At the start of the war, Clinton looked like a bully who could get away with anything. He even seemed to pull off the clumsy Big Lie of painting "humanitarian" colors on wholesale terror bombings against civilians. But appearances often mislead. U.S. imperialism has succeeded only in devastating the Yugoslav economy, murdering many non-combatants, and turning hundreds of thousands of Kosovar workers, whom the bombing was supposed to protect, into refugees. In terms of their real strategic goals, this war has been a debacle for the rulers of "the world's only remaining super-power." And it is far from over.
Down the road loom far wider, more destructive wars. Clinton's failure to accomplish the air war's goals is not due just to the ineptitude of his foreign policy lieutenants. Perhaps he, Albright & Co. are a bunch of bunglers, but an objective process is at work here, involving imperialism and the profit system, which make wars inevitable. One gang of imperialists always tries to maximize profits and rule the world. The others don't want to be ruled since they, too, need to maximize their profits. Wars, small and large, eventually result from this conflict. Communist revolution, however long and hard the road may be, remains the working class's only hope of destroying this vicious cycle.
As Challenge has repeatedly pointed out since the current war started, U.S. bosses' main immediate goal was to secure pipeline routes for Caspian Sea oil and gas through the Balkans to western Europe. The long-range goal was to keep Russian rulers in a box. But the White House gang was too greedy for Caspian loot to see beyond the tip of its collective nose.
The Clinton mafia made two serious miscalculations. First, it underestimated Milosevic's political strength. Second, it severely mistook Russian bosses' current internal disarray as an inability to make political and even military gains from the U.S.'s Kosovo mess.
The U.S. ruling class flopped on each count. Milosevic isn't going anywhere. Not only did he not back down, but he actually gets to keep NATO troops out of his remaining territory, and this territory is likely to include the strategic mineral wealth of northern Kosovo. Because the bombing was such a clear fiasco from the beginning, U.S. and NATO rulers quickly begged the Russians to broker a deal. Part of the deal included a Russian military contingent in Kosovo, independent of NATO. The details haven't yet been spelled out, but as Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) senior fellow Walter Russell Mead complains: "There is nothing on paper to prevent the Russians from establishing a Russian zone in Kosovo..." (L.A. Times, June 13).
The Russian takeover of the Pristina airport caught NATO bosses with their pants down, showed that this is exactly what the Russians intend to do, and indicated that they can probably get away with it. So Kosovo, which is about the size of Connecticut, will have British, U.S., French, German, Italian and Russian troops staring each other down at gun-point for many years to come. This is hardly a triumph for world stability or peace--or U.S. control.
No wonder the Rockefeller-aligned Stratfor Global Intelligence Update calls the current "low-level" confrontation between Russian and NATO troops "...a defining moment in post-Cold War history. NATO attempted to dictate terms to Russia, and Russia made a military response" ("It's the Russians, Stupid," June 14). This development also shows that the faction of U.S. imperialists who favored the rapid eastward expansion of NATO (towards Russia) has again boomeranged. Here again, these bosses thought their desires were realities. They figured that bringing Czech, Polish, and Hungarian capitalists into NATO and selling them a load of Lockheed weapons could keep the Russians in check. The opposite has proved to be the case.
The U.S. bombing of Yugoslavia has also failed to secure U.S. control of Balkan oil pipelines. As Stratfor warns, the major rivalries for Caspian oil can only sharpen: "Competition between Russia and NATO for influence on Russia's periphery will undoubtedly escalate following their confrontation in Kosovo....Increasing tension in this already unstable region may drive oil companies operating in Central Asia [comprising all seven former Soviet republics, now independent and adjacent to Russia's southern border] to look elsewhere for pipeline routes to move their oil. In particular, they are likely to look to Iran" (Global Intelligence Update, June 15).
So the U.S. oil boomerang in the Balkans must lead to a further sharpening of oil rivalries in the Middle East as well. The main, Rockefeller wing of U.S. bosses knows that, sooner or later, they must again invade the Persian Gulf to, (1) secure the trillions U.S. oil companies have at stake in Saudi Arabia, and (2) impose an Exxon-friendly regime in Iraq. This will require a massive invasion by ground troops, not the "cheap hawkery" of air wars that backfire. Preparing the U.S. military and working class for such wars is becoming the Rockefeller liberals' top priority.
Our class must keep a clear head about the meaning of these wars and the openings they create. We should soberly evaluate the rulers' strengths and weaknesses. The imperialists still have many advantages over us. They have just proved their ability to launch profit wars and keep launching them. They have also proved that every war for oil and empire leads only to more war. Each of these wars is also an opportunity that must be seized by the working class and our Party to prove that we can grow in the midst of bosses' holocausts.
. Saddam Hussein has chosen French oil giants Elf and Total to develop Iraq's biggest oilfields once sanctions end (Alexander's Oil and Gas Connections, Jan. 30, 1997). Iraq has the world's second largest oil reserves.
. Germany depends on Russia for energy. Russia's Gazprom is its chief source of natural gas.
. The British, too, are distancing themselves from U.S. imperialism. Britain is helping the U.S. bomb Iraq on a daily basis because it still needs U.S. military might to resume business in a country it once dominated. But British bosses also seem willing to cut deals with Iran on the latter's terms.
. British Petroleum has set up an Iranian office in Teheran. Royal Dutch Shell has sunk $2.5 billion into a pipeline project in northern Iran and is opening up production in the vast North Pars field. Deals between British companies and Russian oil bosses may even be in the works (Reuters, June 11).
