.....;.,""' ..,.... _··...',,~.L.... ',. ~..··,,_."',··.'-'·.. 6

WfJ/iNI/iS ',1"'0,111' 25¢No. 423 "~~X'523 6 March 1987

ea an a e-a er a e

mobs in Howard Beach, Queens andForsyth County, Georgia to night­riding firebombers in Marquette Park,Chicago. But there have also beensubstantial countermobilizations toKKK terror, including in such unlikelyplaces as Louisville, Kentucky andMaryland's Eastern Shore. With thegovernment in turmoil, now is the timefor the working class and oppressed to •

. continued on page 4

itself, and there are other programs to"solve" the crisis. General Haig hasdeclared his candidacy for president,saying if he is elected, "nobody, butnobody, will ever ask you who is incharge" in the White House (Philadel­phia Inquirer, I March)! And whileReagan's contras are still spreadingdeath and destruction around the globe,the racist terrorists carry out theirbloody terror at 'home-from lynch

Actualidad Espanola

Tricky Dick run out of town.Now it's bedtime for Bonzo.

Imperial Presidency in Crisis

"appalled by the absence of the kind ofalertness and vigilance to his job and tothese policies that one expects of apresident." Muskie's devastating con­clusion: "We do not regard him as amental case, but we regard him as aperson who didn't do his job."

There is an acute political crisis at thepinnacle of U.S. capitalism, which couldquickly spread-through the imperialistalliance. Yet capitalism will not fall by

The American ruling class has con­cluded that Ronald Reagan may contin­ue to reign as president, but he can nolonger rule. The Tower Commission,originally appointed to "investigate" theoperations of a runaway NationalSecurity Council, came back with adamning report that in diplomaticlanguage indicted the entire administra­tion. "Chaos" had descended on theWhite House, the president "didn'tunderstand" what was going on in theIran/contra affair, the "legal underpin­ning" for the arms shipments to Teheranvia Israel was "at best highly question­able," and, the whole "private" contrasupply operation run out of the NSCwas an elaborate attempt to get arounda Congressional prohibition. Above all,the Reaganauts' schemes, each morebizarre than the next, failed miserably.The Commission ludicrously called thewhole business an "aberration." But allwings of the bourgeoisie agree thatdrastic measures have to be taken toclean up the mess.

The United States, which proclaimsitself leader of the "Free World," hasbeen made a laughingstock, and eversince the scandal broke, paralysis has setin. European imperialist allies refer tothe "black hole in Washington." Underthe headline "Wanted: a Leader," theLos Angeles Times (13 February)editorialized on behalf of the Americanbourgeois establishment:, "Someoneneeds to seize control of the WhiteHouse, and there isjust one person whocan do it: Ronald Reagan." But Reaganevidently can't, and that puts U.S. rulersin a dilemma. On CBS' Face the Nationnews program, former DemocraticSenator Edmund Muskie spoke for allthree panel members, saying they, were

Black Outrage OverTampa Choke-Hold Cops

Ledford/51. Petersburg Times'East Tampa burns with black anger against killer cops' murder of black youth,assault on NY Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden (right).

On the night of February 18,Tampapolice strangled the life out of 23-year­old Melvin Hair, making him the latestblack victim of the wave of racistKlan/cop terror sweeping Reagan'sAmerica. A day later, black EastTampa exploded, outraged over thechoke-hold murder and a city reportreleased that same day whitewashingthe Tampa cops' brutal beating of NewYork Mets star pitcher and hometownhero Dwight Gooden. Hundreds ofblack youth fought a running battlewith police, hurling rocks and bottles.'filled with gasoline as numerous fireswere set. Cops in riot gear sealed off a

.. five-block area of East Tampa andpolice helicopters circled overhead.The next night, black Tampa was stillburning. Fourteen blacks were arrest­ed on charges ranging from looting toassault.

Melvin, Hair's mother had calledpolice to take her son to the crisiscenter of Hillsborough County, be­cause her son required medication.Police' arrived and dragged him downthe steps of his apartment building.Betty Johnson, a friend of the family

continued on page 10

Full Citizenshil! Rights for Foreign-Born Workers!

Canada Slams Door on SalvadoransTORONTO-On February 20, hun­dreds of desperate Latin Americans,refugees from death squad terror in EISalvador and Guatemala who are nowfleeing the U.S. government's racistcrackdown on "illegal-aliens," found theCanadian border closed by the decree ofReagan's junior partners in Ottawa.Following approval by the U.S. Con­gress last October of the Simpson­Mazzoli immigration "reform" act,aimed at deporting several millionundocumented foreign-born workers,thousands have looked to Canada astheir last resort. Facing impossible U.S.requirements for documents, fired byslave-labor employers who have beenthreatened with stiff fines for hiring"illegals" and looking at the death·sentence of being shipped back home, .they have been heading to the CanadianEl Norte. Since the beginning of the yearover 6,000 people have applied forrefugee status in Canada, close to half ofthem from Central America. In re­sponse the Conservative government inOttawa rushed through legislationdenying entry.

Under the new measures all refugeeclaimants coming from the U:S. will besent back until an immigration hearingis scheduled in Canada. That could takemonths, if not years, and meanwhilehundreds of these "bus people" arebacked up in U.S. border towns' such asPlattsburgh, NY. The Tory Employ­ment and Immigration Minister BenoitBouchard claimed that Washington

would not deport refugees seeking asy­lum in Canada, but American INSCommissioner Alan Nelson declaredthat individuals "found to be deport­able" would be processed accordingly.At the same time Bouchard has de-

WV PhotoSpartacists in Los Angeles demon­strate against racist deportations.

manded documentary proof that allrefugees are "genuine"-i.e., that theywill be killed if deported.:

In March, the government plans tointroduce a bill that will limit the stay ofrefugee claimants in Canada to 72hoursduting which time they willbe held in

detention centers. All refugees will bedeported if immigration officials con­sider that they "may have had anopportunity" for asylum in another

. country or even if they "had safe refugein a refugee camp in some Third Worldcountry" ([Toronto] Globe and Mail, 21February).

Some critics have sought to portrayCanada's new immigration decrees as adeparture from its "humanitarian past."On the contrary, up until the I960sCanada had a virtual whites-onlyimmigration' policy. During World WarII they sealed the borders to Jews

.desperately trying to flee Hitler's con­centration camps. But after the war thedoors were opened to thousands of Naziexecutioners.' Last summer, 155 Tamilrefugees, fleeing the terror of Sri Lankaand virtual concentration camp coridi­tions in West Germany, risked their livesin a three-week nightmare voyage to getasylum in Ganada. Reaching Canadianshores after being rescued from over­crowded lifeboats by Newfoundlandfishermen, they were met with a racistbacklash whipped up by the bourgeoismedia and politicians.

A reporter from Ottawa commented:"There is a suspicion that the [Canadi­an] government's swift reaction tq therefugee problem, now that it involvesCentral Americans, reflects an effortto please the Reagan administration"(WBAI News, 23 February). The cam­paign against Latin American im­migration is closely linked to the fear of

revolution in America's "backyard."Most recently raids by immigrationcops on the homes of Tamil refugeesin Toronto have driven home thelink between the racism and anti­communism which is the heart of the"illegal aliens" scare. After their apart­ments were ransacked Tamils werewarned by immigration officers, "Asrefugees you should not read com­munist books"(Canadian Tribune, 2March).

Scandalously, last summer it wasEd Broadbent, leader of the social­democratic New Democratic Party,who demanded a "tougher look at allour immigration procedures" to prevent"abuse" by "quick buck artists." And theTory government's racist crackdownagainst Latin American refugees is notgoing down very well with the public.Demonstrations were held at the FortErie "Peace Bridge" border and Mon­treal churches have provided shelter andadvice to refugees in defiance of the legal

.consequences. There has even been talkof extending the U.S. sanctuary move­ment's "underground railway" networknorth to Canada.

At the height of the anti-Tamil hys­teria last August, the.Trotskyist Leagueof Canada distributed thousands ofspecial supplements of Spartacist Cana­da, headlined "Stop the Racist Back­lash! Political Asylum for All TamilRefugees!" at plant gates, in minorityneighborhoods and to unionists atLabor Day marches. Fighting the racistimmigration policies of the imperialistsmeans building a proletarian interna­tionalist party of world socialist revolu­tion to free working people and theoppressed, from EI Salvador to SriLanka to North America. It is to thistask that the international Spartacisttendency is dedicated.•

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Workers Vanguard (USPS 098-770) published biweekly, except 2nd issue August and with 3-week interval December,by the Spartacist Publishing Co .. 41 Warren Street, New York. NY 10007.Telephone: 732-7862 (Editorial), 732-7861(Business). Address all correspondence to: Box 1377. GPO. New York, NY 10116. Domestic subscriptions: $5.00/24issues. Second-class postage paid at New York, NY. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Workers Vanguard.Box 1377. GPO. New York. NY 10116.

Opimon~ expressed in signed articles or Jetters do not. necessarily express the editorial viewpoint.

After we were denied service, weorganized several hundred demonstra­tors and picketed the restaurant daily.And each day a larger mob of racistssurrounded us, spitting, shoving andscreaming obscenities.

In the midst of this escalatingsituation, the black Gulfport ILA localintervened. They hada meeting with themayor and Chief of Police. They laiddown the line saying if any of us werearrested or injured, theCILA wouldstrike and shut down the port.

It worked! Not only were we notarrested or beat up" but the restaurantsbegan to serve blacks. It was animpressive demonstration of how thepower of labor could be brought to bearon the struggle for black liberation.

Comradely,Diana C.

~;!~t!~~.Free America'S ---..:..::==

ClaSS-WarPrisoners!

Soe_1.

::"''''t:.;.,..,,~....--....,. ~.~ ! , ==:c:=:.AlghMiaran!

The e.tt'"Ao-lnat $yphilq; Women 4 1Io.............~ .................. va.AmI-eb"'::':108: BuIld.. .....•........•...•..•.•...•

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Make checks payable/mail to:Spartacist Publishing Co.Box 1377 GPONew York, NY 10116

JUST OUT!Women andRevolutionSpring 1987

No. 33 (24 pages)

• Sex, Race and Class In the"American Century"

• Free America's Class-WarPrlsonersl

• The Battles Against Syphilisand AIDS'

• Extend Gains of BolshevikRevolution to AfghanPeoplesl

• Workers Derail FrenchRegime

Dear comrades,

WV's recent article on the Inter­national Longshoremen's Association(ILA) in WV 417 was excelient. Thefollowing story is another example ofthe ILA's key role-in the fight againstJim Crow racism in the South.

In the summer of 1965, I was inGulfport, Mississippi doing civil rightswork with the Student NonviolentCoordinating Committee (SNCC). TheLongshore union literally stood be­tween us and racist violence.

One of SNCC's main activities wasfighting to integrate restaurants, whichrefused to serve blacks. Our method wasto enter a popular coffee shop with anintegrated team and try to get served.

Oakland, CA1/6/87

_____LetterHow ILA Backed Down Jim Crow

LENIN

6 March 1987

Celebrate InternationalWomen's Day!

Seventy years ago, on InternationalWomen's Day, 8 March 1917, the womentextile workers of Petrograd led a dem­onstration of 90,000 that signaled the endof 300 years of tsarist autocracy anithe beginning of the Russian Revolution.On the second anniversary of the Sovietvictory Lenin reported what that revolu­tion meant to women:

No. 423

TROTSKY

In the course of two years of Soviet power in one of the most backward countries ofEurope more has been done to emancipate woman, to make her the equal of the"strong" sex, than has been done during the past 130 years by all the advanced,enlightened, "democratic" republics of the world taken together.

Education, culture, civilisation, freedom-all these high-sounding words areaccompanied in all the capitalist, bourgeois republics of the world with incrediblyfoul, disgustingly vile, bestiallycrude laws that make women unequal in marriageand divorce, that make the child born out of wedlock and the "legally born" childunequal and that give privileges to the male and humiliate and degradewomankind....

Down with the liars who speak about freedom and equalityfor all, while there is anoppressed sex, oppressing classes, private ownership of capital and shares and peoplewith bursting bins who use their surplus grain to enslave the hungry. Instead offreedom for all, instead of equality for all, let there be struggle against the oppressorsand exploiters, let the opportunity to oppress and exploit be abolished. That'is ourslogan!

Freedom and equality for the oppressed sex!Freedom and equality for the workers and labouring peasants!

