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| x   x x x   x   x  x  xx  xxx xxx  xxx                   |
| xx xx x xx xx   xx x x  x  x  x   x       Issue #34      |
| x x x x x x x   x xx x  x  x  xx   xxx                   |
| x   x x x   x   x  x x  x  x  x       x   06/07/88       |
| x   x x x   x   x  x  xx   x  xxx  xxx                   |
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|    Newspaper of the Maoist Internationalist Movement     |
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   US PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
   A POLL THAT MATTERS, REALLY
   
   The bourgeoisie as a class apparently has not decided who 
will be the next president. That is not to say that the key 
fractions have not. A poll of chief executive officers of 
corporations shows that they are divided between George Bush 
and Sen. Robert Dole. 41% said the Democrats have less than a 
50% chance of winning the White House. A plurality says Bush 
will win. (Ann Arbor News, 1/14/88, p. B9)
   Other polls show that Bush is in trouble because he is 
losing the labor aristocracy vote that Reagan won. According 
to Bush's pollster Peter Teeley, blue-collar and low-income 
white collar workers will be "'the swing vote'" in November, 
especially because of their importance in the three swing 
states -- Michigan, Ohio and Illinois. (Detroit News, 5/8/88, 
p. 1)
   Meanwhile, a poll shows that with Sam Nunn on the ticket 
with Dukakis, Dukakis will beat Bush handily -- 46% to 34%. 
(NYT, 5/17/88, p. 12) Nunn is the preferred choice of 
delegates to the Democratic convention. Where does Nunn stand 
on the issues? He is mostly known as the hawk chair of the 
Senate Armed Services Committee. He also opposed extending 
the deadline for ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, voted 
for giving states rights to decide abortion issues and "tried 
to weaken the Voting Rights Act." (Detroit Free Press, 
5/9/88, p. A4)
   Finally, in another poll that matters, the chief 
executives of the top 120 US corporations with sales of $1 
billion a year or more have spoken: 86% oppose divestment 
from South Africa; 75% want cuts in non-military federal 
spending and 60% want a cut in military spending. (NYT, 
4/25/88, p. 2)
   
   DUKAKIS AND BUSH SPEND MOST MONEY
   By the way, if you predicted that the candidates with the 
most money would win their party's nominations, you were 
right. Bush and Dukakis had the most money of all candidates 
before the primary voting started. (NYT, 10/17/87, p. 7) 
Dukakis had planned to spend his legal limit of $27.6 million 
by the end of May. (NYT, 4/23/88, p. 8) This left him little 
or no money to spend in California and New Jersey primaries.
   
   DUKAKIS FAVORS FIRST-STRIKE ON SOVIET UNION
   Massachusetts Gov. Dukakis, in an interview published in 
today's New York Daily News, said he could envision using 
nuclear weapons if the Soviets invaded Europe and 
conventional weapons failed to stop them. "'I don't think 
it's going to happen,' he said. But 'we've got to be prepared 
to use nuclear force.'" (AP, Ann Arbor News, 4/13/88, p. F1)
   
   DUKAKIS REMOVED ADOPTED CHILDREN OF GAYS
   Dukakis removed two adopted sons from a gay couple's 
custody while a Governor in Massachusetts. According to the 
Guardian, Dukakis said the children would be better off in a 
"'normal'" household. (Guardian: Independent Radical 
Newsweekly, 3/2/88, p. 3)
   
   DUKAKIS HAS STRONG BOURGEOIS BACKERS
   While it is clear where George Bush gets his support for 
the presidency -- the CIA, Wall Street Republicans and many 
of the same places Reagan got it -- Dukakis is also well-
backed in bourgeois circles.
   Throughout the campaign he has had heavy support from a 
major Boston bank. In New York, Ted Kennedy Jr., campaigned 
across the state for Dukakis. (Poughkeepsie Journal, 4/15/88, 
p. A2) Harvard politicos are also behind Dukakis. His 
campaign manager is a Harvard law professor. He also has 
backing at the Kennedy School of Government.
   One former campaigner turned critic has pointed out the 
extent that Dukakis now kow-tows to corporations. The co-
coordinator for Dukakis in Randolph, MA in his 1982 
gubernatorial bid claims that Dukakis promised that Prowse 
Farm would be saved as a historic site. However, despite 
national coverage and making the promise to luminaries such 
as Boston Celtics players, Dukakis caved in to Motorola Corp. 
and allowed its subsidiary Codex to develop the Farm. (Robert 
L. Keighton, Ibid., A5)
   
   JESSE JACKSON TAKES US CHAUVINIST LINE
   Asked by the NYT his stance on the PLO, Jackson changed 
his position once again and said he would talk to the PLO. 
Yet, this time the rationale was quite explicit. He said he 
would negotiate with Qaddafi in Libya and anyone else 
including the South African regime because "'there must be no 
place on earth off limits to American influence.'" (NYT, 
4/16/88, p. 8)
   
   JESSE JACKSON BACKS AWAY FROM PLO
   "Jesse Jackson, often attacked for what critics call pro-
Arab stands, continued to distance himself from the Palestine 
Liberation Organization (PLO) by saying that allowing 
extremists at the bargaining table would be a 'formula for 
catastrophe.'
   "Jackson, who had said Sunday that the PLO and the 
Palestinian people are not the same and that he would not 
meet again with PLO leader Yasser Arafat, as he did in the 
late 1970s." (AP, St. Petersburg Times, 4/12/88, p. A6) This 
backsliding by Jackson caused one MIM correspondent to say, 
"It is impossible to get elected to the Presidency if one is 
not beholden to the corporate structure."
   
   CONFEDERATE FLAG STILL FLIES IN FOUR STATES
   A battle in the Alabama state legislature concerns the 
Confederate Flag which still flies over the state Capitol. 
The speaker of the House called his Black opponent a 
"'monkey'" and said that if the Black legislator climbed the 
flag pole to take it down, he would "'reach greater heights 
than any Black man in Alabama history.'" (Guardian: 
Independent Radical Newsweekly, 3/2/88, p. 5) The flag also 
flies in South Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi.
   A majority of whites favors leaving the flag up; a 
majority of Blacks opposes it. Once again, there appears to 
be no white proletariat even in relatively poor Alabama. 
(Ibid.) Traditional leftist scholars argued that the Civil 
War was a class war in the interests of white labor. However, 
aside from the lack of historical support from the Northern 
white working class for the Civil War, it remains true today 
that the common white person of the South identifies more 
with the bourgeoisie than with the international proletariat, 
which would never tolerate the flying of the Confederate 
flag.
   
   US bails out largest Texas bank (NYT, 3/18/88, p. 1)
   
   POLICE KILL BLACK IN DETENTION
   "Loyal Garner Jr., 34, of Florien, La., died Dec. 27 of 
head injuries investigators believe were inflicted during a 
beating in the Sabine County Jail." (AP, Ann Arbor News, 
1/10/88, D5)
   Three white police officers stand charged, but only for 
civil rights violations. Each was released on $25,000 bond. 
200 people in a town of 1,300 showed up at a rally in front 
of church protesting the incident. (Ibid.)
   
   Dollar down to post-WWII low against Mark and Yen (NYT, 
12/11/87, p. 35)
   
   MS ENDS LAW AGAINST INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE!
   Last November Mississippi voters repealed a "97-year-old 
constitutional ban on interracial marriage (which had already 
been struck down by the courts), but they did so by an 
embarrassingly close 52% to 48%." (Time, 11/16/87, p. 32)
   
   CORPORATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA WILL PAY DOUBLE TAX
   Reagan signed into law a bill that will increase the 
effective tax rate of US companies operating in South Africa 
to 72%. It should raise revenue of $20 million. Previously, 
corporations could deduct taxes paid to South Africa from 
taxes paid to the United States. Other countries to have the 
same type of tax are Iran, Syria and Libya. (Guardian: 
Independent Radical Newsweekly, 2/3/88, p. 9)
   
   DEMOCRATS PROMOTE ANTI-IRAN RACISM
   The Reagan administration has said that its arms for 
hostages deal with Iran aimed at increasing the influence of 
moderates in Iran seeking to curb Islamic revolutionary zeal.
   Critic Caspar Weinberger (Defense Secretary) within the 
Reagan administration questioned this view, not because he 
opposed secret methods to arm the contras but because he 
believed that the Iranians are "a group of fanatical madmen." 
(Cox News Service, Ann Arbor News, 12/1/88, p. c1) 
Weinberger's criticism of the Iran-contra scam is a good 
example of how not to criticize the Reagan-Bush-Poindexter-
North shenanigans.
   To the extent that Democrats have dismissed Reagan's view 
of Iranians in the government as rational people, they have 
contributed to a racist view of Iranians -- a view very 
useful to justify making war on Iran. (See MIM Notes 33 for 
an analysis of the US bombing of Iran.) Anti-Iran chauvinism 
is quite popular.In a poll of 836 people conducted 9/21-2/87, 
the NYT found that only 2% had favorable "feelings toward 
Iran generally." (NYT, 9/24/87, p. 9) 78% had an unfavorable 
feeling toward Iran. (Ibid.)
   While it is hard to outdo Reagan on the chauvinism front, 
the Democrats are doing just that with the Iran-contra scam. 
They criticize making deals with terrorists out of the theory 
that all Iranians are insane terrorists. The correct lesson 
to draw from the Iran-contra scam is that the US ruling class 
is desperately engaged in covert wars across the globe -- 
wars so covert that the public and part of the government 
itself is not informed of what is going on.
   
