Vol. 19, No. 8
VOICE OF THE MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY OF THE USA
25ยข August 1, 1989
[Front page:
Pro-choice actions across the country--Anti-abortion ruling sparks outrage;
Their rights under siege--Support the coal miners!;
Notes from Nicaragua--The growing crisis and the Committees of Struggle]
IN THIS ISSUE
| How we fought for a workers' press.................................. | 2 |
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| Housing for the Homeless! |
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| Capitalist pigs feed at HUD trough.................................... | 3 |
| More protests by the homeless........................................... | 3 |
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| Strikes and Workplace News |
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| Chrysler workers against layoffs....................................... | 4 |
| Confessions of a union bureaucrat..................................... | 4 |
| Hospital workers................................................................ | 5 |
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| Down with Racism! |
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| March on Washington! Fight this racism........................... | 5 |
| Protest against killer cops in L.A....................................... | 5 |
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| U.S. imperialism, Get Out of Central America! |
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| Joint statement of MLP of Nicaragua and MLP,USA........ | 7 |
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| Step Up the Defense of Women's Rights! |
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| Pro-choice struggle heats up in Boston.............................. | 8 |
| Why we defend abortion rights.......................................... | 9 |
| Pro-choice movement spreads in Canada.......................... | 9 |
| Supreme Court wants to gut abortion rights...................... | 10 |
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| 50th anniversary of the start of World War II.................... | 11 |
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| The World in Struggle |
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| Israel cannot terrorize Palestinians.................................... | 12 |
| Africans revolt against price hikes..................................... | 12 |
| 500,000 Soviet coal miners strike..................................... | 12 |
Pro-choice actions across the country
Their rights under siege
Notes from Nicaragua
The growing crisis and the Committees of Struggle
20th anniversary of "The Workers' Advocate"
How we fought for a workers' press
Capitalist pigs feed at HUD's trough
Strikes and workplace news
March on Washington! Fight this racism!
Protest vs. killer cops in L.A.
Step up the defense of women's rights!
World War II and the fight against fascism
500,000 miners shook the revisionist rulers
Solidarity with the Soviet coal miners!
Israeli vigilantes can't terrorize the Palestinians
African workers revolt against price hikes
Anti-abortion ruling sparks outrage
No turning back. Never again. That reply resounded across the land within hours of the Supreme Court decision giving states the right to impose harsh restrictions on abortion.
In many cities, more protest actions were held the next day, in the midst of the July 4 holiday, and there were still others the day after that.
The demonstrations swept the country coast to coast. And women in Toronto, Canada -- who are also fighting, to defend abortion rights -- marched in solidarity with U.S. women.
The mood was bitter and angry. In some places, the outrage broke out into militant challenges to the authorities. People took over streets and blocked traffic. Some burned U.S. flags as a symbol of their protest. And activists stood up to police attacks. There were arrests in New York, Boston, and later in the week in Chicago.
The storm of outrage continued through the month when the right-wing fanatics of Operation Rescue (OR) attempted more blockades of women's clinics. After the Court ruling, OR had boasted it would hit 20 plus cities. But the actual number of clinics attacked turned out to be much smaller. And they were faced by strong resistance from pro-choice activists.
The pro-choice struggle during July developed strongest in Boston and the stories from the fight there are best told in a separate article. Here we carry reports from several other major cities -- all together they give a picture of the movement across the country.
New York
Within a few hours of the Webster decision, 300 people marched on the federal courthouse in Manhattan. Some protesters sat down in front of the court entrance. Activists then moved into the streets and blocked rush hour traffic in the busy area around the access ramps to the Brooklyn Bridge. This action continued for over an hour. Police moved in and arrested two dozen demonstrators.
On July 5th, 6,000 people marched through the streets of New York in the city's largest pro-choice demonstration in many years. The demonstration went through Chinatown and the lower East Side
San Francisco
A crowd of 3,000 rallied outside the Federal Building on July 3. Traffic on Van Ness, a major a major street, was shut down for over an hour.
Two hundred demonstrators soon got fired up with speeches about electing pro-choice liberal politicians and took off for a militant march through the Mission District. They set fires, overturned newspaper racks, tossed paint and shouted slogans. Club-wielding police attacked the marchers at 15th and Mission Street.
Chicago
There was a downtown rally the afternoon of the Court decision and a march of 500 on July 5. Then things got really hot the following Saturday when Operation Rescue decided to attack a downtown clinic.
OR picked the Urban Health Service Clinic, a general clinic which also does abortions. They appear to have chosen this target because the clinic has a bad reputation; there are many malpractice suits hanging over it.
The clinic is inside a big office building. About 100 OR'ers sat down in front of the doors to the building. An equal number of pro-choice demonstrators also turned out to confront them.
Although in the past Chicago police have cleared OR from clinic doors, this time they did not. This was despite the fact that the door was the common entrance of a big office building, where teachers' certification exams were scheduled for that day. Instead they pushed pro-choice people away from the door.
Pro-choice activists discussed what to do and eventually decided to storm the door themselves. Protesters pushed up against police in attempt to get through to the door. Two or three people were immediately arrested. Demonstrators were able to free at least two others from police clutches.
This caused the police to finally decide to take action against OR. They put up metal barriers to keep pro-choice people away from OR. Then they arrested OR people. This was about 1-1/2 hours since OR had begun its blockade of the door.
The police also took the opportunity to arrest more pro-choice demonstrators. They sought out militants. Those arrested were charged with "mob action" and "resisting arrest." Once again, however, activists were able to free one more person.
After the blockade was cleared, pro-choice forces stayed and denounced the police. Operation Rescue members tried a number of provocations, trying to get pro-choice activists arrested for allegedly assaulting them. They were roundly denounced and activists formed a picket which lasted till 11:30 a.m.
It's quite likely that the Supreme Court decision is what's behind the Chicago police's initial inclination on July 8 to help OR have its day. This comes also at a time when the Supreme Court has agreed to decide on a restrictive abortion law passed by the state of Illinois. Meanwhile, the Chicago City Council has a new ordinance before it which would ban abortion counseling, birth control counseling, etc. within 5,000 feet of a school. This would mean the closing down not just of virtually all abortion clinics but restricting almost all hospitals and doctor's offices. The 5,000 feet in the original bill has been amended to 1,000 feet, but that too would close many facilities in this densely-populated city.
Los Angeles
The evening of July 3 saw several pro- choice events. These included a 1,000- strong turnout for a rally outside the Burbank office of anti-choice California Senate president David Roberti.
The following weekend, Operation Rescue scheduled a blockade of a clinic in Tustin in Orange County south of L.A. But they were foiled by a strong turnout of angry pro-choice activists.
Six hundred activists arrived early and set up a five-deep phalanx around the clinic. Smaller groups went among the OR circles and shouted them down. When squads of OR fanatics tried to shove their way towards the clinic entrances they were pushed away.
At the back entrance a priest tried to get two bigger OR men to charge through. But when they grabbed a pro- choice man and broke his picket sign, he turned his broken picket stick at them and forced them back. Two dozen more pro-choice people surged forward to assist him and they successfully drove the holy bullies away.
In another incident a woman going into the clinic accompanied by three escorts was being harassed by a right- wing newspaperman with a camera. But two dozen militant pro-choicers shoved him away and forced him all the way back to the police barricade half a block away.
Throughout the action, protesters shouted slogans and kept up a steady denunciation of Operation Rescue for being anti-women bigots. The clinic stayed open all day.
Elsewhere
The Court decision was also greeted with protests in many other cities, large and small. In Providence, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Annapolis (Md.) and Concord (N.H.) in the East. In Atlanta, Miami, Raleigh, and Winston-Salem in the South. In Pittsburgh, Detroit, Indianapolis, Madison, Milwaukee, Iowa City and Denver in the Midwest. To Seattle, Portland and Honolulu in the West.
See pages 8-10 for articles on: why we must defend abortion rights; the militant pro-choice struggles in Boston; the Missouri anti-abortion law; and the pro- choice movement in Canada.
[Photo: Boston]
Nearly 60,000 coal miners continued their five-week long wildcat strike into mid-July. Protesting the government's repression of the Pittston Coal strikers, and confronting the capitalists' offensive of takebacks and union-busting throughout the coal fields, the miners virtually shut down coal operations in ten states.
The wildcatters returned to work after Pittston and the leaders of the United Mine Workers (UMW) called new negotiations. But the situation remains tense. Miners at Pittston and New Beckley Coal remain on strike. The other miners are not happy at leaving them to strike by themselves. And they don't trust the promises of the UMW leaders. Meanwhile, repression against some wildcatters has spurred further short strikes at some mines. It appears that the wildcat through the coal fields may just be the beginning of a new wave of struggle against the capitalists' concessions offensive.
Miners Defy Back-to-Work Orders
The wildcat began June 12 in West Virginia. Within days it spread, bringing out up to 46,000 miners in ten states.
Leaders of the United Mine Workers (UMW) repeatedly ordered the miners back to work. Courts issued in numerable injunctions and ordered hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines (in addition to $7.5 million in fines levied so far against Pittston miners). Police arrested hundreds of miners (in addition to the more than 2,000 arrested at Pittston). And skirmishes broke out day after day with private security guards and state police.
But the miners defied them all and continued their strike.
"Cooling Off" Period to Check Strike
Unable to control the miners, the UMW leaders switched tactics. Richard Trumka, UMW president, called for a three day "cooling off" period to "calm the volatile situation which exists in the coal fields right now."
Under the current national contract with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA), UMW leaders can call up to 10 "memorial days" in which miners don't have to go to work. Trumka called three of these days for July 10-12. He hoped a short, union-sanctioned strike would increase his prestige, let miners blow off steam, and allow him to drive them back to work.
Most courts in the coal fields followed suit. They suspended or postponed hearings against the miners in order to "ease tensions."
And the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which had brought many of the suits against the miners, turned around and ruled in favor of a UMW suit against Pittston's unfair labor practices. Sixteen months after Pittston had unilaterally cut off medical benefits for retired miners and widows, the NLRB finally got around to deciding that Pittston was not "bargaining collectively and in good faith.''
Roving Pickets Hit Nonunion Mines
The "memorial" days at the BCOA mines brought nearly 60,000 miners out of work. But instead of going fishing, they turned their attention to shutting down nonunion operations.
For example, hundreds of Pennsylvania miners picketed Consolidated Coal's nonunion Bailey mine, the largest mine in the country. Hundreds of other miners confronted the nonunion Boyle Land and Fuel Strip mine in Pennsylvania. Roving pickets also moved on the Elk Run processing plant, a nonunion operation owned by A.T. Massey in Boomer, West Virginia.
In Matewan, West Virginia, 200 miners stopped a convoy of scab coal trucks, beat one of the drivers, and dumped the coal in a parking lot. This action forced Democratic Governor Caston Caperton to delay his scheduled meeting with Kentucky Governor Wilkinson. These two have been actively sending police to crush the wildcats. But this day they were meeting to discuss a plan to lure tourists to Matewan, the site of a famous 1920's pitched battle between miners and company gun thugs.
On July 11, about 200 miners shut down the New Beckley mine, which has been running scabs against a UMW strike since January. The next day, 400 miners showed up to picket. The company used helicopters to ferry in scabs. And a company spokesman threatened on a local TV news spot, "We own this mine and we're going to work it. If there has to be bloodshed, let it start here."
Miners also shutdown some BCOA mines that refused to honor the "memorial" days. About 250 miners blocked the entrance of the Arch of Kentucky mine, after the company refused to honor the memorial period. Some 800 miners struck Westmoreland Mines in Virginia. They defied the UMW leadership who had ordered them to work because they had already used up their memorial days.
