>injustices and abuses of big business. > >The Nader/LaDuke campaign has allowed tens of thousands of >people to give expression, in an electoral form, to their >hatred of the giant profit-gouging corporations. They are >also disgusted with the two capitalist parties, which are >tools of these corporations and operate strictly on behalf >of the rich. > >It is understandably exciting for thousands of students and >youths, who have just entered politics, to hear >denunciations at Nader rallies of "corporate welfare-- >giveaways, subsidies, hand-outs and bail-outs in the >hundreds of billions." This is followed by a call to use the >money for universal single-payer healthcare, affordable >public housing, and for a Marshall Plan to wipe out poverty >in the United States. > >It is energizing for trade unionists and sympathizers of the >labor movement to hear denunciations of low-wage jobs, the >decline of workers' wages and the outrageously low minimum >wage. In his appeal to labor Nader calls for the repeal of >the anti-labor Taft-Hartley law, which was devised to >prevent workers from organizing unions and supporting each >other in the class struggle. > >ON RACISM AND GENDER ISSUES > >While Nader was unconscionably slow in speaking out on >racism, he has recently begun to include in his speeches to >movement audiences a defense of affirmative action and >condemnations of racial profiling, the death penalty, the >discriminatory injustice system and the prisons. He still >has a long way to go, however, on bringing women's issues >and issues of the lesbian, gay, bi and trans communities >strongly into the campaign. > >On these and many other issues of concern to the progressive >movement and the masses, Nader and LaDuke take progressive >stands against the corporations--to the delight of audiences >who applaud the challenging and combative tone of both >candidates. > >Nader and LaDuke rightfully make short shrift of those who >criticize them from the right for "taking votes from Gore." >They expose the Clinton-Gore record of destroying welfare, >sending people into poverty, destroying basic constitutional >rights with anti-terrorism legislation, attacking labor with >NAFTA, and so on. > >Popular enthusiasm over the denunciation of the monopolies >and the break with the two parties shows the initial >progress of this new movement. And therein lies the cause >for optimism. > >However, much of the Nader and Green Party program, on >closer examination, shows the profound need to bring Marxism >and class analysis to the fore if the movement is ever to >take any serious steps forward in the struggle for the >fundamental transformation of society. > >WHAT ABOUT CAPITALISM? > >Nader is committed to capitalism. As such he cannot see >society as it is. He cannot acknowledge that it is divided >into two fundamental and antagonistic classes, the working >class and the oppressed peoples who produce all the wealth >on the one hand, and the exploiting class that owns the >means of production on the other. > >These classes have utterly antagonistic interests. All the >"excesses" of capitalism are not abnormalities or departures >at all, but the inevitable outgrowth of that permanent class >antagonism. They can only be overcome by the destruction of >capitalism itself. > >A glaring example of the need to understand things in class >terms is Nader's attitude towards the capitalist state. > >Nader talks of taking $100 billion from the Pentagon and >spending it on human needs, taking monopolies like Lockheed- >Martin off government welfare. Who could quarrel with that? >But in the next breath he cites the Center for Defense >Information, a liberal think tank led by former admirals, >saying that "A wasteful defense is a weak defense. A lean >defense is a strong defense." > >He ignores the fact that the Pentagon is the global enforcer >that makes the world safe for all the U.S. monopolies-- >including Lockheed-Martin, Boeing and Raytheon--the very >monopolies Nader is campaigning against. > >He reduces the problem of the Pentagon to one of >"wastefulness," "efficiency" and corporate handouts. He says >not a word about the 78-day criminal bombing of Yugoslav >cities last year. Not a word about how the Pentagon made the >Middle East safe for the oil companies with the Gulf War and >sanctions against Iraq. > >Nader fails to understand that the Pentagon is an >institution that has grown up with the rise of U.S. >imperialism and the monopolies that run it. The Pentagon is >an indispensable institution of those monopolies and paves >the way for the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank >and other predators to undermine the sovereignty of >oppressed countries. Its regional commanders operate like >proconsuls of the Roman Empire. > >It is the big stick behind the super-exploitation of labor >and the plunder of resources in the colonial world. The U.S. >military intervened in other countries over 150 times in the >20th Century for those very purposes. It is the ultimate >protector of the global sweatshops that feed the profits of >Wall Street and the transnational monopolies. It has a >deeply rooted class origin. > >Nader accepts the existence of the Pentagon as a legitimate >institution. But for the progress of the peoples of the >world, and of the United States, it must be destroyed. > >OPPRESSION NOT JUST AN 'EXCESS' > >Another case is the question of the prisons. Nader rightly >opposes the injustice system and the death penalty as being >discriminatory against the poor and people of color, as he >puts it. He wants to abolish the death penalty, >decriminalize drugs and get the corporations out of the >prisons. So far, so good. > >But his view of the prisons is that they should engage in >rehabilitation. This is like saying that the cops should >begin defending strikers. > >Prisons under capitalism are concentration camps for the >poor as well as instruments for political repression against >workers, revolutionaries and national liberation fighters. >They are filled with a majority of Black and Latin >prisoners, most of whom were either framed up or driven >there by oppressive