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       People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
                  Vol. 26 No. 9/ September, 1999

                P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
                      http://www.lrna.org

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The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO is available on the World
Wide Web at http://www.lrna.org

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PAGE ONE: LABOR DAY 1999: A VISION OF UNITY

During September we celebrate Labor Day, a very significant date,
that commemorates the birth, growth, victories and failures of the
working class of the United States. Taking into consideration the
working and living conditions of the majority at the beginning of
the century, we could say that there have been some improvements.
However, the improvements cannot be isolated from the sacrifices.
Many people sacrificed and had the courage to unite and confront
the injustices, risking their freedom, their safety and their
lives, to win what was right then and still is now.

Despite the improvements, as we come to the end of the century, we
continue to witness a dramatic decline in the living and working
conditions of the U.S. worker. People work longer hours, two to
three part-time jobs are being taken on by heads of households,
while less money is being made, and the struggle to survive
continues to manifest itself in the most devastating and immoral
standard of human life. The ruling-class propaganda portrays the
economy as "booming," but the real boom is the crashing blast of
the fallen living conditions of the majority of Americans.

Where does it all stop? While the working classes of the world
have been the producers of  the wealth, they are no longer willing
to be the chess pieces on the game board of a ruling class who
manipulates every move by creating a society of people who fight
against each other along ethnic, political and social differences.
In a game in which the only winners are a handful of billionaires
and the biggest losers are the working class and their families,
the working class find themselves dissatisfied with their lives
and are rising to a call for action.

Again, where does it all end? It ends with us. It ends with the
realization that the time to act is now. The time to focus on a
vision of community for all is now. Individual struggles are not
in and of themselves individual. As people, our struggles and our
vision need to be in common. A song by the great Cuban poet and
singer Silvio Rodriguez demonstrates the ineffectiveness of people
working alone. In his song "The Tale of the Three Brothers," he
tells a story of three brothers who attempt to go out into the
world to conquer and build their destiny.

The oldest of the brothers was smart and prudent, he had great
plans to persevere and build a future filled with wealth and
prosperity. He was always a careful traveler, and so he spent the
majority of his time looking down, extra cautious of any rocks or
bumps that could cause him to fall. Because he spent all his time
looking down, he never acquired a vision of what lied ahead.

The second of the brothers, was considered the visionary. He was
always looking forward, careful not to lose sight of what lied
ahead. However, he too could not actualize his vision, since he
often fell and stumbled by never looking down.

The third brother, the youngest of the three, was also very smart.
He figured that by walking with one eye looking up and the other
eye looking down, he would not make the same mistakes as his older
brothers. But after walking for a while, his vision became
distorted. He became disoriented and could not tell where he was
going. Like his brothers, he did not go very far.

The moral of the story is that people need to share a common
vision, unite and walk together, and only then will justice be won
for all.

We must fight for our right to live and build a future filled with
prosperity.

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INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition)
Vol. 26 No. 9/ September, 1999

Editorial
1. LABOR DAY '99: A NEW KIND OF POLITICS

News and Features
2. INTERNATIONAL CORPORATIONS WAGE WAR ON BIODIVERSITY AND FOOD
   SECURITY
3. A REVIEW OF ERIC FONER'S THE STORY OF AMERICAN FREEDOM
4. REMEMBER ANTIETAM! A CIVIL WAR BATTLE CONTAINS LESSONS FOR
   TODAY
5. EDUCATION: MUCH MORE THAN A JOB

American Lockdown
6. RUDY ROSALES-HUITZILOXIPE: I WILL NOT CAPITULATE

Spirit of the Revolution
7. A NEW MORALITY FOR A NEW WORLD

Music/Poetry/Art
8. POEM: FEVERED LINES

>From the League
9. STATEMENT BY THE LEAGUE OF REVOLUTIONARIES FOR A NEW AMERICA:
   THE DANGER OF WAR

Letters
10. LETTERS

Announcements, Events, etc.
11. SPEAKERS FOR A NEW AMERICA
12. I WANT TO SUBSCRIBE!

[To subscribe to the online edition, send a message to pt-
[email protected] with "Subscribe" in the subject line.]


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1. EDITORIAL  LABOR DAY '99: A NEW KIND OF POLITICS

[The People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo reflects on the status of
Americans this Labor Day, as people watch the parades, some take a
day off work, and others enjoy the last sunny days of another
summer.]

Labor Day hearkens back to the days of an industrial America.
During the heyday of industry, a huge labor force was necessary
for production. The American labor force was composed of unions
for "this" particular trade or organizations for "that" particular
sector of the population. Especially after World War II, the
economy of an industrial United States allowed for these types of
politics to thrive. Although some people were shut out from the
wealth, the majority of the people enjoyed the most incredible
living conditions the world has ever seen.

Those days are becoming a distant past. The advent of electronics,
under capitalism, means a large labor force is unnecessary for the
production of the goods and services. Although the people are
disoriented (some are still clinging to past strategies and
tactics), a new kind of politics is arising. The new politics
arising must reflect the new demands of a global economy.

We live in a global economy. If labor is becoming more or less
superfluous throughout growing sectors of the economy, the whole
system of capitalist production has to be called into question. In
the past, for example, labor could strike and had a good chance
for success. With globalization, however, corporations can take
their businesses to the furthest corners of the planet in order to
maximize their profits. The capitalist class holds all the cards.
It can implement cutbacks or move companies across borders to
maintain staggering profits.