-Y. I. Lenin, "Soviet Power and the Status of Women," November 1919

2 WORKERS VANGUARD

angrl Protest Over Murder of Black Grandmother

NYC Killer CQP Sullivan WalksOn February 26, more than 150 an­

gry protesters, overwhelmingly black,demonstrated outside Bronx SupremeCourt after killer cop Stephen Sullivanwas acquitted in a racist sham "trial."Sullivan was the triggerman in the 1984eviction-by-murder of black grand­mother Eleanor Bumpurs. Before an­nouncing the verdict, Judge Fred Eggertordered cops to eject supporters of theEleanor Bumpurs Justice Committeewho protested the exclusion of hun­dreds of blacks while white off-dutycops packed the spectators' seats. As theprotesters were carried out, the crowdjamming the hallways chanted, "We sayguilty!"

Inside the courtroom, the copserupted in applause at the "not guilty"verdict. An elderly black man shoutedout "Heil Hitler!" Mrs. Bumpurs'daughter Mary later summed up the"trial": "If you're black get back. Youhave no rights." In the demonstration,Spartacist supporters' signs proclaimed,"Vengeance for Victims of Koch's Kill­er Cops!" "Jail Killer Cop Sullivan!Vengeance for Eleanor Bumpurs!""Reagan's Anti-Soviet War Drive FuelsRacist Lynch Mob Terrorists!" and"Remember Michael Griffith and WillieTurks! Gun Control Kills Blacks!"

The courthouse, in the black andHispanic South Bronx, was an armedcamp. Hundreds of cops ringed theblock and manned nearby rooftops;a police helicopter hovered overhead.

Protest outside Bronx courthouseBumpurs! Jail Killer Cop Sullivan!

Hundreds of additional police waitedat nearby Yankee Stadium. Civiliansentering the courtroom were screenedby metal detectors and police dogssniffed for explosives. This blatantassertion of "police power," of copbonapartism, has marked the case fromthe beginning. In February 1985, whenSullivan was first indicted, 10,000armed NYPD cops surrounded thecourthouse-an ominous armed dem­onstration against any civilian controlover the killer cops and their guns.

Wilford HarewoodFebruary 26~ Vengeance for Eleanor

The police have taken the verdict as alicense to kill. Sullivan went on TV andvowed he'd do it again, while PBApresident Phil Caruso crowed Sullivanwas just "doing what he's paid to do."(Caruso also claims the recent ban onhog-tying prisoners is a violation of thePBA contract.) And two days after thekiller cop walked they did it again, aseight cops cornered a black Muslim theysaid was carrying a lead pipe at 125thand Lenox in Harlem, and cut himdown in a hail of bullets.

Taking their cue from Koch and hiskiller cops, the racists are increasinglytaking to the streets. On february 26, ablack family's home in Crown Heights,Brooklyn was firebombed. On February22, blacks waiting for a bus in Bayside,Queens were chased and shot' at by aracist, bat-wielding mob. On February24, "former" KKK "imperial wizard"David Duke showed up outside CityHall, after grandstanding in front of theNew Park Pizzeria in Howard Beachwhere the lynch mob murderers ofMichael Griffith assembled last Decem­ber 20. Duke is, recruiting for his"National Association for the Advance­ment of White People" and claimsdozens of members in the racist HowardBeach enclave. Last month, Duke was inthe thick of the attack by hundreds ofracists on a civil rights march in ForsythCounty, Georgia. New York City is onthe verge of a racist explosion andfascist scum like Duke want to light thematch.

After Sullivan the cop was turnedloose, Roger Warshaw, a spokesman forthe Eleanor Bumpurs Justice Commit­tee, said that under slavery the whitemasters "needed our labor." In 1987,hesaid, "black people have become asuperfluous population." But whileunemployment is sky-high in the ghetto,black workers do have power-as a keycomponent of an integrated labormovement. The 37,000-strong Trans­port Workers Union (TWU), for exam­ple, is heavily black, and this city doesn'trun without their labor. Militant transitworkers in the Committee for a FightingTWU called for the formation of uniondefense guards to patrol the streets ofHoward Beach, using labor's muscle tomake them safe for all working people.The racist terrorists in and out ofuniform must be stopped with labor/black mobilizationsl B

National Office: Box 1377 GPO, New York, NY 10116 • (212) 732-7860

SPARTACIST LEAGUE/U.S. LOCAL DIRECTORY

Chicago Elections and Racist Terror

NorfolkBox 1972, Main PONorfolk, VA 23501

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more than ever on black DemocraticParty mayors like Harold Washingtonand Detroit's Coleman Young to checksocial struggle.

The KKK and Nazis have targetedChicago blacks who break the "colorbar" by moving across Western Avenue.The racist terrorists must be smashed bythe organized power of labor andblacks, like the CTA transit workers andthe 26,OOO-member Chicago TeachersUnion. That same power must also bemobilized to fight the decimation of theindustrial proletariat of the Midwest, as"smokestack" industries like auto andsteel become rusting hulks. This requiresan integrated, class-struggle workersparty, forged in struggle against theunion tops who keep labor and minori­ties chained to the Democrat/ Dixiecratsand this racist, capitalist system.

The bosses like to call this state the"Land of Lincoln," but in Chicago it'sclear that it is necessary to finish theCivil War!.

DetroitBox 441794Detroit, MI 48244

Los AngelesBox 29574, Los feliZ Sta.Los Angeles, CA 90029(213) 380-8239

Madisonc/o SYL, Box 2074Madison, WI 53701(608) 257-8625

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AtlantaBox 4012Atlanta, GA 30302

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by the reformist left and nationalists) isharder to sell. "It's just the same oldsame old," said Cabrini Green residentCharles Smith. In 1983, "we cam­paigned for Washington. Then we wereconstituents. . . . After they won, webecame hoodlums, thugs-and driftershanging out in the projects" (Sun­Times, 8 February).

Harold Washington and the Demo­cratic Party are and have always beendefenders of the racist, capitalist system.Washington spent decades as a keptstate legislator, and later Congressman,of Boss Daley's Machine. Today, withthe Reagan gang on the ropes, thecapitalist rulers of this country depend

aggravated arson and let out on thestreets with incredibly low bail. Policeinitially labeled this attempt at racistmurder as a "random act of vandalism"!The night before Stirgus' home wasfirebombed, a black Washington sup- .porter in Marquette Park returned froman election rally to find his homedefaced with racist slurs, "KKK" andswastikas.

These attacks came a week before theDemocratic Party mayoral primary, asremnants of Boss Daley's Machine wentall out to elect "anyone [white] butHarold." When a few dozen blacks fromthe South, led by Ben Chavis, came toChicago on a "reverse freedom ride" tocampaign for Washington, formermayor Jane Byrne denounced them as"carpetbaggers," the Ku Klux Klan'slanguage for those who fought for blackrights during Reconstruction. Washing­ton won 96 percent of the black vote,and riding on the endorsements of theChicago Tribune and the Sun- Times(and the support of the LaSalle Streetbankers) also captured 21 percent ofthewhite vote. Narrowly defeating Byrne,Washington now faces a Republicancollege professor (who defeated Spankythe Clown in the GOP primary) and awhite Democrat or two running on"independent" slates in the April 7general election.

Four years ago Chicago blacks hadillusions that Harold Washingtonwould change "Segregation City." Formany those illusions remain. But thistime around Washington's campaignrarely ventured into the projects, "high­rise ghettos" like Cabrini Green and theRobert Taylor Homes. After four years

- of more racist terror, mass unemploy­ment and police brutality, the lie of"black faces in high places" (cheered on

Black Teacher's Home Firebombed

WV Photo

Dorothy Stirgus barely escapeddeath in racist firebombing of herhome.

heard a crash in the hallway. "I jumpedout of bed and ran to the door.... WhenI pushed the door open I saw flames upand down my hall." Stirgus had to jumpthrough the wall of fire to escape: "Ididn't stop-I just ran!" The four racistpunks arrested were only charged with

CHICAGO-As the white MachineDemocrats whip up racist opposition toblack Democratic mayor Harold Wash­ington, they have inspired a wave ofterror against blacks on the SouthwestSide. On February 17, nightriders fire­bombed the home of black schoolteach­er Dorothy Stirgus, who narrowly

, escaped with her life. Stirgus told WVshe was watching TV in bed when she

6 MARCH'1987 3

Reagangate...(continuedfrom page 1)

bring down Reagan through sharp classstruggle!

Changing of the Guard

The day after the Tower report wasissued, Don Regan was unceremonious­ly fired as White House chief of staff,informed of the event by a TV an­nouncement of his successor. Regan,who had imperiously· insisted on"micromanaging" everything in theWhite House, was variously referred toas "prime minister" and "the realpresident." But in trying to get RonaldReagan out there reading his lines,Regan committed the cardinal sin ofrunning afoul. of Nancy Reagan. TheFirst Lady who would be empress hadinsisted on keeping the president sealedoff from the press, even trying to cancelthe annual State of the Union speech.She cited medical reasons, and with a76-year-old Reagan who's obviously notin touch she may have a point. But thatdoesn't help the imperialist bourgeoisie,which needs a functioning government.And one thing nobody proposes to do isto turn the store over to George Bush.

The appointment of "moderate" Re­publican former Senator Howard Bakeras Regan's replacement was widelygreeted with a sigh of relief by main­stream politicians. For a while it hadlooked like no one would take the job.But the Wall Street Journal (2 March),reflecting the forebodings of conserva­tives generally, was distraught over the"Baker regency," fearing that 'it could"effectively end the Reagan Doctrine,"

the 28 percent maximum tax rate andStar Wars, thus endangering theirpresident's "place in history." Baker wasto be the great conciliator, who wouldorchestrate the cameo appearances ofthe Great Communicator. But the firstday on the job he put his foot in hismouth, referring to Nancy Reagan as a"dragon."

Regan follows. former CIA chiefCasey, former National Security Advis­er Poindexter and Lieutenant COIDnelNorth. Already, Navy.secretary JohnLehman, deputy defense secretaryNestor Sanchez and White Housepropaganda boss Pat Buchanan headedfor the door while they could still walkout. Assistant Secretary of State ElliotAbrams will be "gone by summer," it'sreported, and dozens of other high andmiddle-level administration officials areemptying their desk drawers. And inorder to avoid a "Gatesgate" donny­brook with Congress, the White House

Spartacist LeaguePublic Offices

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4

nominee to head the CIA withdrew. Asyou can imagine, it's no easy job to findreplacements: the only man they couldfind for Buchanan's job turns out tohave been a member of a Nazi youthgroup. Meanwhile, North's secretaryFawn Hall is decidedly no RosemaryWoods; after vowing not to shred-and­tell, she's now talking to the specialprosecutor in exchange for immunityfrom prosecution.

As the U.S. administration unravels,the turbulence in Washington is sendingshock waves through the U.S.' "FreeWorld" allies and surrogates. The splitin the Nicaraguan contras reflectsdivisions between the State Departmentand the CIA ... and the fact that theSandinistas have won. "After this[Tower] report it's all over," says a U.S.official. "We need to start thinkingabout evacuating the contras" (Time, 9March). In Britain, arch-ReaganiteMaggie Thatcher, herself increasinglyunpopular, is on the verge of callingelections. The French government isparalyzed in uneasy "cohabitation,"with a rightist premier and "socialist"

Reagan withcontra bossesand North.

president, battered by mass studentprotests and then a month-long railstrike that threatened to turn into ageneral walkout bf labor. And Washing­ton's chief NATO ally West Germany istorn between wanting an arms deal withSoviet leader Gorbachev and fears thatan agreement to eliminate medium­range missiles could lead to a U.S.pullout from Europe.

As the American political super­structure totters, the falling debris can'thelp but shake the economic house ofcards on Wall Street. This administra­tion, after all, is more closely identifiedwith Big Money than any other indecades. And while the stock market hasbeen soaring, it could quickly plum-

'met-looking curiously like Reagan'sratings in the opinion polls. Swindling isrampant: the Boesky and "Yuppie Five"insider trading scams have been trackedto the top levels of the most prestigiousbrokerage houses. Billions are goinginto junk bonds as takeovers drive outproductive investment. Added to themammoth U.S. budget deficit and LatinAmerican bank debt, this spells adisaster waiting to happen. Any finan­cial shock could bring it all tumblingdown. Time (9 March) warned ~ thatbecause of the mountain of debt, "in theevent of recession ... the resulting bank­ruptcies and attendant hardships wouldprobably be more severe than duringany downturn in recent memory."

