2s¢

WflRIlERS VIIN'(JIIRIJ:",::,:;:•. : X-523 No. 48 5 July 1974

Pickets during Dodge Truck wildcat, Warren, Michigan.

.~~."."

1;; weeps • ~~ • .... -.... ,_~, 'H WV PHOTO Throughout the capitalist world the against gas rationing and the escalating the current rate of inflation and could volved around nurses' right to have a past few years have seen a rising line strike of San Francisco cit y employ- have been negotiated withou' any strike say in patient care-to achieve adequate of class struggle as organizedlabor has . ees-indicate that the 1972-73periodof at all. staif for patient saiety, to ensure that class peace may be ending. In both of only specialized nurses would work in faced rampant inflation, often being The localized character of the pres­ shackled with state wage controls. Only these, the militant actions were out of specialty areas, etc. Slogans carried proportion to the modest goals and the ent strikes means that the militant on placards at a June 13 rally in San in the U.S. did the trade-union move­ rank-and-file ups u r g e continuously actions cannot fundamentally affect the Francisco's Union Square inc 1 u de d ment abandon any attempt to protect bordered on a mass political/industrial condition of those key sections of the the workers from the ravages of rising confrontation with the ruling class." "Patients Deserve Better Care" and in d us t ria 1 proletariat (steel, auto, "Better Staffing-one night nurse for 38 prices. Despite comparable rates of - Workers Vanguard, 29 March 1974 trucking) whose contracts are (and patients is unsafe. n inflation, during 1973 hourly manu­ should be) nationally negotiated. Among As could be expected, hospital man­ facturing wages rose only 8 percent industrial workers, only for the con­ Strike Wave of Spring 1974 agement waged a demagogic campaign in the U.So compared with 13 percent struction trades has the current wave to portray the striking nurses as ruth­ in West Germany, 18 percent in Britain of walkouts produced major gains. And and 25 percent in Japan (New York The March San Francisco events less mercenaries who would use pa­ (", -~~'. )"";"'-1.q .. ~ "1+r0~:gh i~ ";r("'..~)ri 'Times, 26 May). were indeed not an isolated local epl­ uems' bves as a weapon to secure prefer absolute peace and quiet, is The American labor bureaucracy sode, but rather the beginning of a new their greedy self-interest. The bosses' quite willing to allow pent-up militan­ responded to Nixon's 1971 wage freeze upsurge of labor struggles. Two and a pious concern for the patients' welfare cy to burn itself out in local strikes and controls not merely with fulsome half years of relative class peace ended was contemptible posturing as demon­ which do not seriously damage the cooperation, but launched an extraor­ with a bang this spring. According to the strated by Kaiser hospitals' refusal to monopolies which dominate the U.S. dinary anti-militancy campaign. This Bureau of Labor Statistics, time lost allow striking nurses to organize and economy. sellout policy was typified by Abel's due to strikes went from 1.1 million perform care of the critically ill during no-strike pact with the steel companies man-days in February to 2.0 million in the strike as they attempted to do. This and the 1,000-man goon squad the March (the latest available figures). In Highest-Ever Labor Unrest fact did not prevent ominous threats UA W' s Woodcock regime mobilized to other words, it roughly doubled in the on West Coast to sue the striking nurses for "en­ smash wildcats in Detroit auto last space of a month. What makes these fig­ dangering the lives of the patients," As reported in the San Francisco August. ures so impressive was that there was a proposal whose union-busting impli­ Examiner (20 June) some 100 strikes By early 1974, the bureaucracy's no major national strike, but rather an cations are obvious. were in progress in the 13 western anti-militancy drive had reduced explosion of local actions. In March Though the strike lasted three weeks states in the middle of last month. This strikes to a virtual all-time low; real some 480 strikes began, the largest and reflected militant determination on is the highest figure in history, ac­ wages had fallen fully 5 ·percent from number for that month since 1937! the part of the ranks, the nurses went cording to government statistics. In the mid-1973 (Economist. 15 June). The As yet, the current strike upsurge Bay Area alone walkouts have taken back to work June 28 with a pathetic capacity of Meany-Abel- Woodcock to has not produced a major national place among nurses and carpenters, settlement-a caricature of their de­ hold down the ranks had become des­ strike. The steel settlement negotiated mands. The manual and clerical work­ as well as un its of the Machin­ perately strained, particularly as the in April under the provisions of the ists Union, Teamsters, IBEW, ers of Hospital and Institutional Work­ moral authority of the central govern­ company-union no-strike pledge con­ Longshoremen/Warehousemen and the ers' Local 250, AFL-CIO, in the Bay ment plummetted to double zero be­ tinued the sellout pattern that has Printing Specialties Union. Area had crossed the nurses' picket cause of Watergate. recently enabled the American working lines throughout the strike as ordered San Francisco city workers struck class to "enjoy" a sharply negative Receiving most publicity was the by their president, Tim Twomey, des­ in March with an enthusiasm that soon trend in real wages (factory workers' strike by the California NurSing Asso­ pite their sentiments of support. affected other sections of the local real earnings down by over 10 percent ciation (CNA) which, beginning June 7, This gross betrayal, along with the working class, leading to walkouts by since late 1972). A partial exception pulled out about 4,500 nurses from Sac­ CNA leadership's refusal to fight for teachers and transit workers. The to the generalization about national ramento to the Bay Area, affecting all AFL-CIO support and stage a statewide rapid escalation led to the very brink of strikes was the Amalgamated Clothing Kaiser Foundation hospitals and clinics hospital strike, was a knife in the back a citywide general strike in a matter Workers' brief strike against tailored as well as 17 private hospitals. The that spelled defeat for the nurses. The of days. At the time we noted that the clothing manufacturers in early June. nurses walked out in response to hos­ official vote to go back to work was San Francisco events, particularly as However, the Amalgamated strike was pital managements' attempts to make 1,670-494, but even as the CNA leader­ evidenced by the mood of the workers, simply a ploy by the Finley-Sheinkman worse the already notoriously rotten ship explained the contract terms at the indicated an end to the post-1971 Nixon­ regime to allow militants to blow off working conditions of nurses. ratification meeting, placards appeared Meany era of labor peace: steam and not a serious attempt to The issues were not primarily eco­ among the ranks in the audience de­ "Two events in the past month-the force better terms out of the com­ nomic, as indicated by the mere 5.5 nouncing the contract as a sellout and West Vir gin i a coal miners' strike panies. The wage settlement was below percent wage increase demand, but re- continued on page 4 PORTUGAL: Which Way to the Revolution? .. 6 Postal Strike Defeated ...7 My Lai Mass Murderer -Lelle,.____ _ workers that their enemy is not capital­ Los Angeles ism but white, male workers. The so­ June 20, 1974 c a 11 e d affirmative action programs serve as an arm for the capitalists and Must Not Go Free! Dear Editors, their government in their union-busting We greatly appreciate the coverage attacks by undermining the seniority you gave to the defense campaign of the system, a hard-won job-security gain of organized labor, The leadership's More than six years ago, on 16 Militant Caucus of AFSCME 2070. The -- answer to our opposition to union parti­ March 1968, at least 100 and perhaps censure motion brought by the Local ~(0~11S ARMY INfANTRYCEi....l cipation in these committees was a as many as 400 unarmed men, women leadership against the caucus is not a slander campaign calling our members and children were massacred by mem­ TEN unique infringement of our democratic ~ . 51 .STQCK "racist," and ultimately a slur in the bers of the Americal Division of the U.S. rights, but one of a series of bureau­ ~~, ~.: "t"4",.~?:-~ADc Local's press, calling us a "small band Army in the village of My Lai, Vietnam. ",'"'' ;",',. f if: 5; 11;, cratic harassrr.ents which exposes the ,,.1, '~". r of reactionaries." The Local's press, The Army, reluctantly prodded into an leadership's inability to deal with our investigation by letters sent to public class-struggle politics. by the way, is censored to all views but those of the present leadership. officials from an eyewitness, eventually The major issues over which the But, most importantly, what the charged a total of 25 officers and en­ caucus has confronted the fledgling re­ present leadership lacks is even a hint listed men with crimes including rape, formist bureaucracy, ironically known of a class-struggle approach, a strategy sodomy, torture, maiming, indecent as­ as the "Unity Committee," have been of independent union action that means sault and premeditated murder. Six of their laxity in organizing to obtain a concretely a break with the Republicans these men were brought to trial, yet contract, their groveling support to and Democrats, the parties of Nixon/ only one was ever convicted-Lieuten­ liberal labor legislation, their enthu­ Alioto, and a struggle for a workers ant William L. Calley, Jr. The rest are siasm and participation in government party based on the trade unions. Union free. Calley too will probably be a free and management inspired "affirmative man within the year. action" programs and, of course, their members received a leaflet from our union leadership advertising an "Im­ Calley was originally charged with continuing abuse of members' demo­ peach Nixon Rally" which said that "we the murder of 109 men, women and cratic rights, notably ours. must continue to exert pressure on children at My Lai. After the longest The priority of organizing the rest Congress to vote for impeachment. court martial in history he was con­ of the considerable work force into our Write, call or wire you r representa­ victed in March 1971 of thepremedita­ union, the right to full collective bar­ tive." Pressure Congress rather than ted murder of at least 22 civilians and gaining, the right to strike, to a signed put forth a clear working-class alterna­ sentenced to life imprisonment. He contract with a union grievance pro­ tive! Their answer to inflation? Join the spent exactly 3-1/2 days in the stock­ cedure, the right to leaflet all union Coalition for Economic Survival (CES) ade before being returned to his pri vate members on the job-none of these cru­ and boycott liquid milk! apartment by the direct intervention of cial issues are spoken to by the Local It was because the MC has consist­ President Nixon, who promised to per­ 2070 leadership. Without these tools, ently put forward its views at union sonally review the case. the union is incapable of defending its meetings, in its newsletter and in leaf­ A mere six months later Calley's LIFE members. Instead the leadership offers lets, that a campaign was initiated to sentence was reduced to 20 years by Calley entering stockade after initial wholehearted sup p 0 r t to potential silence dissidents in the Local. First a Lieutenant General Albert O. Connor. guilty verdict. strike-breaking schemes like the Mor­ etti Bill. In the guise of granting Cali­ restriction on speaking time on all In April of this year Secretary of the only reinforces the arrogance of the fornia public employees the right to pOints at union meetings, then apassage Army Howard H. Callaway further re­ bourgeoisie's official gunmen. strike, this proposed bill would author­ of a motion inSisting that a disclaimer duced his sentence to 10 years. Calley A workers state would undoubtedly ize injunctions, "cooling-off" periods appear on every page distributed by the will be eligible for parole approximate- condemn Calley to death as an ele­ and binding arbitration, thereby further Militant Caucus (a totally superflous 1y six months from now, since his past mentary act of justice-or ship him institutionalizing government interfer­ statement that our views are not the 35 months in his apartment (where his back to the maimedsurvivorsofMyLai ence in union affairs. views of the union), and now a censure fiancee and such notables as Governor for them to render judgment upon. We In addition to our well-known stand motion-all designed to intimidate us Wallace have had unlimited access) cannot call for the death penalty for against reliance on capitalist "pro­ and ultimately to set us up for purge.__ counts as time on his sentence of "life Calley at the hands of the bourgeoisie, labor" legislation, the caucus has fought Although the article in the June 7 imprisonment at hard labor." however. The capitalist U.S. state is long andhardon the question of "affirm­ Workers Vanguard was accurate on Calley's conviction sparked a wave drenched in the blood of countless mil­ ative action." The Militant Caucus sees most pOints, your reporter made some of rightist protest. The mass murderer lions of innocent people throughout the the importance of waging a relentless minor errors which we would like to of helpless men, women and babies be­ world and rests on the most ruthless fight against all forms of discrimina­ correct. The man who tried to enter the came transformed into a scapegoat­ exploitation, plunder and degradation tion. As long as workers remain divided stewards' training class was the past martyr in the eyes of much of the public. of, the working masses. We deny this along racial and sexual lines we will union president, not the vice-president; Liberals and even much of the left state the right to murder: we are ab- not be able to gain the necessary unified the union membership is closer to five dismissed Calley as an insignificant 301utely opposed to the death penalty hundred, not three hundred as reported; strength to fight against the capitalists, pawn. The Progressive Labor Party administered by a capitalist state. Such who at every turn seek to keep us di­ and it was the International's education­ belittled the case and conviction as a occasional justice as might accidentally vided. But no amount of rearrangements al representative who was present at the capitalist diversion, stating, "Natural­ be achieved would be (and has been) or "staff participation" in joint worker­ class. ly, we couldn't care less that one set far outweighed by the vicious repres­ management committees, as advocated In SOlidarity, of bosses kill another set" (Challenge, sion of the working class to which such by the Unity Committee, can end dis­ Alice Lichtenstein 1971 May Day issue). But Calley did extreme measures would be applied. crimination. These programs are de­ for the Militant Caucus not "kill bosses"-he slaughtered un­ Remember Joe Hill and Sacco and Signed to convince minority and women AFSCME Local No. 2070 armed Vietnamese! Vanzetti! Calley was not simply a scapegoat­ This does not mean that what hap­ many men were sent to Vietnam and did pens to Calley now is unimportant. Cal­ not become torturers, rapists andmur­ ley should be forced to serve out his derers. To say that what Calley did life imprisonment at hard labor. The Spartacist was inevitable or meaningless is a other murderers at My Lai must be vile insult not only to the Vietnam­ brought to trial and condemned. As ese dead, but also to the many soldiers Cap t a i n Aubrey M. Daniel III, the Local Directory who went through the agony of Vietnam prosecutor in the court martial of BAY AREA without becoming' sadists and mass Calley, wrote in a letter protesting Box 852, Main P.O., Berkeley, CA 94701 .