Defiance Continues
After the three "cooling off" days, there was still no sign of the strike slowing down. Trumka was forced to extend the memorial period for the rest of the week. But he ordered the miners to return to work after the weekend.
The government also went into action to back up Trumka's order. The courts again began fining and jailing miners. On the last memorial day, the FBI and the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms division announced it was sending agents into the coal fields. West Virginia state police were ordered on round-the-clock alert.
Still, many miners defied them. On Saturday, about 400 rank-and-file miners showed up at a meeting of local officials of District 17 in West Virginia. The miners denounced the officials for going along with Trumka's back-to-work order and declared they would stay out. In many places, miners also attended local union meetings, or called their own rallies, and voted to continue the strike.
On Monday and Tuesday, roving pickets again shut down much of the coal fields in West Virginia and Ohio.
Back To Work, For the Time Being
But on Tuesday, July 18, Federal Judge Glen Williams met with Pittston and the UMW leaders and an agreement was reached to return to negotiations. Pittston gave up nothing with this. In fact, the agreement states that "Pittston shall not be deemed to in any way waive its claim that an impasse has occurred." Nevertheless, Trumka brandished the agreement to plead with miners to return to work and wait to see if an agreement can be reached.
With this most wildcatters reluctantly returned to work. But the mood in the coal fields remains tense.
The rank-and-file miners are not happy with the idea of leaving the Pittston and New Beckley miners to strike by themselves. And they don't trust Trumka and other union officials. Some, from a number of states, continue to travel to Virginia to join actions against Pittston. Others remain poised to send roving pickets back out through the coal fields.
As well a new round of repression is spurring on struggle. New fines are being levied by various courts. In Virginia, 47 miners (many from Ohio) have been charged with conspiracy to commit a felony because of a confrontation with Virginia state troopers on July 21. And Westmoreland Coal laid off 87 miners at its mine in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. The miners took this to be retaliation for their earlier wildcat, and 680 walked off the job in protest on July 24th.
This summer the MLP,USA sent its fifth delegation to Nicaragua in as many years. These trips have strengthened our solidarity with the Marxist-Leninist Party of Nicaragua, and they have given us the chance to talk directly with factory workers, construction workers, cooperative farmers, and other working people. This has given us a picture of what is going on in Nicaragua. This picture just doesn't jibe with the establishment media and its pro-U.S. government propaganda lies. Nor does it go along with the claims of the apologists for the Sandinistas.
One of the comrades in our delegation prepared notes on the situation there. The following first installment focuses on education and health care and the emergence of barrio organizations (Committees of Popular Struggle) that are fighting on these fronts in the face of government cutbacks.
In upcoming installments we will report further on the economic crisis, the Sandinistas' new economic policies, the capitalists' economic sabotage, the hyper-inflation and layoffs, and what all this means for the workers.
We will report on a difficult political situation, with the contras freely organizing in Managua and with growing pressures against the revolutionary workers.
We will also report further on the work of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Nicaragua, on its Workers' Front trade union center, and on the reemergence of the workers' paper El Pueblo.
Education and Health Care
It is awesome what the Nicaraguan people have put up with over the last years. Tens of thousands of victims of the brutal contra war -- funded and directed by the CIA. Shortages of everything from beans to eggs. But despite the hardships, there has been a strong belief that the revolution has accomplished something and is worth defending.
This was a true mass revolution that brought a number of positive changes in people's lives. Some of the most far reaching changes were in the spheres of education and health care.
The cruel neglect of the Somoza dictatorship had left a legacy of illiteracy and ignorance. The revolution unleashed the drive for knowledge, and mass literacy campaigns were organized across the country. Those who could read and write were mobilized to teach those who couldn't. As well, the new regime made investments to expand the school system.
There was a similar change in medical care for the masses. Despite a sore lack of modern supplies, modest investments went to set up clinics and expand the public health system. Medicine was dispensed free. And there were mass inoculation campaigns to protect the children from epidemics.
In past years we have seen that these changes have kept the enthusiasm for the revolution alive despite other hardships. In the workers' homes we visited, we saw a lot of pride in the daughter or son taking part in the literacy campaigns. Or among the peasant cooperativists in Jinotega, we saw a lot of enthusiasm for the setting up of a new school (no matter how primitive the school was).
But on this trip we could see that even these changes which promise a better life for Nicaragua's children are not stable. Although they are highly popular and relatively inexpensive, the reforms in mass education and medicine are slipping away. They are the latest victims of the Sandinista policy of trying to strike a deal with the reactionaries and capitalists. To be precise, they are the victims of a government austerity policy that has been imposed on the people to please the big Nicaraguan entrepreneurs and the imperialist bankers.
A Diarrhea Epidemic Takes Its Toil
We arrived as the Central American rains were setting in. That means flies and flooded garbage and sewage. And this May and June it also meant that hundreds of Managua's children died from diarrhea.
These deaths are especially painful because they are so preventable. The prompt distribution of what is called URO (units of oral hydration) has been an effective way to save the lives of infants. This year the government took emergency measures to distribute the solution, but only after the epidemic took a heavy toll.
Why such senseless death in the new Nicaragua? It is not just the severity of the rains. It is also because the health of the workers and unemployed is being undermined by hunger and malnutrition. Garbage collection, sanitation and water supplies are deteriorating. As well, there have been cutbacks in health care funding; medicines are often no longer free but are sold at high international prices; and health care grows less accessible to the masses.
No one can expect Nicaragua -- impoverished and blockaded -- to have an advanced and modern health care system. Nonetheless, with what little funding there was and with mass mobilization a great deal was accomplished, especially in protecting children from epidemics. The diarrhea epidemic is a sign that these accomplishments are being undermined by growing poverty and the new round of cutbacks in social programs.
Small Armies of Chewing Gum Sellers
There's another thing about the children. In past years we have seen small numbers of children in the markets begging or hawking. This year the numbers have swelled to small armies of children on the streets. They are selling everything -- chewing gum, newspapers, cigarettes, toilet paper -- and when they don't have anything to sell they simply beg.
These are the same armies of chewing gum sellers that can be found elsewhere in Central America or Mexico. But this is Nicaragua where the revolution made mass education a priority. So why aren't these kids in school?
They are the children of unemployed workers or workers who cannot survive the combination of frozen wages and hyper-inflation. Or they are the children of ruined small peasants who have come to Managua in the hopes of scratching out a living.
Moreover, the crisis in social services is putting kids out in the streets. There have been cutbacks in the public child care centers (CID's -- Centers for Infant Development) which were already grossly inadequate. The CID's have also imposed high costs which put them out of reach for the poor.
There have been cutbacks in the schools too. In May there was an important strike of school teachers who simply cannot survive on their hunger wages. Most of the trained teachers have left the schools for better employment, and those who are left have little training or experience. Many students are falling through the cracks.
The net result is that illiteracy is creeping back. The gains made in the first years of the revolution are quickly eroding. Moreover, it will not be a simple thing to revive the mass literacy campaigns of the past as long as the government policy of cutbacks and neglect continues.
Austerity Against the Working People
Yes, it is true that the Nicaraguan economy is being pressed hard by the CIA's contra war. Contra killings continue nonstop. Despite the so-called Regional Peace Process (and despite what the TV in the U.S. may say about the alleged end of the contra war) there are still daily reports in Nicaragua's newspapers (both pro-Sandinista and pro-contra) of contra attacks on villages, murders, kidnappings, etc.
This war, combined with the U.S. economic blockade, undoubtedly takes its toll. So does the economic sabotage by the Nicaraguan factory and plantation owners. However, the government is using purely capitalist medicine to treat Nicaragua's ills.
It is following an economic policy of wooing international and domestic capital. The austerity program is aimed at "building confidence" with the world bankers and with the Nicaraguan capitalists. But the Nicaraguan capitalists won't be satisfied with anything short of the Sandinistas handing over the government. The severe cuts in educational and medical projects are the type of austerity measures that would ordinarily gain the approval of new loans from the international banks. But not in Nicaragua's case. No matter how far the Sandinistas bend before the bankers, new lines of credit have been blocked by Washington's hostility. (See The New York Times, June 26) Such is the futility of the Sandinista policy.
Severe measures are surely called for. Like slashing the tax incentives, credits, dollar privileges and other subsidies to the capitalists. Like cutting back on the high-living perks for the bureaucracy. But the cutbacks in mass education and health care are capitalist poison. They are choking the remaining life out of the revolution.
Committees of Popular Struggle
In this situation, the revolutionary workers are proving to be the firmest defenders of the needs of the masses. In San Judas, Ducuali, Ciudad Sandino and other working class barrios of Managua, and in Chichigalpa, Chinen- dega, Leon, Ciudad Dario and other towns, Committees of Popular Struggle (CLP's) are reemerging. In the dark days of the Somoza dictatorship, the CLP's were barrio organizations that struggled for sanitation, water, electricity and other necessities. They were part of the independent organization of the masses that paved the way for the revolution.
Encouraged by the revolutionary workers of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Nicaragua, the CLP's are getting back to work in the new conditions. They are organizing the workers and unemployed of the barrios around their pressing needs for health care, education, jobs, bus service and roads, water and sanitation.
We met with some of the workers of the CLP's of the different zones of Ciudad Sandino. This is a poor working class barrio of 65,000 on the outskirts of the city. It played a militant part in the insurrection against Somoza. However, today it suffers from every type of neglect.
Committees are set up in the different zones which periodically hold general meetings in the streets where the neighbors can voice their demands and organize to press for them. Out of one such meeting recently, a protest was launched to demand the improvement of the road to allow buses to enter their zone so that they can get to work without such a long walk.
There were also demands raised for child care. There is a building used on the weekends by the Sandinistas for parties. The neighbors are struggling to gain the right to use it as a child care center during the day and for adult education in the evenings.
The lack of facilities for education and child care is sorely felt in the barrio. We visited the home of one CLP member who uses his house as a small informal school. There was nothing to teach with except a blackboard and a lot of eagerness on the part of the children to master writing.
The Workers Must Organize on Their Own
A few years ago, health care, education, sanitation, and other needs were strong points of the Sandinistas. But the logic of their appeals to the capitalists and their austerity policies are changing that.
Now the workers are beginning to see that they need to organize on their own. The Sandinistas are turning their backs on their promises. As for the right-wing politicians in their air-conditioned offices, they have nothing to offer the workers of the muddy barrios.
The masses need their independent organization and struggle. This is the significance of the reemergence of the CLP's as another step in the organization of the masses. Because it is only through building up their own organized strength in the factories, fields and barrios that the workers and exploited can defend the gains of the revolution. It is only in this way that the revolution can be carried forward to socialism where the health and education and other pressing needs of the working people and their children will no longer be neglected to please the capitalists and international bankers.
[Photo: Wall slogans of the MLPN in Managua. They say "Reagan shit'' and "Against the bourgeoisie and revisionism."]
[Photo: A CLP activist uses his home as a makeshift school in Ciudad Sandino.]
Twenty years ago, the first issue of The Workers' Advocate appeared on July 5, 1969. Militants from the turbulent mass struggles of the time had come together to take up the task of reestablishing a revolutionary party of the working class. They formed the American Communist Workers' Movement (Marxist-Leninist) -- ACWM(ML). And they quickly turned to the work of giving the workers their own voice through a national working class newspaper.
Building up a voice of the working class, in this so-called land of freedom and liberty, is no picnic. It seems the "bill of rights'' only applies to capitalist papers and capitalist politicians. Even distributing The Workers' Advocate was no simple matter. Over the first few years of the ACWM(ML), there were many arrests for distributing papers at factory gates and street corners. Comrades had to stand up to police, and private security guards, and nazis and racist gangs to simply get the papers into the hands of the working people.
What Type of Paper?
