Win Magazine Volume 14 Number 15

I

.r'ï'i

April 27,1978/4Ol

PEACE & FREEDO{\4 IHRUNONVTOLENT ACITON

, ,

Lesso/rs

of the Coal Etrike

The Coal Strìke Ends: the ttruggte Continues
' - -lsraet
GeneratÍng Power for the Peop|e

\

Notebook

t

túe.tÞ
It's true Detroit has a lot of ugly parts, ..
but it's got a whole lot of good things too.
As for housing stock, despite well publicized mismanagement and fraud involving HUD and FHA property, contriiuting to large areas of decay and abandonment, thè quality of housing temains
consistently better (and at more reasonable prices) than in most urban areas.
Most homes in Detroit and the surrounding area ate detached one and two
family dwellings. And there is a lot of
remodeling and home improvement
work done. Building standards and
codes are substantially stronger than
most parts ofthe country, particularly

\

Catherine Lowe's letter of2l16/78 was,
to me at least, a critical questioning of
the entire editorial policy of WIN, as well
as a quÞstioning of WIN's analysls of
social issues. In the 14 months since I've
been reading WIN regularly, I don't
recall any explanation ofthe policies of
WIN on how articles are chosen or solicited, how they are changed (the editing
process), and where the responsibility
for WIN's political perspective lies.
The following are important questions
to me. and perhaps to many others; I
sincerely hope you can respond to them
in your pages:
How are articles obtained? Are people
asked to write them? Or do most authors
voluntarily send in an article? Do you get
more articles than you can print? Ifso,
' how do you choose which are printed and
which are not?
If there are no articles dealing with
certain political perspectives, such as
sexism as the root cause ofviolence, is
that the primary responsibility of the
WIN staff, because they control what
goes into the paper, or the WIN readership, because they're not sending any
articles of that kind in? Or both?
What is your editorial policy? Peacemaker, in its February issue, printed at
.least part of its basic guidelines, which
relate to length, literacy, and prohibition
of artiiles advocating violencé. Does
IYIN have similar guidelines or additional ones? Ifso, what are they? And
what does the WIN editorial board do?
If the example of Bill Moyer and Alan
Tuttle (Custer's Last Stand") is not isolated, some changes are made in articles
withoutthe author's knowledge. WIN is
not a current events paper. If significant
changes are recommended, can't they
be sent back to the author(s)? Time
should not be that crucial. Ifthe changes
are insignificant, why make them?
On the bottom of page three ofeach
issue, you say, "Individual writers are
responsible for opinions expressed and
accuracy of facts given. " Why should
writers be held responsible ifyou change
their words and meanings? If you feel
there áre real "inaccuracies" in the
article, you have the freedom to make
editorial comments within or at the end
ofthe article.

, Finally, I see a lot of names reappearing in articles and book
reviews. Hõw

about an appeal and encouragement for
new people to write for WIN?-Then we
might get exposure to some of the poli-

tical perspectives that haven't bee-n
adequately represented in IYIN.

_LARRYDA¡TSINGER
New¡lort, Me.

forth for ¿brlef period.
We try to be sensitive to an authorts concerns, but the line between changec in
content for grammatic¡il versus elltorlal
purposes is sometlmes fine. Authors and
editors have different perspectives on
this, but few authors eipeci their
material to reach publication untouched.
gr4ly go back and

We do not (nor does any publlcation)
always find the perfect balance. Our
editorial changes are almost excluslveþ
To respond to your questlons:
concerned with style; we never edit
Some WIN articles are solicited from
articles wlth the lntent of ch¡nging the
specift c individuals and olganlzatlons,
meanings or cohclusions.
while'othors arrive unsolicited. We do
We continually encourege WIN
indeed receive moro articles than we
readers tó write and const¡ntly seeknew
print. 'Whether an ¿rticle runs or not
authors. Many articles that appear are
dopends on a number offactors: that we
by people whose writing ls new to V[¡IN.
feel it is well written, or at least clearly
Of course, our regular co'rrespondents
written; that the article offers lmportant
provide avaluable b¿ckbone of
information on a cwrent.event; provides
continuity in many ateas. Since many of
cogent or insighfful analysis, furthers dia. them aró veteran activlsts in awide arroy
logue among activists or offers construcof fiolds , their experience creates e ftrm
tive criticism within the movement. We
base for their insights which ¡re hlghly
could go on, but thore is ectually no list of valued among WINts readeré.
-WIN
criteria for an articlets acceptance. All
articles are discussed at weeklv staff
meetings; final declslons ¡re rñade there. To Rodney Robinson (WIN, "Letters"
The staff tries to keep abreastof im.
3/30/78), whereveryou maybe: the US
portant topics, fill gaps, and expand the
Post Office has inform.ed me, viareturn
scopeof WINts covèrage. Butbecause of mail, thatyou have "Moved, leftno
our limited resources we ate sometimes
address. " I wouldvery much like to join
not as succéssful as we would like. We
you in a "Swords into Plowshares"
count on V[rINts activist readers to help
demonstration at the United Nations this
us where and when this happens, both
May, but lack a means of contacting you.
I would suggest that interested blackby submitting artlcles or by suggesting
where we might seek them.
smiths (including friend Robinson)
The editori¡l board meets once a
contact me, 8s soon es posslble, so as to
month to discuss WINts past content and
bring this excellent idea into reality at
offer suggestlons on gources for fEtûre
the UN Special Session on Disarmament.
orticles. They also asslst in fundralslng
and promotion programs. They do not
1800-ANDYSWIHART
ShroyerRd. Apt #4
exerclse any direct control overTÍIN or
Dayton, Ohio45419
Its contont.
(s13)293-0384
In many articles, some changes are
necessary for grammatlcal reasons. Pte.
In a review of the film Blue Collar(WIN,
cious few wrlters fail to viol¡te the Enc3/16/78) JimPeck said "the filmgives a
Iishlanguage in somefashlon, and wð
beautiful overall view ofthe Detroit
attempt to rectify the situatlon to the
scene: the ugliness, the thruways, the
best of oür abllltles. When signlficant
factories, the pasteboard-looking
changes are neceseaty we tr¡r to retu¡¡r
workers' homes in the suburbs-no
the articles tb-the wdters or, at leq,st,
scenic beauty anywherè.
coneult wlth them. WINIg a cu¡rent
What's so ugly aboutfactories and
evente peper oporatlng under a weekly
thruways? This statement is a slanderdeadllne, and lf we wlóh to publlsh an
ous and grievous insult to all your
article qulcHy, our author contact can
readers in the mighty motor iity.

"

New Yotk and the Northeast coast.
I don't have time to write about all the
ri'onderful and not so wonderful places
and people we have. I r¡ean, howrpany
cities have the Hoa Hoa Inn (an Appala-

chian-Chinese restaurant), Martha Jean
the Queen Steinberg, and a thirty-year
'one-cent paint
sale?
Anyway how can you call a place ugly
that has given America Aretha Franklin,
Vernors Ginger Ale, Strohs Firebrewed
Beer, and the Big Boy? No more knocking the motor city, ok?

,

_MISIERBEIVEDERE
Detmlt'Mlch.

It appears that David Albert is a victim of
wage slave ideology in his paragraph on
food coops in "Do Alternative Businesses Foster Social Change?" (WIN
4 / 13 / 78) He calculates his coop's worth

versus time to establish a wage rate is an
old capitalist idea that insures good ptofit making and reasonable control ofthe

workfotce.
An analysis ofa food cooperative via
wage compafisons seems out of place, to
me, in an article authored by an anticapitalist activist. (This I assume from
the biographic r1ote.) Food coops are
attempts by people to come together not
only for financial savings, buttobuild
feelings of self-reliance and to create
some spaces to enjoy yourself in this con-

sumer-materialist rat-race that is
America. Coops aren't work factories
that exchange savings for sweat. The
labor needed to run a cooperative can be
non-oppressive, slower, irore congenial
than in the average workplace. A coop
can be a fun place to be in whether
shopping or helping out with the work.
Daiidalbert muit remember a lessoh
from capitalism: it's real hard to get
loose and have fun if money is always on
your mind. I don't know how much David
measures his time to be; currently I get
around $3.S0/hourfor mine. This wage
is an iron ring, and I resent it as a slave
symbol of how a capitalist economy
controls me. The time I spend at my coop
is mytime-I'm there of my ownfree
will. Measuring that time at so much an

4. Lessons of the Coal Strike

Jennifer Axelrod
B. The Coal Strike Ends: The

Struggle Continues

BillCriffen
11 . " Dirt" / poem by J une Blue
Spruce
12. lsrael Notebook
Stephen Sulfet
16. Cenerating Power for the

People/Marty Jezer

hour isjust a silly exercise in capitalist

17. Changes

mathematics. If your time is so valuable
you can always pay 9SClhour for the
neon splendor ofyour local A&P.

20. Review/ Bill Blum

_KENKOæERG
AlletonrMaes.

at 9SClhour. This measuring of money

Cover: photo of mineworker from
Pacif ic News Service.

STAFF
Susan Beadle o Robert Ellsberg

r Lauri Lowell
Murray Rosenblith

Patrick llacefield
...AND RIGHT ÆTER

I

INVOKED

TAFÎHARTLEY THE \^/ORKERS
AGREED TO RESUME I'IININq ?
WHV THAT SURE IS MIGHTY
NICE OF ÎHEM,

Susan Pines

¡

Atlantic Ave. l5th
Brooklyn, NY 11217

503

Floor

UNIND¡CTED

Í[Ìlril {il|il| tltl[N

$lllllt

lt¡llh

Íil|¡

;

Telephone : (21 2)624-8337, 624-8595

Co-CoNSPIRATORS

/

'

Sandra Adickes ¡ peg Averill. e J an Barry. Lance
Belville o Maris Cakars' ¡ Susan Cakars¡ . Jerry
Coffin o Lynne Shatzkin Coffin o Ann Davidon r Ruth
Dear ¡ Ralph D¡Cia' . W¡lliêm Douthard . Dwight
Ernest . Ruthann Evanoff. Chuck Fager. J im
l-orest . Larry Cara. Ed Hedemanir' ¡ Crace
Hedemann * o Marty J ezer. Paul Johnson ¡ John
Kyper o Elliot Linzer' ¡ Jackson Mac Low. David
McReynolds' . Mary Mayo. David Mqrris o Mark
r J im Peck. lgal Roodenko' o Vicki Rovere'
Wendy Schwartz' . Martha Thomases . Art
Waskow. Susan Wilkins o Beverly Woodward

*rr¡r

,, I'

I'

'Memberof WIN Editorial Board

A
H]

,i,,

Cartoon by Michael Scurato/LNS.

2WlN April27, 1978

April 27, 1978 lY ol. XlV, No. 1 5

WIN is published every Thursday except for the first
week in January, the fourth week in March, the
second week in J une, the last two weeks in August,
the f¡rst two weeks in Septembef and the last week in
December by W.l.N. Magazine, lnc. w¡th the
support of the War Resisters League. Subscr¡ptions
are $15 per year. Second class postage paid at New
York, NY 10001 and additional mailing offices. ln.dividual writers are responsible for opinions expressed and accuracy of facts given. Sorry-manuscr¡pts cannot be returned unless accompanied by a
self -addressed, stamped envelope.
Printed in USA

April 27,'1928 WIN

3

,
Empty co.1l cars ¡tì Pennsylvania-one
month after strikebegan. Photo by
Mark ZolalYS.

