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A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 54/NO. 21 MAY25, 1990 $1.25 Curtis Gov't bailout plan fails appeals to Iowa high to stem S&L bank crisis court for 'Financial Vietnam' for U.S. banking system The political triumph of last August, in have to be taken over. The Federal Savings Supervision seizes insolvent S&Ls, which which Congress and the president agreed to and Loan Insurance Corp. (FSLIC) -the are then passed on to the RTC. The RTC pump $167 billion into an S&L industry federal insurance fund that was supposed to oversees the day-to-day operations of the new trial clean-up, is fast becoming a financial Viet­ guarantee individual S&L deposits of up to bailout, including the closing, sale, or merger nam. $100,000- had not only been bled dry, it of bankrupt thrifts and the sale of assets - -Business Week, April9, 1990 was minus $87 billion. like real estate -from S&Ls taken over by Initial government efforts to solve the S&L the government. BY SUSAN LaMONT crisis were doing little to stem the soaring The new law also included stiffer regula­ In August 1989 federal legislation was losses. The new law, with the infusion of tions for S&Ls, to curb the speculative in­ passed that set up new laws and a vast net­ billions of dollars from the government, was vesting in real estate, junk bonds, and other work of government machinery aimed at aimed at an overall solution that would sta­ ventures that contributed to the insolvency of bailing out the rapidly sinking savings and bilize and restructure the S&L network, many thrifts. Some provisions of the new law loan banking system. thereby preventing the crisis from precipitat­ are: At that point, 223 insolvent S&Ls - or ing a breakdown in the banking system as a • Thrifts must have more tangible capital thrifts, as they are known - had already whole. to back loans- $3 for every $100 in loans been seized by the government. Losses at The new savings and loan law set up the by 1995. many of the remaining 2,750 S&Ls were Resolution Trust Corp. (RTC) and the Office • S&Ls have to hold 70 percent of their mounting into the billions of dollars, and it of Thrift Supervision, both under the U.S. assets in home mortgages and mortgage-re­ was expected that 500 more S&Ls would Treasury Department. The Office of Thrift lated loans. • Thrifts are restricted from entering real estate development and barred entirely from holding junk bonds. Thousands protest U.S. • Both savings and loans and commercial banks have to pay more for deposit insurance -for S&Ls, the cost rises from 20.8 cents to 23 cents per $1 00. bases in the Philippines • The Savings Association Insurance Fund replaces the FSLIC and is under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), bases agreement past the expiration date. For BY RUSSELL JOHNSON which insures commercial bank deposits of MANILA - Hundreds of demonstrators the bases to remain, she said in her televised up to $100,000. statement, the Philippine constitution would were teargassed and beaten by riot police on The estimate last August was that the May 14 as they attempted to rally outside the have to be honored. Anew treaty would have bailout would cost $166 billion over 10 to be negotiated, ratified by the Senate, and Central Bank Building in central Manila. years. Over 30 years, including interest on then submitted to a national plebiscite if Inside, U.S. and Philippine government loans taken out by the government to pay Congress so determines. Militant/Sara Lobman officials were sitting down to begin "explor­ for the bailout, the cost was given at $300 Mark Curtis during sentencing in 1988 atory talks" over the future of U.S. military Aquino's stance was a concession to the billion, with $225 billion coming from bases in this country. pressure of broadening opposition to the taxpayers - that is, working people - BY SANDRA NELSON Forty thousand U.S. servicemen, civilian bases remaining past 1991. Almost all sena­ and the rest from surviving S&Ls, through tors, for example, from liberal Aquino sup­ DES MOINES, Iowa - Mark Curtis ap­ support personnel, and their dependents are porter Wigaberto Taiiada to her rightist op­ Continued on Page 11 pealed to the Iowa Supreme Court on May stationed at six military facilities here. The ponent former defense minister Juan Ponce 14 to review his September 1988 conviction. largest of these are Subic Bay Naval Station Enrile, have called for dismantling the bases. The motion was filed by his attorneys Wil­ and Clark Air Base, northwest of Manila. Tafiada was instrumental in organizing an liam Kutmus and Lylea Critelli. The bases are the most visible instrument international conference against the bases, Curtis, a union and political activist, was of continuing U.S. domination over its former Tablada tour framed on false charges of rape and burglary colony. They were established under the Mil­ which is being held here concurrent with the exploratory talks. • and sentenced to 25 years in prison. An Iowa itary Bases Agreement imposed on the Phil­ Enrile is out on bail awaiting trial on wraps up zn appeals court ruled against Curtis' appeal of ippines by Washington in 1947 as a condition charges of "rebellion." The government ac­ his frame-up on April 24. for relinquishing its direct rule. cuses him of being a key figure among the Curtis is asking the state Supreme Court The agreement is set to expire in Septem­ rightist politicians, businessmen, and army New York to order a new trial. His petition explains that ber 1991. Washington is calling for its exten­ officers who backed the December 1989 he "has maintained his innocence throughout sion into the next century. all of the proceedings .... He urges that he putsch against Aquino. The coup attempt, led Addressing the nation on the eve of the by former Enrile aide and cashiered colonel, was falsely accused and framed by the Des talks, President Corazon Aquino rejected any Gregorio Honason, was only defeated after Continued on Page 4 executive decision to extend the existing U.S. fighter planes from Clark Air Base pro­ vided support to pro-Aquino elements in the Philippine army. A new accusation of the U. S. govern­ Striking Eastern Machinists to ment's prior knowledge and intervention in the December events was leveled by the trustee: 'No contract, no peace' deputy commander of Philippine forces at Subic Bay naval base, Brig. Gen. Artemio BY SUSAN LaMONT lution of the underlying conflict is not pos­ Tadiar. He told a Senate subcommittee May International Association of Machinists sible. Nor is it possible, as trustee Shugrue 7 that 20,000 U.S. marines· were landed at members on strike at Eastern Airlines in insists, to run a safe airline with scabs." Subic Bay for "rest and recreation," several . Miami are mapping plans for a "No contract, The Miami strikers were referring to a times their usual number, in the week prior no peace" rally May 23, to coincide with the full-page ad taken out by Shugrue in the to the putsch. They remained until the coup upcoming meeting between Martin Shugrue Miami Herald, New York Times, and other was crushed, he said. and the airline's creditors. major U.S. dailies on May 11 - an ad that In the week prior to the opening of the Shugrue is the trustee appointed last month angered many strikers. exploratory talks, three Gls have been assas­ by the federal bankruptcy court to run East­ In his "Open Letter," Shugrue states that sinated in the red-light districts that surround em, an action that removed Frank Lorenzo the scabs hired to replace strikers are "Eastern Subic Bay and Clark, allegedly by New from the airline's management. Lorenzo employees" who are "beginning a new chap­ People's Army guerrillas. The NPA issued a heads Texas Air Corp., Eastern's parent com­ ter in the history of Eastern." Shugrue also statement calling on U.S. servicemen to leave pany. Eastern has been in bankruptcy pro­ says the airline "is safe today" - despite the country immediately "or suffer the agony ceedings since five days after the Machinists ongoing Federal Aviation Administration in­ of attrition." strike began March 4, 1989. vestigations and numerous safety violations Opening the talks at the Central Bank, Lorenzo's removal was a victory for all documented by strikers. Foreign Minister Raul Manglapus protested labor, says the strikers' leaflet for the upcom­ For many strikers, the letter cleared up any a $220 million shortfall in aid Washington had Militant/Margrethe Siem ing action. "The lAM, however, went on strike doubts that Shugrue was favorably disposed promised in 1988 in return for use ofthe bases Culminating a successful six-week to receive a fair and equitable contract, not to the union, although informal talks are until 1991. Settling this claim should be the US. tour, more than 400 heard Cuban just to get rid of Frank Lorenzo. There will be continuing to take place between Shugrue first point of the exploratory talks, he said. author Carlos Thblada May 11 in New no peace at EAL until we get a contract." and lAM District 100 President Charles Ignoring Manglapus' plea, Washington's \brk City. See story page 3. "A cessation of hostilities without a reso- Continued on Page 6 Cootinued on Page 2 Sales teams sign up new readers in the Midwest

To help boost the international Two thousand workers slaughter tant and three copies of Perspectiva working-class areas. One 25-unit Mayer plant gate and 11 subscrip­ campaign to win thousands of new and pack pork and beef at Morrell, Mundial. At the ffiP plant the fol­ apartment building had several fam­ tions were sold in th~ community. readers, two teams of volunteers hit 700 of whom were hired during the lowing day team members were re­ ilies living three to four to an apart­ Soon after the team arrived so did the road in the Midwest to introduce 1987 strike. stricted to a small traffic island, but ment, many of which were barely a torrential rainstorm. Supporters the Militant to meat-packers and Six subscriptions were sold going nonetheless 22 meat-packers furnished and some with workers bought raincoats and drove across others. door to door in working-class com­ stopped to buy a copy of the paper. sleeping on the floor. the Mississippi River to Rock Island, The first team visited Sioux Falls, munities in Sioux Falls. "Cuba, muy bien," ("Cuba, very Few of the workers that team illinois, when the storm eased off. South Dakota, on April 27 for two The five-day team began in Sioux good") commented one worker as members met spoke English. Sev­ Going door to door in the mostly he paged through an issue of Per­ eral signed up to get Perspectiva Black, working-class neighborhood spectiva Mundial. The ffiP work Mundial. One man was glad to see the team met a local Black rights force is largely Asian and Latino. a magazine that defended the Cuban activist. She explained efforts to or­ GETTING While in Sioux City team mem­ revolution and especially liked an ganize protests demanding Mro­ bers visited a newly founded Latino article on the ideas of Che Guevara. American studies programs in the THE Center and met with activists there, At a Sioux City trailer park three local high schools. She is also cir­ two of whom work at mP. One of residents bought Militant subscrip­ culating a petition calling for Mal­ MILITANT the activists subscribed to Per­ tions in 45 minutes. An ffiP worker colm X's birthday to be recognized spectiva Mundial and took an extra who was Vietnamese and another as a holiday. AROUND subscription blank to send to a friend who had been involved in the 1987 She signed up to get the Militant in Mexico. strike both subscribed to the Mili­ and bought a selection of books by The center's director, Elba Cera, tant. "The union's in better shape Malcolm X and African National days. On April 30 a five-day sales City, Iowa, and nearby South Sioux explained that the Latino population because of the strike," noted the Congress leader Nelson Mandela. team began with a first stop in Sioux City, Nebraska, centers of the meat­ in the area has doubled in the last latter as he signed up to get the paper. Later the team ran into her again and City, Iowa. Packinghouse workers, packing industry with two large year. This is a result ofiBP's aggres­ He's already thinking about what she explained she had been driving their families, and residents in work­ packinghouses - another Morrell sive recruitment and advertising in action will be needed next year when through the neighborhood looking ing-class neighborhoods bought a plant and an ffiP (Iowa Beef Pro­ the Southwest, she said. Hundreds the contract expires again. for them so that her sons could buy total of 29 subscriptions to the Mil­ cessing) plant. Workers also struck of workers have moved to the area The next stop was Cherokee, some pamphlets. itant and Perspectiva Mundial, and these operations in 1987 during the looking for work and have no place Iowa, where a Wilson Foods pack­ The last stop was a quick pass 149 workers purchased individual wave of meat-packing strikes. to stay and inadequate social ser­ inghouse is located. At shift change through Moline, illinois, where sev­ copies. In about 10 minutes, before the vices, explained the activists at the 22 workers stopped to buy copies of eral subscriptions to the Militant and At the big John Morrell plant in team was run off by the police, center. the socialist papers. Perspectiva Mundial were sold, in­ Sioux Falls, 33 workers bought cop­ workers at the Morrell plant in Sioux This was obvious to Militant sup­ In Davenport, Iowa, six Militants cluding to a worker at ffiP's Joslin ies of theMilitant at the factory gate. City bought six copies of the Mili- porters as they went door to door in were sold to workers at the Oscar packinghouse nearby. Thousands protest U.S. bases in the Philippines

Continued from front page They held their ground. and allow a delegation escorted by Lopez to of the Council of Student Governments at the chief negotiator Richard Armitage called for The situation was only defused with the pass through their lines and place their ter­ University of the Philippines campuses, was a "new partnership" with the Philippines that arrival of Manila Mayor Mel Lopez, who mination notice, painted on a large plywood able to explain the issues involved to the large would maintain the U.S. bases into the new parked his car in front of the riot police and sheet, on a traffic island in front of the em­ group of international press representatives century. asked to meet with the protest leaders. As a bassy. present. What was at stake "was the sover­ result, the police were forced to back down At that point Amante Jimenez, chairman eignty of Filipino people," he stressed. Workers protest talks The Labor Advisory Consilators Council called for a nationwide union stoppage May New editions, reprints of Malcolm X books 14 to protest the talks. Tens of thousands of workers in the industrial belt surrounding Manila and elsewhere in the country struck Pathfinder, the principal publisher of the of the book have been sold in the 11 months in the hands of those struggling for their for the day, according to the May 1 Move­ speeches of Malcolm X, announced it is it has been in print. liberation. The speech addresses ancient M­ releasing a new edition of one of its best-sell­ By Any Means Necessary, first published rican civilizations, the crime of chattel slav­ ment (KMU) labor federation, a major par­ ing titles by the working-class revolution­ in 1970 and now in its 14th printing, will ticipant in the LACC. ery, the common interests of the oppressed ary leader, Malcolm X on Afro-American appear with a new two-page publisher's pref­ internationally, and the decline of imperial­ Student groups have called for a week of History. ace. ism. mobilizations against the bases. Rather than Increased interest in Malcolm X's political In April a new edition of the popular The new edition of the 87 -page book con­ opening exploratory talks with Washington, activity and perspectives has resulted in a pamphlet Two Speeches By Malcolm X, with tains a new publisher's preface. Moreover, these groups are saying, Aquino should be sharp jump in the number of his books sold a new cover and introduction, was released new typography with new page designs by serving notice on Washington of termination by Pathfinder. Several titles are now being by Pathfinder. Toni Gorton, including on the front and back of the bases agreement. reprinted to meet the stepped-up demand. Malcolm X on Afro-American History con­ covers, makes the book more attractive and On the afternoon of May 14, several thou­ Celebrations, meetings, and other special tains a speech given by Malcolm four weeks easy to read. An index has also been added. sand students, together with contingents of events across the United States this year will before his assassination in New York City. The speech was ftrst published by Path­ workers mobilized by the KMU, marched mark the 65th anniversary of Malcolm's birth The speech was the first of three planned for finder in 1967 in pamphlet form. A second towards the U.S. embassy. Their intention -May 19. New York's Audubon Ballroom. The ad­ edition published as a paperback book in 1970 was to present a notice of termination for the Malcolm X: The Last Speeches, published dresses were to lay the political groundwork also included photographs. The nine printings bases agreement to the embassy in the name less than a year ago, is now in its third for adoption of a program for the newly of the second edition have been sold out. of the Filipino people. The way was barred, printing. The 189-page book, which includes formed Organization of Afro-American Malcolm X on Afro-American History is however, by riot police backed by frre trucks, six never-before-published speeches and in­ Unity, founded by Malcolm in June 1964. available for $7.95 from Pathfinder, 410 West jeeps, and armored cars. The demonstrators terviews, is the fastest selling title Pathfinder An understanding of Afro-American his­ St., New York, N.Y. 10014, or from Path­ were ordered to disperse or be dispersed. has ever published. More than 43,000 copies tory was, for Malcolm, an essential weapon finder bookstores listed on page 12. The Militant Get the truth • • • get the Closing news date: May 16, 1990 Editor: DOUG JENNESS Circulation Director: RONI McCANN Nicaragua Bureau Director: LARRY SEIGLE Business Manager: JIM WHITE Editorial Staff: Susan Apstein (Nicaragua}, Seth Galinsky MILITANT (Nicaragua}, Yvonne Hayes, Arthur Hughes, Susan LaMont, Weekly news and analysis on the Roni McCann, Greg McCartan, Selva Nebbia, PeterThierjung. Published weekly except the last two weeks of December by struggles of working people worldwide the Militant (ISSN 0026-3885}, 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Telephone: Editorial Office, (212) 243-6392; Reports on the Eastern and Greyhound strikes • News Fax 727-0150; Telex, 497-4278; Business Office, (212) 929- from South Africa • Weekly series on Eastern Europe • 3486. Nicaragua Bureau, Apartado 2222, Managua. Tele­ Coverage of Cuban author Carlos Tablada's U.S. tour phone 24845. Correspondence concerning subscriptions or changes INTRODUCTORY OFFER FOR of address should be addressed to The Militant Business Office, 410 West St., New York, N.Y.10014. NEW READERS Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y., and at addi­ tional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Militant, 410 West St., New York, N.Y. 10014. Sub­ scriptions: U.S., Latin America: for one-year subscription ~ 12 ISSUES $7 send $37, drawn on a U.S. bank, to above address. By first­ r------, class (airmail), send $70. Canada: send Canadian $50 for ' D $7 for 12 issues D $37 for a year D $70 for 2 years one-year subscription to Societe d'Editions AGPP, C.P. 340, Name ______succ. R, Montreal, Quebec H2S 3M2. Britain, Ireland, Af­ rica: £28 for one year by check or international money order Address ------­ made out to Militant Distribution, 47 The Cut, London, SEl City------8LL, England. Continental Europe: £35 for one year by State Zip _____ check or international money order made out to Militant Dis­ Phone ------tribution at above address. Australia, Asia, Pacific: send Union/School/Organization ______Australian $60 to Pathfinder Press, P.O. Box 259, Glebe, Sydney, NSW 2037, Australia. Send to the Militant, 410 West St. New York, N.Y. 10014. Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily represent ------~ the Militant's views. These are expressed in editorials.