Demise of the "Reagan Doctrine"

"If this report had been written byRobert Ludlum, it would make thefiction best seller list overnight. It's a

- report about a President out of touchand a President out of control." Thatwas one Congressman's reaction to the

McFarlane,Casey,Regan-the gangthat couldn'tlie straight.

Tower Commission's report. WhenIraniContragate first broke, Reaganhad called up to thank his "Americanhero" Oliver North, remarking that thestory would make a great film. But in300-plus pages the Tower report lays outthe script for a Laurel and Hardycomedy of errors. Cakes, bibles, pistols,planeloads of missiles listed as oildrilling equipment: the latest revelation

.was a scheme to ransom a hostage with$300,000 in chemically treated bills thatwould disintegrate after a couple ofdays! That one flopped, too. Andwhile Mcfarlane/ Poindexter/North arequoted disparaging the ayatollahs, thenet result is that Khomeini has managedto bring down the Great Satan.

On whether he had authorized thefirst Israeli delivery of antitank missilesto Iran, Reagan first told the Commis­sion he agreed with former NSC headMcFarlane that he had approved it;then (on chief of staff Regan's orders) hedenied he had okayed the shipment, andfinally he sent a letter saying: "I don'tremember-period." Reagan's one at­tempt to defend himself in public was toask an audience, who could rememberwhat they weredoing on August 8, 1985.This has spawned a new adult trivialpursuit. When the Los Angeles Times (1March) asked musician Frank Zappawhat he was doing, he replied facetious­ly: "I was head of the National SecurityCouncil arranging to have arms shippedto Pakistan and Angola and divertingfunds through a Swiss bank account inorder to shamelessly spend it on thecampaigns of my favorite Republicans."

But that whole controversy is besidethe point. On 17 January 1986 Reagansigned a secret finding approving armssales to Iran and ordering the affair keptsecret from Congress. And on the contraaid diversion, North writes in a 16 May1986 memo: "the President obviouslyknows why he has been meeting withseveral select people to thank them fortheir support for Project Democracy in[Central America]." As the PROFcomputer messages and scores ofmemoranda show, North reportedeverything to his chiefs McFarlane andthen Poindexter, Regan sat in onvirtually every NSC meeting, Shultz andWeinberger knew what they wanted toknow, and Reagan knew all (whether ornot he forgot it). Who's surprised?Reagan was pushing covert action andvowing to overthrow radical-nationalistSandinista Nicaragua from the start. Itwas all blatantly illegal, but Worse thanthat in the eyes of the Tower Commis­sion and the American bourgeoisie, itwas "clumsily and amateurishly" carriedout, and it failed.

"Project Democracy," or PRODEM,was the code name for the covertprogram funneling arms and guns to I

CIA-backed anti-Communist forcesaround the world, from Nicaragua toAngola to Afghanistan and Cambodia.Tens of millions of dollars were raisedfrom rake-offs on Iran arms sales,contributions from kings and sultans,tax-deductible donations from Texasright-wingers, profits from drugrun­ning, etc. With some creative account­ing these funds were not only used tofinance the CIA's Nicaraguan merce­naries, despite the Boland Amendmentwhich for a time banned "direct andindirect" U.S. military aid to thecontras; butalso to lobby Congress anddefeat anti-contra Congressmen in the'84 elections. In the course of it, a lowly

colonel put the arm on King Fahd ofSaudi Arabia, threatened PresidentArias of Costa Rica to cut off U.S. aid,ordered the U.S. ambassador to CostaRica to organize a united contra"Southern Front," and much, muchmore.

As the White House ran its privatewars, lying to Congress and hidingmuch of the facts from the Cabinet aswell, the New York Times (2 March)concluded: "Frustrations with democra­cy, it seems, led President Reagan toturn his National Security Council intoa secret government." Former .NSChead McFarlane said 'at one point toNorth: "If the world only knew howmany times you have kept a semblanceof integrity and gumption to US policythey would make you Secretary of State.But they can't know and would com­plain if they did-such is the state ofdemocracy in the late 20th century." TheReaganauts set out to slam the Soviet"Evil Empire" up against the wall, rollback the Nicaraguan Revolution, re­store the "American Century" and"avenge Vietnam." They were going to"save democracy" from the State De­partment, the Pentagon, Congress andthe American people.

But the "Reagan Doctrine" didn'twork, because the contra scum arelosers-they have been smashed on thebattlefield in Nicaragua. U.S. imperial­ism got its ass kicked in Indochina, andmost Americans don't want to see thebody bags coming home in another madThird World military adventure to put agang of rapists and murderers in power.So six years into the abortive "Reaganrevolution" the Sandinistas are stillthere, and Gorbachev has a lot morecredibility than the liar in the WhiteHouse. In fact, over lran/Contragatethe American Congress would like alittle glasnost (openness) itself. TheTower Commission talked to everyliving past president and virtually everyliving former vice president, secretary ofstate, war secretary, CIA head andchairman of the J oint Chiefs of Staff. Itsmodulated but devastating conclusions,therefore, represent the consensus of theU.S. bourgeoisie.

Bonapartism and Democracy

."The President is the ultimate deci­sion maker in national security.... Wecould not long endure exercise ofExecutive power by committee. Astrong Executive with the flexibility toconduct foreign and diplomatic affairsis an essential feature of our form ofgovernment," intoned Senator JohnTower in presenting the Commission'sreport. Make the NSC responsible toCongress? No way, they say. A ban onNSC "operational roles"? The troublewith Iran/Contragate in their eyes isthat it gave covert action a bad name.The U.S. ruling class wants a strongexecutive. Their problem is that "effec­tive" presidents have been hard to comeby in recent years. Lyndon Johnson,Richard Nixon and Ronald Reaganwere all elected with overwhelmingmajorities, and all were disgraced ordriven from office. So once again, as atthe time of Watergate, U.S. rulers are

New York OS\Was Ollie's Fawn Sandlnlsta pawn?

WORKERS VANGUARD

journalists to contra bases in Honduras,and toured contra leaders in the U.S. Itis now reported that PRODEMCA hasreceived an undisclosed amount fromCarl Channell, theContragate PR manwho received millions in rake-offs fromOliver North's Iranscam money.

A few short months after Reagancame to power, he busted the PATCOair controllers union. This top-paid,overwhelmingly white union was one ofthe very few labor groups to endorseReagan, yet they saw their leaders ledaway in shackles like slaves in theantebellum South. This strikebreakinggave the green light to bossesaround thecountry who went on a rampage oftakeback union-busting, including thedeliberate murder of strikers on thepicket lines. But nowthe Reagan gang ison the run, and the workers andoppressed of America face a weak andisolated regime. Though no one in thebourgeoisie is talking impeachment,according to the polls fully a third of theU.S. population think Reagan should"consider" resigning! Now is the time tohit back, while they're down. But thatrequires, first and foremost, a fight todump the labor lieutenants of Reagan'scounterrevolution and to forge a Trot­skyist party that can link the seethinganger of the ghetto with the social powerof the factory.

And there's not a lot of time. Thewarships are still off Lebanon. The newNational Security Adviser Frank Car­lucci is reportedly considering plans fora naval quarantine of Nicaragua, andReagan (who has predicted Armaged­don in our time) still has his finger on the

"nuclear button. At home, AttorneyGeneral Meese- demonstrates his appe­tites for a police state, trying to decree a­federal death penalty while effectivelyabolishing - the Miranda (suspects'rig-hts) ruling. And COINTELPRO"dirty tricks" are not just a Watergatememory, as more than 50 break-ins havebeen recorded in offices of groupsopposing U.S. war moves in CentralAmerica. The basis is being laid for abipartisan Reagan regency, with Con­gress brought into the show. But such aregime would be united on a platformfor a rationally orchestrated anti-Sovietwar drive, which spells union-busting,mass homelessness, hunger and racistterror at home.

A few days before the Tower Com- ,mission report was released, the leadarticle in Time magazine (2 March)began: "On the Day of Judgment,according to ancient religious tradition,all secrets willbe revealed and all hiddensins bared.... Some aides went so farasto speculate that, depending on howRonald Reagan and his lieutenantsreact, Feb. 26 could turn out to be asecular analogue of Judgment Day."Far from it. For the imperialists-whoturned Vietnam into a moonscape,ordered the slaughter of tens of thou­sands of Central American peasants andwage war Onlabor and blacks at home­Judgment Day will come when avictorious socialist revolution sweepsaway all the Watergaters and Contra­gaters, the My Lai mass murderers andtheir rapacious capitalist masters.That's when we will finally 'open thebooks to find out the murderous secretsthe Tower Commission didnn reveaL_

Two, three, manydefeats for U.S.:imperialism!Saigon, 1975(left); Reagan'sdogs of war.shot down,Nicaragua, 1986.

ism, who have proved their loyalty tothe class enemy by fronting for CIAunion-busting operations abroad andsabotaging strikes at home. From thebeginning, the "AFL-CIA" tops havemaintained a conspicuous silence aboutthis affair that has shaken the anti-laborReagan government to its roots. Thereason is not hard to find: the anti­communist labor fakers are gettingmore than moral encouragement fromthe network spawned by Oliver North.

When Ronald Reagan proclaimed"Project Democracy" in 1982, it in­cluded a publicly funded arm, theNational Endowment for Democracy(NED). Prominent on the NED boardof directors are AFL-CIO chief Kirk­land, American Federation of Teachershead Albert Shanker, Democrat WalterMondale and right-wing union-busterSenator Orrin Hatch of UtalCOf the$18.5 million disbursed by the NED in1985, some $rI.5 million went to theAFL-CIO and its Free Trade UnionInstitute (FTUI), notorious for its rolein CIA schemes to wreck militant laborunions around the world. Closelyintertwined with the AFL-CIO's "freetrade union" outfit is PR6DEMCA, a"private" fundraising outfit heavilyinvolved in Oliver North's scams.PRODEMCA has channeled NEDdollars to the internal contra organ LaPrensa in Nicaragua,paid for tours by ,

was endorsed by Democratic Congress­man Ron Dellums. The main organizerswere aclot of anti-Spartacist renegadesaround one Bob Mandel 'and theextended Mandel family; his formerbuddies of the "External Tendency"(now "Bolshevik Tendency") tailedalong with this mini popular front. Incontrast, 12 years ago, at the height ofthe Watergate crisis, the SpartacistLeague said:

"Socialists should support a congres­sional move to impeach Nixon. Butimpeachment is not enoughl:., Thefight to remove Nixon musl become afight not to replace Nixon with GeraldFord, but a fight to 'replace the rule ofcapital with a workers government!"Iemphasis in original}

-"What Labor Should DoAbout Watergate," WVNo. 34,7 December 1973

And what is one to make of theabsurd demand raised by the WorkersLeague (WL) of the dubious DavidNorth (no known relation to Oliver), foran AFL-CIO inquiry into the Iranicontra affair? Lane Kirkland & Co. areloyal lieutenants of American capital-

Impeachment Is Not Enough!For Workers Revolution!

With the ruling class in disarray, thepossibility is posed for the working

"moral rearmament" of U.S. imperial­ism, through his "human rights" crusadedirected at the Soviet Union. And thencame the "Reagan revolution" whichwas supposed to "roll back Commu­nism" for real, not merely by beefing upthe Pentagon arsenal, but by mobilizingthe American masses in a popularcrusade against the "Evil Empire." YetReagan barely, got to first base. Apassing enthusiasm for the racist rape oftiny black Grenada (where the 82ndAirborne had its hands full with a fewhundred middle-aged Cuban construc­tion workers) could barely divert atten­tion from the fiasco of 241 Marinesblown up in Beirut. The increasinglyfrenzied covert operations orchestratedfrom the White House were a futileattempt to cover up the administration'sfailure. And now they have broughtReagan's demise.

