Presser did all right, too: "His combined salary for all his union posts immediately jumped to $548,000." Zeller testifies that "the drawers of Jackie's bedroom bureau were stuffed with money received as kickbacks from various union contracts. Whenever a Teamster watch, cufflink, flashlight, bookmark, or whatever was purchased, Jackie got a cut. And Presser believed that most of the general executive board were SL International Viewpoint #292 32 International Viewpoint t200 book notes doing the same." Jackie Presser's climb to the union's top began in 1966, when his father, Bill Presser, set up a new Teamsters local union in Cleveland and put his son in charge. The father was convicted in 1971 of embezzling union funds and extortion.
Nevertheless, the elder Presser stayed on in the union and later simultaneously held seven posts, including trustee of the multi- billion dollar Central States Pension Fund and Teamsters vice president, for a combined salary of $145,541. Jackie Presser eventually replaced his father on the pension fund, and in 1976, he and other trustees were sued by the Labor Department because of "$120 million in illegal loans made to Las Vegas casinos and organized crime figures." In
1980, President-elect Ronald Reagan "named Presser a senior advisor for labor and economic affairs on his transition team."
The Presser regime ended with his death from cancer in July 1988. His wife of less than three years receives $7,500 a month from the Teamsters pension fund. At the time of his death, Presser was awaiting trial in a $3 million suit. The Cleveland rank and filers who brought the suit claimed that Presser and another officer had defrauded the local union by hiring "ghost employees."
This was done even though in August 1985 "the FBI revealed that it had authorized Presser to make payments to the ghost employees on the union payroll." Presser was also a FBI snitch and "a major one at that. On a regular basis Jackie was passing information to assigned agents in the Bureau, detailing who among the Mafia and his fellow Teamsters was connected, disclosing information on friends and foes alike."
Zeller admits he shared in the good things of life enjoyed by the Teamsters upper crust: "an expense account, credit cards, and my own Teamstermobile' (a new Lincoln Town Car)." Zeller also participated in the officials lies and deceptions. For example, in 1984, Presser ordered Zeller to cook up a phony membership poll that would favor Reagan over Mondale. Four years later, the new president, Billy McCarthy, had Zeller phony up another membership poll, this time With George Bush the "winner" and Michael Dukakis the "loser." Perhaps Zeller partly wrote this book to get back into the Teamsters cookie jar. The book contains a fullpage photo portrait of James Hoffa, Jr., the presidential candidate of the old-guard bureaucrats in the recent Teamster elections. And the last chapter, titled "Here's Jimmy Hoffa," reads, in part, like a press release from the Hoffa Jr. camp. Zeller depicts the younger Hoffa "as the white knight who many believed would ride into the 1996 campaign to save a Teamsters Union in distress." And Teamster President Ron Carey, writes Zeller before the votes were counted in December, "is fiercely resented by a membership incensed not only by reports of his alleged mob connections but also by his self-aggrandizing dalliance as a real estate tycoon.... " But thanks to the
Teamsters rank and file, Carey has been reelected president, and Hoffa Jr. and Zeller are stuck with their current day jobs. *
Birch Lane Press, Secaucas, N.J., 368 pp., $24.95
From Marx to Gramsci: A Reader in Revolutionary Marxist Politics
Paul Le Blanc, Led.] reviewed by Joe Auciello
The late Ernest Mandel, one of the
Marxist activists and intellectuals to whom this new anthology is dedicated, once wrote that revolutionaries of our time would have to be "equally adept both on the barricades and in the library." In life, only the rare individual achieves this ideal, a goal more to be strived for than attained. Perhaps a book, rather than a person, can more readily blend the qualities of the political fighter and the university professor. That is what Paul Le Blanc has accomplished with From Marx to Gramsci.
This anthology, with thoughtful and ample selections from Marx and Engels, Luxemburg, Lenin, Trotsky, and Gramsci, and a comprehensive introduction by Le Blanc, will be equally valuable to the scholar, student, and activist. It is a work ideally suited to the classroom and the class struggle.
The readings are carefully chosen and representative of their authors' notable theories and contributions to Marxism. The sample from Rosa Luxemburg, for instance, highlights her ideas of the mass strike, reform versus revolution, and imperialism. The selections from Lenin show his ideas about the party, nationalism, and the state. All of the selections are preceded by a brief biographical and critical note by Le Blanc which creates a useful context for the readings.
Given the limits of a one-volume anthology, Le Blanc has successfully exercised creative editorial judgement in his selections. The readings blend familiar and obligatory titles like The Communist Manifesto (deleting material that is only of historical interest with lesser-known, shorter works that summarise the essential points of books which are too lengthy for inclusion. Hence, Lenin's classic The State and Revolution will not be found here, but his 1919 speech "The State" is included. Similarly, Trotsky's masterful 1932 speech "In Defence of the Russian Revolution" stands in for his massive History of the Russian Revolution.
