Coralville socialist convention
proves fascinating, educational

Ii) Mat-Ii: lltltllei'ly mitt
.lﬂlu‘t I\ s

“Socialists to Convene in
COt‘ZIIVIlIC.” the headline on the
back page at the Register read.
Encouraged by curiosity, two days
later we were standing \vith
thumbs extended on the 1780 en-
trance ramp. headed cast towards
the Iowa town that boasts 1,879
motel rooms.

The socialists referred to in the
headline belong to the Socialist
Party of the US A (SPUSAt. They
were meeting that weekend to
establish a new set of guiding
principles for the party. We were
there simply because it sounded
interesting.

WE ARRIVED IN Coralville in
the late aiternoon. Leaving our
sleeping bags and backpacks in an
inconspicuous place, we ventured
into the plush lobby of the Best
Western Carousel Inn. where the
convention was being held Trying
to act a whole lot more respectable
than we looked. we asked the desk
clerk “here the convention was
meeting and he directed us
downstairs.

The convention was held in the
Empire Room which had been
temporarily renamed the “Anti-
Empire Room” byth‘e party-we
walked uptto the nearest person
and asked'it the convention'was
open to the public He iniorme‘dus
that it wasyand showed us to the
registration table where we were.
transformed into ”official ob-
servers} mt

MEANWHII. E.
vention floor.
were votin'g on some issue or
another by holding up red cards
that said “Vote Socialist! ,_Posters
and banners proclaiming such
messages as “Women Hold Up
Hall‘ the sky." and :‘lnternation‘al
Working Chiss‘ Knows No Boun-

, daries" covered the walls. The
speaker's table was flanked by
large pictures oi Norman Thomas
and Eugene v. Debs. two major
Socialist leaders of the past.

We had arrived just at the
beginning oi the workshop
sessions. which were devoted to
discussmg policies laid down in the
iinmmrr and Tongs, the “internal
discussion bulletin" oi the party

()N THE_ ch~

After checking with the national
secretary to make sure we would
be welcome al the workshops. we
headed upstairs to “Racism and
International Relations." About
eight people. including three ob-
servers. drifted into the room and
sat down on the beds and on the
floor. The racism discussion
centered on recruiting minority
members. One person noted that
the party delegation had only one
member of a minority group,
admitting. ”We have good words
but we don't have good practices "

THE GROUP ALSO discussed
the international Policy paper,
whicll states that all U.S. ins
tervcntion in “genuine antir
capitalist. anti~imperialist
movements andrpartics which are
mass-based” should be opposed.

The paper on disarmament‘
proclaimed that the movement ior
disarmament is reactionary in
nature, impossible because of the
capitalist system. and useless
because oi the rapidity with which
a modern country can re arm its
self. The author of this paper as
we later learned, was probably the
most radical Socialist at the
convention.

AFTER ()UR RETURN to the
Anti-Empire Room, the national
secretary of SPUSA. Jim Spiro.
sought us out to answer any
questions we might have

’ self to

as chair for the

ave us a. brief runs

down on the political parties of the

left. and a brief history 01 SPUSA.,
The party had over 7100.000
members in 19l2. but it new
numbers fewer than one thousand.

We also talked to a Methodist
theology student from Milwaukee
tit' seemed as though a vast
majority of the people there had
some connection with that city.
Where SPUSA is headquarteredi.
He introduced us to Frank Zeidler,
the current party chairpeison and
the mayor of Milwaukee from 1948
until 1960; a Grinnell alumnus
named Tom Dionosopoulos, who
had been»at Grinnell from 1968
until 1972; and Walter Paine. an old

‘congressman

 

gentleman who was wearing a
sweatshirt which read “Socialists
do it according to their abilities"

Clark brings race to

tcontinucd ironi page it
on other parts of the globe.

