"I've never been a "card-carrying" Democrat!'

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socalist Astion Forms San Francisco: "The Central American Peace Plan & the Antiwar Movement"

Speakers: Mike Davis, Northwest Regional Director, CISPES; Leslie Simon, Nicaragua Information Center; Carl Finamore, Socialist Action. Friday, Dec. 4, 8 p.m. 3435 Army St., suite 308, San Francisco, CA 94110. Call (415) 821-0458 New York: "Stock Market Crash: What it Means for Working People" Speakers: Harry Magdoff, co-editor of Monthly Review magazine; Paul Siegel, author and Socialist Action staffwriter. Friday, Dec. 11, 7:30 p.m. New School for Social Research, 66 W. 12th St., Rm. 610.

Boston: "New England Labor vs. Corporate Greed"

Speakers: Roger "Tex" Sewell, Pres., ATU Local 1205; Greg Guckenberg, membi Shipbuilders Local 6; Laurie Haapenen, organizer, UAW Region 9A; Mike Fliss, member, UAW Local 422. Saturday, Dec. 12, 7:30 p.m. Cambridge YWCA "Living Room", 7 Temple St. For more info. call (617) 497-0230.

Most people complain about receiving junk mail, especially at Christmas time. Not me. I love it. I read everything that comes along-all the catalogs, enticements to buy things I never wanted or needed, magazine subscriptions, cook books, and seed catalogs.

I even read letters from Reader's Digest that start off with, "You may already have won $200,000 dollars!" It's probably because I've done so many mailings for socialist causes that I read anything that has a stamp and comes in an envelope.

Last week, however I received a letter that made me really angry. It was from the Democratic nizat National Committee, asking that I contribute money to elect a Democratic president in 1988.

That, of course, is not unusual. All manner of useless organizations are always crying for contributions for worthless causes. But this time, there was a plastic card enclosed from the Democratic National Committee with my name on it as a "1988 Contributing Member" and a number— 009231133—if I made a contribution.

You can imagine my disgust. I am not now, nor have I ever been, nor will I ever be a cardcarrying member of the Democratic Party. On the contrary, I have been a hard-nosed opponent of capitalist politicians, a revolutionary socialist in good standing for the last 43 years, and am currently a paid-up member of Socialist Action.

Human needs, not war Besides, the letter was an insult to the intelligence of a baby kangaroo. It pleaded the necessity of placing a Democrat in the White House in 1988, explaining:

"It will mean a president who understands that quality classroom education is more important to our national security than a $700 billion Star Wars weapons system.

Oh really! Actually, the Democrats have increased the defense budget at the expense of human needs under every Democratic presidency. Franklin D. Roosevelt started increasing the defense budget in 1935, and it hasn't stopped yet.

Harry S. Truman increased it for the Korean War and the "Cold War." John F. Kennedy raised it for the Vietnam War and for covert actions like the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.

Johnson paid out more billions GOP! DEMI VOTE bulbul € 87 for the U.S. murder machine during the Vietnam-Cambodian wars. Carter upped the warspending ante even more while carrying out covert actions in the Middle East against the Palestinian and Iranian peoples and against innocent people in Central America.

And the witchhunt?

The letter also had the gall to claim that a Democratic president "will mean judges who will defend civil liberties at home and diplomats who will stand up for with success This fall has seen a heightened interest in socialist ideas. Socialist Action has been there to provide some answers for people looking for a way out of this corrupt society we live in.

Forums on Contragate, the Arias peace plan, and the stock-market crash have attracted audiences of 30 and more to Socialist Action branches in San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Socialist Action speakers have also given two extensive interviews on Los Angeles radio station KPFK.

Socialist Action members in Boston have held forums of 40 to 50 people on topics such as the economy and the current situation in El Salvador.

In New York, 40 people attended a debate between Irving Beinen, executive committee member of the National Coalition for Independent Political Action, and Nat Weinstein, co-national secretary of Socialist Action. The debate centered around Jesse Jackson and the role of the Democratic Party in American politics. [See excerpts on pages 8-9.] Sixty students heard Carl Finamore, national antiwar director of Socialist Action, give a talk on the stock-market crash at a college campus in St. Paul, Minnesota. Thirty who attended signed up for classes on socialism, and 12 bought subscriptions to Socialist Action newspaper.

Socialist Action branches are also holding regular classes in Cincinnati, Baltimore, and Boston. Supporters of Socialist Action at the University of California Santa Cruz are currently planning out their winter and spring activities.

The response Socialist Action has been receiving to our ideas is an indication that events such as the Contragate scandal and the stock market crash are sinking into the American consciousness. Slowly, more and more people are questioning the irrational NOV-lo human rights abroad."

Well, move over Alice in Wonderland. Remember Dirty Harry Truman's Cold War against "commies?" Remember the murder of the Rosenbergs, a direct result of the witchhunt initiated by this great Democrat? Remember the thousands of workers who were accused of being "commies" and lost their jobs?

Remember Kennedy's attempts to murder Fidel Castro? Remember the infiltration of labor, peace, student, civil-rights and women's groups by the FBI under all Presidencies-Republican and Democratic alike?

I remember. And I could go on.

But we will soon be inundated with Democratic Party hypocrisy when the 1988 election really gets going, and I need to let my stomach settle down.

The Democratic Party needn't look for a contribution from me. I became a "card-carrying" socialist many years ago because I want real changes in the way this government is run. And those changes are coming.

If you want to be a part of building a better world, then join Socialist Action and get membership card in an organization that intends to make those changes.

private-profit system with its wars, racism, and economic crises.

The answer to these questions is socialism—a democratic society which would have no use for secret wars and economic anarchy. Socialist Action is fighting for this kind of a society. We want you to join us in our fight. Joining Socialist Action means becoming conscious builder of your own future.

Eugene V. Debs, a great American socialist, once wrote:

"Oh, that all the working class could and would use their eyes and see; their ears and hear; their brains and think. How soon this earth could be transformed and by the alchemy of social order made to blos: iom with beauty and joy.' I believe it can be said safely process has begun.

ACTioN

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