Letters
LETTERS to the Editor Just War Though I agree with Ken Brown on the immorality often shown by "the good guys" in war ("The Last Just War: How Just Was It?" August issue), I can not agree with his...
...Did we not incinerate vast numbers of noncombatants, as many as 100,000 in a single raid, with our incendiary fire-storm bombing of Tokyo, Dresden, Hamburg, and other major cities...
...To be sure, the chances of success are probably minimal, but if Winpisinger is willing to throw himself on the political pyre (and lots of people like me are willing to work for his candidacy), the chances are not impossible...
...While Israel might sometimes tactically encourage Islamic-versus-PLO tensions, repression and harassment have actually had the opposite effect...
...The possibilities for actually winning many of these offices are realistic, and they lay the groundwork for an alternative to the liberal economic failures that are surely coming after Reagan is defeated in 1984...
...But seeing the reverence his ghost still brings out in someone as worldly wise as Albertine makes me want to turn the question around...
...Must we all refrain from criticism because Richard Nixon, the KKK, slavery, and witch burnings once enjoyed popular support in this country...
...Next, we had to demonstrate the destructive power of these new weapons (and beat the Russians to the coup de grace in Japan) by dropping "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" on Hiroshima and Nagasaki...
...The burning of "a PLO social welfare office" in Zunes's report refers, I believe, to the destruction of the offices of the Palestine Red Crescent Society in Gaza...
...This could be the most exciting thing we've ever done: Jocelyn Tyler Pacific Grove, California Islamic Rumblings Having recently returned from a trip to the Israeli-occupied territories of the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan, I tend to think Stephen Zunes overstates the political weight of the Islamic Right (Datelines, June issue...
...Even our awful awakening to that genocide of Japanese, even John Hersey's widely read Hiroshima, did not stop us from multiplying more than a millionfold the destructive energy of those two weapons in the years since 1945...
...What are the moral distinctions which set such evil acts apart from those of the Nazi Holocaust...
...Protecting our air and water will result in less cancer for future generations...
...I particularly liked "After Reaganomics—What...
...market cars here in a relatively short time, since we have several plants already constructed that have been used for auto production—plants that have been put out of service by the massive influx of Japanese autos...
...As for your reference to retaliation in the form of Japanese restrictions, those are already in place and have been for years...
...Please remember that the 1930 Hitler was not the 1945 Hitler, nor was the Nazi Party of 1925 the Nazi Party of 1945...
...You bet...
...Yet parallels between the two political "cultures" come easily to mind...
...Not one single word was written about the need for fair trade between nations...
...And we have millions of skilled workers who have also been displaced...
...She writes: "As one who works for a left-leaning (The Progressive left-leaning...
...Try it, you'll see...
...by James E. Block (July issue...
...At least for now, the pressure for Palestinian unity in the face of a truly frightening intensification of repression appears to outweigh all other differences...
...How many liberals write books in which they criticize multinational corporations and inform the public about the inner workings of the Government...
...How sad that a whole page of The Progressive, whose every page is vital in the battle against bigotry, should have been wasted this way...
...The point is their plan won't work...
...First, General Gal-tieri's defeat will deter similar aggression elsewhere...
...Steve Meiss Santa Ana, California Winpisinger for President...
...In Gaza City, for example, the influence of Islamic forces is readily seen in the high proportion of women wearing traditional head coverings...
...I ain't in favor of war, folks...
...What Americans—those who love free speech, civil rights, human dignity...
...This was unanimously denied by Palestinian activists...
...A more careful analysis and a civil tongue on your part are in order...
...They intend to force us out, to make it impossible for us to live here...
...But Stewart Epstein should not be surprised that socialists do not find liberal capitalism an answer to the problems of conservative capitalism—that, after all, is why they are socialists, not liberals...
...Robert J. Prince Denver, Colorado Socialists and Liberals In his review of Mark Green's Winning Back America (July issue), David McReynolds states, "I don't mean to be harsh on Green, who is not the enemy...
...True, Green is not a socialist, but his proposals are not all that far from McReynolds's socialism...
