Vol. 18, No. 8
VOICE OF THE MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY OF THE USA
25ยข August 1, 1988
[Front page:
No more election year lies!;
Not a penny for strangling Nicaragua!;
Zionist rule must end! Palestinians fight for freedom]
IN THIS ISSUE
| Dukakis-Bentsen ticket: managers for capitalism.......................................................... | 2 |
| Who is Lloyd Bentsen?.................................................................................................. | 2 |
| Jackson for 'common ground' with right wing.............................................................. | 2 |
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| Minimum wage bill: keep them alive, but hungry......................................................... | 3 |
| Plant closing bill: not even advance notice.................................................................... | 3 |
| No to anti-foreign trade war!......................................................................................... | 3 |
| House calls for workfare to squeeze the poor................................................................ | 3 |
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| Down with Iran-Iraq war! |
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| Protests of downing flight 655; Pentagon lies................................................................ | 4 |
| U.S. not a 'peacemaker' in Persian Gulf ....................................................................... | 4 |
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| Strikes and Workplace News |
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| New England rail workers; Detroit bus drivers hot; Auto heat walkouts; GE contract; Campbell closing; Lumber mills; S.F. hospitals; Electric Boat...................................... | 5 |
| Car haulers reject contract.............................................................................................. | 9 |
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| Down with Racism! |
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| Medical reports expose lies about Tawana Brawley....................................................... | 6 |
| 1,000 march against racist Dallas police........................................................................ | 6 |
| Protest stops racist march in Atlanta.............................................................................. | 6 |
| Detroit mayor grabs $84,000 pension............................................................................ | 6 |
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| Death to Apartheid in South Africa! |
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| Chicago march on Soweto day....................................................................................... | 7 |
| Why is Soviet Union making links with apartheid?....................................................... | 7 |
| South Africa bans Mandela birthday.............................................................................. | 7 |
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| Imperialism uses Africa for a garbage dump................................................................. | 7 |
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| U.S. Imperialism, Get Out of Central America! |
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| War criminal Oliver North denounced........................................................................... | 6 |
| U.S. militarism denounced in July 4 parade.................................................................. | 6 |
| Electrical workers strike in El Salvador......................................................................... | 8 |
| Guatemalan military still rules roost.............................................................................. | 8 |
| U.S. soldiers wounded in Honduras.............................................................................. | 8 |
| Congress bares fangs against Nicaragua........................................................................ | 8 |
| Nicaraguan revolution hailed in Chicago streets........................................................... | 8 |
| Contra cutthroats elect Bermudez.................................................................................. | 8 |
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| The World in Struggle |
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| 'March of empty pots' in Santo Domingo..................................................................... | 12 |
| Workers' militant May Day in Iran & Philippines......................................................... | 12 |
| Workers storm Yugoslav parliament.............................................................................. | 12 |
Not a penny for strangling Nicaragua!
Zionist rule must end!
Palestinians fight for freedom
Dukakis-Bentsen ticket:
'Competent managers' -- for capitalist exploitation
Jackson at Democratic Party convention:
Loyalty to Dukakis-Bentsen, 'common ground' with right wing
A minimum bill on the minimum wage
No to anti-foreign trade war!
Unite against the corporations!
Democrats' plant closing bill:
Doesn't guarantee jobs - or even advance notice
House calls for workfare to squeeze the poor
Web of Pentagon lies around flight 655
U.S. imperialism is not a 'peacemaker' in Gulf war
'US. gunboats out of the Persian Gulf!':
Protests against the downing of flight 655
Strikes and workplace news
DOWN WITH RACISM!
War criminal Oliver North denounced
Down with North and the ongoing war on Nicaragua!
US. militarism denounced in July 4 parade
Death to apartheid in South Africa!
Imperialism uses Africa for a garbage dump
U.S. imperialism, get out of Central America!
North-loyal servant of imperialism
The World in Struggle
The homeless wander the streets and the workers wonder whose job is next to be cut. But it is election year. A time for red-white-and-blue rhetoric. A time for lies. Michael Dukakis promises to make America great, each and every neighborhood, and George Bush swears on the Bible that America is already great.
Job loss? Bush tells us that never have jobs been created so freely (at $3.35 an hour). And Dukakis tells us that with a touch of trade war, "great" America can steal jobs from all over the world.
And both Bush and Dukakis, Republican and Democrat, agree that America's business is business. They want the workers to agree to stand together with the capitalist.
No! Each year of worker-capitalist collaboration is another year of homelessness, concessions, and overwork.
In this issue of The Workers' Advocate we examine the programs of the politicians. We look at what the Democrats are offering:
An advance notice bill on plant closings. Oh, how wonderful. Forty years ago the Democrats passed not an advance notice bill, but a "full employment" act. Yet unemployment kept growing and glowing and growing. And today the Democrats want us to be content with advance notice (maybe) of being thrown on the streets!
"Protectionism" or anti-foreign hysteria. This is a major crime by the Democrats against the working people of all countries. It stands to reason that a party that competes with Reagan over how to increase the combat capacity of the armed forces should also compete with Reagan over how much to hate foreigners. We, on the other hand, stand for the unity of workers of all lands.
A rise in the minimum wage. But not even enough to make up for the decline of the purchasing power of the minimum wage during the Reagan years.
Welfare reform. But it turns out that this is the old "workfare" gospel. It is simply another name for cutting welfare benefits, in the name of helping people to stand on their own two feet.
Meanwhile Bush and the Republicans want to continue the legacy of Reagan. Their only problem is convincing capitalist opinion that this differs that much from what the Democrats are offering in the name of "change."
But there is an alternative to election year lies. It is the path of struggle. It is the path of workers' strikes and demonstrations against the capitalists and their imperialist system. In this issues, as in all issues of our paper, we report on the workers' struggles in this country and the mass movements elsewhere in the world. When the exploited here rise up with the same tenacity and fierceness as the Palestinian people, then we will see the ice of Reaganomics really begin to melt.
The workers must build up their own political movement. A movement that will smash the bourgeois lies. A movement that won't preach peace between the workers and capitalists. A movement that won't fly on the "two wings'' of hot-air speech-making for the poor and real power for the rich. A movement that won't preach about society needing "two wings'' to fly, the rich and the poor, but that will stand for overthrowing the ruling class.
No more election year lies! Let us unite in struggle to prepare the working class to be the ruling class. Let us use the election year circus of the capitalists to expose the capitalist politicians in the eyes of as wide a number of the workers and oppressed as possible.
No more ruling class lies! Build the working class alternative, the revolutionary movement of the oppressed. No more empty promises of progress that preserves the profits of the millionaires.
No more capitalist lies! There is no common ground between the worker and the exploiter, the toiler and the parasite, the victim and the militarist.
Let us rally around our own party, the Marxist-Leninist Party of class struggle and socialism. Let us build up our own working class press, from The Workers' Advocate itself to leaflets and bulletins at every work place and community and school. Let us learn to fight for our rights, because a wage slave who believes the election year rhetoric of the slave master will never be free.
The Reaganites want to overthrow the Nicaraguan government, while the "moderates" in Congress "only" want to use the bloodshed as-a bargaining tool to cow down the Nicaraguan people. Ever since the late dictator Somoza was overthrown in 1979, the American government has never been satisfied with the Nicaraguan people.
Congress says it is disappointed. The Nicaraguan government hasn't agreed to hand over power to the U.S.-organized contras and CIA-backed "opposition'^through negotiations.
So it turns out that negotiations weren't for the purpose of peace. They were only to be a way to force the Nicaraguan government onto its knees. The on-going economic blockade and "humanitarian" funding of the contras was to serve as a big stick. This is what Congress always said about the Arias "peace" plan, but there were those who hid these clear statements. As usual, the "moderates" and White House are squabbling over exactly how much blood money to vote and what to call it.
The Reagan administration is backing a bill by Republican Senator Dole. It gives $27 million of "humanitarian" aid to the contras. As well, it provides for an additional $20 million in weapons which is to be, held in reserve until released by another vote in Congress.
The Democrats are leaning toward more funding too, although they may insist on their own bill. After all, after years of promising to stop contra aid, the Democrats just couldn't break the habit of voting more aid. It appears that voting to fund murder and arson, to support the CIA and its drug-running pro- Somoza thugs, is more addictive than nicotine or cocaine. So as soon as the Reagan administration started beating the drum in a new campaign against Nicaragua, the Democrats joined in; Congress passed virtually unanimous resolutions violently condemning Nicaragua in both the House and Senate. (See article inside.) But there is still the actual funding itself. In this, some Democrats want to vote for Senator Dole's bill while others prefer to keep up the pretense of granting more "humanitarian" aid.
The only true humanitarianism is to get rid of both Democrats and Republicans. They are imperialist politicians who uphold the blockade of Nicaragua, use hunger and blood as a negotiating tool, and yet pat themselves on the back as angels of peace. We need an anti-imperialist movement that will condemn this militarism and aggression. We need a movement against the capitalist parties that are the basis of imperialism.
[Photo: Ollie North, an organizer of the secret contra aid network, denounced in Seattle, July 20. See inside, page 6.]
The TV networks and daily papers have taken the Palestinian uprising off the list of major stories. But the Palestinians won't give up just because the U.S. media doesn't consider them to be newsworthy. Contrary to the lies of the Israeli regime, the uprising was never a publicity stunt for cameras, but a life and death fight for freedom. The last few weeks the Palestinian uprising has again shown its force.
July began with a two-day general strike to mark the beginning of the eighth month of the uprising. Large crowds attacked Israeli patrols in the West Bank, while in Jerusalem Palestinians attacked buses to enforce the strike.
On July 18 the Palestinians organized another general strike to protest the detention without trial of thousands of Palestinians.
Then on July 20 massive protests broke out in Jerusalem over the murder of a Palestinian teenager. The 15-year-old boy was shot and killed while simply walking along a street. The Israeli government called out hundreds of police to attack protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets. At the same time, in West Bank villages, Israeli troops shot and killed three demonstrators.
The last week of July was marked by violence once again as Jewish and Moslem holidays coincided, and some ultra-rightist Jewish Israelis insisted on marching into Moslem religious areas of Jerusalem. Israeli police stopped the march but at the same time attacked crowds of Palestinian Moslems emerging from mosques.
An Unceasing Escalation of Repression
Israeli repression is constantly growing more fierce. In July Israeli troops kept up their policy of shooting demonstrators, killing at least 10 more. Soldiers also destroyed houses of those detained, and the government ordered the deportation of another 10 Palestinian activists.
The government is on a rampage to force Palestinians to pay taxes to Israel. Tax collectors are seizing cars and ID cards and closing shops of those suspected of holding back on taxes.
Zionist Role Must End
Day in and day out, the Palestinian people show they will not accept the degrading status quo. But the Israeli rulers stubbornly continue with their policy of the Iron Fist. This repression is a daily exposure of what's the reality behind all the lying propaganda about Israel being an island of democracy in the Middle East.
The lesson of the Iron Fist is clear. There will be no freedom for the Palestinians. There will be no real democracy, not for Arabs or for Jewish working people, unless the Israeli zionist regime is overthrown. And the Palestinian uprising, continuing in the face of extreme repression, shows that the Israeli machine of oppression can be fought.
The uprising continues to hit the Israeli system. Another indication of the cost of the uprising to Israel came as Israeli Economics Minister Gad Ya'acobi estimated the loss of exports, production, and tourism at more than $600 million. This is on top of at least $150 million for increased military expenditures trying to suppress the uprising.
U.S. Imperialist Support Continues
The suppression of the Palestinian people's desire for freedom continues to be backed by the U.S. government and politicians. The U.S. Navy has just arrived in Israel for joint exercises with the Israeli military, a symbol of the close cooperation between Israel and the Pentagon during the Reagan years.
