Workers confront Carter in St. Louis

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Protestors block entrance to HomerG. Phillips Hospital President Carter's trip down the Mississippi on a luxury cruise steamboat was clearly an attempt to avoid the angry US working class by hobnobbing with the boat's wealthy passengers and visiting " "traditional" Americans in the small rural towns along the way.

But for all his invoking of the Christian religion and his praise for the "protestant work ethic and the virtues of America" "free enterprise" etc Carter can't turn the clock back on history and return to the heyday of cheap energy and low prices.

Anger

So when Carter arrived in St. Louis at 9 a.m. on Friday 24 August he was forced to face some of the anger of the working class.

Despite his workday arrival, hundreds of trade unionists and unemployed turned up to protest and shout anti-Carter slogans right under his nose.

About 50 supporters of the Homer G. Phillips Hospital carried signs protesting the recent closing of the hospital by Democrat Mayor Conway.

While Conway welcomed Carter they called for his removal.

They pointed out that "Miss Lillian" Carter had said in 1976 that the hospital would stay open if "Jimmy" was elected.

Now Conway has just used 300 riot police to remove the remaining patients from Homer G. and arrest 20 demonstrators blocking the gates!

Trade unionists

Also protesting Carter's policies was a group of about 200 trade unionists.

This group was responding to a newspaper add and a call from the Machinist Union Districts 9 and 837.

They protested against Carter's energy policy because "he neglects to say the windfall he wants to tax was created by him when he began phasing out They demanded that Congress reinstate price controls but neglected to call for the nationalisation of oil companies -a policy which was recently advocated by even the conservative AFL-CIO Executive Board.

The fact that leaders of the machinists and United Auto Workers in St. Louis felt compelled to call a protest against the visit of a Democratic Party President clearly reflects the rank and file pressure they are experiencing from members suffering under 13% inflation while 7% wage increase guidelines remain in force.

Nevertheless they kept to the vain hope of reforming the capitalist Democratic Party by calling on the President to "come back to the Democratic Party and the voters who elected you."

Meanwhile other leaders were shaking hand at a reception at the Hilton.

Teamster vice-president Harold Gibbons was quoted as telling a reporter "don't sell this. guy short" and AFT Presidenti Evelyn Balle called him "a good Christian man"

What unites these open traitors with the leaders of the! Machinists (who favour Kennedy for the 1980 elections) and with the Stalinists who dominate the "Ad Hoc Committee to save Homer G. Phillips" is unshakeable faith in thei capitalist Democratic party and refusal to fight for an indepen-i dent political party of the working class.

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Young Italian workers-not convinced by Berlinguer's line key role in putting into effect Stalin's counter-revolutionary agreement to