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OPINION
1The Michigan Daily
Page 4
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
420 Maynard St.
Vol. XCI, No. 42 Ann Arbor, Ml 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
Don't take it from Tisch
about who that may be. Economics
D ON'T TAKE IT from politicians Dept. Chairman Frank Stafford
anymore. doesn't think it is anyonein his depar-
That's the central theme of suppor- tment. Business School Dean Gilbert
ters of ballot Proposal D, the Tisch tax- Whitaker doesn't think it is anyone in
slashing plan. It's a catchy phrase that his school. Arid Economics Prof. Har-
gives vent to everyone's dislike and vey Brazer-a specialist in state and
distrust of lawmakers, and is therefore local government financing-doesn't
very difficult to fight. think it is any economist he knows.
It's also, ironically, a phrase that The insidious Tisch plan, in case
can be used against Robert Tisch. you've forgotten, would slash local
Tisch is the drain commissioner for property taxes by more than 50 percent
Shiawassee County, a position for and force the state to make up the
which he campaigned and to which he losses-about $2 billion. That $2 billion
was elected. That makes him by most would come from wholesale cuts in
definitions a politician. higher education and public service
And last Saturday, on Detroit station budgets. Proposal D, Brazer said
WXYZ-TV, he said something that is recently, would have a "paralyzing ef-
difficult to take. feet on state government and lead to
When asked by a University main- utter chaos."
tenance worker in the audience about Polls show the Tisch plan has a fair
predictions that Proposal D would for- chance of passing. That's not sur-
ce, layoffs and cutbacks at the Univer- prising, especially considering the sur-
sity, Tisch replied that a University face appeal a 50 percent tax cut has.
economist had told him just days And Tisch supporters have been
earlier that the University would not dishing out propaganda that con-
be harmed by passage of the Tisch veniently ignores the state's dire
plan. economic position and the devastating
Well, Tisch may know a University effect a $2 billion loss would have.
economist willing to cut his own throat We can only urge the state's voters:
and support Proposal D, but leading Don't take it from Robert Tisch
economists here are sure in the dark anymore.
" k
A union at J.P. Stevens
IT HAS BEEN 17 years since union years. That tactic was the pressure the
representatives first set out to union leadership brought, not on
organize the laborers at J.P. Stevens, Stevens, but on other firms based in
the huge southeWtetile company. It the North. -Banks, insurance -com-
has been nearly a decade since suppor- panies, cosmetic companies, and other
ters of the workers' cause began to corporations that had a close financial
press for a boycott of Stevens goods. It relationship with Stevens were the sub-
was not until Sunday, though, that jects of a campaign that eventually
Stevens at last signed with the persuaded them to bring their own
union-the Amalgamated Clothing and pressure on Stevens.
Texile Workers, to be exact. To the board of directors of Avon and
The agreement reached this Metropolitan Life, the strategy seemed
an unfair application of strongman
weekend affects fewer than 10 percent tactics: legal blackmail, some bigwigs
of .Stevens' textile workers, but after calle i.Tthmui, the approac
.called it. To the, union, the approach
the many long years of struggle, it was the only option available; indeed,
comes as a hopelful sign. Stevens has the suggestion that Stevens reconsider
earned itself a reputation as the most its strict anti-union position must have
fiercely anti-union corporation in the seemed considerably more imposing
United States; its surrender, however coming from a manlin a business suit
small, to organizing forces is hear- than it did from the textile workers
tening to workers nationwide. themselves.
The weapons the Stevens workers The struggle is still a long way from
brought to bear in the unionization bat- being over. Stevens' management has
tle included some of the very oldest carefully orchestrated plans to keep
ones-such as simple, straightforward the workers from gaining any more
issuance of demands-some newer representation among its employees.
oyes-including the moderately suc- But an example has been set that could
essful boycott-and one-the most ef- toughen the workers' and give their
fective-that has only been developed determination to continue a much-
and used with success in the last few needed boost.