And the Democratic alternative is no alternative. Mike Dukakis is a fervent supporter of the Israeli regime. He has pointedly refused to express any criticism of the Israeli repression of the Palestinians. In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times he said, "Dealing with civil disturbances is not an easy job, as anyone who ever tried to deal with them knows.''
The Palestinian people won't find support from the Republicans and Democrats. It is up to us working people to build up solidarity with the Palestinians.
[Photo: Palestinian women confront Israeli occupation troops.]
From the get-go, Mike Dukakis has campaigned for the Presidency as a candidate who wasn't out to rock the boat.
Dukakis and his people have stressed that he won't be beholden to "special interests,'' which is how they see the workers, minorities, and women. What Dukakis won't say is that he remains just as tied to the "special interests'' of the corporate boardrooms as all other Democratic politicians, even the most silver-tongued ones who've traditionally claimed to be champions of labor and the oppressed.
When Mike Dukakis said in Ohio, "Dull and boring -- I like the sound of that,'' he isn't just speaking of personal style. No, he's speaking about a brand of politics that plays it safe and does not tamper with the way things are. But as a song from a few years ago put it, "The trouble with normal is that it's always getting worse.''
At the bottom of it all, what this means is that Dukakis will not question the basic foundation of Reaganism.
Oh yes, Dukakis won't fail to decry Reaganomics when he speaks to hard-pressed autoworkers in Michigan or unemployed steel workers in Pennsylvania. But this is typical election-year politicking.
The basic theme of Dukakis' campaign is that he will be a good manager, he's running as a candidate of competence and efficiency. He emphasized this with his remark at the convention that "This election is not about ideology, it's about competence.'' In other words, there's nothing essentially wrong with the Reagan agenda of beefing up the military, or with bigger tax breaks for the rich, or with cutbacks and concessions for the working class and poor. Mr. Dukakis promises to do it better and more efficiently.
Of course, Mike Dukakis is a Democrat and the Democrats have long learned the importance of pretending to be the party of the common people. Thus, Dukakis does not fail to make promises about health insurance, about jobs, about child care, and so forth. But he leaves these as vague as possible, ignoring the how's and when's. And while he advocates some new social programs, Mike Dukakis does not fail to stress the need for "fiscal responsibility.''
In other words, Mike Dukakis knows that Reaganism has created enough discontent that some new social programs have to be promised, but he wants to do that on the cheap. Indeed, the election- year promises sound hollower than ever in this campaign.
Dukakis indicates that he would like to shift away from the simple-minded Reagan formula of more and more cutbacks in social spending, but he still remains within the basic framework of Reaganism.
Business-As-Usual Politics Reaffirmed in the Platform Debate
This is why this year's Democratic Party platform is full of the vaguest generalities. And this is why the Dukakis forces relished the shadow boxing over the platform staged with the Jackson forces during the convention.
At the convention Jackson put up some mild proposals in the well-known style of Democratic phrase-mongering. Dukakis put up a vehement opposition to them. This was meant to send an unmistakable message.
What does it mean to reject the idea of "no first use" of nuclear weapons? What does it mean to oppose the very mention of Palestinian self-determination, weak as the Jackson proposal proposal was? What does it say when you reject the idea of tax hikes on the wealthy? It says that Mike Dukakis is a business-as-usual capitalist politician, that he's not soft on national defense, that he's not about to be sympathetic towards oppressed peoples abroad, and that he's not out to spar with the rich and powerful.
To drive this image home -- so that there isn't room for doubt -- Dukakis chose Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas as his running mate. This choice wasn't made just to find a geographical balance to the ticket, it was to find a person as close to George Bush as possible. Since Bush is otherwise occupied this year, Dukakis found a Bush clone.
The significance of the Bentsen choice is not that Dukakis will necessarily adopt these very same politics, but that Dukakis is sending a message to the corporate boardrooms that you can trust us, we will not rock the boat. It is a message of reassurance.
What Choice in November?
That this is the Democratic ticket for 1988 is no accident. Jesse Jackson and his reformist followers have held out the promise that the Democratic Party is moving to the left, that it will take into account the needs of the working people. But the results of the convention speak much louder than these declarations.
The Dukakis-Bentsen ticket is consistent with the role the Democratic Party has played for the eight years of Reagan. The Democrats have controlled the House of Representatives all along, and they've led the Senate for two years now. Reagan's plans passed because both the Republicans and Democrats voted for them. In short, the Reagan agenda has only been imposed because the Democratic Party has been in bed with Reagan.
And now their candidate is pledging to stay within the Reaganite framework. There isn't to be confusion about the Democrats being soft on the military or the use of force abroad. There isn't to be any fear that the Democrats will reverse Reaganomics. There isn't to be any question that the Democrats will continue to smile upon the needs of big business.
At the same time, the Democrats do indicate that some small shifts are needed. But this is because it is recognized among the ruling class that eight years of Reaganism have planted seeds for social explosion. The Democrats' promises about jobs and health care are aimed at preventing mass unrest.
Indeed, this shift in capitalist politics is also reflected in the Bush campaign. Bush is running as the heir to Reagan and he promises to maintain the basic Reaganite foundations, but he too is pointing to the need for a slight shift. He too promises new programs in education, child care, and so forth.
As the campaign proceeds, both campaigns are sounding very close. The difference between the two capitalist tickets is one of shade not substance.
What this underscores is that both parties serve the same class, the billionaires who are the real rulers. The Democrats and Republicans are simply the twin parties of monopoly capital.
We Need A Working Class Political Movement
For eight years Reaganism has ravaged the workers. But the workers, the minorities, and the poor have nothing to gain by looking to either of the capitalist candidates for relief. Change will not come from the rich and their pet political parties.
But simply deciding to not go along with Tweedledum and Tweedledee isn't enough either. The workers have to act. Progress for the masses can only come with laboring people taking up their destiny in their own hands. It can only come from the struggle by the exploited. It can only come with the masses fighting against exploitation, racism and warmongering.
The capitalists have their own political machines, we must build an independent movement of the working class to serve our interests, our hopes and dreams.
Senator Bentsen is typical of those Democrats who've most closely identified with the Reagan agenda. Just take a look at Mr. Dukakis' No. 2.
Bentsen is from a big landowning family in the Rio Grande Valley. He's one of the wealthiest men in the Senate, which is well known as a club of millionaires anyway. Bentsen's family agribusiness company has fought for decades against farm workers' organizing. And Mr. Bentsen has also sat on the boards of oil companies, banks, and military contractors like Lockheed.
Thus he is adored by big business. Robert Strauss, one of the big shots of the Democratic Party, remarked in Bentsen's praise that "He speaks the language of investment bankers and commercial bankers." And loyal to these impeccable pro-capitalist credentials, Bentsen has voted against food stamps for striking workers, against regulation of toxic chemicals and waste dumps, and in favor of tax breaks for oil and other corporate interests.
And Bentsen is also a Reagan-style militarist and warmonger. He supports such programs as the MX missile, the B-l bomber, and Reagan's favorite, the Star Wars plan. Bentsen is also a supporter of aid for the U.S.-backed contras against the Nicaraguan revolution and a fervent supporter of aid to the death-squad regimes in El Salvador and Guatemala.
There is a myth across the land today. This is about how it is Jesse Jackson who is the leader of the common people.
Oh yes, there are quite a few images that seem to suggest this myth is true. During the primary elections, we've seen Jesse Jackson on picket lines with paper workers and meat-packers. We've heard him castigate the corporate barracudas. And we've seen papers of groups who call themselves socialist and pro-worker praising Jesse Jackson as the workers' messiah.
And then there was Jesse's speech during the Democratic Party convention. He thundered about how the rich and powerful have had their party for the last seven years, and about how it's time they should pay for their party. We heard him praise ordinary workers. We heard him sympathize with those who toil but get shafted. And we heard him talk about uniting the masses of oppressed into a powerful force.
All these images are undoubtedly powerful. And it's been a while since you've seen such a style in a politician of the Democratic Party.
But the struggle of the workers is a life-and-death question. It is a difficult battle for existence and improvement. Workers cannot afford to just look on the surface of things like the Jesse Jackson myth. We have to take a look at the whole picture. What is Jesse Jackson's role and where is he taking those who are placing their hope in him?
What is Jackson's Full Message?
True, Jesse has been on strikers' picket lines. But what does he actually say there? True, Jesse spoke in praise of workers during the convention, but what does he tell the workers to do? True, he has railed at the corporate sharks, but what does he want us to do about their viciousness?
And that is the rub. If you look at Jesse Jackson's performance at the Democratic Convention, he's again made it clear where he stands.
He does not support the idea of workers uniting to fight the capitalists, instead he promotes the idea that working people should make "common ground" with the exploiters. In his convention speech, he evoked the image of "lions and lambs" making common ground.
This is the same message he has preached on strikers' picket lines where he railed against the idea of class struggle.
But think about it. What happens when lions and lambs lie together? It is the lion who comes out on top. For the lambs, "common ground" is a recipe for lamb chops.
The problem in America today is that for much too long workers and the downtrodden have heeded the advice from many of our so-called leaders that we shouldn't fight back against the exploiters but find ways to cooperate with them. The union big shots, many of whom are avid supporters of Jesse Jackson, have advised us year in and year out about "common ground" with the corporations. The result has been a vicious concessions drive through which workers have been driven to the wall.
Jackson Wants to Hitch the Masses to the Dukakis-Bentsen Ticket
Jesse Jackson's formula for "common ground" was also meant as a call to his followers, and to all the downtrodden, to find "common ground" with the Dukakis-Bentsen ticket this November. This is why he again affirmed the message that a plane needs both wings to fly, therefore left and right wings should unite. He evoked the picture of "hawks and doves" finding common ground.
This too is a prescription for disaster. The Dukakis ticket is a business-as- usual ticket. And Dukakis chose Bentsen, a George Bush clone, as his running mate. Bentsen is typical of the barracudas Jesse Jackson has railed against. Dukakis may speak in the name of the working people, but his heart is in the corporate boardrooms.
The Dukakis forces made a point of snubbing Jesse Jackson just before the convention. They chose the conservative Bentsen to send the message loud and clear that they aren't beholden to the liberal Jackson camp. But when all was said and done, it was Jackson who caved in and declared his loyalty for the Dukakis-Bentsen ticket.
What does it mean for Jesse Jackson to tell the people to support such a ticket in November? It means that for all his fancy rhetoric, Jesse Jackson is just another Democratic Party politician. His role is the role the Democratic Party has historically assigned to its silver-tongued liberals -- to posture in the name of the common people and hitch them onto the Democratic chariot. Jesse Jackson was awarded -- and he graciously accepted -- the role of using his fine words and empty promises as make-up for Dukakis-Bentsen.
In return, Jackson was given a plane and an expense account to campaign for Dukakis until November. Some of his key supporters were given a dozen or so posts within the Democratic Party National Committee. And some of his campaign organizers will be taken aboard Dukakis' staff. There may also have been some understanding about positions in the next administration if Dukakis wins.
Big deal. This means zilch to the ordinary workers in whose name Jackson speaks. It means zilch to the masses of black people that a few black bourgeois big shots have got positions in the Dukakis and Democratic Party staffs. In short, the harsh truth is that Jesse Jackson has traded the votes of ordinary people for favors for a select few. His populist stance has just been a cover for seeking some positions within the Democratic Party machinery and possibly the next government.
Jackson may have had a working class background, but he is no representative of the workers. No, for years he's been a wealthy member of and spokesman for the black upper crust. His strategy in the present day is to trade the hopes and aspirations of black and white working people in exchange for cushy positions for a handful of the better off.
