JANUARY 11, 1974 25 CENTS VOLUME 38/NUMBER 1

A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY/PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE

Prices, profits soar; layoffs hit thousands . -p~e3

Coal barons threaten ·ners, environment _ -pageS

.Nudear energy: peril _,; .j ~: in hands of capitalists * C(/~~ · -page6 In Brief

IT'S ABOUT TIME: For years the American Psychiatric This time jurors told reporters they just couldn't swallow Association (APA) has been a hated target of gay rights the testimony of the star prosecution witnesses, Avon White activists because it labeled homosexuality a "mental disor­ and John Rivers. White had admitted in court that he der." This cla~sification helped justify discrimination made a deal with the government to testify against Chesi~ against gays in the military, in employment, and in child mard and Hilton, in return for the dropping of two bank­ custody cases, not to mention the degrading psychological robbery charges. THIS effect it had on homosexuals. The prosecutor had to concede that he had "no finger­ But on Dec. 15 the trustees of the APA announced that prints, no pictures of the defendants at the bank, no guns," WEEK'S they had unanimously decided to drop homosexuality and none of the stolen money to produce as evidence. from their list of "mental disorders," an important victory No sooner was she acquitted than Chesimard was hit MILITANT for the gay liberation struggle. The psychiatrists also with a new indictment, charging her and four other alleged called for local, state, and federal legislation to protect "Black Liberation Army" members with trying to kill 3 U.S. oil trusts drive up the civil rights of homosexuals, and urged the repeal two cops last year. Chesimard also faces murder charges fuel prices of antigay laws. in connection with the killing of a New Jersey state trooper. 4 Contrast between While the new APA classification of homosexuality as Hilton has been indicted. on charges of attempted murder miners' and rail work­ a "sexual orientation disturbance" still leaves the door against two other policemen. ers' conventions open to prejudice, the trustees emphasized that they believe "homosexuality ... by itself does not necessarily con­ 7 Court orders new ANTIWAR DESERTERS LAUNCH AMNESTY FIGHT: stitute a psychiatric disorder." "At the age of 17, a great vacuum cleaner passed through election in NYC Oist. One APA official explained that the long overdue move my neighborhood and took me and my friends off to war. 8 Demonstrations shake was "fanned by the organized homosexual community, I've been at war ever since and now I want to come lebanese regime which has vigorously protested the prejudice that derives home," Ed McNally told a New York news conference 9 How CP Mideast posi­ from classifying their condition as a mental illness." Dec. 19. The 24-year-old Vietnam veteran, who deserted tion denies Palestinian in 1969, surrendered to the Army at the news conference, NYC DEMOCRATS KILL GAY CIVIL RIGHTS BILL: along with another deserter, 29-year-old Lew Simon. rights For the fourth time in three years, the New York city coun­ The public surrender was organized by the Safe Return 13 Why did Nixon ditch cil has rejected a bill to outlaw discrimination against Amnesty Committee. After McNally and Simon explained 'Operation Candor'? homosexuals. The bill was killed Dec. 20 before it even 14 Issues facing Raza got out of committee. The 13 council members voting, Unida parties all Democrats, defeated the measure 9 to 4. The bill would outlaw discrimination in housing, employ­ 16 3,500 at congress of ment, and public accommodations. It has been the focus of Argentine Trotskyists much activity by gay liberation groups in the past This 17 Oregon Black activist time, however, there were no demonstrations outside City fights extradition Hall, because of assurances from legislators that the mea­ 18 History of left Opposi­ sure would pass, and cautions that protest actions might tion: Soviet economy "turn ofr' city council members. A meeting of gay organizations following the defeat in danger denounced the vote as "yet another example of the cynical indifference to human beings demonstrated by the city 2 In Brief council." The groups declared that they are "at the end 10 In Our Opinion of their patience" and will launch a renewed campaign Letters to win passage of the bill this year. 11 Women in Revolt VICTORY FOR INDIAN MILITANTS: It took a federal National Picket Line jury less than an . hour to find three Indians innocent 12 The Great Society of government charges. stemming from the November La Raza en Accion 1972 occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) By Any Means Neces­ in Washington, D. C. Army deserters McNally, left, and Lewis Simon announcing plans to fight for amnesty. sary Keever Locklear, Dock Locklear, and William Sargent 19 Jn Review were acquitted Dec. 19 on a series of charges, including possession of stolen BIA documents and threatening FBI their actions to reporters, FBI agents handcuffed the two agents. The documents - containing secret information men and took them away. They face possible jail terms WORLD OUTLOOK on how the government oppresses Indians-were taken and dishonorable discharges. 1 1973 in review: Over­ during the occupation in order to bring the truth about However, Simon and MeN ally will be fighting for am­ throw of Allende & the BIA's role to the public. - nesty. They see their surrender as a test case, which they return of Peron The trial itself was one more example of the thousands hope will set a precedent for the right of amnesty of all 3 Crackdown on Soviet of broken promises made by the government to Indians. the men who deserted or resisted the draft during the dissidents At the end of the BIA take-over, federal officials made Vietnam war. an agreement with the protesters that no . one would be In the words of Simon's father, "ll they can give am­ Detente the Asian 5 & prosecuted for the action. Judge Arthur Stanley- a one­ nesty to Agnew and the rest, they can give it to my son." revolution time sergeant in the Seventh Cavalry -wouldn't even -CINDY JAQUITH allow this evidence in court, but the government's case 1"ell through anyway.

SALAZAR FAMILY WINS SETTLEMENT: The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has voted to pay a YOUR FIRST THE MILITANT settlement of $700,000 to the widow and three children VOLUME 38/NUMBER 1 of slain newsman Ruben Salazar.- ISSUE? JANUARY 11, 1974 Salazar was struck in the head and killed by a tear­ QOSING NEWS DATE-JAN. 2, 1974 gas projectile fired by a sheriff's deputy during the police SUBSCRIBE Editor: MARY-<\LICE WATERS riot at the Aug. 29, 1970, Chicano Moratorium against Business Manager: SHARON CABANISS the Vietnam war. Some 30,000 Chicanos demonstrated Southwest Bureau: HARRY RING that day. TO THE Published weekly by The Militant Publishing Ass'n., Salazar was a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and 14 Charles lane, New York, N.Y. 10014. Telephone: the Spanish-language TV station KMEX. His killing, and Editorial Office 1212) 243-6392; Business Office 1212) that of two others at the demonstration, evoked outrage MILITAIT 929-3486. Southwest Bureau: 1107 1/2 N. Western in the Chicano community against this blatant police Ave., los Angeles, Calif. 90029. Telephone: 1213) 463- THE 'ENERGY CRISIS': Why did shortages develop ... who's 1917. . brutality. Correspondence concerning subscriptions or changes The family had sued for $1.5-million. In recommending to blame ... the socialist alternative .... For weekly analy­ of address should be dddressed to The Militant Business the compromise, Judge Alfred McCourtney hastened to sis you won't want to miss, subscribe now. Office, 14Charleslane, New York, N.Y. 10014. ·add that the settlement did not imply that the sheriff's Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y. Sub. office was guilty of any wrongdoing. scriptions: Domestic: S5 a year; foreign, S8. By first­ IntrodUCtory ollar-S1/3monlhS doss mail: domestic and Canada, S25; all other coun­ Expressing similar "compassion," County Supervisor tries, S41. Air printed maHer: domestic and Canada, Kenneth Hahn explained why he voted for the settlement ( ) Sl for three months of The Militant. ~32; Mexico and the Caribbean, S30; loti n America "It chills me, but this will avoid a long costly trial. A ( ) S2 for three months of The Militant and three months and Europe, S40; Africa, Australia, and Asia !including jury might vote even more money." of the International Socialist Review. USSRI, S50. Write for sealed air postage ratea. ( ) $5 for one year of The Militant For subscriptions airmailed from New York and then ( ) New ( ) Renewal posted from london directly: Britain and Ireland, L1.20 JURY FOILS GOVERNMENT AT 'BLACK LIBERA­ for 10 issues, l4.SO for one year; Continental Europe, TION ARMY' TRIAL: Joanne Chesimard and Fred Hil­ ll.50 for 10 issues, l5.50 for one year. Send banker's ADDRESSNAME------______draft directly to Pathfinder Press, 47 The Cut, london, ton, accused by the government of being members of the SE1 8ll, England. Inquire for air rates from London at "Black Liberation Army," were acquitted of bank-robbery CITY STATE ZIP---- the same address. charges Dec. 28 in New York. It was their second trial; 14 Charles lane, New York, N.Y. I 0014. Signed qrticles by contributors do nat necessarily the first ended in a hung jury. represent The Militant's views. These are expressed in editorials.

2 Poor nations hardest hit U.S. oil trusts drive up world fuel prices By DICK ROBERTS saying this, the shah was not speak­ As 1973 ended, a series of develop­ ing for the needs of the oppressed Arab ments nationally and internationally and Iranian masses. He was speaking underlined the world scope of the for the imperialists headquartered in energy crisis and all the more cast Washington-who put him in power light on its central cause-the drive through a CIA-engineered coup in of U.S. monopoly to raise world 1953 and who have subsequently energy prices. built up his regime into one of the In the last two weeks of December, most heavily armed "subimperialist" world crude oil prices were increased states. by as much as 130 percent. This The Wall Street Journal hinted in an began with the announcement that editorial Dec. 27 what the higher oil Arab-Persian Gulf states would more prices could mean in this country: than double the taxes and royalties "... a few dollars per barrel price on Middle East crude. increase wouJd likely have the effect This will not cut into the profits of tripling U. S. oil reserves," it stated. of the U.S. multinational corpora­ tions that own most of that oil because This sounds fantastic, unless you all their payments to foreign govern­ are familiar with the language of the ments are deductible from U. S. taxes. capitalists. The posted U.S. oil reserve Higher oil prices mean higher figures, which are supposed to indicate profits for the oil corporations. Al­ a drying up of sources in the near ready in the first nine months of 1973, future, are based on profitable the five largest U.S. oil trusts­ production figures. Raise the prices Exxon, Gulf, Mobil, Texaco, and and there's three times as much oil! Socal-had registered profit increases In the long run, higher energy costs of 48 percent. will benefit the U.S. against rival im­ Oil refinery on Arab-Persian Gulf. Arab peoples remain in poverty while U.S. oil In its year-end issue, Business Week perialist nations. companies reap superprofits. magazine listed Exxon stocks as one The U.S. has large internal energy ' of the most favored investments sources as well as huge overseas hold­ recommended by financial experts for ings. On the opposite end among the derdeveloped countries can have no bidders and that at least in some in­ 1974. major imperialist powers is Japan, perspective of meaningful social stances, no boycott existed at all. with no internal oil sources and with progress under imperialism. Thus, according to Time magazine's practically no ownership of foreign Jan. 7 issue, "The Rotterdam-Antwerp World impact oil. There is every indication that these pipeline, a key conveyor of crude from the supposedly embargoed Dutch port The oil price rise on Middle East moves could bring about a inajor Oil boycott? crude was shortly followed by com­ recession in that country accompanied The Middle East regimes made to Belgium, has been pumping as parable rises in Venezuela, Nigeria, by spiraling inflation. known two days after the price in­ much oil as it did before the boycott began." and other oil-producing nations. Taking into consideration the in­ crease announcement that the oil cut­ Time sent reporters to a U.S. re­ Although the estimates vary, it creasing probability of recessions in backs for all the capitalist powers, finery in the Bahamas that receives means that world fuel prices will rise the U.S. and Britain, the profit-goug­ except for the embargo on the U.S. oil from the Middle East and markets and along with them the prices ing policies of the energy monopolists and the Netherlands, would be it on the East Coast. "Borco has ac­ of virtually every other manufactured could precipitate the most serious gradually eased. tually doubled its normal output. .. ," product. This is not only because of world economic crisis since the 1930s. Yet it is possible that the oil boycott they found out. "Records at Marbrok the ·direct impact of the higher oil In any event the underdeveloped has been greatly exaggerated. Two Marine Brokers in Freeport show that prices but because higher oil prices capitalist nations will fare the worst. stages of the boycott process have will lift the prices of the other main "The hardest hit victims ... may turn been muddled in the capitalist press. between Nov. 1 and Nov. 29, no fewer sources of energy-coal and natural out to be those who can least afford The first stage is a production than 13 tankers out of the Libyan port gas. it," Newsweek magazine admitted Jan. limitation supposedly set by the Arab of Ras Lanuf discharged crude at On Dec. 23, when the oil price rises 7. "The reason is unclear," it said, states. Here the information has been Borco." were announced in Tehran, the shah "but there is some speculation that the so misleading that even the British of Iran noted in a news conference, major oil companies have routed sup­ Economist ultimately declared, "the .It is a further piece of evidence th~t "We must base this thing on a new plies originally bound for Black Arabs may not have cut production the oil trusts and the government are concept. We must compare the price Africa to Europe, Japan and the U.S. by anything like the amount that they lying about the causes and extent of of oil to the other sources of energy - And even if these nations were able to say." the fuel shortage. The New York what is the real price for the extrac­ get the oil, the higher prices would in But there is a second stage, and Times felt compelled to complain on tion of shale, the extraction of gas, all probability demolish their pain­ that is the marketing of the oil (in New Year's Day, "The world the liquification of coal?" fully acquired exchange reserves." however limited quantities) by the oil petroleum market has traditionally In other words, oil prices will be The reason is actually quite clear. companies themselves. Here it is evi­ operated under shrouds of such raised to the point where it becomes The bigger powers can pay higher dent, as the quotation from Newsweek murkiness that the business of arms profitable to extract energy from prices, and they are doing so. This above suggests, that the oil companies smuggling seems like an open bazaar sources that are now unprofitable. In is a harsh new reminder that the un- are simply selling to the highest by comparison." Inflation cuts real wages; layoffs idle thousands The holidays saw motorists forming ers continued to decline. Real wages increasingly long lines to wait for ever­ fell 0.6 percent in November after a dwindling supplies of gas. But this 0.9 percent drop in October. They was only one of the energy and related are 3.3 percent below a year ago. problems that are piling up one on • The major oil companies un­ top of the next. leashed a new round of price rises. e The pace of inflation registered Shell announced Dec. 31 that it would ·in November was just as great as in increase prices for gasoline, heating oil, and most other petroleum prod­ Both Nixon and Congress are ob­ ucts. Other increases are expected. e The increases are "legitimated" by viously in league with the oil legal footwork in the Nixon admin­ companies in bringing on the istration. Energy "price controls" were energy crisis and all its eHects. shifted from the Cost of Living Coun­ Unemployment lines in Detroit How can working people fight cil to the newly formed Federal Energy back to maintain their standard of Office. This office has authorized dis­ • Layoffs are increasing and with aircraft and the furlough or discharge of more than 25,000 workers. living in the face of this crisis? tributors of gasoline, heating oil, and them the probability of recession. GM diesel fuel to also raise prices to cover announced indefinite layoffs of 38,000 • The Nixon administration is al­ See editorial, page 10. increased operating costs. workers, about 6 percent of its do­ ready talking about a possible 5. 5 e The Federal Energy Office de­ mestic work force, and furloughed percent unemployment rate in 1974 October, an annual rate of 9. 6 per­ clared that fuel prices would rise 10 another 48,000 for periods of up to compared with the current rate of 4. 7 cent. Food prices, which had some­ cents a gallon by March. Nationwide 10 days. percent. Coupled with spiraling infla­ what leveled off in the past three checks by the Internal Revenue Service e The Air Transport Association tion it is stacking up to be a year months, surged again at a 16.8 per­ meanwhile found that 26 percent of the has warned that airlines may cancel in which workers will have a lot to cent yearly rate. truck stops checked were charging more than 950,000 departures at 500 battle for in wage negotiations. Con­ • These price rises meant that the more than the law, such as it is, al­ airports during the year. This includes tracts covering more than five million paycheck-purchasing power of work- lows. the grounding of approximately 27 5 workers are scheduled for this year.

THE MIUTANT/JANUARY 11, 1974 How United Mine Workers convention· contrasted with rail workers gathering By ED HEISLER officers dressed like businessmen. If just to get a similar motion on the Last month when I attended the you asked one of them what he did floor at the UTU convention. The United Mine Workers (UMW) conven­ for a living, he might answer, "I'm in international officers fought against tion in Pittsburgh, I was struck by the the union business." our proposal, which lost narrowly. differences between that gathering and Most of the mine workers delegates They ruled that it was defeated by the convention of my union, the United wore casual dress-they looked like 848 to 815 votes, and rejected a roll Transportation Union (UTU), which the workers they had come to call vot~ on the issue. I attended in 1971. represent. The mine workers convention also I participated in the UTU conven­ Another big contrast was the way adopted a proposal to move the unio~ tion as the delegate from Local 1433 in which the two conventions were headquarters from Washington, D. C., in Chicago, and as the national secre- run. Every UTU local, regardless of to the coalfields. By contrast, after the size, got one delegate with one vote UTU convention was over, the officers to cast at the convention. Thus a local sent out a recommendation that the Ed Heisler is Socialist Workers of 10 members and a local of 1,000 union headquarters be moved from Party candidate for U.S. Senate were represented by the same number Cleveland, where there are many rail­ from Illinois. of delegates. Each local represented road workers, to Hot Springs, Ark., at the mine workers convention had where there are very few. I guess the a weighted vote more accurately re­ officers prefer the climate in Hot tary of the Right to Vote Committee. flecting the local's size. Springs. This committee was fighting for the Democratic discussion prevailed at The leadership of the UTU made right of UTU members to vote on the mine workers gathering. Delegates no proposals at the convention that contracts. freely took the floor to express differ­ in any way threatened the railroad The difference in atmosphere at the ences. But at the UTU convention, barons with militant action in defense two conventions was very noticeable. the international officers had their of workers' standard of living, job The UTU convention was held at the supporters stationed at all the conditions, or safety. A number of plush F<>.11ta_l!l~bleau Hotel in Miami microphones in order to control the . delegates proposed a cost-of-living Beach, Fla. Many of the delegates discussion. allowance in all contracts, but their looked at the gathering as a vacation; These delegates arrived at 6 a.m., proposal never hit the floor. Another they were not interested in discussing hours before the sessions began, to proposal, for a six-hour day at eight the problems of the dues-paying Rail workers face serious problems, but take positions by the microphones. In hours' pay, also never got to the membership. To promote this vaca­ instead of discussing these problemsUTU order to counter this, those of us in floor. But the mine workers voted to tion atmosphere, the UT U officers bureaucrats promoted vacation atmo­ the Right to Vote Committee had to add both these demands to the new organized golf tournaments and in­ sphere at 1971 convention. arrive even earlier. We had an on­ contract they will negotiate with the expensive trips to Puerto Rico and the going contest to see who could get coal operators. Bahamas on weekends. there the earliest. The mine w.orkers held their con­ Delegates to the mine workers con­ Another trick of the UTU bureau­ The militant attitude of the mine vention near where most of the vention, however, received quite a bit crats was to send their representatives workers delegates was summed up in membership live and work. less money. I talked to one delegate, and field supervisors to mingle with their determination to strike if they UTU delegates were paid $1,900 for example, whose local gave him delegates, so as to do a little arm do not get a decent contract, in spite for the two weeks they were at the $700 to cover travel, food, and twisting during the votes. of the energy crisis. What happened at convention, plus travel expenses that lodging for the two-week convention. While the mine workers convention their convention is an inspiration to sometimes ran as high as $600 or In keeping with the vacation atmo~ enthusiastically adopted a motion to workers in other unions who are fight­ $700. The union spent more than sphere of the UTU convention, all the have membership ratification on all ing for internal democracy and in de­ $9-million total for the convention. international and many of the local contracts, we had to fight like hell fense of their standard of living.

'The rich, they are different from you and me .... ' By CAROLINE LUND yacht. The shortage of diesel fuel may the past year Nixon has taken four facilities, despite the fuel shortage. They The writer F. Scott Fitzgerald once put a crimp in his usual world cruises. vacations at San Clemente, 13 at Key are chauffeured to football games and made a comment that became famous: Meanwhile, President Nixon is also Biscayne, Fla., and 36 weekends at resort areas on planes of the Air N a­ "The rich, they are different from you doing his best to set an example on Camp David. tiona! Guard. and me." The effects of the current how to sacrifice. He flew a regular According to research by columnist Each year Congress appropriates fuel shortage reveal just how different commercial plane out to San Clemente, Jack Anderson, the usual Nixon trip millions in tax money for this purpose they are. Calif., for his post-Christmas vacation to San Clemente costs taxpayers $46,- to keep the state politicians happy. The New York Times recently inter­ instead of flying with his usual jet 000, not counting the $25-a-day ex­ While the rich are taking advantage viewed several millionaires about how fleet. penses paid to the 20 aides who follow of the fuel shortage to "strengthen their they are affected by the energy crisis A Nixon aide said the president felt him around. characters," preserve their fine furni­ and found that most were not too dis­ ture, pamper their orchids, and bloat tressed. their profits, working people are fight­ "We will survive," said one "philan­ ing to make ends meet in an entirely thropist," expressing her concern about different world. "the poor." "We're not used to being The Michigan Chronicle, a Black disciplined, but it won't hurt us. We've newspaper, recently pointed out that never really sacrificed-even in World the fuel shortage means more to work­ War II. It could be good for us. Any­ ing people and the unemployed than thing that's a sacrifice is character­ gasless Sundays and lowering the forming." thermostat to 68 degrees. "It means A similar thought was expressed by that many will be dying because Philip Johnson, an architect who has a cutting down on heat will at times· sun-heated glass house. He finds "a mean no heat at all." wartime.excitement about all this." Those who live in dilapidated, poor­ He continued: "And don't forgetwhat ly heated and poorly insulated housing wonderful friendships we made then will not have their sinuses improved, [during the war] and how we lost our like Melanie Kahane. They will face selfishness." pneumonia and influenza. Decorator Melanie Kahane doesn't The Chronicle continues, "Not only mind the fuel shortage because, "Lower­ will the poor be threatened by land­ ing the thermostat is good for the sinus lords, but by retailers of cheap, poor­ and fine furniture. Now my furniture Each of Nixon's trips to San Clemente in his jet fleet costs taxpayers $46.000. ly-constructed heaters. Sales of heat­ will have the atmosphere it had in ers have boomed in past weeks and Europe." he had "scored points with the public" When Nixon deigns to travel by most were probably purchased by the Enid Haupt feels the same way. She through ·the trip, by showing himself car, he has a fleet of limousines at budget-minded poor. An increase in is the former editor of Seventeen maga­ a "man of the people" ready to sac­ his service- air-conditioned, armored, the number of fires is a real threat." zine, and says that cool temperatures rifice like the rest of us. weighing 10,000 pounds, and replete While the jet-set rich and the cap­ are good for her vast orchid and exotic with two-way radio and stereo equip­ italist politicians philosophize on the plant collection. If you find it hard to sympathize ment. fuel shortage over their poolside cock­ Multimillionaire Charles Revson with the hardships involved in the Anderson also reveals how gov­ tails, working people are footing the complains that he doesn'tknowwhatto president's trip, you will find it even ernors, genera~, and other bigwigs bill. That's the reality of Nixon's do with his 257-foot, 1,200-ton luxury harder when you hear this: During are also not hurting for transportation "equality of sacrifice."

