Radical America - Vol 16 No 4&5 - 1982 - July October
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Transcript of Radical America - Vol 16 No 4&5 - 1982 - July October
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Editos Magaet Ceuo Magey Davies John Demete Maa Eien Phyis EwenLinda Godon Aen Hunte Joe Inteante Nei McCaffey Jim OBien Donna PennBiy Pope Judy Smith Gai Suivan and Ann Withon Intens Susan Mitche andAntonio Sousa
Staff John Demete
Associate Editos Pete Bisind Ca Boggs an Bodhead Pau Buhe Joge C Coaeo Een DuBois Babaa Eheneich John Eheneich Dan Geogaas Matin Gabeman Jim Geen Michae Hisch Mie Kain Ken Lawence Staughton Lynd BettyMande Ma Naison Bian Peteson Sheia owbotham Annemaie Toge MathaVicinus Stan Wei David Widgey
Cover: Iustration and design by Nick Thorkelson from a Goya paining.
Radical America welcomes unsolicited manuscripts but can retu tem only if sufcient postage is incuded rters
may also send absacts or nquies to anuscrpt Coordinator, c/o Radica America
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Ameca Histo and Life Socioloical Abstracts and Women's Studies Absracts.
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VOL. 16, N4VOL. 16, N5 Juyu. 198S.O. 198
INTRODUCTION 2
SMLE AND SAY "FREEZE 7Marcy Darnovsky
LET'S FAKE A DEAL: A HSTORY OF ARMS CONTROL 10Marcy Darnovsky
POEM 18Sharon Kurtz
A CURE FOR THE COMMON COLD WAR 21Tom Athanasiou
M*A*S*H MARCHES ON 37Karen Lindsey
POEMS 42
Dick Lourie, Bronwen Wallace
FGHTNG UNION BUSTING N THE 80s 45Dan Clawson Karen Johnson, and John Schall
LETTER TO READERS 65The Editors
THE POLITICS OF WELFARE 67Ann Withorn
POEM 74A Grierson
THE MAJORTY AS AN OBSTACLE TO PROGRESS 77RADCALS, PEASANTS, AND THE RSSAN REVOLUTIONEsther Kingston-Mann
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INODUCION
Wen Ronad Reagan charged n ear October that partcpants n the Amercan "ncear freeze movement ere "beng manpated by those ho seek to eaken the Unted
tates, t as a scene remnscent othe 60s At that tme, smar cever chrges ("agentsof a foregn poer) ere tossed n the mdst of Cv Rghts and antar movements Therprpose remans tofod: to confse the sses rased by a arge grong soca movement;and, by appeang to an endemc natonasm, to soate thoe thn the movements hoseek to brng abot radca soca change
Foong the artces n prng, 2 peca sse (o 16, Nos 2e are contnng to address n these pages the program, content and drecton of the
dsarmament movement n the Unted tates It s or cear ntent to pose, rgent and provocatve, the need for the Amercan e to enter the movement and ts debates For themany aeady nvoed, e offer hat e hope are perspectves that psh ths broad movement coser to transformng ths socety rather than beng coopted by t.
Whe "conventona ars from Centra Amerca, to the oth Atantc, to the Mddeast, have commanded most of the ord press attenton these past fe months, the socaand potca shock aves from the massve mobzaton aganst ar of the ncear varety
contne to reverberate throghot rope and North Amerca.
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rors of war are to be full addressed, the jockeing of our nation's outh in the nuclear-conventional war sweepstakes known as the draftshould be taken up Native American potests
er uranium mining and Southern blackresistance to hazardous waste disposal linked to a nuclear industr that simultaneouslfeeds on natural resources and in eliminatingits waste, violates the same land Similarl thepeace movement must move beond the inabili
t to address racism and sexism as the experiences in New York and Boston reveal. It is a
movement that confronts a population filledwith intense feelings of anger, rustration andnot insignificantl some openness to radicalideas
In the midst of a worldwide economic crisismilitar and nuclear madness stand as clear examples of priorities that have fed the crisis Weneed onl point to the facts that per capita expenses for soldiers average $193 worldwide compared to $380 spent on a school-agechild's education Or that for ever 1
people there are 556 soldiers and onl 85 phsicians 32 countries spend more for militar pur
poses than for education and health care combined
A narrow unit in the peace movement willulimately undercut an abilit to address the of war rather than simply its bproductsAnd, it is three minutes to midnight
C
CORRECTIO
In ssue 16 2 two ages of Rosa-ind etesky's artie "oman'5Body oman5 Rght and te CurrentRerodute Rigts oement werereersed in ayout age 158 trougte first ful aragra on age 159sould be moed to te end of teartile as it now stands to restore teautors origina order. Tis sif inte order in wi te artie was aidout as you wil see aso sifted teautors emasis and oitia intention We aoogize for tis error
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Beomng a uaner ($5year) or gvng a fren or :reave a gf urpon (1 Year for ony $10 for preen urer) Or you an ju en u a dona- on an enae RA o onnue enng free u o proner an reue rae u o he unempoye Peer your oa or hoo rary o ge Rada ,
Ama or ak your oa ookore o oner aryng RA Wre u for ea or promoona ope o pa on
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L Us Sop I 1954
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MILE AND SAY FREEZE"
Marcy Darnovsky
If you can forgive me for dispensing with unnecessary politeness, Ill try not to carp andwhine. I'll make my criticisms of the Freeze campaign franly yet in a comradely mannerI'll maintain a spirit of cooperation and openness - even though the Freezers refuse totake a stand agst nuclear power after we spent years trying to make the connectionOops This might be harder than I think
Not that Im completely against the Freeze It deserves credit for having focused publicopinion, put nuclear war in the headlines and given Teddy Kennedy a shot at rejuvenatingthe Democraic Party
And I'm honred to be part of a movement that embraces exCIA directors exmembersof the National Security Council and retired rear admirals Then there's that nice Repub
lican couple I read about in the San Francisco Chronicle - the ones with the $450,000home in Orange County who were inspired to action when they realized that a nuclear war might not be so good for the property values Is this what they mean by appealing to the
lowest common denominator?The Freeze really does have something for everybody It gives liberals the moral capital
(and if the predicted ood of contributions materializes the real stuff) that wins elections It gives the bishops a chance to emulate the political relevance of their Polish andLatin American counterparts For scientists who have spnt their whole lives dreaming upmonstrous new weapons systems and retred admirals like Hyman Rickover who spent his
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woe ife buiding te nuear Nay it proides aateour sae for troubed onsienes and aastminute aim to be en of eae
We at east we know were not aone Toparaprase an expoet wen Hyman Rikoerssared m sared
If Teddy Kennedy gets is Freeze te one esays wi require a substantia buidup of onentiona arms and armies een te miitary wi getwat it wants Wit te Fakands fres in teir
minds te entagon panners migt we warm upto te Freeze After a it woud ensure tat terewi aways be wars tey an atuay figt
Sure tere are a ot of sinere and inteigentdisarmers in te Freeze ampaign aong wit teynia manipuators and professiona bandwagonjumpers I dont go in for guit by assoiation ButI ae notied te penomenon of timidity by as
soiation myopia by assoiation and iberaism byassoiation Ie seen a ot of worry about respet-abiity and itte tiation of rebeiousness
Tere is a peuiar eangeisti faor to disarmament respetabiity Wo woud ae tougt atose ardnosed soiay responsibe professionaswoud fnd te fait at a pediatriians reias?
Not tat te Freezers an be ed responsibefor Heen Cadiotts JoanofAr ompex Cadiotts antipoitia ysteria and er moteruttirades are a step beyond te genera ee ofmora frenzy
Yet te Freeze too is grounding its appea inorror and fear Triky business True some peo-pe wi be frigtened into figting bak ters
w freeze (no pun intended) and wait for tedanger to go away Tere are aso tose wo witre on te titiation tat aompanies reita-tions of disaster Like oter wars te Cod Warand te treat of ear war oerwem te dis-satisfations tat oterwise brew soia onfitEen if nuear apoaypse neer makes it as anationa pastime despair terapy may ome to
ompete wit est
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Sour grapes notwitstanding Ie got to saytat te Freeze is ery good at getting into tenewspapers Wy it took Tree ie Isand for
te antinuearpower moement to get a frationof te attention But tat was a moement wdistrating features ike grassroots organizationand siy ideas ike partiipatory demoray Weat east te eaders of te Freeze dont try to puste rank and e around Tey seem satised ifyou sign te petition and go ome ti Eetion
DayAt te risk of seeming petty and piayunewat do we get if we get a Freeze? Teres stitat itte matter of 25,000 Ameran nuear wareads te ones tat an destroy eery Soietity wit a popuation oer 00000 forty timesoer And from wat I understand te Russansae a few megatons temsees
Ten tere are tose onentiona" weapons napam and oter emia unpeasantness bio-ogia sourges firestorms Among tis arsena arete weapons tat ae atuay been used sineWord War II to te tune of 25 miion deats
If we get a Freeze ae we tawed te CodWar? Hae we aenged te superpowers abiityto use teir arsenas to absorb te rest of te word
into teir market nexus?Yes I know Youe got to start somewere
Te Freeze is a first step Seems to me tougtat if you want peope to stik around for teseond step youd enourage some anaysis andinsigt into te soia institutions tat are supported by te Bomb and tat sere it so we
Tere ae been great upsurges of popuar reusion against nuear war before tis one Teytoo were apoitia substituting fear and mora feror for anaysis And tey faded away ike teua oop
Te most eartbreaking exampe is te argeampaign against nuear testing tat persistedtrougout te ate fties and eary sxties Tis
moement foused on te eat azards of radio
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Pasti ae Bost, MA
atie faout, and in 963 won a reriee fromatmoseri testing wit te artia test bantreaty A itory to be sure But te treaty mereymoed te testing underground, away from enarrow ision of te antitesting fores.
