We must unite all groups opposed to the war drive

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Panel of speakers addressing Emergency National Conference in Cleveland on Sept. 14. From left to right are Joe Lindenmuth, president USWA Local 2265; lone Biggs, vice-president Women Speak Out for Peace and Justice; Jerry Gordon, international representative UFCW and one of the conference coordinators; and Norma Hannah, a representative from Cleveland CISPES. 8 SOCIALIST ACTIO JANUARY 1985 Socialist Action: Did the recent elections represent a mandate for Reagan's policies?

Joe Lindenmuth: President Reagan would like to think this was a mandate. However, since there were no appreciable changes in the Senate or House, I think that what the American people generally did was vote for the Great Communicator, while keeping the makeup of Congress pretty much the same as an insurance policy.

I don't think the American people were too confident of his policies, but they weren't too confident of Mondale either. So, they decided to continue with what they had.

S.A.: How do you view the low voter turn-out?

Lindenmuth: It was a vote against both candidates. Organized labor felt Mondale would make a difference, but others didn't feel as strongly.

S.A.: Do you think Mondale's election would have made a difference?

Lindenmuth:- I don't think sO, because I believe that the major problem facing America today is the loss of jobs to Third World nations ruled by oppressive, fascist dictators who attract transnational corporations with low wages and inhuman working conditions.

Both Democratic and Republican administrations have consistently supported this foreign policy for the past 20 years. In the long run, if American workers are going to maintain their standard of living, this policy must be completely reversed.

S.A.: How does this policy affect workers in Third World countries?

Lindenmuth: They have no alternative but to rebel and try to eliminate their misery by getting rid of the dictator who is oppressing them. As a result of this, the American worker pays higher taxes to pay for the military aid necessary to put down these rebellions.

If military aid doesn't resolve the problem, it becomes incumbent upon the American worker to send his kids into these Third World countries. Sons of American carpenters, miners, and steelworkers then end up being killed by and killing sons of Central American carpenters, miners, and steelworkers. If the uprising is put down, the end result is that the fascist dictator is maintained in his role of oppressor of his people.

S.A.: Referendums opposing U.S. intervention in Central America were on the ballot in a number of areas. Why do you think these passed at the same time that Reagan was receiving his so-called landslide victory?

Lindenmuth: As 1 mentioned before, the people voted for Reagan as the so-called Great Communicator. Although the Grenada situation didn't create much reaction among people, they have become somewhat more sophisticated as a result of the Vietnam experience.

What they learned from Vietnam is that we went to war not for the protection of democracy, but for the sole purpose of maintaining a dictatorship that would assure a low-wage labor force that was acceptable to the transnational corporations.

S.A.: Why are you actively engaged in this issue?

Lindenmuth: The American worker is getting his teeth kicked out by concession bargaining, plant closings, job elimination, two-tiered wage systems, and a general lowering of his standard of living.

All this is directly related to the simple fact that corporations can transfer jobs at will from the United States to Third World countries in search of higher profits gained through lower wages at the expense of workers both in the United States and in the underdeveloped countries. Until the American labor movement wakes up to this fact, the American worker will continue to be assaulted.

Ten years ago, approximately 55 percent of the people in this country owned a home. Today, less than 30 percent do. This year officials in some cities discussed whether to accept such residences as the heating grate at 53rd and Main Street as voting addresses.

We distributed surplus government cheese at the Steelworkers hall today. Just think about it, people are so desperate that they'll come out in all kinds of weather and stand in line for hours for a 5-pound loaf of cheese.

It's about time the American worker gets pissed off about being ripped off. Every time an American soldier goes MAL PICA much.

S.A.: Do you feel the interests of U.S. workers and those in other countries are interconnected?

Lindenmuth: At the Steelworkers convention I tried to make this point. I explained that if a steelworker strikes Phelps Dodge in Arizona, everyone says it's a good fight. If he strikes in South Africa, everyone denounces the injustice of apartheid. However, if he strikes in Central America to try to obtain a decent standard of living for his family, everyone starts screaming "the commies are coming."

S.A.: Concretely, what do you working people can do to prevent U.S. intervention in Central America?

Lindenmuth: One of the factors curtailing open military imvolvement by the Reagan administration is the reac tion that may occur from the American population because of the Vietnam experience. What's most important for the American worker at this point is to become educated as to what is occurring.

S.A.: What do you think of the action proposal that came out of the Emergency National Conference that took place in Cleveland?

Lindenmuth: I endorsed and participated in that conference. I was hopeful that it would unite all groups opposed to military intervention-regardless of political affiliations, economic ideology, religious belief, and social philosophies—to establish a just and sane planet.

I think that the action proposal was a major step in the right direction. Since its adoption, the conference continuations committee has joined with others, and proposals have been put forth that will call for an immediate response should this country intervene militarily in Central America. It has also shed more light on the issue and caused greater debate.

It is important that a lot of people participate in the April 20 demonstration. Otherwise, you can rest assured that President Reagan will recognize a small turnout as an endorsement of his perceived mandate to continue his foreign policy as he has in the past.

LONFERENCE INTERVENTIUN CARIBBEAN CLEVELAND CHO think Socialist Action/Carol McAllister Central America has aroused the emotions and raised the consciousness of the American people, although they haven't quite crystallized yet or fully been utilized by people like us. It's commonplace to say that TV brought the Vietnam war into our living rooms and made possible the antiwar movement. Up to a point it's true.

Now the proximity of Central America and the flood of refugees with real-life stories to tell is playing a similar role. It has concretized the situation and made it human to people. The large number of visitors in and out of Nicaragua means that thousands of people have been to a church meeting, a political meeting, teach-in, or forum and have been moved by one or more of these people.

If Mondale's loyalties had not been to the transnational corporations and the status quo, he would have made Central America an issue, Grenada an issue, Lebanon and the senseless sacrifice of the Marines an issue. Imagine letting Reagan and the Pentagon get away with keeping the press out and making Grenada appear to be a bloodless triumph that could make some Americans feel strong rather than ashamed—a brutal victory over 125,000 Dave Dellinger and young friend in Nicaragua in November 1984.

people, a savage and blatantly illegal assault on the Cubans.

S.A.: What can you tell us about the national demonstrations planned for the spring?

Dellinger: There will be a mass demonstration in Washington on April 20. It is very important that the policy of nonexclusion be followed; that it not be a bunch of cautious peace bureaucrats who run it, but a coalition embracing all our varied tendencies; important that the message not be tamed down in the way that the Freeze has tamed down the message of nuclear arms, trying to keep it separate from Central America, the Middle East, and South Africa, from racism, sexism, and a private-profit economy.

I would urge that the massive demonstration in Washington be one in which the cautious people can be assured of its strictly legal character, but not exclusively of a watered-down message like that of the Freeze. And I would announce at that rally a day of national "no business as usual, for those who are ready to take part in it. We need both mass legal demonstrations and militant nonviolent direct actions, nationally as well as locally, with larger and larger numbers of people participating.

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Phil Wheaton:

We have to hit ANTIWAR PROSPECTS

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"It Is Important that a lot of people turn out on April 20."