Even in the face of cutbacks, they still need people to buy the
goods produced. As they lay off more people, they're finding it
harder to unload their goods. There is a serious disruption. For
the first time in more than 60 years, there is serious talk of the
inability of the capitalist system to continue functioning.

The labor market is changing dramatically. In 1996, for example,
60 percent of new jobs were contingent labor such as home work,
part-time work, contract work, etc. The largest employer was
Manpower, a temp agency. We're turning into a society of temp and
part-time workers with no health care or other benefits. Right now
we, America's labor force, are in a transitional period. With
electronics, the cycle in which workers are paid wages and, in
return, use these wages to buy goods, is being broken. Totally
automated production is not here yet, but it is the direction
we're headed in. This is the contradiction that is disrupting the
system.

Will the new politics reflect the need for a system that in the
age of robots distributes goods to all? Although we are
transitioning out of the old politics based on segmentation, we
need not reject all the lessons learned. We should build on past
achievements and be clear about the direction America is headed.

Productive might can be under our control; when the capitalist
class tries to break us up on the basis of skin color, gender,
etc., we must instead clearly focus on what is happening as a
result of the new technological developments and respond as a
class.

Labor Day '99 finds the American people in crisis. As with every
crisis, the old expression still holds: Where there is danger,
there is opportunity. The time has come to make poverty and want
memories of a cruel past.

The People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo is dedicated to the
understanding that if we can organize ourselves as a class, as
opposed to based upon "this cause" or "that trade," the victory of
a new world, free of poverty, is possible.

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2. INTERNATIONAL CORPORATIONS WAGE WAR ON BIODIVERSITY AND FOOD
SECURITY

The Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) reported
that a new technology is ready for commercial application that
threatens the freedom to produce food.

This technology is called Genetic Use Restriction Technologies
(GURT) and is owned by a small number of companies in the
industrialized countries -- primarily the United States,  Canada
and the United Kingdom.

The companies modify the plants and seeds through genetic
engineering so that the seeds will become sterile and will not
grow properly unless certain chemicals purchased from the seed and
chemical megacorporations are applied each year to the fields
where they grow. The term "terminator" is applied to this
technology because these sterile seeds will not produce food
without special chemicals.

Many countries such as India, Norway, Ecuador and the Ivory Coast
have made strong efforts within the United Nations to establish a
moratorium on these technologies, because if they are used, the
developing countries' sovereignty over their agricultural systems
will be seriously threatened. The life or death of the seeds of
farmers all over the world will be in the hands of a few
corporations and they will be able to use the technology to
control the seeds and their traits indefinitely, as well as the
economic and political viability of whole countries by controlling
their food supply.

Recently in the U.N., the scientific body of the Biodiversity
Convention (the SBSTTA) adopted a decision favoring the
commercialization of these technologies. The decision also
restricts the rights of countries to impose national bans on the
terminator technology by tying the bans to trade sanctions.

Trade sanctions are the latest weapons of mass destruction used to
commit genocide in places such as Iraq or Yugoslavia when the
megacorporations feel they are not being allowed to extract enough
profits from a country's people.

This decision threatens the Biodiversity Convention that was
founded in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit. At that time, it was
hailed as a victory for individual national sovereignty over their
biological resources. Says RAFI Program Officer Edward Hammond,
"The SBSTTA decision provides a policy framework for the GURT-
owning countries to force sterile seed technology on the rest of
the world."

During vigorous debate, one representative of the seed industry
presumed the rights of a country in the U.N. debate and proposed
an additional resolution to restrict farmer's rights to save,
exchange and sell farm-saved seed.

Saving seeds is a 12,000-year-old practice which has let farmers
control food production to this day.

The chairman rebuffed him, but this is an indication of how
aggressive industries are becoming in their thirst to control the
food production of the world for their profit.

Shortly before the debate ended, the U.S. delegation made an ugly
and aggressive remark that put the question of moratoriums and
trade sanctions to rest. The United States bluntly threatened
trade sanctions on any countries imposing a moratorium on the
terminator technology and expressed a willingness to use the World
Trade Organization to force the terminator down the world's
throat.

This is agro-terrorism. Plant suicide traits can be turned on or
off at will by the application of certain fertilizers or
herbicides. By threatening to halt the export of the chemical, a
country like the U.S. could hold an importing country hostage and
force them to comply with U.S. trade rules. The June 1999 issue of
Scientific American warned that economic warfare on crops and
livestock is both easy and likely. The head of the United States
Department of Agriculture research service, Floyd Horn, was quoted
in the American press last week as being alarmed by the prospects
of agro-terrorism.

The next meeting of the SBSTTA is in January, when it should
reconsider this embarrassing decision. Then much more effective,
more appropriate and much better recommendations can be submitted
for approval at the next meeting of the Convention on Biodiversity
Conference in Nairobi, Kenya.



[RAFI is an international nongovernmental organization
headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with affiliate offices in
Pittsboro, North Carolina. RAFI is dedicated to the conservation
and sustainable improvement of agricultural biodiversity and to
the socially responsible development of technologies useful to
rural societies. RAFI is concerned about the loss of genetic
diversity -- especially in agriculture -- and about the impact of
intellectual property rights on agriculture and world food
security. For more information, contact:]

RAFI
110 Osborne Street S
Suite 202
Winnipeg, Manitoba MB R3L 1Y5 Canada
Tel: 204 453-5259
Fax: 204-925-8034
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.rafi.org

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3. A REVIEW OF ERIC FONER'S THE STORY OF AMERICAN FREEDOM

by Lew Rosenbaum

Freedom remains one of the most sacred, inviolate concepts in the
mind of most Americans. Think of our national symbols, like the
"Statue of Liberty" and the "Liberty Bell." Ask your next-door
neighbor to define "freedom," and you'll often hear words like
"Bill of Rights" and "freedom of speech."  Yet, it is false to
assume that all Americans are guaranteed their rights.