Te moement aso faied to notie tat te
miitarys terms for agreeing to te eaty were
stiff romises of greaty inreased ees of send-ing resear, and deeoment Te artia testban treaty turned out to be an exuse for new
siras in te arms rae Te terms of tis deisbargain werent ear unti afterwards, but by tente moement was nowere to be seen.
Te Freezes singeissue fous is ess extreme.It is wiing to onsider te eects of nuearweaons. But e Freeze amaign makes noattemt to dea wit teir auses or oitia un
derinnings Its sti disarmament in a auumNow tat Im getting warmed u ust osrunning tis Freeze anyway? A I know is wat Iread in te newsaers tat te miionaire wofunds te Caifoia amaign says e ikes to ate sots. And tat e doesnt ike eoe witradia ideas, eseiay not in hs moement A-ording to one of te ites tat ame in te
mai tere is no way tat een te most dis-torted mind an a tese Freeze suorters]rakots or radias
We, I an take a int as we as te next rakot But I do tink te antiwar moement of tesixties and te antinuearower moement ofte seenties (aong wit Ronad Reagan) an takesome redit for te urrent nuear onern
And I was oing tat te new usurge woudroide an oortunity for disussion about tesoia systems tat reate te nukes and use temto enfore wage saery ieraria ontro andgeooitia domination I did wis tat te moraferor woud reate some room for inteetuaassion and soia imagination. Tat te debate
woud moe beyond sogans as we as statistisTat te auses of war, as we as its onsequenes,woud be onsidered
m not asking for anyting fany. Just a ittesae in wi to exore some sigty radiaideas A itte nie in te moement wi doSometing a bit bigger tan a bomb seter
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LET'S FAKE A DELA History of Arms Control
Marcy Darnovsky
At long last te pubic's passions ave been aroused and aimed at te horrors of nuclear
war But an aroused populace is not necessarily a disceing one and groundswells drivenby fear and moral fervor can quicky ebb away or be sideacked by image manipulationfrom on ig
Te growing ranks of disarmers have already forced Reagan to temper is overconfidentbellicosity and to advance "bold new arms control proposals Wile he is still drawingdeeply om te bag of tricks filled wit missile gaps windows of vulnerability and teRussiansarecoming te president as opened a second sack of illusions This one everybit as wellwo as te first contains eartfelt declarations of shared goals and promises
of negotiations for arms reductions
Te majority of disarmers will see troug te crude sleigtofand tat Reagan isproposing: to proceed wit a vast military buildup while talk about reductions sootes te pUblic. Administraion officials ave said as muc On May 8 they described Reagansproposals as "an effort to turn public attention away from te antinuclear movementsin te nited States and Western Europe.
Oter politicians have come up with "arms control schemes only fractionally less
A version of tis article appered te ay-une 1982 issue of I bout me
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obscene tan Reagan's Ted Kennedy, for exame, suorts a nucear freeze n excange forncreases n conentona arms and armes Tere
w be many more roosas Te comng arms contro extraaganza reresents notng new Between Word War II and1980 ofcas of te US and te Soet Unonmet more tan sx tousand tmes to dscuss armscontro Yet te suerowers ae not been abe agree on emnatng a snge exstng weaon
Te nucear budu as sured a test ban treaty,an treaty, a SLT I and a SAT II It asweatered storms of ubc rotest amost aseasy as t as boomed n te more commoncmate of aaty Instead of reersng te armsce, te sx tousand meetngs ae nsttutonazed t
In te course of a ts tak, tere ae been
ony a few eetng esodes n wc te suer-owers came cose to een artay dertng teams race Tese moments of oortunty werefound and ost n eac sde's sftng ercetonsof ts mtary and otca adantage And eacsde as ket at east one eye focused on ts mageas a seeker of eace, focus tat sarens consderaby, as t s sarenng today, weneer rotesteruts
A Hstory of IusonIn te serce of te status quo, story s best
obterated we uson s made resent andrecycabe Takng adantage of ts modern axom, Vce resdent Bus ontedy recaed n an
Ar seec tat just after Word War II a gener-ous American roosa for stong te arms racebefore t started was met wt a oud nyet' "
It s true tat many Amercans at tat tmewere anxous to brng te atom under cooeratenteatona contro Een before te 195 attackon Hrosma and Nagasaki, some of te scentstswo created te Bomb tred to eent te dzzy
ng nucear arms race tey correcty redcted twoud set off
In June of tat year, a grou of tem submtted
a memoradum known as te Franck Reort toSecretary of War Stmson, askng tat te frstubc demonstraon of an atomc exoson takeace on a remote deserted ste rater tan oer aJaanese cty Te reort aso suggested tat teUS ten renounce te use of ts weaon f oternatons woud do te same Tese suggestons were
not gen serous consderatonAfter te Hrosma and Nagasak deastaton,more scentsts, a sgnficant ercentage of teubc, and een some otcans concuded tatte secret of te atom must be sared among a
Tadeusz Tepkowk No!
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II'I
te natons of te word f dsaster was to beaoded Stmson mself wo ad suorted tebombngs roosed an atom artners" wt
e RussansBut oter olymakers ad qute dfferentdeas General Lesle Groes te mltary oerseerof te wartme bomb rojet was tyal of tosewo used for a efty mltay sare n te on-trol of te atom Ts was te same rew tatstrongly oosed nternatonal ooeraton nnulear deeloment A debate between tem androonents of lan and nternatonal ontrolraged for monts n Congress
One of te lobbyng metods of te Groesgrou was to w u ubl stera wt sarestores about te need to rotet te sere ofte atom" from Russan atom ses" n realtytenal serets" were of seondary mortane
Te bas rnles of atom exlosons wereknown to sentsts from many ountres andAmeran sentsts testfed tat te Russanswould ae te Bomb wtn a few yeas (Watwas ket seret was an ambtous and netablyfutle effort dreted by Groes to oer teworld's sules of uranum and torum)
n 94, Congress assed te Atom Energy
At makng t llega for Ameran sentsts toontnue to sare nulear nformaton een wtEngland or Canada wose sentsts and eng-neers ad made large ontrbutons to te wartmeeffort tat rodued te Bomb and wo afterall were Amera's losest alles Te at aso gaete mltary mu of te ontrol oer nulear
deeloment tat t wantedStll tere ontnued to be so mu gleelsentment for nternatonal ontrol of te atomtat te US submtted to te Unted Natons watnow seems a drastaly lberal roosal Te frsterson of wat later beae known as te Barulan delared tat te Unted States was wlngto submt to a word autorty for te Atom Era
Te Soet Unon was not mressed Some
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storans attrbute ts warness solely to Stalnsaranoa Te fat s tat te world autorty"would ae been onsttuted troug te Unted
Natons w at tat tme was effetely ontrolled by te Amerans Soet susons grew wt growng reason as te lan went trougseeral resons ea onsderably less magnan-mous tan te lat
One of te earl but aready fatally awedersons of te lan was drawn u by a grou ofsentsts mltary men and exeutes from or-
oratons w ad layed key roles n teBomb's deeloment Te major drawbak of tslan was a requrement tat te Soet Unonmmedately and oer ontrol of ts uranumdeosts to te nternatonal autorty" Te USwas asked only to romse to sare ts nulearserets and sto rodung bombs at some unse-
fed future date weneer te nternatonal bodyould agree on a ermanent treatyTe lan was furter butered wen resdent
Truman ose naner Bernard Baru to trans-late t nto more workable" terms Baru's yet-moreawks grou nssted on a roson forswft and sure unsment" of any naton tatolated te ban on nulear deeloment Ts
treat was learly amed at te Soets wo adalready begun a frant sramble for a nuke ofter own
n te words of journalst F Stone by tstme te roosal must ae seemed to osowte bluernt for a world atalst suerstate nw te US would retan ts atom monooly
bend te faade of an nternatona organzatonunder US ontro" Dean Aeson ten under-seretay of state and one of te autors of te lan admtted years later tat te Bau resonsmeant ertan defeat of te treaty by Soeteto"
Te Soet ounterroosa offered by ts UNdelegate Andre Gromyko aled for te destru
ton of all nulear weaons n exstene and te
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cessaton of the poducton. The mecan esponse came fou days befoe the fomal ejecton.On July 1 1946 the US set off ts fst postwa
test exploson ove Bkn Atol. Alva Mydal a Swedsh dplomat who spenttwelve yeas as an ams cntolle and then wotea book calledThe Game o Damament: How theUnited tates and Russia Run the Ams Racewtes of ths peod The patte . . had beenset: both sdes would pesent poposas fo ds-
amament ageements of often whoesale dmen-sons but would be caeful to see to t that thosewould contan condtons whch the opposte sdecoud not accept"
The ABombs Bg BtheThe next seous sdng up to ams contol
came n 1955 afte the ams ace had ganed con-
sdeable momentum. The ovets had explodedthe fst atomc bomb n 1949. The U detonatedthe st hydogen bomb massvely lage than thesson type n 1952; the USSR matched ths feata yea late.