2 The Militant May 25,1990 Tour by Cuban author ends with successful New York meeting

BY MAREA HIMELGRIN drade, education director of International NEW YORK- Some 430 people packed Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Local 23- the auditorium of the hospital workers' Mar­ 25; Maureen Holder, vice-president of Inter­ tin Luther King Labor Center on May 11 to national Association of Machinists Local hear a presentation by Cuban economist Car­ 2656; Jaime Vasquez of the Hispanic Affairs los Tablada. Committee of United Auto Workers (UAW) The meeting culminated a highly success­ District 65; and John Connolly, a member of ful six-week tour of the United States by the the National Board of the American Federa­ Cuban communist. His book Che Guevara: tion of Television and Radio Artists. Economics and Politics in the Transition to Miriam Thompson, a member of the staff Socialism goes to the heart of the issues posed of UAW Local 259 and editor of the local's in the process of rectification taking place in newspaper, joined in welcoming Tablada. Cuba today to advance the building of so­ She had recently returned from a visit to Cuba cialism. and remarked, "I realized how solidarity with Mary-Alice Waters, the president of Path­ Cuba must be central to our work." finder - Tablada 's English-language pub­ Four of the main U.S. organizations active lisher and sponsor of his tour - chaired the in solidarity with Cuba in this country were meeting. well represented at the meeting and contrib­ Noting the enthusiastic applause with uted written greetings: Casa de las Americas, which the activity began, Waters said, "This Venceremos Brigade, Antonio Maceo Bri­ Militant/Margrethe Siem is appropriate because the meeting tonight gade, and the Center for Cuban Studies. The Among those who shared platform with Th.blada May 11 were (clockwise from top has a double character - it is a very serious chair also recognized the presence of numer­ left): Roger Green, Miriam Thompson, Ernie Mailhot, and Victor Mashabela. Also on political meeting that many of us have been ous leading political activists, including platform but not shown were Marshall Garcia and Mary-Alice \\aters. waiting for for some time and it is a celebra­ Rosemari Mealy, Leslie Cagan, Esmeralda tion of the success of Dr. Tablada's tour of Brown, Waldaba Stewart, Dumile Feni, and the African National Congress was intro­ Machinists Locall 018 on strike against East­ the United States." Don Rojas. duced to give welcoming remarks. em airlines at La Guardia Airport. Audiences totaling more than 3,000people Niem Do Tin, a representative of the "The fruit of Namibian independence Around the country, Eastern strikers have in 33 cities across the United States had an Vietnamese mission to the United Nations, came from a plant watered with the blood of been enthusiastic participants in the meetings opportunity to hear Tablada. He spoke at 28 received a standing ovation when he was Angolan and Cuban fighters at the historic for the Cuban economist. Six Eastern strikers college and university campuses, including introduced. battle of Cuito Cuanavale," explained the in addition to Mailhot attended the New York Johns Hopkins, Stanford, the University of Many prominent individuals had the op­ ANC leader. meeting. Chicago, Duke, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. portunity to meet Tablada at a special recep­ A very warm welcome was also extended Mailhot was a guest of the Central Orga­ "The diversity of audiences and forces tion organized prior to the public meeting. to Margarita Delgado, frrst secretary of the nization of Cuban Trade Unions at the May who have welcomed him is impressive," said Cuban mission to the UN when she was Day celebrations in Havana. Waters. "It is similar to the platform, mes­ ANC speaker introduced. "Our strikers at Eastern," Mailhot said, sages, greetings, and prominent guests we Participants in the meeting rose to their The final speaker to welcome Tablada was "often explain that the number one thing for have here tonight." feet to applaud when Victor Mashabela of Ernie Mailhot, staff strike coordinator for Continued on Page 5 Breaking information blockade "This is also our occasion and our oppor­ tunity," she continued, "to explain to Dr. 'Normalizing U.S.-Cuban relations long Tablada why what he has done here for the last six weeks is so important to us - the work that he has done to break the 30-year plus blockade of information from Cuba im­ overdue,' writes Salt Lake City paper posed by the U.S. government." As in many other cities, Tablada was wel­ The following editorial appeared in the Tablada spoke of a concept the Cubans call ing, humanistic idea emerging from Cuba. comed to New York by a number of elected April19 issue of the Daily Utah Chronicle, "the rectification process"-the transforma­ For the past 30 years, Cuba has been officials. Messages were read to the meeting published by the University of Utah in Salt tion of the Cuban economy from the system portrayed by the press and politicians as the from Congressman Charles Rangel; Victor Lake City. of entrenched planning ministries to a more epicenter of maliciousness in the hemisphere. Quintana, director of constituent affairs in It was headlined, "Normalizing US.· equitable order that encourages the spiritual Indeed, no other country in the socialist bloc New York Mayor David Dinkins' office; and Cuban relations long overdue." development of people. has faced the same unremitting pressure as Mayor Sharpe James of Newark, New Jersey. Whether or not one agrees with the rectifi­ Cuba. Marshall Garcia, executive vice-president When Cuban economist Carlos Tablada cation process, many of those who heard Now that Cuba is up against the wall and of the Hospital and Health Care Employees came to the University of Utah Tuesday, he Tablada speak on college campuses across the increasingly isolated from the East Bloc, the Local 1199, welcomed Tablada to the union brought with him a very important message. country were surprised to see such a refresh- Bush administration would be wise to take hall. Garda helped to organize the April 7 advantage of the crisis as an opportunity to "U.S. Hands Off Cuba" demonstration in normalize relations with Cuba. New York. "The April? effort," he explained, U.S. officials ought to work toward devel­ "showed the real desire of American working Che Guevara: oping closer ties to the Cuban government people to demand 'No more Vietnams!"' rather than eagerly awaiting what they feel to Interviews with Tablada during the tour be the imminent fall of Castro and company. were broadcast on radio and TV stations and Economics and Politics in the The Bush administration and Congress are printed in a few newspapers. dreadfully mistaken if they believe anything "One of the most remarkable," said Wa­ Transition to Socialism positive can come from a collapsed Cuba. ters, "was an editorial published in the Daily Utah Chronicle," a Salt Lake City paper. The On several occasions, Castro and other editorial stated in part, "Whether or not one by Carlos Tablada prominent government officials, as well as scholars like Tablada, have stressed the need agrees with the rectification process, many Now available in English, the of those who heard Tablada speak on college to thaw the ice between the United States and 1987 bestseller in Cuba looks Cuba. campuses across the country were surprised at Che Guevara's theoreti- But the United States is not moving toward to see such a refreshing and humanistic idea cal contributions to build- And by the direction of detente with Cuba. On the emerging from Cuba." (See complete edito­ ing socialism. Pathfinder, 286 .• Fidel Castro: rial reprinted on this page.) contrary, the multimillion dollar fiasco of TV pp., $16.95. In Four New York State Assemblyman Roger Defense of Socialism Marti, coupled with military maneuvers near Speeches on the 30thAnniversaryof Green, who traveled to Cuba three years ago, Aorida in response to threats of Cuba inter­ the Cuban Revolution. Castro ex­ fering with radio signals inside the United stressed in his welcoming remarks the impact plains his views on the lessons of 30 of the conditions for children and youth in States, paints an ominous portrait of the future •years of building socialism in Cuba; of U.S.-Cuban relations. Cuba had on him, compared to those in his the prospects for socialism in today' s district. The infant mortality rate in Cuba is world; internationalism; and many The last ~ng Cubans need to be told is one-third that of the Black and Latino popu­ other topics. 142 pp., $7.95. that their country is in hot water. They're lations in poor sections of New York City, he aware of that. And they don't need to be made said. "Cuba Will N ever Adopt to feel like the doomed, cornered gangster In Cuba, reported the assemblyman, an Capitalist Methods" Excerpts from a Jimmy Cagney film. After three de­ attempt is being made "to create a social from Castro'sjuly26, 1988, speech. cades of aggression, the least we could do is transformation, a new society, by really plac­ 32 pp., $1.95. lend a helping hand to Cuba while encour­ ing emphasis on children and youth rather Available from Pathfinder bookstores aging the Cuban people to select their own than treating them as vulnerable, disposable listed on page 12. or by mail from Pat~ destiny. finder, 410 West St.• New York, N.Y. 10014. commodities." Please include $1 for postage and handling. This was the message Carlos Tablada A number of union officials at the meeting brought to the United States, and it's a mes­ were introduced. They included Kathy An- sage we had better start listening to.

May25,1990 The Militant 3 Disruption lawsuit aims to undermine Curtis' defense BY PETER THIERJUNG The frame-up of Curtis by Des Moines A motion for summary judgment in a civil police and Polk County prosecutors stems lawsuit against Mark Curtis was filed in Iowa from his defense of Latino coworkers who District Court May 8, the same day Judge had been victimized by the Immigration .and Arthur Gamble ordered the suit to trial on Naturalization Service at the Swift meat­ July 9. packing plant where he worked. Stuart Pepper, attorney for plaintiffs Keith On March 4, 1988, Curtis was arrested and and Denise Morris, filed the motion that asks beaten by Des Moines police, who called him the court to rule that Curtis' guilt has already a "Mexican-lover, just like you love those been established for the purposes of the July coloreds." He suffered a shattered cheek bone trial. If Judge Gamble rules in favor of the and required 15 stitches. At his September plaintiffs, the July jury trial will be restricted 1988 trial, the conviction hinged on the tes­ to determining what kind of monetary award timony of police officer Joseph Gonzalez, Curtis would have to pay the plaintiffs. who arrested Curtis and testified that he had The Morrises are seeking punitive dam­ caught him with his pants down at the scene ages for the "pain and suffering" they claim of the alleged rape. Curtis inflicted on their daughter. The suit Other than Gonzalez' testimony, the pros­ also asks the court to assign to them "any ecution was unable to present evidence sub­ monies" received by Curtis "as the result of stantiating the charges against Curtis. Infor­ the commercialization of his acts." mation that Gonzalez had been suspended Militant/Selva Nebbia from the police force for lying in a previous Curtis defense table at April 9, 1989, abortion rights march in Wclshington, D.C. Using frame-up as proof arrest was excluded from the trial. Thousands worldwide have backed his fight against the cops and prosecutors who Curtis is currently serving a 25-year jail "The conviction won by the Polk County framed him. Lawsuit against him aims to disrupt this support. See editorial page 14. term in an Iowa state prison on a frame-up prosecutor against Curtis in 1988 was not a rape and burglary conviction. The motion for convincing one. The lawsuit helps to shore summary judgment in effect asks the court up the frame-up," said John Studer, coordi­ pay his legal expenses. plained that the lawsuit squares with an ag­ to enter the September 1988 frame-up con­ nator of the Mark Curtis Defense Committee. On May 8 Pepper argued before Judge gressive campaign against Curtis and his viction against Curtis as proof of his guilt. At an earlier court hearing, Pepper has Gamble that Curtis should not be granted a defense effort spearheaded by an antilabor A challenge to the motion will be filed by indicated that he intends to target Curtis, his later trial as requested by his attorneys be­ outfit known as the Workers League. The Curtis' attorneys. The court's decision on this wife Kate Kaku, and Studer to collect any cause Curtis' supporters were subjecting the group has a long history of harassment, prov­ "will determine whether Mark gets his day monies a jury might award the Morrises. Morris family to an "international smear ocation, and disruption against labor strikes in court," George Eichhorn, one of Curtis' Studer said that including him as a target campaign". "We want to put a stop to it," he and workers' struggles. attorneys, said in a telephone interview. A shows that one aim of the lawsuit is to go said. The judge denied the request for a later Through their international circulation of hearing before Judge Gamble, who will de­ after funds the defense committee has raised trial date. a letter by Keith Morris pushing the Des cide the matter, hasn't been scheduled yet. to publicize Curtis' fight for justice and help Studer denied Pepper's charge and ex- Moines cops' story; the wide distribution of their book called The Mark Curtis Hoax: How the Socialist Workers Party Tried to Dupe the Labor Movement, and articles in I ow a prison officials transfer Curtis their newspaper, the Bulletin, the Workers League has attempted to undermine support for Curtis' fight. from Anamosa to Ft. Madison prison 'The campaign against Mark and his de­ fense effort," the defense coordinator ex­ BY PETER THIERJUNG supporters, and defense committee are lo­ reason he was moved was because of his plained, "attempts to shift the public's focus Mark Curtis was given a direct order by a cated - to Fort Madison is a little longer political activities in Anamosa. "I'm not off the Des Moines cops' frame-up and prison officer May 15 to pack his bags and than to Anamosa. going to change and won't be isolated," Cur­ Mark's fight for justice. It smears him as a prepare to be transferred to another prison. Curtis was taking some classes at Anamosa tis said. "I'm still a political activist." vicious rapist. Its goal is to shut down his When Curtis asked why he was being moved, and did not know whether he would be al­ The Mark Curtis Defense Committee is defense committee and break his will to fight he was told that no reason was necessary. lowed to continue them. He started his new calling on supporters around the world to back. The lawsuit becomes a weapon to at­ "You haven't been happy here in a while," job at Bennett May 17 - kitchen cleanup. write Curtis at the new prison. Letters should tempt to drive this campaign through." his prison counselor added. "I dido 't request He said that the men are housed in two large be addressed to Mark Curtis #805338, Box The Mark Curtis Defense Committee will the transfer and didn't want it," Curtis said dormitories with single beds and some bunk 316 JBC Dorm, Fort Madison, Iowa, 52627. soon be publishing a new piece of literature in. a phone interview with the Militant. beds, unlike the cell setup in Anamosa. Each The sender's full name and address must be to aid Curtis' supporters in winning support Since Dec. 8, 1988, Curtis had been incar­ prisoner is allowed a footlocker and a drawer on the upper left hand of the envelope, with to tum back this attack, Studer said. He cerated at the Iowa State Men's Reformatory for personal items. Because he is a newcomer, the name signed in full at the end of the letter. appealed to supporters to contribute to the in Anamosa, serving a 25-year jail term on a he was assigned to a top bunk bed. Greeting cards are permitted, as are photos, Mark Curtis Defense Committee's $60,000 frame-up rape and burglary conviction. Cur­ Curtis said he was convinced that one but not larger than 81/.f'x 11 ". fund. tis had become widely known among inmates for his political views and had been elected secretary of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Or­ ganization, an inmates' group. He helped lead several efforts to win Appeal filed with Iowa Supreme Court inmates' rights, including the right to receive literature in languages other than English. He Continued from front page you love those coloreds." Curtis had also important for everyone's political rights," also wrote several articles for the Militant, Moines Police Department because of his been targeted by the FBI for his political said John Studer, coordinator of the Mark describing conditions, activities, and political political views and activities on behalf of activities. Curtis Defense Committee. "The frame-up discussions in the Anamosa prison. He had coworkers who were arrested at the Swift • Curtis proved at his trial that he was in of Curtis is aimed at intimidating union and become a target of prison officials, who Processing Plant shortly before his arrest. a restaurant with dozens of coworkers at the political activists. The fight to free Mark can framed him on gambling in January and took "Mr. Curtis was prepared to present testi­ time the woman he was accused of raping ensure the authorities will not succeed in other measures against him. mony and evidence," the petition continues, insisted the assault occurred. "When witness this." "which would have corroborated his claim Brian Willey testified that Mr. Curtis was Telling fellow inmates was rough that he was innocent and subject to harass­ elsewhere at the time of the alleged attack . Curtis said it was "pretty rough"letting his ment by the Des Moines Police Department. .. the State sat silent without objection," the fellow inmates know that he was leaving. However, the State blocked admission of this petition explains. The conviction should be Funds needed in Through the struggles and conditions they evidence." overturned, it argues, because the trial court shared, Curtis and many of the other prisoners The petition focuses on four violations of improperly refused to instruct the jury that defense effort had become close friends. "I want them to Curtis' legal and constitutional rights. this was grounds for acquittal. know that they should keep up the good work • Curtis was denied the right to confront • The petition urges the Supreme Court Mark Curtis is a unionist and polit­ and stay strong," Curtis said. the state's central witness against him, Des to review and reverse Curtis' unjust convic­ ical activist from Des Moines, Iowa, On May 16 at around 8:00a.m. Curtis was Moines police officer Joseph Gonzalez. Gon­ tion because of "several allegations of jury who is serving a 25-year prison term carted off. Two-and-a-half hours later he ar­ zalez, who claimed to have caught Curtis with misconduct." on a frame-up conviction of rape and rived in Fort Madison, Iowa, and was deliv­ his pants down, had been suspended from the The Iowa state attorney general's office is burglary. ered to the John Bennett Correctional Center, police force for lying and brutality in an now considering whether to file papers op­ The Mark Curtis Defense Commit­ which is located directly next to the "maxi­ earlier arrest. Curtis was barred from ques­ posing Curtis' petition, Assistant Attorney tee is leading an international cam­ mum security" Fort Madison State Peniten­ tioning Gonzalez about his record at the trial. General Roxanne Ryan said. Ryan argued paign to fight for justice for Curtis. The tiary. "The Court of Appeals agreed that Gon­ against Curtis' appeal before the Iowa Court committee is currently on a drive to The center, like the Anamosa prison, is a zalez was a 'very material witness,"' the of Appeals. The state has until May 28 to raise $60,000 this spring to meet the medium security jail, said Ron Welder, the petition argues. "The Trial Court erred in submit its arguments. rising legal costs of Curtis' defense executive assistant to the Fort Madison war­ excluding this evidence which was directly According to court clerks, the Supreme effort and to publicize his case. More den, in an interview. The penitentiary, the related to the officer's credibility." Court will make public its decision to grant than $14,424 has been raised so far. center, and two "minimum security" jails are • The motion calls for a new trial because or deny a hearing on Curtis' petition on June Contributions can be sent to the part of one prison complex in Fort Madison, evidence of political bias by the authorities 29. If a hearing is granted, then the court will Mark Curtis Defense Committee, P.O. he explained. About 125 inmates are housed against Curtis was improperly kept from the review the briefs. It may take up to four Box 1048, Des Moines, Iowa 50311. in the John Bennett center. The entire com­ jury. This evidence was important to Curtis' months for a decision to be rendered. A denial Tax deductible contributions should be plex stands on the banks of the Mississippi "defense that he had been framed by police." of Curtis' petition by the court ends the ap­ made out to Political Rights Defense river in the southeast comer of Iowa. Travel It includes. Curtis' brutal beating by police peals process in the Iowa state courts. Fund, Inc. time from Des Moines- where Curtis 'wife, who called him a "Mexican-lover, just like ''The fight for freedom for Mark Curtis is

4 The Militant May 25,1999 Nicaragua nationwide strike ends after settlement with Chamorro government

BY LARRY SIEGLE picket line, and several workers were hurt, MANAGUA, Nicaragua- A settlement none seriously. was announced by government negotiators Many of the strikers were visibly outraged, and union officials late May 16 in a nation­ and surprised, that the cops - still wearing wide strike by public employees. Workers the "Sandinista Police" badge on their shoul­ began returning to their jobs the next morn­ ders - would use force against them. Some ing. The strike was an initial test of strength shouted furiously that the cops were acting between the government of Violeta Cham­ like the National Guard under the dictatorship orro and the labor movement. Threats to fue of Anastasio Somoza. Others appealed to the workers, combined with some police efforts police to " unite with the people." to push through picket lines, failed to dislodge The rulers' decision not to order the cops the strikers who occupied workplaces. to use force to evict the strikers led to a Unions demanded wage increases- to standoff at most ministry offices. catch up with runaway inflation- and guar­ antees against firings of political and union As the strike continued, capitalist spokes­ activists. men put increasing pressure on officials of The walkout began May 10 with office the Sandinista Front to act to curb union workers occupying many government min­ militancy. During a wave of strikes in mid­ istries. After several days of stalled negotia­ April, top FSLN leaders publicly criticized tions, they were joined by bank clerks, tele­ the walkouts on the grounds that they threat­ phone and telegraph operators, municipal bus ened to "destabilize" the Chamorro govern­ drivers and mechanics, airport personnel, and ment and could lead to "chaos" and "anar­ workers in other vital services. chy." Having declared the work stoppage illegal, Not all members of the FSLN agreed with the capitalist regime concentrated its efforts W>rkers at May Day march in Managua this year. Capitalist government is putting those statements at the time, and differences on turning public opinion against the strikers. increased pressure on Sandinista Front to curb union militancy. of opinion within the organization continue Government officials accused the workers of to be expressed. Some members have labeled sowing "chaos" and bearing responsibility as "extremists" or even "Stalinists" those for the disruption of essential services. creed only a 60 percent wage increase for • Unilateral voiding of union contracts who called for a general strike and for other The belligerent stance of the pro-Washing­ public workers and flatly rejected union ap­ that government employees negotiated in the mass action to pressure the government. Oth­ ton government became evident before the peals for a raise that would match the rise in final days of the Sandinista National Liber­ ers say that the FSLN top leadership is mak­ walkout began. Charnorro announced a series living costs. ation Front (FSLN) government. ing too many concessions to Chamorro. of measures that seemed calculated to pro­ • Suspension by presidential edict of a • Promulgation of two presidential "de­ Sandinista Front officials released a dec­ voke working people. civil service law enacted by parliament just cree laws" accelerating the privatization of laration at a news conference May 12, the Among the government moves were: prior to Chamorro 's inauguration. Many large farms and other property nationalized third day of the walkout. Appearing were • Sharp devaluations of the national cur­ working people had looked to the legislation by the FSLN government following the 1979 Daniel Ortega, Luis Carrion, and Henry Ruiz, rency, which sparked a new round of infla­ as protection against arbitrary firing of polit­ revolution. The decrees call for a review of the members of the executive committee of tion, with many prices doubling or tripling ical and trade union activists in the state all expropriations and authorize the immedi­ the party's National Directorate. inside of two weeks. The government de- sector. ate renting of some lands now part of state farms. The declaration expressed solidarity with • Continued government refusal to act "the just protest of workers and producers against armed contra units in the countryside. who have been pushed aside from making Cuban author's tour wraps up decisions" relating to the recent government 'The people decide' decrees. It called on the government "to be Continued from Page 3 quences of what happened after 1975, consistent with its statements about reconcil­ When the strike began, many workers iation" and "to promote a dialogue with state us is not the jobs but defense of the rights of Tablada explained, will be consolidated fur­ were confident that with a little pressure workers" as well as other sectors of society. working people. In Cuba I saw working peo­ ther at the Fourth Congress of the Cuban Chamorro would give way and make con­ ple' who were ready to fight and die for their Communist Party next year. cessions to the unions. The FSLN officials called on the govern­ ment to live up to the "transition agreement" revolution, for their country - which they Discussions have already begun among "The president doesn't understand that signed March 27 between the Sandinista see as responding to their needs and interests. workers - those participating in voluntary here it's the people who decide," said Al­ But more than that, I saw a people that was work brigades, and those who work in the ejandro Fletes, a striker who works in the Front and the Chamorro forces, under which the Front agreed to have its members partic­ ready to fight for all of the oppressed through­ factories and fields - to prepare for this con­ accounting department of the Olof Palme ipate in the new administration. out the world." gress. convention center. Not everyone at the meeting enjoyed Mailhot ended by saying, "My visit to Fletes was one of 3,000 who turned out "Taking into account that what is at stake Tablada's talk. Two counterrevolutionary Cuba and my more than 14 months on strike for a citywide mobilization May 11. The is national interests, we agreed to leave in Cubans interrupted a youth from Central at Eastern Airlines have strengthened my demonstrators marched to Chamorro's of­ their posts directors of enterprises and other America who was asking Tablada during the conviction that the day will come when work­ flees, demanding that she agree to negotiate high functionaries, including the Minister question and answer period whether Cuba is ing people in this country will show the same with the union. Director of the Institute of Energy, compaiie­ reliant on the Soviet Union for aid. They left unshakeable strength and determination as is Union efforts to reach an accommodation ro Emilio Rapacciolli." the room shouting and calling Tablada a liar. being shown today by the revolutionary peo­ got nowhere, as the government refused to The FSLN declaration ended with a slo­ The Cuban economist in answering the ple of Cuba." give ground. Workers, who had earlier antic­ gan, "No to Somozaism! Yes to national question explained that the economic rela­ At the beginning of his presentation ipated a relatively easy victory, began pre­ reconciliation, unity, and peace!" tionship between the Soviet Union and Cuba Tablada explained, "Until the Cuban revolu­ paring for a more serious fight after Francisco is one of fair prices and interdependency. Asked by a reporter "how long the FSLN tion, both Western economists and the econ­ Rosales, the minister oflabor, proclaimed the Three weeks ago Cuba signed a new trade will permit its cadres" to remain in the gov­ omists of the Soviet Union and Eastern Eu­ walkout "unlawful, illegal, and nonexistent." agreement with the Soviet Union that in­ ernment given Chamorro's actions, Ortega rope never understood that there was a real At a May 14 news conference, Rosales creases trade between the two countries by replied, "We are calling on the government relationship between what we have been talk­ also appealed to unemployed workers to "oc­ to rescind the measures it has taken and to ing about up until now this evening and 8. 7 percent. What did those who heard Tablada think cupy the posts left vacant by the strikers" and not continue deepening the crisis. economics. In other words they never under­ warned unionists they would "frre them­ of his talk? Robert, a Haitian-born factory "In other words, we are giving it an op­ stood what it means to be a human being." selves" by not returning to their jobs at once. worker from Long Island, said, "I can't find portunity for peace. We are not calling for Tablada stressed over and over again in any words. The only thing I can say is that it Upping the ante still further, the labor war." his talk, and during the question and answer was perfect." minister declared that government force period, that the parties and economic struc­ An activist in the Antonio Maceo Brigade would be used to "maintain public order." tures Disarming peasants of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe explained, "I thought it was wonderful: ar­ Rosales said the army and the police now had are in tumult today because, "they were not ticulate, clear, not at all like you'd think an "the opportunity to demonstrate their loyalty In the meantime, Chamorro is taking max­ building the socialism and communism that economist would speak." Another Antonio to the president and the constitution." The imum advantage of the willingness of the Marx, Engels, and Lenin dreamed of." Maceo Brigade member put in, "The most command structures of the army and the FSLN to help implement the government's ''The Cuban revolution, too," Tablada ex­ important thing for me was how he spoke so police remain almost entirely in the hands of antiworker and antipeasant policies. plained, "had been on a course that was members or supporters of the Sandinista proudly of Cuba. I'm a Cuban myself and One key objective of Nicaragua's rulers is leading it toward disaster. This began at the I've been there. I'm glad that he explained Front. time in 1975 when Cuba began to copy the Following Rosales' statements, riot police to continue disarming peasant militias. that Cuba is very independent of the USSR Chamorro has assigned chief responsibility economic planning and management systems armed with clubs and tear gas were ordered regardless of what most people think." for this to Gen. Humberto Ortega, head of of these countries and turned its back on Dick Mulcahy, a Machinist on strike at to try to push through picket lines at several political motivation. It went on until 1984 ministries. the army and the senior Sandinista Front Eastern, said that he had come to the talk "on representative in the government. when a process of rectification was initiated behalf of Ernie Mailhot being in Cuba" and At the foreign ministry, a unit of cops by Fidel Castro and the Cuban Communist also because of the impression that a picture wearing gas masks, flak jackets, and helmets "Ortega disarms civilians," proclaimed a Party." of the half-million-strong May Day demon­ tried to escort Foreign Minister Enrique banner headline in the progovemment daily "Czech youth at the university recently stration in Cuba had made on him. Dreyfus into the building through a human La Prensa May 12. The paper said that the discussed and approved the idea of not study­ Mulcahy said of Tablada, "I thought he barricade. The workers refused to give way general had signed orders directing the army ing Marxism anymore," said Tablada. "In was outstanding. I don't know all that much even after a couple of tear gas cannisters were to begin "the disarming of Sandinista civil­ part I can understand this, because the Marx­ about the Cuban government. But I learned frred. The ensuing shoving match proved too ians and to proceed with the destruction of ism-Leninism that they were getting was a lot about the U.S. government during the much for the elderly minister, who quickly the confiscated weapons." incomprehensible. Cuban students were strike - it stinks. I think the blockade should ordered a retreat, to cheers and hoots from However, the pretense that the contras are using somewhat similar textbooks, but they be taken down and we should be able to come strikers and supporters. abiding by an agreement to tum in their got together and met with Fidel. They asked and go as we want." Before long, hOwever, the mood changed, weapons has all but evaporated, as even him to help them get rid of these books, and In addition to this citywide meeting, as the cops regrouped and advanced again. government officials concede that only a the professors that advocated them, and to be Tablada spoke at seven New York-area cam­ With the minister safely out of the way, they small percentage of the mercenaries' weap­ able to study, instead, the original works of puses: Brooklyn College, Bard College, Yale, were somewhat rougher, though still refrain­ ons have been surrendered. The accord calls Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Che." Adelphi, Princeton, the New School for So­ ing from using .dubs ()f making arrests. This for the coritras to be completely disarmed by This process of correcting the conse- cial Research, and Hunter College. time they temporarily broke through the June 10.