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picket it, bri n g i ng the whol e workforce out on stri ke
until his safety grievance was satisf ied. Now he
would be expected to go on working and hope for
the best. (ln practice since1974, the average case
has taken 44weeks to resolve. ln West Virginia,
90% of the decisions have gone against the miners,
in favor of the companies. )
So wh i I e th e 197 4 contr ad d i d n't exp I i c i tl y f orbid
local unauthorized strikes, by introducing an alternative grievance procedure (Arnold Miller's pride
and ioy), the contract implied that local strikes
were no longer necessary. Since 1974the companies have followed a policyof appealing the
decisions which go against them, all f ive steps up
the appeal ladder if necessary, meanwhile securing
court injunctions against local unofficial strikes..
ln three years the courts have levied $100 m illion in
f ines against the union for strikes by UMW
members of which its leadership disapproved. A
small.percentage of the f ines have been paid. Most
are on appeal.

t

Coal
ß
I
I

inally the 1978 coal strike seems to be resolved. Before it begins receding into history,
can some logic perhaps be discovered in its alarming course? Can its surprises be madeto seem a
little less arbitrarythan they appeared when they
hit? Clearly, we'll be hearing from the coal miners
again.
It wasn't only the newspaper-reading public

that

was taken by surprise. The coal strike's intractability was equally unforseen by most of its princi-

pals. When the earlier negotiated settlement was
rejected in February by the membershipof the

United Mine Workers of America, the UMW presi4ent, Arnold Miller, was as surprised as everyone
by the abyss separating him from his rank and f ile.
Back in 1972when he was elected, Arnold Miller
J

Axelrod

Huntington,

ViçSinia. Her articlesfrequently appear in Maw, A
fr4agazine of Appalachian Women, U4
Huntington, WV 25701.
4WlN April27,1978

Bth

issues.- íssues like mine safety, working conditions, hours, etc. Someof the union's WestVirginia activists did get together and start a "Right to
Strike Committee" which then published (under
the gruff title Contract Stinks) a vilif ication of the
contract and of Mi ller as its arch itect. These
activists objected to the contract's elaborate new
grievance procedure. lf a miner felt endangered
and considered his mine to be in violation of the
federal Mine Safety Act, his recourse would be to
report the violation to the union. lf the un ion
couldn't get satisfaction, it could appealto five,
successively higher levels of government..
Traditional ly, an endan gered m iner's recourse
had always been to getoutrin frontof his mine and

Street,

had been the rank and file person if ied. Retired by
arthritis af¡er more than 20 years in the mines,
Miller had helped to lead the suc'cessf ul f ight for a
strong federal black lung coçnpensation bill. When
Tony Boyle was suspected of complicity in the
murder of his rival J ack "Jock,, yablonsky, a
groundswell movement within the union called
Miners for Democracy swept Boyle out of off ice and

Miller in,

Then came 1974 andcontract time. One of the
planks of the Miners for Democracy had been the
right of the rank and file to veto any contract nego-

tiated bythe UMW leadership. Verywell: the
miners would havethe rightto approveor rejectthe
197 4 contrãct with the Bitu m i nous Coal Operators
Association.
Arnold Miller's popularity was high in1974 and
nottoo many miners were alarmed when they
learned that the contract would, by implication,
disavow their right to stage local strikes about local
Copyright O

19zB Jónnifer

Axelrod.

And in the 1978 contract negotiations thecompanies have insisted that the new agreement
include a clause expl icitly outlawin g stri kes unauthorized by the union's leadership.
Th is is essential ly what the conf I ict, and the confusion, has been about.
There is one other bone of contention . lt arose
. only last summer, when several companies quit
paying benef its to retired miners covered under a
welfare and retirement f und devised by J ohn L.
Lewis in 1946. Thecompanies andthe union,
jointly responsible for the f und, had somehow
allowed it to go bankrupt, meanwhile lavishly
endowing a new welfare and retirement f und
establ i shed in 197 4. The timi ng of the 1 946 fund's
bankruptcy couldn't have been more fortunate for
- thecompanies. When benefits ceasedto manyof
theolder ex-miners last summer, wildcat strikes
immediately broke out far and wide, accompanied
as always by charges and counter-charges within
the UMW. Thus the union suffered newfactionalism on the eve of the contract negotiations.

But really, why allthese unauthorized wildcat
strikes in the coal f ields -that's what the rest of the
country wants to know. Certainly mining is
dangerous work, but so areotheroccupations
whose union contracts have long since incorporated "no-strike" clauses. ls mining that much
more dangerous than steelworking or construction ? Or are miners simply an undisciplined lot?
I believethe country can only hopeto receive an
answer to its query by beginn ing to take an interest
in more than just the uninterrupted f lowof electricity to its electric outlets. Mi n i ng ultimately
depends on the morale gf the mineis, and not much
has been

contributingtothat morale lately.

Not much has been contributing to that morale,
really. since the end of '.Vorld War ll, but automation hastaken upthehuman slack. Untilnow.
Coal mining was f irst established in Appalachia
in the last two decades of the 19th century under
the aegis of hardbitten Scotch and English entre-

preneurs, highly skilled operators and engineers
.who broughtover from theold country a stern,,'
Calvinistic ethic. Their loyalty to their employees,
albeit somewhat stingy, was nonetheless
unfeign.ed. ln return they demanded loyaltyfrom
their men-a loyaltywhich few in thefirstor
second generation of Appalachian miners begrudged them. Theywere rough, colorful, competent bosses, not loathe to go down the pit and swing
a pick them selves

.

But the owners were men who wouldntt bend.
The Uniteó Mine Workers, for instance, was
anathema to'them. For 40 years years they held out

against it, notyielding an inch, untiltheir
resi stance was broken i n 1 933 . After that they
ceased, as it were, to draw life f rom the mines.
They contin ued to draw the money, but many of
them moved away and left dailyoperations in the
hands of qanagers. ln the 1930's the miner's
loyalty shifted from his companyto his union.
But was it indeed his union ? That's what he's
been âsking of late with ever greater insistency, for
un ion ization came to Appalach ia from the top
down, not from the grassroots up.
True, the epic str"uggles of the early 20th centurÌ4
to unionize the Appalachian coal industry are
legion. Who has not heard of Mother J ones and her
nocternal organizing forays along Cabin Creek,

West Virginia underthe shadowof Pinkerton
machine gun nests? Who hasn't heard of Harlan
County, Kentucky?
What isn't so well known is that those decades of
brave and bloody confrontation-all those secret
union pledges in the woods, paid for later at the

butt of a mine guard's gun-actually accomplished
nothing toward either ameliorating conditions or
April 27,

'1978 WIN 5

establishing the union. The lowwages, the child
labor, the brutal production quotas, coritinued
unchanged. From the 1890's, when the UMW f irst
sent organizers to West Virginia (among them
Mother Jones), until 1933 when Franklin D. Roosevelt became president, all the will in the world
cou dn't break the paternal i stic company-town
system brought from.the British lsles by the
company founders. Elsewheie in the nation the
UMW'made progress aplenty. lts lllinois, lndiana
I

and Pennsylvanía members secured model

contracts. But in West Virginia and Kentucky,
which together mine half the country's coal, union
members were hunted men.
Then in 1933 all that changed overnight. With
the passageofthe National RecoveryAct, John L.
Lewis saw his chance. lncluded in the NlRAwas a
vague and apparently meaningless provision
recognizing the right of workers to engage in
a'col lèctive bargai i g.
n n
" Lewi s seized on that provision, publicized it, insisted that it guaranteed
federal protection to union organizers and
members, and proceeded to commit the entire
UMWtreasuryto a driveto organize Appalachia.
He sent out a hundred organizers to hold mass
meetings and announce, "The President of the
United States wants you to join the union. " The
UMW "obligation" was recited by massed miners
throughoutthe region. Within two weeks southern
West Virginia, the sceneof so many agonized
failures, was organ ized.
Roosevelt signedthe NIRA bill orÍ J une 16, 1933.

\

On J une 19th a UMWorganizer named Van Bittner
wrotefrom WestVirginiathat Logan County, the
bastion of anti-unionism, had been organized. On
J une 22nd Van Bittner wrote, "The entire northern

(West Virginia)field, as well as the New River,
Winding Gulf , Kanawha f ield, Mingo and Logan
are all completely organized. We finish up in
McDowell, Mercer and Wyoming Counties this
week." (Quoted in lrving Bernstein, The Turbulent
Years,1971.)
Th us was the f abled loyalty of Appalach ian
miners removed like a mantle from the shoulders of
their bosses to the shoulders of the no less pater.
nalistic John L, Lewis. Whatthe miners hadfailed
for 40 years to ach ieve for themselves had been
visitéd uþon them like a bolt of lightning. The coup
was followed in summer 1933 by an Appalachian
J oint Agreement that improvedwages ánd
conditions. When the Supreme Court struck down
the N I RA in 1935, the threat of a strike nonetheless
enabled Lewis to get a better contract for his men.
The 1937 Appalachian Agreement again raised the
daily wage, despite the continuing depression. Not
until 1939 was there a UMW strike in southein
West Virginia. After a six-week walkout Lewis
settled for a union-shop clause and, in view of the
1939 recession, forewent a wage increase that year.
ârlVlN April27,1978

After a'one-month strike in -1941, Appalachia's
minersfinally achieved wages equal to those of
northern miners: $7 a day.
Theonly significant mining areato survivethe
1930's un-unionized was Harlan County, Kentucky, a bastion of "captive mines" owned by other
than mining companies.
What's significant about allthis forthe 1970's is
the long shadowof how aftertheir years of f utile
self-sacrif ice, Appalach ia's mi ners final ly ach ieved
unionization. Before 1933, totakethg union pledge
was a iJangerous and, essentially, individuai moral
step. To join in 1933 along with eVeryone else
carried no danger but also no glory. Realpolitik
from the top had accomplished whatthe ultimate in
moral commitment from the grassroots had
abjectly failed to achieve. The lesson has not been
forgotten.
When miners feel they've been worsted by the
outside world, by the world of realpolitik, any spark
is sufficientto setoff local strikes. This has been
true since the 30's. Whatls different since the 1974
contract is that those local strikes are no longer
being viewed by management as the signalto
negotiate. Rather than sitting down to air the
grievance and negotiate it, the operators' new
policy is to seek a court injunction. And the courts .
have been ordering injunctions againstthe local
strikes, spurring the aggrieved miners to try to
spread their strikes as far af ield as possible in
hopes of establishing a position of strength from
which to negotiate. This explains the extensive
Miners assist an

in

jured comrade. Photo f rom The

ùilitant.

