar con­ rallies. David El Rassi, a student at DePaul, 'Militant' 727-0150. When ordering by tracts to any member of the has visited three times the picket line ofstrik­ for just $30! moil, please include $3 to cover Cuban team who would defect. ing steelworkers against Tool and Engineer­ shipping and handling. 6nJ.y one person of the 335- ing here in Chicago. Continued on Page 6

· Tazewell strikers 'go back proud, with our heads up' -page 7 IN BRIEF------

Army coup takes over Comoros in a place with roaches and mice," said Military officers took over the Repub- Casaundracq Riley, a ninth grader at lic of Comoros April 30, ousting Presi­ Bladensburg High School. "It's just un­ dent Tadjidine Ben Said Massonde. Army l civilized. It's nasty." Riley was one of Chief of Staff Col. Assoumani Azzali more than 300 students who staged a stated that the coup was carried out ''to three-hour walkout April 26 to protest prevent our country from being plunged subhuman conditions. The school admin­ into chaos." The country is made up pri­ istration called the cops on protesters, marily of the islands of Grand Comore, although no one was arrested. Moheli, and Anjouan off the coast of Mozambique, and has 700,000 residents. Florida gov't okays school It won independence from France in 1975. vouchers, limits right to choose On Mayotte, the fourth island in the Florida's state legislators gave final ap­ chain, Paris engineered a referendum in proval to two undemocratic laws at the favor of continued ties with the colonial end ofApril. In one measure doctors must power. It remains an "overseas territorial notify parents of a patient under the age collectivity" of France today. of 18 years 48 hours before an abortion is The French government has a long his­ performed, though consent is not required. tory of intervention in the Comoros Young women who don't want their par­ through mercenaries and a direct invasion ents in their business have to appeal to a in 1995. Officials on Anjouan declared in­ judge for a waiver. dependence in 1997, with plans to renew Under the guise ofaiding poor children, ties with Paris. The Comoros government Palestinians rally outside Yassir Arafat's office April27 calling for declaration ofPalestinian state government officials approved voucher has made several attempts to put down legislation that would supposedly give all this secession by military force. Coup lead­ excuse to deny us our statehood. We've had drop "liberalization" plans that would give students regardless of income or grades "eli­ ers put officials under house arrest, sus­ enough.... If the Israelis want to invade, let more control to transportation companies. gibility" to apply for up to $4,000 a year to pended the constitution, and banned politi­ them. I'll throw stones at them." One un­ Workers went ahead with the strike anyway. pay for private or parochial school tuition. cal activity and public gatherings. named Palestinian official complained, "We Republican governor Jeb Bu8h has report­ go from one new deadline to the next. We Cuba makes sugar harvest target edly said he would sign both bills. Palestinian statehood is on hold have no firm commitments from the U.S. that Workers and farmers in Cuba scored a vic­ The increasingly bourgeosified leadership it will recognize our state. Each new dead­ tory by achieving their 1998-99 goal of har­ Maryland killer cop walks free of the Palestine Liberation Organization line gives Netanyahu more time to build new vesting 3.6 million tons of sugar. This is a A grand jury in Montgomery County, (PLO)- under pressure from Washington settlements." larger zafra, or sugar harvest, than the previ­ Maryland, ruled not to bring charges against and other governments - postponed its ous season, which yielded a crop of3.2 mil­ Sean Thiekle, a cop who claims he acciden­ planned May 4 declaration of an indepen­ Transport strike hits Nicaragua lion. Gen. Ulysses Rosales del Toro, who was tally shot and killed Junious Roberts April dent state, ostensibly until some time in June. Bus and taxi drivers in Nicaragua orga­ appointed sugar minister two years ago, an­ 14. Thiekle, on paid leave during the whole Under the 1994 Oslo "peace" agreement nized a nationwide strike April 29 to protest nounced that workers had reduced produc­ episode, car-chased Roberts on unfounded signed by the Israeli government and the the high price ofdiesel fuel. Some 10,000 strik­ tion costs and improve efficiency levels dur­ suspicions of car theft. The cop says he shot PLO, May 4 was the deadline for a decisions ers set up roadblocks throughout the coun­ ing the latest harvest. Roberts by mistake. A doctor hired by on the fmal status of Palestinian lands occu­ try. In an attempt to head off the protest, the Robert's family was "skeptical" about the pied by Tel Aviv. As the date approached, minister oftransportation announced the day Maryland students walk out cop's story, based on how the bullet entered. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu before that the government was willing to "It's not right to have kids going to school -BRIANTAYWR threated to annex all disputed territories ifthe PLO tried to establish a state. Tel Aviv has backed a number of strategic land seizures by Zionist settlers in the West Bank that sepa­ Fourth attack on Iowa Pathfinder store draws protests rate Palestinian villages from one another. Meanwhile, pressure from Palestinians for BY RAY PARSONS incident eggs have been thrown at book­ terrorize your political office ...These acts of their own country is building. On April27 DES MOINES, Iowa-For the fourth time store windows. A news conference was held vandalism are attacking the First Amend­ Palestinians demonstrated outside PLO in six weeks the Pathfmder Bookstore, which following the third incident Aprill2. On April ment." leader Yassir Arafat's offices calling for state­ provides office space for Socialist Workers 26 supporters of the Ulman campaign orga­ Paul Ford, a leader of the Grinnell [Col­ hood. Sa'ad Saleem, a cab driver, said, "The mayoral candidate Amanda Ulman's cam­ nized a second news conference and meet­ lege] Coalition in Defense ofMumia Abu­ Americans and the Israelis always find an paign, was vandalized on April24. In each ing to call on Des Moines authorities to ap­ Jamal, declared, "Guaranteeing free speech prehend those responsible for the attacks. means not only protecting the people who In her presentation at the meeting Ulman speak but the tools they use to spread their said, "We have received suppport from work­ message." ers, farmers, college educators, and young Four youths, members ofthe newly formed people fighting against the the injustices of Iowa chapter of Anti-Racist Action (ARA), capitalism. Many have sent letters condemn­ and Drake University professor Jon Torger­ ing these attacks and defending the right of son joined other supporters of the Socialist working people and our allies to freely dis­ Workers campaign at the April 26 meeting. cuss politics .... Others have volunteered to After Ulman's presentation a lively discus­ monitor the bookstore after hours." sion on how to fight rightist outfits that are Drake University professor Daniel Spen­ becoming more active in politics took place. cer said in a statement, "I am writing to de­ The ARA activists expressed interest in help­ nounce these [incidents of vandalism], to ing to organize more protests against the demand that the City of Des Moines act deepening U.S./NATO war in Yugoslavia. swiftly and effectively to apprehend the per­ petrators." Ray Parsons is a member ofthe United Steel­ Lany Ginter, a Marshall County hog farmer workers of America Local 310 in Des and activist said, "no one has the right to Moines.

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2 The Militant May 17,1999 London marchers say Workers in Detroit protest on-the job deaths no to rightist bombings

BY CELIA PUGH charged a man with the bombings, but there AND CAROLINE BELLAMY remained a mood ofanger among the crowd. LONDON- Two thousand people gath­ Some on the May 1 march expressed con­ ered May 1 in Brixton, a south London com­ cern that the police were trying to use the munity, in response to the rightist bombings bombings to attack democratic rights. here over the last few weeks. The determined Phelim MacCafferty, a student originally and noisy marchers then marched to central from Northern Ireland, noted, "They may London to link up with 3,000 others at a try to bring in methods they have used in trade union--organized May Day march. Ireland, like taking away our right to remain The previous night a nail bomb had ex­ silent. We'll see more police harassing ploded in a Soho district pub frequented pre­ people in Soho, Brixton, and Brick Lane." dominantly by gays, killing three people and wounding 68. Thirty-nine people were in­ Pretext for curtailing rights jured April 17 in a nail-bomb attack in At a rally in Brixton on April29, left wing Brixton, an area with a large Black popula­ Labour MP Kenneth Livingstone had called tion. A similar bombing April 24 wounded on the government to apply the "same meth­ five people in Brick Lane, the heart of the ods as we have used against terrorism in Bangladeshi community in Tower Hamlets, Northern Ireland." east London. In recent years the police have increased street patrols and advocated greater use of Militant/Marty Ressler Police say they received telephone calls "When I started at Ford there were workers; now there are 9 doing the job of street surveillance cameras by businesses and 14 claiming responsibility for these acts from This makes for profits and big bonuses for managment, but for workers it local councils. According to The Observer, 14. four rightist groups, including Combat 18 and goes in the wrong direction," declared Brian Papke, above. Papke works in the there are now 1 million such cameras in use the White Wolves. Combat 18 is described power plant of Ford's River Rouge auto factory, where six workers were killed across the United Kingdom. These measures in the press as having members in the British in an explosion February 1. He was speaking to a Workers Memorial Day rally are endorsed by some leaders of community Army and links with loyalist paramilitaries of75 people in Detroit April28. The entire day shift at Fitzgerald Finishing Co., organizations in Black and Asian areas, who in Ireland. The police have been widely re­ where workers recently joined the United Auto Workers, held a rally the same also call for rightist groups to be banned. ported as having agents in Combat 18. day. Two workers have died there out of a workforce of 70 in the last two years. On May 2 police charged a 22-year-old The Southall Monitoring Project, an man with responsibility for the three bomb­ antiracist group in west London, is organiz­ ings. The police claim that he acted alone and ing with local mosques and temples for 100 thony Blair said May 2 that the police re­ restrictive asylum laws. The fact these attacks had no connection with the rightist groups. arm-banded volunteers to patrol the area and sponse to these bombings would help de­ take place is then no accident. They are an Militant reporters talked with residents of report anything suspicious to the police. fend "what it means to be British." He used inevitable result of the crisis of capitalism." Brick Lane the day after the attack there. Labour home secretary Jack Straw ap­ the same speech to justify NATO's bomb­ Galloway pointed to the way the youth Groups of young people and others congre­ pealed on BBC Radio 4 for people to in­ ing of working people in Yugoslavia. on Brick Lane had won trade union backing gated on comers of Brick Lane, still cor­ form the police of suspicions about work­ Paul Galloway, Communist League coun­ for their march in 1994 as the best way to doned off by the police. Hira Miah was mates, neighbors, or acquaintances who may cil candidate for Levenshulme ward, respond. (See statement on page 14.) working in a music shop when the bomb be members of rightist groups. Manchester, said the rightists gain "oxygen went off outside. He explained that the area, In a May 1 editorial the London Times ar­ for their actions from daily news of NATO Celia Pugh is a member of the Amalgam­ like Brixton, is racially mixed. "They are gued that "members of every minority must raining bombs on working people in Yugo­ ated Engineering and Electrical Union. trying to use bombs to divide us, but they now realise the police are their protectors." slavia, to the government stepped up scape­ Caroline Bellamy is a member ofthe Trans­ won't succeed. These bombs will just bring Echoing this theme Prime Minister An- goating of immigrant workers with the new port and General Workers Union. us closer together and start a fightback in the community," Miah said. Fights against racist attacks and cops Strikers in Peru denounce Fujimori gov't Miah recalled the organized defense and demonstrations against a series ofbrutal rac­ BY HILDA CUZCO With austerity measures that lowered the Fujimori has been working to increase his ist attacks in 1993. Police attacked a vigil Workers across Peru took part in a gen­ living standards of working people in Peru, chances for a third-term reelection, despite his of Bengali youth outside the hospital where eral strike April28, the first since President the Fujirnori government paid $1.7 billion of drop in popularity polls to a low of29 percent 17-year-old Quaddus Ali was being treated Alberto Fujimori took office nine years ago. the outstanding loans to the IMF and the World in last December. He won the presidency for following an assault. They were protesting the government's eco­ Bank in 1993. This made his government eli­ the second time in 1995 playing up the arrest Police charged nine youths with taking nomic policies, attacks on democratic rights, gible for new IMF loan-sharking funds. and show trial of Shining Path leaders. part in the vigil they labeled a riot. Miah unemployment, and Fujimori's aspirations At the same time Fujimori gave full pow­ participated in protests against these racist for a third presidential term. ers to his military brass to try to crush the President campaigns for third term attacks. This included a 50,000-strong dem­ The Peruvian General Workers' Federa­ Stalinist Shining Path guerrilla organization In 1996 Fujimori's government majority in onstration through Tower Hamlets in March tion (CGTP) called the labor action. Com­ beginning in 1991. Alleging that Congress Congress approved a law that allows him to 1994 organized by local youth and comiJIU­ munity organizations, women's groups, and failed to deal with ''terrorism" and drug traf­ run for a third term, despite the two-term limit nity groups and backed nationally by the student unions also participated. Four of the ficking, he closed Congress and suspended in the new constitution, on grounds that his Trades Union Congress. main opposition parties supported the action, the Constitution, staging a "self-coup" in first term fell under the old constitution and After these actions, racist gang attacks and Alberto Andrade, the mayor ofLima and Aprill992. Fujimori replaced Congress and did not count. The opposition appealed to the lessened, Miah said, but the police increased a presidential candidate for the year 2000, the Supreme Court with key military figures. Constitutional Tribunal, which ruled against their harassment oflocal Asian youth. "I was took part in the march and rally there. Despite his anti-working-class policies, this exemption. Fujimori responded ,by dis­ getting stopped about three times a week. In Lima, the capital city, around 2,000 however, Fujimori has been a highly popu­ missing the tribunal for exceeding its author­ After the riots they stopped our cars, saying demonstrators rallied in the main square lar president through most ofhis presidency. ity. A campaign that took two years to collect they were checking for weapons." Miah said Plaza de Armas. Juan Jose Gorriti, secre­ Playing on widespread insecurity over so­ 1.5 million signatures calling for a referendum that the police have not stopped him since tary-general of the CGTP, stated that "the cial turmoil and the economic crisis, Fujimori to bar a third term was also thrown out by the the Stephen Lawrence report. An investiga­ majority ofPeruvians" were participating in was elected by presenting himself as a sav­ Fujimori majority in Congress, who argued tion into Lawrence's murder by racist thugs the strike, with the strongest support in other ior, standing above classes, who would bring that a two-thirds majority vote in that body exposed police racism and inaction to bring provinces. Mobilizations in the cities of stability, peace, and "clean government" by was needed to hold a referendum. the killers to justice. Cuzco, lquitos, and Hminuco shut down vir­ using decisive executive power to "cut Fujimori recently tried to refurbish his Donna Melody, who is white, was hom and tually all offices, stores, and schools. through red tape." He portrayed himself as government by appointing eight new cabi­ raised in the area. She was taking her young A couple dozen Lima demonstrators were an outsider untarnished by the corruption of net ministers, the largest change in his nine daughter to Brick Lane just before the ex­ arrested in the early morning, accused ofpaint­ the discredited traditional capitalist parties. years of rule, after dismissing five in mid­ plosion. "The government puts words into ing graffiti on the walls in support ofthe strike. This kind of political regime, which his­ April. The new faces in the cabinet include other peoples' mouths," she said when asked Other reports indicated that some roads were torically has often arisen in times of social three women. Last year he also dismissed what she thought of government laws to re­ blocked with burning tires in the capital city. crisis, is known as Bonapartist. Gen. Nicolas Hermoza Rios, the army com­ strict immigrants and refugees, scapegoating Protesters were attacked by police in riot gear. Fujimori initially won support by reduc­ mander once considered his closest ally and them for deteriorating provision ofhospitals, ing inflation, dealing blows to the Shining very close to his secret police strongman schools, and housing. "I think these racist Fujimori's Bonapartist regime Path, and attacking Congress and the courts Vladimiro Montesinos. Defense Minister bombs are disgusting. It's wrong to tar all Fujimori won the presidential elections as corrupt. Over the years, however, the Julio Salazar Monroe, who was also close white people who live in areas like this with in 1990 under the banner of "honest gov­ demagogy has worn thin, with the continu­ to Montesinos, was dismissed in mid-April, the same brush." ernment" and promises to save "the people" ing capitalist economic crisis and the gradual a surprise move in government circles. The day of the Brick Lane explosion lo­ from hyperinflation of up to 7,650 percent, process of working people regaining their Seeking to burnish his demagogic appeal cal Labour Member of Parliament, Oona "terrorism," and drug trafficking. Soon af­ confidence to fight for their interests. as a "man of the people" in face of growing King, who is Black, blamed the bombing ter taking office, he decreed brutal austerity In April of this year students and workers working-class resistance, Fujimori has been on a "white backlash" against the Stephen measures to satisfy capitalist investors, and marched in Lima carrying signs that read, traveling to the provinces to inaugurate struc­ Lawrence report. the International Monetary Fund (IMF) de­ "Down with the dictatorship!" and "Fujimori, tural projects. He has put unpopular plans to The May 1 march from Brixton painted mands to repay $22 billion in back debt. His it's time to go!" marking the seventh anni­ sell state enterprises, namely two oil refmer­ different picture. As demonstrators made government's subsidy cuts and lifting of versary of this Bonapartist takeover. ies, three electricity distribution companies, their way to central London, people waved, price controls skyrocketed prices offuel and A country of22 million, Peru's economy and the remaining hydro-electric generators, cheered, and hooted car horns indicating the staples, and hundreds of thousands govern­ has been devastated by the world economic on the back burner for now. massive isolation of these rightists. Isaac ment employees and workers in state-owned crisis. The combined rate of unemployment Two new funds have been established, de­ Joseph, who lives in Brixton, joined the companies were laid off. and underemployment runs at 50 percent. The spite the recession. More than half a million march. "This is my first time at a protest," The peasants, almost half of the popula­ economic crisis in Asia affected prices of retired state employees will receive two bo­ Joseph said. "I saw the march go past my tion, have also borne the brunt of the "Fuji­ important minerals such as copper and tin. nuses this year through Fonahpu, a govern­ window. I told myself 'I should join them, shock" economy, as these policies are known. The fishing industry has also suffered a blow ment agency. A similar body, Mivivienda, we can make a difference! ' " Exploited by the rich landlords, many peas­ with the damaging effects ofEl Nifio, which will fmance long-term mortgages for lower­ On May 2 another 2,000 people joined a ants rely mainly on the coca leaf crop, mate­ moved vital varieties of fish away from the middle-class families. Another plan will pro­ rally and vigil in Soho organized by gay rights rial for cocaine production, as they cannot shorelines, hurting the substantial fish-meal vide some workers and peasants with prop­ groups. Among the speakers was government live on the prices they get for beans, com, production industry. The country has been in et:ty titles by year's end. Meanwhile, minister Paul Boateng. A police representa­ rice, and other crops. Sixty percent of the an economic recession, with an economic Fujimori's government is seeking from the tive was cheered when he reported they had world coca production comes from Peru. growth of zero at the end oflast year. IMF a third three-year loan agreement. May 17,1999 The Militant 3 'U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War' is now available in Spanish and French!

