—e LVN LIV EMLLL DIED EIE PISCE ed By GEORGE MORRIS No sooner had the news flashed of President Reagan’s decision to build 100 B-1 bombers than rip-roaring cheers went up at a part of staff, officials and some workers at Rockwell International’s El Segundo plant. ‘*We kept the faith and now we feel just ecstatic,’” said Hal Reiklen, vice president in charge of the B-1 program, cancelled in 1977. The press in the Southern California area also blazed - out with cheers stressing the promise of jobs, as though the jobs in manufacture of the mass-killing equipment would turn the economic tide. The company says it plans to hire 11,000 workers in its Southern California plants by 1987. But many more of the company’s workers have been unemployed for years. The real reason for the loss of more than 100,000 jobs in the areospace industry of Southern California was the loss of construction of jet liners because of the crisis in that non-military field. Some workers were reported to have lined up im- mediately at Rockwell’s employment office in the race} for expected jobs. It is a sad commentary on the picture of American capitalism today. Fortunately today few workers seriously believe that military production promises a significant reduction of unemployment. Classic Example In the years since World War II, the United States has provided the classical historic example that military pro- duction reduces jobs. Some recent studies show that for oy job on military contracts, several civilian jobs are lost. ‘ The U.S., the world’s biggest spender for arms, has b far a greater army of permanently unemployed than any other industrial country. The major military hardware projects are not the type that involve mass employment, on assembly work..A high percentage of the employees are technologists and » related personnel. There is a far greater emphasis on skilled labor. In the B-1 sights: workers’ jobs The B-1 bomber comes with a $92-billion dollar price tag. The funds came directly out of the U.S. social services. In addition, there is a tremendous overpayment on military contracts. The multi-billion dollar Pentagon contracts are the source of the most colossal corruption the world has ever known. Billions go not for jobs but for super-profits to the arms manufacturers and builders of bases and war- ships. On the other hand, every billion given away and in- vested in instruments of destruction could provide many more jobs to fill civilian needs and the means of produc- tion of civilian needs. So what we had since the cold war was initiated, was a process of alloting more and more billions for means of destruction and killing, at the expense of peoples’ needs and millions of jobs. The Heap of Impoverished More billions for arms mean more millions on welfare, more permanently unemployed, more thrown on the heap of the impoverished as just so much human scrap, more crime, more racist tension and an ever rising number of youth without a future. Reagan’s decision for B-1 and other military plans came simultaneously with the Labor Department’s dis- closure of September's steep increase in unemployment — to 7.5% of the workforce, 7,966,000. In addition, 1.1 million persons were listed as ‘“discouraged’’ — those who don’t even look for a job any more because ‘it is useless to try. To this 1,800,000 unemployed, the Labor Department added a reported 4.5 million on part-time work for economic reasons, because of industrial slow- ness. And all this on top of 16 million men, women and children on the three major forms of: federal and state- supported welfare. Pentagon contracts are also a major pressure for the more frequent occurrence of recessions. They slow ‘‘re- covery”’ from recessions. Only a year has passed since the 1980 recession began to give way to what was de- scribed as an uptrend. But now we are in a recession again. Especially significant is the rate of cuts in basic indus- tries — auto, aluminum, airlines, durable appliances, semi-conductor chips and machine tools. Slowness in such fields affects many other sectors of the economy — and jobs. On top of everything are the massive cuts by the Reagan Administration that began to take effect October 1. They will certainly go far towards making recessions longer and more frequent. And for the minority peoples, October 1 also marked the Labor Department’s dis- closure that in September joblessness for Blacks reached an all-time high — 16.3% —a sixth of Black people out of work. George Morris is labor journalist for the U.S. Daily World. : Neither war nor peace are inevitable . A friend argued with us last week that ‘*peace is inevitable”’ because of the ‘‘ba- lance of terror weapons” that are stock- piled in today’s world. Such a notion is a most dangerous illusion. It is on a par with another notion that ‘‘war is inevit- able’’. While