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

 

To our readers: This is a three week issue of CHALLENGE. We’ll return to publication the first week of January.

---

3500 Civilians Killed So Far in U.S. Afghan War

Editorial: Sharon Apes Bush Terror To Widen Mid-East War

a href="#U.S. Imperialism’s Israeli Junior partners Use Religion to Create Their Own Frankenstein">".S. Imperialism’s Israeli Junior partners Use Religion to Create Their Own Frankenstein

a href="#Rulers ‘War Against Terror’ Comes to Fascist ‘Homeland’: Bosses’Courts Jail Striking Teachers">Rulers ‘"ar Against Terror’ Comes to Fascist ‘Homeland’: Bosses’Courts Jail Striking Teachers

NYC Welfare Workers Back N.J. Teachers

U.S. Bosses Use 9/11 to Wage Murderous War

Brooklyn Neighborhood Forum Hits War For Oil

a href="#Anti-Racists Blast ‘Homeland’ Defenders">An"i-Racists Blast ‘Homeland’ Defenders

Support Chicago Arabs vs. Racist Arson Terror

Protestors Attack Boston University Backers of Oil War

a href="#Racist Cop Gets 10 Years — But Will She Do The Time?">"acist Cop Gets 10 Years — But Will She Do The Time?

a href="#Enron Collapse sign of rulers’ Dogfight, while . . .">"nron Collapse sign of rulers’ Dogfight, while . . .

• a href="#Buying Up Conoco, Phillips Moves Deeper into Exxon Mobil’s Camp">"uying Up Conoco, Phillips Moves Deeper into Exxon Mobil’s Camp
• . . . Bosses took Money and ran (over workers)

a href="#Mexico: Ford Fears Fired Workers’ Fight vs. Layoffs">"exico: Ford Fears Fired Workers’ Fight vs. Layoffs

a href="#237 Women Raped, Murdered—Kabul? No Juarez!!">"37 Women Raped, Murdered—Kabul? No Juarez!!

P.O. Union Anthrax Protest Too Little, Too Late

Teach-In On War Raps Attack on Postal Workers

Bring Anti-Imperialism to the MLA!

Letters

a href="#‘It’s the Oil!’">‘It’" the Oil!’

a href="#‘United We Stand’—Except for Wage Hikes">‘Uni"ed We Stand’—Except for Wage Hikes

Fascists Attack on the Internet

Feasting on Anti-Racism

Battle Over the Flag

a href="#The New York Times ‘Holiday Season’">Th" New York Times ‘Holiday Season’

---

3500 Civilians Killed So Far in U.S. Afghan War

The number of innocent civilians slaughtered by U.S. bombs in Afghanistan has already surpassed the death toll in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. According to a detailed report assembled by Marc W. Herold, Professor of Economics, International Relations at the University of New Hampshire, more than 3,500 Afghan civilians are dead and "the number is climbing toward 4,000." Professor Herold cross-checked dispatches from British, Canadian, Australian, Pakistani and Indian newspapers and news agencies from at least eight countries.

The report exposes the Pentagon’s and U.S. media’s lies about casualties that "could not be independently confirmed." Once again, U.S. rulers prove they’re the biggest terrorists of all.

Editorial: Sharon Apes Bush Terror To Widen Mid-East War

The Middle East "peace process" is once again turning into a bloodbath for workers. Competition among rival groups of Israeli and Palestinian bosses, as well as internal dogfights within each set of these gangsters, is responsible. As always, the main murderers are the leading U.S. imperialists, who want to pacify the region as a prelude to widening their current oil war from Afghanistan into Iraq.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon represents that faction of Israeli rulers who don’t want to give junior-partner status to the Palestinian capitalist crew led by Arafat. The Sharon group thinks it can rule most efficiently if it turns Palestinian territories into a modern Israeli version of South African bantustan concentration camps. Sharon relies for his political support on the racist "settler" movement.

The Sharon gang viewed September 11 as an opportunity to justify a murderous new offensive in the name of "fighting terrorism." They figured the U.S. would need Israeli muscle more than ever in the Middle East, and that circumstances favored a renewed attempt to smash U.S. plans to enforce a deal between Israel and the Arafat crew. But just as U.S. imperialists needed the events of 9/11 as an excuse to launch their oil war in Afghanistan, Sharon also required a cover to launch a new round of military repression against Arafat & Co. The latest horrific suicide terror bombings inside Israel by Hamas (Arafat’s main competitor among Palestinian nationalists) gave it to him.

In all probability, Sharon provoked Hamas into launching the new wave of suicide attacks against Israeli civilians. The Israeli rulers have been killing leading Palestinian figures. After they killed a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, this group assassinated a fascist Israeli cabinet minister allied with Sharon. Later Hamas agreed to stop mass terror attacks inside Israel’s pre-1967 borders, figuring they would provide a pretext for Israeli mass attacks on Palestinians. But the Israeli rulers continued the assassinations and on November 23, Abu Hunid, an important Hamas leader was assassinated, Two days later, on November 25, an influential columnist in Israel’s most widely-read newspaper wrote: "Whoever gave a green light to this act of liquidation [Abu Hunid’s murder — Ed.] knew [that] under the gentleman’s agreement between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority… Hamas was to avoid in the near future suicide bombings inside the Green Line [Israel’s pre-1967 borders — Ed.]…Rather, the…Palestinian Authority and Hamas came to the understanding that it would be better not to play into Israel’s hands by mass attacks on its population centers" (quoted by Alexander Cockburn in CounterPunch, 12/6).

In other words, Hamas had cancelled the suicide bombings because they play directly into the hands of Sharon & Co., who needed an excuse to unleash the Israeli military. So the Israeli assassination of Hamas’ Abu Hunid must be viewed as a typical provocation.

However, Sharon is playing a dangerous game, because most of his masters in Washington oppose his "no deals" approach. In the wake of 9/11 and the most recent Hamas suicide bombings, the Bush White House has had to make a tactical retreat and refrain from criticizing Sharon’s use of military terror against Palestinian workers. But most liberal U.S. bosses still want a deal that will give the Arafat gang some crumbs. Their main agenda for the Middle East calls for creating the political conditions that will allow the U.S. to widen the present oil war into Iraq, where they have unfinished business with Saddam Hussein. The dominant section of U.S. capitalists fears the consequences in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Arab world of attacking an Arab country without a Middle East settlement that partially satisfies at least one faction of Palestinian bosses.