social and economic conditions. The >prisons are racist by design. They are brutal institutions >designed to serve the interests of capital. > >The only way that those prisoners who genuinely need >rehabilitation can ever get it will be at the hands of and >under the supervision of the working class and the >communities from which they came. > >It is often said that there are no millionaires on death row >and very few rich people in jail. There's a reason for that. >The prisons and the death penalty are instruments of terror >and intimidation meant for the working class and the >oppressed, who are constantly driven to rebellion, either >personal or political, by exploitation, poverty, >unemployment, racism and all the other evils of capitalism. > >It is no accident that every genuine revolution begins by >destroying the prison system of the old ruling class--for >example, with the Bastille in the French Revolution of 1789. >Without understanding the class function of the prisons, >Nader accepts them as legitimate institutions. > >Nader has come out against "illegal police violence." That >is his way of dealing with police brutality. But the needs >of the Black, Latin, Asian, Arab and Native communities, as >well as the labor movement, go far beyond that. > >MARXISM AND THE STATE > >Marxism sheds light on this question. It asserts that the >law is nothing more than the will of the ruling class >written down. Of course, the workers and the oppressed >should always try to use and interpret bourgeois law, >constitutional or legislative, for their own class purposes. >But they should never be bound by it because it has the bias >of the ruling class built in. > >The police are an occupying force in the oppressed >communities. They are also strikebreakers. Since the >capitalist class defines legality, what the police do to >protect private property is seldom considered illegal. The >courts generally sanction even the most vicious assaults on >the people, unless the people take to the streets in >overwhelming numbers. > >If someone is desperately poor, needs to feed her family, >and resorts to taking food from a store, it may be perfectly >"legal" for the cops to arrest, beat or shoot her. It's >"legal" for her to be thrown into jail--usually far from her >relatives--and then subjected to the brutality of the prison >authorities. > >But from the class point of view of the workers, the real >crime is that people are hungry under capitalism. It is the >rich--who deprive the workers of their living--that properly >belong in jail. > >WORKERS NOT BOUND BY BOURGEOIS LAWS > >If workers are desperately fighting for their jobs, they may >have to defend themselves against scabs and strikebreakers, >or violate the "private property" of the boss. The great >Flint sit-down strike of 1936-37, which opened the way for >the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and >industrial unionism in this country, was "illegal" from the >point of view of the capitalist class. It was only the >workers' ability to seize the plant and hold it, supported >by the solidarity of struggling workers all over the >country, that subordinated capitalist "legality" to working- >class rights. > >During the Vietnam War, when hundreds of thousands of GIs >were being sent to kill or be killed in an imperialist war >to take over Southeast Asia for the giant monopolies, many >soldiers became sick of the war and no longer wanted to >fight. Many violated "legality" as a matter of life and >death. When told to go into battle, they turned on their >officers. > >The officer corps "legally" had many of them arrested and >thrown into the stockade for long terms. But from the point >of view of the workers in uniform--which is what soldiers >are--the criminals were really the generals and admirals >carrying out an imperialist war of conquest. > >This position can be summed up by saying that Nader accepts >capitalism and therefore accepts the capitalist state. The >state, according to Marxist theory, and verified by all of >history, is an instrument for the suppression of one class >by another. It consists of the armed bodies of class rule, >including the army, the police, the courts and the prisons. > >Nader, in his campaign, has challenged what he considers to >be the excesses of the state. And to be sure, the struggle >against police brutality, the racist death penalty, strike- >breaking cops and courts, militarism and piling money on the >Pentagon must be fought every day without letup. > >But everyone entering the political movement against the >corporations must understand that in the long run, in order >to get rid of these "excesses," it is necessary to get rid >of capitalism itself and its ultimate line of defense, the >capitalist state. > >- END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > > > >Message-ID: <017b01c02ff3$74a654b0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "Gary Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Socialist slams sham Bush-Gore debate >Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 20:13:44 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Oct. 12, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >SOCIALIST SLAMS SHAM BUSH-GORE DEBATE > >Statement issued by Workers World Party presidential >candidate Monica Moorehead. > >The Oct. 3 debate between presidential candidates George W. >Bush and Al Gore at the University of Massachusetts in >Boston should be exposed for what it truly is: a sham. It >amounts to a free advertisement for the two main candidates >of capitalist big-business courtesy of the corporate >television networks. > >Bush and Gore both represent the interests of Big Oil and >the Pentagon. Both are for the racist death penalty, more >repression against communities of color, more cops and more >prisons. Both represent the campaign of capitalist >globalization that is enslaving the world's workers and >oppressed people to an ever-shrinking handful of capitalist >banks and mega-corporations. > >How will the students and workers at the UMass-Boston >benefit from this farce? While the campus administration >spends hundreds of