But there was also the fight over what a workers' paper should be. After all, there were already numbers of "workers' papers'' at that time.
There was the AFL-CIO press -- but it was the voice of the sellout union bureaucrats. It was horrified by the class struggle and wanted the workers to be a respectable "special interest'' allied with the capitalists.
There were papers like the Daily World (now the People's Daily World) and the Militant, put out by revisionist and Trotskyist groups that claimed to be socialist or communist. But they had no stomach for revolutionary struggle, and spent their time justifying reformism and trailing after the union bureaucrats and the liberals.
But there were also the militant circles of activists rising in struggle, with their militant manifestos, their study groups, their papers. This was the current from which The Workers' Advocate emerged. It sought to direct this struggle onto the path of class politics and revolutionary struggle.
Here too, however, there were many ideas on what a paper should be. The controversies of the time, and the experience gained in them, have more than historical interest. Many of the same views arise anew whenever new movements come up and new circles of activists form.
An Open Stand for Communism
A militant workers' paper should declare openly before the workers what it stands for. The most advanced of these papers should be the communist press itself, built by the class conscious workers and revolutionaries who take upon themselves the struggle for the overall interests of the working class.
From the beginning, The Workers' Advocate stood openly for communism and proudly displayed the hammer and sickle on its masthead. It didn't hide its revolutionary aspirations, but openly spread them among the working class and activists.
This straightforward approach was a matter of great controversy in the movement. The labor bureaucrats, the reformist and revisionist leaders, and similar hotshots of the movement sought to suppress The Workers ' Advocate. They cried out against its militant character and tried to keep it out of the hands of activists, strikers and their rank and file.
But others too were concerned. There was a mood or feeling in the movement that the workers were backwards. There was fear that the masses would be "turned off" by openly standing for revolution or communism. There was the idea that communism was for small circles and study groups, while something else had to be taken among the masses. When it was seen that The Workers' Advocate was well received among the workers, this created enthusiasm among sections of activists.
The ACWM(M-L) was lectured many times that things would go better if it would just drop the hammer and sickle off its masthead. But it stood up to this pressure. It argued that, above all, the workers wanted the cards laid on the table. They were fed up with being lied to and patronized. They wanted the truth. And communism was not a matter to be kept in smoke-filled backrooms, but must be taken to the demonstrations, to the factories, to the strikes. There should be open support of the revolutionary struggles in other countries. There should be open advocacy of proletarian revolution. And there should be open advocacy of the building of the revolutionary party itself.
A Political Paper or Economist Talking-Down to the Workers
The controversy thus ranged not just over the hammer-and-sickle emblem itself, but over whether a workers' paper should bring all aspects of politics to the workers, or water itself down to the lowest common denominator, for fear of offending someone or not being understandable to all.
This debate ranged among the activists who came up to oppose revisionism. One trend existed which The Workers' Advocate called "neo-revisionism." It talked of being revolutionary, but it thought that this had to be reserved for small circles, while it agreed with reformist agitation and methods among the masses.
The "Revolutionary Union," for example, arose and argued for a plan of watered-down papers to be circulated among the masses, while revolutionary theory was to be restricted to position papers (the Red Papers). The RU's local papers tended to restrict themselves to strikes, unemployment, housing, and the most immediate targets of whatever the movement was in an area. They dealt with them in oversimplified and vulgar language, out of lack of belief in the revolutionary nature of the working class, and they tended to keep the communist agitation away from the masses.
What's more, RU's plan narrowed the scope of the organizational activity of the activists, keeping things at the level of local collectives. Its plan was that the party would spring spontaneously from the proliferation of local collectives. This weakened the party spirit in the movement, and left each local collective to try to be an entirely self-contained organization on its own. This magnified the problems each collective had in breaking through the smothering atmosphere of the bourgeoisie and the established stereotypes of reformist views and methods.
Of course, the point was not that local groups should be forced to join this or that national organization. But activists and groups should pay attention to the political basis of the movement, and there had to be vigorous work to encourage militants to see the need for building and supporting a revolutionary party. The theory of local collectives weakened this spirit.
Nevertheless it was a widespread plan at that time. It is notable that those groups who really held to it perished. The major neo-revisionist groups were those who eventually formed national organizations which had national papers to put forward their overall stand. The Revolutionary Union itself turned into the "Revolutionary Communist Party," whose main life today, ironically, is centered on its national paper. But their earlier advocacy of nonpolitical local papers had reflected their lack of belief in the revolutionary capacity of the working class. And today this lack of belief in the revolutionary nature of the working class can still be seen. While before this belief showed itself in oversimplified accounts of strikes without politics, today it expresses itself in doubts about the economic struggle of the working class at all and in their liberal appeals to the petty bourgeoisie.
A Collective Organizer
The ACWM(ML) opposed the idea of restricting oneself to local papers only and to watered-down papers. It took inspiration in the views of Lenin that the working class paper must be a collective organizer, a tool to build up national working class organization.
The ACWM(ML) held that the paper should be used to spread the party concept among class conscious workers and activists. It provided a concrete way for them to feel themselves and their work as part of a national struggle and the process of building national organization. And the very work of building up a national press required, and helped build up, organizational connections and ties.
The ACWM(ML) felt that the paper had to encourage attention to the most important political events and theoretical debates. It should not be written down to the least common denomination, but should spur each worker and activist to keep advancing in political depth and understanding.
Far from negating local papers, the ACWM(ML) had a whole system of local papers and leaflets. But it felt that the national paper provided a support for local agitation and helped them form a part of a spread of communist ideas that was national in scope, revolutionary in character, and flexible enough to respond to events when they arose.
Build the Workers' Press Today
The experience of these struggles showed that the voice of protest, the voice of the oppressed, could only survive when it unites together on a national level. Local papers and circles arise whenever the movement gets hot. But without striving to combine and unite, they fall apart with the ebbs in the movements. Only when all the revolutionary workers join their strength in common struggle can they put their mark on events.
Today, let us rally to build up the working class press. From local leaflets to the national press, we must sacrifice so that the voice of the working class can be heard.
And let us use the press to build up solid organization that can carry through the struggle to liberate the working class from the chains of wage slavery. As Lenin said: "A newspaper is not only a collective propagandist and a collective agitator, it is also a collective organizer. In this last respect it may be likened to the scaffolding round a building under construction, which marks the contours of the structure and facilitates communication between the builders, enabling them to distribute the work and to view the common results achieved by their organized labor. With the aid of the newspaper, and through it, a permanent organization will naturally take shape that will engage, not only in local activities, but in regular general work, and will train its members to follow political events carefully, appraise their significance and their effect on the various strata of the population and develop effective means for the revolutionary party to influence those events." ("Where to Begin," Collected Works, Vol. 5, pp. 22-23)
[Graphic.]
Each day brings new revelations exposing the corruption in HUD (the Department of Housing and Urban Development) during the Reagan administration.
Since HUD's founding in 1965 it has helped provide some housing for the poor as part of its program. These efforts have been far short of what's needed, and at the same time the HUD budget has long been the source of profit-making swindles by greedy capitalist businesses involved in construction, real estate and finance. This continued under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
The corruption in HUD accelerated under the Reagan administration. Reaganism meant gutting the already inadequate social programs. Government assistance for low-cost housing was attacked with a vengeance, chopped from $26 billion to $8 billion. The growth of corruption in HUD during the Reagan administration was the flip-side of its disdain for public housing. HUD became little more than a place for cronies of the administration to stuff themselves with money.
Plundering HUD
The scandals in HUD were so pervasive that some 630 cases are now being investigated by the Justice Department. And it is estimated that the plundering of HUD cost the agency some $2 billion.
This corruption was led by Reagan's housing secretary, Samuel Pierce, and other top HUD officials. Among other things, Pierce and co. steered lucrative contracts to developers simply because chums of the Reagan administration put in a good word for them. For instance, ex-Reagan interior secretary James Watt was paid $300,000 by a developer for using his influence to win a HUD contract.
Following the lead of the higher-ups, the HUD branch offices also became cesspools. One such example was the much publicized "Robin HUD'' incident where a real estate broker managed to walk off with some $5.5 million from sales of HUD properties. In fact, some $100 million in HUD housing sales proceeds is currently unaccounted for. One HUD bureaucrat even used department resources to finance his own book on privatizing government activities.
Co-Insurance Swindle -- "Privatization" in Action
The most costly of the scandals involved the co-insurance program introduced by Reagan in 1983. This program was one of Reagan's pet "privatization'' schemes. Private lenders were allowed to finance government-insured mortgages with virtually no government supervision.
So what happened when the loan sharks were freed of any restraint? What did the "magic of the marketplace'' bring? Bad loans and scandals soared.
But it was not the private lenders who bore the brunt of the losses from the defaulted loans because the government had agreed to assume responsibility for 80% of the losses. Thus, under this privatization scheme, the government lost about a billion dollars. It was another story for many of the financiers, however. Through financial swindling and hefty service fees paid them by HUD for arranging the mortgages, they managed to escape the carnage and turn a handsome profit.
Kemp's "Solution": More of the Same
Bush's HUD secretary, Jack Kemp, has promised to clean up the department. But this is just a ruse. In fact, Kemp has used the corruption in HUD to push for further dismantling government housing programs in favor of more privatization schemes. He has come out against restoring the drastic cuts in money for low-cost housing during the Reagan years. As well, he has suspended three housing programs, allegedly to cleanse them of corruption.
But how can Kemp's anti-corruption rhetoric be taken seriously when he stumps for further privatization? Evidently Kemp hopes no one will notice that Reagan's co-insurance privatization plan gave free rein for corruption.
Mass Evictions
While "privatization'' has meant freedom from regulations for the swindlers, the Reagan-Bush years have seen escalating regulations in the lives of those in public housing. For example, Kemp and the Bush administration, under the guise of fighting drugs and crime, have been terrorizing the housing projects with mass evictions and police raids. Kemp himself has ordered the speedup of the eviction process and is currently trying to repeal a law which was intended to restrict evictions to those accused of drug abuse and not their families.
Government by and for the Rich
In short, Kemp's "cure'' for the HUD scandal is more Reaganism. It is more freedom for the rich to stuff their pockets, and more cutbacks and police-state repression for the masses.
The HUD scandal is another indictment of Reaganism. Reagan slashed social programs under the banner of opposing "big government." Meanwhile his capitalist cronies were feeding off the federal budget like pigs at the trough. The HUD scandal is in fact only a small part of the plunder of the federal funds by the rich under Reagan.
The fight in defense of homeless people has continued this summer. Battles are breaking out on many fronts. And a march on Washington has been called for October 7. Below are a few of the mass actions that took place in the last month.
Fight to Reclaim Seattle Building
Ten homeless demonstrators were arrested June 30 after they attempted to reclaim a boarded-up apartment building in downtown Seattle. The McKay Apartments has become the symbol of the housing crisis in Seattle. The building, which once provided 73 units of low-income housing, has been closed by the State of Washington. The State plans to tear it down and make a small park -- which would be more attractive to people who attend the nearby ultramodern convention center.
In the last six years, over 1,500 units of low-income housing have been lost in downtown Seattle. But people are fighting back. For several nights demonstrators kept up sit-ins at the front doors of the McKay Apartments.
Homeless Occupy S.F. Mayor's Office
For the last month, San Francisco authorities have been trying to drive out 50-200 homeless people who are living in the Civic Center Park across the street from city hall.
After the homeless were threatened with citations if they did not leave the park, an angry group occupied the office of the mayor of San Francisco. They chanted, "Housing, Not Harassment!"
Riot-clad police have made periodic sweeps through the park and arrested anyone they found living there. City officials have also forbidden the free distribution of food to the homeless residents of the park.