Not all U.S. rulers’ mouthpieces agree with this estimate. As CHALLENGE has noted recently, the "hawks" in the Bush White House, led by Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle, want to attack Iraq now, ignoring the consequences in other Arab countries. They figure U.S. imperialism is strong enough to impose its will by purely military means. This approach is tightly allied with the Sharon wing of Israeli rulers.

Bush’s Secretary of State, Colin Powell, represents the U.S. rulers who see a Middle East settlement as crucial to their plans for conquering Iraq. Their primary theoretical voices include former Carter National Security head Zbigniew Brzezinski and the Brookings Institution. In a November 2 Washington Post op-ed piece, Brzezinski calls U.S. super-power status the "only practical alternative to global anarchy" and names Iraq as the main threat for state-sponsored terrorism, but then cautions: "A more energetic effort to induce an Israeli-Palestinian settlement is a necessary [part] of any effort to cope with the danger of state-sponsored terrorism."

In a position paper published this month, two Brookings "scholars" say "not now" to "a large ground operation to overthrow Saddam Hussein," but add that as soon as the U.S. decides to "prove" that Saddam has links to Al Qaeda, "we have little doubt that the American people would support a campaign to overthrow Saddam in such circumstances despite the likely casualties" (Philip H. Gordon and Michael O’Hanlon: "Should the War on Terrorism Target Iraq?").

Wider war now or wider war later: that’s the only choice the "hawks" and "doves" in Israel and the U.S. can offer workers. The harsh truth is that the profit system can never bring peace. All its wars have only one purpose: to decide the pecking order and priorities among local and international bosses. Capitalism, religion and nationalism in all forms are deadly for our class. Regardless of the flag being waved or the "divinity" being invoked, capitalism’s god and country stop at the bottom line. The only way for workers to break away from this vise is to join a revolutionary communist party. That’s PLP.

a name="U.S. Imperialism’s Israeli Junior partners Use Religion to Create Their Own Frankenstein">">".S. Imperialism’s Israeli Junior partners Use Religion to Create Their Own Frankenstein

U.S. rulers aren’t the only ones who help construct a monster only to have it turn against them. Their Israeli pals play the same murderous game. CHALLENGE has described the U.S. plan to use Islamic fundamentalism in the 1980s as a tool to destroy the former Soviet Union. This strategy promoted both bin Laden and the holy rollers in Afghanistan who later became the Taliban. Now Islamic fumdamentalist bosses everywhere have become the enemies of U.S. imperialism.

Israeli rulers dropped a similar rock on their own feet with Hamas, the terrorist organization currently launching suicide bombings inside Israeli territory. In the years when Arafat was the Israeli rulers’ main political and military enemy, they secretly supported Hamas as a counterweight to his forces. They reasoned that Hamas’s religious fundamentalism could serve as a useful antidote to Arafat’s secular nationalism. But the bosses behind Hamas had designs of their own. They want to oust Arafat, defeat Israel and rule Palestine for themselves. The law of maximum profit turns yesterday’s ally into today’s bitter rival. Workers should learn the lesson that no boss can ever be our friend.

a name="Rulers ‘War Against Terror’ Comes to Fascist ‘Homeland’: Bosses’Courts Jail Striking Teachers"></a>Rule"s ‘War Against Terror’ Comes to Fascist ‘Homeland’: Bosses’Courts Jail Striking Teachers

MIDDLETOWN, NJ, Dec. 8 — Fascism has reared its head in a strike by 1,000 teachers and secretaries here. The workers struck after working five months without a contract. They’re being labeled "un-American" and "uncaring and greedy in a time like this" for fighting the Board of Education’s demand to increase the maximum amount teachers pay for health insurance to $860 a year, up from $250 in the first year of a new contract, and then by 7% more in the next two years.

The reaction of the school board, the politicians and the courts reflects the growth of fascism. The day the strike began the Board was in court demanding an injunction. The judge then ordered the teachers back to work or face fines and jail time. The 225 teachers and secretaries who defied the order to return without a contract were then jailed. Joseph Azzolina, the district’s State Assemblyman, himself a supermarket boss, attacked the workers as "un-American." Facing firings next week, the teachers were forced back.

The Middletown parents were split. About 100 parents and students rallied in support of the jailed teachers last week. However, local bosses are using the upsurge of flag-waving nationalism against the workers. Some parents have been won to view the teachers as "uncaring" and "greedy," especially "during a time like this." The bosses are also using the fact that many Middletown residents died in the World Trade Center attack. Superintendent of schools Jack DeTalvo "likened the strike and jailings to a war, saying community sentiment…was overwhelmingly against the teachers." (New York Times, 12/6)

With the economy plummeting and U.S. rulers planning more oil wars, workers worldwide face increasing unemployment and fascist attacks. Since September 11, well over 100,000 airline workers have been laid off. Eighty thousands jobs were wiped out in New York City during October alone. In Buffalo, 550 teachers will be laid off this month. Neither capitalism nor its bought-and-paid-for unions can meet the demands of workers for a better way of life, free of exploitation and violence.

Soon after 9/11 U.S. rulers used the terrorist attacks to institute "Homeland Security." They passed the fascist "Patriot Act," which is being used to round up thousands of Arab and Muslim workers. However, PLP says these measures will be used to crush all workers’ struggles. In New York City, Giuliani has attacked the 80,000 school teachers for being "selfish" because they didn’t lower their wage demands. Many union hacks say the war in Afghanistan has made them more reluctant to strike "for fear of being accused of undermining the fight against terrorism." (New York Times, 12/9)

PLP is building working-class solidarity. In one New Jersey school, we’re circulating a petition to show support for the Middletown teachers and demanding our union back them. Organizing under these fascist conditions will be harder, but we must continue to lead struggles to win workers to communist politics wherever we are. Workers need the Party and our leadership more than ever. At the same time, our most important job is widening and strengthening the base of the Party.

NYC Welfare Workers Back N.J. Teachers

NEW YORK CITY, Dec 5 — Tonight the Executive Committee of Social Service Employees Union Local 371 voted unanimously to send a statement of support to the striking teachers in Middletown, N.J., along with a check to financially help the strikers.

A long-time union delegate asked to speak to raise this issue of class solidarity. He urged support for this strike in which over 200 teachers, social workers and school secretaries were jailed, adding that State, County and City workers here in New York face similar anti-strike penalties under the fascist state Taylor Law.

