Our readers speak out

Scan page 14

Dear editor, Three leaders of the Bank Workers Union were arrested in El Salvador in the middle of August accused of being "terrorists." Their union forms part of the Revolutionary Trade Union Federation (FSR), which opposes the Duarte government and calls for the social transformation of El Salvador.

The leaders arrested are: Jorge Alfonso Aguilar, secretary general of the Bank Workers Union; Mario Ramierez Nunez, chief steward; and Jose Aguirre Gomez, organizational secretary.

A picket line demanding their freedom took place on Sept. 24 in San Francisco in front of the Banco Agricola Comercial de El Salvador. This is the San Francisco branch of a major bank in El Salvador where the workers are organized by the Bank Workers Union.

This picket line was sponsored by: CONICA (Committee for No Intervention in Central America) and CADENA (Network of Solidarity with Chile and Latin America).

For more information on how you can help secure the release of the four trade unionists, contact CONICA. Telephone (415) 285-9564.

Romania

Dear editor, Last month Greg Guckenburg and I spent two weeks mountain climbing in Romania. Your readers may be interested in observations regarding travel in an "Eastern Bloc" country.

Trotskyists know Romania as a deformed workers' state, but it is popularly called "socialist" by Romanians and Westerners alike. It is certainly not socialism.

We arrived a few days before the J.D., San Francisco national holiday, Aug. 23. On this day in 1944, the Nazis were defeated with the help of the Red Army of the Soviet Union. All public buildings were draped with red banners and pictures of the President-for-life, Nicolai Ceausescu.

To us, the public display was appropriate for a holiday analogous to July 4, but Romanians, being affronted year-round with siogans and pictures of Causescu, seemed to ignore the extra fanfare.

On our first weekend, we observed citizens of Bucharest going about their business much as any urban population on the summer weekend, except for the long lines in front of the single-item food stores and the department store shelves almost bereft of consumer goods. The worldwide depression of the early '80s marked a downturn in Romania's standard of living from which they have not recovered.

We observed many manifestations of a mismanaged economyelectricity shortages, lack of pollution control on cars and factories, unavailable industrial parts and inferior raw materials, collectivized agriculture with much hand labor, a black market in currency, and to my great shock, laws against abortion and birth control.

The parasitic leadership seeks to export much, import nothing, and expects Romanians to do without.

A privileged bureaucracy with president who grandiosely resides in the former royal palace sits atop discontented populace.

Many Romanians speak English, as did many of the East Germans and Czechs who frequented the trail. Americans are so unusual we were often asked why we would leave our own country where the mountains are higher. Then the questioners would make reference to dislike of their present governments and make favorable comments about Polish Solidarity and Soviet perestroika.

Mary Hillery, Arrowsic, Maine Good Bet:

Dear editor, Reader Kathy Setian in the August Socialist Action reported that the information gleaned from reading Socialist Action enabled her to win a bet from a co-worker. Her letter closed with a plea, "Perhaps socialists should place more bets."

I place bets frequently when selling our newspaper at demonstrations and at Cal. State University in Long Beach. I offer prospective buyers their money back if they are not satisfied that the paper is intellectually stimulating and provocative. The quality of our paper is such that I have never been asked for a refund. Keep up the good work.

Bill Wilner, Long Beach, Calif.

Scan page 15

SociAlist Achos