...Japan demanded and got more than 40 per cent local content on purchases of aircraft from Boeing, Lockheed, and McDonnell-Douglas...
...However, a representative of the Arab Women's Union, unquestionably a secular leftist, told us the rise in Islamic fundamentalism in Gaza had begun in the wake of the Iranian revolution and had passed its peak...
...By starting now, we may yet create the resounding presence of a unified Left so agonizingly absent in American politics...
...The country needs much more than an independent President...
...We are "openminded" and "intelligent" enough to detach ourselves from our religious or cultural heritage and sit in judgment on other Jews...
...Perhaps a better strategy would be for organizations like DSA to run their own candidates for offices in city halls, state legislatures, governorships, and selected seats in the U.S...
...Subtleties are obviously lost on someone who has such a simplistic either-or mentality, and I must wonder just how carefully the reviewer actually read the book...
...The equation applies to a President who decides to demonstrate the awesome power of atomic weapons on populated cities to shock both foe and ally, knowing full well that nationalism, prejudice, and apathy will ensure popular acceptance...
...Workers of the World .. ./'Comment, July issue...
...How comfy, we Jews who sit in Madison, Wisconsin...
...The Japanese can relocate the facilities for building U.S...
...It is also heartening to see so many American Jews making it clear that they oppose Israel's invasion of Lebanon...
...Later, I was amazed by how that man McCarthy was mistreated...
...Mai Evans Madison Heights, Michigan No Lady Portrait of a Lady," by Associate Editor Mary Williams (July issue), shocked and angered us...
...However, when we consider the present-day realities of our electoral system, we must admit that the chances are slim that Winpy can actually win the nomination, let alone the election...
...publication, I feel a certain kinship with people who tilt so sharply the other way...
...he had to develop them...
...At Bir Zeit University, where sweeping arrests of students occurred during the week I was in the West Bank, no signs of Islamic-versus-secular tension were visible, despite the high proportion of Islamic students within this secular institution...
...But I can not accept Erwin Knoll's resentment on the basis of authorship by a German...
...After all, the Soviets, after they drove the Nazis out of her country, sent her husband to a labor camp for fifteen years because he had allowed the Nazis to draft him to fight the Russians...
...Either way, what is there to lose by trying...
...We can't dislodge big business from its domination over the two major parties, but we can offer the country something better—a people's government...
...The Luria-Russell proposals—essentially liberal in character—are firmly within the context of modern capitalism because they aim to make Detroit more profitable through manipulations of marketplace mechanisms...
...The Japanese have built huge barriers to their domestic markets, the likes of which wouldn't be matched by H.R...
...In fact, early Nazism began by providing jobs for the poor, while Reagan doesn't even need this opening for his repressive tactics...
...If they are honest enough to admit it...
...Any additional support I leave to your imagination and resources...
...She has no love for Communists, obviously...
...News donate its magazine to the medical profession, or is it, as I suspect, preferred because of the profession's conservative leaning...
...The strategy of the Israeli occupation includes one attempt after another to build up "alternative leadership" to the PLO in the Territories...
...Diluting the evolving rage of the proletariat isn't the point...
...Consider the ideas and values which prevail in the modern military-industrial economy...
...To speak of bringing economic growth back to Detroit when the rest of the capitalist world is experiencing recession is absurd...
...Once it became apparent the program wasn't generating any economic growth, industries based on joint, common, general, or bargained enterprise structures would soon crack under the strain of trying to divide an ever shrinking pie...
...I must wonder whether Epstein read the review with care, because while his letter points out that Green is on the right side of some domestic issues, he completely fails to answer my charges regarding the Democratic Party and its foreign policy...
...Japan either bars or ties the hands of many American manufacturers who try to introduce competitive products into that country...
...Stewart Epstein Morgantown, West Virginia The author replies: If my review seemed written with a holier-than-thou attitude, I regret it...
...What will the rest of America do...
...A look at the list of The Progressive's staff indicates that several are Jewish...
...At best, their program is short-term and stopgap...
...On the contrary, all Palestinians to whom we spoke (and some concerned Jewish Israelis as well) clearly identified the threat to Palestinian institutions in the Occupied Territories as being the occupation itself...
