Democratic Left - Volume 020 Number 06

24 Pages·1992·7.9 MB·English

November/December 1992
Volume XX Number 6
The Eco-Socialist Challenge
INSIDE DEMOCRATIC LEFT
Greens and Socialists Seek Harmonic Building A Broader Environmenta
Convergence by J. Hughes .. . 3 Movement by Chris Riddiough ... 15
Turning Our Kids Green West Harlem Environmental Action
by Maxine Phillips .. . 6 by Jill Greenberg ... 19
Willy Brandt Represented the Best of Our They Times, They Are A-Changin' Again?
Movement by Bogdan Denitch . . l 0 by Maurice lsserman ... 22
Socialist International Meets In Berlin . . . 12 Jimmy Higgins Reports ... 24
On the Left by Harry Fleischman .. 9
DSAction . . . 14 CCNe! photo by Ted Soqui/Impact V1SUOIS
EDITORIAL The structural problems in the
rejected the this hate-filled vision and
U.S. economy that bedeviled Jimmy
heeded the call of a candidate who
Carter confront Bill Clinton. In fail
CLINTON & US promised to appeal to what unites,
ing to challenge the linuts of conven
not what divides.
tional economic wisdom, Carter pre
Then, we organize.
BY JACK CLARK pared the way for Reagan. Should
Hopes were raised in this elec
Bill Clinton heed the counsel of the
First, we celebrate. tion. Organizers and radicals live for
Democratic wise men and govern
Bill Clinton's election to the Presi days like this. Defeat demoralizes;
"responsibly," that assemblage of
dency brings to an end the Reagan victories, even small and limited vic
hate around Bush will be back in 1996
Bush era. As Kevin Phillips predicted tories, energize the people. A big
with a more charismatic leader.
two years ago, in 1lli! Politics Qf Ridl victory like this creates many open
All at once, we must be: enthusi
and. fQQL the conservative coalition, ings for progressive politics. On
astic partisans of Clinton's victory;
which elected Richard Nixon in 1968 health care, on jobs, on reproductive
organizers in the movements pres
and has dominated Presidential poli freedom, demands barely imaginable
suring Clinton to deliver; critics of
tics ever since, has come to an end. three months ago become ral1ying
the caution the Administration is
George Bush earned the humili cries now.
sure to show; policy experts propos
ation heaped upon him by the Ameri What about the deficit? What
ing, to quote a Mike Harrington slo
can people. Inept in his handling of the about governing responsibly? We
gan, to push social progress that ex
economy, Bush proved singularly and will hear repeatedly from the Demo
tra mile.
consistently insensitive to the pain felt cratic wise men (and I do mean men,
As exciting as it is demanding,
by tens of millions who continue to though perhaps a few women have
that agenda defines what it means to
suffer falling incomes, insecure jobs, graduated into these ranks by now)
be a serious socialist in America now.
and worse. From beginning to end, he that we all must sacrifice, that the new
failed to offer any positive rationale for Democratic administration cannot be
his own re-election. He insisted that if irresponsible. DEMOCRATIC LEFr
only we would wait long enou~h and So, finally we think and work and
Editor
slash taxes on the rich, and cut spend analyze, attempting to propose solu
Michael Lighty
ing to benefit the lower classes sharply tions that are at once credible and
Editorial Committee
enough, the miraculous market would radical. We recall that before Reagan
Joanne Barkan, Dorothee Benz,
provide a bounty for all. nus year, was elected, the outlines of Reagan Howard Croft, Mitch Horowitz,
with the economy ill, people wanted ism were shaped by "responsible" Sherri Levine, ~eil ~ct.aughlin,
more than the same old voodoo. Democrats in Congress and the White Maxine Phillips
To compensate for being out of House, heeding these same wise men. Intern
touch on pocketbook issues, Bush gath Spending on the poor had to be David Glenn
Founding Ed{tor
ered unto himself and his party a vast slashed; tax benefits had to accrue to
assemblage of hate. The Republicans the "productive" members of society; Michael Harrington (1928-1989)
left no primitive fear unexploited, no the military had to grow dramati Dllnoaatl< Left (1$'1: 016'DJ207) oa J"bliolwd Ila lunll I y ..r II
reactionary sentiment unaired. We cally; Democrats had to distance 1in5o Dlilullllicchn !&itI . IP XoOo.= 1a-"Y..- : ;sy.. 1'400 .d38d rst.bi•o cchriipnl&!O. .N t o1 I8S r Dtguul<lhu ;S St..l I5
celebrate that America, men and themselves from "special interests" 500,?<-'Y, ~"YI Oomocn0< Ldt io publlahldby tho Danocnlic
~Ill Amori<a lS DuldlSt.. 1500. NY, NY 10038 (212) 962-
women, black, white, Asian and like labor and feminists. By 1978, 0390 .S.,. - ~ ,., - ",., •• u. ... '"" ""'
~ -<fllwcoi---
Latino, North, South, East and West, these policies were in place.