4 Coal companies threaten environment, miners' lives in fuel blackmail scheme By CINDY JAQUITH The coal companies' complaints about "labor The coal barons have laid down their terms for instability" are a warning that they will try to blame increasing production to ease the energy crisis. the energy crisis on the just demands of the miners, Their proposals amount to blackmailing working if the UMW strikes. The ho!l!les want to brand people in order to increase profits. these demands as opposed to the "national interest" Speaking as president of the National Coal As­ and make it easier for government intervention if sociation, Carl Bagge told a Dec. 20 news- con­ that is necessary. ference in Washington, D. C., that the industry A situation with many parallels developed in the can produce 50 million more tons of coal this spring of 1946, when the UMW went on strike year than was previously planned, but only, he primarily around safety demands. In the previous stressed, "if present handicaps to production are 14 years, 28,000 miners had been killed and more removed" and the coal giants get "full coopera­ than a million injured. In the words of UMW tion of both government and coal miners." President John L. Lewis, every ton of coal produced What are these "handicaps" and how will the was "smeared with the blood" of the mine workers. government and miners be expected to "cooperate"? The key UMW. demand was for a health and welfare fund, to be financed by a royalty paid Intensified strip mining by the companies on every ton of coal mined. Bagge said that half of the 50 million extra The response of the coal operators was to label tons will come from strip mining. Although he the UMW demands "time-killing trivia" aimed at tacked on a dubious promise that the companies "creating a national crisis." Newspaper stories tried will restore stripped land, implicit in his remarks to whip up a hysteria about food shortages, lay­ was the idea that the government should "cooperate" offs, and power cuts, all because of the miners. by relaxing environmental standards. President Harry Truman, a Democrat, called Secondly, Bagge stated that the coal companies the strike a "national disaster" and sent federal will not tolerate "harassment or unnecessary mine troops into one Kentucky mining town to protect closings" due to safety violations. He went so far scabs. The Democrats and Republicans in Con­ as to call the present safety laws-as inadequate gress closed ranks behind his vicious attempts as they are-"not realistic." to smash the strike. Third, he called for "labor stability," a demand Nevertheless, the miners succeeded in winning directed at recent wildcat strikes by miners over a five-cent-per-ton royalty in spite of the coal op­ safety issues, and the threat of an industry-wide erators and the "friends of labor" in washington. strike by the United Mine Workers (UMW) if the The union may face a similar fight this year. in the UMW 1973 officers' report distributed at the union fails to gain a satisfactory contract this year. union convention. This report recalled "the boy Lastly, Bagge had the gall to ask for no price Green light who got run through the conveyor belt rollers As if their other proposals were not outrageous controls on his industry, because of coal's supposed because the company wouldn't spend $20 to install low profitability. enough, the coal bosses also want a green light a protective guard; the nine who were trapped at from the government to raise their prices. Bagge On the level of the environment alone, these pro­ Blacksville and died because machinery was being also noted with pleasure that Nixon has exempted posals pose many dangers. According to testimony moved improperly in violation of state law; the at Senate hearings in the spring of 1973, 90 per- coal from his new "excess-profits" tax plan. boy who had his legs sheared off by a runaway The coal operators like to picture themselves locomotive and got to thinking about what it was as small businessmen who never make a profit. like to be 19 years old and legless, and put an The truth is that the coal companies are chiefly end to everything with a Smith & Wesson.... " owned by the same big energy monopolies that The drive for profits claimed the lives of more contrived the fuel shortage in the first place. Only than 140 miners in 1973. If the coal operators three of the top 15 coal companies, for example, get their way, the toll will be greater in 1974. are "independents." The three biggest companies Thousands of miners will also be injured. In -Peabody, Consolidation, and Island Creek- are the first six months of 1973, 6,221 miners were respectively owned by Kennecott Copper, Conti" disabled and another 8,432 sustained nondisabling nental Oil, and Occidental Oil. injuries. More than 4,000 men died from black What these capitalists are saying is that they lung. But the most brutal product of the ·operators' should get superprofits from coal, as well as the disregard for human lives are the fires and explo­ billions of dollars they plan to rake in from oil sions that slaughter tens or hundreds of men at and gas. And for every cent the UMW squeezes out of them in the new contract, they'll demand once~ such as the Farmington, W.Va., mine blowup in 1968 that killed 78 men. even higher prices. The coal barons are thus providing one of the clearest pictures 9f what the energy crisis holds Coal companies want greater freedom to ravage en­ A disaster a year? . out for working people: more ravaging of the vironment through strip mining. The callous attitude of the coal companies toward safety is matched by the government. When 38 environment, murderous conditions in the mines, men died in a 1972 mine explosion, the director :md higher fuel prices. The determination of the United Mine Workers cent of the land dug up by strip mining has never of the Bureau ~f Mines cooly explained: "This disaster was not unexpected. We've had two good to fight back is one sign that the capitalists face a been restored by the coal companies. There are an rocky road in their drive for more profits. This estimated 4 million acres of such wasteland in this years since Farmington, and I think we can almost expect one of these a year." crisis also has the potential to bring other workers, country, increasing at the present rate of 4, 650 environmentalists, and students into action against acres a week. The "reclamation" promise made by the antihuman proposals from the coal bosses. Bagge is an empty one. This warped perspective was repeated in a federal Only 1 percent of U.S. coal reserves are government statement that with "only" 156 miners strippable, but the operators prefer this process. killed in 1972, it was "a good year, in terms of fatalities." It requires fewer workers, and productivity per miner is higher than underground mining. Is it possible to mine coal without crushing men This increased productivity, with decreased labor to death, cutting off their limbs, or poisoning their costs, means higher profits. The coal bosses see lungs? The mine workers believe it is. At the recent no reason why reclamation expenses should cut United Mine Workers convention, delegates voted into those profits. After all, they don't have to live to demand a series of safety measures in their in the Appalachian hills they have torn to pieces, new contract, including the union's right to walk unlike miners and other poor people. out of unsafe mines, full-time medical personnel Strip mining is not the only ecological danger, in the mines, and tougher safety committees. however. The operators are also pushing for in­ creased use of high-sulfur coal, with its greater These demands were approved with the expecta­ pollution. And the energy crisis will also be used tion-soon confirmed-that the coal companies as an excuse for the continued junking of mining would try to justify safety shortcuts because of the refuse in huge slag heaps. These piles trap vast energy crisis. As UMW President Arnold Miller amounts of water that can burst forth at any declared in his annual report: time, causing floods like the Buffalo Creek, W. "... we wonder about all the men who are some­ Va., disaster in 1972 that killed 125 people. how expected to be willing to die in the years ahead, to keep the lights burning. And we know More dead and maimed instinctively that this is the time to draw the line The coal operators are not satisfied with asking -to say clearly and firmly that no energy crisis for freedom to destroy the environment. Bagge is worth that price." made it clear that miners' lives will also have to be Safety could well become a central issue if the sacrificed. Instead of improving on safety mea­ mine workers are forced to go out on strike. Other sures, the National Coal Association wants to cut key contract demands include a cost-of-living al­ back on what little already exists. lowance, six-hour day at eight hours' pay, and Profits come before miners' safety in eyes of coal What this means in human terms was expressed higher pensions. barons.

THE MILITANT/JANUARY 11, 1974 Nuclear P.Ower: P-romise and P-eril Why capitalism can't meet energy needs By CAROLINE LUND tion for profit induced the capitalists to are sited close enough to large urban The current fuel shortage has focused go after fossil fuels- coal, oil, and areas so that each could put more than attention on society's needs for energy natural gas. Fossil fuels are actually ten million persons within range of a and the incompetence and unwill­ depositories of the sun's energy, lethal plume of radioactivity." ingness of the big oil monopolies to formed in the ground through a It is just this dangerous kind of provide this energy. process taking millions of years. fission reactor that President Nixon Since the facts about energy produc­ Fossil fuels are useful in many ways and the oil monopolies (who control tion and reserves are kept secret, the apart from burning, such as for most of the supplies of uranium used oil monopolies and their friends in the plastics, synthetic textiles, fertilizers, by these reactors) are now trying to government can attempt to bamboozle synthetic rubber, and many other promote as a "solution" to the energy the American people with myths about things. If human needs, rather than crisis. the cause of the energy crisis. profits, were the criteria, it would Last January the New York Times The most widespread myth spread obviously be better to use the limited reported a "building boom for nuclear by Nixon and his gang of oilmen fossil fuel supplies in more productive power plants" purchased by the utility contributors is that the American ways than simply burning them up companies. people have been "living too fast"­ for energy. But the capitalist system But protection of the public against that we have gotten spoiled from too rules out such .thinking ahead and unsafe nuclear reactors, is virtually high a standard of living and now planning for the benefit of humanity. nil. The Atomic Energy Commission, must simply face the fact that energy The capitalist system of ruthless which is supl>osed to "regulate" the supplies are going to run out if we exploitation did play a positive role industry to protect the public, is also don't slow down and accept some sac­ initially in rapidly advancing the charged by federal law with promotion rifices. standard of living and technology of of commercial nuclear power develop­ They try to tell us it's all a big this country. But, as the energy crisis ment. technical problem of the scarcity of demonstrates, the capitalist monopoly Henry Kendall, a nuclear physicist energy sources, and that they are system is coming more and more into and leader of the Union of Concerned doing their best to come up with direct conflict with the needs of the Scientists, has called the safety pro­ enough to meet our needs. American people and all humanity. gram for nuclear reactors "a national This is a lie from beginning to end. How do we see this problem in the scandal." It is true that the main sources of current energy crisis? The Union of Concerned Scientists energy now in use are finite, and will First of all, the priorities set by has carried out a long struggle against run out in the not too distant future capitalism for the development of the AEC, exposing its commitment to if used at the current expanding rate. resources clearly do not flow from the the billion-dollar nuclear reactor busi­ But there are other sources of energy needs of the masses of humanity. ness. The record of the AEC has been that are virtually infinite, such as For example, nuclear energy was one of trying to prevent and curtail nuclear energy and solar energy. harnessed long ago, during the second research and public hearings on the These latter sources of energy have world war, and billions of dollars dangers of present nuclear reactors, yet to be fully developed. But the were pumped into developing it as a keeping its records of safety tests se­ technological know-how exists to weapon of mass destruction. The cret, and ignoring warnings of scien­ figure out how to safely use nuclear priorities of the capitalist rulers were Thirteen-ton carrier to transport radio­ tists on its own staff. active wastes. Nuclear power companies and solar energy- if enough re­ not to develop safe, peaceful uses of The irresponsibility of the AEC, the have not yet figured out how to dispose sources are devoted to research. nuclear energy. Their priority was to government, and the nuclear monop­ of these wastes safely. Why haven't the big capitalists done amass an arsenal of bombs capable olies can be seen in the fact that no this already? Because that's not where of wiping out humanity many times method has yet been developed to safe­ the profits. are. over in defense of their "free enterprise" An article in the September 1972 ly dispose of the radioactive wastes The energy crisis is a product of system. issue of Environment magazine de­ produced by fission reactors. Yet the the capitalist system of production for On the other hand, the funding of scribed the magnitude of the possible use of these reactors is expanding ana · profit, not a result of scarcity of research on controlled nuclear fusion, danger from a breakdown of the cool­ the wastes are piling up. energy. the safest source of nuclear energy, ing system in one of the nuclear fission The competence of the AEC to "pro­ As everyone knows,_ capitalism is a has been negligible. From its inception reactors that are used today in the tect the public" can be judged from the. dog-eat-dog system. In order to com­ in 1950 until 1971, the U.S. fusion U.S.: leak of these radioactive wastes from an pete, the capitalist does everything the research program received only the "A large power reactor can contain AEC storage facility in Hanford, easiest way from his own narrow amount of money spent on a single fission products equivalent to the fall­ Wash., last spring. Undiscovered for standpoint. Anything goes, if you can Apollo moon shot, according to the out from many dozens of nuclear wea­ 51 days, more than 115,000 gallons February 1971 Scientific American. get away with it. The history books pons in the megaton range. The un­ of highly radioactive, boiling liquid tell how the "robber baron" capitalists Another problem is that the capital­ controlled release of even 5 or 10 waste seeped out of the corroded stor­ went wild in this country in the late ist system does not allow for planning percent of this inventory could bring age tank and into the ground. nineteenth century-hacking down and control of harmful social effects death to persons from 60 up to 100 With adequate research, perfectly safe forests, draining the soil, tearing up of energy production, such as pollu­ miles from the reactor. Persons hun­ nuclear reactors could be developed. the earth, working wage earners to the tion. In the case of development of dreds of miles distant could suffer ra­ But left in the hands of the capitalists, bone, all with no thought but nuclear energy, this problem is acute diation sickness, genetic damage, and safety will come last because profits amassing greater and greater profits. because the possible pollution prob­ increased incidence of many diseases come frrst. The same thing is true in the energy lems are enormously ~-reater than for including cancer.... Several reactors An illustration of this is the fact that field. The capitalist system of produc- fossil fuels. now operating or under construction Continued on page 20 Energy crisis pretext to OK offshore drilling By MARK SCHNEIDER and the state to file suit against Union free sanctuary on 35 leases opposite LOS ANGELES- The California State Oil. This suit will go to court some the coastal city of Santa Barbara. Lands Commission- at the urging of time this year. Such legislation is pending before the the powerful oil industry- recently The moratorium allowed continued House of Representatives. lifted the ban on new oil drilling in production on existing wells. The Dec. In pressing for the moratorium in the Santa Barbara Channel. 11 lifting of the ban still forbids con­ 1969, environmental groups noted that The lifting of the ban was pushed struction of new platforms and fail-safe drilling systems have not been through under the cover of the energy granting of new leases to oil com­ developed, nor are there adequate crisis. panies. backup systems for spill containment. A moratorium had been placed on The action by the State Lands Com­ Contrary to a huge oil company ad­ offshore drilling in state waters in mission represents an attack by the vertising campaign, present recovery March 1969. This was the result of oil industry and government on the systems, according to environmental public outcry over the Jan. 28, 1969, ecology of the area and on the envi­ groups, can recover only 20 percent oil spill on the Santa Barbara coast, ronmental movement. of spilled oil. which is one of the most beautiful The biggest threat to the environ­ Santa Barbara's most active ecology beach areas in the state. ment lies in the probable new drilling group is Get Oil Out! (GOO!). The During that massive blowout more to begin in nearby federally owned organization points to the fact that than three-and-a-half million gallons waters, where most of the oil lies. public opinion in Santa Barbara is of oil spilled out of an offshore Union Lifting of the state moratorium will strongly opposed to offshore oil Oil drilling operation and covered the set a precedent and make it easier for drilling. In October, some 250 people beach area. The result was extensive the federal government to authorize turned out for hearings on offshore damage to wildlife, marine biology, drilling in its waters. drilling conducted by the Department and recreational facilities. The California ruling will also limit of the Interior. On Dec. 9 nearly 100 The public protest not only brought the possibilities of passing federal people attended a GOO!-sponsored the state moratorium, but also forced 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill destroyed legislation that would either ban chan­ beachside demonstration against drill­ the. city of Santa Barbara, the county, wildlife. nel drilling or would create an oil- ing.

6 Court orders new elections in NYC Dist.1 By EILEEN WELLS Defense and Education Fund, CoDEL and to move the district office. NEW YORK- Federal Judge Charles won language assistance guarantees Hundreds of community residents Stewart announced Dec. 26 that he for Spanish- and Chinese-speaking mobilized for the open school board will order a new election for District voters, including the city's first Span­ meetings at which all decisions of the 1 's nine community school board po­ ish/ English ballot. board must be taken. Month after sitions. The May 1 elections provoked wide­ month these mobilizations prevented. Stewart's action, which represents a spread charges of fraud and discrim­ the new majority from implementing substantial victory for the parents and ination against pro-community-control its design to take control of the schools children of the Lower East Side, came forces. At a hearing on May 8 or­ away from the community. Finally, in response to a suit filed by the Com­ ganized by CoDEL in District 1, it a court order blocked the board from mittee for Democratic Election Laws was estimated that 1,000 voters had moving the office or firing staff work­ (CoDEL) and the NAACP Legal De­ been prevented from voting. Four hun­ ers, pending the outcome of the suit fense Fund. dred residents of District 1 attended challenging the validity of the elec­ In the elections held last May 1, the hearing and heard overwhelming tions. a predominantly white six-member ma­ evidence of irregularities that had dis­ jority, backed by the racist leadership enfranchised Black, Puerto Rican, and In one final move, the board major­ of the United Federation of Teachers Chinese voters. ity voted at a public meeting to suspend (UFT), was elected in place of a pro­ In July, CoDEL published a report Luis Fuentes. This arrogant tactic was taken only after they had shielded Militant/Michael Baumann community-control board made up pre­ on the election that documented the Adolph Roher, Shankerite chairman of themselves from several hundred angry dominantly of Black, Puerto Rican, illegal practices, including the moving present board, says no thanks-won't run community residents by retiring to a and Chinese parents. The district's of polling sites without warning in the again 'under any circumstances.' pupil enrollment is 93 percent Puerto Puerto Rican and Black areas; requir­ closed-in projection booth above the Rican, Black, and Chinese. ing written identification from Black stage of the auditorium. In response, parents began a district­ The UFT-backed slate ran on a and Puerto Rican voters but not from do it!" wide boycott of the schools. On the racist platform, with the removal of whites; the failure of some polling On the opposite side, the present third day of the highly effective boy­ Puerto Rican District Superintendent places to open on time; and active chairman of the board, Adolph Roher, cott, community activists led a demon­ Luis Fuentes the major issue. Follow­ campaigning for the UFT-backed slate said he was "shocked and discouraged" stration to the courthouse where the ing the election, the new majority re­ by election officials. and would not run again "under any election suit was being heard. peatedly tried to take actions the com­ Following the publication of this re­ circumstances." Roher has come to Stewart reinstated Fuentes, pending munity opposed. The board wanted port, Congressman Charles Rangel, symbolize the majority's racist actions to move the district's offices from a the board of directors of the Citizens' a decision of the legality of the entire to the community. school board election, and the parents Black and Puerto Rican neighborhood Committee for Children, Dr. Kenneth Albert Shanker, UFT president, had lifted their boycott and decided to wait to a white area on the fringe of the . Clark, and many others endorsed Co­ publicly denounced the lawsuit in his district and fire all personnel associated DEL's conclusion that a new election and see how the judge ruled. weekly purchased column in the New Stewart's Dec. 26 decision was greet­ with Fuentes and supporting commun­ should be held in District 1. York Times. He was less candid in ed with enthusiasm by the pro-com­ ity control. greeting the decision, saying he sup­ The court ruling will mark the first In September, when it became clear munity-control forces. Georgina Hog­ ported the ruling and expected a time that a federal court has over­ that federal and state investigations gard, a current member of the school UFT-backed slate to win again in a board, said, "This community has turned an election in a northern city were leading nowhere, CoDEL and the new election. Shanker attempted to proved that it is not going to submit on the grounds of racial discrimina­ NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed a cloud the issue by claiming that the to the racist experiments of Adolph tion. suit on behalf of the Coalition for irregularities had all beep committed Before the elections, CoD EL had filed Education. Roher and Albert Shanker in District by Fuentes supporters. a series of lawsuits aimed at winning Meanwhile, the illegally elected board 1 in crushing the will of Puerto Rican, The Presidents' Council of District Black, and Chinese people. There's more democratic elections. With the was attempting to fire district person­ 1, composed of the elected presidents nel who supported community control a lot of hard work ahead, but we will cooperation of the Puerto Rican Legal of each school's Parents' Association, responded immediately to the court decision by spearheading the organi­ zation of a district-wide planning com­ mittee. This planning body is dis­ cussing who should run the district in the interim before a new election is held, how the new election should be conducted, and how to resolve the problem of money needed to keep the district operating at its present level. One parent spokeswoman summed up the feelings of many District 1 parents after the victory announcement: "We were robbed of a fair election in May; since that time, the Shanker ma­ jority has tried to get rid of every gain we've made for our schools in this district. Their racist efforts are Mil ended for now because the strength Part of audience at recent District 1 school board meeting. UFT-backed slate won a majority in fraudulent elections last May, and unity of this community have but continued mobilizations by community forced courts to call for new elections. heaved them out of office!" Frame-up trials set for Wounded Knee leaders By GREG CORNELL The court calendar of Indian trials also face a series of conspiracy indict­ to force the United States of America ST. PAUL, Minn.- The political con­ tentatively looks like this: Jan. 8, St. ments stemming from the protest ac­ to live up to its own laws. They made frontation that took place last year Paul: Means and Banks go on trial tions at Wounded Knee. those laws, we didn't." at Wounded Knee, S.D., shifts this on a 10-count conspiracy indictment. · The defense committee is also Defense attorneys hope to make ex­ month to a federal courtroom where Their case was originally to have been backing more than 100 other defen­ tensive use of an 1868 treaty between the leadership of the American Indian tried in South Dakota but was moved dants in cases arising from a demon­ the U.S. government and the Sioux Movement (AIM) goes on trial. after protests by AIM lawyers. stration last year in Custer, S.D.; people to show that the central ques­ For the Indian leaders, the slew of Feb. 4, Sioux Falls, S.D.: Nineteen tribal cases involving civil rights ques­ tion is a consistent pattern of unkept indictments is little short of a whole­ defendants go on trial on a variety tions on the Pine Ridge ( S. D.) Res­ agreements by the United States that sale frame-up designed to cripple their of felony charges. A predominant ervation; and other defendants arrested has led to the oppression American struggle and jail some of their key charge is "impeding a federal officer in connection with activities at Indians face today. activists. in the lawful performance of his duty." Wounded Knee or just before the For months, the government has To protest the trial, which begins Another 91 defendants are to go on Wounded Knee action. been preparing its case, in a trial J art. 8, several actions are in the trial in Sioux Fa.Ils later. Attempts Much is at stake in the coming that both sides recognize may have works: so far have been unsuccessful in months. The Wounded Knee protests landmark repercussions. A rally the night before at the Uni­ moving the cases out of South Dakota. drew major headlines during March The AIM leadership is optimistic. versity of Minnesota will feature de­ Defense lawyers want the trials out of and April of last year, and focused Dennis Banks, AIM's Minneapolis fendants Dennis Banks and Russell the jurisdiction of federal Judge An­ large-scale attention on the plight of executive director, says, "We are posi­ Means. drew Bogue, who is accused of Indian people. tive an American jury, when fully ad­ A protest is scheduled the· next day showing. prejudice against all the de­ "We did not break any laws," says vised of the massive corruption on at the court building. fendants. Russell Means, "but in fact we went Indian reservations, the lies, unkept Spearheading the defense work is the March 1, St. Paul: Four more Indian into Wounded Knee to uphold laws. promises of BIA [Bureau of Indian Wounded Knee Legal Defense/ Of­ leaders are scheduled for trial- Clyde The statement put forth by the Inde­ Affairs], and deprivations of Indian fense Committee, whose job is a Bellecourt, Carter Camp, Leonard pendent Oglala Nation inside people, will not fall into the same massive one. Crow Dog, and Stan Holder. They Wounded Knee is that we were trying trail of broken treaties."

THE MILITANT/JANUARY 11, 1974 7 Arab masses resist Mideast deal Demonstrations shake Lebanese regime By DAVID RUSSELL In keeping with its policy of focusing of Nablus a curfew was imposed on increasingly restive element in Cairo The chasm between the real forces attention on the diplomatic activity that town for the flrst time in four that seems to be agitating for military at work in the Middle East and the in Geneva and the statements of poli­ years. action." diplomatic charade being played out ticians rather than on the mass strug­ Another incident is described by Sadat's turn from rhetoric to lim­ at Geneva was spotlighted Dec. 16 gles of the Arab peoples, the capitalist Cooley as follows: ited military action was prompted in when U.S. Secretary of State Henry press down played the Lebanese events, "At 3 a.m. on Dec. 10, Israeli troops the first place by the pressure of the Kissinger was unable to land in Bei­ and the scanty coverage simply stopped surrounded homes of eight prominent Egyptian people. Before being forced rut because of demonstrations there altogether after a few days. Palestinians and took the men blind­ into taking action Sadat had promised against the U.S. and the Geneva con­ A similar policy was followed in folded to the Araba desert, south of that 1971 would be the "year of de­ ference. regard to Palestinian demonstrations the Dead Sea. They forced them to get cision." In 1972 he announced the In the following days the four largest within the territories occupied by Is­ out and walk blindfolded into Jordan. "year of inevitable confrontation," and cities in Lebanon were rocked by rael. Nevertheless, information is be­ One, the mayor of Bireh, a small town in 1973 the "stage of total confronta­ strikes and demonstrations. According ginning to filter out. John Cooley de­ north of Jerusalem, was beaten and tion." to sketchy Associated Press dispatches, scribed some of the resistance in an his arm injured by the Israeli soldiers Even those who expect the Geneva Tripoli was brought to a standstill article in the Dec. 31 Christian Science because he refused toleavevoluntarily. conference to produce a stable peace by a general strike lasting at least Monitor. "A week later, the eight men ap­ settlement while preserving the Israeli three days. A general strike also took During the October war itself, Arab peared on the East Jordan side of the state don't expect rapid results. The place in Beirut, and the Western half workers from the Gaza strip and the Allenby bridge and were pushed reaction of the thousands of Egyptian of the capital was sealed off by bar­ West Bank of the Jordan River re­ forcibly back by Israeli troops when students who demonstrated against ricades and bonfires. At least 4,000 fused to show up for work and boy­ they tried to cross arid return home." Sadat's policy of procrastination and people demonstrated in Saida, and cotted the Israeli labor exchanges. Is- But instead of intimidating the Pales­ compromise in 1972 and 1973 is not tinian population, the expulsions had likely to be favorable as the talks the opposite effect. Girls at the lbra­ drag on. And the response of the himiya School in East Jerusalem dem­ Egyptian masses will have far more onstrated in the rain against the ex­ importance for the future of the Mid­ pulsions, despite four of them being dle East than the deals being cooked arrested. Demonstrations also erupted up in Geneva. at Bir Zeit College near Ramallah, and on Dec. 15 the college was ordered closed. Dr. Hanna Mikhail, the head of the English department, was arrested and Israel and the informed that she would be tried by an Israeli military court for"incitement, taking part in demonstrations, and Arab revolution activities against the public order." WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST: The Socialist In Egypt, no protests have been re­ View by Dave Frankel, Dick Roberts, ported since November, wh.en 135 stu­ Tony Thomas, $.60 dents were arrested and a number of Libyans and Palestinians expelled from ROOTS OF THE MIDEAST WAR, Anthol­ the country. However, it is clear that ogy, $.75 the same militancy shown by the Arab ISRAEL AND THE ARAB REVOLUTION: masses elsewhere is also present in Fundamental Principles of Revolution­ Egypt, and pressure against Sad at's ary Marxism by Gus Horowitz, 64 pp., policies is building up. $1 New York Times reporter Raymond Israeli patrol in West Bank market. October war sparked renewed resistance to Is­ Anderson described in a Dec. 29 dis­ ISRAEL: A COLONIAL-SETilER STATE? raeli occupation. patch how the daily exchanges of fire by Maxime Rodinson, A Monad Press along the cease-flre lines are "being Book, 128 pp., $4.95, paper $1.75 reported in triumphant headlines on further actions were reported in Tyre. raeli officials admitted to Cooley that the front pages of Cairo newspapers." THE JEWISH QUESTION: A Marxist In­ The Lebanese government declared one-quarter of the 70,000 Arab work­ Anderson explained that "the news­ terpretation by Abram leon, 272 pp., martial law, and several deaths were ers that commute to Israel from the paper reports of unrelenting Egyptian $7.95, paper $2.95 reported. occupied territories have still not ·re­ military pressure on the Israelis are MIDEAST OIL AND U.S. IMPERIALISM The close link between the class turned to their jobs. important to public opinion here, im­ by Dick Roberts, $.35 struggle within the Arab countries and The Israeli occupation forces have patient as it is with the slowness of the Palestinian struggle for self-determi­ begun blowing up houses of political diplomacy to achieve an Israeli troop ORDER FROM: PATHFINDER PRESS,410 nation was clear in the dema~ds of activists, a form of punishment not withdrawal." West Street, New York, N.Y. 10014 the protests, which were against in­ used since 1971. After a grenade se­ The following day Anderson wrote flation and the Geneva talks. riously wounded the military governor that Sadat was trying to quiet "an Two Cleveland union heads scab on UFW Officers of the Retail Clerks Union The scab ad argues that the food Labor (CFL). Other unionists are vention in October, AFL-CIO Presi­ and the Amalgamated Meat Cutters chains being picketed are unionized, working to bring the issue before a dent George Meany and Secretary­ in Cleveland are doing their bit to and that people should patronize union meeting of the CFL Jan. 9. treasurer Lane Kirkland were placed help the California growers and Team­ stores. But this only proves that the The national AFL-CIO is on record at the head of a committee includ­ ster bureaucrats destroy the United union bureaucrats who sponsored the in support of the -Farm Workers and ing UFW President Cesar Chavez and Farm Workers ( U FW ). They published ad are scabs twice over-both for in opposition to the pro-grower role representatives of the Retail Clerks, a full-page ad in the Dec. 19 Cleveland their public attack on the boycott, the of the Teamster officials. At its con- Meat Cutters, Distillery Workers, and Plain Dealer urging the embattled last resort of the UFW, and for doing Glass Bottle Blowers. UFW to halt its picketing of food nothing to use the strength of their The committee was set up to work chains handling scab lettuce. The unions to force the food chains to out "an approach to the strike and union heads called on shoppers to ig­ drop scab produce. [lettuce, grape, and Gallo wine] boy­ nore UFW pickets. The Farm Workers have consid­ cott problems." Although local AFL­ Frank Cimino, president of Meat erable sympathy within the labor CIO unions have granted some aid Cutters Union District 427 and son movement throughout the country, and to the UFW, no announcement has of a local Teamster official, claims Cleveland is no exception. On Dec. been made of any action by Meany's that he is concerned with loss of jobs 16, for example, more than 400 peo­ committee. due to the UFW boycott. In fact, no ple attended a "Farmworkers Fiesta" This inaction on the part of the workers have been laid off as a re­ at the International Ladies' Garment national AFL-CIO is what made it sult of the boycott. During the first Workers' Union hall in Cleveland. The possible for two major local unions boycott in the late 1960s, and before affair, organized on short notice, raised to create such a breach in the ranks Cimino was president of District 427, $2,100. of labor. the support of the Meat Cutters union Reaction in the union movement to The labor movement and other sup­ was a key factor in a successful effort the stab in the back by Cimino and porters of the UFW should answer to keep scab grapes out of Cleveland. David McDonald, president of the Re­ this open strikebreaking move by mas­ Reverend George Hrbek, chairman tail Clerks, was strong. Jack Weir, sive actions in support of the UFW of the Interfaith Committee to Sup­ executive secretary of the Cleveland boycott. If Cimino and McDonald are port the UFW, denounced the ad. He Newspaper Guild, called "for the ouster not called to order by the labor move­ said supporters of the Farm Workers of the two food store unions from the UFW supporters picket Fisher-Fazio, ment, their shameful example may well would continue picketing. Cleveland AFL-CIO Fed~ration of largest grocery chain in the area. be emulated in other cities.

