FRE NATIONAL

Refugees. for all seasons

BY BOB HIPPLER moned to round them up. Yet the U.S. has a treaty with Mexico guaranteeing elcome to the latest produc­ free border crossings! tion of Jimmy Carter's trav­ eling propaganda show­ Flip-flop diplomacy W"America: Humanitarian Sometimes Carter's dual strategy iiiiiiiiiiiii. Haven for Freedom Fight­ becomes startlingly visible, particu­ ing Refugees!" larly when a major upheaval occurs There's only one problem. How do 1elsewhere and U.S. policy flip-flops. you tell which refugees are the freedom Before Somoza fell in Nicaragua, fighters? Carter was rounding up anti-Somoza Simple. They're the ones the media refugees for deportation. Now that dubs "political refugees," the ones who revolutionary forces are in power, the fulsomely praise "free enterprise" and U.S. welcomes pro-Somoza reaction- "democracy." #,,:i' aries with open arms. ( ,.... ", .<1 ..•", A similar turnabout took place after *'t"~>" ~;'\. The shape-up system Michelle Bogre(Sygma the socialist Salvadore Allende was The White House is coldly manipu­ Haitian refugees in Miami demonstrate against U.S. support of dictator murdered in a CIA caper in Chile. lating the plight of political and eco­ Duvalier. Suddenly, Chilean refugees fleeing the nomic refugees for its own political monstrous new military dictatorship gain, and is using a blatantly dual This sector either fled immediately or mortality is over 20%. A vicious secret were turned away. strategy. "lost faith" as the revolution deepened police, the Tonton-Macoute, murders In the 1950s and '60s, the U.S. On the one hand, refugees fleeing and threatened their privileges. and rapes at government whim. accepted refugees from Soviet-bloc from workers states are embraced as U.S. policy has actually multiplied Over 30,000 Haitian refugees now Hungary and Czechoslovakia-but not political heroes and proudly displayed the refugee flow from both countries, live inthe Miami area, 80% of them from Guatemala after its progressive as brave escapees from godless com­ as well as from Laos and Cambodia. under threat of deportation. The Immi­ government was overthrown by a U.S.­ munism who prefer life in the capitalist The government has refused to lift gration and Naturalization Service has backed coup. paradise to building non-exploitative, its murderous, 20-yeareconomic block­ regularly deported the refugees-600 U.S. policy displays an historical collectively-owned societies in their ade of Cuba. Cuba cannot buy medical have been returned to Haiti. consistency going right back to the own countries. Rarely is it mentioned supplies from the U.S., which also In a May 14 statement answering 1917 Russian Revolution, when hun­ that these refugees are generally non­ boycotts Cuban sugar, tobacco, and widespread criticism of the disparate dreds of thousands of White Russians workers. any product in the world that contains treatment of Cubans and Haitians, were granted political exile status. On the other hand, the government Cuban nickel. As a result, many Carter promised the Haitians" equal But when just as many Jews tried acts brutally toward truly desperate Cubans take to the sea to escape eco­ treatment," but not "political refugee" desperately to escape Hitler in the refugees from the lands of its own nomic hardship. status. Even this minimal promise was 1930s, U.S. immigration doors were repressive, poverty-stricken, capitalist Vietnam also suffers economic dis­ false: most Cubans are being pro­ slammed shut. allies. This embarrassing wave of des­ crimination by the U.S. And if the cessed through tent cities or military The shores of the U.S. must be open titute humanity is repelled by any continual economic war weren't bases, but all Haitians go through to all poor and oppressed immigrants, means necessary, including mass de­ enough, U.S. capitalism engineered federal penitentiaries. regardless of the political situation in portations and murder. naked military invasions of both Cuba their home countries and irrespective and Vietnam in the 1960s. Cuba Mexicans go home! of their ethnic origins. Otherwise, refu- Creating refugees: a scenario defeated the U.S. at the Bay of Pigs, Millions of Mexicans are similarly gees become the pawns in an interna­ The refugee strategy has yet an­ but Vietnam was decimated. The denied legal status and routinely sub­ tional con game, and are pitted against other, deeper purpose. It obscures the poverty of both countries is caused jected to factory and neighborhood the poor and the ethnic minorities in U.S. role in creating refugee problems directly by American imperialism. raids, and deportation. In parts of this country who are deprived of ser­ in under-developed countries. Texas, children of undocumented vices given fully to politically OK new­ The Vietnamese boat people and the Haitians unwelcome workers are not allowed to attend the comers. That carnival must not be recent Cuban emigres are glaring The Duvalier regime in Haiti is a public schools. permitted to continue. 0 examples of the "discredit the reds" rightwing U.S. ally that receives U.S. Big growers are notorious for hiring game plan. arms and police training to bolster undocumented workers at submini­ Bob Hippler is a gay activist and In both cases, sweeping social revo­ repression and abject poverty. mum wages. At the end of the season, CRSP member long associated with lutions produced refugees from the Haiti has an unemployment rate of just before payday, the Immigration the Campaign for a Citizens Police dispossessed classes and their allies. 50%, illiteracy is over 90% and infant and Naturalization Service is sum- Review Board in Los Angeles. MiamL Orlando, Chattanoogg GheHo war in Dixieland

BY JANET SUTHERLAND announced it would bring civil rights violation charges against some of the iots in Miami and Orlando, acquitted criminals-another case of Florida and in Chattanooga, too little, too late, and no answer to the Tennessee spread like wild­ crying need for jobs, shelter, food, R . fire in the most violent sum­ clothing, education, and dignity . iiiiiiiiiiiiiiimer of discontent since the The media also begged the issue. ghetto rebellions of the '60s. CBS-TV reportage on Miami clearly Miami erupted in May when an all­ detailed the complicity of state prose- . white jury acquitted four policemen cutors who permitted their three police who beat to death Black insurance man witnesses to discredit themselves Arthur McDuffie. The response from through contradictory testimony about the ghetto, Liberty City, was prompt, McDuffie's murder. This provided the with 400 people injured, 1250 arrested, jury with an excuse for acquitting the 16 dead, and damage to white business murderers. But the TV "analysis" fo­ estimated at $100 million. cused on the racism of cracker cops In July, the attempted wrongful ar­ and ignored the collusion of a political­ rest of a Black man in Miami provoked legal system which has long rested on another riot, fueled by the disappoint­ Police brutality in Miami's Liberty City area. racial persecution. ment of 600 unemployed youths with a job fair that offered only 200 skilled looted and burned, Blacks and whites Chinese refugees while social services Black revolt jobs. Police teargassed the protestors, were injured, and police ran amok. for Blacks are slashed. It is significant that white property, injuring innocent bystanders. Southern officials tried to cool not white people, is the chief target for Later that month, Chattanooga Racism U.S.A. things down by calling in Jesse Jackson Black fury. Blacks rebelled when another all-white Southern metropolises, which had of PUSH, Benjamin Hooks of the Blacks know that their conditions jury acquitted two Ku Klux Klan mem­ begun to offer Blacks some respite NAACP, and Andrew Young, formerly change only when businesses bum and bers and let the third off easy for the from rural poverty and the KKK, have of the Carter regime. But Blacks were ghetto rebellion disturbs the orderly shooting of four Black women. Police now reverted to type, joining Boston, not fooled. Their hopes for reform process of profit-taking. tactical squads sealed off neighbor­ Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles obliterated by ten years of sellout by In the absence of a mass movement, hoods from their residents. and dozens of Northern cities in heap­ Black politicians, the protesters an electoral alternative, and a radical Also in July, white cops in Orlando ing police abuse on top of Black un­ shouted insults at the Black mediators leadership, the Black militants have no brutalized a Black woman while arrest­ employment. And the already incendi­ and put the torch to more white busi­ outlet but destruction. It is the fire this ing her, and the ensuing outburst last­ ary situation is aggravated by the nesses in the ghetto. time-but political revolution is not far ed three days and nights. Stores were favoritism shown to Cuban and Indo- In August, the federal government behind. 0 FREEDOM SOCIALIST 0 SUMMER I FALL 1980 LE'rrERS

Vol. 6, No.3 Summer/Fall 1.980 Black woman, could never be a woman eVen if he male. Even some of the female anti­ white rapist wanted to." The SWP belittled the bus-ers on the Board decry adminis­ Chicana conference 6 Dessie Woods, a Black, defended difficulties of a transsexual as mere tration sexism, and a group of fe­ herself and a friend from an armed Chicana feminists over­ seeking of a personal lifestyle. male administrators just won an ruled the officials to sup­ white rapist in June 1975. Her im­ The SWP also opposed the Octo­ affirmative action class action suit port a Native American prisonment for murder is being con­ ber 1979 March on Washington for against the Board. The union lead­ hotel boycott and a host of tested in the Fifth Federal Circuit Lesbian/Gay Rights, refuses to con­ ership also has a male majority, and interrelated political is­ Court of Appeals in New Orleans. demn the execution of homosexuals the union is being crippled by their sues. By Sara Marsh. In her five years in the Georgia in Iran, minimized gay oppre ssion in lack of interest in mobilizing teach­ Women's Institute of Corrections, Cuba, and does not protest antigay ers for self defense. Teachers for Woods has been repeatedly beaten, immigration laws or police murders Change had to pressure the union drugged, and subjected to nude soli­ of gay activists like Fred Paez. into staging a demonstration. International roundup 3 tary confinement. In December Lesbian/Gay Rights Monitoring The caucus is pushing for a The conflicts in Iran and 1977, she was illegally transferred Group "Strike Preparedness" stance. Poland compel a searching to the Georgia State Mental Institu­ 415 W. 23rd St. #l1F Bob Hippler look at the wonderful way tion and drugged with Prolixin, a New York City, New York Los Angeles, California revolution keeps on assert­ dangerous mind-controller. After a ing itself-permanently! national protest, she was returned Trial by gender Prison rape to prison. Last fall, a jury convicted Sandy POSRIP was formed through the The National Committee to De­ Hagen of first degree manslaughter efforts of Russell Smith, who was fend Dessie Woods, an all-Black and second degree criminal posses­ released from federal prison on May Ma Bell's daughters 5 organization in Gainsville, Florida, sion of a deadly weapon for the 30 after serving over seven years­ Madelyn Elder, a phone has won international support. August 1978 shooting death of Gil­ two of them for protecting himself company cable splicer, ex­ Woods will be up for parole in No­ bert Rivera in Brooklyn. Rivera had from rape. For his efforts to circu­ plains why angry women vember, but her situation is unpre­ an arrest record for 16 offenses, late the facts about prison rape, employees are demanding dictable because of her fight in pris­ such as burglary, robbery, and Smith was confined to an isolated their fair share of contract on for Black women and for herself. grand larceny, most of them drug­ cell and severely harassed by prison gains from union officials. Dessie Woods Support related crimes. officials. Upon his release, Smith Committee Hagen knew Rivera, who had once determined to fight prison rape and 625 Post Street, Box 667 thrown her across a hallway when demand the segregation of rapists. CRSP national plenum 8 San Francisco, California she interrupted his assault on an­ One out of every five prisoners is other woman. He was 6'2" tall. Dur­ subjected to rape by prison officers, One hundred radicals meet Right on, comrades ing a later, uninvited visit to her jail guards, or physically stronger on the anniversary of the Congratulations on your "Gay apartment, he struck her and they prisoners. Victims are of all races, American Revolution and Resistance" series. 4 stars for your both scrambled for his gun, but she nationalities, sexual preferences, consolidate an important "Feminist Scoreboard." We believe reached it first and fired. and both sexes. connection with the Latin that the Freedom Socialist is a truly American movement and At her trial, the prosecution POSRIP needs help in establish­ with international Trotsky­ revolutionary group. We support claimed this was a case of jealousy, ing a program to force prison offi­ ism. A two-year-old faction your struggle; it is our struggle. not self-defense. cials to protect prisoners, and in fight is decisively resolved Tony Hamils, Anthony Melchiore Sandy was sent to prison at Riker publicizing the conditions which amid three rich days of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Island, then to Bedford Hills. She provoke prison rape. political analysis, program did not receive a fair trial. Under People Organized to Stop Rape planning and pointed Black poet framed New York law, a person may use of Imprisoned Persons entertainment. In January, an all-white jury in deadly physical force if he reason­ P.O. Box 3001 Buffalo, New York convicted Black ably believes another is about to use St. Louis, Missouri Women and pornography 15 poet Yusef Alhakk of second degree it. The provisions of the law employ robbery of a drug store. The the masculine gender; the judge Aquash-FBI murder film Capitalism thrives on pharmacist identified Yusef, whose used this sexist language in his in­ Anna Mae-Brave Hearted Wom­ porn's basic message that picture should not have been among structions to the jury. an, acclaimed at two film festivals, is women are cheap targets mugs hots since he had no criminal A Washington State court found unfinished. Funds are badly needed and that men should de­ record. this to be an error in the Yvonne to complete "the strongest film grade women-and them­ In the trial, the judge overruled Wanrow case, denying equal protec­ statement ever made about the way selves-for power and defense objections and sustained tion of the law (the essence of sex this country deals with Indians." kicks. Karen Brodine, a the racist prosecutors, who asked discrimination). The Wanrow case Anna Mae Pictou Aquash partici­ poet and social critic, ex­ the jury to accept the testimony of is persuasive authority for a New pated in the American Indian Move­ amines the dynamics. the white, licensed pharmacist and York court, though not binding. ment takeover of the Washington, reject Yusef's witness, an unem­ Sandy Hagen Defense D.C. Bureau of Indian Affairs build­ also ployed Black laborer. Yusef was Committee ing in 1972. She was a key organizer sentenced to 4-12 years. Box 1200, 164 W. 21st St. for Los Angeles AIM. INTERNATIONAL LESBIANS/GAYS Yusef was selectively arrested. New York City, New York In 1973, she was at Pine Ridge Refugees ...... 1 Gay resistance ... 12 Lavender Left He is no thief; he had maintained Reservation during the 71-day siege NATIONAL employment for eight years. But he Jaws II ...... 4 conference .... 1 3 LA. school crisis of Wounded Knee. Armed FBI Vote socialist .... 10 is a political, and a member of ten I'm a substitute teacher, a mem­ agents attacked a camp there in LABOR human rights groups, including anti­ ber of the United Teachers of Los June 1975, and one Indian and two Clone parties .... 14 Industrial comp ... 5 Antidraft ...... 16 Klan, antidraft, and prisoner sup­ Angeles union and its "Teachers for agents were killed. Although Anna WOMEN FEATURES port activities. He needs help. Change" caucus. Mae was in court in pedar Rapids, Sharon Crigler .... 7 What is the FSP? ... 4 Alhakk Defense Committee The Board of Education is in­ Iowa on that day, the FBI arrested White Morning ... 10 Poetry P.O. Box 41, Station C creasing class size and eliminating her twice and she went into hiding. forcoloredgirls ... 11 by Nellie Wong ... 9 Buffalo, New York many probationary contract teach­ In February 1976, Anna Mae's Clara Fraser ..... 11 ers. Since most of them will go on body was found at the foot of a cliff. PEOPLE OF COLOR Ms. Tami ...... 13 Ghetto wars ...... 1 SWP homophobia the substitute list, subs will lose Police and FBI agents rushed to Simmons trial ..... 7 ESPANOL The SWP has disengaged from their jobs. bury the "unidentified" body. But Black Hills ...... 7 Las mujeres Actually, given present class size, her family and friends refused to Can Charlie Chan 10 latinas ...... 6 the lesbian/gay movement and the fight against sexism. Recently, the there is a teacher shortage in L.A. believe she died of exposure. A New York City SWP forced their The Board's displacements and dis­ second autopsy revealed two bullet only openly transsexual member to missals.are an attempt to "end" this wounds in her head. Yet there was !freeclom. I· t resign or be expelled for her "life­ shortage and gain leverage in the never an official investigation. style." She quit. contract negotiations. The Board Filmmaker Lan Ritz has taken SOCIalS wants to slash salaries for subs, cut these gruesome facts and created a Published quarterly by the Freedom Socialist Party. Editorialand The vulgar and pernicious charge production offices: Freeway Hall, 3815 Fifth Avenue N.E., against her was "violation" of the benefits for all teachers, and raise film that is a document of the living Second Floor West, Seattle, WA 98105.206-632-7449. SWP's "dress code," which makes wages only 5 %. movement. Through Anna Mae's $ t a f f any form of "cross-gender dressing" The Board majority is antibusing letters and her friends' stories, we EDITORIAL/PRODUCTION BOARD TECHNICIANS incompatible with SWP member­ and is fighting Judge Egly's busing/ come to know a vital woman fight­ Val Carlson Megan Cornish ship. To raise the "issue" of trans­ integration plan in the U.S. Su­ ing for sovereignty, treaty rights, Robert Crisman Chuck Meyer preme Court. School Board Presi­ and respect. Sam Deaderick Eugenie Niboyet vestism against a transsexual is Clara Fraser Joanne Ward vicious, disgusting, and backward. dent Roberta Wientraub has openly The Film Fund, Inc. Tamara Turner SUPPORT SERVICES The shocked SWPers who re­ suggested that white parents should 308 11th St. MANAGER Rune vealed this latest victimization also pull their children out of the schools San Francisco, California Janet Sutherland Kathy King reported that Dave Frankel, SWP if busing goes through. PRODUCTION COORDINATORS BUSINESS MANAGERS writer for The Militant and Intercon­ The union is more worried about Helen Gilbert Mary Ann Curtis tinental Press/Inprecor, declared, parent participation in the schools Beth Kellner Melba Wind offer Readers are encouraged to submit "The SWP is not a party of social than in getting parents in its corner. letters, news stories, commentary, PHOTOGRAPHY TRANSLATION rejects," and should force the trans­ The union membership has a cartoons, graphics, photographs, Doug Barnes Erasmo Pacheo sexual to resign. Fred Stanton, an­ large female majority while the and pertinent information on world Articles and graphics may be reprinted with credit. other party official, stated, "A man school administrators are mostly and national affairs for publication. Subscriptions exchanged. -- -- ;c==;-