May 25,1990 The Militant 5 Pennsylvania steelworkers dig deep for strikers

Some 8,500 International Asso­ a gate collection at the steel mill, Four Eastern strikers and one fered and died because of unsafe The five strikers - although ciation of Machinists members according to an official of United striker's son came to the gates and work places. The 500 unionists at­ stretched thin - picket in the morn­ struck Eastern Airlines March 4, Steelworkers of America Local a few Steelworkers helped out on tending then marched to the State ing and evening, five days a week: 1989, in an effort to block the 2227. About 1,000 people work at the collection. USWA Local 2227 House and Greyhound bus terminal. on two days they picket at noon. company's drive to break the the mill. has had reports from Eastern strikers And the next day, Eastern and Members of the Communications union and impose massive conces­ The collection actually began the at two meetings and they are invited Greyhound strikers again set up a Workers of America continue to help sions on workers. night before at the USWA local's back next month to report on the joint table at a rally of 500 called by staff the picket line on Mondays. As of the Milikmt's closing news monthly meeting. Some workers collection and the progress of the 15 unions at Amtrak, who are fight­ The strikers are asking for additional strike. ing the railroad's demands for con­ help on the picket line to let new cessions on wages, working Eastern trustee Martin Shugrue • conditions, and benefits. The unions know they are a force to be bar­ SUPPORT On April 22 a group of Eastern have been in fruitless negotiations gained with, reports Fairness Com­ EASTERN strikers fanned out through the with Amtrak for more than two mittee member Bronson Rozier. crowd of 200,000 attending the years. The Fairness for Eastern Com­ Earth Day rally in Boston. They Bill Conley, the Eastern strike co­ mittee, set up by the Louisville Cen­ STRIKERS! handed out thousands of flyers head­ ordinator for lAM Local ·1726 at tral Labor Council, is broadening lined, "Eastern strikers support Logan International Airport, out its solidarity activities, Rozier date, Wednesday, May 16, the said they weren't scheduled to work Earth Day." brought the crowd to its feet when adds. Through the Tobacco Workers strike was in its 439th day. the next day and made their contri­ "All across the world, workers and he said it was time for labor to shut union, it is organizing a food bank The Eastern workers' raght has butions at the meeting. At the gate unions are helping to lead the fight down all of transportation if the for anyone on strike in Louisville. won broad support from working the next morning, many workers for a safe environment," the leaflet bosses can't treat workers decently. The committee is backing the Grey­ people in the United States, Puerto tossed in $5, $10, and at least one said. The Machinists on strike at "We are winning," Conley said, "but hound strike, supporting an Amal­ Rico and the Caribbean, Canada, $20 bill, besides those who gave a Eastern "salute all efforts to make you must fight. You can win if you gamated Clothing and Textile Bermuda, Sweden, New Zealand, dollar or two. And some workers this a clean, safe, and liveable fight." Workers union-recognition fight, France, and elsewhere in the contributed again as they came out planet." The leaflet also explained The Eastern and Greyhound strik­ and aiding Carpenters Local 64 on world. Readers - especially at the end of the shift that afternoon. the issues in the Machinists' fight and ers sold hundreds of buttons and strike at Kister manufacturing. Eastern strikers -are encour­ The striking Machinists gave out urged everyone at the rally to boycott T-shirts to the rail unionists. aged to send news of strike soli­ hundreds of "No Lorenzo" buttons Eastern and Continental airlines. "All of the solidarity and concern darity activities to this column. to contributing Steelworkers. Many Both are owned by Texas Air Corp. • for us has shown me the importance of the USX workers had seen media A group of 20 Eastern strikers was In Louisville, Kentucky, Eastern of our unions," commented one On May 9 Eastern strikers from coverage of Frank Lorenzo's re­ also on hand for the Workers Me­ strikers reported to the May monthly Eastern Machinist after the meeting. JAM Local1044 in Pittsburgh did a moval from Eastern's management morial Day rally held April 27 at meeting of the Fairness for Eastern plant-gate collection at USX Irvin by federal bankruptcy court. Loren­ Boston City Hall. The rally was part Employees Committee that they are Louise Halverson from Pittsburgh Works in nearby West Mifflin. The zo heads Eastern's parent company, of the AFL-CIO's annual commem­ maintaining their picket line at the and Kip Hedges from Boston con­ $1,475 in donations set a record for Texas Air Corp. oration of workers who have suf- airport. tributed to this column. Eastern strikers to trustee: 'No contract, no peace'

Continued from front page Meanwhile, Eastern's passenger load from a Columbia University alumni associ­ Bryan and negotiations expected soon. dropped to 46 percent, the May 10 strike ation. The Machinists strike bulletin is also bulletin reported. An Eastern official, how­ stressing the importance of ongoing strike ever, said the new reduced fares and refund Iowa rally actions. When Shugrue "was appointed to guarantees were causing advanced bookings Marshalltown, Iowa- a town of 27,000 run Eastern almost four weeks ago," the May to increase. - was the scene of a rally to back the Eastern 14 bulletin states, "all interested parties were Rallies and other activities by strikers and and Greyhound strikers on May 12-the willing to give him the benefit of time to grab their supporters are continuing around the ftrst event of its kind there since the strike the bull by the horns and put Eastern on a country. These "are critical reminders to began. More than 150 unionists and fanners sure track toward recovery." trustee Shugrue that his turnaround plans will attended the rally, which was sponsored by be drowned out by the strike noise," says the the Central Iowa Labor Alliance and held in 'Declaring labor war' May 15 bulletin. "A quick and fair settlement the United Auto Workers union hall. Some "It was disappointing to see that this week­ is the only remedy to Eastern's recovery." In $1,600 was raised for the strikers. end Eastern again carried an ad ... for re­ the past several weeks, rallies and expanded Packinghouse workers, rail workers, Ma­ placement mechanics. The company asks for picket lines- many held jointly with Grey­ chinists, UAW members, government work­ labor peace and yet, every time it publishes hound and other striking workers -have ers, and other unionists came to the rally, this ad, it is declaring labor war. It would be taken place in Miami, New York, Pittsburgh, along with almost a dozen fanners, including a welcomed first step for the company to Baltimore, Los Angeles, Boston, and Wash­ the entire executive board of the American terminate these ads once and for all." ington, D.C. An expanded picket line is Agricultural Movement Iowa chapter. Besides continuing to hire scabs, Shu­ planned for Detroit Metropolitan Airport Eastern striker Nick Angelos, from lAM grue's efforts to create the impression that May 19 and a rally with Greyhound strikers Local 561 in Kansas City, and Greyhound Militant/Sandra Nelson Eastern is getting "turned around" have con­ is set for Kansas City that same day. striker Jim Armstrong from Des Moines were Kansas City Eastern striker Nick Ange­ sisted of slashing fares yet again, offering to Eastern strikers and other unionists in New the featured speakers. los spoke at solidarity rally in Iowa May refund any dissatisfied frrst-class passenger's York are planning a major rally on June 12, "The guy who thought he could divide 12. fare, and hiring a new ad agency. when Lorenzo is slated to receive an award labor has created solidarity," said Angelos, referring to Lorenzo, who spearheaded the union-busting drive at Eastern. "The reception we've gotten here is just United Machinists approve buyout pact fantastic," he said. "It shows that unity and solidarity are alive not only here, but across BY PAITI IIYAMA voted for the contract. A-scale workers were AMFA is a procompany outfit that special­ the country." NEW YORK -On May 10 some 10,000 more apt to vote against it. This division is izes in raiding operations aimed at pulling Kathy Angelos, a teacher and wife of members of the International Association of due to the fact that workers in the lower wage lAM-organized airline mechanics into a sep­ striker Nick Angelos, spoke of the support Machinists (lAM) who work at United Air­ scales and those seeking early retirement arate craft "union." Some of AMFA's appeal her husband's local has received during the lines voted to accept a new five-year contract receive small improvements under the new has stemmed from its opposition to this par­ strike. "I've never seen such generosity in that includes approval of a proposal to buy contract, while A-scale workers get only cuts. ticular buyout. my whole life," she said. "This type of sup­ out the airline through an employee stock The pilots' association and flight atten­ port and solidarity gives you a new view of what being a human being is all about." ownership plan (ESOP). Nearly 4,500 voted dants' union have also ratified the plan. Patti liyama, a member of /AM Local 1322, against. The contract will go into effect only when is a cleaner for United Airlines at JFK Inter­ Nan Bailey from Des Moines contributed to The contract includes the lAM's share of the buyout is completed. On April6 the board national Airport in New York. this article. $2 billion in wage, benefit, and work-rule of directors of U AL - United's parent com­ concessions demanded from employees as pany - approved the $4.38 billion buyout "sweat equity" to fmance the buyout, and a offer and gave the employee groups four no-strike pledge. months to complete bank financing. If bank TWA workers stage shutdown While lAM officials nationally and locally financing can be obtained, the deal could be pushed hard for a yes vote, they did not get closed by the end of this year. BY KEVIN SHAY tigation. Johnson explained that the the overwhelming mandate they sought. Of Initial reaction among JAM members to KANSAS CITY, Mo. -Almost 3,000 worker had been written up even though 25,623 members at United only 15,000 voted, results of the voting has focused on the next members of Machinists Local 1650 at the he was not assigned to a job. according to official lAM figures. This rep­ Trans World Airlines overhaul base here put step in the buyout: financing from the banks. lAM Local 1650 members and other resents 58 percent of all possible lAM votes. down their tools and occupied part of the Even many who voted for the buyout are unionists at TWA nationwide have been hangar for five hours May 10 to protest While 70 percent of JAM members voting hoping that the banks will tum down fmanc­ pressing Icahn for a contract for 18 months. company attempts to discipline a fellow approved the contract ESOP proposal on a ing so that a better contract can be renegoti­ lAM members have also been staging walk­ worker for "nonproduction." national level, the results varied widely from ated. throughs at the overhaul base to protest station to station. In the San Francisco Bay Many JAM members are angry at union As word of the shutdown spread, workers lcahn's plan to transfer TWA's domestic Area, members voted 60 percent for and 40 officials for changing their position from last from the engine overhaul building stopped routes to America West airline, a move which percent against. Among lAM members at October when they opposed an earlier buyout work and joined the action. Evening shift would eliminate thousands of jobs. America New York's La Guardia andJFK International offer by the Air Line Pilots Association and workers joined as they came to work, and West, a nonunion carrier, would also take airports, the tally was similar. In Philadelphia management. At JFK International, some of day shift workers stayed until the protest control of a major TWA hub in St. Louis. the vote was 58 percent for, 42 percent against. this anger has been translated into mechanics ended at 6:00 p.m. TWA workers could then apply for jobs with On the other hand, in Los Angeles the vote signing up for the Aircraft Mechanics Frater­ substantially lower pay and benefits. was overwhelmingly for the contract. International Association of Machinists nal Association (AMFA). The lAM "isn't Local 1650 President Herb Johnson said Meanwhile, lAM officials are working on In many stations, more B- and C-scale representing us, so let's sign up with a union that TWA President Carl Icahn agreed to an employee stock ownership plan to try to workers - the majority of the work force - that will," said a mechanic with 23 years at postpone any disciplinary action against buy the airline from Icahn, who says it isn't and workers close to retirement say they United. the worker for 15 days, pending an inves- for sale.

6 The Militant May 25,1990 Strikers press fight; Greyhound takes loss

BY SUSAN LaMONT Jim Armstrong said Currey's claim was "like Greyhound Lines Inc., where 9,000 bus Napoleon claiming victory at Waterloo. It's drivers, mechanics, clerks, and cleaners have _... _ both ridiculous and false." The strike is for been on strike since March 2, took huge "justice and dignity," he explained, calling losses during the frrst quarter of 1990 and on Currey to return to the negotiating table. may be headed into bankruptcy. In Newark, New Jersey, Wilbert Allen, a On May 4 Greyhound Chairman Fred driver with 22 years at Greyhound, said Currey announced that the only U.S. nation- Currey's statement was "a stunt to try to get wide bus company had losses of $55.8 mil- strikers to cross the line." Less than 500 ATU lion during the first three months of this year. members have crossed, he said. "We're hold- MONt~ Some $20 million of this sum was spent to ing up pretty good. We're getting good moral combat the strike, including legal fees, "se- support, and we can stay out as long as it curity," and training for scab drivers. takes." FOR. .·· Because of the losses, the company did not Allen and 200 AlU members and other make nearly $5 million in lease payments on unionists were at a May 11 strike support buses and properties due April 30 and $9.8 rally in front of the bus depot at Penn Station. million in interest payments due on May 15. . •FT S Some strikers have gotten other ~obs , he said, Thirty additional days are allowed after May and many stress that they will n ver go back 1-hoR 15 before creditors could force Greyhound ...... , r to Greyhound under the conditions Currey is Militant/Susan LaMont into filing for bankruptcy. The company has demanding. Greyhound strikers and other New Jersey unionists rallied May 11 at Newark, New a debt of $340 million and is negotiating with Jersey, bus depot. While strikers continue to picket and hold solidarity activities, Some 800 Teamsters, in town for a Mid- its creditors and lenders to avoid bankruptcy west regional conference, rallied at the St. Greyhound is experiencing mounting financial losses. proceedings. Louis bus station in support of the Greyhound Despite Greyhound's claims to be servic- strikers on May 9. The Teamsters also voted ing 87 percent of its routes, strikers point out to donate $4,000 to aid the defense of two that the company has simply dropped many ATU strikers arrested April 10 on federal stops from its system and ridership is down Subscription Drive charges stemming from the alleged shooting significantly. of a scalrdriven bus. On May 11 the strikers On the May 5-6 weekend, brief negotia- - Harry Lewis and Roy Simes - were de- tions took place between the Amalgamated SCOREBOARD nied bail at a hearing held in federal district Transit Union, which represents the strikers, Per~ectlva Lutte court in East St. Louis. DRIVE GOALS Total Militant Newlnt'l Mundis/ ouvrlere and the company. Greyhound's proposal "was worse than the ones we had before," In Salt Lake City an AFL-CIO solidarity Total rally was held May 5 to back the Greyhound Areas Goal %Sold Goal Sold Goal Sold Goal Sold Goal Sold said Edward Strait, president of the Amal- Sold gamated Council of Greyhound Local strikers. Utah AFL-CIO President Ed Mayne UNn'ED STATES Unions, the AlU's bargaining unit. "We're pointed to the example of the Eastern Airlines Austin, Minn.* 100 106 106% 65 70 10 13 23 22 2 1 going backwards." This time, Greyhound's strike. "They said the labor movement Boston• 205 210 102% 125 114 25 36 40 44 15 16 demands included a six-year contract with no wouldn't survive, but at Eastern, it's Frank Price, Utah 75 74 99% 53 49 10 10 10 14 2 1 pay increases in the frrst four years and 3 Lorenzo who didn't survive, and at Grey- Phoenix 82 85 96% 53 44 10 5 20 33 2 0 percent pay hikes in the last two years; elim- hound, it will be Fred Currey," he said. Los Angeles 400 382 96% 210 195 75 72 110 111 5 4 ination of 4,500 union jobs; pay cuts for On May 14 an expanded picket line at the Brooklyn* 400 381 95% 200 161 60 83 60 55 80 82 drivers of up to $7,000 a year; no pensions Louisville bus station drew 60, including Des Moines, Iowa* 190 179 94% 145 134 20 20 23 23 2 2 for workers hired after 1983; and job rights Jesse Jackson. New York* 625 588 94% 280 238 115 125 110 103 120 122 for scabs ahead of strikers. The company has Meanwhile, the general counsel of the Greensboro, NC 115 107 93% 90 79 15 15 8 13 2 0 National Labor Relations Board has author- Miami* 280 256 91 % 125 108 55 51 30 25 70 72 hired 2,750 scab drivers. Strikers were outraged at Currey's May 7 ized the board's regional office to file an Portland, Ore. 100 91 91 % 75 71 13 11 10 9 2 0 statement that the strike "is in effect con- unfair labor practices complaint against Atlanta . 165 149 90% 117 98 30 37 15 13 3 1 eluded from the point of view of day-to-day Greyhound. NLRB general counsel Jerry Philadelphia* 170 151 89% 108 86 25 34 35 29 2 2 operations." Hunter found that the company had unlaw- Birmingham, Ala.* 172 148 145 124 20 19 86% 5 5 2 0 fully imposed certain contract proposals be- Seattle* 200 170 85% 115 91 30 30 52 47 3 2 Speaking to a May 12 labor solidarity rally in Marshalltown, Iowa, Greyhound striker fore negotiations reached an impasse. Cleveland 93 79 85% 78 47 20 24 10 7 2 1 Salt Lake City 190 161 85% 138 109 30 32 20 19 2 1 Omaha, Neb. 110 93 85% 80 68 15 7 13 18 2 0 St. Louis 200 166 83% 162 131 25 29 10 5 3 1 All-out effort in final stretch Newark, NJ 385 317 82% 210 145 95 82 65 56 15 34