For Class Struggle And A Working Class Politics
In the final analysis, what will lining up behind the election campaign for another slick Democratic politician amount to? Nothing for the needs of the workers.
The workers do not need some "great man" to liberate us. We must organize ourselves. Instead of "common ground" with the exploiters, we need to unite the working class into a powerful force that rises in struggle against the exploiters.
For this, we need a different kind of organization than a Democratic Party election machine. We need our own fighting organizations. And we need our own political party. A party that represents the working class interests, a party that organizes the workers to fight. A party that leads us forward, through our daily skirmishes towards the goal of a society run without barracudas and sharks altogether. Such is the task and mission taken up by our party, the Marxist-Leninist Party.
[Cartoon.]
The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $3.35 since 1981. Housing costs have escalated since then. Child care costs have escalated. Hospital costs have jumped. Education costs have gone up. Executive salaries have escalated. But the lowest paid workers still make $3.35 an hour (or even less, since not all workers are covered by the minimum wage).
Congress is considering a minimum wage bill this year. It may even pass it, in order to prove how compassionate the Democrats are. Yet this bill will not even restore the purchasing power of the minimum wage to what it was in 1981.
Some capitalists don't even want that. The New York Times editorializes in favor of a minimum wage of zero dollars and zero cents. They want no minimum wage at all.
Of course, everyone is a humanitarian today. There is no longer a fight of capitalists versus workers, oh no, just a country full of humanitarians. So the opponents of any minimum wage try to convince one and all that their motives are the highest and purest. They are not for starving the workers for the profits of the rich. Oh no, they want to pay the workers peanuts for the good of the workers themselves. Why, that's all they have in mind. It simply doesn't cross their minds that the lower the wage, the higher the profit. They simply want to eliminate unemployment by cutting wages. And if millions of workers are unemployed and starving in Mexico or Haiti, when the wages are a fraction of the American minimum wage, well, better not think about that.
But if the workers are paid so little, they may get angry. They may decide to take matters in their own hands. And, after all, you have to keep the workers in some sort of condition where they are capable of working. So many politicians want to raise the minimum wage a bit. So let the lower-paid workers feel tired and hungry every day, but keep them alive. That's the Congressional gospel. After all, someone has to do the work. Besides, despite years of Reaganism and factory closings, millions of workers simply will not accept the bad conditions being forced on them. This is the secret of so-called "job shortages" in a period of high unemployment. This, plus inflation, will tend to push up wages a bit.
Drip by Drip
So the bill in the Senate calls for raising the minimum wage on January 1, 1989 by 40 cents an hour. And then again on January 1,1990 and January 1, 1991. It will take until 1991 to reach $4.55 an hour. The House leadership has agreed to amend its own bill downwards in line with the Senate bill.
This is supposed to bring the purchasing power of the minimum wage up to where it was in 1981, when Reagan took office. However, this assumes there will be no inflation at all from now until 1991, a rather unlikely assumption. This bill does not index the minimum wage to inflation, so it ensures that the wage will continue to fall behind the cost of living.
The Congress also claims that the cost of living for the poor has only gone up about 30% from 1981 to today. This is an absurdly low figure, given the increases in housing, medical and other expenses. Whatever the official CPI says, the growth of homelessness shows the real situation with the cost of living for the poor.
Congress takes for granted that the minimum wage in 1981 is the highest that can be conceived. Yet the 1981 level was the result of years of deterioration.
And this bill is as far as the capitalist parties will go. Even in a presidential election year where they are trying to convince everyone that they are compassionate, caring, friends of the workers.
The low level of the minimum wage shows the brutal reality of capitalist "humanitarianism." That some workers aren't even covered by the minimum wage shows that there is no limit to the level of exploitation. This is the inevitable result of the capitalist system of production for profit. We need a system where the country is run by the workers, not by the fat cat executives, who can always find a politician or an economist to tell them that starvation builds the character of the poor and cements families together. We must end the outrageous exploitation of person by person by replacing capitalism with socialism.
In the meantime, the workers must get organized to fight in their own class interests. Only if the poor stand up for themselves will they get anything from the rich.
Dukakis, backed by the hacks of the AFL-CIO, is still claiming to be the candidate for "jobs" because he supports the Democrats' trade legislation. But the Democrats' campaign against "foreign competition" will not defend jobs any more than Reagan's talk of "free market" expansion of the economy. The Democrats' trade bill really has no other purpose than to bolster the U.S. monopolies' trade war against the monopolies of other countries. And no matter which side wins in this trade war, the workers -- both in the U.S. and abroad -- will lose.
Take a look at the main provisions of the trade bill that the Democrats pushed through the House on July 13.
"Competing" Away Jobs
In the name of making U.S. industry more "competitive," the Democrats' bill contains measures to step up the capitalist concessions drive, against U.S. workers. For example, the bill stipulates that any company that is seeking temporary help from imports must draw up an "industrial adjustment plan" to "become more competitive." And what does being more "competitive" mean except more job elimination through speedup, job -combination, gutting protective work rules, and other concessions from the workers? Competition with foreign workers -- over who will sink to the lowest pay and worst conditions -- is the heart of the trade bill.
Plundering Other Lands
At the same time, the bill aims to force open foreign markets to the plunder of the world's biggest economic vampire, U.S. imperialism. In the name of combating "unfair" foreign trade, much of the bill is taken up with measures to threaten and blackmail other countries into giving U.S. monopolies preferential treatment. It even makes it easier for U.S. corporations to use bribery.
More Breaks for the Billionaires
As well, the bill is filled with special provisions to help out particular U.S. billionaires. For example, the bill repeals the "windfall tax" on the oil monopolies. And it provides for a bailout of U.S. banks which have been unable to collect on their unscrupulous loans to poorer countries.
Obviously, the trade bill serves the filthy rich American monopolies and nothing else.
Unite Against the Capitalists
The U.S. workers must fight for their jobs. But this is not a fight against foreigners. It is a battle against the capitalist monopolies who are plundering the workers in every country. Whether they live in the U.S. or Japan, in Europe or Mexico, workers all face unemployment and plant closings, speedup and falling wages. These horrors have been brought on by the profit drive of the capitalist exploiters.
But workers from South Korea and Yugoslavia and Mexico are fighting back. Here in the U.S., we workers must unite with them and build the fight against our "own" exploiters. The answer to the capitalist trade war is the class war against the capitalists.
This election year, the Democrats are getting a lot of mileage out of their bill for advance notice on plant closings. They portray the fight over this bill as being a dividing line in American politics -- the Republicans oppose it for the sake of big business, while Democrats support it for the sake of the workers. But there is more rhetoric than substance in this fight.
Although Reagan has opposed this bill, the Republican's candidate George Bush is considering endorsing it. In fact, many conservatives in both the House and Senate helped pass the bill in July. They provided enough votes to suggest that a threatened Presidential veto could be overridden. And now Republican campaign managers are pressuring Reagan to change his tune and sign the bill.
Why is it that conservatives from the loudmouthed party of big business can endorse this bill? It is not simply that the bill is popular among the masses and they will tell any lie to garner votes in the November election. It is also because this bill has been watered down till it does virtually nothing to help the workers or to curb the capitalists.
Every Excuse to Avoid Advanced Notice
The bill has been so filled with loopholes that most often it will not even provide for advance notice.
The bill affects only companies that have 100 or more employees (instead of companies with 50 or more workers as stipulated in the original version). This exempts some 85% of U.S. businesses.
The companies are required to give notice for mass layoffs only if they idle over one-third of the the workers at a particular plant. No notice is required if layoffs are for less than six months, or if they affect seasonal or part-time workers, or if they are due to the sale of a business, or if the plant is closed due to a lockout or strike.
And the company is completely exempted from giving notice if the plant closing is due to "business circumstances." Such "circumstances" include things like if the company is "faltering" and seeking capital or business to prevent the shutdown. Or if the decision to close a plant is due to price changes, or drought, or otherwise "clearly out of the hands of the employer and not foreseeable."
In short, the capitalists have been given almost every excuse to avoid giving notification. They will continue as they have in the past, giving advance notice only when they think it's useful to blackmail more concessions out of their workers.
Kicking the Workers Out "Humanely"
Even without the loopholes the bill would have only limited value.
It does not prevent plant closings or provide assistance for workers who are thrown out of their jobs. It only requires that there be 60 days advance notice that a plant is to be closed or that major layoffs are to take place.
Of course having advance notice may be useful to give workers more time to get organized for mass struggle against the owners. But helping workers organize to fight job loss has never been the intent of the Democrats. Rather, they want a more "humane" and "orderly" way to throw the workers in the streets. And now the Republicans are also toying with such politics of "compassion."
Organize Independent Workers' Action To Defend Jobs
It is little wonder that both liberals and conservatives have begun to rally around this bill. It is a perfect vehicle to appear concerned for the workers' welfare, while doing nothing to actually help the workers out.
The working class cannot trust its fate to the politicians of either the Republican or Democratic Party. They both serve the capitalists. The working class must stand up for itself.
For much of this year, liberal Democrats have been talking about raising welfare benefits to restore the cuts made during the Reagan years. But in July, they gave up even the pretense of restoring benefits.
The House originally passed a welfare reform bill that would cost around $7 billion over five years. In June, the Democratic Senators Moynihan and Bentsen (Dukakis' vice-presidential running mate) led the drive for a compromise bill that cut the cost to about $2.8 billion. The Senate eliminated any raise in cash benefits. It also drastically cut the amount of money for health care, child care, and job training. The differences in the House and Senate bills were to be resolved by a joint committee. But before it could even meet, the House voted to hold the final cost of the bill down to the Senate version. In short, the House agreed to all of the Senate cuts.
Although the House vote was on a "non-binding" resolution, liberals who fought for the original bill made it clear they would go along with the cuts. New York Democrat Thomas Downey, a key architect of the original $7 billion bill, declared, "It means they want a bill that costs less than the House bill, and that's what we'll give them."
So if you eliminate the increase in cash benefits and cut health care, child care, and job training, what is left of welfare reform? The only things left are the provisions that will force people off of the meager benefits of welfare, and the measures to create a stratum of workers forced to work any job under any conditions on pain of losing their benefits. (See "Workfare helps the capitalists, not the poor and unemployed" in the July 1 issue of The Workers' Advocate.)
The House's resolution in July made this clear. It states that there should be "no impediments which would disallow work beyond those contained in the Senate" bill. This means that the House now supports Senate measures such as the one that says a person cannot refuse a job offer even if she would make less money at it than she presently receives from her piddling welfare benefits.
It is now all the rage among the capitalist politicians to talk of "compassion" for the workers and poor. With welfare reform, it seems the politicians will make the poor poorer while bringing pressure to drive down the wages of many workers. And the capitalists will be crying for them all the way to the bank.
Last month's shooting down of Iran Air Flight #655 by the U.S.S. Vincennes, in which all 290 passengers were killed, exposed the brutality of U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf. These people were sent to their death because, to the U.S. military, the lives of Iranians are worthless -- all that matters is keeping up the U.S. image of power and invincibility in the region.
The ruling establishment here -- from Reagan and the Pentagon to the Democratic Party politicians -- justified the shooting down of the Iranian airliner as an act of self-defense. But the facts all show that it was an atrocity.
Within a day or so after the July 3 attack, the Pentagon's version of the incident was proven to be false from A to Z. Nevertheless, the major news networks continued for several days to broadcast the Pentagon's pack of lies, aimed at justifying the U.S. role of military bully in the Persian Gulf.
After a while, the official lies were sufficiently undermined by the facts that they had to be withdrawn. But by this time the government and capitalist media had succeeded in letting them achieve their maximum impact of flag waving militarism.
Let's look at the web of lies that was spun around the attack on Flight 655.
