People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (06-00) Online Edition
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06-00 PT Index
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People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
http://www.lrna.org
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INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000
Editorial
1. JANITORS STRIKE SPOTLIGHTS AMERICA'S WORKING POOR
News and Features
2. NOW MORE THAN EVER WE NEED UNITY
3. A VISION OF A WORLD THAT COULD BE
4. 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MASSACRES AT KENT STATE AND JACKSON
STATE
5. GARY GRAHAM BEING TREATED BRUTALLY BY THE PRISON SYSTEM OF THE
'COMPASSIONATE' GOVERNOR BUSH
6. COMRADE BRIAN MCQUERREY, 1944-2000
7. HISTORY THEY DIDN'T TEACH OUR CLASS IN SCHOOL! (MADISON AND
MARX COMPARED)
Spirit of the Revolution
8. A KINGDOM THAT WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED
Announcements, Events, etc.
9. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE RADIO
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TOPIC
06-00 Edit: Janitors strike spotlights America's working poor
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People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
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1. EDITORIAL: JANITORS STRIKE SPOTLIGHTS AMERICA'S WORKING POOR
The recent national janitors strike spotlighted America's working
poor. It brought into the open the situation of many Americans who
are barely making ends meet with their measly wages. A growing
sector of Americans is working two jobs, six or seven days a week,
shifts 12 hours long. And at the end of the workday, they still
worry how they are going to pay the rent or take the kids to see a
doctor.
So 100,000 janitors went on strike across the United States,
including those in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Their
message resonated with all Americans: good full-time jobs with
living wages and affordable health insurance. The janitors strike
exposed the two workforces being created by the new technology:
stock-option millionaires and "invisible" toilers too poor to
afford rent.
The janitors work in some of the most profitable high-tech
companies in the world, like Cisco or Sun in California's Silicon
Valley, yet they live in garages. Many work two other jobs to feed
their families. They have no health care, a major issue in the
strike. The companies say they will not take any responsibility
for workers' living standards since the janitors are not their
employees.
The janitors represent a growing sector of poor in America. Though
they work, they can barely make ends meet. They are part of the
new class, which is forming. What is this new class? Look around.
You see them everywhere. Early in the morning, they are on the
expressways, on buses or trains, on their way to work. They're the
ones who clean the offices at night, pick up the garbage, serve
you your "Happy Meal." They are also the ones who are sleeping in
the park because they have no home. Or are in line waiting for the
day-labor office to open.
In the new class are the regularly employed, working at minimum
wages, like the janitors.
Then there are the part-time and temporary workers, known as
throw-away workers. This sector now comprises about 30 million, or
one-third of the workforce, the numbers having tripled in 10
years. These workers are paid 70 percent of what people doing
comparable permanent jobs earn. Not only do they not have
benefits, they have no set work schedule. Their jobs include high-
tech software designers, office workers, janitors, taxicab
drivers, adjunct college professors, home health care, food
processing, etc. It is said, for example, that the U.S. food
industry would collapse without these temporary workers.
At the very bottom are the destitute. They live by picking up
cans, sleeping in shelters or doorways, standing in the cold,
competing for day labor made possible by the explosion of wealth
and the construction boom in the cities.
Today up to 50,000 Chicagoans rely on their labor. Day laborers
are paid in cash (they are often cheated) and are harassed by the
police or jailed for standing on street corners waiting for work.
Those members of the new class who are working might say they
don't have anything in common with those at the bottom. Think
again. A million jobs are lost every year due to downsizing and
corporations moving jobs abroad. This includes blue-collar jobs
and white-collar jobs. It points to the direction things are
heading as technology develops. This new technology is bringing
changes to the whole world at the speed of lightning.
No one questions that we're living in a brand new world brought
about by a dime-sized microchip. Computer-driven technology and
the Internet open up the possibility of two different kinds of
worlds. In one world, the mighty dollar rules, and a few
millionaires harness the wonders of technology, while in the
other, those who are being replaced by this wonderful technology
are scavenging for any kind of work they might find. But there's
the possibility for a new, different kind of world that can be
created with this new technology -- if the new technology and
everything that comes with it is owned in common by society.
How can we get there? The new class of poor can be the vehicle to
get there -- whether regularly employed or holding temporary jobs
or scavenging for work. But only if it's united as a class around
a common political goal to rid America of its poverty. Relying on
this program to end poverty, society can be rallied around the
need for a different kind of America; one where human relations
are put first, because there's abundance to go around for every
one.