An example is the case of  Mumia Abu Jamal, journalist and death-
row inmate, whose rights were violated on August 12, 1999, when
the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections terminated a call as he
commented on the imminent release of the Puerto Rican political
prisoners, during an interview for "Democracy Now," Pacifica
Radio's news magazine.  According to prison policy, Mr. Jamal is
allowed two fifteen-minute phone calls per week.  When Mr. Jamal
demanded to know why the call was terminated, the response was,
"The order comes straight from the top."  Once again, Mumia
describes, "The state reacts to my speech by the act of
silencing."

A new book by Eric Foner, "The Story of American Freedom," traces
the roots of this fundamental concept of "freedom," to pre-
Revolutionary times. Eighteenth century settlers, fleeing
political and religious oppression in Europe, sought a freedom
that was based in early religious scripture: subservience to God
meant freedom. The opposite, seeking the pleasures of the flesh,
was the absence of freedom. Serving God's will opened the path to
true freedom; serving the devil led to slavery. Only as the
century drew to a close, and the conflict with England became
impossible to avoid, did the terms of the discussion of freedom
change from its spiritual character to a political and economic
relation to England. The metaphor of slavery entered the popular
debate: The newly forming colonies called bowing down to British
despotism the same as slavery.

Two crucial features shaped the debate.  First, colonial
revolutionaries debated the new meaning of the word. Freedom was
seen as the right to engage in the political life of the nation
(e.g., hold office, vote and contribute to the decisions made by
society at large); or, freedom was the right of the individual to
be isolated from interference by society (e.g. the government). In
the first instance, the free man is free only so far as he
contributes to the common good (and at this time in our history,
the debate included only white men of property). In the second,
freedom meant to pursue one's individual goals independently of
the common good.

Secondly, most Americans saw freedom as holding land. This century
drew to a close the analogy between working for wages and working
as a slave. The factory system was in its infancy. Revolutionaries
talked about wage-slavery as opposed to working for wages. They
believed that wages perpetuated dependency on the employer. The
wage worker was in some way inferior. Everywhere, ownership of
property was required to vote or hold political office. Similarly,
the only way one could expect to pursue one's personal goals
independently of the policy was by gaining property.

A third feature, which permeates the background of any discussion
of freedom, is the contradiction between a "free people" which
condones and even encourages slave holding. While half the runaway
slaves during the revolution ran to the British army for
protection from the plantation owners, the other half saw their
salvation in the establishment of a "free" America.

Foner's book starts with these contradictions and follows the
developing battle for freedom in America. A labor movement, which
began with the slogan of the abolition of the wages system,
originally saw economic independence as the key to freedom. For
these early leaders, the end of wages meant that everyone became a
"yeoman  farmer" -- self-sufficient. Once the majority of
"producers" in the country were "laborers" -- i.e., worked for a
wage --  workers came to see the actual inability of the
emancipated worker to be free in an economically unequal society.
Their leaders came to view a fair wage as the road to
"independence." Clearly, the Union victory in the Civil war
forever changed the rhetoric of freedom. The "market revolution"
and the rise of the consumer economy changed the meaning of
freedom to the right of personal indulgence.

The changes in the economic character of the country also called
forth political and social movements such as the women's movement,
the populist movement, the labor movement, and the civil rights
movement, which took up their own causes inscribing liberty on
their banners. Neither political nor economic freedom was possible
without equality.

The Story of American Freedom, as Foner points out, is not over.
There is irony in the word "story". Story is as much myth as
reality, subjective, depending on the angle of the person telling
it. The teller of a story can influence it and change it according
to their own interpretation.  Just as white property owners
interpreted freedom differently than their black slaves, so do
Mumia and his imprisoners disagree on what rights he's entitled
to.

"No people can escape being bound, to some extent, by their past.
But if history teaches anything, it is that the definitions of
freedom and of the community entitled to enjoy it are never fixed
or final. ... [W]e can decide for ourselves what freedom is."

Lew Rosenbaum leads a book discussion series called "The Politics
of Our Imagination." Eric Foner's "The Story of American Freedom"
is the topic for the September discussion. The sponsor is the LRNA
Rogers Park Chapter.


[Write the People's Tribune or e-mail [email protected] The
next meeting of this group takes place during the 1999 Chicago
Labor and Arts Festival, Sunday, September 19, 1999 at the Peter
Jones Gallery, 1806 W Cuyler, 2nd Floor, Chicago IL.]

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4. REMEMBER ANTIETAM! A CIVIL WAR BATTLE CONTAINS LESSONS FOR
TODAY

By Chris Mahin

It was the bloodiest single day of fighting ever to take place in
North America. On that day, more than 2,000 men gave their lives
to halt a slaveholders' army. Within days of their sacrifice, the
first step was taken to abolish slavery in the United States. The
Civil War's Battle of Antietam -- which took place 137 years ago
this month -- deserves to be commemorated by all those fighting to
transform society today.

In a sense, the process of abolishing unjust property relations in
this country began on September 17, 1862 on a battlefield near
Antietam Creek in western Maryland. Twelve hours of hard fighting
by brave soldiers that day gave the Union Army a victory of sorts.
That gave Abraham Lincoln the political protection he needed to
begin steps that would transform the Civil War from a defensive
war to save the Union into a revolutionary war to abolish slavery.

