Antiwar conference to meet in Ohio

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tions in an attempt not just to crush the Sandinista government, but also to gain support for Reagan's reelection campaign. Walter Mondale, the current presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, predicts a "December "surprise" if Reagan is reelected.

Regardless of the timetable, a confrontation is mounting. Through the elections, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) is preparing to demonstrate to the entire world that the people of Nicaragua will defend their revolution at the polling places as well as in the trenches. The bourgeois opposition, on the other hand, is disoriented: They alternate between boycotting and participating in the elections.

In the United States, it is the elections themselves that have produced a disorientation within the opposition to Reagan's policies. Those who are opposed to austerity policies, opposed to war plans, opposed to racial and sexual discrimination, opposed to the life of economic and social insecurity that faces young people, have failed to organize the massive protests and rallies that are necessary for an effective fight against the government's policies.

Instead, they prefer to try to elect a dull and listless candidate who was the vice president during an administration which itself increased military spending, attacked the unions, and began the intervention in Central America. This electoral orientation has led to the (continued on page 9, in “Union Leader Speaks”)

The U.S.government is trying to prepare American public opinion for a widening war in Central America, including the direct use of U.S. combat troops. At the same time, there has been no relief from the economic squeeze applied to working people. In response, hundreds of anti-intervention organizations have sprung up all over the country. While sharing a common commitment to peace, most of these organizations have tended to work independently of each other.

The September 14-16 Cleveland conference hopes to gather hundreds of activists to discuss a common framework for their varied activities and to educate and plan for massive national actions against U.S. military intervenAll out!

Emergency National Conference:

September 14-16, 1984, Cleveland, Ohio.

To register for the conference, send name, address, and union or other affiliation to P.O. Box 21672, Cleveland, Ohio 44121, along with a $5 or $15 registration fee. For more information call (216) 398-0919. tion in Central America bean.

Ron Weisen, president of the United Steelworkers of America Homestead local in Pittsburgh, will speak about the necessity of the peace movement and the labor movement working together. Other speakers include Dave Dyson, secretary of the widely-supported National Labor Committee in Support of Democracy and Human Rights in El Salvador, and Eugene T. Carroll, labor coordinator of the National Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign.

Hundreds of important endorsements have been received for the conference. Among them are: United Furniture Workers of America; Women Strike for Peace; International Chemical Workers Union; Executive Board of the Ohio Education Association; Central American Task Force, National Lawyers Guild; Prof. Owen Chamberlain; Al Lannon, president of the International Longshore and Warehousemen's Union Local 6, San Francisco; Cleveland Clergy and Laity Concerned; Detroit Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador and nine other CISPES chapters; Toledo National Organization for Women; Guatemala News and Information Center; Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.; and numerous others.