On the other hand, Jepsen came
under fire this summer during
investigations into the State
Commission for the Bliiid's illegal
stockpiling of weapons against
possible riots during the antirwar
days. .Icpsen was found to have
made a loan of about $25,000 to
Kenneth Jernigan, the lormer
director oi the commission, during
the same time period. Jepsen
denies knowledge of the stock-pile.
directly conﬂicting with a former
employee's sworn statement, in
any case. Jepsen failed to report
the loan‘as required by law,

THE RACE FOR THE gover-
iiorship is not as spark-filled as the
Clarkrilepsen battle. Robert D.
Ray. at founterm incumbent
Republican. has been generally
ignoring his opponent. Democrat
Jerome Fitzgerald, the current
majority leader in the Iowa House.

The Fitzgerald camp is running
a rather lowrkey campaign The
candidate relies mainly on
traveling around Iowa and meeting
the voters

HIS MAIN ARGUMENTS
against Ray are that the governor
is becoming too powerful and that
a change of administration is
needed to keep lowa irom
stagnating. ’

He also claims that nay has
taken a laissez-faire attitude
toward some of the state agencies,

includillg the Beer and Liquor
Control Commission. the Iowa
National Guard. and the Con»
servatiori'Commission.

luv 18 LETTING his campaign
ride on his past popularity with
Iowans and his generally
moderatestosliberal attitude on
issues.

CLOSER TO THE college. the
race between incumbent Jim
Leach. a onerterm Republican, and
Dick Myers. small businessman
and lormer mayor oi Coralville,
[or the U.S. House first district seat
is based solidly on the issues.

Leach believes that government
spending should be cut and has
sponsored several bills which
would have limited federal
spending. He also claims that the
government cmploys too many
people; he believes that jobs.
should be private rather than
public.

LEACII ALSO POINTS to his
voting record in Congress. keying
on his introduction of the Family
Farm Preservation Act. his
cessponsoring oi legislation that
allows tor a separately t‘unded
Mealseanrwheels program tor the
elderly. and his cosponsorship of
the Kem ~Roth Tax Reduction
Act. Leac also notes that he voted
for the extension of the time period
for the ratification of the ERA.
supported the tuition tax credit

 

bill, and opposed the Clinch River
breeder reactor.

 

oil the front and “Socialists do it
according to their needs" on the
back Pume was to be honored for
his long years of service to the
party in special program later on
that cvening

AT THE PROGRAM. the usual
speeches were made, and name
was presented the “.limmy
Higgins Award." on old boot
symbolizing all the dirty liork
tlicking envelopes. passing out
pamphlets. etc.) that he had done
over the years. A guitarplaying
delegate led the people in ii sing-
along of old union Songs. After the
program was over we were treated
to a showing oi the Academy
Award winning iilm ltnrlaii
County USA“ a documentary
about a 1975 union strike by coal
miners in Kentucky,

The next morning everyone met
to discuss and debate three papers
on party policy. One oi those
papers was expected to be adopted
as the major plank oi the party
platiorm. This debate was one of
the highlights oi the whole
weekend. it was refreshingly free

“of political rhetoric and there was

a free flow 0! ideas. unlike most
political meetings. _

LATER IN THE Ai‘ TERNOON,
a- mall approachéd us and asked
whether we were the “people irom
Gi'innell." He was Bill Douglas.
one of the Iowa SPUSA members
and' a ' candidate for state
lrom“the First
District. which includes‘.Grinnell.
We talked about the SPUSA
Chapter that had been at Grinnell

about six years ago mi about the

state of political cons ousness now
at Grinnell.

We soon had to leavkour books
were calling us. out our weekend

glimpse oi the socialist Party

proved fascinating its principles
and beliefs seem wellrthought out.
the members are intelligent and
openrminded. While there was not
a good racial distribution. a
problem that the party is trying to
correct. there was a very good age
and sex distribution. Perhaps most
impressive of all is the common
vision and determination these
people share lor building a better
society,

campus

Dick Myeis also believes in
cutting lederal spending, but
disagrees with Leach's stand on
unemployment. He claims that
Leach doesn’t understand the
problems of unemployment by
pointing out that Leach has never
voted for '4 jobs bill, Myers
himseli supports the lllimphreyr
Hawkins bill which supporters
predict would cut unemployment
to three per cent by 1933.

