Professional Documents
Culture Documents
0348 17 02 1984 PDF
0348 17 02 1984 PDF
0348 17 02 1984 PDF
Blacks
He made no oved not allow our people to he killed without
betrayals on behalf taking revenge." This is no idle threat. as
of imperialism. the Maronites or the French Foreign
Legion ca n attest (sec box page l)). The
He was no friend
of freedom.
Druzc have a long memory of the
wrongs done them. and a history of
doing something about it. Suddenly the
Sell' Jersey stopped Its shelling and
and
YliRI VLADIMIROVICH AN~DROPOV
Druze militiamen showed up with
flowers in their gun barrels at the l'.S.·
Embassy to help in the evacuation. "I
am here just to make sure that no
Reds
1914-1984
one bothers the Americans." said one
(.\'£'\1 }'urk Times. II Februaryl. What
SEE PAGE srx
happened to all those "bloodthirsty
An .Exchange: Yuri Al1dropov
'and Soviet Defensism
When the Spartacist League initiated -styled "External Tendency" (ET) in To-
the Labor! Black Mobilization which
stopped the Ku Klux Klanfrom staging
a race-terror provocation in Washing-
ronto said it was a new low even for us.
In our reply to their first letter, 'we oh-
served that our Stalinophobic critics,
In Defense of Trotskyism
ton, D.C. on 27 November 1982, we
never imagined that one result would he
who claim that the "Yuri Andropov
Brigade" means we have sold out to
SL Reply safer, more secure, privileged life" (p.
196). Andropov is known as a decisive
an interesting hot debate with some 01' Stalinism, evidently have no objection 3 January 1984 and efficient administrator who used the
our ex-members on the question of to the "Ulysses S. Grant Division." KGB not only to persecute dissidents
Dear Comrades,
Stalinism. But when the charter busload named for a Repuhlican capitalist but to fight crime and corruption in the
from Norfolk. Virginia took the name politician. We publish below the second Your reply of 28 October 1983 highest levels -of the bureaucracy,
"Nat Turner Battalion" and the New letter on the subject (rom the Toronto regarding-the "Yuri Andropov Brigade" including Brezhnev's immediate family.
York comrades followed suit with the "External Tendency;' along with our collapses the contradictions inherent in Confronted by Reagan's nuclear Arma-
"Yuri Andropov Brigade," the self- reply. the Soviet bureaucracy and Soviet geddon, the bureaucracy evidently felt
degenerated workers state, thereby the need for a leader who would shake
vitiating .the Trotskyist position of out the sloth, corruption and misman-
"Andropov Brigade~
reform itself as neo-Bukharinites like
You consider the key point made in the Medvedev brothers believe. It will
your original letter your paraphrase of take the restoration of soviet-democracy
our slogan "You Can't Fight Reagan through proletarian political revolution
ET Letter and the bureaucrats he represents are
counterposed to everything that Trot- with Democrats" as "You Can't Defend . to unleash the productive resources of
Toronto sky fought for." We would have thought the Soviet Union with Yuri Andro- the Soviet workers state. And as
October 28, 1983 that this was a fairly unobjectionable povs." Our slogan is based on the fact comrade Robertson wrote you, in
statement among Trotskyists. Leon that there is no class difference between our view, that political revolution is
Dear Comrade Robertson: the twin parties. of the American inextricably linked to the uncon-
Trotsky throughout his life fought for
Thank you for being so good as to international proletarian revolution; imperialist bourgeoisie. Do you mean to ditional military defense of the Soviet
send us a copy of your reply to our letter Stalin was the "gravedigger" of imply that there is no class difference Union against American and other
of 13 December, 1982. Please be assured revolutions. between imperialism and the Soviet imperialisms.
that we have given it our most careful But after quoting the above line you bureaucracy'? Then you thereby reject Your comparison of Andropov with
consideration. choose not to take it up at all. Instead Trotsky's analysis of the Soviet degener- Stalin and Beria, the mass murder-
Frankly we were a bit disappointed you attempt to substitute a position ated workers state as well. "Oh, no," you ers of tens of thousands of Commu-
with your letter. You defend so ada- which we do not hold which, you assure protest. But your all-too-clever and very nists and Red Army officers, is an
mantly (but so poorly) what is so clearly us, is only a "more poetic version" of the revealing paraphrase of our slogan is obscehe amalgam worthy ofthe pages of
a mistake. Perhaps it is a mistake that same thing. But it is not. We reject the ambiguous at best. Can the Soviet <, Commentary. Andropov's entire politi-
you feel some personal responsibility erroneo\s position of the Dobbs- Union be defended with Marshals cal career was shaped by a more tranq uil
for. We sympathize with the inherent Cannon SWP majority in 1952-53 with Ustinov and Ogarkov, who are also part period domestically. To hold him
difficulties of attempting to develop a . which you attempt to saddle us ("Stalin- of the bureaucracy and who helped personally responsible for the psycho-
coherent defense of the "Yuri Andropov ism is counterrevolutionary through engineer Andropov's rise to power? Is pathological mass crimes of Stalin
Brigade" within the programmatic and through and to the core"). We reject the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan reflects " the methodology that holds
framework of Trotskyism, but even so adulation of Yuri Andropov for· the then not to be hailed and the Soviet the bureaucracy to be a homogenous
we were disappointed. We had some- same reason-s-because it negates the handling of the KA L 007 provocation to reactionary mass counterrevolutionary
how expected more from you. contradictors' character of the Stalinist be condemned? through and through-e-i.e., a new
You quote a line from our letter that bureaucracy' and thus constitutes a. Your position is reminiscent of. the exploiting class. Given this methodolo-
"On'the most general 'level A~ro"ov continued on page J statement; "'We have never supported gy there is no distinction between a
the Kremlin's internationa·l·· policy," Guevara heroically fighting for social
8eforeyougrowtoo enamored of that . , revolution arms in hand and a.Corva-
formula let me. remind you thaFits lin who disatme<t the workers in the
Lenin'sLutStrulll~ author was Max Shachunariinthe face of counterrevolution. since they
1939..040 fight overtl\e Russia-nquestion.. ·both were Latiq American Stalinists.·1t
On his deathbed in kJlt·/922-tarly /923 About it Trotsky observed: is, worthy of those who· make. no"
Le'nin foutl1t
10 prevent the bureauct'atic "'In ,t$ present foreign as well as distinction between a Ramon Mercader
degenerationo! the CommUnist Party·in . domestic policy. {he bureaucracy places and "a Leopold Trepper, between a Mark
power. He therefore proposed to broaden firstand foremost for defense its own Zborowski and a Kim Philby, since they
par.asitic interests, To that extent we
working-Class rept'esentat;onon theCen- wage mortalstruggle·a~instit. but in were all agents of Stalin's murderous
tra! Committee and to remove Stalinfrom the final analysis. through the interests secret police. This methodology can
the powerful post of secretary-general. of the bureaucracy, in a very distorted never account for, muchtess attract, an
linin's testament was subsequently sup- form the interests of the workers' state Ignace Reiss•. He. served as an officer of
are reflected. These interests we
pressed by Stalin for three decades. defend-s-wirh our own methods."
theGPU at,thevery height of Stalin's
TROTSKY LENIN ~"From a Scratch to the Danger .terror, and declared for the Fourth
Stalin is too rude and this defect. alt~ough quite tolerable in our midst and in of Gangrene," In Defense of International at .the cost of his life
Mona.I'III,· p. 127 precisely because he sawin it the
dealings among us Communists, becomes intolerable ina Secretary-General. That is
why I suggest that the comrades think about a way of removing Stalin from that post Trotskyism provides a coherent world- unstained banner of revolutionary
and appointing another man in his stead who in all other respects differs frorri view in whichthecontradictorycharac- Soviet defensism, To paraphrase com-
Comrade Stalin in having only one advantage, namely. that of being more tolerant, ter of the Stalinist bureaucracy is rade Robertson's reply to you: sitting at
more loyal, more polite and more considerate to the comrades. less capricious. etc, reflected. Your assertion. "On the most the summit of the Soviet bureaucracy,
This circumstance may appear to be a negligible detail. But I think that from the general level Andropov andthebureau- Andropov is unlikely to follow the path
standpoint of safeguards against a split and from the standpoint of what I wrote crats he. represents are counterposed to of Ignace Reiss. But it is infinitely easier
above about the relationship between Stalin and Trotsky it is not a detail, or it is a everything that Trotsky fought for," is to see him in that role than (if you will
detail which can assume decisive importance. I
both undialectical and very distant from. not have Sakharov) the Douglas Frasers
V.I. Lenin Trotskyism. of the world who have placed them-
January 4. 1923 Do you not believe that under the gun selves countless times in the direct
-s-Collected Works, Volume 36 (Moscow. 1966) of Reagan's anti-Soviet war drive the service of the imperialist secret police.
