Letters
LETTERS Moles Sometimes the pieces just fall together. While reading the "Nuancing in the Dark" piece about General Haig's peculiar use of English (April issue), I was struck by the similarity to...
...biggest faux pas, however, was in using "Peking" rather than "Beijing...
...We need some economics lessons couched in words we can understand...
...For example, when Dorothy Day died, I expected to find glowing tributes to her in Commonweal and America, and they did not disappoint...
...We hope to see The Progressive covering more of these global energy issues in the future so that your readers can learn more and share as much information as possible...
...To sug-, gest that a majority of Americans understands and believes this view is to lull us into a sense of security which does not exist...
...Kinetic power is derived from the sun by cells which produce electricity directly, and also by the hot-air engine (Stirling motor...
...Labor activists who met in October 1980 in Pittsburgh to demand safe energy and full employment were encouraged by the telegrams of support that arrived at the conference from unions in Denmark and Ireland...
...But in pointing this out, you fail to note the most important difference: This time, it is likely to be worse...
...More "equal" treatment of a few foreigners, after all, would not substantially impact upon China's one billion...
...George E. Delaney Framingham, Massachusetts Meiklejohn For an anthology of the writings of Alexander Meiklejohn (1872-1964), I need photographs from all periods of his life...
...So is the tightening of credit in a credit economy...
...The Smiths' claim is as historically false as it is racist...
...But it is happening, and there seem to be no controls on conversion from rental units to condominiums...
...Among other things, people need to become aware of the international ramifications of energy policies...
...Australian aborigines fighting U.S.-based multinationals have had the support of Native American activists fighting to keep those same energy corporations from taking over their lands for energy development...
...The hard choice between justice and peace," which the Smiths hope to avoid, is already behind us, for armed struggle in South Africa has already begun...
...March issue) was quite interesting, giving another quaint description of the contrasting treatments that the Chinese give themselves and foreigners, but it made no effort to seek a key to their motivations...
...Few of the Friends I know "would now agree"—as the Smiths claim— that black people should have remained enslaved for a few more decades in order to spare their white masters a "fratricidal blood bath...
...they are joining the war on the side of apartheid...
...The ballot box remains the most viable method of furthering the fused causes of the Left...
...The fact that an obligatory paragraph was not printed detracts in no way from the magazine—or from John Lennon...
...Mark Lane Charlotte, North Carolina No nukes As Pamela Haines and William Moyer point out in their article, " 'No Nukes' Is Not Enough" (March issue), it is time for the anti-nuclear movement to reassess the direction in which it is moving...
...Remember how Stalin dismissed Hitler in the early 1930s...
...And what they don't know does hurt them...
...To a certain extent, this has begun to happen...
...T have never before seen it seriously suggested in a leftist publication that slavery in the United States was abolished too quickly—as the Smiths argue in the concluding paragraphs of their article...
...please give credit, date, and occasion...
...After listening carefully, my wife said, "Just a moment, there is something I want to show you...
...It took a court decision to save the utility workers from their union...
...I see the role of this magazine as that of saying what other publications will not say, not that of an indistinguishable voice in a unified chorus...
...The greater portion of the American Left seems to have taken to calmly reassuring itself that everything is OK...
...It has been critically acclaimed...
...Marion Knoblauch-Franc Chicago, Illinois Dorothy Day One of the best things about subscribing to The Progressive is that each month it brings ¦ pleasant surprises...
...As one who lives "next door" to TMI, I am against nuclear power and I will work to educate others on that position...
...Am I wrong in thinking that a certain amount of silence is necessary for the proper venting of these emotions...
...So is the reliance on a free market in an economy where there is no free market...
...Richard H. Post Quoque, New York " 'No Nukes' Is Not Enough" was, perhaps, an excellent plan for the continuation of a single-issue movement, but as part of a great scheme to create a United States with a human face (and maybe later with human beings), a national coalition of progressive forces is necessary...
...Ann Banks's book, First-Person America, is not a history of the Writers' Project, and she is the editor, not the author, of the book, which is a compilation of life-history interviews and folklore gathered by Project workers and deposited in the Library of Congress at the close of the Project...
...Energy fuel sources are increasingly controlled by multinational corporations and the energy fuel chains, from mining to waste, reach around the world...
...The Smiths' argument against divestment from South Africa contains the same flaw...
...Let's hear of these developments and prospects and their implications...
...I feel we are not hitting the Reagan Administration hard enough and fast enough...
...alienated students and their educators...
...Daniel Neubourg Millersville, Pennsylvania Weimar OK, so the United States of 1981 is not the Weimar Republic of 1932 ("Comment," February issue...
...It is time that the movement begin to communicate and coordinate on an international scale, too...
...He was very interested, carefully wrote down the name and the date of the publication, and asked where he could purchase such a magazine...
...John Berg Dorchester, Massachusetts I read with real appreciation the article entitled "Politics Among Friends...
...The welder, Richard Ostrowski, held a meeting between Indian Point workers and Dr...
