“Useful in fight
against Klan

We won't go back! The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan and the
Southem Struggle for Equality. By Ted Quant and John
Slaughter. Southem Equal Rights Congress, 560 Dauphin
Street, Mobile, Alabama 36602. Paper, 43 pgs.; $1.50 (U.S.)
Reduced rates for bulk orders. _—

Capitalism has earned its greatest profits through racist op-
pression. This oppression, always present, is intensified when
capitalism’s business cycles reach ‘the bust phase.”

In periods of domestic crises, repressive organizations like the
Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party offer emotional,
racist solutions to the raging contradictions that capitalism pre-
sents, just as the Russian czar’s Black Hundreds carried out
pogroms when times were. bad.

This concise pamphlet discusses the history of such racist,
anti-Semitic and anti-democratic groups in the United States. Big
business is again fostering their re-emergence, for these groups,
including the Moral Majority, the newest one, are puppets that
carry out the designs of the ruling class.

This fine pamphlet gives us the historical evidence of how the
Klan served as the means by which the former plantation owners
regained their land and their political power in collaboration with
Northern capital. ‘‘From 1868 to 1872’’, says W.E.B. DuBois
in his book, Black Reconstruction, the Klan was used to crush

BOOKS

‘“‘any mass movements towards the union of white and Black
labor.”’ While the Federal ‘government looked aside, the Klan
tarred and feathered Blacks, brandished knives, guns and lynch
rope, destroying Black access to public education by burning
schools and harassing teachers. Blacks were denied their right to
vote, guaranteed in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. In
the process of this genocide drive against Afro-Americans, 1,035
men were murdered in Texas from 1865 to 1868; 2,000 were killed
in Louisiana in 1868; 200 Blacks were lynched in New Orleans in
one month in 1871.

The depression that followed World War I witnessed the re-
birth of the Klan. This time its terror campaigns were directed
against Blacks, Catholics, Jews, the foreign-born and radicals.
Klan activity was a key element in big business’ drive to crush
labor in the 20’s and, once more, in the Depression of the *30’s.

During the historic Civil Rights Movement of the ’60’s, the
Klan bombed, murdered and terrorized as a response to the
demand for equal rights for Black Americans.

The Klan is on the rise once more. The “‘disappearance”’ of the
Black children in Atlanta, the murders in Buffalo, and the das-
tardly murder of five people in Greensboro, North Carolina, with
TV film evidence of the assassins shooting their sub-machine
guns — these recent events are only the more publicized results
of the Klan’s re-emergence.

This pamphlet offers a number of proposals for action to halt
the ominous trend towards the denial of fundamental human
rights. These include: a legislative drive which will develop ‘a
massive grassroots lobbying campaign; an educational program
that discloses the history, dangers and aims of the Klan; and
demonstrations, ‘‘for we refuse to yield the streets to the Klan!”’

I was given this pamphlet by a woman whose church has been
holding weekly discussions on its contents. Other religious
groups — Black and white — should analyze it in the same
manner. It can be discussed and, equally important, implemented
to great advantage by teachers, trade unionists, and community
activists.

: — Leon Baya
Understand the Klan’s roots is an invaluable tool in fighting
their emergence in Canada. — Ed.

“SMASH THE KLAN ... the violent, racist activity of the KKK pro-
vides ample justification for any democratic society to outlaw their

existence. Founded in the southern United States over 100 years
ago it has been responsible for thousands of murders and innum-

Grey racist attacks. J

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JAN. 30, 1981—Page 10

WHERE HE BELONGS... Chauvinist boss Dabney Coleman gets more than he bargained for when he
threatens office workers Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in Nine to Five.

For everyone who hates
the boss here’s your film

NINE TO FIVE directed by Colin Higgins;
screenplay by Colin Higgins and Patricia Re-
snick, story by Patricia Resnick. Music by
Charles Fox and Dolly Parton. Starring Jane
Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Dabney
Coleman. Rated PG.