.8 Palestine.... " cessions to their French rivals, without the slight­ What is the real position of· the SWP oh this? est reference to the Arabs who lived there. It was First of all, the SWP supports the right of the within this context that the two Palestinian nations By DAVE FRANKEL Israeli settlers to remain in Palestine, to maintain emerged. Clearly, there is nothing sacred about the For the last 40 years the U.S. Communist Party their own language and culture, to participate pre-1948 borders of Palestine." has been pushing one "peace" plan after another, in the politics of the area, and to have the same By implying that Palestine was simply a creation all of which have been based on the collaboration democratic rights of freedom of speech, press, and of the imperialists, Foley tries to give a left cover of the Soviet bureaucracy with imperialism, and assembly as others. to his position in favor of compromising the na­ all of which have failed to bring peace. What it does not support is the right of the Is­ tional rights of the Palestinians. The real nature In the 1930s they promised that peace would raeli settlers to oppress the Arab masses and to of his position is graphically revealed by come be_guaranteed by "collective security" deals between maintain a separate state at the expense of the paring his statement to one by Golda Mel! on the Stalin and the "western democracies." In 1939, when Palestinians. The Israeli state was set up by driving same topic. In an interview in the London Times Stalin turned around and signed a pact with Hitler, the Palestinians from their land. The problem in the of June 15, 1969, Meir said: the CP again promised peace. More promises were Middle East is not that the Palestinians have some "There was no such thing as Palestinians. When forthcoming after World War II when the "Big type of special privileges, and not that they are was there an independent Palestinian people with a Four" set up the United Nations. And now it's the claiming any, but that they have been denied the Palestinian state? It was either southern Syria Nixon-Brezhnev detente that's supposed to hold the right to live in their own land. before the first world war, and then it was a Pales­ key to world peace. It is the Jewish settlers who have oppressed the tine including Jordan. It was not as though there Like any inveterate snake-oil s~lesman, the CP Palestinians. The form of this oppression-the ex- was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country away from them. They did not exist." The national consciousness of the Palestinians developed and defined itself in the course of the ~How Communist Party 30-year struggle against British rule and Zionist colonization. What is involved is not the borders drawn by the British and French, but the national consciousness of the Palestinian people. Does the fact that the borders of Cambodia, Laos, and denies Palestinian rights Vietnam were drawn by the French imperialists legitimize trampling on the national rights of the peoples involved? with Mideast 'peace' fraud Palestinian rights an 'abstraction'? ~ Foley's final argument against the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination is that it would be impractical, "a Trotskyite abstraction." gets indignant when someone points out the opera­ pulsion of the native population - dictates the He writes, "the Trotskyites have not bothered to tion is a fraud. The latest example of this is the specific character of the struggle, which is for the ask how the Palestinian nation is actually going series of three articles by Tom Foley in the Dec. 11, right of the Palestinians to return and establish to implement its right to self-determination. There Dec. 14, and Dec. 18 Daily World. their own state. This is central to the question of are about 1. 5 million Palestinians, some 900,000 Foley's three-part hatchet job is aimed at the which nation should have the right to self­ of them refugees in the strict sense, scattered all Socialist Workers Party's insistence that there will determination in Palestine. over the Middle East and the rest of the world be no peace in the Middle East as .long as the This right originated as a demand for [Foley is mistaken. The UN lists about 1.5 million Israeli settler-state is maintained. He also takes democracy, a demand that one nation should not Palestinians as registered refugees. The total popu­ exception to the idea that the Soviet bureaucracy's oppress other nations. As such, it only makes sense lation is nearly three million-D. F.] ...." support to the existence of Israel within its pre- when it is directed by an oppressed nation against This same argument was also raised about the 1967 boundaries is a violation of the Palestinian its oppressor. people's right to self-determination. If the demand for self-determination were simply What Foley is concerned with, however, is not based on the right of people to set up a state of only the SWP, which is the most consistent defender their own, then it would make just as much sense to in the U.S. of the Palestinian struggle, but the call for self-determination for the whites in South · Palestinian movement itself. As will be seen, the Africa or Zimbabwe as for the Blacks. CP P,laces its support to the narrow interests of As for Foley's argument that self-determination the Soviet bureaucracy above any concern about for the Palestinians means the "forcible retention" the rights of the Palestinians and the needs of the of the Jews in the new Palestinian state, the Pales­ · socialist revolution in the Arab East. tinians offer the Israelis an equal role in a state After informing his readers that the SWP is really that would represent both peoples.. Those unwilling to accept a situation in which they could no longer oppress the Palestinians could leave, just as many \ French colonialists whose families had been living in Algeria for more than 100 years left the country after the Algerian revolution. Foley vs. Lenin By talking about the fight against national op­ pression in general, Foley avoids the specific character of the oppression of the Palestinians, and the specific demands they have raised to end their oppression. First and foremost of these is the de­ mand for the destruction of the racist settler-state that has been the instrument for their dispossession. In contrast to Foley, while Lenin insisted on the general right of secession, he insisted on each Palestinian refugees. CPUSA backs Moscow's betrayal case being analyzed separately from the point of of Palestinians' struggle to regain their homeland. view of who was the oppressor and who the op­ pressed. In "The Right of Nations to Self-determina­ tion," Lenin calls for "the recognition of the right to secession for all; the appraisal of each concrete possibility of setting up a Jewish state in Palestine. question of secession from the point of view of The Zionists, with the help of a resolute leader­ removing all inequality, all privileges, and all ship, the aid of Truman and Stalin, and in the exclusiveness." context of the defeat of the social revolution in Palestinian 'suspect' in Israeli-occupied territory. Com­ Western Europe and the temporary triumph of munist Party talks about right of self-determination Palestine an imperialist invention? world reaction, were able to overcome the obstacles in general but ignores distinction between oppressed Another of Foley's big complaints about the in the way of their reactionary scheme. nationalities and their oppressors. SWP is that it "accepts without question the idea But today there is a new rise in the world revolu­ that any Palestinian state must be identical with tion, headed by a deepening radicalization in the the old pre-1948 British mandate of Palestine, main imperialist countries themselves. The Pales­ helping out Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan and whose boundaries were drawn by British imperial­ tinian struggle is part of this new revolutionary pitting Palestinians and Israelis against each other ists.... " wave. The Arab masses have repeatedly shown by dreaming up "an entirely artificial 'national According to Foley, "'Palestine' is a Western their identification with the Palestinians and their conflict' between all Palestinians and all Israelis," term which did not exist under the old Ottoman willingness to fight alongside of them. Foley keeps right on going. He asserts that the Turkish Empire when it ruled the area, up to 1918. Foley's real problem is that it is not just the SWP "does not stand for 'complete equality of rights ... the people who lived in 'Palestine' did not think demands of the Palestinians that he thinks are im­ for all nations:' it says the Israeli nation has no in national terms, but described themselves as practical, but the perspective of the socialist revolu­ rights, and the Palestinian· nation has 'special' Muslims or Christians when asked what they were. tion as a whole. He and the Soviet bureaucracy privileges that no other nation enjoys." Some, however, might have called themselves that he serves prefer to put their trust in deals Furthermore, ·says Foley, the SWP "denies the Syrians.... with imperialism rather than in the revolutionary Israelis the right to self-determination and "After 1918, the borders of 'Palestine' were drawn movement of the Arab masses. That is the dif­ advocates their forcible retention within the new up by the British imperialists, with some con- ference between the CP and the SWP.

THE MILITANT/JANUARY 11, 1974 9 In Our Opinion Letters

How to fight back Behavior modification Chilean CP, in flowery terms, Bell The real meaning of the fuel shortages is taking shape be­ Thank you very much for all the said that "the peaceful road to so­ fore our eyes. The giant monopolies, with cooperation from information you have provided on cialism would have been possible the government, are using this crisis as a pretext for increas­ behavior modification programs in in Chile without the intervention of ing their exploitation of working people and ravaging the en­ prisons. U.S. imp~rialism and the CIA." Halstead countered Bell by vironment. This week's Militant describes the major fronts The firsthand accounts of these pointing out that "the presence of of the capitalists' offensive: programs were especially valuable, since we psychologists U.S. imperialism everywhere in the e Prices rose in both October and November at a whopping colonial world is a given. Revo­ 9.6 percent annual rate. The effect of this inflation was to only get the "therapist's" version of the treatment. lutionaries have to develop a strat­ lower real wages by 0.9 percent in October and 0.6 percent egy to fight it, not support one that in November. Baxter Smith's article in the Sept. 21 issue of The Militant was only works in its absence." e General Motors announced indefinite layoffs of 38,000 Both Halstead and Calderon workers and a 1 0-day layoff for 48,000 others. The govern­ an excellent summary of the problem. I have used it and some sharply criticized Allende for ment itself forecasts a rise in unemployment to 5.5 percent of the other material in a couple failing to do this by refusing to this year. of presentations to classes and arm the Chilean workers and e The president of the National Coal Association, Carl professional audiences. peasants. Bagge, utilized the fuel shortage as a cover to announce B. H. Neither downplayed the role the coal industry's offensive against .the United Mine Workers Nashville, Tenn. of the U.S. in th~ coup. However, of America. In answer to the militant new objectives set by the Calderon pointed out, "Allende recent UMW convention, the spokesman for the coal barons must share part of the blame said that the energy crisis demands fewer safety rules, lower for the coup because he didn't put Free mass transit his faith in or arm the workers and environmental standards, higher productivity, no strikes, and This letter is in response to higher prices for coal. peasants who brought him into your articles on the energy crisis. power. Instead he relied on the army e The drive is on to speed up the development of nuclear There is a shortage of clean -who threw him out of power." fuel, since, as Dick Roberts says, fission reactors, another industry that the oil monopolies The teach-in was sponsored by the "the burning of oil (and even have their fmgers in. These reactors, as presently constructed, United States Committee for Justice more so of coal) is polluting the are unsafe and could result in catastrophic nuclear accidents. to Latin American Political Pris­ air." [Dec. 7 Militant.] Aside e Industrialists are receiving bonanzas in terms of rights oners. It was actively built by the from the question of overall to destroy the environment. The Alaska pipeline, strip mining, Crusade for Justice, Clergy and shortage, then, a case could be offshore drilling, and the burning of dirty fuel will line the Laity Concerned, La Raza Unida made for fuel rationing on the pockets of the profiteers. Our lands will be laid waste, our Party, the Boulder United Mexican­ beaches polluted, and our eyes and lungs assaulted even more basis of pollution abatement. American Students and Young So­ It seems to me that the So­ than they are already. cialist Alliance, the Communist cialist Workers Party should con­ e In England the capitalists have taken drastic measures Party, and the Socialist Workers nect its old programmatic demand Party. against the working people. The three-day workweek imposed for free mass transit to a socialist by the Tory government will mean a 40 percent pay cut One hundred and fifty people from solution to the energy crisis. This all over Colorado attended. for 15 million workers and unemployment for six million demand also strikes at the more. All the main imperialist powers-not only Britain and Skip Ball pollution problem. We don't Denver, Colo. the U. S. -are using the energy crisis to try to increase the need more big cars, and the most capitalists' share of the pie at the expense of the workers. harmful products of the auto The capitalists in each country hope in this way to gain a can't be propped up forever competitive edge in the world market. just to save jobs. Auto workers Sex stereotyping How can working- people fight back for their right to a in plants producing large cars It seems that the Bureau of the decent life? We will get nowhere looking to Nixon or Congress should demand guaranteed jobs at Census has just become aware of the for solutions. The capitalist politicians- of both the Democratic no loss in pay or skill level while 33 million working women in this and Republican · varieties- are responsible for laying the producing more acceptable prod­ country. The Census Bureau is in groundwork for this crisis in the first place, and they are not ucts. charge of the Occupational about to challenge their millionaire partners in the oil com­ David Moore Classification System, which Austin, Texas panies. categorizes all jobs by occupational To meet this emergency, the trade unions should call a title. These titles, according to the congress of the labor movement, made up of democratically bureau, "have become sex stereotypes" and consequently 52 of them have elected representatives of the union ranks. The congress should Nixon convicted been changed. "Firemen" are now also be open to representatives from Black and Chicano We had a highly successful "firefighters"; "busboys" have become organizations, the unemployed, unorganized workers, women's "The People, Yes, Nixon, No!" "waiters assistants"; and "clergymen" groups, the independent truckers, small gas station owners, rally here Dec. 9, despite advance­ has been changed to simply and all those who have a stake in defending themselves against notice blackout by TV and the "clergy." the profiteers. newspapers. While this reflects concern over These are some of the solutions that could be discussed About 400 people attended, the growing influence among and adopted by such a congress: with standing room only for many. women workers of the ideas of e To protect workers from the inflation caused by the mon­ Besides Corky Gonzales, speakers the women's liberation movement, opolies, all wages and social benefits should rise automatic­ were: Charles Daniels (ACL U); it would be a much greater victory ally with the rise in the cost of living. Clemencia Martinez (Welfare if equality in wages and job op­ Rights); Jose Garner (United e To deal with the growing unemployment caused by shut­ portunities went along with the Workers, University of New equality of titles. downs and cutbacks in production, shorten the workweek Mexico). At the end of the Teatro at no loss in pay so that the available work is soread to Nat London performance, Nixon was found New York, N.Y. all those who need jobs. Begin a massive program of needed guilty -then hanged -then burned public works, providing millions of jobs at union wages. (in effigy). e To tear away the veil of secrecy covering the manipula­ Betita Martinez tions of the oil companies and the government, demand that Albuquerque, N. M. A holiday gift the books and records of these companies be opened to scru­ Enclosed is $5 for a one-year tiny by the workers. · subscription to The Militant. I am e Any company that claims it can't afford, or refuses to sending this as a holiday gift to adopt, adequate environmental protection standards should Daily World distortions my parents. be nationalized and run under workers control in the inter­ An article in the Nov. 16 Daily For the record: I support the strug­ ests of the masses of working people. World about a Chile teach-in held in gle for the liberation of Palestine. • Shortages, inflation, and destruction of the environment Denver recently quoted major speak­ This question is one I find interesting ers, making them all out to be in your letters to the .editor. We are all inherent in the anarchic system of production for certainly need more education in private profit. These economic problems are ultimately polit­ uncritical supporters of the disastrous policies of the Allende regime. this area. ical problems; to effectively confront the power of the capital­ C.N. ist class, working people need their own party, a labor party I thought it would interest your readers to know what the speakers Chico, Calif. based on the trade unions. the Daily World mentioned- Pat Such a party could fight for a workers government that Bell of the Communist Party, Fred would take both economic and political power out of the Halstead of the Socialist Workers hands of the monopolies and reorganize production on the Party, and Jose Calderon of the Panglossian pundits basis of human needs rather than private profits. Colorado Raza Unida Party- actual­ The editorial in a recent Sunday The energy crisis is a world crisis. The fight for a socialist ly had to say. New York Times on the energy world is the only way forward for humanity from the crises, Besides generally picturing Allende crisis was wonderful. Emphasizing poverty, and war bred by capitalism. and his close collaborator, the the positive, the editors managed

.10 Women In Revolt Linda Jennt!ss Women in the Arab world After Malcolm X' s second trip to Africa in 1964 as in the recent case of a man who choked his 15- to fmd that it will have some he remarked: "One thing that I became aware of in year-old daughter to death for that reason. good effects. my traveling recently through Africa and the Middle One of the best-known symbols of women's op­ The lower speed limits could East, in every country you go to, usually the degree pression in the Arab world is the veil. save up to 5,000 persons from of progress can never be separated from the woman. A recent article in the New York Times by Fergus death on the highways. Cooler H you're in a country that's progressive, the woman Bordewich describes the effect of the veil. Bordewich department stores will somehow is progressive." writes, "The whole point of the veil is to make you prevent colds. And, cold apartments By that criterion, the Arab countries are a showcase forget that there is a person inside it.... you learn will actually promote good health. of backwardness. Nowhere is the need for an inter­ after a time simply to ignore women, and beyond H an earthquake hit California, national women's liberation movement more ap­ ignoring them to forget that they are there altogether. sinking half of it into the sea, parent. And nowhere is the relation between the strug­ The veil becomes an apostrophe in place of a human these Panglossian pundits would gle for women's freedom and the struggle for social­ being." probably observe that the San ism more obvious than in the Arab world. Bordewich points out that the veil is really a prag­ Andreas fault made a beautiful The reactionary sheiks and monarchs who rule matic compromise with necessity. Ideally the woman new coastline. in some of the Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia should remain totally hidden in her father or hus­ Michael Smith and Jordan, set the stage for an oppression of women band's home. New York, N.Y. that smacks of the Dark Ages. Others, such as Egypt In some countries the women are allowed to look and Lebanon, are not much better. out through a small window in the veil. In other In many Arab countries, a man is allowed to have countries, even that is forbidden. Bordewich describes, Kennedy clan four wives, whom he can divorce at will. The woman for instance, the following scene: "She is fully swaddled may not contest the divorce. in a bundle of white cloth. Like lines of elephants The New York Times recently ran a In the Sudan, 0.03 percent of married women be­ trundling along trunk to tail, whole families of four-column picture that captured tween the ages of 15 and 44 years of age use con­ women ... can be seen swaying slowly down a . the warmhearted benevolence of traceptives. Many marriages are still arranged by the street. A hand protrudes from each bundle and grasps Ted Kennedy and clan during a family, and little girls are married off at as early an the cloth in front. AU swaying and slowly creeping recent spin through town. age as nine. in their blindness. The leader holds up her cloak The occasion was the annual In Saudi Arabia, women are forbidden by law to like a tunnel in front of her and with her other hand Christmas ice-skating and breakfast drive a car. It is also against the law for women feels for the guiding support of a wall." party, started by the late Bob Ken­ to be photographed. Even a woman's passport carries The crushing weight of the oppression of Arab nedy, for, er, "disadvantaged"­ no picture of her. women gives their struggle a particularly explosive according to the Times- Black In Egypt only 4.8 percent of the female population character. Their fight for freedom will be closely in­ youngsters. is in the work force, compared with 87.4 percent of tertwined with the unfolding revolution in those coun­ The photo clearly shows a row the male population. tries. Their struggle is part of the overall struggle in of eight people, five Black youngsters In Lebanon, article 562 of the penal code allows the Arab world against national oppression and im­ and three w bites- Teddy, Ethel, and a man to kill his daughter, sister, or wife for the perialist domination and against the reactionary re­ Jack's daughter, Caroline- "honor of the family" because of "sexual misconduct." gimes upon whose collaboration imperialism grasping hands while skating at Sexual misconduct can include "flirti:Qg with boys," depends. Rockefeller Center. The caption proclaimed: "Skaters above are Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Mrs. Ethel Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy, who is daughter National Picket Line of the late President, John F. Kennedy." Was it a goof or was it on Frank Lovell purpose? At any rate, the Black youngsters had to defer to the Ken­ nedys and were reduced to non­ entities. Labor and political action B. S; Labor party talk is heard again in union halls and and their political agents it would be better for the New York, N.Y. at some union conventions. Nothing official. No unions to run prominent union representatives. Then resolution for a labor party has been adopted by any he said, "Don't you think we should organize our union convention, state or national, for more than own independent labor party?" This suggestion was 20 years. But there is serious talk in the ranks and roundly applauded and others spoke in favor of it. Newsweek 'expose' among some secondary officials of the need for inde­ • The recent convention of the United Mine Work­ While The Militant has been pendent political action by labor. This is new. ers voted to set up the Coal Miners Political Action energetically exposing and document­ Since the 1955 merger of the American Federation Committee (COMPAC), "a political action and lob­ ing the contrived nature of the of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organiza­ bying arm.... " It is not a labor party. But the sudden "fuel shortage" and the tions, the top union bureaucrats have stifled rank­ announced purpose is to involve rank-and-file coal windfall profits that have resulted and-file sentiment for a labor party. This is becoming miners in political action, and it may run miners for the huge oil monopolies, more difficult. for office when there is little choice between machine News-Week magazine recently The series of economic and political crises, begin­ Democrats and Republicans. saw fit to print an "expose" of ning with the 1971 wage freeze and continuing unin­ UMW A President Arnold Miller told the convention, the oil industries' "activities" terrupted right up to thE: present energy crisis, has "We proved this year that coal miners can run an that nearly equaled the size of greatly weakened the carefully fostered illusion that International union. In the years to come, I think the full-page color ad for the the Democratic Party can or will serve the needs we'll prove that coal miners can help run a state Phillips Petroleum Company that of workers. legislature, too, or a Congress." appeared in the same issue. The following items are reflections of the developing H past practice is continued, such miner candi­ The content of the "expose" trend: dates will run in Democratic and Republican prima­ itself amounted to little more than e Last September the International convention of ries. But the question is posed: If the union can put an apology for the blatant the independent United Electrical Workers adopted forward its own candidates, why not run independent criminality of the oil industry. And a resolution on political action. The resolution fell of the capitalist two-party set-up? the best analysis that Newsweek short of calling for a labor party, but it said the e A recent meeting of the AFL-CIO Cleveland could offer concerning the cause of Republican and Democratic parties were both respon­ Labor Federation adopted a resolution on the energy the fuel shortage was to blame it sible for the war in Vietnam, for inflation, and for crisis. It stated that workers and consumers must be government wage controls. It said both parties "speak on "... controlled prices which represented in the administration of any necessary for corporate interests," and concluded that "no energy cont.rols, not anyone directly or indirectly have eaten into profits." political party can serve both the rich and the poor, linked with the gas, oil, or utility industries. B. F. the employer and the worker.... " The resolution further demands: no rationing Apex, N.C. e A couple of months ago a union member in through taxation; extended unemployment compensa­ Cleveland wrote me about a meeting of his local tion and federal work projects for workers and com­ where a report was made, approvingly, that the munities hit by the energy crisis; no "unnecessary" AFL-CIO had endorsed the millionaire politician sacrifices of environmental controls and goals; strict Howard Metzenbaum for the U.S. Senate in the 1974 price controls on natural gas and petroleum. The letters column is an open forum election. Many of these demands are good for workers. for all viewpoints on subjects of gen­ At the same meeting a guest speaker on "political Unfortunately, they are submitted to the Democratic eral interest to our readers. Please education" berated the membership for Watergate, Party for action in Congress. This means that nothing keep your letters brief. Where neces- blaming union men and women for allowing corrupt will be done about them. 118ry they will be abridged. Please in­ politicians to sneak into office. dicate if your name may be used or My correspondent spoke to the meeting about the Such demands can be won only when the union if you prefer that your initials be used consequences of supporting Metzenbaum: "Once this movement is mobilized to fight for them. This will instead. liberal Democrat is elected lie will do the job he was require political action by the unions independent elected to do for big business. He is like Nixon in of the political instruments of the employers. This is this fundamental respect. He will not represent work­ why labor party talk inside the union movement ers, neither those he employs in the open-shop printing today is timely and significant. It relates to the most plants he owns, nor any others." urgent issues of the day, and there is no other way He proposed that· instead of endorsing employers the unions can cope with them.