Charleston, WV* 130 107 82% 98 86 20 10 10 9 2 2 Pittsburgh 140 108 77% 113 74 20 28 5 4 2 2 can reach sales goals on time Kansas City* 122 93 76% 78 55 32 30 10 6 2 2 Twin Cities, Minn. 210 149 71% 162 108 30 27 15 11 3 3 BY RONI McCANN Taking advantage of every opportunity to Detroit 250 163 65% 200 123 30 28 15 10 5 2 Supporters around the world are in an win new subscribers over the final days can Baltimore 150 95 63% 112 55 25 28 10 11 3 1 all-out effort to win hundreds of new readers ensure success in the drive. Washington, DC 145 90 62% 100 55 20 14 20 19 5 2 in the next few days and make the interna- • Supporters in Newark, New Jersey, Oakland, Calif. 185 114 62% 120 72 25 21 35 16 5 5 tiona! sales campaign a success. sent a campaign and sales team outside the San Francisco 220 123 56% 150 80 30 19 35 23 5 1 The goal of the nine-week circulation drive city May 10-13. Socialist Workers Party U.S. Chicago 280 155 55% 185 94 45 37 45 22 2 5 - which has become realizable in the last few Senate candidate Don Mackie reported that Morgantown, WV 150 83 55% 113 64 30 19 5 0 2 0 weeks- is to sell 7,500 subscriptions to the 23 new readers signed up, including farm- Houston 145 64 44% 98 37 20 19 25 8 2 0 Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, and Lutte workers and unionists interested in having Anamosa, Iowa 15 6 40% 12 6 3 ouvriere and single copies of New Interna- discussions with the socialists, who were Cincinnati 7 2 29% 7 2 tiona/ and Nouvelle Internationa/e. With this invited to return soon. Las Vegas, Nev. • 12 4 33% 12 4 week's scoreboard we have 893 to go. • San Francisco supporters won 10 new Louisville 10 7 70% 10 7 Supporters in eight countries are mapping readers on the job last week at refineries, Other U.S. 29 26 2 1 out plans to get as many subscriptions as airports, gannent shops, and other workpla- U.S. TOTAL 6,448 5,282 82% 4,144 3,110 1,025 1,017 902 791 377 364 possible in the remaining days. ces. Cars loaded up with the socialist publica- AUSTRAUA 50 34 68% 25 25 8 4 15 5 2 0 • Six Militant Labor Forum-goers in BRITAIN tions are on the road as national Sales teams Pittsburgh sent in subscriptions after receiv- canvass the Chicago area, northern West Vir- Manchester 74 67 91% 50 43 20 22 3 2 1 0 ing a letter promoting the paper. Cardiff 59 53 90% 40 36 10 16 7 1 2 0 ginia, New York, and the San Francisco Bay London 162 115 71% 105 86 30 24 25 4 2 1 Area. • Ten delegates at the opening day of the Sheffield 107 68 64% 65 55 30 5 10 8 2 0 Readying for Malcolm X events slated for biannual convention of the Canadian Labour Other Britain 59 11 47 1 the weekend, supporters in Washington, Congress, being held in Montreal, signed up BRITAIN TOTAL 402 362 90% 260 231 90 114 45 16 7 D.C., are busy making posters and table dis- to get the Militant and 70 purchased copies CANADA of the paper. Montreal* 170 181 106% 65 53 20 15 45 32 40 81 plays advertising the Militant. Vancouver* 120 11 2 93% 75 67 25 20 15 20 5 5 And on Saturday supporters internation- • National sales teams in the United Toronto 190 158 83% 120 81 30 27 30 42 10 8 ally will fan out to working-class neighbor- States last week won 30 new readers in the CANADA TOTAL 480 451 94% 260 201 75 62 90 94 55 94 hoods, farming communities, bus and sub- San Francisco Bay Area and 28 in the New FRANCE 40 47 118% 10 7 5 12 5 6 20 22 way stops, shopping centers, picket lines, and York-New Jersey area. ICELAIID 41 50 122% 35 36 3 12 2 2 1 0 NEW ZEALAIID political activities in a push to complete the • During the circulation drive, sales Auckland 100 106 106% 80 87 15 10 4 9 0 subscription campaign. teams canvassing the British coalfields have Wellington 70 70 100% 54 56 11 13 4 1 0 Big progress has been made over the last signed up 61 new subscribers and sold 1,090 Christchurch 55 42 76% 45 38 6 3 3 1 0 few weeks in the effort to introduce thousands copies of the Militant and 11 copies of New Other N. Z. 14 8 57% 10 8 4 0 of workers, political activists, and young peo- International. N.Z. TOTAL 239 226 95% 189 189 36 26 11 11 3 0 pie to the Militant. Maintaining this spirit and SWEDEN" 98 98 100% 55 51 7 6 . 35 38 1 3 Ongoing student strikes in New York City, PUERrORICO 20 13 65% 2 3 1 0 16 10 1 0 momentum is key to making the goals of the a May 19 "U.S. Hands Off Cuba" demon- lnt'l teams 155 36 23% 75 15 25 20 50 0 5 1 drive, especially the goal of winning 4,950 stration in San Francisco, picket lines by Other lnt'l 8 3 5 new subscribers to the Militant. Eastern and Greyhound strikers, and a host TOTAL 7,973 6,607 88% 5,0SS 3,871 1,275 1,XT3 1,171 978 472 485 The final sales drive scoreboard will be of other political activities are good opportu- printed in next week's issue of the Militant. DRIVE GOALS 7,500 4,950 1,200 1,100 250 nities to win new readers in the final days of TO BE ON SCHEDULE 6,667 89% 4,400 1,067 978 222 Wednesday, May 23, at noon Eastern Day- the drive. Combining these with sales to light Time, is the deadline for receiving sub- coworkers and Saturday street table and door- *Raised goal during drive scriptions, as well as figures for sales of New to-door sales, we can make the circulation International and Nouvelle Internationa/e. drive goals on time.

May 25, 1990 The Militant 7 1-. CRISISin~STERNEUROPE~~~~~~~~~~~~ How Bolshevik-Leninists of 1920s, '30s fought for a communist course in USSR

BY PETER THIERJUNG organizations in the army. In factories where technical school was occupied and a meeting would have to break the resistance of the (Fifth in a series) supporters of the "46" were allowed to debate of 2,000 was held. workers. On the road to socialism the workers The rise to power in the Soviet Union of their ideas, majorities were frequently won. Repression by Stalin's faction again fol­ would have to overthrow the bureaucracy." a privileged caste of bureaucrats and admin­ The central committee of the Communist lowed. Leaders of the opposition were ex­ But "the social revolution, betrayed by the istrators in the 1920s and early 1930s was the Youth declared its support and a large major­ pelled from the CP, denied jobs, and deported ruling party, still exists in property relations culmination of a violent counterrevolution. ity of the organization's student cells did to remote parts of the Soviet Union. Under and in the consciousness of the toiling In last week's article we reviewed how this likewise. these pressures, the United Opposition split masses," he explained. bureaucratic counterrevolution was a com­ The most prominent leader to identify with and Kamenev and Zinoviev capitulated to The central gains of the October 1917 plete break with the policies fought for by this opposition was Leon Trotsky, who led Stalin. Between 15,000 and 20,000 members revolution - state property relations in basic communists in Lenin's time and led to the the Red Army in the 1918-20 civil war and of the CP were expelled as oppositionists, industry, the state monopoly on foreign trade, reversal of many gains of the October 1917 had been the Soviet government's first min­ including Trotsky who was exiled to Turkey the nationalization of the banks, and eco­ Russian revolution. ister for foreign affairs. He publicly backed in 1929. nomic planning - had not been reversed or The caste, however, was not able to con­ the "platform of the 46" in December 1923. fundamentally altered by the Stalinist coun­ Communist resistance continues solidate its power without resistance from the Those entrenched in the party apparatus terrevolution. most politically conscious sections of the fought desperately to preserve their position Trotsky and others continued to keep fight­ There also remained a generation of work­ working class. This resistance was expressed and used every means to marshal a majority. ing for a communist perspective. They pub­ ers who had gone through the rich experience in a sharp political struggle that erupted in Stalin's faction punished supporters of the lished a Russian-language magazine called of the Russian revolution. Many still had an the Communist Party in 1923. "platformofthe46"withadministrativemea­ Bulletin of the Opposition. It was edited by understanding of what communism is and A majority in the CP's leadership had sures, including removing many from their Trotsky and had to be published outside the supported it. begun to retreat from a communist perspec­ governmental posts and jobs and halting Soviet Union because of the Stalinist terror. These two facts were the assumptions un­ tive under the pressures of the challenges and votes on the platform in army party organi­ From 1929 until 1941 a total of 65 issues derlying Trotsky's conclusion that a political difficulties faced by the revolution. This zations. They disbanded the central commit­ were printed in Paris, Berlin, Zurich, or New revolution by the,workers and peasants to layer, led by Joseph Stalin, gave expression tee of the Communist Youth and replaced it York and then smuggled into the Soviet sweep the caste frOm power was possible. To to the narrow interests, prejudices, and fears with one willing to submit to the Stalin fac­ Union for distribution. The Militant Bolshe­ prepare and lead this struggle would require of the growing privileged bureaucratic strata. tion, and they reshuffled the staff at Pravda. vik, a publication by Bolshevik-Leninists a communist party, like the Conununist Party It clashed with central leaders of the revolu­ The struggle continued after the 13th party who were political prisoners, was also clan­ in Lenin's time, he said. tion, including Lenin, who insisted on con­ congress. At the end of 1924, Trotsky wrote destinely distributed. Foundation for new party tinuing the revolution's communist course. "The Lessons of October" to defend the his­ Leaders and members of Communist Par­ Lenin had begun to lead the fight to stem torical record of the October 1917 revolution ties in other countries who resisted the Com­ The foundation for the new party, Trotsky this retreat, but illness removed him from against distortions promoted by Stalin and munist International's break with Lenin's explained, existed in the ranks and organiza­ his supporters for factional purposes. In 1925, political activity in early 1923. He died in policies also faced persecution - including tion of the Bolshevik-Leninists. They had January 1924. Other prominent leaders of the political and economic conditions opened expulsion, thug attacks, burglaries, and vili­ fought to continue the communist perspec­ new divisions within the leadership of the CP then stepped forward to continue the fication in the CP press - by the Stalinist tives and policies of Lenin. It would be their Bolshevik -Leninist course: Communist Party and paved the way for the bureaucracy. "The regime of the personal responsibility and task to prepare to lead the 1926-27 United Opposition. dictatorship has been fully transmitted from masses in a showdown with the Stalinist The 1923 'platform of 46' the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to bureaucracy, he said. The struggle of the United Opposition all the Communist Parties of the capitalist In October 1923, 46 leaders of the CP It was this possibility that Stalin's murder By 1926, L.B. Kamenev and Gregory countries," Trotsky wrote in 1933. By the late machine sought to eliminate in the 1930s submitted a manifesto to the party's Central Zinoviev, central leaders of the CP who were 1930s, Stalin's assassins systematically mur­ Committee. This "platform of the 46" began through the show trials, frame-ups, mass ex­ previously in a bloc with Stalin, realized the dered communists who resisted the bureau­ ecutions, imprisonment in slave-labor camps, with the economic difficulties confronting danger posed to the revolution and attempted cracy's course. the revolution and the party leadership's and assassinations of Bolshevik-Leninists, to retrace their steps. They formed a bloc, In France, the United States, Germany, which eliminated an entire generation of shortcomings in meeting these challenges. It Belgium, Spain, Italy, Czechoslovakia, hit directly at the faction secretly built by called the United Opposition, with v~terans cm:nmunist fighters. of the 1923 communist opposition. Zh\oviev Hungary,China, Austria, Mexico, Argentina, Stalin, who controlled the administrative ap­ ;. .N~u~m~i?# ..~ll>f. ~~,in . ~ was the leader of the Leningrad party-orga­ Greece, and other countries, communists paratus of the party. industry remain the.economic foundation of nization and brought with him support from fought to maintain the policies and perspec­ the Soviet Union today,' but commuQist po­ 'The party is to a considerable extent ceas­ important sections of the Leningrad working tives of the Communist International in litical consciousness among working people ing to be that living independent collectivity," class. Lenin's time and identified with the struggle was eradicated. By World War II, the com~ the document asserted. It noted the "division In preparation for the 15th party congress of the Bolshevik-Leninists in the Soviet munist organization in the Soviet Union had of the party between the secretarial hierarchy in December 1927, , the United Opposition Union. been so destroyed as to preclude its revival and 'quiet folk,' between professional party published an extensive platform, 'The Party even under the impact of the postwar revo­ officials recruited from above and the general Crisis and How to Overcome It," and a daily Communists' conclusions lutionary victories in Yugoslavia, China, and mass of the party which does not participate bulletin. It had a leadership that met, ex­ Trotsky analyzed the nature of the coun­ elsewhere. Subsequently, even any commu­ in the common life." Party congresses, it changed ideas, and led the fight to win the terrevolution carried out by the bureaucratic nist continuity of individuals in the Soviet charged, were becoming "the executive as­ party back to a communist course. caste and explained its meaning for the Soviet Union has been severed altogether. No com­ semblies of this hierarchy." Representatives of the opposition were Union in his book The Revolution Betrayed munism or working-class vanguard exists in Signers and supporters of the platform sent out to party branches in Moscow and published in 1937. 'The Soviet Union is a the Soviet Union today. A new communist included figures such a V.A. Antonov­ Leningrad and to provincial areas to win contradictory society halfway between capi­ party can only be reborn as part of a broader Ovseenko, who helped lead the October 1917 support. Despite physical attacks and harass­ talism and socialism," he wrote. This halfway advance of world revolution. seizure of power in St. Petersburg; Yevgeny ment by Stalinist thugs and the secret police, situation, he said, would prove to be transi­ Our next article will examine the Soviet Preobrazhensky, a leading Bolshevik and meetings numbering from 20 to 200 were tory. Union's survival of the imperialist onslaught economist who had joined the party in 1903; organized to discuss the opposition's propos­ "Further development of accumulating in World War II and the postwar overturn of Christian Rakovsky, who headed the first als and ideas. Trotsky estimated that about contradictions can as well lead to socialism capitalist property relations in the countries Soviet government in the Ukraine; Nikolai 20,000 people took part in such meetings in as back to capitalism," Trotsky said. "On the of Eastern Europe. ~ Muralov, who also joined the Bolsheviks in Moscow and Leningrad. In one instance a road to capitalism the counterrevolution (To be continued) 1903 and was a commander of the Red Army during the 1918-20 civil war; Ivan Smimov, the chairman of the Siberian Revolutionary Committee in 1920-21; Lev Sosnovsky, the head of the party's Propaganda and Agitation Albania lifts some rights restrictions Department; and many others. BY RONI McCANN under the weight of massive popular protests, Public debate breaks out priests and clergy of all religious affiliations. On May 9 the Albanian People's Assembly said, "Events occurring there do not concern Seventy percent of ethnic Albanians were In November 1923, just six months before passed a series oflaws loosening the regime's us." He said this was something Albania Muslim, 20 percent Greek Orthodox, and 10 the CP's 13th congress, this political conflict grip on the country's population of 3.3 mil­ would never experience. percent Roman Catholic. In the spring of surfaced in the pages of the Communist lion. These include measures allowing the On May 12, however, Alia stated that his 1966 the regime launched an "Ideological Party's daily Pravda, causing the newspa­ right to travel and worship and reducing the policy of opening things up is now "unstop­ and Cultural Revolution," closing more than per's circulation to double. The Bolshevik­ number of crimes punishable by death. pable." These comments came at his frrst­ 2,000 mosques, monasteries, and churches. Leninists argued their case publicly. They Citizens of the southeastern European ever news conference with foreign The regime also imposed strict travel laws. won support in about a third of the party country have not been allowed to travel out­ journalists, invited to the country during the The majority of Albanians have never had a ..---from Pathfinder---. side Albania since 1944 except on official ftrst visit to Albania by United Nations Sec­ passport. Borders are secured by an electri­ missions. Since the country was declared the retary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar. cally wired fence and booby traps. And while The Re•olutlon "first atheist state in the world" in 1967, the The People's Republic of Albania was several thousand Albanians have escaped, an practice of any religion has not been allowed. created in 1946 after the Communist Party, uncounted number were killed trying. And Amnesty International says it is impos­ which was aligned with Moscow, took power. Betrayed One of the recent laws passed reduced the sible to estimate the number of political pris­ The government was headed by Enver Hoxha By Leon Trotsky 34 crimes punishable by death to 11. Under oners arrested and detained by the Sigurimi, for four decades until his death in 1985. in the reign of the regime's secret police, thou­ How a parasitic caste arose the secret police. Hoxha never established diplomatic relations the Soviet Union in 1920s and sands of Albanians have been deported to with the United States. He broke off relations '30s • How communist leader­ More moves to end Albania's decades­ remote labor camps or interned without trial. long, near-complete isolation are also being with the Soviet Union in 1961, during the rift ship was overturned • The bu­ Private ownership of automobiles is illegal reaucracy's reactionary domes­ considered, including resumption of relations between Moscow and Beijing, aligning with with the United States and the Soviet Union the Chinese government. But these relations and the majority of Albanians travel by oxcart tic and forei~n policies or on foot. $11.95. Available from Pathfinder booll­ and improved relations with the European ended in 1978 as ties between Washington stores Hsted on ~ 12. or from Path­ Community. and Beijing increased and following the death In March the Alia government began to finder, 410 West SL, New Yorll, N.~ 10014. Only six months ago Albanian President in 1976 of Chinese leader Mao Zedong. allow citizens to dial direct to 50 countries Please include Sl postaqe and handl~. Rarniz Alia, responding to the fall of totali­ After taking power in Albania, the Hoxha and has agreed to accept incoming telephone tarian regimes throughout Eastern Europe regime expelled, imprisoned, and executed calls from the United States.

