First Published: Workers Viewpoint, Vol. 6, No. 18, May 11-17, 1981.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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A recent forum on terrorism sponsored by the American Legion Post at the National Press Club in Wash., D.C., featured Robert Greenberg, “editor” of the misinformation newsletter of the U.S. Labor Party, Investigative Leads. Other speakers were State Department officials and representatives of private consultant firms – which specialize in security.
Lyn LaRouche’s USLP, through its many publications, is smearing individuals, organizations and the Communist Workers Party as “terrorist front groups” controlled by the “Socialist International” movement. In the Aug. 20, 1980 issued of Investigative Leads, the following was printed under the title, “Communist Workers Party Being Groomed for Terrorism:”
“During the Democratic Party National Convention, held in New York City 11-14 August, the Investigative Leads staff closely tracked the activities of the Communist Workers Party (CWP) as one of the most potentially dangerous groupings involved in the protest demonstrations during the Convention. This investigation revealed that the CWP is now going through the final phases of transformation preparing it for full-scale terrorist operations.
“This shift in profile can be compared to the shift in the SDS Weatherman organization during 1968 when the Weather Underground terrorist wing was formed out of the ’days of rage’ actions in Chicago; new associations with youth gang and terrorist elements, and utilization of more sophisticated tactics, especially diversion. Throughout the Convention period the CWP maintained a conspicuously low profile, until their final attack the last night of the Convention, 14 August.”
This August report finished by saying, “The next stage in the CWP terrorist activation is planned to occur as a ’reaction’ to the trial of the six Ku Klux Klan and Nazi Party members, charged with murder following a shootout with the CWP, 3 November 1979, in which five leaders of the CWP were killed. An acquittal or reduction in charges, as with the cases of Miami and Chattanooga, is designed to trigger the formation of a terrorist underground wing of the CWP.”
Greenberg also attacked the CWP at the D.C. forum. Answering a question about whether Julian Bond could be a “terrorist” for attending a December conference of the Anti-Klan Coalition, Greenberg replied that Bond was being duped. He said that the “terrorist” CWP was behind the conference, then launched into an agitational speech about its “terrorist” activities. He cited the frameup of the NASSCO 3 and the “shootout” in Greensboro as examples.
Also targeted by the USLP is Bernard Demczuk, a main organizer of the D.C. Coalition Against Reagan/Barry Budge Cuts (May 2 Coalition). It has accused him of planning civil disorders in Washington, D.C. Investigative Leads also said that the conference of the Anti-Klan Network in January at Howard University was held to “destabilize the Reagan Administration through the use of civil disorders and terrorism.”
In the early 70’s through “Operation Mop-up,” the USLP (a.k.a. National Caucus of Labor Committees/NCLC) attacked the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) in New York. A. front organization, the National Unemployed and Welfare Rights Organization (NUWRO), was formed to counter the original NWRO which they tried to take over. They then announced that any group that did not recognize and join the NUWRO would be counterrevolutionary and wiped out.
Under the same operation, the U.S. Labor Party led roughly 60 physical attacks in 1973 against the Communist Party, U.S.A., the Young Workers Liberation League (a CP youth group), and the Socialist Workers Party. The SWP is suing the government in part for these actions. The USLP was (and is) receiving military skills training at camps in upstate New York and now in Georgia. Advertised as “the original counter-terrorism training center,” Cobray International, Inc. of Powder Springs, GA, now runs an ad in all USLP publications. Its director, retired general Mitchell Werbell, has been linked to the Labor Party. Former Labor Party members said they have received training in handguns, explosives and even demolition strategies.
Since 1974 the ULSP has maintained the Fusion Energy Foundation, publishing Fusion Magazine, pro-nuclear and bitterly opposed to the anti-nuke movement. Recently in New Hampshire, the USLP harassed the Clamshell Alliance during the campaign against the Seabrook plant. It lobbied persistently to jam anti-nuclear legislation and to push for an unregulated nuclear industry in the name of advanced technological development.
LaRouche publishes another magazine on narcotics called War on Drugs, out of the same offices in New York as the other publications. It calls for greater controls over drug trafficking, and offers articles on drug abuse and the merits of clean living. Fusion Magazine and War on Drugs have the same writers. Their monthly journal The Campaigner and their newspaper New Solidarity share them too. In many instances each writer is credited with being expert in many totally different fields.
Having their own computer company, Computron, Inc., as well as a very sophisticated telex system, the USLP has consistently been linked with the FBI and local police departments in providing intelligence information. Their main tactic is to give twisted half-truths and outright lies to the press, politicians, and anyone else who will listen to them.
While small in size, low in profile, this group of Reagan supporters has developed into a right-wing mudslinging agency for the ruling class. True to the tradition of FBI “revolutionary” front groups, since the 60’s the USLP, led by LaRouche, has attempted to disrupt and wreck progressive movements and organizations in this country. LaRouche’s rationale: “I was resolved that no revolutionary movement was going to be brought into being in the U.S.A. unless I brought it into being.” Once again, the U.S. Labor Party is raising its reactionary head, bent on discrediting the genuine leaders of the working class.