Uruguay dictatorship faces reviving workers movement
Mario SUAREZ* MONTEVIDEO. It is clear enough now that the world capitalist economic crisis that set in following the post-war boom has become chronic and poses the possibility of massive breakdowns in the imperialist system.
But the very first ripples of this crisis economic structure of Uruguay.
The bourgeoisie was divided, in the grips of its own political and economic crisis. At the same time it confronted the biggest upsurge of the mass movement in the country's history. It proved unable to cope with these challenges within the such circumstances, the growing momentum of the mass struggle was making it impossible to implement any economic and political plan that could even prolong the death agony of the
The combativity of the workers movement, which had assumed the leadership of the struggles, was becoming a threat to the survival of the capitalist system itself.
On the other hand, the imperialists were putting on more and more pressure, beginning to shift the weight of their own crisis onto the colonial world. They demanded that the Uruguayan bourgeoisie apply a plan for stepping up the exploitation of the workers in order to assure its own survival and at the same time get a bigger contribution of capital from the imperialist centers.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MILITARY DICTATORSHIP
This was the signal followed by the military, which, with the approval of the bourgeoisie, dissolved parliament on June 27, 1973, and prepared to take on the workers movement. That marked the culmination of the long process of a creeping military coup. At the same time, it marked the opening of the chapter of resistance of the workers and poor masses, who had to try to fight back in a context of counterrevolution and destitution.
Before the sun rose on June 27, the first-shift workers spontaneously stopped their machines and declared a general strike. A few hours later, when the strike was already an accomplished fact, the National Confederation of Workers (Confederacion Nacional de Trabajadores -CNT) issued a belated call for a general strike.
fought back against the military coup. It took the most brutal repression in the history of the country to defeat them.
that had unquestioned proved incapable of meeting the challenge of these historic events.
The class-collaborationist line imposed on the CNT by its Communist Party leadership led the workers to place their hopes on the emergence of "progressive" elements in the military, which never manifested themselves. The CNT chiefs led the general strike with the perspective of getting a Peruvian-type solution, with Alvarado.(1) But it found itself face to face with a Brazilian-type coup.
From the outset, the workers struggle was led in a way that assured its. defeat. This brought to an end the period of student and workers struggle that opened in 1968-69 and culminated in a mass upthat pushed the country to the brink of a revolutionary situation.
With the victory of the coup d'etat, the bourgeoisie launched a major offensive, pressing the advantage it gained as a result of the retreat of the mass movement and the brutal repression conducted by the Bonapartist junta that had been
APPLICATION OF THE IMPERIALIST PLAN
The defeat of the mass movement was the precondition for the application of a new economic plan. But this was not the only thing that had to be done. It was necessary to drive out of the country half a million people, most of them skilled workers, who did not fit into the new
The forced mass emigration suited a specific political objective. million exiles included the bulk of the political and trade-union activists involved in the preceding struggles. They could have served as a nucleus around which the workers movement could have regrouped to overcome the effects of the defeat.
In order to attain its end, the dictatorship was obliged to arrest and torture one Uruguayan in every fifty and bring one in every 500 before a tribunal. Unions were outlawed, along with political parties and all democratic organizations. In this way, the opposition that had continued to resist the plans of the dictatorship was
The defeat was driven deeper by the workers movement in the region. The
1976 military coup in Argentina marked the culmination of this series of defeats
The new economic plan was conceived and executed in accordance with the interests of the section of the bourgeoisie most closely linked to imperialist finance capital. By the position it holds in banking and the packing-house industry, this wing of the bourgeoisie controls
In these circumstances, the workers' real wages were cut to 50% of what they had been before 1973. They were eroded by inflation, while working hours were increased, working conditions deteriorated, and the gains made throughout the histhe workers movement were
Through repression and super-exploitation, the dictatorship managed to slow the breakdown of the capitalist system in the country and prolong its death agony. The junta's minister of economics and finance drew up an economic plan of the type that some years later the imperialists would impose on the semicolonial world more widely.