BY MICHEL PRAIRIE Spanish translations of the issue. MONTREAL - The fifth issue of And it codifies important conquests Nueva Internacional, a Spanish-lan­ of the communist movement- like guage magazine ofMarxist politics and the "incompatibility of all forms of theory, was shipped from the Pathfmder race-baiting with the construction of a printshop in New York Friday, April communist party and leadership." 30 -just in time for the beginning of Race-baiting is a very widespread an international campaign to increase petty-bourgeois practice by individu­ the readership of the communist peri­ als of an oppressed nationality (or odicals the Militant and Perspectiva someone claiming to speak in their in­ Mundial, and oftheNew International terests) of using demagogic methods magazine in four languages. to prejudice the credibility or leader­ This new issue of Nueva ship qualifications of someone of a Internacional is the translation ofNew different skin color. International no. 11, featuring "U.S. The printing of the new French- and Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War." Spanish-language issues of this maga­ Its publication follows that in March zine significantly increases the scope of the sixth issue of Nouvelle of the communist arsenal. It will help Internationale, the translation in put the articles they contains into the French of the same issue of the maga­ hands of workers, farmers, and youth zine. A translation in Swedish will be whose language is French or Spanish­ published later this year as the third in Quebec, the United States, France, issue of Ny International. A transla­ and many other countries. This happens tion in Icelandic is also under way. at a time when the hunger is deepening The documents in this issue of the Militant/Steve Marshall among workers, farmers, and youth in­ magazine are if anything more essen­ United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) members and supporters blocking road to Pittston Coal ternationally for a clear working-class tial today than when they were pub­ preparation plant during strike, April1989. The "labor movement remains at center stage of U.S. poli­ explanation and line of march in face of lished in English barely six months ago. tics" despite a decade of assault, explains 1990 SWP resolution, and that is even truer today. the accelerating crisis ofthe world capi- talist system of exploitation- a crisis U.S. imperialism has lost the Cold War discuss, organize, and fight for their rights "The evidence continues to accumulate now dramatized by the murderous assault on The feature article of the magazine by So­ and reach out to their fellow brothers and that the working class in the United States working people in the Balkans by Washing­ cialist Workers Party national secretary Jack sisters in other countries. and most other imperialist countries has ton and its imperialist allies and rivals. Barnes is a political resolution discussed and • Stalinism was a counterfeit of commu­ emerged from the period of political retreat adopted in 1990 by the SWP in the U.S. and nism. Its worldwide disintegration opens the that followed the ... imperial assault on the Michel Prarie is the editor of Nouvelle communist leagues in other countries. Its main way for rebuilding a world communist move­ people oflraq in 1990-91. Signs of renewed Internationale. points can be summarized as follows: ment capableofleading workers and farmers defensive action are all around us," write • Imperialism is weaker today than ever to power- a key precondition for them be­ Barnes and New International editor Mary­ before. "The exploiters," writes Barnes, ing able to begin rebuild society on the basis Alice Waters in the opening piece of the MILITANT "have not been able to resolve the increas­ of human needs and new proletarian values magazine, titled "Ours Is the Epoch of PERSPECTIVA MUNDIAL ing stagnation and vulnerability of the world of solidarity, cooperation, and dignity. World Revolution." capitalist system. They have not been able • The fight for national self-determination: Subscription drive to impose crushing defeats on the working the only road toward a world without bor­ Rebuilding world communist movement people and labor movements of a single ders. A key section of the resolution summa­ This change in the mass psychology of MAY 1-JUNE 27 imperialist country. They have not been able rizes the strategic and programmatic con­ the working class has in fact accelerated Militant PM Nl to overcome the political obstacles to their quests of the communist movement on the since that sentence was written last Septem­ capacity to carry out sustained wars, or to intertwining of the struggles by oppressed ber, underlining even more the other, insepa­ Goal Goal Goal prevent rebellions and fights for liberation peoples with the socialist revolution. Think­ rable thread that runs through the issue: the Australia 14 3 12 by workers and peasants of the colonial and ing working and youth will find it especially opening that the deepening capitalist crisis semi-colonial world. And they have not been useful for understanding the crucial place of and the shattering of the Stalinist roadblock Canada able since 191 7 to restore capitalist prop­ the fight for Kosova independence today in provide for rebuilding a world communist Montreal 20 10 30 erty relations to a single one of the coun­ the defense of the Yugoslav workers state. movement. Toronto 30 5 25 tries where it has been overturned." • Despite a decade of assault, states the Readers will find of special interest: Vancouver 25 3 12 • Capitalism has suffered a historic de­ 1990 resolution, the "labor movement re­ • The "Young Socialists Manifesto," Canada Total 75 18 67 feat in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union mains at center stage of U.S. politics" and drafted by members of the YS chapter in with the collapse of the bureaucratic re­ in other imperialist countries. This conclu­ Los Angeles a year ago in order to clarify France 5 3 25 gimes. To restore their system of exploita­ sion, drawn from hard-fought strikes by for themselves the character and activity of tion, the imperialists now have to directly rank-and-file Machinists and coal miners their organization and its relationship with Iceland 8 confront millions of workers, farmers, and against Eastern Airlines and Pittston Coal the Socialist Workers Party, the communist other toilers who have for the first time in at the end of the 1980s in the United States, vanguard in the United States. The editors New Zealand more than half a century gained space to is even truer today. decided to put this document right at the Auckland 30 5 front of the issue in order to stress the fact that the point for revolutionaries is to Christchurch 16 6 change the world, not just to talk about it. N.Z. Total 46 2 11 New International • The centrality of the Cuban revolution A MAGAZINE OF MARXIST POLITICS AND THEORY and of its communist leadership throughout Sweden 16 6 6 the whole issue. As the 1990 resolution ex­ • No. 11 plains, "This 'subjective factor'- the genu­ United Kingdom inely internationalist character of the prole­ London 35 8 30 A6w arn-iln-6/e- in­ tarian vanguard guiding the workers state in Manchester Cuba- is the most importantobjective con­ UK Total 35 8 30 ffpn-n-i1f'li n-n-d ~e-n-Ph-/ tribution of the Cuban revolution." This proletarian course by the Cuban lead­ United States U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the ership is confirmed in another piece of the Atlanta 28 7 16 issue, "Socialism: A Viable Option" by Jose Birmingham, AL 35 5 10 Cold War Ramon Balaguer, a member of the Political jack Barnes Bureau of the Cuban Communist Party. In Boston 35 15 25 Chicago 50 15 30 The Communist this talk to an international conference of political parties held in Havana in October Central Illinois 20 4 Strategy 1997, he reiterates, "In the present interna­ Cleveland 40 8 of Party Building tional conditions, we reaffirm that socialism Des Moines 40 20 20 Today is a necessity. Not only is it the logical result Detroit 35 8 15 lkfa~-L1lice J1Taters of the development of the productive forces on a world scale, it is the only alternative to Houston 35 15 20 Socialism: A guarantee the survival ofhumanity." Los Angeles 65 30 40 Viable Option • The final section ofthe 1990 resolution, Miami 35 15 20 jose Ramon Balaguer "Rebuilding a World Communist Move­ ment," and the related article "The Commu­ New York 120 50 75 Young Socialists nist Strategy of Party Building Today," by Newark, NJ 125 50 60 Manifesto Waters, which closes the magazine. Philadelphia 32 6 15 $14.00 This rich and concrete discussion in­ Pittsburgh 30 5 20 cludes an assessment of what the proletar­ San Francisco 90 40 40 ian cadres of the communist movement had just accomplished during the Eastern and Seattle 45 15 15 Distributed by Pathf"mder Pittston strikes. S. Minnesota Available from bookstores, including It goes over the norms and institutions of Twin Cities, MN 50 12 15 those listed on page 16, or write Path­ a turn party like the SWP- a party "whose Washington, DC 50 15 30 rhythm of work, norms of behavior, and po­ finder, 410 West St., New York, NY U.S. Total 960 335 466 litical milieu are determined by the fact that 10014. Tel: (212) 741-0690. Please include the majority of its membership and leader­ lnt'l Total 1154 372 617 $3 to cover shipping and handling. ship are industrial workers and members of lnt!!Goal 1100 350 industrial trade unions," as explains a translator's note added to the French and 4 The Militant May 17,1999 'I want that.book!' says Amtrak worker BYFRANKFORRESTAL bought a subscription to the Militant news­ PITTSBURGH- "I sold a copy of The paper, a copy of Capitalism s World Disor­ Militant to a co-worker at Amtrak who took der, and joined the Pathfinder Readers Club. a copy of Capitalism s World Disorder: When all was said and done, they purchased Working-class Politics at the Millennium . $180 worth ofbooks, including five differ­ to look through. He showed the paper and ent issues of the Marxist magazine New In­ the book to another worker, a block operator ternational. who is from Grenada and went to college in Cuba," reports Ellie Garcia from Newark. "When I ran into him later, he told me the BYMAURICEWHLIAMS two ofthem read the Militant together, and Together with the campaign to sell 1,500 the other worker still had his paper. copies of Capitalism s World Disorder by "When I was finally introduced to the June 14, socialist workers and young social­ block operator, the first thing he said was 'I ists launched a drive on May Day to sell want that book!' I pulled a copy out of my introductory subscriptions to the Militant and its Spanish-language sister magazine Militant/Megan Arney workbag and he bought it on the spot. We Selling Militant to participants in May 1 rally against cop brutality in Orange, New Jersey. exchanged phone numbers and agreed to Perspectiva Mundial, as well as copies of meet again outside of work." New International. The results of the first Seth Galinsky, also from Newark, invited a week of the eight-week campaign will ap­ bring the banner we raised in the May Day later, when I ran into her she said, "I read the Teamster union member over for dinner who pear in the next issue. demonstration: 'Stop the bombings, NATO speech by Fidel Castro about fighting rac­ he met while walking the picket line of are­ From Stockholm, Sweden, Anita Ostling out of the Balkans, For Kosova's indepen­ ism. We need leaders like that here!" So I cently ended strike against the Hertz car rental reports, '.'We had a May Day mobilization dence, Open the borders!' On May 8 we are decided to follow-up with a discus.sion about company. The evening ended with the Team­ here where we sold 51 copies of the Mili­ planning a forum where Catharina Tirsen will Capitalism s World Disorder. I gave her a ster putting a down-payment on a copy of tant- in fact we sold out. We campaigned speak having just returned from the Mili­ copy to take home and look through over Capitalism s World Disorder and a Pathfinder against the imperialist intervention in Yugo­ tant reporting team in the Balkans." her days off, which she did. Readers Club membership. The two workers slavia and in favor of Kosova's indepen­ The Militant encourages its supporters "I took your advice," said Joyce, "and also made plans to join a solidarity rally for dence. We also sold two Militant subscrip­ to send in stories about their sales, and pho­ looked through the index. What caught my shipyard strikers in Newport News, Virginia. tions, two Perspectiva Mundial subscrip­ tos too. Remember, the deadline for sending eye was the section in 'What the 1992 Elec­ Socialist workers in Pittsburgh have also tions, and three copies of New Interna­ in subscriptions and sales reports is noon tions Revealed' on 'Assault on the value of stepped up their efforts to sell Capitalism s tional. Tomorrow [May 4] we will have a each Tuesday. labor power.' What it explains about the eco­ World Disorder, part ofan international cam­ street meeting as part of the Communist nomic insecurity of capitalism is just what paign. A team drove out to the University of League's election campaign for the European we see here at LTV." What finally cinched Pennsylvania at Edinboro to set up a table Parliament, where our candidates will speak BYSALMKOLIS the sale was a discussion of the campaign in the Student Union. Two people came by, through loudspeakers in the city center. On PITTSBURGH-A co-worker in the steel to sell the 1,500 copies of the book and the a man and a woman, who were very excited May 6 there is a rally outside parliament or­ mill where I work, Joyce, got a copy of the special sale price of$20. to see the Pathfinder book table. They said, ganized by the broad left to protest the bomb­ Militant newspaper, and I encouraged her "We can't fmd books like this around here. ings of Yugoslavia. There are no demands to read about the striking shipyard workers for Kosova's independence, though. We will in Newport News Virginia. A couple days ...... ·. .. . ·.:.··. We need to add these to our library." They cAMPAIGN··To.•·.•····seii.··,.· ... Capital is needed for printshop transformation ·•··~c.piifAii$m~s \IVC)J'Itl · · - :Disorder.~' ·. " BYPETERTIIIERJUNG the reorganization of labor in the shop Washington's brutal bombing of Yugosla­ NEW YORK- Pathfinder's printshop launched last year to reduce the costs of via. .•...... •. ~~~>1.\ ..··.~8;.Gti] ~~~·· here is preparing the next stage in the trans­ producing and keeping in print the more than formation needed to keep Pathfinder's en­ 350 titles published by Pathfinder. New pressroom Country Goal Sold % tire book list in print. Pathfinder is appealing The new pressroom will house the three "Our architect is now drawing up the ini­ New Zealand for $250,000 in capital contributions. The printing presses that produce Pathfinder tial plans to eliminate the wall in our current Christchurch 10 8 80% fund got a big boost over the last month books, pamphlets, and other socialist publi­ pressroom," web operator Ryan Lewis said Auckland 10 6 60% cations. The presses are currently separated in an interview. "We toured him through the with $75,000 in contributions, ranging from N.Z. Total 20 14 70% $1,000to $19,000. This is asolidsteptoward by a wall that prevents operators of the web shop and discussed our aims. He raised a raising the additional $175,000 needed. press and two sheet-fed presses from func­ number of possibilities, including ways to Sweden 6 3 50% A single, renovated pressroom, a long­ tioning as a single crew. Its removal will im­ improve air quality, dust control, paper stor­ postponed project, is the next big step in prove training conditions and help to increase age, lighting, and workflow." productivity. The goal is to bring the pressroom in line United States with the standards ofthe shop's modern bind­ Atlanta 40 18 45% Digital workflow ery, constructed in 1992. Workers in the bind­ Washington, D.C. 60 23 38% Driving the transformation of the ery strive to set the tone and pace for pro­ CAMPAIGN TO SELL C. Illinois 17 6 35% 'Capitalism's World Disorder' shop's productive capacity is the steady duction and training throughout the shop. flow of Pathfinder books put in digital Workers in the press department are vis­ San Francisco 136 48 35% IN THE UNIONS form by more than 100 volunteers from iting other New York-area printshops to Los Angeles 82 23 28% March 15-June14 around the world. learn how they have dealt with similar is­ Pittsburgh 40 11 28% In the last two months the worker-vol­ sues, Lewis said. "We are also asking the Seattle 50 13 26% Country Goals Sold % unteers at the shop have produced some companies that manufactured our presses Detroit 78 20 26% United States 15 titles using digital files, including to send out specialists we can consult with." 2,500 copies ofCapitalism s World Dis­ In the last three months, workers at the Des Moines 55 14 25% PACE 15 7 47% order by Jack Barnes and New Interna­ shop have begun to turn around a drop in Boston 50 11 22% UAW 75 29 39% tional no. 11, as well as its Spanish and commercial sales in the second half of last New York 120 25 21% UTU 80 31 39% French translations. Other titles included year. April was the best month for commer­ Houston 70 14 20% lAM 111 28 25% El rostro cambiante de Ia politica en cial sales since June 1998. Increasingly, print USWA 80 16 20% los Estados Unidos (the Spanish trans­ buyers are seeking the advantages in terms Miami 45 9 20% UFCW 80 12 15% lation of The Changing Face of U.S. of costs, quality, and tum-around time they Philadelphia 50 10 20% UNITE 70 8 11% Politics: Working-Class Politics and can get from shops that are on the cutting Twin Cities, MN 50 10 20% the Trade Unions); White Music, Black edge of digital printing. Newark 150 26 17% Total 511 131 26% Business; and Women and the Cuban "Increasing commercial sales and raising Should be 500 225 45% Revolution. labor productivity begins to reverse the nec­ Birmingham 60 10 17% Nine additional titles are scheduled for essary deferral of capital expenditures to Cleveland 60 10 17% United Kingdom printing in May, including The Truth meet operating budget expenses," Dave Chicago 75 11 15% RMT 4 2 50% about Yugoslavia: Why Working People Prince, a member of the Capital Fund com­ S. Minnesota 14 1 7% Should Oppose Intervention, Cuba for mittee, told the Militant. "It means the shop TGWU 7 14% U.S. Total 1302 313 24% AEEU 2 0 0% Beginners, another 500 copies of can begin to look to regenerate this capital." Capitalism s World Disorder, and By Any "We're just beginning to understand what U.S. Goal/Should be 1500 675 45% Total 9 11% Means Necessary by Malcolm X. it means to make do with less people," said The acquisition last November of a Doug Nelson, 24, the head stitcher operator United Kingdom Australia new computer-to-plate machine, com­ in the bindery. "We're working it through. London 41 20 49% AMWU 5 bined with the efforts ofthe international What each of us does makes a difference." Manchester 17 5 29% MUA 4 team of volunteers, helped the shop The recent increase in the flow of Path­ UK Total 58 25 43% eliminate a labor-intensive prepress de­ finder books and commercial work has "ac­ Total 9 partment, making this stepped-up pro­ celerated training and an has heightened Canada duction of Pathfinder books possible at awareness on the need for quality and AEEU-,-Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical. Vvork­ Vancouver 21 11 52% ers Union; AMWU-Amalgamated Manufacturers l.Jnion; lower costs, higher quality, and with a greater labor productivity," said web-press CAW-canadian Autoworkers Union; EU;.;.,.Engineers smaller shop staff. Since mid-1998, the operator Roger Calero. "We're training with Montreal 7 3 43% Union; MUA-Matitime Union of Australi~; MWU--Meat shop's staffhas been reduced by almost an eye to greater output per hour and reduc­ Toronto 50 16 32% Workers Union; IAM-Intemational Assoc;iation of Ma­ a third. ing wasted paper and other materials." Canada Total 78 30 38% chiniSts; ~ACE-Paper,Allieif.:lndustrial, Chemical and En­ On May 4, for example, the interna­ To find out how yon can make a contribu­ Work~rs; RMT-National Uni.on of.Raili Mailtime, tional volunteers rushed computer files tion, write: The Capital Fund Campaign, to the shop for The Truth about Yugo­ 410 West Street, New York, NY 10014. Australia 20 slavia: Why Working People Should Oppose Intervention. It will be available Peter Thierjung is the head of the shops Iceland 4 ship to bookstores on May 8 for use by bindery department and is a member ofthe workers and youth campaigning against Capital Fund committee. lnt'l Total 1488 385 26% May 17, 1999 The Militant 5 Titan Tire strike rally UN' lED Continued from front page U.S. Senator Thomas Harkin, and presenta­ $7 or $8 and bus and car to the Des Moines event. tions were given by USWA and AFL-CIO hour, thinking More than 1,500 strikers and union sup­ officials. A representative of the Iowa Faith we will cross Wl •tiLL porters took part in the action, which in­ and Labor Committee reaffirmed the group's picket lines. We cluded a march to the struck plant followed support for the strike. proved them iN! by food and refreshments. Byron Orton, the head of the Iowa Labor wrong and this USWA members from locals around the Commission, reported on the recent confron­ makes me very Midwest made up a large part of the crowd, tation between Titan and the state agency glad." including contingents of tire plant workers over safety inspections of the struck plant. P e n o from Bridgestone/Firestone plants in Des Production continues with the use ofreplace­ pledged soli­ Moines; Decatur and Bloomington, Illinois; ment workers. darity with Lo­ and Tennessee. Forty members of USWA In March and April company officials re­ cal 303L in Local 307 who work at the Goodyear tire fused on four occasions to allow Iowa safety Natchez, and plant in Topeka, Kansas, and other inspectors into the facility. Titan objected to pointed to Goodyear workers from Lincoln, Nebraska, the inspectors being accompanied by Local USWAorganiz­ were there as well. 164 officials, which is permitted by law. ing drives un­ Ada Owens, a member ofUSWA Local Orton reported that when the inspection derway at non­ 713L in Decatur, helped lead the chants on was fmally conducted April 22, Titan Tire umon Titan the march to the plant. "It's my struggle owner Maurice Taylor, Jr. took him aside and plants, in too," she said. At the Bridgestone/Firestone said, "Mr. Commissioner, we are at war. And Quincy, Illinois plant in Des Moines, workers built the May when Morry Taylor is at war I do not lose." and Clinton, 1 rally and collected $2, 100 for the Titan The rally opened with a talk by Local164 Tennessee. strikers at the gates April 27 and 28. Con­ president John Peno, who applauded the de­ Charles Long tracts at Bridgestone/Firestone plants expire termination of the strikers through turning is a leader ofthe next year. points over the 12-month strike. "In