· AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.50 · FRANCE 1.00 EURO · ICELAND KR100 · NEW ZEALAND $2.00 · SWEDEN KR10 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 INSIDE Cuba’s eye surgery program becomes popular in Caribbean — P AGE 4 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 69/NO. 44 NOVEMBER 14, 2005 White House official faces Poultry workers walk out 30 years in jail for perjury in Livingston, California Case shows growing factionalism among rulers Demand union recognition, better conditions BY PAUL PEDERSON covert U.S. government spy. BY LEA SHERMAN AND MARTÍN KOPPEL In February 2002 Plame’s husband, LIVINGSTON, California— Following a two-year investigation, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambas- Some 1,500 poultry workers a federal grand jury indicted Lewis sador in Central Africa, was sent by the and their friends, family, and “Scooter” Libby, chief of staff to U.S. CIA to the West African nation of Niger. supporters rallied outside the vice president Richard Cheney, charg- On July 6, 2003, Wilson wrote an opin- Foster Farms poultry processing ing him October 28 on fi ve counts in- ion piece in the New York Times stating plant here October 29. The ac- cluding “obstruction of justice,” making that during his trip he found no evidence tion capped a fi ve-day walkout, false statements to agents of the FBI, of the Saddam Hussein regime’s pursuit with mass 24-hour picketing of and perjury while testifying before of material for building nuclear weapons the plant, to demand union rec- a grand jury. The charges combined as alleged by the Bush administration. ognition, improved conditions, carry a maximum penalty of 30 years Wilson himself admitted that his conclu- and a decent contract. in prison and a $1.25 million fi ne. sion was based on “eight days drinking Workers returned to the job sweet mint tea” with dignitaries. October 31, determined to re- Eight days later, syndicated colum- new the walkout if progress is The pornographication nist Robert Novak wrote an article on not made in negotiations with Wilson’s trip. He identifi ed Plame— the company. of bourgeois politics apparently based on conversations The plant of 2,000 workers, —editorial, p. 11 between reporters and White House one of the largest poultry plants offi cials—as a CIA agent, specializing in the country, processes a half in “weapons of mass destruction,” who a million chickens a day. Militant/Frank Forrestal The indictment and the tone of the had proposed her husband for the trip. The unity forged between the October 29 rally by 1,500 poultry workers debate it has generated among Demo- Democratic critics of the Bush ad- many workers from Mexico and and supporters outside the Foster Farms plant cratic and Republican politicians and ministration immediately alleged that Punjab, India, was evident at in Livingston, California. The action capped a fi ve-day walkout by the League of Independent in the big-business media are another the name of a covert CIA agent had the rally. Ralph Meraz, presi- expression of the increasingly factional Workers of the San Joaquin Valley—the union been revealed, and demanded action. dent of the union of protesting organizing the 2,000 workers in one of the larg- character and coarsening of bourgeois Instead of the case being handled by Continued on page 7 est chicken processing plants in the country. politics in the United States. federal prosecutors, the Justice Depart- The stated purpose of the investiga- ment appointed a “special counsel,” Pat- tion was to determine if White House rick Fitzgerald. UN Security Council resolution aids offi cials had violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act when they re- Polarization sharpens in ruling class imperialist campaign against Syria vealed to several reporters that Valerie Democrats have used the “Plame Plame, the wife of a diplomat who was affair” in their increasingly factional BY SAM MANUEL probe into the assassination of former critical of the Bush administration’s disputes with the Republican adminis- WASHI NGTON—The United Na - Lebanese premier Rafi k Hariri or face Iraq policy, was a CIA agent. That tration. They have seized on the fact that tions Security Council unanimously possible “further action.” 1982 law made it a crime, punishable no “weapons of mass destruction” were approved a resolution October 31 de- Sponsored by Washington, Paris, by up to 10 years in prison, for anyone found in Iraq to assert that they would manding Syria cooperate with a UN and London, the resolution also orders with access to classifi ed information have conducted the U.S.-led invasion Damascus to arrest and make available to intentionally reveal the identity of a Continued on page 9 to UN investigators those suspected of L.A. socialist involvement in the killing. These in- dividuals include Gen. Assef Shawkat, Independent truckers strike in Houston, candidate: ‘Vote the head of Syrian military intelligence demand relief from rising fuel costs and a brother-in-law of Syria’s presi- SWP Nov. 8!’ dent, Bashar al-Assad. The interview below with Diana The resolution comes in the wake of Newberry, Socialist Workers Party increasing clashes between U.S. and candidate for City Council District Syrian troops along Syria’s border with 14 in Los Angeles, appeared under the Iraq. Washington accuses Damascus title “For the Socialist Cause” in the Continued on page 3 October 28 Hoy, a Spanish-language daily published in that city. Reprinted by permission. Translation is by the Militant. Also Inside: BY ANDREA ALEGRÍA 30,000 at women’s conference LOS ANGELES, October 28—“I’m in Argentina demand convinced the working class is com- decriminalization of abortion 2 pletely capable of transforming the world,” says Diana Newberry, sitting Using Iranian president’s in front of an extensive library with remarks on Israel, U.S. gov’t Militant/Amanda Ulman books on Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, pushes to isolate Tehran 3 BY ANTHONY DUTROW Nelson Mandela, Lenin, and Marx at HOUSTON—Some 100 independent truckers who work for Bridge Ter- the headquarters of the Socialist Work- How working people in UK minal Services and Transport (BTT) here walked out October 24 to demand ers Party. won socialized medicine 5 higher rates for their runs and compensation for rising fuel costs. The site, at Central Avenue and 42nd “The company called the cops and tried to move us from here, saying we Street, is her campaign headquarters Patrick Fitzgerald helped weren’t a real strike as we didn’t have picket signs,” one of the drivers, David in her fi ght for the District 14 City convict Lynne Stewart, too 9 Santos (kneeling third from left), told the Militant. “So we made these signs. Council seat. We submitted our proposal to raise the rate to $1.20 a mile today. The boss “The capitalist system is the root of Florida: millions in the dark all the problems that we’re facing,” as- came out and offered us an insulting 10-cent increase.” Santos said that last after Hurricane Wilma 11 Continued on page 10 serted this 32-year-old activist, whose Continued on page 8 Argentina: 30,000 at women’s conference press fight to legalize abortion BY ROMINA GREEN Among the 46 workshops held during SAN FRANCISCO—More than the conference were ones on “Women 30,000 women gathered in the coast- and Work,” “Women and the Family,” al city of Mar del Plata, Argentina, “Women and Farmwork,” “Women and October 8–10 for the 20th National the Unions,” “Women and Art,” and Women’s Conference, reported the “Strategy in the fi ght for free, safe and Argentine daily Clarín. At the center legal abortion.” of the conference was the fi ght to Rightists reportedly tried to disrupt legalize abortion in Argentina. Last the latter meeting. Women faced simi- year’s conference in Mendoza drew lar confrontations in the last confer- 20,000, and the year before about ence in Mendoza. Thousands marched for decriminalizing abortion October 10 at conclusion of 20th 10,000. Among those in attendance was a National Women’s Conference in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Legal access to abortion remains delegation of members of the State severely restricted throughout most Employees Union, which organizes death due to illegal abortion.” organizations, including women’s of Latin America and the Caribbean. nurses and other staff at the Garra- Conference delegates resolved to groups and some unions have joined Only in Cuba, Guyana, and Puerto han Hospital in Buenos Aires. They continue the national campaign under in the effort, reported Página/12. Rico is abortion decriminalized. In have been holding one- and two-day the slogan, “Sexual education so we The conference resolved to set No- Argentina, abortion is legal only in strikes since August demanding a can make a choice. Birth control so we vember 25 as a day of mobilization to the case of rape—and then only if wage increase. don’t have to abort. Abortion legalized demand a woman’s right to choose the woman is deemed to be mentally On October 10, the last day of the con- so we won’t die.” The campaign began abortion. A march to the Argentine disabled—or if a woman’s life is in ference, thousands of women marched May 28 with participants gathering National Congress in Buenos Aires danger. through the streets of Mar del Plata with signatures across the country in favor will be held to present the petitions Nonetheless, an estimated 4 million the lead banner reading, “Not one more of decriminalizing abortion. Over 70 with this demand. women have abortions in Latin Amer- ica annually—most performed under clandestine and often dangerous con- New Zealand: Labour gov’t names rightist foreign minister ditions. Some 800,000 of these result BY FELICITY COGGAN ments. “Unlike Mr. Goff,” noted Fran and New Zealand First. United Future in complications that require medical AUCKLAND, New Zealand—Prime O’Sullivan in a column in the October leader Peter Dunne was appointed treatment. Minister Helen Clark announced Octo- 18 New Zealand Herald, “the new minister of revenue. Like Peters, he is In Argentina about four out of 10 ber 18 that rightist New Zealand First Foreign Minister has not stamped on not in the cabinet. pregnancies are terminated by abor- party leader Winston Peters will be Uncle Sam’s toes.” Philip Goff was the The Maori Party, formed following tion. Ten years ago, Argentina was foreign minister in her newly formed previous foreign minister. At the same a 20,000-strong protest at parliament the only country in the region that still coalition government. This move, in re- time, reported a BBC news release, last year, won four of seven seats in the provided no public support for access turn for New Zealand First’s support in “New Zealand was sending a negative electorates reserved for Maori voters. to contraception. This has only just parliament, registers the government’s message to its Asian neighbours.” Clark has defended her decision to begun to change. shift to the right as Clark’s Labour Party Peters has made a name for his appoint Peters. “His views on foreign About 500 women die from botched enters its third term in offi ce. anti-immigrant campaigns, virulent policy are very similar to those of abortions every year in Argentina, the Peters is expected to make new nationalism, and demagogic style. A Labour,” she said. Both agree on op- largest single cause of maternal deaths overtures to Washington to bolster ties member of parliament for some 25 position to the invasion of Iraq, the in the country. between the two imperialist govern- years, he formed New Zealand First commitment of New Zealand troops to after breaking with the conservative Afghanistan, and on maintaining legis- National Party in 1993. In the late lation banning visits to the country by 1990s, he was treasurer and deputy nuclear-powered or -armed warships. prime minister in a National-New The elections took place amid an Zealand First coalition government. uptick in union actions for improved The September 17 vote did not de- wages and conditions. Signaling her liver an outright majority for the Labour government’s course, Clark told del- Party in the 121-member parliament. egates to the Council of Trade Unions Fight for free, lifetime health care for all! Rather than be reliant on the Green national conference October 18 that The ‘Militant’ brings you the Party or the Maori Party to gain a ma- Labour’s priorities would shift from jority, Clark pursued agreements on “social policy initiatives” to “boosting facts about struggles by work- votes on confi dence and funding from economic growth and productivity,” ing people against govern- the right-wing United Future Party noted the Herald. ment and employer attacks on existing medical programs. And it supports the call by Africa, Asia, and the Middle East: Send $65 Socialist Workers Party The Militant drawn on a U.S. bank to above address. VOL. 69/NO. 44 Canada: Send Canadian $50 for one-year candidates to press for a fi ght Closing news date: November 2, 2005 sub scrip tion to the Militant, 2238 Dundas St. by the labor movement to Editor and circulation director: West, Suite 201, Toronto, ON. Postal Code: demand socialized medicine Argiris Malapanis M6R 3A9. New York nurses picket October 21 Washington correspondent: Sam Manuel United Kingdom: £25 for one year by check or today. Don’t miss an issue! against short-staffi ng at Nyack Hospital. Editorial volunteers: Arrin Hawkins, Mar- in ter na tion al mon ey order made out to CL Lon- tín Koppel, Luis Madrid, Paul Pederson, and don, First Floor, 120 Bethnal Green (Entrance Brian Williams. in Brick Lane), London, E2 6DG, England. Republic of Ireland and Continental SUBSCRIBE TO DAY! Published weekly except for one week in Europe: £50 for one year by check or Jan u ary and June. in ter na tion al mon ey order made out to CL The Militant (ISSN 0026-3885), 306 London at above address. France: Send 75 NEW READERS W. 37th Street, 10th floor, New York, euros for one-year sub scrip tion to Diffusion NAME NY 10018. Telephone: (212) 244-4899; du Militant, P.O. Box 175, 23 rue Lecourbe, ❏.$5 for 12 issues Fax (212) 244-4947. 75015 Par is. ADDRESS E-mail: [email protected] Iceland: Send 4,000 Ice lan dic kro nur for Website: www.themili tant.com one-year subscrip tion to the Mili tant, P.O. RENEWAL Correspondence concerning subscriptions or Box 233, 121 Reykjavík. CITY STATE ZIP changes of address should be addressed to Sweden, Fin land, Nor way, Den mark: Send the Mili tant, 306 W. 37th Street, 10th fl oor, New 400 Swedish kronor for one year to Bildhug- ❏.$10 for 12 weeks York, NY 10018. garvägen 17, 12144 Johanneshov, Stockholm, UNION/SCHOOL/ORGANIZATION PHONE Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY. Sweden. New Zealand: Send NZ$55 to P.O. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Box 3025, Auckland, New Zealand. ❏.$20 for 6 months Militant, 306 W. 37th Street, 10th fl oor, New Aus tra lia: Send A$50 to P.O. Box CLIP AND MAIL TO THE MILITANT, York, NY 10018. 164 Campsie, NSW 2194, Australia. ❏ 306 W. 37TH ST., 10TH FLOOR NEW YORK, NY 10018. Subscriptions: United States: for one-year Pacifi c Islands: Send NZ$55 to P.O. Box 3025, .$35 for 1 year sub scrip tion send $35 to above address. Auckland, New Zealand. Latin America, Caribbean: for one-year sub- Signed articles by contributors do not 12 weeks of the Militant outside the U.S.: Australia and the Pacifi c, $A8 • United Kingdom, £4 • Canada, scrip tion send $65, drawn on a U.S. bank, to above nec es sar i ly represent the Militant’s views. Can$7 • Carib be an and Latin America, $10 • Continental Europe, £12 • France, 12 Euros • Iceland, Kr500 • address. By fi rst class (airmail), send $80. These are ex pressed in editorials. New Zealand, NZ$10 • Sweden, Kr60 (Send payment to addresses listed in business in for ma tion box)