"The Iran Air Airbus was on an unscheduled flight." On July 3, a Pentagon official claimed that Vincennes captain William Rogers had checked the flight schedules before shooting, and that flight 655 was not listed.
- The flight is listed in the International Official Airline Guide. It is a regular flight, five times a week. The area is so full of regular civilian air traffic that there were 700 civilian flights there in the holidays before the shoot-down.
"The Airbus was outside the commercial air corridor." In a July 3 press briefing, Admiral William Crowe, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, claimed that the plane was 4.5 miles outside the air corridor.
- The plane was inside the official 20- mile wide commercial air corridor. In fact, it was only 4.5 miles from the center of this corridor.
"The plane was below normal altitude and descending." On July 3, Crowe also claimed flight 655 was descending from 9,000 to 7,000 feet when it was hit.
- By July 5 the TV networks admitted that the Airbus, when shot, was actually ascending from 12,000 feet. This fact was recorded by the U.S. Navy ship John H. Sides. When the Airbus was shot, it had just been cleared by the air traffic control tower at Bandar Abbas airport to climb to 14,000 feet.
"The Airbus was traveling at the high speed of 450 knots (520 mph)." It was suggested that this made it look like it was preparing to attack.
The plane's speed was approximately 300 knots (347 mph); this is consistent with it being about 40 miles from Bandar Abbas when hit. The top speed of an Airbus below 26,000 feet is 397 mph, according to Jane's All the World's Aircraft. Anything faster is unsafe.
"The Airbus did not have a functioning transponder for communication."
- The plane's transponder was working, and its signal was picked up by another U.S. ship in the area.
"The Airbus was sending out a signal on the military channel." This was allegedly the source of the Vincennes' "secret electronic" information identifying the plane as an F-14.
- Another U.S. ship in the area detected only a single (civilian) signal from the Airbus.
- By July 5, Pentagon officials admitted privately to members of Congress that the so-called second signal could have come from another aircraft far away (if indeed there was such a signal).
"The Airbus ignored repeated messages to change course."
- Of the seven warnings supposedly given by the Vincennes, four were on military frequencies, which a civilian plane would not generally be monitoring.
- It is reported to be common knowledge that pilots pay little attention to warnings given on civilian frequencies. According to the International Civilian Aviation Organization, pilots are not even required to monitor the civilian channel on short flights like that of 655.
- No attempt was made to contact the Airbus pilot on the air traffic control channel, the one channel which he would be monitoring. The Vincennes was equipped to make this contact. Indeed, all Navy vessels are supposed to have air traffic data in their computers and must have their radios tuned to the air traffic channels at all times.
- Air traffic control at Dubai said that the pilot could not have changed course anyway, without their authority. Air traffic control was responsible for guiding the flight, and it would have been dangerous to veer without being cleared. There had been a recent near-accident of this type in the region.
"The Vincennes crew felt threatened because of a sea battle a few minutes earlier."
The Vincennes was not the victim in this sea battle; rather it sought out and initiated the hostilities, without having being challenged at all. (Even had the ship been attacked, this would be no excuse for shooting down an uninvolved airliner).
The initial situation concerned a Danish ship and some Iranian speedboats. No fire had been exchanged, and the Danish ship had not requested U.S. assistance. The Vincennes started the battle, sinking two, and damaging one Iranian boat.
"The Vincennes crew mistook the Airbus for an attacking F-14 fighter."
-- F-14s fly several times faster than an Airbus. An F-14 has a drastically different size and shape than the wide body Airbus. The F-14 has a 64-foot wingspan (or 38 ft. swept back) and a 63-ft. length. The A-300-B2 Airbus has a 147- ft. wingspan and a 176-ft. Length.
-- The $500 million SLQ-32 and Aegis electronic weapons systems should have easily been able to distinguish the Airbus' radar signal from the corresponding F-14 signal.
What Do the Lies Add Up to?
What does it mean for all the Pentagon's stories to have turned out false? It means that the U.S. government will defend its bloody actions no matter how outrageous they are. All that matters is that public opinion be swindled into support for the U.S. side.
It is one more example that you can't trust the U.S. military and government. They lied to us during the Viet Nam war, they've lied about Central America, and they lie about their role in the Middle East.
This lying is no accident. There is a pattern. The lies are required because the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf, as elsewhere around the world, is not based on some honest and principled reasons. It is based on imperialism. The U.S. fleet is in the Persian Gulf not for peace but to defend its role as world policeman and bully boy. It is there to defend the right the U.S. government has given itself to be top dog in this oil rich region.
The Pentagon will soon forget about the 290 people in Flight #655. It has no place in their cold-blooded calculations of world domination. But the workers should not forget the lessons of this atrocity. Let it be one more reason to help build a revolutionary movement that will end U.S. imperialism and free the world of its bloodletting.
There's talk in the air of a peace in the Iran-Iraq war. The Khomeini regime in Iran has reversed itself and agreed to a UN-sponsored cease-fire. Iraq continues to press the war; however, it too may agree to the cease-fire shortly.
The endless slaughter between two brutal capitalist regimes may be coming to an end. But why now? After chewing up a million young lives in eight years of desperate offensives and counteroffensives, what has changed?
U.S. Gunboat Policy -- More Gas on the Fire
The New York Times, mouthpiece of American capitalism, editorializes that "Without the Navy's presence, peace might have been long delayed.'' (July 19) Other than massacring 290 passengers on Flight 655, what has been the effect of the U.S. Navy's show of force?
Supposedly the Navy was sent in to "protect freedom of navigation'' and put a stop to the tanker war. In fact, the Navy only provided a shield for Iraq to pursue its attacks on Iranian tankers and facilities. But apparently the Navy has not been very successful. Despite the massive show of U.S. firepower, Iran succeeded in almost doubling its attacks on Iraqi-allied shipping, from 54 attacks a year to 106.
No, the U.S. warships aren't in the Gulf for "peace.'' They are there to make a bloody display of superpower muscle flexing, as U.S. imperialism moves to sink its claws deeper into this oil-rich region.
From the outset the U.S. government's role has been to exploit the war for its own aims. It claims neutrality. In fact, it has cynically played one side against the other for its maximum economic and military gain. One day Reagan is sending the Khomeini regime urgently needed military spare parts. Then, when Iraq is in danger of collapse, Reagan rushes naval and intelligence support to Sadaam Hussein. Far from being neutral, U.S. policy has egged on the slaughter from both sides.
This is because the war has created a strategic opening. U.S. imperialism has made use of the war to tighten political and military alliances with the reactionary Arab regimes. And through its thinly veiled tilt towards Iraq and by filling the Gulf with warships it has put pressure on the Iranian regime to strike a deal with the U.S. favorable |o U.S. corporate and strategic interests.
The war has also meant big money. We got a glimpse of this in the White House arms sales to Iran, as well as the $1 billion Iraqi oil pipeline project that Ed Meese tried to dip into. Even after Irangate there have been indirect profits made from the continuing Israeli arms shipments to Iran. The Pentagon and U.S. corporations have done their best to get their share of blood money out of this war, along with France, Russia, China and other imperialist and revisionist powers.
The impact of the cynical U.S. strategy has been to fuel the bloodletting. Nonetheless, the Times and the State Department are crowing that the cease-fire talks mark the "success" of Reagan's Persian Gulf policy. This is typical of an arsonist. After soaking a house in gasoline he rushes to the front of the fire brigade to boast about his courage in fighting fires.
Crisis Facing Iranian Capitalist Rulers
Undoubtedly, the U.S. gunboats have added to the pressures on Iran. However, the impact of sinking a few speed boats, a handful of unlucky fishing vessels, and a civilian airliner, is about nil compared to the impact of the land war. In recent months, behind waves of deathly chemical gas, the Iraqi army has struck heavy blows on the Iranian forces. (The Times and other boosters of Washington's tacit alliance with Iraq are fully aware of the effectiveness of Iraq's poison gas. That's why they look the other way as it consumes thousands of villagers and soldiers.)
The most critical factor, however, isn't Iraq's poison gas (as horrible as it is). The turn in the war is a result of the turn in the situation inside Iran.
The Islamic mullahs have consolidated their rule by mobilizing a section of the masses behind them. They have played on the masses' hatred for the U.S. and other imperialists, disguising themselves as anti-imperialists. They have also played on backward religious prejudices. This is how they have been press-ganging the Iranian youth into the war against Iraq, portraying it as an anti-imperialist crusade in the service of Islam.
Collapse of Morale
However, the years of death and hardship have taken their toll. Reports from Iran indicate that enthusiasm for the war is collapsing. The latest example is the lack of response to the recruitment appeals made by the mullahs after the downing of Flight 655. The religious fervor that has fueled the war is flickering. The huge crowds that once came out for the Friday sermons to support the war effort simply aren't turning out. The Iranian troops that a few years ago were willing to fight to the death are now turning and running. This breakdown of morale both at the front and the rear is what explains the collapse of Iran's military position in recent months.
Economic Collapse
This breakdown in morale goes hand in hand with the collapse of Iran's economy. Its factories are working at 50% capacity. Unemployment is 25-30%. Merchants and other capitalists, who have fervently supported the Islamic regime and its war up till now, are growing bitter that the war is ruining them.
Within the regime itself there is a growing demand to put an end to the war. The same war that has allowed the mullahs to justify and strengthen their dictatorship is now threatening their rule. Without ending the war all efforts to rebuild the capitalist economy are proving futile. And without ending the war it is proving difficult to reestablish the ties the regime is striving for with the U.S. and other imperialist powers.
The regime faces internal crisis, resentment and economic catastrophe. And behind that it can hear the footsteps of the working class movement. This May Day, workers in Kurdistan and industrial centers across the country expressed their defiance of the Islamic regime.
The Islamic rulers have received Khomeini's blessing for a cease-fire and appear to be taking quick steps to put an end to the war. This, however, does not mean an end to their crisis.
First of all, the Iraqi regime continues to push the war to seize as many prisoners and advantages as possible before any cease-fire. In their blind power- grabbing, the capitalist rulers in Iraq may still push things towards another round of offensives and counteroffensives.
A New Revolution
Even with the end of the war, capitalism would continue to be in severe crisis and the grip of the mullahs would continue to slip. A peace will mean that the eyes of the masses will focus more directly on their own internal conflict with those who have stripped them of their rights and their livelihood. It will make it that much easier to see that a new revolution is needed to sweep away the tyrants and the bourgeoisie that have chewed up their young people in a senseless war.
In Iraq too such a revolution is needed. The working class and toilers of all countries are the real peacemakers. Only through their revolutionary struggle can an end be put to the dictators, capitalists and imperialists who profit from such horrors as the Persian Gulf war.
On July 3 the U.S. Navy shot down Iran Air Flight #655. The Pentagon and Reagan justified this atrocity. The Democrats chimed in. The government's pack of lies were dutifully echoed by the news media, even though they unraveled as fast as they were churned out.
This wave of militarist propaganda had its impact on public opinion, but many workers rejected these lies and refused to believe the absurd justifications for the death of 290 passengers. Many people asked, "What are the warships doing there anyway? They have no business there."
In a number of cities around the country, there were spirited protests demanding U.S. Gunboats Out of the Persian Gulf!
Los Angeles
On Saturday, July 9, about 50 activists demonstrated outside the Federal Building in Westwood. The picketers shouted slogans against the U.S. and other imperialist fleets in the Persian Gulf and they condemned the reactionary slaughter of the Iran-Iraq war. L.A. supporters of the Marxist-Leninist Party took part in organizing this action with supporters of the Communist Party of Iran and others.
The spirit of this picket stood in sharp contrast to a tame gathering at the same time organized by supporters of the pro-Soviet Tudeh Party of Iran. The monitors of this group kept their participants away from the other gathering.