It is this that we must focus on, creating a moral explosion of
anger against a system that forces people to eat garbage when
there's plenty of homes and food, and linking this response to the
objective force that can take society toward a cooperative society
-- the new class.
FOOTER
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This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
(Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000; P.O. Box 3524,
Chicago, IL 60654; Email:
[email protected];
http://www.lrna.org
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TOPIC
06-00 Now more than ever we need unity
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People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
http://www.lrna.org
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2. NOW MORE THAN EVER WE NEED UNITY
"United we stand, divided we fall."
"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
"Divide and conquer!"
What is the germ of truth running through these sayings? Even
young children understand these concepts, yet unity of people
seems like a wishful fairy tale.
For millions of Americans today, life is a constant hustle for the
buck. Everything depends on it -- your family's health and very
existence often seem very insecure. If the money stopped for a
month, two weeks, a week, you and your family would possibly be
brought to the brink of homelessness.
From our position in society closer to the poorest 50 percent, we
who have to look for work to live often find ourselves feeling
hostile because our lives involve long work hours, sometimes two
jobs, and even then no guarantees. What happens when somebody
maybe a little poorer comes into this job market from Poland,
Korea or Mexico? Well the same thing that happened when blacks
came north from the South in search of jobs, or Europeans crossed
the ocean.
The newcomers are met with suspicion and hostility because they
seem to pose a threat and we're told they will work cheaper. Well,
the reality today is very different and the world more complex
than ever. We desperately need to think about what's going on and
study the question of unity. Our future depends on it.
The truth is, the mass migration of peoples in the past made a lot
of sense for those times. Firstly, there were jobs! Factories were
booming and mills needed workers by the millions. We are living in
very different times.
Today and yesterday are similar in that there is one section of
society that is very rich and own the business and there is one
section that is not wealthy, maybe on the edge of poverty, and is
lucky if it owns the roof over top and a car to get around in.
Millions have less than that. Today the only section of society
that's united is the wealthy owners (capitalists). They operate
huge banks and corporations with boards of directors and planners
from America, Europe and Asia. They are united in trying to get
the most profit out of their enterprises and they are united in
safe-guarding their position with armies, police, and, probably
more importantly, the control of information (Cliche-truth No. 4:
"The pen is mightier than the sword").
Meanwhile, those of us at the lower end of society are disunited.
Hell, many hate those who don't speak, look or dress exactly like
themselves and, in truth, hate or feel threatened by half of those
who do speak, look and dress exactly like themselves.
Clearly, the working people of this world are in a trick bag of
prejudice, fear and division. And the truth is, that is exactly
what keeps us on the bottom generation after generation while a
relatively small portion of society continues to laugh at us all
the way to the bank.
Can we stop the cycle of ignorance, fear and division? For the
first time in history the answer is: maybe yes!
The economy today is different than for any generation in history.
Technological advances have created a global economy thousands of
times faster and more productive than ever before.
The truth is, identical goods and services can be offered anywhere
in the world and any worker is just as good as another and just as
replaceable as another as far as the global bosses are concerned.
The capitalists want to move wherever it is cheaper for them to
produce, often building the most modern plants in countries
recently considered backward.
Poor working people have become, by the billions, suddenly
interchangeable and disposable. You, reading this, you are
disposable as far as the global capitalist is concerned. Your
American citizenship or your white face (if you have one) doesn't
mean much anymore as far as business is concerned. So if all you
have to hold onto is your belief that you're superior to somebody
else, God help you buddy, you're in for a big surprise! In the
immediate future, we have to challenge all ideas that have divided
us: black from white, brown from yellow, etc. These ideas are
plainly worn-out.
We seek unity not because it's some kind of sweet idea, but
because it is a necessary step in challenging the plans of those
who would reduce us to animals scratching for crumbs.
The global working class is in the beginning stages of awakening
from the stupidity and brutality of the past. When we prepare
ourselves in unity, we will quickly sweep away the tiny group of
parasites who rule the world today. What a great world we have to
look forward to.
FOOTER
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This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
(Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000; P.O. Box 3524,
Chicago, IL 60654; Email:
[email protected];
http://www.lrna.org
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TOPIC
06-00 A vision of a world that could be
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People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
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3. A VISION OF A WORLD THAT COULD BE
Statement from the League of Revolutionaries for a New America
Stop for just one moment and look around you. Notice the woman
running to drop off her child at day care before a long day of
work, the half-asleep janitor throwing out the trash, the line of
jobless people hoping to be the first in the day-labor office, the
homeless man lying on the park bench, the grandmother at the pawn
shop, and the father asking his son to pick the lotto numbers for
the week. Who do you see? Do you see your neighbor, a family
member, a friend, an acquaintance, or even yourself? The truth is,
times are getting harder for the majority of us, and the only
thing that binds us all is hope, hope that one day we'll find that
perfect job, that we'll always have food, clothing, shelter, and
maybe even a little quality time with our family.