2 DEMOCRATIC LEFT
Greens and
Socialists Seek
Harmonic
Convergence
J.
BY
HUGHES
E
nvironmentalists have had a rocky re On the academic side, the four-year-old
lationship with trade unionists and journal Capitalism. Nature & Socialism. edited
socialists. Environmental concerns by James O'Connor, has spurred the growth of
often appear elitist and absurd to ac a coherent body of eco-socialist analysis and
tivists working for full employment and a more prescription, and is now translated into more
just society, particularly when they pit owls or than a dozen languages. Some of these insights
fish against whole industries. On the other include:
hand, trade unionists often seemed hopelessly .:."Environmentalism" often has a middle
short-sighted to environmentalists when they class flavor and bias: advocating that people
defend nuclear power, military spending, or "buy Green" rather than engage in collective
the destruction of wilderness areas in the name action, criticizing "consumerism" without at
of jobs. Fortunately, the global, free-market tention to inequality, advocating "voluntary
revolution of the eighties has forced these two simplicity" without attention to "involuntary
movements to search for their common simplicity," and paying more attention to the
ground. What follows is a short history of this Amazon than to toxics in the workplace.
harmonic convergence of the red and green. .;•Ecological hazarcl disproportionately
afflict people of color, workers, and the poor.
Eco-Socialism & Red-Green Dialogue
The poor are disproportionately exposed to
There has been a long, and now rapidly ecological hazards, both at work and in their
growing, dialogue between democratic social communities, but their exposure is less often
ists and environmentalists. From this dialogue detected. When they discover ecological haz
and joint activism has emerged "eco-social ards, the poor have less power to stop them.
ism." Back in the 70s, the Environmentalists Even if they are fully informed about their
for Full Employment began to argue for a exposure to ecological hazards, and organize
common agenda between labor and ecologists, to stop them, working-class communities are
built around anti-toxics campaigns and often directly dependent on the polluters for
worker-retraining funds. In 1980, Barry Com their jobs and tax base. Local anti-toxics groups
moner's Citizen's Party brought together are also often hampered by a parochial "Not In
proto-Greens around a socialist platform. In My Back Yard" ("NIMBY") perspective.
the eighties, the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Nonetheless, organizations such as the Citi
Workers pioneered alliances between unions zens Clearinghouse on Hazardous Wastes,
and community environmental groups, lead which grew out of the Love Canal disaster, are
ing to the founding of their important, two networking with thousands of local commu
year-old eco-socialist journal New Solutions. nity campaigns, and working to infuse them
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 3
with broader perspectives and strategies. reduce and eliminate pollutants.