The relative development existed before was wiped out. The industries that were built up to produce goods to substitute for imports collapsed. They were unable to compete with the industry of the imperialist centers. Thus, the electronics industry virtually disappeared, along with what little existed of an engineering industry and the automobile-parts factories. In their place, labor intensive industries were promoted, such as leather (footwear and clothing) and woolens,
La member of the Socialist (PST) of Uruguay. It has been outside the Fourth International since 1979, but is not now a member of any other international grouping and continues to stand on the principles of the 1963 reunification congress of the Fourth International. (1) The Communist Party and the CNT leadership that it controlled had developed a lot of illusions in the intentions of the so-called Peruemerging in the February 1973 dress rehearsal for the military coup. So, they devoted themse ves that they thought favorable to a reformist pro- pressure a military faction cess of the type to which Velasco Alvadro gave impetus in Peru in 1968, doing everything they could to give the general strike that developed in response to the coup a defensive character.
21
it had just inflicted on the working class. dent movement was reflected in the whose products brought in a comfortable export income.
Through the penetration of finance capital and the deterioration in the terms of trade, imperialist exploitation increased. At the same time, the imperialists were able to take advantage of the effects of unemployment, which reached a record high of 15% in 1976, according to the official figures themselves. Inflation rose to three-digit levels and in some branches of the food industry the work-day stretched out to 12 or even 16 hours.
In order to encourage investment, the government stimulated the construction industry by means of state-subsidized public works such as the Palmar and Salto Grande dams, the Paysandu and Fray Bentos international bridges, and roads, and in general various projects to build up the economic infrastructure. Despite this, the balance of trade has remained in the red since 1974, and the large foreign debt, which had already become chronic, grew to still more threatening dimensions.
After the 1974-75 recession, the imperialists achieved a relative restabilization lasting to 1978. As soon as this began breaking down, they • resumed their attacks on local industry. They began again to raise tariff barriers in the imperialist centers and open up the economies of the semicolonial world to further penetration, in particular in the Southern Cone.
The plan orchestrated from Washington led to the liquidation of the industries that had shown the strongest growth in previous years, by pushing them to increase their level of indebtedness, to make deals with the banks, or into bankruptcy pure and simple.
The agricultural bourgeoisie also started to be bled by the banks and the packing houses. Investment linked to real estate speculation and tourism was stimulated by the overvaluing of the Argentine peso. A large volume of capital was thereby diverted from productive investments. Foreign capital was attracted by very high interest rates. of debt in the productive sectors which, according to the official figures, reached the record total of 4 billion dollars in 1981. Some 2 billion of this was in industry, 1 billion was in agriculture, and the rest was in commerce and mortgage loans. showed a new jump, rising to 3 billion dollars at the end of 1981, that is more than 1,000 dollars for every inhabitant of the country, one of the highest per capita trade deficits in the world. In the first months of 1982, currency reserves fell to 266 million dollars, or 32% of the reserves that existed at the start of the year. should add that the growth rate, which was positive during the first eight years of the dictatorship fell to minus 0.8% in 1981.
At the time of the 1974-1975 international recession, the dictatorship was able to take advantage of the defeat that 22
In the present international economic crisis, on the other hand, it has had to cope with a reviving mass movement.
THE MASS MOVEMENT BEGINS
TO REVIVE
The year 1976 marked the low point of the mass movement. It is the year when the largest number of political prisoners were in prison. The repression was at its worst. Since then, there has been a slow recovery of the mass movement, with temporary setbacks but with a general upward trend.
The first struggles remained isolated and did not overcome the atomization of the movement. They ended in defeat. But after that the conflicts multiplied and the organization of the struggles improved.
It was not the workers movement but the student movement that re-emerged first. In 1978, the resistance won its first victory. The students of veterinary medicine struck for a month and won their demands. The struggle in the veterinary college was followed by a series of other student struggles in which the dictatorship suffered a string of defeats, in the faculties of chemistry, liberal arts, technology.