Can this ever be possible?
The answer is yes. Never in history have we witnessed the great
abundance that today's technology has made possible. What one
hundred laborers produced thirty years ago, can now be produced by
a computer and a handful of robots. So if there truly is an
abundance of resources, why are so many people struggling to make
ends meet? Despite the fact that we are now able to produce an
abundance of resources, the problem lies in the way the system
structures the distribution of them. As it stands, only those with
enough money can subsist in a society competing with itself for
declining, part-time, minimum-paying jobs. As the use of advanced
technology causes the number of jobs to decrease, the number of
unemployed poor increases. These people, perhaps friends, family,
or even yourself, are forming a new class whose labor is no longer
needed for the production of resources.
This new class must fight to change the powers that govern our
society, for capitalism is destroying our society by misusing
technology for profit rather than freedom. The rich alone cannot
buy enough to keep the system running, and every day fewer people
are able to afford the goods that secure the profits of the
wealthy. The system will inevitably collapse, and it must be
replaced by a new one. Society is being reorganized around the
computer and the robot. It's not a question of whether society
will be changed; the question is, who will dictate the nature of
the new society? It's up to us to decide what the nature of this
new society will be. We must educate and empower ourselves so that
we may learn how to build a cooperative society, in which we all
work together to make sure that everyone is clothed, fed and
sheltered.
We cannot let this system convince us that only a selected few can
monopolize the nation's wealth, while millions continue to grow
hungry, helpless, frustrated and ignored. We shouldn't have to
walk past the homeless man on the street because there's nothing
we can do to help, ignore the child begging on the street because
we simply can't give anymore, or resort to immediate band-aid
solutions to poor health care, unemployment, welfare, and
inequality.
What can we do?
We must not allow ourselves to become desensitized to the social
injustice pervading our society as a product of the capitalist
culture. As the rich continue to get richer, they will do anything
in their power to mask the reality of their practice and their
strategy. It is possible to envision a new world where all men,
women, and children can reap the benefits of the abundance made
possible at this point in time. If resources were to be
distributed based on need rather than wealth, then no one would
have to go hungry, and no one would have to work their lives away
just to stay alive.
Computers, technology, and robots can be used to free us from the
physical wear of extensive manual labor, rather than to fuel the
profits of an elite few. We are the creators of this new world,
and the conditions for it are unfolding right before our own eyes.
Reforms are no longer enough to provide the basic necessities for
the rapidly growing number of poor. We must fight for the
reorganization of our society as a just society. We must begin now
to politically educate ourselves so that we have the tools to make
our vision for a cooperative society a reality.
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"As it stands today, America is like a giant haystack. What is a
haystack but a pile of dead grass in which a large mass of hay at
the bottom supports the few at the top? Those on the bottom are
crushed under the burden of supporting the relative comfort
enjoyed by those few free-standing pieces of hay on the top of the
pile. What I envision is a field of living grass that bends in the
wind, and leans on each other in order to survive crisis. This is
why I am a revolutionary."
-- Dru Clark, LRNA member, student activist and organizer
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FOOTER
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This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
(Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000; P.O. Box 3524,
Chicago, IL 60654; Email:
[email protected];
http://www.lrna.org
Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The
PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its
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TOPIC
06-00 30th anniversary of Kent State and Jackson State
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People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
http://www.lrna.org
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4. 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MASSACRES AT KENT STATE AND JACKSON
STATE
TODAY WE CAN HONOR THE FALLEN BY AGITATING FOR THEIR CAUSE
By Chris Mahin
[Editor's note: On May 4, Chris Mahin of the League of
Revolutionaries for a New America attended the events held at Kent
State University to mark the 30th anniversary of the massacre
there during the Indochina War.]
KENT, Ohio -- Visiting the Prentice Hall parking lot at Kent State
University here on the morning of May 4, I felt as if I was
standing on holy ground. Exactly 30 years before -- on May 4, 1970
-- four students were shot dead in that parking lot by National
Guardsmen during a protest against the U.S. invasion of Cambodia:
Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and William
Schroeder.
Later that day, a memorial rally was held on the Kent State campus
to remember those four young people, the nine other Kent students
who were wounded that day, and the two people killed on May 14,
1970 at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi --
Phillip Gibbs and James Earl Green -- and the 15 people wounded
there.