Building alliances between middle-class envi .;.Qnly under democratic socialism is the
ronmentalist groups and local working-class desire for a high standard of living compatible
groups is certainly one of the biggest challenges with ecological protection. As long as workers
for eco-socialists. think that they will pay for environmental
.;.capitalism is not the root cause of eco protection with their jobs and taxes, they will
logical destruction, but contributes to it. Popu be hostile to "elitist, owl-loving, tree-huggers."
lation growth or industrialization are not the Eco-socialists, on the other hand, can combine
causes of ecological hazards. The problem is economic and environmental policy in ways
not the numbers of people or the numbers of that promote a just and sustainable economy. A
tools, but the kind of tools that people use and regressive gasoline tax: may be made palatable
how they use them. The science that gives us if you know the income tax is being made even
the tools that increase our destructiveness also more progressive. The conflict between "jobs"
gives us the ability to study the effects of our and ecology can be resolved by industrial pol
actions. Ecology is the product of the scientific icy and a strong welfare state. The strong labor
revolution, not of pre-industrial mysticism. and social democratic movements in Northern
Similarly, most eco-socialists reject the idea Europe have enabled passage of the strongest
that capitalism causes environmental destruc environmental protections in the world. If the
tion. Pre-industrial peoples caused tremen main obstacle to the implementation ofe cologi
dous ecological damage from over-hunting cal policy is the institutional powerof the ruling
and slash and bum agriculture, and non-capi class, it is the institutional power of the work
talist societies such as Iraq and the Soviet Un ing class, mobilized through the socialist and
ion have done as much or more damage to the labor movements, which can join with environ
environment than capitalist countries. Capital mentalists to enact just and sustainable poli
ism is, however, an obstacle to ecological pro cies.
tection since capitalist elites, like non-capitalist
elites, hav~ vested interest in the industrial Globalizing the Eco-Socialist Project
status quo, and therefore oppose collective The relative radicalism of the European so
efforts to solve environmental problems. cialists in environmental policy has often re
+>The disproportionate influence of corpo quired prodding from Green parties, however.
rate interests cancels out the influence of envi The Green parties began twelve years ago as
ronmental organizations. Corporate influence the vehicle of the Baby Boom New Left, reflect
in the media spreads disinformation about en ing the 60s' interest in an anti-institutional
vironmental threats, while corporate-funded politics of general liberation and personal au
think tanks chum out books on "green capital thenticity. But almost immediately the Euro
ism" and critiques of environmental science. Greens confronted the same conflicts between
Corporations underwrite environmental efficacy and anarchism that the Social Demo
groups with "moderate" policies, and corpo crats faced back at the tum of the century. The
rate elites sit on their boards. Even when citi- Euro-Greens have also all been riven by faction
The influence of corporate interests fights between those willing to ally themselves
with socialist parties, accept a couple of minis
cancels out the influence of environ
terial appointments, and work for a greener
mental organizations. shade of pink, and those ideologues who don't
want to compromise at all.
zens' organizations are strong enough to over While Green ideologues may also be suspi
come the resistance of the corporations and cious of the strengthening of transnational
wealthy to pass legislation, the government is governments, environmental activists are in
often too weak to effectively monitor and en creasingly converging with socialists on the
force the laws that are passed, restricted both need to transcend national sovereignty. In the
by inadequate funding and pro-business juris Canada and the U.S., the North American Free
prudence. When policies are imposed, they Trade Agreement (NAFfA) has welded to
simply attempt to restrict pollutants, or enforce gether unions and environmentalists in a coali
a "right to know" about them, rather than ban tion insisting that enforced transnational
them altogether, and redesign ind us try and the worker and environmental protections be part
production process. Corporate interests usu of any liberalization of trade. At the Rio "Earth
ally oppose banning and re-designing, both of Summit" environmental activists strongly
which have been the only effective policy to endorsed long-standing socialist proposals to
4 DE :MOCRA TIC LEFT
strengthen the United Nations to monitor and without exhausting the eco-system. All eco
enforce environmental agreements, and em socialists agree that thi::; will require a Marshall
power it to collect taxes and fines to subsidize its Plan to write off Ulird world debt and transfer
work. As with European unification, the corpo ecologically sustainable tedmologies to the
rate elite would clearly prefer a New World Third World, while adopting these technolo
Order with more free trade, and less democracy gies in the North. There is still substantial dis
and environmental protection. The one transna agreement among eco-socialists, however,
tional institution that George Bush showed en over what level of sacrifice is required from the