Another angry fight broke out on July 14, when ten people were arrested for serving food in the park. Homeless people charged up the city hall steps and were met by a volley of tear gas.
New York Homeless Fight for Park
In yet another salvo in the battle between New York City and the homeless, police and Parks Department personnel sealed off Tompkins Square Park in New York City on July 5. They moved in destroying anything and everything that they thought someone might be able to sleep under. Their gestapo tactics once again sparked street demonstrations. One banner carried by protesters proclaimed: "Tompkins Square -- Tienanmen Square, Uprisings Everywhere!"
On July 8, people gathered in Tompkins Square to defiantly rebuild the homeless people's shantytown. The police charged the park. And demonstrators formed a human barricade to stop them. Eventually police forced aside the protesters and tore down the makeshift buildings. But people rebuilt them. Three times the structures went up, were torn down by the police, and then rebuilt by the protesters.
[Photo: New York City, July 5.]
[Graphic.]
Over 80 workers from the Jefferson Avenue Assembly plant in Detroit braved a pouring rain to march on Chrysler headquarters July 20. They protested the continuing layoff of over 2,000 workers at the plant. They also denounced the speedup and job combination that is driving those still working to an early grave.
Picket Line Denounces Chrysler
The workers formed a picket line in front of Chrysler headquarters. And, although soaked to the bone, they marched for over an hour shouting against the Chrysler head, "Lee Iacocca, what do you say, how many jobs did you cut today?"
There were many laid-off workers, some off work since 1987. A number of employed workers joined the picket line. They came after sweating to death for eight hours in the plant where the line speed has reached 68.1 cars per hour. A few marchers also came from Sterling Heights Assembly (where 400 workers were recently laid off), from McGraw Glass (where some Jefferson workers were "temporarily transferred" over a year ago), and from other industries such as steel, the Postal Service, and hospitals.
Supporters of the Marxist-Leninist Party took an active part. Before the march, they had distributed some 2,500 issues of the Detroit Workers' Voice calling for the march at Jefferson, the SUB (Supplemental Unemployment Benefits) office, and other plants. At the protest, Party supporters carried a big banner declaring, "Jobs or full pay for the laid off!" and "Fight the speedup!" And many Party picket signs dotted the march.
These and other, handmade, placards portrayed the workers' demands such as for a "Moratorium on car and house payments!" For "Full medical benefits" as long as people are laid off. And for putting all the laid off in the Job Bank (which provides full pay and benefits).
When one worker called out, "Layoffs, speedup, job combination," the marchers shouted back "No!" And with the calls, "Jobs or full pay and benefits!" "Stop the speedup!" and "Mass struggle!" the marchers replied with a loud "Yes!"
Workers Hit Betrayal of Union Officials
Workers also joined in shouting, "Breeze sold us out" and other slogans against Local 7 president, Aaron "Breeze" Taylor.
Breeze won't even admit that there's a problem for the laid off. At the last Local 7 meeting, for example, Breeze declared workers should not get upset. Benefits will last, he claimed, if the laid off just cut their standard of living. Workers are losing their cars and homes and staring poverty in the face, and all Breeze can come up with is advice to tighten your belt. Outrageous!
Protest Wins an Initial Victory
In fact Breeze and other UAW officials tried to scuttle the march. They claimed it was a "bad time" to protest because the international leaders were negotiating to put more of the laid off into the Job Bank.
But the UAW hacks failed to mention that these negotiations were only begun after protests at Local 7 meetings and when the march on Chrysler headquarters was called. It was only because militants took steps on their own, independent from the UAW officials, to organize these protests that the hacks began scrambling to negotiate with Chrysler.
At the march it was announced that UAW officials say 400 laid-off workers will be added to the Job Bank at Jefferson. If this is true, it is the first victory for the current struggle. It shows the power of organizing for mass struggle. But with over 2,000 workers still laid off, putting 400 in the Job Bank is not nearly enough. We must keep up the fight. This initial victory proves the need to continue to organize independent of the union hierarchy. It proves the need to unite the rank and file for further mass actions in the plant and at Solidarity House.
(Reprinted from July 29 "Detroit Workers' Voice," paper of MLP-Detroit.)
[Photo.]
Richard Trumka is president of the United Mine Workers. He recently revealed something of the character of the UMW leadership, and indeed of the union bureaucracy throughout this country.
In a July 9 interview with the Charleston Gazette-Mail, Trumka begged the coal bosses and the government to not smash his union. He warned that even if the coal bosses and the courts were able to bankrupt and smash the UMW, the miners would rise again. "But when it comes back," he whined, "I think the' form of the union probably will be different. Its tolerance for injustice will be far less. Its willingness to alibi for a system that we know doesn't work will be nonexistent."
Clear enough. The present union bureaucracy is based on making "alibis" for the capitalist system, a system it "knows doesn't work." And because of this it tolerates capitalist injustice, exploitation, and the present concessions offensive. Trumka begs the capitalists to help preserve the present union bureaucracy, which helps them, or face the prospect of a radical, fighting union movement that would threaten capitalism itself.
Workers, listen well to this confession of a class traitor. What he admits is all too true. As long as the union leadership is based on preserving capitalism, it will be a sellout leadership, a leadership of tolerance for outrages against the workers, a leadership of lies and "alibis" for the capitalists.
To fight back, the rank and file must organize itself independently of the union bureaucracy. To fight effectively, it must break with the policy of preserving capitalism and turn to a policy of fighting capitalism.
There is a crisis in the health care system of this country. Hospital workers are under attack even while hospitals raise their rates, making decent health care a luxury many workers cannot afford. Last month strikes broke out in a number of hospitals around the country. The hospital workers deserve the support of workers in every industry.
One Day Strikes Hit New York Hospitals
The contract expired for 53,000 hospital workers at 54 area hospitals in the New York City area June 30. Hospital management is trying to slash health benefits, sick leave, regular and overtime pay, and job security. In addition, management wants to suspend payments into the workers' pension fund for three years.
The hospital workers are furious. Many demand a city-wide strike. But the leaders of the 1199 hospital union are trying to hold back the workers, limiting them to three one-day strikes and diverting them into ineffective civil disobedience media stunts.
July 11 was the first one-day strike. Over 50,000 workers struck. A number of area hospitals were surrounded by militant pickets. And over 20,000 striking workers held a militant march through midtown Manhattan.
The second one-day strike took place July 24. Again tens of thousands of workers took to the streets of New York. The rank and file were fired up. But the union leaders used the occasion to oppose a full-scale strike and instead call for civil disobedience.
Oakland Nurses Demand Higher Pay
Seven hundred nurses at Oakland Children's Hospital went on strike July 11. And nurses from other local hospitals quickly joined their picket lines.
The contracts expired June 30th for 3,000 nurses at eight hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area. But the leaders of the California Nurses Association has kept them on the job. As well, the union leaders are splitting up the nurses by negotiating with each hospital individually. So when 80% of the nurses at Oakland Children's rejected their contract, they were left to strike alone.
The main contract issues are pay, the shortage of nurses and the forced overtime for the nurses who are working. The nurses are demanding a 26% raise over two years and adequate staffing.
Outside of Oakland, 300 nurses also went on strike against the county hospital in Santa Rosa.
1,300 Nurses Strike Group Health in Washington
On July 13, over 1,300 nurses struck the Group Health Cooperative in Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. This is the state's largest health care provider.
The nurses have been picketing the three local hospitals and 23 medical clinics in the area. Striking nurses have blocked loading docks, stopping delivery trucks.
Even though there is a critical shortage of nurses, the hospital monopoly has been cutting the nurses' hours to less than 40 a week. This of course has meant monstrous overwork. The nurses are fighting for guaranteed income and hours. They also demand control over staffing to prevent the overwork.
Ann Arbor Nurses Fight Short Staffing
One thousand seven hundred nurses at the University of Michigan Medical Center struck July 19 over the issues of inadequate staffing and mandatory overtime.
One week into the strike, the nurses defeated the most recent contract proposal by a three to one margin. They felt the contract language was too vague and avoided the very issues they were concerned about.
Nurses at Hutzel Hospital in nearby Detroit held a solidarity rally in support of the U. of M. nurses.
[Photo: Nurses on the line at Univ. of Mich., Ann Arbor.]
August 26 is a day to stand up to the filthy racism that's loose in this land. The NAACP has called a march on Washington for that day targeting the racist decisions being turned out by the Supreme Court. And it's about time. The Court's decisions are just part of a general racist offensive against black people and other minorities, an offensive especially against those who are workers or poor.
While the Court opens the door wider for job discrimination, the capitalists close plants and spread layoffs -- and the unemployment mounts especially among black and Latino workers.
While the capitalists cut pay and jobs, Bush and Congress slash spending on social benefits -- and black earnings are driven down to only about half the earnings of whites.
While rich drug lords spread addiction like a plague, the government's anti-drug crusade is being used to evict the poor and unleash police terror -- and it's the masses in the minority ghettos who suffer.
This racism must be stopped. It's time for militant protests. It's time to unite the black, Latino and white workers against the racist capitalist bosses. It's time to build up a fighting movement of the masses.
Unfortunately, the NAACP leaders don't want this march to be a militant expression of the masses' outrage. Instead they are trying to make it a "silent" walk, a "march of conscience," a sort of lobbying effort in the streets to convince Bush to become a nice guy.
NAACP head Benjamin Hooks has actually begun to praise the racist Bush. Hooks opened last month's convention, which called this march, by claiming the president had done a lot to "raise the iron curtain that had separated the White House from black Americans."
What is he talking about? This is the same Bush who followed every Reaganite whim for eight years. The same Bush who supported the judges who are now making the racist decisions in the Supreme Court and who won't say a peep against its racist rulings. The same Bush whose budget-cutting is impoverishing millions and who is evicting the impoverished from housing projects in the name of fighting drugs and crime.
But Hooks doesn't want a confrontation with Bush. He and the other NAACP leaders represent the black upper crust. And they are looking for a deal with the white ruling class.
This was made dramatically clear at the NAACP convention. Hooks took the stage with Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca to sign a new deal. Hooks didn't utter a peep against Chrysler for laying off 40,000 workers in the last decade, a large part of them black workers. Oh no, Hooks praised Chrysler to the skies for making a deal to create 29 more minority-owned dealerships over the next five years. Twenty-nine more jobs for the black bourgeoisie while tens of thousands of black workers suffer in the unemployment lines.
That's what Hooks is after. And that's why his plan for the August march is not to organize the masses for a militant confrontation against the White House. Rather he wants to use the masses in the streets as another bargaining chip to wheel and deal with Bush and the other rich and powerful.
Nevertheless, many people will come to this march filled with hatred for Bush and a desire to stand up to the racist onslaught. Let's break down the schemes of the NAACP leadership. Unleash the fighting spirit of the masses! Use this action to build up a militant movement of the masses against the racist rulers!
Protesters marched outside the Criminal Courts Building in downtown Los Angeles July 30. The 30 demonstrators were mostly friends and relatives of victims who have died at the hands of the L.A. police. They bitterly denounced the police violence and the lack of any serious prosecution of the officers involved.
Even the District Attorney's office admits that since 1980 there have been 1,000 cases of "excessive use of force" which have resulted in either death or serious injury. But in only 2% -- a measly 20 cases -- have the police been brought up on charges of any kind. The last case in which policemen were successfully prosecuted was back in 1987 when two cops were convicted of torturing a handcuffed teenager with a stun gun.
The demonstrators pointed to the murder of a bus driver named Yusuf Bilal. He was beaten and shot three times in the back after police stopped him for running a red light. No charges were ever brought against the policemen. The DA claimed there was "a lack of evidence."
