74
PARTISAN REVIEW
Sandinista official, was most anxious to gain socialist and left sup–
port for the anti-Sandinista cause .
I called Mike the day before he left and urged him to speak to
Cruz and sound him out . He did not , despite his own presence at the
Rio meeting. The end result was adoption of a position of solidarity
with the repressive regime in Managua . In 1985 Democratic
Socialists of America invited Nicaragua's Foreign Minister, Miguel
D'Escoto, to address their convention as featured speaker. It was as
if Norman Thomas, who opposed the war in Vietnam in order to
"cleanse the American flag, not burn it ," had asked North Vietnam's
Foreign Minister, Le Duc Tho, to address the Socialist Party's con–
vention . But just as the Democratic Socialists of America convention
was to take place, the Sandinistas inconveniently proclaimed their
1985 State of Emergency, whose provisions Harrington realized
were "repressive measures . . . aimed at legitimate internal opposi–
tion, including the unions , rather than at the
contras."
Did Demo–
cratic Socialists of America then withdraw the invitation to
D'Escoto, or at least openly and strongly condemn the Sandinista
repression?
What they did was to agree "that we would raise the issue with
D'Escoto in private." With this act of what one might call construc–
tive engagement, Harrington assures his readers that D'Escoto and
Ambassador Carlos Tunnerman, after meeting with him, "under–
stood what I was saying." And at their convention, Democratic
Socialists of America's co-chair, Barbara Ehrenreich, "within a con–
text of decisive and principled opposition to American intervention
. .. told of how upset we socialists were by what had happened in
Managua.
It
was only a passage in her talk ," Harrington acknow–
ledges, but he sees it as a "distinct and unmistakable passage ."
The rush of events , at any rate, has shown us just how the San–
dinista leaders took Harrington's private criticism to heart. One can
envision the laughter that must have ensued between D'Escoto and
Tunnerman after Harrington left the room: recent Sandinista ac–
tions are a testimony to the effectiveness of Harrington's "private"
quiet diplomacy . Just as his book appeared , the Sandinistas once
again instituted a new crackdown, having won political defeat of the
contras
in the American Congress. And again they have shown that
their crackdown is aimed at the genuine popular classes , the kind of
people Harrington identifies with and defends in countries under the
sway of right-wing regimes . A militant unionist , head of Nicaragua's