thusiasm for was the Multilateral Trading Or workers of the North for this project of global
ganization (MTO) proposed to replace the Gen equalization and ecological protection. Can
eral Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT). the "standard of living" of the North continue
The MTO was to be empowered to hold secret to rise slowly as we undergo a qualitative shift
tribunals to rule on the permissibility of nations' in expectations about the good life, with
"protectionist" environmental or worker safety shorter work-weeks and more efficient tech
regulations, with no democratic input at all. nologies, while we help the developing coun
tries catch up? Or do global resources make
Next Steps sustainable development more of a zero-sum
game, less for us and more for them? If global
Although Vice-President-elect Al Gore
eco-socialism does require that workers of the
stops short of advocating strengthened world
North make some ::;acrifice, how do eco-social
government, his proposed "Marshall Plan for
ists run for office in the North? Addressing
the third world" is dearly informed by the work
these questions points toward the possibility
of the 80s' Commission on Environment and
that in the 90::; we can begin to build (in the
Development, headed up by Norway's socialist
words of Audrey McLaughlin, Leader of Can
Prime Minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, and
ada's NDP) the New World Community that is
laid out in their book Our Common Future. For
required for both justice and ecological sus
a long time to come, eco-socialists will be strug m
~in~ili~
gling to understand the concept of "sustainable
development" proposed by the Brundtland
Commission: a development path for both the ]. Hughes is editor of EcoSocialist Review, tile
developing and developed countries, that can joumal of DSA's Environmental Commission,
bring the two to the same standard of living and a member of tile National Political Committee.
N av EMBER/DE CFM Bf R 1992 5
Turning Our
Kids Green
BY
MAXINE PHILLIPS
W e were sitting on the floor in our may have a recyclable lid but a tub that's diffi
local children's museum. The cult to recycle. Juice boxes, which contain six
crowd of three-and-a-half-year layers of paper, plastic, and aluminum foil, are
olds had listened to a story about the rain expensive to recycle, although some ads
forest. Now they were ready to explore the rest claimed that the boxes were as easy to recycle as
of the environmental exhibit. One child newspapers. ln a 1991 article covering the same
headed for a pile of rubber stamps. A museum territory for adults, Consumer Reports noted
volunteer offered to stamp her hand. "What's that when the U.S. Environmental Protection
the special word we've been learning about?" Agency put out a consumers' handbook sug
the aide burbled. The child thought hard: gesting re-using and repairing items instead of
"Please?" she ventured. "Well, it's true that's buying new ones, choosing durables over dis
the magic word," the aide said as she inked the posables, and buying products with the least
stamp and applied it to the small hand, "But wasteful packaging, pressure form industries
this is a special word, too. It's 'recycle."' with major interests in household and dispos
ln classrooms, museums, supermarkets, able products (e.g., Procter and Gamble, Scott
restaurants, and toy stores, our children are Paper Co., the Sweetheart Cup Co., and the
getting messages about environmentalism Foodservice and Packaging Institute) caused
stamped on their hearts and minds. And they the pamphlet to be withdrawn. Coors Brewing
are sticking. A recent study sponsored by Company announced donations of small grants
Environmental Research Associates, which to local water-cleanup projects at the same time
keeps corporations up to date on consumer it was being assessed $150,000 in penalties for
trends, found that of a thousand parents sur violating Colorado's water-pollution laws.
veyed, 34 percent said that they shop differ Not surprisingly, corporations have de
ently now because of what they learned from cided that a little money spent in the schools
their children; 17 percent have stopped buying goes a long way. Environmentalists in Men
products they used to buy because their chil docino County, California were incensed last
dren told them that the product or package is month when Georgia-Pacific Corporation,
bad for the environment; and 20 percent buy a which is under attack for alleged rainforest
product because their children told them that it destruction and is involved in the timber wars
is better for the environment. of the American West, produced a play called
"Tree Wishes" to which schoolchildren were
Kids' Money, Corporate Priorities
bused for large assemblies. The play showed
Children are a big market, and if you are how happy the trees were to be cut down to
suspicious of all the labels that say recycled, re provide books for children. The American Pe
cyclable, and biodegradable, you have good troleum Institute has contributed money to cre
reason. Zillions. the Consumers Union publi ate a coastal and off-shore oil curriculum for
cation for young people, asked, "Earth schools in the area. Betty Ball-of the Mendocino
Friend ly Products: Can the People Who Bring Environmental Center attributes both efforts to
You All That Trash be Nice to Nature?" The the Wise Use Movement. This is a national
article pointed out several examples of mis coalition of resource extractive industries that
leading claims by advertisers. For instance, has formed to fight the environmental move
many plastic containers labeled recyclable ment.