U.S. Bosses Use 9/11 to Wage Murderous War

Oil is the most important resource in the modern industrial world. The central fact behind the war in Afghanistan is U.S. oil company — and therefore U.S. government — designs on Central Asia’s oil and gas reserves, potentially the largest in the world. U.S. control over, and "protection" of, Saudi Arabia, currently the world’s largest oil producer, combined with domination of Central Asia, are the keys to the U.S. ruling class maintaining its position as the world’s only super-power.

Control of Central Asian energy sources and a conduit through Afghanistan would enable U.S oil barons, led by Rockefeller’s Exxon Mobil, to reap tremendous profits off marketing that oil and gas to India, Pakistan, China and South and East Asia. It would also act as a hedge against possible trouble in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Persian Gulf.

Former President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski laid out the plan for U.S. supremacy in his 1997 book The Grand Chessboard — American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives. Brzezinski is a key figure in the U.S. ruling class’s machinations, having been a founder of Rockefeller’s Tri-lateral Commission, a member of his Council on Foreign Relations and a central advisor to the Reagan and Bush Administration’s foreign policy task forces. Brzezinski maintains Eurasia is the center of world power, and the key to controlling Eurasia lies in Central Asia which contain these vast energy resources.

Many people, particularly overseas, are suspicious about who is really behind the Sept. 11 attacks. Some suggest it was all planned by some U.S. spy agency. Foreign media have reported many questionable incidents. But even assuming gross ineptness in failing to foresee these attacks, the rulers certainly were preparing for a war in Afghanistan as part of a plan to secure Central Asian oil and gas.

a name="Bosses’s War at Home and Abroad">">"osses’s War at Home and Abroad

Whoever may have funded, trained and aided the September 11 attackers, the attacks themselves played right into U.S. bosses’ hands. They conveniently presented U.S. rulers with the opportunity to carry out some of their plans, in both Central Asia abroad and through the "Patriot" Law at home, gaining popular support for both in the U.S.. Although the liberals have protested that the Bush administration is moving too far too fast and certainly too nakedly on the domestic front, as well as too fast and too nakedly abroad with its go-it-alone drive for an immediate invasion of Iraq, these are only tactical differences which probably reflect other fights within the ruling class.

The fact that U.S. rulers are slaughtering thousands of Afghanis in pursuit of these imperialist goals simply follows the brutal invasions of the last 40 years, from Vietnam to the Dominican Republic to Panama to Somalia to Yugoslavia, not to mention the "proxy invasions" and government overthrows in Guatemala, the Congo, Chile, Nicaragua and El Salvador. As a terrorist, no one comes close to the U.S. ruling class.

Brooklyn Neighborhood Forum Hits War For Oil

BROOKLYN, NY, Dec. 9 — Over 50 enthusiastic people participated in a forum tonight to discuss the war in Afghanistan and the Homeland Security Law. Most came because of ties to organizers of this event, others from leaflets in their mailboxes, posted in stores or on lamp posts or passed out on the street or at subway stops. Three invited speakers detailed events leading to and following September 11.

One speaker said the war had its roots in the Israeli/Arab conflict around Palestine and described the media’s one sided presentation of news about the war and Islam. Two others cited attacks on South Asian and Arabic people by both governmental agencies and/or individuals or groups.

An immigration lawyer in the audience explained how Arab and Muslim immigrants are currently the main target of the Homeland Security Law but how it may be used against others in the future. Some pointed out that this very meeting could be labeled a "terrorist-support" event.

PLP members declared that the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan is an imperialist war for control of oil and that "Homeland Security" is another step in developing U.S. fascism. Later speakers centered condemned capitalism and the fight over oil as the cause for this war. Copies of CHALLENGE and PLP’s "Oil War" pamphlet were added to the literature table and quickly grabbed up.

Tonight’s enthusiasm inspired a follow-up organizing meeting with a now larger group of neighbors planning to participate. As one person said, "It would have been good if only seven people showed up. It’s about time there was a community meeting that discussed more than the repair of area sidewalks."

a name="Anti-Racists Blast ‘Homeland’ Defenders"></">An"i-Racists Blast ‘Homeland’ Defenders

ANAHEIM, CA, Dec. 8 — Racists who rallied for "Homeland Defense" were bloodied when they attacked anti-racist counter-demonstrators here today.

Several racist organizations — the California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR), Voices of Citizens Together (VCT) and American Patrol — demonstrated for "Homeland Defense" at Anaheim’s City Hall. In response, several anti-racist groups held a counter-demonstration to express strong opposition to these racists who are part of the rapid growth of fascism following Sept. 11.

PLP pointed out that the round-up of Middle Eastern immigrants has now led the way to a larger attack on all immigrants, and all workers.

CCIR and VCT organized this racist rally to oppose Anaheim’s validating Mexican-issued ID cards. Wrapped in American flags, the racists gave speeches and held signs accusing all "illegal" immigrants of being terrorists. They called for groups of citizens to arm themselves to protect the U.S.-Mexico border. They criticized authorities for not taking more action to "defend" U.S. borders and "protect" us from the "danger" illegal immigrants pose to this country.

One racist speaker praised the government’s new measures to put in the FBI’s database all immigrants who have overstayed their visas or who have other immigration problems. Then local, state and Federal agencies can use the data to find the estimated 314,000 people in this category. These measures are whole-heartedly supported by liberals as well as by these open racists.

When the first group of counter-demonstrators arrived, they drew hostile stares and comments by the racists who outnumbered them. Still, they began a picket line and started chanting "Asian, Latin, Black, and White, to Smash Racism We Must Unite," encouraging newcomers to join.

The face-off quickly escalated. After one of the racists tried to snatch a red flag and attack its holder, a fight erupted. Unfortunately for the racists, they underestimated the hatred for racism. The racists were smacked in the face and retreated bleeding. As the anti-racists stood their ground, more people arrived to join the counter-demonstration. A group led by the local Democratic Party picketed across the street. Despite the fact that their leaders kept them from joining the more militant demonstration, many gladly took leaflets which attacked the "Little racists and the Big racists."

Some leaders of the racist organizations singled out PLP, the communists, for trying to stop them from exercising their right to free speech. Well, they got that "right." Chants such as "Hitler Rose, Hitler Fell, Nazi Scum Go To Hell" interrupted the racists. Some demonstrators explained the connection between these racists and the ones who hold state power, like Bush & Co., and the Democrats who also supported the Patriot Act.

The racist rally represents one of the more extreme manifestations of those who have allied themselves with the ruling class behind the American flag. It was easy to see the similarity between the racists — who called for defending "our" country with armed citizens — with Bush who says citizens should report anything "unusual" to the authorities.