¡n

Virginia, arrned trooPers

to force miners back to work. Photo from

lhe Call.

wildcat st¡:ikes of the summ çrsof 1975 and1976,
originating in West Virginia but spreading nationwide.
fhe197Swildcat, idling S0thousand miners for
several weeks, was the eye-opener. The monolithic
image of the United Mine Workers evaporated that
summer, perhaps neverto be reestablished. Atthe
time, I was a printer for Appalachian Movement
Press in Huntington, West Virginia. A rumor was
circulating that the Right to Strike Committee, the
group for which we had printed the Contract Stinks
I iteratureìi n 197 4, w as com i n g back together over
some sort of local grievance at an Amherst
Company mine near Logan, West Virginia. The
next evening the phgne rang and I found myself
talking to someone with the Right to Strike in Beckley, West Virginia. lt was along toward evening,
almost quitting time. The caller asked if we could.
work late to print 30,000 copies of a leaf let.
He and some others arrived about dark with the
copy. They slept out in their car wh ile we typeset
the leaf let, which struck a note of stark but
eloqgent m ilitance, and ch ur:ned out 30,000 copies.
We f inished about'1 am and I went outto wakethe
miners. Theypaid in cash-$1, $5and$10bills
they said they'd collected earlier in the day at a
rally.
The next morning another call came. The caller,
a woman this time, identif ied herself with the Right
to Strike in Charleston, West Virginia. Could we
print 20,000 copies for them of the same leaf let?
She said the strike activists were working around
the clock, driving f rom mine to mine in pairs to
picket the shift changes.
lncredibly, it was working. Within a few days
30,000of West Virginia's 40,000 miners were on
strike and the walkout was spreading to Kentucky,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, lndiana and lllinois. Several
hundred roving picketers were idling mostof the
country's coal production. Pretty soon the railroads
announced freight personnel layoffs for lackof coal
to haul. A federal court injunction carrying
$100,000 a day f ines againstthe UMW was
ignored. Mining areas were pervaded by a holiday
atmosphere.

What was incredibleto myself and others not
born and bred in the mountains was that, beyond
theoriginalstrikers in Logan County, noneof the
thousands involved had a grievance. There was a
tradition which said "never cross a.picket line, not
even aone-man picket Iine." Againstthe grain of
economic self-interest, the tradition was being
honored. There was no hope of gains accruing: the
contract had two more years to run. Most miners
seemed aware that the Right to Strike Committee
consisted of radicals, but 1975 proved no exception
to thei r h i storic i ndifference to the ideology of thei r
organizers.
As the strike wore on week after week, and
began wearing thin, it began to dawn on the miners
thatthe Rightto Strike Committee had no intention
of negotiafing with anyone. We printed 30,000
copies of a second leaflet'for the Committee and
20,000 for a th ird, but nary a wh isper did they
contain of grounds for compromise. And it soon
became obvious that the couñtry/s miners didn't
rel i sh goi n g on stri ke on ly to di scover they were
following people who didn't believe in exacting
concessions from the opposition and then going
backto work. The Rightto Strike Committee held
out for all or nothing and got nothing. Since 1975 its
members have been persona non grata among their
fellow miners.
The 1976wildcat strike, equally extensive butof
shorter duration, somewhat rectif ipd the
unpleasant taste left from the previous year. Local
and district level UMWoff icials unexpectedly
emerged as champions of the right to engage in
local, unoff icial strikes. Atthe 1976 UMW national
convention in Cincinnati they secured unairimous
passage of a resol ution that the next contract
should guarantee the local right to strike over
unsettled local grievances. ln negotiating with the
companies this year, Arnold Miller has ignored
that resolution .
Many UMW members feel that the union needs
to change presidents again. A petition to recall
Miller has gathered "tens of thousands" of signatures. Unfortunately, the bridge between the
union's leadership and its rank and f ile may not be
that easily rebuilt. The historyof coal mining in
Appalachia suggests thatthere's not going to be
found any passageway back to the verities of an r
earlier, simpler day. The UMW, faced with evergrowing competition from non-union Kentucky
coal-not to mention the vast ununionized strip
mines of the West- is going to be f ighting for its
-.

I

lifethese nextfewyears. lnevitably, the union will
have to demand ever greater discipline and pre.
dictability from its members if it wants to hold onto
its past gains won at the bargaining table.
The question is whetherthe Appalachian miner,
alienated now not only from the bosses he so fervently admired when mining first entered his
April27, 1978WlN

7

;
mountain fastness, but also equally from the union
which in the 30's inherited their mantle, will begin
looking to some new quarter for a champion worthy
of his loyalty-and, if so, to what quarter? Orwill
the Appalachian miner f ihally begin waking up to
the fact that he really needs no champion beyond
the dignity and national importance of his eerie
occupation

?

Myown belief

thatwages notonlytrail adequate and equal benef its and the local right to
strike in importance to the m iner, but that al I three
together are less crucial than the need for genuine
communication between miners andthe restof us!
is

The cash nexus is inadequate to meet the coal
crisis ! Coing down in a dark pit to dig day after day,
year after year, requires an unusual level of
morale. The loyalty between miner and miner still
keeps that morale alive. The choice before the rest
of us is to somehow make ourselves participants in
that bond of loyalty or to f ind ourselves increasingly its pawns and victims. The UMW has bèen
protecting us from the miner's ire, and if the
UMW breaks up it's we who'll be exposed to blackmaíl tiythecompanies.
Curiously enough, Europe, and particularly
England, faced a similar crisis toward the end of
the 1920's. Patrick Ceddes made a comment at the
timewhich perhaps merits pondering. "We have
dared to aff irm that the coal situation is far more
than a money squabble," he said. We have
treated it as a collapse of the pãleotechnic order of
industry, yet with open ing for the neolithic order. "

'Miners

\

leaving work in Raleigh Co., West Virginia, on the last shift
before the national UMW str¡ke, Dec. 5,1977 .,,Photo by Doug Yarrow,/LNS.

The Coal
Strike Ends:
the Struggte
Continues
BillCriffen

by

' ' Men , if you must die with your boots on, die for
your families, your homest your country, butdo not
longer consentto die like rats in a trapfor those
who have no more interest in you than in the pick

digwith."
.a-

you

I

he speaker, John Siney, an early union organstood in frontof Pennsylvania's Avondale
Mine where 179 coal miners lay dead-victims of a
mine explosion. The yearwas 1896. Becausethe
mine owners had refusedto spend a comparatiyely
few extra dollars from their prof its, an escape exit
was never built at the mine. (Boyer and Morais,

llizer,

Labor's Untold Story, NY, United Electrical, Radio
and Machine Workers of America, 1955, p. 45.)
The owners ofcoal mines have continued that
tradition of prof its overthe safety of the miners
ever since. ln the past 30years mine accidents have
taken the lives of 15,719 miners, an average of 523
iler year. More than 750,000 have beên in jured in.
the mines and over 3,000 miners die from black
lung each year. (New YorkTimes,12/4/73 and
Wall Street Journal,B/31/74, p. 8.)
Whi le it ls true that coal mining rs the most
dangerous occupation in the US (the fatality'rate
is seven times the averagefor workers in all
American industries), industrial work in general is
"hazardous to your health." ln 1968there were
14,311industrial deaths in the US; that is the same
numberof lives lost in Vietnam thatyear! ln 1969
there were one million newcases of industrial
disease. (Work in America, Reportof a Special
Task Force to the Secretary of Health, Education,
and Welfare, M.l.T. Press, 1973, p.26.)
It is no wonder the miners, at the top of the
hazardous occu.pations list, have fought so hard for
the benef its of health care and the right to independently strike against unsafe mine conditions (socalled "wildcat" strikes).
,\
There are important lessons to be learned from
the miners' courageous struggle agäinstthose
who send them into the mines. Most importaht,
B

iI

I C r if fe n

o r ga n i zed

ties in Cortland, NY.
SWlN April27, 1978

m i n ewo r ke

r

su

ppo

rt

acti v i-

how are we led to perceive th is struggle? How does
the media present the issues of the ðtrike to the
general public? Listening to the no-nonsense,
insightful 15-secoòd-a-shot TV interviews with a
fewselected striking miners, one might answer

thátthe networks are morethan "f àir" with the
miners and their cause. Most of the miners effectively presenttheircaseof being sold short: f irst by
the Bituminous Coal Operator's Association's regressive contract offers, and then by their own
UMWA leadership, Arnold Miller, et. al. Some
of the miners also manage in their few seco¡ds
ration of prime-time news to pin-point the larger
issue: their f ight to protect the use of the
strike-the worker's sole weapon against the
entrenched power of the owqers.
ln addition to the systemic álliance with mass
media, the aff luent owners can call upon an arsenal
of weapons: the f inancial assets that accumulate as
generation after generation dig that coal out for
them, support from political power ranging from
the executive to the lower levels of government,
andthe managementof publicopinion through
slick advertising cam.paigns (union leaders tried
borrowing this page from rnanagement's book and
put out a hard-sell on contract ratif ication on the 'l st
vote, but it f izzled-the rank and f ile are not easily
conned).
While it istruethatthe miners gettube-timeto
plead their case, the TV networks, Timq, Newsweek, the New YorkTimes, and most daily newspapers manage to put the strike (and any other
labor struggles for that matter) into a cettain,
limited perspective. Therein lies the tremendous
power of the media to mystify and render terribly
complex what is a basic question: What is a just,
de mocr ati c econ o m i c sy ste m

?

dents, is feeling the pinch Írom cutbacks in e/ectric
power. (US News & World Report, 3/20/78, p. 18.)

"Nearly everyone" in the miners'country "is
feeling the pinch," but not everyone.
Their homes probably tell as much aboutthe differencès among the men who belonþ to the Bituminous CoalOperators' Associatlon as the bottom
lines of their companies balance sheets. ln'subur-

ban Pittsburgh, topexecutives of US Stee/, which
owns tlre sixth largestcoalcompany in the countrY,
Iive in elegant mansions. /n Creene County, PA,
the owners of small coal mines may own the biggest
houses in town, which are usually simple f râme

dwellings. ln Pikesville, KY, someownersof mines
that suddenly boomed because ol the energy crisis
have built French provincial-style houses, known
local ly as Ci nderel I a Cast/es. (Time, 3 / 27 / 7 B p. 1 5.)
Ilme Magazine goes on to make the point that
there exists a class system within the owner's
upper class. Butthe all-encompassing class system
that always seems to escape Time's editors' attention has produced consistent results in the past 70
years: the richest f ifth of the population takes
approx i mat ely 4\o/o of the total i ncome wh i le the
poorest f ifth getsonly f ive percentl (Business

,Week,9/12/72.)
Along with every symptom of economic inlustice
the media cites,,the theme of what the miners'
strike is doing to the rest of us is tirelessly
hammered away at.
Across the broad heart!and of the tJS, the lights
began going out. .
.

