WORKERS OF ALL COUTRIES, UNITE!

The Workers' Advocate

Vol. 17, No. 8

25¢ August 1, 1987

[Front page:

WHAT CONTRAGATE SHOWS ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION;

Down with the military regime! Freedom for the Haitian toilers!;

Support the revolutionary workers of Nicaragua! Help raise a roof for a workers' meeting hall!]

IN THIS ISSUE

WHAT CONTRAGATE SHOWS ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION

Down with the military regime!

Freedom for the Haitian toilers!

Support the revolutionary workers of Nicaragua! Help raise a roof for a workers' meeting hall!

Reagan's 'zero option' = 5,000 warheads

Gorbachev is no peace hero

The U.S. plays world policeman in the Persian Gulf

How the contragate criminals 'stand up for democracy'

Colonel North's plan for military rule in the U.S.

Young Reaganites denounced in Seattle

To hell with 'Ollie-mania'!

DOWN WITH RACISM!

• NYPD sets up 'black desk' to spy on anti-racist movement
• Demonstrators expose murder by New Orleans police
• Revenge murder by prison guards in Jackson, Mich.
• Demonstrations against KKK TV
• What should be done about youth violence in Detroit?

Strikes and workplace news

• LTV workers protest new takeback contract
• Bell helicopter strike beats back some concessions
• Monsanto workers strike
• Union rights won at nursing home
• First strike for Merced County employees
• Oak Ridge defense workers continue walk out
• Strikebreaking judges teach lesson
• GM engine workers oppose whipsawing
• Auto parts workers strike for higher pay
• International Paper workers fight back

Vote NO! to the sellout postal contract!

This contract stinks

Mayor Young champions repression against Detroit youth

The Senate's trade bill is no help for the workers

Reagan versus Congress on the trade bill

Different shades of chauvinism

Kennedy's plant closing bill is one big loophole

18 more victims of the government's war on the immigrants

Farm workers' struggle needs solidarity with the undocumented

Full rights for immigrant workers

Immigration law forges new chains for farm workers

U.S. imperialism, get out of Central America!

• Protest fills the streets of San Salvador
• The contras' phantom victory
• Contra chief denounced in Chicago
• Salvadoran death squads assault refugee activists in L.A.
• Where do the interests of the Panamanian workers lie?
  Neither with U.S. imperialism nor Noriega's dictatorship
• Meese winks at contra drug smuggling -- Congress winks at Meese

South Korean people have not been silenced

Chun's reforms: Door ajar for the liberals, shut for the masses

The militant upsurge has frightened the tyrant

The World in Struggle

• Mexican VW workers on strike
• Filipino peasants protest Aquino's land decree
• A battle against bus fare hike in Rio de Janeiro

[Graphic: Apartheid no! REVOLUTION yes!]

• Metal workers strike
• Workers organize in Namibia
• South African puppets massacre Mozambica
• A new round of repression

The Haitian people's struggle is unrelenting

Landlords and Tontons murder peasant demonstrators

Actions in solidarity with the struggle in Haiti

The black bourgeoisie and the Maoist RCP

'Detroit rebellion blues'

On the new peace plans

Support the Nicaraguan workers' press!

The class struggle in Nicaragua is on the rise

MLP,USA delegation returns from Nicaragua

WHAT CONTRAGATE SHOWS ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION

For months now there has been a big fuss over the 200th anniversary of the Constitution. We are being told that the Constitution guarantees freedom and liberty.

But is that so?

Let's see what the Constitution has to do with today's political events. There have been Congressional hearings for months now on the contragate crisis. The Reagan administration has been waging a private war on Nicaragua. It has been using murder and terrorism. What happened at the contragate hearings and how has the Constitution affected it?

Do the People Rule?

We are told that the Constitution provides for the people to decide on questions of war and peace. Only Congress can declare war, and Congress is elected.

But what happened in contragate? For years the Reagan administration has been waging an unpopular war against Nicaragua. And what have the Congressional investigators done? Have they "upheld the Constitution"?

Not at all. The contragate investigators have held that nothing in the Constitution stops Reagan from waging this war. Instead they argue over what was authorized by the "Boland Amendment." They moan that there is no "smoking gun" while thousands of Reagan's smoking guns are sitting on the border of Nicaragua or being airdropped by the CIA into Nicaragua.

Congress did nothing because Congress has known about the war for years. Congress doesn't want to do anything that prevents the Reagan administration from waging private wars all over the world. Congress goes along with Reagan in waging secret wars and flaunting the "will of the people." Congress only argues with Reagan over details and secondary issues. So much for the guarantees of the Constitution that the people rule.

Is Everyone Equal Before the Law?

The Constitution allegedly provides that everyone is equal before the law.

But the contragate hearings have shown that Oliver North and the whole Reaganite rabble are above the law. North can steal funds, shred government documents, support the contra network of drug and arms smugglers, and organize war on a country (Nicaragua) with which the U.S. is officially at peace. And not only North can do this. There is a whole secret government apparatus, from the National Security Council to the CIA, which acts at will.

And what does Congress do?

Nothing. Congress let North lecture them during the contragate hearings, because Congress needs people like North in order to carry on U.S. imperialist policy. The needs of imperialist policy are more important for them than anything the Constitution says about the rule of law. And indeed, isn't the whole CIA just a group of North clones running around with billions of dollars of funding?

Perhaps Special Prosecutor Walsh will indict North. But he will not indict North for waging war; and the whole slew of war criminals, from Reagan on down, will go unpunished. Indeed, Reagan will be able to pardon North or Poindexter at will. So these indictments will be at most a sideshow, that leave the entire apparatus of CIA and Pentagon men above the law.

North's Scheme for Martial Law in the U.S.

Just before North's testimony, it was revealed by the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain that North had worked on a plan for declaring martial law in the U.S. and setting aside the Constitution altogether. Here we have the most blatant contempt for the Constitution. Here we have conspiracy to overthrow the Constitutional government. And this came out during the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the Constitution.

And what did the contragate investigators do?

They didn't even bother North about this plan. They were totally unconcerned with it.

And no wonder. This plan for martial law isn't just North's personal crackpot scheme. The whole purpose of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), established in 1979, is to make plans for abandoning ordinary (Constitutional) government during an emergency. (And the Pentagon has its own plans concerning emergencies.) All the capitalist politicians recognize the need to keep dictatorial means of rule in reserve in case the working masses rise up. Their first loyalty isn't to the Bill of Rights or "Constitutional liberties,'' but to the continued rule of the big corporations.

The Capitalists Will Not Give the Workers Any Rights

And what's so surprising about the capitalists having plans to bring down the iron fist of the military during emergencies? What, after all, do those "defenders of the Constitution," the courts, do during such "small emergencies" as strikes?

Normally, court cases can drag on forever, through years and years of appeals and counter-appeals. But during a strike, this process is replaced by dictatorial "court orders." Police are brought in immediately to restrain the workers on the picket line and to escort the scabs to the factories. There is no waiting for years for Congressional votes or Supreme Court decisions. The court orders constitute miniature "emergency rule" in themselves. The individual judge invents penalties as he chooses. And, if necessary, the police are supplemented with the National Guard, as took place in the Hormel strike.

Only after the strike do the ordinary procedures resume.

And all this is Constitutional. It seems that the Constitution itself allows for the working class to be suppressed on behalf of the capitalist interests.

Class Struggle Is the Only Guarantee of the Workers' Rights

No, the Constitution guarantees the workers nothing. Under the Constitution, the workers can be suppressed. And Congress doesn't care about the Constitution anyway.

Rights are won through struggle.

For half a century after the Constitution was ratified, the slaves had no rights. It took the Civil War to free the slaves. And even then, the semi-slavery of racial discrimination still exists in the U.S.

For almost a century and a half after the Constitution was ratified, women didn't have the right to vote. They won this right through struggle.

For decades after the Constitution was ratified, trade unions were persecuted as a "restraint of trade." It took struggle for the workers to win the right to organize trade unions. And indeed, a whole slew of laws since World War II have hamstrung strikes and organizing drives and made a mockery of the workers' trade union rights.

And how are the workers going to bring about a new, socialist society? Can one believe that the Oliver Norths and Poindexters will simply sit still and obey the results of elections? Won't they dust off their plans for martial law and military bloodletting? No, it will take revolution to remove the big corporations from the ruling position in this country.

Only the class struggle can bring the workers rights. And only a socialist revolution can end exploitation and bring about a society where workers, and not dollars, rule.

[Photo: At the contragate hearings, the only voices heard to sharply denounce the criminal war on Nicaragua were from a few demonstrators. They were immediately pounced on by security officers and hauled off to jail.]

[Cartoon.]

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Down with the military regime!

Freedom for the Haitian toilers!

Haiti is again being rocked by rebellion. For the second time in a month, the country is shut down by a powerful general strike. From the capital, Port-au-Prince, to provincial towns, the toilers of Haiti want the ousting of the bloody U.S.-backed regime of General Namphy.

The latest general strike was set off when the army fired on a demonstration on January 26 in Port-au-Prince. At least 10 people were killed by the army and many more were injured.

The demonstration was being held on a day that Haitians, under the Duvalier dictatorship, were forced to celebrate as "Tontons Macoutes Appreciation Day." The Macoutes were the brutal militia of the Duvaliers. With the fall of Duvalier, the government was forced to formally disband the Macoutes but many of them were incorporated into the army or into private goon squads of the rich exploiters.

As a result of the current general strike, Port-au-Prince is paralyzed, and protest actions are reported across Haiti. Every day new clashes take place. And still more Haitian toilers are giving their lives in the fight against Namphy.

Why the Haitian People Fight

It is a year and a half since the despicable Duvalier tyranny fell. So why are the Haitian people still fighting on the streets? After all, didn't Reagan and Namphy bring democracy to Haiti, as the U.S. press and politicians would have us believe?

The truth is that neither the U.S. nor Namphy forced Duvalier out. It was the work of a massive popular uprising. Reagan's role was to send planes to fly the tyrant out, along with his loot. And the U.S. put in his place a junta made up of Duvalier's military chiefs and assistants. Namphy used to head up Duvalier's army.

Of course, the new regime, faced with an insurgent people, had to grant some concessions. For the first time in decades, the masses were able to organize in associations and unions. Strikes and other actions began to break out.

But Namphy's regime has shown to be at heart a government of Duvalierism without Duvalier. The old regime's repressive apparatus was not broken. The Tontons Macoutes are still committing atrocities against the people. Meanwhile, the army regularly fires on mass protests.

Namphy would prefer an outright military dictatorship. But there is a force that stands in his way -- a people who have tasted the experience of militant struggle. So, for the moment, he promises democracy while strengthening his armed machine. And he seizes opportunities to break down the spirit of the masses.

Several times over the last 18 months, the masses have risen up against Namphy's reactionary policies. Several times the upsurge has grown to the point of demanding that Namphy must go. But each time, bourgeois opposition politicians have stepped in to sell out the struggle. Just three weeks ago, they sold out another general strike.

But as the latest battles again prove, the treachery of the bourgeois politicians cannot hold down the struggle of the toilers.

Fueled by the Fight Against Poverty and Exploitation

For one thing, there is no letup in atrocities from the regime. For another, there are the miserable social conditions of the masses.

The daily lot of the Haitian toilers is intolerable poverty. Workers slave away for U.S., French, Canadian and local capitalists at three dollars a day or less -- that is, those who are lucky enough to have jobs. Two-thirds of the people are unemployed. And in the countryside, peasants face starvation and are cruelly exploited by savage landlords.

Namphy wants more foreign investors to come exploit cheap Haitian labor. And he demands more belt tightening by the toilers.

But you can't squeeze blood out of a stone. Poverty, exploitation, and austerity decrees have fed a growth in the class struggle. The motion unleashed by the fall of Duvalier has opened the way to class struggle against capitalists and landlords. Today's Haiti is marked by labor strikes. By peasant protests. By a growing outcry against exploitation.

Solidarity With the Haitian Toilers

American workers, the Haitian toilers need our support. Reagan and the U.S. imperialists are the number one supporters of the military regime in Haiti. They brought Namphy to power and they equip his regime with weapons and riot gear. And several times they have even threatened invasion to prop up his regime.

This is no surprise since U.S. imperialism was also the principal backer of the three-decade-long Duvalier tyranny. Washington is no friend of the Haitian people. It has their blood on its hands.

If things get too hot, they may reshuffle the regime again in Haiti. But that's not what the Haitian masses are fighting for. They want real change. And a revolution by the toilers is required for that. The struggle towards that revolution is what workers here in the U.S. should support.

[Photo.]

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Support the revolutionary workers of Nicaragua! Help raise a roof for a workers' meeting hall!

It's eight years after the people's victory. It's eight years after the workers and peasants overthrew the cursed Somoza dictatorship. Yet Nicaragua remains in the teeth of a storm.

From the outside, Nicaragua is being buffeted by the undeclared dirty war of the U.S. government. It is being squeezed by the economic blockade. It is being bled by Reagan's contras who continue to reap their harvest of terror, kidnappings and burned villages.

On the inside, the big businessmen and landowners have joined this dirty war. One of their principal weapons is economic blackmail and disruption. Their forces are grouped around their business associations, right-wing political parties and trade unions, and the top Catholic priests (who have received divine inspiration from envelopes full of dollars sent from Oliver North's White House office).

In the face of this pressure, the vacillating Sandinista government turns and bends. It grants the right wing one concession after the next. It gives to the wealthy economic subsidies and privileges. It whittles away at the gains of the revolution. But all this hasn't brought the class harmony that petty-bourgeois Sandinism promises. It has only puffed up the reactionaries and accelerated the economic disintegration.

Meanwhile, the workers and poor bear the brunt of the storm. They shoulder the rifles to fight off the CIA's mercenaries. They put up with the food shortages and every type of hardship.

But the workers and peasants are not just helpless victims or passive observers. They made the revolution. And they carry the hope of bringing Nicaragua out of its torment and carrying the revolution through to the final liberation of all the exploited and oppressed.

The workers, poor peasants and soldiers are seeking an independent path. They want a revolutionary alternative to both the compromising and bureaucratic policy of the Sandinistas, as well as to the right-wing opposition. This explains the growing influence of the working class party, the Marxist-Leninist Party of Nicaragua (formerly MAP-ML) and its Frente Obrero (Workers Front) trade union center. This explains the spread of Committees of Struggle and other independent organizations of the toilers from the huge San Antonio sugar complex, to the Metasa steel plant, to the mountain villages of Jinotega.

As part of this independent organizing, the Frente Obrero is building a workers' meeting hall in Managua. Up till now, such buildings in the capital have been monopolized by the capitalists and the Sandinista officialdom. Recently, the Frente Obrero obtained a modest structure in an industrial zone of the capital. The hall has walls. The hitch is that most of it does not yet have a roof. Putting up this roof will not be easy given the acute shortages of materials, currency devaluation, and other obstacles.

Here the Nicaraguan workers can make good use of assistance from their class brothers and sisters in the U.S. Over the next several months, the MLP,USA will be organizing a fund-raising drive to help raise a roof for this workers' meeting hall.

Through such acts of solidarity we can strike a blow against Reagan's economic blockade and aggression against Nicaragua. We can assist the independent organization of the Nicaraguan workers, making a political statement of solidarity with their revolutionary cause.

All opponents of the U.S. war to strangle Nicaragua should come to the aid of the revolutionary movement of the Nicaraguan workers and peasants.

Send contributions and inquiries and make out checks to the "Campaign for the Nicaraguan Workers' Press.'' Please designate "for the workers' meeting hall.''

[Address.]

[Photo: In front of the new workers' hall, Comrade Isidro Tellez (right), general secretary of the MLPN, and Comrade Fernando Malespin (left), a leader of the Frente Obrero trade union center.]

[Photo: The Frente Obrero workers plan to expand their hall by roofing In the rest of the building.]

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Reagan's 'zero option' = 5,000 warheads

For months the press has been full of talk about arms control. Will Reagan and Gorbachev sign an agreement? How many missiles will be eliminated? How many will be kept?

But the U.S. war drive goes on anyway. In the May and June issues of The Workers' Advocate we discussed the secret Pentagon budget and the preparations for World Wars HI and IV. These plans are based on the idea of a "winnable nuclear war." Billions are being spent on them. And no one has suggested that this will stop, no matter what the outcome of the arms negotiations.

But while presiding over a massive arms buildup, Reagan has talked of a ''zero option" for Europe. This is supposed to give the idea that Reagan is for no nuclear missiles in Europe. Why, Reagan pontificated, he isn't for the arms control deals of the past. These deals just slowed down the rate of increase of nuclear weapons. No, Reagan wouldn't just control arms, but cut them back, and end up with ''zero" weapons.

Reagan's "Zero Option"--Zero Honesty

But it turns out that Reagan's idea of a ''zero option" did not mean no nuclear warheads in Europe, but only no intermediate-range nuclear missiles. It turns out that Reagan wants to keep the 4,000 to 5,000 battlefield nuclear weapons, additional nuclear missiles on submarines, and originally the shorter range nuclear missiles as well. In Reagan's arithmetic, zero isn't the smallest number, meaning ''nothing," but is a monster number, bigger than 4,000. Indeed, Reagan also wants inter- mediate-range nuclear missiles from France, Britain and Germany to be retained as part of his huge ''zero." Reagan isn't for ''zero" nuclear weapons, but for zero honesty.

So in the last few months, now that Gorbachev has said that he likes the "zero option," the Reaganites went into a frenzy. Many of them have cried out that the "zero option" was just a bluff; it wasn't intended seriously. They have suddenly discovered that it doesn't make sense to only eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe without also having an agreement on short-range nuclear missiles in Europe. And when Gorbachev said fine, let's have the "double-zero" solution and eliminate short-range nuclear missiles too, the Reaganites suddenly discovered that they needed an agreement on conventional weapons as well. And, the Reaganites sputtered, there has to be agreement in Asia as well as in Europe. There has to be agreement on everything (except Star Wars, whose escalation is to be untouched by any agreement).

The "Double-Zero" Option

But suddenly, in the last few days, the Reaganites have discovered that maybe they can accept the double-zero option (banning both intermediate and short-range nuclear missiles in Europe). Of course, the double-zero will still allow the 4-5,000 U.S. nuclear warheads in Europe; it will still allow U.S. submarine-launched weapons; and it will still allow the non-U.S. section of NATO missiles. Indeed, the Reaganites are even fighting to allow 72 U.S.-controlled Pershing 1A intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Germany.

Perhaps the Reaganites suddenly noticed that this would amount to destroying four Russian missiles for every American missile. And the U.S. would destroy only between 100 and 200 warheads, hardly denting the stockpile of thousands of U.S. nuclear warheads in Europe.

U.S. Military Doctrine -- Nuclear First-Strike

The Reaganites are not after eliminating nuclear missiles, and various Reaganites continue to warn against even making the gesture of eliminating a few. It was just in June that outgoing head of NATO military forces, the American war-lover General Bernard W. Rogers, denounced any steps towards doing without nuclear weapons in Europe. He derisively condemned the very idea of eliminating nuclear weapons in Europe as making Europe safe for conventional weapons. And he claimed to be speaking for all NATO armed forces commanders.

General Rogers also stressed that the first-use of nuclear weapons in Europe has been a key part of U.S. military strategy for decades. So the U.S. government, which achieved notoriety for being the only country to have ever, dropped nuclear weapons in war, is planning to be the first to drop them in any confrontation in Europe. (This is in addition to the U.S. plans for a "strategic" nuclear first-strike against the Soviet Union.)

What a switch! From talk of the "zero option" to an open campaign about the need for the first use of nuclear weapons. So much for the honesty of Reagan administration talk about eliminating nuclear weapons!

And What of the Liberals?

Some liberal politicians have objected to Reagan's footdragging on arms control. But when you look at their reasoning, it isn't so different from General Rogers and the Reaganites.

