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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 22, 1983)
Page 2 Portland Observer, June 22,1963 Communist Party leader predicts continuing economic crisis The crisis in the U .S. economy is unlike the cycle o f booms and de pressions it has gone through all during its history; it is facing a structural crisis, Gus H a ll. General Secretary o f the Communist Party o f the United States, said during a visit to Portland last week. “ There is a fundamental shift in industry — the steel industry, auto, rubber, machine building and other basic industries are dying. The steel and auto industries will never again be mass production/mass employ ment industries under private enter prise Raw steel — (he basis o f U .S . industry — will not be made here.“ The U .S. steel mills have con tracted to by raw steel from England, closing their steel plants in the East and throwing thousands out o f work. Already, steel mills in Brazil — financed by U .S. banks — have underbid the British. “ Twenty-five million people will be unemployed most o f their lives." H all predicted. "T h e re will be tem porary upturns in the economy but chronic high unemployment will continue. I f we are having an up turn. as the Reagan administration claims, it will be very short." This shift in the economy is bringing major problems to the peo pie o f the United States and demon strates the basic inequities and con flicts in the system, he said. Agriculture is in its worst crisis in 60 years with fam ily farmers and small independent farmers going bankrupt, leaving only the large cor porate farms. Unemployment is over 25 m illion, not counting those without unemployment compensa tion. There are 4 m illion homeless, a new phenomenon in the U.S. Twenty percent o f the nation's chil dren and one-third o f the minority children are living below the poverty line. Thirty million people have lost health insurance because o f loss o f their jobs. People are dying for lack o f medical care. " A cascade o f lies and dema goguery comes from the White House d a ily ," H all said. Starving people are dying o f hunger-related disease but the ad ministration is cutting $300 billion from welfare, medicare, food stamps and other programs. The ad ministration it asking a 15 percent cut in food production while the farms are going bankrupt and is cutting food stamps that would use the surplus for people who need food. "This is a government that not only promulgates but promotes racism. There is a deliberate effort to bypass and destroy laws made to protect the rights o f minorities. "T his government went out and deliberately cut the standard of living o f the people on every level — wage cuts, government service cuts. The big problem is that people live too long — they get Social Security. Culling Social Security is just one step away from saying shoot them — gel rid o f th em ." alu t, aggressive, anti-people, anti- American — is with a lie. This policy is in the interest o f a small group o f corporations and banks." W ho is to blame? The economic system is based on the profit- motive. Taking steel as an example, the steel industry abroad is owned by U .S . banks and investment will go where profits are largest. U.S. steel plants have not received rein vestment, are out o f date and can’t compete, so investment will go out I f an organized society has any money, it is to serve the people. That is why societies are organized. The government is bankrupting the nation, based on a total lie. H all said. Foreign policy is totally based on a lie — the “ Soviet T h re a t." Over 480 U .S. military bases — many nuclear — surround the Soviet Union. T w o trillion dollars will be spent on arms, a totally un necessary expenditure. "T h e only way to support a wrong and unjust policy — imperi- o f the country. When Bethlehem Steel closed its New York plants on Christmas Day. terminating 10,000 jobs, their stocks went up in the slock market because the com pany became more profitable "Capitalism will not and cannot salvage the U .S. economy. It is an old system, one that played a posi tive role in its time, but the situation is different now. U ntil now the U.S. economy has been expanding; now it is in a period o f decline and con traction.” What are the solutions? "T h e fundamental solution is socialism, which is inevitable. Socialism is common sense — it removes the cause o f crisis, it is the next stage o f civilized society. It means that peo ple will take over the reins o f the economic situation; everything will work for the people The economy will be run to benefit all o f the peo ple Socialism is solely motivated to serve people; it is a collective social contract people make to work to gether to provide for all people — security, health, education, hous ing, peace." * t ' QUS HALL In the U .S. socialism will un clean-up; 5) public take-over o f in doubtedly come through the dustries that are abandoned or electoral process. H all said. closed, with government funds for In the meantime, among the pro reconstruction. grams the Communist Party advo The money for these projects cates to meet the current crisis are: would come from taxation o f corpo I ) a 6 hour day with no cut in pay, rate profits, which will go up 33 which will create 3 million jobs; 2) percent in 1983; from taking one- unemployment compensation from h alf o f the military budget; $100 the date o f unemployment or. for billion from closing tax loopholes; those never employed, the date o f $120 billion from discontinuing the first application until the first pay- interest paid to banks by the federal check, with no "e xp iratio n " o f government. benefits; 3) a massive federal project " I f organized society has any to rebuild cities and the infrastruc money it is to serve the people; that tures; 4) $5 billion for toxic waste is why societies are organized " 'Reform7 divides South Africa A white backlash awaits any South African government that makes even a slight move toward lessening the effects o f apartheid, and that backlash could force the Botha government's gesture at re form into even more rigid apart heid. The "re fo rm s " are being highly touted in the Western press as evidence o f " a step in the right di rection." Three elections for the national parliament and one for the Trans vaal legislature saw a heavy racist attack on Botha and a loss in sup port for the ruling National Party. The issue is the Constitution o f the Republic o f South Africa Bill 1983, which has been introduced to the all-white parliament. The bill proposes a new parliament with 308 seats: the current all-white Assembly of 178 members; a House of Representatives for Coloreds, with 85 members, a House of bers would still be in control and the Deputies for Asians (mostly Indians) with 45 members. The white mem- white president would make the final decisions on everything. The Colored and Asian Houses would be strictly limited and no alliances across color lines would be permit ted. The nation's blacks, who are 70 percent, would be denied represen tation and the vote. The Botha bill, which has re ceived praise by the U .S ., has caused a fierce controversy in South Africa. The extremist parties oppose it and the more racist members of parlia ment in the National Party have de serted Botha. Botha then backed down and agreed to sending the bill to the people for a vote (white only). The "re fo rm ” constitution is aimed at dividing the growing alli ance between blacks and the Coloreds and Asians. Both the Asian and the Colored communities have rejected it. Blacks are completely left out of the " re fo rm " bill with the only mention o f them appearing in a paragraph that says, "th e control and administration o f the black population w ill be under the juris diction o f the president." Blacks are considered residents of the ten tribal reservations or bantu- stans set up by the regime according to ethnic groups and presented as "independent states.” Blacks are deprived o f citizenship in South Africa by being considered citizens o f the bantustans, and workers from the bantustans are called "foreign im m igrants." For the past seven years, the South African regime has had the support o f the U.S. government and press in advocating a series o f cos metic reforms (hat would redistribute power without affecting the leading role o f the white minority. The failure o f the referendum on the constitutional reform will strengthen the extreme racist sectors o f that nation and make it more d if ficult for the U.S. corporations to justify their involvement in South Africa. The polarization will also force the liberation forces into heighten ing their struggle. 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