Who provokes violence - cops or strikers ?

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Carried out with precision There are only four access roads into the plant area. This is where the vehicles and pickets were to concentrate. The largest number of pickets was assigned to the main access road from the freeway.

This time, unlike previous mobili -zations, the strikers decided they would not stand by and allow the cops to violate their constitutional rights to carry out an effective picketline.

Instead of willingly accepting arrests "to fill the jails," pickets were advised to "peacefully intervene to prevent arrests." Organizers said that pickets should vigor -ously protest any unconstitutional-and therefore illegal—arrests. This fundamental right to free speech is guaranteed by the constitution's Bill of Rights.

The pickets enthusiastically, and without debate, carried out the plan with amazing precision. Less than an hour later, the four access roads to the Hormel plant were blocked by a circle of stalled and locked ve -San Francisco Socialist Action Education Conference Friday, June 13, 8 p.m.

Report from Nicaragua

Saturday, June 14 Three classes:

Revolution in South Africa;

Marxism: Its relevance for Prospects for Socialism in the U.S.

For place and time call (415) 821-0458 MINNEAPOLIS—These are hard times for the P-9 strikers. Six P-9ers and 11 supporters were arrested on April 11 and face up to five years in jail for attempting to keep the scabs from crossing the picketline.

On April 24, P-9 President Jim Guyette and Ray Rogers were arraigned on charges stemming from the same strike action. Police Chief Donald Hoffman said that eight additional pickets face charges based on police videotapes of the demonstration.

On April 14, the UFCW International also stepped up its attacks on P-9, with the opening of a three-day hearing against the local. The only thing the union officials were willing to consider was whether or not P-9 had violated the International's order to end the strike. If found guilty, P-9 will be placed in receivership, and new local elections will be called.

The UFCW hearings were a sham. Only 48 people could fit into the small room at the downtown public library. And P-9 members were not allowed to testify; only executive board members. Jim Guyette told the Minneapolis Star and Tribune that he would physically not allow the International trustees to take over the Austin union hall.

Now, Jesse Jackson has come into the picture. On April 13, Jackson spoke at a rally and press conference in Austin.

Jackson was warmly greeted by the striking workers. People felt that Jackson was helping out by keeping national attention focused on the strike. But many P-9 members and supporters were disap -pointed that Jackson chose to come to Austin the day after the three-day solidarity actions. If he really wanted to support P-9, they asked, why wasn't he at the support rally or the picketline?

And many P-9ers were also disappointed with Jackson's speech to the April 13 rally. Jackson never mentioned the arrests on April 11. Nor did he denounce the company or strikebreaking Gov. Rudy Perpich. All he could say was, "We don't need people fighting each other."

Jackson also strongly implied throughout his speech that the strikers were to blame for the confrontation on the picketline. "Don't lose the moral authority of your struggle," he said. "This struggle is not about tear gas, violence, and jails. It's about wages and benefits and protection and family stability."

Jackson's warnings against violence, however, were totally misdirected. The company and the cops were responsible for the confrontation and the tear gas—not the strikers, who were simply seeking to defend their jobs, wages, and working conditions by exercising their First Amendment right to assemble and picket.

After the rally, Jackson told the Min -neapolis Star and Tribune that his trip to Austin had "lifted the spirits of the people on both the side of labor and the side of management." Jackson also said he hoped to gain the confidence of the Hormel company so that he could be a "facilitator" in the strike.

What the P-9 strikers need, however, is not rhetoric and misdirected warnings. A large-scale campaign to defend the 25 arrested P-9 strikers and their supporters is necessary. Increased material aid to the P-9 Adopt a Family Fund is also crucial.

Money should be sent to United Support Group, P-9 Emergency Hardship Fund, 316 Fourth Ave., NE, Austin MN 55912. And support for P-9's Hormel boycott must be organized on a national scale by the entire labor movement.

localist Action/Beer Car caravan delivering 24 tons of food to striking Local P-9 workers makes its way to Austin, Minn., on April 5. This was the third and most successful caravan organized by the Twin Cities P-9 Strike Support Committee, with three tractor trailers arriving from Wisconsin. One of the Twin Cities auto workers' unions brought their own caravan several days later with another 4 tons of food for the P-9 workers.-JAKE COOPER SOCIALIST ACTION MAY 1986