The liberals have stressed that arms control doesn't really eliminate nuclear weapons, so why is Reagan so worried. The liberal New York Times and other major bourgeois mouthpieces stress that the "zero option" (and double-zero option) would leave the vast majority of American nuclear warheads in Europe in place. They point lovingly at the over 4,000 nuclear bombs in Europe which can be fired from artillery or other "tactical" delivery systems. They remind the militarists that this number could even be increased under the "zero option." What brilliant arms control!

American Foreign Policy Relies on Nuclear Weapons

The Reaganites will never abandon nuclear weapons. They hope to develop the capacity to win a nuclear war, and they hope to bankrupt the Soviet Union in a protracted arms race. Faith in superpower arms control deals means abandoning the struggle against war in favor of empty words. Even if a deal is hatched, this won't eliminate the war threat. The famous SALT agreements didn't. Nor will the current proposed arms deals.

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Gorbachev is no peace hero

At present, the Soviet Union is agreeing to one U.S. proposal after another, and the U.S. is retracting them as fast as Gorbachev can agree with them. This is yet another thing exposing Reagan's hypocrisy. It is the Pentagon that is pushing for a dramatic escalation against Russia in an attempt to bankrupt the Soviet Union and, if that fails, to launch a nuclear first strike.

But That Doesn't Make Gorbachev a Peace Hero

At present, Gorbachev appears to want a slowdown of the nuclear arms race with the U.S. and a relaxation of the U.S. world offensive. But that doesn't mean that Gorbachev is a peace hero. The Soviet Union, like the U.S., depends on a vast military arsenal to enforce its will. Just as the U.S. applies savage military force in Central America today and in Viet Nam yesterday, so the Soviet Union applies savage military force in Afghanistan today and Czechoslovakia yesterday. The U.S. funds a multitude of dirty wars and "covert" wars around the world, from Angola to Afghanistan to the Israeli trampling of Lebanon. Meanwhile the Soviet Union supplies the war efforts of the Ethiopian regime against the Eritreans, Tigreyans, and other insurgent forces in Ethiopia.

The U.S. military presently is on the offensive. But the question isn't which side currently has more crimes to its "credit." The issue is that both sides dominate vast empires abroad and face discontent at home. So neither side can abandon the policy of militarism. For both sides, pacifist words are simply the sugarcoating on the huge munitions dumps and military laboratories.

No Longer Socialist

It is no accident that the Soviet Union has joined in the filthy power politics of the capitalist powers. The present Soviet Union is no longer socialist. It is led by a bureaucratic elite which runs a state capitalist system.

On the economic front, the Gorbachev "reforms" are aimed at giving this system even more blatant capitalist features, such as dismissing millions of workers from their jobs in the name of efficiency. The new productivity drives and quality control drives are not based on worker consciousness but are imposed from above. They have roused wide-scale discontent. The Russian workers are skeptical about Gorbachev. The Western press says this is because Russians are "conservative" and love the bureaucracy that Gorbachev wants to trim. But the truth is that the Russian workers aren't happy about more capitalist exploitation.

In foreign policy, the Russian bureaucratic elite, having lost all faith in the workers of all countries, has turned the Soviet Union into another imperialist superpower. It relies on wheeling and dealing with the capitalists and militarists of other lands, such as Reagan. Gorbachev is continuing this policy.

We oppose the U.S. imperialist superpower not for the sake of its rival superpower, but for the sake of opposing all the capitalist powers.

What Is the Force that Really Opposes Militarism and War?

No, the regimes of exploiters will never end militarism. It has never been the case that the regimes of militarism and war have peacefully balanced among themselves and abandoned war. War takes place for definite reasons, to preserve the profits of the exploiters. So to eliminate aggressive war, one must eliminate the ruling classes that make these profits.

It is the working class in all countries that must rise up to eliminate capitalist rule. It is the class conscious working class that is the real force against international mass murder. The only real way to fight militarism is to organize the working class, to advance the class struggle, and to build the revolutionary movement. To believe in the words of the U.S. politicians about "arms control" and "zero options" is to believe in the sugarcoating over the frenzied preparations for nuclear first strike. To believe in the Gorbachev policy is to lay down and ask to be betrayed as part of a superpower deal or ask to be massacred by the local exploiters like the Ethiopians.

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The U.S. plays world policeman in the Persian Gulf

The Reagan government is plunging its imperialist fangs deeper into the oil-rich Persian Gulf. Swaggering around as the superpower policeman of the world, Reagan declared the U.S. navy will "keep open the sea lanes." Of course Reagan lies that all of this is for "peace." In fact, the U.S. government is out to control the region and, to achieve this, it is openly taking the side of the Iraqi regime in the war between the reactionary governments of Iran and Iraq.

The U.S. government has repeatedly issued threats of "preemptive" and/or "retaliatory" strikes on Iran. A task force of eight U.S. warships now maraud the Persian Gulf. Another task force, around the aircraft carrier USS Constellation, is placed in the Arabian Sea with the declared aim of being within range to launch air strikes against Iran. And the USS Missouri, announced to be most suitable for firing into Iran, is steaming towards the Gulf.

This has nothing to do with guaranteeing free passage for all. The Reagan government has turned a blind eye towards the Iraqi regime's aggressive attacks on Iranian oil tankers. And in the name of "protecting" the sea lanes, the administration has pointed U.S. guns towards Iran.

In mid-July -- playing a dangerous game of brinksmanship -- U.S. warships began escorting oil tankers of one of Iraq's main allies, Kuwait. And the Reagan government threatened retaliation against Iran if the ships were attacked. But then, one of the tankers was damaged by a mine. And Reagan backed down from his threats, for the moment, claiming he didn't know who had set the mine. Still, further escorts for Kuwaiti tankers are set for August, and the U.S. government may yet charge into the war.

The U.S. government has no business sticking its nose in the Persian Gulf. It is only encouraging the bloodbath in order to carve out spheres of influence and plunder for imperialism. U.S. workers must raise our voice against this latest imperialist adventure.

Doves of "Peace" or Sparring on the Reactionary War?

The Reagan government claims that its actions are aimed to bring "peace" to the region. But this is an obvious lie. The U.S. government has been deeply involved in spurring on this reactionary war from the beginning. It has taken one side or another, sending vital arms to the hangman Khomeini regime one day and the next encouraging the reactionary Iraqi regime and its Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabian allies.

Recently, the U.S. government has come out more strongly for the Iraqi reactionaries. The Iran-contra arms scandal has blocked the inroads the Reagan government was building in the Khomeini regime, at least for the time being. Meanwhile, the Soviet social-imperialists have been building up their influence in the region through arming Iraq, protecting Kuwaiti oil shipments, and so forth. These and other factors have forced the White House to line up closer with the Iraqi regime and to enter more directly into the reactionary war on the Iraqi side.

Democrats Back U.S. Imperialism's Drive for Control of the Oil-Rich Region

Behind all the White House maneuvers, secret dealings, and gunboat diplomacy, stand the interests of U.S. imperialism. Oil from the Mideast is essential for the economies of many countries, and control of that region means greater influence in vast areas of the world. That is why Secretary of State George Shultz declared that "the worse thing that can happen to the United States is to be sort of pushed out of the Persian Gulf." (Washington Post, June 29)

That is also why the Democratic Party, despite its control of both the House and the Senate, did not stop Reagan from going forward with his plans.

Although Democratic Party liberals made a lot of noise against Reagan's war moves, they could not even pass a bill to "delay" the start of escorting the Kuwaiti tankers. And later, after one of the tankers hit a mine, they did not call for an immediate stop to the dangerous policy. Instead they are only putting up legislation to stop the escorts after six months, unless Congress approves them. In other words, if Reagan doesn't attack Iran in six months well, then Congress will discuss whether to give him more time.

Even this legislation, however, is not likely to pass since many Democrats are opposing it. For example, Senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) -- who was one of the most vocal opponents of Reagan's policy -- declared, "Now that the President has decided to do this and we are there, we have to make up our minds not to be quick to abandon it." (New York Times, July 25)

The Democratic Party is not trying to stop Reagan's war moves because it is an imperialist party just like the Republicans. Imperialism demands control of the oil-rich Middle East, and both the Republicans and Democrats dance to that tune.

U.S. Imperialism, Get Out of the Persian Gulf

The American workers have no interest in this war. It harms the workers and peasants in both Iran and Iraq. It helps nobody but the greedy imperialists and the oil sultans and reactionary governments in that region.

Our hope lies with the revolutionary workers in Iran and Iraq who are opposing the war and organizing to overthrow their own reactionary regimes. We must give them our support and raise our voices against the aggressive adventures of our "own" U.S. imperialist government. Down with the reactionary Iran-Iraq war! U.S. imperialism, get out of the Persian Gulf

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How the contragate criminals 'stand up for democracy'

Colonel North's plan for military rule in the U.S.

Today the capitalist politicians are filling the country with hosannas to the Constitution. And the Reagan administration is presenting itself as "strict constructionists" of the Constitution. But all this is sheer eyewash to fool the common people. The only thing the capitalists care about is their continued rule.

What, for example, would the Reagan administration do in the case of a vigorous mass movement against an expanding war in Central America? Would it say, "We must protect the constitutional rights of the demonstrators and dissidents"? Not likely. Would it say, "The government must obey the will of the majority and withdraw from the war"? Be serious. What the Reaganites really dream about has recently been exposed to light.

On July 5 the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain revealed that Colonel North, the pro-contra fanatic who is now the darling of the bourgeoisie, had in 1984 helped prepare a Reagan administration plan to impose martial law on the U.S. in the event of an emergency. The Constitution was to be suspended, and military officers were to be appointed to run state and local government. This plan was not just for nuclear war, but was also to deal with civil disorder. One of the situations for which the plan was specifically designed was the case of massive U.S. military mobilization or new invasions of other countries.

The overall supervision of the plan was to be assigned to FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And North worked on this plan as part of his role as liaison man of the National Security Council (the highest U.S. military and intelligence agency, responsible only to the president) to FEMA. FEMA itself was created in 1979 (that is, under the presidency of the Democrat, Jimmy Carter) to deal with emergency situations. The martial law is to be put into effect through presidential order. That is, it would only require Reagan's signature on an executive order.

The Knight-Ridder newspaper chain pretended that this plan had met vigorous opposition. But all it could come up with was a letter from then-Attorney General William French Smith to Robert McFarlane, then Reagan's national security adviser. In fact, in one form or another, various contingency plans for martial law now exist in the military and executive agencies.

Reagan's Fascination With Emergency Plans

Contingency plans for military dictatorship are a standard part of government planning these days. Reagan himself has shown a peculiar fascination with them.

For example, as Governor of California, Reagan organized a series of war games on the theme of military dictatorship. They were code-named Operation Cable Splicer I, II, and III and involved state and local police, the California National Guard, and elements from the U.S. Sixth Army. In front of 500 military and police leaders, Reagan told the opening meeting for Cable Splicer II:

"You know, there are people in the state who, if they could see this gathering right now and my presence here, would decide their worst fears and convictions had been realized--I was planning a military takeover." (Village Voice, July 21, 1987, p. 15)

The Principles of Martial Law

Another participant in Operation Cable Splicer was General Louis Guiffrida, then a colonel and head of Reagan's California Specialized Training Institute, which was a school for the National Guard. General Guiffrida was director of FEMA in 1981 through September 1985. Thus he was at FEMA when North helped prepare the martial law plan. So it is interesting to see what General Guiffrida wrote in a manual entitled "Legal Aspects of Managing Civil Disorders," which is used to train state police and national guardsmen:

"No constitution, no statute or ordinance can authorize Martial Rule. [It] comes into existence upon a determination (not a declaration) by the senior military commander that the civil government must be replaced because it is no longer functioning anyway....The significance of Martial Rule in civil disorders is that it shifts control from civilians and to the military completely and without the necessity of a declaration, proclamation or other form of public manifestation....As stated above, Martial Rule is limited only by the principle of necessary force."

The Pentagon on Martial Law

When questioned about martial law, government spokesman now routinely scoff, point out that this or that law bars it, or say that FEMA does not have the power to arrest people. But these are evasions. The point is that the military rule will supplant the ordinary civilian laws. It may be directed by Reagan (or his successor). Or the military itself may act.

Indeed, the Pentagon even envisages that individual high-level military commanders may act on their own authority. For example, a 1981 Department of Defense directive states:

"...Normally a state of martial law will be proclaimed by the President. However, in the absence of such action by the President, a senior military commander may impose marital law in an area of his command where there has been a complete breakdown in the exercise of government functions by local civilian authorities."

The Constitution in Public, Military Rule in Reserve

When the capitalist politicians sing about the Constitution, they don't tell the workers that military rule is being kept in reserve. And the plans for military rule are now generally kept secret. They are like the stealth bomber: it officially doesn't exist, but everyone knows it is there.

For example, the military now denies the existence of Operation Cable Splicer. Yet government documents on this exercise in military dictatorship had been obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the journalist Ron Ridenhour, who wrote about them in 1975 in the Arizona alternative weekly New Times.

Concentration Camps for Blacks

In developing these plans, the Reaganite FEMA gave special attention to arresting the black people. In 1970 General Guiffrida, then a student at the Army War College in Pennsylvania, had written a paper advocating martial law in case of a national uprising by black militants. He proposed the rounding up into "assembly centers or relocation centers" (concentration camps) of 21 million American blacks. The Miami Herald reports that this paper was reworked by FEMA in the period when North and Guiffrida worked together on martial law plans.

It seems that what the Jews were for German reactionaries, the blacks are for American Reaganites. Even though a section of Jews attained high political positions in Germany, the Nazis murdered the Jews as a whole. Today some of the black bourgeoisie have obtained high political positions by serving the capitalist rulers heart and soul. This includes such black mayors as Coleman Young of Detroit and Wilson Goode of Philadelphia. But their positions with the ruling class in no way mean that the blacks are safe from concentration camps. In fact, by working to paralyze the fighting will of the black masses, the black bourgeoisie increases the threat to the black people.

The Iran-Contra Committee Overlooks This Indiscretion

The exposure of the contingency plans for military rule came out just as wild-man North was about to testify before the congressional Iran-contra committee. But the committee, which postures as concerned with congressional oversight, wasn't concerned with the threat of martial law. To be precise, it was only concerned that these plans remain a secret. Chairman Inouye at first prevented questioning on martial law, demanding that such questions be done in secret session only. Then he later allowed "friendly" questioning of North on this subject where North was asked a routine question to give him the chance to make a lying denial. (This, of course, was also how Inouye treated such issues as contra drug dealing, smuggling, crimes, etc.)

This means that Congress too wants to keep the plans for military dictatorship in reserve for future use. It doesn't want to jeopardize these plans by premature exposure, just as it doesn't want to jeopardize the spy operations of the CIA or the covert military operations of the Pentagon.

For example, we have quoted above a Defense Department directive on how to carry out military dictatorship. Who wrote this directive? It was Frank Carlucci, the same Frank Carlucci who was brought in to clean up the mess after the Iran-contra scandal broke out and Poindexter and North resigned, the same Frank Carlucci who was applauded by Democrat and Republican alike as a wonderful man to head Reagan's National Security Council. So one defender of military rule is out, and another one is put in his place. And Congress is satisfied.

The Significance Today of Martial Law Plans

The existence of these plans isn't just a matter for the distant future. It shows what the government is thinking about today. The capitalist politicians are not making contingency plans to end mass poverty, but to enforce oppression with an iron hand. There are protracted plans to establish big computer networks to hunt down suspects. There is the closer integration of the various forces of "law and order." There is the building up of the police forces, the prisons, and the military.

These plans are also being put in effect piecemeal in the training of red squads, tactical police units, and other personnel. Many of the graduates of Operation Cable Splicer are now directors and operatives of such units. And the policemen and guardsmen and military officers trained in the spirit of martial law are hardly likely to have high regard for democratic rights.

And martial law itself will not necessarily be declared as a protracted military dictatorship. As the Defense Department envisages, it may also be used in individual areas of the country, while leaving other parts under civilian control. Or martial law may be used temporarily to drown a workers' movement in blood. Once the masses are intimidated and the radicals killed or incarcerated, the government can be turned over again to civilian authorities and the glories of constitutional rule in the U.S. can be sung.

There is only one answer to these attacks. It lies in the revolutionary organization of the working class. The exposure of the plans for martial law helps eliminate the illusions of the working people in the glories of "American democracy" and constitutionalism. It teaches that the working class must rely on its own militancy and dedication.

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Young Reaganites denounced in Seattle

To hell with 'Ollie-mania'!

On July 9-12 the National Young Republicans' Convention was held in Seattle. "Young," for a Republican, means under 40, and even so the entire delegation from New York didn't actually qualify. The Republican presidential candidates came to woo votes with that old-time Reaganite religion of dollar-worship, chauvinism, and Ollie-mania. But the masses in Seattle also came -- to denounce this sickening spectacle.

About 100 people picketed in front of the Sheraton Hotel when warmonger Haig, one-time secretary of aggression under Reagan, addressed the conference. Seventy people rallied Friday morning to denounce Vice-President Bush when he arrived. (Eighteen were arrested when they went into the hotel with a banner to carry out civil disobedience.)

Four Hundred Denounce the Full Metal Jackasses

And then on Saturday 400 people showed up for a protest march. They were spirited and militant. Many were there to demonstrate their opposition to Ollie-mania. A number of people unaffiliated with any organization showed up, some carrying home-made picket signs picturing Colonel North with the title "Full Metal Jackass."

From start to finish, political slogans were shouted loudly and with clenched fists: Hey, hey, CIA, how many people did you kill today? Murder, rape, torture, lies, that's what contra money buys. U.S., CIA, out of Nicaragua! U.S., CIA out of South Korea! We've got to beat back the Reagan attack.

The demonstrators marched to the hotel where a row of mounted police "guarded" the Reaganite convention. The protesters stood in the street facing the hotel for an hour and shouted slogans against the Republicans and the contra war.

Ollie, Ollie, Ollie --Fascist, Fascist, Fascist!

At one point 30 "Young" Republicans, some with gray hair, came outside the hotel and looked on from behind the police lines. Eventually they launched the slogan "Ollie, Ollie, Ollie." Immediately the protesters came back with "fascist, fascist, fascist" and gave the nazi salute to the Republicans. This silenced the Reaganites for a while. But they tried again with "Ollie, Ollie, Ollie," this time receiving the answer "jail him, jail him, jail him." The Young Republicans again quickly shut up, and some older Republicans came outside and shoved them back inside the hotel.

After thoroughly denouncing the Republicans at the hotel, the protesters marched through downtown and back to the starting point.

Reagan Lies, Congress Buys, Nicaraguans Die

In the events of these days, speakers who denounced North and the crimes of the Reaganites got eager applause. In a rally in front of the Sheraton, there was an open mike. A supporter of the Marxist-Leninist Party spoke and denounced the congressional Democrats for supporting the contra war. He raised the slogan: "Reagan lies, Congress buys, Nicaraguans die," which was taken up enthusiastically.

How Can a Leftist Refuse to Denounce the Reaganites?

It is notable that most of the reformist forces boycotted the demonstration altogether. The liberals and reformists who organized the April 25 demonstration boycotted both the planning of the demonstration and the events. This included the Rainbow Coalition, the pro- Soviet revisionists of the "Line of March" group, the trotskyite SWP, the Central American Peace Campaign, etc. A lot of church and pacifist groups also boycotted. The Democrats don't want militant demonstrations against the Republicans, so neither do those who trail behind them.

Certain other groups did take part, including part of the pacifist and civil disobedience forces. But most of these forces refused to oppose the Democrats. They restricted their attacks on Reaganism to the Republican Party. It was our party, the proletarian trend represented by the Marxist-Leninist Party, that both participated in the actions and vigorously denounced the Democrats as partners of the Reaganites.

The bourgeois press barely mentioned the demonstration. They were all out to promote Ollie-mania, and lovingly reported each doing and saying of the Young Reaganites. But they didn't want to report that the ordinary masses were disgusted at Ollie-mania and that this disgust provided momentum and militancy to the demonstration.

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DOWN WITH RACISM!

