The socialist alternative in the US elections
The following article is from the center pages of the October 19 issue the weekly newspaper that reflects the views of the
Socialist Workers Party of the United States, an organization in fraternal solidarity with the Fourth International.
Governmental power is the most im- their campaign to cut through this phony
USA of The Militant, and Andrea Gonzalez, the Socialist Workers Party candidates for US president and vice-president, have been traveling around the country - and the world - telling the truth about the source of the problems facing working people today and the solutions the socialist campaign puts forward for working people to consider.
Mason and Gonzalez are leading a slate of 53 local socialist candidates in 26 states, all of whom are explaining that the November elections will not put an end to the US war in Central America and the Caribbean or solve the other unionists, family farmwomen and all working people.
The socialist candidates champion inoppressed and exploited - from strikes by Arizona copper miners, Toledo auto workers, and West Virginia coal miners, to the struggles by Blacks in Miami and elsewhere against cop brutality. War at home and abroad
How do the socialist candidates view what's going on in the world?
They say that the US government is today waging a war against working people on two fronts: at home and
The government is waging this war on behalf of one class - a tiny handful of bankers and big businessmen - in order to defend the employers and increase their profits.
The center of the employers' war against working people abroad is in Central America. Washington is preparing for a major war there as it the fight to keep the pro-imperialist landowners and generals in power in El Salvador, and to overthrow a popular govern-
More US military bases are being built in Honduras, which borders both El Salvador and Nicaragua. Thousands of US troops are on permanent military "maneuvers" in the region. US forces have been directly involved in combat on the side of the Salvadoran army and the Nicaraguan counterrevolutionaries. International Viewpoint 29 October 1984
The inescapable conclusion that must be drawn from these facts is that US workers and farmers will eventually be forced to kill and be killed in this escalating conflict.
Washington is also on the offensive against liberation struggles in the rest of the world - from its continued military aggression in the Mideast, to backing the racist South African regime's attacks on the oppressed Black majority there, to supporting reactionary regimes in South
Korea and the Philippines.
On the domestic front, the employers, backed by their government, are using every weapon at hand to weaken - and where possible, break - our union.
are also increasing.
Blows to affirmative action, racist cop brutality and killings, and stepped-up harassment of undocumented workers are all carried out or condoned by the gov-
Women's rights are on the chopping block as well. The right to a safe, legal abortion, already denied to impoverished women, is the focus of daily public condemnation by government spokespeople and the Catholic Church hierarchy.
Congressional Democrats and Republicans have joined together to continually cut back social programs of every kind, while they try to convince us that medcare, education, social security, decent housing and child care are privileges rather than basic human rights.
In order to hamper the ability of working people to resist this two-front war, the government is taking steps to More strikes are decreed "illegal." Cops are used to attack union picket lines. Our right to travel to and from countries like Cuba and Nicaragua is being restricted, while "anti-terrorism" laws are used to victimize critics of Washington's forTakeback decade
Whether it was under Carter/Mondale or Reagan/Bush, working people have suffered from a decade of takebacks and attacks by the employers and government. That's because the employers' system the capitalist system - is in crisis.
portant weapon that the employers have to try to make us pay for the problems their profit drive has caused.
ernment, which is run by both Democrats and Republicans, acts in the interests of those who control it - the capitalists.
Mel Mason and Andrea Gonzalez are participating in the 1984 elections with a program and a strategy that take defense of the interests of working people as the
They have a perspective of fighting to build a new society. This perspective is an important part of our battle
Mason and Gonzalez say that working people need to replace this government with one that would represent those of us who produce society's wealth
- workers and farmers. A government of workers and farmers will reorganize society to make human needs — not pri•vate profit - the national priority.
We can gain the power to accomplish this big task by organizing ourselves to fight together with all those who would from replacing this workers, farmers, Blacks, Latinos, women.
By taking political power out of the hands of the ruling rich, we can replace their capitalist system
We can build a society where the resources and technology of this contry will be put at the service of humanity around the world. It will be a society where workers and farmers will decide to make the elimination of war, hunger and poverty all over the globe a priority -and a reality. Two Americas
Both the Democrats and Republicans try to disguise the fact that they defend the employers' interests in this twofront war by saying they represent "all
They tell us we shouldn't decide things based on our interests as workers, but rather as "Americans."
To this end, both parties held flag. waving conventions whose "our" country's problems can be solved industry and "our" interests abroad. To do this, the message went, means upping the billion dollar war budget to defend "our" national security while continuing to cut away at our union, our living standards and
Mason and Gonzalez have been using
rhetoric about there being any common interests between US workers and our bosses. They say there are two distinct Americas. One is the America of the Rockefellers, DuPonts and Mellons, which exploits the workers of the entire hemisphere, and oppresses all of Latin America.