Chicago
On July 8, a protest was organized against U.S. aggression in the Persian Gulf. During the lively picket at the Civic Center, the 75 protesters shouted slogans denouncing the U.S. war fleet, the shooting down of the Iranian passenger jet and the Gulf war itself. These sentiments were also expressed in statements read at the end of the protest which included condemnations of the Iranian and Iraqi regimes for persisting in their mutual aggression.
[Graphic.]
The seven-month strike by the Guilford railway workers is over and most of the 1,200 workers have returned to work. These workers can hold their heads high. Once again they have beat back the relentless concessions drive of Guilford's owner, the billionaire banker Timothy Mellon.
Workers Stand Firm, Businessmen Whine
The strike began last November when a veteran worker was killed in an accident resulting from cost-cutting work rule changes imposed by Guilford. The strike spread quickly and workers shut down freight service throughout northern New England.
The strike caused a major disruption for many businesses in the region who could not ship and receive necessary materials. As the strike continued the New England Shippers Association and other business groups began to call for a settlement. Of course these bourgeois were not against Mellon's concessions drive; they were only complaining it was costing them too much.
Towards the end of June the federal arbitrators stepped in. They issued two rulings ordering Mellon to rehire all strikers and to reinstate work rules and job classifications.
The Strike Was the Workers' Weapon
Some union leaders are trying to use this victory to weaken the workers' movement. They are preaching that the workers won because the arbitrator was "on the workers' side.'' These union misleaders want the workers to believe that the lesson of the Guilford workers' victory is that workers should not organize mass actions, but instead rely on the government's arbitration system.
This is turning truth on its head. The workers won because their militant strike disrupted the rail system throughout New England, costing the capitalists millions of dollars. While Mellon appears to have been willing to lose even more in his drive to crush the workers, the other capitalists in the region were not. The arbitration system has been set up as a mechanism to protect the interests of the whole capitalist class against the workers' movement. And this was a situation where they sacrificed the interests of an individual capitalist, Mellon, to guarantee the more general interests of the bourgeoisie.
What is most important to understand is that the arbitrator only gave to the workers what they had already won on the field of battle.
(Taken from the June 27 "Boston Worker," paper of the MLP-Boston.)
On July 18, after weeks of record-breaking heat, 1,000 Detroit bus drivers walked off the job. The drivers protested the Department of Transportation's (DOT) failure to repair broken air conditioners, even though buses do not have windows that can be opened.
The drivers made their point in Monday morning rush hour. After four hours, many of the drivers were back behind their wheels. DOT promised that if the air conditioning cannot be fixed right on the spot, a bus will be taken off the route until it is working properly.
In the second week of July, walkouts against the insufferable heat broke out at a number of Chrysler plants in the Detroit area. On July 6th, 200 workers in the trim and final assembly sections of the Sterling Assembly plant walked out and forced the shutting of the plant. The next day, when no relief was provided, the workers again shut down the plant for several hours. Workers shut down the McGraw glass plant on July 8. And the same week, workers at the Jefferson Assembly plant stopped work for an hour.
The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press have been carrying articles praising Chrysler for extending breaks and giving out cokes and bags of ice. These newspapers try to make it appear that Chrysler has a humanitarian concern for its workers. But the papers fail to mention that at many of its plants Chrysler has been driving its workers for nine and 10 hours a day and for six days a week right through the heat spell. The papers don't mention Chrysler frequently keeps their fans on the robots while the workers get no relief. The papers also fail to mention that Chrysler only extended the relief breaks for two minutes, and then only after the workers struck.
At Sterling Assembly, Chrysler even tried to lock the workers in the plant to suppress the work stoppage. Gates will only open after workers push their ID cards into computerized terminals at the gate. But on July 6, Chrysler rigged the computers so they wouldn't open the gates. It also demanded that police arrest any worker who attempted to climb the fences. After police said they didn't have the authority to make such arrests, and after the workers became extremely angry, Chrysler gave in and opened the gates.
In July, GE and the union leaders imposed a new rotten contract on the workers. While plant closings and layoffs mount through GE's productivity drive, the contract fails to provide job security for the workers. At the same time it replaces hourly wage increases with lump sum bonuses, adds higher medical deductibles and premiums, cuts regulars' pensions, and contains lower pay for new-hires.
The International Union of Electrical workers (IUE) is the largest GE union. Its 200 member conference board voted to reject the tentative deal. But IUE president Bywater launched a campaign in support of the contract. His arm twisting got a number of local officials to reverse themselves and to come out in favor of the contract. Other officials, while still claiming to oppose the contract, began to whine that the union was split and therefore the workers were bound to lose in a strike. They in fact put pressure on the workers to vote for the contract.
The leaders of the United Electrical workers (UE), the second largest union at GE, joined this cry. Decrying that the unions were split, the UE leaders actually recommended that workers vote for the rotten contract. The rest of the 14 unions at GE also called for workers to accept the deal.
Despite the pressure on the workers, the rank and file at the huge GE complex in Lynn, Massachusetts voted it down. Three other locals are also reported to have rejected the contract. Nevertheless, union leaders report the contract passed by some 80%.
Many of the workers are fed up with GE's job-cutting productivity drive. Over the last few months a number of strikes, wildcats, and work slowdowns have broken out at a number of GE plants. These workers are also beginning to get fed up at the sellout of the union leaders as the rejection of the contract at GE-Lynn showed.
Workers at the Campbell Soup plant in Chicago are mad. The company has announced it will close the plant at the end of August. It will lay off hundreds of workers, leaving only a hundred warehouse workers.
The workers are demanding that Campbell pay to retrain workers who request it. Although Campbell has offered a program at a community college in the suburbs, workers are demanding a program in the city and that Campbell pay the full cost.
At the same time, workers are angry about the treatment of the remaining warehouse workers. They face increasing harassment over quotas, absenteeism, the length of breaks and other things. While throwing out hundreds of workers, Campbell is trying to squeeze more work, and more profits, out of the workers who remain on the job.
(Based on an article in the July 26 "Chicago Workers' Voice," paper of the MLP-Chicago.)
Some 8,300 lumber workers continue to walk picket lines at the mills of five industry giants in the Pacific Northwest. The workers are demanding the restoration of wages and benefits that were cut by as much as $4 an hour two years ago.
Meanwhile 6,000 workers were poised to strike the largest lumber company, Weyerhaeuser Corp. But union leaders have so far kept the workers on the job.
On July 26 about 1,700 hospital orderlies, vocational workers, food service employees and janitorial staff struck seven medical facilities in the San Francisco area. The workers have been without a contract since May 1. The workers are fighting to maintain their health insurance benefits and paid sick leave -- two of the job benefits the hospitals are trying to cut.
The nurses at the same facilities are poised to strike over their own issues. Many nurses have already walked off the job in support of the striking workers despite the nurses' union proclamation that it is neutral in this strike.
[Photo: Picket line at General Dynamics' Electric Boat shipyard.]
On July 25, about 800 shipyard strikers and their supporters rallied near the gate of General Dynamics' Electric Boat submarine yard in Groton, Connecticut. The workers wore T-shirts that read: "We're out the gate in '88!" And many carried picket signs declaring: "Dump the lump!"
Ten thousand Electric Boat workers are on strike against GD's demand to replace wage increases with lump-sum payments. The lump-sum replacement would not only freeze basic hourly wages, it would also hold down the workers' compensation for overtime and pensions which are based on the hourly rate. GD has also demanded that the workers increase their share of payments for medical and dental coverage.
GD is trying to use 3,000 salaried employees to work the yards. The United Auto Workers leadership is also ordering some 1,500 members of its Marine Draftsmen Association to cross the picket line. As well, GD is transferring some work to its nonunion facility at Quonset Point, Rhode Island.
On the first day of the strike, hundreds of workers backed down the police who were trying to clear the workers from the gates. More such mass picketing is needed to stop all scabbing. As well, the 4,400 nonunion workers at Quonset Point -- who suffer even worse pay and conditions -- need to be drawn into the struggle.
Workers struck the Utility Trailer Co. in El Paso, Texas on May 23. The 200 workers are fighting the company's attempt to cut wages by 75 cents an hour and to increase the workers' insurance premium by 10%. The workers also want to reinstate a cost-of-living clause which was frozen three years ago. The company has hired scabs. But due to vigorous picketing, no trailers have been produced since the strike began.
The strikers have been harassed by the El Paso police. The cops have ticketed the protesters for everything imaginable -- unfastened seat belts, jaywalking, or "criminal mischief." On the other hand, the cops turn their heads the other way for the scabs. Twice scabs have run down picketers. But, by some mysterious quirk, the accident reports never made it to police headquarters!
It was reported July 27 that 72% of the car haulers voted to reject a proposed national contract covering 19,000 drivers. The car haulers were angry at the contract concessions including the cuts in pay for so-called "new business" and for "back-hauls" (loaded return trips). The drivers were also angry that the proposed pay increase was much lower than that of the contract in 1985.
The Teamster leadership recommended this rotten contract. The large rejection vote shows how wide the gap has grown between the rank and file and their union leadership.
Over the last year, a majority of Teamster members have voted against the national master freight agreement, the United Parcel Service contract, and the Stroh's brewery contract. But in each case the Teamster leadership has gone ahead and imposed the contracts on the workers. The hacks claimed that a constitution provision -- which requires a two-thirds no vote to authorize a strike -- requires a two-thirds no vote to reject a contract.
But in this case, the vote was too large for the Teamster bosses to pull this trick. This time their trick is to refuse to call a strike, even though the 72% vote authorizes it. Even the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), a supposed reform group within the Teamsters, has called on the top hacks to postpone strike action until Labor Day. In the meantime, they want the union to elect a new bargaining committee and to return to the bargaining table. The TDU's proposal is just playing into the delaying tactics of the top hacks who have supported the rotten contract.
The rank and file will have to take matters into their own hands to fight this concessions agreement.
For months, New York Governor Cuomo and the capitalist news media have been trying to pretend that there wasn't a racist attack on black teenager Tawana Brawley. All manner of fake witnesses and lies have been thrown around to discredit Brawley and to try to make people forget what happened to her.
But the June 29 issue of the City Sun, a black bourgeois newspaper in New York, reprinted excerpts from the medical reports on Brawley's condition when she was found lying on the street last November 28. Amidst all of the lies, these reports give factual evidence on the abuse suffered by Brawley that Cuomo and co. are trying to whitewash.
The City Sun summarized the report of the emergency medical team that first arrived to help Brawley. She was found "in a fetal position inside a large plastic bag. Patient's only palpable pulse was a weak carotid. Respiration very shallow and almost undetectable. Skin cool and dry. Patient's head was wrapped with a sweater-jacket and a belt around that which was in the patient's mouth...Legs were red, either from cold or burns....Patient was covered, head to toe, with what appeared to be dried feces. Patient did not respond to pain, voice, or ammonia.''
Brawley was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, NY. The emergency-room physician, Lanwehr Pena, recorded on his medical assessment form that: "on admission patient was unresponsive to voice, resisting eye opening, moving all limbs spontaneously, and shivering." She was "covered with feces" and had "roughly cut hair." She had several contusions, "a small amount of white material in her tonsils," and "words written on her chest." Later it was publicly reported that "Nigger and KKK" were written across Brawley's chest and stomach. Within an hour of being admitted, the diagnosis was "Possible sexual assault."
Brawley was released later that night. But after four days she continued to suffer problems, and her parents took her to the Westchester County Medical Center. The report of the doctor attending her continuing medical problems included: "slow in speech; headache, hip pain, inability to walk," and "pain in orbit, shoulder, side of neck, and lower back." The Center's discharge diagnosis on December 4, 1987 listed "Multiple contusions." And the final diagnosis entered into the center's computer on the same date was "rape."
