a href="#War, Patriotism Cut Workers’ Throat">"ditorial: Salt Lake City Snow Job: War, Patriotism Cut Workers’ Throat

• From One Nazi to Another

a href="#It’s No Accident that Oil Drives Afghan Slaughter">"ditorial 2: It’s No Accident that Oil Drives Afghan Slaughter

a href="#U.S. Rulers’ War FOR Terror in The Philippines">".S. Rulers’ War FOR Terror in The Philippines

a href="#D.C. Transit Workers Reject Reform Leaders’ Contract">".C. Transit Workers Reject Reform Leaders’ Contract

Red GI Swaying Soldiers Not to Side with Bosses

Chicago Teachers Open To Anti-War, Anti-Racist Ideas

Building PLP Within Anti-War Movement

Students Take Offensive vs. Racism, Anti-Semitism

WEF Protestors Told Humane Capitalism Impossible

Practice Makes Progress

Patriotism Is the Last Refuge of a Scoundrel

a href="#Workers See Need of International Unity to Fight Bosses’ Wars">"orkers See Need of International Unity to Fight Bosses’ Wars

LETTERS
Workers of the World, Write!

a href="#NYC’s Finest Kill Again">"YC’s Finest Kill Again

Distinguishing Friends from Enemies

a href="#‘DEE-FENSE!’">‘D"E-FENSE!’

Need More Concrete Analysis

C-D Needs Special Delivery

Anti-Arab Terror Recalls WW 2 Internment Camps

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Editorial: Salt Lake City Snow Job

a name="War, Patriotism Cut Workers’ Throat">">"ar, Patriotism Cut Workers’ Throat

The Hitler…oops…the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics are underway. This is one of the most segregated cities in the country, an armed camp, with more U.S. troops than in Afghanistan. The orgy of nationalism, patriotism and money-grabbing would make the Fuhrer (Hitler) envious.

The 1936 Olympics in Nazi Berlin was a showcase for the racism, nationalism and growing power of Hitler’s Germany. Within three years, Hitler had invaded Poland, and the Soviet Union two years later. World War II was underway. With these Olympics, the world is already at war.

Bush’s "War on Terrorism" is widening. With no serious military challenge, and no worldwide revolutionary communist movement, U.S. rulers are trying to run the table against any potential threat to their control of oil and oil pipelines, and their position as "the world’s only superpower." Under Bush I, the rulers called for a "new world order." Bush II is trying to ram it home. The Olympic mascot should be a 20,000-pound "Daisy Cutter" bomb.

The Hitler games celebrated the racism and anti-Semitism that would end in death camps and genocide. But the Nazis had nothing on Herr Ashcroft. These Olympics are being held in the country with the largest prison population in the world, two million, most of it black and Latin. In the "Land of the Free," racist police terror rules and 25% of young black men are in the criminal "justice" system. More black men are in prison than in college. Under "Homeland Defense," thousands of Arab and Muslim men are being rounded up and held without charges. The Justice Department and Immigration Service are treating over 600,000 immigrants on student visas as suspects. And the general population can’t travel without being asked to show their ID, or "assume the position" at hundreds of airports.

All the flag-waving and chants of "USA, USA" will not provide jobs for the 14 million unemployed. It will not provide healthcare for the 43 million without health insurance, and the hundreds of thousands who will join them, from LTV Steel to Enron. Bush is seeking $48 billion more for war, and $38 billion more to build a fascist police state.

U.S. imperialism rules a world that grows more unstable every day. Wars, mass disease and economic crisis comprise the "victory" of U.S. imperialism and the free market. The Middle East "peace process" has unraveled. In Africa, tens of millions are dieing in a holocaust of wars, civil wars, famines and HIV infections. Asia and Latin America are wracked by economic crises and more than two billion workers around the world live on less than $2 a day.

Less than a decade after the Nazi Olympics, and over 100 million lost lives, the Soviet Red Army rolled into Berlin and the Fuhrer killed himself in his rat hole. The destruction of the "invincible" Nazis was due to the then-socialist Soviet Union, led by Josef Stalin. The ultimate and inevitable defeat of Socialism and the old communist movement — which thought Socialism was the path to communism but did not build the latter — has been a devastating setback for the international working class.

We cannot yet fill the shoes of those revolutionary communists who preceded us. But we stand on the shoulders of these giants. By meeting the challenges of today, we will steel our Party and pave the long road to communist revolution. Given U.S. imperialism’s current launching of global war, there must be an urgency to our immediate task, but patience over the long run. Confidence in the working class will come from persistent fighting for the political leadership of the mass movement. As our confidence in the workers grows, such persistence will bear fruit, enabling us to overcome the dangers of the rulers’ superior weapons and the terror of their brutal dictatorship. Building mass May Day activities this year will keep workers, soldiers, and youth from being blinded by the Salt Lake City snow job.

From One Nazi to Another

Who do the U.S. bosses’ look to for enlightenment on how to conduct imperialist war? None other than Hitler’s Nazis. Witness this February 4 exchange between Public Television commentator Jim Lehrer and Bush’s Secretary of War, Donald Rumsfeld, about the proposed $48 billion increase in the military budget:

"LEHRER: But if somebody were to look at this budget…does it buy anything that different than what we already have?

"RUMSFELD: When the Germans transformed their armed forces into the Blitzkreig, they transformed only about 5 or 10 percent of their force….But they transformed the way they used it, the connectivity between aircraft and forces on the ground, the concentration of it in a specific portion of the line….You only need to transform a portion."

Wonderful! How come they lost? Rumsfeld should remember how the communist Soviet Union "transformed" the Nazis when the Red Army, led by Stalin, pushed Hitler and his 3rd Reich down the toilet .

Editorial 2:

a name="It’s No Accident that Oil Drives Afghan Slaughter">">"t’s No Accident that Oil Drives Afghan Slaughter

Lately the liberal media, led by the New York Times, has begun to analyze "possible" civilian casualties in the U.S. war on Afghanistan. They quote "humanitarian" organizations as saying there "might" be as many as 1,000 civilian deaths, but "it’s hard to prove" since they "lack independent evidence." Their latest editorial (Feb. 13) reduces even that figure: "No reliable overall casualty numbers exist, although some estimates say that hundreds of Afghan civilians have perished in misdirected strikes." It’s all an "accident" says this leading liberal mouthpiece. They give short shrift to the most detailed reports compiled by Professor Marc Herold of the University of New Hampshire, drawn and cross-checked from dozens of newspaper reporters from Britain, France, India, Canada, Pakistan, Australia and even the U.S. (although the latter are few and far between). Herold proved a minimum of 3,767 deaths just from Oct. 7 to Dec. 6, but this warranted merely a half sentence in the Times "analysis," the latter preferring to fall back on the "hard-to-prove" defense.

Herold declares that, "The absolute need to avoid U.S. military casualties means flying high up in the sky, increasing the probability of killing civilians…."

"….Better stand clear and fire away," reports the Toronto Globe & Mail (10/31/01) "Given this implicit decision, the slaughter of innocent people, as a statistical eventuality is not an accident but a priority — in which Afghan casualties are substituted for American military casualties."

Thus, in the U.S. imperialists’ war, where "The sacrificed Afghan civilians are not ‘white’ [and] the overwhelming number of U.S. pilots and elite ground troops are white….the scale of violence used by the U.S government…knows no limits." (Herold) For U.S. rulers, racism knows no bounds.

The bombing has "progressed from medium-sized missiles to Tomahawk and cruise missiles, to bunker-busting 2,000 lb. bombs to [B-52] carpet-bombing using cluster bombs and now the devastating daisy cutter bombs that annihilate everything in a 600-meter radius." ("The Evils of Bombing," London Guardian, 11/08/01)

"A U.S. officer aboard the U.S. aircraft carrier Carl Vinson described the use of 2,000 lb. cluster bombs dropped by B-52 bombers: ‘A 2,000 lb. bomb, no matter where you drop it, is a significant emotional [!] event for anyone within a square mile.’" (London Guardian, 11/2/01)

The liberals go as far as justifying the bombing saying "in the long run" without the Taliban "more lives will be saved." They ignore the fact that the U.S. under the liberal Democrat Carter organized the fundamentalists’ attack on Afghanistan 23 years ago — before the Soviet invasion —which continued under Reagan/Bush, using $3 billion of CIA-directed funds. It was out of this terrorist movement that the Taliban was born.

But the thousands of deaths from carpet bombing are only a small part of the story. "In the long run," tens of thousands will die from the disease-creating depleted uranium (DU) used in all U.S. bombs which makes them more deadly; from the starvation caused by the destruction of Afghan society and the withdrawal of previous emergency aid missions fearing these bombings; from the unexploded bombs remaining throughout the country (virtual land mines); and the looting, banditry, warlord fighting and drug trafficking resurrected by his war.

Finally, since the 26 million population of Afghanistan is one-tenth that of the U.S., Herold says the proven minimum figure of 3,767 Afghan civilian deaths (up until Dec 6) would become "roughly equivalent to about 38,000 U.S. deaths or . . . eleven World Trade Center attacks." The current civilian death total is well over 5,000..

All this slaughter stems from the U.S. bosses’ drive to control the world’s oil supplies, shipping routes and pipelines. Afghanistan stands between the massive oil and gas reserves of Central Asia and the Arabian Sea, a gateway to the energy needs of India, China and Southeast Asia. It is only a small taste of what the mass murderers in Wall Street and the White House have planned for the world’s working class, with Iraq next on the war agenda. The absence of a world communist movement permits these butchers to run rampant in their pursuit of profit. It is our task to re-build such a movement and turn these imperialist wars into class war for communism. Building red May Day marches is a crucial step in this direction, part of the working class’s answer to the ravages of world capitalism.

"They bomb anything that moves…"

"When U.S. warplanes strafed [with AC-130 gunships] the farming village of Chowkar-Karez, 25 miles north of Kandahar on Oct. 22-23, killing at least 93 civilians, a Pentagon official said, ‘The people are dead because we wanted them dead’ The reason? They sympathized with the Taliban." (BBC, 11/1/01) "When asked about the Chowkar incident, [Secy. of War] Rumsfeld replied, ‘I cannot deal with that particular village.’" (Toronto Globe & Mail, 11/3/01)

On Oct. 10, 2001, the Sultanpur Mosque in Jalalabad was hit by a bomb during prayers, killing 17 people. As neighbors rushed into the rubble to pull out the injured, a second bomb was dropped reportedly killing another 120 people. (BBC News Online, 10/11/01)

In an article entitled, "Living With War: Dying a Way of Life for Civilians in Afghanistan," the Los Angeles Times reported (11/19/01) that bomb strikes on Nov. 17 killed two entire families — one of 16 members and the other of 14 — together in the same house. On the same day, massive carpet bombing of Khanabad near Kundez killed over 150 civilians. (the London Independent, 11/19/01) A refugee, Mohammed Rasul, recounts himself burying 11 people, pulled out of the ruins.

On Oct. 19, U.S. planes circled over Tarin Kot in Uruzgan early in the evening, then returned after everyone went to bed and dropped their bombs on the residential area, instead of on the Taliban base two miles away. Mud houses were flattened and families destroyed. An initial bombing killed 20 and as some of the villagers were pulling their neighbors out of the rubble, more bombs fell and ten more people died. ("Families Blown Apart, Infants Dying. The Terrible Truth of this ‘Just’ War," the London Independent, 10/25/01)

A villager explained, "We pulled the baby out, the others were buried in the rubble. Children were decapitated. There were bodies with no legs. We could do nothing. We just fled." (John Nicol in the London Guardian, "The Myth of Precision," 10/20/01)

"A US bomb flattened a flimsy mud-brick home in Kabul…blowing apart seven children as they ate breakfast with their father. The blast shattered a neighbor’s house, killing another two children." (Times of India, citing Reuters, 10/29/01)

Fleeing refugees have become the Pentagon’s "new targets of opportunity." U.S. aircraft have fired missiles and dropped bombs on fleeing taxis, trucks and buses. (Sydney Morning Herald, 12/8/01) A 39-year-old refugee, Rukia, who lost her five children on Dec. 3 when a U.S. bomb hit her neighborhood in Kandahar, fled before she could bury her children, her left arm shattered and wounded in the stomach, and just escaped another bombing while being driven to a Quetta hospital. She told the Herald: "They’re bombing anything that moves. It’s not true that they bomb civilians by accident. They’re targeting the innocent people instead of Osama bin Laden."

a name="U.S. Rulers’ War FOR Terror in The Philippines">">".S. Rulers’ War FOR Terror in The Philippines

U.S. bosses have sent 600 troops to the Philippines to open up their "second front" in their "war on terror." They claim bin Laden’s Al Qaeda has training camps there. But who are the terrorists? The following is from a report (Feb. 12) by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof datelined Isabela, Philippines:

"Elnie Angulo, a…25-year-old peasant was walking along a jungle path [‘to market to buy burlap sacks’] when he was accosted by three terrorists here on the island of Basilan….

"What happened can be deduced from the…autopsy. The body had several broken ribs, three broken vertebrae, slice marks on both hands and cuts on the neck….Mr. Angulo’s tongue had been cut off and genitals severed.

"The men who tortured Mr. Angulo to death were….Philippine troops, our new partners in the war on terrorism.…

"[The U.S. is] about to join a ‘dirty war’ in Basilan, siding with murderers and torturers….

"Local people whisper about the white ambulance….Each time it stops at a house at night…someone from that house will turn up shot to death in the morning."

Using the bin Laden pretext, this first wave of U.S. troops are re-establishing U.S. bases in the Philippines, to replace Clark Air Force Base and Subic Bay from which U.S. rulers were ousted some years ago, particularly in an area crucial to Pacific maritime oil routes. U.S. bosses maintain their position as the world’s number one terrorists.

In Colombia Too, When It Comes to Terror, U.S. Bosses Are Number 1

Again, the Bush administration has shown in deeds that its "war against terrorism," means supporting mass terror against workers and youth. Bush is expanding Clinton’s Plan Colombia (billions for mainly enhancing the Colombian Army’s military capability) to pursue its real aim: protect the oil interests of the U.S. Occidental Petroleum company and support the paramilitary death squads. The latter are responsible for thousands of murders occurring there annually.

The White House wants $98 million more for training and arming Colombian troops to protect the EI Limon pipeline, which runs for hundreds of miles from the Arauca oil fields in northeast Colombia to a port on the Caribbean coast. This Occidental pipeline was closed for 266 days last year because of guerrilla attacks. Although Colombia provides only 2% of the total crude consumed in the U.S., the new measures "will mean a qualitative change...crossing the fine line between a war against drugs to fighting the insurgency. Washington seems to want to extend its war against terrorism to Latin America." (El País, Feb. 7). Colombia also borders on oil-rich Venezuela.

The same week the White House was demanding these billions, Amnesty International reported that the massacres of civilians and human rights abuses have doubled in Colombia and blamed the Colombian army for "organizing, coordinating and sharing information with the paramilitary groups which it tolerates." (El País).

As CHALLENGE has repeatedly said, when it comes to mass terror, U.S. bosses and their lackeys worldwide are number one.

a name="D.C. Transit Workers Reject Reform Leaders’ Contract">">".C. Transit Workers Reject Reform Leaders’ Contract

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 9 — To the dismay of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1089 president and the ATU international rep, transit workers recently rejected a tentative contract by a vote of 1288 to 543. They failed to realize that union members are unwilling to accept the crumbs offered by management and are ready to fight for a decent contract.

The president, in office for only one year, let down many of his supporters. He was elected on a platform of moving the union forward and fighting wage progression. Having now been "educated" to the bosses’ ways, he is pushing the sellout as "the best that we can do." Many workers want to know what happened.

This local president is not much different from many other reform-minded union officers. They get elected on a program of making the job better for the workers and then discover the bosses aren’t awed by their arguments. Initially they put up some resistance, but most soon surrender. A few continue on and win some concessions, but the workers never receive what they deserve. In fact, the workers create all value, but the bosses keep most of it — the source of profits.

How do workers get off this treadmill? Only communists can provide the leadership to break this cycle. Communists understand that as long as the bosses hold power, they will continue to exploit the working class. Communists are constantly figuring out how to fight the bosses.

The bosses have many avenues of attack: they use September 11 to build patriotism and plan for war; they push racism and nationalism to divide workers; they talk about downturns in the economy; they push lower wages and a longer progression—multi-tier wage system—as a strategy to "fight" privatization. All these are excuses for not meeting the needs of the workers, who are the backbone of the Metro system.

Out of each battle, whether workers win or lose, comes a better understanding of the enemy and a few more communists to lead the next battle. This process, which is not always straightforward, will eventually become a communist-led workers’ movement powerful enough to overthrow the bosses and establish a workers’ society where workers get what we need.

Red GI Swaying Soldiers Not to Side with Bosses

Every day on my way to work I pass a billboard the bosses have posted around town, showing a military tank in the background and a sign reading, "Without employees like you, it might not move an inch."

My first reaction was to laugh, since it’s displayed for workers. Soldiers in my unit have also seen it and we’ve discussed how the effort to gain support for the war in Afghanistan has increased. Many soldiers are unclear about the role of oil interests in that region. So we’re circulating a leaflet to inform soldiers not to take sides with the bosses in that war.

I gave the leaflet to a trusted friend and it sparked some discussion, showing how we can put our politics into practice. Later another interested soldier joined in.

Others are planning to use the leaflet. We’re gaining experience. The above example shows how even with a small base, political discussions can spread to others. We must make it clear to soldiers that we can criticize the actions in Afghanistan, that what society needs now is workers’ power, not imperialist war.

The bosses’ billboard is a sure sign there’s more war ahead. They have unleashed a massive effort to gain support for imperialist war and to attract soldiers nationwide to fight and die for Exxon Mobil profits. As far as I’m concerned, the billboard should read, "With soldiers like me, this tank will be used for workers’ power."

Red Soldier

Chicago Teachers Open To Anti-War, Anti-Racist Ideas

CHICAGO, Feb. 11 — Members of the Chicago Teachers’ Union (CTU) House of Delegates passed a resolution calling on the union to "encourage all its members to engage in educational activities…involving union members, students, and parents…on topics such as racial profiling and racist attacks, the war in Afghanistan, the potential for war around the world, options for peaceful solutions, and the changes in attitude toward civil liberties. The CTU Quest Center will gather resources, lesson ideas, names of potential speakers and other relevant materials."

A communist teacher spoke in favor of the motion. She said, "we should not be so quick to jump unthinkingly on the patriotic bandwagon. It is very likely the U.S. will become involved in a war not only in Afghanistan but in Iraq or Iran as well. I for one, do not want to see my students sent off to fight and die for the oil companies." Several people applauded.

Many union members were involved in organizing for the resolution. It originated from a discussion among activist teachers at a September anti-war rally. It was debated at a meeting of the union caucus PACT, as well as at the union’s Education Committee, which added the paragraph about the Quest Center. It was also discussed, and changed, at the union’s Executive Board meeting and then brought up again in the House of Delegates. Three of the originators of the motion spoke for it and a fourth woman moved to amend it to include gender apartheid and discrimination in Afghanistan.

The passage of this motion shows openness on the part of teachers and staff to the idea that the bosses’ war is not in our interests. It will be up to us to guarantee that we continue this struggle.

Building PLP Within Anti-War Movement

I am a member of a large institution. Generally people have supported the war in Afghanistan as a "just war." Some have tried to stifle discussions and dissent here. Others have been uneasy. A minority is openly against the war.

At the urging of myself and others, the committee I’m on initiated a petition to the leading council. We demanded an "open discussion," expressed our concern about the "loss of civil liberties" and reminded people of the institution’s "tradition" of being "anti-war, for peace." Eighty people signed the petition and demanded it be read and discussed at the next leadership council meeting.

Meanwhile, our committee established a planning group — which I’m leading — to organize a series of forums about the war, the Patriot Act, anti-Arab profiling and detentions, war and the economy.

Sixty people came to the first forum. The first speaker reviewed the history of geopolitics and oil during the Cold War and post-Cold War. He especially drew lessons linking oil and the current and expanding war. When he finished, hands went up: "Why is Mid East oil so important?" "What’s happening with Saudi Arabia?" "What’s the relation of oil to the India/Pakistan conflict?" "To the Israeli/Palestinian conflict?" "What about Enron?"

After the forum a participant told me, "I’ve heard a lot about oil, but not an analysis like that. There’s information on the Internet, but when you get it you feel alone and frustrated." The second speaker said the first one had been very "convincing."

During the question period a man challenged us, "It’s good to get information, but aren’t we angry about the war. I’m a veteran, but I want to know if anyone here is in that 83% they say supports the war? If we’re in the 17%, what are we going to do?"

After the discussion we concluded that we need an "anti-war movement" built by "rank-and-file" people that is "international" in scope and organization. An anti-war movement that can "link the struggle around international and domestic issues" and that can challenge the U.S. as the "world’s superpower." We made some specific plans in this direction to suggest at our group’s next meeting.

The forum ended with an invitation to everyone to sign our petition and return to the next forum about the Hart-Rudman Commission, the Patriot Act and anti-Arab, anti-Muslim profiling and detentions.

The day after the forum the leadership council read and discussed our petition. After expressing anger that they had been "attacked," they grudgingly accepted the petition (felt pressured) and the leadership of our committee.

It is important to note that a few of my close friends who know the Party and our literature have been very instrumental in our efforts. I am also making a few new friends in the process. All of them have political questions about the Party: Is imperialism the same as globalization? It’s still a capitalist class society, but hasn’t communism failed? Can’t we have a new "paradigm" [model]? But what would that be, I ask them.

I’ll invite these friends to May Day, to study Lenin’s "Imperialism" and the Party’s "Political Economy." Meanwhile I’ll continue to encourage them to help propel the ideological struggle and "anti-war" activism forward in this institution, and beyond.

A Comrade

Students Take Offensive vs. Racism, Anti-Semitism

CANTON, NY — Students at St. Lawrence University (SLU) have taken the offensive against anti-Semitism and racism. The December 14, 2001 issue of the school newspaper, The Hill News, printed a viciously anti-Semitic letter, referring to Jews as a "cancer…corrupting the genetic heritage" of Americans who "created such a superior civilization." This was a call to action against Jews. Recently, a member of the fascist National Alliance was expelled for spreading racist, hate propaganda. These incidents have upset many students.

The St. Lawrence University Anti-Capitalist Collective (SLUACC), led by an SLU student member of PLP, organized a response to this fascist filth. We first removed all copies of The Hill News from their distribution points, stamped swastikas over the university seals on the heading and stuffed leaflets into the newspapers. One side was an open letter to the newspaper staff. The other side explained "How to Fight Racism," describing how capitalism breeds and maintains racism. SLUACC then organized a student/faculty sit-in at Vilas hall, which houses the office of university president Dan Sullivan. We demanded the administration denounce anti-Semitism, investigate whether The Hill News staff violated the discriminatory harassment policy by publishing the letter and that the university act to prevent other racist incidents here.