2 The Militant November 14, 2005 U.S. gov’t, imperialist allies Thousands in Paris protest electrocutions of two African youth being chased by cops press to isolate Tehran BY BRIAN WILLIAMS ing day, passed motions strongly oppos- Washington and its imperialist allies ing Ahmadinejad’s comments. The U.S. are using recent remarks against Israel House of Representatives on October 28 by the president of Iran to ratchet up passed a resolution 383–0 condemning their efforts to isolate Tehran. the Iranian president’s speech as “outra- Iranian president Mahmoud Ah- geous” and “despicable.” madinejad made these comments at At a news conference with Japanese an October 26 Islamic Student Asso- leaders at the Pentagon, U.S. secretary ciation conference in Tehran on “The of state Condoleezza Rice chimed in, World Without Zionism,” which was terming Iran “probably the world’s reportedly attended by 4,000 students. most important state sponsor of terror- He reiterated the position put forward ism.” His statement, Rice said, “demon- AP/Christophe Ena by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who strates why we are working so hard to Thousands joined October 29 action in Paris to protest the deaths two days earlier came to power in Iran in 1979 on the keep Iran from getting technologies that of two African youth who were electrocuted while being chased by cops. Some crest of a popular revolution that over- lead to a nuclear weapon under cover of demonstrators wore T-shirts reading “Dead for no reason” in French. Protests by African immigrants in six working-class suburbs have mounted for days. “Young threw the U.S.-backed shah. civilian nuclear power.” people don’t just throw themselves into an electrical current,” Adel Benna, Referring to the Israeli regime, Ah- In the United States, attacks on Iran whose brother Ziad had been killed, told reporters, “I hate the police. They are madinejad said, “Our dear Imam [Kho- came not only from the White House responsible for my brother’s death.” The cops infl amed anger when they threw meini] said that the occupying regime but from Democratic Party politicians tear gas canisters into a local mosque during the clashes they had provoked. must be wiped off the map and this was and the liberal press. The leading Dem- a very wise statement.” He added, “The ocrat on the House International Rela- issue of Palestine is not over at all. It will tions Committee, Rep. Thomas Lantos remarks “vicious blather against Israel” is secretly developing nuclear arms. be over the day a Palestinian govern- from California, termed Ahmadinejad’s that is “dangerous, stupid and despica- “Britain, France, and Germany were ment, which belongs to the Palestinian remarks “the most repugnant the world ble.” The Times editors said: “Perhaps right to recall their ambassadors from people, comes to power; the day that has heard since Adolf Hitler.” no one can now pretend that Iran has no Tehran. Tough diplomacy must continue all refugees return to their homes; a The New York Times, in an October hostile motives for its nuclear program,” to curb Iran’s nuclear aspirations, but democratic government elected by 29 editorial entitled “A Demagogue in failing to explain how Ahmadinejad’s there must be no illusions about the the people comes to power. Of course Iran,” termed the Iranian president’s statement is evidence that Tehran ideologue presiding in Iran.” those who have come from far away to plunder this land have no right to choose for this nation.” UN Security Council passes anti-Syria resolution The student meeting was part of prep- arations for annual demonstrations in Continued from front page fi ed further action if Damascus fails ers fought with Syrian troops along the Iran against Tel Aviv. Tens of thousands of doing too little to prevent armed to comply. border. In May, a U.S. helicopter, in- participated in these actions two days groups linked with the former Baath Those sought by UN investigators as volved in operations against Baathists later, on the last Friday of Ramadan. Party regime of Saddam Hussein in suspects in Hariri’s killing include the in Iraq, fi red across the border, killing Former Iranian president Moham- Iraq from using Syrian territory to president’s brother, Maher al-Assad. a border guard on the Syrian side of mad Khatami criticized Ahmadinejad’s enter Iraq and attack U.S. and Iraqi Hariri was killed along with 21 other Baghouz. This village is split by a remarks. “Those words have created government forces. people in a huge car bomb explosion fence separating the two countries. hundreds of political and economic Moscow, Beijing, and Algiers had on February 14. The murder sparked The guard was one of at least four problems for us in the world,” he said. objected to any direct threat of sanc- massive demonstrations in Lebanon Syrians—two soldiers and two civil- Leaders of imperialist governments— tions against Syria and threatened to against Syrian presence in the coun- ians—killed by U.S. troops this year. including Paris, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, abstain if they were included in the try, forcing Damascus to withdraw its Syrian security services said six others London, and Washington—moved draft. The document was approved troops, which were stationed in Leba- have been wounded, according to the swiftly to condemn the Iranian president. by a 15-0 vote after Washington and non for nearly three decades. Canadian daily Globe and Mail. The 25-member European Union, meet- Paris agreed to drop specifi c refer- Just two days before approval of the Suleiman toured reporters in the ing October 27, and the United Nations ences to economic sanctions. The Security Council resolution a Syrian border area to refute Washington’s Security Council in a session the follow- resolution instead threatens unspeci- general accused the U.S. military of claim that Damascus was not doing conducting lethal military raids into enough to secure the border. Suleiman Syrian territory. Maj. Gen. Amid said the Syrian military had increased UK gov’t retreats from raising retirement age Suleiman said cross-border attacks the number of border posts from 547 BY PETER CLIFFORD Union actions against company at- by U.S. troops in Iraq had killed at to 557 since June and had arrested EDINBURGH, United Kingdom— tempts to end the linking of pension least two Syrian border guards and 1,400 individuals attempting to enter Trade unions and the government here levels to a worker’s salary at the time wounded several others. Iraq. Syrian offi cials also pointed to agreed to a deal October 18 that for now of retirement have made some progress The most serious clash occurred new barbed wire and reinforced sand drops government moves to extend the recently. A one-day strike on Septem- last summer when U.S. Army Rang- barriers along the 400-mile border. retirement age from 60 to 65 for 3 mil- ber 23 at Grampian Country Foods lion health, education, and civil service Haverhill plant, for example, around Approval of new constitution in Iraq workers. this issue led to renewed talks between The agreement was widely reported the unions and company. Whilst still aids consolidation of U.S.-backed regime as a retreat by the administration. “The ending the final salary scheme, the BY SAM MANUEL them now consider that boycott a disas- government has capitulated to the threat company, one of the largest meat WASHINGTON—A new Iraqi con- trous error. The largely Sunni-populated of public sector strikes,” said Digby producers in the United Kingdom, has stitution was approved with 78 percent province of Salahuddin, which includes Jones, director general of the Confed- conceded increasing its contributions to of the vote in an October 15 referen- Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, had re- eration of British Industry, the main a new pension scheme. “It’s not all we dum, organized under the auspices of portedly the second highest turnout for employers’ organization, in reference wanted but still a signifi cant move and a the U.S. imperialist forces. Its adoption the referendum—88 percent. to threats by the Trades Union Congress product of the action taken,” said Scott is another step toward consolidating a Instead of a boycott, wealthy Sunni at its September conference to organize Walker, Transport and General Workers’ U.S.-backed regime in Iraq. politicians, many of whom made up widespread union action this winter. Union shop steward at Grampian’s plant Election offi cials in Baghdad said 63 the backbone of support for the Hus- The government had been seeking at Cambuslang, Glasgow. A further percent, or 9.8 million of Iraq’s 15.5 sein regime and have fi nanced armed to introduce a higher retirement age part of Grampian’s agreement with the million registered voters, cast ballots. attacks against U.S. and Iraqi troops, beginning in 2013. Instead, they plan unions was to concede it will negotiate The highest turnout, 90 percent, was in campaigned to defeat the referendum. for new workers to pay extra in order an early retirement programme. the northern Kurdish province of Irbil. The constitution would have failed if to retire at 60. The General, Municipal Meanwhile, government minister Da- The lowest was in Anbar province, a people in three provinces voted against and Boilermakers (GMB) union has vid Blunkett on October 10 described center of U.S. military operations it by a two-thirds majority. That hap- said it will campaign against this two- the current disability benefi ts system against forces loyal to the former pened in only two provinces—Sala- tier move. as “crackers.” Some 2.7 million people Baath Party regime of Saddam Hus- huddin with 82 percent voting no and Employers expressed dissatisfaction. currently claim benefits under this sein, whose trial opened recently. Anbar with 97 percent voting against. “On the one hand we have the private program. The government is seeking to In praising the result, U.S. ambas- The day after government offi cials sector workforce being told it must work reduce this by 1 million. Alleging that sador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, noted announced the constitution had been longer and put more money into their many disability claims are fraudulent, that Sunnis participated in substantially approved, three parties with support own pension pot, but here we have the Blunkett said, “If people re-associate larger numbers in the constitutional vote among Sunnis announced they will public sector workforce who can still with the world of work, suddenly they as compared to the National Assembly fi eld electoral blocs in elections for a retire at 60,” said David Frost, director come alive again. That will overcome election in January. Most Sunni politi- full-term National Assembly sched- of the British Chamber of Commerce. depression and stress.” cians boycotted that vote. Many among uled for December 15. The Militant November 14, 2005 3 Cuba’s eye surgery program Philadelphia event condemns FBI killing popular in the Caribbean of Puerto Rican fi ghter Filiberto Ojeda Ríos BY ARRIN HAWKINS More than 3,000 patients from Belize The Cuban government has expanded have received eye surgery. “Because of its medical program Misión Milagro fi nancial constraints or the inaccessi- (Mission Miracle) to residents of Latin bility to the services, many individu- America and the Caribbean, providing als suffer from conditions that are very operations in Cuba free of charge for easy to treat,” said Eugenio Martínez, people with cataracts and other treat- Cuba’s ambassador to Belize, in an in- able eye conditions. terview in the September 15 issue of the The program grew out of Cuba’s in- Belizean newspaper San Pedro Sun. ternationalist collaboration in Venezu- David Scott, a 75-year-old Jamaican ela, where nearly 20,000 Cuban doctors farmer, had been blind from cataracts are providing health care in rural and for two years before his sight was re- working-class communities. So far, stored in Cuba in September. Surgery tens of thousands of Venezuelans have at a local hospital had repeatedly been received eye operations in Cuba. postponed. “When you can’t see it Since the program was expanded in makes you miserable and it is like July, more than 5,000 people from 10 you’re sick and a part off your life is Militant/Hilda Cuzco Caribbean countries have had opera- gone,” Scott told