Five days after Antietam, Lincoln convened his Cabinet and
announced that, if the Confederate states were still in rebellion
on January 1, 1863, he would free all their slaves. Lincoln was
true to his word and, on New Year's Day in 1863, he issued the
Emancipation Proclamation. This executive order freed only the
slaves in those states or parts of states that were in rebellion.
It did not abolish slavery throughout the United States. However,
it transformed the nature of the war, and unleashed a process that
led inexorably to the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, which did abolish slavery throughout the United
States.

By the time of the Civil War, slavery in the United States was
dominated by wealthy capitalists, most of whom owned thousands of
slaves. This tiny elite represented about one percent of the
population of the United States. They sold their cotton and other
commodities on the world market and were an important part of the
world capitalist system. Since the average price of a slave was
$1,000 and there were 4 million slaves in the United States,
emancipation removed $4 billion in value from the hands of
capitalists.

At its time, the abolition of slavery in the United States was the
greatest blow to a form of capitalist private property which had
ever taken place in history. (That remained true until the Soviet
Revolution of 1917.)

So, in a sense, the process of abolishing unjust property
relations in this country began on the Antietam battlefield. The
stage for the battle was set in early September 1862. Emboldened
by several recent victories, General Robert E. Lee moved the
Confederate Army of Northern Virginia into Maryland, a slave state
that had remained in the Union. A major Confederate victory inside
Union territory would strengthen pro-Confederate sentiment in the
North right before the fall 1862 Congressional elections. It might
also convince some European powers to intervene in the war on the
side of the Confederacy.

Lee believed that the commander of the Union's Army of the Potomac
-- General George B. McClellan -- was cautious to the point of
cowardice. Lee also thought that McClellan's army would be
demoralized from recent defeats. As historian Stephen W. Sears has
pointed out, these assessments were "only half right."

McClellan was a supporter of slavery who constantly made excuses
for why he would not fight the Confederate Army. At the Battle of
Antietam, McClellan's conduct fully justified Lee's contempt for
him. McClellan had learned Lee's plans and had more troops at his
disposal than Lee did. Still, he refused to move decisively
against Lee, and allowed Lee's army to escape after the battle.

But if McClellan violated all the principles of warfare at
Antietam, the same cannot be said for his soldiers. Forced to
attack in "driblets" (as one Union general put it), the soldiers
of the Army of the Potomac fought bravely.

The courage of the Union troops was vividly demonstrated in the
struggle to take "The Sunken Road" -- a small depression at the
edge of a farm. After several attacks against this strategic
position failed, the task of capturing it fell to one of the Union
Army's most celebrated units -- the Irish Brigade. This unit was
known for marching into combat behind emerald battle flags bearing
gold shamrocks and harps. Shouting its battle cry ("Clear the
way!") in Irish, the Irish Brigade advanced across an open field.
Intense enemy cannon and rifle fire "cut lanes" into its ranks.
Within minutes, hundreds of its soldiers were killed or wounded.
Ever since, the Sunken Road has been known as the "Bloody Lane."

In all, 2,108 Union soldiers were killed at Antietam; 9,549 were
wounded; and 753 ended up missing. The carnage that day was so
terrible that -- as one Union soldier put it -- "the whole
landscape for an instant turned slightly red." This sacrifice
saved the day for the Union; Lee was forced to retreat back into
Virginia.

There are moments in history when the future of humanity rests on
what a relatively few people are willing to endure. September 17,
1862 was such a moment. The bravery of the Union soldiers that day
did not end the Civil War. Lee's army would invade Union territory
again, and the war would drag on for two more long years.

The Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment, the
fruit of Antietam, did not guarantee equality for African
Americans or a just society. Eventually, the post-Civil War
Reconstruction governments would be overthrown and the South
plunged into a reign of terror which rivalled slavery. But
acknowledging those grim facts should not blind us to the reality
that, in a sense, the fight for a new America began at Antietam.
The Union victory there transformed the Civil War into a
revolutionary war to abolish one specific form of capitalist
private property: chattel slavery.

The finest tribute we can pay to those who died at Antietam is to
finish their work. At Antietam, every soldier knew he risked his
life if he drew enemy fire upon himself by picking up a flag
dropped by a slain flag bearer. But battle flags in motion were
absolutely necessary to signal the direction of troops, and so,
time after time, a Union soldier picked up the fallen standard and
raised it high again. In the Irish Brigade's attempt to take the
"Bloody Lane," 16 of its flag bearers were shot dead, one after
another. Today, "picking up the flag" means fighting to end the
rule of all capitalists, just as those who served in the Union
Army helped end the rule of one kind of capitalist, the slave-
owning capitalist. When we fight that good fight, we pay our best
homage to those who bled for freedom's cause 137 years ago beside
a winding creek, on a day when the very landscape itself seemed to
turn red.

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5. EDUCATION: MUCH MORE THAN A JOB

By Liz Monge

I have had many memorable moments as an academic advisor. On one
afternoon, I remember Sherry coming into my office in an absolute
panic. Sherry, a returning student, a single mom with two kids and
an honor roll grade point average of 3.8, typifies someone
striving to achieve the American Dream. But what happens when the
system starts to fail? Her quandary is that she has been forced to
put off her educational goal of becoming a nurse to work the 20 to
30 hours required under Welfare Reform.

It's been about two years since Sherry visited my office to share
the bad news and she has yet to actualize her dream of becoming a
nurse. She works the graveyard shift so she can continue with
school and make time for her kids. She's had to give up extra-
curricular activities -- all the things that comprise a "well-
rounded" student -- such as the school paper that helped blossom
her so. You can see the wear and tear in her eyes. Her GPA has
dropped.