FREEDOM SOCIALIST 0 SUMMER I FALL 1980 3

of censorship and ruling caste priv­ ilege, release of all political prisoners, public access to economic information, Poland and automatic cost-of-living wage Down with the privileges of increases. the bureaucracy! Down with Worker delegates from all over the Stakhanovism! Down with the country poured into the Lenin Ship­ Soviet aristocracy and its yards with financial donations and ranks and orders! Greater declarations of solidarity. Sympathy equality of wages for all forms strikes swept the country. Labor orga­ of laborl The struggle for the nizations around the world sent sup­ freedom of the trade unions port and money. and the factory committees, for Insisting on the fullest expression of the right of assembly and free­ democracy, strikers broadcast negotia­ dom of the press, will unfold in tions throughout the shipyards and to Salvadoran guerrillas pose before a poster commemorating ten years of the struggle for the regenera­ the press. resistance by the Popular Liberation Forces (FPL), a Marxist group. tion and qevelopment of Soviet Faced with political disaster, the democracy. government negotiators held out only quick military victory, as did its off­ -Leon Trotsky, 1938 two weeks before conceding the major shoot, the Forces of National Libera­ (Transitional Program) demand for independent unions and tion (FARN). Now both groups seek to the right to strike. Worker negotiators EI Salvador expand their mass base, as does the dopted by the fledgling agreed to recognize the PUWP as the Popular Liberation Forces (FPL), which Fourth International 40 leading party, and promised not to act ive thousand EI Salvadorans split from the Stalinists ten years ago. years ago, these Trotskyist as a political party. have been slaughtered by FPL is a Marxist party close to the A demands could have been The workers immediately set up the army, police, and right­ workers, slum dwellers, and peasants; emblazoned over the Lenin offices for the new trade unions and wing death squads since the its second-in-command is a woman, as F c Shipyards gates in Gdansk, Poland were flooded with applications for military/Christian Democra­ are 40 1c of its cadres. when a strike of shipyard workers membership. Meanwhile, local strikes tic junta seized power last October. Another component of DRU is the erupted on August 14 over the sum­ continue as workers try to consolidate But a unified revolutionary force now Socialist Workers Party (P ST), Trot­ mary firing of a woman labor leader. the Gdansk agreements. resists the junta. skyists who are fighting for a unified The stunning strike quickly blossomed Gierek's removal as party chief The u.S.-supported junta is a grisly socialist Central America. into a nationwide workers challenge to (ostensibly for medical reasons) was one, murdering opponents and using Millions of U.S. dollars supply the the bureaucracy's stranglehold. almost a minor news event amidst the the "land reform" program (developed junta; U.S. warships stand off the coast. It was clear to the whole world that historic proletarian victory. by U.S. consultant Roy L. Prosterman) And u.S.-supported troops from Hon­ the socialist workers of Poland were The anti-bureaucracy worker's as a cover for military control of the duras and Guatemala threaten inter­ countryside. Troops have smashed the vention. independent press, occupied the uni­ In August, the FDR went interna­ versities, and ravaged the land in pur­ tional to enlist arms for the civil war suit of guerrillas. and expose U.S. meddling. Emissaries General strikes in June and August gained support from the Socialist Inter­ halted the economy and provided a national in Norway. proving ground for revolutionary organ­ Rivers of blood have been shed be­ ization. Reprisals against striking elec­ cause the leaders trusted "reform" trical workers spurred a retaliatory 24- promises. Now nothing short of total hour blackout when 1500 electrical divestiture of imperialist interests, and workers seized five power plants. their own socialist state, will suffice. Resistance leadership comes from a U.S. dirty hands offEI Salvador! 0 coalition of labor, small business, and radicals-the Democratic Revolution­ ary Front (FDR). The FDR is organizing people's militias and radicalizing the countryside. It does not call for immedi­ ate insurrection. Iran The FDR includes several major wenty months after the over­ leftwing military forces, which are co­ throw of the Shah, the deep­ ordinated by the Unified Revolution­ ening radicalization of the ary Directorate (DRU). All are in need Poland's strike leaders Anna Walentinowicz and Lech Walesa hold fir::;' T masses continues to chal- in negotiations. of arms. Within DRU a debate rages lenge the efforts of the bour­ over strategy, and the responsible view geoisie to stabilize the economy and prevails that the call for all-out war is their own political power. This political defending their economy by demand­ movement across Eastern Europe is politically premature. In September, contradiction is the basis of the actual ing democratic reforms. Socialism stronger than ever before. The futUre is the ultraleft National Resistance (NR) dual vower governing Iran. must mean workers' power, not bu­ grim for Stalinism, but dazzlingly split from DRU after arguing to no As peasants continue to seize large reaucratic oppression. bright for the heroic masses in the avail that DRU lead army dissidents areas of farmland, and factory shoras The general strike was triggered workers states. The time is ripe for bent on quick overthrow of the junta. (committees) become more authorita­ when shipyard management fired them to consolidate their gains and One wing of DRU, the reformist tive, the government tries to push back Anna Walentinowicz, a crane operator expand their offensive against the anti­ Communist Party, previously cooper­ the revolution through military attacks and leader in the 1970 and 1976 socialist policies and practices of the ated with the junta. on the autonomy-seeking Kurds and upsurges. Widely respected as a parasitic officialdom whose power has Another sector of DRU, the People's sustained repression of radicals. May powerful advocate for labor, she was been gravely weakened. The workers Revolutionary Army (ERP), originally Day demonstrations were attacked vi­ dismissed in retaliation for her of the world owe a resounding vote of promoted armed struggle and led a ciously by the Islamic fundamentalists activism. gratitude to the Polish proletariat. 0 rebellion in October. ERP expected a who control the new parliament. Following the example of the Parliament is concentrating on re­ American sit-down strikers of the sponding to severe military attacks 1930s, Polish shipyard workers took every 13,000 Blacks. Half the Black from Iraq, whose government fears the over their workplace and turned it into children die by age 5. The countryside spread of the Iranian revolution, and an organizing center for a strike move­ Zilflbabwe was devastated by war and systematic where pro-Shah Iranians are now based. ment that quickly raced across Poland, crop destruction by the British. The soiled hands of the U.S. are clearly fueled by massive indignation over oefully underpaid Black Mugabe has launched a recovery in evidence in this war. Iraq is filled high meat prices, government censor­ workers bombarded new program, provided a workers rights with U.S. operatives and Carter is ship, repression of political dissidents, Prime Minister Robert charter, and begun universal schooling refusing to sell Iran spare parts for its bureaucratic privilege, and low wages. W Mugabe with a wave of and health care. The rich now pay U.S.-made weapons. While the government accused strikes last May. Despite taxes. The unpaid mortgages of whites, Also on the parliamentary agenda is strike leaders of "anarchism" and Mugabe's appeal for time, shoemak­ formerly subsidized by the govern­ the fate of the U.S. hostages. In prep­ "antisocialism," the strikers proudly ers, industrial and textile workers, and ment, are being foreclosed and land aration for international tribunals, sang the "International," the anthem of miners walked out and won a minimum collectivization is proceeding even Pres. Carter has assembled 60,000 world revolution. wage law effective in July. without the needed expropriations. pages of secret documentation, detail­ The Catholic Church's corrupt hier­ Zimbabwe gained independence A landlocked country, Zimbabwe's ing U.S. involvement in Iran back to archy was quickly enlisted to counsel from Britain in April and the people trade routes are controlled by South 1941. But the White House refuses to "peace, calm, reason, prudence, and expect radical changes, even though Mrica. But in July, Mugabe expelled meet Iran's major demands: an apology responsibility" -and a back-to-work Mugabe, leader of the ZANU guerril­ South African diplomats caught re­ for Yankee crimes against Iran, release policy. Thinly-veiled threats of Soviet las, made heavy concessions to the cruiting former Rhodesian soldiers. of frozen Iranian assets and the return intervention issued from Edward whites, agreeing to maintain capitalism When South Africa threatened repri­ of money stolen by the Shah. Gierek, chairman of the ruling Polish and retain a white army commander. sals, Mugabe, who was visiting the The two major issues of the hostages United Workers Party (PUWP), but The army, police force, civil service U.S., appealed for massive U.S. aid. and Iraq are pressuring parliament the Kremlin didn't dare to intervene and economic moguls are predomi­ Zimbabwe's hard won indepen­ toward the left. If parliament, instead, and risk worker wrath on a world scale. nantly white. dence cannot be preserved with imper­ turns against the self-organization of The strikers held firm to a list of 21 Colonial racism has left Zimbabwe a ialist loans. No neo-colonial solution the Iranian masses, they will erupt demands, including the right to estab­ festering sore. The ratio of doctors is will work; socialism is the real future again. The fate of the revolution has yet lish free unions and to strike, abolition one per 1000 whites, but only one for for Zimbabwe. 0 to be decided. 0 4 FREEDOM SOCIALIST 0 SUMMER I FALL 1980

Jarvis revolt fizzles Californians dump Jaws II BY SUKEY DURHAM tuition at the University of California tax loopholes for the rich-that neces­ Business-and not big government­ could have climbed to $3,000 per year. sary first step for true tax reform. isn't their worst enemy. hat guru of the taxpayers' Drastic cuts in services and the imposi­ revolt, bellicose Howard tion of steep user-fees were planned, Robin Hood reversed Cut back the bosses! Jarvis, is a wolf in sheep's placing an added burden on those least In spite of Jarvis' masquerade two Workers in California had different T clothing who tried are-run able to afford the ravages of inflation. years ago as a populist defender of the plans for the oil moguls and their ilk. of his notorious 1978 tax­ Local governments in California little guy against the horror of big Prop. 11, on the same ballot as Prop. 9, measure victory, Proposition 13. have already lost a whopping $7 billion government, California voters saw aimed to place a 10% surcharge on the But this time, his new, improved as a result of Prop. 13. Since 1978, through his act this year. windfall received by oil companies as a version of a plan to slash social pro­ cities and counties have depended on Jarvis' comments-unionists are result of Carter's decontrol of oil prices. grams lost by almost a 2-to-l margin. state bail-out funds to stay afloat, but "greedy bastards" and "people who Prop. 11 also would have taxed all oil Dubbed "Jaws II" by nervous state the state surplus that was used to decide elections don'tread"-exposed produced in California. But Prop. 11 legislators, Jarvis' Proposition 9 was finance education and other social pro­ his supporters as rightwing cynics lost by a 43%-to-57% margin, a defeat defeated on the June 3 ballot. It would grams will be exhausted within a few whose "reform" is that stale variation attributed primarily to a. huge oil­ have cut California state income taxes years. Had Prop. 9 passed, the surplus on the theme of stealing from the poor financed advertising campaign. in half. would have disappeared immediately. to give to the rich. The California AFL-CIO, along with While the precise long-term effects Backers of "Jaws II" placed a lot of consumer and community groups, is of the meaSUre were debatable, the Welfare for the rich confidence in the views of Arthur B. now gathering signatures for the Tax state would have lost $4.9 billion in Prop. 13 slashed the skYrocketing Laffer of the University of Southern Simplicity Act, a measure to reduce revenue in 1980-81 and at least $4.4 property taxes to 1 % of assessed value California, one of a growing enclave of taxes for workers and raise the taxes of billion every year thereafter. And Prop. and placed severe restrictions on the conservative, laissez-faire economists. banks and large corporations from 9, like its predecessor, was a consti­ government's ability to levy new taxes. Laffer claims that massive tax cuts, 9.6% to 12%. tutional amendment which could not Wealthy landowners, like Jarvis, bene­ under certain conditions, can stimulate be modified by the legislature. fited greatly from this scheme, but the economy and increase government Tax reform is a stopgap renters-47% of the population-got revenues. Translated, this means that As the economy careens towards Rightwing overkill nothing but rent increases and cQt­ if government would butt out of the disaster and the capitalists engineer a Passage of Prop. 9 meant a full­ backs in everything from libraries to marketplace, Big Business could con­ recession in hopes of halting inflation, scale, frontal attack on governmental garbage pickups. tinue to reap superprofits through fur­ it is obvious that tax reform can only programs and services. Education and Under Prop. 9, the wealthiest 5% of ther attacks on the workers' standard temporarily and partially ease the eco­ health care-including mental health, taxpayers would have received 40% of of living. nomic crunch. Only a planned socialist public transportation and recreational the dollar tax-savings. But a married With oil companies already report­ economy, administered by a workers' facilities-were slated for severe cuts. couple, earning $12,500, were to ing billions of dollars in profits in the government, can finally end economic Stepped-up layoffs of teachers and receive a tax break of only $64. Prop. 9, very midst of ail alleged energy short­ crisis, corporate greed, and human public employees were imminent, and moreover, had no provision for closing age, many voters are wondering if Big misery. 0

stereotyping is a key ingredient of the not by the corporations who exhaust fight for women's equality and is resources for profit and destroy worker equally revolutionary. Revolutionary safety and health. Nuclear energy WHAT Is THE socialism is the logical road for sexual threatens to maim or annihilate future FSP? minorities who stand apart from the generations. Technology must be used bourgeois nuclear family and who wish wisely and humanely to preserve the he Freedom Socialist Party multiple afflictions of women-as to end the long, bloody centuries of earth and its creatures. is a revolutionary, socialist members of an oppressed sex, workers, persecution and terror. feminist organization, dedi­ people of color, lesbians-propel them Because of their special oppression, For a mass party of the T cated to the replacement of into militancy within every social move­ lesbians are a particularly militant working class capitalist rule by a genuine ment, thereby laying the basis for uni­ component of all social movements. History has proven that only a workers democracy that will guarantee fying all the mass movements. Women, thoroughly democratic and ce!ltralized full economic, social, political and legal particularly working class women of For universal human rights vanguard party can lead the proletariat equality to women, people of color, color, are playing an increasingly van­ Among the most hapless and vul­ and its many allies to power. The FSP, gays, and all who are exploited, op­ guard role in the American and world nerable victims of capitalism are a product of the living tradition of pressed and repelled by the I1lthless revolution, thanks to the rise of the children, elders, the disabled, prison­ Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky, profit system and its offshoot­ autonomous women's movement and ers-anyone who is not a profitable aspires to become a mass organization imperialism. women's caucuses within unions and worker. capable of providing direction for the all political parties. We demand a world where all people coming American revolution. For revolutionary have the inalienable right to security, Through independent growth, revo­ internationalism For racial/ethnic freedom care, love, and unhampered opportu­ lutionary regroupment, and other The working class is international, The struggles of oppressed minori­ nity and growth. forms of fusion, we are confident of our bound by global abuse and the com­ ties against racism objectively chal­ eventual merger with the dynamic mon task of winning liberation through lenge the basic core of the American For environmental sanity masses who will sweep every obstacle socialism. We support the revolution political system. The resistance ofpeo­ The world's natural riches must be out of their path and ascend to the on all its fronts and seek to transform it pIe of color, who suffer a dual oppres­ used and safeguarded by the people, socialist future. 0 into worldwide socialism, which alone sion, spurs all other sectors of the can insure the final defeat of capitalism working class to advanced political and all forms of subjugation. consciousness and militancy. We stand for immediate and uncon­ FSP PUBLICATIONS For union democracy ditional economic, political, and social