On July 16, over 1,000 people marched through downtown Dallas, Texas. They chanted, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, racism's got to go." The people came out to protest against the racist Dallas police department.
Over the last year, a series of racist beatings and murders by the police have come to light. Among these was the vicious murder of Santo Rodriquez, A policeman held a pistol to the 12-year- old boy's head and played Russian roulette till he was killed.
Recently, Dallas police have even begun harassing a black city councilwoman who mildly criticized them and proposed a police review board. Such boards exist in many cities, and they have generally proved to be useless in stopping racist police terror. In fact, in many instances the boards act to cover up the crimes of the police. Nevertheless, even this mild proposal was lambasted by the Dallas Police Association and a reactionary outfit that has sprung up to defend the racist cops called Citizens Offering Police Support (COPS). COPS also brought harassment charges against the councilwoman.
[Photo: Anti-racists confront Andrew Young's police at the Democratic Convention.]
A racist march was stopped by anti-racist protesters in Atlanta on July 17.
The Nationalist Movement -- a racist group made up of Ku Klux Klan members, racist "skinheads" and other reactionaries -- planned to march to the Democratic Party Convention. All too eager to accommodate the racists, the Democratic Party treated them like any other protesters. It registered the group, gave the racists a two-hour time slot to rally in a parking lot near the Omni Center convention site, and provided them a stage and sound system. In the name of defending "freedom of speech," the administration of the black mayor, Andrew Young, gave the racists a permit to march.
But workers and other progressive people in Atlanta would not let the racists march. When about 25 racists tried to begin their march on July 17, a crowd of 1,000 protesters surrounded them. A few Of the racists were punched.
The police quickly intervened to save the racists. They pushed aside the anti-racist protesters, arrested a few, and got the racists off to safety. The police canceled the march permit. They said they could not ensure the safety of the racists.
Last year, Detroit's Mayor Coleman Young vetoed a pension raise for city workers. The average pension payment for a city worker is $540 per month. Ten percent of them get only $200 a month. Young said raising the workers' pensions is too costly.
But in July, Young came out in support of a whopping raise in his own pension -- from $28,000 a year to $84,000 a year. The Elected Officials Compensation Commission, which was appointed by Young, proposed the raise for the mayor and for other elected city officials (city council President Erma Henderson will get $41,000 a year and other city council members will get $39,284 a year). Of course, the city council voted in favor of the raise.
City workers are predominantly black. And Young is doing everything in his power to hold down their pensions and pay and to worsen their working conditions. Meanwhile Young is grabbing bigger salaries and pensions for himself and his cronies. Young, Henderson, and other black city council members are representatives of the black bourgeoisie. What they are doing in Detroit shows again that the black bourgeoisie is not really interested in helping the black working masses. They are simply out to fill their own pockets.
Oliver North has become a big favorite of the flag-waving chauvinists. But he is nothing but a war criminal with Nicaraguan blood on his hands. Some of his appearances throughout the country have been met by angry demonstrators.
On June 27, dozens of demonstrators in Charleston, West Virginia denounced North when he went to address Republican Party fund-raisers. The fat cats who could afford $1,000 a plate went in to laud North, while the masses called for putting him in jail.
In Seattle, on July 20th, 400 demonstrators denounced North at the Seattle Coliseum. Many reformists and clerics, following the policy of the Democratic Party, opposed demonstrating against North, but a spirited action took place anyway. There were scuffles with the police on horseback and a few arrests. North's speech itself was a bust, and the Coliseum was mostly empty.
The MLP prepared for the action with leafleting against North. It exposed the reason for the kid gloves treatment of North by the bourgeoisie, Democrat or Republican, stating that "The charges against North, Poindexter, Secord and Hakim revolve around the secret arming of the contra mercenaries, in violation of various laws. Yet this secret arming has continued to occur and is occurring right now."
The bourgeoisie will keep on promoting North. In late July the Reagan administration even created Oliver North's own personal Libyan spy hysteria, claiming that there is a Libyan plot to assassinate North. Of course, when it came to court, it turned out that there was no evidence and no charges were filed. But the sensational charge got headlines across the country.
There may be no evidence against the Libyans, but there is a lot of evidence against North. He is a diehard militarist who doesn't stop at plans for bloody murder, from Operation Phoenix in Viet Nam to his support for the contras today. It will take more than a few public relations stunts to wipe out the hatred for this bloodstained "national hero."
(Reprinted from the July 11 leaflet of MLP- Seattle.)
Oliver North will be in Seattle on Wednesday, July 20. His appearance is part of a speaking tour prior to his September trial date. He is scheduled to speak on "Commitment, trust and the family." North's commitment to secret U.S. military operations abroad has earned him several criminal indictments. Oliver North is indeed a war criminal, having been involved with some of the bloodiest atrocities carried out by U.S. imperialism. (See article below.) But the full truth of North's crimes did not come out in the Tower Commission report or at the Congressional contragate hearings, nor will it at his trial. In the case of Oliver North and the Iran-contra scandal generally, the wheels of "justice" are turning very slowly, and in some unusual ways.
Various establishment figures have donned white hats and are supposedly going after the contragate lawbreakers. "Independent" prosecutor Lawrence Walsh, slick lawyers, Congressional politicians and "muckraking" journalists are allegedly cleaning house. But there is a fundamental hypocrisy here. While these figures are playing "people's court," the government is continuing to perpetrate essentially the same crimes that it is charging North with.
The charges against North, Poindexter, Secord and Hakim revolve around the secret arming of the contra mercenaries, in violation of various laws. Yet this secret arming has continued to occur and is occurring right now. No weapons aid has been appropriated by Congress since December of 1987. A "cease-fire" and "peace negotiations" have been taking place in Nicaragua since March 1988. But during this period the Nicaraguan government has reported numerous violations of its airspace by U.S. planes dropping supplies to the contras and reconnaissance flights. And in the recent escalating attacks, the contras have used heavy and sophisticated arms such as anti-tank mines, and grenade launchers. (New York Times, July 8)
The U.S. war against Nicaragua continues. And if the unpopularity of it compels Congress to toss a demagogical restriction to "humanitarian" aid into the appropriations bills, then the arming is done secretly, through North's replacements. North may be gone, but the secret U.S. terror network continues its work just the same. If the Sherlocks of the courts and media "don't notice" this fact, how serious can they be about prosecuting the contragate criminals?
What the Prosecution Has "Missed"
The process of the contragate "investigation" has unfolded more like a whitewash. The actual aims are to keep the revelations and indictments to a minimum. This is shown by the facts that 1) the charges against the defendants are for only a few of the wide-ranging activities they have been implicated in, and 2) Reagan and other high officials are being exonerated.
During the first months of contragate revelations, various shady aspects of the contra war barely came to light. North and the other defendants were implicated in activities from massive cocaine smuggling to a plot to assassinate the Reagan-appointed U.S. ambassador to Costa Rica, Lewis Tambs, and blame it on Nicaragua. The contragate hearings themselves kept these issues under the rug.
When one congressman apparently broke the rules of the hearings and questioned North about his involvement with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), hearings chair Senator Inouye immediately moved to closed- door session barred to the press. (On July 5, 1987, the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain reported that Oliver North had prepared plans for imposing martial law in the U.S. in case of civil disorder for FEMA. The Miami Herald reported that North worked on martial law plans which included the moving of 21 million American blacks into "relocation centers," i.e., concentration camps.) Nothing more has been heard about these and other issues and no criminal charges have been laid relating to them.
The testimony of North and others at the contragate hearings revealed the most obvious involvement of higher officials, including Bush and Reagan. Yet there has been no further investigation of these figures. In fact, North has applied for various secret documents to be entered into evidence that he says show that higher administration figures approved his work. In response, the judge has said that some of the charges against North may be dropped if the government refuses to release these documents on the grounds that they would damage national security. (Seattle Times, July 9) How's that for logic? The bosses were guilty of the crimes too...so they all should be let off the hook.
Why the Cover-Up?
In an interview printed in the January 10 Parade Magazine, Democratic Senator Inouye revealed the Democrats' attitude towards the contragate hearings. "Our first priority was to make sure that we did not get into Reagan bashing....I told the press at a background meeting before the hearings, 'I pray that if there is such a thing as a smoking gun, we never find it. What would we do if we find it?"' There were literally thousands of smoking guns and rocket launchers, both in Iran and Nicaragua, but the Democrats set out from the get-go to not find them.
This attitude towards the hearings is indicative of the whole process of contragate investigation, including the indictments. The politicians may quibble over details, but they agree on the bottom line of imperialist foreign policy, and on the need for the secret terror network of the National Security Council, CIA, etc. to help enforce U.S. domination. Both the Republican and Democratic Parties and the bourgeois establishment generally (courts, media, etc.) see the need to save Reagan from the scandal in order to protect the operation of the secret terror network of U.S. imperialism.
Renewed Contra Attacks Expose Fraudulent "Peace" Plan
In the recent period, U.S. imperialism has been hiding its brutal aggression behind claims that it is seeking peace. To do this it has draped itself in the Arias plan, which was put forward by its client states in Central America. But this plan has nothing to do with peace. The period of the cease-fire has proven this once again.
The contra military attacks diminished but did not stop. The negotiations did not lead to ending the war but were used to blackmail the Sandinista government to make more concessions. These concessions are designed to strengthen the internal front of the contras, the bourgeois opposition. And now the arrogant contra leaders have launched new military attacks and are refusing further negotiations, because the Sandinistas have not given them enough. To quote a Costa Rican official, "We still think the Sandinistas are willing to give more than they have. We don't believe the possibility of negotiation has been exhausted." According to this logic negotiations will only be "exhausted" when the entire country has been turned over to counterrevolution.
U.S. imperialism is determined to turn back the clock on the Nicaraguan revolution and restore a pro-U.S. dictatorship. This is the policy of the big U.S. corporations. They want to plunder Nicaragua unhindered and moreover, they want to intimidate the revolutionary movements in the rest of Central America.
The American working class has no interest in this bloody policy of Reagan and Congress. Our solidarity lies with our class sisters and brothers in Central America. They are rising up against the poverty imposed by the same monopoly corporations that exploit us at home. This is why the government carries out its foreign policy behind the backs of the people, organized secretly by the "brave" Colonel Norths.
Fourth of July, a regular "home town" parade in Evanston, Illinois, outside Chicago -- with a twist. Instead of patriotic, flag-waving militarism, this parade had -- and for several years running has had -- a political contingent opposing U.S. intervention in Central America. This year the Persian Gulf was also a hot issue as several days earlier an Iranian airliner had been shot down by American missiles, killing all 290 passengers aboard. About 60 activists carried banners and shouted such slogans as "U.S. out, no more war, Persian Gulf to El Salvador," "Boycott South Africa, not Nicaragua," and "Stop the bombing, stop the war, U.S. out of El Salvador' ' as they marched two miles through Evanston.
Thousands of people along the way warmly applauded and cheered while a mere handful of reactionaries jeered. The anti-militarist sentiment of the crowd was an inspiration to the activists.
[Graphic.]
June 16 was marked here and around the world as Soweto Day. This was to commemorate the anniversary of the Soweto uprising in 1976. Four to five hundred activists gathered in Chicago in front of the South African consulate to protest the brutal apartheid regime and support the black people's struggle to smash it.
The slogan "Apartheid in South Africa, burn it to the ground,'' raised by the MLP contingent, caught on with the militant section of the mass picket and eventually united the whole crowd as no other slogan did. The picket turned into a march through the Loop, as it headed for the Chicago Temple, chanting the whole way.