WV Photo;

Spartacisl League at PATCOrally (left); Solidarity Day 1981 (above). "AFL­CIA" traitors knife class struggle, aid Reagan's anti-communist crusades.

people and oppressed of this country to-break politically from the Democratsand Republicans, to forge a class­struggle workers party that can sweepaway the lying, murdering, incompetentcriminals who are driving America toruin while oppressing the peoples ofthe world. But as the spectre of a newWatergate loomed, various reformistsraised the call for impeaching thepresident. Communist Party leader GusHall, trained in decades of donkey workfor the Democrats, declared that theiranicontra affair was "grounds forimpeachment," and urged the "newDemocratic majority" in Congress totake this course (People's Daily World,13November 1986). So what would thatbring? George Bush, former head of theCIA, representative of Texas oil inter­ests and one of the more sinister ele­ments in Washington.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, atoxic waste dump of pseudo-Trotskyistgrouplets, the ex-Maoist MLP andassorted New Leftovers held a demon­stration at Oakland Airport, February20 around the slogan "Oust Reagan-­Bush!" Well, if the Republican presidentand vice president go, that puts theSpeaker of the House of Representa­tives, Democrat Jim Wright of Texas,

- next in line! Not surprisingly, the tenslogans of the demonstration includedno criticism of the Democrats, and it

talking of a crisis of the imperialpresidency.

The presidency has always represent­ed institutional bonapartism, a powerrising above the elected lawmakers. TheAmerican Revolution was, after all, abourgeois revolution, and not the mostradical at that. The "founding fathers"took care to construct a governmentthat would enable the executive branchor the courts, as bastions of property, tonullify laws enacted by a popularlyelected legislature. A second, upper­house of Congress, the Senate, wasoriginally non-elected and intended togive veto power to the much lesspopuious Southern states-i.e., to theslaveowners. The American constitu­tional historian Charles Beard describesthese so-called "checks and balances" as"a government endowed with certainpositive powers, but so constructed as tobreak the force of majority rule and'prevent invasions of the property rightsof minorities" (Charles A. Beard, AnEconomic Interpretation of the Consti­tution of the United States [1913]).

The executive branch has been theprincipal arm of U.S. imperialism in thecontinual exercise of every kind of massrapine, butchery and war. WoodrowWilson engineered America's entry intoWorld War I by concealing that thepassenger ship Lusitania, sunk byGerman submarines, was carrying mu­nitions to the British. Franklin Roose­velt prepared the way for World War IIwith his secret "destroyer deal" to armEngland and by pushing Japan tothe attack on Pearl Harbor. TrumanA-bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki,not to defeat Japan but to send a warn­ing to the Soviet Union, whose Red Ar­my had won the war against Nazi Ger­many. World War II was the last warCongress ever formally declared. Tru­man sent troops to Korea as a "police

action" and LBJ_ fabricated a bogusattack, on U.S. ships to get the TonkinGulf Resolution. Along the way, theCIA has overthrown adozen or moreelected governments, from Iran toCentral America.

The schemes cooked up by OllieNorth are no more bizarre than the CIAattempts to kill Fidel Castro, includingpoisoned cigars and biological agents tomake his beard fall out. But the CIA'sgusanos were smashed at the Bay ofPigs. Above all, the heroic peasants andworkers of Vietnam decisively defeatedU.S. imperialism, triumphing oversuperior military force and putting an

'end to the "American Century." LBJwas driven from' office by the TetOffensive of 1968,which exposed the liethat victory was "around the corner."And it was the bombing of Cambodia,in the course ofan increasingly unpopu­lar, losing war, that led to the wiretapson Washington officials and the Water­gate plumbers job that brought downNixon. He was never charged for hishideous crimes against the Indochinesemasses, of course. The sole article ofimpeachment concerned the Watergatecover-up-i.e., Nixon's crimes againstthe bourgeoisie. _And then a dirty dealwas patched up with Ford, the unelectedvice president, to let the criminalbutcher off with a pardon.

Democrat Jimmy Carter began the

6 MARCH 1987 5

Spartacists Sue "Accuracy in Academia"

AlA: Reagan's McCarthy~itesAlAIAIM "Big Lie" witchhunters ReedIrvine and Les Csorba, with assault rifle.Their Dartmouth Review cohortslaunched terrorist sledgehammer attackon "Shantytown" (bottom) occupied byanti-apartheid activists.

The Spartacist League is suing "Accu­racy in Academia, Inc." (AlA), itsexecutive director Laszlo Csorba IIIand Reed Irvine, founder and chairmanof AlA, for willful, false and deadlyaccusations against our organization.Irvine is notorious as the head of AlA'sparent organization, Accuracy in Media(AIM), which specializes in characterassassination of liberal journalists whilebraying about a supposed Red Menacein the American mass media, The legalpapers charging Irvine personally and asa representative of AlA were served onthe morning of February 13, as thisprofessional witchhunter entered ABCstudios to discuss' his brainchild,Amerika-the 14-1/2 hour, viciouslyanti-Soviet soap opera which justbombed in America.

.An AlA pamphlet authored byCsorba, titled "Appeasing the Censors:A Special Report on Campus Free'Speech Abuses," touted by nationallysyndicated columnists as an "authorita­tive" report on leftist student activity,makes the following statement: "Theirpublications (Workers' Vanguard,Young Spartacus, and The Spartacus[sic]) urge 'military victory' for thecommunists in El Salvador, and thekilling of police officers." As anyreading of Spartacistpublicationswould quickly and clearly expose, thecharge that we urge the killing of policeis a totaland lethal lie. Police have a wayof killing people tagged as "cop-killers."AlA's attempt to equate our forthrightMarxist politics with terrorism is aconscious and deadly smear. In defenseof our members and supporters weintend to mobilize every moral, politicaland legal resource at our disposal tobring these Big Liars to task and fightthis "libel that kills." ,

We in the Spartacist League are by nomeans the first or only targets of Irvine/Csorba's poison pens. As "Big Brother"to the media with his platoon of "LittleBrothers" in the nation's classrooms,Irvine is dedicated to red-baiting frame­ups and McCarthyite purges of anyradical or liberal academic or journalistwho deviates from the ultrarightistReaganite "ethic." AlA has compiled ahit list of some 10,000 alleged Marxistsand 35,000 liberal professors to harassin an effort to make them conformto itsreactionary social agenda, or else drivethem out of public life. AIM hassuccessfully forced the transfer or firingof liberal journalists deemed soft oncommunism by red-basher Irvine, in­timidating others from expressing theirviews, And already AlA's "Appeasingthe Censors" has found its way into theNew York Post (9 October 1986)and theChicago Sun-Times (14 October 1986).

Reed Irvine's AlA and AIM are theliving embodiment of what we'vedescribed as "McCarthyism with adrawn gun." AIA/ AIM are the ideologi­cal shock troops for the Reagan/Meese

Washington In~ulrer

28 May 1982

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6

CovertAction

government which seeks to criminalizelabor, black and leftist protest, equatingdissent with "treason." But today'switchhunters have a problem. The fact isthat no major architect of bloodyAmerican imperialism from JeaneKirkpatrick to Cap Weinberger can setfoot on a college campus withoutevoking a storm of protest. Soviet leaderMikhail Gorbachev has more credibilitywith the U.S. media than Ronald "whatdid I forget and when did I forget it"Reagan. I950s-style red scares just don'tpack the same wallop these days with apopulation that's increasingly alienated

. from a government widely despised as agang of bumbling, incompetent, war­crazed liars.

Unable to win the "hearts and minds"of Topeka, much less Harlem, today'sMcCarthyites aim not to convince thepublic but to silence them throughintimidation, branding political oppo­nents as "terrorists" to whom rights anddue process do not apply. It is in thiscontext of a bonapartist solution to the"Vietnam syndrome" that AIA/ AIM'sdirty tricks and slander must be under­stood. As Reagan & Co. revved up theanti-Soviet war drive, AlA's role hasbeen to undertake a pre-emptive firststrike against political protest.

Peter Blakely

Tearing a page from the notebook of.Hitler's propaganda minister JosephGoebbels, Irvine's main weapon is theBig Lie. Bill Moyers, formerly at CBSand one of AIM's prime targets, notedthat Reed Irvine "is to accuracy in themedia what Cleopatra was to chastityon the Nile" (CovertAction, Spring1984). AlA offers no substantiation orproof for their deadly slander againstthe SL, the lie that we supposedly urge"the killing of police officers," becausethere isn't any, and there can't be any.Any reading of our press, any examina­tion. of our program and actions-wouldshow such advocacy to be at totalvariance with all that we stand for.

Furthermore, a review of our suc­cessful legal challenges against similarattempts to falsely brand our Marxistpolitical organization as "violent,""terrorist" or conspiratorial would alsogive pause: we have fought and wonretractions of such smears from theCalifornia Attorney General in 1979,from the Moon organization's Wash­ington Times (which both Csorba andIrvine write for) in 1983,from the FBI in1984 (see "A Workers Party Has theRight to Organize!" page 7). As we shallshow, AlA/AIM are directly and inti­mately linked to these same govern-

~~

~:Ts

<0g The smear in"J the service of~ the gun~ Irvine

disinformationin wake ofLetelierassassination.

mental and ultrarightist forces, makingit very, difficult to believe that AIA/AIM could be ignorant of these cases.

In the pursuit of our own democraticrights, the SL is fighting in the interestsof every unionist, every campus pro­tester, every perceived political oppo­nent of this reactionary government.Csorba's "Appeasing the Censors" goesafter the Spartacus Youth League for aprotest against Marine recruiters at theUniversity of California/Berkeley inJanuary 1985. In that incident Sparta­cist youth activist Guillermo Bermudezwas.seized by a campus cop in a deadlychoke hold, then slapped with a phonycharge of "assaulting" a police officer.But the AlA doesn't mention this, orthat the charges against Bermudez weredismissed more than a year later-avictory that gave a black eye to theReaganite witchhunters. The AlA's li­bel against us is part of an operationto repress all who would protestthe criminal policies of the U.S.government.

Big Brother and Big Bucks

Historically, every mobilization forimperialist war has had as its domesticreflection an anti-red, anti-labor, anti­black reaction. Going after the per­ceived "opinion makers" in the mediaand elite universities, too, was anintegral part of the McCarthyism of the1940s and '50s. Irvine has all thecrudeness, belligerence and methods ofwitchhunter Joseph McCarthy, thoughhe lacks the prerogatives of the Senate.Through organizations like the WorldAnti-Communist League he "networks"aging Nazis, East European fascists andtheir very powerful disciples runningdeath squads and contra terrorists onfive continents. It's both ominous andlogical that Irvine & Co. get a hearing inthe seats of power. When Reagan placeda wreath on the graves of Nazi SS killersat Bitburg, the message was clear: torevive Hitler's war against the "Bolshe­vik menace." And we know whatHitler's anti-Soviet war drive meant forlabor, Jews and other minorities inGermany, not to speak 'of accuracy inthe media.

AIA/AIM are part of the Reagan­auts' domestic war to regiment theAmerican population into acquiescenceto the bipartisan anti-Soviet war drive.In an article entitled "The Rise andDecline of Accuracy in Media," theNation (13 September 1986) basicallydismisses Irvine as a "paper tiger." Likeall liberals who believe in the eternalstrengths of a "free" America they writeoff AIA/ AIM as just the "lunaticfringe." But Irvine and Csorba are morethan just ideological witchhunters.They're sinister Oliver Norths on thehome front, reflecting the "privatiza­tion" of the drive for counterrevolutionfrom Nicaragua to Afghanistan. It'sprivatized McCarthyism.

The biggest corporations in the U.S.make their tax-deductible contributionsopenly to AIM, not the Aryan Brother­hood which is a genuinely fringe, openlyfascist outfit. This is because, distastefulas even some right-wingers find Irvine,the bourgeois establishment knows thatthey need their "new McCarthyites." Asdocumented in CovertAction (Spring1984), AlA/AIM's financial backersspan the gamut from the main players inWatergate (Richard Nixon, Spiro Ag­new, Bebe Rebozo, Maurice Stans) toex-CIA chief William Casey: Other con­tributors include the loaded dowager

WORKERS VANGUARD

e.e, ao.. UI~.7

19i6')3'Z2-24iiJ

The SL lawsuitforced the Moonies toretract their deadlylibel against the militantunion-backed,SL-initiateddemonstration whichstopped the KKKfrom marching inWashington, D.C.27 November 1982.

MooniesRetract

Ubel That Kills

~ember 14. 19~1

.. ~t,rulY yours

Chief. Bureau of roanlzed Cril!ll!and Criminal lntelli nence

..... 1I11!altfllmia

It"nrtwnt of Justiel'C5l'orgl' Bl'ululU'jinn

{II·...__~OU......,..... I

AlSomtgC5tnmd

The SPL was once the subject of an FBIdomestic security investigation. Theinvestigation was closed in 1977,however, and it did not result in anycriminal prosecution.