The working class has the strategic equality for Blacks, Chicanos, Asian 1. Crisis and Leadership, Part I: The Crisis ...... $1.50 The dilemmas posed by capitalism in its crisis stage; the power, numbers, need and opportunity Americans, Native Americans and Black revolt and women's emancipation as preludes to to effect a socialist transformation of Puerto Ricans, and endorse the de­ revolution. society. But first the trade unions must mand for self-determination by the 2. Introducing the Freedom Socialist Party ..... $ .15 be freed from the stranglehold of the Indian and Puerto Rican nations. Origins and program of the FSP. 3. Revolutionary Integration: The Dialectics of class-collaborationist bureaucrats and We advocate the collaboration of Black Liberation ...... $ .10 The economiC, political and cultu ral roots of U.S. racism. from dependence on the twin political Black organizations with the revolu­ States the case for SOCialist integration in lieu of parties of big business. Internal union tionary movement as the most realistic bourgeois nationalism. 4. A Victory for Socialist Feminism: Organizer'S democracy, class struggle principles, and historically validated alternative Report to the 1969 FSP Conference ...... $2.00 How femi nism was the cutting edge in the formation and independent political action in the to the dead ends of separatism or development of the FSP. A primer for the Left on living form of a Labor Party, and an end to reformist integration The revolution socialist feminist politics. internal racism, sexism and hetero­ depends upon massive Black involve­ 5. Socialist Feminism: The First Decade, 1966-76 by Gloria Martin ...... $7.95 sexism are on the order of the day. ment and leadership. Assesses the highli\lhts, identifies the errors, and levels judgment on an entire decade of radical organizing. For women's liberation For gay equality We organize for the total emancipa­ The revolt of lesbians and gay men Visit our branch bookstores. We carry a wide tion of women on every level of life. The against sexual repression and sex-role selection of Marxist classics as well as writings on the struggles of women, lesbians and gay men, people of NEW YORK New YOrk City: 301 W. 17th st. #2E, New York, NY color, and labor. Write for a free brochure. WHERE TO FIND 10011.212·929·0210. OREGON Portiand: 506 N.E. Alberta, Portland, OR 97211.503· ------THE FSP 249·8067. Enclosed Is a check 0 money order 0 for the amount of $ ______RHODE ISLAND to cover Items ______Providence: Brown University, P.O. Box 2289, ALASKA Providence, RI 02912. Juneau: P.O. Box 1325, Juneau, AK 99802. 907·586·1617. WASHINGTON Name ____~~~~------Add~ss------Seattle: Nat/onal Office, Freeway Hall, 3815 5th Ave. Clty ______(Please print) StatA"--_____ Zip ______Phone{s) ______CALIFORNIA N.E., Seattle, WA 98105.206·632'7449. Los Angeles: P.O. Box 29471, Los Angeles, CA North Branch, 1931 E. Calhoun, Seattle, WA 98112. 90027.213·935·8638. 206· 722·3812. Send checks Or money orders (no cash, please) to Freedom Socialist Party, Freeway Hall, San Francisco/Berkeley: 2661 21 st St., San South Branch, 831 32nd Ave., Seattle, WA 98122. 3815 Fifth Avenue N.E. Seattle, WA 98105. FranciSCO, CA 94110.415·824·1497. 206·324·5016. FREEDOM SoCIALIST 0 SUMMER I FALL 1980 5

Ma Bell's daughters come of age

BY MADELYN ELDER combined strength and impact in the February strike. t used to be that workers When a woman cable splicer in struck when contract nego­ Renton, Washington refused to work tiations collapsed. Times alone in a hazardous site, she was I have changed. disciplined and a strike broke out, No sooner did negotia­ quickly spreading throughout the re­ tors for the Communications Workers gion. Portland and Seattle operators of America (CWA) settle with AT&T struck in support, causing a daily loss on August 9 than telephone workers in of thousands of dollars in long-distance New York City, opposed to the settle­ revenues. Management was forced to ment, hit the bricks. negotiate, and the issue was tempo­ The contract stunk. In the face of rarily resolved. vast technological change, job security The operators had set an example of had been won only for those with 15 solidarity for the entire union. years seniority. Raises amounted to Union officials, however, have not only 10.2%, and that amount went to awakened to the significance of the already top-paid workers. And the operators, who learned at the confer­ industry-wide negotiations left many ence that they were not to be repre­ locals still bargaining over their own sented on the bargaining committee. working conditions, with the likelihood This exclusion raised serious ques­ that many isolated and vulnerable tions about possible gains for them locals will have to strike on their own. during bargaining. "Every contract, Hardest hit by the sellout were the it's the same thing," declared one predominantly female operators Portland operator. "Our issues are whose skilled fingers control the intri­ shoved aside until the last minute. cate machinery central to the Bell Then we are given a dime raise." system. When an area representative of In spite of CW A's "Year of the Oper­ national CW A hedged on making their ator," a movement begun by Pacific issues a top priority, another woman Switchboard operators are leading the battle against speed-up, low pay, Northwest Bell operators, an insulting operator retorted: "The reason you and job harassment. $5 a week raise is all operators will get. don't want to answer my question is Meager provisions were won to pre­ because we all know the answer is 'no.' heart disease. special language and style, responding vent supervisors listening in and No, the operators are not a top priority Operators sometimes wait 40 min­ to customers and life-and-death situa­ counting mistakes, but the only type of for bargaining." The conference unani­ utes for another operator to replace tions with super friendliness, effi­ monitoring actually curbed is unlikely mously voted to send a resolution to them for a bathroom break. Job mon­ ciency, tact, and speed. to be used against operators anyway. the national bargaining committee itoring is pervasive; management calls Operators are learning from their They are still subject to penalties, demanding top priority for operators' its practice of unobserved listening-in smouldering anger at sellout bargain­ often for mistakes resulting from issues-and the CWA rep fled. on operators "quality control," but ing and job persecution. They know it supervisor harassment. workers call it harassment. Although is they who control crucial and lucra­ The hand that rocks the union has introduced laws against tive communication links, and who Operators on the march the switchboard monitoring in state legislatures, Bell's have vital organizing skills. They are Last May, Pacific Northwest Bell The conference workshops docu­ lobbyists have stymied them. gearing up to become the driving force operators held a conference in Seattle mented operator complaints about job Despite demeaning conditions, Bell that will transform the union into a to convey their wage demands to union stress. With little control over the expects operators to attain a high skill fighting organization de serving of their negotiators. They also demanded that speed of incoming calls, operators level. They must remember myriad allegiance and leadership. 0 attention be paid to the workplace experience pressures that lead to in­ FCC regulations for citing rates and hazards and harassment they suffer. somnia, muscle spasms, recurrent even the time of day. As the public's Madelyn Elder is a cable splicer And they found themselves compli­ vaginal or bladder infections, ulcers, regular contact with the phone com­ for Bell Telephone and a shop mented for their decisive intervention hypertension, colitis, and coronary pany, operators must learn PNB's steward for her CWA local. into a February strike called over working conditions in the field. Keynote speaker Clara Fraser took time out from her discrimination case Passing the buck on worker sale!)!. against Seattle City Light to address the operators and urge them to take leadership of their union and the entire Industrial insurance ripoff labor movement. "Led by women and minority workers, labor will create pro­ ----BY HEIDI DURHAM industrial safety laws, was a boon for tional rehabilitation soon finds that the found social change in this land," said capital. resources are grossly inadequate. Fraser, a longtime feminist and labor housands of U.S. workers It is true that significant advances State provisions for 2-year job retrain­ activist are robbed of their liveli­ for the injured worker have been won in ing programs look good at first, but in She cited labor history to show the hoods through workplace the past 60 years. But the modest gains the construction trades, for example, power of a united movement "The T hazards. They are killed or envisioned by socialists and labor where wages are relatively high and the CIO, like the IWW, was an industrial, maimed by speeded-up militants earlier in the century have yet level of education low, an injured multi-craft union, and CW A is such a equipment bristling with murderous to be won: full compensation for worker cannot earn equivalent wages union, with operators, installers, gears and faulty levers. They are wages lost through injury; retention of on a different job after only two years splicers, computer experts and others contaminated by deadly substances. the right to sue the employer for of retraining. all in the same bargaining unit. And They are victimized by accidents and negligence; and state-owned insur­ women are 51 % of it." by ruthless harassment. Yet the bosses ance agencies to prevent diversion of Bring the murderers to trial She compared the operators' role in harangue about malingerers and in­ most premiums to insurance company Business, industry, and the govern­ the February strike to the bold action competents and hack away at an al­ coffers rather than to injured workers. ment are the true malingerers. They of Seattle City Light clericals, who ready deficient workman's compensa­ not only fight to deny workers their were quick to join the electrical tion program. Adding insult to injury benefits, but they do virtually nothing workers' 1974 walkout "Without the It is the labor of worker-taxpayers A worker disabled while performing to insure safe job sites. Industry will women, the other workers would not that finances the meager compensa­ a job that makes thousands of dollars endanger a worker's life rather than have won. Without you pushing the tion benefits, and few workers know for the boss loses his or her value as a install safe machinery or slow down the union officials, the CWA will not win a that industrial insurance was institut­ seller of labor power and is no longer pace of production or hire extra better contract." ed by Big Business in order to serve its marketable. In most states, workers workers or conduct proper training. The conference expressed its own interests. disabled by industrial accidents get Oceans of workers' blood have been militancy by giving a standing ovation Prior to 1920, employers in some less than 25% of their incomes in spilled for the profit system and to Fraser. states could be sued by workers under compensation, and many victims of millions of lives wasted in needless Important support for the confer­ "employer liability" laws. These were occupational disease receive no com­ disability. Organized labor can no ence came from non-operators. One open jury trials which exposed the hor­ pensation at all because they can't longer temporize on this issue-itmust installer cited Fraser's quip, "Women rible conditions perpetuated by giant get the necessary support from doctors demand a total revolution in the used to work until they got married. industries to public scrutiny and criti­ and employers to prove that their workers' compensation system and the Now they work to support their hus­ cism. So business sponsored the first disabilities are work-related. flabby health and safety laws. Big bands." The speaker lamented the state compensation programs, grant­ Final settlements made on perma­ Business itself must be put on trial for attitude of skilled males who still be­ ing only minimal injury compensation. nent-total and permanent-partial dis­ the carnage it has inflicted in the lieve operators work for "luxuries" for Both management and insurance abilities are an insult. In Washington interest of its profits. 0 their families. interests benefited by the shift from State, a worker who loses the function chancy juries to bureaucratic adminis­ of one eye gets $7,200, while a worker Heidi Durham is an I.B.E.W. Economic sexism trative agencies whose employees who incurs the same injury off the job member and female pioneer in the Bell operators in the Northwest are could be pressured or co-opted. The can sue and receive up to $85,000. electrical trades. She has become mostly women, people of color, and new worker compensation system, An injured worker lucky enough to an advocate of the physically dis­ gays, and they demonstrated their , along with the non-enforcement of live in a state which provides voca- abled since an on-the-job accident.

====__ . _.... _~==c:=c-:::.,-:=c_~~:·.:,_-... _::.::c-:::::::::=:_-:==-=-=-======8 FREEDOM SOCIALIST 0 SUMMER / FALL 1980 Rank and file victory at Hispanic Feminist Conference BY SARA MARSH majority despite attempts by confer­ ence bureaucrats to forestall a vote. he twin themes of interna­ "The issue here is the Holiday The hall rang with shouts of victory, tionalism and solidarity and women lined up at the micro­ among the oppressed pre­ Inn boycott and supporting phones to propose, and pass, 35 more T vailed when women from all the Native Americans. If we resolutions! iiiiiiiiiii over the western hemi­ don't stand up for their rights, The conference provided great op­ sphere convened March 29-31 in San portunities for feminists to share infor­ Jose, California, for the first-ever who will stand up for ours?" mation and develop an international National Hispanic Feminist Conference. -Janie Perez network. But even more important, Decisively linking the subjugation of militant Chicanas stood firm against women to other freedom struggles, the the reformists at a time of severe eco­ more than 500 feminists from Cuba, nomic crisis when increasing rightwing Mexico, Central America and the U.S. attacks send the liberal feminists passed resolutions on issues ranging and what forums were available for set the tone of Sunday's General scurrying back to the safety of single­ from the Equal Rights Amendment, different tendencies to express their Assembly. issue politics. Puerto Rican independence and mi­ opinions. Subsequently, many work­ It called for the conference name to And it was no coincidence that those grant workers' rights to Clara Fraser's shops passed resolutions addressing be changed to Mujeres Indio Afro who led the way face the multiple sex and political ideology case. these concerns. Latinas Americanas. oppression of sexism, racism, homo­ On the eve of the meeting, a last­ It criticized conference organizers phobia and low wages on a daily basis. minute conflict erupted over the con­ Chicana militance for their homophobia, and proposed Working women of color are providing ference site, and this issue became the One workshop, "Chicanas in the 20% open-lesbian representation on bold revolutionary leadership, and the catalyst that radically broadened the Movement: As Working Women, As next year's planning committee. Chicana feminists of Las Mujeres scope of the meeting. Conference Feminists, As Socialists," drew a It expressed solidarity with Native Latinas deserve an enthusiastic salute. planners, steeped in single-issue chau­ crowd of 100. For the first time, there American struggles and specifically vinism, located workshops to be held was open discussion, which allowed supported the Park Plaza boycott. SarU Marsh is a poet and a outside the Convention Center at the participants to introduce a variety of The resolution passed with a large teacher o'f adult basic education. Park Plaza Holiday Inn, callously ig­ resolutions. Commitment was express­ noring a 5-year boycott of the hotel by ed to feminism, undocumented work­ Native Americans. The Park Plaza is ers, and Latin American revolutions. built on Ohlone burial grounds. Panelist Rosa Morales, a militant in "What's important is that we the struggle for race, labor, and sex the Boycott joined freedom, described sexism in the Chi­ as Chicanas see connec­ Challenged by conference partici­ cano movement and racism in the tion between our own oppres­ pants at the opening General Session women's movement. Chicanas, she sion and other peoples: We on Friday night, conference leaders said, are demanding a voice in both denounced the boycott as a "split" movements. need a unitefi front strategy to issue that should not be supported Yolanda Alaniz of Seattle Radical win. "-Yolanda Alaniz J because the American Indian Move­ Women and the Freedom Socialist ; ment (AIM), a boycott sponsor, does Party explained how socialist feminism f not support the ERA. But two wrongs connects the movements. ! don't make a right, said the rank and Challenging the charge that the file delegates; only hours after arriving Holiday Inn boycott supporters were in San Jose, they voted to remove all "splitting unity," Alaniz decried liberal­ workshops from the Holiday Inn. ism, with its single-issue approach to Espaiiol Said Janie Perez of San Jose, a unity, an approach which is blind to the founding member of Mujer, a Chicana real differences within a movement. os temas de internacionalis­ a mas de 100 personas. La directora feminist organization, "The issue here "Working women," she said, "have mo y solidaridad sobresalie­ Rosa Morales, una activista politica, is the boycott, not feminism or the more in common with Native Amer­ ron cuando mujeres del dijo que chicanas demandan una voz Chicana conference." Perez and many icans than with middle class feminists. L hemisferio occidental se re- en un movimiento chicano no sexista y other Chicanas, sensitive to the ero­ There is a class division in the Hispanic unieron en Marzo 29-31 en en un movimiento de mujeres no rac­ sion of the land base of sovereign movement, just like there is in any , San Jose, California para la primera ista. Yolanda Alaniz de Radical Women Indian nations, joined the picket line other movement. We can be united on Conferencia Nacional Hispana Femi­ explico como el feminismo socialista outside the Holiday Inn. issues, but economically there are nista. conecta los movimientos: "No puedo Tension between conference orga­ differences. We need multi-issue poli­ Mas de 500 participantes feministas dividirme como una mujer de minoria, nizers and the more political partici­ tics and a united front strategy to win." de Cuba, Mexico, Centro America y los una chicana, y una mujer trabajadora." pants mounted as inquiries arose Estados Unidos compararon la escla­ Alaniz dijo que liberales ignoran dif­ about how conference money was Lesbian vanguard vitud de la mujer con otras luchas de erencias reales de clase dentro del spent, why community women were A triumphantly successful resolu­ liberaci6n, pasando resoluciones sobre movimiento hispanico, el cual debe excluded from the organizing nucleus, tion presented by the lesbian caucus la Ley de Derechos Iguales, la indepen­ unirse en cuestiones pero reconocer dencia de Puerto Rico, los derechos de diferencias econ6micas. Mujeres tra­ trabajadores campesinos y el caso de bajadoras se parecen mas a los nativos sexo e ideologia politica de Clara Fraser. americanos que a las feministas de la RADICAL WOMEN Un conflicto al ultimo minuto sobre clase media. "Necesitamos una estra­ ellugar de la confer en cia radicamenta tegia unida de frente unico, de coordinar The nation's first socialist feminist organization, revolutionary amplio la conferencia. Planeadores de muchas luchas, para ganar," dijo ella. wing of the women's movement, feminist vanguard of the Left. la conferencia habian localizado unas La asamblea general paso una reso­ Immersed in the daily struggle against racism, sexism, antigay juntas en el Park Plaza Holiday Inn, lucion, presentada por el grupo de bigotry, and labor exploitation, RW's impressive record validates construido sobre un cementerio Ohlone lesbianas, de cambiar el nombre de la its view that the woman question is decisive to world revolution. el cual ha sido objeto de un boycott de conferencia a Mujeres LBtinas. La reso­ 5 aDos por los nativos americanos. lucion tambien critico organizadores DIRECTORY PuBLICATIONS Lideres de la conferencia denun­ de la conferencia por homofobia, pro­ ALASKA ciaron el boycott porque uno do los puso 20% de representacion lesbiana Juneau: P,O, Box 1325, Juneau, AK 99802, Radical Women Manifesto: 907-586-1617, Theory, Program and Structure, , , , , , , , , , , ' , , " $, 50 participantes, el Movimiento Indio en el siguiente comite de planeaci6n, y CALIFORNIA Race and Sex, 1972: Collision or Comradeship? Americano (AIM), no soporta el ERA. solidaridad con los nativos americanos Los Angeles: 744'1, S. Sycamore Ave. Los Angeles. CA (also available in Spanish) 90036, 213-935-8638. by Dorothy Mejia Chambless" " , , " , " " , " " ,,, $ ,35 Pero los delegados rapidamente votaron y el boycott del hotel. San Franclsco/Berl