Soviet bureaucracy may be compelled Truth is concrete; therefore it is
to take certain measures, albeit de- hardly surprising that there is not a
formed and partial, to defend the state word in your letters about the concrete
power from which they reap their conditions in which the Russian ques-
I WfJIiliEIiS ""','Ii'
Marxist Working-Class Biweekly of the Spartacist League of the U.S.
privileges? It is no accident that in this
hour of grave peril the bureaucracy has
placed at its head Yuri Vladirnirovich
tion is posed today: the crisis of U.S. and
other imperialisms finds no other es-
cape than thermonuclear Armageddon
Andropov. An interesting account of against the Soviet Union, imperiling not
EDITOR: Jan Norden
Andropov's character and rise to power only the working-class gains of the
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Noah Wilner
CIRCULATION MANAGER: Darlene Kamiura
can be found in Zhores Medvedev's Russian October but the very survival of
EDITORIAL BOARD: Jon Brule, Charles Burroughs, George Foster. Liz Gordon. James Robertson,
recent book Andropov. There is no love humanity. This is manifestly a period of
Reuben Samuels, Joseph Seymour. Marjorie Stamberg (Closing editor for No. 348: Liz Gordon) lost between this Soviet biologist and enhanced dangers for our small revolu-
Workers Vanguard (USPS 098-770) published biweekly, skipping an issue in August and a week in December, by dissident and the former head of the tionary party. It is as well a time of
the Spartacist PUblishing Co., 41 Warren Street, New York, NY 10007. Telephone: 732-7862 (Editorial), 732-7861 KGB who incarcerated him in a mental enhanced opportunities for us. as shown
(Business). Address all correspondence to: Box 1377, GPO, New York, NY 10116. Domestic subscriptions: $5.00/24
Issues Second-class postege paid at New York, NY. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Workers Vanguard, hospital and exiled him. Nevertheless, for example by our demonstrated
Box 1377, GPO, New York, NY 10116. Medvedev contrasts Andropov . to capacity to lead large numbers of blacks
OP'nI'!,"s expressed in signed articles or letters do not necessarily express the editorial viewpoint.
Brezhnev, who "was not a real leader in and other working people in mass
. 17 February 1984 1964, but the representative of the struggles against the, fascist race-
No. 348
bureaucracy which sought a quieter, continued on page 3
2 WORKERS VANGUARD
ET Letter...
(continued from page 2)
development is somewhat less probable
than the prospect of you declaring for
the External Tendency.) Obviously,
to cling to this error, indeed the fact that
it could occur in the first place, is
evidence that the leadership of the SL/
openly pro-imperialist . elements, like US, with you at the apex, is losing its
departure from Trotskyism. Of cqurse, Sakharov, are even less likely to support political bearings. This can only be a
from your point of view the position has the workers than Andropov. So what'? reflection of the atrophying of confi-
the advantage of being considerably The necessity for an "open struggle dence in the possibility of building a
easier to knock down-an attribute it against" the Stalinist oligarchs is in no mass Bolshevik party capable ofleading
shares with other straw men. way obviated by that. the seizure of power by the working
If all you are searching for is a more As for the hypothetical glee experi- class.
lyrical rendering of the idea which we enced by blacks in D.C. upon hearing of There is a necessary and reciprocal
were seeking to convey, you might wish the advent of the Yuri Andropov relationship between the loss of commu-
to consider the following passage by Brigade. would they have been any less nist cutting edge and the destruction of
Trotsky: happy about a John Brown, Frederick internal democracy in a revolutionary
"Stalinism originated not as an organic Douglass or Leon Trotsky Brigade'? As organiza tion. For a Bolshevik tendency,
outgrowth of Bolshevism hut as a a matter of fact, we have our doubts as especially a small propaganda group in
negation of Bolshevism consummated to whether any of the "ground-down
in blood. The process of this negation is conditions of bourgeois democracy, a
mitrored very graphically in the history black people of D.C." actually ever vigorous and democratic internal life is
of the Central Committee. Stalinism heard of the Yuri AndropovBrigade. not a desirable option but a vital
had to exterminate first politically and How could they-it wasn't among the necessity if the organization is to be able
then physically the leading cadres of endorsers of the demonstration. If any to respond effectively to the changing
Bolshevism in order to become what it
now is: an apparatus of the privileged. a of Washington's black population did developments of the class struggle. Lochon/Gamma-Liaison
brake upon historical progress. an feel Igleeful about that name on a bus Unfortunately the SL/iSt is no longer In late 1979, when Soviet forces
agency of world imperialism. Stalinism from New York, imagine their pleasure an organization which has a healthy intervened against U.S.-backed
and Bolshevism are mortal enemies." had the Yuri Andropov Brigade ven- internal life-a development for which Afghan feudallsts, Spartacists said:
("A Graphic History of Bolshevism." tured a little further out of the closet and you more than any other' individual Hail Red Army in Afghanistan!
7 June 1939) paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue in must be held accountable. popular front building a Democratic
Not merely "counterposed." but , front of the White House holding aloft Party rally at McPherson Square. Or,
Bolshevik greetings,
"mortal enemies!" He puts it so nicely. pictures of its namesake! But of course not wanting to confront the Democrats
External Tendency of the iSt
Of course despite this assessment to do that, the "semi-facetious" semi- in Congress and City Hall, they were,
Trotsky remained, as do we, firmly disclaimer would have to be discarded like yourselves, absent.
Soviet defensist. The two positions are
mutually exclusive only in the minds of
and you would no longer be the leader of
a Trotskyist organization.
SL Reply ... Finally, we note-and your puerile
affectation of superciliousness does not
Stalinist sycophants. Surely we could We can only imagine that the final (continued from page 2) disguise-that despite yourselves you
agree that "on the most general level" "illuminating" red herring that you toss must pay the Leninist democracy of the
Glenn Watts and Lane Kirkland are our way regarding a united front with terrorists. A number of our softer and Spartacist League its due. For as you
counterposed to class-struggle militants the Kremlin for Soviet defensism is weaker members, intimidated by the attest, this exchange, as with any serious
in the unions'? Yet is it not easy to intended to distract the attention of the dangers (and often equally intimidated (and even not so serious) criticism or
imagine situations where we would both unsophisticated readers of your internal by the obligations posed by our new polemic against the SL, will find its
find ourselves in a military bloc with bulletin. (Just to be absolutely clear, let opportunities). have departed the Spar- place in an internal bulletin or some
these treacherous parasites'? Same thing. us assure you that we entirely agree with tacist tendency, including yourselves: othe-r suitable format. What other
Of course the Soviet bureaucracy has the point which Trotsky makes in the . But when the KKK threatened to march tendency is so solicitous of healthy
a dual nature. But your reply dodges the quote you cite.) Or are you perhaps on 27 November 1982 the issues posed internal life and education of its mem-
key point that we made in our original trying to suggest that parading around prompted many ex-members from New bership as to publish a series like
letter: "You can't defend the Soviet Washington as the "Yuri Andropov York to head for D.C. with us. We were Hate Trotskyism. Hate" the Spartacist
Union with Yuri Andropovs." You Brigade" would somehow constitute a pleased to have so many former mem- League'? No, comrades. we esteem that
claim to continue to recognize the military bloc with the Kremlin for the bers turn out (without of course making rich party democracy necessary to
"inextricable" connection between mili- defense of the USS R'? If that's what-you any political concessions to them); forging centralized revolutionary clarity
tary defense and political revolution in mean why not comeout and sayso? Fascists.are the domestic shock troops andvdeterrnination in action, that
the' Soviet Union" But, those who - Calling yourselves the "Yuri Andre- for Reagan's anti-Soviet war drive; democracy whicb.. you vciuntasily
adulate Stalin's heirs act to undermine povBrigade'twas a mistake. All of your
very considerable political experience as
therefore it was entirely appropriate as placed yourselves outside of m-.