Wednesday, October 22, 1980
Higgins
o~~w ri? ElRr
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LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
0
Fear of communism is no superstition
-Ad
To the Daily:
I am responding to an article in
the October 15 Daily about the
Communist Party, which I felt
was extremely short-sighted and
one-sided. It is one thing to write
an article about a local campus,
organization, but the whole story
cannot be put into clear perspec-
tive until we trace the roots of
this local group all the way back
to its origins (which is, in this
case, Moscow). In the same spirit
of myopic irresponsibility, one of
the editorials of that issue gave
moral credence to the hooligan
tactics of the protesters at the
Peace Corpsrally, many of
whom were communists. (Even
if they don't *say so, you get
familiar with their same old fuz-
zy faces.)
The article mentioned the fact
that students are hesitant to ac-
cept leaflets with the word
"communist" on them and wenf
on to portray the cause of this as
some superstitious, irrational
prejudice. The article quoted a
student working with the party
saying, "In other places, it
(communism) is a respected part
of the political process." One is
reminded of Italy where com-
munism is as much a respected
part of the political process as
are assassination and terrorist
bombing.
The fact is that students have
heard how communism is
responsible for the deaths of
thousands in the Ukraine, respon-
sible for the extermination of 40
percent of the population of Cam-
bodia, responsible for the Gulag
system in Russia, responsible for
the half million Vietnamese boat
people dead on the China sea,
responsible for . . . the list goes
on and on. We've heard it all
Hazing incident inhuman'
To the Daily: '
I hope that someone has pointed
out to the young men involved in
the recent University of Michigan
hockey hazing incidept that their
behavior was in the same image
as the Nazi Gestapo concentration
camp overseers.
This is an example of the
dehumanization of man by man.
It is sick and intolerable. There is
no excusable rationale for this
inhuman act in the freest nation
on earth. Their punishment
should be a study of the concen-
tration camps, Yad Vashim, and
the Holocaust. They should listen
to Elie Wiesel.,
This act demonstrates a moral
failure by our society. An ap-
propriate response is the only an-
swer.
-Sheryl Krasnow
October i16
before. Don't you think that with
that kind of record students have
just cause to be "hesitant" about
communism?
The responsibility for these
atrocities can not be shifted from
the ideology of communism to
any one man or government, for
at the core of communism lies the
dialectic and its fundamental
teaching of the proletarian
revolution. In State and
Revolution, Lenin quotes Engles,
"force, however, plays also
another role in history. .. In the
words-of Marx, it is the midwife
of every old society whch is
pregnant with a new one." This is
the teaching of communism. Why
wasn't that in the article?
Gus Hall and the Communist
Party take their orders directly
from the party in Russia, whose
aggressive intentions are pain-
fully evident. An example is the
present situation in the Mideast
where Russia is supplying arms
to Iraq and Russia's North
Korean friends are supplying
arms to Iran. Who stands to gain
the most from the interruption of
western oil supplies? Why
weren't these things in the ar-
ticle? If you want to tell us about
the Communist Party, then tell us
about the Communist Party.
Here's one for all you idealists
and religious people. In the
preface to the Critique of
Political Economy, Marx says,
"It is not the consciousness of
men that determines their being,
but, on the contrary, it is their
social being that determines their
consciousness." The Communist
Party is based on a philosophy
which places economics above
morality. How can you claim to
be a responsible newspaper if you
don't give people the entire pic-
ture? All you told us about the
views of the Party is that it is an
anti-monopoly, labor-based-
organization addressing in-
stitutional cutbacks and tuition
increases, and that it wants to
make voters aware of the alter-
natives. That's not what I'd call
an exhaustive run down of the
issues.
The Communist Party in the
United States is part of an
organization that spans the entire
earth. It is not enough to tell us
what they are saying here. We
must look at what they are doing
in the rest of the world. This kind
of short-sightedness is classically
illustrated in the editorials about
the Peace Corps protesters.
