First Published: People’s Tribune, Vol. 3, No. 23, November 1, 1976.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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An overriding demand of the people in this country must be peace! Regardless of which capitalist politician wins the presidential election on November 2, the workers must demand peace. The debate on foreign policy by the two “illustrious” presidential candidates was filled with anti-Soviet war-mongering which is definitely the prelude to a bigger and bigger military budget.
Mr. Ford calls for “peace through strength” which can only mean war. Mr. Carter claims “Our country is not strong anymore, we’re not respected anymore.” He charges that the U.S. has been “out-traded” in negotiations with the Soviet Union and his alternative is a pledge to reinstitute a “guns with butter” economy. But the guns can only be for the working class and the butter for the bourgeoisie. It is not the sons and daughters of the DuPonts, Rockefellers and Morgans who die on the battle fields, but rather the children of the working class, the youth, the future of society, who give their lives in defense of the capitalists’ right to plunder, exploit and oppress.
In June, 1975, President Ford and Mr. Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, along with every Western and Eastern European country, signed the Helsinki agreement. This agreement proclaimed that the borders established by the socialist countries after WW II were to be respected and honored by all. It was an important step toward peace. Mr. Carter attacked this as a “sell-out” to the Soviet Union. Perhaps he would like to redraw the boundaries of Eastern Europe under U.S. imperialist control. Perhaps he is suggesting that the U.S. go to war again to reestablish the boundaries of the European states. His remarks were blatantly chauvinistic and definitely pro-war.
Shortly after the signing of the Helsinki agreement, the Soviet Union issued a peace proposal to the world’s peoples. A proposal totally ignored by the U.S. government. At that time the Communist Labor Party reprinted that peace proposal to express our solidarity with all peace-loving forces throughout the world. We called on the people of the USNA, as we call on them today, to support this proposal as a necessary step in the struggle for peace.
The war danger is very pressing, and clearly, as was shown in the debates, the U.S. government is the primary factor in this development. Recent events most certainly bear this out: U.S. intervention in Angola; U.S. aggression in north Korea; U.S. arming Israel with the most advanced and sophisticated weapons in existence; President Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger’s chauvinist remarks about Fidel Castro and the heroic role that the Cuban people played in the liberation of Angola. The list goes on and on. Not a day passes without a new threat from the U.S. government against the peace-loving people around the world.
The Communist Labor Party for many months now has been calling upon the working class to protest against the war-mongering, the depressed standard of living, the vicious attacks against the national minorities, and all the Injustices which capitalism inflicts upon them, by voting Communist on November 2. Again we call upon the peace-loving people of this country to take a stand on the side of peace, and protest by voting communist this November. The slogan of Jobs with Peace must become a rallying point for all progressive people.
While Senator Dole blames the Democrats for WW II, and Senator Mondale blames the Republicans for recession, neither vice-presidential candidate put forth a program which would give people in this country jobs at the expense of the bulging military budget. While people die in hospital waiting rooms because so many public hospitals have closed their doors, while people freeze in their unheated homes because the energy monopolies have raised their rates beyond people’s grasp, while children grow up deformed, or mentally retarded because their diets lack basic essential nutrients, what are these capitalist politicians proposing? They propose expanding the military budget, beefing-up police departments and building new prisons for the working class. Their solution to unemployment, inequality and poverty is war. The workers must not accept this solution–they must demand Jobs, Peace and Equality.
Many voters, even at this late date, are undecided as to who they will vote for, or if they will vote at all. In Detroit, Michigan, the voters have a choice between the bankrupt, inefficient, poverty policies of the Democrats, or they can vote for General Baker, Communist Labor Party candidate. In Brooklyn, New York, the voters have the same choice, either the capitalist party of reaction or Art Goldberg, Communist Labor Party candidate. In San Francisco, where the question of the destruction of the educational apparatus is one of pressing importance, the voters can elect Michael C. Miller, Communist Labor Party candidate.
All three of these candidates, regardless of the position that they are running for, have a platform of Jobs, Peace and Equality–the platform of the Communist Labor Party, the party of the revolutionary working class. Under this banner, the workers and progressives of this country must rally and mobilize to defeat the war-mongering, anti-communist jingoism of the imperialists. Voting communist this November is a step in the struggle for peace, freedom and socialism.