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For forums, classes and other activities, contact the Socialist Action Solidarity with South African revolutionaries The South African newspaper, Vukani Basebenzi (Workers Arise), is in urgent need of funds. Vukani Basebenzi reflects the views of the Workers Organization for Socialist Action (WOSA). WOSA was formed In 1990 to "specifically voice the demands and promote the Interests of the Black working class in our liberation struggle." Many of our readers are familiar with WOSA from the recent U.S. four of Mercia Andrews, WOSA's national organizer.

This Is a crucial time in South African history. The apartheid system of capitalism is in crisis. At such a time, a clear-headed socialist newspaper and a fighting socialist organization like WOSA can have an Please give generously. For a minimum contribution of $25 you will receive a one-year subscription to Vukani Basebenzi, which gives you coverage of the fast-breaking events In South Africa.

Even a modest contribution can go a long way in South Africa today, You can help Vukani Basebenzi reach South African workers and activists with the truth about the current siluation and help build the struggle against apartheld and for soclallam. Please send your contributlon to: VUKANI BASEBENZI, c/o WOSA Publicatlons, P.O. Box 491, Salt River 7925, Capetown, South Africa.

SOCIALISTACTION DECEMBER 1992 15 Still around Dear editors, I am still around at 81-steadfast in my beliefs, heart and soul a Trotskyist. I look forward to the enlightening articles in Socialist Action and wish to contribute some ideas that I hope will be helpful toward the building of a labor party. 1) The formation of unemployed councils nationally, which will raise the following demands: 2) Two four-hour shifts for every job at $20 per hour.

3) No evictions for the unemployed from their apartments or homes for non-payment of rent or mortgages 4) Single payment health plan, nationally. This will eliminate all health insurance companies, Medicare, and Medicaid. Regulate doctor and hospital bills, etc., to be paid by corporations-millionaires/billionaires. Everyone is covered. Also all prescription drugs.

By organizing and raising these demands, the unemployed councils will help bring about the formation of a labor party— bypassing the corrupt bureuacratic union leadership and replacing it by a militant rank-and-file leadership.

Dave Friedman, Bloomingburg, N.Y.

The best?

Dear editors, I am one of the staffwriters on the paper Socialist Outlook. While we do get Socialist Action ...S. Africa (continued from page 1: “Rights of Black majority undermined by ANC concessions in S. Africa The challenge of building a revolutionary alternative in Poland”)

best terms we can get from a victorious enemy."

Another critic was Harry Gwala, an SACP leader and the ANC chairman in the Natal midlands. He was scornful of Slovo's view that De Klerk's government is genuinely seeking to break with apartheid.

Gwala said: "It would be folly for the liberation movement to imagine that the enemy has suddenly seen reason. The bottom line of the ruling class is to retain the monopoly of the country's wealth and the coercive state machinery. Hence the so-called protection of minority rights. And compromises must be seen in this light." (The Weekly Mail, Nov. 13-19, 1992.)

It should be underscored that Harry Gwala is hardly a revolutionary. He remains an unreconstructed (and self-proclaimed) advocate of the policies of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. And Stalin was the main architect of the popular front— which led to disastrous defeats from Spain to Chile to Indonesia.

A political analysis of the Black liberation movement today Just published! $3 includes postage Send check or money order to:

Walnut Publishing Co., 3425 Army St., San Francisco, CA 94110 at our offices, I'd like to have my own copy, and enclose a cheque for the subscription.

I'll just add that, of the American leftist publications occasionally seen in Britain— which include The Militant, BIDOM, Workers Vanguard, and Socialist Organizer-yours is easily the most interesting and best produced, and naturally the one closest to my own opinions politically.

Dave Osler, London, England NAFTA Dear editors, Nat Weinstein, in the November issue of Socialist Action, marshals many arguments warning workers not to be ensnared in the "Free Trade vs. Protectionism" controversy in his lengthy article on North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Unfortunately, he has fallen into the trap that the American ruling class has set.

Publicly, NAFTA is presented as no more than a trade agreement to lower tariffs and break down all trade barriers between Mexico, Canada, and the United States.

This is the appearance -but the reality is quite different.

A free trade agreement was signed with Canada in 1988. Why do they need another one? Actually, NAFTA goes far beyond tariff reductions. NAFTA, if ratified, allows American finance capital, banks, insurance companies, etc. to operate freely in Canada and Mexico as if those countries were two new American states.

But now Gwala is simply describing a situation that millions of Black South Africans understand instinctively. This was given vivid expression in the chants raised at rallies last summer: "De Klerk must go!" and "Sweep the assassins out of power!"

Since the ANC's "mass action" campaign of July and August, what a difference a few months has made! Now the watchword is "constructive interaction" with De Klerk.

Indications are that Slovo merely let the cat out of the bag, revealing to the public what most key ANC strategists were already thinking. Several weeks after Slovo made his recommendations, the ANC's negotiations commission-consisting of top policy-makers like Ramaphosa, Thabo Mbeki, Mac Maharaj, and Valli Mossa-issued a paper recommending adoption of Slovo's plan. A month later, the national executive endorsed it as policy.

Other important concessions have also been given to De Klerk. For example, the ANC offered to accept amnesty for members of the state security forces who committed crimes under apartheid. And the legions of white civil servants hired durimpact.