A MUNI driver wrote this in a bulletin to co-workers and riders, calling for unity against Corporate San Francisco. This question has been hotly discussed as the Committee on Jobs (35 CEO's who control 50,000 jobs in SF) orchestrated a vicious, racist attack on MUNI drivers.
On June 5, a multi-racial group of MUNI drivers went to the anti-war march to pass out leaflets connecting the current attack on MUNI drivers with the war in Kosovo. A woman driver said it was important to go because, "It affects all of us in our communities." There were a number of vets in our van. All had stories about how they came to understand the role of the US military as a front for US bosses.
One Vietnam vet remarked that it wasn't until he came home, that he found out he had been fighting for Goodrich and Goodyear to control the rubber industry. Another vet added that Vietnam and the war in Yugoslavia were all about corporate control. He thought that the same corporations were behind the racist campaign making life miserable for him and other minority MUNI drivers. A Latin driver said he had seen US-sponsored death squads in action in Central America, and had seen workers starve because of US corporations drive for profits.
Another driver said he was in the Navy during the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. At 17, he had no idea why his ship had all its ID numbers painted out, and didn't know he was part of an attempt to overthrow Castro until he returned to shore. Now, at 57, he's organizing in his union to make sure that his co-workers and their children don't fall into the trap of fighting for Chevron's oil pipelines in the Balkans.
Chevron is spending billions to extract oil in the Caspian Sea region and in Nigeria, and to acquire Texaco. And Chevron is fighting tooth and nail against paying any kind of transit assessment fee to provide stable funds for MUNI, which adds value to Chevron's Market St. property and delivers its workforce to the door. To cut costs, Chevron is moving most of its workforce out of San Francisco and selling one of its buildings. So Chevron is attacking workers in San Francisco at the same time it directs a foreign policy which calls on workers to fight around the world to secure its control of oil.
All the drivers felt that their personal experience with the US military helped them to see through the "humanitarian" lies in the war in Kosovo. They agreed that the rules of making profits, and competing for markets, was behind both the Balkan war, and the problems they faced here at home. They all wanted to bring their experiences to the anti-war demonstrators.
They passed out hundreds of leaflets about the anti-driver ballot initiative and the war. "Do you know what Chevron is doing to workers over there and workers over here? Help us fight the attack by Big Business." One Vet had the PLP stickers pasted on both shoulders: "Workers of the World Unite, PLP, Smash Nationalism, Smash Imperialist War, and Fight for Communism." When we returned to the union office to evaluate our activities, the discussion of US oil wars continued.
Later that week, the media announced, "Peace Comes to Kosovo." More drivers than ever were asking: "What's behind this?" "Can we really expect peace?" One driver who got the PLP leaflet at the anti-war rally with his Challenge, asked for more. "I want to pass it out. A lot of people should read this." Many who are influenced by our politics say that the only "peace" at hand is a "piece" of Kosovo for the US.
There is a change in our lives at MUNI. Corporate SF is orchestrating the attack. At the same time, wars are raging. In this situation, PLP members have found that more drivers are interested in reading, discussing and acting on articles in Challenge. The bosses' class dictatorship is now clearer because the bosses' "Committee on Jobs" is in the open. Expanding the issues inside the union to include the war has set the stage for a more thorough understanding of US imperialism. Developing the revolutionary communist movement is on the agenda.
"If you want to see where labor relations in America's manufacturing sector is headed, watch the negotiations between Boeing Co. ...and the 86,000 workers represented by the International Association of Machinists," said Johnson, in his written "President's Message," quoting that editorial. So we asked him if he believed "labor peace was in the air." He went into a ten-minute tirade.
"Everyone in the back said he never answered the question," commented one elected union official. "What does that tell you?" "That they're getting ready to sell us out in September." He answered his own question.
Another piece of union literature called for jobs, security and prosperity. "It's prosperity and security for the company," said one speaker at the meeting, "and layoffs for us-- more than 50,000."
"This crisis of overproduction has made it more clear than ever that the company and we workers have diametrically opposed interests. The bosses don't print these opinion pieces about labor piece for nothing. We better watch out."
"When the bosses and politician say peace is in the air, we better get our helmets. ...And we better be ready to fight back come the end of the contract on September 1."
Yet contradictions remain. One friend gave a stirring exposé about ethnic cleansing the next day at work. "The US has a lot of nerve taking the moral high ground on ethnic cleansing," he began. "The US invented ethnic cleansing. Just look at what they did to the Native Americans!" He followed with a history of the more repugnant episodes in the ethnic cleansing of North American Indians.
Unfortunately, this moving discussion was not followed by a commitment to action. Instead, he went back to the Internet to check on his small caché of stocks.
The upcoming contract and the summer project give us a great opportunity to do just that. In the next few months, we can increase the distribution of our paper by strengthening and sharpening our relations with other Boeing workers. Increasing the sales of Challenge will, in turn, put the struggle with our base on a more revolutionary footing. Increased sales and stronger ties will help defeat the bosses' propaganda that "peace (labor or otherwise) is in the air and that class struggle in no longer necessary." Persistence in building our revolutionary movement is the way to answer the deadly illusions spread by capitalism.
These are the questions steelworkers are asking our comrades and friends. At this date, there are no serious talks between the major steel companies and the union. The contracts expire August 1, and there could well be a strike at one or more of the mills because the bosses are demanding steep concessions. The workers are in no mood for that. This is a good situation for our Party.