June, Clinton fight. He Kent Johnson, a member of USWA Lo­ when Titan presented its 'last best and final was part of an cal 787 at the Bloomington, Illinois, plant offer,' and told us to return to work or face earlier organiz­ explained that workers there have been replacement, not one union member crossed ing attempt in Militant/Ray Parsons holding regular rallies outside the company that day ... In mid-February, when unemploy­ 1995 but was Titan strikers and supporters raUy on May 1 in Des Moines, Iowa. office to build solidarity on the shop floor ment benefits ran out, not one member fired two weeks as contract negotiations draw near. He said, crossed." before the vote. In an interview with the Mili­ Trumka. Dave Foster, Director ofUSWA Dis­ "Our local went to two rallies for the Titan He said three members have crossed the tant after the rally he said, "Titan has treated trict 11, pointed to other USWA struggles at strikers in Quincy, Illinois, and we came to picket line in the last month. the people there so badly they see we need Oregon Steel in Pueblo, Colorado, and at the one today to show our support. We are In an interview one Local164 strike activ­ some kind of representation." Union Kaiser Aluminum. Some 3,100 steelwork­ supporting them and hopefully when we ist, still on probation at a new job said, handbilling with news ofthe Des Moines and ers at five Kaiser plants have been locked need it we'll get the same." "We're getting stronger the longer the strike Natchez strikes takes place once or twice a out since January 14, after USWA officials Before the rally began 150 people at­ goes on. Where I work now, about half the week at the Clinton factory. Long added that called off a 15-week strike. The unionists are tended a panel discussion organized by Lo­ workers are in the union. I try to talk to people an Aprill 0 picnic hosted by the USWA drew fighting deep job cuts demanded by Kaiser. cal 164. Rank and file strikers gave a pow­ about joining, and tell stories about our 250 workers and their families, helping to win erful description of the stakes in the fight strike." He added, "For us Asian-Americans new support for the union. Ray Parsons is a member of USWA Local against Titan Tire. Lori Meier and Frank this strike means a lot. The owners think they USWA International officials spoke along 310 in Des Moines. Alyson Kennedy con­ Lowery explained that under the provisions can get Asians to be good workers for just with AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Richard tributed to this article. of the old contract, most workers had been forced to work 26 days in a row, and were often ordered at the last minute to work four hours of overtime. "I had parents to help me with child care, but lots ofworkers didn't Baseball game is victory for Cuba have that," Meier said. Sinnath Chan spoke out against the two­ Continued from front page Americans from Miami, Florida, and Union staged a couple of provocations inside the tier wages Titan imposed in the last con- member delegation defected. City, New Jersey. These right-wing demon­ stadium. During the fourth inning, three 1:$Ct. "I worked side by side, doing the same Cuban-American rightists had projected strators, who had announced earlier that rightists ran across the field, one with a T­ work as my co-worker, and I got lower pay having thousands of protesters in front of they would disrupt the game through a vari­ shirt reading "Freedom for Cuba. Forty than her. I don't understand that. Was it the stadium opposing the games. But all that ety of actions, including throwing blood on years is too many," referring to the 40th an- because I was low seniority? Because I am materialized was a demonstration of 300 Cuban players, urged ticket holders to boy­ . niversary of the 1959 revolution which Asian-American?" opponents ofthe Cuban revolution that took cott the game. The almost 50,000 tickets brought workers and farmers to power on The panel discussion was moderated by place at the main entrance to Orioles Park at were sold out, however. the island. Police arrested the men. Camden Yards. They were mainly Cuban- Opponents of the Cuban revolution also In the fifth inning, one more man ran onto the field with an anti-Cuba sign and T -shirt, to boos from the crowd. The rightist yelled at Cuban umpire Cesar Valdez, who was in Collections needed now for SWP fund back of second base. Valdez picked him up, threw him to the ground, and proceeded to BY ESTELLE DEBATES shipyards ofNewport News, Virginia, where a steelworker from Alabama who participated teach him a lesson. "Above all I am Cuban," NEW YORK-Members and supporters 9,000 members of United Steelworkers of in a Birmingham-based team that fanned out a Cuban official later told the press what the ofthe communist movement are responding America Local 8888 are striking to win a de­ across the coalfields of Southern Appalachia. umpire had said. "And there is no reason to the increased opportunities to hook up cent contract, or in Buffalo, New York, where The coalfield team sold an issue of the Mili­ for me to stand for such a lack of respect." with workers, farmers, and youth across the we joined with others to push back an at­ tant with the headline "NATO assault brings There were no further interruptions after country who are fighting against their exploit­ tempt by right-wing forces to shut down clin­ disaster to workers in Yugoslavia." Lamont that. All four provocateurs were arrested and ers. This means organizing to join the fights ics that provide abortions. said one miner at the US Steel portal who was released after being given citations for crimi­ wherever they are taking place - be it in the Contributions to the Party Building fund opposed to the U.S. bombing said, "It's ter­ nal trespass. No one was arrested other than help make this all possible. Three weeks into rible what the government's doing to them. the four right-wingers. Police did kick out 19 the drive to raise $75,000, we are lagging Those people drove the Nazis out during audience members for various reasons, how­ SOCIALIST WORKERS behind in collecting on pledges made to the World War II." Twelve miners, including two ever, including holding up signs opposing fund and at winning new contributors among women, decided to buy a copy from the team. the U.S. embargo against Cuba. PARTY BUILDING FUND fighting workers and farmers. What is The team sold an additional 15 copies at one Nearly 300 people gathered outside of a Jim Walters mine, and three copies at another. side entrance to the ballpark to welcome the City Goal Collected % needed now is a serious effort over the next two weeks to send in substantial collections At the second mine, they ran into a former Cuban national team and oppose the U.S. Miami 3,000 700 23% that will help get the fund on schedule. subscriber to the paper who asked that team embargo against Cuba. Participants came San Francisco 9,000 1,885 21% The response teams of communist work­ members get back in touch with him. from as far away as Santa Cruz, California, ers and youth received in the coalfields of The tremendous interest in the truth to support Cuba both outside and inside the Detroit 4,500 275 6% Alabama and Kentucky is yet another ex­ about the U.S.-led war in Yugoslavia is re­ game. There were two vans of supporters New York 10,000 284 3% ample of the hunger that exists among many flected in the number of requests for Mili­ from Miami and a bus from New York. workers today for solidarity and for work­ tant reporter Argiris Malapanis to speak at Speakers included Delvis Fernandez ofthe Newark 6,500 140 2% ing-class explanations of political develop­ special meetings to raise money for the Party Cuban-American Alliance and Education Chicago 5,000 100 2% ments in the world today. Jerry Freiwirth, Building fund. Supporters in Miami are plan­ Fund; Sally Davies, president of the Asso­ ciation of Federal, State, County, and Mu­ Des Moines 2,600 50 2% an oil worker from Houston, was part of a ning a meeting featuring James Harris, a team that reached out to miners in western member of the Union ofNeedletrades, In­ nicipal Employees Locall 072; Bill Goodin, Houston 5,000 50 1% Kentucky over the past week. The team de­ dustrial, and Textile Employees in Atlanta, an anti-police brutality activist in Baltimore; Twin Cities 5,000 45 1% cided to go back to a Peabody mine where who is active in linking workers up with farm­ Joaquin Trujillo of the Antonio Maceo Bri­ gade of Miami; and Marianne Peterson, a Los Angeles 6,000 50 1% 55 issues of the Militant were sold the pre­ ers fighting for justice in the South. Pitts­ vious week. burgh supporters are planning a panel that Cuban-American with the Maryland Coali­ Atlanta 3,000 0% "We sold 20 issues of the Militant and includes Brian Williams, a steelworker from tion to end the Embargo against Cuba. Birmingham 2,250 0% also a copy of the newly reprinted pamphlet Washington, D.C., who is building solidar­ Oscar Ochotorena, president of the Alli­ Coal Miners on Strike at a shift change," ity with striking shipyard workers in New­ ance of Workers of the Community (ATC) Boston 3,000 0% said Freiwirth. "We sold an additional27 cop­ port News. Also included on the panel is a in Miami, also addressed the rally. He began his remarks by referring to the successful Cleveland 3,000 0% ies of the pr.;Jer at another Peabody-owned young worker who helped lead a recent team mine in the area that day as well." The team to the coalfields in southern Illinois. celebration of May Day, the international Philadelphia 3,000 0% later went back to these two mines and sold Supporters in every city are encouraged workers holiday, in Cuba. He continued, Pittsburgh 3,250 0% an another 25 issues of the paper. "On our to nail down plans for meetings that will take "Sports is an important manifestation ofcul­ second visit back we were able to have a few place over the next few weeks. These events ture. We of the ATC are here to support this Seattle 7,000 0% more extended discussions with miners," re­ can be a real boost to catching up and help­ game, which has a historic meaning." Washington, D.C. 4,200 0% ported Freiwirth. "We learned about threats ing to ensure that on June 15 the local goals He added, "We want the best team to win Other 1,035 by the company to close one of the mines, are met in full and on time. but, from the bottom of my heart, I want to and we were able to exchange names and Contributions can be sent to 410 West say, let it be Cuba! Cuba, yes! Culture, yes! Total 85,300 4,614 5% phone numbers with a few miners." Street, New York, NY 10014. Please make Baseball,.. yes! Blockade, no!" Goal/should be 75,000 28,125 38% "We found a lot ofinterest in the Militants checks and money orders out to the Social­ coverage on Yugoslavia," said Susan Lamont, ist Workers Party. Olga Rodriguez contributed to this article. 6 The Militant May 17, 1999 Kaiser Aluminum workers rally support across Ohio

BY KEVIN DWIRE trips to Houston and California to picket AND SALM KOLIS MAXXAM Corp., which owns Kaiser. "I en­ HEATH, Ohio-"USWA Local341- joy going on trips, meeting other workers, Go Steelworkers- 1 Day Longer." That was seeing how they are doing things and learn­ the message that streamed behind an airplane ing about other struggles," explained Lind­ circling above 350 unionists and supporters say. "Before this strike I sat idly by and didn't as they rallied here April 24 to back mem­ do anything about injustice. Now I want to bers of the United Steelworkers of America do something. We as workers should be in­ locked out at Kaiser Aluminum. volved in social struggles, like the fight for a The striking members of USWA Local new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal. I hate that I 341 hosted the rally, which brought together couldn't be at the rally [in Philadelphia] for supporters from Ohio, West Virginia, and Mumia today, but I know there were other Pennsylvania. Kaiser strikers at the rally in California." Workers went on strike against Kaiser on Veterans from recent union victories in Oct. 1, 1998, in Spokane and Tacoma, Wash­ Ohio came to throw their support behind the Militant/Kevin Dwire ington; Gramercy, Louisiana; and Newark, Kaiser workers. A group of USWA Local Unionists from acr()ss region came to support locked-out Kaiser Aluminum workers Ohio. The strike became a lockout January 3241 members from Marietta, who won a 14 when Kaiser refused to accept the union's 23-month strike against MSI, brought a do­ gave us up for dead except the steelworkers. from clear cutting areas of the forest, and offer to return to work under the old con­ nation for the Kaiser workers. So did work­ Local341 is not going to die." spoke about the need for unionists and en­ tract while continuing negotiations. ers fresh from the recent strike at RMI in Marge Flanagan ofthe Women's Support vironmentalists to work together to oppose "We're stronger now than the day we Niles. The first 130 workers went back into Group at Local 5668 presented the Kaiser corporate destruction of the environment. walked out. This has been a wake-up call," the RMI plant April 19 after approving a workers with donations totaling almost Following the rally the crowd marched Kaiser worker Mollie Overbey told the Mili­ contract. RMI worker Patricia Williams of $1,800. The Ravenswood steelworkers, from the rally site to the Kaiser plant gate, tant. "We realize that we have to be strong or Local2155 declared, "It was great to come whose contract expires June 1, take up soli­ holding a short rally on the picket line. They we won't be a union or have a place to go and support the Kaiser workers and I want darity collections regularly. marched back to the rally site, and many back to, there won't be jobs worth working." to do more of it and get others involved as Two members of United Auto Workers went to the union hall to help unload the food "This rally helps us get out our side of the well." Local 1910 from Ashland, Ohio, came to donations from Ravenswood. story, especially here in Newark, where A group from USWA Local 5668 at Cen­ the rally and said they also plan to attend a Kaiser worker Rod Foster told the Mili­ Kaiser's side dominates the media," said tury Aluminum in Ravenswood, West VIr­ May 8 rally to support workers at MTD in tant following the rally that morale is good. Annette Lindsay, who has worked at Kaiser ginia, brought two truck-loads offood for the Willard, Ohio, who are trying to organize "It's a hardship on everyone, but we've hung for 25 years. "It was great to have workers strikers. Retired 5668 member Johnny Lynch into the UAW. tough." He said it was "good to see all of come up to us on the picket line and shake reminded the crowd that their plant used to The rally also heard a message from Julia the out-of-state and local support." our hands, especially workers who have been be owned by Kaiser. "We were locked out Hill, one of several activists "occupying" through their own strikes, because they know for 20 months," Lynch said, referring to the giant redwood trees in the Headwaters For­ Kevin Dwire is a member of UA W Local what we are going through. It was a big mo­ 1990-92 fight at what was then Ravenswood est in Northern California. Hill told the rally 1196 on strike against Central Brass in rale booster. We need more actions like this." Aluminum Corp. He recalled USWA Local through a telephone link about the fight to Cleveland Salm Kolis is a member of the Lindsay has participated in union sponsored 341 sent aid during their lockout. "Everyone stop MAXXAM-owned Pacific Lumber USWA in Pittsburgh. Tazewell strikers go back 'proud, with our heads up' BY ALYSON KENNEDY UAW Local974 and the Tactical Response of passing vehicles. Police, however, con­ expanded picket lines became almost weekly AND JOSHUA CARROLL Team (Blue Shirts) formed by S!Jme of the tinued to try to provoke incidents at the ex­ events. The last one was held on April 16, PEKIN, Illinois- Members of United Cat workers during their fight raised tens of panded picket lines. On March 2 Pekin Po­ the Friday before the strikers returned to Auto Workers (UAW) Local2283 voted 57 thousands of dollars through collections, a lice deputy chief Charles Bassett accused a work. Strikers greeted the scabs at shift time to 4 on April 25 to ratifY a contract with Christmas Party, a raftle, and a chili supper. local power plant worker- the one Black for one last time. "We are a lot stronger now," Tazewell Machine Works here. The contract Kenny Whetstone, a member ofUAW Local worker on the picket line - of shouting at said Terry Beebe. "Standing outside together includes a dental plan, slightly better health 974 and the Tactical Response Team said, "As him and threatened to take him to jail. The has brought us closer to each other and coverage, a 401 K pension plan, union-dues soon as we saw the picket lines we began workers stood up to the provocation and the strengthened the union." check off by the company, and a 15.5 per­ organizing solidarity. We began collecting cop was forced to apologize. The cop de­ After the union announced that the strik­ cent wage increase over six years. money at the turnstiles at the Cat gates until fended his racist attack by saying that at the ers would return to work April19, many of The 82 members ofUAW Local2283 be­ Caterpillar kicked us off. Then we stood in time he couldn't see black or white; only red. the scabs simply walked off the job, reported gan their strike on Oct. 5, 1998. They had no the street collecting money. Caterpillar started In response all pickets now wear red ribbons. Gene Preston, who has worked in the plant retirement plan, paid as much as $70 per week collecting for the United Way on their prop­ During the strike the owner of Tazewell, just under two years. At that point the com­ for family medical insurance, and had nei­ erty and we would get donations from a lot Henry Cakora, called the union "communist, pany asked if it could begin to call back spe­ ther dental nor optical coverage. of workers who wouldn't give to the com­ un-American, and run by mobsters" and cific workers earlier to fill production needs. At a union meeting on April 11, the local pany collection." Local 974 retirees staffed vowed the strikers would never work for him "We said no," explained Preston. "We all met was told by UAW international officials to the Tazewell picket line on a number of oc­ as long as they had the union. at the union hall Monday morning [April19], return to work under the terms of the ex­ casions so that Tazewell strikers could attend Cakora hired 11 0 scabs to break the union. we drove down together, and walked into the pired contract. They set a return date for various solidarity events. He got rid ofmost ofthem as part ofthe agree­ plant together- proud, with our heads up, April 19. The owner of Tazewell said he Whetstone also described some ofthe his­ ment with the union, and others quit. Some and 100 percent strong." Preston said, "It was would begin negotiations within two weeks. tory of the fight against Tazewell. "This was 15 scabs still remain in the plant, 10 of whom about the coolest thing I ever saw." At the time, Terry Beebe, a Tazewell the first successful strike at Tazewell," he have asked to sign union cards, according to striker, explained, "I'm not totally comfort­ recounted. "In the 1970s they were organized Local 2283 president Chad Hartley. Joshua Carroll is a member of the United able going back without a contract, but this by another union and couldn't get a contract. In the last few weeks of the strike, the Steelworkers ofAmerica. is right for the union." He went on, "If they They tried to strike, but the union was bro­ don't sit down and negotiate with us, we'll ken. In 1989 the workers at Tazewell orga­ go right back out again." nized to get the UAW in, but had one of the COME TO AND BUILD AM Tom Smith, a steadfast strike supporter and worst UAW contracts in the region. For them a member ofUAW Local 974 at Caterpillar, to stay out this long, and remain 100 percent Active VVorkers Conference the whole time, shows that they were tired of commented, "This was the first strike for August 5-8, 1999 many ofthese guys. Six months is a long time. being treated like second-class citizens." They stayed out 100 percent without a single One of the most successful solidarity Growing numbers of working people are reaching out to others in struggle. as guy crossing, and they showed [owner] Henry events during the strike was a chili supper the employers and their government deepen their offensive against toilers around Cakora that they can stand up to him." held at the UAW Local974 union hall. Hun­ the globe. This conference will be an opportunity for workers. farmers. and young dreds of workers in central Illinois turned Caterpillar has moved large sections of people involved in such social struggles to exchange experiences and learn from production to largely nonunion plants where out. A delegation of workers, most of them each other, and from the past lessons of the workers movement. It will be. a place workers make substantially less money and immigrants, from the International Union of have fewer benefits. Tazewell makes parts for Electronic Workers (IUE) on strike at Lenc­ to gain information needed to broaden solidarity with others whose struggles are Caterpillar. The strike received support from Smith in Cicero, Illinois, attended. They had charting a way forward for working people in the United States and internationally. UAW locals at the Caterpillar and Mitsub­ been invited and were introduced to those ishi plants, mine workers from central Illi­ in attendance by a striker from Tazewell who Workshops ·:· Classes ·:· Feature Reports ·:· Books &Pamphlets nois, and other working people in the region. had visited their picket line in Chicago. ·:· Information Tables ·:· Recreation ·:· Socials & Fun In mid-January, Local 2283 began orga­ Strikers faced harassment from both the nizing expanded picket lines. Between 50 company and the city ofPekin. In November atscMea WIU. itfcl.uia· ··· and 100 unionists would tum out to "greet" the Pekin Daily Times began to violence-bait The conference will be held the scabs at shift change. Workers on strike the picket lines. Tazewell filed a lawsuit LatJQr•. El~th~s··.···.··~.•·.. Warmer~·.•.•strvsgl~·.••• A¢tidns .. · at the Lenc-Smith and Tool and Engineer­ against the union on November 12, claiming AgainstF'qiiri~a·rqtaUt~•womef1intndu$trv•The· on the Oberlin College ing plants in the Chicago area attended sev­ strikers were harassing and intimidating Fight for .•N~tipnal S~IH>etermina~IQn:an~ Against • campus. Oberlin. Ohio. eral of these actions. workers going in and out of the plant. The lmperiaHsrn an~ War .•. The . C~rttifllj~ty gf ttTe Members and retirees from UAW Local city sought injunctions preventing bum bar­ 974 were among the strongest backers of the rels, portable toilets, and a picket shack on Tazewell strike. Dozens of them turned out the picket line. On December 5 a circuit court ~!Si=:~~~ .. ···~· Sponsored by: at each of the expanded picket lines. The judge granted a temporary injunction against Socialist Workers Party lessons they learned from their seven-year the so-called threats made by strikers. For more information, see listings on page J 2. Young Socialists struggle with Caterpillar were well received The injunction did not limit the number by the Ta.Zewell strikers. ofpickets but restricted them within five feet May 17,1999 The Militant 7 ·'America and Europe push own interests in Important minority of workers from Kosova and Albania oppose U.S.-NATO

