Rambo wins the war the U.S. lost

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undermined the efforts of guys like Rambo to turn Vietnam into a parking lot for U.S. business.

Stallone explains the premise behind Rambo: "How many times in our lives have we strived to go back to a certain situation and strive to rectify all the wrongs? To go back to a war that was lost, and perhaps win a little peace of mind by doing it your way this time."

Everything but flap his ears Rambo's "way" of doing things consists of killing as many Vietnamese and their Russian cohorts as technically possible in a feature-length film. This he does with machine guns, grenades, bazookas, explosive-tipped arrows, helicopters, knives, etc.

But whatever the weapon, Rambo never misses, which is more than you can say for the Vietnamese and Russians. Every last one of them seems to be a notoriously bad shot. It's a wonder they ever won the war.

Rambo kills snakes with his bare hands, survives tangled parachutes, and propels himself like a rocket from under water straight into a Russian helicopter. In another scene he blasts a heavilyarmed Russian helicopter to smithereens by faking unconsciousness and then, when the Russians are too close for comfort, sends them with one clean bazooka shot to wherever atheists go when their time is up.

Rambo reacts to electrical torture, leeches, red-hot knives, and grisly Russian sadists the way a less heroic soul might respond to a stubbed toe. In fact, Rambo does everything except flap his ears and fly away. Maybe Stallone restrained himself to avoid comparison with that Disney classic-Dumbo.

But don't be misled. As dumb as things get Rambo still reminds us, "I've always believed that the mind is the best weapon."

As the plot thickens, or in this case explodes, this turns out to be one of the more esoteric bits of dialogue in the movie.

Now for the plot The plot, such as it is, revolves around Rambo's effort to prove that American POWs are still being held in Vietnam. Only he doesn't know that once again the cowardly bureaucrats płan to betray him. Rambo has orders only to photograph POWs and not to "engage the enemy."

But when Rambo actually frees one of the men, the bureaucrat in charge aborts the mission, abandoning Rambo to the "savage" communists.

The politicians and bureaucrats, you see, aren't interested in freeing POWs.

Socialist Action.

"The delegates to that congress, from affiliates of the International around the world, checked the facts and by an overwhelming majority rejected the so-called 'split' version presented by the SWP leadership, ruled that George and the other expellees had been unjustly purged, and demanded that the SWP reinstate us."

The message from the United Sec tariat of the Fourth International not Weissman's link with the early days of our movement:

"The Fourth International will remember George Weissman as an outstanding representative of the founding generation of the world The appeal of this movie for some lies in its fast-paced action, violence, and adventure. There are good guys and bad guys and a hero who doesn't quit.

This is not a movie designed to make you think. The dialogue is sparse and insipid. Rather, Rambo makes his point with guns, glares, and biceps. Especially important points are always made with his shirt off. But this should come as no surprise. A critical, probing discussion of the issues behind the war is hardly the preferred method of those who advocate mindless patriotism.

It is no coincidence that this movie comes along at a time when the Reagan administration is plotting war, anxious to cut through the constraints of the "Vietnam syndrome" that continues to hamstring the opportunity for a full-scale military operation in Central America.

Rambo helps the cause by the way it wraps its action plot around an insidious flag of unquestioning patriotism that never once asks why the United States waged war against the people of Vietnam.

Trotskyist movement. His life is an illustration of how much can be done by devoted and conscious revolutionists acting in accordance with their understanding and their convictions, even when they are only a tiny handful in a world dominated by reaction and unreason.

"Very few in Weissman's time could have lived a more useful or fulfilled life, one more totally dedicated to defending and advancing human dignity."

The SWP's conspicuous absence wasn't able to dampen the spirit of this meeting. That is a positive indication that George Weissman's life and work will not have been in vain.