CUA A LA
¡LUME CONTINUE
Uruguay: "The struggle continues' (DR)
However, the revival of the mass movement began to acquire real power when the workers came back into the arena of struggle on May 10, 1980. The decree changing the date of the May Day comwas massively rebuffed.
Despite the formal ban by the government and the threats of firings made by the bosses, absenteeism in the workplaces was higher than 35% on the average and 60% in construction and certain other industries. Motevideo was inundated with action bulletins and leaflets.
On that day, a mass was also celebrated to commemorate the National Holiday. It was sponsored by a trade-union coordinating body and held in a church in the center of the city. Some 1,500 persons attended.
This revival of the workers and stuplebiscite of November 30, 1980. The pressure applied by the Carter government for demagogic reasons forced the Uruguayan regime to draw up a program for setting up legal institutions for the military dictatorship. The first step was to hold a referendum to approve a new constitution in order to get the traditional bourgeois parties to accept the role of a democratic facade for the regime.
Nonetheless, despite the weight of official propaganda and the small opening left for opposition, the "no" vote was 58%.
The bourgeois front split between thsoe who supported the program proposed by the military dictatorship and those who rejected it. The contradictions •within the bourgeoisie led to a section of it lining up with the poor masses and the workers. For a month, there was an explosion of political life in the country, errupting through the narrow space the repressive authorities leave open. Debates, mass meetings, and rallies mushroomed.
All of the political spectrum, all the trade-union, student and neighbourhood groups that had slowly grown up in clandestinity, realized the direction of the forces that had been set in motion and endeavored to take advantage of the space that had been opened up. The answer to the dictatorship was a million "no" votes — up to 80% in some working-class neighborhoods.
The government was thrown into a deep political crisis, although the relationship of forces between the classes was not qualitatively changed. On the other hand, there was an important advance in the confidence and the reorganization of the movement of the workers and poor masses.
REVIVAL OF MASS MOVEMENT
GAINS MOMENTUM
After a short period of wait and see, the mass movement began to absorb the meaning of this victory and take advantage of it in the struggle. Once again, the
student movement was the first to resume
Before the new academic year even began, a national petition campaign was launched against the entrance examination that had been made compulsory for matriculation the year before. The highschool students joined in the action. Within a month, 10,000 signatures had been collected. A rally was held in front of the rectorate for the turning over of the petitions to the authorities.
After the resignation of the university rector in August of the same year, the petition campaign was resumed, and the number of signatures collected went over 30,000. The demands were broadened to to government intervention.
As for the workers, coming up to May 1, 1981, they reached a new stage in their assimilation of the plebiscite victory and in their remobilization. Since, following May Day the year before, the workers had gained both in strength and experience they now began preparing more than a month beforehand to demonstrate their rejection of the date change.
In the workplaces, they discussed what steps to take and an organized campaign for workers to take off work that day was built up. The trade-union struggle took on a clearly political character, and its power forced the government to retreat. A week before May Day, the traditional
This victory encouraged struggles over wages and working conditions. Since the great toll taken by the emigration and repression that followed the 1973 coup d'etat, a new generation of workers had been integrated into production.
THE NEW GENERATION OF WORKERS BEGINS TO FIGHT
Tempered by particularly harsh workconditions, this new generation did not feel the direct effects of the defeat in the same way. It was cut off from the class-struggle traditions of the Uruguayan proletariat by the crushing of the movement at the hands of the dictatorship. But it had a great fighting potential that little by little became combined with the experience of the older generations. The new layer of trade-union activists and leaders that has emerged represents a coming together of this youth and the experience accumulated in the years of open mass struggles.
