Anti-immigrant attacks TH£ on rise in Germany Page 10 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 55/NO. 38 OCTOBER 25, 1991 $1.50 Thomas attacks right to 60,000 raise sexual harassment march in BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS Hill said Thomas badgered her for dates. against women in capitalist society. Millions New York The virtually assured confirmation of After she repeatedly turned him down of women who work are subjected to this Clarence Thomas for a seat on the Supreme Thomas proceeded to talk to her about por­ demeaning form of intimidation on the job Court was thrown up for grabs after accusa­ nography, Hill asserted. "He spoke about acts by their bosses. Each incident of harassment against tions that he had sexually harassed a former that he had seen in pornographic films in­ holds an implicit (sometimes explicit) threat employee were made public. volving such matters as women having sex of demotion or loss of job. By the same token Thomas categorically denied the accusa­ with animals '... or rape scenes," she said in many working people see sexual harassment Haiti coup tions October 11 and condemned the fact that her testimony October 11. by an employer as unacceptable, because of sexual harassment charges against him could These accusations were known by mem­ the social advances that have been made be aired publicly and televised during hear­ bers of the Judiciary Committee well before through the growing numbers of women in ings by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. they voted on Thomas's nomination, Septem­ the work force and the fight for women's The Supreme Court nominee said with out­ ber 27. They only received wide publicity rights. rage that the hearings went "far beyond Mc­ after an FBI report on the allegations was In 1950, 33.9 percent of women 16 years Carthyism," and constituted a "high-tech leaked to the press. The FBI report was of age and over were in the labor force. By lynching." compiled from interviews of Thomas's asso­ 1983, more than half of all working-age Anita Hill, a law professor who is Black, ciates prior to the confirmation hearings. women- 52.9 percent- were working worked as an aide to Thomas at the Depart­ President George Bush had nominated jobs away from home. Today women account ment of Education and later at the Equal Thomas because of his well-known anti­ for 45 percent of the work force as compared Employment Opportunity Commission working-class views. The Judiciary Commit­ to 29 percent in 1950. (EEOC), from 1981 to 1983. She accused tee deadlocked 7 -to-7 on his nomination after While many women have been hired in Thomas of repeated and unwanted sexual five days of hearings. Nonetheless, moments clerical, commercial, and other nonindustrial advances while at work. after its vote the committee sent the nomina­ jobs, there has also been a greater incorpo­ tion to the Senate for consideration. ration of women into the industrial work During this earlier testimony Thomas had force. Moreover, since the 1970s women sought to downplay his right-wing views by have fought their way into many types of dodging and evading questions. jobs from which they had previously been moe racy "With Judge Thomas's confirmation likely excluded, from welders and truck drivers to tomorrow, everything is nearly on schedule mechanics and underground miners. or for the Court with an agenda," concluded an For the employing class, however, increas­ October 7 fV ew York Times editorial. The next ing economic independence and social equal­ Death day the senate voted to postpone the confrr­ ity for women is incompatible with their mation vote after the accusations against drive to shore up declining profit rates. The Thomas filled the front pages of major dailies. employers practice and encourage wide­ Working people have been riveted in spread discrimination, prejudice, and sexual front of television sets during the hearings harassment on the job to ensure women can on the charges. Portrayed in some media be superexploited and to uphold divisions as a typical Washington "sex scandal," the among the work force. hearings have attracted wide interest be­ Survey after survey shows that 40 to 70 cause it is an issue affecting tens of mil­ percent of all working women have experi­ lions of women on a daily basis. enced some form of sexual harassment. In The public discussion that erupted under­ most cases women do not report such inci- lines how pervasive sexual harassment is Continued on Page 13

Militant/Janet Post October 11 protest in New York was one Wichita pro-choice activists of many around the country.

to tnobilize against rightists BY JANET POST NEW YORK- "Nous voulons ... Aris­ BY DANA BURROUGHS after being arrested October 4 for returning tide!" "We want . .. Aristide!" shouted more WICHITA, Kansas- The battle to de­ here in violation of federal judge Patrick than 60,000 demonstrators as they spanned fend a woman's right to choose abortion Kelly's court order. the length of the Brooklyn Bridge in an October 11 march from Brooklyn to Man­ continues here with new provocations by the The order prohibited several national Op­ rightist forces. eration Rescue leaders from returning to hattan. Adamant in their support of ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the Pro-choice forces providing escorts for Wichita without signing a "peace bond," re­ marchers turned out on two days' notice. women going to the city's three clinics were quiring them to pay $100,000 to cover poten­ Militant/Brian Williams confronted by 100 supporters of the Wichita tial damages incurred from their activities. On Gathering at sunrise on the edge of Pros­ Framed-up unionist Mark Curtis at Rescue Movement, which is planning a October 11 a federal court temporarily stayed pect Park in Brooklyn, workers and youth Anamosa prison. For news on his major action against abortion rights for Oc­ Judge Kelly's order and freed Slovenec. engaged in intense discussions about the role parole fight and cop brutality law­ tober 19, called the "Gideon 300 Rescue." of Aristide. "We will march until Aristide's Reverend Pat Mahoney of Boca Raton, back in power; not until they say he's going suit see pp. 8-9. The Pro-Choice Action League florida, says he also plans to come to Wichita (PCAL), which organizes escorts for the back, but until he is there in Port-au-Prince," for the October 19 "rescue." Mahoney played said a domestic worker from Brooklyn. clinics, is planning to mobilize against the a central role in Operation Rescue's "Sum­ October 19 action. PCAL says they seek merofMercy" campaign in which thousands A barber from Brooklyn said that Aristide to organize as many pro-choice supporters of ultraright forces laid siege to the city. Continued on Page 7 as possible through phone calls and word of mouth. Their goal is to have 500 abor­ tion rights supporters at each of the three Guevara, clinics and to keep them open. 'Militant' urges 'all out' Oct. 19-26 Cuba, Another pro-choice organization, the and the Freedom of Choice Action League for subscription drive target week Road to (FOCAL), is joining the effort, distributing a flyer on the campuses calling on students Socialism BY RONI McCANN tionaliste, and New International. and faculty to come out and "help us keep In the final 19 days of the international By reading over this week's Militant it is the clinics open, prevent blockades, and show drive to win 6,200 new readers to the socialist easy to see why fighters need a socialist paper your support." press, Militant supporters are doubling their that tells the truth about the struggles of Wichita Rescue Movement is building for efforts to expand the subscription base of the working people around the world. That's why their action with a letter addressed to "Friends paper. With each goal in reach, every Militant at socialist literature tables on university How working people can organize of our Unborn Brothers and Sisters."lt prom­ reader can join in by talking to coworkers, campuses, abortion rights actions, meetings the transition from capitalism to ises the October 19 "Gideon 300 Rescue" students and other youth, and those involved of leaders of the struggle to bring down the socialism, become new human will involve large numbers of volunteers in protest actions or strikes. apartheid regime in South Africa, and beings, and fight for a new society. blockading a clinic. The best opportunity to do this is during throughout working-class communities new In Spanish. 210 pp. $12 The local rightists have been encouraged the all-out eight-day sales blitz that begins readers are signing up to get a subscription by national Operation Rescue leaders who October 19. By October 28 Militant readers to one of the publications. Available from bookstores listed on page are returning to Wichita. Joe Slovenec, for 16 or from Pathfinder, 410 West St., in every city plan to be on schedule, ready Supporters of the paper are finding that New York, NY l 0014. Add $3 shipping, example, participated in the October 12 ac­ for the last week of the sales campaign and there is no better way to discuss the big issues S .50 each additional title. tion at the clinics. He had been released from going over the top in every goal for the in world politics than by putting its circula­ the Sedgwick County Jail the previous day Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, L' interna- Continued on Page 6 Students protest fascist group

4) Defend and extend affirmative action; David and six supporters waving a large 700 in 1\vin Cities 5) Mandatory classes at the university on U.S. flag came early to the rally and provoc­ classism, racism, sexism, and homophobia; atively took up a position on the steps above rally to oppose and the plaza. 6) For the campus administration and other Outnumbering the white supremacists 'White Student Union'. student organizations to issue statements on nearly I 00-to-1, antiracist demonstrators the White Student Union. chanted, "Racist, sexist, antiqueer, nazi sewn get out of here!" BY MAREA HIMELGRIN Writing as the "founder of the White Stu­ Eager for an opportunity to express their MINNEAPOLIS - Nearly 700 people dent Union," Tom David stated in Minnesota outrage at David's reactionary ideas, more filled the plaza in front of Northrop Audito­ Daily, the campus newspaper, "These are . than a dozen representatives of Black, Native riwn at the University of Minnesota here for harsh times and harsh solutions are required American, Asian, Chicano, and gay rights a "No Room for Racism" rally October 9. if America is to be saved." student organizations, other political organi­ The broadly sponsored mobilization was Claiming that immigrants "come here to zations; and faculty and campus workers' a response to the call for the formation of a suck the blood of hard-working white people unions spoke. State Representative Karen "White Student Union" on campus. White who are forced to pay higher taxes to support Clark and Tom Laney, an official of United supremacist Tom David, the student who put these Third Worlders," David calls for "sep­ Auto Workers Local 1864 at the Ford plant out -the call, has ties to the American Nazi aration of the races." in St. Paul, also spoke. Party. David, who also claims that nonwhites A half dozen auto workers wearing their Garmez Parks, cochair of the rally, read cause disease and increase crime, pro­ Militant union jackets helped provide security at the off the demands of the action to cheers from poses that "after the races have been sep­ Student rally responds to racist group demonstration. Together with student moni­ the crowd: arated in America," National Guardsmen tors they succeeded in physically isolating I) Stop racist attacks; should patrol the southern border of the right-wingers from the rally. Part way talking about is a worldwide racist system 2) No room for racism on campus; the United States with the order, '"If it through the action, when David and his sup­ -the capitalist system. We have to recog­ 3) Defend the rights of immigrants; ain't white waste it!'" porters decided to leave, the monitors pre­ nize like Malcolm X did that the government vented them from causing a disruption by is responsible for racism, the same govern­ keeping them separated from the crowd. ment that murdered over 150,000 Iraqis Vancouver socialists on ballot Walking behind the monitors, some 75 peo­ using racist justifications." ple escorted David off the university grounds Holding up a copy of the new book issued chanting, "On the campus, in the streets, by Pathfmder Press, How Far We Slaves BY TERRY STEVENSON The next day the electoral clerks claimed fascists face defeat!" Have Come!, containing two speeches by VANCOUVER, British Columbia---: the candidates hadn't submitted enough valid More than a dozen students from St. Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro, the YSA ''The British Columbia election rules and signatures. Levis explained the voters list is Cloud, Minnesota, who are organizing pro­ leader urged rally participants to purchase a procedures discriminate and put obstacles in outdated and many who recently registered tests against a series of racist attacks there copy of the book. "The Cuban people and the way of working class candidates and had not yet been added to the rolls. came to the Minneapolis demonstration. the Cuban revolution understand how to parties that want to run for public office. This Lynda Little, a trade unionist and a worker They received a pledge of support for any fight racism. They weakened the defenses of denies the right of working people and youth at Canadian Airlines explained that she had future actions they organize. their own country to send volunteers to Af­ to vote for the candidate of their choice," said signed the nomination papers of Levis. Al­ Chris Nisan, speaking for the Young So­ rica to defeat the South African apartheid Colleen Levis, Communist League candidate though she's a registered voter, her name was cialist Alliance, told the rally, "I want to talk army in Angola." in Vancouver-Kingsway in the current pro­ not accepted by the clerks. about racism in the context of the world, Becky Levin, cochair of the rally, ex­ vincial elections. because that's the only way we can under­ pressed the enthusiasm that many partici­ Levis, a member of the International As­ Lawyer Harry Rankin, a Vancouver Alder­ stand what is happening here at the Univer­ pants in the action felt at the large turnout. sociation of Machinists, was addressing a man, aided the Communist League candi­ sity of Minnesota." She said, "I think this was just great, it was press conference here October 3. The Com­ dates at the electoral registrar and spoke at Nisan said to loud applause, "What we're a big success." munist League slate also includes steel­ the press conference. He condemned the worker Ned Dmytryshyn and metal worker electoral procedures and supported the Com­ Robert Demorest. munist League's democratic right to run in In British Colwnbia each candidate must the elections. March says free Tottenham Three be nominated by fifty registered voters in After this protest and the submission of a each riding [district]. Levis explained to CBC hundred more signatures, the three can­ BY IAN GRANT Protesters chanted, "Kenneth Baker, hear television that nearly 100 nominations were didates' nominations were accepted October LONDON - Six hundred marched here our plea, the Tottenham Three are not guilty!" submitted for each of the three candidates 4. The candidates will be identified on the in heavy rain October 5 to demand the release Kenneth Baker is the .minister in the Tory September 30. ballot by their party's 'hame. of the Tottenham Three. government responsible for the police and The three, Winston Silcott, Engin Raghip, criminal justice system. and Mark Braithwaite, were framed for the At a rally after the march members of the death of police constable Keith Blakelock six jailed mens' families spoke, as well as rela­ years ago. Blakelock was killed during an tives and friends of the Bridgewater Four, uprising in the Broadwater Farm housing Cardiff Three, and Dessie Ellis - other vic­ estate [project] in this city which erupted after tims of police frame-ups who are campaign­ Cynthia Jarrett died of a heart attack during ing for justice. a police raid on her house. Addressing the marchers, Richard Adams, The only evidence presented against the whose son Rolan was stabbed to death by a three was statements signed by two of the racist gang last February, attacked the justice accused after days of isolation and interro­ system that kept the Tottenham Three behind gation by the police. Silcott refused to sign bars while Rolan's murderers walked free. any statement, and police notes of incrimi­ Police have taken seven months to bring nating remarks supposedly made by him at Rolan's attackers to trial. the time of his interrogation were the basis of his conviction. These "confessions" have Billy Power and Gerry Hunter of the Bir­ since been discredited. New forensic evi­ mingham Six walked at the head of the dence has shown that crucial sections were march. The Birmingham Six won their re­ later added to the police notes of Silcott's lease last March after serving 16 years in jail interrogation. on frame-up charges. The six Irishmen were Graham Melvin, the detective in charge of arrested and framed after a series of bomb the murder inquiry, has been suspended from attacks on bars in 1974. Charges against the duty and the convictions of the three men Guilford Four, and Maguire Seven, framed were referred to a court of appeals. But in similar cases and imprisoned for many despite the collapse of the case against them years, have also been discredited. the men remain in jail. "The press have been asking me what I'm Marchers found wide support for their doing here," Power said at the end of the demand to free the Tottenham Three among march. "I told them, how could I stay at home the crowds of people in the busy shopping when there are innocent people in jail? Where streets along their route. else could I be?!"

MASTER: Send address changes to the Mili­ The Militant tant, 410 West St., New York, NY 10014. Closing news date: October 14, 1991 Subscriptions: U.S., Latin America: for one­ Editor: GREG McCARTAN year subscription send $45, drawn on a U.S. ~ ------Business and Circulation bank, to above address. By first-class (air­ 0 Special introductory offer: $10 for 12 weeks Director: RONI McCANN mail), send $80. Canada: send Canadian $75 for one-year subscription to Societe d'Edi­ 0 $15 for 12 week renewal 0 $27 for 6 months 0 $45 for 1 year Editorial Staff: Derek Bracey, George Bu­ tions AGPP, C.P. 340, succ. R, Montreal, chanan, Estelle DeBates, Seth Galinsky, Quebec H2S 3M2. Britain, Ireland, Africa: Name ______Martin Koppel, Argiris Malapanis, Roni Mc­ £35 for one year by check or international Cann, Janet Post, Brian Williams. money order made out to Militant Distribu­ Address ______Published weekly except for one week in June, tion, 47 The Cut, London, SE 1 8LL, England. one week in July, one week in August, and the Continental Europe: £50 for one year by City ______State ___ Zip ------'---- last two weeks of December by the Militant check or international money order made out Union/School/Organization (ISSN 0026-3885), 410 West St., New York, to Militant Distribution at above address. New NY 10014. Telephone: (212) 243-6392; Fax Zealand, Asia, Pacific Islands: Send New Clip and mail to The Militant, 410 West St., New York, NY 10014 727-0150; Telex, 497-4278. Zealand $75 to P.O. Box 3025, Auckland, Correspondence concerning subscrip­ New Zealand. Australia: Send Australian $75 12 weeks of the Militant outside the U.S.: Australia and the Pacific, $A 10 • Britain, £6 • tions or changes of address should be ad­ to P.O. Box 79, Railway Square Post Office, dressed to The Militant Business Office, Railway Square, Sydney 2000, Australia. Canada, Can$12 • Caribbean and Latin America, $10 • Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, 410 West St., New York, NY 10014. Signed articles by contributors do not nec­ £10 • France, FF80 • Iceland, Kr800 • New Zealand, NZ$1 0 • Sweden, Kr60 Second-class postage paid at New York, essarily represent the Militant's views. These NY, and at additional mailing offices. POST- are expressed in editorials.

2 The Militant October 25, 1991 Students discuss environment and justice

BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS "All of Africa's environmental problems BOULDER, Colorado - Common are connected with the legacy of colonialism Ground drew some 2,000 students from and the skyrocketing foreign debt," said across the country for the third annual student Wagaki Mwangi during the opening night of conference on the environment October 4-6. the conference. Participants discussed how or whether tra­ A student from Kenya, Mwangi said many ditional demands of environmental groups African countries were becoming dumping -such as preservation of forests, ending grounds for toxic and nuclear waste from water and air pollution, and opposition to multinational corporations in exchange for nuclear power- should be linked to broader having small portions of their foreign debt social issues. written off. "Kenya accepted five million "When we talk about environmental de­ tons of nuclear waste for $1.6 million," she struction, whether it comes from acid rain or said, calling for cancelling Africa's $270 dumping toxic waste, we have to also address billion foreign debt. social injustices like increased poverty rates, Noel Brown, one of the keynote speak­ racism, and attacks on women's rights," said ers and the North America director of the Miya Yoshitani, one of the conference orga­ United Nations environmental program, nizers, in an interview. presented a different view. "We talk about Yoshitani and other student leaders said the .third world debt but we must repay the they would accomplish this goal by collab­ earth debt," Noel said. Eliminating toxic orating with community organizations, waste sites, reforestation, and different en­ working for better housing and health care, ergy policies is what is needed, he added. and reaching out to Black rights and Native He pointed to the "Earth Summit," a UN American groups. Conference on Environment and Develop­ · Militant/Ar giris Malapanis Yoshitani is the National Council Coor- . ment (UNCED) that will be held in Brazil 2,000 youth attended meeting in Boulder, Colorado, on defending environment. dinator of the Student Environmental Ac­ next year, as the way forward. tion Coalition (SEAC), the group that "Many toxic waste sites are created by the "We can't fight to protect the environment capitalist families locked in a drive to max­ sponsored Common Ground. A nationwide military," continued Noel. "Think of the mil­ . without concern for human life," responded imize profits they determine the use of sci­ student network with 30,000 members on itary going green," he said. "They could Aaron Ruby. "It is capitalism that is respon­ ence and technology and resist measures to 1,500 college campuses, SEAC organized become our allies. You should advocate this," sible for the poisonous chemicals that con­ curb pollution, he added. he added. Noel said this was possible ~cause a similar conference last year that drew front us on the job, our homes, on our farms, "Only by working people getting rid of 7,600 students. of "improved relations between the super­ for the elimination of virgin forests, and for capitalist rule and establishing our own gov­ powers," meaning the United States and the "Poor housing is an environmental issue," the deteriorating conditions facing working ernment can we begin to take serious steps said Randolph Viscio, a leader of SEAC. "We Soviet Union. Noel said that while he dis­ people," he said. Ruby, a member of the toward ending environmental destruction," agreed with aspects of the UN decision-mak­ need to build coalitions with labor and mi­ United Food and Commercial Workers Union said Ruby. nority groups," he added. Conference speak­ ing process he found the "outcome of the in Washington, D.C., is a national committee Gulf war positive." Dozens of workshops were held at the ers included Ward Churchill, Colorado direc­ member of the Young Socialist Alliance. conference on themes such as the depletion Noel's remark did not sit well with many tor of the American Indian Movement, and Ruby said that working people, as part of of the ozone layer in the atmosphere, con­ students. Before he fmished his speech two Pat Bryant, founder of the Gulf Coast Tenants their struggle against the employers, can and nections between environmental issues, and students unfurled a hand-made banner in the Leadership Association, a New Orleans­ have forced the adoption of safety measures the plight of working farmers. Many local auditorium saying: "The UN okayed Bush's based organization that has been working to on the job, as well as steps to curb pollution. fights that students are involved in, such as destruction of the Iraqi people and environ­ defend Blacks in working-class communities "The better working people are organized the preventing the reopening of the Rocky Flats ment. Let's talk!" in the South against chemical pollution. greater is our power," he said. But as long as nuclear weapons plant in Colorado, were "Fighting to make education a right, not a Amidst applause, several students blasted basic industry is dominated by a handful of discussed in the workshops. privilege, insuring that every woman has Noel's prowar stance during a question and access and the right to choose abortion, and answer period. "How can we as students trust defending affirmative action are all things we the UN that supported such a massacre?" need to work together for," said Tajel Shah asked one. in an address to the conference. Shah, a More than 150,000 Iraqis were slaugh­ YOUNG SOCIALISTS IN ACTION student at Rutgers University in New Bruns­ tered in the U.S.-led assault against Iraq. wick, is the president of the United States Many of the students at the conference had The Young Socialist Alliance is a rev­ and James Brash, a member of the Newark Student Association. participated in or helped to organize protests against the war. olutionary organization of students and YSA. Both visited Wichita during the Op­ young workers across the United States. eration Rescue assault on abortion clinics A spectrum of groups At an open mike session during a confer­ The YSA seeks to organize young people there. A spectrum of environmental groups par­ ence rally, the debate continued. Brent Hoare, in the fights against the wars, economic DeBates noted that "Operation Rescue ticipated jn the meeting. Banners calling for a student from New Zealand, objected to devastation, racism, and sexism bred by comes out of Wichita with wind in their an end to production of nuclear weapons, Noel's call for focusing in on the UN envi­ the capitalist system. sails" because of the lack of serious mo­ promoting the use of solar power, and ap­ ronmental conference in Brazil. "Policy set­ \\e encourage members of the YSA bilizations by defenders ofa woman's right pealing to save the diminishing wolf popu­ ting meetings among high government offi­ and members of the Young Socialists in to choose. "We need to countermobilize lation could be seen along the exhibition hall. cials do little to save forests or cut pollution Canada and New Zealand to contribute and reach out broadly" for support, De­ Leaflets calling for a demonstration in Ne­ levels," he said. to this column. Bates said. vada against testing of nuclear bombs were For more information on joining the passed around. How to f.ght environmental destruction? "We must answer the rightists' lies, such Young Socialist Alliance, contact the as 'abortion exploits women,'" added Some groups focus their activities on lob­ While many students supported the con­ YSA National Office, P.O.Box 211, New Brash. "Going to Wichita taught me anew bying Congress to enact stiffer environmen­ ference organizers' projections of being in­ York, NY 10011, or get in touch with the tal regulations. Others organize educational volved in broader social issues, some pre­ that a revolutionary youth organization is YSA chapter nearest you (see directory necessary." activities and publish newsletters with infor­ sented a different view. "One of our front on page 16). mation on chemical pollution and radioactive lines is in front of the bulldozers in the woods, One student said she came to the forum waste. A group of students took off during the other in front of Congress," said Chris • because "this is my body they are trying the conference for Sand Bench in southwest Van Daalen, co-director of Save America's to control. I feel it is important to get active Colorado. There they were to attempt to Forests. Anti-Bush protest in Oregon around this issue." DeBates and other YSA members are prevent the cutting of old growth trees by Some put forth reactionary views. "I Six hundred people protested President available to speak on high school and Stone Container, a major paper company. don't want to be callous, but children al­ George Bush's September 19 visit to Port­ college campuses about Wichita and the While most participants at the conference ways starved and will continue to starve. land, Oregon. Protesters carried signs sup­ fight to defend abortion rights. Contact the came from the United States, a few students We need to worry about the trees," said porting a woman's right to choose abor­ YSA to request a speaker. attended from Germany, Kenya, South Afri­ Naomi Racker, from a group called An­ tion, gay rights, and environmental protec­ ca, Burma, the Netherlands and New Zealand. cient Forest Rescue. tion and objecting to Bush's AIDS policy. Many expressed anger over the U.S. war New Zealand YS sells 'Militant' against the Iraqi people. New Zealand Young Socialists have Youth at conference interested in YSA Bush was in town to attend a fund-rais­ been active in the international campaign ing breakfast for Republican senator Rob­ to sell the Militant and other socialist pub­ ert Packwood. lications. BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS of our bodies, pollution of the workplace, Young members of Peace Workers, a "If you don't fight against the system that's and injuries - any more than they do for the At a meeting in Auckland, Young So­ group in the city of Eugene, came to the causing the oppression and exploitation of environment as a whole." cialists national secretary Ruth Gray ex­ demonstration with donated food to give workers you can't go anywhere," said Jenny plained that one of the most effective ways Besides YSA members another seven con­ out free breakfasts to contrast with the Boyce. "You certainly can't fight to stop the to be part of the fight against capitalism's ference participants attended. A lively dis­ $250-a-plate Bush/P;lckwood event. But destruction of the environment." Boyce, a drive to war and depression is to distribute cussion took place on the Cuban revolution the police confiscated the Peace Workers' college student from Columbia, Missouri, the Militant, New International magazine, and the U.S.-led war against Iraq. food, claiming that protesters might throw joined the YSA at a conference sponsored by and Pathfinder books. it at Bush. the Student Environmental Action Coalition Boyce plans to invite other YSA members "In this way we can link up with real Members of the Young Socialist Alli­ in Boulder, Colorado. to give classes at the school she attends in struggles that are going on in the world," ance participating in the action witnessed Boyce joined after attending a YSA work­ Missouri. She is part of a group called Active she said. the police use of cayenne-pepper mace and shop at the conference on "The environmen­ Students Advocating Peace. "We organized YS members helped sell Militant sub­ batons against peaceful demonstrators. Po­ tal catastrophe, the capitalist economic crisis, a teach-in against the Gulf war last winter scriptions to 13 students at a university in lice arrested 38 people. and why youth should fight for socialism." and we've been studying the Communist Dunedin and held classes there on the Manifesto, Malcolm X Speaks, and a book Aaron Ruby, a YSA National Committee Eyewitness report from. Wichita Soviet Union and the state of the New member, gave the presentation. by Michael Harrington on socialism since Zealand labor movement. "The capitalist system is marked by com­ then," she said. She heard about the YSA The Young Socialist Alliance held a petition between capitalists who each attempt workshop after buying a subscription to the meeting September 25 at the Newark cam­ Jennifer Hansen in Portland, Oregon; to maximize their profits," said Ruby. "As Militant. pus of Rutgers University. The discussion Marty Pettit in Newark, New Jersey; part of this profit drl ve the rulers attempt to YSA members set up a literature table and on "The rightist assault in Wichita, Kansas: and Dean Hazlewood, in Auckland, New squeeze out of us as much as possible. They participated in other workshops. Conference An eyewitness report" featured Estelle De­ Zealand, contributed to this week's col­ have no concern for the wear and tear on participants bought 19 Militant subscriptions Bates, national cochairperson of the YSA, umn. workers - erosion of health, contamination and two copies of the New International.