This country owes a great debt to all those who, for 30 years,
have organized and participated in memorial services every May for
the dead of Kent State and Jackson State. They have fulfilled a
sacred obligation -- the duty of the living to protect the good
name of the fallen and the sanctity of their graves. It is right
to do this. But, ultimately, as Lincoln said when dedicating the
cemetery at Gettysburg, no memorial service can hallow or
consecrate the ground of Kent State and Jackson State. The blood
of those who fell there has already consecrated that holy ground.
The beautiful young people who were cut down here and at Jackson
State 30 years ago were fighting for something that human beings
have dreamed of and yearned for since the beginning of time -- a
world without exploitation, without poverty, without racial and
national hatred and sexual oppression. If those of us who are
living cannot consecrate the ground on which they stood, then
surely we can and must -- again, as Lincoln said -- take from
these honored dead increased devotion to the cause for which they
gave the last, full measure of devotion.
May 4, 1970 and May 14, 1970 belong in history as links in a long,
unbroken chain of resistance to oppression on this continent. The
first link in that chain was forged just days after the first
European settlement, with the first counterattack by the native
peoples. It was followed by the magnificent defiance of Crispus
Attucks and the other sons of the New England poor who were shot
dead in the Boston Massacre of 1770; by the unflinching courage of
Elijah Lovejoy, the anti-slavery editor killed by an angry mob in
1837; by the burning zeal of John Brown; and by the revolutionary
passion of Albert Parsons, August Spies and the other Haymarket
martyrs of Chicago.
We could make the same moral point about the killings at Kent
State and Jackson State that the great New England orator and
abolitionist Wendell Phillips once made about the death of Elijah
Lovejoy. Phillips said that the killing of Lovejoy sounded the
death knell of slavery in America just as surely as the death of
the patriot leader Joseph Warren at Bunker Hill had sounded the
death knell for British rule in the 13 colonies. What Phillips
meant was that after Lovejoy's death, even those who would have
preferred to remain politically asleep were forced to face the
most profound moral question of their generation. So it was, too,
after Kent State and Jackson State.
We should declare proudly of those who fell on this campus and at
Jackson State what Thoreau said of John Brown: "He was like the
best of those who stood at Concord Bridge once, on Lexington
Common, and on Bunker Hill, only he was firmer and higher
principled. ... They could bravely face their country's foes, but
he had the courage to face his country herself, when she was in
the wrong."
But if there is, in fact, one unbroken chain stretching from the
Native American resistance at Jamestown, through King Street in
Boston, to the Prentice Hall parking lot on this campus and on to
Alexander Hall at Jackson State, then part of what we owe the dead
of May 1970 -- and ourselves -- is a searching examination of
where we are today, and what the next link in that chain will be.
Today, we see destruction all around us. The world has changed
immeasurably since 1970. But in the midst of all the destruction,
something new is emerging. Today, the electronic revolution has
created a world without borders. The development of computers and
robotics is making production without human labor possible. Food
can be grown virtually overnight. Houses can be built in a matter
of hours.
In the hands of the people who ordered the killings at Kent State
and Jackson State, the computer only means more electronic
surveillance. But in other hands -- in the hands of the majority
of humanity, the ordinary people who were shocked by those
killings and wept for the fallen -- the computer could mean
universal education.
These developments mean that the kind of world that the students
who were slain in May 1970 hoped for and died to help create --
the kind of world that so many people down through the ages have
struggled and sacrificed for -- is now actually possible.
As production increasingly takes place without human labor, a new
class of poor people is being created. This class lives completely
outside the system. All over the world, the rule of this planet by
a tiny handful of billionaires is being challenged.
Today, the finest tribute that we can pay to those who fell in May
1970 is to imbue this country with revolutionary agitation and
propaganda. This means something different than reacting
defensively to the attacks of this country's rulers. It means
spreading a new vision far and wide -- the vision of a society
made possible by the development of the new productive forces: a
society without exploitation.
One hundred and forty years ago, when the Commonwealth of Virginia
was preparing to execute John Brown, the writer Henry David
Thoreau issued a warning. "Plant this hero in the ground," he
predicted, "and out of that planting will come a new generation of
heroes." Today, the most significant homage we can pay to those
placed in the ground in the terrible spring of 1970 is to
guarantee that Thoreau's prophecy is fulfilled for them, just as
it was for Captain John Brown. If we carry out agitation far and
wide, a new generation of heroes will emerge. And as it does, we
will be able to say to every one of those who fell at Kent State
and Jackson State the promise of the Spanish Civil War song: "Rest
well, beloved comrade; the fight will go on until we win."