Protesters also denounced the fatal shooting of Marcus Donel. A policeman shot him in the chest in front of his home early in June. The cop's justification was that he mistook this 31-year-old black man for a Latino teenager who was wanted for robbery.
The protesters called for action against these murderers. But they declared they have little faith that the present justice system will lift a finger against the police. As the sister of Marcus Donel put it, "They never punished that man who killed my brother. It's as if they patted him on the back and told him -- Job well done. Now go out there and kill some more."
[Managua, Nicaragua --July 1989]
A delegation of the USA visited Nicaragua last month and met with our fraternal comrades of the MLP of Nicaragua. The joint communique below has been translated by The Workers' Advocate from the official Spanish text.
Workers, working people, all those who struggle against exploitation and imperialist aggression:
The revolutionary process in Central America is passing through a series of difficulties. It is facing escalating intervention by U.S. imperialism and the aggressions of the internal bourgeois reaction.
As well, it is being pressed by dangerous maneuvers of imperialism, together with the bourgeoisie and reformism, to liquidate the revolutionary process in the region.
The Marxist-Leninist Parties of Nicaragua and of the United States of America denounce this offensive and appeal for struggle along the following lines:
1. Down with U.S. Imperialism!
After ten years of revolutionary struggle, the U.S. government continues to escalate its aggression against the Central American people.
It continues the militarization of the death-squad regimes of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, and it is threatening Panama.
It maintains the economic and military blockade against the Nicaraguan revolution, conspiring with the internal counterrevolution while maintaining the arms of the contra mercenaries pointed at the heads of the Nicaraguan people.
We forcefully denounce this aggression. The workers, the toilers and peasants of Central American have for too long been tortured by hunger, exploitation and right-wing terror. Their liberation from these evils is only possible through struggling to the end against imperialist intervention and domination.
2. The So-Called "Regional Peace Process'' Favors Imperialism
Although it is certain that imperialism and the bourgeoisie have not been able to obtain their objectives through their armies and mercenaries, nevertheless they are trying to obtain their goals by combining aggression with diplomatic and political pressures.
First there was "Contadora," and later Esquipulas and the Arias Plan: different versions of the same plan approved by the Latin American bourgeoisie and the United States.
The so-called "Regional Peace Process'' is a political-diplomatic effort of the American Republicans and Democrats, of the social-democratic and revisionist forces of the world, that has as its objective to push back the gains won by the working masses, to try to block the advance of the revolutionary process.
The final objective of this plan is the consolidation of the capitalist system in the region. It is the diplomacy of pacification that only favors imperialism and the bourgeoisie.
The working masses and the anti-imperialist fighters must take note of who is responsible for these pressures and aggression against the revolution.
It is the White House and Congress of the United States; it is the pro-Yankee Central American and Latin American governments; it is the pressures of social-democracy and other forces of West European and Latin American capitalism that is supported by the reformist politics of the Kremlin, of Havana, and others.
The revolutionary movement must not submit to the Arias Plan initiative of the Central American presidents. This plan denies the right to self-determination, the right of the Central American people to decide their own affairs.
Even worse, it calls a halt to the revolution of the popular masses, of the working people.
3. Defend and Deepen the Revolution in Nicaragua!
It has been ten years since the Nicaraguan workers and people overthrew the hated Somoza dictatorship. With this triumph, the Nicaraguan people contributed a great deal to the revolutionary process in Central America. They continue to heroically defend what they have gained in the struggle against imperialist intervention and the contra murderers.
Nevertheless, the historic conquests of the revolution are being negotiated behind the backs of the people. The reformist government is making concessions and conceding to one demand after the next of the capitalist counterrevolution. Meanwhile, the reactionaries, with the support of the CIA, are not making any concessions.
In effect, Nicaragua is the only country that has been compelled to accept the dictates of the "Regional Peace Process." In the name of "democratization" the bloodstained members of Somoza's National Guard were freed from prison, and confiscated properties are being returned to them. Meanwhile, in the rest of the Central American countries they continue to jail, torture and kill the revolutionaries.
The contra chiefs -- Robelo, Calero, Cesar, Aguerro and the rest of the agents of the CIA -- have freedom to organize within the country, while the union rights of the workers are restricted. The contras have had these rights without putting down their weapons and while continuing the war against the people.
As well, in economic terms the Sandinista government is in full agreement with the bourgeoisie and is conceding to their demands. There is a process of privatization, rationalization and austerity that is working towards the consolidation of the capitalist system.
While the big businessmen have their debts written off for them, while they are granted incentives in [U.S.] dollars, while they have their rates of interest reduced, for the working people there is unemployment, hunger wages and marginalization.
The only way for the exploited masses of Nicaragua to get out of this situation is to organize themselves as an independent class force. For this it is necessary for them to develop and consolidate the Marxist-Leninist Party of Nicaragua and its Workers' Front trade union center and to organize themselves in the Committees of Popular Struggle in the countryside and in the barrios.
Only in this way will the workers and peasants be able to defend the conquests of their revolution, confront the capitalists and landlords and both their armed and "civic" political forces. Only in this way will they be able to be a revolutionary alternative to the politics of conciliation of the reformist government. Only in this way will they be able to deepen the revolution and build the power of the workers and peasants.
4. Overthrow the Pro-Imperialist and Exploiting Regimes with Revolution!
Last month, Cristiani of the ARENA party was installed in power in El Salvador. The coming to power of this party, with the support of the United States, is a sign that the Salvadoran oligarchy, with its death squads, is determined to intensify the war against the Salvadoran people.
The working masses have demonstrated that they will not be reconciled to fascism. They have waged strikes and mass mobilizations and the guerrillas have continued giving battle to the reactionary army.
Therefore, the so-called "Regional Peace Process" is also being planned against the armed revolutionary movement in El Salvador. It has set traps to demobilize and disarm the workers, youth and peasants in order to give them the illusions of a national reconciliation and power sharing with the bloodstained regime.
The Salvadoran revolutionaries must not fall into this trap, they must not abandon the interests of the Salvadoran people.
In Guatemala and Honduras, imperialism is also militarizing these brutal capitalist regimes. There is a military and paramilitary institutionalization of the terror against the people. Nonetheless, these regimes are called "democratic governments" and the workers and peasants are supposed to be pacified with empty promises of "democratization."
The bourgeois-democratic government of Costa Rica is equally increasing its levels of repression against the people with the help of U.S. imperialism and the drug traffickers.
Only with the triumph of their revolutionary movements can the workers and peasants gain their freedom; only with the overthrow of the dominant classes can the masses break with capitalist domination.
5. Against Imperialist Intervention in Panama!
The government of the United States is waving its big stick against Panama. It is conducting military exercises, imposing blockades, all to defend its economic and military interests linked to the Panama Canal.
Panama has the right to self-determination, including the right to reclaim the Canal and the Canal Zone. The U.S. military has no rights in Panama and the anti-imperialist fighters must denounce this imperialist aggression.
Nevertheless, this does not imply sympathy for the regime of Noriega and his army. Although it is certain that the leaders of the "civic opposition" are pro-imperialist and are linked to the CIA, it must not be forgotten that Noriega and the National Guard have also had close ties with imperialism and the CIA. It cannot be forgotten that they have committed crimes against the workers, students and other progressive forces in Panama and Central America.
We must encourage the workers and oppressed of Panama to seek and build their own organization of struggle against imperialism and tyranny, an organization independent of the bourgeois leaders and of the nationalist demagogy of the National Guard.
6. Build the Independent Movement of the Working Class of the United States!
Under the new Bush administration the ruling capitalist class of the U.S. continues with its interventionist policy in Central America.
It is the bipartisan policy agreed to by the two monopolist parties, the Republicans and Democrats.
Both the White House of Bush and the Congress controlled by the Democrats agree to spend billions of dollars for the death-squad regimes in the region. Both bang the drums of war against Panama. As well, they are in agreement about strangling Nicaragua. This includes millions of dollars in "humanitarian aid" for the contras and more millions in "secret" funds for destabilization and for aiding the rightists in the electoral processes.
All these crimes are being committed in the name of Central American "democratization," which only means more power for the capitalists and to throw back the revolutionary conquests of the masses.
At the same time, the social democrats and revisionists in the United States are on their knees before these demagogic policies of imperialism. They are demobilizing the mass actions in solidarity with the struggle of the Central American people; they are creating illusions about the "peace process" that is being orchestrated by Washington itself.
This is another confirmation that the workers and anti-imperialist activists in the United States must organize themselves against the capitalist parties, including the illusions of the liberal politicians of the Democratic Party.
In this way, consistent solidarity can be built with the working people of Central America and the world and a powerful force can be mobilized against imperialism from within its own center.
The Marxist-Leninist Party of the United States is the proletarian party that is working in this direction against exploitation, imperialist oppression, and for the socialist revolution.
7. Workers and Anti-Imperialist Fighters:
We must be alert, we must act, we must strengthen our solidarity to confront imperialist aggression. With class independence our actions and our solidarity will be much more powerful and clear, and we must vigorously push forward these tasks.
There can be no reconciliation between the death squads and CIA-mercenaries and their victims.
There can be no reconciliation between the capitalists and landlords and the exploited and oppressed workers and peasants.
For the triumph of the workers and exploited over imperialism and reaction!!!
General Secretariat Marxist-Leninist Party of Nicaragua
Delegation of the Central Committee Marxist-Leninist Party of the United States
Managua, Nicaragua
July 1989
Ever since Operation Rescue targeted Boston last fall, this city has seen the resurgence of a powerful resistance to the anti-abortion fanatics. Since the Supreme Court decision, the movement has grown and become more militant.
Many activists are actively discussing how to move the struggle forward. At each step, the movement has had to fight to break out of the liberal strait- jacket which the NOW leaders want to impose. Progress has come only through the fight for a militant policy.
The pro-choice actions in July marked another chapter in this fight. They bring out lessons of interest to activists across the country.
Thousands in the Streets
Some 1,500 pro-choice demonstrators hit the streets the very afternoon of the Supreme Court ruling. They marched through the downtown streets and rallied at Government Center.
The next day -- during the July 4 holiday -- 5,000 showed up to rally in front of the statehouse. The gathering was called by Mass Choice who gave the platform to liberal Democratic politicians seeking the pro-choice vote. But as events would soon show, the demonstrators were not too keen on politics-as- usual. They were eager for a more serious kind of struggle in defense of women's rights.
Resisting Assault by Police
The police tried to escort a truck through the crowd of protesters on Beacon Street. And they arrested a man who refused to move. Immediately the police were surrounded and for 45 minutes they were unable to move their prisoner. When the Boston tactical squad arrived the police made a move to take the man off to jail. But still it took them another 15 minutes of pushing, shoving and fighting with hundreds of people who tried to block them. In the course of the battle the police arrested one other man. But still the struggle did not stop.
No sooner had the police cruisers roared off with their prisoners than 1,500 people broke into a spontaneous march down Beacon Street and over to Charles and Cambridge streets. The demonstrators shouted "They have the courts -- we have the streets,'' "Abortion Rights for Workers and Poor,'' "Abort the Court" and other militant slogans. Hundreds of people joined in for various distances as the march proceeded.
The marchers went down to the Area A police station where they rallied until the police released both men.
Meeting an Enthusiastic Reception
From there they marched to the Esplanade where thousands of people, who had gathered to watch the fireworks, responded to the demonstration with a standing ovation. A number of people in the Esplanade crowd expressed their revulsion toward the government's attack on women by burning the flags they were holding.
The protesters moved onto the Hatch Shell where the Boston Pops concert was going on. They demanded the right to speak against the Supreme Court decision. Although the organizers of the entertainment initially agreed to let them speak, 200 cops showed up to prevent this from taking place. The demonstrators then marched off to another area and held their own speakout against the government's attacks on women's rights.