Thus, on the outcome of the chaos in the coal
f ields hung notonly the pay and benef its of.160,000
Cartoon fronr The Lost Angeles Times,

-

The mass media appear to be obiective and fair
sincethey do describe someof the symptoms of
i n j ustice. However, these i n j ustices are treated
either casual ly or as ihevitable - part of an i m perfectworld. ln a struggle between coal miners and
mineowners, the media assumes the battle to be
somewhat even. Our society is supposed to be

"pluralistic" with an approximate balanceof
power in the socialorder. As US News and World
Reportputs it, "ln seekingthe upperhand union,
management and governmentall seemed to lack
the neededtrump cards. " (3/20/78,p. 14.) Butthe
historical reality is that capital has always tfumped
labor.
Failing to face that f undamental fact, the marketers of news rush on to describe the result5 of the
"capital over labor" scenario, a scenario our
economicsystem playsout in each generation.
Sample:
And as coal supplies dwindle, life in Terre Haute, a
city ringed by 20 coal mines, becomes more bleak.
Nearly everyone, Írom Íactory tofirst-grade stuApril 27,

1978

WIN 9

soft-coal miners, but the f uture course oÍ the
economy, the comfort of millions and the reputation of theCarter administration itself .
. . . many more f actories will cut backon opera-

than î60 billion in cash-almosttriple the amount
they had atthe beginning of the 1970's.. . . fhis
enormous pile-up of cash has come about partly
beòause corporate prof its have climbed by g30
billion since thesta rtof 197S. . . nostcorporations
are ignoring their critics and are piling up cash at a
handsome clip-to as much as i|o/o of totalassets
at sorne fairly large corporations. (Business Wee(
3/13/78 p. 62.)
But that $2.35 an hour increasethose miners are
to get over the next three years is going to cause an
"inflation spirall'! And so it goes-blamethe
victim, never the victimizer.
ln their struggle against big business, big
government, big media and big labor leaders, the
coal m iners are delivering a cf ucial message to
working women and men everywhere . The miners
have drawn a line against fhe rate of exploitation
and that is a necessary rnessage'for all workers to
put forth. The next step is to draw the line against
exploitation itse/f . ln moving toward that second
step, the miners' strike has once again reminded us
of the obstacles we face. One segment of the
working class will be played against other
segments with increased frequency while any
segment of the workþg class attempting to draw
lines against exploitation will be ísolated from the

tions and lay off employees. . .

ln the meantime, the nation suffers. lt's estimated that if the coal strike /asts until April 1, three
million Americans will be thrown out of work due to
power éutbacks causedb y shortages of coal.
-Quoted from national news weeklies
ln the feverish hand-wringing over worsening
econom ic conditions, the unmistakable message
comes through
-the strike and strikers are the
causeof it all. Even if the miners settle, the strike
has caused serious ecoñomic problems chorus the
media. Their "big" pay raise " . . . will givethe inf lation spinal another twist, " boosting the price of
electricity and other products that rely on coal.

What's more, US News and World Reporttells us,
"The pay jump is sure to encourage unions in
other industries to seek big increases, too.',
(3/20/78, p.12.)

The media this time will plug the coal miners'
demands into the "increased wages cause inf lation " myth. Next time it will be the auto workers' or

\

teachers' or farmers' or con struction workers'
increased wages that will cause inflation. Studies
using the government's own statistics lead to the
opposite conclusion : wage increases area response
to inf lation.lnf lation, f ueled by the drive for higher
and higher profits clearly precedes and sets in
motion the demand for more wages. The caseof the
coal miners is not different.
And who remains immune from any possible
causal blame? Theowners, orthe "over-class," to
use the counter-term to the media's lower-class
label
-the "under-class." lt is theover-class'
distorted picture of the coal strike that gets developed and printed; after all, theyown the
"cameras, f ilm and processors, " to extend that
metaphor. Missing from the mass media picture is
a portraitof the over-class itself . Although only four
percent of the US adult population is in this class, it
own s 360/o of al I the n ation' s total wealth, 27 Yo of all
þrivately held real estate,.33%o of cash holdings,
4oo/o of non -corporate bus i n ess as sets, 63%o oi
privately held corporate stock, 7Bo/o oÍ state and
local bonds (non-taxàble), and99%o of all corporate
bonds and notes. (Urban lnstitute at Penn State
University study, using IRS figures.)
While the right hand of theover-class and their
allied media apologists are directing public
attention to that "big inflationary" pay increase for
the miners, the left hand is concealing what is
really going on.
The 400 largest US companies together have more
10WlN April27, 1978

entire consuming public in an attemptto discipline
militant workers. There are sorne hopeful signs
that the divide-and-conquer strategy is losing its
effectiveness as other unions and working people
réspond with food, money and support for the
beseiged m iners. Calls for solidarity are elevated
f rom empty phrases to concrete supportive actions.
True, much of the support is unorganized,
piecemeal and attimes ineffectual; but so were the
early protests against the war in Vietnam. One of
the breakthroughs in creating a real movement of
support for the struggle of the Vietnamese was the
development of an analysis of what was really
going on
-notwhatweweretold was going on. We
learned, to paraphrase Walt Kelly's Pogo: "We
.

have met the enemy and they are some of us.',
We thank the miners for dramatizing once again
how the system works to benefit the few at the
expense of the many. We alsó pauseto recognize
the long linethat have marched beforethecoal

miners

-the ield hands, the texti le workers, the
steelworkers, the window washers, the cannery
workers and so oh
-those who have marched in
f

strength, dignity and in solidaritytothe same
drummer.
It is we who plowed the prairies; built the ciries

*nå:r"r'!;:

I#"r; and buittthe workshops; endless
milesof railroad laid.
Now we stan d outcast and starving, mid the

Th

ey h av.e take n u nto I d m

iII

i

on

s th"at

th

ey n ev e r

Þiled to earn;
Butwithoutour brain and muscle not a single
wheel can turn.
We can breaktheir haughty power; gain our
Íreedom when we learn;
Thatthe lJnion makes us strong.
Solidarity Forever!

Forever"
-"solidarityRebe/

Joyce Kornbluh's

by Ralph Chaplin from

/t

Voices: An IWW Anthology

To join those marchers and give

lifetothe phrase
"solidarity Forever!", I urge supportforthe
following committed groups. The end of the strike
does not mean the end of thestruggle,
Miners Support Comm ittee of
Southern West Virginia
P.O. Box 3182
East Beckley Station
Beckley, West Vi rgi n ia 25801

ttt

zJ

Miners Support Comm ittee
c/o Mountain Community Union '
321 Richmond Avenue
Morgantown, West Virginia 26505

ê
e

o

The New York UMW Support Committee
1 56 5th Aven ue

SAFETY
OR
ELSB

Room 819

New York, New York 10010

.E

!

Ð
c

;
ô

i rt
I clean houses for my living.
dust the shutters
that rich lawyers, urban planners
put up to keep the world out.
I can't see the dust, the dried up guilt and greed
but they can feel it.
so they hire me
to clean. I vacuum ashes.of burned witches
off the f loors in priests' apartmentsvacuum cobwebs out of corners, webs that weave
stories of women kiiled
by coathangers, women dead in childbirth

because abortion violates
the rightto life.
I scrub toilets
for rich doctors and their f am il ies f lush away the "spare parts" ripped from women

in surgeryfor no reason-

no reason

butthe price tag

or the color of thei r ski n .
I dust the ghosts of Chinese peasants

off f ine porcelain -dust the anger
and the pain of South Americans
who sell their crafts for pennies to survivedust spells from magic dolls
now seen as useless

objects-dust

tiny seals preserved in stone
while realones are slaughtered
for thei r coats.
I make three twenty-f ive an hour.
don't you think they should pay more?
withoutwomen like me
things would be,
you know, so

messy.

-lune

Blue Spruce

wonders we have made;
Butthe Union rnakes us strong.
April27, 1978WlN

11

r¡l

lsrael Notebook
=&

by Stephen Suffet with photo by Diana Davies

I n manyways I found itdifficulttobelievethat
^[ lsrael is a nation at war, with an undisclosed
number of troops carrying out search and

destroy
missions in southern Lebanon and many more
administering territories captured in1967 . Allthe
routine signs of homefront mobilization are absent
Billboards wh ich could easily be pasted over with
rousing patriotic posters are instead adorned with
advertisements for popular American movies such
as "TheTurning Point" and" ) ulia." Consumer
prices are high, but commodities are readily available without shortages or queues. Even gasoline,
which costs about 45/. aliter, is plentiful enough
not to be rationed.
A bitter and sometimes violent strike has closed
the port of Haifa for three months, but the government has not yet resorted to f rantic cries of "national security" to force the strikers back to work.
On April 1, a radio-TV-newspaper strike began,

\

and no one denounced it as
th reat to the war effort

,

"treasonous" or a
t

The busy streets of downtown J erusalem are
crowded every day but Saturday (lsrael's day off)
with shoppers who do not seem particularly
worried about the prospect of a terrorist bombing,
although there have been many over the years.
And the Coast Road, the scene of the recent bloody
guerrilla raid, is stillheavilytraveled despite its
proxim ity to the impossi ble-to-com pletely-secure
beaches of the Mediterranean.
Palestinian Arabs from Caza and the West Bank

journey throughout lsrael taking jobs, buying and
selling produce in local markets, and visiting relatives. Everydayvisitors from Jordan, ostensibly an
enemy state, arrive across the Allenby Bridge.
Arab merchants in the Old City of J erusalem
openly peddle articles which one might think would
be forbidden: the green, white, and black f lag of
Palestine; the red and wh ite embroidered military
kafiya (headdress) of the Arab Legion; the stamps,
coins, and currencyof even the most hostile nations
such as Libya and lraq.
Stephen Suffet visited lsrael during late March and
early April of this year.
'12WlN April27, 1978

Nightcl ubs, bars, and discos throughout the

couniry are crowded, and th€re is not even the
sl i ghtest tal k'of a blackout or åurfew. The music
onã h"u.t i s not national i stic or m i I itary son gs, but
current pop tunes from Creat Britain and the
United States. Wine, whiskey, and beer flow
fieely. Visiting qneof lsrael's night spots, it is hard
to imagine that a war is going on.
Yet in othèr respects the evidenceof war is inescapable. On a trip to Ein Ceddi, a green oasis amid
the J udean Desert not far from the Dead Sea, I
observed several groups of school-aged hikers,
each of which wus accompanied by one or more rif lecarrying adults. Along the Jordan Valley Road
wh ich run s through the occupied West Bank ther:e
are a number of military checkpoints where soldiers routinely search vehicles for explosives'
Camouf laged transport planes can be spotted on
the far tu*ayt of Ben Curion Airport near Tel
Aviv, and police caref ully inspect the handbags of
unyon" approach ing the Western Wall in Old
J erusalem.
But by f ar the most noticeable sign of the continuing war is the vast number of people one sees in
military uniform. Everywhere ltraveled I saw
soldiers-young recruits and old reservists, men
and women, imm igrants and native-born sabras '
They f i lled bus terminals, restaurants, and
roadside refreshment stands. Theywere in every
city, town, village, and settlement lpassed
through. Attimes it seemed like half the country
was in the service, and in a way it is, for lsraelis are
liable for reserve duty through age 55 ' Many
reservists were in fact called up for the Lebanon
campaign