...But national health insurance would be a godsend for the elderly and low-income people who cannot afford proper health care...
...policies are similar to Nazism then we will call resurgent Nazism Reaganism...
...Pacifists, like the most amoral warmongers, see the world in polarized terms and deal with it in ways that are shortsighted, narrowminded, and ultimately counterproductive...
...Scott Page Madison, Wisconsin The Hitler Equation My impression of the Hitler equation (Editor's Memo, August issue) is that it is intended to express the Hitler mentality rather than to measure atrocities in mathematical terms...
...William Winpisinger has the stature and the resources to become that leader...
...The validity of the Hitler equation may not be acceptable to all, and I have no trouble with the right to differ...
...August issue), I can not agree with his naive notions about the effectiveness of nonviolent protest...
...Incumbents now targeted might run on the Solidarity ticket, where they could work for their constituents and not for the big-money bosses...
...Green supports national health insurance, a truly progressive Federal income tax, some (admittedly not enough) Federal control and regulation of multinational corporations...
...Let's build on these beginnings and discuss our future realistically but positively...
...if the U.S...
...But for Mary Williams to extol Albertine as some sort of folk heroine is another matter...
...And the country needs a Congress free from pressures by military and industrial interests...
...But in what party...
...We can forgive, without condoning, Albertine's myopic admiration of Tailgunner Joe...
...Why...
...David Finkel Detroit, Michigan...
...American techniques of mass persuasion—the advertising poster, the movies, the radio show, the colorful political rally—were studied and developed by the Nazi propaganda ministry, and applied brilliantly to Hitler's ends...
...Carolyn A. Goodman Phil Goodman Scotia, New York No, Reagan is not Hitler, no more than Nixon was, nor does the United States bear close political resemblance to Nazi Germany, as we have managed to preserve some of the essential elements of democracy...
...Stewart F. MacMillan Brewster, Masachusetts It is dangerous to ignore the potential of Reagan and the Far Right...
...In just over one column you damned the proposal of the UAW on local content...
...But there are important avenues for new ideas that have not been penetrated by The Progressive—barber shops and doctors' and dentists' waiting rooms...
...Second, Argentina's military has been seriously weakened, and henceforth will find it much more difficult to oppress its own people...
...It needs a great Solidarity Party, representing the real needs of real people...
...News& World Report completely dominate waiting room magazine racks...
...Your attack on UAW leaders serves only to drive a wedge, to use your term, between groups on the Left...
...As the decline continues, worker militancy will increase and ruling-class desperation will grow...
...Allen R. Rupp Marietta, Ohio Draft Winpisinger...
...What is, perhaps, most crucial is that we recognize that it is not too early to think about 1984...
...And many Americans are looking for another shot these days...
...5153...
...And in a spirit of sweet reasonableness she goes on: "McCarthy may have ruined a lot of people, but to some he gave a shot in the arm...
...We specifically asked whether the Islamic fundamentalist trends might be traceable to some attempt on the Israeli authorities' part to undermine the influence of the PLO...
...Catherine Alexander Madison, Wisconsin While the Luria-Russell Rational Reindustrial-ization program ("Remaking the Motor City—and America," July issue) is more creative than anything we can expect from Coleman Young and his buddies, its innovaLETTERS to the Editor tiveness is superficial and illusory...
...No, the United States today is not 1945 Nazi Germany...
...It certainly applies to a President who opts for Christmas bombings over negotiations in a desperate attempt to salvage his political life...
...We must use our total people-power where it will bring results, to regain control of our country and to create a political climate where all honest issues will be respected...
...The local content law is an attempt to force Japan to contribute something to the American economy in the form of jobs, instead of merely sucking away $15 billion annually...
...As a union member and a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) activist I must admit that the possibilities sound exciting...
...Every such attempt, especially the recent creation of "Village Leagues" who collaborate with the Israeli "Civil Administration," makes an already bad situation even more tense and bloody...
...Roger Bron Fik Kenmore, New York That empty-headed buffoon in the White House has proven that anybody can become President—maybe even a working-class socialist...