BY ARGIRISMALAPANIS others involved in the mass struggle AND ANNE HOWIE for self-determination inside Ko­ TIRANA, Albania- "What a lot sova who helped defend working of people here tell you is true. From people there from brutal assaults bY\ the day the NATO bombing began, Belgrade's forces. the attacks on us by Milosevic in­ Now, buses with UCK fighters in tensified to an unimaginable degree. uniform can be seen headed to the I never expected this kind of'ethnic border virtually every day we've cleansing' to happen. I thought I'd been here. They often parade in die one day, probably sooner than Tiranayelling, "UCK! UCK!"They later because of our struggle to end get some applause from pedestrians, the oppression of the Albanian but noticeable indifference from people. But in Kosova, not in Alba­ many as well. nia. I never expected to be thrOwn Frequently UCK members have out of my house like this. What the .little U.S. flags pinned or sewn on United States is doing with its bombs their uniforms next to Kosova Lib­ is not helping us." eration Army insignia. That's how Shahan Dace summa­ A few we ran into in tht? camps rized his views to Militant reporters for Albanians who fled Kosova, in a May 1 interview here at a camp who were getting ready to head for . for Albanians expelled from Ko­ their ''training bases" near the bor­ sova. It's located near the center of der, were quite unabashed about Tirana, by a lake in the city's cen­ identifying themselves as UCK tral park. The 4,500 residents, about members. They all openly expressed half living in tents and the rest in a support for what NATO is doing and makeshift trailer park, have named said they want weapons and air pro­ it "Magic City." tection from NATO planes to get Dace worked in a small factory Militant/Argiris Malapanis into Kosova in massive numbers. producing bottled wine and other al­ Mass rally in Vlore, Albania, during revolt there in 1997. Opposition to the U.S.-NATO assault on work­ "I was in the UCK and had left to coholic beverages in Pirane, a vil­ ing class and to increasing deployment ofimperialist troops inside Albania is strongest among workers and go to Pristina to get some exams fin­ lage near Prizren, Kosova, unti11991. farmers in southern Albania, where rebellion against prO-imperialist Berisha regime was based. ished at the university when the He was fired then, like most indus­ Serbian police forced us to leave," trial and other workers ofAlbanian origin in Militant reporters at his home in the port ports, airports, air space, and military facili­ said Burhan Elezi, a stomatology student Kosova, because of his support for the city of Sarande, southern Albania, May 3. ties to NATO forces attacking Yugoslavia, originally from the Kacanik area in Kosova Trepca miners' strike. The miners demanded "They mean no good for us. They are dam­ The port ofDurres, the country's largest, "We only want arms from NATO and we'll an end to austerity measures the regime of aging our cause, the workers' cause." about 50 miles west of Tirana on the do it ourselves. We also need help from Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade was trying Bala was the president of the citizens' Adriatic, has been taken over by NATO NATO planes because we can't stand up to to impose and recognition of national rights council in Sarande, formed during the 1997 forces. No one can enter its perimeter with­ the Serbian weaponry. We'll take over Ko­ ofthe Albanian nationality. For the next eight armed rebellion that eventually brought out Albanian army and NATO permission. sova." Responding to a question on whether years, Dace, his wife, and their four children down the pro-imperialist regime of former According to what Militant reporters were accusations by Berisha, floated in the press tilled a small piece ofland in Pirane to make Albanian president Sali Berisha. able to see and hear, ships unload troops and here, that the UCK is not to be trusted be­ ends meet. their hardware almost daily, as NATO is rap­ cause many in its leadership are "too Marx­ On March 24, the day Washington Against the pro-NATO stream idly building a force of more than 20,000 ist oriented," Elezi said, "Absolutely not. The launched the U.S.-NATO assault on Yugo­ The opinions of Dace and Bala go against soldiers in Albania No details are available UCK has nothing to do with Marxism. We slavia, paramilitary forces under the com­ the stream ofthe pro-NATO orgy unleashed from either the NATO command or authori­ want to turn Kosova to the road ofthe West." mand of Zelco Rasnatovic- a Serb nation­ on the population here by the Socialist Party ties here at this point about the exact size or In the past, U.S. government officials alist known as Arkan who is infamous world­ government of prime minister Pandeli composition of the force among the 19 have accused the group of being a terrorist wide for his brutality - and units ofthe fed­ Majko and by virtually all political parties NATO member states. organization. But they have largely dropped

eral Yugoslav army began shelling Dace's _ in Albania. For several miles south of the port of that designation since. W~ip.~~t~ .sy~ .. : . : '!<. village at 4:00am. and setting houses on fire. Skender Bej square at Tirana's center Durres, the coastal area has been closed off ceeded in getting the UCK leadership to sign Villagers were given less than an hour to shows how far the SP administration has to public access with fences and barbed wire the accord- initially crafted at Rambouil­ leave, Dace and others from Pirane said. gone to open up Albania to the U.S.-NATO and turned into a large base for NATO let, France - that provided the justification Three days later virtually the entire popula­ forces and aims. "NATO in Kosova," says a troops. German soldiers guarding a NATO for the NATO assault. It's likely that con­ tion of Pirane, made of 220 families, found huge banner hung in the front of the build­ outpost in this area, right by the highway tingents ofUCK troops will be used as the itself expelled to northern Albania. ing that houses the opera and the main pub­ that runs along the coast, got agitated, point­ first cannon fodder by Washington if the Dace's story is typical among the nearly lic library there. The government-sponsored ing their automatic rifles as if they were imperialist powers decide to launch a ground 400,000 Kosovar Albanians who have fled banner displays the Albanian flag on one ready to shoot at Militant reporters driving assault on Yugoslavia. to this country. But his opinion that the NATO side and the NATO flag on the other. A by who tried to take a photo of the scene. Thousands of Albanian immigrants from bombing has made everything worse is shared smaller banner on the same side ofthe build­ U.S. forces that are part of the NATO de­ several countries in Europe, the United States, by a minority among those who are being ing read, "May 1." It was up when wear­ ployment are largely based at the Rina air­ and elsewhere have come here to join the deported from Kosova en masse. It is not a rived in Tirana the night of April 30 and port, outside Tirana. Much of Albania's UCK, which reportedly has 30,000 members small minority, however, particularly among stayed up through the May Day weekend. commercial air traffic has been curtailed to in Albania now. We found that most of those workers and farmers from Kosova. We were told there were no May Day ral­ give .virtually free access to warplanes ofthe we spoke to, either those already in the UCK Many working people in Albania express lies ofany kind anywhere in Albania, as has Atlantic military alliance during their air or about to join it, were students, high school similar views, drawing on their experiences been the case for the last decade. raids in Kosova and elsewhere in Yugosla­ and university teachers, doctors and other with repeated imperialist military interven­ The media constantly praises the reaction­ via and their increasing exercises. professionals, and shopkeepers. Fewer were tions here. "America and Europe are each ary imperialist alliance and its operations in That seems to portend more battles at the peasants or workers. Shefqet Loshi, for ex­ p:ushing their own interests in Kosova, and Albania. Albania-Kosova border. While in Kukes, ample, was a small businessman who had they are competing about it," said Minella In early April, the Albanian parliament northern Albania, May 2, these reporters saw immigrated to Switzerland and spent 15 years Bala, a retired truck driver. He spoke to voted unanimously to open the country's an Apache helicopter circling the area near there. He moved to Kosova about a year ago the border, about 15 miles away. Clashes and used his savings to buy a business, he with Belgrade's forces were taking place at said, which was burned down a month ago. PATHFINDER the time, we found out later. He is now operating out of the lake camp at Convoys ofimperialist troops can be seen central Tirana in organizing fund-raising for The Truth about Yugoslavia around the country, but particularly in the theUCK. Criminal elements in Albania have also Why Working People corridor from Durres to Tirana and Kukes. praised or publicly pledged troop support Should Oppose Intervention Trucks obviously transporting heavy weap­ onry towards the border with Yugoslavia are for the Kosova Liberation Army. A gang­ GEORGE FYSON. ARGIRIS MALAPANIS, always well covered. ster known as Zani, for example, said after AND JONATHAN SILBERMAN Washington and other imperialist powers being released from jail recently that 26 of Examines the roots of the carnage in are preparing for a possible ground invasion "his boys" would join the UCK. Zani ran Yugoslavia, where Washington and its of Kosova on the pretext of stopping the one of the most notorious gangs in Vlore, imperialist rivals in Europe are interven­ mass deportations of Albanians from that southern Albania, during the working-class ing militarily in an attempt to reimpose region. Their operations in this country are revolt against Berisha - terrorizing the capitalist relations. $8.95 a central part of surrounding Yugoslavia population there. He did several months in with an imperialist military noose and try­ prison subsequently for his activities. ing to get the so-called frontline states neigh­ Stories abound, unconfirmed by Militant Opening Guns of World War Ill boring Serbia and Montenegro in line be­ reporters, ofparts ofNATO arsenals ending Washington's Assault on Iraq hind NATO's course. up in UCK hands here. Toward this end, Washington is increas­ In the camps housing Albanians from Ko­ JACK BARNES ingly using the forces of the Kosova Lib­ sova, it often takes particular courage and The U.S. government's murderous as­ eration Army, known as the UCK, its ini- · determination among working people to sault on Iraq heralded increasingly sharp tials in Albanian. raise opinions opposing NATO's course. conflicts among imperialist powers, the Many who are ardent supporters of the im­ rise of rightist and fascist forces. grow­ UCK turning into Washington's tool perialist assault intervene to try to stop those Available from bookstores, includ· expressing views such as Dace's. Most of ing instability of international capital­ ing those listed on page 12, or write The UCK, which for years has waged an armed struggle for independence ofKosova, these people are openly, or more discretely ism. and more wars ... /16w ftttMI6. Pathfinder, 410 West St., New York, NY is turning into a tool to advance the aims of sometimes, associated with the UCK and are ,...,.,. 7. Also includes "Communist 10014. Tel: (212)741-0690. Fax: (2121 727-0150. When ordering by mail, U.S. imperialism. It earlier incorporated, to trying to clamp dowt\ on civil discussion that Poficy in Wartime as well as in Peace­ please include $3 to cover shipping and a degree, a number of young fighters and goes against their views. time" by Mary-Alice Waters. $12.00 handling. . .

8 The Militant May 17,1999 Kosova' war, explain why

Attempts to cut otT discussion in camps one who had direct knowledge of mass That's how the conversation with Rustem rapes. It appearS that villages where the Kelmendi, a construction worker from Kosova Liberation Army was not carrying 'vlalisheva, Kosova, was cut short at the out open activities had not faced, for the Asllan Rusi Sports Palace on May l. The fa­ most part, major problems or harassment by cility near Tirana's center serves as the cen­ Serb paramilitary gangs and special police tral registration place of Albanians expelled forces prior to March 24. from Kosova. Kelmendi faced no obstacles At the Lipjane agricultural community in in telling. his story at first. His brother had the Vershec village, for example, about 300 been killed by Belgrade's special police people were part ofa relatively strong UCK furces and Kelmendi saw the body mutilated unit in a population of 1,500, said Daut later, he stated. But as soon as he began ex­ Nishari and his father, Sadik, during a May plainingthatthe U.S.-NATO assault gave the ·3 interview at a camp in Kukes. "That was Milosevic regime the green light to take off the reason the village had been attacked with its "ethnic cleansing'' dreams in Kosova, three times in the past year," Daut Nishari a group of other Albanians intervened to cut said. "The paramilitaries, though, had not off the discussion. Some of those who sur­ Militant/Natasha Terlexis been able to push us out until after the NATO rounded Kelmendi belonged to the UCK, Entrance to Rekor shoe factory in Gjirokaster, Albania, during 1997 visit by Militant bombing began." The Nisharis had changed they said later. reporters. It is one of few privately owned factories in the country. The resistance by residence seven times, moving from rela­ At the same sports center-where up to workers there to conditions Greek bosses want to impose highlights why imperialists have tive to relative, after their house was burned 3,000 deportees are staying on any given day to use military force in attempt to restore capitalist social relations (see article below). some months ago. in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, Dace said 16 people from his village were waiting for possible reunification with fam­ Estimates by the United Nations High farmers, still have their tractors with them. killed because they refused to leave their ily members or to be relocated to more hu­ Commissioner for Refugees put the total Some had their tractors and cars burned by houses in Pirane or they decided to fight mane facilities - a similar incident occurred. number of Albanians expelled from Kosova Serb forces before crossing the border, but against Belgrade's troops on March 24-25. A Militant reporter was interviewing a stu­ since March 24 at 675,000. More than the majority appear to have been able to There had been no major problems with Serb dent from Kosova. Another Kosovar Alba­ 395,000 have crossed the borders into Alba­ cross with vehicles. forces prior to that. nian who spoke some English had offered to nia Nearly 205,000 have flooded Macedonia Militant reporters visited several camps The majority ofthose interviewed said the translate the conversation. As soon as The remainder are in Montenegro and Bosnia in Kukes as well as in Tirana, and in Vlore police or border guards in Kosova took their Shpendi Malaj, the high school student from Small numbers have been airlifted to other and Sarande in southern Albania. After talk­ passports, drivers' licenses, or other personal Cakova, began explaining his opposition to countries like Germany, Italy, Turkey, or the ing to dozens of people, a picture similar to documents on the way out ofKosova Serb the NATO bombing raids in Yugoslavia, the United States so far. what we found at camps in Macedonia and gangs also took most of the cash Kosovars volunteer translator became angry, said some Kosovar Albanians have been dispersed Montenegro emerged. carried with them. It was often done in a harsh words to his fellow Albanian and to throughout this country. The largest num­ ·The "ethnic cleansing" by the Milosevic humiliating way. After passports were taken the Militant reporter, and took off. ber, more than 90,000, are in Kukes in a regime continues to unfold at a slower but away near the border, guards at another These exchanges multiply many times number of camps that are in the worst con­ steady pace. The repeated stories in the big­ checkpoint dozens of feet away asked for every day as Albanians have continued to ditions in terms of sanitation and protection business media of large-scale massacres in hundreds of German marks in fmes because be forced out ofKosova, terrorized into leav­ from rain or other natural elements. Many Kosova are unsubstantiated or at best exag­ people did not carry passports, we were told ing by Belgrade's forces. people there, a large percentage of them gerated. We asked repeatedly and found no Continued on Page 13 Attitudes of workers at Albania shoe factory show imperialists' difficulty in restoring capitalist rule BY CATHARINATIRSEN · · people in workers states. · those to the refugees." ·money there." AND BOBJUS MISAILIDES Rekor Albania S.A. turns a profit, accord­ All workers interviewed sided with Cani. "My friends who now work in Greece , GJIROKASTER, Albania- "The plant ing to Nanos, but nowhere near as much as Many have been organizing solidarity with make 3,000 lek a day and I only get 400. We should not be private. The state should own the Greek bosses need or expect. The com­ the Kosovars. "We don't have enough have exactly the same skills," says Eli Idrizi, it," Perije Late toldMilitantreporters as she pany is typical of the investments capitalist money to have people from Kosova stay in who has worked in the factory for 28 years. punched holes in leather parts at the local from abroad attempt here and in other work­ our house," said sewing machine operator Production runs from 6:30a.m. to 3:00p.m. shoe factory here May 4. It was a prevailing ers states in Eastern and Central Europe. It Miranda Zhuli. "But we often go to the camp with an unpaid half-hour lunch break be­ view among workers. is concentrated mostly in services, such as here and invite a family home so they can tween 9:00a.m. and 9:30a.m. They have no "We just work harder and harder and are gas stations and shopping malls, and in light shower and get a meal. We do what we can." paid breaks. not paid well. They don't care about our industrial facilities like Rekor, where labor When the shoe factory was privatized in "The daily norms are too high," said rights, our security, or our health," ex­ costs are much cheaper than Greece or Italy. 1989 it employed 1,000 workers. Most ofthe Idrizi. "You even hesitate to go to the bath­ claimed Late's co-worker at the next bench, The median wage at this plant is $100 per work was done by hand. Now 330 people room." Her co-workers in the sewing de­ who has worked in this factory for 12 month, compared to about $500 in Greece. work here. A number of workers said they partment laugh at the last comment. It's an months after many years in a cigarette plant. Workers produce boots for the militaries appreciated introduction oflabor-saving ma­ exaggeration, but is what the boss is trying She didn't want her name disclosed. in Albania and Greece and work· shoes for chinery, but not the capitalist social relations to impose. Rekor Albania S.A. is a leather-tanning, the telephone and electrical companies in both the Greek capitalists are trying to impose rubber, and shoe factory in Gjirokaster, a countries. Productivity is around 1,000 pairs along with it, such as this "downsizing." Secondhand machines town of20,000 in southern Albania. It's one a day, according to Nanos. "We could easily Much of the capitalist "investment" in of the few privately owned plants in the make 1,500 just by raising production con­ Workers' side of story factories in workers states consists of used country that a Greek capitalist, Spiros sciousness," he said. "In Greece we would "This factory has the best pay in Alba­ machinery. As factories in imperialist coun­ Papafotiou, bought an 85 percent stake in make enough shoes to flood the market with nia," claimed Cani. "The last two years the tries upgrade their technology, the used 10 years ago. It's also a good example of this kind offacility - 3,000 a day." He hopes pay has been raised 40 percent." machines they replace can be sent to East­ what it will take for Washington, London, to impose the kind of''work discipline" nec­ "That's not true," said Kiriakos, a me­ em Europe and "invested" in labor inten- Athens, or other imperialist powers to rees­ essary to meet this goal in a couple ofmonths. chanic in the department that prepares rub­ Continued on Page 10 tablish capitalism here. The plant has a leather processing and tan­ ber for the soles, who did not want his last Christos Nanos, a representative of the ning component and facilities to produce name disclosed. "I used to get 35,000 lek mother company in Greece that bought the leather clothing, in addition to the shoe pro­ ($1 = 140 lek) a month and now I get 40,000." factory in 1989, complained bitterly about duction lines. The mechanics' wage is top scale. Women '· eyewit'n:e~~',.iepC>~'t(~m···t ",'t;'J~' the workers' attitudes here in a May 3 inter­ Flamur Cani, the Albanian manager of in the sewing department say they earn view. "Pardon the language, but Albanians what remains a joint venture with the Alba­ 10,000 to 19,000 lek a month. ,!,~GO~~AVIA ·.,'c!. have no sense ofresponsibility," he said. "If nian state, presented a slightly different pic­ "The so-called 35 percent raise in the last '·"i/:)t somebody in the family dies, they take five ture than Nanos. "The capacity is 2,000 pairs contract was a sham," said Angelusa Gaba, Chicago per day and we produce 1,250," he said. Cani 33, with 10 years in the plant. She is the union days off to mourn," he said. "Do you know h' Sunday, May 16 how many days they get in Greece? Only was Gjirokaster's mayor between 1986 and representative in her department. "They in­ .,. 1992. He was dismissed when the troduced piece rates throughout the company three. The Albanians also stay home ifsome­ f·' Speaker. procapitalist regime of Sali Berisha came to for the first time. And they raised the quotas, body is ill in the family, and they don't even J,' ARGIRIS MALAPANIS have to produce a doctor's note. We brought power and was without a job for six years, so the wage increase was wiped out. We have Staff writer for the Militant and 1