(From the July 26 "Chicago Workers' Voice," paper of MLP-Chicago)
The Soviet Union has a big weight in world affairs. When it was revolutionary and socialist, it was a powerful source of support for the revolution of workers and oppressed peoples. But the present- day Soviet Union isn't socialist. It is a capitalist superpower, and its weight is thrown against the revolutionary movement.
The revisionist government of Mikhail Gorbachev is now rushing forward to expand bridges of cooperation with Western imperialism. It is using its diplomacy and political influence to cool down "regional conflicts'' around the world. What this means is that Moscow uses its influence over governments and political movements to pressure them to make deals with U.S. imperialism and its allies. In places where there are active revolutionary movements, this means increased revisionist pressure to cool down the revolutionary ferment. This treacherous activity is a new crime of Soviet revisionism against the revolution.
A prominent example of this is the Soviet Union's support for the Arias peace plan, a plan designed to isolate Nicaragua and roll back the victories of the revolution there. There is also Moscow's growing ties with Israel. And another example which is more and more coming to light is South Africa.
Soviet Ties to South Africa Are On the Rise
Officially the Soviet Union has no relations with South Africa. Unofficially the Soviet Union has long maintained contact with South African companies that control the production and sale of important minerals. But now the Soviet government is reaching out for contacts with the South African racist establishment.
Some South African professors have gone to the Soviet Union to meet with academics and officials, and a group of South African journalists is slated to visit the Soviet Union soon. To reach South African whites the Soviet Union has been beaming Afrikaans-language radio to South Africa for the past year. And the Soviet press is subtly altering its line on South Africa, toning down criticism of the racist government.
A striking example of the new line was given recently by Boris Asoyan, head of the Soviet diplomatic mission in Lesotho, a small country completely surrounded by South Africa. Asoyan invited a large group of whites from Johannesburg's Rand Afrikaans University to visit him in Lesotho. In his speech to the visiting Afrikaners Asoyan made a number of conciliatory remarks, including that the way South Africa is portrayed overseas "is a caricature, not a living image of a multifaceted, dynamic, extremely complex and confused reality.'' Such words are generally heard from outright apologists of the apartheid regime.
It is also reported that Soviet-made products have recently gone on sale in South Africa. These include hunting guns and four-wheel-drive vehicles. Apparently the Soviets are ignoring the boycott against South Africa.
Undermining the Anti-Apartheid Struggle
Developing ties with the white racist establishment is one side of the coin. The other is stepped up pressure on the African National Congress (ANC) to further tone down its politics.
The ANC isn't a truly revolutionary movement, but one which practices a policy of reformism with an occasional bomb. It would like to use the pressure of the anti-apartheid struggle to reach a deal with the racist rulers.
The Moscow revisionists have backed up this policy, but now the Soviet revisionists want the ANC to become more agreeable to the racists. Soviet academics and officials have been advising ANC on the need for "comprehensive guarantees for the white population'' and for special constitutional arrangements to allay fears of the racists about what will happen when blacks take power. There are also reports that Moscow wants the ANC to abandon the talk of armed struggle altogether.
The ANC leaders themselves are on this track and Moscow is one of their international friends pushing in this direction. It is reported that for the past two years they have been working on a new draft constitution. This will spell out what the ANC plans to do if it comes to power. The draft constitution is now said to be in the final stages of discussion by ANC leaders prior to adoption. It is reported to emphasize guarantees of private property rights and insist that South Africa maintain a "mixed economy," that is, capitalism. (New York Times, July 29, p. 4)
Stand Up Against Soviet Revisionism
All serious activists should look closely at what Gorbachev is up to. Even if you've had misplaced hopes in the Soviet Union earlier, Moscow's present course must be looked at squarely. The stands of the Soviet leadership in Central America, in South Africa, and in the Middle East are new crimes against the revolutionary struggles.
Going along with the Gorbachev policy is prescription for complete disaster. But the new turn of Soviet revisionism isn't cause for despair either. It should be an occasion to join the struggle against the revisionist corruption that Moscow passes off as Marxism-Leninism. It is cause to participate in the building up of a truly revolutionary international Marxist-Leninist movement. This is what our party stands for.
The racist government of South Africa reached a new low in July when it banned celebrations of the 70th birthday of Nelson Mandela, the imprisoned leader of the African National Congress (ANC). Mandela has been in prison since 1962; he was sentenced to life in prison for his opposition to apartheid.
Nationwide celebrations of Mandela's birthday had been planned as a way of protesting against apartheid and the state of emergency. Mandela is one of the most prominent political prisoners in South Africa, and the government has unjustly persecuted him for decades.
To enforce the ban on celebrations the government set up roadblocks around the prison where Mandela is confined. They also posted police guards around all the schools, homes and and fields in the vicinity.
A few actions were organized despite the ban. Students at the University of Cape Town organized a concert oh July 17 to celebrate Mandela's birthday. Police dispersed the concert after it began, however. Police also attacked people leaving a commemorative church service in Cape Town on July 18, dispersing them with tear gas.
The response to the government ban also showed up the weakness of the stand of the ANC and its associated groups in the South African movement. The ANC leadership speaks about revolution, and many South African activists are led to believe it follows a revolutionary policy. But in practice the ANC leaders advocate a reformist approach in the struggle. They use their militant declarations and a few armed actions here and there not as preparation for mass revolution, but to prod the white minority rulers into making a negotiated arrangement with them.
The ANC and pro-ANC forces did not take their Mandela birthday campaign as an occasion to push the struggle in a militant direction. They didn't organize to defy the government ban, instead they preached reliance on seeking legal recourse through the courts. And these methods again proved their worthlessness in today's South Africa.
But trimming one's sails to the government restrictions hasn't made the racist regime any nicer. The racists continue to step up their repression.
The state of emergency has just been renewed and has even been intensified. New rules aimed at community newspapers and freelance journalists which gave some report of the anti-apartheid struggle, tighten up press censorship. The government has just launched a new campaign to root out blacks who have been living in officially whites-only areas. And the government's new proposed labor law is aimed at crushing the black trade union movement.
It was the revolutionary mass struggle of the 70's and 80's that forced the government to recognize black trade unions and relax some surface features of racist apartheid. Now, the government is trying to take back these concessions and crush the anti-apartheid fighters.
Today it is clearer than ever that the only alternative to apartheid is revolution.
After using Africa as a source of slaves, and then ruthlessly exploiting its raw materials and labor power, Western imperialism has found a new use for it: as a garbage dump. Western countries are shipping thousands of tons of industrial and municipal waste to Africa every year. Toxic and radioactive waste that would never be accepted near any community in the U.S. or Europe is routinely shipped off to Africa.
One of the most striking examples of this is the mountain of incinerator ash piled up near the capital of the West African nation of Guinea. The ash, which is quite toxic, comes from the city garbage incinerator of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When asked why Philadelphia dumped its toxic waste on the residents of Guinea, the city bureaucrat in charge of getting rid of the waste simply said that other countries must draw up their own regulations for handling waste. The Christian Science Monitor quotes him as saying, "I cannot be someone else's government.'' It's very convenient for the Philadelphia bourgeois authorities to dump their trash on Guinea, but not so convenient for them to take responsibility for it once it's there.
The city fathers of another American city, Detroit, are trying to get another West African country, Guinea-Bissau, to accept 15 million tons of hazardous waste. For this Detroit is offering to pay Guinea-Bissau $40 a ton. This adds up to quite a lot for a small developing country; but to dump the same waste in the U.S., where it would have to be processed, would cost Detroit hundreds of dollars a ton.
So far Guinea-Bissau has refused Detroit's offer. But at the same time a Dutch company, Zatec, has contracted to build landfills in a number of African countries and to fill them with trash from Western imperialist countries. Zatec and other firms, as well as the cities, are able to get these contracts by offering African governments many millions of dollars to accept the trash. By accepting these offers, the African governments show they represent the local rich capitalists, who are willing to sell out the interests of their people for the sake of cash.
These countries lack the facilities to process the waste even as well as it is done in Western countries (which is none too good). The result is that some African officials get rich while the masses are stuck with mountains of toxic waste in their country.
And in addition to the "legal'' dumping, lots of trash is being illegally dumped in Africa. In Nigeria, ships from Europe were caught dumping thousands of tons of waste in the port of Koko. The waste contains toxic and radioactive substances. Two Americans were caught exporting 1,500 gallons of toxic waste to Zimbabwe; they had said they were exporting cleaning fluid. And there are reports of garbage being dumped off the shore of the Ivory Coast, and of radioactive waste from France being dumped in Benin.
It is notable that Philadelphia, which is already dumping in Africa, and Detroit, which wants to, are governed by black mayors, Wilson Goode and Coleman Young. How is it that these politicians adopt the same cruel attitude towards Africa as the white imperialist powers-that-be? It's because they are representatives of the black bourgeoisie, who don't give a damn about working people, whether they be black workers here or the toilers of Africa.
The dumping of toxic waste on Africa is a crime! It's not enough for the imperialists to pollute the air and ruin the water supply in Europe and North America. Oh no, they have to ruin the environment in Africa as well! One more reason why imperialism must go into the garbage dump and be replaced by socialism.
[Graphic.]
Recently electrical workers in El Salvador have gone on strike against the U.S.-backed Duarte regime.
The 3,500 workers began their strike on June 15. Their employer, the state-owned utility company, failed to meet the workers' demands for higher wages and better vacation and life-insurance benefits.
By mid-July the strike was still going strong. And the workers picked up support from peasants who supplied them with food.
The government reacted with its customary brutality. For example, on July 13, soldiers tear-gassed and clubbed a group of peasants who were delivering food to the strikers.
The death-squad regime in El Salvador has murdered some 70,000 opponents over the last eight years. But not only has armed resistance continued in the countryside, but strikes, student protests and other struggles continue to break out in the government-controlled areas.
For decades the military has ruled in Guatemala, suppressing the people with an iron hand. But now, the Reaganites assure us, democracy has returned to Guatemala. The Reaganite liars promote Guatemala as an example of democracy and civilian rule in Central America, as opposed to Nicaragua, which they regard as part of the "evil empire."
Yet the military still makes the law in Guatemala.
In May a number of military officers staged a revolt against the Cerezo government and the Defense Minister. It failed. Or did it? Ever since then, the Cerezo government has stepped up repression of the people in order to satisfy the demands of the dissatisfied militarists. The Cerezo government hasn't punished the ultra-right-wing officers who tried to overthrow it -- it simply reassigned some of them to other posts. Indeed the Cerezo government has appealed to them for support.
In particular, the Cerezo government has given a green light to the death squads and militarist thugs. In the last two months, a left-wing weekly was bombed. Other bombings and death threats were made against diplomats from Cuba and other revisionist countries. And the Cerezo government announced it could provide no protection at all.
Particularly notable was the murder of Soloman Eduardo Figeuro Tobar, an advocate of land redistribution. He had been one of the many people who had fled Guatemala in order to avoid the bloody repression of decades of military rule. He had returned from exile based on Cerezo's promises of reform and on the sweet talk about the Arias "peace" plan. Now he is dead.
So the military still rules the roost in Guatemala. President Cerezo is just a miserable figurehead.
But that doesn't bother the Congressional advocates of the Arias peace plan, which is supposed to apply to all of Central America. Whenever anyone sneezes in Nicaragua, they call this a violation of the Arias plan or a reason for more aid to the murdering bands of U.S.-organized contras. But let the right-wing forces and pro-U.S. governments of Central America bomb left- wing newspapers and murder opponents, and they are silent. No, they aren't silent, they pass hundreds of millions of dollars to reward the death- squad regimes and right-wing murderers. This is the real Arias plan in action.
On July 17, Honduran activists opened fire on U.S. soldiers in the northern city of San Pedro Sula. Four soldiers were wounded.