NYPD sets up 'black desk' to spy on anti-racist movement

In New York, the mass movement against racism has continued to develop since the racist murder in Howard Beach. Fearing the growth of mass struggle, the New York Police Department (NYPD) has been stepping up its activities against the anti-racist movement.

According to a series of articles published in the New York Newsday the NYPD has set up a "black desk'' to carry out systematic spying and surveillance in the black community. This spying is particularly directed at the anti-racist militants! For at least two weeks the "black desk'' taped broadcasts of a black radio station where people called in to oppose racist attacks. As well, the "black desk'' has sent undercover police into the black community to attend meetings, record and photograph militants, and build up police files on those speaking out against racism.

Police Commissioner Ward Denies, then Admits and Justifies, the "Black Desk"

Benjamin Ward, the black police commissioner of NYPD, has been under a lot of fire for his attempt to cover up the Howard Beach murder. When confronted with the reports about the "black desk'' his first response was to deny them.

But when it became clear that his denials fooled no one, he admitted that spying was going on. However, he claimed this was only a matter of a lower-level officer authorizing the monitoring of the black radio station.

Then Ward twisted again and began trying to justify the police actions as commendable spying against supposed terrorists. He said the police were only spying on the "New York 8" (petty bourgeois nationalists who are prominent in the anti-racist movement). The police had tried to prosecute the "New York 8'' in 1986 on charges of conspiracy to commit bombings and jail breaks. But there was no evidence. And so, unable to convict the "New York 8" for bombings, the police cooked up leaser gun charges to convict them on.

Finally Ward was forced to admit that undercover police were tape-recording and photographing meetings in the community that the "New York 8" hadn't even attended. The NYPD is obviously using this surveillance of so-called criminals to cover up the stepped- up attacks on the black community.

Spying by the NYPD in Response to the Growing Anti-Racist Movement

The stepped-up mobilization of the police is an obvious response to the development of a militant anti-racist movement. The racist attack in Howard Beach in December 1985, and the numerous racist police attacks and murders in New York, has spurred on the anti-racist fighters.

The bourgeoisie and its police were caught unaware by the rapid growth of opposition to racist attacks. The police became especially worried following the heated demonstration of 4,000 people that marched to Mayor Koch's home and denounced him for trying to cover up the Howard Beach murder.

Worried that things might get out of their control, the NYPD began to show up in larger and larger numbers at subsequent demonstrations. For example, recently there was a protest against a racist firebombing of the home of a black family in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Two thousand police showed up equipped with guns and video cameras. They far outnumbered the protesters.

Ward Prepares for a "Long Hot Summer"

The stepped-up police surveillance and spying on the black community is but part of an overall campaign to intimidate and harass the masses who are standing up to oppose racist attacks by the police and other racists.

In May, Ward issued a statement warning of a possible "long hot summer.'' A few weeks later he began training the NYPD in special anti-riot procedures. Starting with a briefing of 450 officers on the ins and outs of crowd control, he then mobilized 200 police officers to carry out a mock riot exercise in a New York community on June 18. The exercise included throwing up police barricades and searching the people in the area for drugs.

Two days later a black West Indian was beaten to death by police in the Bronx. When a crowd gathered to protest the police murder, they were threatened by the police and told that "a lot of you are going to die this summer."

Outrage Continues to Grow

As the reports of the police spying and harassment come to light, the outcry from the community gets louder and louder. Calls have poured in to the black radio station expressing total disgust and outrage at the activities of the NYPD and Ward. Rather than its intended intimidation, the increased attacks against the militant anti-racist movement seem to have increased the hatred and anger of the people against the New York police.

Demonstrators expose murder by New Orleans police

Charles Steward, a 21-year-old black worker, was shot and killed by police in New Orleans on June 28. The next day 40 of his friends, family and co-workers demonstrated against the police terror in front of the 5th precinct police station in New Orleans.

The demonstrators denounced Steward's death as clear-cut murder by the police. For no apparent reason, two cops had drawn their guns and chased Charles and a friend. The friend was caught and thrown against a wall. Then two shots were fired at Charles. One caught him in the head.

Telling typical lies, the police department claims the cop's gun went off "accidentally" when Steward struggled with him. But people in the neighborhood say there was no such struggle. As well, the autopsy revealed no bruises, or scratches -- no signs of struggle at all. Further, the medical reports prove the gun was fired from at least three feet away, not in some hand-to-hand tussle.

Police lies can't hide the truth. Charles Steward was murdered. His family and friends are demonstrating to expose the police as the coldblooded killers they are.

Revenge murder by prison guards in Jackson, Mich.

On July 8 and 9, a march and rally were held in Jackson, Michigan to condemn prison authorities for their attempt to cover up the murder of an inmate at the Jackson State Prison. Oscar Rowls Jr., a 41-year-old black man, was brutally beaten and choked to death by a dozen prison guards when he resisted being strip-searched in the presence of a female guard.

The protesters denounced the murder and the subsequent inquest, which was held to officially absolve all guards of any wrongdoing. The death was ruled "accidental."

Jackson State Prison is the largest walled prison in the world. In recent years, the prison population has swelled to over 6,000 inmates who are mostly black and other minorities. Tensions have run high with the severe overcrowding. Cells built to house one man frequently now hold two or three. As well, racist insults and physical attacks on inmates and between them have been growing.

A few months ago, a female guard was brutally raped and murdered. This was a horrible crime, but it was used to step up the harassment and attacks on any and all of the prisoners. Prison guards didn't care who was guilty. They were out for revenge. And so Oscar Rowls was murdered.

[Photo: Part of protest against murder by guards in Jackson Prison.]

Demonstrations against KKK TV

A spirited anti-Klan demonstration was held on July 15 in Dublin, California. It protested an attempt by the KKK to get a racist talk show on the public access channel of cable TV. The talk show is called "Race and Reason." It features Tom Metzger, the former Grand Dragon and leader of the "White Aryan Resistance," spewing racist and anti-semitic venom.

The protest was organized by several local youth. One of them declared at the rally that "racism has no place anywhere, especially in our town.

We've got to stop it before it spreads!"

This is not the first time the KKK has tried to air its racist filth. Last month in Chicago, some 50 people protested the airing of "Race and Reason" on a local cable network. They demonstrated outside. the station the night of the broadcast.

Students at the California State campus in Fullerton, California held weeks of protests last year when it was discovered that the KKK talk show was being taped there. The taping of the show was moved somewhere else after the students threatened to hold a sit-in.

[Photo.]

What should be done about youth violence in Detroit?

On July 18, a march of 1,500 people was held in Detroit to commemorate the growing number of youth who have been gunned down as a result of drug trafficking, gang violence, and thefts or who have simply been the victims of accidental shootings.

In recent years an hysterical campaign against "youth crime" and "violence" has been whipped up in Detroit in order to step up police repression against the youth. Unfortunately the leaders of this march did not oppose this reactionary campaign. They are the heads of SOSAD (Save Our Sons and Daughters). It is a support group for families of the youthful victims of gunfire which has issued a program of minor reforms -- education, drug rehabilitation and neighborhood projects -- to draw the youth away from street crime. While the leaders of SOSAD have themselves mainly not called for more repression against the youth, they did invite Mayor Coleman Young to be the featured speaker at the march. And Young has been one of the loudest champions of more repression against Detroit youth.

The masses who came out to march, however, showed that they do not favor more repression on the youth. Many vigorously booed Young's defense of the police and his wishful declaration that there will be no more black rebellions in Detroit. Many were also eager for the revolutionary agitation of the Marxist-Leninist Party.

The Party distributed hundreds of copies of the Detroit Workers' Voice with articles on the recent protest against General Motors plant closings and on the lessons of the black rebellion in Detroit 20 years ago. Hundreds of Workers' Advocates were also grabbed up by the masses. And many discussions were held on building up the fight against plant closings and unemployment, racism and police brutality, poverty and the rotting educational system. Demonstrators were enthusiastic for the Party's views on fighting the social evils which have given rise to crime and violence among the youth.

Capitalism offers the sons and daughters of the working masses nothing but bad education, police repression, unemployment or serving as cannon fodder in the U.S. imperialist military. With such sorry prospects for the future some are enticed into petty crime and driven to preying on each other. The hope for our young people lies in socialist revolution to overthrow this rotten system and its offspring -- youth crime.

Instead of attacking each other, the youth must be mobilized into the fight for jobs and a decent education and against the impoverishment, police repression and racism that plague them. More police measures against the youth won't help a thing. By building up the movements of the working masses and drawing the youth into the struggle, we can inspire them with progressive ideals and give them a role in fighting for a hopeful future.

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Strikes and workplace news

[Graphic.]

LTV workers protest new takeback contract

[Photo: LTV workers tell the International reps of the USWA: "Take your lies and go home," East Chicago, Indiana.]

LTV is trying to impose another concessions contract on its 23,000 workers. But workers are mounting a fight to reject it.

On July 15, active and retired workers carried protest signs outside the District 31 informational meetings. The signs declared, "Take your lies and go home." They were directed against the steel workers' international union reps (USWA). The hacks had come to sell the workers on still more concessions to LTV. Workers from two locals also passed out leaflets calling for rejection of the contract.

Inside the meeting, workers continually interrupted the sales pitch with calls for a strike. The union leaders told the workers that "this was the best we could do." And they threatened that if the workers voted down this tentative agreement, the bankruptcy judge might impose an even worse contract on them. LTV is the second largest steel maker in the U.S. But it is under Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Backed up by the courts, LTV has repeatedly used its bankruptcy claims to wring more concessions out of the workers. But many workers have had enough.

When Jim Smith, an assistant to USWA president Lynn Williams, warned that a no-vote would mean a strike, workers responded with wild cheering for a strike. Two hundred workers walked out of the meeting to show their disgust for Smith and the USWA hacks' sellout deal.

The tentative agreement was reached June 25. It is virtually identical to the one proposed on May 12 which even the local union presidents rejected. The agreement calls for the elimination of about 750 jobs, co-payments on medical insurance, and a wage freeze until at least April 1990. The pension funding system is changed to be worth less than the old formula. And it is not guaranteed by the federal Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. (PBGC). The contract is set to last until LTV emerges from bankruptcy, whenever that will be.

Due to the strong protests by the retirees, LTV has promised to restore about 95% of the early retirement benefits which 9,000 retirees lost when the PBGC refused to pay it. But out of this they will have to pay $322 a year for medical benefits. And the PBGC has threatened to challenge this restoration provision in court. If it wins, the clause and the retirees' money are down the drain again.

The workers at LTV are angry with the USWA hacks for serving them up on a platter to the endless appetites of the company and its creditors. As one worker put it, "We're sick of hearing about Reagan and foreign steel. What about fighting management? It's time the international stopped telling us what the company is going to do. It's time for the union to tell LTV what the union will do."

Bell helicopter strike beats back some concessions

After three weeks, the 3,900 workers at Bell Helicopter ended their strike and returned to work with a partial victory. The company precipitated the strike by demanding that the new contract provide lump sum payments instead of actual wage increases and that the workers start paying part of their own health insurance premiums. The strike saved the full health benefits. It also won a 5% increase in base wages in the third year of the contract. But Bell forced through its plan for lump sum payments instead of wage increases for the first two contract years.

Monsanto workers strike

Workers at the Monsanto plant in Everett, Massachusetts have continued their strike against the giant chemical and plastics monopoly. Although the Everett plant posted record profits last year, the Monsanto capitalists are demanding major concessions, including job combinations and big increases in insurance payments.

The chemical workers' union has already signed contracts without these concessions at the other Monsanto plants. But they sent the workers back to their jobs, leaving the Everett workers to fight on alone. Monsanto is trying to run the plant by working supervisors on 12-hour shifts. A small army of cops has been posted to protect these scabs in a round-the-clock camp across from the picket line. But production is only at half capacity.

The Everett workers figure that Monsanto has targeted their plant because it is one of the smallest in the company. It would be a good place to set a precedent for forcing concessions on workers at all Monsanto plants. The Everett workers are not fighting just for themselves, but for all the Monsanto workers. This fact has strengthened their resolve to carry through their strike in spite of having been abandoned by the international union leaders.

(Based on an article from July 15 "Boston Worker," paper of MLP-Boston.)

Union rights won at nursing home

In Old Saybrook, Connecticut, after a 118-day strike, 50 determined nursing home workers have won union rights. The workers at the Harbor Crossing Skilled Care Facility stood up to threats, bribery, harassment and firings by the viciously anti-union owner.

The owner's actions against the workers were so blatantly illegal that the National Labor Relations Board, in a rare move, issued a "bargaining order." This required the nursing home to recognize and bargain with the workers' union without going through a long representation election procedure. The owner was also found to be engaged in massive Medicaid fraud. The state of Connecticut stepped in and placed the home into receivership. It has been sold to a new owner. By remaining steadfast against incredible adversity, the nursing home workers won their right to organize and a chance to fight for a better life.

First strike for Merced County employees

On May 1, Merced County, California employees began their first strike ever. Workers in the welfare department and the county hospital have been without a contract since 1986. The county Board of Supervisors has been using a surplus of millions of dollars to build new facilities with plush rooms, and has added services to attract more insurance-covered patients. But when it came to the workers' demands for a 5% pay increase, no cuts in medical benefits, and more staffing to overcome overwork, the Board refused. Their priority is to make more profits, the workers be damned.

Oak Ridge defense workers continue walk out

At two Oak Ridge, Tennessee defense plants, 4,100 workers have been on strike since June 20 against Martin Marietta Energy Systems. The Reagan administration pressured Martin Marietta to cut labor costs by proposing a "cross-training" clause in its new contract. This provision would allow the company to force skilled workers to perform more than one job. Union officials accepted the proposal. But the rank and file rejected it and walked off the job.

Strikebreaking judges teach lesson

Three months after a six-day strike by teachers and school employees in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, a state judge sentenced 175 of the former strikers to three-day prison terms. They had defied his back-to-work injunction.

The judge viciously attacked the teachers in court for "corrupting school children." He claimed that, by their defiance of the injunction, they had "planted the seed of unknown future evil." He called the jail sentences a "counter-lesson" for the students.

The jail sentences elicited a wave of outrage in the largely working class community. The outrage became so loud that even the school board called on the court to commute the sentences.

To head off the protests, a state appeals court ruled in mid-July that the school workers would not have to go to jail. But it apparently thought a "counter-lesson" was still needed and it gave a different type of severe strikebreaking punishment. The court ordered the teachers and other workers to do two to three hours of extra work for every hour they defied the back-to-work injunction. The unintended lesson seems clear. The courts are not organs of justice, but instruments of the government for repression against the working masses.

GM engine workers oppose whipsawing

Recently GM management held a meeting of workers on the Mark TV engine line at the Chevy engine plant in Tonawanda, New York. GM demanded that the workers agree to what it calls a new "competitive" local contract at the plant.

The proposed contract would include combining jobs (even forcing production workers to also do janitor and/or skilled trades work), eliminating virtually all traditional protective work rules, and replacing plant-wide seniority with departmental seniority for the purpose of layoffs. And GM backed up its demands with the threat that unless the Tonawanda workers conceded, some 700 of them would be tossed out of their jobs. The Mark IV engine is being replaced by the Mark V. And GM has put the Mark V work up for grabs to plants in either Romulus or Bay City, Michigan or Tonawanda depending on which workers will give up the most concessions.

This is dirty "whipsawing," pitting worker against worker. And workers at the Tonawanda plant have heard more than enough of it. Right at the meeting a number of them opposed the GM executives. And the majority left the meeting dead set against giving any more concessions to the greedy auto billionaires.

Unfortunately, the top leadership of the United Auto Workers (UAW) is going along with GM's whipsawing. Odessa Komer, head of the UAW's supplier department, said this about parts workers: ''They must be competitive, not only with other plants in the U.S., but with nonunion plants here and offshore." The UAW leadership is telling the workers that if they want their jobs they have to compete with plants like Fedco of Buffalo, where the workers sweat under intolerable conditions for $3.35 an hour. Or with plants in Mexico, Brazil, or Malaysia where workers slave at even lower pay.

If the auto workers are to save their jobs and livelihood they have to organize independently of the UAW bureaucrats. They must unite with the workers all over the world and build up a fighting movement against the capitalists.

(Based on July 27 leaflet of the MLP-Buffalo.)

Auto parts workers strike for higher pay

In the second week of July 550 workers went out on a contract strike against the Randal auto parts plant in Wilmington, Ohio. Randal produces fuel filters and other parts for GM, Ford and Chrysler. The workers average only $6.98 an hour. They are demanding a $1.50 raise.

On July 20, a bunch of the strikers gathered to block scabs entering the plant. Some 50 supervisors from Randal plants on temporary shutdown in Wellington and Greensburg, Indiana have been brought out as scabs to break the strike. When the workers confronted them, the police posted officers with M-16 rifles on the building and forced the picketers to back away.

The big auto monopolies are more and more using such low-paying subcontractors to eliminate their own parts workers or to blackmail them to give up enormous concessions. A key demand of GM and Ford in this year's contract talks is for lower pay and job combination at the parts plants. These concessions must be fought. And all auto workers should help the workers at Randal and other such parts plants fight to improve their conditions.

International Paper workers fight back

[Photo: Picketers jeer scabs at Nicolet Paper, a subsidiary of international Paper in De Pere, Wisconsin. Workers at three other International Paper mills are on strike or are locked out in Maine, Pennsylvania, and Alabama. A solidarity rally was called for August f in Jay, Maine for workers throughout the state and New England to make a show of support for the 1,200 IP workers there who are in a bitter struggle against concessions.]

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Vote NO! to the sellout postal contract!

On July 21, the Joint Bargaining Committee (JBC) of the postal clerks' and letter carriers' unions signed a tentative contract with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Union presidents Moe Biller (American Postal Workers Union) and Vince Sombrotto (National Association of Letter Carriers) are parading this as a "no givebacks" contract which should be ratified. They are lying.

Postal workers beware! This is a rotten contract with serious givebacks. While holding down wages, it further splits up the workers and opens the door for the Postal Service's speedup drive against them. It must be opposed.

The union hacks claim the workers have only two choices. Either accept this stinking contract or send it to binding arbitration where the Postal Service will probably extract still more concessions. But there is another choice. The workers can get organized to develop mass struggle against the USPS management. The union misleaders won't consider this alternative and so they always leave the workers stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Postal workers, build up your own fighting strength against the USPS concessions drive, independent of the union misleaders. Go all out to achieve a "no'' vote. Spread anti-concessions leaflets widely and expose the sellout contract before your fellow workers. A rejection of the sellout contract will give a big boost to activating the motion of the rank and file.

And, regardless of the outcome of the vote, develop mass resistance against the daily speedup, overwork, and harassment in the Post Office. Mass struggle is the way to defend your working conditions. And through it the workers can build up their own organization, consciousness and confidence in their strength for bigger battles in the future. Reject the rotten contract! Get organized to fight!

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This contract stinks

The leaders of the APWU and NALC were talking big just yesterday. They promised "no givebacks'' and a "substantial wage increase.'' They claimed they would "prohibit the employment of casuals,'' speed up the "conversion of part-time flexibles to full-time status," and "increase the number of full-time employees." They swore they would never, no never, agree to the creation of a "substandard workforce" of "second class citizens" (even though they'd already agreed to the two-tier wage system in 1984 and to the super-exploitation of "casuals" in every contract before). Why, they jumped up and down denouncing the "sweetheart" contract signed by the mailhandlers' union leaders on June 30. But now they've turned around to offer up a contract that is almost just as rotten. Take a look at some of the key provisions.

* It offers no respectable wage increase, only a scant 2% per year. Even with cost-of-living raises, wages will hardly keep pace with inflation.

* The contract fails to get rid of the 1984 concession setting up a two-tier wage-cutting system. What's more it gives back the guarantee in the 1984 "memorandum of understanding" to convert part-time workers on flexible hours (PTF's) to full-time, regularly scheduled status within six months. These two provisions threaten to keep many of the PTF's stuck in part-time work and the lower, two-tier pay for years. What is this but a "substandard workforce" of second class citizens.