the Jamaica Observer. From left: Luis Rosa, Justine Zepernick, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Jessica Cardona and tions in Cuba to restore their sight, the “When them take off the bandage off me Jorge Arcay. Zepernick, Cardona, and Arcay are Kutztown University students. Cuban embassy in Guyana has reported. eye me see the wall and the doctors. Oh PHILADELPHIA—Rafael Cancel Miranda, a Puerto Rican indepen- The joint Cuban-Venezuelan plan, cov- man, you can’t imagine how it feel.” dence fi ghter who spent 27 years in U.S. prisons, was the featured speaker ering people from all Latin America and Diann Edwards, a farm worker in at an October 29 meeting here attended by about 80 people. The gathering the Caribbean, offers to treat 600,000 Jamaica who was forced to quit a job was dedicated to the memory of Puerto Rican independence fi ghter Filiberto people a year over the next 10 years. because of a cataract, said she could not Ojeda Ríos, a leader of the Macheteros group who was killed by FBI agents Cuban doctors are performing some have afforded the surgery. One of the September 23 in Puerto Rico. Luis Rosa, a former political prisoner, and 1,500 eye operations a day. Free trans- fi rst 50 Jamaicans to receive the opera- Pam Afrika, representing the MOVE organization, also spoke. portation to Cuba is provided along tion in Cuba, she said, “We were feted —ELLEN BERMAN with food and lodging for the patients. and given world class medical care.” A similar meeting featuring Cancel Miranda will be held November 18 in New The simple operation takes about 10 This initiative by the Cuban gov- York: 7 pm at Local 1199 Martin Luther King Labor Center at 310 W. 43 St. minutes. ernment takes place as many medical More than 2,000 Guyanese so far technicians are leaving semicolonial have received eye treatment in Cuba. “If countries for the imperialist centers. A people had to go to a private doctor for regional health offi cial noted that the percent of its doctors and Haiti 35 per- in 66 countries, Reuters reports. The the same treatment, it could cost up to Caribbean loses some 300 nurses an- cent, according to a study by the New Cuban government is also training US$2,000 each,” the Guyanese health nually to the United Kingdom, United England Journal of Medicine. medical students from around the minister told the Jamaican Observer. States, and Canada. Jamaica has lost 41 Some 25,000 Cuban doctors are semicolonial world to help meet the currently providing medical services health-care needs in their countries. 3 weeks, 1,055 ‘Militant’ subs to go! BY PAUL PEDERSON In Livingston, California, the Militant $15,000 a week needed for party-building fund With three weeks to go, we are 55 was warmly received at the picket lines subscriptions shy of the 2,000 mark— and rally at the Foster Farms poultry BY ANGEL LARISCY featured Doug Nelson speaking on where we should be—to reach the goal plant. Among those bringing the paper NEWARK, New Jersey—With ‘Cuba, Venezuela, and Washington: of 3,000 new Militant subscribers by there were Socialist Workers Party can- three weeks to go in the Socialist the Sharpening Confl ict in the Ameri- November 20. didates for local offi ces in Los Angeles Workers party-building fund, half of cas.’ Ross Hogan, a Young Socialist Special sales efforts that began last and San Francisco. At the October 29 the $90,000 national quota needs to be who is a student at the University of weekend as part of an extended target rally of 1,500 in front of the plant and collected —an average of $15,000 per Massachusetts at Amherst, also spoke week that goes through the November subsequent sales in surrounding com- week—by the November 20 deadline. about his experiences on a recent team 8 election day in the U.S. should help munities 90 workers bought copies of The fund is an annual effort to help selling Militant subs in the Midwest. put the drive ahead of schedule again the paper and 14 subscribed. fi nance the work of the Socialist Work- We took in $379 at the meeting, with by next week. Two SWP candidates from Atlanta— ers Party, which needs the money to some new pledges included. We are now Here are some examples: Eleanor García and Lisa Potash—cam- respond to opportunities posed by the organizing calls and visits to wrap up paigned at the October 28–29 South new political situation today. collections and send in the remainder Atlantic Global Women’s conference Four SWP leaders just returned from of our quota on time.” Fall 2005 ‘Militant‘ Sub Drive (see article on page 8), where 14 people participating in the fi rst book fair in the To donate, write checks or money September 17–November 20 subscribed to the Militant. African country of Equatorial Guinea. orders to the SWP and send them to 306 W. 37th St., 10th fl oor, New York, Week 6 of 9 “I’m sending in the subs we sold the The Militant has been carrying cover- last few days,” wrote Joe Swanson from age of the event. Donations to the fund NY 10018. Country Quota Sold % helped make this trip possible. SWEDEN 30 23 77% Des Moines October 30. “All but a few UNITED KINGDOM are workers. The majority are meat Here is what supporters of the fund $90,000 SWP Party-Building Fund Edinburgh* 30 24 80% packers. The subs sold in Norfolk, reported from a couple of cities about London** 80 61 76% last week’s fund-raising activities. Sept 11–Nov 20: Week 7 of 10 UK total 110 85 77% Nebraska, after the fourth trip bring Pledge Collected % UNITED STATES the total sold there to 34. We also sold “We held a successful rally Octo- Salt Lake City* 45 34 76% 10 Pathfi nder titles as we campaigned ber 29,” wrote Steve Warshell from Salt Lake City* 850 725 85% Des Moines* 150 113 75% Houston. “The featured speaker was Atlanta* 6,500 4,675 72% Price, UT* 80 58 73% door-to-door with the Militant this Birmingham* 75 54 72% weekend.” In Norfolk, Militant readers Diana Newberry, SWP candidate for Newark 4,000 2,896 72% San Francisco* 95 67 71% have reached out to meat packers who City Council District 14 in Los An- New York* 14,000 8,681 62% Boston* 120 84 70% geles. She spoke about the role of the Philadelphia 3,000 1,835 61% New York** 450 306 68% walked out in September to protest 10 Pittsburgh* 100 67 67% fi rings and the denial by the bosses revolutionary party in the struggle for Los Angeles* 9,500 5,100 54% Seattle* 100 67 67% of prayer breaks for workers who are socialism. Eighteen people attended Price, UT 1,700 926 54% Newark** 270 179 66% and gave $540 toward our quota of Atlanta** 115 75 65% Muslim, most of them Somalis. Boston* 3,300 1,685 51% Philadelphia* 125 80 64% Campaigning at factory gates where $3,500. In preparing for the event, Birmingham* 2,000 1,113 48% Twin Cities* 160 101 63% socialists sell the paper regularly is net- a large mailing was sent out with a Twin Cities 4,500 2,121 47% Chicago* 115 72 63% return pledge envelope. Already one Houston* 125 78 62% ting subs in other countries too. Militant San Francisco 9,500 4,375 46% Washington* 100 62 62% readers in Canada sold a subscription person who could not attend the forum Des Moines 1,500 680 45% Miami* 120 74 62% November 1 outside the Maple Leaf returned it with a donation.” Chicago 5,000 1,960 39% Los Angeles* 185 113 61% “Youth from the State University of Detroit* 20 9 45% slaughterhouse in Toronto, bringing Houston 3,500 1,375 39% U.S. total 2,550 1,693 66% their total to 83 and boosting their New York at Albany, from University Seattle 8,300 3,115 38% AUSTRALIA* 40 26 65% confi dence to meet their new quota of of Massachusetts in Amherst, and Miami 1,700 545 32% CANADA* 150 83 55% 150—double their initial goal. from Bridgewater State College joined Washington 3,000 945 32% NEW ZEALAND Every reader can help. Please contact a fund-raising event here October Auckland 30 18 60% Pittsburgh 3,500 870 25% the Militant directly to order a bundle at 29,” wrote Laura Garza from Boston. Christchurch 20 9 45% Other 2,011 1,517 75% N.Z. total 50 27 54% 70 cents per copy to sell subs to friends, “They and others had also been at a TOTAL 87,361 45,139 50% ICELAND 22 8 36% relatives, co-workers, or fellow students. march and rally in opposition to the Int’l totals 2,952 1,945 65% Goal/should be 90,000 63,000 70% Goal/Should be 3,000 2,000 67% Or you can join others in subbing teams war in Iraq held at the Boston Com- (see directory on page 10). mon earlier in the day. The program * raised quota 4 The Militant Novmeber 14, 2005 GREAT SOCIETY From traffic to class- the Miami Herald reported. road maintenance to pay fuel drugs kept from NHS [Na- Union time for sure—“Utah room—Racial profiling is NAACP offi cials say the num- bills. The six-day meeting is tional Health Service] by red has one of the largest wage gaps reaching into classrooms and bers show a school system expected to attract almost tape”—Two recent headlines between women and men in schoolyards. In Miami, Dade “stained by racism.” 3,000 people.”—USA Today, from the Times, London. the nation, according to a new October 18. federal report from the Bureau A Third World area?— See, some do learn—Wash- of Labor Statistics. Utah ranks “FAIRBANKS, Alaska—Soar- Natural as capitalism— ington D.C.—“American next to last among the 50 states Harry ing energy costs in rural vil- “Heating bills may rise up to University’s board of trustees and the District of Columbia. Ring lages will be the focus of the 60%—Hurricanes hit natural meets to consider whether Wyoming is in last place. Alaska Federation of Natives gas production hard”—News president Benjamin Ladner “The report showed that on annual convention this week. headline. should remain at the school. average Utah women working More than 13 of Alaska’s “Ladner is on administrative full time were paid 69% of what County, “Black elementary 113 villages have already Sample: How Labour leave while auditors examine male workers made. Based on students were fi ve times most shut down their municipal gov’t invites low hits—“Pri- more than $500,000 he and his median wages, that’s about likely to be suspended than governments and 39 have cut vate patients treated without a wife have spent over the past $219 less per week.”—News their white school mates,” services such as police and wait” and “Life-saving cancer three years.”—News item. item. How workers won socialized medicine in the UK BY MICHAEL ITALIE The elections in July 1945 brought a In 1946 the year-old Labour Party crushing defeat for the Tories as work- government in the United Kingdom ing people and many in the middle introduced legislation creating the class saw Labour as the best vehicle National Health Service (NHS). This for making advances in jobs, work- program—establishing free, lifetime ing conditions, and a broad range of health care for all—was a product of a social demands. The Labour Party mass labor upsurge that swept Labour won an absolute majority—taking 393 into offi ce in July 1945. It remains in seats in Parliament against 189 for the place to this day, though greatly weak- Conservatives and 12 for the Liberals. ened as a result of cutbacks by Con- Working-class districts were solid for servative and Labour governments the Labour, which also won 90 percent of last 60 years. the vote among soldiers. During World War II, Labour had The defeat of the Tories was signifi - joined a Conservative Party–led coali- cant because it came “on the very mor- tion government to defend the British row of the Allied imperialists’ victory Empire’s interests in the interimperial- over their German adversaries,” said City workers on strike in London, April 29, 1947. Labor upsurge at end of World War ist slaughter. The Labour leadership the Aug. 4, 1945, Militant. “Churchill II led to establishment of nationalized health care in United Kingdom. signed on to Prime Minister Winston personifi ed that victory. Yet the vapors Churchill’s call to sacrifi ce “blood, toil, of patriotic imperialist propaganda… in the 1940s. Governments of both of of the lack of dentists who do “NHS sweat, and tears.” could not defl ect the British workers the two main parties of British impe- work.” Under the impact of mounting from their purpose.” rialism—Labour and Tories—have In September the British Medical As- struggles by workers at the end of the The establishment of the National introduced “market reforms.” sociation reported there would be job war, however, Labour decided to shift Health Service was one of the center- Hospitals now employ private con- cuts and hospital ward closures. direction and campaign against the pieces of Labour’s social reform pro- tractors and seek additional funding The struggle for the right to free med- Conservatives. Its platform included gram. When it came into effect in 1948 through private companies, resulting ical coverage also created a conscious- calls for nationalization of coal and it sparked a huge surge in demand from in sharpening competition for scarce ness among health workers that often other industries, public works to build workers who had been unable to afford resources and a more class-divided made it possible for non-UK residents affordable housing, and socialized medical care, but could now benefi t health-care system. Workers in Scot- visiting the country to also receive care. medicine. from free care for all, “irrespective of land, for example, may face waits of up As Labour and Tories alike have encour- The Fourth International, prede- means, age, sex or occupation.” to fi ve years for operations. Prescrip- aged hospitals to “compete for patients,” cessor of the Marxist magazine New Since its introduction the NHS has tions are no longer free. Dental care, however, these and other gains have International, published a number of suffered the fate of most reforms under which is available at subsidized rates been eroded. Yet neither party has reports at the time on the outbreak capitalism, though it took decades to but has never been free, may be dif- dared to outright dismantle this social of labor battles against the declining reverse a number of the gains registered fi cult to obtain in some areas because conquest of the working class. living conditions