Quarter of a million turn out for Democratic convention rallies

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vote Mondale-Ferraro" banners led off the July 14 labor demonstration "The march was a display of the potential This is a reduced summer issue. Next month we will return to 16 pages. THE *BA MACHINISTE he Democratic Party National Convention.

SAN FRANCISCO—A quarter of a million people marched and rallied here in several demonstrations held during the Democratic Party National Convention. The three major demonstrations were organized to support the Democratic Party and to pressure it into incorporating their demands into the party platform. But the great bulk of the participants also saw them as a vehicle for expressing their desires for jobs, workers' rights, equal rights for gays and lesbians, and no U.S. intervention in Central America.

The largest of the actions, organized by a coalition of the AFL-CIO, Teamsters union, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, attracted over 100,000 trade unionists. The parade and brief rally had been carefully planned for several months by more than 50 central labor councils and their affiliated local unions. It was led and other top labor officials. The lead banner, "Mondale and Ferraro, " belied the "non-partisan" nature of the demonstration-as did the speeches, the press interviews, and the placards and floats prepared by march organizers.

Kirkland sounded the main theme. «There was a time not too long ago, " he said, "when labor looked to government for a fair balance between the working man and industry. But not today. Not under Ronald Reagan. Today we don't have a government which represents everyone...our response must be to continue to march, to march to the polls to vote for our ideals and principles. "

'Boycott the Emporium!"

The march was the largest labor action in this area in recent decades. It demonstrated the capacity of the organized labor movement to mobilize its ranks in the tens of thousands. It was also an indication that workers are outraged at the mounting government attacks on their unions and standard of living.

One contingent after another featured placards and banners protesting the employer and government attacks on workers. Many unionists shouted together "Boycott the Emporium!" as they marched past the picket lines of the locked-out retail clerks [see story on page 12]. The march was a visible display of the potential power of U.S. workers.

At the same time the demonstration indicated that workers still have many illusions about the capacity of the capitalist parties, particularly the Democrats, to solve the problems they are facing. The great majority of the contingents displayed placards in support of Mondale and the Democrats.

SOCIALIST ACTION The action was organized by a layer of union bureaucrats whose conscious strategy is to subordinate the power and interests of U.S. workers to an alliance with the party of the bosses. These labor misleaders, who have moved to the top positions in the unions today as a result of a long period of relative class peace, have no confidence that union members can stand up to the bosses' offensive. They fear that a real labor fightback would bring to the fore a new generation of fighters who would both threaten their comfortable alliance with the Democrats and their own positions of power and privilege.

Lesbians and gays march A few hours after the last labor contingent left the Civic Center, the 100,000 strong National March for Lesbian and Gay Rights arrived at the Moscone Center, the site of the Democratic Party Convention. Led by some 65 gay and lesbian delegates and alternates to ...Duarte tour (continued from page 1: “Duarte on world tour to sell his police state”) in May, is proving to be far more successful than his predecessors in gaining support for the Salvadoran regime from various Latin American and European governments. To the extent that Duarte succeeds in lining up these governments with U.S. policy in El Salvador, the threat of direct U.S. intervention increases.

Build international antiwar movement Despite these new pressures, the situation in El Salvador remains largely unchanged. The Salvadoran army is incapable of defeating the FMLN, but neither can the FMLN strike decisive blows against the government. Nonetheless, the FMLN continues to demonstrate its ability to take successful military action against selected government targets.

Most recently, the FMLN launched an offensive directed at the country's transportation system, blowing up several cargo trains and impeding traffic on the Pan-American highway. Radio Venceremos announced that the sabotage campaign had cost the government $1 million.

As the FMLN contends with an increasingly difficult international situation, the importance of building worldwide movement in solidarity with the Central American revolution becomes more apparent. The attitude of governments such as those of West Germany or even the Contadora nations toward U.S. intervention has always been ambivalent. They fear that a U.S. invasion of Central America would destabilize Latin America, given the present economic and social crisis of that continent. On the other hand, they AUGUST 1984 the convention, this demonstration was also designed by its organizers to put pressure on the Democratic Party.

Karen Clark, a Minnesota State Representative and a member of the convention's rules committee told the San Francisco Chronicle: "This is not a protest, but a show of support for the Democrats. The party is coming to terms in a fairly responsible way with its gay and lesbian constituents. This march will help mobilize gay and lesbian voters to show that they have a stake in the party and a stake in unseating Ronald Reagan."