   Women's earnings for full-time work 70% of men's (NYT, 
9/4/87, p. 1)
   
   WOMEN UNHAPPY WITH MEN IN UNITED STATES
   "Most American women are alienated, unhappy and 
unsatisfied in their relationships with men, and 75 percent 
of women married for at least five years are having affairs 
according to a new book by Shere Hite." (Ann Arbor News, 
10/3/87, p. A3)
   
   TOKYO STOCK MARKET SURPASSES NEW YORK
   At the end of October 1987, the Tokyo stock market was 
worth $2.677 trillion, the New York exchange, $2.254 
trillion. (NYT)
   
   FACISM SPILLS OVER FROM US SATELLITES
   The mayor of Los Angeles Thomas Bradley asked the City 
Council to post a $10,000 reward for information leading to 
the arrest of those responsible for death squad murders and 
abductions in LA. Death squad activists from El Salvador are 
killing opponents of the Salvadoran military dictatorship in 
the US. (LA Times, 7/23/87, p. 6)
   
   POVERTY SHIFTS FREQUENTLY
   "At least one-quarter of all Americans will fall into 
poverty during their lives but most won't stay poor long. 
One-third of today's poor will have left the impoverished 
ranks within two years. But another one-third will stay poor 
at least 10 years." This is according to the University of 
Michigan Institute for Social Research. (Ann Arbor News, 
1/28/88, p. D12)
   The fact that most people do not stay poor long prevents 
them from developing class consciousness. Instead, people 
aspire to higher classes.
   
   LABOR ARISTOCRACY IS DOING WELL
   "Paychecks for the nation's 78 million full-time workers 
rose an average 4.2% in the past year [1986--ed.], nearly 
double the rate of inflation." Women earned 69% of what men 
did. Blacks received 77%, Latinos slightly less. Gains in 
1986 were largest in the Northeast. (LA Times, 4/29/87, p. 4, 
part IV)
   Such information is contrary to the theory of many 
leftists including comrades at Monthly Review that there is a 
growing economic basis for a labor movement in the United 
States. The alliance between the labor aristocracy and the 
imperialists is still in good shape.
   
   USA TODAY MAKES READERS FEEL GUILTY AGAIN
   With an across the banner headline, USA Today once again 
attempted to get the general public to accept blame for high 
consumption. "Higher prime takes on inflation" (USA Today, 
5/12/88, p. 1) A 4.2% inflation rate expected to grow to 5% 
is supposedly the justification for a rise in the prime rate 
to 9%. As proof, the USA Today cited 2 economists at banks -- 
the National City Bank of Cleveland and Fleet/Norstar 
Financial Group in Providence, R.I.
   The prime rate is the percentage of interest that 
commercial banks charge to their best customers who borrow 
money.
   In addition to putting the battle against inflation on the 
top of the agenda, the editors in charge of USA Today's front 
page have constructed repeated stories about the federal 
deficit in order to justify economic austerity measures -- 
belt-tightening by the public -- the poor and labor 
aristocracy. USA Today editors thus join the Reagan 
administration in using the deficit to strike a better deal 
for the imperialists with the labor aristocracy.
   
   AMERICANS PAY SAME TAXES AS IN 1977, BUT POOR PAY HIGHER 
PROPORTION THAN BEFORE
   "CBO [Congressional Budget Office -- ed.] estimated that 
the poorest 10 percent of Americans will give 20 percent more 
of their income to the federal government next year [1988-
ed.] than they did in 1977. The wealthiest 10 percent -- 
income average about $120,000 -- will pay 6.4 percent less 
than in 1977." (AP, Ann Arbor News, 11/11/87, p. D1)
   
   SUPPLY IS UP; DEMAND IS DOWN
   Although the Gross National Product (GNP), the monetary 
measure of the U.S.'s output of goods and services per year, 
showed growth over 1986 in 1987, the growth is partly in the 
inventories of business.
   Some bourgeois economists consider the last quarter's GNP 
growth false because it was mostly growth of business 
inventories, which are unsold commodities held by 
corporations. $33.7 billion of the $39.2 billion in growth 
was in inventories. Demand fell $24.1 billion in the same 
quarter.
   Can the bourgeoisie cut prices and sell off all that 
excess inventory? Can the bourgeoisie raise wages and other 
disposable income for the common people so that they can buy 
business's goods sitting in warehouses? GM chair Roger Smith 
is making no bones about telling the government that it 
cannot afford a national cutback in consumer credit if car 
sales are to attain desirable levels. Will the bourgeoisie 
allow credit to expand forever? Will it end up giving it away 
-- writing off more and more debts? Stay tuned for panic or 
deflation or recession or pressure from the labor aristocracy 
to increase its share of the capitalist pie.
   
   INFANT MORTALITY INCREASES
   In the continuation of a national crime perpetrated by the 
ruling class, Black infant mortality for babies who died 
within 28 days of birth increased from 11.8 per 1,000 to 12.1 
per 1,000 between 1984 and 1985.
   Maternal deaths during or within 42 days of birth among 
all non-white women also rose from 16.9 to 18.1 per 100,000. 
(Ann Arbor News, 1/25/88, p. C1, C2) The overall infant 
mortality rate stayed the same.
   
   BANK CLOSINGS SET RECORD SINCE DEPRESSION
   184 commercial banks closed and another 19 required 
federal bailout in 1987. Still, in 1933, 4,000 banks closed. 
(AP, Ann Arbor News, 1/7/88, p. B9)
   
   NUCLEAR DISASTER IN WEST REVEALED
   At Windscale in England of October, 1957 there was a 
nuclear accident that released 1400 times more radioactive 
iodine than was released at Three Mile Island. The reactor 
came within hours of melt-down. The British government only 
just this year released a report on the affair.
   "Millions of gallons of milk were destroyed over an area 
of 200 square miles. . . .At least 13 people are thought to 
have died as a direct result of the radiation released, not 
to mention a number of newborn babies not counted in the 
official figures." (Guardian: Independent Radical Newsweekly, 
2/3/88, p. 12) Still, the accident was not as bad as the one 
at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union. Nor was it as bad a cause 
of cancer as US atmospheric nuclear tests. (Ibid.)
   
   AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES PROTEST SETTLERS
   White settlers arrived in Australia 200 years ago, but the 
original inhabitants are protesting the bicentennial 
celebrations. "The past two centuries have been a period of 
annihilation, dispossession and now poverty for the 
aborigines, who today number perhaps 160,000, a fraction of 
their earlier population. They make up one percent of 
Australia's population." (Ann Arbor News, 1/26/88, p. C3) 
   
   ARMS TREATY DISARMS ANTI-MILITARISTS
   The arms treaty signed by Reagan and Gorbachev scraps a 
miniscule percentage of each side's missiles. The missiles 
scrapped, however, are among the most politically sensitive.
   "Since 1983, the United States has deployed 256 cruise 
missiles in West Germany, Britain, Italy and Belgium, and 108 
Pershing 2 ballistic missiles in West Germany. Under the 
agreement, these will be scrapped over three years, along 
with 683 Soviet missiles armed with 1,565 nuclear warheads." 
(AP, Ann Arbor News, 11/26/87, p. C1)
   These missiles have evoked tremendous opposition in Europe 
because they seem to offer the possibility of a short and 
intermediate range nuclear war limited to Europe. Europeans 
feared the United States would sacrifice Europe to nuclear 
war in order to fight the Soviets. Also, the reality of 
having short range missiles that could reach the Soviet Union 
in 6 or 8 minutes contributed to the tension that spurred 
anti-militarist movements in Europe.
   The treaty does not affect so-called tactical nuclear 
weapons such as nuclear tipped artillery shells. The United 
States keeps thousands of these in Europe. (Cox News Service, 
Ibid.)
   