in spite of a wartime no-strike pledge by the union offi cial- dom. “100,000 Yorkshire miners were 25, 50, AND 75 YEARS AGO on strike; 50,000 shipyard, aircraft, haven’t lifted a fi nger to defend the munitions workers were out in Eng- civil rights of the Negro people. land, Scotland, and North Ireland,” it reported in its April 1944 issue. “The British workers are weary of the November 14, 1980 November 14, 1955 imperialist war,” said the lead article More than half a million people Nov. 9—Today an all-white grand in the Aug. 4, 1945, Militant, which marched past the U.S. embassy in Teh- jury in Mississippi gave a clean bill November 1, 1930 featured Labour’s electoral victory ran November 4. of health to J.W. Milam and Roy Brazil is the fourth South Ameri- on its front page. “They are suffering The massive demonstration was Bryant, lynchers of the 14-year-old can country to overthrow the govern- severely under rationing and black called by the students at the embassy Negro boy, Emmett Louis Till, as a ment in the course of the last three markets. Mass unemployment is again to commemorate the fi rst anniversary mounting wave of terror and murder months. on the way. There is a chaotic housing of the embassy occupation, and the sweeps through the South. In Bolivia and Peru, with the sym- situation, with millions of workers liv- anniversaries of the exile of Ayatollah Despite the fact that Milam and pathy of the great masses, the liberal ing in slum hovels and bomb-blasted Ruhollah Khomeini to Turkey in 1963 Bryant confessed to the kidnapping bourgeoisie staged triumphant move- tenements. All Churchill could promise and the slaughter of students at Tehran charge, despite the testimony of Mo- ments, and supported by British impe- the workers was a continuance of this University by the shah in 1978. ses Wright, Till’s uncle, who identi- rialism managed to defeat the feudal state of affairs. Meanwhile the British Revolutionary socialists in Tehran fi ed the pair as the men who abducted elements which for years while in capitalists are on the offensive against report that the action consisted pri- the youth, the Lefl ore county grand power had worked hand in hand with the unions.” mary of high school students. Many jury brazenly refused an indictment. Wall Street fi nancial interests. of them, women and men, were armed And the Mississippi authorities In Argentina the pro-British gov- with M-1 rifl es and wore military uni- consider the Till case closed. But ernment of Hipolito Irigoyen was For further reading forms. Workers also marched in several the case is not closed for the Negro turned out by a military coup of the Leon Trotsky contingents. people of the South who are being big bourgeoisie supported by Ameri- on Britain Slogans were leveled against the subjected to an intensifi ed campaign can imperialism. A virtual reign of Trotsky’s writings U.S. government for its continuing of terror since the whitewash of Till’s terror was then instituted against the during 1920s when attacks against the Iranian revolution. murderers. proletarian organizations. The Com- labor militancy led to The action was a show of readiness and Despite this fresh evidence of wan- munist and anarchist press has been the 1926 nationwide determination by the Iranian people to ton racist terror, and despite persis- suppressed and several anarchist and general strike. $26.95 defend their revolution from the Iraqi tent demands for federal intervention, anarcho-syndicalist leaders have been www.pathfi nderpress.com aggression. Congress and the Administration executed. The Militant November 14, 2005 5 ON THE PICKET LINE Teachers end strike in British Columbia Lakeside meat packers in Canada for two hours here in the downtown to vote on tentative agreement section of the city on the morning of TORONTO, November 2—Negotia- October 26. Pickets included members tors for United Food and Commercial of the Teamsters, Service Employees Workers Local 401 have reached a International Union Local 3, United tentative first contract agreement Food and Commercial Workers, United with Tyson-owned Lakeside Pack- Steelworkers, and Laborers unions. City ers in Brooks, Alberta. Workers will cops arrested 14 union members. likely begin voting on the proposal as Teamsters Local 926 steward Tina of November 4. “It’s not everything we Brocto told the Militant that there needed, but it’s a union shop,” bargain- were strikers there from Alco Parking, ing committee member Reuben Mayo Central Parking, Pittsburgh Parking told the Militant by phone. Picket Authority, and Grant Oliver garages. lines have remained strong since the The parking lot attendants have been on hard-fought strike began on October strike for more than two months. Brotco 12. “About 40 to 50 scabs have come said the companies are insisting on a over to the union,” striker Zacharia wage freeze and demanding workers Militant/Dennis King Ibrahim told the Militant Labor Forum pay more for health-care premiums. Rally in Vancouver, British Columbia, October 21 backing teachers on strike. by phone hookup October 30. “This —Tony Lane morning seven more joined.” BY NATALIE DOUCET limit on the increasing size of classes. With nearly 1,000 picketing and New York sanitation contract VA NCOU V ER, Br itish Colu m - They struck after the provincial gov- an equal number entering the plant, calls for one-person crews bia—“We didn’t get what was ernment announced it would extend including several hundred office NEW YORK—The Uniformed absolutely necessary,” Jinny Sims, a contract it had imposed on them in workers and management personnel, Sanitationmen’s Association reached president of the British Columbia January 2002. the bosses had been able to maintain agreement October 12 with New York Teachers Federation (BCTF), told a “We were out for two weeks in an a minimal level of production. Last City on a new contract that provides a crowd of thousands of teachers gath- ‘illegal’ strike and we stuck together week production ground to a halt for 17.5 percent pay raise over 51 months ered for a rally and contract vote here even though we didn’t get every- three days when unionized federal and what the Chief, a civil service em- October 23. “But we made [provin- thing we wanted,” Michael O’Neill, meat inspectors refused to cross the ployees weekly, calls “far-reaching pro- cial premier Gordon] Campbell come a teacher, told the Militant. “It’s a picket line. Production resumed when ductivity measures.” For the fi rst time to the table and make a compromise.” victory. We had a lot of support. We Tyson bosses won a court injunction some garbage trucks will have only one Teachers voted 77 percent for the of- represented the anger and frustration ordering the union to let the inspectors worker—the driver—who will also un- fer, ending the two-week strike. The of people in this province.” cross. However, Tyson bosses had been load the large, metal “roll-on” garbage union had recommended approval of Thousands had rallied October 21 unable to resume the slaughter on the bins. For this job workers will receive the contract, which does not include to back the striking teachers. The Ca- second shift. an extra $80 a day. Wages for new hires guarantees on class sizes. nadian Union of Public Employees, The 38,000 teachers walked out CBC news reported that Local 401 will be reduced below regulation pay which called the rally, said between October 7 for a wage raise and a president Doug O’Halloran predicted for the fi rst two years they’re on the job. 5,000 and 7,000 workers attended. a close ratifi cation vote. “The contract Workers will now be required to pick up is not all things to all people,” he said. more garbage every day. These moves After a defeated strike the union was are projected to reduce the workforce by fi red Johansson on the pretext he was Alabama, Kentucky, West Virginia, decertifi ed in the 1980s. 200. The city’s 6,600 sanitation workers “disloyal” when he informed the press Pennsylvania, and Virginia. —John Steele had been working without a contract of defi cient safety and fi re protection Mike Dalpiaz, vice president of the since November 2002. in the subway. “Fire Connex, not Per!” United Mine Workers of America Sacked Gate Gourmet workers —Brian Williams workers chanted. Two weeks earlier, from Price, Utah, told the media when maintain protest pickets subway workers had shut down 86 of these hearings were announced, “No- LONDON—Eighty locked-out Gate 112 trains in a one-day strike to protest body wants drugs and alcohol in the Gourmet catering workers continued 1,500 march in Stockholm the fi ring. workplace, period. But I’ve been in their daily picket line protest at Heath- in defense of union rights —Catharina Tirsén the industry for 30 years and I don’t row Airport October 31. The 713 sacked STOCKHOLM—Some 1,500 people see it as a problem.” He also said that Transport and General Workers’ Union marched here October 20 to protest the MSHA hearings focus on drug MSHA would better serve coal miners (TGWU) members voted September 28 fi ring of Per Johansson, the president abuse, not real safety problems by addressing the dangers of rock falls, to accept a deal brokered by the Trades of Local 119 of the Union for Service SALT LAKE CITY—The Mine methane gas explosions, and dust that Union Congress (TUC) and the com- Communications (SEKO), which Safety and Health Administration causes black lung disease. pany. Return to work was offered to 187 organizes the subway drivers here. (MSHA) held a public meeting here Company representatives were the workers, with a further 210 able to seek Union members wore blue jackets on October 24 on “alcohol and drug main participants at the hearing here, reemployment or paid voluntary redun- with the inscription “We Refuse To abuse by miners.” It’s the fi rst of seven asking MSHA for help in monitoring dancy (severance). An additional 172 Shut Up” on their backs. Connex, the set to take place in coal mining states the behavior of miners. workers had already signed for volun- private company that runs the subway, across the country, including Missouri, —Paul Mailhot tary redundancy and an unnamed 144 face compulsory redundancy. British Airways and Gate Gourmet, GM to slash health benefits after deal with UAW tops which supplies flight meals for the BY BRIAN WILLIAMS ed States, covering 1.1 million workers, jobs from U.S. plants by 2008. airline, finally signed a new cater- General Motors announced October pensioners, and their families. GM follows the footsteps of most ing contract October 20, which goes 17 a tentative agreement with the United The recent filing for bankruptcy major airlines, and steel, and other until 2010. For almost fi ve weeks the Auto Workers (UAW) that it says will protection by Delphi Corp., the larg- companies that have increasingly used increasingly angry workers have waited cut health-care benefi ts in the current est U.S. auto parts supplier, may lead the threat of bankruptcy to rationalize for confi rmation of a return to work or contract by $3 billion a year. GM to demand even greater pension the imposition of profi t-seeking cuts in redundancy payments. Hardest hit will be retirees who for and health-care cuts from its union wages and benefi ts. Big business has Sacked workers told the Militant of the fi rst time will have to pay deduct- workforce. As Delphi’s former parent enlisted many scribblers to help the their determination to maintain the ibles, co-payments, and premiums for company, GM “could be on the hook for bosses demoralize the workers into protest pickets. “We are staying on medical care, up to $752 a year for a up to $12 billion in liabilities at Delphi, accepting such attacks. A column in the hill until this is sorted out,” said family. The agreement would reduce up from a previous estimate of $11 bil- the November 7 Business Week is one Paviter Sanghera, whose wife was also GM’s liabilities for health care for pen- lion,” noted Reuters. such example. sacked. “We’re not giving up our fi ght sioners, which stood at $77.5 billion GM is also looking into selling a “Fat wages and benefi ts can’t last when for our rights. We’ll stay until we get at the start of this year, by $15 billion. controlling interest in its fi nancial divi- competition is cutthroat,” states David our job or our money.” Another worker, Workers currently employed will now sion, General Motors Acceptance Corp. Welch in this news commentatary. To Jaswinder Singh, added, “We’re proud have higher drug co-payments and are (GMAC), to pull the credit rating of its embellish his message, Welch says he we’ve stayed outside. They say we’re being asked to give up $1 an hour in bonds out of junk status. This move, comes from a blue-collar family who is troublemakers, but we’re not slaves.” 2006 by deferring cost-of-living ad- however, would “divert earnings from watching the latest attacks by GM with —Celia Pugh justments and planned wage increases. GM,” noted Goldman Sachs analyst “mixed emotions.” Describing how his Union members must still vote on this Robert Barry. In 2004, 80 percent of father lost his job as a union machinist, Striking parking lot attendants deal, though a date has not yet been GM’s earnings came from GMAC. he then argues that UAW workers have picket Pittsburgh garages set. The health care benefi t cuts are “a very no choice but to accept much deeper PITTSBURGH—“This garage is full, GM chairman Richard Wagoner important step,” GM head boss Wagoner concessions as GM’s market share con- of injustice and greed,” was the favorite praised the health cuts as the “single told the New York Times. “I didn’t say tinues to slide. “UAW workers aren’t chant of more than 100 unionists whose biggest cost reduction in a single day in it was the last step, and it’s not the fi rst there yet, but the clock is ticking,” he picket stopped cars from entering a the history of GM.” GM is the largest step,” he added. Last June Wagoner had says. “The UAW should be glad the’ve Pittsburgh Parking Authority garage private health-care provider in the Unit- announced the elimination of 25,000 had it this good for so long.”