...The hostage release furor adds to my troubled feeling...
...Towards this end, I would suggest some sort of national research institute for this progressive front, to allow factions to share ideas and achieve consensus, as well as to serve as a clearing house of information for various grass-roots campaigns...
...Let's get on with the job of conservation and developing alternatives, but let us keep on with need for public education on the pitfalls of nukes...
...The historic precedents are obvious...
...The Chinese do pronounce it more like "Beijing...
...Margaret Mozzanini Portland, Oregon As the Marin County Sierra Club representative on a county-wide committee on affordable housing, I have a keen interest in what is happening in housing—not only as to condominium conversions, but across the broad spectrum...
...B.A...
...What you fail to see is the connection between the two...
...The sheer noise of the American press in the after-math.of Lennon's death vaguely disturbed me...
...For persons interested in a history of the Project, there is Jerre Mangione's The Dream and the Deal: The Federal Writers' Project, 1943 and The Federal Writers' Project, by Monty Noam Penkower...
...radical scientists and economists—all should have a large basis for uniting to develop mutual support and effective strategies and tactics for promoting positive change...
...Darrell Glenn Poteau, Oklahoma Hentoff Thank you for adding Nat Hentoff s jazz-filled comments to the pages of The Progressive...
...Askin's article did not tell what finally happened to Ostrowski...
...He explained that he represented a group planning to buy the apartment complex...
...The task force members they describe so sympathetically are assuming that they know what is best for black South Africans^—and that black South Africans do not know what is best for themselves...
...Both of these techniques are being developed abroad—Japan may soon sell us hydrogen gas for fuel produced by sunpower...
...Thomas Na-jarian, who has studied nuclear workers and found that they have a higher rate of cancer deaths than the general population...
...Supply side economics, for example, is absolute nonsense and runs counter to any common sense approach to people's behavior...
...Competitive mourning" describes at least an aspect of the phenomenon...
...Glenn B. Meagher Fairfax, California On a recent Saturday, a well-dressed, personable realtor from San Rafael came to the apartment my wife and I rent in Santa Rosa...
...I applaud your continued concern, as expressed in the March issue...
...We need unity of the whole disfranchised majority now...
...You note a few (there are more) examples of ultra-right paramilitary groups (read fascist death squads) that are popping up around the country, and you correctly characterize them as lunatic fringe...
...We have not heard from him . .. but perhaps your street sales increased by one in northern California...
...Women, labor, blacks, taxpayers, urban dwellers— everybody in the cheated majority needs to get together...
...As radicals, we must recognize the times and the need for new tactics, new unity, new understanding...
...By offhandedly dismissing the rightist terror squads, you have succumbed to the very unconsciousness which fascism requires...
...I was completely wrong...
...No nukes" may not be enough, but it is good enough for a start...
...Even if the union won't provide independent information about nuclear hazards, it can't stop the membership from doing a little homework...
...Again correctly, you point out that the real threat is "a nuclear arms race out of control...
...Milton Mayer's piece, "God's Panhandler" (February issue), was not only a revelation but one of the best articles I have ever read on Dorothy...
...Following the war, the country suffered continued blows against a strong national pride...
...The judge prohibited the utility workers union from disciplining members who exercise their rights of free speech, association, and assembly...
...Peking Review, for instance, is now Beijing Review, and one seeking to advise China Reconstructs should pay very careful heed to such nuances...
...With the thought of a Secretary of State who thinks in Chinese fresh in mind, the implications were stunning...
...Ostrowski's leaders in the utility workers union claimed this meeting was actually against the workers' best interests since protecting jobs is apparently more important than protecting health...
...It is this connection which makes the United States today so much more threatening than the old fascism...
...the authors handled both questions well...
...It was a brilliant, delightful, and memorable tribute to a great woman and a Catholic immortal...
...A year after his suspension, a Federal judge reinstated him on September 25, 1980...
...Those who continue to invest in South Africa, whatever their intentions, are not promoting peace...
...Susan Jaffe Brooklyn, New York Lennon Andy Lifson wrote in the March "Letters" section that The Progressive's silent treatment of John Lennon's death was "inexcusable...
...However, he assured us that there would be no need for us to be concerned: We would be given an opportunity to buy our apartment for about $15,000 down and a monthly mortgage of about $800...
...She then went down to my den and brought back the March issue of The Progressive with its "Condomania" cover...
...Jack Susskind Middletown, Pennsylvania The article by Haines and Moyer was excellent as far as it went, but the title, " 'No ' Nukes' Is Not Enough," led me to expect more: What about wind, tide, and other alternatives...
...Keith Bellairs Park Rapids, Minnesota Condomania I read the article on "Condomania" by Peter Dreierand John Atlas (March issue) with trepidation and disbelief, a kind of "it can't happen here" attitude...
...Our current rent is $325...
...Roger Merle Vineland, New Jersey Writers1 Project Your "January Briefing" column carried an item regarding the proposed National Writers Conference being organized by Ann Banks, who was erroneously identified as the "author of a critically acclaimed history of the Depression-era Federal Writers Project...