Some of the Democratic Party supporters carried U.S. flags that said "no racism." In the name of this flag, thousands of Middle Eastern immigrants are being rounded up and jailed indefinitely here in the U.S. and thousands more have been killed in Afghanistan. All immigrants are now subject to greater attacks. It’s an illusion to think relying on the Democrats can eliminate racism. Only a communist movement that rejects nationalism represents the interests of the working class. The way to end attacks on immigrants and all workers is to build the long-term fight to destroy capitalism with workers’ power, communism.

Support Chicago Arabs vs. Racist Arson Terror

CHICAGO, IL, Dec. 11 — In the dark of night on December 3, racist terrorists set fire to the offices of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) in Marquette Park. For the last 20 years, the network has offered classes in citizenship, English, culture and health care. According to the Chicago Tribune (12/5), "The fire comes after a string of harassing phone calls and e-mails that the center has received since September 11."

A generation ago, these same fascist thugs were attacking and beating black people. Marquette Park housed a local Nazi Party headquarters until PLP drove them out with anti-racist attacks on their rallies and office. Now the neighborhood is very integrated, with black, Latin, white and Mid-East workers all living and working here. Yet the threat of war and fascism are much greater than they were then.

The Chicago police, who wrote the book on racist terror, are "looking for those responsible." They should start with the White House, Congress and the Attorney General’s office. Their calls for Homeland Defense and military tribunals are whipping up racist hysteria. More than 1,000 Middle East immigrants remain in custody and 5,000 more are being rounded up for questioning. The "war on terror" is being used to build a fascist police state; anti-immigrant racism is the cutting edge.

PLP is answering this attack. On December 8 we sold about 100 CHALLENGES at the AAAN office. We also discussed this racist attack at a neighborhood block club meeting. A lively discussion debated whether or not to send a letter of support and a small donation to help them rebuild. Some anti-Arab racism surfaced at the meeting. Many black workers have been won to this racism. Their own experiences with racism at the hands of local Arab store owners has left them open to accepting the bosses’ racist lies about Arab workers. U.S. rulers are using anti-Arab racism to win us to their next Middle Eastern oil war. If we fall for it, we are putting our own heads in the noose.

This is not a quick or easy struggle. The discussion went on for over an hour and everyone wasn’t convinced. However, we did agree to send a letter of support. It helped that in the past few months, we have had political discussions about the war, about raising our children collectively and not relying on the police to make our neighborhood safe.

At Chicago State University (CSU), a professor got a resolution passed at his union meeting condemning this racist attack and donating $100 to the AAAN. We were unable to get an AAAN member to speak at the school before classes ended, but we’ve invited him to a social event at one of our homes to meet CSU staff and students, fight anti-Arab racism and learn about PLP.

Under the fascist PATRIOT Act, if the AAAN gave money to a hospital run by Hamas, the union could be shut down and the professor locked up for aiding terrorism! Racism against Arab and Asian immigrants is setting us all up for fascism and war. We should carry this struggle to all our mass organizations, especially on the college campuses.

Protestors Attack Boston University Backers of Oil War

BOSTON, MA, Nov. 29 — A group of Boston University (BU) students, including two PLP members, participated in an anti-war rally here, which the PL’ers helped organize and lead. PLP signs at the rally read, "No War for Oil" and "Arab, Asian, Latin, Black, White, Workers of the World Unite." One PL’er described the September 11 terrorist attack and the current war in Afghanistan as part of the fight between U.S. imperialists and a section of the Saudi ruling class (which includes bin Laden) over control of Mid-East and Caspian Sea oil. He explained bin Laden’s role in the threat to U.S. control of Saudi oil, the importance of Afghanistan, of oil under imperialism and the need to eliminate capitalism to end terrorism and war.

The PL’er called for a one-day student strike at BU to protest the war and BU’s support of U.S. imperialism through its support of military research on campus such as at the Photonics center. A petition was read condemning this research, financed by $2.2 million of government funds for cutting-edge military projects, most going to a BU professor developing better missile guidance systems for the U.S. Air Force.

Another BU student indicted military tribunals, the PATRIOT Act, and the additional attacks on civil liberties and immigrants’ rights.

During the rally up to 30 students stopped to listen while PLP leaflets on the war were distributed to passers-by. The rally was a forward step in spreading opposition to the war and building a campaign to stop military research at BU. PLP students need to take the lead in sharpening the struggle on their campus against BU’s role in supporting imperialism and racism.

a name="Racist Cop Gets 10 Years — But Will She Do The Time?">">"acist Cop Gets 10 Years — But Will She Do The Time?

GREENBELT, MD, Dec. 10 — Today 70 protestors chanted "Give Mohr the Max" as convicted, brutal, racist cop Stephanie Mohr received the maximum sentence — 10 years — for using her police dog to attack two homeless Latino men who had surrendered and were confined. But the judge, fearing such a brutal, racist cop might face retribution in prison from other inmates, freed her on bail pending appeal, which could easily take another year. The People’s Coalition for Police Accountability, which organized the protest with CASA, an immigrants’ rights group, condemned this special treatment.

At the rally, the Coalition launched its Dirty Dozen campaign. It is focusing on 12 cops in Prince George’s County who have killed with impunity or carried out other racist, heinous acts against community members. This includes Carlton Jones, the cop who killed Howard University student Prince Jones over a year ago and is still unpunished.

The Coalition is also pushing for changes in the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights, which shields brutal cops from scrutiny and prosecution. Rally speakers included representatives of Amnesty International, the labor movement, public health and immigrants’ rights organizations and even a cop turned crusader against police abuses. Significantly, 20 Latino immigrant workers, a group of high school students and a contingent of students from the Howard University chapter of Amnesty International participated.

PLP will continue to expose capitalism as needing racist and repressive police to maintain the profit system through intensifying racism, intimidating opponents and strengthening corporate oppression of workers. Legal changes and even the jailing of a few cops will not change this fundamental role of the police force under capitalism. The New York Serpico investigations decades ago prosecuted lots of cops but the police continued as a racist and repressive force. However, a mass movement of workers and students against the cops and their capitalist masters can help build a revolutionary movement in the Washington, D.C. area.

a name="Enron Collapse sign of rulers’ Dogfight, while . . .">">"nron Collapse sign of rulers’ Dogfight, while . . .

The collapse of the Enron company reflects a significant disciplining within the ranks of the ruling class. And, naturally, who pays in the end? The workers (see article below).