...he starts right in making the poor poorer and the middle class less numerous...
...So go on being open-minded and detached...
...They don't seek any comprehensive reorganization of economic institutions beyond what is required to restore a period of expansionary capitalism...
...There are, however, two fortunate byproducts...
...His article seemed composed of equal measures of clear insight and the wistful self-deception of an armchair martyr...
...I've sent a letter to William Winpisinger expressing my hope that he'll accept the charge of those of us on the Left who perceive the need for his unifying leadership (Letters, July issue...
...It's time to stop electing their candidates—to stop supporting even their liberals with our PACs...
...Congress...
...It is also aimed at "domestic" autos manufactured overseas and brought to this country under an American company's name...
...Albertine, it appears, did not attempt to flee when the Nazis came, but packed up her toddler daughter and fled as soon as the Red Army drove the Nazis out...
...But his review smacks of the holier-than-thou, condescending attitude some socialists have toward liberals...
...Gary Goodman Hardinsburg, Kentucky Unconscionable Burden The grave error in the August Comment, "An Unconscionable Burden," is that you are guilty of playing Monday-morning quarterback...
...Does U.S...
...This incident took place more than a year ago, and the Society's director did not list the Islamic fundamentalists as being among the major current obstacles to the Society's functioning...
...We realize the problems lie in a stagnant American economy and inept management among our corporate leaders...
...The UAW is not blaming Japanese workers or auto makers for its plight...
...In effect if not in intent, the review flippantly and casually dismisses Green's new liberalism, as in McRey-nolds's remark that "if you are looking for a way to win back America from the corporate and military structure, this book isn't any help...
...The way to put big money out of government is to put the people's unbought majorities in...
...How chic we are...
...I imagine some on The Progressive's staff feel that way, too...
...Nashville, or New York, to philosophize these summer nights about how terrible Israel is...
...Indeed, they are early-Nazi policies and you can read well-thought-out articles indicating the parallels...
...Richard W. Smith Greenacres, Washington Icould support a campaign to draft Winpisinger most heartily...
...Because of these restrictions, an American car almost triples in price when it is unloaded in Japan...
...But do it without the benefit of my subscription money...
...Even if the Luria-Russell plan could be installed—a huge //— the new industries would still face institutionalized monopoly pricing (inflation), real decline in the gross national product, overproduction, and all the other systemic features of monopoly capitalist decline...
...While picking cotton in Mississippi she apparently discovered that Joe McCarthy was the only one in America who felt as she did...
...He was the only man for whom I have— how to say—respect," Williams quotes her...
...The Israelis want this land without its people," we were repeatedly told...
...But the capitalist world in general, and Detroit especially, face a socioeconomic crisis far more profound than anything addressed by Luria and Russell...
...Foreign autos sold in the United States take jobs from Americans and drain our economy of much-needed capital...
...He is strong on protection of the environment and worker safety, and writes about the power and influence of lobbies...
...David McReynolds New York, New York Local Content Istrongly disagree with several of your conclusions on the local content law and the United Auto Workers ("Sanctions and Misplaced Spite," Comment, August issue...
...Did we not use the Nazi evil also as our excuse to create a counter-evil, the atomic bomb...
...Richard B. Parker Camden, Maine Falklands Fallout The Falklands War was a regrettable loss of more than 1,000 lives...
...It is already more advanced in potential and in preliminary work...
...Gabriel Sucher Washington, D. C. Next Patient Iwas introduced to The Progressive more than fifty years ago, have been a subscriber ever since, and have introduced the magazine to others...
...James R. Pedersen Brooklyn, Michigan As a long-time subscriber and a supporter of your magazine, I am shocked and surprised at the shallow and trite treatment you gave to a serious and complicated problem...
...Hitler did not have catastrophic weapons...
...Democratic socialists, unlike liberals of the Kennedy or Mondale variety, realize that the cure for our current troubles lies in radical solutions that go beyond the traditional wisdom of the New Deal...
...Understanding the cure, however, is pointless unless we mount serious campaigns that have a chance to set these ideas into motion...