I spoke at length with one reservist who had lust
a week on the Lebanese f ront' His

reiurned f rom

name is Zev, andhe had cometo lsraelfrom the
Soviet Union fouryears ago Ngw30years old, Zev
was attend¡ n g techn ical school in Haif a and I ivin g
in a small village about'15 kilometers away when
suddenly summoned to arms a few days after the
Coast Road attack.
The next day he crossed the border to ioin an ar-

it, where he witnessed scenes of absolute
destruction . l srael i s enteri n g Moslem vi l lages
found that air strikes had forced the local inhabitants to f lee in advance of the attack' Hand
grenades were tossed into abandoned buildings to
wipe out anyone who might have been hiding

tillery

un

side. Occasionally the soldiers saw a wh ite f lag
ly from a house, or spotted elderly residents who
hadn't left. ln those cases no grenade would be
thrown, but the soldiers would proceed to the next
building to continue their operations.
in

f

Sometimes as the lsraelis entered a Christian
village, friendly people would turn out in the
streets to clreer and f lash victory signs to the
troops. Even there, however, Zev reported feeling
sorrow and disgust as he saw 13 and 14-year-old 'r
boys carrying guns and wearing the uniform of the
private Christian militia which f ights alongside the
israelis. The Lebanese Moslems and the Pales-

tinians also use youngsters in their armies.
Southern Lebanon just isn't a placefor achild to be
a child these days.
Many people told me that morale among the
lsraelis in Lebanon is much lowerthan it had been
in any previous conflict. Although casualties are
relatively low (18 dead as of April 3, including
several from 'i non-hostile" causes) and actual
t
f ace-to-face combat is rare, the overwhelming
own
its
of
many
made
has
power of the I sraeli force
troops uneasy. Chief of Staff Mordecai Cur recently stated that he would have been surprised and
even embarrassed if his soldiers hadn'tfelt any
ambivalence. He went on to say that he was sorry
for the destruction that was caused to the civilian
population, but that it was necessary in order to
r¡s'k as few lsraeli lives as possible while still
ensuring a maximum dislocation of the Palestinian

guerrilla movement.
April27, 1978WlN

13

,,

G
,*'

"'

,,¡

&.'

$.

q
I
L

t

t

officers' letter, Begin reacted angrily to it and
áãclared that its éigners represented only a tiny
m inoritY of Publ ic oPin ion'
ln orderto refute Begin's assessmentof their
strength, the reserveofficers called upon allwho
supported their letter to demonstrate in Tel Aviv on
Saiurday evening April 1. They expected a few
thousand people to appear, but to their surprise
iive to ten times that many showed up. According
io on" BBC reporter, 35,0b0 lsraelis took part in the
demonstration. Even the most conserVative
place the size of tþe crowd at 25,000'
"riit"t.
The demonstration was as low-keyed as the
roriginal letter, with one featured speaker
declari n g : "We are not here to chan ge the government, but to get the governgtent to change its position." Nevertheless, it was the largest peace
àemonstration in lsrael's history, and it was allthe
ror" ,"rnutkable because it came on the heels of
theterrorist attack and the Lebanon invasion'

was discussing US politics with several lsraelis
one evening whãn thre topic of American I ndians
arose. Suddenly somone suggested, "You know
I

Hasiclim en rr¡ute to the Wailing Wall:

\

Zev was glad to be home, but he was so.upset by
his experiencethat hetook an additional weekoff
from school. Yet, likeevery lsraeli ltalkedwith, he

felt that his government's actions, although regrettable, were justif iable. Notone person I met
doubted the necessity or the propriety of the
Lebanon campaign; they only wished that it were
finished quickly.

Whilethere is agreement among lsraelis*
concerning Lebanon, there are many areas of
public policyoverwhich opinion is divided. One
such area is the question of how lsrael shal
approach peace negotiations with its Arab neighI

bors.
For strategic reasons, lsrael is committed to
retaining'at least a small slice of the Syrian Colan
Heights, and for historic reasons lsrael will never
voluntarily give up any part of J erusalem. The
14WlN Apr¡127. 1978

government has expressed a willingness to return
most or even all of Sinai to Egypt in exchànge for a
permanent peace agreement, but at the same time
Menachem Begin has adamantly refused to
consider a pull-back'from the West Bank region.'
Such

inflexibility has been a matterof concdrn for

many lsraelis, especially since Begin recently
began referring to the area as "liberated" rather
than 'loccupied. " Most lsraelis feel that their
country must maintain sometypeof presence in the
West Bank (which lsraelis call Samaria and J udea),
but believethat negotiations with Jordan overthe
status of that region are possible and desirable.
Early in March a group of 300 reserve military
off icers, many of whom were combat veterans of
elite units such as the paratroopers, published a
letter to the Prime Minister in which they ques-

those lndians aie going about ¡tthewrong way,
pressing their land claims in court. Allthey really
'have
to ão is plant a few bombs, h iiack a couple of
airplanes, and kill somechildren. Theythey'll be .
invited to the United Nations with the whole world
applauding them. "
The remark was made in iest; but it indicates
much of the frustration which lsraelis experience'
They are attacked by terrorists and the world is
silent; they strike back and they are condemned for
it. Untilthis is understood and dealtwith, there is
little chance that lsrael will alter its present bar-

gaining position.
The piimary concern of lsrael is security. lt is a
nation of iefugees who landed on its shores for
reasons notof ideology, butof survival' lts people
came from Europe, and later from Arab countries

and then Russia. Many are now airiving from Latin
America and South Africa- They have known fear
and insecurity in their native coûntries alltoo well,
and they seek haven in lsrael forthe simple fact
that they have nowhere else to go. lf lsraelis tend to
be distrustful, it is because their collective experience has not been one which is èôndusive to

developing trust.
Vashem, a
J ustoutside of J erusalem is Yad
which chroniHolocaust
of
the
memorial museum
cles in minute detailthe atrocities committed
againstthe Jews in the 1930's and40's' As I passed
through the exhibits t couldn't failto notice how
much emphasis was placed on the fact that the British closed off J ewish immigration to Palestine in
1939, just as the'Nazis were about to launch their
exterm i nation qampai gn . The very exi stence of the
proposition that ,
J ewish state is dedicated to the
shall never
betrayal
and
deadly
a
callous
such
happen again.
Now everwhere the lsraelis turn -from the onesided resolutions of the UN to the pressure placed
on their government by J immy Carter-they sense
that history is repeating itself . I am not saying that
they are either rightor wrong in their appraisal of
things, but I am saying that despite internal disagreements over such issues as the reserve off icers' letter, lsraeli will not be ready to discuss
peace until they feel their security needs have been

met.

Do lsraelis believe there is a chance for peace?
Many do, butthey are notoptimistic' There are

simplytoo many "ifs" involved: "lf Sadatcan hold
sway. " " lf Hussein would ioin the talks. " " lf the
PLO can be defeated. " ''lf the situation in Lebanon
can be stabilized." "lf Carter can be persuaded."
And evén: "lf Begin can be moreflexible."
Somewould add: "lf the Red Seawould again
drown ourenemies!" Forafew lsraelisthis last
remark is as much awish as it is awitticism.

tioned thewisdom of his hard line. ln itthey stated
their willingness to fight again if need be, but
demanded that their government f irst do all that is
poss i ble to avoi d a f uture conf I ict. Despite th'e
excepíionally moderate and conciliatory tone of the
*Note: / use the
word " lsraelis" to mean lsraeli
J ews. For the most part I did not speak with
members of lsrael's non-Jewish minorities including Arabs, DrLtzes, Circ¿ssians, etc.
April27, 1978WlN

15

otD

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fìrivate utilities in southern Vermont are fightll¡ng for their existence. At town meetingslhis
March, voters in Brattleboro, Vermont and in 13
towns in the West River Valley decided to establish
committees to study the feasibility of creating
m un icipal utilities with their own public generating
plants.
Fifteen communities in Vermont, including
Burlington,- the largest city- already have
municipal power. Springfield, Vermont, with voter
approval, is in the process of buying outthe investor-owned utility (lOU that serves its area and
bulding its own hydro-electric plant.
lf Brattleboro and the West River Basin Energy
Committee (WRBEC) join Springfield in creating
their own public power projects, the Central
Vermont Public Service Company (CVPS)-the
largest investor-owned utility in the state-will
lose most of its customers in southeastern
Vermont. As public power projects promise lower
electric rates as well as localcontrol, the idea is
sure to snowball. Conceivably, CVPS could be
driven out of the state.
More than 2,000 communities in the country
havetheirown municipal systems. Butveryfew
generate their own electricity. Most buy from large
federal pro¡ects like the Bonneville Power Authority in the Pacific Northwest and from Tennessee
Valley Authority. ln the East, most municipalities
purchase wholesale power f rom the investorowned utilities. They can sell to their customers
cheaper because they don't have to pay stockholder
dividends.
The municipal utility in Burlington is an inspirational model for the downstate Vermonters. Burlington recently became the f irst utility in the
country to burn wood for electric power. lts own
staff converted a fossil-f uel boiler into a woodburn ing facility and brought it on line below budgeted cost. Burlington is also looking into nearby
hydro sources and a solid-waste burning plant.
Burn ing garbage to produce steam and electricity
will also solvethecity's garbage and landfill problem
Marty Jezer has been working on public power in
Brattleboro for three years and says he never expected to see this much progress. For an in-depth
analysis of IOU's and public utilities,see hls article
in WlN, 4/14/77.
16WlN April27, 1978

ust as Springf ield, Vermont is goihg to utilize
the hydro potential of the Black River which f lows
through the middleof town, WRBEC is studying
the feasibility of converting two federal f lood
control dam s on the West River into hydro projects

acquitted by a Columbia CountY
jury after hearing defense testimony by expert witnesses on

J

,

And Brattleboro is discussing intervening in the
rel icen si ng procedure of the Vernon hydro dam on
the Connecticutt River,'which is currently operated
by New England Power Company, one of the
largest IOU's in New England.
Hydro dams on navigable waterways must be
I icensed by the federal government every 50 years.
The licenseof the Vernon Dam is currently up for
renewal. Under federal law, a public utility has
licensing priority if itcan provethat itcan operate
the dam as well as its originalowner. Obviously
Vernon Dam is a long-shot. Despitethe law, no
take-over has ever occurred. And Brattleboro
would f irst have to organ ize its own utility to
competeforthe license, a process that will take a
number of years. But the people of Brattleboro have
decided that a take-over is an idea worth pursuing.
WERBC was initiated by a group called the
Middle lncome Consumers Council and the Brattleboro project was initiated by Community Action for
Safe Energy (CASE). CASE described its prolect as
"A Business Proposition That Makes Sense." Both
groups did preliminary research on theirown. As
they developed their information they presented it
to town off icials and, through public meetings,
radio and the press, to the townspeople. Now that
the various towns have adopted their proposals,
CASE and the Middle lncome Consumers Council
have formally withdrawn from the prolects, though
members of each group remain active on:the two

officialcommittees.
Vermont gets a large portion of its electricity
from nuclear power plants. Private utilities that
dominate the New England power gr.id have continuously ignored hydro and other alternatives in
favor of nuclear power. CVPS, for instance, is an
investor in the controversial Seabrook nuclear
plant. Because of opposition to nuclear power, New
Englanders in general, and Vermonters in particular, are knowledgeable about util¡ty problems
and aware of the dangers of nuclear power. Butthey
have always demanded of nuclear critics that they
come up with alternative sources of power.
Talking about various alternatives is
meaningless unless one has control of capital.
Publc power puts investment capital into the hands
of the people. lt gives the publicthe authorityto
determine how electricity is going to be generated.
The battle for public power is going to be
intense. The IOU's are f ighting for their very existence. But by the strength of the town meeting
victories, th'e initiators of these public power
projects have shown that they have earned the
respect of the people.

