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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Germany honors Robeson
"F o r peace — against racism" is
the motto of an exhibition on Paul
Robeson that opened recently in
German Democratic Republic (East
Germany), marking Robeson's 85th
birthday.
The Paul Robeson Archives of
the G D R Academy o f Arts supplied
a wealth o f material on Robeson’s
life and his struggle against racism.
There are pictures o f his first
concert in 1925; his tour o f Sweden,
Norway and Denmark; his first visit
to the Soviet Union in 1934. There
For one coat results, all Sears one-coat
paints must be applied as directed.
are pictures o f him singing for the
International Brigade in Spain; in a
demonstration with Scottish dock
workers, with shipyard workers in
California and stevedores in Hono
lulu.
There are gifts from Africa and
Australia which went to the G DR
Paul Robeson Archives from his
London bequest. The exhibition
also provides inform ation on his
participation in the first World
Peace Congress in Paris and the
eight-year travel ban imposed on
him by the U.S. government.
Sale ends June 25
Portland connection
(Continued from page I column 6/
forces will be equipped to utilize the
systems. But the most significant
function o f such satellites is the im
provement of missile accuracy.
Though N A V S T A R is also being
studied for cruise missile guidance,
its major use w ill be to enable
missile-launching submarines to fix
their positions with vastly improved
accuracy, thus posing a much more
credible first-strike threat.
Like the M IL S T A R communica
tions satellite now on the drawing
boards, N A V S T A R spacecraft are
also intended to function during a
protracted nuclear war. Their elec
tronics will be hardened against
electromagnetic radiation, and if
proposed design changes are accept
ed, the devices will be able to relay
inform ation without depending on
vulnerable ground stations.
119”
Moreover, N A V S T A R spacecraft
will carry sensors capable o f detect
ing and locating nuclear explosions,
enabling U.S. military leaders to
evaluate early strategic launches so
they can plan successive strikes, an
essential element in protracted war
strategies.
Other electronic systems in place
or on the drawing boards will link
the presidential "b u tto n " more
closely with U .S . nuclear forces.
And extraordinarily accurate sur
veillance systems, once considered a
force for peace because they could
help verify arms control agree
ments, are now being used to specify
targets on land and in space.
29999
17421
$ 8 0 off airless sprayer
C ra fts m a n * spra yer,
case, suction set, spray
tip, valves. $200.94*
$ 2 0 0 off compressor
1-HP. 6.6 SCFM at 40
PSI. Reg. $499.99
•R eg M p prices total
$69 99 Spray gun
59.99
Sale ends July 2
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