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Dear editor, I was glad to see Carl Finamore's lead article on Nicaragua in your July issue make the point that the contra war is not over and the U.S. government has not abandoned its campaign to overthrow the Sandinistas. The idea that the war is, in fact, over is a pernicious idea that needs to be refuted in the movement just as it is being refuted in life in Nicaragua.

Finamore is also correct when he points out in his article on the June 11 demonstrations the folly of the movement abandoning the streets for electoral politics. Finamore is right to note that U.S. policy on Central America is essentially a bi-partisan one with Democrats and Republicans only differing on how best to get rid of the Sandinistas.

Lastly, I also agree that the biggest weakness in the anti-intervention movement is the lack of any "authoritative section of the movement proposing a strategy of consistent mobilizations."

We must all do all we can to get the movement back on track right after the November elections, if we can't do so now.

Jim Lafferty, ENC, (Emergency National Council, New York, N.Y.

Volkov 1 Dear editor, On Aug. 14, a meeting in suppor of the Moscow Trials Campaigr Committee was held in Los Angeles Education services available for children. Parents who work a full day often must leave sick children at home, unattended, because they might get fired from their job if they stay at home to care for them. The publicschool system is the institution most able to meet the needs of parents who must work while their children are not well.

It is also important that services for disabled and handicapped children be increased at each school, becoming a regular part of the school program. Children who have no disabilities can learn compassion and caring at an early age when they are able to help other children who are less able.

Parents with handicapped or disabled children have been forced to be solely responsible for the care of these children. It's time society came to their assistance.

The educational programs must eliminate all sexist material and programs which continue to teach children that males are superior to females. Only when our society finally eliminates sexist practices, can we hope to eliminate sexism in our children.

Sex-education classes, taught by wellqualified teachers, can also help male and female students regard each other as equal human beings rather than as simply sex objects. Education about AIDS and contraception should be part of the program.

"But is all this practical?"

The improvements needed in education, some of which are mentioned in this article, may be called utopian or unrealizable. "We can't even protect the education It was attended by 50 people. Ralph Schoenman spoke about the heroic struggle waged by Leon Trotsky against the usurpation of power by the Stalinist bureaucracy.

Esteban Volkov, Trotsky's grandson, then spoke about the campaign to rehabilitate all the victims of the show trials staged between 1936 and 1939, and stressed the importance for the Soviet working class to be exposed to the ideas of Trotsky.

Over $450 was collected for the work of the Campaign Committee.

Bill Wilner, Los Angeles, Calif.

Volkov 2 Dear editor, On Aug. 4, around 8 a.m., driving from the East Bay to Marin County, I was fortunate to have tuned my car radio to KPFA's morning program.

Philip Moldari was preparing to interview Esteban Volkov, grandson of Leon Trotsky.

1 was pleasantly surprised that Moldari even exceeded his usual objectivity by his warm and understanding reception of the man he was speaking with. On a station that heretofore has treated the name of Leon Trotsky or Trotskyism in a manner that denied his and its very existence, this was a breath of fresh air.

Following the interview, the telephone lines were opened for questions and viewpoints. One questioner, evidently a still bitter and misinformed Stalinist, stated she had heard that Trotsky was killed in Mexico in This is a page where our readers can speak out. We welcome letters. But please keep them short. When necessary, for reasons of space, they will be abridged.

—The editors we have now, and you expect us to do all of this?" That will be the attitude of some teachers and parents who are demoralized 12) and resigned to the attacks against public education.

This program cannot be accomplished without an effective course of action. Fortunately, we have at the present time all of the forces necessary in this country to bring about the essential changes in our educational system.

Teachers are organized into large, wellfinanced, national organizations with hundreds of thousands of members. If the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers organized a campaign leading up to actions like a massive march in Washington, D.C., to preserve and expand education, you can be sure that it would elicit an enthusiastic response.

Historically, it has been the powerful organizations of labor, allied with women's and minority organizations, which have ended the exploitation of child labor in the mines, mills, and sweat shops of this country. It has been these forces in united mass action that have forced this government to provide what educational and social services our schools have.

The teachers unions could initiate a massive campaign to get the support of the whole labor movement to join in this struggle. The labor movement, with its power, could be enlisted to help mobilize the entire working class-organized and unorganized, male and female, Black, white, brown, and yellow—to become part of a movement for the future of our youth. This action would certainly be championed by women's and minority organizations such as the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the NAACP-a Brawley a steamy lover's quarrel. As a whole, however, what I did hear allowed people to participate in an area that has not been open for a long time.