October 25, 1991 The Militant 3 / Lessons of rightists' actions in Wichita BY ESTELLE DeBATES clinics, Operation Rescue director Reverend the city from across the country to take part they sought to escort women into clinics. The ultrarightist mobilizations this sum­ Keith Tucci said, "I think people realized that in the mobilizations. For the next month and Others related how they were followed mer in Wichita, Kansas, have widened the the political process was not going to offer a half, the city became the center of political home, had their property damaged, or were discussion on defending abortion rights, these children any hope." Operation Rescue attention in the United States. directly threatened by those involved in the prompted picket lines and protests in defense became the organization of "action" - What was it about the Wichita events that clinic blockades. Judge Kelly and his family of a woman's right to choose abortion across blocking access to abortion clinics and con­ gave them a different character from the received several death threats. Kelly soon the country, and opened a debate on how best fronting women who attempt to exercise their usual actions of Operation Rescue? What donned a bullet proof vest as a precautionary to respond to the kind of assault seen in the right to enter the facilities. More than 50,000 attracted these ultraright forces to join the measure. Operation Rescue-organized "Summer of arrests have been made at Operation Rescue "Summer of Mercy"? Operation Rescue organized nightly ral­ Mercy" campaign. clinic actions in the past four years. In four The character of the action itself and the lies that drew around 500 people. These The political significance and character of weeks, 2,657 arrests were made in Wichita. clear possibility to take some ground in pol­ . events were organized so the leadership the rightist assault in Wichita was unlike Many of the arrests have led to court cases itics drew a broader spectrum of rightist could give a political orientation and map numerous actions over the years by antiabor­ in which Operation Rescue seeks to obtain forces - veterans of numerous clinic pro­ out plans for the following day. Through tion forces at clinics that perform abortions. favorable rulings with the aim of getting the tests; a number of former police officers, these meetings Operation Rescue was able In their aggressive street mobilizations, the Supreme Court to review the 1973 Roe v. including a one-time boss in the Wichita to consolidate new forces from Wichita into Wade decision that legalized abortion. In fact, police department; and cadre of fascist-type the movement. • Speeches by Operation Rescue leaders NEWS ANALYSIS ·were full of "Christian" and "American" demagogy. They consciously appealed to the rightists in Wichita showed a face of incipient real concerns working people have about the American fascism. economic crisis and their uncertainties about In the corning years economic crises, class the future. Women were scapegoated for polarization, imperialist war, and widespread many of society's problems. For example, class battles will more and more place their they claimed that by women going back to stamp on world politics. The stakes in these their "traditional" role in the home, unem­ struggles will rise as working people begin ployment, child abuse, drug abuse, and other to transform their unions into instruments socieW ills would be substantially alleviated. capable of standing up to the employer-gov­ Wearing the veil of "Christianity," they put ernment assault on their standard of living forward rightist solutions - all of which and rights. weaken the working class's ability to fight, This same crisis and class polarization will beginning with taking away the right to abor­ also engender fascist movements. These tion. forces will pose "radical" solutions to the 'A biblical mandate' crises of the day and use the streets to try to shift the relationship of forces against, and In word and in deed, these rightists did not deal blows to, the workers' movement and recognize the law. "We think we have a others and who seek to resist the employers' biblical mandate," Tucci was quoted as say­ offensive. They will act not solely against ing. This type of statement was common in abortion rights but against broader demo­ the speeches and interviews of the leaders of cratic rights that aid workers in their strug­ the "Summer of Mercy." . gles. They will seek to shut down political Operation Rescue is not itself a fascist space for working-class action and mobili­ or incipient fascist organization. The char­ zations. acteristics of the Wichita events- the The events in Wichita hold special impor­ sustained street battles, the support of the tance for working people because they are state apparatus, the threats and violence, an early sign of what fighters will face in the the demagogy, the militancy, and the right­ future. This is a new development in U.S. ist cadre involved- give a glimpse at politics. what a future American fascist movement Militant/Linda Joyce The inability of the current women's will look like. Operation Rescue was able to leave behind an organized antiabortion group. Wichita Far from fascist movements in this country rights, civil rights, and trade union leader­ supporters of a woman's right to choose, above, hold October clinic defense picket. ships to respond through broad coun­ growing out of Ku Klux Klan-type organi­ termobilizations is also an important lesson zations, the assault by the ultrarightists in that, if recognized, can help advance the on October 16, the Supreme Court will hear organizations, such as followers of Lyndon Wichita show more accurately how such discussion among fighters on the strategy a case involving Operation Rescue, which LaRouche, who sought to recruit from the developments will occur. For these reasons needed to defend our rights. will argue that the Ku Klux Klan Act­ mobilizations. the mobilizations posed a broader threat and send a serious signal to the workers' move­ Operation Rescue was founded in 1987 which gives the federal court jurisdiction • Operation Rescue led militant street by Randall Terry of Binghamton, New York. over cases involving conspiracy, motivated battles inv()lving hundreds. They faced no ment. In Wichita, the street battles carried Terry lists the reasons he began the organi­ by discrimination, to violate someone's civil real opposition from pro-choice forces, and out for five weeks went largely unanswered. This emboldens rightist forces to move out zation: "One is to save children who are rights -does not apply to their blockades the leadership was willing to organize to take more broadly in politics to take aim at those scheduled to die. Two, to save women from and other actions at clinics under the justifi­ more ground. They soon announced they demanding an end to cop brutality, workers being exploited by the abortionist, and to call cation of "saving babies." would stay and make Wichita "America's the church to repentance for having allowed In 1990 Operation Rescue disbanded after first abortion-free city." engaged in strikes, and youth and others involved in social protest actions. child-killing to flourish." federal authorities seized its payroll account Government support The strategy of the current leaderships It was in 1988, during the Democratic because of several court judgments against of women's rights, trade union, and civil Party National Convention in Atlanta, that the organization. Terry later set up shop in • These street battles were intertwined rights organizations left working people Operation Rescue frrst received national at­ South Carolina as Operation Rescue-Na­ with the support ofthe state apparatus. Local disarmed and unable to counter this attack. tention while carrying out actions against tional. "Rescues" began again in late 1990. and state officials aided the efforts of Oper­ The unions and the established women's clinics throughout the city. Between July and The organization now claims to have ation Rescue and President George Bush and civil rights organizations today are not October more than l ,200 arrests were made. I 00,000 supporters. publicly commended their actions. Operation Rescue grasped a particular op­ Mayor Knight supported the actions structured or led in such a way as to be A radical group portunity coming out of developments in from the very beginning. A few days into able to go into combat - either against Wichita this past spring. City council mem­ the employers' assault or ultrarightist of­ Unlike its predecessor, Right to Life, Op­ the campaign, the rightists began to rush bers proposed an ordinance that would pro­ the police lines in an attempt to get into fensives. Instead the officials look to and eration Rescue is a radical group. Addressing rely on the courts, cops, and bourgeois the "peaceful" pickets held over the years at hibit the use of city money for abortion the clinics. The mayor and the city police counseling, require doctors to notify parents met, and later assured the rightists that electoralism, and they encourage those when a minor was seeking an abortion, and they would be treated fairly. The cops took who want to fight to do the same. declare that legally, "life begins at concep­ their time to arrest the "rescuers," put them In the years ahead, working people will For further reading tion." The mayor of the city, Robert Knight, on air-conditioned city buses, and provide go into action to defend their interests and Education for Socialists Series supported the proposal. Antiabortion forces them with Gatorade drinks. These meth­ transform the unions into the kind of com­ including Operation Rescue organized to ods allowed the clinics to remain blocked bat instruments that can mobilize against CountermobUization: A Strategy back the legislation. In July the initiative was for hours. and push back company, cop, and rightist to-fight Racist and Fascist defeated in a 4-3 vote. Federal judge Patrick Kelly called in assaults. Attacks, by Farrell Dobbs. $5. A week later, Operation Rescue an­ federal marshalls on July 29, after a re­ The rightists won political ground in their What is American Fascism'? nounced the "Summer of Mercy," originally straining order he issued a week earli~r assaults. A Wichita Operation Rescue has Writings on Father Coughlin, slated as a six-day campaign. Operation Res­ was ignored. The city cops did little to been established and continues to carry out Mayor f'rank Hague, and Sen. cue director Tucci announced they antici­ keep the clinics open. The mayor blasted actions against the clinics there. In numerous Joseph McCarthy, by James P. pated about 700 people would join the action. the actions of Kelly, saying that the city's cities there are signs of increased boldness Cannon and Joseph Hansen. $6. What happened from then on was not the role was to enforce the law, not to guar­ on the part of these forces, which are probing norm of Operation Rescue activities over the antee access to the clinics. for new arenas of action like they found in f'ight Against Fascism in the 2 - Wichita. U.S.A.: Forty Years of Stnaggle last several years. On August following more than 1,500 arrests- Kansas governor Joan Broad countermobilizations of the labor Described by Participants, by Shut down clinics James P. cannon et al. $7. Finney spoke at an Operation Rescue support movement and its allies must be built to On July 16, the first day into the campaign, rally. defeat further attacks. The continuing ma­ By Leon Trotsky the rightist forces successfully shut down all "I commend you for the· orderly manner jority support for abortion rights indicates in which you have conducted the demonstra­ the potential to do so. Such action can Fascism: What It Is and How to three of the city's clinics. Tucci said they f'ight lt. 31 pp. $2. were surprised by the lack of opposition from tion," she said. Encouraged by this support, draw far larger numbers than the rightists abortion rights advocates and later made the an Operation Rescue leader later said to the are capable of mobilizing, thus politically The Stnaggle Against Fascism in announcement to extend the protest at least press, "If you think this is going to go away, isolating them. It would also send a mes­ Germany. 4 79 pp. $27.95. another week. "This is going to be a testing you're mistaken. It's going to increase, and sage to the cops and the government that ground for taking back every state in the it's going to get worse." they face a battle if their assault on these Available from bookstores listed on page 16 nation,"hesaidatarallythatevening. "We're and other rights continues. or from Pathfinder, 410 West St., New York. Violent intimidation New York I 00 14. Please add $.3 for postage going to have to dig in deep." The following Charting such a course weakens the and handling for first tltle; $ .50 each day Operation Rescue announced their stay • The rightists employed violence and ultrarightists' ability to win new adherents additlonal title. was "indefinite." By the end of the week threats of violence to advance their aims. and is part of forging a fighting workers' hundreds of rightist cadre had streamed into Several clinic supporters were harmed as movement.

4 The Militant October 25, 1991 National pro-choice meeting debates abortion rights fight

BY BETSY FARLEY preme Court ruling that legalized a woman's ATLANTA- Representatives of pro­ right to choose abortion. choice coalitions, family planning providers, and abortion rights activists from 45 states, Is Roe decision lost? Puerto Rico, and Guam gathered in Norcross, In the workshop, "How the Supreme Georgia, September 27-29 for "A Mosaic for Court is Turning Back the Clock," one Choice: a National Conference for State Pro­ viewpoint was put forward by panelist Choice Coalitions." Kitty Kolbert, of the American Civil Lib­ The conference drew 300 participants and erties Union's (ACLU) Reproductive was organized to discuss statewide coordina­ Freedom Project. Kolbert said Roe v. Wade tion of pro-choice legislative, electoral, and will be lost, with of without the appoint­ legal strategies. Because of the attacks on ment of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme abortion rights, though, defense volunteers at Court. During the discussion period sev­ clinics that perform abortions and other ac­ eral participants explained that the fight to tivists discussed and debated how to fight to defend legalized abortion was far from defend abortion clinics from assaults by Op­ over. Abortion rights can be defended by eration Rescue and other ultra-rightist groups. mobilizing against government and right­ In the workshop "Keeping Our Doors wing assaults, they said. Open" Ann Baker, president of a New Jersey What emerged from the workshops and abortion rights group, argued that the street the conference as a whole was the extent of actions by Operation Rescue cadres in Wich­ attacks on clinics from Chicago to Washing­ ita, Kansas, in August and September had in ton, D.C., and Fargo, North Dakota, to Mo­ fact widened support of the prochoice posi­ bile, Alabama. Operation Rescue and their tion. Baker said ignoring clinic blockades ilk have been emboldened by their success in Wichita and are on the prod around the Militant/Chris Remple was the best tactic, so as not to add to the September pro-choice action in Iowa City. Although no protests were called at Georgia publicity they gamer. country. conference, many participants were interested in discussing a perspective that could Another view was presented by Carol Way­ The conference provided an opportunity mobilize majority support for abortion rights. man of the Washington, D.C. Area Clinic to learn about struggles in other parts of the Defense Task Force. Wayman described how country and around the world as well. In 500-800 volunteers are organized to defend Guam, for instance, a law banning almost all Ninth Circuit. Sylvia DeLong, vice-president aggressive street tactics of ultra-rightists and area clinics from weekly attempts to blockade abortions and also banning any speech about of People for Choice and a union activist in the kid-glove treatment accorded them by them. abortion was passed in the spring of 1990 in Guam, announced a pro-choice demonstra­ the cops. Differing opinions on how to re­ Clinic defenders have involved growing this U.S. territory. The law became effective tion on that day in Honolulu, Hawaii, where spond to these attacks were raised in a gen­ numbers of young people in the defense for two days but was enjoined by the U.S. the Ninth District Court is based. eral session September 27. Marie Wilson, against these assaults. District Court of Guam. Alice Cohan, Political Director of the Na­ executive director of the MS Foundation, tional Organization for \Yomen (NOW), an­ encouraged women to talk to the ultra-right­ Another point of discussion was the future The case is scheduled to be heard Novem­ nounced plans for a national mobilization in ists and try to win them over to a pro-choice of the Roe v. Wade decision, the 1973 Su- ber 4 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the early April around the theme "We will not position. Others felt the cops or courts could go back." The mobilization will focus on be relied on to protect the clinics. abortion rights and a range of other issues. During the open mike session at the end PATHFINDER During a panel discussion Luz Alvarez­ of the conference, a number of participants Martinez, director of the National Latina explained their views on the various political Health Organization, said that choice for discussions during the three-day meeting. AROUND THE WORLD Latinas means not only abortion rights, but Salm Kolis, a member of the United Food RICH STUART freedom from sterilization abuse. Bilingual and Commercial Workers union and the So­ consent forms are one important step toward cialist Workers Party, said she thought sup­ dealing with the problem of sterilization porters of abortion rights can win broad Pathfinder Press, located in New Pathfinder bookstores around the world abuse. support among working people - espe­ York with distributors in Australia, have begun to devise creative ways of Another, she said, is a waiting period be­ cially young and working women who are Britain, and Canada, publishes the promoting this new book. The London tween the signing of a consent form and the the main target ofthe government and right­ works of working-class and communist Pathfinder book shop made a color copy of procedure. Latinas are often given a consent wing offensive against a woman's right to leaders who have made central contri­ the book's cover and had it blown up to form to sign when they are in pain or under choose abortion. butions to the forward march of hu­ poster size for display. the influence of drugs. The waiting period "Mobilizing the broadest numbers possible manity against exploitation and oppres­ helps ensure this does not happen. Although against each new law or street action aimed sion. Pathfinder bookstores are listed in * * * there are guidelines for Medicaid patients, at limiting access to abortions, and politically the directory on page 16. Che Guevara, Cuba y el camino al she said, there is no federal legislation pro­ countering anti-abortion propaganda is the tecting women from sterilization abuse. way forward in defending our rights," she socialismo (Che Guevara, Cuba, and the said. How Far We Slaves Have Come! is Road to Socialism), the second in the The conference also highlighted the grow­ now on the shelves of bookstores around Nueva lnternacional series will be avail­ ing restrictions on young women's right to One woman from Connecticut urged par­ the world. This new book contains the able in October. Distributed by Pathfinder, abortion. In 1991, four states- Michigan, ticipants "not to trade off the rights of young speeches delivered by Nelson Mandela Nueva lnternacional is a magazine of Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and Georgia­ women thinking it will protect our rights, and Fidel Castro this past July in Matan­ Marxist politics and theory. Nueva lnter­ have enacted parental notification or consent because it won't. We can't reduce our strug­ zas, Cuba. Their words, combined with a nacional No. 1, Los canoiulZos iniciales laws, bringing the total to 38. gle to the lowest common denominator." dramatic cover and photographs, make de Ia ten·era guerra mundial (The Open­ Although there was no presentation or Although no protests were called out of this book a powerful example of Path­ ing Guns of World War III) has recently workshop on Wichita, the rightist siege of the meeting, many participants were inter­ finder's motto "The truth must not just be been purchased on the job by four workers abortion clinics there was widely discussed. ested in discussing an action perspective to the truth, it must be told." at the Saab Scania automobile plant out­ Clinic volunteers and staff members from mobilize the majority support for a woman's Walter Sisulu, the deputy president of side Stockholm, Sweden, and by three around the country brought stories of the right to choose abortion. the African National Congress of South workers at the Iowa Beef Processors Africa, was presented with a complimen­ meat-packing plant in Perry, Iowa. tary copy of How Far We Slaves Have Come! before his speech at Canaan Bap­ * * * 500 picket Right to Life convention tist Church in Harlem, New York, Sep­ tember 29, two days after the book's pub­ The Boston and Washington, D.C., BY MARK GILSDORF Popular chants included "Right to life, lication. Fifteen of the books were sold at Pathfinder bookstores have expanded AND DON MACKLE that's a lie, you don't care if women die"; the Harlem meeting, along with several their hours. The San Francisco Pathfinder CINCINNATI- Responding to the "Racist, sexist, antigay, born-again bigots go copies of Pathfinder's The Struggle Is My Bookstore sent a mailing to area members opening of a Right to Life convention, 500 away"; "What do we want? Pro-choice! Life, ANC President Nelson Mandela's of the Pathfinder Readers Club announc­ pro-choice demonstrators held a spirited When do we want it? Always!" ing the October Book-of-the-Month, autobiography. The picketline here, October 5. "We must make it clear that Operation by How Far We Slaves Have Come! was History ofthe Russian Revolution Leon Despite cold, rainy weather the enthusias­ Rescue is not welcome in Cincinnati,"said Trotsky. The bookstore made the book also well received by Haitians in New tic demonstrators marched for an hour, chant­ Cincinnati NOW president Kate Curry. She available to Readers Club members for 25 York who gathered at the United Nations ing and carrying signs defending a woman's announced that NOW is calling for a dem­ percent off. Building to protest the coup against Hai­ right to safe and legal abortion. onstration outside the church where Opera­ tian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Pathfinder distributors worldwide are The demonstration was organized by the tion Rescue is holding a revival meeting Many people at the Sisulu meeting and organizing to place advance orders for the Cincinnati chapter of the National Organiza­ October 17, the first of three days of actions the Haitian protest were not aware that two-volume set Workers of the World and tion for Women (NOW). The large majority in the city. Nelson Mandela had visited Cuba, reflect­ Oppressed Peoples, Unite! The Stock­ of those at the action were young women. After the picketline, about 30 people came ing the virtual blackout of news on holm Pathfinder Bookstore ordered 8 sets, Many came from local campuses including to an open house sponsored by Cincinnati Mandela's trip by the U.S. media. One the Atlanta Pathfinder Bookstore 13 sets, the University of Cincinnati, Ohio University, members of the Young Socialist Alliance. woman at the Harlem meeting even and Pathfinder New Zealand has ordered Ohio State University, University of Miami "It's important that we forge the greatest thought the cover photo of Mandela and 28 sets. This new addition to the series (Ohio), and Northern Kentucky University. unity in order to build the largest coun­ Castro standing together was a fake, ar­ The Communist International in Lenin's A number of high school students were termobilization possible to confront Opera­ guing that the two leaders had nothing in Time is available to Pathfinder Readers also at the action, many attending their first tion Rescue," said Paco Sanchez, a Socialist common. But seeing the book's photos of Club members at a 25 percent discount of picketline. "I don't know what I'd do per­ Workers Party member from Cleveland who Mandela and Castro in Cuba caused her $45 until December 15 (December 31 in sonally," said Melissa Morley, a high school spoke at the open house. to think again. Britain). student from Wyoming, Ohio, "But I want Two youth at the open house expressed the right to choose." interest in joining the YSA.

October 25, 1991 The Militant 5 INTERNATIONAL DRIVE TO WIN NEW READERS ------=------'Militant' urges 'all out' for sales target week