A Rebuff to Those Who Decry Militancy
The militant actions of July 4, which were largely spontaneous, reflect the deep anger that is building up among the masses against the Reagan-Bush offensive of the capitalists. The leaders of Mass Choice, which called the rally on July 4, were appalled at the militancy of the confrontation with the police and the unauthorized march. They actively tried to discourage people from participating in the actions.
The leaders of NOW and Mass Choice specialize in maneuvering in the Democratic Party political machine, and they have long been preaching that militant mass action and confrontation will turn people off. But anyone who saw the reception on the Esplanade can personally testify otherwise. The majority of the people are working people who have been suffering for 10 years under the Reaganite offensive of the rich. It is their rights that are being taken away and they were excited to see someone fighting back.
Confronting Operation Rescue -- July 8
After the Supreme Court decision, Randall Terry, chieftain of Operation Rescue, had bragged that they were going to target more than 20 cities the following weekend. A "regional day of rescue" had earlier been announced for Boston for the 22nd. But just in case OR was planning a surprise attack on July 8, activists turned out that day to defend women's clinics in force.
Hundreds showed up in front of three Brookline clinics that have been the scene of OR blockades before. But only a small handful of OR showed up to picket.
The largest pro-choice gathering, of 400, was outside the Preterm Clinic. Activists shouted slogans, sang songs and denounced the OR picketers.
During the demonstration, the MLP, along with other militants, spread the idea of a march to the residence of Cardinal Law, who has been a major supporter of the anti-abortion bullies. Many picketers also thought it was a good idea.
Unfortunately the leaders of NOW present were upset with the proposal. When the picket ended at noon, in their closing remarks to the gathering, they refused to announce the march. When people started shouting, what about the march, they replied that MLP was marching to Cardinal Law's house, but everyone make sure you leave the NOW signs behind because they cost so much money to replace.
Despite their lack of support, some 60 people took off for Law's mansion. It was a spirited march with militant slogans. When the group arrived at the house, 10 cops were already there blocking the driveway. The demonstrators held a speakout, where the MLP, other left-wing groups, and individual militants spoke for an hour.
Then the demonstrators marched back to Cleveland Circle and dispersed. Along the way, they took over the street.
What to Do About OR's "Regional Rescue" on the 22nd?
During that morning, it had also become evident that NOW was seeking to undermine the resistance to the upcoming OR's "regional day of rescue'' on July 22. In her closing remarks to the picket at Preterm, the NOW speaker had mentioned July 22 but had merely encouraged people to wait by their phones that Saturday morning.
It's been shown many times that the best way to mobilize against OR is to spread the word widely that people should gather at one of the clinics as an assembly point and be ready to go to whichever clinic was being attacked in the area. The pressure of the movement had earlier forced NOW to agree to such a tactic. But NOW refused to give such an appeal this time.
And after July 8, NOW kept totally mum about the 22nd. They did not raise it on their "pro-choice hot line.''
The reason behind this effort to weaken the July 22nd mobilization was the fact that it was scheduled on the weekend during NOW's national convention. Many local leaders would be away in Cincinnati that weekend. The chiefs of NOW were afraid that in their absence the confrontation against OR might get militant and out of control.
MLP Mobilizes Widely
The MLP decided to go ahead and spread the word for activists to assemble at Preterih on July 22. Posters with this call and with the information about OR's plans for the 22nd, were printed up. They were passed out to activists and put up in Cambridge, Brookline, downtown Boston and at local hospitals. Enough posters were put up that OR warned their people at their organizing meeting that posters were up all over mobilizing for the clinic defense effort.
July 22 -- A Big Exposure of Police Support for OR
Early Saturday morning OR assembled at a suburban church. The local police escorted them to the highway. A pro-choice woman waited outside and attempted to follow their caravan as it left the church. The police then pulled her over and told her that if she moved her car they would arrest her.
OR drove to a subway station and took the train to the Gynecare clinic in downtown Boston. About 200 OR people blockaded the clinic and took over the sidewalk. The Boston police showed up in force to protect OR. As pro-choice people began to arrive the police began setting up double bicycle rack barricades around the OR to keep the pro-choice people away.
There was militant resistance to the setting up of the barricades. Meanwhile the police ordered the clinic closed for "public safety'' and refused to move the OR until NOW presented them with a court order at 11 a.m. During this time the crowd grew angrier and angrier at the police and there were slogans raised denouncing Mayor Flynn and Police Commissioner Roache. The most popular slogan was "They couldn't keep it closed without police protection.''
While the pro-choice activists were denouncing the police and OR and trying to press up against the police barricades, NOW marshals formed a line facing the masses to hold them back. But this quickly broke down as it was too unpopular. Nevertheless NOW leaders continued to minimize the role of the police. They said that since the clinic was closed and patients were being directed to other clinics it was not such a big deal that OR was allowed to blockade the clinic for so long.
At a certain point in the morning about 100 OR people left Gynecare to go to Preterm but they were unable to blockade it. Brookline police quickly arrested them. Only 50 pro-choice people went to Preterm as the rest were confident that the main battle would continue to be at Gynecare.
Although activists were frustrated at not being able to clear OR out due to the massive police presence, the struggle this day brought out sharply the role of the state in propping up OR. This was an eye-opener to many, and this knowledge will serve the movement well in the future.
[Photo: Boston cops trying to put up barricades to keep pro-choice activists away from Operation Rescue, July 22.]
The Supreme Court has ruled that states can severely restrict a woman's right to choose on abortion.
This decision is an outrage ! While not completely outlawing abortions, the Reagan-Bush court has invited every state government to pass increasingly restrictive abortion laws. It has cleared the way to make abortion rights all but a dead letter.
While this decision was applauded by the president and received as a victory by the right-wing anti-abortion forces, it was quite justly greeted by an explosion of anger across the land.
Defend Abortion Rights
Abortion is a last resort method of birth control. The right of women to decide on abortion was won through the mass struggles of the 1960's and early '70s.
The attack on abortion rights hurts all women. But it comes down especially hard on working class and poor women, because the rich and well-off can always find access to abortion. They can fly to places where abortions are legal, or they can find willing doctors.
Curtailing the right to an abortion -- and outlawing it -- will not end abortions. It only means an end to safe abortions. We are again headed back to those times when women -- especially the poor and the young -- are to be left to the mercy of back-alley abortionists. Where women face the risk of hemorrhaging to death in the search for a way out of unwanted pregnancies.
Such a prospect underscores why all who care about the lives and well-being of women must fight for women's right to an abortion -- no matter whether one is personally for or against abortion.
Confront the Anti-Abortion Crusaders!
The Supreme Court has given a big shot in the arm to the right-wing antiabortion crusaders. These forces talk about the "right to life,'' but that is merely to prey on people's emotions. These people could care less about life. Bush, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson are well-known champions of war and militarism -- hardly the stuff of preserving life.
In truth, the anti-abortion crusade is out to make women subservient. You must submit to the demands of men, the church, the bosses, and the government -- that's the message they want to send women.
What's more, the anti-abortion crusade is an effort by the ruling class establishment to build up a right-wing movement that champions all the reactionary causes -- poverty for the workers, racism against minorities, bigotry against women and gays, intolerance for dissent, imperialism and war.
The Court's decision will give rise to a state-by-state effort of right-wing politicians to scuttle abortion rights. The fanatics of Operation Rescue plan to keep up the assaults on women's clinics in keeping with their role as storm-troopers for the anti-abortion crusade.
It is therefore imperative that a powerful challenge be built up against the anti-abortion assault.
[Photo: Militant pro-choice demonstrator faces down anti-abortion fanatic in Tustin, California.]
Thousands of women and men took to the streets in Canada to protest a Quebec Appeals Court ruling in late July which barred a woman in that province from having an abortion.
In Montreal, 7,000 people turned out for a quickly-called march on July 27, the day after the court decision. One of their banners declared: "Neither pope, nor judge, nor doctor, nor lover...it's up to women to decide!'' For many it was their first time at a demonstration.
On the Pacific coast, 1,000 demonstrators rallied in downtown Vancouver. A thousand protested in Toronto. At the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa, 250 people demanded "Choice Now!'' Pro-choice actions also took place in Quebec City, Halifax, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Windsor and Edmonton.
Canadian activists are also planning a fall mobilization across the country to defend abortion rights.
The ruling which so outraged the pro-choice forces stemmed from the case of Chantal Daigle, a Montreal secretary. She sought an abortion after breaking off her relationship with Jean-Guy Tremblay who had turned physically and verbally abusive. But Tremblay challenged her plan to have an abortion in court, with help from the right-wing anti-abortion forces.
He quickly won a lower court ruling. Daigle's appeal to the Appeals Court was rejected in a 3-2 decision which asserted legal rights for what the ruling described as "a child that has been conceived but not born.''
Daigle herself faces fines and/or a jail term if she goes ahead with an abortion. She has appealed to the Supreme Court, which has agreed to hold a hearing on the case. Meanwhile, doctors in Quebec have become hesitant about abortions and are busy consulting their lawyers.
A Systematic Campaign Against Abortion Rights
Canada's restrictive abortion laws were found unconstitutional in January 1988 by a Supreme Court ruling. But the Court did not rule affirming women's right to choice, and neither has Parliament come up with such a law.
In this situation, Canadian women's right to choice has come under systematic attack by the right-wing antiabortion movement which is very similar to the hypocritical "pro-life'' forces here in the U.S.
All year, the right-wing fanatics of Operation Rescue in Canada have been harassing women at clinics and trying to shut them down. But their attempts have been resisted by the pro-choice movement. A number of mass actions in defense of the right to choice have been held in Toronto, Vancouver, etc.
The courtroom attack on Daigle was not an isolated incident. It is the latest of a series of court challenges to abortion rights instigated by anti-choice forces. The right-wingers have turned to encouraging the ex-boyfriends of Canadian women seeking abortions to take the women to court. They make available anti-choice lawyers to push for injunctions against the women.
Such court challenges were stepped up in July as anti-abortion forces felt emboldened by the U.S. Supreme Court decision restricting abortions. But until Daigle's case, the anti-choice injunctions had either been refused or overturned on appeal by courts in several provinces.
At the moment Chantal Daigle's case -- and the right to safe and legal abortion for other women in Quebec -- awaits the ruling of the Canadian Supreme Court. But no matter which way the court rules, it will not settle the issue of protecting a woman's right to decide on her pregnancy. Winning that right will require building up the movement for women's rights in Canada.
With its July 3 decision in Webster Reproductive Health Services, the Supreme Court upheld a 1986 Missouri state law which contains several restrictions on abortion rights. This decision is a big step towards completely gutting women's right to choose an abortion.
True, abortions remain legal in the country -- even in the state of Missouri whose restrictions on abortion were upheld. And the Court did not say it was abandoning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision which recognized women's right to abortion. But the July 3 decision is a call for state governments to heap on more and more restrictions on abortion so that Roe v. Wade becomes a dead letter.
The Court's decision severely restricts abortions in Missouri, it encourages other states to adopt similar laws, it gives the go-ahead to both Missouri and other states to add other restrictions on abortion, and it contains language which sets the stage for wiping out abortion rights altogether.
Prohibiting Abortions in Public Hospitals
The Missouri law prohibits any public employee, hospital or other public facility from performing abortions not essential to save a woman's life. And it bans the use of public funds, employees or facilities for even "encouraging or counseling'' women to have abortions unless the pregnancy threatens a woman's life.
The ban on public hospitals performing abortions is no small matter. People in small towns and rural areas use public hospitals for abortions. As well, it tends to be the later and more difficult abortions which are carried out in public hospitals.