1

i

Rumpf , and J ohn F. Kelly, all acquaintances of Truong, by

THOUSANDS RALTY IN

WASHINGTON TOOPPOSE
BAKKE DECISION
ir

An estimated 20,000 PeoPle converged on the US CaPitol to call on
the SuPreme Court to overturn the
Bakke case: Allan Bakke, a white
student, sued the UniversitY of
California because he felt minority
admissions quotas had denieühim
a place in medical school. His suit

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was upheld in federal district
court. Opponents of the decision
fearthat such a ruling will destroy
the progress of aff irmative actión
programs since the civil rights agitation of the early 1960's.

. The marchers assembled atthe

Éllipse behind the Whité House'
They marched down PennsYlvania
Ave. to the Capitol, around the
Capitol and rallied on the West
Lawn. ltwas a sunny sPring daY
and the line of march was sPirited

with lots of chants and songs'
Speakers at the rallY called on
the Court to rule against Bakke's
claim and preserve affirmative
action enrollment programs at colleges, universities and in industry.

-Jim

i

Peck

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ACLU SUESATTORNEY
GENERAL GRIFFIN BELL AND
THREE FBI OFFICIALS
Attorney Ceneral Criffin Bell,
former FBI Director Clarence M'
Kellev. and two other FBI off icials
are bé¡ng sued for having violated
the statutorY and constitutional
rights of four peoPle whose teleohone conversations were overireard on a warrantless wiretaP
placed on the telePhone of David

Îruong,

a

former anti-war activist

who haé been accused of sPYing
for Hanoi. The suit asks for
dâ.âges and injunctive relief ' The
ðórp[uint*as f íled todaY in the US
District Court of the District ot
õolumb¡a on behalf of four defendants, J acquelyn M. Chagnon,
Bever.ly J . Chagnon, Roger E'

American Civil Liberties Union
attorneys Mark Lynch and J ohn
Shattuck.
Attorney Ceneral Criffin Bell
authorized the FBI to conduct a
warrantless wiretaP on David
Truong's telephone f rom MaY 1 1 ,
1977 through FebruarY 6, 197 B,
ouroortedlv to obtain information
beemed essential to the security of
the United States and to Protect
national securitY information
against foreign intelligence activities.
The judge presiding over the

criminalþrosecution in the case
has already determined that a substantial portion of the wiretap was
in violation of Truong's rights
underthe Fourth Amendment and
Title 3 of the Omnibus Crime
Control and Safe Streets Act of

1968.

-ACLU News

TROJ AN DECOMMISSIONINC

ALLTANCEANNOUNCES NEW
CAMPAIGN AGAINST OREGON

NUKE
Civil disobedience to shut down
the Trojan nuclear power plant wil I
take place with peoPle arriving at
the site on four consecutive days in
August, the Trojan Decommissioning Alliance announced APril
12.
Declaring that "in allconscience
we cannot allowthe continued
operation of Trojan," the Alliance
said that concerned citizens will
arrive at Trojan to nonviolentlY
block entrances to the Plant
starting every daY August 6
through August 9, as Part of an ongoing effort to shut down the
nuclear plant.
There were over 200 arrests on

trespassing charges atTrojan last
year during two Alliance-sPonsored protests, as demonstrators
blocked entrance gates at the
plant. ln the first mass trial of the
Protestors, all 96 defendants were

dangers of nuclear power.
The Alliance is sponsoring a
commun ity edqcation camPai gn
throughoutOregon in the coming

months, focusing on short-term
and long-range health dangers and
economic drawbacks of nuclear
power at a grassroots level.
The anti-nuclear coalition also
announced plans for a week-long
i nformational trek through communities all over Oregon, culminating in convergenceon Salem
the evening of Friday, J une 23, to
be fol lowed by a rally at the state
capital the next day. On the same
day as the Salem rally, demonstrators will be occupying sites of proposed nucleàr plants at Satsop,
Washington and Seabrook, New

Hampshire.

"We are taking action in self-defense, in defense of the people of
the Northwest, and for children
and grandchildren whó already are
burdened by the nuclear wastes
being generated by Trojan and
other nuclear reactors," the
Alliance said.
Decommissioning Alliance

--Írojan

SCRAMMING NUKES IN
SCOTLAND
Britain's f irst occuPation of a nuclear power plant site will take
place May 6. On that daY, SCRAM
(The Scottish CamPaign to Resist
the Atomic Menace) is co-ordinating a mass march, rallY, and .
occupation at Torness in Scotland.
According to SCRAM "Torness
wou ld on iy be the start. " The
South of Scotland Electricity Board
(SSEB) has said theYwantto build
another ten nuclear stations in the
next 20 years, in Scotlancl alone.
The SSEB has alreadY at least Z0
percent too much electricitY
generating capacity. There is good
evidence to suggest that their
forecasts of f utureelectricitY "
demand are much exaggerated.
" l n contrast to other countries,
there has never been a large scale
man ifestation of publ ic opposition

to nuclear power in Britain. lt is
time we showed our strength. "
Clamshell Alliance News

-

April27, 1978WlN

17

I.T

ance to hold its J anuary meeting in
the town and offered housing for
free in a motel as well as the com-

GAY PAPER IN LONDON
SUFFERSCOURT DEFEAT ON

,,BLASPHEMY''CHARGE

The London-based newspaper Cay
News recently lost an appealof a
conviction under Englandf s Blasphemous Libellaw.
The paper and its editor were
prosecuted under the statute after
one of the country's best known

anti-gay crusaders, Mary Wh itehouse, filed a suitagainstthe
paper. Whitehouse charged that
the paper had -{' unlawful ly and
wickedly" libeled the Christian
religion when it pt¡blished a poem
depicting J esus Christ as a homo-

-Craig Simpson
I

WHYPAYYOURS; THEY DON ,lt
PAYTHEIRS

AstheApril

ln addition to upholding the original conviction, the three judges
on the British Criminal Courtof '
Appeals also granted court costs to

17 lnternal Revenue
Service (lRS) tax form deadline has
just passed, remer¡ber that 1 7 US
corporations paid absol utely' no
federal taxes in 1976 despite combined earnings exceedin e$2.5

-LNS billion.

MAJ OR ANTI-N UCTEAR VICTORY IN NEW MEXICO
The f.irst major victorv in the antinuclear movement in New Mexico
camé April 3rd when Chem-Nuclear of Bellevue, Washington
announced its plans to abandon its '
proposed nuctear waste disposal
site outside of the scenic town of

\

ment.

CactusAlliance

sexual.'

Whitehouse.

munity center for meetings.
I n a state where the n uclear i ndustry began and has nuclear research, proposed burial and
uranium mining this victory in
Cimarron is extremely significant
for the whole anti-nuclear move-

Cimarron.
The company named four reasons for dropping its license applí-

ln a recently completed survey
intothe corporate practices of 108
US corporations, Rep. Charleç
Vanik (D-Ohio) disclosed that the
companies were today paying half
the taxes in proportion to their
revenue that they were paying 10
years ago.
The congressrnan's
investigation conf irms the view

that US workers proportionally
shoulder the burden of federal
taxes while the corporations take

cation: 1) projections thatthe state
would not approve of the permit
application within 15 months while
the company hoped for reprocessing to begin within 6 months;
2) the DOE report recommending
the fedeial government take over
I icensi ng of low-level radioactive
wastes; 3) requirements placed on
,the company by the Environmental
Protection Agency for additional
geohydrologic work costing the
company in the neighborhood of ,

advantage of a plethora of loopholes and get off easy.
"The reason pollsters sooften
find that the voters in their
samples harbor suspicion they are
being cheated is, curiously

proposed forthe burial refused to
renew the contract to allow ChemNuclear to operate on the ProPertY

The average fámilyof four
with an income of $10,000 paid a
higher proportion of taxes than did
Mobil Oi I , wh ich settled lor a 4 .5o/o
tax on revenues of $3.8 billion.
'o Exxon was prompted to pay
the same rate of income taxe s , 8o/o ,
as a US worker who took home
$6000 annual ly. The giant corporation paid 8% in taxes on earnings of $7.5 billion. -Guardian

$500,000; 4) the owner of the land

'

with an option to buy later.
Despite these reasons the local
citizenry of Colfax County had or-'
ganized to stop the site from being
built. ln mid-February the
Cimarron Chamber of Commerce
voted 32-0 against the site. The
town had invited the Cactus Alli.

eno-ugh, that we are being

cheated,

"

commented

wiiter

Murray Kempton recently, in
reference to Vanik's f indings.
Am'ong the study's revelations:

. Unit'ed States Steel paid no
taxes in 1976 despite an income of

,BURGER HIGH TEST, ANDA
REGULAR FRIES'
If your food looks a little greasier
than it used to and you can't f igure
why, checkthe ingredients label
on the side of the package. You
may f ind a substance called
"Torutein" listed butyou will
never f ind an explanation of what
that awf ul sounding thing is.
Torutein is the newest product
from the oil companies, those
wonderf ul people who brought you
oil spills, DDT and PCBs. lt is the
coming thing. . . a petroprotein.
Presently, you can find Torutein
in convenience meat products,
baked goods, frozen foods, some
Cerber baby dinners, soups,
gràvies, Wise barbequé chips,
tortilla chips, Milani salad dress-

ings, Prince's máçaroni, French's
croutons and LaCtíoy Chinese food
products. Even though petroprötein is a hidden product today, tomorrow's future looks like a gusher
Amoco Foods (a division of
Standard Oilof lndiana) future
recipes wil I ínclude what they call

"food analogues." Analogues are
actual food items that will be created totally from synthetics.

"We're working on something
we call'The Clam Thing' right
now," said Marketing VP J ack
Shay.

"lt's

an extruded plastic-

like product. lt hasthetextureof
clams, the flavor of clams and it
looks like a piece of clam without
the shell. "
Shay hopes that eventually h'is

company will market a whole line
on snack foods. And we can say
"Fill it uþ" atthe supermarket as
well as at the service station .
Ah yes, better eating through

chernistry.

- Harrisburg
Monthly News

$518 million
o

BARNWELL, SC- National Mobilization for Survival and Palmetto All iance action against the
Barnwell Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plànt, April 30-May 1. For
more information, contactthe Pal-

i

metto Alliance, 18 Bluff Rd., Co'
lumbia, SC292O1(803) 254-8132.
.

BOSTON,

MA-Helen

and Scott

Nearing speak on "Continuing the
Good Lifel' at the CommunitY
Church, Morse Auditorium, 602
Commonweallh Ave., SundäY,
April30, 11 am. For information,
call (617) 266-6710.

