New Yorkers say 'no way' to nukes

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Socialist Action, 3435 Army St., Rm. 308, San Francisco, CA 94110 2 SOCIALIST ACTION OCTOBER 1985 NEW YORK-The U.S.

Navy wants to bring nuclear weapons into New York City's harbor, but more than a 100,000 New Yorkers have said: "No way!"

That's how many people put their signatures on petitions to force the Navyport issue onto the November ballot.

On Sept. 5, organizers of the petition drive turned in 41,956 signatures to the Board of Elections. Earlier in the summer more than 60,000 had been submitted.

The peculiarity of New York's ballot laws required a "two-phase" petitioning effort. Thirty thousand valid signatures of registered voters were required in the first round and 15,000 in the second round.

Round One ended in victory when the first 60,670 signatures were turned in and city officials certified more than 34,000 as valid.

Round Two seems destined for an equally successful conclusion. With nearly 42,000 signatures submitted and only 15,000 valid signatures required, election officials have already conceded that th ICHIGAN AFL CIE Here's the deal. Help us to meet our goal of 225 new subscriptions and $10,000 for our publication/expansion fund and we promise to continue delivering to you the best revolutionarysocialist newspaper we can. We also promise to make improvements as our capacity grows.

With this issue of Socialist Action we're pleased to publish our first theoretical supplement: International Outlook: A Marxist Theoretical Review. In the future, we plan to offer the supplement within an expanded 24-page issue that would appear several times a year.

Socialist Action this month is introducing a new column on health issues and the environment. We are printing special eye-witness articles from Bolivia and Nicaragua. And-as always—we include reports to keep you up to date on important union and antiwar actions around the country.

We're proud to find ourselves in the thick of the struggle against the bosses and the bosses' government. We are Navyport issue is likely to be on Navyport issue likely the ballot.

But there is still a Round Three ahead and it is the decisive one. That is the campaign to reach the millions of New York City voters with the antiNavyport message before the November elections.

Meanwhile, local allies of the Pentagon have crawled out of the woodwork to file a lawsuit aimed at blocking the referendum. Two City Council members representing Staten Island-where the Navyport is scheduled to be built-are suing to force a line-by-line validation of the signatures.

While the suit's sponsors have little hope of proving the petitions invalid, their court action has a great deal of harassment potential. If successful, it could divert activists, who would otherwise be campaigning for the referendum, into a tedious morass of paperwork.

Lawyers for the anti-nuclear coalition, however, feel that the legal basis of the suit is so scant that it may simply be tossed out of court.

Mayor Edward Koch also took a shot at crushing the ref pleased tr › include Jim Guyet te, leader the giant Hormel pany.

We are also printing an on-the-scene article on the Hormel strike by Jake Cooper, who was a leader of the 1934 Teamster strikes and is now centrally involved in the Hormel Strike Support Group in the Twin Cities.

Both provide insights into the fight against the growing wave of demands for union concessions—a discussion we focused on last month in our FORUM section.

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We can't afford to be shy. We've raised one-third of our projected $10,000 goal and need more contributions to go the distance. We'll keep our part of the deal. We promise. Can you help? our interview with of the strike against meatpacking comerendum in the egg. He hinted to the press that he would help the Navy complete its dealings with the city before November, thus rendering the referendum moot.

Koch's attempted end run around the controversy, however, was a flop-he was thrown for a loss. Publicly challenged during his re-election campaign to defend such an undemocratic procedure, he was forced to back down and agree to "let the people vote" on the issue.

Other pro-Pentagon forces have been busy raising big bucks from big business for a "war chest" to defeat the referendum. Anti-nuclear sentiment in New York runs so deep, however, that the right-wingers' campaign could well backfire.

Rather than teaching New Yorkers to learn to love The Bomb, it might have the opposite effect by drawing broader attention to the issue.

Nevertheless, the coalition that gathered the 102,626 signatures-led by New York Mobilization for Survival—is not relaxing. It plans to carry out a massive campaign from now through election day.

The focus will be on the danNIGHTLY HEIS CHICK!

Enclosed is $ Name Addreas City Telephone.

Closing news date: Sept. 22, 1985 Editor: ALAN BENJAMIN Assistant Editor: MICHAEL SCHREIBER Business Manager:Don Mahoney Circulation Manager: Ralph Forsyth No. 308, San Francisco, CA 94110.

Socialist Action. These are expressed in editorials.

gers of having nuclear doomsday weapons bobbing about in the harbor, while countering the Pentagon's phony lure of "jobs" to be created by the Navyport.

The power of the referendum lies in the fact that if it passes it will be legally binding on the city government. The city would be effectively prohibited from providing land or funds, or cooperating in any way, with the construction of the Navyport.

The Pentagon, however, would not be legally bound by the vote. The Navy could go over the head of the city government and seize the land it needs under "condemnation" proceedings.

The political costs of for the fu • State action are obvious. Building the nuclear base in the face of a clear majority vote against it would cast the Navy in the role of undemocratically ramming it down the throats of a hostile population.

A Navy spokesperson, asked by reporters what would happen if the referendum passes, said, "We would have to reevaluate the whole situation."

Indeed they will.

When New Zealand told the Reagan administration that its nuclear-armed ships were no longer welcome there, the White House's reaction was one of extreme distress. What will they do if New York City now tells them to take their nukes and shove off?

Six months for only $2.00 e year for only $5.00 $14.00—Other countries (surface) $30.00—Other countries (airmail)

$12.50—Canada and Mexico ZIp mILL

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1920 WOMENS SUFFRAGI

POVERTY! UNEMPLOYMENT! HUNGER! SOME ONE'S GOT TO PUT A STOPTO THIS MISERY. THANKS, NANCYNI