Facing the symptoms of the new economic crisis, the bosses and the government once again are striving to make the workers pay the cost. The response has been a wave of workers struggles throughout the country. Timidly at first, the workers have been going back to the traditional methods of struggle - refusal to work overtime, partial work stoppages, strikes launched in a number of places at once to disperse the repressive forces of the regime.
realizing that the relationship of forces is not yet favorable, the workers have not neglected other forms demands. Over the year, dozens of petition campaigns have been launched in the factories for wage increases and against
The most important conflicts have taken place in textiles (Alpargatas, Ildu, Suitex), in the public sector (Ancap, Antel, UTE, Pluna, the municipal workers), the metals industry (Las Heras), the industry (General Motors, Ford, Norde), the public and private leather (Cuvalan and Osami), tobacco, and the food and drink industry. All these struggles demonstrate that the bosses' attempt to get the workers to bear the burden of the crisis is
In order to obstruct the mobilizations and the reorganization of the trade-union movement, the government drafted a new law in July 1981 on professional associations. It went into effect in the following October. The bulk of the trade unions and working-class political organizations immediately rejected it as an attempt to atomize the workers movement and make it easier for the state to control it. But there are differences among the workers about the possibilities for finding ways to operate in this new framework.
THE NEW TRADE-UNION MOVEMENT
The struggles that led to the formation of the CNT, the first labor confederation that was able to unite the working class, representing a historic step forward, are still alive in the memories of the workers.
Today, they feel the need to reorganize the unions and the CNT, to defend their imprisoned leaders. But that does not mean that the leadership of this process of reorganization has to be handed back to the same chiefs who before the their best to keep the workers demands confined within the limits of the system and, in the end, led
The reorganization process has to be given impetus among the ranks, involving the greatest possible internal democracy. This is the only way to build a leadership that stands for working-class unity and independence.
That is the path being followed by a number of the factory and rank-and-file committees that have brought together the activists in recent years and which function as provisional leaderships. Most of them realize that in the work of reorganizing the trade unions it would be wrong to reject a priori any opening for legal activity. In fact, such openings are the indirect result of our struggle.
THE FIGHT FOR LEGAL RIGHTS
FOR UNIONS
Without losing sight of the fact that moving forward depends mainly on our own struggles and patient local organization, we have to take advantage of the margin for maneuver opened up by the trade-union code. This is to enable us to reach the largest number of our fellow workers in order to organize them to destroy the anti-union law itself
In the late spring and summer of 1982, more than a hundred union charters were presented to the Ministry of Labor. This meant a speedup in the process of reorganization, involvement of new activists, and it gave a greater weight to their
The law decreed by the dictatorship has been unable to block the struggles of
Faced with the wave of struggles unleashed by the legalization of the unions, the dictatorship is trying to stop the process it itself set in motion. With a hundred charters presented, it has given recognition to only four unions, nonetheless, the organizing committees are continuing to hold general assemblies
In mid-1982, the dictatorship launched a brutal new repressive crackdown against the trade-union activists. Hundreds of workers involved in the work of reorganizing the trade-union movement have been jailed, physically mistreated, or had to leave the country. Moreover there have been selective firings of a considerable number of workers who have taken part in the recent activities.
The struggle to reorganize the unions and the CNT goes hand in hand with regaining democratic rights and a guarantee of trade-union rights, as well as with winning the release of the imprisoned union activists. This task is closely linked to the setting up of a trade-union leadership that could fill the existing vacuum and keep it from being occupied by unrepresentative groups.
The bank workers have clearly taken the lead in this process. Most banks have their provisional committee, and there is a general provisional committee for the banking industry as a whole. The bank workers have backed up other sections of workers and have joined in a coordinating committee representing those industries where the process of organization has
gone furthest. This committee helps to set up provisional committees where they do not exist, it gives impetus to petition campaigns against unemployment in the various plants, and encourages affiliation to the unions concerned.
TRADE-UNION RIGHTS AND DEMOCRATIC FREEDOMS
These advances in the process have taken form in particular this year. But they are the result of three years of buildup, and they are running directly into the obstacle course erected by the dictatorship, just as the applications for legal recognition by the unions are being stalled. So, it becomes clear that the main obstacle to genuine trade-union activity and satisfaction of the workers' demands is the dictatorship itself. This is why our struggle cannot be limited to the trade-union field. It has to culminate in a genedictatorship.