tftis
the defense of the Soviet Union. Let us well as ironic to dub this contingent in period of-urgent revolutionary tasks,
refer you once again to comrade well as the talents of the capable and the Labor/ Black Mobilization the "Yuri We know what our duty is and we
Trotsky: devoted Marxists who-produce WV Andropov Brigade," which was appre- stand at our posts. As Trotsky wrote on
" ... 1 consider the main source of can't change that, If we were to offer you ciated by most if not all of its partici- the eve of the Second World War:
danger to the USSR in the present some advice it would be this: don't try to pants. The only protest hes come from "The workers' state must be taken as it
international situation to be Stalin and defend the indefensible. it can only the "External Tendency.zwhich while has emerged.from themerciless labora-
the oligarchy beaded by him. An open tory 3f history and not as it 'is imagined
struggle against them, in the view of produce b.ad results. ' capable oftraveling all over the country
world' public opinion. is inseparably For several decades you played. a to attend Sk..functions (and speakiilg twa·:s()cialist' professor, reflectively
exploring his nose with his finger. It is
connected for me with the defense of the critical role iq,preserving. defending.and without hindra,~ce) were, atthis historic the .duty of revolutionists to de(end
USSR." even developing the, Trotskyist pro- victory cOI;l~j)jc~ousb>, their _a~sence. every .conquest of the working class
("Stalin After the Finnish Experience," gram. But you didn't thereby acquire And 1}09I)ej~ WashiJ)gt90 that day even thoughit'rnay be .distprted by the
13 March 1940) pressure of hostile Iorces.« Those who
proprietary rights to it. Adulation of a would !rllv.cmistaken theYuri Andropov
Of course, one cannot rule out in cannot defend old positions will never
Stalinist bureaucrat can neither be Brigadeas.a concession to, Stalinism. conquer new ones." L
theory the-possibilitywhich you raise squared with fidelity to Trotskyism in The real Kremlin sycophants and' ~"BalanceSheet ol\the Finnish
that a Stalin or an Andropov might general nor with Soviet defensism in Stalinoids, the Communist Party and its Events;" In fJfl~"~'e of'
throw in his lot with the insurgent particular. We_doubt that you would various satellites (Marcyites, Guardian- ," Marxistn. 'p.J78.' !,'
proletariat in the course of a political even have tried ten years ago. ites, Trendites, CLP, CWP, etc.) were Fr~ternally,
revolution. (We imagine that such a The fact that you find it so necessary busy .in the service of the anti-Soviet Reuben Samuels
Fight the WitChhunt of Kathylkegami! Ikegami $300 and suspended her from
the union for six months-c-an open
invitation to the company to fire her.
lkegami now has 30 days to appeal this
SAN FRANCISCO. February 10-A disgust on militants like Kathy lkega- want a fighting union whose officials, verdict to the membership-and there
kangaroo court in phone workers mi. lrnerzel wants to get rid of Kathy should be. elected by the' member- is no membership meeting scheduled,
union (CWA) Local 9410 has just and the MAC because they exposed ship to represent them, not behold- of course. During the trial. over a
handed down its frame-up' verdict his collusion in concealing projected en to patronage from the sellout thousand CW A members signed peti-
against Kathy lkegarni, a leader of the layoffs; because they fight to win bureaucrats, ., tions demanding the dropping of the
Militant Action Caucus (MAC). Local strikes through mass militant picket Imerzel's brazen frame-up verdict frame-up charges against lkegami and
9410 president Jim lmerzel's hand- lines that nobody dares to cross; comes down now when phone workers the recall of the lmerzel clique. Now
picked trial body, chaired by his because they stand for an end to the are still reeling from the debacle oflast it's up to Kathy's union brothers and
girlfriend. pronounced Ikegami guilty union's notorious ties to the CIA and s~mmer's strike and the continuing sisters to act again in defense of Kathy
after an 18-month inquisition. for a workers government to put an victimization of picket line militants Ikegami-the union needs more fight-
According to Imerzel's witch- end to capitalist oppression. like Lauren Mozee and Ray Palmiero. ers like her! As Kathy put it in her
hunters. lkegami "brought the union Most of the trial was spent Busy witchhunting lkegami for a year statement January 16 before walking
into disrepute" because. as the verdict "proving" the well-known fact that and a half, lmerzel & Co. are protect- out of the kangaroo court:
statement put it, she "divided the Kathy is a Spartacist supporter, an ing some real criminals in the union.
"Purging fighters from the union...
leadership of this Union and its Rank- association she termed "a badge of The MAC brought out during the trial [is] a policy of making' enemies, of
and-File members." In short, she told honor" in her closing trial statement. that lmerzel's buddy, former secretary those who want to make our union
the CWA membership the truth about lkegami was also declared guilty of Joe Mckenna, had attended meetings strong. It's the militants who build
Imerzel's prostration before Ma Bell. "willfully violating" union bylaws of the Ku Klux Klan. This racist has no unions. and win strikes. Imerzel is
because. as an exec board member, she place in any labor organization! And playing righte-into the hands of Ma
The CW A bureaucracy has for de- Bell."
cades refused to fight the phone refused to rubberstamp Imerzel's the bureaucrats have protected the
company and now wants to blame ~ appointments to steward and com- scabs who crossed CW A picket lines Smash lmerzel's purge of Kathy
phone workers' demoralization and mittee posts. Kathy and the MAC last summer. lmerzel's side is with lkegami!
17 FEBRUARY 1984 3
what was at stake in this case and
were not afraid to face down Mayor
"Fuhrer" Folmar and his Confederate
'troopers each day in court. "I wouldn't
be satisfied unless the man who shot and
assaulted those officers are behind
bars.... But this was the best we could
do," said Folmar t Montgomerv Adver-
tiser. 5 February). It was the spectre of
further mobilization of blacks around
the case which led D.A. Evans to seek a
settlement on the eve ofWorrie Taylor's
scheduled retrial.
While Montgomery's black people
were on the front line of the battle to
save the Taylors, they had powerful
The state of Alabama couldn't get Taylor family gathered in Montgomery law was primarily the black people of allies from working people in the plants
away with its attempted racist - legal to mourn the death of Annie Bell Montgomery who saw the case as their and ghettos in the North. In Pontiac,
lynching of the Taylor family, five black Taylor. Racist plainclothes cops Brown own and came forward in courageous Michigan the Taylor family's union
working people from the North who and Spivey, seeing "shiny new cars with support of the Taylors. Last November brothers and sisters in the UA W came
faced monstrous frame-up charges in out-of-state plates" outside the dilapi- a hung jury refused to convict Worrie out to show support; hundreds came out
Montgomery. Although the court is dated shack, burst into the Taylor Taylor, 49. of Warren. Ohio. the first to black church rallies there and in
demanding ransom in a settlement gathering with their .357 magnums member of the family to stand trial. Warren. Ohio. Early on, the Spartacist
reached on February 3, the state was not League took up the cause, seeking to
able to send the Taylors to jail where, as mobilize labor/black support around
black men branded as would-be cop- the country. publicize and raise funds
killers. they would face almost certain for the Taylors' defense. With demon-
death. Under the terms of the settlement strations at Wayne State University and
reached in Judge Randall Thomas" outside the giant Ford River Rouge
chambers last Friday. Worrie, Elbert complex in Detroit, we sought to enlist
and Willie James Taylor and Larry Hill the support of black workers and
each pleaded guilty to one count of students at these key centers. In the
third-degree assault (a misdemeanor). campaign to stop Chris Taylor's extra-
Although they faced charges which dition from Michigan to face the
could have put them in jail for 20 years. Alabama legal lynch mob, the Partisan
each received a six-month suspended Defense Committee, Labor/Black
sentence and a year's probation to be Struggle League and Rouge Militant
served not in Alabama but in their home Caucus initiated a petition signed by 139
states of Ohio and Michigan. Charges Detroit area unionists, labor and black
against Chris Taylor, who has been leaders, including 95 workers in UAW
fighting extradition to Alabama, were Local 600. -
dropped. The Taylors have acted courageously
Justice in this case would have been to from the first moment the cops burst
drop the charges against the Taylors.jail through their door. Their attorney Troy
the killer cops and give millions to this _ "Massey reported that with the plea
tormented black family. Instead, the The Taylor family. settlement, the Taylors "still feel that