The media coverage of Socialist Action's celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Fourth International was outstanding as a whole. TV Channel 4 interviewed Volkov and showed a sense of history in portraying the life of Leon Trotsky through newsreel clips.

A. Farrell, Moraga, Calif Dear editor, Who said everyone has jumped on the "Dump on Tawana Brawley" bandwagon?

Pete Seeger, always courageous, has just written a ballad about Tawana Brawley after listening to witnesses testify. Some of Seeger's lyrics are worth keeping in mind to help us endure the barrage of barely veiled racism that permeates the mass media.

"Tawana Brawley was 15 years old when she was found half-dead./ Now opinion is divided: Is it true just as she said?"

"But I know one thing for sure, there's bad feeling in our land./ And every child that's growing up will feel it's evil hand."

Daly City, Calif. P-9 pamphlet Dear editor, Jake Cooper, Mike Zukowski, and I, all of us members of the Twin Cities branch of Socialist Action, headed down to Austin, Minn., to a picnic of P-9 workers on Saturday, Aug. 20. We were uncertain as to how Jake's pamphlet on the P-9 strike would be received because the pamphlet is critical of Ray Rogers' strategy of the "Corporate Campaign." [See article in this issue, pp.

When we arrived, we immediately felt at euse. The mood of the P-9ers was one of optimism and openness. Jake was greeted warmly and was Baltimore P.O. Box 16005 Baltimore, MD 21218 Boston P.O. Box 1046 GMF Boston, MA 02205 (617) 497-0230 Chicago P.O. Box 267848 Chicago, IL 60626 (312) 327-5752 Cincinnati P.O. Box 21015 Cincinnati, OH 45219 (513) 272-2596 soon caught up in conversation with P-yers.

P-9 workers eagerly flocked to Jake to purchase the pamphlet. Jake explained to each customer the reasons for his criticisms of the "Corporate Campaign."

Jake also gave out a special insert of Socialist Action published during the height of the strike, which gave suggestions on how to wage a successful strike based on mass action.

Our entire pamphlet bundle-over 60 copies—sold out rapidly. Eight people paid for copies in advance.

Vicky Guyette purchased 25 copies for the P-9 support offices. A trade unionist visiting the P-9ers from Fremont, Neb., ordered 10 copies.

Jake was received with great enthusiasm when called on to speak during post-picnic announcements.

He recounted his experiences in the labor movement, beginning with his role during the great 1934 Teamsters well as by other community organizations.

Students themselves would enroll in this battle to preserve and extend the fundamental right of the children of working people to receive a quality education. Internationally—in Palestine, South Africa, Europe, Central America, and Asiastudents are fighting for their rights.

Build a labor party Once again, as it has done in the past, labor must play its necessary social role of taking up the fight for our children's needs. The fight around social issues such as public education is a political fight. No force can bring about the necessary changes in our school system other than the labor However, it goes further than simply a fight around educational improvements.

Cleveland P.O. Box 6151 Cleveland, OH 44101 (216) 429-2167 Detroit P.O. Box 32546 Detroit, MI 48232 Grand Rapids P.O. Box 3505 Grand Rapids, MI Los Angeles P.O. Box 60605 Terminal Annex Los Angeles, CA (213) 250-4608 strikes. He brought thunderous applause for himself when he said, "I hate to admit it, but I am an ex-con." A teacher recently approached Jake for a discussion on trade unionism. He was very impressed with the pamphlet and gave Jake the names of 12 other teachers who would be interested in it. Jake sold him four pamphlets.

Four Teamster unionists also called on Jake to learn some Teamster history. After talking with Jake, the Teamsters ordered $53 worth of literature, consisting of all the Teamster books by Farrell Dobbs, "Defense of Socialism" by James P. Cannon, and an assortment of Socialist Action pamphlets, including Jake's "Lessons of the P-9 Strike."

Workers are starting to ask questions, and we are the organization to provide the answers and a guide to action.

Brian Schwartz, Minneapolis, Minn.

The Democratic and Republican parties, acting in the interest of their political bosses, the capitalist class, are the enemies of our children and public education.

Labor must break with both parties and form a political party that would organize all of labor into a fight for full political and economic power for working people.

A political party of workers, based on the trade unions, would necessarily protect and expand educational services for all children. But, so long as labor continues to support capitalist politicians, this great potential power cannot be put to work-and labor will remain, politically, as weak as a sick kitten.

The fight for a quality education for the children of this country is an important component of a program for all workers. We must start now.

Minneapolis

P.O. Box 14087 Dinkeytown Station Minneapolis, MN 55414 New York P.O. Box 20209 Ca. Finar 693 Columbus Ave.

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