Continued from front page Among those who decided to subscribe tion at the center of their political activity. to the Militant were miners from Ermine, It is the best way to expand the influence Kentucky, and Duff, Tennessee, where of the communist movement within the fights for the union are being waged. A working class and among young people union president from a carpenters local in coming into political activity. Marion, Virginia, recently on strike against Readers can see from the scoreboard that company attacks on seniority, bought a Mil­ we fell behind a little this week. Supporters itant subscription for his local. He liked the sold 277 Militant subscriptions in the United Militant coverage on the battle to defend States as compar,ed to 344 the previous week. abortion rights in Wichita, Kansas, and said This underscores the importance of gearing Operation Rescue doesn't have the right to up right away to take advantage of the sales tell someone else how to think or what to target week. Supporters in every city waging do with their lives. a determined fight to make 100 percent of the goals by November 2 is crucial for making Students in Iowa like the 'Militant' the overall drive. Militant supporters in Des Moines, Iowa, recently spent two days on the University of Houston comeback Northern Iowa campus in Cedar Falls. At a The big highlight of the week is the come­ literature table sponsored by a student group back made by Militant readers in Houston. there two students subscribed the frrst day. On October 10 supporters there mapped out One had read a copy of the Militant from a a two-week action plan to sell 20 Militant friend. Later four more students subscribed subscriptions per week and catch up. After the after meeting supporters of the paper who first weekend they had sold 9 subscriptions were going door-to-door near the campus. to the Militant! This was by far their best That evening Militant supporters at­ weekend in the drive. Our scoreboard shows tended a meeting of the Students for Peace subscriptions received at the Militant as of on campus. Like many other groups, with October 11. But a sneak preview of next week: the end of the Persian Gulf war they decided as of October 14 supporters in Houston stood to organize around other issues and had a at 51 percent! public meeting planned on racism and po­ lice brutality. Militant supporters were in­ Militant/Angel Lariscy Miners get the 'Militant' The 'Militant' is receiving a great response at protest demonstrations vited to make a presentation about the Alyson Kennedy reports the Militant got paper. Two participants subscribed. a warm response at a gathering of 300 union miners and other workers in Castlewood, At a literature table at the student center Virginia. The event was an anniversary cel­ the next day three more new readers signed ebration of the 1989 strike by United Mine up to get the paper. "All right! The YSA! Sales Drive Scoreboard Workers of America (UMWA) members You people gave a good talk here last year," against Pittston Coal. Speakers at the event one student said. Perspectlva included UMWA vice-president Cecil Rob­ 'New International' Th• M; I; tan t Mundis/ New lnt'l* L'lnter** Total erts and James Gibbs, a UMWA miner and leader of the Pittston fight. Many Militant subscribers and other po­ Areas Goal Total % Sold Goal Sold Goal Sold Goal Sold Goal Sold litically-minded workers and young people Sold will be interested in buying a copy of the UNITED STATES Sisulu: 'Our struggle Marxist magazine New International, Nou­ Salt Lake City • 150 108 72% 24 12 54 5 2 0 230 125 velle lnternationale in French, or the two Newark, NJ • 150 103 69% 50 25 70 12 5 5 275 145 is at crucial time' issues of Nueva lnternacional in Spanish. Seattle· 95 64 67% 35 30 27 12 3 0 160 106 Supporters are making plans to reach out Greensboro, NC 55 37 67% 10 2 14 4 1 0 80 43 Continued from page 20 Twin Cities, Minn.* 165 109 66% 18 13 55 23 2 0 240 145 more widely with the magazines during the highlight the need to immediately establish upcoming sales target week. Both New In­ New York * 250 164 66% 100 62 110 41 15 8 475 275 an "interim government of national unity to ternational No.8 and Nueva lnternacional Pittsburgh 75 48 64% 3 4 30 7 2 0 110 59 supervise the transition" in the South Afri­ Cleveland 85 51 60% 10 3 25 16 2 0 122 70 No.2 feature articles on the battle to deepen Miami • 100 60 60% 30 17 44 25 5 6 179 108 can republic, Sisulu said. the communist and internationalist course Philadelphia • 70 42 60% 20 8 35 13 2 0 127 63 He outlined the ANC's central demand of the Cuban revolution. Supporters of the Anamosa 10 6 60% 2 0 2 0 0 0 14 6 that such an interim body's central goal be publications can take advantage of in­ Baltimore 85 '50 59% 12 3 40 11 3 1 140 65 the "election of a constituent assembly on creased interest in Cuba today to win fight­ Birmingham, Ala. 110 64 58% 5 0 43 8 2 0 160 72 the basis of one person, one vote. The con­ ers to read these important magazines. Washington, DC 100 58 58% 18 16 55 30 2 4 175 108 stituent assembly would be mandated to Atlanta • 121 70 58% 12 2 56 10 2 0 191 82 adopt a new constitution. On that basis a Chicago 163 94 58% 40 19 70 8 2 0 275 121 parliament would be elected and a new St. Louis 11~ 64 56% 5 1 30 11 2 0 152 76 government formed." Los Angeles • 170 94 55% 100 54 107 31 3 0 380 179 What the regime and its apologists Boston* 125 67 54% 40 17 53 30 7 7 225 121 Morgantown, WV * 90 48 53% 3 2 30 6 2 0 125 56 around the world call "Black-on-Black vi­ olence" is "caused by the apartheid sys­ Portland 15 8 53% 0 0 10 6 0 0 25 14 Cincinnati 17 9 53% 2 0 6 0 0 0 25 9 tem," he said. "Extremely oppressive soci­ San Francisco 160 82 51% 65 22 72 33 3 1 300 138 eties cause their victims to tum their rage Detroit * 122 62 51% 10 4 30 20 2 0 164 86 inward. The violence is but one aspect of Denver 6 3 50% 3 0 2 0 0 0 11 3 the 'divide and rule' strategy of the regime Omaha, Neb. 86 37 43% 12 5 25 10 2 0 125 52 and is a direct indictment of and caused by Militant* New lnt'l Des Moines, Iowa * 136 55 40% 25 10 40 6 2 0 203 71 apartheid." Union % Sold (Goal) Sold (Goal) Sold Wichita 10 4 40% 0 1 0 0 0 0 10 5 As the ANC pursued various peace ini­ UNITED STATES Houston 75 29 39% 20 7 30 8 2 0 127 44 tiatives it became clear there was "also an ACTWU 32% 34 11 10 0 Louisville 6 2 33% 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 2 lAM 46% 127 59 44 4 invisible 'third hand' involved in the vio­ ILGWU 48% 25 12 8 0 New Haven, Conn. 18 3 17% 2 0 5 0 0 0 25 3 lence. The perpetrators were beyond the IUE 51% 65 33 18 2 National teams 25 21 84% 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 21 OCAW 29% 38 11 25 5 U.S. TOTAL 2,935 1,695 58% 676 339 1,170 370 75 32 4,856 2,436 hand of the law and we concluded that the UAW 44% 82 36 28 6 regime headed by de Klerk," he said, "was UFCW 43% 100 43. 25 5 AUSTRALIA* 27 14 52% 7 15 5 9 0 50 28 not above being involved in the violence. UMWA 68% 25 17 9 1 ELOIUM 4 1' 25% 0 7 10 22 USWA 55% 91 50 25 0 3 It also did the minimum to end the attacks." UTU 43% 105 45 45 13 8RITAIN The ANC leader pointed to the progress TOTAL 46% 692 317 237 36 London 100 53 53% 7 9 70 35 1 180 98 SHOULD BE 60% 416 119 3 made in exposing the government role in Manchester 60 . 26 43% 3 2 40 6 2 0 105 34 AUSTRALIA Sheffield 60 16, 27% 3 3 40 1 2 0 105 20 the violence and drawing the Inkatha Free­ MFTU 29% 7 2 3 0 Other Britain 10 3 30% 0 2 0 0 0 0 10 5 dom Party into negotiations to de-escalate SHOULD BE 60% 4 2 BRITAIN TOTAL 230 98 43% 13 16 150 42 7 400 157 BRITAIN the attacks. He hailed the September 14 AEU 10% 10 1 6 0 CANADA accord signed by de Klerk, ANC president NUM 36% 14 5 9 0 Vancouver 80 51 64% 15 12 30 11 5 1 130 75 RMT 31% 26 8 13 9 Nelson Mandela, and Inkatha head Mango­ TGWU 30% 20 6 8 0 Montreal* 20 12 65 38 58% 50 23 30 23 165 96 suthu Buthelezi as a step toward a "binding TOTAL 29% 70 20 36 9 Toronto* 80 45 56% 20 13 45 34 5 3 150 95 commitment to search for peace." SHOULD BE 60% 42 18 CANADA TOTAL 225 134 60% 55 37 125 68 40 27 445 266 Sisulu emphasized that the struggle by CANADA FRANC.* 5 3 60% 5 2 20 18 15 9 45 32 ACTWU 0% 6 0 2 1 millions in South Africa was part of a "mo­ CAW 70% 10 7 3 3 · lc.LAND 20 7 35% 0 1 4 1 0 0 24 9 mentous tide in favor of human rights that lAM 8% 12 1 4 0 MIEJCICO 0 0 0% 15 0 5 0 0 0 20 0 USWA 13% 16 2 8 1 is sweeping through the African continent. TOTAL 23% 44 10 17 5 N.WDALAND "South Africa is a graveyard of human SHOULD BE 60% 27 9 Christchurch 53 42 79% 2 0 12 6 1 0 68 48 rights," he said. "We are therefore more NEW ZEALAND Auckland 75 49 65%. 9 2 25 8 1 0 110 59 determined to reinforce this tide by hasten­ NZEU 0% 6 0 1 0 Wellington 50 29 58% 3 0 14 10 1 0 68 39 NZMWU 44% 9 4 3 1 Other N. Zealand 4 7 175% 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 7 ing the demise of apartheid." FTWU 40% 5 2 1 2 UFCW 71% 7 5 2 1 N.Z. TOTAL 182 127 . 70% 14 2 51 24 In Boston 100 people turned out for a 3 0 250 153 TOTAL 41% 27 11 7 4 PUIEifTO RICO 2 0 0% 6 4 6 5 0 0 14 9 $50-a-plate fundraiser, where Sisulu asked SHOULD BE 60% 16 4 SWEDEN 45 27 60% 20 25 15 11 3 2 83 65 Boston mayor Raymond Flynn and mem­ SWEDEN FOOD WORKERS 17% 6 1 3 0 TOTAL 3,675 2,106 57% 812 431 1,568 549 154 72 6,209 3,158 bers of the city council to maintain sanc­ tions against the apartheid regime. METAL 89% 9 8 3 5 SHOULD BE 2,220 60% 475 941 89 3,725 TOTAL 60% 15 9 6 5 DRIVE GOALS 3,660 800 1,600 140 6,200 In addition to meeting with Congres­ SHOULD BE 60% 9 3 sional leaders, the Sisulus spoke to public • Raised goals. ** Single copies of New International, Nueva lnternacional, and meetings and fundraisers attended by 250- * Also includes subscriptions to Perspectiva Nouvelle lnternationale; Subscriptions to L'internationaliste. 300 people in Atlanta, New York, and Wash­ Mundial and L'internationaliste. ington, D.C.

6 The Militant October 25, 1991 Hundreds killed by Haitian military

BY SETH GALINSKY weekly published in New York, reported in In flagrant defiance of the interests of its August 21-27 edition that 550 employees working people, the Haitian National Assem­ at the National Serious Disease Office had bly replaced Jean-Bertrand Aristide as pres­ just announced the formation of a union. ident on October 8. The appointment of a There have been at least eight strikes at the Supreme Court judge as provisional presi­ government-run industrial park since Febru­ dent is an attempt to consolidate the military ary. coup that forced Aristide to flee the country. • Hundreds of people from rural areas As army forces continued to terrorize joined an August 16 conference on promot­ working-class neighborhoods, the new pres­ ing a literacy movement in the countryside. ident, Joseph Nerette, proclaimed that Haiti Eighty-five percent of Haitians are illiterate. "does not belong to one man, or a small group • A series of activities to celebrate the of men. This country belongs to all its sons, anniversary of the 1791 slave rebellion in whether rich or poor." Santo Domingo was organized by students While reports indicate the military's from the Faculty of Social Sciences August threats and violence have kept down many 22. The students marched to the U.S. consul­ protest actions in Haiti, daily demonstrations ate and denounced IMF and foreign interfer­ continue in the United States. Up to 20,000 ence in Haiti's internal affairs. have turned out in Boston, 60,000 in New • Military and police repression contin­ York City, and 15,000 in Miami in the largest ued during this whole period. But working of such marches and rallies. people organized to protest these attacks. At Hundreds of Haitian working people have the August 13 funeral for four young people been killed by the military. In one neighbor­ assassinated by an army officer, mourners hood alone in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti 'scapital, carried signs demanding, "Justice for the as many as 200 dead were reported. There children" and "Shed light on the conditions have been almost no reports from the coun­ surrounding their deaths." tryside, where even before the coup there had been violent clashes between large landown­ The overthrow of Aristide was directed at ers and poor peasants. pushing back these struggles. Washington and the Organization of Amer­ Haiti's economic crisis had deepened since ican States (OAS) initially condemned the Aristide was elected by a landslide with ~Since Aristide's"'"'" election, peasants have pressed the fight for land reform. September 30 coup, but rapidly shifted their two-thirds of the vote. Aristide had acquired focus. In their view, Aristide brought the coup a reputation as a defender of the downtrodden on himself by encouraging "mob violence." due to his outspoken opposition to the Duval­ While both the OAS and Washington have ier dictatorship, which was overthrown in 60,000 protest Haitian coup threatened economic sanctions against the 1986. Haiti, with a population of 6.5 million, new government, they have sought a com­ is the poorest country in the Western Hemi­ Continued from front page in the country: "It is so bad that people buy promise that would meet the concerns of the sphere. was "making ways for working people to water for 40 cents a bucket and even eat green coup leaders. They succeede~ . in winni~g More than 8,000 factory workers in Port­ come up as a class - a class that has been mangoes. Aristide 's acceptance of conditions for h1s au-Prince- nearly 20 percent of the indus­ suffering for many decades. "Humanity there is so driven down that return: that he would stop statements that trial work force of40 ,000 -have been fired "This is a way forward socially and eco­ even the church - people like Aristide - were interpreted as supporting the indepen­ since late last year, Haiti Insight reported. nomically. We want the world to know that had to do something. When you are poor dent action of working people, and that in First quarter exports to the United States we are willing to fight for democracy, and in Haiti you are just supposed to 'be with effect he would be a figurehead with no dropped $6.6 million. we need the help of the people in the United God.'," power. But even this was not sufficient for States." the Haitian capitalists, who believe that Aristide implements austerity In Manhattan rallies took place at city hall "It is important to march here in the Aristide's return would encourage Haitian and the New York Stock Exchange. Speakers Aristide sought increased aid from the United States because the U.S. govern­ working people to continue struggling for included Haiti's consul-general in New York, United States, the International Monetary ment is supporting the coup. This govern­ their rights. Philippe Wilson Desir; Mayor David Fund, and the World Bank to ameliorate ment cannot tell us what to do. Haiti was The swearing-in of Nerette came after two Dinkins; and Haitian ambassadorBenjamin Haiti's economic difficulties. the first Black independent country- we votes in the National assembly electing him Dupuy, who announced that earlier in the day After taking office, he began implement­ are an example," said a factory worker president. The first was taken under a hail of the UN unanimously voted for a resolution ing austerity measures to win the confidence from New Jersey. bullets, as the army made sure the rump body calling for the immediate restoration of the of the capitalist banks and governments. He The demonstration was organized by the would do its bidding. The following day the Aristide administration. slashed 2,000 jobs from the government pay­ Ad Hoc Committee for the Restoration of vote was taken again in an attempt to make Marchers expressed their determination to roll of 42,000 workers, increased taxes, and Democracy. The stated demands were: "un­ it appear to be a more independent action on continue the fight. "We will march every day cut government spending. conditional return of Aristide to the presi­ the part of the legislature. if we have to," stated a nurse's aide from New dency; removal of the military junta; resto­ Workers, peasants, and students took ad­ Aristide also took some measures to re­ Jersey. ration of constitutional rule; respect of the vantage of Aristide 's inauguration in Febru­ spond to popular pressure. In August he asked choice of 70 percent of the people; and an ary 1991 to press their fight for more demo­ the Senate to pass legislation that would end to the killing." cratic space, land, and union rights. increase the official minimum wage. Bush vetoes bill As the march rolled down Flatbush Ave­ • In August thousands of peasants from The Haitian bourgeoisie became increas­ nue toward the bridge, organized neighbor­ extending unemployment Jeremie, on the western end of the island, ingly upset with the continuing struggle of hood contingents entered from side streets held a demonstration. They demanded land working people during the Aristide adminis­ benefits for 20 weeks swelling the crowd. Students led the march­ reform, distribution of hogs, price controls, tration. ers in singing in Creole, "Hallelujah Aristide. and the construction and repair of roads nec­ BY SETH GALINSKY When Aristide returned to Haiti on Sep­ We want Aristide back in power." essary for getting their produce to market. tember 27, after speaking before the United President George Bush vetoed a $6.5 bil­ Students attended from several area • Hai'ti Progres, a French-language Nations, he gave a speech which fueled the lion bill October 11 that would have provided schools including Brooklyn College, Long fears of the rich even more. as many as 20 additional weeks of benefits Island University, New York City College, for the unemployed. The veto came one day "Whenever you are hungry, turn your eyes Morrisville (SUNY) campus, Medgar Evers after the U.S. Labor Department announced in the direction of those who aren't hungry," Cuban government College, and many high schools. A medical a new rise in unemployment. he told a crowd of thousands. "Whenever student from Brooklyn, originally from Cap­ condemns coup, you are out of work, turn your eyes in the With the ink still drying, Bush said he was Haitien, said he spoke with family members "deeply concerned about the needs of the opposes OAS, UN direction of those who can put people to in Haiti after the coup. "People feel they must work. Ask them, 'Why not?'" unemployed and their families." He claimed stay indoors or they will be shot by the army that signing the bill "would signal the failure In interviews with the Washington Post military intervention or police." of budget discipline." and the New York Times, wealthy and middle By the time the march headed toward New The bill to lengthen the weeks for unem­ The Cuban government has condemned class Haitians - who overwhelming backed York's city hall, much of the financial district the September 30 military coup that over­ and financed the coup - let loose the class in lower Manhattan was closed off to traffic. ployment checks would have aided 3 million people who have been out of work more than threw President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of hatred they feel toward working people. A sea of signs carried by the marchers read, half a year. It was passed 300-to-118 in the Haiti. "No puppet government for Haiti"; "No Aris­ ''They think because you have a nice car, House of Representatives and 65-to-35 in the "The government of the Republic of Cuba tide, no peace"; "Democracy or death"; because you're not as black as them, that Senate, two votes short of the two-thirds expresses its most emphatic condernnati.o.n "Aristide elected, not selected"; "Malcolm you're the enemy," complained one woman, majority needed to override a veto. and calls for the reinstatement of the legiti­ the owner of a gift and jewelry shop. [Malcolm X] said 'By any means neces­ mate government of President Aristide," sary"'; and "Democracy is not a word but a Official unemployment stood at 6.7 per­ "Aristide is popular in the slums, but the cent nationally in September. Although close Cuba's foreign ministry declared October 2. slums don't make the country work," said an deed." The statement explained that Aristide's When demonstrators were asked how they to $8 billion is in a special U.S. trust fund insurance executive. "It doesn't give the pres­ set up to pay extended benefits for up to 13 elected government enjoyed unquestionably ident the right to burn people who have heard about the protest most said the news broad support in Haiti. reached them by word of mouth. Workers weeks and 300,000 workers exhaust their worked hard for their money or have an benefits each month, the rules for using these Radio Rebelde, a major radio station in external appearance of wealth." from an airplane parts factory in Westbury Cuba, broadcast an editorial stating Cuba's took the day off after hearing of the march funds to pay benefits are so restrictive that "When you have people who are illiterate, opposition to any military intervention by the on a radio broadcast. They said that half of no workers in any state have been found they are like children," the executive added. Organization of American States (OAS) the workers in that factory are from Haiti. eligible. "They are not well educated, so they have a under the pretext of restoring the Haitian According to the Labor Department re­ tendency to believe in fairy tales." Protesters were eager to talk about condi­ government. Such an intervention would un­ tions in Haiti. "There's blood in the streets," port, new claims for jobless pay rose to a doubtedly be sponsored by the United States, In total indifference to the continuing said a hotel worker from Queens. "There's seasonally adjusted 435,000 as of September it said. slaughter, another wealthy supporter of the no food for the people. They say there will 28, an increase of 5,000 from the previous "The creation of a multinational force coup stated, "We cannot make an omelette be no electricity in three weeks. Yesterday week. Some 3.3 million people are now under the flag of the OAS or the UN would without breaking eggs. Now that they're bro­ the news reported the price of gasoline had collecting unemployment benefits. mean placing an international helmet on Yan­ ken, we're going to have a democracy ome­ been increased by one dollar. We don't even Meanwhile, the rich are doing fine. Ac­ kee marines and setting a dangerous prece­ lette." know the number of people dead." cording to an article in Forbes magazine, dent for future actions, under different con­ The first weeks after the coup indicate the A dressmaker from Brooklyn said she had telecommunications baron John Kluge is one ditions and with radically different objec­ kind of "democracy" the Haitian capitalist not been able to call Haiti as her family's of the richest individuals in the United States. tives, which could be manipulated by Wash­ and landlord families have in mind for the telephone on the island had been cut off for The magazine estimates that his fortune went ington," the editorial concluded. toiling majority of the country. a week. She described the increasing poverty up by $300 million this year to $5.9 billion.

October 25, 1991 The Militant 7 Jailed unionist fights city's moves against cop brutality suit

BYJOHNSTUDER and Charles Wolf- the cops Curtis could DES MOINES, Iowa - Supporters of identify who took part in beating him while Mark Curtis are pressing ahead with a police in the Des Moines City Jail, and other un­ brutality lawsuit in face of a motion by the named cops who were involved. City of Des Moines to have most of the civil Curtis' charges are based on the brutal rights case thrown out of court. physical assault on him after his arrest on Curtis' suit, filed by his attorneys George frame-up rape charges as well as the ha­ Eichhorn and William Kutmus, charges the rassment and discrimination against him. cops and the city violated his fundamental He also charges the city with negligence constitutional rights to due process of law, for allowing the vicious attack to take against unlawful search and seizure, and place in the jail. against cruel and unusual punishment. The The suit explains that Curtis' beating was suit was filed in 1989. an example of the regular practice of the Des In the new court papers filed by the cops Moines police department. He is seeking September 3, their attorneys demand that the $300,000 in actual monetary damages for Militant/Stu Singer court summarily rule in favor of the city on medical expenses and lost wages, and puni­ Facial wounds show some of Curtis' injuries after beating by cops the majority of Curtis' charges. They argue tive damages, to act as a deterrent to future that Curtis has no evidence to back up his cop violence. Since the case was filed, the lawyers for abused him by making him walk out of the Because of this second duty, the cops constitutional claims. If the motion is suc­ hospital until he fell sick from his injuries. argue, any files they create ·during a bru­ cessful, it would leave only a simple assault the city have dragged their feet and refused to provide essential files and information tality investigation are legally protected charge for trial. The case is scheduled to go Seeking full disclosure from disclosure. They might be needed in to trial November 25. concerning the beating and who was in­ volved. Eichhorn and Kutmus, Curtis' attor­ future legal defense, the cops say. Curtis' legal action lists the City of Des neys, responded to the city's move to nar­ Both the Des Moines Civil Service Com­ Moines, police officers Daniel Dusenberry Police chief affidavit row the lawsuit by urging Judge Wolle to mission and the Community Relations Ser­ grant an extension of time to seek full vice of the U.S. Justice Department have ... As backing for their September 3 motion, the city submitted an affidavit from William disclosure from the city in the case. They conducted investigations of the city's police Moulder, Des Moines police chief. Moulder pointed out the city demanded summary department over the 'past several years and states that the cops' Internal Affairs Unit judgment the same day as they finally addressed this self-serving set up. The Justice already investigated Curtis' charges against provided the officers' names. These Department concluded it was a "definite Wolf and Dusenberry and ruled that any force witnesses still have to be questioned. The conflict of interest." . ,:; they used against Curtis was "justified, law­ lawyers also argued that the continual re­ "This is a precarious position for a unit QES MOINES-Mark Curtis was ful and proper." fusal of city attorneys to release any files responsible for the integrity and credibility apac kinghouse worker, a union and At the same time city attorneys filed for on Curtis in the custody of the Internal of the Des Moines Police Department," the ··· political activist, who was framed by summary judgment against Curtis' constitu­ Affairs Unit justified the extension. Justice Department wrote. "If the Internal Oes Moines authorities on false tional claims, they handed over answers to a Judge Wolle granted Curtis' attorneys' re­ Affairs Unit is expected to function in a ······ .charges of rape and burglary. He series of questions Curtis' attorneys had filed quest, extending discovery in the case manner which would allow a citizen, or one was sentenced to 25 years in state nine months earlier. through October 18. He ruled that Eichhorn of its own members, to lodge a complaint 1 ·· prison. He has appealed the convice In the statement the cops give a capsule and Kutmus would have until October 25 to and have faith that it will be dealt with fairly, tion and is figh'ting for release on version of how they claim Curtis was injured: file an answer to the city's motion to elimi­ impartially and independently, steps must be parole. "Curtis lunged toward Officer Dusenberry. nate Curtis' constitutional claims. A Novem­ taken to change its present system of oper­ Curtis was arrested on March 4, Curtis was taken to the floor and as Officer ber 5 hearing is set to hear arguments on the ations." 1988, hours after speaking out in Wolf was attempting to maintain control of motion. Curtis' lawyers are preparing to ask Judge Spanish at a public protest meeting the upper half of C~is' body, Curtis at­ A fight now looms over the city's refusal Wolle to order the city to hand over the files. called to defend 17 of his coworkers tempted to bite Officer Wolf on hands and to tum over the Internal Affairs files on In the context of the international public from Mexico and El Salvador. legs; Curtis was struck by officer Wolf's knee Curtis. These files contain virtually all of the exposure and outcry against police brutality These workers had been seized in an along the left eye." cops' written record of how they dealt with following the near-killing of Rodney King illegal immigration raid coordinated Two and a half years after the lawsuit was Curtis. in Los Angeles, Curtis' lawsuit has a signif­ by the company, the Swift Indepen­ filed, the police fmally provided the names The city claims that these files are pro­ icance far beyond seeking some justice for dent Meat Packing Co., and the U .S. of four cops they say were involved in mak­ tected from disclosure by legal privilege. his treatment at the hands of the Des Moines Immigration and Naturalization Ser­ ing the decision to toss Curtis naked into a Their attorneys argue that the Des cops. vice. bare cell after he was returned from the Moines cops' Internal Affairs Unit has a It is a battleground for the rights of all. At At the meeting Curtis urged his hospital: Sergeant Gary Moon, Officer John dual mission. On the one hand, it is stake is an opportunity to deal a blow to union, Local 431 of the United Food Wade, Officer Mel Ferguson, and Sergeant charged with investigating complaints of arbitrary police violence and intimidation. and Commercial Workers, step up its Bruce Elrod. misconduct by police officers. On the To get copies of the lawsuit and additional efforts in defense of the detained pack­ The city failed to provide the names of the other hand, it is charged with performing material on Curtis' fight against police bru­ inghouse workers as a means to cops who accompanied Curtis to the hospital, duties as an investigative arm of the city's tality, contact the Mark Curtis Defense Com­ strengthen the unity of the workers slandered him to hospital personnel, and legal department in case the cops are sued. mittee, Box 1048, Des Moines, Iowa, 503 11 . against company attacks. Police officers Daniel Dusenberry and Charles Wolf were dispatched to bring Curtis to the Des Moines City Gov't agencies discredit unit that 'investigates' police Jail after his arrest. They took Curtis, handcuffed, into a small, window­ BYJOHNSTUDER any faith that it will be dealt with fairly, pressure; (t) Biceps and triceps (upper arm less room in the jail the cops called DES MOINES - The cops' attempt to impartially and independently?" muscles) - strike or pinch; (u) Fingers­ the "ASAP" room. Refusing to allow whitewash Mark Curtis' police brutality Des Moines police chief William Moul­ twist or bend." Curtis to contact an attorney, claims is based on a report issued by their der's affidavit defending the city against In a section that is intended for public Dusenberry and Wolf, along with own in-house Internal Affairs Unit. The cred­ Curtis' claims argues that the City cannot be consumption to show that the cops' respect other cops whose names Curtis did ibility of the police investigative arm is un­ held liable for any damages because the cops' those they seize, the SOP manual actually .not learn, attempted to harass him. dermined by a number of recent government written policies prohibit unauthorized exces­ gives a revealing picture of what Des Moines 'they brought in a tape recorder to reports. sive use of force. cops think of working people: ·~< ~p;empt to interrogate him. They .. ·.·.· Over the last three years, both the Des Moulder attaches the Des Moines Police "Always remember the dignity of a person . called him a "Mexican lover, just . Moines Civil Service Commission and the Uniform Division Standard Operating·Pro­ and never violate that dignity in the presence li¥e.you love those coloreds." Community Relations Service of the U.S. cedures (SOP) for the use of force to show of another," the manual advises, "though that · ··· After removing all Curtis' clothes, J,ustice Department conducted investigations that officers Daniel Dusenberry and Charles person might be a common drunk, a tramp, ..< t,be cops beat him severely, causing a of the Des Moines police following extenl'ive Wolf acted by the book when interrogating a vagrant, a confirmed or dangerous criminal, ''blow-out'' fracture to his cheek. He reports of racism and sexism inside the de­ Curtis after his arrest. The SOP reads like a or a wayward or defenseless child." ·· ·· 'Was clubbed unconscious, and woke partment. These investigations paid particu­ manual for combat training. Stating "The These policies are standard operating pro­ lip cove!OO with bruises~ lar attention to the Internal Affairs Unit. best defense is a good offense," it instructs cedure in police departments across the coun­ .. Curtis was injured badly enough •·• •. In ordering the reinstatement of Charlie cops how to attack "Vital Body Points." try, the Des Moines cops argue, and therefore tha:t the cops decided to take him to the Smith, a Black female police cadet who was It advises: "(a) Temple of head - strike the city should be dismissed from the lawsuit. pospital. It took 15 stitches to close fired after filing a charge of racist behavior inwards; (b) Eyes - gouge, throw items; (c) However, both the Civil Service Commis­ the.· gash on his face. In violation of against a lieutenant, the Civil Service Com­ Ears - slap ears, gouge mastoids; (d) Nose sion and Justice Department noted that the · ~ospi~ policy, the cops force<} him to mission issued what the Des Moines Register - strike upwards at base, near lip; (e) Point existence of standard policies does not mean w~ from the emergency room where termed "a stinging report accusing the police of chin - strike upwards; (f) Neck - nearly much if they are systematically ignored. Both ···· :be had been treated out to the ambu­ department of widespread racism and sex­ all neck vital for strike, pinch or choking; (g) government agencies found that while the lance to return to jail. On the way, ism." The report branded the Internal Affairs Collar bones - strike downwards near neck police department did have written policies CUrtis fell to the floor, vomiting from Unit as being primarily concerned with cov­ or shoulder; (h) Floating ribs - strike in; (i) to discourage racist and sexist behavior, the the effects of the beating. ering up for the department. Referring to the Solar plexus and stomach - strike upwards; cops' actual practice was to wantonly violate When he was taken back to the Smith case, the commission found that "the (j) Kidneys - strike inwards; (k) Small of those policies. jail, Curtis was thrown naked into a Internal Affairs Unit ' investigated' an allega­ back - strike or kick inwards; (1) Tailbone "A professional, public organization ded­ special bare cell, containing no fur­ tion against a superior by a subordinate to and buttocks bones - strike or kick up­ icated to law enforcement cannot have two niture, no bed, and no toilet. He was clear the supervisor and not determine wards; (m) Groin - strike or kick; (n) Shin sets of standards by displaying a laxity in left there for the night. The author­ whether the allegation by the subordinate bone - strike, kick, or scrape vertical; (o) enforcing even its own policies," the Justice ities refused to allow Curtis' friends occurred." Knee cap - kick; (p) Top of foot - stomp; Department investigation concluded. "Such and relatives to bail him out until the It concluded that "when the Internal Af­ (q) Achilles tendon (behind ankles) - kick disregard allows the department's integrity next afternoon. - J.S. fairs Unit functions as it did in this case, how or scrape; (r) Armpit - gouge; (s) Hand ­ to be diminished and creates the possibility can a citizen who lodges a complaint have back of hand, between knuckles - strike or of further judicial reprimand."