FOOTER
******************************************************************
This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
(Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000; P.O. Box 3524,
Chicago, IL 60654; Email:
[email protected];
http://www.lrna.org
Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The
PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its
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TOPIC
06-00 Gary Graham being treated brutally
TEXT
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People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
http://www.lrna.org
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5. GARY GRAHAM BEING TREATED BRUTALLY BY THE PRISON SYSTEM OF THE
'COMPASSIONATE' GOVERNOR BUSH
By Mark Clement
Ricky Jason has been faithfully visiting and communicating with
Shaka Sankofa (Gary Graham) for over a year. They corresponded so
regularly that Ricky became concerned when he hadn't received a
letter from him recently, felt something was wrong, and
immediately set out to see Gary on the morning of May 9. He got to
the prison at 8 a.m. and was forced to wait almost 45 minutes for
them to bring Gary out. While using the restroom, Ricky overheard
the racist guards laughing about Gary having used up his last
appeal and that "now we can execute that nigger."
When finally allowed to see Gary, Ricky Jason, along with witness
William Butler, did not even recognize him and said to each other:
"Man look! God have mercy! What happened?" Gary was covered in
filth with his shirt ripped, looking as though he had been
wallowing on the ground. He had a huge knot over his eyebrow and
was shaking like a leaf, stuttering and asking for food. Gary
wanted to know how Ricky got in; they had put him on restriction
so that only a lawyer, minister or media person could see him. All
regular visits have been stopped. Ricky told Gary to just hurry up
and tell him what had happened in case the guards came in and
forced him to leave.
Gary told Ricky that the day the execution date was set, guards
came to his cell with their heads covered with hoods to conceal
their identity. They said, "Let's go, Graham" and Gary said, "I'm
not going anywhere, I'm innocent, I didn't do nothing." The Guards
told him he had to be moved to the next phase, tear gassed him
twice, and beat and dragged him to the other room, where Gary
passed out. The guards took everything from Gary, his radio, his
typewriter, even his underwear. Gary had a large box of mail ready
to be sent out and the guards said they were not going to let
Gary's mail go out and these many, many letters have not been seen
since.
Gary said he hadn't eaten and that the chaplain has to be present
when he eats or does anything at all. They are trying to cover up
all this sick torture they are putting on him and Gary feels
totally isolated and vulnerable to racist attacks by the guards.
Ricky said as soon as he got home, he called the warden and was
kept on hold for 30 to 40 minutes. He called back later and they
did the same thing to him. Ricky said he hadn't slept at all that
night and was extremely worried and upset about Gary's condition
that day and who knows what of his condition today?
Said Ricky: "They are dragging him down just like they did James
Byrd. Gary Graham is a leader and that is why they are so scared
of him. We got to stand up and do something right away! If they're
beating him down now, imagine what they will do to him [in June]
when his execution date is closer? The racism in the prison is
very easy to see, the guards are brutal and I haven't slept
worrying about the condition I saw Gary in and what may be
happening to him right now. We need to call into the warden, the
president, Governor Bush, anyone and everyone and stand up and
stop this torture and this execution. Gary Graham is innocent and
they know it!"
Please lend your support by passing this on as far as possible.
Anyone who has media credentials, please work on getting in to see
Gary. His condition must be monitored regularly and his story must
go out worldwide, ASAP! Pam Africa is calling on all supporters of
Mumia Abu-Jamal to also support Gary Graham at this critical time!
Send letters to:
Governor George W. Bush
Office of the Governor
Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711
Phone: 512-463-2000
Fax: 512-463-1849
Internet:
www.governor.state.tx.us/email.html
Board of Pardons and Parole
Gerald Garrett, Chairman
Price Daniel, Sr. Building
209 W. 14th Street, Suite 500
Austin, Texas 78701
Phone: 512-463-1679
Fax: 512-463-8120
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SHAKA SANKOFA IS INNOCENT
Shaka Sankofa, formerly Gary Graham, 38 years old, has been on
death row in Texas since 1981 for a murder he says he did not
commit. He was scheduled for execution on June 22, having come
within hours of being murdered by the state of Texas in 1993 and
in January 1999.
He was accused of robbing and fatally shooting Bobby Grant
Lambert, 53, outside a Houston supermarket. He had been arrested a
week after Lambert's killing on unrelated robbery and assault
charges, but was charged with killing Lambert on the word of a
woman who -- under very questionable circumstances -- said she
witnessed the crime.