.The Spartacist League (SPL), a Marxistpolitical organization, was founded in1966. The historical and theoreticalroots· of the SPL derive from the earlyCommunist Party, U.S.A. and the SocialistWorkers Party. The i~ediate precursorof the SPL was the Revolutionary Tendencyof the Socialist Workers Party. The SPLhas an. official youth section named theSpartacus Youth~eague.

Dear Si r or Had4J'l:

This is to inforM you that the inclusion of the Spartacist Leanue and of theSpartacus Youth Leaoue on page 11 of the Oeoartl'lent of Justice's publication,·Or(Janized Crime in California .•• 1979, Annual Repnrt to the CaliforniaLegislature. Part 2 Terrorism.' was in error.

Federal Bureau of InvestigationPennsyl vania Avenue between 9th & 10th nilWashington. D.C. 20535

Subject: Correction of Oepartnent ofJustice's Publicatinn

California Attorney General retracted the inclusion of the SL in the 1979"TerrorismReport" and sent notification to law enforcement agencies throughout the country.

Deukmejian Retracts "Terrorts!" Smear

The lJJbor-B1tlt:k Mobilization march story

FBI Retracts Its "Definition" Slander

We Beat Back ""Terrorist" Smears

A Workers Party Has theRight to Organize!

The Spartacist League has a proud record of fighting this dangerous newMcCarthyism. In self-defense we have battled the attempt to falsely brand us asoutlaws to be shot first and questioned later. Under the banner: "A WorkersParty Has the Right to Organize!" we have been in the forefront against theattempt by this government and its spokesmen to equate political oppositionwith violence, criminal conspiracy or terrorism.

It.. RI

r.='~~rn-ISTS~'~~rb~~Ctst 'WV Photo

In settlement of the SL's lawsuit against the 1983FBI "Terrorism" Guidelines, the FBIand the Attorney General agreed to change the FBI definition of the SL to exactly whatthe·SL1s-a Marxist political organization. The FBI thereby conceded the central claimof the SL's lawsuit, that Marxist political principles and advocacy cannot be equatedWith violence, terrorism or a criminal enterprise.

ness for book-burning. Professor LindaArnold, a historian at Virginia Poly­technic Institute, entered AIA/AIM~scross hairs because she assigned How­ard Zinn's The Twentieth Century as atext for her introductory courses. Thebook and Zinn himself are on AlA's"blacklist'! for portraying "Americanheroes" such as Henry Ford andDouglas MacArthur as "villains." Pro­fessor Arnold received a phone call fromReed Irvine. "We ended up arguing foran hour, mostly about Zinn's book.Three times he asked, 'Don't you thinkthe book should be burned?' I said I'magainst book burning" (Nation, 5 April1986).

Is Little.Brother Watching You?AlA began its campaign in August

1985 with a nationwide network ofstudent and non-student finks at 160colleges and universities to harangueprofessors, complain to the administra­tion, solicit letters from right-wingpoliticos against these professors andotherwise try .to stifle teachers fromexpressing their views. AlA describesitself as a "vibrant new movement thathas leftist academics shaking in theirsandals." Within this bit of humor liesthe true purpose of AlA. .

"Appeasing the Censors" represents anew twist in AlA's tactics to witchhuntfaculty. The pamphlet retails vicioussmears against left groups, includingnot only us but InCAR (lnternation-

-al Committee Against Racism) andCISPES (Committee in Solidarity withthe People of El Salvador), in order toisolate the left and scare professors fromassociation with such groups. It seeksmore broadly to charge liberal facultymembers and allegedly complaisantadministrators with providing a protec­tive milieu for the left-e-just like the '50sMcCarthyite accusations of "comsymp"and "dupe' were designed to intimidateand silence liberal opinion. Generalizedfear and isolation were key to thesuccess of McCarthyism, as expressed inan old joke. A· liberal professor isattacked by a right-wing mob as heleaves campus. Turning to his attackers,the professor says, "Wait, I'm not acommunist, I'm an anti-communist!"The mob leader responds, "We don'tcare what kind of communist you are,"and pummels him to the ground. Butthefundamental and widespread unpopu­larity of the Reaganauts' war drive is

. hardly fertile ground for AlA, hencetheir increasingly frantic efforts andbigger lies.

"Appeasing the Censors" adopts theOrwellian line of the Reagan adminis­tration that those who protest the keyarchitects of U.S. imperialism's interna­tional terror have impinged on the "freespeech" of the government. But the Billof Rights is supposed to protect politi-calfreedoms for the populace againstgovernment censorship.and abuse-notthe other way around! Csorba makesthe ludicrous' assertion that "therecertainly is no freedom of speech on thelarger campuses where radical groupsare active in opposing American foreignpolicy" (emphasis in original). WilliamRusher, publisher of the NationalReview, put it bluntly in an article inAlA's Campus Report (September1986): "The academy is almost the lastsanctuary remaining' to the Americanleft. ... From that final redoubt they willhave to be dragged one day, kicking andscreaming." The real life model for thisscenario is El Salvador's NationalUniversity which was shut do~n atgunpoint in 1980-byD'Aubuisson's palsin the military. A lot of people weredragged out "kicking and screaming"­and never seen again.

Csorba himself got his start at theUniversity of California/Davis, with"Students for a Better America" (SBA),a prototype of AlA. Csorba's target wasSaul Landau, an outspoken critic ofU.S. policy in Central and South

- America who co-authored a book on themurder of Letelier (Assassination on

continued on page 8

Laszlo Csorba's idol: Salvadorandeath squad leader "Blowtorch Bob"D'Aubuisson.

Claire Booth Luce, Texaco, Good­year Tire and Rubber Co., Reader'sDigest Foundation; Exxon USA,Chevron, Union Carbide, IBM, and thelabor-hating right-wing beer magnateAdolph Coors.

AIM represents and is backed byright-wing CIA dirty tricks specialistsand "retired" generals who map out"Seven Days in May" coups-with theforces to back them up. AIM contribu­tor Richard Mellon Scaife, an old handat creating and maintaining CIA propa­ganda fronts, has bankrolled AIM tothe tune of a cool half million bucks.AIM co-founder Bernard Yoh was an •adviser in counterinsurgency techniquesto U.S. puppet Ngo Dinh Diem inVietnam, 1955-62. He was a conduit forCIA funds to operations in Vietnam, anadviser to Generalissimo Franco inSpain, to the South Korean andPhilippines dictatorships, a stalwartbacker of Moon and contributor to theMoonie Rising Tide. Robert Moss, anotorious disinformation mercenarywho was the author of the first open callfor a coup in Chile, run on the front pageof a CIA-funded magazine in March1973, now writes fundraising pitches forAIM.. These links, but the tip of the iceberg,

cast a certain light on AIA/ AIM'sunbridled enthusiasm for the interna­tional contra scum and the methods forliquidating political opponents they'dlike to bring home. One of Les Csorba'spersonal heroes is the kill-erazy Salva­doran ultrarightist Roberto D'Aubuis­son, nicknamed "Blowtorch Bob" forhis preferred method of interrogation.In 1984 Csorba traveled toEI Salvadoron an all-expense-paid trip by the

Council for Inter-American Security-aD.C. think tank which according toNACLA's Report on the Americas(July/ August 1986) last year promotednationwide tours by Nicaraguan contraspokesmen. Csorba's Central American"vacation" included participatingin asearch and destroy mission with the eliteAtlacatl Brigade and posing, rifle inhand, with government soldiers. Csorbawas also listed as a contributing writerfor Freedom Fighter, a publicationwhich sends readers who donate $20 ormore a spent brass rifle cartridgerecovered from a battle between theFDN and Sandinista troops.

Irvine himself was involved in the "re­assassination" through disinformation

. of Chilean exile Orlando> Letelier andhis assistant Ronni Moffitt. After theformer Allende cabinet minister andambassador was blown up by Pinochetagents in downtown Washington, D.C.in 1976, David Atlee Phillips' Associa­tion of Former Intelligence Officersbegan circulating papers supposedlyfound in Letelier's briefcase, claimingthat Letelier was a Cuban agent (andthus presumably deserved his fate).When even the FBI determined thatthisstory was a total fabrication, Irvinecharged the FBI with a cover-up.According to CovertAction (Spring1984), Irvine wrote more-than 55 storieson this case. It's a model of the AIMmethod, the smear in the service of thegun.

Perhaps his admiration for Pinochet'sjunta is where Irvine developed a fond-

6 MARCH 1987 7

Fight the AlA/AIM Witchhunters!

Accuracy in Academia has gone afterus in part because they see us asdomestic "surrogates" for the forcesReagan is after abroad. We Spartacistsare forthright in our unconditionalmilitary defense of the Soviet Unionagainst U.S. imperialism. We haveactively campaigned to provide materialaid to the radical-nationalist SandinistaNicaraguans faced with the' CIA'scontra war, Washington's trade embar­go and the threat of U.S. invasion. Insolidarity with our class brothers andsisters we have led militant protestsagainst those directly responsible formurderous' U.S. policy, like JeaneKirkpatrick. And we will continue thisfight to keep the butchers on the run!We stood ,for the defense of Libyaagainst the Pentagon's terror bombing.In southern Africa, we hail Soviet-,backed Cuban troops defending blackAngola against the South African army;and we call for the smashing ofapartheid, for workers revolution andthe establishment of a black-centeredworkers republic.

Here at home, the definition of"radical" has considerably broadenedunder the impact of Reaganj Meese'sattempted social counterrevolution. To­day it could easily encompass those whobelieveit's all right to read Playboy, whodon't wish to urinate in a Dixie cupevery day on the way to work, who clingto the belief that church and state shouldbe separate, who want their children tobe taught science and not superstition.Our Marxist commitment to defendingand extending the gains of the Enlight­enment means that we are staunchsecular humanists and defenders of theright to privacy.

Likewise, our dedication as revolu­tionaries to black liberation, to thecompletion of the tasks of the Civil War,has meant that we have uniquely andwith success mobilized the integratedlabor movement against Ku Klux Klanand Nazi provocations in major urbancenters, as in the LaborjBlack Mobi-

.Iization that stopped the Klan frommarching in Washington, D.C. on 27November 1982. Because our goal is theemancipation of labor from the chainsof capitalist exploitation, we have

WORKERS VANGUARD

clearly don't know accuracy from ahole in the ground, and maybe a goodlawyer ought to take them to court andteach them what libel is" (Nation, 13September 1986). But Bonner waspulled from Managua and transferredto the business desk.

The message was not lost on otherjournalists covering Central America.An article on the Managua beat inEsquire (November 1986) explained thechilling effect: "Several reporters saidthat sympathetic stories they hadwritten about the Sandinistas haddrawn protest letters to their ,editors

- from the State Department, letters thatmight have been dismissed out of handduring Vietnam, but now carried animplicit threat after the Bonner case."

AIM was able to get its hour-longrebuttal to a PBS series on the VietnamWar broadcast by that network. Andafter ABC aired The Day After, a dramastarring Jason Robards about theterrible effects of nuclear war set inKansas, AIM submitted a resolutionprior to the corporation's annual meet­ing "expressing concern that the net­work's facilities had been used todisseminate Soviet propaganda." Al­though, according to the Nation article,ABC denies that its decision to produceAmerikahad anything to do with AIM,"Irvine wrote in his newsletter: 'LastNovember, when "The Day After" wasbeing discussed, a lot of us thought thata movie about a Soviet take-over wouldbe an appropriate counterbalance to thenuclear war scenario that ABC wasairing.... I think our pounding on ABChas paid off'." Irvine says he didn't likethe final product, though; he woulddoubtless have preferred a more upbeat,Triumph of the Will-type ending.

War criminal Weinbergergets the reception hedeserves at Harvard,November 1983.