Cruel and unusualJ!.unishment Native prisoner shackled he trial of James Simmons, Native American prisoners. In February 1980, George Simmons Native American prisoner The Simmons brothers were singled was convicted of second degree mur­ accused offirst degree mur­ out for prosecution, isolated, and pun­ der, and this is being appealed on the T der, has been halted while ished relentlessly by the legal system. grounds that his coUrt-appointed attor­ his attorneys appeal the fact But the state has made no similar effort ney had never before defended anyone that he was shackled during the trial at to seek, accuse, or bring to trial any charged with a felony. the order of Judge Yancey Reser. suspects in the deaths of the three When James Simmons was brought Simmons had previously acted as his Native American prisoners killed at to trial this spring, Judge Reser or­ own attorney and had never caused any Walla Walla since May 1979. dered him shackled, giving his brother's disturbance in court. His current at­ Both Simmons brothers sought and misconduct as the reason. James torneys-Leonard Weinglass, John won a change of venue for their trials, challenged both this order and Wash­ Wolfe, and Mary Wrasman-are taking but, in line with state law, Superior ington State's death penalty as cruel this infringement of their client's rights Court Judge Reser from Walla Walla and unusual punishment. Attorneys to the State Court of Appeals on the traveled to Seattle with them for the argued unfairness because the death grounds that shackles would inflame two trials. Reser was presiding when penalty penalizes only those who, like the prejudice of a jury which is pre­ George Simmons, enraged at the racist Simmons, plead innocent and lose. selected, by law, on the condition that testimony of a fellow prisoner, lunged Accused people must plead guilty in it is willing to invoke the death penalty. across the courtroom toward the wit­ order to be tried on a lesser charge. In June 1979, the state rushed to ness. One of the six courtroom guards­ In September, Judge Reser ruled accuse James Simmons and his brother all of whom could easily have subdued the death penalty unconstitutional, James Simmons as drawn by Na­ George, prisoners at the Washington the unarmed defendent-fired a shot saying it places an undue coercion on tive artist Russ Hanson, an inmate State Prison at Walla Walla, of the which only narrowly missed George those who plead not guilty. The state at Walla Walla Prison. murder of a guard who had harassed and the court reporter. will appeal this decision. 0 Sharon Crigler No right to self defense against domestic violence BY TAMARA TuRNER and people would see the truth, but demoralized by the possiblity of losing when I walked into that courtroom, I again in another racist court and des­ haron Crigler, a young Black saw there were no Blacks on the jury perate about her family's future if she mother who accidentally and no one was even my age-not one were imprisoned. killed a man who was attack­ person under 35." The prosecutor offered a deal: to s ing her, is finally free after The judge described her to the jury recommend probation if she would years of legal battles that as "one ofthose welfare mother leeches plead guilty to the original charge. She won her strong community support. who suck up my tax dollars." A juror accepted. Her supporters came for­ Crigler was originally convicted of called her a "black nigger bitch." ward with letters of endorsement to the manslaughter in Tacoma, Washington She was found guilty. sentencing judge. On July 14, 1980, and sentenced to 10 years in prison for Crigler won her legal appeal in April she was freed on a 5-year probation. firing a fatal warning shot through her 1979 because of the judge's improper Sharon Crigler's ordeal is identical closed front door. The terrified Crigler instructions and the blatant racist to that suffered by countless other was trying to prevent her former boy­ atmosphere of the trial. But the Pierce women unprotected from violence friend from breaking it down. He had County prosecutor, who could have let because of racism, sexism and poverty, beaten her frequently, both before and the case drop at that point, was unwill­ who are subjected to the system's fury after she ended their relationship. On ing to let the reversal mar his 20-year when they physically defend them­ the night of his death, he had gone to record of courtroom victories. Claiming selves and their children. her apartment and threatened her with that this was not a case of self-defense, Yvonne Wanrow Swan spent over a gun. Police took him away but released he ordered are-trial. seven years fighting her legal case him a short time later, without inform­ Throughout the nerve-wracking years celebration sponsored by Seattle before she accepted a plea bargain ing Crigler. He returned to her building, of struggle, Crigler took her case to the Radical Women in March 1980. similar to Crigler's. talked the manager into letting him community. She spoke before feminist Her plight began to receive national But Crigler and Swan won their inside, and was kicking down her door groups, and her defense committee attention, but serious problems devel­ freedom, because they sought out and when she fired. distributed information and solicited oped as the April 1980 re-trial ap­ found vindication in the feminist com­ Following her arrest, Crigler put all support and funds. Crigler appeared proached. Three of her key witnesses munity, which rallied behind them and her trust in the judicial system. She on a panel of feminists waging legal had left the state. Crigler had remarried served notice that these women should later said, "I thought I'd tell my story cases at an International Women's Day and had a 3-month-old baby. She was not be further victimized. 0

progenitor of the profiteering madmen and neofascists bent on destroying the oppressed, raping Mother Earth and CRSP Survival in sacrificing the Black Hills. MAILBOX For centuries the Black Hills have been the ceremonial grounds of the the Black Hills Sioux people, insured to last "forever" Dedicated to the regroup­ by the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. Yet ment. of U.S. Trotskyists, the BY GUERRY HODDERSEN the participants attended workshops Big Capital has gained easy access to workingclass women, gays, on genocide against Indians, the this land, aided by the Bureau oflndian people of color, and white male y the thousands, Indian and planned destruction of family farms, Affairs, the poverty of the people, rac­ radicals who compose the environmental activists from alternative technology, and the need ism, assassinations and FBI frameups. Committee for a Revolutionary many countries thronged for a citizens' review board to halt the Racism is rampant in South Dakota. Socialist Party engage in free­ B the prairie farmlands out­ abuses of the energy development cor­ In Scenic, a saloon sign warns, "No wheeling discussion and social side Rapid City, South porations. Of special value were Janet Indians Allowed." At Pine Ridge, actions on a widespread front. Dakota for the International Survival McCloud's workshops, which, unlike Indians live in houses without plumb­ For information, contact Dr. gathering in July. Led by Women of All many other workshops, encouraged dis­ ing, while rich white farmers own Susan Williams, National Co­ Red Nations (WARN) and American cussion. McCloud, a veteran Native mansions and lease Indian land dirt ordinator, P.O. Box 475, Village Indian Movement (AIM), the Black American leader, praised the militancy cheap from the BIA. Stn., New York, NY 10014.212- Hills Alliance sponsored the event in of WARN and AIM in the national The embattled Sioux are surviving 929-0210. protest of the lawless encroachments struggle for Indian survival. and resisting because they know how to of more than two dozen giant energy Workshop speakers had to compete ALASKA build unity with other oppressed Juneau: P.O. Box 1325, Juneau, AK 99802.907-586- corporations who are conspiring to strip with the noise of B-52 bombers from people. The next International Sur­ 1617. the Black Hills of its mineral wealth Ellsworth Air Force Base,carrying nu­ vival encampment will hopefully be CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: P.O. Box 27783, Los Angeles,CA 90027. and poison its inhabitants. clear weapons. These deafening flights just as picturesque but far more mili­ 213-935-8638. The Alliance brought ranchers, reli­ San Francisco/Berkeley: 265921 sl St., San Fran­ dramatically echoed the doomsday tant, democratic, and conclusive. Sur­ cisco, CA 94110. 415-826-7831. gious activists, alternative lifestyle tech­ note. struck by many antinuke partici­ vival demands nothing less. 0 NEW YORK nologists, students, and Native pants who prophesied nuclear holo­ New York City: P.O. Box 475, Village Sin., New York, NY Americans into an uneasy assemblage caust and chemical-caused epidemics Guerry Hoddersen accompanied 10014.212-929-0210. unwilling to discuss differences, fearful of cancer. But they w.§re not yet Janet McCloud to South Dakota OREGON Portland: 1720 S.E. Main #4, Portland,OR 97214. 503- of radical intrusion, and unable to politically astute enough to grasp the for the International Survival con­ 232·7206. achieve a clear focus and direction. need for a radical confrontation with ference in July. Guerry is organ­ WASHINGTON Seattle: 2822 31 sl Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98144.206- Living outdoors in blistering heat, the capitalist system itself, which is the izer for Seattle Local FSP. 722-3812. ~. . ;. !~. , ", ;.. I .' ( • "': 'j " 8 FREEDOM SOCIALIST 0 SUMMER I FALL 1980

BY ROBERT CRISMAN

n a fitting commemoration of the anniversary of the American revolution, 100 I socialist feminists from seven countries convened in Seattle, Washington over the three­ day July 4th holiday to evaluate the past period, analyze new developments and plan future activity by the Commit­ tee for a Revolutionary Socialist Party. Yolanda Alaniz, Seattle, and Stephen On the landmark occasion of this· Durham, Los Angeles, delivered an inspir­ expanded national plenum of the CRSP ing greeting in Spanish. Alaniz later spoke Steering Committee, a protracted fac­ on the Chicano movement and Durham tion fight with an anti-Leninist, anti­ presented the organiz~tional resolution. socialist-feminist minority was termi­ 'nated, formal collaboration was ce­ mented with some key sympathizers of Murry Weiss analyzed the the Fourth International's Bolshevik split in the Fourth Inter­ Faction, and policies on major interna­ national and the 1980 tional and domestic issues were elections, and gave the developed. Coordinator's Report on ship was tested and found sorely the FI said women's caucuses are CRSP activities and pros­ The international connection wanting from Iran to Nicaragua; unnecessary. pects. Weiss was recently The high point of the meeting was they are opportunists looking for an Nonsense, retorted Williams, there'l honored on his 65th birth­ the agreement reached between CRSP easier way to lead a revolution." a great contradiction-sexism is ram day with a celebration in and the Revolutionary Workers Front New York City that paid Revolutionaries, said Weiss, are pant in the world organization. "Mal~ tribute to his life work as (RWF), Latin American supporters of "people who make revolutions; people leadership of the FI has been main an intransigent revolu­ the Bolshevik Faction of the Fourth who fight in the streets, block by block, tained for decades, the very reasor tionary. International (FI). in the fields, for years, over and over that women's caucuses were forme( The RWF will recommend to the again-until, as in Iran, in sustained in the first place!" The question is Bolshevik Faction leadership that struggle and in interaction with their hardly new: Marx proposed women's CRSP be included in the upcoming leadership, they overthrew the Shah. branches in the first communist inter Madlyne Scott reviewed discussion organized by the Parity the highlights ofthe Black Or Somoza in Nicaragua." national, she said. movement and predicted Committee to Reorganize (Recon­ Weiss also leveled scathing criticism Williams attributed the retreat of a new wave ofBlack revo­ struct) the Fourth International. CRSP at the SWP's "turn to heavy industry," Trotskyist leaders on feminism and Ilution. will subscribe to the Parity Commit­ a forlorn strategy of sending all mem­ female leadership-central issues to tee's International Correspondence, and bers into industrial jobs while aban­ revolution in our time-to their capitu will provide material support to Salva­ doning vital sectors of the working lation to opportunism. doran revolutionists. Both organiza­ class and mass movements. Carlos Petroni also condemned thl tions will continue joint discussions This labor turn, he said, scorns the ban, saying it "relegates women com and united front activity. strategic political importance of occu­ rades to work in reformist organizationl This accord opened important chan­ pations filled by low-paid women and of Euro-communism and the Demo­ Gloria Martin, a veteran nels of communication between CRSP people of color. He connected this cratic party." Murry Weiss called thE socialist feminist organ­ and the international Trotskyist move­ suppression "natural, automatic male izer, was the producer­ misguided tactic with the SWP's ac­ director of entertainment ment. It was a giant first step toward commodation to the labor bureaucracy, supremacist, bureaucratic conduct. It'l for the plenum and was participation in the December 1980 its accelerating reformism, its treach­ not only a conscience question: if we the banquet's featured Open World Conference of Trotskyists ery in Nicaragua, and its suppression of don't wake up to it, we can't make a speaker on "Permanent sponsored by the Parity Committee. women's caucuses in the International. revolution." Revolution in the <80s." The Parity Committee was formed The plenum repudiated the Frs re in 1979 in opposition to the FI's increas­ Women's caucuses smashed actionary turn against women. ingly opportunistic leadership, which Dr. Susan Williams, New York City, is dominated by Ernest Mandel's bloc reported that the International had World affairs Carlos Petroni repre­ in the United Secretariat (USec) and banned women's caucuses as "viola­ The strife within the International sented the Revolutionary the U.S. Socialist Workers Party (SWP). tions" of democratic centralism. Fu­ reflects the crisis of world politics. Workers Front, an organ­ Parity Committee member groups boy­ ming that "there is no contradiction be­ In a motion on "Iran, Women and ization of Latin Ameri­ cotted the FI's Eleventh World Con­ tween program, leadership and ranks," Permanent Revolution," the plenum can Trotskyists. He ad­ gress in November 1979 as a protest dressed the plenum in against revisionism and the betrayal of Spanish. Trotskyists in Latin America. RWF leader Carlos Petroni, a Latin American, told the plenum how SWP officials aided and abetted a ferocious Stephan Kass, New York campaign by Nicaragua's Government City CRSP coordinator of National Reconstruction against the and history/economics Simon Bolivar Brigade, Latin Ameri­ writer for the Freedom can Trotskyists who had fought Somoza Socialist, opened the In­ in Nicaragua. ternational Spectrum dis­ Hundreds of Brigade members were cussion. jailed and dozens handed over to the police in other Latin American coun­ tries. The Brigade's crime, according to Nicaragua's new government, was Laurie Morton, National "ultra-leftism" and "sectarianism." In CRSP treasurer {rom the midst of a revolution, they had New York City, assessed dared to raise the classic Trotskyist the gay movement and call for a government without the the recent Conference of bourgeoisie. SWP leaders visiting Lesbian/Gay Male So­ Nicaragua helped the bourgeois cialist Feminists. government find and jail Brigade members-even -though both the Brigade and the SWP are members of the Fourth International! Petroni voiced the Parity Commit­ Dr. Susan Williams, the tee's demand that SWP actions in newly-elected National Nicaragua be judged by an internation­ CRSP Coordinator {rom al worker's tribunal composed of rep­ New York City, condemn­ resentatives from all Trotskyist ten­ ed the Fourth Interna­ tional's ban on women's dencies. caucuses. Weiss breathes fire The National Coordinator of CRSP, founding member Murry Weiss from New York City, gave the keynote pre­ Muffy Sunde of the Port­ sentation on the split in the FI. land, Oregon delegation "Any revolutionary organization served as a session chair­ and leadership," said this veteran person. leader, "shows what it is made of in the living test of revolutionary events. It is not enough to have a new state; we must destroy the old state. And the USec/SWP leader- Photos by Val Carlson and Doug Bame. o SUMMER / FALL 1980