8 Tile Militant May 25,1990 Unions score victories inS. Africa BY GREG McCARTAN workers from other southern African coun­ AND RICH PALSER tries against those born in South Africa. JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -The By organizing Africans, Indians, Col­ rise of a militant trade union movement in oureds - and even some whites - into South Africa over the last decade is a central common unions and one federation, these feature of the unfolding battle against apart­ divisions created by apartheid are broken heid. Union organizing drives, strike actions, down. Both in the workplace and in the and worker demonstrations are a central part · townships and the so-called bantustans, the of the growing revolutionary mobilizations common experiences, organization, and po­ here. litical leadership shared by COSATU mem­ Today, after years of hard-fought battles bers welds a powerful unified force. against the employers and the apartheid re­ Offensive against the unions gime, strong trade unions exist in most in­ dustries. From a few tens of thousands in the Coleman explained that over the past two mid-1970s, 1.5 million Black workers now years, "We have seen more repression, more belong to trade unions. of an offensive, particularly by capital against The nonracial Congress of South African the trade unions and workers." Trade Unions (COSATU) is the largest fed­ In early 1988 COSATU, along with dozens eration in the country. It has grown from of anti-apartheid organizations, was "re­ 500,000 members at its founding in 1985 to stricted" by the white minority regime. While 1.3 million today. not completely banned, the unions were pro­ hibited from organizing political actions. In The only other federation, the National addition, Coleman said, a new Labour Rela­ Council of Trade Unions (Nactu), is also tions Act was enacted in September 1988. nonracial. Nactu, says its General Secretary Cunningham Ngcukana, has 240,000paid-up These moves by the government came in members. There are also "whites only" the midst of a general crackdown against the anti-apartheid struggle, including the impo­ unions. Members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa on strike at a sition of a state of emergency in 1986. Thou­ As a union federation, COSATU plays an British-owned auto parts plant. Seeking a wage increase and protesting discrimina­ sands of activists were rounded up and jailed. tory practices, workers clock in at the start of the shift and picket inside the main gate. active and leading role in the broader anti­ "Since then," the union leader said, "we have apartheid struggle. It supports the Freedom seen a systematic attack on the trade unions Charter, a document adopted by a broadly and all our hard-won gains over the past 10 noises about retreating on the privatization cratic revolution the ANC is the leading representative congress in 1955, which out­ years." issue. We would also see this as a partial force," he added. The COSATU leader lines the aims and objectives of the liberation The Labour Relations Act's central goal victory." stressed that a "climate of free political ac­ struggle. tivity" must be established for negotiations "was to erode and remove collective bargain­ Transport workers' strike COSATU members, wearing their union's ing rights we have won," Coleman said. It to be successful. "In other words, people have T-shirts and carrying union banners, par­ severely restricted the union's right to strike A recent example of the growing strength to be able to organize, meet, and protest ticipate in every anti-apartheid activity. and engage in solidarity actions. The legisla­ of COSATU's affiliates was the recent na­ without the fear of being shot at, detained, COSATU has actively campaigned against tion was "met by a wave of worker action," tional strike by rail and dock workers. Since harassed, and so on." repressive legislation, police killings, and which has "forced both capital and the state the strike ended in January more workers are The unbanning of the ANC and the South other issues. It organizes an unemployed to retreat on the measure." joining the South African Rail and Harbour African Communist Party led to COSATU league, the Unemployed Workers Coordinat­ The government's National Manpower Workers Union (SARHWU), according to holding two important meetings recently. At ing Committee. Leaders of the federation Commission recently released recommenda­ the union's Secretary-General David Moete. the end of March, COSATU leaders met in speak at many rallies and protests. tions for a new labor act, with the backing of The docks, and rail, bus, and air transport, Harare, Zimbabwe, with the SACP leader­ Neil Coleman, COSATU's information of­ COSATU and Nactu. The measures also have are part of the state controlled Transnet. "We ship. In mid-March a meeting was held in ficer, explained that the unions are playing the tentative support of the employers' asso­ won no immediate wage increase as a result Lusaka, Zambia with leaders of the South an important role in uniting broad layers of ciation, the South African Coordinating Con­ of the strike," but they agreed to enter into African Congress of Trade Unions. the working-class in the anti-apartheid strug­ sultative Committee. wage negotiations for the first time with the SACTU, formed in 1953, has operated in gle. Apartheid's aim was not only to weaken The commission's recommendations in­ union, Moete explained. While wage nego­ exile after the regime unleashed extensive the struggle of workers by creating divisions clude extending labor rights to cover the tiations cover only the Natal region, once repression against it in the early 1960s. Since between workers who are white and Black. nominally independent "homelands," civil Transn~t "sets wages for Natal, they will have then SACTU has collaborat~d with the The system sought to Africans against pit' ~IT.M~. J~ workers, and dome~tic ser­ to seqhe same for everybody," he said. emerging, tra~ .union movement inside the tht;~ clas~bY tM'rttJhkitS'Itttnlllis- and vants; the decriminalization·of strikes and a The 13-week strike was a hard-fought bat­ country. In a joint statement following the Coloureds. The apartheid regime has gone to bar on selective dismissals; and the right of tie. Union members were attacked by armed Lusaka meeting the two federations agreed extreme lengths to use tribal origins and every employee to freedom of association. police and company-organized vigilantes. that "SACTU does not see itself reemerging language and regional differences to divide Bringing farm workers and domestic Many strikers were injured or killed. Despite inside the country." Africans. It also attempts to tum immigrant workers under the law would be "a major this, Moete says, "we see this strike as a COSATU and SACTU "agree to the phas­ victory," Coleman said. "They have tradition­ victory for the workers, including those who ing out of SACTU with the objective of ally been under semifeudal conditions." didn't strike. We fought hard for many years." achieving the principle of one country, one Pushing back the regime and the bosses is a Moete, a laborer at the Durban docks, was federation," the statement explained. result of the "systematic and protracted cam­ fired in 1985 for his union activity. During a SACTU members will be integrated "into paign we have waged," he added. tour of the giant port and nearby rail facilities, COSATU and unions as far as it is possible," he pointed out places where he used to slip inside South Africa. Shifting tactics in and out of work areas to talk to workers and persuade them to join the union. Coleman said the meeting with the SACP The other aspect of the antiunion drive has leadership was "quite historic because it was While based initially among African work­ come directly from the employers. For years the first opportunity that the two organiza­ ers, SARHWU is making progress in build­ the employers would only negotiate with tions had to share ideas on the role of the ing the union among the entire work force. unions on a national level, Coleman ex­ working class in the future South Africa, on Indian workers are "coming to us in large plained. This tactic was used to avoid bar­ the perspectives of the revolutionary national numbers," he said. "We also are starting a gaining on a plant-by-plant basis with the state after liberation, the relationship between campaign to organize white workers." emerging militant, but still numerically small, the Freedom Charter and socialism, the rela­ unions. Today, when strong countrywide Responsible for coordinating the cam­ tionship between the trade unions and the unions exist, the bosses "are trying to break paign is Johann Beauvoin, an Afrikaner fired party, and so on." down the system of national collective bar­ by Transnet for his union activity. "During gaining which is built up," he said. 'They are the 1980s," Beauvoin explained, "economic Coleman emphasized that "COSATU is trade trying to force unions to bargain plant by conditions have started changing ·in South not a political party, it is a union move­ plant." -Africa. It became more difficult for the ruling ment." The unions "cannot subscribe to the socialist program," as a political party can. Coleman said these trends indicate, National Party government to give regular wage increases" to white workers. The meeting concluded that COSATU This issue of New International "Whereas the state has moved into a defen­ sive posture· in the political arena, on the Following the union's victory in the strike, should not affiliate to the ANC, the SACP, focuses on the revolutionary struggle industrial front there has been an offensive or any other political organization "because in South Africa, its impact throughout more workers who are white are interested posture, e~ially from capital's side." in joining SARHWU, Beauvoin explained. while the trade union movement is a mass southern Africa and worldwide, and But, in response, "there is a very militant They are currently organized in a whites-only organization of the working class, the Com­ the tasks of opponents of apartheid in spirit among workers which reflects the spirit union. At the beginning of April some 10,000 munist Party sees itself as a vanguard orga­ the labor movement internationally. at large." This determination has been rein­ struck, demanding Transnet give them a 17 nization - a political party of the working The feature article, The Coming forced by the unbanning of the African Na­ percent wage increase. This was the first class," the COSATU leader said. Revolution in South Africa by Jack tional Congress and the lifting of the strike by white worlcers in the industry in 31 Coleman explained that "there are many Barnes, discusses the national, restrictions on COSATU in early February. years. workers in COSATU who support the Com­ democratic revolution to overthrow "There is a lot of strike activity," Coleman munist Party and have the greatest respect the South African apartheid regime explained. Backing negotiations for the role it has played. COSATU sees itself and establish a nonracial democratic A particular focus of protest is the regime's COSATU is also backing the process of in alliance with the SACP." republic. plans "to sell off, essentially at bargain prices, negotiations between the government and the While the trade union movement must Also included: whole areas of the state sector to capital in African National Congress, Coleman ex­ "protect and advance the objectives of work­ • The Freedom Charter order to break up and fragment these sectors," plained. "The position of the ANC and the ers" on the factory floor and in society at • The Future Belongs to the he said. MDM [Mass Democratic Movement]," a large, "we must learn the lessons of the Majority, a message by African This privatization would not only result in broad anti-apartheid coalition, "has been socialist countries that the trade union move­ National Congress President Oliver layoffs, attempts to weaken the unions, and clear all along: It is no good talking if you ment must not allow itself to become trans­ Tambo worsening conditions on the job, but "con­ are being shot at or if the result is the disarm­ mission belts for the policies of the state, the • Why Cuban Volunteers Are in sumers stand to pay high prices for essentials ing and demobilization of your people. The party, or any institution," Coleman stressed. Angola, three speeches by Cuban like electricity." purpose of the negotiations in our view is to "It must retain its independence." President Fidel Castro These moves are an "attempt to deny the advance to a nonracial and democratic South By building alliances with the ANC and future democratic state the resources with Africa," he said. the SACP, the trade union movement "can Send $5 to New International, 410 West which to run the country," Coleman stressed. "From the side of the MDM and COSATU develop shared perspectives and ap­ Street, New York, N.Y. 10014 As a result of workers' mobilizations "ele­ we accept the leading role of the ANC in our proaches," and "come together for certain ments in the state and big capital are making liberation struggle. In the national, demo- objectives," he said.

May 25,1998 Tile Militant 9 How Lebanese masses were cheated of their victory in 1975-76 civil war

BY GEORGES MEHRABIAN civil war, Syrian armed forces dealt Leba­ intended to end the crisis in Lebanon, was and the Israeli regime again installed a AND HARRY RING non's working people a heavy setback. But also a threat to a nationalist regime that had Phalangist, Amin Gemayel, as head of state. (Last offour parts) they have been unable to establish a stable, come to power that month in an uprising in But that regime too was unable to hang onto In the 1975-76 civil war, the Lebanese unified rule in the country. Iraq. power. With the U.S. Marines in Lebanon, a cease­ masses were cheated of their imminent vic­ Israeli rulers backed by Washington U.S. bombardments tory by a massive invasion from Syria. Fear­ fire was imposed in the civil war. The Leb­ ful that revolutionary victory could curb their The Israeli rulers have also persisted in anese army chief of staff, Gen. Fouad Shehab, By 1983 Washington had 14,000 troops influence in Lebanon, the Syrian rulers efforts to impose their solution on Lebanon. became president. stationed in Lebanon or on ships off its coast. moved in with a major force and imposed a Backed by Washington, they launched a full­ . Then, in September, the Phalange un­ These troops regularly bombarded areas held "truce" in the fighting- a truce that served scale invasion of Lebanon in 1982. They leashed a wave of kidnappings and murders. by forces opposed to the Phalangist regime. to perpetuate the reactionary status quo. aimed to install a stable Maronite regime that It forced a reshuffling of government posts Syrian-held areas were hit as well. would take their orders. and, for the first time, its chieftain Pierre The Syrian forces were able to accomplish But the resistance continued and the U.S. And high on the Israeli agenda was the Gemayel was given a top spot. this only after a fierce struggle. At one point forces suffered some blows. In October 1983 goal of crushing the PLO forces in Lebanon. came the truck bomb attack on the U.S. The invasion inflicted a heavy toll in human 1982 imperialist intervention Marines compound at the Beirut airport. The lives. And, for a period, it did force the The next time U.S. troops were sent into blast left 239 U.S. soldiers dead. CONFLICT departure of the PLO's armed units from Lebanon was in 1982 to buttress the heavy Lebanon. But in the years since, marty of the blows of the Israeli invasion. The costly incident sparked a strong IN LEBANON: PLO forces have been able to regroup in When the PLO fighters agreed to leave clamor in the United States to get the troops Lebanon. Lebanon at the end of August 1982, there out of there and, in a short time, they were The historical Over the years, the role of French imperi­ was a proviso that a special U.S., French, and withdrawn. alism has declined in Lebanon, and Italian force would shield them from possible Currently, Washington seems to favor the Washington's role has increased. There have Israeli attack. Washington also agreed that efforts of Lebanese President Elias Hrawi to background been two direct U.S. military interventions troops would remain in Beirut to assure the establish his authority. It remains to be seen in the country. safety of Palestinian civilians. if he will be able to do that and achieve his the joint Lebanese-Palestinian forces drove In May 1958, a revolt erupted against the As soon as the PLO troops were gone, the declared aim of modifying Lebanon's polit­ the Syrians from the port city of Sidon and regime headed by then President Camile U.S., French, and Italian forces pulled out. ical structure to offer a greater role to Muslim battled them to a standstill outside Beirut. Chamoun. It cut across religious lines, in­ Then followed the infamous massacre at politicians. But there were other powerful forces ar­ volving Shiite and Sunni Muslims, Druze, two Palestinian refugee camps - Sabra and rayed against the Lebanese and Palestinian The present events - and the history of and various Christian sects, including Maron­ Shatila. The unarmed Palestinians were fighters. Lebanon-confirm that there will be no ites. These forces, however, were unable to butchered by Phalangist killers acting with durable peace or social progress until the The Israeli regime, also fearful of a revo­ bring the regime down and a stalemate de­ the full complicity of the Israeli forces. Lebanese toilers are able to put an end to lutionary victory in Lebanon, provided the veloped. With the massacre done, a U.S., French, fratricidal religious divisions, unite in a strug­ right-wingPhalange with an arsenal of weap­ The stalemate was broken in July when British, and Italian "peacekeeping" force re­ gle to overturn the proimperialist capitalist ons. Israeli officers helped to train Phalange President Dwight Eisenhower dispatched turned. regime, and establish a government of forces and to plan strategy for them. 15,000 marines to Lebanon. The intervention, An agreement sponsored by Washington Lebanon's workers and farmers. All of these efforts to crush the Lebanese revolution had Washington's seal of ap­ proval. The Syrians were able to cripple Leba­ non's economy by blockading various areas Under Israeli occupation of the country. In Beirut and elsewhere, the people were deprived of food and other basic There has been a good deal of media focus license plates to the cars in the zone. Some needs. on the Syrian troops garrisoned in Lebanon. key water sources are connected to the Israeli Meanwhile, the Phalangists, bolstered by But not too much is written about the 325- water system and Lebanese residents must the outside support, made renewed assaults square-mile "strip" of southern Lebanon oc­ pay the Israeli government for the water they on Lebanese and Palestinians. There were cupied' by Israel. The strip runs along the use. heavy bombardments and massacres by border between the two countries. Villages deemed to be cooperative with right-wing Maronites and Syrian forces. The After Israel invaded Lebanon in 1978, its the occupation get water supplies and are casualties were heavy. Estimates of the war troops held onto a stretch of land six miles hooked into the Israeli telephone system. dead run as high as 40,000, with as many as wide, which included 59 Lebanese villages. "Uncooperative" villagers get their water and electricity cut off. 15,000 of them Palestinians. After its 1982 invasion, Israel extended the The area is mainly policed by a Lebanese occupied strip. It now ranges up to 30 miles On March 16, 1977, Kamal Jumblatt was mercenary force called the South Lebanon assassinated near a Syrian checkpoint. His in width and embraces 171 villages with more Army. The ranks of the SLA are recruited, death was a further setback for the progres­ than 200,000 residents, nearly 8 percent of Lebanon's population. trained, and financed by the Israeli military. sive forces. While Christians are a minority in the strip, Palestinian residents of the area were Heavily outnumbered and outgunned, the the SLA is headed by a Christian and its ranks driven out and a refugee camp razed. Lebanese and Palestinian combatants were are mainly Christian. compelled to accept a cease-fire. Tel Aviv asserts that control of the area is The mercenaries are paid more than can necessary for Israel's security. Buffer against Israel generally be earned in the area. Their relatives South Lebanon after 1982 Israeli attack The Israeli government now issues its own are given permits to work in Israel. Since that reactionary intervention in Lebanon's internal affairs, Syrian forces have remained in the country. Concerned with the threat of aggression, the Syrian rulers have Chernobyl nuke disaster toll stiiiinounting looked upon Lebanon as a military buffer against Israel. BY HARRY RING and western Russia are living on contami­ The economic toll of Chernobyl is also But the Syrian rulers have additional con­ Four years after the explosion and fire at nated ground. Soviet authorities now say that enormous. The massive relocation program cerns. One is the presence of Palestine Lib­ the Soviet nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, 150,000 people are suffering serious doses will finally cost about $26 billion. eration Organization forces in Lebanon. the damage and the casualty toll continue to of radioactive iodine in their thyroid glands. A Soviet government economist recently Apart from small dissident PLO factions that mount. Recent Soviet government revela­ Among people who have worked at the estimated that when the price of the cleanup are loyal to it, the Syrian government has not tions confirm that the scope of the disaster Chernobyl plant since the blast, the death rate and the value of lost farmland and production been able to dominate the PLO and fears its was greater than initially reported. is now 10 times higher than before the disas­ are included, the cost could run as high as attractive power and its revolutionary impact. When the blast occurred, April 26, 1986, ter. $358 billion. Syria's rulers want a stable regime in Leb­ Soviet officials said 31 people died in the In the immediate aftermath of the explo­ Since the Chernobyl accident the Soviet anon, one that will accommodate the interests accident and in the weeks immediately fol­ sion, 116,000 people living within an 18-mile government has postponed or canceled 30 of Syria's government and not challenge its lowing it, and that 300 people had been hos­ radius of the plant were evacuated and relo­ projected nuclear power plants, some in the policies. pitalized, 145 with acute radiation sickness. cated. Now, officials agree, it will be neces­ face of strong public protest. The Syrian regime intervened in the 1975- Yuri Shcherbak, a Ukrainian doctor and a sary to relocate an additional 200,000 people. The plight of the people of the afflicted 76 civil war because it feared an independent representative to the Soviet legislature, told In one Ukrainian agricultural district 37 areas has been compounded by Kremlin Lebanon where the long-standing religious reporters that an estimated 300 additional miles from the reactor, levels of radioactivity moves to shift part of the burden of the cost divisions would be finally overcome. Such a people have died since the initial casualties. is still nine times higher than deemed "ac­ on to them. Ukrainian and Byelorussian of­ development, it realizes, would open the way The Chernobyl complex is in the Soviet ceptable." ficials are now appealing for help to United for the workers and farmers of Lebanon to republic of the Ukraine, a few miles from its There's been a big increase there in cases Nations agencies and to various govern­ fight for their full emancipation. border with the neighboring Soviet republic of thyroid disease, anemia, and cancer. Res­ ments. . At the same time, Syria recognizes that the of Byelorussia. An estimated 70 percent of idents complain offatigue and loss ofappetite At the end of March, 139 children who;: Maronite effort to subjugate the Muslim ma­ the Chernobyl fallout is said to have struck and vision - symptoms of radiation sick­ lived near the nuclear complex and need ' jority creates a social and political powder Byelorussia. ness. A local doctor said children are the most medical care were welcomed to Cuba by'· keg. And the Syrian regime is also concerned Vladimir Lipsky, who heads Byelorussia's affected. President Fidel Castro. that a Maronite government would align itself Children's Fund, declared that 2.2 million Igor Kostin, a Soviet photographer, has Irina lvasenko, head of the Chernobyl ·: with Israel. Byelorussians - one in five - are living in been covering the disaster since shortly after Children's Association, said they have sought ~ For these reasons, the Syrian government areas contaminated by radioactivity. it occurred. An exhibit of his photos will be help from the World Health Organization and ? now supports a rearrangement of the Leba­ He added that in a hospital in the city of touring major U.S. cities beginning in Balti­ others, but so far the only significant response , nese political structure that would give more Minsk, one or two children now die every more this month. has been from Cuba. •· representation to the Muslims. But it favors week of leukemia. Before the accident, the Advance release of some of the photos tell She said an estimated 100,000 children in ~ such a reshuffling within the framework of rate was one or two a year. a grim story: fish much larger and weaker the Ukraine and Byelorussia are in need of continuing religious division. Altogether, it is estimated that some 4 than normal, a colt with eight legs, and eye­ medical care. Castro said Cuba could provide · With their intervention in the 1975- 76 million people in Byelorussia, the Ukraine, less pigs. such care for up to 10,000 of these children.