I wish Sherry's story were an exception. Countless lives come
through my office in this predicament: the middle-class suburban
housewife going through a divorce; the midmanager who's been
downsized at a company he worked for 30 years and who needs to
learn a new skill to get a job; or the 18-year-old who wants to be
a full-time student, but has to work full time to pay for his
education. I will tell you student activities at community
colleges are on the endangered-species list. Many call it apathy,
but most students are trying to meet their needs for survival.

Not only is public education and higher education under siege by
politicians and technocrats who want to privatize it, but, in the
process, so is the student. Increasingly, high-school students and
first-time college students are working more hours than ever. More
than half of our 22,000 students go to school part-time, are in
the majority women and have an average age of 29 years old. How we
understand what a student is as a society has totally changed.
Today, a student has a new face, and deals with many more complex
issues and with mounting pressures.

These new students are products of a new, rising class in America.
A product of automation, they have to deal with the destruction of
society's safety net, the elimination of welfare and health care,
the advent of immigration reforms, and the downsizing of America
as the powerful corporations seek profits in a global market.

Something has gone fundamentally wrong. There are so many lives
struggling to achieve the American Dream, to educate and better
themselves, and all the odds are stacked against them. Something
has to fundamentally change. Education is supposed to be about
learning and contributing to society, and about growing as a
person. One of the meanings of the word "university" is wisdom.
Education has been reduced to much less, being in many instances
the only hope for survival in a society that can no longer
guarantee opportunity for all.

What will this do to our future, our children, our culture? What
will become of humankind if education continues to only be defined
as a job in an increasingly jobless world? I don't even want to
imagine. I would rather think of the endless possibilities of
constructing a society that has the audacity to provide us all
with the opportunities to learn and contribute to the wisdom of a
better world.

Liz Monge is an academic advisor and an editorial board member of
the  People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo, the newspaper of the
League of Revolutionaries for a New America.

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6. RUDY ROSALES-HUITZILOXIPE: I WILL NOT CAPITULATE

June 8, 1999

Dear People's Tribune:

It has been a while since I have written you and voiced my support
and praise for all you are doing. You have been running the
article I had sent to Luis Rodriguez regarding Randolph Reeves and
the preparation of his execution.

The series is great, I just wanted to let you know that a Nebraska
state senator (who I will not name due to prison mail censoring)
has obtained a copy of the original journal that I wrote and
passed it to all the state legislators with my permission and a
bill was passed for a two-year moratorium for the death penalty
here in the state of Nebraska, it has since been vetoed by
Governor Mike Johanns, but there was a compromise that a two-year
study will be conducted on the racially unbalanced executions and
the entire concept of the death penalty. Your publishing the
series has been a tremendous help in many respects in the quest of
the abolition of the death penalty and the racist attitudes of
government agencies and many politicians.

I have been subjected to prison administration retaliation due to
this as well as other political activities that invariably expose
collusion and human rights violation. I will not capitulate.

I am writing you to ask you if you would be willing to send copies
of the People's Tribune that my article-journal to the lists of
names of people I am enclosing with this communique. I am also
enclosing a copy of my recent notice for my legal fund.

!Que tu sol sea siempre brillante!

Mexika Tiahui
En la lucha,

Rudy Rosales-Huitziloxipe


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JUSTICE FOR RUDY ROSALES

Political Prisoner Rudy Rosales, 44699, a longtime Chicano
activist leader, has been caged in the Nebraska State Prison for
more than seven years. His only crime is being a respected and
unswerving warrior for Chicano rights and dignity as a people.
Recently, he was forced into a high-security segregation unit and
suffered two strokes due to the negligence of Nebraska State
Prison's medical department. An independent investigation by the
State Ombudsman Office has proved fault and negligence on the part
of the prison staff.

Meanwhile, Rudy, along with other convicts, has initiated true
change. One of the biggest victories is about to become state law-
to have certified court interpreter-translators for non-English
speaking prisoners, pre-trial detainees, immigration hearings,
etc.

Rudy continues to challenge the system and finally has the ear of
a few realistic senators. Now his attorney, Cheryl Lechner, a
single mother who works in a one-person law office, needs money to
initiate various litigations against the Nebraska State Department
of Correctional Services medical department staff and
administrators on civil rights abuses, permanent injury, collusion
(cover up), negligence and malpractice.

Rudy has proven that his heart is with the people. He has
heroically carried out life-saving work, even though incarcerated.
Now we must do our part and help him win more legal battles.
Please contribute what you can to cover court costs in the lawsuit
on his behalf.


All checks or money orders must be made out to:

Cheryl Lechner
Attorney at Law
303 N. 52nd Street, Suite 325
New Century Building
Lincoln, Nebraska 68504.

Please state on the check that the funds are for Rudy Rosales-
Huitziloxipe Legal Fund.

Sponsored by:

Kalpulli Yetlanezi
204 Gregory Street #E
Aurora, Illinois 60504


******************************************************************

7. SPIRIT OF THE REVOLUTION: A NEW MORALITY FOR A NEW WORLD

By Brooke Heagerty, Ph.D.

>From offices, to the shop floor, to food lines, people all over
America are being drawn into a struggle for the moral life of the
country. Revolutionaries must articulate a morality that
represents the aspirations and conscience of our class and its
claim to the world that is possible today, a world in which all
can share a peaceful, stable, and cooperative society.

