Socialist Action (US)

The monthly paper of Socialist Action, San Francisco, 1983–2010

U.S. hands off the Nicaraguan revolution!

Socialist Action, Vol. 4, No. 3, March 1986 · scan p. 2 · Alan Benjamin · about 1,303 words

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Socialist Action in action for students, P-9 strikers 2 SOCIALIST ACTION MARCH 1986 "Reagan persists stubbornly in his war policy." This is how Nicaragua's Acting Foreign Minister Hugo Tinoco characterized the Reagan administration's concerted effort to secure $100 million in additional military and economic funding to the contras.

The contra funding, scheduled to go into effect March 31 if approved by Congress, is designed to press the Sandinista government into negotiations with the contras. If that fails, the money would be increased to the point of financing the direct overthrow of the Sandinistas, whom Secretary of State George P. Shultz on Feb. 27 called a "a cancer right here in our land mass."

In a highly publicized visit to Grenada on Feb. 20, President Reagan hinted that a U.S. invasion of Nicaragua could not be excluded. "I will never be sorry for ordering an invasion [of Grenada in October 1983]," Reagan said. "Today, in Nicaragua," he continued, "we Socialist Action, the organization, entered its third year with big plans and much activity.

Here are some of the activities we've been involved in:

• SANTA CRUZ, Calif.—On Feb. 14, Students for Socialist Action at the University of California held a "Tribute to Malcolm X" in honor of Black History Month with a presentation by Kwame M.A. Somburu.

Forty-five students attended the forum, including 15 members of one class on a "political field trip," reports Adam Wood. One student asked to join Students for Socialist Action.

• CINCINNATI-Students at three area campuses are involved in Students for Socialist Action. "The fight against apartheid is at the forefront of coalition building," reports Carol Lippman, a student at University of Cincinnati.

Mark Allen, a student at Xavier, a private Catholic college, told Socialist Action that "even business majors are moved by events in South Africa and Latin America."

Students for Socialist Action chapters are S.A. Index Available The first two years of Socialist Action have now been indexed. If you are missing back issues—or would like to know what articles we've published-be sure to order this 26-page index.

Price: $1.50. Send order to 3435 Army, Rm. 308, San Francisco 94110.

VILISI TUMSWA AFL 110 DA members Jake cooper and Art LeClair in Bath, Maine being organized at both these campuses. At U.C. the socialists have weekly literature tables and are planning forums, films, and study groups of "Marxist classics.' • BOSTON-Socialist Action members were active supporters of the recent hotel and restaurant workers' mobilizations and are now busy gathering support for the Hormel strike through the Greater Boston Hormel/Local P-9 Support Committee.

Over 40 people, including several autoworkers, attended a Socialist Action forum Feb. 9 titled "Labor's Fight Against Concessions: Then & Now." Jake Cooper, a veteran of the 1934 Teamster strike and a see a chain of events similar to what happened here.

And at the same time the Reagan administration is asking for money for the contras, it has cut even more funding from greatly needed social programs. The 1987 fiscal budget calls for massive cuts in student loans, food stamps, child nutrition programs, and aid to families with dependent children. "For every contra we supply with a gun," Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-Ore.) told the press, "countless elderly Americans will go without meals."

But Tinoco and the leadership of the Nicaraguan FLN have repeatedly stated they will not bow to the pressures of the imperialist colossus to the North and will not accept to sit down and negotiate with the contras. To do so, they affirm, would be to open the door to counterrevolution in Nicaragua.

Even the so-called friends of the Nicaraguan revolution in the Contadora Group of Latin American nations caved into the pressures of the U.S. government, changing their "peace proposal" to include the demand that the Sandinistas put down their arms and agree to negotiate leader of the Committee for speaker. • BATH, Maine—Readers of Socialist Action helped their union local, Ship -builders (IUMSWA) Local 6, build a large public meeting Feb. 10 on labor history.

Speakers were Darrell Becker president of Shipbuilders Local 61 in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Jake Cooper.

Socialist Action branches and members have built and spoken at several public forums. These include forums on the crisis in the Philippines in both Los Angeles and San Francisco; a forum with Jake Cooper in Chicago and a talk by Cooper sponsored by the Students for Socialist Action at U. of Illinois/Chicago; a Discussion Group forum on women's rights in Grand Rapids, Mich.; and a forum on "The Politics of Bilingual Education" by parents and teachers in the Oakland, Calif., schools.

Socialist Action study groups are also underway in New York, Boston, and Chicago.

And the national office of Socialist Action has been keeping busy too. This issue of the paper contains the second special supplement on the Hormel strike.

A separate run of 3000 copies of the first supplement was printed, and 2000 were distributed in Austin and the Twin Cities. Some P-9 strikers have already sent in for subscriptions.

We've printed an additional 4000 copies of the second supplement. The center-spread article by Lynn Henderson, which answers the UFCW international leadership's charges against P-9 in detail, is proving especially valuable for building labor solidarity for P-9. The recent issue of The Unionist, P-9's newspaper, reprinted Henderson's article.

Twin Cities Support the Hormel strike was the Over 50,000 leaflets and thousands of posters, buttons, and T-shirts have been distributed through a network of local organizing committees functioning in several San Francisco Bay Area counties.

Anti-intervention and anti-apartheid actions will take place in several cities during March and April. Central America Week activities will be organized during March 15-24, with anti-apartheid actions occurring from March 21 to April 6.

In New York City, on March 21, the anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa [see page 3], a march and rally will take place at the Federal Building against U.S. intervention in Central America and the Caribbean and against U.S. support to the apartheid regime. A main demand of the demonstration, which is being organized by a broad coalition of peace and solidarity forces, is "No U.S. aid to the Nicaraguan and Angolan contras."

These activities can be large and power -ful-particularly if they relate to the growing outrage of the American people against the budget cuts and the contra aid vote. Both these issues reveal the connections between the imperialist foreign policy and the capitalist war on the home front. By stressing these connections, the anti-intervention and anti-apartheid movements can strengthen their appeal to the the overwhelming majority of Americans.

Our new pamphlets, one on South Africa and one on the antiwar movement, are also out. You can order individual or multiple copies at a discount.

We have also launched a spring subscription drive. Until June 15, you can receive six months of Socialist Action for only $2. A one-year subscription is only $5. If you don't have a subscription, make sure to send in for one now!

ACTION Closing date: Feb. 28, 1986 Editor: ALAN BENJAMIN Asst. Editor: MICHAEL SCHREIBER Staff: Amanda Chapman, Paul Colvin, May May Gong, Millie Gonzalez, Mark Harris, David Kirschner, Joe Ryan, Carole Seligman, Kwame M.A. Somburu, Business Manager: DON MAHONEY Circulation Manager: RALPH FORSYTH Socialist Action (ISSN 0747-4237) is published monthly for $6 per year by Socialist Action Publishing Association, 3435 Army St., No. 308, San Francisco, CA 94110. Second-class postage is paid at San Francisco, Calif.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Socialist Action, 3435 Army St., No. 308, San Francisco, CA 94110.

Rates: 12 issues for $6.00; Canada and Mexico $12.50; $30.00 airmail for all other countries; $14.00 surface mail for all other countries.

Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily represent the views of So -cialist Action. These are expressed in editorials.

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Socialist Action/Dave Wal Socialist

← Contents of Vol. 4, No. 3, March 1986

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