Tightening their grip on the crucial energy industry, the more powerful U.S. capitalists have taken a sledgehammer to renegade Enron. It sinned against the Establishment by moving away from its original focus of supplying gas and electricity to cities and factories into speculative commodities trading that often harms the capitalist class as a whole. Then Enron’s crippling of California’s power generating firms by cornering the electricity market early this year was the ultimate outrage to the big bosses.

But Enron had friends in high places — its CEO Ken Lay was one of the Bush 2000 campaign’s biggest donors — and went unpunished. September 11, however, put the White House on a war footing. After that, Bush began to forsake his Texas pals in favor of the Eastern Establishment, to which he belongs by birthright. As an Enron executive recently complained, "The company has become a pariah. The Bush administration doesn’t want to have anything to do with us." (New York Times, 12/2) Enron is now experiencing bankruptcy and a huge stock devaluation and faces a host of federal investigations, including possible criminal charges.

In the Eastern Establisment’s first big effort to seize Enron’s strategic assets, Dynegy, controlled by Chevron (an old-line Rockefeller company, launched a hostile takeover bid in early November. Dynegy CEO Chuck Watson vowed to root out commodities gambling and concentrate on infrastructure: "Our strategy would have been to sell off all those commodities except the core gas and power businesses and keep all the pipelines" (Time Magazine, 12/4). Dynegy in fact demanded that Enron give its key Northern pipeline to Dynegy, even if the deal went bad — as it did. The two companies are now suing each other over the pipeline. But forces greater than both may prevail.

When Dynegy broke off the merger, forcing Enron to file for bankruptcy, the ruling class’s biggest banks leapt in for the kill. J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup are pumping $1.5 billion into Enron to keep the gas flowing but have made the firm’s entire pipeline network security for the loan. "If Enron keeps the pipeline but goes belly-up, the pipeline becomes the banks’ property" (Reuters, 12/5). Bankruptcy forced Enron to hire the Blackstone Group to oversee its reorganization. Blackstone is headed by Pete Peterson who is chairman both of the Rockefeller-run Council on Foreign Relations and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Although Enron’s executives stole millions through backdoor dealing, both its workers and those forced to pay outrageous utility costs took the beating.

a name="Buying Up Conoco, Phillips Moves Deeper into Exxon Mobil’s Camp">">"uying Up Conoco, Phillips Moves Deeper into Exxon Mobil’s Camp

Less publicized than the Enron saga, Phillips Petroleum’s impending merger with Conoco signals the same increasing consolidation of the energy sector by the main Rockefeller interests. In the mid-1990s, Conoco, then owned by DuPont, signed contracts with Iran’s oil bosses to help exploit their oil fields. Clinton swatted the deals down with sanctions. Now Conoco is being taken over by Phillips, a company that has grown only by yielding its independence to the Rockefeller wing.

To become even a minor player in Kazakhstan, Phillips had to make Lawrence Eagleburger of Kissinger Associates a director in 1993. Buying ARCO’s Alaska holdings in 1998 meant agreeing to Exxon Mobil’s "prior rights" to undeveloped ARCO fields there. Expanding into chemicals required Phillips to form a joint venture with Chevron (an Exxon ally). When in February it acquired more than 2,000 gas stations that Tosco franchised from Exxon Mobil, Phillips became a junior partner of Exxon Mobil’s in Saudi Arabia’s vast privatization of its gas industry.

Along with aligning formerly independent U.S. oil bosses with Exxon Mobil’s strategic outlook, a related goal of the Phillips-Conoco union is fending off foreign competitors. "European sources said French oil company TotalFinaElf had previously been eyeing Conoco before Phillips made its move, but was unlikely to enter a bidding war now" (Reuters, 11/19).

. . . Bosses took Money and ran (over workers)

If one were looking for a reason to get rid of capitalism and replace it with communism, you need to look no further than the financial atrocity perpetrated by the bosses of the Enron energy corporation on their workers. While two of the top executives of this formerly 7th largest U.S. company were raking in nearly half a billion dollars from stock sales, they were wiping out the life savings of more than half of their 21,000 workers whom they had seduced into investing in those same stocks.

Enron had been touted by the business world as "the most innovative corporation" (Fortune Magazine), "the most successful Internet venture of any company in any industry anywhere" (the London Economist), the pillar of the so-called "new economy" based on the no-holds-barred "free market." Now it’s the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. So much for the "dot.com" outfits sweeping away the boom-bust cycles of capitalism.

While it appeared that Enron was amassing huge profits over the last decade, the top bosses were actually falsifying the figures to send the stock zooming. Then they cashed in over 17 million shares of their own stock during this misstatement of earnings, a stock that had reached a "value" of nearly $85 a share. CEO Kenneth Lay raked in $101 million; Lou Pai, chairman of an Enron subsidiary sold over five million shares for a whopping $353 million.

So why couldn’t their workers — who had been seduced into putting their life savings into this supposedly sky-high stock — do the same? Because while the bosses were selling off huge chunks, they put a "lockdown" on their employees: that is, "purely by coincidence, say executives, new rules forced employees to remain invested in the company’s stock just as the firm began its death spiral." (Paul Krugman, New York Times, 12/4) But now employees can "sell" their $85 stock at its latest price — 87¢! In addition, Enron has laid off nearly 5,000 workers on three continents and put another 3,500 on "temporary leave.

So the main "innovation" these merciless robber barons seemed adept at was their ability to make a killing on the backs of their workers. What else is new?

Enron had benefited from the deregulation of energy markets — begun by Reagan and continued by Clinton — which enabled them to capture 20% of energy trading in Europe and the U.S. They had been a major fund-raiser for Bush, Sr., in the 1980s. Wendy Gramm, wife of Texas Senator Phil Gramm, was the commodities regulator in the first Bush administration and joined the Enron Board in 1993, just five weeks after the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, which she had headed, ruled that energy contracts would be exempt from regulation. (Surprise?) CEO Lay had donated $2 million to the Bush campaign and another million in the 2000 elections. And three top current Bush advisors involved in drafting his energy strategies held stock in, or earned fees from, Enron. Talk about "one hand washing the other"!

Behind all this outright stealing is the change in retirement systems. Formerly workers were in "defined benefit" plans — they were promised a fixed pension. Today "workers across the country have been cajoled or coerced into holding a high proportion of their retirement assets in their employers’ own stock." (Krugman) So when the bull market ends and stocks take a dive, these workers’ pensions are wiped out overnight. This is the direction the big banks and investment houses would like to take Social Security.