6 DEMOCRATIC LEFT
Michael Williams, organizational director styrofoam packaging and much other waste.
of the Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous So why the rainforest book? Many rain
Wastes, which helps more than seven thousand forest activists are trying to raise consumer
grass-roots groups connect with each other, awareness that cheap beef is raised on grazing
lamented the fact that many environmental land that was once rainforest. Much of this beef
groups don't have the resources to make an is bought by fast food chains. They urge chil
impact in the schools as they would like. On the dren to cut their consumption of fast food
other hand, he ticked off the names of large hamburgers. Other groups focus on alterna
toxic-waste dumpers - Laidlaw, Browning tive uses of rainforest land and development of
Ferris Industries,· and Waste Management,
Inc., for example -- that have funded school McDonald's continues to buy beef
education programs in areas where they have
raised on lands that were once
facilities.
Williams also noted that children are en
rain/o rests.
gaged in hundreds of local efforts to stop
dumping, decrease wasteful packaging, and
otherwise save the planet. And why not? alternative industries. Thus, an organization
Comic books, children's magazines, games, called Cultural Survival urges consumers to
toys, tapes, all tell them that they can help save "buycott" products that don't despoil the rain
the Earth. forest, such as BraziJ nuts. Ben and Jerry's
The results often surprise adults. markets a confection called Rainforest Crunch.
Buzzworm: The Environmental Journal AJU1ough it continues to buy beef raised on ....-·--- ''----"";c;:;;;:._c.:._,
Kid.1fbr5AVin'j6Nttl,·
checked with five groups that coordinate rain lands that were once rainforests, McDonald's
forest preservation programs and found that has teamed up with corporate-backed environ- 1:::;:::::::::::::=::::::::=::::::..:~.:::;::::::::::::;::i
four of them received the majority of their mental groups to appear to be conscious of NORTHERNORIOLE
funding from schoolchildren. Fifty checks rainforest destruction.
from elementary schools may not equal one Williams points to the anti-polystyrene
foundation grant, but the numbers speak of a campaign as a good example of consumer ac
lot of enthusiasm. tivism. "It wouldn't have worked to have just
"Children are amazingly resourceful" at passed a law forbidding the use of polysty
raising money, Daniel Katz, executive director rene," he believes. ,,;.,ii•-"
of the Rainforest Alliance told me. "We have Mothers and Others for Pesticide Limits,
received tens of thousands of dollars from chil which as Mothers and Others for a Livable r';;;:;;;:>;;;ii;c.;:::-;:n~~_.;
dren all over the country." One group staged a Planet recently spun off from the Natural Re- c:'.::::::~~~~~d
Hop-A-Thon, garnering pledges for how long sources Defense Fund, led the fight to remove
individuals could hop. Katz recalled that a few the pesticide Alar from apples, providing an-
years ago his organization thought that time other close-to-the-bone success story for young
was too short to educate children because the apple juice and applesauce guzzlers.
rainforests would be gone by the time the chil Children are becoming like little thought
dren were old enough to do anything. "Then police, wryly observes veteran organizer Steve
we realized how much children influence their Max. "They get so much information in school
parents." about saving the Earth that you don't dare use
Consumer Activism the wrong kind of container or forget to recycle
cans." However, Max worries, that at least
It was the day that my children got a from what he's seen, there is "never a word on
Discover the Rfiln .furrn activity book in their who's to blame."