* The contract also leaves unchallenged the USPS' rampant use of 90-day temporary employees (called "NTE's" or "casuals") who work for half pay with no rights or benefits. They aren't even "second class citizens."

* It gives a concession for more discipline to enforce the Postal Service's productivity drive on the workers. The joint union-management "Task Force on Discipline" is continued and given the right to reopen the contract after October 1988 to establish a new disciplinary system to crack the whip over the postal workers. With the wave of automation, the workers are already being driven like slaves. But the Postal Service wants to drive them harder. This concession opens the door for more harassment and firings to enforce the speedup drive.

* It changes the contract from 36 to 40 months. This will separate the clerks' and carriers' negotiating season from that of the 50,000 mail handlers working alongside them, making a united stand by the postal workers more difficult in 1990.

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Mayor Young champions repression against Detroit youth

For years the Reaganites have been trying to whip up hysteria against crime as a pretext for more repressive measures against the youth, black people, workers, and the poor. At every opportunity they clamor for more police and prisons, for more repressive laws and racist vigilantism. They've even made a hero of the racist Bernhard Goetz, the "subway vigilante," who cold bloodedly shot down four young blacks on a New York subway.

In Detroit, this reactionary crusade has become deafening. And it is none other than the liberal Democratic mayor, Coleman Young, who has stepped forward as the loudest champion of more repression against the youth.

Young Defends Police at SOSAD March

Mayor Young used the recent SOSAD march to defend the police and mobilize support for his "war on crime" and "war on youth violence." But his speech was not well received by the masses. While a handful of loyalists applauded him, many marchers booed.

Young began his speech by decrying all of the talk about the 20th anniversary of the black rebellions in Detroit in order to claim that there is no need for mass struggle against racist police repression and impoverishment today. He admitted that unemployment and the economic suffering of the masses is worse today than 20 years ago, but slid away from discussing the need for a fight against it. He concentrated instead on the fact that the rebellion in 1967 was not a race riot but a confrontation against the racist police. And then he declared there is no longer a reason for rebellions or resisting the police. Young claimed that because 50% of the police force has become black, racist police brutality no longer exists.

Apparently Young doesn't want people to remember such incidents as the brutal murder of Lee Barry by a Detroit policeman over a traffic violation in May. And he's apparently forgotten his own hypocritical complaints towards racist attacks in Detroit by other police forces. What about the racist murder of Michael Smith a few weeks ago by federal undercover narcotic agents who were in a hurry to get into the phone booth Smith was using? And what about the racist guards who recently threw an inmate at Wayne County jail down an elevator shaft?

Obviously the increase in black policemen hasn't eliminated racist repression against the masses. But Young wants to cover it up in order to call for more police and jails to be used against the youth and against the oppressed masses in general.

The Mayor's "War on Crime"

Echoing the Reaganites, Coleman Young's slogan for the last election was "Power for Tomorrow -- 1,500 More Police." He has since unleashed his program of weapons searches, increased security guards and a special police "strike force" for the schools. He has called for criminal charges for both students and their parents when arrests are made for any violations during the searches. And now he is advocating rounding up youth on the Detroit streets and "cooling them out" in concentration camps in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

This is no program to assist the youth in tackling the serious problems they face. It's nothing but a war on the youth themselves. If the youth are to be helped, the working masses will have to oppose the Democratic Party liberals like Young who are joining the Reaganite campaign for stepped-up police repression.

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The Senate's trade bill is no help for the workers

The Senate passed a trade bill on July 21. Now that legislation will go to a joint House-Senate conference to work out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. Final trade legislation is expected by this fall.

In passing this bill the Senate put on a spectacle of chauvinist Japan-bashing. Senators had their pictures taken smashing Toshiba radios with sledge hammers. And they claimed they were doing their patriotic duty to defend American jobs from "unfair" foreign imports.

But as with the House bill, which was passed in April, the Senate bill is of no help to the workers. Rather it aims to bolster the U.S. monopolies in their trade war against monopolies of other countries. And no matter who wins in this trade war, the workers -- both at home and abroad -- will lose.

Instead of Saving Jobs, They're Out to "Compete" Them Away

The liberal Democrats and the union bureaucrats keep claiming that trade legislation will save jobs. But this is a lie. There is not one measure in either version of the trade bill to guarantee jobs or to help the two-thirds of the unemployed who presently get no benefits at all.

Instead, both the House and Senate bills call for more job-eliminating concessions to help the U.S. monopolies against their foreign rivals. For example, the Senate bill stipulates that any company seeking temporary help from imports must draw up an "industrial adjustment plan" to become "more competitive." And becoming "more competitive" is just a code word for more measures to eliminate jobs through speedup, job combination, gutting protective work rules, and other concessions. Competition with foreign workers over who will sink to the worst conditions and lowest pay is at the heart of the new trade legislation.

An Imperialist Drive to Force Open Foreign Markets

The politicians and union hacks also claim they are simply trying to defend America from unscrupulous trading practices of foreigners. But all this talk about the poor, "unfairly" injured American industry is aimed at concealing the drive of the world's leading superpower to force open foreign markets to its plunder.

The July 22 New York Times reports that the Senate bill "focuses on Japan" with a "series of proposals aimed at getting Japan to open its markets or buy more American products." These include such things as a demand that Japan buy American F-15's instead of building their own jet fighter and a call for retaliation unless Japan allows U.S. firms in on the building of the giant Kansai airport. Threats and blackmail against other countries to force them open to the U.S. businessmen, this is what the trade bills are for.

A Bailout for U.S. Banks

And what about other major targets of the trade war hysteria such as South Korea, Mexico and Brazil? For decades the U.S. banks have reaped enormous profits off the mounting debts of these countries. The banks have demanded that the bourgeois governments in these countries carry out severe austerity measures against the workers and peasants in order to raise money to pay off the debts. It is pure hypocrisy for U.S. politicians to blame these workers for "stealing American jobs."

Now the debts have grown so large -- $45 billion in South Korea, $100 billion in Mexico, and $111 billion in Brazil -- that often some cannot even pay the interest on them. And this threatens the stability of the U.S. banking system.

So the Senate bill includes an attempt to bail out the U.S. banks. Among other things, the bill calls for the creation of "an international facility to buy debt from developing nations" which is owed to U.S. banks.

Reject the Trade War Hysteria! Unite Against the Capitalists

In short, the Senate trade bill, like that of the House, is aimed at helping the U.S. multinationals and the big banks in their plunder of the workers and peasants of other countries and in their concessions drive at home. The U.S. workers cannot defend their interests by joining hands with the U.S. capitalists' trade war. Rather we must join hands with the workers of other countries and build up a strong, fighting movement against the capitalist exploiters.

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Reagan versus Congress on the trade bill

Different shades of chauvinism

Right before the Senate passed its bill, Reagan once again threatened to veto the entire package. Reagan says the bill is "protectionist" while he stands for "free trade." According to Reagan, "free trade" alone can make the American economy "more competitive." But all this rhetoric is nonsense.

In the first place, all the capitalist politicians agree that the chief way to make U.S. industry more competitive is by taking still greater concessions out of the hides of the workers. The concessions drive against the workers is the bipartisan policy of the capitalist class.

In the second place, Reagan himself has imposed innumerable tariffs and other "protectionist" measures. Meanwhile, the provisions in the House and Senate bills are not really aimed at "protecting" American industry in the traditional sense. Rather, they are directed as threats of "retaliation" against Japan and other countries to blackmail them into opening their markets to the U.S. multinationals. And Reagan is not averse to such threats.

So what's all the debate about? The key question is not "protectionism" or "free trade." Rather it is a question of who gets to decide U.S. trading policy and of how far retaliation against other countries can be pushed before it ignites a worldwide depression.

The Gephardt amendment in the House bill mandates retaliatory measures if negotiations fail to convince another country to open its markets to U.S. multinationals. There is a similar amendment in the Senate bill, sponsored by Michigan Democrat Donald Riegle, but it provides wider latitude in deciding what "retaliatory" measures are to be taken.

Reagan sharply opposes both because they take the decision to retaliate out of the hands of the president. He wants the bills rewritten to give him the prerogative in deciding when to take measures against other countries and how strong those measures should be.

The workers will find no help from either side in this debate. The issue is not "protectionism" or "free trade" or how to make the rich U.S. corporations more "competitive." For the workers the question is how to better organize to fight the class offensive of the capitalists that is driving down wages and eliminating jobs.

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Kennedy's plant closing bill is one big loophole

Liberal Senators Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Howard Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) pushed through an amendment to the trade bill on advance notice of plant closings and mass layoffs. This amendment, which was strongly backed by the AFL-CIO bureaucracy, is another attempt to convince the U.S. workers that trade war legislation really will "save jobs." But this amendment not only will not save jobs, it is so filled with loopholes that most often it will not even provide for its declared purpose of ensuring advance notice.

Ordering companies to tell their workers in advance of closing a plant or laying off workers will not stop the job loss. At best, advance notice gives the workers more time to organize for a mass struggle against the owners. But helping the workers fight against plant closings and layoffs was not Kennedy's intent in putting up this bill. Rather, he argued that "notification is needed to allow time to retrain workers who are idled by factories affected by overseas competition." (Associated Press, July 9) In other words, Kennedy is arguing for a more humane and orderly form of losing your job -- one in which you can be trained for the few and lower paying jobs that are available.

But even these limited aims will not be served by this bill. It was watered down by Kennedy and Metzenbaum six times since January. In its present form virtually any company can avoid giving advance notice.

At most, an employer must provide only 60 days notice (instead of the six months notice provided in the original bill). But most won't have to give any notification. The bill effects only companies that have 100 or more employees (instead of companies with 50 or more workers as stipulated in the original version). The companies have to give notice for mass layoffs only if they idle over one-third of the their workers. 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." (New York Times, July 10) Such "circumstances" include things like if the company is "faltering," or if it's seeking capital to prevent the shutdown, or if the decision to close a plant was "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 advanced notice only when they think its useful to blackmail more concessions out of their workers.

Big Business and Reaganites Still Oppose the Bill

Renee Reymond of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), which strongly opposes the bill, admitted that it has been gutted. "It's a shallow victory for labor. They were more interested in having a victory than the substance. There's not much left for them." (Business Week, July 27)

Nevertheless, the NAM, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, and other organizations of big business continue to oppose the amendment. And Reagan has threatened to veto the entire trade bill if this amendment is kept in it. Why? Because they don't want even a gesture of decency for the workers. According to the Reaganites even the fiction that companies should tell the workers of plans to kick them into the streets impinges on the prerogatives of the capitalists to exploit their workers as they see fit. The Reaganite won't tolerate even symbolic infringement on the "sacred rights of capital."

And so it goes. Reagan stands for open and unbridled exploitation of the workers. The Democrats "fight" him, but only for an empty promise of "humanely" sweating and starving the workers to death. They both serve the capitalists. If the workers are to defend their jobs, they will have to do it themselves by building up a movement of the working class against both these capitalist parties.

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18 more victims of the government's war on the immigrants

Last month 18 young men suffocated to death from the heat inside a steel box car in Sierra Blanca, Texas, ninety miles outside El Paso. The men were undocumented Mexican workers. According to the lone survivor, they had hired "coyotes" (professional smugglers) to help them avoid detection from the U.S. Border Patrol. Two of these coyotes were among those who died inside the car. From the outside a third coyote had locked the sliding door of the steaming hot car, sealing the fate of the men inside.

Why did these men die? The establishment press wrote about a "bungled smuggling attempt," about "illegal aliens" and a hot sun. They would have you believe that this was an accident with no one to blame but the coyotes or maybe the victims themselves. (A Dallas radio announcer even came right out and said that the 18 men "got what they deserved.")

But the Sierra Blanca tragedy was no accident. This was murder.

The hit men were the coyote smugglers -- merciless thugs who feed off the suffering of the immigrant workers. But ultimately it's the U.S. government which is responsible for this mass killing.

Last fall, Congress wrote and Reagan signed the new immigration law (Simpson-Rodino).This was the capitalist government's declaration of escalating war against the immigrant workers. This is a war of mass roundups, firings, deportations and terror.

The government's repressive immigration policy has turned the U.S.- Mexican border into a battle zone. Under the new Simpson-Rodino law, the number of Border Patrol agents is being increased by more than 50% this year and will be increased by another 50% in '88. This growing army is being equipped with new helicopters, infrared detectors, and other high-tech weaponry to hunt down immigrant workers.

The new immigration law and the militarization of the border may have slowed but it surely hasn't stopped the immigrants and refugees from coming into the U.S. What it is doing is forcing them to take more desperate steps to escape the authorities.

It is driving them to set out on foot across the scorching Arizona desert, where just last month more bodies were discovered of Salvadoran refugees fleeing the U.S.-sponsored terror in their homeland.

It is driving them into train yards and box cars where they risk life and limb. In April '84, five Salvadorans were killed and six others injured as an oncoming train forced them to dive from a railroad trestle in Kingsville, Texas. Last year, 12, men were reported crushed to death by trains in the freight yard in Laredo, Texas alone.

It is also driving the undocumented into the hands of unscrupulous coyotes. The coyotes are notorious for robbery and extortion. As well, there are frequent reports of such smugglers abandoning their clients in the middle of the desert. Also, according to the El Paso Border Patrol, coyotes make a regular practice of leaving their customers in locked box cars.

The 18 men who died in Sierra Blanca were just the latest victims of this carnage. And there will be many more Sierra Blancas so long as the U.S. government enforces an immigration policy that treats immigrants and refugees like hunted animals.

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Farm workers' struggle needs solidarity with the undocumented

The big fruit and vegetable growers in California and the Northwest are crying that the new immigration law has created a shortage of field hands for this year's harvest. Untold millions of dollars of apples, cherries, strawberries and other crops are allegedly threatened.

Much of the fuss about "labor shortage" is so much hot air. The growers are mainly worried about their supply of immigrant farm workers who have no rights in this country and therefore can be compelled to work for less pay, for longer hours, under backbreaking and inhuman conditions.

The growers have been loudly petitioning the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to ease up on the enforcement of the new immigration law. In particular, they want the INS to open up the doors to make it easier for undocumented Mexican workers to enter the country under the new law's special amnesty for farm workers.

A Strange and Unfortunate Alliance

An unfortunate alliance has come into being against the immigrant workers. Harold Ezell, the infamous immigrant-basher and Western regional director of the INS, in the name of ridiculing the growers, is pushing for the full enforcement of the laws against the undocumented.

Ezell has found support from a strange quarter. The vice president of the United Farm Workers union (UFW), Dolores Huerta, told an INS-sponsored conference that she backs Ezell's stand and that the UFW is "asking the INS not to succumb" to the pressures of the growers. Meanwhile, UFW president Cesar Chavez is threatening growers who hire Mexican, workers with law suits and demonstrations.

There is something terribly wrong here. The big ranchers are enforcers of stoop labor and the most ruthless exploitation and oppression of the immigrant workers. Nevertheless, they appear to be posing as champions of the rights of the undocumented, making it easier for them to gain legal status.

Meanwhile, the top leaders of the UFW are demanding an INS-police crackdown on the undocumented. This despite the fact that the UFW has to a large extent been built on the shoulders of mainly Mexican, Filipino, and Arab immigrants and their sons and daughters.

UFW's Shortsighted Stand Will Only Hurt Farm Workers' Struggle

The UFW leaders say that Mexican workers have to be kept out of the country and out of the fields because they are providing cheap labor in place of unionized workers. This, however, is a narrow stand that can do a lot of harm to the struggle of the farm workers.

In the first place, the government's repressive apparatus aimed against the immigrants is also aimed at the workers' movement as a whole. The racist thugs of the INS and Border Patrol, with their bureaucratic machinery of spying, harassment and terror, have always been used to hunt down militant workers and to intimidate workers from organizing for their rights.

No less important, the laws against the immigrants have always been a cornerstone of the employers' divide and conquer system against the workers. Instead of fighting the exploiters, the workers are supposed to target the foreign immigrants as the cause of unemployment and low wages.

In the 1880's it was the shameful Chinese Exclusion Act. In the 1930's it was the "Mexican scare" and the deportation of hundreds of thousands of workers. In the 1950's it was "Operation Wetback" and the deportation of over a million Mexican immigrants.

Now, in the 1980's we have the new Simpson-Rodino law and the crackdown against the undocumented workers. And once again native born workers are being incited against foreign born, citizen against non-citizen, legal against so-called illegal.

Cesar Chavez's plan for UFW demonstrations against those who hire Mexican workers plays right into the hands of the growers. What could be a better way to sow division and distrust among the workers? What could more effectively alienate the newer immigrants from the struggle to get organized and drive them further into the clutches of the exploiters?

There Are No Shortcuts

Nothing good will come for the farm workers by seeking the help of the border police and la migra. There are no shortcuts in the struggle to improve the conditions of the farm workers.

Instead what is needed is a truly serious effort for organization of the unorganized. This is not an impossible task. There are lessons to be drawn from the farm workers' struggles in the 60's and 70's. Even in recent years, successes in the drives to organize farm workers in the Midwest show that while it involves difficult struggles, it can be done.

A real effort to organize the unorganized must include organizing the undocumented workers as well. The farm workers cannot get involved in seeking the help of the reactionary INS to keep the undocumented out of jobs. No, the farm workers who want to fight the employers should stand in the forefront of the struggle for full rights for the undocumented. They should stand up against the INS and its persecution of the undocumented, because this persecution is in large part responsible for many of the difficulties in organizing the undocumented.

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Full rights for immigrant workers

Immigration law forges new chains for farm workers

When the new immigration law (Simpson-Rodino) was being debated in Congress one of the biggest bones of contention was the question of farm workers.

On the one side, voices tied to big agribusiness shouted that they couldn't accept employer sanctions or any other steps that cut into their supply of cheap field hands. They argued that immigrant labor is essential to their operations because immigrants are the only ones willing and able to do the work.

In other words, because immigrants lack all rights in this country they can be super-exploited. Who else but an undocumented worker living on the edge of arrest and deportation can be compelled to bend double all day over heads of lettuce for next to nothing?

On the other side, voices tied to non-farm industries cried foul. They argued that if hotel and other industries are to face sanctions for hiring undocumented workers, then why should Sunsweet and the other growers get special rights to exploit cheap immigrant labor? So they demanded that if there were to be employer sanctions against hiring the undocumented, they must apply to all employers alike.

Out of this tiff among the Congressional front men of the money grubbers came a complicated compromise. Employer sanctions have been applied to employers of farm labor. Nevertheless, agribusiness has been assured its labor supply. And new chains have been forged for the super-exploitation of immigrant farm workers.

Contract Labor

The new immigration law provides for two different means to bring in immigrant farm workers. The first means is through the expansion of the H2-A program.

This is a contract labor program. Under H2-A, workers are contracted in Mexico, the Caribbean, or other regions of high unemployment and low wages. They are given temporary visas to come to the U.S. but only to work the harvest of a single employer or group of employers.

For the owner of a big orchard, this can be a cheap and easy way to get your apples picked. But for the contract laborer it is hell. The growers push them to work 16-hour days at a fever pace. The housing and sanitary facilities that the growers provide are often unfit for humans. On top of that, the contract workers frequently are put under the thumb of middlemen and contractors who skim off a good part of their earnings.

Contract labor under H2-A is supposed to be the growers' first recourse in the face of a labor shortage caused by the new immigration law. But there are a couple of hitches.

It is required that H2-A workers are to be provided with workmen's compensation insurance or its minimal equivalent, as well as minimal standards of housing and sanitation. These requirements are routinely violated, but still may cost more than no requirements at all.

A further objection from the growers' standpoint is that the contract labor system doesn't provide the needed flexibility. It involves a fixed number of workers and a lot of red tape to line up contracts, visas, etc.

A Labor Pool of "Special Agricultural Workers"

Responding to the demands of agribusiness for a more wide open and flexible pool of experienced immigrant field hands, the new law created the "Special Agricultural Worker," or SAW. This is a special clause for farm workers in the amnesty program for the undocumented.