Three other people witnessed Lambert's shooting in 1981 but could
not identify Shaka as the killer. Four other people have signed
affidavits swearing Shaka was with them, miles away from the
scene, at the time of the crime. These four people were never
called by Shaka's court-appointed trial attorney to testify at his
trial. As a result, their testimonies have never been heard by a
jury. What's more, the fatal bullet did not match the gun
prosecutors alleged Shaka used to commit the crime.
Further details can be found on Amnesty International's website
at:
http://www.amnesty-usa.org/abolish/ua109.00.html
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FOOTER
******************************************************************
This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
(Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000; P.O. Box 3524,
Chicago, IL 60654; Email:
[email protected];
http://www.lrna.org
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TOPIC
06-00 Comrade Brian McQuerrey, 1944-2000
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People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000
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6. COMRADE BRIAN MCQUERREY, 1944-2000
By Sherri Kendersi
May 24, 2000 marked the passing of Brian McQuerrey, a well-known
comrade and founding member of the Communist Labor Party, after a
four-month battle with lung cancer. Brian considered himself a
Marxist-Leninist, studying long hours to learn the philosophy of
these great minds, and organized in the revolutionary movement for
several years.
Mr. McQuerrey was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1944 and graduated
from Punahoe Preparatory School. He attended Stanford University
and the University of Colorado.
He was an active member of the Students for a Democratic Society
in the late 1960s and helped shut down the University of Colorado
following the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also a
leader in protests that disrupted the university because of its
support of the war industry, the CIA and the right-wing policies
of University Regent Joe Coors and of San Francisco State
University President S.I. Hayakawa. As part of further involvement
with the SDS, Mr. McQuerrey was associated with the Weathermen for
a short period of time and was an unindicted co-conspirator during
the "Days of Rage" in Chicago in 1969.
Brian McQuerrey was a veterans' rights activist, serving to
upgrade discharges for fellow veterans. He was active in the
United Steelworkers of America and the Communication Workers of
America as well as in the International Association of Machinists.
He became an organizer for the Communication Workers and was
always a supporter of the rights of working men and women in the
United States and around the world.
Brian was one of the rare individuals who not only had
convictions, but acted on them. His advice to his oldest son was
to always be kind to others, a motto he lived by. Others who knew
him well said he had a talent for bringing people together. A
close friend commented that Brian was a revolutionary at heart who
played an active role, however large or small, in history and that
he never lost his convictions or hope for a better world for all.
Mr. McQuerrey is survived by a daughter, Katherine McQuerrey of
New York; sons Ethan of Baltimore and Nicholas of Brooklyn, New
York; a brother, Eric Park of Anaheim, California; and his
companion of five years, Sherri Kendersi of Uncasville,
Connecticut.
Brian McQuerry was to be laid to rest in Honolulu following a
private family service.
FOOTER
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This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
(Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 6/ June, 2000; P.O. Box 3524,
Chicago, IL 60654; Email:
[email protected];
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TOPIC
06-00 History they didn't teach our CLASS in school!
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7. HISTORY THEY DIDN'T TEACH OUR CLASS IN SCHOOL! (MADISON AND
MARX COMPARED)
By Jack Stewart
James Madison (1751-1836), was one of the founding fathers of the
American Revolution, and the fourth president of the United States
of America.
He was also the prime mover and supreme intellectual at the
Constitutional Convention. After signing the Constitution, he
worked with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton in writing the
Federalist Papers -- explaining the Constitution and supporting
ratification.
The "Federalist Paper No.10" consists almost entirely of Madison's
views of economic interests and government. In that paper, Madison
was primarily worried about political "factions" and their
negative influence on popular government. He then goes on to
explain what he believes to be the major cause of faction:
"But the most common and durable source of factions has been the
unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are
without property have ever formed distinct interests in society.
Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall under a
like discrimination. A landed interest, a manufacturing interest,
a mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser
interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide
them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and
views."
It may be useful to examine the word "property" as it was
understood at that time in Europe and America. Property meant
productive property (means of production) such as farms, ships,
and commercial buildings. What the propertied classes did not
include was people who worked for an employer and owned a "house."
People who worked for an employer did not own "houses." The
working class lived in bunkhouses or boarding houses. Home
ownership for the working class did not become common until the
New Deal. If you lived on a farm you were called "boy" or "girl."
This is the origin of the term cowboy. The property owner was
called "master." After the American Revolution, urban workers
refused to call the property owner master, and started using a
foreign Dutch term "boss." They felt that this was less degrading.