MYERS BELIEVES the nation
is behind on its overall energy
program supports a national
health care plan, wants reiorm oi
both taxes and the business
regulation process. and looks
forward to bringing down rising
hospital costs. He wants stronger
clean air standards for cars,
supports aid to the elderly ior their
winter utility bills, and believes
that federal dollars should be
distributed to communities on the
basis of need rather than Size He
wants to work for a farmer-held
grain reserve, and promotes the
idea at strict regulation of giant
corporations.

Aside irom the general name-
calllng and frequent
disagreements, the Leaeh-Myeis
race is scandal-tree so far.

PLANS FOR THE \‘ISIT of
James Leach to the campus are in
the works now. according to the
Grinnell College Republicans.

The Scarlet St Black. Sept. it.

isms—page :5

Students draw pictures

Abstract expressionism or nco~classicism? Mike Salsieh has a tough

time not ing which p

ing will make his room more livable at the

annual i- ine ltrts dcpartmentpicture rental held last Saturday. trhoto

by Todd Ohcrman.)

Faculty responds to report

tcoiitiiiucii lrom page ii
NO ONE IS QUITE sure Where
the team came up with these ideas.
Connolly points out that even it the
American Studies department
wasn’t there. American literature
courses would have to be taught
anyway. Charles Cleaver. one of
therpeople who tounded the
American Studies program at
Grinnell points out that “American
Studies is my protession. English is
secondary ” He adds that although
the number oi majors was down. it
is picking tlp again and the
department is in no danger.

AS rtllt THE CHARGE oi
“arrogant complacence." Cons
nelly contends. ”I'm confident that
what I‘m doing is rightilf that
sounds arrogant, then maybe it
is." As tor the --eomplacence."
Cleaver points out. “I can't go to a
party and lust relax. Everyone is
always talking about what‘s new
and what he should be doing "

Cleaver also has problems \iith
the section of the report that con-
tcnds that students are recruited to
participate in established
programs "I'm advising lour
independent lna]ol's,” he points
Out

WHILE FACULTY members
were able to pass oil most oi the
report as a result oi diiiercnl
conceptions of What liberal arts
are. one section that was not so
easily dealt with was thesection on
Students.

“The Grinnell student tends to be
studious without being especially
intellectual.” according to the

 

report. Many prots question the
team‘s use of the word ”In
lellectual.” saying they are not
precisely sure what the team
means by this President Turner is
a bit more to the point: “I don't
find that Characterization valid ”
His dealings with Grinnell students
prove them to be alive, provocative
and questioning. he adds.

THE REPORT IS not always
derogatory oi Grinnell students. in
another spot it characterizes
students as “highly intelligent,
vigorous. and iull or life."

indeed. the report is really not
derogatory to anyone at Grinnell
Even while calling Grinnell's
whole liberal arts philosophy into
question. the report nonetheless
concedes that the college has a
”wellnualiiied laculty who work
hard teaching good courses. "

MANY FEEL THAT the report
would have sounded even more
positive if the evaluation team had
been able to spend more time at
Gi‘innell

Tlie iaculty and administration
are convinced that the way
Grinnell is teaching liberal arts Is
the correct way of teaching liberal
(iris in the late twentieth century
They feel the successes of recent
graduates bear tiiem out. Cleaver
paraphrases iormer University oi
Chicago President Robert Huts
chings to sum up the quality of the
Grinnell education: ”Present
relative skills are soon obsolete.
But iundamental modes oi analysis
are always permanent,“

‘1\Lenf§ is music
toYour ‘Earg

On this staLion news is music to your ca r5 So you hardly miss a beat.

The Best In Music

The Best in News

KDIC 88.5

© American Contemporary Radio Network

 