In a one-time amnesty, undocumented workers can become SAWs if they can show that they performed at least 90 days of farm labor last year. This allows for temporary residency, and after two or three years they can apply for permanent status.

The restrictions for this amnesty are less severe than for other undocumented workers. Even, so the bureaucratic requirements are so obnoxious that to this point only a trickle of workers have signed up for the SAW program. And like the general amnesty, those who do sign up for this special amnesty have found themselves stripped of all rights.

They can't apply to bring in family members -- even wives and husbands, children and parents -- for two or three years. They are barred from receiving unemployment insurance, welfare, most Medicaid and other social services for a five-year period -- this despite the unstable and hazardous nature of their work. Moreover, they can be stripped of their status for a series of infractions. Getting arrested in an organizing drive or on a picket line could be cause for deportation.

Indentured Servitude

Even this wasn't enough for the profit-hungry growers. After all, they argued, the amnestied SAWs may leave farm work for other employment. So a further clause was added for the creation of "Replenishment Agricultural Workers," or RAWs.

Under this clause, the Departments of Labor and Agriculture can declare a labor shortage and permit the importation of foreign farm workers. These so-called RAWs would work under similar restrictions (no family members for three years, no social services for five years, etc.)

But on top of all this, to maintain their temporary status they would have to perform three consecutive years of farm work. To gain citizenship would require five straight years farm work. If you don't perform these years of stoop labor under the broiling sun you're tossed back out of the country. There are no exceptions in the law for missing a year's harvest for medical reasons or other hardship. And staying out of the fields because of a strike would be cause for deportation.

This RAW program is scheduled to go into force between 1990 and 1993. The agribusinessmen are undoubtedly licking their chops to get in on this modern- day system of indentured servitude.

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U.S. imperialism, get out of Central America!

[Graphic.]

Protest fills the streets of San Salvador

Throughout July, the streets of San Salvador were filled with protest. Once again the Salvadoran workers, peasants and students have confronted the fascist Duarte regime in the capital city, its center of power. The armed insurgency in the countryside has again found its echo in the mass struggle in the largest city, where the people have stood up to the bullets of the police.

Social Security Workers Strike

The upsurge in San Salvador centered around a nearly two-month long strike of 5,000 workers at the Social Security Institute. The strike began on June 1 after the government refused to meet the workers' demands for wage and benefit improvements. Four days later, the regime declared the strike illegal. Two hundred workers were fired. Adding insult to injury, the regime has declared it can not meet the workers' demands because it needs the money to finance its war against the workers and peasants.

Government Shoots Strikers

In July the workers stepped up the struggle. On July 8th, 120 strikers protested at the Social Security Institute building to press their demands. They were met by 200 police goons. When the cops jumped a picketer and beat him, fighting broke out. The police opened fire on the unarmed strikers, wounding 22.

But the regime's brutality failed to end the struggle. Four days later militant demonstrators returned, armed with nail-spiked clubs. The protesters attempted to break through the police line and enter the social security building.

The police managed to turn back the protesters with another round of gunfire, wounding five more people in the process. However only a few hours later the militant masses returned to avenge their wounded comrades. The police were pelted with rocks and bags of paint. Though outgunned, the demonstrators were not going to give up.

Actions Support Strike

Meanwhile other workers supported the strikers. In protest of the police violence of July 8th, 26 workplaces were hit by strikes on July 9. Then on July 15, two thousand workers marched in solidarity with the strikers. The police fired on this march too.

Also, 100 peasants occupied the main cathedral in San Salvador, and others occupied a second church. They not only backed the strike, but also demanded amnesty for political prisoners held by the regime.

Clashes in the Street

While the strike went on, additional outbreaks spread through the city. Activists smashed government vehicles and clashed with the police. And the armed guerrillas have been shutting down public transportation both in the city of San Salvador and across the country. It was reported that in mid- July no buses were able to run in the capital.

Duarte Regime in Crisis

The events of July show the crisis gripping the Duarte regime. The economy is in a shambles. The capitalists, landowners and U.S. multinationals are driving the masses deeper into poverty. Unemployment is rampant and inflation is running wild.

The army is increasing its murder of civilians, prisoners of war, and anyone its suspects. In a typical incident in mid-June, government troops slashed the throats of three peasants accused of sympathizing with the guerrilla fighters. The only difference between this and many other incidents was that the victims survived to accuse the army. And even the Archbishop of El Salvador, who is no revolutionary, implicated government troops (the notorious Arce Battalion) in the murder of peasants.

The military men and other reactionaries also operate through secret death squads. For instance the "Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez" death squad has been revived. It made public a list of university students it intends to kill. The squad is named after the Salvadoran dictator who massacred 30,000 people following the people's uprising of 1932.

This is the reality of life under the "democrat" Duarte. When Duarte was elected president in 1984, the U.S. imperialist spokesmen crowed that democracy had returned to El Salvador and there was no reason for the people to remain discontented. But Duarte's reformist rhetoric has proved to be sugar-coating on the death-squad regime of the Salvadoran exploiters and U.S. companies.

The growing poverty and terror has fueled massive hatred of the Duarte regime. Strikes and protests are a regular occurrence in San Salvador. The New York Times says that American officials consider the U.S.-backed rulers to be "simply hanging on" at this point. The people's struggle is shattering the dreams of Salvadoran reactionaries and their Pentagon and State Department backers.

[Photo: Government vehicles were a target of the mass protest in San Salvador, July 16.]

The contras' phantom victory

The contras want to impose a new Somoza-style dictatorship on Nicaragua. They are widely acknowledged to be so corrupt and so lacking in support among the Nicaraguan people that they often find it difficult to force themselves to engage in battle. This rabble prefers to murder opponents, burn farms, or kidnap peasants. Even Oliver North acknowledges that without U.S. money, U.S. training, and U.S. troops to carry out the real work, the contras would be doomed.

All this of course is a real embarrassment to Rambo Reagan who wants to portray the contras as selfless fighters for democracy. Imagine the administration's joy then when the American press announced that on July 16 the contras had won their "biggest victory yet," and against a heavily defended military base no less. They had "destroyed military installations and a base with a capacity of 1000 men" at San Jose de Bocay. They had taken the town and a nearby collective farm. Once again Reagan could wear his "I'm a contra, too!" T-shirt with pride!

But then the same cruel fate that often befalls the contras struck again. Someone checked their story. A reporter from the New York Times went to San Jose de Bocay. And what did he find? The contras had been defeated and never even entered the town. Far more contras than Nicaraguan soldiers died. No military targets were damaged, but contra shelling of the town had succeeded in killing a pregnant woman, three children, and some other civilians. How heroic!

Such "victories" are the contras' stock-in-trade. They are experts at raping and murdering defenseless civilians. They are good at burning farms and food supplies. Recently they killed the American, Ben Linder, because he committed the "crime" of helping construct a hydroelectric project in Nicaragua. And at the end of July a new report done for the Congress confirmed another series of contra crimes including kidnapping, killing prisoners, and forced recruitment.

Contra military "victories" may vanish into thin air. But their ability to commit atrocities is beyond doubt.

Contra chief denounced in Chicago

Adolfo Calero, the leader of the CIA's contra rabble, went to Chicago on July 28 and 29 to receive the adulation of the rich. "Young" Republicans and executives took part in raising money to support the bloody CIA operation against the Nicaraguan people. The "cultured" rich are all titillated to promote a gang of murderers, drug runners and terrorists like the contras. The rich extort their wealth from the workers here and then donate it to killing the toilers of other lands.

But whether it was an "Executive Club" luncheon at the ritzy Palmer House Hotel, a "contra cruise" aboard the Chicago Princess, or a breakfast at the exclusive, all-male, all-white "University Club," Calero was met by demonstrations. One hundred protesters denounced the contra cruise, with one woman arrested apparently simply in an attempt to intimidate the demonstrators. One hundred fifty people demonstrated at the Palmer House, with two being arrested trying to get inside the hall where Calero was to appear. Slogans were shouted against Oliver North and the contras, including: "Not one penny, not one dime, aid to the contras is a crime" and "The real terrorists in the world today are Adolfo Calero and the CIA."

Ordinary passers-by proclaimed "right-on" and "you said it" while wealthy reactionaries grumbled and some kid in a business suit proclaimed "Oliver North for President." Some passers-by joined the demonstration, while our Party distributed 300 leaflets and a number of copies of The Workers' Advocate. This reception showed that war and peace are class issues, with the rich supporting every crime against the working class and the ordinary people supporting the rights of their class brothers in other lands.

Salvadoran death squads assault refugee activists in L.A.

The handiwork of the brutal Salvadoran death squads -- who have murdered tens of thousands of toilers in service of the exploiters -- is now being seen in the Los Angeles area.

On July 7, a 24-year-old Salvadoran woman activist, Yanira, was kidnapped, tortured, interrogated, and savagely raped by two Salvadoran men. She had been attending a meeting at the office of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES). The men questioned her about her political associates. Yanira did not talk. After they were done, they decided not to kill her but use her as an example to spread the message that they "were here." She was dumped unconscious under a bridge.

A doctor who examined Yanira said that the pattern of her injuries was similar to other victims of torture from El Salvador and Guatemala. Yanira was clearly a victim of Salvadoran death squads who have decided to show their hand in the Los Angeles area, where more than 300,000 Salvadorans live. Many of them are refugees from persecution by the U.S.-backed death- squad regime of the Salvadoran exploiters.

On July 17, Ana Maria Lopez, a Guatemalan woman activist, was kidnapped at a bus stop while en route to a meeting. She was driven around town by two armed, masked men speaking with a Salvadoran accent. They interrogated her and threatened her not to associate with Salvadorans.

Meanwhile, at least 19 Salvadoran and other activists received a death threat letter. And a local priest involved in the sanctuary movement for Central American refugees also got a death threat. The threats were all ferociously anti-communist and bore typical trademarks of the Salvadoran death squads.

U.S. Imperialism Is the Source of the Problem

The Salvadoran death squads were set up with help from the U.S. government. The CIA and FBI were both closely involved in this effort. They were trained by U.S. officials as a terror force against the workers and peasants of El Salvador in the 1960's and 70's. They are made up of members of the Salvadoran police and military.

The death squads have recently stepped up their murderous activities in El Salvador. And they seem to have also decided to go after Salvadoran activists in the U.S. now.

The appearance of the death squads in LA shows that the U.S. itself is no safe refuge from the reaction fostered abroad by imperialism. U.S. imperialism's vast network of terror around the world is not somehow sealed off from the U.S. just because of the much-vaunted rule of law and the Constitution here. The contragate exposures have given one glimpse of the terror network's activities; the death squad assaults in LA give another.

The Salvadoran death squads have targeted activists in CISPES and Central American refugee groups in the LA area. This also comes in the wake of FBI-organized infiltration and spying on CISPES activities around the country.

Reaganite red-baiting to the contrary, CISPES is not a communist organization but a reformist group which promotes support for the Democratic Party as the alternative to Reagan's Central American policies. But to the Reaganites, any opposition to warmongering in Central America deserves to be crushed.

In light of this government campaign, it is stupid that the reformist leaders are pinning their hopes on help from the U.S. authorities. The FBI says it will investigate. Sure. Just as it "investigated" the murder of Alex Odeh, an Arab-American activist, who was killed by zionist terrorists in the LA area a couple of years ago. His murderers have never been brought to justice.

Indeed the U.S. government's view of this latest right-wing terror campaign was expressed by Harold Ezell, western regional director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. He thinks the kidnappings and threats have been cooked up by the sanctuary movement as a publicity stunt! Blaming the victims for the crimes of the right wing is, after all, a major lie of the Reaganites. This position was also recently broadcast by the government's Voice of America radio station.

Clearly you can't look for a cure from the gods of plague. The death squads are the brothers-in-arms of the U.S. police agencies.

No, to fight the death squads' terror campaign, you need mass struggle. The crimes of the death squads have outraged many people in the LA area. This anger should be channeled into struggle against U.S. imperialism.

Where do the interests of the Panamanian workers lie?

Neither with U.S. imperialism nor Noriega's dictatorship

Over the last two months there has been political turmoil in Panama. The Reagan administration and a section of the Panamanian ruling class have been demanding the ouster of the military dictatorship of General Noriega. Noriega has responded with a series of police-state measures. He has suspended political rights under a "state of emergency" and has violently suppressed his opponents.

In this situation, U.S. imperialism has been clamoring that all it desires is "democracy" in Panama. Not likely. Just look elsewhere in Central America. The Reagan administration supports the likes of the death-squad regime in El Salvador, the contra supporters of the overthrown dictator Somoza in Nicaragua, and other bloodstained oppressors.

Noriega: No Opponent of U.S. Imperialism

In fact the U.S. had gotten along with Noriega in the past. Why not? Noriega's regime protected the interests of imperialism in Panama. He allowed the U.S. military to maintain the headquarters of "Southern Command," center of CIA counterinsurgency efforts, along with 9,500 soldiers, in Panama. The U.S. multinationals, with $4 billion invested in Panama, continued to plunder the country under Noriega. Noriega suppressed the general strikes of the workers. And the U.S. continued to occupy the Canal Zone.

Since Noriega preserved U.S. interests, until recently the Reagan administration kept quiet about Noriega's little indiscretions, like oppressing opponents, rigging elections in 1984, drug running, rampant corruption, etc.

Why Is the U.S. Going After Noriega Now?

Why then is U.S. imperialism now trying to topple Noriega? Has Reagan suddenly decided that democracy is what Panama needs?

Of course not.

The U.S. government is upset with Noriega because he has not gone along with every whim of the Reagan administration. In particular Noriega has a few differences with the Reaganites about the best way to deal with the Nicaraguan revolution. Noriega has even had the audacity to make some contacts with the Nicaraguan and Cuban governments. And as the contragate hearings have shown, when the Reaganites think they are being hindered in their war on Nicaragua, they'll resort to anything. Indeed they have even bullied servile, pro-U.S. regimes like that of Honduras just because they didn't agree on every detail of Reagan's Central American policy.

Reagan's Campaign Against Noriega

To justify making and breaking Panamanian governments, the Reagan administration has unleashed a cynical propaganda campaign. The State Department has denounced Noriega as an "obstacle" to democracy. American consulates and other facilities in Panama have been closed. And U.S. military and economic aid to Panama has been cut off for the time being. So much for the pious exclamations of the U.S. government that there are no "strings" on U.S. aid. (But the Reagan administration is also considering resuming aid -- with the avowed purpose of beefing up the Panamanian army. So much for the opposition of the Reagan government to military domination over the people.)

The American Liberals Say "Me Too"

The American liberals have once again been enthusiastic to unite with the Reaganites. They only demand that the Reagan government remain resolute in dictating who rules Panama. The U.S. Senate approved virtually unanimously (84-2) a motion by the prince of the liberals, Kennedy, calling for Noriega's removal.

As well, a bipartisan group of senators wrote to Reagan's Secretary of State Shultz, calling for no aid for Panama until Noriega falls. One of these senators is the liberal Christopher Dodd, who paints himself as an opponent of Reagan's Nicaraguan policy of the military overthrow of the Nicaraguan government. He is also chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee that is dealing with Panama. He said that the general mood of this subcommittee is that General Noriega should be eased out of power. But don't think that he doesn't respect the right of the Panamanian people to determine their own government. Not at all. He thinks that they have the right to decide how to implement the will of the U.S. government. So Dodd added, "The decision of how he goes and what replaces him is really a Panamanian decision." (New York Times, July 31, p. 3)

The Working Class Opposition to Noriega

The Panamanian working class has its own grievances against Noriega. The workers, toilers, and students have hated the various reactionary steps of the Noriega regime. Noriega has imposed austerity measures against the Panamanian workers. At the behest of the multinational corporations and the international bankers, the Panamanian toilers have been bled white. There has been more than one general strike against Noriega.

Some sections of the workers and progressive masses may be involved in the current movement. But for now, the movement is dominated by bourgeois figures who are not concerned with the aspirations of the toilers. These Panamanian exploiters only want their turn at heading a pro-imperialist regime of exploitation.

The Panamanian workers have been hindered in the present crisis by the influence of reformism. The Sandinistas, the Castro regime, and many revisionist and reformist forces in Latin America have all come out on behalf of Noriega. The reformists put faith in the empty nationalist words of Noriega and his temporary whims rather than building up the revolutionary force of the Panamanian workers. They ignore the history of Noriega's pro-imperialist stands and anti-people measures in favor of a reformist fool's paradise. But it is only the revolutionary movement which can fight both U.S. imperialism and the local exploiters and militarists.

The reformist and revisionist influence on the Panamanian people has reinforced petty-bourgeois nationalist disorientation among the toilers and apparently, as far as the news we presently have, prevented them from coming out as a powerful independent force in the present crisis.

The Panamanian Bourgeois Opposition Is Loyal to the the U.S. Government

Meanwhile the Panamanian bourgeois opposition to Noriega is marching hand in hand with the U.S. government. This opposition includes some rich businessmen, the Catholic Church, and the Christian Democratic politicians. They do not aim at any basic change in Panama but merely want a new face in the government, preferably theirs. The tiff between Noriega and Reagan is a godsend to them, allowing them to seek power by persuading U.S. imperialism of their loyalty.

The opposition saw its opportunity to move against Noriega when there was a defection in Noriega's camp. Noriega's second-in-command of the armed forces, Colonel Diaz, set off a political crisis by accusing Noriega of being behind the death of the former Panamanian leader, General Torrijos, of assassinating an opposition political figure, and of election fraud in 1984.

The bourgeois opposition formed a group called the Civic Crusade which has organized a protest movement demanding the end of Noriega's rule. During the crisis, the opposition leaders have been plotting their moves in consultation with U.S. officials. For example, Gabriel Lewis Galindo, ex-Panamanian ambassador to the U.S. and a prominent industrialist, has met with U.S. General Woerner, commander of U.S. forces in Panama. As well he has traveled to hobnob with Reagan officials in Washington, D.C.

U.S. Imperialism Wants to Determine the Central American Governments

The U.S. capitalist ruling class, liberal and conservative alike, believes that the U.S. government has the right to determine who rules the Central American governments. Central America is supposed to be an American back yard. Not only won't U.S. imperialism tolerate a revolutionary government -- it will even try to overthrow a fellow conservative government over relatively minor disagreements on foreign policy. When Reagan says jump, the Central Americans are supposed to say "how high?" But, the liberals add, the Central Americans themselves should have the right to determine what color shoes they wear during the jump and how they lace them up. It is only the opponents of capitalist rule in the U.S. who defend the rights of the Panamanian toilers, including their independence from U.S. imperialist dictate and their right to fight against all exploiters, both U.S. and Panamanian.

Meese winks at contra drug smuggling -- Congress winks at Meese

The Reagan administration is scrambling to cover up the involvement of its contra aid network with drug smuggling into the U.S. It seems that Colonel North's so-called "freedom fighters" decided selling cocaine was another nifty way to raise funds to finance the dirty war against Nicaragua. So the Reagan administration and the contras developed an arms and drug smuggling route between the U.S. and Central America: arms were smuggled down to the contras to help murder Nicaraguans, and drugs were brought back to provide further financing.

The role of Attorney General Meese was to block prosecution of gun and drug smugglers. So blatant was this smuggling that even various U.S. agencies were investigating or on the verge of laying charges. Meese pressured them to drop or delay any investigations.

Contras and Drug Dealers Form a Mutual Aid Society

The Reaganite contra aid network is designed to support the murder, rape, and terrorism of the contras in Nicaragua, so it is no surprise that they have no moral scruples against dealing in drugs. One part of their drug connections has come to light in the investigation of the crimes of the contra network in Costa Rica. It seems that one part of the network reached a deal with the notorious Colombian cocaine kingpins Jorge Ochoa and Pablo Escobar. The contra network drug dealers included anti-Castro Cuban reactionaries and an American named John Hull. Hull is a big landowner in Costa Rica with ties to the CIA.

The agreement allowed the Colombian drug men to use Hull's land as a stopover point for drug shipments into the U.S. Some of the drugs came into the U.S. via container ships of a Costa Rican seafood company with which one of the Cubans, Mr. Chanes, was associated.

