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Book reviews by Chris Faatz Click on book title to see if a New or Used copy is available from Powells Books
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS STRIKES AGAIN.... Now, this is a beaufiful, infuriating, moving, and all around stellar book:AZTLA'N AND VIET NAM: CHICANO AND CHICANA EXPERIENCES OF THE WAR, edited and with an introduction by George Mariscal (University of California Press, ISBN: 0-520-21405-6). At over 300 pages, it takes an in-depth look at the experience of Chicano/as during the war, whether in battle abroad or in the ongoing, many-faceted struggle to be even *seen* as fully human at home. Over sixty pieces are included here--short stories, poems, speeches, and articles. Most of the authors ring no bells with me, which may mean nothing, but at least two--Tino Villanueva and Luis J. Rodri'guez--have proven themselves in their own right as mighty powerful authors. There are two sections to the book, and they kind of sum up the whole thing's gist. "Standing at the Wall" defines the experience of Chicano/a soldiers, while "Raza si/, Guerra no!" tells that of the experience on the home front. Some of this stuff'll rip your heart out--Pedro Ortiz Va'squez's "Las cartas de Marti'n Flores," a series of imaginary letters and journal entries that tell of the experiences of a GI in the most horrible of circumstances and his parents at home leaps immediately to mind. Others will leave you fuming. This is not an "ideological" book in the sense that, say, the work of Roque Dalton or Tom McGrath might be. This anthology shows all sides of a very complicated story. There are excerpts from the autobiographies of career soldiers who, while questioning the war's motives and directions, still followed all orders. There are anti-war screeds, and there are the tears falling of those who lost loved ones. These are both politicall sophisticated and politically naive people, and I can hardly think of a better or more deeply intellectually, morally, and politically moving collection of work. Here's to an important introduction to a little-known aspect of that horrendous imperial conflict, and, perhaps more importantly, to the new voices brought to light within its covers. -------------------------------------------------------------- *DO* UNIONS MATTER? I have many friends, left communists and anarchists alike, who argue no. And I have many friends who aren't really political in the sense that most of us might think who'd argue yes. But, in the long run, I think most of us are more or less convinced that a renewal of a fighting and democratic labor movement is one of the premier arenas of struggle in this country and around the world. Let's face it: we have a helluva lot to learn from the South Koreans and others in this context! That said, the rightly well-esteemed Monthly Review Press, one of the oldest non-organization affiliated left presses in the United States, has published Michael D. Yates' WHY UNIONS MATTER (ISBN: 0-85345-929-0). This book is aimed at exactly the sort of renewal that many of us have been hoping and working towards. Yates provides a simple, down-to-earth, statistically irrefutable, historicall and contemporaneously relevant information on why unions work, how they work, their history and impact, both on the individual and on the collective on a local, national and international level. Also, the difficulties facing union organization is taken head on, from employees believing that unions exist only to get dues, to the idea that they're either controlled by the Mafia or the CIA. Such topics as racism, sexism, and gay and lesbian workers in the labor movement, union involvement in politics both at home and abroad, and why and how a union operates in the first place are all covered. The IWW and Gene Debs are also more than touched upon, and the bibliography, while leaning heavily towards the AFL-CIO routine stuff, also includes "Labor Notes," the IWW, the "Left Business Observer" and other such periodicals and organizations of note. I was disappointed, frankly, not to see more on labor history. But, so it goes, I guess. All in all, a fine book, and a must-read for anyone who wants a well-written and concise overview of unionism. (Don't forget to write Monthly Review for their catalog: 122 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001. You won't be disappointed). --------------------------------------------------------------- REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST FEMINISTS OF COLOR SPEAK! The Freedom Socialist Party's Red Letter Press strikes again with VOICES OF COLOR (ISBN: 0-932323-05-7, edited by Yolanda Alaniz and Nellie Wong) an anthology of pieces from their paper over the years on the question of race. All written by members of the National Comrades of Color Caucus, the book's essays cover a remarkable array of experiences, from Asian American confrontations with racism in the filming of "Year of the Dragon," to a eulogy to Huey Newton by an ex-leader of the FSP's San Francisco branch, to material on Chicano/as in the UFW, to Black-Jewish dialogue. This book includes some fine stuff. One of the areas where the book is strongest, unsurprisingly, is the intersection of sexual orientation and race. One's cup runneth over with the material in here, and I recommend the clarity of it highly. I do have some complaints, few, but pointed: first, the pieces are universally short. Much of this deserves deeper treatment, and I hope Red Letter and the overstretched cdes of the NCCC pull together to explore some of these themes (which many other left groups wouldn't go near) more deeply. Secondly, the FSP has taken strong programmatic stands on such issues as revolutionary integrationism vs. nationalism or the ideal of self-determination championed by many groups on the left. Another area where they've taken such a strong, and clear, stand is the question of the Chicano/a movement being a racial or national movement. These issues are, except for the periodic nod in their direction, not addressed in this book. Too bad-- brief pieces on the Party's positions would have made a fine series of appendices, and have helped round out the book's overall focus. That said, it's still worth reading, even though many people will undoubtedly disagree with much of what's said. This book, and other stuff from the FSP, are available from: Red Letter Press, 409 Maynard Avenue South, Suite 201, Seattle, WA, 98104 Ph: (206) 682-0990