   NY TIMES ADMITS THAT SOVIETS DID NOT KNOWINGLY SHOOT DOWN 
CIVILIAN PLANE
   Korean Air Lines Flight 007 cost the lives of 269 people 
on August 31, 1983. Probably to cover up its own role in 
having the plane spy on military bases in the Soviet Union, 
the Reagan administration told the world that the Soviets 
knew it was a civilian plane when it was shot down.
   Now the NY Times admits that the Soviets did not know. By 
the second day after the plane was shot down, the CIA had 
already determined that the Soviets did not know. Yet, no one 
was ever told.Acting to correct this, the NY Times brought 
this fact to light. (NY Times, 1/18/88, p. 16)
   
   TROTSKYISM IS SAFE IN SOUTH AFRICA
   The collected works of Leon Trotsky are readily available 
in South Africa. The works of Mao, however, are banned. Some 
works of Marx's are as available as Trotsky's, but the works 
of Lenin and Stalin are harder to come by. (Revolutionary 
Worker, 1/25/88, p. 11)
   Could it be that authorities censoring books in South 
Africa hope Trotskyism will gain greater influence within 
revolutionary movements? Could it be that since Trotsky 
opposed guerrilla warfare and believed that national 
liberation struggles in non-industrialized countries were a 
waste of time that the South African ruling class does not 
mind his work?
   Clearly the works of a revolutionary Asian such as Mao, 
who worked for national liberation to defeat imperialism are 
a danger to the apartheid regime. At the same time, the 
prattle of Eurocentric "Marxists" known as Trotskyists has 
never amounted to a serious threat in any Third World country 
in a revolutionary situation.
   
   UNITED AUTO WORKERS LEADERS AND WORKERS ARE IMPERIALISTS' 
ALLIES
   While the UAW is one of the more progressive unions in the 
country, as evidenced by some of its support of the anti-
apartheid movement, it is still indicative of class 
collaboration.
   Previous to last year's UAW bargaining with GM, the entire 
negotiating teams for both sides spent 10 days together in 
Japan at GM expense. "They took meals together, went drinking 
together, even shopped together, went drinking together, even 
shopped together." ("Detroit's Strange Bedfellows," Michael 
Massing, NYT Magazine, 2/7/88, p. 20) During subsequent 
negotiations, "the union did not even have to set a strike 
deadline." (Ibid.) The concept involved is "jointness." This 
is a nice word for direct and open class collaboration of the 
highest degree. By class collaboration is meant workers' 
doing what capitalists want.
   "Today, the U.A.W. and auto executives travel to Japan 
together, go on retreats together, even publish newspapers 
together. Joint committees have been set up to deal with 
everything from productivity to absenteeism." (Ibid.) Indeed, 
GM is on contract to spend $300 million annually in 
"jointness" activities that include renting "fancy hotels and 
invited workers to trust-building orientation courses."
   Most leftists and so-called Marxist-Leninists would say, 
"sure, Donald F. Ephlin and Owen Bieber are labor aristocrats 
who live off the workers' struggles only to sell them out, 
but auto workers are typical of the industrial workers that 
communists must base themselves in." These leftists and 
Marxist-Leninists expect these workers to be open to 
revolutionary ideas.
   For example, a Trotskyist tendency had this to say about 
the UAW recently: "US workers could join British, South 
Africa, (sic.) and South Korean workers in struggle in an 
international wave of auto strikes.
   "Such a scenario is possible in the not-too-distant 
future....
   "Auto companies in the US and in many other countries are 
bringing some new workers into the plants. This has 
emboldened the workers and make them more ready to fight, 
especially since the new hires are mainly young.
   "The militance of the young workers and their ability to 
absorb the experience of older workers could lead to the 
rapid building of a strong and even revolutionary movement in 
the auto industry nationally and internationally." (Fighting 
Worker, 3/88, p. 6)
   Then why is it that 81% of GM and 72% of the Ford workers 
approved the last contract offered by these labor 
aristocrats? (Ibid., 26) There were supposedly many militants 
concerned with the contract. Why did they fail in rejecting 
the contract? Even more curious, after workers ratified the 
GM contract, thousands immediately lost their jobs. But 
rather than fundamentally challenge class collaboration, 
those recently unemployed workers who did get angry, blamed 
the union and even applauded the plant manager for a speech 
he made. (Ibid., p. 52)
   
   GM SEEKS TO OPERATE NEAR 100% CAPACITY
   GM President Robert Stempel claims GM will operate lean 
and mean in 1992. As a result, competitors such as Ford and 
Toyota are wondering if GM plans a change in its market share 
of car sales.
   Current industry estimates put GM at running at 75% of 
capacity. To get to 100%, some have speculated more plant 
closings are in the offing. On the other hand, GM denies 
anymore Michigan plant closings are in the works except those 
already announced. "'If you look to Europe -- and we operated 
at over 100 percent (of straight-time capacity) last year -- 
that's a nice way to run,' Stempel said." (Detroit News, 
5/15/88, p. G1, G5)
   This is what is happening in Europe, at the Antwerp, 
Belgium plant for example. "Each plant previously worked two 
eight-hour, five-day shifts. Under the new system, one plant 
will work two shifts, but with three crews. The plant will 
operate two 10-hour shifts six days per week. The three crews 
will alternate four-day, 10-hour work weeks. An employment 
reduction of 5 percent is expected, and GM also will save 
costs by ending duplication of work between two plants." 
(Ibid., p. G5)
   What is interesting here is not that there will be a 5% 
increase in unemployment because that is not necessarily true 
compared with other things GM could do. What is interesting 
is that GM is planning to get more production-wise out of its 
plant. Some factors involved in this decision may be the 
lower dollar which is boosting demand for car exports and 
competition with Japanese companies. On the other hand, one 
cannot discount the possibility that GM is bluffing entirely 
in order to fool its competitors.
   
   STATE ALLOWS AIDS IN PRISON
   The ruling class is perpetrating another crime in the 
prisons -- AIDS. Prisons have had 1,964 AIDS cases since 1984 
in 38 states. Despite the occurrence in prison of drug-use 
and homosexual sex including forced sex, prison officials in 
Michigan oppose the distribution of condoms and sterilized 
needles. Meanwhile, in NY, Vermont and Mississippi condoms 
are available in prisons. (Detroit News, 5/15/88, p. N1, N2)
   
   ANTI-GAY/LESBIAN VIOLENCE IS UP
   In addition to the thousands of deaths that gay men are 
experiencing because of imperialism's lackadaisical response 
to AIDS, violent crimes against gays and lesbians are 
disproportionately high: "Nearly half of Philadelphia's 
homosexual men and one-fifth of the city's lesbians were 
victims of violent crimes in a year because of their sexual 
orientation, according to a study issued Monday by the 
Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force. The figures were 
almost 12 times the national annual criminal violence rate 
for all men and 10 times the rate for all women." (Detroit 
News, 6/7/88, p. A3)
   
   NAVY MURDERS RECRUIT IN TRAINING
   On March 2nd, five navy instructors murdered a recruit by 
forcing him under the water and drowning him. Ordinarily, the 
actions taken by the instructors would not have resulted in 
drowning, but Lee Mirecki had a previous medical history of a 
phobia of "'being grabbed and pulled under water.'" (UPI, 
Detroit News, 6/7/88, p. A3)
   This history includes the February 8th report of "Lt. 
Cmdr. David Shivley, a flight surgeon, who said Mirecki was 
not qualified to continue his training because of his 
phobia." (Ibid.) Mirecki had requested to drop the course 
involving the training in question. (Ibid.) One can only hope 
that with this new evidence coming out that the charges 
against the instructors will change from manslaughter to 
murder.
   In any case, the whole incident is an indication of how an 
imperialist army differs from a revolutionary army of the 
people. The imperialists have nothing but disdain for their 
recruits and use money, force and intimidation to get the 
proper results, whereas a revolutionary army such as Mao's 
values the lives of every proletarian and peasant. 
Revolutionary armies rely on the strength of their cause and 
convictions, not hierarchical force, to achieve military 
victory.
   
   CIA GIVES OPEN GRANT TO HARVARD
   The CIA has given Harvard's JFK School of Government 
"$400,000 for a three-year program of research and training 
on intelligence assessment and policy." Apparently, there 
will no classified work done. (NYT, 12/4/87, p. 13)
   
   Dollar down to post-WWII low against Mark and Yen (NYT, 
12/11/87, p. 35)
   
   RW OFFERS MORE ON THE CRASH OF 1987
   As polls of Wall Street brokers continue to show that 
abolishing computer trading would restore confidence in the 
stock market, it behooves the proletarian analyst to remember 
what really caused the crash. By its very nature, the stock 
market is an exercise in commodity fetishism with little 
connection to the realities of economic needs and physical 
production. It is a great paper shuffle with a life of its 
own. (See MIM Notes no. 33)
   In addition, the Revolutionary Worker (RW) has correctly 
pointed out that the international situation is quite 
unstable. The Western countries were faced with the fact of a 
tremendous US trade deficit in October.
   Since the trade deficit causes a decline in the value of 
the dollar, investors started to fear that US investments 
would lose their value. They started the sell-off in US 
stocks. Some evidence for the pause in foreign investment 
comes from the NYT, "The flow of money from Japan, a stream 
that has helped to finance the United States budget deficit 
and to influence stock prices on Wall Street, is slowing 
dramatically as investors here wait to see what steps the 
United States will take to cut its budget and trade deficits.
   In June, long-term net capital out-flow -- how much more 
money left Japan than entered it -- was $19.2 billion. By 
September, it was $2.3 billion." (11/18/87, p. 29) According 
to the RW, once this started the US stock sell-off, "mob 
psychology" did the rest. It's a plausible explanation for 
the international crash.
   Underlying the problem is the reality that none of the 
European countries can afford a major expansion of purchases 
of US exports. "Western Europe has grown at less than 3 
percent a year for the last six years. Unemployment in West 
Germany now stands at 9 percent and the economy is barely 
growing. Even Japan, a relative dynamo, is beginning to 
experience excess industrial capacity." (Revolutionary 
Worker, 10/26/87, p. 8)
   Just how far the bourgeoisie seems to avoid the problem is 
reflected in the Wall Street Journal's front page editorial 
thinly disguised as a news article: "If deep pessimism is now 
setting in, a recession will probably follow. But if the 
nation concludes that the crash was largely a technical 
problem, caused by computerized trading schemes, the worst 
can be avoided. Just how deeply the national psyche has been 
wounded may not be clear for months." (Boldfaced in original, 
Wall Street Journal, 10/26/87, p. 1)
   
   DOLLAR DOWN; MANUFACTURING IS UP
   From 1986 to 1987, manufacturing in the United States 
increased employment by 303,000, with 63,000 added jobs in 
October, 1987 alone. (NYT, 11/18/87, p. 29) When the dollar 
goes down, foreigners buy more US exports. It is not clear 
what the effect of the increase will be on the strength and 
well-being of the labor aristocracy.
   