World-wide, the steel bosses, like the auto bosses, are facing a crisis of overproduction. That's why they want concessions. In their lust for profits, the bosses have cut millions of jobs while increasing production. Result: no one can buy the stuff. There's a squeeze on profits amid shrinking markets.
Mergers, more job-cuts, plant closures--that's how U.S. bosses deal with this crisis. In Korea, Brazil and Russia, millions of workers are out on the streets. In Serbia, the NATO war criminals blow up factories and kill thousands of workers--another way of dealing with overproduction. Capitalism is a system of unemployment, hunger and murderous wars--all to protect the profits of a small minority of leeches who do no work at all. Capitalism must go!
What's been the response of the steel union leadership to this crisis? Have they fought for unity with steelworkers in other countries who are being attacked? Have they prepared the rank and file for an industry-wide strike to fight for jobs? The answer is a big fat NO! Instead, they schemed with the steel bosses in their "Stand-up-for-Steel" campaign to blame imports and foreign steelworkers for job-cuts, turning steelworkers into foot soldiers for the bosses' trade war. And when a trade war is not enough, the steel union will wave the flag to get us to fight for profits with our lives.
This is a fact: the vast majority of job-cuts in the last decades was a result of job-squeezing speed-up. The only thing imported was the technology used to make these cuts. But that was OK, they say, that was "progress." What a bunch of hypocrites!
Our Party is small but we can do big things. Many workers are determined to fight for improved pensions and job protection and against cuts and two-tier wage schemes. That's all right, but by itself won't get us very far.
We need to rapidly expand the circulation of Challenge, especially by winning more steel workers to become Challenge distributors. This requires much closer ties to workers. Combining class struggle with relating the attacks by steel bosses to the crisis of capitalism will help workers see the need to build a mass PLP, led by steel and other industrial workers. We must view this contract fight as a battleground in the long-range war to seize power from the war-making bosses.
With more of a mass base for our paper, it will help activate people in preparing for a strike. These communist ideas tied to class struggle can build workers' understanding to go beyond the treadmill of reforming capitalism. Only fighting for a communist society, where what we workers produce will be shared according to our needs, can end the cycle of wars, poverty and unemployment.
For two hours, some 300 people, 95 percent white, demonstrated against Clinton's war in the Balkans. The demonstration was led by the pacifist Peace Action Council and included all kinds of opportunist phonies, ranging from the old Communist Party to different Trotskyite groups. The UC bosses put the demonstrators on a side street, right across from where the guests were waiting in line and where the graduates later lined up.
The contradictions between the organizers of the protest and the many young people looking for answers to imperialism opened many opportunities for PLP's revolutionary politics. Only PLP called for the unity of Serbian-Albanian workers against all bosses, called for multiracial unity, and chanted, "Workers of the World, Unite! Same Enemy, Same Fight." This contrasted to the nationalism of some Serbian organizations at the protest (and some Albanian-Kosovars who showed up later to support Clinton and NATO).
At a key moment, we were able to use our bullhorn to tell the students not to be "good Germans," (implicitly support fascism) but to turn their backs on Bill Clinton. Several people joined us. Later we heard that about 12 students refused to shake his hands.
PLP members came to the protest as part of the Social Justice Committee of a church we're in. Being among so many revisionists (fake leftists), we had to make our voices heard. We passed out several Challenges, 26 new pamphlets about the war, and made six contacts. Those few people we reached received the fullest analysis possible of what was behind the war in the Balkans (underlining the importance of having PLP literature at these events).
We should have fought harder to win the Social Justice Committee to bring out more people. We could have done more to mobilize the Party's base to participate in this activity.
Taking part in such actions offers the opportunity to bring our revolutionary politics to masses of people and win more workers and youth to join PLP.
We in PLP have a better idea. Why stop at Milosevic? The workers of Serbia and the former Yugoslavia, along with all the soldiers (including those of NATO and Russia being used to protect their bosses' interests) should rebel against all the warmakers. Compared to NATO, Milosevic is indeed small potatoes when it comes to making war. The 78 days of bombing by NATO killed thousands, left many more homeless and one million jobless because their workplaces were destroyed.
"In the summer of 1941, the communists started to organize an insurrection throughout Yugoslavia. The communists were joined by anti-fascist workers, peasants, students and intellectuals from a multi-ethnic partisan force based in the countryside, which worked in unison with communists and communist-youth guerrilla groups inside the cities....Throughout World War II, Hitler was forced to keep 37 divisions in Yugoslavia, unsuccessfully trying to eradicate the partisans....After the partisans (led by the communists) expelled all the foreign invaders in 1945 and defeated the mostly fascist anti-communist groups inside the country, the communists had no difficulty in winning elections in 1946 and gaining power.
"In conclusion, the Yugoslavian people were always an interesting and lucrative target of imperialist powers. The communists were the only force in this geographical area that managed to escape the pitfalls of extreme nationalism. Except for the World War II slaughters organized by local nationalists and fascists supported and encouraged by the Nazis, the Yugoslav peoples never waged wars against each other on any major scale, but instead they lived peacefully together and intermarried." ("It's Nazis vs. Nazis in Yugoslav Civil War," article in PLP's "Communist" magazine, Fall 1992).
In the 1980s, after Tito's death, all the contradictions broke loose inside Yugoslavia. The exploitation of workers increased after the International Monetary Fund demanded more and more cutbacks on any of the benefits workers had left from the past. Mass strikes erupted, uniting workers of all ethnic groups. But the local nationalists took over, knowing that the old "divide-and-rule" tactic was the best way to crush workers' struggles.
