BY ALYSON KENNEDY
PEORIA, Illinois - Forty workers and students packed the Pathfinder Bookstore here April 26 for a program entitled, "Strengthening the Socialist Movement in Illinois." This Militant Labor Forum marked the closing of the Peoria bookstore and explained why socialists here are moving to Chicago to merge with the Socialist Workers Party branch there, significantly strengthening the new branch's striking power.

"Having a single new branch in Chicago, an important regional center, will strengthen our ability to be part of the many political opportunities in the region - from work in the trade unions to building a delegation to the 14th World Festival of Youth and Students in Cuba, and participating in the fight for women's rights, against police brutality, and other struggles. We'll be best able to recruit workers and youth to the communist movement with one stronger unit," explained Angel Lariscy, a trade unionist and leader of the Peoria SWP.

Lariscy outlined the political work carried out by the Peoria branch since it was established in 1994. As a revolutionary organization of workers based in the industrial unions, the SWP took the broad lessons of the world class struggle to fighting workers in central Illinois. They sold the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial at plantgates and on campuses, helped organize political discussions at regular Militant Labor Forums, and volunteered with others to open a Pathfinder Bookstore so that political fighters could find the books with the answers they were looking for.

An important struggle of the working class the socialists embraced was the fight by Caterpillar workers to defend themselves from the company's attacks on them. In November 1991, members of the United Auto Workers struck Caterpillar Corp. - the world's largest heavy earth-moving equipment manufacturer and one of the main employers in the region - resisting the company's concession demands. While the UAW officialdom called off the strike after five months, the workers still refused to accept the company's "final offer," and the struggle continued inside the plants. Socialist workers made numerous trips to the area during and after this strike, to report on the fight and sell the Militant and Pathfinder books to these workers.

Following a series of work brief stoppages, the UAW workers at Caterpillar walked out again on June 21, 1994. This labor battle was a central piece of a small wave of strikes throughout the U.S., including fights by locked out Staley workers, Bridgestone Firestone workers, United Parcel Service workers, American Airlines flight attendants, and garment workers at Leslie Fay.

Lariscy described how this strike wave made possible the efforts of socialist workers to revitalize structures of the party rooted in the industrial working class and trade unions, such as getting in on the hiring taking place at larger plants and in basic industry. The entire socialist movement also turned toward solidarity with and participation in the unfolding strike wave.

"What those of us in the socialist movement aim to do," said Lariscy, "is give a picture of the working of class society and what's necessary to make a revolution. The revolutionary books," on display from Pathfinder bookstore there, "are a key aid in this effort." The experiences socialists have had in Peoria confirms what is being found around the country - a thirst for ideas and an openness for discussion.

Frank Forrestal, a member of the UAW at Ford and a leader of the socialist movement in Chicago, also spoke at the forum. Forrestal began by condemning the brutal massacre of 14 members of the Túpac Amaru movement by the regime of Alberto Fujimori in Peru, and described the developing struggles of working people in Albania, Zaire, the West Bank, and Europe. He also talked about the strikes going on now at several auto plants, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel, and Goodyear Tire.

Gary Winnett, a member of UAW Local 974 and retired Caterpillar worker, commented after the forum that he got his first Militant at the UAW union hall during the strike. He added, "The fight is far from over."

Socialists in Peoria have been selling the Militant regularly at one of the Caterpillar plantgates in East Peoria. Socialists from Des Moines plan to get back this plantgate on a regular basis, along with those in Illinois, reported Tom Alter, a leader of the YS and SWP branch in Des Moines.

"This is how I was won to the communist movement," said Alter, holding up his first copy of the Militant from 1994 with the front page headline, "Nationwide strike shuts down 8 Caterpillar plants."

While a student in Indiana, Alter attended an October 1994 strike solidarity rally in Decatur and was then convinced by socialists from Chicago to go on a team to sell the Militant to strikers on the picket lines in Peoria. "I talked to strikers about their struggle, learned from them, introduced them to the Militant, and talked to them about the Cuban revolution."

Verónica Poses, a member of the Young Socialists National Committee, also spoke and encouraged the decision to merge the socialist forces.

Attending the forum were activists in the struggle for women's rights and civil libertarians from Peoria, industrial workers from the region, and students from Knox College in Galesburg and Bradley University in Peoria. Those attending contributed about $300 to help with the move to Chicago, and purchased two dozen Pathfinder titles.  
 
 
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