*----------------------------------------------------------*
|                                                          |
| x   x x x   x   x  x  xx  xxx xxx  xxx                   |
| xx xx x xx xx   xx x x  x  x  x   x       Issue #1       |
| x x x x x x x   x xx x  x  x  xx   xxx                   |
| x   x x x   x   x  x x  x  x  x       x   09/24/84       |
| x   x x x   x   x  x  xx   x  xxx  xxx                   |
|                                                          |
|----------------------------------------------------------|
|    Newspaper of the Maoist Internationalist Movement     |
*----------------------------------------------------------*

Mondale: War to keep Central America

  Walter Mondale, the Democratic Party's presidential
candidate said that he favored last year's invasion of
Grenada. In an interview on September 16th, Mondale
justified the invasion of the sovereign country by saying
that Americans were in jeopardy.
  At the same time, Mondale announced his intention to
quarantine Nicaragua under certain circumstances. Mondale
implied that the use of force might be necessary if the
Russians or Cubans set up a base in Nicaragua.
  The liberal Democrat's honesty during an election campaign
is particularly significant because it demonstrates a
fundamental unity between the Republicans and Democrats.
Those who are working for a genuine peace should not have
any illusions about Walter Mondale as their candidate.
  The American two-party system is really a one-party system
for imperialism and war. Anti-war activists do not have a
choice in this election. They must stay out of it and work
to undermine the system that offers two candidates in favor
of war against the Central American people and global
conflagration with Soviet imperialist rivals.

THE FAILURE OF THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS STRATEGY

  The Republicans and Democrats legitimize their rule of
American society by confusing us with the "lesser of two
evils" game. For example, many people who are opposed to
Reagan's role in the invasion of Grenada, the invasion of
Lebanon and U.S. terrorism against the Sandinista Government
in Nicaragua will work for and vote for Walter Mondale.
  History shows, however, that this will not work. Woodrow
Wilson ran as a liberal Democrat on a "He Kept Us Out of
War" slogan. When he was re-elected as president, he took
the U.S. into WWI to get a share of Europe's colonies and
global dominance and to increase profits from military
production in the U.S. Long before the grandfather of
Mondale liberalism—Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt—took the
US into WWII for global domination, arms manufacturers were
making profits selling to both sides in WWII. U.S. bankers
were also worming in on British banking because the British
desperately needed U.S. money and munitions in their war
against Germany.
  Democrat Harry Truman dropped the A-Bomb, not once but
twice on Japan. Later he overthrew the government of Korea
in another American invasion.
  Then there was the U.S. invasion of Vietnam and it was
Democrat Lyndon Johnson who escalated American troop use to
500,000. Lyndon Johnson, a Southerner had a vice-
presidential running mate from Minnesota named Hubert
Humphrey, (whose anti-communist credentials were established
by his sponsorship of the Communist Control Act of 1954 and
his purging of the Minnesota Democratic Party also during
the McCarthy era). When Johnson and Humphrey won the 1964
presidential election it was Mondale who was appointed to
finish Humphrey's Minnesota Senate term. Mondale fit well as
Humphrey's protege and was re-elected in 1966.
  Mondale was loyal to Humphrey who was loyal to Johnson. In
1964, Mondale said he had "great confidence" in Johnson's
war in Vietnam. While the Democrats were still in office,
Mondale never opposed the Vietnam War. It was only in 1969,
after public opinion polls showed a majority opposed to the
war and after a Republican was elected president that
Mondale opposed the Vietnam War.
  It was not the election of a liberal Democrat that ended
the Vietnam War. The Vietnamese people beat the U.S. army
led by Richard Nixon. In fact, history shows that Democrats
like Mondale will do the most to oppose war—for their own
opportunist reasons—when they are out of power. Apparently,
the two parties have decided they can not afford to lose
American dominance of Central America because not even
candidate Mondale is making promises about opposing the war
in Central America.
  In any case, Mondale led the Humphrey presidential
campaign in 1968 when the Democrats were most exposed as
perpetrators of the Vietnam War. That kind of loyalty was
repaid in 1976 when Southerner Jimmy Carter had only one
opponent in the Democratic Party left to defeat—Hubert
Humphrey. Walter Mondale was chosen vice-presidential
candidate to pacify the Humphrey wing of the Democratic
Party.

