The big corporations had their war in the Gulf. But look out, because this is our war!

SUPPORT THE STUDENT TAKEOVERS!

CUNY students and New York City workers must put an end
to the mad plans of Governor Cuomo, CUNY Chancellor Anne
Reynolds, and Mayor Dinkins to cut the CUNY budget by
some $96 million. This plan could mean the closing of at least
two campuses since the average annual budget of a CUNY
campus is currently around $30 million. Along with this, the
Governor’s budget proposal aims to slash $400 from the Tui-
tion Assistance Program (TAP), eliminate scholarship
programs, cut out thousands of courses, lay off faculty and
staff, curtail maintenance and library hours, and, just to make
it “fair”, raise tuition by $500 per semester—$1,000 per year!

Let’s be clear about this: Cuomo, Reynolds and Dinkins
are out to wreck CUNY and our futures; they must be
stopped!

The Fourth Internationalist Tendency believes that this
blatant attempt to dismantle the CUNY system and smash the
futures of thousands of young lives is a conflict between the
interests of the ruling rich and working people. Democratic
Party leaders like Cuomo
and former Mayor Ed
Koch had the benefit of en-
joying CUNY’s no-tuition
poke ow Ahefore 1076. Today

Vwsvaw

these hypocrites not only
want to change the rules,
they want to completely
erase the memory of what
once belonged to the work-
ing people of New York
City—a free and open col-
lege education. A college
education is both a neces-
sity and a right of all work-
ing people. We demand
free tuition, open admis-
sions, and a stipend for
full-time students!

But the bad news about the Democrats doesn’t end there. If

tuition is raised and admissions is made more difficult as the
Cuomo plan intends, then this is expected to result in the
de-facto expulsion of about one out of every four CUNY
students. You don’t need a college education to see that this is
not only class prejudice, but outrageously racist and sexist as
well. Women, Black, Latino, and Asian students are expected
to take a double hit of this capitalist “justice” doled out by the
Democrats. The capitalist parties can find a billion dollars a
day to fight an imperialist war in Iraq or for an obscene parade
honoring the genocide of Iraqis, millions of dollars to pay
interest to banks on New York City bonds, money for hundreds
of security guards, and $100,000 salaries for deans and ad-
ministrators who expel students; but they can’t find the money
for essential human needs like education? Bullshit! And now

we see one of the reasons Dinkins wants to hire 50,000 more
cops to smash in the heads of “unruly” students. Thank you
Dave Dinkins—you’re a fine example of what the Democratic
Party is all about. You and Cuomo are no better than George
“the education President” Bush.

Anne Reynolds, Cuomo and Dinkins want to displace be-
tween 50,000 and 75,000 students from CUNY in order to cut
expenditures and pay off the debts of New York City. We say
abolish the debt! Cuomo, Reynolds, and Dinkins want to push
this through without a fight! Our message to Cuomo and
Reynolds is forget it! Students, faculty, staff, and labor must
puli together to stop the destruction of CUNY. The first step is
to defend the student takeovers. The faculty must understand
that these budget cuts hurt them too, especially adjuncts who
teach over 50% of all CUNY courses.

But this fight cannot be won if it remains confined to the
campuses. The attacks on CUNY students are part of a broader
attack on the living standards of working people by the rich.
City workers must defend the
right of their children to enjoy
an affordable college educa-
tion. The bankers and their
-politicians—Deimocrats and~

dents and workers to pay for a
fiscal crisis that is a product of
their irrational and racist
capitalist system. CUNY stu-
dents and city workers share
a common interest in beat-
ing back this effort to
balance the budget on the
backs of working people.
Democratic party politicians
like Cuomo and Dinkins, who
pass themselves off as the
friends of labor, are leading this attack. Students and workers
need their own party—a labor party based on the trade unions
and the oppressed—to fight for their interests.

» No tuition hikes, no cuts in tuition assistance, no cuts
in faculty or classes!

* CUNY should return to a policy of free tuition and
open admission!

* Abolish the overpaid administration that expels
students—for student, faculty, and worker control of
the campuses!

* Tax the Rich—money for education, not for war! No
expulsions or suspensions! Rescind all punitive ac-
tions! Stop all police actions! Cops off all campuses!


a

®

--needs.of workers and.oppressed groups; present strategies

A Brief Introduction
to the Fourth Internationalist Tendency

The Fourth Internationalist Tendency (FIT) is a socialist
group dedicated to help create a new kind of society.
Instead of production for profit, a socialist society would
be democratically organized to fulfill the needs of the
majority for food, housing, health care, and other basic
human requirements. Capitalist competition—which leads
to wars, unemployment, and environmental disasters—
would be replaced with social cooperation. This will lay
the foundation for ending racism and sexism, discrimina-
tion based on nationality or sexual orientation, crime,
chemical dependency, and other social problems stimu-
lated by the degeneration of capitalist society.

The FIT has an internationalist approach because history
has proven that socialism cannot exist in just one country
or one region. Capitalism is an international system and
has used its economic and military powers to distort the
development of all nations—even those which have taken
the first revolutionary steps away from capitalism.
Socialism must be won ona global scale in order to expand
democracy, achieve scientific and cultural progress, and
safeguard individual rights.

The FIT wants to help create a mass revolutionary
political party in the U.S. to fight against the present
domination by a tiny ruling minority, and to establish a
government of and for the overwhelming majority. The
revolutionary party will draw on lessons learned from the
historic struggles of working people in the U.S. and around
the world in order to: promote a program addressing the

and tactics for struggles against the employing class; and
organize efforts to win both immediate battles and long-
term goals.

FIT members and supporters are involved in a broad range of working-class struggles and protest movements in the U.S. We are
activists in unions, women’s rights groups, antiracist organizations, coalitions opposed to U.S. war and interventions, student
formations, and lesbian and gay campaigns. We help organize support for oppressed groups here and abroad—such as those challenging
apartheid in South Africa and bureaucratic rule in China, Eastern Europe, and the USSR. We participate in the global struggle of
working people and their allies through our ties to the world organization of revolutionary socialists—the Fourth International.

Learn more about our program, activities, and literature.

-Bulletini in 1 Defense of Marxisra

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