The political situation in the country has changed since the victory of the workers and poor masses in the 1980 plebiscite. The masses have begun to overcome their political atomization. But the role played by the bourgeois opposition on the occasion of the referendum has sown illusions in some sections of the masses that this wing of the bourgeoisie could pursue this line to its final consequences.
THE DICTATORSHIP TURNS TO
POLITICAL MANEUVERS
The truce offered by the bourgeois parties allowed the dictatorship to extricate itself from its political impasse and work out a plan for an alternative solution. The scheme was ready to go into operation by June 1981.
On the basis of dialogue with the traditional parties and with the benefit of their endorsement, General Alvarez was able to take office in September and proclaim the opening of a period "transition."(2) The government's political program can be summed up in three basic points: - Legalization of the traditional parties while maintaining the ban on the others. - Primary elections for the legalized parties in November 1982 and general elections at - A gradual return to "legal institutions" with the drawing up of a new constitution and participation of the bourgeois parties. The constitution would be ratified by a referendum in 1984 and provide a legal framework for the organs of the military government.
Moving into the political space opened up by the mass mobilization, the traditional parties tried to assume the leadership of the movement and play the role allotted to them by the government's new political plan. Since the bourgeois Blanco and Colorado(3) parties have a legal press, which the left does not, they were 24
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able to focus attention on themselves.
The grass-roots supporters of these parties made clear their opposition to the so-called dialogue with the dictatorship. Various sections of the mass movement came to the same conclusion. So, the only possible way to commemorate the anniversary of the 1980 plebiscite was by a mass mobilization of all the sectors opposing the dictatorship.
DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE
DICTATORSHIP
The Socialist youth and the youth of the Blanco party called for a demonstration on that day, and more than 7,000 persons marched down by Avenida 18 de Julio shouting slogans such as "Freedom yes! Dietatorship, no!" "Free the prisoners so that they can join us in our strug
"Unions yes, dictatorship, no!"
It was clear that the political dialogue had not changed anything. The workers still faced the same economic conditions There were still no democratic rights. And there had been no lowering in the level of repression. so, while the bour geois parties were put in the role of the leadership of the mass movement, they are incapable of responding to its most elementary aspirations.
None of the hopes created by the bourgeois parties with their talk of "dialogue" and a period of "transition" have been satisfied. Freedom of the press is not only denied to the left groups, it is made a mockery for the traditional
Political meetings are rarely authorized follow a limited agenda checked beforehand with the police. Although political prisoners are being released as they complete their sentences, there are still more than 1,000 in jail and the conditions for them have not improved any. The dictatorship refuses to recognize its responsibility for the "missing persons" and the exiles have not been allowed to come back.
Therefore, a mass movement has been building up behind the demands for democratic rights and amnesty, release of the political prisoners, the reappearance of the "missing persons," return of the exiles and the lifting of the bans.
Hundreds of mothers are besieging the international organizations, the embassies, and the ministries demanding an accounting for their sons and daughters who have been imprisoned or made "missing."
They have been joined by workers. students, and other sections of the population who support the demand for an • Беро но amnesty. The left parties and currents have also begun to involve themselves in this struggle.
A number of memorial masses were sponsored in 1981 and 1982 by • the "Mothers of Uruguayans missing in Argentina." The SEPAJ, the Peace and Justice Service, linked to the Argentine Nobel Peace Prize winner Perez Esquival, is developing very extensive activity.
