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Socialist Action, 3435 Army St., Rm. 308, San Francisco, CA 94110 hits unions (continued from page 1: “Bankruptcy— Court ruling hits unions”)

What is the official labor response to the latest capitalist "bankruptcy" ploy? "It's outrageous," said Machinist president William Winpisinger. "Devastating!" cried out other labor leaders. But beyond their stated outrage lies little of substance.

Some threaten to withdraw pension funds from banks which encourage companies to use bankruptcy laws to revoke labor contracts. Others place their hopes in the Rodino Bill currently before the House of Representatives. Yet all agree that voting Democrat remains the only alternative to the employer assault.

A Feb. 27 New York Times editorial noted another option put forward by the labor bureaucracy: "Organized labor, sensing that its best shot in an election year lies in a quick vote in Congress ...has proposed an unworthy deal. It would support conservatives who want to remove bankruptcy protections from consumers if they will let the House rush its vote on the labor amendment."

The New York Times cynically chides the labor bureaucracy for its "unworthy deal." But cynicism aside, the Times reveals the suicidal premise behind the ACTION Name Address.

City Telephone would be immense. The price exacted is the betrayal of the interests of the debtridden poor who constitute a natural and reliable ally of labor. This approach is symptomatic of the disastrous consequence of labor dependence on capitalist "friends" in the Democratic Party.

Yesterday the labor officialdom trampled on the rights of Blacks and women and sacrificed our sons on the altar of imperialist military adventures. Today the indebted poor are to be handed over to the finance companies. Tomorrow new sacrifices will be demanded.

Working people have been dealt a serious legal blow, but court-ordered wage cuts resulting from bankruptcy rulings have yet to be implemented on a far-reaching scale. Labor remains powerful despite the gradual erosion of the conquests of past labor struggles. The working class can win the coming decisive battles, but only if they succeed in breaking from the losing strategy of dependence on alliances with the class enemy.

Militant trade unionists must organize within the union movement to fight for a policy of uniting the whole working class and its real friends against the bosses and all their political representatives in the Democratic and Republican parties. A massive struggle has to be organized in the workplaces, on the picket lines, and in the streets if labor is to mount a serious and effective response to the present employer assault. Such a mass action political orientation must be carried forth into the political arena as well. Working people need to build their own independent party based on the unions.

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fought against and eliminated as a part of the general revolutionary process. She gave a sense of the difficulty of this task and also of the tremendous brutality

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