However, the translation of the Dutch word "boss" is "master!"
If you think that James Madison is beginning to sound like Karl
Marx, you would not be the first to make that observation. Marx
viewed the primary tension (faction) in society to be between the
"owners of the means of production" (propertied classes) and the
workers. Madison's first "most common and durable source of
factions" is basically the same thing.
There is also a relationship between Marx's view of the function
of government in a capitalist economic system -- "government acts
as the executive council of the capitalist class" -- and James
Madison's political opinions. Madison wanted to eliminate one
large cause of "faction" in government -- the working class!
Most state governments had property requirements for voting and
Madison spoke in favor of these requirements for voting in
federal elections. Madison, as well as most members of the
Constitutional Convention, believed that the only people who
should have a legal authority (the franchise) to influence the
government (vote) were property owners. However, members of the
convention could not agree on exactly what property requirements
there should be, and decided to rely on the states' voting
requirements to protect property. Madison accepted this but
worried about the future (quotes are from records of the
Constitutional Convention):
"Viewing the subject on its merits alone, the freeholders
[property owners without debt] of the Country would be the safest
depositories of Republican liberty. In future times a great
majority of the people will not only be without land, but any
other sort of property."
The attitude of the "faction" that owned property towards the
working class can be understood best from a quote from a
Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention -- the very
wealthy Gouverner Morris. ("Gouverner" was his first name and not
his title.) When speaking on the subject of the working class and
the vote he said:
"We should not confine our attention to the present moment. The
time is not distant when this Country will abound with mechanics
and manufacturers who will receive their bread from their
employers. ... The man who does not give his vote freely is not
represented. It is the man who dictates the vote. Children do not
vote."
Note that the employer is a man. Workers are like children!
Since James Madison believed in private property he certainly
cannot be called a Marxist. However, except for that one fact, I
think that he and the other founding fathers saw the class basis
of politics in much the same way.
So OK, the working class has the vote! The sentiments of James
Madison and Gouverner Morris were defeated. Between 1790 and 1840,
universal white male suffrage was achieved. One major reason this
occurred was because the new states created west of the original
13 opted for voting rights based on citizenship rather than
property. I guess most of the farmers heading west had lost their
original farm properties in the east.
Of course the vote isn't everything. It is much more useful having
the greatest media on earth! The United States has the most for-
profit, corporation-owned, advertiser-influenced media of any
industrial nation.
With a media like that, any political issue that affected you or
your family's economic and social well-being will be fully
discussed, and you will be fully informed? And if anyone who
"receives their bread from their employer" believes that, I would
have to agree with Gouverner Morris about their mental and
emotional age.
FOOTER
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This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
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Chicago, IL 60654; Email:
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TOPIC
06-00 A kingdom that will never be destroyed
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People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
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8. A KINGDOM THAT WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED
By The Simple Way Community
Editor's note: The Simple Way is a small spiritual community based
in North Philadelphia. It wrote the following after joining last
fall's March of the Americas from Washington, D.C. to the United
Nations in New York. The march brought together poor and homeless
people from many countries to demand their economic human rights.
We may disagree on politics, Republican or Democrat or anarchist.
We may disagree on the role of the U.N. or of the federal
government in ending poverty, or the correct response to Welfare
and Welfare reform (we certainly don't all agree on politics here
at the Simple house! but what, after all are politics? love). ...
But we all agree on this, we must join the poor in their struggle,
we must march with them on the streets, we must share in their
freedom and liberation ... for theirs is the Kingdom. In the words
of Ruth to Naomi: "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I
will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God"
(Ruth 1:16). And so we marched.
Someone on the march had on a shirt that said, "Think Global, Act
Local." That is the philosophy of our life, "small things great
love" (momma Teresa). This past month we reversed our style, we
Thought Local (we thought about the families in our neighborhood,
struggling to survive, the villages in Latin America, the streets
and squat houses ...) and we Acted Globally, straight to the U.N.
But it is always a challenge to make sure we are driven by love,
for what matters is not how much we do but how much love we put
into doing it. For "we can sell everything we have and give it to
the poor and surrender our body to the flames, but if we don't
have love it is nothing" ... we can organize a national movement
but if we don't have love it is nothing. We tried to shine love,
from D.C. to N.Y. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer has taught us, the person
who is in love with their vision for justice will destroy people
along the way, but the person who is in love with people will
create justice along the way.
first a word from michelle ...