Ams negotatons had been stuck fo yeas onthe ssue of nspecton of mltay stes the US
accused the ovets of wantng dsamament wthout nspecton whle the Sovets felt that US poposals caled fo nspecton wthout dsamament
Then on May 10 n the mddle of ams conto
Ee Hosma Suvvo J 12 1982
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talks beg held Lodo, te Sovet Uo sud
dely aoued t would agree to the Westspla for teratoal speto of ulear stesad to ts gures for elgs o ovetoalarmes These proposed lmts o armed foreswere attratve to the Sovets beause of ther fearthat West Germay, whh had joed NATO oMay 5 was about to rebuld a large army The So-vets vrtually plagarzed ther ew posto fromBrtsh ad Freh proposals, whh tu losely
reeted the Amera egotatg postoEuropea dplomats were jublat at the breakthrough ts almost too good to be true," theFreh delegate ethused The Amera adBrtsh delegates both ssued statemets ofrm-gthat the Sovet proposals were large measurethe same as thers
Washgto, however, the respose wasstragely restraed Perhaps beause ts arms o-trol offers had ot bee meat to be take serously, the US made a startlg tuaoud of ts owPresdet Esehower bega makg speehesquestog the wsdom of lettg Svets spetUS mltay stes After a reess, the US delegateretued to the Lodo egotatos to aoue
the wthdrawal of every prevous Amera pro-posal ludg the oes that were so lose towhat the Sovets ow sad theyd go alog wth
The Sovets had ageed to every substatalAmera odto, ad the respose from theUS was that t hadt really meat t that way twas ths o," ot a et," whh sttled thelosest approah to a eal ars otrol agreemetever
Shortly afterward, a ew fator etered thearms otrol equato Popular protest agastulear weapos whh had bee etremelymuted durg the deade followg the war, madea appearae
Fear f FallutThe atalyzg evet for the protest was a 954
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Be Shah T Luc ago 9Amera ulear test o the Bk Atol Falloutfrom the multegato eploso, blow by thewd a uatpated dreto, raed otohudreds of Mashall sladers ad a Japaeseshg boat alled the Luky Drago The Mar shallese were qukly moved to aother slad bythe US Navy, but may fell ll (They ad therhldre otue to feel the effets of ther e-posure to ths day) Al the Japaese fsherme got
radato skess, ad oe ded of t s mothslater
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The ate o the Lucky Dragon touched o aninvestigation o the health eects o radioactiveallout Many prominent scientists inclding A
yert Einstein and Linus Pauling supported theisturbing ndings which launched nearly a decade o protest against atmospheric testing
Unortunately the danger rom the use onuclear bombs on real targets was either too littleunderstood or too overwhelming to be targeted bythe anti testing campaign t was the cancer predic
tions and the strontium90 in the baby's milk thatevoked a enzy o ear ad widespread dissent
The peace movement picked up the ball andran t looked like a winning strategy concentrateon the allout downplay the possibility o nuclearholocaust and ignore the politics o the arms race
By the late ties a campaign to push or acomprehensive test ban treaty was well under wayt won the backing o signiicant majoities in theUnited States Western and Eastern Europe Japanand many other countries n Britain banthebomb sentiment grew into a ovement with sitins rallies and huge demonstrations like theAldermaston Easter March in 960
A group o nonaligned" countries respondng
to antiBomb sentiment in their own backyardsworked out a detailed plan or a comprehensivetest ban treaty Most nonnuclear countries declared themselves willing to sign a multilateralban despite the act that it would hamper theireorts to develop nuclear weapons and wouldthereby institutionalize the supeowers
monopolyThe protests and negotiations lasted or severalyears These were years during which the as ace passed several important mileposts o escalation with unortunately little reaction rom thetestingpreoccupied protest oement The superpowers rst stopped the atmospheric tests thenled by the Soviets started them again The Soviets
launched the Sputnik and shot down an AmericanU2 plane secretly spying over its territory Eisen
hower wed o the militaryindustrial complex;Kennedy invented a ctional missile gap' andaced down Khrushchev in the Cuban missile crisis
Te Ams Race Goes UnderondFinally in 963 the Soviets again backed down
on a longheld negotiating position This time theygave up their insistence that an agreement cover allkinds o testing Abandoning the ongoing multilateral eorts to achieve a comprehensive test ban
the US and the USSR began bilateral talks in Moscow Within weeks they had concocted apaaltest ban treaty
The partial ban merely moved the tests underground t was by no means a barrier to urthernuclear development on either side: the US wasalready settng o more test explosions underground or underwater than in the atmosphere
Not only did the partial treaty ail to containthe arms race it wound up clearing the way orits escalation Despite the act that Khrushchevhad given in to Kennedy's terms rightwing politicians in the US accused the president o beingsot on the Commies The support o the JointChies o Sta was nally won by the administra
tion's argument that orcing the tests underground wher they are more dicult and expensive would hamper the Soviet nuclear advance armore than the American one But the real sellingpoint or the hawks was Kennedy's pledge o lotso new more sophisticated weapons
As limited as the treaty was and as sweetenedwith promises o arms scalation it met with resistance in the Senate George McGove inallyexclaimed in exasperation that the Administration has been called upon to give so many assurances o our continued nuclear eorts that acasual observer might assume that we are approving this treaty so that we can accelerate the armsrace and bee up the warmaking acilities o our
country!"To most people this udgment was not so clear
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at the time Alva Myrdal who had been instrumen in the multateral push for a comprehensve
ban remembers ony gradualy experencedths fatefu tu of events as a rude awaening. Sohopefu were we that we euphorcay haied thisagreement as of utmost mportance We too itfor granted as we were tod that t was the frststep towards the dscontinuance of a testing ofnucear weapons" Later Myrda wrote that thepartal ban can hardy be consdered among dsarmament measures" though t should be gvensome credit as a public heath measure"
The partial test ban was greeted by the peacemovement as its greatest vctory The campaignthat had fed on the fear of falout swalowed thetreaty hoo ine and sner Then unprepared todea wth any but the narrowest of nuclear con
cerns it practicay vanshed.n the foowing years underground testngproved adequate for the deveopment of al indsof new weapons The most destabiizng of thesewere MRs multple ndependently targetedreentry vehcles whch alow a snge misse todelver numerous nucear warheads to dfferenttargets Because the number of warheads per missile can no longer be easly verfied and becausetheir precision maes possibe a first strie aganstthe other side's strategc mssiles MRVs hepedmae arms contro more unliey than ever.
Why SALT Spels Fraud"Startng n 1967 and through the seventies
arms contro centered on the Strategic Arms Lim-tations Tals (SALT) Two superpower agree-ments together nown as SALT were reached n1972 one imiting the deployment of antibalisticmissies and another mtng the increae in stra-tegic arms (nuceartpped missiles with nterconti-nental range) SALT sgned in 1974 but neverratfed by the US Senate establshed a ceing onthe number of MRVs each side was aowed
6
None of the SALT agreements meant emnaton or even reductons of weapons On the con-
trary in the words of Myrda there is ony ahagglng over margnal differences in their con tinued increase" n fact the ceilings to which thesuperpowers agreed were amazingly cose to thenumbers they had planned to deploy anyway Noimitatons at al were placed on tactcal (short-range) or conventiona weapons or on qualitativemprovements of strategc msses or warheadsWor on the cruise mssle one of the most destabizng new weapons of the ast decade wasbegun after the SALT agreement was signedAccording to Fred Kapan Btn Glbe July 191982 the cruise program was funded by theNixon administration as a bargaining chip tostrengthen the US hand n SALT negotiations"
(The cruse is a smal jetpowered missile that issupposed to be able to evade radar detecton byyng close to the ground wth the ad of a terrain-folowng computer gudance system)
One dfference between SALT and earer armscontrol agreements is the extent to which com-mentators immediatey saw it as a charade. n1969 three years before the first treaty wassgned F Stone wrote an artice caed WhySALT Spells Fraud"
Myrda commented By no stretch of theimaginaton can SALT be called arms imtatonnstead it is a mutualy agreed continuaton of thearms race regulated and insttutionalized"
Keep On TangAthough arms contro s litte more than what
Stone cals a theater of deluson" we can expect endess curtain cals Tal about arms control wieep pace with new rounds in the arms race
The arms control rtual allows each superpowerto ha ts valant efforts for peace efforts (eachone aments) that have been tragcaly foed bythe other side The basic decency of each govern
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ment s amed and suppot o ts eveescalatngams buldup and ts othe poces s assued
Thus egtmzed the supepowes ae ee toontnue usng the pemanent nuclea showdown they always have Lke the Cold a t complements, ams contol" s a devce by whch thesupepowes contol the govenments o othecountes the alles, and the own populatons
ff F wt w t!Choose ether n n mn or Miiimn n two great ssues ofcece he Pee when you subscribe.
MARCY DARNOVSY is a membe f the Abane Aiance a ifia-based antinucea up ganing against bth weapns and nuceapwe.
cece f he Pee s the only progressvemagazne n the US devoted to exposng the poltcs ofscence It features articles on energy, mlitaism, occu-patona health feminst ssues: computers, agrcultureand much more
You'll receive sx magazne ssues plus your free copy for just 2. Send your check plus a note telng uswhch free ssue you want o cece f he PeeDept Ex Man St Cambrdge MA 2.
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8
The bd f ther pepe runs rers dwn my faceMy stmach wrenches frm the hdeusness f ther sufferngHead bursts wth shreks fr ther dead,
shuts n the streets f ter lages Mere suralLand and lberatn bured deep n crumblng wallOne hpe, nw artfact
And the naders se fr the phtgraphersrrogant, basfu
My peple - f bd and str -but are the Paestnans nt my pepe, t?