THE MIUTANT/JANUARY 11, 1974 ,]1 The Great Society Harry Ring

How about six feet under?-Alcoa's "fierce outbreaks of international con­ Is to Justice As Military Music Is to medical director, Dr. Bertram Drinan, flicts, by implacable class warfare, Music. suggested to a National Academy of outbursts of revolutionary freedom, Sciences pollution conference that peo­ the crushing of human rights ... and Population control?- Under the Food ple suffering from air pollution be unforeseen symptoms of worldwide for Peace program, 25 million pounds segregated rather than requiring indus­ economic instability." However, the of tobacco were shipped abroad in try to install expensive cleansing pontiff assured, new wars will be 1972. devices. Those with heart ailments, staved off by the wisdom of world he said, could be put in low-pollution leaders. Balanced view- Billy Graham op­ areas or simply install air-scrubbing poses a ban on Sunday driving be­ machines in their homes. No sacrifice too great- To help con­ cause it would cut into church atten­ serve energy, Massachusetts Governor dance (not to speak of receipts). But Sargent gave up his nine-passenger he doesn't mind ending Sunday gas You could just burn them up-" It Cadillac for a six-passenger Lincoln sales. "This," he observed shrewdly, just burns me up when people sug­ Continental. "would mean that the gas station gest we're not the best country in the operators could go to church." world."- Admiral Thomas Moorer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Bang the drum precisely- Special re­ and a critic of the Watergate revela­ enlistment bonuses of $3,500 are paid Thought for the week- "The only cure tions. Army musicians under a program for runaway inflation is a depression." authoriZing such payments for "criti­ -Otto Roethenmund, international 'Whenever I'm in the dumps, I just sit You can all relax- The pope says cal military skills." Which reminded banking and currency exchange of­ back and think of my hundred and fifty the world situation is marked by us of the book entitled Military Justice ficial. million dollars.' i La Raza en AcciOnl Miguel Pendas An appeal from Mexico The Dec. 5 issue of El Campesino contains an movement for solidarity actions from farm workers When Echeverria visited this country he denied open letter from the editor, Antonio Orendain, in the U. S. A letter from the Central Campesina there were political prisoners in Mexico. To this to Luis Echeverria, the president of Mexico. In Independiente (CCI- Independent Peasant Cen­ day there are political prisoners, many of whom the letter Orendain demands that Echeverria explain tral), of which Danz6s Palomino is the general have been in jail since before 1968. the jailing of Ram6n Danz6s Palomino, a leader secretary, is reprinted on the same page with the Recently there was another of the periodic raids of the Mexican peasant movement. open letter. the Mexican government carries ~ut against radi­ El Campesino is published by the United Farm Danz68 Palomino was jailed in Atlixco in the cals. During the raids a few members of each Workers in the small, predominantly Chicano town state of Puebla. But when supporters bailed him radical organization are rounded up and charged of San Juan in South Texas near the Mexican out they. found that government agents were waiting with belonging to some fictitious terrorist orga­ border. outsi~ the prison gates to rearrest him on phony nization that is supposedly conspiring to over­ Orendain explains in his letter that he met with charges. throw the government. Echeverria in San Antonio during the Mexican A campaign to demand freedom for Danz6s After visiting the U.S. and spreading his lies president's visit to the U.S. in 1972. Orendain Palomino is being organized. A week of solidarity here, Echeverria returned to Mexico and did the at that time asked Echeverria what the Mexican with the peasant leader and all political prisoners same there. He told the Mexican people that the government was doing to aid the boycott of lettuce was held Nov. 18-24. His supporters are requesting Chicano movement in the U.S. supported him. and grapes being carried on by the Chicano farm letters of protest be sent to the Mexican president. - The act of solidarity by the companeros of El workers here against the rancheros. The letter closes with the slogan, "For Liberty Campesino will help to expose Echeverria's lies. "We also discussed the question of political pris­ and a Radical Agrarian Reform!" El Campesino also expressed its solidarity with oners in Mexico, the existence of which you_ cate­ Echeverria, as minister of the interior under the political prisoners in Azthin, urging support for gorically denied," continues Orendain. "I am asking Diaz Ordaz regime, was to a great extent responsi­ the cause of Los Tres del Barrio in Los Angeles. how it is that you justify the detention of Ram6n ble for the bloody suppression of student demon­ These actions by farm workers in support of Danz6s Palomino?" strators in 1968 in Mexico City. Hundreds were political prisoners of la raza, be they in the U.S. The open letter by El Campesino was written slaughtered in the Plaza de Las Tres Culturas or in Latin America, are an example for the whole in response to a request from the Mexican peasant (Plaza of the Three Cultures). Chicano movement to follow.

By Any Means Necessary Baxter Smith The departure of David Dinkins There they were, New York City's "big guns"­ he won they expected a payoff-standard pro­ tions." One of these "accomplishments" was his vig­ as Malcolm X sometimes termed such Black lead­ cedure. orous opposition to the community struggle to ers-squabbling over who they wanted as Black Beame let it be known that he would fill one control the schools. His "roots in the community" deputy mayor in mayor-elect Abraham Beame's of the deputy mayor posts with a Black. This prompted him to oppose attempts to obtain bilin­ administration. When the smoke cleared in late triggered the power struggle. gual ballots for Puerto Rican voters. He defended November the results were a betrayal, a "back­ Originally William Tatum, deputy borough presi­ the outrageously undemocratic election procedures stabbing," and David Dinkins- a Black man said dent under Percy Sutton, Wlis hinted to be the and tricks used by the city to ensure the victory to have "roots in the community," who was ap­ choice. But a hastily organized grouping of local of an anti-community-control ticket in the 1973 pointed to the post. Black Democrats, prominent Black businessmen, local school board elections. The New York Times heard the rumblings and and other assorted Black opportunists opposed termed Dinkins'•s appointment "the climax of a his nomination, claiming he was not from "the These elections were so blatantly unfair that a week of fierce political infighting and angry criti­ community." federal judge was forced to recognize this and cism by blacks." At a meeting with Beame late in November they order new elections. But the "big guns" frred a dud. A month later, made their feelings known. A few days later, Beame Although Dinkins is gone, the big guns claim on Dec .. 28, a tearful Dinkins, who the big guns named Dinkins and the. big guns- called this a they will come up with another Black to recoiimi:cnd had claimed was the "best man" for the job, told "milestone." to Beame, who is now doubly tarnished since reporters he was resigning, citing hi~ failure to pay Dinkins, however, was known as a scoundrel another appointee has also resigned under shady federal, state, or city income taxes for four years. even before his tax troubles were discovered. He circum stances. was formerly the president of the city board of But Dinkins got off easy. He simply missed out This story began after the Democratic primary elections and in that capacity played an infamous on a $43,255-a-year job. He can now go back in the city in June, which Abraham Beame won. role in the fight of Black, Puerto Rican, and Chinese to full time at his law firm. The real betrayal was Big gun leaders, totally subservient to the Demo­ parents in District 1 to control their schools. -and continues -to be- against the Black masses cratic Party, lined up behind Beame. Their job The Times said Dinkins has "outstanding ac­ because, unlike the big guns, they have no choice was to hustle Black votes for his election. After complishments as president of the Board of Elec- in who will be deputy mayor.

12 utlook A WEEKLY INTERNATIONAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE MILITANT BASED ON SELECTIONS FROM INTERCONTINENTAL PRESS, A NEWSMAGAZINE REFLECTING THE VIEWPOINT OF REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM.

JANUARY 11 I 1974 latin America: 1973 in review The overthrow of Allende and the return of Peron [In this issue of World Outlook we came in the context of the political implement it: persecutors in an attempt to woo the are reprinting three of six articles from weakness of U.S. imperialism resulting "1. AU plants will become part of top brass, the rightist officers' hand the year-end issue of the newsmaga­ from its failure to crush the Vietnamese the social sector of the economy; not was immensely strengthened for sup­ zine Intercontinental Press. The pur­ revolution. one plant that is important for the pressing all opposition from the en­ pose of these articles, Intercontinental In this situation, influential currents workers will remain in the hands of listed men. ·Press explains, is to summarize "the developed to the left of the reformist the bourgeoisie. In the wake of the coup, our cor­ major events and trends that typified leaderships and obstructed their at­ "2. Workers Leadership. Production respondent in Chile, Hugo Blanco, world politics throughout the year." tempts to demobilize the masses or to and distribution will remain in the became one of the junta's "mostwanted [For the complete year-end issue of contain the mass mobilizations within hands of the workers, and the people Marxists." Intercontinetal Press, send 50 cents to: narrow limits. The largest of these will exercise complete control over Fortunately Blanco and a couple of Intercontinental Press, P. 0. Box 116, currents were the left wing of the So­ community territory. his closest associates had not been Village Station, New York, N.Y. cialist party and the Castroist MIR "3. Popular Militia. The organized taken by surprise by the coup and had 10014. A six-month subscription to (Movimiento de Izquierda Revo­ people must protect their gains. Create planned an escape route. In Mexico this revolutionary Marxist weekly is lucionaria- Movement of the Revolu­ a Defense Committee and arm it in City at the end of September they $7.50.] tionary Left). every industry and neighborhood. talked to a correspondent of Inter­ As the strongest coherent center on "4. The leadership of the defense, continental Press, giving a first anal­ By Gerry Foley the far left, the MIR exercised a major and the advance of the people will ysis of the military take-over and its influence and effectively criticized and be assured only if they rest in the effects. (See "Eyewitness Account of The crisis point in Latin America exposed many aspects ofthereformism in 1973 was in the "Southern Cone" of Allende and the Communist party, of the continent, comprising primarily on which the Socialist president came Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. to base himself more and more. In Chile, the right continued the of­ But neither the SP left wing nor fensive that it had begun in October the MIR went beyond left centrism 1972 and carried it to a conclusion, to build an effective alternative lead­ overthrowing the popular-front gov­ ership based on a revolutionary pro­ ernment of Salvador Allende. The gram. workers parties supported by almost In a long series of articles, Inter­ half the population were driven under­ continental Press analyzed the devel­ ground by a savage reign of terror. opment of the rightist offensive, In this same period, in combating pointing out the dangers of the class­ the rightist offensive, the Chilean work­ collaborationist policy of Allende and ers went to the brink of establishing the Communist party. Several articles their own direct control over society, explained why the workers had to be of replacing the apparatus of the bour­ armed to defend themselves against geois state with organs of workers and attacks by the bourgeois military and popular power. the rightist goon squads. Betwe~n October 1972 and Septem­ Almost every major article warned ber 1973, Chilean society became po­ that the military could not be trusted larized between the two fundamental to defend the government, that only classes: the workers pressing to re­ the independent organization of the working class and the poor masses Allende (right) with former interior minister General Prats (far left). Popular Unity organize the economy in accordance wrongly put trust in the military rather than the masses. with their interests, that is, to conduct could block a reactionary coup d'etat. a socialist revolution, and the bour­ In this situation, the main workers geoisie pressing to contain the labor organizations that arose were the cor­ movement and force it back into sub­ clones industriales (organs of work­ ordination. ers management in local industrial hands of the organized working class." Repression in Chile," IP, October 8, The more inexorably this polariza­ concentrations). Intercontinental Press Intercontinental Press also published 1973.) tion developed, the more desperately followed the development of these key a declaration of the PSR (Partido So­ In Mexico City and later in Sweden, the reformist leaderships of the formations step by step in reports from cialista Revolucionario- Revolution­ his new place of exile, Hugo Blanco working-class parties tried to find ways the exiled Peruvian revolutionary lead­ ary Socialist party, the Chilean sec­ has appealed for solidarity with the of avoiding the essential choices, er Hugo Blanco, who was active in tion of the Fourth International) ex­ victims of the junta's terror. chasing after ever more elusive class­ one of the most important and politi­ plaining the need for developing the In the wake of the coup and the collaborationist deals. When the in­ cally advanced cordones, the Cord6n cordones into the basis of workers mass roundups of socialist and trade­ evitable showdown came, the disori­ Vicufia Mackenna in Santiago. power. union activists in Chile, the grave ented workers were left without lead­ Throughout 1973, moreover, Inter­ Another important statement pub­ problem of finding a country of asy­ ership or direction in the face of a continental Press published the key lished in Intercontinental Press was lum faces thousands of Chileans and deadly military machine whose com­ political statements of Chilean work­ the call of Independencia Obrera, the Latin American political exiles who manders were determined to "restore ers organizations and left forces. paper of the Trotskyist caucus in the had been granted refuge by the Allen­ order" no matter what the cost. These statements included the mani­ Cord6n Vicuna Mackenna, for orga­ de government. In the months since The Allende regime was the latest festo issued by the Cord6n Vicuna nizing a defense for the sailors vic­ the military take-over, Intercontinen­ of ·a series of bourgeois nationalist in the aftermath of the June 29 trial­ timized in Valparaiso because they tal Press has reported the difficulties ~egimes ·toppled by U.S. imperialism run coup, as well as the declaration had opposed the putschist plans of of the refugees from Chile in finding and its native allies in the last two of representatives of all political ten­ their officers. a place to settle, especially in Argen­ decades. Various factors gave it more dencies present in the cod6n in sup­ This affair was one of the last cru­ tina, which is the most convenient and staying power than most of its pre­ port of this program. cial tests of strength between the left accessible place of exile. decessors. The manifesto projected a strategy and the right, whose plans for a mili­ Less than four months after the In the first place, Allende's accession for countering the rightist offensive tary take-over were entering the final coup, it is becoming clear that the to the presidency took place in the that might have prevented the coup stage. When, instead of protecting its junta is having serious difficulties in context of a powerful rise of the orga­ if it had been taken up more widely supporters in the ranks of the armed maintaining its middle-class social nized labor movement. Secondly, it and if the leadership had existed to forces, the government backed their Continued on following page World Outlook W0/2

...1973 in review: defeats but no reversal of radicalizatic Continued from preceding page blo- People's Revolutionary Army) In the September elections, the PST litical formula-s for "pacifying" the base and in "pacifying" the country. went through a series of splits. One vote rose to almost 200,000. Absten­ country have been followed very close­ In particular, the disastrous decline split appeared when a section of the tion dropped to a record low, lilnd ly by Intercontinental Press in the past in the standard of living of the Chil­ organization calling itself the ERP-22 the right-wing direction of the Peronist year. The campaign demanding the ean masses since the take-over has be­ (for August 22, 1972, the date of the leadership became clearer. release of the Argentine political pris­ gun to worry the junta and its backers massacre of the guerrillas recaptured · The contradictions in the Peronist oners, in particular, was covered step in Washington and in international fi­ after a break from the Rawson prison) movement took a spectacular turn by step. nancial circles. came out in support of the Peronist when the old caudillo returned to. the Nineteen seventy-three was also a The defeat of the Chilean workers candidates. It catnpaigned for them in country. The mass rally organized crucial year in the third country of in the week of September 11 was a its own way, by a commando raid to greet him at the -Ezeiza airport the Southern Cone, Uruguay. Uru­ stunning blow for which the Commu­ on an anti-Peronist newspaper, among broke up when right-wing Peronist guay's traditional parliamentary form nist party in Chile and its mentors other things. goons opened fire on the left-wing con­ of government, which had been de­ in the Kremlin hold full responsibility. Although it did not become general­ tingents headed by the Peronist guer­ caying since the drop in the world They betrayed the Chilean revolution ly known until later, the Fracci6n Ro­ rilla groups. price for the country's principal pro­ by pres-enting Allende's popular-front ja (Red Faction) also broke away Although Per6n's statements in the ducts in the 1960s, was finally abol- government as a model of peaceful from the ERP in this period. In the aftermath of the Ezeiza massacre were . ished by a military coup. A half-spon­ transition to socialism. sumiiler of 1973, the main body of ambiguous, he implicitly put the blame taneous general strike petered out At the same time that the rightist the ERP led by Roberto Santucho for­ for the incident on its principal vic­ while the Communist party-dominated offensive was gathering momentum in mally disaffiliated from the Fourth tims, the left Peronists, not on the right­ union leadership waited for a "Peru­ Chile, the military dictatorship in Ar­ International, while the Fracci6n Roja ist goons organized by the Peronist vian" reformist current to appear gentina was completing its retreat in continued to consider itself part of political and trade-union bureaucracy. among the putschist military officers. the face of a growing popular mo­ the international Trotskyistmovement. Almost immediately after this, the cau­ Thus, only a few months before the bilization. The radicalization that The explanation that the Fracci6n Ro­ dillo began to push into the back- only other mass CP in Latin America erupted in May 1969 with the protests ja gave for its break with the ERP against higher prices in the University and its description of the incidents sur­ of Corrientes cafeteria and that peaked rounding it were published in Inter­ in the C6rdoba uprisings of June 1969 continental Press. and May 1971 forced the military and Two groupings proposed a left al­ the Argentine bourgeoisie to try to ternative to the Peronists in the March find a political formula that could 11 general elections. The Communist win some popular support for the re­ party was the central organizing fqrce gime. in the Alianza Popular Revolucionaria The generals and their bourgeois (APR- People's Revolutionary Al­ backers came up with the GAN (Gran liance), a popular-front type combi­ Acuerdo Nacional-Great National nation composed primarily of bour­ Accord), a class-collaborationist geois liberals, including the Christian scheme that involved bringing back Democrats who backed the rightist the ousted populist caudillo Juan Pe­ military coup of 1955. r6n and returning to a Bonapartist The APR won about 7 percent of the type of parliamentary rule. vote but did not emerge as a coherent The deal originally included the mil­ political force. Its program, as the itary sharing governmental power Communist party leaders themselves with the Peronists, but the minuscule proclaimed, repeated the promises of vote for the candidates backed by the the Peronists. In the special presiden­ military in the M,arch 11 general elec­ tial elections of September 20, which tions coupled with the gigantic popu­ was in effect a second round of the lar upsurge in May when Campora, March elections, the APR and the Com­ the Peronist candidate, was officially munist party supported Per6n. Workers at pro-Ailende demonstration. Hats have pictures of Castro and Allende. inaugurated forced the generals to give The only clear alternative in the up any hope of holding on to direct elections was offered by the PST (Par­ governmental power. tido Socialista de los Trabajadores­ ground the liberal and leftish figures led the workers unarmed and unpre­ The popular pressure had become Socialist Workers party, a sympathiz­ who had kept the Peronist movement pared into a slaughter, the Uruguay­ overwhelming. Although a series of ing organization of the Fourth Inter­ going during the years of military an CP presided over a humiliating assassinations of top military com­ national). As soon as the government repression. In their place the trade­ surrender to the military government manders by guerrilla groups before opened the way for the elections, the union bureaucrats and right-wing no­ established in June. the elections had brought threats from PST mobilized to win ballot status. tables whose opposition to the mili­ In Peru and Bolivia, military gov­ right-wing officers of renewed repres­ Once it won the status of a legal par­ tary dictatorship was less than in­ ernments established in the preceding sion, mass demonstrations in the after­ ty by signing up 30,000 supporters, transigent were brought to the fore. period remained in power in 1973. math of the inauguration forced an it offered its place on the ballot to in­ It became obvious that Per6n had These regimes were established by unconditional amnesty for all politi­ dependent workers candidates. not returned to realize the ideals of very different types of coups. The one cal prisoners, including guerrillas who Some 2,200 candidates ran on the the Peronist resistance. in Bolivia was staged to repress the had been held in Argentina's dun­ PST ticket, including various promi­ Within a few days after his election revolutionary process that had been geons for years. nent strike leaders. A significant num­ as president, Per6n issued a circular developing since the failure of the reac­ The shift in the methods of rule ber of militant workers and youth as­ declaring "war on Marxism" and call­ tionary coup d'etat led by General by the Argentine bourgeoisie presented sembled around its program of inde­ ing for a ruthless purge of leftists Miranda in October 1970. On the oth­ a challenge to the left groups that had pendent working-class political action from the Peronist movement. Taking er hand, the Peruvian coup represent­ become accustomed to fighting an and of fighting for a revolutionary the mysterious murder of the Peronist ed a shift from the crude repression open military dictatorship. workers government. trade-union bureaucrat Jose Rucci as of the 1960s, and it ushered in a In particular, the guerrilla groups Although the PST ticket, headed by a pretext, right-wing Peronist goon period of anti-imperialist demagogy underwent a number of changes in Juan Carlos Coral and Nora Chiap­ squads began a series of terrorist at­ and reformist experimentation. None­ this period. In the first place, the pone, won, according to the official tacks on the left both inside and out­ theless, in 1973, both regimes under­ united front of the guerrilla organiza­ count, only a little more than half side of the Peronist movement. went a similar process of erosion. tions that had developed under the dic­ a percent of the vote, or about 80,- Parallel to this, actions of the type As the Banzer regime, after seizing tatorship split up. The Peronist guer­ 000 votes, it brought more solid re­ associated with the guerrilla groups power in the coup of August 1971, rillas of the Montoneros and the FAR sults and made a more lasting impact have continued and in the most re­ moved to impose an austerity policy, ( Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias­ than the 7 percent won by the CP's cent period have even increased. Their the labor movement reorganized and Revolutionary Armed Forces) and coalition with the old proimperialist political objectives and impact, how­ fought back. In October 1972, only other groups gave political allegiance liberals. ever, remain unclear. a little more than a year after the to the new government, although they The non-Peronist guerrillas and the In the months since Per6n's election, coup, the regime was already forced declared their intention of maintain­ ultraleft groups called for various the PST has concentrated on giving to make concessions to the workers. ing their armed organization. forms of abstention. orientation to the battles of the work­ In the final months of 1973, un.der The Peronist organizations took a In the period leading up to the Sep­ ers and students resisting the efforts the pressure of the reviving labor sharply critical, even threatening, at­ tember presidential elections, the PST by the Peronist authorities to clamp movement and the sharpening com­ titude toward the guerrilla groups that called on Agustin Tosco, the country's down on independent mobilizations , petition between Brazil and Argentina_ refused to accept the political leader­ best-known non-Peronist union leader, and to isolate and victimize the ac­ for access to Bolivian natural re­ ship of Per6n. to head an independent workers ticket. tivists. sources, the coalition backing the jun­ In this period also, the main non­ -When he refused under CP pressure, The retreat of the military dictator-· ta split. In November, the leaders of Peronist guerrilla organization, the it ran Jose Paez, the leader of the 1971 ship and the maneuvers of Per6n and the MNR (Movimiento Nacionalista ERP ( Ejercito Revolucionario del Pue- C6rdoba uprising, along with Coral. the Argentine bourgeoisie to find po- Revolucionario- Revolutionary Na- W0/3