McDonald's Happy Meal that my antennae
What About the Workers?
went up. Evenifyouhaven'tdowned a Happy
Meal recently you're probably aware that There's also rarely any word on labor. As
McDonald's has done a lot to refurbish its we wandered through the simulated rainforest
image as corporate paper and plastic profli in the children's museum that day of the rubber
gate. Consumer boycotts to protest polyster stamp, I read the text of the children's bestseller
ene packaging hurt McDonald's public rela on which the exhibit was based Cih!! G!fi!t
tions so much that the company worked out an KapQ.kI.ree, by Lynne Cherry). A Ione worker
agreement with the Environmental Defense -- an indigenous person in some unnamed
Fund by which it is phasing in a program of Latin American country -- sets out into the
waste reduction that has meant good-bye to U1e woods to chop trees. He is about to work but is
N OVEJ.iBER/D f.CEMBER 1992 7
tired and falls asleep. In his dream, animals because only we started them. Children today
from the rainforest visit him and plead with have a wider range of information available to
him to save their environment. He wakes up them and a broader sense of possibilities.
and returns home, leaving the trees uncut. When then-twelve-year-old Kory Johnson's
Certainly the story wouldn't have been as visu mother spearheaded a successful campaign in
ally interesting if it had focused on an Anglo Phoenix, Arizona, against a toxic waste incin
executive of a multinational being visited by erator, Kory started a group called Kids
ghosts of rainforests past, present, and future, Against Pollution and now travels the country
but I did wonder what that worker was going helping other young people get organized.
to tell his hungry family. Our children have the energy and the opti
A very good manual, EQr Qur Kid£~: mism to change the world. They're getting
fio.w.1Q Protect .YQ.ur Child Against Pesticides information from all sides. And all sides can
in ~ published by Mothers and Others, take advantage of their openness. Will their
contains solid information on pesticides and activism stop at green consumerism or can we
twenty-six recommendations for pressuring help them, and ourselves, to make choices and
, the EPA to make our fruits and vegetables engage in activities that link us to the global
safer. No mention is made of the adults and family? Will we let Corporate America divert
children working in and living near those them with talking trees and furry friends?
fields. This, despite an ongoing boycott of On vacation, Steve Max pulled into a road
California table grapes by the United Farm side McDonald's. Eight-year-old Kimberly,
workers precisely over the issue of pesticides. who had learned the ecological 4 R's at natural
There are other groups that work on this, M&O history camp, looked around and announced
Outreach Director Betsy Lyden told me. Be that she wouldn't eat in a place that used such
sides, she argued, if the acceptable pesticide wasteful packaging. "We learned the four R's,"
level for children is reduced, farmworkers will she said: "Reduce, Re-Use Recycle, REFUSE.
have less exposure, too. Daddy, we can refuse!" And so can we all. II
Members of my generation grew up think
ing that only we could prevent forest fires Maxine Phillips is Managing Editor of Dissent.
Working to Save Our Environment
The publications and networks listed ~ "The Earth-based Magazine for ORGANIZATIONS, PROJECTS, AND
below are a small sam piing of organiza Kids," P.O. Box 52, Montgomery, VT CURRICULUM MATERIALS
tions working to save our environment. 05470.
Some have specific programs for chil Adopt-A-Stream Foundation, Box
dren; others are useful for adults' self Ilk"~ loving care for our kids 5558, Everett, WA 98201. Classrooms
education. and our planet," is published by adopt a local stream and learn how to
Mothers and Others for a Livable study its ecology.
PUBLICATIONS Planet. Keeps readers up-to-date on
hazards to children and describes ac Earth, Sea, and Sky, Box 40047, Port
~ A9iQn ~appears as part of tivities parents can do with their chil land, OR 97240, puts out an integrated
the Co-op America Quarterly magazine, dren. Newsletter is a benefit of family curriculum on the environment.
2100 M Street NW, Suite 403, Washing membership in the Natural Resources
ton, DC 20037. Membership in Co-op Defense Council, 40 West 20th Street, Environmental Defense Fund, 257 Park
America is $25 per year. New York, NY 10011. Avenue South, New York, NY 10010,
has targeted nine critical environmental
Everyone's Backyard. published by the issues of the 1990s, from the greenhouse
Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous COMPUTER NETWORK effect to clean water.