Such is one house of cards on which the profit system is built. Enron was lauded by capitalism’s apologists as the quintessential 21st-century corporation. "One wonders," says Krugman, "if it is the tip of the iceberg."

a name="Mexico: Ford Fears Fired Workers’ Fight vs. Layoffs">">"exico: Ford Fears Fired Workers’ Fight vs. Layoffs

MEXICO, Dec. 12 — A leaflet calling for seizure of a Ford plant here has struck fear in the hearts of the bosses.

Ford is losing markets and profits to its competitors so it’s cutting its workforce. In one factory, hundreds have been laid off and hundreds more will be replaced by a cheaper and less politicized labor force. Capitalism ruins workers’ lives.

Recently company security surrounded one Ford plant and called the police. There was an unusually intense inspection of workers entering the factory. Some were interrogated about "a secret plan to take over the plant." Dozens of vigilantes, lawyers and union hacks went up and down the assembly lines threatening the workers. All this happened after a leaflet called for seizing the factory to stop layoffs. It exposed how nervous the bosses are about not having everything under control.

A group of four fired workers continue to agitate outside the factory but have shifted their speeches from union issues to denouncing U.S. imperialist war in Afghanistan and the capitalist crisis of overproduction. This also made the bosses nervous so they forcefully ousted them from the factory area. But now these fired workers have moved to Ford’s central office, raising a giant banner saying, "Ford exchanges quality for cheap labor! Don’t risk buying a Ford."

Leaflets are increasing. Some call for communism. Others denounce contract and labor law violations, imperialist war for markets and terrorism against the workers, Bush-Bin Laden style. Even so, we’ve been unable to take actions that previously paralyzed the whole plant. Most workers feel powerless to stop the advance of fascism and the effects of the bosses’ sharpening competition for markets. We need to expand communist understanding among all the workers in order to take the offensive.

At company-organized work meetings, many workers switch the discussion to one of stopping the layoffs and refusing to collaborate with the company. Ford has had to temporarily suspend the meetings.

Workers’ resistance has led the bosses to use the mass of unemployed to replace its whole workforce. Initially these new workers will accept the company goon attacks.

"How long will the stability of their new workforce last?" asked a leaflet. Not very long! Only until the new workers become conscious of their-super exploitation and then decide to fight.

In this battle against layoffs, workers are discussing how the profit system is profoundly against their class interests. Some see the need for a mass communist party to destroy capitalism. If more workers join PLP, the firings will not be in vain since we will be advancing on the road to the solution — communist revolution.

The bosses dream of stopping the class struggle but cannot. We can’t predict the results of this battle. But we do know the Party will continue giving leadership to the struggle in this plant and in the surrounding area and will continue to expose and fight the bosses until the workers destroy them and their system.

a name="237 Women Raped, Murdered—Kabul? No Juarez!!">">"37 Women Raped, Murdered—Kabul? No Juarez!!

CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO, December 4 — U.S. bosses and their media suddenly have become "champions" of women’s rights, attacking the horrendous treatment of women by the Taliban in Afghanistan. They did it as one of several justifications to wage war against the Taliban. But closer to home, right across from El Paso, Texas, the most horrendous crimes against women in recent history have occurred, without as much as a peep of protest from the White House or the U.S. media.

Last week the raped and murdered bodies of eight women were found here. According to NGOs (Non-Government Groups) in Juarez, at least 237 young women, all of them from poor working-class neighborhoods, have been murdered that way in the last eight years here,. Most of these bodies have been found in empty lots in the downtown area.

Even though the police presented two men as the killers of the last eight victims, people don’t believe the cops. They probably tortured the two men into confessing. Many suspect cops are involved in all this and that these two "arrests" won’t stop the serial killings.

Just like elsewhere, police corruption is rampant here. The local police are deeply involved in the drug business. Recently, a federal cop was indicted here for selling drugs. The El Cerezo prison warden was also arrested for allowing the escape of several inmates involved in drugs. The police chief was recently arrested for being the leader of an auto theft gang.

Many of the women victimized by these murders and corruption work in the heavy concentrations of "maquilas," the border plants which produce for export to the U.S. market and are owned by the big multi-national corporations — GM, Nissan, GE, Gap, Nike, Motorola, etc. The women are subjected to several levels of oppression, on the job and as sexual objects. It is believed that some of the murdered women had been kidnapped by gangs and sold to rich perverts as virtual sexual slaves. Some of these perverts are probably maquilas bosses who super-exploit hundreds of thousands of young women workers.

These women workers come from all over Mexico. Their working and living conditions are horrendous. Industrial accidents are rampant. And now, as the bosses’ economic crisis deepens, and millions of workers lose their jobs on both sides of the border, those still working must produce still more, so the bosses can maintain maximum profits.

When it comes to oppressing women, capitalism is at the top. Communism offer a complete opposite life to all workers. We will do everything possible to fight all forms of special oppression suffered by women workers. We will also wage sharp struggles with men to fight the male supremacist thinking developed under capitalism and previous class societies. The abolition of wage slavery and profits for a few bosses will be the first big step in this long struggle.

P.O. Union Anthrax Protest Too Little, Too Late

NEW YORK CITY, Dec. 7 — A few hundred postal workers rallied today in front of Manhattan’s main post office to protest their bosses’ refusal to thoroughly test all but a few postal facilities for deadly anthrax contamination. They were also angry about working for over a year without a new contract.

Had the union leaders called this demonstration six weeks ago, when management first refused to deal adequately with the anthrax threat, thousands of postal workers likely would have joined the protest. The strength of thousands of vocal, active workers, along with public sympathy, might have been enough to force postal bosses to order thorough testing of all facilities. However, for nearly two months the national union leaders did next to nothing, and the NYC local president misled workers by focusing (unsuccessfully) on petitioning the Court to shut one contaminated facility. As in this case, when push comes to shove, the courts almost always protect bosses, not workers.

Consequently, postal workers keep working, not knowing if dormant anthrax spores exist in their workplaces, waiting to be spread through the air and possibly causing more victims. Meanwhile, Congressional offices in Washington were shut, tested and finally decontaminated before re-opening. Bush’s slogan "United We Stand" rings hollow for postal workers, as it does for all workers,

Meanwhile, the American Postal Workers Union contract expired in November 2000 and has been in arbitration for months. A binding decision is expected soon. A meager demonstration now for a good contract is just too little, too late.

However, the double standard (one for the rich and their flunkies, another for workers) is still a hallmark of capitalism. Postal bosses project a billion-dollar deficit, whining they can’t afford to give workers a raise. Yet, these same postal bosses are about to give themselves and lower managers and supervisors bonuses totaling about $125 million! Isn’t capitalism wonderful?