socialist feminist organization governed Lenin: "Every Ruler Must by majority rule. Within weeks, a small Learn to Cook" faction congealed, most of whom were The delegates expressed their thanks virulently antifeminist. They raised a to the hard-working plenum Presiding hue and cry against organization of Committee, composed of Jamie Radical Women chapters in Los Ange­ Partridge, Portland; Manny Sunshine, les and New York City-despite their San Francisco; Sharman Haley, Juneau, previous agreement with this course. Alaska; and Yolanda Alaniz and Clara And they tried to mutilate the sub­ Fraser, Seattle. stance of key international resolutions A superb organizational effort oiled they previously supported and change the plenum machinery. Heidi Durham I Trotskyism them by fiat. These autocratic attempts was head commissar. The well-planned, were followed by organizational slan­ comprehensive agenda moved smooth­ ders and open refusal to abide by ly, guided by skilled chairpersons from majority rule. This petty bourgeois, every city. The meeting site was com­ unprincipled combination tried to block fortable, with a literature display that all CRSP activities. They even claimed invited browsing and purchases, and that they alone were CRSP, but this colorful banners and international pretense was abandoned as they ran posters adorned the walls (see poem by out of steam. They didn't bother to Nellie Wong on this page). The food, attend the July 4th plenum. self-prepared and served, was a gour­ CRSP unanimously adopted Murry met's delight, capped by a gala ban­ Weiss' "Urgent Letter" delineating the quet on Saturday night issues of the struggle, and reaffirmed Entertainment varied from brilliant its goal of Trotskyist regroupment in a readings by poets from the Women revised and strengthened CRSP Tasks Writers Union of Oakland, California supported Monica Hill's Freedom So­ for mass radicalization outlined in two and Perspectives. to Eldon Durham's droll "Benediction." cialist articles on Iran (Winter 1978, Freedom Socialist articles: "The Amer­ The national CRSP treasury was in Satirical skits and vocals were staged Spring 1979), and Murry Weiss' several ican Economy" (Winter 1979/80) and the hands of two members of the dis­ with star-studded CRSP casts. CRSP documents, which cite the dual "Economic Crisis and Political Oppor­ credited minority who refuse to relin­ Delegate ages ranged from 15 to 69. power in Iran as the present stage of tunity" (Spring 1980), written by quish it. The plenum also passed a People came from Trinidad, London, the revolution, and women as a lead­ Stephan Kass, New York City resolution deploring this maneuver and France, Nicaragua, Argentina, and ing force pushing the revolution. delegate. demanding the return of its funds. Canada as well as the U.S. There were Comrade Petroni presented a rich Speakers Stephen Durham of Los In other business, CRSP restated 30 visitors, 11 of whom joined during history and analysis of events in El Angeles and Sara Marsh of San Fran­ support for the Freedom Socialist as a the plenum; a 12th joined later. Salvador, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, and cisco discussed their organizing efforts "strategic and widely disseminated ex­ The newly-elected CRSP officers Brazil, and called for a socialist federa­ against the Ku Klux Klan. pression of the CRSP program," and are: Co-chairs, Murry Weiss and Clara tion of Latin American states. Following Maxine Reigel's discussion created a Coordinating Committee to Fraser; National Coordinator, Dr. Susan Tom Boot reported on Africa, Henry of military policy, CRSP adopted the replace the old Editorial Board. Williams; National Treasurer, Laurie No ble on China, and Sam Deaderick on thrust of "Women and the Draft," an The faction fight was thus conclu­ Morton (New York City). The wave of Iran, Vietnam, Kampuchea, Afghani­ article by delegate Constance Scott, sively relegated to the bursting ar­ socialist fervor that elected them will stan and the Soviet Union. A resolution San Francisco, and pledged to deepen chives of movement battles over demo­ stand them in excellent stead as they was passed condemning "the misera­ the antidraft struggle "through building cratic centralism and the Woman chart the course of a revitalized CRSP ble spectacle of wars between an anticapitalist, antiracist and anti­ Question. in a revolutionary world. 0 workers states (the Vietnam/China/ sexist movement." Delegate Scott USSR conflict) as an inevitable out­ gave the plenum report on feminism. come of the Stalinist perversion of CRSP also approved Laurie Morton revolutionary Marxism embodied and Murry Weiss' "Towards A Strategy in the national-chauvinist concept For Independent Political Action In Posters and Banners of socialism-in-one-country." The 1980s," and called for critical support of socialist candidates in the written at the CRSP Conference, Revolution at home 1980 elections. Seattle, Washington, July 4, 1980 The theme of international revolution Native American leader Janet Mc­ was brought home by Angelica Merlino, Cloud, a guest speaker, vividly de­ Portland, Oregon, in an overview of the scribed governmental attacks on Indi­ American Question which brought the ans, particularly women, one-third of cheering audience to its feet. whom have been sterilized. McCloud She hailed the mounting resistance movingly addressed the many prob­ "Libertad De Expresion" a brown man speaks, yes, he speaks through to the capitalist-financed right wing lems entailed in uniting Blacks, Chi­ a chain wrapped tightly around his mouth. and praised the indomitable leader­ canos, and Native Americans. "Mutu­ ship of women of color, who can link all al respect is the precondition for "Labor with white skin a black woman, a shawl of courage the protest movements. "We American any successful alliance," she said. cannot be free while wrapped women are leaders now," she said, labor with black skin around her shoulders. her arms become "and the best!" Fraser vs. City Light is branded" my fists, her eyes my light. Women's leadership, the emergence United front strategy leaped to life in of women of color, and the need to Monica Hill's report on the Clara "!Unida la Clase Obrera! a black man against an orange moon digs organize united fronts were the con­ Fraser vs. Seattle City Light case !Adelante la Mujer! his pitchfork into the earth cepts unifying special reports on the concerning discrimination based on IViva la Revolucion to begin the revolution. Black, Chicano, Asian, gay, labor, and sex and political ideology. internationalists!" women's movements. CRSP committed Fraser has waged a six-year legal itself to serious involvement in the battle in defense of free speech on the "The International Party Shall a black woman rises from the earth. Chicano movement, and to learn Span­ job since she was fired as Education Be the Human Race" a red sun rises from her head and heart. ish. The plenum also endorsed a call Coordinator at the public utility, where for national/international conferences she had organized a unique women's "Asian Americans a tiger roars against a fuschia sky of multi-racial lesbian and gay social­ electrical trainee program and had be­ Defend their rights to of hope and victory and no compromise. ist feminists. Delegate Tom Boot laid come a leader in an employee walkout Language, the groundwork for that endorsement and subsequent labor negotiations. Housing, with a report on last fall's Third World "Seldom has such a successful cam­ Culture & Lesbian/Gay Conference in Washing­ paign of this size ever been mounted Jobs" ton, D.C. for a woman," commented Hill, a Los The delegates affirmed the prospects Angeles delegate. She displayed the "The Woman Question will a woman in black swings her red flag. impressive lists of national endorsers never again be put on a fire from the kitchen burns down the bars and contributors "which encompass the back burner!" that imprison her. every civil rights movement of the past four decades, and embody what are one strong arm becomes many strong arms, intrinsically socialist struggles. The "Gay Liberation Through workers-women, gays, and people of Socialist Feminist Revolution" together break through a triangle color-who endorse the case are actual­ of oppression of race, sex and class, bursting ly the heart of the labor movement" forth a bright red star of change. CRSP enthusiastically re-endorsed Fraser's unremitting struggle and do­ "Why a Vietnamese boy sees through the bullets nated $500 to the cause. Are We of his young life. Burning, if he lives, he will look to the future Peace, it's wonderful Killing with sisters and brothers finding solutions The comradeship that suffused the The People that America cannot. meeting was a far cry from the recent of in fighting, as analyzed by Patrick Vietnam?" Haggerty in a presentation of his paper on democratic centralism. "Revolution in the Revolution..,... woman after woman after woman Said delegate Sukey Durham, San The Global wave after wave after wave Francisco, "Weare wrapping up the Defiance of Women" walking together, always on course, pre­ fight, drawing conclusions, and moving pared on: Hallelujah!" for the battles ahead on land and on sea. The October 1978 First National Conference of CRSP at Alderbrook, -NELLIE WONG Washington, declared CRSP to be a Copyright 1980 Nellie Wong 10 FREEDOM SOCIALIST 0 SUMMER / FALL 1980 EDITORIAL 19BO elections demand astatement of Irotest VOTI SOCIAliST! More voters than ever before in a national election slightly more humane version of "free enterprise." and the fight against fascism. But their theory has will boycott the polls in November. It is estimated This party is not socialist. always been close to Stalinism, and on international that less than half of those eligible will turn out. N or do we support Socialist Party candidates: they issues they objectively line up with the Kremlin. But disgust, cynicism, and apathy are unproductive. are anti-workers state, anti-revolutionary, liberal The Socialist Workers Party, a bureaucratically­ A positive action is demanded by the tenor of the leftists indistinguishable from left Democrats, and run organization, has recently rediscovered "heavy times. And this is the time to vote against the captives of the State Department. They stand with industry" and is conducting a love affair with the all­ system by voting socialist. Only the socialists the bourgeoisie in fierce opposition to uppity militants male and all-pale labor aristocracy that backs up the stand for a clearly differentiated, radical, working­ and consistent radicals who jeopardize SP partner­ conservative AFL-CIO officialdom. The SWP aban­ class program in opposition to the corrupt capitalist ship with the ruling class and SP's pastoral vision of a doned the progressive mass movements overnight. parties. serene stroll toward socialism. This is the party of the Its international policy is rife with pragmatic oppor­ A vote for socialism is a vote against the terrible left-leaning labor bureaucracy and careerists. The tunism and the abandonment of classic Trotskyism. profit system. It is a declaration of war against the SP usually runs candidates for local and minor office It still manages to call for an end to capitalism, and is plutocrats who woo us with empty, absurd slogans only, while counseling a vote for a bourgeois presi­ still affiliated with the Fourth International, a world and fabulously expensive media campaigns. dential candidate-a hypocritical accommodation to organization in the throes of crisis but still salvageable This election year provided radicals with an historic the reformist labor bureaucracy, with its unholy as a revolutionary vehicle. opportunity. We have long urged a united front of the relations to the capitalist class. We urge our readers to study the actions and left that puts forth ajoint slate as an independent and We will not vote for the Communist Party if we Can platform of the radical candidates on the ballot in united socialist alternative. This could have reached help it. This is the party of Stalinist terror and treach­ your state, and to choose among them-even if that a large and sympathetic audience. A united socialist erous class collaboration. The CP campaign is token party fails to meet all your standards. Awarding your campaign would have helped relieve the fragmenta­ and frivolous since its actual support and energy go, critical support to an anti-capitalist candidate who tion of the left and spurred common discussion and as usual, to any liberal Democrats they can find. The comes closest to your ideas is an honored and united action around a minimum programmatic agree­ CP usually campaigns for Kremlin-supported bour­ principled process for radicals. ment. The failure to build a united electoral front is a geois presidential candidates, and refuses to run a Marx wrote over a century ago that once every few major strategic error of the U.S. left, one that will cost CP candidate in opposition. The CP, moreover, is years the oppressed are permitted to decide which us dearly in terms of education and organizing for the antigay, lines up with the union bureaucrats against puppets of the oppressing class shall oppress them future. the ranks, and sneers at feminism. Fifty years of for a season. Workers feel this truth, and voter We do not give full support to any of the socialist world betrayal of the international proletariat is no turnout has declined steadily since post-Civil War presidential candidates; we are critical of them all. qualification for our support. days. But a socialist vote is a reasonable antidote to But we believe you should vote for only those The two parties to which we are programmatically do-nothingism, and it represents a resounding triple socialist parties who are putting forward a pres­ closest are the Workers World Party and the Socialist commitment-to protest, to the creation of a mass idential candidate, and hence not splitting their Workers Party. electoral alternative to boss politics, and to the noble support between socialists and virulent antisocialists! The Workers World Party has done some good goal of basic structural transformation.ln the U.S.A. The Freedom Socialist does not support Barry work in the trade unions, the women's and gay Commoner's Citizens Party, which stands for a movements, the racial/ethnic minority movements, - ELDON DURHAM