THE CARTER/MONDALE ADMINISTRATION

  Mondale and the other liberals in the Carter
Administration failed to bring about the social change that
liberals support in theory. The Carter Administration was
supposedly pro-Black, but the Black/white median income
ratio fell from.59 to.56 under Carter—a record drop.
Meanwhile in South Africa, the only country in the world
where white racism is the law (as opposed to covered up by
the law) Carter opposed even the most cosmetic reforms that
would require American companies to pay Black South Africans
the same as whites for the same work. In addition, U.S.
trade with the apartheid government reached record highs.
  The Carter Administration also resumed military support of
Nicaragua starting in 1977 with a $2.5 million pact. That
aid continued through 1978 when Israel took over the U.S.
job of arming the murderous Somoza regime. Also in 1977,
Carter offered El Salvador military aid, but the junta found
it more profitable to reject it under the guise of
independence from the Yankees. After a coup in El Salvador
in 1979, the U.S. again offered military aid. In 1980, the
U.S. provided $90 million in economic aid and $5.5 million
in "non-lethal" military aid. Much more aid was slipped
under the table through agencies like the Inter-American
Development Bank which coughed up a $45.4 million loan.
Since 1979, over 40,000 Salvadorans have been killed by
government-sponsored death squads—mostly under the
leadership of President Duarte who the Carter Administration
supported with further aid upon his election in 1980. Of
course, the Carter Administration paid the price for its
support of murder of tens of thousands of Iranians by the
Shah and his SAVAK special forces. The Iranian Revolution
nearly succeeded in wiping out all U.S. influence and means
of domination in Iran, so great was the spontaneous hatred
for America.
  Despite this record, Mondale promises that there will be
more emphasis on "national security" and less emphasis on
"human rights" under his 1984 administration. (New York
Times, 9/18/84)

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR TRAP

  The costs of a presidential campaign strictly construed
run into tens of millions of dollars. When one adds in the
media coverage and other hype connected, the cost of a
candidate runs into hundreds of millions of dollars. Is it
any wonder that millionaires run for president? Why should
it be surprising that Mondale and Reagan really amount to
the same thing— imperialists who have differing views of how
to conquer the world for American business?
  Mondale sits on the board of Control Data Corporation and
Geraldine Ferraro's husband is a real estate millionaire.
It's not surprising that established business and media
treat the presidency as their game. Nor is it surprising
that the capitalist candidates throw out a tax cut to the
middle classes to interest them in the election and give
them a stake in the system. Elections would be a pretty
boring game for millionaires without a tax cut issue to rile
up the middle class.
  What is surprising is how many people think they can beat
this game by playing it. The same people who admit that they
play the "lesser of two evils" game think they are realistic
and that everyone else is apathetic.
  The truth is that despite the multi-million dollar
campaign hoopla the lower half of American society is not
interested in elections. This mass of people is not stupid.
There is just nothing about the two-party non-choice that
makes much difference to the non-voters. This is the fault
of the political system, not the attitudes of the half of
the people who have not voted in the last three presidential
elections.
  The highest Black turnout at an election since 1974 was
50.5%. Unemployed turnout was at its highest at 43.7%. In
1982, 39.1% of the blue-collar workers, 41.8% of the South,
31.9% of renters and 41.1% of service workers voted as
compared to 48.5% of the total for the U.S..
  The two parties combined do not have the support and
legitimacy derived from these groups. AFL-CIO leader Lane
Kirkland is the perfect example of who the two-party system
represents. He is important as Mondale's single most
powerful backer. Lane Kirkland is in favor of war in Central
America as evidenced by his participation and support of the
Kissinger Commission on Central America. Furthermore, the
AFL-CIO bureaucracy established the American Institute for
Free Labor Development. The AIFLD assisted the CIA in
military coups in British Guiana (now Guyana) in 1965, in
Brazil in 1964, in the Dominican Republic in 1965 and Chile
in 1974. Today, AIFLD assists the "land to the tiller"
program in El Salvador which is modeled after the U.S.
Operation Phoenix in Vietnam.
  Lane Kirkland is from that section of laborers in this
country that benefits from high corporate profits derived
from cheap labor under military dictatorships overseas. At
best, Mondale represents these highly-paid workers who share
in the spoils of imperialism. A vote for Mondale is a vote
for President Duarte is a vote for Somoza is a vote for the
Shah of Iran is a vote for apartheid in South Africa.

NO VOTES FOR IMPERIALISM!
DOWN WITH TWEEDLE-DEE AND TWEEDLE-DUM!

Sources:

"Isolate Nicaragua If It Won't Bend, Mondale Suggests," New
York Times, 9/18/84.

Richard Krooth, Arms and Empire.

James Ridgeway, "The Minnesota Twins," Michigan Voice, 9/84.

Facts on File, 12/31/1980, p. 993; 10/19/79, p. 790;
12/12/80, p.941; 3/26/77, p. 206; 10/8/77, 767.

Statistical Abstract of the United States 1984.

Trade Unionists in Solidarity with El Salvador, "In Your
Name:Introducing AIFLD or How the CIA Uses the AFL-CIO in
Central America."

Business International South Africa, A Fresh Look at South
Africa, 12/82.
_____________________________________________________________

THIS IS AN ELECTRONIC ISSUE OF MIM NOTES
For the real thing, twelve to sixteen pages of tabloid
newsprint, including revolutionary art and photos with
professional lay-out, subscribe to MIM Notes now.  Back-
issues also available in original release for most issues.

Subscriptions:  Send $12 for 12 issues of MIM Notes

                MIM Distributors
		PO Box 3576
		Ann Arbor, MI 48106-3576
		
		Make checks out to "ABS" or send cash.