• (415) 653-4668 murderers. The workers movement Nixon's heavy-handed intervention into must hold Calley and his cohorts ac­ the case: "The greatest tragedy of all BOSTON countable for their crimes. will be if political expediency dictates Box 188, M.I.T. Sta., Cambridge, MA 02139 . (617) 282-7587 Admittedly, Calley himself is a the compromise of such a fundamental BUFFALO wretched product of decaying capitalist moral prinCiple as the inherent unlaw­ Box 412, Station C, Buffalo, NY 14209 (716) 837-1854 society. His personal history is pathetic fulness of the murder of innocent and shabby-from trouble in high school persons. " CHICAGO for cheating to aimless drifters' jobs Daniel found it "shocking" that the Box 6471, Main P.O., Chicago, IL 60680 (312) 728-2151 as busboy, car washer and dishwasher, American public apparently failed to CLEVELAND acting as a strike-breaking freight car grasp the moral issue that "it is un­ Box 6765, Cleveland, OH 44101 (216) 651-9147 conductor on the Florida East Coast lawful for an American soldier to sum­ Rail way along the way. marily execute unarmed and unresist­ DETROIT Capitalism is indeed a breeding ing men, women, children and babies," Box 663A, General P,O., Detroit, MI 48232 (313) 921-4626 ground for twisted and depraved human and accused Nixon of perpetrating an WS ANGELES beings. But such criminals as Calley atmosphere in which Calley became a Box 38053, Wilcox Sta., Los Angeles, CA 90038 (213) 485-1838 are precisely the kind of social scum "national hero." We agree with these that the Nazis recruited to their fascist sentiments. MADISON bands. And the magnitude of the crimes As we go to press, Calley is tem­ c/o RCY, Box 3334, Madison, WI 53704 at My Lai is only increased by the fact porarily being held in the stockade at that the murderers defend themselves Ft. Benning, Georgia. This inconven­ NEW ORLEANS with the argument that they were only ience is the result of revocation of his Box 51634, Main P.O., New Orleans, LA 70151 (504) 866-8384 carrying out orders. The lenient treat­ bail. He comes up for parole in six NEW YORK ment given to Calley is intimately months, and the COurse of the case thus Box 1377, G.P.O., New York, NY 10001 (212) 925-2426 linked to the acquittal of the killer cop far leaves little doubt that he will be Thomas Shea in New York recently, freed. But the workers movement will SAN DIEGO and to the whitewaSh of the Kent State not forget William L. Calley, Jr., nor P.O. Box 2034, Chula Vista, CA 92011 killings by the Ohio National Guardand Ernest Medina nor the other butchers TORONTO the Jackson State killings by pOlice in of My Lai, including RichardNixon-as (Committee of Toronto Supporters of the International Spartacist Tendency) 1970. If crimes like the My Lai mas­ it seeks to eliminate the bloodiest war Eox 5367, Station A, Toronto, OntariO, Canada sacre are allowed to go unpunished, it criminal of all: the capitalist class._

2 WORKERS VANGUARD CP/SWP Endless Maneuvering ••• Reformists' Sectarianism Undermines Chile Defense In recent months one of the main of America and the world. It puts all -... focuses of the activity of the Sparta­ faith in the power of the masses andno cist League has been organizing dem­ faith whatever in the justice of the onstrations in defense of the several courts. While favoring all possible le­ gal proceedings, it calls for agitation, thousand political prisoners of the re­ publicity, de lllonstrations-organized actionary Chilean junta. The urgency protest on a national and international of this task was underlined by the scale. It calls for unity and solidarity series of mass trials that began this of all workers on this burning issue, spring with the military court mar­ regardless 0 f conflicting vie w s on tial of 47 militants of the Castroist other questions." MIR (Revolutionary Left Movement) in -"Who Can Save Sacco and Vanzetti?" the southern town of Temuco on March Labor Dejf/ruler, January 1927 28. Sentences in this trial, announced (For a fuller explanation of the Spar­ the following day, ranged up to 20 years. tacist League policy toward questions Other court martials held in April of defending democratic rights, see and May include that of five student "What Defense Policy for Revolution­ and peasant leaders in San Fernando aries?" RCY Newsletter No. 17 May­ on April 26 (all receiving death sen­ June 1973.) tences, later commuted to life); of two The alternative to a Leninist de­ Socialist Party leaders in Valdivia on fense policy (if we except ultra-leftists May 5 (both sentenced to death); of 17 who refuse to defend democratic rights) members of leftist parties in Talca is the bourgeois civil libertarian pol­ (up to 10 years); and of 47 leftists in icy, relying on the courts, appeals to Punta Arenas who received up to life respectable liberal public opinion, etc. imprisonment (Le Monde, 8 May). PHOTO Typical of such organizations wouldbe, ,n" Simultaneously, a show trial of some for example, the American Civil Lib­ 67 former government offiCials, mostly other main demand was to cut off all the SL at subsequent demonstrations erties Union, the League for the Rights military officers, was opened in San­ U.S. aid to Chileo The inclusion of this as well. of Man, Amnesty International andsim­ tiago in the presence of foreign lawyers demand inadvertently revealed t hat ilar groups. However, with a slightly and newspapermen. This trial is now USLA's real commitment was not to more "radical n cover, the same orien­ United Fronts and Propaganda ended, with sentences soon to be an­ civil liberties or "single-issue coali­ tation is shared by one of the main Blocs nounced. A subsequent court martial of tions," but to whatever was palatable left groups engaged in Chile defense 27 political and governmental leaders to the liberals.) These principled united-front ac­ work, the Socialist Workers Party-led of former President Salvador Allende's tions initiated by the SL stood in con­ United States Committee for Justice In January of this year the Chilean "Popular Unity" coalition (including trast to a subsequent demonstration in to Latin American Political Prisoners MIR put out an appeal for a world­ Socialist ex-Foreign Minister Orlando wide campagn to save two of its lead­ New York sponsored by a temporary Letelier and Luis Corvalan, general (USLA). coalition, the May 11 Chile Action Com­ At a meeting in December 1966 to ers, Bautista Van Schouwen and Ale­ secretary of the Communist Party) is mittee, which included notably the Chile discuss the USLA "Statement of Aims," jandro Romero, who had fallen into the being prepared in the capital. Solidarity Committee and USLA. Some supporters of the Spartacist League ob­ hands of the junta butchers. The SWP In the course of our defense acti­ and USLA received this information at time before the protest action, the vities the SL has initiated united-front i ected to its class-neutral character, Spartacist League contacted the May 11 in particular its call for defense of the latest by January 31 and very likely demonstrations in Boston, New York, CAC, stating its agreement with the victims of political persecution "re­ before then. However, according to Buffalo, Ann Arbor, Madison, San Fran­ demands of the demonstration. How­ gardless of their particular beliefs, af­ individuals who formerly worked with cisco and Los Angeles; as well as mo­ USLA, the organization's leaders orig­ ever, at a planning meeting the com­ bilizing for demonstrations called by filiations or associations ...• " ThiS, the mittee's organizers indicated that none SL supporters pOinted out, could in­ inally protested that they were too other organizations in New Yo r k, of the proposed speakers were from clude reactionaries s u c h as s 0 m e busy with activities around the "Chile Cleveland, the Bay Area and Chicago. ostensibly socialist groups, although Chilean Nazis then being held by the 7" to do anything about Van Schouwen Our demands in all these protests have bourgeois pOliticians such as Bella Frei government. The USLA leadership and Romero. Only after heated discus­ included the call for defense of all Abzug and PaulO' Dwyer were to be turned down the SL-proposed alterna­ sion did they finally agree to send a victims of the junta's repression. invited. The SL spokesman protested tive declaration calling for aid to "vic­ circular to local USLA groups request­ that even if the other organizations tims of rightist political persecution, " ing that telegrams be sent to Pinochet present felt their politics were ade­ Leninist Defense Policies objecting that it might alienate liberal about Van Schouwen and Romero. quately represented by A b z u g and support. Thereupon Spartacist sup­ But at the same time the SL has In contrast, when the Spartacist O'Dwyer, the Spartacist League did porters left the meeting (see "USLA sought to raise a class defense of mil­ League received information about the not, and therefore requested equal Sectarian Liberalism," WV No. 41, itants who are, as our slogans indi­ case of the two MIR leaders at the end speaking time. 29 March 1974). cated, "class-war prisoners." The gen­ of February, steps were rapidly taken A week before the demonstration the to plan a united-front demonstration erals' and admirals' coup last Septem­ Chasing the Liberals vs. Defense SL sent a letter to the May 11 CAC re­ ber 11 toppled Allende's popular-front in New York centering on the demand peating this request and indicating that government (which included both bour­ of ClaSS-War Prisoners for the release of Van Schouwen, Ro­ it could co-sponsor the march on the geOis and workers parties), but its These differences in orientation are merO and all prisoners of the junta. condition that it be permitted a speaker: fundamental aim was to obliterate the naturally reflected in the contrasting FollOwing an initial planning meeting "Thus, if there was the opportunity for organized workers movement. In good Chile defense work of the SL and the USLA announced it would not support the demonstration because there was the S.L. to counterpose revolutionary part this comes dov,ll to annihilating SWP /USLA. Immediately aft e r the Trotskyism to the Abzugs, Boorsteins, or at least imprisoning the leading coup, USLA announced it would high­ not enough time to build it. In fact, etc., from the speakers platform we cadres, both of the trade unions and the light 23 prominent figures whose lives however, their concern was to not lose could take responsibility of endorsing workers parties. were feared to be in danger. Fully their liberal and Stalinist friends by this demonstration. Without this right, Thus, while raising the democratic half of this number was made up of defending these two far-left leaders. we would be giving backhanded support demand for freedom for all the prison­ artists, writers and academics whose However, the March 15 demonstra­ to the building of treacherous illusions er held by the junta (inclUding, for presence on the list might be expected tion managed to attract 150 militants in the capitalist state." instance, "constitutionalist" officers to awaken the sympathy of bourgeois to a spirited picket line and brief rally. Needless to say, there was no reply who opposed the coup), it is necessary liberals in the U.S. (see Militant, 5 Some members of the USLA staff did to this letter. However, when the SL to integrate defense actions into a October 1973). Later this list was build for the protest and several at­ arrived at the demonstration we dis­ broader struggle to defend the working narrowed to USLA's "Chile 7" of whom tended. And· although USLA refused to covered that the coveted bourgeois class and its organizations, to over­ only two, CP head Luis Corvalan and endorse the action, a speaker from that politicians had not come through and throw the military dictatorship and re­ Luis Vitale (a leading supporter of the organization received equal time in the several of the sponsoring organizations place it with the only real alternative­ fake-Trotskyist "United Secretariat" short speeches following the picketing. would indeed have speakers after all. a revolutionary workers government. in Chile), were leftist political leaders. W hen similar demonstrations were However, when the SL again requested This integration of democratic demands The Spartacist League, in contrast, called in Madison, Wisconsin and Los equal speaking time, particularly in into the struggle for socialist revolu­ demanded "Free All Class-War Pris­ Angeles USLA and the SWP likewise light of the fact that we had the largest tion is a continuation of the Leninist oners in Chile," "Smash the Reaction­ refused to endorse. contingent in the demonstration, an policies of the early Communist Inter­ ary Junta-For Workers Revolution in At the New York demonstration the USLA/May 11 CAC organizer informed national and its defense organization, Chile," "No Popular-Front Illusions," Spartacist League's leaflet, signs and us that the SL could not have a speaker the International Red Aid. and called on unions to hot-cargo goods speaker, in addition to the slogans since we were not sponsors! Its U.S. affiliate was the Interna­ to Chilean ports. The very inclusion agreed upon with the other sponsoring Only after more than an hour of tional Labor Defense, headed by then of such political demands was indica­ organizations, placed special emphasis arguing didthe demonstration's organi­ Communist Party leader James P. tive of the difference in orientation. In on the need for opposition to rumored zers permit the SL to have a speaker. Cannon (w h 0 was subsequently the the safety of the pages of the Militant deals to save Corvalan and a few other Even then they made it clear that this founder of American Trotskyism). the SWP claimed to oppose Allende's leaders of Allende's UP coalition while was a concession made only because Commenting on the policies of the ILD popular front; but in the demonstra­ sacrificing "far-left" militants, and for we had raised so much protest at being in the famous Sacco and Vanzetti trials, tions, where such a line was often far building a Chilean Trotskyist party as excluded (and probably also due to the Cannon remarked: from popular, SWPers appeared only an alternative both to the open treachery fact that the crowd was small and no "Our policy is the policy of the class with USLA signs. USLA, of course, of the Stalinists and social democrats "I;>ig-name" speakers had material­ struggle. It puts the center of gravity was only. interested in civil liberties. and to the centrist waverings of the ized). The Militant-Solidarity Caucus in the protest movement of the workers (This is not quite true, since USLA's MIR. The same themes were raised by cant inued (In page 11 SJULY 1974 3 ~ DETROIT l'iEWS 1" V PHOTO Judge Stair personally orders endto blockage of Warren, Michigan Chrysler plant. Cops mass as Judge Stair orders arrest of militant strikers.