8 The Militant October 25, 1991 New support can be won for jailed activist by answering opponents of his freedom

BY JOEL BRITTON loss of dignity, loss of freedom and his broader backing from the labor movement. hers generally do not attend the conventions LOS ANGELES - New backing has losses continue to mount. In the name of Supporters of parole for Curtis overreached or similar gatherings on a district level. Del­ been won in the labor movement in the all that is fair we request that he be released themselves, though; when a proposal was egations are composed of elected officials. United States for parole for Mark Curtis. At from jail immediately." made last June for the Iowa City AFL-CIO The convention resolutions committee the same time, opponents of the effort to Labor Council to send a f1arole letter. The proposed to the delegates that they vote free this union and political activist have Countercampaign motion was blocked after a council member "nonconcurrence" on the Curtis parole res­ stepped up their countercampaign, dealing As with many cases of union and political noted that Curtis is a communist and pro­ olutions, citing as their justification that several blows to the fight. activists framed up over past decades on posed that the South Central Federation be Curtis' union, the UFCW, was not officially The setbacks can be temporary if sup­ criminal charges, forces have been rallied consulted with before any action is taken. backing his fight. porters squarely answer the arguments ad­ to the side of the prosecutors and cops and A vote was again deferred in July, and in Some officials cited other reasons for not vanced by forces opposed to the Curtis their big-business sponsors. August the pro-prosecution resolution was backing the fight. Before the resolutions fight. An accurate appraisal of the political Mounted from the day Curtis was ar­ adopted by the state federation. reached the convention floor for discussion, stakes in the case and an assessment of the rested, and beaten, and thrown naked into Because there is no sustained forward one asked a Curtis supporter, if Curtis was current stage of the long-term defense cam­ a cold cell, this pro-prosecution campaign motion by the ranks defending themselves such a good unionist, what was he doing paign can also help arm those who seek to seeks to counter the Curtis defense effort. ' against the employers' offensive, the offi­ supporting "illegals"? Some officials ar­ win new backing. It has been spearheaded by capitalist media cialdom retains its hold on the unions. Al­ gued that it was one thing to back Curtis On November 6 or 7 the Iowa State arms like the Des Moines Register. Joining though a three-year defense campaign effort before his trial, but since he was "found Board of Parole will conduct its third an­ in this reactionary effort has been the Work­ has been conducted among Iowa unionists guilty by a jury" this meant his guilt was nual review of Curtis' parole. Curtis was ers League, a group calling itself"socialist," - with some success -support among "proven." And, wasn't this simply a "crim­ convicted in 1988 on trumped-up rape and and its Bulletin newspaper. rank-and-file workers is insufficient to inal" case anyway? burglary charges. At the time of his arrest This outfit specializes in attacks on compel and sustain action on the part of Curtis supporters reminded these dele­ Curtis was involved in a fight to win his unions during strikes, especially long and official labor bodies. Both of these factors gates that many frame-up cases aimed at union's support for immigrant coworkers bitter ones, where they orient to a layer of show the relationship of forces is such that class struggle militants over the years have victimized by a raid at the Swift meat­ workers demoralized by the employer's attempts to go beyond individual unionists involved criminal, not political charges. packing plant in Des Moines by immigra­ strikebreaking attacks and the default or and union officials endorsing the defense Kentucky coal miners remain jailed to this tion cops. inadequate leadership on the part of the committee and writing letters for parole of day on false criminal charges stemming Curtis' request for parole is backed by union officialdom. Curtis - based on a careful reading and from the 1984 strike at the Massey mines. thousands of individuals and organizations. But the countercampaign is not limited discussion of defense committee materials British coal miner union leaders recently More than 40 letters that have been written to these forces. Those who advance the including those .refuting the countercam- had to mount a campaign to defend them- supporting parole will be presented to the state's frame-up line include union officials, board by the Mark Curtis Defense Commit­ individuals in rape crisis clinics, and others. tee prior to the November hearing. This highlights the extent to which Curtis' Union members and officers have joined fight is a political issue in the labor move­ elected officials, immigrant rights activists, ment and elsewhere. As Iowa authorities civil rights and women's rights fighters, and refuse to let Curtis out on parole, and the others in urging freedom for Curtis, a mem­ framed unionist won't buckle to attempts to ber of the Socialist Workers Party and break him of his views, the stakes in the Young Socialist Alliance. case rise. Many calling for Curtis' release refer to the The opposition to the fight for justice for vicious beating he suffered at the hands of the Curtis finds adherents from the top echelons Des Moines police, reflecting a heightened of the privileged bureaucracy of full-time awareness of rampant cop brutality in the officials and functionaries who oversee the wake of the much-publicized assault on Rod­ unions and from those local officials whose ney King by Los Angeles officers. corruption makes them unfit for leading any kind of struggle. These backers of the 'In interest of human rights' employers' and government's domestic and For example, William Jennings, presi­ foreign policy aren't looking to unite workers dent of Detroit Lodge No. 82 of the Inter­ in defense of their rights and past gains as national Association of Machinists, writes, Curtis attempted to do at Swift in Des Moines. "I have been following his case for more Far from rallying union support for the than three years and feel that his conviction rights of immigrant workers, which is what was very questionable at best. Certainly his Curtis proposed at a meeting to protest the treatment after arrest was deplorable ... . Immigration and Naturalization Service For the interests of the justice system, raid and arrest of his Mexican and Salva­ human rights and human compassion, I urge doran coworkers, these union officials com­ you to approve Mark's parole." monly pit native born workers against those. Thomas Deary, an international represen­ they scorn as "illegal aliens." tative for the International Union of Elec­ One recent example of elements within tronic Workers (IUE), writes, ''Unfortu­ the union bureaucracy moving to back up the Iowa rulers' efforts to keep Curtis in nately we live in a nation where the citizens Militant/Brian Williams are slowly becoming afraid of their own prison occurred at an August meeting of the Hector Marroquin (in dark shirt) passing out leaflets in support of Mark Curtis to police force. In the case of Brother Curtis Iowa State Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. workers at Swift Monfort plant in Des Moines, Iowa. the beating he received during his arrest was A resolution was passed "exposing the yet another saga of brutality by those we Mark Curtis campaign" and urging "the have trained to protect us .. . . Many of us national AFL-CIO and all state and central paign - will at this stage set up the defense selves from trumped-up criminal charges of that have watched this case from the begin­ labor bodies and affiliated unions to refuse effort for setbacks and defeats. embezzlement in the aftermath of their ning feel that the members of the parole any support to the Mark Curtis defense 1984-85 strike. board have an opportunity to correct an campaign and to rescind support where it Convention tables Curtis resolution Others, including some who had signed injustice, even if it is late in coming, by has already been given." Such a setback occurred at the August letters on parole for Curtis, said the case giving Mark his freedom on parole." This scurrilous and damaging resolution convention of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic had become "too controversial" and that the Supporters of parole for Curtis are aware was spearheaded by Perry Chapin, presi­ Workers union. OCAW should not be the first union to that he has served more time than the aver­ dent of the South Central Iowa Federation Curtis supporters in the OCAW had officially back parole for Curtis. age prisoner does for third degree sexual of Labor, AFL-CIO, and a long-time sup­ mounted a campaign to win convention "Too controversial" was a way for these assault, the main frame-up charge. A "bur­ porter of the countercampaign. It takes as action on behalf of his parole. Several locals officials to defer to the procop and pro-pros­ glary" charge was added some months after good coin the cop and prosecution frame-up adopted resolutions proposing that the con­ ecution countercampaign. During the con­ his arrest in order to lengthen the sentence. of Curtis. "There is overwhelming evidence vention put the union on record for parole. vention a top staff member made a scurrilous Johnny McGraw, shop steward of local of Curtis' guilt," reads the resolution. Top OCAW officials had implied that they article backing the frame-up of Curtis avail­ 271 of Curtis' union, the United Food and Another section says, "Curtis was not would favor convention action to back able to the resolutions committee. arrested because of any activities related to Commercial Workers, writes, "Curtis Curtis' release from prison. A detailed answer to this attack was cir­ or supported by the Iowa AFL-CIO and should have been given parole a long time Ever since the frame-up, a defense cam­ culated at the convention by Curtis support­ there is no connection between Curtis' case ago. His behavior as a prisoner has been paign has been waged in the OCAW. Many ers but it was clear that a great deal more and the Iowa Labor Movement." good. Not giving him parole at this time is union members and officials were informed support for Curtis' parole among rank-and­ just a continuation of the political, rather "There is no association between this of the fight and came to solidarize with file OCAW members, and some forward than the criminal, basis for his imprison­ campaign and the trade union movement in Curtis. The 1988 OCAW convention wel­ movement by the ranks in their struggles, ment." Iowa," the resolution states. Contrary to comed Curtis as he was preparing for his would have to be won before official con­ these charges, it is precisely the growing Many of the parole letters note the ex­ trial and about one-third of the convention vention action would follow. A motion to support for the parole of Curtis in Iowa tensive backing Curtis has won. Thousands delegates signed a petition condemning his table was made by a pro-Curtis delegate have become endorsers of his defense com­ unions and elsewhere that prompted Chapin frame-up. and that motion was adopted. mittee. Thomas O'Connor, shop steward at to move against this fighter. Over these three years, many rank-and­ UFCW Local9 in Austin, Minnesota, writes Last spring, the Mark Curtis Defense file OCAW members educated themselves Some officials in the OCAW now are of Curtis, "He has also received community Committee was invited to attend and speak on the case, reading defense committee justifying their opposition to the Curtis pa­ support statewide, plus worldwide support. at the fifth Midwest Labor Jam held in Fort materials, watching the videos available on role effort by referring to the "nonconcur­ That alone should open your hearts and Madison, Iowa. The event is organized by the frame-up trial, discussing the defense rence" stance of the resolutions committee. minds and let freedom ring for Mark Cur­ locals of the United Food and Commercial efforts, and in many cases, the coun­ Countercampaign in rail union tis." Workers and United Steelworkers. A num­ tercampaign. Numerous oil and chemical Support for Curtis' parole in the U.S. ber of union officials there agreed to write workers endorsed the defense committee, Curtis supporters in the United Transpor­ labor movement ranges far and wide in letters on behalf of Curtis to the parole board along with a good number of OCAW offi­ tation Union report that a 29-page letter to many different unions. Ron Ramsey, busi­ and some agreed that defense committee cials. "fellow UTU members" entitled "The case ness manager of Florida Local 32 of the spokespeople could address labor bodies But support among the ranks was not suf­ against Mark Curtis" is circulating in their Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen writes, they were part of. ficient to ensure that the union officialdom union. "How long will he remain in jail? He has This new support and interest in the case would take convention action on behalf of The UTU official who authored this tract suffered physical abuse, loss of reputation, was an important step forward in winning Curtis.Asinotherunions,rank-and-filemem- Continued on Page 16

October 25, 1991 The Militant 9 Anti-immigrant attacks rise in Germany

BY GEORGE BUCHANAN - together with the infusion of West Ger­ A wave of racist attacks against immi­ man funds at the time of reunification, when grants has broken out across Germany. This one West German mark was exchanged for occurs at a time of massive economic dislo­ one East mark- led to a boom in consumer cation in the eastern part of the country and spending in the east, money that was spent amid calls by leaders of the major bourgeois mainly on goods made in western Germany. parties for curbs on immigration. This has temporarily helped sustain employ­ These assaults pose big political stakes for ment levels in the west. the labor movement as the German ruling rich drive against the standard of living of Small businesses workers, especially those in the eastern part The other growth area of the eastern econ­ of the country. omy is small businesses. But these are often The attacks on immigrants reached a peak short-lived. An economist for the SOP noted on the weekend of September 28-29, when that "you see a lot of new banks and snack rightist thugs in 20 towns attacked apartment stands and video stores [in the east]. But the buildings where immigrants live. For nearly number of bankruptcies is very high, ahd a week in mid-September in the eastern town many of the small businesses fail quickly." of Hoyerswerda, gangs of youths supported SOP leaders predicted that many of the 2.4 by hundreds of jeering residents laid siege to million jobs the government claims to have two apartment complexes where immigrant created since reunification will vanish. workers resided. After the 230 residents - The German government took over the including Africans and Vietnamese - were entire nationalized economy of the east and bused away, jubilant rightists appeared on is trying to sell it off as separate enterprises television proclaiming their town "foreigner­ through its agency known as the Treuhand. free." Berlin march against attacks. Sign reads: 'Stale German hate of foreigners: Stop it!' Most of the small businesses taken over by Four hundred such assaults have been re­ the Treuhand - shops, cinemas, restau­ corded this year, 220 in eastern Germany and rants, hotels - have already been sold. The 180 in the west. In some incidents immigrants' He said the government would work to check being hit by rent increases of 400-500 per­ industrial sector, the backbone of the former houses and cars have been stoned or burned. the "uncontrollable flow" of foreigners. centthat took effect October I. A Washington East German economy, is "farthest from In others, thugs have smashed up apartment One far-right party is campaigning against Post article described the mood in the east recovery," noted the Christian Science Mon­ buildings and injured the occupants. immigration with the slogan "The boat is as "depression-like hopelessness." itor. Some $7 billion worth of the larger full." Chance116r Helmut Kohl's own party, Other articles in the big-business press industries have been sold, involving 500,000 Immigrants killed the Christian Democratic Union, advertised have portrayed the situation in eastern Ger­ jobs. Some immigrants have been killed. A a public forum titled "Is the Boat Full?" many as being on the verge of great improve­ The "medicine" the buyers of these indus­ Ghanaian man died when his apartment Social Democratic Party (SOP) leader Bjorn ment. "East Germans, Nurtured by Bonn, tries use is the layoff of hundreds of workers building in Saarlouis, western Germany, was Engholm described the level of immigration Take Heart and Begin to Prosper," said aNew in the name of "efficiency" and "cutting torched September 19. A Mozambican was as "totally unacceptable." York Times headline last month. "The medi­ costs." When and if all the sales are com­ killed March 31 when a racist gang threw cine seems to be working," said the London pleted, the Treuhand is expected to have fired East Germany isolated immigrants him from a streetcar in the eastern city of Economist, citing a slight drop in unemploy­ a majority of the 3 million workers employed Dresden. The Stalinist regime in former East Ger­ ment during August. at the enterprises it is unloading. There are about five million immigrants many housed immigrants in isolation from TreuhandexecutivesarevisitingJapanand Huge costs for Bonn and refugees living in Germany, which has the local population. At the same time racist, the United States in an attempt to fmd buyers an overall pPpulation of 80 million. The right-wing currents were nurtured within the The German government has poured mas­ for the bulk of the remaining industries. So immigrants have come mainly from the So­ bureaucratic caste that ruled there. This sive amounts of money into the east, to cover far no Japanese capitalists have shown inter­ viet Union, Eastern Europe, and semicolonial shows that capitalism and the anti-working unemployment benefits, welfare payments, est. Only eight sales have been made to U.S. countries from central Mrica to southern class political currents it engenders are not and new construction projects -mainly firms, mostly to companies that already have Asia. In 1990 almost 400,000 ethnic Ger­ the only source of fascists, but that in fact new freeways, railroads, and telephone net­ subsidiaries in western Germany. the ruling stratum in the Eastern European mans from the Soviet Union and Eastern works. It projects spending $83 billion for A major problem confronting capitalists Europe arrived in Germany, and 150,000 and Soviet workers' states is a breeding I99I - well over a quarter of the federal who wish to profit by buying up industries ground for fascist elements. more have entered the country this year. budget - and a similar amount in 1992. in eastern Germany is the struggles by work­ Since the 1960s large numbers of immi­ For example, police and authorities in Government-sponsored jobs - in areas such ing people there for steadily higher wages grants have worked in western Germany. Hoyerswerda allowed the siege of immi­ as tourism, environmental clean-up, and for­ through strikes and other actions. While the They are given residence permits but are grants' homes to continue for days before estry - now account for 23 percent of all average wage of workers in the east at the denied citizenship rights, as are their children evacuating the victims to an army base. The new jobs in eastern Germany. end of 1990 stood at 37 percent of wage and grandchildren who are born and brought interior minister in the state of Saxony, Bonn's "costs of unification" are expected levels in the west, by mid-1991 this figure up in Germany. The former Stalinist East known for his former connections with the to run as high as $I trillion over the decade. had risen to between 40-50 percent. Unions German regime brought 200,000 workers, East German secret police, resigned after Politicians and economists warn that what in former West Germany won a an agreement mainly Vietnamese and Mozambicans, to being accused of letting the situation in was once one of the world's strongest capi­ by the bosses that projected a gradual equal­ work under labor contracts. Hoyerswerda worsen. According to the Paris talist economies is becoming weaker. They ization of salaries between east and west. In Leaders of Germany's major political par­ newspaper Le Monde, sections of the police cite the fact that the public debt now accounts the metal industry, for example, it was to be ties, while condemning the violent attacks, in Saxony are suspected of working closely for more than 5 percent of Germany's gross i!chieved by 1994. with rightist thugs. have fueled anti-immigrant sentiment by national product and that the country now "We are still far away from capitalism," calling for an end to the influx of refugees. In response to the wave of racist attacks, has a trade deficit. said Treuhand president Birgit Breuel. She They seek to deepen divisions within the groups of citizens have sprung up in several The large-scale construction projects in the complained of the difficulties of the task working class, make immigrants scapegoats German cities demanding authorities provide east have provided a cushion against still "because the eastern people expected a west­ for the economic difficulties, and reinforce more protection for immigrants. Some have greater drops in employment. These projects ern standard of living overnight." the pariah status foreign-born workers have rallied outside immigrants' homes, physi­ as a result of policies practiced by both the cally defending them from the racist attacks. German capitalist class and the former Sta­ Several hundred gathered around a home linist regime in the east. for asylum-seekers in the town of Wenden, New Zealand forums by SWP leader: Mter the latest series of attacks Interior near Cologne, linking arms to protect it Minister Wolfgang Schauble explained that against about 30 jeering rightists. Residents big audiences, lively discussion "large parts of the population are concerned in Detmold began visiting immigrants' about the massive influx of asylum-seekers." homes to offer help. As a gesture of solidarity, BY FRANK EVANS labor movement and the rightist attacks on sponsors of a basketball team in Iserlohn AUCKLAND, New Zealand- Evidence abortion rights in Wichita. announced that all foreigners would be ad­ of the interest in the big events unfolding in Most people, however, wanted to discuss mitted free to the team's next home game, the world was shown by the response to a the broad historical questions posed by the and urged other sports clubs to do _likewise. visit to New Zealand by Jack Barnes, the attempted coup and its defeat in the Soviet A statement issued by novelist Gunther national secretary of the U.S. Socialist Work­ Union. Grass and other. writers and academics Oc­ ers Party. Barnes spoke at Militant Labour In Christchurch, many of those who at­ tober 8 stated, "The vast majority of citizens Forums in Auckland attended by 75 people, tended were young people who had heard of are ashamed that people once again fear and in Wellington and Christchurch where the forum at literature tables featuring Path­ pogroms in Germany." the attendance was 40 and 32 respectively. finder books and the Militant on the univer­ Speaking on "The world capitalist crisis, sity campus. A number of meat packers, Few signs of economic recovery Stalinism, and the fight for socialism," along with an official from the New Zealand Economic production and employment in Barnes's talk provoked a lengthy discussion Meat Workers Union, also came to hear former East Germany have plummeted since period at each of the meetings. Barnes. New International the country was unified one year ago. The In Auckland a number of those attending Barnes's tour stop in Christchurch in­ no. 7WhyU.S. impe­ region's economic output fell by 50 percent were from some of the political currents in cluded appearing on the local television rialism lost the Cold in the year following September 1989, and the city who came to engage in debate on War. What's behind channel and radio. Interviews with him ap­ the accelerating disin­ was expected to have fallen by fully two­ several issues, including Cuba's role in the peared in both daily newspapers. After the tegration of Soviet thirds in the last year. world and whether or not events in the Soviet Union. Why Soviet interview with the Star, the journalist bought . and Eastern Euro­ Out of a total labor force of 8.3 million in · Union represented an advance for working a subscription to the Militant. pean regtmes are in the east, there are now more than 1 million people. permanentcrtsis. $12 The ongoing interest around the political unemployed. In addition, I.6 million are on Others attending described the increasing questions that Barnes raised was shown in a short-time work, paid part of their wages by attacks on the social wage and democratic phone call to the Pathfmder Press bookstore the government although they do not work; and union rights that working people in New in Wellington. The caller had read Barnes's half a million have been forced into early Zealand face. Barnes explained this situation comments in one of the Christchurch papers. retirement; and 26I ,000 are working tempo­ was not unique to New Zealand. Two union­ Previously unaware of the Militant Labour rary public jobs. Even optimistic government ists attending the forum are members of the Forums and the bookshop, he promised to officials expect the unemployment figure to Seafarers Union, currently waging a fight check out both in the near future, to discuss hit 1.5 million by the end of the year. against attempts to crew ships with non­ the ideas that had deeply interested him. Available from bookstores listed on page 16 or At least I 0,000 workers a month continue union labor. from Pathfinder. 410 West St.. New York. NY 10014. Include $3.00 for postage and handling to move to western Germany in search of At the Wellington meeting Barnes fielded Joan Phillips and Brigid Rotherham also for first title, $.50 each additional title. jobs. Working people in the east are also questions on the state of the North American contributed to this report.