10 The Militant M ay 25,1990 'Unions: their past, present, and future'

The following selection from in force of numbers, however, is broken by the guerrilla fights between capital and labor, advisability of becoming affiliated to that Pathfinder's soon-to-be-released book Trade disunion. The disunion of the workmen is they are still more important as organized body, believing that it is essential to the Unions in the Epoch ofImperialist Decay by created and perpetuated by their unavoidable agencies for superseding the very system of progress and prosperity of the entire working Leon Trotsky is a short resolution titled competition among themselves. wages labor and capital rule. community." "Trade Unions: Their Past, Present, and Fu­ Trades' unions originally sprang up from ture," written by Karl Marx. the spontaneous attempts of workmen at re­ (b) Their present (c) Their future Marx, with Frederick Engels, was the moving or at least checking that competition, Too exclusively bent upon the local and Apart from their original purposes, they founder of scientific socialism. In 1848 - as in order to conquer such tenns of contract as immediate struggles with capital, the trades' must now learn to act deliberately as organ­ young members of the Communist League, might raise them at least above the condition unions have not yet fully understood their izing centers of the working class in the broad an international association of revolutionary of mere slaves. The immediate object of power of acting against the system of wages interest of its complete emancipation. They workers - Marx and Engels published The trades' unions was therefore confmed to ev­ slavery itself. They therefore kept too much must aid every social and political movement Communist Manifesto and participated in the eryday necessities, to expediences for the aloof from general social and political move­ tending in that direction. Considering them­ revolutionary upheavals that swept Europe obstruction of the incessant encroachments ments. Oflate, however, they seem to awaken selves and acting as the champions and rep­ that year. of capital, in one word, to questions of wages to some sense of their great historical mission, resentatives of the whole working class, they In 1864 Marx took part in the London and time of labor. This activity of the trades' as appears, for instance from their participa­ cannot fail to enlist the nonsociety men into meeting where the International Working unions is not only legitimate, it is necessary. tion, in England, in the recent political move­ their ranks. They must look carefully after Men's Association was founded, and became It cannot be dispensed with so long as the ment, from the enlarged views taken of their the interests of the worst-paid trades, such as a central leader of its General Council. present system of production lasts. On the function in the United States, and from the the agricultural laborers, rendered powerless Marx's resolution on trade unions in the contrary, it must be generalized by the for­ following resolution passed at the recent great by exceptional circumstances. They must coming Pathfinder book was written for the mation and the combination of trades' unions conference of trades' delegates at Sheffield: convince the world at large that their efforts, 1866 congress of the association, held in throughout all countries. On the other hand, "That this conference, fully appreciating far from being narrow and selfish, aim at the Geneva, Switzerland. unconsciously to themselves, the trades' the efforts made by the International [Work­ emancipation of the downtrodden millions. The International Working Men's Associ­ unions were fonning centers oforganization ing Men's) Association to unite in one com­ ation was the first mass international organi­ of the working class, as the medieval munic­ mon bond of brotherhood the working men *The Sheffield conference, July 17-21, 1866, zation of the working class. It drew together ipalities and communes did for the middle of all countries, most earnestly recommend drew 138 delegates representing 200,000 organ­ unionists, socialists, and working-class fight­ class. If the trades' unions are required for to the various societies here represented, the ized workers in Britain. ers from · England, France, Gennany, Italy, Switzerland, and other European countries, and the United States. The association led political and union Gov't S&L plan fails to stem crisis campaigns to advance the international unity, organization, and education of working peo­ Continued from front page capital-to-loan requirements and because the The RTC is trying to sell seized thrifts ple. It fought to extend the right to vote to increased insurance premiums. RTC is selling some seized S&L deposits to whole, but so far has had only limited success, workers in England. It campaigned for pro­ Nine months later, estimates of what the commercial banks. despite massive tax breaks and other incen­ gressive labor legislation, including a shorter total S&L bailout will cost have ris~n to tives for capitalist investors. working day, an end to night work, and between $300 and $500 billion- and get Real estate sale So anxious is the RTC to unload S&Ls and protective legislation for women and chil­ higher with each passing day. On May 8 the RTC decided to hold a fire real estate that they now are offering a dren. It helped organize unions, supported Instead of slowing down, the S&L crisis sale on the $16.4 billion in real estate and other "money-back" guarantee allowing buyers strikes, and sought to educate workers about has accelerated. properties it holds from insolvent S&Ls. one year to return to the government assets their historic role in abolishing capitalism and Prices for properties that have been held they decide they do not want. transforming society. The First International, S&Llosses in 1989 soared to $19.2 billion, for six months or longer without being sold But the very rules passed to stem the S&L as it was known, supported the fight against far larger than in 1988, when they were $13.4 will drop 15 percent, followed by another 5 losses - such as getting rid of junk bonds, the southern slavocracy in the U.S. Civil War. billion. During the last quarter of 1989, when percent cut in three months if they remain higher capital standards, and the requirement And it hailed the French workers who rose the new law was already in place, losses unsold. Properties still not sold after that can that 70 percent of assets be in low-yielding and took power for two months in the Paris totaled $6.5 billion. be auctioned off at 30 percent below their horne loans - mean lower profits, and in­ Commune of 1871. In February Florida's largest S&L, Ceo­ appraised value. The RTC's first major auc­ vestors look elsewhere. Most of the articles in the new Pathfinder trust Bank of Miami, failed and was seized tion is in July, when the agency will try to The S&L crisis began in the late 1970s and book, which has a publication date of July 1, by the government. L. William Seidman, unload $300 million in seized real estate. early '80s when the government lifted the were written by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky was chainnan of the RTC, said the bank will cost The RTC's expanding real estate holdings ceiling on the interest thrifts could pay on a central leader of the 1917 Russian revolu­ $2 billion to close. Other regulators estimate include single-family houses, undeveloped deposits. This was done so that they could tion, the Communist Party of Russia, and the $3 billion - far more than the cost of closing land, partly completed apartment complexes, hold onto funds being pulled away to com­ Communist International. Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, the vacant office buildings, half-built resorts, and mercial banks that paid higher rates. How­ The selections by Trotsky are introduced California S&L that was the costliest failure other assets from S&L investments-gone-bad ever, since their income was mostly from with prefaces by Farrell Dobbs, who was a until now. and loans made by S&Ls that were defaulted fixed-rate, low-interest home mortgages, leader of the Teamster struggles in the Mid­ on. S&Ls began to lose money in a big way. west in the 1930s and a leader for many years By mid-March, 393 S&Ls had been seized by the federal government and 550 others The money realized from the real estate In 1981 and '82, banking deregulation of the Socialist Workers Party in the United were insolvent or nearly so. Government sales will go toward reducing the cost of the allowed S&Ls to offer variable-rate mort­ States. regulators estimate that by 1992, as many as bailout, government regulators say. Lack of gages in order to raise revenues to keep up one-third of S&Ls will have failed and been buyers for what the government already is with the higher interest they were paying * * * taken over by the government- a "de facto holding adds $9 million a day to the cost of depositors. They were also pennitted to di­ (a) Their past nationalization of a large segment of the the bailout. versify their financial dealings, and the Capital is concentrated social force, while savings industry," commented the March 13 But the decision to sell the government­ amount of capital required by thrifts to back the workman has only to dispose of his work­ New York Times. held real estate at far below appraised value up new lending was lowered. ing force [labor power]. The contract be­ While expenses mount, income to the fed­ is not without dangers. Depositors poured billions into the thrifts, tween capital and labor can therefore never eral government from S&Ls is shrinking. The Unloading vast amounts of real estate at to cash in on higher interest rates. Needing be struck on equitable tenns, equitable even government had assumed that under the new below-market prices - in effect, "dumping" more income to pay the interest, S&Ls loaned in the sense of a society which places the law S&L deposits would grow 7 percent a - could further drive down real estate prices money on increasingly speculative ventures. ownership of the material means of life and year in the coming period, adding to insur­ -especially because 70 percent of the The looser government regulations made it labor on one side and the vital productive ance premium receipts by $12 billion. Instead seized real estate is in the Southwest where possible for them to get into commercial energies on the opposite side. The only social deposits have dropped sharply, as "healthy" real estate prices are already depressed. loans, real estate, and junk bonds. power of the workmen is their number. The S&Ls have contracted to meet the law's new "Plunging property values would hurt land­ As the crisis worsened, the government lords, cause still-solvent banks and thrifts to stalled in closing insolvent S&Ls, sometimes NEW FROM PATHFINDER fail, and even trigger a nationwide recession," for years, increasing losses and driving up cautioned the Washington Post before the the cost of the current bailout by at least $42 RTC made its decision. billion. Last August's savings and loan bailout Commercial banks are also threatened by legislation represents a decision by the cap­ their increased dependency on real estate TRADE UNIONS italist rulers to have their government in loans. Two-thirds of all new lending by banks Washington assume responsibility for the is related to real estate. Write-offs of these IN THE Of mounting losses of the banking system in an EPOCH loans have nearly quadrupled. In the North­ attempt to avert a broader crisis. The aim is east, where real estate values have also not to protect the small checking or savings dropped substantially, a number of large IMPERIALIST DECAY accounts of working people and small busi­ banks recently announced that they were ness owners. Rather it is to bail out the LEON TROTSKY increasing the reserves set aside to cover such BY wealthy shareholders and bondholders, who bad loans. Nationally, nonperfonning loans stand to lose billions when these fmancial and foreclosed property increased by one­ includes TRADE UNIONS: THEIR PAST, institutions collapse. third in 1989. PRESENT, AND FUTURE by KARL MARX The problem is that the S&L crisis is More junk bonds getting worse, not better, and is just the tip The trade unions "must now learn to act deliberately as organizing of the iceberg of the fmancial strains on centers of the working class in the broad interest of its complete emanci­ Among the seized assets now held by the banks, insurance companies, pension funds, pation. They must convince the world at large that their efforts. far from RTC are $4.24 billion in junk bonds. These and semigovernmental mortgage and loan being narrow and selfish. aim at the emancipation of the downtrodden are bonds issued by companies whose credit agencies. millions. u - Karl Marx ratings are below investment grade - some RTC head Seidman, who also is chainnan 96 percent of U.S. corporations. Because they of the FDIC, reported recently that commer­ SPECIAL are riskier, junk bonds pay higher dividends cial bank failures had dropped. During the REGULAR in order to attract investors. Before the new PREPUBLICATION PRICE first four months of 1990, he said, 52 banks OFFER $13.95 law was passed requiring S&Ls to sell their with assets of$4.7 billion failed, as compared junk bonds by 1994, thrifts held billions of to 73 banks with assets of $19.7 billion during dollars in such bonds. As thrifts have failed, the same period last year. the bonds have passed to the government. He also reported that the FDIC lost $800 Available from Pathfinder bookstores listed on page 12. or by mail from Pathfinder. The RTC, instead of getting rid of the junk million last year, leaving the fund with $13.2 410 West St .• New York. N.Y. 10014. Postage and handling: $1.00 per book. bonds it now holds, "intends to become a billion. long-tenn player in the junk market," the Wall That's enough to cover about 7 percent of Street Journal recently reported. insured deposits.

May 25,1990 The Militant 11 CALENDAR CHICAGO ARIZONA Adlum, first secretary of Cuban Interests Sec­ Phoenix tion. Fri., May 25. For more on time and loca­ tion information call (612) 644-6325. Rally to Demand U.S. Hands Off Cuba! Speakers: Francisca Cavazos, participant in 20th anniversary Vence­ remos Brigade; Steve Doncaster, member Na­ tional Lawyers Guild and Central America Soli­ Justice for Mark Curtis darity Committee; Carlos Madrid, Salvadoran MISSOURI activist; Juan Martinez, Young Socialist Alli­ St. Louis Hear: ance; Dawn Noggle, member AFSCME Local The Struggle Against Apartheid. Speaker: 3190; Marjorie Zatz, ASU professor. Transla­ Paris Mashile, African National Congress. Sat., tion to Spanish. Sat., May 19, 7 p.m. 1809 W May 19, 7:30p.m. 4907 Martin Luther King Dr. Kate Kaku Indian School Rd. Donation: $3. Sponsor: Mili­ Donation: $2. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. leader of the Mark Curtis Defense Committee and Curtis' tant Labor Forum. Tel: (602) 279-5850. Tel: (3 14) 361-0250. wife who just completed a tour of seven European coun­ tries and Canada and attended this year's session of the CALIFORNIA NEW JERSEY United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva San Francisco Newark U.S. Hands Off Cuba! March and rally. Sat., AIDS: The Myths, Facts, and How the Hai­ Paul Chalmers May 19. Assemble 11 a.m. at 24th and Mission. tian Community Has Fought Racist FDA Pol­ education and training officer, Northern Hotel, Hospital, Rally at 1:30 p.m. at UN Plaza. Sponsor: U.S. icy. Speakers: Ed Nonez, East Orange Haitian Restaurant and Related Trades Employees, Industrial Union Hands Off Cuba Coalition. Tel: (415) 255-7296. Students Association; Don Ransom, Paterson of Workers, Auckland, New Zealand HIV health consultant; Don Mackie, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate. Sat., and others GEORGIA May 19, 7:30 p.m. 141 Halsey St., 2nd floor. Atlanta Donation: $3. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum/­ Malcolm X: One of the Greatest Revolution­ Foro Perspectiva Mundial. Tel: (20 I) 643-3341 . aries of This Country. Video with discussion to Saturday, June 9, 7:30p.m. follow. Sat., May 19, 6:30p.m. 132 Cone St. NW, 2nd floor. Donation: $2.50. Sponsor: Mili­ NEW YORK Bismarck Hotel, Pavilion Room, 171 Randolph tant Labor Forum. Tel: (404) 577-4065. Brooklyn Tear Down the Korean Wall! U.S. Troops. Donation: $5 Out of South Korea! Speaker: Peter Thierjung, IOWA Militant staff writer. Translation to French and Des Moines Spanish. Sat., May 26, 7:30 p.m. 464 Bergen. Sponsor: Chicago supporters of Mark Curtis Defense Committee The Conditions in Prisons and the Fight for Donation: $3. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. Prisoners' Rights. Speakers: John Studer, coor­ Tel: (718) 398-6983. dinator Mark Curtis Defense Committee; Jane Manhattan . Harlan, lawyer for women inmates suing state Cuba Mobilizes to Defend Its Revolution. 900 S. Donation: $3. Sponsor: Militant Labor African National Congress chief representative prison over brutal treatment; others. Sat., May Speakers: Jon Hillson, Militant reporter at May Forum/Foro Perspectiva Mundial. Tel: (801) in Canada; Ruth Morris, Prisoner Rights Advo­ 19, 7:30p.m. 2105 Forest Ave. Donation: $3. Day events in Cuba; Ernie Mailhot, participant 355-1124. cate; Michel Prairie, editor Lutte ouvriere; Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. Tel: (515) 246- in international delegation of unionists at May Arturo Valencia, National Federation of Salva­ 8249. Day celebration, staff coordinator International doran Workers' Unions (FENASTRAS). Sun., Association of Machinists Local 1018 on strike • May 27, 4 p.m. First Unitarian Congregation, against Eastern. Translation to Spanish and 175 St. Clair Ave. W (west of Avenue Rd.). MARYLAND French. Sat., May 19, 7:30p.m. 191 7th Ave. (at BRITAIN Program includes video showing of The Frame­ Baltimore 21st St.) Donation: $3. Sponsor: Militant Labor Cardiff Up of Mark Curtis, directed by Nick Castle. Malcolm X: The Man and His Ideas and Forum. Tel: (212) 675-6740. Thomas Sankara and the African Revolution. Donation: $5. Sponsor: Supporters of the Mark Their Relevancy for Today. Speaker: Rashaad New York City Video showing. Sat., May 26, 7:30p.m. 9 Moira Curtis Defense Committee. Tel: (416) 654-3431 Ali, Socialist Workers Party, member United Behind the News. Radio program hosted by Terrace, Adamsdown. Donation: £1. Sponsor: or861-1399. Food and Commercial Workers Local 27. Sat., Don Rojas, former press secretary to slain New International Forums. Tel: 0222-484677. Germany Reunited? Which Way Forward May 19. Dinner, 6 p.m.; forum, 7:30p.m. 2913 Grenadian prime minister Maurice Bishop. London for Working People? Speaker: Margaret Greenmount Ave. Donation: dinner $3, forum Every Wed., 7-7:30 p.m. WBAI 99.5 FM. Manwaring, Communist League Central Com­ $2. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. Tel: (301) Eyewitness Report From Grenada. Speaker: mittee, member Canadian Auto Workers Local 235-0013. Geoff Revell, executive member National 1967. Sat., June 2, 7:30p.m. 410 Adelaide St. OREGON Union of Railwaymen. Fri., May 25, 7:30 p.m. W, Suite 400. Donation: $3. Sponsor: Militant 47 The Cut, SE 1. Donation: £1. Sponsor: New Labor Forum. Tel: (416) 861-1 399. MASSACHUSETTS Portland International Forums. Tel: 71-928-7947. Boston Benefit Concert for Mark Curtis. Fund-raiser Vancouver for the framed-up and imprisoned Iowa unionist Manchester Justice Denied: The Frame-Up of Donald In Defense of Socialism: Eyewitness Report and political activist. Music by Harry Stamper, Africa: The Roar of Women's Silence. Cele­ Marshall. Video presentation. Sat., May 19, from Cuba. Slide presentation by members of folksinger and longshoreman from Coos Bay. bration of the publication of the new Pathfinder 7:30p.m. 1053 Kingsway, Suite 102. Donation: Young Socialist Alliance just returned from par­ Presentations by Marc Thomas, coordinator pamphlet Women's Liberation·and the African $3. Sponsor: Militant Labor Forum. Tel: (604) ticipation in 21st contingent of Venceremos Bri­ Amnesty International's Portland chapter and Freedom Struggle by Thomas Sankara. Wed., 872-8343. gade. Sat., May 19, 7:30p.m. 605 Massachu­ Frank Johnson, member Association of Western May 30, 7:30p.m. Unit 4, 60 Shudehill. Dona­ Victory in Namibia. Speaker: Joe Shilongo, setts Ave. Donation: $3. Sponsor: Militant Pulp and Paper Workers from St. Helens. Sat., tion: £1. Sponsor: New International Forums. Labor Forum. Tel: (617) 247-6772. member South West Africa People's Organisa­ May 19, 7:30p.m. Peace House, 2116 NE 18th Tel: 061-839 1766. tion who participated in Namibia election cam­ at Tillamook. Donation: $5. Sponsor: Oregon Sheffield paign. Sat., May 26, 7:30p.m. 1053 Kingsway, MINNESOTA Supporters of Mark Curtis. Tel: (503) 287-7416. Energy and the Environment. Speakers: mem­ Suite 102. Donation: $3. Sponsor: Militant Austin bers of National Union of Railwaymen and Na­ Labor Forum. Tel: (604) 872-8343. tional Union of Mineworkers. Wed., May 23, Lithuania and the Struggle for Independence Defend Framed-Up Unionist Mark Curtis. TEXAS 7:30 p.m. 2A Waverley House, 10· Joiner St. Speaker: Kate Kaku, leader of Mark Curtis De­ in the Soviet Republics. Speaker: representa~ Houston Donation: £1. Sponsor: New Internatinal Fo­ tive of Young Socialist Alliance. Sun., May 20, fense Committee and Curtis' wife; Claire Culh­ Celebrate Malcolm X's Birthday. Speakers to rums. Tel: 0742-729469. ane, Prisoners' Rights Group; Pam Frache, for­ 7 p.m. 4071h N Main St. Donation: $2.50. Spon­ be announced. Sat., May 19, 7:30 p.m. 4806 sor: Militant Labor Forum. Tel: (507) 433-3461. mer British Columbia chairperson Canadian Almeda. Donation: $2. Sponsor: Militant Labor Federation of Students; George Lai, African Na­ St. Paul Forum/Foro Perspectiva Mundial. Tel: (713) CANADA tional Congress; Frances MacQueen, member, Celebrate African Liberation Day: The 522-8054. Toronto Amnesty International; Mike Barker, member Promise and the Reality of African Libera­ Justice for Mark Curtis. Speaker: Kate Kaku, Provincial Executive of Hospital Employees' tion. Speaker: August Nimtz, Socialist Workers leader of the ·Mark Curtis Defense Committee Union. Sat., June 2. Reception, 7 p.m.; meeting, Party, professor of political science at U of M. UTAH and Curtis' wife; Andre Kolompak, president 8 p.m. Langara Student Union Building, Van­ Sat., May 19, 7:30 p.m. 508 N Snelling Ave. Salt Lake City Toronto local, Canadian Union of Postal Work­ couver Community College Langara campus, Donation: $2. Sponsor: Militant Forum. Tel: What Socialists Stand For. Speaker: Ellie Gar­ ers; Dudley Laws, Black Action Defence Com­ 100 W 49th Ave. (liouthwest corner of campus, (612) 644-6325. cia, Socialist Workers Party candidate for Con­ mittee; Cherie MacDonald, organizer, Ontario access through west. doors). Donation: $5. Tel: Cuba's Role in Africa. Speaker: Clinton gress, 2nd C.D. Sat., May 19, 7:30p.m. 147 E Coalition for Abortion Clinics; Peter Mahlangu, (604) 872-8343. -IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP Where to find Pathfinder books and distrib­ MARYLAND: Baltimore: 2913 Green­ PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 9 E. Manchester: Unit 4, 60 Shudehill. Postal utors ofthe Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, New mount Ave. Zip: 21218. Tel: (301) 235-001 3. Chelten Ave. Zip: 19144. Tel: (215).848-5044. code: M4 4AA. Tel: 061 -839 1766. lnte17UJiional, Nouvelk lnternalionale, and MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 605 Massa­ Pittsburgh: 4905 Penn Ave. Zip 15224. Tel: Sheffield: 2A Waverley House, 10 Joiner St., Lune ouvmre. chusetts Ave. Zip: 02118. 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The Militant May 25,1990 -THE GREAT SOCIETY------~--- \\ell said- It's estimated that in Newsday gave a slug of space to the with a Colombian drug dealer. The Pure science - A reader advises responsibility to generate as large a next November's U.S. elections, a assertion by Greyhound's chainnan Antiguan government says it nei­ that DuPont is marketing the first return . .. as we can." record two-thirds of those eligible that, for all practical purposes, the ther ordered nor received the patented animal. The Onco Mouse strike against the bus line was over. weapons. Israel said the order was costs $50 - 10 times the standard Things are tough all over -A The next day that crock of bull was confinned by the minister of de­ price for laboratory mice. Nonprofit Tokyo store has unloaded more than exposed by Greyhound's announce­ fense. Antigua said it doesn't have labs will be able to breed only 100 20 gold-plated Hitachi refrigerators, ment that, for two weeks, it was one. Earlier, Israel said the order mice from each DuPont mouse they at $57,000 each. But another Japan­ cutting fares in half. That story got came from the minister of national buy. Commercial labs will have to ese store can't fmd a taker for a one inch in Newsday and zippo in security. Antigua doesn't have one pay a royalty for each product they "lucky" New Year's packet: a solid Harry the Times. of those either. develop with the mouse. Ring gold statue; a 5-carat diamond ring; "Productivity plus" increases a lacquerware set; and a Mercedes Benz - $1,400,000. - Top directors of British compa­ The caring system - When a A green administration - As­ to vote will stay home. Observed nies pocketed average salary in­ measles vaccine was introduced in sertedly to preserve salmon stocks, one pollster, "People don't feel any creases of 33 percent- four times the 1960s, the U.S. rate of infection the New Brunswick provincial gov­ sense of ownership over the federal the official inflation rate and nearly dropped to a record low.-Now there ernment in Canada auctions off fish­ Thought for the week - "I re­ government. It isn't them, and it isn't four times the rate at which profits is an epidemic in 25 states. Last year ing rights in the Restigouche River. ally believe we are the Peace theirs." increased. 45 children died of measles, and 40 James Irving, a top dog of Canadian Corps with M-16s."- Maj. Wil­ have died in the first four months of capitalism, paid US$378,000 for a liam Chadwick, head of the Green Militant subscription, anyone? Whatever -Weapons that the this year. Meanwhile, the govern­ 10-year exclusive on some of the Beret unit that will begin operating -We didn't <;heck the other New Israeli government says it sent to ment says it's run out of money for best pools in the river. Responding as a counterinsurgency force in York dailies, but both the Times and Antigua in the Caribbean ended up emergency vaccinations. to critics, an official said, "It's our Africa. New Grenada government faces economic crisis