Teach-In On War Raps Attack on Postal Workers

CHICAGO, IL, Nov. 28 — About 300 students and faculty participated in an all day teach-in on the current "war on terror," sponsored by the Chicago State University (CSU) College of Arts & Science. Seventy-five participants bought CHALLENGES. Panels discussed topics from biological terrorism to the history of U.S. foreign policy.

One highlight was the panel, "Postal Workers Speak Out." A postal worker and his local’s vice-president described the rotten working conditions in the post office before and after 9/11. While many businesses evacuated and sent workers home, the P.O. forced workers to stay on the job. "They’re kicking our butts!" one said. Both detailed the total disregard for workers’ safety during the anthrax scare. "They shut down the Congress and tested everyone. Even the police dogs got tested before postal workers."

One professor took offense at the unpatriotic tone of the discussion. He said, "You are government employees. What if soldiers in the military decided they didn’t want to fight in Afghanistan? Where would the U.S. be?"[You got that right! —Ed.]

A group of high school students, brought by a PLP teacher, could hardly contain themselves. They defended the postal workers’ right to not work under these deadly conditions. Then a PLP student leader said that when he was in the service, he and his friends had frequent discussions about the world and why the U.S. will go to war for control of Mid-East oil. He said that soldiers should not blindly follow orders and talked about growing war and fascism (the topic for the next teach-in).

The high school students were so impressed they decided to organize a day of discussion at their school. We are planning to get together with students and professors over the holiday break to prepare to take on the fascist Criminal Justice Department here at CSU.

Bring Anti-Imperialism to the MLA!

The Radical Caucus in the Modern Language Association (MLA) will bring four emergency resolutions before the MLA’s annual convention in New Orleans on Dec. 27-30.

One urges condemnation of FBI profiling and harassment of international students, especially of Arab and/or Muslim background. Another targets cutbacks in public higher education (for example, a 15% slash in NY’s community colleges). Previous struggles waged by the Radical Caucus and the Graduate Students caucus to retain access for working-class students, oppose cuts in affirmative action and resist the super-exploitation of adjunct and graduate student teachers must be joined with resistance to the belt-tightening "justified" by the "war against terrorism."

A third resolution urges the MLA to reject the McCarthyite witch-hunt led by seasoned right-wing culture warrior Lynne Cheney (wife of VP Dick Cheney) and Democratic Leadership Council Chair (and former VP candidate) Joe Lieberman. They’re using a recent report by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) labeling college campuses centers of anti-Americanism. It goes after 117 faculty members opposed to the war. ACTA wants support for the Cheney/Lieberman college curriculum plan that will celebrate rather than critically analyze U.S. History and Western Civilization.

A fourth resolution condemns the language used to justify the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan (The MLA Constitution prevents it from taking a position directly against the war itself.) The "war against terrorism" is framed as a struggle of "good versus evil," a "clash of civilizations." Repressive government policies like the PATRIOT Act" are painted with jingoistic rhetoric that prevents analysis and chills dissent.

PLP members and friends will raise politics that are not simply "anti-war" but are anti-capitalist/imperialist and anti-fascist, explaining that the current war — which may well expand into Iraq — represents the geopolitical interest of U.S. capitalism. The recent repressive government measures were spawned by Clinton’s Counter-Terrorism Bill; community policing; and Clinton’s addition of 100,000 police to "special street crimes units" since the mid-1990s. The "war against terrorism" provides the "legal" framework for fascism.

Higher education — part of what Marx called the "superstructure" — has always served primarily to further the interests — technological and ideological — of capitalism. Liberals are trying to sanitize this year’s campus anti-war activism, divorcing it from the "taint" of imperialism.

Communists and their allies must advocate a mass anti-war movement based upon an understanding of imperialism and fascism as outgrowths of capitalism to avoid the liberal pitfall of viewing the war as "irrational" or "mistaken." This will contribute, ultimately, to the revolutionary overthrow of the existing oppressive order.

Workers of the World, Write!

Letters

a name="‘It’s the Oil!’"></a>"It’s the Oil!’

After 9/11, some people in my church formed a "support group." Early on 25-40 people attended to share their feelings. After a month, 10-15 were still meeting-- and arguing! Some supported the war, some opposed it and many were confused. It looked like the group might break up. But since we knew we would be working with each other in different church activities, we had to see this as a long-term struggle. Most of the anti-war contingent stayed with the group.

A subcommittee working with other groups in the church planned a forum on "Religion, Politics, and War." Two speakers were from the local Muslim community and the third was a Marxist sociology professor. About 120 people attended and it was a big success.

One Muslim speaker corrected some popular misconceptions about Islam. The sociologist answered, "Why do they hate us?" and "How did we get into Afghanistan?" with a lively history of imperialism in Central Asia and the Gulf region. There was some friendly discussion among the panelists and some very thoughtful audience reactions.

I knew we were doing well when a young man said, "I've been listening to what you say, and reading the handouts. Do you remember the Clinton campaign slogan, 'It's the economy, stupid?' It occurred to me that now, 'It's the oil, stupid!'"

The church is still very divided. Our pacifist minister overcame some of his personal fears and started to criticize the bombing of Afghanistan and the attacks on immigrants. Many support him. Others say, "We were attacked. We must stop terrorism."

We discussed the difficulties of getting people involved. Many are confused, some don't want to argue, and others don't even want to think about it. Some are intimidated and others feel helpless.

Conversations will continue as we plan more activities; from e-mail campaigns against Ashcroft's police state, to joint social events with Muslim organizations, to broader involvement with an anti-war coalition of churches and community groups. Half a dozen church members saw CHALLENGE for the first time. About ten read it fairly regularly. Some call it "too Left," but like to see what it says. Others like it a lot. It's helpful to read about the struggles going on in other churches.

Red Churchgoer

a name="‘United We Stand’—Except for Wage Hikes"></a>"United We Stand’—Except for Wage Hikes

Like the rest of the U.S., American flags are flying and "United We Stand" signs are flooding San Luis Obispo Transit (SLO-TRANS). But when a bus turned up with some minor scratches (and no one "confessed"), we found out what the jerks that run this company mean by "standing together." Management ran around investigating and threatening to fire whoever had damaged the bus even though they had no idea whether it was a driver, a service attendant, a yard mechanic or one of the bosses themselves.