10 The Militant October 25, 1991 Officials lead retreat of union in face of rail bosses' offensive Report from Hawaii convention of United Transportation Union

BY NELS J' ANTHONY bers were not part of any wide discussions AND JOE SWANSON or any movement for the election of these HONOLULU- Delegates to the United posts. Rail worker unions had elected their Transportation Union's (UTU) sixth conven­ delegates many months before the national tion met here September 9-20. According to strike. The recall campaign in the BMWE Rail owners' offensive has increased safety hazards, reduced train crews, weakened the union's August UTU News the meeting was mainly organized by a few local and union orgaization, and forced a decline in rail workers' standard of living. was held at the Hilton Hawaiian Hotel be­ middle-level officials following the April cause it is IOOpercent union and U.S.-owned. strike. "industrial peace" touted in some quarters Another way the employers erode The UTU organizes close to II 0,000 rail A small number of rail unionists did orga­ may prove elusive. He reports that many rail safety in their drive for profits is by leav­ workers - conductors, yard and road nize some discussions, meetings, and rallies workers are angry over the settlement and ing over-the-road train crews stranded for brakepersons, and engineers - and bus in a few areas of the oountry leading up to adds that "for all concerned, including the hours on sidings after their 12 hours of drivers in the United States and Canada. the strike, demanding an end to concessions nation as a whole, it had better not tum out work. Rail workers who operate the trains On the first day of the convention UTU to the rail bosses around wages and on-the­ to be a Pyrrhic victory." are on call 24 hours. The Hours of Service president Fred Hardin was voted out of office job conditions. This was the most visible Act (HSA) requires I 0 hours of rest before after 12 years. Tom DuBose, who had been expression of the determination of rail work­ Price paid by unionists working another shift after a rail worker elected assistant president in 1987 defeated ers to wage a fight. This kind of pressure, The "victory" for the rail owners includes has been on duty for 12 hours. The Federal Hardin for the union's top post. combined with workers' experiences on the UTU and BLE members paying more for Railroad Administration (FRA) has inter­ Delegate Brian Lewis, a yard brakeperson job since a concession contract was imposed health insurance, work rule changes that preted the HSA to mean that time waiting on the Union Pacific Railroad from UTU in 1985, was one factor in the top union allow over-the-road crews to do more of the for return transportation to be relieved of Local 1730 in Richmond, California, said the officials decision to call a nationwide strike. industrial and yard switching, and a substan­ duty is "limbo time," time that is neither rank-and-ftle membership has "paid for the More importantly, the employers' offen­ tial increase in the mileage that crews must on- nor off-duty. deviousness" of the last six yearsand with sive has put the officials in a tight spot. Rather travel to receive a day's pay. the election of DuBose there is a chance to than organizing even the pretense of a real For BMWE track repair workers, rail own­ Death on the job get some "unity" in the union. "Unity" was fight, the officials hoped the job action would ers now have the authority to set new work­ These conditions lead to injuries and the central theme of the speeches of the UTU encourage the rail bosses to back off, if only places that put them hundreds of miles away deaths on the job. Recently on the Sante Fe, officials to the convention. Lewis acknowl­ a little. from their homes and where limited facilities a company official explained to some UTU edged that there are no fundamental policy Writing on the outcome of the walkout, for meals and lodging are available; new and BLE workers that there •,vere 50 acci­ differences between DuBose and Hardin in Gus Welty, who has a monthly column in the starting times that have a seven-hour span, dents in 1990 on the Sante Fe Railroad in leading the UTU. rail industry magazine Railway Age, says it an increase from two hours; and eliminating California. Four workers died in these inci­ Hardin is the third incumbent president has been a long time since the railroads and the historic Monday-thru-Friday workweek dents. defeated at recent international conventions unions went to the "mat." He points to the to start the workweek on weekends. Rail workers report on the Chicago North­ of rail workers' unions. Robert Scardelletti 1982 nationwide BLE strike, which lasted For the TCU clerical workers, wages will western that when a worker injured on the defeated Richard Kilroy at the July meeting four days before things got back to "normal" be determined by a "jobs evaluation system" job files a personal injury report, he or she of the Transportation Communication Union after Congressional action. In the 1991 strike, and the rail owners will have the authority must then meet with company officials, who (TCU). The TCU organizes clerical and rail Welty writes, "the speed of Congressional under a national salary plan to put in place a attempt to intimidate the worker into with­ car repair workers. In August, Brotherhood action was mind-blowing." wage rate with 15 grades that bring the rates drawing the report. If the company does not of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) president But for rail union members, who have been in line with workers "outside the industry." "convince" the employee, the worker is then Larry McFather lost his post to Ron McL­ the target of bipartisan Congressional legis­ put into the PAL program. PAL stands for aughlin. A recall campaign was mounted this lation to end rail strikes since World War II, New concession demands "Personal Attention List," which means a past summer against Mac Heming, interna­ it was not "mind-blowing" at all. The ink was barely dry on the "special "company pal" will follow the worker tional president of the Brotherhood of Main­ Congressional legislation last spring in­ board" ruling of July 18 when the rail bosses around at work. This includes the use of tenance of Way Employees (BMWE), the cluded establishing a three-person "special called in the UTU officialdom to demand infrared binoculars at night to catch a worker union that organizes track repair workers. board" to settle matters in dispute between new concessions. Railroads such as the Bur­ breaking some company rule which could Less than 10 percent of the BMWE locals the union and the companies. The board lington Northern, Norfolk and Southern, lead to being fired. seconded the campaign. issued its report July 18 and said it would Sante Fe, Union Pacific, and others want The September/October 1990 issue of the Articles in the big-business media portray take effect July 29 at 12:01 a.m. Instead of further "crew consist" agreements to run Continued on Page 15 these votes as rank-and-ftle rail unionists organizing any actions against their "friends" more trains with two-person crews that sweeping in new "leaders." A September 2 in Congress or the rail bosses between April would allow more stops to pick up and set New York Times piece, entitled "Unions at a 17 and July 29, union officials simply sub­ out cars. The length of trains would be even Loss to Reverse Falling Fortunes of Work­ mitted some 40 requests "for modification longer than under the present contract. ers," argues that rank-and-ftle members are changes" to the January 15 report of Presi­ Union Pacific announced in July it would challenging the established leadership and dential Emergency Board (PEB) 219. The eliminate up to I ,600 workers on train crews. that the presidents of two transportation PEB backed most company concession de­ In August Burlington Northern and the UTU unions went down to defeat because of their mands. Welty points out in the August issue tentatively agreed to reduce the size of train role in settling the April 17 one-day railroad of Railway Age, that the special board denied crews. This brings home the fact that the strike. At that time the officials ordered the each union request. more concessions given the bolder the em­ union membership back to work after Con­ In his August "Lines on Labor" column, ployers become. gress declared the walkout illegal. under the title, "Will management's PEB 219 As the rail union officialdom continues its The fact is that rank-and-ftle union mem- victory prove to be Pyrrhic?" Welty says the course of collaboration with the rail bosses, Trade Unions in the Epoch safety and working conditions worsen. of Imperialist Decay Almost every month the UTU News prints by Leon Trotsky, Karl Marx. Two outstand­ 800 Boston school bus drivers strike an article announcing that one or more UTU ing revolutionary leaders discuss the or BLE member is killed on the job. Engi­ tasks of trade unions under capitalism. BY RUSSELL DAVIS The union demanded a two-year contract neers, conductors, and brakepersons have 156 pp. $13.95 BOSTON -Almost 800 Boston school with a 7 percent raise each year to make up been killed on the Union Pacific, Burlington bus drivers went on strike here September in part for cuts in hours the company began Northern, Norfolk and Southern, and South­ The Eastern Airlines Strike 23. They are members of United Steelwork­ imposing last year. ICBM refused any pay em Pacific in Texas, Montana, Indiana, and by Ernie Mailhot, Judy Stranahan, and ers Local 8751, which is made up of the raise and offered a 10-month contract that Colorado. Workers died from being run over, Jack Barnes. The story of the 22-month drivers and 250 school bus monitors. would expire at the start of summer vacation, from head-on and rear-end collisions, and strike that blocked the building of a prof- reducing the union's ability to bargain. derailments. . itable nonunion Eastern Airlines and The drivers walked out in the face of brought down notorious union-buster concession demands by their employer, In­ As part of the "strike contingency plan" Rail bosses and the government try to Frank Lorenzo. 91 pp. $8.95 City Boston Management (ICBM), which regular city buses have been used to transport blame rail workers for these so-called acci­ runs Boston's school bus system under a $30 students, a move the union points out is a dents and use safety as a way to attack The Changing Face million contract with the city. violation of federal law. About 80 percent of worker's rights. The July 1991 UTU News of U.S. Politics students have been going to school each day. points out that the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court The city government, ICBM, and the big­ by Jack Barnes. Examines the process of business media have waged a vicious cam­ Workers on the picketline seem deter­ of Appeals has ruled that random drug testing building a party of socialist workers in paign against the drivers. They have por­ mined to fight the assault by the city govern­ of railroad workers in safety-sensitive posi­ today's world of imperialist wars and eco­ trayed them as a greedy group of workers ment and the company. One driver pointed tions does not violate the Fourth A­ nomic crisis. 346 pp. $18.95 who make $13 an hour, want a 14 percent out that this is the third strike in the past few mendment's prohibition against unreas­ raise, and are willing to jeopardize the safety years and that everything they have now they onable searches. This is a clear assault on the Teamster Rebellion and education of students, especially the had to fight for. right to privacy. by Farrell Dobbs. The story of the strikes handicapped, to get it. Another worker pointed with pride to the One cause of the accidents are changes and organizing drives in the 1930s that The drivers on the picketline and at the role drivers played in the battle to desegregate in training procedures. Historically, train­ transformed the Teamsters union in Min­ union hall paint a far different picture. They Boston's schools in the 1970s. Each morning, ing to become an engineer included work­ neapolis and the Midwest into a fighting point out that, while drivers make from $10 he said, drivers were issued flak jackets to ing a number of years as an assistant engi­ industrial union movement. I 95 pp. $14.95 to over $13 an hour, most only work 28 hours protect them from the racist mobs armed with neer- called a "fireman"- with an engi­ Visit the Pathfinder bookstore listed on a week. They are not paid for the time be­ bricks and baseball bats used to attack buses neer with many years experience. Today, page 16 or write Pathfinder, 410 West St.. tween their morning and afternoon routes, full of children. One of the leaders of the rail owners put workers through a few New York. NY 10014. Include $3.00 ship­ three months of school vacations, or snow racist mobs was Raymond Aynn, now mayor months of classroom training on train han­ ping and handling for first book. $.50 each days. As a result many make between ofBoston. · dling simulators and a few months more of additional. $12,000 and $15,000 annually. Many drivers The state AFL-CIO adjourned its conven­ on-the-job training with a qualified engi­ are themselves parents of school-age chil­ tion October 3 to rally in support of the neer. They often are then told to run a dren. The majority are Black or Hispanic. drivers. ten-thousand-ton train by themselves.

October 25, 1991 The Militant 11 Land dispute divides Nicaraguan rulers Capitalists charge that president moves too slowly against revolution's legacy

BY SETH GALINSKY or title to their homes. Many Sandinista of­ Divisions are widening within the ruling ficials, though, received large amounts of coalition of Nicaraguan president Violeta land, automobiles, and monies from the Charnorro, which defeated the Sandinista pinata. National Liberation Front at the polls a year and a half ago. UNO seeks to reverse revolution's gains Conflicts between Chamorro and the Na­ The UNO coalition helped make the tional Opposition Union (UNO), the uneasy giveaway into a scandal, concentrating on alliance of 14 parties that promoted her suc­ the haul made by top members of the FSLN. cessful electoral bid last year, come in the They hoped to force a more rapid pace in midst of a deep economic crisis. reversing the gains made by workers and On September 12, President Charnorro peasants during the course of the Sandinista­ vetoed legislation approved with the vote of led revolution, which overthrew the U.S.­ all 52 deputies from UNO. The proposed backed dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza in laws would invalidate land and housing titles 1979. Many capitalists feel Charnorro is granted by the FSLN after it lost the February moving too slowly, charging that the presi­ 1990 elections and prior to Chamorro taking dent has formed a "co-government" with the office in April 1990. FSLN. UNO had pushed the legislation through These capitalists are especially concerned on August 23, over the bitter opposition of with obtaining the return of land that was Sandinista deputies who walked out of the confiscated from them as part of an extensive National Assembly. The assembly has 30 land-reform program during the revolution. days to consider overriding the veto. The confiscations benefited hundreds of The massive distribution of land and hous­ thousands of landless peasants who re­ ing titles, cars, and money by the FSLN ceived land and credit. Many urban dwell­ Militant/Ana Perero government after the election loss is popu­ ers received title or de facto title to homes Rally in 1990. Nicaraguan capitalists hope to push back gains won by working people. larly known by both Sandinista supporters they had been renting from real estate and anti-FSLNers alike as the "pinata." A millionaires or the Somoza government. A pinata is a game where small children take substantial number of factories were also you find a cooperative there or a group of The land issue has been used by some turns trying to break open a candy and gift­ nationalized. armed men," complained former landowner contra leaders to mobilize former soldiers filled globe, hung from a ceiling. Undermining these conquests of working Arjes Sequiera to the Christian Science Mon­ of the mercenary army as part of a political Former Nicaraguan president Daniel Or­ people poses a substantial challenge to the itor. "Or if you do get it, the next day people movement that seeks to push the govern­ tega defended his government's actions in a government. Charnorro aims to defend the come and try to take it over." ment to the right. Many UNO deputies May interview with Envfo, a monthly mag­ interests of the Nicaraguan capitalist class support this strategy. Other former contra Violence in the countryside azine published in Managua. without provoking a social explosion. To do leaders have been given posts in the gov­ "We gave away as many houses as we that she still needs the aid of the FSLN, which Violent fights over land have continued in ernment. could. We gave vehicles to the cooperatives, maintains substantial support among work­ the countryside. Even with the revolutionary One sign of the depth of the divisions is to the transport workers, to our functionaries, ing people. The Sandinista Front sees itself agrarian reform, at the time of the 1990 the emergence of a small group of 500-1,000 to the popular sectors," Ortega said. "We as a loyal opposition to Charnorro. elections some 60,000 peasant families were contras who have once again taken up arms. gave all the money we could to the families A government commission set up by still landless. The demand for land has in­ Known as "re-contras" they attacked a police of war casualties and veterans." Charnorro had received 6,500 claims from creased with the return to civilian life of station in Quilalf in northern Nicaragua July "We gave away everything we could, and owners asking for the return of confiscated former members of the U.S.-backed and fi­ 26. They are demanding the breakup of the in that way protected an important sector of property. About I ,000 owners have received nanced contra forces, mostly of peasant ori­ army; a general purging of the police; the the population and an important sector of the certificates authorizing return of properties; gin, and reductions in the size of the Nicara­ removal of Antonio Lacayo, Charnorro's Sandinista membership." but as of June 1991 only 300 have been able guan army. In the first five months of 1991, chief minister; and the ouster of Humberto Through the measures thousands of work­ to take possession. 50 FSLN supporters and 60 former contras Ortega, head of the army since 1979. Ortega ing-class families received small plots ofland "Often you go to get your property and were killed in land disputes. remains as army chief as part of agreements reached last year between the FSLN and Charnorro to ensure a "peaceful transition" to the new government. Socialists run oil worker for Houston mayor Lacayo complained to the press in Sep­ tember that the U.S. government "has been BY JERRY FREIWIRTH Reid has campaigned to defend and extend paign says. "More police will only mean reticent" to aid the Nicaraguan government HOUSTON -The Socialist Workers affirmative action. "As long as the bosses can more beatings and more shootings of in disarming the re-contras. candidate for mayor of Houston, Willie Mae deny jobs to some workers because we are working-class youth. That's the last thing FSLN proposes more ex-contra police Reid, filed nomination petitions containing Black, Chicano, Asian-American, foreign­ we need." more than 2,300 signatures September 19, born or female, they can keep us divided and Willie Mae Reid and her running mate, The FSLN has proposed defusing the con­ well over the I ,400 required to appear on the weaken our ability to protect jobs, wages, and Steve Warren, Socialist Workers candidate flicts by integrating more former contras into ballot. working conditions for all workers," she ex­ for city controller, made available to the press the police force. Her filing gathered considerable media plains. a fact sheet outlining a significant attack on Both the FSLN and the Charnorro forces attention. An article in the Houston Chronicle their right to campaign. A campaign volun­ have called for disarming Sandinista sup­ began: "The 'other' candidate in the Houston Crime and big business teer petitioning to place Reid on the ballot porters and former contras to bring "stabil­ mayor's race is a socialist refinery worker The big-business media of Houston has was cited by the police for "distribution of ity" to the countryside. Barricada, a daily who says creating jobs for the working class been filled ·in recent weeks with stories commercial handbills" and "blocking" a city paper run by the FSLN, has given prominent is the No. I issue- not crime. about a crime "epidemic." The other three sidewalk with a table. play to former contras who back the call for "Willie Mae Reid, 52, was the only can­ candidates for mayor have made increased The fact sheet explains that this attack on stability and disarmament. didate to file on the Nov. 5 ballot Monday spending for police their central campaign free speech by the police, if allowed to stand, In a further concession, FSLN-led unions besides the better known contenders: incum­ plank. Reid and her supporters take on this threatens the rights of all, not only those of agreed to accept the return of state-owned bent Kathy Whitmire, attorney and state law­ question as they campaign throughout the the Socialist Workers campaign. coffee farms and cotton plantations to private maker Sylvester Turner and real estate de­ city. Crime is quite real in Houston, Reid The local chapter of the American Civil owners as long as union rights and workers' veloper Bob Lanier. explains, but most of it is connected to and Liberties Union has agreed to provide legal "participation" are guaranteed. "While the others paid $1 ,250 fees, Reid fostered by organized crime, which is just representation. Messages of protest can be General Ortega, in an interview with the chose to present the signatures of more than one component of big-business operations sent to: Police Chief Elizabeth Watson, 61 pro-FSLN daily El Nuevo Diario, pledged 2,000 voters on a candidacy petition." in Houston. The Houston police are no Riesner St., Houston, TX, 77002; send copies continued army backing for the Charnorro Reid's campaign was also covered on the solution to this problem; in fact, they are to the Socialist Workers campaign, 4806 Al­ regime. The army is the "main pillar" of the major radio stations and campus newspapers. an integral part of the problem, her cam- meda, Houston, TX 77004. regime running the government, Ortega said, The Houston Post, the other major daily, "regardless of what kind of governments may scheduled an interview with Reid and re­ follow- center, left-wing, or right-wing." quests for speaking engagements are pouring According to Ortega, the Nicaraguan army into her campaign headquarters. is now the smallest in Central America, with At the time of filing her petitions, Reid 21,000 troops, down from 75,000. This re­ explained that the signatures had been col­ duction, he said, will allow the pay of pro­ lected in half the time originally expected. fessional soldiers to be substantially in­ "That's because the response to the Socialist creased. Workers campaign, to a worker running for While Washington backed Charnorro's mayor, was so positive. Everywhere we went election, it has been slow in providing sub­ - shopping centers, parks, factories, and stantial economic aid. college campuses- campaign volunteers In early September the Charnorro regime found widespread willingness to place a so­ said it would pay $320 million in back debt cialist worker on the ballot and a desire to owed to the World Bank and the Inter-Amer­ talk about the issues being raised in this ican Development Bank (lAD). The funds campaign." for the payment carne from donations and Despite the supposed economic recovery, loans by more than 15 countries including layoffs have begun to hit hard in Houston. the United States. But this clears the way for Major oil and electronics companies have access to new loans of only $440 million slashed jobs. Tottering Continental Airlines, from the World Bank, lAD, and the Interna­ whose· headquarters is in Houston, just an­ tional Monetary Fund. nounced a new round of drastic job cuts. Reid On September 25, Washington "forgave" has called for the union movement to mount a $259.5 million of Nicaragua's debt. This still campaign for a shorter workweek with no cut leaves the country with a foreign debt of in pay as the most effective way to fight for Militant/Dave Wulp about $9 billion, most of it accumulated jobs for all. Willie Mae Reid, Socialist \\brkers Party candidate for mayor of Houston. during the Somoza era.

12 The Militant October 25, 1991 Imperialist powers discuss Soviet crisis

BY GREG McCARTAN inflation, and lift most price controls. One example of the frictions and economic citizenship. The economic and political crisis in the The officials admit, though, that the ex­ warfare between the republics is the After the attempted coup in the Kremlin Soviet Union dominated the Group of Seven plosive social protests engendered by such Ukraine's decision to stop sending coal to last August, a series of demonstrations broke meeting held in Bangkok, Thailand, October moves would prevent taking many steps in Russia. Ukrainian officials claim supplies out in Georgia. Georgian police opened fire 13. that direction. might run short for what is needed in that on demonstrators and the government, fear­ Representatives of the seven biggest im­ republic. In retaliation the Russian govern­ ing more widespread protests, indefinitely perialist powers heard Soviet officials ex­ Economic treaty ment stopped sending the Ukraine the postponed university terms. plain they could not meet $5 billion in foreign The Bangkok meeting came as the heads wooden studs miners need underground to Gamsakhurdia imposed a state of emer­ debt obligations by the end of the year. Also, of various Soviet republics and Moscow expand the mines. gency September 25 but admitted he could they said, the country's gold reserves stand tried to fashion a new union preserving the Protests and military battles erupted in the do little to stop the demonstrations calling at $3 billion, one-fifth of what Washington privileged social position and economic Georgian republic in late September. Rebel for an end to his authoritarian rule. and others had estimated. well-being of the bureaucratic stratum that national guardsmen, siding with mass pro­ In the republic of Tadzhikistan, thousands Described as "extraordinary" in the big­ runs the country while trying to keep in­ tests, clashed with units loyal to President have set up camp in the capital, demanding business media, the meeting reflected the fact dependent action by working people in Zviad Gamsakhurdia. the resignation of the parliament. Protests that, rather than a boon, the crisis of the check. Putting together such a new setup Elected by a big majority lasi spring by following the coup forced out President out of the old Soviet Union is proving a Stalinist regime in Moscow is becoming an posing as a champion of Georgian national Kakhar Makhamov because of his delay in economic burden for imperialism. tall order, because no wing of the bureau­ rights, Garnsakhurdia quickly turned his fire condemning the attempted takeover. cracy has a solution to the downward eco­ The seven powers - Britain, Canada, against the population. He declared only But the Stalinist government there re­ nomic spiral. Instead they compete for Germany; France, Italy, Japan, and the United those who could trace their ancestry in Geor­ mained largely intact and ousted the new control of the largest share of the wealth States - said they came to agreement on gia back two centuries would be eligible for president on September 23. some form of debt relief and discussed other produced by working people. possible short-term aid. The regime dominated by Soviet president One example of how the Soviet crisis has Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin, pres­ sharpened conflicts between the major im­ ident of the Russian republic, are pressing perialist governments is a blunt statement the republics to adopt an economic treaty and Living conditions deteriorate prior to the Group of Seven meeting by refurbish the police apparatus in order to European Community officials. They told the quell social protests. at Anamosa prison in Iowa governments of Canada, Japan, and the Top officials of most republics announced October 11 they would sign such a pact, but United States to contribute more funds to a BY MARK CURTIS Even though Blacks make up a small fraction many -including in Russia- are drag­ $7 billion Soviet food aid package. "Burden ANAMOSA- I've been backatthelowa of Iowa's population, nearly half the prison­ ging their feet to try to get the best bargain sharing is important," said the EC's top fi­ Men's Reformatory in Anamosa for several ers are Black. I've also noticed a big increase in the deal. Some in less powerful republics nance official, Henning Christophersen. months now. I previously spent a year and a in the number of prisoners who are Native fear the treaty might give Russia a dominant A dispute has also erupted over Soviet halfhere before being sent to the John Bennett American, Latino, and Asian. position in a new union. membership in the International Monetary Correctional Center in Fort Madison, Iowa. At a recent meeting of the Iowa Board of Yeltsin 'sown cabinet and parliament have Fund (IMF). The German government has Since coming back to Anamosa, I couldn't Corrections, Warden John Thalacker said he pressed for admitting the Soviets because been debating how much benefit the treaty is preparing to cut half a million dollars from would bring the bureaucratic rulers situated banks in that country have extended massive next year's prison budget as part of helping in Russia. Their Russian chauvinism has not loans to Moscow. They hope new loans from to solve the state's fiscal crisis. The warden calmed the worries of their counterparts in BEHIND the IMF will be used to pay off the German called his proposal a "bare bones" budget credits. Washington, on the other hand, other republics. . PRISON and said that the cuts would come from backed only "associate" membership, mak­ Grigory Yavlinsky, deputy chairman of the meals, equipment, and repair materials. ing only technical assistance available to Soviet economic management committee, WALLS As the prison population increases, living Moscow through the IMF. told the Russian parliament not to worry conditions here deteriorate. In response to Washington won out, and the Soviets were because the republic's size and economic overcrowding a< the prison, the administra­ admitted with special association status Oc­ resources would insure it would always dom­ help but notice some of the changes that have tion implemented a policy placing all new tober 5. Under the agreement IMF officials inate the rest of the country. taken place here at Iowa's largest prison. prisoners in an "on-call" status for at least 30 will "advise" the Soviets on combating high Russian state secretary Gennadi Burbulis The prison population continues to grow, days. These inmates are locked in their cells inflation, setting up a private banking system, warned parliament that the republic is the currently exceeding I ,300 inmates. The ma­ most of the time and not allowed to work. and gathering economic data. rightful successor to the central regime in jority live in overcrowded conditions with Prisoners must find a prison job in order to IMF and World Bank officials advising Moscow and should be the negotiator of any two men living in cells designed for one. get out of this restrictive setup. Moscow say the government should privatize new agreements. One legislator said other Iowa is no different from other state and But the jobs here are scarce and hard to industry and farms, cut an estimated 300-bil­ republics were pursuing "banditry" and federal prisons as far as overcrowding goes. find. Many prisoners are now working only lion-ruble budget deficit in order to curb "milking" Russia. part-time, receiving only half the pay of full-time workers. I recently started working in the kitchen delivering food to inmates who are locked in Sexual harassment and Thomas nomination their cells because of disciplinary reports. Some things here haven't changed very Continued from front page much. The prison administration continues dents for fear of losing their jobs. to narrow our elbow room when it comes to An October 9 New York Times/CBS poll democratic rights. Almost three years ago, revealed that only 10 percent of women hundreds of supporters of democratic rights sexually harassed by supervisors reported the joined me in successfully fighting the prison incident at the time. officials' decision to prevent me from receiv­ When complaints are filed it is rare that ing a Spanish-English dictionary and other anything is done about them. The EEOC fi led books and materials in Spanish. suit in only 50 of 5,694 sexual harassment However, just a few weeks ago, a friend complaints it received in 1990. was denied a German-English dictionary on As the hearings drew to a close, Thomas's the grounds that it was a foreign language backers attempted to discredit Hill's integrity. book. Only after he protested to Department Sen. Orrin Hatch accused Hill of concocting of Corrections' officials and signed up for an her story with details borrowed from a sexual educational program in German was he al­ harassment case in federal court and from The lowed to have the book. EXIJrcist, a novel about satanic possession. A friend of mine who is Native American Hatch said that Hill's accusations were also recently returned to the Anamosa Refor­ "crude" and "outrageous" and that she was matory. When he was here before he took in collusion with Thomas's opponents who Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas with U.S. president George Bush part in the fight to get a sweat lodge for cooked up a scheme to discredit him. Sen. religious worship. He is currently fighting a Arlen Specter accused Hill of perjury. life sentence on murder charges. Since com­ favor of requiring prayer in public schools, accused Thomas's opponents of "trying to Four witnesses, though, including some ing back, he has been banned from the sweat and had praised an article casting abortion as defeat a distinguished black American from former associates of Hill's at the EEOC, lodge by the administration who claims that immoral. Thomas is a firm supporter of the sitting on the Supreme Court." testified that she had told them ofthe sexual the Native American religion denies this right death penalty. harassment long before Thomas was nomi­ The Bush administration has stood firmly to those who "have blood on their hands." Many in the ruling class share Thomas's nated to the Supreme Court. Hill had ex­ behind Thomas. Other Native American men here reject this view that the public debate on sexual harass­ plained in 1987 that harassment by Thomas "Judge Thomas has once again demon­ argument and say that the administration has ment, which has gripped working people's was the reason she quit the EEOC, said Joel strated the qualities of determination, sensi­ no right to make such a decision. attention, is against their interests. Paul, one of the witnesses. tivity and leadership that make him an out­ None of these restrictions, however, are From the beginning of the hearings, "It has been a good week for Washington's standing nominee for the Supreme Court," stopping prisoners from discussing the big Thomas strongly objected to discussing in reputation assassins," said an October 9 Wall declared a White House statement October political issues of the day. I recently spoke public the accusations of sexual harassment Street Journal editorial. "Clarence Thomas, 13. with some friends about the actions taking on the job. He said he had been "drawn and on the doorstep of the Supreme Court, has In fact, both Democratic and Republican place against women's right to choose abor­ dragged" into a national forum to debate been pulled down by a Washington establish­ politicians attempted initially to shove Hill's tion. Two of them agreed that abortion should charges that "should have been discussed in ment determined to make him understand accusations under the rug. Opponents and be legal and that it must be up to the woman a confidential way." Thomas directed his fire that conservatism in that town carries a cost," supporters of Thomas in the Judiciary Com­ to decide. One of them told me that he at the Senate for deciding to hold the hear­ it continued. mittee refused to even hint at Hill's charges recently argued this issue with his mother ings. "You are ruining the country," he told Thomas and his supporters also sought until they were made public. The task proved who had changed her position to that of the Judiciary Committee October 11 . to portray the accusations against him as beyond their reach. opposing abortion rights after seeing an an­ This is consistent with the rest of Thomas's racist. Hill's charges played "into the most The debate on sexual harassment that tiabortion fi lm while at work. right-wing views. As head of the EEOC bigoted, racist stereotypes that any Black erupted around Thomas's nomination Discussions like these, and others about Thomas had campaigned against affirmative man wi ll face," Thomas said. His support­ shows that the fight for women's ri ghts is South Africa, the Soviet Union, and Cuba action. In the past the Supreme Court nom­ ers have used the hype around his back­ alive. The Democratic and Republican have increased interest in political newspa­ inee had expressed criticisms of the Brown ground and the fact that he is Black to party politicians, who tried to sweep this pers like the Militant. Several guys here v. Board of Education Supreme Court case, help him gain wider legitimacy in bour­ issue under the rug, have found that tens recently subscribed or resubscribed to the a ruling which provided the legal basis for geois public opinion. of millions don't want women's rights to Militant, and are considering getting some of desegregation. He had also taken a stance in The October 9 Wall Street Journal editorial be pushed back. Pathfinder's books and pamphlets.