Merritt
of the Campaign Against the Arms'
BROOKLYN,

NY-

SandY

Trade, London; sPeaksonthe ln-

ternationalArms Trade at Park
Slope Methodist Church, Bth St.
and 6th Ave., SundaY, APnjl.3O, 11
am.

BUFFALO, NY - "Wannsee,

"

a

play by Eric Bentley, will Premiere

April 27 atthe PfeiferTheatre in downtown Buffalo.
For more information , call(716)
on Thursday,

831-204s.

CAMBRIDGE, MA - Andre Cardinal will speak on "Quebec Labor, Nationalism and the Parti
Quebecois" on Friday, April28,
Bpm at MlT, 105 Massachusetts

Ave., Building9, Room150. SPon-

formation, contact the Bai I ly Alliance,711 S. Dearborn, Room 548,
Chicago, I L 60605 (312) 764-5011.
NEW BRUNSITICK, NJ -Debate
between Ralph Naderand Shephard
Bartnoff , president of J ersey Central Power and Light Co.,'at Rutgers College Cym, Col lege Ave.,
Friday, April29, 8pm. For information, cal I (201) 932-7 681.

.

NEW HAVEN : Conference on
"Women in the Paid Labor Force"
atthe New Haven YWCA, Saturday, April 29.For information,
contact J udy Robison, New England Cooperative TraininB lnstir
tute, 216 Crown St., room 404,
New Haven, CT06510 (203)
776-0451.

NEW YORK CITY - New York
Democratic Agenda conference on
NYC redlining, health care, social

Series.

services,'etc. with Paul Dubrul,
Michael Harrington, Robert
Abrams and others on Saturday,

Before 1990? The UN Special Session on Disarmament," on Sun-

day, April30, 11am, attheThird
Unitarian Church, 301 N. MaYf ield. for more information, öall
(312,)626-938s.

DENVER,

CO- National action

aga"instthe Rocky Flats WeaPons
Facility on April 29-30. Sponsored
by the Rocky Flats Action CrouP,
AFSC, MfS, WRL, FOR. For more
information, contact the RockY
Flats Action CrouP, 1428 LafaYette
St., Denver, CO 80218 (303)
832-1676.

KENT, OH - Annuat commemoration of the Kent State massacre'
beginning WednesdaY, MaY 3,
7pm with concert bY Barbara Dane
and

avigil. Memorial Programf

Thursday, Mày4, 11 :30 am at
Campus Commons. For more informãtion, contact MaY 4th Task

April 29 atthe HunterCollege '
Playhouse. For more information,
call (212) 260-3270.
N

- Mobi ization
benef it concert with

EW YORK'CITY

for Survival

j

NEW YORK CITY - RatlY at the
United Nations for disarmament,
May27. Speakers include: Helen
Caldicott, John Conyers, J immY
Durham, Mdrian StamPs, Dan
Ellsberg. For information, contact
the Mo6¡l¡zation for Survival, 339
Laf ayette St. (212)47 5-1 1 80.

MORRIS, lL- Rally and demonstration against the "Mdrris
Operation" nuclear power plants,
beginning Sund4y, May7,1pm at
Cebhard Woods State Park. For in-

sored by the Black Rose Lecture

CHICAGO, lL-Dr. Homer J ack
will speak on "Human Extinction

Worker.

Force, 241 Student Centef, KSU,
Kent, OH 44242 (216) 6724207 .

NORFOLK, VA- Second Tidewater Lesbian/Cay Confêrence will
be held atOld Dominion Univer- l
sity on May 26-28. For more information contact ODU GaY Al I iance;
F.O, Box 11123, Norfolk, VA23517.

PHILADELPH¡A, PA-"The
Furies of Mother J ones," a Productibn by the Little Flags Theatre,
will be presented on Friday, April
28,8pm at International House,
37th St. and Chestnut. For more
i nformation, call 47 4-9592.
PROV¡DENCE, Rl New England
Trai ni n g Center for Commun ity
Organizers will hold a training sess ion May 1 5 -24 . For more information, contact Bernadette Brennan,
NETCCO, 19 Davis St., Provi-'
dence, Rl 02908 (,+01 ) 274-5268.

-

ROCHESTER, NY- Regional May
Day March and Rallyon Saturday,

April 29. For more information,
contact: May Day Coalition, c/o
Creat Cleari n g Bookstore, 144
WebsterAve., Rochester, NY

14ffi.

I

DanielBerrigan, Rev. F.D. Kirkpatrickand others on Friday, April
28,8pm at Union Theological
Seminary, 120th St., artd Broadway. For more information, call
(212)673-1808.
NEW YORK CITY- Day of
Friendsh ip and Solidarity with

Vietnam program at Tishman
Auditorium, NYU Law School,40
Washington Sq. South, Friday,
April28, 7:30pm. $2 donation. For
i nformation,' call (212) 586-57 44.

NEWYORK CITY-J im Wallis,
editor of "Sojourners," wi ll speak
on " Prophetic Communities, /'
May 5, 8pm at Maryhouse, 55 E.
3rd St. Sponsored by the Catholic

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ Energy
Conference with Ralph Nader and
Amory Lovins on Sunday, April 30,
1-5pm atTemple lsrael,432 Scotland Rd. Admission $2. Sponsored
by the SEA Alliance. For more information, call (201 ) 7 44-3263.

-

UPPER MONTCLA¡R, NJ New
J ersey SANE dinner with Margaret Mead on5aturday, April 29,
8pm at the Women's Club, 200
CooperAve. For information, call

-

(201)744-3263.
VOLUNTOWN, CT - Movement
for a New Society Northeast Regional Cathering at Community for
Nonviolent Action, May 5'7 . For

information, call Mary at(617)
623-s326.
April 27, 1978WlN 19

l8WlN April27,

1978

REHËEW

populist
cìimate and they did much to dispel Carter's
;;;;q; u, u påliti.ul outsider' Thev werealldeficient'
imporfro*uult, in explaining the Commission's

for a new world order in its aftermath. The

program Brzezinski, wh ich emphasizes international cooperawasinauguratedonSe.ptember12',lg3g,aiameeting tionandplanningunAru.onnt"sthattheUnited
between Hamilton Fish Armstrong, edit'or of Foreign States can no longer policãifre wàiiã aøn".
Aff airs, and Assistant secretary.ot stutuêeárg" s.
within the corincii .t;;";""1; thãiransnationalists
Messersmith as a joint project of the Council and the have the upper hand, as is iuif"ãtà¿ by the two
Department of State.
programs the Council has turn.Á"J to restore global
Out of the study groups came the proposals that equilibrium: the Triláteruf Co,nÅ¡irion and thã less
would guide US fbreign policy for decades to come. To çe'lsþ¡ated 1980's p.oju.t. Ài-t'träugÏ tf't" Commission
ensure prosperity and securityafterthewar, the us is legallyautonomous (buc"uie ¡irïembership is
wouldhavetoorganizeeconomicandpoliticalcontrol international,whileCFRstandingislimitedtoAmeriover what Council planners referred to as the "Crand can citizens), the Council prouìàei leadership for both
Area,"asectionoftheglobewhichthenincludedthe groups.ThemajorityofUS,lcommissioners,"are
Western Hemisphere, Western Europe, the Dutch CFR members, and 11 Councildirectors, including
East lndies, China and J apan.
David Rockefeller, siton the Commission.
At the war's end, the CrandArea was rechristened Of even greater importance. the basic objectives of
the "Free World" and Cor4ncil member Ceorge
the two enìárprises
iOãnii.uj. According to a1975
"iu
Kennan,writingas"Mr.X"ÍotForeignAffairs,was Council¡1e¡nb,thejobofthefgAO,sproject,whose
quick to supply the modus operandi for everyday life. strategists incl'ude íhe uU¡quiiãus professor Huntinginabipolaruniverse:thedoctrineofcontainm-"nt:4t. ton,is-toexaminethealt"rnutluãi,,forcoordinatinf
thesametime,theCouncil'shandwasfeltinthefield policiesamongtheadvanceãlndustr¡alsocietiesanã
of international economic reconstruction with the.
ior creating dãsirable . centialiiåã supranational
creation of the lnternational Monetary Fund and the institutionãl mechanism.,, tn sim¡Lar fashion, the
WorldBank.Andtoaddanoteof legitimacytobig-. TrilateralCommissiondescribes¡iiãtf aragioupof
powerimperialism,theCouncilplayedadecisiverole,,privatecitizensofWesternfu.op",lupun"uni
in the formation of the Un ited Nations.
North America,, whose goal is io r;fori"i.losef coAsthecoldwardeepened,theCouncil'sworkmul-, op"rutionamongtheset-hreeregions,,onproblemsof
tiplied to maintain pacewith the growing problemsof common.on."rñ.
keeping the world safe for monopqly capitalism. The The transnational design thus appears to be a
case studies treated by Shoup and Minter include the " un ited front" of the Western powers aimed at colCuban Missile Crisis, the postwar policy toward
lective management of a rejuvenated world
China and, most importantly, the policy toward
capitalism. To date, the Project and the Comm ission
Vietnam. The role of the CFR in policy-making was have issued more than a dozen publications, calling r
nowhere more vital than in Southeast Asia. During for such , areforms,, as a trilateial approach io the
the period from 1940 to 1973, when the US strugg.led energy crisis (aimed at energy conservation and
tokeeplndochinawithintheCrandArea,theauthors re¿uãáadependenceonOpÈô),arenovatedinternaidentify 25 central f igures involved in off icial d"g: . tíonal ronétury system and the creation of a governsion-makingonSoutheastAsia.Ofthese,lS,orT2o/o, ment-sanctionedîrilateralAdvisoryCommiisionto
.