There will be another harmful effect of such a ban. It will result in fewer doctors learning how to do abortions since most physicians receive their practical training in public hospitals. The Los Angeles Times quoted a former president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as predicting that abortion training "won't exist. It's like any other thing. If you're not properly trained, the mortality and morbidity associated with the procedure is high.''(July 4,1989)
It Also Affects Private Hospitals
Not only does the Missouri law stop nearly all abortions in public hospitals, but it also bans abortions in all "public facilities'' -- and the law provides a very broad definition of "public facility.'' This is defined as "any public institution, public facility, public equipment, or any physician asset owned, leased, or controlled by the state or any agency or political subdivisions thereof.'' In short, any medical facility with any connection to the state. This would prohibit nearly all Missouri hospitals from performing abortions, since virtually all of them either receive governmental money or sit on government-owned land.
Adding the Burden of "Viability Tests"
The Missouri law also requires that for abortions in cases of pregnancies of 20 weeks or more, doctors must carry out tests to determine, when possible, whether the fetus can survive outside the womb.
Never mind that there really aren't any such things as "viability tests.'' Never mind that present-day medical science holds -- and the 1973 Roe decision acknowledged this -- that a fetus does not become viable until at least 24 weeks. It's being debated if there are rare exceptions to this, but that doesn't change the general rule. Upholding the Missouri requirement shows how far removed the Supreme Court majority is from reality.
The Missouri law isn't really intended to save any babies; it only aimed at making things more difficult for some women to have an abortion. It adds the requirement of tests which are unnecessary, create extra risk, and are an added cost burden.
However, since only 1% of the abortions performed are more than 20 weeks old, the real significance of upholding this restriction is not that it will affect a lot of women but that it chips away at a medical cornerstone of the Roe decision.
A Framework to Restrict Birth Control
What may perhaps be most ominous for the future is the fact that the Supreme Court refused to strike down the preamble to the Missouri law which declares that life begins at fertilization. And the right-wing judges openly touted that the state has a "compelling interest'' in promoting potential life from this point on.
This is blatant support for a position based on certain religious doctrines. It sets up the ideological framework for the government to control women's reproductive choices. It is a signal that the Court will look favorably on more and more restrictions on abortion rights -- all the way to abolishing the right to choice altogether.
It also creates grounds for restrictions on certain kinds of birth control.
It is no secret that a major section of the anti-abortion movement is not content with just banning abortion rights. They also want to impose restrictions on birth control in the name of protecting all potential human life. Many antiabortion leaders have openly argued for bans on intra-uterine devices and against certain kinds of birth control pills. When pressed on the issue, they admit that they're really against all birth control other than "natural birth control," "spacing of children," and "chastity." In short, they are against women having sex unconnected to reproduction. They want to restore the days when women were kept "in their place" -- "barefoot and pregnant."
Theirs is a fundamentally anti-woman stand, and they now have the nod of the Supreme Court to carry forward with their backward crusade.
But as the outburst of protest across the land shows -- they will not go unchallenged!
September 1 marks the 50th anniversary of the start of World War II. A group of fascist states, the "Axis" of Nazi Germany, Mussolini's Italy, and Imperial Japan, sought to conquer the world and enslave the toilers everywhere. This was another example of mass slaughter caused by the capitalist search for profit. The capitalists of the fascist Axis and of Britain and the U.S. were fighting over who would control world markets and dominate the colonies. They thought nothing of sending millions of people to their graves to see whether the richest millionaires would speak English or German.
It was also a war of revenge of the capitalists against the communist movements and national liberation struggles of the world and against the Soviet Union. The fascists were brought to power to drown these movements in blood. No more rights were to be allowed so long as the working class might use them in their own interests. Even the capitalists of other countries aided the fascists in order to use them against the revolution. It was only when national antagonisms among the chief imperialist countries set them upon each other like hungry wolves, when the fascists bit the hands that had fed them among the British, the U.S. and the French exploiters, that these capitalist nations found themselves at war with the fascists.
For the Rights of the Toilers!
For the working people, the issue was different. It was not a war to dominate other lands, but the anti-fascist war to ensure their rights. Not a war to gain colonies, but a war of the enslaved peoples to regain their national existence.
The U.S. media says that the fascists were defeated by the U.S. and British armies. It dwells with rapt attention on the smallest details of the military exploits of the "Allied armies."
But that was only part of the story. From Asia to Europe, anti-fascist resistance movements sprung up in numerous countries. Armed partisan movements of the local populations, and national liberation struggles, confronted the fascists.
In China, Mao Zedong's Communist Party spearheaded the struggle. Then a revolutionary force closely tied with the aspirations of the people, it led an immense struggle. In the Philippines, the U.S. army collapsed at the first blow, but the Philippine guerrillas, led by the communist party there, grew and undermined the occupation regime. In Viet Nam, Korea, Burma, Malaya, Indonesia and elsewhere in Asia the Japanese occupiers met popular resistance, mostly communist led.
In Europe too a mass armed resistance developed. In undeveloped Albania, poor and with few people, the workers and peasants threw themselves upon the Italian fascist occupiers and then the German Nazis. They liberated themselves, while also keeping the Allied armies off their soil. In Yugoslavia, Greece, Italy and elsewhere red insurgents made the ground grow hot under the feet of the fascist troops. In France, the powerful French army of tanks and planes had collapsed in record time because the bourgeoisie didn't want to fight the Nazis, but only to play let's make a deal. But the French partisan war developed out of the hatred of the masses for the fascist occupier.
Even as far as regular armies went, it was not the British and the Americans but the Soviet army that bore the brunt of the regular warfare in Europe, confronting the bulk of Nazi troops.
These victories were not bought lightly by the people. They involved immense sacrifice and horrendous loss of life. Yet they showed what strength lies dormant in the revolutionary working class, what ability to mobilize the toilers around itself, when the working class recognizes an enemy clearly and gets organized.
Opportunism Undermines the Toilers' Cause
Unfortunately, this history also shows the danger of opportunism. For one thing, most of these movements cherished illusions in the Allied imperialist countries, such as the U.S. and Britain. This was a legacy of the 7th Congress of the Communist International in 1935. They would pay dearly for this.
It is only under the dire force of military necessity that the Allied imperialists tolerated the development of some insurgent movements. As soon as they could, however, they moved to crush them. They preferred to ally with local bourgeois circles, even if they had sat out the war passively, or to bribe local fascist dregs to come over to the Allied side, than to see the insurgents come to power. In the Philippines, although welcomed by the insurgents, the American army cruelly betrayed and smashed the popular movement, setting the stage for decades of tyranny right up to the tyrant Marcos and now the continuing oppression under Aquino. In Greece, in Italy, in France, in China, everywhere, the U.S. and British sought to put down the forces who had done the bulk of the fighting and dying against the fascists.
Against the Soviet Union, the American capitalists opened up a Cold War and the threat of a new world war. The Soviet leaders were unprepared, as the Soviet Union too suffered from opportunism. Indeed its actions damaged the struggle in various countries and its views pushed opportunism on the world movement. Since the mid-1930's the Soviet leaders had abandoned Leninism, and the Soviet Union was decaying, from a country seeking to develop socialism, to a country with a new state-capitalist ruling class. It still carried out a heroic liberation war against the fascists, persisting despite war deaths of 10% of its population. But because the opportunism was not confronted, the internal rot of Soviet society continued and deepened.
Liberation from War Requires Liberation from Capitalism
Let us never forget these lessons of World War II.
Capitalism has brought us two major world slaughters in this century, to speak nothing of the innumerable "minor wars" devastating entire countries. It is threatening to bring us a third. Even now, as the talk of arms control fills the air, the Bush government maintains a war-sized military in peacetime, and it is seeking "first-strike weapons" such as the Star Wars program and the Stealth bomber.
World War II also shows that the most highly developed and civilized countries, like Germany, will resort to barbarous fascism to smash the revolutionary movement. There can be no illusions that the U.S. is too highly developed for such crimes. Such illusions cost the popular forces dearly.
But as well, World War II shows the heroism and strength of the organized toilers, if they are willing to sacrifice everything for their liberation and for their unity with their class brothers everywhere. It shows that fascism and oppression, no matter how powerful they seem, no matter the extent of their military victories, have feet of clay.
[Photo: Chinese communist guerrillas in action against Japanese fascists]
For years, many British, French and U.S. capitalists looked to Hitlerism and fascism as the weapons against the European working class movements and the Soviet Union. Henry Ford and other capitalists contributed money to help the Nazis rise to power. The Western governments "appeased" Hitler's demands. They didn't do this from weakness, for their military power was great. They did it in the hopes that Hitler would use his territorial and military gains to pacify problem areas for them. Such as waging a crusade to wipe out communism.
But, says the media, forget all this. In 1939, just days before World War II opened, the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact with the Nazis. This shows, they say, that really it was the Soviet Union that was allied with Hitler.
The British and French refused Soviet offers to come to a military agreement against Germany in 1938. Instead they negotiated the infamous Munich deal in which Czechoslovakia was given to Hitler. They sought to direct Hitler's attention to invading eastwards, towards Russia. Their friend, the dictatorial Polish government, took part with Hitler in the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia that followed.
And again in 1939, on the eve of World War II, Britain and France again refused Soviet offers for a serious military agreement against Hitler. They proposed instead that the Soviet Union should bear the brunt of any war. But no one is supposed to think that they still harbored the design of Nazi Germany bleeding Russia to death.
It was supposed to be the duty of the Soviet Union to loyally sacrifice itself for the British and French bourgeoisie.
The nonaggression pact meant that the Soviet Union sought to delay its being dragged into the war until the imperialist powers were fighting among themselves.
There were problems in how the Soviet Union carried this out. By World War II the Soviet leaders had abandoned revolutionary Leninism and replaced it with maneuverings suitable to a bourgeois state; this was part of the process of restoring capitalism in Russia. Whether they sought alliance with England and France against Hitler, or to stand aside from the war for as long as possible, they were no longer guided by the considerations that a socialist country must follow when forced into compromises with capitalist countries. Instead they carried on with cynical bourgeois diplomacy, which would have been more appropriate to Britain or France. This caused massive harm to the revolutionary working class movements in other countries, which looked to the Soviet Union for a socialist model. It resulted in a number of repugnant steps in the Soviet-occupied section of Poland and in the Baltic states.
But the responsibility of the Western bourgeoisie for Hitlerism cannot be hidden by shouting about the 1939 Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact. The more the media shouts, the more they prove they have something to hide.
It was hardly much of a surprise that the pact only postponed the inevitable crusade of Nazism against the Soviet Union. And when this crusade occurred, it was the Soviet Union that took the brunt of the war against Germany, as far as the Allied armies go.
Meanwhile after the war, the British, French and U.S. bourgeoisie took over the old Nazi networks in Europe. It seems that the only firm disagreement between the U.S.-led Western bourgeoisie and the Nazis was over which country would achieve world supremacy. War against the Soviet Union remained the fond dream of them all.
Workers in Russia and the Ukraine, covered with grime, emerge from coal pits angry and fighting. They sharply denounce the starvation regime that is working them to death. They set up strike committees hold militant rallies and marches, and issue demands.
Is this something from another time in history? No, it is the coal miners' strike of 1989.
Workers in Russia were once a powerful fighting contingent of the international working class. They carried out the great socialist revolution of 1917. They sought to heroically construct a new world without exploiters. By the mid-30s, things began to degenerate. The workers' hopes were eventually defeated because the Soviet leadership degenerated into an anti-worker bureaucracy and led the Soviet Union down the road of restoring capitalism.
For decades, in state-capitalist Russia, politics has been dominated either by the revisionist bureaucrats who still falsely call themselves communists -- or it's been dominated by pro-Western dissident intellectuals. Workers have fought some heroic battles here and there, but by and large the Soviet working class remained quiescent. No more. The miners' strike marks the first big upheaval of today's Soviet proletariat.