"Then there's our America," says Mason. "It includes the workers and farmers of both continents, and the revolutionary governments of Cuba and Nicaragua. It includes the rebels in El Salvador, and it included the revolutionary government of Grenada led by Maurice Bishop, whose overthrow was followed by the criminal US invasion and occupation of that island." International working-class solidarity
Mason and Gonzalez have used their campaign to promote international working-class solidarity against the employers and their political representatives.
Mason went to Ireland in May to join protests there against Reagan's visit and to express his opposition to the British military occupation of Ireland's six northern counties.
In Britain, Mason spoke with striking coal miners and participated in protests against the deployment in Britain of US nuclear missiles.
Gonzalez visited the Dominican Republic in June and spoke out against the austerity measures imposed Dominican workers and peasants by the Wall Street-dominated International Monetary Fund.
In Puerto Rico, Washington's colony in the Caribbean, Gonzalez expressed her strong support for independence for the island. Puerto Rico provides cheap labor and a strategic military foothold for US employers.
Gonzalez, whose family is from Puerto Rico, has protested the US grand jury witch-hunt and jailing of activists who support Puerto Rico's right to be tree and independent.
Mason and Gonzalez visited Canada, and the oppressed, French-speaking nation of Quebec, to learn firsthand about the problems facing working people there and to bring solidarity from US workers. Nicaragua
Both Mason and Gonzalez have been to Nicaragua, a country which freed itself from a brutal tyranny and US domination through a popular revolution that put in power a workers and farmers government.
Since the Sandinista government came to power five years ago in July, 1979, it has lowered unemployment, distributed land to the peasants, drastically reduced illiteracy, and taken steps to upgrade the status of women, Indians and Blacks. All this has been done in an impoverished country under tremendous Us military, economic and political pressure.
4
Ronald Reagan (DR)
Mason and Gonzalez encourage everyone to visit Nicaragua to see for them-
In Cuba, the workers and farmers have held economic and political power for more than 25 years. The internationally-recognized gains since then in health care, education, the uprooting of racism and the quality of life have made Cuba a beacon of hope for oppressed peoples
It's these examples of what working people ourselves can do when we take over the reins of government - and not some fake Soviet military threat - that make Washington so hostile toward these two countries. Rulers prepare for new blows
The Reagan Administration tells us that the current economic upturn proves that the austerity measures forced on us by the gevernment and employers have worked.
Mason and Gonzalez say this is a lie. The employment gains that have been made - which still leave millions in the streets - are the results of an upturn in the capitalist business cycle. who had been in the White House for the last four years, there would have been such an upturn. And no matter who is elected, there will be another downturn.
During the upturn itself, however, the employers have utilized the government - which is run by both Democrats and Republicans → to accelerate their efforts to weaken our unions, to push back Blacks, Latinos and women, to restrict our democratic rights, and to escalate the war in Central America and the Carib-
This cyclical upturn does not mark the beginning of the end of the problems facing working people. That's because, as far as the the takeback decade was just the be-
The scope of US military intervention in Central America today - while broad — is just the opening shot in what is shaping up to be a regionwide war. So too, the number of concessions that have been forced on the unions so far, the extent of social services that have been cut back, the amount of ground that has been lost on Black and women's equality are also only the beginning of the war
In order for the ruling class to reverse the international crisis of its system, it must cut much deeper - and it intends to. The only way it can accomplish that is by directly attacking the unions and the hard-won gains that Blacks, Latinos and women did make in the last three decades. But our side won't give up these things without putting up a massive
This means big battles are shaping up And the ruling class is preparing for them. Central to their preparations is pushing their reactionary ideas on us, especially through the Democratic and Republican presidential election campaigns. Reactionary ideas
Reagan/Bush and Mondale/Ferraro alike are trying to outdo each other in pushing flag-waving patriotism, chauvinism against workers from other countries who come here seeking jobs, opposition to women's right to abortion with the false cry of "murder," to bilingual education and school desegregation through busing, and to affirmative action, and support for more "Grenadastyle" invasions.
The purpose of this ideological campaign is to reverse antiwar sentiments and progressive attitudes about women and Blacks that have grown up among working people through the struggles of these oppressed groups for their rights. Every bit of progress made in reversing attitudes makes it that much easier for the employers to divide working people, weaken us in the face of the employer offensive, and dragoon us into Our class must prepare
How can our class best defend itself and its allies today, while preparing for what's coming down the road?