Sandinista supporters grow more militant

I·~~;!~-----

The Big Lie: Weapon of the Right

···.1:1., F ~

Young Spartacus

ing the American Historical Associa- life" movement. In the May 1986tion, the Organization of American Campus Report, AlA ran a prominentHistorians, and the American Associa- fund appeal for the legal defense of thesetion of University Professors which racist assailants with the snide call tocondemned AlA as "clearly inimical to support' "free speech and free play."the principle of free expression of views Among the backers of right-wing organsby all members of the academic commu- like the Dartmouth Review are multi-nity." AlA's job is to try to create a millionaire William Simon and "neo-social climate through fear and intimi- conservative" Irving Kristol, who indation on campuses so that Klaus 1966 was exposed as an "indirect'>Barbie or Heinrich Himmler himself, if recipient of CIA moneys. Simon andonly he could be resurrected from the Kristol are also major contributors tograve, could use the "respectability" of AlA.a university platform for their policies While Csorba hurls his Big Lie at thewithout protest. They'd like P.W. Botha Spartacist League, baldly and falselyto be a featured speaker on race claiming that his inventions appear inrelations at Atlanta University. our press, he also cites as a source for

alleged "disruptive tactics" on our partan article by one Elizabeth Greenewhich ran in the Chronicle of HigherEducation (12 February 1986). Ostensi­bly a publication for university adminis­trators and faculty, the Chronicle iscited no less than five times in the shortcapsule smear of the Spartacus YouthLeague in "Appeasing the Censors."Certainly fora dry, academic journal,the Chronicle maintains a hefty interna­tional network, with reporters stationedfrom Cape Town to Helsinki, EasternEurope to Manila, Managua to Mos­cow. And while we don't pretend toknow who she really is, Liz Greene is nostranger to us.

In an earlier incarnation as a writerfor the Columbia University Spectator,Ms. Greene was cornplicitin calling thepolice against some of our memberswhen they attempted to submit to theSpectator an announcement of oursuccessful suit against the Moonies'Washington Times-for the same lyingcharge of urging violence against policethat Csorba and Irvine are peddlingtoday. Now Ms. Greene's article sur­faces as the source for Csorba. It wouldappear that young "yellowjournalists"in the mold of Claire Sterling-authorof that masterpiece of disinforrnation,The Terror Network-l-ese afoot. Cer­tainly the techniques-planting a phonystory in a little-known publication, thenreplaying it for broader circulation as"proof" of the lie-come straight out ofthe CIA's manualsfor black propagan­da via the "mighty Wurlitzer" of mediamanipulation.

The bourgeois media both revile andheed Reed Irvine.' Washington Posteditor Ben Bradlee called him a "retro­mingent vigilante" (the kind that uri­nates on himself) but New York Timespublisher "Punch" Sulzberger meetswith Irvine regularly and buckles underto his pressure. Take the AIM operationagainst New York Times reporterRaymond Bonner. Though far from aradical, Bonner's Central Americareports didn't always side with the U.S.death squad clients in the region. Irvinewent running to Sulzberger brandish­ing allegations of rad-lib skeletons inBonner's closet. Then-foreign editorCraig Whitney concluded that AIM"ought to change its name ... they

• Those who must resort to terror willbe found first arid foremost in the campof the dying imperialist system. Bruteforce, laced with lies, is the only recoursefor a system which imposes global wars,starvation and hideous oppression onthe peoples of the world. In thiscountry, the bombing of the blackMOVE communein Philadelphia bearshellish witness to the bloodthirstyterrorism of the capitalist state. This

state-supported terrorism requires aclimate of opinion, one offear and knee­jerk conformity. Unrestrained use oftheBig Lie is indispensable. And that'swhere AIAj AIM come in.

In the last two years there has been awave of racist assaults on campusesaround the U.S. Most infamous forterrorist violence in the service ofreaction were the conservative Dart­mouth Review staff members whowielded sledgehammers against a sym­bolic shantytown while it was occupiedby anti-apartheid activists. For that, theDartmouth Review has become thedarling of the right in much the same

. fashion as abortion-elinic bombers arethe front line of the reactionary "right to'

8

"Accuracy inAcademia"...(continued from page 7)

Embassy Row [1.980]). The group'scommitment to the "free exchange ofideas" was captured on an SBA placardat a Grenada "victory" rally, "I'd love tokill a Communist." Csorba distributed aflyer against Landau containing infor­mation Landau believes was obtainedfrom his FBI files, as well as "quotes"falsely attributed to Landau and FidelCastro which Csorba lifted from the spynovel Monimbo by ... CIA operativeRobert Moss and witting journalistArnaud de Borchgrave. Landau filed acomplaint with the university's JudicialAffairs office noting, "the provocativenature of the notice could also make mea target for extremists, who might takethe aspersion seriously enough to attackme" (California Aggie, 22 February1985). Csorba's malice sparked a,HUAC-style probe by conservativeRepublican senator Richardson whothreatened to "raise the issue of Lan­dau's appointment when the stateLegislature considers the UC budget"(California Aggie, 7 March 1985).

Csorba can't be troubled with adher­ing to facts or any standards of accura­cy. He answers to a higher authority:God. And there's no stopping anyonewho thinks he's got a direct pipeline tothe Almighty. Still wet behind theears-e-pipsqueak Csorba is an "85 UCDavis graduate-s-he has already been"born again." His own divine revela­tions provide some insight into hischaracter, or lack thereof. Csorba wasquoted in the Christian newspaper, TheForerunner, as saying, "I used myprestige and power [while an executivecouncil member in UCD's student gov­ernment] to manipulate others throughelection fraud, stealing and misusingstudent funds. I was a disgrace" (Cali­fornia Aggie, 19 April 1984).

Some prominent targets on AIAjAIM's hit list of 45,000 include: MarkReader, a professor at Arizona StateUniversity who describes himself as a"Whole-Earth person" and whom Irvineattacked as promoting "fears of nuclearwar"; Terry Anderson of Texas A&M(who is also suing AlA for libel); Bertell

Irvine in bed with Nazis, Moonies,death squads of World Anti­Communist League. Csorba writesfor "campus contra" journal (right).

Ollman, a Marxist who was explicitly.denied chairmanship of an academicdepartment in Maryland because of hispolitical views; Mary Karasch of Oak­land lJniversity in Michigan, becauseher lectures on Latin American historycriticized U.S. policy; William G.Storey, a theology professor at NotreDame and defender of homosexualrights. AIAj AIM harbor particularvenom against Northwestern professorand InCAR supporter Barbara Foleyfor her commendable participation in aprotest against Nicaraguan contra lead­er Adolfo Calero.

AlA's tactics against individualprofessors have earned it the enmity of ahost of professional associations includ-

Reagan's Plans for World War IInuclear war being launched when acomputer "game" was connected to theweapons lcunch system. This is notsimply fiction: in mid-1980, StrategicAir Command headquarters in Omahaand the Pentagon's command centerwent on alert when a single chip failureled the c.omputer to interpret a testmessage as an actual nuclear attack(Alan Borning, "Computer SystemReliability and Nuclear War," Commu­nications of the ACM, February 1987).But this real danger of "accidental"nuclear war pales before Washington'splans for a computer-driven nuclearholocaust.

Reagan's secret National SecurityDecision Directive 13, issued in October1981, elaborated on Carter administra­tion plans for "decapitation" (i.e.,assassination) of the Kremlin leader­ship. It called for a U.S. capability tocontrol the escalation of a drawn-outnuclear war, force Soviet surrender andpreserve sufficient nuclear arms todominate a post-WW III world. Thestripped-down "Strategic Defense In­itiative" being projected for earlydeployment amounts to a "defense" ofremaining American missiles in thewake of a U.S. first strike on Russia.And among Colonel North's first jobs atthe National Security Council wasinstallation of computers and high-techcommunications equipment, and re­viewing "plans for the conduct of anextended nuclear war and the survival oftop American officials" (San FranciscoExaminer, 4 December 1986).You don'tsee Democratic liberals complainingabout that.

For the American ruling class isunited in pursuit of its war drive againstthe Soviet workers state. As the Inquirernotes in the concluding article of itsseries, Congress in the Reagan years hassupported U.S. covert actions withhundreds of millions of dollars. Andbehind Congress' back new super-secretPentagon outfits were spawned, such asthe Intelligence Support Activity, toprovide a permanent group to coordi­nate paramilitary operations. Weinerreports, "Two officers who are saidto have participated in the Activitywere Lt. Col. Oliver L. North andMaj. Gen. Richard V. Secord" of Iran/Contragate fame. From mining Nica­raguan harbors and bombing Tripolito sending the KAL 007 civilian air­liner on a provocative spy mission overthe Soviet Union; the war crazies inWashington are toying with blowing upthe world. It will take proletarianrevolution to sweep away the nuclearmadmen.•

TheC'I network is designedto linkall crucial battlestations duringnuclear war.The Milstarsatellite network,70,000 milesin space, wouldconnect thousands of radiosandcomputerterminals inmilitaryheadquarters,un':erground bunkers. missilesilos.submarines.tractor-trailers andairbornecommand posts.Milstarwouldbe theglobalswitchboard. receiving andrelaying launchordersfornuclearweapons.

SOURCES: Institute of Electric andElectronic Engineers Spectrum, TRW

M1LSTAR

produced by high-altitude nuclear det­onation, which would wreak havoc withcommunications. At least 50 are alreadyin place.

• Ground mobile command centers,actually 18-wheel lead-lined tractor­trailer trucks, to be used by the president

C31: A vision of nuclearwar

Theelectromagneticpt.Jlse. or EMP,iscreated by a nuclearexplosion in theatmosphere. EMPis anenormouselectromagnetic chargeakinto lightning. Itcandamage theelectroniccircuitry crucialtocomputers anddisruptthe e'l network.

Montgomery/Philadelphia Inquirer

Pentagon obsession: "command, control, communications & intelligence"to ''win'' wwm. Dr. Strangelove was sane in comparison.

the Reagan administration includes: and/ or his generals to continue the• The Milstar satellite system (for nuclear war. Two prototypes have al-

Military Strategic-Tactical and Relay) ready been built.designed to transmit launch commands • AI (artificial intelligence) robots tofor nuclear missiles from silos and pursue the battle in the "enhancedsubmarines. The first space test of a nuclear environment," as the militaryMilstar satellite was carried out on calls it. The Pentagon's Defense Ad-December 4. vanced Research Projects Agency notes

• The Navstar or Global Positioning that these robots will "not generateSystem satellites, which help guide discourse"-i.e., they don't talk back.nuclear missiles to their targets. The DARPA's 1987 budget calls for com-satellites also have IONDS (Integrated puters to "relieve military personnel inOperational Nuclear Detector System) complex decision-making tasks"; for-sensors to pinpoint nuclear explosions mer Pentagon missile defense chiefand assess the efficacy of the attack. Jacob Gilstein is even more blunt: "NoNavstar is scheduled to be fully opera- human being can enter the real-timetional this year. decision-making loop and control the

• The GWEN (Ground Wave Emer- system. It has to be pre-programmedgency Network) system of 500 un- with logic so the computer can make themanned radio towers designed to decision and run the game." Thewithstand the electromagnetic pulse popular movie War Games depicted a

network ("01," pronounced see-cubed­eye in Pentagonese) to orchestrate space­satellites and nuclear weapons duringand after World War III. And this isn't"Star Wars" fantasy land-a lot of thestuff's already deployed.

The 01 network being deployed by

World War Four? You read right.Weiner notes: "Since 1981, shortly afterPresident Reagan took office, thefundamental U.S. defense strategy hasbeen to be able to fight and win a six­month nuclear conflict-World WarIII-and remain strong enough after­ward to strike again." It's all part of thegovernment's plans to wage "limited"and "protracted" nuclear wars, officialU.S. doctrine since the DemocraticCarter administration. The Reaganauts'declared goal is to "prevail ... under theconditions of a prolonged nuclear war"and to "force the Soviet Union to seekearliest termination of hostilities onterms favorable to the United States"(from the "Fiscal Year 1984-1988 De­fense Guidance"). The key to this strat­egy is a computerized command, con­trol, communications and intelligence

American emissaries wing into Tehe­ran disguised as Irish pilots, bringingKhomeini a key-shaped cake (baked in aTel Aviv kosher bakery), a Reagan­inscribed Bible, a pair of Colt revolversand a planeload of American TOW anti­tank missiles. Tens of millions of dollarsin rake-offs from military sales to Iranby Israeli and Saudi arms merchants arelaundered through Swiss and Panama­nian dummy companies to purchaseSoviet guns for the U.S.' Nicaraguancontra mercenaries. Wierd-o-rama. Butwhile public attention is focused on theNational Security Council "cowboys" inthe White House, over at the Pentagonsecret operations have tripled underReagan, to more than $35 billion a year.It's not just running around CentralAmerican jungles. They're planning anuclear first strike against the SovietUnion, and their orders (like OliverNorth's) come from the top. We've saidfor some time that this country is beingrun by a gang of nuclear nuts. Now aseries by Tim Weiner in the PhiladelphiaInquirer (8-10 February) on "ThePentagon's Secret Cache" lays it out:

"Under the Cloak of black-budgetsecrecy, the Reagan administration isspending billions on nuclear bombersand millions to train dolphins asunderwater saboteurs. It has developedelaborate plans for winning a months­long nuclear war-World War lII-andpreparing for World War IV. The plansinclude robots stalking radioactivebattlegrounds, satellites orchestratingnuclear attacks and generals speedingalong interstates in lead-lined trucks,ordering warheads fired from farawaysilos."