Were yur plts n the West Bank nt dsace enugh?eected mayrs exledunerstes slammed shutdemnstratrs slan n the streets
The master (by what rght?) cud terate n restanceAnd st the Paestnans cntnue
Whats that I hear yu say?
t ay ther namest defend ther pastt crae ther hmelandt demand ther satet ca yu klert dream f freedmt breathe
and s, t strugge
"One agan the Jew wh cares mre fr the causes f thersthan the sufferng f her wn pepe
"Lke thers befre yu, nae Amercan wman,yu are luled by the quet,and d nt sten fr the whspers nly a Jew can hear
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Did I not cy te yes of my youtfo pents nd gndpentsdied Wsw, Auscwitz, Tebin?
Hve I not ed te scems in te sience?"Mey Cistms! Mey Cistms!"Hppy Este!"Tt pusy Jew!"Did e Jew you down?"Wt Hoocust?!!
Do I not know tt ou stugge, ike tt of my se,wi foow me te dys of my ife?
As we suvived ou oocust,mong te most wetced te e s known,
As we suvived ou oocust,wi tey not suvive tis but mssce?
It wi win us no sfetyno feedom
no fiendsno pideYou, my peope, e too binded by you fes
binded by ou pstbinded by you "mssionbinded by you jetsbinde by ou "ies n tei pess
You sy you o te tnks in te nme of Jews"My nme?, you sMine be Sme tody
- Son Kutz6/82
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. CURE FOR THECOMMN OLD
The European Resistnce to the NewMissiles and the American Peace ovement
Tom Athanasiou
Te backpacks piled in te lobby of te Eropean Parliament bilding in rssels werea mark of te meeting's sccess Te treeday convention of Eropean clear Disarmament (END) - eld in tese cambers to take advantage of translation facilities - addrawn abot a tosand peace activists some from as far away as Iceland and Trkey.END adn't intended to make any big decisions or rrive at any grand strategy. Its prposewas to bring togeter different sectors of te movement and provide a place for tem to
meet eac oter.Te END conference followed a year in wic international coordination among te peace movements of Erope grew rapidly. Demonstration dates are already coordinated
internationally for maximm effect and two organizations (END and te Dtc Intercrc Peace Concil IV) act as cannels for movement networking and coordination.Neiter plans to evolve into a decisionmaking body bt joint planning as been sownto be bot possible and desirable. Te next END convention as already been annoced- a fll week in May 1983 in West erlin. Tere is sre to be more empasis on strategyat tat one - Crise missile deployment scedled to start next September in Greenam
Ee Shub Nw Yo Ju 2 2
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w ups wud n wihu is ccasinaquarrs. This was ius righ frm h pningpnary, whn a smingy nrnding sram fsamns frm digniaris prd sm f h
uanaird cnninrs cm hsag and ps signs in fi anguags caingfr mr acin, ss a.
This pning pnary was rcgnizd y ryn as a misa. En war Hand h Briish Lar Pary aciis wh chaird i, f hah piicians shud prhaps ha n schdud
appar a h pning prss cnfrnc Thismigh ha pacifid hm wihu pring smuch unas amng h ranandfi aciiss many f whm wr cming dircy frm smawns and ca rganizing ffrs.
Th ms cary aricuad frusrain wihh pariamnary n f h pnaris cam frmh wmn f h Grnham Cmmn prscamp in Briain. This camp, nw au ninnhs d, is cad dircy usid h cn-srucin ara f wha is schdud h firsCruis missi dpymn si. h Grnhamwmn criicizd h prcdings in rms unfrunay cnind a rahr simpmindd fminism madminad) and hn sang n f
hir prs sngs. Thy wr w rcid yh crwd
Wandring in h y a i ar I hard acncr suggsin fr hw da wih h pi-icians. L hm rganiz a Piicians fr ciaRspnsiiiy and snd dgas mings.Thas gd nugh fr h dcrs, sciniss,and h Gnras fr Pac.
Bu n h wh, fricins such as hs wr aancd y ranc. Thr is a srng fing inEND, as amng many Eurpan aciiss, ha hpariamnarians mus ind in h m-mn As I was d many ims, his is ncssary nsur ha h prssurs ing gnrad in hsrs ar ransad in acin a h sa .
Jrn Lamr frm Agnr h Bgian grup
ha hsd h cnnin f ha such acinis ssnia s ha a hs husands wh armarching fr h firs im wi n g disiu-sind and drif wards cynicism apahy, andh Righ.
Y his prcpin is aancd y a ry high f snsiiiy h dangr ha inmnin sa piics cud dismpwr h mmnAs many ims as I hard ha h sa mus frcd rspnd h prssurs frm h massmmn I hard wic as fn f h m-
mns nd mainain is indpndnc. ThDuch IKV, fr amp, is far ss rind -ward h ciais pariamnarians han is END,and n wihin END hr is disagrmn auh r f h f paris Edward Thmpsn,wh is ss han happy wih h dgr whichpariamnarians ha cm ind, was nprsn a h Brusss cnnin.
On cnfrnc paricipan d m ha, sinch Eurpan mmn is s dirs and dynamica h ca pp ar awar f h ndfr indpndnc, u n wrrid au singi." En h aians whs pac mmn hasdpd wihin h cn f a argy pary-dminad f scn, wr quic srss h im-
pranc f nnpary grups wihin h m-mn, as w as is ra indpndnc.
Mdirranan Prspcivs painA mnh fr h cnnin had n in
pain, whr I had gimpsd h dirgnc -wn a a animiiary mmn and is par-iamnary ch. pain had us ind NATOundr rms ss han pasing h gra mariy: h prsn cnrrigh grnmn, pu nnic y h andsid icry f h Andausianciaiss ha i wi sn sing pwr, indNATO prcipiusy in Jun, prsumay n hhry ha i is asir in NATO han qui.
A sury pishd in El a n Ocr 20, 181,
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howd that only 8 pcnt o th populationavod th mov
Th Spanih Socialit continually poclaim
that thy will withdaw om NATO a oon athy ta pow, ut not vyon liv thmTh lt wing o th paty would ctainly with-daw, ut th ladhip dclad it uppot oNATO vn a it dclad it oppoition to Spainnty Th antiNATO movmnt itl conit oa w ltwing pati ut not th Socialit),
cologit, concintiou ojcto, and othThy a oganizd in a mann mo minicnto th Anachit tadition than th lt pati,with only loo national coodination and highlyautonomou gional committ Sval activitom th committ pdictd that th Social-it would imply ty to xtact om political concion om NATO in xchang o maining inth allianc poily th tun o Gialta toSpain Many Socialit agu that NATO mm-hip, tongly did a it i y th militay, hlpto pvnt a coup, ut th countxampl oTuy pa o itl
In uch a contxt th lvl o utation ihigh In Baclona I witnd a conontation -
twn om mm o GAMBA Goupo Anti-Militaita d Baclona) and th young, ao-gant, lac militay cop om a US dtoythd in town GAMBA mm gulaly ol-low and tomnt Amican ailo, and thi timth wa a ight, complt with clu winging onth pat o th cad cop) and a loodid Span-
ih had By th tim th Baclona polic man-agd to av th Amican ailo, th apidlygowing and oviouly angy cowd numdwll ov a thouand
In Bul I got mo o a chanc to pawith mm o th antiNATO committ and,whil counting thi tal, wa angily intuptd in anticipation o a paciit citiqu o GAMBA
But whn I uggtd, intad, that it would a
24
good ida to lalt th ailo and tll thm whyvyon wa o pid o, I got only agmnt
Mditanan spctivs Gc and Tuy In Gc, th Socialit Paty, PAS OK, cam topow on th ct o a political upug that waalmot much antiNATO a it wa poLtStill, th Socialit hav not caid out thipomi to clo US militay a and withdawom NATO Why? Th a at lat two aon
it o all, th US had not n tanding tillwhil th G Socialit got thmlv lctdIt ha oth pud th G to aon-al and concntatd on cultivatng it lation-hip with Tuy, wh NATO i now planningto a ui miil Scondly, th G nowthat th Tih junta would nd it dicult to goto wa with Gc ov th longdiputd wtAan iland a long a Gc i till in NATO
But th alpolitic o intnational pow anot uicint to xplain why, in a county with apac movmnt a old and powul a Gc,th ha not n mo pu on th govnmnt to p it pomi to withdaw omNATO and to clo US militay a Th int-
pntation o th pac movmnt and P ASOKcomplt th pictu Th movmnt ha haddiiculty in oganizing itl to pu itgovnmnt, and th govnmnt, in it tun, hanot actd in th anc o pu Thi ituation will not continu indfinity, ut it igni-canc hould not ovlood Th attmpt to
ngotiat a nucla zon with Ruania andYugolavia will un up againt th am oppoitiona th attmpt to withdaw om NATO, and it iimpoil vn to conciv o th omation o 0th zon without a maiv movmnt o pacactivit to call th govnmnt to account
Manwhil, Tuy i giving th li to thowho claim that mmhip in NATO i a dmoc-
atizing oc Sinc Sptm 2 980 Tuy
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Kathe Kotz No Mo Wa 9ha n th argt and mot ytmatic wav ofrprion in it rcnt hitory n Fbrary 2,
982, th US and NATpportd jnta arrtdth adrhip of th Trkih Pac Aociationand thy hav bn in prion vr inc. Th TPAitf ha bn bannd jt a compty a thrcnty fondd and amot a rcnty p-prd indpndnt ovit pac movmnt.