What is morality and where does it come from? Morality is an inner
compass which guides not only the behavior of individuals, but
determines what is and what is not acceptable within a given
society. Morality changes and develops as society changes and
develops. It is rooted in the makeup and historical development of
society itself. In a system of private property, morality is
defined and shaped by the ruling class, which derives its wealth
from the particular configuration of property relations and which
holds the power to guarantee its continuation.

Morality is enshrined within laws, social institutions, and ideas
which permeate that society. Yet, it is not simply imposed.
Morality could not play its role if people did not accept it,
internalize it, and use it to guide their sense of right and
wrong. Such conviction can be a powerful force. History shows that
people will undergo any privation or suffer any cost, in the name
of actions they believe to be morally just.

Notions such as, "its a dog eat dog world," "some people are more
deserving than others," or more profoundly, "human beings are only
worth their ability to work," are moral precepts that express the
underlying relations within capitalism. They serve to render
acceptable the animal-like existence of the system and all the
social ills that arise from it.

We may oppose these values, yet as long as the capitalist economy
was expanding and there was work to do, such a morality had a
material foundation in which to flourish. The capitalists needed
workers. They therefore defined a level of treatment which
guaranteed the return of workers, defining a person's worth
according to the availability of work.


CAN MORALITY CHANGE?

Morality can never be, and has never been, simply a "tool" of the
ruling class. There have always been challenges to the dominant
morality. History shows that it takes a change in the underlying
relations of society for ideas to fundamentally change. These
periods of history are usually times of great social upheaval,
reflecting society's turmoil as it struggles to re-establish its
bearings. Under such conditions a new morality arises, one that
reflects what is new and developing in society.

Let's look at the U.S. prior to the Civil War. Cotton was the
foundation of the U.S. economy and millions of dollars were made
from the use of slaves in its production. Upon this, there arose a
"morality" that sanctioned as acceptable the violence and
brutality required to keep slavery in place, making possible the
continued exploitation of slavery and the profits made from that
system. This effected not only the slaves, but permeated the very
nature of southern society, giving it a violent and repressive
character that has remained throughout its history.

The abolitionists, and eventually many others, opposed this
morality, arguing that slavery was against God because slaves were
human beings and thus part of the Creator. On this basis, they
assisted in intellectually and morally preparing an entire nation
for civil war, a war made "inevitable" by the conflict between the
slave system of the South and the free-labor industrial system of
the North. Yet, it was not until the underlying productive
relations were reformed, first with the abolition of slavery and
later by the mechanical cotton picker, that the dominant morality
concerning the ex-slaves and then the ex-sharecroppers changed as
well.


THE MORAL CRISIS OF CAPITALISM

The "moral crisis" of America that we hear so much about is really
a crisis of the capitalist system itself. The labor-replacing
technology of electronics is permanently separating millions from
productive work, rendering them, in capitalist terms, "worthless."
All of society is being torn apart as the inability to live by
selling labor comes into conflict with a society in which there is
no other means of survival.

Capitalist morality can only sanction the further devaluation of
human life. We can see this in the relentless campaign to render
acceptable the absolute destitution and even death of those who
are now considered "worthless." As with the slave system before
it, such a moral position affects more than the destitute. It
debases the whole of society. We must see this morality for what
it is -- a system of values that protect only the interests of the
ruling class.


A NEW MORALITY FOR A NEW WORLD

The same thing that is destroying society is the very thing upon
which we can build a new world. The material factors that divided
the workers are being erased as electronics throws blacks and
whites alike into poverty and eats away at the privileges of the
past. Electronic production promises the possibility of real
abundance, a world in which all can share in the fruits of
society. Under these conditions, how is it possible to have a
morality that dictates anything less than that all human beings
are equal, worthy, and precious and that it is society's
responsibility to nurture and protect them?

This is our class morality. It separates us from the immorality of
the capitalists and reorients our inner moral compass to the
future, to the real possibilities, to not only the survival, but
for the first time, the full blossoming of humanity.

******************************************************************

8. FEVERED LINES

by Don Curiel-Ruth


[Break, Damn it, Break!]

Break through this fevered stupor
Caused by the infecting enemy
Cutting us down in our prime

There is enough to feed, house, educate, heal ...
[May this our battle cry be]

Our enemy introduces scarcity into the system:
   "Let the market deal with them"
   "It costs too much to print in Spanish"
   "What's wrong with you ... lazy?"

There is enough to feed, house, educate, heal ...
[That's right, that's the medicine]

Capitalist bacteria turns our best fighting cells against us:
   "We have to vote the lesser of two evils"
   "That's been tried and failed"
   "What are you advocating ... violence?"

There is enough to feed, house, educate, heal...
[I've heard that somewhere before]

They launch their offensive on a weak patient:

   "We need your donations for a new police helicopter"
   "I don't care if they're 14, execute them"
   "It costs too much to incarcerate ... how about a bullet to
the head?"

There is enough to feed, house, educate, heal ...
[!Hechenle con ganas!]

There is enough to feed, house, educate, heal...
   Heal the bodies starving from neglect
   Heal the minds poisoned by avarice and fear
   Heal the many spirits broken by needless division


[The sweat now pours]

It Broke ...

We Broke Through ...


******************************************************************

9. STATEMENT BY THE LEAGUE OF REVOLUTIONARIES FOR A NEW AMERICA:
THE DANGER OF WAR


[Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from a recent report
to the Steering Committee of the League of Revolutionaries for a
New America. The entire report was adopted by the committee in
Chicago in July.]

China and the United States are on a historically evolved
collision course that very likely will result in some kind of war.