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sought to intervene with our class­struggle program and propaganda inworking-class battles such as the strikeof East Coast longshore workers lastOctober.

AIA/ AIM and its fellow travelerssubscribe to the right-wing notion thatthe U.S. lost its dirty, genocidal waragainst the Vietnamese people becauseof some conspiracy of "liberal media"and rowdy college kids. So today theywant to head off a similar "conspira­cy" which might mean losing "thebig one"-World War III. It's plentycrazy-but these crackpots wield someinfluence in a country whose command­er in chief "jokes" about beginning thebombing of Russia in five minutes. Forthe Reaganites, military defeat for U.S.imperialism can only be understood asdue to an "excess of democracy" athome. Consider Reagan's response at anApril '84 press conference when askedabout his position in favor of a declaredwar in Vietnam. Reagan answered byraving against "the enemy within":

"I said that at a time when it was goingon here in our country, in which none ofthe rules of warfare could apply withregard to lending comfort and aid to theenemy."

-New· York Times, 5 April 1984

As Richard Nixon used to say, let's beperfectly clear. Reagan was talking

,'.,ARCH 1981

about charges of treason and a wartimemobilization of the police and militaryto crush antiwar activity.

Reagan and Meese long for a returnto the McCarthyite period when mil­lions of Americans were mobilized forwar on Communism: recall the ticker­tape parades for MacArthur. Where has

all the confetti gone, Reagan mustwonder, as he tries in vain to recoverfrom Irangate, Contragate, Shuttlegate,a cabinet in shambles and a populationthat sees the White House and theirextragovernmental McCarthyite hit­men for the lying, murderous thugs theyare. Weare confident that many of the

potential victims of the dirty disinform­ers of AlA/AIM will join us in supportof our libel lawsuit. We know, though,that what Csorba and Irvine's murder­ous libel represents will not be finallydefeated until the system which needs itand breeds it is replaced through avictorious socialist revolution.•

BT ProvocationLands in the Mud

Pratt Foughtfor Us...(continued from page 12)

Now, there obviously should be thou­sands out here for Pratt today, andthere's a reason why there's not. It's notthat people don't care, because when we,the Spartacist League, provided revolu­tionary leadership in Washington, D.C.to stop the Klan in 1982, thousands ofworking people and black youth turnedout. It has to do with the lack ofrevolutionary leadership within thelabor movement and the oppressedminority populations.. Because todaythe' labor movement is shackled by apro-capitalist trade-union bureaucracythat is totally committed to the capitalistsystem. It's a wonder that Lane Kirk­land and the AFL-CIO bureaucratsdidn't help finance that anti-Soviet war­mongering Hitler Big Lie film that'sbeing shown on TV, Amerika, sincetheir class-collaborationist program isjust as anti-Soviet, just as' anti-union,just as anti-black, just as anti-woman asthe Reaganite Cold Warriors.

We fight for class-conscious workersto forge a class-struggle revolutionaryleadership, breaking workers and mi­norities from the property parties, theDemocrats and Republicans, a leader­ship that would unleash the power oflabor on behalf of all the oppressed. Itwould fight for the Geronimo Pratts, itwould fight for the Johnny Spains, itwould fight for Ramona Africa, for allclass-war prisoners. It would demandjobs for all, for a shorter workweek withno loss in pay. It would organize the

Black Panthersand Phillyblack MOVEwere victims ofMeese/FBI"state terrorism,"protesters say.

unorganized, demand full citizenshipand union rights for foreign-bornworkers. And it would struggle for aclass-struggle workers party to fight fora workers government.

The black leadership in this countryfrom Jesse Jackson to Lionel Wilson aretied to the parties of the oppressors.After those MOVE adults and childrenwere murdered, what did Jesse Jacksoncall for? He wanted to make sure a fewblack businessmen were going to getcontracts to rebuild the homes that weredestroyed. That is, he wanted a little bitof black capitalism over the graves of

- those murdered. And I don't have to tellyou how Jackson was all over arch­segregationist George Wallace, praisinghim and saying, "The South shall riseagain." It sure as hell is rising again.Like down in Forsyth County, Georgia,where Klan terrorists are rising againwhile so-called black leaders led anti­racist protesters to that county, likesheep being led to the slaughter. JimmyCarter is from around there. Rememberhim? Jimmy Carter, the Democrat, oneof his first statements was, I am forethnic purity, I am for keeping theblacks in segregated neighborhoods,right?

The Russian Revolution established aplanned economy and a collectivizedproperty system, and despite its subse­quent Stalinist political degenerationresulting from a political counterrevolu­tion, those gains remain and must beunconditionally and militarily defendedagainst imperialism. Those gains belongto us. That revolution was the greatestvictory for the international workingclass and it was the biggest defeat forthe imperialists. That's why the bosseshate Russia-and that's why the Klan

Readers of WV familiar with thehighly dubious nature of the self­styled "Bolshevik Tendency" (for­merly known as the "External Ten­dency") will not be surprised to learnof this outfit's latest provocations atthe Oakland rally demanding "Free­dom Now for Geronimo Pratt!"

The BT marched into the crowd inmilitary formation and BT guruHoward Keylor-trailed by a BTerloaded with photographic equipmentobviously intending to capture thehoped-for "incident"-shortly pro­ceeded toward the stage. Approach­ing from 'the side opposite the accessramp clearly being used by rallyspeakers, Keylor attempted to leapover some shrubbery onto the stage.Blocked by a rally monitor, Keylor'sacrobatics landed him flat on hisposterior in the mud. As the rest ofthe BTers rushed forward to playtheir part in the orchestrated farce,Keylor then announced that the BTwanted a speaker!

As Spartacist spokesman Al Nel­son later told the demonstrators:"This next group, I tell you, is a realtest of our very firm belief in workersdemocracy. Since leaving our organi­zation as individuals five or six yearsago, they've since come together as agroup whose main purpose in lifeseems to be to hate the SpartacistLeague and everything we repre­sent." Nelson explained that prior to

doesn't ride in Moscow. Capitalism willsurely destroy us-the Reaganites' StarWar weaponry is no joke-unless wedestroy it, unless we build that massrevolutionary integrated workers party,a Bolshevik party like the one Lenin andTrotsky built in tsarist Russia to lead theworking class and ,oppressed to theseizure of state power, to a workersgovernment, to the dictatorship of theproletariat.

The fight for class-war prisoners like

the demonstration the BT had donenothing to support it and that rallyorganizers had asked the BT for atleast a written endorsement of thedemonstration's demands. "So theyhuddled amongst themselves a bit,put something in writing, so we gavethem a speaker; that's the way we dothings. Also they attempted todonate one' dollar-that was theirwhole group's donation today. Wetold them to stuff it. Somebody oncesaid in the labor movement, it's goodto know who your friends are andwho your enemies are. So all I cansay, folks, is listen to what they say,but hold on to your wallets."

BT speaker Gerald Smith railedagainst Spartacist "factionalism," thefrequent theme of anti-communists.Grotesquely, Smith used this diatribeto rehash the FBI slanders equatingRon Karenga's dubious US organi­zation and the Panthers, blamingUS's assassination of L.A. Pantherleader Bunchy Carter on "blind fac­tionalism" between the groups.Bunchy Carter was the politicalmentor and close comrade of Geroni­mo Pratt, and he was murderedbecause he was in the government'sCOINTELPRO cross hairs! In slan­derously attacking SL "sectarian­ism," the BT attempted' to use FBI"dirty tricks" to besmirch those whodefend the victims of state terror aswell as the martyrs who fell in thestruggle for black liberation.

Pratt who stood, and is still standing, inthe front lines of the struggle against thissystem is our fight. He fought for us andnow we're using our power to fight forhim. This is a very important beginning.It's not a question of one demonstra­tion, but for final victory, labor and itsallies must rely only on its own inde­pendently organized strength and powerin opposition to all wings of the capital­ist class. Freedom now for GeronimoPratt! Free all class-war prisonersljs

25$ (18 pages) Make checkspayable/mail to: Spartaclst Publishing Co., Box 1377 GPO, New York, NY 10116 75$ (32 peges)

Gooden for his own beating at the handsof the local cops last December 13.Gooden was driving his silver Mercedeshome from a basketball game when hewas pulled over by the police and beatenbloody. Taunting him with racial epi­thets, they went after the superstar'spitching arm, yelling "Hit his arm, hurtit, end his career." The report affirmsGooden was "undoubtedly struck sever­al times by various officers with fists,knees, flashlights and nightsticks," andthat a cop "pulled his revolver andplaced the barrel under Gooden's chin."They shined a Mag-Lite in his eyes,holding a mock interview: "DwightGooden, Action Sports, how are youdoing?" and "Our listeners are waitingto hear something. Do you have anycomment?" They tried unsuccessfully toapply a choke hold to "subdue him," butGooden was too strong for them, so he's

Tampa Cops...(continued from page 1)

and eyewitness to the police attack, said,"All three of them jumped on him andhad him in the neck break or whateveryou call it. They were kicking andbeating him and choking him."The copscreamed, "I'll kill.the black m-f" (St..Petersburg Times, 20 February). John- .son and Hair's mother pleaded with thepolice to stop, but were held at bay by acop who cocked his gun. Melvin's sisterarrived as his limp body was tossed intothe squad car. The cops said Hairthreatened "four people with a knife,"but the Tampa PO now admits he wasunarmed.

As black Tampa seethed, the cityreleased a report which blamed Dwight

75t (32 pages) 75t (32 pages)

alive today.Nonetheless, the report concludes

there is "no evidence" of "intentionalpolice brutality," claiming Goodeninstigated the assault by reacting in a"hostile fashion" after being pulled overby the cops. It also asserts race was not a"factor," even though Gooden and hisfour companions are black and all 22police involved are white! Facing thethreat of a stiff jail sentence whichwould destroy his professional future,Gooden, now in spring training at St.Petersburg, pleaded "no contest" tofelony charges of battery on a policeofficer and resisting arrest. Not contentwith this, the racist cops are still pullinghim over without cause and staking outhis house, Gooden says.

As a pall of smoke hung over EastTampa, Bob Gilder, former TampaNAACP president, commented, "It's a

war zone down there." And the war onblack people won't end after two days ofpolice occupation. The unemploymentrate for black youth in the area is 48percent, Gilder said. With no jobs, nofuture, these young blacks have beencondemned by capitalist society to therefuse heap, and racist cop terror is themeans to keep them there. In 1967 theNational Guard was called into Tampato suppress blacks after the cops shotdead a 19-year-old "robbery suspect."Twenty years later, black misery hasonly increased, as even the modest gainsof the civil rights movement are beingreversed in the Reagan years.

Democratic mayor Sandy Freedman,the Tampa NAACP and local blackpreachers appealed for calm and non­violence... and for more black cops.From New York's black police commis­sioner Benjamin Ward to L.A.'s formertop cop, now mayor Tom Bradley, blackhands on the nightstick still meanchoke-hold murder in the ghetto. Butthe chain of racist terror can be broken,mobilizing the black population inalliance with labor, like the largely blackTampa lLA dock workers. Shuttingdown the port and local industry toprotest the cop rampage would teachsome respect to the racists in blue and tothe bosses; such as convicted Watergatefelon George Steinbrenner, owner of theNew York Yankees and the AmericanShip Building Company in Tampa, whoin 1983 shut down his Lorain, Ohioshipyard axing 1,500 jobs in order to

- bust the union.Cops out of East Tampa! For labor/

black defense to smash racist terror!Hands off Dr. K!.

WORKERS VANGUARD

7

PDC: Free Gero,nimo!The Partisan Defense Committee

thanks all who helped build the success­ful united-front demonstration to freeAmerica's foremost class-war prisoner,Geronimo Pratt, in Oakland, Californiaon February 21. The diverse and broadsupport for Geronimo Pratt reflects themany for whom he fought. The demon­stration stimulated new publicity andbrought labor support to his case.