   GAY RIGHTS RALLY DRAWS 300,000
   Organizers estimated that 300,000 marched in support of 
gay rights and more money for research against AIDS in DC 
October 11th, 1987. (NYT, 10/12/87, p. 1) A ruling by the 
Supreme Court which upheld Georgia sodomy laws partly sparked 
the rally. (Guardian: Radical Newsweekly, 10/14/87, p. 18)
   
   JEAN-MARIE LE PEN CALLS NAZI GAS CHAMBERS "A MINOR POINT" 
IN HISTORY
   Long anti-Algerian in his calls to oust foreigners from 
French jobs, Le Pen has now made an anti-Semitic barb as 
well. (NYT, 10/12/87) Le Pen did quite well in recent 
elections -- 14.4 percent of the vote. (NYT, 4/26/88, p. 1)
   
   OPPRESSED COUNTRIES
   
   AP CLAIMS SENDEROS AID COCAINE TRADE
   According to the bourgeois press, which only cites two 
disreputable sources -- people involved in the drug trade and 
the Peruvian police -- the Maoist revolutionaries in Peru 
known as Senderos are taxing cocaine traffickers in Peru. Of 
course, the press phrased it this way: "Peruvian rebels 
thrive in alliance with drug traffickers." (Monte Hayes, AP, 
Ann Arbor News, 1/17/88, p. B1)
   In one clash that left 40 dead this past March, the 
Maoists drove out pro-Cuban elements from the Upper Huallaga 
river valley, where the coca plant grows according to the 
Associated Press. The Senderos are now the de facto 
government in this area.
   MIM cannot confirm or deny the AP report, but there are at 
least some indications that the AP report is partly based in 
truth. According to AP, where the Senderos have ruled they 
have "shut down discotheques, ran prostitutes out of town and 
banned adultery and homosexuality."
   As for the morality of cocaine, according to the head of 
the coca growers association, the Senderos authorize and 
defend coca production "if it is for the United States. But 
if they catch you consuming paste, they kill you." The rebels 
supposedly oppose the intervention of US drug enforcement 
agents and therefore protect the drug traffickers militarily 
from the US. At the same time, the Senderos militarily defend 
the growers against the traders in order that the production 
workers receive better pay according to AP. AP also admits 
that the Shining Path guerrillas are the heroes of school 
children in Upper Huallaga valley. (Ibid.)
   What the Sendero "alliance" with drug traffickers amounts 
to is a $3,000 to $4,000 tax per planeload of coca paste 
according to Peruvian police. According to AP, this type of 
tax may have netted the Senderos $7 million in the last few 
months.
   Is any of the above true and worth responding to? It is 
very difficult to say. An article by the LA Times paints the 
same subject as a three-sided war among guerrillas, the 
government and traffickers with the guerrillas winning and 
executing traffickers. ("War of Drugs, Rebels Rages in Peru, 
8/2/87, p. 20-1) Certainly, if anyone reading this has access 
to a spokesperson for the Senderos, they should clue MIM in 
on what the deal is. 
   For now, MIM has obvious doubts about the authenticity of 
what the AP article says, but if it is true that the Senderos 
are repressing homosexuality, that is in conflict with MIM's 
official program, especially the document "On Sexual 
Orientation...." MIM favors gay/lesbian liberation. If the 
Senderos are involved in the repression of homosexuality, and 
not heterosexuality, then MIM certainly challenges the 
Senderos on that point and demands an explanation.
   MIM does not have a stance on sexuality and Sexual 
Revolution generally, and certainly does not know the 
situation in Peru. As for the issues of adultery, 
discotheques and drug use, this writer would have to know 
more about the conditions in Peru before pronouncing on these 
issues. Also, there is a need for details on Sendero 
implementation of policy on these issues.
   As for exporting drugs to the United States, the Senderos 
would not be the first to adopt this position that it's OK. 
The Afghan rebels have done the same. The issue involved here 
is whether or not the cocaine exports benefit the 
international proletariat or not. Certainly the exports 
benefit the Peruvian proletariat since it is not involved in 
the consumption but it is gaining employment and maybe even 
reparations of a sort from the United States.
   As an expensive habit, can it be said cocaine-use is not a 
problem for the proletariat contained within US borders? Does 
the cocaine trade wreak havoc on US imperialism or does it 
sap the will of the proletariat in the US? There are many 
difficult questions connected with this issue.
   
   NYT SEES A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CASTROITES AND MAOISTS
   "The group [Tœpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, Castroites 
-- ed.] is viewed as less of a threat, however, because it is 
an orthodox movement, set in the mold of other Latin America 
guerrilla groups. Using familiar leftist language and led by 
middle-class urban intellectuals, it has been more easily 
infiltrated and has suffered major setbacks at the hands of 
the police.
   "The complexity of the Shining Path, on the other hand, 
stems from the fact that it fits into no simple category. It 
apparently has no links with foreign revolutionary movements 
[false -- ed.], (sic.) it uses outright terror as a political 
weapon, (sic.) it breeds fanatical loyalty among its 
followers and it values secrecy over publicity." (NYT, 
11/11/87, p. 6)
   So frustrated is the NYT that it lapsed into rare 
grammatical errors -- a run-on sentence. Tsk, tsk, better 
compose your "objectivity," NYT.
   There are several lessons here. One is that even the NYT 
recognizes that Castroism is a disastrous failure in Latin 
America as a strategy for revolution. Another is that the 
Castroites rely on "publicity stunts" to raise public 
opinion, while Maoists are content to generate public opinion 
without assuming that the state is not watching.
   
   STATE DEPARTMENT PASSES PANAMA AND MEXICO
   Despite charges of allowing drug exports to the US, Mexico 
and Panama will receive economic and military aid along with 
trade benefits if a State Dept. recommendation is adopted. 
(NYT, 2/20/88, p. 1)
   