Year of crackdown n in latin America tionalist Movement, an old populist parliamentary rule went hand in hand party turned reactionary) announced with considerable political repression, The struggle for workers that their party was withdrawing from and the defense of political prisoners the government and adopting a "criti­ was an important part of left activity. cal" stance. In Venezuela, illegal strikes rose democracy in the USSR Only the FSB (Falange Socialista from 1,000 to 38,000 in the past three Boliviana- Bolivian Socialist Pha­ years and there were signs of a deep­ By Candida Barberena and of having taken part in the al­ lanx, a rightist, pro-Brazilian party ening radicalization among the youth. legedly illegal Initiative Group for the based in the province of Santa Cruz, Political life was dominated by prepa­ Defense of Human Rights in the USSR, The Kremlin's open collaboration which borders Brazil) continued to rations for the December general elec­ which collected the signatures. He was with Washington, as registered in the support Banzer. tions, which were touted by U.S. im­ also charged for writing a letter in detente, cast a somber shadow on the During 1973 it became fully clear perialism as a model of "two-party 1968 to Komsomolskaya Pravda, enc struggle for proletarian democracy in that the Banzer government has failed democracy" for Latin America. titled "Lackeys and False Witnesses the Soviet Union during 1973. The to stabilize the situation in the most In order to gain some credibility for of Our Time," protesting against the witch-hunt, intensified in 1972 against volatile country in Latin America and their parliamentary maneuver, the injustices involved in the closed trial participants in the democratic oppo­ that the chronic crisis in Bolivia Venezuelan bourgeoisie had to permit of Aleksandr Ginzburg and Yuri threatens to erupt again in the near freer political activity than usual, and sition, continued throughout the past Galanskov in January 1968. year. The repression was directed to­ future in an acute form. in this situation a bloc made up of left (Ginzburg received a seven-year sen­ Next to the Chilean popular front, dissidents expelled from the Commu­ ward abolishing once and for all the tence and Galanskov a five-year sen­ the reformist junta in Peru has been nist party and of former guerrillaists network of underground writings- the tence in strict-regime labor camps for the Stalinist parties' brightest hope of tried to put forward a socialist alter­ samizdat- and silencing the flow of "anti-Soviet" activities, that is, for writ­ "peaceful change leading to socialism native in the elections. Their ticket uncensored and uncontrolled discus­ ing statements in defense of arrested in Latin America." won about 6 percent of the vote. sion. dissidents that were circulated in sam­ The campaign to obliterate the sa­ izdat. Galanskov died in November mizdat journal The Chronicle of Cur­ 1972 because of the harsh camp con­ rent Events succeeded to such a de­ ditions.) gree that none of the scheduled issues Plyushch answered by pointing was published in 1973. This result out that the defendants were slan­ may have been achieved at least par­ dered in the Soviet press and that only tially through the "hostage" tactic used in samizdat and samvydav (the by the political police (KGB). The Ukrainian term for underground writ­ KGB made it known that it had a ings) were the facts in the case avail­ list of the names of about thi.rty per­ able to Soviet citizens. KGB forensic sons who would be faced with imme­ medicine "specialists," including the no­ diate arrest if The Chronicle were to torious D. R. Lunts, diagnosed Profes­ reappear. sor Plyushch's case as one of "creep­ Issue No. 27, dated October 1972, ing schizophrenia with messianic and was the last number to be published. reformist ideas"- "la nouvellemaladie The journal had previously come out men tale"- politically known as the op­ fairly regularly every two months position. since April 1968. The turn of the year marked the fiftieth anniversary of the formal founding of the Union of Soviet So­ cialist Republics (December 30, 1922). While the bureaucracy was proclaim­ ing in commemorative articles and speeches that the nationalities problem Junta forces in Sept. 11 coup in the Soviet Union has been solved, events testified to the contrary. The Crimean Tatars utilized the cele­ ln its reformist experiments, the dem­ The Venezuelan Trotskyist organi­ bration to issue a new appeal to the agogic military regime has benefited zation, which grew rapidly in 1973, government and to the Communist from the uncritical support of almost forming itself into the PST (Partido party, demanding the right to return to their homeland in the Crimea. Dur­ all the left and even from prominent Socialista de los Trabajadores- So­ former guerrilla leaders like Hector cialist Workers party), gave critical ing World War II, Stalin deported the Bejar. Only small far-left groups, in­ support to the socialist alternative. Crimean Tatars en masse to Central cluding especially the Trotskyists led Asia, and abolished the Crimean Ta­ by Hugo Blanco, have opposed the In particular, the PST tried to offer tar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Re­ junta's claims to represent the interests a consistent program to the rB;dicali­ public, which had been established by of the exploited masses in Peru. zing elements drawn around the MAS the Bolsheviks in 1923. (Movimiento al Socialismo- Move­ The militant high-school teachers In January an official campaign was PYOTR SHELEST: Dumped from Ukrainian ment Toward Socialism) campaign movement, closely linked with the launched against two Kirgizian his­ party post for bending to nationalist senti­ and to combat the class-collaboration­ radicalizing youth, has given the "pro­ torians. Professors K. Nurbekov and ments of masses. ist theories of its centrist leaders, who gressive" junta its toughest opposition. R. Turgunbekov were charged with have now begun to move rather rapid­ "nationalism." In defiance of the government's class­ ly to the right. The opposition to Russification, collaborationist paternalism, it has In February, Vyacheslav Chorno­ In Brazil, the keystone of U. S. im­ waged an intransigent fight for recog­ which is the Stalinist solution to the vil, the Ukrainian journalist who first perialist policy in Latin America, the nition of its right to free collective nationalities problem, continued to be exposed the KGB witch-hunts and repressive military government appar­ bargaining. most marked in the Ukraine, the larg­ trials in the Ukraine in 1965-66, was ently retained firm control throughout The government succeeded in break­ est of the non-Russian republics. sentenced to seven years at hard la­ 1973, and there was little news of ing the teachers' strike in September Scattered reports of trials of Ukrain­ bor and five years exile by a court struggles within the country. However, ian dissidents, apprehended during a 1972 by heavy-handed repression, in­ in Lviv. Chornovil drew the wrath Intercontinental Press carried several 1972 crackdown, and reports of new cluding deportation of the union lead­ of the Kremlin bureaucrats in 1967 articles reporting the continued inter­ waves of arrests continued to make ers and of Hugo Blanco, who had for sending a letter and copies of docu­ national protests against the perma­ their way abroad throughout 1973. spoken out in defense of the union. ments to P. Yu. Shelest, then first sec­ nent repression on which the relative On January 30, by a decision of But within little more than a year, retary of the Communist party of "prosperity" in Brazil is based. the Kiev Provisional Court, Leonid in November 1973, the militant teach­ the Ukraine. The enclosures protested In all, despite the grave defeats of Plyushch, a mathematician and engin­ ~rs struck again, sparking a general closed trials of Ukrainian intellectuals. the workers movement in Uruguay eer at the Cybernetics Institute, was strt"ke in Arequipa, as well as other This collection was eventually pub­ and Chile, U.S. imperialism and its sent to a prison psychiatric hospital sy.rnp;athy walkouts that paralyzed lished in English under the title The native allies did not succeed in 1973 for an indefinite term of "treatment." m:..tch of southern Peru. Chornovil Papers. in making any clear progress toward Sentenced under Article 62 of In Colombia and Venezuela, con­ reversing the general radicalization in the Ukrainian Criminal Code ("agita­ An untiring champion of and ad­ servative bourgeois parliamentary re­ the Latin American region. And pro­ tion or propaganda carried on for herent to Lenin's principles of social­ gimes remained relatively stable cesses seemed to be developing in sev­ the purpose of subverting or weaken­ ism and nationalism, Chornovil once throughout 1973. However, the tem­ eral countries that could lead in 1974 ing Soviet power"), Plyushch was ac­ wrote to a Soviet official in the perature of working-class and student to important advances for the revo­ cused of having signed appeals to Ukraine: "I categorically state, con­ struggles rose, in Venezuela in particu­ lutionary organizations and the work­ the United Nations protesting the per­ trary to all illogical assertions ... lar. In both countries, conservative ers and peasants movements. secution of intellectuals in the USSR, Continued on following poge World Outlook W0/4

... Crackdown on struggle for democracy in USSR ConfinueJ from preceding page root of his downfall. While ensuring ticipated. viet Union conditional on the bureau­ that I have always firmly adhered to the implementation of the Kremlin's The Yakir-Krasin "confessions" were cracy taking steps to democratize So­ the principles of socialism and con­ policies calculated to Russify Ukrain­ calculated to conjure a picture of the viet society. Sakharov's mistaken con· tinue to do so. But not of that social­ ian educational, cultural, economic, defendants as the key figures in a for­ fidence in Wall Street's appreciation of ism that tries to regiment not merely and political institutions, Shelest, the eign-inspired anti-Sovietconspiratorial democracy contrasts with the position the actions but also the thoughts of Kremlin's chief errand boy, was com­ and subversive network. The two ac­ of Roy and Zhores Medvedev. They individuals. I cannot imagine true so­ pelled to render lip service to the mas­ tivists were made to "admit" to having do not go further than to contend that cialism without guaranteed democratic sive Ukrainian national pressure from over the long term improved relations freedoms, without the widest political below, present even within the local with Western imperialism would help and economic self-government of all party apparatus. This he attempted foster "socialist democratization" in the the cells of the state organism down to with his book 0 Ukraine, Our Soviet Soviet Union. Although the Med­ and including the smallest, without a Land, for which the bureaucracy con­ vedevs have acknowledged that so far real guarantee- and not merely a pa­ demned him, falling just short of at­ the detente has had the opposite effect, per one- of the rights of all nations taching to Shelest the label of "bour­ ultimately their hope for liberalization within a multinational state." geois nationalist" used by the Krem­ lies in "initiative from the top "-a view lin to designate its nationalist oppo­ shared by Sakharov and other mem­ nents, including left-wing critics of Rus­ bers of the Soviet elite intelligentsia sification, even those who base their who have directed their efforts toward criticisms on the writings of Lenin. trying to persuade the bureaucrats to It is evident that Trotsky's explana­ reform themselves. tion of the dynamics of the Ukrainian The official press attack launched nationalist movement retain the validi­ against Sakharov in August 1973 for ty in 1973 that they held in 1939: his apparent straying from the pre­ "Do the broad masses of the Ukrain­ cepts of Stalinist "peaceful coexistence" ian people wish to separate from the was extended to include Aleksandr I. USSR? It might at first sight appear I Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn is theN obel difficult to answer this question, in­ prize-winning novelist who has been asmuch as the Ukrainian people, like an outspoken critic ofStalinistmethods all other peoples in the USSR, are PYOTR GRIGORENKO: Will not renounce of rule. deprived of any opportunity to ex­ views. Solzhenitsyn has not only faced per­ press their will. But the very genesis of sonal intimidation and harassment, but the Kremlin's sudden decision last the totalitarian regime and its ever been merely self-seeking, paid agents year to join the Universal Copyright more brutal intensification, especially for anticommunist forces abroad. The Agreement (UCA) ostensibly "in keep­ in the Ukraine, are proof that the real real target of the trial was the demo­ ing with the current trend toward inter­ will of the Ukrainian masses is irrec­ cratic opposition movement itself. It oncilably hostile to the Soviet bureau­ national relaxation of tensions," was ALE.KSANDR GINZBURG: Got seven should be noted that the American cracy. There is no lack of evidence a direct threat to the continued publi­ years for defending political freedom. Communist party swallowed the re­ that one of the primary sources of this cantation reports without the slightest cation abroad of dissident literature hostility is the suppression of Ukrain­ signs of embarrassment, as was evi­ that is forbidden publication in the ian independence." Soviet Union. The provisions of the By the end of March it was clear dent in one lurid Daily World head­ UCA would in effect make the Krem­ that political persecution of opposition­ line, "Two on trial in Moscow admit lin the automatic copyright holder of ists had taken on new dimensions. ties with former Nazi killers:" The Soviet secret police conducted new According to recent reports both Y~­ arrests and trials, some prisoners kir and Krasin have now been set free. being resentenced, all behind closed In November it was reported that a doors. third prominent figure had recanted. In March, two other prominent The official Soviet news agency, TASS, Ukrainians, left-wing opponents of claimed that Ivan Dzyuba, a leading Russification, were sentenced. Ivan Ukrainian oppositionist, had re­ Svitlychny, a widely respected Ukrain­ nounced his views. Detained since ian literary critic, received seven years April 1972, Dzyuba was sentenced in in prison and five years exile. Yevhen mid-March to five years in prison. He Sverstyuk, a writer, was sentenced to is best known for his book Internation­ five years in prison. In 1952 Svit­ alism or Russification?, a Leninist cri­ lychny had opposed the limitations tique of the Russification policy cur­ of "socialist realism" set for writers by rently being carried out by the Krem­ official circles. Early in 1964 he was lin in the Ukraine and in other non­ dismissed from his post at the Taras Russian Soviet republics. Shevchenko Institute of Literature. Throughout the year reports con­ Svitlychny has also written the intro­ tinued to leak from sources inside the duction to a collection of documents on Soviet Union on the latest measures PYOTR YAKIR: 'Confessed' to being paid taken by Stalin's heirs to destroy Pyotr the closed trials of Ukrainian jurists in agent at show trial. 1961 (available in English in Ferment G. Grigorenko. A former Soviet army in the Ukraine). Yevhen Sverstyuk's general and a prominent figure of the main work is Cathedral in Scaffold, One of the major developments of opposition movement, Grigorenko has a series of essays in defense of a novel the year was the Kremlin's resurrec­ been undergoing compulsory psychiat­ by Ukrainian writer Oles Honchar. tion of yet another legacy of Stalin, ric treatment since 1970 because he The novel, Cathedral, was severely trial by "confession," the central feature dared to speak out in defense of ar­ of the notorious Moscow "show trials" rested dissidents and oppressed nation­ criticized by officials for its glorifica­ ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN: Kremlin re­ of 1936,38. alities in the Soviet Union and against tion of Ukrainian history. Sverstyuk sorts to copyright agreement to suppress In August, Pyotr Yakir and Viktor the bureaucracy's rule and its depar­ and Svitlychny were both arrested in his works. raids conducted in January 1972. Krasin, two prominent opposition ac­ tures from Leninism. The Kremlin's There were indications this year that tivists, were sentenced to three years determination to compel Grigorenko, the Ukraine party apparatus itself in prison and three years exile. Yakir by threat of physical destruction and was feeling the effects of the re­ is the son of Iona Yakir, a Soviet Ar­ indefinite confmement, to renounce his any published or unpublished manu­ surgence of nationalism. This was one my commander executed by Stalin in views have been of no avail. script by a Soviet writer, a convenient of the most vivid manifestations of 1937. Pyotr spent his childhood in While the Kremlin's continuing per­ tool to sever even further the dimin­ the contradictions inherent in the Stalin's prison camps and under po­ secution of proponents of proletarian ishing channels of communication br Kremlin's Russification policies and lice surveillance for being the son of democracy remained the focal point tween Soviet dissidents and the o\ltside Stalinist methods of bureaucratic rule. an "enemy of the people." Since the late of international attention in 1973, the world. Pyotr Y. Shelest was removed from 1960s he has been a prominent de­ possibility of the detente facilitating It will require the perseverance of the membership in the all-powerful Polit­ fender of arrested dissidents and an democratization was broached in So­ movement for proletarian democracy buro of the CPSU in April 1973 and opponent of "the revival of Stalinism," viet intellectual circles. For example in the Soviet Union together with soli­ dumped as head of the Ukrainian that is, the intensification of the re­ Soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov, a darity from revolutionists around the Communist party in May. pression. In 1969 he was instrumental critic of the bureaucracy's economic world to dispel any remaining illu­ The special pressures and problems in the formation of the Initiative Group and technological mismanagement, ar­ sions that democratization can be real­ flowing from Shelest's position as first for the Defense of Human Rights in gued that Western imperialism should ized in the USSR short of a political secretary in the Ukraine were at the the USSR in which Viktor Krasin par- make its economic detente with the So- revolution. W0/5

The Y.ear in review Detente and the Asian revolution

By Ernest Harsch achieved. The accords, which recognize main­ tenance of the Saigon puppet regime, The echoes of Nixon's 1972 trips also register the betrayal of the Viet­ to Moscow and Peking reverberated namese revolution by the bureaucrats well into 1973, setting the tone for a in Moscow and Peking. Should Hanoi flurry of meetings and conferences, and the Provisional Revolutionary agreements, and accords, all designed Government (PRG) of South Vietnam to stave off the advance of the Asian prove incapable of overcoming the revolution. "The object is control, the limitations imposed upon them by the enemy is the future," remarked Tom Soviet and Chinese Stalinists, the Engelhardt in the April9 Far Eastern Indochinese revolution would face a Economic Review. "The US Govern­ severe setback. ment today is using a new instrument The signing of the accords also had to do what empires have always done. immediate repercussions in the rest It is taking out an insuranc~ policy of Indochina. Before cease-fire agree­ against its own demise." And the ments could be concluded in Laos and bureaucrats in Moscow and Peking Cambodia, Washington sought to have agreed to help underwrite that soften up the insurgents through mas­ insurance. sive terror bombing. The year 1973 opened with the most In Laos, the moves toward a tem­ graphic example yet of the serious porary settlement went further than consequences that this arrangement in either Cambodia or South Vietnam. Vietnam accords, signed early last year, have not brought peace. can have on the maturation of the A cease-fire agreement was signed on Asian revolution. February 22, and by September 14 massive U.S. bombing and political the south posed too much of a threat an accord calling for a coalition pressure from Peking and Hanoi, no to Saigon. Using the accords as a An interview with Seksan Pra­ government, the Provisional Govern­ cease-fire has yet materialized there. cover, Washington gave Thieu free ment of National Union, had already In an interview in Algiers in Septem­ rein to _attack and weaken the PRG sertlcul, president of the Federa­ been concluded. The Laotian agree­ tion of Independent Students of ber, Prince N orodom Sihanouk positions. ment was much more favorable to the charged that Peking and Hanoi had Thailand, originally scheduled For liberation forces than was the agree­ The June 10 New York Times noted: stopped supplying materiel to the "Almost all of the 300 villages that the this issue, will appear in a future ment in South Vietnam: It recognized Khmer Rouge in the effort to live up the existence of the areas controlled Communists took over at the end of issue. to their obligations under the Pads by the Pathet Lao (about four fifths January, shortly before and just after accords. the peace agreement, have been re­ of the country) and gave them equal Washington, for its part, conceived After the signing of the Paris ac­ captured by South Vietnamese Gov­ representation in the national govern­ of the January .accords as a means cords pn January 27, declarations ernment troops." ment with the forces of the Vientiane of at least temporarily demobilizing about the "new era of peace" in Viet­ A report from Amnesty Internation­ administration. the Vietnamese masses. Its strategy nam- albeit with a slight undertone al in July observed that the CIA-or­ Also, in contrast to Cambodia and was twofold: of skepticism -blared over radios ganized Operation Phoenix, which was South Vietnam, the liberation forces First of all it had to stabilize the around the world. responsible for the assassination of in Laos appear to have stopped far highly vulnerable puppet regime in What the accords represented, if not more than 20,000 suspected cadres short of what they were capable of. In Saigon, which had survived only an end to the war, was an attempt January, Sot Pethrasy, the head of the of the National Liberation Front thanks to the Pentagon's massive air by washington to win through secret Pathet Lao office in Vientiane, said, (NLF), was still functioning: "Since and ground support The widespread diplomacy what it was unable to win "We do not want any splitting up of the January Ceasefire the Phoenix antiwar sentiment in the United States on the battlefield. In this respect, the Laos. Our unchanging position is that Program has continued in operation made support on that scale no longer failure of the U.S. imperialists to the Laotian problem must be resolved while being adjusted to the political possible. Washington thus needed a by peaceful means. We could take needs of the post-ceasefire period." bomb the Vietnamese into submission breathing space in which to strengthen over the entire country, but we are not In September Nixon threatened to was an important victory for the Viet­ the Saigon regime to the point that it renew the bombing of North Vietnam -namese people and, in the final doing so. This is proof of our good­ could defend imperialism's position in if the SAM-2 missile sites at Khe­ analysis, the world revolution- a vic- will." In this light, the Pathet Lao's Indochina without the presence of military actions were simply a way of sanh were not moved north of the 17th tory toward which the antiwar move­ U.S. pilots or ground troops. Parallel. In mid-October, amid Sai­ ment made a significant contribution. exerting pressure on the negotiations. This was ·what was behind the sec­ gon-inspired rumors of an impending But the ultimate goal of the Viet­ While the insurgent forces in Cam­ tions in the Paris accords legitimating North Vietnamese-PRG "offensive," namese revolution- the overthrow of bodia have come under an extreme the presence of U.S. "advisers" and the capitalism in the south-has yet to be amount of military pressure from the Thieu began to escalate his "defensive" resupply of weapons and munitions land-grabbing operations. By late No­ used in "defensive" operations. vember, this new counterrevolutionary From Saigon's-and Washington's offensive had already reached the -.viewpoint, it would have been folly stage where hundreds of bombing to release the 200,000 political prison­ missions were being flown over NLF­ ers being held in Thieu's jails. Any controlled areas by the Saigon air forces opposing Thieu, even those call­ force. ing themselves "neutralist," would tend The PRG issued an order October 15 to weaken the puppet regime. So the calling on its forces to defend them­ stifling of dissent is a matter of im­ selves against "acts of war and sabo­ portance to the White House. Fred tage" of the Paris accords. By Decem­ Branfman, an expert on South Viet­ ber the clashes between the liberation nam, recently told a U.S. congres­ forces and the puppet troops had sional committee: "While in Saigon, again reached a high pitch. Washing­ I learned that the political prisoner ton stationed the aircraft carrier problem has actually been increasing Midway off the coast of North Viet­ since the Paris Accords." nam, thus implying a renewal of the The second immediate aim of U.S. bombing of North Vietnam if the strife imperialism was to roll back the developed into a major threat to the gains made by the revolution in the Saigon regime. south. While Washington was willing This new imperialist aggression to accept, at least for the time being, would have been impossible without the existence of a workers state in the north, the continued control by the the acquiescence of Moscow and Victim of U.S. bombing in Cambodia, which continued after signing of accords. liberation forces of extensive areas in Continued on following page World ·outlOok W0/6

... 1973 in revieW: detente and the Asian revolution Continued lrom preceding page rangement that was also in the in­ served or not, Tokyo's military ac­ Baluchistan and the North West Fron­ Peking. The detente, rather than usher­ terests of Japanese imperialism, since tivity in Asia has been on the rise. In tier Province, who first raised demands ing in a "new era of peace," has served the U.S. military presence in the south early 1973, there were joint U. S.-Ja­ for greater autonomy, were met with to reassure the White House. helps protect Tokyo's investments panese and Japanese-South Korean a terror campaign on the part of the Throughout the course of the Vietnam there. naval exercises carried out in the Pa­ Bhutto regime. About. 80,000 Paki­ war, Washington watched very closely While .this series of agreements cific. stani soldiers were sent into the area, the responses of Moscow and Peking among the Stalinists and the imperial­ But can this fragile network of inter­ and the Baluchis, under the leadership to its aggressive moves. The renewal ists may help "stabilize" Asia to a cer­ linking agreements .successfully con­ of the bourgeois Natiopal Awami par­ of the bombing of North Vietnam, tain extent, Washington is still taking trol the Asian revolution? If the events ty, organized guerrilla bands in self­ then the bombing of Hanoi, then the additional military precautions to en­ of 1973 are any indication, the an- defense. Newspaper reports from Ba­ mining of Haiphong harbor, all sure its control in that region. swer is No. · luchistan describe the conflict as a posed challenges to the Soviet and A part of this military preparation is The greatest danger to the continued "mini civil-war." Chinese bureaucrats. Their criminal the arming and financing of Washing­ rule of the imperialists and their pup­ In March, President Marcos of the refusal to provide adequate aid to the ton 's proxies- the regimes in South pet regimes- a danger they are fully Philippines launched an offensive Vietnamese revolution made it Vietnam and Iran-which are mili­ aware of-comes not from their bick­ against the 3 million Muslims living possible for Washington to maintain tarily strong enough to intervene on ering over the spoils, but from the on the island of Mindanao. its beachhead in the south and to es­ their own in Washington's interests. struggles of the students, workers, and Nineteen seventy-three might also be calate its genocidal war on the Viet­ called the year of the Asian student namese people. revolt In October, student demonstra­ Thus, on the basis of the past per­ tions in Bangkok sparked an uprising formances of the Stalinists in Moscow by students and workers that over­ and Peking, Washington and Saigon threw the U. S.-backed military re­ felt secure in launching their current gime in Thailand. The same month offensive. And they had no reason saw the first demonstrations by South The willingness of the Soviet and Korean students since the imposition Chinese bureaucrats to collaborate of martial law there in 1971. with imperialism- and their ability to Much of the bourgeoiS news cover­ put pressure on liberation struggles­ age recognized the significance of these gives Washington much more flexibili­ events and pointed out the potential ty in its attempts to safeguarq, the sta­ danger they posed if students and tus quo in Asia. In particular, it opens workers in other Asian countries the possibility of reducing its visible should take up the example of the military presence in the area- a Thai and South Korean students. In­ course that is especially useful in help­ deed, the reverberations were soon felt ing to undercut the widespread senti­ in Indonesia and Malaysia, as well ment in the United States opposed to as in the student struggles in Greece military intervention in the affairs of that broke out in November. other countries. Such a "low profile" While the student actions in South stance would, of course, be accompa­ Korea have not yet led to the over­ nied by stepped-up military and finan­ throw . of the .Park regime, they have cial assistance to Washington's proxy won important concessions. In early regimes, and a readiness to intervene December, the much hated head of quickly in a more open way if de­ the Korean Central Intelligence Agen­ velopments prove too much for them cy (KCIA) was ousted and Park an­ to handle. nounced that KCIA agents would be Following the Paris accords, prepa­ removed from the campuses. rations were made to apply a similar The growing opposition to-Japanese strategy to the rest of Asia. This in­ Thai students' and workers' struggle, which toppled dictatorship, will have repercussions imperialism by Asian students is only volved a series of agreements and throughout Asia. one reflection of the problems that understandings among Washington,. Tokyo will face in the near future. Moscow, Peking, Tokyo, and the oth­ Japan's economic difficulties, whieh er regimes in the area. until November were chiefly charac­ When Leonid Brezhnev visited India In the past few years, the shah's re­ peasants. terized by skyrocketing inflation, were in November, he dropped a number of gime has emerged as one of the strong­ The severe famine that swept across increased as a result of the reduction references to a "collective security plan" est military powers in the Persian-Arab the Indian subcontinent during the in Arab oil' deliveries. Japan, which designed to safeguard the "indepen­ Gulf. More than 11,000 Iranian offi­ year has only added to. the continued gets 83 percent of its oil from· the dence" of Moscow's diplomatic allies cers have received training in instability of the region. Hunger riots, Arab East, is particularly vulnerable in Asia. While no formal agreements the . United States and abou.t 1,000 strikes, student protests, sporadic re­ to such a tactic. Some Japanese econo­ were announced, the thrust of Brezh­ U.S. ·military personnel are stationed bellions, all were part of the turbulent mists even predicted that Japan would nev's trip was obvious: to assure New in Iran. In early 1973, Washington political atmosphere. The struggles for face a severe recession as a result of Delhi of Moscow's aid in stabilizing and Tehran arranged the biggest self-determination by the numerous the reduction. Labor unrest, which was the Indian subcontinent and to single arms deal ever made by the oppressed nationalities in the subconti­ highlighted in April by a strike of strengthen Moscow's ties with the Pentagon: $2-3 thousand million, Part nent constantly raise the specter of a 3.5 million public service workers, Gandhi regime as a diplomatic lever of this military budget will go toward new Bangladesh: The Bengali-speak­ could only increase in such an eventu­ in Moscow's interbureaucratic dis­ the building of two giant military ing population of Assam state in India ality. putes with Peking. bases on the Indian Ocean, at Chah has agitated for greater autonomy, Whatever direction the events of Peking, for its part, has for years Bahar and Ja'Sk. The shah has al­ and the T~lugus iir Andhra Pradesh 1974 take, the struggle for socialist had diplomatic and trade agreements ready intervened militarily to help called for the division of that state. revolution will require fmn opposition with the regimes in Pakistan and Sri crush revolutionary activity in the oil­ The bourgeois-nationalist Awami not only against imperialism and its Lanka. In 1973 there were also signs fields of Oman and has announced his League regime in Bangladesh, which agents, but also against Moscow and of a possible rapprochement with New readiness to come to the aid of the was brought into power after the 1971 Peking. In some cases, this lesson has Delhi and Dacca- despite Peking's op­ Pakistani regime to aid its counter-' war of independence against Pakistan, already been drawn. An open letter position to the independence struggle insurgency actions against the rebels has resorted to imprisonment, assas­ by a group of ex-Naxalites (Maoists) of Bangladesh in 1971. In May, Pres­ in Baluchistan and the North West sination, intimidation, and fraud to in India is illustrative: "Moscow tells ident Marcos of the Philippines an­ Frontier Province. maintain its hold on the country. The us Indira Gandhi is a 'socialist' Tho'-' nounced that Chou En-lai had given In the Philippines, Washington has extreme poverty, the shortages of rice, sands of revolutionaries have hen him "assurances" that the token aid helped organize the Philippines In­ and the frustrated aspirations of the killed by this 'socialist' Peki•g tells from Peking to the Muslim rebels in ternal Security Program and trained freedom fighters are reflected in the us Bhutto is 'progressive.•· We know / Mindanao would cease. more than 10,000 police. U.S. increased criticism of and opposition how many workers died on the streets :Another outcome of the Washington­ "civilian" personnel are "advising" Mar­ to the Awami League. Both bourgeois of Karachi and how mattJ, still lan­ Peking detente has been the temporary cos in his war with the Muslim in­ and revolutionary currents have guish in prison! Both Mosc8,., and settlement of the diplomatic dispute surgents. emerged to challenge the regime of Peking tell us that Bandaranaike of over Korea in the United Nations. In May, the U. S. undersecretary of Mujibur Rahman. As Major Jalil, one Ceylon is an 'anti-imperialist' She or­