Continued from page 1 on "radicals," and the Detroit Free Press (13 June) printed a vicious red­ ~ -- baiting attack on Smith, quoting House .. Internal Security Committee spokes­ men labeling him a former leader of Strike Upsurge ... the Mao i s t "Revolutionary Union" (RU). many nurses simply walked out in In fact, it was not the strike leaders disgust. but rather UA W International repre­ sentative George Morelli who first Wildcat at Dodge Truck raised the question of government in­ tervention. Addressing a strike meeting One of the most dramatic events of 400-500 workers on June 11, Morelli of the current strike wave-one which refused to support the wildcat because it pitted ostensible radicals together with was "illegal" and would subj ect the UAW angry rank-and-file production work­ to fines, penalties, etc. The UA W lead­ ers against the union bureaucracy, the ership was able to brazen its way company and the state-was the wild­ through the affair, with Morelli ej ecting cat at Dodge Truck (Warren, Michigan) the several hundred assembled strikers in the Detroit area in mid-June. The from their union hall by summoning strike, which was defeated after mass 35 cop cars. Smith and other leaders arrests three days later, was a vir­ of the wildcat, however, did not even tual replay of the wildcats in Detroit get around to electing a strike com­ Chrysler plants last summer. Officials mittee, an elementary necessity for of United Auto Workers Local 140 the s u c c e s s of any rank-and-file tried the same tactic of a mass goon action. squad which was used to break the Mack As if Morelli's dire warning carried Shipyard workers at General Dynamics' Fore River plant continue picketing des­ Avenue wildcat in August of last year. straight to the ears of Chrysler man­ At the same time, in case the presence agement, the latter went to the courts pite police harassment. of 120 Woodcock loyalists at the plant and found the right judge, one Hunter of the 75 workers fired during the wild­ all occupational guidelines and create gates was insufficient to spark a back­ D. Stair. Stair issued an anti-strike cat. But as yet the local officials a catchall category ("yard mechanic") to-work movement, the courts and the injunction and a few days later per­ have not carried out this mandate to which would include welders, pipefit­ cops were brought in as an added sonally saw that it was carried out. call out the members in defense of ters, riggers and other tradesmen. inducement. In a bizarre spectacle he arrived their fired brothers. This would allow management to use Discontent had been building up at at the plant and, standing on the back In the Detroit area the RU has anybody for any job! The giant conglom­ Dodge Truck for some time, over of a pick-up truck, went from gate to played up the Dodge Truck wildcat as erate's profits are now being spent such grievances as inadequate ventila­ gate announcing, "I'mnowholding a "victory." It has done nothing, how­ to place full-page ads in Boston news­ tion producing temperatures as high as court. Do you want to listen to me or ever, to organize a united front to papers attaCking the union for opposing 0 135 , broken hydraulic lines spilling do you want to go to jail?" (Detroit get the victims of the strike rehired, increased "productivity" measures. oil on the floor and unsafe clothing News, 14 June). Perhaps it is too busy celebrating This flagrantly anti-union posture issued by the company, as well as a When' the pickets refused to dis­ the "victory" to bother. UAW members, has generated deep hatred for the com­ general speed-up. A slowdown to pro­ perse, Stair had 20-40 workers ar­ particularly in Detroit, must demand pany among the Quincy shipbuilders. test unsafe working conditions was or­ rested, including Smith. Despite illu­ that their union force Chrysler to take The fight with the cops was triggered ganized by a steward, Steve Smith. sions fostered by the pollyanna-like op­ -back the workers fired for the Dodge when pickets prevented GD's Quincy The firing of Smith and four others timism expressed by some of the mili­ Truck wildcat. division president from entering the provoked a walkout of the second shift tants present ("this really shows we yard. The yard workers' strike is weak­ on June 10. The day shift follo"wed suit have the company on the run" was one ened by massive layoffs of the Fore and all but a few hundred of the plant's comment), this police action effectively Boston Shipbuilders Against 6,400 workers stayed out until the broke the wildcat. The arrests having General Dynamic strike was broken by the arrests on precisely served their purpose, crim­ Thursday and Friday. inal charges were dropped. However, Perhaps the longest and bitterest 5L/REY Smith and the other leaders ran the Chrysler subsequently fired about 75 strike of the current wave is at General action wholly within the framework of workers for pa r tic i p a ti n g in the Dynamics' Fore River shipyard in basic trade-union militancy. They made walkout. Quincy, Massachusetts. As we go to PubliE OlliE!S no attempt to place the wildcat within As a cover to help break the Dodge press, Local 5 of the Industrial Union a strategy to combat the Woodcock ma­ Truck walkout the local UA W bureau­ of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers chine, and the capitalist state behind it, cracy even allowed an "official" strike will have been out for 15 weeks. The BAY AREA The bourgeoisie and the union bureau­ vote about a week later. The vote strike began in mid-March with mass crats, however, observed no such reti­ was overwhelmingly pro-strike, one of picketing and clashes between pickets and the local cops, leading to the Friday } cence. UA W officials blamed everything the demands to be the reinstatement and arrest of 26 unionists (Boston Globe, 3:00-6:00 p.m. 21 March). However, following a court Saturday injunction limiting pickets to five per 330-40th Street gate, union officials ordered an end to (near Broadway) the mass picketing. Oakland, California The strike had its origins in a Phone 653-4668 , ~V{: sweetheart contract neg 0 t i ate d five years ago, shortly after General Dy­ CARE namics bought the Fore River yard r:: }'~'IJ {.' / ~ from Bethlehem Steel. With GD plead­ NEW YORK ~llf t;~r ing poverty, the old Local 5 leadership ..,..,'./ r-' If"~, i,::;;:' negotiated a five-year contract for Monday t r"~., v i /';: minimal gains and no cost-of-living through \ 3:00-7:30 p.mo 171 v escalator. As a result of that abys­ Friday . f~~5r·v mal pact shipbuilders at Quincy are the lowest-paid in the nation. When the un- Saturday 1:00-4:00 p.m. . ,.i9)1.demanded a $1.25 raise and a one­ 260 West Broadway year contract, General DynamiC re­ Room 522 sponded with the insulting and pro­ New York, New York .vocative counter-offer of 90 cents Phone 925-5665 spread over three years! I Not only is the company trying to perpetuate subnormal wages, but it is oo~w @HJillu~ @~ ~lA1\:1 BuLLETI:> also attacking basic union prerogati ves. Nurses picket at St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco. GD is demanding that the union scrap [L~u~OO£uM OO~ 4 WORKERS VANGUARD River installations in the last three years, w h i c h have cut the work­ force by two-thirds. Howe v e r, the strike has recently been strengthened Third Campers Spurn as the yard's white-collar workers have also gone out. The Quincy shipyard is one of only three major industrial establishments in the Boston area. (Another, the Lynn eSL Proposition General Electric t u r bin e complex, employing some 10,000 workers, was also out on strike for ten days last An unintentionally humorous look at away from the Leninist Faction im­ The reader unaccustomed to the month over a dispute concerning job the unappetizing flora and fauna which mediately following the LF's exit from tortuous "method" employed of neces­ rate classifications. The third is the reside in the murky swamp of cen­ the SWP. The Platsky reply sidesteps sity by centrists may well ask: what is Framingham GM plant, which has laid trism was provided recently by the this fact by denying that there ever the purpose of this obfuscation? Why off half its workforce for the last publication of an exchange of corres­ were any such "Bordigist elements." cannot Landy admit that the two groups' four months.) Thus, the shipbuilders' pondence bet wee n the "Revolution­ This is correct; the elements in ques­ divergent positions on the class nature strike has an impact beyond what the ary Socialist Lea g u e "(left social­ tion would more properly be described of the deformed workers states are an relatively small numbers (1,600) in­ democratic split from the International as merely Kollontaist.) important question prohibiting unifica­ volved would indicate. Massachusetts Socialists) and the "Class Struggle The Platsky letter protests indig­ tion? The reason is simple: the RSL Senators Kennedy and Brooke have both League" (product of an unprincipled nantly against the charge that the CSL cannot admit that the Russian question called for an early strike settlement, unification between the Vanguard N ews­ is "just a temporary assemblage of falls within the category of "fundamen­ and the outcome of the bitter Quincy letter grouping and the majority lead­ diverse entities." Yet his defense tal questions" because the RSL claims strike will undoubtedly have an effect ership of the former Leninist Faction against the "maneuverism" manifested to be Trotskyist and yet holds that the upon the labor climate throughout New of the Socialist Workers Party). by the publication of the disputed article USSR is state capitalist; Trotsky in­ England in coming months. The June issue of Class Stru;;gle, on Miller is, in part, "It should be sisted that the USSR is a degenerated sometimes-monthly press of the CSL, pointed out that the article was printed workers state. Thus the RSL must lo­ Back: to State Wage Control? publishes a letter by Sy Landy on be­ before the fusion of the old Class cate the CSL's anti-Trotskyism in the half of the RSL breaking off formal Struggle League with VanguardNews­ Vern-Ryan bugaboo, or indeed in any­ The 24 June Wall Street Journal re­ political discussions with the CSL, letter. The leadership of Vanguard thing-except the Russian question. ported that in May hourly wages for along with a reply by the CSL's Henry News letter had no responsibility for the In order to seek to maintain the manufacturing workers increased 14 decision to print the article. 0 •• " In mantle of Trotskyism while criticizing percent (on an annual basis) compared other words, it was the fault of the one of its essential theoretical com­ with 8 percent in 1973. This was the LF-variety CSL; "we" (the Vanguard ponents, Landy accuses Trotsky of first month since last September that Newsletter-variety CSL) had nothing to nothing worse than "inconSistency" and real hourly earnings did not fall, that do with it! Some "fusion"! likens Trotsky's position on the USSR wage-rate increases actually outpaced The correspondence exchange is re­ to Lenin's position (prior to the ,4.pril the inflation. The May figures may be plete with accusations of maneuverism, Theses) for the "democratic dictator­ accidental, being influenced by the in­ and a number of political criticisms ship of the proletariat and peasantry. " crease in the minimum wage from $1.60 and differences are raised by both He observes that Lenin changed this to $2.00 an hour. But in any case, sides. But as is absolutely character­ position when it came manifestly in even a 14 percent annual wage rate istic of centrists, neither side really conflict with the needs of an indepen­ increase would not seriously reduce deals with the central political dif­ dent prole tar ian policy in pre­ the pre sen t rate of cap ita 1 i s t ference separating these two gangs of revolutionary Russia. exploitation. opportunists: the question of the class This latter correct observation en­ However, if the current strike wave nature of the Russian state and, there­ tirely destroys Landy's argument. For produces a serious wage offensive (as fore, of revolutionary de/eafism or rev­ when the class nature of the USSR was it shows signs of dOing in the construc­ olutionary de/ens ism toward the USSR, placed firmly in the forefront of the tion trades), there will be pressures China, Eastern Europe, Cuba, North crucial programmatic questions facing to reimpose state wage controls. At Vietnam, North Korea in the event of the Leninist movement in 1940 (by the present, most sections of the ruling arm e d conflict with the forces of Shachtmanite revisionists, of whom the c I ass are against rei n s ti t u ti n g imperialism. RSL is the heir), Trotsky led the fight "wage/price controls." Meany, Abel Only the RSL's contemptuous sneers against that reVisionism, whose ulti­ and Woodcock have amply demonstrated Platsky. (All quotations here are from at the pasted-together "unity" of the mate logiC was reconciliation with a willingness to hold wages even without Class Struggle, Volume III, No.5, June CSL could goad the CSL's Platsky into one's own bourgeoisie. It was precisely legal sanctions. Not seeing the need 1974. We have taken the liberty of cor­ pointing out that the RSL is itself a at such a moment that he should have for state action against union wage de­ recting the 0 b v i 0 u s typographical rotten bloc between the "defeatist" discarded any such "inconsistency," mands at this time, corporate owner­ errors.) RSL majority andthe "defensist" form­ just as Lenin did when the implications ship is opposed to the government bu­ The two organizations apparently er Communist Tendency of the SWP. of a formerly inadequate theory became reaucracy's intervening in its affairs, conducted discussions for s eve r a I Yet Landy has to tie himself in knots manifest in the living struggle. Landy's as this necessarily invol ves corruption, months in the fall of last year. The in­ to avoid characterizing the Russian tortured analogy should have Lenin favoritism and arbitrariness. itiating impetus undoubtedly came from question as a barrier to principled standing arm in arm with Stalin in op­ the CSL, itself the product of a lowest­ unification. posing the proletarian insurrection in However, even today, the advocates common-denominator f us ion which Russia! of "wage/price controls," though a dis­ Indeed Landy's letter states, "we continues to be manifestly unstable, wish to indicate once again that we The CSL, however, cannot deal with tinct minority, are far from being in­ which is growing increasingly desper­ Significant. They include Wilbur Mills, this devious assault on Trotskyism be­ ate in the attempt to latch onto some cause it does not dare to treat prin­ conservative Democratic head of the larger, if no more stable, formation. House Ways and Means Committee and cipled political questions seriously. The CSL' s unenviable future looks even Its only concern is the struggle against one of the leading shapers of economic dimmer now that the RSL has rebuffed policy within the American ruling class. its felt irrelevance, the struggle to its attempted capitulation. postpone its inevitable descent into Ted Kennedy waged a halfhearted strug­ Landy's letter obliquely notes the gle this spring to maintain some form oblivion, un not ice d and unmourned rotten-bloc character of the CSL. among the denizens of the centrist of government controls. And that im­ Charging that at the first discussion the portant organ of the Eastern liberal mire. Platsky's letter couldbe reduced CSLers had "openly quarrelled" among to a single desperate cry: here I am! establishment, the New York Times, themselves over trade-union tactics, is calling for the re-establishment of look at me! He whines, "The RSL mem­ he notes that this cast doubt "on the bership has conSistently refused to buy controls and condemns Nixon as short­ question of whether the unity between sighted for eliminating them. our press •.•• The RSL has preferred the VNL and the LF meant anything to debate and chase the petty­ If the strike wave escalates, in­ more than the combination we believed bourgeoisified ranks of the Spartacist volving major national contracts, (tele­ it to be .... It doesn't appear that you League and has Simply ignored the phone workers this summer, coal min­ have afunctional unity. It seems that you existence of our tendency in any of its ers in the fall), the ruling class will are just a temporary assemblage of public activities"; " •.