Waste, P.O. Box 6806, Falls Church, VA
22040. The Clearinghouse grew out of ECON ET has a fifty-page printout of The Rainforest Alliance, 270 Lafayette
the Love Canal organizing. The newslet educational programson the environ Street, Suite 512, New.York, NY 10012
ter goes to all who pay the $25 member ment. If you can find an environ promotes "economically viable and
ship fee. mental group that subscribes, you can socially desirable" alternatives to tropi
access it. If you want to subscribe cal deforestation. It offers six grassroots
~ filmJ2lg ~~.cm~ Tu~ you~lf, write to 18 DeBoom Street, projects that people can support ranging
the .r&r!b, Scholastic, Inc., 1991. 111is is San Francisco, CA 94187. Cost is $15 from saving El Salvador's last rainforest
available in many bookstores. It was to join, $10 monthly (includes one free to sea turtles in Nicaragua.
originally put out by the Earthworks hour of non-peak time) plus the cost
Group, 1400 Shattuck Avenue, #25, of additional time in the network
Berkeley, CA 94709.
8 DEMOCRATIC LUT
Speaker Dennis Temple, Demo 7. Victor Sidel is a past president of
cratic candidate for Congress in the the American Public Health Asso
13th District, joined a panel of ciation. Ruth Sidel, a sociology
health care experts on next steps for professor at Hunter College, wrote
health care reform. . .A panel dis Women and Children Last: The
by Harry fleischman cussion featuring Frederick Pohl, Plight of Poor Women in Affluent
DSA member and prize-winning America. ..N ew York DSA helped
author of many science fiction nov Bob Abrams win the Democratic
els, and Carl Davidson, director of nomination for U.S. Senate and Jim
ALASKA
Networking for Democracy, dis Brennan's reelection drive for State
Alaska DSA, which has over
cussed "Electronk Democracy: Assembly. ..T he local has nearly
40 members and active groups in
Subversive Technology or Tool of doubled in size in the last few years
Juneau and Fairbanks,has started a
Control?" September 23. and become more active than ever.
state-wide petition drive for a state
INDI AN A OHIO
single-payer health insurance sys
tem. The Indiana DSA has received ap Bob Fitrakis, co-chair of DSA
proval from the Debs Foundation of Central Ohio, ran a strong cam
CALIFORNIA
to place a bronze plaque honoring paign as the Democratic candidate
DSA locals throughout the state Michael Harrington at the Eugene for Congress in the 12th District.
worked hard to defeat Proposition V. Debs Home/Museum in Terre He pulled in 29 percent of the vote.
166, which would have mandated Haute. ..I ndianapolis DSA held a Fitrakis was supported by NOW,
a pay-or-play health care system in teach-in October 18 on "Poverty in NARAL, the state AFL-CJO, the
the state. Sacramento DSA helped America," which featured a video Teamsters and Painters, and many
to organize a Campus Labor Insti presentation of Michael Harring other groups. This was just the
tute at UC Davis on November 21. ton's "New American Poverty." latest electoral effort by Central
San Diego DSA held a forum last KANSAS Ohio DSA. In 1991, DSA member
month entitled "Should Progres Mary Jo Kilroy was elected to the
DSAer James Phillips, Jr. won
sives Vote for Clinton?" DSA's Columbus school board. In 1990,
the Democratic primary for District
next national convention will be DSAer Tom Emey's aggressive
Judge in Wichita despite red-bait
held in Santa Monica in November grassroots campaign for U.S. Con
ing and race-baiting. Sadly, he
1993. gress, spending only $16,000, net
narrowly lost the general election.
ted 41 percent of the vote against a
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
KENTUCKY 24-year incumbent.