thousands of dollars hosting this event, >many students there have complained of the lack of funds for >their education. There is no one in the debate to represent >their views. > >The debates should be opened up to other candidates, >especially those from the left, whose voices are not being >heard in the corporate-dominated mass media. The truth is >that Bush and Gore are afraid to debate issues like war, >racism and the prison-industrial complex with socialist >candidates and others who try to represent the interests of >the vast majority. > >My running mate, Gloria La Riva, and I support the call of >the Boston Coalition for Mumia Abu-Jamal to protest at the >debate and expose Texas butcher Bush and his Democratic >counterpart Gore for their active support of the death >penalty, which overwhelmingly targets African Americans, >Latinos and other people of color and poor people. > >We join with hundreds outside the debate to demand: "End the >racist death penalty! A new trial for Mumia! Open up the >sham debates!" > >- END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > > > >Message-ID: <018301c02ff3$88854e50$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "Gary Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Boston: Mumia teach-in precedes protest >Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 20:14:17 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Oct. 12, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >BOSTON: MUMIA TEACH-IN PRECEDES PROTEST > >Special to Workers World >Boston > >On Sept. 29, the Boston Coalition for Mumia Abu-Jamal held a >successful teach-in at the University of Massachusetts- >Boston. A multinational audience of over 100 people turned >out for the event. > >Workers World Party presidential candidate Monica Moorehead, >coordinator of the May 7 Madison Square Garden rally for Abu- >Jamal, was a featured speaker. Moorehead talked about the >new movement taking to the streets in support of Abu-Jamal >and against racist repression. She discussed the recent >militant protests in Washington, Philadelphia and Los >Angeles. > >WWP's Cemile Cakir spoke on the struggle of political >prisoners in Turkey. Cakir spent four years in prison for >being in a socialist group there. Richard Cambridge read >poetry commemorating Albert Nuh Washington, a political >prisoner who died in prison earlier this year. > >Other speakers included Ramona Africa of MOVE and former >political prisoner Kazi Touri. > >The teach-in was co-chaired by African American City Council >member and longtime community activist Chuck Turner and >coalition representative Sherylynne. The Free Mumia group >announced plans for its Oct. 3 march from Dudley Square in >Roxbury to the site of the first Bush-Gore presidential >debate. > >- END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > > > >Message-ID: <018d01c02ff3$affe7060$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "Gary Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Wisconsin: Moorehead-La Riva win ballot spot >Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 20:15:24 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Oct. 12, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >WISCONSIN: MOOREHEAD-LA RIVA WIN BALLOT SPOT > >By Workers World Milwaukee bureau > >In mid-September the Wisconsin State Elections Board >verified that Monica Moorehead and Gloria La Riva, >presidential and vice-presidential candidates of Workers >World Party, will be on the November ballot in Wisconsin. >Supporters were able to solicit nearly 3,400 valid >signatures, far more than the 2,000 minimum need to qualify >the candidates. > >Moorehead is an African American activist well known for her >work in support of Pennsylvania death row political prisoner >Mumia Abu-Jamal. She was a key organizer of the national >rally held last spring at New York's Madison Square Garden >to demand a new trial for Abu-Jamal. > >La Riva, a Chicana activist, is co-director of the West >Coast office of the International Action Center, an anti-war >organization founded by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey >Clark. La Riva is a national leader of the movement to end >the U.S. blockade of Cuba. Last year she traveled to >Belgrade, Yugoslavia, with Clark to document the effects of >the U.S./NATO bombing of civilian areas. > >Both women are labor unionists. Moorehead is a member of the >National Writers Union/Auto Workers Local 1981, while La >Riva is active in the Typographers union. > >Together, Moorehead and La Riva make up the only all-woman >ticket in this year's presidential election. Moorehead is >the only African American woman running for the top office. > >The two candidates were on the ballot in Wisconsin in 1996, >when they campaigned against the draconian "welfare reform" >program known as W-2. That year they received more votes >than any other socialist candidates in the state. > >This year their campaign emphasizes the struggle against >racism, police brutality, the death penalty and the prison- >industrial complex. > >Moorehead was the invited guest Sept. 27 on the "Katherine >Dunn Program" on Wisconsin Public Radio. The hour-long call- >in show, carried by 18 stations in five states, focused on >why socialism is the real solution to the problems of >capitalism. > >Moorehead also raised the issues of fighting back against >Wisconsin's welfare repeal and supporting Abu-Jamal. Most >callers were friendly and supportive. > >Moorehead and La Riva will visit Wisconsin from Oct. 25-28. >On Oct. 25 they will speak at the University of Wisconsin- >Milwaukee, at an event sponsored by the UWM Progressive >Student Network. Other public forums are planned in Green >Bay, Stevens Point, LaCrosse and Madison. > >To get involved, contact the Wisconsin Committee for >Moorehead & La Riva at (414) 374-1034 or >e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] >For Wisconsin tour updates, visit the Web site >www.vote4workers.org. > >- END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > > > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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