6 The Militant November 14, 2005 Poultry workers in South Philadelphia: Transit workers strike fight to organize union to defend health-care benefi ts BY MAURICE WILLIAMS speed four or fi ve birds a minute and RUSSELLVILLE, Alabama—Work- raised the cost of insurance. People are ers are building support for union recog- working harder but the wages are the nition at the Gold Kist poultry plant here same.” The plant processes about 35 in their fi ght for improved pay, better birds a minute. working conditions, and respect from Many workers born abroad have the company. “We want the union at our been threatened with fi rings and de- plant because people are getting tired portation if they express support for of the way the company treats us,” said the union, Goodloe noted. Despite this Marinda Newsome, who has worked six intimidation she recounted an incident years at the plant. about six months ago when some 300 Newsome was among some 20 work- workers—mostly immigrants from ers attending a weekly meeting at the Latin America—from deboning and Winn Wood Inn to discuss how to win 80 from leg quarters walked off the more support for the United Food and line to demand higher pay and an end Commercial Workers union (UFCW) to forced overtime. Getty Images/William Thomas Cain among the more than 1,500 workers at “It was ridiculous working so many PHILADELPHIA, October 31—Members of Transport Workers Union the plant. The majority of the workers hours, with no defi nite time to leave,” Local 234 picket outside bus depot of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit are from Mexico, Guatemala, and other said Goodloe. “A certain line would Authority (SEPTA). The 5,300 bus, subway, and trolley operators, along with Latin American countries. be told to come in at 5:00 a.m. and not 320 members of United Transportation Union Local 1594, struck early this The fi ght takes place shortly after leave until 6:00 p.m.” morning to defend health-care benefi ts. 700 workers at the Koch Foods poultry The brutal line speed and the need In a cynical public campaign, SEPTA and government offi cials argue: plant in Morristown, Tennessee, voted for better pay are driving workers to more and more workers are being forced to pay for medical coverage, so overwhelmingly September 9 for the push for union power. Many of them ex- why shouldn’t transit workers do the same? Pennsylvania governor Edward UFCW. pressed anger about the lack of seniority Rendell, a Democrat, told the workers that anyone who thinks they won’t Gold Kist has fought tooth and nail rights, which the bosses use to put the have to pay health-care premiums “better move to Mars or some other against workers’ organizing efforts, most militant workers and those they country.” Workers began picketing at 12:01 a.m., after a year of contract pressuring them to vote down the union don’t like on the hardest jobs. extensions and a breakdown in negotiations. twice in the 1990s. More recently the Goodloe, who is Black, remarked —OSBORNE HART company has organized separate anti- how racist discrimination resulted union meetings in English and Spanish in her being bumped from job to job. and sent out letters to workers stating When she developed carpal tunnel her sock. When her son took her to the The company has now offered to pay that it will “use all means to keep the syndrome, “the company doctor told emergency room, X-rays showed her $38 toward the glasses. union out of Russellville.” me that I didn’t get it there but from ankle was broken in three places. Smith’s co-worker, Donna Porter, Gold Kist is the third-largest inte- another job.” She pointed to threats of Smith had another accident last July explained that “when I saw how the grated chicken company in the United fi ring that the bosses hurled at Delores when folded-up boxes that workers up- company mistreated Delores and didn’t States, accounting for more than 9 per- Smith, who last December slipped on a stairs send to her via a chute tumbled want to help her, that made me want to cent of chicken produced last year. In greasy metal plate and broke her ankle. out and knocked her eyeglasses to the fi ght for the union.” August the company reported profi ts of “They told her if she saw her own doctor fl oor, breaking the frames. Porter, who has worked a year and $87 million for the fi rst nine months of she would be fi red.” “They sent me home for the day, say- a half at Gold Kist, remarked how the fi scal 2005. Smith, who prepares boxes to hold ing it was my fault,” said Smith. “I also bosses promote abuse. “Screaming and “The company is making a lot of processed chickens, said the company got a write-up.” yelling are commonplace. The company money,” said Brenda Goodloe, who nurse, without even looking at her ankle, At fi rst, Gold Kist refused to pay for has no respect for our integrity. I’m hop- trims breast meat and is moved from told her to take ibuprofen and go home. new glasses, which she said would cost ing we win the union.” job to job. “Last year they gave us a Later Smith looked at her ankle and $378. With her base wage of $8.40 an 15-cent raise but then increased the line saw pieces of bone protruding through hour, that would exceed her weekly pay. MILITANT Foster Farms workers walk out in California LABOR Continued from front page The workers organized the League now has approximately $500 a month FORUMS workers—the League of Independent as a new union, which won a majority garnished from his paycheck to cover Workers of the San Joaquin Valley— among workers in a vote in 2004. medical bills. “I’ve worked all these NEW JERSEY gave a talk in Spanish and English, To strengthen their ability to negotiate years to pay for this,” Arceo said. “This Newark The Fight for a Woman’s Right to Choose which was translated into Punjabi by a contract, the union affi liated with the should be coming to me.” Abortion Today. Fri., Nov. 11, 8:00 p.m. 168 one of the workers. International Association of Machinists Maria Caballero, a machine atten- Bloomfi eld Ave., 2nd fl . Tel: (973) 481-0077. Cheers broke out when Meraz paid (IAM) several weeks before the walk- dant with 25 years in the plant, said tribute to the strength of the many out. The company has refused to accept she makes a typical wage for a line NEW YORK women workers who are part of the this affi liation, calling it illegal. worker at the plant—$9.28 an hour. Manhattan fi ght, and to those in the Punjabi com- “Foster Farms won’t respect our vote She has joined the fi ght because of the Oppose Imperialist Campaigns against Syr- ia and Iran! Fri., Nov. 11. Dinner 7:00 p.m.; munity who provided food and drink for the new union,” said Gloria Castigo, low wages. “Prices are going up,” said program 8:00 p.m. Donation: $5 dinner, $5 for hundreds of workers and supporters one of the veteran fi ghters at the plant. Caballero. “A gallon of milk is $3.75. program. 307 W. 36th St. 10th fl , (near 8th Ave.; each day on the picket line. “That’s why we came out.” You pay $50 a week for gas. After all use north elevators). Tel: (212) 629-6649. Production was slowed at the plant but “Your impressive numbers send a that, there’s nothing left to take home. not stopped. According to Meraz, 1,103 message to Foster Farms that they They charge $7 for one of these chick- PENNSYLVANIA signed the roster indicating participation Philadelphia cannot deny,” IAM District Lodge 190 ens. That’s an hour of work.” The Cuban Revolution and the Fight Against in the walkout while half the plant, in- business representative Jim Beno said “They’ve harassed us, threatened us, U.S. Imperialism. Fri., Nov. 11. Dinner 6:30 cluding “replacement” workers hired at the rally. He announced the opening discriminated against us—a lot of injus- p.m.; program 7:30 p.m. 188 W. Wyoming Ave. through a contractor, stayed inside. of a permanent union headquarters at tices,” said Francisco Alvarez, a union Tel: (215) 455-2682. A layer of workers who have been 416 Main Street in Livingston. coordinator in packaging who’s worked fi ghting for many years to forge a strong Raj Brinder Dhaliwal, one of those in the plant for one year. NEW ZEALAND Auckland union at Foster Farms are spearheading who helped organize the new union, has A union complaint with the National Imperialist Hands off Syria! Speaker: Felic- the struggle. worked for 26 years on the line. He point- Labor Relations Board for unfair labor ity Coggan, Communist League. Fri., Nov. 11, These workers began to organize ed to deteriorating health benefi ts and practices by the company is scheduled 7:00 p.m. Donation: $3. 7 Mason Ave., Ota- huhu. Tel: (09) 276-8885 for an election decertifying the United low wages as key issues in the struggle. to be heard December 14. Christchurch Food and Commercial Workers eight Since 1993 wages have increased by a “We’re stronger because we ourselves Oppose New Zealand Imperialism in the years ago. They took this action after total of $1.45, for an average annual raise are fi ghting and we believe in ourselves,” Pacifi c! Speaker: Annalucia Vermunt, Com- a 17-day strike in 1997 that left them of 12 cents, he said. At the same time, said Gurbax Samra, a 28-year veteran munist League. Sat., Nov. 19, 5:00 p.m. 287 Selwyn St., Spreydon. Tel: (03) 365-6055. with a contract that included only a costs for medical coverage have gone up, in the plant. As an example he pointed 70-cent wage increase over fi ve years, including a $25 charge for each doctor to the workers who have become co- and increased payments by workers for visit as well as large deductibles. ordinators of union activity in every SWEDEN medical coverage. “We didn’t get the Sam Arceo, who also participated in department. Stockholm support we should have from the union,” the 1980 and 1997 strikes, is a forklift Government Proposal for New ‘Antiterror- ism’ Law: An Attack on Democratic Rights. Isabel Mendoza, who voted against that driver with 28 years in the plant. After Betsey Stone and Seth Dellinger con- Fri., Nov. 11, 7:00 p.m. Bildhuggarvägen 17 contract, told the Militant at the time. knee, shoulder, and elbow surgeries, he tributed to this article. 12144 Johanneshov. Tel: 468 31 69 33. The Militant November 14, 2005 7 Vote Socialist Workers Nov. 8!

