LETTERS

Dear WSW

I want to thank you for your latest issue, in particular the fine article explícating the dangers of Senate Bill 1722 and House Bill 6915. The article was so explicit in delineating the dangers of this bill that it not only prompted me to write my congresspeople, but also energized me to xerox the article and mail it to friends all over the country. A really excellent article-and much appreciated.

Keep up the excellent editorial decisions.

Dear WSW,

-Miriam Neal Weinstein

After reading the June/July 1980 issue, I decided it was about time I wrote to you, something I have wanted to do for some time. At times I have found the paper to be quite intense and for me this latest issue carried a good blend of both political education ⚫ and "women interest" stories.

The article, "Profiles: Women's Businesses," by · Amy Schuman and M.B. Camp, was a real pleasure to read. It was written in a supportive way on local women who have struggled very hard in the business world. These women and their work inspired me. I think we should all be proud of them and help to support other women-owned businesses similar to these. Mary Walsh's article, "S.1722: New Criminal Code a Threat" (originally S.1) left me feeling very frightened. As I read through the listing of our threatened civil liberties, a cold chill ran from my lower back up through my spine and into my neck. The shiver comes from the thought of how our lives will be affected if this proposed legislation goes into effect. Peaceful picketing at induction centers, planning demonstrations, blowing the whistle on government corruption, reporters refusing to reveal sources, etc., are all acts that carry some very stiff penalties. Even attending a Pro-Choice demonstration could land me a fine of $25,000! The renewed push to pass this oppressive bill is another example of this being the "Year of the Right-Wing". S.1722 uses the guise

of keeping law and order in our country so the government can gain more control over the people. Filling our over-crowded prisons is not solving the problem, nor is imposing stiff fines.

The effect of passage of S.1722, by any other number, would annul one of our most basic civil rights, freedom of speech. It is ironic that the mainstream media, with so great a stake in preserving our First Amendment right, has forgotten its respon-

Radical Therapist

sibility to keep the public informed. Thanks to WSW for your commitment to protecting our right to know.

Dear WSW,

-Barb Silverberg

In its May issue, What She Wants reported on the Socialist Workers Party campaign of Mattilde Zimmerman and Andrew Pulley (SWP Runs Woman for Vice President"), noting that "only leftist political parties have the courage to run women as serious candidates in a national campaign." Women have run for executive offices before, and sometimes win: the names-Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi come to mind. But they are not our “sisters”.

As revolutionary Trotskyists fighting for women's liberation, Mattilde Zimmerman is no sister of ours either. She holds positions of an anti-gay bigot, and her running mate has crossed picket lines of striking workers. The SWP has nothing in common with socialism.

Attacking gay activists who called for "full rights

for gay youth, including revision of age-of-consent laws," Zimmerman, in the April 13, 1979 Militant, called this "a reactionary demand" and upheld the government's laws which prohibit the sexual activity of minors. These laws state that youth under the age of consent (usually 16 or 18) should not be allowed even to agree to have sex with older persons. Zimmerman wrote that she did not want "non-abusive consensual sex by adults with children OK'd". She terms this as "reactionary," thereby chiming in on the same "save our children" pitch which was the watchword of Anita Bryant's anti-homosexual crusade. Zimmerman and the SWP want to uphold and extend the government's power (meaning either Reagan's or Carter's power) to arbitrate what is "OK" in the bedroom. Revolutionaries must oppose any and all legal restrictions by the capitalist state on sexual activity between consenting individuals. Period. Get the cops out of the bedroom!

Zimmerman also supports scabbing. Her running mate, Andrew Pulley, crossed a picket line of railway workers (BRAC) at U.S. Steel's Gary works in September 1978. While striking railroad workers passed out leaflets asking the steelworkers not to cross, Pulley muttered that "everyone is doing it" and waltzed across the picket line without even calling on his union to change its policy.

Giving up winning the working class to fight for power, the reformist SWP ends up picking and choosing among "progressive" movements; when one collides with the other, the SWP comes out with a reactionary position. So the "consistent feminist" SWP supports the ERA in the U.S. while they also support the "popular" women-hating mullahs in Iran. They try to ingratiate themselves with "progressive" union bureaucrats, and then must abandon -the defense of democratic rights for gays in the wake of the "popular" Anita Bryant campaign.

The fight against capitalism can never be won by taking the side of one oppressed group over another. Instead the Spartacist League fights to link the power of the working class with the interests of all the oppressed to overthrow the real enemy, capitalism.

-Lisa Mandel for the Spartacist League

How You Can Help What She Wants

The job of producing a women's community newspaper every month requires many different kinds of talents, skills, and interests. We hope our new group approach will help you identify how you might become a part of What She Wants. Look over the various groups listed to the right, and call us if you'd like to help.

Each group meets separately so members can concentrate on their special area. Our previous "'collective structure" has been simplified and changed into a "Core Group," which will oversee the total operation of the paper and help it function smoothly. The Core Group's responsibilites will involve the following: planning the direction of paper, financial planning, cultural projects, political actions, community relations, and decision-making regarding such areas as new membership in the Core Group, policies, editorials, and covers. The Core Group will meet 1 once a month. Interested women can seek membership in the Core Group after working a few months in a particular task group and becoming substantially familiar with the total operation of the paper. We welcome interested women to attend any meeting in order to gain a fuller understanding of What She Wants.

Page 2/What She Wants/August, 1980

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Editorial (continued from page 1)

with neither positive nor negative feedback, the inpetus to change is slight and one begins to wonder whether anyone cares".

...the constants in any feminist group's life, such as volunteerism, financing, funding-cooptation, overwork, burnout.”

9. "...the thought that somehow, miraculously, the paper would carry on":

While the WSW staff is consciously aware of how these and other difficulties enter into our own process and product, in this our eighth year of publica-

tion, we have decided to persevere. In contrast UPSTREAM, we do not see the collapse of WSWE inevitable, although this is not a guarantee that WSW will go on indefinitely. We accept the challenge define and work in a collective structure. If we suf ceed, it will be due to the firm commitment of ead individual to undergo the bittersweet process of per sonal and group growth. Perhaps the most distres ing aspect of UPSTREAM'S demise is the belief the things could not have been otherwise, not takin

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