NAFTA agreements would take precedence over national legislation—such as labor codes, land ownership, environmental regulations, and restrictions of foreign investments. The object of NAFTA is to extend privatization and undermine labor organizations in each of the three countries.

If one stops to read the text of NAFTA-before dismissing it as just another trade war, a non-issue for workers—it becomes clear that NAFTA is a concerted attempt to further oppress the workers of the three countries in order to better compete with Europe and Japan.

One example: The New York Times (Nov. 16, 1992) reported on a little-known clause in NAFTA that obliges Canada to extend the life of patents on drugs from 10 to 20 years. This extends by 10 years the period that the drug industry can gouge consumers. "The shorter period of patent protection has helped keep prices of drugs 32 percent lower in Canada, on average, than in the United States," according to this article.

The article also states that medical costs in Canada are about 28 percent lower per capita than in the United States. In addition, "the trade agreement requires Canada and Mexico to follow the United States' lead and allow exclusive marketing rights for drugs as long as 20 years. The change is expected to cost Canadians about $400 million annually."

Can workers in any country be indifferent to this?

Asher Harer, rancisco, Calif.

Role The author replies: In his letter criticizing my piece, "Free Trade vs. Protectionism: No Choice for Workers," in the November 1992 edition of Socialist Action, Asher Harer cannot help noting that the central point of the piece is directed against both capitalist trade policies. But why choose to direct fire exclusively against NAFTA?

He justifies this one-sided critique by claiming that NAFTA essentially has little to do with free trade and is anti-working class. All right, this trade pact certainly is anti-working class. It must be noted, however, that the existing protectionist status quo is openly and unabashedly anti-working class.

The fact is that virtually all opponents of NAFTA-including those apologists for the labor bureaucracy who claim to be prinBaltimore P.O. Box 16005 Baltimore, MD 21218 Boston P.O. Box 1046 GMF Boston, MA 02205 (617) 497-0230 Chicago P.O. Box 578428 Chicago, IL 60657 (312) 327-5752 Cinelnnati P.O. Box 20109 Cincinnati, OH 452t (513) 751-1597 ing the apartheid era will be retained in a future government.

Government scandals The compromises are helping De Klerk's regime to recover from scandals unfolding in the courts and the press.

Last month, files came to light showing that a "third force" in the army and police had attempted to destabilize the ANC and assassinate its members-even while talks with the government were going on.

Documents show, in addition, that intelligence officials hired a convicted killer, Ferdi Bernard, who concocted a bizarre plan to compromise the ANC. Prostitutes and drug dealers were to be used to lure former members of the ANC's guerrilla units into crime.

Many anti-apartheid leaders have demanded that all negotiations with the government be held off until concrete steps are taken to purge the military and intelligence forces. Even De Klerk's ambassador to Washington, Harry Schwartz, declared he was "furious and outraged" because the disclosures were undermining his ability to polish South Africa's image abroad. Clovoland P.O. Box 6151 Cleveland, OH 44101 (216) 429-2167 Dotrolt P.O. Box 1613 Detroit, MI 48231 Los Angolos P.O. Box 1953 Montebello, CA 90640 (213) 721-9778 For information abou other areas, contact the national office of SocialistAction at (415) 821-0458. branch in your areal cipled supporters of proletarian internationalism—warn against workers from south of the border coming north and undermining the wage standards of "American" workers.

The tried and tested position of the revolutionary workers' movement since the time of Marx and Engels, and Lenin and Trotsky, has been to reject all capitalist policies and counterpose to them demands expressing the class interests of workers everywhere. Nat Weinstein Based on a discussion of the issues in the Socialist Action Political Committee, Nat Weinstein was assigned to write the November 1992 piece on NAFTA. This was to be noted in a brief introductory note by the editors, but was inadvertently omitted.

Minnoapolis P.O. Box 14087 Dinkeytown Station Minneapolis, MN 55414 (612) 430-1476 Now York P.O. Box 20209 Ca. Fin 693 Columbus Ave.

New York, N.Y. 10025 (212) 281-2084 San Francisco 3425 Army St., San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 821-0511 FAX: (415) 821-0166 Socialist Forum P.O. Box 1547 Now Brunswick, NJ 08903 But De Klerk refused to listen. He did little more than assign his military chief of staff, Lieut. Gen. Pierre D. Steyn, to investigate the government's covert activities along with a commission headed by Judge Richard Goldstone.

The New York Times comments in its Nov. 20, 1992, edition: "Against that backdrop, the behavior of the African National Congress has been remarkable. While issuing pro forma statements of dismay, the congress pointedly declined to pose any ultimatums or threaten to break off talks."

One ANC statement pointed out, "The police and the army have lost all credibility and cannot investigate themselves."

But on the other hand, ANC President Nelson Mandela termed De Klerk's timid action "a good, encouraging step" and said he was "not disappointed.""

If Mandela had expected De Klerk to give concessions to the ANC tit for tat, he was sadly disappointed. Speaking to reporters in Cape Town, De Klerk threw water on the ANC's contentions that multiracial elections could be held next year. Instead, he proposed a timetable that would delay the elections until March 1994.

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"South Africa at the Crossroads"