The next day, during exam week, we had a rally attended by 30 students and 8-10 faculty. We invited the president and other administration figures, but only the Head of Multicultural affairs and one dean came. The president apparently had a "meeting" — a tennis match. At the rally, two professors detailed racism at SLU and the university’s complicity by not opposing or condemning such racist incidents. A PLP student explained how racists become bolder when not confronted and how Hitler and the Nazis came to power. The professors and the administration apologists argued afterwards.

Before leaving, we presented our demands to the president’s secretary. Then, students removed all the flower pots from Vilas hall and formed a large Star of David on the building’s steps as a statement against anti-Semitism and racism.

The president sent out a rude, condescending e-mail, referring to the hate speech in the newspaper as merely "silly" and offensive. He ignored our demands and absolved The Hill News for their actions. His trivializing this incident only encourages racism and anti-Semitism at SLU. Students wrote back, saying his response was unacceptable.

Universities are capitalism’s ideological factories which justify and spread racism, sexism, anti-communism, imperialism and identity politics, and help the ruling class divide and maintain control over and exploit, students and workers. SLU, like many universities, tolerates (and thus supports) racism. All students must fight their university administrations’ racism. SLUACC’s newspaper, Sabot will be publishing articles on anti-Semitism, the university and the connection between racism and capitalism in its newspaper as well as CHALLENGE articles. An SLUACC study group on PLP’s analysis of racism and fascism is planned. The fight against racism will continue.

WEF Protestors Told Humane Capitalism Impossible

NEW YORK CITY, Feb. 2 — The World Economic Forum (WEF) was hastily moved from the posh ski-resort in Davos, Switzerland to the luxurious Waldorf-Astoria Hotel here, supposedly as support for the U.S. bosses after 9/11. The WEF is a routine meeting of the world’s top CEO’s and politicians to discuss the fate of their global economy. Fearing mass violent protests like those at previous international ruling class gatherings, the NYPD turned the area around the meeting into an armed camp. The bosses relied not only on open terror but also used pro-war patriotism as a weapon to make sure many people stayed away from the protests. For example, contrary to Seattle, the AFL-CIO made sure not to mobilize en masse, sticking to a relatively small picket line in front of a GAP store to protest "sweatshops."

PLP did bring its anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist war and communist politics to all the protests throughout the WEF, distributing over 4,000 communist flyers and CHALLENGES.

The rulers erected metal barricades to herd those who did protest into carefully-designed block-length pens, surrounded by 4,000 cops. More cops were strategically placed citywide, defending corporate property. The ruling class spares no expense to protect its own through fascist measures. They even resurrected an 1845 law making it illegal for a group of three or more people to conceal their faces.

The anti-globalization movement is based on the popular idea of coalitions, where "movement" groups join together in common cause. These coalitions tend to align themselves around the lowest common denominator, in this case "corporate greed." But singling out "corporate greed" doesn’t reveal the nature of capitalist exploitation and the need to destroy capitalism and build communism. Protesting "corporate greed" is a call to reform capitalism.

In fact, the spirit of the WEF protest wanted a return to a non-existent "Golden Age" of democracy and capitalism. On Sat. Feb. 2, when the biggest protest took place, many marchers wore Statue of Liberty headdresses chanting, "This is what democracy looks like!" Slogans included, "Jobs with Justice," "Global Economic Justice," and "People Before Profits." Such ideas would support capitalism so long as it acts "humanely." But capitalism can never be just or put people before profits because capitalism is fundamentally exploitative.

"Capitalist democracy" is a dictatorship of the bosses designed to exploit the working class. Bosses who act "humanely" go out of business. The absence of class-consciousness among the many anti-globalization activists prevents them from getting to the source of exploitation — production for private profit.

Only destroying capitalism and building communism can eliminate poverty, racism, sexism, war and eco-disasters. WEF protesters show a willingness to fight the destructive effects of capitalism. PLP must harness this energy and channel it into class struggle. Millions of angry protestors need communist leadership in these desperate times of super-exploitation and imperialist war.

Practice Makes Progress

I’ve been in PLP for over five years and sometimes it seems like I have nothing to show for it. This frustration is the major reason I don’t write to CHALLENGE more often. But lately some experiences have given me more hope.

Several weeks ago, I sat down with a friend to just chat because I don’t see her very much anymore. The subject turned towards the war and eventually to communism. I was surprised she wanted to know more and agreed we need a communist society. We decided to organize a forum in our dorm to discuss the war, which might educate people a little more about it. I wasn’t sure about speaking as a member of PLP or not, but my friend had no doubts — she wanted me to speak as a communist.

The forum went exceptionally well. Afterwards I spoke with a Hawaiian woman about how the war was affecting her home. The constant allusions to Pearl Harbor and the need for patriotism and vengeance in the air over there disgusted her.

This was a good conversation, but the real victory was organizing this forum with my friend. Mostly I’ve been doing this work by myself so having this helping hand was great. This whole experience reminded me how bases are built. They don’t come out of the blue, but rather out of years of struggle and friendships. Having just one more person join the Party enables the work to grow many-fold. I’m confident now that just one person joining with me will help others join more quickly. This is the way communists base-build.

Recently, the bosses’ newspaper reporter asked to interview me. I had written a resolution to the Student Senate opposing the war and he wanted to write a story about it. I was tempted, but previous experiences with the press weren’t very good, so I refused. The bosses’ media always uses what you say to advance their own agenda.

Sure enough, the article praised the college Republicans and their resolution supporting the war. They were a joke on campus and in the Senate, but the article made them seem like defenseless do-gooders being picked on by hateful leftists and minorities. (These same college Republicans sponsored the notorious racist Horowitz’s campus talk last year.) When the t.v. show The O’Reilly Factor interviewed the president of the college republicans, it was obvious the bosses’ media was campaigning to push these guys to the forefront on college campuses.

This shows (1): we won’t be able to get on TV and say we need a communist revolution so we shouldn’t try (that’s not the way communists base-build); and (2) we can’t rely on the bosses’ media. We must rely on our own. This kind of maneuvering by the media demonstrates why CHALLENGE is so important.

Red Student

[We invite our readers to comment on the questions raised by this comrade. — Editor]

Patriotism Is the Last Refuge of a Scoundrel

How long the bosses can milk 9/11 to screw workers depends on how long workers are willing to take it, and how much our Party can influence masses of workers.

Early in February, several dozen cleaning workers at Rockefeller Center were told they no longer had jobs; they were being "replaced" by cleaning workers who lost their jobs at the World Trade Center (WTC). The angry workers protested and denounced their union leaders (Local 32B-J/SEIU) for siding with ABM — the new cleaning contractor at Rockefeller Center— instead of backing the union members. Workers weren’t even notified until the day they were told they no longer had a job.

A Latin women, having worked three years at Rockefeller Center, told El Diario-La Prensa (Feb.6): "All I want is my job back…They threw us out like dogs without caring that we have families to support and responsibilities."

ABM and the union leaders are trying to cover this back-stabbing with "patriotism," saying they’re "helping" the victims of 9/11. The union hacks also say they are "bound by the seniority rules", and workers with more years on the job can bump workers with less time. But the fired workers report that ABM is paying the WTC workers $6 an hour less than they were making.

After the workers protested in front of the union offices and got front page coverage in El Diario, the union leaders said they will "soon find jobs" for the displaced workers. But this empty promise comes during a very weak job situation. Even if they get hired, it will be at a much lower hourly wage.

As Samuel Johnson said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." This is something these workers, and many others, are realizing fast.

Not a Patriot

a name="Workers See Need of International Unity to Fight Bosses’ Wars">">"orkers See Need of International Unity to Fight Bosses’ Wars

The bosses at our company push patriotism in their "Team Concepts — "we are all one big family" — distributing American flag lapel pins and putting flag stickers on our equipment.

At the union convention our union officials outdid management, demanding total support for Bush and the "war on terrorism," hoping for government help.

A younger worker told friends not to wear the flag pin, saying it means, "You support the war. Don’t be fooled into thinking it shows you’re supporting the victims of 9/11," he continued. "This country never did anything for you." Although he was supposed to distribute the pins, he convinced some not to wear them, right under the nose of the supervisors.

Various contradictions arose in discussing Muhammad Ali being part of a film to justify the war. Someone thought he was showing that all Muslims are not the same. Another younger worker said, "Ali knows better….That would be like me wearing an American flag. I won’t and he shouldn’t, because racism means that this is not my country."

A group of us at work were watching CNN. It showed the yellow food packets and then pinpointed the daily bombings on a map. An older worker said, "Listen to this BS. First we bomb them. Then, if they survive, lunch is on us!" Although wearing an American flag, he had nothing good to say about the war.

We outlined why international capitalist competition impels U.S. rulers into military action to control oil and gas. U.S. oil companies must ensure they dominate both Saudi oil and Caspian Sea region energy sources. This gives the U.S. major influence in setting prices and determining who gets how much oil, a distinct competitive advantage over Europe, Japan and China, whose economies depend on Middle East oil.

We concluded that the burden of this U.S. bosses’ Empire is paid by the international working class, including U.S. workers, particularly those in the public sector as budget deficits replace surpluses. Some interesting debates ensued:

"I don’t like this war. I wouldn’t fight in it. But I need cheap gas to get to work. Isn’t it better that U.S. oil companies control the oil than some other capitalists? I could be paying $5 a gallon like in other countries." This from the same worker who commented about Ali.

But you are paying $5 a gallon, or more," responded a young woman. "You just don’t see it at the pump. Think of all the money spent on Desert Storm, or on keeping U.S. bases in the Middle East and now in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan — who knows what’s next? Our tax dollars are really subsidizing Exxon Mobil and Chevron-Texaco by providing them with their own private army."

But at what price do we get this gas," asked another co-worker. "It’s our kids and grandkids who fight this war. Even some of our co-workers are mobilized in the National Guard. People come back with all kinds of diseases and the government denies everything. Another guy told me he served in the Gulf War and thought it was laughable that the military was doing extra health check-ups before soldiers go to Afghanistan and when they return to look for any health problems from being over there. The military just wants to cover its ass, so if people do get sick they can say it was caused by something else."

A worker from South America broke in: "We always should think about what’s happening in other countries. They’re our brothers and sisters. The U.S. is killing people in Afghanistan. This is just wrong. Don’t think the companies will treat you any better just because you live here."

This last comment made us realize that, to counter the barrage of patriotism, we often stress how the war is not in the self-interest of workers here but don’t talk enough about international unity. The experiences and views of workers around the world remind us of the potential of international workers’ unity.

We discovered that many of our co-workers are against the war. We need to plan increasing this opposition in our local.

LETTERS

Workers of the World, Write!

a name="NYC’s Finest Kill Again">">"YC’s Finest Kill Again

On Feb. 2, my spouse and I participated in the mass funeral for Georgy Louisgene, a 23-year-old Haitian man murdered in cold blood by two of New York City’s "finest" racist cops. Georgy lived with his family in Brooklyn’s Vandeveer housing project. He apparently had a history of mental illness and had emerged from his building calling for help, having been beaten by some thugs. Although carrying a knife, eyewitnesses agree he was not threatening, just hurt and scared. The two cops showed up and pumped eight bullets into Georgy’s skinny body. The bullets’ impact must have spun him around because he was hit front, back and sideways.

Those racist killer cops thought they could dehumanize Georgy — and the many other young black and Latin workers and youth they’ve murdered in the past — by gunning him down like a dog. But the hundreds of family, friends, neighbors and supporters who packed the church, and the 200 who marched militantly alongside the hearse winding its way to the spot where Georgy had lay dead would not let him pass unmourned and forgotten. Many of the marchers carried photos and names of other young men mowed down by the racist cops. The family especially showed its courage by allowing this to be a political funeral. They led the chants, "No justice, No peace!"; "Whose streets? Our streets!"; and "Nou wè" ("We see," a Creole phrase meaning we bear witness and remember).

This single (though often repeated) act of racist violence reminds us of our brothers and sisters in the Occupied Palestinian territories who also face horrific acts of attempted dehumanization at the hands of the Israeli army: assassination, collective punishment, destruction of homes, armed checkpoints, etc.

We offer our condolences to the Louisgene family and promise we won’t forget a single act of exploitation and violence committed against our class! The working class will never see justice under this stinking, rotting capitalist system, and the streets will not be ours until the working class unites as one single force to smash this system.

"Nou wè!" as we fight to build a multi-racial, revolutionary communist movement in the U.S. and around the world to seize power for our class and rid the world of the parasites once and for all.

Brooklyn Red

Distinguishing Friends from Enemies

I recently attended a church-sponsored conference about the "war on terrorism." In my workshop, in an exchange about pacifism, one guy said he wasn’t a pacifist. His example was armed struggle to end slavery. He thought we needed to talk more about what the "war on terrorism" is really about, and why it’s wrong. We could bring in more people that way than just by preaching pacifism.

Then a woman said pacifism was very important to her. The group leader asked both of them if they thought they had any common ground. The first guy mentioned that a long-time pacifist friend had told him a story about someone in Nazi Germany who had shot and killed a Nazi officer in order to protect Jews hiding in her house. This friend said she didn’t know what she’d do in such a situation. The first guy added that he couldn’t imagine any war fought by any government in the world today that he would support.

The pacifist woman then said she really wasn’t sure she could adhere to her pacifist principles in all situations. She was okay with trying to broaden the appeal of the anti-war movement the way the first guy had suggested.

I was impressed by this. I am not a pacifist either, and sometimes I’m very uncomfortable around these people who use very "churchy" language to express their anti-war sentiments. There are so many "leaders" in the "peace movement" who seem more concerned with keeping the masses of people peaceful than they are with stopping the bosses’ wars. To me, those misleaders are part of the problem, not part of the solution. But these church friends are clearly not like them.

This experience has shown me people can change. It has made me less timid about raising left ideas amongst my church friends.

Learning to struggle

a name="‘DEE-FENSE!’"></">‘D"E-FENSE!’

Forget all the stomach-turning patriotism and the commercial feeding frenzy. The Super Bowl (which is getting impossible to watch) was won by the defense. The much talked about "high-powered" Rams offense, with "too many weapons." favored by two touchdowns, couldn’t outscore New England’s well-planned and perfectly executed defense. Last year’s game was won by the Ravens’ defense. There’s a lesson here.

"Offense and defense" should not be confused with "advance and retreat." On defense, you can keep the other side from scoring. In fact, on defense you can score. The Nazis were on the "offense" as they "advanced" on Stalingrad, Moscow and Leningrad. The Red Army was on defense, and we know how that turned out.

Millions of workers around the world are engaged in all types of class struggle, defending their jobs and livelihoods from the bosses’ offensive. Even though the fighting is often fierce, it is defensive in nature, aimed at stopping the billionaires’ attacks. As long as the bosses’ dictatorship is not challenged, every struggle is defensive.

From the widening "War on Terrorism" to "Homeland Defense," U.S. imperialism is on offense. This may be the case for some time to come. This means we must get much better at playing defense. We have to learn how to stop them from scoring, attack their weak spots and occasionally score. Their weak spots are their inability to serve the needs of the masses, and the superficial allegiance of the working class. Building the PLP, deepening our ties to the masses and earning their confidence, and increasing our influence in the mass movement is how we score.

When a mass PLP emerges, leading millions of workers, soldiers and youth, we will get the ball. When we challenge the rulers for power, we will be on the offense, and even then, we will have to defend every advance we make.

Knows the Score

Need More Concrete Analysis

The article entitled "Mexico: Workers Take Offensive, Seize Steel Mills" in the Jan. 30 CHALLENGE does an exciting and inspiring job of summarizing the details of this struggle; including the repeated failures of the company, the union leaders and the Labor Department to recognize the steelworkers’ elected leaders.

It explains that the attacks on the workers are related to capitalism’s crisis of overproduction, that "the profit system cannot satisfy our needs," that Mexican President Vicente Fox’s promises of jobs were lies and that "the only leadership capable of defeating capitalism will come when workers join the PLP."

These conclusions are true, but are generalities that could be attached to any article. These general truths need to be stated, but not to the exclusion of particular truths related to particular evens.

We must teach communism through the "constant concrete analysis of the concrete situation," to use Lenin’s phrase. This story is rich in such lessons. The illegal action of 2,000 workers seizing the means of production can pave the way to revolution, not just legal recognition by the capitalist government. We should explain in detail that unions were originally illegal and that Labor Departments and their "Arbitration and Conciliation Boards" exist to trap workers into peaceful, legal, reformist dead-ends. Workers should operate in many ways, without always having to go through the union and government bureaucracies (while utilizing these forms when tactically appropriate). No matter how massive and militant the seizure of property, the bosses will use their state apparatus to retake it. Therefore, workers must use these lessons to learn how to smash the rulers’ state apparatus and erect a working-class dictatorship.

Mass struggles such as this can be "schools of communism," another of Lenin phrases, but only if communists use them for that purpose. Based just on the lessons offered by the article, one could conclude that you should drop out of reformist organizations and join PLP. But our strategy calls for participating in the mass movement to win blocs of workers to join our Party and fight for communism.

CHALLENGE articles should consistently provide "constant concrete analysis" based on PLP’s overall line. Many articles do; many don’t. One reason workers need a centralized communist party is to fight for such analyses.

A Comrade

C-D Needs Special Delivery

This is in response to the letter about postal workers from "A Comrade" in the Jan. 16 CHALLENGE.

I’m a member of PLP and you should become more active. Then we can work together to change the world for the better. Look at page 2 of this newspaper for a hint of what communism is about. I’ve talked to a number of postal workers (not enough) about communism. One person said, "You have to get this paper into more people’s hands. You can’t just leave it around the building. That’s only a start."

Another worker said, "Thanks for the papers. I know you need a donation. Here’s five bucks. Somebody’s got to get the word out. The system is taking us down."

These workers are right. The financial support and distribution of CHALLENGE are key to building the PLP. Let’s make a deal. I’ll get out more papers and you help me. There’s a great many things going on with the USPS [U.S. Postal Service] that require communist leadership and analysis. Keep looking to this paper. Write for it. Discuss it with a friend.

Later, USPS (Unknown Seditious Postal Survivor)

Anti-Arab Terror Recalls WW 2 Internment Camps

The Art’s Council of a small town sponsored a "book reading" and discussion. Participants were to read Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston and sign up for discussion groups all over the town. it’s about the Japanese-American internment camps during World War II and details circumstances of the Japanese-Americans being terrorized, yanked from their homes and given hours to prepare for shipment to the camps. At my meeting there were about five or six elderly workers who had experienced the camps.

One recalled stories in the press about "Japanese cells" throughout California that "could supply information and material to the enemy" in submarines off shore. There was no evidence of this ever happening. He said it reminded him of stories in the press today about the Al-Qaeda "sleepers" everywhere, and the attacks against Arabs and Muslims.

When a moderator asked if we thought it could happen again, he was reminded of the Dec. 11 arrest of 69 undocumented airport workers at the Salt Lake City airport. Mayor Anderson pledged to make it the safest airport in the country for the Olympic Games, unless you happened to work there. Mothers were put in jail without regard for the care of their children. None of those arrested had any ties to terrorism.

There were comparisons between WWII and the war in Afghanistan and the homeland security.

I said I didn’t think the war there had anything to do with fighting terrorism, but had everything to do with the oil and pipeline profits of Exxon-Mobil or other capitalist enterprises. I said the tragic events of 9/11 provided the warmakers with the excuse they wanted to wage this war for oil profits.

More events are scheduled and more opportunities to be bolder in the fight for communism.

Red Reviewer

1. The Enron Swindle
   Bosses Fight Each Other Workers Lose
   1. Liberal Line Up Rock(y) Solid
   2. Cheney's Halliburton Being Whipped into Line
2. Bosses' Oil Wars: Opportunities and Dangers
3. U.S. BOSSES SPREAD THEIR IMPERIALISTA TENTACLES
4. A STRIP SEARCH AND A FUNERAL
5. 15,000 Striking Teachers Battle Cops, Iran Rulers
6. Mass Strikes Hit Capitalist China
7. Mexico Tire Workers Say Don't Thread on Us
8. Ford Workers Need Global Unity to Fight Layoffs
9. Fascist Decrees Make Homeland Secure from Strikes
   1. Trade Union Leaders Have No Answer To Fascism
10. Janitors, Students Against Racist Harvard Bosses
11. Liberal 1188 Honcho Riding Republican Horse to Sell Out Members
12. CLASS WAR IS THE CURE FOR BIO-TERRORISM
13. Rulers'Attacks on Students Is the Real Violence in Schools
14. Racism Is the Pilot in Black Hawk Down
15. Israeli Soldiers Disobey Bosses' Orders to Make War Against Palestinians
16. WORKERS OF THE WORLD, Write!
    1. Argentina
    2. Welcome to New Comrades
    3. HS Forum Helps Expose Anti-Arab Lies
    4. Fight FBI Terror Against Pakistanis
    5. Special Education: Racist to the Core

---

The Enron Swindle
Bosses Fight Each Other Workers Lose

Workers shouldn't be misled by the liberal spin the media and politicians are putting on the Enron swindle. Punishing a few "bad" capitalists can't make the profit system serve our needs. If anything, the Enron debacle shows that the whole system is rotten and must be smashed.

Enron executives falsely inflated the company's stock price, used accounting gimmicks to show phantom profits, and stole $1.1 billion at the expense of Enron workers' pensions -- and hundreds of thousands of others' -- when the whole scheme unraveled. By helping Bush steal the 2000 presidential election, they expected to wield partisan influence over the government's energy policy.

Still, most companies cook their books, particularly in a period of intense speculation like the 1990s. Most also juggle their tax rates to "produce the kind of earnings they desire" (John Crudele, New York Post, 1/22). And many cheat on their earnings per share (EPS) figures. If the numbers aren't right, then a big corporation can simply buy back its shares to reduce the outstanding amount of stock in private investors' portfolios and artificially drive up the EPS. IBM "has been buying back so many shares in recent years that some people joke that the company will soon have no shares in public hands" (Post article).

But IBM isn't being slammed in the press and the halls of Congress. IBM is an Eastern Establishment company in sync with the big bosses' strategy for oil wars abroad and a police state at home. Enron had a program that put its own corporate interest ahead of the capitalist class as a whole. They earned the Establishment's wrath when it overstepped its bounds by moving from the energy supply business into speculative commodities trading. It further embedded itself on the liberals' hit list with its attempt to corner the California electricity market. This behavior is typical of a newer capitalist trying to catch up to the big boys. Enron's problem was that the big boys didn't want a new domestic competitor. And the big boys happen to hold state power.