O ctober 25, 1991 T he Militant 13 Palestinian union details repression

Information in this article is based on areas during the U.S.-led war against Iraq. a report by the General Federation of "A total curfew was imposed on all oc­ Trade Unions (GFTU) submitted in Au­ cupied Palestine for forty days" during the gust to a conference ofthe nongovernmen­ war, the GFfU report says, "thus our work­ tal organizations at the United Nations. ers lost their source of living." Most of the It was sent in a letter to the Militant by 120,000 workers from the West Bank, who Sami Samaan, a GFTU leader from Ra­ used to work in Israel before the war, were mallah, West Bank. The GFTU, based in prohibited from going to their jobs. While Nablus, organizes about 120,000 Pales­ some have regained employment since the tinian workers, mostly in the West Bank. war ended last spring, attacks on the Pales­ tinian workers have continued. BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS Unemployment among the Palestinian "We would like to remind our friends labor force stands at 59 percent according that we are struggling against the most to the report. fierce and dangerous form of colonialism," Since the beginning of the Palestinian says the GFfU report. "Its strategic aim is revolt known as the intifada in 1987, many Palestinians in the occupied territories continue to face harassment and arrest by to uproot us from our beloved national in the Israeli ruling class have been calling Israeli soldiers. Active unionists have recently been deported or assassinated. homeland." for replacing Palestinians with immigrant Some 1.7 million Palestinians live in the workers. The recent influx of Soviet Jews West Bank and Gaza strip, territories into Israel opened the possibility ofreversing jobs in Israel face severe discrimination While most Israeli citizens pay a similar seized by Israel in the 1967 war. · the trend of reliance on Palestinian labor. from "the Israeli employers and the Hista­ percentage in taxes, Palestinian workers The number of Palestinian workers from Workers who lost their jobs in Israel drut," the report says. Histadrut, the only are not entitled to unemployment insur­ the West Bank and Gaza with jobs in Israel cannot find new jobs in the occupied terri­ trade union federation in Israel, is also one ance, vacation pay, or retirement bene­ grew from about 5,000 in 1968 to more than tories because "numerous military orders of the country's largest employers. fits. 180,000 in 1990. These workers were used and a very strict taxation policy" have These workers get the hardest jobs and Individuals in the GFfU are "exposed to as a cheap labor force for Israeli capitalists. forced many Palestinian-owned businesses are paid the lowest wages. In addition, 32 harassment like administrative arrests and The union's document details the severe to close down. to 40 percent of their slim income is with­ jailing for long terms," the report says. blows dealt to Palestinians living in these The few Palestinians who have kept their held by the government for various taxes. Sami Samaan spent eight years in Israeli jails for union activities. Many active unionists have been recently deported or assassinated. Party-Building Fund rallies to boost drive Palestinians in the occupied territories are subjected to harassment and arrests BY ESTELLE DeBATES to be sent to the fund in each of the next colmX Speaks). A new edition, in book form under a complicated system of identity Supporters in several cities are moving three weeks to be on schedule by Novem­ with expanded contents, is now in the works. cards. closer to being on schedule in the $150,000 ber 1. This is an average weekly increase of Work is also under way to publish a new According to the GFfU report, 53 per­ Socialist Workers 1991 Party-Building $3,400 over the amount received last week. edition, also as a book, of Ernesto Che cent of the land in the West Bank, and 42 Fund drive. The funds are needed now to Supporters in Greensboro took a big step Guevara'sSocialismandMan in Cuba. This percent in Gaza, has been confiscated by help finance the activities carried out by the forward thi s week, providing an example as edition will include an article by Che on the Israeli authorities since 1967. communist movement. The Party-Building to what can be done around the country. budgetary finance system and a 1964 speech "Our peasants are prohibited from Fund rallies in more than a dozen cities Marty Boyers, the local fund director, re­ to trade unionists on voluntary labor. planting trees on their land without per­ over the next two weekends provide a tar- · ports a campaign to collect all outstanding Clark reports that Pathfinder will also mission from the military governor," the get date for supporters in each area to get pledges is well under way, and that support­ publish in Spanish Leon Trotsky's The report continues. These permits are most on schedule, closing the 13 percent lag in ers there decided to raise their goal. They Revolution Betrayed, which has been out of often denied. Israeli authorities control the drive. While contributions rose slighty are also looking to the opportunities to win print for the past decade. The work is a water resources as well. Meters are in­ this week they are far from what is needed new contributors by building for a fund rally study of the Soviet Union's bureaucratic stalled on water pumps which are checked to be current by early November. on October 26. A mailing for the meeting degeneration under Joseph Stalin and de­ regularly. "They give each water meter Fund contributors in each city are en­ included a cover letter explaining what the scribes the roots of the social and political one hour weekly . .. which leads to the de­ couraged to figure out how they can be a fund is used for and a promotion for theNew crisis shaking the Soviet Union today. struction of thousands of acres of agricul­ part of this ambitious goal: $15,400 needs International magazine. (Next week's chart Contributions to the Party-Building Fund tural land," report the Palestinian will reflect new figures for cities that have help get these kinds of materials into the unionists. decided to raise their goals.) hands of revolutionary-minded workers and Palestinian workers have no choice but to resist the occupation. "We insist on an Contributions to the fund come from youth around the world. Send your contri­ independent Palestinian state," the report supporters in many cities that are not listed butions in today to help get the drive on concludes. on the chart. The fund has received two schedule and ove~ the top by December 15! contributions from a retired railworker in Hutchinson, Kansas. "I have always been active in union activities," he writes. "I Report shows deep U.S. health crisis can't do much any more ... but I pass the Militant around and talk up the need for a BY DEREK BRACEY The Children's Defense Fund points out change." Supporters in San Diego decided Millions of children's ability to study that Medicaid does not provide enough to join the scoreboard this week, adopting a and learn in school is impaired by their lack money for preventive care. While a basic goal of $2,000. of adequate health care. Across the United baby checkup costs a pediatrician $35, most Getting revolutionary literature into the States, children have their access to health Medicaid programs only reimburse $15. hands of fighters around the world today is care denied by poverty. The National Center on Health Statistics a central purpose of the fund and an essential Nearly one fourth of pregnant women in contribution to building the communist states that 12 percent of U.S. children have the United States and almost 40 percent of no routine medical care. movement worldwide. The books and pam­ Black women get no prenatal care in the first phlets produced by Pathfinder Press provide three months of pregnancy. These figures by the Children's Defense Fund reveal a situa­ tion that results in serious health and educa­ CALENDAR 1991 Party-Building Fund tional complications for the very young. Collected: Goal: In addition to infant mortality, a result of ALABAMA Birmingham $50,955.86 $150,000 this lack of health care is a high incidence of low birth-weight babies. The United Photo Show of the Pathfinder Mural. In coop­ eration with Operation New Birmingham's Oc­ States ranks 26th in the world, behind tober Artwalk. Video and live music. Fri., Oct. countries like Bulgaria, in the percentage 18, 6:30 p.m.-9:00p.m. 111 21st St. S. Dona­ of babies weighing less than 5.5 pounds. tion: $3. Tel: (205) 323-3079. Nearly 7 percent of all U.S. children, and the history of working-class struggle, in­ 13 percent of Black children, are born un­ CALIFORNIA cluding the writings and speeches of its derweight. These low-weight babies are San Francisco leaders. much more likely to develop learning prob­ Cuba at a Crossroads. Speaker: Jose Antonio The response to Pathfinder's latest publi­ lems, the study says. Arbesu, Chief of the Cuban Interests Section in cation, How Far We Slaves Have Come!, Many other children have learning prob­ Washington, D.C. Thurs., Nov. 14. World Af­ indicates the hunger workers and youth lems not caused by prenatal damage but by fairs Council, 312 Sutter St. Reception, 5 p.m.; have for such literature. Pathfinder edito­ program, 5:45 p.m. Donation: $6 for members, conditions occurring in early childhood, $9 for non-members. Sat., Nov. 16. First Unitar­ rial director Steve Clark, reports that the like lead poisoning or untreated ear infec­ ian Church, 1187 Franklin St, 7 p.m. Donation: staff at Pathfinder is busy with several pro­ tions. $5-$10 sliding scale. Sponsor: Global Ex­ jects that will soon be added to the work­ Professor Lucile Newman of Brown change. Co-sponsors: World Affairs Council, ing-class arsenal of books and pamphlets. University says that approximately 12 per­ Commonwealth Club of California; Hands Off Next spring, the first volume of the col­ cent of U.S. children suffer from problems Cuba Coalition, Venceremos Brigade. lected works of Malcolm X will be pub­ that hamper learning by the time they are lished. It will feature speeches from Febru­ ready to start school. NEW YORK ary 1965, the last month of Malcolm's life. Newman estimates that 14 million chil­ Manhattan Pathfinder has ambitious plans to ex­ dren are affected by lead poisoning, which Ansar. A play about one man's struggle to sur­ I pledge: $1000 __ $500 vive the conditions of a military detention camp __ $250 __ $100 $ Other to pand the publications it offers in the Span­ lowers intelligence, causes speech and in the Israeli Negev desert. Wed. and Thurs., the Socialist Workers Party-Building Fund. ish language. hearing problems, and behavior disorders. Oct 23, 24, 8 p.m. The Triplex Theater 2, Bor­ Send checks or money orders to Socialist For a few years now, the publisher has Lead is commonly found in poor neighbor­ ough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Workers 1991 Party-Building Fund, 410 made works by Malcolm X available in a hoods where older dwellings are more Chambers St. Tickets: $20, $10 (student/low West St. , New York, NY 10014. Spanish pamphlet Habla Malcolm X (Mal- likely to have lead paint. income).

14 The Militant October 25, 1991 UN extends violation of Iraq sovereignty

BY SETH GALINSKY unprecedented magnitude, by the collapse of A resolution before the United Nations the structures that sustain life in today's Security Council would impose new restric­ human societies." tions requiring the Iraqi government to report In his report, Sadruddin said that the "in­ on a range of scientific and industrial activity sidious effects" of the war and the embargo and provide detailed lists of machinery, "are leading to the gradual but inexorable chemicals, and other materials that could be collapse of essential services, leading to the used to develop weapons. risk of a humanitarian crisis whose eventual The latest move in the Security Cooocil, dimensions would dwarf today's difficul­ at the insistence of Washington and its allies, ties." comes on top of flagrant violations of Iraqi The sanctions are taking "an unfortunately sovereignty by a team of UN inspectors who harmful toll upon" the Kurdish people, the are investigating Iraq's attempts to develop report noted. The British Guardian wrote nuclear weapons. The UN team removed September 11 that there are still an estimated documents from a building in Baghdad, in­ 600,000 Kurds camped in the mountainous cluding the personnel files of Iraqi scientists. borders with Turkey and Iran. After a four-day standoff in late Septem­ Sadruddin recommended that some of the ber, when the team was detained by Iraqi restrictions on Iraq be loosened to avoid a soldiers in the building's parking lot, health catastrophe. Baghdad gave in and allowed the UN inspec­ But ignoring the July report, the UN Se­ tors to remove the documents. The United Malnourished child in Baghdad hospital, one victim of continued embargo of country. curity Council continues to insist that Iraq Nations agreed to provide copies of the doc­ may not sell oil, unless it deposits all the umentation they removed to the Iraqi gov­ money from the sales into a UN account, and ernment. flights, U.S. president George Bush threat­ general, after a mission to Iraq, noted that the even then most of the money would be The council has also insisted that it has the ened to send in warplanes to protect the aftermath of the war against Iraq was "the off-limits to the Iraqis. All purchases of food, right to use helicopters to travel anywhere in helicopters. untold loss of life and destruction ... com­ medicine, and other basic necessities would Iraq to investigate weapons sites. When A July 17 report by Prince Sadruddin Aga pounded by massive displacements of ill-pre­ have to be approved by a Security Council Baghdad balked at allowing the unrestricted Khan, executive delegate of the secretary- pared populations, by ecological disasters of committee. In a related development, renewed fight­ ing broke out between Kurdish guerrillas and the Iraqi army. Hundreds of casualties were County sheriffs under court scrutiny reported in the first week of October after the Iraqi army launched a surprise attack on BY HARRY RING specified the Lynwood station. But after re­ nose. He added that the jury was sympathetic Sulaimaniya, which is under the control of LOS ANGELES -With the spotlight on viewing the evidence submitted, Judge Hat­ to the Larez family because they were "all Kurdish groups. four recent killings by Los Angeles County ter ruled the entire sheriff's department cleaned up" for the trial. He repeated the Sixty unarmed Iraqi soldiers who were sheriff's deputies; a federal judge issued an should be enjoined. slander about family's alleged gang ties. captured during the fighting were shot point­ blank and killed by the guerrillas. Massoud injunction requiring that each month the Separately, Police Chief Daryl Gates won Now, the federal appeals court has upheld Barzani, leader of the Kurdish Democratic sheriff's department provide the court with what may prove to be a thorny court victory. the $90,000 award against the six cops but Party, later condemned the killings. copies of all citizens' complaints of brutality In 1986, six cops smashed into the home of ordered a new trial for Gates. Thousands of Iraqi troops have surren­ by deputies. Jessie Larez. They claimed they suspected The court held that from a legal point of dered to the Kurdish forces during the last The injunction, issued by U.S. district Larez's son was a gang member and that a gun view, the trial judge had erred in his handling judge Terry Hatter, also stipulated that the used in a killing might be found in the house. week, many of whom say they fear ~etribu­ of Gates' press statements, but upheld the tion by Saddam Hussein if they go horne. sheriff's department follow its own rules on The cops brutalized the entire family and right of the plaintiffs to use these statements the use of "excessive" force. The Kurds have also faced attacks at the trashed the house. Jessie Larez was badly in a new trial. hands of the Turkish army. Claiming they A federal appeals court quickly issued a beaten, suffering knee and neck injuries and Stephen Yagman, attorney for the Larez temporary restraining order blocking en­ were moving against bases of the Kurdish a broken nose. family, predicted that in a new trial, held in Workers Party, a group fighting for an inde­ forcement of the injunction until it holds a Outraged by what he and his family suf­ the wake of the Rodney King beating, an formal hearing on the issue in early December. pendent Kurdistan in southeast Turkey, the fered, Larez sued the police. A jury issued a even bigger damage award could be won Turkish military conducted 92 raids with Meanwhile, Los Angeles County district $90,000 damage award against the six cops against the police chief. fighter bombers and helicopter gunships attorney Ira Reiner said a grand jury would and added $170,000 in punitive damages Meanwhile, a team of investigators from against refugee camps inside northern Iraq probe the four recent killings by deputies. He against Police Chief Gates. Amnesty International, the London-based in August. stopped short of saying he would ask for After the initial judgment against the cops, human rights organization, spent a week here Neither Washington or its allies have con­ indictments. But it was unexpected that Gates had told reporters that Larez was investigating brutality charges against both demned the Turkish or Iraqi military actions Reiner even asked the grand jury to probe "probably lucky" he only suffered a broken the police and sheriff's department. against the Kurds. the killings of two Blacks and two Latinos. The district attorney's office collaborates closely with the city police and the county sheriff's department, and has shown no in­ Officials lead union retreat in face of boss offensive clination to prosecute killer cops. Continued from Page 11 number of accidents involving hazardous the ranks that more phone calls and 'letters to The injunction against the sheriff's depart­ BMWE Journal reports the General Account­ material has increased by 62 percent in the Congress and voting for "friends of labor" ment, now on hold, stemmed from a class ing Office (GAO) concluded that the FRA last 10 years. Jones added that not all these in the Democratic and Republican parties is action suit filed by more than 70 people in rail safety inspection program is so flawed accidents have been reported by the carriers the only way to be politically active and Lynwood, a Los Angeles County town po­ that the government cannot guarantee the and that the railroads have closed down most defend the interests of working people. In liced by the sheriff's department. Lynwood's safety of the nation's rail system. repair shops that maintain the equipment for 1987 the UTU convention adopted a number population is mainly Black and Latino. The GAO study is the third in a series of purely economic reasons. of resolutions on the need for manned ca­ The plaintiffs charged "systematic acts of reports that has found severe defects in the A big majority of the time spent in booses when hazardous materials were in the shooting, killing, brutality, terrorism, house­ FRA's safety inspection, hazardous material session by delegates to the UTU conven­ train, for prevention of harassment of mem­ trashing and other acts of lawlessness" by the transportation, and reporting of accident data. tion was focused on the election of the bers who report safety violations, and for cops. Of the nation's 500 railroads the GAO re­ union's top 45 officers. Only in the last calling whatever action is necessary, includ­ At the time the suit was filed, Darren ported that in 1989, 6 percent had no safety few hours of the convention was there any ing strikes against the rail companies, to back Thomas, one of the plaintiffs, showed the inspection at all; 15 percent had no track motion or discussion from the delegates in up rail workers who refuse to endanger them­ media a photo taken after deputies kicked inspection; 30 percent had no equipment relation to advancing some democracy in selves on the job. But no steps were taken two of his teeth out. He said he and three inspection; and 34 percent had no inspection the interests of the rank and file. A pro­ by the officials toward these goals. , members of his family were jailed for drink­ of operating practices. posal was made that the membership have Rank-and-file rail union members have a ing beer in their front yard. In July, two railroad disasters resulting a referendum vote to elect the top officials, big responsibility and a number ofchalle nges When he questioned the cops, Thomas was from derailments on the Southern Pacific in including the president. Brian Lewis ex­ ahead to be able to transform our unions into choked unconscious, then revived with a stun California did incalculable damage to the plained that some delegates spoke against fighting instruments that can advance the gun and brutally beaten. envirorunent and threatened the lives of hun­ it, arguing in effect that the rank and file struggles of rail workers and champion the Sergio Sanchez, a Lynwood factory work­ dreds of people. The rail unions pointed out were unable to really know who is the best interests of all working people. er, charged that deputies clubbed him from that these disasters could have been avoided choice to lead the union. The measure was behind while he attended a wedding and then if the trains had had the equipment they voted down by a big majority. Nels J'Anthony is an Amtrak passenger smashed his face against a curb. needed , such as a caboose and helper engines From the convention proceedings and the brakeperson and member ofUTU Locall416 Marianne English, whose 15-year-old son and full crews staffing them. overall course of the officials, it is clear they based in Salt Lake-City, Utah. Joe Swanson was killed by deputies, displayed a photo Larry Hatfield, a reporter from the San have no intention of using the power of the is a switchperson on the Sante Fe and mem­ showing the bullet wounds in his back. Francisco Examiner, said on a cable TV talk union to fight the offensive by the rail bosses ber of UTU Local 1730 in Richmond, Cali­ The suit's request for an injunction had show called "Labor on the Job" that the and the goverrunent. They continue to tell fornia.

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE STATEMENT OF OWN­ York, NY 10014. Editor: Greg McCartan, 410 West St., amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities: Anchor agents: 10. G. Total (sumofE, F l and 2 - should equal ERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION New York, NY 10014. Managing editor: none. Foundation, 410 West St, New York, NY 10014; Jack net press run shown in A): 10,945. (Required by 39 u.s.c. 3685) 7. Owner (If owned by a corporation, its name and Barnes, 406 West St, New York, NY 10014; G. Craig Actual no. copies of issue published nearest to filing 1A. Title of publication: The Militant. 1B- Publica­ address must be stated and also immediately thereunder Gannon, 410 West St., New York, NY 10014; Mary­ date. A. Total no. copies (net press run): 9,588. B. Paid tion No. 349040, the names and addresses of stockholders owning or Alice Waters, 410 West St., New York, NY 10014. and/or requested circulation: (I) Sales through dealers 2. Date of filing: Sept. 30, 1991. holding I percent or more of total amount of stock. If 9. For completion by nonprofit organizations author­ and carriers, street vendors, and counter sales: 5,067. 3. Frequency of issue: Published weekly except for not owned by a corporation, the names and addresses ized to mail at special rates (DMM Section 423.12 (2) Mail subscription: 2,623. C. Total paid and/or re­ one week in June, one week in July, one week in August, of the individual owners must be given. If owned by a only): Does not apply. quested circulation (sum of lOB I and 1082): 7 ,690. D. and the last two weeks in December. A. No. of issues partnership or other unincorporated fmn, its name and 10. Extent and nature of circulation. Average no. Free distribution by mail, carrier or other means, sam­ published annually: 47. B- Annual subscription price: address, as well as that of each individual, must be copies each issue during preceding 12 months. A. Total ples, complimentary, and other free copies: 383. E. Total $45.00. given. If the publication is published by a nonprofit no. copies (net press run): 10,945. B- Paid and/or distribution (sum of C and D): 8,073. F. Copies not 4. Complete mailing address of known office of organization, its name and address must be stated.): 408 requested circulation: (I) Sales through dealers and distributed: (I) Office use, left over, unaccounted, publication: 410 West Street, New York, NY .10014. Printing & Publishing Corporation, 410 West Street, carriers, street vendors, and counter sales: 4,679. (2) spoiled after printing: 1,515. (2) Return from news 5. Complete mailing address of the headquarters of New York, NY 10014. Stockholders: Jack Barnes, 406 Mail subscription: 3,281. C. Total paid and/or requested agents: 0. G. Total (sum ofE, Fl and 2-should equal general business offices of the publisher: 408 Printing West St., New York, NY 10014; G. Craig Gannon, 410 circulation (sum of lOB I and 1082): 7,9fiJ. D. Free net press run shown in A): 9,588. & Publishing Corporation, 410 West Street, New York, West St., New York, NY 10014; Mary-Alice Waters, distribution by mail, carrier or other means, samples, II. I certify that the statements made by me above NY 10014. 410WestSt.,New York, NY 10014; 406 West St. Realty, complimentary, and other free copies: 785. E. Total are correct and complete. 6. Full names and complete mailing addresses of 4 10 West St., New York, NY 10014. distribution (sum of C and D): 8,745. F. Copies not (signed) publisrer, editor, and managing editor. Publisher: 408 8. Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security distributed: (I) Office use, left over, unaccounted, Greg McCartan Printing & Publishing Corporation, 410 West Street, New holders owning or holding I percent or more of total spoiled after printing: 2, 190. (2) Return from news Editor