The implosion of the former Soviet Union was the final blow. The imperialists no longer needed a unified Yugoslavia as a buffer zone against the USSR. In 1992, the German bosses were the first ones to encourage the "independence" of Slovenia and Croatia. Then came the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and now the 78 days of NATO bombing against Serbia/Kosovo.
The "peace" contrived by the imperialist occupation of Kosovo won't last too long. All the contradictions have sharpened, especially those among the different imperialists trying to control the oil routes and pipelines from the Caspian region and the Middle East (see editorial).
So, the only alternative for workers and soldiers is to rebel against all their oppressors. It's not an easy task. A revolutionary communist leadership must be forged, learning from the mistakes and strengths of the old communist movement. But, for workers and soldiers, it is the only way out of the Balkan quagmire.
Rally coordinator Judy Owens, a mental health social worker, who was a shop steward for many years with SEIU-PSSU Local 668, made the opening statement. She said the CCC condemns NATO's war on Serbia. She talked about the billions being spent to destroy a small soveriegn nation and the money being robbed from Social Security, which, in reality, means that it's being stolen from retiring workers and the disabled. She also discussed the targets in Serbia which the US claims were hit erroneously, such as the Chinese Embassy, schools, factories, maternity ward, etc. She also exposed the hypocrisy of Clinton's "concern" for the Littleton school shooting here, while he is carrying out violence against children in Yugoslavia.
Another member of the Coalition, a communist and Challenge reader, highlighted NATO's intentional bombing of an auto factory which killed some workers and now left many without work. He compared this to the recent plant closing of a dairy in Johnstown which has kicked 200 workers onto the street.
He declared there was a need for a new type of government in the USA, a workers' government which would truly represent working people and the poor and not the corporate elite. This was applauded. He shouted, "We need Workers' Power."
The rally's high point was a contingent of strikers, out for eight weeks at Snyders of Berlin Company of Berlin Pa., which produces potato chips and pretzels. The workers carried a large hand-painted sign identifying their union, the Retail, Wholesale, Delivery & Service Workers.
A spokesperson for the workers, Rick Decker, said the company is asking for over 28 concessions and has repeatedly refused to consider the workers' problems in the plant. "There is no doubt the company is out to bust our union."
Ms. Owens urged people to boycott Snyders' products and write protest letters to Snyders' bosses demanding justice for the strikers. They are holding a rally on June 12 in Berlin, Pa., south of Johnstown.
Other speakers included a farmer who had lost his land, a professor from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, a young woman from a socialist organization who pointed out that unemployment was now 70% in Yugoslavia, due to the bombing and destruction. She also said an anti-capitalist revolution in Yugoslavia after WW II allowed people pretty much to live in peace there.
Some of the signs read: "Money for Living Wage Jobs, Not for Bombs that kill Kids"; "NATO terrorists guilty of war crimes"; "Stop the War on US workers and the poor"; "Unite and Fight for Workers' Power."
Though the rally was based largely on reformist notions, it opened some doors. People discussed whether it was possible to reform the system to benefit working people. Most thought it wasn't, but many were convinced you couldn't change the system because the wealthy had too much power.
The striking workers agreed that a workers' government would be an improvement for them, but didn't know how you could get one. People proposed holding a discussion group about these things; this is a beginning.
A few days laterr, the local paper reported that Snyders had told the workers they plan to shut the plant, leaving some 160 workers jobless in an extremely depressed area. Our job is to grab hold of the idea, "Most thought is was not possible to reform the system," and destroy the other thought--"You can't change the system because the wealthy have too much power," by fighting for workers' power.
The march was organized by the Central American Coalition to demand the approval of a law proposed by Chicago Congressmen Luis Gutierrez. It proposes amnesty for Salvadoran, Guatemalan, Honduran and Haitian refugees who came to the US before 1995 (along with the Nicaraguans and Cubans now included).
Gutierrez gave the main speech, calling for permanent residency for all. He talked about the important role immigrants play in building this country.
PLP members participated in some contingents of the march, and exposed the role of liberal politicians like Guitierrez. They're not interested in the well being of the workers. He's a tool of old Rockefeller money and the Democratic Party. His job is to win immigrants to become "patriotic citizens," vote Democratic and send their children to fight in the upcoming imperialist bloodbaths.
Although it was not mentioned at the march, Congress approved a proposal to send troops to the US-Mexican border to "fight drugs." The job of Gutierrez and other liberal politicians is to put a mask of "democracy" on U.S. imperialism while the bosses kill workers in Yugoslavia, Iraq and in the US, including at the border.
Worldwide capitalism is in a sharpening crisis of overproduction, which means more intense competition and growing police terror and racism to combat rebellion against the effects of this crisis on the working class. They are preparing for more war. We must view these liberal movements as opportunities to sharpen the ideological struggle and win masses of workers to communist ideas.
Many of our friends in these organizations respect the party, but they also have illusions that something good will come out of these struggles. They're right! More workers will see the need to fight for communist revolution to put an end to capitalism. The struggle for our friends to clearly see this necessity for revolution will take time, but the more we struggle with them, the closer they will be drawn to us.