In return the CIA-contra network got part of the profits from drug sales to purchase weapons for the contras. The Colombian drug merchants also made payments for the use of Hull's land for drug shipments.

The role of drug money in the contra operations was well summed up by ex-contra network member Jesus Garcia, a former deputy sheriff of Dade County, Florida. He stated: "It is common knowledge here in Miami that this whole contra operation in Costa Rica was paid for with cocaine...! actually saw the cocaine and the weapons together under one roof.... (In These Times, Dec. 10-16, 1986, p. 13)

The Drug Trail Leads to Ollie North's Office

The drug smuggling was not just the product of a couple low-level operatives in the contra aid network. Robert Owen, the Ollie North worshiper who gained notoriety in the Contragate hearings, was North's personal liaison, with the contras. And Owen was involved in the drugs for weapons deals.

For example, in 1985 Owen was made an administrator of the $27 million in so- called "humanitarian aid" to the contras passed by Congress. In this role he channeled $231,587 to a Costa Rican, seafood importing company. Was Owen concerned about supplying the contras with more seafood?! Not hardly. This company was one of those which carried Colombian drug shipments.

U.S. Officials Collaborate

The drug and arms smuggling was made easier by U.S. customs officials and other law enforcement authorities. Normally officials closely scrutinize air traffic at southern Florida airports. But contra supporters report they could load and unload drugs and weapons at will. They were even able to load an un-crated 14-foot cannon in broad daylight. Jesus Garcia claims customs agents even helped load arms shipments. Thus a number of U.S. officials cooperated in the drug and gun trade.

Meese's Cover-Up

Obviously the revelations of contra drug running would undermine Reagan's efforts to win support for the contras. So Meese ran to the contras' rescue.

* A Drug Enforcement Agency probe of John Hull was halted. It is alleged that Col. North personally intervened on behalf of Hull in this case.

* Meese ordered the U.S. attorney's staff in Miami to go "very, very, very slowly" in investigating Arms Export Control Act violations by John Hull and three other contra network men.

* U.S. Attorney Leon Kellner in Miami stopped an FBI investigation into the plot to murder Lewis Tambs when he was U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica. Tambs was to be murdered to create a pretext for war with Nicaragua. And, at the same time, a $1 million reward from the Colombia drug kings was to be collected for Tambs' death. On July 18, 1985, as the date approached for the killing of Tambs, the U.S. ambassador to Nicaragua, Harry Bergold, had delivered a fierce letter to Nicaragua threatening retaliation for "terrorist attacks," but 10 days later two journalists, Honey and Avirgan, revealed the existence of the plot in the London Times. (See "On the plot to bomb U.S. embassies and blame it on Nicaragua" in the February issue of The Workers' Advocate.)

* The Justice Department ordered the suspension of a Drug Enforcement Agency investigation of contra drug smuggling, which included such suspects as Francisco Chanes.

* It is also notable that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms suspended its investigation of a Miami arms-smuggling ring including pro-contra fanatics such as General John Singlaub of the World Anti-Communist League.

Meese was personally in touch with U.S. Attorney John Kellner in Miami. Kellner had admitted that Meese's interest was "intense" at the time of the Congressional debate in March and April 1986 on contra aid. Kellner denies that he was pressured to do anything, but others tell a different story. An official said Kellner told him that Meese "wanted to be sure as hell we had no plans to indict anyone before the vote." (Village Voice, Dec. 30, 1986, p.16)

Meese naturally has also worked to cover himself. A House judiciary subcommittee has been looking into whether Meese halted the investigations of the contra smuggling network in Miami. The committee wanted the Miami federal prosecutors involved to testify. But Meese has refused to allow it. The subcommittee has voted to subpoena the prosecutors.

Congress Collaborates in the Cover-Up

While the House subcommittee investigated Meese, it turns out that the Democratic-dominated Congress is not very interested in exposing the contras either. The Democratic leadership wants to embarrass Reagan a bit, but they don't want to damage the U.S. spy network and secret operations around the world or the power of the Pentagon and the CIA to intervene around the world.

The joint House-Senate Iran-contra committee, despite weeks of questioning of North, Owen, Meese, etc. has not raised a peep about contra drug smuggling. And it was happy to let Meese off the hook on these issues when he testified.

The House Select Committee on Narcotic Abuse and Control did take some evidence on contra drug smuggling. But, disregarding everything, on July 21 its chairman, Democrat Charles Rangel from New York, blandly remarked that "no witness has given evidence that the contra leadership was involved in drug trafficking." Other members of the committee, such as Rep. James Traficant (D-Ohio), disagreed, stating that "I believe people were flying weapons and guns down to Nicaragua and returning with drugs. I don't see how this much traffic could occur...without someone in the U.S. government knowing that it was going on." But for the Democratic leadership, unless there is a signed and notarized agreement between Reagan and contra leader Calero, there is no "smoking gun" and "no evidence" that the "leadership" is involved.

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South Korean people have not been silenced

The liberal politicians in South Korea have come to a deal with the Chun dictatorship. But the working people have yet to win basic democratic rights. Struggles for democratic rights continue, but the mass ferment is also beginning to encompass various fronts of the social struggle.

The radical activists, based mainly among the students, are skeptical of the Chun reforms and have expressed their distrust. What's more, the upsurge against Chun has encouraged new sections of the masses into struggle. This includes a wave of efforts by workers to organize against the capitalists.

Student Protests

On July 3, at Yonsei University 20,000 students rallied to declare they were not satisfied with the government's concessions. They called for further street demonstrations. Speakers at the rally denounced U.S. imperialism and demanded the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea. They demanded improvement in labor conditions. The students also expressed disenchantment with the liberal politicians.

On July 4 a number of small but sharp demonstrations occurred following the lenient sentences handed out to the police murderers of Park Chung Jul. Park was the student whose death sparked a huge wave of protests last winter and spring.

On the same day there were demonstrations against the government's continued holding of political prisoners.

Massive Memorial for Lee Han Wul

On July 5 Lee Han Wul, a student protester, died. Lee had been hit in the head by a tear gas canister during the June mass actions.

Students at Yonsei University, where Lee was a student, immediately organized a memorial meeting on campus which attracted 10,000. Roh Tae Woo, head of the governing party, tried to cover up government guilt in Lee's murder by sending flowers to the meeting. But the students seized the flowers, burned and trampled them. Then thousands of students began to march off campus. They were attacked by 2,000 riot police firing tear gas.

On July 9 Lee's death was commemorated with the largest demonstration in the history of South Korea. The day's events included a huge march in Seoul. Lee's body was then carried to Kwangju, his home town, where another huge demonstration was organized.

The demonstrations in Seoul began early in the morning and lasted until midnight. Amidst a sea of banners, there were loud chants of "Down with the dictatorship'' and "Down with America.''

Later in the day a militant section of the demonstrators attacked Seoul's city hall. They smashed the doors and windows before being beaten back by police. Then they turned towards the presidential palace, where they clashed with riot police. Protesters then took over the downtown area, building bonfires and battling police behind barricades.

Workers on the Move

As we go to press, there are reports of mounting labor unrest as factory workers stage strikes and occupy plants.

Roughly three dozen labor unions are said to have sprung up in recent weeks. Workers at small textile companies, taxi companies and travel agencies have been striking, protesting, and trying to form unions.

The government is taking a diehard stand against worker unrest. The labor ministry said that strike leaders will be arrested. The Justice Minister warned against workers taking collective action, denouncing it as a serious danger to democratization!

A few of the workers' struggles that have been reported include:

* In Inchon, 53 workers walked off the job at Chonil Grinding Industrial Co. demanding that their annual bonus be doubled.

* Sixty taxi drivers in Taegu who had lost their jobs held a sit-in to demand renewal of their taxi licenses.

* Seventeen nurses at a hospital in Taegu staged an overnight sit-in demanding the reinstatement of several fired nurses, a raise in wages, and operation of a shuttle bus for nurses on night shift.

Other Struggles

Five hundred residents of a Seoul apartment complex occupied management offices to protest mismanagement of fees.

Eight hundred students at a girls high school in Paju held a rally against undemocratic conditions in the school.

Two hundred seventy people who live near the construction site of a new nuclear power plant in the southwest staged a sit-in at the plant demanding compensation.

High school teachers who were fired for political activity stormed the headquarters of the opposition Reunification Democratic Party demanding support for their reinstatement. Teachers are also demanding the right to unionize.

Government and Liberals Against the Continued Struggle

The South Korean masses look at the struggle against the dictatorship in a much broader way than the governing party or the official opposition politicians. The masses in South Korea want real changes in their lives, not just a change in fortunes for the liberal politicians.

The government denounces the new struggles breaking out. On July 15, Chun told his cabinet to be on guard against "radical leftist elements" who would sow "social confusion."

But it isn't just the government, but the liberals too, who consider the social movements among the masses to be a threat. A spokeswoman for a Catholic group is quoted in the press as raising the cry that "too many demands from too many organizations" are worrisome, because it might give "an excuse to the government and military" to crack down.

But without struggle, the masses will get nothing. That lesson has been proven enough times before.

[Photo: A clash with police during a demonstration in Seoul demanding the release of all political prisoners, July 4.]

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Chun's reforms: Door ajar for the liberals, shut for the masses

On June 29 Roh Tae Woo, the chairman of the ruling Democratic Justice Party (DJP), made an announcement granting the demands of the bourgeois liberal opposition in South Korea. This move was shortly endorsed by President Chun Doo Hwan. The liberal opposition jumped for joy, declaring a victory.

A Few Very Limited Concessions

Listening to the U.S. news media, you'd think that the Chun government has satisfied everything the Korean people wanted.

But the truth is, the regime's concessions are extremely limited. They are mainly a few reforms that will open up politics to a wider section of the bourgeoisie. They amount to little for the ordinary working masses in South Korea. Elementary democratic rights that could be used by the toilers -- freedom of press and publishing, trade union rights and the right to organize working class political action -- have yet to see the light of day.

Electoral Reforms -- But Only for the Bourgeoisie

The DJP leaders agreed to direct presidential elections. This would be a change, since in the past elections were organized through an electoral college system heavily stacked in favor of the dictatorship's party. But the dictatorship isn't opening up the electoral system so that all political trends and parties can take part.

The new system will open up politics more to the bourgeois class as a whole, but that is all. Roh and Chun agreed to allow "fair competition'' in the election and allow more room for other political parties. But they also insisted on prohibiting "demagoguery, confusion, disorder" in campaigning. In other words, candidates who raise issues that the government does not like will be restrained. And there will be no legal left-wing parties.

And the means to campaign for public support will remain stacked heavily in favor of the regime. Government control and restrictions on the media and publishing remain. Reporting on class conflict and politics generally remains off limits.

Political Prisoners Released -- But Not All of Them

Roh and Chun agreed to free most political prisoners, including the liberal leader Kim Dae Jung. But they insisted on continuing to incarcerate anyone suspected of "bodily injury, arson and vandalism" -- that is, anyone suspected of being a militant fighter during the anti-government demonstrations.

And Kim Dae Jung himself has demanded that "real communists" be exempted from the release of political prisoners. Of course the government is glad to accommodate him on this point.

It's difficult to say who this includes. It does not take much for someone to be labeled a "communist" in South Korea. The government routinely arrests anyone who speaks in favor of reuniting Korea and charges them with being communist agents. There are also authors and publishers who have been in jail for years simply for using the phrase "class struggle" or attempting to analyze society in class terms.

Chun and Roh Still Hope to Maintain Power

Despite all the hoopla about the reforms in South Korea, it is doubtful if they will even bring about a change in which party dominates the government. Elections will most likely be held, but Chun and Roh are scrambling to gain the confidence of wider bourgeois sections so the DJP can win the elections.

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The militant upsurge has frightened the tyrant

The South Korean government has released a few statistics which help bring out the scope and intensity of the recent mass upsurge.

In the seventeen days from June 10 until June 26, the Korean people launched 2,145 demonstrations. In these the protesters injured 6,305 riot police. They attacked 262 police stations and burned 164 police vehicles. To quell the demonstrators, riot police fired 351,200 tear gas canisters.

These figures give the lie to liberal claims which belittle the role of the mass struggle. The liberal media and politicians in the U.S., along with the Korean liberals, try to cover up the real reason behind the reforms announced in South Korea last month. They want to make everyone believe that the dictatorship in South Korea, together with its U.S. imperialist backers, suddenly had a miraculous conversion to "full-blown democracy.''

When the Korean liberals do acknowledge the role of mass actions, they point to the peaceful, legal demonstrations that they organized. But most of the mass actions were directly organized by radical activists, not by the liberals. And it was the radical forces who were responsible for the militancy and power of the movement.

The Chun reforms, limited as they are, were a response to the determined struggle of the masses.

The militant upsurge in South Korea scared the Chun regime and U.S. imperialism. They desperately wanted to put an end to it. The regime had two choices before it: to declare martial law and risk more clashes with an enraged people, or to come to a deal with the liberal opposition to undercut the mass movement. They chose the latter.

As the government figures show, the mass actions were hitting powerful blows against the police. There is another story about the riot police which has only been hinted at in U.S. press reports. This is about the demoralization of the riot police.

These forces are conscripted from among the youth. Many young cops were overwhelmed by students in battles and gave up, asking for and receiving mercy. Many of them became reluctant to fight the demonstrators. On the other hand, such an attitude earned them the bitter hatred of their superiors; there was a report in early July about one riot policeman being beaten to death by his commander.

It is possible that the riot police may not have lasted much longer in the attempt to put down the mass upsurge. A change in policy for the regime -- in one direction or another -- was clearly becoming urgent.

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The World in Struggle

[Graphic.]

Mexican VW workers on strike

Ten thousand Volkswagen workers have been on strike in Puebla, Mexico, since the first of July. They are fighting against a slew of vicious concessions demanded by this German-Mexican auto monopoly.

The Volkswagen management went to the government Arbitration Board crying poverty. They said they were suffering losses and that their labor costs were too high. They asked for a 15% wage cut and a 50% cutback in benefits that workers made in the last contract. They also want to get rid of 723 workers without paying them severance benefits.

VW's claims are completely ridiculous. They are the typical claims made by the auto monopolies these days to justify cutting workers' wages and benefits. In fact, the VW workers are paid miserable wages. The vast majority of them make 65 cents an hour; those few making the highest pay at Puebla make only $1.45 an hour. And the working conditions at Puebla are atrocious.

VW workers are sticking to their strike. On July 3, workers marched to the Arbitration Board in Mexico City. The authorities closed their doors to the workers. The workers also organized another march in Mexico City for July 23 and called for a solidarity general strike.

Meanwhile, the VW strike comes at a time of growing workers' resistance in the Mexico City area.

On July 1st, 2,800 workers struck the Ford plant in Cuautitlan outside of Mexico City, demanding a 23% wage increase. Workers at the Autonomous Metropolitan University walked out for the second time this year. Twenty thousand nurses marched in the capital on July i5 demanding more jobs and a 100% wage increase. And on July 13, steelworkers from Ecatepec, who've been on strike for eight months, blocked the main avenue of their suburban neighborhood outside Mexico City.

[Photo: Mexican VW workers on strike.]

Bangladesh shut down by general strike

Bangladesh was shut down by a general strike July 23-24. The strike cut off all commerce, education and transport. The only ones going to work were government employees who were ordered to report to work.

During the strike thousands of demonstrators attacked the headquarters of President Ershad's political party in the center of Dhaka, the capital. Police opened fire on the demonstrators and killed eight. Protesters also stormed the office of the national airline and burned a number of vehicles there.

The strike was called to demand the resignation of Ershad in protest against his recently passed District Councils Bill. This bill allows military officers to serve on district development councils, and opens up local government administration to military domination.

Ershad came to power in 1982 through a military coup. He ruled for years directly as a military dictator under martial law. But at the end of last year, he "civilianized" himself through an elections farce. However Ershad remains very much a military man and he has never given up his position that in Bangladesh the military must have a direct role in government.

The Bengali masses do not reconcile themselves to military tyranny. They fought Ershad during martial law, and they are still fighting his regime today.

[Photo: Police being pelted with rocks hide behind shields as they take aim at demonstrators in Dacca, July 23.]

Filipino peasants protest Aquino's land decree

At the end of July, poor peasants from around the Philippines protested in Manila against President Corazon Aquino's new decree on land. Aquino issued her decree on July 22, and within a couple of days the Philippine Peasants Movement (KPU) launched protests.

Land reform is a major issue in the Philippines, and in her election campaign of early 1986 Aquino had made much of her promises to the peasants. But these promises have not been kept. In January, after being in office for almost a year, Aquino still had done nothing to satisfy the peasants' demands. And when the KPU organized a demonstration at that time to demand action from the Aquino administration, Aquino's troops shot down and killed 18 of the demonstrators in what became known as the Mendiola Bridge Massacre.

Now, half a year later, Aquino has finally gotten around to issuing her decree on land. But don't expect much from this decree.

In fact Aquino's decree is simply an extension of the 1972 land reform promulgated by dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Aquino's plan broadens that plan to include the large plantations, and it provides for some credit and technical assistance for farmers. But it still gives full compensation for the large landlords, and it requires peasants who buy land to pay for their land at 6% interest.

But what's even more telling, Aquino left all details of the plan to be worked out by the recently elected parliament. This new legislative body is dominated by conservative landholders, so there is not much chance of land reform actually being legislated.

There are between four and seven million landless farm workers in the Philippines, many of them living at a semi-starvation level, and Aquino's decree does almost nothing to assist them. The government is doing nothing to enforce minimum wage laws or other measures which would ease the plight of the rural poor.

Relief from the exploitation of the Filipino landowners will not come from the generosity of the Aquino regime. No, the needs of the rural poor can only be satisfied through revolutionary struggle. The first step of this struggle must be the expropriation of the landed estates of the rich and putting them at the disposal of the downtrodden rural toilers.

[Photo: Peasants were trying to march on the presidential palace when troops opened fire at the Mendiola Bridge, January 22. Eighteen peasants were killed.]

A battle against bus fare hike in Rio de Janeiro

On June 30 tens of thousands of Brazilians battled the police in downtown Rio de Janeiro. They were protesting a government order hiking bus fares. The masses took over downtown streets and forced banks and other businesses to close. Thousands marched in the streets. They denounced Brazil's president, shouting "Sarney out." Fifty buses were attacked by the protesters and damaged.

The government sent 1,000 riot police into the streets, but they had a difficult time quelling the demonstration. Protesters burned one police car and injured some of the police.

The masses took it as a special insult that the government should raise bus fares 50% at a time when millions are unemployed. A million workers have lost their jobs just this year, and in the last week of June, Ford and VW laid off another 2,000 auto workers.

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[Graphic: Apartheid no! REVOLUTION yes!]

Metal workers strike

South Africa is again being hit by a spate of workers' strikes.

The last week of July, 16,000 postal workers, half the country's black postal workers, waged a two-day strike. They disrupted mail delivery throughout the country.

Metal Workers Struggle

Members of the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa, a union affiliated with the COSATU federation, went on strike July 14. Sixty thousand metal workers at 500 factories joined in the strike.

The union demanded that minimum wages in steel and related industries be raised from $48 a week to $76. It also sought similar increases for higher- paid workers, a shorter work week, maternity benefits for women and other improvements.

The capitalist employers offered a measly increase of the minimum wage to $52.40 a week but rejected all other demands.

After the first day of the strike, the racist government declared it illegal. Instead of confronting this ban, the union leadership called off the strike. The union leadership gave the flabby excuse that it would fight the government ruling in the courts, not on the picket line.

The enthusiasm of the union members for the strike showed that the metal workers were ready and willing to fight the racist employers. As experience has shown so many times, any major strike in South Africa must inevitably be prepared to deal with repression from the racist government. But the leadership of the union stands for a reformist policy. It forgets the fact that whatever limited rights the workers have won so far has been through struggle in defiance of government bans, jailings, and other forms of state terror.

