"Good Morning, Revolution"

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Langston Hughes (1902-1967), the very popular and prolific Black writer and poet, had a career that spanned over three decades. He was called the "poet laureate of the Negro Race." Hughes' reputation generally is that of a poet and writer who was deeply concerned about the problems of being Black in white America. He wrote with seriousness, humor, and plenty of satire.

According to Professor Saunders Redding of Cornell University, "no poet caught with such sharp immediacy and intensity and humor and the pathos, the irony and the humiliation, the beauty and the bitterness of the experience of being Negro in America." An excellent chronicler of the Black-American experience, Hughes was generally not considered to be a writer who drew radical and revolutionary conclusion from his acquired knowledge and life experiences.

But there was a revolutionary side to Langston Hughes. Hughes' poetry, prose and essays from 1925 to 1967 show him to be a strong opponent of capitalism and racism, and a firm advocate of revolutionary change.

I believe that it is an appropriate tribute to Langston Hughes to name my column, which begins this month, after the title of a poem that he wrote in 1932. Here it is in its entirety.

GOOD MORNING, REVOLUTION •by Langston Hughes Good morning, Revolution:

You're the very best friend I ever had We gonna pal around together from now on.

Say, listen, Revolution:

You know, the boss where I used to work, The guy that gimme the air to cut down expenses, He wrote a long letter to the papers about you:

Said you was a trouble maker, a alienenemy, In other words a son-of-a-bitch. He called up the police And told 'em to watch out for Named Revolution.

You see, The boss knows you're my friend. He sees us hangin' out together. He knows we're hungry, and ragger And ain't got a damn thing in this worldAnd are gonna do something about Renee Smith (continued from page 16: “Infants Before Profits!”) various conditions such as anemia, diabetes, toxemia, all of which contribute to low birth weight, which is the leading cause of infant mortality.

This program also includes health education, which goes with counseling women about smoking, alcohol, and drug use in pregnancy. Teenagers and low income, minority, undocumented women are the most likely not to seek or have health care available for them, and they're the highest risk for having a low birth weight baby with illnesses that can cause disabilities and even death.

Save our infants

As a health care provider I have found very simple things that can, in my opinion, save our infants. Comprehensive healthcare and satellite clinics that he boss's got he Eats swell.

Owns a lotta houses, Goes vacationin', Breaks strikes, Runs politics, bribes police, Pays off congress, And struts all over the earthBut me, I ain't never had enough to ea Me, I ain't never been warm in winter. Me, I ain't never known securityAll my life, been livin' hand to mouth, Hand to mouth.

Listen, Revolution, We're buddies, seeTogether, We can take everything:

Factories, arsenals, houses, ship.

Railroads, forests, fields, orchar Bus lines, telegraphs, radios, (Jesus! Raise hell with radios!)

Steel mills, coal mines, oil wells, gas, All the tools of production, (Great day in the morning!) Everything— And people work.

Rule for people work.

Boy! Them radios— Broadcasting that very first USSR:

Another member the International Soviet's done come Greetings to the Socialist Soviet Republics Hey you rising workers everywhere greetings And we'll sign it: Germany Sign it: China Sign it: Africa Sign it: Poland Sign it: Italy Sign it: America Sign it with my one r ame:

On that day when no o ne wil cold oppressed, Anywhere in the world again.

That's our job!

I been starvin' too long, Ain't you?

Let's go, Revolution! are accessible to women in their neighborhoods-so they don't have to travel across town-really has made a difference. Providing bilingual practitioners and having an ongoing 24-hour translation service is also important. Informing people of their resources is another factor. I find that a lot of people who come to me do not realize that they can apply for MediCal and still get prenatal care.

I have a lot of people who go to the welfare office, where you would think they would tell you where you can go to seek prenatal care, but they don't. Outreach makes a difference. Being sensitive and aware of cultural differences, having competent midwives and doctors makes a difference. And one of the most important things that I have found as a practitioner is human kindness.

So I leave you with a saying from Fanny Lou Hammer, who was a Black woman activist: "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, and let's do something about it."

(continued from page 16: “Infants Before Profits!”) $1 billion in 1981 by a Congress with a Democratic majority.

This government was founded in September 1787, after over four months of secret discussion behind closed doors by 55 financially, politically, and socially privileged white males. They designed a constitution, and a legal, political and military system to serve their interests against the majority of the population who were not represented. That included Blacks, women, propertyless whites, and Native-Americans.

Changes have taken place since 1787 that have somewhat masked the rule of the ruling class. But any serious examination can expose the corrupt, mercenary, and exploitative nature of the present system. We who are involved with the issue of infant mortality must acquire a more sophisticated and knowledgeable awareness of the nature, strengths, and weaknesses of the beast that we are dealing with.

Healthcare in Grenada

Prior to the murder of Maurice Bishop and other revolutionary leaders of Grenada, and the U.S. invasion of that country last October, tremendous gains had been registered in the areas of healthcare, education, employment, and social services. Those gains occurred as a direct result of the March 1979 revolution in Grenada.

Socialist Action/Joe Ryan RENEE SMITH @ Rachael Romeo 1989 That revolution began a four-and-ahalf-year process-aborted by the U.S. invasion last year-of putting human needs and desires for a better life ahead of the profit needs of the capitalist system.

Before the revolution, healthcare was a privilege reserved for those who could pay. The upper class patronized the island's private doctors or traveled abroad for medical care, while the rest of the population was left with the decrepit public hospitals which had no equipment, medicines, or even bed linen. Women gave birth on cold concrete floors as cockroaches scurried through the filthy wards.

The revolution decreed health to be a basic human right. Its approach to healthcare was based on the concept of preventive medicine, and primary care teams of health professionals were sponsored by the government to utilize films, lectures, and workshops to popularize concepts of preventive medicine and involve the masses in identifying and preventing health, problems in their communities.

That is what a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, can do.

Cubans put healthcare first In the last year prior to the Jan. 1, 1959, victory of the Cuban Revolution, life expectancy was 58 years, and more than 70 infants died for every 1000 born alive. In 1958, approximately 20 million Cuban pesos were spent on public health. In 1982, a little under 600 million pesos were allocated for public health.

The present infant mortality rate is 17.3 for every 1000 live births, a result of adequate prenatal mother-infant care. In 1959 there was one school of medicine, one school of dentistry and six schools of nursing. Today there are 17 schools of medicine and four schools of dentistry in Cuba. The life expectancy of the average Cuban regardless of occupation, sex, color, or function in society is 73.5 years.

Contrast that with the racial, educational, income, class, sex, and occupational breakdowns for life expectancy in capitalist America.

We must learn, teach, organize ourselves and others, and develop strategy and tactics for our immediate and long-range gains. We must fight to preserve every prior victory and collectively fight to win all of the many battles on the road to the final one-the battle for the complete transformation of this capitalist system. Our battle is for a society where the masses are in control of their lives and destiny-where infants and all human beings come before profits.

Socialist Action April 1984 15

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ACTiON A symposium:

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Zakiya Somburu