May 17,1999 Tbe Militant 9 U.S. rulers intensify bombing, debate ground invasion BY MAURICE WILLIAMS "no-fly zones" there. As the NATO military alliance escalates In the Senate, Republican John McCain, a its war against Yugoslavia, the imperialist presidential contender, has taken the lead in intervention is deepening the course toward pressing for a resolution authorizing Clinton using ground troops. This intensification in to "use all necessary force" in the Balkans. their military operation has sharpened tac­ Democrat Charles Robb co-sponsored the tical debates among U.S. capitalist politi­ resolution, which failed by a 72 to 22 vote cians and other ruling class figures, who are May 4. "We are now weeks into an air cam­ nervous about the political consequences of paign that may last months, and Americans a ground assault. need to prepare themselves now, psychologi­ On April28 the U.S. House ofRepresen­ cally at least, for war," Robb said May 3. tatives passed a resolution, 249 to 180, re­ "We should not give the president blan­ quiring President William Clinton to get ket authority to get us into another Vietnam," Congressional approval for launching a said Sen. George Voinovich, opposing the ground invasion. The big-business politi­ measure. cians rejected another measure, 2 to 427, to Meanwhile, the imperialists have stepped Bus demolished by NATO missile May 1 on bridge in central Kosova village ofLuzane. declare a "full" war against Yugoslavia. up their air war with round the clock bomb­ At least 39 people were killed. U.S. rulers seek to inure workers to rising civilian deaths. Another nonbinding resolution declaring ing attacks resulting in more civilian casu­ bipartisan support for the bombing cam­ alties. "We will not stop the bombing but paign failed 213 to 213. will intensify the bombing," declared U.S. April30 that B-52 bombers will begin drop­ holocaust against the Albanians can be pre­ "We're on the verge of ground troops," defense secretary William Cohen, respond­ ping conventional bombs on Yugoslavia, vented by an "allied-occupied Serbia, and a said Rep. Thomas Campbell, a Republican ing to a call for a pause in the bombing by which are "more likely to cause unintended redrawn map that would certainly include a who asserted during the debate that the at­ Democratic Party politician Jesse Jackson damage and injury" than guided missiles, the Kosova detached in whole or in part." tack on Yugoslavia was unconstitutional to pursue negotiations. New York Times reported April 30. New York Times columnist Thomas Fried­ without a vote of support by Congress. Jackson, who supports imperialist inter­ After a NATO missile slammed into a bus man also blamed the Yugoslav people for not "The best course of action . . . is to use vention in the Balkans but with more diplo­ May 1 in the central Kosova village of getting on their knees, calling for "sustained the overwhelming military might we have matic cover, led a delegation to Belgrade that Luzane, killing 39 people, Col. Conrad bombardment" to wreak havoc on the entire at our disposal to end this war swiftly and secured the release on May 2 of three U.S. Freytag, a NATO military spokesman re­ country. "The idea that people are still hold­ quickly," said Democratic Rep. Eugene Tay­ Gis captured by the Yugoslav military. The marked, "When [Belgrade] allows public ing rock concerts, or going out for Sunday lor, who pressed for a declaration of war. delegation included Congressman Rod traffic over these bridges they risk a lot of merry-go-rides," while the imperialist are The day after the Congressional debate Blagojevich, who has pushed for partition­ lives oftheir public citizens." Two days later waging a war against them is "outrageous," the House Appropriations Committee ap­ ing Kosova. NATO warplanes killed at least 17 people he exclaimed in his April 23 column. proved a $12.9 billion "emergency spend­ Washington and the big-business media are after bombing and strafing a bus and some He asserted only "a merciless air war" de­ ing" bill for the military operation in the attempting to inure the U.S. population to the cars 18 miles from the Kosova city of Pee. stroying power grids, water mains, bridges, Balkans through September 30. The funds steady increase of what they cynically call On April29 a "stray" missile destroyed a roads, and factories would intensify enough would also cover Washington's assault "collateral damage" -Yugoslav civilians house in the outskirts of Sofia in neighbor­ pressure on Belgrade to make a deal. "Give against the Iraqi people and enforcing the killed by "errant" missiles. Cohen announced ing Bulgaria. It was the fourth report of war a chance. Let's see what months ofbomb­ NATO missiles hitting Bulgaria. ing does before we opt for weeks of inva­ Joining the chorus to justify the rising death sion, where if we win, we get to occupy the count and the imperialists' attempt to impose Balkans for years," Friedman declared. Athens: 20,000 march on May a military occupation force in Yugoslavia was When the Clinton administration first the liberal New Republic magazine. A "large weighed launching an invasion into Kosova percentage" of Yugoslav workers and peas­ last fall, they ruled out using ground troops Day to protest NATO assault ants are "legally and morally incompetent to after reviewing the defeat of the Nazi occu­ conduct their own affairs," wrote Daniel pation army by the Yugoslav partisan move­ BY GEORGES MEHRABIAN Ocalan by Turkish secret police. It was sup­ Goldhagen in the May 17 issue. ment during World War II, the Miami Her­ ATHENS, Greece- More than 20,000 ported by youth groups of all the political Goldhagen, author of Hitler s Willing ald reported April 15. "Hitler badly mis­ workers and students marched here May 1 parties. At the April 26 concert Greek, Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the judged the sentiments" of Yugoslavia's in the largest working-class protest to date Serbian, and Byzantine flags of Ortho­ Holocaust claims that German working workers and peasants, the article noted. "The against the U.S.-NATO aggression in Yu­ doxy- a favorite of the right wing and fas­ people actively supported fascist attacks difficulty of the terrain and stubbornness of goslavia. The General Confederation of cists - abounded, side by side with red flags. aimed at Jews. He makes similar allegations the Yugoslav people remain powerful com­ Labor of Greece (GSEE), the Athens Labor A few days earlier, Greek navy lieutenant against the Serbian people, asserting that a mon denominators." Center (EKA), and other trade-union bod­ Marios Ritsoudis refused to board his war­ ies called on working people to turn this ship, which was headed to the Adriatic as part year's May Day rallies into anti-war pro­ ofa NATO force. The reason, Ritsoudis said, tests. Protest marches also took place in was that he is a Greek Orthodox Christian Shoe workers describe conditions and would not be responsible for the deaths Thessaloniki, Patras, Volos, and other cit­ Continued from Page 9 ies. In the northern port city ofThessaloniki, of fellow Orthodox Christians in Serbia. most of the workers who have been out in a two-day blockade of the port was called Many protests that have included right-wing sive production with low wages. the yard - something Nanos complained by several trade unions and prevented the forces, have had as a central slogan "Greece, This is the case at the Rekor factory. about - hurried into the shop, where only movement ofNATO hardware bound for the Serbia, Orthodoxy!" "These machines were used when we got two machines were running out of more than Republic of Macedonia. In a move aimed at giving Athens a sub­ them from Greece," explained Arta Jaupi as a dozen. "We work as much as we are After a rally in downtown Athens, work­ stantial boost in air power in the Aegean Sea she and other operators struggled with the asked," said Philipa Vlasi, the chief of the ers contingents marched to the U.S. embassy and in the Balkans, the government an­ decades-old sewing machines. "They break shift there. "Most of us are out of work now to express their opposition to the U.S. im­ nounced the purchase of 50 new U.S.-made down every hour." because there aren't enough orders." perialist war. Most union contingents F -16 fighter planes, 15 French Mirages, and In the cutting department workers - all No guards or emergency brakes marched as part of the several thousand 75 Eurofighters. women here too - cut the leather, using strong bloc of the Pan Labor Struggle Front Supporters and friends ofthe Committee power presses without guards or double Two workers were pressing rubber to­ (PAME) led by pro-Communist Party union of Communists participated at the May I buttons to prevent the machines from oper­ gether between two rotating rolls, feeding officials. The march was met by several action, including by setting up a literature ating if a worker's hand is in the way. sheets of rubber into the machine with their hundred riot police which had surrounded table with a banner reading, "No to the im­ As Militant reporters were talking to hands. the U.S. embassy. perialist intervention! Greece out ofNATO! workers there about this point, Nanos, the "Most workers here are recently hired and "Not one soldier to Yugoslavia, We won't Self-determination for the Albanians of Greek manager, entered. Getting wind ofthe unskilled," said Kiriakos, the mechanic. fight for the USA and Germany!" and "EU Kosova! Open the borders to the refugees!" type of conversation, he began shouting to "They are not trained properly." While there, and NATO syndicate of war!" chanted the They handed out hundreds of statements the Albanian accountant, Spiros Lili, who we witnessed a horrible accident. An marchers. explaining these demands and invited people was showing us around. "You must tell them operator's arm was squeezed between the The protest included several contingents to come to a forum on the war in Yugosla­ they have to leave now. They are interrupt­ two large steel rolls pressing elastic for soles. of students from various colleges and tech­ via the next day. The forum was an eyewit­ ing the work. I already told them everything The machine had no guards and an inad­ nical schools. Sprinkled within the protest ness report by Natasha Terlexis, who par­ they need to know yesterday!" equate emergency break. "Accidents like were a few Serbian flags and Greek flags. ticipated in the Militant reporting team to But a capitalist manager in a workers state this happen frequently," we were told. Equally numerous, though, were the flag of Yugoslavia. is not omnipotent, even though he may rep­ "Look," Kiriakos said, "he works for a the old Yugoslav federation. For the first "I was attracted to your table by the ban­ resent the owner of85 percent of the factory. small piece of bread and now he has prob­ time a contingent of Albanian immigrant ner, especially the point about self determi­ Lili, who had worked in production for ably lost his hand." workers participated and unfurled the Al­ nation for the Albanians," said one young more than 30 years and tended to side with "Papafotiou will get the picture that we banian flag. participant who identified himself as Ioannis, the workers, disregarded Nanos's comments will not stand for this too long," said Gaba, Although speeches from union officials at the march. "No one else has presented that, and continued the tour of the plant. He told the union steward. One fact not lost on the at the May Day rally reflected the Greek and I strongly agree." Another young person Militant reporters later that Nanos had argued bosses is that these workers are armed. They nationalist and pro-Serbian government expressed similar opinions, and bought the against the tour, saying he explained every­ have had Kalashnikov rifles at home since stance of the labor officialdom, the tone of Greek translation of Imperialisms March thing about the plant in the interview the day they revolted against Berisha two years ago. the action was in sharp contrast to that of an Towards Fascism and War by Jack Barnes. before. " 'But these are real journalists. They It's the attitudes of these workers that the "antiwar" concert held a few days earlier, In all seven copies of the Greek edition of can't just get the picture from you. That was bosses have to break. onApril26. The Truth About Yugoslavia: Why Working what was done during [Enver] Hoxha's time. Nanos, the Greek manager, indicated he Some 50,000 people attended the concert People should Oppose Intervention, two cop­ They have to talk to the workers,' I re­ was afraid to go out into the town. He lives in the central downtown square of Athens, ies oflmperialism s March Towards Fascism sponded," Lili said. Hoxha headed the Stalin­ in the plant compound and spends the whole which was organized by some 40 singers and and War, and two titles by Marx and Lenin ist regime in Albania until his death in 1985. work week,inside the locked and guarded musical groups, the same people who had were sold off the table. Eleven workers - all male - work in factory gate. pulled together a nationalist mobilization at Supporters of the Committee of Commu­ the department that prepares the rubber for . the time of the abduction of Kurdish leader nists did not participate in the April26 event. the soles. As Militant reporters approached, Argiris Malapanis contributed to this article. 10 The Militant May 17, 1999 What are imperialists' aims in Yugoslavia? 'Capitalism's World Disorder' takes up reason behind U.S./NATO assault The newest title from Pathfinder Press, government, its own armed forces, its own Capitalism s World Disorder: Working­ currency, and its own class interests. But Class Politics at the Millennium by Jack we used shorthand, as human beings do, Barnes, is the single best source for un­ and fetishized the NATO alliance (with derstanding the U.S.-led NATO on­ no substantial damage to our political ori­ slaught against Yugoslavia. entation, in this case, I should add). The bulk of the book consists of four With the collapse of the Soviet bloc talks given by Barnes between June 1992 and Warsaw Pact, however, the rulers of and the start of 1995, as rival factions of the various European and North Ameri­ the bureaucracy that had ruled Yugosla­ can capitalist powers no longer have any via waged brutal wars over territory and commonly perceived threat greater than resources in Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, their own diverging interests that would and as imperialist powers in Europe impel them to pay the price they once did sought to intervene to advance their com­ to huddle under Washington's strategic peting interests in the region. nuclear umbrella. At the same time the Footnotes explain the subsequent imperialist rulers, and the masters ofU.S. U.S.-led NATO bombing of Bosnia and finance capital above all, want to place describe how Washington rammed the themselves in the strongest position mili­ Dayton Accords down the throats of the tarily under these new conditions to warring parties in Yugoslavia and as­ someday roll back the remaining con­ serted itself as the dominant military and quests of the Bolshevik-led revolution in political power in Europe - occupying Russia and reimpose the unimpeded Bosnia over the corpses of Yugoslav dominance of capitalist exploitation. workers and peasants. If we recognize that fact, then we can The Dayton Accords put a spotlight Militant/Lasse Johanson understand what is behind the current on the real aims of Washington and its Protesters at parliament building in Belgrade oppose Milosevic's war against Bosnia, July 1992. tussle among various imperialist powers imperialist rivals in using the conflict in U.S. rulers hoped warring parties would weaken Yugoslav workers state, then they would intervene. about how rapidly to extend NATO mem­ Yugoslavia as a pretext for military inter­ bership to certain former Warsaw Pact vention: to attempt to lay the foundations they are willing to pay, there is no better course ington and the bipartisan directors of U.S. members in Central Europe, especially Poland, for reestablishing capitalist social relations than what is taking place right now. foreign policy have decided it is not in their the Czech Republic, and Hungary. The de­ throughout the formerly federated Yugoslav The U.S. rulers and their spokespeople interests to intervene directly at the moment. bate over that aggressive move represents a workers state and to tighten the imperialist have some tactical disagreements among They hypocritically lament the horrors and further weakening, not a strengthening, of encirclement of Russia. These remain their themselves, that is true. But those are ar­ ask how anyone can stand by and watch it. NATO. It deepens the divergence among aims today, as the Clinton administration guments among the foxes guarding the But they do stand by and they have been NATO members, with the U.S. rulers in their attempts to force what it describes as a chicken coop. They are arguing about how watching it. They have been doing nothing big majority at the head of those pressing for "Bosnia-style" occupation force in Kosova, fast the tide might turn against their inter­ but watching it for a year. They are content eastward expansion. And, ofcourse, it sharp­ while portraying itself as defender of ests, knowing they will likely need to go to let the warring parties themselves weaken ens tensions between Moscow and Wash­ Kosovar Albanians. into Yugoslavia sooner or later. the Yugoslav workers state, and to let their ington and other NATO governments.1 Top officials ofthe United States, France, But there is no evidence that they are European rivals spar with each other and Germany, the United Kingdom, and other planning to go in right now. Most of the take on the precarious policing operation in NATO member states gathered in Washing­ U.S. ruling class currently holds the view: Bosnia. They are teaching a lesson on "Eu­ For the past three years, we have watched ton April23-25. The summit was called to "So what? So tens of thousands of people rope," NATO, and Washington's indispens­ the first large-scale war take place in Europe celebrate 50 years of the NATO "alliance," are being slaughtered and hundreds of ability as a European power. in almost half a century. There has been imperialism's supposed victory in the Cold thousands more turned into refugees. So It is not some special weakness that is massive, sustained artillery shelling. Air War, and the bringing into NATO member­ the Serbs and Croats are killing each other preventing Washington from going into power has been used to bomb civilian popu­ ship ofthree former Warsaw Pact countries. and they are both killing the Muslims. So Yugoslavia. To the contrary. They are sim­ lations in Europe for the first time since the But the celebration became a war summit, what?" The U.S. rulers don't lose sleep over ply not going to risk the price they know bombings of Dresden, London, and other one that highlighted sharpening conflicts "ethnic cleansing." they will pay in this country by sending in cities during World War II. Altogether U.S. between the imperialist powers and within Some oftheir European rivals have vested troops until they have good reason to do so. jets, together with warplanes from the United the newly -anointed NATO members, the interests in one or another of the warring When they are convinced the bleeding has Kingdom, France, and Holland, have carried workers~tates OfHimgary, Poland, and the gangs of the fractured bureaucratic caste in gone on long enough, and that a change in out five bombing operations in Yugoslavia Czech Republic, as they ate pressed into Yugoslavia. German fmance capital in par­ course is now to their advantage, the U.S. since February 1994.2 military involvement in the Yugoslav con­ ticular has an economic and political stake rulers will weigh the costs and act accord­ All this has been happening in Yugosla­ flict. Capitalism s World Disorder helps un­ in the Croatian and Slovenian side. At the ingly. They have no strategic vision for the via. It is a war that has brought to the surface derstand these developments as well. end of 1991, Bonn was the first imperialist Balkans. Their aim is to weaken and eventu­ the deepest conflicts among the imperialist The first excerpt below is from power to recognize the governments in ally destroy the Yugoslav workers state, and powers in Europe and North America since "Capitalism's Deadly World Disorder," the Croatia and Slovenia, following their pub­ gain an edge on their European rivals in the the collapse ofthe Stalinist apparatuses at the third chapter in the book It is from the dis­ lic break from the Yugoslav federation a few bargain. They are following a pragmatic opening of the 1990s. It is a war that has ex­ cussion periods following a talk presented months earlier. London, and also Paris to a course, as they always do. posed the increasing contradictions in what Aprill 0, 1993, to participants in a regional degree, are trying to balance between the continues to be called the NATO alliance. socialist educational conference in Greens­ contending forces, each for its reasons. And what do we fmd right at the center of boro, North Carolina, and the following day And the imperialist powers as a whole NATO is not only weaker than it seems; it this European war? We fmd that one of the to a similar gathering in Des Moines, Iowa. worry that peoples throughout the Islamic is not even an organization, contrary to what combatants, the Bosnian government, pre­ The other two selections are from Chapter 2 world identifY with the victims of ethnic the name North Atlantic Treaty Organiza­ sides over a majority Islamic population. We of the book, "So Far from God, So Close to cleansing in Muslim areas of Bosnia, and tion implies, and it is less ofan alliance than find the terror squads ofBosnian Serb leader Orange County: The Deflationary Drag of that there may be pressure for Iran or other ever before. For most of the political lives of Radovan Karadzic agitating against "Islamic Finance Capital." It is based on a talk and regimes in the area to get involved. Mos­ many of us, we thought ofNATO as a thing. fundamentalism" as the pretext to promote closing presentation to a regional socialist cow maintains ties to the Serbian regime in Even at its strongest, however, NATO was murderous "ethnic cleansing" along national educational conference held in Los Ange­ Belgrade as a way to maintain some influ­ never a thing; it was the registration of a and religious lines among working people les over the 1994-95 New Year's weekend. ence in the region, and this will be a source certain international relationship of class who had lived and worked alongside each Capitalism s World Disorder is copyright of conflict and tension as well. forces. It was a name for a collection of im­ other for decades since the Yugoslav revolu­ © 1999 by Pathfmder Press, reprinted by But the current administration in Wash- perialist nation-states, each with its own tion in the aftermath of World War II.. .. 3 permission.