• one of the com­ undoubtedly try to re-play the 1971 diverse entities." He also charges that WV PHOTO rades sent by the RSL to 'discuss' ... script of a wage freeze followed by the CSL, in response to a criticism of RSL's Sy Landy had previously admitted to my face that controls. However, it is unlikely that an article on Arnold Miller, had he didn't bother reading our press"; history will Simply repeat itself. The "said that you had allowed it to be consider fusion with those comrades RSLers should "learn that a serious working class has suffered a major printed without challenge because the who hold to a degenerated workers' study of opponents' positions is neces­ wage cut as a result of state controls writer was a close contact." ,state analysis of Russia et al. and those sary •••• We should, therefore, expect and the illusions or tolerance which Landy ~l~o notes ~hat the CS~ s like ourselves who have a state capi­ a noticeable increase in our literature were widespread in 1971 have been absurd posltIon of calling for a Flfth talist analysis to be quite possible and sales at your forums, functions, etc. It; stripped away by that bitter experience. Internatio~al "is the vest~gi~lleftover principled." Yet "we regard the adop­ "your refusal to approach our politics Even Meany now has to denounce "Nix­ of an earlier man,e~ver wlt~m the em- tion by the CSL of the Vern-Ryanposi­ seriously" and so forth. on's wage/price controls," hoping union bryo of the Lemmst FactlOn, one of tion on the expansion of the Stalinists Were politics Simply a game-which, members will forget that he fully sup­ your component groups. In o,rder to to be a serious capitulation to anti­ despite the opportunist antics of the ported them. paper over a temporary bloc Wlth Bor- working class views." RSL, CSL and their ilk, it is not-the Forces within the labor movement digist ele~ents, you, adapte~ to them on The Vern-Ryan theory was an er­ best one could say about these organi­ that are pushing for militant wage the questlOn of the mternatlOnal. It ,no roneous attempt to explain the me­ zations is that they deserve each other. struggles are in a far better position longer serv~s ~uch of a maneuv~rlst chanics of the destruction of capital­ The organizational decomposition of today than in 1971 to prevent the cap­ purpose s,o ;t Wlll go when you fmd a ism in Eastern Europe following World the CSL now appears imminent as well italist state from suppressing labor new gamblt. War II, resulting in states whose class as inevitable, but the long-term prog­ militancy. But the task of revolution­ On this question Landy was truly ~ character is qualitatively identical to nosis for the RSL "Trotskyist" state aries is not to enthuse over the now­ preScient. The same issue of Class that of the Stalinized Soviet Union. In capitalists is fundamentally no better. evident combativeness of the working Struggle which reprints this corres- other words, Landy would like us to Those who choose to remain in the class, but to prepare militant workers pondence exchange also reports on a believe that the process whereby these centrist mire have little to look forward for the struggles ahead by stressing CSL National Convention at which the states acquired the same class char­ to but similar squabbles, rotten blocs demands going beyond simple trade­ Fifth International position was aban- acter as the USSR is a "fundamental" and their decomposition into the orig­ union militancy and directly challenging doned! (The groupings Which Landy question-but the question of what is inal rotten components, on the road to the capitalist system •• termed "Bordigist" had already split thai class character is not! nowhere•• 5 JULY 1974 5 "Revolutionaries" Toil Mosses Which Way to the Portuguese He

During the last two months the Por­ is present among the numerous osten­ tuguese drama has focused on one fun­ sibly revolutionary groups in Portugal. damental theme: the struggle for the On the one hand, the so-~alled "far masses. For the reactionaries grouped left" is relatively large in comparison around Spinola and the "Junta of Na­ with the reformist CP. If the CP can tional Salvation," the question is posed mobilize 10,000 militants and support­ negatively: only by forcing the workers ers for a demonstration against strikes, into passive submission-·through an both the Maoist MRPP (Movement for astute combination of concessions, fos­ the Reorganization of the Proletarian tering of democratic illusions and the Party) and a nascent left Maoist/ use of brute force~~an they hope to Castroite /workerist/anarchist/"Trot­ stabilize the armed forces and put an skyist" bloc can mobilize a roughly end to the current "anarchy." equal number for demonstrations de­ For 'revolutionaries the same situa­ manding immediate independence for tion is posed positively, and much more the colonies. But at the level of politi­ sharply: only by freeing the proletariat cal direction, none of these groups has from democratic illusions and from demonstrated the ability to lead the confidence in the reformist Communist struggle forward to proletarian revolu:­ Party (CP), only by crystallizing a tion by generalizing and centralizing T~"otskyist vanguard party and winning the workers' struggles into a battle for the decisive sectors of the working state power. class to its banners, can the way be During mass upsurges even a small prepared for socialist revolution. group can become a great force in a Portugal is presently in a classical short period of time if it gives the mass­ pre-revolutionary situation of a slow es a correct analysis and raises the type. It is pre-revolutionary in the correct slogans in good time. With sense that any severe shock (such as a large numbers of workers already gOing premature attempt by the junta to crush beyond the reformist strait jacket of the the left and working-class organiza­ CP and several thousand militants sup­ tions, or the precipitous intervention porting One or another of the various Lei contingent at Lisbon demonstration in June. WV PHOTO of the Spanish army) could easily centrist groups, the way is open for a lead to the establishment of organs of far-reaching revolutionary regroup­ The political program of Lenin's re­ the "alliance of the people and the ch.Ial power (soviets)o This revolution­ ment in Portugal. This is how Lenin groupment of the revolutionary Marxist armed forces," the cornerstone of CP ary potential is a reflection of a deep prepared for the victory of the October forces in Russia in 1917 was the famous politics in recent weeks. But in a coun­ hatred of their exploiters among the Revolution following his return to R"Js­ "April Theses." These dealt with the try that has suffered under the yoke of Portuguese working masses, who time sia in April 1917: reorienting the Bol­ question of the attitude toward the pro­ a bonapartist dictatorship for almost and again in recent weeks have gone shevik party toward the goal of winning visional government; toward the im­ half a century, this demand could easily on strike and demonstrated against the soviet power, fUSing with the group led perialist war and the agrarian question; win mass support. wishes of the "democratic" provisional by Trotsky and struggling to win the on the tactics for struggle in the mili­ Another key democratic demand is government. workers away from the Mensheviks and tary; on the immediate tasks of the par­ the call for unconditional independence The slowness, on the other hand, is Social Revolutionaries. ty; over the national question and con­ for the colonies and for immediate an expression of the lack of political Such a regroupment must take the cerning the class character of the withdrawal of the troops from Africao experience of the workers, and the con­ form of the construction of a Trotskyist revolution. These were the burning Particularly aft e r Spinola'S recent sequent absence of a revolutionary party on a firm Marxist programmatic questions of the hour: without unity on declaration on the colonies, which as Marxist party firmly rooted in the base. Only in this way can the eventual these, revolutionary action was impos­ one army officer commented "could masses. On the surface, the Russian proch.Ict of splits and fusions among sible. Only a program of similar mag­ take generations to implement, " this too Revolution transpired between F 2bru­ ostensibly revolutionary parties lead nitude can be the basis for Marxist is a call for struggle against the junta. ary and October of 1917. In reality, the struggle of the masses instead of regroupment in Portugal today. Moreover, it can be used effectively though, this rapid pace of development simply tailing behind them (as is now Trotsky, in the founding document to drive a wedge between the Communist was possible only because of the pre­ occurring). The key to a successful of the Fourth International (liThe Tran­ and SOCialist leaders and their base: vious experience of the 1905 revolution revolutionary regroupment is thus a sitional Program") called for the for­ both the CP and SP are formally pro­ and of more than a decade of sharp sharp struggle for the Tl"ansitional mulation of a program of demands independence, but the provisional gov­ political struggle between the populist Program and Trotskyist politics. " •.. to help the masses in the process ernment of which they are a part is Narodniks, the Men.'3heviks and the This perspective is sharply counter­ of the daily struggle to fir.d the bridge pledged only to "negotiations." Bolsheviks. Tlus history is entirely posed to the opportunist bloc now being between present demands and the so­ One group for whom this demand has lacking for the Portuguese working sought by various groups to the left of cialist program of the revolution. This special importance, of course, is the class, which is only now awakening from the CP in Portugal. The "Trotskyist" bridge should include a system of soldiers. An example of how seemingly the 45 years of enforced political LCI (Internationalist Com m un is t transitional demands, stemming from democratic demands can grow over into slumber under the Salazar-Caetano League), the Castroite-anarchist LUAR today's conditions and from today's consciousness of wide layers of the a direct challenge to the bourgeoisie dictatorship. (League of Unity and Revolutionary working class and unalterably leading to was the vote by an armed forces unit The present situation is the result Action), the Castroite-workerist PRP one final conclusion: the conquest of in Tancos that it would refuse to em­ of an attempted maneuver by key sec­ (Proletarian Revolutionary Party), the power by the proletariat." bark for Africa under any conditions tions of Portuguese capital. Facing im­ Maoist URM-L (Revolutionary Marx­ -"The Death Agony of Capitalism (Luta Popular, 6 June). After all, they minent military defeat in Guinea­ ist-Leninist Unity), the CIC (Groups for and the Tasks of the Fourth were only voting on the war, a simple Bissau and a rapidly deteriorating situ­ Immediate and Total Independence for International," 1938 democratic right! For the several tens ation in Mozambique, the bourgeoisie the Colonies) and the leftsocial-demo­ In a situation in which tens of thousands of thousands of workers from the col­ hoped to cut its losses in Africa (by cratic CBS (Socialist Rank-and-File of Portuguese workers are striking in onies in Portugal this demand is also granting bogus "independence" to its Committees) are attempting to cement defiance of the military junta, the pro­ of great interest. By undertaking con­ former colonies in the framework of a a false unity on a three-point program: visional government and the Communist sistent agitation for unconditional in­ Lusitanian "commonwealth") and re­ "immediate and total independence of Party, while their demands are center­ dependence communists can demon­ orient the economy toward Europe, the colonies," "rejection of CP oppor­ ed on a "minimum program" of a 40- strate to the most conscious African while maintaining a" controlled democ­ tunism and working-class betrayal" and hour week and a 6,000 escudo minimum workers and militants that the road racy" in Portugal. Net only Spinola had "socialist revolution as the only wage, the need for such a transitional to real national emancipation is not Gaullist dreams. means of liberating the Portuguese program is obvious. through bourgeois nationalism but But to date the grand maneuver has proletariat. " been notably unsuccessful. Already through proletarian internationalism. While the demands are just, and Democratic Demands in Portugal Portuguese workers have entered into could be the object for occasional joint At the present time, a sharp struggle sharp elemental class battles with their action, the "unity" they represent is en­ Democratic demands would play a must be mounted around the demands capitalist oppressors; already they are tirely bogus. Most likely this will not large role in such a program. It is of no censorship, for freedom of asso­ clashing with the provisional govern­ develop beyond an informal propaganda remarkable that in condemning the ciation and full freedcm to strike. With ment. But while the workers view their bloc in which the several organizations treacherous role being played by the the junta moving simultaneously against struggles in class terms, and large sec­ opportunistically submerge their polit­ Stalinist Communist Party, none of the the political groups to the left of the tions of the proletariat recognize that ical differences. But if a common for­ "far-left" groups, not even the osten­ government and against striking work­ the coup fundamentally signifies only a mation should emerge (similar to the sibly Trotskyist LCI, has seen fit to ers, these demands can serve to over­ better position from which to fight for Chilean MIR, founded in 1965 by Mao­ raise the demand for immediate elec­ come widespread syndicalism among their liberation, they are as yet unable ists, Castroites and "Trotskyists") it tions for a constituent assembly. The the workers (the product of CP betray­ to transcend the economic framework of would only split apart at the first seri­ Stalinists, to be sure, are for a con­ als) and point to the need for political trade-union struggles. ous political test: for instance, in a stituent assembly •.. 