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John Sweeney and the AFL-CIO v. America
Peter Zhang
I have to constantly remind Westerners that Marxism is dead in China, something that Jiang Zemin made very clear years ago. I have also stressed the tragedy that China has not been allowed to develop those institutions and habits of thought that form the bedrock of a stable democracy. The result so far has been a dramatic slide from Marxism to a bastardised form of fascism with powerful nationalistic forces at work.
Like all dictatorships Beijing takes a dim view of opposition so period crackdown on various groups should cause no surprise. A patriotic relative recently asked me why China is being criticised for its human rights record. The answer, I said, is simple: China is no longer Marxist. Those who were once lyrical about Mao’s lunatic regime even as it murdered millions are now condemning Beijing for its oppressive policies.
This brings me to the left-wing John Sweeney, a soon-to-be former president of the AFL-CIO. Sweeney has had the gall to complain about human rights abuses in China, including, oppressive labour laws, torture and murder.
Now I don’t need lectures from the likes of Sweeney on Beijing’s abuses. During the Cultural Revolution an elderly relative of mine was dragged out of her house by Red Guards and continuously abused by them for more than two days.
The ordeal killed her. Her crime? She had bound feet and this made her a “feudal reactionary” in the eyes of Mao’s young fanatics. Atrocities like these didn’t stop the Galbraiths and halfwits like Shirley McLaine endorsing Mao’s murderous policies.
Now that China has dropped Marxism socialists likes Sweeney suddenly discover human rights abuses in the country. How many Americans know that Sweeney is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, which is a member party of the Socialist International, which includes Italian and Sandinista Stalinists among its membership, and which maintained a pro-communist stance during the cold war?
When it came to choosing between the democracies and the Soviets the Socialist International chose the Soviets. Knowing that Sweeney prefers the company of Stalinists explains why he and his comrades refuse to condemn Castro’s communist regime, its abuse of human rights and it use of forced child labour, which wouldn’t even be tolerated in China.
And yet, in stark contrast with his condemnation of free trade with China, he supports open trade with Cuba and American investment in the country. His double standards are no mystery if we consider his alliance with the CPUSA (Communist Party USA).
Political Affairs, produced by the Communist Party, openly praised his appointment as president of the AFL-CIO. Gus Hall, the CPUSA’s chairman, publicly supported the left-wing direction of the union movement under Sweeney. George Meyers, another high-ranking communist official, urged American communists to fully “support the newborn AFL-CIO’s political action campaign”.
Sweeney reciprocated Communist Party support by replacing departments known to be linked to anti-communist groups with communists and communist sympathisers. Put another way, Sweeney sacked patriotic Americans and replaced them with potential traitors, people who loath America and detest its Constitution.
Though he publicly claims allegiance to the Constitution he supports the destruction of the second and fourth amendments. Like any genuine socialist, and I’ve learnt this from bitter experience, he only pays lip service to liberty.
Just how vicious Sweeney can be is illustrated by the case of Carlos Guzman, a member Sweeney's local, who complained about union officials raiding the union’s bank account. Sweeney responded by harassing Guzman who then filed lawsuit against Sweeney and other union officials. Guzman won and was awarded $100,000 dollars in damages, paid for, I believe, by members out of their union subscriptions.
That Sweeney was sensitive to Guzman’s complaints is understandable given that Sweeney was extracting nearly $500,000 out of his union connections. Of course, Sweeney was only doing what every good communist does when he gains power and influence — and that is help himself.
At one time the AFL–CIO was led by George Meany, an American patriot and a man who fully understood the evil nature of communism. Now it is led — at least for the moment — by Sweeney the fith columnist.
BrookesNews.Com
Monday 9 May 2005