l At Washington's initiative, the April 1999 Bosnia since late 1995 under the terms of the so­ occupation army of some 60,000 NATO troops­ BY JACK BARNES NATO summit meeting scheduled in Washington called Dayton Accords. Washington pushed for the including 20,000 U.S. soldiers- into Bosnia. As CoMMENT: My question is about Yugo­ celebrated the 50th anniversary of the imperialist April1999 NATO summit to formalize the U.S.­ ofearly 1999, the U.S.-organized occupation force, slavia. Next week, U.S. warplanes are to go alliance by adding Poland, the Czech Republic, dominated alliance's authority to deploy military initially scheduled to depart in late 1996, remained and Hungary to the current sixteen members. U.S. forces beyond the borders of its member states. in Bosnia with no settled departure date. on patrol as part of NATO enforcement of president Clinton initiated the proposal for an east­ Washington once again threatened NATO air the "no-fly zone" over Bosnia adopted by These U.S. moves have sharpened conflicts be­ ward expansion of NATO at a summit meeting tween Washington and its European rivals. In De­ strikes against Serbia in 1998. The Clinton ad­ the UN Security Council last October. There four years earlier. In pressing this course, Wash­ cember 1998, on the eve of the NATO summit in ministration backed off this threat in October is talk that if a peace treaty is signed, there ington has flatly rejected Moscow's repeated pro­ Brussels, Paris and London announced agreement 1998, after the Serbian-dominated Yugoslav gov­ may be 50,000 troops patrolling the area, tests, including the Russian govermnent's proposal on a course toward giving the European Union for ermnent agreed to begin talks on the withdrawal many ofthem from the United States. Ifthere that NATO pledge not to deploy nuclear weap­ the fist time the authority to deploy combat forces of its military forces from Kosova, a territory is no peace treaty, the war will escalate, and ons or build military bases in the new member abroad. Given the British government's post-World populated by ethnic Albanians. The Serbian re­ there will be stronger calls for imperialist countries. Clinton's second-term secretary of state War II "special relationship" with Washington, the gime, whose forces remained in Kosova at the military intervention. Clinton seems to have Madeleine Albright pulled few punches in stating U.S. rulers were especially alarmed at London's opening of 1999, has carried out a military offen­ Washington's aim in an article written for the backed off from his campaign tough talk concurrence in this initiative. In response, U.S. sive in that region, driving as many as 300,000 weekly Economist of London on the eve of her Secretary of State Albright warned that "European Albanians from their homes; in 1998 alone some against the Serbian forces in Yugoslavia, and first European trip in February 1997: "Now that 2,000 Albanians were killed or disappeared. top U.S. military officers say they are against decision making" must not come "unhooked from democracy's frontier has moved to Europe's far­ broader alliance decision making." While opposing the Kosovans' demand for na­ going into Yugoslavia, too. thest reaches, what logic would dictate that we tional self-determination, Washington has ex­ At the same time, there are politicians in freeze NATO's eastern edges where they presently 2 By late May 1995 U.S. and NATO forces ploited the conflict in Kosova - as it continues both the Democratic and Republican parties lie, along the line where the Red Army stopped had conducted eight bombing assaults. The most to do in Bosnia - as a pretext to maintain the who are calling for air strikes by Washing­ in the spring of 1945?" massive bombing came in August and Septem­ NATO military occupation in Yugoslavia. ber 1995, as some 60 NATO planes carried out ton right now. Whatever happens in the so­ It has been over the corpses ofYugoslav workers 3 Among the mltior activities of the U.S.-orga­ and peasants, first and foremost, that the U.S. rul­ some 3,200 sorties over a two-week period. The called peace talks, the war just keeps going nized NATO "Implementation Force (lfor)" in ers have asserted their position as the world's domi­ air strikes were combined with shelling from on, the death toll mounts, and bigger forces NATO positions on Bosnian hillsides and the Bosnia in 1996 was pressuring Bosnian Muslim keep coming into play. I was wondering how nant "European power" since the early 1990s. As authorities to deport volunteer fighters from Iran rival capitalist govermnents in Europe wore them­ launching ofTomahawk cruise missiles from U.S. you read all this. and other countries with large Islamic populations selves out seeking to emerge the winner in the new warships off the coast. In October, in the wake of and to cut off further military aid and training from RESPONSE: I do not think it is in the interests Balkan wars, Washington sabotaged their various this sustained bombardment, Washington an­ the Iranian govermnent. The first widely publi­ of the United States ruling class to intervene "peace initiatives" in Yugoslavia. Then, in 1994-- nounced a cease-fire by Serbian, Croatian, and cized NATO military operation was a February militarily in Yugoslavia right now. It is not in 95, the Clinton administration organized several Bosnian forces. Talks at Wright-Patterson Air 1996 raid on what Washington labeled an Iranian­ their interests for one and only one reason. rounds ofsustained bombardment ofSerbian forces, Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, later in the year laid run ''terrorist training camp" near Sarajevo. From tr.eir standpoint, and at a political price culminating in the NATO military occupation of the basis for Washington to spearhead sending an May 17, 1999 The Militant 11 Working class is target of NATO bombing Continued from front page Sonja Yovanevic, a government employee dwindling production at the republic's main to achieve the expected capitulation of the borhoods are not enough to supply the in Belgrade. "I didn't believe them anyway." steel plant at Niksic. "In the last week, anum­ Belgrade regime. population." An increasing number of young people ber of villages have been bombed and "Quite frankly and honestly, we did not Canak is the president ofNezavisnost (In­ and workers in Albania are also coming to homes destroyed for the first time," he succeed in our initial attempt to coerce dependence), the trade union federation, the conclusion that the brutal assault on added. The first civilian casualties in Milosevic through air strikes to accept our independent of government control. Yugoslavia is against their interests. "It's Montenegro occurred this week, though the demands," said Gen. Klaus Naumann, who A similar, if not more stark, situation has terrible," said Kliton Nenaj, a student at government in Podgorica, the republic's capi­ is retiring May 6 as head of the alliance's prevailed in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia's third-larg­ Tirana University, on May 6, referring to the tal, has not released figures so far. military arm. It has been a mistake by NATO est city and the capital of Vojvodina, the cuts in electricity around Serbia. Nenaj was According to Vojin Djukanovic, economy to refrain from using "surprise and over­ country's main agricultural region that bor­ ambivalent about the NATO attacks before. minister of Montenegro, the port of Bar, whelming power," he added. Belgrade has ders Hungary. According to Dusan, a mem­ "It's another example that people, whether which had been working at 50 percent ca­ given no indication so far that is ready to ber of the Students Union in Novi Sad who Serb or Albanian, are those who suffer. The pacity before the bombing is now operating accept an armed NATO force in Kosova and spoke to Militant reporters by phone May 5, politicians have created the entire problem." "at about nothing, 5 to 10 percent perhaps." withdrawal of its forces from the region, the city has had no running water for 10 days. In the 45 days since Washington Around 40 percent of Montenegro's work­ which are the main imperialist demands. The effects of the latest intensification of launched the attack on Yugoslavia, NATO force was already without jobs as of the end The escalation of the U.S.-NATO bomb­ the U.S.-NATO bombing are bringing disas­ warplanes have flown more than 15,000 sor­ of April. If Washington enforces its planned ing campaign is ratcheting up tensions be­ ter on working people. Perishable food is ties, reaching 600 per day this week. Anum­ naval blockade to stop oil shipments arriv­ tween Washington and Moscow. Russia's spoiling in refrigerators across the country ber of bombers are now flying at lower alti­ ing at Bar "it would be the end of parliament scrapped consideration of the while ovens that run on electricity cannot tudes than the 15,000 feet jets kept at so far, Montenegro, it would strengthen the forces Start II nuclear treaty for now, which would be used for cooking. Telephone lines have and are coming into more clashes with ofSlobodan Milosevic and would even pro­ have substantially reduced Moscow's deteriorated. Belgrade's air force. voke a civil war here," said Djukanovic. nuclear warheads. With much of the country's TV and radio "They are moving toward attacking ev­ Those in the administration of The Chinese government, which has also network out of commission, including local erything that moves. They could very well Montenegro's premier Milo Djukanovic fa­ opposed the imperialist assault on Yugosla­ stations that are increasingly being targeted see what they are bombing," said Dusan, vor a more rapid opening of the republic to via, has announced new plans to modernize by NATO's bombers, it's very difficult to pointing to the bus that was bombed in Ko­ imperialist bank trusts and integration of its military because of the nature of the un­ know what's happening beyond your neigh­ sova May 3, killing about 35 people. Montenegro into the world capitalist mar­ folding NATO war in the Balkans. borhood, said Canak. The skyline over Novi Sad was black from ket. The republic's administration has kept An article in thePeople sLiberation Army Beginning on May 3, NATO began using the smoke rising from the city's oil refinery, its well-armed police force under its control, Daily said Beijing should adjust its military a new warhead that dusts power cables with which had been bombed again before Dusan despite demands by Belgrade to tum over strategy given NATO's high-technology graphite filaments, triggering massive short spoke to us on the phone. The city's main TV command of the police to the federal army. assault against Yugoslavia. The article said circuits. Based on telephone interviews by transmitter had also been knocked out. Ac­ Durie, who has been among the vocal that China should be prepared "for limited Militant reporters, bombs or missiles using cording to Dusan, food supplies in and around opponents of the anti-democratic policies war under high-tech conditions." The paper this new technology appear to have been Novi Sad are beginning to run out, even of the regime in Belgrade, said an escalation said that Beijing had carried out insufficient used repeatedly in the last three days. though Vojvodina has the country's highest of the tension between the republic's police research and even less training on "warfare "We are able to tum off and on the light agricultural production. With fuel shortages, and federal army would be disastrous for against air strikes and remote precision switch in Belgrade," NATO spokesman Jamie farmers are having a harder time using ma­ working people. "NATO should stop its strikes from a distance." The indicated shift Shea boasted with imperial arrogance May 4. chinery on the land. Individual gasoline ra­ bombing right now and no ground troops could lead to greater development of inter­ It's part of tightening "the noose" around tions have already been cut to 5 gallons per should be sent into Kosova." mediate and long-range missiles able to hit Yugoslavia, as NATO commander Wesley month, down from 10. Many hospitals that The latest escalation of the air raids come distant bases or ships, such as aircraft carri­ Clark put it, following the April 23-25 war lack their own power generators are having as top NATO military commanders have in­ ers, said a front-page article in the May 5 summit of the imperialist military alliance in to operate with candles, we were told. dicated the assault on Yugoslavia has failed Financial Times of London. Washington, D.C. In addition to Belgrade, This comes on top of the destruction of NATO has attacked effectively the power much ofthe country's industry and infrastruc­ grids in a number of cities in Serbia, such as ture the last six weeks, which had brought Drmno, Kostoloc, Bajina Basta, and Novi Sad. unemployment to more than 70 percent. -MILITANT LABOR FORUMS- CALIFORNIA ner 6:30p.m. 7414 Woodward Ave. Donation: Humiliation, anger, will to resist Attacks on Montenegro intensify $4. Dinner $5. Tel: (313) 875-0100. The effect on working people and youth NATO's bombing campaign has also in­ Los Angeles in Yugoslavia is to solidify the view that they tensified in Montenegro, where Washing­ London Airport Workers Fight Union Bust­ are the main target ofthe U.S.-NATO assault. ton has been trying to engineer a break-up ing. Speakers: Cesar Guerrero and Laura Ander­ son, airport workers and members of the Inter­ AUSTRALIA "I feel humiliated and angry," said Dusan, of the republic from its federation with Ser­ national Association of Machinists. Fri., May Sydney asking to get the message around the world bia. To appease a "pro-Western" adminis­ 14, 7:30p.m. 2546 W. Pico Blvd. (1112 blocks The Road to Women's Liberation. Speakers: that it's more important than ever to demand tration there, Montenegro's industry and west of Vermont.) Donation: $5. Tel: (213) 380- Linda Harris, Communist League and member of an end to the bombing. "It's not damaging infrastructure had been spared until the end 9460. AMWU. Fri., May 14, 7 p.m. 176 Redfern St. the regime. It's damaging ordinary people. of April. Not any longer. During the first 1st Floor, Redfern. Donation: $4. Tel: 02-9690- We are less likely to accept NATO troops in week of May, a number of bridges and the MICillGAN 1533. Kosova now." Dusan was among the stu­ railway from the port ofBar to Belgrade have Detroit dents who led the 1996-97 protest movement been bombed. Fighting to Defend Affirmative Action To­ that forced Yugoslav president Slobodan "Workers are the target," said Dragan day: Labor's Stake in Winning Programs that NEW ZEALAND Milosevic to reverse his antidemocratic an­ Durie, in a telephone interview May 5. Durie Unite and Strengthen the Working Class. Auckland nulment of municipal election results. is the international officer ofthe Confedera­ Speakers: Martina Pickett, plaintiff in class ac­ Genetically Modified Food: Protectionism vs. "Milosevic justifies the 'ethnic cleansing' tion of Independent Trade Unions of tion suit against Detroit Edison; Willie Reid, So­ Free Trade. Speaker: James Robb, Communist against Albanians in Kosova in the name of Montenegro. The bombing of the railway is cialist Workers Party and member of United Auto League. Fri., May 14, 7 p.m. 203 Karangahape fighting 'UCK terrorists,' just as NATO justi­ having a devastating effect on the already Workers Local235. Fri., May 14,7:30 p.m. Din- Road. Donation: $3. Tel: (09) 379-3075. fies the killing of civilians supposedly to pro­ tect Albanians from Milosevic," he added. The "collateral" damage is mounting, as -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP--- claims of attacking military targets become transparently flimsy. On May 2, for example, Where to find Pathfinder books and dis­ NEW JERSEY: Newark: 87 A Halsey. Tel: 0171-928-7993. Compuserve: 101515,2702 NATO aircraft bombed the village ofValjevo, tributors of the Militant, Perspectiva Mailing address: Riverfront Plaza, P.O. Box Manchester: Unit 4, 60 Shudehill. Postal 60 miles southwest of Belgrade, destroying Mundial, New International, Nouvelle 200117. Zip: 07102-0302. Tel: (973) 643-3341. code: M4 4AA. Tel: 0161-839-1766. a two-story house and damaging many apart­ Internationale, Nueva InternacionalandNy Compuserve: 104216,2703 Compuserve: 106462,327 ment buildings nearby. NATO officials International. NEW YORK: New York City: 59 4th Av­ claimed they were targeting a tank plant enue (comer of Bergen) Brooklyn, NY Zip: CANADA there, without offering any evidence that UNITED STATES 11217. Tel: (718) 399-7257. Compuserve: Montreal: 4581 Saint-Denis. Postal code: such a factory exists. ALABAMA: Birmingham: 111 21st St. 102064,2642 ; 167 Charles St., Manhattan, H2J 2L4. Tel: (514) 284-7369. Compuserve: "Now I see that NATO's words about ci­ South Zip 35233. Tel: (205) 323-3079. NY. Zip: 10014. Tel: (212) 366-1973. I 04614,2606 vilians not being the enemy were lies," said Toronto: 851 Bloor St. West. Postal code: Compuserve: 73712,3561 OHIO: Cincinnati: P.O. Box 19300. Zip: M6G 1M3. Tel: (416) 533-4324. Compuserve: CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 2546 W. 45219. Tel: (513)662-193l.Cieveland: 1832 103474,13 Pico Blvd. Zip: 90006. Tel: (213) 380-9460. Euclid. Zip: 44115. Tel: (216) 861-6150. -CALENDAR- Compuserve: 74642,326 San Francisco: 3284 Compuserve: 103253,1111 Vancouver: 3967 Main St. Postal code: 23rd St. Zip: 94110. Tel: (415) 282-6255,285- V5V 3P3. Tel: (604) 872-8343. Compuserve: NEW JERSEY 5323. Compuserve: 75604,556 PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 1906 103430,1552 South St. Zip: 19146. Tel: (215) 546-8218. Newark FLORIDA: Miami: 137 N.E. 54th St. Zip: Video showing of"War and Peace in Ireland." Compuserve: 104502,1757 Pittsburgh: 1103 FRANCE 33137. Tel: (305) 756-1020. Compuserve: E. Carson St. Zip 15203. Tel: (412) 381-9785. From film maker Art McCaig. An account of 103171,1674 Paris: Centre MBE 175, 23 rue Lecourbe. British oppression in occupied Northern Ireland, Compuserve: 103122,720 Postal code: 75015. Tel: (01) 47-26-58-21. GEORGIA: Atlanta: 230 Auburn Ave. banned in England. Thur., May 27, 7:30 p.m. TEXAS: Houston: 6969 Gulf Freeway, Compuserve: 73504,442 N.E. Zip: 30303. Tel: (404) 577-7976. McGovern's Tavern, New Street. Sponsored by Suite 380. Zip: 77087. Tel: (713) 847-0704. Compuserve: 104226,1245 the New Jersey Irish Northern Aid Committee. Compuserve: I 02527,2271 ICELAND For more information call: Mark Sheerin: (201) ILLINOIS: Chicago: 1223 N. Milwaukee Reykjavik: Klapparstig 26. Mailing ad­ 784-3573. Ave. Zip: 60622. Tel: (773) 342-1780. WASHINGTON, D.C.: 1930 18th St. N.W. dress: P. Box 0233, IS 121 Reykjavik. Tel: 552 Compuserve: 104077,511 Suite #3 (Entrance on Florida Ave.) Zip: 5502. INTERNET:[email protected] IOWA: Des Moines: 2724 Douglas Ave. 20009. Tel: (202) 387-2185. Compuserve: CORRECTIONS Zip: 50310. Tel: (515) 277-4600. Compuserve: 75407,3345. NEW ZEALAND There were several errors in the ar­ 104107,1412 WASHINGTON: Seattle: 1405 E. Madi­ Auckland: La Gonda Arcade, 203 Karangahape Road. Postal address: P.O. Box ticle"500 fanners rally in Minnesota MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 683 Wash­ son. Zip: 98122. Tel: (206) 323-1755. against worsening conditions,'' pub­ Compuserve: 74461,2544. 3025. Tel: (9) 379-3075. Compuserve: ington St. Mailing address: P.O. Box 702. Zip: 100035,3205 lished in the May l 0 Militant. The 02124. Tel: (617) 427-6066. Compuserve: names of William Heffernan and 103426,3430 AUSTRALIA Christchurch: 199 High St. Postal address: Lyndon LaRouche were misspelled. Sydney: 1st Flr, 176 Redfern St., Redfern P.O. Box 22-530. Tel: (3) 365-6055. MICHIGAN: Detroit: 7414 Woodward Compuserve: 100250,1511 John Crabtree is from the Center for Ave. Zip: 48202. Compuserve: 104127,3505 NSW 2016. Mailing address: P.O. Box K879, Rtira!Affairs. And in the list of par­ Tel: (313) 875-0100. Haymarket Post Office, NSW 1240. Tel: 02- SWEDEN ticipating organizations should have MINNESOTA: St. Paul: 2490 University 9690-1533. Compuserve: 106450,2216 included the National Farmers Orga­ Stockholm: Vikingagatan 10 (T-hana St Ave. W., St. Paul. Zip: 55114. Tel: (651) 644- BRITAIN · · Eriksplan). Postal code: S-113 42. Tel: (08) nization. 6325. Compuserve: 103014,3261 London: 47 The Cut. Postal code: SEl 8LL. 31 69 33. Compuserve: 100416,2362

12 The Militant May 17, 1999 -GREATSOQDY------Read it and retch-Announce­ ister, and U.S. junior partner in its stamps. So far, no one has volun­ port, the U.S. female prison popu­ A draw - A state attorney in ment of the decision to call up Yugoslav bloodletting. teered. But some have complained, lation has tripled since 1985 and Florida, who allegedly represents 33,000 military reservists came on explaining they don't know how now number 138,000. Many are indigent Death Row inmates, was the heels of Clinton's foulmouthed Tsk- A $250-million missile­ they'd pay it back. subjected to sexual assault and other cleared by the Bar Association of rap about a postwar plan to "re- warning satellite ended up in the abuses. They are "usually nonwhite organizing a $5 "Death Pool." Par­ wrong orbit following its launch off But nobody's in jail-The feds and poor." ticipants bet on which of four con­ an Air Force Titan rocket.. .. It was declared 21-million pounds of 101: Targeting the Bill of demned prisoners would be ex­ the first Titan IV flight since a spec­ Thorn Apple Valley meat and poul­ ecuted. He claimed no money tacular $!-billion launch explosion try unfit for human consumption. Rights- Thomas Monaghan, who Harry sold Domino's Pizza for 1 billion, changed hands. All four prisoners in August."- News item. Three months earlier, 30 million were executed. pounds of meat products produced is spending $50 million to establish ··Ring They could throw up the at the same Arkansas plant were Ave Maria law school. The first pro­ Pardon the plug-A web site is food - Screwing up a revision of recalled. More than 12 million fessor enlisted is right-winger Rob­ peddling a "Millennium Conception its data base and preparing its com­ pounds of contaminated hot dogs ert Bork who was too hot for the Kit." Includes a fertility guide, ovu­ puters for Y2K, Colorado's welfare Supreme Court. The declared pur­ lation prediction tests, pregnancy build" Kosova. and baloney were already shipped agency mistakenly issued food to Russia and South Korea. Appro­ pose ofAve Maria is to turn out law­ test, massage oil, and candles for Right, boss?- "In this conflict stamps to low-income people who priate notification has been made. yers sensitive to the moral conse­ $49.99. And to think, you get we are fighting not for territory but qualified for the stamps in Febru­ quences of the law. Monaghan says Capitalism s World Disorder: Work­ for values."