   GENERAL MANUEL ANTONIO NORIEGA HOLDS ON
   Despite months of its efforts to remove the head of the 
Panamanian regime, it appears that the US government has 
failed. Citing Noriega's involvement in the drug trade, the 
US sought to replace Noriega with civilian government or 
military government that would eventually hold an election.
   The Revolutionary Worker stated its belief that the 
replacement of US-backed Third World dictators including 
Noriega occurs only when they become overexposed and hence a 
strategic liability in terms of rebellions. Someone like 
Noriega is unpopular is of little use to the US as an ally 
unless he can successfully repress his people and line up 
behind the US.
   The Revolutionary Worker also points out that too many 
pro-Soviet forces were allowed to operate in Panama and the 
US would have liked Panama to line up against the Sandinistas 
a little better. (Revolutionary Worker, 3/7/88, p. 14) 
Noriega's probable sale of arms to rebels in El Salvador for 
a profit would not endear him to Washington either by this 
line of thinking. (NYT, 12/18/87, p. 4)
   Now, however, it appears that this assessment was 
incorrect. US involvement in trying to remove Noriega was at 
least partially motivated by US domestic partisan politics.
   Tarred by the Iran-contra scandal, the Republican party 
was also getting linked to contra drug-smuggling operations 
on a number of fronts. Thus, in a certain way, the Reagans' 
supposed anti-drug campaign was backfiring.
   With congressional and independent investigations 
threatening to devastate the Republicans, the Reagan 
administration found itself with extra motivation to move on 
Noriega. After all, the Democrats are only so generous in 
pulling their punches. They would not reveal the fact that a 
small number of people runs the government and wages covert 
wars across the globe. That would be too shocking and would 
tend to discredit the Democrats and much as the Republicans.
   But, by using the drugs and corruption issue in a fashion 
similar to the Watergate issue, the Democrats attack the 
Republicans without faulting the whole political and economic 
system. The Democrats are happy to attack what seems to be a 
lack of character among Republicans and offer themselves as 
God-sent saviors. The basic strategy is to reduce everything 
to an issue of personal character -- thus the "wimp factor," 
the "sleaze factor" etc.
   When polls started to show that the US public was most 
concerned with the drug issue out of all political issues and 
that the Republicans had failed with the issue, (NYT, 
4/13/88, p. 13) George Bush moved to distance himself from 
Reagan's failed anti-drug policy. Bush wanted to appear to 
oppose making deals with drug-dealers like Noriega. He wanted 
to appear to have the most integrity for not dealing with 
drug-dealers or terrorists, even if it meant breaking with 
Reagan.
   Within days after Bush's political move, the State 
Department ceased its negotiations to remove Noriega. (NYT, 
5/26/88, p. 1) This was very interesting if only because for 
weeks the State Department (unnamed senior administration 
officials) were saying that a deal with Noriega was imminent. 
(e.g. "Accord Reported Near for Noriega to Give Up Power," 
NYT, 4/29/88, p. 1)
   The truth, however, is that Bush knew of Noriega's drug-
dealing ways for years. (For a surprisingly hard-hitting 
examination of this, see Tom Wicker, "Bush and Noriega," NYT, 
4/29/88, p. A39) The problem only started to come to the 
political surface recently, but investigations by the 
Christic Institute and Senator Kerry (D-MA) (NYT, 12/18/87, 
p. 4) have been going on for some time.
   According to an aide of Noriega, Bush made a deal with 
Noriega that Noriega would keep his mouth shut about the 
Medellin cocaine cartel's financing of the contras, if Bush 
kept quiet about Noriega.
   Patently lying, Bush has maintained that he knows nothing 
about Noriega and drug accusations. (AP, Newsday, LA Times in 
the Ann Arbor News, 5/26/88, C1) In fact, he maintains his 
distance from the Reagan administration without mentioning 
Noriega's name. (AP, Ann Arbor News, 5/26/88, C2)
   While no proletarian should harbor any love for Noriega, 
communists must oppose any US invasion to remove Noriega. The 
battle to replace one dependent dictator with another would 
certainly cost many proletarian lives. MIM opposes all wars 
between bourgeois governments because the fighting is carried 
at the cost of the proletariat. 
   
   NICARAGUA RELEASES ANOTHER HASENFUS
   James Denby, doing aerial work for the CIA in a Cessna 
172, is another US citizen caught in hostilities against the 
Nicaraguan government.
   Denby is further evidence that US citizens are directly 
involved in supplying the contras who oppose the Nicaraguan 
government.
   The Nicaraguan government displayed Denby's possessions 
including an explosives license issued in the United States. 
(NYT, 12/9/87, p. 3) According to the Sandinista government, 
Denby was on a mission to kill the Foreign Minister Miguel 
D'Escoto. (Ann Arbor News, 12/9/87, p. F1)
   
   HAITI VOTE FOR PRESIDENT WAS LOW
   "Haiti's army-dominated Government held its presidential 
elections today, but voting appeared to be light, and 
irregularities, from multiple voting to voting by youths 
under the minimum age of 18, appeared widespread. No attempt 
at secret balloting was made in most voting places visited by 
foreign journalists." (NYT, 1/18/88, p. 1) A World Bank 
economist estimated a 4 to 6% voter participation rate.
   The four most popular candidates in November 1987 refused 
to participate in the election. (Ibid., p. 5)
   
   US PILOTS FLY MATERIAL AID TO UNITA
   US pilots fly supply shipments from Zaire to the South 
African-backed Union for Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) 
according to a captured UNITA rebel. US aid to UNITA runs $15 
million a year. The United States did not deny the report. 
"The United States is giving UNITA 'appropriate and effective 
assistance.'" (NYT, 12/15/87, p. 2)
   
   SOUTH AFRICA ADMITS TO INVADING ANGOLA
   In late November, S. Africa sent 3,000 troops to Angola to 
support contra-like rebels known as UNITA who are attempting 
to overthrow the Soviet-backed government of Angola. 
President P.W. Botha visited the troops in S. Africa, which 
admitted to 35 deaths in fighting. S. Africa also admitted 
for the first time that it had in fact invaded Angola. 
(Guardian: Independent Radical Newsweekly, 12/2/87, p. 1)
   
   MOZAMBIQUE CONTRAS KILLED 100,000
   Senators Bob Dole and Jesse Helms support a group of 
rebels in Mozambique called the MNR (Mozambique National 
Resistance). (Guardian: Radical Newsweekly, 10/14/87, p. 3) 
The MNR has long enjoyed S. African support and the right-
wingers in the US would like to see the US officially and 
directly support MNR too instead of just through S. Africa.
   A rise in the infant mortality rate from 325 to 375 per 
1000 is chalked up to MNR's war against the Mozambique 
government. Other acts of MNR sabotage are responsible for 
destroying 1,800 schools, 25% of the health clinics, $50 
million in electric power lines, $20 million in sugar and tea 
factories and $82 million in bridges and railways.("An 
African War Ensnarls the U.S. Ultra-Right," LA Times, June 
28, 1987, p. 2, part V)
   According to a report released by the State Dept. in mid-
April, the MNR has killed at least 100,000 people and caused 
1 million more people to become refugees. (NYT, 5/11/88, p. 
1) The NYT appears to have done an informative article with 
information comparable to that found by the State Dept.:
   "Since 1981, the Health Ministry [of Mozambique's 
government -- ed.] reported in April, Renamo attackers have 
looted, destroyed or forced the closing of 595 health clinics 
-- 31 percent of Mozambique's health network. With two 
million people deprived of care, the child mortality rate 
doubled in the 1980s to 350 per 1,000, the highest in the 
world.
   Since 1981, the Education Ministry reported, rebel attacks 
have forced the closing of 2,518 schools that served 500,000 
children -- one-third of the projected elementary school 
enrollment.
   The war, a United Nations report said, has forced 870,000 
Mozambicans to flee their country and 1.1 million more to 
leave their farms for the safety of cities.
   In 1987, the Trade Ministry said, Mozambican farmers were 
able to meet only 6 percent of the grain needs of city 
dwellers and refugees. This year, almost a quarter of 
Mozambique's 14 million people face starvation or severe 
malnutrition. (NYT, 5/11/88, p. 6)
   The US/South Africa backed atrocities against the 
Mozambicans are further evidence of how the US is engaged in 
an undeclared World War III for control of the globe. The 
United States is only now trying to stop the slaughter 
because it fears that South Africa is overextended in its 
battle to repress the African people and because it believes 
that Mozambique is now in a position to enter the US orbit of 
influence as Zimbabwe has done.
   
   OPPENHEIMER LAUDS HELEN SUZMAN
   The chair of S. Africa's largest mining company has long 
supported "reform" in S. Africa. In the NYT, he recently 
wrote a tribute to a woman in the Progressive Federal Party 
which is a tiny party in the apartheid Parliament.
   As the Sullivan Principles were once touted as the hope 
for reform by US companies operating in S. Africa, the PFP in 
S. Africa is often considered the hope for white reform in S. 
Africa. The PFP is not only insignificant in size, even in 
comparison with literally neo-Nazi groups in S. Africa, but 
also the PFP is insignificant politically. It does not favor 
equal citizenship status of Blacks and whites.
   Still, Oppenheimer represents an articulate section of 
capital in S. Africa that would like to move the economy 
forward: "The realization of South Africa's economic 
potential simply could not be reconciled with the policy of 
apartheid -- and that, I'm afraid, is a truth that after 35 
years has still not been grasped by those at home and abroad 
who believe that apartheid can best be fought through the 
application of economic sanctions." (NYT, 5/11/88, p. 25)
   What Oppenheimer is saying is that the struggle against 
apartheid should be linked to the struggle for economic 
growth. Like the line "jobs, not war" this may seem to put 
material interests behind the end of apartheid. What 
Oppenheimer believes is that equal opportunity capitalism 
would bring economic growth for all including whites and make 
up for the loss in white privilege in South Africa.
   It is perhaps obvious, however, that Black self-
determination in South Africa should not depend on whether or 
not economic growth would be promoted by the end of white 
rule. And for now, unless we are to judge the privileged 
white labor aristocracy in South Africa as entirely ignorant 
of its own economic interests, fascism and literal Naziism 
still seem to be in the interest of the ruling class in S. 
Africa.
   
   SOUTH KOREAN CABINET IS MORE OF SAME
   New President Roh Tae Woo kept the cabinet of Chun Doo 
Hwan in tact. Seven out of 23 cabinet appointees retained 
their previous portfolios, including the critical Home 
Affairs and Justice ministers who are in charge of the 
repressive apparatus.
   Those who thought that Roh meant a substantial reform in 
S. Korea should think again. (NYT, 2/20/88, p. 5)
   
   FIRE NEAR SEOUL KILLS 22 PROLETARIANS
   22 women in a textile factory died when their factory, 
where they slept, lit on fire and the stairway exits were 
locked. The workers there work 11 to 14.5 hours a day every 
day except 2 days a month. Their pay is $270 to $345 a month 
-- on the high side for S. Korea.
   In a nearby center for factory workers, one woman earns 
$5.80 per day. Another woman -- a Ms. Kim -- works 12 hours a 
day, every day except three per month and receives $5 a day. 
She tests computer chips. (NYT, 4/6/88, p. 4)
   When MIM talks about the international proletariat, it is 
talking about people like Ms. Kim.
   