The Enron collapse proves the ruthlessness and resourcefulness with which the main wing is moving to rein in companies that diverge from its agenda. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) started the panic on Enron shares by alerting big investors to the stock price and accounting shenanigans. But this was just the start. The head of the U.S. Senate's Enron panel is Joe Lieberman, the cheerleader for the "whack Iraq soon" faction of the Eastern Establishment. Lieberman is also one of the loudest critics of Bush's tax cuts. Beneath a self-righteous smokescreen of complaints about "corporate greed," he reveals his true oil war motive: if the tax cuts aren't reduced, "...in no way will we have the money we need to invest in strengthening our military to keep our nation secure over the next decade." (Lieberman press release, 2/8/01)

The general character of this process is the consolidation of capital and political power in the hands of the most ruthless murderers the world has ever seen. But hatred for the greedy profiteers of Enron and Halliburton shouldn't drive us into the even more dangerous clutches of the Exxon Mobil liberals and generations of oil wars and home-front terror. Our agenda, as always, must be to build the PLP and organize for communist revolution.

Liberal Line Up Rock(y) Solid

The liberal "A" team has lined up behind Lieberman to indict Enron. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have gotten into the act. Jackson last confronted a big energy firm in 1996, when he condemned racism in Texaco's front office. At the time, Texaco had plans to link up with British Petroleum (BP) to market Alaskan oil in Asia, a gross violation of the Exxon-led practice of ruling the world by addicting it to much cheaper Persian Gulf crude, as well as Exxon's determination to keep Alaskan oil for reserve military use. Since then, Texaco has been fully brought into the fold, having been merged with Rockefeller's Chevron.

Cheney's Halliburton Being Whipped into Line

The disciplining of disobedient capitalists didn't start with Enron (think Microsoft) and won't stop there. A number of companies are ripe for swatting down. Chief among them is the giant oil-driller Halliburton. [Vice-President Cheney, up to his neck in the Enron swindle, came to his present post directly from his job as Halliburton's CEO.] Halliburton doesn't always make deals to the taste of the Exxon gang. Here the main rulers are using a different tactic. Enron got a taste of the SEC's and courts' ability to deflate share prices. Halliburton is undergoing a carrot-and-stick asbestos trial. In early January, its shares dropped to a 15-year low after being slapped with four jury verdicts for asbestos-related damages totaling $150 million. But the main rulers don't want to wipe out Halliburton as they did Enron. Halliburton has too much valuable oil-related hardware and experience. The big bosses' strategy here involves using the asbestos issue to club Halliburton into line. This is no idle threat. Since January, 2000, nine major U.S. companies have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy because of asbestos suits.

Bosses' Oil Wars: Opportunities and Dangers

Bush's "State of the Union" is a declaration of war on the world. He's demanding the biggest increase in military spending in 20 years, nearly $90 billion -- $48 billion for war abroad and $38 billion for fascism at home.

The rulers' "war on terrorism" is actually one for control of world oil supplies, one in which U.S. bosses seem to enjoy a free hand. No other imperialist power can yet challenge them militarily. They prevented Pakistani rulers from opposing the move into Afghanistan, where the U.S. military is now the dominant force. They have succeeded in opening several new fronts, with no significant opposition. U.S. imperialism would appear to have a long, vigorous life ahead of it.

Workers must never underestimate the class enemy's strength. Just as dangerous, however, would be a one-sided refusal to see the rulers' weaknesses and our side's potential to take advantage of them. The bosses are very powerful, but they're not all-powerful

* The war in Afghanistan may not be over yet. Defeating the Taliban and routing Al Qaeda's standing army are one thing. Pacifying the country and guaranteeing the unchallenged flow of oil through a new pipeline between Afghanistan and Pakistan is quite another. Al Qaeda may well have the capability of waging a long guerrilla war in Afghanistan, tying up a large number of U.S. troops acting as a pipeline police force likely to suffer significant casualties. The latter may also face the instability caused by warlords fighting each other.

* As Eastern Establishment loyalist and former Iraq weapons inspector Richard Butler points out: "...the war has led many Americans to believe that Saudi Arabia is not the best of allies" (New York Times, 1/18). The forces that back bin Laden and Al Qaeda represent a significant element of the Saudi capitalist class. They want to end their junior partnership with Exxon & Co. and gain primary control of the oil. Their cynical but clever strategy calls for sucking U.S. imperialism into a multiple-front war that would involve the mass murder of workers in many Muslim countries. This could provoke an outburst of nationalist-religious outrage, to be used to drive the U.S. out of the oil-producing countries. It's far too early to predict that this strategy is doomed to fail.

* Among other things, the sharp tactical debate over Iraq among Eastern Establishment billionaires reflects their fear of the potential for an alliance between Iraqi and Saudi and/or other Mid-East rulers. Such alliances might become possible with the victory of Saudi bosses favorable to Al Qaeda. This could force a U.S. military response throughout the Persian Gulf. One way or another, the U.S. oil war is headed towards Iraq, with many unintended consequences, not all of which will favor the U.S.

* The sharpening armed struggle between Israeli rulers and Palestinian nationalists further exposes the limits of U.S. power. Drafting and signing a "peace" agreement isn't the same as enforcing it. U.S. imperialism can neither control its own Israeli vassals nor impose its will on Arafat's political base or his chief Palestinian rivals. The Camp David and Oslo "peace" accords between Israel and Arafat are dead. Every new suicide bombing and murderous response by the Israeli military further jeopardizes U.S. oil interests throughout the region.

* Other imperialists cannot yet threaten U.S. supremacy, but they are developing long-range strategic plans to do so. Despite temporary appearances, the Putin gang in Russia is no friend of Exxon, leader of the main U.S. rulers. The temporary tactical alliance will not last. Russia is a major oil producer. Its rulers have no intention of playing second-fiddle to the U.S. China's rulers have a long-range need to replace the U.S. as the world's chief imperialist power. An important aspect of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan ("Phase I") and "Phase II" is Exxon & Co.'s drive to dominate East Asia's anticipated petroleum supply boom over the next couple of decades. This is unacceptable to Chinese rulers, and hardly a scenario for harmony and stability.

* On the home front, the war still appears popular. But oil can't be pumped, shipped or defended from the air. U.S. rulers' plans, as well as the contingencies described above, will necessitate growing numbers of ground troops spread all over the world -- and growing numbers of casualties. Today, the U.S. military depends for its front-line troops on a racist economic draft of the most oppressed workers. Despite all their patriotic flag-waving, recruitment of fresh "volunteers" is nowhere near meeting the rulers' coming war needs. A military draft will eventually become the order of the day. Already a conscription bill to draft all 18-22-year-old males has been submitted to Congress by two highly-placed Republicans. Placing guns in the hands of the most oppressed black, Latin, and white workers is a dangerous game. Even the most ruthless police state can't forever contain the growing class hatred of a working class that doesn't want to be policed nor content fighting a long war.

* Finally, the bosses' polls show that the economy has passed the "war on terrorism" as the number one concern of the population. With at least 14 million workers jobless or underemployed, with hundreds of thousands being screwed out of pension benefits by the Enron swindle, capitalism's contradictions are asserting themselves on the backs of the working class. Increasingly workers will ask how the government has tens of billions for war and "homeland defense," and nothing for the unemployed.

The unfolding situation is complicated. The rulers are strong but not without weaknesses. Our side is small and tactically weak, but we have the potential to skillfully fight for our ideas in the mass movement, and earn the trust and confidence of workers, students and soldiers. Conflicts will sharpen. Larger opportunities will arise. We are in this for the long haul. Communism's day will come. The slow, hard, patient work we do now to prepare for it is vital.

U.S. BOSSES SPREAD THEIR IMPERIALISTA TENTACLES

The United States has sent 600 troops to the Philippines in "the first major international expansion of the United States' anti-terror campaign" (Boston Globe, 1/17). But geography and geology indicate that Phase II of the U.S. rulers' warmaking has much more to do with controlling world oil supplies than with keeping U.S. citizens out of harm's way. "Other potential new fronts include countries as diverse as Indonesia, Malaysia, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Iran, and Syria" (Globe article). They aren't so diverse after all. Each has tremendous strategic importance either as a source of oil or as a site commanding oil tanker routes. Bush & Co. want to make the world safer all right, but only for the profits of Exxon Mobil and its allies.

Every day almost all of the world's exported oil, 30 million barrels of it, must go through one or more of seven passages identified as "chokepoints" by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Even relatively minor military action could shut off the flow of oil at these points. Four just happen to border countries targeted by the planned deployments.

* First is the Strait of Hormuz, at the head of the Persian Gulf between Iran and Iraq.

* Next comes the Strait of Malacca, separating Malaysia and Indonesia. This narrow body of water carries Japan's vast crude imports from the Middle East, as well as China's rapidly growing purchases of Persian Gulf oil. For a century, U.S. bosses kept huge naval and air bases in the Philippines in order to control shipping in this region.

* The third chokepoint, the narrows between Somalia and Yemen, funnels oil traffic into the Red Sea, past Sudan's shores and through the Suez Canal.

* The fourth hotspot is the Suez Canal itself, which funnels Middle Eastern crude towards Western European markets.

Terrorists murdering workers on behalf of one capitalist faction or another operate from Northern Ireland to southern Africa. But, when it comes to singling out enemies, petroleum dictates Washington's priorities. The Pentagon's hit list includes Iraq and Iran, two of the world's three greatest oil producers that are not currently under U.S. domination. The third, Russia, is playing ball with the U.S. on oil policy, for now, but will eventually turn hostile. Syria, lying between Iraq and the Mediterranean, could play a key role when U.S. rulers decide it's time to move to what now seems to be Phase III, ousting Saddam Hussein.

A STRIP SEARCH AND A FUNERAL

CHICAGO, IL January 26 -- Ohio State University student Samar Kaukab was forcibly detained, strip searched and harassed, all because of Bush's racist "War on Terror." Born in the U.S. of Pakistani origin, the Muslim student passed through the metal detectors at O'Hare airport without incident. But an Illinois National Guardsman felt she fit the "racial profile," and insisted she remove her hijab (head scarf). Security escorted her to a private room where two guards removed her hijab, opened her shirt and unzipped her pants.

Over the past several weeks, the government shut down a Mosque, and an Arab community center was burned down. The University of Illinois-Chicago campus is cooperating with the Justice Department and the immigration service (INS) to keep tabs on Arabs and Muslims on student visas.

Today, black Marine Sergeant Jeannette Winters was buried in Gary, Indiana. Her body was returned after her military refueling plane crashed into a mountain in Pakistan. Her coffin was wrapped in the bosses' flag.

Several miles away, LTV Steel has closed its doors, putting 3,000 black, Latin and white steel workers on the street and threatening the pensions and health care of 70,000 more. American Steel closed last year and Bethlehem is in intensive care. Last year black men accounted for 42% of Indiana's prisoners while only 7.9% of the state's population is black.

The stench of war, fascism, racist terror and economic crisis surround us. The strip search and funeral, the closing of the Mosque and the steel mill, are not isolated incidents; and they are only the tip of the iceberg. The racist terror being unleashed against Arabs and Muslims is an attack on all workers. Black and Latin workers especially will find themselves even more terrorized as a result. Of 5.7 million Muslims in the U.S., 2.3 million are black. And every Latin worker, student and youth will find him- or herself under the INS magnifying glass as the government begins mass round-ups of "illegal" immigrants in the name of "security."

A terrible storm is coming. Only the deepest ties between the PLP and the masses of workers, soldiers, students and youth will see us through to the other side.

15,000 Striking Teachers Battle Cops, Iran Rulers

TEHRAN, IRAN, Jan. 28 -- Two days ago the police attacked thousands of teachers, mostly women, with truncheons and tear gas when they rallied to demand better wages. The teachers' march, coinciding with the visit of UN chief Annan, was declared "illegal" by the cops. The demonstrators then marched to Tehran University, their ranks swelling to 20,000 strong. Again the Pasdaran (cops) attacked them. Clashes continued for several hours. Ninety people were arrested.

On Jan. 22, a one-day teachers' strike shut 80% of all schools here. Despite the bosses' and their media lies and attacks (even announcing "cancellation" of the march), that day 15,000 teachers, chanting "Enough promises, teachers of the country, unite," marched to the Islamic Majlis (Assembly) to present their demands for higher wages, housing subsidies, national insurance and the right to form an independent teachers' association. When some Majlis politicians addressed the teachers, the angry crowd shouted them down. Teachers knew these politicians were not their allies. (A politician's monthly salary equals a teacher's yearly wage.) Similar marches occurred throughout Iran.

This teachers' fight again shows that class struggle will continue under all circumstances. Many workers and youth now see that despite the mantle of religion, Iranian rulers are just another bunch of capitalist exploiters. Indeed, these teachers are teaching their students, and fellow teachers all worldwide, that the best education is to fight the bosses. An even better education is to learn from these struggles that the only way out of the hellish existence created by all bosses (under the name of any god) is to fight for a society without bosses -- communism.

Mass Strikes Hit Capitalist China

It has been over two decades since Deng Xiaoping's "reforms" put China on the road to capitalism. "To get rich is glorious" was Deng's maxim. He did it "the old fashioned way," pulling off the biggest heist of the century: privatizing China's 26,000 rural communes, changing life drastically country-wide. Under Mao, the "rice bowl" practice guaranteed food for everyone. Under Deng, capitalism bloomed and hundreds of millions paid for their "glorious" riches, first the rural workers, then the urban ones. Now many are fighting back.

Recently 2,000 workers occupied the Shuangfeng Textile factory

"On the fourth night of the strike, management cut off the heat," reported the International Herald Tribune (1/22). But the workers stuck it out, huddling together and wrapping themselves in thick blankets and surplus military coats. Even as the temperature went down, they refused to leave.

"Not too long ago, banners on the factory walls reminded workers that they were `masters' pf the communist state....Mostly women and mostly old, they quickly spoke of pay cuts and worthless stock shares, of corrupt officials and missing pension funds [shades of Enron!], of being cheated in China's rough-and-tumble transition from socialism to capitalism. They also spoke of the risks they were taking by fighting back."

Beginning on Dec. 16, the police attacked three times to try to oust workers from the factory, dragging women out by the hair, jabbing others with electric riots sticks. But the workers held on.

They returned to work with the promise that the company eventually would return their $14 million lost savings and pensions. The company then declared "bankruptcy" and emerged with the managers as the "new owners"(fake bankruptcy as it is called), The pay cuts remain.

This is just one of many battles occurring throughout China. "As thousands of factories are closed or sold, workers who once [had] lifetime job security now face mass layoffs and, sometimes, the loss of their savings to corrupt managers. "(IHT).

Although there are no official figures, a recent government report acknowledged that China a "high tide" of labor unrest exists. The number of workers involved in strikes more than doubled in the first half of the 1990s alone. Another report said than in the year 2000 there were 30,000 protests of significant size, more than 80 a day.

So while many see Deng's capitalist reforms as the road to modernization, the future is bleak for hundreds of millions. Cities in China resemble their capitalist counterparts in the U.S., Japan or Europe, with McDonald's, Pizza Huts and youth with red-tinted hair. Only a few million have benefited from Deng's "to-get-rich-is-glorious" capitalist maxim. For over a billion Chinese life has worsened. Over 100 million peasants roam China's main cities, dressed in rags and carrying their belongings on their backs, looking for work each day.

China's "market socialism" is becoming increasingly capitalistic. Workers' and peasants' dreams of a land where they ruled and built a society to satisfy their needs have been transformed into a yuppie haven for a small minority.

But as the world crisis of capitalism deepens, even the good life for most of these new yuppies will begin to disappear. China's main export markets -- in the U.S. and Europe -- are experiencing economic crisis. The conflicts within China are sharpening, as well as its rulers' competition with the U.S., Japan and India (its main competitors in Asia). Deng's reforms are leading to a future of war and more economic deprivation. The dreams of Chinese workers and peasant to become "masters of their lives" can only be accomplished by learning from the mistakes of the old communist movement and fighting for a society where production is not for the profit of a few bosses but is to produce for the needs of the masses of workers.

Mexico Tire Workers Say Don't Thread on Us

EL SALTO, JALISCO, MEXICO, Jan. 24 -- Today 5,000 workers, relatives and area residents marched to the nearby Euzkadi tire plant to begin a strike "that could mean the survival of the town." (THENEWSMexico.com) The plant closed last December after repeated attempts to negotiate a contract between Euzkadi and the National Revolutionary Union of Euzkadi Workers (SNRTE -- initials in Spanish). Under Mexican labor law, owners cannot recover equipment from a factory that's being picketed. The union struck to force the company back to the bargaining table.

In 1998 German-based Continental Tire bought Euzkadi and proposed a "flexible" contract to boost productivity and destroy the gains won by the workers over the past 67 years. These include the five-day workweek and wages well above the national average.

Many see this strike as a test of the "new culture of labor" promised by Labor Secretary Carlos Abascal. (THENEWSMexico.com) The corrupt union confederations were allied with the PRI, which ruled Mexico for 60 years. Vicente Fox and his National Action Party won the presidency two years ago. Under the guise of curbing corrupt unions, the government is attacking all workers.

The Mexican economy, especially the auto industry, is being hit hard by the U.S. recession and the global crisis of overcapacity. Last year 382,000 jobs were lost in all kinds of industries in Mexico (Notimex, Jan. 24). The 3,000 GM assembly workers at the Guanajuato plant, plus the 2,000 working in auto subcontractors in the area, also fear for their jobs. The profit system can only solve the current crisis by cutting workers' jobs, wages and benefits. Even if workers win a few struggles, the bosses will eventually return with more attacks. The meager wage hikes workers have won this year have already been eroded by inflation.

The Euzkadi tire workers, as well as Ford and steel workers, are fighting back. Basic industrial workers fighting the bosses and their government can lead the whole working class. In these struggles, we can learn valuable lessons in how to challenge the ruling class for power. But this can only happen to the degree that we build a mass, international PLP in basic industry. This can raise the specter of, and advance the fight for, communist revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat. This vision can light the way through the dense fog of economic recession and imperialist wars.

Ford Workers Need Global Unity to Fight Layoffs

HERMOSILLO, SONORA, MEXICO, Jan.26 -- Ford's announcement to close its plant here for two weeks due to low demand has caused much fear among workers. Another plant in Chicago will also close for the same period from Jan. 28 to Feb. 8.

The 2,700 Ford workers here will get 75% of their pay for the two weeks but "there is a lot of uncertainty even though these technical stoppages" are not unusual, according to one local union official. He said the "world economic situation makes this closing different than others, plus...production is being ended for a model built here [the 4-door Ford Escort]." (El Universal, 1/26).

These cuts are part of Ford's worldwide plans to eliminate 35,000 workers and shut five plants in North America. In 2001, Ford plants in Mexico produced 14.6% less units (239,690) than in 2000. Eighty percent of all local production is exported to the U.S.

A system that cannot provide jobs for workers must be smashed and replaced with one in which production serves the needs of all workers -- communism. The unity of autoworkers, from Hermosillo to Detroit, from Sao Paulo to Chicago, to wage a unified struggle against these job cuts is a good step towards that goal. Joining the PLP is the way to carry on this fight.

Fascist Decrees Make Homeland Secure from Strikes

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) president Thomas Buffenbarger recently sent out a highly unusual "call to action" to all IAM members because Bush had "appointed a Presidential Emergency Board to block a lawful strike at United Airlines."
What's Buffenbarger "action"? Write or call "our" Senators and Congressional Representatives. Apparently the thought of striking, law or no law, never crossed his mind.

CHALLENGE readers will remember Buffenbarger was the "patriot" who called for support for Bush after 9/11. He even added his own jingoistic pearl, "We don't want justice; we want revenge." Well, he has no worries about getting any justice -- especially for aerospace workers! "The chickens have come home to roost," observed a shop floor mechanic.

These questions of legality are a continent-wide issue. Strikes are becoming increasingly illegal, either formally or de facto. Hundreds of striking Middletown, N.J. teachers were jailed last month. Railroad and airline workers' strikes have recently been declared illegal. Reinforcing these strike-busting edicts, all emergency loan guarantees to the airlines in the wake of 9/11 stipulate "that the carriers must keep labor costs in line." (USA Today, 1/15)

In one of the more bizarre efforts to outlaw strikes, a provincial board in British Columbia, Canada must now certify that a teacher does not constitute an essential service before he or she can strike! Teachers have been waiting weeks to hear who's considered essential and who isn't. Questions like, "Are seventh-grade math teachers more essential than eighth-grade language teachers?" now have great legal bearing. What next? How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

Trade Union Leaders Have No Answer To Fascism

Buffenbarger's "call to action" reveals that he really isn't concerned about strikes. He's most concerned with maintaining the traditional legal status of the union, and only talks about the right to vote on a contract. Striking would jeopardize the union's legal standing so, for him, sharp class struggle is out.

In contrast, our Party puts the interests of the working class first. We know class struggle will teach our class how to win. We know better than to put our faith in the bosses' laws or government. When the bosses talk about "democracy," they really mean the dictatorship of their class. We fight for the dictatorship of the working class.
"Homeland Security" means fascism. A trade union philosophy is helpless before this fascist onslaught. A solely legal strategy insures co-operation or co-option by the "legal" fascist forces. As contract struggles intensify this fall, one of our key objectives is to win many more workers to understand the current period and the strategies we need to follow. We must learn to preserve our revolutionary forces and persevere in class struggle. We can then look forward to the day when we issue our own "call to action" -- a call to revolution.

Janitors, Students Against Racist Harvard Bosses

CAMBRIDGE, MA, Jan. 21 -- Today over 500 Harvard workers and students rallied in support of the janitors' upcoming contract fight. Last year's sit-in led to the re-opening the of the janitors' contract a year and a half ahead of schedule. Negotiations were scheduled to begin on Jan. 22. If the militant workers and students prevail, Harvard could be in for trouble!

The rally, held on the Martin Luther King holiday, had an explicitly anti-racist theme. Speakers included students from the Black Students Association, La Raza (Latin student group) and the Living Wage campaign. The La Raza speaker exposed Harvard's institutional racism, saying most of the workers paid below the "Living Wage" figure of $10.68/hr are black and Latin (as are 90% of the janitors). A rank-and-file leader from the janitors' local, SEIU 254, led the rally. A custodian and a dining worker also spoke.

Unfortunately politicians dominated the event, as they do the living wage movement. This reflects the sponsoring groups' lack the confidence that workers can confront Harvard without the help of union misleaders and politicians. Two of the latter, Boston city councilman Chuck Turner and former Clinton labor secretary Robert Reich (running for governor of Massachusetts) spoke for over an hour and a half. The workers spoke for five minutes combined.