October 25, 1991 The Militant 15 -MILITANT LABOR FORUMS------The Militant Labor Forum is a weekly MINNESOTA Toronto 410 Adelaide St. W, Suite 400. Donation: $4. Tel: (416)861-1399. free-speech meeting for workers, farm­ St. Paul Defend Quebec and Native Sovereignty. ers, youth, and others. All those seeking Free Trade and Protectionism: Dead Ends Speaker: Colin McKay, Communist NEW ZEALAND to advance the fight against injustice for Working People. Sat., Oct. 26, 7:30 p.m. League. Sat., Oct. 19, 7:30 p.m. 410 Ade­ and exploitation should attend and par­ 508 N Snelling Ave. Donation: $3. Tel: (612) laide St. W, Suite 400. Donation: $4. Tel: · Auckland ticipate in these discussions on issues of 644-6325. (416) 861-1399. Protest Immigration Bill Attacks on Migrant Workers Rights. A panel discussion. Sat., Oct. importance to working people. Economic Crisis: How Working People 19, 7 p.m. 157 Symonds St. Donation: $2. Tel: At the Militant Labor Forum you can Can Fight Back. Sat., Oct. 26, 7:30 p.m. (9) 793-075. express your opinion, listen to the views NEBRASKA of fellow fighters, and exchange ideas on Omaha how to best advance the interests of The Fight Against Apartheid: South Africa workers and farmers the world over. Today. Speakers: Makoala Marake, UNL Afri­ Socialist Workers 1991 Fund Meetings can Students Association; Lee Oleson, member United Food and Commercial Workers union, and the Fight for Socialism. Speaker: Socialist Workers Party. Sat., Oct. 19, 7 p.m. ALABAMA Birmingham Argiris Malapanis, staff writer for the Mili­ ALABAMA 140 S 40th St. Donation: $3. Tel: (402) 553- tant. Sat., Oct. 26, 7:30p.m. 50191;2 Wood­ 0245. The Battle to Defeat Apartheid: African ward Ave. Donation: $5. Tel: (313) 831- Birmingham National Congress Fighters Face the Com­ 1177. The Fight to Defend Abortion Rights Today. ing Challenges. Speaker: Derek Bracey, Mil­ Speakers: Heidi Malmquist, president Greater NEW YORK itant staff writer. Sun., Oct. 27. 5:30p.m. Ill Birmingham NOW; Denise Mcinerney, Young 21st St. S. Donation: $5. Tel: (205) 323-3079. MINNESOTA Socialist Alliance. Sun., Oct. 20, 5:30p.m. 111 Manhattan 21st St. S. Donation: $3. Tel: (205) 323-3079. Protest the Coup in Haiti! Speakers: Faustin Twin Cities Beaurevers, president Haitian Students Associa­ CALIFORNIA The World Capitalist Crisis, Stalinism, tion, Borough of Manhattan Community Col­ Los Angeles and the Fight for Socialism. Speaker: Roni MARYLAND lege; representative Haiti Progres; Brian Wil­ Cuba: Challenges Facing the Revolution in McCann, national secretary Young Socialist Baltimore liams, reporter Militant. Sat., Oct. 19, 7:30p.m. a Changing World. Speaker: Mary-Alice Alliance. Sat., Oct. 19, 7:30 p.m. 508 N 191 7th Ave. Donation: $4. Tel: (212) 727- Waters, editor New International. Sat., Oct. Snelling Ave, St. Paul. Donation: $5. Tel: The Struggle for Democracy in Haiti. A panel (612) 644-6325. discussion, including a representative of the So­ 8421. 26, 7:30p.m. 2546 W Pico Blvd. Donation: cialist Workers Party. Sat., Oct. 19, 7:30p.m. $5. Tel: (213) 380-9460. 2913 Greenmount Ave. Donation: $3. Tel: San Francisco NEW JERSEY (301) 235-0013. NORTH CAROLINA Cuba: Challenges Facing the Revolution in Newark Speakout Against Police Brutality from Los Greensboro a Changing World. Speaker: Mary-Alice The Capitalist Crisis and the Fight for In­ Angeles to Baltimore! Sat., Oct. 26, 7:30p.m. Free Mark Curtis! Video: Frame-Up of Mark Waters, editor New International. Sun., Oct. dependent Labor Political Action. Speaker: 2913 Greenmount Ave. Donation: $3 . Tel: Curtis; report on the international campaign for 27. Reception, 2 p.m.; presentation, 3 p.m. James Mac Warren, Socialist Workers 1991 (301) 235-0013. his parole. Sat., Oct. 19, 7:30 p.m. 2000-C S SEIU Local 87 Hall, 240 Golden Gate Ave. candidate for mayor of Chicago; member An Action Program for Workers and Farm­ Elm-Eugene St. Donation: $3 . Tel: (919) 272- Donation: $5. Tel: (415) 282-6255. United Steelworkers of America Local 3247. ers to Confront the Deepening Economic Cri­ 5996. Sat., Oct. 19. Reception, 6:30p.m.; program, sis. Sat., Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m. 2913 Greenmount GEORGIA 7:30 p.m. 141 Halsey St., 2nd floor. Dona­ Ave. Donation: $3. Tel: (301) 235-0013. tion: $5. Tel: (201) 643-3341. Crisis in the Middle East: What is the Road Atlanta The World Capitalist Crisis, Stalinism, Forward for the Palestinian People. Sat., Nov. PENNSYLVANIA 9; 7:30p.m. 2913 Greenmount Ave. Donation: Philadelphia and the Fight for Socialism. Speaker: Luis NORTH CAROLINA $3. Tel: (301) 235-0013. Cops, Courts, and Political Prisoners. A Madrid, editor of Perspectiva Mundial. Sat., Greensboro panel discusion. Representatives of the Mark Oct. 26, 7:30p.m. 172 Trinity Ave. SW. Do­ The World Capitalist Crisis, Stalinism, Curtis Defense Committee, Socialist Workers nation: $5. Tel: (404) 577-4065. and the Fight for Socialism. Speaker: Es­ Winning new support Party, and other victims of police frame-ups. telle DeBates, Militant staff writer. Sat., Oct. Sat., Oct. 26, 7:30p.m. 1906 South St. Dona­ ILLINOIS 26. Reception, 6:30p.m. ; presentation, 7:30 to Mark Curtis tion: $3. Tel: (215) 546-8218. Chicago p.m. 2000-C South Elm-Eugene Street. Do­ Pittsburgh The World Capitalist Crisis, Stalinism, and nation: $5. Tel: (919) 272-5996. defense campaign Cuba at the Crossroads. Speaker: Diana the Fight for Socialism. Speaker: Steve Clark, Cantu, Young Socialist Alliance. Sat., Oct. 19, National Committee member Socialist Work­ PENNSYLVANIA 7:30p.m. 4905 Penn Ave. Donation: $3 . Tel: Continued from Page 9 ers Party. Sat., Oct. 19. Reception, 6 p.m.; Philadelphia admits in it that he "spent several hours on (412) 362-6767. program, 7 p.m. 545 W Roosevelt Rd. Dona­ tion: $7. Tel: (312) 829-6815 or 829-7018. The World Capitalist Crisis, Stalinism, the phone with Mrs. Kathy Thune, a pros­ and the Fight for Socialism Today. Speak­ ecuting attorney in this case." He refers to • er: Greg McCartan, Militant editor. Sat., Oct. countercampaign materials from the Work­ IOWA 26, Reception, 7 p.m.; presentation, 7:30p.m. ers League. Des Moines International House (2nd floor, Africa room), "As a result of all this digging," writes this BRITAIN The World Capitalist Crisis, Stalinism, 3701 Chesnut St. Donation $5. Tel: (215) UTU official, "I have come to the conclusion and the Fight for Socialism. Speaker: 546-8196. Sheffield George Buchanan, Militant staff writer. Sat., that Mark Curtis was given a fair trial and was Pittsburgh The Cuban Revolution Today: Eyewitness Re­ Oct. 19, 7:30p.m. 2105 Forest Ave. Dona­ The World Capitalist Crisis, Stalinism, in fact guilty of the crimes he was charged port. Speaker: Jane Austin, Communist League. tion: $5. Tel: (515) 246-8249. and the Fight for Socialism Today. with. He was not persecuted, nor framed, nor Sat., Oct. 19, 6 p.m. I Gower St., Spital Hill. is he now being denied parole, for his political Speaker: Greg McCartan, Militant editor. Donation: £1. Tel: 0742-765070. MASSACHUSETTS Sat., Oct. 19. Reception, 6:30p.m.; presenta­ or union activities." tion, 7:30p.m. 4905 Penn Ave. Donation: $5. For page after page this official tries to Boston The Battle to Defeat Apartheid: African Tel: (412) 362-6767. plug up all the holes in the prosecution CANADA National Congress Fighters Face the Com­ frame-up, which failed to prove that Curtis Montreal ing Challenges. Speaker: Derek Bracey, Mil­ WASHINGTON was guilty. To top it off, he refers to the How Can the Fight Against the Coup in Haiti itant staff writer. Sat., Oct. 26, 7:30p.m. 605 vicious beating the cops inflicted on Curtis be Won? Speakers: Guy Romer, journalist at Massachusetts Ave. Donation: $5. Tel: (617) Seattle as "getting yourself beat up." Haiti Progres; Serge Bouchereau, coordinator of 247-6772. The World Capitalist Crisis, Stalinism, and the Fight for Socialism. Speaker: Chris This official cynically dismisses Curtis' the Comite de Coordination de Ia Solidarite au Hoeppner, National Committee member, So­ efforts to help win union backing for his Canada avec le Peuple Ha"itien; Marjorie Tem­ ple, Communist League. Sat., Oct. 19, 7:30p.m. MICHIGAN cialist Workers Party. Sat., Oct. 26, 7:30p.m. arrested immigrant coworkers as an attempt Detroit 1405 E Madison. Donation: $3. Tel : (206) to "enhance your activism to the point you 6566, boul. Saint-Laurent. Donation: $4. Spon­ sor: Forum ouvrier militant. Tel : (514) 273- The World Capitalist Crisis, Stalinism, 323-1755. fall just short of being Eugene Debs re­ 2503. born." Debs was a rail union leader and socialist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP Between now and the November 6 or 7 parole hearing, Curtis supporters can step Where to find Pathfinder books and dis­ MICHIGAN: Detroit: 5019 lJ2 Woodward up our efforts to win workers, some union AUSTRALIA tributors of the Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, Ave. Zip: 48202. Tel: (313) 831-1177. Sydney: 19 Terry St., Surry Hills, Sydney officials, and others to write letters urging New International, Nouvelle lnternationale, MINNESOTA: Twin Cities: 508 N. Snell­ NSW 2010. Tel: 02-281-3297. that Curtis be released. Nueva lnternacional, and L'internationaliste. ing Ave., St. Paul. Zip: 55104. Tel: (612) 644- As the recent events in the labor move­ 6325. BRITAIN London: 47 The Cut. Postal code: SEI 8LL. ment demonstrate, each person asked to UNITED STATES MISSOURI: St. Louis: 1622 S. Broadway. Zip: 63104. Tel: (314) 421-3808. Tel: 71-401 2293. write such a letter should be informed of ALABAMA: Birmingham: Ill 21st St. Manchester: Unit 4, 60 Shudehill. Postal the countercampaign and read and discuss South. Zip: 35233. Tel: (205) 323-3079, 328- NEBRASKA: Omaha: 140 S. 40th St. Zip: code: M4 4AA. Tel: 061-839 1766. with a Curtis supporter materials answering 3314. 68131. Tel: (402) 553-0245. Sheffield: I Gower St., Spital Hill, Postal the countercampaign on the case. Curtis CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 2546 W. Pico NEW JERSEY: Newark: 141 Halsey. Zip: code: S47HA. Tel: 0742-765070. 07102. Tel: (201) 643-3341. needs supporters, not just signatures. Blvd. Zip: 90006. Tel: (213) 380-9460. San Francisco: 3284 23rd St. Zip: 94110. Tel: (415) NEW YORK: Albany: P.O. Box 6185. Zip: CANADA Next month Curtis' police brutality suit Montreal: 6566, boul. St-Laurent. Postal 282-6255. 12206. New York: 191 7th Ave. Zip: 10011. will come to trial. Curtis is suing the Des code: H2S 3C6. Tel: (514) 273-2503. CONNECTICUT: New Haven: Mailing ad­ Tel: (212) 727-8421. Moines cops who beat him and said he was NORTH CAROLINA: Greensboro: 2000- Toronto: 410 Adelaide St. W. , Suite 400. dress: P.O. Box 16751, Baybrook Station, West Postal code: M5V ISS. Tel: (416) 861-1399. a "Mexican lover, just like you love those Haven. Zip: 06516. C S. Elm-Eugene St. Zip 27406. Tel: (919) 272- coloreds." 5996. Vancouver: 1053 Kingsway, Suite 102. FLORIDA: Miami: 137 NE 54th St. Zip: Postal code: V5V 3C7. Tel: (604) 872-8343. This will be a new opportunity to take 33137. Tel: (305) 756-1020. Tallahassee: OHIO: Cleveland: 1863 W. 25th St. Zip: the Curtis case to workers and others who P.O. Box 20715. Zip: 32316. Tel: (904) 877- 44113. Tel: (216) 861-6150. ICELAND have seen in recent months new evidence 9338. PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 1906 Reykjavik: Klapparstfg 26. Mailing address: P. Box 233, 121 Reykjavik. Tel: (91) 17513. of the racist, anti-working-class cop vio­ GEORGIA: Atlanta: 172 Trinity Ave. Zip: South St. Zip: 19146. Tel: (215) 546-8196. Pitts­ lence meted out daily all over the country 30303. Tel: (404) 577-4065. burgh: 4905 Penn Ave. Zip 15224. Tel: (412) NEW ZEALAND - from Los Angeles to Newark. ILLINOIS: Chicago: 545 W. Roosevelt Rd. 362-6767. Auckland: 157a Symonds St. Postal Ad­ 4806 Almeda. Zip: dress: P.O. Box 3025. Tel: (9) 793-075. Winning support in this way helps lay Zip: 60607. Tel: (312) 829-6815,829-7018. TEXAS: Houston: 77004. Tel: (713) 522-8054. Christchurch: 593a Colombo St. (upstairs). the solid political basis needed to expand IOWA: Des Moines: 2105 Forest Ave. Zip: 50311. Tel: (515) 246-8249. UTAH: Salt Lake City: 147 E 900 South. Postal address: P.O. Box 22-530. Tel: (3) 656- the numbers of workers, prominent individ­ KENTUCKY: Louisville: P.O. Box 4103. Zip: 84111. Tel: (801) 355-1124. 055. uals, union officials, and organizations who Zip: 40204-4103. WASHINGTON, D.C.: 523 8th St. SE. Zip: Wellington: 23 Majoribanks St., Courtenay IJecome endorsers of the Mark Curtis De­ MARYLAND: Baltimore: 2913 Green­ 20003. Tel: (202) 547-7557. PI. Postal address: P.O. Box 9092. Tel: (4) 844- fense Committee. mount Ave. Zip: 21218. Tel: (301) 235-0013. WASHINGTON: Seattle: 1405 E. Madison. 205. MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 605 Mas­ Zip: 98122. Tel : (206) 323-1755. SWEDEN Joel Britton is an oil worker and member of sachusetts Ave. Zip: 02118. Tel: (617) 247- WEST VIRGINIA: Morgantown: 242 Stockholm: Vikingagatan 10. Postal code: the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union. 6772. Walnut St. Zip: 26505. Tel: (304) 296-0055. S-113 42. Tel: (08) 31 69 33.

i6 The Militant October 25, 1991 -THE GREAT SOCIETY------Movie fans - In Long Beach, of all countries combined will de­ the Eastern airline strike but instead ent and former members of Con­ martini and keep it uniform. That's California, Daniel Olivas, 16, was cline. In previous years, a United led the company down the tube, was gress owe the House restaurant not something people can do." critically wounded by cops who shot Nations report said, declines in interviewed recently by the San (publicly subsidized reduced­ Let the good times roll - What him in the back as he fled from them. some countries were offset by gains Francisco Chronicle. Looking back, price meals) more than $300,000 with mounting bank failures, the The cops said they fired because, as in others. The world drop in gross he said his big mistake came when in unpaid bills. national product will be 0.5 percent. the strike forced the company into FDIC, which insures deposits, says it expects to be broke by the end of A UN official added that most fore­ bankruptcy. At that point, he should In that order, we presume - In casters predict that in 1992 the world have "worked harder trying to sell Alpharetta, Georgia, the police chief the year. Meanwhile, it spent economy will remain "anemic." Eastern." quit over charges that he left police $177,000 to brighten a new office badges and city-owned guns in strip complex with art works, plus $31,274 to have various brass stat­ See~ the system does work­ Who's laughing? - Some Con­ joints to cover bar tabs and tips for Despite the recession, the net gress members seemed perturbed by dancers. The mayor said it was (a) ues rubbed down with oil. "worth" of the 400 richest U.S. cap­ the disclosure that, in a one-year "an embarrassment," (b) "a shock," Sorry, wrong number - We italists totalled a record $288 billion. period, 8,331 checks were bounced and (c) "a surprise." That's according to Forbes maga­ at their taxpayer-provided free hope none of our readers were dis­ he ran, the youth pointed a weapon zine ("The capitalist tool"). Its an­ banking service. One House mem­ appointed as the result of the mis­ at them over his shoulder, like "in a nual survey noted that the current ber fretted that if they didn't do Wanna bet?- New on the take in last week's item about Nei­ cowboy movie." 400 included 71 billionaires, up something, they would become a market, a robot bartender pro­ man-Marcus offering a "his and from 66 last year. "laughing-stock." grammed to mix more than 100 hers" set of Hummers, the Gulf war New \\brld Order -For the drinks. Cost, about $175,000. A all-terrain vehicle. The correct price, fust time since the end of World War Dido 't find a bigger fool - Write'em a check- It was spokesperson says the robot can of course, is $50,000 each, not n, the total production and income Frank Lorenzo, who tried to break also disclosed that some 300 pres- "measure the perfect dryness in a $5,000. Cambodian leader discusses UN 'peace' plan

BY ESTELLE DeBATES held. Talks held over the last year were U.S. accused him of using the issue as an UNITED NATIONS- Cambodian oriented to getting an agreement, mostly at obstacle to peace negotiations. Prime Minister Hun Sen addressed over 100 the expense of the current government, to the Meetings of the Cambodian government people, primarily Cambodian-Americans, UN Security Council's proposed plan. and the three rebel factions have continued here September 21. The meeting was called here as the UN General Assembly meets. An to discuss recent developments on a UN 'Standoff' in war agreement on plans for elections was an­ "peace" plan for Cambodia being forced on Prime Minister Hun Sen explained he par­ nounced September 20. The plan adopted the government of that country. ticipated in the talks since the establishment provides for a system of proportional repre­ Han Bun Chan of the Khmer Humanitar­ of the SNC. "There has been a standoff sentation where each party would be repre­ ian Association of USA, the host of the between the three factions versus Phnom sented in a national assembly according to reception, opened the meeting. "They speak Penh," he said of the war. "We can't win. We its share of the popular vote. Again, the of a New World Order today," he said. "Is must end the war politically. We have to Phnon Penh government conceded on its this what Bush and Baker have in mind? To prevent the Khmer Rouge from taking power demand for a system in which the candidate bring back the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia? again and make them negotiate. War and with the most votes in a district would get My family and friends disappeared, sharing peace is the main issue." The Phnom Penh the national assembly seat. the same fate as a million who perished. The government has made many concessions in Hun Sen explained the difficulties facing Prime Minister has a challenge in this chapter the process of the negotiations. Cambodia today as the government faces a of Cambodian history, to achieve peace, and In August, all four parties agreed to dis­ sharp decrease in Soviet aid, tries 'to ad­ at the same time achieve justice." band 70 percent of their military and leave vance the free market economy," and gives The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, held the remaining forces in temporary quarters concessions in order to advance the UN power in Cambodia from 1975 until 1979 under UN supervision. The Prime Minister negotiations. He vowed to form an opposi­ when Vietnamese troops helped liberate the described this as the "most difficult" deci­ tion party if a peace plan that allows for the country from their rule. In what is often sion, because the Khmer Rouge guerrilla return of the Khmer Rouge is forced on referred to as the "killing fields" the Khmer army is entrenched in the mountains and will Cambodia. Rouge was responsible for the deaths of over not easily be disarmed. The original, and The peace accord is expected to be signed 1 million Cambodians, with some estimates unprecedented, UN proposal was for total in Paris October 31 with elections taking disarmament and for the UN to take over ranging as high as 2 million dead. Vietnam Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen place in 1993. kept military forces there untill989 to prevent much of the administration of the country. The agreement will keep anywhere from the return of Pol Pot to power. Since their Hun Sen explained that in the negotia­ 10,000-20,000 UN troops and administra­ withdrawal attacks by the Khmer Rouge have tatives from each of the three counterrevolu­ tions little progress was made on the issue tors in Cambodia until the elections, with cost increased dramatically. The war has left some tionary factions that constitute the opposition of the human rights violations of the Pol estimates as high as $1.5 million. The Far 340,000 Cambodians in refugee camps along coalition. Pot regime. The Prime Minister said he Eastern Economic Review reports that Japan the border of Thailand. The three factions are the "Sihanoukists" had hoped the accord would include an might pay as much as 25 percent of the costs, Since the 1979 liberation, the government - followers of Prince Sihanouk, former agreement guaranteeing the prevention of and that "Japanese Foreign Ministry officials of Cambodia has had no voice in the United monarch of the country; the Khmer People's "genocide," but settled for vaguer lan­ are eager for Japan to play a major role, Nations. At the urging of the United States, National Liberation Front, a rightist political guage promoting human rights after the financially and in manpower te~s." the. seat was maintained until July this year formation headed by Son Sann; and the by the forces in opposition to the government, Khmer Rouge, which dominates the coali­ including Pol Pot. tion. A delegation headed by Prince Sihanouk In a blow to the sovereignty of Cambodia, and including representatives of the govern­ - · 25 AND 50 YEARS AGO-- the UN Security Council brokered the cre­ ment and the Khmer Rouge now holds ation of the Supreme National Council Cambodia's UN seat. persecution, charged that he had given up his (SNC) last year. The SNC consists of six The SNC was established as a body to THE citizenship while in Canada by voting in an representatives of the Phnom Penh govern­ facilitate the UN playing a major role in the election. The case is being appealed. ment, including Hun Sen, and two represen- running of the country until elections are MILITANT Published in the lnteresh of the W o r~inq People Pnct> !Oc THE MILITANT Striking miners in Fiji win support October 24, 1966 Joseph Johnson, the Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senator from Min­ October 25, 1941 BY JANET EDWARDS Fiji's third largest export industry, after sugar nesota, [was asked by a reporter if he The nation's capitalist press expressed WELLINGTON, New Zealand-Jone and garments. thought] he could win the election. Dakuvula, secretary of the Fiji Labour Party, "Miners tell me that their health is much considerable approval of the political revo­ "I will win people for the antiwar move­ lution down in Panama. visited here in September to gain support for better since they stopped working," Daku­ ment. I will organize people to act against Contrary to their usual tone, the boss pa­ workers at the Vatukoala gold mine. The vula said, "because before they were thin and the war in Vietnam. My campaign will ex­ pers did not greet this revolution with miners are in the eighth month of a strike for dehydrated." tend and deepen the antiwar feeling in Min­ preachments about 'orderly processes,' union recognition. With the strike into its eighth month, do­ nesota. Will I getajobwith the U.S. govern­ 'democratic procedure,' 'violence and The employers have fired the 440 strikers nations of food and money have been essen­ ment? I don't think so." bloodshed.' and refuse to meet with the Fiji Mine Work­ tial for its survival. "There is a lot of sympa­ Johnson is currently fighting an attempt ers Union (FMWU). thy for the strike in Fiji, mainly from the by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization This revolution was simply the forceful The drive by miners to form a union began villages and from cane farmers," said Daku­ Service to force him to deport himself. The deposition of the duly-elected president by a few years ago when a new system of vula. government has declared Johnson a "state­ an opponent political clique. The people did contract work was introduced. Under the Among those backing the strike are the less" person, and has ordered him to find a not vote him out. The people did not partic­ system workers are paid according to pro­ general secretary of the International Miners country to be deported to. This bizarre per­ ipate in the revolution in any way. ductivity, rather than the set wage they pre­ Federation, Peter Michalzik, and miners secution is being directed against Johnson in Still the boss press loudly applauded it. viously received. Deductions are made from from South Africa, Australia, and the United spite of the fact that he is a native-born It seems that Arias, the deposed president, their pay packets for work-related expenses States. American citizen. had banned the arming of American mer­ such as gelignite, overalls, boots, and hel­ While in New Zealand, Dakuvula received When he was a young man, Johnson went chant ships under Panamanian registry. His mets. For many miners this practice has financial contributions for the strike from a to Canada to escape McCarthyism and rac­ successor, de Ia Guardia, has revoked this meant a cut in pay, Dakuvula explained in number of union executive bodies. He also ism he experienced in the U.S. While in ban, an act manifestly in the interests of an interview. addressed the monthly meeting of the Sea­ Canada, he became a convinced socialist. American imperialism and its war prepara­ Sixty-three percent of the miners belong farers Union in Wellington, which voted to Upon learning that the FBI was looking for tions. to the union. Strikers hold daily meetings and send a regular donation to the strike. him, he went back to the U.S. in 1959. He So we see the ruling class is really not maintain 24-hour pickets, which have closed Dakuvula emphasized the need for inter­ was placed under arrest on charges of failing against all revolutions. It is only against two of the mine's three main shafts, Dakuvula national solidarity. "This strike is very im­ to notify his draft board of his whereabouts, those revolutions in the interests of the said. A court order prevents them from pick­ portant. If we can win it will be a major was convicted, and served a two-year sen­ workers and common people. eting at the third shaft. The pickets range victory," he summed up. tence - a sentence only a citizen need . Some revolutions, like the one in Panama, from 60 to 100 workers. Messages and other support can be sent serve. are approved by the bosses. The decisive The mine's production is estimated at 30 to: Fiji Mine Workers Union, GPO Box 2162, Five years after his return in 1964, the question for them, in all cases, is: Whose ox percent below its prestrike output. Gold is Government Buildings, Suva, Fiji. government, in an obvious case of political is goreq?

October 25, 1991 The Militant 17 This column is devoted to a discussion with our readers -EDITORIALS -printing remarks, questions, suggestions, and other comments sent to the Militant. Where possible we will take up issues raised in notes and letters as a way to help clarify and expand on the coverage in the paper.