...Who, at last, will be judged the "victors" of that macabre contest of mass slaughter which we thought we won more than a generation ago...
...Not many...
...That failure is now compounded by the recent mid-term Democratic gathering in Philadelphia, whicli—faced with the appalling slaughter caused by Israel's invasion of Lebanon— passed a resolution essentially supporting that invasion...
...Otherwise, all we do is spread hopelessness and despair...
...It needs an independent party that can select and nominate independent candidates for every office, state and Federal—candidates worthy of our votes...
...For it is the profit motive and the free market that got Detroit into its present predicament...
...Reagan, as you say, already possesses "a mind-boggling stockpile of catastrophically destructive weapons...
...All this calls for a great leader...
...But what about Mary Williams...
...Come to think of it, while the Nazis were systematically exterminating millions of Jews and others in the unspeakably evil concentration camps, were we not also coldly engaged in saturation bombing of civilian populations...
...You admit that the Reagan policies are "reactionary and repressive," but you state, "They are not Nazi policies...
...That came with power and time...
...It is too bad that such politics, which would greatly enhance and improve the day-to-day lives of millions of Americans, are minimized, dismissed, and trivialized in such book reviews...
...Despite philosophical differences with the PLO, the Islamic forces were said to be integrating themselves into the resistance movement...
...Or those who cry, "Nuke 'em before they nuke us...
...Analyses of what's wrong are important, but we need to get our thoughts going on alternative ways of doing things...
...Bad enough that the seventy-three-year-old Latvian immigrant woman named Albertine has learned so little in her years in America that she can worship the memory of Joe McCarthy as a Communist-fighter...
...by John Buell and "What Productivity Crisis...
...I believe the equation is valid whenever humanity is sacrificed for personal gain...
...Even with Hitler dead, the Nazis defeated, and Germany occupied, we could not resist detonating "Trinity" in the New Mexico desert, running some risk (we thought) of destroying the Earth's atmosphere (thereby extinguishing all known life), because we just had to test this fiendishly clever machine of death which had long since acquired its own mad, seemingly irresistible momentum...
...Why does U.S...
...In concluding her portrait of Albertine, the elderly worshipper of the memory of Joe McCarthy whom she describes as "the personification of the abstraction we call Middle America," Williams writes: "People ask me what I'll do if there is ever another McCarthy...
...Why do we allow the big-business parties to select all the candidates on our ballots...
...Is that too much to ask...
...To answer your questions: If Reagan is Hitler then we will call the next Hitler Reagan...
...Nor was there a single reference to the fact that Japan demands local content on many of the imports into that country, as do many other nations...
...Just because they're leaning...
...Obviously, Green's liberal proposals are not good enough for McReynolds...
...If ever I find a doctor's office featuring The Progressive, I will make a contribution to that practitioner for the support of the waiting room...
...Have not Germany's conquerors been infused with the Nazi soul...
...Michael Kraike Jane Kraike Elk, California After Reaganomics Iam pleased to see more articles beginning to deal with solutions and positive ideas for the future...
...It will take a lot of grassroots action to create such a party...
...But I am damn grateful to the Jews who struggle every day of their lives for a homeland—one I could go to in case the anti-Semitism in this country decides to become more than a "gentlemen's agreement...
...The UAW has proposed that we establish fair trade between our two countries, which means treating them as they treat us...
...After another administration or two, it will become apparent the United States needs more than just warmed-over liberalism, however "radical" the recipe may sound...
...Katherine A. Spitz Columbia, Missouri It was encouraging to see you speak out so eloquently against an Israeli policy which, no matter how one tries to rationalize it, boils down to genocide against the Palestinian and Lebanese people by the armies of Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon...
...Columbia, Missouri...
...Nevertheless, I think it's important for people to try out the latest liberal rehash and prove it doesn't work...
...These problems are aggravated when foreign manufacturers take advantage of a bad situation...
...The Nazi evil was, indeed, monstrous, but is not ours even more so...
...The Progressive could certainly provide invaluable assistance by endorsing this draft movement and, ultimately, Winpisinger's candidacy for President...
Vol. 46 • September 1982 • No. 9