The compromise agreement between defense told a group of Japanese bus­ of the leaders of the liberation forces ganized the murder of 8,1000 comrades Park Chung Hee of South Korea and inessmen that Washington "expects Ja­ in 1971, stated early this year: "The in one month alone in 1971!" Kim Il Sung of North Korea in ef­ pan to deploy its Self-Defense Forces struggle ended too soon." Recognition of the true. nature of fect sanctioned the status quo overseas," and that the Japanese con- In Pakistan, the administration of Stalinism in its various forms is an and dropped all mention of Kim's pre­ 3titution "should be revised to enable Zulfikar Ali Bhutto again faces a pos­ important prerequisite for the forma­ vious demand for the withdrawal of the SDF to be so deployed." But wheth­ sible repetition of the Bangladesh ex­ tion of a revolutionary Marxist leader­ U.S. troops from the south-an ar- er all the legal niceties have been ob- perience. The Baluchis and Pathans in ship in Asia. Why did Nixon ditch ~operation Candor'? By LINDA JENNESS tions. The Post quoted one person as Nixon's Operation Candor is now in­ saying, "There are a lot of really nasty operative. comments about individuals." A few months ago, under intense Not only do the tapes sound like pressure from fellow Republicans to good cocktail party material but some­ "come clean," Nixon tnitiated Opera­ thing the American people ought to tion Candor. He agreed to release hear. What do "petty" political retribu­ his financial records, issue summaries tions include? Things like the order of some of the key presidential tapes to "get" Daniel Ellsberg? Does "em­ subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate barrassing language and attitudes" committee, and disclose White House mean racist slurs, or perhaps sexist material on the ITT and milk scan­ jokes? Are payoffs from the milk com­ dals. panies or tTT revealed on the tapes? That decision has now been "re-eval­ H so much damaging material is uated." The White House is offering contained in the summaries of seven two excuses for Nixon's retreat: the subpoenaed 'tapes, the effect of re­ fact that part of a subpoenaed tape leasing 500 tapes and documents could was played at a cocktail party, and be staggering. That's why Nixon has the request of the Senate Watergate decided to fight the Senate request at committee for more than 500 addi­ all costs. White House officials say tional tapes and documents. he will either ignore the request or The real reason for the retreat is tie up the decision in long court battles. that Operation Candor has already This latest decision by Nixon to Nixon has 're-evaluated' decision to release summaries of subpoenaed tapes. done Nixon more harm than good squash efforts to regain public support and disclosure of the tapes would be by being "honest" throws into ques­ disastrous. tion his promised disclosure of ma­ The new White House strategy, says my feeling is that ambiguity is better "Most of the public and news media terial about the ITT and milk scan­ the Washington Post, is "aimed less than conviction by 7 5 percent of the would read the transcripts and con­ dals. at regaining public support than American people. To me. that's a def­ clude that the President was involved Another factor in Nixon's decision avoiding the impeachment or forced inition of progress if we can show in a conspiracy," a White House to clam up was the public reaction resignation of the President." that." "source" told the Washington Post. to the first step in Operation Candor Talk of Nixon's guilt is not limited Even General Alexander Haig, Nix­ Another source said, "Any time you -the release of his financial records. to "the public." Two presidential aides on's chief of staff, has made pessimis­ play something back it's the impres­ Instead of "clearing the air," his finan­ who have consistently maintained that tic and cynical comments about the sions of the listener that count . . . cial statement showed that he had be­ Nixo_n was not involved in the con­ president's situation, reports the Post. you would almost have to have been come a millionaire iri office and paid spiracy to cover up Watergate, told He is "disillusioned," said one source. in the room at the time to judge . . . much lower taxes than the average the Post they are no longer "convinced." "He's gotten a real education and has something could be said tongue in working person,. Neither fact sits too And that's just one indication of seen some things he had trouble be­ cheek and be very funny, but if it well with the American people. the degenerating morale of the White lieving." was meant seriously it could be very The president was so bitter at the House staff. "Morale among the staff apparently damaging." press reaction to his financial dis­ One senior White Houseofficial, who is so low," continues the Post, "that It was also emphasized that the tapes closures that at one point he sarcas­ had argued . for public disclosure of senior presidential aides regularly joke contained "embarrassing language and tically asked if he would also be ex­ the tapes, said, "Even if the tapes are with both insiders and outsiders about attitudes" and that they show Nixon's pec~ed to "disrobe" in front ofthe press ambiguous on the question of the presi­ the deterioration of the Nixon Presi­ concern with "petty" political retribu- corps. dent's involvement in the cover-up, dency and its possible demise." How dairy owners butter up capitalist politicians One of the myths capitalist politicians and Senate races. Representative Wilbur Mills (D-Ark.) Just to make sure they had a foot are anxious to promote is that their For example, at tl1e same time the received $54,000 from the milk in­ in every door, the dairy corporations campaigns are financed by a flood of dairy owners were bribing the Nixon terests for his 1972 presidential bid. also contributed $2,000 to Alabama small contributions. To hear them administration, they were bestowing He even received some of this money Governor George Wallace; $13,000 to tell it, crumpled one and five dollar similar favors on the Democrats. after George McGovern won the Demo­ Senator Hubert Humphrey; and $750 bills from average people on the street More than $266,000 in milk money cratic_ nomination. Although never a to Senator Edmund Muskie. put them in office. went to Democrats in 1972 and 1973. serious contender for the presidency, But the Watergate revelations are The Los Angeles Times reports that Mills is chairman of the House Ways They also sent $5,000 to Senator proving to millions the reality of cam­ "many of the key positions in Congress and Means Committee and writes the Herman Talmadge (D-Ga.), a member paign fmancing: a handful of the su­ and state government are occupied by tax laws. As a _source close to the of the Senate Watergate committee; perrich bankroll the candidates of .the Democrats and the milk producers dairy industry told reporters, "It's not $9,100 to Senator Howard Baker (R­ Democratic and Republican parties. have not hesitated to deal generous­ the party. It's the power. And the Tenn.), another member of the Water­ The milk industry scandal is a case ly with them." votes." gate CQmmittee; and $25,000 to Sen­ in point. In 1971 the milk companies ator James Eastland (D-Miss.), chair­ donated $427,000 to President Nixon's man of the Senate Judiciary Committee. reelection campaign. In return, Nixon --"We're not, you know, trying to buy approved an enormous increase in anybody," says the press secretary of milk price support. That's one reason Associated Milk Producers, Inc. For the price of milk is up to 84 cents a not trying to buy anybody, they cer­ half gallon, almost double what it was tainly know how to put their money two years _ago. where it counts. The Federal Election Campaign Act Under pressure from public exposure of 1971 was supposed to fill in some of the ITT and milk scandals, among of the loopholes that allow the rich to others, eight corp

THE MIUTANT/JANUARV 11, 1974 13 ACtivists diSCUSS the Issues By HARRY RING should be completely independent wa~ed out when he found himself no loss in pay in order to provide It has been four years since the initial of the Democratic and Republican in a minority. At a subsequent meeting jobs for all. Other demands would steps were taken to launch Chicano parties. in Indiana, when a motion was intro­ speak to the special needs of women, political parties- La Raza Unida Gutierrez did not present his duced to scrap the present structure students, prisoners, and the "illegal -parties-in Texas and Colorado. "balance of power" strategy to the-con­ of the Congreso he simply adjourned aliens." Though still only small nuclei of vention. H he disagreed with those the meeting. Properly explained, such a program what could become real alternatives to arguing for an independent position, In Texas itself, leading activists com­ is understandable and reasonable. It the Democratic and Republican parties he did not say so in the floor plain that the decision-making struc­ provides solutions that could alleviate for the masses of Chicanos, the Texas discussion. ture of the state party is too narrow the racist oppression suffered by the and Colorado Raza Unida parties As the convention proceeded, it was and that party activists ·have difficulty Chicano people. have won impressive support when increasingly apparent that the great influencing the decision-making pro­ At the same time, a mobilization to serious election campaigns were majority of the participants, including cess. There is particular concern about fight for one or another of the mounted. In a number of small, pre­ most of the Texas delegation, favored this since the Texas party members demands pits people against the dominantly Chicano towns in South a!! independent stand, and this· was are by no means of one mind about government and helps them to under­ Texas, Raza Unida has won control approved by a virtually unanimous the political problems confronting the stand what la raza is up against. over the local governments and school vote. organization. boards. In the election period that followed, The political questions in dispute Blacks and labor Chicano activists in other> states Raza Unida in Texas and elsewhere among members and supporters of In addition to clear demands have tried to follow the Texas and did pursue an independent course. Raza Unida touch on very basic directed at all levels of the gov­ Colorado examples, but have not yet Since then, a recent trip to Texas by issues. ernment, Raza Unida will have to had the same degree Qf success. this reporter has indicated that if there convince Chicanos that even where As is inevitable in the formative is sentiment for making deals with Political program they are a minority it is in their in­ Some activists are concerned that terest to take the road of independent efforts to win a big vote in elections political action. mean watering down Raza Unida's H Chicanos unite in their own party political program. This, they contend, they set the example for similar action will lead to the party's being co-opted by Black people and by the labor into the system. movement. Black misleaders and There is no question that there are union bureaucrats to the contrary, Raza Unida organizers, particularly Black people and working people in in Texas, whose sights are pretty general have no more reason to stay much limited to the elections and who in the Democratic Party or switch to are willing,to· water down the party's the Republicans than do Chicanos. program in the quest for a big vote. If the Black community and the On the other side, there is what I labor movement followed Raza believe to be a certain sectarian . Unida's example, the two-party response among some activists in both system would be destroyed, paving Texas and Colorado to what they see the way for a government of working as a drift toward purely electoral people, Blacks, and Chicanos to re­ politics. The question is even raised place the government of the bankers as to whether it is worthwhile or even and bosses. correct to run in elections. It seems to me that serious partici­ Year-round activity pation in elections is essential to It is also necessary to develop a realize the potential ofthe Raza Unida perspective of year-round activity for parties as parties with mass support the party. In many areas activity Militant/Harry Ring in the ChiCaJlO community. Most tends to cease or drop off after election Jose Angel Gutierrez (left) and Corky Gonzales at 1972 Raza Unida convention. Chicanos still pull the lever for Dem­ day. This seriously hampers the Gonzales led forces committed to independence from Democrats and Republicans. ocrats or Republicans. Raza Unida growth of the party and bolsters th-e Gutierrez had earlier proposed strategy that would have opened ~oor to supporting won't win them over without con­ notion that, like the Republicans and certain candidates of capitalist parties. · fronting these parties in the elections, Democrats, Raza Unida is interested explaining to all who will listen why only in winning votes. these parties provide no real solutions There are local, state, national, and stage of such parties, a process of either of the major parties-it is not to the oppression of the Chicano international political issues all year political differentiation is taking place, visible. In discussions with party people. long-issues to which the party marked by questioning, discussion, activists and leaders, the position of Such participation in elections by no should relate. There are campaigps and debate. independence from and opposition to means makes it inevitable that the around specific issues that can be or­ Initially, discussion focused mainly the Democratic and Republican parties parties will degenerate into Chicano ganized. around the question of Raza Unida's seemed to be taken for granted. counterparts of the two major parties. There are marches, demonstrations, attitude toward the Democratic and The key to avoiding that pitfall is rallies, and other activities in the Republican parties. Some leaders and maintaining a course independent of streets that Raza Unida can lead or activists insisted on the need for a New disputes and in opposition to the Democratic help build. Support to the current clear stand of independence from the But since the El Paso convention and Republican parties. It is necessary struggle of the United Farm Workers two parties. Others were not so clear, new disputes have developed. Not all to explain clearly and unambiguously is an obvious example. And there favoring leaving the door ajar for of them have been fully developed or that both major parties are representa­ certainly is no end to the educational supporting Mexican-American candi­ clearly defined; some are obscured by tives of the racist social system re­ activity that the party can conduct for dates, or other "good" or "lesser evil" arguments around organizational sponsible for the oppression of la raza, members and supporters. nominees of the two capitalist parties. issues and lesser political questions. and that the Chicano people can im­ Such a program of rounded political This question was very much To some activists the present politi­ prove their lot only by opposing both activity with the goal of mobilizing present at the rrrst r;tational convention cal dispute within the party seems to parties. of La Raza Unida parties in El Paso come down to an antagonism and At· the same time, it is necessary to in September 1972. But only one of power struggle between the Texas and advance demands that correspond to the two conflicting positions on the Colorado parties - or, more con­ the needs and interests of the Chicano question was clearly put forward, and cretely, between Jose Angel Gutierrez people. Such demands must be com­ the issue was not fully clarified for and Corky Gonzales. But this is, I prehensible to the community and many of the participants. think, a serious oversimplification. · must also develop popular conscious­ The Colorado delegation, led by The Colorado party has generally ness in the direction of more basic Corky Gonzales, took a firm line of taken more radical positions than the solutions. opposition to the Democratic and Re­ principal leaders of the Texas party, Central to such a program is the publican parties. Within the Texas · and they have pressed vigorously for concept of Chicano control of the Chi­ delegation there was a certain ambi­ their point of view. cano community - control of the guity on the question. They have charged that Gutierrez schools, health facilities, and other Jose Angel Gutierrez, leader of the has bureaucratically abused his posi­ institutions affecting the lives of the Crystal City party, had written an tion as chairman of the Congreso de people. article shortly before the convention Aztlan, the leadership body set up at A rounded program would also outlining a "balance of power" strategy the El Paso gathering, and that he has highlight demands aimed at allevi­ that could open ·the door to supporting thwarted a democratic resolution of ating the economic exploitation of Chi­ candidates of one of the major parties disputed issues. cano workers, the overwhelming ma­ against the other as a means of gain­ That there is substance to these jority of the Chicano population. ing concessions. charges is comrrmed by Raza Unida For example, such a program activists in California and elsewhere would demand preferential hiring for Independence who do not consider themselves in full Chicanos to make up for past and In the convention discussion, the political agreement with the Colorado present discrimination, cost-of-living Colorado delegation and others party. escalator clauses to keep wages and One issue now being discussed in Raza argued that Raza Unida should not At a meeting of the Congreso in Al­ social services abreast of rising Unida is relationship between oppression support Nixon or McGovern and buquerque, it is charged, Gutierrez prices, and a shorter workweek with of Chicanos and capitalist system •

...... ,"', facing Raza Unida parties the masses of la raza would ensure Party is to make a meaningful con­ that the party is a genuine alternative tribution to advancing the cause of to the Democratic and Republican Chicano liberation, it cannot · avoid parties. the question of capitalism and the need to struggle against it. Gutierrez, however, apparently The system would Uke to avoid the question, pre­ Another issue around which discus­ ferring that those who think this way sion is now developing is how Raza should simply go away. Let the Unida should relate to "the system" radicals join one of the existing social­ and to the role of U.S. imperialism. ist parties, he declares, or build one of In Colorado, and among some in their own. He does not state where or T.exas and elsewhere, there is a grow­ when it was determined that there was ing consciousness that the party must no place in Raza Unida for those who stand in solidarity with the other anti­ feel that the party must consider the imperialist forces in the Americas. ideas of socialists, or where it was set They consider it urgent that the party down that the party ranks should not develop ties with the Puerto Rican in­ have the opportunity to consider the dependence movement and . with matter. militants in Mexico and in other Latin It would be a mistake, however, to American countries. assume that Gutierrez is speaking for Leading members of the Colorado the entire movement in Texas when he In addition to running in elections, activity such as support to the Farm Workers party also now believe that Raza presents such views. can provide focus for Raza Unida parties. Unida must recognize that capitalism is responsible for the oppression of the Ramon Chacon Chicano, and that a social revolution At the same time, · Pena feels there The Raza Unida Party, he argues, For example, at the Chicano move­ will be necessary to win liberation. must be full democracy within the must have an anticapitalist program, ment school Colegio Jacinto Trevino These views were put forward at a party and room for all those who "or the Texas liberals will.take it over." in Mercedes, I talked with Ramon conference sponsored by the Colorado want to build the party. "Part of the "My idea," he said, "is that we Chac6n, a leading faculty member. Raza Unida Party in Denver last price of this," he observed, "is that shouldn't' concentrate on elections. The Chac6n said that he and others at August. They have been publicized in you're going to get some of the kind partido should have people running. Jacinto Trevino did not support either the Denver Crusade for Justice paper, of politics that you don't necessarily But the main emphasis should be on side in what they see as a power fight El Gallo. want.. That's another dilemma for the educating our people. If you compete between Gutierrez and Corky Gon­ The paper has also carried an open party." within the system to get votes, you're zales. letter from Jose Calderon, state chair­ Pena says that the party is still in in a bind. You have to modify your He believes the movement has a man of the Colorado party. It the stage of development "where it is views." good deal to learn from Gutierrez in included a blistering attack on Jose not ready to go beyond electoral La Raza Unida, Cantu said, "can't terms of building La Raza Unida. Angel Gutierrez, scoring the manner politics at this point." just appeal to those who vote. There Corky, he says, has been a symbol in which he has functioned as chair­ At the same time, he said, he is con­ are the immigrants, the people in jail, for many young people in the move­ man of the Congreso de Azthin. fident that as activists participate in the people who aren't citizens. ment; but, he said, many feel that the political process and as the nature "I feel very strongly," he continued, Gonzales has not clearly enough de­ of the oppression of the Chicano be­ "that the legislatures, the laws, the fined and communicated his political comes more apparent, the level of courts won't solve our problems. It positions and perspectives. awareness will grow. has to be done in the streets, through The people at Jacinto· Treviiio are "It's going slower than I would like," confrontation, through masses of very much absorbed with the political he said, "but I'm· optimistic enough people." questions confronting the party, and to think that in the future- in the La Raza Unida Party, Cantu said, their reading and discussion focus on near future-we'll be at a higher should be "an educational party, a many of the basic questions. level." revolutionary party, not just an elec­ Chac6n believes that one of the Pena is also convinced Raza Unida toral party. We must deal with the problems is that people like the can only grow on the basis of sup­ issues' even if it means losing sup­ activists at Jacinto Treviiio do not porting and helping to develop the . port. We can't afford in these critical have a sufficient voice in the party. nationalist consciousness of the times to compromise on 'issues." The school is now planning a sub­ Chicano people. stantial expansion, and he hopes this "There's no question in my mind," Discussion needed will make it possible for them to have he said, "that we have · to be These and other talks with Raza a greater voice in determining the nationalistic. I know the Blacks have Unida members and suppqrters in political course of the movement. Militant/John Gray problems, I know that the IndiaDII Texas and Los· Angeles indicate that To achieve 'Chicano Power' Raza Unida have problems. And I will support many activists are in the process of parties have raised key demand for Chi­ Alberto Pena Ill - them in any way I can. But my thinking through the disputed ques­ priority is the Chicano." tions. Many do not consider them­ cano control of Chicano community. Within the leadership of tb,e Texas selves to be in agreement with any party there are individuals who want Some day, he continued, he hopes the different movements will get to­ particular grouping in the party. Gutierrez responded in an interview to work in a practical way to build gether and work in a united way. A democratic, reasoned discussion in the Oct. 20 Chicano Times, the party and at the same time to see "But we're not really organized yet of the issues can only contribute to the published in San Antonio. He also it move closer to the perspective ourselves. What kind of coalition can further development of the Raza wrote an open letter that appeared in of seeking basic social change. you have if the respective units in it Unida parties. the November-December issue of La One of these is Alberto Pena III, an aren't organized?' Gente, a Chicano student publication early member of the party and a at the University of California at Los lawyer associated with Ramsey Muniz. Angeles. Peiia will be out campaigning for Mario Cantu In essence, Gutierrez argues that the Muniz iii the '74 Texas governor's One person who expresses strong party should stick to campaigning race. criticism of the policies of the Texas Readings on around immediate issues, put aside "I think," Peiia said in a recent inter­ Raza Unida leadership is Mario questions of ideology, and stay away view, rwe're wasting our time if we're Cantu of San Antonio. Cantu does not from international concerns. just another Republican or Demo­ hold formal membership in the party. Chicano Chile, Cuba, Africa, may be impor­ cratic party, only one that's controlled He explains that as a former convict tant, he asserts, "but our people com­ by mexicanos. he cannot vote in elections or hold Liberation prehend little of this. They want relief "I think we're going to have to come office within a party like Raza Unida BERT CORONA HABLA del partido de here and now." to grips with this," he said. "I firmly that is recognized by the state of Texas Ia Raza Unida y del Alarma en Conta If these questions are, as Gutierrez believe that it's time we get down and as a legal party. Further, he indicates, de los "lllegales", $.35 cori•edes, important and if he is have a family talk. We have to formu­ the party is so structured that there is BERT CORONA SPEAKS on La Raza correct in his assertion that the masses late where we're going. no real opportunity to win a hearing Unida Party and the "Illegal Alien" do not comprehend them, the question "If we're not going to be different for dissident views. Scare, $.35 for a serious political party is how to from the Democrats and Republicans, Cantu feels .he has much in common CHICANAS SPEAK OUT, Women: New contribute to the process of helping I'd just pull out. I don't want to be with the Colorado party. He is con-· Voice of La Raza by Mirta Vidal, $.35 the masseP. come to understand them. wasting my time. vinced that capitalism is the root CHICANO LIBERATION AND REVOLU­ This a;~estion Gutierrez simply skips "Quite frankly," Peiia continued, "I'm source of the oppression of the Chi­ TIONARY YOUTH by Mirta Vidal, $.35 o~~