12 months from struggle to protect their elementary "July Days" situation where the Mao­ now when everything has been "paci­ democratic rights. It can also drive a wedge between the junta and sections For A Revolutionary Regroupment ists, anarchists and Castroites might fied." To struggle for immediate elec­ well attempt some kind of adventurist tions means directly challenging the of the petty bourgeOiSie, as some news­ Exactly the same condition, ex­ action; or over political demands, such power of the junta and the provisional papers and even Socialist Party leaders pressed in more sophisticated terms as a call for immediate elections to a government, which were not voted into have expressed dissatisfaction over the reflecting centrist politi~al confusion, constituent assembly. office bv anybody. It means breaking continued on page 9 6 WORKERS VANGUARD Sp(nola/CP Regime Reimposes !volution? Censorship LISBON, June 22-In the wake of the arrest of Saldanho Sanches, ed­ itor of the Maoist MRPP's Luta Popular and the placing of tele­ MilitarJ.lbreatens Occup'ation, CP Organizes Scab Brigades vision under direct government control following a TV workers' protest over military censorship, General Spinola has just informed the Portuguese public as to what is meant by freedom of speech under Portuguese Postal Strike Defeated the new regime. Yesterday the gen­ eral signed into law an act that authorizes the "Junta of National FROM OUR SPECIAL Salvation" to nominate an ad hoc CORRESPONDENT commission for control of the LISBON, June 25-After three weeks of press, radio, television, the ate r futile negotiations with the new Por­ and motion pictures until the pub­ lication of new laws regarding tuguese government, 35,000 workers of the CTT (the official postal and tele­ these media. communications agency) left their jobs The preamble to the law points at midnight on June 16. The strike shut out that the replacement of the down post offices nationwide and cur­ former Salazar-Caetano dictator­ tailed phone service outside Lisbon and ship must proceed "without inter­ Oporto, the only two cities where tele­ nal convulsions which affect the phone service is under another peace, the progress and the well­ being of the country." "To the company. The strike vote was taken by demo­ means of social communication falls the fundamental m iss ion of cratically elected delegates from each actively cooperating in the recon­ of the work locations, who then en­ trusted the day-to-day leadership ofthe struction of the country," accord­ strike to the Comissao Pr6-Sindicato. ing to the provisional government, The Commission is a small group which includes Communist and So­ struggling for the formation of a trade cialist ministers. Thus there is an union for CTT workers, who have been "absolute necessity of prohibiting prohibited by the government from the unjust use of a liberty which must be responSible, thus prevent­ organizing. The strike was almost total, with ing the country from being led into a climate of anarchy through incite­ perhaps 2-3,000 workers not adhering. Strikers demanded 100 percent vacation ment to disorder and violence." In other words, freedom of speech pay, retroactive to January 1, a mini­ mum salary of 6,000 escudos (roughly will be permitted as long as no one says any t h i n g against the $240) a month, a 35-hour five-day work­ week, overtime pay andimmediate pro­ government! The ad hoc committee is to re­ motions for workers who had been in the REVOLUCAO Postal workers gather during Lisbon strike o same category for more than five years. main under the direct control of Three days later the strikers re­ the junta, functioning in conformity democracy." This strike-breaking line Comissao brought them around to its turned to work, having gained absolutely with the regulations annexed to the was echoed by the Stalinist-led labor position that the strike could not con­ nothing. They bowed before a threat law which include the follOwing federation, the Intersindical: "Certain tinue because the strikers were in from the government to send troops prohibitions: physical danger and "because the un­ against the strikers and a vicious cam­ demands made at this time are an af­ -Incitement or provocation, even front to the democratization of the popularity of the strike was sOwing paign by the Communist Party and though indirect, to military diso­ country" (Diario de Noticias, 20 June). dissension within the class as a whole. " liberals to whip up public opinion bedience, including disrespect But the "Communist" Party did not Now the Commission has adopted a against the strike. for military laws and regulations. stop at mere words! In several parts of new set of demands which it intends to The government launched its attack -Offenses against the President the country the Stalinists organized put before a delegate vote June 26. immediately. Ignoring the fact that the of the Republic or members of demonstrations against the strike. They These include a minimum salary of strike vote had been taken by delegates the State Council. also formed goon squads which smashed 5,000 escudos, a 75 percent discount from the work sites, it tried to blame -Offenses against foreign heads of post office windows and threatened to for CTT workers in the pharmaCies, the walkout on the Comissao Pr6- s tat e or their accredited dip­ enter the occupied work locations. In control of social security and person­ Sindicato and appealed to the "con­ lomatic rep res e n tat i v e s in nel (transfers, hiring and promotions) science" of individual workers to go Braganr;a, where such a gang actually Portugal. did enter the post office, the workers by the workers, removal of all sym­ against their strike leaders: -References to military opera­ remained firm in refusing to return to pathetic to the old regime from the ••.. the Government cannot but note tions whose divulgence has not that although the strike is a right ofthe work. (Throughout the strike the CTT administration and the same imme­ been authorized by the Armed workers it cannot be used indiscrimi­ workers continued vital services such diate promotions demand as previously. Forces. nately without exhausting the possibili­ as urgent communications with hospi­ But the Comissao has abandonedaposi­ -Incitement to strike, work stop­ ties of negotiation, which in this case, tals, doctors, pharmaCies, firemen, tion of strength and, having led the pages or demonstrations not au­ the Government was still committed to etc.) workers through what turned out to be thorized by legislation in effect. continuing. Under the threat of troop interven­ a useless strike, it has lost the initia­ -Ideological attacks that contra­ "It appeals, therefore, to the political tion and physical danger to strikers tive in relation to the government. dict the execution of the Program conscience of the CTT workers, so that from the CP's goon squads, bargaining There is even less chance now for ac­ of the Movement of the Armed they think over the consequences of a between the Comissao Pr6-Sindicato ceptance of the workers' demands, even Forces. strike in this moment, [consequences1 and the government reopened on June though they are of a lesser character. for which they will be entirely respon­ -Practice or incitement to prac­ sible, [and] the certainty that the Gov­ 19. Despite the affirmation two days The defeated CTT strike has been tice of any other acts which the ernment will not back down from show­ previously that it was "committed to another lesson in the hollowness of general law classifies as crimes. ing the firmness that the situation will continuing" negotiations, in the middle Spinola's pretensions to the granting Violations will be punished by a require in order to assure the normal of the session the government's repre­ of democratic liberties under the new fine of 500,000 escudos (roughly life of the country. ft sentatives got up and left, declaring regime. In other words, the right to $20,000) and suspension of the of­ -Diario de Noticias, 17 June that they had made their final offer. strike will be "permitted" (although fending media for a period of six­ When the workers stood united in the The next day the authorities declared "regulated," naturally) as long as it is ty days. face of this threat, the Provisional over the radio that it was actually the not used in important sectors of the There is no doubt whatever that Government carried out its promises of Comissao which left the negotiations economy! It is precisely because the this attack is not directed against "firmnesso" On the third day, with the and· once again tried to go over the means of communication are vital to the "the for c e s of reaction" as it strike ranks still holding solid, the gov­ head of the commiSSion, appealing di­ operations of the bourgeoisie that the claims to be, but is a naked at­ ernment called on the armed forces to rectly to the workers to go back to work go v ern men t responded immediately tempt to stifle not only the left, but intervene. Major General Costa Gomez by publishing in the newspapers a with the threat of force. Having gotten all workers' organizations as well. amiably agreed. table of proposed wage categories. away with it, the government will be If the reactionaries accumulate Even more devastating to the strike (Moreover, this schedule was actually all the more ready to use similar meth­ enough strength to rigorously en­ effort than the threat of troop inter­ lower than the government's last offer ods to crush other strikes. force this law the left will be forced vention, however, was the smear cam­ at the negotiating table!) For intransigent defense of the un­ once again to clandestinely circu­ paign of the Communist Party traitors. Immediately following the June 19 limited right to strike for all workers late its publications. For working­ Having obtained two seats in President negotiating seSSion, the Commission in Portugal! With the government class mobilization to defend full General Spinola's cabinet, including the adopted a position of abandoning the pleading inability to pay and refusing freedom of the press, freedom of Ministry of Labor, the CP was naturally strike and called a meeting of the to accept the just demands of the CTT speech, the right to association and "in perfect unity" with the government delegates. At the beginning of the employees, the only way postal and tele­ the right to strike! For the imme­ line that interruption of work in vital meeting the delegates were firm in communications workers can win their diate release of Saldanho Sanches! sectors of the national economy con­ their resolve to continue the strike, wage claims, expel the criminals ofthe tradicted "normal progress toward but after a four-hour discussion the continued on page 8 5 JULY 1974 7 tection (sliding scale of wages, a key Workers control, workers commis­ process of political clarification. Continued from page 7 demand with inflation in Lisbon now Sions, militant factory occupations, The CP reformists have no intention running at an annual rate of more than armed defense of strike pickets, a of breaking with the generals and their 20 percent); equal pay for equal work central council of strike and factory provis ional government and fighting for Postal Strike ... (important because of the widespread committees, the formation of soldiers a workers government based on a na­ wage discrimination against several committees-:-all of the s e measures tional council of workers commissions. Salazarist regime and achieve control hundred thousand women and black Cape point to an inevitable direct confronta­ The Stalinist traitors' refusal to fight of personnel is to take over the instal­ Verdean workers); doubling the mini­ tion with Spinola and the junta. Given for a workers government demonstrates lations and run them under workers mum wage; and expropriation under the present disorganization of the work­ concretely to the working masses just control. (This would also be a tremen­ workers control of the banks, industry ers movement the time is not propitious whom these fake communists really dous step in the direction of organizing and monopolies (CUF, Dos Santos, for a head-on collision now, and revo­ support--not the workers they claim to nationwide resistance to a move by the Champalimaud, etc.) who run the coun­ lutionaries must therefore seek to avoid represent--but the "democratic" bour­ junta to crush the labor movement.) try's economy. adventurist armed clashes with pro­ geoisie of the Spinola regime. A strike for such advanced demands Such strikes require organization junta troops (something the Maoists and Bllt the key to taking the struggle requires audacious and rigorous or­ and leadership which, given the scab­ semi-Castroite elements might well forward is not Simply a demonstration ganizing to achieve victory: occupation bing pOlicies of the Stalinist CP, can­ attempt). or slogan, but the fundamental ques­ of the CTT facilities and expulsion of not come from the unions of the Inter­ Nonetheless, the masses must be tion of revolutionary leadership. Al­ all representatives of the government; sindical; it is necessary to extend the educated to beware of the junta and its though large segments of the Portu­ armed defense guards to protect the democratically elected unitary comis­ puppet provisional government; they guese working class have rejected the strikers against Stalinist goon squads s6es operarias (workers commissions, must be won away from the treacherous leadership of the strikebreaking CP, and an army attack; democratic elec­ joining together members of the many pro-Spinola misleaders of the Commu­ there is neither a recognized alterna­ tion of a strike committee, responsible unions in a single plant) to all work­ nist Party and the Intersindical. A call tive leadership of the militant workers to the ranks, which can be recalled at places, and to coordinate them through for massive unitary demonstrations nor a party which has demonstrated any time. Likewise, it is necessary to a national council of workers commis­ (preserving the right of all organiza­ its ability to take the struggle forward link up with militant workers through­ sions and strike committees. Pointing tions to carry their own signs and to victory. The construction of that out the country, calling for strikes to out to their working-dass brothers in slogans) defending the right to strike, party, which can only be built on the achieve a 30-hour week with no loss uniform that their interests lie in joint a g a ins t censorship, for immediate basis of Marxism-Leninism and the in pay (Portugal suffers massive un­ struggle against the generals, l;nUitants elections to a constituent assembly, Trotskyist Transitional Program, as employment which forces hundreds of must also agitate for the formation of for unconditional independence to the part of a reborn Fourth International, thousands of workers to emigrate in soldiers' committees linked to the colonies and for immediate withdrawal is the fundamental task facing revolu­ search of jobs); full cost-of-living pro- comissoes operarias. of the troops from Africa can aid this tionists in Portugal today .•

perspective for building a national op­ upgrading. minority and women workers would be Continued from page 12 position caucus and waging a fight for Watts was even allowed to dodge accomplished not by the token "pref­ alternative leadership of the union. the question of whether the union would erential" schemes which di vi de the Instead they opt for blocs with lesser­ strike at all in a year when inflation, ranks, but by creating more jobs for CWA ... evil bureaucrats like 1101 President massi ve layoffs and attacks on union all. In short, it is a program calling amendment; right-wing opposition to Ed Dempsey. Dempsey not only failed seniority rights (through preferential for a basic reorientation of the CW A detente (for example, Nixon should be to oppose the International's "national hiring administered by the government) to a policy of consistent class struggle. impeached not for Watergate but be­ bargaining" scheme at Kansas City, constitute a sharp attack by the bour­ MAC does not limit its fight to is­ cause he visited China!); and supplant­ but was also a big star in the COPE geoisie against the membership and the sues of Simple trade-union militancy, ing strikes by more "modern" unionism awards, indicating his special zeal in union itself. Not to strike in 1974- but sees the need to broaden the strug­ that "serves the national interest." the service of the Democratic Party. when the morally discredited govern­ gle into a political battle for working­ B'lt it is unclear whether Watts has Had these phony opposition group­ ment is able to continue its wage­ class leadership. The same issue of the aut h 0 r i t y to consolidate the ings been present at this convention, slashing, union-busting pOlicies solely Militant Action contains an article on bureaucracy. they would no doubt have leapt at the through the cooperation of the labor "The Democratic Party-CWA's Slot Just one year ago at the Miami chance to wrap their tails around Dan tops-is to openly betray the union to Machine That Never Pays Off!" which convention MAC was able to wage a Archaletta, Western Electric Local the interests of the bosses. pOints out that impeaching Nixon, while successful united-front campaign to 9490 president, who made a grandstand supportable, simply means putting the defeat the proposed "19-2C" amend­ play for militant sentiment in support anti-labor reactionary Gerald Ford in ment, originally posed as an anti-red of the CWA resolution backing the the White House! Instead MAC calls on clause and subsequently turned into an United Farm Workers and denouncing the unions to use industrial action to om nib us anti-dissent measure, the the Teamster-grower alliance. Not sat­ force Nixon out and bring about new vague wording of which threatened any isfied with just words, Arc h a let t a elections, for a militant labor candidate mildly independent local bureaucrat. wan ted •.. not act ion s, like hot­ opposed to the two bourgeois parties But in Kansas City, vir t u a 11 y every cargoing of scab goods, and a and for an independent party of labor. independent-leaning local leader had California-wide general strike in de­ Another article, entitled "Why Is The been lined up behind "national bar­ fense of the UFW (both of these meas­ AFL-CIO Known As The AFL-CIA In gaining. " In a bargaining year with ures have been advocated by MAC) ... Latin America" details the activities strong rank-and-file sentiment for a but stronger words. This same Ar­ of the Meany/Beirne-led AIFLD, which strike, which could easily escape the chaletta was a prime mover behind trains anti-communist "labor leaders" bureaucracy's control, the plea for last year's proposed anti-red clause to cooperate with vicious military dic­ unity among squabbling bureaucrats fell in 1973. tatorships, as in Brazil and Chile. 