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C00002 00002	NOTES ON FUSION MAGAZINE AND THE U.S. LABOR PARTY
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NOTES ON FUSION MAGAZINE AND THE U.S. LABOR PARTY

	Fusion Magazine is one of the projects of the U.S. Labor Party.
The pro-nuclear and pro-technology booths at airports and other places is
another of their projects.

	Much of what they say is correct and well reasoned and more
vigorously presented by them than by anyone else.  They also publicize
pro-technology activities by others, sometimes better than anyone else.  I
have been contacted by them on several occasions.

	Unfortunately, there are two catches:

	1. Some of their positions are eccentric to the point of
kookiness, namely:

	They have heroes and villains in science.  For example, Leibniz is
good, and Newton is bad.  It appears that anything British in science is
bad.  Artificial Intelligence is bad, and Doug Hofstadter has come out a
villain.

	They have a villain theory of politics.  I agree that the
environmental movement is mainly harmful, but I don't agree that with the
U.S. Labor Party's ascription of motives to it.  They imagine a plot
against the U.S.  by the Rockefellers, Kissinger and British Intelligence.

	They tend to be pro-Soviet and anti-Chinese, but neither is much
emphasized.  This has led some people to imagine that their money comes
from the KGB.  Admittedly they have more money than their fund raising
ability seems likely to provide, but I don't see that the Russians get
benefit sufficient to make it plausible that the Russians are their
sponsor.  More likely, it's some rich person, but I would be relieved if
they stated thir sources and had their accounts audited by a respectable
auditing firm.

	2. The major problem in contemplating responding to collaboration
proposals from the U.S. Labor Party is the fact that they have a maximal
leader - Lyndon LaRouche.  I have no problem with the fact that he was
formerly a leftist and has led them from a leftist position into taking
many sound positions.  It doesen't bother me that some of their positions
are more to the left than I would like.  When they were more leftist, they
were involved in violence with other leftists, but I have no desire to dig
into who hit whom first.

	However, LaRouche's exclusive position as leader scares me in an
age in which so many movements with maximal leaders have become murderous.

	I wish I were not afraid to have anything to do with them,
because I they are the only people carrying out any demonstrative
pro-technology activity, and I think such activity is necessary.
q/x