These shorter, self-contained pieces convey the essential themes of the longer and
Conference reports
"Lean and mean" Fourth International youth camp The fourteenth European youth camp in solidarity with the Fourth International was very successful, despite a drop in participation in relation to previous years. Penny Duggan The five hundred young comrades present showed from the beginning to the end their determination to open this "breach in Fortress Europe." Starting from discussion on the struggle against the Europe of Maastricht, the Schengen accords and other convergence criteria that are being imposed on us they arrived at the end of the week to more strategic questions: why and how to do away with the society of today.
They exchanged their experiences of struggle against budget cuts in education, against racism and fascism, for the defence of the environment, in order to arrive at the mutual understanding which is an indispensable basis for common work. After the mobilisation for the counter-summit in Amsterdam in June, they argued, the mobilisation must continue. And the links between the struggles and active forces in the different countries must be strengthened.
A commitment was made to try to build a youth network against neo-liberal Europe using opportunities which exist already, like the call by the youth of Italy's Refounded Communists (Rifondazione) in Italy for a demonstration in Venice on 13th September (p.19) and the planned demonstration at the European summit in Luxembourg in November. (p.21)
The programme of the camp had been decided by the representatives of the youth groups from 15 countries which co-organise the event every year. For some sessions, they called on older comrades. Daniel Bensaid spoke on the relevance of the Russian Revolution, the importance of the life of Che Guevara and our project of a new society. Alain Krivine was also present and explained to comrades, most of whom were not even born at the time, the forms of the deep youth radicalisation of 1968 and how it had contributed to the development of the Fourth International.
The camp was held near Brioude in the French Massif Central. It was in this region that four Trotskyist resistance fighters were massacred by the Stalinist after their escape. This tragic episode was remembered during the camp by a tribute paid to one of the four, Pietro Tresso, founder of Italian Trotskyism, 34 International Viewpoint #292
V DEtE. uo
But I told you Paula was a veggie by Livio Maitan [to be published in a future issue of International Viewpoint]. We also invited Raymond Vacheron, a weil-known activist in the region and co-author with Pierre Broué of a recent book on this event, to explain how he had reconstituted the history. Latin America
Another high point of the week was the meetıng on Latın America where Pola Ferrari, a young Uruguayan comrade, one of the central organisers of the camp organised in April 1996 by the Youth Front against Repression which brought together five thousand young activists in the Southern Cone, spoke to us about the situation in Latin American and the struggles of young people, of the landless peasants of Brazil, of the indigenous people in Mexico with the Zapatista Army of National Liberation...
These are only some of the forums, educational metings, workshops and rallies that formed the political programme of the camp. At the final evaluation meting all the delegations said that the debates had been wellprepared and were very interesting. This was also shown by the good level of activity in all the "political" activities of the camp (in the strict sense of the term.)
The camp is also an occasion to try to put into practice, during one week, a certain number of our principles. It is a place where racist, sexist and homophobic words and acts are banned. It is also a space which is self-managed by the young comrades. Even if they call on "adults" for a certain number of political or technical tasks, the leadership of the camp remains in the hands of the daily meeting of the representatives of the different delegations.
Thus young people from Portugal to Poland, from Sweden to Italy, learn to work together despite their cultural differences -whether political, foodwise or simply in daily life. Women
Within the camp the women comrades have a place for temselves, to organise discussion, have parties or simply to be with other women. And at the end of the women's day - a day when the theme of all the discussion is around women's struggles - the disco itself becomes a "women's only" space so that a big party ends this day with an affirmation of the strength and solidarity of the women in the camp.
Another much appreciated party during the week was that organised by the Portuguese comrades in solidarity with the third world, from which Western music was "banned' in favour of Latin America, African and Asian music. A lesbian and gay space
The last, and for many the best, party in the camp was that organised by the comrades from the gay and lesbian space. This is also a tradition of the camp. Throughout the camp there is a gay and lesbian space with discussions and exhibitions for all those who want to participate. The party in the disco has another dimension which is also to encourage everybody to think about their sexuality and some of their inhibitions.
In other words, a very successful camp this year, despite a certain drop in participation in relation to previous years.
Unfortunately the camp took place in the same period as two other initiatives attractive to young people interested in solidarity with the third world - the second Conference against neo-liberalism and for humanity, organised this year in the Spanish state, and in particular the World Festival of Youth and Students in Cuba, to which organisations present sent a message of solidarity.
For our Basque comrades there were also the important events which took place in their country in the days just before the camp which made it impossible for them to send even a small delegation.
However, for the first time there was a small Russian delegation which, together with ever-strengthening presence of our Polish comrades, helps us to make a reality of the breach in Fortress Europe.
With a big "thank you" to the French comrades for all their hard work, the delegations left, promising to meet again at the fifteenth camp in Denmark in 1998. *