Save the Uppington 26

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An emergency defense campaign is underway in order to save the lives of 26 Black anti-apartheid activists convicted in the death of a police officer near Uppington in South Africa's Western Cape.

On May 26, a judge sentenced 14 of the group to hang. As we go to press, another 12 defendants are awaiting sentence.

The convictions stem from a Nov. 13, 1985, incident in which a Black constable was driven from his house and stoned to death by a crowd of angry demonstrators. The Uppington 26 were charged as a group— according to the doctrine of "common purpose."

In a similar case, that of the Sharpeville Six, the defendants were reprieved from hanging as a result of the worldwide outcry of protest. We must do no less in defending the Uppington 26. Send telegrams to the South African Embassy, 3051 Massachusetts Ave. N. W., Washington, D.C., 20008. to maintain a standard of living even on the level of pre-economic reform China.

End state ownership?

The Chinese bureaucracy is committed to the strategy of pro-capitalist economic reforms. A planned economy operated democratically by the workers is not an option for the CCP, because such a strategy would not allow them to maintain the bureaucracy's special privileges. For one thing, government officials would be accountable to mass organizations that could recall them at any time.

By providing world capitalism with a foothold in China, the CCP has increased the danger of capitalist restoration.

In early January, three prominent Chinese economists submitted a proposal to the CCP leadership that called for an end to state ownership of industry. Hua Sheng, one of the three economists, said that he thought the proposal would meet opposition, but he also said, "When the economy is stabilized, perhaps by the middle of this year, the farther than the most adventurous proposals of the Soviet perestroika.

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, however, has accompanied his austerity measures with political openings and reforms. These political reforms are meant to soften the blow of austerity. The Chinese CP has allowed no such political openings. Movements for democracy-such as the student demonstrations in 1986-87—were smashed by the government.

Another factor undermining confidence in the government is the rampant corruption practiced by CCP leaders. While millions of people are working in sweatshops seven days a week, or are forced to work two jobs just to feed a family, the Chinese bureaucracy is wining and dining itself and foreign guests and sending its children to the finest universities.

The amount spent by the government administration on banquets and luxury items last year was equal to the entire education budget. In 1987 alone, the CCP was forced to ... Students push forward.

The next step for the workers must be to strengthen their own independent organizations as the students have done. Trade unions, factory committees, and workers' councils will give the semi-spontaneous movement organization and more effectively defend it from the attacks of the government.

Independent working-class organizations can also put forward a program and set of demands that act as a political anchor against maneuvers by layers of the CCP bureaucracy that seek to co-opt the movement.

Ultimately, the workers need to create organizations which challenge the CCP's power and lead a political revolution against the decayed bureaucracy.

This year's upsurge is the most significan: and historic event in China since the 1949 revolution. And it has shaken the world. The revolution launched this year has paved the way toward fulfilling the promise of 1949-a socialist society ruled by the workers themselves.

conspicuously obsequious before it. The truth has proven stronger than all the power of the