The politicians pushed nationalism, saying it would be a "patriotic act" for Harvard to pay a living wage. The priest who spoke wants us to pray for Harvard's bosses! No one explicitly endorsed the war in Afghanistan, but patriotism inevitably builds support for U.S. imperialism.

We distributed 40 CHALLENGES and 350 leaflets. We explained how Harvard serves the main wing of the ruling class and is behind racist policies such as Workfare and mass incarceration.

Harvard's new president Lawrence Summers served in the Clinton administration that implemented slave labor workfare. As head of the World Bank, he called for dumping toxic waste in Africa because it is "economically efficient." Harvard professor Richard Herrnstein has written many racist tracts including The Bell Curve, which argue that black people are "genetically less intelligent" than whites. This provided ideological justification for abolishing welfare. We also exposed Summers' recent racism towards Harvard black professors such as Cornel West, but pointed out that the latter say nothing about Harvard's role in promoting racist and pro-U.S. imperialist policies.

PLP members in the Living Wage campaign will continue to advance the idea that workers and students have the power to confront Harvard and build support for a janitors' strike. We will condemn Harvard as a warmaker and strike-breaker, win workers and students to build the movement for communist revolution.

Liberal 1188 Honcho Riding Republican Horse to Sell Out Members

NEW YORK CITY, Jan. 28 --"This latest agreement has little to do with the deteriorating working conditions, short-staffing or needs of the patients," exclaimed one hospital worker about the recent Local 1199/SEIU contract negotiations. Absolutely right. The contract doesn't deal with the effect of short staffing and subcontracting on patient care. During the winter, emergency rooms are filled to capacity. Patients wait long hours before being treated. In every department, workers are overwhelmed with the high volume of work and supply shortages.

This contract is all about politics. Republican Governor George Pataki and State Senate leader Joseph Bruno backed state funding for the healthcare workers' contract in return for having their re-elections endorsed by union boss Dennis Rivera. Local 1199 has more than 200,000 members in New York State, mostly black and Latin, and until last week, Rivera served on the Democratic National Committee. Several years ago, 1199 launched a campaign against Pataki to stop Medicaid cuts. Now he's their man.

This is a page from the SEIU book in California, where Governor Gray Davis supported the "unionization" of 75,000 home healthcare workers, in return for union money and foot soldiers in his election campaign. The healthcare workers make minimum wage and don't qualify for unemployment compensation. Few if any have health insurance. And Davis is a Democrat!

In the last contract, the hospital bosses saved at least a quarter of a billion dollars. They will save millions more during the 42-month life of this agreement. Thanks to their politicians, they will contribute barely 20% towards the contract, while the state and union contribute the rest. A $1 billion payment from Blue Cross/Blue Shield and a 6% tax on nursing home bills will help finance the contract, while workers pay higher insurance rates across the board.

The union says it won the best wages in a decade. But the average 3.2 % over the 42 months is similar to the past several contracts, and won't cover the rise in union dues or the cost of living. The union claims it won the right for laid-off workers to fill the first job openings they qualify for in other institutions covered under this contract. But if the bosses lay off 25% of the workforce during this period, there will be no job openings. There's no increase in the bosses' payments to the pension fund because the union tells us any addition would be taxed. Of course, they didn't demand such potential pension contributions become part of the workers' paychecks instead.

The bosses are in the health care industry to make a profit. Their profits come at the patients' expense. As bosses here compete fiercely with bosses abroad, they must attack healthcare workers at home. Reduced patient care and squeezed workers are built-in features of a profit system.

Rivera wants workers to rely on the bosses' politicians to solve our problems. But union contracts, as important as they are under capitalism, only spell out the terms of our exploitation. We negotiate with the bosses over the price they will pay us to sell our labor power (wages). In return, contracts discipline the workers, banning work stoppages that interfere with the bosses' profits.

Only when wages are abolished and workers receive the total value we create, can health care be delivered in a humane fashion. In a communist society, workers -- not bosses, bankers or HMO's -- will make the decisions. The health of the working class will get top priority.

CLASS WAR IS THE CURE FOR BIO-TERRORISM

The sending of anthrax through the U.S. postal system killed two workers and sickened others. The bosses responded by conscientiously closing, testing and fumigating Congressional offices, while postal workers were ordered to keep working amid haphazard tests of postal facilities. Nobody really knows if dormant anthrax spores remain a threat to postal workers.

While two workers died from anthrax, many more have died from occupational and job-related injury and illness. For example, 169 postal workers died between 1980-89 (the latest figures we could find), an average of 17 annually. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health says this is an under-count due to reporting limitations in occupational death statistics. Also, these figures don't include the early deaths caused by cardiovascular disease, cancer and other conditions caused by capitalism nor deaths and illness to postal workers and their children caused by imperialist wars. Bosses, not bugs, are the main danger to postal workers.

Bio-terrorism is another horrific creation of imperialism, a real threat to the working class. The U.S. government engaged in offensive biological warfare research for many years. There is evidence that the U.S. military used biological warfare during the Korean War (1950-1953). It seems increasingly likely that the anthrax used in these recent attacks was developed in U.S. labs, the source of many other countries' bio-warfare programs.

If the bosses are the main danger to the health and safety of postal workers, then eliminating the bosses is the best medicine. The union leaders blew a lot of hot air about the unacceptable double standard between Congressional offices and postal facilities. But postal workers have the ability to shut these facilities and force the bosses to thoroughly test them immediately. However, the union leaders did not and would not go that far to protect the workers. For them, the profits of the companies using the post office come first.

There are still many unknowns about anthrax and bio-terrorism. An even bigger problem is how the government and public health agencies handle these unknowns. Many public officials were more concerned with protecting their turf than devising effective, coordinated responses. They kept the workers in the dark.

Communist public health workers would not be stepping all over each other trying to protect their professional turf. We would fully inform all workers and enlist them in the fight to eliminate the biological threat. There would be no rich, privileged parasites hoarding antibiotics for themselves and their pets.

The medical understanding of anthrax infections is incomplete. Anthrax has rarely been observed as a mass disease resulting from laboratory-designed spores. It's unclear if spores remaining in the body are still dangerous after treatment with antibiotics.

The safety and effectiveness of the anthrax vaccine is not entirely understood, so the bosses came up with alternative treatment strategies for those potentially exposed: take more antibiotics or take vaccine or take both. Then the "experts" told the workers to decide for themselves, shifting responsibility from the provider to the victim!

Communists would research and decide the best proven treatment and the whole society would be mobilized to take responsibility. The workers would be fully informed. Building PLP, providing communist leadership at every turn and overthrowing the racist warmakers and strike-breakers, is the way to end bio-terrorism.

Rulers'Attacks on Students Is the Real Violence in Schools

NEW YORK CITY -- On January 15, a student at Martin Luther King, Jr. H.S. in Manhattan shot two students. This shooting has led to finger-pointing by NYC Board of Education officials and school administrators. There have been calls for cameras in the hallways, more guards and electronic doors -- the alleged shooter entered through an unsecured side door. The mother of one of the victims has now sued the Board for millions of dollars. The bosses' media talk only about more security, ignoring the crucial point -- what's happening in the schools and why.

Most working people know their children's schools are not working. Despite all the hype about school "reform," most working-class students, especially black and Latin students, go to schools which are falling apart, dangerous and under-funded. All schools teach ruling class ideology which tells even the most committed teachers that "only some kids can learn," and the rest aren't worth the struggle.

Teachers must choose. We can either be part of the solution by respecting our students and knowing and expecting every student can and wants to learn. Or, which happens too often, we can buy into capitalist ideology and believe that students are "not worth our respect." This is a ticket to anti-social behavior that contributes to the problem.

The schools tell students they're stupid if they can't pass tests, that they're proto-criminals who must pass through a metal detector to enter school. Outside school these students are presented with endless images of glorified violence and no other options. Not only is their school experience prison-like but capitalism offers a future of joblessness, prison or military service to those students who do not "make it."

All workers want safe schools for their children. We all expect our children to learn to read, to do math, and to become productive members of our class, whether they go to college or not. However, in our schools students are treated like the criminals -- handcuffs, arrests for petty incidents, being hustled through hallways -- that racist educational ideology says many of them will become. Their educational problems are usually ignored. The students become angrier and increasingly alienated.

Violence and guns are promoted through the culture and politics of capitalist society. What does it teach you when the bosses are so proud of their "accurate bombings" in Afghanistan and consider the killing of innocent Afghan men, women and children as "collateral damage." Given all this, it's no surprise when students lash out violently, whether gang-related or not. We're saddened to see our brothers and sisters attacking each other rather than the ruling class. Teachers often hear students threatening to "snuff" another student. Some students flock to gangs to find unity and support.

The activity of PLP members and friends is crucial to building pro-student struggles in the schools. Young people are vital to building a revolutionary, anti-fascist anti-imperialist war movement. Unlike the ruling class, we know that all students can learn. Without respect for students, fascism can triumph.

Racism Is the Pilot in Black Hawk Down

As the ruling class prepares to expand its "war on terrorism," and Somalia is mentioned as one of its next possible imperialist targets, it is hardly a coincidence that at precisely this time the film Black Hawk Down has been released in a promotional deluge that has zoomed it to the top of the charts, making $27 million in ticket sales on the the weekend ending Jan. 20. It is saturated with more lies than can be counted in a single movie.

Black Hawk Down is designed to incite viewers to support U.S. imperialist invasions and murder in general -- and in Somalia in particular -- and to want to "Kill Arabs," especially black Arabs," who are "damned ungrateful foreigners." It is jingoism of the highest order, and all based on lies. What else is new?

The Somalia invasion, begun by Bush, Sr., approved by his Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell and continued by Clinton, was billed as a "humanitarian" operation to "feed the poor people" of that country. They were fed, all right; fed a steady diet of bullets. According to Noam Chomsky's book, The New Military Humanism:

"The official estimate was 6-10,000 Somalia casualties in the summer of 1993 alone, two-thirds women and children. Marine Lt. Gen. Anthony Zinni [the current `peacemaker' in the Middle East -- Ed.], who commanded the operation, informed the press that `I'm not counting bodies.... I'm not interested.' Specific war crimes of US forces included direct military attacks on a hospital and on civilian gatherings....Serious crimes...were revealed at an official Canadian inquiry..."

The invasion had nothing to do with Bush/Clinton "humanitarianism." It had everything to do with the fact that several U.S. oil companies, including Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips, had secured billion-dollar concessions to explore and exploit Somalia's rich oil reserves during the reign of pro-U.S. President Mohamed Siad Barre. (In fact, Conoco's Mogadishu office housed the U.S. embassy and military headquarters.) A "secure" Somalia also provided the U.S. with a strategic base on the coast of the Arabian Sea. U.S. military intervention became necessary when Barre was overthrown by warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid. Suddenly Somalia was "insecure" for U.S. oil companies.

Although the Bush/Clinton pretext was to "safeguard food shipments" and stop the "evil Aidid" from stealing the food, the actual goal was to destroy Aidid's forces and form a pro-U.S. government to make Somalia secure for the oil companies. However, the invasion was met with "surprisingly fierce resistance," surprising to U.S. officials who underestimated Somalian resolve, and even more surprising to U.S. troops who were victims and pawns of the U.S. bosses.

The movie is based on a series (and a later book) written by Mark Bowden of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Bowden says: "Task Force Ranger was not in Mogadishu to feed the hungry....It conducted six missions, raiding locations where either Aidid or his lieutenants were believed to be meeting. The mission that resulted in the Battle of Mogadishu came less than three months after a surprise missile attack by U.S. helicopters...on a meeting of Aidid clansmen....The...attack killed 50 to 70 clan elders and intellectuals, many of them moderates seeking to reach a peaceful settlement with the United Nations. After that July 12 helicopter attack, Aidid's clan was officially at war with America--a fact many Americans never realized."

The attack on Mogadishu was particularly vicious. Says Bowden: "The Task Force Ranger commander, Maj. Gen. William F. Garrison, testifying before the Senate, said that if his men had put any more ammunition into the city `we would have sunk it.' Most soldiers interviewed said that through most of the fight they fired on crowds and eventually at anyone and anything they saw."

After 18 U.S. Special Forces soldiers were killed in the final Mogadishu firefight, which included the downing of a U.S. helicopter ("Black Hawk Down"), television screens were filled with scenes of a dead U.S. soldier being dragged through the streets by jubilant Somalians. No wonder they were jubilant. These invaders had slaughtered or wounded thousands of their fellow Somalians. Clinton immediately called off the operation and U.S. forces left Somalia in disgrace.

Now along comes Jerry Bruckheimer and Ridley Scott to turn the truth upside down. Even CNN's film reviewer labels them as "two of the most pandering, tactless filmmakers in Hollywood history," describing the movie as "pound for pound, one of the most violent films ever released by a major studio." It portrays "brave and innocent young American boys" getting shot at and killed "for no reason" by "crazy black Islamists" that the soldiers are "just trying to help." Racism and lies of the highest order.

If and when the U.S. invades Somalia -- on the pretext of attacking Al Qaida "training camps" -- it will be for the same strategic reasons the rulers invaded Afghanistan: OIL and military bases. These are the "guiding lights" of U.S. imperialism for which they are ready to kill any workers in their way. When GI's begin to understand that they are being used against their own class interests and decide to rebel -- as so many thousands did in Vietnam -- then U.S. rulers will lose their main tool to carry out their plans for world domination.

Israeli Soldiers Disobey Bosses' Orders to Make War Against Palestinians

On Jan. 26, a group more than 60 Israeli reserve soldiers and officers, all combat veterans, publicly refused to serve in missions in the Gaza Strip and West Bank because they have nothing to do with the security of Israeli citizens. Their petition, published in Israeli's largest newspaper, declared, "We will no longer fight beyond the Green Line [the imaginary line dividing Israel from the Occupied Territories] for the purpose of occupying, deporting, destroying, blockading, killing, starving and humiliating an entire people." The government claims this is "needed to stop the suicide attacks."

The two men who drafted the petition said they were "asked...to shoot people, to stop ambulances, to destroy houses...and open fire on Palestinian children." (Washington Post, 1/29)

Since the current Intifada began in September 2000, "more than 500 Israelis have refused to serve in the Israeli occupied territories....Forty have been sentenced to prison terms." (Post)

Thus, despite the Israeli state terror against Palestinians and the fundamentalists' suicide terror, there is still grounds for unity among workers and soldiers on both sides. This kind of unity -- accompanied by communist politics attacking all bosses and imperialists -- is the only ray of hope for the exploited masses of the Middle East.

WORKERS OF THE WORLD, Write!

Argentina

A few of us here in Argentina have decided to form a Progressive Labor Movement, part of building a mass, international communist party. Based on Marxism-Leninism and learning from the achievements and mistakes of the old communist movement, our organization here will follow the steps of PLP and fight directly for the abolition of the wage and money system and against all the concepts of bourgeois democracy: racism, sexism and nationalism. We aim to establish workers' power through the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Along with other comrades, we dedicate ourselves to founding this communist movement here on Argentine soil. We will begin by spreading PLP's ideas, articles and documents and carrying out several activities as well as setting up an internet page. Eventually we will also develop our own writings.

When our movement grows sufficiently and gets the needed support, we will found a Progressive Labor Party in Argentina. We can then turn the dream of a mass communist party into a reality, one that can sweep away the bosses, no matter what their nationality. (We would like the opinion of others about our plans.)

We hope that workers and youth worldwide will follow our example and that of other PLP comrades in other regions. Let's build the fight for communism.

A comrade from Argentina

P.S. -- We just carried out one of our first activities. When the government and the media were saying the protests were dying down, on Jan. 25 a group of friends and comrades led a "cacerolazo" (empty pots protest). Ten of us began it and soon there were 200. We marched through the streets chanting, "All of them [politicians] should go, none of them should stay"; and, "Whoever doesn't jump is bourgeois." (Of course, we were half-joking but many people took it seriously, showing how much people hate the bosses and their system. It's reached a point where the press has reported that all politicians are afraid to appear in public). Our's was the most important protest in our city which is next to the capital, Buenos Aires.

There were similar protests nationwide. But the biggest was in Buenos Aires, where tens of thousands gathered. The cops viciously attacked them, with many arrests.

Then on Jan. 28, 20,000 unemployed workers marched to the Presidential palace demanding the million jobs promised by the first Peronist President who ran the country for a few days after the Dec. 19 ousted President de la Rua.

The struggle goes on, and so does the need to build a mass revolutionary communist leadership to smash the bosses once and for all.

Welcome to New Comrades

What more can we add to our Argentine comrades than fraternal greetings, a strong welcome and a lot of strength so that your plans be carried out successfully.

There is no doubt that PLP's political line is the only answer to this anti-life world we live in, caused by many years of capitalist domination and the deadly and inept reformist outlook of the old communist movement.

Those of us who are part of the PLP feel deeply moved to know that our struggle is not in vain. Your decision to build PLP shows that our line of action is the correct one.

Argentina and Chile (in this southern cone of the world) have suffered a common "rope" which tries to suffocate our cries for justice and equality. Our conscious work will generate a new system which includes refuting any idea that capitalism can be reformed; there must be a total change from what we have now.

The only solution is communist revolution. For a world without borders and for one unified struggle: one world, one class and one Party, the PLP.

Greetings from the other side of the Andes,

PLP, Chile

HS Forum Helps Expose Anti-Arab Lies

Last month, 150 students and three teachers from my high school participated in a forum about September 11. Ten students planned the forum with me. The forum induced students to think about why the U.S. is in Afghanistan. It challenged stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims and raised questions about patriotism.

One speaker asked the students, "Who is willing to go fight for the government in Afghanistan?" No one raised a hand. One student said the war is about oil. Another wondered why "they" hate "us" so much, leading to a discussion about class-consciousness as opposed to nationalism. One teacher reminded the students that the U.S. flag is the flag of the KKK.

A Palestinian Muslim woman generated the most controversy. Students in my 99% African-American school have had little contact with Arabs, other than storeowners. The speaker asked them to write down questions and exposed many racist lies, such as "Muslims are all terrorists."

Twelve students who helped organize the forum had attended a previous forum with me at Chicago State University in November. We met several times to discuss our plans and the politics of September 11 and read some of the PLP Oil Pamphlet. I wasn't able to convince any of the students to prepare a presentation, however. Maybe next time.

Afterwards, some students said they had changed their minds about how they thought about Arabs, patriotism and the war in Afghanistan. We would like to do this again, and involve more students in debating these ideas.

Red Teacher

Fight FBI Terror Against Pakistanis

At a forum held by a neighborhood group created after 9/11, a Pakistani immigrant reported that the FBI had arrested her husband shortly after the attack. For several weeks she could not even locate him and wasn't allowed to visit him for over three months. He was confused and emotionally frightened, his body bruised and bleeding from wrist and ankle shackles. He had committed no crimes and had no connection to "terrorist organizations" but had been detained, without charges nor access to a lawyer for several weeks.

This story is familiar to many Arabs, Muslims and South Asians. The Pakistani community has been especially targeted. It comprises at least half of those detained since 9/11.

Are these South Asians being singled out because of Pakistan's critical role in the U.S. government's plan to transport Central Asia's gas and oil deposits in proposed pipelines to Asian markets through Afghanistan and western Pakistan? The U. S. military is already planning an expanded permanent base in Pakistan.

Pakistan's rulers have long been allied to the U.S. ruling class, training Pakistanis at U.S.- sponsored institutions and running governments on behalf of U.S. bosses' interests. A succession of mostly military dictatorships have bowed to International Monetary Fund and World Bank policies, enriching Pakistani and U.S. bosses while impoverishing an already desperate working class. Pakistani rulers helped the U.S. fight the USSR, promoting religious fundamentalism and supporting the war against it in Afghanistan, while suspending workers' rights in Pakistan.

The Pakistani working class is the wild card in the U.S.'s grand design to dominate Central Asian oil and gas. Many workers have been won to the fascism of the fundamentalist movement, some joining the Taliban and fighting the U.S. But little attention has been paid to Pakistani workers opposed to both U.S. imperialism and the fundamentalists. Their struggles for decent conditions have been brutally repressed, with the fundamentalists acting as an arm of the state -- in much the same way as death squads in Latin America -- breaking up demonstrations and targeting and silencing leaders.

Many Pakistanis came to the U.S. to escape poverty and repression, seeking economic prosperity. But like the rest of the working class here they see their incomes shrinking and now, since 9/11 they're suffering the same persecution they experienced in Pakistan.

It's a bitter lesson but workers can't escape capitalism's oppression. We can only organize to smash it.

A Pakistani Reader

Special Education: Racist to the Core

I've been a special education (SE) teacher for 30 years. SE is a good example of how education "works" to drive students out of the educational system. SE's original safeguards have become hateful tools that fail millions of students and blame them for it.

In the 1950s and '60s, New York City had dumping grounds called "600 schools," designed to eliminate largely black and Latin students who could not fit into a system designed for an elite few. They were called "behavior problems" and dumped. From this grew the system of special education.

In 1981, I was working in an elementary school where an inexperienced teacher, without help to improve her classroom skills, followed SE guidelines and had half her "unruly" class placed in SE classes.

The teacher, the administration and the school-based support team that placed the students were all white. All the students were black and Latin. Some of the students had better reading and math skills when the school year began than after they were placed in special classes. Money was pouring into the SE bureaucracy to provide places for millions of students, but just 3% of SE students gained high school diplomas.

The system plays the blame game. Teachers blame the home environment; parents blame the teachers; and both blame students who are attacked with racist stereotypes -- "lazy, unmotivated, stupid, and worthless." The profit system created these stereotypes. The bosses need a reserve of unemployed to hold down wages. They jail millions, making prisons the largest growth industry in the U.S. Such a system, with a huge investment in the military, needs massive educational failure to supply it, and they've got it.

All students can learn, and teachers, given the right education and tools, want to teach all students. But a true community of teachers, students and parents to guide education, cannot occur under capitalism.

Thousands of hours of paperwork are heaped on overworked teachers to make their life miserable and stifle any desire to improve their students' abilities. Meanwhile, supervisors are mastering the massive technicalities of this paperwork, on their way to higher-paying administrative positions.

If Karl Marx were to walk into an SE classroom today, he would exclaim, "Students and workers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your paperwork and the shame that has been heaped upon you as members of the working class."