The union and Mobil Oil long ago agreed to an anti-worker provision prohibiting any literature not first approved by the company, so the leaflet was distributed secretly in the plant, mostly in the change room. The company, super-sensitive owing to ongoing negotiations with its future parent Exxon, went ballistic and began to interrogate workers about the leaflet's origin. The elected workers' committee at the plant, composed of blacks, whites and latins, backed the leaflet and its anti-company content. (Several committee members are on the anti-racism committee too.) This leaflet came on the heels of a button they created for all 600+ workers at the refinery that read: "Safety is Mandatory: Profit is a Luxury." Mobil is notorious for its poor safety provisions, and usually blames workers for dangerous situations arising from management's negligence and outright hostility toward worker's safety.
Racism is so ingrained at Mobil that the refinery manager's response was, "What racism?" (even in the face of years of racist, anti-worker graffiti at the plant and numerous grievances whose subject was-racism!). Mobil has fallen back on the tired old excuse used by segregationists in Mississippi in the 1960's: "outside agitators." As if no workers at Mobil are smart enough to recognize what is being done to all of us. Fighting racism is not "optional" and cannot be left to those who suffer the most from its attacks. Racism is an attack on each and every worker. An injury to one is an injury to all. We can only defeat this as a class.
We workers do know what's going on! And we're committed to driving a stake through the heart of racism in the refineries and everywhere else we find it. We're meeting again in a week to plan step two of our campaign. It's only as a united working class that we can win power.
For 20 years the Board of Education has allowed Westinghouse to crumble. Staircases are unusable, floors are unsteady, ceilings have huge gaps, the outside brick walls and windows were condemned 20 years ago (and just now being repaired). Materials and books have been in short supply. The only major new equipment? Metal detectors through which all students must pass.
The first hint of this massacre last January, set us into motion. We helped establish a "Save Our School" movement. We held meetings and issued a questionnaire asking for suggestions on how to improve the school. We organized a study group, a small PL club, circulated 15-18 Challenges weekly, and leafleted about a third of the 120-person staff. Two students and one teacher came to May Day. Five students and one family attended a PLP picnic.
But it was in early April that abolishing the vocational trades surfaced. Throughout the City, entire programs have been closed--from plumbing to dental technician, from clock and watch repair to electrical wiring. This spread a lot of anger and fear, and led to an intense fight-back.
Since the end of April, weekly meetings (with up to 15 attending) were held to write curricula covering the areas the staff would want to change, and save our jobs. Much political discussion arose in these meetings. We issued regular reports to the staff. Some comments from the staff included: "We know you're fighting to save the school. I'm a single mother with a 7-year-old and have to run home every night [but] I'm with you 100%." "What you're doing is tremendous. You're really fighting back. Your back's to the wall but you don't appear defeated." "The only chance our school had is for this committee to continue. Where else could we come to air our grievances? There is no union committee in the building. Without this committee there would be nothing and we would be left to hang by ourselves. This committee has given me the freedom to act."
The situation boiled over in early June, when a PLP member with 13 years in the school was told he would no longer be a jewelry teacher, but would become a permanent substitute. The committee met and made a plan. A petition was written and signed by over 400 students (two-thirds of the student body in attendance that day), protesting the abolishment of the jewelry teacher's job. Another petition, signed by 50 teachers, called for upgrading of vocational skills, rather than "redesign."
These two petitions led to discussions that spilled over into homes and other schools. The jewelry teacher was cheered when entering the Hispanic club dance that day, in the principal's presence. This show of support came for a person known by many to be a communist, and by everyone as an anti-racist, pro-worker teacher. He regularly attends Parents Association meetings, and Student Quality Steering Committee meetings where he defends the students against administration and outside attacks. Students supported a PLP button campaign stating, "Our Students are not Criminals," and "Cops Out of the Schools." He has been a union delegate for six years, issuing regular reports to the rank and file. For four years, he worked with the students on their newsletter.
The base established from all these activities has kept staff and students from being won to anti-communism. While some vicious red-baiters scream, "He's a communist," others stand up for him.
Throughout this period, Challenge circulation has remained steady and an increasing number of teachers and students are being influenced by communist ideas. Recently the administration was forced to return two jewelry classes to this teacher. The road to victory, winning forces to PLP, lies in participating with teachers, students and parents in class struggle against the rulers. The next step is to recruit students and teachers to PLP.
Many inhabitants try to keep a low profile; complaining only in whispers. Often they try to minimize or explain away the uncomfortable conditions. (It's not so bad") or resign themselves to it ("What can you do?"). Frequently individuals lose patience and lash out at their overseers, demanding respect. But one-on-one, these individuals are threatened, suspended, written up or permanently removed. Sometimes, however, with the influence of communist leadership, people have united and fought back.
The scene above describes the high school annex where I teach. Many students call it jail, but, more accurately, it is a training facility for fascism. Recently, some teachers laughed when I brought up fascism. They are used to me using this word, but this time I got mad. "What will it take for you to see?" I demanded. I had just been summoned to a disciplinary hearing for the "crime" of taking students outside one beautiful day for class--a reward for their good work. I was "endangering their health," the summons read, because it was a hot day.
The day before, the director of a tutoring program was permanently expelled for "assaulting" a student (he touched the student while shooing him from his program for disrupting other students taking an exam). He was turned in by an administrator notorious for her verbal abuse of both students and teachers. How could people passively accept a colleague being ordered off campus immediately for being "dangerous," when he did nothing wrong? Given the description of the serious health and safety violations above, both these cases show how the ruling class turns reality on its head, using the big lie--and a big dose of fear--to try to overwhelm and disarm the working class.