This work must be expanded andrepeated until the day Geronimo Pratt

walks out of San Quentin a free man.But nothing will give him back the years ,they've stolen from him. DemandGeronimo's freedom: mobilize yourunions and community groups; organ-:ize demonstrations; send. letters andtelegrams; publicize this case and dowhatever you can.

Unfortunately there were individualsand groups who placed factional regardabove taking a stand for Geronimo'sfreedom, by refusing to endorse or

attend the February 21 demonstrationbecause of the PDC's accordance withthe political views of the SpartacistLeague, and the active role ofthe SL inhelping build this action. In the tradi­tibn of the International Labor Defenseunder the leadership of James P.Cannon from 1925 to 1928,which stoodon the anti-sectarian principle of "aninjury to one is an injury to all," thePartisan Defense Committee urgeslabor, socialist, defense and civil rightsorganizations to support the campaignto free Geronimo Pratt. We, of course,remain ready to coordinate with othersto achieve the largest mobilization of

support for Geronimo's cause. FreedomNow for Geronimo Pratt!

We urge you to send letters andtelegrams demanding Geronimo Pratt'sfreedom to: 9th Circuit Court ofAppeals, U.S. Courthouse, 450 GoldenGate Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102;and California State Parole Board,District Parole Office, 759 South VanNess Avenue, S!J.n Francisco, CA 94110,re: Parole Hearing for Elmer GeronimoPratt. To continue the fight to freeGeronimo Pratt, write to the PartisanDefense Committee, P.O. Box 99,Canal Street Station, New York, NY10013.•

Marxist Working-Class Biweekly of the Spartacist League

.Make checks payable/mail to: Spartaelst Publishing Co., Box 1377 GPO, New York, NY 10.116

423

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1LWU member told WV he was in Iowawhen the Panthers were active inOakland and admired their work. He

_contrasted how the government treatedthe Ku Klux Klan and the Panthers:"They killed Fred Hampton and MarkClark back in Chicago. 1 know aroundDes Moines quite a few ofthe Pantherswere busted on phony charges.... Onthe other hand you have the Ku KluxKlan, with a long history of killing andmurdering innocent people. And yettoday their leaders can walk around inperfect safety."

Keep Up the Fight!

The Partisan Defense Committee andLabor Black League, as well as en­dorsers like the Spartacist League, builtheavily for the rally as part of anongoing campaign to secure GeronimoPratt's freedom. Tens of thousands ofleaflets were distributed at union meet­ings and plant gates; pot luck dinnersand parties were held to raise money topay for the rally. The Communist PartyU.S.A. and National Alliance AgainstRacist and Political Repression failed toendorse the rally, however. The JohnBrown Anti-Klan Network was absentas well, reportedly because the Sparta­cist League was involved. This sectari­anism can only hurt efforts to free class­war prisoners like Pratt and manyothers still behind bars.

But support for Pratt's freedom isgrowing. At a February 27 pressconference in Oakland, former BlackPanther Party chairman Bobby Sealeurged support for a letter-writingcampaign demanding Pratt's freedom.More than 500 people have respondedto the PDC's call to submit letters to theCourt of Appeals and California ParoleBoard calling for his release. We urgeour readers to take up this urgent cause.Speaking at the February 21 rally,Karen Allen, one of the demonstration'sorganizers; gave a moving report on hervisit with Pratt in San Quentin the daybefore. When it's over, she said:

"The guards come on the loudspeakerand say 'All prisoners to the rear-allvisitors to the gate!' And they rip himaway. In the last few moments, you seehis eyes, knowing that he's locked up;you're leaving, but he's not. You finallywalk out of that prison and you knowthat man has got to be free, he's got to beoutside with us, organizing with us, So

. he thanks all of you for your efforts.Let's keep fighting!".

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despaired of mobilizing the tremendoussocial power of the organized, integrat­ed labor movement, they were unable tolink the struggle in the ghetto to thefactories, to the power of the workingclass.... We, the Spartacisf League, callfor black liberation through socialistrevolution."

For some who came out.therally wasan education. One 18-year-oid blackwoman from the Universityof Califor­nia told WV, "The first reason why Icame to the rally is because I'm a fan ofMalcolm X. I always have believed inthe Black Panthers; I always was againstMartin Luther King.... I came becauseit was about the Black Panthers and 1would like to learn more about them."Others who braved the rain had experi­ence of working-class struggles, from aSalvadoran phone worker to a Mexicanfarm worker from Watsonville, wherecannery workers on strike for more thana year sent a solidarity greeting. A black

Protestersdemand

freedom forGeronimo Pratt.Right, Alameda

County SupervisorJohn George

addresses rallyoutside Oakland

City Hall.

fight against oppression, not onlybecause of the justice of his case and thecrime of his continued imprisonment,but for the memory of his fallencornrades-e-like Bunchy Carter in LosAngeles, like Little Bobby Hutton,gunned down here in Oakland at the age'of 15, not far from where we standtoday.... Class-struggle defense meansusing the power of the working class. Itmeans .labor action."

Alameda County Supervisor JohnGeorge brought the day's stormy weath­er to bear in -his remarks to the rally:"Today is symbolic because the windwas out here today, but it is a wind ofchange. The rain will come down likejustice and we've got 1"0 continue thisstruggle." Frenchie Alford, a vicepresident of the Oakland EducationAssociation, emphasized the need tocontinue the fight, saying, "The time isnow for the freedom of our brotherGeronimo Pratt from the walls. ofconfinement. We must press on toensure that justice does prevail." WillieLee Bell, Recording Secretary andHuman Rights Chairman of MachinistsLocal 739, noted that Pratt's frame-upexposed the continuing injustices"perpetrated and manipulated by cer­tain dregs in the dupe Reagan's adminis­tration, particularly when he's undersedation.... Each one of us here todaycould very well be the next victim of aframe-up."

Guillermo Bermudez spoke for theBerkeley. Young Spartacus Club.Spartacist League spokesman DonAlexander stressed the need for"class-conscious workers to forge aclass-struggle revolutionary leader­ship." He noted the Black Panther Partyinspired black militants because of their

-rejection of craven "Uncle Tom" poli­tics, but "as black nationalists, they

Pratt Rally...(continued from page 12)

were among the morethan 100 endors­ers demanding freedom for GeronimoPratt, as were former Black PantherParty leaders Bobby Seale, Bobby Rushand Kathleen Cleaver.

Phone workers from. Communica­tions Workers of America Local 9410(San Francisco) came on Saturdaycarrying their union banner. Messageswere read from Amalgamated TransitUnion Local 1555 President HankWhite, veteran socialist and fighter forblack liberation Richard Fraser, theSpartacist League of Australia and NewZealand, and the Ujamaa Society atAtlanta University. Letters to the 9th

. Circuit Court of Appeals from Califor­nia Assemblyman Elihu Harris andInternational Longshoremen's andWarehousemen's Union (lLWU) Local6 Business Agent Joseph Lindsay de­manding Pratt's freedom were also read.

Local media covered the demonstra­tion, including ABC-TV's Channel 7.Fellow prisoners of Geronimo Pratt atSan Quentin saw the news, calling out tohim that his case was on TV. Spartacistspokesman Don Alexander was inter­viewed on the black radio stationKPOO the night before the rally. Boththe San Francisco Chronicle and Exam­iner publicized the rally, helpingto buildsupport for Pratt's case. And it receivedinternational coverage, as Radio Mos­cow broadcast a report on February 24:

"In Oakland, California a demonstra­tion has been held in support of ademand to free Geronimo Pratt andother political prisoners in the UnitedStates. A rally after the demonstrationpointed out Geronimo Pratt, a leader ofthe Black Panthers organization, hasbeen in jail for 16 years now, sufferingfor his political views. He was impris­oned on a frame-up charge."

Radio Moscow noted that other "dissi­dents suppressed by the United States"include Leonard Peltier and blackprison activist Johnny Harris, onAlabama's death row since 1975.

Pratt, a highly decorated Vietnamveteran, was railroaded to prison as avictim of the 'FBI's COINTELPRO(Counterintelligence Program) murderand disruption operation. He faces aparole board hearing in May and isfighting for a new trial. His 1971conviction was orchestrated from thehighest levels of government. It relied onthe-vtestimony" of an LAPD agent andFBI informer who lied on the standabout his relationship to those agencies.Further, the FBI "lost" wiretaps provingPratt was 500 miles away in Oakland atthe time a Santa Monica schoolteacher(and antiwar activist) was murdered, thecrime they framed him for. As formerFBI agent Wesley Swearingen testifiedin 1985, "Pratt was set up."

Jeff Higgins of the Labor BlackLeague declared at the rally, "GeronimoPratt, unbowed and unbroken, stillcommitted to the cause of the op­pressed, is an inspiring model of dignityand determination for decent workingpeople everywhere." Partisan DefenseCommittee speaker Janet McCulloughJohn added' that Geronimo Pratt's"freedom must be the cause of all who

6 MARCH 1987 11

W,/tltE/tS ""fJU,/t,

Black Panther Leader Behind Bars for 16 Years

5:I"•ra

eman•

eronlmoree"OAKLAND-Demanding "FreedomNow for Geronimo Pratt! Down withMeese/ FBI COINTELPRO Frame­Up!" oyer 200 union members and offi­cials, black and Hispanic activists,students and socialists rallied Saturday,February 21 at Oakland's City HallPlaza Park. Former Los Angeles BlackPanther Party leader Elmer "Geroni­mo" Pratt has been imprisoned for over16years, eight in solitary, framed up fora crime he did not and could not havecommitted. From San Quentin prisonthis courageous fighter for black free­dom sent greetings to the demonstra­tion: "The fact of you coming togetherin workers' demands for Justiceshows adegree of recognition that really fright­ens the manipulators of labor as they arehelpless when faced with the rawawesome power of the worker. ... Myfreedom would be a victory and astatement that to be a militant fighterfor black liberation is not to be acriminal."

The rally brought an outpouring ofsupport from coast to coast. Initiatedby the Bay Area Labor Black Leaguefor Social Defense and the PartisanDefense Committee-a class-struggle,non-sectarian legal defense organiza­tion in accordance with the politicalviews of the Spartacist League-therally was endorsed by over 60 unionsand labor officials. Congressman RonDellums and prominent black.Bay Areaofficials Doris Ward and Wilson Riles

continued on page 11 >

United-front Oakland rallyFebruary 21 drew widelabor and black support.At podium, unionistFrenchie Alford.

"Pratt Fought for Us,Now We're Fighting for Him"·

We print below excerpts from theremarks by Spartacist League CentralCommittee member Don Alexander atthe February 21 Oakland rally forfreedom for Geronimo Pratt:

I want to tell everybody here that Iwas sitting in that courtroom back in theearly '70s when Geronimo'pratt wasframed by the bourgeois state. I sawwith my own eyes how happy the racistcops, the racist judge, the Los AngelesPolice Department and the variousother' venal criminals that put Pratt­away, how happy they were that day.Because what happened was that these

wild beasts of U.S. imperialism, theEdwin Meeses and Ronald Reagans,put a militant fighter for the oppressedbehind bars after they tried to kill him in1969. For 16years Pratt has been injail,eight of them in solitary confinement,under conditions designed to break anddestroy him. Over the years the Sparta­cist League, unlike the pro-DemocraticParty left, has consistently called on theintegrated labor movement and all anti­racist fighters to come to the defenseof Geronimo Pratt and all class-warprisoners.

What really should happen, and whatreally would be justice, is if Edwin

",-.

Meese and Ronald Reagan would beput in solitary confinement themselvesfor eight, ten years, and then shipped toEl Salvador and be put into the handsof the Salvadoran workers and peasantswho would place them on trial! TheCOINTELPRO program had one basicaim: to kill, to jail, to drive out of thecountry as many Panthers-as they could.So when they attacked the Panthers'headquarters in Los Angeles, the copsthere probably would have likedto havedropped a bomb on their headquarterslike they did to MOVE in Philadel­phia-except during that period of timeU.S. imperialism was busy raining

"To be a militant fighter for blackliberation is not to be a criminal."

-Geronimo Pratt

·bombs down on the heads of Vietnam­ese workers and peasants who beattheir butts and sent them packing.

continued on page 10

12 6 MARCH 1987