A Special Ed Teacher Ready for Change

 

Editorial: Can't Fight Racism Supporting Imperialist Oil Wars

Niemoller quotation

a href="#Jackson, Sharpton Want Velvet Glove on Harvard’s Iron Fist">"ackson, Sharpton Want Velvet Glove on Harvard’s Iron Fist

a href="#Living Wage Campaign Must Also Opposes Harvard’s Racism and Imperialism">"iving Wage Campaign Must Also Opposes Harvard’s Racism and Imperialism

Enrongate -- Bosses Dogfight

a href="#Ford’s Better Idea: Make Workers Pay for Bosses’ Losses">Fo"d’s Better Idea: Make Workers Pay for Bosses’ Losses

Mexico Ford Workers Fight Layoffs

Steel Workers Take Over Plant, Go on Offensive

Homeland Insecurity: LTV Bosses Unleash Terrorist War Against Workers

Crisis In Steel

Anti-Nazis Beat Racist Frame Up

Fighting Welfare Oppression Is a Class Fight

9/11 Is Toxic for Exploited Immigrant Workers

Unemployment Is Part and Parcel of Capitalism

Big Brother is Watching: Show Your I.D.

a href="#Liberals Support Bush’s Scapegoating of Muslim Immigrants">"iberals Support Bush’s Scapegoating of Muslim Immigrants

Robeson, Davis and DuBois Knew: Fighting Racism Means Fighting Capitalism

• a href="#DUBOIS: ‘Few others approach the stature of Stalin’">DU"OIS: ‘Few others approach the stature of Stalin’

LETTERS

Middle Cass Cries in Argentina

U.S., Iraqi Soldiers Need Unity

---

Can't Fight Racism Supporting Imperialist Oil Wars

U.S. rulers have at least temporarily succeeded in building popular support for their racist "War on Terror" and fascist "Homeland Defense" policies. Although some of the flag-waving hysteria has receded, the Bush White House still enjoys 90% approval ratings, according to their polls.

The rulers are also enjoying success among black and Latin workers. A December 25 New York Times article cites an October poll that revealed Bush’s approval rating among black people above 80%. Just one year ago, Bush stole Florida’s electoral votes because his brother the governor used the state police to prevent black workers from voting (and the Democrats kept their mouths shut).The polls before September 11 gave Bush less than 10% approval among black people.

The Times says the turnaround is a demonstration of "black support for the country more than for Mr. Bush himself" and a result of "the influence of a foreign conflict on public opinion." Whatever the explanation, black and Latin workers have at least passively backed the Bush-Ashcroft racist roundup of Arab and Muslim workers. The New York Times (12/25/01) quotes a black pastor as saying, "If it involves the civil liberties of African-Americans, we get involved…If it involves the civil liberties of anybody else, we tend to sit on the sidelines."

"Sitting on the sidelines" when the bosses are committing genocide and imposing fascism is not only criminal, it’s suicidal. The round-up of Arab workers is not "someone else’s problem." Whatever the racist rulers can do to Arab immigrants today will be used against all workers tomorrow. Communists believe working people have no nation. "Workers of the World, Unite!" is our slogan. But communist ideas don’t enter workers’ consciousness automatically. Only the organized efforts of our revolutionary communist party can accomplish that job. It’s a long and difficult task, and we are committed to carrying it out.

The rulers use their control of state power and the media to mislead the workers. The nationalist/patriotic filth they are spreading has had a negative effect on the political outlook of the working class. To understand how to conduct the life-and-death struggle for the allegiance of the working class, we must also appreciate the obstacles the class enemy has thrown in our way.

Prominent among them is nationalism. The most obvious is the red-white-and-blue flag-waving. The idea is simple: forget about our class; we’re all Americans; we should rally around "our" president and accept any and all sacrifices in order to "fight terror." The bosses’ efforts to control oil supplies and rule the world are hidden behind the "national interest" slogan.

Another nationalist lie, just as deadly, says the most oppressed workers — in this case, black and Latin workers — have more in common with black and Latin capitalists, politicians, entertainers, athletes and intellectuals loyal to the rulers than they do with Arab or white workers. The big bosses have been working overtime to promote this brand of nationalism. It not only divides workers but also denies the leadership that black and Latin workers can give to the entire working class.

This is underlined by Bush’s appointment of Colin Powell as Secretary of State and Condoleezza Rice as National Security Director. A generation ago, this would have appeared inconceivable. Hitler used the "Jewish Councils" to help herd the Jewish masses into concentration camps. Powell, Rice, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and others play that role among black workers today.

Working the other side of the street, liberal Democrats have been promoting a mafia of nationalist misleaders since the urban rebellions of the 1960s. Chief among them are Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. They praised Clinton’s bombings of Iraq and Yugoslavia, and have stood silent as Bush & Co. destroy Afghanistan. Behind Jackson and Sharpton stand a small army of black elected officials, union honchos, cops and military brass. "…(Bush has) done a tremendous job in managing the war on terrorism…I don’t have any beef with him," coos Donna Brazile, a "leading black Democratic strategist and the manager of Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000." (New York Times, 12/25/01)

Thirty-five years ago, boxer Muhammad Ali was stripped of his heavyweight title for refusing to fight in the imperialist war in Vietnam. Today, he has made his peace with imperialism, waving the flag and carrying the torch. Everyone from Ali to Ray Charles and a small army of black and Latin entertainment and athlete icons have been trotted out to get black and Latin workers and youth to sing "America the Beautiful" and support the racist murderers in Washington, DC.

Clinton enjoyed overwhelming support among black workers and still does. Labeled "America’s first black president," he helped set the stage for today’s crackdown by hiring 100,000 racist cops and destroying welfare and most social services.

Our efforts to expose the imperialist nature of the war and the growing police state have received a good response, especially from black and Latin workers and youth. The more vigorously we fight for these ideas, the more we learn that workers, students and soldiers are open to them.

Still, we’re small and the rulers can influence more people than we can. As conditions sharpen, the war casualties will mount. Police terror and the permanent war economy will strike more workers, grinding down growing sections of the working class. Our potential for emerging as the political leadership of growing sections of the mass movements will increase. This process will take years to mature. This difficult task must not be underestimated and must be faced squarely.

 

The following statement was made by the German pastor, Rev. Martin Niemoller in 1945

First they came for the Communists,
And I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.

a name="Jackson, Sharpton Want Velvet Glove on Harvard’s Iron Fist">">"ackson, Sharpton Want Velvet Glove on Harvard’s Iron Fist

Clinton’s former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers bungled his debut as the new president of Harvard University. Summers recently called black studies professor Cornel West on the carpet for giving soft grades, advising Al Sharpton’s political campaigns and making rap music recordings. West and another Harvard African-American studies star, Henry Louis Gates, threatened to jump to Princeton.

Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton criticized Summers’ openly racist treatment of West, demanding he endorse affirmative action. Jackson, Sharpton, West and Gates mislead students and workers by maintaining the illusion that the racist profit system can be reformed to meet the needs of black workers. The big capitalists need Jackson and Sharpton to disguise their brutal crackdown on the working class behind a liberal front.

Students and workers should expose Summers and Harvard for their role in formulating and implementing U.S. imperialism’s new reign of terror at home and abroad. Summers came directly from Clinton’s White House, on a ruling-class mission to discipline Harvard. Under Clinton, he led the massive shift of funds from social services to the police and military that enabled the rulers to mobilize so quickly after Sept. 11. At Treasury, he helped slash Medicare and turned Welfare into slave-labor Workfare. He aproved financial mega-mergers, like the one that created the Citigroup colossus, run by Robert Rubin, his mentor and predecessor as Clinton’s Treasury Secretary. All this dovetailed with the Hart-Rudman Commission’s and Harvard’s recommendations for preparing for a Pearl Harbor-style terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

Since his inauguration at Harvard, Summers has tried to put the nation’s flagship university on a war footing. "Harvard has a responsibility as a ‘citizen’ to support all public servants, especially those who fight and are prepared to die," (Harvard Crimson, 11/16/01) He is also cooperating with the INS and Justice Department’s racist round-up of Arab students. "The University has an obligation to comply with the law." (Crimson, same issue)

Summers appointed Steven Hyman as provost with "responsibility for academic planning and policy." Hyman is a biologist/psychiatrist specializing in genetics and "youth violence." He headed the National Institute for Mental Health in the late 1990s, another Clinton fascist in liberal’s clothing. He encourages the long discredited Nazi theory that genes cause crime. He wants to spread racist biological determinism by linking Harvard’s multi-billion-dollar genome project to many college courses.

Jackson, Sharpton, West and Gates ask only that Harvard put a velvet glove on its iron fist. They and Summers all support the "War on Terror" in Afghanistan. They have no intention of seriously criticizing Harvard’s complicity in U.S. rulers’ racism, fascism and war.

a name="Living Wage Campaign Must Also Opposes Harvard’s Racism and Imperialism">">"iving Wage Campaign Must Also Opposes Harvard’s Racism and Imperialism

CAMBRIDGE, MA, January 14 — As the Living Wage campaign at Harvard heats up, PLP members and friends have helped sharpen the struggle to view the University as not just a "bad" employer but as an enemy of the international working class and an important servant of U.S. capitalism.

Since the end of last May’s sit-in for a $10.25 minimum wage for Harvard workers, several rallies have been held, coinciding with the inauguration of Larry Summers as Harvard’s president, and the Katz committee report on Harvard’s wages. The committee — four students, three workers, two administrators and 10 faculty members hand-picked by the President — made non-binding recommendations on Harvard wages, (see Challenges, 5/23/01, 6/6/01). At the last major rally, on Nov. 30, 200 students and 150 Harvard custodial workers marched through Harvard Square denouncing the university’s wage policies. On Dec. 19, the committee recommended a one-time hourly wage hike to between $10.83 and $11.30 for all Harvard workers, and for parity between Harvard and outsourced (sub-contracted) workers.

The campaign is planning a struggle around the re-opened janitors’ contract while fighting to raise Harvard workers’ wages and end outsourcing altogether. The Living Wage campaign will march for racial and social justice on Martin Luther King Day to support the janitors’ contract struggle.

Throughout this period, PLP members have been trying to make the campaign more explicitly anti-racist and anti-imperialist, to win those involved to target Harvard as the main intellectual bastion of racism and U.S. imperialism, and to raise the need for communist revolution to end racism and exploitation. We were able to get the Living Wage campaign to identify Harvard’s wage policies as racist (which they hadn’t done before). About 75% of Harvard workers making less than $10.25 (inflation-adjusted to $10.68) are black or Latin. In addition to confronting Harvard’s racism, we’ve opposed the campaign’s associating with pro-war union misleaders and politicians and called for the Progressive Student Labor Movement (the umbrella organization of the Living Wage campaign) to oppose the war in Afghanistan and Harvard’s connection with it. In participating in an action to expose Harvard corporation member Herbert (Pug) Whitaker, an Enron director, we linked it to rejection of all Harvard corporation members — they all serve U.S. imperialism (six of seven are on Rockefeller’s Council on Foreign Relations).

We’ve also spread communist ideas in the campaign, having discussed with several participants what it would take to achieve communism, and have been defended against political attacks. We’ve distributed CHALLENGES at every meeting and passed out hundreds of PLP leaflets at rallies, about Harvard’s promotion of racist and pro-U.S. imperialist policies. We’ve also given PLP pamphlets about this to campaign members. The struggle continues….

Enrongate --  Bosses Dogfight

And now it’s "Enrongate." The Enron scandal may equal or surpass Watergate in relation to the fight within the U.S. ruling class. The Eastern Establishment used Watergate to bring down the Nixon administration, appoint Rockefeller vice-President and change the direction of national policy.

They main wing must again discipline the ruling class to insure expanded oil wars on behalf of Rockefeller’s Exxon Mobil. They may use "Enrongate" — the Enron/Bush/Cheney connection — as a club over Bush’s head, especially to reverse the tax cuts that endanger the military and other programs they need.

Enron sinned when it moved from its original focus as an energy supplier into speculative commodities trading that often harms the capitalist class as a whole. It further outraged the big bosses when it crippled California’s power generating firms by cornering the electricity market.

Enron bankrupted the retirement funds of thousands of its employees, robbing them of $1.2 billion in life savings (not to mention their jobs), while causing losses of hundreds of millions from union pension funds. Enron misled investors by withholding and falsifying information about its financial problems, allowing its stocks to remain at artificially high levels.

While Wall Street was praising Enron, and its stock "soared" to over $70 per share, 29 executives began selling their shares in huge lots. This netted them $1.1 billion, including $101 million to CEO Lay and $353 million to Lou Pai, former chairman of an Enron subsidiary. Meanwhile, Enron barred its own employees from selling their stock, which began to fall until it reached bottom at a few cents a share.

Enron has close ties to the Bush family. After Bush Sr.’s defeat in 1992, Lay hired former cabinet members James Baker and Robert Mosbacher as "consultants." As governor of Texas, Bush Jr. chose Lay to head his business council. Lay and Enron became Bush’s biggest campaign contributors.

Enron helped formulate California’s disastrous energy deregulation plan and netted billions in overpriced electricity rates. The state’s largest utility filed for bankruptcy as the state suffered from roving blackouts. Lay flew to Washington to meet with Vice-President Cheney about "‘energy policy matters’ including the California situation." (London Financial Times, 1/11/02) The very next day Cheney told the Los Angeles Times, "the administration would not support price caps on electricity" (Financial Times), which would have drastically affected Enron profits.

Wendy Gramm, wife of Texas Senator Phil Gramm, served as chairperson of the Commodities Future Trading Corporation (CFTC), and "kick-started regulations that exempted some energy trading from government oversight, a move backed by Enron." (Financial Times) After leaving CFTC, she joined Enron’s board of directors. On Nov. 1, 1998 she sold all of her 10,256 shares of Enron stock receiving $276,912.

Maybe now the empire has struck back. Enron is in shambles and their CEO may be on his way to billionaire jail. But workers have no stake in backing Wall St. against Houston. All the politicians and media hounds who are now burying Enron are the same ones who are rounding up Arab and Muslim "suspects," destroyed welfare, put two million in prison, launched a series of wars, and are building a fascist "Homeland Defense." A boss is a boss is a boss.

a name="Ford’s Better Idea: Make Workers Pay for Bosses’ Losses"></">Fo"d’s Better Idea: Make Workers Pay for Bosses’ Losses

"The great success that we enjoyed may have caused us to underestimate the growing strength of our competitors…[and] the effect of the economic downturn." (Ford Chairman and CEO William Clay Ford, Jr.) With Wall Street demanding job and production cuts, Ford is eliminating 35,000 jobs, roughly 10 percent of its workforce. About 22,000 jobs will be lost in North America, creating hardships for these workers and their families, and for tens of thousands others in parts plants who supply Ford. About 12,000 of these jobs, with 6,800 in North America, are already gone.

Ford has 49 plants in North America, with the capacity to build 5.7 million cars and trucks. But they have never sold more than 4.8 million. In 2001, Ford sold 4.1 million cars and trucks, while factories took turns sitting idle and line speed slowed. Ford will post a $5.4 billion loss in 2001. In 1999 they posted the best profits ever for the industry, $7 billion.

Production will be cut from 5.7 million to 4.8 million units. Eleven plants will eliminate shifts. The United Auto Workers (UAW) contract expiring in 2003 prohibits plant closings, as does the contract with the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), which expires this September. But five plants will close by the middle of the decade. These include Edison, N.J. (1420 workers), Oakville, Ontario (1303 workers), the Aluminum Casting plant in Brook Park, Ohio (100 workers), the St. Louis Hazelwood Assembly plant (2,377 workers), and the Vulcan Forge plant in Dearborn, Michigan (80 workers). No new products will go to the Avon Lake, Ohio plant, and the Cuautitlán assembly plant in Mexico, which has already fired about 1,000 workers. Chief Operating Officer Nick Scheele said, "When we see nothing new coming for plants, the inevitable will likely happen…" (Detroit Free Press 1/14)

In 2001, total auto sales stayed at near record levels, largely because Ford and GM offered interest-free financing. U.S. automakers have lived off of big rebates, low interest loans and cheap leases to boost sales, something avoided by their European and Asian competitors. Despite these incentives, "Ford and GM are likely to see their market share shrink again this year, when overall sales are expected to fall sharply…" (New York Times, 1/6)

Meanwhile, CAW head Buzz Hargrove has threatened to strike Ford for sacrificing "Canadian jobs." But this is mostly nationalist hot air. When push comes to shove, the CAW is as much a loyal partner of the auto bosses as the UAW.

The UAW and CAW "no-plant-closing" agreements will do no more to stop plant closings than SUB pay (Supplemental Unemployment Benefits) did to "stop layoffs" over 500,000 jobs ago. You can’t negotiate anything permanent with the bosses. Just ask the 70,000 retired LTV workers who are watching their "lifetime" pensions and medical coverage follow the company down the drain. The only permanent thing is the never-ending struggle between bosses and workers. The depression sweeping the steel industry may be headed for Detroit. The only hope for the future is building an international PLP among industrial workers.

Mexico Ford Workers Fight Layoffs

Ford’s job cuts have already hit hard at the Cuautitlan Izcalli assembly plant in Mexico. The regular bus trips from the town of Zempoala to work at the Ford plant have all but disappeared. The economies of Hidalgo Silao and Guanajuato have also been heavily affected by Ford’s job cuts.

Ford and the National Union of Ford Workers are responding to the current crisis of overproduction and the recession in the U.S. and Mexico by getting rid of the most militant workers in the plant. According to El Universal (Jan. 13), "…a rank-and-file workers’ newsletter wrote that the dirty war waged by Ford and the hacks go on with more firings to push the use of subcontractors, lowering wages….Now Ford is not only firing militant workers, but any worker who is not submissive to the company’s whims."

For many years, Ford and the union have resorted to all forms of repression. El Universal reported that on Jan. 8, workers held a mass to mark the twelfth anniversary of the murder of Cleto Nigmo, who was shot by union goons while striking to demand payments of Xmas bonuses. Three of the killers were grabbed by workers and handed over to the cops, who soon released them on bail.

Three-term head of the National Union of Ford Workers, Juan José Sosa Arreola, has ousted three local leaderships at Ford Cuautitlán, including the elected executive board last February. The union’s only plan to fight the current round of attacks is to ask workers for voluntary retirements.

Meanwhile, fired workers continue to fight for their jobs. Laid-off autoworkers who have been reading CHALLENGE for several years, are beginning to realize this is a life-and-death struggle. The crisis of capitalism is driving millions of workers onto the unemployment lines and into dire poverty. The only solution is to join the revolutionary PLP and fight for a communist society where workers produce for our needs. From Ontario to Dearborn to Cuautitlan, "Autoworkers of the World, Unite!"

Steel Workers Take Over Plant, Go on Offensive

MICHOACAN, MEXICO, Jan. 12 — On Dec. 20, 2,000 workers seized the Sicartsa steel company’s four mills. Today over 10,000 steel workers and supporters marched in Lazaro Cardenas-Las Truchas to back them. They are fighting for the recognition of the leadership they elected to Section 271 of the National Metal and Mining Workers Union of Mexico. The national union has called for a nation-wide strike by its 250,000 members on Jan. 31 to shut all of Mexico’s steel and mining companies.

Several months ago, workers voted to strike in a mass assembly, despite 500 riot cops sent by Michoacan’s governor to intimidate them. The sellout union leaders rejected their decision, so the workers voted to kick them out. But the Arbitration and Conciliation Board refused to recognize the new leadership.

On Oct. 14, the sellouts called a mass meeting to form an "independent" union, claiming the company would never grant a wage hike as long as they were part of the national union. Three days later workers ousted the sellouts from the union hall and called for elections to choose a new leadership. On Oct. 23, 1,823 of the 2,600 workers selected the new Executive Board. But the company refuses to recognize them and continues to deal with the ousted hacks.

The company fired 70 workers and took 12 members of the new Executive Board to court. That’s when workers blocked the four plants and stopped all operations.

On Dec. 19, 300 riot cops attacked the workers, injuring several. One, Ivan Valdovinos, was shot twice. But the workers were not intimidated. On Dec. 20, workers and supporters took over the plants, continuing to run the ovens but barring any production. The next day, 3,000 workers and supporters marched, demanding a wage hike, recognition of their union leadership, the dropping of all charges, and rehiring of all those fired. They have not had a wage increase for a year and a half.

On January 2 they marched again, backed by teachers and other unions and mass organizations. On Jan. 6, the Labor Dept. refused to recognize the new leadership. On January 8, 1,956 workers again voted for the new leadership in another election held before Labor Department officials. The bosses are not recognizing the results of this vote either.

This struggle occurs during mass layoffs in the auto industry and the downsizing of the steel industry across North America, all due to capitalism’s crisis of overproduction. It’s good that these militant workers are fighting back. However, even with the new union leadership, these attacks will continue.

The profit system cannot satisfy our needs. A year and a half ago, right-winger Vicente Fox was elected as the first President not affiliated with the PRI (the party ruling Mexico since the 1930s). He promised "jobs and everything for the masses." Today, jobs are being lost throughout Mexico and worldwide. The only leadership capable of defeating capitalism will come when workers join PLP and build a mass, international, revolutionary communist movement.

Homeland Insecurity: LTV Bosses Unleash Terrorist War Against Workers

EAST CHICAGO, IN., January 12 — "We don’t need to fight for money for LTV or about tariffs. We need to fight for jobs!" declared a militant LTV worker. "The president of the USWA says we should take over the mills. Well, we’re gonna take him up on that!"

The audience of over 2,000 black, Latin and white working and retired steel workers and their families burst into thunderous applause. They were attending an informational meeting, only to hear a union lawyer and a benefits rep tell them what they weren’t going to get (in pensions and health benefits). PLP members ran out of literature, distributing 500 fliers and 100 CHALLENGES.

Last month, hundreds of us from LTV, Inland, Acme Steel and others camped out in Washington, D.C. to rally and lobby senators and congressmen. As LTV shut its doors, eliminating thousands of jobs, the union’s battle cry was, "Let’s Make Steel." They say, "We are the real patriots! We want to save the AMERICAN steel industry for national defense!" — yea, so the bosses can fight their next oil war. All the big shots, from AFL-CIO President Sweeney on down, "demanded" loan guarantees for LTV, increased tariffs on imported steel and government help for pension and health benefit "legacy costs."

Steelworkers didn’t get a dime. But the congressmen gave themselves big raises in the closing moments of the session, as well as billions for the war in Afghanistan.

A retiree in his 80’s said, "We’re caught between right-wing extremists in D.C. and right-wing extremists in Afghanistan. I think ‘our’ right wingers are worse." He also said that after sixty years, "Nothing much has changed. The working class has to fight for everything. The system gives us nothing." A regular CHALLENGE reader observed that the attack on the World Trade Center gave the bosses the excuse they needed to bomb Afghanistan and screw LTV workers. Another worker said he was sick of the bosses wrapping themselves in their flag to justify their cuts.

A friend said, "Maybe [the PLP member] is right about revolution. These bloodsuckers have got to go! We’ve got to face reality." Another said, "When we come back in January, we’ve got to raise more hell. Kick some ass."