1 The fight for a new, class-struggle upon sympathetic ears. "",I leadership of the labor movement re­ Contract Sellout Prepared For a Class-Struggle quires the formation of national cau­ cuses in the unions basedon aprincipled Opposition The International avoided the in­ evitable yearly battle with the histor­ program such as that of the Militant Action Caucus in the CW A. (Militants The harassment and threats against ically more mil it ant and dissident Joseph Beirne (right) and Glenn Watts. MAC were an indication· of the fact Western Electric Manufacturing unit who wish to contact MAC can do so by that none of the nervous bureaucrats by at long last acquiescing to its But more than just a strike, it is writing to Militant Action, P.O. Box wanted to mount even the most timid demands for its own national division. necessary to raise a program of de­ 462, El Cerrito, California 94530.) • opposition to the present CWA regime A resolution on impeachment stood mands which can serve to unite the in this explosive period. Much less were to the right of that passed by the union ranks in struggle against the they interested in defending the rights AFL-CIO executive board, calling not companies and the capitalist offensive. of a real class-struggle opposition for impeachment, but only for quick In the June-July issue of Militant Ac­ WfJRNEIS group which calls for a fight not only resolution of the matter, the sooner tion, distributed at the Kansas City against Beirne and his successor, but to bolster up the sagging authority convention, MAC raises the following 'AHIIIARD also against the several "independent" of the government. de man d s which are of particular local bureaucrats in various militant An anti-democratic feminist pro­ importance in the 1974 contract Marxist Working-Class Bi-weekly big-city locations and the various re­ posal to appoint more women to union bargaining: formist fake lefts who tag along in their posts on the basis of sex was defeated "1. For a huge wage increase and a of the Spartacist League wake. MAC has consistently fought for from the right when delegates argued REAL cost-of-living clause! Nar­ policies not of "mutual responsibility," that women are not specially oppressed row the wage gap-One nationwide Editorial Board: but for class struggle; not for reliance in the CWA! A more watered-down payscale! Liz Gordon (chairman) on the Democratic and Republican twin proposal, to "study" the question, was "2. Shorten the work week with no loss Jan Norden (managing editor) parties of capital, but for taking the passed. A debate on racial discrimina­ in pay-No layoffs-No for c e d ChriS Knox (labor editor) fight to the political arena through a tion followed similar lines and was transfers-No forced overtime! Karen Allen (production manager) labor party based on the trade unions. resolved by creating a post of vice "3. For union control of the shop Joseph Seymour Also present in Kansas City were president to "study" ethnic affairs. floor, hi r i n g, upgrades and members of the Progressive Labor On the key issue for 1974-the con­ transfers! Circulation Manager: Anne Kelley Party-backed Workers Action Move­ tract-there was virtually no opposition "4. No punishment for being ill-End West Coast Editor: Mark Small ment. MAC requested that WAM join to the International's determination to absence control! Southern Editor: Joe Vetter a bloc to defend the right of opposi­ ram through a settlement similar to the "5. For a one year contract with full Midwest Editor: Steve Green tion at the CWA convention. WAM, betrayals of the 1974 steel and 1973 right to strike! however, turned down this request, auto contracts. The adoption of "na­ "6. Full Company paid medical, den­ explaining that it wanted united fronts tional bargaining" was simply accepted tal care-Paid maternity leave!" Published by the Spartacist only with the masses. With the excep­ as a fait accom..?li, not even put up Such a program would make the Publishing Company, Box 1377, tion of WAM and MAC, no other left 'Oil the floor for a vote. Nor was there bosses, not the workers, pay the cost G. P. 0., New York, N. Y. 10001. opposition groups in the phone union opposition to the shelving of every of inflation; it poses the need for real Telephone: 925-8234. were present in Kansas City. critical contract demand, including the national bargaining, not the CWA tops' Not ice a b 1 y absent were the IS­ full cost-of-living escalator, end to disguised plan to eliminate local con­ Opinions expressed in signed supported United Action Caucus and the absence control, for no layoffs but more tract ratification. The benefits of auto­ articles or letters do not neces­ RU-supported Final Warning from Lo­ jobs to fight unemployment, the agency mation would accrue to the workers in­ sarily express the editorial cal 1101 in New York. ,This was an shop, and for an end to discrimina­ stead of increasing prOfits by speed-up viewpoint. indication that neither has a serious tion through union control of hiring and and layoffs; hiring and upgrading of 8 WORKERS VANGUARD the class-collaborationist provisional However, at a slightly lower level the Continued from page 6 government. Trotskyists must call on MRPP leadership attempts to give the Communist Party to break from this slogan of Democratic and Popular Splnola. The CP may actually be forced Revolution a very "left" interpretation. ... Portuguese Revolution to make some such break in the not While Mao concluded from the supposed distant future, attempting to put dis­ "inability" of the proletariat to take reimposition of censorship (0 Seculo. mzmmum wage. With giant monopolies tance between itself and the top offi­ power that one should make alliances 27 June). claiming inability to pay the workers' cers, without in any way altering its with Chiang Kai-shek, the Portuguese Yet another important democratic wage demands, it is necessary also to com mit men t to reformist class­ Maoists attempt a mechanical imitation demand would be for the expulsion of raise the demands of workers' inspec­ collaboration. A key element in expos­ of Lenin's policies during the Octobe l' criminals of the Salazarist dictatorship tion of the corporate records and ex­ ing the pro-capitalist policies of the CP Revolution of 1917. from the factories and state agencies, propriation of the banks, industry and and breaking away its working-class This creates difficulties since, as for their trial by democratically elected monopolies under wovkers control. support in the direction of an authentic Lenin clearly stated in the April Theses, people's tribunals o If fully implemented Militant strikes for such transitional revolutionary vanguard party, is the the BolshevikS' aim in 1917 was to this would lead to the dissolution of the demands will naturally be exposed to call for the creation of a unitary organi­ carry out a proletarian (not "popular­ bourgeois state apparatus which, de­ attacks by the CP-organized scabs and zation of the Portuguese working people de m 0 c rat i c ") rev 0 I uti 0 n. This spite the alleged dismantling of the po­ goon squads and possible intervention as the organizational form for dual ("Trotskyist") position is reflected, litical police (PIDE), is wholly a crea­ by the army; therefore it is necessary power. although in a distorted manner, in some tion of the Salazarist epoch. Thus to call for armed defense of the picket Another key political demand which of the MRPP's pronouncements. For neither this nor the other democratic lines. Simultaneously it is crucial to must be raisedisPortugalout of NATO, instance, explaining its main demands demands can be accomplished without undertake work inside the armed forces and Down with the Iberian Pact. Not it states: mobilizing the working class against to win over the ranks through the for­ only is the CP's agreement to a coali­ "Only the popular revolutionary pro­ the bourgeois state. mation of soldiers and sailors commit= tion government tied to anti-communist gram is in the interests of the people, tees linked to the workers movement. military pacts a scandal of the first only it puts an end to all exploitation. Transitional Demands and And as the struggle escalates, the magnitude, but it is preCisely from For Bread-expropriation of the mo­ Revolutionary Struggle workers defense guards must be trans­ Spain and NATO that foreign inter­ nopolies and large enterprises by the formed into a unified workers militia. vention to squelch the Portuguese mas­ working class; Fm· Peace-complete In the course of recent strikes, one The central council of strike and fac­ ses is most likely to come. Splnola's mdependence for the peoples of the colonies and return of the soldiers; of the most common demands was for tory committees must function as an secret conversations with Nixon last workers partiCipation in management. alternative power, a workers govern- For Land-confiscation of the holdings week are one indication of this ob­ of the latifundists and rich peasants lP'" vious point. and their Distribution among the agri­ At present the Portuguese armed cultural workers and poor peasants; (>'"d[{~ forces are probably too untrustworthy For Liberty for the people and dictator­ ~I ~ I for the junta to use them against the ship over the bourgeoisie; For Democ­ ... workers. In a crisis the bourgeoisie racy-constitution of popular organiza­ might appeal to the Spanish army for tions in the organs of state power; For aid-an eventuality for which Franco National Independence-expulsion of the is already preparing-witness the firing imperialists from Portuguese soil ... this is the road of Popular Revolution. of the "liberal" Spanish defense minis­ "FOR BREAD, PEACE, LAND, LIB­ ter Diez Alegrfa last month. But in ERTY, DEMOCRACY AND NATIONAL this case the forces of nationalism could INDEPENDENCE, no bourgeois power be allied with the working class, for it can give this to the people. Only the is obvious that Spanish "aid" would workers, peasants, youth, women, sol­ spell the end of the greatly weakened diers and remaining elements of the Portuguese state. Thus the agitation people, un de r the leadership of a against NATO and the Iberian Pact is Marxist-Leninist-Maoist party andor­ a crucial struggle against developing ganized in a powerful popular revolu­ tionary front, can put an end to the bourgeois counterrevolution. reactionary power of the bourgeOisie and construct a popular power, a pop­ MRPP: TWO-Stage Revolution ular government, a popular dictator­ ship, a Popular Republic." Maoism is a reformist current with­ -Luta }Jopular, 6June in the workers movement, a specific The MRPP's actual practice is in "third-world" variant of Stalinism. Mao accord with its overall Stalinist line WV PHOTO himself has conSistently opposed the PRP demonstration and in stark contradiction to this left Leninist-Trotskyist call for proletar­ verbiage. Thus in the recent strike ian revolution in the backward coun­ While this demand expresses wide­ ment counterposed to the military junta wave it called for a central objective tries, in which the working class would spread distrust of the bourgeoisie and provisional government of the bour­ of the 40-hour week, a classic demand revolutionists must point out its re­ lead the peasantry and other exploited geoisie. In other words, transformed of the soc i aI-de m 0 c r a ti c/Stalinist sectors of the population in solving the formist content and instead call for the into a soviet, the seeds of a future "minimum program." national and democratic tasks of the implementation of workers control, to proletarian state, it will create a sit­ However, in the quotation above, the bourgeois revolution by establishing a expel all the bosses. ThiS, in turn, can uation of dual power. But this will not measures advocated would, if carried be implemented only through the crea­ Occur spontaneously, and r e qui res workers state, concomitant with the out, result in the destruction of the tion of factory committees (the comis­ above all the intervention of the revolu­ socialist tasks. But despite its back­ bourgeois state and, despite the fan­ soes operarias) to administer the work­ tionary party, its winning over of a wardness, Portugal is no "third-world" tasies of some kind of intermediate place and organize the workers in united majority of the decisive sectors of the agrarian country; it has a large work­ "popular-democratic" stage, the es­ struggle. working class and consequently of the ing class and is itself an imperialist tablishment of some deformed version soviets. power, albeit a rather pathetic one. To date, the individual strikes (of of a workers state. The fact that the As Marx noted in the Communist Under such circumstances there is lit­ shipyard workers, textile workers, MRPP nowhere agitates for the forma­ Manifesto, every class battle is ul­ tle to distinguish Maoism from the watchmakers, postal employees, tran­ tion of democratically elected workers timately a political battle. The various Moscow-line Stalinism of the CPo sit workers, etc.) have had no central committees, as the foundation of the democratic and transitional demands A consequence of this ambiguity is future soviet state, is an indication coordination. The trade-union federa­ must be generalized in a program of tion, the CP-ledlntersindical, has lined the existence of a number of "left­ that what these Maoists have in mind class struggle against the bourgeois up solidly on the side of the government Maoist" groups in the advanced coun­ is a bureaucratically deformed workers regime and centralized in the demand in sabotaging the strikes. To provide tries. One such group is the Movement state on the Chinese model. for a workers government based on Nevertheless, their call for exprop­ coordination and defense of the strikes democratically-elected workers com­ for the Reorganization of the Prole­ tarian Party, the largest organization riation of the monopolies and destruc­ it is necessary to form a national coun­ mittees (soviets), which will exp·ropri­ to the left of the CPo The MRPP claims tion of the bourgeois state constitutes cil of strike committees, workers com­ ate the capitalist class and destroy the that "the revolution is on the order of a contradiction which can be used by missions, etc. whose delegates are re­ bourgeois state. callable at any time. the day" and the "dominant class is revolutionists to make clear to the However, this demand must not be now unable to govern." But at the same masses (and the MRPP's own militants) Such a council could serve as a left suspended in space as a "maximum time it declares that "the working class what is the real content of Maoistpoli­ launching pad for strikes to achieve a program" for the distant future. At is not yet in a condition to take power" tics. For instance, during the Lisnave sliding scale of wages and hours (to present the prime obstacle to political (Luta Popular, 6 June). The solution is strike at the end of May, a Bolshevik protect the working masses against in­ independence of the working class from simple for any well-versed Stalinist: party would have challenged the MRPP flation and unemployment), for equal the bourgeoisie is the Stalinist Com­ Portugal must have a "democratic" to join it in calling for the expropria­ pay for equal work, for doubling the munist Party which is participating in revolution. tion of the CUF trust (which owns the At a general level, the Maoists' shipyards), a demand that would appear pol i c i e s are hardly distinguishable to be in harmony with the Maoists' from the prO-Moscow CP: program. If they refused and insisted the "minimum" demand of a 40-hour "The mission of the working class is to r-~WJrn~©oo~rn~ Young 1 apply the scientific theory of the prole­ week, then the Maoists' leftist pre­ tariat to the concrete characteristics tensions would be exposed as simple of revolution in its country. In the case hypocrisy. of Portugal, the actual phase of the revolution is the Democratic andPopu­ PRP: Guerrillaism and lar Revolution and not, as the Tl'Ot­ I u@ skyists and other opportunists would Workerism have it, already the phase of socialist Sp'!~!!