THE MIUTANT/JANUARY 11, 1974 .-15 3,500 attend special congress of By NORMAN OLWER BUENOS AIRES- The largest gath­ ering of Trotskyists ever held in Latin America took place here Dec. 15-16. The event was the special congress of the Partido Socialista de los Traba­ jadores (PST- Socialist Workers Par­ ty) of Argentina, which was attended by 3, 500 people. The 371 delegates to the convention were elected from PST branches in every major city in Argentina on the basis of one delegate for every 10 full members of the organization. The convention was noteworthy for the impressive number of worker-mili­ tants, women, and youth who par­ ticipated. A 61-year-old member of the PST's executive committee said, "I've seen more than 100 trade union and political congresses and they've been mostly older men. Here it is youth and women who predominate." Also present were invited guests from An impressive number of worker-militants, women, and youth from throughout Argentina participated in PST convention .. Uruguay, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, exiles from Chile, and representatives from the Socialist Workers Party and Young Socialist Alliance in the United groups in the past had pretensions bosses, whose mission is to sidetrack the stork bringing babies. The work­ States. Greetings were read from that they had launched a revolution­ them from the road of struggle for ers did resist and fight back, but their Trotskyist organizations in Australia, ary party. All turned out to be fail­ their demands. struggles were leaderless and disor­ Venezuela, and Peru. ures. So when the PST was launched "We refused to meet with Per6n. Un­ ganized. The indispensable element for At the beginning of the congress a year and a half ago, its claims like other tendencies on the left, we victory was lacking-the presence of the delegates elected an honorary pre­ were modest, though its aims were don't talk behind closed doors with a revolutionary party implanted in the siding committee composed of Tulio great. the enemies of the working class. We masses." Cardoso, an exiled Brazilian student "However," Coral went on, "our work went alone against the stream. Our In its fall election campaign the PST leader and one of the founders of the in the last 18 months, culminating in sole point of reference was the needs gave priority to building a solidarity -Trotskyist Grupo Punto de Partida this congress, shows that we were not of the class struggle. That is the only campaign for the Chilean workers and (Starting-point Group), murdered by the victims of a romantic myth, but road for revolutionaries to take." Here peasants. It helped organize a number the Chilean junta; Luis Vitale, noted have made much progress in build­ Coral was interrupted by several min­ of significant demonstrations against Marxist scholar imprisoned in Chile; ing the revolutionary party of the utes of applause and chants. the coup. Mateo Fossa, a veteran Argentine Argentine working class. As a result of its election campaigns The PST was the only party in Ar­ unionist who joined the PST shortly "We have done so under conditions and participation in the workers' strug­ gentina to denounce Per6n as an ac­ before his death this year; James P. of considerable difficulty-the popu­ gles, the PST has grown significantly. complice of the Chilean butchers for Cannon, national chairman emeritus larity of Per6n; the economic offensive It now has 60 headquarters. Despite closing the doors of Argentina to refu­ of the Socialist Workers Party; Hugo of the bosses; the 'Great National the landslide support for Per6n in the gees. Of those who dJd manage to Blanco, the Peruvian peasant leader Agreement' of class collaboration; and September elections, the PST received get into the country, Per6n exiled the now exiled in Sweden; and two veter­ the hostile criticism of the reformists, 190,000 votes, more than double its Chileans to a remote area in northern ans of Argentine Trotskyism. sectarians, and ultralefts. vote in the March elections. Argentina and deported refugees from A proposal from the delegates to "The latter condemned us for parti­ other countries. include the entire Chilean working cipating in the first elections, from Lessons of Chile Coral ended by saying that the new class in the honorary presidium was which they abstained. But we said In his address Coral also spoke political situation in Argentina pro­ also adopted. we are not going to put the party of the recent coup in Chile. He said_ vides an "opportunity to train and pre­ at the service of the elections, but the the tragic defeat of the Chilean work­ pare our cadres for the next large­ Growth of PST elections at the service of the party ers was the latest catastrophe of re~ scale upsurge of the working class, The opening address to the congress to promote the struggles of the formist policy. which the PST must get into a posi­ was given by Juan Carlos Coral, pres­ workers." The Communist Party in Chile, he tion to lead." idential candidate of the PST in both Coral continued, "Our candidates and said, "told the workers socialism could the March and September elections last comrades went to all the factories to be achieved along the peaceful, par­ Fourth _International year. tell the truth to the workers. We told liamentary road. This was like the The central theme of the rest of the Coral said that congresses of many them that _Per6n is an agent of the fair~ tale parents tell children about congress was, like Coral's speech, internationalism. The main questions taken up were the issues facing the upcoming world congress of the Fourth International, the world Trotskyist organization. The reports and discussions showed that the PST delegates were well­ informed about the issues under debate. There were reports and dis­ cussions on the current world political situation, . the strategy for building revolutionary parties in Europe, and a balance sheet of the developments in Bolivia and Argentina since 1969. All the reports were adopted unanimously, with no abstentions. The cong{ess voted to send a full dele­ gation to the world congress of the Fourth International to put forward the .PST's views on the questions on the agenda. The reporter on the present situa­ tion in Argentina and the tasks of the PST stated that the prerevolutiona•Y situation inaugurated by the Co:rdo­ bazo (a mass uprising in cordoba) in 1969 ended with the consolidation of the Peronist regime after the second election last year. The relationship between thC. capital­ ist government and the wor~}ng masses has changed. During the mili­ tary dictatorships of Ongania and Lanusse the bourgeoisie was divided and its regime was opposed by 90 Avanzada Sacialista percent of the population. Juan Carlos Coral, recent PST presidential candidate, addresses opening session. Banner reads: 'For the construction of the Today the capitalist class is united mass revolutionary workers party for achieving a workers and popular government and a socialist Argentina.' in support of Per6n. At this time, the

16 Argentine Trotskyists Black overwhelming majority of the working organize and act and where revolu­ tions changed their tune and wound class has been deluded into support tionary socialists can speak freely. up giving either open or backhanded of Per6n. The middle class as well While there are scattered acts of re­ support to Per6n. activist looks to Per6n for a solution to its pression by the police and goons at The Partido Revolucionario de los problems. the service of the union bureaucracy, Trabajadores - Ejercito Revoluciona­ The new stage in Argentina is at this stage Per6n's government is rio del Pueblo (PR T-ERP- Revolution­ fights characterized by the PST as one of a relying on maneuvers with the work­ ary Workers Party - Revolutionary precarious relative stabilization for the ing class for the. benefit of the bosses. Army of the People), a leading guer­ bourgeois regime. However, Per6n's The regime has, under fire, granted rillaist group, has succumbed to the extradition coming to power has also set small economic concessions to the pressure of left Peronism by joining into motion a dynamic that will under­ workers. and playing a leading role in the mine this stabilization. The PST and the JSA form the only Frente Anti-Imperialista para el from Ore. The expectations of the Argentine tendency on the left that has under­ Socialismo (FAS- Anti-Imperialist By STACEY SEIGLE working class and other exploited and stood and taken advantage of these Front for Socialism). PORTLAND-Ronnie Williams is a oppressed layers have risen tre­ contradictions of the Peronist policy. The F AS is a left-nationalist and 27 -year-old Black activist fighting to mendously. They expect the new Their a.im is to promote and lead a populist formation with a class-col­ prevent his extradition from Oregon government to reduce and eliminate break of the working class away from laborationist perspective. It is moving to Alabama. the social evils that plagued them Peronism and toward independent toward unity with a popular•front In 1972, Williams was convicted of under Ongania and Lanusse. The working class struggle, both in the formation backed by the CP. assaulting a police officer with a dead­ Peronist regime is incapable of doing factories and in the political arena. Moreno observed that the prospects ly weapon in Birmingham, Ala. The this because it is a capitalist govern­ for future growth of the PST were charge stemmed from 1970, when Wil­ ment. It is based on the power and Erroneous positions good if it continued to link itself with liams and some friends were shot at interests of the capitalist class, which In a closing speech to the congress, the workers in the fight against Peron­ by police while trying to help a Black contradict the needs of the great N ahuel Moreno, general secretary of ist policies and the trade-union woman fight an illegal eviction notice. the PST, contrasted the PST's analysis bureaucracy. The presence of hun­ The cops wounded Williams in the of Peronism to the erroneous positions dreds of worker-militants at the neck and then arrested him for in­ taken by other tendencies on the left. congress attested to the PST's success terfering with an officer. He recalled how the PST had been in doing this. The charge was subsequently severely criticized by the rest of the changed to attempted murder, but then left for taking advantage of the op­ Worker delegations reduced to assault. In June 1973, after portunity to operate legally- some­ Working class militants throughout his last appeal had failed and he was thing that all gi'OUps now do, the country were invited to attend the scheduled to begin serving his sentence, including the ultralefts and even guer­ congress, and many did so. Repre­ Williams left Alabama and went to rilla organizations. sented by delegates to the congress Oregon. Because of his activity against During the March elections the ultra­ were factories in Tucuman and, from police brutality, Williams was con­ lefts raised the slogan "Neither coup Mendoza, the building trades, steel vinced "I would never have gotten out nor election- revolution!" However, workers, auto workers, insurance of jail alive." elections were held and no amount of union, newspaper union, and postal In an interview with The Militant, shouting otherwise by the ultraleft and union. Williams explained that he had played guerrilla groups could alter that fact. Also among the guests introduced to a prominent role in exposing 23 cases The PST participated in the two the convention were a steel worker in which Birmingham police murdered national elections to provide an from Tucuman, whose fellow workers Blacks in 1970. The cops were acquit­ independent working-class political raised the money for his transporta­ ted on grounds of "justifiable homi­ choice to the Argentine people. tion on the condition that he report cide." Moreno explained how the Commu­ back to them; the president of the A broad public campaign is now nist Party had earlier termed Per6n student center of the Catholic being waged to convince Oregon Gov­ Nahuel Moreno, general secretary of the a fascist and later, when they saw University now on strike in Tucuman; ernor Tom McCall to deny Alabama's PST, contrasted PST' s opposition to Peron­ Per6n was going to win, switched to two members of an opposition faction extradition request. The campaign ism to adaptation by other left groups. support for Per6n and his capitalist in Chrysler; a militant from the centers on the atrocious conditions in government. The CP, in its search for C6rdoba auto union SITRAC­ the Alabama jails, to which Williams a "revolutionary" general representing SITRAM; two workers who led a vic­ would be subject if he returned, as torious strike at Perkins Truck Fac­ masses of the Argentine people. the "progressive bourgeoisie," has now well as the blatant efforts by Birming­ tory in C6rdoba; a bank worker from Per6n, through his "Social Pact," ha'S found him in Per6n. ham's racist officials to stop Williams's Mendoza; and the entire internal com- asked for and received from the trade In the second elections not only the political activity. union bureaucracy a two-year pledge CP but some of the ultraleft organiza- Continued on page 20 At least 19 people died in Alabama of "social peace," in which the working prisons in 1973. An affidavit from the class is supposed to sit back and ac­ American Civil Liberties Union, which cept without complaint or protest was submitted to McCall in Williams's every measure taken by the govern­ behalf, presents gruesome evidence of ment. Per6n has already imposed prison conditions in the state. The wage controls and other austerity affidavit quotes a U.S. district court measures on the workers. judge who outlined the case of a"... Despite the Peronist domination of quadriplegic who had spent many the labor organizations, many work­ months [in a diagnostic center] suf­ ers cannot and will not wait two years, fering from bedsores which had de­ and have been taking action for an veloped into open wounds because of improvement in their livingconditions. lack of care and which eventually During the week the PST convention became infested with maggots. Days took place, there were two factory oc­ would pass without hisbandagesbeing cupations in Buenos Aires. While such changed until the stench pervaded the struggles are usually around economic entire ward. The records show that in demands, they tend to become politi­ the months before his death he was cized due to the "Social Pact" and other bathed and his dressings were changed forms of government intervention into only once." the economy. On Jan. 8 Governor McCall is to Some of the most important strug­ hear evidence presented by Williams's gles today are undertaken by the stu­ attorney against extradition. Dozens dents. In the high schools, where of affidavits have been sent from Ala­ Peronist domination is weaker, these bama as part of the evidence, including struggles have often been led by the statements by Birmingham city of­ Juventud Socialista de Avanzada (JSA ficials with whom Williams worked ~Socialist Youth Vanguard). in the fight against police brutality. The PST and JSA's proletarian Hundreds of letters have been re­ internationalism and uncompromising ceived by McCall demanding that he opposition to class-collaborationism allow Williams to remain in Oregon. make them a ~trong pole of attraction Such groups as the Women's Auxil­ for revolutionary-lt'inded youth. The iary of the InternaUonal Longshore­ JSA, a sympathi7fug youth organiza­ men's and Warehousemen's Union, the tion of the _t;·ourth International, is Urban League, and the Oregon State rapidly _'t-.::coming the largest Marxist Democratic Party Central Committee you_t1 group in Argentina. have all made appeals. The outcome of all these struggles Letters on behalf of Williams's right will be of great importance for the to remain in Oregon should be sent rest of Latin America. Argentina, fol­ to Governor Tom McCall, State Street, lowing the defeats of the working class Salem, Ore. 97301. Copies should be in Chile and Uruguay, is one of the Avanzada Socialista sent to the Committee to Defend Ronnie few Latin American countries today Chants of 'Workers fight, workers to power!' filled convention hall. Banner reads: Williams, 2247 N. W. Irving, Portland, where the workers have the right to 'For building the party of world revolution.' Ore. 97210.

THE MILITANT/JANUARY 11, 1974 17 HISTORY OF THE LEFT OPPOSITION THE SOVIET EGO Second ol a series "We must smash the kulaks, elimi­ By DAVE FRANKEL nate them as a class .... We must The New Economic Policy (NEP) was strike at the kulaks so hard as to formulated by the Bolshevik Party un­ prevent them from rising to their feet der Lenin in 1921 as a means of again.... " reviving the Soviet economy -after the In May 1928 Stalin had insisted destruction and famine of the civil that the "expropriation of kulaks war years-through limited reintro­ would be folly." Now he asked: "Can duction of the free market. we permit the expropriation of the ku­ The basic idea of the NEP was for laks... ? A ridiculous question.... the Soviet state to maintain control You do not lament the loss of the hair of the "commanding heights" of the of one who has been beheaded.... economy, while utilizing the market We must break down the resistance of to reestablish the link between the towns that class in open battle." and the peasant economy. The peas­ While the proportion of collective antry was to sell its grain, voluntar­ farms rose in 1929 from 1. 7 to 3. 9 ily in return for industrial products percent, in 1930 it went up to 23.6 it co~ld buy on the market. percent, in 1931 to 52.7 percent, and From 1923 to 1928 the Left Op­ in 1932 it reached 61.5 percent. These Stalin inspecting a limousine at the Stalin Automobile Works in Moscow. Privileges position explained that for the NEP collectives were organized by admini­ of bureaucracy were greatly expanded under his rule. to work it was necessary to develop strative fiat, at enormous human and industry while encouraging the grad­ economic cost. ual collectivization of agriculture. N e­ In 1929 Russia had 34 million .ing class. By 1932 the real average glect of industrialization would result Disaster in agriculture horses. Only 16.6 million were left in wage was at most orily half of what it in a lack of manufactured goods and With rio political and economic prep­ i 933. Forty-five percent of large cattle had been in 1928. While the urban a new breakdown in relations between aration, Stalin's "offensive against the and two-thirds of all sheep and goats population nearly doubled during the the town and country. Neglect of col­ kulak" became in reality an offensive were also slaughtered. 1930s, the output of clothing and foot­ lectivization and of the organization against the peasantry as a whole. Even Hunger stalked the Soviet Union wear was stationary or declined be­ of the mass of middle and poor peas­ in 1928, the "emergency" measures os­ throughout the 1930s. During the en­ tween 1928 and 1935. New building ants would result in the consolidation ten"sibly directed against the kulaks tire decade grain production failed to provided no more than an average of of a new class of rural petty capital­ had actually affected most of the peas­ exceed the 1913 level, and was often four square yards per new town­ ists, which would come to control the antry. below it. In 1932 and 1933 there was dweller. bulk of agricultural goods available Mikoyan, one of Stalin's supporters actual starvation in the peasant vil­ Unbearable working conditions for the market and would eventually in the Politburo, wrote in Pravda in lages. caused a sharp decline in labor pro­ challenge the Soviet power. February 1928, "The main mass ofthe Amidst this famine Pravda felt free ductivity and in the quality of products. grain surpluses was in the hands of to assure its readers that "the agri­ The average productivitY of labor fell Both of these predictions were borne middle peasants, who were often in no cultural economy of the Soviet Union 11.7 percent in 1931. out in full in 1928. Having failed hurry to sell if they could not buy the has become absolutely entrenched on By the end of 1932oneday'sabsence to foresee the crisis, having wasted equivalent quantity of manufactured the road to socialism." Stalin insisted from work was grounds for dismissal. five years, Stalin attempted to resolve goods which they wanted, or if they that the "liquidation" of the kulaks, To accelerate production, the hated it by administrative measures and the were not driven to do it by the need "the last capitalist class," was ensuring piece-work system was reintroduced. use of force. "It would be laughable to pay their debts to the state or the the advent of the classless society. That is, workers were paid for the to hope now that grain can be got cooperatives." amount they produced rather than for Adventurism in industry the amount of time worked. In the meantime, the economic adven­ In August 1932 Izvestia published turism begun in the agricultural sphere a decree imposing the death penalty was not long in making its appearance for those who stole "socialist" property: in industry. Another measure to maintain labor Large-scale farming of the type en­ discipline was the imposition of the visioned in the collectivization plan internal passport system in December required modern machinery, yet in 1932. 1929 more than 4.1 million wooden Supplementing the bureaucratic whip plows were still in use in Soviet was the use of material incentives in agriculture. Less than 35,000 tr~ctors the form of sharp wage differentials were in use, and they provided only and special privileges for "model" 2.8 percent of the motor power needed workers. The extension of wage dif­ for Soviet farms. ferentials among ordinary workers In April 1929 Stalin, taking a leaf served as a cover for a huge expansion from the program of the Left Opposi­ in the size and privileges of the bu­ tion, announced that "the key to the reaucracy. reconstruction of agriculture is the As early as 1925 Stalin had warned, rapid rate of the de~elopment of in­ "We must not play with the phrase dustry." By the middle of the year about equality. This is playing with the appropriation for capital invest­ fire." Now he decried the equalization ments in industry was raised to four of wages as a "reactionary, petty-bour­ times the amount that Stalin himself geois absurdity." The Bolshevik rule had demanded only a few months established under Lenin that party Soviet factory workers during the drive for industrialization. Standard of living of before. workers could receive wages no higher the working class declined sharply during the 1930s. The new policy of industrialization Continued on page 20 was welcomed by the Left Opposition, from the kulak voluntarily," he said Molotov, another of Stalin's lieuten­ but after the first successes, which in April 1929. ants, put the problem more bluntly, proved the accuracy of Trotsky's ear­ saying, "we must strike at the kulak lier predictions about the possibilities FOR FURTHER Forced collectivization in such a way that the middle peasant of industrial growth, the call went out The five-year plan, approved in comes to heel." from the Kremlin to "achieve the five­ READIIIO April 1929, had the goal of collecti­ Collectivization degenerated into a year plan in four years." In June 1930 The following books by leon Trotsky, the vizing between five and six million virtual civil war against the peasant Stalin ordered industry to raise its out­ central leader of the International left peasant households- about 20 percent villages. At the Congress of Soviets put by 4 7 percent for that year! Opposition, explain in greater depth of the total. A period of 20 years was in 1931 even the fiction of the kulaks The projections for industry became the issues in the fight against Stalinism. envisaged before collectivization would was dropped. Molotov warned that the delirious. Under the five-year plan, be complete. In Stalin's view, "indi­ peasants had to decide "for or against for instance, Soviet production of pig e THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL AFTER vidual ... farming would continue to the collective. Against the collective iron was supposed to triple, from 3.5 LENIN, 348 pp., $J.45 play a predominant part in supplying means supporting the kulak against million tons in 1928 to 10 million e THE REVOLUTION BETRAYED: What the country with food and raw ma­ the Soviet power." by the end of 1933. But Stalin told the Is the Soviet Union? V'#'t.er:e Is It Going?, terials." The kulak families alone numbered sixteenth congress ofthe CPS U in 1931, 314 pp., $2.95 The response to the drive for col­ eight to 10 million people, and most of "Ten million tons of pig iron ... is e THE PERMANENT REVO~ ITION lectivization was good among the five them were deported to remote unpopu­ not enough.... At all costs we must and RESULTS AND PROSPECTS, L.?.? to eight million poorest peasant fam­ lated lands in Siberia, where they were produce 17 million tons in 1932." The pp., $2.75 ilies. But in the last days of 1929, left without supplies. The peasants ate USSR was just approaching this goal e THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FASCISM responding with bureaucratic empiri­ their seed rather than plant it and 10 years later, in the fall of 1941. IN GERMANY, 480 pp., $3.95 cism, Stalin called .for an all-out "of­ slaughtered their livestock rather than fensive against the kulak." "Immediate take it into the collective farms. Grain The workers pay Order from: Pathfinder Press, Inc., and wholesale collectivization" was the production fell from 83 million tons in The industrial expansion of the 410 West St., New Yorlc, N.Y. 10014 order of the day. 1930 to 69 million in 1932. 19308 was financed by the Soviet work-

18 In Review

'I .F. Fuentes on fighting racism in schools Stone's The Fight Against Racism in Our Schools by Luis Fuentes. Pathfinder Press (410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014). Weekly' 1973. 25 cents. More than five years ago, Puerto Rican, Black, and Chinese parents I. F. Stone's Weekly. Produced by in New York City's District 1 began a struggle for better schools. Jerry Brucie. Narrated by Tom For too long they have been slandered and abused in the news Wicker. media without a fair chance to answer. The publication of these two speeches by Luis Fuentes, a leader in this struggle and the I. F. Stone is one hell of a fine jour­ city's only Puerto Rican school superintendent, therefore, comes nalist. Reading his newsweekly, which as a breath of fresh air. he put out at his Washington, D. C., Fuentes explains that the parents are fighting racist policies that home entirely by himself for 19 years, prevent their children from even learning to adequately read and was always anexhilaratingexperience. write. The funds provided for public education of Black and Puerto So is viewing Jerry Bruck Jr.'s 62- Rican children are too meager. There are not enough teachers, minute documentary movie. Bruck did and more are being laid off all the time. There are far too few it on a shoestring budget, following bilingual personnel to help thousands of children who don't know English. There are not enough classrooms and supplies. In addition, the powerful United Federation of Teachers (UFT), led by Albert Shanker, is an obstacle to the struggle of the parents. Film W~ see Stone poring over news arti­ The misleadership of this union vigorously opposes attempts to cles, the foreign press, news services, Stone around on and off for three get more Black and Puerto Rican teachers, particularly bilingual and volumes of government issuefrom teachers. It fights all attempts by parents to have more say over the years. the U. S. Printing Office. He then stores administration, the curriculum, and the selection of personnel in the One could say of Stone, as C. Wright the load in rues inscrutably indexed Mills said of himself: "I try to be ob­ schools. Shanker's policy is to preserve the UFTas a white job trust. and filling up the room. His secret Fuentes puts it this way: "I recognize that a principal ingredient jective, I don't claim to be detached." for producing good news stories is in the establishment of these enmities between union and community In the wake of Watergate, many plain hard work (a 16-hour day) and is the folks up top -the political and economic structure which in a good memory. He takes subscriptions himself over the phone at home, writes up his ma­ terial, and takes it over to his printer Pamphlets to discuss layout. There is onewonder­ ful shot of Stone trudging down the the face of dramatic educ.ational needs constantly comes up with block to the mailbox with an armful empty palms. They have created a scarcity of resources and pitted of the Weekly. "I really have so much the forces who must live with these schools against each other as fun I ought to be arrested," he cracks. enemies. Community and union should be allied, should be fighting While establishment journalists together for government support of education. Nonetheless, this cranked out their insipid stories, Stone union leadership has irrevocably chosen the path of cooperating took apart the lies and deception of with those in government and business who manipulate and dom­ Washington. The problem ~ith the re­ inate this society." porters co-opted by the gov~rnment, Shanker has chosen the path of building a power base in order he explains, is that they "begin to to elbow and knee his way to the top of the AFL-CIO hierarchy. understand there are certain things Last summer he became a vice-president of the AFL-CIO. He is the public ought not to know." now moving to give American Federation of Teachers President Not Stone. He had the guts to expose David Selden the heave-ho and take over the national union him­ the facts. Even when many leftists were self. The educational needs of children from the most oppressed hailing the Vietnam accords as a sections of the working class are scarcely his concern. victory, Stone spoke out against the In his introduction to this pamphlet, Claudio Tavarez, a para­ "peaceful coexistence" fraud. professional member of the UFT and a leader of the Coalition for The cold warriors Kennedy and Education in District 1, describes what the parents' struggle has Johnson, not to speak of John Foster accomplished so far, particularly under Fuentes's administration. Dulles, caught theirs in the Weekly. Tavarez also underlines the importance of the independent action J. Edgar Hoover, Joe McCarthy, and of the parents in winning these gains. _ Nikita Khrushchev were cows held In concluding his introduction, Tavarez points to the struggle unsacred by Stone. An impeccablecivil in District 1 as "a shining example for oppressed communities libertarian, Stone championed James throughout the country." Kutcher's fight against the witch­ This is Pathfinder Press's first publication by a Puerto Rican hunters in the 1950s, and originated author, and its first publication about a struggle primarily involving the title to Kutcher's book, The Case Puerto Ricans. This makes it a particularly welcome addition to of the Legless Veteran. Pathfinder's wide range of inexpensive, popular pamphlets. Hope­ Bruck has some footage of Stone fully thousands of copies will be sold, not only to Puerto Ricans STONE: 'I really have so much fun I speaking to a college audience. The but t0- Chicanos, Blacks, and AFT members. A Spanish-language ought to be arrested.' students are committed, Uke Stone, but edition will be out soon. -DOUG JENNESS frustrated and asking for advice. Stay out in the streets, demonstrating people share Stone's belief that "every_ against the war, Stone tells them. And government is run by liars and noth­ another thing, read. Learn something ing they say should be believed." But of our history. Remember, he says, when he started out in the witch-hunt Lenin and- Trotsky studied the history days of 1952 with nothing but a list of the French revolution. of 5,000 potential subscribers, some Stone is 66, now a contributing savings, and a passion fc.>r honest editor of the New York Review of journal~, things were of course much Books, a recipient of the Polk jour­ harder. He made a go of it, though, nalism award, and the holder of an eventually getting the Weekly's circula­ honorary degree. tion well up into five figures. If there is any self-satisfaction in­ Imagine the diffiCulties for an icon­ volved, it is that of an irrepressible oclastic j ourt'cdist in "official" Wash­ maverick who will continue to ferret ington witi'l-- no sources, few resources, out stories, capturing with wit and deft almQ.V{ entirely frozen out of the scene. prose the outrage we all feel at a Jt. didn't hamper Stone, a man as world that could be so much better. indefatigable as he is curious. -MICHAEL SMITH