Taylors must pay $11,000 to the despi- drawn and shouting racist slurs. The Three black jurors stood firm for they were morally and legally justified in
cable nightriding cops, Ed Spivey and Taylors, thinking they were under Ku acquittal. able to resist some 20 hours of doing what they did" (Alabama Journal
Les Brown. But it was not money the Klux Klan attack, disarmed the thugs deliberation and pressure from the and Advertiser, 5 February). It may well
racists were after here in the Deep (one of whom was shot in the process), judge. These jurors knew that black give the next set of nightriding copswho
South. The lynch mob wanted the and called the cops. But the racist thugs Montgomery was behind them because plan to attack some black homes
deaths of the Taylors as an "example" to were the cops. For the Taylors' elemen- each day of the trial they saw 80-100 of something to think about. The Taylors
all black people in Reagan's America tary actof self-defense they were beaten the Taylors' supporters from 9 a.m. have made their contribution to black
who dare to defend themselves against bloody, official police tapes doctored when the court opened to 10p.m. each Southern self-defense. We must contin-
KKK-style attack. Chris Taylor ex- and the full weight of the state of night. The spirit of defiance was ue to defend the Taylors by helping pay
pressed the relief of every supporter of Alabama was brought against them to particularly loud and clear when Dis- Alabama's racist ransom. The price of
the Taylors when he told WV: "This case finish in the-courtroom what failed on: trict Attorney Evans asked the jury in black courage in Alabama must not be
was a really. racist thing and it's Todd Road that night of February 27. his summary: "If you break into my borne by the Taylors atone-s-they
. unfortunate for us that justice wasn't It sticks in the craws of Mayor home, I'll kill you. Is that the message shouldn't have to pay a dime! WV
served .... They [the family] feel it was Folmar and D.A. Evans that the you want to send outof this communi- urges its readers to send generous
unfair too, but it was something they Taylors who whipped the police are ty'!" An estimated 150 blacks in the contributions to: Taylor Defense
had to accept because our lives are so alive to tell about it. But the racists courtroom replied, "Yeah." Fund, c/o Central Bank of the South,
much more valuable than the $11,000." couldn't make their frame-up stick. The trial had touched a nerve among 150 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery,
Almost ayear ago, 30 members of the What stayed the hand of Alabama lynch these black people who understood Alabama 36104.•
WASHINGTON,I).C.-Over200peo-
POC -Jazz Benefit last summer's nationwide telephone
WV Photos
integrated crowd carne - to hear the . deadly libel against the Spartacist Party, and Ray were fired from their read. greetings from Lauren. The audi-
popular jazz artists and to celebrate the League/Spartacus Youth League (see jobs and are facing years in the state ence cheered at Mozee's remark that
victory achieved when the SL-initiated WV No. 345, 6 January). The Moonie penitentiary for defending themselves "Labor/black mobilization stopped the
Labor/ Black Mobilization stopped the- press had accused us of provoking and their picket line against a violent KKK from marching in Washington,
Ku Klux Klan from marching in the violence against the cops in the Novem- racist assault by a scab manager during continued on page 8 .
4 WORKERS VANGUARD
British Si!artacistsSlamSheffieidBan might have turned out. At that very
moment. four coaches filled with
skinheads-one embla/oned with the
('ross of Sf. (ieorge-were being de-
tained and turned around at the Shef-
Remembered
L'r:CI:RPTU) rROM a hot potato rather than come out day Brittan announced the han. we
opposition to British imperialism at all
that " day, Three hours before our
scheduled public meeting. a reprcscnta-
tive of the Sheffield Polv Student Union
l.xccutive notified us 'that our room
hooking there had been cancelled
SPA RTA CIST BRITAIN against Labour "left" Blunkett. And the organised a protest picket outside because they did not want a public
NO. 54. FEBRUARY 1984, nationalists of Sinn Fein and their fake- Sheffield Town Hall. Thirty protesters meeting on Ireland, They didn't stop
left press agents of the Revolutionarv picketed behind banners which pointed us-our meeting went ahead at an
Communist Party (RCP), its Irish the way forward: "Smash Britain's alternative venue. We I'el1ll'l1Ihel'ed
Bloody Sunday, January 1972: the
Freedom Movement (I FM) front group Torture Camps-Troops Out Now!" Bloodv Sundav'
day 14civil rights marchers were gunned
and the centrist Workers! Power (WP). "Labour Council's Anti-Irish Barf is In the wake of their criminal betraval.
down in the streets of Derry [Northern
who were meant to be mobilising the Green Light for :"F-Trade Unions. Sinn hin'. and its RCP and WF ca'mp
Ireland] by British troops. Now the
Bloody Sunday march, did everything Minorities: Drive the Fascists Oil the followers attempted to cover their
fascist National Front (N F) wanted to
to demobilise it. For weeks their only Streets!" And on the Sunday. while the tracks. Having abandoned their Hloodv
make the annual commemoration
march, slated for Sheffield 29 January:
response toBlunkett's ban was an Republicans and their fake~lCft friends Sundav. demonstration. thcv. held I
;\'
impotent petition campaign, - to be were nowhere to be seen. we held a well- meeting subsequently to concoct an
the scene for another bloody Sunday.
followed by an even more impotent call defended public meeting. "A Commem- a ttcr-t he-fact "a ltcrna tivc"-to bus
When Sheffield's Labour-dominated
toreselect the Labour councillors. In the oration of. the Centuries of Celtic people to Wakefid1 pri~on where Irish
City Council, headed by Labour "left"
rising star David Blunkett, imposed a hunger striker I· rank Stagg died. 10
ban on use ofcouncil facilities by march exculpate their consistent refusal to do
organisers in' the wake of the Harrods -anything to stop the Xational Front.
bombing, the NF saw a green light for they now try to claim there was no:" F.
race-hate provocation. Emboldened by dismissing our report of the coaches
the labour bureaucracy's cowardly turned around hy the cops as a "slan-
der." claiming they were I ~M and not
treachery in the face of the Tory
:"1- supporters. An SL supporter at the
onslaught against the NGA [printers
meet ing made short sh rift 01' this crap hy
union], feeding off the anti-Soviet war
describing the coaches with their skin .;
drive, the NF crawled out of the sewers
heads and banner and asked. "That
in an attempt to prove itself as the
couldn't have been IFM supportcrs->
bourgeoisie's shock troops for anti-Irish
could it'!"
reaction. What was called for was
In their thirst to tail after some force
English and Irish workers and all racial
or another. these opportunists exposed
minorities joining together in struggle
their hollow pretensions to "anti-
against a common, deadly enemy: a
imperialism" and "anti-racism.vCling-
mass trade-union/minority mobilisa-
ing to the coattails of the Sinn Fein
'lion in this solidly trade-union city to
nationalists. their only stratcgv for
demand the imperialist troops get out of Spartacist Britain fighting the oppression of the Irish
Ireland and to inflict a crushing and Spartacist League/Britain protests
Catholic people is to scream about "self-
humiliating blow against the NF race- ban on demonstrations in Sheffield,
England, January 27. ' determination for the Irish people as a
terrorists. That's what was needed.
whole." endorsing the nationalist pro-
That's what the revolutionary Trotsky- Struggle Against English Domination: ject of a united Ireland forcibly incorpo-
ists of the Spartacist League (SL) fought The Role of Sheffield and its Labour rating the Protestant people. In contrast
for. Movement." revolutionaries understand that the
What happened instead w'asan anti- When we proposed to the Bloody fight against the special- oppression of
democratic ban on all marches, initiated Sunday "mobilisers" that they join us in Irish Catholics in.the :"orth requires the
by Blunkett and imposed by Tory Home the picket of Sheffield Town Hall. a unity of Catholic and Protestant work-
Secretary Leon Brittan, in towns and number of their supporters initially ers in a struggle for their common class
cities throughout the region. For the agreed. But the leaders moved in to interests,
first time in 12 years, there was no quash any suggestion-of joint action. Racist British imperialism will meet
Bloody Sunday march in England. hastily conjuring up a wimpy "alter- its downfall only at the hands of a
Instead of being crushed under the heel native"-a "picket" to '''accompany unified working-class assault led bv a
, of labour and minorities, the fascists got end, they abandoned their march the submission of their pleading peti- revolutionary \anguard party which
off scot-free with the knowledge that the without any warning. criminally setting tion, deliberately scheduled to take acts as tribune of all the oppressed.
