New NOW president vows abortion action

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Eleanor Smeal won an upset victory over Judy Goldsmith at the National Organization for Women's national convention held in New Orleans. Smeal served as president of NOW from 1977 to 1982. Goldsmith had served a twoand-a-half-year term. Smeal defeated Goldsmith 839 to 703.

Smeal's victory was a surprise and represents a deep dissatisfaction with NOW's do-nothing policy on abortion rights and the Equal Rights Amendment. Goldsmith campaigned on the fact that under her rule a woman was nominated for vice president for the first time in history.

Unfortunately for Goldsmith, most NOW women did not feel that the nomination of Geraldine Ferraro for vice president had added to their pay check or given them reproductive choice.

Smeal ran on a campaign of "back into the streets."

She has promised a militant campaign for abortion rights, including a march of 200,000 in Washington, D.C., in March of 1986.

She spoke of the need to move away from the Democratic Party and to begin the campaign for the ERA again. She also reported the growing loss of membership and promised a "campus crusade" to gain new members.

Aug. 26 is National Suffrage day. It is a celebration of women's victory for the right to vote. The National Organization for Women could do for women of the '80s what the suffragists did in the early part of this century.

Women joined NOW because they are ready to fight for full equality and for reproductive rights. Smeal must live up to her campaign promise or she will go the way of Goldsmith. are pre-1985 figures.) A person who received $7000 from dividends would pay $992.30. A person who reaped a $7000 profit by selling stocks would pay only $526 in capital-gains tax. Meanwhile, a person who invested money in state and municipal tax-free bonds yielding $7000 would pay no tax at all.

Here is an injustice crying for redress. But Reagan's Second American Revolution shows no concern for this kind of unfairness.

Stumbling before the troops The shock troops of revolutions usually are the poorest and most distressed members of society. But Reagan is not going into the slums to appeal to these people to join his crusade. Despite the little tax cut he is offering, he knows the poor are not going to welcome the man who cut foodstamps, job training programs, and dozens of other vital services.

Instead Reagan is appealing to those middle-income citizens who cheered his tirades against big government and wasteful spenders. Don't these people also hate unfair taxes-especially those they have to pay? ing, have taken up the cause of tax reform themselves. They claim they will give more relief to middle-income votThe Democrats promise that their tax reform plan will be fairer than fair. They will be aided by lobbyists for every special interest who will help modify the bill in the interest of more fairness—to themselves.

Even the business tax and depreciation allowances that are intended to move capital out of the rust-bowl industries into hi-tech enterprises may not withstand the assaults of lobbyists and special pleaders. The oil industry has already forced the administration to retain two-thirds of the depletion allowances that were cut in earlier versions of Reagan's tax plan.

There is every indication that Reagan's tax reform will meet the fate of all past attempts at a fundamental tax revision. It will be nibbled to pieces by wealthy special interests. The Second American Revolution slogan will appear ludicrous as yet another version of "soak-the-workers" tax legislation finally emerges-as unfair and complicated as before.

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The 4500-member Local 6 of