Although I lost my patience momentarily, I didn't let these teachers' naiveté/passivity/liberalism discourage me. Understanding society's workings is a long-term process. As a letter to Challenge last week paraphrased Marx, if we could understand things simply by their appearance, there would be no need for scientific study. I told my classes about the administration's attack on me and asked students from the affected class to write letters on my behalf outlining what really happened. "Be sure to tell your parents," I told them. Later I received enthusiastic support from parents when I called their homes. Several wrote letters.
As a communist teacher, I have worked hard to prepare my students for the future, patiently developing them as young leaders. I keep the highest standards of respect and striving for knowledge. What better motivation to teach young people to read, write, and study than the goal of changing the world? I know that many of these youth can and will develop into leaders of the working class, communist leaders who will learn to serve the interests of workers. Quite a few parents and teachers know this because they've seen Challenge. Others sense it by my actions. Communist politics make a difference in people's lives.
Too many people are trying to ignore the tell-tale signs of fascism. They need to connect the perpetual rise of these warped individuals into positions of power with the worldwide economic crisis. The bosses need loyal "enforcers" to discipline workers to serve the needs of capitalism. Again, many see the world superficially--"How am I doing? I have clothes, food." We need to train people to look beneath the surface to the underlying trends. The essential driving force of society--intense rivalry between competing imperialist powers for maximum profits--is creating the need for terror tactics (fascism) and war. That's what's behind the war in Kosovo; behind rising racist police brutality and behind the attacks at our school.
The influence of communist politics in the class struggle is vital, not only to inspire others to have confidence in the working class's latent power, but to intensify that struggle. My communist politics tells me the administration represents the class enemy. When the administration attacks good, caring teachers while ignoring the schools' grave systemic problems, it shows that their interests are opposed to those of the students, their parents and teachers. Relating it to our school, I defined fascism as "creating a climate of fear and subservience to prop up a system in crisis." I had confidence in the students and parents. I saw them as integral parts of any campaign to defend teachers. I also connected each of these individual attacks to the overall crisis of capitalism (although I must learn to explain this much better to the many skeptical teachers). These political points help people who know me better understand capitalism and the need for communism. It also broadens the Party's base as more people are introduced to principled class struggle.
The students' letters were touching, a testament to how communist teachers teach skills as they teach communist politics. "He's the one who teaches the best..."; "He told people things about English that you may have never learned..."; "He made me want to read because I hate reading and I have liked the stories we have learned in this year..."; "He is always making sure everyone understands,"; "He is the best teacher I have every had."
I met with the principal who told me parents would be shocked to learn what I had "done" to their children. "Funny you should mention that," I said, "because I called the parents and they wrote letters": "He is a very good teacher, his number one concern is teaching, and he cares about his students"; "He thinks about the students' future"; "Teachers like him are very few." The principal backed off from his fascist "discipline."
There is much more to do. We need to turn around the attack on the tutoring director. We must stress that the schools are capitalism's training ground for their future workforce and their military. Ruling class ideology is laid on so thick it often seems natural. Developing youth--particularly among black and latin working class families--is crucial to turning the bosses' fascism into an offensive against capitalism.
I am a soldier in the U.S. army, organizing for PLP and communist revolution. I run into many difficulties, but I was recently given a great opportunity--to teach a class to my fellow soldiers on whatever I wanted (as long as it was related to the military). It's an effort on my sergeant's part to get the lower enlisted soldiers to take responsibility for the Army. I don't think my class was exactly what he had in mind.
I seized the opportunity to show how the US is in Kosovo for imperialist, not "humanitarian" reasons. I exposed all the lies the media told us about how Milosevic is the worst thing since Hitler (he's not much better), and explained that it's mainly the U.S. who will massacre people in a heartbeat if money and power are involved. I drew a map and explained how the whole Balkan region (where Yugoslavia and Bosnia are located) is strategic for power in Europe and for control of the oil from the Caspian Sea region.
The soldiers were disgusted--not at me but at the U.S. The reaction was great. One soldier who recently returned from deployment in Bosnia exclaimed in disbelief, "You mean to tell me I was over there for six months for oil...not for peace?!" Everyone nodded in agreement with this new-found confirmation of their deepest hidden suspicions. One said that the class went along with his theory of the U.S. trying to run practically the whole world with its military because of its political weaknesses. Many thanked me for the info. Some wanted to know what my sources were and if they could read some. I guess it's about time to show them a Challenge newspaper.
A Red Soldier
Last month I went to Cuba on a guided tour with my family and friends. We spent a week in and around Havana. Here's what I saw.
Firstly, it's obvious that impressive social reforms have been made. Men are obliged, by law, to do their share of housework and people are also required to give rides to those in need if they have room in their car. People are incredibly willing to help each other and there seems to be very little (if any) fear of other people. Despite severe economic hardships, Cuba still boasts one of the highest literacy rates and highest number of doctors per capita in the world. While salaries seem low, basic necessities are guaranteed by the government. I was very impressed by a visit to the Museum of the Revolution, which has actual memorabilia of the revolution. We visited Lenin Park, tremendous recreation area with a monument to Lenin. There is also a monument to the Rosenbergs (Jewish communists who were executed by the U.S. in 1953 as "spies").
However, this said, I was taken aback by the new brand of tourism there. It was predicted in the PLP article, "Cuban Smoke" (The Communist, Spring 1991) that Castro's rectification campaign would lead to "apartheid tourism." In 1993, the country went through what is called "the special period"--a near collapse of the economy as the U.S. tightened the embargo and Soviet aid stopped coming. Part of Castro's solution was to develop the Cuban tourist industry into a hard currency-earner, equal to the sugar industry. Hotels were bought up by the Europeans and Canadians and many Cuban professionals left their jobs in schools and universities. The peso seems to be becoming almost obsolete, according to some people I spoke with, and access to American dollars is now the thing.