American imperialism has always viewed China as an important, even
indispensable market for surplus U.S. production. They have
demonstrated their willingness to go to war with major powers to
keep that market available to them.

Senator Richard Nixon's demand of "Who lost China?" was clear
enough on how America's leaders view their relationship to China.
The statement in 1949, that the Chinese conquered China, was not a
laughing matter. It was the first time in over 100 years that
foreign powers did not dominate the country.

It is accepted fact that the principle reason for the conquest and
colonization of the Philippines was to guarantee the "open door"
to China's "illimitable" markets.

Japan joined the Allies in World War I in order to secure a
favored position in relation to China. At that point the U.S.
moved to block her. After the Japanese invasion, the U.S. set
about creating the politics of war in the East over who would
control China.

During the resumption of Civil War between 1946-1949, there was a
real drive for intervention on the side of the KMT. This was not
possible due to the international political climate, as well as
the political situation in America. Since then, American armed
might has been used to guarantee imperialist control of Taiwan and
to use it for the counter-revolution when the political atmosphere
will allow for it.

The war in Korea was fought expressly to gain an assembly area on
the border of China. MacArthur was simply the spokesman for a
powerful bloc that wanted war with China then, before it grew too
strong. Only their fear of Soviet intervention stayed their hand.

Since they could not establish themselves on the Northern flank of
China, they tried to establish themselves on the Southern flank.
This is the real meaning of the war in Vietnam. Only their failure
to understand the real nature of the Sino-Soviet conflict stopped
them from all out war in Viet Nam with the invasion of China as
its goal. The basic law of war is that the military cannot
undertake missions that cannot be sustained politically.

The bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade must be seen in
this context. It is likely that official Washington had no hand in
selecting this target. It is probable that a section of the CIA
and military believed that they could test China's will by bombing
the embassy. This accounts for the unbending position of the
Chinese government in the demand for an investigation and
punishment for the guilty. The U.S. cannot do this.

We are clearly at the end of a long economic expansion with
unheard of productive forces. The only way for the ruling class to
avert a catastrophe is to guarantee a stable market for our
production. This can be done by diplomacy that depends on internal
counter-revolution or by war.

The CIA estimated that China will surpass U.S. production in 10
years and will surpass the U.S. militarily in 15 to 20 years. This
is the reason for the on-going China-bashing campaign. The pro-war
group believes that war is inevitable and the sooner the better.
The whole world knows that the bombing of China's embassy could
not have been a mistake. The much ballyhooed "China stole our
nuclear secrets" has been proven a hoax out of whole cloth. The
next provocation was Taiwan's announcement that it would seek
state-to-state relations with China. This is tantamount to a
declaration of independence. If Taiwan declares independence,
military action is inevitable. The U.S. has already stated it will
intervene. It was in this respect that China recently announced
that it has the hydrogen bomb and ways to miniaturize it along
with the neutron bomb.

The American jingoists believe that right now China's 15 to 20
nuclear bombs and missiles to carry them could devastate the West
Coast, but is nothing compared to the thousands controlled by the
U.S. This is the same mentality that voted for war with the
U.S.S.R, believing that our 25 million lives lost against 68
million in the U.S.S.R. would give us victory.

At this time the political situation in China is changing. The
threat of devaluation of the currency along with the increased
provocation on the part of the U.S. is again raising the question:
Can the so-called hard liners capture power?

Americans under estimate the Chinese. They do not understand their
intense patriotic feelings, their determination to never again
suffer the humiliation of imperialist occupation. China is not the
U.S.S.R.. The struggle between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. was
ideological. With China it is economic and deeply political. It is
a question of who is going to control Asia.

In summary, the drive for war with China is inevitable. The
political conditions do not exist at the moment and may not for
some time. Then again, the days of declaring and justifying war
are over. It happens.

******************************************************************

10. LETTERS

INCARCERATION IS A COLD, SLOW DEATH

I am imprisoned on Death Row. I have had the unfortunate
experience of  viewing broken and confused men firsthand. ... I
fully realize what it is like to be disconnected from your family
and your friends, to have your dreams shattered.

The stories that you hear in prison about the judicial system and
how it functions are extremely disturbing. The public will never
hear these accounts, because the defendant usually has no means to
reach society. Also, you must take into account the indifference
that most people have to our desperate situations! Unless you have
been touched by the prison system in some way, you can never know.
A person who has been incarcerated (especially on Death Row),
becomes just another statistic... trapped in the system, alone and
indigent.

The prisons are full of talented people. More often than society
is aware of, these persons are railroaded into prison by way of a
seriously faulty legal system. A person who is locked away in such
a place has their humanity slowly eaten away, day by day. Being
locked in a cell erases your smile and your happiness is replaced
with fear, sorrow and hatred. Where you once were a warm and
loving individual, you begin to see a sad shell of a person with
little or no hope.

Prisons are not designed to rehabilitate, they are no more than a
zoo! Made to house people like animals ... often turning them into
something other than humans.

Incarceration is a cold slow death that creeps into its victims
from within their bodies and minds ... and then eats away their
souls.

James M. Heard
H-96500/5EB-86
San Quentin Death Row
San Quentin, California 94974


+----------------------------------------------------------------+

SOONER OR LATER, WE WILL WIN

Folks:

June's People's Tribune just arrived and I've read your editorial
"Morality is at the core of reclaiming our world." Excellent! With
this understanding of our work, there is no question that over
time, sooner or later, we will win.

A fundamental lesson the Left must internalize from the 150 years
since the Communist Manifesto is precisely the one you made. It is
when our organizations, and we as individuals, are worn down and
corrupted by the evil capitalist system and its anti-human
"values" that we have lost and they, the ideas, have won.