Th Two Germanys and the Eastrn BocIn Germany, the proximity of the Eastern bloc
weighs on the movement. Social Democracy here,
as in France, means support forthe Euro-strategic
missiles, if not for the new US-inspired coldwar
with which they have become entwined. And the
even-handed internationalism of END, in which
Eastern dissident and peace movements are con-
stantly proclaimed as essential parts of the anti
codwar movmnt hr m to many to bnaiv and vn dangro
Whi viiting Brin a fw wk bfor thEND convntion I wa cky nogh to b invitd
to a big pac workhop" in Eat Brin PatorEppmann at who chrch it wa to tak pachad invitd pac activit from th Wt and itwa in th company of mmbr of th Wt Grman Fowhip of Rconciiation that I watrnd back at th bordr I had bn givn aninvitation with th addr of th mting and it
wa fond in my othrwi mpty notbook Aworrid a my gid had bn abot th appropriatn of Wt activit attnding th mting in arg nmbr thy wr ti tpdnogh in th ambinc of dtnt to ngct totr to m th importanc of bing really can.thr wr td away a w many for thrt tim in thir iv An Eat gard con
rmd a w waitd for or paport that pciaintrction had bn id to top Wtrfrom attnding th mting
Th mting which wa th cmination of ari of imiar bt mar gathring throghotEat Grmany wa attndd by vra thoandantiwar citizn. I wa atr to har that it wa
ik a dram." Patform wr t p on thawn and anyon cod tand p and addr thcrowd. Many of th participant pciay thyoth wr inditingihab from th Wtr.Thr wr a fw cop of cor bt mor ob-vio wr th proponnt of th officia in ofth Eat Grman Pac Conci (affiiatd with thWord Pac Conci) who dpord th xtnt to
which concrn wa focd pon th miitarizationof vryday if chidrn book and toy forxamp intad of pon what thy aw to bth far mor crcia qtion of th nw miiin th Wt.
Thr wr pbic dipay of rwrittn and d-contxtaizd qot in th tat pr with both
th origina and th fina vrion bing providd
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fo compaison Pape and pencils wee povidedfo all who wished to make themselves copies inthe absence of Xeox machines Music and netwoking and speechmaking all took place within atmosphee of openness and debate
The question in East Gemany is not whenepession will stat, but what will make it get sei-ous. In Russia, of coue, such a meeting wouldnot be possible In East Geany things ae notas loose as they wee ust a few months ago Peo-ple seen weaing wods into Plowshaes" patches
ae now outinely, though mildly, hassled Thepatch contains a pictue of a statue ecently givento the United ations by the USR It has becomethe symbol by which East Geman opponents ofmilitaism ecognize each othe, and now, with itsdisallowance, they have taken to weaing blankpatches as potest
The Easten movement" is still vey nascent,existing mostly in the fom of activities, like thepinting and distibuting of the patches, which aetied to the Luthean Chuch but not officiallysponsoed by it Thee have been a few initiativesthat did not oiginate within the Chuch, but with-out the Chuchs potection it would in no way bepossible to speak of a social movement The
Chuch povides a famewok fo its activities,both institutionally and in tems of esouces likepinting, and potects it fom state epessionMany say that the Chuch is too poweful to beepessed, but with the death of detente a ealpossibility, nothing is cetain
The movement in the West, too, can affet the
tems within which the Easten state views thesestiings This is made clea by the simple fact thatthe hassling of the wods into Plowshaes"movement began with the publication of the Be-lin Appeal" in West Geman newspapes a ointappeal of Westen and Easten individuals fo theend of the ams ace and the establishment of aGeman uclea ee Zone The hassling of West-
en activists at the bode is also a new phenom
26
"Sords ito Poshares
the bade baed by East Germa authorities
enon, and it is clealy intended as a move against
the inceased inteaction of the Easte andWesten movements the same inteaction andsymbolic unity so stongly advocated by ED
E activists, and some membes of the WestGeman movement as well, tend to egad all hesitation to suppot" the East Geman movement asapologism fo the statecapitalist egimes of theEast Othes, like the chuc goups of West Ge-
many and Holland, have been caefully buildingnetwoks with Easten activists fo yeas theyfea that associating themselves too stongly withthe new movement in East Gemany will give theEast Geman state an excuse to epess the newmovement on the gouds that it is contolledfom the West In thei view thee ae those among
the Wsten movement ho, as it was put to me
by on Bohme of West Belin ellowship of Rec-onciliation, instumentalize" the Easte peace movement They ae loudly poclaiming theisolidaity with the Easten movement to covethemselves against the Right, which is attackingthem fo being pooviet"
Afte the declaation of matial law in Poland,
these sots of tensions became geatly exacebated,
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not ony in Germny but throughout Europe TheBritih nd the Itin hve rected trongy butthe Germn movement in prticur eem tohve been trpped within mie of equivoc
tion nd h been unbe to protet Not tht ector of the Germn movement were unupport-ive of Soidrity the Green Prty nd the Anr-chit/Spontie houe qutter in Wet Berin werequick to rect But on the whoe the crckdownprovoked dimy itte protet Sey Benhbibwriting in Telos, h ttributed thi to the inbiity
of the Wet Germn Left to deveop critique ofuthoritrin tte ociim" nd there my beome truth to thi But it eem tht the Germnin prticur re in good poition to know thereity of the Et nd o we might we wonderif thi i n dequte expntion
Perhp nother fctor cn be found in the
ooming preence of the Et itef nd in thereity which mut eem very preing fromwithin the nucer rmed cmp which i WetGermny of the Wetern ut on the SovietCertiny there re Soviet poogit by the drovein Germny but I think the buk of the probemi not poogim but rther trngey compeingpeimim bout the poibiity of chnge in the
Et in the fce of the enormity of the thret ofwr
Thi peimim my be mipced nd certinyit ed to poitic conervtim but it i not impe poogim. When the Green decided to hod pre conference in Apri of thi yer to pubicydenounce the ntiRegn ry coition for refu-
ing to dopt ptform tht oppoed the SS20 trongy it oppoed NATO modeiztionz they were perhp being omewht intrument-it" Their ction did hep to hift the ground frombeneth the feet of the numerou re poogitbut certiny uch trong nticommunit inecoud not hve hurt the Green poition in thepo.
The Bsis of the Europen CoitionLrgey foowing the ed of Edwrd Thomp
on nd END the Europen pece movement hcome to conduct the buk of it pubic poiticnyi in term of the demnd for Europenutonomy" from the boc ytem nd the CodWr Thee formution ike the notion of Freeze" in the US re poiticy chrged theyre intended to hpe the imge nd efundertnding of the movement. Like the Freeze theytend to tructure the movement in ubte nd yet
powerfu wy nd to both fciitte nd imit the
Destrati aast NA O i West Geray
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complex process of selfeducation and agitpropcrucial to any dynamic politic&l movement Theyare the lowestcommondenominator demands of
the European movement, and, while they are notas limiting as the Freeze, they contain the sameimplicit notion of political coalition a notionthat, since it is only implicit, is not visible andavailable for criticism
The call for European autonomy from theworld system organized by the clash of the super-powers has led to the charge that this movemet isimplicitly nationalistic, in the sense that it posits anew European national identity This charge is toosimple in a number of ways, not the least of whichis that it reduces the complex contemporary reality of the movement to one of the dangers itfaces The call for autonomy is, among otherthings, a tactical move intended to help organize
the very real commonalities of interest among theEupean people at the most banal level, thecommon interest in not being lown up into acoalition with enough poitical power to drop outof the arms race
Neither is it clear that this commonality of interests is fated to obscure the social conflicts with-
in European society, and thus to retard the radical-ization of the movement, though this is also adanger Unlike the Freeze, the Cold War" is nota framework that requires the suppression of allreal criticisms of social power.
Still, there is a latent depoliticizing character inthe idea of an autonomous Europe, for it can anddoes tend to obscure very real conicts, and very
different interests, within society Specifically, itdoesn't prepare the ground for an understandingof the different interests in Europe in opposing theCold War, and so it doesnt help movement activ-ists understand the terms of their own coalitionThe existence of a strong economic and politicaljustication on purely capitalist terms for an
opening to the East can hardly be doubted, andso the allegiance of European capital to the Cold
28
War system is far from assured. Indeed, a crucialfunction of NATO has long been to impose such allegiance on Western Europe, and NATO thus
plays a key role in the production of the desirefor autonomy that, while certinly not dentical with the desire for peace, does in fact make fertileground for it.2 There are elite interests well servedby the classless overtones of such an abstract en-tity as Europe." And there is even the dangerthat, in the words of West German political analystWalter Suss, the
peace movement could become the ground fora movement" with which it would have littlein common: a European nationalism" that if it were to succeed would be the bearerof a European nuclear force" Whoeverdoubts such a possibility should examine Mit-terrands policies 3
This is, however, still only a danger
The fast and loose way in which the Europeanmovement talks about autonomy from the blocsystem may be dangerously confusing, unless it isconsciously balanced by more radical disourseabout social conict. Certainly opposition to theCold War inclines the movement towards a coali-tion with European capital, which is heavily de-pendent on trade with the Eastern bloc At thesame time it pressures European states to resolvetheir conicts with the US by breaking with it andopting for a renewed ad deepened detente. Allof this is fine, but none of it seriously challengesthe geoeconomic structure of the Cold War sys-tem There is a price for pandering to capital, evenif that pandering is only rhetorical There is a great
need for the movement to help people to see thereality of their lives as Europeans, an this realityis far less attering than the image of a continent held helpless by the exterminist forces of theCold War.