Three members of D.C. DSA
The Kentucky Socialist Ban PENNSYLVANIA
were elected as at-large members
ner reports that Kentucky's health
of the D.C. Democratic State Com Pittsburgh DSA was heavily
care reform agenda is moving for
mittee -- Ruth Jordan, Joslyn Wil involved in the Lynn Yeakel's cam
ward, with the governor, State
liams and Rick Powell. A fourth paign for U.S. Senate. ..T he Al:
Senator Benny Ray Bailey, and the
DSAer, Richard Rausch, was de Jegheny Socialist reports that the
Louisville Courier Journal all press
feated. The Labor Day National Religion and Socialism
ing for quick action. Central Ken
Washington Socialist featured ar Commission met in Pittsburgh in
tucky DSA, along with Central
ticles on "The Clinton Administra late October. An outreach event
Kentuckians for Health Security,
tion and Labor," which discussed there featured John Cort, author of
have held public forums to move
labor's hopes (anti-scab legislation) Christian Socialism. and singer
the debate forward ...O <DSA is
and fears (free trade agreements) songwriter Andrew Hammer with
holding a series of events entitled
for the next four years. his "revolutionary Christian social
"CKDSA Engages the Issues." The
ist" rock band The Noise. . . DSA
ILLINOIS first dealt with Columbus.
joined with Pittsburgh labor and
Chicago DSA has been NEW YORK community leaders in backing the
working on Carol Moseley Braun's Nassau DSA met November Teamsters and other unions in the
campaign for U.S. Senate, which 8 for post-election planning. ..N ew fight against the Pittsburgh Press,
has been endorsed by DSA's Politi YorkCityDSAwill presentthe1992 which was forced to suspend its
cal Action Committee. In October Paul DuBrul award to Ruth and effort to publish with scab labor
West Suburban DSA held a forum Victor Sidel at a gala tribute at the after 5,000 angry workers and
on national health insurance. VillageGateonMonday, December community supporters sur
rounded the Press.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 9
Willy Brandt
Represented
the Best of
the Socialist
Movement
BY BOGDAN DENITCH
Willy Brandt, 1913-1992
I n the early thirties, a young German left a monstrous genocidal tyranny. There was
socialist adopted the underground name of always a tension in the post-war German social
Willy Brandt, a name he kept as he worked democratic movement between international
in the anti-Nazi movement after Hitler had ism and the stress on national roots; Willy
come to power. This was the name by which he Brandt symbolized that duality.
was to be increasingly well known. Willy Brandt became the vastly popular mayor of
Brandt, who died on October 8, 1992, was typi West Berlin, who ably organized the city's defi
cal of the best that the mass socialist movement ance against Soviet attempts to strangle this
produced. He was a journalist, party activist, island ofd emocracy within the territory of their
and intellectual. Brought up by a single-parent most faithful satellite, East Germany. As a
family and of working class origin, he was symbol of West Berlin's resistance, he repre
educated entirely by the social-democratic sented the opposition of social-democracy to
movement. After he was forced to flee a Ger the expansion of Communist tyranny. On the
many in which the early concentration camps other hand, Brandt was also the author of two
were filled with Communists, Socialists, and major and radical departures for German so
Trade Unionists, he lived in Norway until the cial-democracy. He organized the "grand coa
Nazi invasion made him move on to Sweden. lition," which brought the Social Democratic
Thus his second major political experience was party into a governing partnership with the
as a socialist journalist and writer in exile, Christian Democrats and Liberals, thus making
making a home in the Scandinavian mass so the SPD from that time forward a legitimate
cial-democratic movement: he even became a governing party in Germany. He also initiated
Norwegian citizen. and developed the policy of constructive en
These experiences, which had made Willy gagement in Eastern Europe and with the So
Brandt far less parochial and more cosmopoli viet Union known as Ostpolitik. He had the
tan than most socialist leaders, were to be used political courage to imagine a day when the
against him repeatedly in the politics of post cold war would be over and when Eastern
war West Germany. He had, after all, returned Europe and the Soviet Union would no longer
to a defeated Germany in a foreign uniform as be divided from the rest of Europe by a curtain
part of the Norwegian military mission to a which represented a political chasm.
divided Berlin. His Christian Democratic op The policy of constructive engagement
ponents implied that he had been somehow involved great political risks in a West Ger
unpatriotic to fight against his country from many that saw itself as the most loyal ally of the
exile, even when his country had been ruled by United States in the conflict between the two
10 DEMOCRATIC LEFT