to the movement because of his rank holds them off with a sword. The plane BOOK REVIEW and mentality, she stabs him, and her dips low and Gisela shoots him in the lieutenants dispose of his body. shoulder. He falls, as the women cheer. Atherton's revolutionaries are not Gisela's plane lands frequently so playing games. These women are uni­ she can personally inform the women formed and armed soldiers who kill in that the revolution has been victorious. The White Morning battle, shoot police officers on sight, In a strong voi<;e, she announces, "The take over communication centers, air­ hens are eagles all over Germany. What-a grand surprise this novel is­ am firmly convinced that the German fields, and army barracks, and blow up Word has come from every quarter." the story of an armed revolution led, official mind would never give cre­ bridges or whatever gets in their way. It took courage and conviction to fought, and won by women who over­ dence to oppressed women rising up to When the Kaiser appears on the write this book, and Atherton had both. throw the autocracy and establish a overthrow their authority." palace balcony, confident that his im­ Her vision, however, does not go far democratic republic in Germany dur­ But the women do exactly that, with perial presence will overwhelm the enough. The victorious women do not ing World War I! a vengeance that is Wagnerian. women, they force him to abdicate. plan to take public office; they will Gertrude Atherton based The The leader of the revolution is And as the white morning light dawns select men and train them instead! Yet White Morning on her knowledge of Countess Gisela Niebuhr. She has on a world all had been waiting for, Atherton, who was no socialist, was far Germany gained from living in Munich vowed never to marry because she every town and hamlet begins report­ ahead of most socialists of her day­ for seven years. Published in 1918, the does not wish to exchange one tyrant, a ing on the success of the revolution. and ours-in her grasp of feminism's book set off a huge controversy. father, for another, a husband. She Except for sporadic fighting, all is won. central role in revolutionary change. Some critics claimed she had no becomes a feminist writer with an On this morning, Gisela boards a She graphically depicted women who basis in fact for such an outlandish enormous following of women who plane and flies over the cities. Thou­ assumed militant leadership with natu­ story; others accused her of providing become increasingly militant when sands of women are gathered in the ralness and commitment. women with a blueprint for revolution. Germany goes to war. town squares, waving their special flag Gertrude Atherton, in retrospect, Her answer to the first criticism was Gisela is not a socialist, but many in triumph. This flag is white, with a deserves our deep admiration. succinct: "I should not have written socialist men and women are part of curious design sketched in crimson: a The White Morning if 1 had not been the movement she inspires. hen in successive stages of evolution -GLORIA MARTIN firmly convinced that a Gisela [the Atherton brilliantly describes the whose final form is an eagle with the heroine) might arise at any moment struggle of the women against their face of a woman. Gloria Martin, a founder of Radi­ and deliver the world." militarist rulers. She doesn't pull any As Gisela's plane hovers over an cal Women and former organizer And she addressed the second criti­ punches. When Gisela realizes that her army barracks, she observes a dozen for the Freedom Socialist Party, is cism with her characteristic dry wit: "I lover, a Prussian officer, poses a threat women fighting one huge soldier who a rare book dealer in Seattle. Can Charlie Chan! I recently interviewed Forrest Gok, U.S. and the loss of credibility. "The Feet, has contacted the Committee for the Asian American San white middle class is feeling put-upon, Against Fort Apache (a racist movie Francisco Journal and a member of the tax-pinched, and money-drained," he being filmed in New York), Native Can Charlie Chan coalition, which has says, and the media reflects the mood Americans opposed to filming Hanta been protesting the filming of Charlie of the country. He believes the media is Yo, the anti-Cruising coalition, and Chan in San Francisco, and the movie anti-Asian American and anti-anybody Radical Women. All agree that people FuManchu. These motion pictures de­ who is not white, middle-class, and of color, women and gays should band pict Asian Americans in insulting, male, and this results in growing ethno­ together to expose these films, pres­ racist stereotypes. phobia and hostility to women and sure filmmakers into better choices, When FuManchu opened, the gays. and educate the public on the danger of theater management stationed Asian The coalition fears that in the next divisive stereotypes. Americans and other minority workers ten years, social, political and economic The giant media are capitalism's in prominent places, but picketers gains may be reversed, and it is there­ great propagandists, instilling the very convinced 80 people not to buy tickets fore crucial that filmmakers tell the prejudice which they then reflect. that night. Still others demanded their truth and not reap profits at the ex­ American workers should decisively money back, saying that the picketers pense of oppressed people. repudiate derogatory and offensive were right. The coalition, which includes such films by hitting where it hurts-at the Forrest Gok thinks that the increase groups as the Asian American Theatre, box office. racist and sexist films is due to the Chinese Progressive Association, declining international status of the Women's Writers Union, and Unbound - KAREN BRODINE -

FREEDOM SOCIALIST 0 SUMMER / FALL 1980 11 THEATRE

sing a black girl's song i been trying not to be that & leave bring her out bitterness to know herself in somebody else's cup Clara to know y~u but sing her rhythms The play pitilessly dissects the tortured rela­ care/struggle/hard times tions between Black women and Black men. Fraser sing her song of life Shange is relentless in showing how Black men, she's been dead so long in a reflex to their own oppression, tum on Black closed in silence so long women. The relationships become power strug­ The People vs. City Light she doesn't know the sound of her own gles instead of loving friendships. voice In "a nite with beau willie brown," a young My marathon case against City Light is like un her infinite beauty mother relives the horror of her children's terri­ endless football game, with the score changing each ble deaths. Their father, an unemployed, quarter and the final tally bearing little relation to the Ntozake Shange's explosive choreopoem, for seriously-disturbed Vietnam veteran, had made actual yardage gained on the ground or in the air. I was colored girls who have considered suicide/ them the targets of his insane violence. leading a~ halftime, scored a winning touchdown in the when the rainbow is enuf, cuts to the heart of "sorry" is an hilarious sequence of all the third quarter, then came out on the wrong end of a 1- the Black woman's emotional experience in different lines that men use to excuse their point conversion. America. Through the arts of poetry, music, and unfaithfulness. The women declare their inde­ The July 21 decision against me by two ofthe three hearing dance, the forces are revealed which are de­ pendence from this psychic manipulation: panelists was such a travesty of the rules of the game-and of signed to beat her down: poverty, race and sex justice-that I cannot accept it as the final score. oppression. Brutality and pain overshadow her one thing i don't need is any more Hearing Examiner Sally Pasette, an attorney, found for me life, but the overwhelming tone of the play is one apologies on the grounds of political ideology discrimination. of scathing humor, moral strength, love for Black Elizabeth Ponder, the only Black panelist, well under­ stands discrimination, and she ruled for me on the grounds of women, and the triumph of struggle and survival. i'm gonna do exactly what i want to and i won't be sorry for none of it both sex and political discrimination. But panelists Darlene Allison and Beverly Stanton re­ ...bein alive and bein a woman and bein letta sorry soothe yr soul/i'm gonna versed Pasette's knowledgeable decision, ignored Ponder's colored is a metaphysical dilemma! i soothe mine special expertise, and substituted their own pro-management haven't conquered yet prejudices for the objective findings of fact and conclusions Shange's candor in confronting the critical sex of law arrived at by Pasette and Ponder. The written decision Shange created her dazzling work through an division within the Black community has sub­ of Allison/Stanton unabashedly revealed their antilabor bias intense self-realization developed by her study jected her to the same kinds of attacks that beset and total lack of understanding of sex discrimination and civil of ~omen' s history, Black and African dance, and Michele Wallace because of her Black Macho liberties law. It ignored my First Amendment rights and ThIrd World women poets. From its first impro­ and the Myth of the Superwoman. Shange is flaunted the provisions of the Seattle Fair Employment visational experiments in San accused of being an upper Practices Ordinance. Francisco bars in 1974, to its middle-class outsider who is ex­ Allison/Stanton attributed full credibility to all of City 1976 presentation on Broadway ploiting Blacks and hates Black Light's professional-liar witnesses and no credibility to my under the auspices of Joseph men. But the overwhelming sup­ testimony or that of my witnesses. These two Tory panelists Papp, for colored girls crystal­ port of a large sector of the disregarded the stacks of memos that crassly illustrated lized into a unique presentation Black community for the play is management's violations of my constitutional rights to criti­ of pure and total theatre. demonstrated by the positive cize and rebel. They identified so supinely with absolute Seven women, identified sim­ response to performances ofthe "management prerogatives" and "legitimate business rea­ ply by dresses of different colors, choreopoem nationwide. for colored girls is what art sons" for persecution that they conferred on employers a bring Shange's powerful words divine and tyrannical authority that far exceeds their legal­ to life on a bare stage decorated should be: a living, dynamic force which demands that we experi­ not to mention their moral!-powers. only by a large, suspended flower. The Terrible Two condemn me for such crimes as failure to Compelling rhythm, melody and ence, understand, grow, and re­ late to one another in a new way. "compromise" on affirmative action and workers' rights, and choreography suffuse the po­ for creating "animosity" through my advocacy of fair employ­ etry. The music of Smokey Rob­ It makes us hate, love, rage, inson, the Dells, and Willie gasp, laugh, cry and cheer be­ ment practices. cause we have come face to face They accuse me of permitting my "personal political Colon furnish the stimulus to activities and interests" to "interfere with" my job. the dances, while the pony, the with truth. In the final scene, as the wom­ They denounce me for "insubordination," "vituperation," swim, bomba, merengue and "going too far" -highly subjective value jUdgements that children's games vie with street en reach out to their ultimate express their political views of management/labor relations. comer seductions in this fluid support-each other-the So now I am being punished for persecuting poor City glimpse of ghetto living. audience is drawn in and envel­ Light. Can you believe this? Each poem represents, chron­ oped in a joyful celebration of ologically, a different facet of and rededication to the crusade Black women's experience. In for control of our own destinies. o o o "toussaint," an 8-year-old girl Art and life have fused; theatri­ And what is to be said about a legal process in which I am judged by two people who cannot remotely be considered my cal rapport is transformed into a discovers her fIrst Black hero in peers, who are not radicals, or feminists, or unionists, or Toussaint L'Ouverture, the lib­ revolutionary political affirma­ workers, or civil libertarians, or even reasonable? tion. erator of Hait~ and then dis­ They even rejected, without explanation, my Motion for covers a boy of her own age, i waz missin somethin Reconsideration of their ill-considered, ill-advised and Toussaint Jones. Another poem shatters us with stupid decision. So now I am requesting Superior Court to the pain and terror of an illegal abortion, then we somethin so important review my case. are moved quickly into "sechita," in which a It's horrendously expensive and time consuming. But I dance hall girl symbolizes the degradation of the somethin promised have to keep faith with my feisty legions of endorsers and ancient priestesses and gOddesses. a layin on of hands supporters from labor, civil rights, civil liberties and all the With fearless honesty, Shange describes why other progressive movements dedicated to preserving demo­ Black women hate their own strengths and dis­ a layin on of hands cratic rights in the face of swelling totalitarianism on the jo b. I trust their own sisters. the holiness of myself released feel ethically impelled to ride this one out so long as the tide i found god in myself carries me, so long as my wonderful defense committee can ever since i realized there waz someone & i loved her/i loved her fiercely callt summon the financial resources, the personnel and the a colored girl an evil woman a bitch or a jubilant spirit of solidarity to fuel the political-legal battle. nag - HELEN GILBERT We will carry on until free speech in the workplace is vindicated in law and in life. Otherwise, the habit of workers to speak up, to organize, to negotiate and to criticize is sorely endangered, and without these fragile liberties, not even AGATHA CRUMl\II by Bill Hoest token democracy exists. Fascism rules. 000 If ever I needed the help of my sister and fellow workers I need it now to try to reverse the panel's alarming decisio~. Ple~se: ask yourynions, and all the other organizations you work m, for donatlOns to the Fraser Information and Legal Defense Fund. If you know any affluent individuals (we don't!) or any open-minded, grant-awarding foundations, ask them, too. And send us your modest contributions-these are the staff-of-life to us. Nothing is sweeter than the money of the underpaid and hard-pressed working people who have learned that the capitalist class is not about to subsidize the emancipation of labor. . Mutual aid is the cement of resistance-and the roadway to VIctOry. Your oppression is mine and my case is yours. Take it! Together we will make that scoreboard light up for us! 000 Donations for Clara Fraser's case should be sent to: Fraser Case Information and Legal Defense Fund. c/o United Feminist Front, 6019 South Redwing, Seattle, WA 98118. Phone 206-632-7449 or 723-8923. 12 FREEDOM SOCIALIST 0 SUMMER / FALL 1980

broke political ground for many suc­ Gay minorities to the fore cessful civil rights campaigns. From In October 1979, 450 lesbians and 1969 until the mid-70s, the movement gays of color convened in Washington, grew powerful enough to overturn D.C. and called for a mobilization to sodomy statutes in several states and "end all social, economic, judicial and to codify protections against discrim­ legal oppression against us." They ination in many municipal ordinances. then led the National March on When substantial reforms had been Washington, imparting to it the vibran­ won, a new layer of professionalliber­ cy of internationalism and militancy. als crept out of their closets and quick­ Gays and lesbians of color comprise ly rose to public prominence. the new, emerging leadership of the Led by David Goodstein, the entre­ movement, serious fighters capable of preneur/owner of the widely­ challenging and building a movement circulated gay male tabloid, The to defeat the rightwing bigots. Advocate, the careerists sprouted In May 1980, 200 lesbians and gay throughout the movement. Their first male Marxists held an East Coast task was to discredit gay radicalism conference. Over half the participants and create a tasteful, moderate image were women and gays of color, and acceptable to non-gay sympathizers lesbians of color stepped forth as the within the Democratic party. strongest leaders of the assembly. The compromisers were more than They clearly diagnosed racism, sexism, willing to sell out lesbians and minority and homophobia as diseases of capital­ gays. Along with nervous mayors, ism, and declared their uncompromis­ police chiefs, city councils, state legis­ ing intent to defeat the bible-thumping bians. Fearful, moderate feminists, lators, and presidential advisors, they right wing. BY SAM DEAD ERICK instead of standing up to the charge pontificated that gay rights must be Unlike moderate gay leaders, les­ n the fateful evening of that feminism equalled lesbianism, approached slowly, in careful stages. bians and gays of color understand that June 28, 1969, plainclothes busily gay-baited lesbians. Lesbian­ Above all, the embarrassing militants more than sexual preference is at stake police entered the Stonewall ism, quoth they, was an irrelevent "lav­ must be denounced. in their struggle. Abortion rights, O lnn in New York City on a ender herring." But the liberals were caught off employment equality, police justice, iiiiiiiiiii routine raid of a gay Green­ Thousands of demoralized lesbian guard in the mid-70s by the momen­ and the right to boycott, organize wich Village bar. The charge was militants, rejecting the sexism of male tum of Anita Bryant's rabid antigay unions and strike, are gay issues, just selling liquor without a license. But the gays but unceremoniously excluded by crusade and they were dumbfounded as gay freedom is a workingclass issue. patrons-young lesbians and gay men, the respectables in the women's by the mass resistance to Bryant. Dur­ drag queens, gays of color and street movement, embraced the utopian ing Gay Pride Week in June 1977, the In retrospect gays-did not respond routinely. isolationism of separatism. largest gay demonstrations in history The long hidden, often terrifying As the cops closed the bar, arrested Men became the enemy. History's were staged. Over 250,000 marched in struggle for gay rights has never been the employees, and ushered the greatest social contradiction was that San Francisco, and 100,000 in New separable from other basic social patrons out, a crowd gathered. At first, between men and women. Class war York. Marches occurred throughout issues. the mood was festive. But when the was irrelevant as compared to sex war. paddy wagon arrived, the crowd Men were biologically programmed to Post-Stonewall organizing laid the basis for a militant shouted and name called, tossed coins, be aggressive, violent and individualis­ and then hurled bottles and stones. tic, while women were inherently sensi­ movement, infused with the vigor of lesbian and gay With a full-scale riot exploding at tive, caring, and given to collective youth and armed with radical ideas and tactics. their heels, the police barricaded social forms. Biology was destiny. themselves inside the Inn. The separatists demanded that the U.S. and the world. Medieval landlords leered as the People ripped up a parking meter women secede and construct the Inquisition tortured gays, independent and battered a hole in the Inn's door. "Amazon Nation," the "real revolu­ Post-Bryant blues women, and rebel peasants with equal Someone squirted lighter fluid through tion." And the women who adopted Gay liberals, counseled by their ferocity. The Nazis annihilated gays the opening and tossed in a match. As this unscientific reworking of the old Democratic party cronies, tried to along with radicals, Jews, unionists, the flames shot up, sirens announced feminine mystique held that women repel the antigay hysteria with discreet gypsies, and "inferior" peoples. In the the arrival of police reinforcements, who consorted with men were traitors. public information campaigns which 1920s, the same U.S. authorities who and the protesters dispersed. But for Burdened with an impossible ideo­ downplayed homosexuality and castrated and lobotomized gays also three consecutive nights, gays logy and acrimonious infighting, sep­ ignored the homophobic assault-as imprisoned and executed anarchists, clashed with squads ofroving tacti­ aratist ranks have quickly thinned, well as the mobilization of the far-right labor leaders, and foreign-born cal police. losing the influence of a decade ago. to halt all civil rights gains. Doomed to radicals. And today, the hands that Stonewall marked the beginning of Some now call themselves "matriar­ fail, the liberals neither halted the torch abortion clinics and slay civil saying "NO" to all forms of gay oppres­ chists"; sadly misusing Engels' Origin attacks nor gained popular support. rights leaders also beat and murder sion. The subsequent ad hoc organiz­ of the Family, Private Property and The intensely anti-radical, gays. ing within the gay community laid the the State, they propose returning to single-issue leadership of the The masses of minority gays world­ basis for today's gay movement, infused prehistoric matriarchy to escape the national gay movement could wide cannot be free until white su­ with the vigor of youth and armed with problems of a male-dominated, space­ devise only suicidal remedies for premacy and the economic imperial­ radical ideas and tactics. Almost over­ age capitalism. (Marxist feminists, fol­ countering reaction. The liberals ism that maintains it are finally night, militancy replaced the moderate lowing Engels and Morgan, seek to re­ betrayed gay rights. eliminated. Gay workers will not be homophile movement. create the matriarchal commune on a By scorning alliances with other free until capitalism is destroyed, and higher technological level than even oppressed groups and insisting that lesbians will be fettered until that pillar The GLFs capitalism provides.) outspoken resistance to antigay initia­ of capitalism, the bourgeois family, has An unprecedented upsurge of gay tive campaigns would spark a back­ been undermined. protest ensued, sparked by the Stone­ Gay isolationism lash, the gay reformists politely Moreover, reactionaries know, even wall riots but drawing inspiration, GLF males also underwent ran­ delivered gay rights to the bulldozers if gay liberals do not, that the gay courage and expertise from the Black corous ideological fights. of the reactionaries, whose war of lies liberation movement heralds a vast struggle, feminism, and the antiwar The New York GLF disintegrated and slander showed no similar concern social revolution, profoundly altering movement. Borrowing their rhetoric, when one faction championed single­ about good taste. the fundamental ways in which women political ideas, and organizational pre­ issue, exclusively gay reform politics, The November 1978 victories and men relate to one another. This cepts largely from the New Left, voci­ ignoring the integral links between against antigay initiatives in California 4000-year-old relationship, based on ferous Gay Liberation Fronts (GLF) gays and women's liberation, minority and Seattle stemmed from a much economic exploitation and cultural! sprang up nationwide. rights, and workingclass issues. different kind of political approach. psychological subjugation, is changing The fervently debating GLFs From the GLF split in New York Though deemphasized by the media, drastically, and striking deep blows strongly inclined toward a radical view came the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA), the pressure from radicals for a hard­ into the bourgeois body politic. of gay liberation, and toward a multi­ which inspired similar groups nation­ hitting, name-your-enemy, labor issue movement allied with women, wide. The GAAs recaptured some of oriented, united front tactic pushed No shadows, no closets minorities, and radicals. The enormous task of uncovering But, like the New Left, they general­ Spurred by feminism, lesbian activists criticized, the proud past of gay resistance has ly lacked organizational structure and achieved a momentum which guaran­ hence were dominated by charismatic threatened, warned, and finally walked out of GLFs tees that gay history will never again be personalities. And many prominent across the country. forced underground. Our heroines and gay male leaders imitated the machis­ heroes are emerging from dark centu­ mo of the New Left politicos. the original GLF militance and tactical the entire campaign to the left. Assum­ ries of suppression. And understand­ Women's leadership, similarly, was creativity, and adopted the tighter ing ideological and organizational ing their victories and defeats helps us never respected or encouraged in the structure necessary for cohesive and leadership from the outset, lesbian to design our own future. The powerful early GLFs. Lesbian rights were con­ sustained political work. feminists spearheaded a dramatically lesson of their history is clear: we must sidered peripheral to "general" -or Unfortunately, the GAAs also effective drive to gain support from reject the mistaken isolationism and male-gay liberation. Inspired by drifted toward a single-issue strategy, women, minorities and labor. opportunism responsible for centuries feminism, lesbian activists criticized, which hamstrung their effectiveness as But these victorious campaigns were of death and demoralization. threatened, and warned, and finally, revolutionary agents or successful not the norm; the gay movement still The gay movement is a small and amid bitter political fights, they reformers. They turned into white faces a groundswell of bigotry. In vulnerable segment of a whole society stormed out of GLFs around the male, gay rights clubs. Washington State, the same Mormon in total turmoil. But allied with other country. cop whose antigay Seattle initiative revolutionary warriors, it can majesti­ Liberal camp followers was defeated in 1978 has filed a cally bear aloft the most powerful wea­ Lesbian separatism Despite their subsequent adultera­ statewide initiative. And a rightwing pon of all-the banner of socialist The feminist movement, however, tion and demise, the explosive force of coalition rushes federal antigay legisla­ feminist internationalist, and perma­ proved no less prejudiced against les- the new, left Gay Liberation Fronts tion through Congress. nent revolution for the human race. 0 1======I Northeast Multi-National Lesbian and Gay Male Feminist Socialist Conference Lavender Left organizes