The letter "Soviet coup" from Gary Boyers in Detroit, Fight against sexual harassment printed on the opposite page, asks for clarification on the Militant's stance toward the suspension of activities of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union and the seizure of its George Bush's nomination of Clarence Thomas for the of women. They perpetuate this condition so women will massive assets by the state. · S!Jpreme Court was aimed at strengthening the ability of the accept lower pay under worse conditions, and so they will ruling class to deepen its offensive against workers' rights. think they have no role in their unions or in political life. Our approach to the propaganda organs of the Stalinist Throughout the nomination hearings Thomas downplayed They hope women, as a section of the working class, will regime -Pravda and Progress Publishers - is similar to his anti-working-class views, including his opposition to not fight and assert their rights, but rather see their job as that outlined in the Militant articles and explained at length abortion rights. Bush and Congress hoped that the inroads "temporary." in our September International Socialist Review supple­ that have been made in attacking workers' and women's The bosses not only make superprofits through the dis­ ment. rights were an assured sign that the nomination would be crimination against women but divide tbe working class as Boyers agrees the CP was not a political party, never approved with little opposition. a result. The attack on women's rights is essential to the mind a communist party - a voluntary association of the Their hopes have been set back by the sexual harassment success of the overall capitalist offensive against workers' vanguard of a social class organized for participation in charges against Thomas that have prompted a national rights and standard of living. political life. debate on the issue. Acceptance of and participation in sexual harassment of Instead, it was a machine for the defense and advance of Because of the pervasiveness of the problem the ruling women by male coworkers is equally damaging. It helps the petty-bourgeois social caste that usurped political power class and its government were unable to maintain their bosses keep the unions shackled to a narrow trade union from the working class through a bloody counterrevolution cover-up of the charges. Recent surveys show that anywhere perspective rather than thinking in broader social terms and in the 1920s and 1930s. Although it wrapped itself in the from. 40 to 70 percent of working women say they have acting politically to advance the interests of the entire class. experienced incidents of sexual harassment. Making no Rather than accepting, tolerating, or participating in such formal complaint is the norm. Rather than being swept under acts, working people need to fight against sexual harassment FROM OUR the rug, the current discussion on sexual harassment should and all other forms of the oppression of women. be embraced and extended in workplaces and especially in President Bush and Congress - both the Democratic and the labor movement. Republican parties - attempted to cover up the charges READERS Today women make up 45 percent of the labor force in against Thomas and have questioned the relevancy of public the United States. Millions of working women face sexual hearings on the issue. The nationwide discussion now taking mantle of the October 1917 revolution and spoke in the harassment by their bosses. This kind of abuse is part of the place is exactly what. they sought to avoid. This is a clear name of the struggle of working people, the CP was not a general discrimination against women by the employers, indication that we cannot rely on them to defend the rights "conservative" or "bureaucratic" workers' party. It was a who seek to undermine working-class women's conscious­ of women. job trust of the privileged middle-class layers in the bureau­ cratic apparatuses of the state, economic enterprises, trade ness of themselves as workers, as part ofthe working class. The perpetuation of women's second-class status is one unions, the party itself, writers' associations, and other Instead, they seek to heighten their consciousness as women of the obstacles on the road to independent working-class institutions. with a second-class status. political action, the only road forward for the labor move­ The billionaire ruling families profit from the oppression ment in confronting the ruling-class offensive. Working people in the Soviet Union hated the CPbecause of its brutal and repressive actions. Millions were killed, imprisoned, sent to insane asylums, or labor camps. The party of V.I. Lenin that led tens of millions of workers and peasants to establish the first workers' state was extermi­ nated. Through this terror, freedom of expression and assembly Gay rights and working people and the ability to organize and practice politics were all denied working people. The CP was seen as a den of thieves and the bureaucracy's central organizer of the massive Protests against the veto of a California bill outlawing protests were outraged not just about the veto, but at the fact skimming off of the wealth created by working people. It discrimination against gay men and lesbians deserve the that the U.S. government has "not done well" on helping was a state slush fund for the privileged ruling stratum. support of working people. those with AIDS, as the national commission put it in a Pravda and Progress Publishers were si~ply the propa­ The Republican Party called this proposed law "anti-fam­ classic understatement. Inadequate funding for AIDS re­ ganda arm of that repressive apparatus, whose goal was to ily" and an "insult to legitimate minorities." Governor Peter search and sub-standard health care for AIDS victims is a keep working people out of political life. Wilson said that defending the democratic rights of gay men national scandal. For working people in the United States, Why protest the closing of the CP and the central news­ and lesbians would be bad for business. In a speech shortly to be without a job, is to be without medical insurance; job paper identified with it and not the restructuring of the KGB after he vetoed the bill, Wilson called for a return to the discrimination for those with AIDS can be a matter of life and its newspaper? Both are thoroughly hated by working values of the 1950s when the family was "a sacred union or death. people. born from romantic love." The governor worried "that in Discrimination against any part of the population on the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and Russian presi­ recent years, we have stressed the rights of the individual basis of sex, nationality, or sexual preference weakens the dent Boris Yeltsin closed down the CP and its newspaper while ignoring his or her duties." unity of the working class. Any time the employers and the and transferred their property to the state because these were These are the same types of arguments that have been government can politically justify and blatantly uphold their no longer effective instruments of rule. The regime faces a used to attack a woman's right to choose abortion, unions, "right" to deny employment to one group, it widens their working class that is fighting its way back into political life and the democratic rights of working people as a whole. If ability to do so to others. in its own interests. Working people massively rallied to being against job discrimination based on sexual preference Progress made in combating antigay prejudice has helped . oppose the August 19 coup and its attempt to close up their is bad for business and anti-family, then what about discrim­ push back the ability of the ruling rich to justify the less-than­ political space. ination based on race, religion, or political beliefs? Their equal treatment of gays. Protests demanding passage of the arguments are just a new version of the time-worn cliche law show a real determination to press forward the fight. At this point, huwever, there exists no independent work­ that "what is good for General Motors, is good for America." Wilson's veto is not just a betrayal of his earlier promise ing-class leadership in the Soviet Union that is consciously The September 29 veto by Wilson of this ·anti-discrimi­ to pass antidiscrimination legislation. It encourages back­ spearlteading a fight to get rid of the bureaucracy and nation bill carne just four days after the National Commission ward ideas toward gay men and lesbians and gives a go-­ establish a workers' and farmers' government. This is why on AIDS issued its report on the spread of the AIDS virus: ahead to gay-bashing violence. It opens the door to attacks workers in Moscow and elsewhere were unable in August Some 120,000 people have already died. In the United States on the democratic rights of all working people. to go beyond defense of their rights to take action themselves this disease disproportionately affects gay men, especially Gay rights is an issue the working class has a real stake to dismantle all the institutions of bureaucratic rule. Blacks and Latinos. in. The protests against the veto by militant youth and others As part of the machinery of state repression the CP and The thousands of young people who turned out for the deserve the support of the labor movement. Pravda are not even comparable to a corrupt trade union under capitalism. Any moves by Washington, for example, against a corrupt union officialdom in, say, Michigan would be opposed by communists and all fighting workers. Attempts by the state to seize or close down the union's newspaper would be condemned by unionists everywhere. This would be true End the embargo against Iraq! even though there is no rank-and-file control over the paper and it is merely an instrument to justify the political course and serve the interests of the reactionary bureaucrats who unfortunately harmful toll upon" them, Sadruddin admits. Washington's continuing military threats against Iraq and sit on top of the union. the unjustifiable actions on the part of the United Nations The war in the Arab-Persian Gulf resulted in "untold loss But let's say that same union officialdom took state power Security Council in continuing the embargo should be of life and destruction," millions of refugees, ecological in Michigan, carried out a bloody massacre of tens of condemned by all working people. disaster, and the "collapse of the structures that sustain life thousands of workers, sent thousands more to prison camps, in today's human societies," Sadruddin notes. Moreover, some of the brutality of the imperialist on­ collaborated with the bosses in betraying workers' struggles slaught is coming to the light of day. The burying alive of But the human suffering means nothing to those who seek elsewhere, and brought economic, social, and environmen­ Iraqi soldiers in the opening hours of the ground offensive _to maximize profit and power at the expense of the working tal devastation to the people of the state. by U.S. tanks equipped as bulldozers when the U.S. com­ people of Iraq and of the world. When working people rose up to say "no more" the mand knew that the Iraqis were unable to fight, is just the While the Iraqi people face malnutrition and deteriorating bureaucrats might shelve some of their discredited ma­ latest of the revelations. They show what the U.S. rulers are health conditions as a result of the war and the continuing chinery in order to retain their grip on power. Would workers willing to do to defend their interests, if they think they can blockade, the UN Security Council spends hundreds of in Michigan protest if the paper of that "union" was then get away with it. thousands of dollars to spearhead continued harassment. The suspended by the bureaucracy? When Washington pushed through the embargo at the UN inspectors parade around as if they were the owners of Boyers points out that there. are many cases of denial of United Nations Security Council and launched its war Iraq, invading buildings, stealing personal files, and doing democratic rights in the Soviet Union today. This is true, against Iraq, it claimed that this was necessary to force the their best to take away another chunk of Iraqi sovereignty. and the Gorbachev-Yeltsin regime will target these rights Iraqi army out of Kuwait. That pretext is gone, but the The threats against Iraq have nothing to do with trying to as they defend the interests of the stratum they represent. embargo, the violations of Iraqi sovereignty, and the con­ eliminate the threat of nuclear war or getting rid of a dictator. From all indications former members of the CP are not tinued military threats remain. Instead, they are aimed at expanding U.S. domination ofthe subject to persecution for simply "belonging" to the "party." In an early July report, UN delegate Prince Sadruddin region. In Eastern Europe many have formed other parties and there Aga Khan noted that the effects of the war and the embargo But Washington has not achieved its goal of stability and is little indication of purges, jailings, or other moves against are leading to a crisis in Iraq "whose eventual dimensions the creation ofa pro-U.S. regime in Baghdad. Instead there them. As our articles indicate, steps by any of these regimes would dwarf today's difficulties." will be more instability, more destruction, and more wars in in this direction should be seen as an attack on democratic One example of the imperialist cynicism and brutality is Iraq and the Middle East until working people around the rights and protested. the plight of the Kurdish people. The Kurds have been world succeed in taking power away from the warmakers. Similarly for the former Pravda and other such papers. attacked by the Turkish army, shot at by the Iraqi army, and The U.S. and UN threats against Iraq should be protested. Most simply reopened under another name a few days after if that were not enough, the U.S./UN embargo is taking "an End the embargo against Iraq! they were suspended.

18 The Militant October 25, 1991 Grenada·death penalty debate Should the assassins of Maurice Bishop be executed?

BY MARTIN KOPPEL ings has been that anti-imperialist struggles · rights organizations welcomed the commu­ A debate has swept through the English­ and anticapitalist revolutions inevitably end tation. Caribbean Rights, a Barbados-based speaking Caribbean since the August 14 de­ up in tyranny and terror. network of eight human rights groups in the cision by the Grenadian government to com­ Following the commutation of the death region, called on Caribbean governments to mute the death sentences of 14 people con­ sentences, leaders of the Maurice Bishop suspend all death sentences and abolish the victed of the 1983 murders of Maurice Patriotic Movement (MBPM) in Grenada death penalty. Bishop and other central leaders of the Gre­ organized a series of demonstrations to pro­ There are nearly 450 prisoners on death nada revolution. test the government's decision. MBPM pres­ row in the 12 English-speaking countries in The sentences were the outcome of a trial ident Kendrick Radix told a rally of 250 on the Caribbean. These nations have a total designed to discredit the example of the August 26, "The court said they must hang population of less than 5 million. The state revolution and legitimize the capitalist gov~ and that is the law of the land; they must of Florida, with 13 million, has 318 on death emment imposed by U.S. invading forces hang." He called for Prime Minister Nicholas row. eight years ago. Brathwaite to resign. Jamaica, with 2.2 million people, has 250 In October 1983, a Stalinist faction of the Deputy MBPM leader Einstein Louison, on death row, one of the highest per capita governing New Jewel Movement and of the calling it "a sad day" for Grenada, said figures in the world. Trinidad and Tobago Maurice Bishop army officer corps in Grenada carried out a Brathwaite's party had retreated from its also has a high proportion of persons await­ counterrevolutionary coup. They overthrew election campaign promise by not carrying ing execution. the workers' and farmers' government that out the executions. Government officials and capitalist politi­ Assassination ofMaurice Bishop," published had come to power in the revolution of 1979. cians in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and in New International magazine, told the Mil­ Coarct's gang assassinated Prime Minister Weapon of ruling class Jamaica have campaigned for stepped-up use itant that he welcomed the fact that the Bishop and other revolutionary leaders. They Don Rojas, former press secretary to of the death penalty. Trinidad police com­ Grenadian government had backed down killed and wounded dozens of the 30,000 Bishop and now editor of the Amsterdam missioner Jules Bernard called for the "pop­ from carrying out the death sentences. Grenadians who rose up in an attempt to News in New York, said in an interview, "I ping of the necks" of those on death row as "The Socialist Workers Party condemned restore the revolutionary government. Coarct agree with the commutation of the death the way to reduce violence in that country. the Coard group and its counterrevolutionary crushed the uprising and imposed martial sentences, without agreeing with the motiva­ On August 16, two days after the Grenada actions from the outset in October 1983. But law. tions of the Grenada government. I oppose decision was announced, St. Vincent carried justice cannot be achieved in the courts of This gave Washington a giant opening to the death penalty on principle, because it is out its first hanging since 1987. the U.S.-installed government in Grenada. invade the island. Aided by the U.S. occupa­ a weapon of the ruling class to intimidate the . Dominica prirrie minister Eugenia Charles "The trial was designed to help institution­ tion forces, Grenada's capitalist class pushed toilers through state terrorism. The death and Trinidad's Chamber of Commerce, alize the courts, cops, and prisons of this back many of the social and political rights penalty has been used historically in the among others, decried Grenada's commuta­ neocolonial regime imposed on Grenada by that working people had won during the Caribbean against working people. tion of the death sentences. Washington's troops. The defendants were revolution. "It is not enough to argue that tlie death Michael Douglas, leader of the opposition beaten in jail and denied basic rights during Washington, working through the regime penalty is the law of the land and should be Dominica Labour Party, stated that the the trial such as the right to cross-examine it installed, put Coarct and other coup leaders obeyed. Not all laws - especially those Grenadian government should have carried witnesses and present evidence. on trial. Throughout the trial they portrayed passed during the period of colonial and out the executions. "No one was happier than the current the Coarct faction as "hard-line" Marxists, neocolonial rule - are just or are in the Robert "Bobby" Clarke, a Barbadian law­ capitalist rulers of Grenada to see Bishop attempting to identify the popularly backed interests of working people. yer and former advisor to Maurice Bishop, murdered and the revolution destroyed," workers' and farmers' government -led by "However," Rojas added, "my support for said he generally abhorred the death penalty Clark added. "The precedent of this political Bishop- with Coarct's bloody actions. The the commutation based on opposition to the but "in this particular case, I am against com­ trial will be used against anti-imperialist aim was to undermine the political legacy of death penalty should not be construed as muting the sentences." He added, "I think if fighters and militant workers and farmers Maurice Bishop, the most outstandffig com­ forgiveness for the crimes committed by they had been executed, it would have been thoughout Grenada and the Caribbean. munist leader in the history of the English­ Coarct and his gang, not only against Bishop a cleansing for Grenada and the Caribbean." "The capitalist governments in the region speaking Caribbean. but against the masses of Grenada. I condemn Steve Clark, National Committee member have used the calls for the death penalty to The political message surrounding the en­ their crimes." of the Socialist Workers Party in the United try to push back opposition to this barbaric tire eight-year-long trial and appeal proceed- Amnesty International and other human States and author of the article "The Second punishment and terrorize working people." - LETTERS---- - .. Cops above law banning of Pravda and other CPSU •c were flying and the cops were throw­ publications in Russia and a number ing protesters in police vans like Billy Pearce "died in custody of • of other republics by the Gorbachev­ sacks of grain, the crowd chanted the Louisville, Ky. police last week." ~ Yeltsin wing of the Stalinist bureau­ i' loudly, "the whole world's watch­ The cause of death was described as oc cracy an advance for working people, ing," and "shame, shame, shame." "positional asphyxia." or is it political censorship? Would . By the time the smoke cle~d. 10 In lie"u of an explanation or the Militant's view be different if the people had been arrested. charges being filed against those re­ ban was initiated from below rather sponsible for the man's death, those There are now 3 members ofPhil­ than from above (if instead of a Red responsible were exonerated in ad­ adelphia ACT-UP facing major fel­ Army soldier with a gun standing in vance and the death attributed to C:IY charges stemming from the pro­ front of a padlocked building, it was "accidental negligence on behalf of test. We have launched a defense a group of trade unionists and youth police and a nurse." The fact that committee and will be faced with with picket signs)? Mr. Pearce was confined to the back the challenge of raising close to I have a second, similar question. seat of a police cruiser for 30 min­ $15,000 in legal expenses. Any do­ I would assume (I don't know for utes was described as "common pro­ nations, letters of support or re­ sure) that among the CPSU proper­ cedure." quests for further information can ties seized was Progress Publishers. "Forty witnesses were heard" by be sent to ACT-UP, P.O. Box 15919, Besides its central mission of pub­ the examining body. "No explana­ Middle City Station, Philadelphia, lishing apologies and justifications tion on behalf of the cops for the PA 19103-0919. for Stalinist crimes in the Soviet man's condition not having been Fight Back, Fight AIDS! Union and throughout the world, through a difficult period with the spective. The defects of the revolu­ discovered. No criminal charges ex­ Craig McKissic Progress is also one of the biggest loss of its preferential trading status tionary process are greatly out- · pected to be filed." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania publishers of the works of Marx, with the countries of eastern Europe weighed by the advances. None of this comes as any sur­ Engels, and Lenin in the world. For and belt-tightening on the part of the For me the Cuban revolution is a prise. After all Louisville is a part of many people, especially in the un­ Soviet Union. great inspiration and example for Denounces blackmail the United States of America where derdeveloped world, the low-priced In response to the changed com­ humanity. My compliments to the Our greetings to you all. We reg­ it is common knowledge that a cop (through subsidies) Progress titles mercial situation Cuba has been Militant for keeping us so well in­ ularly receive the Militant with the is above the law. are the only source of communist deepening trade relationships with formed. envelope already opened by the Ed Meredith literature. Does the closing of Prog­ more capitalist countries despite Censorship. Caneyville, Kentucky Nicolas Rosner Fuentes ress represent a gain for working U.S. opposition. An important as­ San Francisco Del Rincon I have read the good and encour­ pect of this process has been the Soviet coup people? I have consciously omitted Guanajuato, Mexico aging news concerning the New raising the question of the banning development of the tourist industry York City election campaign repre­ I enjoyed Argiris Malapanis' article of the Communist Party in the Soviet on the island which provides much AIDS protest attacked sented by Derek [Bracey] and Mer­ in the September 27 Militant which Union, because I think this is a more needed dollars. yl Lynn [Farber]. I wish you good On September 12, over 3,500 answered the claim that the coup in complex question. I agree with the It is very much in the interest of luck. the Soviet Union was an attempt to the Cuban revolution to develop people congregated on Broad Street Militant that the CPSU "is not a As a federation we denounce the tourism but it does create a contra­ to protest the polices of George halt a movement toward capitalist res­ political party but part of the repres­ blackmail of our colleague Mr. toration. I was puzzled, however, by diction. In the period ahead the Bush. While the action was initially sive apparatus." Mark Curtis by the United States the last sentence of the second-to-the­ Cuban people are facing austere called by the AIDS Coalition to Un­ Keep up the good work. authorities. We hope he will obtain times with more rationing of essen­ leash Power (ACT-UP), the protest last paragraph. This stated that "Any Gary Boyers his freedom soon. moves against current or formers Detroit, Michigan tial goods which allows for an equi­ incl11ded pro-choice forces, union members of the CP'' or measures ''that table distribution of what's avail­ workers, and groups representing Sami Samaan General Federation ofTrade restrict the right to form political par­ Cuban tourism able. The tourist on the other hand the homeless and the unemployed. ties should be protested by working with dollars has access to a variety Some members of ACT-UP de­ Unions people." I believe George Buchanan Ten years have passed since I last of consumer goods not available to cided to initiate a peaceful act of civil Ramallah, West Bank used a similar formulation in an arti­ visited Cuba when I went as a mem­ the Cuban. disobedience, deliberating crossing cle a few issues earlier. By posing the ber of the Antonio Maceo Brigade. This reality contributes to the ex­ police barricades. Wearing rubber The letters column is an open question in such an abstract and hy­ This time I went as a tourist with my istence of the black market as well gloves on their hands, cops picked forum for all viewpoints on sub­ pothetical way, Militant readers might Mexican wife and our four year old as prostitution. up the barricades and pushed the jects of general interest to our be led to believe that there are no boy on a one week vacation. Within the context of the pro­ crowd off th~ street and back to the readers. Please keep your letters clear-cut, well-publicized cases of Having lived in a central Mexican found gains of the Cuban revolution sidewalk. When AIDS protesters at­ brief. Where necessary they will anti-democratic regulations which province for the last four years, I was in the areas of health care, education, tempted to stage a "die-in" on the be abridged. Please indicate if you have been imposed. given a different insight on Cuba. eradication of racial oppression, etc. street, the cops began brutally beat­ prefer that your initials be used Does the Militant consider the Cuba, undoubtedly, is passing one puts everything in proper per- ing protesters. While the nightsticks rather than your full name.

October 25, 1991 The Militant 19 THE MILITANT Thousands protest gay rights bill veto

BY JIM ALTENBERG report says. "In the past decade, the White AND ALBERT GRIGORIAN House has rarely broken its silence on the SACRAMENTO, California- Carrying topic of AIDS," and Congress has "often hand made signs proclaiming "Wilson is a failed to provide adequate funding for AIDS liar" and "Gay and Lesbian rights Now" programs" it approves. thousands of supporters of lesbian and gay Some I million Americans are infected rights marched and rallied outside the state with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, capitol building here October II. according to the commission, and 120,000 Demonstrators gathered to protest Gover­ are estimated to have died of AIDS. nor Peter Wilson's veto of a bill that would Among the commission's recommenda­ have outlawed job discrimination against les­ tions are a single plan by the government to bians and gay men. Protests against Wilson's combat AIDS, treatment for drug abuse to action have taken place throughout Califor­ all who need it, elimination of laws prevent­ nia. ing drug users from getting clean needles, The rally included speakers from ACT­ and adoption of a system providing medical UP, an organization fighting around issues coverage for all citizens. related to AIDS; Queer Nation; and anum­ an d Lesbians Other rally speakers pointed out that ex­ ber of civil liberties and lesbian and gay panding gay rights helps defend all demo­ community organizations. Participants cratic rights. "Lesbians and gays are only the came from many California cities and as first on a list of regression. Next will be the far away as Canada. reproductive rights of women," another Although Wilson had promised to support speaker said. gay rights legislation while running for gov­ "It's us now," John Muskovich, a demon­ emor in 1990, he turned a bill down when it Militant/Jim Altenberg strator, said in an interview. "It will be attacks came to his desk in late September, citing Marchers denounced governor's veto of bill outlawing discrimination against gays. on others on different issues. The whole opposition from business interests. Protests have taken place throughout California. system is discriminatory." Speakers and demonstrators alike ex­ pressed a deep sense that the governor had Many welcomed the opportunity to join a betrayed them. "Wilson does not understand walk blindly into the night." The thousands who died of AIDS died of protest action. "It's about time," one man the importance of lesbian and gay rights For working people in this country, access government neglect, he said. "They died said "Being a Black gay man I know what except when he is a candidate" one speaker to health care depends on having insurance because the government will not spend this government's about. I'm glad to see us told the rally. Petitions calling for Wilson's through one's employer. Gay rights activists money for research, medicine and educa­ get together out in the streets." recall were circulated in the crowd, and many have pointed out that employment discrimi- · tion." Prior to the rally some demonstrators speakers urged people to vote for Democrats nation will cause people infected with the Many involved in protests across the state blocked streets near the Capitol. They blew or politicians who are gay. AIDS virus to be unable to receive badly say they are particularly angered because the shrill whistles as cops on foot and horseback Bill Wilson of the Gay and Lesbian Lead­ needed medical care. At the same time, gov­ governor's veto came just two weeks after tried to drive them off the street. Large num­ ership Forum said simple human justice de­ ernment cutbacks in public health have led the release of a stinging government report bers of cops stood at steel barricades sur­ manded anti-discrimination laws be enacted. to a terrible crisis in the public hospital and on AIDS. rounding the Capitol throughout the day to "The governor said fairness in employment health care system. The National Commission on AIDS issued keep supporters of gay rights out of the is bad for business. They deny us the right "We know what it means to be trivial­ a report after two years of study September building. to marry. They deny us the right to get health ized by politicians who will not recognize 25, the first such comprehensive study con­ After the rally, a spirited march of 5,000 care. Now they deny us the rightto work free our oppression," said Rev. Smith of the ducted. "Our nation's leaders J:!ave not done took place through downtown Sacra­ from discrimination and we're not going to Sacramento Lesbian and Gay Council. well" responding to the AIDS crisis, the mento. Walter Sisulu: Struggle is at 'most crucial 'time'

BY GREG McCART AN "extreme exploitation and oppression of "Even if all the laws of apartheid were personally wealthy and many have taken a NEW YORK - "This is the most crucial Blacks," who were pushed off the land into removed, whites collectively would maintain stand against racism." time in our struggle, a struggle that is not segregated townships and remote "home­ their illicitly acquired and massively concen­ Violent attacks on Biack townships, lead­ only for the liberation of South Africa but of lands" where they became a vast p6ol of trated wealth - wealth that brings them po­ ers and members of the ANC, and anti­ all peoples and the oppressed the world cheap labor for mining companies and other litical power and control of the economy," apartheid political events over the past year over," said Walter Sisulu to a meeting of industries. he said, noting that "many whites are not Continued on Page 6 apartheid opponents at Riverside Church here. Sisulu, African National Congress deputy president, and ANC Women's League leader Iowa meat-packers suspended in contr~ctfight Albertina Sisulu completed a two-week tour of the United States October 12. BY MITCHEL ROSENBERG did not know what the company's response At meetings here and in Washington, OTTUMWA, Iowa- Members of the would be. Many did not approve of working D.C., Atlanta, Boston, and Philadelphia United Food and Commercial Workers union without a contract. the ANC leaders explained the current (UFCW) Local 230 marched to the Excel By October 8, workers found safety con­ stage of the revolutionary struggle for a Corporation's plant gate here before daybreak ditions on the job unsatisfactory. Workers nonracial, democratic South Africa and October 10, demanding the company reverse demanded bare wires on one of the lines on appealed for continued solidarity with the the suspension of large numbers of workers the cut floor be repaired before they would fight to end the scourge of apartheid. The and sign a new contract with the union. work. Company representatives said unless tour was sponsored by the Africa Fund, an Management at the packinghouse sus­ the unionists got to work they would be organization that has helped build solidar­ pended the unionists after they refused to suspended. When they refused, the company ity with liberation movements across the work in unsafe conditions. sent 150 out the door. African continent. Workers rejected Excel's contract pro­ The same morning workers on the ham Walter Sisulu said in his keynote address posal October 6 by a vote of767 to 19. Local · bone line demanded replacement of the skin­ to the event that the "reforms by [South 230's membership voted 770 to 8 to strike ner blades, which were not working properly. African president F.W.] de Klerk have given the plant, but the local's leadership convinced Once again, the company would not comply rise to confusions about South Africa. This them to work day by day without a contract and suspended the 80 affected workers. has led to the lifting of sanctions" against the while an attempt was made to negotiate im­ regime, he said. provements. With no one to cut up the carcasses killed "Thousands of political prisoners have The issue most workers find hardest to the previous day, foremen gave .kill floor gained their release and thousands of ex­ swallow is the company proposal to go from workers a choice of working on the cut floor iles are returning home," the ANC deputy­ a Monday through Friday schedule to one of or going home. All but one worker left the Tuesday through Saturday. " president said. "Many of the fundamental Jim Hamann plant. Dennis Renfrow, who works in the carcass laws of apartheid have been repealed and W.rkers protest Excel's safety violatior.s On October 9, 120 more workers were cooler, explained, "We've got to make a the ANC and other organizations have suspended for refusing to work unsafe equip­ been unbanned. stand. Even if we lose, we've got to make it known we don't approve. I don't know where ilar contract, with a different expiration date ment. About 830 workers are employed at "These concessions," he said, "are a direct the plant; 600 work day shift. consequence of our struggle and your con­ Excel gets off. How are we supposed to spend than that sought by the company here. tributions to it. It is clear that the old-style time with our families? The Ottumwa Excel plant was bought from Meanwhile, Local 230 officials have at­ apartheid is passing away. But this is far from Other problems cited with the contract the Hormel corporation in 1988. Previously tempted to bargain for a new agreement with what is needed in South Africa. The fact is proposal include higher insurance co-pay­ organized by UFCW 431, hundreds of union Excel, and a membership meeting is sched­ that we remain voteless and marginal to the ments, higher costs for drug prescriptions, a members honored picket lines set up by uled for October 13 to discuss company economy of our country." wage increase of only $1 an hour over the UFCW P-9 during their strike against Hormel proposals. Sisulu said the real purpose of the ruling three-and-one-half-year agreement, and the in Austin, Minnesota. A number of former National Party's policy of apartheid "was to length and expiration date of the contract. Hormel workers still work at the plant. Mitchel Rosenberg is a member of UFCW secure an exclusive position of political and UFCW Local 431 members at the Beards­ As they returned to the job October 7, the Local 1149 and works at the IBP packing­ economic privileges." This was based on the town, Illinois, Excel plant just ratified a sim- day after rejecting the contract, most workers house in Perry, Iowa.

20 The Militant October 25, 1991