To put it bluntly, Europe has strong imperial-istic interests in the Third World parallel to those
of the US, and it depends on American militarismto maintain the international conditions for its
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Ee Shub w Yo J 4
viabiiy a highly indusria, expororienedpower Indeed, in many ways Europe is more dependen on he mainenance of he Third World
a subjugaed area han is he US_ Cerainy iimpors a far greaer percenage of is oi, and ishus more vunerabe o insabiliy in he MiddeEas.
I is hard o see how a bocfree" Europe,which would be he greaes economic power inhe world,4 could reesabish isef in a wold ofradically less expoiaive reaions wih he Third
World wihou very major socia realignmens in
Europe and in he res of he word as wel. In hewords of he Iaian Lucio Magri, such a wordwould, a he minimum,
presuppose a quaitaive change in [Europea]deveopmen Such a change woud have oinvove he reorienaion of he Europeanemies away from he quaniaive mulipicaion of goods for consumpion and expor, and he wasage of naura resourcesha goes wih i, owards anohe sye ofdeveopmen
Surely his qualiaive change wi no be he
oucome of a movemen whose shared goals fai ogo beyond he jargon of European auonomy fromhe Cold War sysem
I is undoubedly rue, as is ofen said, ha realrevouionary changes are no possibe unil hesrucure of he Cold War is dismnted. NoamChomsky emphasizes his wih his persisen claimha he Cold War is a device by which he superpowers conro heir own domesic popuaions My poin is ha, whie he Cold War mus be broken down, i canno be allowed o deimi hepublic poliical anaysis of he movemen I someimes does so,7 for i is broad enough, as a concepual framewor, o allow quie a wide range Inhe end, hough, he probem of capiaism mus
be publicy broached.
The US Peace Movemen adThe EuroSrategic Misie
The need o creae a new model of Americananimiliary poiics o compee wih he Freeze isbecoming pressing wih he escalaion of he 984
presidenia skirmishing and he drif of he movemen ino he eecora deniion of poliical opposiion This definiion wil never be complee,bu i coud become dominan enough o undercuhe growh of he new radicalism ha lies laenwihin he srugge agains war.
There are movemens oher han he Freeze, ofcourse, bu agains is grea orhodoxy hey appear
as minimovemens; none of hem is posiioned o
2
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challenge is verall drif The aniinerveninmveen is sill plagued by MarxisLeniniss becme a mass mvemen, and besides idesn address he nuclear issue direcly enughThe ani draf mvemen, he new direcacincaliins agains he weapns labraries, andhe increasing aemps link he arms race he ecnmic crisis, as crucial as hey all are,seem similarly disan, secral, r diffuse cnsiue a glbal aleaive heFreeze An American campaign agains he Eursraegic missiles migh have slighly beer chances, fr i wuld unfld geher wih wha willalms cerainly be a very ashy Eurpean resisance n an equally impran level, i wuld end
arac a cmpelling and even radical anicldwar pliics
30
Ellen Wom's go co
The defensive characer f he Freeze campaigndrasically resrics he argumens ha i canmake Bu he need be defensive is n, frunaely, he need have defensive pliics mnplize he mvemen The pssibiliy f a mreradical animiliary pliics shuld be welcmed,and here are reasns believe ha a campaignagains he ruise and he ershing I culd help
bring hse pliics abu \Firs, aking place as i wuld wihin he cn
ex f a preexising inernainal ppsin, i wuld creae he cndiins fr esablishing a cncree new frm f American radical inernainalism Such an inernainalism wuld n behercenered" in he sense f glrifying he
Eurpean ppsiin, bu wuld recgnize helimis f frms f pliical educain ha rely
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sall bu deadly wars povery brue force deologcal anpulaon and rsng enson
If here s anyhng we do no need s a
onolhc agreeen ha radcals s no on hepolcal agenda The new peace oveen hasawakened an ense revulson agans nuclearweapons bu as wonderful as he ass oveenha has spawned s hs oveen as currenly exss s no nearly enough There s acryng need for a radca oveen whch canspeak drecly o he daly roune sery haenslaves he populaon and no only o he apocalypc fears whch hs sery engenders
Ths wll no be a oveen whch panders ohe donan les nor one ha fnds s ajor expresson n he arena of professonal organzaonsand elecoral polcs bu neher wll be a oveen ha deludes self ha hese les have los
her hold on he populaon or a he polcsof he sae can be gnored I wll have o becoea new oveen one ha s able boh o confron power on s own ers and o consruc abelevable vson of a desrable world beyond hesnkhole of capals.
In order for hs new oveen o eerge heold alenaed ages of radca polcs wll have obe deconsruced a he sae e as new ways ofbeng opposona are developed Already severalyears ago hs deconsrucon had begun wh hedeclne of he MarxsLenns posure (n a leasGerany and he U) a declne ha s a leasparaly arbuable o he developen of hehennew polcs of he grassroos annuclear
oveenToday he process of rebuldng a real oppos
on s proceedng a a new level whn he conex of an econoc lary and polcal crssha copels new fors of polcal organzaonThese fors us ge resuls n he shorer buwhou consranng longerer polcal develop
en For hs one hng s requred above alohers a culure of open dalogue n whch he
32
A rt Positive, Mdso WI
Ncl Vso Sld/Tp Sow
polcal developens of he day are undersoodby al parcpans and where sraegc dscourse sa publc acvy Here aybe we can lea soehng fro he Europeans for as far fro hsdeal as hey are hey do see capable of beng
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both critica nd ecumenical, and they are moretoerant of complexity than most American radicas. Unity is vaued, but it isnt expected that
agreement wil be easy, or that disagreements wilb kept quietThe problem is that there is not much time. We
cannot afford to lose this wave of protest to eitherabstract radicaism or irresponsibe reformism Edward Thompson said a few months ago that thenew movement will
have to be more sharply antistatist and libertarian than anything in the dominant ommunist or Social Democratic traditions, orin Marxist theoretical orthodoxy nothingess wil be tough enough to meet the opposition, and maybe repression, of the opposedmiitarized states. 4
This is true, but it is not enough as Thompson
recognizes This new libertarian politics wil alsoneed an abiity rarey seen on the antistatist leftan ability to make fne politica distinctions andeven accommodations wit power It wil have topractice the tota tactics
,,5 that refuse the abstract distinction between grassroots organizationand interention into the decisionmaking process,that can understand not only the reapoitics of
the state, but rebelion and sabotage too, asnecessary parts of the same battle
Footnotes
1 This notion of a new European left-nationalism is similar to the oversimpication that occurs with the new"German nationalism See Russell Berman "Oppositionto Reamament and West German Culture in Telos
5
(Spring 19 82) , p 14 2 for typica usage For a more interesting discussion of the same problem see the article by Seyla Benhabib in the same issue2 See Mary Kaldor "The Role of Nuclear Weapons inWestern Relations in Mary Kaldor and Dan Smith edsDisarming Europe. See also Mike Lucas "The Crisis ofthe Cold War System unfortunately available only inGerman in obleme des Klassenkampfes, 46
3 Walter Suss "NATO and the Warsaw Pact: 'ArmamentInsanity versus Calculated Power in Telos 5 (Spring1982) p 79
4 Ibid, p 665 Lucio Magri "The Peace Movement and Europeoriginally in New Left Review 1 3 1, and reprinted in Ex-
terminism and Cold War, London 1982 publised byNew Left Review6 See Noam Chomsky Towards a New Cold War, NewYork 19827 E P Thompson Beyond the Cold War in e ZeroOpon (London 1982)8 KV (Postbus 18 747; 2502 ES sravenhage) describes the situation as one in which tee major factorsae operatng: The end of "pure deterence and the
tend towads nuclea warghting postures and statees;(2) The end of arms contol as a potentia force n stopping the ams race and its new role in contoling public protest rather than weapon developments (3) e endof nonproliferation and therefore of nuclear deterrenceas a bipola system For a description of the specic dangers of the new Ero-statec misses see Walter Suss"NATO pp 5558 or Alan Krass and Dan Sith "Nuclear Srategy and Technology in Kaldor and Sith
eds sarming Europe f you want more see Cal GJacobsen Reagans Sins of Omission in ENDPAPERS published by the Bertrand Russel Peace FoundationLtd Berand Russell House Gamble Seet Nottngham NG7 4ET Jacobsen beleves that the Sovets wrespond to Pershing II deployment in Europe by basingSS-20s in Cuba9 "n order to understand the political concept of nuclear deterrence a distinction must be drawn between
political weapons which exist only to threaten and actualweapons of war. This distinction is often dismissed asmerely ideolocal but its reality appears obvious sincethe end of World War II 20 milion to 25 milion peoplehave been kiled by conventional arms while nuclear arms(with the exception of the massacres at Hioshima andNagasaki) have killed no one and still the political weapons have probably had a greater inuence on world history than a subsequent conventional wars. Suss
"NATO p. 55 10 Aside from the catastophic effect that the Freezecould have on the movement itself by drawing it intoelectoral politics the strict bilateralism of the Freeze is aeat problem his is not only because nothing can everhappen on stricty bilateral terms except a Freeze (actualreductions are only ikely to happen with a series of smallreciprocal unilateral steps) but also because it is dicutto go on from a position of bilateralism to put foward thevery unateral naure of the arms race in which the UShas been amost uniformly responsible for escalations in
33
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he caaciies of he nuclear forces This is clearly shownn his able (Sjues magazine)
Frs chain reacion
2 See Exeminism nd Cld W for a debae on hesucul underinnings of he arms race 3 See The Falklands Crisis in END Bullein 0 (JulyAugus
982
US (Acion)
2/2/427/6/45//528/24/49
Frs aom bomb exlodedFirs Hbomb exlodedEuroean alliances in effecTacical nukes in EuroeSraegic missile builduFirs suersonic bomberFrs nuclear submarineSolid fuel in missiles
USS (eacion)
2/24/468/23/498/2/535/4/55957
4 Thomson "Beyond he Cold War 347 5 The idea of a "oal acic as far as I know cameou of a batle agains a highvolage owerline beingwaged in Minnesoa a few years back The loca farmersafer having exhaused al legal recourse began a longsrongly suored and very funny camaign of saboageagains he owerine owers hey connued legal acionhowever and fel ha ony because hey did so was heir
exralegal camaign erceied as legiimae Also worhnoing is he muualy reinforcing effec which exiss beween he civil disobedience of he aninuclar aliancesand he legal maneuvering of sraigh environmenaiss
95496960960960
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"A Cal o So he Cruise and Pershing I Misslesfrom So he Cruise/Pershing II Clearinghouse48 Sringeld Avene Philadlhia PA 943
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The Teo etwok explodes the myth of an"intern ationa l terrorist conspiracy and docu men tsthe te rro r cam pa ign s of U . S.- spo nso red Nationa lSecurity States. Edward Herman, co-author withNoam Chomsky of th e oliticl conomy of mnRight measures the br ute effects f the "devel opmentmodel that has been imposed on the Third World and
indicts the U .S . pol icies that aid and necess itate Stateterrorism.25 0 pp ..__Ii_1i
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l ldo: The Fce of Revoltion digs behind theheadlines to reveal the poitics a nd visio n of the revolution. Armstrong and Shenk bring the role of thechurch popular organizations guerilla forces and thestate into sharp focus and situate the revolution in thecontext of other reional stules. The historv and
ex ten t of U . S . in vol veme nt, private inve stm ent an
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locl
MO ")0108 (Llr" 1- ' L ' !/ 1 lte" t"Ve '-.e I d I-'i -,-MONDAY c! 0 I e"-/ oUI i Pm,n."UC rl. Of -'01 M''S' . e going nowhere.tI_ convined her hi Swl) dumps Fank .--------._--------Ho Lps (Lor
ellaser Aan Ada
_ . s tor aran JAM!
