Philippines opposition offers 'sincerity' . 3 TH£ Ray Sparrow: six decades as revolutionary .. 6 SWP leaders discuss strategy for labor 8 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 49/NO. 50 DECEMBER 27, 1985 75 CENTS Reagan demands open funding for 'contra' war against Nicaragua BY PAT GROGAN President Ronald Reagan has launched what administration officials called a con­ certed effort to resume direct military fund­ ing to the U.S. -organized counterrevolu­ tionary (conlra) army fighting against Nic­ aragua. This is part of the Reagan administra­ tion's escalation in recent weeks of the U.S.-organized war against Nicaragua. As a cover for this terrorist war, Wash­ ington has embarked upon a new slander campaign, centered on the charge of Cuban domination of Nicaragua. In leveling this charge, the U.S. government has made new threats against revolutionary Cuba as well. In his weekly radio address on De­ cember 14, Reagan insisted that "more ef­ fective help" was needed for the mer­ cenaries than the $27 million in "humanita­ rian aid" approved by Congress last July. Calling the Sandinista leadership Funeral of young Nicaraguan militia members. Reagan administration seeks to increase death, destruction caused by U.S.-spon­ "thugs" who are "drunk with power," sored war. Reagan asserted that Nicaragua is "an in­ ternational aggressor nation ," a ''breeding that another round of U.S.-Honduran mili­ down of a Nicaraguan helicopter with a American Affairs Elliot Abrams, utilized ground for subversion," and a haven for tary maneuvers, which will include a five­ SAM-7 missile. It was the first use of sur­ the incident to unleash a barrage of prop­ more than 7 ,000 Cubans, Russians, East and-a-half-month military road-building face-to-air missiles by the mercenaries and aganda claiming that the downed helicop­ Germans, Bulgarians, Libyans, Palestine program, is beginning in January. Through marked an important military escalation of ter had been piloted by Cubans. In Ab­ Li beration · Organization members, and similar maneuvers in the past, the Pentagon the war. Nicaraguan President Daniel rams' words, "Cubans are now the back­ "other [East) bloc members and terrorists." has set up in Honduras a military infras­ Ortega compared this development to the bone of the Sandinista Army." "If Nicaragua can get material support tructure - aitfields, surveillance posts , CIA's mining of Nicaragua's ports two Reagan's December 14 speech repeated from Communist states and terrorist re­ roads, etc. - capable of supporting a years ago. the anti-Cuba theme , charging that Cuba is gimes and prop up a hated Communist dic­ large-scale direct U.S. military invasion of U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz being "used for the export o.f aggressive tatorship, should not the forces fighting for Nicaragua. and his chief hatchet man for Latin Ameri­ communist purposes." It also contained liberation, now numbering more than This follows on the heels of the shooting ca, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter- · Continued on Pag& 11 20,000, be entitled to more effective help?" Reagan continued. That same day, Nicaraguan Minister of the Interior Tomas Borge warned that the U.S. government is now directing the con­ Apartheid gov't threatens unions struction of sea units in neighboring Hon­ duras and El Salvador to enable the mer­ BY NORTON SANDLER <:OSATU is nonracial - open to work­ Other political demands put forward by cenaries to launch naval attacks on Nicara­ The South African government re­ ers of all colors. The overwhelming major­ federation spokespeople include an end to gua. sponded to the formation of the Congress ity of its members are Black. the hated pass-law system that prevents Borge reported that high Salvadoran of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) The federation represents workers in Blacks from being able to move freely military officials are involved in the effort. with threats against th is new union federa­ many key industries including mining , throughout the country; an end to the state "The chief of the naval units, Borge said , tion. The federation , the largest in South auto, metals, food , transportation, chemi­ of emergency imposed in July that has re­ will be Ysidro Sandino, who was a colonel Africa's history , has more than 30 unions cal, and textiles. sulted in troops being deployed in a in the hated National Guard of fom1er Nic­ wi th a combined total of 500 ,000 mem­ The constitution adopted by COSAT U number of Black townships; an end to the araguan dictator Anastasio Somoza. bers. It was founded at a convention that calls for "a united democratic South Af­ ban on the Congress of South African Stu­ Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced concluded December I . rica, free of oppression and economic ex­ dents, a high school organization outlawed ploitation." for leading anti-apartheid stmggles; a·nd The government threats against the fed­ the right to vote for all South Africans in a eration came in a December 4 broadcast single, undivided_s tate. Balanced-budget bill sets new over the apartheid regime's radio network. "This organization, with its declared aim A U.S. State Department spokesman of standing in for the ANC [African Na­ also criticized COSATU saying, "We round of social service cuts tional Congress] is, under the guise of a strongly disagree with the call for divesti­ trade union movement, intent on furthering ture." The so-called balanced-budget bill has amounts over the next five years. This de­ the aims of a banned organi zation, namely Meanwhile, mobilizations against apart­ been hailed by Democratic and Republican ficit is scheduled to be eliminated in 199.1. to make the country ungovernable. The heid are continuing. Thousands partici­ politicians as laying the basis for eliminat­ The national debt is the cumulative question is whether it can be allowed to do pated in a December 14 funeral for two ing the annual $200 billion federal budget amount the government owes to wealthy so." Blacks ki lled in the township of Mamelodi deficit. individuals, banks, and other financial in­ The radio broadcast expressed anger at near the capital city of Pretoria. The media Whether the deficit will be eliminated is stitutions. It is the product of the govern­ the fact that the union federation is concen­ reported that the funeral procession was led questionable. What is certain is that the ment spending more than it receives in trating not only on wages, "but also on by a man waving an ANC flag. taxes. The debt has more than doubled in conditions in the townships and on poli­ the last four years al)d now stands at $2 Tear gas and whips were used by the tics." cops the next day to break up an outdoor EDITORIAL trillion - that is, $2,000 billion. Outlawed in 1960, the African National The annual deficit is the gap between rally in Durban. The event had been called Congress has wide popular support in to demand the release of Nelson Mandela, what the government spends and pays out South Africa. The racist government fre­ measure is a new weapon in the rul ing­ each year. Year after year of deficit a leader of the ANC who has been in jail quently labels opponents of its rule as since 1962. Speakers at the event included class drive to further push down the stan­ budgets has left the government with this membds or fronts for the ANC. dard of living of working people. huge debt. eight leaders of the United .Democratic COSATU's Secretary General Jay Front, South Africa's largest anti-apartheid Any doubts about that were dispelled by The increase in the debt was, in part, an Naidoo described the charge that the or­ coalition. The eight had been acquitted a President Reagan in a December 18 state­ effort by the government to speed up the capitalist economic upturn. With the up­ gani zation was a front for the ANC as "rub­ few days earlier on treason charges brought ment about the legislation. He stated bish." against them in a frame-up trial. explicitly that it will be deep cutbacks in tum showing signs of slowing, the rulers now fear that the budget deficit will spur According to a South African Press As­ On December 15, Robert Mugabe, the what he called "wasteful and unnecessary'' sociation summary, he said that COSATU social services that will close the deficit. accelerated inflation. president of Zimbabwe, charged that the is "a frqnt for workers only, but in the pre­ The Pentagon's funding, meanwhile, will The bill mandates that working people apartheid government's troops were mas­ sent climate in South Africa what happens continue to increase, he pledged. must pay to reduce the bosses' deficit. sing along his country's border. The troop Bankers, military contractors, and other on the factory fl oor cannot be separated mobilizations followed the explosion of a Both houses of Congress voted over­ multimillionaires are to be the benefi­ from the wider struggle for freedom." series of land mines in South Africa. The whelmingly for the bill, and it was signed ciaries. COSA TU calls for a worldwide eco­ South African government is claiming that' into law by the president on December 12. The new law states that broad cuts in so­ nomi.c boycott of the apartheid regime even the ANC is using Zimbabwe as a staging The balanced-budget bill calls for the an­ cial spending are to go into effect automat­ though the regime says it is illegal to raise area for the attacks. Both the ANC and the nual deficit to be reduced by specific Continued on Page 14 that demand.