Continued from front page SWP candidates in Atlanta get union move- cause, she said, is that of defending hearing for socialist program ment. What workers from the attacks by the ruling happened with class. BY ARLENE RUBINSTEIN the hurricane is Newberry firmly believes there ATLANTA—The fighting, work- fresh proof that should be free health care and equitable ing-class program of three Socialist the Democrats social security for all. She also defends Workers Party candidates running in and Republi- union power in order to counteract, as the municipal election is attracting at- cans cannot and she put it, the abuses of unscrupulous tention here. do not function bosses who pay miserly wages and ex- “Socialist candidate thinks big,” states for the working ploit their employees. an October 20 headline in the Atlanta people.” “The system is based on profi ts, and it’s Journal-Constitution on the mayoral In a debate on Hoy/Andrea Alegría a ‘dog-eat-dog’ society,” she explains. race. “James Harris is a socialist. In People TV with Diana Newberry, SWP candidate for Los Angeles City Council “It’s about time people have a working- an era where unions lack the clout they her opponent, District 14, at the party’s campaign headquarters October 28. class alternative on the ballot.” once claimed, Harris is not shy about incumbent Lisa Newberry, the 16th of 17 children born his anti-capitalist convictions.” Borders, Potash argued against the Belt- her campaign’s “overriding theme of and raised in Ohio, has worked hard Harris is running against incumbent line project—a plan to raise the value of organizing unions.” jobs since she was very young. She has Shirley Franklin, recently profi led in investment property in the city that will The socialist candidates have trav- worked on the railroad in Pennsylvania U.S. News and World Report as one of increase rents and housing prices and eled to Charleston, South Carolina, to and in hat and garment factories in Los “America’s Best Leaders.” Meanwhile, drive more working-class families out extend their support to the efforts by Angeles. She currently works as a meat Atlanta ranks fi fth in child poverty in or into worsening conditions. independent truckers at the port to or- packer. She never attended university or the United States, and the city’s an- Borders and Mayor Franklin have ganize into the Teamsters union. They college, but her passion for the socialist swer to homelessness is to convert an made support to the Beltline plan the have sold subscriptions to the Militant movement has taken her to several cities old jail with a few hundred beds into centerpiece of their re-election bids. at the United Parcel Service plant gate across the country. About four years ago, a shelter and pass an anti-panhandling “I’m opposed to it. The Beltline is here, where members of Teamsters she arrived in Boyle Heights. ordinance. not about parks, inner city transit, or Local 728 are heading into contract This candidate assures us that she “I have only one criticism of the may- jobs,” said Potash. “Atlanta is becoming negotiations. would use the city council position or: that she’s a capitalist politician and more and more segregated every day. García and Potash campaigned at the to champion the socialist cause. For what she is putting forward for the city The Beltline will continue this reseg- October 28–29 South Atlantic Global starters, she would fi ght for all working of Atlanta are things that will benefi t the regation.” The socialist candidates are Women’s and Human Rights confer- people to have affordable housing. wealthy and will not benefi t the working distributing a statement urging working ence held at Spelman College, where “I’m excited that more and more peo- class,” Harris told the paper. people to attend a November 7 Atlanta Potash called for defending Iran from ple are receptive to these ideas. And it’s In a Journal-Constitution interview City Council hearing on the Beltline to U.S. attacks. Conference participants not some utopia. It’s already been done published the same day, Lisa Potash, the oppose the plan. invited the two socialist candidates in Cuba, when the workers took power Socialist Workers Party candidate for In an October 13 article, the Jour- to speak at other colleges in Atlanta, there,” she says, pointing out “there will city council president, explained, “I be- nal-Constitution quoted Eleanor Gar- Rome, and Gainesville, Georgia, as be no peace until there’s a revolution in lieve that working people need to build cía, the Socialist Workers candidate well as Asheville, North Carolina, and this country.” a labor party based on a fi ghting trade for City Council in District 10, noting Bowling Green, Kentucky.

SWP candidates What the Socialist Workers Party stands and fi ghts for in 2005 elections In addition to what’s outlined in the Socialist Workers campaign platform below, the SWP candidates have been recently highlighting the demands to socialize medicine—making health care a free, lifetime right for all; City/State Candidates and nationalize the energy monopolies—taking power companies and electricity distributors out of private Atlanta James Harris, Mayor, hands and running them as public utilities for the benefi t of the majority (for more details see “SWP candidates Lisa Potash, City Council president* in California: Nationalize energy, health care!” in last week’s issue). Eleanor García, City Council District 10 • Support workers’ struggles to organize • Support the efforts of semicolonial coun- Birmingham, AL Clay Dennison, City Council District 8* trade unions and to use and extend union tries to acquire and develop the energy sources Jeanne FitzMaurice, School Board District 8* power to defend themselves and other work- necessary to expand electrifi cation—a prereq- (Election in Birmingham held October 11) ing people from the bosses’ assaults. Defend the uisite for economic and social advances. Expose Boston Margaret Trowe, Mayor labor movement from the continuing offensive the drive by Washington and its allies to prevent Laura Garza, City Council At-Large* by the employers and their twin parties of capi- the nations oppressed by imperialism from de- talism—the Democrats and Republicans. Build veloping nuclear power and other sources of Des Moines, IA Edwin Fruit, City Council At-Large* a labor party, based on the unions, that fi ghts energy needed to bring much of humanity out Houston Anthony Dutrow, Mayor* in the interests of working people. of darkness. José Aravena, City Controller • For the immediate, unconditional withdrawal regulations aimed at turning a driver’s license into Amanda Ulman, City Council At-Large-1 of U.S., UN, and other imperialist armed forces such a document. Los Angeles Diana Newberry, City Council District 14* from Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Korea, Haiti, • Repeal federal and state laws mandating im- Seth Dellinger, City Council District 10 Colombia, and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. migration-document checks by employers. • For a massive federally funded public works Miami Omari Musa, Mayor* • Defend a woman’s right to choose! Oppose program to put millions to work at union scale. restrictions on access to abortion. Eric Simpson, City Commissioner District 5* • No cuts in present or future Social Security • End Washington’s economic war against Cuba! Angela Lariscy, Governor* benefi ts, Medicaid programs, or workers compen- New Jersey U.S. hands off Venezuela! Michael Ortega, State Assembly District 28* sation. Extend Social Security to cover universal, government-guaranteed, lifetime health care for • Defend the constitutional right of GIs as citizen- New York Martín Koppel, Mayor* everyone in this country. soldiers to engage in political discussion, debate, Dan Fein, City Comptroller* and activity. Arrin Hawkins, Manhattan Borough President* • Fight cop brutality. Abolish the death penalty. Sarah Katz, Bronx Borough President • Defend and extend affi rmative action in employ- • Stop farm foreclosures! Government-funded ment, education, and housing. cheap credit for working farmers and price sup- Pittsburgh Jay Ressler, Mayor* • No national ID card. End all federal and state ports to cover production costs. Cynthia Jaquith, City Council District 8 Ryan Scott, City Council District 12 Working people face an unrelenting offensive by the employers, who—driven by the need to reverse Philadelphia John Staggs, City Attorney the decline in their profi t rates—are intensifying speedup, lengthening work hours, eroding job safety, cut- Rebecca Crysdale, City Controller ting pensions and health-care coverage, and seeking to undermine Social Security and break down class San Francisco Romina Green, City Treasurer solidarity. The imperialist wars abroad by Washington and its allies, from Iraq and Afghanistan to others Laura Anderson, City Attorney they are preparing, including threats against Iran, Syria, and north Korea, are an extension of the war on Gerardo Sánchez, Assessor-Recorder workers and farmers at home. The resistance today by working people to these assaults points to the road forward: to rely on our col- Seattle Chris Hoeppner, Mayor* lective power and solidarity and organize independently of the capitalists and their parties to advance the Cecelia Moriarity, King County Executive common interests of workers and farmers worldwide. We need to build a revolutionary movement that David Rosenfeld, City Council, Position 2 will lead a fi ght by working people and their allies to take power out of the hands of the ruling billionaire St. Paul, MN Jacob Perasso, Mayor* class, establish a workers and farmers government, and join the worldwide struggle for socialism. Rebecca Williamson, School Board* Vote Socialist Workers Party this coming Tuesday and continue campaigning for this revolutionary *On ballot (All remaining candidates have write-in status) working-class program beyond November 8!

8 The Militant November 14, 2005 Patrick Fitzgerald helped convict Lynne Stewart, too

BY MICHAEL ITALIE personally prosecuted or supervised Democratic Party politicians and the some of the landmark terrorism cases liberal press have lately turned U.S Spe- predating the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,” cial Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald into the Chicago Tribune reported. a hero who is supposedly defending These cases included the 1996 con- democratic rights by indicting Lewis viction of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, Libby (see article below). a Muslim cleric, on frame-up charges Fitzgerald’s claim to fame before re- of conspiracy to bomb the World Trade cently hitting the headlines, however, Center three years earlier. The cleric Getty Images was prosecuting the U.S. rulers’ “war was sentenced to life in prison plus 65 Attorney Lynne Stewart speaks to press outside New York federal courthouse on April 9, on terror,” including helping convict years. The Tribune noted that Fitzger- 2002, the day she was indicted on “terrorism” charges. Patrick Fitzgerald, now hailed by attorney Lynne Stewart. ald “used a Civil War–era statute pro- liberals for the Libby indictment, was central to Stewart’s indictment and conviction. Stewart is the fi rst defense lawyer hibiting planning crimes against the to mail, telephones, and visitors. It was videotapes of their meetings in prison. convicted on “terrorism” charges by nation” in prosecuting Abdel-Rahman. Fitzgerald who called Stewart in July Stewart was convicted last February the government. She has been wag- Fitzgerald followed up on this frame- 2000 to tell her she was suspended on all fi ve charges of “conspiracy to ing a public campaign to pressure U.S. up by assisting in the conviction of the from contact with her client because provide material support to terrorist District Judge John Koeltl to hand down cleric’s attorney, Lynne Stewart. she had released a statement by Ab- activity” and “defrauding” the govern- a minimum sentence. On October 25 At the heart of the case against del-Rahman to the media. Fitzgerald ment in relation to the SAMs. She was Koeltl rejected Stewart’s appeal of her Stewart were charges that she con- also served as the prosecution’s fi rst immediately disbarred and faces up to conviction and request for a new trial. spired to violate Department of Jus- witness against Stewart when the trial 30 years in prison. Her case against this Fitzgerald worked for 13 years as an tice Special Administrative Measures began in June 2004. Stewart has de- frame-up has won the support of the Assistant U.S. Attorney in the South- (SAMs). These measures, drafted by scribed Fitzgerald as “a crusader…in National Lawyers Guild, the National ern District of New York. In September Fitzgerald, imposed harsh restrictions the medieval sense.” Conference of Black Lawyers, and 2001 he became the U.S. Attorney for on her client. On orders from this top Much of the “evidence” against Stew- others. Sentencing is set for December the Northern District of Illinois. “As prosecutor, Abdel-Rahman was pro- art was based on government wiretaps 22. the first head of New York’s terror- hibited from speaking to the media, of more than two years of conversations Fitzgerald’s career, on the other hand, ism prosecution unit, Fitzgerald either and was strictly limited in his access between her and Abdel-Rahman and appears to be taking off. Indicted for perjury, White House official faces 30 years in jail Continued from front page documents but from other reporters. in his second term. cisions…. Fitzgerald was specifi cally of Iraq more effectively. The current dispute in Washington In an October 29 op-ed article in the excused from even this minimal check Appearing on CNN’s “Larry King has been accompanied by increasingly Washington Post, two former Justice De- on his power and as a consequence was Live” October 28, Democratic senator uncivil discourse, as seen in the fl ap partment lawyers, David Rivkin and Lee accountable only to himself.” Barbara