BY STEPHEN DURHAM sexual Latinoamericano). From Balti­ Triad of controversy In one workshop, justifiable anger more came the Lesbian and Gay Study The participants of color sparked a erupted at the heterosexism of much of n the Memorial Day week­ Group and the Movement for a New broad agreement around the necessity the left, but this was tempered by the end, lesbians and gays rep­ Society. Philadelphia was represented to build an antiracist, antisexist and contrary example of the FSPers, with resenting every shade of lav­ by the Lavender Left and Toronto by class conscious lesbian! gay movement; their years of working at building the I ender left politics trans­ the Body Politic newspaper. this was tested and refined by debates leadership of women and gay radicals. formed the placid surround- Freedom Socialist Party and Radi­ over socialist feminism, Marxist theory ings of Appel Farm in the New Jersey cal Women delegates came from New and Leninist parties. Into the streets! countryside into a high voltage political York City, Los Angeles, and San The Maoist-oriented Philadelphia A sense of unity, bred by discovery forum. Every basic social and econom­ Francisco. Other radicals present were Workers Organizing Committee totally of wide areas of political agreement, ic issue affecting the lives of lesbians Workers World Party, Revolutionary rejected feminism, but was met with resulted in resolutions that mark a high and gay men in the U.S., Puerto Rico Socialist League, New American resounding opposition from Freedom point for the U. S. gay movement. and Canada was confronted. Movement, and Philadelphia Workers Socialist Party panelist Laurie Morton Resolutions were passed calling for Led by the most dynamic sector of Organizing Committee. of New York City, who won majority an end to police brutality, the with­ gays-lesbians of color-the three Dozens of independent radicals, support. "Socialism without a femi­ drawal of troops from Miami's Black days in May of talk and de bate were active at work, on campus and in the nist tone is no help to me!" declared a community, a "Fight Racism and marked by respectful collaboration, community, contributed the lessons of Puerto Rican lesbian. Sexism" contingent in New York City's generating a powerful commitment to their rich experiences. Dr. Susan Williams of New York Stonewall Commemoration in June, return to urban centers to organize Radical Women defended Trotskyist support to the People's Convention against mounting racism, sexism, anti­ Lesbians of color socialist feminist theory. Tracing the called by the Coalition for a People's Semitism, homophobia and class ex­ Lesbians of color quickly emergt!d as development of private property, wo­ Alternative in 1980, and August ploitation. the conference leadership, giving form men's oppression, and class society, demonstrations outside the Democrat­ The Third World caucus, the wo­ and direction to every major issue. she thoroughly exposed the bankruptcy ic Party Convention. men's caucus and the Jewish caucus Steeled from years offighting on every of the antigay Stalinist notion of the A resolution to build alliances and played active roles. front, they set the political tone for the "revolutionary nuclear family." united fronts against increasing attacks Conceived during the Lesbian/Gay discussion of racism held by the wo­ Opponents of Marxist theory empha­ on people of color, women, Jewish March on Washington,D.C. in October men's caucus and various other panels, sized culture over political action, or people, lesbians and gay men was 1979, and organized by a coalition of and they presented regular reports advocated pragmatic, nonprogrammat­ passed unanimously. gay activists and left groups, this from the Third World caucus. They ic activism or anarchist theory as the A Lavender Left quarterly newspa­ conference mirrored the same high strongly defended feminism, support­ antidote to Marxist socialism. But the per was established. level of feminism, class consciousness ed the intervention of left parties in the conference would not be swayed from Since the conference, the planning and women's leadership so evident at lesbian/1gay movement, and articu­ its predominant socialist and feminist committee has called on leftist lesbian the First National Conference of Third lated their right to autonomous orga­ course. and gay activists to organize national World Lesbians and Gays held in nizing to advance their own conscious- The Revolutionary Socialist League and regional conferences with the Washington, D.C. last October. ness and program. . avoided the feminist issue and as the same format of discussion and debate. 150 participants came from the U. S., The Third World caucus, which in­ controversy over Marxism developed, The Appel Farm conference shone Canada, Costa Rica, and Puerto Rico. cluded men and women, warned against they disappeared from the debate. with a ray of hope over a movement One-sixth were people of color, and disastrous attempts to polarize the gay The initial hostility displayed to polarized by liberal reformism. These lesbians constituted an impressive movement and the struggles of women Leninist parties and their promotion of radical activists, whose political work majority. and people of color. Weighing one ideological debate was defeated by a touches every struggle against intol­ Organizations present included movement against another consti­ stirring defense offree speech that won erance and discrimination, have ad­ Boston's Lesbians and Gays against tutes a subtle form of racism and sex­ broad endorsement. Everyone was en­ vanced the gay movement one step the Right, and New York City's Dykes ism, they said, which poisons the couraged to express opinions on contro­ closer to its rightful central role in the Against Racism Everywhere, the Com­ movement from within and drives versial issues rather than allowing only general movement against racism and mittee of Lesbian and Gay Male So­ people of color and women out of the one person from each left organization sexism, the social glue of U.S. cialists, and COHLA (Comite Homo- ranks and the leadership. to speak. capitalism. 0 Malice Aforethought by Ms. Tami

y neighbors, Marcy and put an end to the couple's ordeal. "The Michael, have had their ups Poles haven't been able to afford meat and downs of late. Goaded either," exclaimed Marcy, "and they've M by shrinking paychecks and gone on strike about it!" with no choice but to return Jimmy Carter approved of the Pol­ to the basics, they read everything they ish workers' actions. "The working men could find on nutrition. Both are tal­ and women of Poland have set an ented cooks, and they hoped to find a example for all those who cherish free­ way to remain healthy without eating dom and human dignity," he intoned in meat, poultry, fish, cheese, eggs, milk, a major speech. cereals, fresh fruit and vegetables. "Sure," said Michael, '~and all those These were the foods that had been who cherish food." Why Are These Children So Happy? studied by a government committee and targeted as inflationary. Reagan­ Because Teacher subscribed to the Freedom CarterAnderson agreed: people who in­ 000 Socialist and read them Ms. Tami's column. sisted on buying foods in any of these Ms. Tami insults everyone from Ann Landers major food groups were indulging in When the Poles won their demands, excesses that were responsible for the he and Marcy decided it was time for to the Pope. Y ou'lliove it, too! nation's spiraling woes. something besides austerity, and we Don't miss one issue. Have the Freedom Socialist were all invited over for a potluck. Marcy read us the list of what the delivered to your school, bookstore, library or home. 000 Polish general strike had won: nation­ wide, automatic cost-of-living raises; Subscribe to the Freedom Socialist now! While Marcy read and took notes on better health services; more daycare the seemingly endless suggestions in centers; longer maternity leaves; bet­ The Edible House Plants Cookbook. ter job safety; the right to form inde­ o Enclosed is $2 for a I-year sub, 4 issues. (Institutions $5) Michael studied Ten Things To Do pendent unions; and glory of glories, o Enclosed is $15 for a 2-year Supporting sub, 8 issues. With Mold and discovered a chapter the right to strike! o Enclosed is $50 for a 5-year Sustaining subscription and a free copy of on main dishes. All through late We started shouting to get the same A Victory for Socialist Feminism. summer, the dank aroma of "Jade Plant rights here, when the resident pundit o I am enclosing $ as a donation. Goulash" and the insidious stench of on the block observed, "Don't you "Mildew Stew" wafted about our hap­ understand? When Polish workers Name ______~~~~------(please print) less neighborhood on alternate eve­ strike, it's anticommunist-but when Address ______Phone ______nings. It was immediately apparent American workers strike, it's commu­ City ______State ______Zip ______that there are some foods which cannot nist!" be salvaged no matter how attractively Marcy grinned and said, "Just tell Send checks or money orders to Business Manager, Freedom Socialist, they are arranged and served. Freeway Hall, 3815 Fifth Avenue N.E., Second Floor West, Seattle, WA 98105. your bosses to consider it the best Add $2 per year for surface postage outside the United States (allow 6-8 weeks for delivery of overseas mail). News of the Polish workers' uprising Polish joke in the world." 0 Add $5 per year for overseas airmail (allow one week for delivery). 14 FREEDOM SOCIALIST 0 SUMMER / FALL 1980