A reader

+----------------------------------------------------------------+

POWER TO PEOPLE

July 21, 1999

Dear Comrade/Friends of People's Tribune

I tip my hat, raise my glass, and commend you for your concern,
consideration, and effort in making the truth known to the
multitude. My desire is for all concerned to be rewarded with
blessings without number and all good things without end.

Grow and Glow.

Brotherman and Friend

Darryl Thomas


+----------------------------------------------------------------+

CAN'T STOP, WON'T STOP!

People's Tribune/Tribuno Del Pueblo:

Free the land! Revolutionary salutations and a "mighty" clenched-
fist salute. I am writing in regards to the newspaper, which I was
blessed to read the other morning. I would like to receive the
newspaper so as to remain abreast of the drum beat within the
bowels of this kountry.

When I get some stamps, I will donate a few because I know postage
is very needed.

Continue with the revolutionary spirit and know that your efforts
do not go unappreciated.

I'll be submitting articles periodically critiquing subjects that
appear in the paper and things. I believe they can and will be
useful. Until that time,

CAN'T STOP, WON'T STOP!!

IN STRUGGLE

Bro. Diallo

+----------------------------------------------------------------+

CAPITAL EXISTENCE

By James Heard

I am Sitting here ...
Every now and then I sigh.
Once in a while I moan.
I hardly smile ...
Except to hide my pain .
It's getting harder to think ...
What if I am going insane?
I can see the stress in the faces around me,
Hear the sadness in their voices,
Feel the depression surrounding me,
Smell the fear...
I am on Death Row.


******************************************************************

11. SPEAKERS FOR A NEW AMERICA

Our speakers bring a vision of a new, cooperative world. Send for
a free listing of all of our speakers. Call 1*800*691*6888, e-mail
[email protected], or write P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654

The following are just a few of the topics our Speakers can
discuss:

LATINO HERITAGE MONTH

Tribuno del Pueblo speakers Laura Garcia and Liz Monge discuss the
significance of the Chicano movement to today's struggle and why
standing on the side of the poor is key to building class unity
and a new cooperative society.


MUMIA ABU JAMAL

Speakers include Steve Wiser, Mumia's spiritual advisor, and
writer Chris Mahin, who discusses the case within the context of
the electronic revolution that is creating a new class of poor and
the drive toward a police state to control them.


THE WAVE OF RACIST KILLINGS

Brooke Heagerty and Nelson Peery, co-authors of "Moving Onward:
>From Racial Division to Class Unity," address racial violence
within the context of a changing economy and the drive toward a
police state. They tell why simply being against racism is not
enough today -- and why new ideas like class unity have to be
spread. Also, Andrew Clark, a student from Bloomington discusses
the protests he participated in against racist killer Benjamin
Smith.


THE MAI AND THE WTO

Doreen Stabinsky, Ph.D, environmentalist, discusses how the World
Trade Organization meeting will end up hurting the environment.
General Baker, an internationally known labor leader, and Richard
Monje, a coordinator for UNITE union, discuss garment workers,
labor unity, and the new world that is possible. Jim Davis speaks
about the MAI and the book he co-edited, "Cutting Edge:
Technology, Information Capitalism and Social Revolution."


MARCH OF THE AMERICAS FOR ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS

Cheri Honkala, director of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union,
talks about the upcoming march and why we all have to see
ourselves as part of the growing movement to end poverty.


DANGER OF WAR AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

League of Revolutionary for a New America speakers address the new
kind of economic crisis developing, the development of a new
realignment of forces, the dangers of war, and opportunities for
revolutionaries.


+----------------------------------------------------------------+

People's Tribune Radio is a monthly news and information program
produced by the League of Revolutionaries for a New America. For a
free copy to take to your local radio station, call 800-691-6888,
e-mail [email protected] or [email protected]

+----------------------------------------------------------------+

ORADORES Por Una AMERICA NUEVA

+----------------------------------------------------------------+

Nuestros oradores traen una vision de un mundo nuevo y equitativo.
Para recibir un ejemplar de nuestros oradores llame al
1*800*691*6888, correo electronico [email protected], o escriba al
PO Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654

Los siguientes temas son algunos de los que pueden ser discutidos
por nuestros oradores:


* EL MES DE LA HERENCIA LATINA

* JUSTICIA PARA EL CASO DE MUMIA ABU JAMAL

* LA OLA DE ASESINATOS RACISTAS

* LOS TRABAJADORES Y LA SOLIDARIZACION DEL MOVIMIENTO LABORAL

* PELIGRO DE GUERRA Y POLITICA INTERNACIONAL

* LA MARCHA DE LAS AMERICAS POR DERECHOS HUMANOS

******************************************************************

12. I WANT TO SUBSCRIBE!

__ $2 trial subscription (four issues)

__ $25 for a year

(You can also get bundles of 10 or more copies of the PT /TP for
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******************************************************************

ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE

The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, published every two weeks in Chicago, is
devoted to the proposition that an economic system which can't or
won't feed, clothe and house its people ought to be and will be
changed. To that end, this paper is a tribune of the people. It is
the voice of the millions struggling for survival. It strives to
educate politically those millions on the basis of their own
experience. It is a tribune to bring them together, to create a
vision of a better world, and a strategy to achieve it.

Join us!

Editor: Laura Garcia
Publisher: League of Revolutionaries for a New America, P.O. Box
477113, Chicago, IL 60647 (773) 486-0028

ISSN# 1081-4787

For free electronic subscription, email: [email protected] with the
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