\

includingHenryKissingerandDeanRusk,were ,yn.f,ion¡r"theeconomicandpoliticalpoliciesofthe.

members of the CFR.
trilateralregions.
But as the Vietnam war.so graph ically illustrated, The ultim;te question, of course, is whether the
the world that the CFR helped to create is now in a
tran snational deiign wilisucceed. by any ya.dstick,
shambles. The liberation movements in the Third capturing the Cartãr administration was a major f irst

World,theeconomicrevivalof Western Europeand
Japan and international economic instability have
devasted the old order and forced the Council back to
theglobaldrawingboard.Thefinalandmostabsorbing chapter of the lmperial Brain Trust takes up the

step. Butsincetakingoffice, JimmyCarterhas

prouen an ineffectivãstandardb"ur"r, his credibility
severely tarn ished by the continuing econom ic crisis,

indecisiveleadershipandtheembarrassmentofthe
Lance and Marston affairs. The trilateral alliance has
CFR's plans for the future.
also been beset in recent months by internal discord,
AccordingtoShoupandMinter,neitherthe highlightedbypersistenttradedisputeswithJapan.
capitalist class as a whole nor the Council itself is yet and conf lict with West Cermany over the proper pace
united on the appropriate strategy for dealing with of European economic expansion.
the world crisis. Since the defeat in Vietnam, a "great As a result of these and other diff iculties, the f uture
debate" over foreign policy has been raging.
of trilateralism, and of the country as a whole,
From that debate have emerged two fundamental remains very much in doubt. Those who would move
positions: the conservative "power-realist" concep- the US in a genuinely democratic and progressive
tion, represented by Kissinger, which stresses the direction have been offered an invaluable inside look
traditional virtues of national sovereignty ( US uber at "the trilateral opposition" by Shoup and Minter's
a//es) and balance-of-power diplomacy; and the
insightf ul study. The task now is to transform that
liberal "transnational" outlook, represented by
insight into positive political action.
-Bill Blum
April 27,
20WtN APril27,1978

1928 WIN 21

ìtoBttlitE

pcoples bullêtin board
Free

if no e,xclìonge ol gllnuolved ond only

PUEL]C NOTICE
lf you are interested in disarmament, feminism, war
tax resistanbe, nonviolence or organ izing a WRL
local chapter and you llve in the South, then please
contact the new War Res¡sters League Southeast
Regional Office, 108 Purefoy Road, Chapel Hill, NC
27514. (919)967-7244.
The new Spring/Summer ialendar of Events forthe
Resource Center for Nonviolence i s.now available.
Allthe information, times, and dates of maior
action s, events, study groups, workshops, and training session s in nonviolence offered by the Resource
Center are provided in th i s ful I page, color calendar.
To find out more and get your copy, writeor call the'
Resource Center for Nonviolence: P .O. Bx:.i2324,
Santa Cruz, CA 95063{408) 423-1626.
SOME OF US DID SURVIVE THE SIXTIES! There
are thousands of us in the Fel lowsh ip of Reconciliation who continueto work for a ¡ust and peaceful
world. Join usl Wr¡teto: Fellowshipof Reconciliation, Box 271-W, Nyack, NY 10960.
SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES Biennial FOR Conference will be held in New York City May 25-30. For
information write Richard Deats, Box 271, Nyack,
NY'10960.

PUBLICATIONS
SOUTHEAST ASIA AND THE HUMAN RIGHÍS
ISSUE: Carter's Use of the I ssue, lndonesia's Carrison Showcase, Kampuchea and the World Press,
Martial Law and Underdevelopment in the Philippines, Vietnam's Political Reconstruction, Split in
theAmerican PeaceMovement, "Thailand'sCatch21"; Southeast,AsiaChronicle, $1.00, Dept. E, P.O.
Box 4000-D, Berkeley, CA 94704. Free
catalogue of materials on Southeast Asia available.

\

DiYugnt Shtimme-Thevoiceof the Jewish Socialist Youth Bund- fZ -Winter 1978. ln this issuei
French J ews and the French Left; Women of the
Bund; The Futureof Secular Jewishness; and more!
Subscriptions: $2.00. 25 East 78 St., NY; NY'10021,'

Ð

disarmament, and a changeof values and priorities
awayfrom war and its preparat¡on to an qmphasison
peace, social justice, and people's needs. r
Brandywine sponsors educational program s,
action campaigns, and public demonstrations in
orderto highlight the moral, political, and economic
imperativeof disarmament. Additionally, the group
is making a pos¡tive statement with ¡ts alternative
fund. This fund, comprised of refused war taxes,
personal savings, and group deposits, makes interest-free loans to social change and service groups
(primarily in Delaware and Chester Counties,
Penn.). Conta¿t Brandywine Peace Community and
Alternative Fund, 51 Barren Rd., Media, Pa. 19063.
LIVINC ALTERNATIVES
Croupof art¡sans, artists, academics starting alternative college comm un ity somewhere in New
England seeks menibers, Write: Cooperative
College Community, 90 Summer, Williamstown,

MA01267,

t1

weeks paid vacat ion and a ful I health insuränce plan.
For more informat¡on, contact Mark Meride,
WYSO-FM, Yellow Springs, OH 45387.

FOR SURUIITAI!

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words in iength. Olheruise 82 la¡ every tgn words.

WANTED: Managing Ed¡tor forthe Rochester
Patriot, a semi-monthly newspaper covering local
¡nvest igative report ing, con sumer news, & non-rhetor¡cal coverage of progressive & commun ¡ty ¡ssues.
Duties: Most¡y investigative reporting, some editing, layout, working with volunteers. Subsistance
pay, health benef¡ts. Send resume, writing samples
to215 Alexander St. Rochester, NY14607.
Teacher, certified K-9, looking forteaching position
in rural community. Experienced in multi-cultural,
individualized instruction. Contact: Malcolm lan
MacKenzie, 17 21 College Ave., Des Moines, lowa
50314.

HELP!

Mobilization for Survival May 27th Disarmament

Hodaka: MNS related, activist, fem¡nist, vegötarian
house; space forolder womqn, gay man; 4600
Springf ield Ave., Phjla. Pa. 19'143.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNIT¡ES
Work and live in a spiritual/educational commun¡ty
as canning & freezing coordinator (5 months), office
person (3-6 months), child care coordinator and
assistant buildings & grounds person Room &
board and small monthly stipend. J ane Bishop (301 )
486-6262. Koinonia, P.O. Box 5744, Pikesville, Md

212ß.
WYSO-FM radio is seeking a Program Director. The
person filling th is posit¡on has the primary responsibility for creating and scheduling allof WYSO's culturai programming and for recruiting and superv¡sinà volunteer and staff programmers to produce
the sáme. The posit¡on pays 97000 a year with two

Rally Project Office New York City urgently needs
volunteers for tasks large and small. Work at home
or from our office. Your ideas, as well as your work,
are more than welcome. Contact Anne Boggan or
Susan Blake at 135 West 4th St., New York, NY
1001 2 Tel. (212) 67 3-'1808.

Alternative research group cut-off from the world
needs readable input and friends abroad. Miguel
-1933,
Buenos A¡res, ArgenCrinberg, C.C. Central
t¡na [1000).

lnterested in discussing nonsex¡st & nonviolent
child raising with other parents. Write L¡nda
We¡meister,2230 E. Fairmount Ave., Balto., Md.
?1231.
Fem inist seekin g women's nonviolent self-def ense

anecdotes for article suggesting alternat¡ves to mart¡al arts. Write Pam,420 Dean St. Brooklyn 11217.

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The issue is notwhethera maiorwat
willtakeplace in the next äSiearsbut withwhat weapons
'
it willbe fought!

rN PEA.E
MAN WILL NOT REPEAT THE SIN

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SPRING ACTION PROGRAM

v

The Study Kit for Nonviolent Action, produced by
War Resisters League/West contains articles on the
thæry and pract ¡ce of nonviolence, both personally
and pol it ically as well as accounts of the successes
and problems of contemporary nonviolence. Articles
and pamphlets by Camus, Candhi, Cene Sharp,
Barbara Deming, Mark Morris, Ceorge Lakey and
the WIN Double lssueon Seabrook areto be found
and much more as well. Send $2.50 per study kit to
WRL/West,1360 Howard St., San Francisco, CA
94103. Special ratesareavailableforbulkorders so .

Hirosh

APRIL 29.30:
ROCKY FLATS, COLORADO

Direct Action at Rocky Flats Nuclear Site
Gontact: Rocky Flats Action Group, (303) 832-1676

?

APRtt 3O-ilAY 1:
BARNWELL, SOUTH CAROTINA
Direct Action at Nuclear Reprocessing Facility
Gontact: Palmetto Alliance, (803) 771-9999

orderthem for your study group, teach-in or
classroom.

MAY 2l: Rally at Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, (21glgg7-O2AO
MAY 22: Direct Action at Tr¡dent Base, Bangor, Washington

Ihe Cont¡nental Walk Book reduced to $2.50 for

lim ited t¡me on ly ! Checks should be made payable to
"Continental Walk. " WRL, 339 Lafayette, New
York, NY 10012.

W

SERVICES
The Portland Military and Veterans Counseling
Center has begun a Pre-Enlistment Education Pro.
iect víith a grant from the local CETA Consortium
lf you would like a copy of the CETA proposal,
letters of support, samples of pre-en ¡istment I iterature, or more information, send $1.00 to cover
oostase costs to: Pre-Enlistment Education Project,

þvvõC, o¡¡ Sw vontgomery St., Portland, Ore-

Call 201-485-5163.
The Brandywine Peace Community and Alternative
Fund is a nonviolent resistance comm un¡ty (both
live-in and extended). We are working for peace,

22ttll{ April27,1978

Japanese Delegation.
Contact : Mobilization for Survival
1 35 W 4th St., NyC',t}g',t2-.-(212) 673-1 8Og
RALLY & FA|R-U.N. PLAZA, SAN FRANCISCO (415) 628{87ô
ZERO NUCLEAR WEAPONS. BAN NUCLEAR POWER
STOP THE ARMS RACE. FUND HUMAN NEEDS

(503) 231 -001 4

I

Moblllzatlon for Survlval

ìâAY 25-27:

1213 Raco Slreel [zl
Philadelphia, Pa. 19107 (21 5) 563-1

RELIGIOUS CONVOCATION FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL, NYC
lnternat¡onal gathering of p€ople from dlverse relig¡ous groups
demanding that our planet be saved from impending nuclear
holocaust. (21 2) 964-6730

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JUNE 24:

Itâlfte,

SEABROOK, NEW HAMPSHIRE
Reoccupation of Seabrook Nuclear Constructlon Site.
Contact : Clamshell Alliance,' (603) 436-541 4

gon972O1.

Expert typing and proofreading. Cheap rates for
WlNreaders. Will pickupanddeliverin Manhattan.'

MAY 27:
UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK CITY
Massive I NTERNATIONAL DEMONSTRATION at
Dag Hammarskold Plaza during U.N. SpecialSession
on Disarmament. Floating Lantern Ceremony led by

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Wm at iCB púA}rfl( Attf.ltE r trÞFLVNrl'Er

/ rÞtK tt¿7

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Enclosed is $. . . . . to help implement th€ ection program.
Please put me in touch with a local group in my aree.
I would like more information.
Please send me transportation data for: tl U.N. ACT|ON
E Rocky Flats tr Barnwell tr Seabrook

N ame

Add ress

FUNDS ARE URGENTLY NEEDED TO FINANCE
THE SPRING ACTION PROGRAM.

City

Ptease ma¡t ln as much as you can today!

At stake ls the surviyalof our planet.

51

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State

21p..........

Telephone #
April27, 1978WlN

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LIITE

SITI
I
STOP RT]NIilNG IN THE ARMS RACE

SIT-IN ON JUNE 12th ATTHEUNITED STATES'MISSIONTOTHEUN!

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A sit-in may not be legal, and civil-disobedience is never lightly undertaken, but
worse than a violatioñof an order to move on is the global blackmail and the potential
genocide that the Atom-trusting governments, particularly our own, threaten to
inflict on all humanity.
We want your help in this nonviolent protest. Return the coupon.

SIT.IN FOR SURVIVAL/ 339 LAFAYETTE ST. /NEW YORK/
I am

I OO

1

2

(212)

47

5.II8O

prepared to participate in the Sit-In. Please contact me.

- I'm not prepared to risk arrest, but want to participate.
- Let me know how and where.
I know it is much needed.
I wantto contribute $-.
t
-* Send me information about the Mobilization For Survival,

Disarmament, and the

schedule for the United Nations Special Session.
N a nìe

Address

City
State/Zip

Phone

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