Crisis In Steel

There is a worldwide crisis in the steel industry, with over 200 million tons of "excess capacity." U.S. steel bosses are out to destroy 17 million tons of capacity. This doesn’t mean that there isn’t a need for steel for housing, hospitals, schools and public transportation. But under capitalism, if the bosses can’t sell it at a high enough profit, they won’t make it. When we replace this rotten system with communism, the working class will decide what needs to be produced.

A deal in bankruptcy court cut health care and 50% of SUB pay (Supplemental Unemployment Benefits). Both are extended until the end of February. After that, health benefits will probably be gone. In return, the union gave up the successorship clause in the contract. This means that LTV can be bought and reopen as non-union at reduced wages. Hundreds of workers will get early retirement, but pensions will be sharply reduced.

The workers want more than a few crumbs. Some talked about occupying the plants. Some want to storm the Capitol. The union wants to play the workers’ anger like a fiddle, to prod a few reforms from the politicians. Only communist revolution, no matter how long and hard that road may seem, can end a system that rewards 30 years of work in the mill with a pink slip, half a pension and a couple months of health benefits.

Anti-Nazis Beat Racist Frame Up

MORRISTOWN, NJ., Jan. 11 — The six adult defendants arrested on July 4, 2000 and indicted on felony charges for protesting a fascist Nationalist Movement rally walked away from court today with a big victory — a $100 fine for "Obstructing a Public Highway," a minor violation similar to a traffic ticket. In the past 18 months the bosses in Morristown, from the District Attorney to the local cops, pressed hard to convict the anti-racists. But the political will of the defendants, who refused to back down from the struggle, won the day.

The heart of this victory was confidence in the working class. The defendants, and their many supporters, held rallies in the community, visited and spoke to many workers and became involved in the fight to stop racist police attacks against local people. They also reached out to their own families, co-workers and friends for support. This confidence in the workers reached its highest point this past July 4^th when many of the defendants were among the hundreds who returned to shout down the second Nationalist Movement rally. The cringing two fascists had to be escorted away.

The anti-racists also built up support in the legal community. Ten attorneys were active in the case; many others assisted. The case went from misdemeanor to felony charges, as the bosses threw the book at the defendants. In the face of this attack, the attorneys led a legal offensive to match the efforts in the community. The combination was a winner.

Today, the unity of the six defendants and their attorneys, a multi-racial group, standing firm before the judge and surrounded by a courtroom packed with supporters was a sight to see. One white couple approached a defendant afterwards to thank her for what she did, and to tell her how much they were impressed by what they had just seen in court.

This shows we can lead struggles in many different situations. We can grow through the struggle, as we did in this case. We can convince workers that it’s always necessary to fight back — and our class is stronger for doing it.

Fighting Welfare Oppression Is a Class Fight

NEWARK, NJ, Jan. 8 — As the five-year time limit on welfare benefits approached in this state, about 80 people, including clients, welfare workers and advocates attended a forum on welfare reform here last month. It was organized by the Essex County chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW). PLP members present sharpened the discussion at the event.

In 1996, liberal Bill Clinton signed into law the racist Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, justified by the lies that clients "don’t want to work" and are "irresponsible." This law established the five-year time limit for benefits and institutionalized slave labor Workfare programs. Under Workfare, clients work up to 35 hours and receive only their benefits in return.

Even before the time limits, N.J. welfare rolls had already been slashed 60% through various punitive actions, mainly sanctions — cutting off benefits to those who don’t "cooperate" with Workfare and other dead-end "work activities." Now, as the bosses’ economy sinks further into recession, fewer jobs are available. Meanwhile, many of those off the rolls holding low-wage, no benefit jobs are facing layoffs.

The main issue speakers debated was the possibility and desirability of clients and others "making it" under capitalism. Several of the introductory speakers faced oppression when younger but now are successful bureaucrats. They said each person must take charge of his/her own life in order to overcome adversity.

While there was an element of truth in this, these speakers ignored the inability of capitalism to function without racism and oppression. The system is set up to allow only a select few to "succeed." The rulers 0promoted black politicians in the 1970’s to persuade black workers to think the system could work for them. Some, like Wayne Bryant of Camden, are now taking the lead in attacking unemployed workers. (Bryant sponsored the NJ law that excludes children from welfare payments if they are born to a mother already collecting welfare for herself and previous children.)

Several panelists placed welfare time limits in the broader picture of prison labor, the mass interrogations and detentions of thousands of Arab and Muslim immigrants, and the jailing of striking Middletown teachers, breaking their strike. Two speakers said the root cause of imperialist war, fascism and recession is a capitalist system in crisis. They rejected the idea that clients should view the world in terms of individual struggles to fight oppression. Rather, one said, clients can and must fight back as part of the larger struggle for the needs of our class.

Following the introductory speakers, too little time was left for audience participation and to plan actions against the time limits. Still many who attended wanted to fight back. PLP will continue bringing our communist ideas to mass organizations, to growing numbers of workers struggling against capitalism and all of its ills.

9/11 Is Toxic for Exploited Immigrant Workers

NEW YORK CITY, Jan. 11 — Bush’s "war on terror" seems to have been extended to about 600 undocumented immigrant workers who were victimized by bosses looking to make a fast buck cleaning up lower Manhattan soon after the Sept. 11 attacks. These exploited workers enabled many bombed-out businessmen to return to their profit-making outfits.

"Contractors…plucked…immigrant workers off street corners to scrub potentially toxic dust our of [nearby] buildings…without giving the workers safety training or protective equipment," reported the NY Daily News, 1/11). The dust likely contained concentrations of toxic asbestos, fiberglass and lead, an industrial hygienist told the News. The "mostly Spanish-speaking immigrants said sleazy hiring practices and hazardous working conditions were rampant in the days immediately following Sept. 11.

"These workers literally put their lives on the line," declared Luna Yasui, a lawyer for a labor group. "Not one was told that the work…could be dangerous to their health." They were "the workers who enabled lower Manhattan to go back to work."

"I had fevers and I have a lot of coughing and nosebleeds," one undocumented worker who cleaned apartments on Chambers and Fulton Streets told the News.

Most were not given respirators or other safety equipment. Some who bought their own said the bosses snatched them away to use themselves. The workers were offered $7.50 an hour, barely one-third of the normal wage paid to regular asbestos workers. Many said they were stiffed out of even that paltry amount after being sent on wild goose chases to Queens storefronts where anonymous individuals who were supposed to pay them never appeared.

If there’s a new way to suck the blood and sweat out of exploited workers, capitalism will surely find it.

Unemployment Is Part and Parcel of Capitalism

There’s an old saying, "If your friend’s out of work, it’s a recession; if you’re out of work, it’s a depression!" Well, it’s a depression for at least 14 million workers and the families who depend on them. It’s even worse for black and Latin workers because of racist unemployment, suffering double the jobless rate of white workers.

According to the December Labor Department report, the "official" unemployment rate is 5.8% meaning 8.3 million are jobless. This does not include 4.3 million part-time workers who want full-time jobs but cannot find them. (They count anyone who works one hour a week as "employed!") The government also doesn’t include as unemployed 1.3 million workers who’ve given up looking for non-existent jobs.

That along would add up to an "official" figure of 13.9 million jobless or underemployed. It does not include workers on welfare, like the 3,500 just taken off Workfare in New York City, who want jobs but can’t get them. Nor does it include two million in prisons, two-thirds of whom are there because of non-violent offenses. Most are unskilled workers and would most likely be on the unemployment lines if not in jail. (As the Europeans, who don’t sentence non-violent drug offenders to prison say, "The U.S. jails its unemployment problem.") It also does not include the two million in the armed forces, a good percentage of whom enlisted because they couldn’t find jobs, especially black and Latin youth.

Ford just announced a total of 35,000 layoffs between last year and this year; GM and At&T are wiping out another 5,000 each. About 230 public companies with $182 billion in assets filed for bankruptcy in 2001, not counting Enron, the 7th largest corporation in the U.S. Wall Street pundits are predicting a "turnaround." However, business writer John Crudele says, "The financial markets are improving because they perceive an improvement in the economy, and the economy is mostly only reflecting the gains in the financial markets. It’s like believing that you are pretty because you are telling yourself you are pretty." (New York Post, 1/8)

Capitalism is a roller coaster ride of boom and bust. Because of the drive for maximum profits, each boss overproduces, trying to outdo his competitor. This leads to closing factories and businesses and mass layoffs to cut losses on the backs of the working class. Capitalism "solves" its unemployment problem only during world wars when it drafts millions into the military. The profit system requires a permanent army of unemployed, and uses it to depress wages of those still working.

While the economists babble about the twists and turns in the economy, and the New York Times says an upturn "is just around the corner," millions suffer the ravages of capitalism whether it’s boom or bust. In New York City today, over one million people depend on soup kitchens for food. That’s one-eighth the population of the largest city in the U.S.!

We can never recover the losses imposed on us by capitalism. But with communist revolution, we can eliminate the profit system that causes them.

Big Brother is Watching: Show Your I.D.

The "war against terrorism" has provided the ruling class with a convenient excuse to turn the screws on workers. One of the most dangerous plans, using the worst aspects of computer technology, will let your boss keep track of you every minute and know every intimate detail about your life. From store clerks to cops, your identity will be verified. The pitiful excuse for such a system is to "detect terrorists." But that’s only a small part of what it will do. It will also make life a living hell for undocumented workers.

The first people lucky enough to get the new high-tech, tamper-proof ID cards will be four million members of the military (including selected reserve/guard), Defense Department civilians and military contractors. Already, 120,000 of the new IDs have been issued. Each plastic ID card has two photos, two bar codes, a magnetic strip (like a credit card), and a computer chip. As the Washington Post (12/17/01) wrote, "The cards will enable Defense Department officials to look into their databases and know the doorways [the cardholder] passes through, the computer he accesses [and] the doctor he sees."

The Post says, "The high-tech ID cards are the models for something that was unthinkable before Sept. 11: national identification cards for all U.S. citizens." They report that the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (state government agencies issuing driver’s licenses) "is devising a plan to create a national identification system that would link all driver databases to high-tech driver’s licenses with computer chips, bar codes and biometric identifiers." (A "biometric identifier" is a fancy term for fingerprints, a computer image of your face or a scan of your eyes.) This would allow instant verification of the ID card. A hand-held machine could verify whether your body is the one registered in the "biometric identifier" and whether the number is genuine.

The theory is that these ID cards could be used by cops, bouncers at bars and airport check-in clerks. But there are already proposals to require presenting the card when traveling by bus (even if you pay cash) or buying fertilizer (which can be used to make a bomb). The cards could be checked every time you make a credit card purchase or use an ATM.

There are also plans for a more intrusive "voluntary" system. The airlines, through their Air Transport Association, want a card with a biometric identifier linked to "government databases that would include criminal, intelligence, and financial records," says the Post. The card would be "voluntary" — you would only need it if you wanted to fly! The Post assures us the card would "make life more convenient for travelers, airlines and others" because it would "improve the ability of clerks to ask travelers personal questions about their lives that would help verify who they are." Feel better?

But the "voluntary" aspect is only for citizens. Immigrants won’t have a choice. The House has approved a bill requiring all immigrants to carry visa cards containing biometric information by October 2003. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) are pushing the Visa Entry Reform Act in the Senate, which would apply to all foreigners, even short-term tourists.

Feinstein, the darling of the liberals, is the most dedicated proponent of ID for immigrants and she’s not alone. Another famous liberal, Harvard lawyer Alan Dershowitz — who approves torturing "suspected terrorists" — has praised national ID cards for everyone, citizen or immigrant. He wants to "protect our privacy" by limiting the information on the cards to name, Social Security number and picture, so the cops would have to punch in the number instead of swiping the card through a machine.

Millions who might oppose such nakedly fascist measures, and especially revolutionary communists are directly threatened by these schemes. We should take the fight against national ID cards into our unions and other mass organizations. We can expose the liberals as no "lesser evil" than Bush, Rumsfeld & Co.; show how every worker is hurt when the bosses go after the most vulnerable workers, like undocumented immigrants; and how the bosses are the biggest terrorists of all.

a name="Liberals Support Bush’s Scapegoating of Muslim Immigrants">">"iberals Support Bush’s Scapegoating of Muslim Immigrants

The "war against terrorism" now includes terrorizing Muslim immigrants. The vicious repression directed at these workers is creating a precedent that will be used first against all immigrants, and then against all workers. All of us will soon face the same terror! Ways in which immigrants, especially Muslims, are being targeted include:

Bush authorized military tribunals for non-citizens. While the sweeping order is now directed at Al Qaeda, it covers all 18 million non-citizens. According to former Deputy Attorney General Philip Heymann, "Whenever the president suspects that one of them may have been a terrorist in the past or has aided a terrorist" even decades ago, that person can be sent before a "court" of three colonels (Washington Post, 12/3/01). The suspect can be held in jail indefinitely before "trial" which can be closed to the public, use hearsay evidence and the verdict cannot be appealed.

On September 21, Attorney General Ashcroft ordered immigration judges to close hearings to the public in "certain cases." That means "no visitors, no family and no press" plus an order "not to discuss the case with anyone." (Post, 11/29/01) "This restriction includes confirming or denying whether such a case" even exists! (National Law Guild website)

On October 26, the Justice Department issued an order allowing immigrants to be held in jail indefinitely, even if an immigration judge has ordered them released. (New York Times, 11/28/01) Already the names of 314,000 immigrants who have avoided deportation orders or proceedings are being entered into the FBI data bank for "investigation," starting with Middle Eastern men. (Times, 1/9/02)

The Justice Department has asked an appeals court to approve deporting people on the basis of secret evidence, shown only to the judge, not to the immigrant or his lawyer. (NY Times, 12/9/01)

On November 9, Ashcroft directed the FBI to "interview" at least 5,000 men aged 18 to 33 from countries where (read Arab) terrorists are active. The guidelines for these interviews include looking for any violations of the complicated immigration laws, no matter how minor, to throw people in jail (see the ACLU website).

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) will closely track all 600,000 foreign students (Los Angeles Times, 12/4/01). Students failing to report a change in subject major or a dropped class or who fall below INS-set requirements for being "full-time" will have violated their student visa and be deported. In early December, the INS announced it was arresting 50 students in San Diego for violating their visas. (Associated Press, 12/12/01)

Liberal California Senator Dianne Feinstein proposed stopping all student visas, which generated a storm of protest. A "compromise" would ban students from "terror states" (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Cuba and North Korea) unless the student is certified — through a complicated process — not to pose a threat. This now affects 3,370 students, more if the list is expanded.

To see how the bosses use "anti-terrorism" to attack all workers, consider how the USA PATRIOT Act changes the wiretap rules. The law expands the powers of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court, a shadowy body that acts in total secrecy. FISA wiretaps are allowed even when there is no evidence of a crime. All that is required is that the wiretap target be "reasonably suspected" of being connected to a foreign terrorist. That covers just about any foreigner in the U.S. Now Bush is asking Congress to eliminate the requirement of a foreign connection, so that anyone can be a wiretap target if there is a "reasonable suspicion" of a "connection" to a terrorist. (Post, 12/2/01) That includes untold thousands just living near a "suspected terrorist."

Isn’t all this "unconstitutional"? Fat chance. The Constitution protects "rights" as long as the bosses don’t feel threatened. Article 1, Sec IX, 2 reads, "The privilege [!] of the writ of habeus corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it." This means is that whoever controls "public safety" can hold you in prison indefinitely, without charges or a trial.

The liberals are not going to defend the rights of immigrants. Liberal Senator Feinstein is leading the charge to change the laws. The liberal Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz supports using torture on suspected terrorists, but only as "a last resort!" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 11/4/01)

Passivity in the face of this fascist terror puts our own heads in the noose. We must expose and attack the anti-immigrant terror, building an international PLP in the process. We should act quickly and boldly, before too many people become accustomed to the vicious repression.

On every college campus we should expose and fight against university complicity in war and fascist terror. Demand that university administrators not cooperate with the INS/FBI tracking of foreign students, or provide them with addresses of students for "voluntarily interviews." On the job we should demand that unions provide legal aid for any worker being tried on secret evidence or in a secret trial. We should organize strikes and job actions against firings or harassment of immigrant workers. We should raise resolutions condemning the oil war in Afghanistan and the terror at home.

Finally, we should make it clear that the working class is international. "Foreign" is a status created by bosses who establish national borders by force of arms to increase their profits. PLP says smash all borders!

Robeson, Davis and DuBois Knew:

Fighting Racism Means Fighting Capitalism

The abject servility of a Jesse Jackson and ex FBI informer Al Sharpton in their support of, or silence about, U.S. imperialism’s war for oil in Asia (see page 2) stands in sharp contrast to the principled stands taken by three of the greatest black communist leaders of the 20^th century — Paul Robeson, Benjamin Davis and William E. B. Dubois. They understood that racism was created by capitalism to both divide and weaken the working class as well as to net the bosses hundreds of billions in super-profits from the lower incomes forced on black and Latin workers. You can’t fight racism by spreading the illusion — as the Jacksons and Sharptons do — that capitalism can be reformed. The latter try to feed the Democratic Party to black workers in exchange for a few crumbs, most of which don’t even reach most workers and youth.

Robeson, Davis and Dubois never kowtowed to the big bosses like Jackson and others like Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, etc. On the contrary, they fought the racist rulers throughout their entire lives.

Robeson stood up for the communist-led Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War anti-communist frenzy. U.S. rulers seized Robeson’s passport, fearing his revolutionary influence around the world; hauled him before HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee), cajoled black "leaders" and the popular major league baseball player Jackie Robinson to condemn him (although Robinson later said he had made a mistake) and took away Robeson’s internationally acclaimed acting and singing career.

Throughout all these attacks Robeson never once flinched. He was maligned for vowing that black people in the U.S. would never fight an imperialist war against the socialist Soviet Union, declaring that the USSR was the first place he had ever felt free of racism. Robeson was awarded and accepted the Stalin Peace Prize. Now, when he is long dead, the rulers and their lackeys like Jackson and Sharpton try to "honor" him in order to allow some of his greatness to rub off on them, conveniently "forgetting" on whose side Robeson stood.

Then there was communist leader Benjamin Davis, beloved by black and white workers alike in the 1930s and 1940s, elected to the New York City Council from Harlem on the Communist Party ticket, garnering more votes than any other Councilman of his day. He was a leading fighter to end Metropolitan Life’s ban on black tenants in their huge tax-supported housing development, Stuyvesant Town. He was indicted and jailed by the Cold War government of Harry Truman for his communist beliefs and support of the worldwide fight against U.S. imperialism. He continued the fight against the racist U.S. rulers to his dying day.

Finally there was the great, world-respected William E. B. Dubois, founder of the NAACP a century ago, who, after 50 hears of fighting racism, joined the Communist Party in 1945, declaring that becoming a communist was "the logic of my life." And what did this true hero, beloved by the working class, black and white, say about the world leader of socialism on the occasion of his death?

a name="DUBOIS: ‘Few others approach the stature of Stalin’"></">DU"OIS: ‘Few others approach the stature of Stalin’

"Josef Stalin was a great man; few other men of the 20th century approach his stature. He was simple, calm and courageous….He was the son of a serf….and…the highest proof of his greatness [was] he knew the common man, felt his problems, followed his fate.

"Stalin….was attacked and slandered as few men…have been, yet [did not] let [this] attack drive him from his convictions nor induce him to surrender positions which he knew were correct….He first set Russia on the road to conquer race prejudice and make one nation out of its 140 nationalities….

"He early saw through the….insulting attitude of liberals in the U.S. …[and their] naïve acceptance of Trotsky’s lying propaganda….Against it Stalin stood like a rock…as he continued to advance toward a real socialism instead of the sham Trotsky offered.

"Three great decisions faced Stalin…and he met them magnificently; first the problem of the peasants, then the West European attack, and last the Second World War….

"Stalin risked a second revolution and drove out the rural bloodsuckers [the "kulaks"].

"Then came…the continuing threat of attack by all nations….It was Stalin who steered the Soviet Union…[when] Western Europe and the U.S. were willing to betray her to fascism, and then had to beg her aid in the Second World War….

"He risked the utter ruin of socialism in order to smash the dictatorship of Hitler and Mussolini. After Stalingrad the Western World did not know whether to weep or applaud. The cost of the victory to the Soviet Union was frightful. To this day the outside world has no dream of the hurt, the loss and the sacrifices. For his calm, stern leadership here…arises the deep worship of Stalin by the people of all the Russias….

"Stalin…neither cringed nor strutted…he never surrendered….

"Such was the man who lies dead, still the butt of noisy jackals and the ill-bred men…of the distempered West. In life he suffered under continuous and studied insult; he was forced to make bitter decisions….His reward comes as the common man stands in solemn acclaim." — W.E.B. Dubois, March 16, 1953

LETTERS

Workers of the World, Write!

Middle Cass Cries in Argentina

The article in CHALLENGE (Jan. 16) about last month’s mass rebellion in Argentina was right on the mark about the missing ingredient — the lack of a mass communist leadership. The rebellion ousted the hated administration of President de la Rúa (the first time an elected President has been forced to quit by mass protests in front of the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace). But instead of a revolutionary government, another set of bosses, led by Peronista President Duhalde, is now in power.

For several years tens of thousands of workers, with and without jobs, have been involved in many militant actions against the ravages of capitalism in Argentina. But a relatively new element appeared in a mass way in the latest uprising, the so-called middle class.

For some time, particularly since the early 1990s when free market capitalism became the vogue, the "middle class" enjoyed relative prosperity compared to workers who lost their jobs to privatization and downsizing. The "middle class" supported the hard line of previous governments against militant workers and youth. When they weren’t buying imported goods on Florida Street in Buenos Aires, they were vacationing and shopping overseas.

They welcomed free market capitalism as the "best of all times." But as the world crisis of capitalism hit increasingly harder in the late 1990s, things changed. It wasn’t just workers losing jobs; now the so-called middle class became victims. Then they began to see the corruption of the politicians they had voted for; how the International Monetary Fund’s austerity was hitting the "middle class" as well as the working class. The politicians they had believed in turned increasingly against them. When the now deposed de la Rúa government limited their bank withdrawals, the "good times" were gone. Finally, they had it.

On December 19, tens of thousands from the "middle class" took to the streets in "empty pots" protests, demanding food. A state of siege and vicious attacks by the cops inspired even more militant protests. On December 20, hundreds of thousands of workers and youth, joined by thousands of "middle class" people, surrounded the Casa Rosada and Congress and forced President de la Rua to quit and flee in a chopper.