This movement for democratic rights has not yet been able to concentrate its forces, since there is no central organization able to combine and give impetus to (2) Retired General Gregorio Alvarez, one of the plotters of the July 1973 coup and an active participant in the repressive campaign against the Tupamaro movement. He was appointed on August 1, 1981, by the Uruguayan military chiefs to succeed President Aparicio Mendez as head of the sed to lead General Gregorio Alvarez was supposed to "the process of return to strong and stable democracy. (3) The Blanco ("White") and Colorado ("Red") parties are the traditional parties of the Uruguayan ruling class.
all these struggles. Nonetheless, the movement has provided a general focus for the energies of a great many sectors that are opposed to "dialogue" and whose ranks are now being swelled by those who have lost the illusions fostered by the traditional parties in a "transition" period.
There is a need for an organization that can combine all these struggles, extend them, and open up a political perspective for the mass movement. This is toward this objective that the various forces should converge, following the example given in Argentina by the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo took the lead in the struggle against the dictatorship.
THE EFFECT OF THE MALVINAS WAR
As a result of the nearness of the conflict and the influence that Argentina has traditionally had over the economic and political life of Uruguay, the Malvinas war did not fail to have an impact on country. There were conflicts between the positions of the Uruguayan government and the movement of the workers and the poor masses, just as there were conflicts between the government and the
The government first took the side of Argentina. Then it made contradictory statements. And finally without any public explanation, it simply declared itself neutral: "No involvement in the dispute nor any support for any of the nations in conflict," President Alvarez said in his speech. He added: "In view of the preparations for war by both coun tries, no action can be allowed that would mean direct or indirect cooperation in the preparations for unleashing hostilities that contravene the decisions of the UN Security Council."
In order to get the Uruguayan government to take this position at the end of the day, the imperialists needed the "strongest" arguments. May 5-6, a mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrived in Montevideo to negotiate a loan of 900 million dollars in accordance with a previous commitment.
This was the largest loan the international credit bodies have given to the dietatorship in the nine years of its existence, The other part of the agreement was the signing of a declaration of intent to carry out certain economic measures and to guarantee Uruguayan neutrality in
In order to head off demonstrations of opposition to this line, the Uruguayan government banned all public assemblies. In these conditions, any demonstrations held would have expressed hatred of the military dictatorships, as well as condemof the imperialist aggression against Argentina. The two traditional bourgeois parties, as well as other sections of the opposition also took a neutral position, which was pro-imperialist in reality.
The dependence of the Uruguayan bourgeoisie on American and British imperialism, as well as the commitments that the Blanco and Colorado parties made to the government separated them from the mass movement. bourgeois forces, to expose their real position, which is standing on the side of imperialism and the government against the workers and the poor masses. They feared that the anti-imperialist and anti-dictatorial upsurge in Argentina would spread across the border into Uruguay. themselves, the trade-union and student activists, the intellectuals and artists used all sorts of strategems to demonstrate the solidarity of an entire people with Argentina against the imperialist aggression and against the military dictatorship.
The shift of the imperialists toward a hardline position in defiance of Latin American public opinion led to conflicts with most governments in Latin America and the Uruguayan dictatorship was no
James Cason, the political advisor of the U.S. embassy, was declared persona non grata by the government for interference in the internal affairs" of the country. On May 29, he left Uruguay. The U.S. ambassador, Thomas Aranda, followed him the next day. MacCarthy, the spokesperson of the U.S. State Department announced: "Relations between Uruguay and the United States have entered a difficult period," and "the step taken by the Uruguayan government is prejudicial to the interests of both countries." This was only the tip of the iceberg. The whole pattern of relations between the United States and Uruguay and the rest of Latin
The crisis following the war, which threatens to bring down the Argentinian dictatorship, the most brutal one on the continent, is also widening the breach made in Uruguay by the conflict.
THE DICTATORSHIP SINKS INTO
DEEPER CRISIS
The advances of the workers struggle are preventing the military dictatorship and its economic team from continuing to bring down the real-wage level by means of repression. Today the government is resorting to other means, such as increasing unemployment and combining inflation with devaluation of the currency in order to push wages down.