£~y~, The Revolutionary Party of the Pro­ youth sectIOn 0 revolution. "The significance of this is thaHn order letariat-Revolutionary Brigades (PRP) to make the socialist revolution, the is the second largest group of the "far Name______Portuguese working class has t!) first left," after the MRPP, and is in many conquer certain objectives, from which ways a unique phenomenon. Broadly Address ______it can prepare and begin in the fight speaking it can be termed "Castroite­ 51 for its final objectives. These inter­ workerist" -a s t ran g e combination City/State/Zip 48 6 ISSUES mediate objectives are Bread, Peace, since the Castroites characteristically Land, Liberty, Democracy and Nation­ seek to substitute the guerrilla band for Make payable/mail to: RCY, Box 454, Cooper Station, N. Y., N. Y. 10003 al Independence." -Luta Popular, (lJune continued on next page 5 July 1974 9 Continued from page 9 At Maoist-Backed Steel Conference: ... Portuguese Revolution the struggle of the working masses, iat") is the only group in Portugal and true workerists would tail after the which claims to be Trotskyist. While Reformists proletarian masses on every available Elutifully supporting the adventurist ac­ occasion. Nevertheless, it is precisely tions/positions of its international af­ this combination which is the PRP. filiates (such as the Ligue Com­ Under the severe repression of the muniste's bash with the French police Favor Taking Salazarist dictatorship the PRP chose on the occasion of a fascist meeting not to attempt to mobilize the masses last June, or the Spanish LCR's "total around a program of democratic and support" to a bomb assassination of the transitional demands-for instance, the Spanish premier by a Basque nation­ Unions to Court freedom to form trade unions and free­ alist organization in December), the dom of the press. Instead it chose to LCI rej ects terrorism for Portugal carry out isolated terrorist actions, despite the fact that such actions have CHICAGO-A conference of about 100 suit to de-certify the union for not re­ such as the bombing of army head­ been widely supported by other left oppositional local officials and their presenting its black members! A bril­ quarters, supply stations and warships. organizations. left-wing supporters in the Steelwork­ liant proposal-for the bosses, anyway! The PRP's explanation of this terror­ Likewise, the LCI asserts that the ers' Union met over MemJrial Day Empower the courts and government ist policy is an interesting link to its only road to the Portuguese revolution weekend in Chicago. Although ostensi­ to determine the right of unions to exist! current workerist practice: it concen­ lies through organization of the working bly focused on opposition to Steel worker Thus the strategy of relying on court trated on bombings because "this was class and actually takes an absten­ president 1. W. Abel's "Experimental interference to bring about democracy what the workers were talking about"! tionist at tit u de toward student strug­ Negotiating A g r e e men t" (ENA) no­ in the unions is carried to its logical (Revolufao, 8 June) gles. Its newspaper contains program­ strike deal and the government/com­ conclusion. Neither the CP nor any of (In the context of a colonial war and matic calls for demands such as a pany/union "consent decree" (a fraud­ the Maoist groups backing the confer­ a bonapartist dictatorship, acts of sabo­ sliding scale of wages and hours, ulent anti-discrimination measure), the ence, however, have voiced any objec­ tage are not unimportant. But the key opening the books of industry, ex­ main purpose of the conference was to tion to such "tactics." perspective must remain the organiza­ propriation of industry under work­ cement an alliance to promote further Neither has the ex-Trotskyist SWP, tion of the working class to overthrow ers control, workers militias and court suits and "rank-and-file dele­ which also had a supporter or two at the the bourgeoisie. How much more effec­ armed defense of picket lines, and gates" at the upcomi.ng USWA conven­ conference. A guest column in the 28 tive than a bomb explosion ion a ship "creation of 'United Committees of tion in September. June Militant ignorantly claimed that would be, for instance, a refusal by Working-Class Struggle' to be trans­ Conference leaders representing the the Maoist Revolutionary Union had dock workers to load cargoes of arms formed into organs of dual power "Rank and File Team" (RAFT), an op­ opposed court suits against the union. and supplies bound for Africa.) in the course of 0 v e r t h row i n g positional grouping led by local offi­ In fact, RU-supported elements at the Now the PRP believes that the ter­ the dictatorship" (" Problemas gerais cials in Youngstown, OhiO, spoke ill conference were exhibiting the hypo­ rorist phase is over, since the coup of da estrategia revolucionaria," Accoo militant tones against Abel's no-strike (:ritical nature of their opposition to April 25 "made the working class the Comunista No.2, February 1974). On pledge and the consent decree, but had discrimination against minorities and principal motor of the evolution and paper the LCI seeks to maintain an no program to do anything about them. women by arguing against the Equal future development ofthe political situ­ appearance of Trotskyist orthodoxy. While RAFT hypocritically claims to Rights Amendment. ation in Portugal" (Revolu{'ao. 1 June). However, when it comes to practi­ be concerned only with trade-union is­ A prinCipled motion condemning the The prinCipal task of the moment is cal actions, it is a different matter sues, it is politically indistinguishable use of the bourgeois courts against the the organization of the workers around altogether. The LCI believes, together from the inc u m ben t pro-capitalist union was presented at the plenary ses­ economist trade-union demands: with its mentor Ernest Mandel, that trade-union bureaucracy, having sup­ sion by a rank-and-file militant who "It is necessary to interpret simply the there exists a "new mass vanguard" ported bourgeois Democrat McGovern evidently disagreed with the opportunist profound anxieties of the working class which has broken with reformism and in the last presidential e 1 e c t ion s. mood of the conferenceo Hls motion was and enunciate in clear terms its politi­ only needs to be organized for struggle. Among its supporters, however, there not supported by any of the organized cal grievances. The question is the In much of West Europe this theory are some would-be radicals and groups at the conferenceo As noted by organization of workers everywhere. It leads to a practice which, on occaSion, socialists. the Guardian, RAFT spokesman John is only this way that it will be possible can even have adventurist traits, as the The RAFT outfit promises to travel Barbero, a plaintiff in the recent anti­ to construct the necessary and indis­ Mandelites tail after the Guevarist­ the same path as the Brotherhood coa­ Abel suit, defended the court action not pensable unity of the proletariat, inde­ Maoist-New Left youth. But in a pre­ lition which was elected to office in the pendent of political groups and parties." on the grounds that it might have been revolutionary situation in Portugal, the Fremont, California, UA W Local last successful, which he said had not been [emphasis ours] same theory proves to have reformist year. In the Brotherhood would-be bu­ - Revolurao, 8 June expected, but simply because Abel had consequences. Like the MRPP and PRP, reaucrats and would-be radicals com­ been forced to give "damaging testi­ The last phrase is no accident. Revolu­ which refuse to raise anything but the bined to form an opportunist bloc for mony"! Thus RAFT cynically advocates {,ao goes on to explain that "the workers 40-hour week, the LCI systematically the Local elections. Once in power the that workers place confidence in the in a particular factory will know better abstains from raising pOlitical demands Brotherhood dropped its "people "neutral" bourgeois state, knowing full what they want than any political party, in the context of the workers' strikes. power" rhetoric and obedientlytoedthe well that this" expedient" tactic is ac­ the PRP included." One begins to won­ The only political demand it ever W::>odcock line, expediently dissociating tually bound to fail. der if the "Revolutionary Party of the raises in the working class is the call itself from its more militant backers. Proletariat" has any reason for exis­ for workers control. But even this is The right-wing Maoist October League, The courts are tools of the bosses! tence at all! a some-time matter: in an interview however, continues to virulently defend The behavior of the "radical" support­ In actuality the PRP is dedicated to with a WV reporter, LCI spokesmen the Brotherhood bureaucracy. Predict­ ers of RAFT plays not only into the promoting syndicalist '!self­ said that this demand should be raised ably, the OL's paper, the Call, hailed hands of labor's capitalist enemies, but management" schemes, and sings the "only when the situation warrants it." the Memorial Day conference. Like­ also into the hands of the entrenched praises of the Lip strike in France For example, "it was possible to raise wise, the 5 June Guardian. which follows reactionary labor bureaucracy and Abel last year. (See WV No. 42, 12 April workers control in the context of the the OL line, gave favorable coverage to specificallyo The courts may at times 1974 for the story of how the Lip strike Timex strike," but "only in personal the event. rule in favor of an individual careerist was sold out.) Unlike the Catholic trade conversations with workers"! Other union groups present besides or even a whole new bureaucratic layer unionists who led that strike, however, Portuguese workers have already RAFT includedSteelworkers for Equal­ (as represented by Arnold Miller of the the PRP claims to be committed to gone beyond these demands. Calls for ity, the AdHoc Committee of COhcerned Mineworkers, who was considered a socialist revolution. Thus the PRP Cen­ a minimum salary of 6,000 escudos and Steelworkers and the District 31 Right great example at the conference), but tral Committee's "Manifesto ao Prole­ a 40-hour week have been commOn to to Strike Committee. Notable by its never in favor of fundamental advances tariado Portugues," issued on 12 May, most of the strikes since the coup: the absence was the National Steelworkers' for the rank and fileo ends with slogans calling "For postal workers demanded not a 40-hour Rank and File Committee (NSRFC), Missing from the proposals and res- Total Destruction of the Fascist State week, but 35 hours; and Timex workers affiliated with Trade Unionists for Ac­ 01utions finally passed was any mention Apparatus; For an alliance of soldiers have instituted the 40-hour week them­ tion and Democracy (TUAD), which is of the key issues faced by steel workers: and sailors with the organized workers selves. Workers have even been grop­ supported by the Communist Party. "productivity"; social-patriotic pro­ in struggle for SOCialism; For the Re­ ing toward the demand for workers con­ According to steel workers interviewed tectionism vs. international working­ volutionary Unity of the Working Class; trol, although they have been seduced by Workers Vanguard, the CP-backed class solidarity; the infamous incen­ For the Socialist Revolution; For the by the CP into reformist formulations elements boycotted the meeting in sec­ tive system praticed in the steel in­ Dictatorship of the Proletariat; For such as "participation in management. " tarian fashion because it was backe d dustry and speed-up; rejection of the Proletarian Internationalism." Yet the LCI declares it is "too soon" by Maoists. workers' weapons of class struggle There is very little Marxist clarity to raise political demands. Though there is little essential po­ in favor of reliance on arbitration, the here, but the PRP seems to be saying In fact, the opposite is true. During litical di f fer e n c e between the two courts and Democratic Party "friends that it doesn't want simply a minimum the Lisnave strike in late May, for groups, the NSRFC has been unable to of labor" in the government. program. The problem is that it does instance, it was necessary to call not secure an alliance with RAFT and is But, of course, a program in the not manage to connect democratic and only for workers control (as opposed independently running George Edwards workers' interest on such issues would trade-union demands to its maximum to participation Or "self-management"), of Lorain, OhiO, against Abel for the directly challenge the labor bureau­ program. Again there is a contradiction but for linking up with the workers union presidency. Though their pro­ crats, including RAFT local leaders, here which can be exploited. By pre­ commissions and strike committees of grams in the last June's union elections unlike the fake-militant rhetoric which senting a program of transitional de­ the other plants on strike, which in­ ironically failed to take a stand against bureaucrats occasionally em bra c e mands, Trotskyists can point out to cluded Lisbon transport workers, tens th= ENA, RAFT and the NSRFC were when expediency indicates a verbal these Castroite-workerists that, no of thousands of textile workers, Timex the chief backers of the recent court shift to the left. Steel workers don't matter how many times they repeat workers, etc. Out of ace n t r a 1 com­ suit to overturn the ENA. Predictably need fake-militant out-bureaucrats on dictatorship of the proletariat, they will mittee of strike and factory committees the suit failed miserably in the courts, the make, but a class-struggle alter­ get nowhere until they can link the pre­ a soviet organ of dual power could have though it did succeed in destructively native to Abel. The pattern of class sent struggles of the Working class with emerged which would provide a m'Bans Sidetracking steel worker opposition collaboration and betrayals of the Abel the struggle for proletarian revolution. to organize working-class resistance to the no-strike agreement. bureaucracy will not be broken until it to the j un t a's counterrevolutionary Playing a prominent role in the con­ is replaced with such a leadership that Lei: Tailing the "New Mass plans. In short, the Transitional Pro­ ference, defending the anti-ENA suit will fight not only for immediate eco­ Vanguard" gram is not Simply words on paper and explaining new plans for court ac­ nomic gains, but to secure political but the key tool for intervening in the tion, were the lawyers who had pressed power for the working class. Oust the The Internationalist Com m u n i s t mass movement to win the workers the suit. During the workshop on dis­ bureaucrats! For a workers par t y League (LCI-supporters of the Euro­ from their present reformist crimination one of these lawyers sug­ based on the trade unions! For a pean majority of the "United Secretar- misleaders. _ gested the outrageous possibility of a workers government: _

