World capital and Thelma and Louise Stalinism slew the "R" Us, writes Soviet economy Clara Fraser Page 6 Page 9 ~ Freedom Socialist Wile 1? /?evpf"'fl1t4~ 1iMiN;M. May-July 1992 Volume 13, Number 3 (51.00 outside U.S.) 75c Let's tool up for a new system! . The government doesn't work BY MATT NAGLE ing-class white men are under at­ n the good 01' USA, the sun is shin­ tack in the streets, ing, the birds are singing, the flow­ courts, and legis­ ers are blooming - but the govern­ latures. Unions are Iment is sputtering, hacking and besieged, radicals wheezing in the throes of terminal do­ are persecuted. nothingness. The cities are poi­ We should all be delighted! soned war zones The fact that this inhuman, infernal, and the earth is be­ damned system is rapidly killing itself ing destroyed. means our chance to bust out of these So the politi­ dark days is tantalizingly close. cians talk about The U.S. government has developed meeting our needs, into a tiresome, petty passel of squab­ but they can't and .=============="":"'"=~ bling, spoiled rich kids and everybody won't do anything. ~.MFoi~tr.RK_flMI!JiN;.IbaI~iMH!Hl··~_IJIbo~iIoU;.,"'""'-l.&.lu~~~~ ~~ to' a halt '\'fet'clU'se' th~'~pita\ls't'S)'.nem ,.~ problem~rwtthc that the government administers is out changing the cracking up. system - and they The Democrats and Republicans are are the system. feudin' like the Hatfields and McCoys. Leaders don't The Dems don't have the guts or a emerge from cess­ reason to stand up to the Republicans, pools. whose entire job consists of desperately making sure the wealthy stay that way. The race is on -so what? Now Last days of the dinosaurs. People we have a new line­ from coast to coast are realizing that up of presidential both sides in the Capitol Hill Grudge pretenders who Match are hopelessly out of touch. The promise to save us from those other p'ostage stamp than in the presidential will vanish. politicians' goofiness, corruption and guys, the bums. "I'm not one of them," primaries! Let's demand some real leaders. Let's naked ambition show to what level bour­ they say. They all claim to be protest nurture powerful and dynamic leader­ geois "leadership" has sunk. candidates! Not reform - revolution! We can't ship from among the most oppressed of The country is in crisis. The recession Jerry Brown, H. Ross Perot and Bill fix a structure that's beyond repair. The the working class. lingers, jobs are disappearing, home­ Clinton are hardly alternatives. We have capitalist party is over; its Republicrat Let's make revolution! We want it. lessness and AIDS are rampant. Women before us a slate of cynics, demagogues, managers are anachronisms. Let's orga­ We need it. After all, we have nothing to and women's rights aren't safe any­ idiots and liars, being received with a nize a new system, a beautiful socialist lose but our misery - and this ridicu­ where. People of color, Jews, lesbians nationwide yawn. In fact, more Ameri­ SOCiety where our day-to-day dread and lous gaggle of "leaders" that only an and gays and all minorities except rul- cans voted for their choice of Elvis Presley worries about how we're going to get by editorial cartoonist could love! D Keep the ''Newspaper for Optimistic Rebels" from drowning in red ink Give to our S50,000 Fund Drive! o see the light at the end of the overworked and discriminated-against - for our Freedom Socialist $50,000 nized power of working people can ban­ tunnel, you have to be facing workers whose struggles and triumphs Fund Drive. We are deeply in debt and ish hard times. in the right direction. are the real news of our era from South going deeper by the hour. And that's what we're all about. T That's what the Freedom Korea to South Africa. We know you understand why, be­ We tell the stories of the most Socialist has been doing for 16 years. To continue doing this, we need your cause you probably are, too. The current important newsmakers, from Chicana We've kept our eyes on the underpaid, openhanded financial support - now U.S. recession, which officially began in and Mexicana strikers besting Wat­ July 1990, has already lasted months sonville Canning in California, USA, to New Freeway Hall longer than any since World War 11- Arrernte Aboriginal people battling 5018 Rainier Ave. S. BULK RATE and it follows a decade in which most government land grabs in Australia's U.S. POSTAGE people's living standards headed down­ Northern Territory. Seattle, WA 98118 PAID SEATTLE, WA ward. People who have jobs know that As the newspaper for optimistic rebels, ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED PERMIT NO.1 003 they may be just one layoff away from the FS has been a valuable organizing joblessness; people with no jobs feel tool for nearly two decades. Now, our they may be just one bad break away fate rests with you. We must raise from homelessness. And there is not $50,000 by September 1. much loose change rattling around in Twenty-five years ago, at the 1966 people's pockets. founding of the Freedom Socialist Party, This is the most crucial time to give a six-page, 8 1/2 by 7-inch pamphlet generously, in order to keep the radical called the Freedom Socialist found its press from going under. The capitalist way from a typewriter to a xerox economy can't heal itself; only the orga- to page 3 2 Freedom Socialist May-July 1992 In This Issue Letters Judge blocks records raid 10, 11 Yugoslav thanks our continued support. Send let­ The 1981 FS editorial "Black On the eve of trial, the Free­ ters to Steven Farmer, #936785- politiCS in the year of Atlanta" Thank you very much for the way Hall Case radi­ B5-13, Twin Rivers Correctional tackled both white law enforce­ Freedom Socialist. I found it very Facility, P.O. Box 888, Monroe, ment, for covering up Klan in­ cals have won interesting, especially the articles reaffirmation WA, 98272-0888. volvement, and the Atlanta Black "Abortion wars in EasternEu­ Stonewall Committee for of privacy rights. rope" and "One last time: Hands establishment, for questioning Lesbian/Gay Rights the "morals" of the murdered OFF our bodies" (Vol. 13 #1). What's this crucial Seattle, Washington children and castigating Atlanta Dear friends, as you know my lawsuit all about? The residents who armed themselves country is at war. Unfortunately, and patrolled schoolyards and defendants explain. I do not have enough money to New Gay anthology playgrounds to protect their buy a subscription. But if I can Gay Roots: Twenty Years of youth. help you, please let me know. Gay Sunshine, by Winston Wayne Williams, the gay, Fighting racism Vedran Vucic Leyland, is painful in that much Black music promoter who was of the horror we Gay folk had to on campus Subotica, Yugoslavia framed for the homicides, is now face in our everyday lives is spo­ being represented by William The pioneering attempt ken of in its pages. The simply Kunstler and may be awarded a to win an Ethnic Studies Istanbul Marxists splendid defiance that we exhib­ new trial. Let's hope he is free We are a Marxist group in ited from the commencement of Requirement at the Univer­ soon and that the KKK and their Turkey known by the name of the first Gay Liberation Fronts in sity of Washington flunked. apologists are brought to justice. one of our periodicals, GELENEK 1969 comes through. How can the next try earn a This reminder from the past (Tradition) and are aiming at The section on Gay history is brought home to me the impor­ passing grade? Irene Mora forming a political party. balanced among various cultures tance of Left papers like the FS, reports. We would like to follow your to indicate that We Are Every­ without which we would never editions regularly. Please send us where. learn the truth. the latest copies of your newspa­ Do yourself a favor and go out Enclosed is a $120 donation International Labor per and inform us about sub­ and buy one. Share your copy scriptions for libraries. to the FS Fund Drive. Israel 3 Political button fight 4 with a few friends; it will do them Su Docekal Dunya Yayincilik a world of good. Dateline Australia 4 Nelson vs. Tribune 5 Istanbul, Turkey Seattle, Washington Soviet Union 6,7 Teamster reform 12 Morris Kight Los Angeles, California Mary Pitawanakwat 10 Free Steve Farmer Remember Salem Features There's good news onthe Steve U.S. war crimes This year marks the 300th an­ FSfund drive 1 niversary of the infamous witch National Farmer case! Good god! Buried alive? I knew U.S. gov't paralyzed 1 Editorials First, he has a new attorney, that hundreds of thousands of hunts in Massachusetts. I suggest Open letter to CPUSA 7 Cops and Nazis 8 Jim Lobsenz, the well-known people died during the Persian that we set some time aside in Gay march on D.C. 8 ACLU lawyer who helped Black, Gulf War. But I never realized 1992 to remember the Salem mar­ Movie review: /FK 8 gay sergeant Perry Watkins win how agonizing those deaths had tyrs. If church-crazy goons try to Civil liberties Clara Fraser 9 his lO-year discrimination suit been until I learned that thou­ close a family planning center, Freeway Hall Case 10, 11 Voices of Color 9 against the U.S.