Every month, partial or total plant closures throw another 6,000 persons on the jobless rolls. In less than a week, four of the largest concerns (Funsa, Coca Cola, Metzen y Sena, and Ford) have respectively sent 160, 800, 400 and 300 workers to the unemployment offices.
Last May 29, the Minister of the Economy and Finance, Valentin Arismendi decreed a series of measures. The most important was a 1% reduction in the nominal wage level up to the level of three times the minimum wage and 2%
On the other hand, there has been a general increase in the charges levied by authorities and in import and value-added taxes, which will have repercussions on the general level of prices.
subsidies are being
These measures represent a violent attack on wages and living standards, and seething indignation among the population. The situation has become explosive. The crisis hitting the entire economy is the deepest in the last
What is more, the repercussions of the difficulties in which the Argentine dictatorship finds itself are undermining the Uruguayan government....
In the coming months the political situation in the country will face profound changes. How extensive they are will depend mainly on the capacity of the workers and people's movements to take advantage of the political space that has already been opened up by its struggles.
Defeat of
the ERA
The defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment in the United States on June 30, 1982, was a severe blow to the struggle for women's equality. The proposed
*Equality of rights under the law shall not be abridged or denied by the United States or any state on account of sex.'
The BRA was first proposed to Congress in 1923 by Alice Paul of the National Women's Party. It was adopted only fifty years later, on March 22, 1972 by the Congress and Senate of the US But before being incorporated into the federal constitution it had to be ratified three-quarters of the total, states ratified the amendment in the early stages of the campaign. But in 1974 the right moved on the offensive Schaffly, founder of this campaign, explained, 'Only homosexuals and lesbians Women will lose out, families and society as well.' A staunch defender of liberty she what would happen to the right of those women who do not want to be equal with men?'
Thus, in 1978, the ERA had only been ratified in 35 states. Supporters asked for a postponement in the time limit, which despite demagogic promises, particularly from Democratic Party Representatives, no support was forthcoming to get the three ratifications needed.
Today there is great bitterness among the Republican and Democratic women who were active in the campaign. As Denise Fuge, president of the National Organisation of Women in New York, and the leading explained, "The Republicans were scared of losing the feminine electorate but this time the Democrats will not get us like that. You've seen the photo of their Philadelphia convention, dale and Brown with their badges, Yes"? That's just demagogy. they do in Florida, in Oklahoma to support the ERA? Nothing! And Carter in 1976: promises, hot air. From now on we will not march for any candidate a
However this ten year long struggle has already introduced this amendment into their own constitutions. Women succeeded in getting different discriminnatory practices stopped in federal rules, on the equality of wages, the education system, professional training, sport. It remains to be seen how this will work out
For the American ruling class the ERA was an important question. Its ratification would have given women an overargument in secondclass status at every level. It would to expectations and demands at a time when the bosses and the government had declared war on the living standards and democratic rights of the workers, and want to draw them into their policy of imperialist aggression. The attacks on women are particularly harsh, as for example in the amendments to the law proposed by the "Right to Lifers' in an attempt to completely criminalise all anecdote sums up the attitude. The Mormons, a religious sect particularly strong in the US, waged a hysterical campaign against the ERA using, among others, the slogan 'God created man and not woman in his image.'
"The defeat of the ERA is a fantastic victory for women, the family, America, declared Phyllis Schatly, president of 'Stop ERA'. But she is triumphing too soon. Although a battle is lost the war continues. The possibility remains to reintroduce the Equal Rights Amendment to Congress. But it is the fight of the American workers, united and redoubled in effort, which will in effect improve
Fred Brode:
A man of
much
courage
Fred Brode died on October 6 in Houston, Texas. He was 75 years old. A socialist and a worker all his adult life, Brode was for years a member of the Socialist
Born im Germany, Brode migrated to the United States in 1929. Friends recall him telling of fighting Hitler's brown shirts before leaving his native country.
Landing in New York, he found his the Communist League of America, formed by the supporters of Trotsky's fight against the ruinous policies of Stalin.