If you’ ve ever worked in an office — in fact if
you’ ve ever had a boss — you'll get a big kick out of
“‘Nine to Five,’ a new comedy about office life. If
you've ever wanted to “‘murder’’ your boss, sub-
ject him to the humiliation and torture that he has
inflicted upon you, Nine to Five will fulfill your
most vengeful fantasies. ;

Nine to Five reveals the ugly truth about office
work. Franklin Hart, Jr. (Dabney Coleman) is a
boss as arbitrary as he is ignorant. Only those who
have never worked for a boss (or who have been

-outrageously lucky) could think that Hart is an

unrealistic character. Hart insults and exploits the
women who work for him, both intellectually and
sexually. Male chauvinism is his mode of operation
and way of life. He takes the credit for the hard
work and innovative ideas of Violet Newstead
(Lily Tomlin in a great comic turn). Violet remains
a mere section supervisor, ruefully recalling that it
was she who trained Hart. Hart uses his power to
promote and fire to force Violet to do personal
chores for him. He spends a good chunk of his
highly-paid time pursuing his buxom secretary
Doralee (Dolly Parton), who must be tactful when
rejecting his advances, because she needs the job.
Other problems of office workers are depicted
briefly yet realistically: the atmosphere of fear and
isolation, in which employees are even forbidden
to compare salaries; the company stool who hides
in toilet stalls, with her legs propped up, listening;

‘the mother who must choose between fulltime

work or being fulltime housewives because the
company won’t let them work part-timé; the con-
trast between the complex machinery workers

_ must operate and the bosses’ assumption that “‘the

girls’’ are simple-minded; the racism that keeps

Black workers in the mailroom. None of this is .

amusing, unless you ‘have to laugh to keep from
crying.

The comedy really starts rolling when Violet and
Doralee befriend a newcomer to the office, Judy

(Jane Fonda). The three get stoned and share their.

individual fantasies of vengeance upon Hart. This
is the movie’s most hilarious part.

These three fantasies, which the audience sees
as well as hears about, are also the most revealing
and radical sequences in the movie. Within these
well-groomed, well-mannered, efficient ladies isa
murderous resentment. The ruthlessness of this
rage is depicted accurately and unflinchingly. —

After that, Nine to Five becomes a farcical, slap-
stick comedy. Through a wild series of errors, the
trio are forced to kidnap Hart to keep him from
framing them for his attempted murder. Much of

the humor is of the gallows variety, involving

poison, a corpse, and intimations of sexual perver-

sion.
Almost inadvertently, the three friends realize

that they can reform the office in Hart’s absence.

First, Doralee forges a memo allowing people to
decorate their own office space and desks. Violet
thinks, why not make changes that really matter?
Equal pay, day care, job sharing, and hiring of
minorities and the handicapped are instituted, as
well as other changes. The upshot is a happier
workforce and a rise in productivity.

Nine to Five clearly says office workers are
exploited and mistreated. It provides valuable
ideas about reforms that could make workers’ lives
much better. But what is its message regarding how
such improvements can be won by employees?

FILMS

Guenter eee Ces

Unionization is mentioned only once, by the
company stool. At the end, the company enthu-
siastically accepts all the reforms, because they
increase productivity, with the critical exception of
equal pay. This leads the trio to end the movie by
saying, ‘‘This is only the begining.’ But the shot
epilogue leaves little hope that any of the three will
continue the struggle.

Nine to Five is a very funny comedy that realisti-
cally depicts the injustices suffered by office work-
ers, and all workers, in our society. Its honesty is"
refreshing and invigorating, .and makes this a
movie well worth seeing. It accurately depicts
office workers as positive, strong, resourceful
characters, instead of the usual demeaning cliches
offered in movies about workers. Tomlin, Parton
and Fonda are a joy to watch. Their triumphs are

_ sure to bring a warm inner glow to anyone who has

ever taken on the boss, and will be an encourage-
ment to anyone considering doing it.

Marian Irving

Toronto
SOCIAL
- & SUPPER

‘Sat., Jan. 31
7:30 p.m.

York University Campus
4 Assiniboine (Lobby)
Sponsored by York
University Club, CPC and
YGL;

All proceeds to the
Buck-Bethune buildin:
fund drive. Donation: $5.

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