Miners Vote to Strike

Meanwhile, more than 200,000 black coal and gold miners also voted to strike in mid-July. The miners' union seeks 30% wage increases, other improvements, and a paid holiday on June 16, the anniversary of the 1976 Soweto rebellion.

The miners' union is still working out plans for the strike, which is expected any day now. Apparently, they are also trying to coordinate with the metal workers' union for a simultaneous strike. If a joint strike of the miners and metal workers is launched, it would amount to a major challenge against the South African capitalists.

[Photo: Steelworkers who took part in the strike at a plant in Danswart, South Africa.]

Workers organize in Namibia

Workers in Namibia are building trade unions to confront the employers there. Namibia (Southwest Africa) is occupied by 100,000 South African troops, and trade union rights are suppressed. Nonetheless the workers are organizing strikes and other struggles.

In June members of the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union carried out a successful action against Namibia's largest meatpacking company. And migrant workers in the town of Tsumeb carried out a boycott of white-owned businesses to protest South African occupation.

The South African rulers have responded to these mass actions with raids of union offices and arrests of union officers. But they will not succeed in quelling the attempts of the workers to get organized.

Struggles against Apartheid

Despite the fierce censorship in South Africa, some news of anti-apartheid struggle continues to leak through.

On July 2, a group of blacks armed with machetes attacked a police officer outside Greytown in Natal province. The apartheid police shot and killed two of the group.

On July 12, a group of 15 youths armed with gasoline bombs clashed with police in Sebokeng.

Also on that day, a crowd of youths in Randfontein went after police with stones. Police fired on the crowd with shotguns, wounding 18.

Blacks turned the funeral of anti-apartheid guerrilla Ashley Kriel into a political demonstration in Bonteheuwei township near Cape Town on July 18. Kriel was killed by police the week before. At least 2,500 people marched behind Kriel's coffin until police attacked with tear gas.

South African puppets massacre Mozambica

A terrible massacre took place on July 18 in the town of Homoine, Mozambique. Well-armed and well-supplied troops of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), a South African-sponsored guerrilla force, raided the town and murdered at least 380 people.

The guerrillas forced townspeople to march out of town along a road and shot them as they walked. The murderers also pulled patients out of the district hospital in Homoine and slaughtered them.

South Africa the Culprit

The blame for this massacre belongs squarely on the shoulders of the racists in Pretoria who finance and supply the Renamo guerrillas. Recently peasants living near Lake Chitipe in Mozambique told a news conference how they had been forced to help Renamo guerrillas retrieve guns, mortars and ammunition which had been dropped to the guerrillas by parachute. The peasants recognized South African Air Force markings on the plane.

This massacre is just the latest example of international terrorism by the apartheid regime. Aside from the violence it daily commits against the people inside South Africa, and the continuing occupation of Namibia, the racist government often raids neighboring countries such as Zimbabwe, Angola, Zambia, Lesotho, etc. On July 12, for example, South African agents killed three supporters of the African National Congress (ANC) inside Swaziland.

The apartheid rulers support Renamo in order to keep up pressure against the so-called "frontline states," so that they will not support the liberation movement in South Africa. The government of Mozambique some time ago signed a shameful agreement with South Africa that it would give no support for the ANC and in return the South Africans would cut off support to Renamo. But while Mozambique cut off aid to the ANC, South Africa has continued to support Renamo.

Renamo's Dirty War

The massacre in Homoine is the most dramatic example of Renamo's murderous tactics. But Renamo has been steadily massacring Mozambicans for years. Aside from direct murders, Renamo has been responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands by starvation, as it destroys Mozambican croplands. UN statistics estimate that 320,000 children have died as a result of Renamo's war.

Renamo was originally established by the government of white-ruled Rhodesia in 1976. Since the coming to power of a black regime in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), support for Renamo has been taken over by the South African military.

Recently Renamo has been widening its war to other countries. On June 20 Renamo guerrillas raided a village in Zimbabwe and killed eleven. Pamphlets left behind by the murderers said Renamo plans to carry out similar raids against Zambia in the near future.

Reaganites Also Have Ties With Renamo

South Africa is not the only government with ties to Renamo. The Mozambican peasants who testified about the arms drop to Renamo also noted that the parachutes themselves were marked "U.S. Armed Forces" and "Made in the U.S.A."

And there is a direct political link between Renamo and the Reagan administration. While the U.S. government has developed friendly ties with the Mozambican government, influential Reaganites openly support Renamo. This includes Senator Jesse Helms (R- N.C.), one of the most rabid defenders of U.S.-backed tyranny abroad.

But the Reagan government itself is not averse to direct ties with Renamo either. Recently administration spokesmen admitted that State Department officials have held talks with Renamo, and that the administration is considering expanding its ties to Renamo.

The State Department's excuse for opening up ties to Renamo is that Renamo guerrillas recently kidnapped an American nurse, and it was necessary to negotiate the nurse's release. Of course if Renamo had any tinge of anti-U.S. politics to it, the Reaganites would be foaming at the mouth and threatening retaliation against these terrorists. But since Renamo is a South African-sponsored band of racist and anti-communist mercenaries, well then, careful one-on-one negotiations are called for.

The Reaganites cannot hide their affinity for the right-wing Renamo terrorists. This is one more example of the brutality which U.S. imperialism supports in southern Africa.

A new round of repression

The racist Botha government has unleashed a new round of repression in South Africa.

In recent weeks, government-sup- ported black vigilantes have been terrorizing the black township of Mpumalanga. They are hunting down militant youths. They have killed four people and injured many others. Township residents say that the targets of the vigilantes include activists of the United Democratic Front (UDF).

This terror campaign coincides with a direct government crackdown against leaders of the UDF. On July 22, two key officials of the UDF were seized in a predawn sweep. A number more were also arrested. The latest detentions bring to 22 the number of UDF officials who have been jailed or charged with treason.

It is also reported that, with the latest crackdown, leading members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) have gone into hiding.

The repression against UDF activists is another despicable act of the racist Botha government. It appears to be another step in the drive of the apartheid regime to ban the UDF, another step in the drive to crush any semblance of legal anti-apartheid activities.

The UDF is a loose, legal anti-apartheid coalition which sympathizes with the outlawed African National Congress (ANC). The ANC claims to follow a militant and revolutionary stand, and with such declarations does attract revolutionary-minded activists, but this political trend essentially seeks a reformist compromise with the white minority ruling class.

The repression against UDF, however, again shows the illusion of seeking a compromise. Nothing less than revolution against apartheid will bring freedom to the black masses in South Africa.

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The Haitian people's struggle is unrelenting

The people of Haiti are fed up with the rule of General Henri Namphy and his military-dominated junta, the CNG. Across the country, the cry rings out: Down with the CNG! Namphy must go!

The latest wave of mass actions took Haiti by storm beginning in June. The country was paralyzed by a powerful general strike through early July.

The upsurge began with discontent against a number of Namphy's reactionary policies, but it grew to demand the outright removal of the regime.

That general strike was eventually sold out by the weak-kneed capitalist politicians who assumed its leadership. But as the latest battles show, the popular challenge to Namphy remains unrelenting. And the mass movement is again on the rebound, including a renewed general strike.

Upsurge Launched by Workers' Protests

In recent months, a string of wildcat strikes and protests had been building up.

On June 12, the government fired striking postal workers in the capital and replaced them with troops. Workers began agitating for a general strike.

This was organized the last week of June in a broad protest against the deteriorating economic conditions of the toilers. Haiti's economy is in desperate straits, with 65% unemployment, and near-famine conditions in the countryside. And Namphy stands for still more austerity measures against the poor.

A two-day national strike was called by a labor federation, the Autonomous Central of Haitian Workers (CATH). But Namphy refused to allow this. On June 22, the first day of the strike, troops swooped into CATH's headquarters. They ransacked the place and arrested ten CATH leaders. The next day the government announced the dissolution of CATH.

Namphy Thrusts Aside Civilian Electoral Council

On the same day, Namphy also announced that he was removing control of the elections planned for November from a civilian electoral board.

Namphy decreed that primary responsibility for the elections would go to the Ministry of Interior, which includes the army and police. The civilian electoral council was reduced to figurehead status. Namphy also dismissed two of the board's nine members, saying they were not Haitian citizens and thus not eligible. Actually these two were native-born Haitians, but had been forced to live in exile for years during the Duvalier regime.

The board was made up of respectable bourgeois figures; but Namphy didn't consider this to be enough. He wanted the military and police to run elections if any are to be held in Haiti.

Namphy's moves against CATH and the electoral board outraged the people. Namphy's dictatorial measures again brought home to Haitians the bitter fact that his regime is just Duvalierism without Duvalier.

Trade union legality and the civilian electoral board had been authorized by the new constitution voted in by an overwhelming majority in March. But obviously promises in that document don't guarantee anything; Namphy could cast them aside if he so wanted. The only force standing against reaction and tyranny is not the constitution but the revolutionary struggle of the masses.

General Strike Shuts Down Haiti

With almost the entire country enraged, a nationwide strike was organized. The strike was endorsed and supported by scores of organizations. But leadership of the action was assumed by a group of some 60 bourgeois politicians.

The strike began on June 29. On that day the capital and all the major Haitian cities were paralyzed. Hundreds marched in downtown Port-au-Prince chanting "Down with the CNG!" and "Power to the people!" Demonstrators clashed with troops outside the state- run radio station, where the protesters threw stones and smashed cars.

Early in the day, to mollify the crowds, Namphy had released the ten leaders of CATH from jail. But the union leaders reported they had been thrown into a dungeon and tortured. And the government still maintained the dissolution of CATH. So this did nothing to quiet the crowds.

Burning barricades went up in the streets of Port-au-Prince.

Brutal Repression

Namphy called out the army. The soldiers had brand-new riot gear supplied by the U.S. Reagan is giving $100 million in aid to the Namphy regime this year, much of it as military aid. As the soldiers attacked the demonstrators, they killed four.

In the days that followed, the fighting escalated on both sides.

The politicians, who at first limited their demands to the restoration of the rights of the electoral council, began to echo the demand of the masses for the removal of Namphy.

All economic activity stopped in Haiti. Airline flights were canceled. Protesters in Port-au-Prince grew increasingly bold, burning buses and destroying cars.

At the same time the army became increasingly brutal. Ten people were killed between June 29 and July 2.

Another Attempt to Pacify the Struggle Fails

On July 2, Namphy announced he was restoring control of the elections to the electoral council and withdrawing his objections to the two "foreign" members of the council.

But by this time the masses were so angry they refused to be satisfied, especially since Namphy still refused to lift the ban on CATH. On July 3 the protests became even more violent. Demonstrators threw rocks, while the military responded with clubs and gunfire. The soldiers killed eight protesters on that day alone.

Temporary Halt to Get Food

July 4 was a truce day. The masses took a day off from protesting to bury their dead -- 23 so far -- and to gather food.

The government put the commanders of the armed forces on television where they pledged their total support to Namphy.

On the other side, the bourgeois politicians called for continuing the strike until Namphy resigned. And the electoral council said it could not continue its work because of the atmosphere created by the government's violent repression.

Imperialists Come to Namphy's Aid

In the meantime, there were powerful forces at work behind the scenes to prop up the Namphy regime.

The U.S. State Department threatened to cut off aid if Namphy was forced out. Diplomats from the U.S., Canada and France lobbied the politicians, telling them that elections could not take place without "stability," in other words, without maintaining Namphy in power.

The Catholic bishops of Haiti issued a statement calling for restraint on both sides.

The Strike Resumes, But Is Sold Out

The strike resumed on July 6. Again, most businesses and offices were closed, and public transport was shut down. But the lobbying of the imperialist diplomats and Catholic hierarchy had its effect. The only bonfires and barricades were in Gonaives.

The bourgeois politicians still claimed to stand for the removal of Namphy, but began to question whether a strike was the best way to achieve this. The electoral council said it was resuming its work. It said it was satisfied with the concessions made by Namphy and pleased with the restraint he had shown toward demonstrators!

On July 7 there was a large march outside the presidential palace. The politicians gave their call for Namphy to step down, but they kept a tight rein on the demonstration. For his part Namphy kept soldiers and police away from the demonstration.

The next day the opposition leaders called off the strike. They also publicized their idea of what they wanted to replace Namphy with. Their proposal for an alternative junta was made up entirely of conservative bourgeois figures.

The Struggle Continues

But the treachery of the capitalist politicians does not mean that they have put an end to the mass struggle against Namphy.

* On July 10, there was a march of tens of thousands in Port-au-Prince, and many more across the country. Demonstrators condemned U.S. imperialism and raised various militant demands. They shouted Down with poverty! Down with Namphy! and, reflecting their growing radicalization, workers also shouted We want communism!

* Unrest continues on the labor front. It appears that the regime has lifted the formal ban on CATH, but wants to prohibit it from keeping its present leaders. On July 16, however, a CATH branch reopened and declared that it had no intention of complying with the government edict.

* On July 20, more than 10,000 students marched through Port-au-Prince, the capital. They carried signs and banners denouncing the CNG. The demonstrators marched from the university to the Education Ministry, the National Palace and the U.S. Embassy. They denounced the U.S. government for its support for Namphy. Demonstrations also took place in provincial cities. In at least two places, ordinary soldiers joined in with the protesters and marched side by side.

* Then came the latest clashes, sparked off by a monstrous attack by the army against a popular demonstration on a day that, under the Duvalier regime, was called "Tontons Macoutes Appreciation Day."

The Toilers Need Revolutionary Organization

The Haitian toilers and youth are again showing their courage and fighting determination. Dozens of martyrs have been sacrificed in the latest struggle against Namphy.

The upsurge again shows the power of mass struggle. Without the mass actions, the union leaders would still be rotting in jail, and Namphy would be proceeding merrily toward an election completely run by his military. And who knows what else he would have felt emboldened to decree?

But still, the last general strike was not able to achieve its goal of ousting Namphy. It was cut short. This is due to the treachery of the bourgeois politicians who are in thrall to the imperialists and the church hierarchy. These compromising forces were able to get their way because of the weakness of revolutionary organization based among the workers and other toilers.

The bourgeois politicians who put themselves at the head of the movement do not see beyond elections and have no interest in defending the interests of the toilers. They only want their share of spoils in a government of the exploiters.

The Haitian toilers are carrying on their struggle despite the treachery of the bourgeois opposition. In Haiti, it is not a matter of all the people marching single file against the Namphy regime. Rather, the gulf between the toilers and the bourgeoisie is growing. This puts on the agenda the need for independent organization of the workers and peasants. Indeed, the future of the struggle depends upon how successful the toilers are in taking up this task.

From the standpoint of the oppressed masses, the best solution to the crisis in Haiti is not for Namphy to be replaced by some "moderate" civilian regime, but for the CNG to be overthrown altogether and replaced by a revolutionary government based on the toilers.

[Photo: Demonstrators build barriers to shut down Port-au-Prince.]

[Photo: The angry people filled the streets of Port-au-Prince, July 6. They carry branches as a sign of protest.]

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Landlords and Tontons murder peasant demonstrators

A few days ago several hundred peasant demonstrators fought a pitched battle with landlords' thugs in the Haitian countryside. At least 100, and perhaps hundreds more, peasants lost their lives. This was a one-sided battle, in which poor peasants faced machetes, spears and guns wielded by Tontons Macoutes.

The Tontons Macoutes were the brutal armed militia of the Duvalier tyranny who ran roughshod over Haiti for three decades. A big grievance of the masses against the present Namphy regime is the continued existence of the Macoutes. The mass struggle after the fall of Duvalier in February 1986 forced Namphy to declare the disbanding of the Tontons. But many of them were then integrated into the regular armed forces or taken into private service by rural landlords.

On July 24 hundreds of poor peasants marched near the remote rural village of Jean Rabel to demand land from the rich landlords. Their protest was a peaceful one. It appears that the peasants were under the influence of reformist leaders, including Catholic priests who preach that the peasants rely on lawsuits against the landlords.

But the landlords -- ruthless bloodsuckers that they are -- don't like any peasant movement. Only a year ago, they burned down the local office of the peasant organization. This time, as the peasants marched along a road, the demonstrators were ambushed by a force of Tontons in the service of the landlords. The peasants fought back as best they could, but the one-sided battle ended with scores of them dead. There are also reports that many more people were killed in their homes. As many as 300 peasants are missing.

Showing where government power in Haiti stands, the local authorities arrested 50 peasants on charges of participating in attacks on landowners!

In this area, the peasants have been brutally oppressed for decades by the rich landlords. There have been many skirmishes over the years. After the popular upsurge brought down Duvalier, peasants here were encouraged to raise their voices against the landlords.

This time they may have suffered a setback, but the motion unleashed among the Haitian toilers by the fall of Duvalier cannot be stopped.

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Actions in solidarity with the struggle in Haiti

To show support for the struggle in Haiti, Haitians in several U.S. cities held rallies and demonstrations.

On July 7, over 500 people marched in New York City from the U.N. to the Haitian Consulate and a U.S. State Department office.

In Boston three solidarity actions were organized.

About 80 people joined in a rally on July 18 at Government Center. The demonstrators called for an end to Duvalierism without Duvalier in Haiti. They condemned kidnappings and "disappearances" of militants and workers. The protest also called for an end to U.S. support for the Namphy regime.

Speakers described the strikes and demonstrations shaking Haiti and proclaimed their solidarity with the struggle against Namphy. They also described the cruel exploitation of the Haitian workers at the hands of the U.S. companies and the Haitian capitalists.

This rally was the third action called recently by the Haitian community. On July 7 and 10, pickets were organized in front of the Haitian consulate.

At all these events, the Haitian protesters were joined by supporters of the MLP who raised slogans in support of the Haitian toilers. At the July 18 rally, the Party gave a solidarity message.

In preparation for the rally, the Boston Branch of the MLP put out a leaflet calling for support for the mass upsurge in Haiti. It was distributed at factories, neighborhoods, campuses and on the transit system. It was well received by workers. In one commercial laundry which employs a number of Haitians, a worker saw a leaflet and was so excited that he took the Party distributor inside -- from work station to work station -- so that each and every worker could get a copy.

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The black bourgeoisie and the Maoist RCP

In the struggle against the oppression of the black people, there are divergent political stands among the left trends -- from timid reformism to revolutionary Leninism. The hard work of building the anti-racist struggle requires sifting through the different stands. Serious activists have to sort out what ideas and policies are best for the movement and what amounts to a dead end.

Most of the revisionist groups embrace an obviously reformist stand. But there are some who try to strike a militant pose, such as the Maoist RCP,USA. However, as we shall see in this article, in its stand towards the black people's struggle, RCP shares the same theoretical underpinnings as those who are transparently reformists.

Trailing the Black Bourgeoisie Is Very Much the Fashion Today

In the present political climate, craven reformism is a hallmark of most of the left groups.

They don't believe in a real fight against racism. They denigrate mass struggle and scorn the work needed to draw the masses into militant organization. Instead, electoral cretinism in support of black Democratic Party politicians is all the rage.

The reformists have tied themselves to the coattails of the black bourgeoisie and its various political representatives. The black bourgeoisie is not interested in developing the anti-racist struggle. It merely seeks to use the mass sentiment against racism as a bargaining chip with the capitalist ruling class for more economic and political privileges for itself. Its goal is not fighting for the needs of the black workers and poor but for more token positions for itself in the upper echelons of the corporations and government.

Black Mayors Show Treacherous Role of the Black Bourgeoisie

After the mass upsurges of the 1960's the ruling class came to see the usefulness of black mayors in many U.S. cities. These mayors have been busy proving to the bourgeoisie that they can energetically carry out the capitalist offensive against the masses.

These officials have already earned a good deal of notoriety for coming out against the black masses. Mayor Wilson Goode of Philadelphia ordered the bombing of MOVE. Coleman Young of Detroit hobnobs with and helps out the monopolies, while he attacks city workers and public services. Marion Barry of Washington, D.C. is on a constant crusade against the black poor in his city. And the list goes on.