   ERITREA IS DEPRIVED OF DONOR FOOD AID
   Working through the Ethiopian regime, most governments and 
agencies ignore the imminent starvation deaths of hundreds of 
thousands of Eritreans.
   Eritrea is effectively under the control of the Eritrean 
People's Liberation Front. The EPLF works with the Eritrean 
Relief Association (ERA), but the ERA does not receive 
support through the channels that Ethiopia does. Ethiopia is 
attempting to starve the Eritrean people into submitting to 
its colonial ambitions. (EPLF communique, 5/9/87, PO Box 
65685, Washington DC 20035 (202) 265-3070)
   
   MIDEAST
   
   ARAB COUNTRIES RENEWING TIES WITH EGYPT
   Iraq, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar plan to 
reestablish diplomatic relations with Egypt. Relations broke 
when Egypt and Israel made the Camp David accord. (AP, Ann 
Arbor News, 11/12/87, p. c1)
   
   PRESS COMPARES ISRAEL TO SOUTH AFRICA
   In a sign that the US/Israeli propaganda machine cannot 
cover up the current situation in the Gaza Strip, the 
Washington Post published an article which discusses 
parallels between South Africa and Israel. Even more 
seriously, ABC News has also drawn the parallels.
   Prominent Israeli academic Shlomo Avineri, who is a 
contact of Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, recently drew the 
parallel, but it was the Washington Post that chose to report 
it. Avineri said that he feared "by the year 2000 we will 
look into the mirror and we will see South Africa." (Ann 
Arbor News, 1/25/88, p. c1)
   Thus, while the propaganda machine would like to avoid the 
moral and political implications of this comparison, there is 
some sign that the ruling class is considering the long-term 
strategic situation in Israel. Previous articles in the 
mainstream press also examined the situation of the rock-
throwing Palestinian youth on the Gaza Strip and saw the 
potential for Khomeini-style Islamic revolution.
   The most important parallels are that the West Bank and 
Gaza Strip are under military occupation by Israel. There the 
rights of Palestinians are not much more than the rights of 
Blacks in South Africa.
   Also, on a per capita basis the recent violence of 
Israelis against Palestinians is comparable to that of the 
South African white settlers against the Blacks. (Ann Arbor 
News, 1/25/88, p. C3) That is not to include the deaths of 
civilians in actions such as the Israeli invasion of Lebanon 
in 1982, which took at least 20,000 lives.
   It is not that the bourgeois press relishes these 
comparisons, simply that the bourgeoisie is facing its 
nightmares on the Gaza Strip and West Bank. 
   
   ISRAELI SOLDIERS BURY FOUR ARABS ALIVE
   Four Arabs on the West Bank were rescued by relatives 
after being buried alive. Three left the hospital the same 
day. Another stayed eight days. "Relatives charged in a 
complaint filed with the army that the 20 soldiers grabbed 
the four Arabs after a violent demonstration in the West Bank 
village of Kfar Salem on Feb. 5, beat them, forced them to 
lie on the ground and then poured sand over them with a 
bulldozer." (Ann Arbor News, 2/15/88, C1)
   "'Even in my worst dreams, I would never imagine such a 
thing,'" Gen. Amram Mitzna, the commander of the troops in 
the West Bank, said of the case. . . . 'I constantly warn 
commanders to expect the most awful things could happen when 
soldiers find themselves all of a sudden commanding and 
deciding the lives of civilians.'" (NYT, 2/16/88, p. 1)
   
   ISRAEL INVADES LEBANON AGAIN
   On May 2nd, Israeli soldiers entered Lebanon supposedly in 
search of PLO guerrillas attempting to infiltrate Israel. 
According to the Israeli military, Palestinian fighters have 
killed 5 Israeli soldiers in seven incidents in the past year 
while 20 Palestinian fighters have been slain or captured. 
(Detroit Free Press, 5/5/88, p. 1)
   Israel has invaded Lebanon repeatedly in the past. "Israel 
invaded Lebanon in March 1978 following a guerrilla attack 
inside Israel, then withdrew that June. In June 1982 Israeli 
forces invaded again, sweeping through Lebanon and eventually 
laying siege to the P.L.O. in Beirut. Israel withdrew in 
1985." (NYT, 5/3/88, p. 1) Of course, this little synopsis 
leaves out the fact that Israel killed thousands of Lebanese 
civilians in the process. To say that Israel was "laying 
siege to the PLO in Beirut" makes it sound like Beirut was a 
Palestinian homeland.
   To say that Israel withdrew in 1985 is to sanitize 
Israel's relationship to Phalangists and other forces inside 
Lebanon that Israel pays and equips to do its dirty work.
   By the 5th, Israel had already killed more than 40 people 
in its latest invasion of Lebanon. (Detroit Free Press, 
5/5/88, p. 1)
   
   RULING CLASSES CONTINUE WAR IN MIDEAST
   Iraq stepped up its efforts to prevent Iranian oil sales 
by bombing five Iranian oil tankers May 14th. Up to 54 people 
are missing. Iraq wants to cut off Iranian oil exports 
because Iran funds its 7 year old war with Iraq with oil 
sales.
   Days earlier Iraq had fired Exocet missiles at two Iranian 
tankers. (Detroit News, 5/15/88, A3)
   Both in terms of deaths and losses of resources, the war 
between Iran and Iraq is not in the interests of the peoples 
of those countries.
   
   ISRAEL TORTURES PALESTINIAN CHILDREN
   "'Children in Israeli Military Prisons,' researched and 
written by the Rev. Canon Riah Abu El-Assal, pastor of Christ 
Evangelical Church in Nazareth; Dina Lawrence, cultural 
anthropologist from California, and Karen White, author and 
journalist from Florida" reports that children in the West 
Bank and Gaza Strip are tortured by the Israelis. (The Metro 
Times, Detroit, 1/6-12/88, p. 4)
   Furthermore, the record of the Shin Bet, Israeli security 
has recently come under attack: "An official Israeli report 
published Oct. 30 shows that the Shin Bet internal security 
services lied for 16 years about brutal methods used to 
extract confessions from Palestinian prisoners." (Guardian: 
Radical Newsweekly, 11/11/87, p. 17)
   Typically the Shin Bet covered up its methods and now 
lawyers in Israel say they will apply for new trials for 
Palestinian prisoners based on the official report on Shin 
Bet.
   "Riad Faraj, 15, has been arrested three times and has 
spent eight months of his young life in prison. He described 
being bound upside down to a chair and beaten on the soles of 
his feet while three interrogators sat on top of him. Wa'el 
Tawfig said interrogators tried to force him to confess to 
throwing a stone at soldiers first by tempting him with a 
bowl of fruit and then by threatening to rape him." (Ibid.)
   
   PALESTINIANS DID NOT STONE ISRAELI
   "An Israeli girl whose death brought fierce cries for 
vengeance against Arabs was not stoned to death, but killed 
by a bullet from the rifle of a Jewish settler guarding her, 
the army said today. . . . Nevertheless, the army blew up 
eight more houses in Beita today, making a total of 14 
destroyed over accusations that family members took part in 
the clash.... Rabbi Chaim Druckman of the National Religious 
Party declared that the village of Beita 'should be wiped off 
the face of the earth.'" (NYT, 4/9/88, p. 1)
   In a pattern seen more than once in Israel, Israelis kill 
Israelis and then blame Palestinians so as to justify Israeli 
genocide of Palestinians. (See for example, Israel's Sacred 
Terror on MIM lit. list.)
   
   STATE CAPITALIST COUNTRIES
   
   RUMANIA ALIENATES EAST AND WEST?
   The NYT ran an article critical of Rumania. Although 
commentators generally fret over debts both domestic and 
international, in this case, the NYT criticized Rumania for 
cutting its dependence on foreign debts in half since 1983 -- 
from $10 billion to $5 billion. This supposedly resulted in 
vast deprivations for the Rumanian people according to the 
NYT three times in the same article. (Henry Kamm, "For 
Bucharest, a Great Leap Backward, 2/15/88, p. 6)
   That the NYT recognizes what debt repayment means when 
done by East bloc countries but not by other countries shows 
the ideological biases of our bourgeoisie. Rumanian leader 
Nicolae Ceausescu supposedly reject Gorbachev's reforms and 
upholds central planning. This too is no good and cause for 
NYT editorializing in its supposed "news" article headline.
   