The middle class is not really a stable social class. It’s a social strata, many trying not to be workers, tending to swing towards the capitalist class. But in times of crisis it may join working-class protests, as it has in Argentina. However, if the working class doesn’t organize itself into a mass revolutionary communist party, the middle class could again be won over by the bosses with a few crumbs and support all the bosses’ attacks against workers.

Meanwhile, the various reformist (fake left) groups like the Communist Party, various Trotskyite organizations (relatively large here) and the Peronista union hacks were basically absent from the massive militant protests, particularly during the most bitter fights with the cops. Instead they’ve been busy trying to misguide the anger of the working class and its allies through different electoral or reformist schemes. What else is new?

Red Che

U.S., Iraqi Soldiers Need Unity

I inadvertently omitted something from the letter I wrote you last issue about the Gulf War vet who told subway passengers that, having fought in Desert Storm, he experienced first hand "why the U.S. was fighting in Iraq and Kuwait — it was all about the oil fields." He also said that he felt the Iraqi soldiers "really didn’t want to fight. If they did," he said, "a lot of American soldiers would have been killed." Something to remember when the U.S. launches its next invasion — after all the destruction and death from U.S. bombers, they may feel differently this time.

New York Reader

1. Rulers' 2002 Resolution
   War! War! War!
2. World's Terrorist HQ: The White House, Washington, DC
3. U.S. Executioners Will Use Only `Small Stones'
4. Argentina: Why Insurrection Did Not Lead to Workers' Revolution
5. Cops Kill Three Youth in Argentina
6. Imperialist Rivalry, Free Market: Hell for Workers in Argentina
7. `Person of the Year': Workfare Terrorist
8. How Low Can They Get?
   How About $1.66 an Hour!
9. `House of Labor' in
   Bed with Bosses
10. Enron Rips Off
    NY Workers' Pensions
11. Archdiocese Bosses Prey on Striking Teachers
12. War Plant Workers Say `United We Strike'
13. Death Squads Go Better With Coke
14. Seeking Anthrax Source? Check Out the U.S. Army
15. Haiti Worse Off After Clinton's
    `Humanitarian' Invasion
16. Gulf War Vet Says It's All About Oil
17. LETTERS
    Workers of the World, Write!
    1. No `We' Between
       Workers and Bosses
    2. Imperialist War Breeds Racism
    3. Flag-waving
       Emboldens Nazis
    4. Fight Vs. Fascism
       Is A Mass Struggle
    5. Need Strategy For Postal Workers
    6. Students Know
       Their ABCs
    7. When It's War,
       There's no Debate
    8. Don't Get Caught
       In the Web
    9. 'Friendly' Face
       of Fascism

---

Rulers' 2002 Resolution
War! War! War!

The U.S. rulers' war for control of oil supplies and for world domination is about to expand. Their campaign in Afghanistan represents only the first stage. In the name of "fighting terror," Bush and the big bosses he represents are setting the stage for acts of terror that will add to U.S. imperialism's record as the greatest mass murderer in world history.

While patting his dogs at his Texas ranch over Christmas, Bush promised: "Next year will be a war year" (Washington Post, 12/27). Our Party must make and keep its own promise to the international working class. In 2002 and beyond, we will struggle to meet our immense responsibility as communists. We will carry out our revolutionary line to the extent the objective situation permits and will learn to grow as a force in the class struggle. We will train ourselves to do whatever is necessary to work under the tightening vise of the bosses' police state. We will never lose confidence in the workers' need to understand that only the overthrow of the profit system can end imperialist war and racist terror. We will not be cowed by the appearance of the rulers' temporary strength. We will stay the course, however long it takes.

Bush and his White House thugs haven't yet identified their next target, but they won't wait long. They've already taken steps to ensure that more U.S. ground troops will soon be killing and dying for Exxon Mobil, Chevron, etc. On December 11, the Pentagon announced the transfer of U.S. Third Army headquarters from Fort McPherson, GA, to Kuwait. The Third Army doubles as Armed Forces Central Command and oversees all U.S. military operations from Central Asia to the Horn of Africa. This move virtually guarantees wider military adventures very soon. The excuse, once again, will be to destroy the al Qaeda Islamic terrorist network, which now seems to have more international bases than there are countries in the world. And the most important bases "just happen" to be in countries that U.S. imperialism deems vital to its geostrategic oil interests. Any action by the U.S. will set in motion a series of events that will lead to far deadlier war, eventually involving Russian, Chinese and European imperialists.

This Third Army move poses a number of possibilities:

*U.S. bosses may decide to launch a partial invasion of Pakistan. Pakistani rulers were valuable U.S. allies during the Cold War. Now they're unreliable and just marginally useful. Important sections of Pakistani bosses and the Pakistani government support the Taliban and al Qaeda and oppose the new U.S-backed puppet regime in Afghanistan. Many Taliban and al Qaeda leaders appear to have found refuge in Pakistan. December 11 attack on India's parliament by gunmen based in Pakistan further complicates the situation. India is Pakistan's primary rival for local domination in southern Asia. Both India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons. U.S. rulers may decide they must pursue al Qaeda into Pakistan. Such an action would impel India's involvement and would drastically sharpen the antagonism between U.S. and Chinese rulers, who view Pakistan as an ally and India as a threat to their own plans for regional rule.

* New U.S. military action somewhere in the Middle East is a foregone conclusion. Only the target remains undecided. The hunt for al Qaeda fighters -- real or contrived -- remains Bush's cover for demanding "co-operation" from Middle Eastern countries. On December 19, the U.S. Navy intercepted an Iranian oil tanker, blowing open one of its doors. U.S. bosses are playing a carrot and stick game with Iran, on the one hand trying to use it as a counterweight to Iraq and on the other hand threatening to punish it for sponsoring anti-U.S. terrorist acts like the 1996 bombing of U.S. barracks in Saudi Arabia. U.S. sabre-rattling against Iraq is far more pointed. The Third Army operation includes bolstering U.S. troop concentrations along the Kuwait-Iraq border. Hardly a day goes by without some leak in the bosses' press about plans to invade Iraq and/or to unseat Saddam Hussein. The imperialists don't seem to have settled their internal dispute over the best way to fight a new oil war in Iraq, but they're headed in that direction. According to the usually accurate Stratfor report (12/26): "...the build-up is intended as a warning to Baghdad that the United States would invade at the slightest hint the Iraqi government was harboring al Qaeda fighters."

* Other imminent possibilities include Yemen and Somalia. Bush also warned North Korea that its weapons could be considered as contributing to "international terrorism."

Regardless of the tactical decisions U.S. imperialism makes in the immediate future, the strategic direction is clear. Bush promised that 2002 will be a "war year." Of course, the history of capitalism has been one of incessant wars, killing increasing millions of workers with each succeeding century. The only "difference" in the 21st century will be that it probably will top them all, until workers and soldiers realize that the only way out of this horror is to organize themselves to smash all these war criminals and their system with a communist revolution.

U.S. imperialism is attempting to enforce the military and political conditions that will ensure its "super-power" status and prevent the rise of a major challenger for decades to come. Our Party must help workers learn the hard but necessary truth that the profit system offers our class nothing but war, misery and death. Only communism is worth fighting for. That is the war we must learn to wage and win.

World's Terrorist HQ: The White House, Washington, DC

U.S. rulers lie shamelessly about their actions as well as their motives. They call their oil war a "crusade against terrorism." They also love to pretend that their military technology has enabled them to avoid massive civilian casualties. Bullshit! Marc A. Herold, a University of New Hampshire professor, has made an exhaustive study of data available since the U.S. began bombing Afghanistan on October 7. His findings, cited by Lee Siu Hin of the Canadian Centre for Research on Globalization, document at least 3,700 Afghani deaths caused by the bombing -- already exceeding U.S. deaths in the September 11 World Trade Center attack, and still counting.

Hundreds of thousands more Afghani workers and children are at risk for starvation over the winter because of U.S. military action. And millions have fled their homes to refugee camps for fear of death from U.S. bombs. But of course, the racist murderers in Washington don't consider poor Asian workers as human beings whose lives have any value. However, these figures are just a start. The depleted uranium (DU) used in the thousands of tons of U.S. bombs that have hit Afghanistan will create an enormous future epidemic of cancer and other plagues. The deaths don't stop with the bombing.

Iraq is a case in point. In the last ten years, it has seen an "unprecedented plague of cancers and birth defects." Many Iraqi women in their 20s are developing breast cancer. Other cancer increases include colon, thyroid, leukemia and lymphoma. DU is central to this development. As a waste product of nuclear bomb production, it has a half-life of four billion years, with very high radioactivity. Its density makes it militarily useful as an armor-piercing element. But the side-effects devastate the environment and anyone who lives in it. The dust DU forms on impact rises in the air and contaminates the surrounding area.

Because of DU, malignancies and leukemias among Iraqi children have more than tripled since 1990. Fifty-six percent of all cancer in Iraq occurs in children younger than five. Parents exposed to DU dust pass on the damage to their offspring. (Information from CounterPunch, 12/28)

DU will remain a crucial component of U.S. military hardware. It was used during Clinton's 1999 "humanitarian" war for oil pipelines in the former Yugoslavia, with similar horrific consequences.

This is only a fraction of the price the world's workers have begun to pay for the privilege of seeing U.S. imperialism protect its top-dog status into the 21^st century.

U.S. Executioners Will Use Only `Small Stones'

The U.S.-backed "liberators" of Afghanistan promise less harsh "justice" than the defeated U.S. enemy, the Taliban.

Adulterers will still be stoned to death said Judge Ahamat Ullha Zarif, "But we will use only small stones." This allows them to escape: "If they are able to run away, they are free," but only if they confess. "Those who refuse to confess...will have their hands and feet bound so they cannot run away. They will certainly be stoned to death."

Zarif also noted "changes" from the Taliban. "The Taliban used to hang the victim's body in public for four days, "We will only hang the body for...15 minutes." And not in Kabul's stadium. "The stadium is for sports," declared Zarif. "We will find a new place for public executions."

The new government's Justice Minister Karimi said things would be "different" now. "How can you cut off the hand of a man who has nothing to eat? We must first feed the people."[And then...?]

(All information from the Sydney, Australia Morning Herald, 12/28)

Argentina: Why Insurrection Did Not Lead to Workers' Revolution

Recent developments in Argentina are especially important for the international working class and for those, like the PLP, who fight for a society free of capitalist exploitation. In a world where workers and their allies are retreating, and capitalist reaction is on the rise -- intensifying war and fascism after Sept. 11 -- Argentina's working class and its allies dared to rebel.

This uprising has been building for several years as mass unemployment hit the working class, and -- for the first time in recent history -- hunger actually affected many families. For months "piqueteros" (flying pickets) blocked roads and fought the cops, demanding jobs and food. A few months ago a mass insurrection occurred in some areas like the city of General Mosconi.

The Insurrection Begins

On December 14, a massive general strike -- the biggest in recent history -- shut down the country. It was organized by the main union federations (all controlled by hacks loyal to different sections of the Peronista Party). They had ample support from all sections of the population, mostly workers, the unemployed and the impoverished middle class. The demands advanced from economic concerns to calling for the ouster of President de la Rua and his hated economic Minister, Cavallo.

The general strike led to the insurrection of Dec. 19-20, affecting the whole country. People raided supermarkets and stores to feed their families. There were huge clashes with the cops, who murdered 30 people. Mass marches to the Presidential Palace and to Congress demanded that President de la Rua get out. Many mass organizations were involved. When the masses defied de la Rua's state of siege and kept on fighting, the Peronistas used this to take control of the Presidency. They refused to join a last-minute call by de la Rua to form a "national unity" government. Then the union hacks (who did nothing during the height of the rebellion) called for a general strike on Dec. 21. They canceled it after de la Rua quit and left the presidential palace (á la Saigon, in a helicopter), while thousands of demonstrators cheered.

Why didn't this insurrection lead to workers' power?

Two of the elements mentioned by Lenin as keys to a revolution were met: the working class did not want to live in the old way (the middle class joined them), and the ruling class was divided and unable to rule in the old way. But the most crucial factor was missing: a mass revolutionary communist party.

Now the different factions of the Peronista bosses are jockeying to see which group of capitalists and imperialists will get the upper hand. Provisional President Saá was forced to quit because he lacked support among his fellow Peronistas after he called for a half-hearted default on Argentina's $132 billion foreign debt (almost triple the largest previous default, Russia in 1998). As we go to press, Eduardo Duhalde has been selected President by all factions. He was the Vice-president under the Peronista administration of Menem during the 1990s, Menem privatized most of the state-owned enterprises at bargain prices, was a buddy of Papa Bush and Clinton and recently was under house arrest for corruption.

Duhalde as the new provisional President will be pushed to return to the fascist-style repression of the Isabel Peron government. She became President in the early 1970s after her husband, Juan Peron, the populist-fascist general and founder of the Peronista movement, died. Under Isabel Peron, the AAA (Argentinean Anti-communist Alliance) organized death squads to murder militant workers and youth.

Meanwhile, the generals are waiting in the wings. Even though they're discredited for the way they lost the Falkland/Malvinas war against Thatcher's Britain, they could be brought back as a desperate measure by some section of the bourgeoisie. The last time the military ruled (after they overthrew Isabel Perón), tens of thousands were killed and "disappeared."

Workers need to learn the lessons from the recent insurrection, break with all bosses and their imperialist allies, and build a mass revolutionary Party to win the final battle: the fight for a society without any bosses, imperialist banks or crooked politicians, a society where production is based on need: communism.

Cops Kill Three Youth in Argentina

Today, Dec. 29, some young men watching the news on a TV in a bar in a Buenos Aires neighborhood began to laugh when a cop was beaten up by demonstrators near the Presidential Palace in Buenos Aires. When a cop in the store saw the three youth making fun of the beaten cop, he took out his gun and shot them dead. Then the cop put a knife near the three dead youth to try to make it seem like they were robbing the store.

This angered people in the area. They went to the local police station and tried to destroy it. A big battle broke out as demonstrators shouted to the cops, "You killed three youth, now we're going to kill all you cops sons of b------." The crowd called out, "Aren't we all Argentinians? Come out and fight." Although this reflects nationalist feelings, it does show a belief among the masses that not everyone is equal here.

It was another day of struggle. There were mass protests demanding the resignation of the same old corrupt politicians who are part of the new Peronista government, but it was also a day of sadness because the cops, the bosses' killers ended three young lives. This system doesn't deserve to exist.

Greetings to the PLP comrades. Keep on fighting!, A friend in Argentina

Imperialist Rivalry, Free Market: Hell for Workers in Argentina

The chaos in Argentina is caused by the world capitalist crisis of overproduction and its intensification of the rivalry among imperialist and capitalist blocs. The U.S. government, through the International Monetary Fund (IMF), squeezed the now fallen de la Rua government into pushing economic policies that led to the current crisis.

The so-called free market (neo-liberal) policies so popular among capitalists in the last decade were a bonanza for foreign investors and their Argentine buddies. Key state-owned enterprises (oil, telephone, airlines, etc.) were sold at bargain prices. Imperialist banks and investors made a bundle, while basically refusing to pay any taxes.

Simultaneously workers paid dearly with massive job cuts since 3,000 enterprises shut down in the last two years; unemployment rose to 28%; and five million people live in extreme poverty. In many provinces, government employees were paid in local bonds, worth less than the national currency.

Now, when things turn sour, the Bush administration says, in effect, "Tough, buddy; it's your problem." In part, the U.S. bosses disliked the fact that the de la Rua government was also pegging the peso to the euro as it had already done to the dollar. Also, U.S. bosses' competitors, the Spanish and French capitalists, who snatched most of the privatized state enterprises, are losing big now. (Insignia.com, 12/27). Finally. Argentina leads the Mercosur trade agreement with Brazil, which the U.S. sees as a major roadblock to its Free Trade Area of the Americas (a "NAFTA" for the whole region).

But the rock the U.S. bosses throw may land on their own feet. Other Latin American bosses might see it differently. It doesn't pay to follow the U.S.-IMF free market policies, because when push comes to shove they're left out in the cold (á la the chaos in Argentina) by the U.S. bosses for the latter's own imperialist interests. That's why some of the rulers' liberal mouthpieces like the New York Times are demanding Bush bail out Argentina, to avoid losing influence in Latin America.

A decade ago the Bush, Sr. administration demanded Argentina take the path of fiscal discipline and reduced inflation -- tying the peso to the dollar on a one-to-one basis -- which "eventually led to the current crisis." (New York Times, 12/25) Said a spokesman for BCP Securities, a brokerage firm focusing on Latin America: "It was very clearly the [U.S.] Department of the Treasury that pushed Argentina over the edge and allowed it to collapse."

Besides fiscal austerity U.S. bosses also imposed high tariffs on Argentina's exports and refused to ease those barriers. Now Bush Treasury-Secretary O'Neill arrogantly tells the British magazine The Economist, "Nobody forced them to be what they are."

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), "taking its cue from the Bush administration," (Times, 12/25/01) "raised the bar," demanding "increasingly harsh austerity measures," and then denying it monies already promised. The IMF followed this with a Dec. 18 declaration of no confidence in Argentina's policies, hastening its downfall.

This U.S./IMF abandonment of Argentina will have a strategic effect, confirming to all of Latin America that the U.S. is a "fickle and undependable ally." It comes despite Argentina's support of U.S. foreign policy (the most in Latin America), the only country in the region to actively participate in the Persian Gulf War and now offers to send 600 troops to Afghanistan, spending $20 million it could use to create jobs for the unemployed.

Declared Peter Hakim, president of a Washington-based conference of hemisphere leaders, all this "bodes very badly for building a long-term economic community in the hemisphere. If this is what `community' means, it doesn't really mean much."

All bosses, whether from the U.S., Spain, France or Argentina, cause the capitalist hell suffered by the workers here. Indeed, a system that creates such horrors for millions of workers must be destroyed. We must build a mass communist movement to make this possible.

`Person of the Year': Workfare Terrorist

NEW YORK CITY, Dec. 17 -- Person-of-the-Year' Adoph Giuliani is no hero to Daisy T. and James H. Both have worked cleaning subway cars in this city's slave labor Workfare program. Their jobs would otherwise pay $11 to $19 an hour. Each carry stacks of outstanding evaluations and hopes that some day they might trade meager welfare benefits for a real job paying union-rate wages. (New York Times, 12/17) We don't know their thoughts about the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center but they, like 30,000 others, face a different terror.

On December 1, they reached the end of their time-limited welfare benefits and don't know how they will feed, clothe and house their families. One terror is the swift death of war to control oil. The other is the lifelong death from hunger, cold insult, cruelty and heartbreak faced by workers made marginal under capitalism. "...Even before Sept. 11, an estimated 1.5 million people in New York City were relying on emergency food programs -- food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters -- to put food on the table for their families. More than half were children and the elderly." (New York Daily News, 12/20)

Since the Clinton/Gingrich Personal Responsibility Act of 1996 -- the so-called welfare reform law -- was enacted, assistance rolls have dropped from a nationwide peak of about 14 million people to under six million last June. (NYT, 12/9) This has coincided with a massive ideological effort to declare poverty a "personal problem" and not an inherent evil of capitalism. Signs in what are now called "Jobs First" Centers proclaim: "Your clock is ticking"; "Make an Effort, Not an Excuse"; and, "Winners Make the Grade; Whiners Make Excuses."

While NYC's Welfare Commissioner Jason Turner and Mayor Giuliani crow about moving people from welfare to work, facts show another reality. "Of 9,509 people sent to the subways on Workfare since December 1999, the [transit] authority said 301 have been hired. That's a "success" rate of about 3%. The "success" rate among the 4,400 who were actually able to comply with the restrictive workfare rules was still less than 10%. (For one example of this "success" story, see article below.)

"Currently, there are about 30,000 homeless adults and children in the city's shelters, and tens of thousands of city families are facing financial uncertainty with the end of welfare and the loss of more than 80,000 jobs in the midst of this economic downturn." (Daily News, 12/20) For the New Year we can each resolve to unite with the millions of workers fighting to meet their immediate needs of life under capitalism while forging an army that understands the need to end the worldwide terror of capitalism with communist revolution.

How Low Can They Get?
How About $1.66 an Hour!

Here's the "success" story of Gabriella B., a mother of four, hired by the Transit Authority as part of the slave labor program. To compute how many hours she -- like others in Workfare -- must put in to work off her two-week cash grant of $300, that amount is divided by the minimum wage (to simplify the figures, let's say $5 an hour). That means she must work 60 hours every two weeks, or 30 hours a week.

Now Gabriella B. receives $200 every two weeks in child support from the father of one of her children. If the City then deducted that $200 from her $300 cash grant, the grant would now be only $100 every two weeks. That figure divided by the $5 minimum wage would mean she would be required to work only 20 hours every two weeks or 10 hours a week to "work off" her cash grant. BUT, capitalism is a little more diabolical than that.

Welfare Department rules call for the father to pay the $200 child support directly to the City. That means Gabriella B. still must work the 60 hours every two weeks, since her cash grant remains at $300. But since the Welfare Department gets this $200 from the father, Gabriella B. is costing the City only $100 while still working the 60 hours. That means she's costing the city only $1.66 an hour! Talk about slave labor!

Meanwhile, for every person assigned to Workfare programs, a union wage-job is lost to those looking for work. yet another overall cost to the working class.

`House of Labor' in
Bed with Bosses

More than the World Trade Center came crashing down on Sept. 11. The "House of Labor" has been falling steadily from a combination of a recession that had begun in March and from bosses using 9/11 as an excuse to "cut labor costs," meaning mass layoffs. Of the 760,000 job cuts announced since Sept. 11, half are in AFL-CIO unions. And more are on the way: the heavily-unionized steel industry is pressing to consolidate, and widespread city and state budget cuts will ravage government workers.

Capitalism's inevitable boom-bust business cycle is the main cause of this mass unemployment. Sept. 11 just gave it an extra push. And the bosses and their government used it to lay off over 100,000 airline workers, 30,000 Boeing workers, 80,000 hotel workers and lots more, while handing out billions to the airlines and refusing to give any measurable relief to the jobless.

Given the fact that only 38% of the unemployed are eligible for unemployment benefits, probably at least 20 million workers will experience some joblessness this year. Last year the figure was 18 million.

So what are the labor "leaders" concerned about? The loss of dues-payers! "If we're confronted with heavier layoffs [never mind the ones that have occurred already -- Ed.], we'll just have to...organize new members," says AFL-CIO chief honcho John Sweeney (Business Week, 12/17) They haven't been too good at that recently -- 42 of the Federation's 66 unions have not grown in the past two years, despite Sweeney's "crusade."