While I had many discussions with the people in my travel group about the nature of tourism, a few things were apparent. Prices in most of these hotels, especially in the exclusive resort area of Varadero, made it untenable for most Cubans to even think about. (Some hotels in Varadero charge 400 U.S. dollars a night!) Prostitution is evident around the Havana hotels. In a recent issue of "Cigar Aficionado," the entire magazine is a travel guide. A photo of the resort area boasts a very young girl (maybe 13) in a thong-type bathing suit. A two-tier system has been created, with the ultimate goal of protecting foreigners.We heard complaints that Cubans have a hard time entering these hotels, are frequently stopped and questioned. The fact is, Cuban workers have no access to the facilities enjoyed by tourists, including the beaches. Some people I spoke to said they felt like the country was for sale.
The Cuban tourist industry is dominated by Europeans and Canadians. The only real construction I noticed was of hotels. It's very possible that the U.S. will get in on this act, since it brings huge profits. But tourism cannot solve workers' problems, does not change the infrastructure of the country and is a poor substiute for development. Only when workers run society can we begin to see true development. It's my hope that Cuban workers will help to rebuild a much-needed world communist movement.
Red Traveller
On a recent Friday morning on my way to work, I couldn't believe the blatant racism coming from the disk jockey on Radio Campesina. He told a joke something like this: "If two black men jump off a building, and one is heavier than the other, which one will die first? Who cares."
I arrived at my job and began calling my co-workers. I felt enraged, disgusted and most important, disappointed. I felt like all the fighting against racism I have done in the past had been wiped out by one racist joke.
It is exactly this type of racism that perpetuates the violence against black workers and youth. I began to tell every co-worker in sight and they began to protest too, becoming very angry.
Shortly thereafter, a multiracial group of approximatly 12 workers headed out to meet with the press to describe our disappointment and disgust. I was happy to be supported in this fight against racism.
A couple of my co-workers made comments such as, "Pacifism is not the answer." I was surprised to know we were on common ground. I grew up with PLP, going to summer projects where I worked with people of many ethnic backgrounds. I feel that this upbringing has taught me not to tolerate racism or any other form of oppression.
I was extremenly grateful to know that my co-workers share many of these same beliefs and hope that we continue this struggle to fight racism whenever we can.
Anti-racist worker
On June 14, a demonstration and press conference protesting the execution of Margaret LaVerne Mitchell was held at the corner of 4th and La Brea, the very same corner where she was slain by the bloodthirsty LAPD. This woman was stopped and harassed for allegedly having stolen a shopping cart. The cops shot her down like an animal--a premeditated murder by these cops.
The owner of the car dealership across from where she was killed had reported her as an "eye-sore" to his business. Police searched the area and asked employees at the nearest Ralph's market about Margaret's whereabouts on the morning of the day the police killed her. This homeless woman had been placed on the streets by this capitalist system and murdered by the system's hounds. Several of those at the demonstration had sons killed by the police. They were happy to take Challenge and to condemn this racist system which bombs workers in Yugoslavia, attacks workers here, throws mentally ill workers into the streets and then has their cops kill them.
A week ago, PLP held a demonstration on the sidewalk where these cops shed Margaret Mitchell's blood. PLP was greeted with open arms, smiles and beeping horns. We were applauded because the working class is fed up with this capitalist system abusing, enslaving, exploiting and then killing us. This injustice and racist killing has left many angry. It is going to continue until we join, fight, and unite for communist revolution.
Red Youth
A fellow MUNI driver told me this story, about "DWB"--Driving while Black or Brown--the racist police pulling over drivers because of the color of their skin.
James's son Michael was driving home from a bible study class when he saw the cop car make a U-turn behind him. He immediately pulled over and waited for the cops. They initially said they pulled him over because he was swerving and Michael replied that he was only pulling to the side of the road. The cops questioned him about drugs and told him to step out of the car. They told him to assume the position and started to frisk him.
When the cop put his hand in Michael's crotch, Michael slapped his hand away. Now the cops beat him to the ground and cuffed him. They ran a check on his drivers' license; it turned up clean as a whistle. He was not charged with anything but was cited for a malfunctioning light above his license plate.
Michael called his dad and told him what had happened. He was crying and very upset. James told him to go to Kaiser hospital and report that he had been assaulted. While the hospital was tending his wounds, they reported the incident to the police. When the police found out it was their own who had done the assaulting, they had to call the "Captain of the watch." Meanwhile, James called the church where he and Michael are members and where Michael is a youth minister. He told them about the incident and where Michael was, at the hospital.
When the "Captain of the watch" arrived to investigate the incident, he was greeted by 100 angry church members. They wanted an explanation for the treatment Michael had received.
James told me that it was going to result in a class action law suit against the police.
A real important message in this story is the hatred of the racist police. When this black church was asked to respond and 100 church members showed up on very short notice to confront the police, it shows a commitment to fight racism.
There was a general discussion of the role of the police under capitalism, that of protecting the rich and terrorizing the working class and the black and brown working class in particular--and that racist terror is an attack against all workers. However, the reverse of that is true also: any fight against racism is a fight for the working class in general. I was a little weak in this argument but I used the issue of open admissions to colleges in the sixties. These battles not only won admissions for black and brown students but also for poor white students as well.