In one respect, I agree with the ,
editorial. The American foreign
policy of supporting tyrants and
dictators disgusts me. That we
can compromise on something so
fundamental as human rights is
criminal. Apartheid, frankly,
makes me want to vomit. If
Americans took the human
rights issue seriously, there is so
much progress that could be made
to build a" peaceful world. With
that in mind, let us not forget that
by far and away the worst
violator of human rights is com-
munism. History is the witness;
you be the judge. Proposals like,
divestment from firms that do
business in South Africa would:
lead to a greater abuse of human'
rights and human freedom.
Presently South Africa is under
Marxist siege. Should the
existing government lose its
financial support, it will be over-
come and yet another country
will fall in a communist blood
bath.
Maybe it isn't your job to
educate people about com-
munism. It's incredible ho.w,
largely ignorant Americans are
about the teachings of Marx. It's
incredible and frightening given
the present state of world affairs.
Yet you are not excused. Ac-
curate reporting means putting
the details into context. I don't
mind hearing what the com-
munists have to say, but let's
connect it with what they want to
do.
-Art Humbert
Treasurer, University
of Michigan
Collegiate Association
for the Research
of Principles
October 17
Columnist went too far
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To the Daily:
I must take exception to Alan
Fanger's hasty condemnation of
the athletic department's han-
dling of the hockey hazing in-
cident (Daily, Oct. 15). In the
front page article-a responsible
and objective account-it was
noted that University policy is not
to release details of any punish-
ments handed out to students,
athletes, or otherwise; that fur-
ther action may be taken, and
that the principal in the case
would not seek to press charges,
thus eliminating the possibility of
the "legal sanctions" that Mr.
Fanger so righteously seeks.
Mr. Fanger, in his long-
standing vendetta against Don
Ca.nham, quickly assumes that
nothing effective will be done
when, in fact, he doesn't even
know what has already been
done! I doubt very much that "a
few apologies" are the extent of
CMU studen
To the Daily:
An open letter to The
University of Michigan
As students of Central Mich-
igan University, we were
the punishment in this situaton. I
assume Mr. Fanger would ad-
vocate the "drastic" action of
suspending all non-freshperson
hockey players and the sub-
sequent cancellation of the 80-81
season, judging from his
emotional railings.
As disturbing as hazing is, it is
not an invention of hockey
players or athletes, nor is it a
recent phenomenon. Its
elimination will not involve sim-
plistic solutions or simplistic
sports writers.
I suggest that Mr. Fanger will
use any incident to harangue
Mr. Canham, whom he obviously
despises for some reason. I also
suggest that Mr. Canham is han-
dling this situation correctly and
is doing his job quite well, thank
you, as he has since 1968 without
the help of Mr. Fanger.
-Al Goldman
October 15
ts 'repulsed'
On a more personal level, our
sympathies go out to the hockey
player, who trained for 11 years
only to be repaid in this manner.
Upon hearing of this incident,
Anti-Reagan editorial hit
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To the Daily:
Your editorial of October 18
chastising Ronald Reagan for his
pledge to appoint a woman to the
Supreme Court represents a new
low in editorializing.
In all fairness, please allow me
to defend Reagan's so-called
"abominable record" on
women's issues. While Governor
of California, Ronald Reagan
enacted the first legislation in the
country to permit women to buy
insurance and property in their
own name, without their
husband's signatures. During
this same period, Gov. Reagan
and if The Michigan Daily ever
decides to engage in facts along
with its sarcastic demagoguery,
they might be useful.
While I personally support
ERA, I respect and understand
opposition to this amendment on
constitutional grounds. To imply, 0
as the Daily editorial did, that all
people who oppose ERAsare
stupid or uneducated is a
generality that would include
such people as William Buckley
and former Democratic Senator
Sam Ervin.
While Ronald Reagan's call for
a woman Supreme Court Justice
DO YOU KNOW W4AT HAPPENED
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