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Boston Socialist Action also held up. P.O. Box 1046 GMF Boston, MA 02205 (617) 389-4075 on two fronts.' Chicago Socialist Actio Box 80B, 2520 N. Lincoln Chicago, IL 60614 cincinnall docialist aculon made about Spain. P.O. Box 27053 Cincinnati, OH 45227 (513) 242-9043 Cleveland Socialist Action P.O. Box 6151 Cleveland, OH 44101 (216) 429-2167 Detroit Socialist Action P.O. Box 19613 Detroit, MI 48219 Grand Rapids Socialist Action P.O. Box 3505 Grand Rapids, MI 49501 Los Angeles Soclalist Action P.O. Box 60605 Terminal Annex Los Angeles, CA 90060 (213) 250-4608 Minneapolis Socialist Action P.O. Box 14087 Dinkeytown Station Minneapolis, MN 55414 New York Socialist Action P.O. Box 20209, Ca. Finance 693 Columbus Ave.

New York, NY 10025 Phoenix Socialist Action P.O. Box 5161 Phoenix, AZ 85010 (602) 263-5190 San Francisco Sor ialist 3435 Army St., Rm.

San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 821-0458

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Our readers speak out Over 200 people attend a memorial meeting for George Breitman in New York City on June 7.

Breitman, a major leader of the U.S. Trotskyist movement, died on April 9 of a heart attack.

On Saturday, June 14, Socialist Action hosted a highly successful West Coast Socialist Educational Conference. The event, which took Deregulation Dear editor, I am writing because of the very interesting article on deregulation and air safety in the February 1986 issue of Socialist Action ("Deregulation in the airline industry: Is it safe to fly?" by Mark Harris).

I am a maintenance worker at Scandinavian Airlines System's (SAS) engine overhaul shop in Stockholm, Sweden, and I have a professional as well as polit -ical/union interest in these matters.

Deregulation and union busting among the American carriers are relatively well-known among union people here. Europe is heading the same way as the United States, with some small but very important differences.

First, all main European carriers are more or less controlled by the state. British Airways, KLM, and Lufthansa are said to be going private but still, these companies are a matter of "national business," which means, of course, that deregulation could not be allowed to completely destroy one or another.

SAS is owned by Sweden, Norway and Denmark, partly by the government but mainly by private investors.

The main target of deregulation in Europe are workers' benefits. Spokespersons for European companies state very clearly that "in order to compete with the leading American carriers, we must be more cost-efficient."

Iberia Airlines of Spain has cut an estimated 30 percent of its workforce, as well as slashing salaries across the board. KLM and Lufthansa have been struck by several conflicts in recent years because of cuts.

SAS is, of course, faced with the same future, but there has not been any major attempt on the part of the bosses to attack the workers. This is because SAS is highly profitable and there is no immediate threat to this. But in order to clear the ground for what has to come, a number of programs to beef up "com -petitiveness" have been launched.

This has, in combination with the general trend toward a belttightening policy in Sweden and Denmark, provoked a number of conflicts. Only this spring, flight attendants, check-in clerks, main -tenance workers and catering workers in Stockholm and Copenhagen have been involved in struggles against man -agement's attempt to cut staff, change the work rules, etc.

I look forward to reading more on this subject in Socialist Action.

Göran Karman Stockholm, Sweden On Swabeck Dear editor, In my opinion, the memorial article on Arne Swabeck (May 1986) Socialist Action was not worthy of this pioneer revolu -tionary socialist.

The young generation of working-class party militants in the Socialist Workers Party looked to Arne Swabeck and the older generation of working-class leaders of the Trotskyist move -ment as role models for their behavior in the labor movement and in the building of a revolu -tionary socialist current in the United States.

Arne Swabeck was one of the stalwarts who broke with Stalin -ism to create a vanguard that would build the necessary leader -ship to advance the working-class struggle on the road to socialism. In his long life, he never veered from this course.

Swabeck exhibited those qualities most admired by work - ers: conscientiousness in party-building activity and a natural modesty about his role in the struggle for socialism. He knew that it is the working class that must make the fundamental changes to liberate us from the chains of wage slavery.

It would be well to remember that Trotsky and Lenin parted ways in 1903. They were fortunate that the Russian working class took only 14 years to challenge Czarism, thereby reuniting them. In this country the struggle is taking a little longer.

We should keep this in mind when we consider Arne Swa -beck's differences with our histo -ric views on Chinese Stalinism.

The memory of Are Swabeck, for his devotion to the cause of socialism, should remain green for the next generation of worker militants.

Henry Austin, Detroit, Mich.

A response Dear Henry Austin, In writing the Arne Swabeck obituary for Socialist Action, I tried to place the emphasis on his positive achievement and contri -butions to the socialist cause. The article contains 14 para -graphs describing his political history before he became a Maoist and only five describing the last 20 years of his life.

I believe that this was a division that was more than fair to his memory. It is incorrect to make a comparison of Swabeck's life with that of Lenin and Trotsky. Trotsky spent his last 23 years as a Leninist, but Swabeck moved from Leninism to Maoism. This is a big dif -ference.

Milton Alvin, Los Angeles GIE ORI GIC BROIMAR Dear editor, On June 1, comrades and friends of George Breitman met in Los Angeles to commemorate his life and to celebrate his more than 50 years in the world Trot -skyist movement. The meeting was organized by the Fourth Internationalist Tendency and was attended by several political organizations, including Socialist Action.

The speakers all highlighted George's tremendous contribution to the fight for socialism in this country. Many spoke about how George's writings had helped them find the road to socialism. But one speaker, a young blind Black man, Muhammad Karriem, made a special impact on the gathering.

Reading his prepared comments from braille, Muhammad, who was this year's class valedictorian at Narbonne High School in Harbor City, Calif., said he first studied George's books in 1981 when he was seeking information on Malcolm X's life and ideas.

He told the meeting how George had helped him understand through telephone conversations and letters, that there is "not just a struggle between races...but the struggle is really between ava -ricious capitalists who use racism and sexism as weapons in order for them to continue their exploitation and oppression of the working class of the world."

He went on to say, "Let us keep in mind the memory of George Breitman as we go into a sometimes hostile world to battle the forces of oppression."

Muhammad concluded his remarks by reading the moving lines from what is popularly known as the Black national anthem, the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing" "Facing the rising sun till a new day is born, We must march on Until victory is won."

Kathleen O'Nan, Los Angeles

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Socialist Action sponsors West Coast conference

1916-19B Breitman