At the same time a Laborer II worker, overdue for his upgrade to Laborer I wages two months ago, still can’t get a straight answer about his promotion from the same damn bosses who spent a whole week doing their lousy "Sherlock Holmes" imitation. When a flyer mysteriously appeared attacking these management jerks, the boss flipped and sent a couple of his supervisors to rip them down.

One driver laughed, "They tore them down because they can’t stand for us to read the truth about them."

Another worker, referring to a mechanic waiting a month for his promotion said, "Jimmy’s name should be on that flyer too." His friend responded, "75¢ an hour more is nice but its not going to change Jimmy’s or any other worker’s life. We need a revolution to get rid of a system where bosses pull out all the stops to write up or fire us but when it comes to paying a worker a little more, they forget how to dial the telephone."

Tearing down the flyers only roused the curiosity of workers who hadn’t yet seen them. By the time you print this letter, another round of flyers will be up, challenging the patriotic crap-trap of these useless transit bosses.

S.L.O. Transit Worker

Fascists Attack on the Internet

As editor of The Internet Anti-Fascist Newsletter I’ve recently been intensely cyberstalked by neo-Nazis around the U.S.-based National Alliance. The fascists then backed up their attack with a barrage of complaints to my ISP RoadRunner that I was engaged in "improper behavior." Then RoadRunner mechanically pulled my service.

This tactic now seems to be internationalized. The mega-site antifa.net wrote, "Anonymous complaints by the Belgian Commision for the Protection of Personal Life is the new weapon from Belgian neo-nazis against antifa webpages and magazines. We are one of the victims."

I’ve described this process with an introduction entitled,

"Cyberstalking New York After September 11" and is available via <http://www.anti-fascism.org/page-special.htlm.

The "Letter to RoadRunner Security" is available via <http://www.anti-fascism.org/special/cyberstalking/letter-rr-security.html.

It is vitally important that we educate the broad anti-fascist and progressive movement about how the fascists operate today. Your story would be of enormous help here. It would also assist groups like The Internet Anti-Fascist and antifa.net.

With anti-fascist greetings,

"Tallpaul"

Feasting on Anti-Racism

For 15 years my family has hosted a "Thanks for Fighting Racism" Feast here in Washington to answer the bosses’ "Thanksgiving" which celebrates the genocide of Native Americans from European colonization of the "new" world. It’s been my husband’s idea, as a way to celebrate anti-racist struggles with good food and friends and co-workers.

A qualitative step occurred this year. The Howard University chapter of Amnesty International co-sponsored the anti-racist Feast, creating a more collective approach. Many Howard students helped set up and cook. About 60 people attended. The $300+ raised from a 50-50 raffle went to the Prince Georges County Peoples Coalition for Police Accountability. This group has organized numerous demonstrations and press conferences against police murders, and has been holding forums to obtain testimony from victims of police brutality for forwarding to the Justice Department. The Coalition developed a list of the "Dirty Dozen" cops (now several dozen) in Prince Georges County, MD.

Speakers at the Feast addressed many aspects of the fight against racism. A leader of the Howard University Chapter of Amnesty International described their struggles against the death penalty and to indict the racist cops. The Coalition announced its upcoming retreat to make long-term plans against police brutality as well as organize the courthouse rally at the sentencing of the one racist County cop who was actually convicted of civil rights violations.

Several members of the American Public Health Association (APHA) related their activities at the Association’s annual meeting in Atlanta, where two resolutions were passed. One protested the war in Afghanistan, exposing its link to oil. The other condemned the group C.R.A.C.K. (Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity) which offers drug addicted women $200 bribes to become sterilized or get long-term birth control, but with no treatment for addiction.

A member of the Progressive Labor Party analyzed the pretenses of "Democracy," Bush being installed without being elected, the loss of civil liberties in the name of "fighting terrorism" and the step-up in racial profiling and hate crimes. Also noted were the numbers of students across the country building an anti-war movement, and how all this leads to the need to rid workers of this racist capitalist system and to fight for communism.

A Metro transit worker and PL member continued the theme, explaining how his winning a union election and becoming a union leader was only a start. As long as capitalism exists, reforms will not bring workers relief from racism. Whatever the bosses give as crumbs in the "good economic times," they take away during recessions. To defeat racism, he argued, it’s necessary to destroy capitalism and erect a system where workers collectively control their lives — communism.

Many new folks came and mixed with others who have attended the Feast for years. Lively discussions ensued at the different tables over reform versus revolution; what is actually meant by communism; is it possible?

The next step is continuing discussion with those who attended and bringing them closer to our ideas and into activities.

D.C. Red

Battle Over the Flag

I work in an office. Right after the September 11th attack, I gave my officemate a flyer, telling her the war was for oil, not really against terrorism. (We share a doorway into the hall.) She seemed to accept that idea. We discussed that one of her brothers might be called up.

In early October, I found an American flag taped to the office door when I came to work. My co-worker and I have shared a 200 sq. ft. office space for the last eight years. I could not work if we didn’t get along. I approached her about the flag. She said her son-in-law had stopped by the house and dropped some off. I told her I was uncomfortable with the flag because it was being used as a symbol of war fever. (This was before the U.S. started bombing.) I asked her if she would agree to a statement being posted next to the flag. She said she was not interested because her friends knew she was not promoting war and some of them had asked her how they could get a flag. She said I could post a statement with my name on it.

I talked to many friends at work. I drew up a statement we both could live with. No names were attached. It reads: "Now is the time for workers to unite against hate crimes, racial profiling and racism in all of its forms."

Several co-workers said they appreciated the sign being posted. One of the stewards who is ex-Navy and not fond of flag-wavers, said it best — we had both a flag and a disclaimer!

One of my friends said she could not have stood for a flag on the door. I told her I had to work with and get along with this person. I found a way to have more of a political discussion and to display this statement where hundreds of workers pass every day.

D.C. Supporter

a name="The New York Times ‘Holiday Season’"></" />"he New York Times ‘Holiday Season’

Every year the New York Times runs a multi-million dollar campaign to "aid" what it calls "The 100 Neediest Cases." For months, day after day, it runs tear-jerking stories about families really up against it during the "holiday" season. Of course, the Times never asks the question WHY there is even one "neediest" case, much less 100 or tens of millions.

Every single tale of woe it prints can be traced directly to some brutal feature of capitalism’s profit system — mass unemployment, racism, budget cuts, drug addiction, slumlords and so on. But, of course, since the Times is the chief mouthpiece for this horror system, and helps create these neediest cases, don’t hold your breath reading that rulers’ rag for the truth. The capitalist creation of needy workers is one piece of news the Times finds "not fit to print."