   ALIENATION OF SOVIET WORKERS GROWS
   Demand for sugar in some regions of the Soviet Union 
increased as much as 29% in the earlier part of this year 
according to a Soviet official. The source of the demand is 
the moonshine industry. (NYT, 4/27/88, p. 1)
   Alcoholism in the Soviet Union has been a steadily growing 
problem since the death of Stalin. Gorbachev has said that 
the alcoholism problem is the people's fault, instead of 
targeting the system which causes people to desire an escape 
from reality in alcohol. "It is a scandal against which the 
people themselves must struggle," said Gorbachev. (NYT, 
11/16/87, p. 6)
   With this blame-the-people approach, Gorbachev has 
resorted to repression to solve the problem. "New statistics 
[from the Soviet Interior Ministry -- ed.] show 390,000 
arrests thus far this year [Nov. 1987 -- ed.] -- against 
fewer than 70,000 in all of 1985 -- for home brewing." 
(Ibid.)
   It must be admitted that Gorbachev started from such a 
poor situation that what he did actually did have some 
positive results. The death rate in the Soviet Union is 
declining for the first time in 20 years, no doubt partly 
because of a 37% decline in deaths from drunk driving. 
(Ibid.)
   
   CHINA ALLOWS CITY TO LEASE ITSELF OUT ENTIRELY
   The city of Fuxin with 700,000 people has leased every 
thing in the city "every grocery store, department store, 
movie house and factory in town." (NYT, 2/10/88, p. 4) One 
woman who leased a factory made about $200,000 in profit one 
year. (Ibid.)
   
   SOVIETS ALSO DO STAR WARS RESEARCH
   Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has said that the USSR 
does Star Wars research. At the same time, he said the 
Soviets will not deploy a Star Wars defense. (Ann Arbor News, 
12/1/87, p. c1)
   
   CHINESE CENTRAL COMMITTEE BECOMES NEW CLASS
   "Half of the Central Committee members now are college 
educated and 40% have engineering degrees. Until recently 
most of China's leaders had been veteran revolutionaries from 
peasant backgrounds with little education." (Guardian: 
Independent Radical Newsweekly, 12/9/87, p. 10)
   What the Guardian means is little "formal, bourgeois 
education."
   
   LONG-TIME CHINA FIELD RESEARCHER SEES CHINESE PRODUCTION 
GOING DOWN
   William Hinton has reported that grain production may have 
declined in China since the counterrevolution in 1976 and the 
decollectivization of agriculture since 1979. Yields at the 
famed Dazhai have declined as they have in the bordering 
counties.
   Hinton rips through many of the accounting devices that 
make Chinese economic success since 1976 seem greater than it 
is.
   While it is way to early to say that China has suffered in 
short-run economic growth since turning to capitalism, 
Hinton's work shows that even this much vaunted advantage of 
the counterrevolution is worth monitoring. (Monthly Review: 
An Independent Socialist Magazine, 3/88)
   
   CHINA RE-ABOLISHES STOCK MARKET
   In Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, stock trading started in 
1986. In 1987 the government stopped it.Apparently this so-
called reform was too much for the supposedly Communist Party 
of China to swallow. ( LA Times, 4/27/87, p. 1, part IV)
   
   STUDENTS PROTESTED OUSTER OF YELTSIN
   Boris Yeltsin is regarded as a "reformer" in the Soviet 
Union, perhaps more reformist than Gorbachev.
   In November Gorbachev removed him as head of the Moscow 
Party Committee for views that are too reformist. Hundreds of 
students demonstrated against this repeatedly over a period 
of days. In fact, at one confrontation at Moscow University, 
students drowned out officials who tried to explain why 
Yeltsin was ousted. (NYT, 11/21/87, p. 5)
   Neither Yeltsin nor Gorbachev are people that communists 
should admire. 
   Yet, the protests undercut the right-wing argument that 
there is no intellectual or political life outside a 
monolithic communist party in the Soviet Union.
   
   SOVIETS TO MAKE PROFIT ON SUMMIT
   The Soviets' official newspaper, Tass has hired a promoter 
for Hulk Holgan and Michael Jackson to sell commemorative T-
shirts, buttons, records, plastic tote bags and audio 
cassettes for the upcoming summit. "Tass plans to sell the 
shirts for $15-$20 and already has ordered 10,000." (Detroit 
News, 5/21/88, p. 1)
   
   PUBLISHER TYPIFIES IGNORANCE OF CHINA
   Having been to China at least twice, one might think Allen 
H. Neuharth would have some first-hand insights on the 
situation there. Neuharth is the chair of Gannett newspapers, 
the Detroit News and USA Today.
   In his recent column on China, he was full of praise for 
Deng Xiaoping's institution of capitalism. As evidence of 
progress Neuharth made three points.
   First, he said that GNP per capita had doubled in the last 
ten years. These GNP figures, however, mean nothing thanks to 
inflation and changes in relative prices.
    In fact, this year inflation may hit 20%, up from 8% last 
year. This has caused a decline in real living standards for 
1 in 5 urban residents. (NYT, 3/4/88, p. 6)
   Secondly, he cited "Dozens of new hotels, which last year 
housed 1.7 million foreign tourists." (Detroit News, 5/24/88, 
p. D3) OK, that's true, there has been progress for foreign 
tourists.
   Thirdly, TV sets and radios have replaced loudspeakers for 
communications. (Ibid.) Although this is a bit of an 
exaggeration, it's not worth arguing over.
   This is what constitutes progress according to the people 
who run the press in this country!
   
   CORRESPONDANCE
   
   PRISONER REQUESTS ANY LITERATURE POSSIBLE
   Dear MIM:
   I am presently incarcerated at X Correctional Facility in 
the solitary confinement unit. As a result of my predicament 
my access to positive, constructive and enlightening 
literature is very limited. I would greatly appreciate to the 
upmost any material or information you care to provide me.
   Thank you--keep on fighting the struggle is constant.
   --A prisoner in the Northeast
   April, 1988
   
   SUPPORTS DICTATORSHIP OF PROLETARIAT, NOT THE SYSTEM
   Dear MIM:
   I am in receipt of your publication and literature offers 
pages.
   I believe the "Establishment" must be replaced by 
revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat.
   As in Rome, the unpropertied class in the USA is the root 
of solidarity.
   I am a prisoner of 12 years and under strict censorship. I 
would like any literature you can send and request a copy of 
Karl Marx's Das Kapital if you can get a copy to me. I would 
like to have your "List of Other Organizations." It is listed 
as "The Competition."
   Workers of the World Unite!
   --A prisoner from the South
   February, 1988
   
   PRAISES MIM FOUNDING DOCUMENTS, OPPOSES TROTSKY
   Dear MIM:
   I have received the catalog and the MIM's Founding 
Documents, and I thank each of you very much for them!
   The MIM's Founding Documents are very interesting, 
especially the "Manifesto on the International Situation and 
Revolution." The Manifesto is a very valuable document. It is 
a good launch pad for further investigation and is well worth 
studying closely. It gives a very accurate appraisal of 
Trotskyism, and the phony socialism that Trotsky advocated.
   Even though I am a supporter of the X [one of the 
"competition"--ed.] I am not against learning about what 
other parties, groups or people think and the political and 
ideological lines they advocate. This was my main reason for 
writing MIM.
   I've been in prison for five years now, but I didn't get 
turned on to the revolutionary scene until about three and a 
half years ago. During my three and a half years of study, 
I've had the chance to come in contact with only seven 
different political parties. I've studied the lines of these 
parties, and so far the X is the only one I've found to have 
the most revolutionary and necessary political and 
ideological line.
   I'm very interested to know what kind of stance the MIM 
has taken toward the RCP,USA and of the Revolutionary 
Internationalist Movement--which was formed in March 1984--
that the RCP, USA is a part of? Has the MIM ever held a 
debate about joining with the RCP, USA? If so, I would please 
like to know what the MIM centered its debate around? Also, 
if the MIM forms a party instead of joining one, would it 
become a part of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement 
that was formed in March 1984, or would it try to form a new 
internationalist movement?
   I'm real sure that there will be other inmates interested 
in MIM and its work.
   Also, please send me your list of other groups to the left 
of social democracy, with the special page for prisoners, so 
that I may pass this around too?
   I thank you for all of your help and consideration, and I 
thank you for what you are doing for the future!
   --A prisoner from the South
   May 1988
   MC5 replies:
   We have sent this comrade the draft critique of the RCP, a 
piece on personality cults and MIM Theory 7 in response to 
his/her questions on the RCP/RIM.
   The founders of MIM were quite familiar with the RCP and 
its practices in the Cambridge/Boston area. Debate centered 
on Trotskyism (conscious and unconscious), relations between 
the vanguard and mass movements and party internal life.
   There were numerous practices that MIM founders were 
dissatisfied with in the RCP, but today MIM is trying to 
focus on issues of the RCP's broader line.
   Comrades who are dissatisfied with the responses to the 
RCP found in existing literature distributed by MIM should 
write with their inquiries and comments. It is not MIM's 
policy to go into much detail on this subject in public.
   