The strike was begun by coal miners in Siberia. Their first spurt of strikes seemed to be settled July 13, but then it took off again and eventually the movement spread to all the major coal producing areas of the USSR. About 500,000 miners eventually participated.
The revisionist bureaucrats were horrified. They tried to co-opt the strike while working desperately to prevent it from spreading. The miners ended up winning some major economic concessions from the government.
Siberian Strike Spreads Quickly
The miners' strikes began around the Siberian coal city of Mezhdurechensk July 10. Some 12,000 miners at five mines walked out. This was not the first coal strike this year in the Soviet Union, but was the first one to gain widespread Soviet press coverage. Government negotiators went to Mezhdurechensk and reached a settlement with the miners.
The press coverage given to the strikes, and the fact that most of the workers' demands were quickly agreed to, helped to spread the strikes. Soon thousands of other miners in the Kuznetzk Basin were on strike, and these were soon joined by miners in other areas of the Soviet Union: in the Ukraine, in southern and northern Russia, and in Kazakhstan.
The demands of the miners in all these strikes were similar to those of the original strikers: pay bonuses for night shifts, better supplies of food and other consumer goods, more time off, increased housing, sharp cuts in the coal mining bureaucracy, replacement of local officials, more local control of the mines, and measures to protect the local environment.
By July 20 Soviet President Gorbachev was faced with a major challenge. Hundreds of thousands of miners were on strike. The Soviet Union was losing millions of dollars in hard currency earnings each day of the strike.
Settlement of the Strike
To Settle the strikes, the government duplicated the settlement reached with miners in the Kuznetsk Basin of Siberia. This settlement is a 35-point agreement. It promises bigger shipments of food and consumer goods such as leather shoes, meat, refrigerators, sewing machines, bathtubs, toilets, coffee, tea, carpeting, furniture, winter clothes, sugar, candy, milk, animal fat and soap (Siberian coal miners have been rationed one bar of soap per person every two months).
This shopping list of demands won by the miners reads as a searing indictment of the deepening economic crisis fostered by the revisionist state- capitalist system in the Soviet Union. Coal mining is one of the most important industries in the Soviet Union, and coal miners are among the the best organized and most highly paid workers in the country. The fact that these high- paid industrial workers cannot find food to buy in stores, cannot buy milk for their children, and cannot wash themselves with soap, shows what a sorry state of affairs exists in the Soviet Union.
They also won a pay bonus of 20% for evening work and 40% for night shift, a demand made by the workers for years and always ignored by the official trade union bureaucrats. They won promises of improved housing, cultural facilities and medical services, better funding of workers' pension funds and guaranteed retirement after 20 years in the mines. Like many other provisions in the agreement, this last is supposed to be a right already enjoyed by coal miners.
The Miners Did Not Fight for Private Capitalism
The coal miners apparently demanded, and won, local control of the mines. The miners demanded that individual mines be given power over their own income and spending, and the freedom to fix contracts over and above the central state purchases, and the freedom to spend what they want on local social and recreational facilities.
The Western media hyped up this demand as a call for Western-style capitalism on the part of the miners. However this is not what the miners think.
For one thing, the Western media largely hid the fact that one of the demands of the coal miners was the call "to abolish or sharply curtail the freewheeling private entrepreneurs who have amassed wealth and huge resentment under the new economic order that Mr. Gorbachev is trying to build.'' (New York Times, July 26)
When the, miners demanded local control of the mines, they were not agreeing to exploitation by private capitalism. They were instead calling for a reform within the Soviet economy which they thought would help improve their conditions.
The Soviet economy is a state-capitalist economy. Within this system, each local plant or industry is required to show a profit on its own. For coal mining this unit was the regional coal board, which included a number of mines in one area. Under the new agreement this will be changed; the self-financing unit will now be the individual pit. Miners believe this will give them some ability to influence what happens with the mine's profits.
That's what the miners think they can do with local autonomy. However, there is a big danger attached to this new system and the miners are yet to come to grips with that. It may foster competition between the workers and break their solidarity. For example, there is the threat of pit closures and unemployment. Under the old system each regional coal board had to show a profit, but this was sometimes averaged out for profitable and unprofitable mines. Now each mine must show a profit. If it doesn't, the state capitalists will demand that it close. It is estimated that coal prices from many mines must be increased by 100-200% in order for those pits to become profitable.
The demand for local economic autonomy is related to the fact that there were different social strata at work in this strike. The leading and main force in the strikes were the workers themselves. But they were joined by engineers and even managers of the coal mines. These were the strata who especially pushed the demand for local autonomy of the mines. These strata include those who hope to gain local control of their own mines so that they can become the "self-administrative" bourgeoisie, as happened in the revisionist degeneration of Yugoslavia.
But there is tension between the different forces. Some workers have called for a national congress of the coal strike committees, and demanded that managerial personnel be excluded.
Organization of the Strike
The strike was organized by local strike committees. It is widely admitted that the official miners' unions are among the worst of the Soviet unions, and they have done nothing for decades to protect the workers' interests. Even though union leaders endorsed the strike, they were invisible except for being the targets of bitter criticism. One of the demands of the workers is for union elections to be held.
The miners also demanded new elections to local government bodies. Elections were scheduled for next year, but the government decided to allow local elections to be held earlier. This is where the workers' slogans of "all power to the soviets" came in. Soviets are the local governing bodies in the Soviet Union, and miners are hopeful that, through more open elections, they can gain some measure of influence in the soviet bodies.
The present-day soviets are not the revolutionary workers' councils which came up during the revolution of 1917 and formed the base of the new proletarian power. Today's soviets are just bourgeois local government bodies.
The miners' strike shows that the idea of "power to the soviets" still has a strong pull for Soviet workers. The miners may be able to use the present soviets to develop their political life and especially to see what various trends stand up, but the soviets today will not go beyond some tinkering with the system. They cannot overthrow the power of the capitalist bureaucrats; only a revolution can do that.
Need for True Workers' Organization
Soviet parliamentarians bemoan the fact that the coal miners "trust nobody and nothing." The Soviet state capitalists led by Gorbachev are working hard to regain the trust of the Soviet workers.
With some concessions, they may be able to quiet the workers this time. But in the long run, this will be impossible. There is an objective clash in the cards between the workers and the ruling regime.
The Soviet economy has been capitalist for decades, and Gorbachev's program is designed to take it towards more pronounced Western-style capitalist features. This includes bringing up a class of private capitalist sharks. But for the workers his program brings with it wage stagnation and unemployment. It is doubtful that Gorbachev will even be able to keep the promises just made to the coal miners, since the government is close to bankruptcy; and he may then be facing another, more powerful round of strikes.
The only hope for Soviet workers is to keep to the path of struggle, to "trust nobody and nothing" except their own organization and their own struggle. The workers have made a start by building their own strike committees independent of the official trade union apparatus. They have to go further.
The workers also hate the ruling party and they want to get rid of the monopoly that's enjoyed by Gorbachev's party. That too is necessary. This party falsely lays claim to being the workers party and to being for communism. But, to carry through the struggle against the revisionist bourgeoisie, the workers cannot do without building their own political party. Such a party should be based on the real revolutionary ideas of Marxism-Leninism not the revisionist corruption that goes by that name in the present-day Soviet Union. A revolutionary communist vanguard is essential to carry forward the fight of the Soviet workers for a new revolution and genuine workers' socialism.
[Photo: Soviet miners in the Kuzbass during a mass strike meeting.]
For the last year and a half, the Israeli government has thrown its huge military force into suppressing the Palestinian intifada -- the uprising. But the Palestinian people's fight for freedom remains undaunted.
Considering the military to be too soft, the Israeli right wing -- especially the settlers on the West Bank -- are more and more escalating their own fascist terror against the Palestinians. Their atrocities add to the exposure of the tyrannical nature of Israeli society. They verify that Israeli democracy is hollow -- a state based on the oppression of an entire people cannot be democratic.
Some of the settlers' recent outrages include:
* On May 29 a crowd of settler vigilantes rampaged through the West Bank village of Kifil Harith, 10 miles southwest of Nablus. They beat up Arabs, smashed cars, set fire to wheat fields, and opened fire with guns, killing one teenage girl.
* On June 2 hundreds of settlers attacked the village of Aizariya chanting "Death to Arabs.'' They set fire to cars and stores.
* The same week settlers beat up a convoy of Israeli peace activists who were taking food and medicine to Palestinian children in the West Bank.
* Two settler villages adopted a system of ID badges for Palestinian workers, forcing them to be racially identified just as the German Nazis forced Jewish people to wear special armbands. Mounting criticism of this move eventually forced the settlers to modify the scheme.
The right-wing thugs do not just attack Palestinians. They are also targeting Israeli Jews who are inclined towards sympathizing with the Palestinians. Anyone not 100% for fascist terror against Palestinians is seen as a traitor. Peace demonstrations have come under attack by ultra-right fanatics.
The settlers' actions have even forced the government to order the army to hold them in a few cases -- of course with kid gloves, not the clubs and bullets reserved for the Palestinians.
But the truth is, the murderous right-wingers are continuously encouraged by the Israeli ruling class. Not just by individual right-wing fanatics within the government but by the whole establishment. Israeli President Herzog -- a liberal -- recently commuted the sentences given to three Israelis for murdering four Palestinians. Their imprisonment was reduced to a point where they may be released in a matter of months. Such actions only encourage more murderous attacks.
Indeed, the unofficial actions of the settler thugs are fully in accord with the official oppression carried out by the government and army.
Over 500 Palestinians have been killed since the intifada began in December 1987. Recent killings by the army have included an eight-month-old baby. Over 1,000 Palestinians are now in prison for extended, months-long terms, without trials or even being charged with any crime.
The army also blocks convoys of Israeli peace activists and prohibits them from delivering food to people in the occupied territories, many of whom are on the verge of starvation due to extended curfews.
And, taking its cue from the settlers, the army began issuing new special ID cards to residents of the Gaza Strip. Even Israeli newspapers were forced to admit that the system is more and more being modeled on the lines of apartheid in South Africa.
That is what Israel really is -- the apartheid state of the Middle East. This is the type of system so dearly loved by "our own'' U.S. ruling class. American workers must oppose the shameful U.S. support for Israel and show solidarity with the oppressed Palestinians.
A rebellion against food price increases broke out in the southern African country of Zambia in mid-July.
Poor people went into the streets of Mufulira, a copper mining town, to protest price hikes. They broke into shops and carted away some of the food they can no longer afford to buy. The local government attacked the people, with police firing tear gas. Copper miners used to be among the better off workers in Zambia, but today they can barely make enough money to buy food.
In June similar protests -- but larger and more widespread -- occurred throughout Nigeria. The protests there were sparked by a government decision to raise prices on a wide range of goods. Workers fought government troops at barricades in a number of cities including the capital, Lagos.
The price increases in these countries result from the austerity budgets imposed by governments seeking to make debt repayments to the world's imperialist bankers. The working people in Africa, as well as in Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia, are fed up with having to bear the burden of the international capitalist debt crisis. Their poverty only deepens every day, and there is no relief in sight.
Salvation will not come from the international bankers; they only want their pound of flesh -- no matter what it costs the masses. Neither will relief come from the wealthy ruling class in these countries who join with the bankers to shift the burden of the crisis onto the poor.
Liberation from this quagmire requires struggle, it requires building up the forces for revolution. The mass explosions against poverty show the sentiment and readiness of the people to fight back. To carry this resistance forward, the workers and poor have to give their struggle an organized and conscious character. This places on the agenda the task of building up the independent organization of the workers and toilers.