streets of England were off limits to up militants- and minorities for a place an hour .and a half before our Around the events of the Bloody
opponents of British imperialism that potential fascist rampage as they turned proposed picket. And when we mobi- Sunday march. the Labour-loyalists
day. That this outrage could come-to be tail and ran. lised our forces to get there at the same and vicarious nationalists demonstrated
was bitter testimony to the state ofiliM1e The martyrs of Bloody Sunday were time, these hardy souls wrapped up their where they stood. This year's Bloody
opportunist left in this period of Cold 'remembered in Sheffield last month- banners and fled. Sunday march should have been a
War. by the Spartacist League. Our support- As late as the Saturday afternoon " victorious rout of the fascist rabble by
The Labourite misleaders bent over ers distributed thousands of leaflets edition' of the [Sheffield] STar. the -thousands of militant workers and
backwards to prove themselves loyal [excerpts printed below] agitating for Bloody Sunday "rnobilisers" stuck to minorities. That is what we fought to
lackeys to the imperialist ruling class. mass trade-union/ minority mobilisa- their storv that coaches would be build. To make sure that happens next
The Communist Party, with its industri- tion at pits and steel plantsand minority leaving.from Sheffield Poly for a march. time, the task facing us today is to build
al base in Sheffield, staye., invisible. The communities in the Sheffield area as destination unstated. But on the Sun- the Spartacist League into the mass
fake-Trotskyists, like Socialist Action well as elsewhere. We canvassed dozens dav, there were no coaches, mobilisers. revolutionary workers party this coun-
and Socialist Organiser, erstwhile cheer- of Labour Party and trade-union no' march. Twenty minutes after the trv needs..
leaders for Provo-nationalism now officials in an attempt to unlock the buses were meant to depart, two Sinn . Excerptsfrom the Spartacist League /
ensconced in the Labour Committee on potential social power of the labour Fein supporters showed up to announce Britain lea/let
./ dated 24 Januarv. are
..
Ireland (LCI), dropped the question like movement. On Friday 27 January, the the cancellation of the march to any who reprinted below.
17 FEBRUARY 1984 5
Black History Month-From the Archives of the Revolution
the North. The Negroes in the North are The IWW of course organized the use of Party resources for propaganda
SPEECH BY JOHN REED employed in industry while in the South Negroes, the old Socialist Party how- among Negroes.
the majority are farm labourers or small ever undertook no serious attempt to In the South the Negro has no rights
farmers. The position of the Negroes is organize them. In some states the at all and does not evert enjoy the
(n America there live ten million
terrible, particularly in the Southern Negroes were not accepted into the protection' of the law. lJ sually one can
'egroes who are concentrated mainly in
states. Paragraph 16 of the Constitution party at all, in others they were kill Negroes without being punished.
the South. In recent years however
of the United States grants the Negroes separated off into special sections, and One terrible white institution is the
many thousands of them have moved to
full civil rights. Nevertheless most in general the party statutes banned the lynching of Negroes. This happens in
Southern states deny the Negroes these
rights. In other states, where by law the A ~is\ pamphlet ~
A Spartacist Pamphlet
WORKERS VANGUARQ
6
the following manner. The Negro is
covered with oil and strung up on. a
telegraph pole. The whole of the town.
men. women and children. run up to
watch the show and take home a piece of
the clothing or the skin of the Negro
they have tortured to death "as a
souvenir."
I have too little time to explain the
historical background to the Negro
question in the United States. The
descendants of the slave population.
who wore liberated 'during the Civil
War. when politically and economically
they were still completely underdevei-
oped. were later given full .political /
work much more than were the white McKeldin Student Center Ballroom Wednesday, February 15 NEW YORK
workers who had grown used to the _ For more Information (212) 267·1025
Morgan State University Noon-3:00 p.m.
terrible exploitation in the course of Co-sponsored by the Morgan State (continuous showings)
Student Government Association
many years. University of Illinois, Chicago
and Spartacus Youth Leaque
The Negroes went on strike alongside CCC Room 506 SYL Forum
BALTIMORE
the white workers and quickly joined the For more information: (202) 636-3537
industrial proletariat. They proved very Blacks, Labor Need a Workers Party
Thursday, February 23, 1:40 p.m.
ready to accept revolutionary propa-
ganda. At that time the newspaper
Truman College. Room 1516 Jesse Jackson:
S YL Film ShOWing & Discussion Speaker: Tweet Carter front Man for the
Messenger was founded, published by a
SL Central Committee
young Negro, the socialist Randolph,
"finally Got the News" Racist Democrats
and pursuing revolutionary propagan-
Documentary on the League of Revolution- Thursday, March 1, 1:40 p.m. Speaker: Bernard Vance
dist aims. This paper united socialist ary Black Workers and the struggle of black SL Central Committee
Truman College, Room 1516
propaganda with an appeal to the racial auto workers in Detroit during the late '60s.
consciousness of the Negroes and' with Speaker: Bernard Vance Saturday, February 25, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, February . 22, 7:00 p.m. SL Central Committee Memorial Union
the call to organize self-defence against
Wayne State UJliversity (see"Today in the Union"for location)
the brutal attacks of the whites. At the
same time the paper insisted on the
8CB. Room 583 CHICAGO
DETROIT For more mformation(312) 427-0003 MADISON
closest links with the white workers, for more information (312) 427-0003
For more information (313) 961-1680
regardless of the fact that the latter often ~
17 FEBRUARjY 1984 7
policy against the TP [Tudeh party]
~tT)e ----..:.-~--------------~ arrested and barre<lfrofTt't.camp~~s· 41 Warren St. (Qne block below
j::hambers St. near Church St.)
"outside agitators:' stemming from at'l New York, N.Y. Phone: (212) 267-1025
A(!dress ~
8 WORkERS VANGUARD
Lebanon... and so on. The Christians were allocated
a six-to-five majority in parliament, and
more importantly the officer caste of-the
Druze vs. French Foreign legion
(cont inued from page I) Lebanese "army was drawn predomi- We reprint below excerpts from At first I thought I was shooting
nantly from the Maronite elite. Bennett Doty 's The Legion of the badly. Then little by little I saw that
lor his Lebanon policy and a haunting Since the Muslims' birthrate out- Damned on the hattie of' Messifre in with several bullets in them, these
reminder or the Carter administration's stripped the Christians' for a couple of
failure in Iran. Svria. 1925. fanatic Druse tribesmen came on. to
generations, the deal that was Lebanon die on our barbed wire. And the
" ... the Reagan administration. for ,~I\
its tough talk. was unable to succeed 111 fell apart by the beginning of the 1970s. At their head rode the Emir on a
wounded kept on fighting. Bleeding
its most visible foreign-policy venture." The mass of impoverished and down- beautiful blooded stallion. He wore a
to death. from behind a stone or even
While the American ruling class debates trodden Shi'ites, who had become the medieval suit of armor and a helmet
in the open, they kept firing til1 the
"Who Lost Lebanon?" (the Democratic largest sectarian/communal grouping, with flaps of chain-mail like those in
last convulsive twitch.
demanded a change in the constitution museums. one used hundreds of
Congress and its War Powers Resolu- -reprinted in Soldier 01" Fortune,
tion, replied a Journal editorial), the to redress the balance of political and years ago against the Frankish October 1983
economic power in their favor. Further, crusaders.
simple fact is there was no Lebanon to
lose. Alfof King Reagan's Marines and the OPEC oil boom of the early 1970s. I was scared witless....
all of his battleships and tough talk which Lebanon shared as the main
couldn't put the artificial country back financial center and entrepot for the
together again. Asfor Lebanese "presi- Arab East. widened the disparities
dent" Gernayel, he has ceased even being between rich and poor in this bankers' Take supposed Lebanese "progres- force whose militias have nothing to
"mayor of Beirut." republic. Shi'ite peasants from the sive" leader Walid Jumblatt, a vice learn from the Salvadoran death squads
Ronald Reagan's Lebanon adventure countryside and migrant workers from president of the Second International. when it comes to barbarity. Yet the
has turned into a first-class debacle. The Syria streamed into Beirut and other H is "Progressive Socialist Party" is Phalange hardly represents the whole of
self-appointed sheriff of world imperial- port cities looking for work, producing actual1y a communalist party of the the Maronite population; former Mar-
ism shot himself in the foot and is a class of .desperate slum dwellers. estimated 350,000 Druze (an esoteric onite president Suleiman Franjieh
hobbling away. But the global repercus- American liberal academic Stanley sect derived from Shi'a Islam) in (whose, son was murdered by the
sions are by no means all to the good. Reed described Maronite-dominated Lebanon. In the 1860s some 10.000 Phalange) is currently in Damascus with
The Reagan gang will want to wipe out Lebanon on the eve of the 197S..:{6 civil Maronite peasants were massacred Jurnblatt seeking Syrian favor. And the
their humiliation by launching a bloody war: when they rose up against Druze 500.000 Maronites are only a third of
adventure somewhere where the odds "The conflict occurred because Leba- landlords; and last fall the Druze Lebanon's Christian population (which
non's political and ,econon:ic structure besieged some 20,000 Christians in the includes Greek Orthodox, Greek Cath-
are more in their favor. Remember how cheated too many people 111 too many
the U.S. raped the tiny black West wavs, The Maronite businessmen and town of Deir al Qamar. In the mid-'70s olics. Armenians and other sects).