BY RONI McCANN The MBPM, on the other hand, "tried to party, and prohibit its members the right to An economic and social crisis continues convince people through ideas, through hon­ travel have proven unsuccessful. to deepen on the island of Grenada, as in all esty, and through commitment to the strug­ "Because of our struggle we were able to the Caribbean, placing a tall order before the gle." All 15 MBPM candidates spent less in gain a number of political openings during recently elected government of Nicholas eight weeks than one of the other candidates, the campaign," said the MBPM leader. He Brathwaite. He campaigned on a platfonn of Marryshow said. cited the 1V and radio air time MBPM can­ promised improvement in the conditions of The MBPM leader explained that in the didates received and the public debates and life for working people. 1984 elections winner Blaize had cam­ forums they participated in. Brathwaite, leader of the National Demo­ paigned on an anticommunist platfonn, dis­ Marryshow explained that some of the cratic Congress (NDC), was named prime tancing himself from the Bishop government. · political work the MBPM will be carrying minister March 16, three days after general "This time around," he said, "it became pop­ out now includes a recruitment effort espe­ elections in Grenada. ular to campaign on a program that resembled cially aimed at young people. With employment running at 40 percent, the People's Revolutionary Government." Marryshow explained the party is also rising inflation, and a soaring $200 million "Many people that were virulent anti­ trying to continue, in a limited way, some of foreign debt, Brathwaite claimed in an inter­ communists in 1984 had to go around the the programs started under the revolutionary view with Carib News that his plan is to country making all kinds of grandiose prom­ government. This includes attempts to elim­ reorganize the economy, making it more pro­ ises to working people and poor people to inate illiteracy, carry on the schoolbooks and ductive to benefit all Grenadians. improve their conditions, education, housing, unifonns program, and provide dental and Terry Marryshow, leader of the Maurice and unemployment," Marryshow said. medical assistance to the most needy. Bishop Patriotic Movement (MBPM), says Brathwaite's party, for example, made a point he thinks this is impossible and that working of saying that many of its members resigned Book banning people will continue to bear the brunt of the from the Blaize government over the re­ capitalist crisis. In an interview in New York trenchment policy. A ban implemented in 1988 by the Blaize last month, he said, "Generally the situation Another reason Brathwaite's party did government is one of the obstacles faced by economically in the country is disastrous. well at the polls, according to Marryshow, the Grenadian people interested in reading After five years there is absolutely no major was a widespead- and widely pushed­ political books. Included in the list of banned project that one can point to and say the fear that with so many parties in the race books are titles by Nelson Mandela- whose government has done something, despite the autobiography has been unbanned in South Militant/Rena Cacoullos ex-dictatorGairy might get reelected. fact that they have received over $140 million Africa- Malcolm X, and Bishop. Terry Marryshow, leader of Grenada's MBPM's campaign in U.S. aid." Maurice Bishop Patriotic Movement. Marryshow explained that under the The MBPM, which also fielded candidates "Economic situation is disastrous," he The MBPM used the campaign to get out Brathwaite government there is a chance for this law to be repealed. ''They campaigned in the March parliamentary elections and won explained in interview last month. as widely as possible and address the issues 2 percent of the vote, is named after the head concerning working people, Marryshow said. on the issue saying it was a backward law of the People's Revolutionary Government MBPM candidates held public meetings that and they never agreed with it," he said. that came to power in 1979 after toppling the retrenchment and firing of workers over the attracted good-sized crowds in towns and "This backward law was passed during the U.S.-backed dictator Eric Gairy. last five years," Marryshow explained. villages throughout the island, he reported. days of Gairy," said Marryshow, "and in this Bishop and other leaders of the govern­ In December the government collided with In the 1984 elections, the MBPM estab­ day and age there is no way we can continue ment were assassinated by members of a unionized public workers. Thousands of lished its voice, he said, and for the six years with such a retrogressive piece of legisla­ counterrevolutionary clique led by Bernard members of the Public Workers Union since attempts to stifle that voice, ban the tion." Coard in 1983 which opened the door for the walked off the job in response to an an­ U.S invasion and occupation of the island. nouncement by Blaize that the government "In the period of the revolutionary govern­ did not have the funds to pay some $9 million ment wher. we did not receive a single cent in back pay owed to them. -10AND25 YEARS AGO-- from the United States," Marryshow said, "It was one of the most militant demon­ "we were still able to build what is probably strations we have seen in Grenada since also be necessary to confront the enemy the biggest infrastructural project in the his­ 1984," said Marryshow. "The government's TH£ MILITANT through people's war. Both things: resistance tory of Grenada - our international airport." five-yeartenn ended with 7,000public work­ by the regular units and resistance by the This - along with building schools, hous­ ers marching in the streets demanding justice May23, 1980 whole people." ing, improving health care, and taking steps for the years they had worked." to eliminate illiteracy - were some of the Just before the strike, the MBPM leader Fidel Castro announced to the cheering accomplishments of the Bishop-led govern­ said, the government voted a $240,000 pen­ May Day throng of 1.5 million that just that THE ment, which sought to mobilize workers and sion for the ex-dictator Gairy, which was paid day Cuba had been infonned by the U.S. peasants. to him while the salary increases for workers government that the U.S. Marine landing MILITANT were put off for three years. Published in the lnteresh of the Wor.ing People December strike exercise at Guantinamo had been "totally The strike was widely supported by other canceled." However, he emphasized, the na­ May 24, 1965 "''~ '" Today, Marryshow explained, social con­ workers and the government backed down, tionwide protest demonstration set for May ditions have worsened, including deteriorat­ agreeing to pay. To do this it resorted to 17 would proceed as scheduled. WASHINGTON, D.C.-An audience of ing health care and rising drug addiction, selling some of the state-owned enterprises, 4,000 sat waiting for the main debate in the particularly among the youth. ·Even by the such as 21 percent of the telephone company, This demonstration will be, Castro de­ clared, "a mobilization of the people against historic national teach-in on Vietnam here official joblessness rate of 25 percent, unem­ Marryshow noted. "Despite all of the May 15 when it was announced from the the blockade, against the b~ at Guanta­ ployment has doubled since 1983. government's efforts to stifle the militancy podium that State Department spokesman "The National Party government, led by of the workers, the workers ended up taking· namo, and against the violation of our air space." McGeorge Bundy had backed out. Herbert Blaize, prime minister until his death a stand for their rights once again." A brief statement of "regret" from Bundy And, he told the people, more would be in December, embarked on a program of was read and the audience listened with sub­ done to meet the U.S. military threat. Campaign of promises dued anger at the section that said: "Seven Marryshow described the recent election To buttress the Cuban army, he an­ hundred faculty members have made a pro­ PATHFINDER in this framework of the growing economic nounced, there would be a major expansion test against our policy in Vietnam.... Those and governmental crisis. of the people's militia to fonn the Territorial who are protesting are only a small minority catalog available Unlike the elections held in Grenada in Troop Militia. of American teachers and students." 1984, five different parties contested and no It will be "made up of men and women, There were far more than 700 protesting Pathfinder carries a broad range ofbooks party won the majority of the 15 seats in workers, peasants, students, all those who faculty members in the single audience here, on revolutionary and socialist history and Parliament. Brathwaite's NDC secured seven are able to fight, and will organize and struc­ and there were over 100,000 students and theory. It publishes a wide selection of seats and then patched together a coalition ture them so they will be able to defend faculty participating in the .15 1/2-hour pro­ titles on the Black, women's, labor, Latin with three defectors from vying big-business every piece of the national territory. All those test in other audiences at more than 100 American, and international struggles. parties. who are able to fight and are not part of the campuses in 35 states across the country, to The current catalog is available upon "The various campaigning parties spent reserves of the regular troops will be able to which the debate was being piped by tele­ request from your local Pathfinder book­ millions of dollars .on motorcades - some be part of the Territorial Troop Militia." phone-radio. store or write: Pathfinder, 410 West St., of the largest in the history of Grenada - It should be clear, Castro continued, that New York, N.Y 10014. The teach-in movement began less than T-shirts, and propaganda material," said in Cuba "aggression against us will be con­ two months ago at the fli'St one held March Marryshow. fronted not just through a regular war; it will 24 at the University of Michigan.