The officials of the trade unions, the leaders of organizations like the National Organization for Women, the NAACP [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) all say that getting Reagan out of the White House and voting for Mon-
International Viewpoint 29 October 1984
dale and Ferraro is the most important thing we can do today.
Mason and Gonzalez disagree.
It's true that Reagan is an open reactionary who is committed to using the government to drive down the rights, living standards and expectations of US workers and to give the employing class free rein to exploit the country's - and the world's - natural and human resources.
But the buck doesn't stop there. Many of these policies were begun under the Democratic Carter/Mondale administration. And it's a bipartisan Congress that has been central to helping move ahead the employers' war in Central America and at home. Mason and Gonzalez say it makes no sense to de-
MONDALE pend on people like this to improve the of working people - even a situation little bit.
The socialist candidates say that politics doesn't equal voting in elections. Walter Mondale...the Democrats still represent the bosses(DR) In fact, relying on elections to bring an obstacle to fighting the ticket of a party which supports the US and inspire and hasten the formation of employers' attacks.
Who is elected, in fact, doesn't decide
What Washington will do in America is not governed by whether Reagan or Mondale is elected It's determined by the need to protect the enormous economic and political interests that wealthy US families have in that region; the struggles waged by the people of Latin America and other coun tries against those interests; and the reof US working people to the escalation of US intervention.
Whether Blacks move forward or are pushed backward is not determined by whether a Democrat or a Republican is in the White House. It's determined by how hard the employers' cops, courts and legislatures push, and how Blacks and
And electing Mondale will do nothing to prevent the owners of General Motors from going ahead with their plans to lay off tens of thousands of auto workers.
Relying on voting is not simply inwhat we need, we vote for and rely on
That is why Mason and Gonzalez disagree with Jesse Jackson and other liberals that our problems can be solved by these parties and working within them; by simply reforming a few things but keeping the basic system intact.
No matter who joins these parties, or votes for them, or runs for office on their ticket, the Democrats and Republicans
The candidacy of Geraldine Ferraro is a good illustration of this. the Democrats chose her to run for vice-president reflects the fact that women have fought for and won some important
But Ferraro is running to represent and administer the very system that oppresses women. She is running on the International Viewpoint 29 October 1984 war in Central America, that helps bust unions and that votes to deny government funding for abortions. That is why Mason and Gonzalez say that her candiadvance the fight for women's rights. Break from capitalist politics
The socialist campaign is about making a break from capitalist politics, from the fakery of there being common interests regardless of class, and from the two ruling parties.
Mason and Gonzalez say working people need to march, rally and actively the prowar, anti-labor, racist and sexist policies of the employers and their government. We need to turn our unions into fighting instruments that defend our working conditions and living standards and that champion the demands of Blacks, Latinos, women and all working people.
It is possible now, through unity, solidarity and determined struggle, to win more than might seem possible at first
To help lead these day-to-day struggles, and to chart a working-class political course, we need our own mass political party to represent us. ialist candidates urge the formation of a labor party, based on a fighting trade-
A labor party will be a party of our class that can help lead labor battles, that will champion the interests of Blacks, party of workers and their allies that will help lead the fight that must be waged
A mass independent Black political party will also be a tool in the fight for the interests of all working people. A party that fights to defend Blacks on the job, against police brutality, and against Washington's racist foreign policy will the struggles of all workers a labor party.
Mason and Gonzalez are using the politics in a realistic way.
To oppose the US war in Central America, they explain the facts about US intervention and participate in actions
To defend our unions, they urge active solidarity with embattled workers They oppose all anti-labor laws and legis Mazzoli Bill, Roybal Bill and all other anti-immigrant legislation.
They support abortion rights, child care and affirmative action. farmers fighting against foreclosures.
They speak with fellow workers in the mines, mills, unemployment lines, factories and at union meetings about how we can organize ourselves as part of the same class facing similar attacks as workers elsewhere. Join the SWP! Join the YSA!
The most effective way to do this today is to join the Socialist Workers Party or the Young Socialist Alliance.
YSA participate in struggles as they arise, always with the aim of spreading an important conviction among people: the need to chart a taking control of this country so we can begin to deal with our problems and transform the world.
The SWP and YSA are part of the great battle going on in the world today between those who want to go forward and make changes - like in Cuba and Nicaragua — and those who want to hold off progress and maintain the status quo of hunger, oppression, exploitation and
This battle will not be won overnight. But it has already begun and you can decide to be a part of it now.
Moreover, while the level of exports has regained that of the Somoza years, the financial returns have been seriously affected by the drop in prices on the international market. "Exports, which were of the order of 636 million dollars in