- Anthony Blair, ary, but not March. Now the agency The justice system -Accord­ it will be "the West Point for the ing-Class Politics at the Millennium Britain's Labour Party prime min- would like to get paid for the ing to an Amnesty International re- Catholic laity." by Jack Barnes, for less than half. NATO bombing has spurred 'ethnic cleansing' Continued from Page 9 tury. lishing the domination ofcapitalist social re­ help in getting civilian clothes to escape. He by many people, on the threat of holding BaJa raised these points, confirmed by lations in Albania and Yugoslavia and tight­ did not want his name disclosed. some family members as hostages. All the Militant reporters with Kosovars living in the ening the noose around Russia with a simi­ Others described similar stories of pock­ vehicles driven by Kosovar Albanians we hotel he described, to refute statements in the lar goal in mind there. ets of opposition to Belgrade's policy in Ko­ saw in Kukes or on the long mountainous main TV stations from Greece that Kosovars One symbol of how far they themselves sova among the minority of 200,000 Serbs road from northern Albania to Tirana had were being moved consciously there by sense they have to go is the fortification of who lived there. Vjosa Paloca, whose family no license plates. They had been taken by Tirana to "dilute the weight of the Greek­ the U.S. embassy in Tirana, which our bus farmed on the outskirts of Klina, a town of Belgrade's military. This is a conscious ef­ speaking minority" in southern Albania. Most from Skopje passed by on the way into 15,000 near Pee, Kosova, said at least three fort by the Milosevic regime to make more imperialist powers are utilizing the conflict Albania's capital. It's done in a way none of her Serb neighbors asked her to stay and difficult any future return of these people to to advance their competing interests, Bala oftheMilitantreporters here have ever seen offered to help stop the terrorist gangs from their hometowns. explained. For the rulers in Greece, the pos­ before. The outside thick stone wall sur­ driving Albanians out. "I don't know what sible annexation of parts of southern Alba­ rounding the complex has electrical barbed happened to them," she said, after the police Conditions vary widely at the camps nia- which nationalist forces in Greece call wire on top. Inside there's another wall, set large sections of the city on fire to force Tens of thousands are being put up on a Vorios lpiros (north lpiros, which is the name higher than the outer one, made of a double the majority Albanian residents to leave. voluntary basis by residents ofAlbania who of the Greek province bordering Albania)­ layer of sand bags. No one can peek inside This appeared to be true in a number of bear the burden of housing the newcomers. has been a long-term goal for the last half from the street level. The front and other cases where Serbs and Albanians lived in Government aid in form of food and sani­ century. main gates are locked shut. Personnel use the same town. In the village ofDobrojevo tary supplies has barely begun to be distrib­ Athens and Rome, in particular, are using other not-well-known entrances, we were near Pristina the population was about half uted to these families, and the portions are substantial financial resources to set up camps told. A number of Albanians in the bus Serb and half Albanian. "We didn't have a meager. The conditions at the camps hous­ with conditions much better than anything the pointed to the scene and made jokes or problem with most of our Serb neighbors ing Kosovars vary widely. Facilities ran by Albanian government can put together. Even laughed. before March 24," said Eyhrie Sulejmani. the Albanian government - whose minis­ though many working people appreciate hu­ "After the bombing started some started say­ Differing views on NATO bombing ters have no shortage of self-serving state­ mane living conditions for deported Kosovars, ing, 'You wanted NATO, now go to Albania ments about "the excellent handling of the a number point to more long-term and not-so­ Despite the attempted intimidation by and get NATO to help you.' They collabo­ refugee crisis" by Tirana- tend to offer the obvious goals. "Italy is most likely planning thuggish elements in the camps, a number rated with the police to get us out. But other poorest conditions. Two such camps in to turn the camp at the airport in Vlore into a of working people described to Militant re­ Serbians tried to stop it. When they couldn't, Kukes had no running water, electricity, or military base of some sort once the refugee porters situations similar to those recounted they left themselves." garbage collection. Every time it rains the crisis abates," said Albert Shyti, pointing to by Kosovar Albanians in Macedonia and When asked ifthey were aware that many entire camp turns into a muddy field and the camp being set up by the Italian army at Montenegro, sometimes refusing to buckle gbvernment officials and pundits in the water floods most tents, we were told. the formerly abandoned airport in Albania's as pro-imperialist elements intervened. United States, Britain, and other countries Minella Bala in Sarande explained most third largest city. Vlore was also the hotbed of "The NATO bombing has helped the participating in the bombing of Yugoslavia clearly what a number of other Albanians the 1997 revolt. Shyti was one of the central Serbian government to carry out the 'eth­ have spoken openly against independence alluded to. Prejudices against Kosovar Al­ leaders of the citizens' committee that led the nic cleansing' in Kosova," said Shpendi for Kosova, most Kosovar Albanians said it banians exist throughout the country. And struggle against Berisha in Vlore. Malaj. "It's destroying both Serbs and Al­ was the first they heard this. many Kosovars do not look forward at all Even though the would-be capitalists in banians. They should stop the bombing." "We need independence now, without a to a long stay in Albania. In Sarande, for power in Albania have won wide acceptance At the hotel in Sarande housing Koso­ question," Sulejmani said, expressing a com­ example, no Kosovars are staying in resi­ for the massive deployment ofthe U.S.-NATO vars someone from the town of Vushtre, monly held view. "Return to autonomy we dents' houses. They are put up at a hotel that forces here -much more so than for the pre­ near Mitrovica, told Militant reporters that had before 1989 won't do. We can no longer had been burned out during the 1997 revolt vious deployment ofFrench, Italian, and Greek a number of Serbs had deserted from the trust the regime in Belgrade. And anyone and other similar facilities. troops following the 1997 rebellion - impe­ Yugoslav army and were asking Albanians arguing about dividing Kosova in two parts "Authorities here simply cleaned up that rialism still faces the task ofdefeating the work­ in his neighborhood two months ago for Continued on Page 14 hotel a little," Bala said, "but didn't go out ing class in this country to accomplish its goals. of their way to welcome the Kosovars." Washington is utilizing the assault on Yu­ Those who just arrived from Kosova are goslavia to consolidate its hegemony as the -25AND50YEARSAGO----- used to a much higher standard ofliving than number one military and economic power in Europe. And the U.S. rulers and their allies in virtually all working people in Albania, as a puterized typesetting and other forms of au­ result of the differential progress in devel­ Europe are laying the groundwork for using their military might to do what they've been tomation in the composing rooms. This is the opment achieved through the revolutions in THE MILITANT stickler that stands in the way of settlement. Yugoslavia and Albania in the last half cen- unable to carry out by other means: reestab- May 17,1974 NEW YORK- Shortly before 1 a.m. THE MILITANT May 7, a photoengraved plate of a single PUBLISHED IN THE INTiiliSTI OF THI WORKING P'IOPLI page of the New York Daily News was NEW YORK, N.Y. FIVE (5) CENTS Workers .of.the World.and brought into the composing room of the nation's largest circulation newspaper. Print­ May 16,1949 Oppressed Peoples, Unitel ers refused to lock up the plate and send it PI'Qceedings and Documents the DETROIT - By this time the whole of on to the stereotypers, and were fired. world knows that 62,000 workers at the Lin­ Second Congress, 1920 ... Bertram Powers, president ofNew York coln plant are out on strike and that the whole The Qebate among delegates from 37 cOcmtries takes up · Typographical Union No.6 was in the com­ Ford empire is shut down. Tens ofthousands posing room, seized the plate and destroyed anti > of additional Ford workers have been laid .~~\J:::d~ ()( .. · ·· ·• and ··· · .. it. It had been produced on new, automated off throughout the country as well as work­ equipment partly with nonunion labor. It ers employed in numerous feeder plants sup­ marked the start of an attempt by the pub­ plying parts for Ford cars. lishers here to produce newspapers with­ The simple issue in the strike is the out printers. The early morning scene in speedup. It is a climax of the long smolder­ the composing room of the News was the ing resentment of this question throughout end of prolonged contract negotiations and the industry and the inability of the Ford the beginning of a new stage in the test of local leadership, in particular, to settle this strength between the unions and publish­ issue satisfactorily at the Rouge plant. ers. The turning point came as expected and For over three months the chief officers was enacted as ifrehearsed. When the sym­ ofUAW -CIO Local600 have been meeting bolic plate was destroyed, police entered with the Ford Company over the speedup of and evicted 200 printers who were work­ the final assembly lines in the "B" Building. ing the night shift. Thus began a lockout of But despite numerous agreements on paper, printers that may quickly spread. the speedup went on unabated. The printers' last contract expired March Finally the pressure from the workers 30, 1973. For the past 16 months Local 6 grew so intense that the local leadership was has been discussing contract terms with the forced to call for a strike vote to be taken publishers. During that time the publishers simultaneously with the run-off elections for have not budged from their original offer of local officers during the week of April 18. an annual $13.85-a-week pay raise. They The strike vote carried by the overwhelm­ also demand a free hand to introduce com- ing vote of31, 926 to 4,400. May 17,1999 The Militant 13 Albania -EDITORIALS~------Continued from Page 13 has to walk over the wishes of most of us." Kosovars won autonomy in 1974 as a result of a de­ cades-long struggle for self-determination by the Alba­ Mobilize to stop racist bombings nian nationality- which until the beginning of this year comprised about 90 percent ofKosova's population of2.1 The following statement was issued by Paul Gallo­ The fact these attacks take place is no accident. They million. Autonomy meant the right to elect a regional par­ way, Communist League candidate for Levenshulme are an inevitable result of the crisis of capitalism. That is liament and veto power by the local government on most ward, Manchester, England, council elections, follow­ what happened in the 1920s and 1930s, and that is what matters affecting Kosova, such as education, health care, ing two rightist nail-bombings in London. we see the seeds of today. and police functions. Four years before autonomy, the The failure of the police to arrest and charge Stephen University of Pristina had been opened, with all courses The Brixton and Brick Lane bombings are an attack on Lawrence's murderers was also no accident. The racist offered in both Serbo-Croatian and Albanian. all working people. These cowardly acts are aimed to push gangs who carried out these attacks are spawned by the Albanians had been recognized as a distinct nation and back and intimidate all those who stand up against racism. very system the police seek to defend. Right now the gov­ their language recognized as one of the official languages It is no accident Brick Lane was targeted. This is an area ernment and police are trying to use the bombings as cover ofYugoslavia as a by-product ofthe victorious social revo­ where over the years working people have fought and struck to take away democratic rights. The police will have to be lution led by the Partisans in the aftermath of the success­ a powerful blow against the racists through mass protests. forced, by the mobilizations of working people, to find ful struggle against the country's occupation by Nazi This terrorist action is a product of weakness, not and prosecute those who carried out these bombings. troops during World War II. The Partisans united working strength. The mass sentiment for justice for Stephen When the youth ofBrick Lane mobilized in 1994 against people of all nationalities under a program that called for Lawrence, killed in 1993, is a sign of the racists' isola­ racist attacks they won trades union backing for their equality and mutual respect of all nations. In the early tion. At the same time these thugs gain encouragement march of50,000. Today the unions can and should be won years of the 1942-45 revolution, partisans from Albania, from the policies and actions of the Labour government. to this course. Joining with the SkychefTGWU strike at Yugoslavia, and Greece collaborated and even tried to They gain oxygen from the daily news of NATO bombs Heathrow for union rights which is led mainly by Asian carve out a course for a socialist federation in the Balkans raining down on working people in Yugoslavia and from workers is another important way to both strike a blow that different nations would join on a voluntary basis - the government's stepped up scapegoating of immigrant against the racists and strengthen the unions in fighting much like the Bolsheviks succeeding in doing in the early workers with the new restrictive asylum laws. for the interests of all working people. years following the 1917 Russian revolution. But the Yugoslav revolution, and the workers state it brought into being by abolishing capitalist property rela­ tions, were deformed at birth by Stalinist domination of already heavy burden of the government's attempt to in­ ing stratum as a coherent caste. The main good thing that the regime of Josip Broz, known as Tito. Tito was the tegrate Albania into the world capitalist market, and an happened since 1990, as Xeras put it, "is that the borders central leader of the Communist Party in Yugoslavia, the end to police repression that had become widespread un­ opened so young people can immigrate and we have a main political force among the Partisans. der the rule of Berisha's Democratic Party. Berisha tried little more freedom to express ourselves." Prior to the victory of the revolution, 50,000 Albanian to suppress the rebellion by force. But hundreds of thou­ partisans in Kosova had joined the struggle, partly on the sands resisted and got support from sections of the mili­ No to privatization basis ofTito 's promises that Kosovars would have the right tary and thousands of former army officers Berisha had Many of Xeras's views were shared by a number of to national self-determination, "up to secession." But that dismissed as loyal to his rival, the Socialist Party. By early industrial workers we interviewed at the TEC thermoelec­ was not to be. Following the victory of the antifascist March 1997, the government lost control of the southern tric plant in Fier, the Ballshi oil refinery, the Rekor shoe struggle, Tito's armies drowned a rebellion by Albanian half of the country. Albania's army and police were dis­ factory in Gjirokaster, and elsewhere. In fact, compared partisans in blood when they tried to carry out the earlier solved for a period of time, most of the population got to interviews we did last year, we found that opposition to agreement on self-determination. The struggle for a re­ arms, and the jails were thrown open. To avoid the fall of privatization of state-pwned industries increased. public in Kosova, like the six other republics of the former the regime through revolutionary means - a development At the TEC plant in Fier only one of the dozen or so Yugoslavia, dates back to those days. Despite these early that would have boosted the self-confidence of working workers who spoke to us supported privatization of the setbacks, Albanians in Kosova benefited from some of people and set a dangerous precedent for all the rival lay­ complex, which employs 700 workers. Even the plant the initial affirmative action policies instituted as a result ers among the rulers - the Socialist Party joined the manager, Lirim Alisinani, was against it this time. The of the Yugoslav revolution to aid industrialization and the Democratic Party in a coalition government. This regime former director, one of Berisha's men who had pushed building of infrastructure of the least developed regions. invited imperialist troops to intervene to help it quell the hard to place the plant on a long list for sale to foreign But as a bureaucratic caste crystallized its hold on power revolt under the guise of"restoring stability." investors, was replaced two years ago in the aftermath of in the 1950s under Tito's Stalinist misleadership, these The governments of Italy, Greece, France, and other the 1997 revolt. Armando Bardo, an electrical engineer gains began to be eroded. Tito opened up the Yugoslav countries dispatched 7,000 troops by mid-April under the there, laughed when asked about it. "Privatization?" he economy to investments from imperialist trusts less than sanction ofthe United Nations. New elections were held said. "Why? It will only mean layoffs, probably a wage a decade after the victory of the revolution. Austerity de­ last summer, while the country was under foreign occu­ cut and loss of paid holidays." Workers there make 14,000 mands by the International Monetary Fund, advanced as pation. The Socialist Party won a large majority in parlia­ to 25,000 lek per month, a relatively high wage in Alba­ a precondition for further loans, combined with the bu­ ment and has ruled ever since. nia. They have 60 days vacation a year, as well as health reaucratic, anti-working-class methods of planning and Stability has not been the order of the day, however. insurance and paid meals at work. management by Belgrade, resulted in an economic crisis Last September, Berisha's forces led an armed revolt that The cost of a loaf ofbread is 70 lek. A kilogram of meat that affected underdeveloped regions like Kosova dispro­ forced former premier Fatos Nano to resign. The SP ad­ costs 600 lek and a kilogram of tomatoes 200 lek. So food portionately. These conditions meshed working-class ministration subsequently named Pandeli Majko as the new costs are high for most workers, whose average daily take­ struggles like the Trepca strike Dace spoke about with the prime minister. While the government has been able to re­ home pay is around 400 lek. struggle for national rights in Kosova. construct the police and army, many other state institutions At the Ballshi oil refinery, where most workers had That was when the Milosevic regime launched its na­ don't function well. Industry remains devastated here. This pinned their hopes on an Australian company, Caravoil, tionalist tirades to justify its crackdown on the working­ has been the case since 1992, when Berisha cut state subsi­ buying a majority stake in the refinery up to last year, opin­ class resistance to its austerity policies at the end of the dies as part of his "market reforms." About 90 percent of ions were much more divided this time. The facility has 1980s. In doing so Belgrade found it necessary to revoke state-owned plants have been shut ever since, leaving little been running at 20 percent capacity for the last two years, even the limited autonomy in Kosova to retain control of choice to most workers but to emigrate to other countries, having suffered serious damages during the rebellion and the land and other economic resources to maintain the especially for the younger generations. According to unof­ plagued by old, largely Chinese, technology. Even one of parasitic existence and bourgeois way of life of the sec­ ficial estimates, up to one-third of the country's population the administrators there was not too keen about the Aus­ tion of the ruling caste loyal to the bureaucracy in Serbia. of about 3.5 million has immigrated in the last decade. tralian investor this time. He pointed to another smaller That set the stage for the current explosion. refinery in the area bought by an Australian company, Albanian revolution, and degeneration which was "destroyed" by the capitalist investors. Pro­ Views among workers in Albania "There is not much future for young people so most of duction decreased from 500 to 300 tons of oil per day and Knowledge of the impact of the U.S.-NATO assault on them leave," said Ioanis Savas Xeras, a shepherd at the workers did not see any wages for months. "It was a di­ the working class in Serbia and Montenegro -which now majority Greek-speaking village of Dervitsani in south­ saster," Baftiar Aslani, head of planning, said. But the comprise the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia- affects em Albania, near Gjirokaster, during a May 3 interview. administrator pinned his hopes for reviving the Ballshi the views of working people and youth inside Albania. He was part of the partisan movement in Albania that led refinery on finding a "strong investor from Europe, not Militant reporters made a point of showing a number a struggle to rid the country of the Nazi occupation dur­ like the Australian." of photos they got while in Yugoslavia, prior to the trip to ing World War II. The partisans, led by the Communist A number ofthe workers had different opinions, though. Albania, that graphically depict destruction of factories, Party, or Albanian Workers Party, turned the antifascist Sali Saliu, a young operator at the hydrogen unit, said in farms, houses of workers and farmers and individuals af­ struggle into a social revolution by the mid-1940s, estab­ response to comments by a supervisor that only U.S. in­ fected by it. '"Serb people are human beings like us," said lishing a workers state, in a similar fashion as in Yugosla­ vestments can save the day: "Their plans for foreign in­ Manjola Goxhaj, after seeing those photos. She is anAl­ via. Xeras said he had hoped "the abolition of capitalism vestment are OK, if it means improving technology and banian who works as a translator in Tirana and was trav­ would bring a better future." Prior to the revolution there production. But the union is never going to accept layoffs eling on the bus from Skopje to Tirana with Militant re­ was no irrigation or machinery for agriculture and most of two-thirds of the workforce that the Australian com­ porters April30. "The United States has no right to bomb farmers like himself were slaves to big landlords, he said. pany wanted." At the Ballshi refinery, 200 of the work­ them." Ermal Keco, a construction engineering student at Xeras spoke highly of the initial agrarian reform in the force of 1,500 were put on long-term holiday last year the University of Tirana who accompanied Militant re­ late 1940s but was opposed to the forced collectivization because of the drop in production for the last half decade. porters and helped translate, had a similar reaction. of the land and the "super dictatorship of Hoxha." Enver But even these workers get full pay for two years before Opposition to the U.S.-NATO assault on Yugoslavia and Hoxha headed the CP regime and ruled Albania until his going to unemployment compensation. the increasing deployment of imperialist troops inside Al­ death in 1985. During the reign of this Stalinist regime, These workers and their stance seem to have kept the bania was strongest among workers and farmers in south­ which turned to Moscow for collaboration for a brief pe­ capitalists away. em Albania, where the rebellion against Berisha was based. riod in the early 1950s and then aligned itself with Beijing, Among these workers we found the strongest opposi­ That revolt was sparked in January 1997, when fraudu­ Albania's borders were virtually closed for working tion to the U.S.-NATO assault on Yugoslavia. "You can lent "pyramid" investment funds promoted by Berisha's people, who were kept isolated from the rest of the world. call me a pacifist, but I am against the bombing," said regime collapsed and many working people lost their life Xeras's son died during a hunger strike in prison during Trifon Tashi, a turbine operator who has worked for 31 savings. Hundreds ofthousands of Albanian workers who Hoxha's reign, jailed after passing around flyers for demo­ years at the TEC plant. He was arguing against one of his had immigrated to Greece, Italy, Germany, and other im­ cratic rights in high school. co-workers, Eduard Velaj, who said the NATO assault perialist countries in search of jobs and a living income Despite the horrible deformation of the Albanian revo­ could help stop "ethnic cleansing" in Kosova. Saliu at the had returned at that time to reclaim their savings after lution from birth, Xeras was not for returning to capital­ Ballshi oil refinery also opposed the imperialist assault. hearing of trouble with the pyramid schemes. They had ism, drawing on his experience before the revolution. "I At the Rekor Albania S.A. shoe company, halfthe work­ been lured into depositing their savings there with prom­ am not a politician or a diplomat," Xeras explained. "I am ers interviewed expressed open opposition to or questioned ises they would double their money within months. simply telling you my life experience." The shepherd ve­ Washington's course. It was the highest percentage among "Berisha 's promises of a get-rich-quick capitalism turned hemently opposed Berisha's "market reforms," and took all the workplaces we visited. "I just don't like NATO," into a nightmare," said Violetta Chrisafi, a sewing ma­ up arms against the hated DP regime in 1997. He also did said Melpomeni Dimitraki Vrenja, a sewing machine op­ chine operator at the Rek;or shoe factory in Gjirokaster not think highly of the current orientation of the. SP re­ erator. "We didn't have a go.od experience when the Ital­ (see article elsewhere in this issue). "We didn't sit back. gime towards "the West." Both the Socialist Party and ian and Greek troops came here two years ago." We fought back." Democratic Party !ife largely run by former Communist Workers, farmers, students, and others took to the streets Party officials who went their separate ways at the begin­ Catherina Tir!,en from Stockholm, Sweden, and Bobbis to demand compensation from the state, relief from the ning of this decade, leading to the dissolution of the rul- Misailides from Athens, Greece, contributed to this article. 