Wheeling-Pitt strikers oust company execs

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the military resulting in at least three serious injuries.

The government and the unions aren't talking. Paz says he will speak to the union leaders only if they end the strike, while the union says it will end the strike only if Paz withdraws his "anti-worker, pro-oligarchy, pro-International Monetary Fund" economic plan. Paz says "the plan is not negotiable.

As the crisis worsens, there is both the danger of a fascist coup by the right wing of the military or Gen. Hugo Banzer's fascist ADN party, and the possibility of the workers toppling Paz and putting in power a more radical government, though neither would solve any of the underlying problems.

The possibility of a workers' socialist revolution seems unlikely at the moment because of the deep divisions on the left and the lack of a revolutionary party.

State is "worthless"

The immediate cause of the crisis is Paz's austerity program, but the social problems which underlie the crisis are complex. Their origins are to be found in the 1952 revolution, the nearly 20 years of military dictatorship from 1964 to 1982, and the failure of the Popular Unity government that ruled Bolivia from October 1982 to July 1985.

"We in Bolivia are living through a political crisis like that in the entire Southern Cone"" says Antonio Peredo, editor of Aqui, a Castroist newspaper. "It's the crisis of the emergence from the fascist dictatorships."

Peredo was a founder of the Bolivian Communist Party (PCB) as a high-school student in 1950, but left the party in 1960 when he felt it was no longer revolutionary. His brother fought with 20 SOCIALIST ACTIQN Last minute: On Sept. 20, Dennis Carney, chairman of the WheelingPittsburgh Corp., and five other company directors resigned from their posts, saying they wanted to clear the way for the resumption of negotiations with the striking steelworkers.

It is clear that the resoluteness of the strikers-and the fact they were granted unemployment compensation-has sent a signal to management that it won't be so easy to break this strike.

The following article, filed shortly before these resignations, provides a clear picture of the determination of the WHAT SHOULD WE DO I ALWAYS FELT WITH THIS PLACE, NOW IT WOULD MAKE A THAT WE'VE USED GREAT SPITTOON.

IT UP?

(HOUSTRI UST BOWE Wheeling-Pitt strikers and the widespread support their struggle has received-The Editors.

CLEVELAND-Hiding behind Federal Judge Warren W. Bentz' bankruptcy ruling, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. stopped negotiations with the United Steelworkers of America and unilaterally imposed new wages, benefits, and working conditions on July 21, 1985.

Recognizing this as a union-busting maneuver, the 8500 workers at nine Wheeling-Pittsburgh plants in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia unanimously voted not to work under these slave-labor conditions.

Since the working conditions imposed by Wheeling-Pittsburgh constitute a lock-out, the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania agreed to pay unemployment-compensation claims filed by Wheeling-Pittsburgh workers. The company has returned to Judge Bentz, asking that he prohibit the states from honoring these claims.

Wheeling-Pittsburgh supervisors call workers on a daily basis, urging them to come back to we n. A handful of office workers did cross the picket lines one day. When they left work, several hundred steelworkers successfully persuaded them not to scab again.

Although the company has been unsuccessful in its attempts to recruit scabs, several attempts have been made to move steel. As soon as the workers learn of these attempts, several hundred show up to make sure the steel does not move.

In Beech Bottom, W. Va., eight steel workers, including three local union (continued on page 4, in “GM runs rings UAW at new Saturn plant”)

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there is the danger of a military coup."