This attack shows the hatred of the Honduran people for U.S. domination of their country. The CIA uses Honduras as a launching pad for the U.S.-organized contras in their aggression against Nicaragua. The Pentagon has also set up military bases in Honduras, and U.S. troops carry out war exercises aimed at threatening Nicaragua. Moreover, U.S. aid props up the Honduran death squads.
This past April, in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, 2,000 demonstrators marched on the U.S. embassy, setting it ablaze. The Honduran people will never be reconciled to U.S. domination or their local oppressors.
The Democratic Party liberals love to posture as opponents of Reagan's contra war against Nicaragua. They say the Arias "peace" plan will bring peace and freedom to Nicaragua. But the peace rhetoric of the Democrats is phonier than a three-dollar bill. Just look what happened in mid-July when the White House stepped up war hysteria against Nicaragua! The Democratic-controlled Congress quickly passed near-unanimous resolutions denouncing the Nicaraguan revolution up and down.
On July 14, a resolution condemning Nicaragua as repressive was introduced by the leader of the Senate Democrats, Robert Byrd. Byrd threatened Nicaragua with fire and sword, stating that Sandinista actions "could cause Congress to consider the provision of additional humanitarian and other appropriate assistance, including military aid" to the contras. The measure was approved by Republicans and Democrats alike, passing by a vote of 91-4.
The next day the Democratic-controlled House passed a measure raving against Nicaragua's supposed "brutal suppression of basic human rights" by a vote of 385-18. Unlike the Senate resolution, the House measure did not call directly for military assistance. It preferred the often-used trick of supporting the contras under the guise of "humanitarian" aid.
When the Congressional windbags wail about lack of human rights in Nicaragua it is the height of cynicism. The gentlemen and ladies of Congress are backing the contras, a gang of thugs who make a point of burning down health clinics and farm cooperatives and murdering government officials. Elsewhere in Central America, they are providing hundreds of millions of dollars to finance the death-squad government of El Salvador and its civil war against the people. And they looked on without comment as the U.S.-backed Guatemalan government stepped up repression in June and July, and a prominent advocate of land redistribution was murdered.
There are some reformists who tell us that Congress will not only stop Reagan's war against Nicaragua but will even provide "reconstruction aid." Oh really? The landslide votes in Congress show h6w little difference there is between any of the capitalist politicians. From the Reaganites to the Democratic Party liberals, the capitalist politicians are all bitter enemies of the Nicaraguan workers and peasants. They are self-declared enemies of the Nicaraguan revolution.
In Chicago, the Marxist-Leninist Party called for commemorating the ninth anniversary of the overthrow of the tyrant Somoza with a march down 18th Street on Saturday, July 16. With speeches on street corners, as well as placards and leaflets, the marchers called for defense of the revolution. They denounced the fascist contras and the pressure from the White House and Congress to make Nicaragua bend to American dictate.
As well, the marchers opposed the policy of the Sandinista government of trying to buy off the capitalists and the U.S. imperialists with concessions. This policy means demobilizing the militant workers and peasants and undermining the defense of the revolution. A speaker declared that:
"The Sandinista policy of 'mixed economy' has been a disaster for the workers and peasants who keep pulling in their belts while the exploiters are given subsidies and privileges....
"We support the Marxist-Leninist Party of Nicaragua which is working hard to strengthen the workers' movement, to block the path to U.S. imperialist-sponsored reaction, and to open the way for a revolutionary power of the toilers."
[Photo: MLP,USA comrades take support for the Nicaraguan revolution to the sidewalks of Chicago to mark ninth anniversary of the people's triumph over dictator Somoza, July 19.]
The Reagan administration has taken great pains to portray the fascist contras as some sort of "democratic" force. Of course this has been no easy task. Among other things, the administration had to pretend that the contras were not dominated by military officers who had loyally served the bloodthirsty Somoza dictatorship that was overthrown by the Nicaraguan revolution in 1979. The CIA even rigged up a civilian "political" leadership to serve as a "democratic" facade for the former gun thugs for Somoza.
But this little charade keeps coming unglued. In mid-July, contra leaders voted 44-2 to bring Colonel Enrique Bermudez, the top contra military commander, into the "civilian" political leadership. Bermudez is now widely recognized as the most powerful of contra leaders.
And who is Bermudez? He was a colonel in the tyrant Somoza's notorious National Guard. He is also known as a supporter of military dictatorship who is suspicious of all civilian politicians. So much for Reagan's claims about a "democratic" contra leadership. So much for Reagan's claims that the contras too were against Somoza.
In fact Bermudez is such an incompetent fascist that his election has even caused dissension among the lower- ranking contras. To protest Bermudez' election, all the military commanders of the contra southern front, based in Costa Rica, announced their resignation from the main contra organization. They stated: "The election of Mr. Bermudez shows its [the contra leadership's -- ed.] steady and pronounced shift to the extreme right." Imagine that! Counterrevolutionary cutthroats are themselves denouncing Bermudez as a right-wing extremist!
Earlier, in April, Bermudez faced a revolt of some of his commanders in Honduras. These officers, who were exiled to Miami by Bermudez, claim that 58 former northern front commanders and key operatives have quit out of disgust with Bermudez.
Poor Reagan. Even his beloved contras are helping to destroy his fairy tale about the CIA's dirty war bringing democracy to Nicaragua.
North's criminal history includes:
* Participation in "Operation Phoenix," a CIA campaign during the Viet Nam war which murdered over 100,000 Vietnamese civilians suspected of sympathy for the liberation forces.
* As a member of Delta Force, an elite counter-terrorist commando unit, North participated in the 1980 Tehran hostage "rescue" fiasco and in the October 1983 invasion of Grenada.
* In 1985 he returned to Iran accompanying former National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane to set up arms for hostages deal.
* In the Reagan White House, North was made point man to coordinate support for the contras. North, Secord, and others set up and funded gun running and drug smuggling operations like the one Eugene Hasenfus worked for, which operated out of Ilopango Air Base in El Salvador. North's job also included fund raising, which took the form of funneling profits from the Iran arms sales to the contras. He also assisted in setting up an international contra support brigade which included Israel and Saudi Arabia, reactionary governments eager to assist U.S. imperialism in counterrevolution.
[Graphic.]
[Photo: Hunger protest in Santo Domingo, July 9.]
On July 9, hundreds of barrio residents joined together in a March of Empty Pots in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. They protested the high cost of living and the disruption of water and electric services.
A few months ago, Dominicans across the country took to the streets to protest hunger and poverty. They were suppressed by brute force by the right-wing government of Balaguer. But since the conditions remain the same, the masses remain angry. And demonstrations continue.
May 1st was International Workers' Day. On this day militant workers around the world took to the streets with marches and rallies. The cry, "Workers of the world, unite!" rang out everywhere as workers raised their voices against exploitation and tyranny.
In our June 1 issue, The Workers' Advocate reported on many of these May Day actions. Since then we have received some more reports of May 1st struggles which our readers will find interesting.
Philippines: Revolutionaries call for independent movement of the workers
On May 1st a huge workers' rally was held in Manila. The workers used this occasion as a day to protest the exploitation and repression they continue to suffer under the Aquino government.
The main sponsor of the rally was the May 1st Movement trade union center (KMU). After the fall of Marcos, the KMU leaders had conciliated with the Aquino regime and even invited Cory and her ministers to the platform of the May Day celebrations. But as Aquino's regime has stepped up its assault against the left, the KMU has returned to the opposition. Still, its stands are marked by reformist leanings.
But the KMU wasn't the only force at the 1988 May Day action. The photograph we publish is of a section of the May Day marchers who took part with fiery red banners and slogans of militant struggle and internationalist solidarity. They were mobilized by the Aggrupation of Independent Laborers' Associations.
Among other slogans, their banners declared: Crush the U.S.-Aquino total war! Establish the worker-peasant government! The emancipation of the working class is in the hands of the working class! We are one with you, workers of Iran, Nicaragua, Pakistan, etc.! Revisionism: roadblock to social change!
At the May 1st rally, revolutionary activists also circulated leaflets calling for the establishment of an independent revolutionary movement of the proletariat. They agitated in favor of a movement that would not tail behind the Aquino government and the bourgeoisie and that would be free from the vacillations of petty-bourgeois revolutionism -- these are problems which have marked the politics of the CP of the Philippines and organizations associated with it such as the KMU.
[Photo: Revolutionary workers in May Day action in Manila.]
Iran: Workers defy the Islamic regime
Iranian workers suffer under the ferocious dictatorship of Khomeini and the Islamic clergy. Workers do not have the right to hold their own political actions. The Tehran government itself sponsors official May Day events and forces workers to attend these rallies. Its aim is to give the impression that the working class supports the regime.
But workers find ways to oppose these official celebrations, and militants among them hold independent celebrations on May 1st. This year once again, the Iranian workers found various ways to express their defiance against the exploiters and the authorities.
The largest of the May 1st actions is reported from Sanandaj, the main city in Iranian Kurdistan. This is the second year that workers held such a big celebration. Last year 2,000 workers joined the May Day demonstration, but this year even more turned out.
Ten thousand workers came out for the May Day rally. A few days earlier, workers' representatives called on the local office of the Labor Ministry to get a site. After initial refusal, the officials agreed to allow the rally to be held at the city school; but they attached a series of religious and political conditions. This included the condition that a government official head the rally and speakers get approval for what they would say.
But when the workers gathered at the rally site, all those conditions were simply disregarded. Speakers spoke on the importance of May Day, they denounced capitalism as the source of the workers' problems, and they pointed to the need for a united struggle by the workers to uproot capitalist exploitation and suppression.
The workers at the gathering shouted revolutionary slogans such as "Long live socialism" and "Long live the Communist Party of Iran."
The authorities had tried hard to disrupt this action. They used threats, provocations, and security forces. But all to no avail. The workers of Sanandaj had again put up a magnificent display of their unity, strength and determination against the Islamic regime of the capitalists.
Other actions on May 1st included:
* Workers at Benz-e-khavar, a car assembly complex, decided to boycott the official ceremony and hold their own celebrations. But the regime's maneuvers prevented the workers from holding their own rally. Nevertheless, workers distributed leaflets within the official ceremony. These contained such demands as an end to the war, an end to compulsory overtime imposed on the pretext of the war, and the right to hold their own assemblies.
* At Pars Electric, which produces TV and other appliances, management canceled the May 1 holiday and told workers they must join the official ceremony. This was attended by the Iranian president Khamenei. But many workers remained on the factory floor in defiance and those who attended left one by one.
* Workers in the Kurdish town of Mahabad stopped work and celebrated May Day.
* May Day was also celebrated in the bases of Komala, the Kurdistan Organization of the CP of Iran. The rally included speeches, revolutionary songs and a play. Many peshmargas and a few guests took part.
(Taken from recent issues of "Report," newsletter of the Communist Party of Iran -- The Committee Abroad.)
The strike wave by Yugoslav workers continues against government austerity measures.
In early July, 4,000 workers from the country's largest rubber and shoe factory in Borovo gathered in the capital. They marched on parliament shouting "We want bread," and "We can fight." Police tried to bar their way, but the workers swept by the cops and stayed in the lobby for half an hour.
The same week, auto workers went on strike demanding a 100% increase in wages. Yugoslavia's inflation rate is a huge 175%.
Yugoslavia claims to be a socialist country, but in fact it has long been on the capitalist road. It is a pioneer of the perestroika type reforms that Gorbachev is introducing in the revisionist Soviet Union. But the Western-style capitalist reforms have been a disaster. And as the economy moves from debacle to debacle, the government imposes new austerity measures.
But the workers are not sitting still as the government traitors to communism tighten the noose around the people's necks. They are in a fighting mood.
[Photo: Rubber and shoe workers march on the parliament in revisionist Yugoslavia.]