10 WORKERS VANGUARD Continued from page 3 socialism" : pite the explicit statement adopted by to the Spartacist League to respond "When the people of Chile elected Sal­ the steering committee on April 27 with the class slogan, "Obreros [Work­ vador Allende to be their president, that "support to the Chilean resistance" ers] Sl, Junta No." .. . Chile Defense they were embarking on an experience did not mean support to any particular new to the world: attempting to create groups, coalition or strategy, the offi­ Popular Frontism a just, socialist society by peaceful of the NMU, which had also requested cial demonstration leaflet had an ex­ and Suppression means. To the workers and poor of plicit endorsement of the reconstituted to speak, was refused. Chile, Allende and his government of Revolutionary Politics The SWP leaders of USLA (and in represented them • •.. " popular front in exile: Stalinist perfidy and the capitula­ the May 11 CAC) thus made quite clear "There is a resistance in Chile: par­ The demands of the demonstration ties of the Popular Unity coalition, the tion of va rio u s fake lefts to it go that while they were willing to give in included the call for "support to the Movement of the Revolutionary Left beyond a mere question of slogans and under pressure from the SL, they were Chilean resistance." When this demand (MIR) and many people who previously speakers. One of the sharpest confron­ absolutely opposed to recognizing the was raised at an earlier planning opposed Allende, are struggling, to­ tations between CP reformism andrev­ Leninist principles for a united front. gether, in the resistance against fas­ meeting for the demonstration, olutionary Trotskyism in the course of As the "Theses on the United Front," cism. United we will win:" SWP/USLA forces argued vociferously Chile defense activities came with the published by the Executive Committee against it (in favor of restricting the May 11 demonstration in Chicago. of the Comintern in December 1921, demonstration to civil liberties issues). Searching for the Having been outmaneuvered by the noted: When the motion passed, they left. The "New Mass Vanguard" numerically stronger Stalinists in early "Imposing on themselves a discipline of SL critically supported the demand, planning meetings, the local SWP more action, it is obligatory that Communists noting its vagueness, and proposed a A comic Sidelight on this maneu­ should preserve for themselves, not or less ignored the demonstration, clarifying motion, which was passed, vering was provided by the antics of sending a token contingent of 10 sup­ only up to and after actions, but if stating that this demand did not mean the "Revolutionary Marxist Collec­ necessary even during action, the right porters; Similarly the Revolutionary and possibility of expressing their "political support to any particular tive," a local group in the Bay Area Socialist League and Class Struggle opinion on the policy of all working group or coalition of groups within the which supports the politics of the Man­ League sent only perfunctory sales class organisations, without exception. reSistance, or support to any specific delite majority of the "United Secre- teams of two people each. The SL/RCY, The rejection of this condition is not in contrast, mobilized two dozen mem­ permisSible under any circumstances. bers and supporters with banners call­ While supporting the watchword of maximum unity of all working-class ing for defense of Van Schouwen and organisations, Communists, in every Romero, "No Pop Front IllUSions, For practical action taken against the capi­ Workers Revolution," "Free Cor­ talist front, must not on any account valin," "For a Trotskyist Party in refrain from putting forward their Chile" and others. views, which are only the logical ex­ As soon as the SL/RCY .:;ontingent pression of the defence of the interests arrived at the assembly point a leading of the working-class as a whole." Communist Party hack rushed up to de­ mand that we leave, followed by about Reconstructing the Popular Front 10 CP goons. In the tense confrontation which followed the SL was first told it The political essence of reformism could not raise its signs and banners is support for the continued existence and then, when we made clear our de­ of capitalism. For the SWP reformists termination to stay and defend our ban­ this is expressed in their "single­ ners, that we had to march behind the issue" civil libertarian (USLA, rest of the demonstration. While the CODEL), feminist (WONAAC) and anti­ CP goon squad ~" goons were busy trying to provoke a war (NP AC) coalitions whose limited confronts ,1' fight, another CPer went to the pOlice programs are aimed at attracting sup­ Spartacist/RCY :'7\ and convinced "Chicago's Finest" to port from and participation by bour­ supporters at enforce this undemocratic exclusion­ geois 1 i be r a 1 s (former Attorney­ ChicagoChile ism. During the march a cop was sta­ General Ramsey Clark on civil lib­ march. tioned in front of the SL contingent to erties issues, Abzug for WONAAC, make sure it got no closer than 50 feet Senator Vance Hartke for NPAC). Rath­ from the CP-led demonstration. er than integrating struggles for dem- RSL and CSL and Revolutionary _ocratic de man d s into the broader Workers Group supporters present working-class struggle for socialist marched with us in protest against the revolution, the SWP prefers building a Stalinist exclusion. H.Jwever, the SWP series of miniature popular-fronts. marched with the CP while claiming strategy or tactical orientation." In the tariat" (as against the SWP's social­ These ongoing "coalitions" have pro­ it would "send GllS Hall a letter" pro­ sense of" support to the struggle against democratic reformist appetites). The grams that are a series of reforms testing the incident. Earlier, when the the junta and defense of the victims of RMC first introduced the demand for in no way incompatible with the con­ SWP was approached for the purposes the junta," this demand could be "support to the Chilean resistance" in­ tinued existence of capitalism, of forming a defense bloc at the height supported. to the local Chile Solidarity Committee, The Stalinists such as the Commu­ of the tense confrontation, its only re­ However, the steering committee which in turn brought it to the steering nist Party, and the various Chile Soli­ then refused to permit the Spartacist committee for the May 11 demonstra­ sponse was "we will have to consult"! darity Committees led by them, prefer Throughout recent Chile defense League a speaker at the rally on the tion. At the April 27 planning meeting big-time class collaboration instead of grounds that the SL is not an "ongoing the RMC voted against an' SL amend­ demonstrations the Spartacist League the bush-league SWP variety. Thus they Chile group"; (This in itself is absurd, ment to change the clause to "support has conSistently combined prinCipled seek to build political support for united-front action with a full presen­ for in the last six months SL-initiated the Chilean resistance of workers and Allende's UP coalition which ruled tation of the Trotskyist program for demonstrations have probably brought peasants .•• ," labeling this" sectarian." Chile from 1970 to 1973. By preaching Chile. While defending all victims of the out as many or more militants to oppose Having authored the maneuver (by faith in the "constitutionalist officers" the junta as all the demonstrations of granting speaking rights only to "on_ junta's repreSSion, we have put particu­ and the "progressive" sectors of the lar emphasis on those standing to the the rest of the groups on the steering going Chile groups ") the RMC felt con­ bourgeoisie, the UP government lulled left of the UP coalition, especially the committee combined!) The SL replied strained to give a political explanation the masses and systematically pre­ MIR leaders who had been effectively to this unprincipled maneuver with a for this bureaucratic t ric k. Conse­ pared the way for the victory of the ignored by the U.S. left until our cam­ leaflet to the May 11 march which quently, the group's pamphlet "Chile" bloody rightist coup. Now the Stalinists paign in mid-March. stated: was reissued for the occasion of the seek to build political support for these May 11 demonstration with a new pre­ In contrast, the reformists quibbled treacherous poliCies in their Chile de­ "We warn that a rejection of this pro­ over whom not to defend (the SWP ini­ posal [for a real united front, in which face w h i c h included the follOwing fense work. tially ignoring Van Schouwen and each of the sponsoring groups would statement: A prime example was the May 11 Romero, the CP for a time refusing ha ve representatives on the steering "Speakers at the May 11 rally in the demonstration in San Francisco which committee and equal speaking time 1 Bay Area were selected on the politi­ to defend Vitale). And while the SL/RCY was dominated by the CP and the New would open the road to turning the cal basis of solidarity with the resist­ sought to integrate the defense of the Left-"radical" NACLA (North Ameri­ demonstration into an open endorse­ ance to speak on the meaning of Soli­ junta's prisoners in a broader per­ can Congress on Latin America) and ment of the popular front politics that darity with the Resistance; the current spective of class struggle ("Hot-Cargo NICH (Non-Intervention in Chile). The had already led to the victory of the situation in Chile, etc. One spokes­ Military Goods to Chile"), the SWP and official rally leaflet sang the praises of junta and the deaths of thousands of person from the minority position rep­ CP oriented their protest toward bour­ Chilean workers. " the former Allende government an d resented by USLA was delegated to geois public opinion, with "big-name" its treacherous "p e ace f u 1 road to This is exactly what happened. Des- speak on political prisoners." (ioe., capitalist pOlitician) speakers and Aside from the presence on the speak­ liberal demands ("No Recognition of the ers platform of a representative of Junta," "Cut Off U.S. AidtotheJunta")o USLA (which had argued vociferously In order to make clear their intent against including the demand of support to suppress revolutionary Trotskyist ------to the resistance at the earlier planning politics, both the SWP and CP sought meeting), the RMC was further em­ to exclude SL/RCY speakers, although barrassed by the appearance of a gen­ they were forced to give way in the face WfJRIlERI uine bourgeois politiCian, former Sena­ of our determined resistance. And when tor Gruening, who started his remarks the Stalinists physically exclude Trot­ by noting, "I am in complete accord skyist militants from a public demon­ with the purposes of this rally." stration, in the process appealing to the Wishing to appear to the left of the cops and trying to provoke a fight, the 'A"'IIARDName ______ultra-reformist SWP without taking up SWP promises only to consult and, fi­ up a struggle for consistent Trotskyist nally, to write Gus Hall a letter-while Address ______oppOSition to popular-frontpoliticsrthe marching with the CP. City /State!Z ip, ______---::- less experienced maneuverers of the Thus on the question of defense of 48 RMC are simply sucked into a main­ endangered Chilean militants, as on the D Enclosed is $5 for 24 issues stream Stalinist-line demonstration. question of revolutionary policy in "Solidarity with the resistance" turns Chile, principled Trotskyism is con­ _Judes SPARTACIST D Enclosed is $1 for 6 introductory issues out to be solidarity with Senator Grue­ stantly counterposed not only to class­ ning and President Allende! While rally collaborationist Stalinism but also to order from/pay to: Spartacist Publishing Co./Box 1377, GPO/NY,NY 10001 organizers emphasized the nationalist the various fake lefts and pseudo­ slogan "Chile S1, Junta No," it was up Trotskyists who yap at their tails. -

SJULY 1974 11 WfJlIllEIiS "6"'111) Goons Attack Militant Action Caucus at Convention CWA Bureaucracy Nervous, Strongman Beirne on Deathbed

KANSAS CITY, June 27-Amid a prev­ ,jff alent mood of uncertainty the Com­ t~l munications Workers of America bu­ t reaucracy is scrambling to consolidate itself following the resignation of Pres­ ident Joe Beirne. Forced because he is dying to give up the post he has held for the past 26 years, Beirne will never realize his dream to succeed George Meany. That no opposition will be permitted LO(Al ",1 to interfere with the "new unity" of '~ l-' ll\ ull Beirne's bureaucratic successors was demonstrated in Kansas City last week when members of the Militant Action rOM \111l1 Caucus were subjected to a campaign of massive bureaucratic harassment at ,. the 36th Annual CWA Convention. The ~ " ~ West Coast opposition group, which has e • t a four-year history in the union, was subjected to a three-day terror cam­ paign by a 15-man goon squad mobilized by the International. MAC members narrowly avoided being beaten up on the steps of the con­ vention hall, and a Workers Vanguard -I!.~ reporter who witnessed these events ~., and tried to photograph the goons had his film confiscated. He was himself New York Telephone workers' demonstrationd'Jring the seven-month 1971 strike. WV PHOTV-___ followed on the streets by a 10-man squad the next day. and carried it out of the auditorium! International demanding a guarantee of national to clamp down on the caucus. When the convention opened Monday (The Spartacist League, which had physical safety at the union convention. Beirne's letter eVidently gave the green morning the International boasted of the brisk sales during the first few hours This elementary demand for union light to L. R. Hawkins to get together "non-Watergate" atmosphere. How­ of the convention, was also told to re­ democracy was ignored. In addition, his Vigilantes. According to Burnham, ever, after a few hours of watching move its table.) letters of protest were sent to several Hawkins is a notorious racist whose the MAC distribute its paper, Militant During much of Monday afternoon CWA locals, the AFL-CIO and to the decertification was sought two years Action, the International apparently felt Hawkins and several of the International press, pointing out that the goon harass­ ago by a group of black stewards, democracy had gone a little too far. representatives and s erg e ant s-at­ ment had occurred in full view of the with the support of MAC, after he Following several initial scuffles when arms whispered and pointed at the delegates coming out of the session. racially insulted several black women sergeants-at-arms claimedMAC hadto MAC. Later Hawkins and 15 of his Speaking with a WV reporter, caucus working in one of the Plant centers. have permission to distribute literature cohorts, having spent much of the re­ spokesman Kathleen Burnham saidthat Normally Hawkins is isolated too far (while ignoring the Committee on Poli­ maining part of the afternoon in the MAC's Militant Action contained arti­ to the right to enact his fantaSies; but tical Education [COPE], which con­ Holiday Inn bar, advancedonfivemem­ cles critical of the union leadership, intersecting the jumpy mood of the tinued to sell plastic coasters at the bers of MAC as they were distributing such as one docum enting CW A support assembled bureaucrats in Kansas City, very next table and whose salesmen papers on the sidewalk, threatened them to the CIA-baCked, government-funded he was able to find some support. admitted they had no specific permis­ with violence unless they left the area, "American Institute for Free Labor sion), an appropriate opportunity to get then followed them for several blocks. Development." One issue in particular Vacuum of Leadership rid of MAC arose. When a notorious that has drawn the ire of the Interna­ right-wing chief steward from Oakland, tional bureaucracy expressed MAC's The retirement of Joe Beirne visibly California, Local 9415, L.R. Hawkins, MAC Objects to Elimination of opposition to "national bargaining"­ augmented the restlessness felt for moved to overturn the MAC table, the Local Ratification Beirne's scheme to eliminate ratifica­ months in the phone industry, which International intervened. To "protect" tion of the contract by the locals in is beginning to be heavily affected by the MAC table from Hawkins, an In­ MAC immediately fired off tele­ order to prevent strikes in a critical the general malaise of the economy. ternational representative picked it up gram~ to its Local president and the contract year. Under this set-up bar':' Spiraling inflation has been eating into gaining is totally controlled by six the phone workers' meagre pay checks; handpicked national officers. layoffs have hit the Western Electric ",_0000 l' The threats in Kansas City were Division nationally, with workers hav­ • evidently triggered by the nervousness ing up to six years seniority being of the CWA bureaucrats in Oakland laid off in New York, and larger lay­ '"Fa where the Local recently passed two offs loom in the next few months. ,ne '>ill"';> important motions introduced by MAC. Beirne, who throughout the 26-year One was a condemnation ofthe "nation­ history of the CWA has run a tight ?;J¥t; al bargaining" scheme, which it char­ machine, allowed little room for inter­ acterized as an attack on the rights nal bureaucratic bickering. The union, of all union members; the second born during the period of the cold war, called for a labor rally to call off spawned little in the way of opposition. Operation Zebra, the stop-and-search Proud of his top connections in Wash­ South African-style police dragnet that ington and his role on the President's San Francisco's Mayor Alioto was Commission on Productivity, Beirne hoping to use to bolster his bid for has been hailed by virtually every U.S. the California white racist vote. Fol­ pre sid en t as a "responsible labor lowing the passage of these motions, statesman." No one presently in CWA the Local received a sharply worded can take his place, and the instability letter from the union preSident. The of the situation following- Beirne's de­ Oakland Local officers, anxious not to parture was evident at the convention. overstep their bounds as Beirne's The new CWA head Glen Watts "loyal" (i.e., "kept") opposition, forced (his former secretary-treasurer) is a through a retraction of the condemna­ tepid, color I e s s long-time Beirne tion of national bargaining at the next hatchet man who ap pea r s poorly meeting. equipped for the job. He is, of course, By the time they reached Kansas dedicated to the same politics as his MAC supporters at 28 April 1973 labor rally, Bay Area. wv PHOTO City the 9415 bureaucrats apparently mentor-support for the Jackson had gotten the word from the Inter- continued on page 8 12 5 JULY 1974