...So far, much of the Left is, in a sense, indistinguishable from the Right—a loose and often contentious association of one-issue groups competing for adherents and dues with old-guard organizations espousing a broader program...
...David H. Scull Presiding Clerk Baltimore Yearly Meeting Religious Society of Friends Sandy Spring, Maryland Reaganomics The April issue was a great disappointment...
...The authors cite a public-opinion analyst for this often-repeated assertion...
...as are most of your issues...
...Cynthia Brown 1019 Oxford Street Berkeley, California 94707...
...minorities and women...
...Shepard Santa Cruz, California LETTERS Chinese treatment Ron Dorfman's "Welcome to Peking...
...If we hadn't bought our house in 1962, when rates were low, we couldn't afford it now...
...and the list goes on...
...While the article " 'No Nukes' Is Not Enough" had some excellent ideas, including the need to develop alternatives, it left the impression that a majority of the nation is against nuclear power...
...There are still many persons who need to be shown that nuclear power is uneconomical, pollutes the environment, produces horrendous waste disposal problems, may be unsafe, and could lead to nuclear destruction...
...But somehow it never occurred to me that you would mark Dorothy's passing...
...But the union has refused to publish anything about this landmark decision in its newspaper, probably hoping to discourage workers from exercising their rights...
...What emerged was a new "spiritualism" and moralism, an angry national chauvinism, jingoistic sentiment, racism, anti-Semitism, and the logical conclusion—fascism...
...We need economics based on the way economic institutions actually work...
...Barbara Fields World Information Service on Energy Washington, D. C. Since I live three miles from Three Mile Island, it goes without saying that I have an intense interest in what happens to nuclear power...
...Whether or not most Americans are in favor of ending nuclear power is still an open question...
...The process of Quaker decision-making is complex, and the issue of investment in South Africa is delicate...
...Roy G. Kidwell El Dorado, Arkansas Friends I am extremely disturbed by "Politics Among Friends," by Warren Sylvester Smith and Selden Wayne Smith (April issue...
...Germany in the 1930s—a capitalist empire in decline—had recently suffered defeat in a major war of international significance, a war that was unpopular among much of the German population...
...The only difference seems to be the Right's ability to coalesce around common platforms and candidates, whereas the Left muddles along in an atomized state of cause-separateness...
...Dorfman's (or The Progressive's...
...While reading the "Nuancing in the Dark" piece about General Haig's peculiar use of English (April issue), I was struck by the similarity to Chinese usage...
...All admirers of Dorothy will long treasure it...
...Parallel to the creation of a social front should be the creation of a political front as well, an electoral bloc actively challenging the hegemony over the political process now enjoyed by the upper classes and their corporate interests...
...The "sale" of housing units today at prices that bear no reasonable relationship to the means of "purchasers," at interest rates which preclude the accumulation of any significant equity, portends one inevitable result: Come the Reagan Depression, almost all of these units will wind up in the firm possession of the mortgage holders, with the "purchasers" out in the cold...
...Environmentalists, anti-imperialists, activists working on behalf of the poor and elderly...
...Obviously, we felt your March issue was very timely...
...A recent National Geographic survey indicated that 53 per cent of those polled were in favor of nuclear power...
...He is not only a very informed writer, but a superior teacher for readers groping around in the big world of jazz...
...Paging on toward the front of the magazine, I came across the column on "Moles" in the Government...
...Originals will be returned...
...Keep up the good work...
...He also assured us we would hear from him again...
...It was precisely the "gradualism" they advocate which ended Reconstruction and tolerated the Ku Klux Klan, lynchings, the forced disfranchisement of Southern black voters, and the passing of Jim Crow laws in the 1890s, and thereby "left—and leaves—the ideal of equality unrealized more than a century later...
...There is something dreadfully wrong with a society that permits building for the rich and nothing for the poor...
...I leave it to more experienced linguists and the Internal Security and Terrorism Subcommittee to complete the evidence...
...This anthology, entitled Alexander Meiklejohn: Teacher of Freedom, will be published on September 1,1981, by the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute, Box 673, Berkeley, CA 94701...
...Carl Jensen Santa Rosa, California Nuclear safety There was a happy ending to the story of a New York welder at the Indian Point nuclear power plant who was suspended as shop steward in September 1979 ("Labor's Disenchantment with Nuclear Power," by Steve Askin, March issue...
...The Chinese are famous for verbing their nouns...
...Add nuclear weapons...
...This was topped off by serious economic crisis...
...Certain events—death and new-gained freedom among them—are accompanied by great sorrow or great joy...
...The Progressive has been in the forefront of enlightened thought on matters relating to nuclear energy...
...Is it not plausible that the Chinese people and their government simply feel that it is in their best interest to give foreigners as favorable an impression as possible, even if this means they must suffer some minor inconveniences...
...Now, just replace the words "United States" for "Germany" and "1980s" for "1930s...
Vol. 45 • May 1981 • No. 5