While most of the platform speakers and march organizers echoed this theme, it was clear that the march also indicated growing support for the democratic rights of gay people in the United States. The march itself was a spirited demonstration by gay and lesbian activists and their supporters.

"Vote Peace in '84"

The last of the major actions at the Democratic Convention was organized by the "Vote Peace in '84 Coalition, " a group representing various church organizations, antinuclear weapons groups, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, and others.

Estimates of the size of the rally range from 15,000 to 35,000. Almost every speaker, in addition to expressing power of U.S. workers."

support for the rally's themes of opposition to nuclear weapons and to U.S. intervention in Central America, called for support to the Democratic Party in the coming elections.

San Francisco Supervisor Nancy Walker, who chaired the rally, reinforced its pro-Democratic Party nature with each introduction of the day's oppose the extension of the socialist revolution in Latin America.

The antiwar sentiment of tens of millions of working people, peasants, students, and churchpeople in the countries of Latin America and Europe places constraints on their governments. Their readiness to protest provides the only truly reliable support to the Central American revolution against the plans of the U.S. government. The mobilization of that antiwar sentiment, as happened during the Vietnam War, can play a critical role in allowing the people of Central America to determine their own fate.

Demonstrations and protests are needed against the new U.S. plans for military action against the fighting Salvadoran forces. The National Security Council has been warning that the FMLN is planning a fall offensive. This July it called on the Pentagon to plan for U.S. air strikes against FMLN positions. It further asked the State Department and the Defense Department to draw up plans to circumvent, if necessary, a congressional veto of the additional $117 million in military aid Reagan has requested for El Salvador.

The revelation of these plans by the Reagan administration came as it was reported that private U.S. sources contributed $17 million in aid to the contras in Nicaragua last year.

In other Central America news, the FSLN announced that it would present Daniel Ortega as its candidate for president of Nicaragua in the elections scheduled for November 1984. The elections are expected to demonstrate widespeakers. 'The people of this country are very interested in one thing, " she said. 'We must vote peace in '84. Hopefully those Democrats across the street are going to hear our message and strengthen their platform and make their candidates go out and talk peace. "

Daniel Ellsberg, a prominent antiwar activist who played a leading role in opposing U.S. intervention in Vietnam, focused his entire speech on the need to vote for the Democrats. Ellsberg claimed that the Democrats were "vying with each other as to who was actually more for the nuclear freeze. "

The main speaker at the rally was Democratic presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. After briefly outlining his own campaign platform, Jackson concluded with a call to "Vote Peace, Vote Jobs, Vote Justice, Vote Jackson. "

The organizers of the 'Vote Peace in '84" demonstration, like the leadership of the labor and gay marches, made a conscious decision to subordinate the independent power of working people and their allies to open support for the Democratic Party.

In so doing, they organized honest supporters of human freedom and social progress to lobby one of the parties responsible for the wars, anti-union attacks, and minority discrimination we face today. In this regard, the mass actions were not an aid to the struggle for liberation, either in the States or in Central America.

The true measure of the power of the movement to stop the war drive and bring about social justice will be shown by the ability of the working class and its allies to organize independently of both the Republican and Democratic parties.

spread support for the Sandinista regime, despite the sabotage campaign and military incursions organized by the U.S. government both directly and through the activity of the contras.

Editor: Alan Benjamin Associate Editors: Mark Harris Michael Schreiber Managing Editor: Nancy Gruber Business Manager: Kate Curry Editorial Board: Les Evans, Dianne Feeley, Jeff Mackler, Jim Richter, Nat Weinstein Staff: Paul Colvin, Larry Cooperman, Robin David, May May Gong, Millie Gonzalez, Hayden Perry, Linda Ray, Phil Ruble, Joe Ryan, Kwame M.A. Somburu, Marion Syrek, Sylvia Weinstein Socialist Action (ISSN 0747-4237) is published monthly for $6 per year by Socialist Action Publishing Association, 3435 Army St., No. 308, San Francisco, CA 94110. Second-class postage is paid at San Francisco, Calif.

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Emergency national antiwar conference: Women in the country. The National Education Association has sent out 500

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