Indian isle of Grenada in order to divert bankers who dominated the country Walid's father Kamal Jumblatt was Moreover. before the communal civil
attention from the devastating truck- refused to part with any of th~ir hug.e head of the largely Muslim National war. the Lebanese leftist groups, nota-
profits derived from handling 011 Movement. al1ied with the Palestinians bly the CP, typically drew much oftheir
bomb attack' on Marine HQ in Beirut money.... The system that gave the
last October. Lebanon was a long-shot in the 1975-76 Lebanese civil war. With cadre from the Christian communities
presidency and the command of the
gamble in the anti-Soviet war drive, one army to the Maronites became a symbol the Israeli invasion in June 1982, while many downtrodden Shi'ites were
which the Pentagon always considered a of injustice to the ~a~e-nots and the however. the younger Jumblatt de- recruited into their ranks. While they
leftists, both consistmg largely of clared, "The PLO[Palestine Liberation sided with the Muslim warlords in '75-
no-win situation. The humiliation in Moslem city dwellers.... What began as
Beirut will intensify the Reagan gang's Organization] as it used to be in '76. the result was the destruction of the
a social revolution has obviously taken
drive to drown in blood the insurgent on many other meanings. For instance, Lebanon is finished," and told PLO left as a significant political force as
masses of Central America. the leftist militia leaders who set out to fighters to lay down their arms. The Lebanon was increasingly polarized
Unlike the squalid communalist topple the old warlords have wound up Druze chieftain established friendly along communal lines.
emulating them." relations with the Israeli occupying
bloodletting in Lebanon-between -i-New York Times, 9 July 1982 As for Syria, far from being a Soviet
Christians and Muslims, Shi'ites and army, and last summer promised t.o juggernaut in the Near ~ast, the Ass~d
In early 1975 Lebanon stood on ~he keep Palestinian guerrillas out of hl~ regime is extremely fragile and plays ItS
Palestinians, Druze and everyone-in
brink of a revolutionary upheaval which feudal fiefdom in exchange for Israeli own game in regional politics. Based on
Central America a potential social
could have radically altered the political withdrawal from the Shuf. Due to the Alawite sect (only 10 percent of the
revolution is at stake. Salvadoran
situation in the entire region, most Phalangist president Gemayel's refusal
- workers and peasants. are fighting (and population), in 1982 ~ssad destro~ed
immediately by extending itself to Syria. to cut a deal, Walid is currently aligned
beating) a blood-drenched oligarchy Syria's fourth-largest .Clty, Ha~a, kl~l
- But a ..revolutionary outcome was with Syrian president Assad, who,
and its Yankee protectors. A rout of the ing at least 20,000 of Its mhablt~nts. In
diverted by the traditional Muslim clan however, was responsible for the assas- order to exterminate the Sunni-based
puppet dictatorship by leftist guerrillas
chiefs (abetted by the Palestinian sination of the elder Jumblatt., Muslim Brotherhood. Syria first inter-
in EI Salvador would pose the threat of
direct U.S. military intervention. The nationalist leaders) into a decade-long The estimated one mil1ion Shi'ites are vened in Lebanon in 1976 on behalf of
CIA's contras are now ravaging Nicara- . series of bloody squabbles between the at the bottom of the social scale in the Maronite Christians with the sup-
various communal groups. The Levant Lebanon. but the notion that they are
gua, while 5,000 U.S. combat troopsa~e port of both Washington and Jerusa...
poised for attack across the border 10 correspondent for the snide London agents of an international Communist lem. This shifted the balance of forces,
Honduras. While the Democrats and
Economist (5 November 1983) neatly conspiracy run from Moscow (or setting up the gruesome massacre of
reformist leftists seethe Marine with- captured the essence of Leb~nese alternatively a patriotic leftist force) is Palestinians at the huge Tel Zaatar
politics when he wrote of th~ "national even more absurd. In the'75-'76 fighting camp by the Gemayels' Phalange and
drawal from Lebanon as a retreat from
reconciliation" conference 10 Geneva the Shi'ite "Movement of the Dis- other Maronite gangs. And who has the
foreign military adventurism, in reality
last fall: possessed" .(which later became the 'Syrian army in Lebanon beet) fighting in
it only makes more urgent the need to
organize working-class opposition to "To compare this week'~ conference.of Amal) was loosely associated with the recent, months'! U.S. Marines'! The
the American war drive in Central Lebanese faction bosses in Geneva with Palestinian-M uslirn bloc. Yet on the eve French Foreign Legion'! The Israel
a gathering of Mafia ..godfathers r:night . of the June '82 Israeliinvasion the Amal
America-boycotting military cargo be unfair .to the Mafia. because It has "Defense Force"? No. the Arafat-loyal
bound for right-wing regimes, and labor was engaged in bloody battles against . PLO. In December, Syrian-backed
never eliminated several hundred vic-
strikes against U.S. intervention. tims in a single day. There can seldom the PLO and the Lebanese Communist forces laid waste to two Palestinian
have been so many delegates around a Party. They Were pushed into op~o refugee camps in northern Leban~)O,
Lebanon: Not a Country table who were directly and personally sition by the Zionist army terronzmg killing an estimated 700 and wound 109
responsible for killing the followers of their stronghold in southern Lebanon.
But a Deal fellow delegates." thousands of defenseless refugees and
Only when Gemayel's army be~?n Lebanese Muslims while the Zionists
a
The workers of the. world have side indiscriminately shel1ing the Shi'ite cheered.
in the revolutionary struggles now . All Sides Squalid suburbs of Beirut at the end ofJanuary
engulfing Central America. But they do did they finally "unite" with Jumblatt l!<- 1n short, the Lebanese political scene
not take sides in the Lebanese blood Today in Lebanon the Reaganites Co. Shi'ite militiamen celebrated their is a swamp. While Reagan wanted to use
feuds, the endless succession of commu- present the Druze and Shi'ite~ as "liberation" of West Beirut by smashing the U.S. "peacekeeping" troops as a
nal massacres and retaliations. Lebanon 'nothing but surrogates for the Syrians, all whiskey bottles-shades of Khornei- continued on page 10
is not a nation nor even a country, but a who are in turn labeled surrogates for nil Any Soviet KGB agent who fooled
deal among the imperialists (J 919) and the Soviets, while the Maronite Chris- around with this gang of reactionary
between the imperialists and the various tian Phalange are supposedly the true Islamic fundamentalists would proba-
Christian and Muslim clan chiefs defenders of Western-style democracy. CORRECTIONS
bly be skinned alive.
(1943). One is reminded of the descrip- The reformist left, on the other hand, Regarding the article "Defend
tion of Austria between' the two world The half million or so Palestinian the Scoundrel!· Vii/age Voice's
presents the squalid communal fig?ting
wars as a "situation [that was] fatal but refugees have been largely out of the Cockburn Up a Creek" (WV No.
in Lebanon as a war of national
current fighting, having been disarmed 346, 20 January), Alexander Cock-
not serious." liberation in which' the entire people
The entity known as Lebanon was by the imperialists (at the request of the burn informs us that Emma Roth-
rises up against Yankee invaders. Thus
PLO leadership, which chose to run schild is not the mother of his child,
created by the French. who together Sam Marcy's Workers World Party
with the British carved up the Ottoman rather than fight the Israelis inside as we had incorrectly stated. We
wrote:
empire in the Near East after World "Different religious and ethnic groups. Beirut). Though PLO chief Arafat has apologize for the error. And we look
War I. They sought to fashion a pro- different political parties ranging from long been a hero of Western lef~ists.. in forward to being able to read more
Western enclave in the Levant by conservative to revolutionary. have his shifting alliances the nationalist contributions from Alexander
united in their opposition to Gemayel leader has embraced some of the most
combining the predominantly Christian and his U.S.. French and other imperi- Cockburn on Arab-Israeli matters
Mount Lebanon with a subordinate reactionary forces in the region; in and Near Eastern issues in general.
alist backers."