THE MtUTANT/JANUARY 11, 1974 19 , . .-'"

needs for the development of. humanity, gave greetings announced they had In Trotsky's view it was necessary it is necessary to take control of these decided to join the PST. to defeat and destroy the Stalinist bu­ matters out of the hands of the monop· reaucracy in order to rebuild a gen­ olies and the capitalist government uine revolutionary party that could Calendar that serves them. lead the Soviet Union and the world The only solution to capitalism's revolution forward. As Stalin's "left DETROIT long-term energy crisis is to fight for .. .left opp. course" continued, the Oppositionists 1HE PEOPLE VS. WILUE FARAH-A FILM. Fri., Jan. II, 8 p.m. 3737 Waadward. DanaHon: $J. Ausp: Mililani a workers government and a social­ Continued from page J8 in exile began to divide over this ques­ Forum. For more i~formaHon call (313) 831-6135. ist system, where production could be than those of the average worker was tion, a development that will be ex­ planned according to human needs, left by the wayside. amined in the next article. OAKLAND/BERKELEY not pJ,"ofits. ENERGY CRISIS: TRU1H OR HOAX? Speakers: Dave Trotsky welcomed the achievements Brown, Socialist Workers Party; other speaker to be of Soviet. industry during the 1930s. announced. Fri., Jan. II, 8 p.m. 1849 Univenity, Early in 1930 he pointed out that the Berkeley. Donation: 51. Ausp: Militant Forum. For tempo of development that had been more information call (415) 548-0354. ... King attained, although "neither stable nor Continued from page 22 assured," gave "experiemental proof of ... PST pleaded guilty and in a deal got a the immeasurable potentialities which Calendar and classified ad rates: 75 Continued from page 17 are inherent in socialistic methods of 99-year prison sentence instead of cents per line of 56-charader-wide typ• missions of a hospital and of gas death. written copy. Display ad rates: $10 per workers from Mar del Plata. (Internal economy." Replying to capitalist economists who While awaiting trial he wroteofbeing column inch ($7.50 if camera-ready ad commissions are the executive com­ sent to Memphis by a "blond Latin" is enclosed). Payment must be included mittees of the factory committees tried to explain Soviet industrial de­ velopment by muttering about "exploi­ known only as "Raoul." But at his with ads. The Militant is published each elected in all major Argentine plants.) trial he balked at saying there was week on Friday. Deadlines for ad copy: Workers from the following places tation of the peasantry," he _said,"They are missing a wonderful opportunity to a conspiracy. Now he contends he Friday, one week preceding publication, in the Bueno·s Aires metropolitan area was made a fall guy for Southern for classified and display ads: Wednes­ explain why the brutal exploitation of were introduced to the convention: white conspirators and was pressured day noon, two days preceding publica­ the peasants in China, for instance, the internal commission of a glass into pleading guilty by his attorney. tion, for calendar ads. Telephone: (212) or Japan, or India, never produced an works; a delegation from another glass Ray's brother, according to a June 243-6392. industrial tempo remotely approaching works, one that was on strike and had 11, 1968, AP dispatch, said a "rich that of the Soviet Union." just beaten back a police attack; a Southern man" had put his brother At the same_ time, Trotsky insisted representative from the largest textile up to the killing. that the brutal methods of the bureau­ factory in Latin America; thf! teachers Ray is also suing to halt his transfer union; Mercedes-Benz; leaders from two cracy, its total concentration on heavy to the Federal Medical Center · at banks on strike; and a· leader of the industry, its insistence on development Springfield, Mo., where Justice Depart­ ... nuclear construction workers in Neuquen. at breakneck speed and on quantity ment officials want to send him for These worker delegations were at the expense of quality, its inability physical and psychological testing. Continued from page 6 announced on the first day of the con­ to allow democratic participation in The Springfield Federal Medical Center all nuclear plants designed in the U.S. gress and more were introduced the planning or to draw out the initiative is the location of START, a prison are the most dangerous possible type­ next day. of the masses, all imposed unnecessary mind-control program. fission reactors using enriched uranium The revolutionary fervor and en­ sacrifices on the Soviet people, and Whether a conspiracy existed or not as fuel. Plants designed for enriched thusiasm of a party deeply immersed slowed down the real growth of the is yet to be established. But if Southern uranium can be more compact and in the class struggle was manifested economy. whites did conspire, there's no doubt therefore cost a little less to build, not only in the reports and dis­ The achievements of the Soviet they were emboldened to act by the thus giving U.S. reactor manufac­ cussions, but also in the colorful and Union- indicated by the fact that its atmosphere of violence fostered by the turers a competitive edge to dominate spirited chants of the delegates and industrial power was catching up with ruling class. U. S. involvement in the the world market. guests. "Workers fight, workers to Germany's by the end of the 1930s­ Vietnam war encouraged such attacks U.S. manufacturers have special ac­ power!" and "It will be wonderful when were a reflection of the power of the on domestic "troublemakers." cess to enriched uranium because of we bury the bosses and put the work­ economic forms established by the Rus­ Hoover's hatred of Black organiza­ billion-dollar plants built by the U.S. ers iD power!" were two of them. sian revolution, not of Stalin's leader­ tions, along with the FBI documents government in the 1940s and 1950s The trade-union report outlined con­ ship. Far from being responsible for the and Nixon's 1970 spy plan, are fur­ to separate out enriched uranium for tinued efforts by the PST to mobilize advances in industry, the bureaucracy ther indications of this climate. producing nuclear weapons. the working class against the "Social headed by Stalin-foreseeing nothing, An independent investigation is However, enriched uranium plants Pact," the government, and the union delaying as long as possible, reacting needed to look into King's death and generat~ :tJ:te.,greateiJt amoun$ o~ heat bureaucracy that supports it. to events in panic-served as a brake the circumstances surrounding it. Such ilnd radloacti:Y.e waste, _a_s well as the Other. campaigns projected at the on the development of the economy. an investigation, spearheaded by rep­ highest probability of a catastrophic congress were a campaign of But Trotsky's criticisms of the econ­ resentatives of the Black community, accident. Thus the militarism of capi­ SC)lidarity with Chile; one against the omic policies followed by Stalin, im­ could also unravel the truth about talism, combined with profit considera­ dictatorships in Paraguay and portant as these were, were subor­ the 1965 assassination of Malcolm tions, have led the development of Uruguay; and a campaign for com­ dinated to another, more important X, since the confessed murderer never nuclear energy in this country in a plete amnesty for political prisoners consideration. Even if partial correc­ told who had hired him. direction of the least usefulness and in Bolivia. tions were made in various policies­ Moreover, the investigation could de­ the greatest danger to the masses of The congress concluded with a rally empirically and under pressure from mand that those responsible for those the American people. where greetings were heard from the the Soviet masses-the bureaucratiza­ murders be brought to justice, be they To avert nuclear catastrophe or an­ worker delegations and international tion of the CPSU threatened its sur­ Southern whites, Northern whites, or nihilation, and to provide the energy guests. Several of the workers who vival as a revolutionary party. cops and officials, in uniform or not. Socialist Directory AIIIZONA: Phoenix: YSA, c/o Steve Shliveclc, P. 0. lndianapali~& YSA, c/o Dave Ellis, 309 E. Vermont, St.louis, Mo. 63108. Tel: (314) 367-2520. PENNSYLVANIA: Edinboro: YSA, Edinboro Si«!te Cal· Box890, Tempe, Ariz. 85281. Indianapolis, Ind. 46201. NEW JERSEY: N- Brunswiclc: YSA, Box 445, Woad­ lege, Edinboro, Pa. 16412. Tucson: YSA, c/o nm Clennan, 1837 13th St., Tucson, KENTUCKY: leocington: YSA, P. 0. Box 952, University bridge, N.J. 07095. Tel: (201) 634-3076. Philadelphia: SWP and YSA, 1004 Filbert St., (one Ariz. 85719. Tel: (602) 623-1079. StaHan, lexington, Ky. 40506. NEW MEXICO: Albuquerque: YSA, c/o Cheri WalcoH, black north of Market), Philadelphia, Po. 19107. Tel: CALIFORNIA: Serkeley-Oaldand: SWP and YSA, 1849 MARYLAND: Baltimore: YSA, 2103 Belair Rd., Balti­ 714 Arno S.E., Albuquerque, N.M. 87102. Tel: (505) (215) WAS-4316. University Ave., Berkeley, Calif. 94703. Tel: (415) more, Md. 21213. Tel: (301) 732-8996. 243-1810 .. Pittsburgh: SWP and YSA, 304 S. Bouquet St., PiH~ 548-{1354. Cal lege Parle YSA, University P. 0. Box 73, U of Md., NEW YORK: Binghamton: YSA, Box 1073, Harpur burgh, Pa. 15213. Tel: (412) 682-5019. Los Angeles: SWP and YSA, 1107 1/2 N. Western College Parle, Md. 20742. College, Binghamton, N.Y. 13901. Tel: (607) 7911-4142. TENNESSEE: Knoxville: YSA, P.O. Box 8476 Univer­ Ave, los Angeles, Calif. 90029. Tel: SWP-(213) 463- MASSACHUSETTS: Amherst: YSA, R. S. 0. Box 324, Braoldyn: SWP and YSA, 136 lawrence St. (at Wil­ sity station, Knoxville, Tenn. 37916. Tel: (615)524-8967. 1917, YSA-(213) 463-1966. U of Mass., Amherst, Mass. 01 002. · loughby), Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201. Tel: (212) 596-2849. Riv.-side; YSA, c/o University of Calif. Riverside, Boston: SWP and YSA, c/o Militant Labor Forum, Geneseo: YSA, State Univ. College at Geneseo, Cal­ 1134 library South, Riverside, Calif. 92507. 655 Atlantic Ave., Third Floor, Boston, Mass. 02111. lege Student Union Box 85, Geneseo, N.Y. 14454. Memphis: YSA, c/o Maryrase Eannace, 3;681 Win­ San Diego: SWP, YSA, and Militant Bookstore, 4635 Tel: SWP-(617) 482-8050, YSA-(617)482-805l;lssues long Island, YSA, 20 John St., Roosevelt, l.l., N.Y. chester Pk. Cr. '7, Memphis, Tenn. 38118; Tel: (901) El Colon Blvd., Son Diego, Calif. 92115. Tel: (714) and Activists Speaker's Bureau (IASB) and Regional 11575. Tel: (615) FR9-0289. 365-2528. 280-1292. CommiHee-(617) 482-8052; Pathfinder Boaks-(617) N- York City- City-wide SWP and YSA, 706 Broad­ Nashville: YSA, P. 0. Box 67, Station B, Vanderbilt San Francisco: SWP, YSA, Militant labor Forum, 338-8560. way (4th St.), Eighth Flaar, New York, N.Y. 10003, University, Nashville, Tenn. 37212. Tel: (615) 383- and Militant Books, 1519 Mission St., Son Francisco, Worcester: YSA, P.O. Box 229, Greendale Station, Tel: (212) 982-4966. 2583. .Calif. 94103. Tel: (415) 864-9174. Worcester, Mass. 01606. lower Manhattan: SWP, YSA, and Merit Bookstore, TEXAS: Austin: YSA, SWP, Militant Bookstore, Harriet San Jose: YSA, c/o Glenda Horton, 1253 S. 7th St. MICHIGAN: Ann Arbor: YSA, c/o Marty PeHil, 219 706 Broadway (4th St.), Eighth Flaar, New York, N.Y. Tubman Hall, 1801 Nueces, AusHn, Texas 78701. Tol: '70, San Jose, Calif. 95112. Tel: (408) 354-~373. N. State St., Ann Arbor, Mich. 48108. Tel: (313) 668- 10003. Tel: SWP, YSA-(212) 982-6051; Merit Baaks­ (512) 478-8602. Santa Barbara: YSA, 712 Bolton Walk '204, Goleta, 6334. (212) 982-5940. Houston: SWP, YSA, and Pathfinder Books, 3311 Calli. 93017. Detroit: SWP, YSA, Eugene V. Debs Hall, 3737 Upper West Side: SWP and YSA, 2744 Broadway Martrose, Houston, Texas 77006. Tel: (713) 526-1082. COLORADO: Denver: SWP, YSA, and Militant Book­ Woodward Ave., Detroit, Mich. 48201. Tel: (313) TEl- (106th St.), New York, N.Y. 10025. Tel: (212) 663- San Antonio: YSA, c/o P. 0. Box 714, San Antonia, store, 1203 California, Denver, Colo. 80204. Tel: (303) 6135. 3000. T11Xas 78202. 623-2825. Bookstore open Mon.-Sat., 10:30 a. m.-7 p.m. East lansing: YSA, Second Floor Offices, Union Bldg. NORTH CAROLINA: Charlotte: YSA, c/o Gene Phil­ UTAH: logan:YSA, P.O. Bes 1233, UtahStahtUnlver­ CONNEcnCUT: Hartford: YSA, P.O. Box 1184, Har~ Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich. 48823. yaw, 1023 Dorm '73 UNCC, CharlaHe, N.C. 28213. slty, logan, Ui«!h 84321. lord, Conn. 06101. Tel: (203) 523-7582. Kalam•oa: YSA, c{o Gail Altenburg, 224 Douglas, Tel: (704) 537-3235. WASHINGTON, D.C.: SWP ant YSA, 1345 E St. FLORIDA: Tallahassee: YSA, Box U-6014, Tallahassee, Apt. 3, Kalamazoo, Mich. 49001. OtiO: Bawling Green: YSA, Box 27, U. Hall, Bowling N.W;, Fourth Flaar, Wash., D.C.~ Tel: SWP­ F.la.32306. Mt. Pleasant: YSA, P.O. Box 98, Warriner Hall, CMU, Green State University, Bawling Green, Ohio 43402. (202) 783-2391; YSA-(202) 783-2363. · GEORGIA: Atlanta: Militant Bookstore, 68 Peachtree MI. Pleasant, Mich. 48858. Cincinnati: YSA, c/a C.R. MiHs, P.O. Bax 32084, WASHINGTON: Bellingham: YSA, ViklngUntonlirlq., St. N. E., Third Flaar, Atlanta, Ga. 30303. SWP and MINNESOTA: Minneapoli~St. Paul: SWP, YSA, and Cincinnati, Ohio 45232. Tel: (513) 242-9043. Western Washington State College, Bellingham, Wash. YSA, P.O. Box 846, Atlanta, Ga. 30301. Tel: (404) labor Bookstore, 25 University Ave. S. E., Mpls. 55413. Cleveland: SWP and YSA, 4420 Superior Ave., 98225. Tel: (206) 676-1893. 523-0610. Tel: (612) 332-7781. Cleveland, Ohio 44103. Tel: SWP-(216) 391-5553, Seattle: SWP, YSA, and Militant Bookstore, 5257 IWNOIS: Chicago: SWP, YSA, Pathfinder Books, 428 St. Claud: YSA, c/o Atwaad Center, St. Cloud State YSA-(216) 391-3278. University Way N.E., Seattle, Wash. 98105. Hrs. 11 S. Wabash, Filth Floor, Chicago, Ill. 60605. Tel: SWP­ College, St. Cloud, Minn. 56301. Columbus: YSA, c/o Margaret Van Epp, 670 a.m.·8 p.m., Man.-Sat. Tel: (206) 523-2555. (312) 939-0737, YSA-(312) 427-0280, Pathfinder Books MISSOURI: Kansas City: YSA, c/a Student Activities Cuyahoga Ct., Columbus, Ohio 43210. Tel: (614) 268- WEST VIRGINIA: Huntington: YSA, c/o Marshall Uni­ -(312) 939-0756. Office, U af Missouri at Kansas City, 5100 Rockhill 7860. versity, Huntington, W.Va. 25701. Tel: (301) 525-6323. INDIANA: Bloomington: YSA, c/o Student Activities Road, Kansas City, Mo. 64110. OREGON: Portland: SWP and YSA, 208 S. W. Stark, WISCONSIN: Madison: YSA, c/o James leviH, 145 Desir, Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind. 47401. St. louis: SWP and YSA, 4660 Maryland, Suite 17, Filth Floor, Portland, Ore. 97204. Tel: (503) 226-2715. N. Butler, Madison, Wis. 53703. (608) 251-5716.

20 in the Dec. International Socialist Review

Watergate and the White House: From Kennedy Nixon and

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NAME------This book documents a pattern of Watergate-style secret-police operations ADDRESS------­ used by Republican and Democratic administrations alike to disrupt, jail and CITY STATE ZIP __,_ physically attack dissenters. Watergate: The View from the Left presents a INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST REVIEW, 14 CHARLES socialist analysis of what this scandal reveals about capitalist society and a LANE, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10014 strategy for fighting back. An unprecedented legal battle has begun with the suit against Nixon and officials and former officials of his administration brought by the Socialist Workers Party and the Young Socialist Alliance. This suit launched a cam­ paign to expose the government's attacks and to mobilize public pressure lOW BAILABLE to defend the rights of dissenters. 96 pp., cloth $5.00, paper $1.25. In the Dec.-Jan. • Special Offer: 5 paper copies for $5. Help get the word out on. this impor­ YOUNG SOCIALIST FROM IIEWPOIIT: tant civil liberties campaign. SPEAKERS FOR Order from: Pathfinder Press, Inc., 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014 In reply ta RADICAL CHAIOE ShoEkley, Jensen and two volumes ather raEists The First Five Years of the Communist International by Leon Trotsky During its early years the Communist (or Third) lnternati~nal represented the Why revolutionary aspirations of socialists around the world. These two volumes contain the major speeches, manifestos, and other writings prepared by Trotsky in close collaboration with Lenin for this international body. Ooth $8.95, paper soEialists are $3.75 per volume. Two volume set: cloth $17.90, paper $7.50. Monad Press Books, exclusively distributed by PATHFINDER PRESS, INC., 410 suing Diaon West Street, New Yorlc, N.Y. 10014 Tel. (212)741-0690 For a free brochure or to arrange an engagement on your campus or before Debate: your organization, contact: View point, P. 0. Box 220, Old Chelsea Station, Zionism and New York, N.Y. 10011 (212) 255-9229. Does capitalism--...... the Arab bug you? revolution Join the ( ) Enclosed is $1 for six months Young ( ) Enclosed is $2 for one Sell The year (11 issues). Socialist ( ) I would like to order Militant a bundle of __YOUNG Help The Militant get around by tak­ Alliance! SOCIALISTS a month ing a regular weekly bundle to sell on The Young Socialist Alliance is a multi-national revolutionary youth organiza­ tion. We stand for fundamentally changing society by fighting against racism, at 12 1/2 cents per your campus, at your job, or near sexism and the exploitation of working people. Our goal is a socialist society, copy. where you live. The cost is 17 cents each, and we bill you at the end of democratically controlled by the majority of people- not by a handful of powerful NAME ______each month. bankers and millionaires. We know that a better world is not only possible, but I want to take a sales quota of __ . is absolutely necessary. Join us in the fight. ADDRESS ______Send me a weekly bundle of __. CITY ____ STATE_ZIP_ _I want to join the YSA. Name ______I want more information about the YSA. -Enclosed is$] for 6 months (6 issues) of the Young Socialist. YOUNG SOCIALIST, Box Address ______471 Cooper Station, New York, N.Y. 10003. City------Name------Address ______State Zip ____ ~~------City'------State------14 Charles lone, New York, N.Y. Zip ______Phone ______10014 YSA, Box 471 Cooper Station, N.Y., N.Y. 10003; (212) '989-7570

THE MIUTANT/JANUARY 11, 1974 21 THE MILITANT FBI & the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King By BAXTER SMITH As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leaned over a second-floor motel balcony rail­ ing to greet Reverend Jesse Jackson and an acquaintance below, a .30- caliber rifie cracked in the distance. King died instantly, felled by an as­ sassin's bullet. The date was April 4, 1968; the place was Memphis, Tenn. James Earl Ray, alias Eric Galt, confessed to being the sole murderer of King and was convicted in 1969. But now he has filed a $500,000 damage suit against the state of Ten­ nessee, charging that he acted as part of a conspiracy withwhiteSoutherners. In the suit Ray claims he was im­ properly represented by his attorney during the trial. He charges that his attorney failed to investigate the phone numbers of two Louisiana residents who he says had information about the plot. He Is demanding a new trial. 'Get King' The FBI had kept the civil rights leader under constant survelllance. Last spring a retired FBI agent told the New York Times that then-director J. Edgar Hoover had been out to "get King." He stated that the sur­ velllance of King was so extensive that he "couldn't wiggle. They had him." In fact, Jesse Jackson's statement to a Times reporter following the mur­ der hints at the survelllance. He ex­ plained what happened immediately following the shooting: "When I turned around I saw police coming from Dr. King on motel balcony the day before assassination. Convicted assassin now claims everywhere. They said, 'where did it come from?' And I said, 'behind you.' murder was backed by white Southern conspirators. The police were coming from where the shot came." Did police and government officials thwart the Black liberation struggle One of the COINTELPRO documents he was a security chief of the Black know of a plot to klll King? And that through harassment, provocations, states in part: "It is imperative that the Panther Party in 1969 when Chicago the klller was within footsteps of them? frame-ups, and assassinations. activities of these groups be followed cops kllled Panther leader Fred Hamp­ Or were they involved and under on a continuous basis so we may ton and that he helped set up Hamp­ orders to remain silent? COINTELPRO take advantage of all opportunities ton's murder. Although the full story stlll hasn't According to two FBI documents for counterintelligence and• also inspire been told, Ray's charges, coupled with recently disclosed as the result of a action in instanceswherecircumstances Dark day in Memphis Watergate and related revelations, are suit by NBC reporter Carl Stern, on warrant." Kin'g was in Memphis in support an indication of government complicity April 28, 1968, FBI director Hoover It continues: "We must frustrate every of striking city sanitation workers, 90 at least in the cover-up, if not in the instituted a "counterintelligence pro­ effort of these groups and individuals percent of whom were Black. In the deed itself. This information throws gram" code-named COINTELPRO. It to consolidate their forces or to recruit week prior to his arrival, cop vio­ · further light on the government con­ was designed to "expose, disrupt, and new or faithful adherents. In every lence against a protest march resulted spiracy-under both Democratic and otherwise neutralize" socialist groups instance, consideration should be given in arrests, injuries, and the death of Republican administrations-to and Black organizations. to disrupting the organized activity a Black youth. of these groups and no opportunity Although the strikers, with King's should be missed to capitalize upon backing, planned another massive organizational and personal conflicts demonstration to publicize their de­ Open secret FBI files! of their leadership." mands, government officials issued an injunction prohibiting it. · As the accompanying article indi­ secret FBI documents and others COINTELPRO was set up during · Ray had been sl!adowing King for cates, it is possible that the FBI such as the 1970 spy plan. Present an upsurge of the Black student move­ several days. Following the tthooting helped cover up-if not instigate­ and former government officials are ment and ·the wave of ghetto revolts he fled through Canada, England, Por­ the assassination of Dr. Martin named as defendants. that swept more than one hundred tugal, and England again, where he Luther King. This shows the need Civil liberties attorney Leonard U.S. cities. The revolts were sponta­ was captured at a London airport. to force full disclosure of govern­ Boudin is representing the plaintiffs. neous outbursts of pent-up rage FBI officials knew of Ray's where­ ment secret-police operations. touched off by the murder of King, abouts in England pri6! to his arrest A suit on behalf of the Socialist Supporting the suit is one way of but they reflected deep discontent with on June 8, 1968, but wete. slow to Workers Party and Young Socialist getting out the truth about lllegal the capitalist status quo. apprehend him. Alliance seeks to halt all govern­ government operations. As the COINTELPRO documents Laxity characterized the FBl's puc­ ment spying, harassment, burglary, The Political Rights Defense Fund show, · FBI agents were ordered to suit of Ray and its handling of the bombing, and other lllegal acts is publicizing the suit and raising become involved in disruptive acts case. It was two weeks before they against socialist groups, Black or­ money for legal expenses. To help atainst Black organizations and indi­ announced that the fingerprints on the ganizations, and all those fighting with this work write PRDF, P. 0. viduals. murder weapon showed that Eric Galt for social change. Box 649 Coop~r Station, New Hoover had publicly called the Black was in reality Ray. The SWP-YSA suit seeks to force York, N.Y. 10003. Telephone: Panther Party the "most dangerous and In a rushed 144-minute trial, Ray government officials to make public (212) 691-3270. violence-prone of all extremist groups." An ex-FBI agent recently admitted that Continued on page 20

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