appearing to be at variance with one another, both serve to fire the arms race. And to fire the arms race in-_ tensifies the danger of world nuclear war. Alfred Dewhurst Marxism-Leninism Today uses force by proxy, the threat of ferce, subversion, destabilization tactics, and the incitement of counter-revolution to compel such countries to submit to - Washington’s dictat. Spokesmen for the Reagan Administ- ration have publicly stated that the Ad- ministration wants to build up U.S. milit- ary might to the point where the Soviet Union can be compelled to change its Both notions serve the aims of the imperialist rulers of the capitalist world. * * * The only guarantee for world peace rests in the hands of the peoples of all countries, and in particular in the hands of the workers. For, once mobilized around the demand for arms limitation and disarmament with security for all countries big and small and secure inthe . knowledge of who is the enemy of world peace, the power of the people is greater than that of the enemies of peace. The right of all people to live in peace, and to determine their own collective de- stiny is violated daily by the imperialist rulers of the Wesern democracies. This is especially true in the USA and the other big NATO powers. To single out the big imperialist powers is not to ex- cuse the smaller NATO powers such as Canada. ‘ * * * 1 NATO and the big member powers, spurred on by the USA and West Ger- many, are pursuing a hard-line policy ina most dangerous way. The aim of this policy is to reverse the present approxi- Mate military balance existing between the Soviet Union and the USA, and be- tween NATO and Warsaw Pact, in favor of NATO and the dominant imperialist member powers. It is in this light one must view the December 1979 decision of NATO to deploy 108 Pershing II and 464 Cruise missile systems in Western Europe, and the reactivating of the N-bomb and new nuclear weapons’ sys- tems by U.S. President Reagan. Not less than 268 of the Sherman II and Cruise missile systems are to be de- ployed in the Federal Republic of Ger- many. The addition of these new-type, medium-range strategic missile systems, added to the 5,000 nuclear warheads al- ready deployed on West German soil, makes the FRG a storehouse of the biggest concentration of nuclear arms in the world. Such a concentration of nu- clear weaponry aimed principally at the Soviet Union does not soften the danger of world nuclear war. Rather it intensifies that danger and can only evoke a heightened response from the USSR and Warsaw Pact. ; x * * Since 1975 NATO’s arms build-up as- sumed horrendous proportions. In 1970 the NATO countries spent $103.3-billion for military purposes. In 1979 that sum more than doubled to $211-billion. At the current rate of increase it will amount to some $300-billion during the 1981 fiscal year. Under the long-term Washington arms agreement NATO countries are committed to spend $100-billion during the 1980’s for the sole purpose of intro- ducing new weapon systems. _ In addition to arms spending under NATO auspices, the U.S. military budget for the 1981-82 fiscal year amounts to $200.3-billion (Reagan re- cently asked for a further $17-billion). For the next five years the U.S. Ad- ministration plans total military expendi- ‘tures of $1.3-trillion. The FRG, which runs the USA aclose second in its advo- cacy of the arms build-up, plans to spend DM 1,000,000 million during the 14-year period 1979-1993. * * * By its own admission, the U.S. Ad- ministration has embarked on a path aimed to restore the tattered leadership of the USA within the imperialist camp. It hopes to accomplish this objective through its economic and political clout including threat of punitive action on both these fronts if necessary. As for the developing countries, U.S. imperialism economic and political aims in confor- mity with U.S. aims. These are words of war. * * * Proof of the above is to be found in the following statements made by the U.S. Secretary of State Haig before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington. Asked* what he thought about the use of nuclear weapons, the Hawkish general declared: ‘In the atomic age there are things worth fighting for. Our deterrence will only be credible if we are seen to be willing to use our power, including nu- clear power.’’ And further: Asked whether the maintenance of peace ought to be the primary goal of U.S. foreign policy. Haig said ‘**... there are things more important than peace.’ (DPA, January 10, 1981) * * ok It is time that the voice of concerned Canadians should be heard in ever rising crescendo demanding: Canada out of NATO and NORAD, No to the neutron bomb, make Canada a nuclear weapon free zone, stop the arms race, begin dis- armament now! PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCT. 30, 1981—Page 5