CI
NIA.a
NI'AIC
NIAIaHA
NAI.HA
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CN
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;.M * A* S* H MARCHES ON
Ken Lindsey
The scene is the early 1950s, and the woman - a young, politically conservative nurse
is being questioned about an old college friend who may have become a Communist sympathizer. The woman is torn: she is patriotic and anticommunist, but she also feels loyaltyto her college friends, and she refuses to answer her selfrighteous interrogator's questionsHe threatens to destroy her career she remains firm Her current friends - the show'sheroes - have a private chat with the man The woman has never had a political thought inher life, they assure him : the only thing she ever thinks about is sex A sleazy and disquieting sort of "defense, until we realize what the guys are up to The smug interrogatorimmediately goes to the woman, attempts to bribe her into sex, and, when she refuses,tries to force himself on her The closet door pops open, and one of the heroes jumps outand snaps a picture The good guys cheerfully blackmail the Redhunter, and the nurse is off the hook
* * * * *
A guerrilla fighter from the enemy side has been injured The army doctors patch herup, but are forced to turn her over to their allies for an "interrogation that they, and she,
know will be brutal torture She is hostile and abusive to the men who are trying to saveher, perceiving them as the enemy They know shes right, and they know they're helpless
3
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en While shows like Mary Tyler Moore" andOne Day a a Time" were depicing women as
mulidimensional human beings, M* A *S*H" waserpeuaing he crudes female sereoypes, andporraying oppressive male behavior as boh heal-hy and delighful
Bu somewhere along he way, hings saredo change erhaps Ada began o ake his ownprofeminis speeches more seriously; perhaps hispower on he show grew greaer or perhaps new
acors like liberal acivis Mike Farrell made a difference n any even, as several characers lef,hey were replaced wih new ones ha represeneda major shif in values
The rs addiion was BJ layed by Farrellwih he skill and sensiiviy ha has become heshows hallmark, Hawkeyes new roommae and
cohor brough a dimension lacking in he charac
A rlene and Alan A Ida and daugher
erizaion of Trapper John who was a sor ofBrooklynborn clone of Hawkeye BJ has several
personaliy differences from his friend oliically,he mos imporan of hese is his aiude owardwomen He is happily and faihfully married heakes his commimen o his wife very seriouslyHe likes and respecs women since he isn consanly on he make he is more easily capablehan Hawkeye of forming real friendshps wihhem Toleran and nonjudgmenal oward Hawk-
eyes womanizing he never shares in iThe nex big change was ushered in by he de-
parure of Colonel Blake and he enrance of heolder mellower Colonel oer oer is a charac-er who, wrien or played wih less finely unedsensiiviy, would be painfully corny Hes full ofhomespun aphorisms, and his hobby is paining
Norman Rockwellsyle picures Bu he is a man
>
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M*A *S*H" is now going ino is las season a fac o be lamened when bh Baey Miller"and Lou Gran" have been cancelled (he laerprobably as a resul of sar Edward Asners openly
proEl Salvador sance). This leaves only HillSree Blues" reecing any progressive values onprimeime TV. Forunaely, M*A *S*H" rerunsremain naionally syndicaed, and according oTV Guide are among he counrys mos popularreruns As we ge closer and closer _ o anoherwar, M*A*S*H" may be he only voice ha mil-
lions of Americans regularly hear crying ou hahe glory s no in war bu in defiance of war, noin killing bu in living and fighing for life. Alexander Haig, ha aposle of inernaional errorsm,could well be a characer in a M*A*S*H" episode evil, desrucive, he anihesis of every decenhuman value. If M*A*S*H" helps he Americanpeople o undersand he awdry realiy behindhe rheoric glamorizing our police acions" inhirdworld counries, i will have layed a worhyrole in he resisance sruggle of he s.
KAREN LINDSEY is a poe and wrier auor oFrends as Family (Beacon ess 1 981)
NW MISSISSPP NC
tpstting n our plus postglso iting, rsr, prooring
ississippi ongs n ilgs inlus postg
P x 36 Jk MS 37
6/66
STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT ANDCIRCULATION (Required by 39 US C 3685) TITLEOF PUBLICATION: Radical America A Publication
number 873 880 2 DATE OF FILING: 0/20/82 3 FREQUENCY OF ISSUE: Bi-monthly A No of issues pub
lished annualy: 6 B Annual subscription price: $5 4
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38 Union Sq, #4, Somerville, Middlesex, MA 0243 5Complete mailing address of general business offices: 38
Union Sq, #4, Somerville, Middlesex, MA 0243 6
PUBLISHER: Aternative Education Project, Inc, 38Union Sq, #4, Somerville M A 02 43 EDITOR: John P
Demeter, 38 Union Sq , # 4, Somerville, MA 02 43 MAN
AGING EDITOR: Donna Penn, 38 Union Sq, #4, Somervile MA 0243 7 OWNER Alternative Education Project, Inc, 38 Union Sq, #4, Somervie, MA 0243 8
Known bondholders: None 0 Extent and nature of circulation:
Average no copies each
issue during preceding
tweve months
Actual no copies of single
issue published nearest to
filing date
4, Total no copies,27 Sales through vendors, dealers,
2,3293,60
205
3,80520
carriers, and counter salesMail subscription
Total paid circulation
Free distributionTotal distribution
Copies not distributed; office use,
eft over, unaccounted, spoiled
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I certify that the statements made by me above are correct and compete: John P Demeter, Editor
41
P
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42
Like the ane f anyne there arecertain time i will be ntice r felt - - -in a tne f the ice a way f hlingthe by me piece f infrmatinabut life away frm where chl i
but thi i infrequent mre ften thi greatwllen ane f public chl teacheri kept hien - - - it i the chil calle"iit an chaine t an irn bein the back attic chamber f the heart
that chil whe man are neer hear r elemitaken fr itant laughter an then
ne ming early when yu get t theempty chl befre the ki hae arrieyu realize that yu are hearing thatlaughter frm mewhere - - it behin the r
f the faculty lunge un like a partythugh wh wul hae thught at thi hur
that entering it a if yu hacme upn raucu life in an therwieabanne builing - - - jut ne mall furnihe rmcramme with peple telling Plih jketeaing each ther abut e an ageriiculing me f the ki r their parent
when they run ut f trie an inultthey laugh at themele fr being afraif their wn chl principal inie them theirane i huge that if they tp laughinghere een fr a minute it will well
up t crack an burt them apart
what make them a i it mething intheir wn lie they feel cheate ut f i itme inight they hae after year f teachingabut the effect f chl n tuentthey hae le they neer eem able t
tell u what it i althugh I hae eenmetime pain in their eye riing almtt the urface jut befre eight clckwhen they g t their rm t teach again
- Dick urie
The Hsees e These Ths He
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jor r WooEach orgI a co bg
jor to ow roo Sa ast th braast shstoo at th taot's sott tos ors sa at asa th gg-trr trsto boc th ha oor rach tjst ss bg crsh
a rg a cattrs sssagast woo
Pass th bathroo ow whr towscorag b th caorabsh tw a cosro c t hasas th cogg s stshar a bts o soato aca th st r th bbgs a ow coag whrss to shr as atscho thr crac r otsa wows gas or sght
Rach roo at ast btth oor rss to shta stra's co ghas s ts otbooI grab or twrtrsothg has at th rbbo
a s ar cogg! ashtra a c sharrxchag sg gacsI gor th rachor a cgartt t cobg to wrt
Brow Wc
These Ths He
a th TV ws rcorsth scovr o a w borbab whos othr t h
a Savato Ar scothg b owtow Dtrot
bt ot how hr acoo t crv o hrhas as th bag shtshar ta cho throgh th
ar strts th ct cosg aro hr
th rorts ar gatathogh th wo't b sh' s h o to war a h'b thw' s hr acthat ost bwr oosch wo hav as tha owrs o soot
ths thgs haa th oca agag
cats thr agsathogh othr worst cos to th sa thgsh has ts ow vocabarth s a brogstrs o a woa's hasthat sa o how th
sh asca b sogh o a o stsothg that os't ta othg vr wor vr rahr ow
Brow WcFs pubsd 43
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abo a dmosao lo owa
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FIGHTING UNIONBUSTING IN E '80
Dan Clawn, Karen Johnn, and John Schall
he US tade union movement is cuently facing an explicitly classconscious capitalistoffensive on a scale unpecedented since the 1930s Fom massive capital flight to taeaway contacts to egisative osses oganized labo is eeling fom one defeat to the nextdoing little to shoe up its cumbling defenses. he most significant indication of thechanging natue of capitalabo elations has been the phenomenal ise in union busting