The fact remains that these labor leaders are mainly in bed with the bosses. They accept and defend the attacks of capitalism as the normal functioning of the profit system. While outfits like Enron steal us blind, the labor hacks not only support the U.S. imperialist war for oil in Afghanistan but refuse to organize a fight against the mass unemployment caused by the bosses' system. Only by increasing the leadership from communists in PLP among the working class, leadership that, unlike the Sweeneys, doesn't defend but challenges the profit system, will workers have any chance of battling the onslaught the bosses have launched against us.

Enron Rips Off
NY Workers' Pensions

The Enron billionaires who robbed its workers of hundreds of millions in stock frauds -- while pocketing millions for themselves -- also stole $167 million from New York City and State workers' pension funds. The latter were invested in Enron stock. Meanwhile, Enron bosses overstated company profits and understated its debts, leading to a filing for bankruptcy. Before that, the big shots sold their own stocks when they were up around $82 a share. Then, when the fraud was discovered, the stock plummeted to 60cents a share, wiping out Enron workers' retirement and causing losses of $109 million to the NY City workers' pension funds and $58 million to the State workers' funds.

Workers who are forced to depend on capitalism's stock markets for their "security" inevitably will lose this bosses' shell game. The only sure bet is to destroy capitalism altogether by fighting for communism. Then the "shares" will be in a system which the workers control and put their "stock" in the principle of "from each according to their commitment, to each according to their needs."

Archdiocese Bosses Prey on Striking Teachers

NEW YORK CITY, December 31 -- Lay teachers in 10 high schools in the New York Catholic archdiocese have been on strike since November 29. They're returning to work this coming week -- at least for now -- because they haven't been paid since the strike began. If they don't get a satisfactory contract from their bosses, they`ll walk out again later in January. However, the New York Times (12/31) quoted one union leader and one rank and filer as saying they were returning (temporarily) because they "wanted to give the students a couple of weeks of schooling" and "to show the support for students and parents." If true, this weakens the workers' position since it appears to make them, not their bosses, responsible for denying the students school time. The bosses provoked the walkout and have plenty of money to grant a decent contract (see below).

Parochial school teachers are paid far less than public school teachers -- and even public school teachers deserve more money for the work they do. The parochial school teachers are demanding higher wages and a second pension. Even after many years on the job, these teachers receive ridiculous pensions. Upon retiring after more than 20 years, a veteran teacher receives $13,000/year. On striker described that amount as an "allowance," not a pension.

The Catholic Church is often praised for the quality of its schools. Public schools are often compared unfavorably to parochial schools. However, nuns and priests -- who worked for free -- traditionally staffed parochial schools, and the lay (non-clerical) staff hasn't been paid a whole lot more. Yet the Catholic Church is a multi-billion-dollar institution, one of the richest in the world. To a certain extent it lives off the rest of the population since it's tax exempt. The church hierarchy lives well. They rely on the loyalty and devotion of its members to keep people from asking for more money. But workers need to pay their bills.

The public school teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) has encouraged members to walk the picket lines with the Catholic school teachers. It passed a resolution at the monthly Delegate Assembly (DA) to support the striking teachers (as well as those in Middletown, NJ who were also striking then). However, an angry chapter leader (school representative) rose at the DA to attack the hypocrisy of the union leadership. He pointed out that the only real support was to join the striking teachers by striking ourselves, since the UFT has been without a contract for over a year, and that, in fact, the union leadership won't even allow a discussion of a strike!

The NYC labor leadership needed to organize more support for these striking teachers so they could have stayed out until they'd won a decent contract. Self-critically, NYC rank-and-file teachers, led by the Party, should have organized support on our jobs, too.

War Plant Workers Say `United We Strike'

STOCKTON, CA., Jan. 2 -- Members of IAM Local 1521 have been striking Applied Aerospace Structures Corp. (AASC) since December 1. AASC is a war plant, producing advanced composite manufacture for infantry fighting vehicles. About 40% of its work is for Boeing.

While it benefits from a tax-free, low interest, $6.1 million industrial development bond from the State of California, it manages to pay some of its workers an hourly wage as low as $7.85. Average wages range from $10 to $12 an hour. Supposedly this merits a Continuous Cost Improvement Award from Boeing for the year 2000. Apparently "continuous cost improvement" includes hiring scabs to bust strikes.

(See next issue on Boeing workers' efforts to build support for their brothers and sisters at this subcontractor while exposing the bosses' patriotic propaganda about "United We Stand.")

Death Squads Go Better With Coke

BOGOTA COLOMBIA -- The bosses still try to push the lie that the death squads are an independent organization fighting the guerrillas here. But these paramilitary butchers are just goons organized by the Army and financed and supported by local and imperialist bosses. In 2001, Colombia had a dubious record of murdering more trade unionists than the rest of the world combined!--1,500 or three of five union activists killed worldwide, almost all murdered by death squads.

Gustavo Soler led the union at Drummond, Ltd., a U.S. multi-national company with operations in the remote Cesar province in northern Colombia. Soler's predecessor had been murdered three months before Soler took over the union. On October 6, a gang of armed men seized Soler; the next day he and other workers were found shot to death. The union was demanding better working conditions and accused Drummond of violating Colombian labor laws.

Last June 21, Oscar Darío Soto Polo, union head at the Coca Cola bottling plant in Montería, was murdered upon leaving his job there. The union was then demanding 17% to 20% wage increases; Coca Cola was offering only 6.5%. Two weeks after de Soto was murdered, the union settled for just 8.5%, half what they originally demanded.

There are many similar companies operating in areas where the guerrillas and death squads are fighting. They publicly link some of the trade unionists to the guerrillas -- a death sentence for these workers.

After Soto was murdered, the International Labor Rights Fund and the United Steel Workers sued Coca Cola and its Colombia bottling plants in a Miami court. They accused Coca Cola of using the death squads against its workers. The suit presented a long list of the horrors carried out by Coca Cola since 1996. Naturally, the company denies any wrongdoing.

But suits like these, basically demanding that the bosses protect their workers and union activists, is like asking the fox to guard the chicken coop. In these days of capitalist recession/depression and war, bourgeois democracy operates increasingly like in Colombia, based on death squad terrorism and super-exploitation of workers.

PLP calls on all workers who want a better life to join us in building a mass communist movement to end this capitalist hell created by Coca Cola and all bosses.

Seeking Anthrax Source? Check Out the U.S. Army

The current uproar over the source of poisonous anthrax spores has led to two significant revelations: (1) it's the U.S. Army that has been producing them; and, (2) it's U.S. rulers who reject inspection, even as it uses Saddam Hussein's refusal as a pretext to invade Iraq and grab its oil wealth.

When the first fatalities from the anthrax bacteria occurred, the government and media immediately spread "reports" of "terrorists" planting or mailing the deadly spores ("Sept. 11 II"), trying to link it to some "foreign nationals." They "speculated" that Saddam Hussein was working on such bioterrorism. They said it couldn't have come from the U.S. since all stocks produced in Ames, Iowa had been destroyed years ago.

Now it turns out that:

* Since 1980 the U.S. Army has stockpiled anthrax whose spores are identical to the ones found in the letter mailed to Senator Tom Daschle. (Washington Post, 12/16)

* "The army said its researchers...had worked with anthrax since 1992." (London Financial Times, 12/14)

* "The army had been silent on the matter, even as it led the biological and chemical analysis of anthrax-laced letters for FBI investigations."(Financial Times,; our emphasis, Ed.)

* "The evidence is increasingly looking like it was a domestic source," said Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer, referring to the anthrax spores that killed five U.S. citizens.

With all the anthrax hoopla going on for several months, it's interesting that the Army didn't immediately admit it had produced, was currently researching and currently possessed spores identical to the ones mailed to Daschle. This admission could have immediately contradicted the rulers' attempt to drum up popular support for spreading their terror war to Iraq, using the pretext that Saddam Hussein is producing biological weapons of mass destruction. Cowboy George W. Bush had demanded Iraq allow inspections of, among others, biological weapons or they will "find out" what happens "if they don't." But consider the following:

* Scott Ritter, ex-UN weapons inspector from the U.S. said such weapons had "been destroyed or rendered harmless by 1998." (Counterpunch, 12/21)

* Last summer the Bush administration killed the inspection enforcement provision of the 1975 Biological Weapons Convention, saying it might expose industrial secrets of U.S. companies.

* In early December, the White House rejected "international efforts in Geneva to strengthen the biological weapons convention." (Financial Times)

So it's the U.S. terrorists, not Iraq, who fear and reject inspections and are producing biological weapons of mass destruction.

Furthermore, with much evidence pointing to U.S. neo-Nazis as the source of some of these anthrax mailings (see CHALLENGE 11/14), the "massive" FBI investigation seems to be avoiding any connection to such domestic terrorists. When the lone suspect that was arrested -- a right-wing, anti-abortion, Christian fundamentalist -- the reports were buried on inside news pages and then dropped like a hot potato. But naturally, with the rulers' manipulation of all the news, intensified since Sept. 11, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that they're trying as much as possible to keep under wraps any information that doesn't fit their plans for fascism at home and war abroad.

Haiti Worse Off After Clinton's
`Humanitarian' Invasion

Was it a real attempted coup d'etat that unrolled in the early hours of Dec. 17 in the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti? Or was it a staged event, a diversion designed to attack the opposition? The government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide claims the attackers are former military personnel, directed by an ex-officer living in the Dominican Republic. Several leaders of the pro-capitalist opposition parties were attacked and their homes set afire by Aristide supporters immediately after the coup attempt.

Another explanation for the event was offered: since it is widely known that Aristide never sleeps in the Palace, he and his forces could have easily staged the attempted coup as a diversion. (Haitian history is full of episodes where presidents on their last political legs try to kill off the opposition.)

But more importantly, does what went down in the Palace really matter to the millions of Haitian workers and students who are being crushed daily by the dual sword of capitalism and racism? What can workers and their allies gain from this bosses' dogfight. Nothing! Haiti's workers are still the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, with an average annual income of $250; a life expectancy of 57; an adult illiteracy rate over 80%; and an infant mortality rate of 72 per 1,000. Hundreds of thousands of Haitian workers have been forced to leave for the U.S., France and even neighboring Dominican Republic (just a little less poor) to be super-exploited by racist bosses.

Centuries of slavery in the New World built European capitalism. Although Haitians' bloody battles ended outright slavery in 1804, the wage slavery imposed by both European and U.S. imperialists continue to enrich the local ruling class and their imperialist partners, particularly U.S. bosses. How does supporting one group of pro-capitalist politicians over another help the strikers at the Cointreau plantation, who've been locked out of their jobs extracting orange essence for one of the world's luxury liqueurs for demanding higher wages? They make less than $1.40 a day!

After a spontaneous uprising in 1986 ended a 29-year U.S.-supported Duvalier dictatorship, Haitian workers endured another five years of military juntas. Aristide, the poor parish priest rode into power in 1991 on the backs of masses of students and urban and rural workers. Soon he was overthrown by Duvalier officers. Several years later he returned to power with the help of his friend Clinton, who invaded Haiti with thousands of soldiers.

Like the consequences of all U.S. "humanitarian" efforts, things have gone from bad to worse for the masses. Now Aristide is reported to be the richest man in Haiti. The bureaucrats of his Lavalas Party and his government have become rich as well and have been accused of killing off the opposition. (Many similarities with Duvalier here!) None of the so-called progressive opposition has anything better to offer--they're all tied to capitalism and imperialism.

Unemployment, underemployment, devastation of all the productive forces in agriculture and industry, skyrocketing food and gasoline prices through conditions imposed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund--these plus AIDS and the lack of even the most rudimentary health care system for most are the costs the Haitian working class will continue to pay as long as they follow Aristide or any other capitalist fakers. They must reject calls from pseudo-leftists for a (capitalist) "bourgeois democratic revolution."

Just as the slaves overthrew the French and later Napoleon's army almost 200 years ago, let the Haitian masses usher in 2002 by building a revolutionary communist movement. That's the goal of PLP: fight for a society without capitalism and imperialism -- communism.

Gulf War Vet Says It's All About Oil

Riding home on the subway a few weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, I heard a young black man talking loudly to a friend saying how gullible the U.S. public was about the government's foreign policy proclamations. His voice rising, he spoke for some time about why he thought the World Trade Center was attacked because of the U.S. government's aggression in other countries.

Another passenger asked him to be quiet. At that point the young man jumped up and declared he had earned his right to speak freely by fighting in the Gulf War's Desert Storm. He said he saw with his own eyes the reason why the U.S. was fighting in Iraq and Kuwait -- it was the oil fields. He warned that he and the rest of the brothers were "fighting in a war so that rich men could get richer" and that we should open our eyes and see what's really going on.

New York Reader

LETTERS
Workers of the World, Write!

No `We' Between
Workers and Bosses

Recently my union asked me to join a picket line of graduate students demanding union recognition. The pickets were spirited and lively. A group of 30 had taken over the Chancellor's office, supporting a two-day strike at the main campus. The campus union hacks were there, as were some professors' unions.

The theme was "union solidarity" and "We deserve more." The atmosphere was a little too festive. I got drafted into speaking, which self-critically I had been trying to avoid.

I spoke for less than two minutes but the response was striking. I said that given the war in Afghanistan and the homeland security rise of fascism, this action carried more significance. The chatter began to die down. I said that this exposes the bosses' big lie, "United We Stand," that the university bosses don't believe it, or the students wouldn't have to be picketing. Between bosses and workers there is no "we."

By now most conversations had stopped. I talked about the current plight of tens of thousands of steel workers losing their jobs, pensions and health care after working all their lives and making billions for the bosses. Now there was silence.

I said that if you sell your labor, you're a worker, and that means you have to fight for everything, and as soon as you stop they'll try to take it away. "So keep fighting." Total silence. People looked like, "Who invited him?" Then someone clapped and then a few more. The union hacks wouldn't even look at me.

Finally a teacher came up to me and said, "That was very good. It was totally different from what everyone else said, and the students needed to hear it." Then a student came up and shook hands and thanked me for what I'd said. The point is, we must bring the war, fascism and class struggle to every reform struggle, even if it might be unpopular.

Union Guy

Imperialist War Breeds Racism

I work for a large parcel-processing company at a major airport. We are treated with no respect on the job, but I want to use this to inspire myself and others to spread PLP's ideas there.

On September 11, our plant manager used this tragic event to direct racist insults towards the workers. She said that "additional security measures" would be taken because of what happened there. I.D. pictures would be checked and "vehicles will be randomly searched so if you have a `40-ounce' in your car make sure you take it out." A "40-ounce" refers to a 40-ounce bottle of beer or malt liquor. In capitalist culture (and especially in some rap "entertainment") the 40-ounce is portrayed as the drink of choice for black alcoholics. The plant manager, a black woman, stated this to a group of workers who were 90% black. Even when workers' lives are lost the capitalist class lackeys are still their vile racist selves.

I raised the issue with some co-workers. Reactions varied but most workers were outraged. Even those who didn't perceive the racism in the remark found it demeaning. "What, are we all alcoholics now?" they said.

All this inspired more talk with more workers about PLP's ideas and led to more literature being distributed, because it's the first way we can fight back.

My building wasn't even evacuated. After all, the airports were shut down. People who wanted to go home were threatened with disciplinary action.

The bosses think our lives are worth nothing. We must show our value to one another by battling for communism however and whenever we can.

A Red Worker

Flag-waving
Emboldens Nazis

The fourth rally this year of the neo-Nazi National Alliance (NA) in Washington, D.C. went unchallenged, again, by anti-Nazi forces. While claiming a "broad coalition of activists," the International Socialist Organization (ISO) hissed whenever PL forces urged demonstrators to physically smash the fascists marching in front of the Israeli Embassy right. They shouted, "Go home!" while police brandished their nightsticks in front of us. We were restrained by flimsy metal barricades that easily could have been overcome had there been enough unity. Anarchists, who were militant enough to do what PL was calling for, might have gone after the Nazis too if there had been more of them. But since the ISO was the main contingent, mobilizing enough people for militant action proved impossible.

Once again this shows we need to start NOW, working harder to build a militant, pro-communist base in our area. The flag-waving hysteria pushed by the bosses has given these Nazis a new lease on life. But with PLP the leading force, we can accomplish a lot more than occurred this time, physically stopping these monsters. Then the ISO can watch, if they want to, while PL discredits their phony "left" politics.

One positive aspect to this event was the several contacts we made, which could expand our work.

Red College Student

Fight Vs. Fascism
Is A Mass Struggle

As always, the last issue of the paper was an inspiring ray of light amidst the darkness of lies and reaction in the bosses' papers. CHALLENGE shows that the cause of all the attacks on the workers is the capitalist profit system. The fact that the paper urges workers and their allies to stand up to fascist attacks in all fields is indeed the way forward.

One criticism and note of caution is offered here, specifically about the article from Anaheim, Ca. (Jan. 2 issue). Currently, when open fascists, emboldened by the rulers' actions, appear to spew their racist filth, the better, more effective way to confront them is for groups from unions, schools, churches and community organizations to organize members to protest these racists. That's also the best way for members of these groups to see that the rhetoric of the small and big fascists is very similar, with the same roots. However long and whatever it takes, the fight against fascism must become the property of masses of workers and students, and lead to a more serious fight to get rid of the fascists and the capitalist system that requires more and more fascist terror against the working class.

An L.A. reader

Need Strategy For Postal Workers

I am a Party member who is far less active than I ought to be. However, I do read CHALLENGE and am inspired by it. Whenever I read an issue, I distribute more papers. I have some comments on the Dec. 12 paper.

The letters on activities in churches were very enlightening. They were clear on how the Party's ideas can be put forward in a mass way, showing readers what is possible.

However, the postal article on page 5 was a let-down, given the anthrax scare and the size of the postal service. Postal workers who are sympathetic to the Party can use some ideas on how we can do things similar to "Red Churchmouse."

The article said "postal workers are afraid." That isn't helpful. Where is the analysis of the fact that the APWU, the largest postal union, has gone to arbitration with the contract. This settles the terms of exploitation in part based on postal management's testimony attacking the worth of postal workers. Just as bad, the APWU merely talked about how many crumbs workers should get from the pie.

Where is the confidence in the working class ability to understand the connection between general economic conditions and the particulars in the post office? What about the post office as a large employer of black workers in urban areas? What is the strategic outlook for postal workers?

There are no knockout punches to be thrown in the short term, but it seems there's a dearth of "stiff jabs" in the postal work? What gives?

A Comrade

Students Know
Their ABCs

At the Dec. 16 Student Council Meeting of a small alternative high school in New York City the subject arose of pending budget cuts by the Board of Education. Located in a cramped junior high building, without use of the auditorium, gymnasium, music room or the library, the staff and students here have been waiting for eight years for a promised new building and more space.

Things have changed, but only for the worse. Two years ago we lost three rooms. This year a teacher, sitting down with a student in crisis, was faced with security guards while trying to use the library during an emergency.

The talk at the district office is of an impending big budget cut. Students and teachers may find themselves with even fewer supplies, equipment, teachers and classroom space.

"They cut the budget and then complain we don't know anything" said one Student Council member. "That's because the children of the rich don't come to schools like ours," said another. "People with money and power don't care about people like us," most agreed. Someone suggested students contact other school Student Councils and organize a picket line at the next NYC Board of Education meeting: "The people who run things need to hear our voices." Everyone agreed.

A Comrade

When It's War,
There's no Debate

There are hundreds of students in the New York Urban Debate League. Each year a topic is chosen for students to debate the affirmative and negative sides. Most students are working class, many black or Latino. This year's debate is on the Biological Weapons Protocol which would have established an international system of inspection and enforcement to determine if biological weapons are being developed.

Bush refused to sign it this past summer and talks on the protocol collapsed in November when once again the U.S. refused endorsement. The student debate took on special significance this term as the words "anthrax and smallpox" began to appear both on the nightly news and in the local papers.

When the war in Afghanistan began, an anti-imperialist teacher in the Debate League suggested students debate that. Everyone thought it was a great idea. Many students eagerly signed up.

But there was one problem: it was hard to find many students who supported the war. By the time of the debate, only one student was able to advance the affirmative from the heart. The rest of the team taking the side of supporting the war were themselves personally against it and made sure to undercut their own arguments, readily agreeing that the bombing of civilians and the destruction of the remaining infrastructure of Afghanistan was racist!

NYC Comrade

Don't Get Caught
In the Web

The clipping "Internet proves useful for building rebellion" from the Red Eye column in CHALLENGE (12/2) carries a wrong message. While it's true the internet could be a tool for organizing against the war, etc., still too many young activists are deceived by a false sense of security using the Internet. The item says the relative anonymity of the internet allows people to express alternative views without fear of reprisal at a time when it is more difficult to voice dissent.

This is a dangerous illusion. The government's new Patriot Act allows it to spy on everybody, and it has the technology to find out who is sending what on the internet. Encrypted messages can be read, too. A year and a half ago, well before 9/11 and the Patriot Act, a group of young anarchists were swept away by the NYPD when they openly announced in their e-mail messages they were going to thrash some buildings in the business section of downtown Manhattan.

It's true that the internet can be a tool to organize but it's not a substitute, as many in the movement claim. If used as a substitute, it isolates the user from the people he/she wants to organize.

This reminds me of a story about a Communist Party organizer who worked in a big industrial plant in upstate New York during the McCarthy repression. The CP told the organizer not to reveal his politics to the workers. Unfortunately, as it turned out, only the workers he was trying to organize didn't know his communist politics. The boss and the FBI knew exactly who he was.

Use the internet, but be careful.

A Reader

'Friendly' Face
of Fascism

The bosses' media praised the recruiting of over 70,000 home health attendants in California into the SEIU (Service Employees Intern'l Union) last year as a great "organizing victory." Here's what one carpenter's union member says about this "victory":

"The low-wage union cut a deal with then gubernatorial candidate Gray Davis: the union would help Davis get elected as Governor, which they did; then Governor Davis and the California State Legislature ordered the home health workers to join the union." (Gregory A. Butler, Carpenters' Local 608). These workers are legally "self employed" (they work for the disabled person they take care of), but the state pays a subsidy to the sick or disabled person who then pays the attendant about $6 an hour. These workers were signed over to the union. They received no raise, no medical benefits, no social security, unemployment or disability payments because they have a "self-employed" status. But now they have to pay union dues!

The SEIU has no plans to change this. Nevertheless, they and AFL-CIO president Sweeney have used this swindle to hype their "huge organizing success" in order to give themselves credibility with workers. They want to look like our friends while they support the rulers' war in Afghanistan and passively accept fascist attacks on workers here. This includes the huge assault on workers' wages and jobs, a direct result of the bosses' economic crisis and war. They fundamentally agree with Bush that "we" need to "unite the nation" to stop terrorism. This makes them incapable of fighting the terrorism against workers. We must work in the unions to show there is a fighting, revolutionary alternative to these lieutenants of the fascist rulers.

Los Angeles Comrade