200 march in Twin Cities to protest police killings of poor equals Shot-Klll

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"The police have only one job-and they do their job. Their job is to serve and protect the rich.' Why I joined Socialist Action SOCIALIST ACTION NOVEMBER 1990 5 ST. PAUL, Minn.—Two hundred people marched on the Governor's Mansion here on Oct. 6 to demand the prosecution of cops involved in a number of murders and incidents of brutality.

Speakers at the rally included the mother and sister of James Ludwig, who was killed by the St. Paul police on Sept. 22. Ludwig was a homeless man who had committed no crime. He was only trying to run from the police when he was shot three times in the back-the third time with a high-powered. shotgun, leaving no chance for survival. The cops who killed this man have already been let off the hook by the city government.

Another speaker at the rally was the sister of Ba See Lor and Thai Yang, two 13-yearold Hmong boys who were shot in the back by an Inver Grove Heights cop. The cop claimed that a screwdriver carried by one of the boys looked like a gun-from 30 yards away! And the cop was let off the hook by the city government.

Killed while they slept Placards were also displayed saying, "Remember Smally and Weise." Smally and Weise were an elderly Black couple murdered by the Minneapolis police. Under the pretext of the "war on drugs," the police burned down their house as they were sleeping.

Although people told the cops that there were no drugs in the house and only an elderly couple, the cops let the house burn. (Later, they found no drugs on the premises.) No cop was ever prosecuted for these murders.

The name of Hal Saran Scott was also raised. Hal Saran Scott was shot at point-blank range through the head while he was handcuffed and pinned against a police car.

The city government promoted the third police report on the Hal Saran Scott incident, which was written after witnesses came forward and after the coroner's report. This version said that Scott jerked back, accidentally releasing the trigger and killing himself. The cop was let off the hook by the city government.

Speakers at the rally also demanded the prosecution of the cops who attacked and brutalized 40 black people who were mourning the death of a loved one at North Memorial hospital.

Nothing has been done by the city govBudget has nothing to offer 3 million ...Budget (continued from page 1: “Congress approves new budget: Higher taxes and fewer services”), than 10 percent, which is about the same as paid by the average $35,000-a-year family.

If "soak the rich" is an illusion, soak the working people is a grim reality. Motorists, airline passengers, smokers, and beer and wine drinkers will all chip in billions in higher taxes. While the new tax law would modestly benefit workers making less than $20,000, working people with "middle incomes" would see their taxes rise. Moreover, all working people will pay more on regressive sales taxes such as gasoline.

Two groups selected for special sacrifices are veterans and the sick and elderly. Funds for veterans' program have been slashed just when a new wave of veterans will be coming home from the Middle East.

Medicare cuts hit the frailest segment of the population where their need is greatest— their healthcare. Premium charges are raised, and payments to doctors and hospitals are reduced. This means the hospitals will bill the sick elderly for the shortfall, and doctors will reject Medicare patients.

At the same time the war budget will continue to rise in real money, as will payouts enocider ernments in these cases except for coverups for the cops.

"Rudy, you can't hide!"

The Oct. 6 march demanded that Governor Rudy Perpich direct the state attorney general to conduct investigations into these incidents and to prosecute the police.

Despite the fact that Perpich knew well in advance that the protesters would be there, he did not appear to speak to their demands or accept their petitions. For this reason, the crowd burst out with chants of "Rudy, Rudy, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide!"

Speakers at the rally included leaders from the Black community, the American Indian to the rich who stole billions in the Savings Loan scandal.

AFL-CIO tops said nothing These sacrifices by the working class will do little to cut the national debt. The politicians promise only a $30 billion cut in a deficit of $220 billion. The coming recession and preparations for war in the Middle East will likely wipe out even that saving. There will be fewer people working and more "defense" spending.

The national debt is now over $3 trillion. Congress has voted a new debt ceiling of $5 trillion. Such is their expectation of a real debt reduction!

Unfortunately, a voice defending the interests of the working class was not heard during the weeks of budget "crisis." At a time when millions of workers and farmers were expressing their anger, the top officials of the AFL-CIO said nothing.