There is a growing class polarization within the black community. One cannot fight racism effectively without differentiating between the interests of the different classes among the black people. To fight racism, one cannot stand aloof from dealing with the treachery of the black mayors and other representatives of the black bourgeoisie. One cannot build a serious anti-racist movement without basing the struggle on the shoulders and class interests of the black workers and poor.

RCP -- Only a Militant Pose

RCP tries to keep the reputation as a group standing for a militant and revolutionary perspective. Unlike many other left groups, it denounces the treachery of the black mayors. For example, it agitated against Mayor Goode's role in the bombing of MOVE.

But appearances can be deceptive. True, RCP is willing to criticize the black mayors. But it wants to save the black bourgeoisie from the hatred of the black masses by denying that the mayors are political representatives of the black bourgeoisie. It wants to shield the black bourgeoisie from political exposure.

RCP maintains the opportunist fiction that the black bourgeoisie is a potential ally of the proletarian revolutionary struggle. This support for the black bourgeoisie is a common theoretical ground RCP shares with the reformist liquidators.

This is a longstanding view of RCP. This theoretical absurdity was again recently detailed in a major article. The Winter/Spring issue of Revolution carries the first of a two-part article called "Since the 60's: Trends of Impoverishment, Oppression, and Class Polarization in the Black Nation.'' RCP promises that the second part will speak to the "political and strategic implications" of this analysis, but it hasn't come out yet.

Much of the article is devoted to providing facts about class polarization in the black community. We have no quarrels with most of this. They show that there is a black bourgeoisie, they describe what it is and its size and strength, and they show that there is growing class polarization among black people.

Negating the Industrial Workers

However, even in describing how the ruling class has helped to foster a bourgeoisified strata among black people, RCP cannot refrain from sneaking in its anti-proletarian theoretical baggage.

For example, RCP suggests that the increasing number of blacks getting into higher-paid industrial jobs in the 1960's, such as in auto, was part of the bourgeoisie's attempts to build up a buffer strata against the black masses. (See the section 'Skilled and Bourgeoisified Workers' in the article noted above, p. 26.)

The facts that RCP cites to suggest that this was due to some sort of direct bribery by the bourgeoisie are highly dubious. The larger percentage of black workers in such jobs is more a result of such factors as the concentration of blacks in the backbreaking production line jobs rather than the skilled trades, the then expansion of industry, the breakdown of certain forms of job discrimination, etc.

No doubt, with the expansion of the economy there was a certain increase of blacks brought into the sold-out labor aristocracy. And it is certainly true that after the upsurges in the 1960's, the trade union bureaucracy did indeed work to co-opt a section of activist black workers.

But this isn't what RCP is talking about. RCP considers the entire section of industrial workers in such industries as auto, steel, etc. as bought off and bourgeoisified. RCP negates the revolutionary potential in the industrial proletariat and looks elsewhere as the basis for political organizing. In general, and not just with respect to the black people, RCP denigrates the industrial proletariat and assigns its role to the petty bourgeoisie and the most crushed sections.

RCP Denies the Black Mayors Are Part of the Black Bourgeoisie

What's even more striking in RCP's analysis of the black upper strata is its theorizing on the question of the black mayors. It declares, and reiterates several times, that the black mayors are not part of the black bourgeoisie but part of the imperialist state apparatus. (See the section 'Black Mayors: A Section of the Black Bourgeoisie or Part of the Imperialist State Apparatus?' Ibid., p. 20.)

RCP gives absolutely no serious argument for this view. The only argument given is the way the question is posed. You're supposed to accept the fact that if the black mayors are part of the state apparatus, then they automatically can't be part of the black bourgeoisie.

This is totally ridiculous.

True, the black mayors have been given a certain share of local government power by the big bourgeoisie. No one can question that they are part of the state apparatus. It is also undeniable that "they are instruments of the bourgeoisie for maintaining the oppression of the masses of black people." (p. 21)

But this isn't a question of the ruling class recruiting some isolated individuals for service in the government. It is a question of providing these positions in the state to a certain class -- namely, the black bourgeoisie. The black mayors have gotten these positions because they are political representatives of the black bourgeoisie.

This is verified if one examines what particular interests the black mayors serve. While it is true that they serve the monopoly capitalists, the black mayoral administrations have been a big boon for the black bourgeoisie in particular. They are able to pass out municipal contracts to black businesses. They are able to provide patronage jobs to upper strata blacks.

Indeed, these facts are so well known that RCP itself cannot deny this. RCP is even willing to acknowledge that "the main social base of the black mayors is the black bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie, which receive important sops from black city administration." (pp. 21-22)

But then RCP returns to its dogmatic assertion that since the black mayors and other politicians serve and enforce the dictates of the ruling class, they "do not form a detachment of the black bourgeoisie."

What Does This Mean in Practical Politics?

RCP gives its strange theory on the black mayors because it considers the black bourgeoisie to be a potential ally of the proletarian revolution. As RCP puts it, "In the context of overall global crisis and the emergence of revolution in various countries throughout the world and in the U.S., many among the black bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie will be able to be won over or neutralized." (p. 34)

We do not deny that there are those in the petty bourgeoisie who can take part in struggle against the ruling class. But there are different trends among the petty bourgeoisie. There are those who aspire to be bourgeois, who follow the black bourgeoisie's strivings for wheeling and dealing with the ruling class. This section does not and will not sympathize with the struggle of the downtrodden. There are sections of the petty bourgeoisie which do get propelled into struggle. But even among them, there are found all sorts of backward ideological influences.

But the issue we want to focus on is RCP's theorizing about the black bourgeoisie. This theorizing is connected to several practical goals.

It eagerly wants to woo luminaries in the black community. In its various fronts of work, one can see that RCP avidly seeks to link up with a whole slew of reformist and left-liberal bigshots -- lawyers, professors, priests, etc.

For one thing, RCP wants to leave its options open to appealing to outright black bourgeois forces as part of what it calls the "united front against imperialism."

RCP's softness towards the black bourgeoisie is also connected to its longstanding opportunist approach towards black petty bourgeois trends, including nationalist currents.

How To Approach Petty-Bourgeois Trends

In the struggle against national oppression, Marxist-Leninists do have to deal with such trends where they are involved in the actual struggle. But in working with such trends, communists have to maintain their independence and class-based politics. And communists also have to try to win the masses under the influence of these trends to a proletarian standpoint.

Instead of such a principled approach, RCP takes a stand of trailing behind, glorifying, and even merging with petty-bourgeois trends.

In working with such trends communists have to take up a hard fight against petty-bourgeois prejudices. But RCP prefers the easy road of not dealing with such things. In particular, a Leninist stand of criticism of the black bourgeoisie is one of the responsibilities that RCP wants to avoid. After all, this would only create difficulties.

Ideologically RCP's position on the black officials and the black bourgeoisie is an echo of a "left" nationalist stand.

In the black people's movement, there have been many petty-bourgeois trends who have been willing to denounce individual "Uncle Toms" but who refuse to recognize that there is a class basis to this phenomenon. Inevitably these trends have collapsed as they cannot maintain any distinction from the politics promoted by the black bourgeoisie. And many of their activists ultimately joined the ranks of those aspiring for bourgeois respectability.

A Blinder Rooted in Maoism

RCP's theories on the black bourgeoisie are rooted in its Maoist dogmas.

It's the old Maoist view that the "bad" bourgeoisie within an oppressed nation isn't really part of the bourgeois class, but merely some sort of "foreign agents" or "traitors." Maoism then asserts that a purer, progressive national bourgeoisie is the real bourgeoisie. By definition, this bourgeoisie cannot serve the interests of imperialism, it is a class that "serves the nation," and it is a class that the toilers can unite with all the way through to socialism.

But as history has demonstrated over and over again, the Maoist conception is an opportunist fantasy meant to hitch the workers among the oppressed nations to their bourgeoisies.

It is true that at certain times and under certain conditions, sections of the bourgeoisie do take part in struggle against national oppression. While in a few cases, some bourgeois forces can take militant stands, the tendency among the bourgeoisie when it participates in the movement is towards promotion of national-reformism. And as class polarization grows, the direction of bourgeois politics goes more and more in a conservative direction. Maoism wipes out the need for a serious analysis of political trends and merely conjures up a myth about a pure and progressive national bourgeoisie.

Dulling Class Consciousness Among Black Workers

While RCP's current schemes to woo the black bourgeoisie have yet to bear fruit, their theories are not without damage to the black people's movement. With its militant posture, with its criticism of the crimes of black mayors, RCP does sometimes find ears among anti-racist activists.

But RCP won't use the disgust among the masses with these black capitalist officials in order to develop class consciousness among black workers. RCP wants to link up with this disgust, but only to turn around and shield the black bourgeoisie from being tarred with this exposure.

Showing the black workers and poor that there is a class basis to the crimes of Wilson Goode and Coleman Young helps to strengthen class consciousness among workers of the oppressed nationalities. Indeed, this is one of the favorable byproducts of the increasing class polarization. It undermines bourgeois nationalism and creates fertile ground for working class unity and organization.

Those interested in organizing the proletariat for socialist revolution can only welcome this. The Maoists of RCP think otherwise.

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'Detroit rebellion blues'

(To the tune of "Rollin' an' Tumblin' Blues," a fast, hard-driving Mississippi Delta tune.)

Let me take you back

20 years ago.

Let me take you back,

oh, 20 years ago,

when Detroit blacks

like a volcano blowed.

If you were poor and black,

you didn't have a chance.

If you were poor and black then,

you didn't stand a chance.

Detroit police would kill you

and plant a knife in your hand.

On a hot July night

the police made a raid.

On a hot July night

the police made a raid.

Arrested so many people,

12th St. was enraged.

Gunfire in the ghetto,

from the police, the troops and the Guard.

Gunfire in the ghetto,

from the police, the troops and the Guard.

And gunfire from the people

fightin' back from their own backyards.

Well, the white bosses held a meeting,

told the Uncle Toms to dance.

Well, the white bosses held a meeting,

told the Uncle Toms to dance.

Sent the Toms to stop the people,

but they didn't have a chance.

(I'm talkin' 'bout John Conyers, now! Arthur Johnson, too!)

Took the police, the Guard, the Airborne

to put black people down.

Took the police, the Guard, the Airborne

to put black workers down.

To protect their rich white bosses

they gunned

43 poor folks down.

Today we got a "Detroit Renaissance,"

but workin 'folks are even more poor!

Today we got black cops and a mayor,

but black kids are at death door!

There s a new Detroit Rebellion

a-knockin' at the door!

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On the new peace plans

[Prensa Proletaria masthead.]

The lead article in the March issue of Prensa Proletaria deals with the barrage of "peace plans" that are being put forward to the Sandinistas. It points to the Nicaraguan people's resistance against the contras and the strategic retreat of the contras into Honduras.

The issue for the Nicaraguan people is how to capitalize on the temporary setback to U.S. imperialism so as to strengthen the revolution.

On the other hand, there is the flurry of diplomatic "peace" initiatives being floated by the Democratic Party and a section of the Reagan administration, and by U.S. imperialism's reactionary Latin American allies and European social-democracy. Notable among these initiatives is the plan put forward last February by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez. This plan, which has the strong backing of the House and Senate, of special presidential envoy Philip Habib, and of Nicaragua's hostile neighbors, is nothing but a diplomatic maneuver to subjugate Nicaragua by pushing her toward a concessions-filled dialogue with the counterrevolution.

Prensa Proletaria warns that the Nicaraguan masses must be vigilant against the signing of any unprincipled "peace" agreements and must insist on having its say on any such agreements and not leave it to the Sandinista government.

Prensa Proletaria warns that there are currents in Nicaragua which are soft towards unprincipled agreements with the counterrevolution. The Sandinista government itself, while grumbling slightly, has basically accepted the provisions of the Arias plan. As well, there is a whole gamut of forces, from conservatives to liberals to social-christians to pro-Soviet revisionists (who call themselves "communist,") who are pushing for a dialogue with the armed counterrevolution

Prensa Proletaria calls on the Nicaraguan masses to continue to resist both the external aggression as well as its internal wing, and to insist that any agreement which might be signed must be submitted to the people for their decision.

The article says:

"...The strategic retreat of the counterrevolution must be converted into a strategic defeat. This will necessarily require both internal and external victories by the Nicaraguan people, ft is vital that the Nicaraguan people silence, neutralize, or crush any internal activity that goes in the direction of support for an understanding with the counterrevolution (even if this activity comes from those mascarading as "communists," like the Communist Party of Nicaragua [pro-Soviet revisionists].

"It is necessary to crush those reactionary parties and positions, and to challenge the game of the new emerging tactic of imperialism. As well, the people must watch over and control the government in the process of negotiation with external forces.

"Concretely, no treaty, accord, or negotiation must be considered valid until the Nicaraguan people themselves approve and ratify it. In this sense, the peace proposals, in case the government comes to the point of offering them through some compromise, must be submitted for popular consultation and ratification through popular meetings, assemblies of the workers', peasants' and neighborhood organizations, and of the youth in the Military Service.

"The people must show the utmost zeal in their own interests, and it is only through their own organizations that these interests can be protected.

"No celebration of accords behind the backs of the people!

"Peace without surrender or conditions!

"No to foreign interference by enemies of the revolution!

"Achieve popular unity against the aggression and Its internal agents!

"They will not pass!"

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Support the Nicaraguan workers' press!

[Photo.]

The Nicaraguan working people need our help against U.S. imperialist aggression. The MLP is organizing material aid through the Campaign for the Nicaraguan Workers' Press. In defiance of Reagan's blockade, the Campaign is sending much needed printing materials and supplies to assist the Marxist-Leninist Party of Nicaragua (MAP/ML) and its Workers Front trade union center to build the workers' press. Send letters of support and contributions to: [Address.]

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The class struggle in Nicaragua is on the rise

The following article is based on some notes from the delegation of the MLP,USA which recently visited Nicaragua.

The fight against the U.S.-owned and operated contras affects every aspect of life in Nicaraguan society. This is especially the case for the urban toilers and the working peasants, who bear the brunt of the war effort.

Que se rinda su madre!-- mama surrender! This is a curse that the Nicaraguan youth direct at Reagan, spray painted on the walls of Managua. The slogans of the youth reflect the feelings of the vast majority of Nicaraguan toilers.

Another central feature of life in Nicaragua is the disintegration of the economy and soaring inflation. Besides the impact of Reagan's war and economic pressure, this is brought about by the attempt of the Sandinista regime to carry out the anti-contra war while leaving the economic power, privilege and profits of the capitalists intact.

In this situation there is the growth of mass disenchantment with the policies of the Sandinista regime and the reappearance of open class struggle in the factories and plantations.

Mass Ferment

If it were just a matter of the Sandinista government and the bourgeoisie, the story of present-day Nicaragua may well be a sad tale of a revolution done and spent. But there is another side to the story. Wherever the masses gather, there are signs of ferment.

Working people in Managua spend hours at a time waiting on lines for rice, beans, etc., but they spend those hours talking -- about the war, about the economic crisis, about the policies of the government, about what to do.

The revolution brought with it a big increase in the political awareness among the masses. At the same time, the prestige of Sandinism gave it a virtual monopoly on people's thinking. Today this is no longer the case. The masses continue to be loyal to the revolution -- after all, they're the ones who made it -- but there is growing disenchantment with the policies of the government.

Class conciliation is a basic tenet of Sandinism. Under a Sandinista government, the workers and bosses supposedly can live in harmony. Indeed, through pressure, manipulation and confusion, the Sandinista regime was able to hold the workers' movement in check for several years. In the present more fluid situation workers' struggles have reappeared.

The Workers' Movement

In December, the harvest at the huge San Antonio sugar plantation, owned by the Pellas family, was halted for several days by a strike.

The immediate issue was management's attempt to close the employee commissary. At San Antonio, the wages are so low there is no point to working there. No point, except that there is a commissary at which the workers can buy necessities at special, low prices. Many of the field workers are actually peasants. Their families scratch out a basic subsistence from the land, and by working at San Antonio, they can buy from the commissary what they cannot grow. Commissary privileges are thus not privileges at all but part of a laborer's wage.

This work stoppage under the most difficult conditions by thousands of field laborers signals a revival of the working class movement. What has taken place at San Antonio reflects what is going on in a smaller way in scores of work places.

The Workers' Front

Many of the San Antonio workers are adherents of the Workers' Front5 (Frente Obrero - FO). Despite the firing of many militant workers in the wake of the strike, FO remains active at San Antonio. It is working there for the building of an independent trade union, based on a policy of class struggle.

At numbers of other factories there are active Committees of Struggle working closely with FO.

And together with its work in the individual work places and industries, FO wages class-wide campaigns for its policies. For example, it is fighting for the abolition of the present labor code, a holdover from the days of Somoza, and for a new code written by the workers and giving them the right to take initiative on many questions in the work place, such as health and safety.

FO is also active among the peasants, helping them to build a cooperative movement against the landlords and the contras.

The Marxist-Leninist Party of Nicaragua

The activity of the Workers Front is an important part of a broad span of militant activity spearheaded by the Marxist-Leninist Party of Nicaragua. There is also, for example, activity among the students and unemployed veterans. And there is an active revolutionary press which explains the need for the working class to take center stage to move the revolution forward toward socialism.

While U.S. imperialism builds up the contra arsenal and various Sandinista leaders build themselves mansions, the class conscious workers in Nicaragua are building the future in the form of militant organization of the class.

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MLP,USA delegation returns from Nicaragua

A delegation of the Central Committee of the MLP,USA recently returned from Managua. There they met with the comrades of the Marxist- Leninist Party of Nicaragua (formerly MAP-ML) and held discussions about the revolutionary work in our two countries, developing our fraternal cooperation, and issues facing the international revolutionary movement.

Our comrades back from Nicaragua report that the situation inside Nicaragua is growing even more painful. U.S. imperialism's criminal war and capitalist sabotage are taking a heavy toll as the economy continues to disintegrate. And the vacillating Sandinista government has less and less to offer the working masses but bureaucratic tutelage.

At the same time, the Marxist-Leninist workers of the MLPN are making sure and steady progress in their revolutionary work. Our comrades learned about developments in the struggle that the MLPN is waging within the workers' movement.

The Nicaraguan comrades have been engaged in a vigorous struggle at the Metasa steel plant. The Committee of Workers' Struggle at the plant is fighting hard for a class policy to protect the workers' interests and to strengthen the workers' participation in the military defense of the country.

The privately-owned San Antonio Ingenio (sugar refinery and plantation) is the largest ingenio in Central America. It is also an historic stronghold of the Marxist-Leninists. As reported in the July 1 issue of The Workers' Advocate, through a hard struggle the field hands and refinery workers at San Antonio have set up a new independent union as an alternative to the bureaucratic and class collaborationist Sandinista union, as well as to the pro-U.S. imperialist right-wing union.

Step by step the revolutionary policy of the MLPN is gaining influence and organized strength in factories and fields across the country.

To provide a center for the workers to meet and organize, Frente Obrero (MLPN's trade union center) set up a new workers' meeting hall. And our Party is striving to do its small part with a fund-raising drive to help put a roof on the hall.

Our delegation also discussed with the Nicaraguan comrades other fronts of mutual cooperation and assistance. It should be noted that the obstacles put up by Reagan's blockade and by interference from the authorities are getting worse. Nonetheless, most of the supplies sent by the Nicaraguan Workers' Press Campaign are getting through. This includes a number of new rollers for the printing press, some of which our delegation delivered directly. Other materials recently supplied include litho film, photographic supplies, tape recorders and office supplies.

The discussions in Managua were valuable for further cementing the proletarian international bonds between the Marxist-Leninist parties of our two countries. These ties have proven to be a vital factor for developing solidarity between the revolutionary workers of Nicaragua and the U.S. in the face of the savage aggression of U.S. imperialism.

The news that our comrades brought back about the progress in the work of the MLPN is very encouraging. The struggle of the Nicaraguan Marxist-Leninists is an inspiration to all working class fighters against imperialism and the bourgeoisie, to all those struggling for the proletarian revolution and socialism.

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