   DO MORE ON IRAN AND KURDS!
   Dear MIM:
   Revolutionary Greetings! I sincerely thank you for 
providing me with copies of Iran in Resistance and Iranian 
People's Fedaii Guerrillas "Draft of Program."
   The National Workers Network was truly correct in stating 
in the Underground Notion, "Their attention [MIM] to the 
needs of, and work with, prisoners is unparalleled." Again, 
thank you for your "unparalleled" support, and I hope you 
will provide me with more literature in the future. Strength 
in Struggle!
   P.S. I strongly encourage you to, in the future, publish, 
in MIM Notes, articles on the Iranian People's Fedaii 
Guerrillas struggle for the liberation of Iran in unison with 
the Kurdish people's struggle for liberation and self-
determination throughout the Middle East.
   In solidarity.
   --Comrade from West coast
   April, 1988
   MC5 replies:
   The National Workers Network put a blurb in its newsletter 
the Underground Notion which said what the comrade above 
quoted. While MIM is grateful for the attention, it should be 
said that MIM is a small group of modest capabilities.
   We have just received word that the National Workers 
Network is now defunct.
   
   Uses lit list in college 
   Dear MIM:
   I do want to be on your mailing list. I find your 
materials do make a difference in my college studies. I no 
longer rely on newspapers so I guess that is what happens 
when one begins to think independently.
   --Student in the Northeast
   March, 1988
   
   OBITUARIES
   
   JOHN CHASE
   A supposedly deranged vagrant shot and killed a Dallas 
police officer by using the officer's gun. Police then killed 
the vagrant.
   The officer was white and the assailant Black.
   Apparently, Chase was writing a traffic ticket at the 
time.
   Chase and the assailant named Williams were arguing when 
Williams took the gun. Two to 10 people in the crowd told the 
vagrant to "shoot him, shoot him."
   The bourgeoisie has rallied all its own forces and allies 
in this incident. "Dallas billionaire H. Ross Perot and 
oilman Ray Hunt have offered planes to transport officers to 
Chase's funeral. . . . Fort Worth-based American Airlines 
offered a jet to fly officers and family members to Des 
Moines." (AP, Ann Arbor News, 1/26/88, p. C4)
   Hundreds of middle-class pig-supporters marched on City 
Hall as the police attempted to capitalize on the officer's 
death by using it to squelch criticism in City Council. The 
Dallas Police Association and the police chief asked the 
mayor and three city council members not to attend the 
funeral, but changed their minds later.
   Police blamed city council members for the shooting. Some 
had supported a congressional investigation into charges by 
Black leaders that police has used excessive force in killing 
several Black people. (AP, Ann Arbor News, 1/25/88, p. C2)
   Police Chief Billy Prince complained about "constant 
bashing" on the police: "The feeling and atmosphere of 
controversy and criticism that permeated this past year . . . 
you take someone a little mentally deranged, and the 
circumstances are just right and they're on the edge, it 
makes them just bold enough to attack an officer." (AP, Ann 
Arbor New, 1/26/88, p. C4)
   Many government offices put the flag at half mast to honor 
Chase. At least one, flag did not fly at half-mast. The 
reason the Black government official gave was that the flag 
did not fly at half-mast when a Black officer was recently 
killed in trying to prevent a burglary.
   
   WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?
   
   NORTH CALLS INDICTMENTS AN HONOR
   Oliver North gave the commencement speech at Jerry 
Falwell's University in Virginia, called Liberty University. 
Falwell compared North to Jesus in his own speech by saying 
Jesus was also indicted, convicted and crucified. Die-hards 
in Virginia are attempting to draft North for a Senate race. 
(NYT, 5/3/88, p. 12)
   
   METHODISTS CONTINUE HETEROSEXISM
   "The chief policy-making body of the United Methodist 
Church voted today to maintain its position that homosexual 
behavior is 'incompatible with Christian teaching' and a bar 
to the ordained ministry." (NYT, 5/3/88, p. 13)
   There are about 9.5 million Methodists in the US.  On the 
other hand, at least the church made steps towards adopting 
gender-inclusive language when referring to Father, Son and 
Holy Ghost. (Ibid.)
   
   REV. MOON STILL BUYING UP FRIENDS
   (Detroit Free Press, 12/20/87, p. 1)
   A group named Christian Voice joined with Moon's 
Unification Church to establish the American Freedom 
Coalition, which seeks to move the Republicans right or form 
a third party.
   Behind the coalition is Richard Viguerie, who himself was 
"rescued from the brink of bankruptcy in October by Bo Hi 
Pak, a former Korean military intelligence officer and Mr. 
Moon's top U.S. operative." (Ibid, p. A15)
   Others coopted by Moon including former critics are Rev. 
Ralph David Abernathy, Former Treasury Secretary Robert 
Anderson, New Right lobbyist Warren Richardson, Eugene 
McCarthy, Terry Dolan and Neal Blair.
   Falwell declined a $1 million dollar to give one speech in 
Seoul.
   Since 1980 Moon has made at least $165 million through 
high-pressured sales in Japan of religious artifacts and 
talismans. One estimate is $800 million.
   
   "DETROIT OFFICERS SUSPECTED OF CRACK TIES"
   According to police officials and investigators, 125 
Detroit police officers are under investigation for 
involvement with crack. Detroit has a total of 5,000 
officers.
   On April 20th, reputed drug-dealers shot and killed 
Officer Paul Dunbar, who had robbed the drug-dealers' house.
   "Among the cases under investigation by the police 
Internal Affairs Section are:
   ¥ Three groups of officers, operating in three precincts 
where they are assigned, who are believed to be robbing crack 
houses.
   ¥ Several supervisory officers, who hold the rank of 
sergeant or lieutenant, for using powdered or crack cocaine.
   ¥ Two officers who owned homes that were raided by 
narcotics officers because they were suspected crack houses. 
In one of those cases, the officer was living in the house at 
the time.
   ¥ An officer who was the victim of a street robbery after 
walking out of a crack house where head had been buying 
drugs.
   ¥ Several officers who are both selling and using crack 
cocaine obtained during shakedowns of street drug dealers." 
(Detroit Free Press, 5/5/88, p. 1, A18)
   
   PRESIDENT PUSHES ASTROLOGY ON MASSES
   According to Donald Regan, "virtually every major move and 
decision the Reagans made during my time as White House chief 
of staff was cleared in advance with a woman in San Francisco 
who drew up horoscopes to make certain that the planets were 
in a favorable alignment for the enterprise."" (Detroit Free 
Press, 5/9/88, p.1)
   Furthermore, "Regan blames the president's four months of 
isolation during the height of the Iran-contra scandal in the 
winter of 1986-87 on the astrologer's warning that those 
months would be ill-starred for the president to travel or 
appear in public." (ibid.)
   Other decisions including getting the CIA director to 
resign, the 1987 State of the Union address and the missile 
pact with the Soviets were said to be governed by similar 
guidance.
   The worst part of all this is that the publicity will 
embolden liberal opponents of the president to say that he is 
just stupid or mistaken in his policies, and not an 
expression of the ruling class's interests. At the same time, 
supporters of the president will probably look at astrology 
more favorably.
   
   PENTAGON CAN AFFORD BUDGET CUTS
   Frank C. Carlucci, the Defense Secretary ordered $33 
billion in defense cuts for fiscal 1989. "At $290 billion, it 
[the war budget--ed.] will also be less than the $296 
billion" (NYT, 12/5/87, p. 1) for fiscal 1988 already 
appropriated.
   These cuts are the largest even discussed during the 
Reagan administration; although they amount to less than 15% 
of planned expenditures and less than a 2% cut from the 
previous year's budget. (It just goes to show that when the 
Pentagon asks for outlandish appropriations to begin with, it 
can afford the appearance of cutting back later.)
   Surprise, surprise, the cuts are aimed at helping 
Republican Party candidates say that they helped build up 
military strength and supported military cuts at the same 
time. It just goes to show that with such huge resources at 
its disposal, the Pentagon can afford to play a numbers game 
for the public and mislead public opinion.
   By alternating between hawkish calls for defense build-ups 
and calls for trimming of fat, the ruling class intentionally 
confuses the public on what it is doing.
   Meanwhile, in reality, the Pentagon has more money than it 
knows how to spend.
   
   JUDGES ARE CORRUPT
   Judge William Haley Jr. admitted to taking bribes to fix 
traffic tickets and to tax evasion. He refused to finger 
other judges who are under suspicion in Detroit's two courts. 
The judge had served 6 years on the bench. (Detroit Free 
Press, 4/15/88, p. 1)
   
   ARIAS FAVORS US INTERVENTION
   President of Costa Rica Oscar Arias said the US should 
"'send in the Marines'" if Nicaragua threatens its neighbors 
or engages in expansionism. (Michigan Daily, 2/3/88, p. 1) 
Arias also supports aid to the Contras according to Michigan 
House representative Carl Pursell.
   Denying the assertions of Secretary of State Schultz and 
Pursell, Costa Rican ambassador Emilia Barish said that he 
did not think that those were Arias' views. Of course, with a 
peace plan with Arias' name on it, the ambassador was obliged 
to deny that Arias opposed his own peace plan.
   Arias' peace plan for Central America won him the Nobel 
Peace prize in 1987. (Ibid.)