14 The Militant May 17,1999 California farm workers demand right to unionize This column is devoted to re­ strawberry pickers in Coastal 22 7 on strike at the porting the resistance by work­ Berry's fields, hospitalizing three Tyson Foods poultry ing people to the employers' as­ UFW supporters. processing plant here Washington State teachers demand raise sault on their living standards, Sandra Rocha, who works at ended their strike March working conditions, and unions. Coastal Berry, was one of the work­ 25 amid many cheers, We invite you to contribute ers beaten in the attack. She partici­ hugs, and handshakes. short items to this column as a way pated in this year's demonstration. The contract was rati­ fied 191 to 61. After buying the plant ON THE PICKET LINE as part of its acquisition of Hudson Foods in for other fighting workers around "We have made gains," Rocha told 1998, Tyson demanded the world to read about and learn the Militant, "because we have been 21 cuts in benefits and from these important struggles. fighting. We got a wage increase last work rules. The com­ Jot down a few lines about what year, and we are being treated with a pany was forced to back is happening in your union, at little more respect. There is still a lot down in face of the your workplace, or other work­ of favoritism. They fired a lot ofthe strike, which lasted 82 places in your area, including in­ thugs who were involved in the at- days and won support teresting political discussions. . tack against us. But not all of them from other workers in are fired. We'll see how things play the area. SALINAS, California-As hun­ out." The new agreement dreds of farm workers return to Dolores Huerta and Arturo includes a pay increase, Northern California to work in the Rodriguez, leaders of the UFW, dental and vision care, strawberry fields, United Farm spoke at the rally. Rodriguez called and other new benefits. Workers union organizers have on growers to respect workers' right All workers will retain been banned from organizing by a to organize. He cited the example of their jobs. The contract decision ofthe state Agriculture La­ Swanton Berry Farm, a small organic does include some con­ Militant/Lisa Ahlberg bor Relations Board. farm north of Santa Cruz, which is cessions. Paid breaks More than 4,000 public school teachers, school employees, students, and Governor Gray Davis, a liberal the only strawberry grower to sign a will be phased out in ex­ supporters from across Washington State gathered at the State Capitol Democrat, has avoided appointing contract with the UFW so far. He change for biannual bo­ in Olympia April 17 to demand a 15 percent wage increase for all public three members to the state board also appealed to Governor Davis to nuses over the life of the teachers over the next two years. This action follows a series of sickouts since January. The San Francisco quickly appoint new members to the contract, double-time and protests by teachers. Teachers in the Seattle area held a one-day walk­ Examiner reported April23, "United Agriculture Labor Relations Board. pay for Sunday work is out April 22 to press their demands. In the city of Renton, the school Farm Worker (UFW) organizers, March participant Guadalupe eliminated, and the pro­ board decided to close schools in anticipation of a union vote. who helped Davis win a landslide Rosas had just arrived from Michoa­ bationperiodisextended victory in November, can'twalk onto cfut, Mexico, only to find out that from 46 to 60 days. the strawberry fields to talk to work­ because of the heavy rains the com­ After the vote was announced, are paid low wages as it is, and that ily and described theconditions in­ ers or even go to their homes." panies are not hiring for a few more workers caravaned to the picket line unionized nurses aides at a nursing side the nursing home. He reported The UFW kicked off this year's weeks. "This is not good news be­ to celebrate there. home in Frenchtown, just north of the place was badly understaffed. organizing effort at a march and cause it is shortening our work sea­ Monroe, make $8.08 an hour. Only two people were working the rally of 600 people held here April son." Rosas noted how bad things are Michigan nurses strike On top of the low pay, workers second floor where he lives. Strik­ 18. The rally, overwhelmingly com­ in Michoacan. Unemployment is volunteer their days off with no pay ers reported that normal Saturday prised of farm workers, was a com­ high, and in the countryside, where over wages, conditions to accompany patients on field trips. staffing would have been two memoration of the life of union most jobs are, people are making 50 MONROE, Michigan- Sixty­ The company has had special nurses and five aides. founder Cesar Chavez. pesos a day, about $4.75. one workers at the Mercy Memo- · lighting installed and has brought in The labor movement in the area As participants marched two Antonio Ayala, a lettuce picker rial Hospital Nursing Center went special 24-hour security, a first at has supported the strike. An April 3 miles through town, motorists who has worked forD' Arrigo for 14 on strike March 25 over wages and the center. Mercy is already adver­ solidarity event drew "a couple hun­ honked their horns in support and years, has seen his wages go from working conditions. tising for strike replacement work­ dred people and they also picketed residents came out to watch. Some $7.00 an hour to $6.50 an hour. "We The strikers, members ofUnited ers in local newspapers. A nurses the hospital," Bussell said. Others on joined in as marchers waved red­ have to support the union, because Auto Workers (UAW) Local 157, aide needs two weeks' training be­ the picket line said members of and-black UFW flags and chanted with the union we fought for and won voted unanimously for strike action. fore they can work with residents. UAW Local 723 at a nearby Ford "Si, se puede" (Yes, we can). a medical plan and other benefits." They maintain the picket lines 7 Mercy is the only nursing home in plant have helped staff the lines. Af­ Last year the UFW concentrated Mireya Gomez, a student at days a week, 24 hours a day, with the area that pays workers while ter a 70-year-old striker was hit with on unionizing farmworkers at Cabrillo College participating in the every striker doing a daily four-hour they train, so strikers have told a tomato thrown from a passing car, Coastal Berry Co., one ofthe state's march stated, "My parents and I shift. people who are interested to take the the picketing by other trade union­ largest growers, employing 1,500 worked in the fields, and with all The nurse's aides, housekeepers, class, get paid, and go to work for ists has stepped up, especially from workers. The effort was thwarted the injustices going on, everyone's cooks, and laundry workers at the 70- one of the company's competitors. workers getting off the afternoon when antiunion workers who participation is very important. This patient center are the only unionized The bosses have refused to ne­ shift. The day these reporters first formed a grower-organized outfit, is much deeper than just celebrat­ workers at any Mercy Memorial fa­ gotiate with the unionists who visited the picket lines, locked-out the Coastal Berry Farm Workers ing the life of Cesar Chavez, we are cility in this southeast Michigan town. walked out. Bussell explained that Detroit newspapers and UAW mem­ Committee, successfully petitioned here to address the issues that Kathy Bussell, a nurses aide who a doctor who visits patients at the bers from the Detroit area made the and won a certification election. The farmworkers face everyday and has worked at the center for four center told the pickets a manger said 40-mile trip to show solidarity. UFW boycotted and later contested learn how to fight back." years, explained, "We want $.75. they don't have to negotiate because the election. The election was [That's] $.25 in each year of the "the strikers are all women and will Bernie Senter and Francisco Picado voided in November by an admin­ Indiana poultry strikers contract. We only make $7.41 an get tired and come back." in San Francisco; Jim Horn, a mem­ istrative law judge pending review hour. The company said they would Bussell said her response is: "It's ber ofthe UFCW in Louisville, Ken­ by the Agriculture Labor Relations win a contract at Tyson give us the money if we gave up getting warmer so it will just get tucky; Manuel Gonzalez in Santa Board. CORYDON, Indiana- The premium pay for working over 40 easier to walk the picket line." Cruz, California; and Marty Ressler On July 1, 1998, prior to the elec­ members ofUnited Food and Com­ hours and on holidays." On the picket line, a resident was and John Sarge in Detroit contrib­ tion, antiunion thugs assaulted mercial Workers (UFCW) Local The pickets explained that they leaving with members of his fam- uted to this column. -LETTERS------Abuse of women in prison victs is justified because of the lyst for change and she is a prisoner, tenured faculty has steadily declined, ('merit') pay raises." This unfair In the March29, 1999, issue ofthe crimes that they committed. it is her past deeds that are focused as nearly one-half of the faculty are system is divisive and destructive Militant, you ran a letter that I wrote I don't know Trinia Holder, one on- deeds that have nothing to do now temporary, part-time lecturers. for faculty morale. concerning prisoners' rights. En­ of the plaintiffs, but I do know that with the issue at hand. Chancellor Charles Reed is also pro­ In response to Chancellor Charles closed is an article that was run in the trying to slander her by writing Support these brave women in posing year-round CSU operation. Reed's unilateral imposition ofwork March 29 edition of the Connecticut about the crimes that she commit­ their struggle! The salaries ofCSU faculty have rules following the rejection of the Post. The article [on two female pris­ ted is wrong and I cannot see what A prisoner declined 8 percent in terms of buy­ contract, CFA's statewide assembly oners who have filed petitions pro­ bearing her crimes have on the Niantic, Connecticut ing power since 1991. CSU faculty voted to authorize a range ofjob ac­ testing the pat-down searches that crimes now being committed by the salaries lag 11 percent behind that tions, up to and including a strike, at Federal Bureau of Prisons against of comparable universities. While CSU's 22 campuses. This is the first they are subjected to by male guards Faculty reject contract at the Federal Correctional Institution her and other women. the contract proposal offered a 3 imposition and strike vote in the in Danbury, Connecticut] is exactly I do know Beatrice Codianni­ "I may have a Ph.D., but I'm not percent pay raise for professors, institution's history. representative of the abuses and is­ Robles very well, and I have watched stupid." Sentiments like this were most CSU campus presidents and The vote was taken after consul­ sues that I had in mind when I wrote from the very beginning of her or­ common as Cal State Long Beach other top administrators received tation with professors, librarians my original letter. deal the repeated attacks on her by faculty voted 183 to 70 to reject the pay raises of 12 percent or more (the and counselors around the CSU sys­ The women prisoners mentioned the press in Connecticut. Beatrice tentative agreement between the second of3 planned annual raises). tem revealed nearly unanimous sup­ in the article must be commended Codianni-Robles is my mother, and California Faculty Association Perhaps the most galling feature port for the work actions. on their effort to stand up and fight I say to Mr. Mayko and to the rest of (CFA) and the chancellor's office of of the tentative agreement was the CFA will now ask the AFL-CIO, for a change in a system that clearly the press that slander her: Find your the California State University so-called "merit pay" scheme being county central labor councils, the holds the upper hand, because they integrity and report on the real and (CSU) system. Statewide, the agree­ forced on faculty. As a CFA flyer Teamsters union and the California must live in that very system. true issues and facts, not on the mis­ ment was defeated by a vote of2,230 noted, "Most CSU faculty are re­ Teachers Association for strike Support must be given to these takes and false accusations that en­ to 1,748, or 57percentto43 percent. pelled by the increased use of sanction. women and to all those that stand velope Beatrice and all the other Acceptance of the agreement 'merit' pay raises as promoted by Gene Ruyle and fight for what is right and to women of her integrity, determina­ would have meant that faculty -and Chancellor Reed and the CSU Long Beach, California change what is going on. tion, and character that must endure the union - relinquished control of Trustees. Faculty reject their distor­ The letters column is an open I want to comment on the fact that the pain and blatant sexual abuse that the university to the chancellor and tions of the terms 'accountability' forum for all viewpoints on sub­ the staff writer for the Connecticut they are trying to stop. to the idea that the university should and 'merit.' Faculty who have done jects of general interest to our Post who wrote that article (Michael The press will protect the victim be run like a business. Academic excellent work for 10 to 30 years readers. Please keep your letters P. Mayko) had to be critical of these ofsexual abuse by keeping the name freedom would exist in name only. deeply resent the idea that they will brief. Where necessary they will two women and make the comments ofthe victim confidential. But when For 16 years student fees have 'perform better' if they dance the be abridged. Please indicate if about their crimes, as ifto imply that a woman is brave enough to use her steadily increased, as have class tune of the campus president so as you prefer that your initials be what happens to them now as con- inner pain and suffering as the cata- sizes. The percentage of full-time to gain scarce, discretionary used rather than your full name. May 17,1999 The Militant 15 THE MILITANT Cuban youth discuss reVolution with workers and students in Seattle area BY LIEFF GUTTHIUDASCHMITT that ''young Cubans are educated in inter­ AND LEA KNOWLES nationalism" and anti-imperialism. Youth SEATTLE-Luis Morej6n and· Itamys have played an important role in Cuba's his­ Garcia. two Cuban youth leaders, came to tory of internationalist missions, from Bo­ Seattle as partoftheirsix-weekU.S. speak­ livia to Angola to the recent medical teams ing tour, and some 360 people in several Cuba sent to Central America and the Car­ meetings heard them speak about the Cu­ ibbean in the wake of Hurricane Mitch. ban revolution today. They met with me­ The last meeting took place April 29 at chanics, baggage handlers, and other work­ Seattle University. Everyone was welcomed ers at Alaska Airlines and spoke at Bastyr to the meeting by the university and student College, Garfield High School, the Univer­ presidents ofSU, the chairperson of the city sity of Washington (UW), El Centro de la Department of Neighborhoods, a member Raza, and Seattle University (SU). of the King County Executive Committee, Morej6n, 23, is a professor and general and a representative of the SU MEChA secretary ofthe Enrique Jose Varona Teacher chapter. One hundred fifty students, work­ Training Institute. Garcia. 27, is a veteri­ ers, and others attended the event. narian and leader of the Federation of Uni­ A lively question-and-answer period fol­ versity Students. Both are members of the lowed the presentations by Morejon and Union of Young Communists. Garcia. One participant, interested in the The local leg of the tour was organized question of "transnational investment" and by the Seattle Committee on Cuban Youth how it affects countries of the Third World, and Education, chaired by Anna Witte, pro­ asked, "Why wouldn't it shatter Cuba's so­ fessor in the Department of Foreign Lan~ cialist system?" guages at Seattle University. The commit­ MilitantJ'Harry Shennan Garcia pointed to the measures that the Cu­ tee included a high school teacher, three high Participants at April29 Seattle University event meet Luis Morej6n (second from right). ban government has taken to make sure that school students, several workers, and sev­ investment is done according to the condi­ eral university students, including two lead­ mainly focusing on the things he had learned the possibilities for building a delegation tions set by Cuba. She said, "The govern­ ers of the MEChA chapter at SU. about the reality for young people living in from Seattle to the conference. ment made sure that ·at least 50 percent ofall On April 27 Morej6n and Garcia spoke the United States. He explained how he and Later that day they were part of a weekly profits stay in Cuba." Foreign capitalists don't with five Alaska Airlines workers, as well Garcia had met young Mexicans living in Chicano-Mexicano-Latino class with 35 own companies in Cuba, but can participate as other workers and youth, at meeting near the United States today who are unable to people, most of them youth, at El Centro de in a joint venture with the state and must abide the Sea-Tac Airport. Arne Farstad, a stock learn in their own language because of at­ Ia Raza, a local Latino community center. A by Cuban laws. The youth leader emphasized, clerk at Alaska Airlines and a member of tacks on bilingual education and who aren't group of students from Seattle University, "We knew that these measures would bring the International Association of Machinists, able to go to a university because they are including some from the campus MEChA positive and negative" effects and "social in­ explained the history of struggle ofworkers not citizens of this country. He pointed out chapter, attended and participated in the class. equalities" that the leadership of the revolu­ at the airline, dating back to the last strike the hypocrisy ofthis situation in light of the Morej6n reviewed the history of Cuba's tion must be conscious of addressing. there in 1985. fact that half of the land that makes up the struggle for independence, first from Span­ Morej6n pointed out that the current mea­ The Cubans made presentations, which continental United States today was stolen ish colonialism and then ftom U.S. imperial­ sures taken by the gov~mm~nt w~re first dis­ were followed by discussion on the situa­ from Mexico 150 years ago. Morej6n ex­ ist domination. Garcia described the chal­ cussed by the working class in. meetings tion that workers face in Cuba. as well as in plained that equal "access to culture presup­ lenges that Cuba has faced since the collapse known as workers parliaments. These were the United States. During the discussion poses access to all levels of education." of trade with the Soviet Union. organized in every workplace to discuss the Morej6n and Garcia were asked, "Are there The Cubans discussed many topics with One part ofthe discussion focused on the measures proposed in the national assem­ strikes in Cuba?" Morej6n's response was the UW students, including how Cuba was role that different generations of young Cu­ bly. Only after these meetings did the gov­ that there are no strikes in Cuba because able to end the institutionalized discrimina­ bans have played in leading the revolution. ernment adopt the measures agreed upon in workers run the factories in their own inter­ tion against women and Blacks that was Morej6n said that the generation of youth 1994. ests. By going out on strike, he explained, prevalent before the revolution in 1959. at the beginning of the revolution faced the After leaving Seattle, Morej6n and Garcia workers would only be hurting themselves. Morej6n expressed how glad they were challenge ofcarrying out a massive literacy made one fmal stop in Watsonville, Cali­ The next day Morej6n and Garcia had the to meet student and youth organizations in drive to teach every Cuban to read and write, fornia. There they met members of the chance to meet with members ofMEChA, a the United States. He and Garcia have been and to defend Cuba from U.S. invasion and United Farm Workers who have been fight­ nationwide Chicano student organization, inviting the young people that they meet on other aggression. Now young Cubans con­ ing the big growers and pro-company thugs and the student body president at the Uni­ their nationwide tour to come to Havana this front the challenges ofcontinuing to build a to unionize in the strawberry fields. versity of Washington, along with a few August for an International Youth and Stu­ socialist society in the face of the U.S. em­ Lieff Gutthiudaschmitt is a member of the other people. Miguel Bocanegra. the vice dent Seminar About Neoliberalism. After bargo and to draw youth into leading the Union ofNeedletrades, Industrial and Tex­ president of the campus MEChA chapter, the meeting members ofMEChA discussed revolution in all areas. But he emphasized tile Employees. welcomed them to the university. Morej6n made a brief presentation, -YOUNG SOCIALISTS AROUND THE WORLD­ -·----;------~------· -----, Young 5oc;ialiata Fund Drive Atlanta youth discuss high school shootings This column is written and edited by cial atmosphere where deeply alienated el­ The following day, YS members from April 3-June 1:3 the Young Socialists (YS), an interna­ ements reject all sense of human solidarity Atlanta and Washington, D.C., participated tional organization ofyoung workers, stu­ and engage in anti-social violence. in the Auburn Avenue street festival with a dents, and other youth fighting for social­ Newton focused her talk on the ideology table ofPathfmder books. We used the fes­ City Goal Paid o/o ism. For more information about the YS of the culture war promoted by ultrarightist tival to campaign against the US/NATO war Seattle 150 60 40% write to: Young Socialists, 3284 23rd St., politicians like Patrick Buchanan. She noted against Yugoslavia and to participate in the San Francisco 1000 50 5% San Francisco, California, 94110. that an aspect of this culture war is the drive to sell subscriptions to the Militant Atlanta 300 0% Tel: (415) 824-1429. criminalization of youth. "The rulers ofthis and Perspectiva Mundial. We also cam­ Austin, MN 150 0% E-mail: [email protected] country are taking more steps to ensure that paigned with Capitalism s World Disorder, B.oston 200 0% more young people will end up behind bars," using it to help discuss out political ques­ Chicago 500 0% BY ALFONSO GARCiA she said. "These measures include broad­ tions with people who stopped at the table. Detroit 200 0% ATLANTA- "What's behind this social ening the scope ofcrime- everything from The table was a spot for lively political Houston 100 0% tragedy?" was the question discussed at the curfew laws, to drinking laws, to the discussions with young people and others Los Angeles 1000 0% April 30 Militant Labor Forum here on the stepped-up drive making underage smoking attending the festival. Two students from a criminal offense." Georgia State University stopped at the table New York 1000 0% recent high school killings in Colorado. Floyd Fowler, a member of the United by Steel­ The Young Socialists, Newton explained, and talked politics with us for about 10 min­ Philadelphia 50 0% workers of America and of the Socialist seeks to win young people to the side of the utes. They bought a copy ofthe Militant, Che Salt Lake City 100 0% WorkersParty,andOlympiaNewton.amem­ only force which can change society-the Guevara Speaks, andSocialism: Utopian and SanU! Cruz 300 0% ber of the Young Socialists in Washington, working class. She pointed to the examples Scientific by Frederick Engels. They were Twin Cities 400 0% DC, spoke. Some 15 people, two ofthem high of the strike by Steelworkers at Newport very interested in Capitalism s World Disor­ Washington, D.C. 200 0% school students, attended the program. News Shipyard in Vnginia, Yugoslav students der, and decided to visit the Pathfinder Book­ SWP convention 500 0% Fowler pointed to the hypocrisy of U.S. and unionists who are opposed to the NATO store when they had more money. Total 5500 110 2o/o President William Clinton's statement, "We bombing and for self-determination for Ko­ Overall, the team ofYoung Socialists and The Y5 hae; launched a $9,000 fund drive to must teach our children that violence solves sova, and the thousands ofyoung people who other Militant supporters sold 15 Pathfinder l1e completed l>y June 13. The funde; are needed nothing," when he is currently heading up gathered April 24 in Philadelphia and San books and pamphlets, including 4 copies of for the expene;ee; in l:>uilding a proletarian youth the NATO war against Yugoslavia Fowler Francisco to demand freedom for political Capitalism~ World Disorder, as well as 2 organization that ie; financially independent and focused on the legal violence perpetrated by prisoner MumiaAbu-Jantal. She also pointed subscriptions to the Militant. can ree;pond rapidly to political deveiopment6 and the ruling capitalist class - from police bru­ to the young Cuban doctors volunteering for maintain It!; national office. tality to the near-daily bombing of Iraq. internationalist missions to the Latin Ameri­ · • Alfonso Garcia is a YS member in Atlanta. These acts of brutality, he said, create a so- can countries hit by Hurricane Mitch. Olympia Newton contributed to this column.

16 The Militant May 17,1999