May 25,1990 The Militant 13 -EDITORIALS Unification and German Disruption suit against Curtis sovereignty BY DOUG JENNESS For more than two years, since his arrest on March 4, politically active in prison; and the tremendous support won 1988, Mark Curtis has been locked in a battle for justice. for him during a recent tour of Canada and seven European A long-time reader told me he found last week's editorial, "Another step in NATO's demise" convincing, especially On May 14 Curtis took another step in this struggle and countries by Kate Kaku, his wife, shows his cause has in showing Washington's diminished role and German appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court to reverse his frame-up become an international one. imperialism's ascending position in Europe. However, a rape and burglary conviction. It's within this framework that an antilabor outfit known couple of formulations about German unification puzzled Curtis, the Mark Curtis Defense Committee, and support­ as the Workers League has spearheaded a countercampaign him. Why, for example, were we so sure that Germany is ers have unflinchingly kept their fire throughout this fight against Curtis and the Mark Curtis Defense Committee. "rapidly moving toward union?" And, would the reunified on the perpetrators of the frame-up - the cops and the The group is notorious for provocations, harassment, and country be capitalist, as West Germany is, or based on state prosecutors. disruption activities against workers involved in union strug­ property forms, like those found in East Germany? The charge made in Iowa District Court on May 8 by gles, including the 1987-88 paperworkers' strikes, the recent Clearly, there is widespread popular support in both parts attorney Stuart Pepper that Curtis' supporters have con­ Pittston coal miners' strike, the Machinists strike against of Germany for reunification, and the goverrupents in both ducted an "international smear campaign" against the Eastern, and the garment workers' strike at Domsey Trading Morrises, the family of the woman that Curtis was charged Corp. in New York. Bonn and Berlin are attempting to move as quickly as possible toward this goal. But our reader has a point; we with raping, has not one shred of truth to it. There has been Through its newspaper, the Bulletin, leaflets, and a new no smear campaign against the Morris family. book it has published called The Mark Curtis Hoax, the The defense committee has never referred to the name Workers League has aggressively promoted the cops' and of the Morris daughter in its literature, public talks, or at prosecutors' story against Curtis. LEARNING ABOUT press conferences. Curtis and his defense committee have It has circulated Keith Morris' letter around the world always maintained that they have no idea why the Morrises' and is the main force peddling the lie that the defense daughter and son gave false testimony at the Curtis trial and campaign is aimed at the Morris family. The Workers League SOCIALISM have said that whatever pressure the Morris children were asserts that the defense campaign is a provocation by Curtis' under to do so makes them victims too. party, the Socialist Workers Party, against a Black working­ can't be sure how fast this will occur. That will depend a On four occasions the Morris parents, however, have class family. great deal on working-class resistance to the consequences leveled public accusations or taken other action against Objectively aiding the cops and prosecutors in trying to of some of the measures cooked up by the capitalists in the Curtis and his defense committee that have aided the cops' make Curtis' frame-up convincing is the Workers League's west in league with the privileged bureaucratic caste in the and prosecutor's efforts in trying to make the frame-up main activity today. Destroying the defense effort, it openly east. against Curtis stick. These include: asserts, is its goal. A great many strides can be made toward political and • When Keith Morris, the father, attempted to assault It was the Workers League that financed and organized economic integration, however, short of a change in the Curtis on July 15, 1988, at the Pathfinder Bookstore in Des a lawsuit by Alan Gelfand against the Socialist Workers ownership of basic industry in either the western or eastern Moines where Morris smashed the bookstore's plate glass Party that lasted 10 years, disrupting the party's activities parts of Germany. This includes establishing a single cur­ windows. He told police just a few minutes before the attack and draining its treasury. The suit was based on Gelfand's rency, increasing trade, holding Germany-wide elections, that he was going to "kick ass." Police and prosecutors claim that his constitutional rights were violated because and setting up of Germany-wide political structures. refused to file charges against Morris. An Iowa claims court "FBI agents" in the party's leadership engineered his expul­ Naturally, class-conscious workers in that country, as well later found Morris guilty of breaking the windows and sion. as internationally, would welcome and will do what they ordered him to pay $2,000 for damages. The judgment is On Aug. 15, 1989 a federal judge ruled that there was no can to advance the fight for workers' and farmers' rule in still owed the bookstore. evidence to back up any of Gelfand's claims, and that his a united Germany. But this should not be a precondition for • An Oct. 17, 1988, letter signed by Keith Morris that motivation in bringing the suit was "to disrupt the SWP." working people supporting the just demand for German was circulated in the United States and internationally. The The judge said the suit was "abusive, harassing," and "one reunification. letter pushed the Des Moines police and prosecutor's frame­ of its main purposes was to generate material for political The dismemberment of Germany by the imperialist rulers up of Curtis and slandered his supporters. attacks on the SWP by the Workers League." in the United States, France, and Britain, and the Stalinist • An Oct. 19, 1988, attempt by Morris to falsely link The Morris lawsuit against Curtis, which goes to trial on bureaucracy in the Soviet Union was a gross violation of Curtis' supporters with the burning of some leaves on the July 9, and the remarks by Pepper, the Morrises' attorney, the German people's right to sovereignty. Germany's cap­ italist ruling families were defeated in World War II, and Morrises' front lawn. He claimed to the Des Moines media square politically with the Workers League's coun­ the German people as a whole were punished under the that a cross had been burned into the lawn. tercampaign. The suit is consistent with the outfit's methods spurious notion of "collective guilt" for the atrocities com­ • The civil lawsuit filed by Morris and his wife at the of using the courts to carry out disruption campaigns against mitted by the Nazi regime. I say spurious, because it was end of 1989 in Iowa District Court against Curtis for harm workers' organizations and is aimed at financially crippling German working people and their trade unions and political they claim Curtis inflicted on their daughter in the alleged the defense effort. And the Workers League will certainly parties that had to be brutally crushed before the Nazis were rape. use the lawsuit to qualitatively step up its insidious coun­ able to consolidate their power and launch their war of After each instance, Curtis' supporters issued statements tercampaign. imperialist conquest. explaining how these actions helped shore up the cops' The July 9 trial and pretrial proceedings strike at the heart frame-up against him. of Curtis' democratic right to defend himself and of his In 1945 Germany was divided into four zones occupied Heading into Curtis' September 1988 trial, the pros­ supporters' right to organize and speak out in his defense. by troops from the four allied powers. Many German plants ecutors' office had three goals - to win a conviction, to The Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution guarantees the in all the zones were dismantled and removed for the make the trial and conviction convincing, and to politically right of people "to petition the government for redress of payment of reparations. In the Soviet zone, for example, isolate and demoralize Curtis and his supporters. grievances" made against them. If the court rules in favor complete factories and rolling stock as well as industrial They failed in achieving the second two goals. The trial of the Morris suit, it will be a blow against this right and goods, timber, and livestock· were plundered. Reparations and conviction were not convincing. Curtis and his support­ against anyone unjustly framed up who attempts to defend levied on East German production continued into the mid- ers have not been isolated or demoralized. Curtis remains themselves. 1950s. The French capitalists incorporated the rich steel- and coal-producing Saar region of Germany into its own econ­ omy. It was returned in 1955, but only after the West German government agreed to generous concessions. In the western sectors the initial policy of economic Don't let up on sanctions! plunder gave way to capital investments and economic reconstruction as the zones were unified and built up as a bastion to "contain communism." It wasn't until four years The prime minister of Greece, following a meeting with democratic government representing all South Africans, after the war that East and West Germany were permitted South African President F. W. de Klerk in Athens, said he Black and white, can the land be opened to all who desire self-government by their respective occupiers. And it was was "impressed" by developments in South Africa and to farm, a true nation be forged for the first time, the another six years before West Germany was allowed to have would encourage "the European Community to reexamine dislocation and poverty created by apartheid be addressed, its own military forces. Up until today the United States its [anti-apartheid] policy." De Klerk is being welcomed by and democratic rights conquered. and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries have nine capitalist governments in Europe during an 18-day tour. The white minority regime cannot be reformed. Only a retained the right to station troops and missiles on West This statement is one in a series of moves by imperialist popular revolutionary movement can establish a nonracial, German soil. (Can you imagine the Belgian, British, or U.S. governments to relax or remove political, economic, mili­ democratic republic and root out apartheid completely. capitalists permitting German troops to be based in their tary, cultural, and other sanctions against the apartheid In Europe, de Klerk is being given a platform to repeat countries today?) regime. the oft-cited claim that sanctions do not hurt the regime but Soviet troops, which crushed a workers' uprising in East All opponents of the inhuman apartheid system - work­ only the impoverished working people in town and country. Germany in 1953, have remained in that country since 1945. ing people, farmers, youth, and other defenders of demo­ Oaiming credit for the concessions his government has been Toda.y, the "two plus four" discussions involving the two cratic rights - must step up efforts to protest any attempts forced to make, he says the dropping of sanctions will allow Germanies and four World War II victors assumes that to undermine South Africa's international isolation. Every the apartheid government to begin a program of social governments outside of Germany have some rights in de­ government claiming the right to speak for its people must improvements for Blacks. ciding how German reunification will take place. And that implement and maintain punitive measures against the out­ The ANC and other democratic organizations have long they have a right to keep a political, and ifposs ible a military law regime. advocated the total boycott of apartheid South Africa. This toehold in a reunified Germany's affairs. Governments in Britain, France, Greece, Spain and demand represents the aspirations of the overwhelming This is outrageous. It is the German people themselves the United States, have lifted or are moving towards majority of South African Blacks. who should decide if, when, and how to unify their country. relaxing some sanctions. The tour of a president of the The industrially developed, capitalist economy of South Working people, especially in the countries whose govern­ apartheid regime is itself a step backwards from sanc­ Africa is tied to, and vulnerable to pressure from, big-busi­ ments still maintain troops on German soil, should uncon­ tions positions. ness interests in other imperialist countries. ditionally call for the removal of all foreign troops, military These governments hope to paint over the fact that the Begun in India in the 1940s, the demand for sanctions bases, artillery, and missiles. Moreover, justice demands apartheid state, the state which de Klerk represents, must against South Africa's apartheid regime has been raised by that the four World War II allied powers should immediately be overthrown. Though weakened, it remains intact. The students, trade unionists, Black rights fighters, and others withdraw from all talks on Germany's future and abandon entire state structure in South Africa is built on defending in dozens of countries. The international isolation of the any of the prerogatives that they have assumed were theirs with force and violence the dispossesion of Blacks, who regime was a decisive factor in bringing it to the negotiating as victors. make up 85 percent of the population. table with the ANC. Reunification will draw the two parts of the German To date, de Klerk has not lifted repressive legislation De Klerk's visits with his imperialist allies should be working class, which were forcibly separated, closer. The aimed at thwarting the anti-apartheid struggle. The main protested by all democratic, progressive, and revolutionary­ struggles of workers in the west against capitalist exploita­ legal pillars of apartheid rule have not been done away with. minded people. All should join in rallies, parades, and other tion, and in the east against the effects of attempting to Basic rights, such as voting, are denied the Black majority. anti-apartheid events backing Mandela's call to "reject any impose capitalist market relations and restore capitalist The African National Congress continues to hammer suggestion that the campaign to isolate apartheid should be property relations in basic industry, will become increas­ home the fact that only through the winning of a new wound down." ingly intertwined. 14 The Militant May 25,1990 Rail workers prepare for showdown with Amtrak BYMARKZOLA nance of Way Employees, Northeastern System Federation. Amtrak has been reduced from $900 million in 1981 to a On Saturday morning, April 28, I joined 500 other Bos­ After speaking of the "orgy of job cutting and union-bust­ little more than $500 million in 1989. Meanwhile, the stated ton-area Amtrak rail workers, family members, and sup­ ing" being engaged in by the rail carriers, Davison sug­ goal of President Oaytor is for Amtrak to receive no federal porters in a rally to back our contract battle with the carrier. gested, "Perhaps it's time to call for a national transportation money by the end of the decade~ Amtrak Workers United, a coalition of 15 Amtrak rail unions strike." The pursuit of this goal has resulted in a virtual war on in Boston, put together the event. The show of militancy and unity came as a welcome Amtrak workers. In the past few years they have been hit Throughout the meeting hall could be seen the banners, · relief to those present, many of whom had lived through with wage freezes and wage deferrals. Amtrak workers earn hats, buttons, and jackets of the United Transportation the sharp attacks on rail labor of the past decade and seen 12 percent to 15 percent less than workers in comparable Union, Transport Workers Union, Brotherhood of Locomo­ rail employment nationally cut in half. Moneypenny called jobs on other railroads, who themselves have been the tive Engineers, Transportation Communications Intema- the event "a tremendous emotional boost." victims of a major corporate assault over the past decade. Negotiations for a new contract between the 15 unions A worker on Amtrak's interstate service with seven years and the National Railroad Passenger Corp., commonly or more of service has donated more than $20,000 in lost known as Amtrak, began in April 1988 when the carrier UNION TALK wages to Amtrak during that time. As an Amtrak Boston served notice to them under Section 6 of the Railway Labor Act. The RLA, signed into law in 1926, saddles railroad commuter rail worker, I earn a lower hourly wage today tional Union, International Brotherhood of Electrical Work­ than my coworkers did in 1984. ers, and other unions that represent the women and men workers, and airline workers as well, with the most complex labor laws on the books. It imposes barriers to strikes for Not satisfied with the concessions of the past several who operate and maintain the U.S. passenger railway. years, Amtrak's Section 6 proposals call for more and deeper "I'm a Claytor Haytor" buttons were everywhere, a which there is little parallel elsewhere in U.S. industry. concessions affecting wages, benefits, and working condi­ humorous reference to W. Graham Claytor, Jr., president of It provides for months- and sometimes years, as in the tions. These vary with the unions involved and include a Amtrak. case of Amtrak - of mediation, arbitration, and special Machinists union members on strike at Eastern Airlines boards, during which time the old contract remains in effect. proposal to make the workers pay for part of their health and Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) members out After two years of fruitless negotiation, both sides are insurance premiums, further extend the tier wage system against Greyhound were there, showing support for fellow preparing for a showdown. Twenty-five thousand Amtrak established in the last contract, increase contracting out of workers under attack in the transportation industry. workers nationally are affected. This includes railroad work­ maintenance work, create temporary and part-time posi­ The rally was the first gathering of its kind in many years ers on both the intercity passenger service as well as on the tions, win more flexibility in work rules, weaken seniority and reflected the willingness of railroad workers to unite Boston-area commuter service, which is operated under rights, and further reduce wages. against Amtrak. Charlie Moneypenny, president of Trans­ Amtrak contract. The 15 unions have filed Section 6 notices aimed at port Workers Union Local2054 and coordinator of Amtrak (On May 4 the Bush administration created an "emer­ recouping past concessions as well as making modest ad­ Workers United, chaired. He noted the betrayal felt by gency presidential board" to investigate the impasse in vances in wages, benefits, and working conditions. Each Amtrak workers who, five years ago almost to the day, had negotiations at Amtrak, postponing for at least another 60 union negotiates a separate contract with Amtrak dealing gathered in a labor-management rally to save Amtrak from days the final showdown between management and the rail with wages and work rules, while at the same time coordi­ the threats of the Reagan administration. "And now this unions.) nating their bargaining efforts. Health and welfare provis­ same management is on the attack against its unionized The National Railroad Passenger Corp. was created by ions are negotiated in a common agreement with all workers. This is not your typical labor-management con­ the U.S. government in 1970 in response to the bankruptcy unionized workers on all the major railroads. flict," he said, "but a virtual siege against the work force." of the Penn Central Railroad. A key part of its mission was In workplace discussions in the days following the April Among the best-received speakers were Bob Conley, to protect the investments of the stockholders of the bankrupt 28 rally, I and other participants felt good about what we strike coordinator at Eastern in Boston, and Mike Holden, giant. It is directly funded through the federal treasury and had accomplished and hoped the example we had set in vice-president of the ATU local on strike against Greyhound. the White House appoints its chief officer, but a special When Conley said, "We made a promise when this strike series of stock establishes its ownership by those who owned Boston would be followed by other Amtrak workers across began that we would last one day longer than Frank Lorenzo, old rail lines. Because of this, Amtrak is not a nationalized the country. and on April 18 Frank Lorenzo was taken out of Eastern railroad under public ownership. Airlines," everyone in the room rose to their feet in applause. The stated goal of the last two administrations in Wash­ Mark Zola is a conductor on the Massachusetts Bay Trans­ Perhaps the loudest cheers came in response to John ington has been the total elimination of federal funds for portation Authority and a member ofUnited Transportation Davison, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Mainte- Amtrak. While this has not happened, federal funding for Union Local898. -LETTERS Distortions? home, nuns and monks, and people who are severely mentally impaired. I am dismayed at the limited cov­ Rebates of 80 percent are granted erage of the United Kingdom's poll automatically to those on income tax in your paper. Though l do not support - comparable to welfare support this regressive tax, your co­ payments in the United States. verage of it has been distorted. Rob­ Others with low income can ert Simms in his "As I See It" column We'Re apply for full or partial rebate. As describes a family with two parents the income rises, the rebate falls. TAKING and a couple of children over 18 (a A person under 25 with no depen­ curious phrase!) living in a single stePS. house paying well over $2,200. dents whose tax is £363 and has a take-home pay of only £71 per week This assumes either an extremely would be above the threshold for high poll tax level or that both the any rebate -a sum most would children over 18 are earning a suf­ agree is a very low wage. ficient wage to disqualify them from the 80 percent reduction in the tax for those with low income, not men­ 50 years ago tioned anywhere in your paper. How about expanding the "l 0 If I can perceive distortions in and 25 Years Ago" column? Tell your coverage of issues I know what was on the front page, what something about, how can I trust the main editorial was, etc. your coverage of other issues like Also, how about going back 50 Cuba or Eastern Europe? years? Lord knows the Militant is I .B. old enough. Cambridge, England Peter Krala Editor's reply: According to the New Haven, Connecticut Labour Research Department in reports of the pilot-cocaine incident The FDA claimed its discrimina­ How to Display the American Flag, Britain, the average poll tax in En­ Drug 'testing' was intended as a simple statement tory policy would make the blood displays a flag on the floor. gland is £363 per person, higher The piece on Eastern in the April of fact, it inadvertently gave cre­ supply safer. This is a lie. In response to the censorship, 40 than the £350 figure that Simms 13 issue of the Militant has the fol­ dence to Eastern's drug-testing pol­ Today, all blood donated could be of 165 participating seniors re­ used in his hypothetical case. At the lowing paragraph: icy and the reliability of drug tests accurately tested for all manner of moved their works from the exhibit present exchange rate of £1.68 to "Confidence in Eastern's safety themselves. viruses using the polymerase chain and mounted an alternative show. the dollar, this is $610 per person - practices was also not helped by the Airline and railroad employees reaction assay. This can detect the Many other students chose not to well over Simms' estimate of$2,200 Aprill reportsthatapilotwhotested are now subject to federally ordered most minute amounts of viral DNA, remove their works but covered in a four-person household. positive for cocaine use last July was random drug tests -a policy that including of all known strains of them with brown paper inscribed, In some areas the tax is much kept flying. 'It was a clerical error,' some unions are correctly protesting HIV. But this test is expensive com­ 'The art censor was here." Others higher. In the London district of said an Eastern spokesperson. The as a violation of workers' rights. pared to the standard test. left their works on display but added Haringey, it has been set at £572. pilot was fired March 20." Those workers who do have alcohol Haitians and Africans are not the protest messages. Exemptions are granted to certain I don't believe any confidence at or drug problems should be helped, reason the blood supply is not the At the May 5 opening of the al­ individuals such as prisoners, for­ all should be extended to the bosses' through union- or employee-con­ safest it could be. It's because the ternative show, one artist told me, eign diplomats, people with no use of "testing" equipment to ascer­ trolled programs - not victimized government rubber-stamps policies "The issue is censorship. People tain use of illegal chemicals. In prin­ or fired. and practices drafted by the medical here have all kinds of political ciple I view this as a club used industry and blood banks- poli­ views; many of us don't agree with Correction against workers. Also, the test per FDA ban protests cies based on considerations of what Scott Tyler says, but we defend se is not that reliable in most cases. profit, not human need. his right to say it." In an article on Vancouver I'm informed, for example, that in The large and militant demonstra­ Cappy Kidd garment workers winning tions protesting the FDA's ban on Rich Cahalane testing for cocaine use, if the testee Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts Chicago, lllinois contractgains (Militant, May had recently swallowed an aspirin, blood donations from Haitians and Africans are inspiring sights. The 18), it was stated this came the test result would be positive. Censorship The letters column is an open after a strike. A vote by the Paul Montauk May 4 Militant article captured very forum for all viewpoints on sub­ workers to authorize a strike Oakland, California well the political spirit of the crowd. Students of the prestigiOus jects of general interest to our li was overwhelmingly ap­ I was able to participate in a pro­ School of the Art Institute are pro­ readers. Please keep your letters proved, but the contract was Editor's reply: Paul Montauk's test of 2,000 at the New England testing the decision by the school brief. Where necessary they will achieved without the workers point is well taken. While the state­ regional offices of the Red Cross president to remove a work from be abridged. Please indicate if you going out, ment that "confidence in Eastern's April 20. The most popular chant their Bachelor of Fine Arts Thesis prefer that .your initials be used safety practices wasn't helped" by was "Fight AIDS, not nationalities." exhibit. The work by Scott Tyler, rather than your full name.

May 25,1990 The Militant 15 THE MILITANT S. Africa sanctions fight opens ANC leaders in interview: 'Help us destroy this monster'

BY GREG McCARTAN regime] a great deal in terms of money and pressure. Part and parcel of the international democratic revolution. Following the end of a first round of talks human resources." pressure is the internal activity of the people "The Freedom Charter is the basis of a with the African National Congress (ANC) Sisulu and Mlangeni were both imprisoned themselves who are oppressed in the coun­ new society," Sisulu said. "We are preparing May 4, South Mrican President F.W. de Klerk in 1963 and later convicted, along with try." people now for that new South Africa. Even headed for Europe to drum up support for his Mandela and five others, on charges of sab­ Mass rallies addressed by ANC leaders the question of negotiations, in its various hard-pressed government. otage. All eight were sentenced to life im­ "have been a forum, among others, through stages, is intended to build up toward a dem­ At the start of a nine-country tour, de Klerk prisonment. Sisulu, Mlangeni, and several which we have been able to explain to the ocratic, nonracial society in South Africa, in was welcomed in Paris by French President other ANC leaders were released in October people the policy of the ANC- what the terms of the Freedom Charter." Fran~ois Mitterrand. No South African head 1989. They are both members of the ANC ANC stands for," he said. "We have, through Because of the extent of the divisions, of state has visited France since 1947, the leadership structure inside South Mrica, the these rallies, sought their support." denial of rights, and impoverishment of the year before de Klerk's ruling National Party ANC Internal Leadership Core. This is especially important "for the youn­ vast majority in South Africa, "there is so came to power. The National Party then ex­ Facing international isolation and contin­ ger generation," Mlangeni said. "It is our task, much to be done before you say 'we are over tended and codified apartheid. ued anti-apartheid mobilizations inside the in order to recruit them, to familiarize them apartheid,"' he stressed. Overcoming this ANC Deputy President Nelson Mandela, country, the regime was forced to unban the with the political perspectives of the ANC, legacy is a "task that will face the new in Ang~la as part of visits to several African government." countries, urged West European governments Mlangeni added, "All those discriminatory to maintain military, economic, political, and laws which are in the present books we will other sanctions against South Africa. have to abolish. It is not just a question of While de Klerk said he was not in France signing a paper that apartheid is abolished. "hat in hand," he is seeking to reopen chan­ No, all the discriminatory laws must be nels of trade, investment, and direct state-to­ scrapped completely. It is going to be a big state relations. He told the French president task that the future government has to con­ that sanctions were hurting the regime's abil­ front. ity to address South Africa's social problems. "The main pillars of apartheid are the "I have the impression that sanctions are Group Areas Act, the Population Registration crumbling because of the momentum of the Act, Separate Amenities Act, and the Land situation," he said following the meeting with Act," he said. "These are some of the major Mitterrand. He also met with French capital­ laws that must be done away with. But in ists who have investments in South Africa. other laws there are other aspects that must In a mid-April interview with the Militant be dealt with." in Johannesburg, South Mrica, ANC leaders Andrew Mlangeni and Walter Sisulu stressed These laws, which regulate every aspect the continued importance of sanctions. Only of the lives of the Black population, are through the establishment of a democratic, completely intertwined with the apartheid nonracial government, the two long-time state structure. Apartheid is more than segre­ fighters said, will it be possible to begin to Mercedes-Benz automobile factory outside of East London, South Africa. Anti-apart­ gation, police violence, enforced poverty, and completely eradicate apartheid. heid forces internationally have fought for an end to all ties to the apartheid system. discrimination in employment and education. It is also a state structure that upholds and 'Continue economic sanctions' enforces through violence drastic limitations to explain these things." "We are saying to the world and the dem­ ANC and other organizations in February and on the legal and social rights of Blacks. In addition, Sisulu said, "in dealing with release Mandela from prison. "What is contained in the Freedom Charter ocratic organizations that have been support­ the question of negotiations, it is our plan to The blows to the regime included a sting­ are the immediate demands of the ANC - ing us," Mlangeni said, "apartheid is still keep the various organizations informed of fumly rooted. We are asking the entire world ing military and political defeat in 1988. the minimal demands. There will be many what steps we are taking - inviting them, if . to help us destroy this monster. One way of Invading South African forces were defeated other demands which will be made on the they wish, to be part of the unity drive." helping us to destroy this monster is for the at Cuito Cuanavale, Angola, by Angolan, new government," Mlangeni said. Cuban, and South West Africa People's Or­ In the nominally independent homelands, governments of the international community where a majority of the African population A new government is needed "to create to continue to apply economic sanctions. The ganisation troops. This opened the way for Namibia, occupied by South Africa, to win is forced to live, "we are making progress," harmony in this country, to create peace. sanctions have cost them [the South African These are our short-term goals. The distribu­ its independence. in unifying those who oppose apartheid, "We were still in prison at the time when Sisulu explained. "When the ANC suspended tion of land, the question of education and of we read about the battle," Mlangeni said. the talks in early April, homeland officials culture, equal rights and human rights, the "Cuito Cuanavale excited everybody." also refused to meet de Klerk in solidarity." redistribution of wealth, housing and medical High court turns care, and much more - this is all contained The defeat "was historic," Sisulu added, Fulfilling the Freedom Charter down ballot suit "because it was a turning point. It was only in the Freedom Charter," he said. this that brought about a new situation in the The liberation movement has "a program Refuting the argument that sanctions war of Angola. As such it really meant a great which explains the character of the future should be lifted because they hurt Blacks, by socialists deal for the whole of southern Mrica. To that government and its tasks -fulfilling the Mlangeni stressed, "It is true that disinvest­ extent we attach great significance to it." Freedom Charter," Mlangeni said. ment and sanctions has an effect on the lives BY JIMALTENBERG Today in South Africa, "although we are The Freedom Charter was adopted at a of the people in this country. But despite that CHARLESTON, W.Va. - On May 14 the saying that things have not changed-the broadly representative congress in 1955. It we are prepared to sacrifice because we are U.S. Supreme Court announced its refusal to basic conditions of people in this country states that "our people have been robbed of concerned about the human rights of the hear an appeal filed by the Socialist Workers have not changed - we are nevertheless pre­ their birthright to land, liberty, and peace by Black man in this country. This is our country, Party challenging West VIrginia's restrictive pared to negotiate with the government," a form of government founded on injustice this is our birthright, these are our rights. But election laws. The appeal in the ballot rights Mlangeni explained. "We want to, as far as and inequality." The Charter explains, "South these we have been denied for a long time. case was ftled with the assistance of the possible, bring any peaceful settlement to the Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and Apply these pressures until such time that the American Civil Liberties Union after the problems facing people." white." It outlines the goals of the national, African people are free." Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld most In the May 2-4 talks, the ANC leadership of the restrictions challenged by the suit. That reiterated its demands to de Klerk that the ruling was made in November 1989. state of emergency be lifted, troops and police New York ticker tape parade to greet The socialist's lawsuit asked the high court be withdrawn from Black townships and to allow petitioning for ballot status to take "homelands," political prisoners be released, place before and after the primary elections and exiles be allowed to return. Mandela on his seven-city U.S. tour are held, and to overturn the state's require­ ''These conditions have not been met," ment that separate petitions be used to waive Mlangeni said. "Until such time that these African National Congress Deputy Presi­ by Mandela to a joint meeting of Congress · filing fees. conditions have been met, we don't see a way dent Nelson Mandela will visit the United and meeting with President George Bush in Currently a signer of a nominating petition of going to the negotiating table to discuss States for 10 days beginning June 20, ANC Washington; a welcome by Gov. Mario loses his or her $E.gh to vote in a primary. with the government the shaping of the new leaders announced at a news conference .in Cuomo and Mayor David Dinkins in New The Supreme C urt decision came a week nonracial, democratic South Africa." Washington, D.C., on May 15. York City, along with a ticker tape parade after socialist c didates in West VIrginia Since being unbanned the ANC has sought With his visit Mandela will express his and mass rally; and in Los Angeles a recep­ turned in to the Se retary of State in Charles­ to deepen the mobilization and political ed­ gratitude to the anti-apartheid movement and tion by Mayor Tom Bradley, and an event ton the 6,500 sign s on nominating peti­ ucation of millions in the country. Reaching urge the U.S. government "to maintain [eco­ sponsored by entertainers. tions required to Place candidates on the out to organize all who oppose apartheid, the nomic] sanctions and intensify the sanc­ ANC leaders and others denounced plans ballot. The Socialist Workers Party is running liberation organization is making progress in tions," said the ANC representative to the by Washington to receive South Mrican Pres­ Dick McBride for U.S. Senate, Maggie Mc­ bridging divisions created by the regime. United Nations, Tebogo Mafole. ident F.W. de Klerk at the White House a Craw for state treasurer, and Clay Dennison A tentative schedule for the ANC leader week before the arrival of Mandela. "It's not for state attorney general. Mass mobilizations 'essential' includes visits to New York, June 20--22; too late" to take "corrective measures," said In April the candidates submitted 4,000 Continued mass mobilizations against Boston, June 23; Washington, D.C., June Mendi Msimang, ANC representative to Brit­ signatures on a separate petition to waive apartheid are, "very important, absolutely 24-26; Atlanta, June 27; Miami and Detroit, ain. Anti-apartheid groups plan to stage pro­ large filing fees. The candidates also paid essential," Mlangeni explained. "Through June 28; and Los Angeles, June 29-30. tests and rallies to pressure the Bush admin­ $500. these marches the government is also feeling Highlights of the visits include an address istration to cancel the de Klerk visit.

16 The Militant May 25,1990