The March of the Americas taught me much. But I think the
experiences that I learned the most from were hearing the stories
of the people from South, Central, and Latin America who joined
us. They told stories about trying to survive under an oppressive,
militaristic rule, as people who work the land. When their crops,
land, and villages were destroyed under government orders, they
had no choice but to move. To march. They marched, not so much to
make a political statement, but out of necessity. They had to find
someplace to go. The stories of these representatives made me
consider the intense community that must have been created as
their villages migrated together with a small food supply, in
search of a new location. I know that Jesus walked, walks, with
them. Jesus searches with them. Jesus is a part of their
community. And Jesus cried with them as they cried when they
walked through North Philly and thru Camden, N.J., seeing the
poverty they never dreamed existed in the richest country in the
world. Jesus walked with us in October. And we are still walking.
a sneak peek into the mad mind of michael ...
I was lucky ... from a particular point of view. I had the honor
of being in charge of child care on the march ... I was able to
see the march through the eyes of these children! When a reporter
or marcher or person passing on the street would ask them why they
were on the march, they immediately said, "Freedom" or "God
doesn't want anyone to be poor" or "for all of our rights" (actual
statements!). I was constantly reminded that Jesus said, "to enter
the Kingdom, become like one of these children." I got to see
Demitre milk his first cow. He couldn't hit the bucket for
anything, but he sure could get a good stream flowing. Demitre
kept everything in perspective for me on the march. When I was
feeling bad we would play the "I love you" game. ("I love you,
Demitre." "No, I love you." "No I love YOU." "No ..." and on, and
on, and on). At the end of it all, I was being taught how to love
by a 5-year-old. And, "at the end of it all," that's why I was on
the march. Sure it was to: "Wipe out Poverty, Hunger, and
Homelessness." But it was more to teach me and people like me,
that if we have that Demitre-type love, we would have a world
without poverty, without hunger, without homelessness. A world of
beauty, faith, hope, justice and the greatest of these ... love.
storytime with shaner ...
We met Condido on the march. We struggled to communicate, with my
broken, southern-twang Spanish and his clumsy charades. Condido
and I knew very few of the same words, but we spoke the exact same
language. He was a prophet. He taught me about violence, about
love, about the world's rotten system, about God's brilliant
Kingdom. He taught me hope. This man who had seen more
hopelessness than I could ever conceive, taught me hope. With
fiery Truth in his eyes, he read me the Scriptures. He told me
about Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel, and Daniel's
interpretation of it (Daniel 2): "You looked, O King and there
before you stood a large statue -- an enormous, dazzling statue,
awesome in appearance." Daniel with Condido's help explained to me
the significance of the statue. The kings of the earth make up the
statue, the principalities and powers of this dark world. Daniel
explains that kingdom after kingdom arises to rule the earth.
And finally, the iron kingdom comes "crushing and smashing," for
it is the strongest kingdom in the world (Condido and I
simultaneously winked, knowing all too well which kingdom this
was). But Condido's eyes blazed as he read the Scripture: "But the
kingdom is divided. ... As the toes were partly iron and partly
clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle.
.. In that time, the God of heaven will set up a Kingdom that
will never be destroyed." Condido's voice got louder. "It will
crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will
itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the rock, the rock
that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the
gold to pieces." This is the meaning of the rock. And we stared at
each other in silence. I believed it was true. He knew it was
true. Tears welled up in our eyes. Blessed be the rock. Blessed be
the Rock.
[The Simple Way can be contacted at P.O. Box 14751, Philadelphia,
PA 19134, by telephone at 215 423-3598, or at
www.thesimpleway.org]
FOOTER
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This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
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Chicago, IL 60654; Email:
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http://www.lrna.org
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TOPIC
06-00 People's Tribune Radio
TEXT
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People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
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P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
http://www.lrna.org
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9. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE RADIO
Listen Up!
This June - the sounds of Revolutionary Radio are in the
Springtime Air! Can you hear them?
PTR is producing three (3) 1/2-hour programs per month.
* Program No. 1:
Just health care with Dr. Salvador Sandoval
* Program No. 2:
The DNA Project/Fight for The Yuba
* Program No. 3:
"Dreaming Revolution" with author and poet Luis J. Rodriguez
Let radio stations in your area know about People's Tribune Radio
(PTR) and that they can download these programs for free at
http:www.ptradio.org in RealAudio and MP3 format.
For information, call 800-691-6888. Visit our web site at
http://www.ptradio.org or call our producer, Mike Thornton, at
530-271-0804. E-mail
[email protected].
FOOTER
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