Muslim hinterland, part of it (notably - Workers World, October 1983 Arafat sided with a local The article "Fight Cold War II
17 November 1983 sheik in Tripoli as the latter was Witchhunt! Why Reagan Needs
the Bekaa Valley) extracted from the
province of Syria. The French colonial- The reality looks considerably different massacring Lebanese CPers. Currentl.y 'Terrorism'" (WV No. 347, 3 Feb-
ist system of Maronite privilege was from these fictions. The myriad ethnic/ lacking any military muscle, Arafat. IS ruary) unfortunately omitted a
religious/communal groups in Leba- trying to work out an arrangement With concluding sentence: "And for
preserved after Lebanon became inde-
non, far from being united. have every the Israelis together with Egypt's M u- those of you with not much to lose
pendent. Under the so-called National
one of them been in treacherous, barak and Jordan's Hussein, two of and a lot to win, and with the
Covenant the president would always be
Washington's main Arab clients. requisite guts, let's get rid of this
a Maronite Christian, the prime minis- ~ murderous al1iance with and against
ter a Sunni Muslim, the head of the . every other one. Let Lebanon be On the other hand, the Christian' whole damn system!"
Chamber of Deputies a Shi'ite Muslim, Lebanon and this is what you get. Maronite Phalange is an openly fascistic
17 FEBRUARY 1984 9
Lebanon... many of today's Lebanon "doves" are
. committed Near East hawks. Remem-
ber, it was the Democratic Cart~r
(continued from page 9) administration that proclaimed the U.S.
springboard to achieve an anti-Soviet had "strategic interests" in the Persian
Pax Ameiicana in the Near East. he Gulf equivalent to its control of the
only s~cceeded in sinking deeper into Panama Canal.
the quicksand of Lebanese politics. The , The Near East could be the flashpoin~
pseudo-socialists (Communist Party for World War Ill. In pointof fact, the
Socialist Workers Party, W orker~ most massive mobilization of U,S. naval
World, etc.) who pretend that there is an power since World War II (more than 65
"anti-~mperialist struggle" going on in ships in the eastern Mediterranean and
, the midst of the communal slaughter in off the Persi~n.Gulf) remains in place.
Lebanon are following their usual As Henry Klss~nger (along with many
practice of cheering for the murderous others) has pointed out. the endemic
nationalists of "progressive" Third and explosive national antagonisms of
World peoples (here identified with the the region make it resemble the Balkans
~ uslims. as opposed to the supposedly USb ttl hi N Hoagland/Gamma-Liaison ?efor~ World War I. But unlike the
.• a es p ew Jersey opened up massive bo b d
villages to cover""Mirines' humlllating withdrawal fro:: B~r~~nt of Cruze
'inherently reactionary Christians). And Inter-Imperialist rivalries that engen-
they are trying to cover their own dered that slaughter, there is a class line
complicity in calling for or refusing to between the two major world powers
Palestinians in the occupied West them it means memories of frantic presently confronting each other: the
protest the entry of the imperialist forces Bank-internal passports, armed humiliation-those helicopters whirling
m the first place (August-September bloody imperialist United States and the
searches, wanton-brutality against the ou~ of the ,u.S. embassy compound in bureaucratically degenerated Soviet
1982). As we wrote last fall: Arab population. But the Lebanese Saigon, With ARVN officers pushing
"At bott0!TI the present fighting in workers state. We warn of the danger of
have. ~ot been cowed by almost 20 years aside women and children to climb a ~ew. world war, instigated by the
Lebanon IS a continuation of the
c~nturics-old communal/sectarian con-
of military terror, and they do not live in abo~rd. For right-wing commentator capitalists who live in mortal fear of new
1~lcts .between Muslims and Christians. refugee camps. They own their own land Patnck Buchanan, speaking on ABC- social revolutions. Most ofaB with
T~'~, . Nightline (8 February) "cutting their military stretched across th~ globe
Sunnis and Shi'ites, Druzc and others and increasingly they are resisting the
A victory of the 'other side' (whi)ev~~ Zionist jackboot: bait 10 Lebanon represents nothing less
tha! is at any given moment) against the and the worst economic crisis since the
"Ma~y of southern Lebanon's 700.000 than the decline and fall of the West:
~:S. and the Ph~llange would simply M';1slIms arc being radicalized bv ~reat.D~pre~sion still lingering on, the
"Pr~sident Gemayel must be reflecting
lead ,to !1ew.conlll.cts and deals among ~ClIglO~ls lea~~rs advocating violence. imperialists fear proletarian class
the myriad feudalist warlords of Leba- to.rught on the great truism from the
m~I';1dmg SUICide attacks. as a wav of Vietnam era-s-although it is often struggle at home which could frustrate
non. restoring conditions more or less driving out the Israeli occupation
as they existed before the Israeli in- dange,rous to be an enemy of the their war preparations and bring the
force." Amen.cans, to be their friend is fatal. whole damn system tumbling down.
vasion of June 19M2." . -I.os Angeles Times.
-"Rape of Grenada. Bloodv fhe Impending Marine withdrawal Defend the Soviet Union! U.S. Out of
12 December 1.9M3 toward the ships of the Sixth Fleet
Mess in Lebanon." UT . the Near East! Yankee Imperialists-
No. 341. 4 November 19M3 SO what is Shamir going to do'? Tap recalls a similar episode some 700 years
ago when the last of the crusaders sailed Hands Off the World!-
Brooklyn for 5,000 more machine away. leaving Christians of the home-
Israel Out of Lebanon and the gunners in yarmulkes'? Form 9,000 land to t~e ~ercy of the Marnelukes [!].
Occupied Territories! armed Jewish settlements'! Meanwhile I~ o~e lifetime we have witnessed the
10 WORKERS VANGUARD
Not Protectionism But ~nion Organization
have parroted this company hype are advocate of workers' solidarity, simply
Today the LAPD has virtually Penitentiary in Illinois. She called for sell better cars. better Walkman cassette
LA. Demo...
(continued frompage /2)
declared martial law for the, Summer
Olympics as they squabble withthe FBI,
unity against "the capitalists and their
hired, henchmen, the police department
'recorders. Mondale and Jackson and
the Democratic Party and the labor
bureaucracy are preaching the same
claiming they have the only really ...'because when we rebel, we are people reactionary racist poison targeting
Metromedia's Channel II. The 7 Febru- "tested" paramilitary outfit in, the that are not the capitalist class ... who foreign-born workers for the crisis of
ary Los Angeles Times wrote: country! While, AClUliberals seek an ' do they get but their little boys in blue to American capitalism, And the Sparta-
"The release of Armstrong, who served cist League maintains, that the way to
out-of-court se,tdement in .their suit keep us in place?" Manuel Delgadillo, a
only,8 months,in jail/has drawn fire light "ma~s.ive ,u~emrloyment.layoffs.
(rom' a group of black organil.lltioas; againsttheformerllUelligenceOivision. teJephoneworker mi-litant; stated,lOftis"" ihe 'j'ndustrialrot which is part and
some of ·whichltave asked for an the "red squad" puts on a, ski ma*to the duty and" obligation .of ev~1)' parcel of the dying capitalist system. is
investigation of his. treatment by the reappear as the "Anti..-Terrorist.Divi- unionist in thiscityto comeforWlil'd and to exproP.riate the capitalists. take away
criminal justice, system. Earlier on sion," Theshoot-first-.ask-questions- in a loud ,and angry voice say: No more , their fac;:tories, take it out of the hands
Monday, members of the radical
Delois v<wngs! N~ mor~P,atrick, , ~f the,,~,~,~,~."
Spartacist group, picketed against the
release, calling itanteist insult."
later LAPD. which treats ,black gllett
like Watts and the vast Latmobarrio
os
Masons! No more Rcn Settles!Nom~e,, ' The bU~)(Ji!,~ofa T rotskyist vanguard
from~ast LosAngeles to Huntington Eulia Loves! No more Pontiac Broth- pal"iy with 'a. 'Ileavy black leadership
Demonstration organizers reported
increased 'policesurveilla.nce and har- Parkas free-fire zones, growsout of ,ers! No '~recop terrw:l: ~L spokes- , ¢ompQnent iSk'ey.to thefight for labor!