Maybe we need to study this history, of how fighting racism benefits all workers. Better yet, how fighting for communism is the real benefit for all workers.
This story showed the need for communists to join more mass organizations like churches. If a few of the church members had some communist ideas, then this great outpouring of support could end up in something more than a class action law suit.
We need to show that racist police terror is part and parcel of the capitalist system and that a class action lawsuit will not solve this problem. We need to fight for a system that serves the needs of the working class--COMMUNISM!
West Coast Comrade
I got excited by the article in the June 16th issue reporting that an area where the party has worked for years now distributes 600 papers, with a goal of immediately increasing it by 200 and then reach 1,000 by May Day. This inspired me to increase my circulation.
Previously, I had been selling 20 to 25 per month at my former union's delegate meeting. Now, for the last month, I have added the weekly distribution of 450 to 500 Challenge in the NYC garment center's retail stores which has led to a few political discussions.
More political enlightenment cannot fail to occur for those people who begin to read Challenge regularly and become open to the ideas of communism. How else will the masses or anyone know that the main cause of the world turmoil manifested in Kosovo is the control of oil profits coming through the Balkans from the Caspian Sea region? This turmoil will continue despite a temporary halt in the bombing.
Without reading Challenge, the capitalist "wall of silence" cannot be cracked. A person who has been reading the paper and stops is committing political suicide.
A Distributor Who Likes Big Numbers .
In a previous letter, I had mentioned that I didn't agree with the statement, "scratch a liberal, find a fascist." Here's my explanation, which I hope might provoke thought on the issue of fascism.
Formal logic states that A is A and cannot be "non-A." In other words, a person is a person and cannot be a dog. Capitalism is capitalism and cannot be communism. Through formal logic we
are able to distinguish one thing from another.
On the far right, there is definitely no conception of logic or of reason. For example, in the far right magazine, "American Spectator," liberals are blamed for all of the problems of this society and are often equated with socialists and even communists. A person can order a bumper sticker from them stateing: "Impeach Clinton and her Husband!" Only there is a hammer through the "C" in Clinton to make it look like a hammer and sickle sign, implying that Hillary Clinton is a communist.
Others claim that the United States has a socialist government. Some claim that it has existed since the 1930's. Of course, to a Marxist this stuff seems absolutely ridiculous and can be easily refuted with formal logic.
At the same time, Marxists understand history proves that masses of people can believe ideas which have no basis in reality and are illogical. Nazi Germany is a case in point. The U.S. is trying hard to give the Third Reich a run for its lunacy.
But back to the question of liberals. A liberal cannot be a socialist or communist. A liberal is a liberal. Liberals are active in anti-racist struggles out here in the coalfields, but play a negative role (though not always consciously)--portraying fascist groups as "hate" groups and attempt to view them in isolation from capitalist society. Marxists, on the other hand, would point out that hate is not the issue. Fascist groups grow out of the soil of class-divided capitalist society, and exist to terrorize and divide working people in the interest of the ruling wealthy class. So, in essense, you cannot defeat fascists without getting rid of the captitalist system. This is only logical.
But does fascism exist in the U.S. today? Of course, there are numerous signs that fascism is developing in the United States and there are many forces attempting to move this society toward outright fascism. But have they succeeded yet? No, I don't think fascism exists here now. But I do think it is possible that it could win here. But I also think that there's a possibility it can be defeated through working-class revolution against the mother of fascism, monopoly capitalism.
In essence, I think that the question of fascism and what it represents, from a Marxist perspective, needs to be given more analysis. Thank you.
Red Rocker
This is in response to the letter from "Red Rocker" (June 16) which states, "I do not agree with the statement `scratch a liberal find a fascist' that is constantly used in this paper." Red Rocker also states, "The fact that two supposedly educated women would bond with this guy ("the typical fascist asshole type") might just say a whole lot more about liberals and feminists . . ." Isn't this a contradiction?
A liberal is a person who talks pro-working class but practices petit-bourgeois class interest, that is selfish and opportunist. Liberalism is negative and objectively has the effect of helping the enemy who welcomes its presence in the ranks of the working class.
Red Rocker says we shouldn't throw the word fascist around without explaining it and that Clinton is not a fascist but only a "two-bit chameleon and huckster and has no real solid ideological perspective." Adolph Hitler was described in very similar terms in the anti-communist historical account, "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich." He was considered a joke and a madman who never commanded more than minority support. Yet he understood liberalism and how he could turn it into fascism, which he was able to do because the majority so-called revolutionary parties in Germany were practicing liberalism instead of communist revolution.
Some comrades say that Clinton cannot be like Hitler because he is not using concentration camps and actually needs the victims of racist capitalism to run his war industries and fight in his armed forces. But the boundaries of the drug-infested, poverty-ridden minority ghettoes in the U. S. have already been described as the new concentration camps and Hitler used every Jew he could in his war industries. If we add the millions of minorities in jail or forced into the military--way out of proportion to their numbers in society--we can make a pretty good case for U.S. fascism and genocide. Other comrades say that if Hitler wasn't born we might have been spared fascism. But the rise of fascism is as necessary to the capitalists as is their need to increase profits. There were many other Hitlers waiting if he couldn't get the anti-communist/imperialist war job done. If Clinton can't hack it, other fascists are waiting in the wings to do the bidding of the imperialists. The only way the working class can and will win state power is through long, patient struggle against liberalism, building the Party and staying the communist revolutionary course.
NYC Comrade