Boxer applauded the Libby in- around New York Times reporter Judith Casey, warned about the powers of the The current political storm registers dictment, saying that if the White House Miller, who spent 85 days in jail for re- special prosecutors that have been ap- the crisis of confi dence within U.S. rul- had listened to its liberal critics and fusing to testify before the grand jury. pointed since the Watergate scandal led ing circles, as they march toward an avoided the argument about weapons Miller was ostensibly protecting the to the resignation of President Richard increasingly unstable future of depres- of mass destruction in Iraq, “we could source—allegedly Libby—who leaked Nixon in 1974. “For special counsels, as sion, wars, and class confl icts. Repub- have…gone in there with the whole Plame’s identity to her. under the code of the samurai, once the lican pundit Peggy Noonan touched on world instead of what we’ve done.” After publicly defending one of their sword is drawn it must taste blood,” they this mood of unease in an October 27 The lead editorial in the October 29 lead reporters while she was in jail, the wrote. “With the law books fi lled with a column in the Wall Street Journal. She New York Times, on “The Case Against Times editors have scrambled to distance great assortment of crimes, a prosecutor said there was a widespread sense that Scooter Libby,” concluded, “The big themselves from Miller. In an October 21 stands a fair chance of fi nding at least “in some deep and fundamental way point Americans need to keep in mind memo, Times executive editor Bill Keller a technical violation of some act on the things have broken down and can’t be is this: There were no weapons of mass stated that he would have been more care- part of almost anyone.” fi xed…any time soon.” destruction in Iraq.” ful in defending Miller if he had known Special counsels are “deprived of Noonan emphasized that she was The Times ran an accompanying edi- of her “entanglement with Libby.” normal constraints such as resource not just “talking about ‘Plamegate’ ” torial making it clear its argument was Times columnist Maureen Dowd limitations,” they continued. “Another but about “the whole ball of wax.… I not whether but how to conduct a war penned an October 25 column attack- vital missing ingredient is supervision. believe there’s a general and amorphous policy. Under the title “A Demagogue in ing Miller’s personal character under the Normally federal prosecutors have sense that things are broken and tough Iran,” it urged Washington to intensify heading “Woman of Mass Destruction.” political superiors who review their de- history is coming.” its political and military pressure on Iran While criticizing Miller’s pre-Iraq war (see article on page 3). reporting, she wrote, “Judy’s stories Atlanta … San Francisco … Twin Cities … New York Referring to the Libby indictment, the about W.M.D. fi t too perfectly with the Financial Times of London in an October White House’s case for war.” ‘We Start with the World and How To Transform It’ 29–30 editorial remarked, “Republicans In subsequent public interviews Report from First Equatorial Guinea Book Fair can argue that the Plame affair refl ects a Dowd has gossiped that Miller’s career trend toward criminalising honest policy and her objectivity as a reporter were FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, in October 2005 a book fair was held in the Central differences, in this case the rationale for ruined in part by her “history of dating African country of Equatorial Guinea. Five supporters of Pathfi nder Press took part, going to war against Iraq. It is indeed a powerful men.” making its titles available. Their experiences in that country—a former Spanish worrisome development.” New York Post columnist Andrea colony and staging post for the slave trade, in an oil-rich region where Washington Nonetheless, after a two-year inquiry Peyser described this comment as an is today increasing its military buildup—shed light on the openings for militants by the federal grand jury, the FBI, and “obscenely personal” insult, saying in the new political situation being produced by intensifying confl icts among a special prosecutor, no one has been Dowd ripped into her colleague “for contending classes worldwide. charged with the original sin of reveal- having a slutty reputation that Dowd JOIN US in a discussion of the history and struggles of the peoples of Central ing the identity of a spy. claims warped her reporting.” and West Africa; the internationalist course and political weight of Cuba’s socialist Instead, vice presidential aide Libby In an October 25 article expressing revolution; the increased politicization of working people resisting the employers’ faces a sentence three times greater for concern about the destabilizing effects economic, social, and political assaults; the road forward in the fi ght for Black alleged inconsistencies in his interviews of this factionalization within bourgeois emancipation and women’s rights; and much more. with the FBI, and then for accepting politics, Times columnist Nicholas And after the Saturday evening meetings, come back for more informal discussion those statements as fact under oath Kristof, no friend of the White House, and a brunch on Sunday! Bring co-workers, friends, and family! before the grand jury. wrote, “Before dragging any Bush ad- The other top administration offi cial ministration offi cials off to jail, we should Speakers: Mary-Alice Waters, president of Pathfi nder Press, and Arrin involved—“Offi cial A” in the indict- pause and take a long, deep breath.” Hawkins, Martín Koppel, and Brian Taylor, participants in First Equatorial Guinea Book Fair ment—is assumed to be Karl Rove, the “In the 1990’s, we saw the harm that president’s senior adviser. Rove has not special prosecutors can do,” Kristof ATLANTA: meeting Nov. 12, TWIN CITIES: meeting Dec. 3, been charged at this point. He has ac- wrote. “That was true particularly barbeque Nov. 13 brunch Dec. 4 knowledged talking to the press about of Kenneth Starr’s fanatical pursuit NEW YORK CITY: meeting Dec. 10, Plame’s CIA connection, but has argued of Bill Clinton.” He was referring to SAN FRANCISCO: meeting Nov. 19, that he didn’t break the law because he the salacious sex scandal that led to brunch Nov. 20 brunch Dec. 11 drew his knowledge not from secret Clinton’s impeachment by Congress Sponsored by the Socialist Workers Party and Young Socialists For more information, contact Militant distributors in your area. See directory on page 10

The Militant November 14, 2005 9 How a revolutionary party meets test of war Below is an excerpt from The Soviet-Nazi pact the fl ight of the Stalin- Struggle for a Proletarian Party, one ist fellow-travelers began. They could of Pathfi nder’s Books of the Month for stomach the Moscow Trials but not the November. It records the development prospect of coming into collision with of an internal confl ict in the Socialist the democratic government of U.S. im- Workers Party immediately following perialism. After the Soviet invasion of the Stalin-Hitler pact and the outbreak Poland and then of Finland, the fl ight of of the Second World War. Under pres- the fellow-travelers became a rout. This sure of these world events, a section of wild migration attracted wide attention the party began to reject the theoretical and comment. We ourselves contributed foundations, political principles, and our observations and witticisms on this organizational methods upon which ludicrous spectacle. Up to now, however, the SWP had been founded—includ- we have remained silent on an analogous phenomenon in our own “periphery.” The fl ight of the more sophisticated, but hardly more courageous, intellectual BOOKS OF fellow-travelers of American Trotsky- Meeting in 1945 in defense of 18 leaders of the Socialist Workers Party and the Min- ism has been scarcely less precipitate neapolis Teamsters union framed up under the Smith “Gag” Act for expressing their and catastrophic.... THE MONTH opposition to the interimperialist slaughter in the Second World War. Insofar as our party membership consists in part of petty-bourgeois ing Marxist theory on the nature of BY JAMES P. CANNON appearance of things than the reality. elements completely disconnected the Soviet Union and the obligation Political struggles in general, includ- Trotskyism is the veritable doctrine and from the proletarian class struggle, the of revolutionists to defend it against ing serious factional struggles in a party, method of proletarian revolution; it re- crisis which overtook the periphery of imperialist attack. do not take place in a vacuum. They are veals its true substance most unfailingly our movement is transferred, or rather, James P. Cannon was a leader of the carried on under the pressure of social in times of crisis, war and revolutionary extended into the party. Communist Party in the United States forces and refl ect the class struggle to struggle. Those who have assimilated following the Russian Revolution of one degree or another. This law is dem- the program, the doctrine, the method 1917. He was expelled from the Com- onstrated in the most striking manner in and the tradition into their fl esh and Houston truckers munist Party in 1928 for supporting the development of the present discus- blood, as the guiding line of struggle, Continued from front page Leon Trotsky’s fight to continue V.I. sion within our party…. cling all the more fi rmly to the move- year, on a dedicated run from Freeport, Lenin’s revolutionary course. A found- The Second World War, no less than ment under the pressure of the crisis. Texas, to Clinton, Tennessee, a $4,000 ing leader of the Socialist Workers the First, strikes all organizations and It is only those who took Bolshevism run, the company took $1,200, leaving Party, Cannon served as its national tendencies in the labor movement with as a set of literary formulas, espousal the drivers $2,800. “This year they are secretary and then national chairman cataclysmic force. Our own organiza- of which gave one a certain distinction only leaving us $1,900 for the run—and until his death in 1974. Copyright © tion is no exception. Like all others, it in radical circles without incurring any it costs us $1,000 for the fuel,” said 1972 by Pathfi nder Press. Reprinted by is being shaken to its foundations and serious responsibilities; those who ad- Santos, who is from Puerto Rico. He permission. compelled to reveal its real nature. opted Trotskyism as a form of “extreme has been a driver for six years and has Weaknesses which remained undis- radicalism” which never went beyond worked for BTT for the last year. “T closed in time of peace are rapidly laid the bounds of sophisticated debate—it “The company terminated three driv- bare with the approach of war. Numer- is such people who are most inclined to ers to try to intimidate us,” he added, as November BOOKS ous individuals and whole groupings, falter and to lose their heads under the picketers arrived with lunch for all. “But OF THE MONTH whether formally members of the pressure of the crisis, and even to blame we are still here. We are organizing our Fourth International or sympathiz- their panic on that same “Trotskyism” breakfasts and lunches here.” PATHFINDER ers, are being submitted to the same which simply remains true to itself. READ ERS CLUB 25% tests. There will be casualties, which Everybody knows the crisis has dealt Anthony Dutrow is the Socialist Work- SPE CIALS DISCOUNT may seem to indicate a weakening of heavy blows to the imposing movement ers Party candidate for mayor of The Struggle for a the movement. But that is rather the of Stalinism. With the signing of the Houston. Proletarian Party by James P. Cannon On the eve of World War II, a founder of the IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP communist movement in the U.S. and leader of Where to fi nd dis trib u tors of the Mili- 07104. Tel: (973) 481-0077. E-mail: FRANCE the Communist Inter- tant, New International, and a full display [email protected] Paris: P.O. 175, 23 rue Lecourbe. Postal national in Lenin’s time of Pathfi nder books. NEW YORK: Manhattan: 306 W. 37th defends the program and code: 75015. Tel: (01) 40-10-28-37. UNITED STATES St., 10th Floor. Zip: 10018. Tel: (212) 629- E-mail: [email protected] party-building norms of 6649.E-mail: [email protected] Bolshevism. $21.95 Special price: $16.50 ALABAMA: Birmingham: 3029A Bessemer Rd. Zip: 35208. Tel: (205) 780- PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: ICELAND Cuba Will Never Adopt 0021. E-mail: [email protected] 188 W. Wyoming Ave. Zip: 19140. Tel: Reykjavík: Skolavordustig 6B. Capitalist Methods (215) 455-2682. E-mail: Philadelphia Mailing address: P. Box 0233, IS 121 by Fidel Castro CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 4229 [email protected] Pittsburgh: 5907 S. Central Ave. Zip: 90011. Tel: (323) Reykjavík. Tel: 552 1202. E-mail: Cuba’s rectifi cation process, and its contribu- Penn Ave., Suite 225. Zip: 15206. Tel: [email protected] tions to building socialism worldwide. $7.00 233-9372. E-mail: [email protected] (412) 365-1090. E-mail: PittsburghSWP Special price: $5.00 San Fran cisco: 3926 Mission St. Zip: @verizon.net NEW ZEALAND 94112. Tel: (415) 584-2135. E-mail: swpsf Women and the Family @sbcglobal.net TEXAS: Houston: 4800 W. 34th St., Auckland: Suite 3, 7 Mason Ave., Suite C-51A. Zip: 77092. Tel: (713) 869- Otahuhu. Postal address: P.O. Box by Leon Trotsky FLORIDA: Miami: 8365 NE 2nd 6550. E-mail: [email protected] 3025. Tel: (9) 276-8885. E-mail: Trotsky explains the Bolshe- Ave. #206. Mailing address: P.O. Box [email protected] vik government’s steps to 380846. Zip: 33138. Tel: (305) 756-4436. UTAH: Price: 80 W. Main St., Suite wipe out illiteracy, establish E-mail: [email protected] 207. Zip: 84501. Tel: (435) 613-1091. Christchurch: 287 Selwyn St., equality in economic and [email protected] Spreydon. Post al ad dress: P.O. Box political life, set up child- GEORGIA: Atlanta: 2791 Lakewood Ave. Zip: 30315. Mailing address: P.O. Box WASHINGTON, D.C.: 3717 B 7103. Tel: (3) 365-6055. E-mail: care centers and public [email protected] kitchens, guarantee the right 162515, Zip: 30321. Tel: (404) 768-1709. Georgia Ave. NW, Ground Floor. Zip: to abortion and divorce, and E-mail: [email protected] 20010. Tel: (202) 722-1315. E-mail: [email protected] SWEDEN more. $12.00 Special price: $9.00 ILLINOIS: Chicago: 3557 S. Archer WASHINGTON: Seattle: 5418 Rainier Stockholm: Bildhuggarvägen 17, The Assassination of Malcolm X Ave. Zip: 60609. Tel: (773) 890-1190. E- mail: [email protected] Ave. South. Zip: 98118-2439. Tel: (206) 12144 Johanneshov. Tel: (08) 31 69 33. Exposes the cover-up surrounding the murder 323-1755. E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] of Malcolm X . $16.00 Special price: $12.00 IOWA: Des Moines: 3707 Douglas Ave. Zip: 50310. Tel: (515) 255-1707. UNITED KINGDOM Cuba for Beginners E-mail: [email protected] AUSTRALIA Presented in political cartoon style by the well- Sydney: 1st Flr, 3/281-287 Beamish ENGLAND: London: First MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 12 known Mexican cartoonist Rius. $13.00 St., Campsie, NSW 2194. Mailing Floor, 120 Bethnal Green (Entrance Bennington St., 2nd Floor, East Boston. Special price: $10.00 ad dress: P.O. Box 164, Campsie, NSW in Brick Lane). Postal code: E2 Zip: 02128. Tel: (617) 569-9169. E-mail: 2194. Tel: (02) 9718 9698. E-mail: 6DG. Tel: 020-7613-3855. E-mail: Join Pathfi nder Readers Club [email protected] [email protected] for $10 and re ceive [email protected] dis counts all year long MINNESOTA: St. Paul: 113 Bernard SCOTLAND: Edinburgh: First St. E, West St. Paul. Zip: 55118. Tel: (651) CANADA Floor, 3 Grosvenor St., Haymarket. ORDER ONLINE AT 644-6325. E-mail: [email protected] ONTARIO: Toronto: 2238 Dundas St. Postal code: EH12 5ED. Tel: 0131- WWW.PATHFINDERPRESS.COM NEW JERSEY: Newark: 168 W., #201, Postal code M6R 3A9. Tel: (416) 226-2756. E-mail: cl.edinburgh@ OFFEROFFER GOOD GOOD UNTIL UNTIL N OVEMBERJUNE 30 30 Bloomfield Ave., 2nd Floor. Zip: 535-9140. E-mail: [email protected] btinternet.com 10 The Militant November 14, 2005 EDITORIALS Florida: millions in The pornographication of politics dark after Wilma BY ERIC SIMPSON The indictment of the U.S. vice president’s chief of staff of the Cold War was a victory in itself that would bring MIAMI, October 31—In the wake of Hur- is nothing but a political football by Democrats against the global stability under the domination of Pax Americana. ricane Wilma, more than 6 million people in Bush administration. After two years of labors, special The rulers sense the uncontrollable forces carrying them South Florida were left without electricity for counsel Patrick Fitzgerald could not cough up any criminal toward a future of sharpening crises, marked by depression, nearly a week. Offi cials said power would wrongdoing of substance. He indicted Lewis Libby instead war, and violent class battles. not be restored in some areas until November for not being totally forthcoming to FBI agents and then The frustration born of a vague but growing aware- 22. sticking to that in front of the grand jury. In fact, it’s likely ness of this vulnerability, combined with the inability to Some 240 electrical substations were put that no one will be charged with revealing the identity of fi nd a self-confi dent course to decisively overcome it, is out of commission and 15,000 electrical poles an undercover CIA agent, the deed Fitzgerald was called the single greatest source of the deepening factionalism, were toppled or seriously damaged. Poles are to investigate in the fi rst place. demagogy, and degradation of political discourse—its por- supposed to withstand storm winds but must Liberal politicians upped the volume of their claims last nographication—that characterize all bourgeois politics in be maintained or replaced. Florida Power and week that the case is about disagreements with the White the United States today. Light has not carried out a systematic inspec- House over Washington’s Iraq policy and its rationale This coarsening of politics has been displayed in the tion of its towers and pole lines since 2001, for the war. That’s sheer demagogy. The only alterna- recent sensational exchanges between many editors and according to state records. tive Democratic politicians have offered to the Bush reporters. The New York Times is in the midst of this, with Utility workers have been working to administration’s course in Iraq is to propose deploying Times journalist Judith Miller at the center of the Libby restore power—most rapidly to downtown more troops and getting more allies on board for the affair. The personal attacks on Miller by Times columnist office buildings and to hotels in Miami’s imperialist military operation. This lack of alternatives Maureen Dowd, such as her article “The Woman of Mass wealthy South Beach area. Working-class within the bourgeoisie to the course of the war party—the Destruction,” and the related rebuttals, are also telling districts have not been a priority. great majority of Democratic and Republican offi cehold- about the crisis and degeneration of the daily claiming to Patients have had to wait hours in packed ers—makes the crisis in ruling circles worse. publish “all the news that’s fi t to print,” and of the rest of hospital emergency rooms because many The Libby indictment is a product of increasing fac- the big-business media. doctor’s offi ces remain closed. Six days af- tionalism both between and within the dominant parties The problem with the capitalists, their political represen- ter the storm, some dialysis centers had not of capitalism and their peripheries. Just when the rulers tatives, and their mouthpieces, however, is not that they are reopened. need stability, self-confi dence, and a bipartisan core “all immoral, hypocritical people as individuals. The scandal Many factories remained closed a week good people” can agree on, the opposite is happening. The mongering is fueled largely by the far right and the left after the storm due to lack of power, leav- growing polarization among the wealthy families that rule within bourgeois politics to profi t from middle-class ing workers without income. Public schools the United States is as much an element of the new politi- insecurities and drag workers along with the declining remain closed. cal period we have entered as the increased readiness of bourgeoisie itself down into the pit of resentment and sala- For a week gasoline was in short supply be- sections of the working class to resist the bosses’ offensive cious envy. This became the stock-in-trade of the Nazis cause service stations lacked power to pump against our wages and job and living conditions. in the 1920s and ’30s. gas, and lines at pumps stretched for hours. The crisis of confi dence of the U.S. rulers is rooted in As millions of workers see the ruling class and its parties Some workers had diffi culty getting to their their mounting fi nancial and economic vulnerability, the become more unanimous in carrying out not only wars jobs because of the gas shortage. political and military challenges Washington confronts abroad but a war on working people at home—while fi ght- Among those waiting hours in line for gas worldwide, and the sharpening class confl ict these condi- ing among themselves over meaningless scandals—they was Charles Willcoxson III, an electrician for tions generate. America’s propertied ruling families and resist these assaults. In the process vanguard workers get 30 years and a member of International Broth- their political representatives in both the Democratic and politicized. They become more open to the idea that we erhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local Republican parties have become increasingly conscious need to build a working-class party based on the unions 212 in Cincinnati. He and a couple of co-work- of the need to use both the economic and military power that can fi ght for the interests of the oppressed and ex- ers had come to Miami to help out prior to the of U.S. imperialism. Gone is the illusion that the outcome ploited worldwide. hurricane, and were trying to head home. “You’d think they would be more prepared,” he told the Militant. “It’s more expensive to New hero of liberals: frame-up expert run electrical lines underground because of the heat factor, but they could do it. They “Trim,” “plain,” “soft-spoken,” “polite,” “calm,” and policies, like Puerto Rican independence fi ghters. could also build barriers around substations. “fi rm.” These were the praises the fi rst paragraph of a The role of “special counsel” fi ts Fitzgerald like a glove. Contractors charge the customer the same but lead, front-page article in the October 29 New York Given enough time, such prosecutors, not accountable to pay nonunion workers less than union, and Times heaped on the new darling of the liberals: Patrick anyone but themselves, can indict even a ham sandwich. then pocket the difference.” Fitzgerald. The prosecutor was taking on “The Untouch- Given the immense powers and unlimited time and re- ables” and striking a blow for justice and the rule of law, sources these prosecutors have—and have used since the Farm worker communities were also hard the Times exclaimed. All that for indicting a top aide of Watergate scandal in the 1970s in order for one faction hit. In rural Immokalee there was no imme- Vice President Cheney, not for the crime Fitzgerald was of the ruling class to go after another when polarization diate food or relief for the 40,000 residents. asked to investigate two years earlier but for supposedly deepens among the wealthy—even mouthpieces of big Some 100 poorly built trailer homes there lying to FBI agents and the grand jury. business like the Washington Post have begun to com- were destroyed, and a worker was killed when As the article on page 9 shows, however, this new hero plain about the special counsel institution itself. winds destroyed the boarding house where she of the Democratic Party and other liberals is nothing but Fitzgerald has excelled in this assignment. He not lived. Sugar cane cutters in Pahokee were left a persistent engineer of frame-ups and an avid user of only played a central role in railroading defense attor- without work as fi elds were fl attened. grand juries. ney Lynne Stewart on “terrorism” charges but drafted In Florida the death toll from the hurricane The grand jury is a thoroughly anti–working-class the very administrative rules the government claimed is 21, including several killed from carbon institution of capitalist “justice.” Anyone subpoenaed Stewart breached. monoxide poisoning during the power out- must appear before a grand jury—usually without legal There is no reason to rejoice about Fitzgerald’s con- ages. counsel—and is required to answer any and all questions duct in the Libby case. To the contrary, working people Florida governor John Ellis Bush sought to whether relevant to the case or not. Deliberations are se- have every reason to fear that such practices would be defl ect criticism of the slow and inadequate cret. Refusal to “cooperate” with a grand jury investiga- used against the labor movement or others advocating a government response by blaming people tion can result in contempt of court charges. Such charges change in government. Special prosecutors and grand for being unable to obtain needed supplies. have landed in jail many opponents of U.S. government juries should be abolished altogether. “People had ample time to prepare. It isn’t that hard to get 72 hours worth of food and water,” he said. For millions the power outages lasted LETTERS much longer than 72 hours. Part of the government response has been a to humiliate and demoralize the in- Airlines threatens to annul all union FBI murdered Ojeda Ríos curfew imposed in Miami-Dade and Broward dependence movement. It succeeded contracts.” Following the example The murder of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos counties. in flaring rejection of the colonial of United Airlines and USAirways, at the hands of the FBI is a statement In contrast with the United States, in Cuba condition. Puerto Ricans, and work- Northwest is seeking to stampede to the impunity and arrogance with the revolutionary government and working ing-class people worldwide, must workers into signing contracts to cut which the U.S. federal repressive ap- people mobilized to save lives. Not a single respond to this criminal offensive on wages and gut benefi ts. paratus operates in Puerto Rico. death was reported as a result of Wilma. In the part of reactionaries with a move- Rick Young Like the so-called natural disasters face of heavy fl ooding, more than 640,000 ment to end imperialist oppression in Chicago, Illinois precipitated by the capitalist profi t sys- people were evacuated. Thanks to prior ar- all its forms. tem recently, the oppressive conditions rangements, some 80 percent were safely Juan Declet that are evident to socialists are in plain The letters column is an open housed with family and friends. Arizona view for the entire world to see. Ojeda forum for all viewpoints on subjects Cuba has simultaneously sent volunteer Ríos’s murder has made manifest that Northwest Airlines threats of interest to working people. Please medical teams to Guatemala and to Mexico’s Puerto Ricans live in a colonial system I thought the headline and article keep your letters brief. Where neces- Yucatan peninsula, hard hit by the storm. whose people, resources, and territo- “Northwest Airlines to annul all sary they will be abridged. Please in- Cuban volunteer doctors are also serving rial integrity are at the disposal of the union contracts” [October 31 is- dicate if you prefer that your initials in Pakistan in the wake of the devastating American government. The FBI tried sue] should have read, “Northwest be used rath er than your full name. earthquakes there. The Militant November 14, 2005 11