he officia machiney fo legally "decetifying a union was put into place by the aftHatey Act in 948 If 30 pecent of the membes of a bagaining unit sign a decetification petition the Nationa Labo Relations Boad will come in and conduct a decetifica
tion election in which a simple maoity decides whethe the union stays o leaves Fo thefist yea of a stie both scabs and sties may vote on decetification of the union; afte
the stie has gone on fo one yea only scabs may vote Since that time decetificationshave inceased fom 66 in 1948 to 156 in 1968 to 645 in 1978 to moe than 900 in 1980he actua numbes howeve tel ony pat of the stoy Fo each union actualy bustedthee ae many moe that have accepted taeaway contacts - often gutting union stength fom fea of being boen
Capitalists have been planning this open class wafae fo some time he BusinessRoundtabe, consisting of high executives fom two hunded of the lagest copoations
*Specal than to Rc Fantaa who wa mportant both n thee tre an n hepn u wth t artce 45
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affeced (We should also emphasize ha or experiences have been wih unions in relaively smallcommuniies and no in large meropolian areas)
We hink he conras beween he wo campaignsis illuminaing bu obviously wo cases are a limied sample (hough we also draw on some oherinsances where we had less maor involvemen).We have masked he locaions of he srikes andhe ideniies of he unions in order o make possible a full and frank discussion and because webelieve wha is imporan wha mus be re-
hough wha mus be changed is no paricularindividuals bu he characer of he labor move-men as a whole
The firs maor case was a Universiy NursingHome" and we were inimaely involved in i longbefore he srike began The nursing home hadabou sixyfive workers almos all women all
earning exremely low wages (more han hree-quarers received minimum wage; he pay afernine years on he ob was only $40 an hour).I had formally been unionized for some ime buhe union had been poorly run and he naionaloffice had recenly swiched urisdicion o a dif-feren region A new organizer came in and revialized he local and pushed for a much beer conrac The home was locally owned half by awoman who managed i (an some of whose rela-ives worked here) and half by an absenee realesae millionaire They brough in an area lawfirm which was noorious for union busing andbegan rying o provoke a srike
The home was locaed only abou a mile from
a maor universiy which could have affeced heissue eiher way sudens could have providedan almos limiless source of scabs bu he feminis and progressive communiies were poenialsources of srike suppor reparaions for hesrike were exensive: wo informaional pickeswere held en housand leafles were disribuedon campus and mos imporan dozens of com
muniy groups were approached and enlised Thisincluded no jus he obvious progressive sudengroups bu also local unions (on he campus and
off) religious leaders a range of feminis groupsand all sors of oher groups and individuals.When he srike did begin he 30 workers
whose shif was on srike had he suppor of per-haps 50 oher pickes The whole firs day essen-ially nothing wen ino he home When heowners car ried o drive in we surrounded ibanged on he hood and pushed i back ou and
he police ldn mobilize enough people o gehe car hrough. Laer ha day he police cameback in force bu when a hundred people sadown in he driveway i ook he police morehan a half hour o clar he driveway. The policewere only normally brual in doing so bu manymany people were shocked a wha normal police
brualiy involves This and many oher incidensdominaed he local news spli he communiyand led o considerable pressure by own ofcialsfor a selemen A march a he end of he weekdrew more han 350 people. Six days afer hesrike began he nursing home seled and accep-ed approximaely he compromise offer he unionhad proposed before he srike began.
The second srike was (and sill is) a a mealshop abou hiry miles from he universiy in aworkingclass own The plan is locally ownedbu he owner also has five oher plans aroundhe counry There are abou 65 or 70 workersand for he las wenyfive years hey have beenrepresened by one of he larges naional unions
wih a repuaion as progressive The workers wereall male and almos all whie earned more han$750 an hour and had an verge of wenyyears senioriy
The company provoked he srike wih a se ofexreme akeaway demands (eg an end o sen-ioriy on ob bidding) which if acceped wouldhave mean he effecive end of he union For he
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first three months this was a normal strike; the
workers held solid and the company did not try to
produce But at that point the company began to
hire scabs: first the relatives of managers, thenothers. About ten days or two weeks later, ou la
bor community support group became involved.
The first day we went down to the line there were
many other unionists there, but this was the first
time there had been any outside support
Members of the support group started coming
to the picket line on a regular basis, offered many
suggestions, and helped plan further activities. A
week or so later the strikers and supporters went
to the city council meeting; a week after that there
was mass leafleting, a week later a rally. A front
page story in a local alternative paper with mass
circulation helped counter some of the media bias
But thee were gaps between each of these activi
ties, and while the workers stood firm they became somewhat dispirited, resentful of the union,
and demoralized. Negotiations resumed, and for a
while it seemed the strike might be settled, but
then they broke off again. By this time, five
months after the strike began, the company was
up to perhaps fifty scab workers and recruiting
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more all the time. A month later the workers were
demanding something be done, and the union
(with our help) organized a mass picket one morn
ing. When the scabs tried to drive in the bus thecompany provided from the parking lot on one .side of the road to the plant on the other, we
blocked their way. When the police tried to push
pickets aside, we sat down. The towns entire po
lice force was there, but it still wasn't enough
police to clear us out, and they had to send for
cops from other towns More than ninety people
were arrested, and the event dominated local news
reports (and received some national coverage).
After this, there was again a lull in activities. The
strike, now in its eighteenth month, is almost
certainly going to lose.
Union Busting i the Isue
As the economic crisis has deepened, an ever-increasing number of companies have gotten
tough" at the bargaining table. At what point this
should be understood as not just tough bargaining
but as preparation for a fulledged unionbusting
campaign, is not always clear Workers need to
think about union busting whenever foremen and
Labo Day demonstration, Clnton, Iowa.
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suervisrs becme sricer abu bserving fineins f he cnrac frcing mre and mregrievances r when he cmany ges ugh n
grievances by frcing hem hrugh he se sysem and n arbirain This can be used laern by he cmany argue bh fr he ineffeciveness f he unin and fr is exisence as anunnecessary surce f fricin and anagnismOne f he sures signs is if yu find ha he cm-any has hired a cnsulan firm secializing inunin busing r swiched a law firm wihunin busing exerience This ccurred in Qh fhe srikes we are describing hugh by nw heknwledge f hw bus a unin is widesreadand his is cerainly n a necessary se
While yu dn wan cry wlf" every imemanagemen ges subbrn whenever managemenrefuses budge ver issues vial he maine-
nance f unin wer (seniriy unin securiyclause) yu need cnsider he issue f uninbusing A he firs hin ha unin busing is hegal yu mus make i he issue in he eyes fhe cmmuniy a he same im ha wrkers arerearing fr a igh
A he nursing hme a large infrmainal
icke line was se u a week befre he srike Aleae exlaining unin busing was handed uhrughu he cmmuniy and ress cverageheled sread he wrd Three days befre hesrike he law firms ffices were ickeed rviding mre ress cverage The unin was able define he issue as unin busing (wih cnsulansaid mre han $ an hour while wrkers k
hme $ a week, and idenify he uninwih qualiy healh care (nly ssible if saffuver was reduced hrugh higher ay)
In all cases i is imran ake he iniiaiveearly making he cmany resnd issues yuraise and n vice versa In addiin in he earlyinfrmainal wrk he issue f uninism mus be
cnsanly cnneced he wrkers in he wrk
lace wh are cmmuniy residens and axaersraher han an inernainal unin which can beeasily rrayed as an usider" A he same
ime he camaign shuld n hesiae labelmulinainals uninbusing firms and nnresiden wners as usiders wh are disruing helife f he cmmuniy
The Picke LieThe in f a srike is fr wrkers wihhld
heir labr making i imssible fr he cmany