The disillusionment of the American people with both major capitalist parties has never been greater. There is growing support to limit the terms of all politicians, and voter turnout is less and less in every election. Yet the labor leadership continues to spend millions of dollars on so-called "friend of labor" Democratic Party candidates.

A mass-based union-organized labor party on the agenda. Only such a workers' party Movement, a gay rights activist, and the Socialist Workers Party candidate for governor.

Steve Argue, speaking for Socialist Action, said:

"The police have only one job-and they do their job. Their job is to protect and serve the rich. The mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul are allowing their cops to brutalize and murder people. They are allowing this to go on because they need the kind of cop that brutalizes and murders people.

"These cops are the kind of people who don't give a damn about other human beings. They are the kind of people who can be directed to attack workers on picket lines and escort scabs into plants.

can begin to challenge the Democrats and Republicans during elections and in the streets, mobilizing working people to fight and protect our rights.

In 1979, I joined the Young Socialist Alliance (YSA), a youth group in political solidarity with the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). In 1983, I was disturbed by the expulsion of a number of comrades I'd worked with in Cleveland. I didn't really understand what was going on, but I knew something was wrong.

I had also become increasingly concerned by the political revision reflected in SWP National Secretary Jack Barnes' "Their Trotsky and Ours" speech to the 1982 YSA convention. I found Barnes's characterization of the Fourth International shocking. [Barnes said that the programmatic traditions of the Trotskyist Fourth International were fundamentally flawed and inevitably led to sectarianism.—The editors.] After the SWP leadership carried out mass expulsions of oppositionists at the beginning of 1984, I decided to leave the YSA and join the Fourth Internationalist Tendency (FIT). I wasn't clear on the differences between the FIT and Socialist Action (SA) , but I agreed with the FIT on the need to try to reach the ranks of the SWP to reverse its programmatic revisions.

As time went on, the differences that FIT and SA had over international questions sharpened. I agreed more with Socialist Action on those particular questions.

I disagreed with the FIT's characterization of Nicaragua as a dictatorship of the proletariat. I agreed with SA's analysis of Nicaragua as expressed in Socialist Action newspaper and the pamphlet, "Revolutionary Dynamics in Nicaragua."

Clearly a capitalist state continued to exist in Nicaragua from 1979 to the present.

"We should not forget what Perpich did in Austin (Minn.), bringing cops together from around the state to break the Hormel meatpackers' strike after he was forced to pull the National Guard out of Austin. We must demand police prosecution, remain organized, stay out in the streets-and fight the power!"

Leaders of the coalition against police brutality urged people to attend a coalition meeting a few days later, where 30 people showed up to plan further actions and other educational work.

To get involved, contact the Twin Cities Committee Against Police Brutality, c/o the African Student Cultural Center, at (612) 625-0045.

If such a policy is not taken up by labor, workers can expect more tax increases from government and attacks on their living standards by the employers.

Nicaragua confirms Trotsky's analysis of the theory of permanent revolution and the need to break with the capitalist class for any revolution to succeed. The Cuban model, not a mixed economy and governmental alliances with the bourgeoisie, was the road forward.

I was also concerned by the FIT's failure to appreciate the significance of the developing political revolution in Eastern Europe. I was shocked by FIT's opposition to the call for a socialist unification of Germany.

At the same time, the earlier debate on the best way to win SWP'ers back to a correct revolutionary program was being proven in practice. It was SA's party-building strategy, not the FIT's ideological tendency and monthly theoretical bulletin, which was attracting SWP members.

Now that the SWP has left the Fourth International, the FIT has decided on a new orientation-unifying all U.S. supporters of the Fourth International into a single organization. But, what type of organization would this be? [The FIT proposes that another group, Solidarity, also join in the new formation.—The editors.] But Solidarity, including the Fourth International supporters within it, is opposed to building a revolutionary party with democratic-centralist organizational norms.

What's needed is neither an ideological tendency, nor a discussion club, nor a loose federation of supporters of the Fourth International who agree to disagree on major questions. What's needed is a revolutionary party which can lead the transformation of society from one based on capitalist exploitation to one based on human needs.

This is the course Socialist Action is following. That's why I joined SA and I urge other FIT members who wish to build this type of organization to join SA.

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StOP, WAR POOR