Socialists under D.A. investigation

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SOCIALIST ACTION NOVEMBER 1988 3 publicans are offering political solutions.

S.A.: How would you characterize the current political landscape?

Ryan: There's a big political void. If there was another political force in motion, I think people would gravitate toward it. The formation of a labor party based on the unions and organized around a program that puts human needs before profits could— with patient work-become a political pole of attraction for working people, Blacks, Latinos, and women.

One indication of this was the activity that was generated around the Jesse Jackson campaign in the primaries. Politically, this was a "false start" because Jackson was trying to steer people into the Democratic Party. Of course, we would never support that.

But what made him exciting and attractive to the 7 million people who voted for him was that he was addressing the concerns of working people. Jackson kept his demagogy within a capitalist framework, and he limited himself to a minimum reform program. But it also showed the leftward drift of millions of working people who are looking for answers.

S.A.: What happened to that force? What has Jackson accomplished in this?

Weinstein: I think a lot of people are SAN FRANCISCO-Joseph Ryan and Sylvia Weinstein, Socialist Action candidates for Board of Supervisors and for Board of Education, received notice that their campaigns are under investigation by the District Attorney of San Francisco.

In a letter dated Oct. 21, 1988, Assistant District Attorney George Beckwith demanded that the socialists reveal the names, addresses, and employers of contributors. Socialist Action candidates fully comply with financial reporting requirements except the publication of information which would subject their supporters to harassment.

Socialist Action did not report the names of its contributors during its 1984, 1986, or 1987 election campaigns. The city attorney did not object until now.

Numerous court decisions have confirmed that the government conducts illegal persecution of minority parties and radical political activists. These court decisions have also upheld the rights of socialists to keep the names of their members and contributors confidential in order to avoid victimizations.

A 1982 Supreme Court decision, written by Justice Thurgood Marshall, states: "The Constitution protects against the compelled disclosure of political associations and beliefs." Marshall also cited an earlier court decision which stated that the "inviolability of privacy in group association may in many circumstances be indispensable to preservation of freedom of association, particularly where a group espouses dissident beliefs."

Socialist Action has asked the city attorney to immediately withdraw its investigation. Ryan and Weinstein have pledged. a full-scale legal and political defense if the city doesn't back down.

Adam Wood/Socialist Action of a hold. I think fewer people believe there's a lesser of two evils. What we've tried to do is show that it isn't just by the electoral process that you can win your rights.

In fact most of our victories-the right to organize unions, the civil rights struggle, the women's right to vote, etc.were won in the streets by masses of people. That's how we ended the Vietnam War. If you want something, get out there in massive numbers, organize, and you can win it. That's our message.

Ryan: These elections, both locally and nationally, are a barometer. And the high voter abstention rate is a barometer that indicates a lack of confidence in any of the capitalist candidates, and with it, the capitalist system. This worries the capitalist class because they know-just as we know-that a tremendous economic and social crisis lies just down the road.

S.A.: Since you're not running on a national level, who are you calling to support?

Weinstein: We urge everyone to write in the names of the Socialist Workers Party candidates for president and vice president: James Mac Warren and Kathy Mickells.

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EQUITIES UAW- AFL* CIO ansa sia-stre ank nidvmo fevraao.. moved off campus in case of a strike.

UAW District 65 mobilized its stewards throughout the New York/New Jersey area to join the pickets.

Significant first step

Faced with this strength and unity, the university backed down—but not all the way. Columbia refused to directly implement a comparable-worth policy or to eliminate all "discretion" in hiring.

The university did agree, however, to raise the starting salaries for the lowest grades, implement a three-step promotion system based on seniority, provide tuition credits for certain technical training courses, and conduct a comprehensive re-evaluation of the job-classification system-—which would be subject to a union veto of subsequent university recommendations.

Columbia also compromised on the issue of childcare. It agreed to pay $40,000 a year in direct subsidies and to establish a task force with union involvement to conduct a feasibility study within 18 months.

Although the dollar amounts are peanuts for a $2 billion institution like Columbia, it nevertheless represents a significant first step. Columbia was forced to acknowledge its responsibility for providing childcare for campus workers.

Moreover, the workers' resolve forced the university to withdraw its proposed giveback on health benefits. The workers correctly recognized that acceptance of the

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DISTRICT 65 UAW • AFL• CIO