BY SAM DEADERICK gasoline tax. He promises labor more jobs but can't quite figure out how to very four years the U.S. create them. He's against a "peace­ electorate is granted the time" military draft, but is also a hawk. dubious privilege of observ­ Who does he actually represent? E ing so-called democracy in The list of his backers reads like a action. Observing, not par- Who's Who of big capital. ticipating. Major party candidates are lesser From the very beginning, his cam­ selected behind closed doors and the paign rode on the favor of the big­ finished packages are artfully pro­ money media~the New York Times, duced as major events of light, sound, Newsweek, the Washington Post, color, and hollow promises. Voters Evil Time-Life, Inc., CBS~and the power­ watch the glittering circuses and try to broker families who buy and sell presi­ choose the best candidate from dismal, dential candidates~ Rockefeller, pre-empted slates. Politics Cabot, DuPont, Lodge, Ford, Mellon. It's an impossible choice. The Anderson is also a longtime member promises of jobs. an end to inflation, of the Trilateral Commission and the opportunity for all, peace-whatever~ Council of Foreign Relations, interna­ are identical and equally unbelievable. tional economic-and-foreign-policy Even the media recognizes the paucity Clone Parties, bodies headed by David Rockefeller of of programmatic differences among Chase Manhattan Bank. the candidates. Commentaries abound Why do the conglomerates back a de~rying the miserable choice, and the challenge to their own parties? To lack of political conflict forces jour­ block a genuinely independent third nalists to focus on personalities and party which would sound the death­ style instead. Clone Candidates knell of the two-party scam. None of the candidates can offer a And with the Democratic party re­ ing on rightwing ground with rightwing The ruling class are no fools; they credible program for real improve­ duced to acrimonious shambles, the weapons~increased military spending, know that Reagan's 19th century pos­ ment. And only a believable blueprint Republicans just might succeed. opposition to abortion, a reckless turing and Carter's coldly reactionary for progress could gain the loyalty of foreign policy, and tax cuts for record make it impossible to choose the desperate voter. Democratic disarray business. the "lesser evil." So huge numbers of Americans are afflicted with record­ In sharp contrast to the polished Sealed by Kennedy's pouting con­ worried voters, searching for an alter­ high inflation, depression-level unem­ unanimity of the Republican swing to cession, the Democratic rightward native, might choose not to vote~or to ployment, political and physical at­ the right was the chaotic and damaging swing was complete. vote socialist. Enter Anderson, the tacks on women, people of color and right turn of the Democrats. proof that politics provides options, gays, slashed welfare benefits, draft Four years of Carter-the-Business­ Enter Anderson that an obscure politician can chal­ registration~and no solutions in sight. man's efforts to restore an ailing capi­ With the Democrats and Republi­ lenge the big boys without having to Intolera ble living conditions and racist talism alienated the very people who cans fighting over nothing and neither abandon the holy capitalist ideology. police brutality have incited bloody put him in office~labor, people of having the support of the major voting riots in Black communities, civil rights color, women, and the poor. The popu­ blocs, it was necessary to field a third Lesser evils like little Hitlers gains are being shot down by KKK lar Democratic coalition, based on an candidate who could pretend to offer Some progressives urge voting for bullets, and international tensions optimistic liberalism, has been shat­ an alternative to demoralized Republi­ Carter because Reagan represents a have escalated to the point where nu­ tered by the harsh reality of economic crats and Democans. serious danger of nuclear war. But clear war threatens. downturn and world crisis. John Anderson presents himself as Carter has already tried one invasion of And as the economic and polit­ Jimmy Carter is a different kind of an "independent" option to the bank­ Iran and plans another. And Ander­ ical crisis deepens, all the major candidate than in 1976. His old image ruptcy and conservatism of capital's son's Trilateralist foreign policy­ league candidates have veered as a down-home, compassionate, non­ Tweedledum and Tweedledee parties. makers are the same Wall Street sharply to the right. politician-reformer-savior has been re­ But he is only independent of their moguls who backed Carter in 1976. The Republicans, Democrats, and placed by the 1980 reality of a cold­ structure, not of their ruling class con­ But what about unemployment, in­ pseUdo-independent Anderson offer blooded spokesman for Big Business trol or their cynical corruption. flation, the menacing ultra-right? only rightwing measures to deal with who didn't keep his shining promises In his early days as a true-blue Re­ Won't Reagan make all of this worse? the crisis. In a desperate attempt to and whose cold wars have frightened publican Congressman, Anderson in­ Yes, he will. And so has Carter for prop up the crumbling capitalist econ­ off the liberals. troduced a bill to designate the United the past four years. And Anderson omy, the major candidates blithely Ted Kennedy became the tragic­ States as a "Christian nation." offers more of the same. propose more hardship, more bellicose hero of the liberals this time around. He once read a tract on Black inferi­ There is no lesser evil among the war threats, and the sacrifice of human His rhetorical, poetic appeal to "the ority into the Congressional Record. capitalist candidates. They are all needs on the altar of greater profits for common people" fired the hearts ofthe But, from youthful extremism, he executives for the ruling class, for the the plutocracy. party ranks. But Camelot II was not to developed into a "moderate" Republi­ bosses. They all guarantee spiralling The presidential politicians try to be. He had flubbed the primaries~and can, mouthing concern for the disin­ unemployment, inflation, war, and the outflank each other on the right, and capitalism can no longer afford even herited while counseling due restraint end of human rights. the only winners of this con game will the pretense of liberalism. when it came to economic solutions. be Big Business and the resurgent A backroom compromise was engi­ His record shows a long string of anti­ Don't go away-there is hope right wing. Bourgeois politics mean neered: Carter would have the nomina­ labor votes and he's always been a The alliances that traditionally elect disaster for workers and the poor. tion, but would concede pet platform strong supporter of nuclear power. presidents are in disarray and the stage planks to Kennedy. Nothing was lost And that's his approach to this day, is set for the emergence of a new KKK mentality since boss-party platforms are mean­ except he now supports the ERA and party~a truly popular, mass party At the Republican convention in ingless. Carter was still free to entice abortion rights, and safe nukes. His based on the labor unions, people of Detroit, the extreme right wing ecstati­ vacillating Republican voters by fight- response to inflation is a 50¢ per gallon color, women, gays, the poor and ne­ cally seized control of the party with glected, all those to whom the latest virtually no opposition. crop of jaded presidential hopefuls Ronald Reagan, the photogenic offers no representation. demagogue who considers the Vietnam An expliCitly anticapitalist party War a "noble cause" and "welfare standing for jobs and civil rights for all, chiselers" the major enemy, turned the and for labor's political independence convention into a coronation and pre­ from management, would put class sided over the adoption of the most struggle on the electoral agenda. overtly reactionary party platform in As the global crisis of capitalism modern U.S. history. deepens, millions of Americans are Bill Wilkinson, the leader of the seeking a genuine alternative, a class country's largest KKK faction, wrote­ alternative, to the idiotic electoral­ that the Republican platform "reads as mania that infests the country every if it were written by a Klansman." four years. They are more than ready Traditional Republican support of for a labor party, and open to a social­ the ERA was dropped, and the current ist electoral coalition which could be platform contains such planks as "right a stepping stone toward a revolution­ to work" laws, "fiscal and monetary ary solution. restraint" in social services, $100 bil­ To choose among capitalist candi­ lion more for "defense," and a constitu­ dates is a choice among gravediggers. tional amendment to ban abortion. The only choice for 1980 is to vote for :Nevertheless, Republican bigotry the socialist or communist or truly had to be tempered to appeal to the independent, anticapitalist candidates. "center" and gain a November victory. A strong showing for leftwing minority So Reagar, struck a balancing humani­ parties in November will pave the way tarian note. In his acceptance speech, for united socialist or labor party he ballyhooed "family, neighborhood, campaigns in the following years. work, peace and freedom," called the Then and only then will equally-evil GOP "the party of Abraham Lincoln," politics be supplanted by principled and climaxed his sermon with quotes politics~by the clear electoral con­ from F.D.R. himself. Republicanism frontation ofthe oppressed against the was given a veneer of old-time Demo­ oppressor. U.S. politics will grow up to cratic rhetoric in order to woo disen­ become meaningful, honest and revo­ chanted Democrats. lutionary. 0 FREEDOM SOCIALIST 0 SUMMER I FALL 1980

WOMEN AND

BY KAREN BRODINE The economics of porn tycoons-maintain an absolutist posi­ must be defined and quantified before With economic hard times at hand tion that any attack on pornography it can be fought. woman stuffed head-first and an erosion of the few gains of attacks the First Amendment. The academics explain that they into a meat grinder ... a women and minorities, the smut czars But the Constitution, which guaran­ cannot absolutely prove-or disprove semi-nude woman bound have increased the sordidness of their tees free speech and provides protec­ -links between commercially­ A and gagged ... a movie ad: product to appeal to the growing num­ tion from governmental interference, produced fantasies of violence and the "See exotic Oriental chicks ber of men already dehumanized by doesn't prohibit private actions and actual violence inflicted on women. loving to submit" capitalism. protests against violators of human But most women are not such nit­ Every day we are bombarded with Pornography benefits capitalism by rights. On the contrary, critics have a pickers about denouncing porn's vi­ these "natural" links between sex and deepening the division between men First Amendment right to organize ciousness in a society where life imitates violence, with the lie that women want and women, and between races, against porn. "art" with terrible regularity. and deserve to be humiliated and bru­ through the use of stereotypes that After much debate, Women Against The most specious charge flung at talized. Porn touts violence against play theme and variations on women as Violence, and California's Women anti porn organizers is that they are women as normal, acceptable, admir­ hated objects, as commodities to be Against Violence in Pornography and uptight, moralistic prudes who can't able, and vital to male sexuality and abused, bought, sold or raped. Media, have stopped calling for legis­ see pornography as a vehicle of libera­ privilege. The porn industry leads the way, lation against pornography because tion from crippling restraints on Feminists are leading the attack on discovering and developing new mar­ censorship laws have proven to be human sensuality. But the typical porn the $4 billion-dollar-a-year, mob­ kets. The mainstream media and ad­ hardest on progressive ideas and film plot depicting a virginal schoolgirl controlled pornography industry, whose vertising world follow with their own, would be used against feminism itself. transformed ·into the sex-mad slave of profits soar above those of the movie slightly ·watered-down images of anti­ These groups now emphasize educa­ an all-powerful male leads only to the and record industries combined. Femi­ female violence. tion through study, picketing, and boy­ question: liberation for whom? nists denounce porn as terrorism Porn films have already moved on to cott. While all porn is erotica, all erotica is against women, as a symptom and their logical extreme with "kiddie" not porn, and erotica itself must be propagator of sexism and racism, as a porn-the sexual use of children aged Not for women only limited to what is not brutish, exploita­ glorifier of the degradation of women 10 or younger-and with "snuff' films Antiporn groups still tend toward a tive, and physically dangerous. and men. of women actually killed and dismem­ single-issue approach that deprives the Last fall, 7,000 people led by bered to provide kicks for males. movement of much-needed broad­ Cleaning up the act Women AgainstPornography marched Every racist-sexist myth is exploited based support. The issue of pornography cannot through the sleaze parlor section of for profit, from paranoid notions about Porn involves sexism, racism and wait to be resolved "after the revolu­ Manhattan's Times Square. Nation­ Black sexuality to absurdities about homophobia in a capitalist culture; tion." There is an intrinsic relationship wide, similar groups have organized Asian women as submissive recepta­ porn is not just a concern for women. between pornography and violence invasions of stench-filled peep shows cles. Some feminist separatists choose against women and minorities. Rad­ and picketed porn shops to educate the Porn reinforces the capitalist sys­ resignation in their despair of eradi­ icals need to resist oppression in all its public about the sale of fetid fantasies tem and the most retrogressive aspects cating pornography; hatred of women, fonns. to men who like to imagine that they of bourgeois culture and relations. they claim, is "natural" to men. They, The fight against pornography must have an effect on women that they too, offer no economic analysis of porn, address all the lies the media spews in know they really don't. Freedom or fetish? and their separatism leaves them un­ service of the capitalist system which Rallying around the slogan "Pornog­ The difficult problem for feminists able to connect other forms ofoppres­ poisons our environment, our bodies, raphy is the theory, rape is the prac­ has been to chart an anti porn strategy sion to sexism. our minds, and our deepest emotions. tice!" women's rights activists are an­ without endangering freedom of ex­ Porn is a fitting expression of the decay grily exposing the daily conditioning pression. The erotica question of U.S. society, and it must be obliter­ that dictates even the most intimate Many liberals and sexist radicals­ Another major objection to anti­ ated along with its rotten socio­ and supposedly spontaneous feelings. with the hearty support of the porn porn organizing is that pornography economic roots. 0

Many radicals are barely awake to In Los Angeles, Chicano activists war, racism, sexism, homophobia, and the radicalizing impact of the question recently celebrated the tenth anniver­ poverty. And it confused fonnlessness of women and the draft The Guardian sary of their heroic nationwide struggle with democracy. SDS and most of its ... Antidraft has reversed its position and now against the Vietnam War. In Seattle, an offshoots died, degenerated or sold out agrees with the once lonely stance of organization of registration-age people after the U.S. withdrew from Vietnam. from page 18 the Freedom Socialist, admitting that and supporters, RAP, addresses all the And from this shambles, little emerged women's exclusion from the draft must key, overlapping issues affecting po­ to shape the strong, national, political be fought. "Fighting the draft is the tential draftees. Antidraft coalitions of resistance movement that is necessary New Left sexism primary struggle," says The Guardian women radicals, feminists and lesbians today to educate and defend the war­ The special problems of draft-age correctly, "but to do so without fight­ have formed autonomously nationwide and-draft resisters. gay males are underplayed-even ing the exclusion of women is to to avoid the insult of second-class sta­ The best elements of the New Left though open gays have been forced to objectively make a sexist error. To tus afforded them in the movements·of became Marxists, i.e., consistent revo­ carry cards branding them as "undesir­ fight the exclusion of women but not to the '60s and early '70s. lutionaries. That was its positive and able." It is illegal to be a gay in the fight the draft is to make the error of But the movement is still dominated enduring legacy. But its machismo and military, as witness the recent Navy objectively supporting imperialism." by groups like CARD and their obso­ contempt for theory doomed it, and witchhunts. But The Militant, organ ofthe SWP, lete and discredited single-issue focus. CARD, etc., are slated for the same The single-issue, male chauvinists in insists that women's exemption from In CARD, the pro-capitalist Libertarian fate if they insist on perpetuating the the antidraft movement address the the draft has nothing to do with dis­ Party rubs elbows with religious paci­ errors of history. woman question only indirectly-as crimination. They see the demand for a fists and some radicals, but there is Congress has now passed the big­ the "constitutional challenge." Women non-sexist draft as a danger that "de­ little opportunity to propose meaning­ gest arms package ever, a $52.9 bil­ leaders are generally not featured or fuses and derails" the anti draft move­ ful solutions to the draft crisis. lion military authorization bill. The recognized although sex discrimina­ ment and jeopardizes, of all things, the Some left parties like the SWP, des­ recurring choice before the antiwar tion in and by the military is the most ERA. perate for allies and popularity, once movement is a fundamental one-to explosive issue of the movement. ERA, however, will never be won again eagerly align with pacifists and ignore the lessons of its predecessor In July, a federal Appeals Court in until women are equally liable for regis­ refonnists who challenge only militar­ movement or to build a democratic Philadelphia ruled in the case of tration and the draft. The illogic of the ism and the war apparatus, and not the united front that frankly discusses dif­ Goldberg vs. Rostker that the male­ SWP is astonishing. Exclusion from underlying system itself. And where ferences of policy and works for the only draft discriminated against men­ the draft seriously reinforces women's principled leftists try to raise the level future as well as the present. not women! The government's case second-class status, whereas women's of consciousness and clout, the alleged The capacity to allow its intrinsic rested on military "convenience" and inclusion would double the ranks of the "radicals" lead the chorus of red­ revolutionary spirit to survive and "flexibility," and never addressed protesters and bring the dynamic of baiting and programmatic opportunism. flourish will determine whether or not sexual exclusivism, sexism within the women leaders into the movement. But this new antiwar movement is just military, or the women-in-combat up­ the SWP is unable to address two An old familiar score another flash-in-the-pan for achieving roar. Supreme Court Justice William interlocking questions simultaneously. Groups like CARD look backward to limited aims or a truly powerful ap­ Brennan issued an order staying the the '60s and duplicate its worst errors. paratus for bringing capitalism to a Philadelphia ruling which almost stop­ Different drummers The New Left was an essentially grinding halt. 0 ped registration, but the Supreme In response to the antidraft move­ middle-class student movement that Court may yet uphold the Appeals ment's myopia and chauvinism, legions spurned the leadership of people of Mary Reeves is a past organizer Court and open the way for Congress of militant women, people of color and color or women. It never achieved a of Seattle Radical Women, a staff to extend the draft to women, a prac­ gays are forced to stay out of it and cohesive theory to explain the interde­ worker at the University of Wash­ tice of ten other countries. work independently. pendency of capitalism, imperialism, ington, and an antidraft activist. 16 FREEDOM SOCIALIST 0 SUMMER / FALL 1980 Volume 6, No.3, Summer/Fall 1980 The antidraJ! movement 25¢ New faces and old problems BY MARY REEVES t summer's end, the anti draft socialist movement was boldly chal­ Voice of RevolutionarY- Feminism lenging government statistics A on how many 19-and 20-year- Drama Review: "for colored girls. • • 11 olds had refused to register. Unprecedented in U.S. history were the Lavender Conference 13 Polish Strike 3 hundreds of thousands of refusals to'reg­ Le" ister prior to an actual draft. The Boston Globe reported an average of 25% noncompliance, running to 47% in some urban centers. Of 4 million men born in 1960-61, 1 million refused or failed to register and countless more reg­ istered under protest. lesser Evil Yet Selective Service officials pro­ claim near universal compliance-93%, or 3,593,187 out of an alleged pool of 3.8 million young men. Speaking for the Na­ tional Committee against Registration and the Draft (CARD), Rev. Barry Lynn urged an audit of the faked federal figures. Even the government's phony 7% non­ compliance figure far exceeds its predict­ ed 2%. And Pres. Carter, under pressure to release the count before the November election, still ponders his failure to deliver America's youth to the U.S. war machine. He will have to fabricate an issue far more compelling than the Soviet move into Mghanistan or the hostages in Iran, to whip up the patriotic fervor of youth. What does it all mean? Excitement over the exact numbers of protesters eclipsed the political meaning of the victory won by the movement, and left undetermined the problems of sexism, racism, and vague direction that undercut the movement's revolutionary potential. To survive, the movement will have to think through very carefully what the next level of resistance should be. the government depends on catastrophic parently involved only token representa­ CARD is not yet properly focused on unemployment and decreasing educa­ tion of women, gays, peopl~ of color and the plight, defense, and ideological pre­ tional opportunity to channel people of radicals. paredness of the 266,000 youth who re­ color into cannon fodder, huge numbers This is a grave error because recent his­ sisted the massive propaganda machine, of minority eligibles disdained to register. tory has proved that only a multi-issue defied the authority of the government, And CARD generally ignores issues such commitment to address the basic social and risk five years in prison and $10,000 as the government's history of offering problems inextricably connected to the in fines. The non-registrants need to be citizenship as a bait to make undocu­ draft can rally the millions who defied organized and educated; they present a mented workers immediately liable to be registration or registered unwillingly, substantial enforcement problem for the drafted and put on the front lin'es. and those who wish to defend them. courts and overcrowded prisons, and an The movement did organize effective Draft protestors grew up amidst the effective public support system for them educational forums and post office regis­ feminist and gay movements and are has to be mobilized. tration-site protests July 19 through sensitive to the poison of racism. They're The movement also ignores the salient August 2. But the national leadership is debating the old question of a single- vs. fact' that the most intense antagonism predominantly white, middle-class and multi-issue program, a debate the anti­ against registration comes from work­ male. Plans for the national week of pro­ draft movement leadership avoids. ingclass and ghetto areas. Although test against the draft (October 12-18) ap- to page 15 14

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