L.A.'shist'?TY as an "open shop"'tQwn. man .Don Andrewscalled for abreak black mobUizatjonagliinst racist terror.
assment, including the copsdemand Such a pafty wiDJead the working class
Marxists know that the cops: cannot be with the Democrats: - '
that the S L stop 'using a bullhorn. and its allies to a victorious socialist
A Spartacus Youth League spokes- "reformed"gr "controlled"; ttle>,are the
"Labor IS the key to reali7.irigeverythihg revolutidn,srttashing the capitalist sys-
man at the demonstration "denounced bourgeoisie's hired thugs and' strike... that I have just, meritionedBecause
breakers, 'the pillar of racist capitalist' tem and bringing killer cop Armstrong,
the string of racist killingsby"tbe l.A. what we see in this country, is the
"la~ and order." To fight the rampaging bureaucrats and the black Democrats chief Darryl "Choke Hold" Gates and
storm troopers and pointed OUt the and white Democrats arc trying to pit the rest of the racist killers to justice
connection between' anti-black terror police brutality which is a daily Occur-
sections of the working class against tfeforei workers tribunals from Har-
and the bipartisan anti-Soviet war drive. rence here means mobilizing the power each other. to set them at each other's
of labor at the head of the black and lem to Watts. The heinous crimes
She noted the absence of thl reformist throats. So all these fake-leftgroups run
Latin masses. It will take a third up behind Jesse Jackson. He is for this against Delois Young must be avenged!
left at the demonstration: .,', Black liberation through socialist
American revolution, a workers revolu- racist protectionism. the idea that the
"The reason why they're not here today Japanese are the enemy because they revolution! •
is because demonstrating in L.A. means tion; to finally do away with these
going against Uncle Tom Bradley and uniformed hit-men.
the Democratic Party-their partners Tile fake-leftists who call for
in the popular front. These groups call
for civilian review boards of cops. Does reforming the killer cops virtually Special Blues Benefit
anyone really think that the LAPD ignored the racist torments perpetrated for the Phone Strikers Defense Committee
would listen to a civilian reviewboard in against Delois Young and made ft most
Watts or any other community?" token protest against the hideous Stop the racist anti-labor frame-up of Mozee and Palmierol
Reformists like the Communist Party murder of Patrick Mason. The Sparta- ____________ Featuring------------
(CP) and the NAACP liberals share the cist League has taken the lead in
illusion that review boards and "com- championing the struggle of all the Big Joe Peewee Percy
munity control" schemes can actually oppressed, organizing protests against Turner Crayton Mayfield
-"curb" these killers in blue. Last March Patrick Mason's racist murder and
when racist Orange County cop Sperl against. the obscene $35,000, bounty Special Appearance: actor William Marshall performing an excerpt from
kicked in the door and gunned down a payment to his killer, Last July the SL his one-man show as the great black abolitionist Frederick Douglass
five-year-old black child, Patrick Ma- demonstrated to defend Delois Young's
son. the CP's grotesque response was to family against the racist cop vendetta. In
Sunday, February 19, 3 to 9 p.m,
call for "state legislation for community March 1981 the Los Angeles SL held the - - - - - - - -....- - Ticket Outlets - - - - - - - - - - -
control of police" (People's World, 19 first demonstration in this country Flash Records
Chatterton's Book Store 1861 West Adams Blvd, Jerry White Enterprises
March 1983). This, in Los Angeles, the against the wave' of deportations- of 4308'/2South Vermont Ave,
1818 North Vermont Ave.
capital of cop terror, where critics of Salvadorans fleeing the U.S.-backed Aquarian Book Shop
1342 We~t Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd,
police brutality themselves automatical- terror regime.
ly become police targets. not only in the The February 6 demonstration was
movie Blue Thunder but also in reality addressed by MarieTolbert, mother of At the National Association of Lett ..r CarrIers, Branch 24, 774 South Valencia
as in the cases of Compton black activist one of the black "Pontiac Brothers." For more information: $5 donation
Mattie Billinger and Michael Zinzun in- who had led a 1978 prison revolt against (213) 663-1216 or 1217 Proceeds to the PSDC
Pasadena. inhuman conditions at Pontiac State
17 FEBRUARY 1984 11
Crime Against Delois Young Must Be Avenged!
L~A.
Demo Protests
Release of Killer Cop
LOS ANGELES-"If Delois Young dragging her out of her home in
Had Shot a Cop, When Would She Get handcuffs for "missing" a court date for
Out'?-Would She Be Alive?" .de- traffic tickets ... because she was in the
manded the Spartacist League demon- hospital at the time recovering from her
stration outside L.A. County Court- bullet wounds! Last JUly after a jury
house on Monday, February 6. The convicted Armstrong of only second-
emergency demo was -called to protest degree murder, the racist judge reduced
the scheduled release of killer cop even this charge to "involuntary man-
Robert Armstrong, the murderer of slaughter" with a one-year sentence.
Delois Young's unborn child. The SL Armstrong and his three accomplices
demonstration was the only public are all walking the streets today.
protest of the racist atrocity against this The SL demonstration demanded
_ young black woman, and it brought out "Vengeance for Young's Unborn
30 angry and militant protesters, includ- Child!" and "Labor/ Black Mobiliza-
ing phone. oil and postal unionists. tions to Stop Racist Terror!" Signs at
Armstrong was released Monday the protest included "Life in San
night after serving only eight months in Quentin for Armstrong and Accom-
a "minimum security" jail. It was L.A. plices!" "Free Geronimo Pratt!" "Rea-
sheriff's deputy Armstrong who in April gan's Anti-Soviet War Drive Fuels
19X2 staged the phony call to headq uar- Racist Murders!" and "Hands Off
ters setting up the late night raid on Soviet Athletes!" Also "Gun Control
Delois Young's Duarte apartment on Kills Blacks" and "Full Citizenship
the pretext ofa "drug bust." Armstrong Rights for Foreign-Born Workers!"
and his three other deputies then burst Local black radio stations picked up the
into her home, shooting Delois Young demonstration call and the popular-
in the stomach at pointblank range. KJLH played the announcement
Young's full-term fetus was killed and throughout the day. Local CBS-TV
she will have a .38 slug embedded in her affiliate KNXTcovered the demo on
chest for life. The cops have been on a the 6 p.m. and II p.m. news as did Spartacist League-initiated demonstration outside L.A. County Court-
vendetta against Delois Young, once continued on page 11 house, February 6.
•.
a.m. at the Hayward Hall of Justice frame-up-Mozee and Palmiero must of the Black Panther Party and because
(24405 Amador in Hayward, Califor- not go to jail! Freedom and jobs back they are an interracial couple. The
nia) and attend the preliminary hearing for Lauren and Ray! bosses' war on labor that claimed the
for victimized phone strikers Lauren On picket duty during the nation- lives of union pickets Ray Phillips and
.......
.~
' ,.. Mozee and Ray Palmiero set for 9 a.m. al telephone strike last August 10 in Greg Goobic is also behind theIrame-up
At this hearing the district attorney's Klan-infested San Leandro, Lauren of Lauren and Ray. The same system of
SHl'T office, local mouthpiece for the Reagan-
ite racists and labor-haters, is supposed
was assaulted by racist scab manager
Michelle Rose Hansen, who called her a
racist injustice that murdered five-year-
old Patrick Mason and Willie Lee
IT DOWN
,;
to present evidence to justify the "black 'nigger bitch" and struck her in Drumgoole in cold blood is trying to
trumped-up charges against the fired the face. Lauren defended-herself-and railroad Lauren and Ray.
"r
CWA (Communications Workers of Ray came to her assistance. For defend- In mobilizing for the widely endorsed
SHUT America) militants. The judge will rule ing themselves and their union picket labor/black demonstration in Oakland
\T TIGHT! on whether or not to send the 'case to line against racist attack, Mozee and last October 29 We forced the D.A. to
trial and what charges Lauren and Ray Palmiero were fired from their jobs, drop the most serious felony charge
will face. The Phone Strikers Defense arrested on felony assault charges and against Lauren and Ray. In every court
~
Committee (PSDC) is pursuing every denied unemployment benefits. While appearance the courtroom has been
avenue of legal defense while placing no Lauren and Ray face years in prison, packed with 'supporters of Lauren and
confidence in the class "justice" of the racist scab Hansen got off scot-free! Ray. Demonstrate on March I to make
......... AI
WV Photo capitalist courts. Militant protest and Lauren and Ray have been targeted it clear that the decent working people
Phone militants Ray Palmiero and public exposure are key to defeating this by the D.A.,-phone company and FBI as of the Bay Area will not stand for South
Lauren Mozee. vicious frame-up. The PSDC is calling members of the Militant Action Caucus, Africa-style justice! •