I have just read the most recent issue of the Monthly Review, which is devoted exclusively to a discussion of “Imperialism.” In the course of more than 130 pages, the authors condescend to mention the name of Lenin exactly twice. I am inspired to revisit Lenin’s pamphlet entitled Imperialism—the Highest Stage of Capitalism. Will you please mail me a copy?

Please accept the balance of the enclosed check as a contribution to help fund the reporters in Cuba.

Stephen Barry
Flushing, New York
 
 
IG Metall strike
The article in the August 18 issue “Union tops misled East German strike” rightly points out that the recent defeat of the IG Metall strike for shorter working hours in eastern Germany is a serious blow to the labor movement. But the article’s assessment that this “debacle was due to the top officialdom’s course of disregarding the terrible economic situation in the east, where unemployment is 18 percent” is confusing to me.

“Hard times” can’t mean that any given strike is doomed to defeat or is unwise. The fledgling Teamsters union in 1934 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, struck very effectively during much worse “hard times.” The difference, of course, is in the fighting leadership the Teamsters had.

To understand WHY did the IG Metall strike fail, it’s not enough to simply state that large numbers of workers were crossing the picket lines. WHY were they giving up on the strike? Isn’t a real campaign for shorter working hours with no cut in pay precisely what is needed? Couldn’t a strike with this goal have found powerful support among the whole working class?

Floyd Fowler
Hapeville, Georgia
 
 
Nicaraguan anniversary
One of the honored guests at the official July 19 event celebrating the Nicaraguan revolution of 1979, in Managua, the country’s capital, was Jorge Mas Santos. Mas Santos is the head of the Cuban American National Foundation, one of the right-wing Cuban exile groups in the United States actively seeking to overthrow the Cuban revolution. Mas Santos told reporters he supported Daniel Ortega, the presidential candidate of the FSLN [Sandinista National Liberation Front] in the last election and will do so again if Ortega runs in 2006, which is highly likely.

While the leadership of the FSLN has turned its back on its revolutionary roots, some 250,000 people were at the event. Many of these people are workers, peasants, and small businesspeople, suffering from the deep social and economic crisis that Nicaragua is going through, and look to the FSLN to find a way out for them.

There continues to be considerable interest in Nicaragua in the FSLN-led revolution and its history, particularly on the Atlantic Coast, where the population is largely Indian and “Creole.” The costeños, as they are called, have fought for years for basic national rights such as the right to schooling in their native languages and consider that the winning of these rights, known as the “autonomy process,” began during the years of the revolution.

Matilde Zimmermann, author of a biography of FSLN founder Carlos Fonseca, spoke during July in four cities celebrating the publication of the Spanish translation of the book by the University of the Atlantic Coast (URACCAN). At each of the two meetings on the Atlantic Coast, in Bilwi (formerly Puerto Cabezas) and Bluefields, members of the audiences of nearly 100 people discussed at some length the relationship of Fonseca’s revolutionary program and leadership to the fight for national rights, as it began and as it continues today. Zimmermann also spoke to a crowd of 160 in Managua and 130 in Matagalpa, where Fonseca was born.

Arnold Weissberg
New York, New York
 
 
Venezuela today
Could the Militant please do an article on the situation in Venezuela?

Just a few things that I’m aware of: 1) Land Reform: from information I’m aware of, the government is proposing to settle some 100,000 people on the land. 2) Literacy: a new program seeks to vastly increase literacy, with significant help from Cuba. The big-business press is truly alarmed! 3) Health care: again, an “Into The Neighborhood” program seeks to address lack of quality health care and education. Cuba’s generosity again shines. 4) Unions: not so sure on this, but it would certainly appear that many unionists have moved towards positions that support the government. Then there’s the 2-million-strong “Bolivarian Circles.”

Mark Heinecamp
Auburn, Washington

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of interest to working people.

Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.  
 
 
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